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."
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."
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:
