Zalmi's Weblog

Liebmann of Arabia

2012-01-17T09:20:00.000Z

Through the wonders of the Internet I have come across this photo of the valiant Jewish fighter of Tobruk mentioned in my last post: Felix Liebmann on an Israeli website by historian Meir Mindel.

What's in a Streetname?

2012-01-17T08:51:00.000Z

My local shopping street in Jerusalem is called Pierre-Koenig. I've never thought to ask why it has this name. From this email I've just received, it's nice to know the answer ...

“The war was not going well for the British in early 1942. Rommel and his Italian allies were pushing back the British relentlessly. Losses were staggering for the British. They were being decimated in Libya and needed to retreat, to regroup, rest and resupply. British loss, after loss, British defeat after defeat, the ability of retreating in order, without disaster, was very questionable. If the Allied forces could not retreat in an orderly manner, the North African war would be lost. It did not look good. A delaying action was ordered by the British high command.
In a remote area of the Libyan Desert, near an old Turkish fort, the Free French Forces were ordered to stand and fight. The fort was built near an oasis. It was called Bir Hakeim and was the key to the great port city of Tobruk. A line was drawn ahead of the Germans. The First Free French Division, led by legendary General Marie-Pierre Koenig was ordered to hold. The French dug in. Thousands of individual fox holes were dug. Mines were laid in thick fields to slow the Germans. The French waited. A British brigade, unknown at the time to General Koenig, was hastily sent to hold the far end of the French line near Bir-el Harmat. They were a battalion of mine layers, poorly armed and provisioned, without heavy weapons, or anti-aircraft equipment but with a grim, teeth clenched determination.

They were a battalion of 400 Jewish Palestinians under the command of Major Liebmann from Tel Aviv. It was May 26, 1942. The Jewish fighters dug in.
A German tank column approached the heavily outnumbered and out gunned Jewish position.
Raising a flag of truce the German commander came near to the Allied position and demanded they surrender or be annihilated. Noticing the strange flag flying, the German asked who they were. To the amazement of the German officer, Major Liebmann told him they were free Palestinian Jews fighting for the British government. They would not surrender. The flag was the flag of the Jewish people. It was June 2, 1942.
German 88mm canon opened up with terrible effect. German Stukas bombed and strafed, and bombed and strafed. Hundreds of sorties were eventually flown. German tanks advanced and attacked ferociously. Several were destroyed in the mine fields. A few penetrated the center of the lightly armed Jewish position. Jewish soldiers jumped on the tanks destroying them with Molotov cocktails, incinerating the German tank crews inside. Without even a radio to contact the French fighting a few miles up the line, the Jews held. Heavy black smoke billowed from the burning German tanks as the Germans retreated; their dead left on the hard, dry desert.
German and Italian armor attacked again and again on June 5 and June 6. The Jewish position held. Daily the Stukas bombed the Jews. German artillery was unrelenting, eventually destroying the Jewish water source. Still the Jewish position held refusing to surrender, even without water. Astonished the Germans continued attacking with no success. The Jews refused to surrender or be conquered.
June 10: Orders from the British 8^th Army reached the French at Bir Hakeim and the Jews at Bir-el Harmat: retreat. The British 8^th Army was safe. It had retreated in good order with its equipment and supplies. The delaying action could be called off. In the dark of the night of June 11, the French and the Jews slipped away, unbeknownst to the Germans. They had done the impossible.
Over the next few months, the reorganized and reequipped British 8^th Army fought and defeated Rommel's famed Africa Corps at El Alamein. It was the beginning of the end for the Germans and their Italian allies in North Africa. The bloody tide of war had changed.
General Koenig watched as the ragged, unknown Allied survivors from the far end of the line staggered in to the French command center at Gasr-el-Abid. They dragged their wounded as best they could. Major Liebmann reported to a concerned General Koenig. Speaking in perfect French, he told General Koenig they were Jewish Palestinian soldiers. Of the 400 men who made up the battalion, over three hundred, 75%, had been killed or wounded. They were the survivors.

The General observed their flag flying proudly. It was being taken down and folded by a very tired Jewish soldier.
What is that man doing? Koenig demanded of Liebmann. Liebmann told the French General that British regulations did not let them fly their flag, the blue and white flag with the Star of David. The British did not want to see it. An instant command was barked. General Koenig ordered the soldier to stop folding the flag. Koenig ordered it placed on the front of his Jeep to fly next to and equal to the flag of France.
Turning to his officers, Koenig ordered all his soldiers to stand at attention and salute as the flag of the future state of Israel went by. It was the first Salute.
General Koenig remained a committed friend and advocate on behalf of Israel for the rest of his life.

In the lower Galilee, near Nazareth, trees grow in the soil of a free Israel; the Marie-Pierre Koenig Grove.”

Check-in with the Saudis

2012-01-16T09:52:00.000Z

Amazing that those Saudi hackers managed to penetrate the EL AL website.

Most of the time we King David members can't even check-in online.

Why bother with Israeli proteksia when Saudis could get you the best seats and upgrades?

Putting the piss in perspective

2012-01-15T20:59:00.000Z

I suddenly took a liking to Rick Perry.

He may be irrelevant to the campaign with poll numbers equating to other candidates' margin of error. He may have made some gaffes in the debates.

But he's the least politically correct of the candidates.

Unlike the shrill and sanctimonious reactions on the 'Pissing on the Taliban' story he takes the view that they're just kids.

"These kids made a mistake, there's not any doubt about it," he said. "[They] shouldn't have done it, it's bad—but to call it a criminal act, I think is over the top," Perry told CNN. "Obviously 18, 19-year-old kids make stupid mistakes all too often and that's what's occurred here."

Absolutely right! These 18-19 year-olds have to live every hour of every day in Afghanistan in fear of being blown to bits by IEDs planted at the roadside by these Taliban animals, who wear no uniforms and subscribe to no Geneva conventions. These animals don't piss on dead American soldiers ... they mutilate and behead live ones.

Sure it's morally wrong to do what they did.

But don't expect these kids out in the hell of war to have the same PC education and diplomatic fragrance of Hilary Clinton or others in the ruling class

Her troops may have been pissing on the Taliban, but her boss has spent far longer pissing in the wind.

2012 - Arabs throw Jews out of Israel

2012-01-12T10:25:00.000Z

This message just reached me from the valiant Women in Green:

Jews out!

Women in Green’s reaction to last night’s destruction in Mitzpe Avihai-Kiryat Arba

At 2:30 in the middle of the night, with 0 degrees outside, some 20 children were dragged away fom their beds together with their parents and were told:

“Jews-OUT!” Immediately thereafter the tractors ran over and destroyed their homes.

The Mitzpe Avichai neighborhood was built on land that belongs to the municipality of Kiryat Arba Hevron and was already destroyed ten times.

Every destruction brings about construction, especially in Mitzpe Avihai, and thank G-d the neighborhood has already 8 families and public buildings.

Once again the IDF used Arab workers to do the dirty work of expelling Jews from their homes ; and these Arabs by the way stole from the expelled Jews jewelry and work utensils.

Women in Green call upon all to donate funds in order to rebuild the neighborhood . We also call upon the Prime Minister to stop hiding behind Ehud Barak and finally

start building the Land of Israel proudly. This is the one and only answer to Yair Lapid and Sheli Yachimovitz.

The government of Israel has to stop the game of jumping once to the right and once to the left. It does not help at all.

Only with a clear policy of applying Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, the building of thousands of homes, the spreading of the population from the shore to the mountains-

only this way will deterrence be built.

Only this way will our country be built.

www.womeningreen.org

All about jobs ...

2012-01-08T01:56:00.000Z

From Poland to Beit Shemesh

2012-01-08T01:51:00.000Z

Someone sent me this wartime picture taken at tram-stop in Poland. The sign says: "Jews to the back".

The Yellow Star can clearly be seen on the lady's armband.

A sign of the times for the bus segregationists of Israel.

This was the Nazi way.
It is not our way.

Our Satanic 'peace partners' ...

2012-01-07T20:15:00.001Z

No-one tells it better than Sarah Honig ...

Another Tack: Good manners and high morals

There sat Palestinian Authority chieftain Mahmoud Abbas in the front pew of the Church of the Nativity, reverently observing the Christmas midnight mass. He appeared so meek – the model of admirable moderation, good manners and high morals.

TV anchors and scribblers worldwide fell for his consummate act and expressed solemn appreciation for the affectation. Critical appraisal was conspicuously absent.

Abbas – the on-and-off and now on-again political ally of Hamas and Islamic Jihad – took great pains to quasi-usurp Christmas from Christendom and impart the impression that Christmas is intrinsically also a Muslim celebration, “a Palestinian holiday” from which bogeymen Jews alone deserve exclusion.

Significantly this aroused no protests – the subjugation of Christians in Muslim societies, and foremost in Bethlehem, notwithstanding.

This supposed Christian-Muslim front comprised the gist of the homily delivered by the Mideast’s most senior Roman Catholic, Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad al-Tuwal, a Jordanian Arab.

He effusively welcomed Abbas, congratulating him for “his unfaltering efforts to achieve a just peace in the Middle East, a main thrust of which is the creation of a Palestinian State.” The patriarch commiserated with the Palestinians, who “recently turned to the UN in the hope of finding a just solution.” According to his monologue, “they were asked to reengage in a failed peace process,” which “has left a bitter taste of broken promises and of mistrust.”

And guess who embittered the pitiable Palestinians? Guess who cast a dark, sinister shadow over their Muslim Christmas? Those Jews, of course. Who else?

Living up to the ecclesiastical hype, Abbas wished the worshipers “love and peace” and, presumably in that spirit, proceeded to slam Jewish settlements as “immoral and indefensible.”

“I wish for the Palestinian people that next year will be the year that peace will be implemented in the occupied Palestinian lands,” he said. “We, my brothers, believe in peace and are working to implement peace.”

Had any further elucidation been needed about his concept of peace, Abbas furnished it pre-Christmas when traveling to Ankara to shower affection upon the convicted terrorists deported to Turkey as part of the Gilad Schalit swap.

Outstanding among them was Amna Muna – tangible proof that evil can come in attractive guises. Abbas hugged her warmly and sat down for a chummy chat, not to mention his hefty financial reward.

Muna was actually supposed to be released into Gaza, but refused, citing her secularism as problematic in the Hamas fiefdom. In actual fact, though, she feared retribution.

This insolently unrepentant and most aggressive despot of the women’s prison security wing tortured noncompliant fellow inmates by, among other means, pouring boiling oil and wax on them.

Turkey was understandably her preferred destination. She now plies the school-lecture circuit there, vowing to return to active “combat against the Zionists” and exhorting pupils to become shahids (martyrs).

Muna – for those who forgot – is the fetching Fatah operative who via Internet contact lured 16-year-old Ophir Rahum to a cruel death on January 17, 2001. In a way, her atrocity is even more gruesome than the more common forms of Arab-inspired carnage. She might not have claimed as many lives as some of her compatriots, but what she did was spine-chillingly up-front and personal.

She schemed to get her hands on a Jewish kid, chose her victim with coldblooded deliberation, falsely befriended him and lured him in a premeditated hunting expedition that began long before 20 AK-47 bullets riddled Ophir’s young body.

The homicide was meticulously and maliciously plotted and executed painstakingly over months, in scrupulously calculated phases, to wrest an unsuspecting boy from his protective environment and trick him into a rendezvous with a hail of bullets.

Ophir yearned to make love not war. He embodied the shared Israeli dream of peace and bliss. With stars in his eyes, he was enticed. He wanted to believe the pretty decoy who flirted with him, the sly impostor who posed as “Sally.”

The striking seductress arranged to meet the smitten schoolboy. He traveled from Ashkelon to Jerusalem; she picked him up at the bus stop and drove him away. Eventually her accomplices shot his kneecaps and she, as per her own crowing account, stood there, taunting him and cackling mirthfully as he screamed in pain before being put to death. She still often derisively mimics his last cries.

One would expect that Abbas, feted abroad as the prince of moderation, would at least wash his hands of murderous Muna and condemn her unequivocally. Instead, this supposed man of peace has made Muna his Ramallah regime’s poster-child – the object of reverence and compassion, and a model for emulation.

That speaks volumes, because the lionized icon’s underlying moral code inevitably characterizes the collective that sponsors and supports her.

[Read more here]

Condell - my favorite shabbas goy

2012-01-07T19:10:00.000Z

Sorry I didn't share this 2 months ago when I first saw it.

Sign of the times

2012-01-01T15:27:00.000Z

Let them eat pork!

2012-01-01T01:37:00.003Z

It's bad enough that most Charedim in Israel evade army service, but if they call a serving IDF soldier a whore, that crosses the red line.

Pictured here is the unrepentant Shlomo Fuchs, sitting in court where he was indicted on Thursday for sexual harassment and banned from using public transport until his next court appearance. Instead of apologising, he blames the Israeli media for getting him into trouble.

Hopefully this man will be given a custodial sentence - if only for 30 days - to reflect on his disgusting behaviour and as a deterrent to other Charedi groups who laud him as some kind of folk hero. If he goes to jail, doubtless those same groups will organise the usual rock-throwing and bin-burning demonstration (probably on Shabbat) of the kind that follows any justice meted out to Charedim, whether for wife-beating or child abuse. Hopefully the mounted police will then properly show the same force as they most improperly used against the settler women of Amona.

Setting aside the concurrent nuisance of Jewish-Taliban nutjobs in Beit Shemesh, the Fuchs case is not just about abusing a young girl, or insulting the army he refuses to serve. It's about that ubiquitous bad behaviour by Charedim on public transport that most of us have witnessed countless times and will continue to see to our shame and disgrace.

Wherever you fly, there is always at least one of these bearded brothers making a nuisance of himself. Whether it is bartering overweight allowances at the check-in desk (they can't wedge their heels into the new scales anymore!) or being the last to turn their phones off and the first to turn them on, or being the last to board and the first to jump up and empty their luggage from the bin, and then push to the front to be first off the plane. [REDACTED]

Now, I am sure that any cross-section of the population has the same proportion of such derelicts. But we don't have to do this wearing a badge! I don't see many Christian vicars, or Buddhist monks misbehaving on planes. And Muslims may well be trying to blow up planes with their underpants but at least they don't steal the soap and headphones.

I was on a 10-hour Virgin flight not long ago where these two velvet yarmulkas were making a total nuisance of themselves, and boasting about the number of trips they make in a year. When we disembarked I asked them if they would do me and all of our people a huge favour by wearing keffiyehs on their future flights.

Personally - and speaking an an orthodox Jew myself - I hold the rabbis and yeshiva heads totally responsible for this. They are supposed to teach Torah with Derech Eretz .. literally - respect for 'the way of the land'.

I am no rabbi, but I am as convinced as I can possibly be that all the Torah that people like Fuchs and his airplane equivalents have learnt - or will ever learn in the future - is worth absolutely nothing when weighed against the Chillul Hashem they create both amongst secular Israelis (biased as they may be) and the outside world.

As for the rewards they may expect in the next world, they would all be better off flying every Yom Kippur eating British Airways ham meals bareheaded.

If Charedi parents and rabbis are not prepared to face this challenge in upbringing and education, let us at least update the Tefillat Haderech (travellers' prayer) to include protection from having to witness this dreadful behaviour, let alone [... REDACTED].

(Note: Two sections have been redacted at the request of a Rabbi whom I respect and wishes not to throw fuel on this fire)

New Plans to Divide Jerusalem

2011-12-20T10:04:00.000Z

I reproduce below a letter from One Jerusalem which needs to be widely disseminated.

Dear Friend of Jerusalem,

New plans to divide Jerusalem surfaced last week.

Recently, sophisticated designs on how Jerusalem should be divided were published in the prestigious Atlantic magazine. These plans are an attempt to kick-start the misguided plan to make Jerusalem the capital of a Palestinian State. You can be sure this plan will be adopted by the Palestinians to supposedly show that Jerusalem can be divided.

Of course, this plan assumes that Jerusalem should be divided, by denying the fact that Jerusalem is the capital of only one people: The Jewish people.

This plan does not point out that the Temple Mount, the holiest spot in Judaism, would be in Palestinian East Jerusalem.

It also ignores the history of discrimination against Jews and Christians, when the Old City was under control of the Arabs from 1948-1967.

Jerusalem must never again be divided.

Today, Jerusalem is a free and open city for the first time in modern history because the State of Israel insures that all people have a right to visit, pray, and live in Jerusalem. It allows the different religions sovereignty over their holy places.

This unprecedented situation would be shattered if the city is divided.

But make no mistake. Considerable sums of money were spent drafting these "new" plans and you can be sure they will be referred to in negotiating rooms and the anti-Israel media.

This is one important reason why One Jerusalem needs your continued support. Our mission in defense of a united Jerusalem includes exposing the sophisticated propaganda from Israel's determined enemies.

They would love it if we did not exist to tell the world that Israel must remain united under the State of Israel.

If you can, please make a year-end donation to One Jerusalem so we can continue our campaign of defending Jerusalem.

Sincerely,
Allen Roth & David Goder
www.OneJerusalem.org

The Audacity of Hope & Change

2011-12-19T00:00:00.002Z

In the 70's President Richard Nixon had to keep his feet up because he suffered from phlebitis.

These days the White House occupant seems to suffer from an altogether different condition.

Arrogance .....

Rabbi Overlander at the UN - spectacular!

2011-11-27T15:25:00.000Z

2011-11-26T22:49:00.000Z

@ZalmiU

Ironic that we launch a probe into space to search for life, when half our planet is in the daily business of launching death.

Perpetual Palestinian Victimhood

2011-11-20T23:51:00.000Z

With acknowledgments to Hoover and Hudson and Touro Institutes, this is probably one of the best pieces I have seen on the ‘Palestinian resistance’. All the more forceful for its being written by an African American academic, and significant for its being delivered at the Jewish hatefest conference in Durban.

His comparison with Black civil rights is revealing and would justify much of what is going on in our struggle. Except that Black Americans never wanted to slaughter White Americans, nor were they weaned on hatred of their host country or incited from infancy – as a religious precept - to kill and destroy all that it stands for. That tends to take the ‘poetry’ out of what is still an outstanding analysis by Steele.

The Narrative of Perpetual Palestinian Victimhood

Shelby Steele is the Robert J and Marion E. Oster Senior Fellow, Hoover Institute, member of the Working Group on Islamism and the International Order.

The following is excerpted from his speech delivered September 22, 2011 in New York City at the conference "The Perils of Global Intolerance: The UN and Durban III," sponsored by the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and the Hudson Institute.

The Arab-Israeli conflict, is not really a conflict, it is a war – a war of the Arabs against the Jews. In many ways, this conflict has been a conflict between narratives. We who strongly support Israel have done a poor job in formulating a narrative which will combat the story spun by the other side. We can do better.

The Durban conferences, the request for UN recognition of a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood, and the general animus in the Middle East and elsewhere toward Israel and toward the Jews, what are they really about? Is the Durban conference and the claim that Israel is a racist nation really about reforming the people of Israel and curing them of their racism?

I think their real interest is to situate the Palestinian people within a narrative of victimization. This is their ulterior goal: to see themselves and to have others see them as victims of colonialism, as victims of white supremacy.

Listen to their language; it is the language of colonial oppression. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas claims that Palestinians have been occupied for 63 years. The word oppressed is constant, exploited. In this, there is a poetic truth; like poetic license, in a poetic truth a writer will bend the rules in order to be more effective.

I will give you one example of a poetic truth that comes from my group, black Americans. We make the following claims: America is a deeply, intractably racist society. It may not be as conspicuous today as it was before. Nevertheless, it is still there today structurally and systemically, and it still holds us back and keeps us from achieving the American dream.

To contradict this claim, one can come forward with evidence to suggest that racism in America today is about 25^th on the list of problems facing black Americans. One can recount one of the great untold stories of America, namely, the moral growth and evolution away from that problem. This is not to say that racism is completely extinguished, but that it no longer prevents the forward progress of any black in the United States. There is no evidence to suggest that it does. Yet, this claim is still the centerpiece of black American identity – this idea that we are victimized by a fundamentally, incurably racist society.

Poetic truths like that are marvelous because no facts and no reason can ever penetrate. Supporters of Israel are up against a poetic truth. We keep hitting it with all the facts. We keep hitting it with obvious logic and reason. And we are so obvious and conspicuously right that we assume it is going to have an impact and it never does.

Why not? These narratives, these poetic truths, are the source of their power. Focusing on the case of the Palestinians, who would they be if they were not victims of white supremacy? They would just be poor people in the Middle East. They would be backwards. They would be behind Israel in every way. So this narrative is the source of their power. It is the source of their money. Money comes from around the world. It is the source of their self-esteem. Without it, would they be able to compete with Israeli society? They would have to confront in themselves a certain inferiority with regard to Israel – as most other Arab nations would have to confront an inferiority in themselves and be responsible for it.

The idea that the problem is Israel, that the problem is the Jews, protects Palestinians from having to confront that inferiority or do anything about it or overcome it. The idea among Palestinians that they are victims means more to them than anything else. It is everything. It is the centerpiece of their very identity and it is the way they define themselves as human beings in the world. It is not an idle thing. Our facts and our reason are not going to penetrate easily that definition or make any progress.

The question is, how do they get away with a poetic truth, based on such an obvious series of falsehoods? One reason why they get away with it in the Middle East is that the Western world lacks the moral authority to call them on it. The Western world has not said "your real problem is inferiority. Your real problem is underdevelopment." That has not been said, nor will ever be said – because the Western world was once colonial, was once racist, did practice white supremacy, and is so ashamed of itself and so vulnerable to those charges, that they are not going to say a word. They are not going to say what they really think and feel about what is so obvious about the circumstances among the Palestinians. So the poetic truth that Palestinians live by carries on.

International media also do not feel that they have the moral authority to report what they see. On the contrary, they feed this poetic truth and give it a kind of gravitas that it would never otherwise have.

Consequently, we need to develop a narrative that is not poetic, but literal and that is based on the truth. What would such a narrative look like?

It would begin with the presumption that the problem in the Middle East is not white supremacy but the end of white supremacy. After World War II, the empires began to contract, Britain went home, France went home, and the Arab world was left almost abandoned, and in a state of much greater freedom than they had ever known before.

Freedom is, however, a dicey thing to experience. When you come into freedom, you see yourself more accurately in the world. This is not unique to the Middle East. It was also the black American experience, when the Civil Rights bill was passed in 1964 and we came into much greater freedom. If you were a janitor in 1963 and you are still a janitor in 1965, you have all these freedoms and they are supported by the rule of law, then your actual experience of freedom is one of humiliation and one of shame. You see how far you have to go, how far behind you are, how little social capital you have with which to struggle forward. Even in freedom you see you are likely to be behind for a long time. In light of your inability to compete and your underdevelopment, freedom becomes something that you are very likely going to hate – because it carries this humiliation.

At that point formerly oppressed groups develop what I call bad faith. Bad faith is when you come into freedom, you are humiliated and you say, "Well you know the real truth is I am not free. Racism still exists. Zionism is my problem. The State of Israel is my problem. That is why I am so far behind and that is why I cannot get ahead."

You develop a culture grounded in bad faith where you insist that you are less free than you really are. Islamic extremism is the stunning example of this phenomenon. "I have to go on jihad because I am fighting for my freedom." Well you already have your freedom. You could stay home and study. You could do something constructive. But "No, I cannot do that because that makes me feel bad about myself." So I live in a world of extremism and dictators.

This is not unique to the Middle East. In black America we had exactly the same thing. After we got the civil rights bill and this greater degree of freedom, then all of a sudden we hear the words "black power." Then all of a sudden we have the Black Panthers. Then we have this militancy, this picking up of the gun because we feel bad about ourselves. We feel uncompetitive and this becomes our compensation. It is a common pattern among groups that felt abandoned when they became free.

This is the real story of the Palestinians and of the Middle East. They will never be reached by reason until they are somehow able to get beyond bad faith, to get beyond this sort of poetic truth that they are the perennial victims of an aggressive and racist Israeli nation.

Challenging their narrative with this explanation will enable us to be more effective. Until now, we have constantly used facts and reason and have not progressed.

Durban is a perfect example of bad faith because Durban is way of saying Israelis are racist and they are our problem. Durban really is a way of saying I am not free. I am still a victim. That is the real purpose of Durban. The Palestinian unilateral claim for recognition from the UN is also a perfect example of bad faith. If Palestinians proceed to the Security Council, they will very likely be turned down, and will respond by saying: "I told you we were victims. I told you the West is racist," and so on. It refuels the same sad identity.

The irony and the tragedy of all this is that it keeps these groups in a bubble where they never encounter or deal with the truth. This becomes a second oppression for all these groups. They have been oppressed once, now they are free and yet they create a poetic truth that then oppresses them all over again.

How are you going to have good faith if you are raised being told that the society in which you are trying to compete is against you, is racist? It is always the Palestinians who suffer, and will continue to suffer, because all of their energy is going into the avoidance of their situation rather than into being challenged by it and facing into it.

The strength of our argument is that it gives the Palestinians a way out. Development is the way out. The West can help you to compete. It may take a little while. But the alternative is a cycle of violence and hatred and poetic truths about constant victimhood.

The pattern of bad faith in certain places comes to embrace a kind of ethic of death. As Osama bin Laden claimed: in the West, you are all afraid of death, but we love death. Why would you love death? If you are not afraid of death then you are aggrandized; all of a sudden you are a big man. You are not a little, recently freed, inferior. Instead, you are somebody who manages, who conquers his world, who has power. For terrorism is power, the power of the gun. This poetic truth leads to a terrible, inconceivable fascination with death and violence and guns and bombs. It consumes a whole part of the world every single day – rather than the boring things that good faith requires, like going to school, raising your children, inventing software for instance, making money.

This is the way the narrative must be retold.

UN Cowboys in the Gush

2011-11-16T09:27:00.000Z

This email from the valiant Nadia Matar reached me this morning, containing the following letter to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. All Jewish groups should protest this interference with Israel's sovereign rights by such mavericks riding their new UN jeeps on America's dime. The licence plate is clearly visible as is the man's pot belly. Should be easy for the UN to identify and discipline accordingly.

We wish to call your attention that on Nov. 9, 2011 a vehicle from the UN Observers Force arrived in the area of Netzer, located between Elazar and Alon Shevut, in the heart of Gush Etzion block. The UN vehicle arrived with two Arabs, to apparently intervene in a land dispute. Attached are photographs of the UN vehicle and the observers.

The UN personnel reached the plot that according to the Israeli Civil Administration is definitely state land. Still, the Arabs are trying in a violent and illegal manner to take over that land. Our movement, Women in Green, has been operating for several years to protect and redeem land through planting of trees on state land illegally targeted by the Arabs. Over the last few weeks, the Arabs uprooted five times tens of Jewish olive trees at the plot as well as attacked Jews.

The Arabs who falsely claim that they are the owners of the plot, are from El Khader, from the Sand Tsalah family, well connected with both the Palestinian Authority and the UN.

We wish to point out that the latest incident marked at least the second time that we saw UN observers roaming in our area with their vehicle and cameras. The observers, who did not wear uniforms, were accompanied by and cooperating with the Arabs.

We wish to protest in the strongest terms that the UN observers have been intervening in matters outside of the UN mandate. This is a blatant intervention of Israel's sovereignty over the area. The UN has no mandate to intervene in property disputes.

We are requesting that that this matter be examined and dealt with as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar

http://womeningreen.org.il/

Obama's Special Interests

2011-11-14T21:35:00.000Z

BARACK OBAMA:

"The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long, but I don’t. I work for the American people.”

· Nancy Pelosi's brother-in-law is given $737m of taxpayers' money to build giant solar power plant in middle of the desert

· Obama administration approved $1bn in green energy loans days after failed Solyndra project due to be completed

· $737m handed to Crescent Dunes project in Tonopah, Nevada, for 110-megawatt desert solar power plant

· Investors include firm Minority leader's brother-in-law and major Solyndra stakeholder

· Republicans warn Energy Department is 'rushing' $5bn in loans ahead of Friday deadline

Gingrich on the Sarkozy/Obama gaffe

2011-11-14T16:28:00.000Z

Extract from Hugh Hewitt's interview with Republican contender and former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich:

HH: Now let’s turn to the story of most importance. Almost certainly, Iran has nuclear ambitions, and very close to having, if not already in possession, of nuclear weapons. If Israel acts to defend itself by striking at that capacity, what ought the president of the United States, either our current or our next one, to do on the day that strike happens?

NG: We should be supportive of the state of Israel. If the Israelis, having endured the Holocaust and the loss of seven million Jews in World War II, conclude that an Iranian nuclear weapon poses the threat of a second holocaust, because two nuclear weapons on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem would be the equivalent of a second holocaust. If they conclude that is a risk they cannot live with, we should respect their concern for survival. And I think that we should clearly indicate to the world that we would support whatever they think they have to do to survive.

HH: What did you make of the Sarkozy-Obama exchange about Prime Minister Netanyahu, with Sarkozy calling him a liar, and the President not disputing that?

NG: I think the arrogance, and frankly, the sometimes latent anti-Semitism that the Europeans have, that has been tragic over and over again…I mean, you know, here’s a man…Bibi Netanyahu is worried about the very survival of his country. He has in the Palestinian Authority somebody who is a clear public liar, who has said that ultimately, they don’t want a peace agreement, they want to get rid of Israel. He has in Hamas a mortal enemy. He has in Hezbollah a mortal enemy. He has in Iran Ahmadinejad, a dictator who says he wants to eliminate Israel from the face of the Earth. And yet their nasty comments are aimed at Netanyahu? I mean, it tells you just what’s wrong with the elites in Europe, and frankly, the elites in the United States.

HH: Do you think President Sarkozy is anti-Semitic, Mr. Speaker?

NG: No, I’m saying that there is a strain in European culture that blames the Jew, and that that strain in European culture is real, it is deep. It goes back through the aristocracies. And I think if you look at who do they side with, who do they tolerate, who do they forgive, Arafat could lie eternally, and they always found it okay. You wouldn’t have had that conversation with Ahmadinejad. That is very, very unfortunate.

(The full interview transcript is HERE)

Cain is Able !

2011-11-13T00:26:00.001Z

I don't know whether those women are telling the truth or lies, but it's clear there's no candidate that speaks better than Herman Cain - with passion and no notes or teleprompters.

My son Elliott says: That's Change We can Believe In!

Herman Cain at the Defending the American Dream Summit from AFPhq on Vimeo.

Britain Recycles for the Jihad

2011-11-03T14:18:00.000Z

Of all people, I find myself behind this on the North Circular Road in West London.

October Tweets

2011-10-31T09:34:00.000Z

I discovered the amazing news value of Twitter during the last Gaza rocket campaign earlier this year. Looking back on a month's tweets is a good way of reflecting on the passage of news stories.

Here's a selection from October.....

ZalmiU ZalmiU

Soros Again! He should be aiming to topple Teheran instead of Wall St and Tel Aviv. bit.ly/noODhl

7 Oct

ZalmiU ZalmiU

Livni meets Cameron in London. Makes me wish the threat of arrests hadn't been lifted. What mischief must she be up to as her party plummets

7 Oct

ZalmiU ZalmiU

With Gilad Shalit's father at midnight celebrations outside PM's office in Jerusalem, twitpic.com/6yz3i9

12 Oct Favorite Reply Delete

ZalmiU ZalmiU

After 5 years of Gilad Shalit's captivity only NOW do we hear from the Red Cross. jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPo…

13 Oct Favorite Reply Delete

ZalmiU ZalmiU

Barenboim: latest proof that self/h Jews praising Palestine is fastest way to the top in culture, media and academia. bit.ly/mOLa1I

13 Oct Favorite Reply Delete

ZalmiU ZalmiU

Pollard got 6 years for being a spy and 20 more for being a Jew. Plain and simple.

15 Oct Favorite Reply Delete

ZalmiU ZalmiU

Sure it's a lousy deal but we act as if the 1,000 are special killers. ALL incited Arabs are capable of the same. Hebron 1929 proved that.

16 Oct Favorite Reply Delete

ZalmiU ZalmiU

The #shalit exchange rate is about right, as Jews are 1/10th of 1% of world population. But pardoning these #hamas killers is truly sick.

18 Oct Favorite Reply Delete

ZalmiU ZalmiU

If #Jews always focused on what was bad about life, we would not have survived to live in our homeland. So let's focus on #gilad 's freedom

18 Oct Favorite Reply Delete

ZalmiU ZalmiU

A new dimension to #PIIGS. Busted Ireland still has money to donate a million and a half Euros to Abbas. bit.ly/uVzINg

24 Oct Favorite Reply Delete

ZalmiU ZalmiU

After months of Christian slaughter by Islamists, the Vatican now finds its voice. To call for a World Central Bank! drudge.tw/rm8Wuy

24 Oct Favorite Reply Delete

ZalmiU ZalmiU

Exposed! The child abuse and hate-incitement in Britain's 3,500 muslim madrassas. bit.ly/uAI7jL

25 Oct Favorite Reply Delete

ZalmiU ZalmiU

So, Putin's disgusted by images of #Gaddafi’s last minutes. What hypocricy from the executioner of Alexander Litvinenko

26 Oct Favorite Reply Delete

ZalmiU ZalmiU

So, Islamists won the Tunisia election. A case of: "Out of the #Bouazizi fire into the Jihadi frying pan". Expect more in the #ArabSpring

28 Oct Favorite Reply Delete

ZalmiU ZalmiU

Gilad Sharon says his comatose father is moving his fingers. Must be a message for Livni.

21 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

Iranian Relief Efforts

2011-10-25T17:59:00.000Z

"Turkey refuses Israeli quake aid - but accepts it from Iran"

This seems to make a lot of sense.

Iran has much more experience in people struck by stones.

Dvar Torah on Shalit

2011-10-22T16:43:00.002Z

In marking the release of Gilad Shalit, Prime Minister Netanyahu referred to this week’s Haftorah reading which is from Isaiah’s ‘Light Unto the Nations’ passage in chapter 42. He quoted verse 7 where G-d is seen to “open blinded eyes, to remove a prisoner from confinement and dwellers in darkness from a dungeon”.

I don’t think I have ever blogged a Dvar Torah so far, but will make an exception for this one.

Many have remarked that Shalit’s release corresponded with the traditional Ushpizin (sukka visitation) day of our patriarch Joseph who was himself falsely imprisoned in Egypt 3,500 years ago. This followed Joseph’s abduction and sale by his brothers into slavery to a passing caravan of Ishmailites. It might not have mattered where that caravan originated from had the verse (Genesis 37:25) not gone out of its way to record it was from: Gilad.

As we all know, Joseph was released and promoted to viceroy after interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams of impending famine and implementing a master plan to save Egypt. After revealing himself to his brothers they return home to tell their grieving father Jacob: “Joseph is alive and is a ruler in Egypt” (Genesis 45:26).

The Targum on that verse translates the word ‘ruler’ as: Shalit.

.

The Case for Assisted Suicide

2011-10-19T12:09:00.002Z

Is a Jewish life worth 1,000 bags of excrement?

Of course - it's a bargain.

And to those who say: 'But they are killers??' I ask: Is this not true of all Arabs who surround the Jewish state? Have we not learned from Hebron 1929 that it only takes an hour's incitement and the Arab who babysitted for a Jewish family or had his child delivered by a Jewish doctor will take out a meat cleaver and butcher his Jewish neighbours to death in their beds?

Palestinian polls consistently show a majority in favour of suicide bombings and the butchery of Jewish civilians and children. So these 1,000 were only the ones that got caught.

The price of this deal is indescribably high for anyone whose child or relative was killed by any of those released on exchange for Gilad Shalit. No way could I be writing this blog if, Heaven forbid, I were in their tragic position. But the continued incarceration of Gilad Schalit would not have brought back the dead - and "life" is what we Jews are about. I truly do believe that the neshamot - the dear souls - of terrorist victims rejoiced alongside all of Israel yesterday at the release of Gilad Schalit, however much it was more difficult for their surviving spouses, parents and relatives.

From a halachic standpoint, no price was too dear to pay for the release of a Jewish captive. From yesterday's video of street scenes in Israel it was clear that Gilad had become the adopted son of every mother in all of Israel. And the joy of his return home on his own two feet was a vital stimulant to the morale and spirit of Israelis, not seen since the Entebbe hostage rescue.

Whilst I do not envy Netanyahu his job in having to make a 'judgment of Solomon', this will not be the only no-win dilemma Israel has had to face in the 63 years since independence. But instead of focusing on the bad elements, Israel has always turned the opposite way to ask: 'So chevra, what is GOOD about this situtation?' . If Jews had not used this optimistic approach, there is no way they would ever have survived millennia to return to this beautiful homeland.

If you want to focus on bad deals, there are many to choose from way beyond yesterday's business with Hamas. Oslo is a prime example. The withdrawals from Gaza and Lebanon are two others. Oslo cost 1,000 Jewish lives and the two withdrawals have now put 6 million Israelis in the crosshairs of 50,000 rockets. Then there is the Supreme Court and its trampling of vital security interests in favour of justice for Palestinians who openly seek our death and destruction.

All of those bad deals were aided and abetted by the dominant leftist media in Israel, who consistently preach that if only we would stop building homes in our homeland, the Arabs would be our best friends and peace partners. In this regard Hamas did us all a favour yesterday. Whilst Israelis festooned the streets with flowers for Gilad, Hamas paraded more jihadists and suicide bombers demanding more hostages to be taken.

The lessons are clear:

(1) To prevent further hostage-taking, the Knesset must overrule the Supreme Court on issues of security and border fences.

(2) Israel should not take any more Arab murderers into its prisons. If they are so keen to die for their cause, we should help them. In Swiss clinics they call it Assisted Suicide.

A sermon for our times

2011-10-08T18:27:00.000Z

As is my custom I caught up on emails on the flight to Israel. This one I had never read before. Dating back 1 year to Rosh Hashana 2010, it is a sermon given by American Rabbi Shlomo Lewis of Congregation Etz Chayim in Marietta, Georgia. It's a masterpiece of a sermon. Even if you had seen it before, it is regrettably still as topical now as it was a year ago ... mainly because the attitude of world leaders, the UN and media has not changed one jot.

Here it is ...

I thought long and I thought hard on whether to deliver the sermon I am about to share. We all wish to bounce happily out of shul on the High

Holidays, filled with warm fuzzies, ready to gobble up our brisket, our honey cakes and our kugel. We want to be shaken and stirred – but not too much. We waant to be guilt-schlepped – but not too much. We want to be provoked but not too much. We want to be transformed but not too much.

I get it, but as a rabbi I have a compelling obligation, a responsibility to articulate what is in my heart and what I passionately believe must be said and must be heard. And so, I am guided not by what is easy to say but by what is painful to express. I am guided not by the frivolous but by the serious. I am guided not by delicacy but by urgency.

We are at war. We are at war with an enemy as savage, as voracious, as heartless as the Nazis but one wouldn’t know it from our behavior. During WWII we didn’t refer to storm troopers as freedom fighters. We didn’t call the Gestapo, militants. We didn’t see the attacks on our Merchant Marine as acts by rogue sailors. We did not justify the Nazis rise to power as our fault. We did not grovel before the Nazis, thumping our hearts and confessing to abusing and mistreating and humiliating the German people. We did not apologize for Dresden, nor for The Battle of the Bulge, nor for ElAlamein, nor for D-Day.

Evil – ultimate, irreconcilable, evil threatened us and Roosevelt and Churchill had moral clarity and an exquisite understanding of what was at stake. It was not just the Sudetenland, not just Tubruk, not just Vienna, not just Casablanca. It was the entire planet. Read history and beshocked at how frighteningly close Hitler came to creating a Pax Germana on every continent.

Not all Germans were Nazis – most were decent, most were revoolted by the Third Reich, most were good citizens hoisting a beer, earning a living and tucking in their children at night. But, too many looked away, too many cried out in lame defense – I didn’t know, Too manny were silent. Guilt absolutely falls upon those who committed the atrocities, but responsibility and guilt falls upon those who did nothing as well. Fault was not just with the goose steppers but with those who pulled the curtains shut, said and did nothing.

In WWII we won because we got it. We understood who the enemy was and we knew that the end had to be unconditional and absolute. We did not stumble around worrying about offending the Nazis. We did not measure every word so as not to upset our foe. We built planes and tanks and battleships and went to war to win!¦.. to rid the world of malevolence.

We are at war… yet too many stubbornly and foolishly don’t put the pieces together and refuse to identify the evil doers. We are circumspect and disgracefully politically correct.

Let me mince no words in saying that from Fort Hood to Bali, from Times Square to London, from Madrid to Mumbai, from 9/11 to Gaza, the murderers, the barbarians are radical Islamists.

To camouflage their identity is sedition. To excuse their deeds is contemptible. To mask their intentions is unconscionable.

A few years ago I visited Lithuania on a Jewish genealogical tour. It was a stunning journey and a very personal, spiritual pilgrimage. When we visited Kovno we davened Maariv at the only remaining shul in the city. Before the war there were thirty-seven shuls for 38,000 Jews. Now only one, a shrinking, gray congregation. We made minyon for the handful of aged worshippers in the Choral Synagogue, a once majestic, jewel in Kovno.

After my return home I visited Cherry Hill for Shabbos. At the oneg an elderly family friend, Joe Magun, came over to me.

“Shalom”, he said. “Your abba told me you just came back from Lithuania.”

“Yes,” I replied. “It was quite a powerful experience.” “Did you visit the Choral Synagogue in Kovno? The one with the big arch in the courtyard?”

“Yes, I did. In fact, we helped them make minyon.”

His eyes opened wide in joy at our shared memory. For a moment he gazed into the distance and then, he returned. “Shalom, I grew up only a few feet away from the arch. The Choral Synagogue was where I davened as a child.”

He paused for a moment and once again was lost in the past. His smile faded. Pain filled his wrinkled face. “I remember one Shabbos in 1938 when Vladimir Jabotinsky came to the shul” (Jabotinsky was Menachim Begin’s mentor; he was a fiery orator, an unflinching Zionist radical, whose politics were to the far right.) Joe continued “When Jabotinsky came, he delivered the drash on Shabbos morning and I can still hear his words burning in my ears. He climbed up to the shtender, stared at us from the bima, glared at us with eyes full of fire and cried out. “EHR KUMT. YIDN FARLAWST AYER SHTETL – He’s coming. Jews abandon your city.”

We thought we were safe in Lithuania from the Nazis, from Hitler. We had lived there, thrived for a thousand years but Jabotinsky was right — his warning prophetic. We got out but most did not.

We are not in Lithuania. It is not the 1930s. There is no Luftwaffe overhead. No U-boats off the coast of long Island. No Panzer divisions on our borders. But make no mistake; we are under attack – our values, our tolerance, our freedom, our virtue, our land.

Now before some folks roll their eyes and glance at their watches let me state emphatically, unmistakably “ I have no pathology of hate, nor am I a manic Paul Revere, galloping through the countryside. I am not a pessimist, nor prone to panic attacks. I am a lover of humanity, all humanity.

Whether they worship in a synagogue, a church, a mosque, a temple or don’t worship at all. I have no bone of bigotry in my body, but what I do have is hatred for those who hate, intolerance for those who are intolerant, and a guiltless, unstoppable obsession to see evil eradicated.

Today the enemy is radical Islam but it must be said sadly and reluctantly that there are unwitting, co-conspirators who strengthen the hands of the evil doers. Let me state that the overwhelming number of Muslims are good Muslims, fine human beings who want nothing more than a Jeep Cherokee in their driveway, a flat screen TV on their wall and a good education for their children, but these good Muslims have an obligation to destiny, to decency that thus far for the most part they have avoided. The Kulturkampf is not only external but internal as well. The good Muslims must sponsor rallies in Times Square, in Trafalgar Square, in the UN Plaza, on the Champs Elysee, in Mecca condemning terrorism, denouncing unequivocally the slaughter of the innocent. Thus far, they have not. The good Muslims must place ads in the NY Times. They must buy time on network TV, on cable stations, in the Jerusalem Post, in Le Monde, in Al Watan, on Al Jazeera condemning terrorism, denouncing unequivocally the slaughter of the innocent – thus far, they have not. Their silence allows the vicious to tarnish Islam and define it.

Brutal acts of commission and yawning acts of omission both strengthen the hand of the devil.

I recall a conversation with my father shortly before he died that helped me understand how perilous and how broken is our world; that we are living on the narrow seam of civilization and moral oblivion. Knowing he had little time left he shared the following – Shal. I am ready to leave this earth.

Sure I’d like to live a little longer, see a few more sunrises, but truthfully, I’ve had it. I’m done. Finished. I hope the Good Lord takes me soon because I am unable to live in this world knowing what it has become.

This startling admission of moral exhaustion from a man who witnessed and lived through the Depression, the Holocaust, WWII, Communist Triumphalism, McCarthyism, Strontium 90 and polio. – Yet his twilight observation was – The he worst is yet to come. And he wanted out.

I share my father’s angst and fear that too many do not see the authentic, existential threat we face nor confront the source of our peril. We must wake up and smell the hookah.

Lighten up, Lewis. Take a chill pill, some of you are quietly thinking. You’re sounding like Glen Beck. It’s not that bad. It’s not that real.

But I am here to tell you – It is. Ask the member of our shul whose sister was vaporized in the Twin Towers and identified finally by her charred teeth, if this is real or not. Ask the members of our shul who fled a bus in downtown Paris, fearing for their safety from a gang of Muslim thugs, if this is an exaggeration. Ask the member of our shul whose son tracks Arab terrorist infiltrators who target – pizza parlors, nursery schools, Pesach seders, city buses and play grounds, if this is dramatic, paranoid hyperbole.

Ask them, ask all of them – ask the American GI’s we sit next to on planes who are here for a brief respite while we fly off on our Delta vacation package. Ask them if it’s bad. Ask them if it’s real.

Did anyone imagine in the 1920′s what Europe would look like in the 1940′s. Did anyone presume to know in the coffee houses of Berlin or in the opera halls of Vienna that genocide would soon become the celebrated culture? Did anyone think that a goofy-looking painter named Shickelgruber would go from the beer halls of Munich and jail, to the Reichstag as Feuhrer in less than a decade? Did Jews pack their bags and leave Warsaw, Vilna, Athens, Paris, Bialystok, Minsk, knowing that soon their new address would be Treblinka, Sobibor, Dachau and Auschwitz?

The sages teach – Aizehu chacham – haroeh et hanoanolad – Who is a wise person – he who sees into the e future. We dare not wallow in complacency, in a misguided tolerance and naive sense of security.

We must be diligent students of history and not sit in ash cloth at the waters of Babylon weeping. We cannot be hypnotized by eloquent-sounding rhetoric that soothes our heart but endangers our soul. We cannot be lulled into inaction for fear of offending the offenders. Radical Islam is the scourge and this must be cried out from every mountain top. From sea to shining sea, we must stand tall, prideful of our stunning decency and moral resilience. Immediately after 9/11 how many mosques were destroyed in America? None. After 9/11, how many Muslims were killed in America?

None. After 9/11, how many anti-Muslim rallies were held in America? None. And yet, we apologize. We grovel. We beg forgiveness.

The mystifying litany of our foolishness continues. Should there be a shul in Hebron on the site where Baruch Goldstein gunned down twenty-seven Arabs at noonday prayers? Should there be a museum praising the U.S. Calvary on the site of Wounded Knee? Should there be a German cultural center in Auschwitz? Should a church be built in the Syrian town of Maarra where Crusaders slaughtered over 100,000 Muslims? Should there be a thirteen story mosque and Islamic Center only a few steps from Ground Zero?

Despite all the rhetoric, the essence of the matter can be distilled quite easily. The Muslim community has the absolute, constitutional right to build their building wherever they wish. I don’t buy the argument – “When we can build a church or a synagogue in Mecca they can build a mosque here.” America is greater than Saudi Arabia. And New York is greater than Mecca. Democracy and freedom must prevail.

Can they build? Certainly. May they build? Certainly. But should they build at that site? No — but that decision must come from them, not from us. Sensitivity, compassion cannot be measured in feet or yards or in blocks. One either feels the pain of others and cares, or does not.

If those behind this project are good, peace-loving, sincere, tolerant Muslims, as they claim, then they should know better, rip up the zoning permits and build elsewhere.

Believe it or not, I am a dues-paying, card carrying member of the ACLU, yet from start of finish, I find this sorry episode disturbing to say the least.

William Burroughs, the novelist and poet, in a wry moment wrote – After one look at this planet, any visitor from outer space would say – I want to see the manager.

Let us understand that the radical Islamist assaults all over the globe are but skirmishes, fire fights, and vicious decoys. Christ and the anti-Christ. Gog & Magog. The Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness; the bloody collision between civilization and depravity is on the border between Lebanon and Israel. It is on the Gaza Coast and in the Judean Hills of the West Bank. It is on the sandy beaches of Tel Aviv and on the cobblestoned mall of Ben Yehuda Street. It is in the underground schools of Sderot and on the bullet-proofed inner-city buses. It is in every school yard, hospital, nursery, classroom, park, theater – in every place of innoceence and purity.

Israel is the laboratory – the test market. Every death, every explosion, every grisly encounter is not a random, bloody orgy. It is a calculated, strategic probe into the heart, guts and soul of the West.

In the Six Day War, Israel was the proxy of Western values and strategy while the Arab alliance was the proxy of Eastern, Soviet values and strategy. Today too, it is a confrontation of proxies, but the stakes are greater than East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel in her struggle represents the civilized world, while Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Queda, Iran, Islamic Jihad, represent the world of psychopathic, loathesome evil.

As Israel, imperfect as she is, resists the onslaught, many in the Western World have lost their way displaying not admiration, not sympathy, not understanding, for Israel’s galling plight, but downright hostility and contempt. Without moral clarity, we are doomed because Israel’s gallingplight ultimately will be ours. Hanna Arendt in her classic Origins of Totalitarianism accurately portrays the first target of tyranny as the Jew.

We are the trial balloon. The canary in the coal mine. If the Jew/Israel is permitted to bleed with nary a protest from “good guy” then tyranny snickers and pushes forward with its agenda.

Moral confusion is a deadly weakness and it has reached epic proportions in the West; from the Oval Office to the UN, from the BBC to Reuters to MSNBC, from the New York Times to Le Monde, from university campuses to British teachers unions, from the International Red Cross to Amnesty International, from Goldstone to Elvis Costello, from the Presbyterian Church to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

There is a message sent and consequences when our president visits Turkey and Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and not Israel.

There is a message sent and consequences when free speech on campus is only for those championing Palestinian rights.

There is a message sent and consequences when the media deliberately doctors and edits film clips to demonize Israel.

There is a message sent and consequences when the UN blasts Israel relentlessly, effectively ignoring Iran, Sudan, Venezuela, North Korea, China and other noxious states.

There is a message sent and consequences when liberal churches are motivated by Liberation Theology, not historical accuracy.

There is a message sent and consequences when murderers and terrorists are defended by the obscenely transparent “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”

John Milton warned, “Hypocrisy is the only evil that walks invisible.”

A few days after the Gaza blockade incident in the spring, a congregant happened past my office, glanced in and asked in a friendly tone –

“Rabbi. How’re ya’ doing?”

I looked up, sort of smiled and replied – “I’ve had better days.”

“What’s the matter? Is there anything I can do to cheer you up?” he inquired.

“Thank you for the offer but I’m just bummed out today and I showed him a newspaper article I was reading.

“Madrid gay pride parade bans Israeli group over Gaza Ship Raid.” I explained to my visitor – “The Israeli gay pride contingent ffrom Tel Aviv was not allowed to participate in the Spanish gay pride parade because the mayor of Tel Aviv did not apologize for the raid by the Israeli military.”

The only country in the entire Middle East where gay rights exist, is Israel. The only country in the entire Middle East where there is a gay pride parade, is Israel. The only country in the Middle East that has gay neighborhoods and gay bars, is Israel.

Gays in the Gaza would be strung up, executed by Hamas if they came out and yet Israel is vilified and ostracized. Disinvited to the parade.

Looking for logic?

Looking for reason?

Looking for sanity?

Kafka on his darkest, gloomiest day could not keep up with this bizarre spectacle and we “useful idiots” pander and fawn over cutthroats, sinking deeper and deeper into moral decay, as the enemy laughs all the way to the West Bank and beyond.

It is exhausting and dispiriting. We live in an age that is redefining righteousness where those with moral clarity are an endangered, beleaguered specie.

Isaiah warned us thousands of years ago – “Oye Lehem Sheh-Korim Layome, Laila v’Laila, yome – Woe to them who call the day, night and the night, day.” We live on a planet that is both Chelm and Sodom. It is a frightening and maddening place to be.

How do we convince the world and many of our own, that this is not just anti-Semitism, that this is not just anti-Zionism but a full throttled attack by unholy, radical Islamists on everything that is morally precious to us?

How do we convince the world and many of our own that conciliation is not an option, that compromise is not a choice?

Everything we are. Everything we believe. Everything we treasure, is at risk.

The threat is so unbelievably clear and the enemy so unbelievably ruthless how anyone in their right mind doesn’t get it is baffling. Let’s try an analogy. If someone contracted a life-threatening infection and we not only scolded them for using antibiotics but insisted that the bacteria had a right to infect their body and that perhaps, if we gave the invading infection an arm and a few toes, the bacteria would be satisfied and stop spreading

Anyone buy that medical advice? Well, folks, that’s our approach to the radical Islamist bacteria. It is amoral, has no conscience and will spread unless it is eradicated. – There is no negotiating.; Appeasement is death.

I was no great fan of George Bush – didn’t vote for him. (By the way, I’m still a registered Democrat.) I disagreed with many of his policies but one thing he had right. His moral clarity was flawless when it came to the War on Terror, the War on Radical Islamist Terror. There was no middle ground – either you were friend or foe. There was no place in Bush’s world for a Switzerland. He knew that this competition was not Toyota against G.M., not the Iphone against the Droid, not the Braves against the Phillies, but a deadly serious war, winner take all. Blink and you lose. Underestimate, and you get crushed.

I know that there are those sitting here today who have turned me off. But I also know that many turned off their rabbis seventy five years ago in Warsaw, Riga, Berlin, Amsterdam, Cracow, Vilna. I get no satisfaction from that knowledge, only a bitter sense that there is nothing new under the sun.

Enough rhetoric – how about a little “show and tell?” A few weeks ago on the cover of Time magazine was a horrific picture with a horrific story.

The photo was of an eighteen year old Afghani woman, Bibi Aisha, who fled her abusive husband and his abusive family. Days later the Taliban found her and dragged her to a mountain clearing where she was found guilty of violating Sharia Law. Her punishment was immediate. She was pinned to the ground by four men while her husband sliced off her ears, and then he cut off her nose.

That is the enemy.

If nothing else stirs us. If nothing else convinces us, let Bibi Aisha’s mutilated face be the face of Islamic radicalism. Let her face shake upeven the most complacent and naive among us. In the holy crusade against this ultimate evil, pictures of Bibi Aisha’s disfigurement should be displayed on billboards, along every highway from Route 66 to the Autobahn, to the Transarabian Highway. Her picture should be posted on every lobby wall from Tokyo to Stockholm to Rio. On every network, at every commercial break, Bibi Aisha’s face should appear with the caption – “Radical Islamic savages did this.” And underneath – This ad was approved by Hamas, by Hezbollah, by Taliban, by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, by Islamic Jihad, by Fatah al Islam, by Magar Nodal Hassan, by Richard Reid, by Ahmanijad, by Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, by Osama bin Laden, by Edward Said, by The Muslim Brotherhood, by Al Qaeda, by CAIR.

“The moral sentiment is the drop that balances the sea” said Ralph Waldo Emerson. Today, my friends, the sea is woefully out of balance and we could easily drown in our moral myopia and worship of political correctness.

We peer up into the heavens sending probes to distant galaxies. We peer down into quarks discovering particles that would astonish Einstein. We create computers that rival the mind, technologies that surpass science fiction. What we imagine, with astounding rapidity, becomes real. If we dream it, it does, indeed, come. And yet, we are at a critical point in the history of this planet that could send us back into the cave, to a culture that would make the Neanderthal blush with shame.

Our parents and grandparents saw the swastika and recoiled, understood the threat and destroyed the Nazis. We see the banner of Radical Islam and can do no less.

A rabbi was once asked by his students…. “Rebbi. Why are your sermons so stern?” Replied the rabbi, “If a house is on fire and we chose not to wake up our children, for fear of disturbing their sleep, would that be love? Kinderlach, “di hoyz brent. Children our house is on fire and I must arouse you from your slumber.”

During WWII and the Holocaust was it business as usual for priests, ministers, rabbis? Did they deliver benign homilies and lovely sermons as Europe fell, as the Pacific fell, as North Africa fell, as the Mideast and South America tottered, as England bled? Did they ignore the demonic juggernaut and the foul breath of evil? They did not. There was clarity, courage, vision, determination, sacrifice, and we were victorious. Today it must be our finest hour as well. We dare not retreat into the banality of our routines, glance at headlines and presume that the good guys will prevail.

Democracies don’t always win.

Tyrannies don’t always lose.

My friends – the world is on fire and we must awake from our slumber.

EHR KUMT!

Yom Kippur in Israel

2011-10-08T17:34:00.000Z

First time ever I am in Israel for Yom Kippur.

Now I see the importance of our insistence on a Jewish state.

Not because of the total absence of cars - a true shabbat shabbaton.

But because the fast went out well before 6pm !

How wonderful to have your own state and be free to turn the clocks whichever way suits our religious observance least painfully.

Let's NEVER give it up.

Best wishes to all.

Coming to a European city near you ....

2011-09-25T12:24:00.001Z

This is Paris two weeks ago.

You don't need to know much French to see how the chickens of multiculturalism and open EU borders have come home to roost.

It astonishes me that Israeli politicians like Peres and Lieberman still espouse Israeli membership of the EU.
Just imagine tiny Israel having to throw open its borders in this way?

While the world focuses on Europe's economic bankruptcy, scenes like this show that finance is the least of their problems.

Was Soros behind Israel's demos ?

2011-09-04T11:00:00.004Z

Maariv's exposure of a former Clinton pollster being involved in Israel's 'tent city' demonstrations has a very bad smell about it.

Last night the demonstrations climaxed to almost half-a-million people. In a tiny country like Israel, this is bigger than Tunis, Yemen, Egypt and Libya combined.

If external forces like Stanley Greenberg have indeed been involved in stirring-up the protests, it's very likely that what started as a social protest has been hijacked by powerful external forces to unseat the Netanyahu government.

One has to ask: is this another Soros-funded revolution?

Just connect the dots.

After the fall of Netanyahu's first government in 1990, Greenberg was reportedly dispatched by Clinton to assist Ehud Barak's election campaign.

Most likely the same agenda is being followed now, following the clear animus displayed by Barak Obama at both meetings with Netanyahu.

Obama's feelings towards Netanyahu will probably have been colored by his then chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel who has no love for Bibi.

From a single protest tent in Tel Aviv, the movement grew to half-a-million demonstrators in just 6 weeks. The overwhelmingly leftist organisers clearly needed serious organisation, media management and funding.

Greenberg has close links with Rahm Emanuel. Apart from the many polling contracts, Emanuel reportedly lived 5 years rent-free in the home of Greenberg's wife, who is Democratic Congresswoman Rosa de Lauro of Connecticut.

Now we come to Soros. Apart from his links to the Color Revolutions such as the one he backed in Georgia, he runs or funds virtually every liberal leftist and globalist organisation and agenda in the United States and beyond. It's hard to imagine that such a leading Democratic pollster as Greenberg would not have secured many contracts with those organisations and thereby benefited from the billions of Soros grant funds.

Greenberg's wife is an ardent admirer of Soros. Empathizing with hurtful 'McCarthyite attacks' made upon him by others, she invited Soros to a meeting on Capitol Hill. Here is the invitation.

With US debt and jobless numbers having finally debunked Obama's fraud of 'hope and change' - Greenberg has been advising the President to avoid electioneering on the economy. Clearly the only rabbit Obama can pull out of the hat in an election year is a peace settlement in Israel. For this he needs Livni to replace Netanyahu and sign-away half of Israel and Jerusalem to the Arabs.

So, is Soros and his money connected with a move to oust the freely elected government of the Middle East's only democracy?

When the tent protesters finally go home, and the Trajtenberg Commission has investigated all the social complaints, a new commission of inquiry should be set up to ask this very question, and expose any external forces which have been working to undermine the government of Israel these past few weeks.

A government which, according to the latest opinion poll, has increased its lead on Livni's Kadima party by almost 10 seats.

What makes the Arabs happy?

2011-09-04T08:42:00.000Z

This anonymous email dropped into my inbox ...

The Arabs are not happy ...

· They are not happy in Gaza.
· They are not happy in the West.
· They are not happy in Jerusalem.
· They are not happy in Israel.
· They are not happy in Egypt.
· They are not happy in Libya.
· They are not happy in Algeria.
· They are not happy in Tunis.
· They are not happy in Morocco.
· They are not happy in Yemen.
· They are not happy in Iraq.
· They are not happy in Afghanistan.
· They are not happy in Syria.
· They are not happy in Lebanon.
· They are not happy in Sudan.
· They are not happy in Jordan.
· They are not happy in Iran.

Where are the Arabs happy?
· They are happy in England.
· They are happy in France.
· They are happy in Italy.
· They are happy in Germany.
· They are happy in Sweden.
· They are happy in Holland.
· They are happy in Belgium.
· They are happy in Norway.
· They are happy in the U.S..
· They are happy in Australia.
· They are happy in the New Zealand.

They are happy in any other country in the world that is not under a Muslim rule.

And whom do they blame?
· Not Islam.
· Not their leadership.
· Not themselves.
But the same countries in which they are happy to live.
This is so true .....

Democracy is really good for them ...
In a democracy they can live comfortably, enjoy the high quality of life which they did not build and work for, they don’t have to be productive and earn a living, they can be wild, pray in the street and exploit social services, bite the hand that feeds them.

And by the time the free world wakes up, it will be too late .....

Gordis roasts J-Street

2011-08-29T12:01:00.000Z

In case you misssed it, here is a first-rate roasting of J-Street by Daniel Gordis when he took up the offer of addressing their summer 'leadership' mission to "Israel & Palestine".

"Good morning and welcome to Jerusalem. It’s a pleasure to meet with this leadership mission; I understand that there are some first-time visitors to Israel among you, so a particular welcome to those of you who’ve never been here before.

Before we got seated, one member of your group conveyed a message from the Israeli consul-general in his home community. The message was that I shouldn’t speak to you. As you can imagine, I received similar advice from a wide array of people after I received your invitation, but I’ve chosen to ignore it.

As most of you know, I disagree strongly with much of what you do. But I think that we have an obligation to meet with people with whom we disagree. Given the extent of the forces aligned against Israel, seeking to delegitimize the very idea of a Jewish state, the pro-Israel camp needs a big tent. Neither Israel nor the Jewish people will survive if we work only with those with whom we agree. A big tent, by definition, means including people with whom we disagree passionately, but who still share our basic goals.

Even a big tent, though, has its limits. There are things that one can say, or do, that place a person or an organization outside that tent. You know very well that there are many people who believe that J Street is outside the tent, not in it. I’m not yet certain. That’s why I’m here.

LET ME begin with a basic assumption: I assume that we want the same thing. We seek two states in this region, one a thriving, Jewish, democratic Israel, and the other a thriving, non-Jewish, democratic Palestine. Of course, there are Israelis on both ends of the political spectrum who do not wish this. Some Israelis no longer believe in the importance of a Jewish state and would prefer a state “of all its citizens” between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. But as that would make Jews a minority in this country and thus end the Zionist project, I’m utterly opposed to that. There are also Israelis who still resist the idea of a Palestinian state and who would prefer to either exile millions of Palestinians or forever keep them under our thumb as non-citizens, either of which would be morally obtuse. But the vast majority of Israelis, if presented with a genuine opportunity to live side by side in a democratic, transparent, peaceful, demilitarized Palestine, would accept it.

So, assuming that’s what you also seek, I assume our disagreement is about how to get there. You believe that people who are not willing to make major territorial concessions to the Palestinians right now are not serious about a two-state solution. You think that those of us who claim that we favor a two-state solution but who are not willing to give up the store at this moment are bluffing. Or we’re liars. Or, at best, we’re well-intentioned but misguided. But bottom line, if we’re not willing now to make the concessions that you think are called for, then we’re not really pursuing peace.

But that is arrogance of the worst sort. Does your distance from the conflict give you some moral clarity that we don’t have? Are you smarter than we are? Are you less racist? Why do you assume with such certainty that you have a monopoly on the wisdom needed to get to the goal we both seek?

IN PREPARING for this session, I did a bit of reading of statements that you’ve issued on a whole array of issues. One, just released, is a perfect example of the certainty and arrogance of which I’m speaking. Reacting to the most recent Fatah-Hamas agreement, this is what J Street had to say: “In fact, many who oppose a two-state deal have, in recent years, done so by arguing that divisions among the Palestinians make peace impossible. Obviously, reconciliation [between Fatah and Hamas] reduces that obstacle – but now skeptics of a twostate agreement have immediately stepped forward to say that a deal is impossible with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas.”

“Obviously,” you say, reconciliation reduces the obstacle to a peace treaty.

But I would caution you against ever using the word “obviously” when it comes to the Middle East. Nothing here is obvious. If you think that something is obvious, then you simply haven’t thought enough. Why is it obvious that Fatah’s signing a deal with Hamas, which rejects Israel’s very right to exist, reduces obstacles to peace? Isn’t it just as plausible that it makes peace impossible, or that signing a deal and returning large swathes of land to a group still sworn to our destruction would be suicidal? I suppose that reasonable minds could debate this matter, but how is it “obvious” that this is good news for peace? And then you go on to say that “skeptics of a two-state agreement have immediately stepped forward to say that a deal is impossible with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas.”

There you go again, telling us that if we don’t agree with you, then we’re not serious or honest. If we think that the Fatah-Hamas deal is terrible news for peace, then we’re just “skeptics of a two-state agreement.” In your worldview, there’s no possibility that we’re just a bit more nervous than you are, that we do not want to make a mistake that will turn our own homes into Sderot, that we are frightened of restoring the horror of 2000-2004 to our streets, buses and restaurants.

No, that possibility doesn’t exist, because anyone who doesn’t agree with you is by definition a “skeptic of the two-state agreement.”

I’d suggest that if you want to convince those of us still deciding whether you’re part of the big tent that you are “in,” that you drop this sort of condescension. It’s arrogant and intellectually shallow; it doesn’t serve you well.

And if you want those of us who are still unsure to become convinced that you are part of the big tent, then I have another piece of advice for you – recognize that not everyone can be part of it. There are groups who are clearly opposed to Israel’s existence as a Jewish state; they are our enemies. It doesn’t matter if they are in Israel or outside, or if they are Jewish or not. If they are working to end Israel, or to end it as a Jewish and democratic state, then they are our enemies, plain and simple. There are enemies who cannot be loved or compromised into submission, and you need to recognize that.

The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement is a case in point. No one in their right mind doubts that BDS is opposed to Israel’s continued existence as a Jewish state. So why were they invited to your annual conference? There need to be limits to those you’d welcome into your tent. You need to show us that you care about Israel more than you care about dialogue with Israel’s enemies.

I still remember the first time I was struck by this tendency of yours to assail Israel when you’d been silent about what Israel’s enemies were doing. It was the first day of the Gaza war at the end of 2008. Sderot had been shelled intermittently for eight years, and relentlessly in the days prior to the beginning of the war. It was obvious that this couldn’t go on, for the first obligation of states to their citizens is to protect them.

For years, Israel had been failing the citizens of Sderot. But when Israel finally decided to do what any legitimate state would do, J Street immediately called for a cessation of hostilities. The war was only hours old, nothing had been accomplished and the citizens of Sderot were still no safer than they had been. But J Street had had enough.

Why? Why had you said almost nothing for all the years that Sderot was being shelled, but within hours of the war’s beginning were calling for it to end? What matters more to you – the safety of Israel’s citizens, or advancing your own moral agenda in our region of the world? IF YOU want us to be convinced that you’re in the big tent, show us. Show us that there are times that you will stand up for Israel, not its enemies. Explain why you lobbied Congress against a resolution condemning incitement in Palestinian schools. Explain why, when Israel is marginalized as never before (a recent poll showed that Europeans rank Israel and North Korea as the greatest threats to world peace!), you pressured the US not to veto a UN resolution on settlements, which the mainstream of American Jewry all thought needed to be vetoed.

And ask yourselves this: If you were to take all the money you’re spending in the United States and do your work here in Israel, trying to strengthen the political parties who are more inclined to do what you seek, how much traction would you get? We all know you would get a pretty chilly reception. Ask yourself why that is. Is it that we Israelis really don’t want to end this conflict? We enjoy sending our children off to war? We look forward to the next funeral at Mount Herzl? We’re not aware that time is not on our side?

Or is it that we live here, and that even rank-and-file Israelis know a bit more about the complexity of this conflict than you give us credit for? Why would you assume that we’re stupid, or immoral, or addicted to the conflict? Why do you insist that the Fatah-Hamas agreement is a good thing, or that it’s best for Israel if the US twists its arm even harder? At a time when Israel is so alone, can you see why it’s hard for many of us to buy the argument that you’re genuinely pro-Israel, or that you should be part of the big tent?

It’s time for you to show us. Show us that you seek peace, that you care about the Palestinians, but that even more (yes, more, because that’s what the particularism of peoplehood requires), that you care about us. It’s one thing to put “pro-Israel” in your tag line, and another to be “pro-Israel.” You certainly don’t need to be a rubber stamp for Israeli policy – that’s not what’s at issue. Israel desperately needs critique, and Israelis issue it all the time. So, too, should Diaspora Jews.

No, what’s at issue is for us to see you pressure someone, anytime, to be in Israel’s camp on something. That’s what we want to see. When we see that, more of us will believe that you’re part of our tent, and then, even with all our disagreements, we’ll be convinced that we could work together for a better future for all the peoples of this region."

POSTSCRIPT: In the Q&A session that followed, J Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami asked the first question. He said that he found it “astounding” that I had given an entire presentation “without mentioning the occupation of another people.”

But interestingly, in the May 12 issue of Globes, Vered Kellner, who traveled with the group and went with them from my session to their meeting with Salam Fayyad, noted that Fayyad didn’t mention the occupation either. “Is it possible that the occupation conversation simply doesn’t interest anyone anymore?” she asked.

“True,” Ben-Ami answered, “neither Gordis nor Fayyad raised the occupation, but we’re here to remind Israelis that you can’t pretend that the occupation isn’t part of reality.”

So here’s my final question: If the way that you’re framing the issues is no longer the way that Israelis and Palestinians are discussing them, is it possible that you are not even addressing the core issues that matter to the people actually in the conflict? Perhaps the time has come to ask yourselves what matters to you more: actually moving the policy needle, or assuaging your own discomfort with the undeniably painful complexities of this conflict. If what you want to do is affect policy, how effective would you say you’ve been thus far?

Daniel Gordis is senior vice president of the Shalem Center in Jerusalem. His latest book, Saving Israel: How the Jewish People Can Win a War that May Never End, won the 2009 National Jewish Book Award. He blogs at http://danielgordis.org

The Lunacy of Oslo

2011-08-28T21:11:00.002Z

I took my 7-year-old daughter and two granddaughters to Rachel’s Tomb this afternoon. We went from there to Kiryat Arba, Hebron and Machpela, Cave of the Patriarchs and the tomb of Ruth.

Rachel’s Tomb is only accessible through a high-walled road corridor into Arab- controlled Bethlehem.

We gave that control to the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords.

In return we got restaurant and bus bombings and daily rocket attacks which continue until today.

How Jews managed to retain even this tentative access to the tomb of the mother of the tribes of Israel is a miracle in itself. (See my Jewish Press article of some years ago HERE.)

Similarly the burial site of Ruth, located in Tel Rumeida, is accessible only through an army base and tin-sheeted corridor laced with barbed wire which zigzags into Arab-controlled Hebron.

That was another accord named Wye. It should have been called Why? (Our attachment to Hebron is the subject of another article of some years back HERE.)

Then there is Joseph's tomb in Shechem; another Oslo casualty where we have to visit in bus convoys in the middle of the night to avoid upsetting the Arab mayor of what they renamed the City of Nablus. (This is a derivative of the Roman name Neapolis - or Naples. Palestine was another Roman name used to erase the true biblical name of Judea.)

Apart from reviving past writings, my point in blogging today’s excursion, is the irony that, in the Diaspora, Jews can freely visit the tombs of their rabbis and Hassidic mentors on visits to Poland, Russia, Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain … even Turkey and pretty much all over Europe.

But in our very own homeland, we can only visit our most revered sites like criminals, under armed guard at risk of a sniper’s bullet.

How does one explain this to a grandchild?

That we can do what we like in someone else’s house, but in our own home we appear like intruders?

That is the lunacy of Oslo.
.

Gaddafi: of Human Shields and Rothshields

2011-08-25T09:49:00.000Z

A couple of years ago I sent this letter to Nat Rothschild's father lamenting his billionaire son's friendship with the Gaddafi family.

When the new Libyan government gets around to pursuing the Gaddafi family's ill-gotten gains, they might usefully call on the Rothschilds for some leads.

Barak must go ...

2011-08-25T09:26:00.001Z

It's hard to believe that Ehud Barak was the most highly decorated soldier in the IDF. It's also hard to believe that he is Israel's defence minister.

A soldier's job is to arm himself, identify enemies and destroy them.

In the flotilla incident, Barak armed our soldiers with paintball guns and now wants to apologise for their acting in self-defence. For Mr Barak, the Islamic leadership in Turkey, with its unremitting incitement against Israel, is no enemy

A defence minister's job is to protect and defend the citizens.

The south of Israel has been under missile attack for over a week. It goes on even as I write these lines.

The defence ministry has been closely monitoring the many thousands of missile deliveries to Lebanon and Gaza. What was the last figure I heard? Maybe fifty thousand rockets split between Hamas and Hezbullah? The prime minister has been using this information for at least 5 years in briefings to Western leaders.

So would someone please explain to me why years later, the IDF is still waiting for its 3rd battery of Iron Dome interceptors to be deployed "in the next 2 months". And that 3 more (just three!) will be deployed in 2012. This information was announced - or leaked - 4 days ago.

Yesterday the business journal Globes reported that Rafael Industries, are "doubling their capacity" of Iron Dome production.

What planet must Ehud Barak be on?

Is he so busy playing foreign minister to do his prime job?

Is he still in paintgun mode?

Israel's two Iron Dome batteries have successfully intercepted 90 percent of incoming rockets. It is a locally produced item - not something that we needed Obama's permission to ship, or was embargoed by the European Union.

So why did Barak not order full scale production 2 years - or even 1 year ago?

Is Israel short of funds to pay a local company and thereby create hundreds more jobs?

Why did Barak wait until 1 million Israelis were sleeping in bomb shelters before ordering more Iron Domes?

And why is Rafael just doubling production?
This is war for heaven's sake. Production needs surely to be increased tenfold!

The specter of two Iron Dome batteries being frantically towed from Beersheva to Ashkelon and back with each attack would be Keystone-comical if not for its clear message of Barak's utter betrayal of Israeli citizens.

Barak may once have been Netanyahu's commanding officer, and Bibi may still think that the sun shines out of Barak's backside. But for Israelis facing another night - and possibly a whole shabbat - in the shelters, enough is enough.

Barak must go.

Strategic Affairs minister Gen. Moshe Yaalon, a former IDF Chief of Staff, is well able to step into the breach ... and without apologies to anyone.

Israel has no truer friend ...

2011-08-24T22:19:00.001Z

I'm delighted to have been here in Jerusalem for Glenn Beck's 'Restoring Courage' events.

Apart from being the greatest phenomenon in cable news, and champion of the rights and freedoms endowed by America's founding fathers, he is probably the most vocal and sincere non-Jewish advocate for Israel in the media today.

Sunday's event in Caesaria was a resounding success with powerful speeches by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and US Pastor John Hagee who invoked JFK's Berlin speech to rouse the mainly Christian crowd of thousands to chant: "I am an Israeli".

What a contrast to the British demonstrators who march to chants of "We are all Hizbullah".

At today's closing event on the steps of the Temple Mount, and in the shadow of the Al Aksa mosque, he declared again and again "Lo Irah" ... I shall not fear in defending Israel and denouncing evil. He said the next time some nation decided to round up Jews he would proudly say: "Take me first!".

He is now on his way to South Africa to publicise what Apartheid really was and how absurd it is to ascribe such conduct to Israel.
.

Deliverance in Beersheva

2011-08-23T11:55:00.003Z

From under the hail of over 100 rockets indiscriminately fired by Gaza terrorists into Israeli towns, comes this story was emailed to me ...

My daughter gave birth on Friday, three weeks earlier than expected. The little baby still does not have a name and she is not even 48 hours old. My wife and I live in the Galil, my daughter with her husband and 2 year old grandchild live near Beersheva.

Last night, Saturday, we were all visiting her when the warning alarm that an incoming Grad Missile from Gaza was targeting the region. The drill is that everybody has to move within not more than 15 seconds from their Maternity room which has windows, to the closest corridor that has fewer windows. (15 seconds do not permit to go any further to an underground shelter)

So my wife and I helped my daughter get off the bed, put on her slippers and begin to push the cart where the newborn baby was sleeping and we walked out of the room… Believe it or not, it was not easy due to the traffic in the corridor, all the mothers, almost like dressed in uniform, were pushing their carts in the same direction. Most of them were alone, because it was shortly after Shabbat and after the Ramadan fast period ended, so they were valiantly doing this on their own, a few hours after a very, if not one of the most significant and meaningful moments in their life. Some of the women were Arab, others were Bedouins, Russian Olim, Ethiopian Olim, other people in the corridor were hospital staff, security, doctors and visitors… Oh yes, some were just veteran Israelis like my daughter, who is a 7th generation Israeli, pushing an eighth generation baby who was not yet given a name…

My reflection while this was all happening was: Here we are in Beersheva where 4000 years ago, Abraham made a wise and generous truce to avoid rivalry and conflict; yes 4000 years ago… and here we are being given 15 seconds to try and avoid danger caused by rivalry and conflict… I am sure that many books can be written by tapping into the minds of all of us gathered in a crowded corridor in the hospital.

Today is another day and I am writing my reflections after experiencing three more “Tzeva Adom” “Color Red” alarms, while holding my grandchild in my arms and he is only two years old, but old enough to ask: Ma zeh? What is this?

P.S. Oh yes, I forgot to share with you one more thing: Last night after the above description, visiting hours ended and we left the hospital with Ziv our grandchild to go home. While we were walking out of the Hospital building, Ziv began to play in the parking lot with a little Bedouin 1.5 years old, when suddenly again the siren went off and again we had 15 seconds to be ushered to the safe area. This time we were all ushered into a corridor of the Delivery Ward of the Hospital. There were no babies in little carts. This time we found ourselves in between dozens of women who were about to give birth, one of them was sitting in a wheel chair experiencing very strong contractions… This time we heard the explosions very close to us, people were just counting 1,2,3… 7. Yes 7 grad missiles were targeted to Beersheva, four of them fell in an open area, two of them were hit by our anti grad missile system “Iron Dome” and one hit a building injuring 7 people and killing one man, Yossi Shushan, (38) who happened to be there to pick up his 9 month pregnant wife… He will not be in the delivery ward where I happened to be, at the very same moment he was killed…

I can only commend the behavior and bravery of every single person (who will most likely not meet again), with whom we shared a few minutes that will remain with us for a lifetime…

Victor
Beersheva, Israel, August 2011

Moshe Naftali z'l - the real story

2011-08-21T21:55:00.000Z

As I blogged last week, Moshe Naftali z'l who lost his life during the terrorist attack on Thursday, was a graduate of the Keshet Yehuda pre-military yeshiva academy.

Here is an email I have just received from the academy's director, Guy Eshet, with an account of his visit to the shiva house.

Hi Zalmi,

I am now in the home of the fallen soldier Moshe Naftali who was commander of a jeep involved in the counter terrorist attack. 5 minutes ago I heard an astonishing acoount from his father. This account was given to him by one of the soldiers who was involved in the operation together with him. He says that Moshe was the commander in the first jeep that arrived on the scene. He saw the terrorist who has killed the family in the private car going towards the car to check that the wounded were dead. Moshe told his driver to speed towards him and run him over and so they killed that terrorist. When he was killed a explosive belt that he was wearing exploded but the jeep was not hurt. He then saw a sniper shooting at them from not far. He told his soldiers that they would attack him on foot because he also could easily be wearing an explosive belt and miracles might not happen twice. Moshe shot at him and wounded him but unfortuneately did not kill him. He then shot Moshe in the head. Before Moshe was killed he reported all that was going on at the scene and asked for more forces to be sent. Immediately they stopped traffic that was travelling near that point and thus no doubt managed to save lives. Later on the Yamam force came and that was when their commander was killed by a sniper.

I don't understand why this story was not reported and I plan to make it known. It's a Mitzvah to tell it.

Yours

Guy.

A tale of two embassies ....

2011-08-21T12:46:00.001Z

Last Thursday's terror killings of 8 Israelis and the firing of 100 rockets into Israeli population centers in the subsequent 3 days was sure to get London's luvvies out on the streets to cheer on the jihad.

Hats off to the intrepid blogger Richard Millett for fearlessly filming these useful idiots outside the Israeli Embassy.

This particular idiot sports a Che Guevara shirt, which suggests that he probably knows as much about Che as he knows about Gaza and Israel.

Perhaps one day this idiot will discover that Che was a committed Stalinist who reveled in the torture and execution of thousands of political prisoners in Cuba.

Guevara makes the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad look tame by comparison.

Meanwhile, at the Syrian embassy in London, all is quiet.

As it is outside the Iranian embassy.

For Britain's useful idiots, it's OK to machine-gun hundreds of unarmed Syrian citizens in the street ...

it's OK to have Iranian dissidents clubbed, imprisoned, gang-raped and stoned to death ...

its OK to starve millions in Darfur ...

... as long as Jews are not involved.

The definition of "chutzpah" just got updated to this anti-Semite in a Che shirt protesting 'British Support for Racism' .

When any of these people set up a relief flotilla for Darfur, or an International Solidarity Movement for oppressed citizens in Syria, Iran or any of the 22 Muslim states, please be sure to let me know. I might miss the story in the British media.

.

Moshe Naftali - hyd

2011-08-19T10:15:00.001Z

This morning they buried a brave young soldier on Mt Herzl. Moshe Naftali, 22 year old Golani trooper, was responding to the Palestinian terror attacks which left 7 of our people dead and many others wounded.

I was touched to read also that Moshe, zichrono livracha, was a graduate of the pre-military yeshiva academy in the Golan - Keshet Yehuda.

I have been proud to be associated with its founder Guy Eshet and to assist his efforts in supporting this wonderful institution which instills Torah-true values in the defence of our people and our Jewish state.

I invite all readers to support Keshet Yehuda so that other graduates like Naftali may rise to the highest ranks to prevail against our enemies and sanctify his memory and his sacrifice for our people.

ת.נ.צ.ב.ה

Keshet Pre-Military Academy in the Golan

A remarkable story ...

2011-08-18T17:51:00.019Z

How many inventors of the cure for cancer, cold fusion, everlasting batteries or safe nuclear power were incinerated in the Nazi concentration camps?

I often wonder.

The exception usually proves the rule.

Here is one exception ... and a truly inspiring one at that.

Click the link below to see the remarkable story of Dr Felix Zandman who passed away in June.

http://www.vishay.com/landingpage/zandman/co_drz_video.html

By Any Other Name ...

2011-08-18T16:41:00.000Z

Another terror attack on Israel today and another skewed report by the BBC.

Read their report, see what I mean.

I sent the following feedback which will doubtless be added to their extra-large trashcan:

"Gunmen, assailants ... every kind of euphemism except the accurate one: "terrorists".

How can a world news organization get away with censoring the truth?

Could you be doctors and not say 'disease'?

Or be artists and ban the word 'colour'?

So what happened to journalism and the truth?

By failing to call this evil by its real name, the BBC only encourages more death and destruction by beasts who think the world regards them as common criminals. "

Thank goodness for organisations like Honest Reporting which monitors this kind of travesty, as you can see by clicking the picture above.

Another 'lone crusader' for BBC reform is British lawyer Trevor Asserson. He set up the website BBCwatch before moving to Israel. In a recent article for the Jerusalem Post magazine, Trevor reveals that BBC news reaches 90 percent of the British public compared with only 27 percent for its nearest rival Sky News. He continues:

A recent survey showed that 1,500 versions of a single news story could all be traced back to just three sources: Reuters and AP – two anonymous generic purveyors of information – and the BBC. The BBC is the strongest brand in the news business, a brand which, even after much research debunking the myth, is still widely believed to denote accuracy, balance and truth.

Is it a wonder that the UK is the world leader in boycott activity against Israel?

Now you know ....

2011-08-10T22:01:00.003Z

March 2010 White House snub

If anyone is still in doubt as to what Bibi Netanyahu was dealing with ...

Here:

May 2011 '67 border sting

... and here:

... let them watch the video below.

It's shameful.
It's disgraceful.

Ahmadinejad only ‘threatens’ to erase Israel.

The Obama White House actually does it.

London's Burning

2011-08-09T17:46:00.002Z

London 8/8/2011

It’s 4.45 pm Tuesday, Tisha B’Av, here in London and I’ve just allowed staff to leave early to avoid rioters reportedly massing a mile or so north of my office.

Who would have thought this could ever happen here? This famously peaceful and tolerant society with its unarmed London ‘bobbies’, the oldest of all parliaments and oodles of charm and chivalry.

London 7/7/2005

On 7/7 it was the Islamists.

On 8/8 it was the anarchists.

Both events shook this county to the core.

But are there other connections?

I think there are – certainly in the reaction to both.

We keep hearing this incessant chatter about what brought these people to riot, loot, burn and destroy. There’s social deprivation, broken homes, police intimidation … every pundit has his or her own theory.

It’s a lot like the 7/7 bombers. All that handwringing about how Britain had brought this upon itself by intervening in Iraq etc. etc.

The simple answer is usually the correct one.

These are anarchists who felt they could get away with it – so they did.

The police have been in total disarray.

The government have been away on holiday – and by the weakness of their response, they may as well stay there.

So why did these anarchists believe they could get away with all this … and how can they - even now in broad daylight - be marching down my main road?

Prince Charles' car under riot attack in January

Simply because there is no longer any deterrence.

They don’t fear arrest, because the government has decimated the ranks of the police.

They don’t fear the policeman’s baton, because the police are scared of legal action for injury.

If they happen to get caught, they don’t fear punishment because the government has eroded sentencing guidelines to levels of farce.

The government stopped building new jails, even as immigration soared.

So custodial sentences are largely discouraged.

If they are jailed, they will be out in weeks – or at least moved to ‘open prisons’ akin to holiday camps.

Do they care that a criminal record will ruin their chances of future employment?

Nah! These people live on theft and welfare and probably always will.

Where crime is concerned, it’s all about deterrence.

And if deterrence is watered-down to the level of farce, you have a recipe for disaster.

We have the liberal leftists to thank for all this.

They created this culture of equal ‘entitlement’ and ‘rights’ which transcends any consideration of whether they have been fairly earned.

Why should an avowed terrorist be entitled to the protection of a human rights court?

Why should an illegal immigrant felon be entitled to resist deportation on the grounds that he has a 'human right to a family life' in this country?

This has all been wrought by the liberal leftist academic and ‘enlightened’ classes who regard anyone on the right as ignorant and unwashed. To these leftists, those who talk of ‘crime & punishment’, restoration of the death penalty and more discipline in our schools are stupid barbarians. This is of course how they still speak of George W Bush, even as their darling Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama is into more wars than both Bushes put together.

Britain needs leaders with the guts to reclaim British sovereignty from Europe, write up our own Bill of Rights, double the number of jail cells and police, seal our borders and cut welfare benefits to all hooligans, hoodies and illegal immigrants.

We pay taxes to be protected from these people, not to subsidise their rehabilitation - however hopeless that may be.

The UN Insanity Plea

2011-08-02T19:59:00.001Z

After all the ridicule heaped on the UN for its Human Rights Council's absurd admission of abusers like Libya, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Algeria and Robert Mugabe's Uganda, you would have thought they would clean up their act.

No such thing.

Now the UN has appointed North Korea as its chairman of the Commission on Disarmament.

The UN is truly insane.

And if it ever gets to make a vote on 'Palestine' this fall, Israel should treat that as insanity too.

Others do virtual ... we do the reality.

2011-08-02T19:39:00.001Z

Just as I was talking of the decline of the British military machine, I received this video of Israel Aircraft Industries' exhibit at the recent Paris Air Show.

Who needs video games when you have IAI for real ?

New Neighbours

2011-08-02T07:52:00.001Z

All day long the talk radio stations have been wittering over William Hague's absurd claims of success in his Libyan adventure, whilst questioning why the same intervention is not justified in Syria where Assad is now killing citizens by the thousands.

As I blogged at the beginning of the assault on Libya, this campaign was started for Anglo-French political self-interest. Britain is now left looking very stupid and its military is more depleted than ever.

This will not be lost on Argentina which is bound to test this weakness with another swipe at Falkland Islands.

If only Hague had shut up, the world might still have thought Britannia was a force to be reckoned with.

But then again, what's the point of having an army to defend your country if the borders are wide open?

The same radio shows have been chattering about possible Turkish entry into the European Union.

What a wonderful prospect ... millions of Turks flooding into Britain for free schooling, healthcare and old-age pensions.

And just imagine the huge reciprocal benefits we in Britain will reap from Turkey's entry!

Effectively we shall have a new border with Iran and Syria.

What a lovely thought.

How goodly are thy tents ?

2011-08-01T07:19:00.001Z

If you've been following the 'tent city' demonstrations in Israel, and have been buying into the hype peddled by the left-wing press, Sarah Honig's excellent piece 'Between Tunisia and Tel Aviv" will be instructive.

Whether these demonstrators are all spoiled brats, draft dodgers and adolescent moonbats remains to be seen. But the main source of their discredit are the truly homeless and dispossessed who had every reason to demonstrate their plight in this way, but chose humility above hubris.

I am speaking of the 8,000 Israelis expelled from Gaza.
They were cast into tent cities in which many remain until today.
Many of them are still in psychiatric care to cope with the loss of their homes, schools and family life.

After 6 years, did any of these dispossessed people ever shut down traffic and openly fete and regale members of the Arab political parties in order to get media attention?

Most assuredly not.

Instead, they quietly set about rebuilding their lives. And they turned up loyally for service in the army that the Tel Avivian elites so fashionably disdain.

In truth these are the true elites of Israeli society.

And they are well overdue to be the very first in line for any tax breaks and social assistance being contemplated by the Netanyahu government which seems to have been suckered in record time by this media-fuelled street circus.

An Inconvenient Truth vs. A Better Place

2011-07-31T10:16:00.002Z

As America struggles with its debt mountain, Iran is giving away billions! The mullahs in Teheran are reportedly giving 5.8 billion dollars to Bashar Assad to keep his hold on power in Syria.

This is in addition to the brutal thugs of the Basij and Revolutionary Guard units Iran has sent to do away with Assad's opponents on the streets and in high places.

Iran has spent hundreds of millions taking power in Lebanon and re-arming Hizbullah after the last war with Israel. And even more millions exploiting the removal of Mubarak by now unhindered missile shipments to Hamas in Gaza, whose arsenal now equals what Hizbullah had in Lebanon on the eve of the Second Lebanon War.

Not that Ahmadinejad cares a damn about Assad or the people of Lebanon or Gaza.

It's only that they all border the Land of Israel that interests him.

He will sacrifice all of Iran's wealth and risk the lives of all its citizens for just a chance at wiping out the tiny Jewish state.

And this genocidal plan continues to be funded by the American car industry. An industry which incessantly 'talks' about electric cars but has never been forced by means of tax and legislation to re-tool outside of its comfort zone.

Instead of letting General Motors go bust in 2008, and seeing market forces evolve into a post-oil motor industry, Obama bankrolled the easy way for his union supporters and business as usual.

He's more interested in Global Warming projects and supporting Al Gore and his fellow 'warmers' in academia who've been sucking at the grant-engorged teat of this sacred cow ever since it became the Liberal Zeitgeist.

Last week saw the latest and arguably most authoritative debunking of global warming, this time from NASA scientists.

How many billions of America's $14 trillion debt mountain could be wiped out by simply cancelling all the funding connected with this fraud, the carbon footprint industry and emission permit trades.

Imagine reinvesting those unspent grants into a motoring alternative that will finally turn off the funding spigots of terrorism.

Only ONE country has taken this challenge seriously.

And it happens to be the same country that all those petrodollars have been invested to destroy.

So CLICK, WATCH, LISTEN and see the future....

And, just like the mobile phone, Pentium chip and the USB key ... it's made in Israel.

Salaam Aleykum - London Welcomes You

2011-07-28T08:23:00.019Z

Yesterday, at exactly 1 year prior to the opening of the 2012 Olympics, the president of the International Olympic Committee issued the traditional invitation to the athletes of the world to come to London and compete in the games.

Those athletes, and the millions of spectators joining them, may find this place very different to what they expected.

This is the latest sign that's going up on lampposts in multiculty neighborhoods across London.

Radio talk shows hosts are downplaying this as the work of a few nutjobs, saying this is not serious.

But three years ago the head of the Church of England told the BBC that some form of Sharia law was inevitable in the UK.

So it will be interesting to see how London looks in a year's time when the athletes arrive.

Like this ?

Or this ???