Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Hajj pilgrims chant "Death to America, Death to Israel"

From Iran's ABNA:

The pilgrims chanted anti-US and anti-Zionist slogans during the ceremony also attended by the Supreme Leader's representative for Hajj affairs, Hojatoleslam Ali Qazi-Asgar.

'God is the Greatest', 'Death to Israel', and 'Death to America', were among slogans chanted by the masses in unison as they gathered in the Desert of Arafat, 20 kms (12 miles) from Mecca, for a day of prayer and meditation.

The faithful - men clad in two-piece seamless white shrouds and women all covered except for their hands and faces to symbolize equality -- converged on Arafat.

Iran politicizing the holy Hajj? Say it ain't so!

New atlas of "Historic Palestine"

Ma'an reports:

The Palestinian Return Centre in London held a seminar Friday to release an atlas of Palestine between 1917 and 1966.

The project is the work of Professor Salaman Abu Sita, who used official documents and maps collected from German, French, Turkish and British archives to outline the history, landscape and geography of Palestine, a statement from the centre said.

In a presentation attended by MPs, journalists and researchers, Abu Sita analysed the ongoing mechanism of expulsion which began in 1947, the centre said.

"I think there is a lack of true, historic and documented evidence of Palestine that Israel tried to erase particularly in the West. The Israeli narrative for many years has been mainstream even though it's faced severe knocks. This Atlas now provides the shattering blow. The atlas simply debunks many myths including the idea that Palestine was empty," PRC director Majed Al-Zeer said.

Why would the atlas choose 1917 as the start date to study Palestine? I thought that "historic Palestine" was there for hundreds of years!

Could it be that Palestinian Arabs define themselves in terms of Jewish return (the date of the Balfour Declaration) rather than in terms of their own, supposedly historic ties to the land?

Or could it be because "historic Palestine" includes parts of Jordan and Lebanon, and that fact would embarrass Palestinian Arabs who are only interested in Jewish-controlled land today?

The author of this atlas had written another atlas five years ago, Atlas of Palestine 1948. Benny Morris reviewed the book in 2005 for The New Republic, and while the original article is no longer available, I had copied most of it here. Morris demolishes Abu Sitta's scholarship with numerous examples of dishonesty and chicanery. It is very worthwhile to read that article because it shows how deep Palestinian Arab lies go, making up facts out of whole cloth in service of their narrative.

No doubt this new book adds many more lies to the tapestry.

Hate for Israel trumps love for Palestinian Arabs - every time.

In June, JoeSettler of the Muqata blog noticed that USAID was paving some roads in the West Bank for Palestinian Arabs:

Sometimes there are unintended consequences to one's actions. For instance, let's takeUSAID as an example.

Now their projects are apparently solely dedicated and intended for the benefit of Arabs only, within the Land of Israel. But sometimes, it just doesn't work out that way. For instance, USAID is investing in road building in Judea. Many of the roads are Jew-free roads, but not always.

Here's one example from a sign of theirs that says, "This project is a gift from the American People to the Palestinian People...".

What I think that USAID overlooked is that Jews also use this road regularly. It's a pleasant drive from the Gush directly to Malcha (and the Bibilical Zoo), not the mention Har Gilo to the Gush.

It would have been nice if they could have added a line in Hebrew and mentioned that it's a gift for us Jews too. After all, many Jewish-owned cars use that road every single day.

Anyway, even though USAID didn't mean to fix the road for the benefit of us Jews, we thank you for building a road that Settlers use all the time.

To any normal human being, a win-win situation is the best possible outcome. Obviously USAID is averse to spending money to help Jews specifically in the West Bank, but just like Arabs use and appreciate the supposed "settler-only apartheid" roads that ignorant Israel haters like to pretend criss-cross the area, Jews can use these new roads that were not intended for them.

Arabs, on the other hand, have tended to reject win-win solutions. To the Arab mind in general, when dealing with Israel, honor demands that Israel lose, even if Arabs lose as well. That was the logic of the historic rejectionism of a Palestinian Arab state from the 1930s to today, that was the logic behind the second intifada.

Normal liberals, and especially liberal Jews, tend to be the ones who desire a win-win more than anyone else. They are the ones who work hardest to find the best solution to an intractable problem with the maximum of benefit for the minimum of pain. In a normal world, this is sensible to the point of being obvious.

Unfortunately, we do not live in a normal world.

My Right Word notices that Akiva Eldar, one of Ha'aretz' columnists who most reliably insults his own country, found out about the paved roads that JoeSettler thanks USAID for. And to him, if a single settler is happy, that is unacceptable:

Travelers along the "original" West Bank roads, the ones enabling drivers to bypass Palestinian villages, can see signs declaring "USAID from the American People."

The roads are one of the initiatives of the United States Agency for International Development for building infrastructure in underdeveloped countries. Israel has already proudly left the club of developing countries and is not among the clients of USAID. Nevertheless, it appears the Smith family of Illinois is making the occupation a little less expensive for the Cohen family of Petah Tikva.

According to a June 2010 fact sheet on the USAID Internet site, last year American taxpayers funded the paving of 63 kilometers of asphalt roads in the West Bank. It also says completion of a road in the southern part of the West Bank dramatically increased the amount of trade between Dahriya and Beer Sheva.

What the site doesn't say is that a significant segment of the road goes through Area C - the 60 percent of the West Bank under exclusive Israeli civilian and military control....

This is not the only occupation-perpetuating road funded by American money. Dror Etkes, an expert on the settlements, noticed a few days ago USAID workers energetically laying asphalt on two roads in the Samaria region (northern West Bank ) that crosses Area C. Israelis haven't been traveling these roads for years now because the taxpayer (in this case, the Israeli taxpayer ) has already paved separate, wide, modern roads for them.

One of the main complaints that Palestinian Arabs have had was that they could not easily travel between their towns, because of Israeli checkpoints. The newly paved roads help them immensely, and there is no choice but to have them go through Area C. To Eldar, however, the fact that the roads also help some Jews is completely unacceptable, and somehow they help the "occupation."

His bizarre logic is that if the State of Israel intends to keep the West Bank - a policy that doesn't seem to have ever existed, as it has yet to be annexed in the past 43 years - then Israel should pay for the roads, and Americans should be upset that their money is helping Palestinian Arabs in portions of an area that they want for their state. Eldar would rather not have any roads there at all, or perhaps have Israel's taxpayers give them as a gift to "Palestine".

The reason that "Israelis haven't been traveling those roads for years" is because there was a very good chance that they would get shot and killed. That's why the other roads were built to begin with. To Eldar, that is also unacceptable, of course. Perhaps he can suggest a third intifada to ensure that Jews and Arabs remain as separate as possible, and he wouldn't have to stomach terrible scenes like the two groups shopping together.

The only way to look at ramblings like this is to realize that the amount of self-degradation is so deep that people like Eldar have bought into the Arab mindset that what helps a Jew - even accidentally - is by definition bad for Arabs and therefore inherently evil.

Video of Turks stealing sheep off moving truck for Eid

From Al Arabiya:

Two Turks attempted to steal a sheep so as to slaughter it as a sacrifice on the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, because they didn't have enough money to buy one. Muslims will celebrate Eid al-Adha on Tuesday.

Muslims around the world slaughter sheep and cattle in remembrance of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son. Due to the high demand on sheep and cattle prior to Eid al-Adha, prices usually soar in Muslim countries.

The two thieves were arrested and as part of their questioning the police asked them to re-act the attempted theft, which seemed as part of a "thrill" movie, but the fact that it was real gave it the real humor.

In another funny incident, an Israeli shop that sells electric devices came up with a new promotion to draw in customers; buy TV or another appliance and get a sheep for free, the Telegraph reported on Monday.

The special offer was aimed at Israel's minority Arabs ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

New customers however will be disappointed as the promotion was shut down just hours after launch after Galilee's chief veterinary surgeon stepped in, according to the Telegraph.

For the past couple of days I've been teasing my readers with something I called "The Z-vent." I was trying to build buzz, but unfortunately one of my major problems is the complete inability to self-promote. As well as being terrible at keeping secrets. So here's the deal.

I was asked to speak to a group of students at Yeshiva University on the topic of Israel advocacy, and whatever else I feel like talking about. I like the idea, and the more I think about it the more I want to say.

I put together this blurb, which may or may not be accurate by the time I actually get up to speak:

Hasbara 2.0: What works and why

Elder of Ziyon is one of the world’s most influential pro-Israel bloggers. He has years of experience in writing original articles and analysis, spearheading research efforts and breaking literally hundreds of stories before the mainstream media. In addition, he has created multimedia pro-Israel products such as videos, song parodies, posters and T-shirts.

In his first public appearance, “The Elder” will critique existing Hasbara efforts - including his own - and unveil new Hasbara paradigms that will translate into much more effective approaches to pro-Israel activism. Within this framework, Elder will describe many specific ways that everyone can help Israel, both online and in the real world.

He promises it will be much less boring than this description makes it sound, or your money back!

I will try to accomplish the impossible: speak in public while remaining anonymous. And, no, I will not be wearing a mask.

Hopefully, the talk will be educational, entertaining and edifying.

The event is planned to take place at Yeshiva University, in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, on December 7 at 8 PM - the seventh night of Chanukah.

The organizers do not know how many people will show up, and neither do I, so if you think you might want to attend, just leave a comment or an email to me so I can give a better estimate and they can decide whether to reserve a stadium, lecture hall, classroom or closet. Once we know the actual venue I will of course publicize it.

It should be fun.

Loads of afternoon links

I keep seeing good stuff, but I only have so much time to blog....

The Arab Lobby: The European Component (h/t EoL)
See also The Arab Lobby: The American Component, written by Mitchell Bard, who recently suffered a heart attack, so keep him in your thoughts.

Should Lincoln University Enable Holocaust Denial? (Richard L. Cravatts)

J. E. Dyer on another problem with how Obama is handling the settlement issue.

London Review of Books: Ten years of anti-Israel prejudice (Just Journalism)

Eid stress: An Egyptian woman asked her husband for money to buy sacrificial meat for Eid al Adha. He wasn't happy that she dared to make such a request, because he couldn't afford the high prices of meat in Egypt, so he threw her from the second floor. After all, a man must maintain his pride.

If you want to see a hilarious example of misoziony, check this out: The Baghdad Cathedral Massacre: Zionist Fingerprints All Over

Soccer Dad emailed me links to a portion of the huge documentary on the founding of Israel, Pillar of Fire:
http://wejew.com/media/1764/Pillar_of_Fire_Movie_1/
http://wejew.com/media/1765/Pillar_of_Fire_Movie_2/
http://wejew.com/media/1770/Pillar_of_Fire_Movie_3/
http://wejew.com/media/1775/Pillar_of_Fire_Movie_4/
http://wejew.com/media/1781/Pillar_of_Fire_Movie_5/

Preview of movie, "The Intifada Comes to Campus":
(h/t O)

Eleven questions for John Ging

A reader will be attending an invitation-only lunch today with UNRWA head John Ging, called "The Possibility of Peace Ensuring Human Security in Gaza And National Security in Israel: A Dialogue with John Ging." He asked me if I had any questions for him.

I quickly came up with eleven:

1. UNRWA in the early 1950s tried to quietly encourage Arab governments to resettle the Palestinian Arabs with their works programs, and to transfer responsibility of the refugees to the host countries themselves - and the Arab countries refused to do so. Given that, what exactly was wrong with Andrew Whitley's public statement that "If one doesn’t start a discussion soon with the refugees for them to consider what their own future might be – for them to start debating their own role in the societies where they are rather than being left in a state of limbo where they are helpless but preserve rather the cruel illusions that perhaps they will return one day to their homes – then we are storing up trouble for ourselves." ? Is there anything wrong with that statement? Does Ging think that there is any realistic chance that the "refugees" will ever move to Israel, and if not, why isn't UNRWA or the UN in general in the forefront of addressing this growing problem?

2: UNRWA officially says it is a non-political organization. Then why does Ging explicitly support the flotillas, asking for more of them, when they are self-admittedly political in purpose?

3: Why is UNRWA silent on its web site about the current month-long strike in the West Bank? Doesn't the donor population have the right to be informed of the good and the bad? This has happened in the past during strikes as well.

4. Does UNRWA have any way to take Palestinian Arabs off their definition of "refugees" outside of dying? I couldn't find any. Even if they become citizens of the US I'm pretty sure UNRWA still defines them as refugees. This is also in contradiction with how UNRWA acted when it started, as they tried then to reduce the rolls. Corollary: Does UNRWA have any plan to reduce the number of refugees? If not, why not?

5. How many "refugees" would voluntarily choose to become citizens of their host countries, with full equal rights, given the choice? As head of UNRWA he should have his finger on the pulse of what the "refugees" want. If he claims they wouldn't, I have counterexamples from Lebanon and Gaza of PalArabs desperately trying to become citizens of Lebanon and Egypt, respectively.

6. In his opinion, does the Convention of the Rights of the Child - that says that every child has the right to a nationality - apply to stateless children born in Arab countries to PalArab parents? If not, why not?

7. What percentage of UNRWA's budget is paid for by Arab nations?

8. When Ging says that " Let me say unequivocally that there is a crisis that is far larger than a 'humanitarian crisis'; there is a crisis that affects every aspect of public and private life in Gaza." does he really mean that things in Gaza are worse than in Somalia or the Sudan? If not, than how can it be "far larger" than a humanitarian crisis?

9. Does UNRWA negotiate with the PA to eventually take over the camps in its own territory? If not, why not? Isn't there a contradiction to call people "refugees" when they live in their own territory?

10. Is the nationhood of Palestinian Arabs so fragile that it would be damaged by them becoming citizens of Arab countries like Saudi Arabia or Qatar where there are so many of them living? That is the argument of the Arab governments - does UNRWA agree?

11. Why did the UN oppose Israel building real towns for the refugees in Gaza in the 1980s? What was UNRWA's position?

I'm sure I could have come up with more - asking about this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or even this.

Iran's video about evil Facebook and its Jewish, atheist connections

This is great stuff, from Iranian TV:

(h/t Lenny)

Turkish "humanitarians" funding Islamic Jihad terrorists

Palestine Today, a mouthpiece of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, has an article about how charitable PIJ is during the current Eid al Adha holiday. They are distributing sacrificial animals to some 20,000 families this week.

This is not unusual. Islamic terror groups routinely have fairly large social services divisions to give charity. This is an effective recruitment tool for jihad, but there is also another way to look at it: the jihadists look at charity and terror as equally important obligations in Islam. Since they use religious justification for "lesser jihad" it is, it their minds, just as important as charity. (It also helps dupe Westerners into thinking that the "social service" wings of these groups imply some sort of moderation, when in fact it proves that their terror is not done out of hate but out of a sense of a religious imperative equal in importance to charity.)

The article mentions that the funds for this Eid charity push is coming from Turkish humanitarian organizations.

This means that there is a money trail between Turkish "charities," such as IHH, and terror groups.

Not that this is a surprise to people who watch these things closely, but it is another indication that Islamic "charity" groups often support terror organizations - because, to them, the Islamic imperative for charity and terror is identical.

Price gouging in Gaza

In recent months, the Gaza meme has changed from "Gazans have no basic goods or food" to "Gazans have access to plenty of goods - but can't afford it."

This was, of course, a reaction to the news that a mall was opening in Gaza selling luxury items - to sellout crowds. This was a case where the blogosphere managed to help explode one of the greatest myths about Gaza.

So the meme had to morph to handle the new reality. Additional corollaries included "it is much larger than a humanitarian crisis" or it is a "crisis of dignity." And all those well-stocked shops? Well, the owners are fools, because UNRWA officials assure us that no one can afford these luxury items.

Well, at least during Eid al Adha, they are partially right.

Palestine Today looks at the shops of Gaza, and sees that the stores have jacked up the prices as much as 500% in the past week for clothing and similar items.

The shop owners defend themselves. In one case, a merchant says that no one wanted to buy an article of clothing for NIS 5 ($1.25) because they assumed it was cheaply made, so he raised the price to NIS 25 and now can't keep up with demand.

Another merchant tells the story of a woman who refused to buy pants for NIS 15 (about $4) but came back the next day and bought them for NIS $45.

The truth is often different from what the "experts" say. Yet no matter how often they are proven wrong, when it comes to bashing Israel, everyone still considers them "experts."

Links, links and more links

Daphne Anson has a fascinating article about the British plans to transfer Arabs out of Palestine - that were largely opposed by Jews! (h/t Silke)

As Suzanne reported, the Iranian weightlifter who dared to stand respectfully during the playing of the Hatikva, and the head of the Iranian team, are now banned from all sports. (h/t jhrhv)

An Israeli student was attacked by a mob of Muslims students in Italy.

Israeligirl has some great reporting on how Iran is cracking down on critics in anticipation of being forced to raise prices on basic staples.

The IDF rescues an elderly woman at the Lebanese border. For some reason, the Lebanese army didn't shoot this time. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Dan Gillerman on the folly of public negotiations over the freeze. (h/t Israellycool)

Samson looks at the next likely "temporary" settlement freeze, and is not happy with what he sees.

JoeSettler of The Muqata is even less happy, saying that the very idea of linking the American veto of anti-Israel resolutions in the UN with Jews building in Judea and Samaria is putting America's soul on the line.

Tea from the Galilee winning over the British - but don't say "Made in Israel." Bad for business.

Hamas/Damascus rebukes Zahar for using the word "Jews"

A couple of weeks ago, Mahmoud Zahar - the supposedly moderate and pragmatic Hamas leader in Gaza - let his mask slip as he spouted anti-semitic rhetoric, saying that Jews have been expelled from all the countries they've been in because of their "crimes" and they will be expelled from Palestine as well.

Hamas, of course, has been carefully nurturing an image of moderation and pragmatism - an image that is happily believed by the likes of Jimmy Carter and Stephen Walt and MJ Rosenberg. Hamas works assiduously to place moderate-sounding op-eds in major newspapers, all to feed the wishful thinking of leftist wishful thinking and latent anti-Zionism.

Explicit anti-semitism is not on Hamas' current agenda.

So, Palestine Press Agency reports, Zahar received an urgent memo from Hamas' Damascus leadership rebuking him for his impolitic statements.

The memo stated "that the efforts of the Hamas leadership in Damascus with the West and Europe have been opening up new political avenues, and we must preserve them." The memo said that he has to stay away from words like "Jews" and instead use words like "the occupation" - which is exactly what Hamas normally does, even when referring to Israel within the 1949 armistice lines.

The Damascus leaders emphasized that Gaza leaders should not talk about extermination and annihilation of Jews, or uprooting of Jews from the land of Palestine. Instead, those terms should be replaced by saying that they are seeking to liberate the occupied Palestinian territories, and the removal of the Zionist occupation of our land, and to emphasize to Americans that "our hostility is not for the Jews or Judaism, but those who have occupied our land."

Of course, Zahar's statements were exactly in line with what is written in Hamas' charter which is rather explicit concerning Jews.

For our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave, so much so that it will need all the loyal efforts we can wield, to be followed by further steps and reinforced by successive battalions from the multifarious Arab and Islamic world, until the enemies are defeated and Allah’s victory prevails.

Hamas has been looking forward to implement Allah’s promise whatever time it might take. The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! This will not apply to the Gharqad, which is a Jewish tree

When our enemies usurp some Islamic lands, Jihad becomes a duty binding on all Muslims. In order to face the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from raising the banner of Jihad. This would require the propagation of Islamic consciousness among the masses on all local, Arab and Islamic levels. We must spread the spirit of Jihad among the [Islamic] Umma, clash with the enemies and join the ranks of the Jihad fighters.

The Nazism of the Jews does not skip women and children, it scares everyone. They make war against people’s livelihood, plunder their moneys and threaten their honor. In their horrible actions they mistreat people like the most horrendous war criminals.

We cannot fail to remind every Muslim that when the Jews occupied Holy Jerusalem in 1967 and stood at the doorstep of the Blessed Aqsa Mosque, they shouted with joy: “Muhammad is dead, he left daughters behind.” Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims. “Let the eyes of the cowards not fall asleep.”

Iran's PressTV: "Israel refuses fuel for Gaza." Truth: Opposite.

From Iran's PressTV:

Israel has refused to supply fuel to the Gaza Strip's main electricity plant as power outages have intensified in the besieged coastal sliver.

There have been up to twelve hours of power outages in Gaza.

Gaza's main power plant has two turbine generators and only one of them works due to fuel shortages, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Israel refuses to allow diesel into Gaza, which has been under an all-out Israeli blockade since 2007.

Gazans use small electricity generators to meet their electricity needs.

The IDF Spokesperson blog says, on the contrary, that the amount of fuel entering Gaza last week was 1.7 million liters. The week before it was 1.3 million.

From Palestine Press Agency (Arabic):

The [Gaza] Electricity Distribution Company and the Palestinian Energy Authority that they were able to run a second generator in Gaza's only power station on Sunday afternoon.

A spokesman explained that this will continue until midnight on Wednesday as long as there is enough fuel.

He explained that the operation of the second unit will increase the productive capacity of the power plant from 30 megawatts to 60 megawatts, which will improve significantly the distribution of electricity applied to the program in the areas of the provinces of Gaza during the period.

As we've mentioned in the past, the major obstacle to providing fuel to Gaza has been their ability to pay the bills (and sometimes Hamas restrictions), not any restrictions on Israel's part.

I have noticed that many anti-Israel sites will rely on PressTV for their lies. Iran certainly makes it easy for them: the articles are already written in decent English and seemingly authoritative. The only pesky problem is that they make up their stories, but the truth is not a pre-requisite when your entire purpose is to demonize the Jewish state.

Carter praises PalArab democracy, slams Israeli democracy

The disgusting old coot keeps on going...

In an interview with a Swiss and Belgian newspaper, Carter brings out all the stops - the Jewish lobby, Hamas as a peaceful democratic partner, Israel as an evil theocratic superpower. The usual.

Translated by Philosemitism:

The Palestinians' situation is as follows: in Israel, they are subject to 35 laws which discriminate specifically non-Jewish citizens, who were denied the right to own land, to marriage, to travel, to have access to medical care and the media. In East Jerusalem - occupied by Israel - the Palestinians are not treated as citizens. The Silwan community, where there are 55,000 Arabs, has no playground and there is no school building. Jerusalem Mayor apologized while explaining that he was planning a tourist and archaeological site there. The Arabs who have lived there for sixty-five years will be forced to leave. In the West Bank, more than 300,000 Israeli settlers have confiscated land and properties off the Palestinians to build their own houses. Finally and even worse, Gaza is like a cage in which 1.5 million Palestinians live, 75% of which are refugees.

Why are the United States so close to Israel?
The same can be said of the Europeans. Firstly, there is a very powerful Israeli political lobby in the United States. Then there is a natural belief that Israel is a great democracy like ours somewhere in the Middle East. Americans see Israel as a small country besieged by hundreds of millions of hostile Arabs - but the truth of the matter is that thanks to the United States Israel has the most advanced military capability in the planet. I must underline that the Carter Center has helped to oversee some 80 problematic elections in the world. The best three elections that we oversaw were in Palestine: when Arafat was elected, the election of Mahmoud Abbas and the 2006 elections. When Hamas won the elections, Israel and the United States said that they were terrorists in order to prevent them from ruling the Palestinian territories while a few months earlier they were considered as legitimate candidates. When I meet with Hamas leaders, they clearly state that they will accept any peace treaty negotiated between Abbas and Israel that is approved by referendum by the Palestinian people.

Don't you think that Israel is a democracy?
They have democratic elections for their own people. But, as I said, they have specific laws that prohibit equal treatment for non-Jews. This includes 1.5 million Arabs (20% of the population) and about 320,000 others who are neither Jewish nor Arab. I'm not saying that Israel is not a democracy, but it is not a democracy like ours.

Not a single bad word for Hamas, and not a single good word for Israel. That's our Dhimmi!

There are also reports that Jimmy told his pals at Al Jazeera - the same network that publicly celebrated 9/11 - that "the continued blockade on the Gaza Strip as one of the worst violations against humanity."

Meanwhile, Fatah and Hamas continue to arrest leaders of the other parties in their respective territories, they suppress any media critical of them, they allow hundreds of thousands of people under their rule to rot in "refugee" camps...and Carter is more than willing to approve of their thugocracies as being brilliantly democratic.

What a tool.