Kesher Talk: 04/28/2002

Thousands of French Jews contemplate leaving: I spoke with my brother (a resident of Paris) about this when he visited last weekend. He really did not care to ponder the prospect of a Le Pen victory, since it seems so improbable. He feels that the anti-semitic attacks will die down, and the French Jews, who are currently thinking about emigrating (including my brothers' family-in-law), will soon forget all about it.

As they are wont to do. And they will be shocked all over again, when it inevitably resurfaces in the future...

Good Jewish news:

Croatia's capital city of Zagreb is getting a mikvah

Tomas Jelinek, one of the Czech Republic's most influential Jewish leaders, has plans to make the city of Prague a center for Jewish learning worldwide. "I would like to see Prague becoming a visible place on the Jewish map," he said. His plan envisages Prague´s Jewish community providing facilities with the backing of Czech and international Jewish organizations, which would provide stipends for scholars to study in Prague.

David Letterman last night: "Yasser Arafat was finally able to leave his compound, and what an emotional scene on the way out, high fiving all those suicide bombers. My God, what a scene that was."

Jay Leno last night: "Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was reelected to a five-year term yesterday by a landslide. 97% of the vote. He said he owed his victory to his anti-terrorism decision, his pro-democracy stance and the fact that his name was the only one on the ballot."

"That's got to be exciting election coverage for the reporter. '0% of the vote in, we're projecting a winner. A landslide for the former President.' "

Ah to be back in junior high: I caught this quote in an AP story about Israel's raid in Nablus today:

Adnan Asfour, one of the Hamas leaders in Nablus, said the raid was counterproductive. "What's going on is increasing our determination to continue our struggle, until we achieve our goals, such as an independent state."

Now this guy is definitively an Asfour. I've been saying for years that Arafat was an Asfour. To which you ask : What's an Asfour?

To which I reply, ha ha ha.

It's not easy being green: Howard's post about green being the color of Islam reminds me of a something I did a long time ago. When I was in second grade, my teacher gave the class an assignment to draw an American flag. There happened to be a girl in the class from Israel whose father was in America on sabbatical. The teacher said she could draw an Israeli flag. Well that opened the floodgates. American flags are hard to draw (especially if you have as little artistic talent as I have) so I asked if I could draw another country's flag. For some reason, the teacher agreed and so I submitted the sovereign flag of Libya. Even at the time I thought they had a stupid looking flag, but I guess it makes sense now. For those who don't get it, click here.

The significance of the green paint: In the vandalism on a London synagogue, Kesher Talk reader Michael Levy pointed out something peculiar. The vandals had poured paint over the walls and the Ark. Green paint, to be specific.

As he noted, green is not the color of Nazism, it is the color of Islam.

This raises a couple of questions:

Were the vandals actually Muslim, and if so, why are neo-Nazis suspected?

Did the vandals use green paint to throw suspicions away from themselves?
Is just any neo-Nazi punk in the UK capable of this kind of savvy?

CAIR says pro-Israel congressman are "pledging allegiance to a foreign government": "The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today condemned planned congressional resolutions in support of Israel's brutal invasion of Palestinian territory that the Islamic advocacy group said amounted to American elected officials pledging allegiance to a foreign government."

CAIR's executive director Nihad Awad led the charge: "It is truly disturbing to see American elected officials falling over themselves in an unseemly attempt to 'pledge allegiance' to a foreign government and its domestic lobby. Perhaps these same politicians should be reminded that they were elected by American, not Israeli voters."

Strange things afoot at the circle J:

The Bismarck Tribune profiles a Messianic Christian congregation that is very, well, Jewish.
The AP examines a legal case where advocates for higher wages and better treatment at Dakota Premium Foods claim that the company's "opression" of workers constitutes a violation of the laws of kashrut, making their products not kosher.

(Thanks to Holy Weblog for these two)

Arafat shows the love: Fresh out of his confinement, Yasser called the Israeli army "terrorists, Nazis and racists."

Elvis, Schmelvis: After The Wall Street Journal reported in 1998 that Elvis' maternal great-great-grandmother was Jewish, a few Canadians tried to find out just how Jewish the King really was. The NY Post reviews the book that resulted from their investigation.

UPDATE (May 16): Schmelvis has been made into a movie documentary. And here is the website.

Safire Times: Nah, does not have a great ring to it. Besides, New Yorkers would get all freaky if they did not have a good lefty newspaper -- and while Safire is not a good conservative, I don't think all-Safire-all-the-time would sell very well.

The real problem is not in the opinion pages. A paper's biases come out in the "news" articles and in deciding what gets covered, when, how prominently, and with what headline. Also prone to bias are the "analysis" pieces, frequently run on the front page, which are opinion dressed up as hard news.

Howard: Actually the LA Times boycott bore some, highly symbolic fruit. Charles Johnson pointed this article out a few days ago. It addresses some of the boycotter's concerns and, gasp, admits the paper made a mistake in not covering the pro-Israel rallies in SoCal. I don't know what a NY Times boycott would accomplish, though. It's not like William Safire could write the whole paper. Or could he.....

Why boycott the Times? CAMERA's Ricki Hollander has a new content analysis study of The New York Times' coverage of the Middle East which could provide you with some incentive.

Jewish leaders calling for a boycott of The New York Times: Three prominent Jewish leaders are calling for a boycott of the New York Times over what they feel is biased coverage against Israel in the current Middle East crisis. Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, of Kehilaph Jeshurun; Rabbi Avi Weiss at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in the Bronx and the head of the Coalition for Jewish Concerns; and Rabbi Shmeuel Goldin of Congregation Ahavath Torah in New Jersey. The NY Post (getting in some needling) has the story.

While the suggestion in LA to boycott the LA Times for the same reason did not seem to go anywhere, this sounds like it could have legs. Stay tuned!

More on the Saudi PR campaign: Only subscribers to the National Journal can get easy access to RealVideo versions of the Saudi's TV ads, but here are the transcripts:

Script of "Allies" (TV)

(On screen: Images of Saudi Arabian and American leaders together)

ANNOUNCER [v/o]: We've been allies for more than 60 years, working together to solve the world's toughest problems. Working together for world prosperity. Working together to bring peace to the Middle East. Working together to create a better future for us all.

(On screen: The People of Saudi Arabia; Allies for Peace; www.saudiembassy.net; Paid for by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia)

Script of "Flags" (TV)

(On screen: Images of the American and Saudi Arabian flags being raised together)

ANNOUNCER [v/o]: In the war on terrorism, we all have a part to play. One country has been an ally for over 60 years, a global leader donating more foreign aid per capita than any other nation, a partner in investigating more than 150 suspected terrorist accounts, and a force in stabilizing oil prices during this time of war.

(On screen: The People of Saudi Arabia; Alllies Against Terrorism; www.saudiembassy.net; Paid for by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia)

Script of "Quotes/Bush" (TV)

(On screen: The Saudi Arabians not cooperative.)

ANNOUNCER [v/o]: Read the editorials, tune in to Sunday morning news shows, or listen to talk radio if you want opinions.

(On screen: "As far as the Saudi Arabians go... they've been nothing but cooperative -- President George W. Bush, 9/24/01, remarks at the Rose Garden, Washington, D.C.)

Listen to America's leaders if you want the facts.

(On screen: The People of Saudi Arabia; Allies Against Terrorism; www.saudiembassy.net; Paid for by The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia)

Script of "Quotes/Powell" (TV)

(On screen: Saudi Arabia has been prominent among terrorist organizations.)

ANNOUNCER [v/o]: Prejudice, fear and conflicting views can distort what you see and hear.

(On screen: "Saudi Arabia has been prominent among the countries acting against the accounts of terrorist organizations" -- Secretary of State Colin Powell, 11/7/01, remarks at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Vienna, VA)

Please keep your eyes, ears and especially your mind open.

(On screen: The People of Saudi Arabia; Allies Against Terrorism; www.saudiembassy.net; Paid for by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia)

Oh, and that whole massacre thing... my bad...: Palestinian officials yesterday put the death toll at 56 in the two-week Israeli assault on Jenin. And the Israelis lost 33 of their soldiers in the process.

Send in the UN to investigate!

Jay Leno last night: "It looks like Yasser Arafat will be allowed to leave his office. He's been holed up there now for over a month. President Bush helped set him free today. But Bush said Arafat now has a lot of work to do. A lot of work to do? He's been in his office for a month. What the hell's he been doing in there?"

Thanks for the memories, reprise: On the 22nd, I graciously thanked David Hewitt for sending me sick photos of dismembered people he claimed were "massacred" secretly in Jenin. I also thanked him for clogging up my mail server and sapping my bandwidth. I wanted everyone to be able to contact him and tell him what a great guy he was, but forgot to include his email address. So here it is:

damianhewitt2002@yahoo.com

Come on, everyone, make a new friend today.

Last week there was a challenge posted to see if anyone could write a proper, scathing villanelle about the current situation. For those of you that don't know, a villanelle is the most frustrating form of poetry on the planet. Well, of course I wrote one and submitted it. Let me know what you think:

Must every European hate the Jews?
Absurd some say but how absurd, who knows?
If not, though, why is that what they all choose?

You’d think that after World War II they’d lose
Their spite for Jews, but in their veins it flows
Must every European hate the Jews?

Their poll results do nothing but confuse
Israeli acts, by law, they must oppose
If not, though, why is that what they all choose?

But worse, damage accompanies their views
An ember from a synagogue still glows
Must every European hate the Jews?

The worst, the French, might make designer shoes
But force the masses to eat escargots
If not, then why is that what they all choose?

But jokes aside, the problem continues
Their rhetoric sounds like the P.L.O.’s
Must every European hate the Jews?
If not, then why is that what they all choose?

London synagogue attacked: An elderly rabbi who survived the Holocaust is behind locked doors today, shocked and terrified after his London synagogue was ransacked and daubed with a swastika. Neo-Nazis are being blamed for the attack which the rabbi, who is not being named, had wanted to keep secret for fear of further violence.

He lived through Hitler's pre-war persecution of the Jews in Germany and survived the genocide that followed but, said a community leader today, the desecration of his synagogue has left him terrified. A swastika was painted under the Star of David on the rabbi's lectern in the synagogue in Finsbury Park. Green paint was poured over walls and the Ark, where sacred Biblical scrolls and scriptures were stored. At least 20 windows were smashed and the building was ransacked with a prayer shawl, scriptures and ancient books defaced.

The community spokesman said of the rabbi: "He didn't want to say anything about what happened but one of the congregation was so angry they wanted to have it reported."

The synagogue is close to the Finsbury Park Mosque where militant Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri was banned from preaching last week. He has been accused of inciting hatred with his fundamentalist doctrine and there were fears that the attack on the synagogue may have been carried out by radical Muslims.

"Love us or else" say Saudis: I had the pleasure of seeing the Saudi Arabian PR ads this morning (I think it was on one of the big three networks). They show the princes of darkness standing next to various American presidents over the years, laughing or looking serious in deep consultation. Meanwhile, the narrator talks about what close friends we've been and how we've worked together for peace, stability, yadayadayada.

The tagline for the spots is "The People of Saudi Arabia -- Allies Against Terrorism."

[Guffaw]

Now comes news from Electronic Media that the ad campaign is not going well. "No national cable networks are known to have accepted the ads. ... National cable networks that have passed on the Saudi spots include A&E, AMC, Bravo, History Channel, Lifetime, USA Network and The Weather Channel."

The Saudis have laid out 10 milllion dollars for an advertizing blitz.

Oh, the ads conclude by showing GWB without any Saudi at his side. What a shame that is. You'd think they could have at least capitalized on Abdullah's recent pow-wow with Dubya in Crawford, Texas.

UPDATE: The HappyFunPundit has some suggested slogans for the Saudi ad campaign.

Discrimination against Muslims: Matthew Hoy has the "real" version of the Council on American Islamic Relations discrimination report.

Jay Leno last night on the suicide bomber school: "It's such a bizarre concept. A school where you train suicide bombers. Well, you thought nobody showed up for your class reunion. 'Where is Achmed? We bought all this food. Where is Achmed?'"

Joe Kennedy and the Jews: What a nice guy he was! Kesher Talk reader N.K. Land alerted me to this lengthy History News Network article.

Arriving at London in early 1938, newly-appointed U.S. Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy took up quickly with another transplanted American. Viscountess Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor assured Kennedy early in their friendship that he should not be put off by her pronounced and proud anti-Catholicism.

"I'm glad you are smart enough not to take my [views] personally," she wrote. Astor pointed out that she had a number of Roman Catholic friends - G.K. Chesterton among them - with whom she shared, if nothing else, a profound hatred for the Jewish race. Joe Kennedy, in turn, had always detested Jews generally, although he claimed several as friends individually. Indeed, Kennedy seems to have tolerated the occasional Jew in the same way Astor tolerated the occasional Catholic.

As fiercely anti-Communist as they were anti-Semitic, Kennedy and Astor looked upon Adolf Hitler as a welcome solution to both of these "world problems" (Nancy's phrase). No member of the so-called "Cliveden Set" (the informal cabal of appeasers who met frequently at Nancy Astor's palatial home) seemed much concerned with the dilemma faced by Jews under the Reich. Astor wrote Kennedy that Hitler would have to do more than just "give a rough time" to "the killers of Christ" before she'd be in favor of launching "Armageddon to save them. The wheel of history swings round as the Lord would have it. Who are we to stand in the way of the future?" Kennedy replied that he expected the "Jew media" in the United States to become a problem, that "Jewish pundits in New York and Los Angeles" were already making noises contrived to "set a match to the fuse of the world."

Word of the day: "Kakistocracy": Pronounced \kak-uh-STAH-kruh-see\ , this noun means government by the worst people.

Example sentence:
A political exile forced to emigrate from her homeland, Dalia remains convinced that the government of her native country is a corrupt kakistocracy.

Anti-Israeli celluloid: Uncertain where best to find your next dose of cinematic propoganda with which to bash Israel? Look no further than OCCUPATION 101.

The film is described as

... testimonial and journalistic footage, such as: Video footage of human and civil rights abuses -- home demolitions, land confiscations, excessive use of military force on civilian populations, targeted assassinations, uprooting of agricultural trees, the daily humiliations at checkpoints, the denial of education, etc. In addition, interviews with victims of human and civil rights abuses from West Bank towns and Gaza.

The filmmaker, UN-DA GROUND Films, is previously unknown and attempts to check them out have been unfruitful.

This is not new to pro-Palestinian forces. A Google search reveals Islamic web sites referring to the trailers as long ago as last October. One site calls it a promising start on "the re-education of America".

View the trailer.

(Thanks to Chuck of the Jewish Internet Association for passing on the info)

Is It Good or Bad for the Jews?: Ira Chernus asks if it is good for the Jews that campus "speech" be supported or censured by the administration. Ira thinks it is better to not get the administration involved when students views are simply being challenged.

Why should political speech create “an atmosphere of fear and intimidation”? No doubt you read and hear a lot of political opinions very different from your own. Sometimes you may feel upset, even outraged, but not threatened or intimidated. You understand that a free exchange of ideas -- even outrageous ideas -- is the lifeblood of democracy. You feel afraid and threatened, as you should, only when the authorities stifle the free exchange.

Why, then, do some Jews have trouble tolerating free speech, the obvious first rule of democracy? Many (though by no means all) U.S. Jews have been raised in a culture of victimization. They have been taught to be constantly on the lookout for signs of anti-Jewish feeling. They have been told that this feeling is everywhere, that too much (perhaps most) of the world is against them. Being constantly on the alert, they have little trouble finding the signs they are looking for.

People who feel like permanent victims always live in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, because they create that atmosphere for themselves. They carry around their own hostile and threatening environment, wherever they go. And it frightens them. It is a self-fulfilling, self-perpetuating prophecy.

Funny, this sounds like a conservative rant about political correctness on campus. But it is coming from the left, not the right. An amusing reversal, since it is normally the left who complain about the stifling of dissent on campus when it is normally the right that is stifled.

But that is beside the point.

At UC Berkeley, Jewish students and associations were physically threatened, at minimum. It was the Palestinian students who complained that they were being stifled because Jew, horror of horrors, told them they were wrong.

Who is under threat?

Ira would have you believe that as long as campus remain home to freedom of speech (which they have not been for decades), everything will be fine. But any pro-Israel demonstrations or comment are considered beyond the pale and not normally allowed. Anti-Israeli and anti-semitic acts are considered ok.

Where am I going with this rant? The important point is that free speech does not include vandalism and threats of violence. The Jewish students are not doing that. They are trying to support Israel in simple accepted fashion, and that scares the left. A lot.

Kesher Talk

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