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20 hours ago
Monday, 24 August 2009
Stale Antisemitism
Stale Antisemitism
Have a look at this face:
That's Jan Helin, and he's an antisemite. He's not even a particularly interesting antisemite, with some novel angle that gives you pause or forces you grudgingly to recognize his intellectual innovation. This fellow, he just regurgitates stale old cannards and lots of very worn clischees.
Helin, in case you don't already know him, is the editor of the Aftonbladet, the Swedish Guardian-lookalike that last week published the sickening pack of lies about how the IDF kills Palestinians so as to harvest their organs. Lest you thought it was an editorial oversight, a few days later Helin published a second story, by a different reporter. Or rather, it's the same story, only repeated by a different journalist.
I'm not going to analyse this story; partly I'm bloggin about it simply by way of bookmarking it's componants for future use in a better setting. Still, you might want to note the following, among other aspects:
Netanyahu is responding as the Prime Minister of the Jewish State should. By demanding the Swedish government condemn the rot. He's perfectly aware of the issuse of freedom of speech, is MIT-educated Netanyahu, and he's not demanding the Swedish rag sheet be shut down, say, or its editor burned. Other folks do that sort of thing, but not the Jews. What Netanyahu is demnding, and right he is, is that the Swedish government condemn the allegations for the unaceptable lies they are. In democracies people may lie, of course; and others may condemn them.
Talking about violent demonstrations with burnt effegies and embassies, the Jews of Sweden responded true to European form: by wistfully wishing the Israelis wouldn't make such a fuss. How unsurprising. When you're a Jew committed to living in a society that is saturated with hatred of Jews, you do your best not to make waves; this has been one of the major Jewish responses for centuries. (Not the only one, of course).
Helin apparently gave an interview to Y-net, and was so uneducated about his topic that he trotted out one of the oldest cannards in the book: some of my best friends are Jews.
Back to his picture: gaze at it, and ponder. He looks like a nice man. His collar is open and informal. He seems the kind of person you might enjoy having a beer with. He's the editor of an important newspaper, so he must be educated and intelligent. Were you to seek the villain from a row of mug shots you'd never choose him. And yet he certainly is a villain, in a malicious though unintelligent manner, hate infused and barbaric. Keep that image in mind: appearences can be totally misleading. Antisemties can look like nice and be highly educated.
That's Jan Helin, and he's an antisemite. He's not even a particularly interesting antisemite, with some novel angle that gives you pause or forces you grudgingly to recognize his intellectual innovation. This fellow, he just regurgitates stale old cannards and lots of very worn clischees.Helin, in case you don't already know him, is the editor of the Aftonbladet, the Swedish Guardian-lookalike that last week published the sickening pack of lies about how the IDF kills Palestinians so as to harvest their organs. Lest you thought it was an editorial oversight, a few days later Helin published a second story, by a different reporter. Or rather, it's the same story, only repeated by a different journalist.
I'm not going to analyse this story; partly I'm bloggin about it simply by way of bookmarking it's componants for future use in a better setting. Still, you might want to note the following, among other aspects:
Netanyahu is responding as the Prime Minister of the Jewish State should. By demanding the Swedish government condemn the rot. He's perfectly aware of the issuse of freedom of speech, is MIT-educated Netanyahu, and he's not demanding the Swedish rag sheet be shut down, say, or its editor burned. Other folks do that sort of thing, but not the Jews. What Netanyahu is demnding, and right he is, is that the Swedish government condemn the allegations for the unaceptable lies they are. In democracies people may lie, of course; and others may condemn them.
Talking about violent demonstrations with burnt effegies and embassies, the Jews of Sweden responded true to European form: by wistfully wishing the Israelis wouldn't make such a fuss. How unsurprising. When you're a Jew committed to living in a society that is saturated with hatred of Jews, you do your best not to make waves; this has been one of the major Jewish responses for centuries. (Not the only one, of course).
Helin apparently gave an interview to Y-net, and was so uneducated about his topic that he trotted out one of the oldest cannards in the book: some of my best friends are Jews.
Helin said he had not meant to hurt anyone. "I was naïve," he said. "I thought Israel was democratic. I have many Jewish friends and I see Jewish culture as very positive."Neat, isn't it? I thought Israel was a democracy; now I know I was naive. There's more there; you really have to read the entire interview to see how effectively the man's Weltanschuung protects him from accepting any wrong-doing, even things like publishing baseless allegations with nary a sliver of evidence, because "the claims exist so we published the story".
Back to his picture: gaze at it, and ponder. He looks like a nice man. His collar is open and informal. He seems the kind of person you might enjoy having a beer with. He's the editor of an important newspaper, so he must be educated and intelligent. Were you to seek the villain from a row of mug shots you'd never choose him. And yet he certainly is a villain, in a malicious though unintelligent manner, hate infused and barbaric. Keep that image in mind: appearences can be totally misleading. Antisemties can look like nice and be highly educated.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
The Flaw of Believing the Human Interest Angle
The Flaw of Believing the Human Interest Angle
Powerline has a post (many, actually) about everything wrong with Obama's health plans. I remind you that I continue not to be a part of that discussion, tho I am finding it to be one of the best political shows in town. I don't know who's right and who's wrong, who's fibbing and who's fibbing more.
The reason I note this particular post is that while poking fun at Obama, the author uncovers one of the most fundamental flaws of journalism and political discussion of our age (and that's saying a lot, given the number of contenders).
Set aside the Obama-specifics, which may or may not be an accurate depiction, and concentrate on what he calls the Queen of the Day stories. My experience has been that many people who work in journalism believe that complex issues can and should be boiled down to the specific human faces upon which they impact. Forget all the complicated stuff and look at this one lady, or this suffering young girl, or the heartrending story of these poor folks. Context, perspective, accuracy, even simple old-fashion veracity, these are all set aside in the rush to show the human face of the abstractions.
The result is pretty much what you'd expect when you systematically replace intellectual rigor with tear-jerking spectacle.
The reason I note this particular post is that while poking fun at Obama, the author uncovers one of the most fundamental flaws of journalism and political discussion of our age (and that's saying a lot, given the number of contenders).
Still, the push for health care "reform" is in one important way, as your title states, a recklessness borne of arrogance -- or if not arrogance exactly, then of the echo-chamber quality of a liberalism that can no longer hear the outside world or, increasingly, itself. This is again related to the way Obama campaigned and has governed. The fact that big majorities are satisfied with the health care system in general and their care in particular just does not register with him. What registers are the Queen for a Day stories -- the cancer-stricken granny whose insurance company cuts her off three days before chemotherapy was to have begun, etc.
Putting a single human face on policy choices that will affect 300,000,000 people paints a powerful picture. But in short order it succumbs to the defects of its "virtues." The public is not yet so dumbed-down that it's going to cashier a system it knows and likes in favor of the Government Sponsored Unknown, and still less is it going to do such a thing on the basis of a handful of anecdotal horror stories -- stories that it senses are deeply dishonest for attempting to convey as routine something people know is anything but.
Set aside the Obama-specifics, which may or may not be an accurate depiction, and concentrate on what he calls the Queen of the Day stories. My experience has been that many people who work in journalism believe that complex issues can and should be boiled down to the specific human faces upon which they impact. Forget all the complicated stuff and look at this one lady, or this suffering young girl, or the heartrending story of these poor folks. Context, perspective, accuracy, even simple old-fashion veracity, these are all set aside in the rush to show the human face of the abstractions.
The result is pretty much what you'd expect when you systematically replace intellectual rigor with tear-jerking spectacle.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
Stuff
Stuff
I'm back. I picked up a fascinating story which I need to write up; I hope I'll be able to post it tommorow. In the meantime, here's a couple of interesting tidbits.
Ever heard the one about how Israel's Arabs are Apartheided against and all that? Take a look here: someone made a list of the top achieving highschools in Israel and divided them by sector. The sector with the most top schools (40%) is the modern orthodox. No suprise there, it's been that way for years. The Haredi aren't on the list at all, of course, since in the best case scenario they don't much care about preparing their daughters for national level matriculation examps; the boys don't study for them at all. The secular sector, by far the largest demographic, has only a quarter of the top achieving schools.
One third of the top achieving schools are from the Arab sector, who make up about 20% of the population.
Then, over here, we've got a story about some Catholic leader who wrote a document which managed to unite all the major strands of American Judaism - a major feat, that - in rejecting him. Apparently they feel the document implies an expectation that the Jews will become Catholics. I'm a bit surprised, since by and large the relations between American Catholicism and American Judaism have been quite good these past few decades, but if anyone thinks the Jews will end up being Catholics, well, I'd say that past experience ought to dampen their expectations.
Ever heard the one about how Israel's Arabs are Apartheided against and all that? Take a look here: someone made a list of the top achieving highschools in Israel and divided them by sector. The sector with the most top schools (40%) is the modern orthodox. No suprise there, it's been that way for years. The Haredi aren't on the list at all, of course, since in the best case scenario they don't much care about preparing their daughters for national level matriculation examps; the boys don't study for them at all. The secular sector, by far the largest demographic, has only a quarter of the top achieving schools.
One third of the top achieving schools are from the Arab sector, who make up about 20% of the population.
Then, over here, we've got a story about some Catholic leader who wrote a document which managed to unite all the major strands of American Judaism - a major feat, that - in rejecting him. Apparently they feel the document implies an expectation that the Jews will become Catholics. I'm a bit surprised, since by and large the relations between American Catholicism and American Judaism have been quite good these past few decades, but if anyone thinks the Jews will end up being Catholics, well, I'd say that past experience ought to dampen their expectations.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
Israel Matzav: Arab League seethes over Jewish prayer on Temple Mount
Arab League seethes over Jewish prayer on Temple Mount
Personally, I don't go onto the Temple Mount. My rabbi doesn't permit it. But some Jews do and apparently some of them were 'caught' praying on Sunday. And the Arab League is seething about it. Israel Matzav: Arab League seethes over Jewish prayer on Temple MountRabbi Yisrael Ariel, head of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, led the guided tour on the Temple Mount. While guards on the mount have a policy of preventing Jewish prayer or religious gestures such as kneeling or bowing, Rabbi Ariel's group managed to briefly pray at the site.
"This is the first time since 1967 that Jews have conducted prayers on Al-Aksa during the month of Ramadan,” Moussa declared. “We condemn this act,” he added, in the name of the 22 countries belonging to the League.
The prayer session was “a serious blow to the holiness of the site,” Moussa claimed, adding that Jews should not be allowed to pray at the site "whether it is Ramadan or any other time of year.”Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Some wishful thinking on Human Rights Watch
Some wishful thinking on Human Rights Watch
David Bernstein does a nice job of summing up what the world's reaction should be to the recent revelations about Human Rights Watch (Hat Tip: Instapundit).Israel Matzav: Some wishful thinking on Human Rights WatchFrom now on, every HRW report on Israel is going to be greeted with "you mean the Saudi-funded HRW," or "you mean the report written by the woman [HRW Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson] who is a great admirer of Norman Finkelstein and lobbied Kofi Annan against Israel in the middle of the Second Intifada" or "you mean the report written by the guy [Stork] who supports the anti-Israel boycott movement and has been venting his hostility to Israel for almost forty years" or "you mean HRW, the organization that fails to take down from its website anti-Israel reports even when it has admitted they are inaccurate," and so on.
Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Diplomats: Obama's devotion to Israeli - 'Palestinian' dispute a 'waste of time'
Diplomats: Obama's devotion to Israeli - 'Palestinian' dispute a 'waste of time'
After questioning why President Obama would want to try to solve the Israeli - 'Palestinian' dispute when he has so many other things on his plate right now, Jackson Diehl almost nails it. Israel Matzav: Diplomats: Obama's devotion to Israeli - 'Palestinian' dispute a 'waste of time'Why do this now? There is, Obama said after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last week, "a growing realization on the part of the Palestinians that Israel is not going anywhere and is a fact, a reality that has to be dealt with; and a recognition on the part of the Israelis that their long-term security interests require finding an accommodation with the Palestinians and ultimately with their Arab neighbors."
In general, those observations are correct. But the administration's efforts to broker the initial steps that Obama hopes to announce have demonstrated just how difficult it will be to translate those promising trends into a peace agreement.Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Iran budgets $20MM to expose US human rights abuses
Iran budgets $20MM to expose US human rights abuses
Iran has budgeted $20 million to expose US human rights abuses. Israel Matzav: Iran budgets $20MM to expose US human rights abusesPassage of the bill suggests the depth of mistrust that remains between the nations as Iran faces a September deadline to respond to President Obama's offer for talks. Iranian lawmakers said the legislation was in retaliation for what they consider similar action by the United States.
The U.S. Senate passed a bill in July that would allocate $30 million for technologies to allow the U.S. government's Farsi-language satellite and radio stations to bypass Iranian government efforts to jam their broadcasts. An additional $20 million would be set aside for developing Web sites and other technologies that will improve Iranian access to censored information. An additional $5 million is authorized for documenting information about human rights in Iran.Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Senior Democratic congressman critical of Obama on Israel
Senior Democratic congressman critical of Obama on Israel
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-Cal) was critical of the Obama administration last week, saying that the President's demand for a 'settlement freeze' was 'mistaken.' Israel Matzav: Senior Democratic congressman critical of Obama on IsraelCongressman Berman met on August 14 with Jewish leaders in Los Angeles. The senior congressman, who is in close touch with Mitchell and is updated regularly on developments in the Middle East, said during the meeting that the disagreement between Israel and the U.S. over the settlements will be resolved by the end of August in a manner that is satisfactory to both sides.
Read All at :
Israel Matzav: More proof Sweden is an anti-Semitic country
More proof Sweden is an anti-Semitic country
Here's some more proof for my claim that Sweden is an anti-Semitic country. Israel Matzav: More proof Sweden is an anti-Semitic countryTHE RESULTS of media distortion and constant demonizing of Jews and Israelis are felt in Sweden all the time - most recently Saturday in a soccer match involving Jewish youth club IF Hakoah, in which spectators raced onto the pitch during and after the match to assault the Hakoah players for the crime of being Jewish.
One problem, however: at this particular match, none of the Hakoah players happened to be Jewish. Not that it mattered in a climate of hate cloaked in government silence.
Other aspects of Swedish silence that are equally worrying if one steps back and examines the broader canvas. Sweden is one of the world's largest per capita donors to Palestinian Arab welfare. This funding comes in the form of tax revenues paid dutifully by hard-working Swedes lucky enough to still have a job, to the tune of about of 700 million kronor per annum and increasing yearly.Read All at :
Israel Matzav: The galus mentality
The galus mentality
Two leaders of Sweden's Jewish community - Lena Posner of Stockholm and Anders Carlberg of Gothenburg - have taken the Israeli government to task for blowing the Aftonbladet blood libel out of proportion. According to Lena Posner, head of the Jewish community in Stockholm and president of the Official Council of Jewish Communities in Sweden, "Israel caused all this mess."
Posner told Ynet, "The article was published here on Monday, but no one paid any attention to it. It wasn't a news report and was buried in the back pages of a tabloid. The writer is known to many of us as anti-Israel, and so it the entire paper. This is why no one took it seriously – until Israel got involved."
This is what I refer to as the galus (exile) mentality. The galus mentality believes that if we ignore the vile hatred around us, maybe it will go away. Many Israelis are incapable of ignoring the hatred around them - perhaps because they have too much pride because they do not (and in many cases have not) lived in the galus. Who is right? I believe it's up to the victim of an attack to decide how to respond.
Read All at :
Israel Matzav: The galus mentality
Israel Matzav: Israel has only itself to blame?
Israel has only itself to blame?
Soccer Dad asserts that Israel has to look in the mirror and accept some of the blame for the release of Pan Am 103 hijacker Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, and for Iran's appointment of Ahmad Vahidi - an accused mastermind of the 1994 bombing of the Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires - to be Iran's defense minister. Israel Matzav: Israel has only itself to blame?Israel, unfortunately has played a role in this.
By making deals for terrorists - whether it was the release of Yassin, the refrigerator bomber, Samir Kuntar - Israel has allowed the rest of the world to be less vigilant. After all, if Israel can forgive those who target it and kill its citizens, how can the rest of the world declare a stance of non-negotiation?Read All at :
Israel Matzav: How to tell a blood libel
How to tell a blood libel
Barry Rubin explains how to tell a blood libel from an accusation that is true, and why so many blood libels against Jews are being made. Israel Matzav: How to tell a blood libelWhat should the media, governments, and human rights’ groups look for in avoiding propagation of slander? Simply what they are supposed to look for in every story:
Evidence.
Until there is some proof, stories shouldn’t be reported.Read All at :
Credits : Barry Rubin - http://rubinreports.blogspot.com
Israel Matzav: They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity
They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity
On Monday morning it's becoming clear that the 'Palestinians' may once again take the opportunity to miss an opportunity. 'Moderate' 'Palestinian' President Israel Matzav: They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity
But while Netanyahu was painting a relatively upbeat picture, Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said that Abbas had sent an "urgent message" to the US administration saying he would not return to the negotiating table with Israel as long as construction in the settlements continued.
Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Plans filed for new Jewish neighborhood in 'east' Jerusalem
Plans filed for new Jewish neighborhood in 'east' Jerusalem
This ought to make the Obumbler real happy. Plans for a new neighborhood in 'east' Jerusalem have been filed with the City. The neighborhood will be called Maaleh David and will be next to Ma'aleh HaZeitim (pictured by computer simulation) on the Mount of Olives. Israel Matzav: Plans filed for new Jewish neighborhood in 'east' JerusalemThe plan calls for the construction of 104 housing units on the land where the former headquarters of the Judea and Samaria police was housed in the neighborhood of Ras al-Amud.
Read All at :
Israel Matzav: The IDF respects religious practice
Israel Matzav: The IDF respects religious practice
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