In celebration of Heller

Posted on 06/28/2008 by Meryl Yourish

In celebration of the Heller decision, I will be going to my second shooting lesson tomorrow. Or, as my friend Sarah puts it, I’m going to go shooty-bang-bang.

Report, and maybe pictures, tomorrow evening.

Posted in Guns | Tagged | 9 Comments

Gazans fire mortars, AP calls it “test” of truce again

Posted on 06/27/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Mortars fired from Gaza are yet another “test” of the ceasefire, according to AP, while somehow, the closing of the border crossings—which were contingent on the ceasefire working—are labeled as the cause of the mortar fire by the AP. Note the headline: It’s a cause-and-effect summation.

Israel closes Gaza, Palestinians fire mortars

You see? As a result of closing the border crossings, the Palestinians fired mortars at Israel. Not as a matter of habit, this being the third day in a row that the Palestinians have violated the truce by firing rockets and mortars. But that’s not the worst of it. The AP is outright blaming Israel for the rocket fire. Look at the lead:

Israel refused on Friday to fully open crossings with the Gaza Strip and Palestinian militants attacked Israel with mortars, further testing an already fragile truce.

For the third day in a row, Israel prevented food trucks from entering Gaza by closing crossings in retaliation for repeated Palestinian rocket attacks, Israeli army spokesman Peter Lerner said. Later in the day, Palestinian militants fired two mortar shells toward Israel, Israeli police said, but no injuries or damage were reported. It was not immediately clear which militant faction fired the shells.

Notice the order of the events in the paragraphs. Israel closed the crossings, and THEN the Palestinians fired rockets. The AP is framing the situation as an Israeli cause—“refusing” to open the crossings—and a Palestinian effect—firing rockets and mortars. As if those are the natural progression. What the AP is no longer doing is calling the rocket fire a violation of the truce. The Israeli refusal to open the crossings is following the terms of the truce, which the AP knows full well, having published many articles detailing the truce. First, the attacks were supposed to stop. Then Israel would send more goods into Gaza. If three days went by without an attack, more goods would go in. Since the Palestinians are violating the truce, Israel is doing exactly as was agreed, and not sending in more goods or opening the crossings. But the AP is not reporting this honestly. The news service is trying to make its readers think that Israel is violating the truce by “refusing” to open the crossings. You have to dig down ten paragraphs to find the word “violation” anywhere in this article. And it’s used in the context of a revenge attack.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called for retaliation for the attacks.

“I am not interested who fired and who didn’t fire at Israel,” she told reporters Thursday. “It is a violation, and Israel needs to respond immediately, militarily, for every violation.”

Notice that the only Israeli quoted is made to look like a bloodthirsty, well, “militant.” Strangely for the AP, which manages to find a quote for every single Palestinian casualty of Israeli fire, there are no quotes at all from Hamas or terrorist groups in this article. And in this short piece from early this morning, the AP outright calls Israel’s closure of the crossings a violation of the truce, thus following the Hamas line.

Israel has refused for the third day in a row to fully open crossings with the Gaza Strip in retaliation for rocket attacks. The rockets and closure both constitute violations of a cease-fire that began June 19.

Truly, is there anyone out there anymore who thinks the AP is an objective news source? Because if so, I have this bridge that’s been in my family for generations, for sale, cheap.

Posted in Israel | 3 Comments

What color is the sky on J-Street?

Posted on 06/27/2008 by Soccerdad

J-Street has a wonderful new feature that allows you to send a letter to the editor of a local paper to support J-Street’s views. I decided to take advantage.

Amy Teibel’s report on the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has a very important sentence in the middel, “Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for the past year, has said it will enforce the truce, but not confront militants from other groups who violate the deal.”

In other words Israel made a deal with a partner unwilling to live up to its side of the bargain. Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh said last week that his organization would not stop the smuggling of weapons into Israel.

In word and deed Hamas is showing itself to be just as committed to peace as Fatah was:not at all.

.

You’ll note that my text doesn’t match the default message that J-Street recommended.

Why’d I go to J-Street. Well you see they’re very proud of an ad (pdf) they just sponsored in the NY Times. The ad reads in part:

If Israel had gone to war this week, established pro-Israel organizations would have rallied to its side. There would have been ads, press releases, fundraising appeals and political speeches. Let’s have the courage to support Israel loudly and clearly when it pursues security through diplomacy.

If Israel had reacted to the repeated provocations by going to war against Hamas this week, much of the world would have ignored the reasons went to war and reflexively condemned Israel for protecting its citizens. Pro-Israel organizations would have rallied to support Israel in the face of the concerted efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state. It isn’t a matter of supporting war, it’s a matter of trusting Israel’s government to defend the lives of its citizens.

When J-Street asks pro-Israel groups to show courage, it’s a shame that it lacks the courage to criticize Israel’s enemies who show contempt for diplomacy and care nothing for the lives of Jews in Israel.

They cannot even bring themselves to criticize Hamas for working against peace.

And yet they call themselves pro-Israel and pro-peace. I wonder what color the sky is in that world the denizens of J-street inhabit.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Re-posting

Posted on 06/27/2008 by Soccerdad

Taking its cue from the NY Times that recently introduced “Op-classics,” the Washington Post is inaugurating a feature called “Re-posted.” (I like the name Op-Classics better, but the idea is still a good one.)

Here’s the deal:
This RePosted article comes at the suggestion of a reader, Howard Schmitt of Pittsburgh,
who recently came across a 1999 Post essay about the perils of cheap gas and praised it for its prescience. That essay, originally published in The Post’s Outlook section, is “reposted” below, along with the article that originally accompanied it.

We’re grateful for Mr. Schmitt’s generosity. He also got us thinking: What other columns or editorials from The Post’s archives would you like to read again? Are there past opinion pieces that you think are newly relevant? Do you remember editorials or columns that were spot-on — or dead wrong? Do you wonder what the Post had to say about a particular historical event that might shed light on what’s happening now?

Send your suggestions to reposted@washingtonpost.com.

We don’t expect you to recall headline, byline and date. And we can’t promise that we’ll get to every request. But give us as much guidance as you can — and explain why you think it would be helpful or interesting to read again now. Then we can start digging through the archives.

Here’s my suggestion: Charles Krauthammer wrote a column “The end of the illusion” on March 7, 1996. The column started:

This is peace? “Israelis Unnerved by Peace That Kills ,” says a Washington Post headline, March 5. Peace that kills ? This is an absurd oxymoron. If peace means anything, it means at its very minimum an absence of violence. After all, “armistice” and “truce” — lesser forms of peace — mean cease-fire. Peace must mean at least that .

This Orwellian conjunction of peace and violence demonstrates the state of hypnosis that Americans and Israelis have placed themselves under since the September 1993 Handshake on the White House lawn. What followed has been called a peace process. It has been nothing of the kind. The Palestinian war on Israel has been unrelenting. More Israeli civilians have been massacred since the handshake than at any time in the entire history of the country.

The ” peace process” is in fact nothing more than a unilateral Israeli withdrawal. The Palestinians have gotten Gaza, West Bank autonomy, huge influxes of foreign aid, international recognition, their own police force, their first free elections ever (something their Turkish, British, Egyptian and Jordanian rulers never granted them).

In return Israel has gotten what? Pats on the head from the United States. The occasional trade mission from Tunisia. And, from the Palestinians, death. This is peace?

I already criticized the Post’s coverage of Hamas’s breach of the ceasefire it concluded with Israel last week. In short, the Post’s correspondent Griff Witte departed from straight reporting in his portrayal of Hamas’s bad faith.
1) He termed the firing of rockets at Israel as “rattling” neither “breaching” nor “violating” the ceasefire, and thus downgraded the seriousness of the action.
2) He failed to report (unlike the New York Times) that a leader of Hamas claimed that the organization had no obligation to stop the firing on Israel.
3) He reported Hamas’s claim that Israel’s renewed closure of Gaza was a violation of the truce, effectively declaring Hamas the good guys.
4) He termed those who criticized the truce as “hard-liners,” and then quoted an Israeli critic. The critic, Gen. Moshe Yaalon was correct when he called the truce unstable, largely because Hamas will not stop the smuggling of weapons as it committed to and, as mentioned, won’t stop the firing on Israel.

Just as the Post’s correspondent (I think Barton Gellman) 12 years ago declared “peace” where an extremist group was violating its terms, (then it was Fatah,) now Witte pretends there is a ceasefire or truce when an extremist group (now Hamas) was violating every one of its terms.

I don’t expect that the Post will follow my advice; it seems averse to self criticism. But what the heck, I’ll give it a shot.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Hamas, Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time, Media Bias | Tagged | Comments Off on Re-posting

A telethon to support the troops

Posted on 06/26/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Don’t forget to check in with Michelle Malkin at 4 p.m. Eastern today. She’s running a live, streaming video telethon to raise money for From the Frontlines. Or you can go here to sponsor a care package in your price range. If you do send a package, email Michelle. She’s keeping a tally. And tell her I sent you. She’s been a good blog buddy to me. I’d like to repay the favor.

This is a case of my not agreeing with everything she writes, and vice-versa, and yet, we don’t hate each other. Go figure.

Update 11:15 p.m.: They’re closing in on one million dollars. THere’s still time to donate.

Posted in Miscellaneous, Politics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Hamas pwned by Israeli hackers

Posted on 06/26/2008 by Meryl Yourish

A group of Israeli teenagers pwned a few terrorist websites.

Izzadin Kassam’s site displayed a blank white screen and Hebrew text notifying of a technical error.

The websites of Arab Israeli political party Balad, and left-wing activist groups ‘Hagada Hasmolanit’ and ‘Occupation’ featured a black background with an Israeli flag, and the emblem of the ‘Extremist Zealots’ group, similar to that of Meir Kahane’s Kach movement.

The lyrics from the Israeli national anthem ‘Hatikva’ were also posted on the sites in Hebrew, as well as pictures of Palestinian babies dressed as suicide bombers with the caption, ‘Murderers from Birth.’

Pictures at the link.

Ynet doesn’t label the kids right-wing, and talked to some of the hackers, who don’t sound nearly as scary as the JPost is making them out. (The JPost is going Ha’aretz on us? WTF?)

“The criteria are defined as anti-Zionist or anti-Jewish sites that support or assist in harming Zionism and the existence of Israel as a Zionistic, Jewish state”.

According to him, the group consists of young adults from 16 to 18 years of age.

In addition to the Hamas military wing’s site, they also broke into the Balad political party site, that of the Hagada Hasmalit (the left bank), the Kibush (occupation) site and more.

[…] Despite the fact that the slogan, “Kahane was right” appears and with it, the symbol of the Kach party, a yellow and black fist, the groups’ members clarified that they are in no way connected to the Kahane Chai party, “except for many common opinions and agreement with Kahane’s ways, out of the understanding that there is no other choice.”

Fanat al-Radical is a new group of hackers whose members were members of another group called Kamikaz Team. “Since we didn’t want to include politics in Kamikaz, we created a parallel group that supports the destruction of Arab sites.

I actually don’t care what their politics are. I wish them success in hacking all the anti-Israel sites they can find.

Posted in Computers, Hamas, Israel, Terrorism | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Syrian serial peace making

Posted on 06/26/2008 by Soccerdad

David Ignatius hails Israel-Syrian negotiations in A surprise negotiation. There is so much wrong with this article it’s hard to know where to start.

OK, I’ll start with Noah Pollak’s observation that Ignatius:

regularly demonstrates that you can write about something for a living without understanding it

I don’t agree with Pollak’s assessment that Israel’s raid on the Syrian reactor makes it more likely that talks will succeed, his characterization of Ignatius is apt.

Lately I’ve been reading a review copy of “The Truth About Syria” by Barry Rubin. (Here’s an interview with Michael J. Totten and a review by Elder of Ziyon.) A review from me is upcoming.

Prof. Rubin’s thesis is that Syria has learned to be suited by the West. That’s how the Assad regime survives. Syria doesn’t leave obvious fingerprints on its support of terror and plays hard to get, demanding concessions from the West to support stability in the Middle East. And of course, even though the State Department classifies Syra as a state sponsor of terror, there are always those Nobel seeking politicians, credulous journalists and ambitious diplomats who see some semblance of reasonableness in the tyrants of Damascus.

Here are some of Ignatius’s points:

(3) Can Syria be decoupled from Iran?

Israel’s overriding goal has been to draw Syria away from its alliance with Iran. So far, the Israelis see no sign that the peace talks have achieved this goal. Syria-watchers caution that this sort of decisive transfer of loyalties is unlikely. But eventually, Syria may move away from Iran (and toward Turkey) because the Baath regime in Damascus is secular to its core — and mistrusts the religious fervor of the mullahs. The decoupling would be cultural and political, rather than a matter of security policy.

Really? Prof. Rubin makes the case that Syria – specifically the Assads – beneifts from the “religious fervor,” given the status of Alawites (who are not really Muslims, if I understood their description their sort of like Muslims for Jesus adopting some of the trappings of Christianity mixed in with their belief in Mohammed.) The Assads have cultivated their religious image in an attempt to mollify the Sunni majority in Syria and the Islamic world in general. Breaking with Iran would undermine Assad’s pious pose.

(4) Who assassinated Imad Mughniyah in Damascus in February?

The car bomb that killed Iran’s key covert operative in Hezbollah is still echoing in the Middle East. Suspicion immediately focused on Israel. But on Feb. 27, a London-based newspaper called Al-Quds Al-Arabi, with very good sources in Damascus, alleged that several Arab nations had conspired with Mossad to assassinate Mughniyah.

Adding to the speculation are reports that shortly before his death, Mughniyah was attempting to heal a split within Hezbollah between the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and its former leader, Subhi Tufaily. Tufaily’s power base is the Bekaa Valley, which has lost influence in Hezbollah to Shiites from southern Lebanon. According to one Arab source, Mughniyah — traveling under his longtime pseudonym, “Haj Ismail” — paid a visit shortly before his death to Tufaily’s village of Britel, just south of Baalbek.

Mughniyah usually traveled without bodyguards, believing that his protection was the surgical alteration of his features, which prevented even old friends from recognizing “Haj Ismail.” For that reason, the Syrians insisted they weren’t at fault. But a sign of tension was Tehran’s announcement that a joint commission would investigate the killing, a statement that Damascus promptly denied.

This is pure speculation. I was always skeptical of the claim that Israel killed Mughniyah. The idea that the Mossad conspired with Arab regimes in his killing. This strikes me as Uzi Mahnaimi-like speculation. Most likely Mughniyeh ran afoul of Assad.

(5) What about Syria’s secret nuclear reactor, which was destroyed by the Israelis on Sept. 6, 2007?

Oddly enough, that attack on what CIA analysts called the “Enigma Building” may have helped the peace talks. The Israelis felt that their decisive action helped restore the credibility of their deterrence policy. The Syrians appreciated that Israeli and American silence allowed them time to cover their tracks. Finally, the fact that Assad kept the nuclear effort a secret, and that he managed the post-attack pressures, showed Israelis that he was truly master of his own house, and thus a plausible negotiating partner.

Yes he’s master of his own house, but he uses that role to sow instability. The overtures to Israel worried Iran, which ended up making a new defense deal with Syria.

Getting involved in a peace process with Israel has only served to enhance Assad’s reputation in the West without requiring any tangible action on his part. It has also given leverage with his sponsor, Iran. Likely it will also get him some sort of concession from Israel that he will then claim is irrevocable, even when he fails to reciprocate.

Getting involved in a peace process for Assad is like the smoker who finds quitting easy because he does it again and again. The smoker never stops smoking and Assad will never make peace.

More at memeorandum.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Syria | Tagged , | 3 Comments

What ceasefire?

Posted on 06/26/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Rockets hit Israel again today. And from the PA’s very own Fatah terrorists.

A Qassam rocket was fired Thursday afternoon from the Gaza Strip into Israel, exploding in an open area in Sderot’s industrial zone. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, Fatah’s military wing, took responsibility for firing the rocket. Sources in the Gaza Strip believe that the firing was meant to embarrass Hamas and to harm the ceasefire efforts.

Meantime, the PA’s own prime minister tells Israel to pay no attention to the rockets raining down on southern Israel, just open the crossings anyway. (What, you expected him to tell terrorists to stop firing the rockets? Please. You must be new here.)

Palestinian authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Thursday called on Israel to reopen border crossing with the Gaza Strip which were shut after Palestinian rocket attacks violated the shaky truce with Hamas.

“We have 1.5 million of our people with a sense of not having much to lose. That situation must end,” Fayyad told a news conference in Prague with Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek.

Yes, it’s because they have “a sense of not having much to lose” that they’re firing rockets on Israel. Not because Hamas and Fatah are in a terror war with Israel. Nope. Pay no attention to the rockets, mortars, shootings, stabbings, and bombings. It’s all because of the “humiliations” suffered by the Palestinians.

And in today’s event being held in Arab/Muslim Bizarro World, Hamas is forming a committee to monitor violations of the truce—by Israel.

Earlier Thursday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that “the occupier’s continued blockade on the Strip constitutes a violation of the truce agreement.”

He spoke following a meeting held Hamas representatives with members of the Islamic Jihad, Popular Front and Democratic Front on Wednesday, in which the sides decided to form a joint committee which would monitor the Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement and decided on the response.

Got it? He’s talking to the people who are firing the rockets about monitoring Israel for closing the crossings because those people are firing rockets. Yes, a day in the life of a terrorist in Gaza or the West Bank: It’s just like a day with the Red Queen, and makes even less sense.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, palestinian politics, Terrorism | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Once more unto the breach

Posted on 06/26/2008 by Soccerdad

The NYT and Washington Post both reported on the recent breach of the ceasefire by Hamas. Though both papers included the reporting in articles about PM Olmert’s political maneuverings the Times did a superior job. The Washington Post left out a significant detail in its reporter’s attempt to draw and equivalence between Israel and the Palestinians.

In an article focused on Ehud Olmert’s last minute political save the NYT reports on the recent attacks on southern Israel by Gaza based terrorists.

Also on Wednesday, Israel closed the Gaza border crossings for supplies in response to Palestinian rocket fire on Tuesday that was the first serious breach of a nearly week-old truce between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic group that controls Gaza. Islamic Jihad, a small extremist group, claimed responsibility for firing the rockets, describing the move as retaliation for an Israeli raid that killed one of its senior commanders in the West Bank, which is not covered by the cease-fire accord. But the closing was expected to be brief.

Maybe the rockets were the first “serious” breach of the ceasefire, but earlier there had been a mortar fired into Israel.

Regarding the rockets on Tuesday, which struck Sderot, an Israeli border town, and its environs, Israel has said it will hold Hamas responsible for all infractions of the truce, including those carried out by other groups.

Khalil al-Hayya, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said Wednesday that Hamas was committed to the truce but would not “police” the border with Israel or enforce the calm with rifles.

So what was the point? Hamas is essentially denying responsibility for the agreement it signed.

James Taranto observed:

One of the hallmarks of a legitimate government is that it has a monopoly on the use of force. Hamas’s refusal even to try to exercise such a monopoly reveals that it is not a government but a gang.

The Washington Post’s Griff Witte engages in a bit of dissembling about the ceasefire.

Talks with the radical Islamist group Hamas, mediated by Egypt, have already borne fruit in the form of a six-month cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. That truce was rattled Tuesday, however, when the armed group Islamic Jihad fired three rockets from Gaza into southern Israel in response to an Israeli operation in the West Bank city of Nablus that left two of the group’s members dead.

In retaliation, Israel on Wednesday closed all commercial crossings into the coastal strip and would not say when they would reopen. Under the terms of the truce, Israel is supposed to gradually loosen the strict economic embargo it imposed a year ago, when Hamas toppled a unity government with the rival Fatah party and took control of the territory.

Hamas said Israel’s decision to close the crossings violated the terms of the truce. But the group also said it planned to continue to honor the week-old cease-fire, and by refraining from a military response, Israel indicated that it would, as well.

The truce wasn’t “rattled,” it was violated, or as Israbel Kershner of the NYT reported, “breached.” Note furthermore that in the third quoted paragraph how Witte frames the issue: Israel “violated” the truce but Hamas would “honor” the truce. Nothing about Hamas has said that it won’t stop smuggling or as reported elsewhere, denied any responsibility for enforcing the ceasefire.

Finally we come to this bit of pernicious equivalence.

The truce is controversial in Israel and Gaza, with hard-line critics on both sides arguing that now is not the time for quiet.

Retired Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, a former chief of the Israel Defense Forces, said that instead of holding its fire, Israel should be conducting targeted killings and medium-scale military operations so that, ultimately, Hamas “will cry for [a truce] without conditions.”

But Yaalon said he doubts the current cease-fire will last.

“It’s not a stabilized situation, and it’s not going to last for six months,” he said.

“Hard line critics on both sides?” So after he presents the view that both sides are honoring the truce, he quotes only an Israeli “hard-line” critic. But since Witte’s left out the Hamas statement about not enforcing the ceasefire, Gen. Ya’alon’s statement can be interpreted, I suppose, as that of a “hard-liner.” But if Witte had taken the time to report on Hamas’s denial of responsibility of enforcing the ceasefire, Ya’alon’s statement is a realistic assessment of the situation. If terror groups other than Hamas will be free to strike at Israel whenever they want, the ceasefire is not a “stabilized situation.”

I wonder if Deborah Howell is concerned.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Media Bias | Tagged , | Comments Off on Once more unto the breach

Miraculous cure of a catatonic Ukrainian

Posted on 06/26/2008 by SnoopyTheGoon

This story happened in Ukraine during the Soviet times and has two protagonists:

  • Jewish Professor of psychiatry, a diminutive man widely known for his knowledge, professionalism, ornery character and a compassion toward his patients.
  • Ukrainian Patient who got into a totally catatonic state for more than a year, without any cure in sight. Fed via a tube and slowly wasting away in a Soviet psychiatric hospital.

The doctor responsible for the Patient was totally despaired. Every known drug and every known therapy failed. Relatives visited the patient from time to time, talked to him to no avail, and, after shedding some tears, left without receiving any response. There was no hope.

And then our Professor came into the picture. He even made a bet with his colleague on success of his way of treatment. You see, he counted on the power of suggestion. Hearing and vision of the Patient were not impaired – he heard and saw everything, but apparently didn’t respond to it, living deep inside his shell. Professor also counted on the ingrained discipline of an army veteran – Patient served in the army for a very long time.

The only thing to do was to prepare Patient for the appearance of a person whose voice would penetrate Patient’s soul to the maximum imaginable depth. To this end, twenty or more times a day nurses, doctors and even some volunteer patients told Patient about a legendary Professor and his wizardly powers. Yes, Professor will definitely come, it is only that he is too busy at the moment, teared apart by the incessant demands of his other patients and other commitments. Of course, the whole brainwashing procedure was orchestrated by Professor, building up hope in the mind of the Patient. This centuries old remedy: belief-based cure – worked this time perfectly as well. With a small detail that is the reason for the story.

Well, after ten or so days of the brainwashing, Patient was told that tomorrow Professor will definitely stop by. And the patient started showing some signs of excitement that developed towards dawn into a fever of anticipation.

Come morning, about six doctors in white smocks burst into the room and promptly sorted themselves in a line which would have mollified even a drill sergeant. Patient started sweating and his eyes became almost clear. And then Professor – a small, white-haired and power-exuding figure – came into the room, approached Patient and barked: “Stand up!”.

And Patient sat up in his bed and, with some assistance, stood up!

Then, jabbing his finger in the Patient’s stomach (because of Professor’s puny height), Professor barked again: “Do you know who I am?”.

And, as if there were no year long stretch of catatonic state and muteness, the Ukrainian licked his dry lips and obediently answered:

“A kike.”

****************************

This wonderful bitter-sweet story was translated (poorly, I am afraid) by me from a book Walks Around The Barracks : Autobiographical Novella by Igor Guberman, an outstanding poet/philosopher, an ex-Soviet dissident, a Jerusalemite, a mensch. I hope Igor doesn’t mind this rip-off. Maybe it will be another tiny push to translation of this (and many other Igor’s books) into English.

Cross-posted on SimplyJews.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Humor | 4 Comments

You put your left fist in…

Posted on 06/25/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Sarah sent me a link to the Hokey Pokey Hulk toy.

It’s so bad it’s good.

Do the Hulkey Pokey!

Meryl want.

Posted in Pop Culture, The Hulk | Tagged | 1 Comment

Good Government Terrorists

Posted on 06/25/2008 by Soccerdad

Barry Rubin writes about They’re Dictators and Terrorists But What Clean Streets!, after outlining the failures of Fatah, Prof. Rubin lays out the secrets of Hamas’s success.

As for Hamas, it possesses three key weapons.

The mainstream appeal of extremism and terrorism. “Hamas is strong and brutal but very good at governing,” Eyad Sarraj told the New York Times, which describes him as a British-trained psychiatrist and secular opponent of Hamas, After all, he continues, it’s distributing gas coupons, getting people to pay electricity bills, and keeping the city clean.
…
The success of ideological demagoguery. One Hamas supporter told a reporter: “Israel is trying to pressure us to make us forget that the real problem is the occupation.” Of course, there is no Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip, which is one reason why Hamas was able to seize power. “We can take it,” she continued, “The Koran teaches that in the end we will be victorious.”
…
Finally, there’s the strange conclusion that since Hamas isn’t about to fall from power, this proves sanctions have failed. One could say it shows economic and military pressures should be raised further. But at least it should be understood that the sanctions’ purpose is to make Hamas less able to kill even more people, take over the West Bank, damage Israel, or turn Gaza into–to stand Bush’s view on its head–an “attractive alternative.”

The media have been virtual accomplices in bringing Hamas to power, by fostering the impression that, at least, Hamas could make the “trains run on time.” I’ve blogged about how reporters would whitewash Hamas’s ideology and profile one or another Hamas politician who was delivering services. They were, I suppose, good government terrorists.

But of course once they actually had a chance to rule, they proved as corrupt as Fatah. The problem was the media wasn’t nearly as interested in looking into how they operated then.

Prof Rubin’s last point is important too. Last week Griff Witte noted that according to polls Hamas’s popularity has been falling. Still the foreign policy sophisticates insist that Israeli efforts are retaliation – “collective punishment” according to Nicholas Kristoff – for the missiles fired on the Negev.

The latest ceasefire only served to strengthen Hamas politically (and diplomatically.) It may pay off in a short respite for the Israelis of the Negev, but there will be a price to pay.

Fatah is weak and corrupt. Part of that weakness stems from its military defeat by Israel during Operation Defensive Shield. The only thing that will defeat Hamas, unfortunately, is a campaign of a similar nature, with all the costs that is likely to entail.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Good Government Terrorists

Israel’s slow defeat

Posted on 06/25/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Ehud Olmert is presiding over Israel’s slow defeat by her enemies. What else can you call a situation when a country refuses to fight back when terrorists attack her? And not just refuses, but tells the enemy that she will not fight?

Israel promised Egypt that it would not attack the Gaza Strip even if one of the Palestinian terror organizations violate the ceasefire, the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Qabas reported Wednesday morning.

According to the report, which is based on details provided by Egyptian sources involved in the meeting conducted yesterday between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Israel agreed to restrain itself if Hamas punishes the organizations violating the calm.

It was also reported that Israel fears that Hamas’ decisions are being made by Iran. Egypt tried calming Israel by saying that they themselves are responsible for Hamas’ commitment to the agreement. Egypt threatened that if Hamas violates the ceasefire, the government in Cairo will disassociate itself from the Islamist group.

Oh, that’s all right, then. If Hamas murders Israelis, Egypt will stop talking to it. Gee, you can’t beat an offer like that. And see what else is Egypt doing?

The newspaper also revealed that Egypt is attempting to increase the amount of Palestinians released in the prisoner exchange deal involving kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit from 450 to 600.

That’s right. Helping Hamas free more terrorists. And Hamas’ reaction? They’re not going to “police” other terrorist groups for violating the truce.

The militant group Hamas said it remains committed to a cease-fire with Israel, but will not act as Israel’s “police force” in confronting militants who breach the truce.

[…] Hamas said it was exerting pressure on Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the attack, to stop the rocket fire and demanded that Israel open the crossings. But al-Haya said its forces would not confront rocket launching squads on the ground.

“Even if there is a violation by some factions, Hamas emphasizes its commitment to the calm and is working to implement the calm,” al-Haya said.

“But Hamas is not going to be a police securing the border of the occupation,” he added. “No one will enjoy a happy moment seeing Hamas holding a rifle in the face of a resistance fighter.”

So rocket attacks aren’t considered a violation of the truce. But Hamas says there is a violation happening:

On Wednesday, all cargo crossings were closed, though a pedestrian passage was kept open.

Hamas government spokesman Taher Nunu said the closure was a “clear violation of the calm” and called on Egypt, which mediated the truce, to intervene.

Translation: Terrorists trying to kill Israelis is fine. Just don’t stop feeding us and supplying us with fuel for our rockets.

Meantime, Hezbullah senses the utter weakness and confusion of the Israeli administration.

Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah will not lower his demands in the framework of a prisoner exchange deal even if Israel declared captive soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev “killed in action”, an analyst with ties to the Shiite group said in a column published by the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar on Wednesday.

And the PRC is refusing to change its demands for Gilad Shalit.

Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) spokesman Abu Mujahid told Ynet Wednesday that the demands posed by the groups holding IDF soldier Gilad Shalit will not change and that “Israel must comply with our demands otherwise Shalit will not see the light of day.

This is because Israel is letting the fate of three soldiers dictate its behavior towards terrorist groups. I know I’m not related to one of the captives (or dead soldiers), so my view isn’t going to be theirs, but I can’t see allowing terrorists to hold an entire nation hostage over the fate of three men. It only strengthens your enemies, and encourages weak leaders like Olmert to make a deal at any cost—which he will do, seeing as he’s survived his latest challenge. Labor knuckled under, and refused to dissolve the government.

“On the public level, we have reiterated our norms and values,” Defense Minister and Labor chairman Ehud Barak said Wednesday, following the Labor faction’s approval of a deal between Labor and Kadima by which the two parties agreed to avoid a vote for the dissolution of the Knesset.

Yes, and on the private level, much bribery went on, I’m sure. Olmert survives. God help Israel. Because right now, it sure seems like the terrorists groups have the upper hand.

All this has happened before, and apparently will happen again. I swear, you could go back in my archives a few years and find almost exactly the same post as this one. Nothing has changed since Ariel Sharon’s stroke, and even before his stroke, he was refusing to go in and take care of the terrorists on a large scale. Israel needs a warrior like King David. But I don’t see one on the horizon.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Terrorism | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Pictures = 1000’s of words

Posted on 06/25/2008 by Soccerdad

On the ceasefire:
We have this picture with the caption:

An Israeli woman stands outside her damaged house after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza landed in the southern town of Sderot

And this picture with this caption:

Palestinian Hamas militants take part in a training exercise in Gaza

Noah Pollak noted:

Yuval Diskin, the head of the Shin Bet — he was against the Hamas cease-fire in the first place — tells Haaretz that both arms smuggling and terrorist training in Gaza have increased since the cease-fire took effect.

So the ceasefire has had the effect of forcing an Israeli family, once again, to seek shelter, while the terrorists of Hamas train openly without fear.

Related thoughts at Yourish, Bookworm Room and Mere Rhetoric.

On Palestinian police:

And here we have a picture from the Berlin conference in support of Palestinian civil security and rule [of] law where these important people will discuss funding Palestinian police so that they can balance things on their noses, dance the Hora and fix their pants.

On normalcy:

This idyllic picture of people in the surf is accompanied by a caption that “Palestinians” are enjoying a day at the beach. On closer inspection, you see that the caption should have read “Palestinian men.” Except for a few small girls, the folks clad in bathing suits are all men.

Where are the women? Oh they’re also at the beach. Here, in burqas. I don’t imagine that they’re enjoying the day nearly as much.

My point isn’t to complain about the separation of the sexes. That, by itself, doesn’t bother me. It’s that these pictures are being used to show how the Israeli agreement not to defend itself has now allowed these people to live normally. But it’s not normal in the Western sense. The fact that the women dare not attend the beach in anything less bulky than burkas shows that the organization governing Gaza is one that enforces a rather rigid Islam on its inhabitants. And that bit of information isn’t being reported. Just that Israel has finally relented
and allowed the Gazans some normalcy.

Related thoughts at Elder of Ziyon.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome, Media Bias | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Pictures = 1000’s of words

Israel’s unacknowledged terror victims

Posted on 06/25/2008 by Meryl Yourish

The current AP boilerplate for Gaza is as follows:

The Egyptian-brokered deal aims to end a year of violence that has killed more than 400 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians, and seven Israelis in a bloody cycle of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli reprisals.

That’s actually an improvement from a few days ago:

The cease-fire, which Egypt labored for months to conclude, aims to bring an end to a year of fighting that has killed seven Israelis and more than 400 Palestinians, many of them civilians, since the Islamic militant group Hamas wrested control of Gaza a year ago.

The thing is, both of the boilerplates have completely ignored dozens of Israeli casualties in this terror war. The “seven Israelis” the AP mentions are the tip of the iceberg. The AP is only counting civilian deaths. But that’s wrong. Eleven Israeli soldiers have been killed by terrorists from Gaza in the past year. Here are the total number of deaths caused by terrorists from the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over:

July 12, 2007 – Staff Sgt. Arbel Reich, 21, of Yuvalim was killed when Hamas terrorists ambushed IDF troops engaged in anti-terror activity in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The terrorists detonated previously planted explosive devices and then opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns.

Oct 17, 2007 – Sgt. Ben Kubani, 20, of Hadera, was killed in an exchange of fire with terrorists during IDF activity targeting the terror infrastructure near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Oct 29, 2007 – IDF reservist St.-Sgt. Maj. Ehud Efrati, 34, of Beit Yehoshua was killed in an exchange of fire with Palestinian terrorists in southern Gaza Strip, near the Sufa crossing.

Jan 15, 2008 – Carlos Andrés Mosquera Chávez, a 21-year-old volunteer from Quito, Ecuador, was killed by a Palestinian sniper from the Gaza Strip as he was working in the fields of Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha. The Hamas Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the shooting.

Feb 27, 2008 – Roni Yihye, 47, of Moshav Bitcha in southern Israel, a student at Sapir College, was killed Wednesday afternoon when a Kassam rocket exploded in a parking lot near the Sderot campus. He died shortly after sustaining massive wounds to his chest. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Mar 1, 2008 – St. Sgt. Doron Asulin, 20, of Beersheba and St. Sgt. Eran Dan-Gur, 20, of Jerusalem were killed in an exchange of fire with Hamas terrorists during an IDF anti-terror operation in northern Gaza targeting rocket launchings. The gunmen reportedly fired mortar shells, antitank and RPG missiles at the soldiers.

Mar 6, 2008 – An IDF soldier – a Bedouin tracker, 27 – was killed during a routine patrol along the security fence in the central Gaza Strip, near Kissufim, when Palestinian terrorists detonated an explosive device near the jeep in which he was driving. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
St.-Sgt. Liran Banai, 20, of Ashkelon, the critically wounded jeep driver, succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, March 9.

Apr 9, 2008 – St.-Sgt. Sayef Bisan, 21, of the Druze village of Jat in the western Galilee was killed in an exchange of fire with Palestinian terrorists in an overnight IDF operation against terror infrastructure in the southern Gaza Strip. Two soldiers were wounded.

Apr 9, 2008 – Oleg Lipson, 37, and Lev Cherniak, 53, both of Beersheba, were killed when Palestinian terrorists, after firing a salvo of mortars at the Nahal Oz area, penetrated the fuel terminal and opened fire on the civilian employees.

Apr 16, 2008 – Three IDF soldiers – Sgt. Menhash al-Banyat, 20, of the Bedouin community of Kseife in the Negev; Sgt. Matan Ovdati, 19, of Moshav Patish in the western Negev; and Sgt. David Papian, 21, of Tel Aviv – were killed in a confrontation with armed Palestinian gunmen approaching the Gaza security fence south of the Nahal Oz fuel terminal. Three other soldiers were wounded.

May 9, 2008 – Jimmy Kadoshim, 48, of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, was killed by mortar fire from the Gaza Strip while tending his garden.

May 12, 2008 – Shuli Katz, 70, of Kibbutz Gevaram, was killed while visiting relatives at Moshav Yesha, some 15 kms (9 miles) from the Gaza Strip.

June 5, 2008 – Amnon Rosenberg, 51, of Kibbutz Nirim was killed and four other employees were wounded when a mortar bomb fired by Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip exploded outside the Nirlat paint factory in Kibbutz Nir-Oz. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

That’s eighteen deaths due to Gaza terrorism—not seven. The AP wants to have it both ways: Keep Palestinian terrorists in the casualty count, but eliminate Israeli soldiers killed by terrorists. The end result ameliorates the effects of Hamas terror since the takeover of Gaza.

It’s an utter whitewashing of the real Israeli casualties, and very typical of the mainstream media. The double standard is reprehensible. Palestinian civilian deaths, and overall Palestinian death totals, are played up—while Israeli soldier death tolls are ignored utterly. Note that I didn’t even count the deaths by terrorists that occurred within Israel itself, even though some of them were perpetrated by Hamas terrorists. Those figures, too, are ignored by the AP. But just because the AP doesn’t report the deaths doesn’t mean they didn’t occur.

In Gaza, though, the AP is misrepresenting the facts. Eighteen Israeli deaths by terror occured between June 15, 2007 and June 15, 2008—in the “year of violence,” as the AP called it. The evidence is right there, in black and white. Seven civilians and eleven soldiers were killed. Perhaps the AP should change its count to reflect the facts accurately. After all, it has no such compunctions about including the American soldier casualty counts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But that’s a post for another day.

Posted in AP Media Bias, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Terrorism | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment