Follow-up on the Nuri Said quote:
I’ve been reading in a few places about the Secretary of the Arab League Office in London, Edward Atiyah, who wrote, in his book "The Arabs", "This wholesale exodus was due partly to the belief of the Arabs, encouraged by the boasting of an unrealistic Arab press and the irresponsible utterances of some of the Arab leaders that it could be only a matter of some weeks before the Jews were defeated by the armies of the Arab States and the Palestinian Arabs enabled to re-enter and retake possession of their country." (Pg. 183)

This link also brings these references from what seems to be reliable sources of the time:

"Of the 62,000 Arabs who formerly lived in Haifa not more than 5,000 or 6,000 remained. Various factors influenced their decision to seek safety in flight. There is but little doubt that the most potent of the factors were the announcements made over the air by the -Higher Arab Executive, urging the Arabs to quit.. . . It was clearly intimated that those Arabs who remained in Haifa and accepted Jewish protection would be regarded as renegades."
The London weekly Economist, October 2, 1948.

"It must not be forgotten that the Arab Higher Committee encouraged the refugees' flight from their homes in Jaffa, Haifa, and Jerusalem."
Near East Arabic Broadcasting Station, Cyprus, April 3, 1949.

"The refugees were confident that their absence would not last long, and that they would return within a week or two. Their leaders had promised them that the Arab armies would crush the 'Zionist gangs' very quickly and that there was no need for panic or fear of a long exile."
Monsignor George Hakim, Greek Catholic Bishop of Galilee, in the Beirut newspaper Sada al Janub, August 16, 1948.

And this is an interesting one:
"The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians from the Zionist tyranny but, instead, THEY ABANDONED THEM, FORCED THEM TO EMIGRATE AND TO LEAVE THEIR HOMELAND, imposed upon them a political and ideological blockade and threw them into prisons similar to the ghettos in which the Jews used to live in Eastern Europe, as if we were condemmed to change places with them; they moved out of their ghettos and we occupied similar ones. The Arab States succeeded in scattering the Palestinian people and in destroying their unity. They did not recognize them as a unified people until the States of the world did so, and this is regrettable".
by Abu Mazen, from the article titled: "What We Have Learned and What We Should Do", published in Falastin el Thawra, the official journal of the PLO, of Beirut, in March 1976.

I could go on and on. If you want to read more, and there’s plenty of it, you can check it all out here.

Strange how Benny Morris couldn’t find any of this. Maybe he wasn’t looking very hard.


So what’s interesting Israelis right now?
Mainly the fuel strike. We’re all filled up. I hope it ends before we go up North on Tuesday, though.


Wow.

Seen on Civax


We’re afraid of chemicals dropping from above
This German town could be getting chemicals from the floodwaters.


Die Zeit on EU complicity in Palestinian terrorism (II)
This is Stefan Sharkansky’s translation of the Die Zeit sequel to ”Arafat Bombs, Europe Pays” by Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff from June 2002.

posted by Imshin 23:02

Important
I’ve been thinking some more about that Israel Shamir article. I told you he wrote that the Brits and the Yankees bombed the Germans and the French, for offending Jews. I don’t think I stressed this enough.

He wrote that the Brits and the Yankees bombed the Germans and the French, for offending Jews.

There, that’s better.

Larry Mulligan sent me this link to a story about Israel Shamir: “Do you know that
Israel Shamir tried to sell Nazi memorabilia items, that the Russians
captured when they took over Berlin in 1945. Shamir got his hands of all of
these Nazi items in 1998 and wanted to sell them to Holocaust Denier David
Irving.
Ironically, even the odious Irving, ultimately refused to deal with Shamir”.

Here is the full story.

posted by Imshin 20:40

After the eighties, came the nineties.
After the nineties came the… what? The zeroes? The nothings? The one-to-tens? The pre-teens?

What did they call the beginning of the last century, the twentieth? If I'm not mistaken it was “the turn of the century”, wasn’t it? Heavy. Meaningful. Not fun. Actually, quite suitable for the times we’re living in.


Benny Morris was not telling the truth???
Sylvana Foa writes a Letter From Gaza in the latest Village Voice. It’s all about the Palestinian suffering in Gaza. It tells about two American women who married Palestinian men (one of them, although widowed, decided to stay on because she works with deaf children) and what their life is like these days. But this column has a surprising twist. Foa very subtly weaves in an historic fact that colors the plight of the Palestinian refugees a little differently.

” In 1948, 106,000 people, heeding the call of Arab leaders like Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Said, fled to Gaza as invading Arab armies entered the new state of Israel.

“We will smash the country with our guns and obliterate every place the Jews seek shelter,” Said promised. “The Arabs should conduct their wives and children to safe areas until the fighting has died down.”

Most of those 1948 refugees expected to be back in their homes within a week. They are still waiting. Their numbers have swollen to 800,000. More than half live in the eight camps that UNRWA, the UN agency charged with caring for Palestinian refugees, runs in Gaza”.

Notice if you will, the Nuri Said quotation. I wonder where she got it. I also wonder why Benny Morris never found it when he was meticulously searching all the Arab Media of 1948 for his research. He claimed he could find no trace of calls made by Arabs for Arabs living in Palestine to leave their homes, while their Arab brethren got rid of the Jews.(I never read his book but I clearly remember hearing him say this in a TV interview).

But this, of course wouldn’t be the first glimmer of disproof of Morris’ work. Efraim Karsh wrote ”Fabricating Israeli History: The `New Historians'” about this issue. Here is an excerpt of Haaretz’ review of the book by the late Yoram Bronowski (whose daily television review I miss very much).

"Karsh proves over and over that the leading new historians - Benny Morris and Avi Shlaim, in particular... are not historians at all. At best, they are propagandists. And not only that: Karsh brings heaps of evidence, after a careful examination of the documents, that these historians, and especially Morris and Shlaim, are conniving forgers who falsify the facts and will stoop to anything. He shows that the volumes they have published, such as 'The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949', and 'Collusion Across the Jordan' (Shlaim's book in English about a plot allegedly hatched during a meeting between Golda Meir and King Abdullah of Jordan, whose purpose was to keep a Palestinian state from being established after implementation of the UN partition plan) are crude and malicious fakes...
The impact of Norman Cohn's 'Warrant for Genocide', which exposes the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' forgery, is dwarfed in comparison to Karsh's book, which rips the veneer off certain respectable-looking scholars... Not only are they empty vessels, Karsh shows in this astonishing book, but they are something much worse: vessels overflowing with deadly dynamite".


The Israeli Noam Chomsky? (I don’t think so!)
Bish and I had a romantic evening yesterday watching the riveting 1970 documentary ”Elvis: That's the Way It Is”, and reading James’ farewell column together. James is off on holiday for a fortnight. It shouldn’t be allowed.

But who is this Israel Shamir he links to? ArabNews.com, where the article is published says he’s an Israeli journalist based in Jaffa. I have a few questions, with regard to his article: Does saying that the Brits and the Yankees bombed the Germans and the French, for offending Jews, count as Holocaust denial? Is there a law against Holocaust denial in Israel? Is a Jewish anti-Semite an oxymoron? What’s going on here? I smell a rat.

According to Israel Shamir’s website he is a leading Russian-Israeli intellectual, writer, translator and journalist. He claims to have worked for Haaretz but sadly “was sacked for publishing an article calling to the return the Palestinian refugees and the rebuilding of their ruined villages.” He is apparently a prolific writer and has published many books. The bio doesn’t state in which language, but it can’t be in Hebrew or in English because a search in a major online Israeli Bookstore was fruitless, as was a search in Amazon.com. Maybe in Russian. It says he’s translated many Hebrew books into Russian.

“His most popular work, the Pine and the Olive, the story of Palestine/Israel, was published in 1988. Its cover carried a painting by the Ramallah painter, Nabil Anani”. I can’t see how this could have been very popular. If it was in Russian, well, the Russian community in Israel is mostly extremely right wing, if in English or in Hebrew, why can’t I find anything about it?

And why have neither Bish nor I ever heard of this person. We are both relatively well read, and have been diligently reading Haaretz for about fifteen years. I have many friends who are peace activists (and not the radicals who think peace activism entails being human shields for Arafat and other murderers, but real ones, who try to educate for coexistence and tolerance, and getting to know each other, and listening to each other’s grievances). But still not a word about this Israel Shamir person.

So, when in doubt Google!

Nigel Parry, of all people (not to be suspected of being anything but seriously pro-Palestinian), leads a group of pro-Palestinian activists who started wondering about Israel Shamir in 2001. Parry has a whole page of his website given over to this issue, which he calls “The Israel Shamir Case”.

He says: “In late 2000/early 2001, in the period following the beginning of the second Palestinian Intifada, articles began appearing on the Internet by a previously unknown Israeli-Russian writer called "Israel Shamir". With a powerful command of the English language, compelling anecdotes, dramatic metaphors, and a spirited opposition to the Israel's military occupation, Shamir was rapidly and warmly accepted into the pro-Palestinian activist scene, and by Spring 2001 had embarked on a speaking tour of the United States, speaking at many public events alongside leading lights of the Palestinian scene.

As his articles kept coming, however, an increasing amount of the tone and content was observed by more than a few to fall into what could -- if this hadn't been an Israeli Jew writing it -- best be described as a classic anti-Semitic repertoire. Shamir's identity as a Jew initially enabled people to excuse this, until the whole mess began to unravel as more and more questions were asked. Eventually, these questions began to be answered, and the issue errupted into a controversy”.

He also links to some of the stuff written about this issue, including an e-mail by Ali Abunimah and Hussein Ibish, that I saw in a few sites when searching about this Shamir person, it’s headed “Serious concerns about Israel Shamir”. There is also a link to an e-mail by Parry himself called ”The enemy of our enemy is not our friend”.

I suddenly remembered seeing a letter by Israel Shamir in the Spectator a few months ago, in response to this article by Melanie Phillips.

23rd Febuary 2002
“From Mr Israel Shamir

Sir: As an Israeli writer living in Jaffa, I witness the other side of Jewish-Christian relations carefully omitted by Miss Phillips. While the Hebrew Bible is respected in Europe, in Israel the New Testament is burned. While in Europe synagogues are lovingly restored and protected, in the Jewish state, churches are violated, ruined, shot at. While in order to avoid a hint of anti-Semitism, European society was thoroughly de-Christianised, in Jewish communities there is a strong triumphalist tendency. Recently, a mediaeval anti-Christian pamphlet Toledoth Yeshu was reprinted again in Israel, with the introduction stating, ‘The Jewish people always deeply disdained Christian faith, considered Christian dogma as a collection of incongruous foolishness and Christian morals as hypocritical lies.’

It is not a fringe lunacy: a great new hotel in Eilat was given the infamous name of King Herod, while the road leading to it was unambiguously called Zeevi Promenade, after the assassinated Israeli racist and self-avowed enemy of Christianity. Posters on the walls present pictures of Christian preachers, and call for their physical elimination. The immigrants of Jewish origin are deported if their belief in Christ is found out.

In the Holy Land, Christianity is very much on the defensive. The Palestinian Christian community shrinks daily in the iron grip of General Sharon. The believers cannot reach their shrines. Even President Arafat was not allowed to attend the Christmas Mass.

Miss Phillips, regrettably, does not mind generalisations and victimisation per se, as long as it is Muslims and Christians who are stereotyped and blamed: ‘Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, the director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, has been addressing Christian groups up and down the country on the implications of 11 September. When he suggests that there was a problem with aspects of Islam, he provokes uproar.’ Well, if he suggested there is a problem with aspects of Judaism, would she quote him with such empathy?

We Jews must take care of the beam in our eye before addressing the mote in our neighbour’s.

Israel Shamir
Jaffa, Israel”

This weird letter provoked two reactions:

2nd March 2002
“Book-burning

From J Peleg

Sir: Israel Shamir from Jaffa states that the New Testament is burnt in Israel (Letters, 23 February). This reads as though it is a regular occurrence in Israel. If I understand Mr Shamir correctly, he is referring to a single incident of New Testaments being distributed to young pupils in a Jewish religious school by Christian missionaries. The books were burnt by outraged school officials. The incident was widely publicised and criticised.

Although I live about 15 minutes away from Mr Shamir, I have not heard of the anti-Christian pamphlet he mentions, as I suppose most Jewish Israelis haven’t. It has probably been distributed only in certain ultra-religious communities. Nor have I ever seen posters depicting Christian preachers and calling for their physical elimination. Maybe Mr Shamir could direct me to these posters, so that I could see for myself.

[…]

J Peleg
Israel”

16th March 2002
“Christians in Israel

From Mr Bret Stephens

Sir: What an astonishing piece of writing you have published in the form of a letter (23 February) from Israel Shamir, Israel’s very own Noam Chomsky.

In Mr Shamir’s telling, Israel is a country in which Christians suffer routine and vicious persecution at the hands of Jews. For this, he cites as evidence the recent burning of a Hebrew-language version of the New Testament, the reissue of a mediaeval anti-Christian Jewish tract, the naming of a beach resort after King Herod, and so on.

All this is true enough: Israel has its share of kooks, quacks, bigots and other politically incorrect folk. Yet the plural of anecdote is not data; to draw the conclusions Mr Shamir does from these incidents is akin to suggesting that the US is a country where every homosexual lives in mortal peril because one gay man was murdered two years back in the Wyoming hinterland.

What Mr Shamir fails to mention is that during the past five years there have been no more than five violent anti-Christian incidents, all carried out by fringe elements within the ultra-Orthodox community. Mr Shamir also neglects the phenomenal popularity of Israel as a tourist destination among Christians. Last year, almost twice as many Christians as Jews visited Israel —not the statistic one would expect if Israel were the Middle East’s version of, say, Sudan.

The fact is that, by and large, Israel treats its 138,000-strong Christian minority tolerantly and equitably. No restrictions on freedom of worship are placed on the 30 or so Christian denominations represented here; Christian worship services are advertised in the Israeli press; US televangelist Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcast Network is piped in via satellite. True, as a small minority, Christians have little political clout in an ultra-political country, and those Israeli Christians who are also Arab have suffered discrimination on account of their ethnic identity. But this only puts Israel on a par with most other Western countries in its treatment of ethnic and religious minorities.

Contrast that with the status of Christians who live in Palestinian areas. Missionary activity is unheard of. There have been anti-Christian riots in Nazareth and quite recently in Ramallah. And the increasingly anti-secularist, pro-Islamic tone of Palestinian politics only makes matters more dangerous for Palestinian Christians. For Mr Shamir to suggest that ‘the iron grip of Sharon’ is what is causing Palestinian Christians to flee the Holy Land ignores the little elephant in the room known as Islamic Jihad.

To judge by the piece of puffery that is his website (www.israelshamir.net), Mr Shamir has made a fine career for himself as Israel’s most vitriolic critic this side of Baghdad. That Israel tolerates him is evidence enough of the country’s liberal credentials.

Bret Stephens
Jerusalem, Israel
Mr Stephens will be editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post from 1 April.”

So, there we have it. We’ve solved the weird and mysterious case of the elusive Israel Shamir. The verdict: A kook.

posted by Imshin 18:23

Carraig Daire has some interesting data about the Middle East and US patents. Via Occam’s Toothbrush.
posted by Imshin 21:39

Iraq
Ehud Ya’ari, top Israeli expert on the Arab world, just said something interesting on Israel TV’s Channel Two news. He pointed out that Saddam has not made one attempt to threaten Israel.

Of course! Why didn’t I notice this before? In 1990 and 1991 right up to the end of the ultimatum and the beginning of the offensive, Iraq threatened Israel over and over again. This time - not a peep.

While we're on the subject, here's an update on Saddam's dear son Uday.

posted by Imshin 21:06

You have to know me to believe this
I told you I was going on a three-day holiday to Beit Hillel on the Northern border on Sunday. I have known this for a fact for over a month. Bish has made plans, told his clients, and given his secretary time off. I took time off work. Yesterday I rang the friends we’re going with and who made the reservations in order to make last minute plans. Surprise, surprise! We’re going on Tuesday not Sunday!
posted by Imshin 20:31

Shabbat Shalom.
posted by Imshin 19:03

To give or not to give
Last summer I went on a guided tour of Yaffo at night. I grew up in Haifa, and I know a lot of stories and quite a bit of local history of that area from school and Scouts. But I only had very basic knowledge of life in Yaffo in the pre-Zionist era. At one point, the guide, in order to explain what the tourist, or Jewish pioneer met with when he got off the boat in Yaffo Port in days of old, he asked me, being the best English reader available, to read out loud a passage from the introduction to Thomas Cook’s tour book to the Holy Land, written in the 1870’s. In those days, apparently, sending your kids to beg from the foreign tourists was a major income source. Foreigners were literally pounced on by dirty urchins at every turn. If they gave them anything, they were likely to attract tens more.

It’s nothing like that nowadays, anywhere in Israel, but some things don’t change. If you encounter people begging in Israel, in areas frequented by tourists, I’d say they’re likely to be pros. I suppose times are tough for them at the moment, as they are for all those who make their living from tourists. Remember, however, that beggars in Jerusalem will be East Jerusalem dwellers, who are Israeli citizens and entitled to all the welfare that that entails. The idea suggested by this naive tourist, that a Palestinian beggar wouldn’t want to take money from Jews is quite amusing. Money has no smell, after all. Janice (from Where to by Israeli Products) sent me this, along with a similar story I had already read on Middle East Realities, suggesting it was the same woman and maybe a con job.

That’s the eternal question isn’t it? Are beggars for real?

I know there are hungry Palestinians, although the army insists enough food is getting through to areas that we’re holding. Of course, you have to have money to buy the food, and the rich corrupt Palestinian Authority isn’t sharing. It probably is worst for women who have no male provider, in the fiercely patriarchal Muslim society. The main problem seems to be in Gaza, where people have always been especially dependant on work in Israel, and now they just can’t get out.

Are the ones you see begging on the street in East Jerusalem, the worst off? I doubt it. And I wouldn’t necessarily believe anything they tell you. Am I right, Tal?

But who knows? I am not in their shoes, and I don’t feel I can judge them. I often give money to beggars, and regularly to street musicians (who I don’t see as beggars but as old-fashioned entertainers). However, I live in a Jewish area with no tourists and I rarely see Arab beggars.

Am I doing the right thing? Am I not encouraging them?

One woman who regularly begs near where I live is particularly aggressive and has been known to scare children into giving her their allowance. Needless to say, she never sees a penny from me, and I have nearly called the Police, a few times. She has an endless repertoire of hard luck stories, and no memory for faces.

I also refuse to give anything to the emaciated men who regularly beg at traffic lights. A. Because they are endangering themselves and the drivers, and B. Because they scare the hell out of me. I always imagine one of them sticking his hand into the car and strangling me.

So why do I give? I don’t know, guilt maybe, and compassion; maybe the hope that some of it will go to people who really need it, who really aren’t able to work and who are not entitled to any welfare, for some reason. It’s not as if I can’t do without the small amounts I give, after all. I suppose the fear that one day I will be in their shoes, plays a large part in it.

Elana, I don’t think you need to worry about the few shekels you give going to finance terrorists. I doubt if this could be a serious source of finance for a terrorist organization.


Ali Salem
LGF mentions a humorous article by Egyptian playwright Ali Salem, translated by MEMRI. Ali Salem visited Israel in 1994, bravely violating a boycott by Egyptian intellectuals and writers and wrote a book about his visit. I read the Hebrew translation of this book (which doesn’t seem to be available online) while in hospital after giving birth to my younger daughter in 1995 (I remember this because one of the doctors seemed more interested in the book than in my welfare). I found it exciting to read an account of what Israel looks like through Arab (non-Palestinian) eyes.

posted by Imshin 18:50

Explaining
This Chicago Sun Times’ editorial helps its readers understand why Israel is doing what it is doing. It helps put things in perspective for someone who isn’t here.

The Spoons Experience spotted it first.
posted by Imshin 23:08

Shooting at cars
“Tomorrow, or the next day, it will happen again, bet on it. After the many bullet-riddled cars we have seen, … seats covered with blood, … drivers and passengers killed or wounded … , it was apparently time for us to be on this side of the bullet, in the first person, first-hand”.

This is not what you think. I know it sounds like a first hand experience of a pigua (terrorist attack) on the roads of the West Bank. It could be. It sounds like it. But I’ve omitted some words. This is how it was written before my omissions:

“Tomorrow, or the next day, it will happen again, bet on it. After the many bullet-riddled cars we have seen, their seats covered with blood, their Palestinian drivers and passengers killed or wounded by soldiers for no reason, it was apparently time for us to be on this side of the bullet, in the first person, first-hand”.

This is Gideon Levi’s account of the incident in which he was shot at, while riding in an Israeli taxi in the West Bank town of Tul Karem.

Now, I’m not justifying the soldiers, although the car they were shooting at was driving in a “sterile” road in the middle of a wartime curfew. Levi did have a permit to be there. The army says there was a coordination failure and was apparently very apologetic. Putting myself in a soldier’s position, the situation does sound suspicious. After all, what would an Israeli taxi be doing there, in the middle of what Levi himself describes as “a curfew the likes of which we have never seen”? Levi says that he travels like this regularly. It’s actually a wonder it hasn’t happened before.

But this is still no justification. I think the army should check this, and all the other similar incidents, fix whatever needs fixing and do the utmost to keep these incidents to a minimum. I’ve never been under curfew, and I’m sure it’s scary as hell. I do feel sorry for ordinary Palestinians, even if they only have themselves to blame.

This is not my point here. My point is that he writes as if the opposite is not possible, that the opposite has never, ever happened. No Israelis have ever been shot driving along the road. Ayelet Dikstein was just making up the murder of her parents and little brother. And all the others too. There have never been “bullet-riddled” Israeli “cars, their seats covered with blood, their” Israeli “drivers and passengers killed or wounded by” Palestinian freedom fighters.

What am I doing? I’m writing as if it’s at all comparable; as if soldiers shooting at suspicious curfew violators, who could very well be up to no good, is the same as the coldblooded slaughter of whole families, with the sole intention of spreading terror and dread.

Levi sums up the article by asking some questions, among them: “Do the soldiers give any thought to the people on whom they fire, with the intent to kill, without prior warning, and thus offhandedly seal their fate? Maybe they are Israelis? Maybe they are Palestinians who got lost? Maybe the car is carrying a dying child to a hospital? Maybe there is a woman in labor in the car? Are they all to be condemned to automatic death?” My answer is: A lot of them probably do, especially the older ones, the reservists, the ones who have pregnant wives and little children waitng for them, worrying about them, at home.

And I ask: Do the Palestinian terrorists give any thought to the people on whom they fire, with the intent to kill, without prior warning, and thus offhandedly seal their fate? Maybe they are Israelis? Maybe they are Palestinians who got lost? Maybe the car is carrying a dying child to a hospital? Maybe there is a woman in labor in the car? Are they all to be condemned to automatic death?

No need to answer.

posted by Imshin 22:14

Bring on the windmills
Lynn B links to Michael Freund who ruminates on one of my favorite subjects: the Israeli left’s inability to see what's staring them in the face (and admit they may have been a teeny weeny bit wrong).

“Seemingly oblivious to their impending political obsolescence, (groups such as Peace Now and Gush Shalom) continue to soldier on, issuing press releases, preparing reports, and organizing demonstrations, all in the hopes of compelling Israel to make a deal with Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority”.

posted by Imshin 18:49

French Jews holiday in Eilat
Nikita found me the links to this wonderful show of solidarity. Where but in Blogistan would you see such give and take?


A hypothetical story
A woman, let’s say she’s Swedish, calls her husband on his cell phone, one morning. A strange man answers, she can’t quite place his accent. The woman assumes it’s a wrong number, it happens all the time, but she asks anyway, “Can I speak to Jorgen, please?” The man answers, “Jorgen? I just killed Jorgen.”

Sound familiar? Ah, but it wasn’t in Sweden, was it? And it wasn’t Jorgen, it was Yossi.

This story haunts me.

The Ramallah lynching was a turnng point for a lot of people. Naomi Ragen sent this on her e-mail list:

“We Are People Too

By Moshe Sheskin ( moshes7@netvision.net.il)

A number of years ago, during a stint in the Israel army reserves, I was
posted at one of the bridges over the Jordan River. It was my unit’s
responsibility to examine the travelers, coming from Jordan, prior to their
entry into Israel and the disputed territories in order to prevent
contraband from entering the country, especially detonators,. As our
commanding officer remarked, “Remember, if a bomb goes off due to your
negligence, it may also mean the life of your wife and children.” His
comments had an instantaneous effect upon us and although the temperature in
the Jordan Valley in August hovered around the 50 degree mark and hordes of
flies added to our discomfort, we meticulously examined each and every
traveler, their documents, baggage, personal effects and a body search when
necessary.

At one point, while going through the process, a young lady
shouted at me.

“We are people too you know”.

Her anger and discomfort were apparent but the words were penetrating so
that for many years, during my more liberal period, I couldn’t shake her cry
and my feeling at that time echoed her frustration and agony. Peace was a
necessity and I was convinced that it was within the realms of possibility,
at least within the next few years..

I firmly believed that we had reached a point in our
relationship with our Arab cousins where we no longer would control their
destiny but could live side by side, two separate people sharing a common
land and history. I felt that the agreements reached by the Palestinian
Authority through Arafat would finally bear fruit and that we really had a
partner for peace.

The cry of that young woman melted into nothingness in October
2000 when two of our soldiers, who had lost their way, were brutally
lynched. The elation by the populace and those who had actually perpetrated
this sadistic act has been permanently etched in my mind.

Thus the intafadah was born and with it, a change in my
attitude. No more did I hear that young women crying to me, “We are people
too”. Slowly but surely, after many months of increased conflict and with it
the increased loss of life in the civilian population, my liberalism and
socialist thinking gave way to a distinct hard line. I can no longer believe
in the ability of Arafat to make peace. I no longer believe in Arafat’s
commitment to peace evident by his refusal to honour signed agreements.
Arafat’s rhetoric only proves once more that the goal is not only that of a
Palestinian State but the complete destruction of Israel.

I lost faith in the Israeli Arabs, the majority of whom not only approve of
the intafadah but support it in many other ways. This is borne out by the
numerous articles and polls that were carried out over the last few years.
As citizens of Israel, I had expected a certain degree of loyalty, while
understanding their feelings and their frustration with respect to our
problem with their kinsmen. The action of our Arab members of the Knesset
only showed me that we had a ‘fifth column’ in our midst. Yes, it’s now my
turn to cry out,

“WE ARE PEOPLE TOO, YOU KNOW”

We don’t educate our children to hate.

We don’t revel in the death of innocent civilians.

We don’t shoot our guns in the air to celebrate an Arab death.

We don’t march in the streets to celebrate massacres.

We don’t have support of a United Nations with a built in Arab majority.

We don’t have the support of the Europeans and their anti-Semitic attitudes.

We don’t use humans with bombs attached to commit suicide and kill innocent
people.


What we do have is the will to survive and the will to live in peace. What
we want is to take our place in the Middle East as a recognized partner for
the sake of all. What we want is a democratic region where social and
economic conditions will be the right of every individual. When will this
happen? When Arabs will begin to live in peace with each other and recognize
the rights of the individual. Until then, we have no choice but to defend
ourselves and remain strong, not only against our immediate neighbors, but
if need be, against the world.

WE ARE PEOPLE TOO, YOU KNOW.”



More scary stuff
Ze’ev Schiff on the danger of a biological attack and Israel’s nuclear reaction; iodine capsules for those living near nuclear reactors; Israel will get Patriot missiles, if necessary (no offense, we’re very grateful, but they weren’t much good last time, were they? And there’s more about inoculation.

Don't worry, I know it's psychological warfare. That's why I'm not talking about it too much. Just linking.

posted by Imshin 18:15

Breaking news! or Update update:
They've unlocked the security room. It's empty and clean.

I can now bask in the glory of achievement. We've done it!

Now what will I write about?

posted by Imshin 17:53

Security room update
The house committee chairman is puzzled by our request of the key to the security room. "Does it seem logical to you", he asks (in writing), "to supply apartment occupants with the keys to the security rooms??"
Well, duh! I'm sure the cockroaches will appreciate the safe rooms when Saddam sends his missiles! Oh, and I can sure see Mr. Chairman rushing up and down 16 floors, opening all the security rooms, washing their floors and schlepping chairs to sit on, all with the sirens going.

Actually, I can see his point. He's worried they'll become store-rooms again. But if it wasn't for us, they'd still be store-rooms, right now, anyway. I get the feeling he doesn't like us very much. Well that's just too bad, isn't it?

posted by Imshin 16:55

The Jenin Massacre
And now the book (in three langauges, no less).
Order your copy now - Read all about the "ethnic cleansing" that was Jenin.

Thanks to Fred.
posted by Imshin 06:34

This time - Finland
Another Nordic sympatico.

Also care of Fred.
posted by Imshin 06:32

I thought there was peace in Northern Ireland
Oh, well. We thought there was peace here, too.

Thank you, Fred Lapides, for reminding me we're not the only place in the world!
posted by Imshin 06:28

I really have to get to bed or I'll be useless tomorrow
But I just have to say that Haaretz was so idiotic today (besides Ze'ev Schiff) that at one point I found myself pulling out my hair in disbelief and exasperation (luckily I've got quite a lot of it, hair that is). Part of it the "good" stuff isn't in the English online version. For instance, a student named Eli Shmueli who states that "the left (in Israel) is alive and kicking, but the media are seperating it from the citizens and preventing it's message from reaching the desperate, expectant public". Who gave this bozo a column? I say: Send him back to radical leftie university rags, where he obviously belongs (and throw away the key)!

Not as dramatic, but no less ludicrous is Gideon Samet, talking about "the blitz" Amram Mitzna created (there was a blitz and I missed it?) when he anounced his candidacy for Labor Party chairman. He thinks Mitzna was very wise to call for giving "another chance to negotiations with the Palestinians, without preconditions...".

I could continue, there's more, much more. But I really need some sleep.
posted by Imshin 00:31

I know, I know
Scandinavians expect more of us because they like us, blah, blah, blah.

Seriously though, I think there are some Scandinavians sympathetic to our cause. Remember the SiD/Radix thing, with Denmark a few months back? Well. Bish sent SiD a very nice letter, which went on their website, along with all the other 4000 or so letters they got, protesting the politically motivated cancelling of their Radix order. Amazingly, considering, he got quite a few lovely, warm e-mails from sympathetic Danes, reassuring him that Denmark is our friend and that SiD doesn't represent the Danish people and so on.

And let us not forget brave one-in-a-million Norwegian blogger Bjorn Staerk. (Sorry Bjorn, my keyboard doesn't seem to allow for the correct spelling of your name).

posted by Imshin 23:12

Israeli Guy seems to dislike northern Europeans
"...some countries, especially the Scandinavian ones, are so self-righteous its absurd. From their safe and civilized location in northern Europe they lecture us on what and how to do things. They consider themselves to be the most enlightened people on earth..."

posted by Imshin 18:22

Who said it won't make a difference?
From Haaretz: "At the same time, the Israel Defense Forces have information indicating that potential suicide bombers have refrained from carrying out their attacks for fear that their family's home will be destroyed, (the head of Military Intelligence, Major General Aharon) Ze'evi said. Five suicide bombings are known to have been prevented recently for this reason, he said.

In order to keep the identity of the families secret, there has also recently been a trend not to set up mourning tents outside the home of the family of a suicide bomber. The fear that the family will be banished from the West Bank to Gaza is a further deterrent, he said."

This doesn't bother NG and her brave gang of crusaders for "peace" at all costs, who, according to this Israeli (Hebrew) forum, are holed up in the home of the murderer that killed little Sinai Keinan and her grandmother, Ruth Peled, in Petach Tikva in May.


You probably won't be surprised to hear that some frequenters of the said forum think the army should go ahead and demolish the house anyway.

posted by Imshin 17:34

The media here is obsessing about the bio threat
Here are some articles and reports on the subject. I think the pressure is growing to innoculate for smallpox. Health Ministry workers have apparently already innoculated themselves, they say to produce antibodies for more innoculations, but we all know the real reason! (I bet they've innoculated their kids too).

I don't want to get into it, right now. Too stressful.

posted by Imshin 17:26

Barghouti in court
I heard him on the radio. What I heard was: in Hebrew he shouted (to the Press) "Only peace will bring security" over and over and in English he shouted "Two states for two peoples" a few times (I think "peoples" was the term he used). This was not all he said, but this was what he repeated, to make sure it was heard.

Different slogans for different listeners.
posted by Imshin 17:06

Holiday in the Galilee.

(This is a view of the Hermon in the winter)

Next week we're going to stay for two nights at guest rooms in Moshav Beit Hillel, which is in the northern part of the Hula Valley, near Kiryat Shmona. It's very near the Northern border, and I hope it keeps quiet. I don't really fancy sleeping in an air-raid shelter while on holiday!

But I'm pleased we're going. It's so lovely up North. The tourist industry is having a hard time up there, like everywhere else, and it's nice to be able to support them.

We're going on Sunday. I'll remind you before we go.
posted by Imshin 16:44

That's my James
Yesterday's Taranto is the greatest, as usual.
posted by Imshin 16:38

Life After Cal is back!
I'm so pleased. He's one of the first blogs I read regularly, when I started to understand this blog business, a few months back (is that all? It seems like forever!).

He adds about Dennis Ross (don't look for it on his blog, he e-mailed it to me): "We ... had Dennis Ross speak last month at a
conference we put on for college student activists. He
was very, very harsh when speaking about Arafat. But
at this point who cares? Like you said, this is a war.
There is no more "peace process" than there is a
"peace process" between the US and Al-Qaeda."
posted by Imshin 16:27

You’ll notice I have absolutely nothing to say about
which terrorist organization is prepared to stop blowing up which Jews under which conditions.

At this point, I just couldn’t care less.

posted by Imshin 23:17

ZionBlog puts me right
"mahi mahi and dolphin are the same thing - it is a fish not a
mammal. It is not the same thing as a porpoise.

Dolphin is/was the east coast name. Because of the confusion,
the west coast/Hawaiian name - mahi mahi has been taking over.

Here is a picture

This is a male with a square head. the females have a round
head. They are very good to eat."

Lets see if I'm getting this right. The male with the square head and the white T-shirt?

Erm, doesn't sound very kosher to me.

I think I'll pass. I'm feeling a bit queasy, as it is.

posted by Imshin 22:51

Dennis Ross – More hero worship
No American is identified with Oslo, in my mind, more than Dennis Ross (even more than Clinton, somehow). I think Mr. Ross’ ability to step back and look at the way the conflict has developed, as he has been doing, with such understanding and clarity, is truly admirable, amazing even.

In stark contrast, certain Israeli politicians (naming no names, but one of them doesn’t let anyone forget his PhD and wears glasses) refuse to move on and admit that the Oslo concept hasn’t been a success (this is a gross understatement. I should be sued for criminal misinformation, or something like that).

Although, Mr. Ross has a remarkable ability for seeing things as they are, he is a very practical person and can’t help looking for feasible solutions (rather annoying, really, when you're trying to win a war and not look for solutions right now). I suppose old habits die hard. This is what he was paid to do in the Clinton administration, after all. Actually this is admirable, as well.

I haven’t been blessed with this gift, sadly. I often get very fuzzy when I am called on to think up a clever solution to a many-faceted situation, a sort of cotton-wool-for-brains state of mind. So I can’t help but admire more analytic types (Bish is my true hero).

Hey, you! Yes, you! I heard that! No point in denying it. You were thinking “typical woman”, weren’t you? Well, watch it! I’ll have you know, this fuzzy brained female does regular target practice. And I’m a damn good shot!

Legal Statement: The last two sentences were definitely not intended as a threat of any kind. My client is simply stating a well-known fact.

posted by Imshin 21:53

A real breakthrough vis a vis the security room!
It's now locked! The house committee claims it's been cleared and demand their money. We want the key.

What can I say? A nudnik's work is never done.
posted by Imshin 21:18

Bernard Lewis
This caught Fred’s eye on Winds of Change. It’s a Financial Times (UK) interview with Bernard Lewis.

Being a vegetarian, I was rather shocked by his choice of lunch: “grilled mahi-mahi - a kind of dolphin - in a coconut, lime and lychee sauce”. I thought dolphins were endangered. Besides, isn’t eating a dolphin a form of cannibalism?

Lewis’ views are more to my liking, although Michael Steinberger manages to keep the interview light, and no serious discussion on Lewis’ field of expertise develops. What a waste.

Some interesting reflections, nevertheless: "As a specialist on Islam, I find myself disturbed by all the nonsense being talked, by both Muslims and non-Muslims. On the one hand, you have people who would have you believe that Islam is a bloodthirsty religion bent on world destruction. On the other hand, you have people telling us Islam is a religion of love and peace - rather like the Quakers, but less aggressive. The truth is in its usual place."

"There is a certain melancholy pleasure in having been right when so many people were wrong. I obviously didn't predict an atrocity like this, but I had been saying for a long time that something had gone radically wrong in the Arab world and that there was a growing hostility to the west that was likely to express itself violently."

"Asking Arafat to give up terrorism is like asking Tiger Woods to give up golf,"

"Imagine if the Ku Klux Klan or Aryan Nation obtained total control of Texas and had at its disposal all the oil revenues, and used this money to establish a network of well-endowed schools and colleges all over Christendom peddling their particular brand of Christianity. This is what the Saudis have done with Wahhabism. The oil money has enabled them to spread this fanatical, destructive form of Islam all over the Muslim world and among Muslims in the west. Without oil and the creation of the Saudi kingdom, Wahhabism would have remained a lunatic fringe in a marginal country."

Steinberger comments on Lewis’ latest book "What Went Wrong?": “Lewis presents a number of plausible explanations - including the lack of a secular politics and the cultural chauvinism (the conviction there was nothing to learn from the infidels)…”

Steinberger also says that Lewis “allows that it is the subjugation of women that is probably the single biggest cause of the problems besetting the Arabs”. Lewis explains: “You suppress one half of the population and you bring up the other half in this autocratic, hierarchical household. It is a culture of command and obedience.”


Not interesting
Today, Haifa Mayor and former general, Amram Mitzna, announced his intention to run against Ben Eliezer and Haim Ramon for the chair of the Labor Party.

He looks like a very nice man, but when you listen to what he has to say, it’s obvious he’s just Yossi Beilin with a beard and a military history.

The media have been making a big deal out of his candidacy because polls show he is much more popular than other Labor leaders (which doesn’t say much).

His candidacy is being backed by some business bigwigs. This won’t make him very popular with ordinary people, who are more likely to see “Fouad” Ben Eliezer as one of them. Both will lose in the elections, anyway, regardless.


Eilat instead of Riviera
I can’t find this anywhere (I admit I haven’t looked very far, I’m not feeling very well), but Israel Radio (Reshet Bet) reported today that 6000 French Jews have decided to spend their summer vacation in Eilat. The trip is being heavily subsidized by the Jewish Community in France. In Eilat, they’ve dubbed this sudden influx of foreign tourists “The French Revolution”, according to Reshet Bet.

posted by Imshin 20:41

We were thinking of going to Prague this summer
We probably would have been there around now, just in time for the floods. Sometimes Bish's dislike of flying can be a good thing.
posted by Imshin 17:11

It's up to nine
I don't know if anyone outside Israel has noticed that the number of fatalities in the Hebrew University massacre is up to nine.
posted by Imshin 16:42

Look what Fred sent me

A Jewish fishy picture or a fishy Jewish picture. I have just one question: where have all the women gone?

It goes quite nicely with my color scheme, don't you think?
posted by Imshin 23:30

I hope Sharon reads this.
Top Israeli expert on Arab affairs, Ehud Ya'ari, says Israel should not only keep up the pressure on the PA, but increase it. Read why.
posted by Imshin 22:54

Bret Stephens for Jerusalem Post on how the foreign media refuse to accept just how marginal the left has become in Israel.
posted by Imshin 22:13

A former militant smoker admits his mistake in this New York Times column, which appeared in Haaretz' printed edition today, translated into Hebrew. It's about "Hollywood's Responsibility for Smoking Deaths" and it's written by Joe Eszterhas, who wrote "Basic Instinct" and other movies. It's very sad.
posted by Imshin 21:42

Haaretz columnist Gideon Levi nearly got shot by mistake yesterday
By soldiers in the West Bank. Gideon Levi writes solely about Palestinian suffering.
posted by Imshin 19:52

“They used to hate us because we didn't have a state, Now they hate us because we have one” - Shimon Peres.
Yair Sheleg discusses European anti-Semitism in yesterday’s Haaretz. There are two views propagated in the article:

a. Anti-Israeli sentiment held by European leaders is not anti-Semitism and saying it is can be harmful to Israel.
b. The opposite (explained by none other than, surprise surprise, Dr. Yossi Beilin and our very own Foreign Minister Shimon Peres).

Some excerpts:

“Dr. Yossi Beilin, known for his close relations with Europe, surprisingly says that anti-Semitism exists there as a nearly permanent phenomenon. "Anti-Semitism in Europe is illegitimate in all European countries, but it exists beneath the surface everywhere. What makes me a passionate Zionist is, among other things, the fact regrettably that anti-Semitism has not passed from the world and is stronger than those who deny it exists. European leaders claim the last thing they think is anti-Semitic, and I believe them. But I don't rule out the possibility that people who grew up in a certain cultural climate are influenced by certain things even without wanting to be. The Durban Conference Against Racism obviously had expressions of anti-Semitism."

[…]

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres does not rule out the element of anti-Semitism as one factor in European attitudes toward Israel, but he is careful to ascribe it more to public opinion than to politicians…”


More on the same subject
Fred Lapides kindly sent me this delightful article about the anti-Semitism of the British left, which appeared in The City.


A horrible thought
He might very well live into his nineties and beyond (Arafat that is). That’s another twenty years, at least.

I don’t necessary agree with all Zvi Bar’el had to say in yesterday’s Haaretz (you’ll notice I’m a day late here. It’s because I worked late yesterday) but it’s an interesting analysis nonetheless.

This quote, from an Egyptian commentator, shows how the Arabs misjudge Israel, using their own values:
"Just imagine that tomorrow President Bush would call on the Israeli people to replace Sharon because he did not live up to his promises. He did not bring either peace or security, your economic situation is very bad and the social situation is wobbly. The entire Israeli society, including those who do not like Sharon, would mobilize against the American demand".
You just have to look at Gush Shalom’s antics to see that this is nonsense.

The same commentator also says:
“In our modern history there has never yet been a case in which an Arab leader of one country removed the Arab leader of another country, other than by war”. Which means Israel is on the right path.

In contrast
I always enjoy reading (and hearing) Dennis Ross, talking about the Middle East. He really knows the ins and outs of the conflict. Most important, maybe because he experienced it himself, being so deeply involved, he really seems to understand what has happened to the Israeli moderate left (myself included) since the summer of 2000. It’s very likely that he also experienced a great disappointment, as we did, when Camp David II failed. The disappointment grew into a deep collective depression, when we started to grasp that the Palestinian violence that began in September 2000 was not a popular uprising, but a planned and orchestrated military attack on Israel, using some particularly horrifying weapons. That depression has since given way to tremendous anger, on one hand, and a steely determination, on the other.

In view of this, I think Mr. Ross understands what many leaders and commentators outside Israel (and quite a few inside Israel, marginal as they may have become) seem to find negligible – that for the Israeli public to accept any sort of peace plan, the Palestinians will have to go to great lengths to prove that they are trustworthy.

This is a great essay of his, published in Foreign Affairs, and provided by Fred Lapides. In this essay, he refutes some assumptions, popularly cited when discussing the Middle East.

posted by Imshin 19:19

Thoughtless, selfish greed
The Histadrut, which is a sort of mutation of a trade union we have here (actually, it is, in effect, the only trade union we have here) held a three hour “warning” strike today, encompassing the public sector and parts of the private sector that have powerful worker organizations, like the banks. They want a cost-of-living wage adjustment for the workers.

They’re such horrid, grasping little politicians.

At this point in time, most people are grateful if they have jobs. If the Histadrut gets its way, a lot more people could lose theirs. Hundreds of teachers are being fired this year, as it is, which of course means it will be impossible for young teachers, fresh out of teachers’ seminars to get positions and that’s just in one area of the public sector. The private sector is much worse. Thousands have been fired from hi-tech companies, and they’re not getting rehired; factories and small enterprises are folding all the time. The government will have to finance these cost-of-living raises somehow. The workers aren’t stupid. They know this. They can see what’s happening. They can see their friends losing their jobs. They also are quite capable of making the connection between the economic situation and this war we’re in the middle of.

I work in the public sector, myself. I don’t think my salary has lost very much in value due to inflation, certainly not enough to justify a demand for a cost-of-living adjustment, at a time of national crisis, like this.

So what is this, if not nasty, conniving little politicians, who know they won’t get re-elected if they don’t make a fuss, every now and again, (and what better time than when the government is trying to get an unpopular budget through) and don’t care if they take the whole country down on the way?

We have a young girl at work, who has decided that she’s not happy, needs a change, and has given in her notice. No one can understand why she doesn't try to change position inside our large organization. I’m rather worried about her. This is not the time to give up a secure job. She could have something lined up, she’s not telling about, but good jobs are hard to come by these days. I know what you’re thinking – but working as a security guard pays very badly.


Talking about security guards
I worked till 10pm last night, and coming out of work, I walked passed a nearby bar. The entrance to this place was completely blocked by this enormous guy, wearing a bright yellow T-shirt and sitting on a high bar chair. By blocked, I mean blocked. In order to let anyone in, he would have had to get up and move his chair. And he was really big.

I would have liked to see a terrorist try to get round this guy! Well, maybe not.

posted by Imshin 17:27

More about Alex Averbukh, Israeli pole vaulter who won the gold medal at European Championships in Munich.

"Coming a day before a memorial service for the victims of the September 5 attack by Palestinians at the 1972 Olympics that resulted in the death of 11 Israeli athletes, Averbukh's triumph was highly emotional, and the 27-year-old athlete, draped in the Israeli flag, fought back the tears as the national anthem was played to a packed house."
posted by Imshin 13:08

Haaretz says "PA won't facilitate West Bank expulsions". Ah, shucks! What a disappointment! Just when we were depending on them! I guess we'll have to go ahead and do it without their help.
posted by Imshin 12:38

Fair enough. I want that too, if humanly possible, as do most Israelis.

By the way, Mr. Jewish, Palestinians killing Jews doesn't bother you?
posted by Imshin 12:17

"Not in my name"
Letter in today’s Haaretz English internet edition:

"It is with great astonishment that I viewed a whole group of politically correct Jews acting like morons on television tonight. On the local news here in Chicago I saw a group calling themselves Not In My Name (www.nimn.org) stating that Israelis were dying because of Ariel Sharon's own policies.

I am quite certain they feel they are taking a brave stand with this controversial view. The reality, however, is that they are apologists opposed to Israel's acting in self-defense in the face of murderous attacks by an enemy that does not recognize its right to exist.

They get on television and state that Israel brings murder on itself by being too tough. By that same logic, the Holocaust could be blamed on the Jews for not assimilating properly. The same reasoning has fallen on deaf ears when people have criticized United States foreign policy for bringing on the 9/11 attacks. Sheer idiocy. Their organization does not speak in my name. It is certainly not a mainstream view here.

I am a Chicago Jew and I am appalled by the short-sightedness of this criticism. The whole argument, indeed the whole organization, is predicated on the false argument that Israel is acting in their name. Israel never said it was acting in anyone's name except Israel's.

They took it upon themselves to issue a policy position that gives aid and comfort to the enemy of a country that is not theirs. If these Not In My Name Jews were really brave they would renounce their ancestral right to become Israeli citizens. The fact that they don't, but instead choose to take cheap shots from the safety of their suburban Chicago perches speaks volumes.

Steven Pollack

Glencoe, IL"

Maybe we could put them in touch with the British chapter, who could explain how to go about it (renouncing... and so on).

Actually, I took a peek at their website. They really do believe they're helping everyone out, Israel as much as the Palestinians. My best advice to them: Go read Ehud Ya'ari. I can't emphasize enough that this guy knows what he's talking about.

posted by Imshin 12:01

Don’t want to be Israeli! Go figure.
The Jerusalem Post has picked up the story about those 45 British Jews who would rather not be Israelis and has the reaction of Neville Nagler, director-general of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who hopes “that they never have cause to regret the renunciation of their right to live in Israel.”

You know, I wonder about these people. They seem to be living in a time warp. Maybe they’re right to “disagree with the notion that Zionist emigration to Israel is any kind of 'solution' for Diaspora Jews, anti-Semitism, or racism.” After all, Jews were doing just great beforehand, especially in the wonderfully enlightened Western Europe. But that’s all water under the bridge.

Right now there are over five million Jewish “victims” of that mistaken notion, living in Israel, seeing it as their home, many of them third and fourth generation Israelis, many of them speaking no other language but Hebrew. A large percentage of these “victims” of that mistaken notion were forced to escape their homes in Arab countries. Together these “victims” of that mistaken notion, no matter which country they were forced out of (call me strange but I also see Holocaust survivors as having been forced out), have built a home and a life, without having to apologize for being different, for the first time in two thousand years (and you know, whatever they say, Jews in Arab countries had to keep their heads down too).

So what next? Oops, sorry! Mistaken notion! It’s back to Libya, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Poland (Poland??? Motti, what did you do with that Polish dictionary, your Great-Great-Uncle Yankel gave your father?) and so on, for you lot. Oh, and girls, make sure to exchange that belly-button ring for a nice big piece of black material, covering everything but your eyes (it could prove helpful if you’re lucky enough to miss the massacre at Teheran Airport).

posted by Imshin 11:09

About Western Europe's courting of fundementalist Islam
The current issue of the Partisan Review has an informative essay about ”Tolerating Intolerance: The Challenge of Fundamentalist Islam in Western Europe” by Bruce Bawer.

Some “amusing” passages:
“In 1999, for example, the Guardian described a student conference on "Islamophobia" at King’s College, London, at which a speaker began by announcing politely, "I am a gay Muslim." That effectively ended his presentation: "For members of the majority Muslim audience, the expression was enough to ignite the most passionate opposition. Some people began to shout, while others came raging down to confront the speaker. Security was called and the conference came to a premature end."

[…]

Then, in October 1999, the Shari’ah Court of the U.K. declared a fatwa against Terence McNally, who in his play Corpus Christi had depicted Jesus Christ as gay. (In Islam, Jesus is counted among the prophets.) Signing the death order, judge Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammed emphasized the concept of honor, charging that the Church of England, by failing to take action against McNally, had "neglected the honour of the Virgin Mary and Jesus." The Daily Telegraph reported that according to the sheikh, "Islamic law states that Mr. McNally can only escape the fatwa by becoming a Muslim. . . . If he simply repents he would still be executed, but his family would be cared for by the Islamic state carrying out the sentence and he could be buried in a Muslim graveyard."

[…]

Among Muslims in Europe, it’s quite common for young people to be compelled by their parents to accept spouses they don’t want. Some women manage to escape these situations and seek protection in women’s shelters. In 1999 the Guardian published an article by Faisal Bodi, a British Muslim who complained about these shelters … "Refuges tear apart our families. Once a girl has walked in through their door, they do their best to stop her ever returning home. That is at odds with the Islamic impulse to maintain the integrity of the family."

[…]

Then, in September 2001 (only five days, in fact, before the destruction of the World Trade Center), the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet reported that 65 percent of rapes of Norwegian women were performed by "non-Western" immigrants–a category that, in Norway, consists mostly of Muslims. The article quoted a professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo (who was described as having "lived for many years in Muslim countries") as saying that "Norwegian women must take their share of responsibility for these rapes" because Muslim men found their manner of dress provocative. One reason for the high number of rapes by Muslims, explained the professor, was that in their native countries "rape is scarcely punished," since Muslims "believe that it is women who are responsible for rape." The professor’s conclusion was not that Muslim men living in the West needed to adjust to Western norms, but the exact opposite: "Norwegian women must realize that we live in a multicultural society and adapt themselves to it."”

Fred Lapides noticed this one too. Doesn't the girl read anything by herself?
posted by Imshin 10:23

Not a healthy society
Michael Oren, in WSJ, looks at Palestinians’ reactions to Israeli losses in comparison to Israelis’ reactions to Palestinian losses.

posted by Imshin 08:42

Not a Fish
A Frankenfish. Brrrr.
posted by Imshin 08:23

Fred has found an amusing site called “Jews for Allah”
“I had always been aware of Jews for Jesus but this is a new angle!” He says.

The site offers Islam as the divine completion of Judaism and explains why Israel is not a Jewish state. Their motto is “Ethnically Jewish + Religiously Muslim = Jews for Allah” and (this is especially sagacious) “Shalom + Salam = Peace”.

If you understand Hebrew go see the Hebrew page. They translated it with a translation program and it is hilarious.

posted by Imshin 07:41

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