On Sunday, having thoroughly rested up, I headed to Union Square, to be a counterprotester against the pro-Hamas demo happening there.
Specifically, it was supposed to be candelight memorial service, to mourn those killed during Operation Cast Lead, and you sort of feel bad counterprotesting a memorial service. Until you show up, and notice the vile anti-Semitic signage, and the chants of "From the river to the sea", and QUIT standing happily out with their banner, and the paper-mache puppets, and you realize that this isn't a memorial service, this is another dang Hamas rally.
The opposition had the steps leading into Union Square, corner closest to the Powell Street BART, so we lined up on the opposite side of the street, streaming past Max Azria, Victoria's Secret, and the Westin St. Francis, which happened that day to be flying the flag of Saudi Arabia, just to make everything completely deranged.
A fairly low-key evening, really. Cold. Me clutching a sign with a message about gay Palestinians in one hand, and one with the faces of children killed in Sderot in the other, singing "Oseh Shalom" and stamping my feet. Assorted Japanese tourists took pictures--I suspect that we have ended up in many a photo album, as an example of real American protestors. We wound up around six o'clock.
One thing I have not entirely worked out is how to deal with the people who drive by in the stalled traffic in SUVs, waving Palestinian flags and screaming at you, when they roll down the back windows and encourage their small ones to do likewise. I am torn, between stony-faced "Am Yisrael Chai!" yelling, and smiling and waving at the children. Hard to do both, especially when both hands are full.
Meanwhile, Code Pink is still stalled in Cairo, although apparently a group of them are to be let through.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
CODE PINK CAUSES MINOR BLIP AT AIPAC DINNER
Here's a report from the perpetually-out-of-touch side about a very minor disruption of the AIPAC dinner in San Francisco two weeks ago. It is lifted directly from the code pink blog at:
http://codepink4peace.org/blog/2009/12/sf-activists-arrested-at-aipac-dinner/
Be forewarned: the dear ladies of the slightly-less-than-clued-in-ilk are in boast-mode here, so there is far less in the text than meets the eye.
BEGIN CITE:
"SF activists arrested at AIPAC dinner "
[CUT]
"Activists with the women’s peace group CODEPINK took their message of no war and occupation to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) gala dinner at the Hilton Towers Hotel in San Francisco on December 15th. "
"As the AIPAC Executive Director, Howard Kohr, gave a national briefing, he had indicated that AIPAC is ready to come to the negotiating table with the Palestinians. Nancy Mancias and Victoria Quevedo rose up out of their seats and said “How can the Palestinians come to table if they live under constant oppression and occupation.” "
"While chanting “No War, No Occupation, Free Palestine” private security immediately lifted Mancias and Quevedo up from beneath their arms and ejected them from the ballroom. The two were handed over to the San Francisco Police who then handcuffed, searched, arrested and transferred them to the Tenderloin Police station where they were cited and released."
[Editorial note: Both deranged individuals will appear in court in early 2009.]
FURTHER QUOTE:
"While AIPAC claims to represent the U.S. Jewish community, its wholesale support of the Israel government goes against the majority opinions of the Jewish Americans. According to a recent survey by the Jewish lobby group J Street, 76 percent of American Jews support a two-state solution, 69 percent support negotiating with a Fatah-Hamas unity government, and 59 percent felt the Gaza invasion did not improve Israel’s security. "
END QUOTE
As may be seen from the text above, Nancy Mancias and Victoria Quevedo are unaware of several pertinent facts, and quite capable of obscuring or obfuscating when their verkrampte ideology demands it. The allegedly Jewish Lobbying group J Street does not represent the majority opinions of the Jewish Americans, and in fact works hand in glove with such declared enemies of Jews, Judaism, the United States, and Israel, as the Palestinian lobby, Saudi stooges, and people like Jimmy Carter (a peanut farmer of note).
This blog fervently hopes that authorities throw the book at Ms. Mancias and Ms. Quevedo.
The antics of the Medea-Benjaminites have ceased to entertain, having long since passed beyond the edge of relevance.
Undemocratic actions by extremists, no matter how zany, should have no place in American discourse.
http://codepink4peace.org/blog/2009/12/sf-activists-arrested-at-aipac-dinner/
Be forewarned: the dear ladies of the slightly-less-than-clued-in-ilk are in boast-mode here, so there is far less in the text than meets the eye.
BEGIN CITE:
"SF activists arrested at AIPAC dinner "
[CUT]
"Activists with the women’s peace group CODEPINK took their message of no war and occupation to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) gala dinner at the Hilton Towers Hotel in San Francisco on December 15th. "
"As the AIPAC Executive Director, Howard Kohr, gave a national briefing, he had indicated that AIPAC is ready to come to the negotiating table with the Palestinians. Nancy Mancias and Victoria Quevedo rose up out of their seats and said “How can the Palestinians come to table if they live under constant oppression and occupation.” "
"While chanting “No War, No Occupation, Free Palestine” private security immediately lifted Mancias and Quevedo up from beneath their arms and ejected them from the ballroom. The two were handed over to the San Francisco Police who then handcuffed, searched, arrested and transferred them to the Tenderloin Police station where they were cited and released."
[Editorial note: Both deranged individuals will appear in court in early 2009.]
FURTHER QUOTE:
"While AIPAC claims to represent the U.S. Jewish community, its wholesale support of the Israel government goes against the majority opinions of the Jewish Americans. According to a recent survey by the Jewish lobby group J Street, 76 percent of American Jews support a two-state solution, 69 percent support negotiating with a Fatah-Hamas unity government, and 59 percent felt the Gaza invasion did not improve Israel’s security. "
END QUOTE
As may be seen from the text above, Nancy Mancias and Victoria Quevedo are unaware of several pertinent facts, and quite capable of obscuring or obfuscating when their verkrampte ideology demands it. The allegedly Jewish Lobbying group J Street does not represent the majority opinions of the Jewish Americans, and in fact works hand in glove with such declared enemies of Jews, Judaism, the United States, and Israel, as the Palestinian lobby, Saudi stooges, and people like Jimmy Carter (a peanut farmer of note).
This blog fervently hopes that authorities throw the book at Ms. Mancias and Ms. Quevedo.
The antics of the Medea-Benjaminites have ceased to entertain, having long since passed beyond the edge of relevance.
Undemocratic actions by extremists, no matter how zany, should have no place in American discourse.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
CODE PINK THRILLED!
Pursuant the activists of Code Pink staging a two hour per day hunger strike outside the Egyptian consulate for three consecutive days, in solidarity with their companions touring Egypt, a correspondent sends the following letter:
"MORE HUMMUS, LESS HAMAS"
"This afternoon with Code pink was delightful! They were thrilled to see us when we pulled up. Loved our table, chairs and cheery pink table cloth. Looked really, really confused when we started pulling out food. Turned ashen grey when we festooned them with Israeli flags. Had a lovely Egyptian boy translate the Arabic pages from Palestine today for Code Pink. Code Pink (nevertheless) insists all that food came in through the tunnels. "
[Please note: letter slightly modified for 'clarity'.]
The Code Pink activists involved in this jolly adventure are Nancy Mancias and Leslie Angeline.
[Steffy mentions them on her blog here: Code Pink, in other news.]
They intend to DELIBERATELY. NOT. EAT. while in the public view for two hours. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Two hours. Three days. Two hours of non-eating per day.
It will be hard. They want you to come witness their suffering.
SOLIDARITY
Apparently the Egyptians are treating their visitors brutally, harassing and intimidating them with sumptuous buffets and air-conditioned tourist-class hotels, as well as the lovely sights and smells of Cairo. There are lots of picturesque spots suitable for snapshots and romantic moments in the bazaars and parks of MisrAlQahira (don't forget to visit the old city, fi wast al balad), as well as a lovely promenade in Alexandria ('Al Eskenderiyya') for quiet moments. The pyramids and the sphinx need no mention, of course, but you really should visit the Cairo Museum. Finish your day at one of the hundreds of exciting nightspots for which this Paris-on-the-Nile is justly famous!
It will be a trip that no revolutionary-pretendeur will ever forget.
Oooops, errrm, I mean, a number of the "activists" stuck in Egypt seem determined to starve themselves until the Egyptian government gets tired of them.
They don't like melookhia anyway!
NOTE: One of the tourists currently holding her own self hostage in Egypt is Hedy Epstein, who labels herself a holocaust survivor, despite having spent the war comfortably in England. She is well-known to many people, having been a professional pro-Arab speaker on behalf of the International Solidarity Movement, which functions as the collaborationist clearinghouse for Hamas, Hezbollah, and reportedly sometimes Iran
Enjoy the photos from the Code Pink "hunger strike" at the Egyptian Consulate in San Francisco:
"MORE HUMMUS, LESS HAMAS"
"This afternoon with Code pink was delightful! They were thrilled to see us when we pulled up. Loved our table, chairs and cheery pink table cloth. Looked really, really confused when we started pulling out food. Turned ashen grey when we festooned them with Israeli flags. Had a lovely Egyptian boy translate the Arabic pages from Palestine today for Code Pink. Code Pink (nevertheless) insists all that food came in through the tunnels. "
[Please note: letter slightly modified for 'clarity'.]
The Code Pink activists involved in this jolly adventure are Nancy Mancias and Leslie Angeline.
[Steffy mentions them on her blog here: Code Pink, in other news.]
They intend to DELIBERATELY. NOT. EAT. while in the public view for two hours. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Two hours. Three days. Two hours of non-eating per day.
It will be hard. They want you to come witness their suffering.
SOLIDARITY
Apparently the Egyptians are treating their visitors brutally, harassing and intimidating them with sumptuous buffets and air-conditioned tourist-class hotels, as well as the lovely sights and smells of Cairo. There are lots of picturesque spots suitable for snapshots and romantic moments in the bazaars and parks of MisrAlQahira (don't forget to visit the old city, fi wast al balad), as well as a lovely promenade in Alexandria ('Al Eskenderiyya') for quiet moments. The pyramids and the sphinx need no mention, of course, but you really should visit the Cairo Museum. Finish your day at one of the hundreds of exciting nightspots for which this Paris-on-the-Nile is justly famous!
It will be a trip that no revolutionary-pretendeur will ever forget.
Oooops, errrm, I mean, a number of the "activists" stuck in Egypt seem determined to starve themselves until the Egyptian government gets tired of them.
They don't like melookhia anyway!
NOTE: One of the tourists currently holding her own self hostage in Egypt is Hedy Epstein, who labels herself a holocaust survivor, despite having spent the war comfortably in England. She is well-known to many people, having been a professional pro-Arab speaker on behalf of the International Solidarity Movement, which functions as the collaborationist clearinghouse for Hamas, Hezbollah, and reportedly sometimes Iran
Enjoy the photos from the Code Pink "hunger strike" at the Egyptian Consulate in San Francisco:
Pro Hamas Rally San Francisco Union Square Dec 27 2009
A small selection of snapshots taken at the recent pro-Hamas rally in Union Square. Feel free to print them out and use them as postcards.
One of the tried and true tactics used by ideologues is to involve children as an element in the discourse to castigate the side that they oppose. Remarkably, that never works both ways - the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) standardly refuses to accept that Israelis have children ("those are all occupiers!), and is unconcerned entirely about children brutalized by Hamas.
Like many political "charities", MECA serves primarily as a vehicle of employment for its activists and founders.
If this woman's sign were true, there would now be eight hundred thousand dead children.
One of the tried and true tactics used by ideologues is to involve children as an element in the discourse to castigate the side that they oppose. Remarkably, that never works both ways - the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) standardly refuses to accept that Israelis have children ("those are all occupiers!), and is unconcerned entirely about children brutalized by Hamas.
Like many political "charities", MECA serves primarily as a vehicle of employment for its activists and founders.
If this woman's sign were true, there would now be eight hundred thousand dead children.
This sign is an instant classic.
Not only is the soldier an anti-Semitic stereotype - so is his victim! By which we can see that the artist's attitude is not 'pro-Palestinian' but anti-Semitic in the broadest possible sense.
A more cliché and subhuman depiction of both sides is hard to imagine. The artist has no sympathy for either.
Using an electric drill to torture one's captives is a favorite tactic not only of Hamas, but also several other revolutionary groups in the Middle-East. It has been used to great effect by warlords and drugdealers in Lebanon as well as Hezbollah, by the Ba'ath governments of Syria and Iraq, and by various Arab intelligence services.
Odd Job Rob Kanter of Emeryville, a man remarkable for his inability to criticize any politically correct bigots.
I particularly remember the time he tried to justify chants by Arab-American activists that called Jews dogs ("al Yahud kalabna") and demanded that they be slaughtered ("itbach al Yahud"). He has (seemingly) never had a problem standing side by side with anyone who demonizes Israel, Jews, or the United States.
He is a member of the Anti-Zionist Jews ("IJAN") as well as Bay Area Women in Black.
To the best of my knowledge he is NOT a member of San Francisco chapter of Women in Black, as they do not permit men in their ranks, and are frequently nauseated by the presence of males (even once objecting that a nearby dog was of incorrect gender).
It is also unlikely that he is a member of Code Pink - Medea Benjamin prefers uncomplicated people. But like her, he supports Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran, and likes campfires and barbecues, holding hands, long walks on the beach, and practicing native American chants and spirituality.
At least, we presume so.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Hamas rally in San Francisco Sunday December 27
Yesterday the pro-Palestinians came together to celebrate Hamas' glorious victory exactly one year ago today.
By which I mean that they congregated for the purpose of screaming threats and reciting names, in order to make Israel seem evil after the people of Gaza fired off over six thousand rockets in three years and thus precipitated a war.
Which they lost on the ground.
But in cyber space, where Israel is ALWAYS the bad guy, Hamas won the war. Largely due to such willing collaborators as the Wallach sisters, Rob Kanter, and Paul Larudee (just to name a few locals).
And the falsehoods that they are not averse to spreading.
THE SIDE OF DARKNESS
The event was at Union Square, from four to six. On the Hamas side, several local activists including the Queers United against Israeli Terror (who find Islamic repression of different sexualities not a problem - all Arab gays and lesbians should hurry back into the closet), Jewish Voice for Peace (clueless), Rob Kanter (class by himself - selfasserted anti-Israel Jew who associates with known anti-Semites and racists), ISM, BAWIB, several members of International ANSWER, and several dozen badly behaved Arab-American brats.
The Arab-American brats dominated the Hamas side.
Pro-Hamas people: about one hundred.
THE SIDE OF LIGHT
On the pro-Israel side, members of Stand With US / San Francisco Voice for Israel, plus sympathisers from Berkeley, Palo Alto, San Jose, and elsewhere. Several energetic young people of college age, several resolute middle-aged persons, and a number of resilient retirees.
Pro-Israel people: slightly over one hundred.
It was not a very noisy manifestation, mostly, as the pro-Hamas side couldn't get their sound system to work (it doesn't go straight up into the air). A few of the sons of liquor store owners screamed invective, one or two waved flags till their little arms drooped.
At one point their performance was so boring I went into the Victoria's Secret Store to browse. I wasn't the only teenager there, but I had no luck. I do not wear thongs. And the least slut-like garb Vicky sells is big as a bucket.
When I came out again, the Arab children were chanting "Palestine will be free from the river to the sea".
Which is code for promising to exterminate several million Jews.
"PALESTINE WILL BE FREE FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA ('AND WE'LL KILL ALL THE JEWS WE HAVE TO, TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN')"
It's as peace-loving a chant as I've ever heard from Arabs and their willing idiots.
Their middle-class white baby sitters said nothing. They're okay with that.
The Wallach sisters are okay with that.
Medea Benjamin, Cindy Sheehan, Toby Blome, and Kate Bender Raphael are okay with that.
Hassan Fouda and Marilyn Fouda are okay with that.
Anisa Abd el Fattah, Jamal Bashir, Noura, Gamel, Afifa, Naeema, Alai, Hanan, and Lilly Haskell are all okay with that.
Dick Becker and his worker-bee Forrest are okay with that.
Jim Harris is okay with that.
Heck, the entire city of Berkeley is okay with that.
Ethnic cleansing is just dandy when Arabs do it.
[All of the above named, with the possible exception of the entire city of Berkeley, have stood side by side with hate-filled thugs and troglodytes yelling that threat. As well as several other slogans - ba rooh, ba dam, nafdeek ya falasteen, falasteen baladna wal yahood kalabna, al mawt al yahood, itbakh al yahood, etcetera. The entire city of Berkeley may have been agreement with these slogans, but has not actually said so en masse - at least not that I can prove. But they probably will soon. Berkeley always sympathises with third-world thugs. It's the revolutionary thing to do. Makes them feel special.]
GAZA FACTS
Key Statistics
• 1 million: Israeli civilians under threat from Hamas rocket fire.
• 15: Seconds Israelis have to get to a bomb shelter once a warning siren has sounded.
• 2 million: Leaflets the Israel Air Force dropped on Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, warning civilians to stay clear of Hamas fighters.
• 200,000: Phone calls made by the Israeli army to civilians in Gaza warning of an impending strike near their residences.
• 8: Years Israel has endured rocket, missile and mortar fire from Gaza.
• 1: Israeli left in Gaza – Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit,] kidnapped by Hamas from Israel on June 25, 2006.
• 3,200+: Rockets and mortar fired from Gaza in 2008.
• 6,500+: Rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
• 10,389: Rockets and mortars fired from Gaza 2001-2008.
• 1,000+: People in Israel injured from rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2001.
• 27: Number of people killed by Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks since 2001.
• 242: Rockets, missiles and mortars fired at Israel from Gaza since the end of Operation Cast Lead.
Hamas Terrorism
• 727: Rockets and mortars fired from Gaza, January – September 2009.
• 17: Attacks on Gaza goods crossings by Palestinian terrorist groups in 2008.
• 80: Percent of mosques in Gaza which Hamas reportedly controls, some of which are used for weapons storage, command and communications headquarters.
• 37 mi (60km): Range of Hamas rockets in Gaza acquired after Operation Cast Lead.
• 2.5 mi (4 km): Range of Hamas’s anti-tank missiles, smuggled into Gaza since the end of Operation Cast Lead.
• 1,500: Number of smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt (estimate).
• 59 ft (18 m)/6.8 mi (11 km): Length and depth of metal fence Egypt is building on Sinai-Gaza border to prevent tunnel smuggling operations.
• 22 mi (35 km): Distance between Gaza and Yavneh - the northernmost Israeli city hit by Gaza rockets on Dec. 28, 2009.
• 900: Hamas operatives trained by Iran.
• $20 million - $30 million: Funding Iran provides annually to Hamas. Iran gave Hamas another $50 million following Hamas’s victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections.
Israel’s Aid to Gaza
• 900: Percent increase in humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza in 2009, compared to 2008.
• 630,253: Tons of humanitarian aid delivered to the Gaza Strip, Jan. 19 – Dec. 13, 2009.
• 24.5 million gallons (92.7 million liters): Heavy-duty diesel fuel delivered to the Gaza Strip, Jan. 19 – Oct. 31, 2009.
• 10,346: Gaza residents who entered Israel for medical and humanitarian reasons, Jan.19 – Nov. 7, 2009.
• 57,295 tons: Monthly average of humanitarian aid entering Gaza since Operation Cast Lead, Jan. 19 – Dec. 5, 2009.
• 11,508: Monthly average (in tons) of humanitarian aid entering Gaza from February – June 2008, a period of intense rocket fire.
• 34,253 tons: Monthly average of humanitarian aid entering Gaza during period of calm, July - December 2008.
• 18,500: Permits Israel issued to Gaza residents to enter Israel or travel overseas in 2009.
• 28,400: Flowers from Gaza scheduled for export to Europe on Dec. 10, 2009.
• 250,000: Flowers from Gaza scheduled for export beginning Dec. 13, 2009.
[SOURCE: The Israel Project: http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hsJPK0PIJpH&b=689705&ct=6478505 ]
=========================================================================
END
At around six fifteen, the pro-Israel pro-peace side got tired of the tantrums from the spoiled children of liquor store owners, and decided to head out to dinner, leaving misbehaved delinquents and high-school drop-outs to shout into an empty street.
I hope they all caught cold. We have too many liquor stores in San Francisco.
By which I mean that they congregated for the purpose of screaming threats and reciting names, in order to make Israel seem evil after the people of Gaza fired off over six thousand rockets in three years and thus precipitated a war.
Which they lost on the ground.
But in cyber space, where Israel is ALWAYS the bad guy, Hamas won the war. Largely due to such willing collaborators as the Wallach sisters, Rob Kanter, and Paul Larudee (just to name a few locals).
And the falsehoods that they are not averse to spreading.
THE SIDE OF DARKNESS
The event was at Union Square, from four to six. On the Hamas side, several local activists including the Queers United against Israeli Terror (who find Islamic repression of different sexualities not a problem - all Arab gays and lesbians should hurry back into the closet), Jewish Voice for Peace (clueless), Rob Kanter (class by himself - selfasserted anti-Israel Jew who associates with known anti-Semites and racists), ISM, BAWIB, several members of International ANSWER, and several dozen badly behaved Arab-American brats.
The Arab-American brats dominated the Hamas side.
Pro-Hamas people: about one hundred.
THE SIDE OF LIGHT
On the pro-Israel side, members of Stand With US / San Francisco Voice for Israel, plus sympathisers from Berkeley, Palo Alto, San Jose, and elsewhere. Several energetic young people of college age, several resolute middle-aged persons, and a number of resilient retirees.
Pro-Israel people: slightly over one hundred.
It was not a very noisy manifestation, mostly, as the pro-Hamas side couldn't get their sound system to work (it doesn't go straight up into the air). A few of the sons of liquor store owners screamed invective, one or two waved flags till their little arms drooped.
At one point their performance was so boring I went into the Victoria's Secret Store to browse. I wasn't the only teenager there, but I had no luck. I do not wear thongs. And the least slut-like garb Vicky sells is big as a bucket.
When I came out again, the Arab children were chanting "Palestine will be free from the river to the sea".
Which is code for promising to exterminate several million Jews.
"PALESTINE WILL BE FREE FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA ('AND WE'LL KILL ALL THE JEWS WE HAVE TO, TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN')"
It's as peace-loving a chant as I've ever heard from Arabs and their willing idiots.
Their middle-class white baby sitters said nothing. They're okay with that.
The Wallach sisters are okay with that.
Medea Benjamin, Cindy Sheehan, Toby Blome, and Kate Bender Raphael are okay with that.
Hassan Fouda and Marilyn Fouda are okay with that.
Anisa Abd el Fattah, Jamal Bashir, Noura, Gamel, Afifa, Naeema, Alai, Hanan, and Lilly Haskell are all okay with that.
Dick Becker and his worker-bee Forrest are okay with that.
Jim Harris is okay with that.
Heck, the entire city of Berkeley is okay with that.
Ethnic cleansing is just dandy when Arabs do it.
[All of the above named, with the possible exception of the entire city of Berkeley, have stood side by side with hate-filled thugs and troglodytes yelling that threat. As well as several other slogans - ba rooh, ba dam, nafdeek ya falasteen, falasteen baladna wal yahood kalabna, al mawt al yahood, itbakh al yahood, etcetera. The entire city of Berkeley may have been agreement with these slogans, but has not actually said so en masse - at least not that I can prove. But they probably will soon. Berkeley always sympathises with third-world thugs. It's the revolutionary thing to do. Makes them feel special.]
GAZA FACTS
Key Statistics
• 1 million: Israeli civilians under threat from Hamas rocket fire.
• 15: Seconds Israelis have to get to a bomb shelter once a warning siren has sounded.
• 2 million: Leaflets the Israel Air Force dropped on Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, warning civilians to stay clear of Hamas fighters.
• 200,000: Phone calls made by the Israeli army to civilians in Gaza warning of an impending strike near their residences.
• 8: Years Israel has endured rocket, missile and mortar fire from Gaza.
• 1: Israeli left in Gaza – Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit,] kidnapped by Hamas from Israel on June 25, 2006.
• 3,200+: Rockets and mortar fired from Gaza in 2008.
• 6,500+: Rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
• 10,389: Rockets and mortars fired from Gaza 2001-2008.
• 1,000+: People in Israel injured from rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2001.
• 27: Number of people killed by Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks since 2001.
• 242: Rockets, missiles and mortars fired at Israel from Gaza since the end of Operation Cast Lead.
Hamas Terrorism
• 727: Rockets and mortars fired from Gaza, January – September 2009.
• 17: Attacks on Gaza goods crossings by Palestinian terrorist groups in 2008.
• 80: Percent of mosques in Gaza which Hamas reportedly controls, some of which are used for weapons storage, command and communications headquarters.
• 37 mi (60km): Range of Hamas rockets in Gaza acquired after Operation Cast Lead.
• 2.5 mi (4 km): Range of Hamas’s anti-tank missiles, smuggled into Gaza since the end of Operation Cast Lead.
• 1,500: Number of smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt (estimate).
• 59 ft (18 m)/6.8 mi (11 km): Length and depth of metal fence Egypt is building on Sinai-Gaza border to prevent tunnel smuggling operations.
• 22 mi (35 km): Distance between Gaza and Yavneh - the northernmost Israeli city hit by Gaza rockets on Dec. 28, 2009.
• 900: Hamas operatives trained by Iran.
• $20 million - $30 million: Funding Iran provides annually to Hamas. Iran gave Hamas another $50 million following Hamas’s victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections.
Israel’s Aid to Gaza
• 900: Percent increase in humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza in 2009, compared to 2008.
• 630,253: Tons of humanitarian aid delivered to the Gaza Strip, Jan. 19 – Dec. 13, 2009.
• 24.5 million gallons (92.7 million liters): Heavy-duty diesel fuel delivered to the Gaza Strip, Jan. 19 – Oct. 31, 2009.
• 10,346: Gaza residents who entered Israel for medical and humanitarian reasons, Jan.19 – Nov. 7, 2009.
• 57,295 tons: Monthly average of humanitarian aid entering Gaza since Operation Cast Lead, Jan. 19 – Dec. 5, 2009.
• 11,508: Monthly average (in tons) of humanitarian aid entering Gaza from February – June 2008, a period of intense rocket fire.
• 34,253 tons: Monthly average of humanitarian aid entering Gaza during period of calm, July - December 2008.
• 18,500: Permits Israel issued to Gaza residents to enter Israel or travel overseas in 2009.
• 28,400: Flowers from Gaza scheduled for export to Europe on Dec. 10, 2009.
• 250,000: Flowers from Gaza scheduled for export beginning Dec. 13, 2009.
[SOURCE: The Israel Project: http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hsJPK0PIJpH&b=689705&ct=6478505 ]
=========================================================================
END
At around six fifteen, the pro-Israel pro-peace side got tired of the tantrums from the spoiled children of liquor store owners, and decided to head out to dinner, leaving misbehaved delinquents and high-school drop-outs to shout into an empty street.
I hope they all caught cold. We have too many liquor stores in San Francisco.
What do these people have in common?
Here is a list of people who have crippled moral and ethical sensibilities.
What ELSE do they have in common?
Adam Keller
Anat Biletski
Anat Matar
Beate Zilversmidt
Cynthia McKinney
David Theo Goldberg
Hava Kelleradam
Howard Zinn
John Berger
Katherine M. Fuchs
Leslie Feinberg
Luisa Morgantini
Mairead Maguire
Mustafa Barghouti
Noam Chomsky, MIT
Norman Finklestein
Phyllis Bennis
Rashid Khalidi
Roger Waters
Ronnie Kasrils
Sut Jhally
Tarun J. Tejpal
No, it isn't membership in a socialist sex-cult. That would be relatively harmless.
Hint: it is illegal in the US, but NOT in the Arab world. Where, like the sexual exploitation, abuse and murder of religious minorities, gays, and women, it is pandemic.
What ELSE do they have in common?
Adam Keller
Anat Biletski
Anat Matar
Beate Zilversmidt
Cynthia McKinney
David Theo Goldberg
Hava Kelleradam
Howard Zinn
John Berger
Katherine M. Fuchs
Leslie Feinberg
Luisa Morgantini
Mairead Maguire
Mustafa Barghouti
Noam Chomsky, MIT
Norman Finklestein
Phyllis Bennis
Rashid Khalidi
Roger Waters
Ronnie Kasrils
Sut Jhally
Tarun J. Tejpal
No, it isn't membership in a socialist sex-cult. That would be relatively harmless.
Hint: it is illegal in the US, but NOT in the Arab world. Where, like the sexual exploitation, abuse and murder of religious minorities, gays, and women, it is pandemic.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Women in Black celebrating the birth of Jesus
Due to the nativity of their lord, Berkeley Women in Black will NOT be holding their usual mute vigil today. Instead, they will be giving toy kalashnikovs and little checkered scarves to their grand-children, and singing reworked carols that specifically include mention of the remarkable machismatic similarities between imprisoned Palestinian activists and the young radical Jesus.
We wish them a merry, politically correct, sufferingly meaningful, and Berkeleyite in every way Christmas. Even the Methodists among them.
Enjoy your roast tofu and wheat-germ, girls, you deserve it!
We'll see you again on the thirty first. Bring booze this time.
We wish them a merry, politically correct, sufferingly meaningful, and Berkeleyite in every way Christmas. Even the Methodists among them.
Enjoy your roast tofu and wheat-germ, girls, you deserve it!
We'll see you again on the thirty first. Bring booze this time.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Overcoming Speechlessness
I notice that Alice Walker has reposted to her blog an essay entitled "Overcoming Speechlessness: a Poet Encounters "the horror" in Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel". I had thought to write something about this essay when I first read it, but I put it aside. Other matters were pressing, and, well, I didn't know where to begin. But now it's back, and rather than grinding my teeth, I'm overcoming my own speechlessness and saying something, hardly everything there is to say, about it.
Beginning:
It's hard to know how to begin to tackle this enormous, sprawling, hateful and clueless essay. Maybe at the top, where there is a picture of Walker posing with "Hamas Sister, Huda Naim, Member of Parliament, and Mother of five children". Maybe just a piece at a time, picking out a piece or two that got my Irish up.
Walker begins the essay with an account of meetings and travels in Africa. She begins with the stories of women in Rwanda and Congo who have survived things that make you want to scream to think of them. And then, she brings us to her understanding of Israel:
Does the willful ignorance take away your breath yet? The "holocaust" in quotes, which doesn't reflect past treatment of Jews but 'future' disasters, the European Jews who passively "were settled" there? The ignorance of the history of Zionism, of the thriving communities of Jews already living in the land, working and living on land they owned? The communities of Jews living in what is now Israel, since Ottoman times or before? The people who came during the ninteenth century, and the first half of the twentieth, to build a country? The non-European Jews who came after the war--oh, Alice, tell me why you think they came from countries they had lived in since the Babylonian Empire was a going political power, lands like Iraq and Egypt? That's not to even bring up the Jewish people's connection to and presence on this land going back to the Bronze Age, which I'm sure Alice doesn't take into account at all.
So this woman knows nothing, nothing at all, about Israeli history, and yet she is going to write an essay about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From the heart, one supposes.
So many Jews.
Alice wants you to know about all the Jews, seeking justice, who went to Gaza with her. This includes:
A Jewish man who was born in Palestine? How could that be, Alice? I thought they were resettled after the war by the Brits. Oh, never mind. I am supposed to believe that Israeli customs officials have never seen a passport issued to someone born in British Palestine before, and treat him like an enemy, because he is 'Palestinian'? Alice, sorry, but this is BS. Your ignorance of the country you see as the stronghold of racism and discrimination is leading you to swallow bubbemeisehs.
Let me tell you another story, and ask why you think this man's wife was not on the bus with you. The grandfather of a woman I know used to go every year, by train, to British Palestine, to pray at the Tomb of the Patriarch. It's a long train ride from Baghdad to Hebron, but he went every year, and then he prayed, not at the Tomb itself, because Jews were not allowed inside, but from the outside, as close as he was permitted to the shrine itself. His children and grandchildren now live in Israel and the United States, because within a decade of the founding of the State of Israel, Iraq was no longer a safe place to live as a Jew. Alice, did your guides introduce you to anyone who could tell you a story like this? Why do you think this man's wife, or his daughter, were not on your bus to tell their stories?
Rubble.
And she describes Gaza, and she asks: If children are not safe playing in their schoolyards, where are they safe?
And I think of pictures of children dead in Sderot, and I wonder at this woman's inability to see more than one snapshot of a conflict.
May God Protect You From The Jews
Alice encounters an old woman in Gaza:
What a moment of solidarity, between the Palestinian woman and the leftist American novelist. A racial slur. Beautiful. But of course, Alice has a reason:
I wonder, Alice, if that might be because you've never bothered to learn the true history and the more complicated stories, and when you hear that from him, you turn off your ears and close your heart. But, no, clearly the ethnic slurs are justified.
I'm being mocking here because I don't know how else to respond. The sheer, stupid, self-justifying ugliness in this passage stopped my heart for a moment.
It's the pretension of awareness that gets to me. The self-anointing as struggler in a cause seen out of context, seen with no historical understanding, or knowledge of the broader world. The photographs with the Hamas 'Sister', with no understanding of what Hamas is, what they have done, who they are. The justifications for everything. The unwavering willingness to be the latest poor dumb American to come along and not look for any hidden truth or moral ambiguities.
May I never have to overcome speechlessness when it comes to lies and ignorance like this.
Beginning:
It's hard to know how to begin to tackle this enormous, sprawling, hateful and clueless essay. Maybe at the top, where there is a picture of Walker posing with "Hamas Sister, Huda Naim, Member of Parliament, and Mother of five children". Maybe just a piece at a time, picking out a piece or two that got my Irish up.
Walker begins the essay with an account of meetings and travels in Africa. She begins with the stories of women in Rwanda and Congo who have survived things that make you want to scream to think of them. And then, she brings us to her understanding of Israel:
Like most people on the planet, I have been aware of the Palestinian-Israel conflict almost my whole life. I was four years old in 1948 when, after being
subjected to unspeakable cruelty by the Germans, after a "holocaust" so many future disasters would resemble, thousands of European Jews were resettled in Palestine. They settled in a land that belonged to people already living there, which did not seem to bother the British who, as in India, had occupied Palestine and then, on leaving it, helped put in place a partitioning of the land they thought would work fine for the people, strangers, Palestinians and European Jews, now forced to live together.
Does the willful ignorance take away your breath yet? The "holocaust" in quotes, which doesn't reflect past treatment of Jews but 'future' disasters, the European Jews who passively "were settled" there? The ignorance of the history of Zionism, of the thriving communities of Jews already living in the land, working and living on land they owned? The communities of Jews living in what is now Israel, since Ottoman times or before? The people who came during the ninteenth century, and the first half of the twentieth, to build a country? The non-European Jews who came after the war--oh, Alice, tell me why you think they came from countries they had lived in since the Babylonian Empire was a going political power, lands like Iraq and Egypt? That's not to even bring up the Jewish people's connection to and presence on this land going back to the Bronze Age, which I'm sure Alice doesn't take into account at all.
So this woman knows nothing, nothing at all, about Israeli history, and yet she is going to write an essay about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From the heart, one supposes.
So many Jews.
Alice wants you to know about all the Jews, seeking justice, who went to Gaza with her. This includes:
A woman in her late fifties or early sixties stood at the front of the bus, as we passed donkey carts and Mercedes Benzes, and spoke of traveling to Palestine without her husband, a Jewish man who was born in Palestine. Several times they had come back to Palestine, renamed Israel, to see family. To attend graduations, weddings, and funerals. Each time they were held for hours at the airport as her husband was stripped, searched, interrogated, and threatened when he spoke up for himself. In short, because his passport was stamped with the place of his birth, Palestine, he was treated like a Palestinian. This Jewish husband sent his best wishes, but he could no longer endure travel in so painful a part of the world.
A Jewish man who was born in Palestine? How could that be, Alice? I thought they were resettled after the war by the Brits. Oh, never mind. I am supposed to believe that Israeli customs officials have never seen a passport issued to someone born in British Palestine before, and treat him like an enemy, because he is 'Palestinian'? Alice, sorry, but this is BS. Your ignorance of the country you see as the stronghold of racism and discrimination is leading you to swallow bubbemeisehs.
Let me tell you another story, and ask why you think this man's wife was not on the bus with you. The grandfather of a woman I know used to go every year, by train, to British Palestine, to pray at the Tomb of the Patriarch. It's a long train ride from Baghdad to Hebron, but he went every year, and then he prayed, not at the Tomb itself, because Jews were not allowed inside, but from the outside, as close as he was permitted to the shrine itself. His children and grandchildren now live in Israel and the United States, because within a decade of the founding of the State of Israel, Iraq was no longer a safe place to live as a Jew. Alice, did your guides introduce you to anyone who could tell you a story like this? Why do you think this man's wife, or his daughter, were not on your bus to tell their stories?
Rubble.
And she describes Gaza, and she asks: If children are not safe playing in their schoolyards, where are they safe?
And I think of pictures of children dead in Sderot, and I wonder at this woman's inability to see more than one snapshot of a conflict.
May God Protect You From The Jews
Alice encounters an old woman in Gaza:
I gave her a gift I had brought, and she thanked me. Looking into my eyes she said: May God protect you from the Jews. When the young Palestinian interpreter told me what she’d said, I responded: It’s too late, I already married one.
What a moment of solidarity, between the Palestinian woman and the leftist American novelist. A racial slur. Beautiful. But of course, Alice has a reason:
I said this partly because, like so many Jews in America, my former husband could not tolerate criticism of Israel’s behavior toward the Palestinians. Our very different positions on what is happening now in Palestine/Israel and what has been happening for over fifty years, has been perhaps our most severe disagreement. It is a subject we have never been able to rationally discuss. He does not see the racist treatment of Palestinians as the same racist treatment of blacks and some Jews that he fought against so nobly in Mississippi.
I wonder, Alice, if that might be because you've never bothered to learn the true history and the more complicated stories, and when you hear that from him, you turn off your ears and close your heart. But, no, clearly the ethnic slurs are justified.
I'm being mocking here because I don't know how else to respond. The sheer, stupid, self-justifying ugliness in this passage stopped my heart for a moment.
It's the pretension of awareness that gets to me. The self-anointing as struggler in a cause seen out of context, seen with no historical understanding, or knowledge of the broader world. The photographs with the Hamas 'Sister', with no understanding of what Hamas is, what they have done, who they are. The justifications for everything. The unwavering willingness to be the latest poor dumb American to come along and not look for any hidden truth or moral ambiguities.
May I never have to overcome speechlessness when it comes to lies and ignorance like this.
MIDDLE EAST GANGSTER REGIMES
Treppenwitz has a cogent posting today with which I cannot but agree. So, as has happened before, he is guest-posting here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Double standard? What double standard?!
As the late Mr. Roger's used to sing, "Who are the people in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood, in your nei-bor-hood...?" Let's take a peek, shall we?
Jordan...a country and monarchy invented out of whole cloth by the British (in direct violation of their Mandate) which everyone loves to think of as the most enlightened, democratic member of the Arab world.
Well, guess what?
'King' Abdullah just dissolved the legislature and pushed off elections indefinitely.
Outrage? Anyone... anyone? Oh yeah, I forgot. We have to respect their unique culture.
Lebanon... Another 'enlightened' Arab state. 'Paris of the Mediterranean' they like to call it. A cafe culture so close to our own that misguided lefty Israeli journalists are compelled to do a Jane Fonda-esque cameo from Beirut within hours of a shameful end to a war... a war that was started by these peace-loving, latte-sipping Lebanese! These same Lebanese now count Hezbollah - a terrorist militia that was supposed to be disarmed under the terms of U.N. Resolution 1701 - as part of their government. For context, that would be like the KKK holding a veto-wielding majority in the U.S. Congress, and also being given the right to raise and command their own army.
Syria... Another country made up out of whole cloth... this time by the French. Funny how Europeans who love to toss the word 'Colonial Power'' at Israel conveniently forget that it was Israel's neighbors that were created in the last gasp of the colonial era, while Israel was voted into being by a recognized legal world body. But don't tell that to any of the religious or ethnic minorities in the Arab world... it might stir them from their satisfied slumber. Syria's constitution requires that all positions of power remain in the hands of the Ba'ath party... and even though there is a national referendum for president every seven years, the Syrian people are essentially required to appoint the head of the Ba'ath Party as President. Thus this bastion of democracy is essentially saddled forever with a dynastic ethnic minority (Alawite) leader who also happens to head a minority political party.
Iran... Do we really need to do this exercise? They call themselves an Islamic Republic yet ironically consider Israel's self definition as a Jewish state to be racist. And as to the 'republic' part, any country where the highest office - called 'The Supreme Leader' - is a religious leader and not subject to election... well, I don't think you'll find that one in Wikipedia under 'Republic'. And as to their elections... I think we can pretty much agree that the outcome of these farces are set and approved by the Supreme leader well before anyone goes near a ballot box.
Iraq... Okay, since the U.S. kinda pushed the 'reset' button on the Iraqi government and all instruments of power when they invaded, it will be some time before we know what the political face of this country will look like long-term. But the likelihood that anybody will be playing nice with anyone else once the U.S. leaves the sandbox is not very high.
Saudi Arabia... Pshah! Another theocracy (see Iran, above) in a region where only Israel is castigated for religious 'offences'. The Saudis cut off the hands and feet of petty criminals and behead drug dealers. The Royal family is a dysfunctional nightmare from the dark ages, and less than 5% of Saudi women are allowed to work (the lowest percentage in the world). Heck, Saudi women aren't even allowed to drive! And if you wants to talk about freedom of speech... well you'd better not be in Saudi Arabia because it doesn't exist. There are actual laws against criticizing the government or anyone in the royal family.
Yemen... Another so-called 'republic'... this country is a model of a modern democracy, if you don't count the rampant corruption, torture, inhumane treatment of political prisoners and even extra-judicial executions. But on the feminist front there seems to be some progress (not!). They have recently abolished the rule whereby the onset of puberty marked the minimum age for a girl's marriage.
Apparently those romantic Yemenis couldn't wait that long to bed their child brides. Again, outrage anyone?
Gaza... Puleeze, can anyone say failed proto-state? If anyone were to faithfully document the situation in Gaza and make it into a movie, the American Muslim Anti Discrimination Committee would protest the absurd depiction of the adherents to 'the religion of peace' as sub-human terrorists.
Egypt... Okay, this one is really scary in much the same way as watching a car crash in slow motion. We have an aging autocrat hanging on to power by the skin of his teeth while the Muslim Brotherhood is already passing out portfolios in anticipation of their inevitable rise to power. Even though in theory the executive power is split between the President and Prime Minister, in reality all of the power rests with the president. Mubarak has even changed the election laws, raising the threshold for potential opposing candidates so high that he is virtually assured to remain in power for however much time remains of his life.
So it was beyond laughable when the current Israeli government was being formed, that much of the world (including our closest allies) bemoaned the end of Israeli democracy because Netanyahu's choice for Foreign Minister had some, let's just say 'controversial' opinions. And the two countries from the list of thugocracies above that are actually on speaking terms with us (Jordan and Egypt) had the gall to announce that they wouldn't meet with our FM. Nice.
Seriously, when are we going to simply announce to the world that we will play by whatever rules they want... but only if everyone will be bound by the same rules? How's that for a controversial opinion?!
SOURCE:
http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/
This post:
http://www.treppenwitz.com/2009/12/double-standard-what-double-standard.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In point of fact, while Israel may not be perfect, as so many members of the ultra-enlightened fringe always take pains to point out, it is the only modern and civilized country in the Middle-East. The rest are little more than thug-bucket tyrannies, whose people still have a long way to go. And they aren't going to get there anytime soon. Not while they and the despots that rule them adhere to feudal mores and barbaric values.
"We have to respect their unique culture"
Actually, I respect their food. Their cultures do not particularly impress me.
Yes, back in the dark ages, they had algebra and medicine. That early promise has not manifested itself more significantly since then.
They also had slavery, repression, and tyranny.
Which, more or less, is remarkably similar to their present state.
There are indeed enlightened Arabs - many enlightened Arabs. They are constantly threatened by their own regimes, and often brutally slaughtered. Do not expect them to speak out on their own behalf - doing so would be committing suicide.
The only ones who can speak out for them are the 'ultra-enlightened' members of Western Societies. Who, alas, seem more concerned with "respecting their unique culture".
It is the unique cowardice and hypocrisy of the European socialists and the American leftwing which keeps Arabs from ever realizing their potential.
A hot-house culture of Colourful Ethnics is so much easier to deal with.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Double standard? What double standard?!
As the late Mr. Roger's used to sing, "Who are the people in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood, in your nei-bor-hood...?" Let's take a peek, shall we?
Jordan...a country and monarchy invented out of whole cloth by the British (in direct violation of their Mandate) which everyone loves to think of as the most enlightened, democratic member of the Arab world.
Well, guess what?
'King' Abdullah just dissolved the legislature and pushed off elections indefinitely.
Outrage? Anyone... anyone? Oh yeah, I forgot. We have to respect their unique culture.
Lebanon... Another 'enlightened' Arab state. 'Paris of the Mediterranean' they like to call it. A cafe culture so close to our own that misguided lefty Israeli journalists are compelled to do a Jane Fonda-esque cameo from Beirut within hours of a shameful end to a war... a war that was started by these peace-loving, latte-sipping Lebanese! These same Lebanese now count Hezbollah - a terrorist militia that was supposed to be disarmed under the terms of U.N. Resolution 1701 - as part of their government. For context, that would be like the KKK holding a veto-wielding majority in the U.S. Congress, and also being given the right to raise and command their own army.
Syria... Another country made up out of whole cloth... this time by the French. Funny how Europeans who love to toss the word 'Colonial Power'' at Israel conveniently forget that it was Israel's neighbors that were created in the last gasp of the colonial era, while Israel was voted into being by a recognized legal world body. But don't tell that to any of the religious or ethnic minorities in the Arab world... it might stir them from their satisfied slumber. Syria's constitution requires that all positions of power remain in the hands of the Ba'ath party... and even though there is a national referendum for president every seven years, the Syrian people are essentially required to appoint the head of the Ba'ath Party as President. Thus this bastion of democracy is essentially saddled forever with a dynastic ethnic minority (Alawite) leader who also happens to head a minority political party.
Iran... Do we really need to do this exercise? They call themselves an Islamic Republic yet ironically consider Israel's self definition as a Jewish state to be racist. And as to the 'republic' part, any country where the highest office - called 'The Supreme Leader' - is a religious leader and not subject to election... well, I don't think you'll find that one in Wikipedia under 'Republic'. And as to their elections... I think we can pretty much agree that the outcome of these farces are set and approved by the Supreme leader well before anyone goes near a ballot box.
Iraq... Okay, since the U.S. kinda pushed the 'reset' button on the Iraqi government and all instruments of power when they invaded, it will be some time before we know what the political face of this country will look like long-term. But the likelihood that anybody will be playing nice with anyone else once the U.S. leaves the sandbox is not very high.
Saudi Arabia... Pshah! Another theocracy (see Iran, above) in a region where only Israel is castigated for religious 'offences'. The Saudis cut off the hands and feet of petty criminals and behead drug dealers. The Royal family is a dysfunctional nightmare from the dark ages, and less than 5% of Saudi women are allowed to work (the lowest percentage in the world). Heck, Saudi women aren't even allowed to drive! And if you wants to talk about freedom of speech... well you'd better not be in Saudi Arabia because it doesn't exist. There are actual laws against criticizing the government or anyone in the royal family.
Yemen... Another so-called 'republic'... this country is a model of a modern democracy, if you don't count the rampant corruption, torture, inhumane treatment of political prisoners and even extra-judicial executions. But on the feminist front there seems to be some progress (not!). They have recently abolished the rule whereby the onset of puberty marked the minimum age for a girl's marriage.
Apparently those romantic Yemenis couldn't wait that long to bed their child brides. Again, outrage anyone?
Gaza... Puleeze, can anyone say failed proto-state? If anyone were to faithfully document the situation in Gaza and make it into a movie, the American Muslim Anti Discrimination Committee would protest the absurd depiction of the adherents to 'the religion of peace' as sub-human terrorists.
Egypt... Okay, this one is really scary in much the same way as watching a car crash in slow motion. We have an aging autocrat hanging on to power by the skin of his teeth while the Muslim Brotherhood is already passing out portfolios in anticipation of their inevitable rise to power. Even though in theory the executive power is split between the President and Prime Minister, in reality all of the power rests with the president. Mubarak has even changed the election laws, raising the threshold for potential opposing candidates so high that he is virtually assured to remain in power for however much time remains of his life.
So it was beyond laughable when the current Israeli government was being formed, that much of the world (including our closest allies) bemoaned the end of Israeli democracy because Netanyahu's choice for Foreign Minister had some, let's just say 'controversial' opinions. And the two countries from the list of thugocracies above that are actually on speaking terms with us (Jordan and Egypt) had the gall to announce that they wouldn't meet with our FM. Nice.
Seriously, when are we going to simply announce to the world that we will play by whatever rules they want... but only if everyone will be bound by the same rules? How's that for a controversial opinion?!
SOURCE:
http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/
This post:
http://www.treppenwitz.com/2009/12/double-standard-what-double-standard.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In point of fact, while Israel may not be perfect, as so many members of the ultra-enlightened fringe always take pains to point out, it is the only modern and civilized country in the Middle-East. The rest are little more than thug-bucket tyrannies, whose people still have a long way to go. And they aren't going to get there anytime soon. Not while they and the despots that rule them adhere to feudal mores and barbaric values.
"We have to respect their unique culture"
Actually, I respect their food. Their cultures do not particularly impress me.
Yes, back in the dark ages, they had algebra and medicine. That early promise has not manifested itself more significantly since then.
They also had slavery, repression, and tyranny.
Which, more or less, is remarkably similar to their present state.
There are indeed enlightened Arabs - many enlightened Arabs. They are constantly threatened by their own regimes, and often brutally slaughtered. Do not expect them to speak out on their own behalf - doing so would be committing suicide.
The only ones who can speak out for them are the 'ultra-enlightened' members of Western Societies. Who, alas, seem more concerned with "respecting their unique culture".
It is the unique cowardice and hypocrisy of the European socialists and the American leftwing which keeps Arabs from ever realizing their potential.
A hot-house culture of Colourful Ethnics is so much easier to deal with.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Egypt Says No to the Gaza Freedom March
Egypt has made the decision that it doesn't want to be responsible for 1000 Code pinkers wandering through its territory. And so the email deluge begins. Did you all get this whining little missive from "Jewish Peace News"? :
Contact your local consulate here: http://www.mfa. gov.eg/MFA_ Portal/en- GB/mfa_websits/
Contact the Palestine Division in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo
Ahmed Azzam, tel +202-25749682 Email: ahmed.azzam@ mfa.gov.eg
In the U.S., contact the Egyptian Embassy, 202-895-5400 and ask for Omar Youssef or email omaryoussef@ hotmail.com
Tell them there is no "Siege". Tell them just this month
* The amount of merchandise entering the Gaza Strip increased - over 64,000 tons (89% from the private sector and only 11% from the international community) of food, medicines, hygiene products, clothing, agricultural supplies, and cement.
* Fuel: Almost 10 million liters of diesel fuel for the power station and over 1,100 tons of cooking gas were delivered to the Gaza Strip.
* 7,000 heads of cattle were imported for the Eid al-Adha holiday.
* 1,862 Palestinians crossed from the Gaza Strip into Israel, the West Bank and the Allenby Bridge crossing.
* 848 International staff members entered the Gaza Strip.
* 83 Israelis entered the G.S for humanitarian reasons.
* The Erez Terminal renovations are almost complete on the Palestinian side. All that is needed is the installation of the electrical wiring in order to complete the project. This should be accomplished in December.
* The Power Plant in Gaza received 12 new transformers as well as other electrical equipment.
* The North Gaza Wastewater facility was discussed at several meetings between World Bank officials and members of the Palestinian and Israeli infrastructure teams.
* Communications equipment was delivered to the Palestinian Water Authority.
And tell the Code Pinkers the pyramids of Giza are much more educational than the Gaza strip
We are determined to break the siege. We all will continue to do whatever we can to make it happen
Using the pretext of escalating tensions on the Gaza-Egypt border, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry informed us yesterday that the Rafah border will be closed over the coming weeks, into January. We responded that there is always tension at the border because of the siege, that we do not feel threatened, and that if there are any risks, they are risks we are willing to take. We also said that it was too late for over 1,300 delegates coming from over 42 countries to change their plans now. We both agreed to continue our exchanges.
Although we consider this as a setback, it is something we've encountered -and overcome- before. No delegation, large or small, that entered Gaza over the past 12 months has ever received a final OK before arriving at the Rafah border. Most delegations were discouraged from even heading out of Cairo to Rafah. Some had their buses stopped on the way. Some have been told outright that they could not go into Gaza. But after public and political pressure, the Egyptian government changed its position and let them pass.
Our efforts and plans will not be altered at this point. We have set out to break the siege of Gaza and march on December 31 against the Israeli blockade. We are continuing in the same direction.
Egyptian embassies and missions all over the world must hear from us and our supporters (by phone, fax and email)** over the coming crucial days, with a clear message: Let the international delegation enter Gaza and let the Gaza Freedom March proceed.
Contact your local consulate here: http://www.mfa. gov.eg/MFA_ Portal/en- GB/mfa_websits/
Contact the Palestine Division in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo
Ahmed Azzam, tel +202-25749682 Email: ahmed.azzam@ mfa.gov.eg
In the U.S., contact the Egyptian Embassy, 202-895-5400 and ask for Omar Youssef or email omaryoussef@ hotmail.com
Tell them there is no "Siege". Tell them just this month
* The amount of merchandise entering the Gaza Strip increased - over 64,000 tons (89% from the private sector and only 11% from the international community) of food, medicines, hygiene products, clothing, agricultural supplies, and cement.
* Fuel: Almost 10 million liters of diesel fuel for the power station and over 1,100 tons of cooking gas were delivered to the Gaza Strip.
* 7,000 heads of cattle were imported for the Eid al-Adha holiday.
* 1,862 Palestinians crossed from the Gaza Strip into Israel, the West Bank and the Allenby Bridge crossing.
* 848 International staff members entered the Gaza Strip.
* 83 Israelis entered the G.S for humanitarian reasons.
* The Erez Terminal renovations are almost complete on the Palestinian side. All that is needed is the installation of the electrical wiring in order to complete the project. This should be accomplished in December.
* The Power Plant in Gaza received 12 new transformers as well as other electrical equipment.
* The North Gaza Wastewater facility was discussed at several meetings between World Bank officials and members of the Palestinian and Israeli infrastructure teams.
* Communications equipment was delivered to the Palestinian Water Authority.
And tell the Code Pinkers the pyramids of Giza are much more educational than the Gaza strip
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Aipac protests in San Francisco
The subheading of this post should be: "In the words of Eric Cartman, 'I hate you guys, I hate you guys so very very much!'."
Wednesday 12/15/2009, San Francisco: Last night AIPAC came to town. As every year, that attracted the Israel haters and psychopaths. Which includes the following short list
• AlAwda.
• ANSWER.
• Code Pink (represented by Toby and someone of indeterminate gender).
• International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (saboteurs, the sexually frustrated, damaged psyches, and mister Kanter).
• International Solidarity Movement, (Paul Larudee and assorted fans of Hamas and Hezbollah).
• Jim Harris (a simple soul, who just can NOT keep his mouth shut, bless him).
• Joe Webb (an old-style anti-Semite with clothing that advertises insanity).
• Middle East Children's Alliance (only Arab children are children, all others are occupiers).
• Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism ('Turkeys for Thanksgiving').
• San Francisco State students.
• Stop AIPAC -Bay Area.
• The Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid.
There were the usual tantrums from middle-aged Berkeleyites, virulent hate-spews from SFState students and children of liquor store owners, plus anemic chanting and idiotic talking points from the ideologically autistic (yes, Dick Becker, that means you - although Jim Harris did try to steal your thunder).
It was a veritable feast of instability, fantasy, and delusional signage.
Hassan Fouda and his lovely wife Marilyn also showed up, both well-known for justifying violent acts against 'the occupier', and for channeling a unique brand of Jew-hatred - just ask folks in California, Connecticut, and Utah about them, though at least one individual in Maryland begs to differ.
They're pathological, they can't help it.
Thank heavens they found each other.
Theirs is a unique love.
The poltroons from the NLG were under deep cover, possibly as a result of their blatant instigation and agitation at the last manifestation of Jew-hatred. Bad PR, even in San Francisco.
That's okay, we love you girls - say hi to Lily Haskell, I didn't see her last night.
Several members of the anti-Israel crowd were dressed eccentrically: an Uncle Sam, a yogi, Flower Child, Evil Santa, SS Stripper, Raggedy Man, and a teenager with a keffiyeh around his face who does not want his dad to find out that he was jeopardizing his family's stay in the United States (don't worry, we won't tell).
Again, most of the crowd of hate-filled zealots was comprised of self-righteous middle-aged ladies from Berkeley, a few of whom are Jewish, though there are also many Methodists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, and Wiccans among their ranks.
This year no obvious infiltrators from Lily Haskell's little clique - again, we didn't see her or her handler - and far-fewer of the potentially violent teenagers that Dick Becker so likes; ANSWER has waned to such an extent that worry is evident on Dick Becker's wan face.
Also missing from the fray was Becker's chief flunky (Forrest Chump), maybe he's finally found gainful employment? If so, kudos.
I was very surprised to see Paul Larudee - after that ridiculous stuttering talk he gave in Oakland on Monday night, I though he had had enough of us.
You know Paul, two years ago you were saying that the Palestinians were descendants of the ancient Philistines, now you're claiming that they are Jews who first converted to Christianity, then converted to Islam. Can you at least be consistent? Or will you keep making it up as you go along, you wily devil?
Even Kate Bender Rafael is more reliable than you, she's dumb as an ox ALL the time.
Of course, you're still better than Rob Kanter.
You may be more ethical, too.
No actual record.
About forty pro-Israel activists, no more than a hundred anti-Israel individuals. Quite the worst turn-out for the radical pro-Palestinians in years. Pathetic.
Wednesday 12/15/2009, San Francisco: Last night AIPAC came to town. As every year, that attracted the Israel haters and psychopaths. Which includes the following short list
• AlAwda.
• ANSWER.
• Code Pink (represented by Toby and someone of indeterminate gender).
• International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (saboteurs, the sexually frustrated, damaged psyches, and mister Kanter).
• International Solidarity Movement, (Paul Larudee and assorted fans of Hamas and Hezbollah).
• Jim Harris (a simple soul, who just can NOT keep his mouth shut, bless him).
• Joe Webb (an old-style anti-Semite with clothing that advertises insanity).
• Middle East Children's Alliance (only Arab children are children, all others are occupiers).
• Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism ('Turkeys for Thanksgiving').
• San Francisco State students.
• Stop AIPAC -Bay Area.
• The Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid.
There were the usual tantrums from middle-aged Berkeleyites, virulent hate-spews from SFState students and children of liquor store owners, plus anemic chanting and idiotic talking points from the ideologically autistic (yes, Dick Becker, that means you - although Jim Harris did try to steal your thunder).
It was a veritable feast of instability, fantasy, and delusional signage.
Hassan Fouda and his lovely wife Marilyn also showed up, both well-known for justifying violent acts against 'the occupier', and for channeling a unique brand of Jew-hatred - just ask folks in California, Connecticut, and Utah about them, though at least one individual in Maryland begs to differ.
They're pathological, they can't help it.
Thank heavens they found each other.
Theirs is a unique love.
The poltroons from the NLG were under deep cover, possibly as a result of their blatant instigation and agitation at the last manifestation of Jew-hatred. Bad PR, even in San Francisco.
That's okay, we love you girls - say hi to Lily Haskell, I didn't see her last night.
Several members of the anti-Israel crowd were dressed eccentrically: an Uncle Sam, a yogi, Flower Child, Evil Santa, SS Stripper, Raggedy Man, and a teenager with a keffiyeh around his face who does not want his dad to find out that he was jeopardizing his family's stay in the United States (don't worry, we won't tell).
Again, most of the crowd of hate-filled zealots was comprised of self-righteous middle-aged ladies from Berkeley, a few of whom are Jewish, though there are also many Methodists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, and Wiccans among their ranks.
This year no obvious infiltrators from Lily Haskell's little clique - again, we didn't see her or her handler - and far-fewer of the potentially violent teenagers that Dick Becker so likes; ANSWER has waned to such an extent that worry is evident on Dick Becker's wan face.
Also missing from the fray was Becker's chief flunky (Forrest Chump), maybe he's finally found gainful employment? If so, kudos.
I was very surprised to see Paul Larudee - after that ridiculous stuttering talk he gave in Oakland on Monday night, I though he had had enough of us.
You know Paul, two years ago you were saying that the Palestinians were descendants of the ancient Philistines, now you're claiming that they are Jews who first converted to Christianity, then converted to Islam. Can you at least be consistent? Or will you keep making it up as you go along, you wily devil?
Even Kate Bender Rafael is more reliable than you, she's dumb as an ox ALL the time.
Of course, you're still better than Rob Kanter.
You may be more ethical, too.
No actual record.
About forty pro-Israel activists, no more than a hundred anti-Israel individuals. Quite the worst turn-out for the radical pro-Palestinians in years. Pathetic.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Zionism- controlling the media, finance and impeding evolution
Every Friday for years, Berkeley Women in Black has made a practice of harassing students at UC Berkeley. Students at the University call this phenomenon "Black Friday". According to one blogger,
"The only thing more Berkeley than having an inflammatory opinion is gathering together a cadre of similarly-minded people and staging an unimpressive display to annoy passers-by."
Berkeley Women in Black have accused Israel and the Jewish people of controlling the media, government, and the banking industry for years. However on Friday Dec 4, Berkeley Women in Black (now including people of indeterminate gender) added a new accusation to the repertoire of dastardly Zionist deeds. Apparently the tag team of great Satan and little Satan is now "impeding evolution".
Berkeley Women in Black- bringing a bit of dreariness and surrealism into Berkeley, each and every Friday.
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