Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Chag sameach!

The second half of Passover is beginning. I will not be posting until Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Enjoy the end of the holiday!

Here's a video of New York City police employees eating matzoh for the first time.

It was cruel to give it to them without butter or jelly.

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04/28 Links Pt2: Sanders Advisor: Netanyahu Complicit In Rabin Assassination; Glick: Defeating Hamas in America

From Ian:

Netanyahu Complicit In Assassination Of Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin, Claims Ex-U.S. Official Who Advised Sanders

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu created the circumstances that led to the assassination of former Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin, who was murdered in 1995, claimed former U.S. official Lawrence Wilkerson, who has reportedly advised Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign.
Wilkerson made the statement during an interview earlier this month with The Real News Network, Breitbart Jerusalem has discovered.
He stated:

The current ultra-rightwing leadership in Israel under Bibi Netanyahu – to give a historical context – actually probably contributed to the tension and the incredible shift in political momentum in Israel that lead to the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.
It’s not going too far to say that Netanyahu and his group created the circumstances that produced the assassin. This ended for all practical purposes, and other purposes too, the peace effort. The effort to build a two state, two viable stage, economically, financially, culturally, informationally, and so forth, in the region – Israel and Palestine. It ended it. There is no more peace process.
According to Wilkerson’s logic, by opposing Israeli negotiations with arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat, Netanyahu was complicit in the actions of Rabin’s assassin, Yigal Amir, a lone extremist who opposed the so-called peace process.
In February, Politico reported that Sanders is being advised by Wilkerson, a retired U.S. Army colonel who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell and later became a staunch opponent of the war in Iraq.

Simone Zimmerman: Pro-Israel enthusiast turned anti-Israel radical

Simone Zimmerman, Bernie Sander’s national Jewish outreach coordinator, created quite a stir after her year-old profane rant against PM Netanyahu recently became public. This led to her suspension from the campaign two days later.
Her family and friends are baffled how Zimmerman, who grew up in a Zionist home, attended a Jewish day school (about 10 percent of her class serve in the IDF), spent summers in Israel with her youth movement, and seemed destined to become a stalwart of the pro-Israel community, became so virulently anti-Israel.
Zimmerman arrived at UC Berkeley in fall 2009 as a pro-Israel enthusiast, active with AIPAC, who felt her “duty going out into the world is to defend Israel.” However, during her first year Zimmerman changed dramatically.
She became a J Street campus leader, and eventually national president of J Street U.
After graduating, she helped found, and became a leader of, IfNotNow, a J Street offshoot that focuses on disrupting Jewish organizations and aiming to “transform the Jewish community.”

Can leftists be convinced to see the truth about Israel?

There is a new leader of the anti-Israel movement in the US, and his name is Bernie Sanders. It may be unintentional, but he is leading an epic anti-Israel storm that threatens to drown the Jewish State should this leftist Jew become president of the US or continue attracting followers even if not chosen as the Democratic candidate for president.
The New star of the anti-Israel movement has joined forces with BDS and some and Jew-hater activists, who have been flooding American and Canadian university campuses with imported Arab propaganda. Many more left-leaning American Jews have abandoned Israel, accusing the Jewish State of exercising apartheid when it comes to the Palestinians in Israel, in the 'West Bank' and Gaza, using 'disproportionate' force when defending the Jewish state against Hamas during the latest Gazan war in 2014, and continuing to “occupy” and grab Arab land unjustifiably.
Left-leaning ideology is an ideology obsessed with rooting for the underdog, the poor, the deprived, the loser. or whoever they perceived as one of the above. As a rule, the flag bearers of this standpoint are quite aggressive—even to the point of turning violent—in their quest for saving the world from its villains. They represent David against Goliath, Don Quixote against the windmills, “Good” against “Evil”—or so they believe. These left-leaning individuals disregard the fact that their favorite underdog is a war criminal, a mass murderer, an inherent anti-Semite or just a low-life SOB, who has done a disappearing trick with the billions donated to the Palestinian Arabs. Consequently, they rush to offer protection and support to the “poor” Palestinians, accusing Israel of committing war crimes at the same time.

The people who want the American Anthropologist Association to boycott Israeli academic institutions have been calling on members who support BDS to send pictures of them holding signs showing why.

This one is particularly stupid:

So boycotting Israeli academia is "academic freedom for all?" Look how proud she is of publicly showing her inability to think coherently!

I still have not seen one word on how Palestinians are being barred from going to university, or from collaborating on research projects with other universities worldwide. And no one has even tried to explain how boycotting liberal Israeli universities will help stop the "occupation."

Anyway, the BDSers' hypocrisy doesn't end there. This is from a blog called "Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions" complaining that pro-Israel groups are lobbying against them:

As we have moved closer to this historic vote over the past year, outside groups have sought to intimidate, confuse, and distract the Association and its members.

This interference is unacceptable and should be rejected, especially by colleagues who claim to oppose the boycott on grounds of academic freedom. Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions – which is composed solely of AAA members and is entirely self-funded – calls on outside groups to cease all efforts to pressure members of the Association.

Outside pressure is unacceptable? Isn't that the entire point of the boycott call to begin with??

Ya gotta love pseudo-academics who cannot keep two consistent thoughts in their heads.

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Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

The relationship of Israel to the UN has always been difficult. Over the years, the organization has both reflected worldwide anti-Jewish prejudice and provided a focus for intervention against Israel’s interests.

UN General Assembly resolution 3379 which in 1975 declared Zionism “a form of racism and racial discrimination” was finally repealed sixteen years later thanks to the efforts of US Senator Daniel P. Moynahan, Assistant Secretary of State John Bolton and President George H. W. Bush, a president not generally considered particularly pro-Israel.

According to Dr. Yohanon Manor, the Israeli government didn’t take the resolution seriously for almost a decade, thinking that the “farfetched, aberrant, and shameful” declaration would fade from significance because of its “sheer inanity.” However, it was reiterated time and again in international fora and used to justify discrimination against Israel, Jews and Jewish organizations.

It should have been obvious at the time that this was something larger than just a maneuver by the Soviets to appease their Arab clients. It tapped deeply into the same dark forces which have lately gathered strength throughout the world. Manor quotes a member of the Israeli delegation, Judge Hadassah Ben Ito, who described the mood of its proponents after passage:

It was not only an excitement. The hatred was crawling on the floor. People embraced as if they had won the biggest victory of their lives…. We felt like pariahs. It is not only a sentimental reflection…. We should know that it was not just another resolution of the United Nations. Somebody like myself, who has never really felt personally attacked by, or maligned by an act of anti-Semitism, really felt it physically while sitting there.

There is a familiar feeling that comes over one while reading this. The expression of joyous Jew-hatred described by Ben Ito is well-known to anyone who has been at an anti-Israel demonstration, and observed the exaltation of the activists as they scream their slogans. Perhaps the UN delegates felt the same dopamine rush that SJP members do today when they disrupt an event featuring an Israeli speaker.

Although the resolution was finally rescinded, little changed at the UN, where Israel is the member state everyone loves to hate. Recently, the Security Council reacted with horrified alarm to the ‘menace’ of Israel’s intention to hold on to the Golan Heights, thus keeping it out of the hands of Da’esh or the Butcher of Damascus. In a normal world, one would expect thanks rather than condemnation.

Although the US traditionally protected Israel against the worst excesses of the UN, this appears to be changing, with the Obama Administration in its last year threatening to use the UN to force Israel to make concessions to the PA.

During the Cold War, American policymakers could choose to support Israel as a way to counterbalance the Soviet influence among the Arab states, or to placate the Arabs by opposing Israel. State Department Arabists always pushed for the latter policy, while most American Jews – and Christian Zionists like Harry Truman – preferred the former and made their preference felt.

Now the world looks very different, with the US and Russia apparently competing for the favor of Iran, the rising power in the Mideast.

The US State Department is as anti-Israel as ever. But it has been joined by an even more fiercely ideological White House, which, it seems to me, not only shares the desire of State to reverse the outcome of the 1967 war, but (although the President and his advisors will not say it publicly) would not cry if the Jewish state disappeared altogether.

There is little to hold back the anti-Israel forces in the US. A vestige of the Cold War imperative to oppose the expansion of Russian influence still exists, although it is far less pressing than in the days of the USSR. The US Congress is divided, and – as shown by the Iran deal – unable or unwilling to limit the President’s actions in the foreign sphere. Israel has become a partisan issue, and US Jews are divided as well.

The ‘Zionism is racism’ declaration, as a General Assembly resolution, was not binding and didn’t directly affect Israel. Despite this, it did a lot of damage as a justification for anti-Israel and anti-Jewish actions by other organizations. In Manor’s words, it “[gave] anti-Semitism international sanction.”

But the Security Council can pass binding resolutions, impose economic sanctions or even call for military action (as happened in the Korean War). It could, for example, put its imprimatur on a Syrian peace deal that includes stripping Israel of the strategic Golan Heights, and then sanction Israel if it did not withdraw, blaming Israel for sabotaging the peace. Obama would certainly want to take credit for such a deal and would not prevent it.

Next to Iran/Hezbollah, the biggest threat facing Israel is the reduction of strategic depth and empowerment of the ‘Palestinians’ by the diplomatic ‘peace process’ imposed by the US, Europe and the UN. This will soon begin with a French-introduced resolution which will declare settlements illegal and set parameters for talks between Israel and the PA/PLO. Administration spokespersons have refused to say whether the US would veto such a resolution, and it seems likely that the United States will at least demand serious concessions to the ‘peace process’ as a quid pro quo.

Israel’s special problem in international diplomacy is that in addition to the normal computations of national interest, there are irrational religious, ideological and racial/ethnic considerations that motivate states to act against us. The elation exhibited by the UN delegates after the passage of an anti-Zionist resolution is one manifestation of this. Another is the blatant double standard applied to Israel, especially by ‘enlightened’ Europeans, on such subjects as occupation (of territory that is ours according to international law), acquisition of territory by force (in a defensive war), proportionate response (more so than any other Western military), security measures (against terrorism) and countless other things.

As time goes by, Israel will less and less be able to depend on the weakening West. Our survival will be based on political agility and our ability to make alliances wherever possible, especially with states like Russia and China, which hold veto power in the Security Council, but also temporary accommodations with declared enemies like Saudi Arabia or Erdoğan’s Turkey.

The best strategy to deal with irrational prejudice is to act from strength, and to demand respect if we can’t have friendship. Today Israel has considerable economic, technological and military clout, which it should not hesitate to use in its foreign relations.

Being the world’s only Jewish state brings with it unique problems and stresses, but independence, Jewish self-determination and, above all, the realization of the dream for which our ancestors prayed daily for thousands of years, more than justifies the cost.

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04/28 Links Pt1: Labour suspends Ken Livingstone for saying Hitler backed Zionism; Austria hosts Palestinian hijacker terrorist

From Ian:

In spiraling anti-Semitism row, Labour suspends Livingstone for saying Hitler backed Zionism

Britain’s opposition Labour Party on Thursday suspended a veteran and senior member, Ken Livingstone, after he claimed that Adolf Hitler was initially a supporter of Zionism “before he went mad and ended up killing 6 million Jews,” and charged that for decades in the UK there has been a “well-orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticizes Israel policy as anti-Semitic.”
The comments by Livingstone, a veteran former London mayor who sits on Labour’s national executive and heads the opposition party’s international policy commission, prompted outraged calls, including by many of his colleagues, for his removal from the party, and intensified a crisis in Labour over anti-Semitism within its ranks.
“Ken Livingstone has been suspended by the Labour Party, pending an investigation, for bringing the Party into disrepute,” Labour announced.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said Livingstone should be kicked out of Labour altogether. Board President Jonathan Arkush said: “Ken Livingston’s comments were abhorrent and beyond disgraceful. His latest comments combine Holocaust revisionism with anti-Semitism denial, when the evidence is there for all to see. He lacks any sense of decency. He must now be expelled from the Labour Party.”

Ken Livingstone's car crash Daily Politics interview

Labour’s Livingstone says Hitler was initially a Zionist; colleague calls him a ‘Nazi apologist’

The comments by Livingstone, a veteran far-left politician who sits on Labour’s national executive and heads the opposition party’s international policy commission, prompted outraged calls, including by many of his colleagues, for his removal from the party, and intensified a crisis in Labour over anti-Semitism within its ranks.
Sadiq Khan, Labour’s candidate in the current campaign for the London mayoralty, called Livingstone’s remarks “appalling and inexcusable.”
Labour colleague John Mann MP confronted Livingstone in an extraordinary face-off caught on video to call him “a Nazi apologist,” a “f__king disgrace,” and a “disgusting racist” who was rewriting history. Mann, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism, told Livingstone he “should read ‘Mein Kampf'” and would learn that Hitler was opposed to a Jewish state, since he thought that it would create a Jewish power base. “I think you’ve lost it, Mr Livingstone,” stormed Mann. “What are you on at the moment?”
The controversy erupted a day after Labour’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, a bitter critic of Israel who has referred to Hamas and Hezbollah representatives as “friends,” reluctantly suspended an MP, Naz Shah, who had called for the dismantling of Israel and compared Israelis to Hitler.

PLO says Israel faked yesterday's terror attack

After yesterday's terror attack, the NAD-PLO tweeted:

Translation: "Do you believe that a mother of two who is five months pregnant would go with her brother to implement a terror attack? Erekat condemning Maryam and Ibrahim's execution."

Ma'an quotes "witnesses" saying that the pair had no knife and that the Israeli forces planted the two kitchen knives and switchblade afterwards. They further claim that the two were innocently walking in the car lanes at the checkpoint.

Haaretz reported the incident this way:

Before being shot, the two were ordered to stop several times but continued to approach officers and guards stationed at a drive-through checkpoint not intended for pedestrians.
According to the police, as the two approached, the woman's hand was buried inside her bag and his hand was behind his back. The two eventually heeded the police's call, stopping a short distance from the officers and turning away, but the woman then spun back around and pulled out the knife, throwing it directly at one of the officers. Police and security guards then shot the two.
The police found another knife identical to the one she was carrying, while a switchblade was found on the her brother's body.

It looks like the Palestinian consensus is to treat these terrorists as victims, not heroes.

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"When Arabs were freedom fighters for Israel" (Haaretz)

This is not yet behind the Haaretz paywall and it is very interesting. By Salman Mashala:

Tawfik Toubi

It may be hard to believe nowadays, but there was a time when leftist Arab leaders in this country could rightly be called “Israeli freedom fighters.” In those days, the Arab left fought for Israeli independence and was not averse to a “Jewish state.” Accounts from that time offer much food for thought.

In August 1948, before the reunification of Maki (the Israeli Communist Party), Arab communists held a meeting in Haifa. Emile Habibi, a founder of the National Liberation League in Palestine and later a Maki MK, delivered a speech there. Kol Ha’am, the Maki journal, quoted his remarks: “The league will fight so that the Arab masses in Israel will become a democratic element that, together with the Jewish democratic forces, will fight for complete fulfillment of the United Nations resolution. Peace and independence of the Jewish and Arab state depends upon Jewish-Arab understanding.” The term “Palestinian” was not commonly used back then.

The festive unification gathering took place in October 1948 at the May Cinema in Haifa. The Davar newspaper quoted Habibi, who called for “ousting the Iraqi occupation army from Eretz Israel” and declared that the party would fight for the establishment of the Arab state “to safeguard the independence of the State of Israel.”

At the time, “Israeli independence” was the chief focus of the left’s leaders, Jews and Arabs alike. In his speech, Meir Vilner, a signatory to Israel’s Declaration of Independence, stressed his comrades’ contributions: “The great majority of our comrades are fighting in the ranks of the Israel Defense Forces. Many of our finest comrades were killed and wounded in battle as they set an example of brave and honest freedom fighters.”

He also cited the party’s contribution in recruiting international aid “for the State of Israel’s War of Independence,” noting that “just as the Arab masses wish to see the State of Israeli triumph over the invaders, the Jewish masses wish to see thwarted the imperialist plot to add on the Arab portion of Eretz Israel across the Jordan River.”

The party members’ contribution to Israel’s independence is revealed in a parliamentary question from MK Vilner in 1949 addressed to Prime Minister and Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion following the issuing of restraining orders and detention orders by the military governor against two party members – Ramzi Khuri, the Maki secretary in the Western Galilee, and Nadim Musa. The Al Hamishmar daily reported that Vilner made sure to say in his parliamentary question that these two party members “stood at the head of the Western Galilee underground against the Kawkaji gangs.”

During a January 1950 Knesset debate over the Defense Service Law, Maki members made a big impression with their speeches, according to Ma’ariv: “Tawfik Toubi stood out for his harsh words this time,” said the newspaper. Toubi had railed against the return to the country of Nimr Hawari, who headed an organization that worked against Israel. Toubi reminded the other Knesset members about Hawari’s past, about the speech he gave in Gaza in which he addressed the mufti, saying: “Under your flag, Mufti, we shall enter Tel Aviv and toss the Jews into the sea.” MK Toubi called for Hawari to be tried as a “war criminal.”

Six months later, in June 1950, Toubi came under attack from Arabs in the “administered territories.” According to a report from the Government Press Office, this occurred after the military governor issued Toubi an entry permit for the Arab village of Tira. As Toubi toured the village, he “was attacked by a group of local residents who pelted him with tomatoes and splashed ink on him. A fist fight broke out between his supporters and opponents, and sticks and knives were brandished as well.” The report goes on to say that “Mr. Toubi found refuge in the home of the military governor, who assigned five police officers to guard him and escort him until he left the village.

Like they say – those were the days.

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Did you know that there is a shortage of Palestinian journalists who want to use their skills to help the "resistance"?

According to the UN, there is.

As part of a special information programme mandated by the United Nations General Assembly, the UN Department of Public Information - Strategic Communications Division - Palestine, Decolonization and Human Rights Section organizes an annual training programme for Palestinian media practitioners. The programme aims to provide hands-on skills training on different topics, as well as access to UN officials and diplomats. The participants are usually aged between 23 and 33.

Since it started in 1995, more than 150 journalists/trainees have benefited from the programme.

The United Nations will cover the costs of travel and accommodation.

They are now accepting applications for this year's batch.

If you look at previous year's trainees you see a theme emerging:

Mohammad Alazzaeh’s first photo was of a boy standing on the roof of his house, pointing a plastic gun at the Israeli soldiers attacking the refugee camp. ...He dedicates his time to teaching children in the camp photography skills so that they can learn a new form of resistance.

Osama [Awwad] ... admits that sometimes other journalists criticize him and accuse him of trying to divert attention from reality, but he believes what he is doing is a different form of resistance.

Sabreen Taha: "I believe that documenting and sharing the old architecture, culture and customs [of Jerusalem] is a form of resistance and respect.

If these so-called "journalists" consider their jobs to be "resistance," then they are not journalists - but anti-Israel activists.

The mandate of the UN Department of Public Information - Strategic Communications Division is to "formulate communications strategies on priority issues and carries out communications campaigns to support the substantive goals of the Organization." Which means that the UN's very mandate is to delegitimize Israel.

The UN is paying to train the next generation of anti-Israel activists under the guise of journalism. To put it another way, they are training UNjournalists.

And this is just one of the dozens programs in every nook and cranny of the UN dedicated against Israel.

This is just one of the many scoops that you simply cannot read in any other media. Please help support the creation of quality journalism like this at EoZ.

The myth of the moderate Palestinian took another blow yesterday when students voted for Hamas over Fatah in student elections at Bir Zeit University.

Such student elections are watched closely by Palestinian society as a bellwether for how the people at large are thinking, especially the intelligentsia.

Hamas won 25 seats, followed by Fatah which won 21 seats. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group came in third with five seats.

The Hamas party openly used its support for terror as a platform. At one point in the debates, the Hamas faction drew laughter and cheers by sending a bag of lemons to the Fatah side, making fun of a music video shown on PA TV last August that said that people should show their resistance to Israel by planting lemon trees.

Notably, the Fatah faction also attempted to buttress its terror credentials by calling itself the "Martyr Yasser Arafat bloc."

This is the second year in a row that Hamas has won the elections at Bir Zeit.

A few days ago student elections were also held at Polytechnic University in Hebron. In that case the Fatah and Hamas factions tied, while in the past Fatah had always won the elections there.

Hamas campaigns throughout the year by spending money on student materials and facilities in order to gain support, something Fatah does not do.

The most recent poll by PCPSR said that if an election were held today, Hamas Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh would defeat Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas by 11 percentage points.

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04/27 Links Pt2: UK Labour's disgusting anti-Semitism; Freedom House drinks anti-Israel Kool-Aid

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: What a week for integration Britain!

I say all this is a success for integration Britain, because every week brings up cases like this and nobody seems remotely willing to reflect on them. While people in senior jobs in public life turn out to be open and essentially unapologetic racists, we pretend that all that’s needed for our country’s future to be secure is to tweak the racism awareness lessons a bit more or make one more big push to ‘smash’ the fascists.
The mistake is far more basic. For decades, successive governments in Britain pretended that if you brought millions of people from other cultures into this country and gave them enough time plus all the provisions of the British state then before long they would be down the pub and failing to attend church like everyone else. For some time now it should have been clear that a great many people who come into our country have no such desire. They – and very often their children – have another set of ideas, a different attitude towards the purpose of life and an alternative view of what constitutes respected ‘authority’.
Of course as the ICM / Trevor Phillips poll the other week showed, a lot of Muslims in Britain like living in Britain. But the poll also showed they like it because they get the freedom to live the lives they want to live. Not British lives, but lives that are convenient for them. The question of how convenient or pleasant all this is for everyone else is naturally a question that is never asked.

Labour's disgusting anti-Semitism

The word is overused, but the details of Naz Shah’s Facebook postings are shocking. That anyone, in Britain in 2014, should gleefully spread material discussing the (presumably forcible) transportation of Jews from Israel is troubling enough. That the person concerned was only months later elected to the House of Commons is truly disturbing. Even today, her actions exposed to the public, the best Ms Shah can offer is that the repellent material concerned does not reflect her current view, a weasel-worded statement that all but confirms the she endorsed a quintessentially anti-Semitic position at the time.
Perhaps this story raises questions about Bradford, where Ms Shah won her seat for Labour in a bruising fight with George Galloway – himself an unpleasant demagogue who is no stranger to distasteful comments on the Middle East. What do her constituents make of the views expressed in her fateful post? Perhaps there are issues to explore relating to the British Pakistani community of which Ms Shah is a prominent member. Do all the people who live in this country accept that anti-Semitism is as unacceptable as any other racism?
But the most pressing questions are those facing Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, for this is just the latest in a string of cases to emerge under his leadership. Mr Corbyn himself is friendly towards hateful groups seeking Israel’s destruction. Is it any wonder then, that his party contains and – perhaps even attracts – anti-Semites? So far, Ms Shah has lost her job as an aide to John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, but remains a Labour member. That speaks volumes about Mr Corbyn’s disgustingly inadequate response to anti-Semitism in his party.

Naz Shah’s Warning

The Labour Party has taken something of a pasting in the Commons during PMQ’s and rightly so.
I heard that Jeremy Corbyn’s gave a personal warning to Naz Shah. Anyone got any thoughts on what that might have sounded like?
Perhaps something to the tune of;
“I know you meant well dear and clearly I and other members of the Party are behind you, but the Jewish lobby are baying for blood so do bear that in mind when you make further statements on how the Jews have stolen Palestinian land and are perpetrating a massacre against Palestinians.”

Cameron on Naz Shah

Don't call him an antisemite! (ElderToons)

It's insulting!

(This cartoon can of course be used with a large number of subjects, from many nations, and be perfectly accurate.)

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Livni's Expense Account Sees Uptick In Deodorant Purchases (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Jerusalem, April 27 - The Knesset Comptroller's Office has noticed an increase in the amount of deodorant bought by MK Tzipi Livni in the last two weeks, Knesset observers have reported.

The monthly deadline for submission of receipts to be covered by the per diem allotted to each MK passed yesterday; among the receipts was a spike in purchases by Livni of several new brands of antiperspirant and deodorant in quantities she had not previously recorded, an increase that began immediately after her trip to Harvard last week.

Accountants at the Comptroller's office provided the information under a Freedom of Information request filed by journalists. According to the records, the last two weeks saw a seven hundred percent increase in Livni's deodorant purchases, accounting for nearly half of her expenses for the period and bringing her total expenditures far outside the daily allowance provided to MKs. Livni has covered the excess from her own pocket, but has raised eyebrows at the Comptroller's office simply for the unusual nature of the receipts.

"It's not that there's anything here that smells wrong," said Deputy Director Roi Heshbon. "She's offsetting with her own funds whatever she spends beyond her allotted amount. That's fine. If she wants to use those monies to buy three or four cases each of Secret, Dove, Speed Stick, and some Polish brand no one has ever heard of, that's her business. She could eat the stuff, for all I care."

Aides to the HaTnua Party chairwoman and family members have also noticed their boss taking extra time in the shower during the same period. "Mom has been taking longer of late, that's for sure," observed her son Omri Spitzer. "Don't think Yuval and I haven't noticed. Especially after she laced into us for wasting water with our own showers. It's like she can't stick with an idea for very long."

During her recent trip to Boston, aides remarked that since her appearance at Harvard, the MK has taken to sniffing her armpits at short intervals. "It's not unusual to see Tzipi linger at the Duty Free shops to check out the perfumes, but this time was excessive," said staff member who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I don't know what's come over her."

The same aide recalled that upon returning to her hotel room after the Harvard appearance, Livni appeared to take offense at the generous supply of free bars of soap provided to hotel guests in the bathroom, as if the hotel were implying there was an extra need for them in her case. She then pocketed all of them.

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