Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

After 39 months of diplomacy, Iranian nukes on schedule

The United States and Europe will not seek a referral this week of their case against Iran to the United Nations Security Council, American and European diplomats said Tuesday. Instead, the diplomats said, they will allow more time for China, Russia, India and other countries to persuade Iran to stop its nuclear activities.

Iran's secret nuclear program was first discovered in August, 2002, with the revelation of the existence of two secret nuclear sites, a uranium enrichment facility in Natanz and a heavy water facility in Arak.

Since then we have had over three years of Iranian breaking promises, defiance, bravado, empty negotiations and thumbing its nose at the UN, and nothing has changed - except for one thing:

Iran is now 39 months closer to building a nuclear bomb.

The first semester at Al Azhar University since Israel quit the land it occupied for four decades has been a bust. School has been closed for more than a month.

The problem began in October, when a dean at Gaza's largest university ejected a male student from a women's-only patio area. The next day, about 50 armed relatives of the student -- many police officers -- barged into a weekly meeting of the deans and yanked university president Adnan Al Khaldi by his shirt from the office, down the stairs, through the front plaza and off the campus before releasing him.

The university staff was promised action by Palestinian politicians and security chiefs. But nothing happened, and Khaldi has since put his 14,000 students on recess.

Of course the author of the article likes to blame Israel as much as the Palestinians for the Gaza chaos, because if he didn't he wouldn't be "even-handed."

"Exercise Restraint"

So, Hizbollah decides it wants to shell northern Israel and kidnap some Jews - and the US calls on Israel to "exercise restrain t."

And Israel is actually doing it, even though there is no indication that Lebanon has the desire or means to "restrain" the terrorists.

Makes one wonder who is formulating Israel's defense policy.

UPDATE: Thank God. Israel didn't stay restrained for that long.

Festival of the Hardliners

As I predicted in my last post, the media latched onto the word "hardliner" when describing Likud like a pit bull. The dearth of independent thinking in the media is always fun to watch, as each "news" source mindlessly follows the lead of others in finding a shorthand way to describe people they disagree with.

"Sharon broke away from his hardline Likud Party on Monday"
" pushing for a March election after deciding to leave his hardline Likud Party"
"just hours after deciding to leave his hardline Likud Party"
"Israel's Sharon leaves hard-line Likud Party"
"PM Ariel Sharon quit his hard-line Likud party, saying..."
"The Gaza pullout, which was bitterly opposed by Likud hard-liners..."
"Ariel Sharon's final break with Israel's hard-liners instantly redrew the political ..."
"when he quit Likud, the hardline party he helped found..."
"Declaring that hard-liners in his conservative Likud Party had made life "unbearable,"
" pursue plans to end the conflict with the Palestinians without having to battle Likud hardliners..."
"...what was expected to be a difficult contest with hard-line rival Benjamin Netanyahu..."

The media shapes the news as much as it reports it. Sharon is now being hailed as a "centrist" because there is a major party to his right. But a week ago, despite his political moves in Gaza, you would never have found Sharon called a centrist in the media. And keep in mind that Sharon has done things that well-known "dove" Yitzchak Rabin would never have considered.

This gives rise to the absurd situation where Palestinian terror-supporting groups are labeled consistently as "moderate" while Jews who want to live in the territories are consistently labeled "extremist." The average news reader internalizes these messages and starts thinking that families who just want to live where they grew up are equivalent to suicide bombers; and Holocaust deniers are more moderate than the party that gave Egypt Sinai in exchange for a piece of paper.

When the press applies inaccurate or overly simplified language to situations, it affects reality. It gives real terrorists carte blanche and puts people who truly want peace on the defensive. It is irresponsible and dangerous. It costs lives.

(This morning I saw the BBC report on this story and the person they felt was best qualified to comment on Israel's political earthquake was none other than Hanan Ashrawi! She tried very hard to say that Sharon's new party is "right" and that the Likud is "far right." It would be far more accurate to describe Ashrawi as a "terrorist supporter", her party Fatah as a "terror group" and Hamas as a "hard terror group.")

How will the media describe the Likud now?

The world media like to assign single words or short phrases to people and political movements. This simplifies things for them; they get out of the responsibility of actually reporting anything with any complexity and they can quickly influence the readers to think as they do.

Hence, Ariel Sharon was inevitably described as a "hawk" (never a "risk-taker for peace" for example), Mahmoud Abbas as a "pragmatist" (never a "Holocaust-denier"), terrorists as "militants", Shimon Peres as a "Nobel-prize winner", people who support the settlers as "ultra-nationalists" and so on. We read this appellations so often that we don't think about them but for those who are not intimately familiar with the political landscape it is easy to see that if one side elects a "hawk" as a leader and the other one elects a "moderate", then the "moderate" must be a more reasonable person and any problems are the "hawk's" fault. (

Now, the media have a few problems - if Sharon no longer heads the Likud and starts a "centrist" party, it can hardly keep calling him a hawk when there is a major party to his right. But abandoning the "hawk" label takes time because to do that means that they've been calling him the wrong label for years now. So for now they will probably try to avoid labeling him until they can find something new to hang onto him, and just refer to him as the head of a new "centrist" party.

But what do they call Netanyahu and the remaining Likudniks? "Hawkish" has been too closely associated with Sharon, so they need another name that conveys their strong disapproval for anything they stand for.

The early favorite seems to be "hardliners." Although al-Ha'aretz likes calling them "extremists," a term others like to reserve for Al-Qaeda terrorists and the Jewish religious right-wing.

Iranian nuke lies continue

I'm sure that the Iranians have only "peaceful" plans for nuclear warheads.

Iranians admit receiving nuclear warhead blueprint from disgraced Pakistani expert

International suspicion of Iran's nuclear programme heightened yesterday when it was revealed that Tehran had obtained a blueprint showing how to build the core of a nuclear warhead.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told diplomats that his inspectors had recently obtained documents from Tehran showing that the Iranians had been given various instructions on processing uranium hexafluoride gas and casting and enriching uranium. These had been obtained via the black market in nuclear technology headed by the disgraced Pakistani scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Informed diplomats said the blueprint for casting uranium was required in making the core of a nuclear warhead, although that alone was not enough for the manufacture of a weapon.

United Nations inspectors had long suspected that the Khan network had helped Iran, but this was the first time the Iranians had come clean on the issue. They told the inspectors they had not sought the information, but that the Khan network had supplied the documents anyway.

This claim stretched credulity among diplomats and nuclear experts, and reinforced their conviction that Tehran is determined to acquire the capacity and knowhow for nuclear weapons.

Pakistani nuclear experts are always calling me and emailing me with information on how to build nuclear warheads - sounds credible to me!

The terrorists behind the French Intifada

Interesting analysis out of India. It makes sense as well that the initial rioting was spontaneous but that it morphed into something that was specifically Islamist.

(The IRIS blog has been following this very closely.)

One wonders what "Hizbut Tehrir" means...

HIZBUT TEHRIR BEHIND FRENCH INTIFADA

by B.Raman, CAMP EUROPE

All indicators point to the involvement of some Pakistani, Algerian and Moroccan members of the London-based Hizbut Tehrir (HT) in the violence by sections of angry Muslim youth, which has rocked the suburbs of Paris and some other towns of France since October 27,2005.

2. The outbreak initially was spontaneous following the electrocution of two Muslim youth as they were fleeing away from a random identity papers check by the Police. The violence continued to be spontaneous, with no external instigation, for three days. In the meanwhile, it is reported by reliable sources, the headquarters of the HT in London saw the agitprop potential of the developments in Paris and sent some of their experts, who had participated in instigating the violence earlier this year in Afghanistan over the alleged desecration of the Holy Koran by the US guards at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba and in Uzbekistan over the allegedly autocratic ways of the local Government, to Paris to stoke the anger of the youth and exploit it for their purpose.

3. With the help of the sleeper cells, which the HT has already established in Paris and other parts of France for some months, they drew up plans for keeping the violence sustained in order to further radicalise and mobilise the youth against the French Government. For this purpose, they exploited the already prevalent anger in the Muslim community of France over the ban on the wearing of head scarves by Muslim girls in public schools and over the ruthless action taken by the Police in the past against suspected radicals. The intemperate and insensitive language used by the French Interior Minister, which is perceived as an insult to Islam and the Muslim youth, facilitated the task of the HT.

4. The HT has the same objective as Al Qaeda, namely, the restoration of an Islamic Caliphate, but denies any link with Al Qaeda and claims that it intends achieving its objective through overt political agitation and not through resort to terrorism or other forms of political violence . While there is no evidence of its involvement so far in any act of jihadi terrorism anywhere in the world, it has been involved in many instances of political agitation in the streets in some countries and in attempts at subverting the armed forces and the intelligence agencies in Pakistan and other Islamic countries.

5. It is reported by reliable sources in Pakistan that the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) in Pakistan has instructed its cells in France to assist the HT clandestinely as best as they can. Similarly, the Jamat-ul-Furqa (JUF), which has some followers in the community of Caribbean origin in France, has also asked its followers to assist the HT. Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, was suspected to be a member of the JUF.

Saudi website links to the Elder

A website (in both Arabic and English) supporting the Saudi teacher who was punished for praising Jews has gone up, with many interesting details about the case:

After the Saudi authorities captured the terrorists who perpetrated the may 11, 2003 tragic terror bombing in a residential area in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Muhammad al-Harbi made a public announcement to his school’s students praising the Saudi police and supporting anti terrorism actions waged by the Saudi government. He explained that that terror acts are against Islam and do not represent the faith nor its followers. This announcement was not received well by some of the other teachers in the school who adopted some extremist views and conservative ideologies that did not agree with Mohammed’s thoughts. They started plotting against Mohammed for his sincere efforts in spreading the message of tolerance and support for anti terror acts.

Some strange and violent things started happening to Mohammed in the school and also outside the school: one day he posted a newspaper article about anti terrorism, but Mohammed was surprised to discover that some teachers who had been witnessed by students took down this article , he found his car vandalized, and he was shot at while working in his office in the school. Then, he discovered that one of his students filed a case against him and he was charged by the following: admiration of the US and the west because he says “OK”!, adopting unreligious thoughts, teaching students about alcohol, performing magic/witch craft, and making a mockery of beard. This case was filed in a different town and Mohammed had to commute to court to meet a religious judge who told him in the first hearing that he was not fit to teach inside or outside Saudi Arabia. The judge did not give much attention to the fact that Mohammed had to teach about alcohol since this was a chapter of the government chemistry curriculum and that he was performing chemistry experiments and not which craft as this student was claiming; he also never made fun of beards and/or religion.

The teachers of this school started taking some students to camps and secretly meet with them. These students and others later showed up in court as witnesses against Mohammed. Mohammed felt that he was powerless and had no one to turn to so he contacted some Saudi journalists (their articles published in the Arabic version of this website) who immediately started writing about his case to support him and make his issue a national concern. More Saudi writers, Saudi newspapers, and some Saudi online forums began a supportive campaign for Mohammed. The renowned Saudi lawyer Abdul Rahman Al-lahim volunteered to represent Mohammed in court. Mr. Al-lahim discovered many violations made by the judge and asked to review other files but the judge refused to grant him with any access or formal representation of his client. The judge was furious that the case leaked to the media and quickly made his ruling on Nov. 12, 2005 to imprison Mohammed for three years and four months and lash him 750 lashes in front of the people to see: 50 lashes each week.

Muhammad’s lawyer is currently trying to appeal this harsh and unjust verdict. Many are still also waging a supportive campaign for Mohammed and his family (his mother and two sisters).

It is important to note that this website is made by Saudi citizens feeling for Mohammed and whole-heartedly supporting his cause for a peaceful world. Muhammad al-Harbi does not know about his website and we voluntarily dedicate this space to him, his family, and all who support him. We are praying that Mohammed's innocence will prevail and that those who falsely accused him will be punished.
[...]
He invented an instrument that produces a sound before the fall of rain. He put this machine at the school's gate to help students know if the rain was coming in order to avoid getting wet in their way home. this machine produces musical sound; so his fellow opponent teachers accused him of legalizing music, which is banned in the Wahhabi sect of Islam, and when Muhammed's case went to court, the judge accused him of using witchcraft to operate this instrument!

Another article with details at FreeMuslims.org.

I noticed this site because of a link from it to mine, which surprised me, to say the least.

The stories seem somewhat fractured and contradictory, but any reading of the articles shows that the Saudi court system and society as a whole is a joke.

UPDATE: They seem to have finally looked a little closer at my site and took down the link. So much for my new Saudi and Egyptian fans who read my blog as a result (about 20 hits.)

Remember the Roadmap?

My question of the day is - has the Palestinian Authority ever fulfilled a single obligation under the "roadmap" since 2003 vis-a-vis Israel and terror?

Let's take a look at the specific Palestinian obligations in this area and whether the PA has done any of them:

At the outset of Phase I:

Palestinian leadership issues unequivocal statement reiterating Israel's right to exist in peace and security and calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to end armed activity and all acts of violence against Israelis anywhere. All official Palestinian institutions end incitement against Israel.

Um, no.

Palestinians declare an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism and undertake visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conduction and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere.

Um,...no.

Rebuilt and refocused Palestinian Authority security apparatus begins sustained, targeted, and effective operations aimed at confronting all those engaged in terror and dismantlement of terrorist capabilities and infrastructure. This includes commencing confiscation of illegal weapons and consolidation of security authority, free of association with terror and corruption.

Uhhhh, no.

All Palestinian security organizations are consolidated into three services reporting to an empowered Interior Minister.

Ha!

Arab states cut off public and private funding and all other forms of support for groups supporting and engaging in violence and terror.

Looks like Syria didn't get the memo. But Iran dodged the bullet - it isn't Arab!

The PA did fulfill some meaningless political obligations - drafting a worthless constitution, appointing a toothless prime minister - but as far as any agreements with Israel are concerned, it looks like the record is pretty much 0 for 5.

And remember that the way that the roadmap was written was that the first bullet item was required before any other moves were made (as well as a reciprocal agreement from Israel to stop incitement and agreeing to a two-state solution, which it clearly has.)

Good stuff to remember whenever the press mentions supposed violations of the roadmap by Israel.

Haveil Havalim #45 is out

Over at Mirty's Place, home to an artistic and technical wiz, comes the latest issue of Haveil Havalim, the best of the Jewish blogosphere.

At the suggestion of Soccer Dad, I nominated this post about Hebrew slang, a topic I find interesting because my knowledge of modern Hebrew is sorely lacking. Language development is a neat topic altogether, the weekly Forward column by Philologos always teaches me something I never knew. Modern Hebrew has had to "grow up" in only a hundred years and this is probably why there is less resistance to change and integrating words from other languages in Israel than in, say, France.

Anyway, it is (as always) a good issue of HH!

Google News points to explicitly anti-semitic article

This is not the first time Google News (which does not publish a list of its "news" sources) ended up pointing to racist or bigoted content. Check out this nice editorial:

The Jewish War On Freedom Of Speech

Corporate West causes terror in order to profit from it
by John Kaminski

ENGLEWOOD FL -- (OfficialWire) -- 11/19/05 -- One by one, those who oppose the manipulated Jewish version of history are being forcibly removed from society, and silenced because their views conflict with the program of mind-controlled slavery that has been meticulously crafted by the people who control the world by controlling the money.

A quick look through the "OfficialWire" website at news.baou.com finds a number of articles denying the Holocaust but some other innocuous and even reasonable articles. It appears that it is simply a service where people can send any press releases and they'll print it, no questions asked.

Holocaust deniers and other Jew-haters found a nice loophole to make their "articles" appear to be published in a legitimate "news" source, and they are taking advantage of it.

Whether OfficialWire is just passing information or is actively editing articles can be determined pretty easily. All we need is for someone who writes original articles that are pro-Israel to compose one for submission to this "news" service and see if they publish it.

Big headline in September, tiny detail in November

In September, during the PA municipal elections, quite a few media outlets trumpeted this fact:

Palestinians Enforce Weapons Display Ban
Friday September 30, 2005 2:01 AM

JERUSALEM (AP) - Palestinian authorities began enforcing a ban on public displays of weapons Thursday, arresting three people and confiscating the guns of off-duty police officers in a key step toward imposing order in the chaotic Gaza Strip.

But it has been six whole weeks, and who can expect the PA to keep up such a restrictive law for so long? After all, Israel will keep conceding to them anyway!

GAZA (Reuters) - Hundreds of Fatah gunmen marched in Gaza and fired in the air on Thursday, demanding reforms for their dominant Palestinian faction ahead of its first vote to choose candidates for a parliamentary election.

And this article about either a different rally at the same time, or the same rally seen through a completely different lens:

Hundreds of members of the Palestinian militant group Al-Aqsa Brigades marched through the streets of Gaza City on Thursday morning demanding jobs and an international inquiry into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Masked gunmen marched through the streets and arrived for a rally in front of the Palestinian Legislative Council building. Some shot guns into the air and some members were seen displaying missiles. Militants held pictures of the late leader whilst listening to speeches.

Outside of Israeli papers, no media pointed out the obvious fact that Abbas' claim to be enforcing his ban on public displays of weapons has been shown to be a lie.

Another Palestinian pseudo-concession (itself a reaction to the promise to disarm terror groups) bites the dust. And the media somehow doesn't notice it that Palestinian promises are not worth the paper they are written on.

Palestinian persecution of Christians (JCPA)

It is interesting that Palestinian persecution of a religious minority gets a free pass by the so-called "human rights organizations".

On the heels of the Gaza disengagement, which was intended to empower the Palestinian Authority to improve the lives of its people, few journalists have reported on the acutely trying times facing the Christians residing in areas "governed" by the Palestinian Authority. In his book, Professor Weiner, Scholar in Residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, provides an in-depth look into the nearly uninterrupted persecution of Christians throughout the decade since the Oslo peace process began.
Living amidst a xenophobic Muslim population plagued by endemic violence bordering on anarchy, the Christians have shrunk to less than 1.7 percent of the population in the Palestinian areas. “Tens of thousands have abandoned their holy sites and ancestral properties to live abroad, while those who remain do so as a beleaguered and dwindling minority," Weiner said.

"Their plight is, in part, attributable to the adoption of Muslim religious law (sharia) in the constitution of the Palestinian Authority. Moreover, the Christians have been abandoned by their religious leaders who, instead of protecting them, have chosen to curry favor with the Palestinian leadership.” Professor Weiner's book reveals and analyzes why this persecution - largely ignored by the international community, the media, and even the human rights organizations - has metastasized to the extent that it threatens the very existence of this 2000-year-old community.

The PDF of the full report is here.

Israeli blind golfer gets hole in one

An inspiring story:

A blind Israeli golfer realised the dream of every amateur hacker when he shot a hole-in-one.
Zohar Sharon aced the 160-metre (176-yard), 15th hole at the Caesarea Golf Club in Israel during a round on Monday.

Sharon, with a handicap of 20, initially thought he had overhit his tee-shot but was delighted when his caddy, Shimshon Levy, found the ball nestled in the cup.

"He went crazy. I did not understand what he was shouting about, I thought a snake had bitten him," Sharon said of Levy, who accompanies him on his regular rounds of golf and lines him up for his shots.

But the story of Zohar Sharon is much more than just one lucky shot. He is a blind golf champion who only took up the game competitively a few years ago: (this story is from March, 2004)

Zohar Sharon, winner of the 2003 World Invitational blind golf tournament in Scotland, takes a window seat at a restaurant and pub inside Morgan Run, a posh golf club and resort in North County’s Fairbanks Ranch.

Sharon sits by the window of the clubhouse sipping coffee with a huge grin on his face, even though he’s just finished playing one of the most grueling rounds of golf a player could experience, with sight or without.

Flash back 25 years. While on an army demolitions detail, Sharon lost sight in his right eye after a chemical substance was accidentally sprayed in his face. Three years later, he lost his remaining sight forever while driving with his first wife, who had to take the wheel when Sharon’s left eye rapidly filled with blood. Severe depression, and eventually divorce from his wife, followed.

But now he’s a successful golfer and an accomplished painter and sculptor who has exhibited his works in galleries and exhibitions. After he went blind, he also became a trained physiotherapist. He never golfed before going blind. He’s only been serious about the game for three years. Now, he wins golf tournaments playing against people with sight.

He claims to regularly hit 100, but that’s a bit of an exaggeration – his handicap at the Scottish World Invitational was 37, good for an average round of 109. He won his category (B1, for completely blind) at the Tournament by 20 strokes; he would have been first even without his handicap. Next up? The World Blind Golf Championships in Melbourne, Australia, in April.

Sharon lives near downtown Tel Aviv and is 51. Hiss golden-brown skin tone reveals his Yemeni ethnicity. With his receding hairline, athletic figure and barking intensity, Sharon possesses the type A personality of an Israeli colonel (he actually served five years as an officer in the army, after his compulsory three-year stint.). You can’t tell he’s blind. He’s not wearing dark sunglasses and his eyes aren’t an eerie void of translucent glassiness; they are a solid brown that often have an uncanny ability to pierce deeply through the eyes of the person he’s talking to, as if he could see their soul.

Sitting at the table to Sharon’s left at the clubhouse are a father and son tandem, Rafael and Jorge Mareyna, both Mexican Jews who until the last decade lived in Mexico City. They are Sharon’s friendly competition for the day. Also seated is a Canadian Jew, Nitsan Watkin, who for the next week will serve as Sharon’s interpreter and caddy, even though he doesn’t know much about golf.

Seated at the foot of Sharon’s right leg is Dylan, a 3 1/2-year-old Israeli-born golden retriever. Dylan is Sharon’s guide dog. He basically has had the day off running around wild at Morgan Run. Trained at the Israeli Guide Dog Center for the Blind, Dylan loyally sprints after and chomps up Sharon’s infrequent errant and short drives.
This is Sharon’s first golf outing in the U.S., where he’s come to help raise money for the Israel Guide Dog Center. He’s also practicing for a charity event in Palm Springs (held February 9) that raised an estimated $125,000 for the Center and other charities.

Sharon’s first introduction to golf came when the divorce lawyer of his first wife presented him with a putter and some balls. In the mid-1980s, a golf rehabilitation program was developed for disabled Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) veterans. According to the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, Sharon is one of 20 or so veterans who have participated in this project.

The Superman-strength of Sharon’s spirit and the encouragement and help from his San Diego hosts made this a memorable day on an otherwise miserable afternoon that kept all but a couple hardcore golfers off the greens. Nobody kvetched once about the cold or the rain, not even 73-year-old Rafael, who had a stroke three months ago and was wearing a meager short-sleeved windbreaker, no proper dress for his exposed lean and pale frame. Rafael, who is a member of Morgan Run, doesn’t speak Hebrew and therefore can’t directly communicate with Sharon.

Rafael’s son Jorge learned Hebrew after living in Israel for five years (he also speaks fluent Spanish and English). He has been living in San Diego for a year and a half and plays surprisingly well for having only six months of golfing experience. The physical antithesis of his father, Jorge, 52 and a CPA/financial advisor, stands several inches shorter and has a pudgy frame.

Sharon says he plays golf six times a week, often 10 hours a day. The only day he takes off from the game is on Saturday. He’s religiously observant. He’s not wearing a yarmulke on this day, but always does so when he’s in a tournament or playing with non-Jewish golfers. “I want people to know I’m Jewish,” he says. “I want them to know what Jewish perseverance and courage is all about.”

“Nu, boy nesachek gvar!” (“Come on, let’s play already!”) Sharon says. Sharon travels in one golf cart with Watkin, a Toronto resident and family friend of Sharon’s.

Throughout the afternoon, Sharon and Watkin will be intermittently arguing with each other and laughing hysterically.

In the cart ahead of Sharon and Watkin are the Mareynas, soft-spoken, well-mannered gentleman who speak Spanish to each other and on more than a few occasions yell words of encouragement to Sharon.

Approaching the first hole, the elder Mareyna gives the scouting report to Sharon’s interpreter. “Zohar, the first hole is 180 yards away. It’s a par 3. If you hit it too low, you’ll get it stuck in the dry grass.

Hit it high and straight. There are two sandtraps 50 yards from the hole on both sides of the flag.” Sharon approaches the tee and has Watkin help him lean over to feel the ball.

Watkin painstakingly tries to line up Sharon. Sharon constantly questions Watkin about positioning. Watkin’s lack of golf knowledge immediately frustrates Sharon, who possesses a fierce competitive intensity. “Am I lined up straight? Should I swing open or closed?” Sharon asks.

Sharon takes a couple of practice swings and again asks Watkin if he’s properly aligned. Watkins tells him he’s ready to go.

Sharon looks up in the direction of the flag as if he could see. It’s easy to forget he’s blind.

His first drive is solid. Jorge yells to Sharon, “Maka tova!” (“Excellent shot”).
“Ze haya yamina, nachon?” (“That went wide right, correct?”) Sharon asks. He not only knows the direction of his shots, he can tell the fate of the other golfer’s swings by the sound of their drives.

On his next approach, Sharon is informed that he’s about 20 meters away from the hole. He doubts Watkin’s estimate. “Really, 20 meters?” he asks, looking Watkins right in the eye. Watkins answers him while looking down at the ground.

Watkin has the toughest assignment of the day. He is Sharon’s surrogate caddy for the first five holes; he later gladly relinquishes the role to Jorge. Sharon’s full-time salaried caddy is named Shimshon Levy, who doesn’t speak English very well either and couldn’t attend Sharon’s first U.S. golf visit.

Now on the green, Sharon instructs Watkin to stand next to the flag and clap so he can judge by the sound how far away he is. On other holes, one of the other golfers taps the flag with their putters.

Golf is a frustrating game for people who can see. Imagine how it must be for a blind golfer. When Sharon sinks a putt as he does on the first hole, it’s nothing short of miraculous.

According to Ha’aretz, soon after starting to play, Sharon began working with Dr. Ricardo Cordova, a sports psychologist in Israel. Cordova, who was the psychologist for the Bolivian national soccer team before migrating to Israel, instilled in Sharon the ability to imagine each shot.

“Without Ricardo, I wouldn’t be here right now,” says Sharon. “I’d be completely lost.”
Here’s what Cordova did with Sharon: For several weeks, Sharon didn’t even swing with his clubs. The two worked solely on visualization and biomechanics. Towels were placed under Sharon’s arms to restrict his arm movement and keep them within close proximity to his trunk. Cordova made sure Sharon’s motion didn’t involve unnecessary muscle groups.

Next, Cordova had Sharon practicing his swinging motion – still without the use of his clubs. Sharon would take imaginary swings and relay to Cordova how far the ball flew in the air and how far it rolled in his mind. The third stage of Sharon’s training involved pain. Cordova lined up the ball next to a pole. If Sharon’s head and torso excessively protruded during his backswing, his skull would receive an uncomfortable reminder from the pole.

By the time Cordova allowed Sharon to swing at a ball approximately two years ago, Sharon found it quite easy to drive the ball far distances. His blindness allows him to enter a trance-like state where he imagines every shot and considers all inclines, declines and other hazards that lay on the course.

“Sharon considers golf to be a highly spiritual game,” says Watkin, walking back to the cart in route to the second hole. “He feels absolute peace and tranquility when he’s playing, even if he’s frustrated by an inexperienced caddy.” Watkin continues, “Zohar’s concentration is tremendous. He forgets everything when he’s on the green.”

Sharon puts his putter back in his golf bag, which is attached to the back of the cart. He puts the covers back on his clubs and readjusts the tightness of the bag’s straps. This reporter knocked his head twice getting into the cart, while Sharon enters the cart and moves around the golf bag with ease.

A friendly argument ensues between Sharon and Watkin, evidently about Watkin’s lack of golf knowledge. Dylan the guide dog is tied to the golf cart. He has his rear left leg lifted, relieving himself on the golf cart’s tire. Suddenly, Watkin steps on the cart’s accelerator. Dylan manages to turn around on a dime and sprint, keeping up with the cart.

Before playing the second hole, Sharon is asked if Dylan is forbidden to run around the course without a leash.

“Ata tishmor al lo?” (“Are you going to watch him?”) Sharon asks, undoing Dylan’s leash. And with that, Dylan is free to roam around Morgan Run. While Sharon is mentally picturing his approach for the second hole, Dylan is digging a hole in a sandtrap.

Sharon’s second drive goes beyond the flag, only 20 yards away.

“Keemat be degel,” (“It’s near the flag”) says Jorge, who has a thicker Mexican accent than his father.

The rain picks up once again. On the way to the second green in the cart, Sharon has his left arm around Watkin. Sharon’s head rests on Watkin’s right shoulder.

“I love you,” Sharon tells Watkin (in Hebrew). “I joke with you and I’ve been hard on you but understand I love you.

Caddying is a thankless job. I could never be one.” Sharon repeatedly refers to Watkin as “Ach-ee” Hebrew slang for “my brother.”]

It’s a surreal image: three Jewish golfers of different ethnicities, one blind with a free-roaming guide dog. Sharon’s golf bag says “Caesarea Golf Club Israel.” This scene would never have transpired on this course a few decades ago, not at a blue-blooded resort like this. Before he started playing golf, Sharon’s only opinion of golf was that it was for wealthy elitists. Now he realizes golfers can be normal people.

“Maybe their kids are spoiled, but overall, the people I have met have been fantastic,” he says.

Meanwhile, the sky darkens around the hilltops surrounding the course. After the seventh hole, Sharon acknowledges that the rain on this very unusual day will not let up. When asked if he’s pleased with his performance, he jokes, “I feel like crying.”

Sharon tries to persuade Jorge to be his caddy for another round of golf at the Bridges Country Club in Rancho Santa Fe.
“I would love to, but I have a business to run,” laments Jorge. “You are an extraordinary man Zohar.”

Perhaps Sam Silverstein best summarized the experience of witnessing Sharon golf. Silverstein, who organizes numerous golf tournaments around Palm Springs, played with Sharon at the Canyon Country Club Tournament in Palm Springs two days after the Morgan Run tune-up.

Silverstein told the Journal: “He swings better than I do, and I can see.”

Rafah round-up (Soccer Dad)

Soccer Dad has an excellent analysis of coverage of the Rafah deal where Condi Rice forced hard concessions from Israel (compromising its security in very real and clear ways) and forced essentially nothing from the Palestinians beyond empty words.

I once noted that Palestinian actions can be regarded as Pavlovian. The argument can be extended here - when the Palestinians ignore demands made of them (by the road map, by the US, by the quartet) the world will still make Israel give them more. When their refusal to do anything beyond the cosmetic is constantly rewarded with more Isralei concessions, what incentive do they have to actually do anything?

Obviously the US conduct is disappointing and the EU conduct is expected. But ultimately the responsibility for Israel's security belongs to the Israeli government - it is the most important function a government has. Other governments say "no" to the US constantly and do not suffer unduly; it is time for Israel to draw a line in the sand. Too many Israelis are dead because Israel has caved to pressure from Washington.