Saturday, July 16, 2011 Motzei Shabbat

1. A Request - When I started this blog page a couple of years ago, it was for three main purposes - first, as my way of demonstrating my support for Israel and hopefully promoting & eliciting similar support from readers - second, as a way for me to express my personal opinions on issues to do with Israel, Judaism, the Shoah, and so on, and third, as a way to collect, publish and distribute relevant articles in one spot rather than driving people crazy by sending them numerous emails a day with articles I thought they would find interesting.

If you have your own blog, you know how much time and effort it takes to publish a blog edition even once a week. While this blog is a "labour of love", it is definitely contains both elements - a lot of love for Israel, but also a lot of labour.

One of the gadgets you may notice on my blog is something called "StatCounter". Together with internal reports generated by the Google Blogger program itself, StatCounter gives me some idea of the traffic to this site - don't worry - it does not give out any personally identifiable information - it just tells me general information such as the city where the server is located through which someone accesses the site, the operating system they use (Windows, Mac, etc.) and the page(s) that were accessed.

In any event, when I look at the stats from these sources, it seems that readership, if you will, is low. That is OK in the sense that I do not seek any monetary gain at all from publishing this blog. However, it is somewhat discouraging to know that a lot of hard work on my part may be dong little more than cluttering up a tiny corner of cyberspace.

So to try to get a sense of whether to continue publishing (though my decision will in no way detract from my advocacy for Israel), I have included a simple poll on the top right side of the page. Please take a moment to answer the poll, to post a comment on the web page (it can be anonymous) and email me at mpublicemail@gmail.com and let me know your thoughts. If you make a comment or email, remember - criticism is fine, as long as it is constructive. I will not publish the identity of any respondents unless they identify themselves in a comment posted to the blog.

By the way, if you use Facebook, I have a Support Israel Now page that you can access by this link - I post things there more frequently - please consider "liking" the page of the page - there is a link to do this just below the survey section.

I hope you will take the time to share your thoughts with me. Thank you and Shavuah Tov.


2. Flop-Tilla Review - well, the second annual parade of morons, supplemented by a fly-in of morons, pretty much turned out to be a flop. SARCASM ON I am just so happy that the IDF did not have to intervene and brazenly murder any earnest, peace-loving, kumbaya-singing "peace activists" in direct contravention of international law SARCASM OFF.


Coincidental with this year's non-event, a UN report was issued that somehow came to the conclusion that even Israel had rights to defend itself under international law (don't worry, that won't last long - there are a thousand trained leftist monkey-lawyers working on overturning it) - UN report: Gaza blockade legal, Israel doesn't owe Turkey apology for Marmara - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News - I deliberately linked to the report from Ha'aretz given the leftist philosophy of that publication - even they could not twist it against Israel.

Anyway, here are some other links on the subject:
and to top it all off.....


3. The UN Giveth, The UN Taketh Away - UN: Israel used unnecessary force against protesters on Nakba Day - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News - like that corrupt den of weasels and vipers has any ability to be logical or consistent - personally, I do not give a tinker's damn what the UN says - good or bad - you really cannot trust it in any fashion -

4. This Is Typical Of The UN - from the utterly reprehensible and disgusting anti-Semitic bastard of a Jew Richard Falk - Issue 302 - UN Watch - and nothing will happen to him at all. Also see - Gabriel Latner: The failings of Richard Falk Full Comment National Post and Pillay says Falk's cartoon ... JPost - Jewish World - Jewish News

5. Falk Would Feel At Home Here - from commentator Pat Condell:


6. Two Sides Of The Coin - Israeli ingenuity on the battlefield with the intent of targeting terrorists - IDF tank shell wins Israel Defense Prize - Israel News, Ynetnews, while Hamas concentrates on killing as many as they can, regardless of who they are (OK - it would be really cool if they were Jews...) - Gaza: Economic recovery and improved rocket technology. (2) - By Sharon Weinberger - Slate Magazine

"Indeed, Israel may be improving its defenses, but the militants have been improving their rockets. They have, over the years, become more adept at aiming them, with help from Google Earth. Particularly since the unilateral withdrawal of Israeli settlements from Gaza in 2005, the rocket attacks, to be effective, have had to go longer distances.

Was it harder to target Israeli positions before the advent of Google Earth in 2005? I asked Abu Saif. "No, it was easier," he replied, smiling. "Because the settlements then were inside Gaza."

7. A True Hero - Yonatan Netanyahu - killed on the 1976 Entebbe Raid - Yonatan Netanyahu’s odyssey... JPost - Features - Insights & Features

Entis, who now works in a District of Columbia management consulting firm, didn’t consider that Netanyahu might have been involved until he saw his friend’s name on the front page of The Washington Post, news that “hit me right between the eyes.” But Entis’s reaction – like that of Netanyahu’s other friends who eulogized him last week – didn’t stop with tears. Entis’s devotion to his work in business is far weaker than Netanyahu’s was to Israel, and his friend’s death moved him to scrutinize his own life. “One of the problems in America is that we are a nation of relatively uncommitted people. Yoni had an ideal, and when he died, it made you think about your own life,” Entis explains. “It’s also a question of relative values. Yoni was willing quite literally to put his life on the line. That’s quite unusual. And there are even fewer people who derive that devotion internally.”

8. As The Arab Spring Shifts Into The Arab Summer - what's the latest?


9. Brain Damaged - the subterranean Hassan Nasrallah has figured out that Israel was the author of the indictments of the Hezbollah terrorist slugs who were behind the massive car bomb that assassinated Rafik Hariri, if not the assassination itself - Nasrallah implies Israel behind Hariri hit - JPost - Middle East and Analysis: Hassan Nasrallah exposed - JPost - Middle East. For which the little terrorist gets the George Costanza Viennese Psychiatry Award:


10. This Is Serious - Anti-Semitism on the rise at Canadian universities, committee says - The Globe and Mail - but rest assured, with all kinds of ivory tower hand-wringing, nothing will be done - especially at next year's IAW hate-fest.


11. Erring & Forgiving - Erring and forgiving, &c. - Jay Nordlinger - National Review Online - makes a number of relevant points.

12. Have You Heard Anything By Way Of A Response? #1 Not me.....Response to Embassy Attack Will Be Crucial - Commentary Magazine


14. Syria - apparently just doing whatever the hell it wants....


15. The Boycott Law - the latest controversy - I am still determining my thoughts on the issue, but here is a large variety of various opinions from all over the spectrum:
16. The "Palestinians" - I thought that they were Egyptian or Jordanian Arabs....anyway.....
17. Around The Jewish World - the brutal murder of the young Chasidic Jewish boy in New York was just too much for me - Chris Selley: Some things are just out of our hands | Full Comment | National Post:

"Modern, secular people are constantly living in fear of, or at least actively mitigating, minute risks. In some cases, as with pesticides and cellphone radiation and bisphenol-A, they’re mitigating risks that scientists can’t determine to exist at all. They spend money, they worry, and they make decisions like not allowing their kids to walk to school by themselves or play outside unattended. They suffer for that faith. In Brookyln, some very sad people seem to be gaining both strength and a determination to continue living their lives without fear from things they can’t control. We should all be so lucky."

Here are some other stories from the Jewish world that are much easier to read:
18. Closing Video - it's in Hebrew, but there are English subtitles.

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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 17, 2011 at 12:35 PM

    I almost always open the blog and skim the contents. I view some of the cartoons and read something about Jewish life . I usually don't read the political content in any depth but know that I can go back and have another look if I want your take on a particular topic. I would miss your blog although I am not a dedicated and thorough reader.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 18, 2011 at 9:53 PM

    Thank you for compiling a comprehensive list of Israel related articles on a weekly basis. Keep up the great work and the dry humour!

    ReplyDelete

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