From Time Immemorial Part II: the Non-Existence of "Palestinians."

I reintroduced with my previous post the author of the book From Time Immemorial, Joan Peters, by presenting in the first installment of six her interview by Zola Levitt Ministries.

Basically, the whole "Arab-Israeli Conflict" as I began to explain in my last post is solely an Arab conflict with Israel, which was not reciprocal: the Arabs hated the Jews, and didn't want them in the Middle East, which they considered 'their' region only. In order to legitimize their desire to 'push Israel into the sea' as they have stated many times (mainly in Arabic, to their Arab populations, not to the West), they fabricated a whole universe of LIES, from stating that the Jews have no history in the land and therefore no legitimacy being there, to the "fact" (a LIE) that there is a Arab Palestinian Nation.

Just today in World Net Daily, Joseph Farah (an Arab, by the way-a Christian Arab) wrote that the Palestinian people do not exist. He cites that on March 31, 1977, a Dutch newspaper published an interview with then PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein who said emphasis mine):

The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

It doesn't get much plainer than that. Learn, read history, and think for yourselves.

Here follows the Joan Peters interview, part 2.

From Time Immemorial (and the Latest Haveil Havalim of course)

The #202 (-are we sure that's the right number? I think it's 201...) Haveil Havalim is UP, at SuperRaizy's, here. It has great posts (yours truly's included), and a great design to boot (why do they say that? Why not 'to shoe,' or 'to kick.' Whatever.)

In previous posts I have written about the book From Time Immemorial, by Joan Peters, as a very good reference work to gain clarity on the "The Arab-Israel Conflict in the Middle East," as it is so often called. In reality, after one reads her book (and certain others as well) and is more cognizant of the facts, one realizes that that term is a misnomer; it really should be called "The Arab-Unwillingness-to-Recognize-the-Existence-of-Israel-the-Jewish State-in-the-Middle-East-and-their-Resultant-Lies-and-Obfuscsation-of-the-Facts-and-Subsequent-Attacks-on-Israel." (-what, you don't like that title? I can't for the life of me think of why not. It has a catchy ring to it. . .)

I will be presenting in the next six posts starting with this one, one video per post (in six parts as set up on YouTube), of the interview of author Joan Peters on the 'why' and 'how' of writing her book, which was published in 1984.

I mean, I could also write something; but it's late, and I'm tired, and don't feel like it. So watch TV instead (this one will make ya smarter).

Anti-Semitism, Martin Luther King, and Julie Burchill

I recently began training for a new job, just a few days after my last post—which is why I have not been able to sit down, collect my thoughts, and post anew since the 8^th of the month. The job involves learning an entirely new area for me (a little real estate, business, etc.) — with a little IT work thrown in for good measure, which I already love doing--I guess being married to a geek has rubbed off--all of which is creating interesting new synapses in my brain . By the time I get home, however, I just want to relax, maybe read—not research topics to blog on my s-l-o-w, maxed-out 512 MB of RAM computer (-which sometimes itself decides to relax and freezes, right in the middle of an operation.)

In the interim, between my last post and now, I’ve been following the war; last week I downloaded an Israeli toolbar with direct access to all the radio stations, TV, etc. – with even an ‘emergency’ four way split-screen dealie where I can see several TV stations, including Al-Jazeera in English (like, why would I want to see that?) simultaneously. An Israeli geek-friend showed me where to go to get that one.

Throughout the war-I know a unilateral cease-fire was agreed to by Israel and now, a “week-long ceasefire” (don’t exactly know what that means) by Hamas-I’ve been reading and listening to the vilification of Israel, and it’s making me sick. What a twisted world we live in, where an organization dedicated to World Peace and Nations Working Together (what, you didn't know that was the United Nations?) condemns Israel for possibly committing “war crimes,” whereas throughout the years of the Intifada and Hezbollah and Hamas rocketing cities in the north and south respectively, and Hamas placing their weapons caches and rocket launchers and terrorist tunnel entrances and exits from which they entered Gaza and smuggled in weapons in their own peoples’ homes and neighborhoods, the U.N. for some reason lost its tongue.

Not a word is said about, say, Israel's part in taking in South Sudanese refugees who are escaping a horrific genocide in their countries of Sudan and Eritrea, a genocide of African Muslims by Arab Muslims-backed by their governments-while Egypt shoots them in the back while they are trying to cross the Egyptian border.

Why are they escaping into Israel? Because they know that Israel will be more humane in their treatment. Where did I read or hear about this? Nowhere in the media, but rather in a Jewish magazine.

I have ruminated for a long time about the reasons for the world’s being so anti-Israel, and I some time ago came to a conclusion: they are resentful, and jealous. Resentful of the Jews, who gave the world a moral code in the form of the Torah, who gave the world a highly civilized way of life. Who, living through centuries of oppression culminating in the horrific Holocaust (oh, sorry--we're supposed to forget about that, 'cause it's over, right?) never gave up, but rather pulled themselves up “by their bootstraps,” returned to their ancient homeland after 2,000 years of exile, and legally created (while fighting at least six wars from the time of the inception of the tiny Jewish state) a First-World, World Class nation and economy, in an enemy-surrounded, Third World region. And jealous, well, uh-because of the same thing.

Just this morning I awakened to another biased, drawn-out NPR (National PALESTINIAN Radio) report on the ‘atrocities’ (-ed.) committed by Israel in Gaza. They interviewed a 55-year old woman whose house was bombed and destroyed. She was railing against Israel, and just a little bit against Hamas, too-but not too much, see: it's safer to say that it's Israel's fault.

I was trying to remember the last time NPR spent as much time interviewing Israelis whose families were murdered and mangled during the Intifada, in pizza parlors and buses by suicide (read that homicide) bombers. Hubby said to me that I should send them a comment to that effect: they have spent more time condemning the death and destruction of Gazans to Israel then they ever did to the Arabs, when Israelis were the victims. I don't remember hearing any interviews of crying family members when 10-month old Shalhevet Pass was targeted by an Arab sniper and shot through the head. Nor when in 1979 the terrorist Samir Kuntar murdered 31 year old Danny Haran in front of his toddler daughter’s eyes, and then bashed her head in with his rifle butt until she was dead.

Imagine my surprise, when I read in the latest Hadassah magazine, that a British journalist named Julie Burchill is defying her colleagues by openly and unabashedly stating her love for Israel and the Jewish people.

It is very appropriate, on this day commemorating the greatness of Dr. Martin Luther King, that we should remember what he said about anti-Semitism and the Jews, as Julie Burchill quoted in the Guardian in 2003:

In 1967, Martin Luther King Jr published his Letter To An Anti-Zionist Friend: "Anti-Zionism is inherently anti-semitic, and ever will be. What is anti-Zionism? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the globe. It is discrimination against Jews... because they are Jews. In short, it is anti-semitism." MLK - what a mensch! A saint in the street. . .

In her interview for Hadassah magazine she is asked and answers-and I think she's put her finger on the pulse-

You have railed against “bleeding-heart ignoramuses” among British journalists such as Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for The Independent—one-sided writers who are highly critical of the Jewish state. What’s at the core of this clearly widespread hostility that permeates so much of the British media?
A. Jews are cleverer than gentiles, both intellectually and commercially. They’ve been subjected to terrible prejudice and oppression and have risen above the suffering without help from Whitey. That makes Whitey angry.

And further,

The Establishment likes minorities it can feel superior to and sorry for. There’s just no way it can do that with the Jews.

You know, sometimes, when the whole world reviles you, you start to go a little insane, and begin to believe the lies. Maybe we are rotten to the core, maybe we are the 'root of all evil.' And then, Julie Burchill comes along to give everyone some perspective, and restore the faith in what is GOOD and TRUE:

I don't care who's doing it - white, brown or pink-and-purple paisley-patterned - if they're picking on the Red Sea Pedestrians, they're wrong 'uns, like all racists. Make no mistake, the Jews are not hated because of Israel; they are hated for their very modernity, mobility, lust for life and love of knowledge. Their most basic toast, "L'chaim!" (To Life!), is a red rag to those who fetishise death because they have failed to take any joy from their life on earth.

It just warms the cockles of my heart.

Thank you, Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson.

Rabbi Yosef Y. Jacobson of Chabad is a wonderful man and sought-after orator. I personally heard him speak when he came to my town a couple of years ago. I receive his weekly divrei Torah in my email inbox.
I was very taken with his dvar Torah which he wrote after the murderous atrocity committed against Westerners and especially Jews in Mumbai two months ago. He called for us to do good deeds and kindnesses and learn Torah, to be sure--but he added something else, very important, which I whole-heartedly subscribe to and have said many times in this blog. It applies to the War in Gaza which Israel is waging defending against its enemies today.

He said, sometimes LOVE, is just not enough. Sometimes, we have to FIGHT BACK. Visit his page to hear his shiurim (lessons), here. Read his dvar on evil, here (emphasis mine):

The Psychology of Gaza and Mumbai

When Love Becomes Evil

By Yosef Y. Jacobson

Love Vs. Hate

After the Mumbai jihad exactly one month ago, we were moved by a call from all segments of world Jewry and beyond to do more good deeds. The Chabad movement -- the group that had its emissaries sadistically tortured to death in the Chabad House of Mumbai – like other Jewish organizations, called on people to increase in acts of goodness and kindness, to do more mitzvos (sacred deeds), to saturate the world with love and holiness. I attended at least a dozen memorial services for the murdered victims; all of them encouraged the participants to combat violence through positive deeds.

Chabad’s official website created a special section where people are invited to embrace a new mitzvah in tribute of the innocent victims of Mumbai. Close to 11,000 people joined the initiative (Click here to join.)

And at the heart wrenching funeral of Gabi and Rivkah Holtzberg, the Chabad ambassadors murdered in Mumbai, Rabbi Moshe Kotlarski, vice-chairman of Chabad’s international educational arm, declared in a voice choked with tears and resolve, that Chabad would fight back the terrorists not with tanks and missiles, but by spreading goodness around the world, by constructing more centers dedicated to spread light to dispel darkness.

These noble responses echoed the wisdom of the legendary spiritual leader of Chabad, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (1902-1994), who always taught that each mitzvah affects the world in a powerfully positive way. “The world is in balance,” the Rebbe often quoted the Talmudic passage, “and each mitzvah can tip the scale” becoming the “tipping point” which may transform the consciousness of humanity.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe frequently articulated the timeless Jewish message that since G-d is the master of the world and all security ultimately depends upon Him, each act which increases our connection to G-d, creates a channel for deeper divine blessings and protection. What allowed the Jews to survive through millennia of savage persecution was not military might alone (other Empires had much more of that), but their commitment and dedication to G-d, His Torah and His Mitzvos.

The Rebbe also taught that we must turn tears into catalysts for renewed action, and use pain as a spring board for rejuvenation. And he would often write that there is no greater joy to souls who were taken from us than the fact that their lives and deaths inspire so much goodness in our world.

Finally, the Lubavitcher Rebbe firmly believed in the ancient Jewish principle, one of the recurring messages in the Hebrew Bible, that the fate of history lay not only with governments and various global forces, but also with individuals who dare to choose the path of courage and moral clarity even in the face of adversity. The story of Moses, for example, is the story of a single moral choice made by a single individual (Pharaoh’s daughter) at a single moment. The initiative, then, to change the world begins in our own bedrooms. When you kindle a flame on your porch, the Rebbe once said, the laws of physics – and the laws of spiritual physics – dictate that the light you kindled traverses the globe.

The call to respond to the senseless act of hate perpetrated in Mumbai through engaging in “selfless love,” as one writer put it, is thus both profoundly important and inspiring.

When Love Is Insufficient

But it is not enough.

During such painful times – when terror has reared its ugly head again in Israel and the world over -- it is equally important to articulate another message the Lubavitcher Rebbe discussed very often, namely, that love and good deeds alone are often insufficient to combat terrorists.

Rabbi Gabi Holtzberg and his pregnant wife, tortured to death in India, were the epitome of love. They shared their home and heart with hundreds of strangers each week, giving them food, nurture and affection. Why, then, did the two monsters who entered their private home, violating and murdering everybody in sight, not feel the love and respond in kind?

Because some people are so filled with hate, they are incapable of appreciating love. Concerning such people, the Talmud states (1), “He who comes to kill you, kill him first.” Or in the words of the Midrash (2), “He who shows compassion for the cruel, will end up being cruel to the compassionate.”

If someone had killed the nine terrorists before they captured Mumbai, hundreds of lives would have been saved; hundreds of children – including 2-year-old Moshe Holtzberg – would have parents alive today.

“Violence is never the answer,” many good people belief. But this is both untrue and harmful. When someone wants to kill you and your children, and the only way to stop him is through violence, then violence is the answer, albeit a painful one. It is violence used by police that stops violent criminals from hurting innocent people. There are many innocent people alive today solely because someone used violence to save their lives.

Many Muslims living with us today genuinely believe that the greatest achievement in life is to torture, rape, maim and murder Jews, Israelis and Westerners in the most barbaric and sadistic way possible. Any sign of love and restraint is seen by them not a gesture toward reconciliation, but as a demonstration of weakness, emboldening them to continue their Jihad.

That is why the Israeli complete withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 did not stop Hamas from daily bombing Israeli civilian areas, attempting to kill as many Jewish babies as possible. The restraint shown by Israel in recent years drove peace away further. Hamas saw it as a demonstration of weakness and as an invitation to pursue their goal to destroy Israel and murder all of its citizens.

Gandhi and Churchill

In 1938, after the Nazis had already carried out the Kristallnacht pogrom, Mahatma Gandhi directed the following words to the Jews of Germany:

"I am as certain as I am dictating these words that the stoniest German heart will melt adopt active non-violence ... I do not despair of his [Hitler's] responding to human suffering even though caused by him."

In 1942, Gandhi offered this advice to the British:

"I would like you to lay down the arms you have which are useless for saving you or humanity. You will invite Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini to take what they want of the countries you call your possessions ... If these gentlemen choose to occupy your homes, you will vacate them. If they do not give you free passage out, you will allow yourself, man, woman and child, to be slaughtered, but you will refuse to owe allegiance to them (3)."

Where would we be today if the pacifist Gandhi has been the leader of England, not the proponent of moral violence, Winston Churchill?

Hitler was defeated not by love but by war. If Churchill would have embraced Hitler with affection, you and I would not be around today to talk about love.

Learn from Your Body

We have already had a culture respond to Islam with good thoughts alone. Part of Alexander the Great's army settled down Asia and became Buddhists. They created the Ghandarvian Buddhist culture. The Ghandarvian Greek Buddhists created the first Buddhist art and sculpture. When Islam invaded they had no army, only good thoughts. Alexander the Great's best soldiers had become absolute pacifists. After the jihad, we do not find a single Buddhist in what is Afghanistan today. Good thoughts and good works are not always enough in the face of violence.

Look at our bodies. Do you think that our immune system just gives those misguided germs a big hug and understanding? No. It kills them. No inter-species dialogue, no being nice. Is that a bad thing? If you think so, then try AIDS, the failure of that viral/bacterial murdering immune system.

The present festival of Chanukah celebrates the miracle of a single cruse of oil to burn for eight days, representing the timeless potential of the human spirit to kindle the flame of love and hope in an oasis of darkness. But what allowed the Jews of the time to kindle the menorah was the war which the Hasmonean family waged against their Syrian-Greek oppressors who tortured thousands of Jews to death. Had the zealous Jews instead sent a bouquet of flowers to Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian Greek ruler, Judaism and the Jewish people would be gone today.

Governments which care about the security of their citizens must thus wage an uncompromising, relentless war to uproot the terrorists and their infrastructure wherever they are. Love will not do the trick with these guys. They must be pursued, hunted down and annihilated. Not because we love war, but because we love the innocent people who will die if we do not take down these monsters.

So keep those mitzvahs coming; love with all your heart, and fill the world with kindness. But remember: Sometimes, the greatest mitzvah is to kill. When immoral violence prevails, moral violence is the answer.

Footnotes: 1) Berachos 58a. 2) Koheles Rabah 7:16. 3) Quoted from Think A Second Time, by Dennis Prager, pp. 192-3.

"Moral violence." Brilliant.

What Can We Do When Israel is at War?

Gaza Updates roundup #12 and 12.5 are now UP at Jack's, here and here, respectively.

What can we do, those of us who are not in the IDF? We can continue to do good deeds, mitzvot: help others, give tzedakah, study and learn Torah, do acts of kindness, and send an email to The Office of Rabbi Kook, Rehovot, at the following email address: maortlmo@gmail.com (hat tip: Shoshana).

In the email you send, you can request the name of a chayal or chayelet (soldier) in whose z'chut (merit) you can do these good things mentioned above: giving tzedakah, helping someone, visiting the sick, learning Torah, reciting Tehillim (Psalms).

I already did, and received my soldier's name: Tamar bat Chana. May we all merit to see Israel's quick victory over its enemies, and a JUST PEACE over Israel and the Middle East, AMEN.

Gaza Update - Roundup #11

. . . is up at Jack's, here. In the light of four katyushas falling in Nahariya in the northwest of Israel, one of which fell on a Beit Avot (old age home) with several injured, it is imperative that we keep abreast of the news.

Read the updates. Rally for Israel. Do your part to spread the truth, and foster positive public opinion.

And may GOOD triumph over evil.
AMEN.

Good War Analysis by WSJ

First and foremost, the latest War in Gaza Update is UP at Jack's, here.

Saw this on a blog, can't remember which one (I'm bleary-eyed reading through blog after blog and article after article at the same time as listening to Radio Darom and watching emergency split-screen Israel TV while fasting) by Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal.

The lead is very telling; Stephens wrote, "Maybe this column would get a better reception if it were titled, "No Endgame for Israel." Many pundits are commenting and arguing that Israel is lost, no matter what it does in Gaza. This author has, in my opinion, a good analysis of what Israel can accomplish with this war, but it has to not succumb to international pressure for a cease-fire and continue with its mission.

There are those who think that this war will enable Israel to 're-occupy' Gaza (which Israel has stated it wouldn't do). I personally think Israel should retake Gaza and annex it; the Arabs had their chance to create a state there. They blew it. End of story.

Israel should stay strong and complete the goal of incapacitating, if not outright defeating, Hamas and its infrastructure. As Stephens puts it (emphasis mine):

All this will be said to amount to another occupation, never mind that there are no settlers in this picture, and never mind, too, that Israel was widely denounced for carrying out an "effective occupation" of the Strip after it imposed an economic blockade on Hamas. (By this logic, the U.S. is currently "occupying" Cuba.) If Israel is going to achieve a strategic victory in this war, it will have to stand firm against this global wave of hypocrisy and cant.

I told you the world is skewed. And this is (as Jameel puts it in his excellent live blogging on the war) "what Israel's up against," in this canted universe:


Scum of the earth.

Wake Up and Smell the Humous

I saw this on IsraellyCool and fell off my chair. Then I went to the article by Youssef M. Ibrahim* as published in Jewish World Review and saw that it was originally written in June of 2006.
My heart sank; it's two and a half years, and they still haven't learned their lesson. What's it gonna take. . . I dread thinking about it.

To my Arab brothers: The War with Israel Is Over — and they won. Now let’s finally move forward

With Israel entering its fourth week of an incursion into the same Gaza Strip it voluntarily evacuated a few months ago, a sense of reality among Arabs is spreading through commentary by Arab pundits, letters to the editor, and political talk shows on Arabic-language TV networks. The new views are stunning both in their maturity and in their realism. The best way I can think of to convey them is in the form of a letter to the Palestinian Arabs from their Arab friends:

Dear Palestinian Arab brethren:

The war with Israel is over.

You have lost. Surrender and negotiate to secure a future for your children.

We, your Arab brothers, may say until we are blue in the face that we stand by you, but the wise among you and most of us know that we are moving on, away from the tired old idea of the Palestinian Arab cause and the “eternal struggle” with Israel.

Dear friends, you and your leaders have wasted three generations trying to fight for Palestine, but the truth is the Palestine you could have had in 1948 is much bigger than the one you could have had in 1967, which in turn is much bigger than what you may have to settle for now or in another 10 years. Struggle means less land and more misery and utter loneliness.

At the moment, brothers, you would be lucky to secure a semblance of a state in that Gaza Strip into which you have all crowded, and a small part of the West Bank of the Jordan. It isn’t going to get better. Time is running out even for this much land, so here are some facts, figures, and sound advice, friends.

You hold keys, which you drag out for television interviews, to houses that do not exist or are inhabited by Israelis who have no intention of leaving Jaffa, Haifa, Tel Aviv, or West Jerusalem. You shoot old guns at modern Israeli tanks and American-made fighter jets, doing virtually no harm to Israel while bringing the wrath of its mighty army down upon you. You fire ridiculously inept Kassam rockets that cause little destruction (I strongly disagree with this -ed.) and delude yourselves into thinking this is a war of liberation. Your government, your social institutions, your schools, and your economy are all in ruins.

Your young people are growing up illiterate, ill, and bent on rites of death and suicide, while you, in effect, are living on the kindness of foreigners, including America and the United Nations. Every day your officials must beg for your daily bread, dependent on relief trucks that carry food and medicine into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, while your criminal Muslim fundamentalist Hamas government continues to fan the flames of a war it can neither fight nor hope to win.

In other words, brothers, you are down, out, and alone in a burnt-out landscape that is shrinking by the day.

What kind of struggle is this? Is it worth waging at all? More important, what kind of miserable future does it portend for your children, the fourth or fifth generation of the Arab world’s have-nots?

We, your Arab brothers, have moved on.

Those of us who have oil money are busy accumulating wealth and building housing, luxury developments, state-of-the-art universities and schools, and new highways and byways. Those of us who share borders with Israel, such as Egypt and Jordan, have signed a peace treaty with it and are not going to war for you any time soon. Those of us who are far away, in places like North Africa and Iraq, frankly could not care less about what happens to you.

Only Syria continues to feed your fantasies that someday it will join you in liberating Palestine, even though a huge chunk of its territory, the entire Golan Heights, was taken by Israel in 1967 and annexed. The Syrians, my friends, will gladly fight down to the last Palestinian Arab.

Before you got stuck with this Hamas crowd, another cheating, conniving, leader of yours, Yasser Arafat, sold you a rotten bill of goods — more pain, greater corruption, and millions stolen by his relatives — while your children played in the sewers of Gaza.

The war is over. Why not let a new future begin?

*Mr. Ibrahim has written some other really interesting articles, some of which you can see here.

A Big Bronx Cheer to CNN...again.

. . . to CNN for it's brilliant, one-sided histrionic reporting-again- with their article entitled In Gaza, Living with Anger and Fear.

I've got an idea: let's subsitute the word "Sderot, Ashkelon or Gedera in the same paragraphs, use Jewish names and paraphrase it, something like THIS:

"Listen, listen to this!" shouts Fida Qishta Re'ut as the crackling of rockets is heard over her phone receiver.

"It's difficult for anybody to imagine that in a second, maybe when I am talking to you on the phone, maybe something [will] happen to me or to my family," the Palestinian blogger Israeli mother told CNN from her home in Gaza Sderot, [or Ashkelon, or Gedera, or the rest of Southern Israel].

She has gotten little sleep during the past 10 days as Israel Hamas continues its attacks on her homeland, prompting the [defense] attacks the Jewish state says are designed to stop months years of rocket strikes on southern Israel by Hamas militants terrorists in Gaza.

Qishta Re'ut writes furiously, hoping to convey the horror she sees. "The Israeli army Hamas terrorists are cannibals. They don't look for civilians, for children or women. Most attacks happen on families, on their houses," she said, her voice rising in anger.

To be fair, they did interview one Israeli who lives in the South; his comments were milder and calmer, and very humanitarian--in sharp contrast to the Gaza blogger.

But I do not agree with him on this one: "There's always two sides to every story..."

Sometimes, there aren't. Sometimes, one country is bombarded by another which does not want the first to exist. Sometimes, one side LIES, and the other TELLS THE TRUTH (see my previous post about alternate realities).

I could go on, but it's getting tiresome. Where was CNN with the detailed report with photos and videos when the kindergarten was rocketed in Sderot? Where were they with their story when Hamas terrorists were disguised as medical personnel and were storing weapons caches and hiding out in hospitals, among the patients?

Where was...? Oh, never mind. The Israelis/Jews, who are intelligent, educated, humanitarian, mature and civilized are just not as interesting as the Arabs whose leaders don't give a fig (see my previous post, Free Figs in the Marketplace) whether or not their people live in squalor and their children play in sewers.

Down the Rabbit Hole...or is it, THE TWILIGHT ZONE

Where is the United Nations in all this? Where is their "moral compass?"(-as Dennis Prager would say). Oh, here it is; seems they dropped it. I think it's irreparable:

3 January 2009 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced his deep concern over Israel's launch of a ground operation into Gaza today, with the Security Council calling an emergency meeting to discuss the situation.

Mr. Ban expressed his extreme disappointment to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

“He is convinced and alarmed that this escalation will inevitably increase the already heavy suffering of the affected civilian populations,” according to a statement issued by the Secretary-General''s spokesperson. “He called for an immediate end to the ground operation, and asked that Israel do all possible to ensure the protection of civilians and that humanitarian assistance is able to reach those in need.”

All I hear the U.N. spouting is anti-Israel rhetoric. Where is the protest of the Hamas' (and the Palestinian Fatah--it's across the board, a cultural phenomenon) abuse of children?

And where are those bleeding-heart liberals protesting the religion of peace raising children in the culture of death, to be murderers and suicide (read: homicide) bombers?

Seems to be a bit one-sided to me: condemn the JEWS, condemn ISRAEL. Everybody else's actions are 'kosher.'

Welcome to our alternate universe, where black is white, up is down, and evil is good. I'm half expecting Rod Serling to introduce the next episode. Alice in Wonderland's world couldn't have been any curiouser.






Remember this cartoon? It's the situation in a nutshell. Cultural and moral equivalence? Which do you support?






We should seriously think about what Rod Serling said, in his closing narration of the Twilight Zone episode The Obsolete Man (emphasis mine) :

The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete, but so is the State, the entity he worshipped. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of man, that state is obsolete. A case to be filed under "M" for mankind—in the Twilight Zone.

Maybe it is time. . .



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In Case You Just Didn't Get It from my Last Post. . .

First of all, Haveil Havalim #199 (is it that many already?) is UP, at Ima's. Also check out Jack's Gaza Updates-9.5 and counting-linked here.

Okay, so maybe I was too serious in my last post. You want funny? IMAO shows how Hamas can be funny (really). This is only an excerpt; go to the site for the rest of it.

Hamas sure seems to like provoking Jews into killing them, so as a public service I thought I’d send my crack research staff to revisit and revise their facts about Hamas before research about Hamas becomes a job solely for anthropologists.

FUN FACTS ABOUT HAMAS

* Hamas was founded in 1987 according to some site I found with Google. I was eight years old then and wanted to be a fireman or an astronaut. Blowing up Jews had not crossed my mind.

* Hamas is Arabic for “dumb @#$% with explosives”.

* Contrary to popular belief, Hamas has nothing to do with ham. Actually, if you throw hams at them, they’ll get angry.

* Make sure to keep Hamas away from your Jews.

* I don’t like to loosely throw around charges of anti-Semitism, but I don’t think Hamas members like Jews.

* Hamas protects their armaments by hiding them among children so Israel will hesitate to shoot back. For a ground war, Hamas is planning on wearing vests covered in live puppies. Killing terrorists isn’t worth harming an innocent puppy, is it?

* If you’re surrounded by members of Hamas, shout, “One of you is secretly a Jew!” Then watch them shoot each other while screaming, “Who Jew?” It’s high-larious!

* One of the reasons that they keep attacking is that none of the Hamas members knows what “ceasefire” means and are too embarrassed to ask.

* If a Hamas member says he wants peace, it’s a trick! Shoot him the head.

* If a Hamas member says he wants to borrow the sports section from your newspaper, it’s a trick! Shoot him in the head.

* Hamas has a wing that’s devoted to charities. It’s a lot like the Salvation Army… if the Salvation Army murdered Jews.

* Actually, if you see a guy ringing a bell around Christmas, make sure he’s with Salvation Army and not a Hamas member before you give him money.

* If you’re in a cafe in Israel, and someone runs in there and indiscriminately starts shooting people, he could be a member of Hamas, so be careful.

* Hamas is a big part of the “cycle of violence”. They launch rockets at Israel, and then Israel is like, “Hey, don’t do that.” And thus the cycle of violence continues.

* The cycle of violence will continue on forever… or until Israel finally gets fed up and nukes the crap out of everyone.

Now, don't you feel so much better after reading that? I do.

Free Figs in the Marketplace, or: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Warning: this post is CHOCK FULL O' LINKS. (You can have some coffee with that.)

I really don't think the world knows what it's dealing with regarding the Arab mindset.
The world does not understand their mentality. When you think about it, it really is an interesting, maybe even unique one.

It perhaps is a Middle Eastern, Levantine, tribal way of conducting the business of life; I wouldn't trust most Arabs as far as I could throw them, and this is why: the Arab mindset allows for weaving a tale, for embellishing facts, for obfuscating the truth.

Samuel Katz, (who just passed away in May, 2008) in his wonderful little book "Battleground: Fact & Fantasy in Palestine" relates a very funny (sad, but funny) story illustrating this mindset, paraphrased here :

An Arab was trying to take a nap in his upstairs bedroom, but he couldn't, because the children were playing and shouting in the courtyard underneath his veranda. So he got up, went out on the veranda and shouted down to them, "what are you doing playing in the courtyard? Don't you know that they are giving away free figs in the marketplace?" The children looked up, stopped playing, and all ran to the marketplace to get their 'free figs.' The Arab chuckled to himself at his clever trick, and went back to his nap. He was just about to doze off when he sat up in shock and thought: "Are you crazy? They are giving away free figs in the marketplace, and you are taking a nap?!"

The Arab mindset is the reason we see things like this: Fakestinian Fauxtography (thank you, Atlas Shrugs--I love it. The phrase, that is. Not the tactic). From Snapshots, A Camera Blog, which Atlas Shrugs cites, we see that there is a tendancy among the Arabs--Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah--doesn't make any difference who is it--to fake and falsify information, photos, and videos. Read Brian C. Ledbetter's great story on it, here:

CAMERA has also spotted a non-injured man being paraded around as a victim. Or at least, he surely looks non-injured (as do many of the other "victims" being paraded into al-Shifa Hospital). I'll only add to this by pointing out that faithful Muslims the world over appear to be quite adept at parading around bodies. Or, to be more accurate, reasonable approximations thereof.

Is it therefore beyond the depth of imagination, armed with this knowledge, to suppose that Palestinians are also "dressing up" their victimhood just a touch?

Oh, and finally: ISLAM IS PEACE. And nothing says "peace" quite like dressing your children as killers. (At a peace rally, no less!)

And it's all fine with them. They do not care whether or not the information is "true." Truth, as such, plays no part in their weltenschaung. They can, and do, everything in their power to sway public opinion in their favor, even if the information is false.

Even CNN reporters surprisingly wrote about this phenomenon in 2006, as published in Camera (scroll down for this portion):

In an exceptional exposé aired on July 24, CNN’s Anderson Cooper discussed not only Hezbollah control of journalists’ access to subjects in southern Lebanon, but also the staging of scenes for the international press to record. He chronicled a Hezbollah-guided tour for foreign reporters where interview and photographic opportunities were strictly managed by Hezbollah minders who followed the participants’ every movement. Describing Hezbollah’s orchestration of events, Cooper recounted:

...After letting us take pictures of a few damaged buildings, they take us to another location, where there are ambulances waiting. This is a heavily orchestrated Hezbollah media event. When we got here, all the ambulances were lined up. We were allowed a few minutes to talk to the ambulance drivers. Then one by one, they've been told to turn on their sirens and zoom off so that all the photographers here can get shots of ambulances rushing off to treat civilians. That's the story — that's the story that Hezbollah wants people to know about. These ambulances aren't responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect... (Anderson Cooper 360º, July 24, 2006)

Still skeptical? Don't believe me? How about believing this, by Arab journalist Abdullah Bajubeer in an Arab News article from June, 2005:

The popular reaction to the newspaper report about an Iraqi farmer shooting down an Apache helicopter some time ago prompted me to look more carefully into the Arab way of thinking, particularly the influence of superstition on the Arab mindset. I was shocked to find that instead of finding logical solutions to the challenges posed by sophisticated technological advancement in many areas, the Arab mind seeks refuge in solutions based on legends and superstitions. A resistance to the pressures of the modern world controlled by reason and logic still lurks in our deepest recesses; it prefers to wallow in intellectual lethargy and self-indulgence, being content with imported technology without the least effort to develop the technology as non-Arab countries are doing and have done.

The West just does not understand how the Arab mindset can be different--and by different, I mean superstitious, backward, illogical, irrational, in short, primitive--than theirs. That is why until now, democracy has not taken a hold in Arab countries. Their religion is, by our terms, backward, authoritarian, barbaric, and yes, primitive. They are stuck somewhere back there in the 7th century, not in our 21st. And they are trying to bring us all down, back to their century, where they can rule with their barbaric 'religion of peace.'

With all this, the West continues to think that with logic and rational thinking, they can persuade the Arabs to be reasonable, to compromise, to seek peace with Israel. This is not currently possible, because this is not what they want (although I am seeing some tiny chinks in the culture and mindset; I just heard about a Hamas leader's son who converted to Christianity, and perhaps women have 'had it' with their oppression and second-class status, with the abusive treatment by their husbands which is sanctioned in the Quran). But so far, what they want is (capitalized) World Domination, and to 'push Israel into the sea.'

That doesn't sound like peace to me. How about you?

I was going to show you a video of how the Arabs raise their children to be suicide bombers and "martyrs." But then I came across this. Remember Sesame Street?



There is your Palestinian future generation--you know the one--the one that's going to create and build a viable Palestinian state and make 'peace' with Israel and the West.

Take that with your coffee (I'll take a few links with that, too).

Take Your Kids to the Rocket Strike Zone Playground

In case you weren't sure about the purpose of Hamas' rocket attacks vis a vis Israel's "disproportionate response" attacking military weapons caches, installations, launching areas and terrorist headquarters, take a look at this, which I found on Yael's blog, Aliyah Step by Step:



Contrast that with Israel dropping leaflets over the civilian areas of Gaza, warning them to flee to avoid casualties, because their areas are terrorist strongholds and are being targeted by the IDF.
Disproportionate response, anyone?

The World Hates the Jews.

I'm trying to rationalize this out, and that is the only conclusion I can arrive at. A psychologist would have a field day with this. Why else would the world rail against Israel for fighting back to protect its citizens? Why else would the world accuse Israel of using "disproportionate force?" Why else would the world cry out that Israel is ' indiscriminately killing civilians?' Why else are there 'demonstrations' against Israel's offensive in Gaza?

I'll tell you what is disproportionate response. What is disproportionate is the world's reaction to tiny Israel making a belated attempt to defend itself and prevent further murder of its own civilian population.

The world's response (with the exception of the United States') is generally negative towards anything Israel does to defend itself. It's outrageous. Where was this world when Hamas was lobbing rockets into Sderot? When Hizbollah was firing Katyushas into northern Israel? Where was the world in their public outrage during the two intifadas? I'll tell you where: there was none. But when Israel mobilizes and finally does something, everyone seems to wake up. It must be because they love us so much.

What is amazing now is that the European Union (except for France. What else is new) seems to be tacitly supporting Israel's initiative. I almost fell off my chair when I read that bit of news.

Where was the world's outrage and condemnation at Hamas' setting up rocket launching pads and weapons storage in civilian homes and hospitals. The truth is, they--Hamas--are solely responsible for the state of their citizens and are deliberately endangering them by their actions.

To the world at large, "disproportionate response" refers to Israel merely defending itself and attempting to prevent another Jewish bloodbath--plain and simple. Do not delude yourselves: Israel hatred is Jew hatred - they are one and the same. Certainly it is, in the Arabs' eyes--they are now threatening to target Jews all over the world. It seems that the only Jew the world can tolerate, is the Ghetto Jew. A strong Jew who fights back makes them nervous. . .

This JWR article explains the situation very well. Read it, and show it to everyone (hat tip, my son: Nathaniel Blumenstien). Here is an excerpt:

The numbers reported [my note: of Palestinians killed ] indicate that there was no clear intent to inflict disproportionate collateral civilian casualties. What is critical from the standpoint of international law is that if the attempt has been made "to minimize civilian damage, then even a strike that causes large amounts of damage - but is directed at a target with very large military value - would be lawful."

What is disproportionate and horrendous is the Hamas terrorist organization specifically targeting civilians in Israel and Islamic Terrorists targeting Jews and Israelis (and Americans as well) around the world, such as last month in Mumbai. They were committing war crimes and no one in the international community was doing a thing to stop them.

Here's a contrast for you: four leading Rabbis issued a halakhic ruling that it is permissible in Torah law toretaliate against rocket launching sites in civilian areas:

The ruling states as follows: “When a population living near a Jewish town sends bombs at the Jewish town with the purpose of killing and destroying Jewish existence there, it is permitted, according to Jewish Law, to fire shells and bombs at the firing sites, even if they are populated by civilians.

Tell me, when was the last time another country or religion even discussed the moral implications of defending oneself against attack? When was the last time a country warned the civilians who were living among the launching pads and weapons caches and terrorists? Did they do that in the bombing of Dresden in World War II?? The United States made a decision in World War II, and bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. How many civilians were killed then? What's worse, is that they were targeted. How about that for a "disproportionate response?"

Israel is not doing that. All she wants is to live in peace. It's the Arabs who want war. They don't blink an eye when Hamas terrorist leaders disguise themselves as doctors and hide in hospitals. Or build launching pads in civilians' basements. Or fire missiles into kindergartens.

The Jews, on the other hand, always search their souls about the treatment of others. That is what makes Judaism one of the most moral religions existing today among the religions of the world.

On the other hand, sometimes I fear we think too much of others and not enough about saving ourselves. This problem Israel is facing is an existential problem, and we need to ensure our survival as a people and as a Jewish State.

Since I wrote the above, the IDF ground war began motzai Shabbat (Saturday night). My youngest daughter is being mobilized. Please pray for her and all the soldiers fighting for the survival of the tiny nation of Israel, the only homeland for the Jewish People.

Prayer for the soldiers of the Israel Defense Force (Hebrew, then English below):

Prayer for Members of the Israel Defense Force

He Who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - may He bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Force, who stand guard over our land and the cities of our God from the border of the Lebanon to the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the Aravah, on the land, in the air, and on the sea.

May Hashem cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them. May the Holy One, Blessed is He, preserve and rescue our fighting men from every trouble and distress and from every plague and illness, and may He send blessing and success in their every endeavor.

May He lead our enemies under their sway and may He grant them salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for them the verse: For it is Hashem, your God, Who goes with you to battle your enemies for you to save you.

Now let us respond: Amen.