Kesher Talk: 07/14/2002

Friday, July 19, 2002

Today Pakistani troops seized 1.1 tonnes of hashish and 44 pounds of opium that was smuggled into Pakistan from neighboring Afghanistan.

1.1 tonnes of hashish and 44 pounds of opium found in Pakistan, smuggled from Afghanistan.

Apparently, Pakistan and Afghanistan, getting back to normal ...

courtesy of Mike Sultan

Accidently saying what they really mean: A press release just arrived from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, condemning Israel's policy-in-the-making (which I discussed a couple of items ago): exile for terrorists' family members.

In the process of villifying Israel, CAIR made a Freudian slip and accidently spoke honestly:

"Israeli leaders seem to believe that if they can just kill a few more Palestinians, destroy a few more homes, build a few more settlements, imprison a few more fathers and sons, humiliate a few more women and children, and uproot a few more orchards, all will be well. This attitude is the root cause of the current conflict," said Awad.

Awad called on President Bush to issue a strong condemnation of the Israeli plan and to end one-sided American support for any policy that Israel cares to implement, regardless of its legality or its negative impact on American interests.

Note that last sentence. According to CAIR, the U.S. must never support Israel, whether or not anything Israel does or does not do is legal or has a negative impact on the U.S. But CAIR isn't anti-Israeli, are they? They're just against the "occupation," right?

The Naked Gun: Where's Lieutenant Frank Drebbond when you need him?

The list of participants read like the U.S. State Department's catalog of Middle East terrorists, including such notorious top names as the infamous Ahmed Jibril of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, spiritual leader of Hezbollah, and Dr. Ramadan Shallah, the leader of Islamic Jihad. But not Osama bin Laden, according to intelligence reports, although his terror organization al Qaida was represented. In all, Western intelligence sources revealed Thursday, 160 delegates attended what amounted to a secret terrorists' convention in Tehran on June 1. The sources believe the main discussion centered on developing a strategy to counter the U.S. offensive against terrorism. The meeting also resolved to back Palestinian suicide attacks against Israelis with funds and expertise as well as vocal support. More intriguing to Western intelligence services wore the small secret meetings of no more than 10 delegates including Jibril, Sallah, and Fadlallah. The meeting hosts were senior officials of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which is in charge of Iran's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs and forces. (UPI Hears, Jul. 18)

Italian cemetary vandalized: "Damage to more than 50 Jewish tombs at Rome's Verano cemetery overnight Wednesday has shocked Italians; and messages of support have been coming in to the Italian Jewish community from all political parties. The vandals broke open tombs and damaged chapels, but unusually for an incident vandalism of this kind left no indication of who was responsible. Whereas in the past suspicion would immediately fall on extreme right wing groups, it's an indication of the times that members of the Jewish community were saying Thursday that they did not know whether the damage was the work of right wing vandals or possibly Islamic militants. Investigators said the timing could provide a clue. Thursday Jews marked the anniversary of the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BC." (UPI Hears, Jul. 18)

Deporting terrorists' families: According to Reuters, "Israel has signalled a change of tactics in its battle against suicide bombings, detaining relatives of Palestinian militants for possible exile from the West Bank to Gaza as a deterrent to future attackers."

To Gaza? This counts as "exile?"

The Israeli army said on Friday its forces, operating near the West Bank city of Nablus, destroyed the homes of al-Din Assidi of Hamas and Ali Ahmad al-Ajouri of Fatah and detained relatives of both men.

... "Why are the Israelis punishing the fathers for the actions of their sons," asked Adnan a-Sayfi, mayor the village of Tel, where a home belonging to Assidi's father, Mustafa, was destroyed in what witnesses described as a thunderous blast.

... In a sign of popular support in Israel for tougher measures to stop suicide bombings, the country's leading dove, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, came out in favour of using exile as a weapon.

Asked if he supported such a measure, he told Israel Radio: "As far as I know, it has undergone legal scrutiny, and if legally possible, yes."

True, not all parents of suicide bombers encourage and indoctrinate their children to commit terrorist attacks... but many do, and revel in their childrens' deaths. So why not make them pay a little price. And it is only little. It's not like Israel is proposing to send them to Siberia.

Indeed, unnamed IDF sources (whatever that means) confirm this is all about making people pay a price:

An Israeli security source said the demolitions were "meant to make clear to terrorists that there is a price to be paid for their actions and to try to prevent more terrorist attacks".

Jay Leno on Wed. night
on Sadaam: "Saddam Hussein has vow to defeat the US in war. Ooh! He said his troops will never surrender -- unless of course they're attacked. Then they may do it."

on Al Qaeda's "jungle" training: "Have you seen this? The media tries to scare us with this stupid stock footage they keep running on the news. It's allegedly from one of the Al Qaeda terrorist training camps. The clip shows the terrorists and hoods running through the obstacle course. You've seen it. They keep running this over and over. I mean, is that supposed to scare us? Look at that. Ooh, ooh, they've got jungle gyms. Ooh! We're frightened."

"Somebody should tell Osama, 'Look, we canceled American Gladiators ten years ago, okay?'"

Hamas and Hezbullah file lawsuits against GW Bush:

Supporters of the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist movements announced a lawsuit today that names President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell among the defendants. The suit, aimed at Israeli leaders whom it alleges committed "war crimes," is led by New York-based lawyer Stanley Cohen, an attorney for members of the terrorist group Hamas and other radical causes. Militant activist Abdurahman Alamoudi, a founder and longtime leader of the American Muslim Council (AMC) who describes himself as a supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah, joined Cohen at the news conference announcing the suit and made a statement in Arabic that was not translated into English.

Alamoudi told reporters that the suit "sends a message to the American Muslim community" that they need not be afraid of the U.S. government any more, and that they can now "challenge the system" through the courts. "We've been doing it politically and now we're going to do it legally," he said.

Cohen added that by filing the lawsuit, "We're trying to bring to the Palestinian struggle an avenue in the United States."(Insight, Jul. 17)

And yes, that is the same "militant" Alamoudi of the American Muslim Council who threatened Forward journalist Eli Kintisch (see my 2nd item today).

Israel's consul general booted from flight as a "security risk": Israel's consul general in New York, Alon Pinkas, was denied a seat on a National Airlines flight from San Francisco when the plane's pilot screamed at security personnel, "I don't care what you do, he will not get onto my plane." The pilot said that Pinkas's presence would endanger all the other passengers on the flight.

The incident occurred Thursday night, Yediot Aharonot reported, shortly after Pinkas had completed public relations work in San Francisco. He was due to return to New York on the National Airlines flight. Upon his arrival at the airport, security officials informed the pilot that the Israeli consul would be getting on board the flight, and the pilot responded that he would not fly the plane if there was an Israeli diplomat aboard. (Ellis Shuman)

New study of Islamic Jihad: The Palestinian terrorist organization Islamic Jihad is responsible for Islamicizing Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and for establishing a dangerous relationship between the Palestinians and Iran, concludes a new American Jewish Committee report, "Terrorism Briefing: Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine."

The Economist magazine -- anti-semitic or not? Arnold Beichman, in a Washington Times column yesterday, thinks yes. But he looks at the broader dispute, too.

Answer from the English-language Jerusalem Post: Yes, anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli. Answer from the Economist: No in thunder. A torrid debate between the two publications has just been published in the Israeli daily which on July 4 led off with an indictment of the globally influential London weekly as guilty of an "aggressively pro-Palestinian bias" in its coverage of the Middle East and for its circulation of an "anti-Semitic canard."

In turn, the Economist (highly profitable worldwide circulation of 838,000) did something unusual. Normally aloof from critics, the magazine's foreign editor, Peter David, this time replied with a sharp repudiation of the charges leveled against it by the Jerusalem Post's editor-in-chief, Bret Stephens. The debate closed with a counter-rebuttal by the Israeli newspaper.

... The Economist has long been anti-Israel and pro-Palestine, sometimes sounding like an Arafat PR flack. Most Economist editorials and articles are usually written in what sounds a reasonable manner so one is inclined to nod one's head in semi-agreement and skip to the next page. But not when it comes to Israel and the PLO.

Mr. Stephens, who has done a content analysis of the magazine over the years, pointed out an incredible error made by the Economist during the Yom Kippur war: "Egyptians remember that it was Mr. Sharon who flouted a cease-fire during the 1973 war, counterattacking across the Suez Canal to turn Egypt's initial success into near-defeat."

That's a real howler since Mr. Sharon crossed the canal at the height of the war on Oct. 16, six days before the cease-fire on Oct. 22. The Economist has an almost visceral dislike of Mr. Sharon who, it has written, represents Israel's "uglier face," is a calculating liar, a "snake-oil salesman" whose modus operandi is "calculated brutality." His election as prime minister demonstrated that the Israelis were in a "Bolshie mood."

To my mind the most damaging quote from an Economist editorial written last April sounds as if it could have been written by Susan Sontag, an apologist for the Twin Towers destruction. Said the Economist: "Yet Palestine does not fit the September 11th template. For this is terrorism harnessed to a deserving cause: the independent statehood that America itself has taken pains to say it supports."

In his reply to the Jerusalem Post, Peter David, who describes the Stephens article as a smear, argues that the above quote was taken out of context and he provides the full text. I'm afraid the full text does not explain away the cold meaning of "terrorism harnessed to a deserving cause."

Mr. David's rebuttal is tactical. He deals with only one of the many citations from Economist articles on the assumption that if the Jerusalem Post article is wrong on one point, all its other points would be in doubt. The tactic doesn't work.

Beichman cites George Orwell's 1945 essay on antisemitism in England and suggests that since then, little has changed:

... On Oct. 7, 2000, The Economist wrote: "Israel is a superior country with superior people: Its talents are above the ordinary. But it has to abate its greed for other people's land."

Mr. Sharon's predecessor, Ehud Barak, at the last Camp David negotiation offered Yasser Arafat nearly all the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the return of at least 150,000 Palestinian refugees to Israel. Mr. Arafat turned it down and instead instigated the now two-year-old Intifada. "Abate its greed for other people's land"? Peter David, please note.

American Muslim Council threatens Jewish journalist: Forward reporter Eli Kintisch had a nasty run-in with the AMC recently, as he describes it in the American Prospect Online:

On Friday, June 28, I attended the annual convention of the American Muslim Council (AMC) , an organization with which I have a pretty good professional relationship. I was there covering a story about Muslims in American politics. But when I attended a panel called "American Muslims in the Media," Abdurahman Alamoudi, a former executive director of the group, approached me and asked if I wanted to talk about the story outside.

Out in the foyer, I interviewed him, as I have in the past, and then thanked him and returned to the session. At the time, members of the 100-plus in attendance were asking questions at the microphone; one was saying something about September 11 and the question of who was behind the attacks. Before I had a chance to sit down, Alamoudi approached me again.

"It is not good for your health that you are here," he told me suddenly. I was confused. Was he threatening me? He repeated what he said, and I felt immediately intimidated. It was clear he was worried about what the audience members were saying at the microphone, and about how I would report on their comments. "They are not aware that you are here," he explained.

"We have a small problem with the Forward," he added when we had gotten back out to the foyer, explaining that in his opinion the paper had given the AMC unfair coverage in the past. When I told him I thought I had seen another reporter inside, he went inside to check, then returned to say he didn't know of any other reporters there. (Actually, the four panelists on the stage were journalists themselves, including Joyce Davis of Knight Ridder and Barbara Ferguson of the Arab News.)

Alamoudi went on to explain that if I wanted, he would "get up and tell them that a reporter from the Forward" was there. Given his first comment about my "health" and the possibility that he would somehow incite the crowd against me, I decided to leave.

On Monday, Alamoudi backtracked. "We've been burned [in the past,]" he said, adding that "out of goodwill " it was required that the people in the room knew the media was present, "especially the Jewish media."

Could you imagine, I asked him, the outrage that would have followed if an official at a Jewish organization had kicked a reporter from an Arab paper out of an event? He apologized, saying he retracted any comment that I may have found threatening. "Sometimes people flare up," he told me, referring to the crowd. "I just wanted to protect us, the council, and you from that."

... Alamoudi may have been inclined to muzzle me because he's "been burned" in the past himself. In 2000, he told a Washington rally that "we are all supporters of Hamas." He added that he supported Hizbollah. Alamoudi says that he supports Hamas for its humanitarian efforts. In 1995 in The Washington Post, however, he defended Hamas leader Abu Marzook as "a moderate man on many issues. If you see him, he is like a child." American authorities deported Marzook to Jordan in 1997 after an American judge found probable cause that he had he had helped plan 10 terrorist attacks against Israeli targets.

I wish my run-in with Alamoudi, mentioned in this week's Weekly Standard, was an isolated case. But for all of my good relationships with officials at Arab-American organizations, Arab reporters and Arab diplomats, many members of the "other side" in town won't speak to me. Some Arab reporters in town are unwilling to meet a Jewish reporter, and I've never gotten my calls returned from Saudi, Syrian or Iranian diplomats here.

And yet, after all this crap, Kintisch still remains lost without a clue. He discusses the freedom of America, where journalists can attend anything they want. Then he contrasts that with the lack of media freedom in the Arab world:

The same cannot be said, sadly, of the Arab and Muslim world. According to international watchdog Freedom House, 11 of the 14 countries in the Middle East are "not free" with regards to the media. (The Washington Post reported recently that the Syrian government allows a satirical play in Damascus to poke fun at the regime -- as long as it refrains from mentioning the name of President/Dictator Bashar Assad.)

Ding ding ding! Kintisch, do you suppose that, just maybe, these Middle Eastern nations are "not free" in any respect?

Or do ordinary people not matter, only journalists?

How to be a good academic: "Too lazy to go to grad school? Not qualified enough to write long, dusty textbooks?" Never fear. Justin Weitz has a 7-step program for you. 'Course, it comes in ten easy steps rather than seven, for you aspiring mathematics PhDs out there.

Yes, the "three weeks" are up, no more mourning for a while. Back to bad jokes and random spats of sarcastic humor.

Thursday, July 18, 2002

Lamentations: Warnow linked to these passages to be read today.

Tisha B'Av is the original 9/11 according to Michael Freund:

... why should we have to spend the day fasting and mourning? After all, didn't we get everything back?

The answer, quite simply, is one of perspective, both historical and national. Indeed, to better appreciate the meaning of the day, let's put it in modern terms. Tisha B'Av, it so happens, is the ninth day of the eleventh month on the Hebrew calendar, which means it is the original 9/11, the Jewish people's day of infamy.

"Ground zero" is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the two Temples stood before being sacked by the Babylonians and the Romans, centuries apart.

Jerusalem's skyline has never been the same since that fateful day, over 1900 years ago, when the emperor Vespasian's troops, led by his son Titus, set the Temple alight, mercilessly pillaging and ransacking the place where the Holy of Holies had stood.

According to the historian Josephus, in Book 6, Chapter 9 of "The Jewish War", some 1.1 million Jews were murdered by the Romans during the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, and another 97,000 were taken captive, many of whom were either sold into slavery or fed to the lions.

It was the ancient equivalent of a Holocaust, one that devastated world Jewry both demographically and spiritually, shattering the Jewish commonwealth and sending its sons and daughters into an exile from which they have yet to fully return.

Practically overnight, Judaism's established order was dealt an enormous blow, as the daily sacrificial rites, the priestly service and the thrice-annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem were no longer possible.

Osama Bin-Laden attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon because they symbolized America's financial and military might. Titus and Vespasian targeted the Temple because it embodied the Jewish people's spiritual strength and power. Despite the passage of nearly two millennia, it is a wound that has yet to heal.

And that is hardly surprising. For, the destruction of the Temple and the loss of Jewish sovereignty was a near-death experience for the nation of Israel, a blow that came perilously close to being fatal. Just as a person is unlikely to forget a harrowing brush with death, so a nation forever recalls the most traumatic moment in its history.

Thus, we continue to mourn. Not only for what happened back then, but also for what it still does to us today.

... When we sit down on the floor tonight, read the prophet Jeremiah's Book of Lamentations and deny ourselves food and drink, we are doing precisely that. We are mourning for the Temple and for Jerusalem, but we are also mourning over the current plight of our people.

More to mourn: Last night's bombing in Tel Aviv:Two bombers blew themselves up seconds apart in downtown Tel Aviv last night, killing three civilians and wounding more than 40, police and witnesses said. The attacks occurred between a cafe and a theater in a rundown neighborhood where many foreign workers live, and Israeli radio said most of the casualties were from abroad.

The Islamic Jihad group took responsibility for the bombings, according to the Al Manar TV station in Lebanon. Israel blamed Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. The suicide bombers were standing only 15 to 20 yards from each other when they set off the explosions in an area crowded with small shops and stalls, police said. (AP)

Today is a day of mourning: Today is Tish B'Av (the ninth day of the month of Av). It is said that 5 national calamities occurred to the Jews on this day in history:

During the time of Moses, Jews in the desert accepted the slanderous report of the 12 Spies, and the decree was issued forbidding them from entering the Land of Israel. (1312 BCE)
The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, led by Nebuchadnezzar. 100,000 Jews were slaughtered and millions more exiled. (586 BCE)
The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans, led by Titus. Some two million Jews died, and another one million were exiled. (70 CE)
The Bar Kochba revolt was crushed by Roman Emperor Hadrian. The city of Betar -- the Jews' last stand against the Romans -- was captured and liquidated. Over 100,000 Jews were slaughtered. (135 BCE)
The Temple area and its surroundings were plowed under by the Roman general Turnus Rufus. Jerusalem was rebuilt as a pagan city -- renamed Aelia Capitolina -- and access was forbidden to Jews.

Because we are a blessed people, all sorts of other crappy things are said to have happened to the Jews on this day.

Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade. Tens of thousands of Jews were killed, and many Jewish communities obliterated.
The Spanish Inquisition culminated with the expulsion of Jews from Spain on Tisha B'Av in 1492.
World War One broke out on Tisha B'Av in 1914 when Russia declared war on Germany.
On Tisha B'Av, deportation began of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto.

The above lists were conveniently supplied by Aish. Dvora Weisberg of CLAL supplied the following discussion:

But why are we mourning? Jews have returned to the land of Israel and there control their own destiny. Jerusalem has been reunited. True, the Temple has not been rebuilt, but for many Jews this is not a cause for dismay. Why then, does Tisha B'Av remain on the calendar as a day of mourning?

One answer may lie in one of the rabbinic explanations for the destruction of the Temples. The Talmud (Yoma 9b) comments:
Why was the first Temple destroyed? Because of three things: idolatry, sexual immorality, and murder.... But why was the second Temple destroyed when the Jewish people was engaged in Torah study, commandments and deeds of loving kindness? Because of senseless hatred.

After the destruction of the first Temple, the Jewish people apparently repented of their behavior, behavior they felt had led to their misfortune. In the second Temple period, the Talmud claims, Jews were engaged in praiseworthy acts. But they also hated each other and without cause. This hatred between Jews led to the destruction of the Temple and the collapse of the Jewish state.

Regrettably, senseless hatred still exists within the Jewish community. We have overcome the loss of the Temple, but not the behavior to which its loss is attributed. On Tisha B'Av, we mourn the state of the Jewish community that has regained symbols of its unity, but has yet to retrieve a true sense of togetherness.

How to mourn: Pretty much identical to Yom Kippur. You're meant to: not eat and drink (even water); no washing, bathing, shaving or wearing cosmetics; no wearing leather shoes; no sex; study a lot of Torah. Like the sabbath, work is restricted. Sick people get a pass on fasting. Many of the traditional mourning practices are observed: people refrain from smiles, laughter and idle conversation, and sit on low stools. In synagogue, the book of Lamentations is read and mourning prayers are recited. The ark is draped in black.

Wednesday, July 17, 2002

Dethroning Cynthia McKinney: A helpful Kesher Talk reader pointed out that I needn't bother compiling a page of McKinney-isms to help in her opponent's primary election campaign... the Indepundit has already done so. If you have anything to add to that list, please contact him.

Did you know... ... that mapping and GPS systems linked into modern car dashboards are making Jewish wives obsolete?

How you know when these comedic online polls are getting out of hand? When my responses result in this.

What Was Your PastLife?

Small town embraces homeland security in a bear hug: ABC News reported last night, "In Anniston, Alabama, they're going to become the first city to issue each of its residents a gas mask. They're for use in case of an accident at a nearby chemical weapons incinerator. The Bush Administration has agreed to pay $5 million for 35,000 masks."

Tuesday, July 16, 2002

Breaking bad news: Seven people were killed and 15 injured Tuesday after terrorists detonated a roadside bomb near an armored bus and sprayed gunfire on fleeing passengers outside the West Bank community of Emanuel, police and military officials said. The bomb went off just 200 meters from the site of a guard post at the entrance to the settlement, as the Dan No. 189 passed by, shortly before 3 p.m. local time. Shooting then followed, said police spokesman Rafi Yaffe.

Medics at the scene quoted the injured as saying that after the initial explosion, several smaller ones went off, or grenades were thrown, followed by shooting. The bus had left Bnai Brak, near Tel Aviv at about 2 p.m., for the mostly orthodox community of Emanuel, near Nablus. The bus was an armor-coated vehicle protected against bomb attacks, Israel Radio said. Witnesses said that three attackers were dressed in Israel army uniforms and escaped in the direction of Nablus. Soldiers gave chase after them as helicopters searched from above. (AP)

UPDATE: An eighth victim was added to the roster of death. A baby, delivered by Caesarean section following the attack, died from complications. The baby's mother was seriously wounded in the attack.

Some brilliant deduction from Finland: A car bomb exploded approximately 200 meters from a synagogue in central Helsinki today, killing a Finnish man and injuring another, police said. The explosion, at about 6:50 a.m. , shattered the windows on three floors of Hotel Helka but none of the guests was injured, hotel staff said.

The car bomb may not be related to the current Middle East security crisis, Detective Chief Inspector Olli Toyras told The Associated Press. "We are treating this as an isolated incident," said Detective Chief Inspector Olli Toyras. "We don't believe there are any terrorism or political links."

There are approximately 900 Jews currently living in Helsinki. The synagogue, erected in 1906 and the adjoined Community Center, finished in 1961 are located in the city center.

DC Event: Women in the Israeli Army: There will be a screening of the movie "Company Jasmine" on Thursday, July 18th from 7 to 9 PM at Georgetown University in Room 103 in the Intercultural Center. The film is a documentary about an intensive officers' training course for women in the Israeli Army. It will be followed by a discussion with Avishag Kichel, who completed the course and went on to become an officer.

WHAT: Screening of “Company Jasmine”

WHO: Avishag Kichel, Officer in the Israeli Army

WHEN: Thursday, July 18, 7 PM - 9 PM

WHERE: Georgetown University, Room 103 in the Intercultural Center

Admission is free. For questions, call Yoni Klein: 860 961 7939

Moammar Kadaffi chastizes the West: The loony Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, on a regional tour, said on Sunday that Western nations had nothing to teach Africans about democracy: "No one will teach us democracy. We have our tradition and we have our own democracy."

Leno last night: "Reports that PLO leader Yasser Arafat, you know, Osama bin Laden's 'Mini-Me'...has illegally transferred millions -- millions of dollars from the PLO, that was donated to the Palestinian people into his own personal bank account. PLO. Sounds more like a CEO, doesn't he? What's the world coming to when you can't trust a known terrorist?"

Monday, July 15, 2002

Munky Business: Surprised that no one has picked up on this one yet. From a news item in Metal Hammer

Korn guitarist James 'Munky' Shaffer has told Metal Hammer.co.uk that he thinks Hitler went to heaven.

"I think this is true Hitler went to Heaven (if there is such a thing as Heaven really exists)," said the six stringer. "He felt that what he did was right, and I think that if what you feel you're doing is right, in your heart, then you can't be wrong!"

Wait a second before you throw out all your Korn albums (snicker), he retracted,

"Hitler's fate and treatment in the afterlife is determined by a higher power, not me or anyone else," said Munky. "I apologise to anyone who was offended by my comments, which read confusingly in Metal Hammer."

Phew! It's all clear now folks. Munky's not an anti-Semite, he's just an idiot. We now return to your regularly scheduled program.

Looking to invest? Forbes recommends Israel. Really! Forbes magazine's "International 500" survey promotes investing in Israel, in an article titled "Wish Upon a Star" (registration required). The magazine seems to recommend investment in Israel's high-tech sector because of, not in spite of, Israel's economic insanity.

Why look for a stock pick from a place like the Middle East? Robert Taylor, an investment analyst with Oakmark's $1.5 billion (assets) International Fund, points to as good a reason as any: low taxes. Under Israel's "approved enterprise" program, Israeli firms spending certain amounts of money locally on research and capital expenditures get their tax bill chopped by up to two-thirds.

"Who is Yom Kippur?" "I'm very embarrassed to admit that. It was an attempt to make conversation which ended up being a disaster."

-- Supermodel Kathy Ireland confirms to Vanity Fair that she once overheard people discussing the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur at a photo shoot and asked: 'Who is Yom Kippur? Is that the name of the new Japanese designer?' "

(courtesy of James Hebert's "Public Eye" column in the San Diego Union-Tribune)

Thomas Friedman is banned from Iran: Friedman gets results! Well, sort of. But if Friedman gets slapped on charges of espionage, I wonder how the mad mullahs would react to a visit from National Review's James Robbins or Michael Ledeen... can you say public beheading?

From the RFE/RL Iran report for July 15:

The director for foreign correspondents' affairs in Iran's Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance, Mohammad Hussein Khoshvaqt, said in the 2 July "Kayhan" newspaper that "The New York Times" columnist Thomas Friedman would not be allowed to return to Iran. The conservative press had accused Friedman of espionage after he wrote a series of op-ed articles in June about his one-week trip to Iran, and it asked why Friedman was allowed to visit the country in the first place.

"Resalat" daily on 17 June asked if Friedman traveled to Iran to censor the realities there, and it implied that he is an Israeli or American spy, saying that he had been educated in Israel and trained at the Central Intelligence Agency. "Resalat" took exception to Friedman's 12 June piece in "The New York Times," when he wrote about "a Muslim country where many people were sincerely sympathetic to America after 11 September,...a country where so many people on the street are now talking about -- and hoping for -- a reopening of relations with America...." Friedman also described an unrealistic sense that problems ranging from unemployment to "a general political malaise" would be reversed upon the restoration of relations with the U.S.

"Kayhan" newspaper on 30 June claimed that Iranian reformists had invited Friedman so he could help them, and U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice "briefed [Friedman] on the details of his mission to Iran...using maps, films, and slides."

The "Jomhuri-yi Islami" daily, in a 2 July editorial, said, "The malicious remarks made and commentaries written by Thomas Friedman...once more highlight the reality and truth that our essential contradiction is with the domineering, overambitious, and bullying government of America." The daily cautioned against the airing of political disputes and called for unity: "The country, revolution, Islamic Republic regime, and the nation are all in dire and grave need of unity, solidarity, and watchfulness vis-a-vis the conspiracies of the enemies."

Mohammad Kazem Anbarlui, an editorial-board member at the hard-line "Resalat" daily, said that the ministries of Intelligence and Security and of Foreign Affairs should have declared Friedman persona non grata and not accepted his journalist credentials. Anbarlui continued, ISNA reported on 3 July: "Of course, in view of the fact that we are the freest nation and have the most democratic state in the world, we have nothing to fear. However, it has to be seen what our nation gained in exchange for this generosity.... Why is it necessary to show such kindness to an American spy in Tehran under the guise of a journalist?"

Anbarlui likened Friedman's reports to those of the CIA about Iran in the 1970s, and the "Resalat" editorial-board member concurred with Friedman's assessment (in "The New York Times" of 17 June), that a bomb is "ticking away in Iranian society." Friedman had suggested that this bomb is the result of the generation gap between participants in Iran's Islamic Revolution, those who came of age during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, and the third generation of 16-30-year-olds who do not have a stake in the revolution or the war. According to Friedman, this third generation is "young, restless, modern-looking, and often unemployed," its members want "the good life, a good job, more individual freedom, and more connections with the outside world," and although they embrace Islam, "they don't want it to occupy every corner of their lives."

Friedman wrote that President Mohammad Khatami has failed to
fulfill this generation's hopes, and he predicted that it would "eventually find a new political horse to ride and, when it does, Iran will change -- with or without the ayatollahs' blessings." Anbarlui agreed with Friedman's assessment partially: "He has understood things correctly; the bomb will explode, but, instead of destroying the system, the explosion will deliver the coup de grace to America's national interests in Iran."

Friedman interviewed Amir Mohebbian, another member of the "Resalat" editorial board, for a column that appeared in "The New York Times" on 19 June. Mohebbian reportedly said: "At the time of the revolution we offered certain [religious] values to the society in a maximalist way.... Now we are witnessing a backlash.... If we go on pressing for maximalist religious values we will increase the gap between the generations." Mohebbian defended himself by saying that he assumed that Friedman had gone through the appropriate legal channels to enter Iran, ISNA reported on 3 July. Nor did he see anything wrong with giving newspaper interviews, Mohebbian said,although he drew the line at foreign radios.

"Jomhuri-yi Islami" daily on 7 July claimed that Friedman wasinvited by a "certain political current," is "an envoy of an adviser to the American president," and has "recommended the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran's system." Hamedan parliamentarian Hamid Reza Haji-Babai, in an interview with "Jomhuri-yi Islami," declared his opposition to any contacts with the U.S. outside of official channels. Haji-Babai went on to say that Friedman "published the worst and most insulting articles in 'The New York Times' against Iran's Islamic system," and he condemned the official failure to react to "the presence of an American national who has entered the country only for the purpose of conspiring against and overthrowing the state."

This is not the first time that a foreign reporter who haswritten about his/her observations in Iran has been accused of espionage by the hard-line media or has been made to feel unwelcome. In December 1998 Douglas Jehl of "The New York Times" and Alexandra Avakian of "National Geographic" were accused of espionage, too (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 21 December 1998). Other times, foreign journalists cannot get visas for a few years, and then they are informally told that their next visa application will be successful.

Foreign journalists who live in Iran face difficulties, too. Genevieve Abdo of "The Guardian" and Jonathan Lyons of Reuters had to leave Iran in February 2001 after they quoted jailed journalist Akbar Ganji as saying that "future events [in Iran] may act as a detonator for an explosion." Moreover, resident correspondents must renew their exit visas every three months, and sometimes one's departure is delayed if the renewal is not forthcoming.

But Friedman's work was hardly espionage, and it did not cover new ground. RFE/RL Persian Service correspondent Siavash Ardalan pointed out on 3 July that Friedman's columns were intended for a Western audience, whereas Iranians read about the country's political disputes and problems every day in the reformist newspapers. (Bill Samii)

Welsh synagogue smashed: A Welsh synagogue was desecrated and spray-painted with a swastika was in what the BBC Saturday morning called 'a suspected racist attack'. According to the BBC report, The Hebrew Congregation building at Swansea was vandalized, its windows were smashed, prayer books were destroyed, and torah scrolls, including a 300-year-old scroll, were torn to shreds. The attack, Thursday night, came following the vandalization of a synagogue in north London a few weeks previously.

The Independent reports, ""T4 Jewish C**ts from Hitler," was daubed on the wall – an apparent reference to the Nazis' T-4 euthanasia programme, which was responsible for the deaths of thousands of disabled people during the Second World War."

The paper also notes that "a community education project, set up by the synagogue to explain Jewish life to local schoolchildren, was destroyed."

Bin Laden alive and doing well?

I'm no conspiracy theory proponent, but this whole coverage of BL reminds me of the "Elvis Lives" phenomenon in Tennessee. What will it take for people to believe that he is dead or alive? I could be Bin Laden and you wouldn't know it.

Local Muslims stand by Hamas-supporter in Albany: The Albany Times-Union reported yesterday that the Feds contend "he raised millions of dollars" for Hamas and list him "as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a subsequent plot to blow apart New York City landmarks. But hundreds of people who pray at the Capital Region's largest mosque said they are standing by Sheikh Mohammad Al-Hanooti, calling recently disclosed FBI intelligence reports on their spiritual leader baseless and untrue."

At the mosque's "weekly community gathering Friday, as hundreds of Muslims prayed and came to hear Al-Hanooti speak, he assured them that he has never endorsed terrorism. In fact, he said, he condemns it." Several people "from the mosque who have listened to Al-Hanooti speak weekly since he signed a contract with the Islamic Center 19 months ago said they have never heard him make anti-American remarks." There are "many things about Al-Hanooti, who came to the United States in 1978, that seem to contradict the FBI reports. Many local Muslims see a soft-spoken imam who preaches patience and politics, not violence."

The allegations are outlined in a classified memorandum written by the FBI's counterterrorism director less than a month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The memorandum from Dale L. Watson, head of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, was sent to the Treasury Department as federal authorities prepared to clamp down on what they called terrorist fronts that had set up fund-raising operations in the United States. Watson said a "reliable" informant told the FBI that it was well-known in northern New Jersey that Al-Hanooti was a Hamas supporter and had raised $6 million for the group in 1993.

Al-Hanooti vehemently denies the allegations and points out that Hamas was not declared a terrorist organization by the United States until 1995. He also disputes a portion of the report that says he attended a 1993 meeting at a Marriott hotel in Philadelphia, where federal authorities using electronic and physical surveillance determined Al-Hanooti and senior leaders of three terrorist fronts discussed fund-raising efforts in the United States.

The FBI report says the goal of the 1993 meeting was to develop a strategy to defeat the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.

But it gets better. Al-Hanooti wants to be a U.S. citizen:

It's not clear whether the FBI reports on Al-Hanooti will scuttle his ongoing attempt to become a U.S. citizen. He said he applied recently for citizenship because he was urged to do so by his wife, an American-born citizen from Michigan, and his four children, including two sons who served in the U.S. Army.

No terrorist ties? The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah terrorist organization said over the weekend that his group has nothing to do with Al Qaida.

The Hezbollah leader said, "There is no link with Al Qaida -- not before and now now"

He was pretty angy ... how dare they link his terrorists with those other terrorists ...

from Mike Sultan

That dastardly digital divide: My latest Data Dump column on TechCentralStation exposes the fallacy of the so-called "digital divide and the efforts to fight it.

Sunday, July 14, 2002

Bad Bloggage: Despite the justifiable concerns of Brendan, I reserve the right to write erratically on Kesher Talk from time to time, since I must write perfectly for my regular columns and articles. And as for spelling errors, even the Instapundit, Professor Reynolds, has mispelled my name ...

Minority Reporting: I've not yet seen Minority Report, but Judith Weiss passed on this Jerusalem Report article on author Philip K. Dick -- how his work was influenced by his interest in Judaism and Jewish values.

Dumbass at TAE: I realize that he is only an intern with the American Enterprise magazine, but why didn't anybody run a rudimentary fact-check on Angus Dwyer's article, "The Good News About Terror." First he says, "there have been no further terrorist attacks in this country since September 11." Then, he reiterates, "In spite of dozens upon dozens of terror warnings... no more attacks have come."

Sorry Angus, but while the July 4th murders at an El Al counter in the Los Angeles airport were not of the same scale as 9/11, and while the FBI refuses to admit it, they still count as a terrorist attack.

Kesher Talk

Friday, July 19, 2002

Thursday, July 18, 2002

Wednesday, July 17, 2002

Tuesday, July 16, 2002

Monday, July 15, 2002

Sunday, July 14, 2002

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