Testing

Posted on 05/15/2007 by Meryl Yourish

Someone do me a favor and send me an email with “Taiwan” in the subject.

I want to see if my filters work.

Some stupid Taiwanese company keeps sending me four meg movies about pistons.

Shyeah, that’s what you call great marketing tactics.

Posted in Life | 7 Comments

File under: AFT

Posted on 05/15/2007 by Meryl Yourish

About effing time. These archives should never have been made secret in the first place.

Diplomats from 11 countries agreed Tuesday to bypass legal obstacles and begin distributing electronic copies of documents from a secretive Nazi archive, making them available to Holocaust researchers for the first time in more than a half century.

The decision was meant to avoid further delays in allowing Holocaust survivors to find their own stories and family histories, and for historians to seek new insights into Europe’s darkest period.

The countries governing the archive maintained by the International Tracing Service approved a plan to begin transferring scanned documents as soon as they are ready so that receiving institutions can begin preparing them for public use, said a delegate, requesting anonymity because a formal announcement was due later Tuesday.

The decision circumvents the requirement to withhold the documents until all 11 countries ratify the 2006 treaty amendments that enabled the unsealing of the documents. Ratification is still pending in four countries, and Tuesday’s vote was likely to shave several months from the distribution timetable.

But they’re still not giving full access to the people who need it the most.

Three countries, the United States, France and Germany, pledged to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to offset costs for preparing and transmitting the papers, said the delegate.

But some U.S. survivors expressed dismay that the documents will remain restricted to a single place the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and that they won’t have unfettered access.

“I’m anxious, because 105 people from my immediate family did not make it. I am the only survivor,” said David Schaecter, of Miami, Fla. “How do I obtain what I am rightfully entitled to obtain (to know) what happened to these 105 people,” he said.

I cannot imagine the loss of 105 relatives. I don’t even know if I have 105 relatives. I suppose I must. My great-grandfather had nine children, of whom my grandfather was the oldest. But he had them all in Scotland and America, so that part of the family made it through the Holocaust intact. And I’ve heard that I still have relatives in Riga, where my great-grandfather came from. I suspect my grandmother’s mother’s family—the Rieders from Germany—did not fare so well.

Perhaps now I can search the archives and find out.

Posted in Holocaust | 3 Comments

Red on red makes terrorists dead

Posted on 05/15/2007 by Meryl Yourish

And it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of terrorists.

GAZA (Reuters) – At least 10 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday — eight in one incident — in the deadliest fighting between Hamas and Fatah since the rivals formed a unity government to end bloodshed threatening to spill into civil war.

For many Palestinians, the violence was particularly disturbing, coming on the “Nakba,” an annual day of national reflection over shared suffering in the conflict with Israel.

In an attack near Karni Crossing, Gaza’s main commercial lifeline with Israel, Hamas gunmen killed eight members of Mahmoud Abbas’s Presidential Guard, a Fatah spokesman said.

But wait! Who does Reuters say killed the terrorists?

The Fatah-affiliated guardsmen were en route to help comrades under assault by Hamas at a training base near the crossing when Israeli forces across the frontier opened fire at them, the spokesman, Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, said.

There’s a different story from the AP:

Monday’s fighting erupted when Hamas gunmen approached a training base used by Fatah forces that guard the crossing, officials said. The base was set up in part by an American security team sent to train Palestinians on how to check cargo and baggage at crossings.

The Hamas force attacked the base with rockets, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, said Ahmed al-Kaisi, spokesman for the pro-Fatah Presidential Guard, which guards the crossing under an agreement with Israel. “We consider this a serious provocation and a crime committed in cold blood,” al-Kaisi said.

When forces from another Fatah security unit raced to the scene to provide backup, they were ambushed by Hamas gunmen, witnesses said.

A jeep full of security men that came under fire veered off the road and crashed. Hamas forces then surrounded the vehicle and riddled it with gunfire, said one witness, who works in a nearby factory. “It was unbelievable. May God help us,” said the man, who gave only his first name, Jamil, out of fear for his safety.

As the fighting raged, Israeli troops opened fire at two gunmen who approached the border, the army said. Palestinian officials said one man was killed. He was identified as a member of the Presidential Guard, who apparently was trying to help his comrades against Hamas.

Either way, it’s one more dead terrorist. And the AP is using the active, “kills,” in the headline.

Hamas Kills 8 in Gaza Border Clash

It’s still just a “clash,” but apparently, the AP can use the word “kill” when it comes to Hamas and Fatah duking it out.

And once again, may they both lose.

Posted in Gaza, palestinian politics | 4 Comments

Requesting help

Posted on 05/15/2007 by Meryl Yourish

I have no idea how to answer this email:

Hello, I was wondering how I could gain aid in finding surviving relatives or their children in Isreal from their original destination of Poland after WWII.

I would appreciate any information. I am especially interested in the family of my father from Tarnapol, now Ukraine. I have information from my mother’s family from Vienna, Austria.

I know there are relatives in Israel.

Thank you.

Ruth

But I’ll send your suggestions back to her, or tell her to click on the link for this post.

Posted in Jews | 6 Comments

ICRC leaks “confidential” Israel-bashing report to NY Times

Posted on 05/15/2007 by Meryl Yourish

Let us see if we can give you the ICRC and Israel in a nutshell:

ICRC refuses to let Magen David Adom join for decades; relenting only when they agree to use a “diamond” encapsulating the Star of David.

ICRC has yet to gain access to either the Israeli prisoners held in Lebanon, or the prisoners held in Gaza.

ICRC gets access to Palestinian prisoners on the asking. Pretty much any time.

And then the ICRC manages to slam Israel in a “private” report that just happens to get leaked to the New York Times.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, in a confidential report about East Jerusalem and its surrounding areas, accuses Israel of a “general disregard” for “its obligations under international humanitarian law — and the law of occupation in particular.”

The committee, which does not accept Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, says Israel is using its rights as an occupying power under international law “in order to further its own interests or those of its own population to the detriment of the population of the occupied territory.”

With the construction of the separation barrier, the establishment of an outer ring of Jewish settlements beyond the expanded municipal boundaries and the creation of a dense road network linking the different Israeli neighborhoods and settlements in and outside Jerusalem, the report says, Israel is “reshaping the development of the Jerusalem metropolitan area” with “far-reaching humanitarian consequences.” Those include the increasing isolation of Palestinians living in Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and the increasing difficulty for some Palestinians to easily reach Jerusalem’s schools and hospitals.

Yeah, about that Jerusalem thing: Where was the ICRC in 1948, when the Jews of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City (which happens to be in—gasp! East Jerusalem!) were murdered and driven out by the Jordanians? How is it that from 1948 to 1967, this was never an issue with the UN, the ICRC, or any other nation in the world?

In the main plaza, an arch stretches skyward where one of the walls of the Hurva Synagogue once stood. Originally the Great Synagogue, the Hurva was built in the 16th century, but was destroyed by the Ottomans. The synagogue was rebuilt in the 1850’s, but was damaged in the 1948 war and then destroyed after the Jordanians took control of the Old City. Some consideration has been given to rebuilding the synagogue, but, for now the arch remains as a memorial.

Oh, wait. Of course. Israeli Double Standard Time. My bad. Muslim destruction of holy Jewish sites in Jerusalem and Israel get a bye.

And now, to the ICRC, which has at least one member trying to make Israel look bad. I’m guessing there will not be an investigation into the leak, and nobody will be fired for leaking this information to the Times. Just as I know the Israeli response will be buried way down deep in any news article that picks up this story—just as the Times reporter did.

The Red Cross committee, which is recognized as a guardian of humanitarian law under the Geneva Conventions of 1949, does not publish its reports but provides them in confidence to the parties involved and to a small number of countries. This report was provided to The New York Times by someone outside the organization who wanted the report’s conclusions publicized. The leak came just days before Israel’s celebration of Jerusalem Day this Wednesday, observing the 40th anniversary of the unification of the city.

[…] “We reject the premise of the report, that East Jerusalem is occupied territory,” said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry. “It is not. Israel annexed Jerusalem in 1967 and offered full citizenship at the time to all of Jerusalem’s residents. These are facts that cannot be ignored.”

Sure they can. The world has spoken: Even though the Jews of Israel recovered the Jewish parts of Jerusalem nineteen years after they were captured from them by Jordan, Israel doesn’t get to keep them. Because they’re Muslim. Got it?

Yeah, whatever. 96% of Israeli Jews refuse to give up the Wall or the Old City. Suck on that, ICRC.

And a happy Jerusalem Day to you, too.

Posted in Israeli Double Standard Time | 5 Comments

Tuesday Tigger Movie

Posted on 05/15/2007 by Meryl Yourish

Last week, I bought myself a new camera. It was more than a year overdue—I’d planned on upgrading my camera with last year’s income tax refund, but the job situation cancelled those plans. Now, though, I have a brand-new camera that takes mpeg4 videos and translates quite nicely to YouTube. So I’ve been following the kitties around, annoying the hell out of Tigger (as you’ll see in Movie 2), and trying not to photograph my finger (took that part out of Movie 1).

Lair started Kitty Movie Monday. Now I have the Tuesday Tigger Movie (which will usually also star Gracie, and probably should be called the Tuesday Tigger and Gracie Movie, but hey, alliteration is all, sometimes).

While I was taking the first movie, [cue scary music] an interloper appeared.

But things ended happily.

And in the second movie, I finally got Tig to perform his main trick on camera. Tig is not your typical cat. Not only does he usually come when called (especially outside, and he has been trained to respond to my whistle), but he will stand up on his hind legs on command. Most of the time. You don’t believe me? Well, here’s the proof.

And now that I’ve gone totally over to The Catblogger Side, you can count on kitty movies fairly often. Don’t know if I’ll get them up every week, though. Lair sets a pretty high standard.

Posted in Israel | 2 Comments

The wonderful world of web

Posted on 05/14/2007 by Meryl Yourish

I was reading an article on Katherine Hepburn in the Times, and came across a word I didn’t know. I double-clicked it, intending to copy/paste it into my dictionary.com toolbar. But I didn’t have to. The double-click set off the Times’ internal dictionary pop-up.

Now that’s service.

I take back all of the bad things I said and thought about the Times for, oh, the last month. Tabula rasa for them, at least until their next anti-Israel editorial.

Oh. The word is chiaroscuro.

Update: They actually tell you about the feature at the very bottom of each page. Like I read the small print. But still—it’s there. I found it more amazing not to have been tipped off.

Posted in Computers, Media | 4 Comments

Monday night Heroes/Lost thread

Posted on 05/14/2007 by Meryl Yourish

Post anything about tonight’s episode but spoilers in the comments.

On the subject of TV shows, I caught up on the Lost episode that I missed on Wednesday (taped it, but did not watch, due to creating my Mother’s Day movie and a heavy workload). I’d write a parody of the episode, but Lost is now parodying itself. Then again, I did warn people. It’s a J.J. Abrams creation. He’s the man who gave us Felicity and Alias. At least X-Files took seven years before I started saying, “That was a really stupid episode.” Lost has taken only three.

Feel free to discuss Lost in the comments, too, what with my just doing it. (Retitling post before saving.)

Posted in Television | 22 Comments

What if they launched a boycott and nobody came?

Posted on 05/14/2007 by Meryl Yourish

Looks like the anti-Israel groups in Britain aren’t as influential as they think.

The British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) launched the pamphlet at a reception in Parliament last week. Turnout at the launch was very poor, however, with only around 10 people attending, leading Jenny Tonge, an ardent critic of Israel, to ask why the turnout was so low.

Poor Jenny. She’s just getting hit right and left. My heart bleeds. Well, no, it doesn’t. I’m thinking schadenfreude goes right about here.

However, pro-Israel groups doubted the call for a boycott would have much impact, particularly because of the increasing desire by British academics to work with outstanding Israeli universities.

Cue Nelson.

Posted in Israel Derangement Syndrome | 1 Comment

My brother, my enemy

Posted on 05/14/2007 by SnoopyTheGoon

My brother he unquestionably is. Ronald Kasrils‘ surname, if my skimpy knowledge of Yiddish does not lead me astray, has a lot to do with the unforgettable Kasrlilevke by unforgettable Sholom Aleichem. (To make the reference to Kasrilevke clearer to the readers – it is a Jewish equivalent of Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha, and I love them both with a blue-steel determination of a bookworm.) Anyhow, Ronnie and I could have been friends, neighbors or just accidental users of the same local pub somewhere, have our lives taken some other geographic turns.

Ronnie K.’s biography reads as a thriller and the man deserves a lot of gratitude from the people of South Africa. It is really heartwarming to know that a Jew has done so much for the elimination of the apartheid scourge in Africa and it is no less heartwarming to know that South Africa recognizes his contribution to the true cause and that he is an important and useful member of the ruling circle in the fledgling country. After all, not everyone is made South Africa’s Minister for Intelligence Services. Which is Ronnie’s current position, and more power to him.

Or not…

You see, there is one problem – as much as Ronnie has done for the native South Africans, he is not satisfied by his achievements. He just has to prove to the world that he is one impartial Joo, for whom well-being of his fellow Jooz in Israel is a thorn in backside. He is doing everything in his considerable power to make Israel looking bad, no matter the ways and the means. Take, for instance, his last interview to JP.

Hamas has accepted previous agreements reached between the Palestinian Authority and Israel and has in effect renounced violence, while the Jewish state continues to take measures akin to state terrorism, South Africa’s Minister for Intelligence Services Ronnie Kasrils told The Jerusalem Post over the weekend.

Says JP: “The agreements the minister was referring to were actually made between Israel and the PLO.” No need to comment, is there?

Speaking on the sidelines of a UN meeting in South Africa on the situation in the PA, Kasrils said South Africa’s townships had never been attacked by helicopter gunships and tanks, in contrast to IDF actions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

“The analogy between apartheid and Israel’s occupation of Palestine is often made. It is not the same thing. The occupation is absolutely worse,” Kasrils told reporters.

First of all, the analogy between apartheid and Israel’s occupation of Palestine is often made by people of the same ilk – Ronnie’s spiritual siblings, so to say. Secondly, I do not recall the townships in South Africa lobbing rockets at white enclaves or sending waves of suicide bombers to Johannesburg or Pretoria – do you, Ronnie?

“It is important that we tell the Israeli authorities they are behaving like fascists when they do certain things, although we are not calling it a fascist state,” he said.

Thanks deity for small favors. Although – some bolder friends of Ronny consider Israel being worse than Nazis, so we shall just wait a while…

Kasrils said Hamas was moderating and becoming capable of leading the Palestinians.

Indeed… How about the (almost daily) declarations of Hamas that it will never recognize the “Zionist entity”? How about the daily spray of Qassams? How about the hateful rhetoric in mosques, on TV (including the brainwashing of a tender ages)? How about the uncounted tunnels serving weapon smugglers? Does South African intelligence service have some other, peaceful interpretation of these signs?

The relentless will of Ronnie to deceive himself and the public found a brilliant expression in the following passage from the interview:

I understand that they [Hamas] have accepted previous agreements arrived at between the Palestinian Authority and the government of Israel. Contained within these agreements are the recognition of Israel and renunciation of violence.

Even if that were not the case the peacemaker should not be stubborn and obdurate, but needs to reach out across the divide and encourage the adversary.

Even if that were not the case… How far needs one’s head to be stuck up one’s backside to make one so blind to the obvious? And how do you take this:

Kasril’s interpretation of the Mecca Agreement, which set the stage for the Hamas-Fatah coalition, stands in contrast to repeated statements from Haniyeh and Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal clearly stating that Hamas has not rejected violence.

Summing up his recent visit to the PA, Kasrils called on Israel to take a series of steps to end the conflict, including taking down the security barrier and releasing Palestinian prisoners, but had no similar demands of the Palestinians.

There is one disturbing question: a man with Ronnie’s background cannot be that blind and stupid? There must be some other explanation for this bizarre behavior, methinks. And it is doubly critical to have an explanation when we are talking about a man in a position of power like Ronnie. Who knows what this unholy alliance of South African intelligence services and Hamas could bring to the world?

So, Br’er Ronnie – you are my brother by virtue of birth, but you are my enemy nonetheless, it seems. And you know what – after all your verbal shenanigans, and taking a close look at these two pictures,
I am definitely in favor of dealing with the one on the right, with all due respect. Better a cousin who tells the truth as he sees it than a brother who sticks a knife in my back.

Be well, brother – enemy. And do not count on our brotherly love no more. Brotherly love goes only so far, and you have gone over the edge long ago…

Cross-posted on SimplyJews.

Posted in Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome | Comments Off on My brother, my enemy

World’s oldest college grad

Posted on 05/14/2007 by Meryl Yourish

Now this is just a sweet story.

HAYS, Kan. — At the age of 95, Nola Ochs is now the world’s oldest college graduate. But her studying days might not be over just yet — she’s considering a master’s degree.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I started it,” said Ochs.

Ochs received her bachelor’s degree in general studies and history during Saturday’s graduation ceremony at Fort Hays State University.

When she was handed her degree by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, the crowd gave her a standing ovation, breaking a rule against applauding until all the names of all 2,176 graduates were read — including her granddaughter, Alexandra Ochs.

[…] Ochs is the matriarch of a family that includes three sons — a fourth died in 1995 — along with 13 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

She started taking classes occasionally at Dodge City Community College after the 1972 death of her husband of 39 years, Vernon. After moving to Fort Hays last fall from her farm southwest of Jetmore, she completed the final 30 hours required for her degree.

Okay, so she took a while to get her degree, but still—that’s quite an accomplishment at her age. Imagine graduating with your own grandmother. I can’t. Mine were both long gone before I even got to high school.

A 95-year-old college grad. I’m guessing she won’t be staying up late for the graduation party, though.

Posted in Israel | 1 Comment

Say, top brass: This is a test

Posted on 05/14/2007 by Meryl Yourish

Israel’s top brass is undergoing an evaluation today to see if they’ve learned anything from the debacle of the second Lebanon war.

The drill came as a surprise, so that real-time decision making of the higher ranks could be assessed.

Several military facilities will be operated, as they would be in emergency. However, no soldiers, air craft or weapons will be deployed.

Only officers from the General Staff, the different branches and the various commands will participate in the exercise. They will have to respond to various scenarios, most of which will not be disclosed prior to the drill. Their task will be to determine, on paper, how things should be run in the field.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and his deputy Ephraim Sneh will also take part in the training to give them another opportunity to experience war-time decision making.

Apparently, Israel’s enemies are not the only ones who have learned something since last summer.

The officers will have to demonstrate that since the Second Lebanon War, they have improved their ability to respond effectively.

Alongside the general staff, high level reserve soldiers will also man the ranks. Some of them were assigned their positions immediately after the war, to assist the acting officers in dealing with challenges, and to make their knowledge and experience available.

Involving the reserve army was one of the conclusions made by the IDF after the war. The reserve officers had criticized the regular army for not having consulted them and their know-how.

This is the thing about Israel and the IDF: They learn from each experience. The Second Lebanon War may not have been a disaster, but disastrous things happened. Glaring weaknesses were exposed, as shown by the Winograd Commission (which hasn’t yet finished the full report of what needs to be fixed). And because Israel is a democratic society, and, well, because it’s full of Jews, the mistakes are going to be hashed and rehashed and re-rehashed, and then they’re going to be corrected.

This doesn’t mean that Syria and Iran Hezbullah and Hamas won’t be lobbing rockets into Israel in the next war. It means that Israel won’t be responding in the same way—which is how Iran is currently training Hamas and Hezbullah terrorists, as well as Syrian soldiers, to attack Israel.

In other words, Iran is fighting the last war, while Israel is preparing for the next one. And while that is not a good thought, it is a comforting one.

The U.S. Army is doing the same thing in Iraq, though judging by the press about losses, you’d never be able to tell. In fact, Americans are training with Israelis (some have actually done so inside Israel) to better prepare for Iraq, and for the terrorist tactics that are apparently here to stay.

I think it’s only a matter of time before the U.S. Army finds a way to defeat those tactics. No successful army, or nation, stands still. Drills and investigations are two of the means to improve tactics and performance. I am in no way a military analyst—but I can see the reports on adapting and changing tactics. Syria and Hamas are adapting the tactics that worked for Hezbullah—to a certain extent—last summer. But now it’s 2007. The IDF is adapting to those tactics, while Syria, Hezbullah, and the terrorists are essentially standing still.

May our enemies always be a step pr three behind.

Posted in Israel | 3 Comments

Nasrallah says: We can launch thousands more rockets per day

Posted on 05/14/2007 by Meryl Yourish

Hassan Nasrallah, the man second-most in need of a Hellfire missile up his ass (the first would be Mahmoud Ahmedinejad) says that Hizbullah can now fire thousands of rockets per day into Israel. Oh, and that they don’t really care about UNIFIL, because UNIFIL is impotent.

Hizbullah “could launch between 1000 and 3000 rockets daily,” its secretary general Hassan Nasrallah claimed in an interview with a Dubai statellite TV station last week.

Nasrallah’s comments were reproduced on Hizbullah’s Arabic language website on Saturday, under the heading: “We could launch… 3000 rockets daily in a war in July.”

During his interview, Nasrallah boasted that Hizbullah had amassed tens of thousands of rockets since the war last summer, adding that the international UNIFIL force stationed in southern Lebanon would be unable to stop Hizbullah from attacking Israel.

“When I said Hizbullah possesses more than 12 thousand missiles and then I said that we have more than 20 thousand rockets, this means that maybe we have 30 thousand or 80 thousand rockets or maybe more,” Nasrallah told the ‘Qalam Rasas’ program on Dubai Satellite TV.

It’s good to know that the enemy is so confident that they can dis the UN force on its southern border. But then, why not, when they can do things like this right under UNIFIL’s nose?

Over the weekend, Israel’s Channel Two reported that Hizbullah had planted its flag on the Israeli-Lebanese border, before it was removed by members of the UNIFIL force. After a number of confrontations between UNIFIL and Hizbullah, Hizbullah members again planted their flag on their border.

So let’s stop and remember why UNIFIL is there. Number one, to prevent smuggling of weapons. Didn’t do that. Two, stop Hizbullah from re-arming. Didn’t do that. Three, stop Hizbullah from regrouping on the southern border. Nope, didn’t do that, either.

So what exactly is UNIFIL there for?

Why, to get in the way of the IDF when Hizbullah starts firing rockets from positions right next to UNIFIL.

The next war is going to be very, very nasty.

Posted in Israel, Lebanon | 3 Comments

Haveil Havalim is up

Posted on 05/13/2007 by Meryl Yourish

And it’s in the form of a story. Go tell me how it ends, will you?

Posted in Jews, Linkfests | Comments Off on Haveil Havalim is up

Jews won’t give up the Temple Mount

Posted on 05/13/2007 by Meryl Yourish

Well, this is a major Duh! moment:

Poll: 96% of Israeli Jews won’t give up Western Wall for peace
Ninety-six percent of Israeli Jews are against Israel relinquishing the Western Wall, even in exchange for lasting peace and ending the dispute over Jerusalem, a new poll suggests. According to the poll, most Israeli Jews do not believe territorial concessions in Jerusalem would bring peace.

The poll, performed at the request of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, also reveals that 89 percent of Israeli Jews are unwilling to give up the Temple Mount for a similar arrangement.

For two reasons. First, even non-religious Jews know that the Western Wall is the remains of what was once the Temple. The one in the Torah. The one that was built, destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again—and will be rebuilt when the Moshiach arrives. And that goes double for the Temple Mount. Like I said: Duh.

Take a poll of how many Muslims would give up Al-Aqsa Mosque for peace. I’m betting about zero percent, possibly in the hundredths of one percent. And Mohammed never even set food in it, while they keep finding more and more evidence that the Torah stories are not fiction.

The poll, which was performed by the Tazpit Research Institute headed by Dr. Aharon Fein, found that Israeli Jews were far more willing to give up the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, as long as Israel keeps the Western Wall and the Jewish Quarter – an arrangement favored by 43 percent of them.

Yeah, that comes under the heading of, “If we have to give it up to keep the Wall, do it. I’m of the opinion that Jerusalem should remain Israel’s undivided capital, but see the benefit of trading some neighborhoods for “settlements” (yes, it’s in scare quotes because it’s not a settlement) around Jerusalem, like Ma’aleh Adumim.

Despite the relatively high willingness among participants to give up the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, most participants nonetheless indicated they did not believe such concessions would bring peace. In total, 75.7 percent believe peace is unattainable. Only 20.3 said they believed peace could be reached in return for territorial concessions in Jerusalem.

Gee. The majority of Israelis don’t believe the Arabs want peace. I wonder why that is. Possibly five decades of war might have something to do with it.

In addition, 91.5 percent indicated they believed that maintaining a large Jewish majority in Jerusalem was imperative. Some 81.3 percent said they believed that a mostly-Jewish Jerusalem would complement Israel’s moral fortitude. Another 62.4 percent said they believed that Jewish settlement in Ma’aleh Adumim and Gush Etzion serve to strengthen Jerusalem.

Well, yeah.

Another poll the anti-Zionists will use to slam Israel with, while completely ignoring all of the polls taken of the Palestinians that say they don’t want peace, and won’t accept any territorial concessions, either. But hey, what would the day be without a little Israeli Double Standard Time?

Posted in Israel | 3 Comments