I should charge an editor’s fee for this post. It’s about my post extolling the video that uses the late Rabbi Meir Kahane’s “Open Letter to the World.” I said in that post that even though it was written by Kahane, it was still true, and valid today.

The reason I deserve an editor’s fee? Dean sent me an email with the gist of that post in it because, he said, he didn’t want to start a blogwar. But then he posted about it, but neither linked nor mentioned me by name. I guess in Dean’s mind, if you don’t mention someone by name, it doesn’t count as a public fight, mostly because the person being written about doesn’t have a chance to respond. And you know me: Never willing to argue about anything. Nope. Not me. Nuh-uh.

I thought I’d respond in the way most bloggers do: In a post that mentions Dean by name and links to the post about me. Because I think he owes me an editor’s fee. The post that went up had a much better argument than the email I received. Of course, it’s still wrong, but it’s better written than the first draft.

Without my response to him, he’d be using Al Capone as the comparison figure to Meir Kahane. I pointed out in my email that Capone was a criminal, plain and simple, and had nothing at all in common with Kahane, who did not work for personal gain, but for the survival of his people. Dean’s post uses a much better argument now, substituting Charles Manson and changing the comparison to something that makes a lot more sense, if you ignore the silly logic of it.

Mind you, Dean’s argument is simply confounding to me. He essentially agrees with me that almost everything in the video, which quotes Rabbi Kahane’s words, is true. That is what I said in my update to the post. He then goes on to say that his problems aren’t with the words, but with the man who wrote them. That no man who is (in his words) a “slimeball who founded a terrorist organization” can have said anything that was true or worthwhile. Fruit of the poison tree, I suppose, is what he’s trying to say. But I disagree. The words are valid. The ideas are valid. Other Jews have said them. Hell, I’ve said most of them. Just because Meir Kahane said them does not make them invalid.

Dean prefaces his post with the phrase “I try to avoid blogwars.” (I think Robert Spencer might disagree with that.) Yeah, I mostly do, too, but then, if I’m going to disagree with someone in a post, I’m generally going to quote the person and attribute the quote to the person. There are some times when I just have to lay into someone with a virtual two-by-four. Not that I’m doing that here. I’m just pointing out the facts of the situation. Facts about statements like this:

Both the U.S. State Department and the State of Israel designate Kach and Kahane Chai as terrorists and criminals.

Dean is quoting Wikipedia. When you click on the link, you get this:

The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed.

The dispute is about The US State Department, Israeli Government, and European Union all consider these groups as terrorist organizations. This article deals with all of these groups.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.

Oops. Better go read the talk part to see if the above is certain.

Then we have this statement:

Indeed, Kach and Kahane Kai were shown to the world to be vile scumbags when Jewish terrorist Baruch Goldstein committed one of the greatest terrorist atrocities of the 1990s.

The fact that Baruch Goldstein was a terrorist is not in dispute. What I dispute is the incident being labeled “one of the greatest terrorist atrocities of the 1990s.”

Update 11/22: In the comments, Dean points out that I dropped the word “Jewish” in the above quote. He is correct. Which makes his statement even more puzzling, as you can count the incidents of Jewish terrorism on the fingers of one hand, possibly two at most. Baruch Goldstein would be just about the only example of Jewish terrorism in the 1990s. As you can see by the list below, there are many, many more examples of Islamic terrorism. [end update]

This is a habit of Dean’s. He takes an atypical incident and inflates it, then uses it as an example when describing similar incidents. He especially seems to like doing this with Judaism. In fact, he has a pretty annoying tendency to bring Judaism into almost every argument about Islam, and it’s never in a complimentary fashion. Because, gee, religious Jews are just like religious Muslims, right? (Well, except for the fact that you can count the number of incidents where religious or extremist Jews attacked Muslims–or others–on the fingers of one hand.)

“One of the greatest terrorist atrocities of the 1990s”? I think not. In fact, I don’t think it even makes the top ten.

1992: March 17: Israeli Embassy bombing by “Islamic Jihad” in Buenos Aires, Argentina; 29 killed, 242 injured.
1993: February 26: World Trade Center bombing kills 6 and injures over 1000 people, by coalition of five groups: Jamaat Al-Fuqra’/Gamaat Islamiya/Hamas/Islamic Jihad/National Islamic Front [10], see FBI Most Wanted Terrorists, FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, Ramzi Yousef.
1993: March 12: Mumbai car bombings in India leave 257 dead with 1,400 others injured.
1994: July 18: Bombing of Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 86 and wounds 300. Generally attributed to Hezbollah acting on behalf of Iran.
1995: March 20: Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by AUM Shinrikyo cultists kills 12 and injures 6000.
1995: April 19: Oklahoma City bombing kills 168 people, 19 of them children; the most deadly act of domestic terrorism in the United States to date.
1995: June 14—June 19: Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis, 105 civilians and 25 Russian troops were killed.
1996: January: In Kizlyar, 350 Chechen militants took 3,000 hostages in a hospital. The attempt to free them kills 65 civilians and soldiers.
1996: January 31: LTTE carries out Central Bank Bombing in Sri Lanka kills 90 and wounds 1,400.
1996: February 25 - March 4: A series of four suicide bombings in Israel leave 60 dead and 284 wounded within 10 days.
1996: June 25: Khobar Towers bombing — In all, 19 U.S. servicemen and one Saudi were killed and 372 wounded, by Hizballah Al-Hijaz (Saudi Hizballah) with Iranian support, see FBI Most Wanted Terrorists
1996: July 24: LTTE plants bomb on commuter train in Sri Lanka kills 57.
1997: November 17: Luxor Massacre – Islamist gunmen attack tourists in Luxor, Egypt, killing 62 people, most of them European and Japanese vacationers.
1997: December 22: Acteal massacre – 46 killed while praying in Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico. A paramilitary group associated with ex-president Salinas is held responsible.
1998: February 14: 1998 Coimbatore bombings - Bombings by suspected Islamic Jihadi groups on an election rally in Indian city of Coimbatore kill about 60 people.
1998: August 7: U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, killing 225 people and injuring more than 4,000, by al-Qaeda, see FBI Most Wanted Terrorists
1998: August 15: Omagh bombing by the so-called “Real IRA” kills 29.

Phew, that was tiring. And those were only the attacks that killed at least 29 people (except for WTC1, the sarin gas, and Khobar Towers incidents, which deserve to be on the list). I think if you changed the phrase to “one of the very few examples of Jewish terrorism,” it’d be a more accurate phrase. But that’s just me.

Now to Dean’s conclusion:

Yeah Kahane might make some valid points now and then. So what? Terrorism is not acceptable. If the the State of Israel–under both conservative and liberal governments–brands Kahane as a terrorist, then so far as I am concerned he is a terrorist. The Israelis are not fools: they know what terrorism is. Intimately.

Actually, Dean, Kahane can’t “make some valid points now and then.” All of the points he made are now then, if you get my drift. Because he was murdered in 1990 by—you guessed it—an Islamic terrorist. Dean’s gripe with me is that I quote a man who, to him, is a terrorist. I agree that he was an extremist. I said that I don’t agree with many of the things he said. What Kahane was not wrong about, however, is the subject of his Open Letter. Kahane’s point was that the world will not protect Jews, in fact, that the world stands by while Jews are killed or actively slaughters Jews, and that we must protect ourselves. That’s why the JDL came into being.

Every single word in his Open Letter to the World was true when he wrote it, and is still true today. Dean is not challenging the points in the letter. He is challenging my approval of the letter itself, and the video made to the words of the letter. I’m not about to change my approval of it because I disagree with much of what he said on other topics. If anyone but Kahane had written the Open Letter, Dean would be agreeing with it unquestioningly.

I simply don’t see the problem, other than Dean’s unfathomable need for me to agree with what he says.

As for this quoting an “anonymous” blogger because you don’t want to have a fight over it—well, a discussion is not a blogwar. You don’t get to have the discussion with me in email, pretend it’s concluded, and then respond to me in public, without my getting my two cents in. Not naming me doesn’t mean I don’t know who you’re talking about.

Now my readers know, too.

Countdown to ad hominem response may commence.

I would like to answer a question that many of you probably are asking today: No, Michael Richards is not Jewish.

Michael Richards is not a Jew.

As Cosmo Kramer in “Seinfeld,” Richards played one on TV. But he himself is not Jewish — not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Richards lashed out a heckler at the Laugh Factory last Friday, spitting out the “N” word without humor and with abandon. Audience members booed, several walked out, then Richards himself walked off stage.

The incident was caught on a cellphone camera and posted at the TMZ.com Web site, where it ignited a firestorm of criticism against Richards. Richards apologized on “The Late Show With David Letterman” Monday night. “I was at a comedy club trying to do my act, and I got heckled, and I took it badly and went into a rage,” he said. “For me to be in a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, I’m deeply, deeply sorry. I’m not a racist. That’s what’s so insane about this.”

Fellow comedians and fans have been quick to criticize Richards — and misrepresent his religious background. Comedian Paul Rodriquez held a press conference at the Laugh Factory, saying that Richards should know better, because the Hollywood community defended Jews against actor Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic tirades.

The implication was that Richards, a Jew, should not be launching racist attacks. He shouldn’t, but he also isn’t Jewish.

“Someone needs to tell Rodriquez that Michael isn’t a Jew,” said a television director who has known Richards for years. The two worked together in 1980 on ABC’s “Fridays” television show and have remained in touch ever since.

According to sources familiar with Richards, the actor was raised Catholic. A biography of him on the Wikipedia web site lists no religion, but does say Richards is very involved in the Masons.

And by the way, yes, I think he’s a bigot. That kind of stuff does not come from nowhere. Just as Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitism came to the fore in his drunken rage, I’m thinking that Richards knew exactly what he was saying. I watched the video, and my jaw just dropped.

But at least people don’t get to blame this one on the Jews.

Prominent anti-Syrian Christian politician Pierre Gemayel was assassinated in a suburb of Beirut on Tuesday, his party’s radio station and Lebanon’s official news agency reported. His fatal shooting will certainly heighten the political tension in Lebanon, where Hizbullah’s leading Muslim Shi’ite party has threatened to topple the government if it does not get a bigger say in Cabinet decision making.

The above came from JP. According to Al Jazeera, “…there was panic in Beirut following the assassination, with people rushing to get home.” Most of the sources agree that it adds to the tension initiated by Hezbollah blackmail that resulted in all Shia ministers resigning from the government.

Lebanon gets closer to the edge of the abyss, and there is only one interested party: Iran that pulls the strings via its proxy, the chinless wonder of Damascus.

I haven’t seen a reaction yet from the Lebanese bloggers, only a prophetic post from yesterday:

I can feel it from here. The fear. The venom. The hatred. I can hear the vitriol in the privacy of homes - it’s so loud, it deafens me. If Lebanese were not polarized already, then today, after the speeches given by two of the country’s top henchmen, there is no question about it. Druze, Shi’ites, Sunnis and Maronites, cluster together in ever-tighter circles. People ask each other whether they have armed themselves. Wait… what am I saying? They asked themselves that question almost a year ago… . I remember.

The boiling point is nearing.

Cross-posted on SimplyJews

I’ve been pointing out that the kassam rockets are getting deadlier, and will continue to get deadlier, since the Philadelphi corridor is no longer patrolled by the IDF and the Egyptians turn a blind eye to smuggling.

Yet another attack, yet another critical injury:

A worker at a Sderot factory was critically injured Tuesday morning and another worker was lightly wounded after a Qassam rocket directly hit the factory. A fire broke out in the place, which was severely damaged. Three people suffered from shock.

Another rocket hit a house in the southern town, causing damage. Two rockets landed in open areas.

[...] Many residents reported of burns in their eyes and heavy smoke which made it difficult to breath.

Yehuda Sasson, manager of Magen David Adom rescue services in the Negev district, reported that the fire in the factory broke out

Paramedic Gadi Abu Hatzira said: “The Qassam landed in a storeroom of hazardous materials, not far from the ammonia containers. We evacuated a 40-year-old man with a head injury to the Soroka hospital.”

The death and injury toll will keep rising, unless Israel does something about this. The UN is uninterested in the rights of Israelis to live and work in peace. They have never condemned the near-daily rocket barrage from Gaza into Israel. But they’re quick to condemn Israel for the actions she takes to stop the rocket attacks.

The IDF is going to have to mount a major operation in Gaza. And, of course, the world will blame Israel. As always.

And yes, she was asking for it.

The team received an angry reaction in Sderot in southern Israel Tuesday, just after Palestinian militants from the nearby Gaza Strip fired rockets into the town.

A worker at a chicken slaughtering plant was critically wounded in the attack.

Arbour’s group, about a kilometre away from where the attack occurred, went to facility after hearing the loud explosion and seeing plumes of smoke.

But they were met by angry workers at the plant, who threw stones at Arbour’s vehicle and shouted curses when she insisted on seeing the result of Palestinian rocket fire firsthand.

Arbour, a former Canadian Supreme Court justice and chief prosecutor for UN war crimes tribunals, said Israel “has a responsibility to defend its citizens, but has to do so only by legal means.”

“It has to do so in line with international law, including international humanitarian law, but it has a primary responsibility to protect people who are under its authorities.”

You know, it’s almost like the UN doesn’t give a damn about Israeli casualties.

Oh. Wait.

Of course, the AP article does not name the wounded Israeli, but it does name the Hamas commanders killed by the IDF (go IDF!).

Militants persisted with the rocket fire, launching five homemade projectiles, including three that landed in southern Israel. One critically wounded a man in the town of Sderot, a frequent target, striking the ground a half-mile from a convoy carrying the United Nations’ top human rights official, who was touring the town.

Looks like the IDF has found a way to counteract the new human-shields strategy of the terrorists. I thought they might.

Israel’s Supreme Court has just ruled that the state must recognize gay marriage. That would make Israel, let’s see, um, the one and only state in the Middle East where being gay is not only not illegal, but now gays have greater rights in Israel than they do in America. Say, Queers for Palestine, maybe you should start thinking you’re backing the wrong side in this war.

In a precedent-setting ruling, the High Court of Justice on Tuesday ruled that five gay couples wedded outside of Israel can be registered as married couples.

A sweeping majority of six justices to one ruled that the common-law marriages of five gay couples obtained in Toronto, Canada, can appear as married on the population registry.

But—but—I thought Israel is a theocracy, ruled by crazed ultra-Orthodox fundamentalist Jews. How can this be?

Wow, the worldview of the LLL’s who hate Israel really must be shaking today.

I must confess that John Le Carre is one of my favorite writers. His skill, style and language put him far above the pack of thriller writers and close to the top of the craft in general. That is, in my humble opinion. His acid depiction of British, American and other intelligence and government establishments have no peers after Evelyn Waugh doing a similar job on British upper classes.

Lately his books veered sharply from his beloved domain of espionage into the twilight zone of government conspiracies, dastardly deeds by right-wingers and corporate mayhem and became so politicized that it is sometimes hard to distinguish between a book by John Le Carre and a new production by a site like Prison Planet or WhatReallyHappened. Not that there is no truth in what he talks about, but his inordinate writing powers are doing much more effective job than all the conspiracy theorists together, and the resulting effect is akin to visiting the Devil’s kitchen.

I think that this abandonment of the original domain was a bit premature. The old villains haven’t disappeared and haven’t changed their thuggish ways and their lethal tricks. And here comes a reminder:

A former Russian spy and fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin was fighting for his life in a London hospital after an apparent bid to kill him by poisoning.

Alexander Litvinenko, a former lieutenant colonel in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) - successor to the Soviet KGB - fell ill after meeting a contact at a London sushi bar who purportedly had information on the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, said the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

He had kidney damage, was constantly vomiting and suffered an almost total loss of white blood cells, The Sunday Times added. The paper said he had been poisoned with thallium and quoted a medical report which showed he had three times the maximum safe limit in his body, a potentially fatal dose. If Russia’s security services were behind the alleged poisoning, it would not be the first time that they have tried to silence critics on the streets of London.

Aside of the relatively novel venue - sushi bar (in the olden days it would have been a noisy, dirty and saturated by smoke to almost total invisibility pub) - the plot, the actors and the outcome are as old as Iron Felix. And the chief protagonists are the same, let’s not forget the protagonists, please.

So, dear Mr Le Carre, unless you think that colonel Litvinenko fell prey to a sushi that has gone off (surely a possibility, the stories about lethal sushi rolls abound, but thallium?), you may do well to take another look at the old villains. And maybe to shake off the mothballs from good old Mr. Smiley too.

With best wishes from your devoted reader.

P.S. And just in case you need some implausibility to spice the book, here it comes, from the same article:

The Sunday Times said he had met an Italian called Mario at the sushi restaurant, who said he had important information on the death of Politkovskaya.

Sunday Times, an Italian called Mario and a talking sushi restaurant - what else is needed for another super-thriller?

Update: Of course, it’s denials time now:

Russia has denied any involvement in the poisoning of a former KGB agent in London as Britain gave the investigation top priority, calling in counter-terrorism police to spearhead the probe.

Yep.

Cross-posted on SimplyJews