Jewish Identity in Politics

Jewish Identity in Politics

Adam Serwer thinks some American Jewish pundits are using identity templates borrowed from the African-American experience. Apparently he's being derogatory. I don't know enough about it to comment one way or the other, but I'd like to draw attention to some peculiarities on the edge of his argument.

The first is his thrice repeated allegation that Netanyahu called David Axelrod and Rahm Emanual "self hating Jews". This is very important to Serwer, and he gets quite worked up about it. Of course he has no source for the statement; nobody does. It's a cannard which fits lots of peoples' idea of how things should be, irrelevant of whether they are or not, and so gets repeated so many times it acquires the immunity of an article of faith.

Netanyahu's office has denied he made the statement (no, I have no link. It was on the radio). Also, contrary to what the media tells you, had he said it it would have been uncharacteristic of him, but as we say in Hebrew, try to prove you don't have a sister.

The second thing that saddened me was this

In the blogosphere, conservative Jews have a term for a group of prominent liberal Jewish bloggers who have been critical of Israel’s behavior in the region: the “Juicebox Mafia.” Two weeks ago, Jamie Kirchick, a blogger for Commentary and The New Republic, wrote that the “Juicebox Mafia crew” was motivated by “a visceral hatred” of its “Jewish heritage,” prompting Matthew Yglesias to assert his love of knishes and Woody Allen.

And so it has come to this. A prominent American Jewish blogger thinks there's a connection between knishes and liking Woody Allen, and being seriously Jewish; even if he was being facetious, Serwer takes him seriously.

Which, if you think about it for a moment, is far more damning than that "self-hating" line.

taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Things You Can Say With Impunity

Things You Can Say With Impunity

A Dutch journalist says the Jews have invented Swine Flu as part of some conspiracy. This particular lie has a pedegree going back at the very least to the 14th century, and you'd think it would have disappeared by now, what with our being in the modern world and all that.

Upon reflection, however, why should it? Respectable and otherwise normal-seeming people routinely cast every action Israel takes as a conspiracy against the Arabs - say, designing the Oslo process as a way to strenthen its control over the Palestinians, or leaving Gaza in 2005 as another way of doing the same, and so on ad nauseum. True, not everyone subscribes to these halucinations, but they can always find platforms in respectable media outlets.

When it comes to Jews, sizable segments of Western society, and almost the entire Muslim world, routinely depart from their senses and jettison their capacity for empiric analysis. So why draw the line before stories such as this one? Scheming to murder Palestinian children, yes, but disseminating Swine Flu no? Why?

taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Fewer Dead Civilians

Fewer Dead Civilians

In Afghanistan. This is good news. First, because killing civilians is bad. Second, because the world needs the Afghani populace to support the West's effort to beat the Islamists.

It's also a bit strange, the report. Read it carefully and tell me if you can figure out how many civilians ISAF has killed, in, say, 2009. I tried but didn't manage; the number doesn't seem to appear anywhere. Odd. Whenever Israel goes to war the numbers are splashed all over the media in advance, and the longer the fighting goes on, the higher the imaginary numbers get; they then keep on growing after the fighting is over, too.

I was also comforted by some of these sentences:

"When the Taliban are moving in our village, we are scared, but the good thing is there has been no bombing of civilian homes," said Baz Mohammad, a grape farmer from the village of Nilgham in the southern province of Kandahar. "A few months ago there was bombing every day in our district."
"You're starting to see a lot more emphasis now on using the least amount of force necessary to get the result we want," said Capt. Frank Harnett, a spokesman for U.S. Air Force Central Command. "There's an added emphasis about noncombatant casualties. That will drive decisions made out in the field."

taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

DoubleTapper: Israel from Space

DoubleTapper: Israel from Space

The Spectator-The bitter fruits of appeasement

The bitter fruits of appeasement

Monday, 10th August 2009

As we all know, because President Obama, UK Foreign Secretary Miliband and the serried ranks of the EU keep telling us, it is Israel’s obduracy which is holding up a resolution of the Middle East impasse. If only it dismantled its settlements in the ‘occupied’ territories and agreed to split Jerusalem there would be peace. Well, now those ‘moderate’ Palestinians who Obama, Miliband and the EU would have us believe only want to live peacefully alongside Israel have stated what they actually want. They don’t want half of Jerusalem. They want it all – and they want it ethnically cleansed of Jews altogether, every last Jewish man woman and child: gone, disappeared, airbrushed out of the picture, vanished altogether from Israel’s capital and Judaism’s foundational holy city. And they will continue to use violence to bring this about. Ha’aretz reports:

According to Israel Radio, the Fatah general conference, which convened in Bethlehem for a three-day gathering, adopted a position paper which also states that the Palestinian national enterprise will not reach fruition until all of Jerusalem, including the outlying villages, come under Palestinian sovereignty.

...’Fatah will continue to sacrifice victims until Jerusalem will be returned [to the Palestinians], clean of settlements and settlers,’ the paper states. According to Israel Radio, the paper does not make a distinction between the eastern and western halves of the capital, nor does it distinguish between the territories within the Israeli side of the Green Line and the areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

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The Spectator-The bitter fruits of appeasement

Remains from Period of King Hezekiah Discovered - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News

Remains from Period of King Hezekiah Discovered - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News

US Army Turns Tables on Anti-Semitism, Offers Kosher Food, Rabbi - Jewish World - Israel News - Israel National News

US Army Turns Tables on Anti-Semitism, Offers Kosher Food, Rabbi - Jewish World - Israel News - Israel National News

Baby Boom Intifada: European Muslim Population Time Bomb - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Baby Boom Intifada: European Muslim Population Time Bomb - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Israel Matzav: Shocka: 'Crippling sanctions' won't have much effect on Iran

Shocka: 'Crippling sanctions' won't have much effect on Iran

You probably could have guessed this: Those 'crippling sanctions' that Secretary of State Clinton has been waving at Iran are unlikely to have any effect on it. And you can probably guess at least some of the reasons why:

Effective sanctions, say Administration officials, require participation by Iran's key trading partners. That's a problem, since neither Russia nor China is convinced that there's an imminent danger of Iran producing nuclear weapons. Coalition of the willing–style sanctions of the sort envisaged by the congressional legislation may have limited impact because they're unlikely to be implemented by neighbors such as Turkey and Iraq. And the use of naval power to enforce a blockade could easily provoke a war that the U.S. military is eager to avoid.

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Israel Matzav: Shocka: 'Crippling sanctions' won't have much effect on Iran

IDF Attacks Smuggling Tunnel Following Mortar, Rocket Attacks - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

IDF Attacks Smuggling Tunnel Following Mortar, Rocket Attacks - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

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Chesler Chronicles » Was Mandana Shojaeifard Honor Murdered in Roslyn, New York?

Chesler Chronicles » Was Mandana Shojaeifard Honor Murdered in Roslyn, New York?

Israel Matzav: Life Magazine photos of Israel 1948-67

Life Magazine photos of Israel 1948-67

Ben Atlas has posted a remarkable collection of Life Magazine photos from Israel that were taken betewen 1948 and 1967. The picture above, of a captured Jewish soldier sitting between two members of the Arab legion, was taken in Jerusalem in June 1948.

Frank Adam comments: Another useful detail in the seated three men photo:Jewish prisoner in pukka Brit shorts and two Arab Legion guards. The corporal on the viewer’s right is a negro. So? The nearest negroes to the Holy Land are in Sudan (deeply south from Egypt) or escaped slaves from Saudi Arabia. Either way he is an immigrant to the region which is one in the eye for the Arab complaint about Zionist Jews being immigrants.

This also illustrates the crafty recruitment of the Arab Legion any number were recruited from outside Jordan in southern Syria, Lebanon, (Saudi, Iraq) and Palestine as commonly taken to be the entire country West of the River J. This profile of personnel being foreign mercenaries were utterly dependent on their engagement & utterly loyal, but Glubb Pasha also realised that he would have less trouble to police by securing the consent of the desert tribes to his operations and recruited from them in balance pro rata to the size of each tribe which in the situation of nomadic pastoralists not averse to smuggling and theft in a subsistence society of who owes and owns whom amounted to representation and committment to the regime of the incipient Jordanian state. It was not so obvious nor institutionalised as the Indian Army system of ethnic regiments and companies with a company or two of different ethnicit(ies) ineach regiment, but it was nevetheless political balancing of the grass roots.

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Israel Matzav: Life Magazine photos of Israel 1948-67

Israel Matzav: The 'peace process' fundamental assumptions are invalid

The 'peace process' fundamental assumptions are invalid

This article is spot-on except for one small point: The fundamental assumptions behind the 'peace process' were never valid. Yasser Arafat never intended to compromise with Israel. He looked at the history of his organization from his first appearance at the UN in 1975 to the White House lawn in 1993 as proving that the PLO could get its way through the same combination of 'negotiations' and terror that it uses to this day. But other than that, this article is a fair statement of the situation.

The rejection of Olmert’s offer as well as previous offers by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak at Camp David (July 2000) and the Clinton parameters cast a heavy shadow of doubt over fundamental assumptions underlying the Oslo process. Two of these assumptions were:

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Israel Matzav: The 'peace process' fundamental assumptions are invalid

Israel Matzav: The FBI looks for Mr. X

The FBI looks for Mr. X

In the Washington Post, Gary Wasserman - who is writing a book about it - talks about the anti-Semitism behind the AIPAC case.

Ground Zero would be the 23-year-old case of Jonathan Pollard. Here one had a real spy, an American Jew working for the Navy who, out of concern for Israel as well as cash, copied and delivered thousands of classified documents. After his arrest in the 1980s, the belief took hold within counterintelligence circles that he was part of a larger spy ring. This led to the search for a "Mr. X," a high-ranking national security official who had helped direct Pollard to needed documents and continued to operate within the government. So the creation myth was born.

That no Mr. X was ever found is beside the point. More relevant is that Pollard could support an operational frame for organizing and understanding a murky, dangerous world. This anti-Zionist concept holds that Israeli objectives run contrary to U.S. national interests; that many American Jews, including those in senior policymaking positions, suffer from divided loyalties; and that pro-Israel political influence holds sway over U.S. government decisions.

While this politically incorrect frame is not going to be discussed in public speeches, its outline appears with a vengeance in the Rosen-Weissman case.

Franklin was apparently sent out by his FBI handlers to tempt Jews. He tried Adam Ciralsky at CBS News, who had once sued the CIA for anti-Semitism, and Richard Perle, who was on his way to vacation in France, as well as Pentagon employees who had done nothing more than work with Franklin. All turned down the offer of information

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Israel Matzav: The FBI looks for Mr. X

Israel Matzav: Reports of Obama 'peace plan' premature

Israel Matzav: Reports of Obama 'peace plan' premature

Israel Matzav: Obama's approval rating in Israel improves... to 7%

Obama's approval rating in Israel improves... to 7%

In June, I reported that the number of Israeli Jews who believed that President Obama is pro-Israel had fallen to 6%. There's a new survey out and you'll be pleased to hear that the number of Israeli Jews who believe he is pro-Israel has risen ... all the way to 7%. And that's not all the bad news for the Obumbler: Israelis support Prime Minister Netanyahu's policies and not the United States' policies:

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Israel Matzav: Obama's approval rating in Israel improves... to 7%

Israel Matzav: State Department: No change in policy on Hezbullah ... or is there?

State Department: No change in policy on Hezbullah ... or is there?

On Friday, I noted some very wishy washy remarks on terrorism by John Brennan, President Obama's senior adviser on homeland security and counter-terrorism. I wasn't the only one who noticed them, because they came up at Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood's press briefing on Friday afternoon.

Let's go to the videotape. The part about Hezbullah starts at 6:14 and ends around 9:15. A transcript follows.

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Israel Matzav: State Department: No change in policy on Hezbullah ... or is there?

Israel Matzav: Israel's undiplomatic diplomat

Israel Matzav: Israel's undiplomatic diplomat

Israel Matzav: John Bolton opposes Israeli nukes?

John Bolton opposes Israeli nukes?

Keep in mind that Bolton is being interviewed on Comedy Central.... On the other hand, Bolton sounds serious.

About 6:58 into this eight-minute tape, John Bolton says that as far as he is concerned, the only country that should have nuclear weapons is the United States of America.

Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: Washington Note via Arms Control Wonk)

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Israel Matzav: John Bolton opposes Israeli nukes?

Israel Matzav: The Democratic party on Israel

Israel Matzav: The Democratic party on Israel

Israel Matzav: Oh joy! Hezbullah says it's ready for war

Oh joy! Hezbullah says it's ready for war

Speaking at a gathering marking three years since the Second Lebanon War, Hezbullah's number 2 Sheikh Naim Qassem (pictured) said on Sunday that Hezbullah is ready for war.

Hezbollah's deputy secretary general, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said his organization is ready for any outbreak in hostilities that may erupt along the border with Israel.

Qassem, who spoke during a remembrance gathering marking three years since Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war, said the Shi'ite militia is not waiting for Israel to begin fighting before making the necessary preparations.

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Israel Matzav: Oh joy! Hezbullah says it's ready for war

Israel Matzav: Is Burma trying to obtain nuclear weapons?

Is Burma trying to obtain nuclear weapons?

Nicolas Kristof reports on the possibility that Burma is building a plutonium nuclear reactor that is suitable for weapons development, courtesy of their friends the North Koreans.

Here is a photo of a suspect Burmese building that concerns intelligence experts. As you can see, it is near a river –- like the 5 MWe reactor in Yongbyon, North Korea, whose basic design was copied and built in Syria as well. The building has large power lines feeding it. And it’s certainly an unusual building to have in a remote part of impoverished Burma.

While the prospect of Burma's repressive regime going nuclear is a disturbing one, what's more disturbing is the presence of North Korea as Burma's nuclear patron. You may recall that the Syrian el-Kibar reactor that was destroyed by Israel in September 2007 had been built by the North Koreans and financed by the Iranians.

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Israel Matzav: Is Burma trying to obtain nuclear weapons?

Israel Matzav: How the Jews treat 'Palestinians' v. How 'Palestinians' treat 'Palestinians'

Israel Matzav: How the Jews treat 'Palestinians' v. How 'Palestinians' treat 'Palestinians'

Israel Matzav: Media bias 101: AFP gets it all wrong

Media bias 101: AFP gets it all wrong

On Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told his cabinet that he would not repeat the mistake of expelling Jews from their homes.

Speaking at the opening of Sunday's weekly government meeting he added, "We will not repeat this mistake. We will not create new evacuees."

The prime minister said the government would discuss extending the mandate for the care of the Gush Katif and northern Samaria evacuees, and that he would tour their communities on Monday.

He said the government would issue new orders to improve the lives of the evacuees as soon as possible. "This means economic rehabilitation, rehabilitation in every sense of the word, rehabilitation now and not later," he said, adding that he had asked his ministers for recommendations on how to do so.

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Israel Matzav: Media bias 101: AFP gets it all wrong

Israel Matzav: Gaza schoolyard lie exposed

Gaza schoolyard lie exposed

Remember that Gaza schoolyard - run by UNRWA - in which 40 'innocent civilians' were allegedly killed by Israeli fire in January? If you follow that link, you will see that I was already questioning the UNRWA account the next day (as was the IDF). Soccer Dad blogs the IDF's final report on the incident.

337. The IDF's 'investigation of the incident found that, on 6 January 2009, an IDF force operating in the El-Attatra-Jabaliya area came under an effective barrage of 120mm mortars launched from a site about 3.5 km. from the force. The launching site was situated only 80 metres west of the UNRWA school. The mortar attack lasted for almost an hour, with one mortar being fired every few minutes. As reported in the media, local residents later confirmed that mortar fire was coming from the vicinity of the school.

338. Soon after the source of fire was detected, a scouting unit was dispatched to confirm the location. Approximately 50 minutes after the mortar attack had begun, two independent sources cross-verified the location of the mortars. Only subsequent to this, and after verification of a safety margin of at least 50 metres between the target (i.e., the identified source of mortar fire) and the UNRWA school, did the force respond to the ongoing barrage, by using the most accurate weapon available to it -- 120mm mortars. [In other words, the IDF risked its soldiers lives to send them into the school's vicinity to visually verify the source of the fire before they responded. And they continued to absorb the mortar fire for nearly an hour while waiting for that verification. CiJ]

339. The IDF force that was under attack fired four mortars, about 5-10 minutes after the cross-checked identification of the source of fire, and while Hamas mortars were still being fired towards the forces. The IDF response succeeded in stopping the Hamas mortar attack. Indeed, as a result of the response, five Hamas operatives were killed. The effectiveness of the mission in achieving its military objective is thus indisputable.

340. The IDF acted to defend the lives of soldiers under fire, in order to stop continuing mortar attack. The defensive action targeted an identified source of mortar fire which represented a concrete and immediate threat to the force. The IDF executed the responsive fire with as much precision as possible, given the available munitions. Indeed, the fact that all the Israeli shells landed outside the school grounds demonstrates the care Israel took not to hit the school itself, consistent with its obligations under the Law of Armed Conflict.

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Israel Matzav: Gaza schoolyard lie exposed

Israel Matzav: Video: Hillary Clinton on Iran

Israel Matzav: Video: Hillary Clinton on Iran

Israel Matzav: Spain pays for 42 'activists' to violate Israeli building codes

Spain pays for 42 'activists' to violate Israeli building codes

The government of Spain, which just last month was discovered to be financing Breaking the Silence, which presented unsourced hearsay accounts of Operation Cast Lead to the world media, is now financing a two-week trip for 42 'activists' to rebuild two homes in Jerusalem that were demolished because they were built without a permit.

Jeff Halper, the director of the Israel Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), which is holding its seventh annual summer "rebuilding camp," said volunteers from all over Europe, Latin America, Spain, the United States, South Africa, Asia, and Australia are currently in the country to rebuild two homes demolished in Anata.

"In particular, there are about 42 people from Spain in the camp, and the Spanish government is funding the camp again this year. They have paid for the 42 tickets of young people to come to the work camp, so that is pretty interesting that governments are starting to encourage people to come and resist the occupation," Halper told The Jerusalem Post.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry's agency for international development cooperation, Aecid, allocated some €80,000 in 2009 to ICAHD. In addition, it allocated €80,000 this year for Breaking the Silence, €100,000 for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and has promised to allocate €70,000 for Rabbis for Human Rights.

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Israel Matzav: Spain pays for 42 'activists' to violate Israeli building codes

Israel Matzav: Chicago rallies for Israel with Caroline Glick

Chicago rallies for Israel with Caroline Glick

FinanceDoc attended Sunday's pro-Israel rally in Chicago, featuring JPost columnist Caroline Glick, and filed this report:

Hi Carl

Just got home from the Israel rally in downtown Chicago. The turnout was modest but enthusiastic even though it was about 97 degrees with 90%+ humidity here. There were several speakers culminating in an absolutely power-packed pep talk by Caroline Glick. Too bad I didn't have her as a little league coach; we would have won more games!

Caroline noted that her life had in some ways run a parallel course to that of Obama, starting out in Chicago and following on to Columbia (or Beir Zeit on the Hudson as she refers to it!). Of couse, that's where the similarities end and we now have an administration in Washington -- including several Jews in high places -- deeply hostile to Israel. It's nothing personal she notes, but supporters of Israel need to remain strong and continue speaking truth to power. We need to remind Washington that the US-Israel relationship benefits not just Israel but has always benefited America as well. For me, the most powerful part of her talk was when she pointed out that the Jews have paid for the land of Israel three times: with blood, money, and hard work. She really roused the crowd when she said, "the Jews didn't occupy Jerusalem; they liberated it".

There was a small counter-demonstration up the street with the usual "End the siege" and "Honk for Gaza" signs but the police kept the two groups apart. My only misgiving was that the majority of those participating in the pro-Israel rally were north of 50 years-old while those in the counter-rally were largely in their 20s and 30s. This is likely a reflection of the overall demographics of the two sides but I couldn't help but think that as the generation of those who witnessed the Holocaust and WWII die off, Israel will have an increasingly tough time making its case to a new generation of Americans who are often ignorant of history and do not understand the costs of freedom.

What FinanceDoc says about the demographics of the demonstrators is not a good sign, but it's the summer and kids are in camp and families are away on vacation, so I hope that's not indicative of support for Israel. I understand that to some extent it is since we know that intermarried tend to be less supportive of Israel, and that - unfortunately - is where things are heading (Someone yesterday sent me a graphic that claims that 49% of Reform Jews, 33% of Conservative Jews but only 6% of Orthodox Jews of all stripes in the US intermarry. Unfortunately, the majority of Jews aren't Orthodox - yet).

By the way, Caroline graduated Columbia (Bir Zeit on the Hudson - I like that :-) in 1991, which means she's probably 38-39 now. So she's definitely under 50.

Here are some more pictures - thanks to FinanceDoc!

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Israel Matzav: Chicago rallies for Israel with Caroline Glick

The Holiness of the State of Israel

Posted by Mordechai Friedfertig at 7:42 AM

[Sefer Al Diglo #33]

Question: I have seen various times that the State of Israel is referred to as a holy entity. It is not clear to me, however, why it is not enough to say that the State is the beginning of the Redemption (Atchalta De-Geulah). Why do we also have to call it holy, something which does not seem correct in reality?

Answer: The State of Israel is a holy entity, because it is a mitzvah, as the Ramban explains that it is incumbent upon us to possess the Land, and not abandon it into the hands of other nations (positive mitzvah #4, addendum to Sefer Ha-Mitzvot of the Rambam), i.e. that we are required to establish a state and a mitzvah is holy, as evidenced in the formula of the blessing, "Who sanctifies us with His commandments." Even though there are problematic aspects in the State, which need to be corrected with all our might, this does not diminish the holiness of the State, which in its essence is the dominion of the Nation of Israel over its Land. For example, the mitzvah of tzitzit remains holy, even if the man who is wearing it is discussing frivolous matters.

taken from Torat HaRav Aviner

The Torah Revolution: Testing the Jewish character of the state

The Torah Revolution: Testing the Jewish character of the state

Life in Israel: Repaying kindness

Life in Israel: Repaying kindness

Life in Israel: Crazy Jews

Life in Israel: Crazy Jews

Who Started This Time?

Who Started This Time?

One of the perennial problems in following Israel's wars and their lulls, is that an isolated incident isn't obviously isolated until the following days or perhaps even weeks prove it so. Say there's a period of calm, and one side launches an act of violence. Will this shatter the calm and set off a spiral of violence, or will the lull continue after the brief interuption? (And of course there are then all sorts of subsidiary questions, such as what preceded the initial act of violence, were the casualties from the launching side or the defending side, and so on and on: the Israel-Arab conflict is fiendishly complex on this level and it's a rare outsider who can keep track, although they'll never admit it).

Anyway. For the past few months there has been calm on the Israel-Gaza front. The longer this goes on the more plausible Israel's justification for the operation last January: if it suceeded, it must have been proportional. Yet this must be stated a bit gingerly. Someday there will be another round of violence, and only then will we know (if we'll know) if the lull was a Hamas decision not to tangle with those mazhnoon (crazy) Israelis, or perhaps the opposite: a tactic of lulling Israeli civilians back to Sderot and vicinity and out of their shelters, so that Hamas can kill lots of them when it decides the time is right.

These are only some among many considerations. There are lots of other levels.

Having said that, it is worth noting and recording that following a few months of general quiet, and some weeks of complete quiet, the Palestinians yesterday started shooting mortars and one Qassam rocket; that Israel retaliated by bombing one Rafah tunnel; and then... now we wait to see what then. If the shooting escalates again, this wil have been the starting point and the Palestinians started it - so remember that because our critics will spin it otherwise. If there's no escalation, remember that also: the Palestinians started, we responded, and everyone went back to their regular occupations.

Ah, one more thing. The mortars the Palestinians launched yesterday? They were aimed at.... Palestinian civilians on their way into Israel for medical care. You couldn't make this up.

On Sunday, Gaza militants fired mortars at a crossing into Israel just as Palestinian patients were being transferred for treatment, a Palestinian official said. "It's a miracle nobody was hurt," Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said.

taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Knowledgeable Israeli Voters

Knowledgeable Israeli Voters

I never cease to wonder at the people who know far less than most Israelis about the issues most important to the lives of the Israelis, who never-the-less pontificate endlessly about how they know better.

This item poses an interesting question: if the Israelis are far more engaged in the political process than the electorate of any other democracy, is it conceivable they may even know more about their own affairs than some of their critics do, say, about theirs?

taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Pajamas TV - Middle East Update - Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) in Israel Criticizes Obamas Middle East Policy - Video

Pajamas TV - Middle East Update - Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) in Israel Criticizes Obamas Middle East Policy - Video

Fatah: Jerusalem must be made void of settlers | Middle East | Jerusalem Post

Fatah: Jerusalem must be made void of settlers Middle East Jerusalem Post

trans jordan, fake country, lies, palestine | Columnists | Jerusalem Post

trans jordan, fake country, lies, palestine Columnists Jerusalem Post

VULTURES

So it seems stupidity as its followers around here.

Also in Portugal there are morons as you all can see in the picture below:

These guys are activists of a so-called 'Comité de Solidariedade com a Palestina' (solidarity committee with palestine) demonstrating outside a stadium during a football match last week, when Israeli team Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv FC won by 1 - 0 the Portuguese team Paços de Ferreira.

Defending the interests of the 'Bloco de Esquerda' (a left wing party) they became visible like vultures in some events linked to Israel. They also tried to harass the spectators of Leonard Cohen's Lisbon concert (about two weeks ago) in order for him to cancel the Tel Aviv concert.

This article was based on a post published by LISBOA-TEL AVIV blog. To read the original post please click at :

ABUTRES

Israel Matzav: Smelling the coffee? US Dems oppose Obama on Israel

Smelling the coffee? US Dems oppose Obama on Israel

A newly released survey of 500 self-identifying Jewish Democrats shows that 52% identify with Prime Minister Netanyahu's policies on the 'settlements,' while only 37% identify with President Obama's policy. Given that some 78% of American Jewry voted for Obama, and that American Jews allegedly don't support the 'settlements' (is that a myth?), the numbers are downright amazing.

A phone survey (sponsored by the Traditional Values Coalition and conducted by Global Marketing Research Services on July 22-24) of 500 American Jews who self-identified as Democrats exposes broad disagreement with Obama's Middle East policies.

Asked to choose between the Obama view that "if Israel could settle its dispute with the Palestinian refugees and give them a nation of their own, that the Arabs would live in peace with Israel" and the Israeli government view that "the Arabs will never live in peace with Israel and that giving them a nation of their own will just make them stronger," Jewish Democrats sided with the Israeli view by 52 percent to 20 percent.

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Israel Matzav: Smelling the coffee? US Dems oppose Obama on Israel

The Punisher - Cover Art

THE PUNISHER - WARZONE

My thanks to my friend R...... for sending me the DVD .

Now vengeance really has a name. A fantastic Frank Castle/Punisher.

Israel Matzav: Clinton: No illusions about engagement with Iran

Clinton: No illusions about engagement with Iran

On CNN's GPS, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tells Fareed Zekaria that the United States has 'no illusions' that it will get the type of 'engagement' it wanted from Iran.

"We are under no illusions. We were under no illusions before their elections that we can get the kind of engagement we are seeking," she said in an interview with CNN's "GPS."

"The president has also said, look, we need to take stock of this in September. If there is a response, it needs to be on a fast track. We're not going to keep the window open forever," she said.

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Israel Matzav: Clinton: No illusions about engagement with Iran

Israel Matzav: An Egyptian government editorial calls for 'resistance' by the 'Palestinians'

An Egyptian government editorial calls for 'resistance' by the 'Palestinians'

The Egyptian government daily Al-Gumhouriyya has called for all of the 'Palestinian people' to practice 'resistance' against Israel.

"PA President Mahmoud 'Abbas provoked the wrath of the radical racists who rule Israel when he mentioned, at the Fatah conference, that the Palestinians have a right to resistance [muqawama] if the peace process has failed to restore their historic rights, and especially [their right] to their stolen land, to an independent state and to the return of the refugees.

"The angry racists in Israel have deluded themselves [into thinking] that the Palestinian people have laid down their arms, to which they clung so steadfastly throughout their exhausting and noble struggle, and have capitulated to the illusion of the peace process and the [empty] talk of the negotiation tables. The Palestinian people has gained nothing [from the peace process] except strife among comrades-in-arms, which are [now] divided into [two camps] - the fighters and the negotiators; while the Israelis have gained time to carry out their plans to Judaize Jerusalem and settle the West Bank, and to prepare for throwing those whom they call 'Israeli Arabs' over the Green Line.

"The Palestinian people, all of it, has no choice but to cling to the path of resistance, like all the oppressed people who seized their freedom and rights through force and steadfastness, struggle and unity..."

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Israel Matzav: An Egyptian government editorial calls for 'resistance' by the 'Palestinians'

Israel Matzav: Hmmm....

Hmmm....

Lebanese Armed Forces troops have discovered an Internet server in their country that is routed through Israel. How much Lebanese Internet traffic is affected depends on which version of the story you believe. YNet makes it sound like a relatively isolated incident.

Lebanese security forces discovered an Israeli internet server hidden in a small town in Lebanon's Chouf District, the Hezbollah-owned al-Manar network reported Saturday.

The report said the server was wired to antennae aimed in the direction of Israel, and that all of the equipment was confiscated.

The Lebanese OTV network, owned by politician Michel Aoun, reported that the army had broken into a structure in Jabal al-Baruch in April and found equipment suspected of serving Israeli intelligence.

The report said the army had intervened after receiving intelligence regarding an "illegal internet company" operating within its borders.

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Israel Matzav: Hmmm....

Israel Matzav: French-Israeli demands that EU rocketproof his Sderot home

French-Israeli demands that EU rocketproof his Sderot home

Well, this is an interesting idea.

A man holding dual French and Israeli citizenship has demanded that the European Union rocketproof his Sderot home.

In the lawsuit, which will be filed to the European Commission, petitioner Eyal Katorza cites Article 3.5 of the European Treaty, which states the Union will "contribute to the protection of its citizens" regardless of their whereabouts.

The EU "owes its citizens protection and security whether they reside in the European Union or abroad in a third state," Mordechai M. Tzivin, Katorza's lawyer, wrote.

Among other clauses, the eight-page document also notes Article 20 of the treaty, which states that when outside the union, EU citizens are "entitled to protection by the diplomatic or consular authorities of any member State." The lawsuit also demands that the EU ensure its funds don't reach terrorist entities, such as Hamas, that will then use the money to harm EU citizens living in Israel.

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Israel Matzav: French-Israeli demands that EU rocketproof his Sderot home

ESSER AGAROTH - I Found It! - Jameel Rashid's Secret Lair

ESSER AGAROTH - I Found It! - Jameel Rashid's Secret Lair

Israel Matzav: Italian MP: Stop apologizing

Italian MP: Stop apologizing

I know that a lot of you read the headline and assumed that it was directed at US President Barack Obama, but it's not. The Italian MP involved is Fiamma Nirenstein and she was speaking to Israelis.

Israel should drop apologetics and admit it's fighting a war.

Italian lawmaker Fiamma Nirenstein pressed this message before the new Knesset lobby she helped create, which aims to "strengthen ties between Israel and European parliaments."

Nirenstein, 64, a staunch supporter of Israel and deputy chairperson of the Italian parliament's foreign affairs commission, was the driving force behind the formation last month of Israel's European Forum of the Knesset (EFK).

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Israel Matzav: Italian MP: Stop apologizing

Israel Matzav: Get your Osama Bin Laden urinal

Israel Matzav: Get your Osama Bin Laden urinal

Israel Matzav: The 'Palestinian' condition improves

The 'Palestinian' condition improves

Thomas Friedman is surprised to find the 'Palestinian' economy improving.

For Palestinians, long trapped between burgeoning Israeli settlements and an Israeli occupation army, subject to lawlessness in their own cities and the fecklessness of their own political leadership, life has clearly started to improve a bit, thanks to a new virtuous cycle: improved Palestinian policing that has led to more Palestinian investment and trade that has led to the Israeli Army dismantling more checkpoints in the West Bank that has led to more Palestinian travel and commerce.

Could it be that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's plan to build a 'Palestinian' entity from the ground up is working? If it is, Friedman is not going to be the one to tell you that:

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Israel Matzav: The 'Palestinian' condition improves

Israel Matzav: How to fix a poll

Israel Matzav: How to fix a poll

Israel Matzav: How Richard Nixon helped Lyndon Johnson form Israel's 'nuclear ambiguity' policy

Israel Matzav: How Richard Nixon helped Lyndon Johnson form Israel's 'nuclear ambiguity' policy

Israel Matzav: Brilliant: US may join International Criminal Court

Brilliant: US may join International Criminal Court

Al-Guardian reports that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been signaling that the United States may join the International Criminal Court.

The US is at present not only not a member but government officials are theoretically banned from any engagement with the ICC whatsoever. An administration official predicted there will be increased US cooperation with the ICC but cautioned against expecting early entry.

Clinton, speaking at a public meeting in Kenya, the first leg of an African tour, indicated she hoped this would come sooner rather than later: "This is a great regret that we are not a signatory. I think we could have worked out some of the challenges that are raised concerning our membership. But that has not yet come to pass."

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Israel Matzav: Brilliant: US may join International Criminal Court

Israel Matzav: A lose-lose situation

A lose-lose situation

In the New York Jewish Week, Abraham Foxman asks whether the United States is open to compromise with Israel over the 'settlements' issue.

As time goes by, however, and meeting after meeting takes place in Washington, Jerusalem, London and again in Jerusalem, the issue still goes unresolved and the gap between the U.S. and Israel takes on larger meaning. The Israeli government, which after all is a right-wing group committed ideologically to the settlement enterprise, has made significant concessions from its perspective. It has agreed in principle to dismantle the illegal settlements and not to expand existing ones on new land beyond the boundaries of existing settlements. But this has not been good enough. Washington seems to be eager to squeeze out every last ounce of Israeli resistance on the subject by rejecting not only the concept of natural growth but even of Israel completing structures in midstream.

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Israel Matzav: A lose-lose situation

Israel Matzav: Awesome: Hamas testing rockets that can hit Tel Aviv

Awesome: Hamas testing rockets that can hit Tel Aviv

The Hamas terror organization has been using the lull in military action between Gaza and Israel to test rockets that can hit Tel Aviv.

The terrorist organization has been using the past several weeks of relative calm to stockpile more powerful weapons, IDF intelligence chief Yossi Beiditz said last week. “They are making a strong effort to bring in longer-range rockets, including rockets that can reach Gush Dan,” (the Hebrew term for metropolitan Tel Aviv), he said last week.

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Israel Matzav: Awesome: Hamas testing rockets that can hit Tel Aviv

Israel Matzav: The US military option in Iran

The US military option in Iran

The United States has a military option in Iran - it's just a question of choosing to use it.

Many policy makers and journalists dismiss the military option on the basis of a false sense of futility. They assume that the U.S. military is already overstretched, that we lack adequate intelligence about the location of covert nuclear sites, and that known sites are too heavily fortified.

Such assumptions are false.

An attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would mostly involve air assets, primarily Air Force and Navy, that are not strained by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Moreover, the presence of U.S. forces in countries that border Iran offers distinct advantages. Special Forces and intelligence personnel already in the region can easily move to protect key assets or perform clandestine operations. It would be prudent to emplace additional missile-defense capabilities in the region, upgrade both regional facilities and allied militaries, and expand strategic partnerships with countries such as Azerbaijan and Georgia to pressure Iran from all directions.

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Israel Matzav: The US military option in Iran

Israel Matzav: Aggression has to have consequences

Israel Matzav: Aggression has to have consequences

Israel Matzav: Effective sanctions

Effective sanctions

Yagil Henkin reviews the history of economic sanctions and concludes that they are almost never effective. He then tries to propose a set of more effective sanctions to deal with Hamas.

So, what sanctions can be applied against Hamas? Apart from controlling the border and an arms embargo, the most effective way to apply pressure on Hamas is not to indirectly pressure them via their population, but rather pressure Hamas itself, as part of a wider strategy. The international community must act, if it is interested in the welfare of Gaza’s residents and curbing radical Islam. To begin with, the Hamas leadership should be prevented from traveling abroad and being officially received – including the leadership based outside of Gaza. Hamas leaders, like other politicians, enjoy traveling, and rightly so - they coordinate activities such as pleading for aid and waging propaganda campaigns. In 2008-2009 alone, Hamas leaders traveled to Syria, Iran, Switzerland and the United Kingdom . This list, of course, does not include meetings conducted in Gaza or Damascus – Jimmy Carter has met with Hamas in both locales.

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Israel Matzav: Effective sanctions

Israel Matzav: 'Palestinian Authority' to stop financing Hamas?

'Palestinian Authority' to stop financing Hamas?

London-based Asharq Awasat reports that the 'Palestinian Authority' has finally decided to stop sending money to Gaza - except to its own employees there.

Authoritative sources in the Fatah movement have asserted to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Palestinian leadership has decided to stop all the funds it pays to the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority's [PA] budget apart from the salaries of its own employees.

According to the sources, this decision was taken the night before yesterday at an extraordinary meeting of the Palestinian leadership that President Mahmud Abbas called for holding. They said the PA is financing the coup in the Strip and paying the electricity, water, and fuel bills to the Israelis while the Hamas leadership waits for these supplies to reach it.

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Israel Matzav: 'Palestinian Authority' to stop financing Hamas?

Another Leftie Against a Settlement Freeze

Another Leftie Against a Settlement Freeze

Regular readers will know the high esteem I have for Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz expert on the Palestinians, in spite of his politics being perhaps somewhat to the left of mine.

Issacharoff has a colleague, Zvi Bar'el, also at Haaretz, whose brief is the rest of the Arab world, perhaps even most of the Muslim world. Bar'el dosn't write much about the Palestinians, that's Issacharoff's job, and Issacharoff doesn't write much about the Arab World, that's Bar'els job. Both work mostly in Arabic, and both know a lot about their field. Bar-el is somewhat to the left of Issacharoff, meaning he's solidly left, but he tries and mostly suceeds to report first and slant things only second. (Just by way of rounding out the picture of the editorial board at Haaretz, Akiva Eldar knows a lot but mostly subordinates his knowledge to his politics, and Gideon Levy can't see any story about anything except through the prisim of his warped politics. So you get all sorts of lefties when you read Haaretz).

Today Bar'el joins his (lefty) colleague Aluf Benn in telling the Americans they've got it all wrong at the moment. Remember, Bar'el couldn't find a good thing to say about the settlements if you threatened him with rotten tomatoes - yet look at this column:

It should be said from the onset: Do not freeze settlement construction, do not stop it in part or periodically, not for six months, not for a single day. As long as the U.S. administration does not present a comprehensive plan that explains its endgame - what the end will look like and what the shape and character of the Palestinian state will look like - the demand for a cessation of construction is pointless. It is a pathetic return to the doctrine of "confidence-building measures," which led nowhere. The demand to freeze settlement construction is like the demand to remove roadblocks or cease razing homes; all these demands and similar ones mean only one thing: making the continuation of the occupation a little more pleasant.

You really ought to read the whole thing. Especially if you work in the White House.

taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

More Lawyers for Israel

More Lawyers for Israel

An Israeli with dual French-Israeli citizenship is taking the EU to court to have them pay for rocket-proofing his Sderot home.

Is there any chance this will suceed? Offhand, I'd say about 1:1,000,000, perhaps less. Still, there's value in the attempt. Similar to the report on Gaza I wrote about last week, it's high time Israel wrested the legal realm out of the hands of our enemies and took ownership of it. The sure sign of success will be the moment our critics stop using legalese and move to some other field. We'll never get them to shut up, that's obvious. But we do need to chase them off whatever base they're on, and force them to be defensive.

taken fromYaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Devastating Political Victory

Devastating Political Victory

Discalimer: I think it's crazy that the US - the richest large country in history - doesn't have health insurance for all. I also have not the slightest opinion on how this ought to be achieved, nor why it hasn't, nor which plan is the right one and how the other one is all wrong. I live very far away, am not impacted by the issue, and honestly haven't tried to educate myself about it.

The Guardian, on the other hand: now that's a topic I know something about. I read them every day to stay informed about their profound malaise (which health insurance can't cure). I don't read only what they write about Israel, since their malaise is much broader and I try to see it all.

Tooday they've got an article about how Obama seems to be in trouble selling his plan. Since they like Obama a lot, they need to spin this story. As a result, they've got all sorts of amusing lingual contortions, such as the one in the caption above. The meetings Democratic politicians are holding have been redifined by the Guardian: they're no longer town hall meetings, they're now "town hall" meetings. The worn trope of unidentified "commentators say" is trotted out:

The tactics of Republicans, conservative protest groups and healthcare lobbyist-linked organisations have been decried by many commentators.

And so it goes on. Yet another case where the Guardian drops any attempt to understand what reality is, and prefers to inform us what it ought to be.

taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Israel Matzav: 'Jordan is Palestine' said... King Hussein of Jordan

'Jordan is Palestine' said... King Hussein of Jordan

This is from Sarah Honig's weekly column in Friday's JPost:

In 1950, Transjordan annexed the "West Bank" (the name they gave the territory occupied after the Arab invasion of new-born Israel in 1948) and became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Its leaders, including the late King Hussein, stressed over and over in numerous pronouncements that "Jordan and Palestine are one and the same." So did Palestinian leaders, including Yasser Arafat. The Palestinian Covenant, in fact, covets all of Jordan - precisely because it's Palestine.

Yet eventually it became expedient, PR-wise, to claim that Palestine exists exclusively west of the mini-river, justifying the campaign for a second Palestinian Arab state.

Fearing that his Palestinian subjects would topple their imported Hashemite rulers, Hussein kicked out the PLO in Black September 1970. Too bad. Had he failed, Arafat would have taken Amman over and nobody could today deny that Palestine is divided among Jews and Arabs, with the Arabs owning nearly four-fifths thereof.

Now Hussein's son Abdullah II seeks to rewrite history once more in the well-trodden Jordanian tradition. His father dropped the claim to what he branded the West Bank but didn't revive the ludicrous moniker of Transjordan. After 17 years of annexation (1950-67), the Jordan trademark gained global acceptance. It rang authentic. Why then return to the obvious fake?

Jordan's population, though, is overwhelmingly Palestinian. The only exceptions are the Beduin who accompanied Abdullah I from Hejaz. Like the Hashemites, they're foreigners. Now these outsiders design to delegitimize the natives. Expectedly, governments and human rights NGOs worldwide are silent.

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Israel Matzav: 'Jordan is Palestine' said... King Hussein of Jordan

Israel Matzav: Israel's Arabists

Israel's Arabists

Caroline Glick explains why so many people in Washington now see Israel as a strategic liability rather than a strategic asset:

THE SAD truth is that for the past 16 years, the greatest champion of the view that Israel is a strategic liability rather than a strategic asset for the US, and that the US gains more from a weak Israel than a strong Israel, has been Israel itself. Successive governments in Jerusalem, from the Rabin-Peres government to the Barak, Sharon and Olmert governments, all embraced the Arabist view that regional stability and hence Israeli security is enhanced by a weakened Israel.

Ehud Olmert's much-derided 2005 assertion that "we are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies," was simply a whiny affirmation of Israel's leaders' embrace of the Arabist worldview.

Kaplan cited Israel's incompetent handling of the war with Hizbullah in 2006 and its bungling of the campaign against Hamas in Gaza this past December and January as proof of the Arabist claim that it is a strategic burden.

What he failed to recognize was that the Olmert government made a clear decision not to win those wars. Doing so would have exposed as folly the government's central assertion that Israel is better off being weak than strong. In light of this, it is obvious that the Arabist desire to see Israel weakened is not supported by Israel's performance in Lebanon and Gaza. Israel's performance in Lebanon and Gaza was a consequence of its leaders' adoption of the Arabist worldview. Had they rejected it, the results of those wars would likely have been much different.

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Israel Matzav: Israel's Arabists

Israel Matzav: Ed Koch blasts Obama

Israel Matzav: Ed Koch blasts Obama

A fifth of European Union will be Muslim by 2005 - Telegraph

A fifth of European Union will be Muslim by 2050

Britain, Spain and Holland will have an even higher proportion of Muslims in a shorter amount of time, an investigation by The Telegraph shows.

By Adrian Michaels
Published: 10:56AM BST 08 Aug 2009

On a hope and a prayer: lack of debate over influx of Muslims, some experts claim Photo: REUTERS

Last year, five per cent of the total population of the 27 EU countries was Muslim. But rising levels of immigration from Muslim countries and low birth rates among Europe's indigenous population mean that, by 2050, the figure will be 20 per cent, according to forecasts.

Data gathered from various sources indicate that Britain, Spain and Holland will have an even higher proportion of Muslims in a shorter amount of time.

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A fifth of European Union will be Muslim by 2005 - Telegraph