I swear, Israeli politics are a lot funnier than American politics.

Lieberman dubs Peretz stupid, racist in row over minister post
Strategic Threats Minister and Yisrael Beitenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman on Friday said Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz is both stupid and a racist, as the war of words between the two ministers continued to escalate.

On Thursday, Peretz, who is leading a move to appoint the first Arab minister in Israel’s history, described the appointment of MK Raleb Majadele as a response to what he called “Lieberman’s racism.”

Speaking to Israel Radio on Friday, the Yisrael Beitenu leader said that “Amir Peretz’s speech [on Thursday] before the Labor Party Central Committee proves that he is stupid and a racist.”

I think they should just title this, “Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!”

I mean, really, gentlemen. Grow up.

On the heels of my earlier piece on the lies of the Syrian negotiator, we have this article on negotiating with Syria by one of the Bush Administration Syria advisers:

The White House has been critical of renewed engagement with Syria on Iraq. Its own extensive efforts at dialogue failed miserably, leading the Bush administration to the conclusion that engagement was unhelpful at best, and counterproductive at worst. Legislators such as Sen. Kerry maintain that “you can’t begin to resolve those differences if you’re not willing to try to understand.” But even those making the trek to Damascus aren’t optimistic that engagement will work. Rather, the argument seems to be that engagement can’t hurt.

Regrettably, the Bush administration’s experience has proven otherwise. Meetings, in which U.S. emissaries delivered blunt messages to Asad, were spun by Damascus as “breakthroughs” in Syrian-U.S. relations, undermining the morale of the region’s democrats and alleviating pressure on the regime. As White House spokesman Tony Snow said after Nelson’s visit, even if delegations deliver a tough message, “the Syrian have already won a PR victory.”

In other words, the Syrians are masters of spin, just as the negotiator quoted in my post used spin to blame all of the failures on Israel and America.

So Bush administration engagement has proved unproductive. But what of congressional visits? A quick assessment suggests that these meetings have also undermined Bush administration policy. A 2003 meeting of U.S. Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, and Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., with Asad is emblematic of the problem. During the trip, Issa and Rahall discussed with Asad the presence in Syria of former Iraqi regime elements who were aiding the insurgency in Iraq. The congressmen later told the press: “We looked the president [Asad] in the eyes and asked for his assurance that he would expel any Iraqi leader in his country and not grant asylum. He agreed.” With this pledge in hand, Issa and Rahall declared victory. Issa later pronounced that Asad’s “word seems to be good.”

The problem, of course, is that Asad lied. Two years later, in February 2005, the Bush administration announced that Syria continued to harbor a dozen former top-ranking associates of Saddam Hussein, who were helping to orchestrate the insurgency.

I suppose we could call Syrian negotiations “Lying Lies and the Liars that Lie Them,” but that’d be, well, redundant.

Today’s lesson: Snow is slippery. And it’s a really stupid idea to jump out of your car before it hits another one.

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon is a French village that saved thousands of French Jews during the Holocaust and was long ago recognized by Yad Vashem. It’s finally being recognized by the French.

A French village credited with saving 3,000 Jews from the Holocaust has received its long overdue state salute.

Chambon-sur-Lignon, its heroism largely unknown or ignored in France for many years after World War II, was admitted to the state memorial for national heroes Thursday.

French President Jacques Chirac, in an elaborate ceremony at the Pantheon in Paris, unveiled a plaque honoring the village and 2,739 French individuals who risked all to save Jews from 1940 to 1944, Britain’s Independent reported.

It does not surprise me that the French have ignored the heroism of this Protestant village. It makes the rest of the country look bad.

Le Chambon -sur-Lignon is a Protestant village in Haute-Loire in southern France. During World War II, it became a haven for Jews fleeing from the Nazis and their French collaborators.

The Chambonais hid Jews in their homes, sometimes for as long as four years, provided them with forged I.D. and ration cards, and helped them over the border to safety in Switzerland. With their history of persecution as a religious minority in Catholic France, empathy for Jews as the people of the Old Testament, and the powerful leadership and example of their pastor and his wife, Andre and Magda Trocme, the people of Chambon acted on their conviction that it was their duty to help their “neighbors” in need.

The Chambonais rejected any labeling of their behavior as heroic. They said: “Things had to be done and we happened to be there to do them. It was the most natural thing in the world to help these people.” After the round- up and deportation of Jews in Paris in July 1942, Pastor Trocme had delivered a sermon to his parishioners, “The Christian Church should drop to its knees and beg pardon of God for its present incapacity and cowardice.”

The American Friends (Quakers) and other Protestant organizations provided assistance to Chambon to set up homes for children whose parents had been deported. The head of one of these homes was Daniel Trocme, the young cousin of Pastor Trocme. In June 1943 he and “his” children were arrested and deported to the East. Daniel Trocme died in Majdanek.

Yep. Makes the Vichy collaborators look very, very bad. No wonder France ignored its own heroes. Unless it’s also the Hueguenot thing.

According to the man who’s been secretly negotiating peace talks with Syria and Israel, Syria wants peace. It’s the mean ol’ U.S. and the media who are ruining things. And Israel, of course.

According to Suleiman, it is the Americans who are blocking Israel from responding to the Syrian peace initiative: “The US is not letting Israel make peace with Syria. The Israeli side is obstructing the peace. Syria wanted peace: It is hard to improve the economy, hard to fight corruption, fight to bring your country to the 21st century when you’re in a state of war. And a big chunk of Syrian territory is being occupied by Israel,” he says.

“I think Israel and the US are making big mistakes. President Assad is very serious about making peace with Israel,” he asserts.

This is the same Assad who is rearming Hezbullah via weapons that are delivered to Syria and driven by truck into Lebanon. What a peaceful guy! What a peaceful thing to do!

“The results (of our contacts) went to (former Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon , the same way they went to the Syrians, but Sharon gave it his blessings, to my understanding. But the thing is, Syria wanted to make peace with Israel, Syria wanted to build relations with the United States; President Assad said time and again that he wanted to have good relations with the United States. He extended his hand in friendship and peace to Israel and the US, and they turned him down,” Suleiman says.

I have two words to say about this: LI. AR. This guy sets my bullshit detector off the scale.

The 70-year-old Suleiman says he was associated with former Syrian president Hafez Assad. “I think the chance for peace now is great. I really believe Syria is serious and is willing to go the extra mile for peace. Everything is on the table now. Many things were not on the table in the 90s.

“The June 4 (1967) border and the water situation are sacred and non-negotiable. Syria must have the sovereignty over the Golan heights. Everything else can be talked about. We (drew up) the paper for two years, we met eight times and had a beautiful solution to the sovereignty and the water. Syria and Israel have a problem, and we will work together to find a solution to the problem that will satisfy both.”

And again, you see how he places all the blame for the failure of peace negotiations on Israel, and yet utterly ignores the intransigence of the Syrians. The 1967 borders are “sacred”? That doesn’t sound to me like the words of an impartial negotiator. And if that doesn’t convince you, this should:

“The (US) forced Syria to leave Lebanon, and now there’s no one there to control Hizbullah. So Hizbullah became the master in Lebanon. And then there was the war last summer. If Syria was in Lebanon, Hizbullah would not have been able to wage war,” Suleiman asserts.

Uh-huh. The U.S. forced Syria to leave Lebanon so that the Lebanese could reclaim their state. Hezbullah was receiving orders from Iran and arms from Syria. Once again, bullshit detector, off the charts. And yet, there is more.

“For relocating 15,000 people from the Golan heights, Israel will get peace with Syria, peace with Lebanon, Hizbullah will not bother Israel. There will be good relations between the countries, Syria and Israel will work together to solve the Palestinian problem.

Really? So if Israel gives Syria back the Golan, they’ll stop arming Hezbullah?

Suleiman promises that if a peace agreement is signed Damascus will shut down Hamas and Islamic Jihad offices operating in its territory, and ultimately all Arab nations will normalize relations with Israel. Further, a peace agreement would ensure Hizbullah operative in the political plane only, and will reduce its sway over Iran and Lebanon.

Uh-huh. And there will be peace on the planet and everyone will sing together and hold hands and watch the faeries dance every night.

Ynet scored an exclusive interview with a liar, who will be quoted by the mainstream media as an upstanding negotiator who failed because Israel and the U.S. wouldn’t let him make peace. Watch for it.