Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Dutch doctors call for circumcision ban (updated)

Something that Jews and Muslims can agree on:

Dutch doctors' group calls for circumcision ban

AMSTERDAM (Reuters Life!) - The Royal Dutch Medical Association on Thursday suggested a possible ban on elective circumcisions for young boys, saying they were medically unnecessary and violated children's rights.

The 161-year-old organization, which represents more than 46,000 doctors and students, called the procedure "a violation of the integrity of the body."

The group, known by its Dutch initials KNMG, proposed a dialogue between doctors and religious groups on the issue.

"KNMG sees good reasons for a legal ban on non-therapeutic circumcisions, but fears that this will lead to the operation going underground," it said in a statement.

Notice that the doctors are not claiming that circumcision has any adverse medical effects. They are just using their medical credentials to give a political opinion that the rights of parents to do something religiously imperative is not as important as the rights of the children.

Of course, adult circumcision is a much more dangerous and painful procedure, something that these doctors are counting on in order to eradicate a completely safe religious practice.

This is not ethics, and this is not medicine. This is hatred of religion clothed in the fig-leaf of "human rights."

And there is a simple proof that this is true.

The KNMG did not issue a similar opinion against ear piercings for children - a procedure that also has no medical benefit, is often done by amateurs and which often results in complications. "In one study, up to 35 percent of persons with pierced ears had one or more complications (e.g., minor infection [77 percent], allergic reaction [43 percent], keloid formation [2.5 percent], and traumatic tearing [2.5 percent])."

If KNMG didn't ask to issue a similar ban on children's piercings, then I think we can safely conclude that protecting children's rights is not their major concern.

(The analogy isn't perfect, I know, but the fact that the holes in ears can close up is irrelevant to the issue of children's rights, which is what the doctors were basing their proposed ban on.)

UPDATE: Suzanne in the comments linked to the Dutch article, and according to that the doctors are not calling for a ban, rather they simply want to discourage unnecessary medical procedures. That is a big difference. As long as parents can still have the freedom to override their doctor's recommendation then this is not such a big deal. (And, as the doctors note, a ban would result in "back alley" circumcisions, which would increase the problem.)

Syrian newspaper: Hezbollah has a 300 km missile

Yesterday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah claimed to have new weapons that would be able to accurately reach all Israeli ports, and threatened to use them if Israel tried to blockade Lebanon.

Syria's Al Watan newspaper reports that it has confirmed this story. According to the story, Hezbollah is in possession of missiles with a range of 300 km, which is about the distance necessary to shoot from north of the Litani river to Ashkelon.

This would be consistent with a recent Aviation Week story that discusses this weapon:

Israel is growing increasingly concerned about the deployment of Syrian-made M-600 missiles in Lebanon that are capable of accurately striking any point in Israel.

The 600-mm. solid-fuel M-600, which carries a 500-kg. (1,100-lb.) warhead, is a Syrian improvement to Iran’s Fateh-110 missile and has a range of more than 300 km. (185 mi.). But perhaps more critically, the weapon is fitted with a GPS-aided inertial navigation system, giving it an accuracy of better than 200 meters (655 ft.) circular error probable (CEP). This means that half the missiles fired will fall within a 200-meter circle of the intended target.

While Israel has been exposed to rocket fire for some time, those weapons have been largely unguided, minimizing the extent of damage. With the M-600, that could now change.

The combat arm of the militant Hezbollah organization has already deployed around 200 M-600 missiles in Lebanon, according to data presented by Avner Raz, chairman of Israel Military Industries, who spoke at the first international anti-ballistic missile conference in Israel on May 5.

“With that missile, Hezbollah is turning from a terror threat to a military one,” Uzi Rubin, former director of Israel’s ballistic missile defense organization told Aviation Week. “Hezbollah could shut down electricity and airports in Israel, obstruct the operation of the Israeli air force or the mobilization of the reserve army, and even interfere with the functionality of the General Staff in Tel Aviv.”

This entire discussion of Hezbollah weapons was somewhat sidetracked by Israeli president Shimon Peres' statement last month that Syria has supplied Hezbollah with Scud missiles. Hezbollah and Syria denied that accusation, and UNIFIL stated that they weren't aware of any Scuds.

Now, however, it sounds like Israel, Syria and Hezbollah all agree that Hezbollah is now in possession of the M-600 - a much more sophisticated weapon than the somewhat outdated Scuds.

Rifqa Barry has cancer; Muslims: "She deserves it"

From FoxNews:

The Muslim teenager from Ohio who converted to Christianity and fled to Florida in fear of retaliation is being treated for an "aggressive" form of uterine cancer, a close friend told FoxNews.com.

Fathima Rifqa Bary, 17, has undergone two operations and has a third scheduled for Thursday, said Jamal Jivanjee, an ordained pastor who heads an Orlando-based ministry.

"The biopsy did come back malignant," Jivanjee told FoxNews.com. "It's a pretty aggressive form of uterine cancer."

While a couple of the comments on this story at Firas Press are sympathetic, others are saying that this is a punishment from Allah about her conversion. One commenter calls her a "traitor and an apostate," while another says "To hell with her and good riddance."

The Medics of Terror

In the new Amnesty International annual report, Israel is specifically censured for having "targeted and killed medical staff" in Gaza.

I have seen accusations, by Goldstone and others, of IDF targeting of medical facilities, but I have never seen any reports by international NGOs that detailed any alleged Israeli targeting of medical personnel. The best I saw was Goldstone's facetious comment that "Of the ambulance staff members and their volunteer assistants that were killed or injured in the course of their duties, none was a member of any armed groups, so far as the Mission is aware." Yet even Goldstone didn't accuse Israel of targeting doctors or nurses.

What is Amnesty's source?

What I do know is that at least two thirds of the medical staff killed in Gaza were members of terrorist groups:

Azmi Abu Dallal. medic, was a member of the Nuseirat Battalion of the Al Qassam Brigades.
Ahmed Al-Khatib, nurse, was a field commander of the Popular Resistance Committees.
Mohammed Abu Hassir, medic, was a fighter for the Al Qassam Brigades:

Ihab ‘Umar Khalil al-Madhoun, physician, was a fighter for the Al Qassam Brigades.
Yaser Kamal Shbeir, medic, was a fighter for the Al Qassam Brigades.
Anas Fadel Na'im, medic, was a fighter for the Al Qassam Brigades:

Ra'afat Sami Ibrahim, medic, was a fighter for the Al Qassam Brigades.His obituary says that he had been responsible for firing rockets at Israel.
Issa Abdul Rahim Saleh, physician, planted explosives and acted as a spotter for the Al Qassam Brigades.
Abdullah Sa'id Saleh al-'Imawi, nurse, was a fighter for the Al Qassam Brigades who specialized in armor. He also fought in the Fatah coup. He was killed together with his squad leader, Tareq Fadel Abdullah Ja’afar.
Ihab Jaser Ahmed al-Sha'er, physician, was an apparent fighter ("mujahid") for the Al Qassam Brigades.

PCHR lists a total of 15 medics, nurses and physicians killed in Cast Lead. 14 out of the 15 were members of Hamas' military medical services. Ten of them were members of terrorist groups that NGOs pretend had nothing to do with Hamas.

If Amnesty is going to accuse Israel of deliberately targeting medical personnel, it needs to back it up with some serious evidence. As far as I can tell, it has not done that. Rather than indicating that Israel targeted medics, this data indicates the exact opposite - that the IDF targeted terrorists, and fairly effectively.

Physicians have been a major part of Arab terror groups for years, of course. Hamas leader Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, responsible for some of the bloodiest terror attacks in history, was a pediatrician. Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahar, current leader of Hamas, is a surgeon. Founder of Islamic Jihad Dr. Fathi Shiqaqi was a physician.

The idea that healers cannot be murderers is tied to the Western ideals of medicine, but has nothing to do with the thinking of Islamic and Arab terrorists. Amnesty should not make assumptions about targeting without knowing the facts.

"Allahu Akbar - Slaughter the Jews"

Yesterday there was a terrorism scare on a Tel Aviv bus:

Passengers on a number 5 bus reported that a man, who was sitting in the back seat of the bus wearing a heavy coat, suddenly yelled out "itbach al yahud" in Arabic (slaughter the Jews).

"A heavyset man, around 50 years old, was sitting at the back of the bus," eyewitness Ortal Neuman told Haaretz. Neuman, who got on the bus several stops earlier, said that the suspect was already on the bus when she got on. She added that there were not many people on the bus.

"When we got to Ben Gurion Street, we heard him [the suspect] yell out 'Allahu Akbar' several times. After that he yelled out in Arabic 'I'm going to kill Jews'" Neuman said. She explained that she did not see whether he was carrying any packages, but that he was wearing long sleeves and looked "fat."

The Islamic Jihad-oriented Palestine Today mentions the story, without any editorializing (although they do stress the fear of the passengers, a recurring theme in the PalArab press - evoking fear among Israelis is a source of pride.)

I found their graphic illustrating the story to be interesting. It is an animated image saying "Allahu Akbar," immediately under the headline that quotes the suspect as saying "God is great - Will slaughter the Jews."

The Western media will reflexively distance distinctly Islamic phrases such as "Allahu Akbar" from the hint of terrorism, or anti-semitism.

Palestine Today's image choice shows that the newspaper has no interest in distancing "Allahu Akbar" from "Slaughter the Jews" and that the two phrases go together quite well.

Comments on my Ingall post (part 3)

(I meant to post this yesterday.)

Zvi, as always, writes a great comment:

The bus analogy is ridiculous. It presupposes that Jews have no place there, whereas Arabs - many descended from illegal migrant labor which, attracted by the growth that Jews brought, migrated into the area in the early 20th century - have a right to every inch of it. That's simply bogus.

Jewish ties to the land of Israel are ancient, well documented and unbroken. Jews have EVERY right to return to our homeland. The 1 million Jews of the middle east who fled from the Arab world after being subjected to increasing waves of Nazi-inspired pogroms have EVERY right to return, to be integrated and to flourish. Israeli Jews have a right to live in Israel. They aren't bullies for wanting to raise their children in peace and for fighting back when other people attack their towns for years with flying bombs.

Jews have NOT expelled all of Israel's Arabs; Arabs make up a sizable portion of Israel's population, and in 43 years, Israel has NEVER committed ethnic cleansing in the West Bank or Gaza. The reality is that the only side of the conflict that has ever tried to commit genocide is the Arab side. The only side that has ever celebrated the slaughter of innocents is the Arab side. The only side that is ruled by military dictatorships is the Arab side. Who is the bully, indeed?

If Cherokee return and buy land in their ancestral homeland, wanting only to live freely and peacefully on their legally acquired land, but are viciously attacked by a bunch of Nazi-inspired neighbors who try to murder their families and take that land by force, why are the Cherokee to blame? If the Cherokee hold on, only to be subjected to continuing and escalating violence until they fight back and hold their own, why are the Cherokee to blame? This analogy can't go further because the US is a nation (these days) of laws, so these people can rely on the government to protect them. That's not possible for Israel; Israel can't rely on a useless and anti-Semitic UN, an anti-Israel EU or the Obama administration to protect it. The middle east is a region in which those who are not willing to stand up to terror and genocidal armies will be destroyed by them. After 60 years, most Israelis know that.

You're right, Elder. The woman has never bothered to learn about the reality of the middle east conflict. She has simply bought into the endless stream of lies, distortions, half-truths, self-aggrandizing nonsense, delusional conspiracy theories, outright blood libels, claims that everything that goes wrong is exclusively our fault, and calls to destroy us that are constantly manufactured by a burgeoning anti-Israel/anti-Semitism industry. Israel gets a lot of crap because nobody wants to offend the guys with the oil and the money, and because it has become fashionable to dump on Israel.

The psychos who are driving these blood libels didn't vanish with the Nazis; they learned from them. They're still around today. And they want Mrs. Ingall's daughter dead no more and no less than they wish that fate on me.

Commenter Tang points out that "Israel has conducted ethnic cleansing in Gaza by removing the Jews."

The Elder gets results!

From the Jerusalem Post:

In a bid to stir awareness of anti-Israeli slants in foreign media coverage of Gaza, the Government Press Office sent an e-mail on Wednesday to members of the Foreign Press Association in Israel containing a guide to a luxurious restaurant in the Strip and a recently opened Olympic-sized pool.

The e-mail was based on a recent dispatch by journalist and commentator Tom Gross, in which he highlighted what he described as “the manipulative agenda of the BBC and other foreign media agencies.”

In the dispatch, sent on Tuesday, Gross added that much of the foreign media coverage was “deliberately misleading global audiences and systematically creating the false impression that people are somehow starving in Gaza, and that it is all Israel’s fault.”

Gross sent the dispatch ahead of the imminent arrival of a flotilla of boats carrying pro-Palestinian activists attempting to reach Gaza to deliver what they say is humanitarian aid to the Gazan people.

“In anticipation of foreign correspondents traveling to Gaza to cover reports of alleged humanitarian difficulties in the Hamas-run territory, and as part of efforts to facilitate the work of journalists in the region, the Government Press Office is pleased to bring to your attention the attached menu and information for the Roots Club and Restaurant in Gaza,” the GPO missive read.

“We have been told the beef stroganoff and cream of spinach soup are highly recommended. You may wish to enquire of a possible discount upon presentation of a valid press card. There is also the possibility of an enjoyable evening on the Greens Terrace Garden Cafe, which serves ‘eclectic food and fresh cocktails,’” it continued.

“Correspondents may also wish to enjoy a swim at the new Olympic size swimming pool as reported in the Palestinian media to have been opened last week,” the e-mail said.

I am the one who broke the story about the Gaza Roots restaurant as well as the swimming pool. I'm not sure if Tom Gross reads my blog but clearly the things I wrote about snaked their way to him.

Which is exactly as it should be - I want the things I discover, things that destroy the false Palestinian Arab narrative, to get circulated as widely as possible. (I don't care too much about credit unless it is a clear case of ripping me off.)

This was a victory, and it has made waves:

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, Seaman said he not surprised to receive several outraged responses from foreign journalists.

“Those who act as spokespeople for Palestinian propaganda were furious with self-righteous indignation and were angry,” Seaman said. “This was to be expected.”

“There is much hypocrisy in the coverage by international media of Gaza, and unfortunately, to some extent, the Israeli media plays a part in it. We are receiving political, slanted coverage. This message could help them wake up and do a better job,” he added.

“The same journalists who constantly point a finger at Israel were outraged by this. One journalist asked me in response, ‘don’t you have rich and poor areas [in Gaza] like everywhere else?’ I responded by asking her, ‘Why don’t you write about the affluent parts of Gaza?”

Seaman stressed that his aim was to “make it possible to bring a few facts about other realities in Gaza to come to light, beyond the agenda that some members of the foreign press keep pumping out.”

Seaman added that over the past week, Israel has released a number of press statements from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories highlighting humanitarian aid which had been delivered by Israel to Gaza.

“These get very little exposure in the foreign media,” he said. “I assume this [e-mail] will get more mention.”

Now if I can only get Israel's GPO to read my blog daily, they wouldn't have to wait weeks to be more pro-active.

Jordanian official re-opens the "Jordanian option" for Palestinian Arabs?

From JPost:

More than two decades after former Jordanian king Hussein renounced his country's claim to the West Bank, a Jordanian official referred on Tuesday to a unified Jordanian state on both sides of the Jordan river at a ceremony presided over by Jordanian King Abdullah and attended by more than a thousand guests and dignitaries, according to a Wednesday report by al-Quds al-Arabi.

Taher al-Masri, head of the Jordanian Senate, spoke at a ceremony commemorating the country's independence day and reportedly referred to the emergence of a "union" on both banks of the "holy Jordan river" - though apparently not a political one.

Instead, he was quoted as hailing pan-Arab and pan-Islamic unity and speaking out against the "isolationism" that led to the cultivation of separate cultural identities on each side of the river.

Nearly half the Jordan's 6 million people are of Palestinian origin, and Jordan fears that if Palestinians become the majority, it will disrupt the delicate demographic balance.

Abdullah's father Hussein renounced Jordan's claim to the territory in 1998, and al-Masri's comments mark the first reference by a high-ranking Jordanian official to the issue since then.

The Al Quds al Arabi article is here. The semi-official Jordan Times mentioned the speech but said nothing about the west bank of the Jordan; on the contrary, Masri is quoted as saying that "Jordanians will continue to protect the Kingdom’s independence and maximise Jordan’s achievements because they believe in their national unity as the first guarantee for building a stronger Jordan," in the words of that newspaper. Al Quds also quoted him as saying that he supported "the Kingdom of Jordan for the Jordanians, and Palestinians to Palestine, the honorable Arabs for Arabs, and the Muslims to Islam."

Jordan has been especially sensitive to any hints of a Jordanian state on the West Bank. So it appears to me that Masri was just giving lip service to Arab unity, just as virtually all Arab constitutions make reference to being part of "the Arab nation."

Of course, for people who truly desire peace in the region, the idea of incorporating Arab Palestine into Jordan and scuttling the idea of an independent Palestinian Arab state would do more for real peace than any conceivable peace treaty that the PA signs. Jordan has proven that it can act responsibly, more than half of Jordanians are of Palestinian origin, they share the same culture and most of the Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank are already Jordanian citizens.

This assumes that real peace - in the sense of an environment where citizens can grow and prosper without worrying about war - is the Arab goal. But it isn't.

More proof of this comes from Secretary of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Yasser Abed Rabbo, who today said that Netanyahu's idea of an economic peace "mere gossip" and is not true peace. To him, the only real peace is an independent state that includes Jerusalem. It is instructive that he didn't say that economic peace could be a first step, or a pre-requisite, or a welcome step in the right direction that could help his people - he derided the very idea of helping out his fellow PalArabs economically, without asking their opinion.

That is what a Palestinian Arab state would be like - a set of leaders who care nothing for their own people and only to score politically and, eventually, militarily against Israel. An entire nation based on the negation of another. A country that uses its people as pawns and treats them with utter disregard.

Jordan would be a much better alternative for Israelis and for Palestinians. (It would be a bit dicier for Jordanians, who understand the psyche of Palestinian Arab leaders all too well.) Too bad that the world has accepted the lie that peace is somehow dependent on the position of borders and the capital of a mythical nation.

Comments on my Ingall post (part 2)

More good, thoughtful comments on my post about Marjorie Ingall's column in Tablet.

Joe writes a provocative comment:

I am going to be straight here and say while I agree with most of what Elder writes and I read it daily, sometimes I feel that we are in an echo chamber; from time to time we should open our eyes.

The echo chamber idea is worth a much longer treatment.

1. Perceptions are sometimes more important than reality. If we appear to be bullies, then in the world's eyes we are and they will respond in kind. And if someone like Marjorie is honest to say that's the way it appears to her, castigating her for not looking deeply enough in the books may not be the answer. Sure, her reasoning is simplistic (there are many seats on the bus, who sat where first, yadda, yadda, yadda), but it doesn't change the fact that her perception is that Israelis are bullies.

Perceptions are extremely important, but if they are false ab initio, then how do we fight them? All we have is the truth, and if Jews cannot be bothered to try to find the truth themselves, then who will? It is hypocritical for a Jew to invoke their Judaism to criticize Israel when they are not willing to even find out the other side of the story.

2. People like Marjorie might wish to investigate issues but there are as many voices to hear on both sides and they don't know whom to trust or believe. All they know is "both sides can't be right" and is often followed by a "pox on both you houses" attitude. For instance, they aren't going to read Ephraim Karsh's book and if they did, might consider it "the Israeli perspective", a one sided presentation.

That's fine, as long as they are being honest. Read Karsh, read Morris, and think critically about where they agree and where they disagree, about which of their points are factual and which are emotional. Don't be a passive container that believes everything that is written by one side (and that includes readers of this blog!) The problem with Ingall is that she isn't even aware of a counter-argument to begin with!

3. If we have to depend on American Jews giving us the benefit of the doubt because they are Jewish, then we should realize that we are not winning these hearts and minds even when the playing field is tilted in our favor.

Exactly - we are failing at getting our viewpoint out there. We all know that hasbara has been awful. But how can we reach American Jews most effectively? In schools, in camps, in youth groups, in colleges, in book clubs, with getting them involved in specifically Jewish activities, with trips to Israel, in synagogues, with singles events, with online communities, with interesting speakers directed at them. We also need to do a much better job with the media, of course, but a single Birthright trip is still the best investment in Zionist and Jewish identity for the buck. And I do not think that it it unreasonable to ask Jews to raise their children to give Zionism the benefit of the doubt. God knows that you will not find many Muslims who are raised to think as critically about their own myths as Jews are.

4. Rather than dismissing these people, we should view it as a challenge: how do we engage these people. How do we, say a simple, effective, consistent message. Palestinians are doing this: pre-67 borders, Resolution 194, siege in Gaza. Our message is too nuanced and inconsistent like when we say "even left-wing Israelis think this way". The term hasbara - that we explain our side - is misguided. We're too smart for ourselves. The fact that liberal Americans don't understand is not their failure - it's ours.

There is a lot of wisdom here. It just needs to be concretized.

5. There are many who present everything Israel does as just and everything the Pal-arab side does is bad. This is not correct and we should not be surprised when we are dismissed as "knee-jerk Israelis". Furthermore, presenting not just facts but facts + a snarky attitude which is great when we preach to the choir but is a real turn-off for those on the fence. By not presenting facts as they are, we dilute our message and then wonder why we don't reach the Marjories out there.

There is truth to this as well, and this is part of the hasbara problem - we make too many assumptions about the audience. Too many people are news junkies who assume that everyone else is as well. I can only speak about my blog, which is really designed to preach to the choir, mostly because I want to bring facts to people's attention and let them do with it as they will.

Framing a message to a universal audience would take much more time than I have - I think I am more valuable providing ammunition than running the war (my Elder status notwithstanding.) I just wish we had better generals.

This is a real problem: we have lost the support of a lot of liberals and lately the support of a lot of Jewish liberals and middle-of-the-roaders seems to be ebbing away. This has a real cost in Israel losing US and world support. I don't know where the tipping point is but we're getting closer every day.

Which is why it is critical to shore up our base.

Comments on my Ingall post (part 1)

In response to my post about Marjorie Ingall's column in Tablet, Stan took offense at my overly broad characterization of American Jewish liberals:

I agree with your analysis of this person's point of view but to title the post. "The problem with American Jewish liberals, personified" is offensive, and ridiculous. This title would never characterize me, as an American Jewish Liberal. It demeans people like Alan Dershowitz and countless others who have worked tirelessly for Zionism and will proudly declare themselves American Liberals.

After a bit of thought, Upon reflection, I think that the main problem is with young Jewish liberals. The major pro-Israel American liberals seem to have all been born before 1960, certainly before 1970. The younger ones have grown up reading the media after 1967, when Israel was no longer regarded as the underdog and therefore (almost by definition) the oppressors. So, indeed, there are very pro-Israel American Jewish liberals, but they are aging - and they have not done a great job at finding replacements.

Sshender wrote:

The Tinok SheNishba analogy is interesting, although for me it conjures up purely religious context, whereby me and my fellow Israeli atheists were referred to as such online (without the slightest hint of irony) by religious crackpots who in turn can't even fathom the idea that what they've been brainwashed into from infantfood, may, just may, not be entirely likely or true.

On a broader sense, your claim that without knowing one's roots and traditions (i.e. Judaism) one is inevitably doomed to oblivion (at least nation-wise) is quite a challenge to us - who in spite of losing our faith in god (or having never entertained one at all) still identify themseleves as Jews first and foremost, and who passionately support the idea of Jewish self determination. There might be a grain of truth to it, but don't you feel that this kind of support or association is NOT being done for the RIGHT reasons? It takes little effort and thought to associate yourself with a group you belong with and support them with no reservation. This is the default position of most human being and is compatible with what we know about human nature in general. the problem is, that for the most part that identification with the group is the default gut feeling reaction with little if any objective thought given to the weight of the pros and cons of your position. To sum up, I see little virtue of supporting Zionism on the sole principle of being born and raised a Jew (whether religious or secular). I do, otoh, think that Zionism deserves my (and all civilized peoples') support for its substance, values and background. I admit that being a Jew myself makes me somewhat biased in favour of it, but I assure you that the reason for my support of Israel are strictly non-tribal, but humanistic, universalist and practical ones. One does not need a Judaistic moral compass to study history and take sides.

Now, as I see it, what's stopping other Liberal minded Jews from identifying with Zionism is largely their ignorance and the anti-Israel propaganda being fed to them from all over. Moreover, "thanks" to post-modernist notions of relativism, multiculturalism and PC in general many people who call themselves liberals have completely lost their ways and can no longer tell right from wrong. This woman embodies many of these themes. If Liberal Jews were taught about the history surrounding the conflict by scholars instead of propagandists, if the media actually took their declared journalistic principles seriously and if absolute norms of right and wrong were being adhered to, then Jewish secular Liberals would have been making the obvious choice that best suites their values and reason, which largely coincides with the tenets of mainstream Zionist thought.

To make a long story short, while it is true that secularization among Jews has divided their ranks, the cure, it seems to me is not getting back to religion, but to try and get the much needed and missing objective truth out there for the liberal Jews to see and decide for themselves whether it is compatible with their Liberal views. I think we'd be pleasantly surprised by the results. What more, instead of tribal support (which is great for brute force but holds little argumentative sway) we will get more critical and though-out supporters of Israel who can defend Israel on the world stage much better and more effectively counter the lies against it by solid facts and appeals to their liberal counterparts in a language they understand and empathize with.

My response was: I am not going to argue against any initiative that educates young liberal American Jews about the reality of Zionism, believe me! And I do understand and respect where you are coming from.

My view is that, beyond that, we have to think in terms of how to survive and thrive over centuries, not years. I don't see a secular Zionism or a secular Judaism as having a chance of doing that. Even the secularism of Ben Gurion and Abba Eban was infused with a sense of history, of culture, and of peoplehood that might make today's secular Jews uncomfortable.

For example, here was part of what Ben Gurion told the Peel commission in 1936:
More than 3300 years ago, long before the Mayflower, our people left Egypt, and every Jew in the world, wherever he is, knows what day they left. And he knows what food they ate. And we still eat that food every anniversary. And we know who our leader was. And we sit down and tell the story to our children and grandchildren in order to guarantee that it will never be forgotten. And we say our two slogans: ‘Now we may be enslaved, but next year, we’ll be a free people.’ “. . . Now we are behind the Soviet Union and their prison. Now, we’re in Germany where Hitler is destroying us. Now we’re scattered throughout the world, but next year, we’ll be in Jerusalem. There’ll come a day that we’ll come home to Zion, to the Land of Israel. That is the nature of the Jewish people.

This is not logic, it is emotional. The best way for emotions to span generations is a strong belief system that gets taught, by parents directly to children. The bias that makes you uncomfortable is a good thing, but I agree that support for Israel must be both innate and intellectual.

Raise your children to love their people first; then explain why.
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More coming up...

This is all I need...

Right now if you enter "porn movies" into Ask.com the very top result - higher than Wikipedia! - is a posting of mine.

With great power comes great responsibility.....

More incitement over Jerusalem archaeology

Arab News reports:

Israeli occupation authorities began excavation works near Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday, according to Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage.

The foundation said in a press statement that the "new excavations are concentrated in the site of Birkat Al-Sultan (Al-Sultan's Pool,” adjacent to the western wall of the Jerusalem's Old City). The pool was a source of water supply to Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City, the foundation said.

It added that the "Israeli authorities sized control of the Islamic and historic site since the 1948 war and destroyed parts of it." According to the foundation, the Israeli authorities turned parts of the site into a national park.

The foundation warned of the risks and consequences of these excavations and tunnels on the foundations of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

It added that the new excavations are part of Israeli efforts "to find any proof of the alleged Second Temple under Al-Aqsa Mosque and to Judaize Jerusalem."

The foundation said that the Israeli authorities "failed since it started its excavations to prove Jewish presence in the holy city or that the Temple ever existed." The foundation stressed that the "new excavations in the Old City are provocations for Muslims." It urged Arab and Islamic states to take action to stop it.

The foundation puts out press releases like this, warning of Israeli attempts to "Judaize" Jerusalem and to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque and Islamic history, every day.

Are the excavations an attempt to deny any Muslim ties to Jerusalem?

Well, let's quote the right-wing Arutz Sheva website on excavations last year around the Sultan's Pool:

"Naturally, one of the first things Sultan Suleiman The First hastened to do in Jerusalem (along with the construction of the city wall as we know it today) was to repair the aqueduct that was already there which supplied the large numbers of pilgrims who arrived in Jerusalem with water for drinking and purification," explained [IAA's Dr. Ron] Be'eri.

"Suleiman attached a small tower to the aqueduct, inside of which a ceramic pipe was inserted. The pipe diverted the aqueduct’s water to the Sultan’s Pool and the impressive sabil (a Muslim public fountain for drinking water), which he built for the pilgrims who crossed the Derekh Hebron bridge and is still preserved there today.”

Beeri added that the location of the aqueduct was extremely successful and efficient. "We found four phases of different aqueducts that were constructed in exactly the same spot, one, Byzantine, from the sixth-seventh centuries CE and three that are Ottoman which were built beginning in the sixteenth century CE. The last three encircle a large subterranean water reservoir that was apparently built before the Ottoman period”.

The Low-level Aqueduct is one of two ancient water conduits that originated at the springs in the Hebron Highlands and at Solomon’s Pools, and terminated in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

Research has shown that the ancient aqueduct was meant to supply high quality spring water to the Temple Mount, to Jerusalem’s residents and to the many pilgrims that have come to the city over the course of generations, according to a statement by IAA.

“We can see that from the time of the Second Temple until the Byzantine period water flowed in an open channel that was covered with stone slabs. In later phases, beginning in the Ottoman period, water was conveyed in ceramic pipes which were installed inside the aqueduct,” Be'eri noted.

It seems that the right-wing Jews have no problem talking about, or even being excited over, excavations that reveal details about Jerusalem's Islamic and Ottoman (not to mention Byzantine) periods.

The only people who are denying history are the Muslims themselves, who keep saying even today that there is no evidence of any ancient Jewish presence in Jerusalem, an absurd lie that is believed by millions. Just like the lie that excavations at the Sultan's Pool could possibly affect the foundations of a mosque that is not even close by.

How many lies can Free Gaza fit in a paragraph?

On the Free Gaza Facebook page, someone asked them a question:

I read on a blog that every week Israel supplies more goods to Gaza than the whole flotilla will bring.

They listed this site: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/HumanitarianAid/Palestinians/Increased_humanitarian_aid_Gaza_after_IDF_operation_Jan_2009.htm

Is it true, or is it Israeli propaganda?

Greta Berlin, who cofounded Free Gaza, responded:

Israel sent in 550 trucks a WEEK into Gaza before the siege. They now send in maybe 50.

Well, today alone, Israel sent in 140 truckloads, and they have averaged over 500 trucks every week this year - showing that Greta Berlin is lying by an order of magnitude.

Her lies continue:

The Palestinians are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves and not being on the dole.

Really? So she would advocate the dismantling of UNRWA camps and the cessation of billions of dollars of international aid to prop up the PA? When in history, exactly, have Palestinian Arabs ever taken care of themselves as a people without outside help? When have their leaders ever shown the slightest ability of acting responsibly?

Her lies continue:

This is not about how many tons are shipped in. It's about occupation and starvation and slow motion genocide of 1.5 million Palestinians.

Gaza is not occupied by any reasonable meaning of the term. Occupation means that one nation's forces are on the ground controlling the day-to-day administration of mundane civil matters of another nation. A blockade does not fit the definition.

Not a single Gazan has been reported to have starved to death after years of the so-called "siege."

There are more Gazans alive today then there were yesterday, last week, or before Hamas' Operation Oil Stain began in December 2008. Using the word "genocide" to describe how Israel treats Palestinian Arabs is a grotesque lie.

Her lies continue:

Our initiative is not about how much we bring in, but what we bring in, supplies denied by Israel to the Palestinians.

Free Gaza is pushing to have people sponsor bags of cement - and Israel allowed more tons of cement into Gaza this week than the entire flotilla managed to get over the past four months. And Free Gaza's stated goal has never been about humanitarian aid but about "resistance."

That's a lot of lies in a small space. Unfortunately, the liars know that while it takes them seconds to come up with the lies, people who care about the truth must spend hours debunking them, so the liars have a distinct advantage.

The problem with American Jewish liberals, personified

Marjorie Ingall is a columnist for Tablet magazine. In her latest column she admits:

I am deeply ambivalent about Israel. Modern-day Israel, as opposed to historical Israel, is a subject I avoid with my children. Yes, of course I believe the state should exist, but the word “Zionist” makes me skittish. I shy away from conversations about Israeli politics. I feel no stirring in my heart when I see the Israeli flag. I would no sooner attend an Israel Day parade than a Justin Bieber concert. Neither Abe Foxman nor AIPAC speaks for me. I am a liberal, and I am deeply troubled by the Matzav, Israeli shorthand for tension with the Palestinians, and I do not have answers, and I do not know what to do about it, and I do not know what to tell my children.

From reading her column, it is obvious that her knowledge of Israel is minimal - and extraordinarily colored by her exposure to the liberal media. A later section of her article painfully shows her extreme naiveté, as she explains Israel to her eight-year old daughter:

I stumbled desperately through an explanation of why two peoples feel they have a legitimate claim to the same land.

“But having land is like having a seat on a bus,” Josie replied. “You can’t just push someone out of their seat, and you can’t just leave your seat and then come back to it after a long time and just expect the person who is sitting there now to give it to you.”

My panicked reaction to her words surprised me. I found myself trying to convince her that Israel did have that right. But that’s not what I believe. But I’m not sure what I believe. I want my children to love Israel, but I don’t want them to identify with bullies. I was spinning in my own head like the desperate, overwhelmed woman in the Calgon commercial: J Street, take me away!

But Josie’s bus-bully analogy resonated. Baby-boomer Jews seem wedded to a sepia-toned image of Jews as victims—in the shtetl, in the Holocaust, in Israel’s early wars. But in real life, victims can turn into bullies.

An intelligent woman, who is clearly proud of her Jewishness, finds her pre-teen daughter's childish analogy of Israel's existence to a bully on a bus to be unassailable?

Here is the exact problem. Jews whose entire knowledge of Israel is based on BBC and Reuters headlines are transmitting that ambivalence and discomfort about Zionism to the next generation - and, of course, the next generation will convert that ambivalence into antipathy.

This is a profoundly saddening article. Ingalls was prompted to write it after reading Peter Beinart's controversial piece that I responded to last week, and it proves that my analysis was pretty accurate: Ingalls, along with way too many American Jews, simply do not understand what Zionism is. They do not understand that Jews are a people/nation (Hebrew "am", עם) and that Zionism is their movement for self-determination, a right that liberals would fight for the death for in the case of Tibetans or Kurds or whatever the current oppressed-people-of-the-week are. And, given that Ingalls wrote an earlier column where she defended her choice to send her kids to public school rather than a Jewish school - because teaching diversity to her children is apparently more important to her than teaching her own heritage - it appears that Ingall's own attachment to Judaism does not extend much beyond coming up with props for seders.

She is like a "tinok shenishba", a term that I have no doubt that she has never heard of. It is no wonder that she is ambivalent about Israel - she doesn't have the basic knowledge about Israeli history, about Zionism, and about Judaism itself to mount a credible defense of Israel to anyone.

And she is raising a new generation of uninformed Jews.

Ingalls is very clear that she wants her children to learn all points of view. With all due respect for a person who makes a living on writing columns on Jewish parenting, this is good in theory and absolutely idiotic in practice. Children should be raised with a strong sense of identity, a sense of belonging to a people much bigger than themselves. They should be raised to have strong beliefs and have the tools to defend them. Children should have joy and pride in their people, their neighborhood, their town, their nation, and their heritage. There is nothing wrong with bringing up children to have a strong set of values that reflects their heritage, and to teach them as it becomes appropriate how to defend those values. I am not saying to raise kids to be ignorant of other viewpoints, but it is far preferable for Jews to raise children to identify with their own people and history rather than to give Judaism and/or Zionism an equal timeslot with Buddhists, Mayans, Palestinian Arabs and Canadians. It is not evil nor is it bigoted to teach children that their own people come first. As they grow they have plenty of time to learn about everyone else and to formulate their own opinions, but a parent's job is not teach the kids how to surf the Internet and then let them learn everything themselves. It is to guide their learning to reflect the mores of the parents, their ancestors, their nation and their people. To ignore one's heritage is a disservice to the children.

Even worse - actually, almost unforgivable - is to dismiss one's own people, who need to make agonizing life and death decisions every day, as mere bullies.

Marjorie, you have taken an important step in acknowledging your ambivalence. The question is, do you have the bravery to actually research the possibilities that Israel and Zionism are right? Are you going to rely on J-Street to teach you about Israel or are you going to actually take your children to Israel this summer? (Are you even aware that even liberal Israelis regard J-Street's politics as reprehensible?) Are you going to trust a summer camp to teach your children a couple of Israeli songs and dances or are you going to spend the time to learn about your people's struggles first-hand - so you can be the one to teach them?

Believe it or not, Marjorie, there are many knowledgeable Jews who are proud Zionists and who can explain Israel better than NPR. The question is whether you will spend the time necessary to learn the truth about Israel, or if you will continue to lazily call Zionist Jews "bullies."

I can guarantee one thing, though: if you spend the time to learn the truth about Zionism, and if you learn how to be proud of your own people, your children - and grandchildren - will be the biggest beneficiaries.

The Zionist crimes of Sarah Jessica Parker

From Time Out Dubai:

It's not a massive surprise, but now it has been confirmed, Sex and the City 2 will not be shown in UAE cinemas.

A senior spokesman for the National Media Council (NMC), responsible for judging films and other media in the country, made the announcement today.

"Sex and the City 2 will be banned from being shown in cinemas across the UAE when it is released for various reasons," the spokesman said. "Among them are that the film's website stated that filming was done in Abu Dhabi even though they were denied permission to do so and that they continue to attribute the locations shot in Morocco as being in Abu Dhabi, which is false, as the theme of the film does not fit with our cultural values. Also, they persisted in using Abu Dhabi's name in the movie despite the fact that no official permission was given to them to do so."

A large portion of the film is set in Abu Dhabi but was filmed in Morocco after the UAE authorities refused the film's producers permission to film in either Dubai or Abu Dhabi.

But there is another problem with SATC, a secret that only a few privileged Zionists know - and that I shall now reveal. This will cause a scandal that would make it difficult for Sex and the City to be shown in any Arab country.

Sarah Jessica Parker once played a character that, to the Arab world, is so offensive that it makes Carrie look like she wears a burqa in comparison.

The name of this character was "Jerusalem Jones." The video was Shalom Sesame episode 10: Passover.

Here is a description of her part of the episode:

	On the Aleph-Bet Network, Kippi Ben Kippod (right) announces a block of "Pey TV" programming, celebrating the letter pey (פ), which begins Passover, Pharoah, and pyramids. Due to homonym problems, Moishe Oofnik initially thinks it's "pay TV."
	The Pey TV movie-of-the-week begins, Jerusalem Jones and the Lost Afikomen. During the seder, Moishe Oofnik hides the afikomen (the piece of matzah hidden for desert), so that the seder cannot continue. Jerusalem Jones (Sarah Jessica Parker) comes to help find the lost afikomen, with assistance from Kippi. Jerusalem is unaware of the history of the seder and Passover, however. Moishe reluctantly gives them a clue, telling them to look in the Haggadah.
	As Jerusalem Jones and the Lost Afikomen continues, the Haggadah has transported Jerusalem and Kippi travel back in time. They find themselves in an ancient Egyptian cave, where they meet the Pharoah's Oofnik, who was left bereft by the exodus. He tells them that they are his slaves. They are trapped in the cave, until Kippi says "Open Sesame". She notes that "Sesame is a word that opens a lot of doors where I come from."
	As Jerusalem Jones and the Lost Afikomen continues, Jerusalem and Kippi find the oldest matzah ball in the world. In a parody of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the matzah ball quivers and threatens to come after the pair, as the entire room crumbles. Suddenly, Kippi and Jerusalem vanish.
	In the conclusion to Jerusalem Jones and the Lost Afikomen, Kippi and Jerusalem Jones find a king's crown. They eventually find the afikomen in the pages of the Haggadah.

At the end of the episode came this highly offensive montage, that ends off with brainwashed Zionist children singing "Next Year in Rebuilt Jerusalem," an obviously illegal attempt to grab the illegally occupied city to Judaize it, to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque and replace it with an alleged "Third Temple," and to ethnically clean all the Muslims out of Al Quds. (Don't be fooled by the Arabic "Salaam" at the beginning of the clip. It is just another Zionist lie.)

In other words, Sarah Jessica Parker is a land-grabbing Zionist hell-bent on world domination, clearly supporting Zionism's expansionist aims and the genocide against Arabs. (Not to mention the explicitly anti-Egyptian message that is given throughout the episode.)

If this gets out, SATC II is doomed in (99% of) the Middle East.