'All Mezuzah Sales Are Final'

I know Hanukah is long over, but I only saw this Daily Show clip today, and it's damn funny.

'I want my Al-Manar TV'

News director of Hezbollah run-TV station Al-Manar as quoted in a Slate story:

"We're not looking to interview [Ariel] Sharon. We want to get close to him in order to kill him."

Although I consider myself a defender of First Amendment rights, I'm not sure I share the Slate writer's position that Hezbollah TV should not be banned in America. It seems to reflect a "protect liberal values at all costs" attitude that fails to consider reality.

(Did I really just write that? I'm starting to sound more and more right-wing. I must be getting old.)

On the other hand, maybe a more effective policy would be to allow Al-Manar to broadcast in the U.S. - but to monitor subscribers.

Hell, if I was FBI director I'd dispatch undercover agents door-to-door to sell satellite TV subscriptions.

"So, Mr. Abdullah, I'll sign you up for CNN, Family Channel, National Geographic, Discovery, MTV, HBO, ESPN, Disney... oh, and what about Al-Manar?"


Al-Manar offers quality programs such as this
all-star cast in the Syrian production of 'Diaspora'
depicting the Jewish plot to control the world.  

Yeah, go ahead and call me a racist, but let's be honest: How many Oklahoma residents would be interested in watching Al-Manar? It's safe to say that the typical Hezbollah TV viewer speaks Arabic, has a copy of the Koran on the bookshelf and doesn't eat chick peas only during visits to the Sizzler salad bar.

He also doesn't frequent the Elks Lodge nor does his wife belong to Daughters of the American Revolution.

Although some some will argue my idea would infringe on civil liberties, it might prove helpful the next time someone inside the U.S. is planning a terror attack on American soil.

(I fear I may be suffering from an identity crisis in regard to my politics.)

Everyone's invited to the anti-disengagement party

Settler leaders are considering actively recruiting Diaspora Jews to come to Israel and join the resistance against Sharon's plan to evacuate settlements in the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank, The Jerusalem Post reports today.

Some excerpts from the story:

Pinhas Wallerstein – senior member of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza:

"I have received hundreds of emails from Jews abroad who expressed their support and are interested in coming to Israel to fight the plan," Wallerstein told The Post. "I am personally in favor although we [the settlement council] will have to discuss the idea since there are Israelis who do not like when Jews from abroad interfere with what is going on here."

(But, Pini, what about left-wing Jews in America who want to interfere because they support dismantling the settlements?)

and..

Rabbi Mordechai Friedman – head of the American Board of Rabbis, an organization made up of some 1,000 orthodox clergymen – said Tuesday that hundreds if not thousands of his followers will come to Israel to fight the plan.

"The government needs to protect its citizens and when they don't the citizens can take back the government," Friedman said. Claiming his organization curses Sharon on a weekly basis, Friedman added that he agrees with Wallerstein's call to break the law when fighting the plan but that it needs to be done violently.

"We need to paralyze the country," he said. "The only way to do that is with means which include violence."

(But it's not your country to paralyze, Mordechai.)

and...

Calling the plan "ethnic cleansing," Gro Wenske, head of the Norway-based Christian Bible and Israel Organization, pledged her participation in the resistance. She said that hundreds of Christians from Norway will come to Israel to fight the evacuation.

(Let's just call Gro what she really is: A Jesus freak with too much time on her hands. And unfortunately, I'm sure the attractive Norwegians won't even come.)

This is just ridiculous. On this blog I've expressed my distate for American Jews actively advocating Israeli policy positions, whether they are on the left or right of the political spectrum, when they don't even live here and feel the consequences of what they are advocating. But I'm just shocked the settler leaders are proposing bringing people who don't even have Israeli citizenship to fight the evacuation plan.

Would this happen in any other democracy in the world? If anything this proposal is another indication of the settlers' desperation.

On the other hand, does the right-wing want to legitimize the active involvement of non-Israelis in such a debate? What is to prevent left-wing organizations from actively recruiting people from around the world to come to Israel and protest government policy? There are certainly more people worldwide who favor dismantling the settlements (and more than a few, unfortunatley, who favor dismantling all of Israel). Should they also be summoned to Israel to join the fray? Or is it an invitation-only affair?

This country already has far too many extremists as it is. Bringing to Israel nutty pro-settler Americans to oppose the disengagement is exactly what we don't need.

Coming of age / Breaking the cycle

Philip Roth (L) and Milan Kundera. Not settlers. 

Looking at my blog tonight I realize I've been posting far too much about settlers. I had no intention of adding to this string tonight. I just wanted to come home from work, walk the dog, make dinner and do a bit a studying. But then I came across Caroline Glick's column, about the settlers, and I couldn't resist.

So later I'm sitting in my apartment and I decide to take from the shelf Philip Roth's classic book of American Jewish male sexual angst Portnoy's Complaint. I thought I would select an interesting passage to post here - anything to break the cycle of settler nonsense. Fairly quickly I come across the following:

"A Jewish man with his parents alive is half the time a helpless infant! Listen, come to my aid, will you - and quick! Spring me from this role I play of the smothered son in the Jewish joke. Because it's beginning to pall a little, at thirty-three.!"

I'm 33, so I knew this was the passage to post.

Remember this metaphor from 1995?

Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick writes:

Gaza residents caused a public outcry when they taped orange Stars of David to their clothes this week. The hue and cry of the politicians on the Right and on the Left said that in using symbols from the Holocaust they were besmirching the memory of the victims of Europe's genocide of its Jews. It would seem that those who decried the residents' symbol have forgotten what a metaphor is. The point was not that Sharon is Adolf Hitler or that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz is Adolf Eichmann. The point of the protest was that Israel is the first Western state to call for the forced removal of Jews from their homes, simply because they are Jews, since the Holocaust and that there is something morally atrocious about the notion that for peace to come –- to Israel and to those bombing Israel –- it is necessary for entire regions to be rendered Judenrein.

That reminds me of another metaphor, sweet Caroline. Remember this one? It's a poster depicting Yitzhak Rabin wearing an SS uniform. It proved to be extremely effective. I guess the right-wing knows the power of a good metaphor.  

Settlers cite legality when it suits them

In this Jerusalem Post story, Benzi Lieberman, chairman of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, comments on the disengagement bill currently under debate:

"The law is manifestly illegal," he charged. "It has a black flag flying over it."

Excuse me, Mr. Lieberman, but what about those illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank? Or do those not count?

Settlers' rejection of disengagement = Muslim rejection of right of return compromise

I really need to come up with a shorter headline. Anyway, veteran Haaretz reporter Akiva Eldar has an excellent piece on the faulty reasoning of settler opposition to Sharon's disengagement plan.

Eldar, who is known for his left-wing views, argues (persuasively in my opinion) that the logic settlers are using to reject the right of Israel's democratically elected government to evacuate Jews from the territories closely resembles that used by Muslim clerics when a Palestinian leader appears willing to compromise on the "right of return."

Not the center of the world all the time

Although this blog is about Israel, it would be wrong not to mention the disaster in Asia in which at least 19,000 people were killed over the weekend by a tsunami.

(Citing Foreign Ministry figures, Haaretz was reporting 542 Israelis still unaccounted for in southeast Asia as of Monday morning.)

As I was arguing with the old settler last night in Tel Aviv, mothers in Asia were identifying their dead children.

It kind of puts things in perspective, and unfortunately perspective is a commodity sorely lacking in Israel.

'You should be ashamed of yourself'

I traded accusations with an old man who was among the settlers protesting last night outside the Kirya, the nerve center of the Israel Defense Forces, in Tel Aviv.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," I said as I passed him. I was referring to the orange Star of David he was wearing.

"It is you who should be ashamed," he replied. I turned around and resumed my walk home.


Settlers and police facing off Sunday evening in Tel Aviv.
Can you spot the orange Star of David? (AP) 

Maybe he was a Holocaust survivor himself, I thought. But he's invoking the memory of the Holocaust, and possibly his status as a survivor, to justify a policy today that directly affects me and other Israelis who serve in the army. And there are plenty of other survivors who think using the orange star in this protest is despicable.

Of course the settlers had the usual banners "Let the IDF win" and the like. We're witnessing the death throes of the settler movement. I was surprised by the large number of women and children there and the absence of men. I guess their PR people wanted to ensure photographs of Israeli police confronting "defenseless" settlers.

I hadn't intended to enter the fray, but police had closed Kaplan Street to traffic. By the time I realized it was closed because of a settler demonstration, I had already gone a few blocks and I didn't feel like backtracking. Kaplan is my normal route home from work when I walk rather than take the bus. And my bus was stuck in traffic due to the commotion of the protesters.

When I first entered the street, there was a long stretch that was pretty much empty. Then I saw the settlers standing in front of a police barricade and plenty of police.

I asked a policeman it was ok for me to walk through. He asked where I was going. When I said home, he let me pass.

At the same time, a teenage settler boy standing next to the cop, probably about around 15-16 and wearing an orange Star of David, smugly uttered in my direction, "If you go in, you won't come out."

I hadn't intended to confront anyone. I just wanted to go home, walk my dog, and make a little something for dinner. But this arrogant teenager was wearing an orange star. He was warning me where I could walk in my own city. And he felt entitled to wear that star because his elders in the settler community, some of them survivors, had given him the legitimacy to do so.

But many more older Israelis, some of them survivors, condemned the use of this charged symbol in this battle - and it's becoming increasing clear that this battle is not about Israel's security, but rather the narrow interests of a settler community convinced it is entitled to the way of life that is subsidized - both financially and ideologically - by the greater Israeli population living outside the territories.

This is the reason I told the old man he should be ashamed. And I stand by that statement.

(If you can get past his tendency to overdramatize, Bradley Burston has an interesting piece in Haaretz today about the settlers' use of the orange Star of David.)

Pinhead Arafat

The headline speaks for itself. 

A brilliantly funny front page in yesterday's New York Post. The Bloomberg report on which the story is based is worth reading.

Israel's first bunny to leave Playboy Channel

Noga Shachar, Israel’s first Playboy Bunny, is leaving the Playboy Channel, Yedioth Ahronoth reports today.


Noga is leaving Playboy. 

“My relations with Playboy were relations of love and hate, just like in a couple. After a year of activities in which I learned a great deal about myself and the industry, the time came to leave.”

(Here’s a link to more photos of Noga. Just click the left-hand tab above the main photo. If you can read Hebrew, it says 'Galeriat Te'munot' - which means 'Picture Gallery' in English.)

What does Israel’s first soft-core porn star have planned now? Deals for a TV series focusing on the link between politics and humor, cable movie and a weekly column in the new magazine GO on - yes, you guessed it – sex and relationships.

Here’s a brief excerpt from an interview in the Yediot report, translated from Hebrew:

Q: At your young age, from where do you have knowledge and experience to become a sex priestess?

Noga: “You’d be surprised, but I have it. How many men have you slept with? More than 100? I know exactly how many men I’ve slept with. I have a little book with their names. And for my age the number is definitely respectable. If I began at the age of 16 and today I’m 21, which means five years, and I managed to sleep with a good few dozen, then you understand. And I’ve slept with boys who are 15 and men who are 45.”

[I'll try to find time to translate more of the interview.]

Breaking ranks: Entire Gaza settlement agrees to relocate

Residents of an entire Gaza Strip settlement have agreed to a deal that would relocate them outside the Gaza Strip, Haaretz reports this morning.

According to the report, residents of Pa'at Sadeh, which is located in the south of Gush Katif, will move to Moshav Mavki'im, south of Ashkelon, if Sharon's disengagement plan is implemented.

Pa'at Sadeh is one of five secular settlements in Gush Katif and home to 17 families.

I bet the residents were under tremendous pressure not to accept such an arrangement. I'd be curious to know how they'll be treated by more extremist settler elements now, and particularly how their children will be treated by classmates.

But the timing of the deal is important, with news in recent days of alarmingly high percentages of settlers ready to resist the evacuation (see yesterday's post on Yediot poll).

Divide and conquer.

The settlers are desperate

Yediot Aharonot poll of settlers:

52% say they will use their bodies to resist Gaza evacuation
10% say they will use physical violence
42% say they will hole themselves in their homes
38% say they will evacuate without resistence
47% support violating the law in this situation
30% support wearing orange Star of David (resembling yellow star Nazis force Jews to wear) as means of protest

Today's front page of Maariv has a photo of Israel Defense Forces Chief Moshe Ya'alon with the following main headline (translated from the Hebrew):

"I'm worried"

Above the headline is the following quote (apparently from Ya'alon as well): "Thousands of soldiers have signed: We will refuse orders"

The subheadline/kicker reads: Right-wing activists claim: Among the signers to refuse evacuation orders are hundreds of conscripts; IDF Chief: 'We have to be very careful about things being said'

Also on the front page is a photo of four Gush Katif children, one of them a toddler with a pacifier in his mouth and the others I would guess to be no older than 12. They are all wearing orange Stars of David on their chests.

My take on the situation: Settlers have run the country for decades. Their reign is coming to an end. They know it and they're desperate.

U.S. mad over Israeli arms sales to China - again

Once again Israel's military industry finds itself in hot water with America over arms sales to China.

In the latest flap, the U.S. is demanding that Israel not send back to China some Israeli-made Harpy assault drones which were brought here for upgrading. The drones in question are already Chinese property.

(Reuters reported in 2002 that Israel is second only to Russia in providing arms to China. I don't know how Israel ranks today.)

Last week there were reports the U.S. was demanding Israel fire a senior Defense Ministry official. Both sides denied the reports, but there's something clearly amiss in U.S.-Israel relations when it comes to selling arms to the Chinese.

In January 2003, Israel froze all weapons exports to China due to U.S. pressure.

One would think Israel and the U.S. could find some mechanism to ensure disagreements over arms sales to China don't repeat themselves, but such flaps seem to have become an annual event in recent years.

In a related story, The Jerusalem Post reports that Israeli drones are being used along the U.S.-Mexio border to help detect drug smugglers and illegal aliens.

Not so easy to be a Jewish cheerleader in Georgia: Go Dawgs!

The Los Angeles Times has story today about a federal court decision that the University of Georgia does not need to reinstate its cheerleading coach who was dismissed by university oficials for "retaliating against a Jewish cheerleader who had complained about pressure to participate in Bible study and team prayers."

(Here's the link but you need to register. Registration is free so it's worth it.)

The "dismissed" cheerleading coach, Marilou Braswell, still appears as the coach in photos on the Georgia cheerleading website. I couldn't find a photo of the Jewish cheerleader in question, Jaclyn Steele.


Jaclyn Steele in a yearbook photo. 

But Harry found for me this WXIA-TV Atlanta story with photos of all those involved. But this version of events, as Harry pointed out to me, suggests perhaps this is a case of Ms. Steele being upset over being relegated to the third-team squad and cheering at women's basketball games.

We may never know the truth.

In any case, I know this will sound crude, especially to my female readers, but I'm quite sure I'd be like putty in the hands of a Jewish cheerleader with a southern twang.

If Jonah was gay, today he could be cured

Found this link advertised on Arutz Sheva.

Pretty creepy. Even creepier are these testimonials.

One thing I don't understand, was Jonah gay? He was a sailor for a brief period, but that doesn't prove anything.

What do settlers and Arafat have in common?

Former prime minister Ehud Barak claimed that the second intifada intifada unmasked Yasser Arafat's true face. Arafat's refusal to even negotiate Israel's offers for peace at Campe David demonstrated that he was still a terrorist and had no interest in peace.

Recent events in response to the threat of evacuating the Gaza Strip are revealing the true face of the settlers.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported this morning that settlers protesting Sharon's disengagement plan are pinning an orange Stars of David on their shirts in a manner reminiscent of the yellow stars the Nazis forced Jews to wear in the Holocaust.

(Haaretz picked up the story later.)


Even the latest settler fashion trend can't help these two. 

The underlying message is clear. The Israeli government, and by extension soldiers in the army, are implementing Nazi/genocidal policies. The logical conclusion to such a message is that such policies must be stopped by all means necessary; i.e. do unto the Israeli government as you would do unto Nazi officers.

Haaretz reports that the council of rabbis in West Bank and Gaza Strip issued a statement "expressing support for settler leader Pinhas Wallerstein's call to the public to disobey the disengagement law even at the cost of a prison sentence."

The story quotes council chairman Rabbi Dov Lior as called the emerging Labor-Likud government coalition a "conspiracy of evildoers."

Like Arafat, settlers have no interest in peace (or democracy for that matter) because the conflict with the Arabs (for Arafat it was the conflict with Israel) and the messianic delusion of settling the West Bank and Gaza Strip provide the meaning in their lives.

Relinquishing territories means destroying their lives. A person who feels his life is about to be destroyed has little to lose and little fear of the consequences to actions taken that might delay this destruction.

I hope Sharon and Peres are wearing bulletproof vests.

Settlers are on slippery slope

If a leader who represents the mainstream of the settler movement can call on Israeli residents of the territories to break the law and disobey the evacuation of settlements, how far are we from a settler leader calling for (in more subtle language) settlers to break the law and use any means necessary to prevent Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from implementing his disngagement plan?

Not very.

Merry Christmas, Jews

My sister, who is married with two beautiful young children, told me last night how her husband recently attended a holiday office party that opened with the guests being asked to bow their heads for a blessing to give thanks to the Lord.

The prayer made it clear that this Lord, born on December 25th, was not a Jewish one.

Now if this was North Carolina, Oklahoma or some other red state, I could understand. But my sister lives in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, which has a large Jewish population, and my brother-in-law's ofice is also outside Chicago, albeit in different suburb.

In any case, I thought "Happy holidays" was the correct way to go in such situations. But Slate reports that in the era of Bush, "Merry Christmas" is making a comeback.

Barghouti as deputy Palestinian chairman?

Danny Rubinstein, veteran Arab affairs correspondent for Haaretz, writes that Abu Mazen, assuming he wins the Palestinian elections for a new chairman, could appoint jailed Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti as his deputy.

According to Rubinstein, such a move, albeit symbolic, would solidify Abu Mazen's support among the younger generation of Palestnians who support Barghouti, but would not threaten the Palestinian leader as long as Barghouti remains in an Israeli prison.

Free massages for Knesset Members

Good story in Monday's Yedioth Aharonoth about blind massagists coming to the Knesset today to offer free treatment to Knesset members and their staffs. It's part of a project meant to encourage employment for the handicapped.

According to the report, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin and Likud Knesset Members Gila Gamliel and Ruhama Avraham were prepared to make time for a session.


Despite our political differences, I would
happily massage MK Avraham. 

The blind, according to the report, are extremely good at giving massages because to compensate for their handicap they develop great sensitivity in their hands.

Most importantly, the report says that massages "will be given to Knesset members while they are fully dressed."

'Bad week for Israeli toddlers' or 'Look out below!'

In the French film Amélie, the main character of the same name loses her mother when a suicide jumper lands on her.

On Wednesday a woman in Or Yehuda "fell" (still not clear if it was a suicide) from the 13th floor of an apartment building, landing on a 10-month old boy who was walking with his mother and another relative.

News in the last few days suggests Israel is not a particularly safe place for toddlers. Not only do we have suicide bombers and road accidents, but mohels who don't know how to snip and suicide jumpers who don't know how to aim.

'If you don't like Haaretz why do you keep quoting it?'

On more than one occasion an anonymous reader (Perhaps the same one? Perhaps a Haaretz employe) has asked what do I have against the so-called New York Times of Israel, and if I criticize the paper so much why do I keep quoting it.

In regard to the first question, Haarez and The Jerusalem Post are the two major English language Israeli news websites. (The Maariv version isn't updated enough to be taken seriously and Ynet has yet to launch its English version.) I tend to read Haaretz more than JPost because my political views are more in line with the former than the latter.

When I see mistakes on Haaretz, reports with questionable journalism, or points I disagree with, I point it out. I do the same with JPost, but this happens less often because I read it less frequently than Haaretz.

At the same time, I find Haaretz to be intellectually over the top to a degree that is both tiresome and humorous. In this context, I felt it was worth pointing out that the newspaper claiming to be intellectually superior to the competition misspells the name of Pierre Bourdieu, an important French philosopher. (Such a mistake would be less interesting in The Jerusalem Post.)

On the other hand, on several occasions on this blog I have discussed my disagreement with JPost columnist Caroline Glick.

Why do I continue to quote Haaretz? Why shouldn't I? It's still an excellent source of news. I point out mistakes because they should be corrected and because as an English speaker who knows something about journalism I find them embarassing and sometimes misleading.

But because Haaretz makes mistakes does this mean it is a poor source of news? Maybe. Maybe not. That's for the reader to decide. Mistakes are a reminder that Haaretz coverage presents a worldview and version of events based on facts presented in a manner that lend support the so-called liberal values of the Israeli elite.

By the way, to my knowledge there aren't too many Israeli Arabs or other minorities employed by Haaretz. Should the management of a newspaper that repeatedly calls attention to social inequalities in Israel actually do something to change this state of affairs in its own house? I guess not.

Lots of Ashkenazim and a few progressive religious types work there. Granted this is perhaps the job applicant pool, but some effort could be made to recruit minorities. It's just another example of the condescending top-to-bottom 'We know what's good for you' Yossi Beilin/Kfar Shmariyahu/Labor-Meretz attitude that has dominated so-called progressive/liberal politics in Israel.

Bris miss

Not for the faint of heart: Rabbi ordered to pay NIS 1.18 million for botched circumcision.

Poor kid.

Just what we need - a Jewish parliament

President Katsav is pushing forward his idea for a Jewish parliament that would include Jews from all over the world.

(Jerusalem Post correspondent Greer Fay Cashman makes certain to mention in her report that two Jews have three opinions between them. Nice use of an overused cliche. You really caught me off guard with that one.)

But back to the idea of a Jewish parliament. Despite calls for such a body to include unrepresented and younger Jewish voices, it would probably end up as another bloated body of wealthy Diaspora Jews, perhaps younger, who buy their way onto various boards of Jewish organizations through their generous donations - generosity they seldom keep secret.

On the other hand, the religious powers in Israel would certainly oppose the creation of any such body because it could Reform and Conservative Judaism gain wider acceptance here and threaten the existing Orthodox monopoly on conversion, marriage and the 'Who is a Jew?' debate.

It's also interesting to note how Katsav laments the high rate of intermarriage in the U.S. and Europe, as if Israel has demonstrated such adroit handling of its own social problems related to Jewish issues (Anybody try to get a marriage license from the Rabbinical Council lately? That's a lot of fun.) that it is equipped to help the Diaspora.

Don't dishonor soldiers by calling them terror victims

This post may upset some people.

It's certainly terrible that five Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed Sunday by a bomb planted in a tunnel dug beneath an army checkpost in the Gaza Strip. But is it terror?

In the same article about the Gaza bombing, Haaretz quotes Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as saying the Palestinian Authority is doing nothing against terror. Here's the Haaretz excerpt:

Speaking to journalists Monday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he did not see any change in the Palestinian Authority's efforts to fight terrorism.

Progress in peace efforts, Sharon said, "depends on the Palestinians, if they will act against terror."

"By now, we don't see any change," he said, speaking in English.

"Myself and my government would like to move forward toward peace, but it depends on one thing, that it should be quiet and I'm really sorry to say that by now we don't see any changes," he added.

But it's not really clear whether Sharon was talking about the Gaza bombing. I wouldn't be surprised if he was, because Israel tends to label all Palestinian atacks as terror.

But don't soldiers deserve a bit more credit? Calling the attack an act of terror turns them into victims. As someone who served in the army here and does reserve duty, I understand I'm a legitimate target when I'm wearing my uniform. Armies use force to impose a particular policy, and sometimes those who disagree with the policy fight back.

Not as intellectual as they would like to think they are

From Haaretz story:

Yaron's claim that Dayan worships the visual image was sparked by a comment earlier in the discussion, in which Dayan quoted French philosopher Pierre Bordier.

It's Pierre Bourdieu.

Nazi hunter? Where do I sign up?

At what point does one have the right to be called Nazi hunter? Is there an apprenticeship period? Does the Nazi hunter have any special weapons, like the vampire hunter equipped with wooden stake, mallet, holy water, large cross, mirror and garlic?

What does the Nazi hunter write on his resume?

Nazi Hunter (1976-present). Located and apprehended more than 13 former Nazis, managed computer database of Nazis on the loose, and oversaw staff of four. Strong computer skills.

Is there a standard line the Nazi hunter utters when he has made the "kill"?

Does the Nazi hunter spend a lot of time in nursing homes looking for former Nazis? If so, how does he stand the smell?

Does the Nazi hunter have a trophy room at home with photographs of the Nazis he captured hanging on the wall? If so, are they recent photos of the Nazi in question or taken during the Nazi's glory years?

Where does the Nazi hunter rank in the hierarchy of hunters? In a battle royale of hunters (see list below of hunters a friend and I came up with) how would the Nazi hunter come out?

Vampire hunter
Shark hunter
Bounty hunter
Booty hunter
Werewolf hunter
Treasure hunter
Kraven the Hunter
Holly Hunter (Lame joke. I know.)

Nothing like a Gaza air strike to help Sharon

Am I the only person who thinks Prime Minister Sharon was very happy to have the Israel Defense Forces attempt to take out a senior Palestinian militant/terrorist on the same day his own Likud party was voting whether to allow him to open negotiations for a unity government that would include Labor?

The fact that the missile fired at the car carrying Jamal Abu Samhadana only wounded him and three others is irrelevant. The air strike may have helped show Likud voters that their Sharon hasn't gone soft - even if he does intend to give up the Gaza Strip.

The timing of the air strike, however, is questionable. There has been plenty of positive movement since Yasser Arafat's death, but such assassination attempts undermine the new Palestinian leadership.

Also, Abu Samhadana was not a "ticking bomb" on his way to carry out a terror attack, but rather leader of the Popular Resistance Committees. I'm not saying the guy isn't bad, but how does Israel benefit by killng him now?

French ambassador: Israelis suffer from anti-France disorder

"You hate us. You Israelis have a psychological disorder - the disorder of anti-Frenchism."

The French ambassador to Israel made this statment in an Army Radio interview Thursday.

If Israelis do suffer from such a disorder, a clue to its source can be found in a New York Times story about why Hezbollah-operated al-Manar TV is allowed to broadcast in France reports claiming that for years Israel had spread the AIDS virus and other diseases throughout the Arab world as well as reports calling for a war against Jews and the destruction of Israel.

Yes, the ambassador is right. We would have to be absolutely crazy to hate a country that allows such messages to be transmitted to its citizens. We should love the French.

Vive la France!

Sharon's man Safire

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon welcomes a showdown with his own Likud party over his attempts to create some positive movement toward peace, veteran New York Times columnist William Safire writes today.

While you may not agree with Safire all the time - I certainly don't - it's worth paying attention to him because he's considered tight with Sharon, so one can assume his sources are close to the prime minister or Sharon himself.

Here's an interesting excerpt:

As Palestinians elect a new government that can restrain its violence-prone bitter-enders, I'm told that Sharon's coalition of Likud, Labor and several religious parties would agree to start Palestinian negotiations with a clean slate. The previous Barak-Clinton offers, including a division of Jerusalem - anathema to most Israelis - came off the table when Arafat chose war.

That unencumbered start would please Likud's right and annoy Labor's left, but here's the delicious complexity of the first "unified disunity government": On foreign affairs, Sharon will have his center-left coalition; on domestic budgets, his rightist coalition.

Poll: 51% of Germans say IDF=Nazis

This is scary.

According to a German poll, 51 percent of Germans say there is not much of a difference between what Israel is doing to the Palestinians today and what the Nazis did to the Jews during the Holocaust, The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday on its website.

I confess that I've had a hard time relating to anti-Semitism. This probably has something to do with me being a blond, blue-eyed Jewish boy from northern Indiana.

(When I was an undergrad at UCLA, I tried on numerous occasions to get involved with Hillel and the Jewish Student Union, but after the 23rd time some arrogant Los Angeles resident asked, "There are Jews in Indiana?" I gave up. Maybe that's part of why today I'm in Israel.)

I never personally experienced anti-Semitism. It also makes no sense to me how people can hold such views in a modern world. Of course I know some do, but I just can't understand how they do it.

The political use of the anti-Semitism card is also problematic. Today many Israelis and Jews scream "anti-Semitism" too often in response to legitimate criticism of Israel. This creates a "boy who cried wolf" situation.

Germany was considered a center of culture when the Nazis rose to power, so the values of modernity offer no protection against anti-Semitism. But while I say this and believe in on an intellectual level, I confess that I haven't internalized it. I know it's there, but it just doesn't make sense to me.

In addition, some in Europe certainly use criticism of Israeli policy toward the Palestinians as a means to advance anti-Semitic propaganda.

Suddenly I'm feeling patriotic - both as an Israeli and an American - and all that European criticism of the U.S. for the war in Iraq and of Americans for reelecting Bush sounds a lot less credible.

Eggnog: Not just for goyim

Glad to hear I'm not the only Jew who likes the delicious taste of eggnog, although I haven't tasted the stuff for years.

It seems like there are some foods that Jews just don't eat. Not necessarily because of kosher issues, but because these foods are simply designated as belonging to the domain of the gentile.


Kool Aid Man brings joy
to all the goyim children.  

Just off the top of my head, I'd put on the list:
Pop tarts
Slim Jim
Wonder Bread
Kool Aid
Marshmellows

Here's a product description of Slim Jim that just screams GOYIM!:

Slim Jim is the unconventional snack with an exciting, distinctive beefy taste teens love. Slim Jim's irreverent "in your face" attitude is captured in its advertising, sponsorships and promotions. Slim Jim is available in various flavors of meat sticks, beef jerky, beef steak and beef 'n cheese

I didn't see any Slim Jims in the lunch boxes of the Jewish kids at summer camp. But during my childhood growing up in a small city in northern Indiana, all these delicacies could be found in the home across the street. There lived my best friend and neighbor at the time Greg Gable. He had all kinds of great stuff that I associated with the good goyim life:

-Intellivision (which challenged Atari for supremacy over young people's minds),
-HBO and MTV (Remember this was in the 1980s when cable TV was still a novelty - at least it was in Indiana.)
-Star Wars figures (This may have been because as teachers my parents wanted my sister and I to have more creative toys. Looking back, I think they just didn't want to pay for all that crap that toy collectors are now paying top dollar for on Ebay.)

Greg's dad, who was a large beer-drinking man, was into camping and had a shortwave radio. He had a tall antenna installed next to the house so Mr. Gable - what the hell was his first name? Oh yeah, Gary! - could do whatever people do on shortwave radios.

Is there anything more goyish than a shortwave radio? I think not.

Anyway, if any of you have any observations about differences in the goy/Jew lifestyle, please put them in the comments section.

Arafat dead, ceasefire on horizon - connection?

Israel and the Palestinians have reached understandings that will serve as the basis for a ceasefire, Ynet is reporting Wednesday morning citing Egyptian sources.

According to the report, Prime Minister Sharon is prepared to halt military operations against the Palestinians if the Palestinians stop the terror attacks on Israel.

The Palestinians are denying the reports, but this is not suprising. The new leadership doesn't want to appear to be giving in to Israel's demands or for things to look too good after Yasser Arafat's death.

But with the rapid pace at which the situation appears to be improving since Yasser left us, I won't be surprised if water turns to wine and manna falls from the heavens sometime in the next few days.

Column None: Leftists are the enemy blah blah blah

I've enjoyed watching Caroline Glick's diminishing prominence on the Jerusalem Post website in recent weeks. (Or am I just seeing what I want to see?) I wonder how long she'll last under the new management that doens't appear to share the neo-conservative views of its predecessor.

In any case, her latest column is more of the same "leftists help terrorists, are bad for Israel blah blah blah" she always writes.

I know this is her bread and butter, her shtick. But she's trapped, unable to think beyond the confines of her own logic that serves her own agenda.

She writes: "For solipsistic leftists, which reign supreme in Israel's media, academia and judiciary, the homogeneity of Palestinian society makes it easy for to ignore the enemy while vainly walking through their distorted halls of mirrors and echo chambers. Their goal is to create a perception of reality in which the Palestinians are all innocent and Israel is always at fault. In recent weeks, their primary target has been the IDF."

While I agree with her claim that some leftists (Gush Shalom, Uri Avnery, and Gideon Levy for example) have the abovementioned goal, Glick is no less guilty of striving for the opposite, but equally distateful end: to crate a perception of reality in which the Palestinians are all terrorists and Israel is always innocent.

Ideologues in the press, on the right and left, have created the "distorted halls of mirrors and echo chambers" of which Glick writes.

She could do us all a favor by looking in the mirror herself, but I doubt she's willing to take that step. Glick's pocketbook - financed by her rabid right-wing American readership - would take quite a hit.

Post-Arafat era: So far, so good

Remember the naysayers who warned us about the dangers of the post-Arafat Middle East? I know it's still early, but let's review some of the events since his death:

-Egypt releases Israeli Druze Azzam Azzam, after 8 years in prison
-Israel-Egypt ties are improving
-Hamas is openly discussing a hudna (ceasefire)
-No major terror attacks (knock on wood)
-Reports Syria willing to enter into peace talks
-Tel Aviv Stock Market soars (Maybe my Teva shares will return to the price I paid for them.)

Would any of this happened if Yasser was still alive in his Muqata compound in Ramallah? I don't think so.

On the other hand, all this good news creates a problem for Israel's right-wing. Without Arafat - and the wave of violence he did nothing to stop - the settlers will have a more difficult time pointing to the Palestinian leadership as the main impediment to peace. It's also more difficult to use security issues as an excuse to stay in Gaza and not implement Sharon's disengagement plan.

In some ways, a positive atmosphere between Israel and the Palestinians is the worst thing for the settlers' cause. No security threat means little reason to keep the settlements.

I'm not saying all is rosy or the situation won't change, just that there are positive trends at the moment - both for Israel and the Palestinians, but not necessarily for the settlers.

Do we really want to feel like we were in Auschwitz?

The head of the Israel Defense Forces personnel branch, Major General Elazar Stern, was quoted in Haaretz on Monday as saying that "every generation needs to see itself as if it had come out of Auschwitz."

The Haaretz report suggests Stern believes if soldiers saw themselves as having experienced the Holocaust firsthand, they would be more sensitive to their treatment of Palestinians.

But something troubles me about his comments. For the last several years I've been a volunteer for AMCHA, an Israeli organization that supports Holocaust survivors and their children. Every week I visit an elderly Holocaust survivor who herself was in Auschwitz. She is now a widower with one son and one granddaughter. She has a brother and sister in Europe, but hasn't been in touch with them for years and fears if she does so today she'll hear that they have died.

Stern's suggestion that a Holocaust-like experience is needed to remind soldiers of how to act in a humane manner - in a situation of war that is far from humane - reflects the poor state of values in Israeli society. It also fails to take into account the psychological trauma the Holocaust inflicted on those who experienced it directly and their families.

Although he didn't say it in this manner, Stern's comments can be understood as expressing disgust that the Jewish people, decimated by the horrors of the Holocaust, are not more sensitive to human rights issues.

Perhaps I'm overly sensitive to the issue, but whenever the Holocaust is used in a political or military context, I feel uneasy. I'm not sure we'd be better off if every soldier saw himself as having come out of Auschwitz. There's a lot of baggage that comes with it.

Beilin: Hamas is stronger than Fatah - and Barghouti is to blame

Yossi Beilin has some suprisingly strong words on Marwan Barghouti:

"I believe he was carried away. He thought he could control the violence he unleashed and end the intifada in a few weeks. But he was carried away in an ongoing competition with Hamas on the ground, which was about violence, and today Hamas is stronger than Fatah, and Barghouti is to blame - because Fatah started this intifada, and not Hamas."

Jdate for goyim

New York Times feature discusses how non-Jews are using Jdate.

I hope they're having better success than me.

Conspiracy theories in our midst

A few weeks ago I had a strange conversation with a colleague. I intended to blog about it earlier, but I'm only getting to it now.

I work for an Israel news website and the colleague, who is Arab, works for the Arabic-language site. I asked him whether the Arab world would have any problem with Condoleezza Rice becoming secretary of state following Colin Powell's resignation, because she's a woman. His response was something like this:

"That's part of the Western world's propaganda against the Arab world, as if there are no women in places of power. I'll give you a list of female officials."

"Yes, but are any of them really in positions of power?" I asked.

He mumbled something of an evasive non-response. Somehow the conversation moved to the 9-11 attacks.

"How is it that all the Jews working in the Twin Towers didn't show up for work that day?" he asked.

At first I thought he was joking. His expression indicated he was not.

I've heard of such Jewish conspiracy theories in the Arab world, but I was shocked that this educated journalist, who lives in Israel, could actually believe them to be true, even partially.

The conversation troubled me so I mentioned it to a Jewish colleague who speaks Arabic and has had more contact with the Arab sector than I do. He said the conversation wasn't surprising because conspiracy theories have quite a hold in the Arab world, even among the educated.

I guess this explains why Egyptian TV can broadcast a series based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and officials in Cairo see nothing wrong with it.

As for me, now I don't look at my colleague in the same way. I wonder how he looks at me.

History lesson: Mideast peace in Studio 54

The Onion remembers when Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat celebrated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.

Hilarious.

Big (Jewish) brother is watching

What a great idea for a theocracy! Credit cards that don't work on the Sabbath.

Just in time for Shas to enter the government.

Lazy and sloppy

Any chance Haaretz will take the time to get correct spellings for the names of the AIPAC officials subpoenaed in the FBI investigation?

Come on, people, this is the age of the Internet.

Just go to the AIPAC website and get it right.