Eighth Light:

The British Foreign Office, never a friend to Jews, was so concerned about Margaret Thatcher’s ties to the Jewish community they wanted her to break them when she became leader of the Tory party.

Foreign Office officials were so concerned about Margaret Thatcher’s pro-Israeli sympathies when she became Tory leader they wanted her to break off links with local Jewish groups, according to newly-released official papers.

Files released to the National Archives in Kew, west London, under the 30 year rule reveal that diplomats feared she would be seen by Arab countries as a “prisoner of the Zionists”.

One official even suggested that she should give up her Finchley parliamentary seat in north London - with its large Jewish community - for somewhere more palatable to Arab opinion.

The issue of Thatcher’s membership of groups such as the Anglo-Israel Friendship League of Finchley and Conservative Friends of Israel was raised during a visit by shadow foreign secretary Lord Carrington to Jordan in 1975.

“He asked the ambassador’s advice on this and was assured that such a connection, which would inevitably do much harm in the Arab world, should if at all practicable be severed,” noted Michael Tait, an official in the British embassy.

Could the Brits crawl any farther up the asses of the various Arab nations? I’m thinking not.

Let us call this exactly what it is: The institutionalized anti-Semitism of Great Britain and the U.K. I think the smartest thing Imshin’s mother did was leave the U.K.

And to go along with the above, we have this reprehensible story about the president of Ireland offering condolences on the death of Hitler in 1945.

The new document confirmed that President Douglas Hyde visited Hempel on May 3, 1945, a day after Ireland received reports of Hitler’s death.

The newly released document says Hyde _ who served as Ireland’s symbolic head of state from 1938 to 1945 and died in 1949 _ visited Hempel at the diplomat’s home in Dun Laoghaire, a Dublin suburb. It says the president did not send an official letter of condolence to German government headquarters because “the capital of Germany, Berlin, was under siege and no successor had been appointed.”

The Republic of Ireland, then called Eire, remained neutral throughout World War II, which in local parlance was called “The Emergency.”

[...] De Valera’s government brutally suppressed the IRA but also rebuffed requests to allow Jews fleeing Nazi persecution to receive asylum in Ireland. De Valera also refused to allow Britain or the United States to use strategic Irish ports for protecting Atlantic convoys from attacks by German U-boat submarines, a policy that cost thousands of Allied seamen’s lives.

What a proud legacy. And an even prouder excuse:

But de Valera argued that to refuse condolences “would have been an act of unpardonable discourtesy to the German nation and to Dr. Hempel himself. During the whole of the war, Dr. Hempel’s conduct was irreproachable. … I certainly was not going to add to his humiliation in the hour of defeat.”

Talk about a sick way of looking at things.

Now I understand why my great-grandfather left Scotland and came to America. Rather a poisonous attitude towards Jews over there.

Carnival of the Cats is at Elms in the Yard this week.

Haveil Havalim (Carnival of the Jews) is at me-ander’s place.

The palestinians celebrated New Year’s in Israel by launching more rockets. So did the IDF.

The latest Qassam fire follows the first successful IDF strike at terrorists planning to fire rockets in the framework of operation “Blue Skies”. Saturday night, the Air Force spotted a rocket launching cell and fired at it, killing two Palestinians and wounding one.

Following the incident, army officials said the successful neutralization of the Qassam cell demonstrates the effectiveness of operation “Blue Skies”. However, the officials noted other areas used as Qassam launching sites will also be handled.

“We must remember ‘Blue Skies’ can be expended to any area in the Strip,” one officer said. “If we see assessments that point to such need, we’ll act accordingly.”

What is the world’s reaction to Israel defending its people?

However, the sources admitted some pressure has been exerted, particularly by foreign diplomats, to end the operation.

“For the time being there’s no intention to end the operation and we’re continuing as usual,” one official said.

Typical. The terrorists try to murder Israelis. The IDF protects Israelis by killing the terrorists. The world puts the onus on Israel to stop being mean to murderers.

And that will work so well. Because it’s not like the pals think Israel will never set foot in Gaza again or anything.

Palestinians behind the rocket attacks on Israel have said that “Israel would not dare” return to the Gaza Strip to stop the barrages of Qassams landing on Israel.

“The continuance of the Gaza rockets is proof that Israel’s operations and the ‘security strip’ it set up in Gaza has no chance of preventing the rockets,” said Abu Ahmed, an al-Aqsa Brigades commander in Gaza.

“There was no special preparation among the missiles division members for the Israeli ‘security strip.’ This whole matter of a ‘security strip is ridiculous’; do they think we are firing the rockets from an obvious target for the Israeli tanks and artillery guns?” said Ahmed.

He added: “We have hundreds of places and hundreds of possibilities, including places they classify as the ‘security strip,’ to carry out the firing of the rockets.”

I’m thinking the war may start a little sooner. We may see a little pre-election surprise from Ariel Sharon, because if the average Israeli perceives that he is not doing enough to stop the Kassams–which have now landed in Israel from the West Bank–he will not win the kind of majority he wants.

Actually, I think Israel will dare go into Gaza, if the rockets don’t stop. Watch for the massing of tanks on the border.