Love of the Land: Demography, Geopolitics, and the Future of Israel's Capital: Jerusalem's Proposed Master Plan

Demography, Geopolitics, and the Future of Israel's Capital: Jerusalem's Proposed Master Plan

Nadav Shragai
JCPA Global Law Forum
03 March '10

The aspiration to create and preserve a stable Jewish majority in the unified capital of the State of Israel has been the dream of the Jewish people over many generations.Yet, the Jewish majority in Jerusalem is declining due to the mass migration of the Jewish population from Jerusalem, together with the migration of an additional Arab population into Jerusalem.

According to the proposed master plan for the city, the planned inventory of Jewish housing does not meet expected needs for 2020, while the planned inventory of Arab housing will suffice until at least 2030. Lands earmarked on paper for expanding Jewish neighborhoods are Arab-owned, have unregistered ownership, and a minority are Jewish-owned. In the current political and diplomatic reality, it is not plausible that the state will expropriate land as it did in the past.

Furthermore, the proposed master plan will create urban contiguity between eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods and Palestinian neighborhoods outside the city, reinforcing the Palestinian demand to recognize the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem as a single political entity.

The demographic struggle for a Jewish majority in Jerusalem should be waged with an emphasis on staunching the emigration of Jews from the city. The steps required include building tens of thousands of housing units.

(Read complete report)

Love of the Land: Demography, Geopolitics, and the Future of Israel's Capital: Jerusalem's Proposed Master Plan

Love of the Land: The Deafening Silence Over Paul Martin

The Deafening Silence Over Paul Martin

Honest Reporting/Backspin
02 March '10

Hamas extended the detention of British journalist Paul Martin by 15 days.

Unfortunate news, but hardly suprising. Hamas is waging a war on press freedom, to the point of dictating throwaway lines.

What is surprising is the media's silence on the affair. Martin's not a high-profile personality like Alan Johnston. But you'd think the UK news services that have used Martin's work over the years -- particularly the BBC -- would be more vociferous.

Tom Gross points out:

Paul Martin, who formerly lived in Cairo, has worked for a number of media over the years, including BBC TV and radio. Indeed he was last in Gaza six weeks ago on assignment for the BBC, and yet the almost complete silence of the BBC now on his fate is deafening. Contrast this to the near hourly mentions, day after day, week after week, by the BBC of their former Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston while he was held in Gaza in 2007.

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: The Deafening Silence Over Paul Martin

Love of the Land: Our enlightened Fisher-clones

Our enlightened Fisher-clones

Sarah Honig
Another Tack/JPost
26 February '10

Most Israeli leftists are hardly hostile anti-Zionists. They are just a lot like Irving Fisher, the self-confident star-economist.

Israel’s left-wing elite, cliquey opinion-makers, self-serving trend-setters and bon-ton groupies glory in posturing as anti-establishment nonconformists.

Their premise that Jews must always pay is perhaps the root symptom of the Jewish nation’s abnormality and inability to behave like other sovereign nations. Nowhere is there another country whose citizens ponder daily what more to offer their foes, what they can cede to appease and how to curry a little favor abroad.

The need to pay for our right to live is a uniquely Jewish syndrome. We alone bear an onus to justify what’s a self-evident, inalienable right to any other people. Our obsession to analyze things from our enemies’ perspective and understand them is simply unparalleled.

That said, most Israeli leftists are hardly hostile anti-Zionists. They are just a lot like Irving Fisher – among the forerunners of the modern breed of celebrity gurus. The self-confident star-economist’s most famous prediction – in October 1929 – was that “stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.” But literally several days later, alas, reality confoundedly interfered with his rosy forecast and financial markets uncooperatively crashed.

Was the oracle of Wall Street a smidge contrite? Heck no. For long months Fisher (non-Jewish despite his name) clung to his optimistic orientation. The Great Depression’s misery notwithstanding, he assured despairing investors that recovery was just around the corner.

Today, when psychologists discuss the cognitive malfunctions and logical fallacies collectively known as wishful thinking, Fisher is almost inevitably cited as a prime example of one whose deductions weren’t based on evidence or sound analysis but on what he desired.

(Read full story)

Love of the Land: Our enlightened Fisher-clones

Love of the Land: Antisemitism and anti-Zionism, joined at the hip

Antisemitism and anti-Zionism, joined at the hip

Fresnozionism.org
01 March '10

Recent anti-Israel propaganda seems, more and more, to be mixed with traditional antisemitic images and themes.

[Louis] Farrakhan, speaking to a crowd of 20,000 followers at Chicago’s United Center on Sunday, said that Obama’s political problems began when he, according to the Chicago Sun Times report, stood up to the Jewish lobby during a White House meeting. When they left the White House, his problems began,” Farrakhan said, adding that “the Zionists are in control of the Congress.”

Minister Farrakhan also referred to the U.S. president’s chief economical advisors, Timothy Geithner, Henry Paulson and Larry Summers, asking “Who does he have around him? The people from Goldman Sachs.” [Geithner and Paulson are not Jewish -- ed.] The leader of the Nation of Islam added that “bloodsuckers of the poor” were rewarded with a bailout…

Further on in his address, Farrakhan also reiterated his claims that the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 was “an inside thing…”

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: Antisemitism and anti-Zionism, joined at the hip

Israel Matzav: Multilateralism's dead end

Multilateralism's dead end

On Tuesday, I reported that Hillary Clinton had told reporters on her Latin American tour that a resolution imposing new sanctions against Iran would come before the UN Security Council in the next few months. I argued that we cannot wait 'a few months' and that Prime Minister Netanyahu will not wait 'a few months.'

Of course, Obama promised that we would move onto sanctions at the end of September, at the end of December, in February, and now 'in a few months.'

Noah Pollak argues that the reason for the continual delays is that the Obama administration is in denial about the fact that Russia and China will not join any effort to impose new sanctions. Here's why:

There are two reasons, I think. The first is that acknowledging Russia and China’s unwillingness to help would strike the most powerful blow yet to Obama’s central foreign-policy message: that his personality and eagerness for engagement would open up doors for America that were slammed shut by the Bush administration’s alleged arrogance and quickness to go to war. Acknowledging that the Security Council will never allow strong sanctions would be tantamount to admitting that the very logic and premises of Obama’s foreign policy is flawed. Thus, this isn’t really about Iran. It’s about the politics of failure and Obama’s increasingly desperate attempt to shield his presidency from the hard realities of the world.

And there is a practical reason why Obama may never admit that the Security Council is a dead end: doing so would force him to move to a new strategy — and there is no new strategy. So instead of thinking seriously about a Plan B, the administration is simply burying Plan A in a process with no chance of success and no expiration date. This is passivity, and it puts Obama in the position of reacting to events instead of shaping them. That’s not a good position for the American president to be in.

I would add a third reason. Another central plank of Obama's foreign policy is acting through multilateral organizations, particularly the United Nations. If the United Nations cannot answer Iran effectively, that plank is blown to bits. Multilateral organizations like the UN are not capable of reigning in rogue states because ultimately each state has its own interests. In Obama's delusional world, each state subverts its own interests to the common good. But the only states that are subverting their own interests when it comes to Iran are the United States and - for now - Israel.

What could go wrong?

Israel Matzav: Multilateralism's dead end

Israel Matzav: UN official calls for end of Gaza 'blockade'

UN official calls for end of Gaza 'blockade'

United Nations Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes called on Israel to lift its 'blockade' of the Gaza Strip, saying that the 'blockade' has "continuing and growing pernicious and negative consequences" that include a situation of "development going backwards."

Israel imposed import restrictions on Gaza after Hamas captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid in 2006, and strengthened them a year later after Hamas, which calls for Israel’s destruction, seized Gaza. Israel allows daily shipments of food, medicine and other supplies.

Mr. Holmes, who was last here a year ago, discounted the legitimacy of using the blockade to force the release of the soldier, Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit. But he said that Sergeant Shalit should be released and should have been granted visits by the Red Cross, which Hamas has not allowed.

Mr. Holmes noted that some commerce had found its way around the blockade through smugglers’ tunnels from the Egyptian Sinai, but noted the dangers of a smuggler economy, including conditions in the tunnels, which frequently collapse.

He toured a factory in northern Gaza that turns rubble into limited amounts of cement. He also saw some mud huts that a few Gazans had started to build.

Of course, Holmes made no demands on Egypt and no demands on Hamas - not even an insistence on Shalit's release. He ignores the consequences of allowing terrorists to cross into Israel, ignores the massive amounts of 'humanitarian aid' that enter Gaza daily (they look like they're starving in the picture at the top, don't they?) and ignores the likelihood that Hamas would hijack any building materials for its own building - rocket building.

But then, you wouldn't expect anything else from the UN, would you?

Israel Matzav: UN official calls for end of Gaza 'blockade'

Israel Matzav: Coup coming in Turkey?

Coup coming in Turkey?

The mass arrest of Turkish army officers last week may leave the Turkish army with no choice but to engage in a coup if they wish to prevent Turkey from becoming an Islamic state according to analyst Daniel Pipes.

The AKP devised an elaborate conspiracy theory in 2007, dubbed “Ergenekon,” to arrest about two hundred AKP critics, including military officers, under accusation of plotting to overthrow the elected government. The military responded passively, so the AKP raised the stakes on January 22 by concocting a second conspiracy theory, this one termed “Balyoz” (“Sledgehammer”) and exclusively directed against the military.

The military denied any illegal activities and the chief of general staff, İlker Başbuğ, warned that “our patience has a limit.” Nonetheless, the government proceeded, starting on February 22, to arrest 67 active and retired military officers, including former heads of the air force and navy. So far, 35 officers have been indicted.

Thus has the AKP thrown down the gauntlet, leaving the military leadership basically with two unattractive options: (1) continue selectively to acquiesce to the AKP and hope that fair elections by 2011 will terminate and reverse this process; or (2) stage a coup d’état, risking voter backlash and increased Islamist electoral strength.

At stake is whether the Ergenekon/Balyoz offensives will succeed in transforming the military from an Ataturkist to a Gülenist institution; or whether the AKP’s blatant deceit and over-reaching will spur secularists to find their voice and their confidence. Ultimately the issue is whether sharia will rule Turkey or the country will return to secularism.

Pipes argues that which way Turkey goes has implications for other Muslim countries as well. Read the whole thing.

Israel Matzav: Coup coming in Turkey?

Israel Matzav: Nasrallah accuses US embassy of spying for Israel

Nasrallah accuses US embassy of spying for Israel

Hezbullah chieftain Hassan Nasrallah has accused the United States embassy in Beirut of passing information to Israel. Nasrallah has urged the Lebanese government and its security forces not to cooperate with the embassy.

Hmmm.

Israel Matzav: Nasrallah accuses US embassy of spying for Israel

Israel Matzav: The Nanny State strikes again: Massachusetts to ban circumcision?

The Nanny State strikes again: Massachusetts to ban circumcision?

Whenever the radical left wants to attack Jewish ritual, they attack one of two things for being 'cruel' and 'inhumane.' One is ritual slaughter. The other is circumcision.

There is a bill pending in the legislature of the People's Republic of Massachusetts that would ban circumcision for anyone under the age of 18. It specifically states no exceptions for religious reasons (Hat Tip: Lance K).

Under the legislation, people who disregard the ban would face a fine and possible 14-year prison sentence.

The proposal classifies male circumcision as genital mutilation and supporters of the bill say male infants can't possible consent to the procedure.

They testified here on Beacon Hill, calling circumcision unethical at its core.

The Centers for Disease Control says lack of circumcision has been linked to sexually transmitted diseases, urinary tract infections and penile cancer.

In the US, common complications include minor bleeding and infection.

The CDC doesn't recommend either way, preferring to leave the decision up to the person and their parents.

There are a lot of comments - most of which seem to be in favor of the bill.

If this passes, I suspect a lot of people in the Boston area will be traveling to Providence to circumcise their sons.

What could go wrong?

Israel Matzav: The Nanny State strikes again: Massachusetts to ban circumcision?

Elder of Ziyon: How Israel-bashers win at York U.

Elder of Ziyon: How Israel-bashers win at York U.

DoubleTapper: Purim Photos

Purim Photos

تنسيق-الكليات-لعام سكس نيك كس

Peter Parker at the Western Wall

Hat tip Rafi G

DoubleTapper: Purim Photos

Chester Chronicles - Artists Against Hatred: Confronting Genocide in the Middle East

Chester Chronicles - Artists Against Hatred: Confronting Genocide in the Middle East

Israel Matzav: Acer Computers wipes Israel off the map

Acer Computers wipes Israel off the map

Acer computers is based in Taiwan. A reader of the blog was looking for support for his Israeli-bought Acer netbook (with Hebrew keyboard) and was unable to locate his country on Acer's international support map.

Here's Acer's web site:

And here's what you get if you click on Middle East (by the way that web page is located in the United Arab Emirates):


Note the imaginary country that begins with the letter "p" and the missing country that begins with the letter "i."

Now, what's worse is that if you assume that Acer has an Israeli cite and click on acer.co.il, you get taken here and you end up back at the Middle East page.

Perhaps this has something to do with Acer's taking a greater interest in 'Palestine' than in Israel.

The winning of this bid can be attributed to the superior technical know-how, as well as the infrastructure and support of New Techni Comp, Acer's local channel partner and committed IT reseller, based in the bustling city-centre of Ramallah.

Ramallah is about ten minutes from my home, but I can't go there because it's Area A and Israelis cannot go to Area A. Fortunately, I also don't own an Acer computer. I don't believe Mrs. Carl does either, but hers is serviced by the store from which she bought it (mine was bought in the US and brought back as luggage - we also each own an IBM - Lenovo laptop and I have another computer in our storage room whose manufacturer's name escapes me but could be an Acer).

This is not an isolated phenomenon in this part of the world, which does not make Acer's actions any more forgivable.

For example, Adobe has a partnership with Bir Zeit University, which is listed as being in "Palestinian occupied territories," which I suppose is slightly better than the imaginary country of 'Palestine.'



But that information is probably inputted by Bir Zeit itself.

Here's Cisco's web site:

Note the imaginary country of 'Palestine' which appears in the emerging markets.

But Cisco Israel has its own web page and Cisco has bought several companies in Israel. In fact, if you go to their partners' page, the pull down menu includes both Israel and 'Palestinian territories - occupied.' But at least, unlike Acer, you can find service in Israel on the web page.

One more. Here's Hewlett-Packard:

Note that Israel appears by itself, while 'Palestine' is with a bunch of other countries, all of whom have one phone number (which is also in the United Arab Emirates).

Of the companies we've looked at, only Acer wipes Israel off the map.

Hmmm.
Israel Matzav: Acer Computers wipes Israel off the map

Israel Matzav: What happens in Dubai stays in Dubai

What happens in Dubai stays in Dubai

Please don't ask me about the title of this post. It's Roger Simon's and I couldn't think of anything better so I kept it.

Roger exposes the big elephant in Inspector Tamim's living room by asking the following question:

[T]he longer this story stays in the news the longer the biggest of all lingering questions stays there: What the Hell was Dubai doing being the transit for Hamas weapons for all these years that it would necessitate this Mossad action? It’s unlikely the Israelis want to send six, sixty or six hundred (whatever the number proves to be) agents into their country. Well, the answer is a four-letter word and it begins with I….

And with that, let me remind you that Part 1 of the Mission Impossible episode I've been showing you is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 is here and Part 4 is here. And now here's Part 5.

Let's go to the videotape.



You know those passport pictures the Dubai police keep showing? I'm sure they're masks just like on Mission Impossible. I wonder how Mr. Phelps would have liquidated Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

Hmmm.

Israel Matzav: What happens in Dubai stays in Dubai

Israel Matzav: The 'mystery' of American support for Israel

The 'mystery' of American support for Israel

Here's a hard question for the world's 'Israel lobby' conspiracy theorists like Walt and Mearsheimer: Given that it has been the case for at least the last 60 years that the overwhelmingly non-Jewish American public supports Israel, what basis is there for attributing that support to the 2% of the country that is Jewish?

American foreign policy in the Middle East may not be wise and it may not be right. That subject is and must remain open to debate, and every American citizen is entitled to have and to express an opinion on the topic. But a failure to recognize that long standing, deeply rooted and consistent gentile public opinion is the driving force behind that policy–foolish or wise as that policy may be–is just dumb. And when smart people go suddenly and inexplicably dumb, it’s reasonable to posit the presence of an irrational, uncontrolled mental force — in this case, ILS [Israel Lobby Syndrome]. Not every victim of ILS is an anti-Semite, but the prevalence of ILS shows that anti-Semitism like other forms of racism and unconscious prejudice retains a more powerful place in our society than we would like.

Indeed. Read it all.

Israel Matzav: The 'mystery' of American support for Israel

Israel Matzav: Olympic Committee revokes skier Lindsey Vonn's gold medal

Olympic Committee revokes skier Lindsey Vonn's gold medal

This is off topic but way too good not to share. The US Olympic Committee has revoked skier Lindsey Vonn's gold medal and given it to....

Hat Tip: NY Nana

Israel Matzav: Olympic Committee revokes skier Lindsey Vonn's gold medal

Israel Matzav: Sarah Palin on Jay Leno

Sarah Palin on Jay Leno

This is way off topic, but I decided to post it because it's a break from the serious stuff and I actually thought her standup comedy was cute (although the Tina Fey line was totally predictable). If you just want to see the comedy routine, skip to the second tape, around the 4:40 mark. It runs about two and a half minutes.

Here's Part 1. Let's go to the videotape.



Here's Part 2. Let's go to the videotape.



By the way, the comments at YouTube are vicious. So much hatred for a hockey mom....

Israel Matzav: Sarah Palin on Jay Leno

Israel Matzav: Israel to stop helping to build 'Palestinian institutions'

Israel to stop helping to build 'Palestinian institutions'

Thus far, Israel has been playing along with 'westernized' 'Palestinian' 'technocrat' Salam Fayyad's plan to establish 'Palestinian institutions' of 'statehood' even though Fayyad has announced that his ultimate goal is to declare statehood in a year and a half, ready or not, with or without Israel's agreement. Now, amid accusations that Fayyad is inciting violence (well, how else did you expect a unilateral declaration of 'statehood' to have any meaning), Israel is having second thoughts.

Israel believes, the official said, that Fayyad wants on the one hand to continue cooperating on a professional level with Israel on economic issues as well as the training of PA forces in Jordan, but at the same time has made a strategic decision to retain the right to use violence against Israel.

“We need to remember that Fayyad’s ultimate plan is to unilaterally declare statehood within a year and a half if negotiations do not reach an agreement by then,” another official said. “The current cooperation between Israel and the PA is assisting the Palestinians in establishing the institutions that Fayyad will use one day to show the world that he is ready to declare statehood.”

As a result, the political establishment will likely need to decide, in the near future, if it will continue assisting the Palestinians in establishing these institutions, particularly in light of the Palestinian refusal to restart peace negotiations with the Netanyahu government.

On the other hand, the IDF supports continued security cooperation with the PA, whose forces have been doing an effective job in cracking down on Hamas in the West Bank.

At the same time, though, there is concern within the IDF that, while unlikely, the PA security forces could turn their weapons against settlers and IDF soldiers in the West Bank. Recent incidents include the stabbing of a soldier at the Tapuah Junction by a PA policeman as well as the involvement of PA security officers in the shooting of Rabbi Meir Chai, a father of seven from Shavei Shomron late last year.

It's long past time for Israel to stop cooperating with Fayyad. The IDF should have learned its lesson from the last 'intifada' in which one of the first incidents consisted of a 'Palestinian policeman' murdering his Israeli patrol partner. If the 'Palestinians' are going to insist on using violence (as they inevitably do), they cannot be our partners.

Israel Matzav: Israel to stop helping to build 'Palestinian institutions'

Israel Matzav: Abu Bluff may initiate new 'intifada' to divert attention from corruption

Abu Bluff may initiate new 'intifada' to divert attention from corruption

JPost correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh, who is a 'Palestinian' himself, says that 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen is about to instigate a third 'intifada' (the word means "popular uprising") to divert attention from the corruption scandals in the 'Palestinian Authority' exposed by whistleblower Fahmi Shebaneh.

Yasser Arafat was the first to employ this policy to divert attention from the fact that his regime was stealing hundreds of millions of dollars of international aid to the Palestinians. Almost each time that the issue of financial corruption and bad government was raised, Arafat and his aides would step their rhetorical attacks on Israel under various pretexts. The incitement, which in the beginning led to periodic outbursts of violence against Israelis, finally saw the eruption of the second intifada. Now Mahmoud Abbas and his administration in the West Bank are employing the same policy.

In recent months, Abbas has been facing growing criticism from many Palestinians who, on the one hand accuse him of turning a blind eye to corruption in the Palestinian Authority and, on the other hand, denounce him as a “puppet” in the hands of Israel and the US.

The main complaint against Abbas - as one of his former intelligence officials put it - is that he has “surrounded himself with the same thieves and corrupt guys who used to work for Yasser Arafat.” The most recent cases of sexual and financial corruption in Abbas’s administration (which were revealed by the former intelligence official, Fahmi Shabaneh and have become to be known as “Fatahgate”), have caused irreparable damage to his standing and reputation.

The Palestinian Authority is now searching for any excuse to increase tensions with Israel, hoping that this will invite outside pressure on the government of Binyamin Netanyahu to make as many concessions as possible.

Netanyahu’s recent decision to include two religious sites in Israel’s national heritage list is already being exploited by Abbas’s government to send schoolchildren in Hebron and Bethlehem to throw stones and firebombs at Israeli soldiers.

Abbas is also hoping that renewed violence on the streets of the West Bank and the Old City of Jerusalem will force the US Administration to get more involved in the Israeli-Arab conflict.

And of course, it should be obvious to all of you, that even if Abu Bluff entered into an agreement with Israel, he could not sell it to his own people, and he could not enforce it.

He can't even control (or enter) Gaza.

What could go wrong?

Israel Matzav: Abu Bluff may initiate new 'intifada' to divert attention from corruption

Israel Matzav: Colon cancer awareness month

Colon cancer awareness month

March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month, and since we have an issue with that in my family (my Dad is - bli ayin hara (warding off evil eyes) a survivor, my paternal grandfather was killed by it), I thought I would re-link the post I did two years ago about my last colonoscopy (it's really quite funny, so please do read it). If you need one, please get one! Don't be afraid!

About 3,400 people in Israel are diagnosed with the disease, with 1,300 succumbing to it. Thanks to increased publicity in recent years, the Cancer Association said, many more Israelis are discovering that they have the disease at an earlier stage, making it much easier to treat.

The picture at the top is the delicious drink they give you to prepare for a colonoscopy. Heh.

Israel Matzav: Colon cancer awareness month

Israel Matzav: If it hurt, where's the pain?

If it hurt, where's the pain?

Israel's Chief of Military Intelligence Yossi Baidatz says that the disclosure of Iran's nuclear enrichment facility in Qom 'hurt' Iran's nuclear program, but the facility continues to operate.

During a discussion in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Beiditz said that the Iranians "continue to work at the site in violation of IAEA demands and are carrying out an experimental project to run modern centrifuges that are three or four times more effective than those currently in their possession."

So where's the pain?

Israel Matzav: If it hurt, where's the pain?

Israel Matzav: Is it anti-Semitic or 'just' anti-Israel?

Is it anti-Semitic or 'just' anti-Israel?

The disgusting cartoon at the top of this post comes from Cologne, Germany.

A crude anti-Israel exhibit in Cologne’s Cathedral Square in the heart of the bustling pedestrian zone does not meet the criteria of inciting hate, Rainer Wolf, a spokesman for the public prosecutor in Cologne, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

Wolf said the public prosecutor plans to dismiss the complaint of Gerd Buurmann, a non-Jewish theater director, who filed a grievance in February, asserting a violation of Germany’s hate-crime law.

Buurmann told the Post that he was “horrified” by the decision and plans to now participate in a civil legal action against Walter Herrmann, the exhibitor of the anti-Israel exhibit.

Herrmann’s long-standing exhibit, “Cologne Wailing Wall,” has been deemed anti-Semitic by critics in the Cologne City Council and a commentator from the large daily Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.

Buurmann initiated legal action because the exhibit shows a cartoon of a man sporting a Star of David on his bib as he devours a young Palestinian boy with a fork draped in an American flag and a knife with the word “Gaza.” A blood-filled glass next to the plate appears to symbolize the blood of the child.

Wolf, the prosecutor’s spokesman, told the Post that six or seven complaints have since been filed, ranging from private individuals to the Society for Christian-Jewish relations.

Asked whether the cartoon is an expression of modern anti-Semitism, Wolf said, it is “not a tendency of hostility toward Jews, but an actual criticism of the situation in Gaza.”

He added that the exhibitor, Walter Herrmann, seeks to “criticize” and the “cartoon is a sarcastic expression of the Israeli army in Gaza.”

Read the whole thing. Hitler and his friends would have fit right in to Cologne 2010. Hope and change same.

Although in all fairness, I have to say that I have been to Frankfurt a couple of times (once on business and once I got stuck there on my way back to Israel), and it was a lot less creepy than Vienna, for example. Apparently, there are some parts of Germany where there is shame over their role in the Holocaust, while there are other parts where they would like to pick up where Hitler left off.

Israel Matzav: Is it anti-Semitic or 'just' anti-Israel?

Israel Matzav: Some 'blockade,' isn't it?

Some 'blockade,' isn't it?

The next time someone tells you that Israel is running a 'blockade' that's starving poor Gazans, you can throw this at them.

Over the last week, a total of 595 truckloads, consisting of 13, 976 tons of humanitarian aid were transferred into the Gaza Strip from Israel via the various crossings. Likewise, ten truckloads of carnations were exported from Gaza to Europe.

Additionally, 255 medical patients and accompanying individuals from the Gaza Strip crossed into Israel and the Judea and Samaria region for medical treatment. 222 staff members of international organizations crossed into the Gaza Strip.

Essential food and humanitarian aid products, including milk powder, baby food, rice, cooking oil, flour, hygiene products and medicals supplies including a CT scanner were among the goods that crossed into Gaza this past week.

Lastly, 1,216,297 liters of diesel fuel and 992 tons of cooking gas also crossed into Gaza.

I get these statistics from the IDF daily and weekly. There is no 'blockade' except for materials like cement and metals that can be used by Hamas to make rockets (and even those - along with the rockets themselves - are being smuggled in from Egypt). No one in Gaza is starving. There is no 'humanitarian crisis.'

Just keep repeating those things. For they are the truth.

The picture at the top is trucks lined up waiting to enter Gaza. Some 'blockade,' isn't it?

Israel Matzav: Some 'blockade,' isn't it?

Israel Matzav: Generosity, Syrian style

Generosity, Syrian style

Forgetting that his country lost the Golan Heights in two aggressive wars that it started, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem has adopted 'generosity.' So long as Israel 'recognizes' that Syria is entitled to 'every last inch' of the Golan Heights, the Syrians will consider accepting payment on the installment plan and not insist on receiving the entire Golan upon signing of an agreement. Good luck with that.

"There could be stages of withdrawal, the timing of which could involve a form of normalization," he told the Guardian's Gabrielle Rifkind in December. "Half of the Golan could lead to an end of enmity; three-quarters of the Golan, to a special interest section in the US embassy in Damascus: a full withdrawal would allow a Syrian embassy in Israel."

During the interview, details of which were published on the British newspaper's Web site at the weekend, Moallem said issues such as Syria's support for terror groups would "only be answered after withdrawal."

The Syrian foreign minister stressed that while Damascus was willing to resume negotiations, "Israel needs to be ready to recognize that Syria is entitled to every inch of the Golan."

"For us the land is sacred and a matter of honor," said Moallem.

And we all know about the Arabs and their 'honor,' don't we?

For reasons I discussed on Tuesday, Israel has a far better claim to the Golan than does Syria. Combining that with Syria's intractable hostility (note that he says nothing about an Israeli embassy in Damascus, let alone 'normalization' or recognizing Israel's 'right to exist') and its support for terror groups, I wouldn't bet on an agreement being reached with Syria in your lifetimes or mine.

Israel Matzav: Generosity, Syrian style

Israel Matzav: Nasrallah speaks

Nasrallah speaks

Hezbullah Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah spoke to his supporters on Monday night - from his hiding place via a big screen. After all, the rodent never knows what might happen if he comes out of his hiding place.

Speaking through a large TV screen to mark Mohammad’s birthday as a part of the Week of Islamic Unity in the Sayyed As-Shouhadaa’ complex south of Beirut, Nasrallah claimed that Israel was indifferent to the one billion Muslims in the world, and that as well as wanting Jerusalem within its territory, it was seeking to include the "Islamic holy sites" in the recently announced Israeli national heritage plan.

“All this happens amid an Islamic and Arab silence only violated by minor denouncement statements,” Nasrallah said, adding that nobody was actually defending the Muslims’ holy sites except the Palestinians.

“Israel doesn't expect any response from the Arab street or from Arab governments. It takes into account the minority found in Lebanon and Palestine… this resistant minority has refused to surrender,” Nasrallah said of the Palestinians, adding that they don’t fear death but rather want to live with honor and dignity, according to the Al-Manar report.

Nasrallah continued to ascertain that the entire Arab nation had to thank Syria and Iran for standing by the “resistance.” “It is unacceptable to doubt Iran's intentions that aim at intervening to support the Palestinian cause,” he was quoted as saying.

The Hizbullah leader also addressed President Shimon Peres directly. "You have exited Lebanon once and for all, and I tell you, you will never be able to come back to Lebanon," he said.

“When Israel was confronted with a stern and unyielding rhetoric, it was forced to change its tone and to seek pacification on its northern border,” Nasrallah continued.

“The Israelis know very well that everything we have said can be achieved,” he added. "When we threaten Israel, we mean what we say, and Israel knows quite well that every word said would not have been iterated had there not been absolute conviction in the possibility of implementing and realizing it. What we have said is not everything, as we harbor surprises."

Nasrallah's time is coming soon. Just like his predecessor Abbas al-Moussawi. Someone got Mahmoud al-Mabhouh and someone will get Nasrallah too. Rest assured that he is unlikely to die of natural causes.

Heh.

Israel Matzav: Nasrallah speaks

Elder of Ziyon: Gaza "mud houses" and UNRWA bias

Elder of Ziyon: Gaza "mud houses" and UNRWA bias

Elder of Ziyon: The Judge Ito of Dubai

Elder of Ziyon: The Judge Ito of Dubai

Elder of Ziyon: UK fatwa against terrorism looks pretty good so far

Elder of Ziyon: UK fatwa against terrorism looks pretty good so far

Elder of Ziyon: "Mabhouh celebrated by standing on victim's corpse"

Elder of Ziyon: "Mabhouh celebrated by standing on victim's corpse"

Elder of Ziyon: "Netanyahu ready to go to Damascus"

Elder of Ziyon: "Netanyahu ready to go to Damascus"

Beware Sweet-Talking Biden,' Says Caroline Glick - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News

Beware Sweet-Talking Biden,' Says Caroline Glick - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News

Responding to Anti-Israel Apartheid Week - Jewish World - Israel News - Israel National News

Responding to Anti-Israel Apartheid Week - Jewish World - Israel News - Israel National News

Netanyahu a Wanted Man for Killing Terrorist, Say Dubai Police - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Netanyahu a Wanted Man for Killing Terrorist, Say Dubai Police - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Golan Residents on the Alert - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Golan Residents on the Alert - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

BBC Promotes Pro-Syrian Image for British Students - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

BBC Promotes Pro-Syrian Image for British Students - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

'Women Power' for the Sake of the Land of Israel - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News

'Women Power' for the Sake of the Land of Israel - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News

Likud Central Committee to Discuss Freeze March 18 - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News

Likud Central Committee to Discuss Freeze March 18 - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News

DoubleTapper: Muslim Religious Ban On Terrorism

Muslim Religious Ban On Terrorism

The leader of a global Muslim movement has issued a fatwa, or religious edict, that he calls an absolute condemnation of terrorism.

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, a former Pakistani lawmaker, says the 600-page fatwa bans suicide bombing "without any excuses, any pretexts, or exceptions."

"They can't claim that their suicide bombings are martyrdom operations and that they become the heroes of the Muslim nation," Qadri told a press conference in London. "“No, they become heroes of hellfire, and they are heading towards hellfire.”

Qadri also slammed Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, referring to it as an "old evil with a new name" and saying it has not be challenged adequately thus far.

"There is no place for any martyrdom and their act is never, ever to be considered jihad," he said.

Tahir-ul-Qadri has issued similar, shorter decrees, but Tuesday's event in London was publicized by the Quilliam Foundation, a government-funded anti-extremism think tank and drew strong media attention.

The religious scholar is the founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran, a worldwide movement that promotes a nonpolitical, tolerant Islam. The group has hundreds of thousands of followers around the world.

DoubleTapper: Muslim Religious Ban On Terrorism

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: We Were All Wrong on This, Too...

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: We Were All Wrong on This, Too...

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: A Tale in Arabic

A Tale in Arabic

If you've not yet read Amos Oz A Tale of Love and Darkness, do so. Stop reading this blog if you don't have time for both. It's the best book published in Israel last decade, period.

If you can't read the Hebrew original, you can now read an Arabic translation, published in Beirut.

The translation, by Israeli Arab Jamal Gnaim, was funded by the Khoury family of East Jerusalem in memory of their son George Khoury. Khoury was a promising Hebrew University law student when he was killed in a 2004 shooting attack while jogging on the university's Mt. Scopus campus.

(His killers thought he was a Jew).

Oz himself, musing on the success of the book, makes a profound point:

"Apparently the more a book is provincial, the more it is universal. When I wrote the book, I thought it would be read only by Jerusalemites from my neighborhood - I was sure that they wouldn't understand it in Tel Aviv," Oz said. "Now they're reading it in Beirut, Albania, Bulgaria and Korea. In China, for example, it was chosen as one of the best books of 2007."

Universal values are all well and fine, but they must start with real people, who live in real places, with real contexts. The power of universally significant stories or ideas is that people worldwide recognize our common humanity in diversity.

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: A Tale in Arabic

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Israel's Arabs: Time to Fix their Economy

Israel's Arabs: Time to Fix their Economy

The Marker, the financial sister-paper of Haaretz, has been closely following the story of the growing attempts to integrate Israel's Arabs in the upper reaches of the economy rather than the lower ones. Some of the reportage is about interesting efforts being launched by government and establishment agencies; some is carping on how great the need and how little being done. The whole thing is beginning to look like what could be a significant change for the better, which would benefit everyone involved.

(Mostly in Hebrew, of course. Such stories don't often get published in English). Here, and follow the previous links.

Also, relating to my previous post, note that Meretz and our radical Left have very little to do with the whole matter. The correctives are coming from a center-Right government, and free-market financial players. Just like you'd expect if you recognized our far Left for what they are.

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Israel's Arabs: Time to Fix their Economy

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Meretz: Wrong for the Wrong Reasons

Meretz: Wrong for the Wrong Reasons

In last year's elections Meretz, Israel's farthest-Left Zionist party, barely squeaked into the Knesset with three MKs. Being a party of upright burghers, they set up a commission of inquiry to honestly look into the causes of their near demise, and to suggest how to avert full demise next time. Unsurprisingly, the commission was headed by a professor: probably part of the problem.

The commission made lots of scatter-shot recommendations, from disbanding into some other party (three were suggested), to figuring out what it stands for, to sending up younger representatives (as if age poses a problem in other parties).

Here's a quick thesis: the problem with Meretz isn't its positions, many of which are applied sooner or later by the parties in government, but it's tone. The folks at Meretz are profoundly convinced they're better than the rest of us, the rest of us are ghastly, and they have very little acquaintance with or empathy for the cognitive, cultural or emotional moorings the rest of us share. This is not a good way to win elections.

Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Meretz: Wrong for the Wrong Reasons

Torat HaRav Aviner: Parashat Ki Tisa: Spiritual Repair

Parashat Ki Tisa: Spiritual Repair

פורסם על ידי Mordechai Friedfertig ב- 23:46

02

מרץ

2010

[Tal Chermon p. 181]

After the sin of the Golden Calf came the spiritual repair. It is true that there are crises in the world. The world is not a plain. There are mountains and valleys. We cannot deny it. We know that there are crises, but there is no need to panic on account of them. We can overcome the crises and spiritually repair ourselves through the Divine treatment found in the world of the Torah given to us by Moshe Rabbenu. The Torah can only be properly fulfilled after first stumbling in it (Gittin 43a), and by overcoming difficulties one attains a great possession. We received a second set of the Ten Commandments and repaired our relationship with Hashem. Out of the crisis of the sin of the Golden Calf, we clarified our proper relationship to Torah and to the Divine Presence which dwells among us.

Torat HaRav Aviner: Parashat Ki Tisa: Spiritual Repair

RonMossad: One (donkey) flew over the cuckoo's nest

One (donkey) flew over the cuckoo's nest

Well Purim's over, I guess that means it's back to reality. Although in the Middle East, it's more like sur-reality...

Shmuel Rosner over at the Jerusalem Post has an interesting take on a recent Gallup survey about Israel:

Support for Israel among Americans is at a 19-year high, a February Gallup survey of American attitudes toward international affairs has found.

That's good...

The percent favoring Israel is the highest since 1991, when 64% said they supported Israel shortly after it was hit by Iraqi Scud missiles during the Gulf War.

Also good...

Well - not all Americans. While the upward trend is likely to encourage Israelis, there are also more worrisome signs in this poll. Republicans become more supportive of Israel, but with Democrats the picture is less rosy.

Uh oh...

the gap between Republican and Democratic support is higher than ever (37%!)

That's not good...

Two years ago, I wrote about another poll in which the difference was "significant": it was a mare 20%.

I wrote about this a few years ago too...when I did an overview of which party is favored by more anti-Israel groups. Guess who "won" that contest? I'll give you a hint, it wasn't the Republicans.

But back to Rosner. He gives us this chart breakdown (compiled by the same Gallup poll) by party of what countries they support:



Ok...so if I'm reading this right, Democrats as a whole support the following countries more than Israel:

France
Egypt
Russia
India
Mexico

Let's say France fine, Mexico, fine...after all who doesn't love croissants and drunken Spring Breaks, right? Ignoring for a minute my criticisms of those two countries...India, Russia and EGYPT are all more favored by Democrats than Israel.

This is the same Egypt, by the way that not even a year ago slaughtered 300,000 pigs in order to combat H1N1 flu, which at the time was still being referred to as "swine" flu. It's the same Egypt that puts its own citizens in jail when the government doesn't like what they say. The same Egypt that regularly jails the opposition every time another rigged, mockery of an election is about to take place. The same site of sectarian violence and discrimination against the native non-Muslim, Coptic Egyptians. And this is without even mentioning their treatment of Jews and Palestinians over the years. Ok, good call Democrats.

Next up, Russia.

You may remember a little issue between Russia and their neighbor Georgia from 2008 that left a few thousand people killed or injured and a hundred thousand or so people displaced in just over a week. Or maybe the First Chechen War that resulted in tens of thousands of dead and hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians. Not enough? How about the Second Chechen War (still unresolved by the way) instead? And I'm sure you already know about President/Prime Minister-for-life Putin's Stalin-emulating purges and ownership of the media, right? By the way, take a look at this before and after picture of Grozny from the FIRST Chechnya war. And by the way, the only country to offer any tangible aid to Georgia in defending itself from Russia was...you guessed it, Israel. Great job Russians. Great job Democrats.

"Oh, but Mr. Mossad," you'll cry out, "it's not the same because none of these countries are SUPPOSED to be liberal democracies like Israel is. It's not their FAULT, they just don't know any better!"

As absurd as that pathetic, apologist line of thinking is, it falls apart completely when you look at India.

Now me personally, I have a lot of respect for India. Located in a part of the world only slightly more stable than the Middle East...India is surrounded by hostile, autocratic neighbors - much in the way Israel is. India also has a very serious Islamic extremism issue, much in the way that Israel does. India has the added problems of a massive population and poverty that most Westerners just cannot even comprehend.

But let's be fair...Indians have killed more Muslims over their own version of the West Bank and Gaza in the 63 years since it became free of British rule than Israel will in 63 THOUSAND years. In fact, an overall estimate of over 500,000 killed and 14 million evicted is attributed to just the two year time-period when Pakistan was carved out of western India.

Still better than Israel, though...right Democrats? It's hardly surprising though since all the politically-correct appeasement talk has been coming out of the Left for years. What SHOULD be surprising (but unfortunately is not) is that this utter hypocrisy isn't recognized by Jews for what it is.

I swear, sometimes I feel like Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest...

...trying to get a bunch of lunatics to agree to watching the World Series on TV.

It can't just be me though, right? There have to be other people who realize how insane this all is. How is it, that not only don't Jews question these disturbing trends - they actually EMBRACE them and try to act as if it's all part of being pro-Israel in some very cleverly intellectual way that us knuckle-dragging "neo-cons" just would never understand.

And then just to add insult to insanity we end off with this:

Americans are no more optimistic today than they were last year that peace can be reached between Israel and the Palestinians -- and they are, in fact, less optimistic than they were toward the end of the Bush administration.

There's your hope and change nonsense. Is it time to start admitting that maybe just voting the party line in the last election wasn't the best thing for Israel and Jews? Or are we, as Jews, finally ready to admit that we have a highly disturbing 2,000 year old tendency to act against our interests? It's one or the other. It can't be both, it can't be neither.

You'd have to be CRAZY to think otherwise. Right?

RonMossad: One (donkey) flew over the cuckoo's nest