By Schmoel Yitzhak
The late, great American comedian W.C. Fields once uttered a deathless line that went like this, "Never give a sucker an even break."
So effective was the bromide that Fields eventually made a movie of the same name which, not surprisingly, was a big hit.
Without question, the time has come for Benjamin Netanyahu to digest the Fields' wisdom and fully realize how the Middle East's only democracy has become the "sucker" which never gets an "even break" from both friend and foe alike.
You can start with the Gilad Shalit affair and understand why and how the Arabs turn Israel into the sucker role and how the Jews never get an even break.
When an IDF soldier is kidnapped it should not be an accepted fact -- as it is everywhere in the world -- that it's no big deal. There should be an immediate and lethal response to the kidnappers because -- as we have so painfully seen -- the longer the wait, the higher the price Israel must pay.
Where else in the world would a trade-off of one soldier for more than 1,000 terrorists be accepted as a fair deal? The disparity boggles the mind until one harks back to Fields' commentary that suckers never will be given an even break.
What it immediately tells the Arabs -- in this case the Hamas terrorists -- is that Israel always can be taken for a ride and the proof was immediate. No sooner had the ink dried on the Shalit exchange pact, Hamas boldly declared that it would attempt more kidnappings. Which put Israel right back to Square One and atop the All-Tme Sucker list.
"We must make every effort to assure that terrorists will not again succeed to abduct Israelis," writes Moshe Arens in Haaretz, "and the mega-exchange deal that freed Shalit will be the last such deal made by any Israeli government."
That's more easily said than done since a precedent has been set that only encourages Hamas -- not to mention Hezbollah -- to pull off more abductions, no matter how hard the IDF tries to thwart them.
As we have witnessed over the past decades, the Sucker Syndrome smothers Israel over all points of the poltical spectrum and no better example is the incessant demand from our so-called Allies to halt construction in Judea, Samaria and parts of Jerusalem.
Well, Bibi did get suckered into one of those deals. He once acceded to these demands from America and the European Union. He did issue a "Stop Building" order on the grounds that this lengthy moratorium eventually would lure Mahmoud Abbas back to the negotiating table since, after all, it was Abbas who was demanding such a moratorium.
Ah, but the weeks turned into months and not a peep was heard from the Palestinian Authority about resuming talks. Finally, the moratorium ended and the only result was that Israel's Prime Minister was taken for a sucker.
The same thing happened with Operation Cast Lead and the damning Goldstone Report which even Judge Goldstone, himself, later refuted. But by that time, Israel has been taken for a sucker again. This time by a Jew named Goldstone.
That mess began with an endless Hamas rocket blitz aimed at Sderot, Ashdod, Ashkelon and all points in the Negev. At long, last Israel said, "Enough already," invaded Gaza and was en route to the destruction of Hamas when the usual American-European peacemakers intervened, forcing Israel to abort Cast Lead just as it was about to accomplish its worthy ends.
There was a rationale for calling off the invasion and that was an agreement that the so-called treaty would result in an end to rocketry, mortar fire and assorted other attacks against Israel. Once again, Israel was suckered; the pact was agreed upon and -- guess what? -- to this day the rocketry continues as any citizen of Ashdod will confirm.
What's the lesson for Bibi? Don't be a sucker. When you have a worthy offensive going; KEEP IT GOING; PUT THE ENEMY ON THE DEFENSIVE AND TURN A DEAF EAR TO THE "PEACEMAKERS" UNTIL THE MISSION IS ACCOMPLISHED.
Treaties on paper have the lasting value of toilet tissue and inevitably reduce the Jewish signee into the realm of sucker-hood.
Sad to relate but that appears to be the case with the Israeli-Egypt peace treaty. What's left of it hardly suggests permanency as the so-called Arab Spring sinks into a cesspool of anarchy. The international media conveniently forgot what happened to CBS's "60 Minutes" correspondent Lara Logan who was sexually assaulted by a gang during one of those "pro-democracy" demonstrations in Cairo. According to Logan, someone in the mob shouted, "Jew!" and the attack was on.
Sorry, but those street demonstrations in Cairo have not spawned a surge toward Western-style Democracy in the Islamic-Arab Middle East although the international news media would sucker you into believing such a marvelous event was happening.
And while all this is going on months have passed and thousands have been killed in Syria while the butcher Assad escapes with virtual impunity.
I wonder how many times Assad has seen "Never Give A Sucker An Even Break."
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
WELCOME TO GUERRILLA ISRAEL, OUR NEW RESPONSE
By Simon Fischler
With the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit and the price paid for him, 1027 Terrorists, it is time for Israel not Hamas, nor Hezbollah to set the price for the next deal.
So that all the terrorists and their organizations know -- the United Nations and other world bodies included, Israel should take a new approach to all future hostage negotiations.
For the next IDF soldier or Israeli citizen who is kidnapped, the government of Israel must release the Mossad, the Shin Bet and all covert ops units in the IDF to personally hunt down and KILL -- not capture nor arrest, but kill -- each and every one of the terrorists released in the Schalit deal.
If this does not convince the kidnappers, Israel should then randomly arrest 1027 Palestinians, while also shutting off all water, gas and electricity to the Gaza Strip.
All Palestinians living in Israel under family re-unification should have their status stripped and be deported. Also, all the Palestinian workers supporting their families by working in Israel should have their permits revoked and also be deported.
If this does not help Hamas, Hezbollah and any other anti-Israel, terrorist group realize the need to immediately abandon the threat of a single further kidnapping, then the government of Israel should up the ante even further.
The new price should be the lives of the leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah, their families included; starting with the assassination of Ahmed Jabari, Mahmoud al-Zahar and their families.
This is no longer about one man.
These terrorists must know that as they joyfully kill Israeli families they, too, are putting a price tag on the heads of each and every one of their family members.
Finally, if this terrible price in Palestinian lives fails to stop these mad men from their insane threat to capture yet another young Israeli with peach fuzz on his cheeks, then the IDF should invade the Gaza Strip or Southern Lebanon -- whichever group abandons sanity first.
The IDF should then proceed to hunt down any of the leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah who survive and publicly assassinate them a la Qaddafi.
Both the Gaza Strip and Southern Lebanon will then be depopulated, as we see Turkey doing to the Kurds today.
Yes, this is harsh by Israeli standards, yet nothing in comparison to what Arabs and Muslims are willing to do to themselves.
This Arab proclivity for massacreing their own is what the Israeli government must remind the world when it starts hypocritically chastising Israel for her actions.
With the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit and the price paid for him, 1027 Terrorists, it is time for Israel not Hamas, nor Hezbollah to set the price for the next deal.
So that all the terrorists and their organizations know -- the United Nations and other world bodies included, Israel should take a new approach to all future hostage negotiations.
For the next IDF soldier or Israeli citizen who is kidnapped, the government of Israel must release the Mossad, the Shin Bet and all covert ops units in the IDF to personally hunt down and KILL -- not capture nor arrest, but kill -- each and every one of the terrorists released in the Schalit deal.
If this does not convince the kidnappers, Israel should then randomly arrest 1027 Palestinians, while also shutting off all water, gas and electricity to the Gaza Strip.
All Palestinians living in Israel under family re-unification should have their status stripped and be deported. Also, all the Palestinian workers supporting their families by working in Israel should have their permits revoked and also be deported.
If this does not help Hamas, Hezbollah and any other anti-Israel, terrorist group realize the need to immediately abandon the threat of a single further kidnapping, then the government of Israel should up the ante even further.
The new price should be the lives of the leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah, their families included; starting with the assassination of Ahmed Jabari, Mahmoud al-Zahar and their families.
This is no longer about one man.
These terrorists must know that as they joyfully kill Israeli families they, too, are putting a price tag on the heads of each and every one of their family members.
Finally, if this terrible price in Palestinian lives fails to stop these mad men from their insane threat to capture yet another young Israeli with peach fuzz on his cheeks, then the IDF should invade the Gaza Strip or Southern Lebanon -- whichever group abandons sanity first.
The IDF should then proceed to hunt down any of the leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah who survive and publicly assassinate them a la Qaddafi.
Both the Gaza Strip and Southern Lebanon will then be depopulated, as we see Turkey doing to the Kurds today.
Yes, this is harsh by Israeli standards, yet nothing in comparison to what Arabs and Muslims are willing to do to themselves.
This Arab proclivity for massacreing their own is what the Israeli government must remind the world when it starts hypocritically chastising Israel for her actions.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
ISRAELI EXCHANGE RATE
by Sarah Walton
At first I was going to tell you a story about life on a kibbutz in norther Israel (which I will do another day), but then Gilad Shalit was returned to Israel. For three days afterwards, the news was filled with nothing but Shalit, Shalit, Shalit ... and oh, yes, the 470 released “Palestinians.”
Gilad Shalit is an IDF soldier who was captured by Hamas during one of their terrorist infiltrations from Gaza into Israel over five years ago. When the deal was brokered via Egypt last week, Shalit was to be swapped for the ultimate release of 1027 prisoners from Israeli prisons.
As a pale, emaciated Shalit went home to Israel last Tuesday, an initial 470 prisoners were released to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and to the Hamas government in Gaza. However, it’s impossible to say -- as the Western media are -- that the 470 released prisoners were “Palestinians.”
To call the released prisoners Arab or Muslim would be equally inaccurate, and therein lies part of the dilemma facing Israel every day of the week.
At least one of those prisoners was from Buqata, a village right next to my son’s kibbutz, El-Rom, where he now lives. Anyone from Buqata is invariably Druse -- a mystical sect which is not even considered to be Islamic by Sunnis or Shiites.
Nor are the Druse Arabs, but members of a people who have lived in this area since before Joseph took his tribe -- who would later become the Jews -- into Egypt, more than a millenium before the Arabs, under Mohammed, swept into the area from the Arabian peninsula in the seventh century.
In fact, the Druse consider themselves to be the descendants of Jethro, who was Moses’ father-in-law and whose tribe accepted Judaism. So, does that make the Druse an offshoot of Judaism?
See how confusing it all gets?
To further increase the confusion about ethnicity and religion in the Middle East, a majority (around 60 per cent) of the Druse up here in the Golan Heights still consider themselves to be Syrians, and have rejected full Israeli citizenship, despite the fact that Israel annexed the Golan in 1984.
On Tuesday, for instance, when the released prisoner was on his way back to Buqata, a small crowd formed in the streets to welcome him, and most carried the Syrian flag. The irony is that many of those waving Syrian flags also happen to be anti-Assad activists.
Confusing enough for you?
The complications to life in Israel, as exemplified by the 470 “Palestinian” prisoners released to the PA, grow with every glance at those released. For instance, six of the 470 were, in fact, Israeli Arabs and went back to their villages in Israeli upon release. Others are being shipped to Damascus, some into Gaza, a tiny contingent to East Jerusalem.
To the shock and horror of many Israelis, one of the prisoners released was the man who planned the heinous bombing -- actually carried out by suicide bomber Saeed Hotari --of the Dolphinarium nightclub in 2001, which killed 21 Israeli young people and injured 132.
As though things weren’t confusing enough, a vocal contingent of Israelis were opposed to the deal made for Gilad Shalit. Why? Because they fear that the outlandish swap of one Israeli soldier for 1027 Arab/Palestinian/Muslim/Arab Israeli convicted criminals will simply lead Israel’s sworn enemies, Hezbollah and Hamas, to perpetrate the capture or kidnapping of more IDF soldiers.
After all, there are still 6,000 so-called Palestinians in Israeli jails. At the rate of current exchange, all they need to do is capture six more IDF soldiers!
At first I was going to tell you a story about life on a kibbutz in norther Israel (which I will do another day), but then Gilad Shalit was returned to Israel. For three days afterwards, the news was filled with nothing but Shalit, Shalit, Shalit ... and oh, yes, the 470 released “Palestinians.”
Gilad Shalit is an IDF soldier who was captured by Hamas during one of their terrorist infiltrations from Gaza into Israel over five years ago. When the deal was brokered via Egypt last week, Shalit was to be swapped for the ultimate release of 1027 prisoners from Israeli prisons.
As a pale, emaciated Shalit went home to Israel last Tuesday, an initial 470 prisoners were released to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and to the Hamas government in Gaza. However, it’s impossible to say -- as the Western media are -- that the 470 released prisoners were “Palestinians.”
To call the released prisoners Arab or Muslim would be equally inaccurate, and therein lies part of the dilemma facing Israel every day of the week.
At least one of those prisoners was from Buqata, a village right next to my son’s kibbutz, El-Rom, where he now lives. Anyone from Buqata is invariably Druse -- a mystical sect which is not even considered to be Islamic by Sunnis or Shiites.
Nor are the Druse Arabs, but members of a people who have lived in this area since before Joseph took his tribe -- who would later become the Jews -- into Egypt, more than a millenium before the Arabs, under Mohammed, swept into the area from the Arabian peninsula in the seventh century.
In fact, the Druse consider themselves to be the descendants of Jethro, who was Moses’ father-in-law and whose tribe accepted Judaism. So, does that make the Druse an offshoot of Judaism?
See how confusing it all gets?
To further increase the confusion about ethnicity and religion in the Middle East, a majority (around 60 per cent) of the Druse up here in the Golan Heights still consider themselves to be Syrians, and have rejected full Israeli citizenship, despite the fact that Israel annexed the Golan in 1984.
On Tuesday, for instance, when the released prisoner was on his way back to Buqata, a small crowd formed in the streets to welcome him, and most carried the Syrian flag. The irony is that many of those waving Syrian flags also happen to be anti-Assad activists.
Confusing enough for you?
The complications to life in Israel, as exemplified by the 470 “Palestinian” prisoners released to the PA, grow with every glance at those released. For instance, six of the 470 were, in fact, Israeli Arabs and went back to their villages in Israeli upon release. Others are being shipped to Damascus, some into Gaza, a tiny contingent to East Jerusalem.
To the shock and horror of many Israelis, one of the prisoners released was the man who planned the heinous bombing -- actually carried out by suicide bomber Saeed Hotari --of the Dolphinarium nightclub in 2001, which killed 21 Israeli young people and injured 132.
As though things weren’t confusing enough, a vocal contingent of Israelis were opposed to the deal made for Gilad Shalit. Why? Because they fear that the outlandish swap of one Israeli soldier for 1027 Arab/Palestinian/Muslim/Arab Israeli convicted criminals will simply lead Israel’s sworn enemies, Hezbollah and Hamas, to perpetrate the capture or kidnapping of more IDF soldiers.
After all, there are still 6,000 so-called Palestinians in Israeli jails. At the rate of current exchange, all they need to do is capture six more IDF soldiers!
Monday, October 24, 2011
LAS VEGAS ODDSMAKERS ON MIDDLE EAST PEACE? -- ARE YOU KIDDING!!
By Schmoel Yitzhak
There are no more realistic people in the world that the betting experts who regularly set odds at Las Vegas casinos.
Whether it's a sporting event such as the World Series or the Kentucky Derby, the professional betting fraternity always must be realistic to remain in business -- and afloat.
That's why it would be fascinating to have a bloc of betting pros examine the Arab-Israeli conflict and then set odds on the war being resolved. My guess is that the most conservative expert on wagering would stake odds of 1000-1 against that peace being attained within the next one-hundred years.
How could it be otherwise?
One side -- Israel -- has desperately sought a permanent agreement on tranquility in the region since the Middle East's only democracy was founded in 1948.
The other faction -- the Arabs -- have been consistent in their position. No, no, a thousand times NO to peace.
That's why the endless attempts by such outfits as Tony Blair's Quartet to inspire an agreement cannot be taken seriously. How could they be when even a supposedly lucid and fair-minded chap such as Blair endlessly sputters
inanities while trying to bring both sides to the negotiating table.
Just the other day, the European Union's prime negotiator condemned Israel for announcing that 2,600 homes will be built in East Jerusalem. "Israel," Blair asserted, "should refrain from such provocative actions."
Sorry, old chap, but building homes is neither a provocative act in East Jerusalem, West London, nor Southern France for that matter. As far as East Jerusalem is concerned, a Jew has every right to build there unless it happens to be what the Arabs would like -- judenrein -- and that is, free of Jews.
Uh-uh. Tony, my fine feathered friend, if you want to know what "provocative actions" really are, just try living in Sderot, or other parts of Israel such as the Negev where thousands of rockets have been blitzing Israel for years.
THAT is a provocative action; multiplied by thousands.
I can forgive Blair for one or two historic blunders but the otherwise likeable Englishman continually misses the point. To wit: Alluding to home construction in East Jerusalem, Tony went on, "We can't have unilateral actions that disrupt the peace process."
Ummm, Tony. When you're talking about "unilateral actions," please, PLEASE, start with Mahmoud Abbas and his attempt to secure United Nations recognition in direct contravention of agreements the Palestinians made out of Oslo and other mediations.
And pray tell, does Blair genuinely believe that Abbas is any more capable of hammering out a peace pact than his terrorist predecessor Yassir Arafat? If Tony does believe it then he's the permanent winner of The Alice In Wonderland Award. Hasn't Blair yet figured out that Abbas does not represent the real Arab-Palestinian power group -- Hamas -- which much be involved in any talks if any realistic peace is to be gained. Who can trust Abbas anyhow?
Israeli Arab journalist, Abu Toameh, who has covered both the Arab and Israeli sides of the conflict for years, puts the PA leader in proper -- that is negative -- perspective.
"Abbas," says Toameh, "is corrupt, discredited, weak and does not have much power. He is reliant on Israel, whose presence in the West Bank is ironically the only reason he has managed to stay in power."
Has Blair or have his EU colleagues considered the possibilities of the reactions if Israel actually withdrew to the 1967 borders, according to the PLO-Abbas' plan? Toameh has -- with the following appraisal
"Abbas would collapse," Toameh points out, "and Hamas would take over the West Bank in less than a day. If I were Israel I would not give Abbas one inch of land in the West Bank -- not for ideological reasons but to avoid a situation where Hamas and others would take over the area."
When Blair naively brings up the subject of "provocative actions" he apparently forgets that Abbas has been provoking hostility for years. Tony, if you want examples, check out the following:
* ISRAEL AS A JEWISH STATE: Abbas and the Palestinian Establishment have reiterated over and over again that they never will accept Israel for what it is; a Jewish state.
* PLO'S AIMS: It varies very little from those of Hamas -- the destruction of Israel.
* APARTHEID STATE: With consummate sincerity, Abbas and his constituency insist that Palestine would be judenrein; not one Jew would be allowed to live in Palestine. If that isn't apartheid, then what is?
English political columnist Melanie Phillips would also be available to enlighten her countryman, Blair, when it comes to defrocking the so-called "moderate," Abbas.
"Abbas," asserts Phillips, "has gone even further in making plain that his bigotry is directed not just at Israel. Considering the possibility that NATO forces might be brought in to police a settlement, Abbas declared, 'I will not accept the presence of Jews in these forces.'
"Such bigotry is hardly surprising since Abbas declared that the gas chambers were never used to murder Jews, and that at most 890,000 Jews were killed by the Nazis."
It behooves Blair and his pals to check out Abbas' words when he's speaking in Arabic -- rather than English -- denying Israel's right to exist at all while glorifying terrorists who kill Jews.
"The fact that Abbas has made no concessions is ignored," concludes Phillips. "The fact that he demands an end to settlement building but nevertheless refused to negotiate while such building was frozen is ignored. The fact that he is a Jew-hater committed to ethnic cleansing and the destruction of a country is ignored."
And that's why any realistic Las Vegas oddsmaker would give you 1000-1 against any peace treaty for the next 100 years!
There are no more realistic people in the world that the betting experts who regularly set odds at Las Vegas casinos.
Whether it's a sporting event such as the World Series or the Kentucky Derby, the professional betting fraternity always must be realistic to remain in business -- and afloat.
That's why it would be fascinating to have a bloc of betting pros examine the Arab-Israeli conflict and then set odds on the war being resolved. My guess is that the most conservative expert on wagering would stake odds of 1000-1 against that peace being attained within the next one-hundred years.
How could it be otherwise?
One side -- Israel -- has desperately sought a permanent agreement on tranquility in the region since the Middle East's only democracy was founded in 1948.
The other faction -- the Arabs -- have been consistent in their position. No, no, a thousand times NO to peace.
That's why the endless attempts by such outfits as Tony Blair's Quartet to inspire an agreement cannot be taken seriously. How could they be when even a supposedly lucid and fair-minded chap such as Blair endlessly sputters
inanities while trying to bring both sides to the negotiating table.
Just the other day, the European Union's prime negotiator condemned Israel for announcing that 2,600 homes will be built in East Jerusalem. "Israel," Blair asserted, "should refrain from such provocative actions."
Sorry, old chap, but building homes is neither a provocative act in East Jerusalem, West London, nor Southern France for that matter. As far as East Jerusalem is concerned, a Jew has every right to build there unless it happens to be what the Arabs would like -- judenrein -- and that is, free of Jews.
Uh-uh. Tony, my fine feathered friend, if you want to know what "provocative actions" really are, just try living in Sderot, or other parts of Israel such as the Negev where thousands of rockets have been blitzing Israel for years.
THAT is a provocative action; multiplied by thousands.
I can forgive Blair for one or two historic blunders but the otherwise likeable Englishman continually misses the point. To wit: Alluding to home construction in East Jerusalem, Tony went on, "We can't have unilateral actions that disrupt the peace process."
Ummm, Tony. When you're talking about "unilateral actions," please, PLEASE, start with Mahmoud Abbas and his attempt to secure United Nations recognition in direct contravention of agreements the Palestinians made out of Oslo and other mediations.
And pray tell, does Blair genuinely believe that Abbas is any more capable of hammering out a peace pact than his terrorist predecessor Yassir Arafat? If Tony does believe it then he's the permanent winner of The Alice In Wonderland Award. Hasn't Blair yet figured out that Abbas does not represent the real Arab-Palestinian power group -- Hamas -- which much be involved in any talks if any realistic peace is to be gained. Who can trust Abbas anyhow?
Israeli Arab journalist, Abu Toameh, who has covered both the Arab and Israeli sides of the conflict for years, puts the PA leader in proper -- that is negative -- perspective.
"Abbas," says Toameh, "is corrupt, discredited, weak and does not have much power. He is reliant on Israel, whose presence in the West Bank is ironically the only reason he has managed to stay in power."
Has Blair or have his EU colleagues considered the possibilities of the reactions if Israel actually withdrew to the 1967 borders, according to the PLO-Abbas' plan? Toameh has -- with the following appraisal
"Abbas would collapse," Toameh points out, "and Hamas would take over the West Bank in less than a day. If I were Israel I would not give Abbas one inch of land in the West Bank -- not for ideological reasons but to avoid a situation where Hamas and others would take over the area."
When Blair naively brings up the subject of "provocative actions" he apparently forgets that Abbas has been provoking hostility for years. Tony, if you want examples, check out the following:
* ISRAEL AS A JEWISH STATE: Abbas and the Palestinian Establishment have reiterated over and over again that they never will accept Israel for what it is; a Jewish state.
* PLO'S AIMS: It varies very little from those of Hamas -- the destruction of Israel.
* APARTHEID STATE: With consummate sincerity, Abbas and his constituency insist that Palestine would be judenrein; not one Jew would be allowed to live in Palestine. If that isn't apartheid, then what is?
English political columnist Melanie Phillips would also be available to enlighten her countryman, Blair, when it comes to defrocking the so-called "moderate," Abbas.
"Abbas," asserts Phillips, "has gone even further in making plain that his bigotry is directed not just at Israel. Considering the possibility that NATO forces might be brought in to police a settlement, Abbas declared, 'I will not accept the presence of Jews in these forces.'
"Such bigotry is hardly surprising since Abbas declared that the gas chambers were never used to murder Jews, and that at most 890,000 Jews were killed by the Nazis."
It behooves Blair and his pals to check out Abbas' words when he's speaking in Arabic -- rather than English -- denying Israel's right to exist at all while glorifying terrorists who kill Jews.
"The fact that Abbas has made no concessions is ignored," concludes Phillips. "The fact that he demands an end to settlement building but nevertheless refused to negotiate while such building was frozen is ignored. The fact that he is a Jew-hater committed to ethnic cleansing and the destruction of a country is ignored."
And that's why any realistic Las Vegas oddsmaker would give you 1000-1 against any peace treaty for the next 100 years!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
WHO WE ARE 2
By Simon Fischler
With the return of Gilad Schalit to Israel, his home, it is essential that we remember why Israel the Jewish, democratic, nation state was willing to pay such a heavy price for just one of its boys!
Jew, here is a definition of the word from the Merriam Webster dictionary.
Jew-Pronunciation: \ˈjü\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French ju, jeu, from Latin Judaeus, from Greek Ioudaios, from Hebrew Yĕhūdhī, from Yĕhūdhāh Judah, Jewish kingdom
Date: 13th century
1 a : a member of the tribe of Judah b : Israelite
2 : a member of a nation existing in Palestine from the sixth century b.c. to the first century a.d.
3 : a person belonging to a continuation through descent or conversion of the ancient Jewish people
4 : one whose religion is Judaism
The first three definitions talk of a tribe, a people, a nation.
Why?
Because being a Jew meant being part of a tribe or nation long before it meant being part of a religion.
The religion called Judaism today is nothing more than the laws given to the Hebrew/Israelite/Jewish nation thousands of years ago to enforce discipline and create stability in a rustic herding culture as it transitioned and developed, much like laws are made today in parliaments the world over.
The definition of the word or name Jew has become so important in today’s world, but why?
Because for thousands of years other nations (mostly conquerors in search of expanding their empires) have bullied, persecuted, exiled and/or mass murdered Jews.
Jews have always existed within and among other cultures, as well as in their own lands, with a code of conduct which takes precedence over any other.
The Greeks enslaved and killed us because we turned our back on Greek culture.
The Romans, because we rebelled against them, went so far as to destroy our country and capital city, rename both of them and transplant a majority of the Jews from Israel to Rome, attempting to erase us from geographical history.
The Arabs invaded us, colonized our land and built their Dome of The Rock and Al Aksa Mosque on our Temple Mount.
The Eastern Europeans carried out pogroms in which thousands, if not millions of Jews were killed. The German Empire finally tried to extinguish us completely from the world during the Shoah / Holocaust.
In all of these cases above we were persecuted and killed because we were the Jewish nation – a people apart, with its own code of conduct, no matter where we lived -- not the Jewish religion.
We were the nation to reject or rebel against the new, in-culture, then we became the nation that killed Christ (A Jew).
Today’s revisionists try to deny, whitewash or ameliorate most of these irrefutable historical truths.
The word Jew comes from the Greek word for Judea, the Jewish Kingdom that was an integral part of the Israelite Kingdom.
Judah was head of one of the twelve tribes of Israel, offspring of Israel, father of the Israelites or Jewish people.
However, today’s Jew-haters are doing all they can to say we are no longer a nation, that we do not deserve to be a nation, that if we were to be a nation we’re in the wrong place, or that if we are indeed a nation, we’re a human rights abusing, colonialistic, apartheid one.
After thousands of years of killing us because we are a nation, today’s revisionist wish to take this integral part of our identity away from us.
Why do they want to take this away from us?
Because the Jewish Nation has a unified code of conduct that is thousands of years old and was created in Israel under Jewish self-government has always been the biggest thorn in the side of Jew-haters.
Why is that?
After thousands of years of Jews hoping, praying and trying, they have finally achieved their long sought after goal, the State of Israel, with its capital city of Jerusalem.
Once again, the Hebrew/Israelite,/Jewish and now Israeli people/nation are standing up to today’s new “cool” cultures: Fanatical Islam, Fanatical Leftism and Fanatical Rightism – all with threatening nuances of Fascism and all bad copies of our friends the Nazis, with the same old goals.
Worst of all for the anti-semites is that this new found self-determination of the Jews has given their nation an army to fight back with.
The above mentioned anti-semites got to used to dealing with the weak Jew.
This army, the IDF, has dealt all anti-semites a major blow. They can no longer get away so easily with bullying, persecuting and killing Jews.
They, (Arab/Muslims especially) have tried on many occasions to militarily wipe this new incarnation of the Jewish nation off of the map of the world. In all cases they have failed.
Only a few still believe they can militarily destroy Israel. Instead, these haters have turned their focus to a new realm, that of delegitimizing Jews as a nation and their deserved right to Self-Determination and statehood.
Now these fanatics wish to once again turn the Jew and his new nation into a pariah by using many of the same techniques of the past but just flip-flopping them.
The biggest fallacy of them all is the accusation that the Jew has stolen the land that makes up Israel; that the new nation is simply an instrument of the colonizing Europeans.
This is what the Arabs, Far Leftists and Far Rightists all claim.
The truth is simple, and far different from this. Jews have always been living in the land that is Israel today, plus in the contiguous area known as the West Bank. We may not have always been the majority, thanks in great part to colonizing forces (Greeks, Romans, Arabs), but the same can be said for Tibet.
Jerusalem has always been a majority Jewish city and is mentioned 669 times in the Tanach; not once in the Koran.
Jerusalem has always been the most sacred and holy city for the Jewish Nation. When the Romans sacked Jerusalem in the year 70, factual history tells us there were close to, or more than, a million Jews killed.
How is that possible when the population of Jerusalem was so much smaller?
When Titus laid siege to Jerusalem on the 14th of April in the year 70 C.E., it was the holiday of Passover. During this time, much like today, Jews flocked to Jerusalem from all over the Roman world because of its integral importance to the nation.
The word Jew comes from Judea, Judah, the nation and Kingdom of Israel.
Arabs come from Arabia, which is nowhere near Israel or Jerusalem.
Arabs themselves were and have always been the true colonizers. One must remember the imperialist Arabian forces made it all the way to Spain in their attempt to conquer the world.
In a speech given by Marcus Julius Agrippa, or Agrippa the Second, who was attempting to persuade the Jews from revolting against Rome. Given from the roof of his palace with his sister Berenice by his side in the year 66ce , Agrippa’s speech mentioned the Arabians in Arabia. They had not yet begun their conquests and the “prophet” Mohammed was centuries away from being a light in his mother’s eyes!
Israel, First World as it may appear to be on the surface, is one of the last remaining pieces of the ancient world. Jews are a lot like crocodiles and sharks: organisms of the ancient world living in modern times.
Many secular Jews outside of Israel are not taught the history of their nation. This is a major mistake and a modern attempt to erase or nationalist aspirations and slowly destroy the Jew.
If we do not know who we are and what our history is, how can we defend ourselves against today’s enemies, particularly in this current war of words and name-calling?
These secular Jews hear the words, sometimes eloquent, sometimes persuasive, of the Jew-haters and anti-semites and think Israel may be wrong, maybe shouldn’t exist, or perhaps is just as bad as things are described.
We are not even seven decades removed from the Holocaust and today anti-semitism rears its head all over the world. Leaders from around the world -- Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran -- constantly spew anti-semitic rhetoric.
Ahmadinejad has even called for Israel’s destruction that is genocide and threatened her with nuclear war.
Along with this there are those pushing the idea of a single state, instead of the two state solution. These people totally overlook all the modern examples of why the eighty percent majority state of Israel cannot accept this. Do the names Eugoslavia and Rhwanda ring a bell.
Voices of the self-hating Jews, such as American academics like Noam Chomsky and the world leaders named above, are doing untold damage to Israel, in an existential sense.
It is time for us to return to our roots, to remember who we are as a nation and to fight back against the de-legitimizers -- the anti-semitic, anti-Israel haters.
With the return of Gilad Schalit to Israel, his home, it is essential that we remember why Israel the Jewish, democratic, nation state was willing to pay such a heavy price for just one of its boys!
Jew, here is a definition of the word from the Merriam Webster dictionary.
Jew-Pronunciation: \ˈjü\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French ju, jeu, from Latin Judaeus, from Greek Ioudaios, from Hebrew Yĕhūdhī, from Yĕhūdhāh Judah, Jewish kingdom
Date: 13th century
1 a : a member of the tribe of Judah b : Israelite
2 : a member of a nation existing in Palestine from the sixth century b.c. to the first century a.d.
3 : a person belonging to a continuation through descent or conversion of the ancient Jewish people
4 : one whose religion is Judaism
The first three definitions talk of a tribe, a people, a nation.
Why?
Because being a Jew meant being part of a tribe or nation long before it meant being part of a religion.
The religion called Judaism today is nothing more than the laws given to the Hebrew/Israelite/Jewish nation thousands of years ago to enforce discipline and create stability in a rustic herding culture as it transitioned and developed, much like laws are made today in parliaments the world over.
The definition of the word or name Jew has become so important in today’s world, but why?
Because for thousands of years other nations (mostly conquerors in search of expanding their empires) have bullied, persecuted, exiled and/or mass murdered Jews.
Jews have always existed within and among other cultures, as well as in their own lands, with a code of conduct which takes precedence over any other.
The Greeks enslaved and killed us because we turned our back on Greek culture.
The Romans, because we rebelled against them, went so far as to destroy our country and capital city, rename both of them and transplant a majority of the Jews from Israel to Rome, attempting to erase us from geographical history.
The Arabs invaded us, colonized our land and built their Dome of The Rock and Al Aksa Mosque on our Temple Mount.
The Eastern Europeans carried out pogroms in which thousands, if not millions of Jews were killed. The German Empire finally tried to extinguish us completely from the world during the Shoah / Holocaust.
In all of these cases above we were persecuted and killed because we were the Jewish nation – a people apart, with its own code of conduct, no matter where we lived -- not the Jewish religion.
We were the nation to reject or rebel against the new, in-culture, then we became the nation that killed Christ (A Jew).
Today’s revisionists try to deny, whitewash or ameliorate most of these irrefutable historical truths.
The word Jew comes from the Greek word for Judea, the Jewish Kingdom that was an integral part of the Israelite Kingdom.
Judah was head of one of the twelve tribes of Israel, offspring of Israel, father of the Israelites or Jewish people.
However, today’s Jew-haters are doing all they can to say we are no longer a nation, that we do not deserve to be a nation, that if we were to be a nation we’re in the wrong place, or that if we are indeed a nation, we’re a human rights abusing, colonialistic, apartheid one.
After thousands of years of killing us because we are a nation, today’s revisionist wish to take this integral part of our identity away from us.
Why do they want to take this away from us?
Because the Jewish Nation has a unified code of conduct that is thousands of years old and was created in Israel under Jewish self-government has always been the biggest thorn in the side of Jew-haters.
Why is that?
After thousands of years of Jews hoping, praying and trying, they have finally achieved their long sought after goal, the State of Israel, with its capital city of Jerusalem.
Once again, the Hebrew/Israelite,/Jewish and now Israeli people/nation are standing up to today’s new “cool” cultures: Fanatical Islam, Fanatical Leftism and Fanatical Rightism – all with threatening nuances of Fascism and all bad copies of our friends the Nazis, with the same old goals.
Worst of all for the anti-semites is that this new found self-determination of the Jews has given their nation an army to fight back with.
The above mentioned anti-semites got to used to dealing with the weak Jew.
This army, the IDF, has dealt all anti-semites a major blow. They can no longer get away so easily with bullying, persecuting and killing Jews.
They, (Arab/Muslims especially) have tried on many occasions to militarily wipe this new incarnation of the Jewish nation off of the map of the world. In all cases they have failed.
Only a few still believe they can militarily destroy Israel. Instead, these haters have turned their focus to a new realm, that of delegitimizing Jews as a nation and their deserved right to Self-Determination and statehood.
Now these fanatics wish to once again turn the Jew and his new nation into a pariah by using many of the same techniques of the past but just flip-flopping them.
The biggest fallacy of them all is the accusation that the Jew has stolen the land that makes up Israel; that the new nation is simply an instrument of the colonizing Europeans.
This is what the Arabs, Far Leftists and Far Rightists all claim.
The truth is simple, and far different from this. Jews have always been living in the land that is Israel today, plus in the contiguous area known as the West Bank. We may not have always been the majority, thanks in great part to colonizing forces (Greeks, Romans, Arabs), but the same can be said for Tibet.
Jerusalem has always been a majority Jewish city and is mentioned 669 times in the Tanach; not once in the Koran.
Jerusalem has always been the most sacred and holy city for the Jewish Nation. When the Romans sacked Jerusalem in the year 70, factual history tells us there were close to, or more than, a million Jews killed.
How is that possible when the population of Jerusalem was so much smaller?
When Titus laid siege to Jerusalem on the 14th of April in the year 70 C.E., it was the holiday of Passover. During this time, much like today, Jews flocked to Jerusalem from all over the Roman world because of its integral importance to the nation.
The word Jew comes from Judea, Judah, the nation and Kingdom of Israel.
Arabs come from Arabia, which is nowhere near Israel or Jerusalem.
Arabs themselves were and have always been the true colonizers. One must remember the imperialist Arabian forces made it all the way to Spain in their attempt to conquer the world.
In a speech given by Marcus Julius Agrippa, or Agrippa the Second, who was attempting to persuade the Jews from revolting against Rome. Given from the roof of his palace with his sister Berenice by his side in the year 66ce , Agrippa’s speech mentioned the Arabians in Arabia. They had not yet begun their conquests and the “prophet” Mohammed was centuries away from being a light in his mother’s eyes!
Israel, First World as it may appear to be on the surface, is one of the last remaining pieces of the ancient world. Jews are a lot like crocodiles and sharks: organisms of the ancient world living in modern times.
Many secular Jews outside of Israel are not taught the history of their nation. This is a major mistake and a modern attempt to erase or nationalist aspirations and slowly destroy the Jew.
If we do not know who we are and what our history is, how can we defend ourselves against today’s enemies, particularly in this current war of words and name-calling?
These secular Jews hear the words, sometimes eloquent, sometimes persuasive, of the Jew-haters and anti-semites and think Israel may be wrong, maybe shouldn’t exist, or perhaps is just as bad as things are described.
We are not even seven decades removed from the Holocaust and today anti-semitism rears its head all over the world. Leaders from around the world -- Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran -- constantly spew anti-semitic rhetoric.
Ahmadinejad has even called for Israel’s destruction that is genocide and threatened her with nuclear war.
Along with this there are those pushing the idea of a single state, instead of the two state solution. These people totally overlook all the modern examples of why the eighty percent majority state of Israel cannot accept this. Do the names Eugoslavia and Rhwanda ring a bell.
Voices of the self-hating Jews, such as American academics like Noam Chomsky and the world leaders named above, are doing untold damage to Israel, in an existential sense.
It is time for us to return to our roots, to remember who we are as a nation and to fight back against the de-legitimizers -- the anti-semitic, anti-Israel haters.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
GILAD SHALIT: MAKE THIS THE FINAL SWAP
By Schmoel Yitzhak
Sweet are the uses of adversity;
Which, like the toad, ugly and
venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his
head;
And this our life, exempt from
public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books
\ in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in
every thing. ----------- William Shakespeare, "As You Like It." Act !!
Yes, there will be "Sweet Uses of Adversity" in the Gilad Shalit chapter of Israeli history but the positives to emerge from the soldier-prisoner swap won't evolve very easily.
That is, if they evolve at all.
For starters, let me point out that Shalit's return will inspire joy from Eilat to The Golan, from Jaffa to Jerusalem, as it should.
Still, it is imperative that we bear in mind that this is far from a Hollywood ending. This is not Eddie Bracken starring in "Hail The Conquering Hero."
There are no heroes here.
The price Israel is paying obviates any heroism. After all, a small army of convicted terrorists are being released and you can be sure they won't be taking weaving classes or tilling the fields in the months ahead.
What they will be doing is plotting ways and means of killing more Israelis simply because that's what they want to do and that's what they do best; no more, no less. It's in their DNA.
No less galling are the proclamations from Gaza that nothing in the deal will preclude Hamas from kidnapping more members of the Israeli Defense Forces. In fact, judging from public statements in the past week, the Arab marauders can't wait to get their hands on another Israeli serviceman -- or woman.
As London Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips observes, the deal puts more Israeli soldiers at risk.
"The terrible thing," explains Phillips, "is that by releasing 1,000 terrorists back to Gaza and the West Bank makes it more likely that not just the Hamas but Hezbollah in Lebanon too will redouble their efforts to kidnap yet more Israeli soldiers in order to further this devilish barter."
Did Benjamin Netanyahu have any alternative schemes to return Shalit?
Well, for one thing he could have followed through on a theme he articulated in a book written in 1995.
At that time author Netanyahu took quite a different stance. "Prisoner exchanges," wrote the Prime Minister, "were a mistake that Israel made over and over again."
Bibi insisted that it was imperative that terrorists serve their full terms in prison. "Prisoner releases only embolden terrorists," he insisted then.
It sure seems that way, doesn't it? But a good sixteen years have passed since Netanyahu's tome was published and political currents have vastly changed. With that in mind, one could say that in 2011, the Israeli leader had good reasons to okay the Shalit swap, as top-heavy as it is.
I haven't a clue what Jerusalem's political strategy was but -- to take a positive tack -- perhaps those who recommended that the exchange be made believe that it will lead to a more harmonious situation in the area. And if they are right, I will generously bow to them.
The odds, unfortunately, do not suggest such a fairy tale ending; not by a long shot.
"Now Israel will have hundreds of terrorists literally just down the road," Melanie Phillips correctly points out, "presumably poised to strike yet again and murder more Israel innocents."
Based on past performances, the Arabs have proven over and over again that there isn't a chance in a million that they will alter their toxic desire to destroy Israel and part of the propaganda program involves abducting members of the IDF. Why, they've said as much already.
And if they do? What happens if -- Heaven forbid -- another Arab clandestine operation is executed and yet another IDF member like Shalit is spirited away?
I'll tell you what should happen and that is an entirely new, swift and destructive response.
It should start with removal of kid gloves, followed as quickly as possible with a surgical, military operation a la Entebbe, to free the Jewish prisoner.
Should that fail, the brass knuckles must be applied. starting with a no-kidding-around ultimatum. There will be no negotiations; no involvement with German and Egyptian intermediaries; no more concern about world opinion. This will be between Israel and Hamas -- or Hezbollah as the case may be -- and now Israel publicaly delivers the demands.
Either the Israel prisoner is released or the ISrael Air Force begins bombing Gaza power installations out of business. If that doesn't work; then the water supply; on and on until Hamas cries "Uncle" and either surrenders the prisoner or surrenders altogether -- or both.
Should that no-nonsense strategy be adopted, you can bet that this time the Arabs will get the message; you take a Jewish soldier prisoner and you'll pay so heavy a price you won't even think about it again.
If there's any "sweet" use of the adversity brought on by the Shalit kidnapping, that strategy would be it!
Sweet are the uses of adversity;
Which, like the toad, ugly and
venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his
head;
And this our life, exempt from
public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books
\ in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in
every thing. ----------- William Shakespeare, "As You Like It." Act !!
Yes, there will be "Sweet Uses of Adversity" in the Gilad Shalit chapter of Israeli history but the positives to emerge from the soldier-prisoner swap won't evolve very easily.
That is, if they evolve at all.
For starters, let me point out that Shalit's return will inspire joy from Eilat to The Golan, from Jaffa to Jerusalem, as it should.
Still, it is imperative that we bear in mind that this is far from a Hollywood ending. This is not Eddie Bracken starring in "Hail The Conquering Hero."
There are no heroes here.
The price Israel is paying obviates any heroism. After all, a small army of convicted terrorists are being released and you can be sure they won't be taking weaving classes or tilling the fields in the months ahead.
What they will be doing is plotting ways and means of killing more Israelis simply because that's what they want to do and that's what they do best; no more, no less. It's in their DNA.
No less galling are the proclamations from Gaza that nothing in the deal will preclude Hamas from kidnapping more members of the Israeli Defense Forces. In fact, judging from public statements in the past week, the Arab marauders can't wait to get their hands on another Israeli serviceman -- or woman.
As London Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips observes, the deal puts more Israeli soldiers at risk.
"The terrible thing," explains Phillips, "is that by releasing 1,000 terrorists back to Gaza and the West Bank makes it more likely that not just the Hamas but Hezbollah in Lebanon too will redouble their efforts to kidnap yet more Israeli soldiers in order to further this devilish barter."
Did Benjamin Netanyahu have any alternative schemes to return Shalit?
Well, for one thing he could have followed through on a theme he articulated in a book written in 1995.
At that time author Netanyahu took quite a different stance. "Prisoner exchanges," wrote the Prime Minister, "were a mistake that Israel made over and over again."
Bibi insisted that it was imperative that terrorists serve their full terms in prison. "Prisoner releases only embolden terrorists," he insisted then.
It sure seems that way, doesn't it? But a good sixteen years have passed since Netanyahu's tome was published and political currents have vastly changed. With that in mind, one could say that in 2011, the Israeli leader had good reasons to okay the Shalit swap, as top-heavy as it is.
I haven't a clue what Jerusalem's political strategy was but -- to take a positive tack -- perhaps those who recommended that the exchange be made believe that it will lead to a more harmonious situation in the area. And if they are right, I will generously bow to them.
The odds, unfortunately, do not suggest such a fairy tale ending; not by a long shot.
"Now Israel will have hundreds of terrorists literally just down the road," Melanie Phillips correctly points out, "presumably poised to strike yet again and murder more Israel innocents."
Based on past performances, the Arabs have proven over and over again that there isn't a chance in a million that they will alter their toxic desire to destroy Israel and part of the propaganda program involves abducting members of the IDF. Why, they've said as much already.
And if they do? What happens if -- Heaven forbid -- another Arab clandestine operation is executed and yet another IDF member like Shalit is spirited away?
I'll tell you what should happen and that is an entirely new, swift and destructive response.
It should start with removal of kid gloves, followed as quickly as possible with a surgical, military operation a la Entebbe, to free the Jewish prisoner.
Should that fail, the brass knuckles must be applied. starting with a no-kidding-around ultimatum. There will be no negotiations; no involvement with German and Egyptian intermediaries; no more concern about world opinion. This will be between Israel and Hamas -- or Hezbollah as the case may be -- and now Israel publicaly delivers the demands.
Either the Israel prisoner is released or the ISrael Air Force begins bombing Gaza power installations out of business. If that doesn't work; then the water supply; on and on until Hamas cries "Uncle" and either surrenders the prisoner or surrenders altogether -- or both.
Should that no-nonsense strategy be adopted, you can bet that this time the Arabs will get the message; you take a Jewish soldier prisoner and you'll pay so heavy a price you won't even think about it again.
If there's any "sweet" use of the adversity brought on by the Shalit kidnapping, that strategy would be it!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
EL-ROM
By Simon Fischler
Israel is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. For such a small nation it has such a diverse network of environments.
From Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv, to the beautiful beaches of the coast, the coral reefs of Eilat, the Negev and Judaea deserts and the forests and mountains of the North, Israel is a remarkable panorama of beauty.
But for me, the most beautiful spot in Israel is Kibbutz El-Rom on the northeastern Golan heights.
My wife Lilach and I decide to move our family to El-Rom a year ago.
We previously lived in the city of Rehovot in the center of Israel.
We made the decision to leave the center mainly for the future of our children. We dreamed and hoped for a quieter life for them, a way to pass down our Zionist beliefs and to give them a life more in touch with nature.
We came here and immediately fell in love with the kibbutz lifestyle, and with El Rom specifically.
Lined with trees ranging from Lebanese Cedars, pines, cherries, chestnuts, apples and plums, the kibbutz is a green paradise.
Sitting above us is Mt. Hermon, the eyes and ears of Israel, reaching an altitude of more than 10,000 feet. Snowcapped during the winter, the mountain makes for stark but beautiful views.
Unlike almost all of Israel, here in El-Rom we have four true seasons, with a real WINTER -- snow and all.
El-Rom is special for myriad other reasons, though.
El-Rom is special because in 1971 a small group of Israeli youth decided to make a paradise out of one of the harshest climates in Israel.
El Rom is also special because In a few short months my family and I have met the nicest, most friendly group of people.
We have been taken in as if we were family by people who barely know us. Here our friends are actively concerned about their neighbors and what is going on in their community.
El Rom is also moments away from three Druse villages and virtually in sight of the border with Syria.
Rather than feel the fear and tension one might expect, we enjoy friendly relationships with our Druse neighbors. The family’s primary care doctor is a Druse physician two villages away, and several of our favorite restaurants are in Druse towns.
What makes El-Rom great is what made Israel great (capable of surviving years of Arab racism/anti-semitism and persecution): working together for a common cause, a common good.
But El-Rom doesn’t exist in a vacuum of the past: it has several thriving businesses totally involved in the modern, high-tech world and, thankfully, some of the best schools and pre-schools in the country.
We have been blessed to discover a world that retains the values and goals of an Israel that once was – an Israel that hopefully will be again – all in a place of great beauty.
Israel is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. For such a small nation it has such a diverse network of environments.
From Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv, to the beautiful beaches of the coast, the coral reefs of Eilat, the Negev and Judaea deserts and the forests and mountains of the North, Israel is a remarkable panorama of beauty.
But for me, the most beautiful spot in Israel is Kibbutz El-Rom on the northeastern Golan heights.
My wife Lilach and I decide to move our family to El-Rom a year ago.
We previously lived in the city of Rehovot in the center of Israel.
We made the decision to leave the center mainly for the future of our children. We dreamed and hoped for a quieter life for them, a way to pass down our Zionist beliefs and to give them a life more in touch with nature.
We came here and immediately fell in love with the kibbutz lifestyle, and with El Rom specifically.
Lined with trees ranging from Lebanese Cedars, pines, cherries, chestnuts, apples and plums, the kibbutz is a green paradise.
Sitting above us is Mt. Hermon, the eyes and ears of Israel, reaching an altitude of more than 10,000 feet. Snowcapped during the winter, the mountain makes for stark but beautiful views.
Unlike almost all of Israel, here in El-Rom we have four true seasons, with a real WINTER -- snow and all.
El-Rom is special for myriad other reasons, though.
El-Rom is special because in 1971 a small group of Israeli youth decided to make a paradise out of one of the harshest climates in Israel.
El Rom is also special because In a few short months my family and I have met the nicest, most friendly group of people.
We have been taken in as if we were family by people who barely know us. Here our friends are actively concerned about their neighbors and what is going on in their community.
El Rom is also moments away from three Druse villages and virtually in sight of the border with Syria.
Rather than feel the fear and tension one might expect, we enjoy friendly relationships with our Druse neighbors. The family’s primary care doctor is a Druse physician two villages away, and several of our favorite restaurants are in Druse towns.
What makes El-Rom great is what made Israel great (capable of surviving years of Arab racism/anti-semitism and persecution): working together for a common cause, a common good.
But El-Rom doesn’t exist in a vacuum of the past: it has several thriving businesses totally involved in the modern, high-tech world and, thankfully, some of the best schools and pre-schools in the country.
We have been blessed to discover a world that retains the values and goals of an Israel that once was – an Israel that hopefully will be again – all in a place of great beauty.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
MEET ME TONIGHT IN DREAMLAND -- WITH JIMMY CARTER, NICHOLAS KRISTOF AND JEW-HATING ARABS
By Schmoel Yitzhak
"Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland" was a hit song written in 1909 with words by Beth Slater Whitson and music by Leo Friedman.
The tune is about Coney Island's famed amusement park which later would burn to the ground and it comes to mind because of a few recent stories that crossed by desk.
In one sense the sweet "Dreamland" song reminds me of a pair of headlining anti-semites -- Jimmy Carter and Nicholas Kristof -- whose passion for publicity is matched only by their disdain for the facts.
When it comes to their view of Middle East politics they appear to be standing in a latter-day Dreamland, which -- like the original -- is burning down.
Carter, who often acts more pro-Arab than Mahmoud Abbas, is on his soap-box again, this time urging Barack Obama to back the Palestinian's bid to the United Nations for statehood. The former president adds that the White House should seize the opportunity provided by the Arab Spring to facilitate Palestinian-Israeli peace.
Apparently, Carter has not been reading the papers lately. Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated over the past weeks that he welcoms a chance to sit down face-to-face with Abbas -- with no pre-conditions, as the European Union suggests -- to talk turkey. Abbas, in turn, has a menu full of pre-conditions which automatically ends the talks before they begin.
Carter, of course, is in a Middle East Dreamland which should surprise nobody, especially not author Mitchell Bard, author of "The Arab Lobby -- The Invisible Alliance That Undermines America's Interests In The Middle East."
As Bard points out with fact after fact in his book, Carter has been in the Arabs' pockets for decades. "In 1990, for example," Bard nots, "in an effort to reshape the terrorist's image, Carter helped Yasser Arafat draft a speech to the UN and praised him for doing everything he could to promote peace."
And this: "In his various writings, Carter has established a pattern of historical revisionism, inaccurate and naive descriptions of the region and its history, and a penchant for blaming Israel and absolving the Arabs of all responsibility for the absence of peace. He has also been an apologist for Saudi Arabia.
"In a fawning section about the Saudis in his book (Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid), Carter talks about the 'impressive closeness' of the monarchy to the subjects while ignoring the discriminatory aspects of Saudi society. He says nothing about the Saudis' crude anti-Semitism and their hostility to Israel. Carter has never acknowledged that his one-sided attacks on Israel might undermine his avowed goal of convincing Israelis to make peace."
Dreamland similarly would be a welcome place for New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof whose latest kick-Israel-in-the-groin missive is affectionately titled "Is Israel Its Own Worst Enemy?"
Upset over Israel's decision to build 1,100 new housing units in the Gilo neighborhood of Jerusalem, Kristof goes off on the Netanyahu government thusly: "Nothing is more corrosive than Israel's growth of settlements because they erode hope of a peace agreement in the future."
No surprise here either. Like his other anti-Israel colleague, columnist Thomas Friedman, Kristof will find any reason to bash the only democracy in the Middle East while ignoring the fact that the proposed state of Palestine would -- first and foremost -- be, like Nazi Germany, judenrein. This does not seem to matter to Kristof; nor does the fact that the number of Syrian dead protestors has reached 2,900, according to the UN. Neither Kristof, Friedman nor Barack Obama can be bothered by the massacres that have killed close to 3,000 Syrians. To them, it's as if nothing is happening; but Israeli construction gets their vowels in an uproar.
No surprise, again. As the Fall 2011 Committee For Accuracy In Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) media report asserts, "The New York Times seems less and less concerned about factual coverage of Israel."
Referring to Times' Israel Bureau Chief Ethan Bronner's coverage of the flotilla campaign, CAMERA'S Andrea Levin charges, "The thrust of Bronner's work in nearly daily dispatches conveys a seemingly irrepressible impulse to mute and distort the openly-expressed aims of the Palestinians themselves with regard to Israel, to focus instead on indictments of the Jewish state and to belittle Israeli concerns."
Like the other Times men, Bronner is in a journalistic Dreamland.
Were they not in that never-never-land, they would have reported a recent interview with Fatah Central Committee Member Abbas Zaki, who was interviewed on Al-Jazeera last month. Had The Times -- or Jimmy Carter, for that matter -- really cared about objectivity they would have paid close attention to the Arab official for he had an important statement to make; namely that an agreement with Israel based on the 1967 borders is merely part of a phased plan to destroy Israel in its entirety and such a policy must not be spoken about publicly. Here's what the man said:
The settlement should be based on the borders of June 4, 1967. When we say that the settlement should be based on these borders, President Abbas understands, we understand, and everybody knows that the greater goal cannot be accomplished in one go.
If Israel withdraws from Jerusalem, evacuates the 650,000 settlers, and dismantles the wall -- what will become of Israel? It will come to an end.
Kristof, his buddy, Friedman and Carter might ask themselves the question posed by CAMERA'S Simon Plosker:
"What is it about the Mideast that makes a journalist's natural skepticism go completely awry? When Netanyahu publicly advocates for peace and negotiations with the Palestinians, the default reaction of many media is to cast aspersions on Netanyahu's intentions, effectively accusing him of being underhanded or even untruthful.
"But what happens when Palestinians (Abbas Zaki, for example) make public statements of intent that don't fit with the accepted narrative of Israel as the obstacle to peace? The media ignore such statements and rarely publish the story. So if the 'mainstream' Fatah are advocating the end of Israel rather than peace with Israel and Hamas are consistently restating their overt desire to destroy Israel by force, why are the media failing to report on these?
"Perhaps the media should stop speculating about Netanyahu's intentions in regard to peace and start reporting on the Palestinians' very real desire to destroy Israel."
Sorry but the likes of Kristof, Carter and Friedman would rather meet in their journalistic Dreamland while Arabs such as Zaki plot to burn Israel to the ground!
"Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland" was a hit song written in 1909 with words by Beth Slater Whitson and music by Leo Friedman.
The tune is about Coney Island's famed amusement park which later would burn to the ground and it comes to mind because of a few recent stories that crossed by desk.
In one sense the sweet "Dreamland" song reminds me of a pair of headlining anti-semites -- Jimmy Carter and Nicholas Kristof -- whose passion for publicity is matched only by their disdain for the facts.
When it comes to their view of Middle East politics they appear to be standing in a latter-day Dreamland, which -- like the original -- is burning down.
Carter, who often acts more pro-Arab than Mahmoud Abbas, is on his soap-box again, this time urging Barack Obama to back the Palestinian's bid to the United Nations for statehood. The former president adds that the White House should seize the opportunity provided by the Arab Spring to facilitate Palestinian-Israeli peace.
Apparently, Carter has not been reading the papers lately. Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated over the past weeks that he welcoms a chance to sit down face-to-face with Abbas -- with no pre-conditions, as the European Union suggests -- to talk turkey. Abbas, in turn, has a menu full of pre-conditions which automatically ends the talks before they begin.
Carter, of course, is in a Middle East Dreamland which should surprise nobody, especially not author Mitchell Bard, author of "The Arab Lobby -- The Invisible Alliance That Undermines America's Interests In The Middle East."
As Bard points out with fact after fact in his book, Carter has been in the Arabs' pockets for decades. "In 1990, for example," Bard nots, "in an effort to reshape the terrorist's image, Carter helped Yasser Arafat draft a speech to the UN and praised him for doing everything he could to promote peace."
And this: "In his various writings, Carter has established a pattern of historical revisionism, inaccurate and naive descriptions of the region and its history, and a penchant for blaming Israel and absolving the Arabs of all responsibility for the absence of peace. He has also been an apologist for Saudi Arabia.
"In a fawning section about the Saudis in his book (Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid), Carter talks about the 'impressive closeness' of the monarchy to the subjects while ignoring the discriminatory aspects of Saudi society. He says nothing about the Saudis' crude anti-Semitism and their hostility to Israel. Carter has never acknowledged that his one-sided attacks on Israel might undermine his avowed goal of convincing Israelis to make peace."
Dreamland similarly would be a welcome place for New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof whose latest kick-Israel-in-the-groin missive is affectionately titled "Is Israel Its Own Worst Enemy?"
Upset over Israel's decision to build 1,100 new housing units in the Gilo neighborhood of Jerusalem, Kristof goes off on the Netanyahu government thusly: "Nothing is more corrosive than Israel's growth of settlements because they erode hope of a peace agreement in the future."
No surprise here either. Like his other anti-Israel colleague, columnist Thomas Friedman, Kristof will find any reason to bash the only democracy in the Middle East while ignoring the fact that the proposed state of Palestine would -- first and foremost -- be, like Nazi Germany, judenrein. This does not seem to matter to Kristof; nor does the fact that the number of Syrian dead protestors has reached 2,900, according to the UN. Neither Kristof, Friedman nor Barack Obama can be bothered by the massacres that have killed close to 3,000 Syrians. To them, it's as if nothing is happening; but Israeli construction gets their vowels in an uproar.
No surprise, again. As the Fall 2011 Committee For Accuracy In Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) media report asserts, "The New York Times seems less and less concerned about factual coverage of Israel."
Referring to Times' Israel Bureau Chief Ethan Bronner's coverage of the flotilla campaign, CAMERA'S Andrea Levin charges, "The thrust of Bronner's work in nearly daily dispatches conveys a seemingly irrepressible impulse to mute and distort the openly-expressed aims of the Palestinians themselves with regard to Israel, to focus instead on indictments of the Jewish state and to belittle Israeli concerns."
Like the other Times men, Bronner is in a journalistic Dreamland.
Were they not in that never-never-land, they would have reported a recent interview with Fatah Central Committee Member Abbas Zaki, who was interviewed on Al-Jazeera last month. Had The Times -- or Jimmy Carter, for that matter -- really cared about objectivity they would have paid close attention to the Arab official for he had an important statement to make; namely that an agreement with Israel based on the 1967 borders is merely part of a phased plan to destroy Israel in its entirety and such a policy must not be spoken about publicly. Here's what the man said:
The settlement should be based on the borders of June 4, 1967. When we say that the settlement should be based on these borders, President Abbas understands, we understand, and everybody knows that the greater goal cannot be accomplished in one go.
If Israel withdraws from Jerusalem, evacuates the 650,000 settlers, and dismantles the wall -- what will become of Israel? It will come to an end.
Kristof, his buddy, Friedman and Carter might ask themselves the question posed by CAMERA'S Simon Plosker:
"What is it about the Mideast that makes a journalist's natural skepticism go completely awry? When Netanyahu publicly advocates for peace and negotiations with the Palestinians, the default reaction of many media is to cast aspersions on Netanyahu's intentions, effectively accusing him of being underhanded or even untruthful.
"But what happens when Palestinians (Abbas Zaki, for example) make public statements of intent that don't fit with the accepted narrative of Israel as the obstacle to peace? The media ignore such statements and rarely publish the story. So if the 'mainstream' Fatah are advocating the end of Israel rather than peace with Israel and Hamas are consistently restating their overt desire to destroy Israel by force, why are the media failing to report on these?
"Perhaps the media should stop speculating about Netanyahu's intentions in regard to peace and start reporting on the Palestinians' very real desire to destroy Israel."
Sorry but the likes of Kristof, Carter and Friedman would rather meet in their journalistic Dreamland while Arabs such as Zaki plot to burn Israel to the ground!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
I DO NOT NEED TO UNDERSTAND!
By Simon Fischler
For too long we on the Israeli side of the Arab/Israeli conflict have been telling ourselves that it is worthwhile – if not imperative -- to understand the other side.
That makes a lot of sense and ever since 1948 when the Jewish State hoped to establish peaceful relations with its Arab neighbors, it has tried over and over to understand, even empathize and sympathize.
Israel has been more than generous in its offerings – TOO GENEROUS – hoping to hammer out once and for all, a peace pact.
What we have come to understand is that no matter what we offer, what we say, and how we try to understand, Israel is on a treadmill to oblivion.
The pure fact of the matter is that Israelis have done too much understanding of the Palestinians. And one of the things that we have come to learn during this endless understanding period, is that the Arabs (euphemistically known as Palestinians) want to eliminate Israel altogether.
One of their methods can be called – to be kind – total ignorance of our historical rights!
Ever since the Jews rejected Mohammad as a prophet; Arabism (remember Islam was started in Arabia by Arabs and is an Arabian political movement based on the Hebrew laws) has been trying to erase Jews and Jewish national, historical facts from the Middle-East map.
They have done so in the following manner:
1. Making war on the Jews of the Arabian Peninsula.
2. Occupying Israel and Jerusalem
3. Desecrating the Temple Mount by building the Al Aksa mosque and the Dome of the Rock on top of it.
4. Over the centuries, Islam unceasingly has made war on Israel and the Jewish Nation. The facts are irrefutable; unless your name is Mahmoud Abbas.
Israel no longer needs to reach out to the Arabs. It is high time for the occupiers of our land to reach out to us.
The “Land for Peace” theory may have made sense four decades ago when hope sprung that – give extra acreage – the Islamists would once and for all end their hostility to Israel.
Alas, we have learned the hard way – very hard way – that “Land for Peace” is a one-way deal. The Palestinians get the land; the Israelis get no peace. Not a bit.
Once upon a time we truly believed that if we give them a bit more land everything would be honky-dory.
Wrong. Oslo proved it wrong and, more recently, the abandonment of Gaza merely underlined the point.
Arab hatred for Israel and the Jewish nation dates back to Mohammad and has been passed on from generation to generation. This venomous feeling has absolutely nothing to do with the creation of the modern state of Israel nor with settlement-building.
Israelis “understanding” the Arabs. Perhaps in an academic way it’s worthwhile.
But on a realistic, personal level, I do not accept their culture that embraces honor killings, chauvinism, female genital mutilation, homophobia, racism and unrelenting anti-Semitism.
American Northerners rejected slavery in the mid-19th Century -- and condemned the slave-holding American south – because the Confederate tenets were morally wrong.
Likewise, I reject what’s wrong about Arab culture and that includes its anti-Semitic falsehoods and revisionist history based on zero facts; all of which is employed by Arab propagandists to delegitimize Israel.
This Jewish nation called Israel has existed where it is now on a continuous basis.
It has done so not for years but for centuries.
We were here long before the Arabs, and this is a scientific fact, proven by archaeology. It unabashedly demonstrates that Jews lived in what is now Israel long before there ever was an Arab presence. Ergo: the Arabs must ACCEPT ISRAEL not the other way around!
It is about time that these facts resonated in the White House, not to mention all the European capitals where the diplomats endlessly harass Jerusalem.
Benjamin Netanyahu need not beg acceptance from our Arab neighbors. WE ARE HERE, WHETHER THEY LIKE OR NOT!
Just as Israel rejected Mohammad as a prophet, modern Israel rejects the ideas of Arabism and Islamization because both will only accept us when we bow down to them and become their slaves.
THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN.
Until the world understands the Israeli side -- that we have every right to exist in the land that has been ours for centuries, this conflict will never end no matter how hard we try to understand our enemies!
For too long we on the Israeli side of the Arab/Israeli conflict have been telling ourselves that it is worthwhile – if not imperative -- to understand the other side.
That makes a lot of sense and ever since 1948 when the Jewish State hoped to establish peaceful relations with its Arab neighbors, it has tried over and over to understand, even empathize and sympathize.
Israel has been more than generous in its offerings – TOO GENEROUS – hoping to hammer out once and for all, a peace pact.
What we have come to understand is that no matter what we offer, what we say, and how we try to understand, Israel is on a treadmill to oblivion.
The pure fact of the matter is that Israelis have done too much understanding of the Palestinians. And one of the things that we have come to learn during this endless understanding period, is that the Arabs (euphemistically known as Palestinians) want to eliminate Israel altogether.
One of their methods can be called – to be kind – total ignorance of our historical rights!
Ever since the Jews rejected Mohammad as a prophet; Arabism (remember Islam was started in Arabia by Arabs and is an Arabian political movement based on the Hebrew laws) has been trying to erase Jews and Jewish national, historical facts from the Middle-East map.
They have done so in the following manner:
1. Making war on the Jews of the Arabian Peninsula.
2. Occupying Israel and Jerusalem
3. Desecrating the Temple Mount by building the Al Aksa mosque and the Dome of the Rock on top of it.
4. Over the centuries, Islam unceasingly has made war on Israel and the Jewish Nation. The facts are irrefutable; unless your name is Mahmoud Abbas.
Israel no longer needs to reach out to the Arabs. It is high time for the occupiers of our land to reach out to us.
The “Land for Peace” theory may have made sense four decades ago when hope sprung that – give extra acreage – the Islamists would once and for all end their hostility to Israel.
Alas, we have learned the hard way – very hard way – that “Land for Peace” is a one-way deal. The Palestinians get the land; the Israelis get no peace. Not a bit.
Once upon a time we truly believed that if we give them a bit more land everything would be honky-dory.
Wrong. Oslo proved it wrong and, more recently, the abandonment of Gaza merely underlined the point.
Arab hatred for Israel and the Jewish nation dates back to Mohammad and has been passed on from generation to generation. This venomous feeling has absolutely nothing to do with the creation of the modern state of Israel nor with settlement-building.
Israelis “understanding” the Arabs. Perhaps in an academic way it’s worthwhile.
But on a realistic, personal level, I do not accept their culture that embraces honor killings, chauvinism, female genital mutilation, homophobia, racism and unrelenting anti-Semitism.
American Northerners rejected slavery in the mid-19th Century -- and condemned the slave-holding American south – because the Confederate tenets were morally wrong.
Likewise, I reject what’s wrong about Arab culture and that includes its anti-Semitic falsehoods and revisionist history based on zero facts; all of which is employed by Arab propagandists to delegitimize Israel.
This Jewish nation called Israel has existed where it is now on a continuous basis.
It has done so not for years but for centuries.
We were here long before the Arabs, and this is a scientific fact, proven by archaeology. It unabashedly demonstrates that Jews lived in what is now Israel long before there ever was an Arab presence. Ergo: the Arabs must ACCEPT ISRAEL not the other way around!
It is about time that these facts resonated in the White House, not to mention all the European capitals where the diplomats endlessly harass Jerusalem.
Benjamin Netanyahu need not beg acceptance from our Arab neighbors. WE ARE HERE, WHETHER THEY LIKE OR NOT!
Just as Israel rejected Mohammad as a prophet, modern Israel rejects the ideas of Arabism and Islamization because both will only accept us when we bow down to them and become their slaves.
THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN.
Until the world understands the Israeli side -- that we have every right to exist in the land that has been ours for centuries, this conflict will never end no matter how hard we try to understand our enemies!
WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?
By Simon Fischler
The burning of a mosque in the Israeli Beduin town of Tuba Zanghariya was a morally, despicable act that must be condemned by all Israelis.
Even though I condemn this act and all acts like it, one must ask the Arab citizens of Israel, what did you really think was going to happen?
Do my Arab co-patriots not understand that when they continually elect leaders who espouse the most anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric, they make themselves appear as a fifth column?
The 80 percent Jewish population of Israel is rightly sick and tired of the incessant whining from their Arab co-patriots.
Not only are Israeli Arabs the freest in the world, but they also do not have to shoulder the responsibility of protecting their country.
Only Jews, Druze and Circassians have mandatory army duty.
One must imagine how upsetting it can be for the parents of soldiers in the I.D.F who protect all Israelis, Arabs included, when they see an Israeli Arab leader like Ahmed Tibi fly to Washington with the Palestinians and Mahmoud Abbas.
Shouldn’t Israeli Arabs be asking Mr. Tibi why he spends so much time concerned with the Palestinians and not with the problems confronting Arabs in Israel?
How do you expect Jewish Israelis to feel when they see Knesset Member Hanin Zoubi join the hate flotilla to Gaza, then espouse the most appallingly false, anti-Semitic rhetoric against her fellow citizens and the soldiers who protect them?
Zoubi could easily be branded a traitor to the Knesset she supposedly serves, a traitor to the citizens of Israel by condoning ethnic hatred and therefore a traitor to the state of Israel. If this were a Muslim country, she would undoubtedly be shot or stoned to death for jeopardizing the lives of the soldiers forced to board the Mavi Marmara.
It is time for Israeli Arabs to wake up: either you get with the program, or you will end up losing big time.
1948 should be a good reminder of what will happen if the Arabs of Israel do not choose to accept Israel as it is, the Jewish Nation State where Arabs enjoy all the freedoms and rights of their co-patriots.
If the Arabs of Israel do not learn this and learn it quickly, these horrible acts will only increase.
The burning of a mosque in the Israeli Beduin town of Tuba Zanghariya was a morally, despicable act that must be condemned by all Israelis.
Even though I condemn this act and all acts like it, one must ask the Arab citizens of Israel, what did you really think was going to happen?
Do my Arab co-patriots not understand that when they continually elect leaders who espouse the most anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric, they make themselves appear as a fifth column?
The 80 percent Jewish population of Israel is rightly sick and tired of the incessant whining from their Arab co-patriots.
Not only are Israeli Arabs the freest in the world, but they also do not have to shoulder the responsibility of protecting their country.
Only Jews, Druze and Circassians have mandatory army duty.
One must imagine how upsetting it can be for the parents of soldiers in the I.D.F who protect all Israelis, Arabs included, when they see an Israeli Arab leader like Ahmed Tibi fly to Washington with the Palestinians and Mahmoud Abbas.
Shouldn’t Israeli Arabs be asking Mr. Tibi why he spends so much time concerned with the Palestinians and not with the problems confronting Arabs in Israel?
How do you expect Jewish Israelis to feel when they see Knesset Member Hanin Zoubi join the hate flotilla to Gaza, then espouse the most appallingly false, anti-Semitic rhetoric against her fellow citizens and the soldiers who protect them?
Zoubi could easily be branded a traitor to the Knesset she supposedly serves, a traitor to the citizens of Israel by condoning ethnic hatred and therefore a traitor to the state of Israel. If this were a Muslim country, she would undoubtedly be shot or stoned to death for jeopardizing the lives of the soldiers forced to board the Mavi Marmara.
It is time for Israeli Arabs to wake up: either you get with the program, or you will end up losing big time.
1948 should be a good reminder of what will happen if the Arabs of Israel do not choose to accept Israel as it is, the Jewish Nation State where Arabs enjoy all the freedoms and rights of their co-patriots.
If the Arabs of Israel do not learn this and learn it quickly, these horrible acts will only increase.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
REALISTS IN THE THEATER OF THE ABSURD
By Schmoel Yitzhak
Persevering in the face of obstinacy, the European Union's Quartet of Middle East peace-seekers once again is trying to get the Israelis and Arabs (alias "Palestinians") back to the negotiating table.
After intense consultation, Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to sit down with Mahmoud Abbas to once and for all rev up the mediation machine. The Israeli leader had some reservations about the latest ground rules but nevertheless flashed his green light since the Quartet stipulated that talks would begin "without pre-conditions."
The Abbas' reply reverberated like a broken record. "We'll return to negotiations if settlement-building stops."
No matter how you shake it; no matter what language is employed, the Arabs answer is what it always has been: NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO; never a real peace with Israel.
It is ever thus; just as it was in 1948, after the Six-Day War, after Oslo; ALWAYS NO.
Any realist -- Hello, Barack Obama; Hello, Hillary Clinton, Hello, Catherine Ashton -- should have gotten the point a long time ago: the Arabs will only agree if they get their own way and this can only happen if they state pre-conditions that never can be met by a realist, which Bibi happens to be.
If nothing else, Israel's Prime Minister remembers how he once was suckered into granting a lengthy West Bank construction freeze so that Abbas, Inc. could be lured back to constructive talks. Bibi waited and waited and waited until the deadline was past and still Abbas remained AWOL.
So, what's the point of capitulating to his pre-conditions this time? None whatever.
And certainly not in the face of an Abbas' United Nations gambit that flies in the face of all logic.
Consider this; the Arabs -- er, "Palestinians" -- without any concern about repudiation are seeking approval of a state that would bar all Jews from living there. The Nazis called that kind of business judenrein and succeeded in large part achieving its end by exterminating more than six million European Jews.
Yet the fact that such an apartheid state is a key part of the Abbas program seems not to have disturbed America's illustrious president. I wonder how Obama would react to a Palestinian declaration that its new state also would forbid Africans from living in "Palestine."
But when it comes to a Judenrein Palestine, Uncle Sam's Chief Executive is silent; nor is a word heard from his Secretary of State either, nor Madame Ashton, who worries about apartment-building, either.
Have any of them bothered to remind Abbas that Palestinian plans to achieve statehood through the UN would violate earlier agreements. Over and over again, all major agreements between Israel and the Palestinians have required that disputes between the parties be settled through direct negotiations and not via third parties.
Furthermore, on September 9, 1999 a Memoradum at Sharm el-Sheikh barred unilateral moves such as the move being executed by the PA. The memo clearly spelled out what could or could not be done.
"Recognizing the necessity to create a positive environment for the negotiations, neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in accordance with the Interim Agreement."
Even Yasir Arafat agreed to these points a year later and the Road Map of 2003 echoed a similar theme -- "unilateral actions taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community."
You would think that Obama would once and for all understand that the Palestinians continue to slap down every conciliatory -- call it appeasement, if you will -- move Uncle Sam's leader proffers to them.
Members of Congress get it and they've voted to stop aid to Abbas, Inc. Instead, the president is "scrambling to keep Palestinian aid flowing."
As the late, great Fats Waller would say, "My, my, my."
Meanwhile, the PA's bosom buddies in Gaza continue to launch rockets, Egyptian terrorists continually sabotage oil pipelines to Israel, a soldier named Schalit remains holed up in some Gaza hideaway and Vice President Biden has the utter chutzpuh" to tell a group of Floridian Jews that he's responsible for keeping an ill Jonathan Pollard in jail. And brags about it, no less.
And as the curtain descends once more on the Middle East passion play, Bibi says yes, Mahmoud says no while the EU, UN, State Department and White House audience still can't find the bad guy in this Theater of the Absurd.
Persevering in the face of obstinacy, the European Union's Quartet of Middle East peace-seekers once again is trying to get the Israelis and Arabs (alias "Palestinians") back to the negotiating table.
After intense consultation, Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to sit down with Mahmoud Abbas to once and for all rev up the mediation machine. The Israeli leader had some reservations about the latest ground rules but nevertheless flashed his green light since the Quartet stipulated that talks would begin "without pre-conditions."
The Abbas' reply reverberated like a broken record. "We'll return to negotiations if settlement-building stops."
No matter how you shake it; no matter what language is employed, the Arabs answer is what it always has been: NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO; never a real peace with Israel.
It is ever thus; just as it was in 1948, after the Six-Day War, after Oslo; ALWAYS NO.
Any realist -- Hello, Barack Obama; Hello, Hillary Clinton, Hello, Catherine Ashton -- should have gotten the point a long time ago: the Arabs will only agree if they get their own way and this can only happen if they state pre-conditions that never can be met by a realist, which Bibi happens to be.
If nothing else, Israel's Prime Minister remembers how he once was suckered into granting a lengthy West Bank construction freeze so that Abbas, Inc. could be lured back to constructive talks. Bibi waited and waited and waited until the deadline was past and still Abbas remained AWOL.
So, what's the point of capitulating to his pre-conditions this time? None whatever.
And certainly not in the face of an Abbas' United Nations gambit that flies in the face of all logic.
Consider this; the Arabs -- er, "Palestinians" -- without any concern about repudiation are seeking approval of a state that would bar all Jews from living there. The Nazis called that kind of business judenrein and succeeded in large part achieving its end by exterminating more than six million European Jews.
Yet the fact that such an apartheid state is a key part of the Abbas program seems not to have disturbed America's illustrious president. I wonder how Obama would react to a Palestinian declaration that its new state also would forbid Africans from living in "Palestine."
But when it comes to a Judenrein Palestine, Uncle Sam's Chief Executive is silent; nor is a word heard from his Secretary of State either, nor Madame Ashton, who worries about apartment-building, either.
Have any of them bothered to remind Abbas that Palestinian plans to achieve statehood through the UN would violate earlier agreements. Over and over again, all major agreements between Israel and the Palestinians have required that disputes between the parties be settled through direct negotiations and not via third parties.
Furthermore, on September 9, 1999 a Memoradum at Sharm el-Sheikh barred unilateral moves such as the move being executed by the PA. The memo clearly spelled out what could or could not be done.
"Recognizing the necessity to create a positive environment for the negotiations, neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in accordance with the Interim Agreement."
Even Yasir Arafat agreed to these points a year later and the Road Map of 2003 echoed a similar theme -- "unilateral actions taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community."
You would think that Obama would once and for all understand that the Palestinians continue to slap down every conciliatory -- call it appeasement, if you will -- move Uncle Sam's leader proffers to them.
Members of Congress get it and they've voted to stop aid to Abbas, Inc. Instead, the president is "scrambling to keep Palestinian aid flowing."
As the late, great Fats Waller would say, "My, my, my."
Meanwhile, the PA's bosom buddies in Gaza continue to launch rockets, Egyptian terrorists continually sabotage oil pipelines to Israel, a soldier named Schalit remains holed up in some Gaza hideaway and Vice President Biden has the utter chutzpuh" to tell a group of Floridian Jews that he's responsible for keeping an ill Jonathan Pollard in jail. And brags about it, no less.
And as the curtain descends once more on the Middle East passion play, Bibi says yes, Mahmoud says no while the EU, UN, State Department and White House audience still can't find the bad guy in this Theater of the Absurd.
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