Kesher Talk: 04/14/2002

Good shabbos: It is late as usual. Got to get home to catch a bit of the Canucks-Red Wings game before we head to Olom Tikvah for services.

Everyone please have a good weekend...

...and watch lots of hockey.

Let's Go Leafs! Long Live Tie Domi!

Can you love Israel and still be politically correct? David White tries to suss the divergence in PC when it comes to Israel.

If We Appease Terrorism, We’ll Get More Terrorism: That's the simple message of the new TV ad campaign from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Watch it.

Why they won't believe: "How could there be any doubt in anyone's mind any longer?" asked Secretary of State Colin Powell about reaction to the first Osama bin Laden "confession" video, released in December. And yet, many people still don't believe. David D. Perlmutter and Mustafa Saied explain why and conclude that "many Muslims – from the poor to the professional-class killers of 9/11 – still maintain that the war on the Taliban and Al Qaeda is nothing more than an exercise of brute force against Islam, because OBL cannot be guilty. This may be either because of the power of self-serving rationalization or because accepting the evidence would be contrary to everything they have been taught to believe about America as an enemy of Muslims."

No more world soccer for Israel? If Jordan has its way.

The Jordan Times reported yesterday that "The International Football Federation (FIFA) Executive Committee will look into Jordan's request to freeze Israel's participation in FIFA events."

"Responding to a letter from HRH Prince Ali, president of the Jordan Football Association, FIFA President Joseph 'Sepp' Blatter said the committee would `deal with the matter at its next meetting May 3, 2002.' "

"On April 2 Prince Ali sent a letter to Blatter, urging the football community to `freeze Israel's participation ...until ... Israel abides by
international law, and restores dignity and freedom to the occupied people of Palestine.' "

Clinton says, 'I wanna do it all over again': According to Reuters, "Former President Clinton said Thursday he would like to have a role in the Middle East peace process." Clinton said, "I'm actually working on a lot of projects right now that, if they went through, would bring some economic benefits to the region in a way that I think would be conducive to peace."

Iran takes to the waves:

Iran... says it's about to launch its own destroyer-class ship. Its coastlines include the Caspian Sea, but one can hardly imagine it rushing into the fray of the beluga caviar wars. More likely, eyes are looking south to the Persian Gulf of American "Operation Desert Storm" fame 11 years ago. Navy deputy commander Adm. Masud Sarikhani reportedly said the Iranian Navy is ready to face any probable threat. The destroyer, christened "Mowj" for "Wave," was developed internally and is capable of shielding Iran with surface, underwater and air capability, he added. (UPI Hears ...)

Cool, something to keep the U.S. Navy occupied for a few minutes while we invade Iraq!

Big Comfy Chair: Big shout out to Lauren and Sam for donating their Big Comfy White Chair to our living room, as there is no space in their now-shared apartment. Now, if only it will fit in the back of my fiancee's car, we should do ok...

Mmm, big comfy chair....

UPDATE: BOOO! I've been deceived! It was in fact the Big Ugly 70's Chair With No Ottoman!

Party time is over, cancel the state dinner.

Jay Leno last night: "Well, the Middle East, I don't know, Colin Powell's mission was somewhat of a success. He came home alive."

Iran's "consortium of terror": Rob Sobhani of Georgetown University was on FNC's "The O'Reilly Factor" last night.

He said, "A lot of the violence that we see recently in the West Bank, in Gaza, towards the Israelis is emanating from Iran. Last year, April, the Iranian government had a conference, where they got together Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. They formed a consortium of terror. ... There is no doubt that Iran is involved 100 percent in trying to sabotage the peace process, in trying to support what's out there, which are the terrorists."

Unhappy reader mail:

i guess it's a lot of work to find all those pro israel links

jew = good, arab = bad?

your site is not the worst i've seen this week though. there was one guy who was ok with killing all palestinians on earth. i haven't read that here. well not yet anyway.

and no, i don't know why i keep writing to people like you. you're never going to wake up and change your mind!

-- -- monica callens

Do Bostonians love Israel? An anonymous Kesher Talk reader forwarded this message last night:

I thought it might interest you to know that according to an arab daybook, hana ashrawi is scheduled to give an address on sunday, april 21, in boston at the cathedral of st. paul with details supposedly available from the boston globe.

So, friends of Israel in Boston, are you ready to lock horns with terror's mouthpiece?

Can 94% of Canadians be wrong? That's how many believe, according to this Compas poll for B'Nai Brith, Arafat is a terrorist.

Off-topic - It's the most wonderful time of the year! The 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs begin in two hours. Thumb through my hockey blog, Puck Hog, if hockey is your interest. As it should be.

Crunching poll data: Leonard Fein looks at American public opinion of Israel.

UPDATE: So does David Skinner.

Google watch: Kesher Talk is number 11 in a Google search for "very hot yemeni bitch."

But Ken Layne is number 4!

"I'm also becoming a Palestinian-ist":

"I have been a Zionist my entire life. I would die for Israel. But watching the suffering of the Palestinian people, I'm also becoming a Palestinian-ist."

Thank you Geraldo Rivera.

Jews finally denounce terrorism: An email from Professor Stephen Berger at the Tel Aviv Medical Center (posted on War Now) says that, since Palestinians are always being asked to denounce terrorism, Jews should do the same. So on behalf of all of us, Berger denouces the following:

1. All Jewish suicide bombers who have ever acted against Arabs.

2. All Arab buses blown up by Jews.

3. All Arab pizza parlors, malls, discotheques and restaurants destroyed by Jewish terrorists.

4. All airplanes hijacked by Jews since 1903.

5. All bar mitzvahs, weddings, Passover seders [and their Islamic equivalents] targeted by Jewish bombs.

6. All Arabs lynched in Israeli cities; all Arab Olympic athletes murdered by Jews; all Arab embassies bombed by Jews.

7. All mosques, cemeteries and religious schools fire bombed or desecrated by Jews in North Africa, France, Belgium, Germany, England or any other country.

8. The destruction of American military, governmental and civilian institutions in Kenya, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen - along with the murder of U.S. Marines and diplomatic personnel.

9. All Jewish school books which claim that Arabs poison wells, use Christian blood to bake pita, control world finance, and murdered Jesus; or that Arab elders meet secretly to plot a world takeover.

10. And I am particularly ashamed at the way my fellow Jews attacked the World Trade Center, Pentagon and civilian aircraft on September 11, and danced in the streets to celebrate the act.

What is the legal status of the West Bank? In his continuing jousts with Oxford Union loonies, Iain Murray (Edge of England's Sword) asks just how legitimate that Palestinian territory really is:

Nick L said "The occupation of the West Bank is illegal. Bottom line."

Is it that clear cut?

The partition plan of 1947 envisaged Israel and a Palestinian state. This was accepted by the proto-Israelis but rejected by the Arabs. They attacked the new state of Israel as it was declared with the result that, as the Encyclopaedia Britannica will tell you, the West Bank as currently defined represents the portion of the former mandate occupied by Arab forces in that attack. The current borders represent the Israeli-Jordanian armistice line. Israel took and absorbed other parts of the areas that the rejected plan designated for Palestine. The West Bank was annexed by Jordan in 1950, but the legality of that move must be called into question because it was only recognized by the UK and Pakistan. The Palestinians resented it, and Jordan formally renounced any claim to the territory in 1988.

In short, I am not sure what the formal international legal position is. The land seems to belong to a state that never existed, and indeed refused to accept the legal status the UN wanted to give it. In these circumstances, is the Israeli occupation necessarily illegal? I'm not sure. If it is, is the "occupation" of the coastal strip and other areas the 1947 plan put aside for the Arab state also illegal?

If ever there were an area that fitted the description of "disputed", I'd say the West bank qualifies.

French Jewish politics is a mess: JTA reports that French Jews are clashing with each other over how to react to French anti-semitic attacks and what to do about Israel. Some Jews refuse to protest the anti-semitic assault for fear of appearing to support Ariel Sharon. Others have engaged in fisticuffs when fellow Jews refused to support Israel. It ain't pretty.

The first round of elections for president is on Sunday.

Spielberg story just an urban legend: The story that Steven Spielberg, Oscar-winning director of the epic 'Schindler's List' and bankroller of the massive oral history effort to record the memories of all remaining Holocaust survivors, was planning a pro-Palestinian movie on the intifada turns out to be false. The director's spokesman, Marvin Levy, called the report "an obvious, vicious hoax," after it surfaced on news sites around the world. Spielberg was quoted in the story that flashed around the Internet as telling the Hollywood Reporter that Israel's military strikes against Palestinians resembled genocide. (UPI hears ...)

Western Wall just some wall, archeologists say? Can someone please explain this UPI blurb to me?

An interesting dispute is building over the real site of Solomon's and Herod's temples, suggesting they may not have been on Mount Moriah at all -- the hill known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as "al-Haram al-Sharif" (the Noble Sanctuary). Solomon's temple was above a spring known as Gihon, which would place it on the lower Mount Ophel to the south. And the Roman general and historian Josephus, who ought to know since he razed it, writes that the view of Herod's Temple was blocked from the north -- which would probably mean blocked by Mount Moriah. Once this is explained to Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon, they will doubtless realize that the current intifada is being fought by mistake.

Does this mean that these archeologists believe that the Western Wall is just some old wall, not a part of the second temple? Excuse me?

Happy Israeli Independence Day! Well, not exactly happy, but 54 years and still here.

The Middle East and game theory: Gotta love that game theory. Beauty of Grey puts it to work on "the Palestine dilemma."

Anti-Israel rally in DC: The anarcho-terrorist left is planning its own rally in Washington, D.C. on April 20 to "Stope the War Against the Palestinian People!"

Oh boy!

Activists and terrorists are supposed to gather at the White House at 11a.m.:

It is clear from the intensifying mobilization and support for the Palestinian people battling the U.S.-backed Israeli aggression that the April 20 demonstration at the White House will be attended by tens of thousands of people. The main demands at the White House demonstration will be "FREE PALESTINE! No new war on Iraq!", "Stop the attacks on Arab and Muslim people! Defend civil liberties!", and "Money for Jobs, Education, Healthcare and Housing, Not Racist War!"

Well, at least they have a coherent message.

Scheduled for release from their insane asylums for the 20th include:

- Mumia Abu-Jamal, political prisoner (taped message)
- Fadia Rafeedi, representative of Palestinian youth
- Mahdi Bray, National Political Director, Muslim Public Affairs Council
- Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General
- Larry Adams, National Postal Mailhandlers Union, President, Local 300; Representative of New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW)
- Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Auxillory Bishop, Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit
- Rev. Lucius Walker, IFCO/Pastors for Peace
- Muslim Students Association of the U.S and Canada
- Monica Tarazi, Director, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee New York
- Sally Davies, President, AFSCME Council 92
- Magdy Mahmoud, President, Metropolitan Muslim Federation NY-NJ, Council of Mosques & Islamic Organizations, NJ
- Randa Jamal, Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition, NY-NJ
- Farm Labor Organizing Committee
- Asha Samad-Matias, Muslims against Racism, Racial and Religious Profiling and War
- Nadia Ahmed, President, Students for International Peace & Justice
- Rev. Graylen Hagler, Senior Minister, Plymouth Congregational Church
- Tariq Ali, Pakistani playwright & author
- Wilson Borja, Trade Unionist from Colombia
- Amer Jubran, Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition, Massachusetts
- Dr. Helen Caldicott, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee
- Samia Halaby, Al-Alwda Palestine Right to Return Coalition NY-NJ
- Iman Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin’s (formerly H.Rap Brown) Defense Committee
- Peta Lindsey, Youth and Student Coordinator, A.N.S.W.E.R.
- Ismael Guadalupe, Committee for the Rescue and Development of the Vieques
- Larry Holmes, International Action Center
- Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Partnership for Civil Justice-LDEF
- Bayan USA (Filipino)
- Cheri Honkala, Kensington Welfare Rights Union
- Katherine Hoyt, Nicaragua Network
- Macrina Cardenas, Mexico Support Network
- Colombia Action Network
- DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving)
- Sister Maureen Feidler, Co-Director, Quixote Center
- Jane Franklin, Author, “Chronology on U.S.-Cuba Relations”
- Arturo Griffith, Washington DC activist
- International Concerned Friends & Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal
- Tom Dostou, Abenaki Nation
- Andy Thayer, Chicago Anti-Bashing Network, the case of Rabih Haddand
- Elizabeth Grullon, City University of New York
- Jibril Hough, South Carolina Coalition for Peace and Justice
- Lucas Benitas, Coalition of a Immokele
- Teresita Jacinto, Committee for Indigenous Solidarity
- William Underbagge, Native activist, Washington DC
- School of the Americas Watch

But that's not all. This march encompasses every terrorists' wet dream demand and every group wants in:

The April 20th Mobilization and International A.N.S.W.E.R. are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement for a unified day of resistance to the Bush Administration's so-called "war on terrorism" and its destructive impacts domestically and globally. We have agreed to have a converging march, followed by a jointly-organized, co-sponsored rally at the Capitol.

Meanwhile, the Al-Awda Coalition of NY/NJ proclaims:

DEMONSTRATE AT THE WHITE HOUSE, SATURDAY APRIL 20 at 11 A.M. (Gather at the Ellipse, south side of the White House, Constitution and 16th St. NW) Al-Awda Palestine Right of Return NY/NJ calls on all Arab and Muslim people and all people of conscience to participate in a mass demonstration for Palestine on Saturday, April 20 gathering at the White House (south side on the Ellipse, 16th & Constitution NW).

And the Free Palestine Alliance cries:

At this critical moment in the struggle of our people, the Free Palestine Alliance-USA calls upon all those who stand for justice and liberation to join us at the White House in Washington, DC on Saturday, April 20, 2002, at 11 a.m., in a national mobilization in support of the struggle of the Palestinian People as we gear up for the protest against the war criminal Sharon.

And our friends at the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) want to get their people organized early, for some really good, um, organizing:

There will be a meeting Wednesday, April 17 for Muslims who wish to
volunteer for the rally in Washington.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 17, 7 p.m.
WHERE: ADAMS Center, Sterling, Virginia
DIRECTIONS: Take Route 7 west, cross Sugerland Road, turn into Community
Plaza Shopping Center, ADAMS is located behind the Burlington Coat Factory

CONTACT: 202-879-6723

Everyone come on out, I'm sure it will be a swell time. We'll dance around, villify the evil Jews, curse our evil country and pick fights with policeman. You'll love it.

UPDATE: Kathryn Jean Lopez over on NRO's Corner asks: "CAIR has announced a pro-Palestine rally in DC for later this month. Don't they do that at Foggy Bottom daily?"

"You're all Jews!" The trial of five Algerian men charged with plotting to blow up a French holiday market opened with a flourish today when a defendant disrupted the proceedings and was removed from court. While the other defendants shielded their faces from a TV camera allowed to tape the opening five minutes, 31-year-old defendant Lamine Maroni, speaking in Arabic, recited Koranic verses, swore and urged the others not to testify. He was warned not to continue, but went on in English and German, motioning to the court.

"You're all Jews. I don't need them. I don't need the court. My God is my defender." (AP)

Is it all about the water? In one of Iain Murray's (Edge of England's Sword) frequent debates with his fellow Oxford Union gangsters, he came upon this reaction to a Barbara Amiel article in the Daily Telegraph which was, gasp, supportive of Israel:

Amiel says that 'Israel dreamt of making the desert green for itself, as well as for its grateful Arab neighbours'. What evidence she has for that I cannot imagine. The truth is that Israel has quite evidently sought to take as much water for itself and deprive the Arabs of as much of their water as possible. It has never sought to share water supplies in an equitable fashion. For instance, one quarter of Israel's water comes from the West Bank. Licences are required to dig wells, but Israelis are far more likely to receive licences than Palestinians. Palestinian wells may not exceed 140 metres, meaning that they have to put up with brakish, often partially saline water, whereas Jewish wells can reach 800 metres. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank have running water. Fewer than half of Palestinian villages do. This sort of thing cannot be reference to Israeli security. It is pure colonial exploitation, in which the occupier seizes the resources of the occupied.

I could rip into the "occupier" and "occupied" arguments, as well as point out that, if it weren't for the Israelis, there would be hardly any sources of useable water anywhere in the West Bank... but that would be too simple, wouldn't it?

Iain, hunting for a refutation, came upon a Yedidya Atlas article on Israel and water:

This "most important long-term source" [of water] physically straddles the pre-1967 cease fire lines, alias "the Green Line", into Judea and Samaria. The Principle of Connecting Vessels tells us that any activity affecting the water on one side will affect that on the other side as well. So if pumping operations, or uncontrolled flow of sewage or industrial waste, etc., occur on the western slopes of Judea and Samaria, it would cause serious, and most probably irreversible, damage to the key source of drinking water for Israel's major urban centers and environs.

The political and strategic significance for Israel is clear. Withdrawing from Judea and Samaria - i.e., the Mountain Aquifer - or from the Golan Heights would create a situation in which the fate of Israel's water supply would be determined by Mr. Arafat's Palestinian Authority and the Syrians, respectively.

Can Israel really afford to trust her most valuable and irreplaceable national resource in the hands of those who have had a long history of trying to destroy the Jewish State? In the case of the Syrians, this includes diverting and/or poisoning Israel's water supply.

NPR: Also cute is Iain's Oxford chum who bleats that "I am gettign more and more frustrated by the coverage of this
situationin the US media. Even NPR got me mad yesterday on the drive home, talking about Israeli 'soldiers' in a stand-off with Palestinian 'gunmen' in Bethlehem."

Obviously he never listens to NPR, which normally does not call the Palestinians anything but Palestinians. At best, they use the word "militants." "Gunmen" must have been a one-off Freudian slip.

Iain on the Jenin battle:

From the accounts I have read, British and American, it seems pretty clear to me that the assault at Jenin was aimed pretty squarely at destroying the camp as a base for terrorists, which pretty much means destroying the camp totally. I will be very surprised if the tales of massacres are substantiated, but also not surprised if there are more bodies found in the rubble. In many ways this action seems very similar to King Hussein's attacks on the camps that harbored Black September. The world was much better off for that action and, when the great cost-benefit analysis of history is performed, at the moment I think Sharon will be vindicated too.

Jay Leno last night: "In an interview, Yasser Arafat's wife, this hypocrite, she lives in Paris by the way. She said she would gladly sacrifice her son for the Palestinian cause -- if she had one. She also said she would gladly become a suicide bomber herself, except she's allergic to dynamite."

"Government officials in a town in the Czech Republic are refusing to remove Adolf Hitler's name from its list of honorary citizens. Here's my question, okay? What do you have to do to get your name taken off this list? Apparently, Hitler not evil enough to get off this? 'We need a little more proof, apparently.' If you want to see the list, it's currently on display in the town's new Osama bin Laden civic auditorium."

Salon turns a pro-Israel rally into a "rally critical of Bush": The thick skulls at Salon report on yesterday's Israel rally and it reads like they never actually listened to anyone there.

Anthony York's Salon article is entitled "Israel rally critical of Bush"

We know good reporters like they have at Salon would never do anything like that, nor have an agenda to push, because they are unbiased journalists.

This one was so appalling that my fiancee penned a letter to the Salon editor about it:

Regarding the Salon article "Israel rally critical of Bush" I listened to the entire rally on C-span, and speaker after speaker praised President Bush.

During his speech, Netanyahu praised Bush as "the Best friend that Israel ever had." Perhaps your writer was distracted by the helicopters at the time and couldn't hear 3/4ths of the speech.

Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz was cheered until he mentioned the Palestianians. He has been a stalwart supporter of Israel, and he is clearly appreciated and respected (which is why he was a key speaker).

I understand that you dissagree with Israel, but there are times to be objective as well. President Bush was clearly praised at the rally, and it was incorrectly biased to portray the rally as Mr. York did.

Canadian rumblings: The National Post editorializes today that "Israel is unique -- uniquely hated, uniquely besieged, uniquely interesting. And that uniqueness has induced much of the world to lose its mind when it speaks of Israel."

But someone else seems to have found his mind - former provincial premier Bob Rae, last seen destroying the economy of the province of Ontario in the early nineties. He has harsh words for his fellow party members in the NDP:

Israel's right to exist within defined and secure borders has been a foundation of both Canadian foreign policy and the democratic tradition for nearly 60 years. It is not just that Canada voted in favour of Israel's admission to the United Nations in 1948. It is the deep bond of friendship and family ties that have strengthened the labour and human rights communities in both our countries, that have changed the lives and hopes of thousands of young people, and that have built a growing economic relationship as well. Of course Canadian Jews have been at the heart of this relationship, but Canada's support for the idea of Israel and its affirmation of human values has found deep resonance across religious faiths and party lines.

Svend Robinson, the federal New Democrat spokesperson for foreign affairs, has gone to Ramallah to show solidarity with Yasser Arafat. In a recent interview, Mr. Robinson described Israel as a terrorist state and proudly declared that he had "taken sides."

Mr. Robinson's views are apparently now the official stand of the federal New Democratic Party.

They are not mine. Let me explain why.

... Yet Svend Robinson's outburst reflects nothing of this tension, nothing of this mutuality. Where is his solidarity with the families of the victims of the massacre on Passover? Where is his humanitarian outrage over the children killed while dancing in a discotheque or eating in a pizzeria? Even those who argue that the answer is an Israeli withdrawal from the territories or a dismantlement of most of the settlements on the West Bank miss the point that these steps, as necessary as they are, were already offered and rejected and will only produce the desired result if they are matched by a willingness on the part of others to end the practice of terrorism and to recognize the permanence of the state of Israel.

If Svend Robinson's foray had been a solitary event, it might have been possible to brush it off as yet another escapade from a histrionic crank. But he is the foreign affairs critic of the New Democratic Party. The NDP criticizes the Third Way, opposes the World Trade Organization, sits on its hands when Tony Blair praises the advantages of markets, and denounces any military action against terrorism whether by the United States, Canada or Israel. This is not a vision of social democracy worthy of support.

Blogging the Israel Rally: Blogger David Tepper was there. He seems to have missed out on the speeches but has his own views on boling on the Capital mall.

Marm (using a blogging tool new to me called Live Journal) has her own take on the rally, as well as a compendium of signs seen.

Jason Rylander swelled with pride while walking through the crowds.

Doug Fox has the multimedia recap of the rally.

An Instapundit reader clarifies reports of booing during Paul Wolfowitz's speech and explains why it happened.

Meryl Yourish notes that "not a single person called for the death of anyone. Not even for Arafat's."

Lex, well-hydrated, was pleasantly surprised to find that so many fellow ralliers were hawkish.

I'm hoping to collect reports from my friends who attended and post them as they arrive. But from initial reports, it sounds like I had the better vantage point to actually know what was going on... watching it all on CSPAN.

UPDATE: Some more pictures from the rally.

Why we have Israel: I second Martin Devon. For American Jews, Israel is Plan B.

The "Impressions of America" poll: Zogby's poll of foreign attitudes to America (here is the press release) looks at least as awful as the Gallup poll of the Islamic world. And by that I mean both the methods and the results.

"The poll was conducted in March and early April with face-to-face interviews of 500-700 randomly selected adults in five Arab nations - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, and in three non-Arab, Muslim nations - Pakistan, Iran and Indonesia. Finally, to establish a proper context for the final results, face-to-face interviews also were conducted of randomly selected adults in both France and Venezuela."

Zogby found that while people in these countries love to take in our mass culture, they also love to hate us and our policies. "At a time when the United States is building a broad coalition against terrorism, this poll shows that U.S. policy in the Middle East provides a significant stumbling block."

Forgive me, but BULL*#@! ...

Like the Gallup "poll of the Islamic world," actual results are only available to people willing to fork over hundreds of dollars. Media lapped it up without ever seeing any of the guts of the poll, as best I can tell.

The same caveats also apply to this poll as to the Gallup one, though Zogby does not make them: the results do not represent "the world" or even "Arab" or "Muslim" nations. They also cannot represent actual opinion. Free countries are the only places where opinion surveys can ever yield real data - Arab and Muslim dictatorships are not a place of free inquiry.

On top of all that, pollster John Zogby is notorious in the polling community for being, well, a shyster. He keeps his methods an absolute secrecy, contrary to the stipulations of the major polling organizations.

In the April/May issue of the American Enterprise, Zogby responds to criticisms of his polling methods (which I prodded TAE to ask him in the interview). Zogby replied that, while polling is a hard science, it is also an art. He points to his track record, which is how he has built his reputation - not on credible methods but on sort-of predicting some electoral results that other pollsters got wrong.

On Friday morning, The Christian Science Monitor hosted a breakfast with John Zogby (the pollster) and James Zogby (president of the Arab American Institute). Low and behold, the Zogby poll is described as being run by BOTH of them, not just by the pollster, and the discussion of it on TV has involved both of them - John talking about the poll itself, then a quick tag to James who rails against U.S. foreign policy.

Unions support Israel? Everyone seems to be coming out of the woodwork today. The AFL-CIO is at the rally, declaring that "Israel has the right to exist in security and peace."

Why the growing split between Israel and the West?

Let's be clear: it is not that Israel is behaving worse than before. Indeed, to date the offensive is quite limited compared to many previous bloody conflicts in the region. Nor is it that the American authorities, which demonstrated their contempt for civilian life in Afghanistan, are suddenly concerned about the suffering of the Palestinians. It is more that the Israelis are now being condemned for actions that would previously have been condoned by the White House. The USA remains closely involved with the Israeli state: without American arms and aid, Israel would have been unable to maintain its offensive against the Palestinians. But the responsibility for the violence in the Middle East is being increasingly shifted on to Israel's shoulders.

... The accelerating shift in US/Western thinking is not determined by events on the ground in the Middle East. It is shaped more by a mood developing within the West. The discomfort with Israel is a symptom of the West's loss of conviction in itself - something which has become increasingly evident in the aftermath of 11 September.

... In the eyes of many today, Israel's crime is to be the most forceful expression of Western values. The Israeli state is seen as a beachhead of Western civilisation in a hostile world. That used to be its greatest asset in winning international support. In the downbeat atmosphere of our times, however, Western civilisation has fallen into disrepute even within its own heartlands, and Israel's image has suffered accordingly.

(Mick Hume, Spiked)

Bill is on the podium! No, not that Bill, Bill Bennett.

On 9-11: "We saw the face, we felt the hand of evil... we did not seek a war, but the war came."

Fricking CSPAN! Originally, the rally was supposed to be on CSPAN3. It got moved to CSPAN1, as it should have, but they just left the rally to run a prayer from the U.S. House of Representatives chaplain and all five attending Congressman reciting the pledge of allegiance. It is the adjournment ceremony!

What the f&*( ?!

Bush administration not entirely stupid: Dubya may flub a lot of things, but he seems to know this one well. The administration's representative, addressing the rally at this moment, is Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

Learning to be a foreign correspondent in Israel:

Young Bill shot back a double. "Best thing I learned in college was how to drink," he said comradely. "They sure as hell didn't prepare me for being a war correspondent." He took a deep breath and steadied himself. "I can't believe the stuff I saw today. Those Palestinians are inhuman. Absolutely barbaric! These poor Jews. Is it always like this?"

No one answered. The other journalists gaped at him, and then at each other. Elaine found her voice first. "Uh, Bill. Let's not forget, a Palestinian died killing all those Israelis. Another victim of the illegal occupation. Think of that poor kid's mother."

"But -" Smitty cut into Bill. "You don't understand what's going on here. Nothing's obvious. I've got great sources, and they told me the Israelis rigged that suicide bombing to kill Jews and make the Palestinians look bad. Of course, the Israelis denied it, they always do. What, you think the Palestinians are so stupid that they want to die?"

"But I saw -"

"You saw ?! Jeez, what are you, an innocent bystander? Someone knew you were there, and they gave you something to write about. If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, did the tree make a sound? If Jews and Arabs kill each other and we're not there to make hay about it, does death matter? No. Let me put it this way: the Syrians killed 20,000 of their own people in Hamra, but we weren't there, so who cares? It's like it didn't happen, and the world remained the same. Syria's on the UN Security Council. Capiche?"

"Boy, I sure have a lot to learn about being a foreign correspondent in Israel," Bill said. (Sam Orbaum, The Jerusalem Post)

Why only now? Michael Freund asks, "why didn't American Jewish officialdom speak out against Oslo until now? Why did they fail to heed the writing that was so clearly on the wall all these years?"

Being a Jew in Britain: Norman Lebrecht (writing in London's Evening Standard) laments the rising tide of European anti-semitism. But anguish, he says, is a "unifying force."

At prayers each morning, my rabbi reads out a lengthy supplication for peace and social harmony. Sharon's claim that Israel is fighting for survival may be hyperbolic, but Jews in Britain have not felt so insecure since Mosley's Blackshirts marched the streets - or so uncertain of their place in a society that seems to treat them with renewed suspicion and distaste.

One of the most startling trends of recent months is not the flight from Israel by casual students and fainthearted friends, but the sustained numbers of young British Jews who are leaving to make their homes in Israel. Britain, to many of its Jewish citizens, no longer feels like home.

Israel Rally in DC is online: Can't be there? Watch C-Span's live feed from the mall in Washington, D.C.

Truth v. Values:

The unspoken assumption of anyone who asserts that they speak "the Truth" is this: you who do not think as I do, do so because you do not know the "the Truth" (i.e. the facts). If I tell you "the Truth" either you will be compelled to agree with me by their startling and unanswerable truthlikeness, or you are blinkered by a priori ideological constructs that prevent you from seeing the world as it really is. But there is a logical mistake in this assumption. Facts do not determine how we decide on an issue - values do. We can see the same things, yet make different decisions based on what we see. When I look at what is going on in the West Bank right now I see more or less the same thing as is seen by a critic of Israeli policy, yet my judgement on it is not their judgement. And lest anyone think I am making an apology for relativism: I am not - even value-judgements can be wrong or misplaced, because they come with consequences attached, and if those consequences are incompatible with one's values (or what one claims to be one's values) then one's value-judgements are faulty. Most Palestinians, I suspect, believe in liberty and self-determination (for themselves, at least), yet they allow and approve of actions by their countrymen and women that run contrary to these beliefs. Arafat speaks with a forked tongue.

If it's "truth" you're after, try this: since 1948, Israel has been engaged in a continuous war of survival - sometimes that war hots up, as it has now, sometimes it is cold, consisting of nothing more than verbal attacks and slurs in the Arab and European press. But because, as my oldest chum Dr Ashton pointed out (in a previous post), we think too much in pictures (and numbers too), we do not see what is happening. When we indulge in morality-by-numbers and morality-by-colour-pictorial we are in danger of losing our way completely. This is where we are today. (Daddy Warblogs)

For all your toughest peace processes...: "Trouble shifting those stubborn bloodstains? Suicide bombers clogging up your peace process? Then you need Arafat! Arafat! can tackle all your toughest domestic security needs, like magic! Spray it on, wipe it off - you'll never know it was there. Arafat! - because life's complicated enough." (Daddy Warblogs)

Attack thwarted last night: During the night an IDF force managed to thwart an attempted terror attack in the area of the Kfar Darom village at Gush Katif. An IDF force that was operating in an initiated activity noticed a terrorist cell on their way to commit an attack. The force commenced shooting towards them, thus killing 2 terrorists. Several weapons were found on the terrorists' bodies.

Kesher Talk

Friday, April 19, 2002

Thursday, April 18, 2002

Wednesday, April 17, 2002

Tuesday, April 16, 2002

Monday, April 15, 2002

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