The crowds are large and their chants fiery, but Arab protests – such as those against Israel's pressure on Yasser Arafat – are often used and even choreographed by the region's governments to send messages abroad and keep anger over domestic problems in check.
... The region's less repressive leaders keep a close eye on protests against Israel and the United States, allowing demonstrators to vent anger that might otherwise be directed at their own governments but reining them in when they get out of hand.
... "There is no democracy in this part of the world and no Arab ruler cares what his people think on any issue, let alone the peace issue," said Labib Kamhawi, a Jordanian political scientist.
In the calculations of the region's leaders, analysts say, holding onto power is less a matter of appeasing their citizens than of containing threats and currying favor with the United States by supporting attempts to find a peaceful end to the Israeli-Arab crisis.
Kesher Talk
Saturday, April 06, 2002
Wire reporters with sense: This AP reporter seems to have her head screwed on properly. What a nice change of pace:
See no evil: Slate's Timothy Noah looks at the bizarre attempts by former Wall Street Journal editorialist Jude Wanniski to prove that Sadaam Hussein never actually used biochemical weapons on his own subjects. Guffaw.
Bomb threats on Jews in Finland: Police evacuated a synagogue, a Jewish home for the elderly and a Jewish school Thursday in central Helsinki after a bomb threat, officers said. The threat was telephoned to the Jewish school at 10:15 a.m. (0715 GMT) with a warning that a bomb would explode an hour later, police Sgt. Juha Riitakorpio said. More than 100 people were evacuated, but there was no explosion and police and sniffer dogs did not find signs of a bomb, Riitakorpio said. "The threat was made by a foreign-sounding person in bad Finnish," Riitakorpio said. "We have not found the perpetrator." (AP, via Grasshoppa)
The odd alliance of Israel with Evangelicals: Rod Dreher discusses the strange but true: "the strongest American supporters of Israel are Evangelical Christians."
Jewish life in Alaska: The AP documents some of the travails of leading an observant Jewish life in the frozen North: You can't get kosher food. As a result, you can only go out to eat when you're on vacation. And a lot of your vacation time is spent collecting kosher food to take home. For circumcisions, you have to import a mohel from Israel.
Rabbi Yossi Greenberg, head of the Lubavitch Jewish Center of Alaska, estimates there are more than 5,000 Jews of various stripes among the state's population of about 627,000. About 1,000 people attended a Hanukkah service last year. Greenberg estimates 20 to 30 families follow the strict dietary laws.
"Orthodox families get together in an informal cooperative to pool orders and exchange information about kosher food products that turn up in the city. Anything not available in Anchorage must be ordered and flown in by air freight. If air service ended tomorrow, the Orthodox community would not starve. Fresh produce is kosher. Alaska's fresh salmon and halibut are kosher, as long as they're not processed with shrimp or crab. And most families accept that they have to make their own bread because there are no kosher bakeries. But they're happy when the occasional kosher pizza shows up in a freezer section. "It's a big thing for us," Greenberg said. "Frozen pizza is better than no pizza." "
Rabbi Yossi Greenberg, head of the Lubavitch Jewish Center of Alaska, estimates there are more than 5,000 Jews of various stripes among the state's population of about 627,000. About 1,000 people attended a Hanukkah service last year. Greenberg estimates 20 to 30 families follow the strict dietary laws.
"Orthodox families get together in an informal cooperative to pool orders and exchange information about kosher food products that turn up in the city. Anything not available in Anchorage must be ordered and flown in by air freight. If air service ended tomorrow, the Orthodox community would not starve. Fresh produce is kosher. Alaska's fresh salmon and halibut are kosher, as long as they're not processed with shrimp or crab. And most families accept that they have to make their own bread because there are no kosher bakeries. But they're happy when the occasional kosher pizza shows up in a freezer section. "It's a big thing for us," Greenberg said. "Frozen pizza is better than no pizza." "
PesachWeb: The Jewish Agency's Pesach site
Friday, April 05, 2002
Ensuring Israeli acquiescence: A reader of the Corner suggested that in exchange for stopping its "defensive counterattack," Israel should request that "all State Department officials must send their spouses and children to Israel for a six-week vacation, and they must visit public places everyday."
Maddy says she would do it better: According to the Star-Tribune, Madeleine Albright said she's a little surprised that Powell is leaving next week and not sooner. She said she presumes that he has been talking to the leaders by phone but that there's nothing like face-to-face interaction. "I'm hoping Secretary Powell will be able to introduce some ideas that would put forward a political process and that this just can't be a military solution." She said a resolution isn't going to happen with one fell swoop, adding that it's going to take the international community, with the United States leading the way, to stop the fighting.
As OpinionJournal commented, "Boy, if only Madeleine Albright were secretary of state, this whole Middle East problem would have been solved. What? She was secretary of state? And the problem wasn't solved? Can this be true? We'll look into it."
As OpinionJournal commented, "Boy, if only Madeleine Albright were secretary of state, this whole Middle East problem would have been solved. What? She was secretary of state? And the problem wasn't solved? Can this be true? We'll look into it."
Nobel committee regrets giving the Peace Prize to Yasser Arafat:
OK, APRIL FOOLS! Just a little belated, that's all.
Go back and swap Shimon Peres' and Yasser Arafat's names, replace "the slaughter of innocent Israelis" with "Israel's re-occupation of Palestinian territory", "the terrorists" with "Sharon", and so forth, and you have this grotesque BBC story.
Members of the Norwegian committee that awards the annual Nobel Peace Prize have launched an unprecedented verbal assault on Palestinian President and Nobel peace laureate Yasser Arafat. Mr Arafat accepted the peace prize jointly with Shimon Peres and Israel's late prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, in 1994.
In an interview with a Norwegian newspaper, committee members said they regretted that Mr Arafat's prize could not be recalled because, as a member of the Palestinian cabinet, he had not acted to prevent the slaughter of innocent Israelis.
One member said Mr Arafat had not lived up to the ideals he expressed when he accepted the prize.
"What is happening today in Palestine is grotesque and unbelievable," said Hanna Kvanmo.
"Arafat is responsible, as part of the government. He has expressed his agreement with what the terrorists are doing," she said.
If Peres were killed by Palestinians, Arafat could "share in the blame"
"If he had not agreed with the terrorists, then he would have withdrawn from the government."
Oslo Bishop Gunnar Stalsett, a committee member for the past eight years, describes as "absurd" what he sees as the involvement of a Nobel laureate in human rights abuses.
Other committee members argue that the Palestinian government's actions in general and Mr Arafat's involvement in particular are threatening to bring the prize into disrepute.
Ms Kvanmo said however that "at the time, it was a correct decision" to honour Arafat.
"He was the one of the three that really deserved the prize, because he took the initiative to the talks that led to the Oslo accords," she said.
Committee chairman Geir Lundestad voiced the concern of several members that if Mr Peres were to be killed as a result of Palestinian actions, one Nobel laureate might in effect be said to have killed the other.
OK, APRIL FOOLS! Just a little belated, that's all.
Go back and swap Shimon Peres' and Yasser Arafat's names, replace "the slaughter of innocent Israelis" with "Israel's re-occupation of Palestinian territory", "the terrorists" with "Sharon", and so forth, and you have this grotesque BBC story.
Not quite justice served, but...: Reuters reports that among the six terrorists (they don't call them that, of course) killed by the IDF was one Qais Idwan, head of the military wing of the Islamic group Hamas in Jenin. "An Israeli security source said Israel believed Idwan had masterminded last week's suicide bombing in the Israeli city of Netanya at the start of the Jewish Passover holiday."
Blind optimism Cut on the Bias digs up a great quote from the archives:
"A Google search on Warren Christopher turned up something interesting - this October 15, 1996 interview with PBS Newshour where he discusses a recent trip to Israel: ...I think they’re going to find some way to resolve these problems.
"A Google search on Warren Christopher turned up something interesting - this October 15, 1996 interview with PBS Newshour where he discusses a recent trip to Israel: ...I think they’re going to find some way to resolve these problems.
Learning how to spin: Damien Penny offers lessons in his very own course, "Conspiracy Theory 101."
Taking out the eurotrash: Dan Rector (Blorg), faced with European support of Arafat's terrorists, asks "Do I even need to respond to such idiocy?" Well, given the length of his blogging, I gather the answer is yes.
Two Jews skated into a bar: For a long time, I thought that the Washington Capitals' Jeff Halpern was the only Jew playing in the National Hockey League. During the Olympics this year, it was pointed out to me that defenseman Matthieu Schneider of the LA Kings is another one.
And they are not the only ones! How could I have missed it all these years?
Mind you, I would prefer not to know that the evil NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is Jewish. It just does not reflect well on us as a people.
But Cecil "Cece" Hart, son of the Dr. David Hart who donated the trophy for MVP, was a good Jewish boy who coached the Montreal Canadians to Stanley Cups in 1930 and 1931.
Other Jewish NHLers in the 1930s included Alex "Mein Boy" Levinsky, an All-Star NHL defenseman, who won two Stanley Cups -- one with Toronto, and another with Chicago.
1960's NHL Jewish defenceman Bob Plager had this great quote: "You don't have to be crazy to play hockey, but it helps."
For more on Jewish athletes, visit Jews in Sports online.
And they are not the only ones! How could I have missed it all these years?
Mind you, I would prefer not to know that the evil NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is Jewish. It just does not reflect well on us as a people.
But Cecil "Cece" Hart, son of the Dr. David Hart who donated the trophy for MVP, was a good Jewish boy who coached the Montreal Canadians to Stanley Cups in 1930 and 1931.
Other Jewish NHLers in the 1930s included Alex "Mein Boy" Levinsky, an All-Star NHL defenseman, who won two Stanley Cups -- one with Toronto, and another with Chicago.
1960's NHL Jewish defenceman Bob Plager had this great quote: "You don't have to be crazy to play hockey, but it helps."
For more on Jewish athletes, visit Jews in Sports online.
Dissing Grand Island? Reader Paul Berger thinks I'm unfairly dissing Grand Island when I scoff at the alternative schemes that were considered to putting the Jewish State in Israel.
He also notes that once the heavy industry died out, so did the neighborhood.
For more on Mordecai Manuel Noah's Zionist venture in northwestern New York, see this chapter from the American Jewish Historical Society.
In my defence, the first time I'd heard about Mordecai and the Grand Island scheme was at my second seder - from my fiancee's family, who hail from the burbs of Buffalo.
While it's no Shangri-La, Grand Island is no "poverty stricken hell hole". The Mrs. and I had a newlywed apartment there about 15 years ago and I can report that it's just another middle class suburban town, with the good and bad that goes along with that type of community.
He also notes that once the heavy industry died out, so did the neighborhood.
For more on Mordecai Manuel Noah's Zionist venture in northwestern New York, see this chapter from the American Jewish Historical Society.
In my defence, the first time I'd heard about Mordecai and the Grand Island scheme was at my second seder - from my fiancee's family, who hail from the burbs of Buffalo.
The speech: Blorg has a copy of President Bush's speech on the Middle East.
What to do with leftover Matzah?: A lovely question from Captain Scott - what to do with the "rabbinically-approved cardboard" leftover after the end of Passover?
Scott himself suggests using it as insulation.
Pejman Pundit suggests, "Use it to teach apprentice bricklayers before they graduate to the real deal. "
"Edible frisbees" was the suggestion from Maggie, but I doubt that matzah flies well.
Elana S. highlights what I used to do with my leftovers: "Don't you have any non-Jewish friends? Mine are eagerly awaiting the end of Passover so they can steal my leftover Matzah."
Responding to every Passover-celebrant's need for Pizza as soon as the holiday ends (I did so last night), Ricky suggests matzah pizza. Sorry, Ricky, but that's just gross! I have given up making it - it only makes me crave the real thing even more.
And Dave Tepper recommended matzah brei. I'm lucky, in that my fiancee made some nice matzah brei for breakfast this weekend. But I damned sure don't want to eat brei again for another year!
My recommendation for the Captain? Matzah meatloaf!
Scott himself suggests using it as insulation.
Pejman Pundit suggests, "Use it to teach apprentice bricklayers before they graduate to the real deal. "
"Edible frisbees" was the suggestion from Maggie, but I doubt that matzah flies well.
Elana S. highlights what I used to do with my leftovers: "Don't you have any non-Jewish friends? Mine are eagerly awaiting the end of Passover so they can steal my leftover Matzah."
Responding to every Passover-celebrant's need for Pizza as soon as the holiday ends (I did so last night), Ricky suggests matzah pizza. Sorry, Ricky, but that's just gross! I have given up making it - it only makes me crave the real thing even more.
And Dave Tepper recommended matzah brei. I'm lucky, in that my fiancee made some nice matzah brei for breakfast this weekend. But I damned sure don't want to eat brei again for another year!
My recommendation for the Captain? Matzah meatloaf!
Tenet outlines the Iraqi WMD threat: So it is a little old, so what? Bill Samii of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports:
Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet in 19 March testimony to the Senate Armed Service Committee said that the dangers to the U.S. have never been "more clear or more present." Iraq is continuing to build its weapons of mass destruction capabilities -- it is expanding the civilian chemical sector, which could be diverted to weapons production, and it maintains an "active and capable" biological weapons program. Baghdad is continuing its pursuit of ballistic missile capabilities, and it never abandoned its nuclear weapons program. Defense Intelligence Agency Director Vice Admiral Thomas R. Wilson also addressed the Senate Armed Services Committee on 19 March. Wilson said that Iraq has a "residual level of WMD and missile capabilities," including SCUD-B variants and their launchers and warheads. Baghdad also is working on shorter-range (150 kilometer) missiles. One of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's goals is to "undermine all UN restrictions on his military capabilities," Wilson said, whereas UN sanctions and the U.S. military presence are the keys to restraining Saddam's ambitions.
Pet food, kosher for Passover, part III: On Wednesday, I pointed out that it was being sold and thought it silly. On Thursday, I still felt that way, even after John Braue tried to convince me otherwise.
But this morning I finally got an explanation that made sense and convinced me I was wrong.
Kesher Talk reader Esther (no last name given) said:
I will try to implement a "comments" feature soon, I promise. In the meantime, please keep e-mailing!
But this morning I finally got an explanation that made sense and convinced me I was wrong.
Kesher Talk reader Esther (no last name given) said:
You're not right that this is "silly"; the intent isn't to make sure that pets eat kosher. Jewish law bans Jews from owning hametz (leaven) over Passover, or having it in their possession when they have responsibility for the food (Exodus 12:19, Exodus 13:7). When pets buy their own food, then of course, they are permitted to buy and eat leaven ;-).
I will try to implement a "comments" feature soon, I promise. In the meantime, please keep e-mailing!
Michael Lerner and Tikkun movement disregards Israeli deaths: "Though we at THE TIKKUN COMMUNITY oppose the outrageous and disgusting acts of terror against Israelis, we know that the actual level of violence is small compared to the number of Israelis who die each year in automobile accidents."
"... And we know that those acts of terror were almost non-existent when the Oslo Accord was being implemented 1993-1995."
What constitutes Lerner's "almost non-existent" terror acts? 149 Israelis were killed in terror attacks from September 9 through the end of 1995.
"... And we know that those acts of terror were almost non-existent when the Oslo Accord was being implemented 1993-1995."
What constitutes Lerner's "almost non-existent" terror acts? 149 Israelis were killed in terror attacks from September 9 through the end of 1995.
EU flaunts its cash: "Arutz 7 radio commentator Adir Zik revealed this morning that he has evidence that the European Union is contributing 1.7 million Euro (around $1.5 million) to Yossi Beilin's "peace coalition" for their upcoming anti-government rally. The European Union also helps finance Yitzhak Frankenthal's "Bereaved Families' Forum" international campaign to encourage Israeli concessions. Frankenthal told IMRA that the campaign has a budget of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Bereaved Families' Forum is a group of Israeli and Palestinian parents whose children died or blew themselves up in the course of the conflict. They all agree Israel should make concessions." (IMRA)
Plot to replace Arafat? Rumors are swirling around the Arab world of a supposed plot between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah to sidetrack Yasser Arafat by convening a joint session of the Palestine National Council and the Palestinian Legislative Council to appoint a "temporary leadership" -- with the title of prime minister -- to run the Palestinian Authority. Some of Arafat's closest aides are said to be involved in the discussions. Friends of Arafat's top diplomatic aide Nabil Shaath deny his involvement, stressing that his contacts Wednesday with Egyptian and Jordanian officials were limited to pressing them to cut ties with Israel. (United Press International: UPI Hears ...)
20,000 U.S. troops needed for Middle East peacekeeping mission: Rowan Scarborough reports this morning that, "The Bush administration says there are no active plans to put American peacekeepers between Palestinians and Israelis, but at least one internal military study says 20,000 well-armed troops would be needed. The Army's School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS), an elite training ground and think tank at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., produced the study last year. The 68-page paper tells how the major operation would be run the first year, with peacekeepers stationed in Gaza, Hebron, Jerusalem and Nablus."
Reaction to Bush's speech, part I: Daniel Pipes was on The O'Reilly Factor last night. "It's a very peculiar speech, because on the one hand...he endorsed the Israelis' need to fight terror and defend themselves, and he condemned Yasser Arafat, but when it came around to policy, he actually did the reverse. He said to Arafat, we'll give you another chance, and he said to the Israelis, please stop. So it's very inconsistent with the war on terror as he has defined it." Asked about Bush's statement that 'enough's enough,' Pipes replied, "It would be like us telling the U.S. government in, say, mid-October, after a week of fighting the Taliban, OK, we've done some damage, time to pull back, time to discuss things with Mullah Omar." Asked what is wrong with Israel's pulling back in order to restart the peace process, Pipes said, "That's been tried and tried and tried. It is very clear from the last 10 years that trying once again with Yasser Arafat and hoping that he will behave himself and hoping that he will truly renounce terror is a ridiculous idea. It's about the same as saying, well, we should really try again and discuss things, we should have a peace process with Saddam Hussein."
Thursday, April 04, 2002
Showing restraint: "We the people of Middle East Realities ask the Jews of France to show restraint in the face of unilateral murderous attacks against them. We ask that they refrain from their continued disproportionate response of screaming, crying and trying to find shelter from bullets and molotoff cocktails. The road to peace between French Jews and the rest of the French people runs through assimilation and conversion. Until those Yids understand that, Europe will see no peace."
Overdrive: Little Green Footballs chronicles the life and times of our favorite source of anti-semitic lunacy: Arabic News.
Saudis prep for war with Israel:
Saudi Arabia has prepared for the deployment of intermediate-range ballistic missiles in its southern desert.
A Washington-based defense group reports that Saudi Arabia has built facilities for intermediate-range missiles in a newly-constructed complex north of the desert oasis of Al Sulayyil. The complex is said to contain two missile launch areas six kilometers apart as well as a huge support system.
Global Security, the defense group, released photographs taken three weeks ago from the Ikonos satellite of what were identified as two missile bases and a complex of 33 buildings, eight of them capable of storing Chinese CSS-2 missiles. The photographs, also published in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, identified the missiles as the CSS-2, reported to have a range of between 2,500 and 3,500 kilometers. The missile, 24 meters long, is capable of carrying a nonconventional warhead.
The organization, which analyzed the satellite photographs said the missile launch complex located 27 kilometers north of Al Sulayyil consists of a site support area and two launch areas. Global Security said the support area was "probably used in the construction and ongoing maintenance of both launch sites."(Middle East Newsline)
Michael Lerner's "New Planetary Consciousness": It seems to involve aiding Arafat and sacrificing Jewish lives in the service of liberating Israel from the Israelis. By now, I'm sure Arafat is one of the few susbcribers to Lerner's magazine, Tikkun.
I had a reasonably long take on Lerner and his Tikkun "movement" in February.
I had a reasonably long take on Lerner and his Tikkun "movement" in February.
How did those 5 die? As Palestinian bombers blasted innocent civilians all over Israel this week, Palestinian spokesmen produced another "Israeli atrocity" -- claiming that Israel had "executed" five Palestinians in a Ramallah office building. The Observer and the Washington Post were credulous, but CNN got the real story.
Positive news - Jews can get along once in a while:
In what may be an unprecedented interdenominational event, the Reform movement will honor the titular head of Conservative Judaism and an Orthodox leader at its rabbinic ordination ceremony later this year.
Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, chancellor of the Conservative movement's Jewish Theological Seminary, will address the newest class of Reform rabbis May 9 at the New York campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. The Reform seminary will be doling out honorary degrees to Schorsch and Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, chancellor emeritus of Bar-Ilan University and a former president of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America.
The Reform seminary's decision to honor the top Conservative rabbi and a senior Orthodox leader comes as all the movements are gearing up for another round of battles over conversion and other pluralism issues in Israel. Participants said that they were hard-pressed to name another event involving such high-profile leaders from all three major denominations, held under the auspices of the most liberal of the movements. (The Forward)
How many Muslims in Germany? I've been consulting with a German journalist today about how countries count their religious populations.
I've done even further study of the methodology in surveying religious affiliation since I wrote "How many US Muslims? Our best estimate" for the Christian Science Monitor last year.
Germany, despite having "official" figures, appears to be no closer to knowing how many of its people are Muslim, or any other religion for that matter. See "Muslim Presence in Germany is Difficult to Pin Down" in the Frankfurter Allgemaine
I've done even further study of the methodology in surveying religious affiliation since I wrote "How many US Muslims? Our best estimate" for the Christian Science Monitor last year.
Germany, despite having "official" figures, appears to be no closer to knowing how many of its people are Muslim, or any other religion for that matter. See "Muslim Presence in Germany is Difficult to Pin Down" in the Frankfurter Allgemaine
Red Cross/Crescent watch: An InstaPundit reader has some insider views on the ICRC's anti-Israel bias.
Do we support Bush's approach to the Middle East?: Brit Hume and Mort Kondracke had it out on FNC's "Special Report last night.
Hume: "There's a CBS News poll out. You see the president's approval rating on...the issue of terrorism, 80 percent, but on the Mideast, 59 percent. There was similar finding on the Mideast in a recent poll by Scott Rasmussen that pretty well mirrors that -- good to excellent as president, 68 percent, on the Mideast, though, only 56 percent. So you do see a distinction between what the people feel about how the president has done on the Mideast."
Kondracke: "I'm surprised that his ratings are so high on the Mideast, actually, because the press coverage of this has been, you know, what we would call even-handed. ... That is to say, our ally, Israel looks like it's using brute force against the Palestinians...and Bush is on Sharon's side. So...what the public is getting is fundamental criticism of the Bush position. Also this constant nagging that he ought to be doing more. So he's got an almost 60 percent approval rating and only 23 percent disapproval. That's pretty good."
Hume: "There's a CBS News poll out. You see the president's approval rating on...the issue of terrorism, 80 percent, but on the Mideast, 59 percent. There was similar finding on the Mideast in a recent poll by Scott Rasmussen that pretty well mirrors that -- good to excellent as president, 68 percent, on the Mideast, though, only 56 percent. So you do see a distinction between what the people feel about how the president has done on the Mideast."
Kondracke: "I'm surprised that his ratings are so high on the Mideast, actually, because the press coverage of this has been, you know, what we would call even-handed. ... That is to say, our ally, Israel looks like it's using brute force against the Palestinians...and Bush is on Sharon's side. So...what the public is getting is fundamental criticism of the Bush position. Also this constant nagging that he ought to be doing more. So he's got an almost 60 percent approval rating and only 23 percent disapproval. That's pretty good."
Dayenu: Israeli Consul General Alon Pinkas told CNN yesterday, "What Mr. Zogby and other Palestinians are talking about is something very simple. It's to do all over again what they rejected a year and a half ago at Camp David. I don't think that any Administration in the next 100 years could parallel the commitment, the involvement and the dedication of the Clinton Administration. And the Palestinian leadership double-crossed that Administration."
Sadaam ups his rewards for suicide bombers: CBS reported last night, "The worse it gets, the better it looks for Saddam Hussein, who knows the US can't come after him until at least a semblance of peace has been restored." Mitchell was shown saying, "This is the kind of situation that Saddam Hussein revels in." CBS added, "In his latest attempt to fan the flames of war, Saddam is offering $25,000 to the families of the suicide bombers who are killing Israelis."
NBC called the rewards "a cruel incentive to kill and be killed."
NBC called the rewards "a cruel incentive to kill and be killed."
Talking to fanatics in the street: "On the way to work this morning, I stopped into an Arab-owned convenience store to buy a newspaper. A wiry Arab man, about my age and looking like a tightly coiled spring, stood by the counter holding a clipboard. "You should not buy that one," he said to me in a thick accent, as I picked up a New York Post. "You should buy this one. It's more fair about this story," he said, holding up a Daily News -- which, like the Post, reports the Bethlehem siege on its front page. The man's eyes were hot, and I didn't want to argue with him. I told him I prefer the Post. "But they print lies about Palestine!" he said, his voice rising (the Post's editorial policy is strongly pro-Israel). "Hitler, he knew what the those people were about. He knew that if you give them freedom, they will take over your country, just like they have done here. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a Muslim." I pointed out to the man, as calmly as I could, that Hitler killed six million Jews. "Not true!" he shot back, sticking his finger in my face. "It's a lie!" I turned and walked out without saying a word more. Because there is nothing left to say to such fanatics." (Rod Dreher, the Corner)
Hanan Ashrawi: "I would love it if the networks and newspapers would stop calling her a "Palestinian legislator." I know that technically you can be a legislator without being a democratically elected official (See Federalist #48 "One hundred and seventy-three despots would surely be as oppressive as one. Let those who doubt it turn their eyes on the republic of Venice."). But in the West "legislator" has a certain electoral connotation. And in that context saying "Palestinian legislator" is like saying "Soviet pollster" or "Mafia ombudsman." " (Jonah Goldberg, the Corner)
Pet food, kosher for Passover, part II: Yesterday, I pointed out someone was selling this stuff. In response, John Braue says its "not as silly as it sounds." But I remain unconvinced.
That it is in fact kosher and certified as such (though not for human consumption) by Chicago rabbis, does not make it worthwhile.
Kashrut is to be followed by sentient beings. The laws have no meaning for an animal, because the animal cannot choose to follow them - we make the animal's decisions for it.
Free will is the foundation of the soul. That is why we read in the Haggadah that while the Hebrews did not free themselves, they had to choose to be free.
I could continue in this vein for a while, but I have lots of work to do. Maybe later...
That it is in fact kosher and certified as such (though not for human consumption) by Chicago rabbis, does not make it worthwhile.
Kashrut is to be followed by sentient beings. The laws have no meaning for an animal, because the animal cannot choose to follow them - we make the animal's decisions for it.
Free will is the foundation of the soul. That is why we read in the Haggadah that while the Hebrews did not free themselves, they had to choose to be free.
I could continue in this vein for a while, but I have lots of work to do. Maybe later...
Wednesday, April 03, 2002
Moving to Baja: Ken Layne's latest Fox News column suggests moving Israeli Jews to the southern end of Baja, California. From one desert to another.
"You think God cares about what chunk of dirt you call home? Sure, the Torah says otherwise, but the Torah also says you should sacrifice your son if a voice in your head gets too loud. Jesus Christ lived and died around one little piece of ground in modern-day Israel, yet the Catholic Church is based in Italy. Come to Baja, Israel."
He is not the first person to wonder why the Jews landed in Israel in 1948. A slice of Uganda was proposed. So was a barren section of the Canadian province Saskatchewan. In fact, some lunatic was promoting the establishment of a Jewish state on some poverty-stricken hell hole of an island near Buffalo.
But none of these places had any significance for us.
Abandoning Israel would mean Jews would never again be allowed to visit our holy sites. Of course, the likelihood that any of those holy sites would still be standing within a few days of Jewish exodus would be pretty small.
And in the end, the temptation to leave behind scorched earth would be too tempting...
"You think God cares about what chunk of dirt you call home? Sure, the Torah says otherwise, but the Torah also says you should sacrifice your son if a voice in your head gets too loud. Jesus Christ lived and died around one little piece of ground in modern-day Israel, yet the Catholic Church is based in Italy. Come to Baja, Israel."
He is not the first person to wonder why the Jews landed in Israel in 1948. A slice of Uganda was proposed. So was a barren section of the Canadian province Saskatchewan. In fact, some lunatic was promoting the establishment of a Jewish state on some poverty-stricken hell hole of an island near Buffalo.
But none of these places had any significance for us.
Abandoning Israel would mean Jews would never again be allowed to visit our holy sites. Of course, the likelihood that any of those holy sites would still be standing within a few days of Jewish exodus would be pretty small.
And in the end, the temptation to leave behind scorched earth would be too tempting...
Steyn notes the differences between American and European news coverage:
In the American press, you read things like: "An observer to the bomb-blast scene described a dead young girl, perhaps 10 or 12, lying on the ground with her eyes open, looking as if she was surprised." For Europe, on the other hand, the main significance of this development was that it was "unhelpful" to the "peace process"., then does a littele valuation of life:
Before I'm accused of being more upset about dead Jewish than dead Muslim kids, let me say that I take people at their own estimation: in the Palestinian Authority schools, they teach their children about the glories of martyrdom; indeed, the careers guidance counsellor appears to have little information on alternative employment prospects; at social events, the moppets are dressed up as junior jihadi, with toy detonators and play bombs. It's not that I place less value on Palestinian lives, but that Chairman Arafat and his chums in Hamas do. So does Saddam Hussein, whose government (the subject of an admiring article in this week's Spectator) gives $25,000 to the family of each Palestinian suicide bomber. So does the Arab League, which at last year's summit passed a resolution hailing the "spirit of sacrifice" of the Palestinian "martyrs" and thus licensed Wednesday's massacre. As for the "peace process", those Europeans who, just a few months ago, were urging the Americans to cease operations for Ramadan evidently feel no compunction to demand from Chairman Arafat and his dark subsidiaries any similar "bombing pause" for Passover.
Sue, sue, sue sadaam: Martin Devon (Patio Pundit) has a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of slapping a lawsuit on Sadaam Hussein. He even invokes Jewish law!
Separating the wheat from the chaff: David Janes suggests, the next time someone speaks of the "Israeli occupation" causing the Middle East crisis, ask which occupation they mean - the Israeli occupation of the West Bank or the Israeli occupation of Israel?
Separating the wheat from the chaff: David Janes suggests, the next time someone speaks of the "Israeli occupation" causing the Middle East crisis, ask which occupation they mean - the Israeli occupation of the West Bank or the Israeli occupation of Israel?
Pet food, kosher for Passover: Girlhacker highlights the only kosher pet food I've ever heard of.
I must admit that I doubt even the most rigidly Orthodox Jew would care one whit about his or her pets' keeping kosher. It may be news to most, but your average religion does not attribute souls to non-human beings...
Ben Franklin on Jews and Judaism: Midwest Conservative Journal has a historical look at the views of the real Ben Franklin.
PLO, victim: Sean McCray wonders why Arafat is considered a victim, and not the children he sends to commit suicide. Sean calls the PLO "the Mecca of terrorism" and "the Rome" of Islamic fundamentalism.
Never Again (courtesy of Kathy Kinsley)
Explaining Passover to the Goyim? Jacob Schwirtz tried to explain Passover to his non-Jewish friends last week. Not too shabby an effort.
Viagra banned for Passover?
David Weinberger says, "Looks like the dough won't be leavened for some of my brethren for the next week or so."
I must admit that I doubt even the most rigidly Orthodox Jew would care one whit about his or her pets' keeping kosher. It may be news to most, but your average religion does not attribute souls to non-human beings...
Ben Franklin on Jews and Judaism: Midwest Conservative Journal has a historical look at the views of the real Ben Franklin.
PLO, victim: Sean McCray wonders why Arafat is considered a victim, and not the children he sends to commit suicide. Sean calls the PLO "the Mecca of terrorism" and "the Rome" of Islamic fundamentalism.
Never Again (courtesy of Kathy Kinsley)
Explaining Passover to the Goyim? Jacob Schwirtz tried to explain Passover to his non-Jewish friends last week. Not too shabby an effort.
Viagra banned for Passover?
From the Jerusalem Post: Although the vast majority of locally made medications - and many imported pharmaceuticals - are produced without leaven, Pfizer's Viagra is hametz and missing from Clalit Health Services' list of kosher-for-Pessah medications, which is the standard authority for the various rabbinical authorities. The list can be viewed on the health fund's Web site (at http://www.clalit.org.il)...
David Weinberger says, "Looks like the dough won't be leavened for some of my brethren for the next week or so."
Entitlements to terror: Matt Welch notes a zinger in a UPI interview with Grand Mufti Soheib Bencheikh of Marseille, which saw a synagogue set fire this weekend:
Matt has a little trouble figuring it out. "Let’s get this straight. Ethnic Arabs, who live in France, not Palestine, are being somehow pushed to commit violence against Jews in France, not Palestine, because of a lack of “Western intervention” in the Middle East, not France. This is irresponsible apologia, nothing less. It’s as if some ethnic Tibetans bombed the Chinese consulate in L.A., and the local Lama blamed it on Colin Powell. Or if, during the 1990s, the thousands of Yugoslav refugees living in Prague and Budapest assaulted each other along ethnic lines, and then blamed it all on Germany (they didn’t). If an ethnic Arab Frenchman – who is just as likely as not to be a non-Palestinian ethnic Arab Frenchmen – is at all justified for burning down a synagogue in Marseille, then aren’t I, as an American citizen who is the declared target of a terrorist war, entitled to a little local whup-ass on the first Wahabbist I see?"
A Jew-killer is no terrorist: Activists and politicians are organizing in Minnesota to finally get the jackasses at the Star Tribune to call a spade a spade. They are Minnesotans Against Terrorism.
So long as the violence in the Middle East continued, [Bencheikh] said, ethnic-Arab youths in France would likely continue their campaign of attacks. "It's possible for the attacks to continue," said Bencheikh, who called for Western intervention in the Middle East to staunch the bloodshed, "which makes our job all the more difficult" in calming incensed Muslim youth in France.
Matt has a little trouble figuring it out. "Let’s get this straight. Ethnic Arabs, who live in France, not Palestine, are being somehow pushed to commit violence against Jews in France, not Palestine, because of a lack of “Western intervention” in the Middle East, not France. This is irresponsible apologia, nothing less. It’s as if some ethnic Tibetans bombed the Chinese consulate in L.A., and the local Lama blamed it on Colin Powell. Or if, during the 1990s, the thousands of Yugoslav refugees living in Prague and Budapest assaulted each other along ethnic lines, and then blamed it all on Germany (they didn’t). If an ethnic Arab Frenchman – who is just as likely as not to be a non-Palestinian ethnic Arab Frenchmen – is at all justified for burning down a synagogue in Marseille, then aren’t I, as an American citizen who is the declared target of a terrorist war, entitled to a little local whup-ass on the first Wahabbist I see?"
A Jew-killer is no terrorist: Activists and politicians are organizing in Minnesota to finally get the jackasses at the Star Tribune to call a spade a spade. They are Minnesotans Against Terrorism.
Public action in support of Israel:
I am not a big fan of this kind of public demonstration. It will look good for the cameras, but lacks a certain bite - for instance, no one will be in the Palestinian offices at that time of night...
Please come to a CANDLELIGHT VIGIL To Remember Israeli Victims of Palestinian Terror & To Support Israel's Right to Self-Defense
As we conclude Passover - the Jewish festival commemorating freedom - join
together and support the right of Israelis to live free from fear.
Join us at the:
Office of the Palestinian National Authority
1717 K Street, NW
Thursday, April 4, 2002
8:30 - 9:30 pm
Metro:
Farragut West - Orange/Blue Lines
Farragut North - Red Line
For additional information, contact the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington. Email to jcouncil@jcouncil.org, or call 301-770-0881. Sponsored by: The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington.
I am not a big fan of this kind of public demonstration. It will look good for the cameras, but lacks a certain bite - for instance, no one will be in the Palestinian offices at that time of night...
Understanding Arabic: Slate's Lee Smith explains the differences between the official language used in the media and diplomacy, and colloquial Arabic spoken on the streets and in the markets.
Sen. Bayh puts words into action: The Evansville Courier & Press reports today that Sen. Evan Bayh "visited Evansville on Monday to trumpet legislation he will introduce to cut off foreign aid for countries that refuse to cooperate in the war on terrorism. " The "sweeping bill would forbid U.S. tax dollars from being spent in countries where state-sponsored newspapers spout anti-American propaganda, the Indiana Democrat said at the National Guard Armory in Evansville." Noting an "article in an Egyptian government-sponsored newspaper that suggested last August the Statue of Liberty should be destroyed," Bayh said, "There is no reason why American taxpayers should fund calls to violence against America. It doesn't make any sense." Bayh, "the former governor of Indiana, made the announcement about his 'International Cooperative Anti-Terrorism Act' as part of a fly-around tour of the state." His bill would "require foreign countries to ban funding to terrorist groups, share intelligence with the United States, crack down on terrorist cells and end anti-American rhetoric in state-owned media. If they don't, Bayh said, America will send them no foreign aid and won't sell them weapons." Bayh said that last year, the United States "sent $2.6 billion in foreign aid to countries that haven't cooperated with the nation's war on terrorism, and sold those countries $26 billion in arms."
The Arab bomb: Ranan R. Lurie writes today in the LA Times that the Arab's striving for the bomb, as part of their greater inferiority complex, means that they will not help us keep Hussein's hands off of one.
The leaky Canadian border: The CBS Evening News last night was discussing the security of our border with Canada.
"After the millennium, after 9/11, how secure is our northern border? Any way you cut it, the math just doesn't look good... First of all, there's 4,000 miles of it, all crisscrossed with little roads to nowhere, like this one. ... And at any given hour, there's less than 130 border patrol agents to guard it. That's hardly one every 30 miles. Technology helps, of course."
On and on about the crappy security. But, the problem is not that our border with Canada is somewhat porous. The problem is that the Canadian border with the outside world has more holes than swiss cheese.
Jay Leno last night: "I'm flipping around the satellite channels last night, and I'm watching the Al Jazeera network, you know the Al Jazeera network? They had that new Yasser Arafat sitcom on, 'Grounded for Life.' Did you see it?"
Sen. Bayh puts words into action: The Evansville Courier & Press reports today that Sen. Evan Bayh "visited Evansville on Monday to trumpet legislation he will introduce to cut off foreign aid for countries that refuse to cooperate in the war on terrorism. " The "sweeping bill would forbid U.S. tax dollars from being spent in countries where state-sponsored newspapers spout anti-American propaganda, the Indiana Democrat said at the National Guard Armory in Evansville." Noting an "article in an Egyptian government-sponsored newspaper that suggested last August the Statue of Liberty should be destroyed," Bayh said, "There is no reason why American taxpayers should fund calls to violence against America. It doesn't make any sense." Bayh, "the former governor of Indiana, made the announcement about his 'International Cooperative Anti-Terrorism Act' as part of a fly-around tour of the state." His bill would "require foreign countries to ban funding to terrorist groups, share intelligence with the United States, crack down on terrorist cells and end anti-American rhetoric in state-owned media. If they don't, Bayh said, America will send them no foreign aid and won't sell them weapons." Bayh said that last year, the United States "sent $2.6 billion in foreign aid to countries that haven't cooperated with the nation's war on terrorism, and sold those countries $26 billion in arms."
The Arab bomb: Ranan R. Lurie writes today in the LA Times that the Arab's striving for the bomb, as part of their greater inferiority complex, means that they will not help us keep Hussein's hands off of one.
The drama of Arab military inferiority to Israel is entrenched in the Arab psyche. It was underscored in the June 1982 air battle between Syria and Israel: 94 Syrian fighter jets were shot down; the only Israeli plane lost was downed by ground fire. We in the West are aware of Israel's "might" and its "victories," and we forget the insult these two words present to the proud Arab people.
That is why the Arab nations hope that Saddam Hussein will create the long-awaited "Arab bomb."
... So, because the only way the Arab nations can overcome Israel is to nuke it, and the only person who is close to this capacity is Hussein, our effort to get other Arab leaders to end his potential nuclear capacity is similar to training a camel to fly.
Here is the certainty: When Iraqi scientists present their dictator with the bomb on a given morning, it will detonate over Israel that afternoon. For those smart, civilized strategists who say that Hussein would not endanger his Palestinian brethren, I would like to remind them that he already has killed more than 100,000 of his own people in "police actions."
... The U.S. can forget about any cooperation with an Arab country in attacking Iraq.
To the contrary: We may anticipate their cooperation with Iraq against us, not necessarily by fighting us on the ground but by aiding Iraq with intelligence, moral support and threats of an oil embargo. Unfortunately, Hussein's Arab bomb will be their ticket to military equality with or even superiority over Israel. No Arab leader would dare dampen that Arab dream.
We must get used to the idea that we are alone in this battle--and like it or not, the earlier we attack Iraq, the less the chance of Israel or the United States being nuked.
The leaky Canadian border: The CBS Evening News last night was discussing the security of our border with Canada.
"After the millennium, after 9/11, how secure is our northern border? Any way you cut it, the math just doesn't look good... First of all, there's 4,000 miles of it, all crisscrossed with little roads to nowhere, like this one. ... And at any given hour, there's less than 130 border patrol agents to guard it. That's hardly one every 30 miles. Technology helps, of course."
On and on about the crappy security. But, the problem is not that our border with Canada is somewhat porous. The problem is that the Canadian border with the outside world has more holes than swiss cheese.
Jay Leno last night: "I'm flipping around the satellite channels last night, and I'm watching the Al Jazeera network, you know the Al Jazeera network? They had that new Yasser Arafat sitcom on, 'Grounded for Life.' Did you see it?"
Pausing for reflection: The Wall Street Journal Europe (subscription required) wonders how European leaders who endlessly demonize Israel expect such sentiments not to filter down into their citizenry's treatment of Jews.
Eurotrash: Javier Solana, foreign policy chief of the European Union, suggested the Middle East would be well served if both Sharon and Arafat stepped aside. "Neither is a saint," he said. "They have faced many battlefields, and it hasn't escaped me that there is something personal between Arafat and Sharon."
The EU is the main financial supporter of Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
In fact, on Tuesday, the EU signed off on a €50 million ($44 million) contribution "to help the Palestinian Authority to deal with problems encountered by the interruption of monthly transfers of tax receipts by the government of Israel."
Farrakhan to the rescue! Loony Louis Farrakhan will travel to the Middle East next month on a mission of peace, the Nation of Islam leader announced Tuesday.
Why not exile him? Jeff Jarvis gives a damned good reason: "Picture it: Arafat -- fat, sassy, and tanned under his pathetic beard of 10 hairs -- is sitting on the sand in Casablanca, snarfing down the hummus and couscous as he gets on his mobile phone back home: "Send in another suicide bomber," he orders. "Make it a young one this time... No, we just bombed a mall. How about a hospital? Have we done a school yet? Screw the peace process." "
Operation Human Shield My Ass: The Happy Fun Pundit asks a long list of questions about the foreigners flocking to Arafat's compound as a human shield.
Can anyone doubt that anti-Semitism was behind the attacks on synagogues in Strasbourg, Lyon and Brussels? One in Marseilles was burnt to the ground Sunday and a Jewish pavilion in Alsace was destroyed yesterday. A fracas broke out at Orly airport between pro- and anti-Israeli supporters. Other countries throughout the EU were reinforcing the police presence at Jewish places, but as French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said on radio, it is "extremely difficult" to guarantee security at all places where Jews gather.
For the Socialist Prime Minister the best antidote to the violence is "reflection by citizens, understanding that passions that flare up in the Middle East must not flare up here." Reflection does wonders for people who are reflective, to be sure, but here's wondering if a less-biased official interpretation of the situation in the Middle East might also help matters.
Eurotrash: Javier Solana, foreign policy chief of the European Union, suggested the Middle East would be well served if both Sharon and Arafat stepped aside. "Neither is a saint," he said. "They have faced many battlefields, and it hasn't escaped me that there is something personal between Arafat and Sharon."
The EU is the main financial supporter of Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
In fact, on Tuesday, the EU signed off on a €50 million ($44 million) contribution "to help the Palestinian Authority to deal with problems encountered by the interruption of monthly transfers of tax receipts by the government of Israel."
Farrakhan to the rescue! Loony Louis Farrakhan will travel to the Middle East next month on a mission of peace, the Nation of Islam leader announced Tuesday.
Farrakhan has a history of anti-Semitic remarks, so it's doubtful he will be received warmly in Israel. The black Muslim leader, who once referred to Judaism as "a gutter religion," said he has met with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and officials of Hamas and Hezbollah "and practically all of the leaders of the Muslim world."
Speaking at Mosque Maryam, 7351 Stony Island, Farrakhan said he offers "a voice that is not tied to the American political situation." Peace in the Middle East will take "strong, dispassionate intervention by the United States and United Nations," he said. But he did not sound dispassionate himself.
"All weapons of mass destruction should be eliminated, but if Israel can have them, some Arab state should have them as well," he said. Voicing sympathy with the Palestinian cause... He said America is "leaning heavily" on the side of Israel because of Jewish influence.
... Farrakhan spoke for 32 minutes, a short speech for him. He spent the next 40 minutes giving lengthy answers to reporters' questions.
Why not exile him? Jeff Jarvis gives a damned good reason: "Picture it: Arafat -- fat, sassy, and tanned under his pathetic beard of 10 hairs -- is sitting on the sand in Casablanca, snarfing down the hummus and couscous as he gets on his mobile phone back home: "Send in another suicide bomber," he orders. "Make it a young one this time... No, we just bombed a mall. How about a hospital? Have we done a school yet? Screw the peace process." "
Operation Human Shield My Ass: The Happy Fun Pundit asks a long list of questions about the foreigners flocking to Arafat's compound as a human shield.
Amos raises the white flag: Novelist Amos Oz, a founder of the Peace Now movement, advises today in the National Post.
All well and good, but his real advice is much harder to swallow.
It sounds so romantic and inspiring. Hey, he's good at that sort of thing. But reality? The pre-67 borders are not exactly defensible. Just creating an Arafat state next door, armed to the teeth and out for more blood, would have on positive effect: it would force the "peace process" Jews to choose sides. However, it would not likely change anything internationally. Israel was more-or-less a pariah before it gained any measure of security. Magnanimity is not exactly rewarded internationally. Even if it were, those rewards would not arrive in time to save the Jewish state.
Two Palestinian-Israeli wars have erupted. One is the Palestinian nation's war for its freedom from occupation and for its right to independent statehood. Any decent person ought to support this cause. The second war is waged by fanatical Islam, from Iran to Gaza and from Lebanon to Ramallah, to destroy Israel and drive the Jews out of their land. Any decent person ought to abhor this cause.
All well and good, but his real advice is much harder to swallow.
Israel must step down from the war on the Palestinian territories. It must begin to end occupation and evacuate the Jewish settlements that were deliberately thrust into the depth of Palestinian lands. Its borders must be drawn, unilaterally if need be, upon the logic of demography and the moral imperative to withdraw from governing a hostile population.
But would an end to occupation terminate the Muslim holy war against Israel? This is hard to predict. If Jihad comes to an end, both sides would be able to sit down and negotiate peace. If it does not, we would have to seal and fortify Israel's logical border, the demographic border, and keep fighting for our lives against fanatical Islam.
If, despite simplistic visions, the end of occupation will not result in peace, at least we will have one war to fight rather than two. Not a war for our full occupancy of the holy land, but a war for our right to live in a free and sovereign Jewish state in part of that land. A just war, a no-alternative war. A war we will win. Like any people who were ever forced to fight for their very homes and freedom and lives.
It sounds so romantic and inspiring. Hey, he's good at that sort of thing. But reality? The pre-67 borders are not exactly defensible. Just creating an Arafat state next door, armed to the teeth and out for more blood, would have on positive effect: it would force the "peace process" Jews to choose sides. However, it would not likely change anything internationally. Israel was more-or-less a pariah before it gained any measure of security. Magnanimity is not exactly rewarded internationally. Even if it were, those rewards would not arrive in time to save the Jewish state.
Canadian Alliance party screws up yet again: One of the few saving graces of the party, that actually set it apart from the Liberals, Conservatives, and communists (ahem, NDP) was its support for Israel. Well toss away that one.
Stephen Harper, the new leader of the Alliance, said yesterday that, "While recognizing Israel's inherent right to self-defence, Canada should urge the Israeli government [to] show restraint and look at long-term solutions. The Government of Canada should stand ready to facilitate peace by whatever means are within its capabilities."
Not exactly the kind of strong stance likely to win your ailing party any support, eh Stephen?
And to think I had almost gotten my Bubie to stop thinking of the Alliance as a bunch of right-wing yahoos...
Stephen Harper, the new leader of the Alliance, said yesterday that, "While recognizing Israel's inherent right to self-defence, Canada should urge the Israeli government [to] show restraint and look at long-term solutions. The Government of Canada should stand ready to facilitate peace by whatever means are within its capabilities."
Not exactly the kind of strong stance likely to win your ailing party any support, eh Stephen?
And to think I had almost gotten my Bubie to stop thinking of the Alliance as a bunch of right-wing yahoos...
B'Nai Brith takes a stand: I have not been able to corroborate this, but Ramesh Ponnuru said on the Corner yesterday that B'Nai Brith International has revoked its support for the International Criminal Court (they were big boosters of it until now).
Amen.
A big setback for the International Criminal Court: B'nai B'rith International has suspended its support. As the group notes in its letter to President Bush, it has lobbied for an international tribunal to try crimes against humanity ever since the Nuremberg trials. But "we no longer believe that the ICC, as constituted under the Rome Statute, will act as we had originally envisioned." In particular, the ICC is likely to be politicized and used as a weapon against Israel. As now proposed, the ICC would, for example, treat Jewish settlements in disputed territories as a crime it could prosecute. The attempts by the Clinton and Bush administrations to fix the proposal have been rebuffed, the letter notes. B'nai B'rith is not willing to "rely on the goodwill of the United Nations to treat all countries equally."
Amen.
Tuesday, April 02, 2002
Vanity Iraq: Laurie Mylroie sent a heads up that Vanity Fair magazine will be running a big piece interviewing an Iraqi defector on Sadaam's weapons of mass destruction program. This seems to have come from a VF press release:
Alright, let's be frank. Vanity Fair is a bizarre magazine with no qualms about going for glitzy exclusive stories that have absolutely no foundations in truth. For example, there was their investigation of the poisoning of the anthrax vaccine which I slammed back in 1999. But this story is actually plausible. I don't plan to run out to buy the magazine, but I might consider it (quite a feat all on its own). The issue comes out April 9.
IN THE MORE THAN THREE YEARS since Saddam Hussein expelled the U.N. weapons inspectors, he has gotten close to constructing a missile to deliver chemical, biological, and, eventually, nuclear payloads to the capitals of Turkey, Egypt, Cyprus, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, an Iraqi defector tells David Rose in a Vanity Fair exclusive report.
THE DEFECTOR SUPPLIES NEW INFORMATION ABOUT a network of front companies controlled by Iraqi intelligence and designed to evade Western sanctions. He identifies a site where nuclear weapons are being developed and seven sites where chemical and biological weapons are designed, manufactured, and tested. While a member of Iraq's security and intelligence service, the Mukhabarat, the defector says he assembled a fleet of Renault trucks that were indistinguishable from trucks that transported refrigerated food, even though they carried biological weapons.
"THEY LOOK LIKE MEAT CARS, YOGURT CARS," HE tells Vanity Fair. "And inside is a laboratory, with incubators for bacteria, microscopes, air-conditioning."
THE DEFECTOR TELLS VANITY FAIR THAT IRAQI MISSILES--new generation Scuds called "Husseins" are hidden from aerial surveillance on mobile launchers that run on four specially reinforced roads that run a total of about 500
miles. He also details Iraq's support for Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group which it trains for suicide bombings in Israel, and his own shopping trip to Africa in search of radioactive material to put in a "dirty" bomb.
ACCORDING TO THE DEFECTOR, HUSSEIN KEEPS A private jet and helicopter in constant readiness at Saddam International Airport to facilitate his flight from Baghdad when the day of reckoning comes.
THOUGH VANITY FAIR COULD NOT INDEPENDENTLY verify all these claims, the defector has been debriefed at least four times by U.S. officials from the Defense Intelligence Agency.
"I HAVEN'T FOUND ANYTHING TO MAKE ME DISBELIEVE him," says Charles Duelfer, the former deputy chief of UNSCOM, the U.N. weapons-inspections mission in Iraq. "His evidence tells us that Iraq's weapons-of-mass-destruction program has only accelerated since UNSCOM was expelled."
VANITY FAIR HAS TRANSLATED DOCUMENTATION THE defector supplied to his U.S. interrogators, including the paperwork he used to establish his cover as a journalist (like most of the supposed journalistic staff at the Mukhabarat business newspaper, al-Iqtisadi, he never wrote a word), and a 22-page Mukhabarat report about military radar systems.
DETAILING HIS TRIP TO DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA, where he and other Iraqis met with five Eastern Europeans, possibly Russian or Ukrainian, the defector describes a heavy metal trunk about a meter long. Inside were what looked
like pieces of black rock, "glittery." One of the defector's colleagues opened his briefcase to display neat stacks of $100 bills, which he then gave to the Europeans. Nuclear experts tell Rose that the defector's account of "fingers" of black material sounds like a description of spent reactor fuel rods cut into sections, which could be used to surround a conventional explosive. This layer of radioactive waste would then spew a fine dust across a wide area, putting those who inhaled or swallowed it at a
high risk of contracting cancers.
THE DEFECTOR ALSO GIVES DETAILS OF THE Mukhabarat's network of commercial companies set up to launder money through the U.N.'s "food-for-oil" program. He tells Vanity Fair that the Mukhabarat's dummy companies took the nonlethal items Iraq was permitted to trade for oil under the U.N. program (vehicles, food, building material) and sold them for cash. Thousands of
these deals took place, he said; just one of them alone could raise as much as $20 million to be used to buy arms. The network of dummy companies is controlled by Saddam's son Uday, who takes a personal commission on every deal, the defector says.
HE ALSO EXPLAINS HOW THE COMPANIES SMUGGLE fiber-optic cables and electronic components to be used for military purposes. In a Mukhabarat front-company warehouse in the United Arab Emirates, Iraqi agents dismantle the casings of
refrigerators and televisions and stuff them with items banned under the U.N. sanctions. The defector said that when the Iraqi military needed missile covers, carbon fiber, supercomputers, missile ignition systems, electronic parts, thermal lenses for radar receivers, fuel for missiles, it was his job to ensure that these needs were met.
THE DEFECTOR'S TESTIMONY ABOUT IRAQ'S SPONSORSHIP of Hamas, the terrorist organization known for perfecting suicide bombing, might be enough even without the added factor of weapons of mass destruction to justify a U.S. attack on Iraq, Rose writes. The defector says that Hamas had a subdepartment all its own in Iraq's Directorate for Secret Organizations and Relations. There was a full-time Hamas office in the Karrada Dakhil district of Baghdad, he tells Rose.
Classes of up to 30 students trained at the Salman Pak terrorist camp, south of Baghdad, and at a similar facility in the Diyala district in northeast Iraq.
"MANY WEAPONS WERE BEING SUPPLIED TO HAMAS," the defector says, "Guns, ammunition both heavy and light, detonators, and explosives. It was Iraq which trained Hamas in how to make bombs."
IN SEPTEMBER 1998 THE DEFECTOR WAS ONE OF 29 suspects in a plot to topple Saddam. He says he was tortured for the next six months, sometimes with an electrode clipped to his genitals. He was sexually abused and his tormentors punctured his veins and then compressed his thighs with bands in order to squeeze the blood from his legs. When he was shown a video of
children from 5 to 10 being tortured, he was told that the same fate awaited his own family if he failed to confess to the plot. He never did confess and in August 1999 he was back at work at the Mukhabarat. "They believe that if you're jailed and you come out clean," the defector says, "they can use this as a warning."
THE DEFECTOR'S FINAL JOB BEFORE HE FLED IRAQ, he says, was to develop ballistic missiles for the Tammooz system. The rockets have been designed with an initial range of 600 to 700 miles. Later models may extend this range by up to another 500 miles--far enough to reach targets across a swath of southern Europe. It is possible, the defector says, that Iraq tested a finished Tammooz rocket in the middle of 2001.
AT THE TIME OF THIS WRITING THE OPPOSITION Iraqi National Congress is working to rescue members of the defector's family who remain inside Iraq.
Alright, let's be frank. Vanity Fair is a bizarre magazine with no qualms about going for glitzy exclusive stories that have absolutely no foundations in truth. For example, there was their investigation of the poisoning of the anthrax vaccine which I slammed back in 1999. But this story is actually plausible. I don't plan to run out to buy the magazine, but I might consider it (quite a feat all on its own). The issue comes out April 9.
Pawned for pennies: JunkYardBlog says he feels sorry for the Palestinians because they are pawns. "It's not some Zionist conspiracy that has them in its grip. It's not the Jewish world system or some other myth that oppresses them. The Palestinians are the bastard children in the Arab family, and they are the pawns of the powerful in the region. Any of the Arab nations could lift a finger tomorrow and the Palestinians would have a home. They could move a few miles, over a few hills, and live in Jordan--a nation in which they will be in the ethnic majority. Nearly half a million of them live in Lebanon in refugee camps, and have lived there in those camps for decades. But Lebanon won't allow them to become citizens, or live outside the camps. The same is true of Syria, of Egypt, of Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on and on and on. Any--all--Arab nations have in their hands the power to bring about peace. But they'd rather see another suicide bomber wreak havoc on Jewish civilians, they'd rather apply pressure on us to push ahead in that fiction known as the "peace process." The Arab dictatorships want to erase Israel from the map, and the Palestinians are the destabilizing factor, the pawn, used to weaken Israel's resolve, introduce moral uncertainty in her allies, and tarnish her good name around the world. And the Palestinians, for whatever reason, see none of this, and their blindness may shortly lead to their destruction. That's why I feel sorry for them."
Smack back: Emily Jones (Give War A Chance) cuts to the chase of the morality of Israel's war:
"My father has a simplified analogy about the "outrage" over Israel's actions in Ramallah: If someone walked up to you on the street and punched you in the face, you may or may not feel that you have the right to punch them back. They, however, do not have the right to complain if you do."
"My father has a simplified analogy about the "outrage" over Israel's actions in Ramallah: If someone walked up to you on the street and punched you in the face, you may or may not feel that you have the right to punch them back. They, however, do not have the right to complain if you do."
Why support Israel: John Cole (Balloon Juice)
I do not defend Israel because I have a particular affinity for Jews- making blanket positive assertions about Jews is as stupid as making blanket negative assumptions about any race or religion.
... We have an obligation to Israel and the Israelis. They are a democracy. They are a freedom loving people. They are our allies. They have within their society the seed of everything that is right within our society- the desire to exist peacefully with their neighbors, the notion of self-rule without any of the disgusting traces of theocracy, autocracy, or divine rule, and a sense of human rights. We owe them a debt from the past- a debt that will not be paid in full until the history of man is just that- history. We can not let them down again, and to do so is to abdicate everything that is great about our nation. And I will not let that happen, so help me.
Jewish girl discovers where she stands: The Passover massacres have driven Asparagirl to a lengthy self-examination. Like many Jews, she is realizing she may be more Jewish and Zionist than she suspected.
It wasn't that my life didn't have plenty of culturally and religiously Jewish influences; in fact, it had an over-abundance. I grew up in a heavily-Jewish suburban enclave, I missed out on some great Saturday morning cartoons so that I could suffer through years of Hebrew School, my high school (which was actually in the Bronx) had an annual Holocaust Remembrance Day assembly, my weekends in seventh and eighth grade were spent shuttling between friends' Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. But I found Being Jewish to be, when I thought about it at all, kind of embarrassing. Hokey, actually. It was self-perpetuating and self-defining. It had no context to me in the outside "real" world. I couldn't connect to it culturally without cringing, and I couldn't connect to it religiously without my belief in logic and my disbelief in everything from Kosher laws to gender-based proscriptions smacking me in the face. If I couldn't come to terms with my own sense of Being Jewish--and had no desire to put that much effort into it, really--then how the hell was I supposed to care about the perennial same-old-same-old that was going on half a world away?
Needless to say, my views on the situation have changed somewhat.
Same Jew time, same Jew station: Rami Genauer, who spends his day compiling links to editorials and op/eds, has decided to get focused. From now on, Opinion Native will be "all Israel all the time." Rami will provide "links to all of the Israel/Jewish related op/ed pieces ... in American newspapers." Hmm...
Tough negotiations between Turkey and Israel: Israel's one real Muslim ally in the area has decided to play fiscal hardball over a simmering dispute. Turkey has linked all future military contracts with Israel to Tel Aviv agreeing to purchase water from Turkey. At immediate risk is a $668 million contract to upgrade Turkey's 170 M-60 battle tanks. Negotiations on the supply of water have dragged on for years, with Israel persistently balking at the price Turkey requested. Last year Sharon's government rejected a Turkish bid to provide 50 million cubic meters of water annually, preferring to look at desalinization. Former Israeli Director-General of the Foreign Ministry, Alon Liel states that Israel will pay a "huge fine" if it doesn't quit quibbling and agree to the water purchase. (UPI Hears)
Shocked? Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday that Iran, Iraq and Syria are "inspiring and financing a culture of political murder and suicide bombing," linking all three Middle Eastern nations to terrorist attacks against Israel. (Washington Post)
Equal opportunity advancing in the Muslim world: Reuters reports that
Equal opportunity advancing in the Muslim world: Reuters reports that
One of Lebanon's most prominent Shiite Muslim cleric has given his blessing to female suicide bombers like one who struck in Jerusalem on Friday, calling them authors of a "new, glorious history for Arab and Muslim women." In the transcript of an interview with al-Jazeera television faxed by his office today, Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah said a holy war of the sort he feels Palestinians are waging against Israel could require women to undertake such suicide attacks.
"It is true that Islam has not asked women to carry out jihad, but it permits them to take part if the necessities of defensive war dictate that women should carry out any regular military operations, or suicide operations," he said. "We believe that the women who carry out suicide bombings are martyrs."
Life in Jerusalem: Tal G. has a new blog with daily observations straight from Jerusalem.
Ken Layne's hate mail is almost as entertaining as my own. Yesterday, someone called him a Jewish Nazi.
Anti-semitic attacks spread in Europe: First France, then Belgium, then, of course, to Germany:
A group of seven or eight men attacked two American Jews walking along one of Berlin's smartest streets after they visiting a synagogue, German police said Tuesday.
... Police said the two 21-year-old New Yorkers were walking along Kurfuerstendamm, an avenue in west Berlin famous for its upmarket cafes and stores, after 9:30 p.m. when the group of young men with "southern" features appeared. German police usually use the expression "southern appearance" to describe people from southern Europe, north Africa or the Middle East.
The men asked whether the bearded New Yorkers were Jewish before pushing them to the ground. Police said the victims' black and white clothes identified them as Orthodox Jews. One of the victims suffered facial wounds needing hospital treatment. The attackers fled the busy street and have not been caught.
In a separate incident, a swastika was painted on a Jewish memorial in Berlin in the early hours of Tuesday. (Reuters)
Al Qaeda, Taliban run to Iraq: The Christian Science Monitor is reporting today that "many Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters... are simply joining a budding conflict nearby, in Iraq, local security officials warn. Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish Islamic extremist group that has shaken Northern Iraq with bloody episodes of killing over the past 14 months, is being bolstered by the American rout of Osama bin Laden's diehards at Shah-e Kot, Afghanistan. ... While Ansar is gaining strength in numbers, new information is emerging that ties the organization to both Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network and to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The Al Qaeda contacts allegedly stretch back to 1989, and include regular recruiting visits by bin Laden cadres to Kurdish refugee camps in Iran and to northern Iraq, as well as a journey by senior Ansar leaders to meet Al Qaeda chiefs in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in the summer of 2000."
State Department in the Clinton years, spiked an investigation of Islamic charities funding terrorists: The Washington Times reports today that, "The Clinton Administration shut down a 1995 investigation of Islamic charities, concerned that a public probe would expose Saudi Arabia's suspected ties to a global money-laundering operation that raised millions for anti-Israel terrorists, federal officials told The Washington Times. Law enforcement authorities and others close to the aborted investigation said the State Department pressed federal officials to pull agents off the previously undisclosed probe after the charities were targeted in the diversion of cash to groups that fund terrorism. Former federal prosecutor John J. Loftus said four interrelated Islamic foundations, institutes and charities in Virginia with more than a billion dollars in assets donated by or through the Saudi Arabian government were allowed to continue under 'a veil of secrecy.'" Loftus also said, "Had the charities been shut down, they would have been unable to raise the millions that since have been used by terrorists in hundreds of suicide attacks." Clinton spokeswoman Julie Payne "did not respond to inquiries about State Department policy in 1995 during his administration."
State Department in the Clinton years, spiked an investigation of Islamic charities funding terrorists: The Washington Times reports today that, "The Clinton Administration shut down a 1995 investigation of Islamic charities, concerned that a public probe would expose Saudi Arabia's suspected ties to a global money-laundering operation that raised millions for anti-Israel terrorists, federal officials told The Washington Times. Law enforcement authorities and others close to the aborted investigation said the State Department pressed federal officials to pull agents off the previously undisclosed probe after the charities were targeted in the diversion of cash to groups that fund terrorism. Former federal prosecutor John J. Loftus said four interrelated Islamic foundations, institutes and charities in Virginia with more than a billion dollars in assets donated by or through the Saudi Arabian government were allowed to continue under 'a veil of secrecy.'" Loftus also said, "Had the charities been shut down, they would have been unable to raise the millions that since have been used by terrorists in hundreds of suicide attacks." Clinton spokeswoman Julie Payne "did not respond to inquiries about State Department policy in 1995 during his administration."
Scheer stupidity: Loony lefty Robert Scheer has his typical column in the LA Times today, filing straight from Starfleet headquarters on the edge of the neutral zone.
"To ignore the arrogant failure of this administration, however, is to deny the obvious: From its first day in power, it showed no interest in securing peace between Israel and the Palestinians, quickly squandering years of difficult progress made under President Clinton."
So, Robert, difficult? Yes. Progress? Arafat went to war just when Clinton thought he had brought peace. If anyone squandered the "progress" Robert ludicrously claims was achieved under Bush I and Clinton, it was Arafat.
Closer to planet Earth, writing in the Times of London, Michael Gove writes more sensibly that "A diplomatic settlement by Israel would show only that suicide bombing works."
On the same metaphorical page is Benjamin Netanyahu, whose article runs today on the physical pages opposite Scheer in the Times. Bibi says, "The message Palestinian terrorists are sending us is crystal clear: We will murder you at every opportunity, in every place, at any time--even on the holiest of your days. ...There is only one option now available to Israel: to decisively win the war that has been forced upon us."
Bibi's full piece is a necessary read.
Gove is not alone in supporting Bibi's return to leadership in Israel...
Nonsense on parade: The Dallas Morning News calls for Colin Powell and the Secretary-General of the most ineffective organization in the world "to play a more direct role in controlling the violence" in the Middle East. The Boston Globe writes that Bush should convene an "international conference that can offer a viable state to the Palestinians and an internationally guaranteed right to live within secure and defensible borders to Israel," because that will solve everything.
"To ignore the arrogant failure of this administration, however, is to deny the obvious: From its first day in power, it showed no interest in securing peace between Israel and the Palestinians, quickly squandering years of difficult progress made under President Clinton."
So, Robert, difficult? Yes. Progress? Arafat went to war just when Clinton thought he had brought peace. If anyone squandered the "progress" Robert ludicrously claims was achieved under Bush I and Clinton, it was Arafat.
Closer to planet Earth, writing in the Times of London, Michael Gove writes more sensibly that "A diplomatic settlement by Israel would show only that suicide bombing works."
On the same metaphorical page is Benjamin Netanyahu, whose article runs today on the physical pages opposite Scheer in the Times. Bibi says, "The message Palestinian terrorists are sending us is crystal clear: We will murder you at every opportunity, in every place, at any time--even on the holiest of your days. ...There is only one option now available to Israel: to decisively win the war that has been forced upon us."
Bibi's full piece is a necessary read.
Gove is not alone in supporting Bibi's return to leadership in Israel...
Nonsense on parade: The Dallas Morning News calls for Colin Powell and the Secretary-General of the most ineffective organization in the world "to play a more direct role in controlling the violence" in the Middle East. The Boston Globe writes that Bush should convene an "international conference that can offer a viable state to the Palestinians and an internationally guaranteed right to live within secure and defensible borders to Israel," because that will solve everything.
Laziness: Christie Blatchford sees that the lessons of September 11 have not survived the event. "It is evident in the the American television coverage, where network anchors careen wildly between interviews with spokesmen for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, introducing them with a ditzy "and now for the other side" segue. This lazy moral equivalency is rampant. It paints all the players and all their sins with the same brush. Television provides merely the most naked illustration."
A Southam editorial asks, "Why can't some Muslims agree that killing innocent non-Muslims is unacceptable?"
A little less truthful every day: "The end of Israel is the goal of our struggle, and it allows for neither compromise nor mediation," Arafat told the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci in 1972. "We don't want peace. We want war, victory. Peace for us means the destruction of Israel and nothing else." George Jonas chronicles Arafat's decline from the days when he at least told the truth about his intentions.
History bearing down on Arafat:
A Southam editorial asks, "Why can't some Muslims agree that killing innocent non-Muslims is unacceptable?"
A little less truthful every day: "The end of Israel is the goal of our struggle, and it allows for neither compromise nor mediation," Arafat told the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci in 1972. "We don't want peace. We want war, victory. Peace for us means the destruction of Israel and nothing else." George Jonas chronicles Arafat's decline from the days when he at least told the truth about his intentions.
History bearing down on Arafat:
A beleaguered Arafat now wildly works his Rolodex for support for his autocracy. But history answers cruelly that strongmen in their bunkers are as impotent as they are loquacious--and as likely to receive disdain as pity. Moammar Gadhafi was a different man after the American air strike proved his military worthless and his person no longer sacrosanct. The rhetoric of the Taliban