Adventures in bookcases

Posted on 07/28/2009 by Meryl Yourish

My new bookcases arrived today. The office was empty and lonely without my books.

An empty wall and a vacuum cleaner

But the office started looking much better after the new bookcases were put in. I think I’m going to have to buy one more set of shelves, but I won’t know until the books go back in. Which won’t be until the weekend. Tig, of course, had to investigate.

Tig checking out the new bookcases

And investigate.

Tig checking out the new bookcases

And investigate. You know. Curiosity. Cats. That sort of thing.

Tig checking out the new bookcases

If Gracie has set foot in the office since the bookcases arrived, I have yet to see it. I expect she’ll be fine by tomorrow, at least, until I start dragging boxes of books back into the office and putting them in the shelves. But she’s perfectly content in her spot by the railing.

Gracie by the railing

I’m so excited. These are the first really decent bookcases I’ve ever had. They’re also the first that weren’t hand-me-downs. And just think, I get to alphabetize my books for the first time ever! Woot! (Actually, not so woot. Pain. But it will be done.)

Caturday is either late or early this week. Late, I think, since I didn’t post any kitty pics last weekend.

Posted in Cats, Life | 5 Comments

UN demands Israel supply terrorists in Gaza

Posted on 07/28/2009 by Meryl Yourish

Once again, the UN is demanding that Jews contribute to their own destruction.

I particularly like this insistence by John Ging that there’s no way, really, no way in hell, that the concrete and iron rods would be diverted by Hamas and turned into tunnels and rockets. No way.

“We account for every sack of flour and we can equally account for every bag of cement,” he said. “It’s just a matter of political will to move forward on this issue. We’d like to get on with the job, and then be held accountable on whether we are achieving it or not.”

All right, John. Kindly explain this Reuters video, taken years ago, of Palestinian terrorists in Gaza using UN ambulances to escape from the IDF.

You don’t get to be the ones accountable for Israeli deaths. That would be the Israelis themselves, who have the responsibility to protect their citizens. Urge away, UN and NGOs. Just don’t issue the dreaded strongly-worded statement.

Posted in Gaza, Israel, United Nations | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Tuesday SNB

Posted on 07/28/2009 by Meryl Yourish

Mitchell reports to his master: I’m sorry, but that’s the way it looks to me. Mitchell is in Israel, talking settlements with Netanyahu, and he’s reporting back to Abbas that there’s “still a gap” in negotiations about what to freeze. Roll over, George! Play dead!

Another day, another mortar from Hamas: Gee, I thought they were building up their PR, not firing deadly weapons into civilian areas. And while they’re doing that, the peaceful, moderate Palestinians of the West Bank are still trying to murder civilians as they drive nearby. Funny how they never seem to come up when Obama is discussing obstacles to peace.

The real skinny on Syria: Tony Badran explains why Syria, contrary to the Obama administration’s view, is not the key to peace in the Middle East.

Alabama police tase a deaf and mentally disabled man for refusing to leave a store bathroom: Your police force at work, showing that not listening to police officers is a tase-able offense.

Posted in American Scene, Hamas, Israel, News Briefs, Syria | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Tuesday SNB

Aluf: Don’t be aloof

Posted on 07/28/2009 by Soccerdad

While I don’t totally agree with his perspective, Ha’aretz columnist Aluf Benn has an excellent op-ed in the New York Times today, Why won’t Obama talk to Israel?

Mr. Obama came to office determined to repair America’s broken alliances in Europe and the Middle East. One way to do this — to prove that he was the opposite of his predecessor — was to place some distance between Israel and himself.

Second, Mr. Obama’s quest for diplomacy has appeared to Israelis as dangerous American naïveté. The president offered a hand to the Iranians, and got nothing, merely giving them more time to advance their nuclear program. In Israeli eyes, he was humiliated by North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests. And he failed to move Arab governments to take steps to normalize relations with Israel. Conclusion: Mr. Obama is a softie, eager to please his listeners and avoid confrontation with anyone who is not Mr. Netanyahu.

Third, Mr. Obama seems to have confused American Jews with Israelis. We are close emotionally and politically, but we are different. We speak Hebrew and not English, we live in the Middle East and have separate historical narratives. Mr. Obama’s stop at Buchenwald and his strong rejection of Holocaust denial, immediately after his Cairo speech, appealed to American Jews but fell flat in Israel. Here we are taught that Zionist determination and struggle — not guilt over the Holocaust — brought Jews a homeland. Mr. Obama’s speech, which linked Israel’s existence to the Jewish tragedy, infuriated many Israelis who sensed its closeness to the narrative of enemies like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

I’d back up Benn’s second point with an observation from Steven Rosen:

The theory of “tough love” toward Israel is also failing the test, if it is intended to win concessions from the Palestinian side. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who just completed intensive negotiations with an outgoing Ehud Olmert government that was continuing “natural growth” of settlements within the agreed Bush limits, now says the incoming Benjamin Netanyahu government must “stop all settlement activities in order to resume peace talks over final status issues.” His chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, adds, “There can be no half-solutions with regards to the settlements.”

This is a hardening of the Palestinian position. Abbas did not cut off negotiations when Olmert said publicly to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth in April 2008, “It was clear from day one to Abbas … that construction would continue in population concentrations — the areas mentioned in Bush’s 2004 letter. … Beitar Illit will be built, Gush Etzion will be built; there will be construction in Pisgat Ze’ev and in the Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem … areas [that] will remain under Israeli control in any future settlement.” Abbas continued meeting with the Olmert government. In fact, Erekat boasted to a Jordanian newspaper a few weeks ago that he and Abbas achieved considerable progress with the Olmert government between the November 2007 Annapolis talks and the end of 2008 in as many as 288 negotiation sessions by 12 committees — all while the limited growth permitted by the Bush understandings continued.

Now, Obama has generated inflated and unsatisfiable expectations in the Arab world, a belief that the U.S. president can and will force total Israeli capitulation and an absolute freeze.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in American Scene, Israel | Tagged | Comments Off on Aluf: Don’t be aloof

Nancy Pelosi and her negative numbers

Posted on 07/28/2009 by Meryl Yourish

Inspired by this report on how Nancy Pelosi simply doesn’t care what the little people think.

I’m speaker of the house, you know
As such I have my highs and lows
The polls say people don’t like me
That won’t affect my life, you see:

People hate me, but I don’t care
People hate me, but I don’t care
People hate me, but I don’t care
I’m speaker of the house

Oh yes, I am the number one
In Congress I get big things done
Last year we passed the TARP bill true
And now we’re pushing healthcare through

People hate me, but I don’t care
People hate me, but I don’t care
People hate me, but I don’t care
I’m speaker of the house

So if you want to hate my guts
Go right ahead, you’re not all nuts
But ask me if I give a damn
’bout opining Americans

*Sung to the tune of “Jimmy Crack Corn”

Posted in American Scene, Politics | 1 Comment

The Gates affair

Posted on 07/27/2009 by Meryl Yourish

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to verbalize what I think of the arrest of Henry Louis Gates. I think that Radley Balko has essentially got his finger on the pulse of the issue. (H/T: Glenn Reynolds.)

Police officers deserve the same courtesy we afford anyone else we encounter in public life—basic respect and civility. If they’re investigating a crime, they deserve cooperation as required by law, and beyond that only to the extent to which the person with whom they’re speaking is comfortable. Verbally disrespecting a cop may well be rude, but in a free society we can’t allow it to become a crime, any more than we can criminalize criticism of the president, a senator, or the city council. There’s no excuse for the harassment or arrest of those who merely inquire about their rights, who ask for an explanation of what laws they’re breaking, or who photograph or otherwise document police officers on the job.

What we owe law enforcement is vigilant oversight and accountability, not mindless deference and capitulation. Whether or not Henry Louis Gates was racially profiled last week doesn’t change any of that.

Put yourself in his place. You find yourself locked out of your house, and you try to break in. The police arrive. Words ensue, and the police arrest you for disorderly conduct in your own home.

I get that Gates mouthed off to a cop. But that’s what’s been bothering me about this whole thing: Since when is it against the law to mouth off to a cop? It may be unwise, but it’s not illegal. And I have no intention of jumping on the bandwagon of people who say that you must always defer to the man with the badge and the gun. There’s more than enough police corruption out there that proves otherwise.

Was Gates an ass? Probably. Once again, that’s not against the law. Should he have kept his temper? Of course. Should he have been arrested?

NFW. The fact that charges were dropped prove that the cop was in the wrong in that respect.

Posted in American Scene | 20 Comments

Monday SNB

Posted on 07/27/2009 by Meryl Yourish

(That’s Snark News Briefs to you, buster.)

Weapons cache? What weapons cache? Lebanon is doubling down on the next war with Israel by (of course) siding with Hezbullah and insisting that the arms cache that exploded was arms “left behind by the Israelis.” Even the UN is unable to cover up this blatant violation of 1701. However, nothing will be done about it. You know it. I know it. The UN will manage to find a satisfactory excuse for allowing Hezbullah to keep arming south of the Litani, in violation of 1701, because, well, the UN is virulently anti-Israel. The Lebanese are placing themselves squarely at fault for anything that happens next. Old Chipmunk Cheeks has emerged (vocally, anyway) from his secure, nondisclosed location and threatened Tel Aviv. Not many people will remember this the next time Hezbullah invades Israel or sends rockets that way, and Israel goes after non-Hezbullah areas. But I will.

Speaking of Lebanon: The IDF built a Hezbullah city to train its troops for the next war. This, of course, is why the IDF will continue to succeed against Israel’s enemies. Well, that, and a little help from above.

U.K. groveling to Arab world: I’m currently reading Benny Morris’ 1948, and you know, the Brits haven’t really changed at all in regards to Israel. They’re currently expressing “regret” that they sold Israel arms that were used to defend herself in the Gaza war. It’s almost as if the Brits are really, really sorry they allowed any Jews to settle in their ancestral homeland at all. Oh. Wait.

U.S. groveling to Arab world: George Mitchell is in Syria, talking to the man who is responsible for the murder of American soldiers in Iraq, asking him to cut a peace deal with Israel. Here’s my prediction: Assad will not closed down the offices of Hamas and other terror groups in Damascus. He will not break ties with Iran. And he will not stop sponsoring Hezbullah and trying to run Lebanon. But he will, of course, blame Israel for the lack of peace in the Middle East, and demand the return of the Golan Heights, plus territory that never belonged to Syria in the first place. Why not? It’s worked all along. The world will not see Syria as part of the problem. Only Israel’s refusal to turn over the Golan. That would be the same Golan from which Assad’s father used to regularly shell Israeli civilians while they were working on their farms and living their lives.

Sarah Palin: Free at last. Sarah’s no longer governor of Alaska. Expect to hear even more from her now that her enemies can’t charge her every move with ethics complaints. Really, the SOB’s actually tried to say that her raising money for her defense against ethics charges was unethical. Can you say, “Set-up”? I knew you could.

Snakes in a drain: Just for something different, a 14-foot python was hiding in a storm drain in Florida. You know, the alligators are bad enough. I may never visit Florida again.

Posted in American Scene, Israel, Lebanon, News Briefs, Politics, Syria | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Monday SNB

Candid and positive

Posted on 07/27/2009 by Soccerdad

The Washington Post reports that George Mitchell has left Syria and headed to Israel with good news:

Earlier in the Syrian capital, Damascus, the former U.S. senator said that he had “just completed a very candid and positive conversation with President Assad.”

“I discussed with President Assad the prospects for moving forward on our goals of comprehensive peace in the region and improved bilateral ties between Syria and the United States,” he said.

And the New York Times has even better news from Israel:

If, as is widely believed abroad, “natural growth” by Israeli settlers is blocking the creation of a viable Palestinian state, this community should show why.

But appearances are deceiving. Modiin Illit and its sister community, Beitar Illit, are entirely ultra-Orthodox, a world apart, one of strict religious observance and study. They offer surprising potential for compromise.

Unlike settlers who believe they are continuing the historic Zionist mission of reclaiming the Jewish homeland, most ultra-Orthodox do not consider themselves settlers or Zionists and express no commitment to being in the West Bank, so their growth in these settlement towns, situated just inside the pre-1967 boundary, could be redirected westward to within Israel.

What neither news story explains is why neither of these – even if accurate – would be enough for there to be peace. Barry Rubin explains why not:

So Obama himself went to Saudi Arabia and got…nothing. Hillary Clinton went to the Gulf Arab states and got…nothing. U.S. envoy George Mitchell went to the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Bahrain, and Egypt and got…nothing.

And Obama, reportedly, wrote at least seven Arab states—including Morocco–asking them to show they wanted to make peace with Israel. He, too, will get nothing. Indeed, even if settlement construction were to freeze over he will get nothing.

The Saudis have already said they aren’t inclined to give anything.

Doesn’t everyone know this?

But consider how this is being carried out. First, the United States bashes Israel and demands a concession. Only then does it ask for some Arab quid pro quo. Why should they give anything when they would rather maintain a U.S.-Israel rift?

Of course, the pretense is that Israel hasn’t given enough, the same line that was used all through the 10-year-long 1990’s peace process era. But if Israel’s prime minister were to stand on his head and sing Um Kalthoum hits would that change anything? No.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel | Tagged | 1 Comment

A rant about non-typographers designing type

Posted on 07/27/2009 by Meryl Yourish

I updated WordPress yesterday, then went back to working on my office, preparing it for the bookcases that are arriving today or tomorrow. I had a busy day, and didn’t post anything last night. So when I saw this morning that my update had restored the original theme CSS (a fact which pisses me off mightily, I will point out), I had to go back and take out ugly, compressed, badly-letterspaced font with a much more readable and well-spaced font.

And let me say that the people who design CSS themes for the web, thinking they are oh-so-creative, and know nothing about typography are morons. It is NOT READABLE when you letterspace a font so closely that ALL of the letters start to blend together, not just the ligatures.

And the fact that most of the non-typographers reading this are going, “Huh? Ligatures?” makes my point exactly. If you are one of the people who designs style sheets for blogs, pick up a book on typography before creating a font that makes your readers’ eyes hurt.

/type rant for the day

Posted in Bloggers | 7 Comments

Sunday snarky briefs

Posted on 07/26/2009 by Meryl Yourish

Palestinian ERA watch: Hamastan continues apace, with the latest being a ruling by a Gaza judge insisting that women lawyers all wear hijabs. But remember, they’re doing it voluntarily, and it’s an empowering thing. There is no compulsion under Islam.

Sing Hallelujah for me, Lennie. Or: If at first you don’t succeed, try to force someone to accede to your point of view. The same jackasses who forced the cancellation of Leonard Cohen’s (mostly symbolic) concert in Ramallah are protesting his concert in Ireland. Why? Because they want him not to play in Israel. Once again, I must point out to these morons that a) Cohen is Jewish and b) Cohen is religious. Rotsa ruck, rokers. You’ll need it.

Settlement near on settlements? Really, there’s going to be a settlement on the settlement issue. (Why, yes, I like typing that phrase a lot. Settlement on settlements! Settlement on settlements!) Apparently, the Obama administration has wised up to the fact that if they’ve lost the Israeli left on Jerusalem, they really are taking the anti-Israel position. So there is some kind of freeze being negotiated that will not include “natural growth.” We’ll see how this goes.

Hi, my name is America, and I’m a terrorholic. Seriously? I mean, seriously? George Mitchell says the U.S. wants Syria’s help in solving the Palestinian-Israel problem? Because, it’s not like he doesn’t financially and materially support Israel’s enemies, so once again, I must ask: Seriously? This effer is responsible for the deaths of Americans in Iraq, the deaths of Americans in Israel by proxy via terror groups, and the deaths of Israelis all around. And Mitchell wants his help in making peace? Seriously?

That’s funny, I thought Hamas couldn’t control the rocketeers: The New York Times publishes an article profiling Hamas’ change from rockets to PR initiatives (see? They’re just like us!) and manages to prove, yet again, that Hamas controls utterly the firing of rockets and mortars from the Gaza Strip. But the next time there is a rocket attack and Israeli retaliates, watch for the Times to buy into the bullshit that it was a “rogue group” that fired the rockets. P.S.: They’re not fooling anyone. But everyone will pretend they are, since it’s always Israel’s fault.

Libya wants Lockerbie bomber freed on humanitarian grounds: See, here’s how it is. The poor terrorist is dying, so the fact that he murdered 259 people shouldn’t be taken into account as you consider his release from prison to die at home with his family. Because that’s how all 259 people died, right? Well, the ones on the ground, anyway. I have a suggestion. Free the bomber only if Muammar Ghadafi takes his place.

Well, that’ll piss off the left: 50 million Christians support Israel? Wow, that’s a lot. I can name one in particular that doesn’t (why yes, that means you, Jimmah Carter), and a few more like PCUSA’s leadership, but all in all, I think it makes a lot of sense for Christians to support Israel. Hello, parent religion here. (But you can’t call me Mom.) Just remember one thing, my Christian friends: Try to convert Jews and you’re grounded. (Everyone else is fair game.)

And I’m off to the gym.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome, News Briefs, Religion, Syria, Terrorism | 1 Comment

The Meryl Diet

Posted on 07/25/2009 by Meryl Yourish

I tried to start a diet back in June, and I went with a diet that worked years ago, back when I only had about ten pounds to lose. Basically, I cut out junk foods, cut down on Coke (sorry, totally addicted to it), eat Fudgesicles instead of chocolate, oven-roasted potatoes instead of french fries, baked or grilled or oven-roasted chicken instead of fried—just common-sense weight-loss routines. Eat healthy snacks instead of tortilla chips, that sort of thing.

Well, I have a lot more than ten pounds to lose (about thirty, actually), and I went overboard in denying myself food. I wasn’t just hungry all the time, I was starving. The end result: I went off the diet completely for a couple of weeks and had to work my way back to starting over. This time, I cut out most junk food, but I’m allowing myself the occasional bag of chips. Last week, when I was jonesing for ice cream, I bought a single-serve Edy’s Slow-Churned instead of a pint. And I am not feeling the guilt over eating out with Janet and Chris when I’m staying over with them in NorVA, because I follow the 80-20 rule. Diet eighty percent of the time, eat what you like twenty percent, and you’ll still lose weight.

I am currently down six pounds from my highest-ever weight, and about to reach my first milestone. This one’s just a WOOT! milestone, because I will be back in the 140s for the first time in ages. It should happen sometime next week. The next milestone is ten pounds. I promised myself I could get four pieces of honeycomb sponge from my favorite candy store, enough for one helping of dessert (two, if I can stand to stop at two pieces).

At twenty pounds, I get my cooking oil back from Sarah (yes, I really made her take the gallon of canola oil out of my house) and I can make a batch of home-made potato chips. That will probably coincide with Hanukkah. But if it doesn’t, I’ll probably fry up latkes around that time anyway (80-20 rule). I’m doing this one the slow and steady way. I’ve decided that I’m fine with waiting until next year to reach my goal, which is 120. In my smoking days, I weighed about 110-115, and I was too skinny back then. 120 seems a more healthy weight for me.

One of the things I’ve been considering is asking my readers to sponsor my diet. For every pound dropped, you donate a dollar (or more, if you like) to Magen David Adom. I can have Sarah come over and be my witness.

If you’re interested, let me know. You can always put an anonymous comment here if you don’t want to divulge your identity. They go into the moderation queue, is all. (Little-known fact.)

I wonder how much I could raise….

Posted in Life | 7 Comments

You have new hate mail!

Posted on 07/25/2009 by Meryl Yourish

This is why my comments are moderated. The Jew-hating freaks come out in droves, particularly when one of my posts gets picked up by the blog aggregator that shows up below Yahoo! News articles. Although sometimes, they just find me via a search engine or a link.

But the most vile comments come when I get picked up by Yahoo! or CNN or any other mainstream media outlet.

To wit: from a lovely Australian Jew-hater, proving my point about blaming all Jews for anti-Semitic acts:

Maybe anti-Semitism will finally cease when Jews stop using blockades as a means of starving Arab children to death. But then again the notion of their innate racial superiority is so entrenched among Jews, that their foul culture will continue to condone more acts of oppression against unfortunate non-Jews.

That’s actually a standard pattern of the Jew-haters: I write about why Jew-haters do what they do, and they come along to emphasize my point. It’s almost as if they have stupid radar as well as hatred for Jews. Oh. Wait.

This one is from a champ at GM, giving us insight into why the company is failing. It’s from Soccerdad’s post about how Obama’s pressure-Israel policy isn’t working:

People are finally waking up to all the abuse of international laws by Israel. It is about time the USA look after its own interest and stop protecting Israel of all kind human rights abuses.

See, this genius from GM knows can’t even bother to read the article he’s commenting on, where Soccerdad points out that, uh, the policy isn’t working. But again, the Jew-haters do tend to be awfully stupid.

Here’s a pretty typical comment, runon sentences and all. They get especially exercised when they find out that I won’t allow Israel-bashing comments. Note the attempt at evenhandedness, even as the commenter complains that Jews are always whining about being picked on (Jewish history of persecution notwithstanding, I guess we should just shut up and die meekly again, the way the good Jews of old did, huh?). This one’s on my post about Obama getting worse on “settlements.” And of course, this insistently non-Jew-hater is from the U.K.

Your No Isreal Bashing zone commentary written by your goodself illustrates exactly the problem that Israeli’s and Jews have, that it has blinkered, insular, blurred vision when it comes to being totally fair, impartial to dealing with the various conflicts, disagreements that are occuring in the middle east. I totally disagree with your comment about Israel being bashed on a regualr basis in the world press, if you are talking about the Western press it’s rare to find any news story the paints Israel in a negative or bad light (it seems that Western Journalists, programme editors and even politicians are too scared to vocal any dissention towards Isreal for fear of being branded an anti-semite, thus stifling any real and sensible debate or freedom of the press to do their job accurately and fairly, which is very worrying indeed). I’m not against Israel or Jews in the rest of the world wanting their own sovereign country Israel and to be safe and protected from any threat of invasion, or indeed any other nation, race or religion. But I do object to this systematic world wide complaint that Jews are always being picked on, it just isn’t the case. It seems that Israel can in no shape or form take any form of comment or contructive critism of it’s shortcomings or unfair dealings with the Palestinians. I’m sorry if this offends your No Israel Bashing Zone, but no further debate or progress will be made if you insist on only have pro Israeli comments, it serves no purpose otherwise.

I would like to point out that the moment I re-opened comments to non-registered members, the comments began again. They’ve been closed since April, when I got gems like this on my post about Israeli security saving a ship from pirates:

Who do you think trains U.S. police, military and security? You guessed it.

Ooooh. Look out, my fellow American, us Jooooooooooos are all around you!

And last, but not least (it’s just all I can stomach for now), a comment that uses the typical tactic of projection. It’s from a post about how the media ignores the fact that Lieberman is for a two-state solution:

Lieberman is “a rabid anti-Arab bigot”. Of course he will support a Palestinian bantustan, it will keep all of those impure inferiors from contaminating Israel’s ethnic purity.

Really, all they do is repeat the same catchprhases, over and over again, and yet, they get really angry when I don’t allow those catchphrases in my comments. Ah, to be young, stupid, and feeling entitled. Or old, stupid, and feeling entitled. The one thing the Jew-haters all have in common (besides the fact that they hate Jews, of course): They all get mightily pissed that I won’t let them play in my sandbox.

The heart bleeds.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Israel Derangement Syndrome | 8 Comments

Echoes of the past

Posted on 07/24/2009 by Meryl Yourish

Is it my imagination, or is Lair Simon back?

Do not click that unless you have a broad (or maybe grim) sense of humor. Oh, and if you’re a PETA person, you really don’t want to click.

(Okay, I know he hasn’t really been gone, but there’s an awful lot of activity over at the Craphole lately. Plus, he actually commented here for the first time in a long time. Twice, even.)

Well, any which way you cut it, more Lair Simon means more laughing in my world. Spit-monitor warning for the link above.

Posted in Bloggers | 1 Comment

If I’ve lost Ha’aretz, I’ve lost Israel

Posted on 07/24/2009 by Soccerdad

Evelyn Gordon writes about three columns in Ha’aretz that show resistance to the charms of President Obama. (h/t Israel Matzav). She concludes:

When even the hard-core leftists of Haaretz’s editorial board feel that a) Obama seems hostile to Israel and b) his policies actually undermine the peace process, his American Jewish supporters ought to take note.

Because no matter how sincerely Obama wants peace, a president who has lost even Israel’s hard left has no chance of delivering it.

Ari Shavit, another columnist for Ha’aretz looks at what President Obama might have done differently. (tweeted by David Hazony):

President Barack Obama made two bad mistakes in his treatment of Israel: He lost the trust of both the Israeli public and the Israeli prime minister. Neither mistake was really necessary. Despite their previous wariness, most Israelis were quite happy to see Obama in the White House. Despite a few suspicions, our prime minister was quite charmed by the young senator from Illinois and his meteoric rise.

If Obama had embraced Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu, he would have achieved what Anwar Sadat, Bill Clinton and King Hussein did. He would have melted the right, conquered the center and brought Israel to the left. An Israel-loving Obama truly committed to Israel’s security would have easily become the king of Israel.

Obama is different from Clinton. Clinton followed an administration that was largely viewed as anti-Israel. Clinton also got to work with Yitzchak Rabin and Shimon Peres for nearly four years before Netanyahu was elected. In other words Clinton built up his pro-Israel credentials by working with Israeli Prime Minister’s who were more in tune with his worldview. Had Yitzchak Shamir been re-elected in 1992, he might not have had that reputation. Similarly, had Tzipi Livni defeated Netanyahu, I don’t think we’d be hearing about all the friction between the Obama administration and Israel.

But I think Shavit is portraying a false Obama. As a candidate Obama made his distaste for the Likud clear. But perhaps more telling was his comment to Jewish leaders concerning the question as to whether there should be “daylight” between the American administration and Israel’s government:

“He said, ‘The United States and Israel were very, very close for eight years, and it produced very little,’ ” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, described as one of the more aggressive questioners during the 45-minute session.

Shavit may view President Obama’s approach towards the Middle East as a “mistake,” but, even now, I don’t think the President does. He is very much in agreement with his supporters in J-Street that the only way to bring peace to the Middle East is to pressure Israel. In a more general look at the President, Sean Trende writes:

The first is that Obama isn’t governing as a centrist because he isn’t a centrist. If you accept this as true, the Obama Administration makes perfect sense. If you don’t, then I admit it can be confusing.

It was amazing that Obama was able to maintain his stature as a Rohrschach candidate throughout the campaign. Liberals, moderates, and even some conservatives were able to see whatever they wanted to see in him, and were convinced that everyone else was going to be disappointed once he started governing.

The President is an ideologue. Ideologue’s don’t make mistakes. Everyone else does.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Politics | Tagged | Comments Off on If I’ve lost Ha’aretz, I’ve lost Israel

Denying self-defense

Posted on 07/24/2009 by Soccerdad

The other day, Charles noted that PM Netanyahu stated the obvious; that Israel’s security fence was preventing terror.

That’s part of it. But there’s a bigger reason that there’s little terror coming from the Fatah ruled areas: Israel destroyed much of the terror infrastructure there during Operations Defensive Shield. As former Defense Minister Moshe Arens wrote last year (h/t Noah Pollak):

As long as Israel seemed unable to find an effective answer to Palestinian terror [during the second intifada], the defeatists in our ranks claimed that terror could not be defeated by force, while the more cautious argued that terror could not be defeated by the use of force alone. The implication was that Israel had no choice but to concede to at least some of the terrorists’ demands-that they must be given a “political horizon.”

But once the Israel Defense Forces and the security services began to seriously tackle Palestinian terror, following the massacre at the Park Hotel in Netanya in the spring of 2002, it quickly became clear that terror could be defeated by force. As a matter of fact, it could be defeated only by the use of force. The terrorists view any hints of Israeli willingness to give in to a portion of their essentially limitless demands as a sign of weakness, which only serves to encourage further acts of terror.

But Israel’s victory over Palestinian terror, which put an end to the daily bouts of suicide bombings, also induced amnesia in the minds of some of Israel’s leaders. The lesson was quickly forgotten.

It’s nice that the New York Times and others promote the economic progress made by the Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria. However they never acknowledge that it wouldn’t have been possible if Arafat (or his successors) were still running suicide factories there. Israel’s military victory made the economic progress possible.

Regardless of what Israel does, whether it goes to war to stop terror or builds a wall, the world still complains. One gets the feeling that it isn’t the lack of peace that bothers them, but that Israel has the gall to defend itself.

In response to the “Aqsa intifada” Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield to destroy the terror infrastructure that Arafat fostered even as he talked peace. The nadir of world reaction to Israel’s effort to defend itself came when Israel was accused of massacring civilians in Jenin in the spring of 2002. The charge was false and was soon disproved but not before the UN and much of the media accepted the charge as false fact.

As part of Israel’s response to the Arafat initiated terror, it started to build a wall to protect itself from infiltrators. And of course the PA took Israel to the International Court of “Justice” to issue a non-binding ruling finding the fence to be illegal under “international law.”

Then in 2006 after Hezbollah breached the international border and kidnapped and killed Israeli soldiers, Israel launched a retaliatory war to move Hezbollah away from its northern border. Again calls went out that Israel was unnecessarily killing civilians. The nature of the media bias was so great that Marvin Kalb acknowledged that the media was a factor in deciding the war against Israel.

Finally a half year ago, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead to stop the rocket attacks coming from Gaza. Now we see, that the UN has launched an investigation into Israeli war crimes. Supported by “Human Rights” organizations and credulous media who accept any hearsay of Israeli misdeed as a verdict of guilty, no doubt the UN will condemn Israel. The UN really doesn’t care that Israel was defending its citizens.

This is the clear pattern. Israel is the only country in the world that is deemed unfit to defend itself. If Israel acts in its own defense it is guilty. Of something.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

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