Two more anti-W-M book reviews to report. The first, from Bloomberg News, a devastating attack by Charles Taylor who, I think if I were to take a guess judging by his name, is not a member of The Lobby (or The Tribe).

Were Mearsheimer and Walt simply saying that Israel’s hard- line policies have often done the country more harm than good (as have the Americans who confuse any criticism of Israel with a threat to its existence), they’d be on solid ground. They claim not to be espousing a theory of a Jewish cabal or a conspiracy — and they’re not. In “The Israel Lobby”‘ there’s nothing secret about Jewish influence. Every bit of U.S. foreign policy that benefits Israel or harms the U.S. has a Jew behind it.

Contradictions, evasions and lapses of logic pepper the text. When the authors want to argue that Israel was not an effective U.S. ally in the Cold War, it’s a small country. When they want to argue that Israel can easily repel any aggression from hostile neighbors, it’s a land of military might.

And yet another devastating conclusion:

In general, critics of Mearsheimer and Walt have dismissed the charges of anti-Semitism against them. But what else can account for a scenario in which Jews are the center of every perfidy, exerting so much influence and dispensing so much money that the goyim spring into line? And how can research so shoddy, so quick to ignore anything that contradicts it, so ready to subjugate facts to ideology qualify as serious?

The eager reception the pair have found in some parts of the left may yet cause embarrassment when those who embraced them come face to face with their realpolitik. Their argument against U.S. support of Israel is that our alliances must be decided solely by self-interest.

That’s the very ideology that has led the U.S. to align itself with dictators in the past and to spurn countries that desperately needed American help. The disaster of Iraq may have led many on the left to think there’s no case left for liberal interventionism (which need not be military). But are leftists really willing to desert their long-held view that oppression should be named and confronted?

In the hands of Mearsheimer and Walt, the socialism of fools has become the foreign policy of idiots.

The L.A. Times’ Tim Rutten is equally as sharp:

It’s interesting that the authors chose to first float their arguments in the London Review rather than, say, in Foreign Affairs or some other American journal. While I subscribe to the review — and, in fact, have been invited several times to contribute to it — it’s a melancholy fact that, in recent years, like so much of the European intellectual press, it has become objectively anti-Semitic in its treatment of Israel. And while it’s true that the authors have had several invitations to speak about their book in the United States withdrawn, it’s also true that this volume arrives under the imprint of what is arguably America’s most prestigious publishing house.

Odd that the all-powerful Israel lobby let that happen.

To get a flavor of the professors’ argument, here’s how they described the lobby’s operations inside the U.S. Congress: “Another source of the Lobby’s power is its use of pro-Israel congressional staffers. As Morris Amitay, a former head of [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee], once admitted, ‘there are a lot of guys at the working level up here’ — on Capitol Hill — ‘who happen to be Jewish, who are willing. . . to look at certain issues in terms of their Jewishness. . . . These are all guys who are in a position to make the decision in these areas for those senators. . . . ”

The quotation from an AIPAC staff member is an ingenious twist on the old dual-loyalty argument, but at the end of the day, you’ve still got sour old wine in new skins.

Rutten’s conclusion:

In fact, if you accept the analysis put forward in this book, it’s impossible not to conclude that the United States was, in fact, tricked into a disastrous war in Iraq by a domestic Fifth Column and that the ranks of that subversive formation are filled with Jews, their friends and willing dupes.

Mearsheimer and Walt go to great pains to proclaim their disinterested benevolence toward all and to attach the word “realist” to their argument. The only adjective that comes to this reader’s mind is “sinister.”

Both articles should be read in their entirety. And may I say: You see? It wasn’t my imagination. People who do not generally use the word “anti-Semitism” are all but accusing the authors of it. On the one hand, I’m glad to keep finding these reviews. On the other hand, the effing book is a best-seller. Then again, best-sellers reach the top of the list by selling only a few hundred thousand copies. I’d love to see the publisher’s statement on “The Israel Lobby.” I want to know how many they sell. Discounting, of course, the sales they’re going to make overseas. Wait for the pictures of the book next to “Mein Kampf” in Arab nations, just like Jimmy Carter’s anti-Israel screed.

The AFP is still writing stories about how Israel refuses to divulge state secrets to AFP reporters.

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel on Wednesday maintained an official blackout on an apparent strike by its warplanes on Syria, amid reports that the mysterious attack targeted weapons financed by arch-foe Iran.

No official Israeli comment was issued on allegations that its military carried out an attack deep inside Syria last Thursday, despite confirmation of a strike by a defence official of Israel’s main ally the United States.

That’s their lead, in spite of the rest of the article quoting various media sources (that are not AFP) explaining what really happened in Syria. I believe what we have hear is a hissy fit of mass proportions, or HFMP!, by the AFP.

Israeli officials have refused to comment on the report, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert “specifically instructed ministers not to talk about the incident related to Syria at all,” a senior Israeli government official told AFP earlier this week. Really, you can almost see them stamping their feet in frustration.

This silence — uncharacteristic in a nation notorious for media leaks — continued on Wednesday, with even visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner saying he was also being kept in the dark.

“I asked my hosts and they did not inform me,” Kouchner told reporters in Jerusalem when asked about the reported strike, as he wrapped up his first visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

“If indeed… they have bombed a weapons convoy which was headed to Lebanon, we understand why they would do it,” he said. “Everybody in Lebanon knows that large quantities of weapons arrive from the Syrian border.”

Olmert bypassed his traditional interviews with Israeli newspapers ahead of the Jewish New Year that starts at sundown on Wednesday, leaving President Shimon Peres to mention Syria in only general terms.

Mon Dieux! The Israelis are refusing to tell the French foreign minister state secrets, either! C’est impossible! But—but—he is French! That means he has the right to know!

Really. Can you feel the anger? They quote three different news sources who apparently are getting quotes from somewhere, while whining that nobody is talking to the AFP. Okay, I know it’s the cheap, easy laugh, but dude—have you showered lately?

Ah, insulting the Frogs. It’s a time-honored American tradition. I once earned hundreds of dollars in a blogathon for doing that very thing.

I’m astonished they actually carried a positive quote by Kouchner. It undermines their whole anti-Israel spin. Well, maybe the editors will catch it on the update.

This is the time of year when I wish a sweet and happy and healthy new year to all of my Jewish friends and family. May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for nothing but good things this year.

We have a new rabbi this year, but as he arrived in August, I think he had little to do with setting up the High Holy Day services. We shall see how long things go this year.

In the meantime, I am with my favorite West End family for dinner tomorrow night, and will be making my once-a-year apple cake. I bake exactly one thing, and that’s it. In fact, I started baking it because my first year in Richmond, a lovely woman named Inge invited me for Rosh Hashana dinner on the first night, and the apple cake was a dessert. I got the recipe and have been making it ever since, mostly at Rosh Hashanah, but sometimes I make an extreme effort and have it twice in one year. (I don’t bake. I buy baked goods. Or get them from Sarah. I cook, but I don’t bake.)

This time next year, I hope to be able to hold my first Rosh Hashana dinner in my own home. Of course, there will be an apple cake.

Reuters is spinning the talks between Abbas and Olmert as Israel “resisting” the Palestinians. Why? Because Israel is insisting that the Palestinians actually do something before Israel gives them what they want. You know, like stop terror and incitement and disarm the terrorists.

Israel resists Palestinians on peace talks
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is resisting pressure from the Palestinians to set a strict timetable for implementing any statehood principles agreed at a U.S.-sponsored conference, Israeli officials said on Wednesday.

[...] Israeli officials said Olmert would be open to rough timelines so long as the Israeli steps are tied to reciprocal moves by the Palestinians on matters like disarming militants, as called for under the long-stalled U.S. “roadmap” peace plan.

“These are negotiations and, in the end, you compromise,” said an official close to Olmert.

Palestinian officials see timelines as a way of pressuring Israel to take difficult steps that would help them sell any agreement to the Palestinian public.

In other words, the Palestinians want something for nothing. Israel wants performance-based goals, or something for something. To Reuters, this is Israel “resisting” Palestinians.

Reuters is the British-based news service that supplies much of Europe with their news. Connect the dots to see why Israel is so hated. It’s pretty easy.

Two major terror attacks in Israel were thwarted in the past few days. The first involved a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

A Palestinian teen detained by an IDF force at a checkpoint near Nablus Sunday was found to be carrying three pipe bombs meant to be used in a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

The bombs were seized and detonated by army sappers.

An IDF investigation revealed that the youth was ordered to transfer the explosives from one side of the checkpoint to the other and hand them over to the would-be suicide bomber. The man was supposed to assemble an explosive belt using the pipe bombs and other materials, and travel to Tel Aviv to carry out the attack within the next 24 hours.

Another attack was prevented last week.

A suicide bombing, which was meant to take place within the next few days in Beersheba, was thwarted by security forces on September 3.

Police sources revealed Wednesday that the would-be suicide bomber was caught near the Egyptian border in possession of an explosives belt.

During his interrogation, the suspect confessed to working with the Popular Resistance Committees. The incident is still under investigation and was not released for publication until now.

But the terrorists are trying very hard to give us a “present” for the New Year, like the “present” they gave Sderot—kassams landing near a school on the children’s first day.

The highest state of alert was announced throughout Israel Tuesday ahead of Rosh Hashana.

Military sources told Ynet that the security establishment had eight specific indications of potential terror attacks over the holiday, as well as dozens of general indications of possible shooting and rocket attacks, suicide bombings and kidnapping attempts.

IDF officials told Ynet that terror organizations in Nablus, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front and Fatah were making intensive efforts to launch attacks into Israel.

The democratically-elected government of Hamas is actively trying to murder Israelis. These are the people whom Jimmy Carter thinks Ehud Olmert should talk with. Because talking works. It worked on Kim Jung Il, who Carter talked into stopping his nuclear program. Well, no, not really. It worked on Yasser Arafat, who Carter talked into making peace with Israel. Well, no, that didn’t work, either. Surely, if the Israelis only talk to the terrorists, they’ll stop trying to murder Israelis.

Because it’s working so well right now, while Ehud Olmert is talking to Mahmoud Abbas.

Well, it’s working for the Palestinians, anyway.

Palestinians really have nothing to fear from launching rockets into Israel on a daily basis. Few of the missile launchers have actually been tracked down and killed. So they keep on firing missiles. Case in point:

Palestinian terror groups launched seven Qassam rockets from northern Gaza at Israel on Wednesday morning. The rockets landed near the town of Sderot and the neighboring communities, causing no injuries but starting a fire near a kibbutz.

Earlier in the day several mortar shells were also fired from Gaza and fell in open areas near the border.

And of course, the terrorists are completely encouraged by stories like this:

“We don’t expect another ‘Operation Defensive Shield’ following the incident in Zikim – but the IDF has already responded and will continue to act against the terror infrastructure and its leaders,” said officials in Jerusalem ahead of Olmert’s meetings.

“It would be problematic to carry out a major operation now of all times, as a reaction to the attack on IDF soldiers – after all, there were civilians wounded in the past as well. We should not create a situation where it appears that the army is only defending its soldiers. Alongside this we must also remember that there are still tensions in the north,” they said, adding that in any case a large-scale operation would likely wait until after the upcoming Jewish holidays.

There were wounded civilians because Olmert has done nothing substantive to stop the kassams since the withdrawal from Gaza. The argument back then was that the terrorists were firing rockets into Israel because Gaza was occupied. It isn’t any more. Funny, the rockets haven’t stopped. Funny, the world keeps insisting that Gaza is still occupied by Israel—because that’s the Palestinian line.

Deterrence works. Not responding—well, that brings out the rocketeers.

I think that the IDF should arm Sderot with mortars of their own. Then we’d see results.

Longtime readers of my blog may remember my discovery and disclosure of the diary of Iseema bin Laden, Osama’s half-brother. They have the same father, different mothers, but are nearly identical in appearance. They also spent their youths in a similar fashion, although Osama is older by ten years. Shortly after 9/11, Iseema was kidnapped by his brother’s henchmen and has been forced to travel with Osama ever since. I’ve had the occasional letter, but had heard nothing in the last three years. But now, Iseema has broken the silence.

Iseema’s latest message reveals the secrets behind his brother’s strange freeze-frame speech. Here now, the letter:

My dear friend,

My deepest apologies for not writing to you. I know it has been a very long time. Between constantly moving and constant suspicion by the mouth-breathers who guard my brother, may his life grow ever shorter, I have had few chances to correspond. Osama’s men have gotten very good at finding the papers I secrete in various places. If they were physicians, I wouldn’t need another proctology exam for the next ten years. Not that I hide my papers there. No, that’s the first place they look. Really. They need wives. And I mean, REALLY. In any case, I found the perfect courier. Let’s just say that Adam Gadahn can’t hold his liquor to save his life. Two drinks and he’s a sloppy drunk, whining about how much he misses California and all the babes he was stringing along there.

As if. I’ve seen his wives without their burqas. Let’s just say that they’re the perfect wives for the self-described “revolting geek of mass proportion.”

Anyway, I just wait for Adam—excuse me, Azzam the American—to pass out from his usual two shots, and then I give him a present. He’s never quite figured out exactly why young Ahmed hugs him so tightly every time they meet. That reminds me, I owe the boy ten riyals. I don’t suppose you could send me pictures of Sanjaya? You have no idea how angry they make Azzam, and, well, one has to find one’s amusement where one can, when one is stuck in the mountains of NowhereIstan with a group of the most joyless men on the planet.

One thing I do get from time to time is the news. We’ve been reading about your puzzlement over why my benighted half-brother dyed his beard. And I understand your analysts are debating the way Osama’s image stopped and then stayed at freeze-frame for most of the video. I’ll tell you why. It’s because that isn’t Osama in the video. Those sons of harlots made ME sit there and read the speech. Really. Osama’s sick as a dog. He can’t read a speech that long. He’s lucky if he manages to get through one entire reading of “My Brother the Goat.” But his people can’t afford to let the world know how weak Osama is. So they made me the puppet and him the voice.

It was horrible. They beat me when I didn’t get the lip-synching right. But they weren’t too smart about it. Did you see my droopy eye? That’s Omar the Idiot’s fault. He hit me in the face. Brilliant move, moron, put a bruise on the face you want seen around the world. My face bruised so badly they decided to use just the beginning and end of the earlier takes and freeze-frame the middle.

That’s the explanation. Stupid, but true. And here’s one more piece of information for you: I helped write it. All those parts about the Democrats and global warming? My ideas. Blaming the corporations? That was me egging on Gadahn the Moron one night while he was in that shot-and-a-half drunken stupor. He still thinks he thought them up himself. Mentioning Noam Chomsky, I think, was genius, though I say it myself.

As I said, one must find one’s amusement where one can, when one is stuck with the most boring, stupid, brutish men on the planet. Once again, I find myself longing for Kandahar, even if the bombs were dropping all around me.

I hope this letter finds you well, and in the immortal words of Bugs Bunny from the moon:

GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!

Editor’s Note: This is the script for my contribution to this week’s Shire Network News. See what you’ve been missing?