Elaine Sciolino reported late last week, By Making Holocaust Personal to Pupils, Sarkozy Stirs Anger (Somehow the Times makes a stand on principle seem like a bad thing.)

President Nicolas Sarkozy dropped an intellectual bombshell this week, surprising the nation and touching off waves of protest with his revision of the school curriculum: beginning next fall, he said, every fifth grader will have to learn the life story of one of the 11,000 French children killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust.“Nothing is more moving, for a child, than the story of a child his own age, who has the same games, the same joys and the same hopes as he, but who, in the dawn of the 1940s, had the bad fortune to be defined as a Jew,” Mr. Sarkozy said at the end of a dinner speech to France’s Jewish community on Wednesday night. He added that every French child should be “entrusted with the memory of a French child-victim of the Holocaust.”

Adding to the national fracas over the announcement, Mr. Sarkozy wrapped his plan in the cloak of religion, placing blame for the wars and violence of the last century on an “absence of God” and calling the Nazi belief in a hierarchy of races “radically incompatible with Judeo-Christian monotheism.”

Crunchy Con applauds the effort but wonders if it will help

France has a massive problem with these Muslim ghettoes and the children within them who are being raised as veritable Hitler Youth, and if Sarkozy thinks expanding Holocaust education is going to solve the problem, he’s dreaming. On the other hand — and this is why I support what he’s doing, with the same reservations that offend Simone Veil — I believe it is imperative to reach the hearts of the French majority, and inculcate within them from a young age an emotional identification with the victims of the Shoah.

He goes on to describe how the mini-series “Holocaust” affected him and hopes that President Sarkozy’s plan will have on the majority of the French population.

Contentions.Noah Pollak shows that this episode isn’t isolated, it’s part of a pattern with the new French President.

Have you heard what the French President has been saying lately?On Wednesday, he declared that “I won’t shake hands with people who refuse to recognize Israel,” a snub directed at Muslim leaders. On the same day he warned that France may join the U.S. and Canada in boycotting the UN’s anti-Israel hatefest (known officially as an “anti-racism conference”) in Durban, South Africa: “France will not allow a repetition of the excesses and abuses of 2001.”

He has pledged to attend Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations in May, and after the recent suicide bombing in Dimona, sent a condolence letter to Shimon Peres in which he went out of his way to declare that he will always stand with Israel against terrorism.

His rhetoric on Iran of late has surpassed President Bush’s in its spirit of determination: “Proliferation is a grave threat to international security. We cannot sit by and do nothing while Iran develops technologies which are in violation of international law.”

Sarkozy made some of the above comments at the annual dinner of the CRIF, the umbrella organization of the French Jewish community — it was the first time a French president had ever attended.

I can think of at least 3 ironies with the new French President.

1) His new wife comes from a world where Palestinian revolutionary chic is quite in fashion.
2) In another year or so it might be conservatives who are wishing that the American President was more like the French President, mirroring the distress of the Left over the past 8 years.
3) Depending on who’s elected President in November, France might return to its pre-1967 role as Israel’s chief ally in the West.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Did Israel do it?Who knows?

Uzi Mahnaimi claims to know. Uzi Mahnaimi claims to know lots of things, not all of them are true.

Mr. Mahnaimi is one of three reporters credited with “Israel kills terror chief with a headrest bomb.” (via memeorandum) None of the reporters is bylined in Damascus so how do they know:

At 10.35pm he decided to go home. Having exchanged customary kisses with his host, Hojatoleslam Ahmad Musavi, the newly appointed Iranian ambassador, Mughniyeh stepped into the night. Minutes later he was seated in his silver Mitsubishi Pajero in a nearby street when a deafening blast ripped the car apart and killed him instantly.

According to Israeli intelligence sources, someone had replaced the headrest of the driver’s seat with another containing a small high-explosive charge. Israel welcomed his death but the prime minister’s office denied responsibility. Hezbollah accused the “Zionist Israelis” of killing its “brother commander” but believed the explosive had been detonated in another car by satellite.

One witness said: “I held his head in my hands, kissed him farewell. His face was burnt but intact and he had received serious injuries to his abdomen.”

Other than the one item attributed to “Israeli intelligence sources” how could any of them have known such details not being in Damascus?

Israel Matzav expresses skepticism.

The only named source is described as “a former major in unit 504 of Israeli military intelligence who was in charge of Mughniyeh’s file.” If my google search of the source is correct, he is currently living in the United States and is not likely to be privy to the current goings on in military intelligence. In short, while I believe that the manner of the killing may be correct, I have serious doubts whether Israel really did it. And as to what Mugniyah had been up to in the last two years, anyone could have guessed that.

Blackfive expresses admiration.

I like Mr. Dagan’s style. I mean, what kind of sick and twisted individual would give a guy, who is an undisputed and unrepentant terrorist murderer like Mughniyeh the M-18 Claymore mine headrest he so sorely needed?

Maybe Israel killed Mughniyah, maybe not. I remain skeptical about the detail. (Even Mahnaimi writes “Whatever the truth about the bomb…” Certainly if all those terrorists have been killed by Israel, that is impressive and Meir Dagan deserves credit for rebuilding the Mossad’s effectiveness.

The manner of Mughaniyah’s death isn’t the only area where there’s been misinformation. We’ve also seen it from state and non-state actors who see his death as sign of moderation among non-moderates.

Martin Kramer scores the Hezbollah sympathizers who differentiate between the political and terrorist divisions of Hezbollah. JudeoPundit observes that the price for telling the truth about Hezbollah, is falling out of its favor.

I am reminded of the fact that when Human Rights Watch attempted to follow its reports criticizing Israel’s conduct during the Lebanon war with one critical of Hezbollah, its relationship with Hezbollah immediately soured. You have to wonder what price it paid for its previous access to South Lebanon.

The cost of maintaining an exclusive relationship with Hezbollah is a very short leash.

And Contentions.James Kirchik skewers the “hands-off Syria” crowd.

“Reasonably behaved with regard to Israel?” You’ve got to love how Clemons uses the construction “Seymour Hersh argues” as if it were de facto proof of the charge’s veracity. He then goes onto applaud Syria for its “restrained” response to Israel’s attack last year on suspected nuclear facilities, as the Baathists in Damascus held back from causing “domestic strife” in Israel, a terrific euphemism for terrorism I’ll remember the next time my younger brother and I get into a fight about playing X-Box or something. When Hezbollah inevitably retaliates for the murder of Mughniyeh at an El-Al airport counter or Jewish Community Center, perhaps Clemons will wag his finger at Syria for its “bad behavior.”

Dumb still looks free has related thoughts concerning the Presidential race.

Often actions that occur in the shadows end up getting shrouded in even more confusion than clarity.

UPDATE: Someone else questioned an aspect of Times story, Shrinkwrapped. (h/t Seraphic Secret)

Far be it for me to disparage the perspicacity of the intrepid reporters of the Times, but doesn’t it seem just a tiny bit unlikely that a headrest bomb could be so carefully constructed as to cause serious damage to the victim’s abdomen but leave his head, the presumed target of immediate interest, intact? Maybe its just my natural skepticism, but I would think the layers of editors about which the MSM is so proud, might have noticed the seeming anomaly.

Of course, as I mentioned before, how the reporters got a statement from an eyewitness in Damascus when none of them were located there, is a bit of question. So it’s not all that surprising that a manufactured witness would give manufactured testimony.Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

It’s time for a happy kitty story. One that makes you go, “Awww.”

A skittish kitten that scampered out of its carrier on a subway platform has been found after 25 days in the underground tunnels.

Transit workers tracked down 6-month old Georgia under midtown Manhattan Saturday. Police reunited her with owner Ashley Phillips, a 24-year-old Bronx librarian.

After hearing that the black cat might have been spotted below Lexington Avenue and East 55th Street, track workers Mark Dalessio and Efrain LaPorte went through the area making “meow” sounds.

Georgia responded, and they found her cowering in a drain between two tracks.

Georgia had lost some weight and scratched her nose but was otherwise unhurt. She had disappeared while Phillips was bringing her home from a veterinarian visit last month.

Awww. Go ahead. You know you want to.

Those were good men, to look for the cat three weeks later. And to find it.

See, Lair? There are a fair number of good New Yorkers out there, too.

Last Friday night, for the sixth time in my teaching career, my fourth graders led services. Every year, they get better and better at singing the prayers and psalms in front of their parents and the congregation. I’d love to take all the credit for it, but it’s not just me. I’m only a small part of their improvement. It’s the program that was set into place by our former rabbi and education director, who were also responsible for the presence of over twenty-five children and young people at my adult bat mitzvah in November. And by “responsible for the presence,” I mean that the children came up eagerly when called on to assist me during services on Friday and Saturday. The older ones helped out with things like the Ashrey (which I still need to learn fully), and the younger ones came up for Mizmor l’David, fully prepared and able to lead the congregation along with me.

This year, I decided to teach my students the Hatzi Kaddish, which I used to think was too difficult for fourth graders. We also worked on Mizmor l’David, Mi Chamocha, and the Bar’chu. Believe it or not, that last gave them and me a world of trouble. They kept mixing up the melody of the lead and the response. But we finally got it right by the Tuesday before we were due to lead, and I went to services on Friday night feeling confident. The rabbi was out of town for the weekend, so the principal of the religious school and I ran the show. I had my students up for everything but the Amidah. The principal and I sang along sotto voce, but not to help the kids—they didn’t need our help at all. They were letter-perfect on just about everything, and when they sang the Hatzi Kaddish, I was prouder of my students than if they’d been my own kids. They were great.

Instead of a sermon, we played, “Are you smarter than a fourth grader?” and asked their parents and congregants questions about Judaism. If they didn’t know the answer, they picked one of the students, who did. Of course I skewed the questions to ones I knew the children could answer. But it was fun. When one of the congregants got a typical Ms. Yourish holiday question (”Tell me three things about Purim”), he answered, “Haman, Esther, Mordecai.” I had my students follow up after we all stopped laughing. Every year, they learn whether or not a holiday is a three-line holiday (”They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat!”). Then they go on to tell me who tried to kill us, and what special foods we eat.

Now here’s the really special thing about learning the Hatzi Kaddish this year. We have only one page in the Siddur with the transliteration, and it’s for the Saturday morning prayer service. My fourth graders are not fluent in Hebrew, and I believe in letting them use transliteration until they learn the words, then move onto the Hebrew. Not only does it help them learn their prayers, but I think it improves their Hebrew skills as well. So I brought in Post-It flags for them to put on the page with the transliteration, because it takes a nine-year-old child a lot longer than it takes you or me to turn to page 324 (and even with the flag, one of the students took a while getting to the page). They read from the transliteration, they did well, and that, I thought was that.

The next day in Sunday school, the third grade teacher asked me to help her students prepare for their turn to lead services at the end of the month. (We have our classes together the last 45 minutes of Sunday for another project, and we’re playing to each other’s strengths during that time.) So I asked them if they’d like to learn the Hatzi Kaddish.

“No! It’s too hard!” was the response.

“Tellya what,” I said. “Let’s just all do it—Daled class will show you how, and you can just listen if you like, you don’t have to sing along—and at the end of the prayer, you decide if you want to try it for your service.” We turned to page 324. My students led, third graders sang along, and by the end of the prayer, they decided yes, they would like to make the Hatzi Kaddish their special prayer for their service (they’ll be with the kindergarten, first and second graders due to a scheduling change).

But we’re still not at the punchline to this story. Third and fourth grade practiced the Hatzi Kaddish on Sunday and again on Tuesday afternoon early. Tuesday near the end of class, we met with the rest of the school (grades five through seven) for T’filah. The principal called for the Hatzi Kaddish. It was on a page without transliteration. I walked around the children, listening intently to the third and fourth graders. They were singing along. With all of it. They were looking at the book, at the Hebrew. All of them.

These are the moments a teacher lives for. The third and fourth grade can chant the Hatzi Kaddish in Hebrew, and they didn’t even know they could do it.

I am so moving on to Mizmor L’David for third grade on Tuesday.

Muslims in Gaza blew up the YMCA library. Why? To protest the Danish publication of the Mohammed cartoons. Because it follows, logically, that when Danes “insult” Mohammed, Gazan Christians must be punished.

Unidentified gunmen blew up the YMCA library in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning. No one was hurt, but the library was completely destroyed.

Sources in Gaza told The Jerusalem Post the attack was in response to the re-publication of cartoons “ridiculing” the Prophet Muhammad in a number of Danish newspapers last week.

The sources said at least 12 gunmen participated in the assault, the latest in a series of attacks on Christian figures and institutions.

“The attackers kidnapped the two guards before they stormed the building in the Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City,” the sources said. “Then they entered the library, where they detonated a number of explosive charges, causing heavy damage.”

One of the guards, Abdel Mu’ti Abu Khoussa, 52, said the attackers also stole computers and other equipment from the offices of the YMCA. Only some of them had masks on their faces, he said.

Issa Saba, secretary-general of the YMCA in the Gaza Strip, said all 8,000 books were destroyed. He said the gunmen also stole a vehicle belonging to the organization.

And of course, Hamas and Fatah are pointing the fingers at each other. Oh, come off it. It was probably a partnership deal. There are only a few thousand Christians left in Gaza. Who cares, right?

The Palestinian Christian population has dipped to 1.5% of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, down from at least 15% a half century ago, according to some estimates. No city in the Holy Land is more indicative of the Christian exodus than Bethlehem, which fell under full Palestinian control last decade as part of the Oslo Accords. The town of 30,000 is now less than 20% Christian, after decades during which Christians were the majority. Elsewhere in the PA territories, only about 3,000 Christians, mostly Greek Orthodox, live in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, among a strongly conservative Muslim population of 1.4 million.

But every year, Reuters, the AP, the BBC, the New York Times, and the rest of the news media blame Israel for the lack of Christians in the town where Christianity was born. Why not? The world learned a long time ago that you can never go wrong blaming the Jews.