Sunday, briefly

Posted on 11/27/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Anti-Semitism is up in Australia: Quel surprise. It’s up in a lot of places this year.

Between October 1, 2010, and September 30 this year, there were 17 physical assaults or property damage, 128 incidents of direct harassment and intimidation, five threatening phone calls, 301 emails, 48 incidents of anti-Jewish graffiti, and 18 other incidents.

And that’s not counting anti-Israel incidents or incidents that couldn’t easily be qualified as anti-Semitic instead of anti-Israel (although, frankly, every violent anti-Israel incident can pretty much be traced to Jew-hatred).

Even the good news is bad: The AP writes about Israel easing Gaza export restrictions, although under “tight” control. Funny how the AP can’t figure out a reason that Israel may need to tightly control Palestinian goods shipped through Israel. Hm. I can’t think of anything. What’s that? Weapons and terrorists smuggled out of Gaza in the shipping containers? Pshaw! Pshaw, I say!

So much for the big reconciliation: Hamas and the PA are going to stick with their own governments until new elections. In other words, the status quo. Meantime, Israel has suspended tax transfers and now the world is having the vapors because someone in the foreign ministry said something about letting Gaza fend for itself regarding water and electricity if the PA and Hamas join forces.

“The foreign ministry is examining the possibility of Israel pulling out of the Gaza Strip in terms of infrastructure,” Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told the daily Yediot Aharonot website.

Wow, stop the presses. And the PA prime minister–the one Hamas wants to get rid of because he interferes with their ability to steal money–says the sanctions are really starting to hurt. Say, they’re such great pals with Egypt now, let Egypt supply them with water and fuel.

Oh yeah, we’ll hit Turkey, too: Iran is threatening just about everyone in sight if Israel or the U.S. make a move on its nuclear plants. Hm, attacking a U.S. Army base in a foreign nation… where has Iran done that before? Let me think, it’s on the tip of my tongue… oh, right. Iraq. Lebanon. Yep, they’re serious. Only this time, I think our soldiers will be a bit more prepared than the Iranians may wish.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Gaza, Hamas, Iran, Israel, Middle East, palestinian politics | 2 Comments

Sorry folks, I ran out of gas

Posted on 11/26/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Mom’s in town, and I’m a bit too busy to blog today.

Posted in Life | Comments Off on Sorry folks, I ran out of gas

Post T-day briefs

Posted on 11/25/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Faster on that Leviathan field, please: Jihadis blew up the Sinai gas line again. (By the way, morons, you also deprive Jordan of gas and Egypt of desperately-needed money.) And they’re apparently massing to fight their fellows for a change, not Israel. And Tahrir Square is filling with protesters again. Awesome job the Obama administration is doing with the foreign policy thing.

This is why I don’t shop on Black Friday: Seriously? Pepper spraying fellow shoppers so you can get what you want? Seriously? And at a Wal-mart? Puh-leeze.

Meanwhile, back in Hizballahland Lebanon: The Lebanese prime minister is showing an extraordinary level of ballsiness, insisting he’ll quit if the Hizballah-allied cabinet cuts off funding for the Hariri tribunal. Interesting. So is this IDF assessment that the Lebanese army will fight alongside Hizballah in the next war. I don’t think they realize what that means. The devastation they saw in the Shia areas of Beirut is going to look like a picnic compared with an all-out war with Lebanon.

Meanwhile, back in Lebanon’s master’s state: The Arab League passed an ultimatum on Syrian violence yesterday. The deadline passed. The Arab League voted to extend the ultimatum today. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Syria’s going to ignore that one, too.

Wow, it’s totally non-useful! The UN voted to frown heavily in North Korea’s direction with a non-binding GA resolution. I’m going to guess that nobody is going to accuse North Korea of being in violation of non-binding UN resolutions the way the world accuses Israel of being in violation of non-binding resolutions (and rulings! cf: The Hague, Separation Fence). I suppose we should be happy that the UN is noting the real human rights violators, but then, they still have most of them on the UN Human Rights Council, so, really, what’s the point?

Posted in American Scene, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Syria, Terrorism, United Nations | 3 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone

Posted on 11/24/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Everyone have a safe and happy holiday. Eat lots of food. I sure plan to.

Posted in American Scene, Holidays | 2 Comments

Your pre-Thanksgiving briefs

Posted on 11/23/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Wounded Iraq War vet wins Dancing With the Stars: J.R. Martinez, whom I know from All My Children, won the big prize on the show that I don’t watch (but Mom does, and I told her he would win). Next for him, since AMC was canceled: He wants to write a book to tell his story. You go, J.R.

A first look at German anti-Semitism: An English excerpt of a new book on why the Germans hated the Jews. Interesting stats on the ratio of Jews to Christians in schools, which, of course, caused problems for the great unwashed masses who thought that reading was bad for the eyes and they didn’t need none of that there learnin’ stuff. Say, sounds like what still goes on today: Envy of Jews performing well in the arts, sciences, and banking.

Seriously? They’re quoting that scumbag again? Someone needs to tell Ynet that Silverstein is an excecrable Jewish anti-Zionist and Jew-hater, and if he told me it was raining, I’d bring my sunglasses. Sure, he knows why the Hizballah bases blew up. Right.

No way this can go wrong: Israel kept its contract with Turkey and returned drones after performing maintenance on them. Oh. Wait. Maintenance. Okay, good name for it. Spyware added.

What? UN Human Rights bitching about something other than Israel? Check the air for flying pigs. Navi Pillay is criticizing Egypt for killing its citizens.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Pop Culture, Television, Turkey, United Nations | 5 Comments

Occupy Wal-Mart

Posted on 11/22/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Sarah caught the early adapters of the Occupy Wal-Mart movement. Go take a look. No, really. I’m not kidding.

Posted in American Scene, Occupy Wall Street | 1 Comment

Tuesday morning briefs

Posted on 11/22/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Yeah, how many of them are married to Arabs? Israel’s domestic violence is on the rise, and there’s a dirty little secret about intermarriage: Once a Jewish Israeli woman marries a Muslim, many of them are abused by their husbands, some murdered. The murder rate for women married to Muslim men is quite high.

So how’s that Arab Spring working out for you? The military is clamping down on military rule and killing civilians. Sound familiar? Why, it sounds just like it did before the world decided that Hosni Mubarak had to go, while not thinking of, say, forcing him to institute reforms that would keep the Muslim Brotherhood from taking over. Awesome job, world!

Revenge of the FB nerds: Now it’s 4.7 degrees of separation. Really? 4.7 degrees thanks to social media? Um, people, I have a little advice for you. Nobody, but nobody would have noticed if the the first press release on how closely linked people are talked about 4.7 degrees of separation. And I just love the shocking result of the FB study:

“We observed that while the entire world is only a few degrees away, a user’s friends are most likely to be of a similar age and come from the same country,” said Facebook.

And this month’s award for the keen grasp of the obvious goes to: Facebook.

So what else is new? The UN envoy blames Israel–and only Israel–for the failure of peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Yes, it’s all about building apartments in Jerusalem–excuse me, “settlements”–and not at all about Abbas’ refusal to sit down and negotiate. Or the missiles coming from Gaza. Yes, this is why we mock the UN on a regular basis here. Because it’s full of Israel-haters who stick their fingers in their ears, close their eyes, and say “Lalala, I can’t HEAR you” when confronted with the truth as to why negotiations have broken down.

Posted in Facebook, Israel, Middle East, United Nations | Comments Off on Tuesday morning briefs

Monday afternoon briefs

Posted on 11/21/2011 by Meryl Yourish

So, are we still sending funds and technology to Lebanon, then? Hizballah has found CIA spies in its midst, and it makes you wonder: Did the technology we gave Lebanon in the past few years–the tech that helped them find Israeli spies–help them out American CIA spies? Awesome job, Obama! Nothing like giving them the rope to hang us with.

Cheat and retreat time: Iran says it’s going to cooperate with the IAEA. And yet, there is evidence of heightened activity at an Iranian nuke site. Gee, I wonder if we should believe they really mean it this time? /sarc.

Hmmmm: Israel is boosting its diplomatic mission with Turkey. Mind you, Erdogan is still not a friend to Israel, but it does make you go hmmm.

Why the PA remains intransigent: The EU just raised its aid dollars to the PA. Well, if you got money every time you did whatever you want, and never got punished for not doing what other people want, you’d remain intransigent, too. But then, it allows the EU to blame the Jews, and thus try to lift the guilt of the Holocaust. Oh, am I not supposed to bring that up anymore? Darn.

Country that had illegal nuke plants lambasts Israel for not having illegal nuke plants: Of course, that’s not the spin the AP is giving the story, but Israel has never signed the non-proliferation treaty, and Iran and Syria, which did, both are or were building illegal nuclear weapons plants. I note that the AP story doesn’t point out Syria’s illegal nuclear weapons plants being bombed by Israel and chastised by the UN. You’d think it would be relevant. If the shoe were on the other foot, the media wouldn’t hesitate to point out that Israel had illegal nukes. But I repeat myself.

Posted in Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Media Bias, Middle East, Syria | 2 Comments

It’s good to be home.

Posted on 11/20/2011 by Meryl Yourish

I hear there’s no place like it.

Posted in Life | 3 Comments

Lazy Saturday post

Posted on 11/19/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Not really lazy… I’m in NJ, heading back home tomorrow, bringing Mom and her stuff for a bit of a visit.

Life is going to get interesting.

Posted in Life | Comments Off on Lazy Saturday post

Friday afternoon briefs

Posted on 11/18/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Yeah, they have to blame someone for all the deaths: Iran says the IEAE is leaking information that is putting its nuclear scientists at risk of assassination–by Israeli and the U.S. Sure. Uh-huh. Okay. (Michael Ledeen says the explosions on the missile base that killed a high-ranking general were the work of the Iranian opposition.) I don’t know enough to know who did it, only that I’m glad they did. Anything that slows down Iran’s march to the bomb is aces in my book.

I can predict this with my eyes shut and both hands tied behind my back: A mosque is being illegally extended on state land on the Mount of Olives, and when Israel moves to stop the illegal construction, watch the world condemn Israel for not allowing Israel Arabs to build a mosque.

A leopard doesn’t change his spots: A man with a lifelong history of Jew-hatred doesn’t suddenly change because he became part of the government. Just look at the pathetic David Duke. So no, you’re not fooling anyone, Georgios Karatzaferis.

Anti-Semitism at the Occupy Wall Street protests: How bad is it? Ron Radosh is writing about it, and Abe Foxman has sent out two ADL statements on it–receiving no response from the movements ostensible leadership. The most reprehensible statement so far out of OWS?

“So as you break your own chains and build your own effective resistance against corporate tyranny, we ask you to demand a just peace for all the peoples in the Middle East… Palestinians, too, are part of the 99% around the world that suffer at the hands of the 1% whose greed and ruthless quest for hegemony have led to unspeakable suffering and endless war.”

That’s from the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee head Phyllis Bennis. Let us all call now upon the Yourish.com mantra for Phyllis and her ilk: Anti-Semites of the world, just die already.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Iran, Israel, Middle East, Occupy Wall Street | 2 Comments

Late Thursday briefs

Posted on 11/17/2011 by Meryl Yourish

It’s been a busy day. Tomorrow, too.

The toothless UN strikes again: Thanks to China and Russia, Iran’s nuclear program continues unabated. Well, except for the guys who keep getting assassinated and blown up, and Stuxnet and Duqu (does anyone else think Star Wars every time you hear “Duqu” out loud?) and the rest of the sabotage going on. So here’s a question for the president’s fans: Why isn’t Barack Obama talking about Iran violating international treaties? He sure was quick off the mark to condemn Israel for putting out tenders to build apartments in suburbs of Jerusalem last year.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Suha Arafat says she never took a dime from the Palestinians. Yeah, and if you believe that, you’ll believe that Zahwa is Yasser Arafat’s child, too.

Oh, that’ll work: The Arab League told Syria to stop murdering civilians. Syria killed more Syrians. The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership. Syria killed more Syrians. Now, they’re warning there will be sanctions. Gee. I wonder what Syria will do next?

Venezuela and anti-Semitism: Perfect together. Hey, look, Time has someone who is not Karl Vick writing about Jewish issues, and he’s not sneering at those money-grubbing Jews who don’t care about the Palestinians. Instead, he’s pointing out the virulent Jew-hatred in Venezuela, for which we can thank Iran and Hugo Chavez. The good news is Chavez is dying of cancer, so some other tinpot tyrant is going to have to take over the reins.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Iran, Israel, Middle East, palestinian politics, Syria | Comments Off on Late Thursday briefs

Wednesday morning briefs

Posted on 11/16/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Oh, this isn’t going to be grist for the conspiracy theorists at all: Seriously? “IsrAmerica Conference“? Because you couldn’t, say, have used AmerIsraelica or something even more dopey? Oh, the ZOGgers are going to be out in force over this. I may have to wade into the Stormfront swamps just so I can giggle at their paranoia.

Irish eyes aren’t smiling at Jews: The Irish are hoping to win the Most Anti-Semitic in the U.K. Award. They’re doing a great job of it, portraying the IDF as Nazis. Because, you know, they’re just like the troops that rounded up Jews and threw Jewish babies onto their bayonets, in front of their parents.

According to the sources, when Israeli Ambassador Boaz Modai arrived in Dublin, one of Ireland’s leading newspapers greeted him with an article titled, “Welcome to hell.”

Eff you, Erin. Go bragh yourself.

And Nazi references in the Knesset: By an Arab member, of course.

MK Taleb el-Sana (United Arab List-Ta’al) added that “the Nuremburg laws were also passed with a majority vote but they are unconstitutional. Not everything is allowed, some things are forbidden.”

What bill is he talking about? The one that will take away foreign funding from NGOs, forcing the left-leaning, anti-Zionist NGOs to find money in Israel instead. According to Ha’aretz, Peace Now receives one-third of its funding from outside Israel. B’Tselem receives more than half. Physicians for Human Rights receives 4.7 million out of a 5 million NIS budget. Gee, why would Israel need a law restricting foreign funds?

Behind the Bloomberg OWS decision: The Post says he did it for his reputation. Also for the lice, scabies, and disease outbreak, and quite possibly because the people who paid rent to live and own businesses around Zucotti Park were getting more and more angry. Any which way you cut it, it was a good day for democracy–evicting filthy, noisy, drug-using squatters from private property? Works for me.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Israel, Occupy Wall Street | Comments Off on Wednesday morning briefs

A bit of a break

Posted on 11/15/2011 by Meryl Yourish

I think scheduling an opthalmology exam on the morning of my birthday was not the brightest idea I’ve ever had. Wow, it’s hard to fill out paperwork when every time you write 11/15 you want to follow it with the year you were born.

And my eyes are still dilated from the drops, so blogging is out of the question for several hours.

On the other hand, I spent last night making sure I reached my goal of 25,000 words in my novel. That’s my present to myself.

Check back later for your regularly scheduled briefs. Now, with extra snark!

Posted in Life | 1 Comment

Monday morning briefs

Posted on 11/14/2011 by Meryl Yourish

Good fences make good neighbors: Amos Harel writes how good fences are a good defense. Israel is building a fence along its desert border with Egypt. And the Syrian border has been improved:

After Palestinian and Syrian demonstrators managed to infiltrate the border during Nakba Day rioting, Ophir’s directorate was called in to repair the fence on the Golan Heights and the surrounding infrastructure, at a cost of some NIS 50 million.

Since then, Treiber says, “demonstrators have come from Syria, seen that the fence is impassable, and gone back.”

Time for another Karl Vick story on Israel: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your sources blame the Mossad for the blast in Iran that killed a big gun in their nuclear weapons program. Count how many times he uses the words “coyly” to defend his lone source telling him it was the Mossad that did it. So now Time magazine thinks that if you have one unnamed source, and you quote Israeli newspapers, that’s as good as two sources. Awesome journalism there, Time. But we expect no less than the “Begin (rhymes with Fagin)” magazine of record. And we all know what Vick rhymes with.

The AP spin is back: Of course it is. It never left. The NGO bill in Israel, that would limit foreign moneys to political organizations, is described by the AP as Israeli “doves.” Because of course, the bill doesn’t stop money going to ALL foreign-sourced NGOs, just the “dovish” ones. And check out the summation of the Goldstone Report:

The bills were drafted after Israel-based groups funded by foreign sources gave critical testimony about Israeli military conduct during the 2009 war in the Gaza Strip to a U.N.-appointed commission. The panel concluded there was evidence Israel committed war crimes there, but the author of the report later toned down the criticism.

The fact that so many organizations are saying that the two bills, if passed, would be a death sentence on their NGOs tells you more than you need to know about them. Foreign agents in the U.S. have to register. Israel should have the same laws. Let’s stop pretending that these are Israeli groups, when they are clearly foreign-funded, foreign-sourced, and foreign-run.

Posted in Iran, Israel, Media Bias, Middle East, World | Comments Off on Monday morning briefs