Jen’s new blog What's Brewing is looking good.
posted by Imshin 23:04

IMAO
Great blog.
posted by Imshin 21:27

This is good:
Ilana of Inner Balance links to “10 Tips on Writing the Living Web” on her Hebrew blog. I love reading tips about writing. (Probably because I'm a struggling amateur and a new one at that).
posted by Imshin 21:01

Seen on Facts Of Israel. I know it's nothing new, but I couldn't resist that little choochy face on the right.

(I've no idea what choochy is, it just came out. Obviously some ancient baby talk memory. All mothers know what utter drivel comes out when we talk to our babies. Who knows where it comes from?).

Update: "Just to remind you that when you were a baby your Mum used to call you Choochy face (and your brother and sister) so that's where you remember it from.
Luv Mum"

It's always helpful when your parents are the first to read your blog.

posted by Imshin 20:27

If only this were true!
An Irish peace activist with the unlikely name of Sallah Afifi says, in a letter he writes from Ramle prison (awaiting deportation): “Despite the exclusive media coverage of aggressive Palestinian actions, the majority of people I have met in the West Bank are crying out for a peaceful solution to the occupation”.

Why do I only ever read this in sites written by Western or Israeli pro-Palestinian activists, many of whom speak no Arabic and therefore don’t know what’s really being said around them in Palestinian circles? Why is there no sign of this yearning for a peaceful solution on Palestinian television? Why is it not reflected in Palestinian newspapers? (Besides a solitary petition that was apparently widely mocked?) Or in Palestinian opinion polls?

Gaza and Jericho are still under self rule, why are there no demonstrations in those cities calling for a cessation of Palestinian hostilities and a demand for a return to negotiations?

He also says “Many soldiers I have encountered have the shame of their actions etched on their faces. They go as far as to motion me to one side, away from superiors and admit they realise they are committing senseless acts of harassment and worse. […] Soldiers claim they have no choice. One whispered, “I just want to go home.” It is not the short prison sentence they seem to fear for refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories but being ostracized from family and friends. At times I felt they demanded forgiveness from me to help them absolve themselves from the crimes they commit. I found it impossible to respond as they carry out their orders with deadly accuracy”.

Sorry, don’t believe it. He’s wishful thinking here, trying to read into it things that aren’t there. Of course, the soldier would rather go home. What the soldier meant was I’m just doing my job quit bugging me. He felt they were “demanding forgiveness”, they were probably just treating him politely. “Deadly accuracy”? Like the terrorists? That “deadly”?

A few months ago, in the middle of “Defensive Shield”, which was a very stressful period for Israelis, you’ll remember, I happened to watch some young combat soldiers who were guarding an army facility for a special event. I was tremendously impressed by their dedication, responsibility and discipline. They knew why they were there and they believed in what they were doing.

I’d say the great majority of soldiers and policemen in roadblocks know that they are protecting their loved ones from indiscriminate mass murderers. They know their being there gives the terrorists a hard time by making it much more difficult to get perpetrators and explosives through to Jewish areas. They know the inconvenience they are causing civilians will probably save Israeli lives.

"Peace" activists will just have to keep on fantasizing that they see widespread dissent where it just isn't to be found.

posted by Imshin 18:34

Nazism from a young German’s 1939 point of view.
Sebastian Haffner’s bestseller “Defying Hitler”, written in 1939 and published posthumously in 1999 has been translated into English. Gabriel Schonfeld reviews it for the New York Times Book Review.

Haffner tells of the rise of Nazism in Germany from the viewpoint of a young German coming of age in Berlin. The book, which was never meant to be published, appears to challenge present-day historians’ claims regarding what the Nazis had in store for the Jews. “Nazi anti-Semitism was something else; if anything, it tended to alarm rather than attract the masses. This is hardly to say that it was not central to the Nazi program. It was. And it came complete with a determination, fully visible to Haffner already in the late 1930's, to ''exterminate'' the Jews, ''an intention they made no secret of.'' These words are all the more remarkable when one considers how many historians continue to insist today that the Nazi genocide was conceived only after the experience of total war had ''radicalized'' Hitler and his henchmen”.

posted by Imshin 12:14

Is the U.S. in on this?
Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram suggests that Saddam Hussein plans to flee to Russia in the event of the U.S. toppling his regime. Gala Nasser also has the latest on Iraqi preparation for the war.
posted by Imshin 10:58

As with executed Nazis.
This letter in the Washington Post suggests how to deal with the 9/11 perpetrators’ remains.
posted by Imshin 10:29

Arab terrorism – any excuse will do.
Nissan Ratzlav-Katz on National Review Online reminds us that Arab terrorism against the Jews really started in 1921, 27 years before 1948, 46 years before the 1967 six-day-war. Yesterday was the anniversary of the commencement of the 1929 massacres that claimed 133 Jewish lives and injured over 333.
posted by Imshin 09:55

Hee hee.
“Someone has estimated that half a million tons of carbon dioxide will be produced by the 60,000 delegates flying into Johannesburg for the great summit on our environment and kindred matters which opens on Monday,” according to this London Telegraph editorial

South Africa does not have a good record on world summits. Maybe they should stop having them.

posted by Imshin 08:42

Israel Air force commander – 1; Nitpicking journalist – 0
Haaretz journalist, Vered Halevi-Barzilai, tries to pick on Israel Air Force chief, Major General Dan Halutz. He puts things straight, decisively, with regard to killing Shehadeh, leftist activists, nitpicking journalists and more. In short, one hell of a guy.

Nitpicking journalist: "If you had known in advance that there were 15 or 17 people in the building (Shehadeh was in), including children, would you still have ordered the bombing to go ahead?"

Major General Dan Halutz: "I am not willing to answer a question like that, and certainly not to cite numbers. I am ready to discuss the question of principle: Is there a situation in which it is legitimate to strike at a terrorist when you know that the operation will exact a price in the form of casualties among civilians and uninvolved people?"

Nitpicking journalist: "And what is your reply?"

Major General Dan Halutz: "I have no doubt about it. The reply is positive. Against a person who has perpetrated, or who is known for certain to have a plan for what is called mega-terrorism, my reply is categorical: yes. How many people? I don't know. I will be able to give that answer at the moment of truth. Let's go back, to the suicide bombing in the Park Hotel in Netanya on the eve of Passover. Let's say we would have known about this terrorist in advance and would have trapped him in his house - would it have been legitimate to strike at him even if there were other people there? My answer is yes. How many people? I don't know and I am not ready to state a number. I repeat again that I am very sorry about innocent children who are killed. But anyone who sets out to murder children in Israel has to take into account that children are liable to be killed in his surroundings.

"And to those who jump up and judge us, I say: I feel that I am the moral compass and conscience of the nation of Israel no less and perhaps even more than those who purport to be that. Because on the basis of what criteria, exactly, do they have the temerity to point an accusing finger at me? The criteria of which army? The French? The German? The Russian? The Syrian? The Chinese? The American? OK, let's examine them one by one and place ourselves in a test of moral armies. I can give you hundreds and thousands of examples. There is no more moral army than the IDF."

(My emphasis).

posted by Imshin 08:20

This British embargo is a laugh.
R.T., who commanded a centurion tank for a while in the early 80's, says it was a standing joke that the centurions were so completely modified by the IDF that it would be very difficult to find any British parts in them, besides maybe a bolt or two.

If the British don't sell us ejection seats for airplanes, I guess we'll just have to do what we often had to do in the past in similar situations -- make our own. We might even end up making them better, and take over the market!

posted by Imshin 23:31

Here's some of the info about the Dahaf Institute (Mina Tzemach) poll I couldn't be bothered to translate from Yediot Aharonot.
posted by Imshin 23:26

More about not knowing squat about Israeli politics.
I live in Israel and I have the vote. I have never missed a national or municipal election since 1983. In my daily life, I am surrounded by people who also live in Israel, and also have the vote. I even sometimes talk to them, on the rare occasions I leave my computer. Oh, and I regularly read Israeli newspapers. I even understand them quite well, up to a point. I admit I get stuck when it gets too technical on the business pages. That’s it. I don’t claim to know squat about Israeli politics. What I write are my personal views and feelings, and sometimes views and feelings of people I know. I am in no way a political commentator. If you want quality political commentary go read Haaretz.

Just don’t be surprised when the results of the elections aren’t quite what reading Haaretz led you to expect.

posted by Imshin 22:07

Shabbat Shalom.
posted by Imshin 19:19

It has been suggested that I might not know squat about Israeli politics. This is very true. Beware what you read on the net! Make sure to warn your children about me!

So, especially for all the clever clogs that think they see a leftward swing among Israeli electorate (or that such a swing is just waiting for the right candidate):
Today’s Yediot Aharonot has the latest poll conducted by the Dahaf Institute and Dr. Mina Tzemach. Sever Plotzker writes that “even under a powerful electronic microscope you won’t find signs of a dovish swing in Israeli public opinion. Quite the contrary. The hawkishness is hardening, the distrust of Palestinians is sweeping. According to the poll, about two thirds of Israelis today negate the “Clinton Outline” laid on Barak and Arafat’s tables in Camp David as a basis for political talks with the Palestinians. With hindsight, 67% think the Oslo Accords have harmed the State of Israel; 54% are willing for fewer concessions than in the past.

The move towards hawkish views is strategic, not tactic. The Israeli public’s trust in the Palestinian side’s willingness to live with us in peace has collapsed, with any agreement, in any border. The causes of this were the failure of the Camp David and Taba talks and two years of terrorism. Before Camp David at least 66% of Israeli Jews believed that it was possible to end the conflict by negotiation and an agreement. Today, it’s doubtful that a fifth of the Jewish public would put its trust in agreements.

From here stems the fatalistic approach to the continuation of the conflict. Although the majority feels positively about the “Gaza and Bethlehem” understandings, the majority doesn’t see them as very important. 63% of Israelis don’t see them as a meaningful step towards the end of the Intifada. Only 27% of Israelis expect to see a dwindling of the terror and any binding agreement in the coming six months; all the others expect the “situation” to stay as it is or worsen. Only a third care which Palestinians the Israelis engage in talks with, two thirds of Israelis are just as inclined not to believe Arafat, his heirs and any alternative Palestinian leadership, whoever they may be. Therefore, the great majority says to the government: Please, leave Arafat where he is and don’t exile him to faraway Sudan. With Arafat in his Ramallah offices or in a tent in an African desert, nothing will change for the better, anyway.

[…]

Based on the findings, a new definition of political “left” and “right” is necessary. The division between the camps is no longer about the future of the territories. The division is about the future of the relations. Few Israelis still believe in the vision of “the entire Land of Israel”, or even of the land of Israel including most of the settlements. But even less Israelis believe in the possibility of good neighborly relations, or at least reasonable “live and let live” relations, with the Palestinians.

[…]

The Israeli disappointment in the Palestinians will not pass without an immense Palestinian effort. The ball is in their pitch: Israeli public opinion is waiting for a ruling of Palestinian civilian society against terrorism and for peaceful coexistence. The great majority of Israelis feel that the Palestinians are just holding steadfastly to negating Israel and supporting terrorism. Therefore, there is no one to talk to and nothing to talk about. We will do just what is good for us; if we decide to withdraw and separate, we will do it because of us, and not because of them.

What will cause the Israelis to change their views towards the Palestinians? The answer exists, and it is given. We want to see the Palestinian “Kikar Malkhei Yisrael” (now renamed Kikar Rabin, Kikar Malkhei Yisrael is the main square in Tel Aviv, where large demonstrations are held. This is where many demonstrations opposing government policy have been held over the years, such as the famous demonstration calling for a commission of inquiry into the Sabra and Shatila massacres, committed by Christian Falangists in 1982, during the Lebanon war): Following a bloody terrorist attack in Tel Aviv or in Jerusalem, we expect tens of thousands of Palestinians to demonstrate against the Hamas and the (Islamic) Jihad. We expect the Palestinian Authority to arrest the terror activists, even if it means civil war, because there is no other way to destroy this affliction and extend an arm towards us (in peace). We are waiting to find any expression of a dovish-compromising stand in the Palestinian Media: Fiery articles against the policy of terrorism, against the Intifada in its present incarnation, against the murder of Jews and for compromise, peace and relinquishing the aspiration of “return”.

Without all these things, and given the terrorism, the Israeli public will remain hostile to any agreement and any movement towards the Palestinians that will be perceived as weakness.”

My translation.

posted by Imshin 15:48

At last it's official!

What is your Alter-Ego
Personality?

posted by Imshin 13:57

Hits
Miki B suggests "Maybe the reason your hits didn't drop much ... is we were all checking you out *just in case* you wrote something new." Isn't that nice? She suggests I add a "comments" capacity. I'll probably get round to it sometime. I have it in mind.
posted by Imshin 11:13

Haaretz says Lebanon is planning to increase pumping from Hatzbani River source springs.
Hatzbani is the Arabic name of the Snir River, which we visited on Wednesday. It apparently supplies about one-quarter of the water that flows into the Jordan River.

This shows me up for saying yesterday that the Snir was one of the rivers the Syrians attempted to divert. It seems I was mistaken. Sorry.

Actually, now I think about it, it was rather a silly thing to write. I was tired. Never blog when you're tired.

Never blog when you're tired??? I might as well write: Never blog! We-ell, I'm exaggerating. Maybe: Hardly ever blog or Occasionally blog. OK, you get the gist. I'm only joking Mum, I always sleep at least eight hours a night.

posted by Imshin 09:37

Jerusalem Post says that according to Al-Hiyyat Abu Nidal was behind the Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie.
posted by Imshin 08:59

Plans to demolish homes of the Jerusalem terrorists and strip them of their Israeli citizenship.
posted by Imshin 08:55

Look at these gorgeous kids in their little suits.

These are the first new immigrants from Yemen to Israel this year. The story says (Hebrew link) they came, with their parents and younger brother on a special flight from a country neighboring on Israel. It also says they've already been here on visits a few times, staying with relatives.
posted by Imshin 08:42

As I was saying, heaven.
My friend, A., and I spent most of Tuesday morning in a wayside cafe, trying to keep our four kids amused, while our husbands returned back home. Our friends’ car was heating up, so they went to change cars. Needless to say, we didn’t reach Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) that day. It had to wait for today, on the way back.

The late start only made the the place we were staying seem even more heavenly when we finally got there. The photos in this link don’t do it any justice. The bushes and trees surrounding the seven little villas this place offers have grown, since the photos were taken. The villas are now hiding among dense vegetation. There are little winding paths between the villas and a bubbling stream runs throughout. The villas are situated in a plum orchard and delicious ripe plums were literally falling into our hands. As is often the case in Israel, the proprietor turned out to have been a school friend of A.’s.

Wednesday found us in the waters of the nearby Snir River. This is one of the sources of the Jordan River that the Syrians tried to divert in the Sixties. The little river’s ice cold water and strong flow are very refreshing on a hot summer’s day. We went down the river to where it meets the Dan River. At the meeting point there is an overlooking fish restaurant. We just got out of the river, with our backpacks and wet clothes and sat down for a delicious meal (we’re vegetarians but A. and D. said the fish was very good).

In the afternoon, after a rest, we took the kids to ride horses in nearby moshav She’ar Yeshuv, where seventy-three army officers and soldiers were killed, five years ago, when two air force helicopters collided in the worst military accident Israel has ever seen. One of those killed had been in my year at school.

A funny thing happened while we were in the waters of the Snir. Bish and I both heard two booms. They were barely audible over the sound of the water. A. and her husband, D., didn’t seem to hear anything, and we didn’t tell them so as not to frighten them. We weren’t sure what it was. Maybe ant-aircraft. The Hizbullah sometimes target Israeli civilian planes in the area. It could also have been Israel firing on the Hizbullah. Whatever it was, it sounded quite far away. If Bish hadn’t heard it, too, I would have thought I’d imagined it.

But it didn’t bother us, or any of the many other people having a lovely time in the beautifully clear, cold water, surrounded by the green river vegetation, that fresh, watery smell in the air. It didn’t feel like it had anything to do with us at all.

posted by Imshin 21:10

I’m back from three days in heaven
More about it when I’ve rested.

I must just say that I was surprised to see my hits hadn’t dropped as much as I’d expected, probably because Renata at Balagan linked to me. She has recently made Aliyah (immigrated to Israel) from Brazil, and her blog is a pleasure to read. It’s so fresh and full of enthusiasm. I hope she will be very happy here. We need sunny people like her.

posted by Imshin 20:12

Well, goodbye.
Everyone will be up soon, and we'll be on our way up north to Beit Hillel. We're planning to stop off at the Sea of Galilee on the way.

I haven't packed yet (I hear my mother gasping in shock), so I'll just go and throw a few things in a bag. By the way, in case you were worried about the fuel strike, it seems there's not a problem in the north of the country because they get their fuel directly from the oil refinery in Haifa (or something to that effect).

I'll probably be back and posting on Thursday. See you all then.
posted by Imshin 07:52

"He who controls the past controls the present." George Orwell, 1984.
GedankenPundit points out “the emergence of a new device on the modern battlefield: the repeal of history used as a weapon of war”.

“Most people believe Israel started the many wars it has fought with its neighbors”, he explains, “Few know that Israelis have been victims of terror attacks since long before 1967, or that Israel accepted the original 1948 UN Partition Plan while the Arab nations rejected it, or that the Palestinian refugees were displaced by wars started by Arabs, not expelled from their homes by Israel. Perhaps these myths are perpetuated by the ready access to information that the modern age has brought us; it has become so easy to obtain information that most people don't bother checking for corroborating reports from multiple sources. On the other hand, many people who should know better, such as university professors, also have fallen for the revisionist view of history”.

posted by Imshin 07:36

Another chance, yet again.
So we’re out of Bethlehem, encircling the town. Hamas and Islamic Jihad both pledge to continue the carnage. The PA is getting yet another chance to put things in order. Let’s hope they do it, this time.

Don’t laugh. I really hope they will.

Foreign press - still busy, lowering the numbers of Israeli dead. Reuters has it at 588. I think they’re loath to see it pass 600. Here are the true statistics, again.

posted by Imshin 07:10

Haaretz update: "Four people killed near Yeruham after vehicles they were travelling in crashed into a camel (Israel Radio)".

This sounds like a joke, but it isn't funny. Yeruham is near Dimona, in the Negev desert in the South of Israel. You know how often we travel down to Mitzpe Ramon, which is a bit further South. We're always amused by the signposts warning us of camels and sometimes deer (they have cute drawings of a camel or a deer. At one place, literally in the middle of nowhere, desert all around, there is a signpost warning of camel crossing and immediately afterwards, children crossing). But apparently there have been seven road accidents this year, caused by camels wandering into the road at night.

Like crazy Israeli drivers aren't enough!

posted by Imshin 00:15

Look what I just found!
Don't miss the amazing photos in the gallery. Needless to say, Bish, the girls and me will not be doing this up north tomorrow!

posted by Imshin 22:54

It's all song and dance and racist thuggery around here
according to an anti-Israel 15 minute cartoon-musical that will be shown at the Edinburgh international film festival. Made by an Israeli, of course, who else?
posted by Imshin 22:50

Strange statistics.
Get a load of this International Herald Tribune report. Suicide bombers are giving the Palestinians an edge, they say. The most potent weapon, they say. Keep up the good work, they sa… well, they don’t actually say that, but I got the feeling.

And get this: they say between 1,400 and 1,705 Palestinians have been estimated killed in the last 23 months (funny number, where did those 5 come from if it’s an estimate?) and between 563 and 610 Israelis have been killed. Even funnier (and I don't mean funny ha ha). Where did they get the Israeli numbers? We know exactly how many Israelis have been killed. Where does this 563 come from? Who aren’t they counting??? The soldiers? The settlers? The under-sevens? What is this? They say their estimates come from human rights organizations, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (those are the ones who smuggle arms in their ambulances) and the Israeli government. I don’t know that human rights organizations ever gave a damn about our dead, so maybe they’re getting the numbers of Israeli dead from the Red Crescent.

Here are the official Israeli statistics on Israeli casualties from 9/29/00 till the present day (it was updated yesterday).

posted by Imshin 22:41

An interview with Herbert Lom in the Guardian
About his part in the Ladykillers. (Have I mentioned it's one of my favorites?) Did someone die? Why are they talking about this movie all the time?
posted by Imshin 22:09

Some nicer stuff than dead terrorists:
According to today’s Haaretz “The United Jewish Communities (UJC) umbrella organization has donated $20 million to bolster security at educational institutions in Israel.” That’s nice. Thank you.

Also in Haaretz: Israel is sending aid to the Czech Republic to help the country deal with the recent severe flooding there.

posted by Imshin 17:25

Body of top Palestinian Nasty Abu Nidal
has apparently been found in a Baghdad apartment. He has been suffering from a severe illness for a few years now and it seems he shot himself. Here are a few of the many links to this guy enlightening us about his and his organization’s extreme nastiness. No one seems to have liked him, not even the Palestinians. I can't think why. People can be so mean. Oh, I’m sure IndyMedia Israel will have something nice to say in his memory.

I'll just have a look at the Arab media sites online to see if they're blaming his death on the Mossad yet. Nope, can't see anything yet.

Surprise, surprise! Reuters is calling him a Guerilla Chief!

Update: It has been reported that there were more than one gun wound. How did he manage that??? Israel TV channel one Arab affairs expert, Oded Granot, says Abu Nidal has been pronounced dead a few times before. I actually saw as much when I was googling. However, Granot commented that this time Abu Nidal seems more dead than on the previous occasions.
posted by Imshin 17:06

Haganah arms cache discovered after 54 years.
Another article Haaretz didn’t think would interest its English speaking readers:
A 15-year-old boy dug a flowerbed in Kibbutz Sdot Yam – and discovered a Haganah arms cache (which was called a slik) from the end of the British mandate. He was planning to turn a desolate corner at the back of the house dedicated to Hannah Senesh (Jewish poet and fighter. She made her home in the fledgling Kibbutz Sdot Yam before returning to her native Hungary to help Jews escape the Nazis, who captured and killed her) into a flowering garden. He hadn’t dug very far when he hit metal.

A Police sapper brought up an elaborate cache made out of two barrels, professionally galvanized against rust, 3m down. It contained some handguns, some Sten machine guns; some German “MG 34” machine guns (state of the art at the time); and some Tommy guns. Most of the weapons were in good shape and serviceable. At the time, the “sliks” were necessary, because the British would not allow the Jews in Palestine to arm themselves, besides the very minimum provided to Jewish policemen and Jewish British army soldiers, but without weapons they couldn’t protect themselves effectively against the Arabs.

Someone remembered Yehuda Michaeli, who was the “sliker” (responsible for concealing weapons), who was rather sad to see his slik had been discovered. He was asked if he knew about it and he said angrily “Of course!” Later, he explained that there where a few “sliks” that he and his partner Adi Zilberg (who has since passed away) prepared in their metal workshop and concealed, but refused to say how many. There were no maps, and they were the only ones who knew were they were. This particular “slik” was buried right before the establishment of the State of Israel, as a reserve to be used in an emergency, during the War of Independence.

Michaeli told no one of where the “sliks” where, not his wife, nor his children, fighters in elite army units. When asked why he never breathed a word, for 54 years, he said, “I am a “sliker”, I was sworn to secrecy, how could I tell?”


I was very taken with Hannah Senesh's story when I was growing up, and I read her diaries, stories and poems over and over again. I still get a bit choked up thinking about her. You can read more about her here.

posted by Imshin 09:46

The Hatzavim (Squill) are late to flower this year
Here are two of the first, photographed yesterday near Hadera.

The blooming should continue until the end of September.

Why does Haaretz only translate the boring stuff, and not things like this?
posted by Imshin 00:26

Another update on Israel Shamir
IB writes that "Israel Shamir's books are popular enough in Russia and he's a correspondent of "Pravda" in Israel."

About my claim that "the Russian community in Israel is mostly extremely right wing" he comments:

"The "Russian" community is extremely right-wing only in comparison with secular peace loving Israeli born Jews, and a lot of members of "Russian" community are ethnic Slavs (up to 20%) who simply have bought documents and hate Jews and Israel." Two good points.

I would like to thank IB for this information about Israel Shamir (I had been meaning to ask a Russian-born friend but hadn't got round to it) and about the "Russian" community (the inverted commas are in order because these people are now Israelis. I stand corrected).

I would also like to point out that I think the very large "Aliyah" (immigration) from the countries of the former Soviet Union has for the most part brought into Israel an influx of educated, hard-working, cultured people, and Israeli society is the better for it. When I point out their tendency to being right-wing it is in comparison to Israeli-born intellectuals, who have a strong tendency towards the left.

As is the way of the world, the "Russian" Aliyah has brought its share of problems, such as a certain amount of (particularly violent) criminals and a relatively large percentage of non-Jews. I am optimistic that, with the help of the community of Russian-born Israelis, we will be able to deal with these challenges.

I think it's rather scary that Israel Shamir's books are popular in Russia.

Update update: IB has requested to correct his former message. "I think I've exaggerated : there are up to 20%-30% non-Jews in the last aliya, but of course, not everybody of them has bought documents: Most of them have repatriated under the Law of Return, as grandchildren of Jews, children of Jewish fathers, or as spouses of lawful repatriants".

posted by Imshin 23:00

I'm really enjoying my new weather pixie (see left-side column). The wind seems to have change direction about four times today!
posted by Imshin 18:39

A reader reveals herself!
miki b says, "After the eighties and nineties come the "noughties". From the word "nought", a British version of zero".

So there we have it. The noughties. The naughty noughties?

Somehow, I'm not convinced. I guess it will have to do.

miki b also motivated me to widen the page a little. I've been wanting to do this for a while but hadn't dared for fear of mucking up the whole page and not being able to put it right.

I know you liked it the way it was before, Dad. Sorry. Maybe you'll get used to this, as well.

posted by Imshin 17:47

We wouldn’t want to offend Mr. Hussein after all, would we?
The UK Observer informs its readers about the plight of the Kurds under Saddam, but heaven forbid anyone do anything to help these people out, besides asking Saddam nicely if he could possibly be so good as to please refrain from causing them any discomfort (and I’m not sure if anyone in the British left has even bothered to do that).
posted by Imshin 15:25

Bibi or Sharon?
The Likud’s recent voter registration drive has apparently been a phenomenal success, making the Likud the largest party in Israeli history with 311,884 members. It’s obvious that most of the 200,000 new members joined not out of love of the party or its platform, but to have a say in the results of the future primary showdown between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. I’ve not seen any polls about this (and I don’t suppose I will, either), so I don’t know which one of them managed to pull more voters. I know one or two traditional left wing voters who were planning to register specifically so they could vote for Sharon, for fear of getting Netanyahu back (no one has any illusions about the Labor Party). I suppose a lot of right wing voters have done the same, in order to vote for Netanyahu.

posted by Imshin 13:48

Last week, an Israeli crime boss
was gunned down in the alley behind his casino in Prague.

Yesterday, a friend showed me the weekend edition of the local newspaper of his hometown Netanya. He was eulogized for eight gushing pages. You’d have thought he was the Mother Theresa and not a murderous extortionist. Seven pages were given over completely to enormous mourning ads paid for mainly by Netanya restaurant, hotels and “Simcha” (happy occasions) halls.

My friend told me that on the day of his funeral, the whole of the Netanya center closed down in mourning. The funeral procession went down the main street of the town. The newspaper states that the municipality even opened the gates that keep cars from going into the square, to let the procession pass, a very rare event indeed.

Reading about this “charming” bully, and the honor paid him by those who were very likely subject to his extortion and terror tactics (and don’t think for a minute that they’re relieved to see him go, I assure you the new boss came round to collect, before the body was cold), reminded me of some bigger bullies we have to deal with in this part of the world.

It takes a lot of courage to go to the police if you’re a victim of a protection racket or any other form of extortion. You’re taking a great risk. You could be harmed, your family could be harmed, you’re very likely to lose your business to fire, or some other calamity. There is a limit to the protection the police can give you (if at all).

But if you don’t take that risk, you’re finished. The pressure will become worse and worse until you eventually find yourself standing outside of your business, built with your sweat and your tears and your hard earned money, looking in, with nothing to show for it, besides your debts and your bad heart.

Maybe this is why the less educated, more streetwise Israelis understood years ago, what many Israeli intellectuals still refuse to accept. Arafat is not in the business of being a fair partner. And neither are the other serious contenders bidding for power in the jungle of Palestinian society. We can talk to them and negotiate with them till we’re blue in the face. Extortionists and loan sharks are always happy to negotiate spreading out the payments (with compound interest, of course), but the only way to get them to give up their tactics is to show them that there’s a bigger boss in town.

That’s why Israelis voted en masse for Arik Sharon, and will do so again, even though we ultimately believe in making compromises for peace. Spectators of Israeli politics probably think that Sharon’s decreasing popularity in the polls reflects a yearning for a “political horizon”. I’d say it is just as likely to be dissatisfaction by those who would rather see tougher action.

By the way, the same goes for Saddam and Al Qaeda.



via Spleenville


Fresh off the boat
Stephen Den Beste has some interesting things to say about immigration. You have to scroll down a bit to get to the stuff about immigration.

posted by Imshin 11:17

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