Elections Do Not Equal Democracy Time to Stop Pretending | Marc Goldberg | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel:
'via Blog this'
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Friday, 23 March 2012
Revisiting Guardian’s “expose” on public funds for Jewish communal security
In the context of the recent murder of four Jews in Toulouse, it would seem that public support to provide enhanced security at Jewish schools is essential and should be uncontroversial.
That’s not saying we don’t all pray that cometh the day soon that we won’t need to take such precautions to protect the Jewish community, but right now and indeed throughout our history, we have and we do. The promised prophesised days of the lion chilling in the field with the lamb seem to be a little way off yet.
Whilst The Guardian may choose to forget their ill-fated “expose” on such funding, published on Holocaust Memorial, day two months ago, I have not forgotten and I am here to remind you.
The essence of the pompous “investigation” was that Michael Gove, the UK Education Secretary, awarded a £2million pound grant to the Community Security Trust to be distributed amongst Jewish schools for security. There was a half-arsed attempt to talk about some conflict of interest, an accusation that was dismissed by the Education Department.
The source of the Guardian “expose”? David Miller, of the Spinwatch.
Who is David Miller?
Per Harry’s Place, he passionately defended hate preacher, Raed Salah, and, additionally:
David Miller also runs a series of websites, one of which reproduced the thesis of a notorious neo Nazi, Kevin MacDonald. MacDonald believes that Jews are genetically predisposed to scheme and conspire against non-Jews. The article was eventually removed, after this was pointed out to them. But, as far as we can tell, nobody was “sacked” from Miller’s project for promoting neo Nazi antisemitism.
However the true purpose of the piece was painfully transparent to us all and very much in line with their usual narrative.
Most vital, in the Guardian’s role of protecting the public interest, was the fact that the £2million grant for protecting children in Jewish schools is made up of…..drum roll….Taxpayers money!
I know, I know. It would seem that the Jewish people in the UK have the chutzpah to think that their children have the right to some minimal governmental protection from violent antisemites.
Check out those Jews getting above their station with their sense of entitlement to public funds!
It is now four days since the shooting at the Jewish school in Toulouse. The gunman shot dead at close range three children and an adult. All Jews. Two of the children were siblings and the adult shot dead was their father. With this unspeakably painful act in mind, I put a question over to the Guardian and appeal to the better angels of their nature:
Do you still think that the scorn displayed throughout your article was appropriate?Do you now think that a measly £2million of public taxpayers money towards the preservation of Jewish childrens’ lives is excessive?I urge you for just this once to set aside the pomp and self-importance and to take those terrifying steps towards the unchartered territory of the closest thing to an apology you can manage.Whilst I look forward to reading this, you will be pleased to know I won’t be holding my breath.
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Terror in the Sinai
With all of the focus on the victims of the shooting in Toulouse and their burial in Israel it would be easy to miss this little article that shows the extent to which the Sinai has become a launch pad for terror attacks and the way that Eilat is now in the firing line like never before.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-planning-terror-in-eilat-arrested/
http://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-planning-terror-in-eilat-arrested/
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Beinart's Got it Wrong!
Peter Beinart is an American intellectual/academic living in New York who has just written a book entitled "The Crisis of Zionism". In a recent op-ed piece in the New York Times he argues in favour of a boycott on the settlements in the West Bank and that instead money should be spent in Israel proper. He argues that the area beyond the Green Line should be referred to only as "nondemocratic Israel" and distinguishes it from "flawed but democratic Israel" on the other side of the divide. The man is highly regarded and Bill Clinton himself complimented him and his new book calling it;
"a deeply important book for anyone who cares about Israel, its security, its democracy, and its prospects for a just and lasting peace" adding that he "explains the roots of the current political and religious debates within Israel, raises the tough questions that can’t be avoided, and offers a new way forward to achieve Zionism’s founding ideals, both in Israel and among the diaspora Jews in the United States and elsewhere."
The thing is that boycotting settlements seems kind of bizarre to me. Settlements consist of people who get up in the morning and drive to work everyday, it's not like they have loads of crops to harvest and sell and are therefore open to some kind of financial pressure. I am sure that there is some agriculture there as well as industry but I really doubt that this boycott will even appear on their radar, were it to ever actually happen. Beinart makes it very clear that he is not advocating to Israelis that they shouldn't hire people if they live in the settlements just that they should boycott them saying;
"Having made that rhetorical distinction [nondemocratic Israel], American Jews should seek every opportunity to reinforce it. We should lobby to exclude settler-produced goods from America’s free-trade deal with Israel. We should push to end Internal Revenue Service policies that allow Americans to make tax-deductible gifts to settler charities. Every time an American newspaper calls Israel a democracy, we should urge it to include the caveat: only within the green line."
My big gripe with this is that it does not address the reality that is Israel, it addresses a small part of the reality that is Israel. In his whole 2 page piece Beinart doesn't mention the PA or Palestine once and mentions Palestinians a mere 4 times at the very beginning, compare this with 25 times for Israel and Israeli. In other words he is looking at Israel in a vacuum. By ignoring Palestinians, or assuming that they would simply be so happy that this boycott were taking place that they would forget about their own agenda he does us all a disservice.
Does he think that with this mini boycott the settlers will simply leave their homes and move to within the Green Line? And if they did that that would really make the bad blood between us and Palestinians disappear?
At a time when the PA is threatening to dismantle itself and the peace process is nowhere, this latest little endeavour on the part of an American academic doesn't make the road towards the necessary end game any clearer.
The discourse from the Palestinian Authority tends to be all about the past, "look at what we once had and look at what you are offering us" is the view that has ensured that time and again their leadership has utterly failed to take the steps necessary to securing a deal with us and ending this conflict. They have some serious work of their own to do before they are in a position to make a deal with us without any connection to settlement building or settlement boycotting.
Although the settlements are a tragic mistake on our part and do indeed make it much harder for the 2 state solution that successive Israeli leaders have argued in favour of, to look at them in isolation makes a mockery of the entire situation.
I have a solution of my own, it's called voting in the general election, the American Jews that Beinart is talking to can't do that, but then they aren't going to boycott the settlements either, mainly because it's a really, really stupid idea. I am sure he will sell loads of copies of his book though and that, lets face it, is what all this is really about.
"a deeply important book for anyone who cares about Israel, its security, its democracy, and its prospects for a just and lasting peace" adding that he "explains the roots of the current political and religious debates within Israel, raises the tough questions that can’t be avoided, and offers a new way forward to achieve Zionism’s founding ideals, both in Israel and among the diaspora Jews in the United States and elsewhere."
The thing is that boycotting settlements seems kind of bizarre to me. Settlements consist of people who get up in the morning and drive to work everyday, it's not like they have loads of crops to harvest and sell and are therefore open to some kind of financial pressure. I am sure that there is some agriculture there as well as industry but I really doubt that this boycott will even appear on their radar, were it to ever actually happen. Beinart makes it very clear that he is not advocating to Israelis that they shouldn't hire people if they live in the settlements just that they should boycott them saying;
"Having made that rhetorical distinction [nondemocratic Israel], American Jews should seek every opportunity to reinforce it. We should lobby to exclude settler-produced goods from America’s free-trade deal with Israel. We should push to end Internal Revenue Service policies that allow Americans to make tax-deductible gifts to settler charities. Every time an American newspaper calls Israel a democracy, we should urge it to include the caveat: only within the green line."
My big gripe with this is that it does not address the reality that is Israel, it addresses a small part of the reality that is Israel. In his whole 2 page piece Beinart doesn't mention the PA or Palestine once and mentions Palestinians a mere 4 times at the very beginning, compare this with 25 times for Israel and Israeli. In other words he is looking at Israel in a vacuum. By ignoring Palestinians, or assuming that they would simply be so happy that this boycott were taking place that they would forget about their own agenda he does us all a disservice.
Does he think that with this mini boycott the settlers will simply leave their homes and move to within the Green Line? And if they did that that would really make the bad blood between us and Palestinians disappear?
At a time when the PA is threatening to dismantle itself and the peace process is nowhere, this latest little endeavour on the part of an American academic doesn't make the road towards the necessary end game any clearer.
The discourse from the Palestinian Authority tends to be all about the past, "look at what we once had and look at what you are offering us" is the view that has ensured that time and again their leadership has utterly failed to take the steps necessary to securing a deal with us and ending this conflict. They have some serious work of their own to do before they are in a position to make a deal with us without any connection to settlement building or settlement boycotting.
Although the settlements are a tragic mistake on our part and do indeed make it much harder for the 2 state solution that successive Israeli leaders have argued in favour of, to look at them in isolation makes a mockery of the entire situation.
I have a solution of my own, it's called voting in the general election, the American Jews that Beinart is talking to can't do that, but then they aren't going to boycott the settlements either, mainly because it's a really, really stupid idea. I am sure he will sell loads of copies of his book though and that, lets face it, is what all this is really about.
Monday, 19 March 2012
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Purim in Jerusalem
It turns out that Purim in Jerusalem is a very exciting time. The whole city seemed to be on the streets in a fit of collective partying. Religious and secular switch places as many secular dress up as Haredim and religious people transform into a range of different guises.
The underground car park beneath City Hall becomes an all night club and the next day street parties raged through the Nahlaot neighbourhood with thousands dancing among the cars, just not wanting the holiday to end!
Monday, 12 March 2012
Kafka Israel Style
I received a letter a few weeks ago, it was from the Ministry of Justice (or some such place) and said that I owed money and that if I didn't pay the money then I could expect people to come around to my apartment and take property to the amount that I owed.
Naturally the letter didn't say how much money I owed, who to or how to pay.
The journey began.
I went to the the websitewww.eca.gov.il named on the letter, wrote my ID and email address in the specified place (which was NOT easy to find) and promptly received an email saying that I had nothing to pay.
So I received a letter telling me to pay and an email telling me I had nothing to pay.
The plot thickens.
I forwarded the email to a lawyer friend who misread the email and said it is much worse than he thought and I should get down to the court house for opening time 08:30 and find out what is going on.
I went to the court, arriving at 08:30, they said that I had nothing to pay.
I left the courthouse and it didn't occur to me to ask why they sent the letter in the first place until I arrived home. Oops.
In 2004 I left Israel for wetter pastures and shittier weather back in London, unfortunately I left an unpaid phone bill to the amount of 480NIS with Orange. Was it possible that this had come from the unpaid phone bill from 2004?
I had to be sure.
I went to the Orange store near me where they told me that I had to go to the Orange store much further away.
I went to the Orange store much further away.
At the Orange store much further away they told me that it was in the hands of their lawyer and therefore I couldn't pay it there.
They put a call through to Orange customer service where I waited on hold for 10 minutes (what's 10 minutes compared to 7 years right?)
When I was connected to the representative he told me that the original bill was 480 NIS but would now be much higher. He connected me to the law firm dealing with it.
I spoke to a lawyer who told me that I owed 2,800 NIS.
I complained.
She lowered it to 1,600 NIS.
I paid the bill and went home.
Naturally the letter didn't say how much money I owed, who to or how to pay.
The journey began.
I went to the the website
In 2004 I left Israel for wetter pastures and shittier weather back in London, unfortunately I left an unpaid phone bill to the amount of 480NIS with Orange. Was it possible that this had come from the unpaid phone bill from 2004?
I had to be sure.
I went to the Orange store near me where they told me that I had to go to the Orange store much further away.
I went to the Orange store much further away.
At the Orange store much further away they told me that it was in the hands of their lawyer and therefore I couldn't pay it there.
They put a call through to Orange customer service where I waited on hold for 10 minutes (what's 10 minutes compared to 7 years right?)
When I was connected to the representative he told me that the original bill was 480 NIS but would now be much higher. He connected me to the law firm dealing with it.
I spoke to a lawyer who told me that I owed 2,800 NIS.
I complained.
She lowered it to 1,600 NIS.
I paid the bill and went home.
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
The New Apple iPad 3
The New Apple iPad 3, apparently it's not that great:
:p
http://www.theonion.com/articles/this-article-generating-thousands-of-dollars-in-ad,27564/
:p
http://www.theonion.com/articles/this-article-generating-thousands-of-dollars-in-ad,27564/
Wet Morning in Tel Aviv
I took these on a Sunday morning when the week was just about to begin after a night of heavy rain during a morning of drizzle.
IDF Special Forces in training
There is a unit in the IDF called Yahalom or Diamond.
They are a top tier unit that take on extremely specialised missions and work alongside the top units in the IDF to provide explosive expertise.
Yahalom is the elite unit of the Corps of Engineers and their reputation is highly formidable.
The IDF has just released a video of them in training...
They are a top tier unit that take on extremely specialised missions and work alongside the top units in the IDF to provide explosive expertise.
Yahalom is the elite unit of the Corps of Engineers and their reputation is highly formidable.
The IDF has just released a video of them in training...
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
When Iran Loses Syria
From my Times of Israel blog,
Reports of Iranian intervention in Syria have been steadily trickling out of the region for several days. Brigadier General Hussam Awak, formerly of Syrian Air Force Intelligence and now of the Free Syrian Army, told the news site Arshaq Alawsat that Iranian soldiers are on the ground fighting alongside Assad’s security forces. He also stated that Hezbollah forces are in Syria fighting alongside them. Awak isn’t the only one claiming Iranian involvement in Syria,The Washington Post quoted US intelligence sources as saying that; “aid from Iran is increasing, and is increasingly focused on lethal assistance.”
Read more here...
Reports of Iranian intervention in Syria have been steadily trickling out of the region for several days. Brigadier General Hussam Awak, formerly of Syrian Air Force Intelligence and now of the Free Syrian Army, told the news site Arshaq Alawsat that Iranian soldiers are on the ground fighting alongside Assad’s security forces. He also stated that Hezbollah forces are in Syria fighting alongside them. Awak isn’t the only one claiming Iranian involvement in Syria,The Washington Post quoted US intelligence sources as saying that; “aid from Iran is increasing, and is increasingly focused on lethal assistance.”
Read more here...
Saturday, 3 March 2012
Popular Committee for Syria's Victory
One could be forgiven for thinking that the whole world stands united in being appalled by the events in Syria at the moment. Naturally one would be wrong for thinking that that is the case, here in Israel many people are appalled by what they see as the shameful lies that are being sent all over the world with regards to Syria and the glorious president Assad.
They are so ashamed that they held a rally to complain about the lies that are being beamed around the world.
They are so ashamed that they held a rally to complain about the lies that are being beamed around the world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)