Impassioned plea to all Americans based on Silflay Hraka's ideas
Please, please, please take the Palestinians. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please take the Palestinians.

Please.

Please.

Update: Don Lovelady suggests this place.
posted by Imshin 22:09

Hi, we’re home.
Mitzpe Ramon was much emptier of Israeli tourists this time. We had a very hot week and a lot of people were probably afraid it would be too hot down there. They don’t realize that Mitzpe Ramon is higher up than Jerusalem and is therefore much cooler than Beer Sheva or Eilat. Anyway, the heat wave ended during the weekend. Yesterday evening was cool and today was quite pleasant too. We did see quite a few foreign tourists, which was nice.

We also got to see quite a lot of wild deer this time, down in the crater. We usually see wild ibex, which, being mountain animals, come right up to the town.

(These are ibex, not deer)

Last night, a twelve-year-old boy from the town got lost in the crater, but he was found today. He was probably lucky it wasn’t as hot last night and today.


Barbara Tuchman as cooked in the desert (before it cooled down).
This time I didn’t take any newspapers at all to Mitzpe Ramon. Not even old ones. Bish took the Haaretz weekend magazine but I didn’t even open it.

What I did take was Barbara Tuchman’s “The March of Folly”, quoted from so often by Bish that I never bothered to read it myself. Unfortunately, I’m reading it in Hebrew so I can’t bring any illuminating quotes (Do I hear sighs of relief? Hey, this isn’t a home assignment, you know! All six* of you (I told you my readership was growing) can go read someone else, right now. Don’t you worry about me, I’m narcissistic enough to enjoy reading my blog over and over to myself).

For those of you who haven’t read this (not even the back cover?), Ms. Tuchman describes a recurring historical phenomenon of governments implementing policies detrimental to their own interests. One of the reasons she gives for this is plain folly or blind stubbornness. She explains this in a very readable way, with lots of interesting historical examples. I’ve only read a chapter and a half so far so I can’t talk about the whole book. (Why is it Bish read over a hundred pages of his book while we were in Mitzpe and I only read 50 something? I can’t even console myself that I read slower but better. Bish can usually quote books he’s read recently by heart. I can hardly remember what I just read before I went to the bathroom. This is probably why I need Fred Lapides to help me with my reading. Thank you Fred, I am forever grateful).
___________________________________________

*This could be seen as unabashed plagiarism. Dan Ben Amotz, famous Israeli writer, celebrity, columnist and pedophile, regularly referred to his “six readers” in his weekly column in the long gone “Hadashot” newspaper (this was Haaretz’ attempt at publishing a tabloid. But however hard they tried it just wasn’t a tabloid and therefore only Bish and I read it. Oh, and Dan Ben Amotz’ four other readers, of course).


Thoughts that arose while reading the first chapter (of “The March of Folly, not “Hadashot”):
Is the Palestinian people’s behavior during the last sixty-odd years an example of the folly Ms. Tuchman is discussing? I’m talking about their refusal to accept any compromise with the Jews and their continual use of violence and terrorism, although it has never got them what they wanted (which is us out). Ms. Tuchman says that there must be three conditions for a historical event or process to be suitably foolish: 1. The results of the folly must be clear at the time of happening, and not just with hindsight. 2. There has to be an alternative policy that could have been implemented, and 3. It has to be the policy of a group and not of one leader.

It seems to me that the Palestinians fit the description. You may claim that the Palestinians never had a sovereign state or a proper government. True, but they always had recognized leaders with popular support and an ability to lead their people in a different direction.

Bish says we can’t say (if the Palestinians are suitably foolish), because we’re still in the middle of the process and they might still get what they want (Oy, vey! Not a pleasant thought).

Another scary thought, besides the thought that they may win, is that the joke’s on us, that we’re the foolish ones, and that our foolishness will bring to our downfall, this way or the other. Both sides of the political spectrum in Israel regularly claim that the other side’s policies will drive us into the sea.

In the desert midday July heat, this was not something I could work out. So I left it at that.

Another thing Tuchman says, which seems relevant, is that turning to outside powers for military assistance against an enemy at home always ends up with the foreign power invited in staying and taking over. This looks like what happened to the Palestinians in 1948, when their Arab brethren came to save them from the Zionist menace. The Egyptians and the Jordanians stayed on at the end of the war and the Palestinians, still waiting for the Arab countries to conquer the whole of Palestine for them, never got their state.

The Palestinians haven’t learnt, though. They’re still trying to get the Arabs to help them militarily and are deeply insulted that no one will. On second thoughts, I don’t think they need fear that the Arabs countries will take over again. They proved such a handful to rule last time, no one really wants to be bothered with them a second time.

Thinking over this assertion of Tuchman’s (about the dangers of inviting foreign powers to fight your wars for you) fills me with admiration for the United State’s benevolence, and amazed at the Europeans’ inability to appreciate it. The French, for instance, should be everlastingly thankful to the U.S. that they are still allowed to speak French in public. I think they should even learn English in order to express their gratitude (maybe that would be asking too much of them).

I admit that the U.S. has used its superiority to have a cultural and economic affect on most of the world. This has managed to annoy the Muslim World so much that they’ve announced a holy war against the U.S., no less. No normal person would think that these “crimes” of the generally well meaning U.S. are anywhere as bad as enslavement and forced conversion which is what the Muslims have in store for those lucky enough to survive slaughter, mayhem, gang rape and so on, if the tables are turned (that’s if you believe the rhetoric of their esteemed and revered religious leaders).

The Palestinians’ pals, the Anti-Globalists, contend that the economic World Order imposed by the U.S. is an intentional and wicked exploitation of poorer areas of the world. It seems to me that without this World Order, these poorer areas would be even poorer and even more miserable, as would we all. But then, Anti-Globalists, obviously not being normal people, would probably prefer enslavement and conversion by the Muslims. Go figure.


Thoughts that arose while reading the second chapter:
The second chapter discusses the foolishness of the Trojans in allowing the wooden horse into their besieged city. Were the Oslo Accords our Trojan horse? We let in Arafat and his cronies, who promised that they had given up the path of violence, accepted the State of Israel’s right to exist and would make do with sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza and cease all demands for the “Historical Palestine” from Jordan River to sea. It took us a while to discover that they had no intention of making peace, or of giving up their former strategy, and Oslo was just another phase in their “plan of phases” of ridding the Middle East of the Zionists. They finally jumped out of that horse, swinging their swords, in September 2000, although we got a quite a few glimpses of what was inside the horse, all along, and chose to ignore them.

But what was our alternative option? The local Palestinian leaders refused to make a deal with us. Arafat was their only accepted leader. The international and internal pressure was immense. Inertia could have brought upon us tough international sanctions, which would have been unbearable coming with Israeli society split down the middle between growing numbers of the electorate calling for an end to the occupation and the large percentage still opposed, at that time, to any deal that entailed any withdrawal. We didn’t have a feasible alternative. Therefore our acceptance of Oslo does not comply with the conditions Ms. Tuchman lists that make for a foolish decision.


Phew!
Now I’ve got all that down, I’ll go see what’s been happening in the world since we’ve been gone.

posted by Imshin 20:32

We're off to Mitzpe Ramon for the weekend.



See you all Saturday.
posted by Imshin 17:44

Some stories about yesterday's non-Israeli victims.
posted by Imshin 16:03

Touching
Chirac called Arafat to express his "support and solidarity with the Palestinian Authority and people" and to discuss "efforts made to halt the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and reviving the peace process". Great timing, Jacques dear.

Fred also sent me something about gefilte fish. I faintly remember the taste of Grandma's gefilte fish.

Now, as a proud vegetarian, I will fight for all fishes right to self determination. This is very noble of me, seeing as I'm Not a Fish, myself.

But was it sweet or peppery, my Grandma's gefilte fish? I can't remember. Oy vey! Now I'll never be able to trace my roots!
posted by Imshin 15:40

Ehud Ya'ari, top Israeli expert for Arab affairs, talks about: Security reform; a new explanation for suicide bombings; Hamas' questioning the Torah; and Egyptian Islamic terrorists in prison changing their tune.

Fred knows I value what this guy has to say. This means he's reading me carefully. Listen and learn, Our Sis.
posted by Imshin 15:11

Oh, dear.
I don't like the sound of this.

From f-f-frightening Fred.
posted by Imshin 15:03

Oh, look! They've heard of us in china.
What are you reading, Fred?
posted by Imshin 15:00

BBC says UN report found no evidence of massacre in Jenin and no evidence of war crimes.
This even though it was "compiled using information from UN officials, the Palestinians, private relief organisations and foreign governments", without any Israeli contribution.

Fred fished this out for me, too.
posted by Imshin 14:56

Yad Vashem answers the Nazi question ("why can't the Israeli-Palestinian conflict be compared to the Holocaust?")
Fred sent me the Yad Vashem site. I clicked the link into this FAQ all by myself!
Yad Vashem is the main Israeli Authority working to to perpetuate the legacy of the Holocaust through commemoration and documentation, in case you didn't know.
posted by Imshin 14:46

Summer in the city
You know those kids who stuff themselves with candy and refuse to budge from the Barbie dolls or the cable TV when they visit your offspring? You’ve got it, the ones who don’t have those things at home because they’re unfortunate enough to have (shudder) ideological parents. I must admit I started off like that. Luckily, it didn’t last long. Reality was against me. But I can’t help admiring the determination of those who are lasting it out, against all odds (and logic).

Children are continually bombarded with advertising that encourages them to help their parents’ part with their hard-earned cash. It also often manages to persuade them to consume products that are less than healthy, while offering them a distorted picture of life in the process.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to try and shield your kids from this (though I’m still not linking to Fred Lapides’ site). Trying to completely prevent their exposure to the colorful temptations around doesn’t really prepare them for the challenges of modern life (such as visits to their friends’ less educational homes). Anyway, my girls have reached the age that they can just go and buy whatever they want themselves, if their allowance allows it (Oh, an unintentional pun!). I’m not sure what the idealists do at this point. Probably what I did when my eldest was two – give up.

If pointed out, children are quite capable of understanding when they’re being manipulated by the Media, sometimes even better than adults.

The latest rage among Israeli girls, and mine are no exception, is an Argentinean soap opera for kids called “Chiquititas”. It’s about something quite irresistible for young girls (I do remember, young lady, I was also young once, even if it was in ancient times), orphans in an orphanage. If this is not enough, they also sing and dance!

I console myself that they’re learning a bit of Spanish (it's got subtitles, it's not dubbed); the little one is practicing her reading on the show’s Hebrew website; and they are getting very savvy downloading related movie clips and games. A positive feature about this show is that the same actors change parts from season to season, unlike adult soaps, and my kids discuss this fact exhaustively. So I know they’re not confusing the story with reality.

My eldest (not yet 11) read a newspaper article in Maariv (which she found through google, no less) critical of the effect this program is having on youngsters. She regarded the article with the utmost contempt (I’ll make a blogger out of her yet), but ever since, she’s expressed an interest in reading newspapers on a regular basis (Not Haaretz, Ima, it’s boring. Buy me Yediot, please).

I really can’t complain, can I?

posted by Imshin 14:12

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), chapter 1.
posted by Imshin 12:00

The still Great Goldberg
On European peace.
posted by Imshin 11:42

Fred Lapides found me a fishy poster



That looks just like me. Notice, if you will, that I am standing on the fish. This is to emphasize that, contrary to popular belief, I am Not a Fish.

Our Sis asked me why I don't link to Fred's page. She thus showed herself up for not reading my blog carefully. Shame on you, Our Sis! But this showed me that, in view of my growing non-family readership, a rerun of the explanation is in place.

By now I see Fred as a silent partner in my blog. Having more reading time than I do, he regularly sends me an abundance of interesting links. I read them all, but only post the ones that take my fancy. Fred does have a blog, but, as I've said before, not of a nature I'd like my girls to read. Seeing as my eldest daughter has expressed an interest in reading Not a Fish (I don't think her English is good enough, yet, but this may help to improve it), I have told Fred I won't link to his page. You can find it though, if you're very determined, by reading the comments on LGF, Shark and others.

posted by Imshin 10:48

Looking in from the outside.
My Dad used to say that being at a distance from the center of activities can be an advantage when trying to clearly assess a situation. He was talking about the U.S. stock market. It holds true for understanding our situation here, as well. The majority of credible analysis of the situation that I've read in the last few months was written abroad. Here's another good analysis.
posted by Imshin 10:14

On one people's collective insanity.
And here's more insanity, different continent.
posted by Imshin 09:28

7 dead. 2 Israelis, 4 U.S. nationals, 1 French.
Haaretz; Jerusalem Post.
posted by Imshin 08:50

My dad suggests that
"Silence after the blast could be due to temporary deafness while the ears
recover." I hadn't thought of that. I see it as a sort of stunned nothingness before pain and terror take over.

Enough. Getting too gruesome.

You're up early, Dad.
posted by Imshin 08:01

Jewish Cemetery in Rome


posted by Imshin 01:01

Two Peacemakers meet.
posted by Imshin 00:54

I knew she was a Westerner, Diane. It wasn't just her coloring. It was something about her.
posted by Imshin 23:01

Pogroms
Boaz Shabo tells Haaretz his thoughts about the terrorist attack which took his wife and three of their seven children.
posted by Imshin 18:19

Have you ever noticed
that people who were there always describe the silence immediately after the blast?
No matter how many times I hear this, it always freaks me out.

Maybe it’s because silence normally means peacefulness, calm, tranquility.

posted by Imshin 17:45

Pretty strong criticism
of Arafat and Palestinian violence, by a Tunisian columnist. First seen by Fred Lapides, translated by MEMRI.
posted by Imshin 17:27

Life is hard in former Spanish Prime Minister's old hunting lodge.
This terrorist isn't married, girls. Definitely every Palestinian mother's dream son-in-law.
posted by Imshin 17:18

No Laissez Faire here.
Ehud Ya'ari, top Israeli expert on Arab affairs, maintains that if we don't see a hands-on day-to-day international involvement in implementation of PA reforms, they ain't gonna happen.
posted by Imshin 17:14

A Must!
Important stuff for those who come in contact with pro-Palestinians and could do with some extra ammo. Read and distribute.

Sylvana Foa is pretty left wing. If she's writing this, she must be getting fed up as well.

Thank you, Fred Lapides.
posted by Imshin 17:04

I'm relieved to see Renatinha is OK
They said on the news that there were quite a few new immigrants hurt in the attack.
posted by Imshin 16:58

A distant memory
Right behind the University, there’s an Arab village called Issawiya. It was always known to be hostile. I remember stones occasionally being thrown from the village on cars driving down to Ein Gedi, on the Dead Sea, even before the first Intifada. I remember watching the buses, bringing the terrorists freed as part of the Jibril deal in 1985, arriving in the village. But my strongest memory of Issawiya is a young goatherd I saw once or twice. She seemed in her late teens or early twenties and we stared at each other curiously for a little while and then each continued on her way. She was obviously a Westerner, with fair skin, blue eyes and curls burnt blond by the sun. I was a young soldier. Talking to her would have been inappropriate.

posted by Imshin 16:42

Frank Sinatra Cafeteria, Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem. 7 dead, 85 wounded.


posted by Imshin 16:22

I know what you're thinking.
That Imshin's calling everyone else silly idiots and she mucked up the percentages in the "ditsy far-left" posting. Sorry. It was rather late, and I had spent the afternoon in the pool. The sun must have affected my brain. I've surreptitiously fixed it. No one will ever know. Don't tell anyone will you?
posted by Imshin 06:49

On Cyber-Terrorism
James S. Robbins, National Review.
posted by Imshin 00:50

Here's another beaut
Someone searched google for "How to control the wife?" and reached me. That'll amuse Bish.
posted by Imshin 00:16

And what is the Israeli ditsy far-left up to these days?
A friend lent me the first issue of a new anti-consumerism publication that just came out in Israel, called Od! (Translation: More!, as in “Please, Sir I want some…). I was amused to see that it costs a mere 39.90 shekels (that’s about $8.50). But that’s all right. That’s not consumerism because the name on the cover is very, very, very tiny. You can hardly see it at all (At first I wasn’t sure which side was the front). It’s edited by Ronen Eidelman of Indymedia Israel fame.

I read quite a lot of stuff each day, not nearly as much as my official numero uno Reader (with a capital “R”) Fred Lapides, but still. So I can honestly say I haven’t read anything as boring, longwinded, repetitive and unimaginative (did I forget pompous?) as this, in a longtime.

One of the main contributors is a well known cable TV video clip presenter. She has taken the time to enlighten us about the adverse effect of brand names to our psyche. She bases this on unsubstantiated claims such as “Severe concentration problems have been noted among boys and girls that have been exposed to a large amount of information channels from an early age”. (I’d say it would take me no longer than half an hour to personally round up at least a dozen examples that prove the exact opposite, taking into account that it's the middle of the night right now. I’ve got two asleep in the next room for a start). The conclusion of her learned essay, the apex of her effort, is that placing advertising placards in open inter-city areas is stealing people’s right “not to know”, is “forced advertising”, is “occupation of the private thought”, is “throwing garbage in the brain of a person”. She obviously isn’t aware that placing advertising placards in open inter-city areas is also against the law in the State of Israel. So what on earth is she talking about?

As if we hadn’t had enough of this nitwit, ten pages of “provocative” photographs later (photographs immortalizing criminal acts of defacing inner-city advertisement placards, photographs intruding on women soldiers’ privacy and so on) she’s back. This time she’s on about mothers and their soldier sons as depicted in Israeli advertising. “…Fourth, he’s a victim. The Israeli soldier bears the guilt of the whole country, the child sent to defend his family, or more precisely the child sent to perpetrate its atrocities in its stead, so it can continue to set up that same consumer normality.” After all, is there any other purpose for our being here? “… The advertisers in Israel choose to ignore the new soldier: The brute, the guilty one, the one who agonizes, the conquerer…” The one who agonizes? Hmm. I think I’ll just pop into the Refuseniks’ site again. See how the count’s coming. Oh, it’s up to 474. So what percentage would that be of all IDF soldiers and reservists? 0,1%? 0,2%? I’d say this shows some serious agonizing going on. The percentages of brutes and other nasties are probably just as high.

What else have we got here? Oh, a poem, that’s nice. Translated from which language? It doesn’t say. Bit cryptic for this uneducated ignoramus. What’s that? “For sale what the Jews haven’t sold…” Sounds rather anti-Semitic. Maybe the esteemed Indymedia editor guy didn’t really get it. Can’t blame him for that, can we?

OK,OK, enough already.

But before I go I have to ask these pathetic, disconnected, self-important idiots one question: Is this the best you could do? Look around you!

(While I was reading this silly publication someone blew himself up in the center of Jerusalem, wounding innocent passers-by).

posted by Imshin 00:08

The UK media are focusing on Iraq
For example, the Guardian reviews the options while the Telegraph is making small talk. The Times is just being silly and the independent is hoping that "the hugely popular Mr. Powell" (they don't say hugely popular with whom) will have his way.
posted by Imshin 22:08

Property ownership statistics show that Israel is not as unequal a society as widely believed and it's apparently a good place to move to.
Amnon Rubinstein brings some statistics about the gradual closing of the economic gaps between Arabs anfd Jews in Israel and between new immigrants and veteran Israelis, as reflected in ownership of property.
posted by Imshin 22:01

Did you see this, R.T.?
"Advances in Israeli biotech and drug development have persuaded management at U.S. pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., Inc. of Whitehouse Station, N.J., to add Israel to the list of countries in which it would like to invest."

Fred lapides noticed this at GedankenPundit.
posted by Imshin 21:53

Too hot to think, let alone write.

posted by Imshin 16:42

Jerusalem. 7 injured, only perpetrator dies.

posted by Imshin 16:26

Little Green Footballs refers to a UK Observer story about what's happening to Westerners working in Saudi Arabia.
According to the story the current unrest there all started with that girls school thing. The Observer says "Revolution is in the air. Demonstrators are taking to the streets. Bombs are planted in cars. And Westerners can only watch and hope they survive." (My emphasis)
They can also leave!!!! It's not like they're waiting to get citizenship or anything.
posted by Imshin 06:36

"Terror as a Strategy of Psychological Warfare” by Boaz Ganor
I think what we’re seeing in Israel is something that has never been experienced before in quite this way, with regard to terrorism. That is: What happens when the terrorists go too far?

According to Ganor’s article, the goal of the terrorist is to “undermine the sense of security and to disrupt everyday life so as to harm the target country’s ability to function. The goal of this strategy is, in turn, to drive public opinion to pressure decision-makers to surrender to the terrorists’ demands. Thus the target population becomes a tool in the hands of the terrorist in advancing the political agenda in the name of which the terrorism is perpetrated.”

Ganor explains that the terrorist attack is aimed at three communities: The terrorist’s own community, the targeted community and International public opinion.

The Palestinians were doing very well on all three levels up to a point. Then they started to go too far. The targeted community (that’s us, unfortunately) has come to feel so threatened by the attacks as to see them as a threat to its very existence. Not being of a suicidal state of mind (well, mostly anyway) the community has switched to a “fight” (as opposed to “flight”) mode.

This “fight” mode has caused the targeted community to strike out fiercely at the terrorist’s community, causing just enough suffering to the terrorist’s community as to make it begin to rethink the effectiveness of the terrorist strategy. It has also begun to realize that instead of advancing its political agenda, the terrorists have actually caused a regression in the chances of achieving their goals. International public opinion, although generally very sympathetic to the terrorists’ political agenda, has started to be disgusted by their strategy.

We learn, therefore, that terrorism as an effective strategy has its limits and can be counterproductive. I think this is the lesson of 9/11, as well.

I hope so, anyway.

Article pointed out by Fred Lapides.

posted by Imshin 23:18

Minister without a cause David Levy resigned from Israeli Government
This guy's main claim to fame (besides being the world's most incredible political survivor against all odds) is always being the first rat to flee the sinking ship. Now everyone's asking if Sharon's government is on the way out.
posted by Imshin 21:58

Nine Orphans
17-year-old Ayelet Dikstein was orphaned along with her eight brothers and sisters when a Palestinian terrorist gunned down her mother, father and 9-year-old brother in South Mount Hebron this weekend. This is her story, as told to Yediot Aharonot:

“We were all riding in the car. I don’t know what was happening with me that day, but I was playing the recorder all the way. When we reached the Gush Etzyon intersection I fell asleep. We were six children in the car (out of 10 in the family – I.J.) and everyone was lying down or asleep, when suddenly it was like fireworks, there was a lot of shooting. I don’t remember hearing shouting, but my brother Shlomo says there was hysteria and then it became quiet. Mom and my brother were killed immediately. Dad was holding Mom’s head, which was dripping with loads of blood. When the shooting stopped he got out of the car and stood by it, probably wanting to see what was happening with us. On the right side of the road was a tall man with a weapon and a strap round his body. He looked like a soldier on leave. He suddenly took up the weapon, looked at us, turned round to face the car and shot a burst into Dad’s heart.

Then he looked at us in the eyes again, and I looked at him. He’d probably finished his bullets. Then his friend threw him a cartridge from above, but he didn’t get it, he just continued walking calmly to wards the hill, very slowly.
Dad was lying on the ground. Shlomo, who was lightly wounded, asked him what’s happening, and he said everything’s OK. Shlomo took his kippa (yarmulka) and covered Mom’s bleeding wound. We looked for the cell phone in all of Mom’s blood. I searched the memory (of the cell phone- I.J.) but I couldn’t find anything. In the nd I dialed 100 (police) and said that there had been a pigua (terrorist attack) in the Gush intersection, and that Mom, Dad and my brother were dead.

The first to arrive were Arab families. They saw the car and reversed back. All my brothers and sisters looked dead. Only later I understood that only Mom, Dad and Shuv-El were dead. I wanted to look at dad to see what he looked like, but I couldn’t look at Mom.

And then the driver of a big commercial vehicle arrived. I ran to him and asked him to help us. I hugged him and began to cry. He dialed his phone and started to shout that he was alone with a gun and he couldn’t guard all the children, he must have been talking to the army or the police. I lay under the car and through the wheels I saw the paramedics covering my Dad. I said to my brothers and sisters “Look at our parents in the black bags”.”

A few minutes after the pigua the eldest brother, 20-year-old Tzvi, rang Ayelet. “I rang to say “Shabbat Shalom” to all the family,” He says, “Ayelet suddenly told me there had been a pigua and Dad, Mom and Shuv-El had been killed.” Ayelet continues, “He was very angry and told me not to joke about such things, But I wasn’t joking.”

(My translation)

posted by Imshin 21:48

A widow forgives the killer of her husband.
This is true compassion.

posted by Imshin 06:24

Israel's not having any of it
Haaretz says Israel has announced that the proppsed Tanzim-Hamas agreement is just not good enough. Israel insists on broad security reforms and the cessation of incitement before any dialogue. "Sharon's demands are for a total end to the terror, violence and incitement, the establishment of a new Palestinian security force to fight terror, and replacement of the leadership headed by Yasser Arafat".

Sharon is one tough cookie.
posted by Imshin 06:22

More archaeological artifacts are being looted
as a result of the Israel-Palestinian war.
posted by Imshin 00:25

These guys obviously haven't heard about the boycott, bless them.
posted by Imshin 00:08

This article explains why "Iraq first - MidEast peace later".
Go for it, Bush. We're right behind you with our gas masks ready. On second thoughts, maybe you could wait till the fall. That security room is awfully hot and stuffy.
posted by Imshin 00:05

Middle East News Online says the US is refurbishing three abandoned Iraqi air force bases in Kurdistan.
"Iraqi opposition sources said the effort began nearly a year ago and involves the repair of runways and facilities meant to accommodate U.S. warplanes and transport aircraft".
This from Fred Lapides.
posted by Imshin 23:56

How much foreign aid did you say the US gives Egypt?

"An American Senator attacks Egypt in his article"

posted by Imshin 23:15

Refusenik watch
The number of Israelis who signed the letter indicating that they refuse to do their bit is now 470. Not much nearer 500 than it was last week, is it?
posted by Imshin 22:55

Lucky us
Jesse Jackson has come to save the day.


posted by Imshin 22:35

Some good has come from the security room problem
Pushed to the wall about removing their stuff, the neighbors (who really are quite nice, it just that they’ve got a space problem, don’t we all?) have expressed a willingness to donate the furniture they’ve got stored in the security room. So we’re organizing for the furniture to be taken away and given to the needy, with the help of a family member who’s very active in volunteer work.


Would you believe it
I got a hit from someone who searched google for “Ehud Barak looks like a turtle”!
What about Yasser Arafat the toad, guys?

posted by Imshin 22:32

The following is dedicated to SAH, although I don’t think this is exactly what she had in mind:

Keeping the anger and bitterness alive (and not Palestinians this time).
A friend told me that there are plans to establish a new far left political party in Israel. She said that among others, Hakeshet Hademokratit Hamizrahit might be taking part. This got my attention because this movement interests me.

Hakeshet Hademokratit Hamizrahit is a far left movement established by Jews originating from Arab countries. This is unusual in Israel because the majority of Sephardi and Mizrahi (Eastern) Jews in Israel are hawkish and tend to vote for right wing and nationalist parties. Hakeshet Hademokratit (translation of the name: the Eastern Democratic Spectrum) has been trying to raise awareness in Israel's slums and "development towns" on social and economic issues.

So far their public struggles have lead to a law allowing people living in public housing to cheaply purchase the homes they’ve been living in and paying a low rent for, for many these years. The idea is based on the fact that many kibbutzim and moshavim have been selling parts of the state land they live on and cultivate to real estate companies and realizing the profits. Hakeshet Hademokratit claims that there is no difference between the kibbutzim and moshavim’s rights to their homes and the rights of people living in public housing, squatters and Arabs living in “unofficial” villages. On the other hand, they are opposed to the sale of state-owned agricultural land for personal profit, a practice the kibbutzim and moshavim are engaging in under the auspices of the Israel Lands Council.

All this seemed to me to be very just and I began reading articles by people affiliated with Hakeshet Hademokratit. I was saddened by what I found. Many of these articles reveal a strongly anti-Zionist sentiment and are filled with a romantic yearning for their past in Arab countries. The writers claim that they feel much more connected to what they see as their Arab brethren than to Ashkenazi Jews and to the State of Israel.

They seem to be motivated by deep hatred for European culture and by feelings of being personally wronged by all Ashkenazis (Jews from European origin) and what they call the ruling Ashkenazi elite. Hakeshet Hademokratit is made up of a highly intellectual and educated group. Many of them are deeply influenced by European philosophy and political and social thinking. It seems it’s only Jewish European culture that offends them so much.

Some time ago I began visiting Kedma, the Israeli Eastern portal. It has a very active forum, with extremely learned and intelligent discussions on the matters of Eastern Jews’ discrimination that they see as inherent in Israeli society. They also widely discuss Israel’s Nazi tactics with regard to the Palestinians. The forum is strongly anti-Askenazi. It seems they are prepared to make allowances only for Ashkenazis that bow to their views and accept their cultural superiority.

Sami Shalom Shitreet, educator and poet, is editor of the portal, and runs the forum. I first heard about this guy when he opened a school in a South Tel Aviv neighborhood a few years ago. The goal of the school was education from an unapologetic Eastern point of view, making a point of teaching the kids about their Eastern cultural heritage. I though at the time that this sounded like a good idea, and mentally wished him luck. Sadly, the school was a dismal failure. In the last year or two of its existence, the school had tiny registration numbers and it closed (I remember reading in the local paper that there were six new kids in the school’s last year). At the time, the local newspaper suggested that this was because the children and their parents didn’t want to be classified as specifically “Eastern”, and preferred to go to ordinary “mixed” schools. Shitreet claims that the Municipality was against him from the start and gave him a hard time (even though it was a publicly funded school).

Other educators regard Sami Shalom Shitreet as a very talented and able educator. I had a few short discussions with him on the portal forum, and he was always very nice and soft-spoken even when we disagreed. But his articles show him as angry and vindictive. He holds the view that most Eastern Jews are brainwashed into despising their own cultural background. I think that’s another one of the reasons he gives for the failure of the Kedma School in Tel Aviv.

But this doesn’t explain the huge popularity for Eastern style Israeli music and dancing (and not only amongst Eastern Jews) in Israel today. Eastern style (“belly”) dancing and darbuka (Eastern drum) are very fashionable evening classes for grown-ups and children, in affluent neighborhoods and not only in working class areas. Kedma people seem to despise this popular stuff as garbage orientalism. Some people are never satisfied.

People from Hakeshet Hademokratit and Kedma believe that racial discrimination, purposely directed by the state and the “Ashkenazi elite”, against Jews from Arab countries has kept them down, socially and economically. I agree there has been discrimination. I agree we must work to close social and economic gaps. I think investing in education in poor and peripheral areas is paramount.

But seeing the discrimination as intentional and conspiratorial and directed by the state and by the “Ashkenazi elite” as do the people from Hakeshet Hademokratit and Kedma is wrong and can be very harmful. I believe that the discrimination stems mainly from ignorance and fear of change. And we’ve come a long way in this respect in the last forty years or so.

I know so many educated and accomplished Sephardi Jews (I even married one), many with powerful jobs and successful businesses that I disagree vehemently with the assertion that racial discrimination has forcibly kept down Eastern Jews and kept them out of the ruling elite. In both my daughters’ classes in a school in a well-to-do North Tel Aviv neighborhood, at least 2/5 of the students are Sephardi or mixed (this is an estimate, I haven’t counted). This could not be the case if there was active discrimination, or if Sephardis were unwelcome in Ashkenazi dominated neighborhoods. Of course, Hakeshet and Kedma people despise these successful Sephardi Jews who belong to “the elite” as being brainwashed and as serving to prolong the injustice.

I support Hakeshet’s lobbying for equality and impartiality in the distribution of state investments in education and housing. I agree that Eastern Jews have a rich history and culture that should be taught in schools. I think this is all in order, and timely. But Hakeshet and Kedma seem to be coming from a place of deep hatred, and are working to actively spread this hatred, and this, in my mind, is destructive and harmful.

posted by Imshin 12:55

Amazing!
posted by Imshin 12:04

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