Thursday, July 23, 2009

1. Nothing Succeeds Like Success - The Israeli Separation Barrier (approximately 95% of which is fence, not wall) has been a roaring success - the terrorist attacks that were deliberately aimed at Israeli civilians on buses, in malls and at restaurants have thankfully more or less completely stopped. I had the honor of meeting Col, Danny Tirza, the architect of the Barrier, when I was in Israel in May - he is a man who is solely interested in protecting civilians from terrorist attacks - plain and simple.

But that does not matter to many of the hypocrites in the world at large, who ignore many other similar structures (including longer, larger and more permanent ones) around the world - read all about it in Loving the Israeli Wall. See also this article.

By the way - here is a picture I took during my recent trip - it was taken in Gilo, a suburb of Jerusalem and shows a part of the Barrier that is partly fence and partly wall. The reason for the wall portion in this case is that the wall provides protection from sniper fire that a chain link fence cannot provide.

2. Leftists, Part 2 - The Violent Left, Part 2.

3. Real Jewish Leaders - as opposed to the sanitized list of Jewish "leaders" that the President met with recently, today the Democratic Senate leadership met with a broad range of Jewish leaders that according to reports, were not afraid to speak out on issues relating to Israel and Iran. Here is an update about comments made by David Harris of the American Jewish Congress.

4. Bibi Makes it Clear - The Prime Minister has told the leaders of major U.S. Jewish organizations that Iran's potential acquisition of nuclear weapons as a "hinge of history,"and said it is in the world's interest to stop the Iranian regime. The full story is here.

5. Settlements - Here is an odious article by Debra Delee, formerly Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee and presently - surprise, surprise - president and CEO of Americans for Peace Now. Here is a good response from Israeli journalist Amnon Lord. And as for the most recent aspect of this issue - a defunct hotel near the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem - Jeff Jacoby of The Boston Globe writes Jerusalem - one city, undivided.

7. Excuse Me, What Was That Again? - I would suggest that more than any other nation, Israel gets lots of free and unsolicited advice from its enemies, to its allies, to Jews in the Diaspora with regard to any number of issues. Much of this has to do with the notion of making peace with its adversaries. However, a senior spokesman for one of its main adversaries - Fatah - the supposedly moderate Palestinian faction - recently said We won't recognize Israel.

8. More Human Rights Watch - the fallout mushrooms - even more news on this story.

9. Well, At Least They're Not Criticizing Israel - The United Methodist Church is sticking its nose into the Honduras mess, but as usual, they are being hypocritical about it.

10. I Don't Mean to Be Crass - But can someone show me a story like this emanating from the Arab World?

11. History of Israel, Installment 4 - I have not updated this series in a while, so here is Installment #4, The State of Israel.

12. Now I Know Why I Am A Lousy Golfer - Too much to process....