| THINK-ISRAEL | |||||
THINK-ISRAEL features essays
and commentaries that provide context for the continuing crisis in
Israel. We report on global anti-Semitism. The war Islam is waging
against Israel and the West is our top priority. We aim to make sense of
what's going on.
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We are told that there is a difference between extremist Islam and
peaceloving normal Islam.
Judging by their behavior, Muslims are anti-West, anti-Democracy, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-Buddhist, and anti-Hindu. Muslims are involved in 25 of some 30 conflicts going on in the world: in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, East Timor, India, Indonesia (2 provinces), Kashmir, Kazakastan, Kosovo, Kurdistan, Macedonia, the Middle East, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, Sudan, Russia-Chechnya, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan. Doesn't this mean that extremist Islam is the norm and normal Islam is extremely rare? |
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"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.
"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa. While as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan." (PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein, March 31, 1977, interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw.) |
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The total for all the 22 Arab League
countries is 6,145,389 square miles (SM). By comparison, all 50 states of
the United States have a total of 3,787,318 SM. Israel has
8,463 SM, about one-sixth of that of the State of Michigan.
Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and Afghanistan are Muslim but not Arab and are
not included.
World Arab population: 300 million; World Jewish population: 13.6 million; Israel's Jewish population: 5.4 million. (reference: Dr. Wilbert Simkovitz, http://dehai.org/archives/dehai_news_archive/ apr04/0223.htmldehai.org/ archives/dehai_news_archive/apr04/0223.html) |
| "It has no heart. It has no spine. Its mouth serves as its anus. It has a diffuse net of nerves instead of a brain. Is it a jelly fish or an Israeli politician? Pick one. Whichever one you picked, you were right." (Eliezar Edwards, June 20, 2005) |
| "There are Muslim moderates. Islam itself is not moderate." (Ibn Warraq, author of Why I am Not a Muslim.) |
| To Israeli Secularists: You want a normal country, like everybody else? I will tell you how. Forget ads featuring bikini-clad hotsies. Forget promoting "alternative" life styles. The secret is to adopt the right attitude. A normal country doesn't give up an inch of land that belongs to it. A normal country doesn't let its citizens go hungry while it feeds its enemy and gives them medical care. A normal country doesn't let foreigners take over its holy sites –– Hebron, the Temple Mount, Joseph's Tomb. Looking at what counts, it's the religious Jews of Samaria and Judea and the Golan that are acting normal, not you. (Eliezar Edwards, March 20, 2008) |
| Disregarding the fact that Gaza, Judea and Samaria are part of the land which was allocated for the creation of the Jewish state by the League of Nations, the US pressures Israel to negotiate with the enemy and expedite a two-state solution. Strangely, president Bush does not negotiate with Mexico the return of Mexican land occupied by the US including his own state, Texas! (Steven Shamrak, May 19, 2008) |
| Livni is well loved by the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Andrea Merkel, Prime Minister of Germany, because Livni has been so malleable. Whatever they say, she repeats like a wooden lap dummy. Most Israelis know she is a slow thinker, but obedient, which is why she was added to Sharon's staff and kept on by Olmert. Her decisions have been notoriously problematic and dull-witted –– especially when she worked with the U.N. and Rice to end the Lebanon War of 2006 on the worst terms possible. (Emanual Winston June 1, 2008) |
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White House Telephone Number: 1-202-456-1414 Every call is tallied by subject matter.
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| FEATURED STORIES | ||||||||||||
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May-June, 2008
PERFECTION DEMANDED ONLY FROM LITTLE ISRAEL
Starting in the late 1800s there was a surge of settlers into Israel,
who, added to the Jews who had never left, slowly reclaimed their
homeland. Around the time Israel was granted statehood, it needed to
bring in refugees from Arabland and survivers of the European
Holocaust. Israel took in people almost guaranteed to hold back
development –– the elderly, the traumatized, the weak, the
demoralized, the unskilled. If that wasn't enough of a handicap,
Israel was a poor country with no natural resources –– no oil, few
minerals, young forests, a poor water supply. And fending off Arab
neighbors was a constant distraction. Yet, sixty years later, Israel
is in the first-rank in advancing the quality of life for humankind. It has
Nobel prize winners, engineers and computer scientists
developing and improving global communications; physicians and
biologists crafting medical innovations; agriculturalists growing
wonderful fruits and vegetables with a scant water supply. During this
time, the Arab states have become bloated with spending money but they
have scarely moved forward towards modern times. So how is it the
miracle of Israel is not appreciated? Chris Powell provides an
interesting answer.
1948, ISRAEL, AND THE PALESTINIANS –– THE TRUE STORY
Efraim Karsh writes of the beginning of the Arab refugee extravaganza.
During the 1948 invasion of Israel by the Arab states, the local Arabs
fled. Arab propaganda claimed that they fled because the Jews forced
them out. Using newly declassified documents to determine what
happened in what is now the State of Israel between 1920 and 1948,
Karsh shows that the flight of the Arabs and their consequent
resettlement as unwanted refugees in the Arab countries was the result
of the Arab leadership instructing their people to leave their homes
so the Arab armies could destroy the new state of Israel.
SELF-MADE NAKBA
Barry Rubin adduces four reasons why the Arabs rejected partition and
attacked the fledgling state of Israel: namely, 1) the Mufti of
Jerusalem, Hitler's buddy, wanted to destroy the Jews, not live next
to them; 2) the Arab laity wanted war; 3) the Arab countries
envisioned looting and grabbing land; 4) they foresaw an easy victory.
They haven't changed much, have they?
UNRWA: REFUGE OF REJECTIONISM
This report, recently released by the GLORIA Center, details how
UNRWA, nominally a humanitarian effort to help Palestinian refugees,
uses its huge budget to hamper resolution of the Arab-Israeli
conflict and blocks the resettlement of its ever-growing number of
charges. Oh, and it also furnishes finances, facilities, and recruits
for terrorist groups –– but that it does for free.
THIS IS AN ONEROUS LIFE?
Aside from the fact that many of the Arab refugees were locals living
near the refugee camps (they actually improved their lives signing up
as refugees), their lives are pretty good. It might be boring but they
won't starve and they are better educated than Arabs in most of the
Arab countries. And for excitement, the various terrorist
organizations are there –– as UNRWA staff –– to inculcate them with an
exciting mission: KILL THE JEWS.
US CONGRESSMEN DEMAND UNRWA REFORM
Israel Zwick of CN.net gathered these interesting facts from UN
official sources: UNHCR handles all the UN-supported
refugees and stateless people in the world except the
Palestinian arabs; in 2007, UNHCR cared for 32.9 million people in
110 countries. UNHCR requested a total of 1.673 billion –– regular
budget and supplemental funds –– for 2008. Of their clients, the vast
majority returned home or were resettled within 5 years.
The United States is a major UNRWA sugar daddy. So it is
appropriate that it be the one to say: Enough's enough. As Etgar
Lefkovits writes, several U.S. Congressmen are demanding reform,
pointing out that "UNRWA was actually designed to perpetuate the
festering sore of the refugee problem."
IT'S NOT GUSH KATIF
Ann Goldberg describes a trip taken to visit some expellees from Gush
Katif, who are now living in a section of Kibbutz Ein Zurim. The
refugees have renamed the area Nezer Hazani, the name of their
hometown in Gush Katif in the Gaza strip. If there was a compelling
reason for the eviction, the Olmert government never made it clear.
What is clear is that the major tangible return Israel got for the
expulsion is the constant barrage of missiles coming from the Arab
terror community that now inhabits Gush Katif.
1000 DAYS WITHOUT A HOME
The exiled Gush Katif communities has created superb graphics that
will in short order fill you in with what's happened to the
productive, patriotic and proud Jews that lived in Gush Katif, Gaza.
Dror Vanunu reminds us that they need your help now to recover from
the trauma inflicted on them by the Sharon-Olmert government. They
need your financial and moral support. You need their conviction that
the all of Land of Israel belongs to the Children of Israel. You need
their spiritual strength. Help them for their sake. Help them for your
sake.
GOODBYE 12, UPWARD AND ONWARD
Moshe Saperstein in his sardonic fashion continues to explore
recovering from a trauma inflicted by the petty bureaucrats and gross
ideologues that were supposed have his interest at heart. These
administrators destroyed his beloved community in Gush Katif, Gaza,
and they continue to destroy the country he loves. He began his
current set of essays –– the Goodbye series –– in March 2008. Goodbye
1-4 and 8-10 are to be found in "Gloom, Doom –– And
Yet..." in the Think-Israel's March-April 2008 issue. Goodbye 11 is on
the April 2008 Blog-Ed page. This issue we present essay "Goodbye 12
and onward."
RAPTORS IN LACHISH; WEDDING IN SUSSIYAH
Two short essays, deceptively simple. Raptors make a stopover in
Israel on the way to Europe. On land needed by people who need
housing. How do you prioritize? Rephrase the question and the answer
changes. In the second essay, we learn how some of the Israeli young
are connecting themselves to their people's history. Rachel Saperstein
always leaves us with much to think about.
THE MISTAKES THAT LAUNCHED 3,000 ROCKETS
Richard A. Baehr reminds us that not so long ago Israeli leadership
made a disasterous error –– forcing all the Jewish Israelis out of the
Gaza strip. He recalls all the supposedly sound reasons for vacating
the land –– demographics, not having to worry about protecting the
Gazan Jewish civilians. public relations, peace, and letting the Arabs
run their own show. As we know, the actual result was a rain of
missiles from Gaza. So why are they dredging up the same old arguments
to leave Samaria and Judea (aka the West Bank)?
THE TWO-PRONGED ASSAULT ON RELIGIOUS ZIONISM
Caroline Glick makes clear what many have long suspected –– driving
Jews from their homes in Gaza had little to do with peace or security
and much to do with the hostility the far-left Israeli secularists
feels toward religious Zionist Jews because they want to be Jews, not
Marxists. The expulsion "...wasn't about peace with the Arabs. It was
about cultural supremacy within Israel." In doing so, the secularists
demoralized some of Israel's most productive and patriotic citizens;
gave the Arab terrorists now in control of Gaza more confidence as
well as more unmonitored space in which to assemble and hurl their
missiles; and weakened the state of Israel to further military and
diplomatic attacks. The irony is that the Left strives to be like
everyone but picks wrong and/or inadequate implementations. It is
religious Zionism that is revolutionary, nationalistic and above all,
normal in its desire to hold onto its own land and live its own
version of the good life. Unfortunately, it has acquired another
opponent –– the non-Zionist Jewish religious establishment, which is
comfortable in the attitudes and habits of powerlessness that it
developed to survive hostility in the diaspora. Yet, as Glick
concludes, "Israel and the Jewish people need Religious Zionism more
than anyone will ever admit." [For another facet of the consequences
of the Jewish incorporation of the need to keep a low profile, to be
politically powerless, see Seth J. Frantzman, "Jews, Power And The
Creation Of The Palestinians" below.]
THE LIZARD NAMED OZ
Lee Kaplan draws us a character sketch of Avraham Oz, a professor of
theatre and drama studies and a darling of the Israel-hating press,
both at home in Israel and abroad. He can always be counted on to see
Jews as bad, their terrorist neighbors as good, or at least as
justified in their despicable behavior. "The Arabs keep claiming they
are being ethnically cleansed as their population in Gaza and Yesha
increases almost exponentially." The Arab choir has a stock set of
derogatory phrases to condition people to despise Israel, its army
and its citizens. And Oz is one of their lead singers, mouthing their
words and specializing in demoralizing his own country.
HRW'S POLITICIZED CHARACTERIZATION OF THE BEDOUIN ISSUE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that
routinely accuses Israel of war crimes. It can be counted on to
overstate, exaggerate, distort and invent atrocities Israel is
supposed have committed against the Arabs. When their spokesmen are
caught out –– as they were in Jenin and Qana –– far from being
embarrassed, they shrug it off and move on to their next bout of
indignation. This essay from the NGO Monitor carefully analyzes the
distortions in their report on their latest cause –– the "plight" of
the Bedouins in the Negev. Clearly, their cause may have changed, but
their shoddy research and muddled writeups haven't. What makes HRW
different from other vicious anti-Jewish NGOs? Its executive director
is a Jew, whose father is a holocaust survivor. It seems to be the
only difference.
JEWS, POWER AND THE CREATION OF THE PALESTINIANS
Seth Frantzman has written a singular and brilliant essay. He sums up
the components and evaluates the essentials of the Jewish attitude
against taking political responsibility –– an attitude initially
conditioned by the need to maintain a non-threatening profile in order
to survive in a hostile diaspora. Unfortunately, the Jews internalized
the need not to challenge the prevailing political and religious
powers. They developed ways of surviving, but achieving independent
political power was not one of them. Before Israel became a state,
this attitude took the form of denying the virtue of having a Jewish
state. In recent years, this has translated into a moral stance by
Jewish leftist intellectuals, who created the notion of the indigenous
Palestinian and want to give away Israel's birthright, its very
identity, to these Palestinians. This would put the Jews right back in
the role of an impotent minority group. The leftist Jews see this
rootlessness as good; disembodied, so to speak, Jews could concentrate
on being a "light unto the world." Unfortunately, it would also put
them at the mercy of an irrational majority group intent on destroying
Jews –– but that doesn't appear to concern the Jewish leftist
intellectual.
Why shouldn't there be yet another Arab state carved out of land
belonging to Israel? Because the West Bank is Biblical Israel. It
belongs to the Jews by way of the Bible, by history, by the Palestine
Mandate, by international law, by decency and morality. If you insist
that land can only be acquired by conquest –– because that's how most
countries became states –– then, OK, Israel conquered the area in
1968, taking it from Jordan, who took it in 1948, when she, together
with Israel's other neighbors, invaded the newly-created state of
Israel. Before that? It belonged to the Ottomans for some 400 years.
Then when the Ottomans had the misfortune to back the wrong side in
World War 1, England was entrusted with the territory to help the Jews
turn it into a state.
THE INVENTION OF PALESTINE
Tsafrir Ronen bluntly provides us with some historic facts that are
usually ignored by diplomats formulating a fantasy of two people
living side by side in peace, when the reality is that one of these
people –– the Palestinian Arabs –– is not an authentic people. They
were invented as a way to challenge the Jewish people's return to
their land. As Ronen writes, "[t]his is the essence of the Arab
propaganda war, which is intended to steal the identity of Eretz
Yisrael and to transform it into Palestine, and by such means to turn
the Jewish people into occupiers of Eretz Yisrael. That's the whole
story." Who says so? Their very own leadership. Openly. And in print.
Read some of their statements in this article.
CAN WE PLEASE CUT THE QUACKERY?
We are often told that Palestinian Arabs really want peace –– they are
being misled by some of their leaders. It isn't true. The motive force
for the Palestinian Arab psychopathy comes from the Arab laity. It
comes from the mothers who jump for joy when they learn their children
have massacred Jews while blowing themselves up. Jack Engelhard points
out they voted for Hamas, they wanted Hamas. Unfortunately, the
Israeli Jews aren't stopping their Prime Minister from giving away
Jewish land. And, as Engelhard says, "[t]hose of us (like AFSI) who
favor a strong Israel, unconditionally, are finding ourselves
outnumbered by our own Jewish brothers and sisters who, along with our
politicians and media elites, have bought the jihadist narrative."
DEATH OF A VISION
Uri Elitzur asks why the Israelis continue to cling to the two-state
solution, especially, when one of the groups, the Palestinian arabs,
desires to obliterate the other group, the Jews. "Why, he asks, "do
logical people cling to such an unrealistic vision, which has crashed
time and again against reality, and always with bloodshed and
suffering? The answer is fear and despair. Fear of the Arab population
about to drown us in a dark demographic sea, and despair over the
State of Israel's ability to rule and control its own fate." He
advices Israel to stop being afraid. Recent demographic figures show
the Arabs aren't going to become a majority in Israel and the
territories now or in the future. What Israel needs to do is to put
its own interests first, not try to represent both us and them [the
Arabs], both the UN and the International Court of Justice."
WHAT IS AN IRRECONCILABLE ENEMY? EXAMINING HAMAS AND HEZBOLLAH
The Jihadists of the Middle East have declared us of the West their
enemy, and no softsoaping, no bribes, no diplomacy, no appeasement
will deter them. Their if-thens are not our if-thens.
They aren't just talking nasty. They mean to take over the West,
starting with Israel and then going big time. Using a personal
experience, Nicholas Guariglia makes us understand what it is to have
a group make themselves your irreconcilable enemy "... even if you are
unaware of their lethal intent. You are their enemy, and thus they
yours, and they, not you, have made it so." Why in the world would we
give Hamas, created by the Muslim Brotherhood and which now rules
directly or indirectly over the Palestinian Arabs, or Hezbollah, which
controls much of Lebanon for the Iranians, more land to use to develop
more ways to murder people?
These essays suggest a third way. Tiny Israel is too small for two
states, especially when the Arab group takes joy in massacring Jews.
The Arabs own 99.9% of the Middle East. They have the space to place
ALL the Arabs who claim to be Palestinian –– without cramping.
They have the money to settle the Palestinians, especially if the
money now spent on the Arab "refugees" is added in. And why should
there not be room in the Middle East with its 22 Arab states for a
single Jewish State? In fact, when you think about it, the major
question is: where should the Palestinian arabs be resettled? That's
what this group of essays mostly discusses –– that and the need for
Israel to stand firm and look out for its own interests for a change.
REB HOROWITZ AND A TICKING CLOCK
We are always being told Israel has to make some new painful decision
for peace. They can all be summarized as: share Jewish land or give
it away; risk your future and the future of your children. And
they have all have the same result: no peace and less security. In
this essay, Dov Kahn suggests an agonizing decision that differs from
the previous peace plans in that it actually could lead to peace. It
would at the least make Israel a safer place to live.
THE SOLUTION: DUBAI
Moshe Feiglin outlines why Dubai would make a good place to resettle
the "80% of Gazans [who] are now begging to leave. In Judea and
Samaria 60% of the Arabs would prefer to live elsewhere." Dubai is
thriving and has a booming economy and gigantic construction projects.
It could use the help of the Palestinians. He points out that "all
that we need to do to solve the Kassam problem is to allow the Gazans
to leave and then to annex Gaza to Israel. It is that simple."
THE LAST FANATIC
Rabbi Benny Elon's Israeli Initiative plan has several components: (1)
the refugee camps will be dismantled and the refugees will be absorbed
as citizens in various countries; (2) Jordon will replace the PA as
the representative of the Palestinian arabs; and (3) Israel will
extend its sovereignty over Samaria and Judea (the West Bank). He has
advocated this plan for several years and is winning support from both
Israelis and Americans. In this essay he encourages you to view some
explanatory videos and download software that will aid you in
promoting the Israeli Initiative.
IT'S TIME TO RECONSIDER A FEDERAL ARRANGEMENT
Israel Zwick bases his plan in part on the minority opinion of the
1947 U.N. Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) which pointed out the area
was too small for two independent states. They recommended a Federal
State, with Arabs and Jews having "full powers of local
self-government". Zwick suggests there be a Federal State that
includes Israel, Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the Golan Heights. Arabs in
the Territories would be offered financial incentives to relocate. The
Arabs within Israel's borders would have a choice: they could become
part of their own semi-autonomous government, rather like Puerto Rico
vis-á-vis the U.S.A. Or they could choose to be Israeli
citizens "with full personal rights, but not national rights"
–– exactly what was proposed in the original Mandate.
THE MYTH OF LINKAGE
Martin Kramer disassembles the insidious and incorrect notion that the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the cause/root/essential condition
that keeps the Middle East turbulent. As Walter Reich wrote in a
comment to this article: "Martin Kramer's post is a superbly-executed
and much-needed act of intellectual hygiene about "linkage" and the
"Middle East conflict." It's a corrective –– to use a
phrase that others, alas, have invented –– to "stinkin'
thinkin'" about one of the most important dimensions of international
affairs.
THE HATE INDUSTRY: THE JORDANIAN PRESS CONTINUES TO PUBLISH ANTI-SEMITIC ARTICLES
Dr. Reuven Erlich provides us with examples of Jordanian hate
publications and cartoons. They are blatently anti-Jewish, with the
usual equation of Zionism and Nazism. The same swill is served up in
secular Marxist publications as in fundamentalist publications
associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. A curious occupation for a
country that wouldn't last long were it not propped up by Israel and
America.
TURKEY TURNS BACK TO THE BOOK
Turkey, the most secular of the Muslim countries, is becoming more
religious. This is being hailed as "reform." John David Lewis sets us
straight. "This is not reform," he writes. "It is a call for a new
fundamentalism on the authority of a thirteen-hundred-year-old vicious
fairytale, and for a ceaseless struggle against those who would
criticize it. Indeed, the use of terror in fighting the enemies of
Islam is directly sanctioned by the Koran. ... Any 'interpretation' of
Islam that is consistent with the Koran as a revealed, unquestioned
authority will end in a reversion to its brute, fundamental meaning:
the subordination of women and non-Muslims to dictatorial rule by a
clerical elite." Wise words.
THE IRANIAN ROOTS OF HIZBULLAH
Just as the Muslim Brotherhood created Hamas, so did Iran create
Hizbullah. Both are characterized by adherence to fundamentalist
Islam. Both are barbaric, with no scruples about jeopardizing their
own women and children to protect their soldiers. In this essay Dr.
Nimrod Raphaeli describes some of the early history of Hizbullah. He
concludes that with Iranian financing, Hezbullah was able to build an
educational, political, social welfare and military network and "now
serves as an extension of Iran's strategic expansion into the
Mediterranean." Moreover, Iran would not have been able to gain
entrance into Lebanon "without the collusion or approval of the Syrian
regime. Syria is also the main conduit of arms from Iran to
Hizbullah."
AHMADINEJAD'S PAST TELLS IT ALL
Olivier Guitta recounts the early history of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
Iran's current president. He was –– and is ––
a very pious Muslim. He was –– and is –– a
brutal murderer, one who, like so many nazis, thoroughly enjoyed work
when torturing people. Would he be repelled at the idea of killing
millions of Jews and Arabs in an atomic blast? Unlikely.
AMERICA IN ASHES?
While Ahmadinejad is set on erasing Israel no matter what it takes,
Osama bin Laden is said to be planning a "nuclear hell storm" in
America. Christopher Carson uses information obtained from "Khalid
Sheik Mohammed, (KSM), mastermind of 9/11 and chief operating officer
of al-Qaeda," to describe how al-Qaeda plans to develop the means to
build a nuclear device and bring it to a target. He develops a
plausible sequence of events that can, sooner or later, bring the
threat of nuclear attack to America. "The question confronting
American policy makers is: Are we prepared to stop this threat before
it becomes a terrible reality?" Are we?
EUROPE SHALL BLEED, ONCE AGAIN
Europeans are generally devoted to the idea of multiculturalism and
try to accomodate the alien Muslims, who reciprocate by scheming to
impose Islam and control the lives of their unsuspicious hosts. Amil
Imani provides us with a list of cities where the percentage of
Muslims is disturbingly large. It is a truism that when their numbers
grow, Muslims begin demanding that the natives begin doing thing the
Muslim way. Amin Imani has seen freedom repressed in his native Iran,
and is alert to the early warning signs of danger. He believes the
longer Europe ignores the danger, the bloodier it will be should
Europe decide to fight the sharia takeover in the future.
EUROPE AND ISRAEL: WORLDS APART?
This is a thoughtful article. As Robin Shepherd points out, "Europe's
relationship –– perhaps relationships might be a more appropriate term
–– with Israel is multi-layered." And rocky. Trade and technology are
blossoming but traditional anti-semitism remains, reinforced by new
hostility from a Europe that increasingly has become pacifist, secular
and disapproving of nationalism. Leftists, despising Western
capitalism, can sympathize with Islam's rejection of western power.
For rightists, "[t]he quasi-feudalistic, traditionalist character of
much of the Arab world resonates with old right values in a way that
'upstart' Israel never could. There is certainly a sense in which
anti-Israelism unites people and ideological viewpoints which feel
that they have lost out in the modern world." But nationalism seems to
be making a comeback. Shepherd concludes, "It remains to be seen how
Israel will fare when one or other of the continent's various
potential futures finally comes out on top."
HOW SECURE ARE JEWS IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD?
Irving Kett writes that we Jews must face up to an unpleasant reality
about our situation in the world; there is "... a serious worldwide
recrudescence of anti-Semitism, the likes of which has not existed
since the 1940's." In Europe, which is fast becoming judenfrei,
Arab funding and "large scale immigration of fanatic Jew-hating
Moslems" have fueled a surge of life-threatening anti-semitism. If
that weren't enough, we have rejectionist Jews, "... Israeli academics
who are in the forefront of international anti-Zionist, anti-Israel
propaganda." It is important that Israel be encouraged to reject
foreign aid, so that she is not under obligation to appease the arab
terrorists at the cost of her own security.
ISLAM'S HISTORY OF ANTI-SEMITISM
Raymond Ibrahim uses data from Andrew Boston's new book The
Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism to decide whether Islam was itself
anti-Semitic or did it just take Jew-hate over from European,
particularly German, sources. He concludes that "[t]he historical
documents make clear that, from day one, Jews and Christians have been
systematically treated as second-class citizens, dhimmis, in
the regions conquered by Islam." "...far from being a by-product of
Western anti-Semitism or the creation of Israel, animosity toward the
Jews has a firm doctrinal base tracing back to Islam's most
authoritative texts." What makes this hate source [the Koran]
particularly troubling is that "... it is not just history, but
immutable theology, which transcends time and space and needs to apply
today no less than yesterday." In other words, there is no polite way
to modulate or change Islamic anti-semitism.
HOLOCAUST HYPOCRISY
Brad Macdonald observes that there is a certain irony in that while
Western governments pay lip service and honor the victims of the Nazi
Holocaust, they "actively, to one degree or another, condone, even
promote, the demise of Jewish statehood", which can surely lead to
another holocaust. "...Hitler attempted to destroy the Jews as a race:
Today that same anti-Semitic spirit is being directed, subtly, at the
Jewish state." The U.N. spends much of its energy and most of its
indignation in scolding the State of Israel. The Roman circus it
sponsored at Durban in 2001 was advertised as promoting tolerance
among nations; instead the only important item on the agenda was
throwing Israel to the lions. Bemoaning the previous holocaust and
creating conditions for another is hypocrisy and many western countries
are guilt of it.
THE FIFTH GENERATION WARFARE
Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa Lappen give us the very good advice that
winning the war against radical Islam requires more than a winning
military strategy; it "requires understanding the role of
shari'a and the Muslim Brotherhood in developing a global
ideological and political movement supported by a parallel 'Islamic'
financial system to exploit and undermine Western economies and
markets." They set about to educate us on what we need to know about
what they rightfully call "financial jihad" so that we can
protect ourselves from this insidious route Muslims use to
infiltrate our social structure in order to overide our financial
system with their's and to win acceptance for the strings attached to
shari'a –– their ideas on the status of women; their ideas on
how to treat minor infractions of the law; their ideas on which
religous group should dominate; ideas that would restrict our
political independence and lose us our freedom of action.
DISTORTED HISTORY LESSONS
There have been sporadic attempts to persuade schoolchildren of the
beauty and superiority of Islam by having them role-play being a
Muslim, dressing Muslim, praying Muslim, eating food politely
according to Muslim etiquette. Now we are discovering that a one-sided
flattering view of Islam is being promoted in the classroom by way of
common ordinary textbooks. Robert Holland points out that "[m]odern
textbooks shy away from presenting a positive picture of Christianity
and Judaism as important influences ..." but the same censorship
apparently doesn't hold when discussing Islam. The American Textbook
Council examined some 10 textbooks and concluded that they "present an
incomplete and confected view of Islam that misrepresents its
foundations and challenges to international security." Islam is
portrayed as tolerant, Christianity as aggressive. Holland suggests
that the ideology of multiculturalism contributes to this
distorted view of reality. "Its most ardent proponents in academe
depict the European-rooted common culture as evil and oppressive and
Third World cultures as universally heroic."
SLAYING GAVE US A FIRST TASTE OF MIDEAST TERROR
In the last issue we presented an article by Andrew McCarthy entitled
"When Jihad Came to America" that suggested that the assassination of
Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1990 was an early example of Islamic Jihad
operating in America. Rabbi Kahane was killed by an Arab who was part
of a jihadist cell training for various acts of terror. In this issue,
Sasha Issenberg recounts the assassination of Bobby Kennedy in 1968.
The Arab who shot the then presidential candidate said he did so
because Kennedy favored Israel over the Arabs. At the time, the
shooting was seen as the act of a loner; it seemed part of the "civil
turmoil" of the time. We now understand there was a pattern of
well-planned Arab political terrorism outside of the Middle East even
before 9/11. It included the killing of the Israeli athletes in the
Munich Olympics; the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro, when
an elderly man in a wheelchair was thrown overboard; and the first
attack on the World Trade Center. If the assassination had happened
today, the various Arab terrorist groups would be on the top of the
list of suspects.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE SMART MEDIA MOGULS GONE
In this essay the witty Burt Prelutsky bemoans the of absence of the
old time Hollywood moguls and newspaper publishers whose bottom line
was making a profit. Crass? Uncouth? True. But it saved having
producers who insisted on producing ideologically-motivated bummers
that the public –– with good and sensible reasons –– rejected. And as
far as newspapers go, it doesn't make sense to so slant the news
leftward that you lose all objectivity. No wonder so many people have
tossed their newspapers in the garbage for the last time and get
their news from more reliable sources.
THE FORWARD TAKES ISRAEL BACKWARD
The Forward newspaper has the same set of beliefs as Peace Now
and other groups that are certain that removing Israeli settlements in
Samaria and Judea will hasten their version of the Messiah: the coming
of an yet another Arab state in Biblical Israel. Discrediting Jewish
settlements is so important to them that they don't mind substituting
belief for fact. In this essay David Hornik answers each of their
allegations.
DO LIBERALS KNOW THERE IS EVIL?
Newspapers such as the New York Times don't so much report the
news about Israel as act as advocate for the Palestinian Arabs. "...
false statements, misleading figures, or omissions that survive
readers' correction and are one-sided in favor of the Arabs, in
headlines, photographs, news items, and editorials. Too much one way
for coincidence." Richard Shulman analyzes the Times'
propaganda techniques, how they mislead readers who look to them for
objective assessments and for facts set in context. What the
Times is doing goes well beyond michief-making when it helps
determine foreign policy. Worse, when it keeps us passive while our
enemies grow in strength; or, as Shulman puts it, "They turn us into
sitting ducks for an Islamist death cult."
BREAKING DOWN OBAMA'S AIPAC SPEECH
Sultan Knish doesn't waste his time trying to decide whether Barak
Obama meant it when he said blah, blah or when he said aha-ah-blah,
blah, the two being completely contradictory. Instead he shows us how
to boil down some typical political speeches to extract the meager
supply of actual information they contain.
JAMES PARKES: A FINAL RECKONING
James Parkes was an Anglican clergyman and a historian of Jewish
history, both ancient and modern. Haim Chertok paints a portrait of
his life and provides an assessment of his writings. James Parkes was
an unusually gifted historian, who was capable of true love and
appreciation of the Jewish people without allowing that to veer him
from scrupulous accuracy. He was able, too, to look with clear eyes on
Christian treatment of Jews throughout Church history. Chertok writes
of Parkes, "For over fifty years, promoting what he had the wit and
courage to recognize as the main thing, the overriding purpose
of his life –– his Christian duty ... to render justice to
the Jewish people –– he never lost focus or faltered in
determination. In the process he became one of the authentic
intellectual and ethical heroes of our time."
TRIPLE CROSS: HOW BRITAIN CREATED THE ARAB-ISRAEL CONFLICT
In 1917, Britain was entrusted by the League of Nations to strive to
"secure the establishment of the Jewish national home," (national
home was Nordau-talk for state.) When the authority of the
League was transferred to the U.N., Mandated Palestine continued to be
in perpetual trust for the Jewish people and was so written into the
the U.N. Charter. [See
here and here.
] But it is also true that England, perhaps
having senior moments, promised the area to both the local Arabs and
the Syrians. Rachel Neuwirth writes of this triple-cross. Under the
guise of having the Jordanian Hashemites administer the area, she also
helped the Kingdom of (Trans)Jordan eventually to come into being. But
that's another story.
This is where our readers get a chance to write opinions
and editorials and share articles they find informative. The Blog-Eds
page for the month is updated every few days.
A Blog-Ed page has a quick list of the articles from which you can
access any of the articles immediately.
To go to the list, click the
"Blog-Eds List" box in the Blue Strip on the top of the Blog-Ed page.
May 2008 BLOG-EDS
READ MORE
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March-April, 2008
LETTERS FROM JERUSALEM, 1947
As Steve Kramer writes in his foreword: "Nothing is more appropriate
on the 60th anniversary of Israel's Declaration of Independence than
reading the words of a young Jewish wife who left America and came to
Israel for love of Eretz Yisrael." This essay is to be
treasured.
WHO DID WHAT FOR ISRAEL IN 1948?
It is appropriate as we celebrate Israel's 60th to examine some of the
received wisdom about those days. Norman Berdichevsky demolishes the
myth that the USA was Israel's only friend and made Jewish statehood
possible, supplying "money, manpower and arms". While the U.S.A voted
for partition, it was primarily Czech arms, East European and Soviet
manpower and East Bloc political support that enabled Israel to
decisively win the military and diplomatic battles. If you think this
reads like the novel 1984 –– with flip flopping
alliances –– you may be right.
THE 60-YEAR WAR FOR ISRAEL'S HISTORY
One sometimes wonders if Israel's Arab enemies aren't overkill –– her
internal haters do such a good job denigrating Israel's
accomplishments, rewriting her history and denying her right to exist
as a Jewish state. Efraim Karsh writes of the "new historians ... who
systematically rewrote the history of Zionism, warping the saga for
Israel's survival." They didn't just reevaluate the facts; in many
cases, they invented them or distorted their meaning by omitting key
information. Unfortunately, though their tactics have been exposed,
the new historians are not yet history.
BLOOD LIBEL –– PART I
We look forward to Passover but it brings with it some baggage we'd
like to think was left behind in the Dark Ages –– the
Blood Libel, the accusation that the Jews killed Christian children
for blood for their matzohs. The Jews. Of all people! A people whose
religion forbids ingesting blood! As Patricia Berlyn writes, the Libel
hasn't died; it lives on in Muslim mythology –– the Arabs
have taken it up and, as authentic modern-day medievalists, they need
no evidence to propagate the lie as literal truth. Abetted by a
friendly media, they have concocted other libels centered around the
conviction that Jews target children for killing. It seems that the
more the Jews attempt to minimize loss of Arab lives, the more
grotesque the lies the Arabs invent.
A PASSOVER STORY FOR ISRAEL TODAY
Using as parable a tale about a Pesach guest too impatient to wait
past the symbolic seder food for the later feast, Steven Plaut makes
an important point: Israel had just about defeated the first Arab
intifada and there was little sympathy for PLO barbarism, when, in the
early 1990s, the Israeli leadership was foolish enough to step onto
the slippery slope of the Oslo "Peace" Accords. This commitment has
not led to peace or even to an increase of tranquillity. "The
Oslo era was accompanied by a massive assault upon Israel's pride,
morale and confidence by its own leaders and intellectual elites." Is
it too late to bring back "an understanding of Jewish heritage" and
the pre-Oslo achievements?
BUSH-RICE BIRTHDAY PRESENT TO THE JEWISH NATION
The reasons given for Bush's sudden rush to establish a Palestinian
state are (1) to establish a legacy for Bush and (2) to sacrifice
Israel for Arab cooperation in extricating the U.S.A. from Iraq.
Neither makes sense –– in that it is unlikely the
Palestinian Arabs will maintain a facade of civility long enough for
either to happen. Realistically, you can't make a viable and peacable
state from a bunch of hate-filled savages eager to kill and loot,
savages led by a bunch of thugs who make a profit from promising peace
while collecting the weaponry for another try at eliminating Israel.
Emanuel Winston speculates on how the Bush administration proposes to
start dismantling Israel.
YOUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AT WORK ... FOR PALESTINIANS
The Arab population in Gaza, Judea and Samaria is reportedly going
hungry, with only a trickle of electricity and no clean water. Yet,
when it comes to getting foreign funding, the PLO –– and
its more recent incarnation as the P.A. and Hamas –– has
been outstandingly successful. It has received billions of dollars
from the European Union, the United Nations, Arab and non-Arab
countries, non-governmental organizations, church groups and private
"charities." And –– as Anne Lieberman shows us
–– the United States government.
MURDEROUS MOTHERS: THE HIDDEN FEMALE FACE OF HONOR KILLING
This is the story about an honor killing. It isn't really novel that
it happened in America. It isn't even unique that it happened in the
U.S.A. and the mother helped slaughter her own daughters. But it is an
absorbing story that Phyllis Chesler tells us. As she concludes, the
victims "... were American citizens. America was their culture. Their
desire to live as Americans, and not as Arab Muslims in Egypt is
precisely what doomed them."
"SHARIA CREEP" AROUND THE WORLD
Kathy Shaidle writes about some small nibbles Sharia-activists are
taking out of our democratic structures. They're small, they push the
envelop, they encourage our universities and workplaces to be
"sensitive" to what are claimed to be Islamic requirements –– even if
every one else is discomforted. More to the point, they soften us up
–– each concession we make makes us more compliant, more likely to
agree with the next
SHILLING FOR SHARIA AT HARVARD
Noah Feldman is a respected member of the Harvard Law School Faculty
and an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Who
better to flog Muslim Sharia law, claiming it represents the highest
state of "the rule of law"? Hillel Stavis describes Feldman's
conclusion this way: "In Feldman's revisionist account, the evolution
of Islamic law echoes the Western experience and is compatible with
it. To Feldman, Sharia evolves from 'higher law' to 'the rule of law'
in a neat conflation of the secular with the holy that places the
Islamic code alongside the West's rigorously evolved concept of
secular justice." Stavis concludes, "And it can only be a matter of
time before the professor, having asserted that Sharia law is
desirable, will assure us that its introduction in the United States
is inevitable."
A TALE OF TWO ARCHBISHOPS
In Great Britain, the Sharia banking system is courted by the banking
community and "sensitivity" to Muslim needs is a top priority in the
educational system. Too often, Christian national and religious
symbols are banned while Muslim "requests" are respected. Giving legal
status to sharia courts means allowing Muslim women to be treated as
chattel –– not exactly a feature of democracy. Daniel Mandel contrasts
the statements of the past and current archbishops of Canterbury to
illustrate how high the tide of sharia compliance has reached. "[The
previous Archbishop] Carey sees democracy as tender and in need of
consolidation; [the current Archbishop] Williams sees it as something
rigid and in need of modification." As Mandel points out, "the
prevalent reaction, as the events of recent years show, has been to
opt for the Williams model of modifying democracy, rather than the
Carey model of consolidating democracy, to flee the Islamist challenge
rather than confront it."
ISRAEL'S ELECTORAL COMPLEX
The Israeli government has shown itself to be both corrupt and inept
–– a combination unlikely to win respect from the voters. In this
important article, Amotz Asa-El argues that the problem is more
complex and unlikely to be solved by a change in leadership. He
discusses the structure of the Israeli electoral system itself. It is
based rigidly on proportional representation of the parties,
with no local representation. It has encouraged talented people to
avoid politics, leaving the field to the self-serving, to the
mediocre, to people who are the least competent to deal intelligently
with Israel's most important matters. He argues convincingly for the
need for electoral reform.
HOW I DEFEATED ISRAEL'S DUAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Steven Plaut has the distinction of being slapped with a frivolous
libel lawsuit in an Israeli court, having the presiding Arab judge
rule against him –– she based her opinion on her own
prejudices –– and finally winning out, thus striking a
blow for democratic free speech. A harrowing experience but a blow for
fairness that will benefit all who are tried by a judiciary system
that creates rules on the fly. This is his fascinating account.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE SUICIDAL KIND: CRIMES AGAINST JEWISH HUMANITY
Boris Celser writes about the Israeli media and academics who protect
Israel's wrong-way politicians. As a case in point, he writes of the
Israeli newspapers that protect Israel's recycled politicians, thus
helping to perpetuate government by the incompetent and to encourage
Israel's policy of appeasement. He points out that "the game ends when
one side runs out of land" –– a real possibility given official
Israel's suicidal policy of giving up real land for paper peace. The
tone of the article is cynical but the words are sober and wise. As
Celser write, "can anyone deny that since Oslo the politics of
yesterday and today have not worked, are getting worse by the day, and
are not going to work tomorrow?" And in acceding to dememberment,
Israel harms not only herself but all of Jewish humanity.
LIES BEGGING TO BE EXPOSED
Evelyn Gordon identifies one element in Israel's poor public relations
–– "Israel's persistent failure to refute Palestinian lies." As
example, a recent poll was misinterpreted as proof that the
Palestinian arabs shows increased support for violence because of the
Israeli offensive in Gaza. "Far from being unprecedented, however,
that figure is almost identical to what it was 18 months ago..." But
the Arab lies are not refuted and so they stand, unchallenged. As
Gordon points out, "It would be nice if journalists, world leaders and
international human rights organizations consistently noticed such
lies on their own, but the reality is that they rarely have the time,
energy or interest to do the necessary research. For Israel, however,
exposing Palestinian lies is a vital interest." But, thanks to her
defeatist Government, Israel doesn't.
EX-GUSH KATIF RESIDENTS MARK 1,000 DAYS OF WANDERING
With Iran, Hamas, Fatah and Hezbollah making serious preparations for
another attack on Israel and with the American administration
preparing to plant an Arab terror state in Biblical Israel, the Olmert
government is focusing on what it does best –– trying to kick the
religious Jews of Sameria and Judea out of their homes. This would be
farce if it weren't tragic. The same administration that hasn't been
able in 1000 days to resettle some 10,000 Israeli citizens is working
to uproot another 250,000 to 500,000 Israeli Jews. The Jewish refugees
from Gaza in this article by Hillel Fendel warn the potential
refugees: don't let the Government do to you what they did to us.
THE PALESTINIAN REFUGEE ISSUE: RHETORIC VS. REALITY
Curious, isn't it, that according to received wisdom, the attack of
the Arab States in 1967 resulted in hundreds of thousands of Arab
refugees and not a single Jewish refugee. In reality, as Sidney
Zabludoff writes, there were many more Jewish refugees –– they fled
for their lives from the Arab countries, many of them to Israel.
Despite the Arab countries crying crocodile tears for their
Palestinian brethren, the Arab refugees are still with us. And there
really are no Jewish refugees –– they have become full-fledged
citizens of Israel and the western countries to which they fled.
THE CAROB TREE IS WAITING FOR US
We know that the Jews who were expelled from their homes and farms and
orchards in Gush Katif, Gaza in August 2005 by their own government
are still in refugee status. We know they live in paper trailers and
temporary shacks. We know that they are demoralized and many are
unemployed. We know they don't have the resources to recreate the
innovative agricultural techniques that made their vegetables and
flowers world-renowned. We know that the government has probably
spent more money pretending that all is A-Ok than in resettling these
people. Nadav Shragai writes of their emotional response
–– of their longing for their old homes and the sense of
community they once had.
OF CONCERTS AND CRIMINALS
Rachel Saperstein writes of the irony that the Gush Katif orchestra
gave a concert at towns that were indifferent when the Gush Katifers
were kicked out of Gaza. Now that these towns are being constantly
struck by missiles from Gaza, they sing another tune. And she writes
of a wonderful man, a rabbi who founded AMISHAV (My People Return) to
help returnees to Judaism. His grandchild was murdered in the Yeshivat
Merkaz Harav massacre "because he was a Jew.".
GLOOM, DOOM –– AND YET...
Moshe Saperstein writes a frighteningly honest account of his
bitterness at all the phonies who contributed to the people of Gush
Katif becoming dispirited refugees in their own country. And he's none
too pleased with the gullibility of the general public, which is so
easily duped by the anti-Jewish Israeli government.. And yet, there
are the everyday chores to do, there's family, there're the cats to
worry about, and there's the dream of returning to his personal
paradise –– Gush Katif –– to make it as it was before the
Arabs uglified it.
TO BE OR NOT TO BE –– THIS YEARS PASSOVER QUESTION?!
Anita Tucker was a successful farmer in Gush Katif, Gaza. She was one
of the many Jews that made that desert bloom. Now she is a refugee,
made homeless by her own government. It is the Passover. And she asks:
why? why? why did this happen? It is the
Passover. She vows, with the help of caring Jews, to rebuild, and to
preserve "the community and the values we have held onto for dear life
for the sake of the People of Israel, the Land of Israel, the Torah ––
for us." What a remarkable woman!
MERCAZ HARAV AND THE G-WORD
This is a brilliant essay –– it is as if we are allowed to
examine the essayist's thoughts as he thinks them while he engages in
mental conversation with people who objected to SPME (Scholars for
Peace in the Middle East) characterizing the murder of the young
students at the Mercaz Harav as genocidal. Richard Landes cogitates on
the massacre and makes us understand why others who object to this
characterization as too strong have missed the mark ––
they don't yet understand that the attack wasn't a random act of
violence but was part of the concerted genocidal assault by Jihadist
Islam on Judaism.
MAYBE IT'S TIME TO FESS UP
Jeff Dunetz takes hold of a lively canard –– Jews
own/run/control the WORLD –– and, metaphorically speaking,
he beats it to a well-deserved death. Admittedly, he has his work cut
out for him, given that tenured academics and even an ex-president
have pickled, smoked, salted and marinated this duck, preserving it in
fancy lies. Next time some stupido sounds off that the Israel Lobby
sent us to make war against Iraq or that the anti-Semitic New York
Times is Israel-friendly because its founders were Joowish,
remember this essay.
THE HEARTBREAKING REALITIES OF TODAY'S ISRAEL
Israel no longer has the luxury of taking the moral high ground yet
maintaining her edge against the Arab hordes. Unfortunately, she
seems stymied by her own moral sense, a failing the Islamic
countries do not have. David Pryce-Jones quotes a military
strategist who argues Israel needs to exterminate the terrorists in
Gaza before they become even more capable. But her unwillingness to
harm the Arab civilians who shield the terrorists prevents her from
doing what is necessary. Iran, run by deeply religious Muslim
mullahs, on the other hand, is perfectly willing to sacrifice
millions of Muslims in destroying Israel. Willing or not, "[i]n the
new Cold War shaping up between Islamism and the democratic West,
Israel holds the front line." To hold that line, she needs to stop
denying the reality the Muslims have created.
ISRAEL'S FEAR OF WORLD OPINION
Edward Glick points out bluntly that Israel's virtues work against
her. Her pride in her noble restraint awake no respect in "world
opinion" and especially not in her enemies –– they have a different
set of values. As Glick puts it, " Those who wish and work for
Israel's destruction do not shrink from killing innocent civilians. So
they are unimpressed by Israel's failed policy of limiting and
apologizing for such casualties, and then begging for forgiveness from
a world that masks its politically incorect anti-Semitism with
politically correct anti-Zionism." He suggests a more realistic
approach to winning the war the Arabs have been waging for a very long
time.
REFLECTIONS ON HAMAS JIHADI DEPRAVITY –– THE BRUTAL TRUTH
Tom Carew reflects on depravity –– as manifested, for
example, in the massacre of the eight young Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva
students –– and provides us with a useful list of the
features that characterize depravity. Unlike TV shows of
depraved criminals, it isn't just the individual Arab murderer who is
depraved but his entire culture, which finds joy in depriving others
of life. An obscene death lust has permeated all of Palestinian Arab
culture. "All those who celebrate such Depraved Crime are also morally
corrupting and gravely abusing their own children, and as such not fit
to have or retain or influence or teach any children." As front-line
people "in the struggle for humanity," Israel has an obligation to
stop the depraved behavior of their depraved neighbors ––
for all our sakes.
SHAYKH YUSUF AL-QARADAWI: PORTRAIT OF A LEADING ISLAMIST CLERIC
In his article on the Muslim Brotherhood's infiltration of the West
(January-February 2008 Issue), Fjordman described Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
spiritual leader of the Brotherhood, as one who "exploits democracy as
a Trojan horse." In this article Ana Belén Soage rounds out the
picture of Qaradawi as a prolific writer who can find Koranic
justification for whatever innovative position he wants to take. He is
a persuasive ideolog respected by Islamic theologists; yet he is a man
of action –– he is credited for creating the riots over
the Danish cartoons of Muhammed (See Danish
Cartoons.) All he wants from the West is for it to convert to a
higher truth –– Islam –– and he has the
financial, theological and people resources to put his ideas into
action.
PATHWAYS TO JIHADI TERRORISM
Over the years, Dr. Babu Suseelan has explored various components of
the Jihardi Muslim value system and how Muslims conceptualize the
world. In this article he rejects the comforting but wrong notion that
jihadi terrorism is the result of "unjust social forces" –– that
terror acts are the "frustrated responses to political injustices".
Instead, he identifies the roots of Muslim terrorism: "religious,
psychological, educational, and historical factors", which evolve into
terrorism because of the faulty thinking Islam encourages. This
thinking is hard to correct because, as he points out, "Islam is a
closed dogma and Muslims are forbidden to test its validity or
utility..."
WHY A TERRORIST STRATEGY?
It's almost seven years after the Islamists declared war on us
–– the 911 unprovoked attack by Muslims on American
government and financial centers –– yet most of the
media are still too finicky to call people who commit acts of terror
terrorists. They describe terrorists as militants or freedom fights
and immediately find excuses for their vile behavior. The problem
with this tactic, Barry Rubin points out, is that "[while] honest
grievances can be resolved by mutual concessions... [w]ith
determined, ideologically clear, mass-based revolutionary movements
you can only defeated them or surrender." Maybe we should start
calling a terrorist a terrorist.
HOW ISRAEL GOT TRASHED
Isi Leibler notes that the change from passionately repudiating Arab
falsehoods to diffidence and appeasement came with the Oslo Accords.
Diplomats were directed to plead the Arab case, not their own. Many of
Israel's newspapers followed suit. One reader pointed out that
"[c]oncepts like eternal refugees, blatant revisionism and even the
concept of 'Palestine' are symptoms of the denial of reality." Yet
these became constant staples in the diet Israeli newspapers such as
Haaretz have fed their readers. "Haaretz effectively
provided the mainstream Western media with a kosher certification to
incorporate the most extreme anti-Israeli content. 'If Israeli papers
can publish this, why should we be less inhibited?' became the
standard response of numerous editors when accused of anti-Israeli
bias and double standards."
SHELVE THE SHELF AGREEMENT
The latest magic trick for making peace between Jews and
IMAGINED PARTNERS
"Given the title of this article, it is not surprising that Jonathan
Spyer argues that "the emergent reality of regional cold war
necessitates sober strategic thinking. One of the results of this
–– in reality if not immediately on paper ––
is likely to be the reversal of the 16-year-old Israeli wrong turn of
seeking peace with an opponent that neither sought nor was able to
accept coexistence with the Jewish state." A very sensible assessment.
FORGING A MODERN VIABLE ECONOMIC UNION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
This is an unusual offering –– Jaff Sassanian is the
nom de plume of a spokesman for the Sassanians who live in
Iran. His essay is a reminder that it isn't just Jews that dislike the
notion of living as second-class citizens under Islam. The Sassanians
are an ancient people who were conquered by the Arabs. Like the Jews
they have held onto their culture and traditions. Read what Jaff
Sassanian has to say. If he's right, perhaps the debate about going
into Iran or not isn't the issue. Perhaps we should be giving more
support to Iranian dissidents. If –– of course
–– if there's enough time and the Iranian leaders haven't
jumped ahead in developing their nuclear power while our
"intelligence" services lulled us into complacency.
THE THREE REVOLUTIONS
Henry Kissinger points out that there are several different
revolutionary forces at work today globally. [The] "three simultaneous
revolutions occurring around the globe [are]: (a) the transformation
of the traditional state system of Europe; (b) the radical Islamist
challenge to historic notions of sovereignty; and (c) the drift of the
center of gravity of international affairs from the Atlantic to the
Pacific and Indian Oceans." Kissinger writes that "Today it is
radical Islam that threatens the already brittle state structure via a
fundamentalist interpretation of the Koran as the basis of a universal
political organization. Jihadist Islam rejects national sovereignty
based on secular state models; it seeks to extend its reach to
wherever significant populations profess the Muslim faith." The lesson
here is that the Islamist reach is global. We won't reduce its
virulence by believing that sacrificing Israel's integrity by planting
a Palestinian Arab state in Biblical Israel addresses the problem of
resurgent Islam in any meaningful way.
THE GOLAN HEIGHTS PEACE PLAN
Moshe Feiglin takes what happened in the Golan in the Yom Kippur War
as a model for how to achieve peace in the Territories –– Gaza,
Samaria and Judea. There are five essential elements: 1. Encourage
Arab emigration; 2. Conquest; 3. Israeli sovereignty; 4. Settlement;
and 5. No peace accords! He writes, "Israel declared sovereignty over
the entire Golan, settled it and most important of all –– never signed
a peace treaty with Syria. This is how we have prevented the war under
the guise of peace that we suffer on our border with Egypt from
repeating itself on our border with Syria." It's hard to argue with
success, particularly when every concession for negotiated "peace"
with the Arabs has led to a weakened Israel and a more hostile Arab
response.
"A LAND WITHOUT A PEOPLE FOR A PEOPLE WITHOUT A LAND"
In 1890 there were some 500,000 people (some 50 ethnic groups,
including Jews, Christians, Arabs and other Muslims) in the desolated
Ottoman territory that would become the portion of mandated Palestine
west of the Jordan river and that included today's Gaza, the Golan,
Israel, Samaria and Judea. A staple in the Arab list of grievances is
that the early Zionist immigrants were shocked to find that the land
wasn't empty –– implying there was a thriving Palestinian
population, a "Palestinian people", that Israel subjugated. Diana Muir
concludes that certainly it was known there were some people on the
land. A land without people means the territory "was without a
national character". The notion of a Palestinian national identity
"only developed in reaction to Zionist immigration." She tracks the
origin of the phrase and its use as anti-Zionist propaganda.
ON THE RIGHTS OF 'SETTLERS'
When Shmuel Katz writes history, he writes from his own knowledge and
experience –– he's been there, done that. Here he cuts through the
claims by the Arabs and their sympathizers that the major obstacles to
peace are the Jewish settlements in the Territories. Very simply and
very accurately, Katz explains that these settlements are indeed
legitimate: "the Mandate remained the defining document for governing
Palestine." As he puts it, "From the point of view of international
law these settlers are as legal as any resident of Manhattan or of
Shreveport, Louisiana."
THE PALESTINIANS: A PEOPLEHOOD BASED ON A BIG LIE
This is a very excellent review of the facts about the "Palestinian
People" and their short but violent history. Eli E. Hertz notes that
"[m]ost so-called Palestinians are relative newcomers to the Land of
Israel." How true. If they were indigenous, their huge jump in
population in a relatively short time under poor environmental
conditions would be the biggest demographic miracle in history. So why
the recent creation of an indigenous "Palestinian people" when Israel
conquered the Territories after it was invaded by the neighboring Arab
countries? As Hertz writes, "Suddenly a separate Palestinian
peoplehood appeared and claimed it deserved nationhood ––
and 21 other Arab states went along with it."
COLUMBIA, AHMADINEJAD, AND NAZI GERMANY: ROUND TWO
Some Columbia University faculty are planning to accept Iranian
president Ahmadinejad's invitation to visit his country. Rafael Medoff
reminds us of a historical parallel –– in the 1930's, "Columbia was
among the U.S. universities that sought to forge warm relations with
Nazi-controlled German universities." In what Medoff calls
"Totalitarian Tourism', the Nazis made elaborate preparations for
foreign visitors from universities, the press and the Red Cross,
providing them with selected, camouflaged and prettified views of what
was actually happening in Germany. These efforts paid off –– the
visitors went home to broadcast how pleased they were with what they
saw. After visiting some of Iran's sanitized universities, will the
present-day Columbians come back with similar enthusiasm?
READERS' BLOG-EDS This is where our readers get a chance to write opinions and editorials and share articles they find informative. The Blog-Eds page for the month is updated every few days. A Blog-Ed page has a quick list of the articles from which you can access any of the articles immediately. To go to the list, click the "Blog-Eds List" box in the Blue Strip on the top of the Blog-Ed page. March 2008 BLOG-EDS
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January-February, 2008
MEMO FROM GULFISTAN
Martin Kramer provides us with a realistic assessment of where the
Peace Process stands. Bottom Line: it's out of steam. Posturing maybe,
but no real pressure. And even among themselves, the Arabs are not
doing kissy-kiss and make-up. Saudi Arabia may from time to time
support both Sunni and Shiites, but there's no united front against
Iran. What is puzzling then: what –– or who –– is fueling Olmert's
monomania to destroy the Jewish communities of Samaria and Judea?
WINOGKATIF
David Wilder puts the current appeasement of the Arabs in historic
context, pointing out that Israel's first crumbling was after the 1967
Six Day War, when in their hunger for peace with their Arab neighbors,
Israel acted as if it were the defeated side and destroyed Jewish
settlements that had been started in the Sinai. The attitude that
Israel must make all the concessions for peace plus a Marxist
educational system that teaches the lie that Israel really doesn't
belong to the Jews plus an IDF that is taught it isn't nice to win
have all contributed to the parlous state in which Israel now finds
itself. It is an excellent summary not only of what is going on in
Israel but it points out: "the aim of Islam is not only the end of
Israel; rather it is the Islamization of the entire western world and
culture, including a takeover of Europe and North America."
ON THE PRESENT DANGER FACING ISRAEL AND ALL JEWS
Rachel Neuwirth does a masterful job summerizing the dangers Jews face
around the world. Terorism, particularly in Israel, has not abated
since the 1993 Oslo Accords; instead it has increased and the
terrorists are stronger than ever. Terrorism against Jews in the
diaspora is still minimal –– which means this is the time
to stop it –– but the FBI refuses to connect the dots. The
diplomats find it more rewarding to pressure Israel, which has been
willing to make concessions, that to deal with the Arabs, who won't
budge from their position. The propaganda attacks against the Jews
continue. And what really drains our strength is that "[t]housands of
Jewish journalists, academics, filmmakers, artists and 'intellectuals'
in the United States, Canada, Europe, and within Israel itself have
actively participated in the campaign of vilification and lies against
Israel. Neuwirth's essay is not happiness-making. But it is impossible
to improve a situation until you understand it.
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND GAZA: THE ASSAULT ON ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO SELF-DEFENSE
One of the Dr. Seuss books chronicles the ever more disasterous
results of trying to correct what started as a single stupid mistake.
As analog, we have Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in the mistaken
belief that Israel could thus separate itself from the nasties who
live in the Territories. The Government has been generally indifferent
to its own displaced Gazan Jews, a demoralized group of once proud and
productive citizens. But their plight has received little attention.
On the other hand Israel is held responsible for the welfare of the
Gazan Arabs, and there is much media indignation if she cuts back on
services. The new owners of Gaza are too busy to worry about their own
infrastructure –– they are occupied making bombs and
distributing them for free to as many Israeli cities as they can
reach. They've also mucked up the water supply and –– now
that they've broken the barrier with Egypt –– are bringing
diseased animals in from Egypt. As Israel tries to deal with the
worsening situation in Gaza, the pro-Arab press has taken up a new
version of an old mantra: it's all Israel's fault. Abraham Bell
explains the legality of what Israel is doing. I wonder if it will
have any impact on those who want Israel dead.
PALESTINIAN CONDITIONAL NON-VIOLENCE –– DENYING THE FUNDAMENTAL BASIS OF THE GAME
America trains Arab terrorists to fight; Israel gives them guns and
Abbas smiles –– all of them, it is claimed, are determined
to defeat Hamas and establish a peaceful Palestinian state inside
Israel. The reality: Abbas turns over the weaponry to Hamas, sometimes
willingly; Israel releases prisoners who return to killing Jews; and
Abbas announces that peace with Israel is not really what he is after.
Extermination is a closer fit to his plans. Dr. Aaron Lerner
succinctly summarizes Abbas' actual plans, not the misty nonsense
American and Israeli politicians spout. The article includes some
direct quotes from Abbas' latest interview from the PMW website. The
reality is: (1) we help Abbas and he gets strong, then joins Hamas to
fight Israel openly; or (2) we don't help Abbas and in high dudgeon he
joins Hamas to fight Israel openly. Why is Israel waiting while its
enemies gather strength?
FATAH AS MODERATE. A HARD LOOK POST-ANNAPOLIS
Arlene Kushner asks whether Mahmoud Abbas and his party are moderate
and whether they are legitimate peace negotiation partners. This
divides into several subquestions, starting with: (1) are they able
to control Samaria and Judea? The answer is NO. Is Abbas corrupt? The
answer is YES. Is he a strong leader. The answer is NO. (2) Does
Abbas intend to be a Peace Partner? All the signs say NO. This is a
fact-filled logically-presented discussion on whether the Palestinian
state Olmert is so intent on creating has any chance of being a
viable structure and a peaceful neighbor.
THE WILL TO SURVIVE; SURVIVING WITH HOPE
The latest from the journal of that remarkable couple, the
Sapersteins, previously part of the proud, productive and patriotic
community of Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif, Gaza and now part of a
demoralized, underemployed community living in paper caravans, a
community struggling to survive the afflictions inflicted on them by
an uncaring government. This reads like a HOW-TO survive as
menchen.
GUSH KATIF REFUGEES CONFRONT RAIN, RATS AND A RIDICULOUS BUREAUCRACY
This is a compilation of recent items on the plight of the people of
Gush Katif, Gaza that were converted from a productive and thriving
community into a bunch of unemployed refugees. And this by their own
government, which had spent time training the army and police to oust
the people but had not bothered to plan how and where to relocate them
and provide them adequate housing, jobs and schools. As we've read
over the years from the Sapersteins (google "saperstein" Think-Israel,
top of home page), the temporary paper caravans that serve as their
new homes were badly set into position. The latest rains have helped
the rats; but they haven't pushed the do-nothing bureaucracy into
doing anything except maybe moving their jaws a bit more vigorously.
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