Thursday, February 21, 2008
Cool Hand Abu Luke
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/2591
While the whole country, except for the Olmert government, is concerned
about the daily rocket attacks on Sderot, I think we have all been
overlooking the obvious solution.
The way to fix things occurred to me while watching a rerun of that Paul
Newman film classic "Cool Hand Luke." After making "Exodus," Newman went
on to assist the Jewish people when he made "Cool Hand Luke," about
prisoners in chain gangs. They are chained to one another by the ankle,
and do terrible manual labor, like building roads and moving earth by
hand.
Now Sderot has become the Israeli version of Guernica. But the Olmert
people do not care because they do not have any friends or relatives who
live there. After all, Sderot is nothing but a backward town of low-income
blue-collar workers from Morocco, not the sorts with whom the Kadima
people fraternize and sip brandy. We might dub this "Failure to
Communicate," for those who have seen the movie. And even Amir Peretz,
who was once mayor there, lost interest in Sderot when its people voted
against him.
So here is my idea. Let's take all those jailed "Palestinian" terrorists
and security prisoners, those Olmert considers having "blood on their
paws" and those he does not, and create chain gangs like those in Cool
Hand Luke, employing them around Sderot. Then whenever a Qassam is fired
at Sderot, the townies can seek shelter and the chain gangs can stay out
on the streets and go on working. We will see how long it takes for the
Hamas to resolve Israel's dilemma of what to do with all those jailed
terrorists!
Then Israel can solve the problems in Gaza once and for all by setting up
large pumping stations to pump sea water into Gaza. Once the entire Gaza
Strip is under two meters of sea water, I bet the Qassam firings will end!
And when the bleeding hearts complain, Israel can just blame the flooding
on global warming!!
2. Something of interest: Check out the new web feature "ALEF
Watch" on www.isracampus.org.il (which replaces
Israel-Academia-Monitor.com) - http://isracampus.org.il/ALEF%20Watch.htm
3.
TAKING ON THE ISRAEL BASHERS
Barbara Kay
National Post, January 30, 2008
Both Judeophobes and Judeophiles agree that Jews are smart, but when it
comes to thwarting anti-Semitism, Jews can be pretty dumb.
In 2004, Israeli Cabinet minister Natan Sharansky attempted to convene
the heads of Israeli universities to devise counter-strategies to the
then-temporarily subdued movement to boycott their scholars and campuses.
Immured in their ivory towers, they were so oblivious to the gathering
threat that it took Sharansky six months to facilitate the meeting, where
they insouciantly dismissed his concerns: "When [the boycott movement]
gets stronger again, we'll get organized."
By contrast, rabid enthusiasm always dominates the annual
internationally co-ordinated Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), the fourth of
which unfolds on six Canadian university campuses Feb. 3-10.. More
ominously, IAW 2008 will include the founding conference of "High
Schoolers Against Israeli Apartheid.".
Tonight, I am speaking to the Jewish community of London, Ont., about
academic bias against Israel. I will have with me my review copy of
Academics Against Israel and the Jews, for which Sharansky wrote the
foreword, including my column's opening anecdote. Holding it aloft, I will
declare, "Everything you need to know about global campus anti-Zionism and
how--and how not--to fight it is contained in this book. If this Jewish
community cares about Israel's survival, you will read it and act on it
now."
A collection of essays by knowledgeable scholars and pro-Israel
activists, Academics Against Israel and the Jews is an important new
information resource, for it is the first comprehensive analysis of this
subject extending beyond a single country.. The essays are sobering but
reader-friendly, and written with a view to education, not retaliation.
Amongst other fascinating facts, we discover in these pages why only one
university in Spain (Navarre) is friendly to Israel; why United Kingdom
academics are particularly boycott-obsessed; and why Jewish students in
North America are far better placed to combat anti-Zionism than those in
Europe.
In a particularly distressing probe by Palestinian Media Watch
directors Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, we see scarifying evidence that
revisionist history and open anti-Semitism of the vilest kind is common
currency amongst "scholars" in Palestinian universities. If only shameless
historical lies and routine classroom incitement to hatred were criteria
for collegial shunning.the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a
standard "text" for Palestinian students.rather than trumped-up charges of
a non-existent "apartheid," Palestinian universities would be instant
pariahs. Alas, thanks to our postmodern intellectuals' weakness for moral
inversions, it seems even university-sanctioned incitement to literal
genocide is no barrier to acceptance in the West's Islamophilic groves of
academe.
Canada holds the dubious honour of providing material for two chapters:
an overview of the Canadian campus scene in general, and a chapter on the
ferment leading to the 2002 Concordia Netanyahu riot, an often-cited case
study in appeasement and a primer in how not to deal with ideological
scofflaws.
Manfred Gerstenfeld, the book's editor and chairman of the Board of
Fellows of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, is a prolific,
authoritative writer on the subjects of anti-Semitism and world Jewish
communities. Gerstenfeld is also a canny activist. If the cumulative
effect of so much of the book's bad news is demoralizing, Gerstenfeld's
bullish emphasis on remedies, and abundant proofs that the smart activism
of a few can be effective in pushing back, are re-moralizing..
Gerstenfeld's summary chapter is an education in itself. Here, an
uninformed reader can assimilate the essentials: how to distinguish
criticism of Israel from anti-Semitism; the nature and effectiveness of
various present and past boycotts; contemporary Arab anti-Semitism and the
recycling of old motifs; anti-Semites' contradictory images of the Jew;
and Israel's plight as a paradigm for the West's future.
As universities are a feeder system into the elite cultural ranks of
the general population, campus anti-Semitism is more than a threat to Jews
alone. Widespread anti-Semitism is always a symbol of decline in a
society.. Cultures in which anti-Semitism becomes the reigning ideology,
like Nazi Germany and most Arab states since 1917, are by definition
failed cultures.
At York University in 2003, a Jewish student told Sharansky, "For me as
a Jew, the existence of Israel is a big problem. I want to be a normal
person ... If Israel did not exist, I would feel much easier." If a Jewish
student can't feel "normal" on a university campus because Israel
"exists," is he not already studying in a failed culture?
4. Hint . They are BROWN!!
Israeli analyst: We know the color of Nasrallah's and Ahmadinejad's undies
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Security/12653.htm
Remember how Napoleon always went into battle wearing red so that if he
were wounded and bleeding, it would not show. Well...
5. Army of Chelm:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/7778
6. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3508712,00.html
Olmert's latest insanity
7.
(http://www.asharqalawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=11668).
A Great Loss
04/02/2008
The Levant was a model example of coexistence among the followers of
different religions; you could witness examples in classrooms, business
companies and art or cultural projects. This was the case until the first
wave of displacement of Jews from Arab states started to occur. This
However, this also coincided with the declaration of the Zionist state to
which security agencies in some of the Arab countries reacted to
foolishly; Arab governments began to deal with the Jewish communities with
suspicion and concern. The outcome was that the Jews were subjected to
forced migration (that is not to neglect the malicious practices that the
Zionist aid agencies used to undertake to instill fear among the community
to compel them to go back to Israel).
This had a hugely detrimental impact on the social and economic diversity
in the Arab world. It was also the practical downfall of the understanding
of tolerance, coexistence and the acceptance of others.
Today, there is a blatant codified mobility for the "second exodus",
meaning the evacuation of Christian citizens from the Arab world. The
percentages of Christians leaving Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine,
Sudan, and Syria have reached staggering heights. Palestine, in
particular, is subjected to a "blueprint" to evacuate all the original
national Christians living on its territories
Christian Palestinian immigrants are predominantly settled in Chile, South
America, and especially in the capital Santiago. The present census
indicates that 70,000 Palestinians have moved there (and the national
football team includes more than one Palestinian player).
But there is Christian displacement happening in other parts of the Arab
world and immigrants are moving to Europe, Australia, America and Canada.
In light of the growing extremism and the loss of the ability to apprehend
the true values of coexistence that were effectively implemented during
the Prophet's time, it is no surprise that extremist models exist. Such
models exercise hegemony over the religious discourse, which is what is
happening today and which has become a more critical matter than the
employed means of Christian "expulsion" from their native Arab homes.
This forced migration that is taking place is irrefutable evidence of the
decrease of tolerance and the acceptance of others, since the outcome is
what really matters. As long as Arab Christians do not feel stable and
secure then there is a grave problem that requires immediate action to
counter it, because the cost will continue to rise to indiscriminately
affect everyone, Muslims included.
However, silence in the face of this ongoing 'exodus' and ignoring the
outgoing departure figures as though the matter does not concern anyone
remains incomprehensible.
The Arab world has always been a point of convergence for civilizations
and a model for the coexistence of religions and the merging of cultures,
which in turn has yielded richness and diversity on more than one level
that cannot be overlooked. Today, with the manifestation of these alarming
indicators, the situation may continue as it is. Immigration figures are
no longer calculated in dozens or hundreds but rather in thousands, and it
is no longer done covertly but rather collectively and publically and the
reasons are clearly stated. These include fear and concern, in addition to
failures in the social system.
This significant second wave of departure is a great error that should not
be concluded in this manner because the region is the one that will suffer
the most losses.
8. Paying for socialist delusions:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1203518555162&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
