Sunday, June 6, 2010

1. They Walk Among Us - in this morning's email, I had the "pleasure" to receive an anonymous comment that was absolutely vile and disgusting - I did not publish it as a result - but suffice it to say that this person thought that the Holocaust was a good thing.

Of course, the gutless wonder did not have the balls to publish their real name or contact info. Typical of a moronic, chickenshit, racist, hate-spewing waste of a human life form.

So to my gutless anonymous poster wanna-be: Hey pal, if you're so superior to us Jews, why do you feel the need to hide? It's because you are a chicken - probably the type that blows up innocent civilians on buses, pizza parlors, World Trade Centers, and so on. Go slither back under your filthy rock. The world does not need you.



2. They Walk Among Us #2 - Yesterday, there were a string of rallies held across Canada to condemn Israel for its "war crimes" regarding the Freedom Flotilla. Despite it being Shabbat, and strictly as a private citizen and not as a representative of any group, I attended the rally in Halifax, took some pictures and shot some video.


Compared to other such rallies I have attended, this one was pretty tame. Just the usual shouted slogans, the usual speakers, the usual allegations, and so on. In the time that I was at the rally, there were no Hamas or Hezbollah flags, no chants of Death to Jews, etc.


One person attended to rally to support Israel - he did nothing to disrupt the proceedings - he stood at the edge of the rally with a large Israeli flag, and passed out flyers. Since I know him well, and to give him some support, I stood by him while I was not shooting pictures.


Three things in particular worth reporting on. First, a Palestinian supporter came over to him (while I was next to him) and politely asked what he was doing. He equally as politely responded - "I'm here to support Israel. I support a 2 state solution. Do you?" The polite Palestinian responded "No" and walked away.





Second, an elderly Palestinian and his spouse were walking past me toward the rally. The husband pointed at another person taking pictures and said to his wife - "See that guy, he's from CSIS (the Canadian Security Intelligence Service). He then looked at me and said - "I don't know where he's from" I was tempted to say "Lithuania", but held my tongue. What I thought was funny - and admittedly, as my family often tells me - maybe it's just me - was that it appeared to me that the man had seen the front of a vehicle from the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) that was parked nearby and which - if you took a nanosecond look at it and did not process the image correctly, you might have thought was a RCMP vehicle. Look at this picture to see what I mean.

(SPCA vehicle in background)
(RCMP vehicle - not at rally)

Lastly, one of the organizations that so proudly unfurled its banner in criticism of Israel was the Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group - NSPIRG - which is an organization at Dalhousie University that is supported by a deduction from students' tuitions that purports to be, among other things - "non-partisan".

I understand that the deduction ($2 per term) is mandatory unless the student goes to the PIRG offices to opt out (I wonder how many students will do that for $2 per term?). I'm not sure what a student-funded organization is doing at such a rally. And check out the website - it will not take you long to see the real agenda of this organization, and also to find links to pro-Palestinian websites like "electronicintifada".


3. They Walk Among Us #3 - In Saturday's Halifax Herald, there was the usual denunciatory letter from Ismail Zayid, who always seems to recognize Israel's crimes against humanity but never seems to be able to recognize any Palestinian ones. Also appearing was a letter by Judy "Not In My Name" Haiven ridiculing the suggestion, or shall I say the fact, that the Israeli commandos were armed with paint guns and saying - yet again - that she is Jewish and that what Israel does is not done in her name.

For some reason, yesterday's Herald letters are not available on the website as they usually are. In any event, here is the letter I submitted in response - let's see if it gets published:
"To the Editor:

Since she says it so often, writer Judy Haiven must think that there is some novelty to being a Jew who criticizes Israel. The fact that she claims to be a Jew is irrelevant. What is relevant is not her religion nor what she is against, but what she is for.

So let me pose a very simple question. Does Ms. Haiven support Hamas, whose Charter clearly calls for, among other things, the elimination of Israel and the killing of Jews? Yes or no? Your readers deserve to know the answer."
By the way, here is a link to the Hamas Charter - read it for yourself and see what Hamas stands for.

4. More Flotilla Fallout - the blogosphere and cyberspace is filled with stories and opinions about the Flotilla. Here are a variety:

5. From The Other Side - Here are some stories from what is touted as Turkey's largest English-language newspaper. They contain what one might expect, but I do admit that there were surprising bits as well. Also, the posted comments did express a wide range of opinion:
6. Rex Murphy - one of my favorite columnists has a great column about the UN condemnation of Israel - Propaganda floats - here's an excerpt:

"I don't suppose the world needs to remember Rwanda to note how sluggish in the face of imminent horror the United Nations is and can be. If that is not a sufficient cue, we could bring in other examples of areas of great threat or immiseration or both: Darfur, Tibet, Chechnya, North Korea, Zimbabwe, the Congo or Iran. On these the UN has the patience of a stone but only some of its energy.

But torpid as is its nature, and comatose as are its eternal deliberations, on one subject, and toward one state, the United Nations acquires a strange and uniquely transformative power. Bring Israel under its gaze and the diplomatic sloths at UN headquarters morph into the swiftest of gazelles. From lotus-eaters to adrenalin junkies in the twinkling of an eye. Quite amazing, really."



8. Hamas - What were they up to this week? Try - Hamas raids, closes NGO offices and Islamists torch summer camp in Gaza. Attention all you leftist, communistic, anarchistic supporters of Hamas - does this bother you in the least?




9. The Lovely Helen Thomas - "Hezbollah Helen" as she is apparently known, is one of the best-known journalists who cover the White House beat. Hopefully no more - can you believe this - Ari Fleischer: Fire Helen Thomas, The Plum Line- Saturday Roundup: Hearst won't say whether Helen Thomas will keep job and Thomas under fire for Israel remarks - PATRICK GAVIN | POLITICO CLICK? I would like to see what would happen if she told the black population of America that they should go home to Africa.......by the way, Helen, where are you from?



10. Lithuania - Perhaps Helen is too stupid, too lazy, too senile or too bigoted to know, but here's an example of what happened to Jews in their former homes in Eastern Europe - The Holocaust in Lithuania: One man's crusade to bring justice - CNN.com.


11. D-Day - Today is the 66th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Europe. Please take a moment to remember the brave service personnel who participated in the Allied return to Northwest Europe and which greatly contributed to the destruction of the Nazi regime. Allied casualties - killed, wounded, missing - on that one day are estimated to be in the range of 10,000.



12. Need A Laugh - Go To The Onion:

Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, June 2, 2010 - Special Cojones Edition

Random thoughts that came to mind while watching this video:

1. This kid has a set of stones as big as all outdoors;
2. I wonder if his parents knew and what they thought; and
3. I hope that the 2 Palestinian kids at the end of the video are not representative of the cream of their crop. What was that thing in Germany called? The Bible - what the heck is that?



And here's a shocker - from the Associated Press, mind you - AP INTERVIEW: Turkish aid group had terror ties - Yahoo! News


Other reflections:
And here is a smorgasbord of other unrelated stories - apparently, other stuff (good and bad) is going on in the world!
And now, the important stuff. First, tonight Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga was robbed of a perfect game - an incredible rarity (only 20 have ever been pitched in all of major league history) , though 2 perfect games have been tossed this year - A missed call that could change baseball - Tom Verducci - SI.com - watch this video and see how truly horrendous this call was -


Finally - it is a sad day in baseball - the "Kid" - Ken Griffey, Jr., retired today. Before hobbled by injuries, he was one of the most electrifying players in the game, in the mould of a Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and so on. I never liked the teams he played for, but I loved his personality, energy and clear love of the game - and I will always remember watching this play live on TV. Best wishes, Kid!

Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The beat goes on re: the Freedom Flotilla fiasco. I think that all I can do is to pass along a variety of great sources. But I urge people to do more than read these links - take action and speak up - the newspapers will soon be filled with anti-Israel correspondence and we must respond intelligently and factually. Recognize that this is part of a well-orchestrated campaign to delegitimize, demonize and isolate Israel.

The sources:
By the way - my favorite quote from today? No question. Check this out: Audrey Bomse, a spokesperson for the Free Gaza movement, said in an interview with the BBC - "I cannot say for sure if there were weapons on the ship." (my emphasis)

Finally - I think that Noah Pollack has some great suggestions in this post - The Problem with Playing Defense.

PS - Refuah Shleimah (a complete and speedy recovery) to the IDF members wounded in this action.

Posted by at 2 comments:

Monday, May 31, 2010

There really is only one story today. The "Freedom" Flotilla. And the coverage is overwhelming.

(Peace Activist - exactly as portrayed -
the knife is for opening the aid packages!)

(other parts of the "arsenal" of a typical peace activist)

Behind all the hype, violence and headlines, here is a useful summary of the story from the Canada-Israel Committee:
  1. Israeli sailors, attempting to board one of the six ships of the protest flotilla en route to Gaza, were attacked by dozens of activists armed with knives, metal bars, and handguns. Fearing for their lives, the Israeli soldiers had no choice but to respond. At least four Israeli personnel were wounded by various means, including by gunfire from activists.
  2. Israel made every effort to provide the flotilla organizers with an opportunity to avoid a confrontation. Israel offered to bring the flotilla into the port of Ashdod, and to transfer their aid to Gaza following appropriate security checks. The organizers rejected this offer, stating clearly that "this mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it's about breaking Israel's siege." (Greta Berlin, AFP, 27 May 10).
  3. Israel gave repeated warning of the maritime blockade in effect off the coast of Gaza and that the flotilla would be turned away and brought to an Israeli port to offload their cargo.
  4. The organizers of the protest deliberately invited a confrontation with Israeli sailors. This was not an aid mission, but a PR stunt designed to undermine Israel and bolster Hamas, internationally recognized as a terrorist organization. Among the protestors were a group of highly-trained extremists with links to the Muslim Brotherhood and jihadist groups in Afghanistan.
  5. There is no blockade on humanitarian aid to Gaza. In fact, Israel delivers 15,000 tons of humanitarian aid – including medical supplies, food, and water – to Gaza every week. The blockade exists to prevent unauthorized individuals and unknown cargo from entering Gaza and falling into the hands of its ruling Hamas regime.
  6. Hamas is presently smuggling in massive amounts of military supplies into Gaza to fortify its positions and continue its attacks. Under international law Israel has the right to intercept vehicles that are "believed on reasonable grounds to be carrying contraband or breaching a blockade, and after prior warning they intentionally and clearly refuse to stop, or intentionally and clearly resist visit, search or capture." (Section 67A of the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea).
In my opinion, however, if you really want to know the intent of these "peaceniks", you can forget the foregoing. and simply consider the fact that the organizers of the Flotilla turned down a very simple and basic offer by the family of kidnapped, held in isolation for 4 years with no Red Cross visits, etc., Gilad Schalit. See the first 2 paragraphs of this article from alJazeera.com- hardly a bastion of pro-Israel sentiment or propaganda.

In any event, I do not think that there is anything original I can add. I will refer you to the following excellent sources (though several of them are from the site Jihad Watch, they in turn refer to other articles). Use this information to defend Israel's actions and resist the world's shameful hypocrisy.
In the meantime, I am thinking of organizing a flotilla of my own. It will sail for Turkey. Its purpose will be to publicize the plight of the Kurds under the Turkish Government and speak for their immediate independence. And while we are there, we will hold some public discussions about the unquestioned Turkish genocide of the Armenians after World War I. But leave the clubs, knives, etc. at home - it will be a peaceful event. Let's see how the Turks handle this.

Posted by at 3 comments:

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

1. The Beat Goes On - get ready for the next in the seemingly endless series of anti-Israel events. A flotilla of the usual suspects -the so-called Freedom Flotilla - is en route to Gaza. Ostensibly, its goal is to bring thousands of tons of supplies to Gaza. I would suggest that its real goal is to try to create an international incident and embarrass Israel.
(If I had a rocket launcher........)

(will I help? uh, NO!)

The middle piece is definitely from the pro-Hamas side of the ledger - look how easily and simply the following statements are made:
"Israel launched on Dec. 27 a massive offensive in Gaza, killing more than 1434 Palestinians, a third of them children, and wounded at least 5300....

In its land, sea and ar offensive, Israel targeted hospitals, schools, mosques and government buildings and destroyed infrastructure system in Gaza, lefting Palestinians without electricity, gas and power.

But Israel imposes heavy blockade on entry of infrastracture materials under the pretext of Palestinians can use them as "weapon" materials."

No context whatsoever - Didn't Israel vacate Gaza lock, stock and barrel in 2005? Hasn't Hamas continually called for the destruction of Israel? Weren't there some rocket attacks from Gaza that happened first? (like 8,000-1,000 over the prior 8 years, aimed at civilian and infrastructure targets?) Didn't Hamas deliberately use hospitals, schools, mosques and government buildings as the infrastructure equivalent of human shields? Hasn't Hamas used everything possible, including what used to be its sewer system, to manufacture rockets?

Oh, and what's more - what about the international voices of concern for Gilad Schalit? Where are the protests against Egypt - it borders Gaza as well.

And someone please tell me what country in the world allows any ship, let alone a flotilla of ships, to simply enter its territorial waters and do what it will? I will bet that Israel will face more international condemnation for whatever steps it takes to maintain its territorial sovereignty and security than North Korea did for recently sinking that South Korean naval vessel.

And by the way - the instigating governments of Turkey, Greece, Ireland and Sweden should be ashamed of themselves. One might think that they had other, internal affairs to deal with. Like Greece - how in the world can the government of Greece be doing anything right now other than trying to figure out how not to take down the entire EU financial system? Turkey - which would not know a genocide if it hit them in the head, and which is busy snuggling up to the newest genocidal maniac on the planet - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Sweden - which is being Islamicized second by second and which will die the death of a thousand cuts? Ireland - what about its beleaguered economy, and the terrible child abuse scandals?


I have a suggestion - mind your own goddamn business. Or, in New Testament terms (if that makes it easier) - try either John 8:7 - "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." or Matthew 7:1 - "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

2. Symptom Of A Larger Malaise - or should I say disease. Caroline Glick, makes excellent points regarding the first story above, as well as the insidious background that allows it to flourish - Our World: Reclaiming Language from the Left. This excerpt is especially relevant:
"Over the past generation, the Left has commandeered our language. It has inverted the terminology of human rights, freedom, morality, heroism, democracy and victimization. Its perversion of language has made it nearly impossible for members of democratic, human rights respecting, moral societies to describe the threats they face from their human rights destroying, genocidal, tyrannical enemies. Thanks to the efforts of the international Left, the latter are championed as the victims of those they seek to annihilate."





4. Another Contributing Factor - sadly - The Jewish Intellectual Predicament | FrontPage Magazine


6. While This Attracts No Comment - from a country with which Israel has made peace, and which receives billions in aid from the US Government - Seraphic Secret: Egyptian TV: “We Must Get Our Children Accustomed to Hating the Jews.”



9. The 9/11 Mosque - update from the front lines - SIOA at Manhattan Community Board meeting on the 9/11 Mosque -- the fix was in - Jihad Watch - the MCB "approved" the construction of the mosque 29-9 (it apparently has no such power) - are you kidding me???

(yeah - 2001 was a long time ago - better get over it......)

10. The Last Entry - as many of you know, I try to end each day's blog posting with something humorous (at least in my eyes) or upbeat - following the general principle (as I understand it) that when the Rabbis designated which parts of the weekly Torah portion were to be read for which aliyah, the intent was that the reading did not end on a negative note. However, it's hard to be positive with the stories listed above - something about today's stories just puts me in a funk. So I am afraid that the best I can do is to post a few cartoons - maybe there's a laugh in there somewhere.




Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)