2. Or This... - Zionist Conspiracy in the death of you-know who (and I don't mean Jesus). How can someone just say this stuff without anyone jumping down his throat with both feet? Is this free speech? Maybe I should ask the ACLU. No - I won't bother.
3. Good Idea - Army to shun human rights conference on Gaza campaign - why indulge another group of people that only want to unfairly criticize the IDF - and, what a surprise, they are Jews to boot. Maybe someone should actually thank the IDF for keeping some very bad people out of Israel.
Many of you probably remember the famous trial scene in A Few Good Men. When I first saw the movie many many years ago, I loathed Colonel Jessep, the character played by Jack Nicholson. But now I am not nearly so sure.
I have never served in the military, so what follows is conjecture. I believe that the art of maintaining a disciplined yet appropriately efficient and (where necessary) lethal army is a difficult task, especially in a democracy. I am fairly certain that all kinds of very difficult choices need to be made extremely quickly with less than perfect information. Mistakes, sometimes tragic ones, happen. While I agree that the IDF (or any other military) must be held to account when it makes such mistakes, I firmly believe that any investigation must be conducted with extreme fairness with considerable regard to the context, and that any criticism or punishment found necessary has to be meted out very carefully. Monday morning quarterbacks are great, but we are not talking about criticizing a mistake in a football game. Demanding adherence to unrealistic standards is unfair, and likely serves to weaken the military.
How would you balance the views of Colonel Jessep with those of Lt. Daniel Kaffee (played by Tom Cruise)?
4. What is it with These People? - Every summer, it seems that some anti-Israel resolutions make it onto the floor of the United Church convention. I am not saying that the United Church as an entity is anti-Israel - I suspect that the group responsible is some sort of (lunatic?) fringe that is obsessed with tearing down the Jewish State and that knows Roberts Rules of Order fluently. So while I will refer you to this article as background - United Church's Israel proposal worries Jewish groups - I am not sure that it is entirely accurate because I think that it suggests that the entire United Church is to blame. That said, this article in defence does not give me much comfort either.
It would be interesting to see what other types of "crazy" resolutions make it to the convention floor. It would also be interesting to learn who in fact is behind these resolutions and how they manage to advance them seemingly every year.
6. The Beer Summit - The Beer Summit with the president, the prof and the police took place today in Washington. Here are some last thoughts on this crazy story from Mark Steyn, as well as a great cartoon - which reminded me of the following great Miller Lite commercials.
8. Iran - Beer Summit or not, Iran remains a critical issue. Here are two pieces - one from Inside Iran and one about the US perspective - which sort of reminds me of the phrase "we're from the government and we're here to help" - scary words indeed!
10. Orthodox Judaism and The Role of Women - It will be interesting to see where this goes - Rabbi initiates women-friendly synagogue.
11. Settlement Background - Jerusalem Issue Briefs-The U.S.-Israeli Dispute over Building in Jerusalem: The Sheikh Jarrah-Shimon HaTzadik Neighborhood.
13. Religion of Peace, Huh? - I have a broad sense of humor that, shall we say, leans toward the ribald. That said, Sacha Baron Cohen's humor has never resonated with me. But I would not kill him over it - Terrorist threat to Sacha Baron Cohen over Brüno ridicule - I would just not go to his movies.
15. Hamas and Holocaust Denial - Alan Dershowitz writes about the new "culture war" being waged by Hamas - and how it leads to Holocaust denial.
16. UNIFIL - The Useless Nations (or an arm thereof) strikes again. Israel angry at UNIFIL chief for meeting with Hizbullah.
17. Funny Quote - this quote, attributed to longtime Israeli diplomat Abba Eban, always seems to be apt - "If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions."
18. A Cartoon in Closing - I love The New Yorker cartoons.
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