HaDofeq

Cultural Hives

2009-10-17T23:16:00.000-07:00

Making fun of other ethnic groups happens. I think everyone does it, and the difference between racism and idiocy is context, famousness of coprolaliac, and impact on the media's voracious need for headlines.

Case in point is Ronan Tynan. Forget what he said, or the context -- except that it was, if one sees it in exactly the right light, theoretically Anti-Semitic. It was in a private setting and, when the issue was brought to his attention, Ronan did everything that a Jewish person would do to gain atonement: apology to the same audience that heard (even second- and third-hand) the remark, promising not to do it again, making amends for the error, changing behavior in order for it not to happen again. The Jewish woman in question accepted the apology, used the 'blood money' from the apology, as requested, to gift to a charity, and things SHOULD have returned to normal.

What happened next -- the Yankees dropping him from their 7th inning tradition of singing "God Bless America" -- is a sin in and of itself. Ronan did the right thing off the bat (pardon the pun). At this point, punishing someone who has reasonably done everything possible to exculpate himself is cruel and unusual punishment.

So who is this for? A 'defensive medicine' maneuver by the Yankees? Lame in the extreme. A corporate punishment for someone who might bring a negative taint to the team? A small, immature response.

So, Yankees: give Mr. Tynan that damn microphone, and let him do his job!

Where Quistling Went

2009-10-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

In 1941 one of Norway's own, like America's Benedict Arnold, Vidkun Quistling, helped the Nazis take Norway, furthering his own craving for power. He was responsible for the deportation of Jews to slaughter, for encouraging Norwegians to volunteer for the SS and for keeping Norway pacified throughout World War II.

The tumor was excised: Quistling and two of his fellows were executed for crimes of high treason. But it had already metastasized. Norway, over the years, has become a haven for anti-semitic hate speech. And where the Norwegian church had distanced itself from Quistling, and kept him from power until he grabbed it, the same church has been notably quiet in its to the rising tide of hate speech.

The current "seminar" series composed exclusively of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist speakers, with not even a cursory nod to providing a balanced viewpoint, is as much an indictment of Norwegian intelligencia (which eschewed Quistling) as it is for a modern government that has abdicated its role as an active part of the Norwegian people.

The Norwegian's have been quistled again, and again by their own people.

Cages, Inmates and Spectators

2009-09-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

Golan Heights Arabs and Druze are angry that Facebook now lets Israelis who want to check that they live in the Golan to indicate that it's part of Israel. Being that they're in the majority on that small volcanic plateau, that's reasonable.

What's funny is the anger from the non-Jewish Golan Heights residents, who think this infringes on Syria's claim to that disputed territory.

I'm not getting into who should have which piece of blood-soaked land. The point is that here, just like with American pro-Communists during Stalin's time, the Syrian-loving folks in the Golan Heights should reflect for a moment. After all, if they lived in Syria, they wouldn't be complaining: Syria doesn't allow Facebook into their country. Had Syria owned them, they wouldn't have the freedom to complain. Instead, they'd have to worry about Syrian Intelligence disappearing them in the night.

Maybe they should complain about things that make more sense, like getting a fair share of the pie in terms of municipal dollars and services, better schools and a stronger market for their products. From Israel, sure, but also from Syria. And maybe, just maybe, letting Syria permit them, through Facebook, to communicate with their families on the other side of this Middle Eastern Faraday Cage.

Kudos to the Dying

2009-08-24T21:48:00.001-07:00

Scotland did the right thing to let Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi go home to die. That Lybians, like exuberant Arabs in all tribal areas, would make a big deal is a given. That the fanatics to whom it's important would view this as a "victory" is irrelevant. That Israel, my homeland, and America, my home, should view this as deeply troubling at the very least is not the issue. The only issue, which the Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond must defend, is whether, from a Scottish point of view, the decision to release this convicted, unrepentant terrorist was in sync with the notion of compassionate release.

I am in favor of the Scottish Minister.

In Judaism, rach'manut -- the concept of pity or mercy -- is tied to the subjective Jewish experience. Minister Salmond, whatever other aspersions or back-office conniving might be attributed to his actions, made a decision on what was compassionate from the temporal, Scottish point of view.

While I might theoretically like to let Megrahi's prostate gland swell and burst, sinking his alleged manhood and body into a festering and painful maelstrom of blood and death, I'm not in charge. And it's not about revenge, it is about justice. And justice, while it should be blind as the cynical American right might claim it to be, must also be compassionate.

Minister Salmond was and is correct. And in showing mercy in the face of farcical response and cynical use of the situation, the Minister shows that one must be true to oneself, regardless of how it might be perceived, or reacted to, in another's culture.

Full marks to the Scottish Parliament for doing what it believes is just, instead of what America or others might seem vengefully expedient.

Orly Taitz and the Paranoia of Insanity

2009-08-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about stupid people is that they can't help themselves. Like someone with unsetoppable hunger, they'll swallow hooks, lines, lies and kitchen sinks 'til they pop.

This self-proclaimed Jew (I dare her to show her father's circumcision papers) has become the bastard stepchild of the insane Right's "birther movement:" that President Barack Obama was somehow not born in Hawaii. Of course, if Orli (if that's her real name) could produce her father's and grandfather's circumsicion papers we might believe her claims to be who she is. Not that we'd believe her paranoia-driven drivel as to our President's roots.

I'm not sure which are the saddest commentaries: this idiot twit using her alleged Jewish credentials to claim that an American was not born in America (contradicting all manner of witnesses, newpaper clippings, and reality), that there are thousands of Amerikans so damn sore losers that they can't fathom why their brand of idiotic thinking hasn't transmogrified into a Palin/McCain presidency, or the media, supposed stalwarts of rational thinking, who are more than happy to spread this memetic Herpes of an idea.

The press spent decades proving it was a legitimate check on the criminal excesses of government. It's squandering any credentials it had by lending even a byte of online time to this Kahane-esque fascist of a paranoid delusionist (I suggest media reporters go back through Kahane's writings and speeches (may his name be cursed) to see just how nuts -- and like him -- she is.)

Haaretz, MSNBC, even Salon have dedicated entire microwatts of energy to communicating with, and reporting on, this insane person. To not report would be to miss news, I might guess. To report would be to attempt to debunk. Except if you're one of the unmedicated paranoid schizophrenics who believe that to report, or not to report, on this nutjob's musings would be a sign from above of A Big Coverup.

I think it's all sad. Sadder still that I'm wasting fine motor function musculature typing this blog post.

This raving idiot should be summarily ignored. (Except by Limbaugh, who might benefit from some of her relative sanity.)
If she's in Israel, deport her. After all, she's guilty of treason.
If she's in the US, deport her. After all, if she's a Moldovan citizen; it stands to reason that she's entered the US illegally in order to foment dissent. And you can just take it on faith that she's faked all her immigration documents (good luck finding her alleged immigration officer!).
She lied on her immigration papers. She's actually a man: Just call her 'Eugene' when she's off-guard. You'll see: the proof is right here.

There are a lot of real issues to address. Should Octomom have her own TV show? What about this mysterious Kate lady, and her kids? These are serious, reality-based issues, and demand the lion's share of our (limited) mental capacity.

This Taitz chick? Butterfly net, Thorazine and a quiet place where lawyers no longer tread. And lets keep the news ticker focused on reality, not Alice in an LSD-laced Wunderlandt.

[A shout out to the innumerable sites point out that this woman is indeed a raving luntic!]

"Racist" Cell Phone Advertising and the Separation Wall

2009-07-12T06:49:00.001-07:00

Facebook is abuzz with hate regarding an Israeli cell phone commercial dubbed "Racist." You can see it below. Cellcom, one of Israel's cell phone providers (the original word for "cell phone" was "cellcom") has a history of making hip, "cool" ads.

While, like an Israeli movie, Palestinians are notable in their absence, the (presumed) Palestinians on the other side of the wall literally hold the ball in this commercial. Fun is a function of when they decide to pop the ball back over the wall. The wall masks the soldiers from confrontation, from their real mission. The ball is an ambassador of peace, a bouncing olive branch. It's precisely because of the wall that the encounter happens at all.

Don't misunderstand me: I wish there was no need for a wall, and I wish the wall had been built on Israeli, not Palestinian territory when possible. But the wall has helped protect Israelis from suicide and car bombings and, until the Palestinians themselves can figure out to govern themselves in a law-abiding manner, Israel has to protect itself.

But these interactions, as small and commercialized as they might be, are continuing signals that the wall is a barrier to healthy interaction, and a reason that it's sons and daughters must continue to be drafted in its looming service.

Why We Shouldn't Bomb Iran

2009-06-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

There are many reasons why Iran's nuclear intentions should be stopped: they're a theocracy that has a proven history of using large weapons against civilian targets (the Iran-Iraq war), the use of civilians and children as cannon fodder (ibid) and a government overlain by a theocracy that is far less in touch with reality than the West would like.

It also has a vibrant, moderate intellectual class, a democracy that while practically corrupt has an underlying acceptance (note the demonstrations after the latest elections) and a history, if not in recent times, of Western confluence.

To use military force against Iran, at a time when the forces of moderation and democratic and popular change are waxing, would undermine the surge for democracy that the United States would very much like to see in the old Persian kingdom. War unites and war provides, as we've seen here since 9/11, a pretext for government abolition or infringement of civil liberties.

If we're going to go blow something up, I vote for North Korea. Their populace certainly isn't going to rise up and declare democracy, and they never had the concept in their country. And they are, without doubt, far more needing of military intervention than the stormy, but vibrant, Iranian people.

Tav HaYosher, Tav Chevrati and the Tavei Kashrut

2009-05-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

The wave of indignation over the Mar'at Ayin (making Jews look bad) created by the employee conditions at the religious, Jewish-run Agriprocessors processing plant was deep among the non-religious Jews in Texas. Many wanted to know how a plant like that could qualify as "Kosher" if it treated employees poorly, and facilitated hiring illegal immigrants so as to pay them below minimum wage.

Religious Jews, including a rabbi with whom I study, were puzzled. "This has nothing to do with Kashrut," one person said. "Mixing these ideas into granting a kashrut license is wrong: Kashrut is about what's in the (written and oral) Torah; labor conditions aren't a factor."

They're right. And wrong. And the idea of an additional certification offers a great way for the Jewish and general public to buy from places that treat their employees fairly, at least to the minimal standards of the law. As the certification is being given to non-Kosher restaurants in Israel, the split removes one of the biggest criticisms of the Orthodox movement: that Kashrut and ethics should not be blurred.

Don't mistake that last statement for insensitivity on the part of the Orthodox: they care very much for Tzedek -- justice -- in the workplace. Mingling secular ethics and Jewish religious standards, however, would have been a solution with the potential to ruin one of few cachets providing Jewsa reliable mechanism to trust foods they didn't personally make.

Israeli Elections and Cartoons

2009-02-11T10:34:00.000-08:00

First off, I'm disappointed with the outcome of the Israeli elections. We need more peace, not less, especially at a time when we may need to use force. Doesn't make sense? It's simply: better someone regretful but decisive at the trigger than someone gleeful and happy to pull it.

Of course, I'd much rather no one pulled any triggers: get a Palestinian State in place and let's get on with healing: it'll take long enough as it is!

Great cartoon today by a Jordanian cartoonist (click on the link to access the page for this cartoon). I usually get a real kick out of Arab cartoonists railing at the West and Israel, while all the while they live in totalitarian or repressive regimes. Emad Hajjaj has the creds, though, to overcome his address. Born in Ramallah in 1967, he's done some very good work -- I may not agree with his viewpoint, but he's got a very sharp wit and he's not afraid to use it, even to the Jordanian goverment's displeasure. Please check out Emad's site at www.mahjoob.com.

I think cartoonists are great communicators of passion and "flavor" that printed news simply can't convey. Unfortunately, they're a dying breed, at least in the US: they're seen as superfluous and controvertial by print publishers. Check out Bartholoviews' stuff at Artizans, and pull up Cagle's pages for a wide and multicultural view of the world.

As for the Israeli elections, Emad, unfortunately, said it best.

Sometimes One Cheers, Sometimes One Cries

2009-02-10T11:00:00.001-08:00

For all the corruption and Byzantine insanity that is the Israeli political and governmental system, mostly fair and free elections are again on their way. At this writing almost 51% of the entire electorate are voting. Unlike America, criminals vote. And soldiers, except in very specific circumstances, are also voting 'live.'

Compare these elections, with the conspicuous lack of folks getting killed, with every other Middle Eastern "democracy." Horribly, we allow fascist right-wingers to run for office. And Arabs, so long as they don't actively support Israel's enemies. Heck, we even have the senior citizens and marijuana legalization parties running in support of each other!

I hope sanity wins, but I'm not optimistic: the latest Gaza offensive (can't really all it a war, sorry) injected adrenaline into the Israeli conscience; belligerent Israelis are more right wing Israelis. Just when Israel needs Meretz most, it'll have it least. But that's my free opinion as an Israeli, in a land where I'm free to have such points of view.

So a shehecheyanu on our making it to one more round of elections; I wish the new ruling coalition more success than its predecessor. Oh, and a little less corruption would be nice!

[Image courtesy Google Israel]

Drip, Drip, Drip

2009-02-03T11:58:00.000-08:00

Israel went into Gaza to fix leaky plumbing. They dug, they rattled the pipes, but they didn't, as they're not genocidal maniacs, actually kill all the Hamas leaders.

So the pipes are leaking again, and Ashkelon and other sites near Gaza are getting dripped on. Again.

I don't like the idea of civilians being killed. Every bomb, every bullet, in either direction, only creates more hatred for the next generation.

That said, if drug dealers in Juarez, Mexico began firing rockets into El Paso, and are threatening to fire them as far up as Las Cruces, how long do you think it'll be before the US "invades" Mexico to stop the problem if the local authorities can't? (No, I don't think it's a silly comparison: read the papers on the drug wars there, in Laredo, and in other border cities. If drug smugglers can build submarines, fire anti-aircraft missiles at surveillance planes, and kill locals with total impunity, then why assume they wouldn't use terror to extend their reach?)

Even with Israel's upcoming elections, even with US President Obama's push to "finally" get peace to the Middle East, Israel has laid down a tougher standard for response to the drip of missiles from the sky.

Hamas in Gaza would do well to do what's best for its own citizens' needs, and listen less to its Iranian puppeteers in Syria.

Down the Path

2009-01-11T23:06:00.000-08:00

The Israeli government is suddenly, given the U.N. decrees, looking at an end to operations "soon."

This is the equivalent of telling Hamas to 'hold firm, and we'll be gone soon.'

I'm not a fan of violence. I've been a familial victim of it, and have administered it on a metered and irrational basis in my role as an IDF soldier. But statements like these have both a chilling effect on morale and a deleterious effect on all operations after the second phrases like these are mentioned.

Soon must equal 'when we've disabled Hamas' rocket projection capabilities.' Anything less than that is a betrayal of the incredible work of thousands of my IDF kith and kin, and the trust given by Israelis to the government. It is also an acknowledgement that the innocent Palestinian and Israeli lives snuffed out in the fighting were merely window dressing to a larger, impotent poliical play.

Want to do something solid? Continue the offensive. Adi, I know you can hit a target 5 meters across from 3,000 meters away: do it! Steven, push those shells, and point those mortars clearly and lethally succinctly. Amos the company commander: push your unit deep into enemy territory and make every shell count. And Amos the brigade commander: don't shirk: your unit, my unit, can do it, no matter what the odds.

The U.N. and other misinormed and malinformed organizations will call for a stop to the "violence." They'll talk about the "relative" number of people killed and injured, and the "plight" of Palestinian civilians "caught" in the cross-fire. Ignore them. If Hamas was a real government it might care about its constituents. If the naive Westerners were capable (a feat I think beyond them) of understanding the merits of 'threat' in a dispassionate way they might understand our (Israeli) predicament.

The real measure of Tsipi Livni and Ehud Barak in this war is not their ability to call a halt to the fighting: it's their ability to continue to fight until the strategic, not internal political, goals are attained.

Unortunately, I have little faith that honest passion will suffice against the fluffy, idiotic protestations of the EU.

Paternal love & videos

2008-12-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

This a beautiful, in a healthy male, healthy parent way. Seeing him clown around casually and lovingly is beautiful. I can only hope that many more of the Israeli dads could clown around, be as physical, casual and loving as Shlomo Artzi.

In so many cultures, dad/son snuggles, cuddles and carrying on have been repressed, either because they impinge on machismo, or are perceived as weakness in the male armor.

I know I haven't posted on this blog in some time. Israeli politics and military and fascist realities aside, I'm seeing yet another gilgul -- cycle -- of history coming about. And none of the nations in this area, clearly, are learning from history. And history is a bitch to repeat.

More as I get back into the swing. Until then, let's look at the economic horror show in America, and the impending return of governmental sanity there, and meditate on how Israelis, in culture and form of government, might learn from terms like transparency, accountability, and prioritization.

On Mumbai, Terrorism & Command and Control

2008-12-01T01:11:00.000-08:00

There is a lot of soul searching about what happened in India. And a lot of worry about attacks in the United States, in light of the incredible impact the attack of ten or twenty terrorists have made.

But the truth is fairly blunt. America is not India. And the chaos, shock and general chaos that seems to be endemic in India does not (underline, underscore, or whatever it takes, make important) follow to the United States.

India has a proud, strong and long heritage of working with the "developed" powers. Indian troops were for many decades, those that struck fear in their enemies, under the British Empire. But Indian forces suffer from the same problem as every other organizational entity on the planet: command, control, scale and scope of control.

I have some small experience with emergency response and operations. What I have seen, as an external observer, no more, is that the Indian government, army, police and all their other organizations simply did not have sufficient command and control capabilities to perceive, analyze and respond to the very fast-moving threat.

Had there been an Atlas-type fast response police team, as there is in New York City since 9/11, and had there been a more organized way to find out about developments (at least a way to listen in on twitter and text 'chatter'), the Indian authorities might have been better able to respond.

Ifs and could'ves and would'ves won't bring back those killed or injured. And, frankly, had the terrorists stepped ashore on a Miami shore, or taken the monorail in Las Vegas and carried out something similar, I doubt there would be fewer casualties. But the response would be more effective, decisive, and created less pandemonium than happens in a country with India's infrastructure and urban police capabilities.

The Blood Libel Lives

2008-11-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

It's gratifying to know that this is the land of freedom. Freedom to lie, slander, brainwash and spread filth that 'sane' society extirpates. I recently went to a gun show where, among the weapons, knives, replica fantasy swords, nazi and Japanese war memorabilia and countless guns in countless varieties, there were a few book vendors.

To their credit, all book vendors save one stayed on the relatively straight and narrow: military history, survival, care and feeding of weapons, historical fiction... the usual. One store had more "interesting" wares, including the book pictured above.

Blood libel has been one of the bugbears scaring the stupid, the blight-minded and those more willing to hate or blame the unknown than take responsibility for themselves and the vagaries of existence. Supposedly gone are the days where witches, spirits, or Jews are blamed for failing crops, dying or missing children, or the Plague.

But not gone here, in this small corner of the gun show, where any and all books are sold with equal equanimity: how to fake a drug test, how to get around sexual discrimination lawsuits, how Jews have killed Jewish children to make matzah, how to turn a hunting rifle into a sniper weapon, how to collect wild nuts and mushrooms to stay alive when the Jewish media take over the planet... It's all a melange of like flavors.

With bile and nightshade wrapped tightly around the dish.

Kohelet (Ecclesiastes): 3:3

2008-11-04T23:54:00.000-08:00

A time to kill, a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build up.

Israel today suffered a rocket attack for preventing a terrorist attack via terrorist tunnel. Hamas, bravely, took responsibility, a responsibility they have taken and claimed in running the Gaza Strip for almost two years.

Israel now has a very simple choice: play tit for tat with terrorists, or view the border boundry for what it is: the border between Israel and an enemy country that has attacked it. I know, it's "simplistic" to see it that way. But it isn't. Because what Hamas wants is conflict, and will do what it can to cause it, along with the collateral damage of pain and suffering to Israel. And what Israel wants is an end to the endless polluting rain of terror in the form of unguided missiles flung into Israeli territory in the twisted hope that they will cause innocents suffering, harm and fear. Classice terrorist tactics.

Well, it does not need to be that way. Israel has a large number of unguided missiles. Missiles that can be launched with the relative precision that they will impact roughly where guided (as opposed to the homemade Katyusha rockets that bear more a resemblance to flying pipe bombs a la Estes rockets than anything aimable).
I suggest starting with a 100:1 ratio. Hamas fired 35 rockets? That's handy: Israeli rocket launching systems have the ability, with just a small convoy of missile launch vehicles, to fire 3,500 missiles into Hamas territory. Or 350 with bomblets, just to make the point.

Civilian casualties? Well, I suppose the ruling powers in the Gaza Strip should have thought of that before firing rockets into another soverign country's territory. I imagine the civilan response to this will not be pleasant to Hamas, and, after say six or seven of these exchanges, they will face local opposition to launching their rockets from someone's backyard, or between two residential buildings (as they their fellow Iranian proxies were wont to do in Lebanon).

Yes: civilian Arabs will die. Yes, Hamas will need to see consistent reactions from the IDF before they change their tactics and yes, that means more civilans will die before someone in power gets the point.

The alternative, as any good parent will tell you, is a child that does not have a clear understanding of reasonable and consistent boundaries. Hamas, like any idiot (or small child), will continue to behave this way until they have been sufficiently negatively reinforced that their behavior isn't productive. There may be a few fewer buildings in Gaza City or its environs but, relative to the death of a thousand cuts terror in Southern Israel, is a cheap price for Israeli security.

And that, really, is what this is about. Israel is, like all countries, first and foremost interested in protecting its citizens. Attacking countries will need to make do with what their alleged leaders can provide them in the way of protection.

Hilul Hashem -- It's not Just for Haredi Fanatics Anymore...

2008-10-31T11:51:00.000-07:00

The metaphorical bastard children of Meir Kahana and his fascist ilk are the latest righteous enemies of peace in Israel.

To be clear: Arabs own Arab land. While there's a slippery slope of purchases or acquisition of land for Israeli public and private interests, the point is that there's an understanding of property for money.

Fascist settler "children" from settlements across the West Bank have increased their attacks, both in number and visibility, over the years. As journalists have increasingly videotaped their attacks, they don masks, in the manner of their terrorist Arab counterparts. The key word is 'terrorists:' masks plus violence plus breaking the law plus advocating terror as a way of creating 'facts on the ground' = terror.

The Israeli body politic has been more than sluggish in responding to this threat; the video article (link in the header and here) shows soldiers tasked to guarding Arab farmers by day, and fighting Arab terrorists by night. What I don't understand is why we're not fighting Jewish terrorists by day. After all, if they're brazen enough to come out and confront innocent civilians, and even soldiers, shouldn't they suffer the same reactions and fate as their Arab counterparts?

During the first intifada I was in more fistfights and screaming matches with my fellow soldiers than I was with the Arabs in Nablus. We stopped an Israeli civilian who'd driven down one of the main street, emptying magazine after magazine of bullets into the windows lining the street. I put handcuffs on him (I'd been a cop back in the States). One of the officers from the Military Governor's office came by and insisted he be released. The two left, the officer's harm around the settler's shoulder. Had this been an Arab, driving down the streets of Hadera, firing indiscriminately into the windows of Jewish apartments, he'd be dead. Period.

It's precisely this insane imbalance of force and consequences that's brought us to where we are now. Can you blame Palestinians their fury at their schizophrenic treatment? And what are the real consequences to an Israeli government that treats crime as crime, terrorism as terrorism? What leg to Jewish terrorists have to stand on that their Arab compatriots do not share?

This is a time for Israel to act more like a member of the developed nations of the world. Sometimes one has to do unpopular things. Charging citizens for crimes for which they’re alleged (or documented) as having committed is about keeping Israel democratic. And it does nothing to protect the Jewish State.

Who's Next? (Crosspost alert)

2008-09-03T12:33:00.001-07:00

Check out this post on rising nuclear tensions and America's declining world power.

The Case for Obama, or, How Bush Failed Us and McCain Will Too

2008-09-01T17:21:00.001-07:00

I fought in the First Gulf War on the Israeli side. Unpacking armor during the day, helping the local Mishmar Ezrachi check out missile craters at night. If George Sr. had half the guts as he has brains (he is a very smart man: I spoke with him on an airplane for almost two hours once), he would have given us the IFF codes and Saddam would have ended his reign of terror then and there.

Bush was responsible for the Iran-Iraq War, by weakening one partner enough that a destabilized Iraq felt the need to attempt to invade Iran. Insane by many standards, but, given his delusion that swallowing Kuwait would somehow work, equally "rational."

Bush Jr. went to extreme lengths to try and finish what daddy started. He was a failure as a pilot, a failure at business and equally incompetent as a Commander in Chief. His insistence on going to war with a crippled game plan, his lack of a plan after Saddam's government fell, the unbelievably naive way he eliminated the existing military and police regimes from helping with the reconstruction all point to a man who fails to understand even the basic realities of the Middle East.

McCain will continue these policies -- although I'd love to hear an articulation of how the fumblings over the last eight years qualify as "policy."

I think what Israel needs is a dose of Obama: a wind of change. Why should Israel get over $2 billion in military aid? What kinds of choices would Israel make to win that money instead of getting the money as an entitlement? How would the PA react if they were offered a huge carrot on one end, and military interference by the US on the other? After all, you can't ask for peace and still threaten genocide.

The Middle East has been functioning much the way Count Folke Bernadotte, John Foster Dulles and, well, the Bush clan has found them: fractured, tactical, self-interested and living the famine mentality: whatever the other guy gets comes out of my hide. If Obama is to succeed where his predecessors have miserably failed, it is to do the following:

Only deal with real leaders
Demand concessions and withhold aid if they are not verifiably carried out
Be prepared to invest in Israel/Palestine in a serious (read: multiple tens of billions of dollars) way to bring a real economy and ecology to the Palestinian State, effectively displacing the lure of the militants
Put troops and infrastructure people into the West Bank for at least as long as we've been in Iraq -- but for better purpose.

This will require guts: guts to tell Americans that their daughters and sons will be put into harms way, guts to fight the Arab oil lobby and the Jewish PACs and pressures, and the whines and compliants of the Israeli and Palestinian governments, which are more than happy to keep the status quo to prop up their political capital.

McCain will bring more of the mindless support for Israel a la Evangelical Christians. We need more questioning of Israel's use of funds, and attaching meaningful strings to them that help the cause of peace and not the status quo.

Abie Natan: Gave Peace a Chance

2008-08-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

A short salaaam/shalom/goodbye to Abie Natan, a tireless peace activist in the tradition of John Lennon and, dare I say, Mahatma Gandhi. He acted on his beliefs and was unabashed in his pursuit of peace.

In the Bible it says that Aharon was a 'rodef shalom' -- a pursuer of peace. Someone that would risk anger by warring parties in his passionate quest for ending their emnity.

The Middle East needs more people like Abie. It needs more pirate ships willing to blast messages of peace and not vitriol. More people willing to fly, unarmed, to enemy capitals to make the statement that peace is something to be pursued.

Because fighting for peace is like hating for love.

Fencing with Paper Rifles and Live Targets

2008-08-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

400 prisoners:2 bodies. 198 prisoners:good will. Is anyone keeping count? Olmert almost can't do anything else: he has little political power in the country, and he's as much the paper tiger as Abbas is on the Palestinian side. And both need, for reasons I still can't fathom, to look like they're playing nice when Secretary Rice comes to try and make America's lamest duck look something less than a plucked one.

In the Middle East, victory comes from strength. Not necessarily from the barrel of a gun, and not necessarily through overwhelming force. It comes from political will and the ability to exercise that will. Like the US in its standoffs with Iran, and their probable opposition to Russia in Georgia, the difference between whip and will is the difference between power to change the situation and the ability to be laughed at by one's enemies.

All we're really accomplishing in giving prisoners away for "good will gestures" is to prove to our enemies that we have neither will nor good sense.

Remember: Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.

A Poisonous Truce

2008-06-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

The "truce" between Israel and Hamas is a capitulation that few would have believed after last year's coup in Gaza. Israel continues to work to isolate Hamas from the world stage, but in agreeing to a "truce" it has given one of its most dangerous enemies time to regroup, a symbol of legitimacy and a 'proof of concept' to Iran on the success of it's gradual Lebanese domination.

This is the kind of bizarre appeasement that brought England to the brink of nonexistence on the eve of World War II. There are enemies you don't argue with: just utterly destroy.

A Long Time Between Posts

2008-04-25T12:28:00.000-07:00

The news in Israel seems to swirl like hypnotic disks: it seems to spiral into or out to somewhere, but in fact things are just going in circles. It's hard, even reading Israeli media in Hebrew and talking with family there, to get a sense of what's really happening. News burnout happened years ago; tragedies must be of epic proportions to catch on with anyone but extremists (who are sensitive to the slightest vibration in the ether).

Two security guards will killed today. The PA says it was an attempt to embarrass Abbas during his Washington visit, to reduce his credibility. Um... implying that someone believes that Abbas has control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip?

The men were in their 50's, guarding an industrial zone that, for better or for worse, provides low-wage employment, just shy of sweat shop standards, for Palestinians living within easy line-of-sight of beautiful villas and even the Israeli coast.

Israel's been clamping down steadily on fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip. The economy has ground to a halt, as terrorists attack their own umbilical cords, then urge the starving, crazed population to rush the border fences and face automatic weapons fire.

Who are the victims, and who are the perpetrators? Everyone? Only the ones with rifles and orders? Left? Right? Arab? Jew?

Both sides seem to have gravitated towards decisions and actions guaranteed to further fan the flames. I've said it before and it's worth repeating here: some people in some cultures place a different value on life in this world than others. And those believing in deep discounts for the here and now, and virgins and wonders in the world to come are more likely to visit on their victims a Hell they themselves would not comprehend.

Needs, and needs

2007-12-30T15:05:00.000-08:00

Kassam and Katyusha rockets, and mortars, and bombs, are being cooked up in Gaza. Where there's no ingenuity to create an economy, explosives and rocket labs abound.

The latest exposure of explosives trafficking comes from camouflaging potassium nitrate as sugar in EU aid packaging.

I'm sure this wasn't the first time such a shipment occurred. I can't imagine that the IDF, for all its intelligence, can stop more than a fraction of these shipments.

One of the commentors on the original Haaretz article pointed out that sugar is not actually necessary for human consumption, and that sugar is also something that can be used for making explosives. He said Israel should block sugar shipments, to keep Gazans from making bombs.

Like many insane proposals this one sounds, on the surface, rational. In our developed society it's true: we Westerners eat enough calories that sugar is more than superfluous.

In Gaza they are almost eating their planting seeds. Most Gazans are 100% dependent on outside food aid to survive. Not to enjoy, not to nibble at. To survive.

Sure, Israel could cut off sugar. Heck, they don't need electricity -- it only lights the bomb factories. So what if more Gazans die of deprivation.

With the same breath that Israel condemns Hammas for it's homicidal occupation of Gaza it cannot then punish all of Gaza for being led by those murderers. Israel has a moral imperative to feed the hungry in Gaza, davka because they are under the thumb of an thanatic organization focused not on improving its people's lot, but on killing another.

More of the Same (when will it end?)

2007-08-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

On one hand, Hizb'Allah rearms. Syria gets Russian missile systems so new even the Russian Army hasn't received them for deployment. Hamas continues its pacification of the Gaza Strip, creating the path-of-no-return that American advisor Karl Rove so wanted to make, and failed, for his party.

On the other hand Israeli ministers continue to be put under criminal investigation for abuse of power, removing PLO terrorists from their wanted lists to appease the weak moderates in the West Bank, and continuing to pay a bare lip service in reining back Israeli fanatic ultra-nationalists, who get away with abuse and assault on Israeli soldiers and police at best, and foment insurrection within the ranks of the military at worst.

It's true that the West has never learned how to truly deal with the Middle East (it's much easier to work with a despot than a democracy in that part of the world). But Israel, with a population steeped in all the world's cultures, has shown not to be the 'light to the nations' as it was charged in the bible, but yet another corrupt and in many cases morally bankrupt entity.

Perhaps. But Israel has not stooped to commit the evils proclaimed by many of its neighbors (and carried out by them). And Israeli's as a people, have never stopped striving to embrace the idea that fixing the world is a core belief. Even if that requires overcoming the internal inertia that is modern Israel.

British Counting Schemes

2007-07-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

I'll be the first to say, as a veteran of the first Intifada, that the Israeli Defense Forces have a problem no less pervasive than America's Los Angeles or New York City's police departments in terms of how they treat Palestinians. (I mention these two as those US departments manage populations of civilians larger than Israel does the West Bank, only with better trained officers.) This does not eliminate reporters (seems that this is my theme of the week) from reporting factual information.

For the information of any reporters, a squad is five-eleven soldiers. 3 squads to a platoon. 3 platoons to a company.

The BBC believes (apparently in consultation with J.K. Rowling, their military correspondent) that a company of soldiers fits in a taxi. To set the record straight, neither Israelis, nor Palestinians, have managed to magick vehicles to seat the minimum of 35 or so soldiers necessary to be involved in the reported incident, where an apparently innocent Palestinian was shot by Israeli troops.

No, I'm not making apologies for illegal actions: any Israeli soldier using lethal force against a civilian should be held criminally liable. And if more than one soldier is involved, then conspiracy charges and the appropriate investigation should be launched.

Of course, this presumes that there's some kind of reality to the BBC's claims. No Israeli news or government sites, at the time of this writing, point to this issue at all.

International Herald Tribune as a Terrorist Puppet

2007-07-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

Long title, catchy idea. Check out this post on Nasrallah and his brilliant ideas, religiously quoted in this parrot dropping trap. He should worry more about attacks from British-bred killer badgers or snakes.

Judicial Valuations Dropping

2007-07-21T11:01:00.000-07:00

Israel's agreement (yet again) to free terrorists to attempt to garner favor with the PLO (PA) pulls another brick out from under Israel's already beleaguered judicial system. To put it in a perspective Americans might understand, it's as if Bush pardoned and repatriated known Al Qeda affiliates caught in America in an attempt to shore up relations with Iran. (Yes, I know they're Shi'ah and Saudi Arabia would be a better analogy, but our relations with Saudi Arabia are already too good.)

Freeing yet another batch of criminals back into their society puts into question the very legitimacy of the sentences originally meted out. What's the point of having a strong judiciary if the "Executive" branch pulls the rug out from under it on a regular basis?

Valuations

2007-07-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

In the American business world time is money. In Iraq, time is blood. In Israel, time is, among other things, honor.

The sand is running out of the upper chamber, honor-wise. Unlike the primitive, craven tribal activities of Middle Eastern tribes' idea of honor (which usually involves women being killed by stupid men), I'm speaking of the honor that gives Israeli statesman and stateswomen the ability to walk with their heads high while conducting State business.

Israeli taxpayer funds are used to shore up extremist religious schools. They're being used to subsidize the kind of 'pork' American politicians would well understand. They're being used for military idiocies instead of focusing on the things that will ensure that there is a next generation of Israelis: environment, education, medical care and investment in Israel's brain trust.

This might be the generation cursed to see Israel's water supply poisoned, it's land corrupted by pollution to the point of no return, and its children's education reduced to a shadow of its former self. Already the smart Israelis are making homes for themselves in Europe and the United States. Already the 'dumb' Israeli is the altruistic Israeli. Already the value of 'giving as one can, and receiving as one needs' has been diminished to almost zero.

This is the curse of Bal'am. Our economy is great: for the top 1%. Our military strength is great -- for increasingly limited effectiveness, and increasingly not involving the former 1%. Our (former) president, our prime minister, our ministers, our members of parliament are coming under question, indictment and conviction. The taint of easy living, easy decisions and easy consequences is taking its toll, and the Jewish, the Israeli people, are beginning to live the consequences.

I hope my children, with their optimism, energy and the view imbued by their parents, can effect change against the inertia of corruption, pollution and institutional arrogance.

The TSA's Nightmare Commercial

2007-06-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Here two need no words.

This first is credited to AP, and it's either a posed photo, or someone in the journalism crew has figured that a neutered terrorist is a terrorist that at least won't breed, and conned the guy into sitting still for the portrait. (Note the little idiot warning on the right side above the Einstein with the gun: no people.)

Ooh, scary terrorist. Coming out of the baggage check. The perfect poster for the US' TSA. (3 oz. liquid in a 4 oz. bottle? Toss it, men!).

The Jerusalem post put these two photos together. Ehud Barak, easily our least effective prime minister until Ehud Olmert, has a shot at running the amy as defense minister after botching up his job as Chief of Staff. I'm sure he wasn't sitting low in baggage claim with the picture was snapped, but if you just put a little 'thought bubble' around the cute terrorist, you'll get the idea.

Life will get interesting in Hamastan and Fatahland. Each will consolidate their turf. Fatah has to make a stand in the West Bank, or it will fall to radical organizations like Hamas. Hamas, unlike Fatah, has figured out how to rally their people beyond the clan level. That's dangerous, because the fundamental way of life for Fatah is the clan (and pitting clan against clan to achieve a higher goal).

This internecine squabbling is what helped Arafat look so incompetent at times; he could bring his boys to a battle, but couldn't steer the peace because, effectively, the best he could do is try and co-opt the direction of the current most powerful clan at that time, for that issue.

The losers, predictably, will continue to be civilians. Sderot, Kiriat Shmona, (G)Aza and the "Palestinian street." While attacking Gaza will now be easier (if the person has a weapon, kill them), the West Bank, which helped bring Hamas to power and therefore has a strong constituency, will be energized to repeat their victorious operations in Gaza. This means more bullets flying in marketplaces, more gunmen using human shields, and more tragedy and horror to mar the next generation of a people with little hope.

When the international community is ready and willing to take action again a terrorist force that they themselves have designated, and engage in a multinational action against a true evil threat to all democracies, then Israel might have a chance to come to the table, with its international allies, as part of a real solution to Gaza and the West Bank. Until then Israel will be the great distractor used by Wahabist controllers in one of Israel's neighbors, and Shi'ite fanatics ruling another.

Be Careful in What you Authorize

2007-05-25T23:56:00.000-07:00

The Lebanese Cabinet seems to be giving the Lebanese Army carte blanche to get rid of the Islamic extremists. As someone whose government has been on the receiving end of these pronouncements, I suggest that Lebanese generals move cautiously.

Sure, the Fatah al-Islam folks are causing a problem for the Lebanese. But don't expect that if the Lebanese army takes American ammo that they'll do the cleanup the Americans expect. The relationship between the Palestinians in exile and "native" Lebanese is complex and frangible (to say nothing of malleable). The US helping Lebanon may bring as much excoriation as if the US was helping the Palestinian (Al Queda) forces. Or the corrupt Lebanese against the innocent Palestinians (despite Abbas' stance).

The cancer of the "Pan Islamic Republic" has burst from the theoretical shell of the Wahhabi extremism to the blunt reality of the here and now. Pointing irrelevant fingers as Palestinian gripes about 60+ year old expulsions is as important in 2007 as the American Idol winner. A good photo opp, but functionally irrelevant.

Sign of a Sick Society?

2007-05-21T20:03:00.001-07:00

The Knesset voted today to divert NIS 250 million (about $100M) of funds it doesnt have to help fund 'private' schools. That means Haredi ones. All the slippery politicians voted for it. It marks a victory for the morally bankrupt Shas party, whose hero has been indicted multiple times for diverting funds, and whose party has bargained for years for this agreement. You can bet that the private Druze schools up on the Golan Heights aren't going to see an agora of that money. Nor any Muslim schools in Northern Israel.

Israel has many serious problems, each worthy of discussion, votes and funding. Spending time on propping up religious private schools -- schools that it does not regulate, supervise or have any control over whatsoever -- is a clear violation of the social contract the government is supposed to have with all its residents.

The American push for vouchers pales in its impropriety in the face of this egregious theft of public funds. Israel, a land that used to pride itself on high academic standards, has been steadily slipping. Funding these navel-gazing, self-interested schools does not further any of Israel's national interests. For shame!

The Balkans of the Middle East

2007-05-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

After Marshal Tito's death, Yugoslavia ceased to exist, and the horrors involving Serbs, Croats, and Albanians befell the area. Geography (and a lack of extensive natural resources) conspired to eventually constrain the conflict, and today an uneasy, but existing, peace rules the region. Residents know they have much to lose, and little to gain, in continuing their 'ethnic cleansing' and mutual discriminations. They see, from up close, how their neighbors just a few hundred kilometers away can live, and prosper.

Iraq's Tito was removed, and the tensions extant in that community, instead of merely unravelling, exploded like a firestorm. Unlike the Balkans, there is great wealth to be had by the ruling power, and consequently it's not just about ethnic cleansing and clan independence, but instead about domination of the country. The virulence of the response has been infectious, and areas with the lowest immunity have been reacting in magnified ways as proof of an insurgency's "success" continues.

This week has witnessed how potentially volatile the rest of the region is: Gaza squabbles have descended into clan/religious/party infightng with AK-47s firing level, instead of up in the air. Lebanon suffers from an almost identical mix of religious, political and clan conflicts, and they've flared up in Tripoli (once a PLO stronghold until Israel's invasion, and their leaders' exodus, in 1982). In both these cases there is an army (three, counting the IDF, in Gaza); in both these cases the army is not the solution.

In the past I've recommended partition for Iraq. That recommendation stands even more strongly now. The only caveat will be in how oil revenues are shared among the member states. And what each faction stands to gain by cutting its own nose off to spite its face. I suspect, from today's point of view, that the "Arab street" is much more focused on the art of revenge than the labor of learning to live together.

Peace, Weakness and Israel

2007-02-01T17:35:00.000-08:00

A small-time player claimed this week to have been involved in an Israeli-Syrian peace initiative. I say that because peace initiatives in the Middle East have involved "small time players" in the past, but most have foundered for one reason or another. Professor Suleiman, a Maryland resident, blamed, among other things, Olmert's weakness as a reason for the talks failure.

He's right. Katzav, Olmert, entire rafts of failed generals, and an atmosphere of corruption and failure of the government to uphold the public trust contravene any possible peace initiative.

That's like saying "he didn't win the Boston marathon because he had brain cancer."

Israel's continuing pandemic of morally and fiscally bankrupt leadership deprives the Israeli as well as Palestinian peoples of a partner in prosperity as well as a prospective partner for peace.

Don't get me wrong: the hamas/PLO 'love fest' is a clear indicator that there's no one home on the other side. But Israel in the past has at least had solid leaders with vision, power and the ethical standards necessary to at least stand at the altar of peace, even if stood up.

Now there's no one, and the only benefactors are the extremists in Iran and the cunning in Syria. A sad state of affairs.

Check out The Pulse Crosspost

2006-12-23T20:34:00.000-08:00

Here's the link to an article about the 1914 Christmas Truce and its relevance today to the "war on terror."

Cross-Post Alert II Apartheid & President Carter

2006-12-16T21:05:00.000-08:00

Check out The Pulse for the latest on this story.

Cluster Bombs and Cluster F*** Ups

2006-11-20T05:24:00.000-08:00

I believe Halutz gave specific orders. I believe those orders were relayed. I also believe in the independence and free spirit that is as key to Israeli victories as it is to these tragic 'mistakes.'

The adage of no battle plan surviving first contact with the enemy is late in the game when compared to Israeli battle plan tactical briefings. The division head meets with the brigade commanders and changes are made. The brigade commanders meet with their battalion commands and command staff and more changes are made. (Hopefully they are communication back upwards, but not always.) The batallion commanders brief the troops, then the company commanders have at them in smaller groups.

These last crew are key to changes in command. Despite orders, command structure and all the details involved, I know from first-hand experience what happens in the heat of battle. Don't have enough HEAT shells to complete the barrage? Is the ammo truck late? Did an incoming rocket hit near our position? Did we miss our last target by just a few meters? Screw the orders and load those bomblets! The brigade commander will thank us later.

Sometimes that works. Clearly, in this case, it was tragic, wrong and criminal. Israeli military tactics are driven as much by local and temporal environmental conditions as they are by strategy and tactics. The war itself exemplifies just how we responded, incorrectly and incompletely, to the provocation. And left the field of battle with our troops still in enemy hands.

Olmert has to go. Halutz has to go. But their successors must drill down and ensure that moral and ethical decisions, and not just those generated by the heat of the battle, are made all the way down to the level of the gunner, loader and track commander.

Every civilian killed or maimed in Lebanon from these cluster bombs is a civilian with a legitimate and legal gripe with Israel. Whether or not the questionably competent leaders at the top knew of their use.

You know you've been away too long when...

2006-11-16T20:44:00.000-08:00

...headlines like "Vujcic vaults Mac TA over Joventut" don't mean anything at all to you.

Maybe it's just a sports thing.

Jonathan Pollard and Spying on Friends

2006-11-12T15:02:00.000-08:00

It's a tenet of Jewish law that Jews unjustly incarcerated must be released. Jewish communities throughout the ages have paid ransoms, sometimes when Jews were kidnapped by antisemitic despots specifically to milk money from the Jews.

There are Jews in prison in America for all kinds of reasons: murder, robbery, white collar crimes, passing bad checks, meth and drug use. Even espionage.

From all accounts, Pollard was a lousy, self-motivated spy who was an unprofessional bull in the intelligence china shop. His puppy-like eagerness to help Israel damaged Israel's professional intelligence-gathering capabilities in the United States and burned the careers of Israeli intelligence handlers who might otherwise continue their critical job of keeping Israel one step ahead of its enemies.

The fact is that Pollard, a United States citizen, who was given the trust of the American intelligence establishment, violated that trust. Saying that his moral higher calling was to violate that trust and pass information on to the Israelis (whether or not the Israeli government sanctioned that action) does not remove his culpability for his crime.

Pollard's spying is different from a lot of other intelligence gathering methods. The mole, when properly handled, provides great raw and processed intelligence data for the country on behalf of which he or she is spying. But moles, once discovered, have no cover. The country they work for might try to extract them, but they are clearly guilty of the crimes they committed. In America, where justice at least approximates fairness, he was found guilty. Do the crime, do the time. Pollard must serve out his sentence. And Israel, while it should continue to ask for his release, should also understand that it's a pro-forma request: he should not be released for betraying the country to which he swore allegience.

I don't agree with the American position, where Israel is not given all the information it needs to protect itself. But America is its own soverign nation, and I, as both an Israeli and American citizen, understand that. It's jejune to think that Pollard could not understand that he was on his own if he was found out. And absurd to think that Israeli, and especially American Jews, cannot understand this basic fact of life in a civilized and law-abiding country.

Random Artillery, Missile Strikes

2006-11-08T08:32:00.000-08:00

First off, condolences to the family many of whose members were killed when an errant Israeli artillery shell hit a house in Beit Hanun. Innocent civilians should never be fired upon, and those firing should take every step to prevent such tragedies.

Of course, that would be a great statement had the terrorists running Gaza been holding to it. But they're not. The only reason they're not killing entire families of Israeli civilians is that they're missing their targets with their entirely unguided missiles, whose sole purpose is to cause the kind of mayhem on purpose that the IDF caused in this latest, tragic, accident.

When I served in Ramallah a pair of terrorists took the opportunity, when a primary school let out, to take shots at me and my partner from behind the kids. These "freedom fighters" were counting either on our not firing back because our morals would deter endangering children, or firing at them, therefore possibly creating unsuspecting martyrs. Nice folks: we ducked and waited; they couldn't outrun our radios.

Terrorists firing missiles from civilian areas, at civilian areas. These terrorists claim to control their civilian areas, and are therefore responsible for those civilians. Or would be, in any civilized (and I most certainly am including Islamic) country. With their total abdication of their responsibility for even their own civilians' lives, damning Israel for their tragic mistakes when attempting to safeguard its country is political flimflammery.

If Hamas wants to stop Israeli incursions, Israeli artillery fire, and Palestinian deaths, they must stop firing rockets. It's really that simple -- although I'm sure that Hamas has already made that calculation, and would much rather bury its own citizens, deprived on purpose of any protection, than stop fufilling their genocidal charter. After all, there are always more shahidim.

To Give is To Receive

2006-11-07T16:21:00.000-08:00

When I was getting married, I'd asked a person I thought was a good friend to officiate at our wedding in the Galilee. We'd gone over all the texts, and, aside from a mutual trade of rings, was fairly straightforward. He looked it over, then met with us. "You don't need two rings," he told us in his gentle, unyielding voice. "You see," he said, "to give a ring, is to receive one as well." The (il)logic of this was somehow connected to the fact that if I purchased her from her father, I would receive a bride. I give, I receive.

We dumped him, had our wedding at the crack of dawn, officiated by the town rabbi in his competitor's synagogue. That afternoon, in front of friends and family, we had a mutual exchange of love, of vows, and of rings.

Today (and this is quoted from the Jerusalem Post):

"Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski ... called for a cancellation of the parade. "This is a time to prove real tolerance and maturity and to cancel the march in the heart of Jerusalem for the benefit of all of us," said the mayor, adding that a cancellation would "renew the strength, recognition, understanding and togetherness which encompass the city."

I'm slow. To which togetherness was he referring? The violence of the UltraOrthodox, their death threats, and their fascist behavior? The togetherness of joining with Moslem fanatics in an orgy of hatred of that which is other? Or the togetherness where people can celebrate their freedom to be different, and not inflict their will on others?

The funny thing is that Mayor Lupolanski, an UltraOrthodox Jew himself, was stoned by his fellow zealots as he left a simcha in Mea She'arim.

These guys are nuts! Nuttier, in my humble opinion, than the guys dressed in girls clothing with clothespins on their nipples (or angels, like the beefcake above). At least they aren't out to hurt anyone with anything more than bad style!

Solution to the Gay Pride Day Parade in Jerusalem: Curfew!

2006-11-07T14:20:00.000-08:00

In the 1950's a rapist sowed fear and terror in the streets of Tel Aviv. Panicked citizens demanded government action, and a curfew on women after dark was seen as a reasonable action. Golda Meyer's response: put a curfew on the men: they're the ones doing the raping!

It's clear the UltraOrthodox are not capable of restraining themselves and behaving like law-abiding citizens.

And the police? They're talking about route changes for the parade. If the Palestinians were doing the rock throwing and garbage burning there'd be dozens of fatalities by now, and Mea She'arim would be under a curfew, with Border Police patroling every nook and cranny.

If a decision needs to be made as to which citizens should be able to exercise their rights to freedom of assembly and speech, the Gay Pride Parade wins hands-down. Start a curfew now on all UltraOrthodox Jews in Jerusalem, and keep it in place until after candle lighting on Friday night. They're easy to spot. If they show up for the parade and are legitimate in their protests, great! If not, toss 'em in the clink; see if they like spending "shabbos" in jail, treated no better and no worse than the rest of the miscreants de joir.

I guess they prefer Pulsa De'Nura to Dina D'malchute Dina. Busha Ve'cherpa on them, creating Mar'at Ayin on the whole of the Jewish People, people from whom they work so hard to distance themselves.

Sin'at Hinam (Hate Over Nothing)

2006-11-06T11:41:00.000-08:00

The ultra-Orthodox won't help Agunot with relief against husband's that won't divorce them, even if it involves insane government expenditures and actions. But they're more than happy to order their blind faithful into the street to protest a gay rights parade. On one hand they tell them to protest peacefully, at the same time whipping up their fury while decrying their inability too keep said faithful from carrying out acts of violence. And then, just to make sure the pot is well stirred, they announce an official 'death curse' (Pulse De'Nura, or whips of fire) against the gay pride day organizers.

Yes, there are rational voices speaking in calm tones, even hopeful ones. But it's the lunatic fringe, as always, that carries the day in Israeli politics and in how the world perceives us.

In a time where achdut and shalvah should be the tone, to bring together even segments of society that have little or nothing in common, for the good of the nation, our religious intolerants have little to add other than fuel to a fire already burning too brightly. The spider webs of hate have no Temple to which to attach; the strands wrap around each community, each philosophy, and will consume each and every one unless we learn to better clear our minds and our hearts.

Waiting for Shoes to Drop

2006-10-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

Indictments pending on the President... and shuddering at seeing him greeting happy children and families in the Presidential Sukkah. At least he had the decency not to show up for the opening of the Knesset. This is a boil that must be lanced quickly, lest it spread the stench of corruption even further than already know.

Katzav: resign already!

On a Civil Society

2006-10-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

A president, former chief of staff and multiple ministers all under various stages of investigation. Allegations of misuse of power from the banally sexual to the incompetent.

What separates Israel, with its multitude of problems and absurd social and economic issues from the United States is that all these horrible, awful, disgusting and bizarre things are reported by a press despite attempts to cover up. And that the Israeli constituency, unlike Americans, are numb and depressed, instead of being indignant and repressed, over their leaders' peccadilloes.

Having a free and powerful press is of no use if the readership has already lost the ability to be shocked or dismayed. Maybe a little American prudery would be handy about now…

Editing Reality

2006-10-08T20:01:00.000-07:00

I was in a settlement on the West Bank a couple of weeks ago. One Thursday evening I strolled, watching the sun set. A kid rode past on his bike. On his shirt was the phrase: "No Arabs / No terrorism." The phrase isn't true, of course. But it's symmetrically true that "No Jews / No terrorism." Both sides believe the other is the root of all evil, and believe it'll all be fine if the other side would just cease to exist.

In the Cardo, in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, were several upscale shops, catering to all the people who wouldn't dare walk into the dark, twisted paths of the Arab shuq just a few feet beyond. Some sell jewelry, others T-shirts and other trinkets. Several, near the shuq, have paintings and silk screen pictures. I was admiring the watercolors on several, the pastoral quality, the golden light that surrounded the Old City... until I realized that neither inside the walls, nor off in the distance could one see any trace of Islam. Gone was the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Gone were the minarets – except for the Tower of David. One painting had a small forest where the Golden Dome now rests. Others had the Third Temple standing on a clean slate of Jerusalem stone.

Arab pictures, whether digitally edited or painted similarly ignore the realities of the Jewish Quarter and its inhabitants. These delusional images, joyously created, sold and distributed, merely add to the insanity that is the Middle East conundrum, best summed up in one of J.K. Rowling’s books describing the core prophetic vision: “…for neither can live while the other survives.”

Neither Syria nor Jewish racists nor Hammas, Hizbullah, or any other person or group can change a simple fact: until both sides learn to live in peace, people will die on both sides. And neither side will run out of victims anytime soon. The sooner we all accept, however grudgingly, this fact, the sooner we can get started on realizing a version of our lives that has two nations existing side by side.

Confusing Left Wing and Competence

2006-08-17T04:48:00.000-07:00

I. Am. Boggled.

An Israeli, a politician, the Defence Minister, saying he didn't know about the Hizbollah missile threat? How stupid is that? It's not as if terrorists hadn't fired Katyusha rockets into Israel before. Or paraded them around Lebanon, complete with marching martyrs. Or shown off their longer-range weapons. Even mustered out reservists like me knew about them. What did he expect? That Hizbollah would launch batalions of regular soldiers over the border?

Israel's relationship with Lebanon goes back over eighty years. It's a relationship that Israel has continually had to redefine and rejudge.

For Peretz to say he had no idea that the Hizbollah rocket threat was on the map is so absurd as to call into basic question not only his competence to hold office, but to question whether the Kadima party, decapitated with Sharon's (all but) demise, should be allowed to continue.

I would rather a right wing party of rationalists than the current leadership of visionless, impotent functionaries. And this from an ardent left-winger!

Who Signs a UN Ceasefire?

2006-08-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

Israel and Lebanon seem to agree fighting should be replaced by a ceasefire. One that does not meet any of Israel's rolling stated goals: unconditional release of kidnapped soldiers and the destruction of Hizballah and it's remaining stores of rockets.

Here's the next scenario: Lebanon and Israeli sign the ceasefire, the Security Council is happy, and Hizballah only has to sulk, not sign, and then use longer-range missiles from the Shouf Mountains near Syria whenever it wants. After all, it is not a signatory country, and, with the last three plus weeks, Israel is now in a mode of being pummeled daily by many dozens of rockets. What's one or two a week? They can rebuild their presence in Beirut and anywhere the UN forces aren't. Heck, they can launch from an orchard within the UN areas with impunity: there is no launch infrastructure for a Katyusha rocket to be spotted until after the rocket is launched.

Israel will complain to the the UN forces, which will lodge complaints with Lebanon which will, do... nothing. And Israel's ability to go after the terrorists will be effectively eliminated, as the UN will have the mandate to secure the area. However badly.

We're at the go/no-go point: Israeli forces are sweeping towards the Litani River, something we've gotten too much practice doing in the last thirty years. The best Israel can hope for? The destruction of the majority of Hizballah's rockets and killing some of its leadership. And, as you can see from the video below, more civilians will be caught as Hizballah cynically uses its own population for cover and hopes their deaths will boost recruitment in the coming years:

Ultimately this is not a winnable war if fought by Israel alone.

Syria and Iran will re-equip.
Israel has germinated the next crop of suicide bombers and Hizballah fighters.
Hamas has learned a valuable tool and will probably start using rockets within the West Bank within the year, to a greater effect than Hizballah, given their ability to damage Israel's heartland.

Lastly, the arrests in London this week show that terrorists of every religious flavor will recruit from and hide within civilian populations, then strike from within. And let the innocent, be they Lebanese or London muslims, bear the brunt of the response.

Limp-Wristed Leadership

2006-08-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

I'd previously posted on what I thought Israel's military game plan would be. Strike hard, decisively, and continue to drill down until it hurt Hizbollah enough to cough up its captives and retreat.

What I didn't account for was the Bush Effect, and at this stage, I can't support the continued Israeli military operation.

When sub-Bush took aim at Iraq, I was all for the war. Not because I thought the President was right, but because taking out Iraq, I reasoned, would save Israel the trouble of doing it next time he decided to transfer his aggression on one country instead onto Israel. I imagined he'd learned from ubber-Bush, who did a half-baked job on an enemy that respected only full measures of action. After the heated rhetoric, the 20,000-pound bombs, and America's overwhelming might, I expected "shock and awe" to be deafening.

It was more like Babe Ruth needing to hit a grand slam but instead dribbling a bunt that barely made the pitcher's mound.

Like little Bush's attempt at war-making, Ehud Olmert has lived down to his roots as a lawyer and political hack. I know the code words that could have been spoken to trigger a callup, a swift and deep attack, and a truly devestating hit. It would have killed more Lebanese civilians, but Israel would have been saved thousands of missile strikes.

Instead, this 'hit and wait,' 'hit and wait' policy provided the enemy with ammunition for public relations and their allies and non-supporters of the Jewish state with the time and space to push Israel back on the political battlefield.

Now we are left with the impression of thousands of milling reservists, the reality of over one hundred buried soldiers, and my former home in Northern Israel a wreckage-wracked and economically devestated area, from which it will take years to recover.

Prime Minister Olmert, you failed in the kind of mission one gets but one chance to execute: safeguarding the security of the Israeli people and land. Like Bush, you have forfeited the credentials a state leader is given in stewardship, not in perpetuity.: the stewardship to manage the future of the country. The casualties of the next few years, when Hizballah lobs missiles over separation forces to land in Israel, are on your head. And you have given the radical right ammunition, ammunition to which they had no rights to acquire, to be the next weapons of mass political destruction.

Shame on you.

Two Views, One Picture

2006-08-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

My spouse and I have passionate views, and, like many areas, we're not on the same page on the future of this latest Lebanese war. (Of course, it's not against the Lebanese, it's against whomever's last taken over the country, but that's another story.)

Richard Bartholomew has yet again captured the real essence of the war. With every place I've ever lived in targeted by rockets, and seeing the damage up close on both sides, it's clear that, whatever the terrorist or military goals on respective sides, it's the innocent civilians on both sides of the ridge that are doing the brunt of the suffering.

Israel, unlike its enemy, does not have the luxury of blanket bombings of civilians and this complicates and extends Israel's attack against Hizballah and, as a result, the casualties inflicted on civilians used as shields by terrorists and their rockets.

On Attacks, Collateral Damage and War in South Lebanon

2006-07-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

The Dresden firestorm in World War Two killed literally tens of thousands of innocent civilians, all because they made the mistake of living in a city that had war machine factories. This was a triumph of Allied air power, and a congruence with my family's fate at almost the exact same time in Auschwitz.

When Hezballah or Hamas miss and hit a field instead of an Israeli citizen, house, or factory, they readjust their aim and fire again. Muslim fanatics and their sycophants hand out candy to children after a successful strike at the Jewish Homeland. And then turn around and protest when Israel accidentally hits buildings next to missile launchers, which are set up specifically to shield behind civilians.

Israel is not America in World War Two, and we do not revel in the deaths of civilians, the raison d’être of the terrorists at our borders. While the deaths of civilians is deplorable, horrible in the case of children, it is Hizballah—literally “Army of God”—that is to blame for creating the conditions, and then positioning weapons, to maximize their own civilian casualties.

Of course the civilians, beholden to the generous hand of Hizballah, will anticipate the rebuilding and rehabilitation, yet again, of their country, a mea culpa they will not understand from a terror organization that cynically knows how to sow and harvest their next generation of fanatics.

Cross-Post Alert

2006-07-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

Check the weather report in Israel according to the radio news broadcasts.

Captured by the Media

2006-07-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

Events are moving faster than reporting can adequately analyze, and I've been in full-time media feeding since Gilad Shalit was kidnapped, and his tank-mates were killed or injured.

Politics are not a factor at this time. Israel's response is not a function of Kadima, or Labor, or the Likud. I trained for 'yom k'rav' -- a day of war -- twenty years ago, and this, so far, is scarily close to what I practiced then. I knew then how it would end, and I am glad that the battle plan has been updated.

The IDF, with the missile strike in Haifa, will 'peel back' Lebanon's technological state decade by decade, until the barbarians within will be left with only a barbarian's standard of life and living. Airports, seaports, long-haul transportation have already been affected. Stand by for loss of all power, water and sewage treatment, and destruction of the transportation infrastructure.

It's up to 'brave' Hizballah, funded by Iran and illegal activities in the US and run by Iran, and 'fearless' Hamas, funded by Iran and Arab extremists and run from Syria, to return our soldiers. Only then, perhaps, will they be able to stop cowering behind and within their own civilian populations, and parley for their lives with Israel.

A Cowards' Revenge for a Cowards' Attack

2006-06-09T23:07:00.000-07:00

JPost fans, stand fast. This is critical of your power base.

Israel, yet again, has screwed up. We have shown that we are willing to count innocent Palestinian dead as more important than Israelis.

Sure, the women and children that died in the last 12 hours were innocent, victims of artilllery shells that would have better served in hitting farther inland. But they didn't, and their relatives' nightmares, and mine, will reflect that horrific, tragic loss.

When Israelis die, there's a flurry of candy distribution on the Gaza street. Yesterday, there was sorrow.

Their celebration is ignored; their sorrow is a cause for our reflection.

Whenever innocents are lost, on either side, it is a time for sorrow and mourning.

Israel would do well to mourn with their Palestinian enemies, just as it would mourn the loss of a family brutally cut own by a Passover bomber who devestated a family during their holiday celebration. And then turn back, with tears and resolution both writ large upon their faces, to cut out the cancer of terrorism from the face of the grieving, Palestinian face.

Celebrating Freedom, Remembering the Enslaved

2006-04-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

On this Pesach holiday, let's remember:

Holocaust survivors freed from slave labor
Freedom for women and African-Americans
Liberation of gays, lesbians and transexuals from the shackles of shame

Still enslaved and yearning for freedom:

The poor and disadvantaged in Israel and abroad
Humans suffering under the chains of despotic slavery
Peaceful Palestinians and Iraqis chafing with the desire to live their lives in dignity and peace

The Sins of the Fathers

2006-04-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

Haredi Jerusalem is aboil over a teenaged father being charged and jailed for admitting killing his infant son, threatening violence in the streets of Jerusalem.

Passover did not spare the Jewish babe killed during the month of Nissan. The Tenth Plague has hit, both the three-month old baby and the nineteen year old father. But the pillar of fire threatened by some extremists would be a new one for our Seder story. A pillar not of heavenly sign and safety, but hatred and fervor unfettered by common sense, Jewish ethics, or the rule of even Noatic law.

I think perhaps this anger is projected from the very community that failed the father, and failed the son. They should be angry! Angry that they allowed a marriage, created by the community, of a boy so damaged, so witless so as to kill his own son. Anger at not being watchful for the real, instead of imagined dangers that lurk in their insular community. Angry at themselves for standing by and being responsible, by proxy, for the death of a boy who drew his first breath given from god only three months previous.

The fire the Haredi speak of is far more lethal to them than to lawful Israel, however they choose to wield it.

Democracy & the Middle East

2006-04-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

In my last post I went over the vote count. In that analysis, Kadima had a 61-seat majority among its solid allies: Labor, Meretz and the Pensioners' Party. That majority, with the decision today to move one seat from Labor to Ram-Ta'al, one of the Arab parties, reinforces my comments regarding the demographic shift. It also shows just how truly democratic the Israeli democratic process functions.

The problem was with ballots that had been tallied but entered for the wrong party. Even with the fate of Kadima's plan in possible balance, the reassignment of a critical seat went without much of any comment. True, the 20th Labor Party seat went from one Arab MK to another, but it's the party that lost 5% of its power, and Kadima must now face the more serious choice of how to create and maintain a government with only a 50% share of assumed support in parliment.

Of course, full disclosure is necessary here. The party list system is seriously flawed. Lists are a function of what each party believes is important: don't look to find the voting demographic, or women, given any kind of fair representation.

[A technical primer: The Israeli Knesset has one hundred twenty seats, doled out proportionally to parties according to their percentage wins at the election poles (which are for parties, not people). Parties create their parlimentary seating lists (usually) before the elections, and the list is used to seat members of parliment in the order of their seating priority. Parties that get less than a certain percentage of the vote get no seats (the votes are lost). Parties may agree to 'pool' votes, so that there are no seats lost when both parties have extra votes insufficient to deserve an additional seat in parliment. See here and here for more information.]

Progress at the Speed of Demographics

2006-04-01T04:08:00.000-08:00

The 17th Knesset elections are over, and unless something drastic occurs, Kadima, with its kleptocratic leadership and legacy agenda from Ariel Sharon, will form the next government. The election results were Sharon's last vote of public confidence, especially in light of the Hamas sweep on the West Bank and Gaza. Were it not for the now-departed leader, the right-wing and Nationalist factions would have garnered more votes, and Israel would be poised to carry out the once-reviled concept of population transfer promulgated by Israel's fascist parties.

The results are indicating the shifts in not just Sharon believers, but in demographics. While Likud certainly imploded with Sharon's departure from the party he helped found, an analysis of the parties shows some important changes in party lines. Lets start with what look, at this writing, to be the players. Kadima and Labor are obvious pieces of the puzzle.

The Knesset has moved from a crowded center to a more liberal slant. Some of this is certainly issue voting on disengagement from the Palestinians: Pensioners and Kadima are certainly not 'Left' in this respect, but it should work: at least until the disengagement is complete. My vote is that Likud will join after that, and push the Knesset further right from its current configuration.

The religious parties are losing ground to secular parties. Only Shas, the Sfaradi Jewish Party, is a factor in the coalition, and then only if necessary to balance Meretz' possible waffling on Kadima agenda issues. The only reason for the religious parties' lessening of power is that the Nationalist religious parties don't truck with the rabbinically-governed parties such as Shas and UTJ, whose rabbis govern the actions -- and votes -- of their delegates. What's interesting is that there are 34, versus 30, religious and ultra-religious members of the knesset.

The secular special-interests are a growing force: Pensioners are actually in the cabinet, and Yisrael Beiteinu touts itself as an immigrant party. Together they add up to an 18-seat bloc that bears close watching on social issues.

Israel's apparent upcoming parlimentary stability is a good thing: Israelis will need to be able to focus on the substance of the Knesset's work: Hamas, Iran and critical (and basic) social net issues.

No Mysteries

2006-03-23T18:20:00.000-08:00

Hamas says it won't arrest militants who attack Israel
Incoming Palestinian interior minister Said Seyam: Hamas will try to coordinate militants' operations.

Okay, let's string these together:

Hamas, an organization with an avowed goal to destroy Israel, is now in power.
The PA considers itself an entity akin to a country (i.e., representation on UN, power to make international agreements, consular or diplomatic-esque representation in national capitals around the globe).
They will not only allow, but coordinate militant operations, violating treaties with Israel signed by the previous government.

I believe we're talking casus belli for Israel to attack the PA.

At the time of this writing there are over a dozen specific terror threats regarding suicide and other bombings or terrorist attacks against Israel, as it prepares to elect a new leadership. The ability for these terror cells to coordinate their activities will surely result in additional civilian casualties.

I can't think of another country that would permit this kind of activity on its porous borders without eliminating the cause of the threat.

Of course, none of this involves oil, and it does involve Jews, so the United States will stay away from this on the grounds of the former point, and the rest of the world for the latter.

I realize this post doesn't illuminate mysteries, but it shows how strong terror has become, how weak and unsupported Israel has become, and how indifferent to the situation the world has grown to be.

Abbas: A Puppet Strangling on its String

2006-02-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

Democracy relentlessly marches on. The power of the presidency is rightfully diminished, and the parlimentary system of multiple parties creating a sole or coalition rule waxes in a country least suited to almost any kind of rule except by the fist, stone, or gun.

Democracy is twelve years too late. Had both Israel and the Arafat regime taken the brave steps after Oslo, we might have had the ability to keep today from occurring. Neither side stepped up to the plate, as we have so historically managed to dodge solutions in search of obstacles.

And now we are left with a rapidly dissolving head of the PA, a man grasping at saving the Palestinians from ruining relationships he and his predecessors worked for decades to build. Hamas has brought a mountain=sized rock to the West Bank, and Europe, post-London, post-Madrid, post-9/11, is in a very hard place.

I admire Mahmoud Abbas for his attempts to stop Hamas from himself, and this, sadly, may be the only legacy left to him.

Buy Danish!

2006-02-03T20:16:00.000-08:00

The most memorable things I've bought from Danes are pork ribs and Lego(tm). I'm sure there are many other things, but it is vitally important that we support a country that supports free press.

The Arab "street" has shown its true ability to understand free society and free press with their instinctive and LCD reaction to the cartoons printed in Denmark, and reprinted in other papers: The press = the government = the people.

So... Because some cartoonists have odd tastes in cartoons (I personally agree that the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb on his turban and a phrase from the Koran in it is tres gouche!), and some papers have a confrontational way to respond to complaints, the freedom of press is no reason to boycott all the goods of the entire country.

So show your support for free press, and help a country that suddenly is in need of free trade: buy Danish, and buy the cost of freedom!

Ooh, This One Might Have Spine!

2006-01-18T17:57:00.000-08:00

Olmert is finally in the driver's seat, it seems. By stepping up to the plate and making a stand against the silent, 380 kilogram gorilla of tacit government leniency on settler violence, he is making a winner-take-all move in a political arena where days, not months, decide the fate of the new party he now leads.

By blasting the police and civil servants in the Territories for their soft attitude when it comes to settlers rioting and destroying Palestinian property and lives, he is facing settler power toe-to-toe. This is not a bad gamble. At this stage of the game, the more he showcases the zaniness of the settlers, the more he gains on the secular and sane front.

Undermining Democracy, One Comment at a Time

2006-01-15T08:52:00.000-08:00

Slanted writing takes many forms. CNN, in describing a simple procedure on Israel's Prime Minister and its effect on the running of Israel, writes: "Since Sharon's hospitalization, his powers as prime minister have been transferred to his long-time loyalist and former Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert."

If we were to translate this to the American President, the same paragraph would sound like this: "Since Bush's hospitalization, his powers as the President have been transferred to his family's confidant and former Halliburton CEO, Richard Cheney."

The assumption is that (1) there is no succession of power, and (2) that power is bestowed as direct cronyism. These are entirely false: after PM Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, a chain of succession, analogous to the American system, was instituted.

Of course, one can make the point that Olmert, like Cheney, is a crony of their boss: that's politics. This is the kind of slanted reporting reinforcing negative memes about Israel's stability and right to exist. And a great example of poor reporting.

Attack of the Abrahams

2006-01-14T22:29:00.000-08:00

The Hebron zealots, using a tactic that "worked" in other sites, is sending their Issacs -- their underaged children -- out to do the work they dare not do for fear of being arrested. So 15-17 year old boys and girls (and I use that nomenclature because they are clearly not thinking like adults) to torch Palestinian stores, destroy olive tree groves, and wreak mayhem and violence against Israeli -- Jewish -- soldiers and police.

It's so attractive, and so non-Jewish. They hold to God's word for their lives, yet they violate one of the specific commandments in the Bible: not to destroy fruit trees, even those of the enemy. God did not want Abraham to really sacrifice Issac, but these demented, cowards would send their own children to do their work.

I can see Sharon rolling his eyes.

A Barren Pause

2006-01-14T19:04:00.000-08:00

Sharon will not return. The collectedly held breath has slowly exhaled, and Israel, and the world, as done all the mourning necessary until Sharon has departed this mortal coil.

Signs of return to "normalcy" in Israel begin with how the incapacitated Prime Minister is being treated. The government's attorney general is declaring Ehud Olmert as a "temporary PM" instead of bowing to reality, as a technicality to prevent a reshuffling of the cabinet just before the already-scheduled elections in March. Sharon, I think, would approve of this bit of manipulation. A correctly functioning government, on the other hand, would take the 100-day technicality as law (it is), and not a guiding thought.

The Likud, having halted its withdrawal from government in the days following Sharon's collapse, decided that that ploy would not garner them any more votes, and withdrew. Netanyahu, the right wing party's head, has announced the next bright idea in garnering votes now that sympathy has failed: act more centrist.

Sorry, too late. Sharon's legacy has created a centrist party, and the Likud can only survive by standing to its right. Like a celestial body moving into the gravitic control of a much larger object, the closer the Likud gets to Kadima, the more of its critical mass will shed and fall into the Kadima camp, and the more the more radical components of Likud will spin off and move into more comfortable orbits of their own. If Netanyahu isn't careful, he'll end up destroying the Likud.

Talk is cheap; as is the speaker

2006-01-12T20:49:00.000-08:00

Robertson has an admirable record of stuffing his foot so deep in his mouth he needs a proctologist to remove it. This latest bleating from the man who believes the kind thing to do is convert all those silly Jews to save them from Hell is unsurprising.

What will be equally unsurprising to me is if Israel retracts its withdrawal of support from the Christian missional -- sorry, tourism -- center in the Galil. There aren't enough crazy Messianics running around up there, or mystics, so we gotta import more. Especially if someone waves money in front our country's corrupt and kleptocratic government.

Robertson has proved he believes in his own divine providence. It's up to the sane people to reject the man, and not his idiotic utterances. If other Christian fundamentalists want to help Israel out, let them restrain the evil they have wrought on Jews worldwide with their Southern Baptist-supported Messianic "Jewish" movement. AKA screw with ignorant peoples' heads. That would be a real mitzvah, a real step towards fostering Jewish-Christian understanding. It's called a cessation of hostilities.

Open Mayonnaise Sandwich

2006-01-04T17:56:00.000-08:00

If Ariel Sharon was the crusty, stiff toast, Olmert is the oily mayo of Israeli politics. Unlike all his predecessors in the seat of power, his claim to fame in Israel lies in being placed in Israel's Knesset, a list-based, representative parliment, at the tender age of 28 in 1973. Too young to have street creds in Israel's War of Independence (he was born in 1945), he cut his teeth in the Israeli army so unobtrusively it doesn't register. Between wars and demobed, he got his law degree and played politics to be placed sufficiently high on a party list that, in the elctions that brought in the incompetent leadership that sealed the fate of Israel and its entry into the Yom Kippur War in October, 1973.

Like a leech, he stuck it out, taking a break from national government, and adding to his patronage powers, by becoming mayor of Jerusalem after the departure of much beloved, and far more competent, Teddy Kollek. He was primarily responsible for the tilting of the delicate balance of powers between Jews and gentiles, and between Jewish secularists and the religious sects and groups.

He's consistently voted against withdrawal from lands, until he was given Netanyahu's Finance Ministry after the latter resigned to set himself up to challenge Sharon. He is under current criminal investigation for bribe-taking and lining his pockets, and defected from the Likud party, where he had invested his entire political career, to follow fellow suspect, Sharon, to the Kadima kleptocratic machine.

And now, he is the man of State. I'm starting to regret Sharon's probable departure from politics.

Ticking Bomb

2006-01-04T14:14:00.000-08:00

At this writing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon lies on the cusp of life and death, both literally as well as politically.

Frankly, as someone who lost a father to a brain aneurysm, I know how this can impact the power, personality and abilities of a person. For the leader of a country, it's safe to say that this is the end of Sharon the head of state.

The bomb in his head has exploded, and every person in the Middle East has a headache, whether they know it or not. Sharon, like Arafat, has created his own orphan dynasty. Kadima is a party without history, composed of factions thrown together by the scent of money, with a goal that seems to be monomaniacally focused on disengagement and detachment while looting money for personal or private political or religious ends.

The second ticking bomb is literally the continuation of the State of Israel. Not from enemies from without: the IDF can hold its own. It's how our undefended: the schools, the hospitals, the poor, the hungry, the disaffected can protect themselves from what surely will be a free-for-all to create a new political order in Israel.

This danger point is an opportunity for Israelis to take stock in where they are. Which parties, not people, have the good of the people in mind. This might be a time for Labor and the Likud to come together and run the government in association with whatever is left of Kadima, after it suffers its inevitable defections back to more suddenly-enticing parties.

Or Israel can continue to stumble down the path to internal social destruction in the name of national security, unity and religious oppression.

Refu'ah Shlemah to the Prime Minister.

A Refreshing Naivete

2005-12-31T20:21:00.000-08:00

Hats off to Kate Burton for continuing to focus her efforts, even after being kidnapped by terrorists, on working to improve the Palestinian lot. On the cynical side, I'm scratching my head (now that the hat's doffed) for her thinking that having her parents over was even remotely a good idea, or that trying to convince ideological fanatics of the concepts of peace was an attainable goal. Cute. Kind of like trying to teach a budgie maths.

Seriously, though, Kate is pointing up something that Israel's Peace Now and the late Faisal Hussieni thought was a goal: do things simply, directly and peacefully to bring the Palestinian people, not their evil terrorist progeny, to a place where peace has meaning. It's a task for the ages, but without the forerunners of the spring of wisdom in the form of naive workers like Kate, it will never come to pass.

I only pray that Kate will be alive to see the fruits of her labor.