Mideast Media Sampler 5/27/13: Nasrallah Promises Victory As Hezbollah Faces Heavy Lossed In Syria

by David Gerstman, contributing blogger at Legal Insurrection

1) Who shot at Hezbollah? 

Shortly after Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah proclaimed victory in Syria ... 

The leader of the Lebanese Shia militant Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, has promised his supporters they will prevail in Syria, where they are backing President Bashar al-Assad. "This battle is ours... and I promise you victory," he said in a TV address. ... In the speech from an undisclosed location, Mr Hasrallah said if Sunni Islamists took over in Syria, they would pose a threat to the entire Lebanese population - Shia and Sunni Muslims, as well as Christians.

Syrian resistance is calling Nasrallah "the Dajjal". This is Arabic for: "That fat guy hiding in the basement of the Iranian embassy".
— Michael Ross (@mrossletters) May 26, 2013

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Mideast Media Sampler 5/24/13: Does Current Mideast Chaos Mean Olmert's Offer To Abbas Gone Forever?

by David Gerstman, contributing blogger at Legal Insurrection

1) Missing another opportunity to miss an opportunity

Yesterday, The Tower published an exclusive story about the peace deal that Ehud Olmert offered Mahmoud Abbas in 2008 but that Abbas never accepted.

Today Isacharoff follows up with more detail in Olmert: ‘I am still waiting for Abbas to call’ – If This Offer Wasn’t Enough, How Can Anyone Believe The Palestinians Will Ever Say ‘Yes’?. Towards the end, Isacharoff quotes Olmert:

WHEN WILL OLMERT ADMIT HE IS SPEAKING ONLY FOR HIMSELF? While he is at it, when will he withdraw from office?

Olmert to Assad: Israel willing to withdraw from Golan Heights

Yedioth Ahronoth report says prime minister relayed secret message to Damascus saying Israel would return Golan to Syria in exchange for comprehensive peace, severing of all ties to Iran, regional terror groups. Right-wing MKs: Olmert trying to save his own skin, has no legitimacy to give up disputed region

Technorati Tag: Israel and Olmert and Syria and Golan Heights and Assad.

WINOGRAD COMMISSION WON'T COMMIT: Israel Matzav notes that one reason the Winograd Commission may want to delay their report is the testimony of Meir Dagan.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Winograd Commission and Olmert.

Will Iran Take Olmert Any More Seriously Than The Palestinians?

On January 24, at the Herzaliyah Conference, Olmert addressed the threat of Iran. Considering what he said, it is doubtful that Iran is going to take Olmert--or Israel--any more seriously than the Palestinian Arabs:

It is clear to everyone that a diplomatic solution to the Iranian issue is the preferred solution. We also prefer such an outcome. The direction which the majority of the international community leans towards is a solution which can bear fruit, as long as it is done with the necessary ingenuity and determination, while meticulously adhering to the minimum requirements on which there can be no compromise. [emphasis added]

Assuming that all the steps which will now be taken (and those which are already being taken) by the international community are sharper, more significant, clearer and more vigorous, the need to adopt more demanding and harsher solutions in the future will be reduced. Those who believe, as we do, that a diplomatic solution is preferable, must now muster their strength to exert pressure on Iran and thus stay the course until change is achieved.

This kind of talk is not so very different from the kind that we are used to hearing from Olmert when he talks about the lengths he is willing to go and the compromises he is willing to make with the Palestinians.

I suppose we should be grateful that there is no Israeli land adjacent to Iran for Olmert to withdraw from.

If only he would take seriously his very next words in that speech:

To turn a blind eye now, while ignoring reality, dragging one's feet, and attempting to reach dangerous compromises while avoiding taking clear steps, those of us who wish to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power will, down the road, not be left with any choice but to take much more severe steps in the future.

If only he would take those words seriously and apply them to the situation closer to home.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Iran and Olmert.

Olmert and Abbas: Matching Bookends?

Arutz Sheva notes that at the December 23 meeting between Olmert and Abbas, Israel made a number of concessions--including the transferal of $100 million of frozen tax revenues, the easing of travel restrictions, and the increasing of the number of work permits for Palestinian Arabs who want to enter the pre-1967 areas of Israel.

And Abbas?

There were no apparent concessions offered by Abbas, other than to reiterate his full support of the November 26th ceasefire between Israel and the PA, which has thus far been violated more than 70 times by Arab terrorists.

Where would Israel be without Abbas' full support of the ceasefire?

It is common to think that Abbas is a clever negotiator who is holding back from conceding anything, while taking advantage of Olmert to get the maximum number concessions.

Could it be that Abbas, is inept and incapable of doing anything but parrot the same talk of wanting peace and making ceasefires, while Olmert for his part just repeats the same 2 lines of how serious Israel is about peace and how serious Israel is about reacting to aggression.

Abbas has no control on what is going on and may have placed himself in an embarrassing predicament:

The embattled PA chairman is struggling with increasing internecine violence, and in addition, he is liable not to be his Fatah faction’s chosen candidate in the early elections he himself has called. [emphasis added]

This of course has not stopped the oblivious Abbas from recently making a statement to the press:

“We have proposed the idea of back channel talks… and with the participation of members of the Quartet (U.S., Russia, United Nations and European Union)… with the aim of discussing the final phase.” [emphasis added]

Discussing the final phase when the first phase--stopping the terrorist attacks--is par for the course for Abbas.

Olmert, too, seems oblivious to the seriousness of the situation and how far things have gone out of control:

“A directive has been given to the defense establishment to take pinpoint action against rocket-launching squads,” said Olmert in a statement by his office. “Israel will continue to maintain the ceasefire and work with the PA so that immediate steps are taken to halt the Kassam firings.”

Since then, ten rockets were fired on Friday, one on Saturday, and, according to some reports, one today.

Question: When Rice held separate meetings with Abbas and Olmert back in November "during which she helped prepare them to meet with each other"--just what was she orchestrating? Was she prepping each of them for this play we are now watching?

Rice is supposedly going to be coming back to the area shortly.
What should we be expecting in the next act, now that the Road Map has become a Road Show?

Technorati Tag: Israel and Olmert and Abbas and Condoleezza Rice.

Olmert Still Has A Way With Words

"The government is open to any sign of peace coming from our neighbors over the border, but we are also attentive to any signs of aggression and threats"
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

That's right, Olmert is open to any sign of peace:

• Fake Ceasefires
• Disasterous Disengagements
• Deceptive Hudnas

At least Olmert is "attentive to any signs of aggression and threats"-- but then again, with the daily firing of Kassams into Sderot, who isn't?
'Attentive' just doesn't cut it.

These words of wisdom follow on the heels of the previous words of wisdom from this:

Can-do guy who said that if:

"the terrorist organizations impose a violent confrontation, both Israelis and the Palestinians will have to bear the consequences."

Visionary who declared in the beginning of August that:

Israel's success in Lebanon will create "new momentum" for his plan to unilaterally withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria.

Keen tactician who said:

I am still proud to say that I was among the initiators of the Disengagement

Shrewd negotiator who promised:

There is an honest, real will on my part to give a lot and receive little in return.

Clever bargainer who revealed:

He will be surprised when he sits with me at how far we are prepared to go. I can offer him a lot.

Olmert still has a way with words.
Just not the words that Israel needs.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Ehud Olmert.

Rosenblum: Ehud Who?

Ehud Who?
by Jonathan Rosenblum
Jerusalem Post
December 28, 2006

Why did Joseph interpret the dream of the chamberlain of the bakers to mean that the latter would soon be hanged? In the dream, birds were eating from the baskets on the chamberlain's head, and Joseph knew that birds never draw that close to a living person.

Our prime minister finds himself in a position not unlike that of the chamberlain: someone who is no longer really there. He goes through the motions of being prime minister: He flies hither and yon to be photographed shaking hands with foreign leaders, makes pronouncements and chairs cabinet meetings. He hopes that if he plays at being prime minister long enough, Israelis will get used to the idea.

But just as the charm of a little girl dressed up in her mother's gown, high heels and make-up quickly wears off and the adults lose interest, so the Israeli public has lost interest in our premier. He has become background noise - occasionally irritating, but something you eventually get used to and ignore.

What the public feels now is not even anger - certainly nothing like the Bush-hatred that energizes the American Left. That anger at least assumes that Bush matters. No such assumption prevails here.

Recently, Jerusalem Post columnists were asked to blog on the wisdom of the prime minister's threatening remarks toward Iran. I didn't bother, on the grounds that those remarks were irrelevant since the Iranians, like the rest of us, have long since recognized that there is no bite behind the bark.

Does the prime minister contradict himself - announcing last week that there is nothing to talk about with Syria, then favoring talks this week; insisting for months that he will not release Palestinian prisoners until Gilad Shalit is returned, and then reversing course this week?

Very well, then, he contradicts himself.

Not because he is large and contains multitudes (with apologies to Whitman); but because he is so fundamentally unserious that his contradictions are also unserious. Even the multiple investigations for influence-peddling and apartment-swapping fail to elicit more than a yawn.

We would prefer to think as little as possible about our prime minister, in part because we do not want to think too deeply about ourselves. We suspect that he may be retribution for our various sins, and that as a society we have been rewarded with precisely the leaders we deserve. What better proof than that no other prominent politician generates a whit more enthusiasm than the incumbent? The two most frequently mentioned potential successors as prime minister have already failed the test and been humiliatingly ushered out of office before the end of their terms.

BUT THERE is another reason we have tuned out the news. We no longer believe that the various zigs and zags in Israeli policy make a difference. To be sure, the provision of 2,000 rifles to Mahmoud Abbas's militias and the opening of checkpoints will make a large difference to the Jews upon whom, if past experience is any guide, those guns will sooner or later be fired, and to the victims of the drive-by killers and suicide bombers likely to slip past newly opened checkpoints.

But they will not make a whit of difference with respect to the one issue with which we are all obsessed: the possibility of one day living in peace with our Palestinian neighbors. These concessions are being offered without Abbas having taken even the first step toward peace, apart from his willingness to accept Israeli concessions. He has not, for instance, deployed any of the tens of thousands of armed men under his control to stop the firing of missiles at Israel, despite a declared cease-fire.

In a recent lecture, historian Michael Oren described the respective Palestinian and Zionist narratives. He noted that there is not one point of congruence between the two: The Palestinians cannot even acknowledge that the ancestors of today's Jews ever had a connection to this Land.

Nor is there any recognition by the Palestinians that sometimes one has to forget the past in order to build a future, as have 38 million refugees from ethnic strife in the past century, including 600,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands. To insist on the return of every Arab who fled Israel in 1948, and all their descendants, is to insist on permanent warfare until one side wipes out the other.

Asked at the end of his talk where these irreconcilable narratives leave the chances for peace, Oren just shrugged his shoulders. And he acknowledged that the situation is even glummer if one adds the Islamic narrative, according to which all of Israel belongs to the Islamic Wakf, and therefore not one inch of Islamic land can ever be ceded, as a matter of religious duty. With the rise of Hamas, that narrative is increasingly dominant in Palestinian society.

WHAT WE need now is a leader who will level with us about our situation, just as Churchill did when he told the British people: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." No more promises of a fun society for those tired of being brave, tired of winning.

Such a leader would clarify for us, and for the rest of the world, that Israel does not have it within her power to bring about peace with the Palestinians. As long as Palestinian leaders allocate every dollar they receive to buy quiet on the street from the tens of thousands of armed men on their payroll, rather than to dismantling the refugee camps; as long as Palestinian children are raised to believe that killing Jews is their national duty; as long as no Palestinian leader dares act against terrorist groups or disabuse his people of unrealistic dreams - there will be no peace.

But it is not enough to shine the hard light of reality. Israel requires as well a leader who can articulate why it is important that we prevail; and why doing so would be, if not the "finest hour" of a very ancient people, at least one of the finest.

A leader who could do that would once again find Jews in Israel eager to pay attention.

More articles by Jonathan Rosenblum are accessible at Jewish Media Resources

Technorati Tag: Israel and Ehud Olmert.

Kidnapped Soldiers Suffered Critical Injuries

This is from an email I get from the Israeli Consulate in New York. I'm kind of surprised they included this article in their email, since there is some implied criticism of Olmert and I had the impression from previous emails they've sent out that they pretty much tow the government line.

Report: Kidnapped soldiers suffered critical injuries

According to an Israel Defense Forces report that was cleared for publication yesterday by the military censor, both Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev are thought to have been seriously injured during their abduction last July by Hezbollah forces. One of the soldiers is thought to have sustained critical injuries, while the other's injuries are thought to have been serious, ha'aretz.com reports today.

The IDF report was based on examinations of the site of the capture. The IDF Spokesman's Office confirmed that the report was submitted but refused to comment on the extent of Goldwasser's and Regev's injuries. The conclusions in the report were based on an examination of the blood at the site and weapons tests, among other things. Channel 2 television news yesterday quoted the report as stating, with regard to the condition of one of the captives, "If he wasn't brought to a trauma room within an hour after the injury, there is serious fear for his life."

The conclusions of the report were submitted to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Chief of Staff Dan Halutz. The head of the IDF's Human Resources Directorate, Elazar Stern, presented them to the families of the soldiers immediately afterward. The press release issued by the IDF Spokesman repeated that the army's working assumption was and remains that the soldiers are still alive and emphasized that the IDF is continuing its efforts to bring about their return.

Military officials told Haaretz yesterday that media reports in the past several days about the soldiers are based on old information and that there have been no recent developments.

Peretz yesterday called for less talk and more action on the kidnapped soldiers in an implicit criticism of Olmert. "His job is to bring the abductees home. That is the supreme goal. We shall spare no effort in achieving it," Peretz said.

Sources close to the Goldwasser and Regev families, meanwhile, expressed anger at Olmert's handling of the affair. "We don't understand the prime minister's actions, it looks as if he's trying to kill the soldiers' families while they're still alive," they said yesterday in response to the IDF report and recent news reports.

"The behavior of the Prime Minister's Bureau on the issue can be described as an 'ethical scandal,' it starts with the pitiful statements to schoolchildren, continues with the leaks from a closed meeting with the families and ends with the questionable unsealing [of the IDF report] by the censor," the sources said yesterday. "We don't understand what is behind it and what the families did to deserve such treatment. Ever since the abduction the families have not criticized the government or the prime minister and continued their public activities for the soldiers' return throughout the world, much of it in coordination with official bodies."

Yesterday afternoon, shortly before the gag on the report was lifted, the families held an emergency meeting with activists in the campaign to bring about the soldiers' return. Participants reported a very tense and angry atmosphere in the meeting, during which attempts were made to explain the recent reports and statements about the soldiers' condition.

"We want to believe that it is being done to pressure Hezbollah, but it doesn't look that way. Our concern is that it is a series of pitiful accidents," one participant said.

The Prime Minister's Office said in response that the prime minister is in constant contact with the families of the abducted soldiers and updates them frequently and discreetly on developments.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Olmert and Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

Prime Minister Olmert, Please Resign!

Israel Matzav blogs about Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who is sponsoring ads that will appear in seven Anglo-Jewish weeklies in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Washington, DC and California--asking that Olmert resign.

To see the ad or the press release from Hikind, check out Israel Matzav here.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Olmert and Dov Hikind.

The Incredible Shrinking Ceasefire

When the ceasefire was first announced, it had a number of components. Abbas claimed that:

• All Palestinian terrorist factions agreed to the ceasefire
• Tunnel-digging would stop
• Suicide bombing would stop
• Firing of Kassam rockets would stop
• Manufacture of rockets would stop

After Israel kept her side of the bargain, it did not take long for the ceasefire to unravel:

All IDF forces were withdrawn from Gaza in the course of the night - and shortly afterwards, two terrorist groups announced they were not parties to the ceasefire agreement. Islamic Jihad and the Abu Rish Brigades of Fatah declared this morning that they would continue firing rockets at Israeli citizens. [emphasis added]

And that was only the beginning:

In the meanwhile, three rockets hit the besieged city of Sderot and environs around 8 AM, and another Kassam was fired at the Eshkol region of the Negev.

...Shortly before 10 AM, a fifth rocket slammed into the town, but causing no physical damage.

In an interview with IMRA, a Hamas spokesman made clear that besides the manufacture of weapons, smuggling weapons in the tunnels is not covered by the ceasefire

IMRA has an article quoting from 2 Olmert speeches indicating that there is no expectation for a halt in weapon production--contrary to the original official Governement indication. By the same token, Olmert clearly states that the smuggling of weapons through tunnels would stop--contrary to what the Hamas spokesman quoted above claimed.

What do you expect when you make a deal with terrorists?

For that matter, why would you go to the trouble to negotiate a ceasefire with the same leader for whom the US is constantly demanding you make concessions because his weak position needs to be strengthened?

Then there is Shimon Peres:

"It is a positive development, but not the final move," he told Israel Radio this morning. "Let us not exaggerate its importance, but it should not be derided... It is an achievement for Israel, for Ehud Olmert and for his government."

Even while hedging, Peres does not grasp how hollow an achievement this is, even as it falls apart the day after the ceasefire goes into effect.

The problem again is that Israel follows the West's lead in the absurd notion that Palestinian terrorists somehow have some kind of legitimacy and not only can but must be negotiated with and trusted. As long as Israel buys into this, concessions will expected and demanded.

It is up to Israel to say 'no' to such expectations--consistently and repeatedly.
And first step is to elect real leaders.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Olmert and Peres and Ceasefire.

Everything That Is Wrong With Olmert's Government

...is basically summed up by this article from IMRA by Aaron Lerner:

The danger of self imposed moderation in Gaza Strip operation

When PM Olmert, DM Peretz and COS Halutz snap back at their critics that the
IDF is already doing everything it can to stop the Qassams from the Gaza
Strip, there are some huge caveats attached to the claim.

- The IDF's mission includes destroying weapons stores, but if the weapons
are stored in a residential area the IDF gives the Palestinians thirty
minutes warning before attacking the location to either relocate the weapons
or bring in even more human shields to protect it from attack.

- Weapons stored in "sensitive" locations such as mosques are off limits to
IDF operations and Palestinian combatants can shield themselves with
cooperative civilians.

- No operation within the Gaza Strip can be open ended - even in the
Philadelphi Corridor that separates between Egyptian Sinai and Gaza.

And so, having set rules that make it next to impossible to succeed, it is
hardly surprising that this team is so keen on finding a way to make a deal
with the Palestinians according to which the various Palestinian groups can
continue smuggling in weapons and manufacturing ever more effective Qassam
rockets as long as they don't shoot.

For a while.

Until they decide to start shooting again.

When they can shoot even more powerful and more numerous rockets prepared
during the Israeli hiatus in security operations.

If the above rules reflect some notion of morality then it's a sick one
which gives preference to the lives of Palestinian human shields over those
of Israeli victims.

If these rules are for public relations they indicate a profound
misunderstanding of how the world sees the story.

The world doesn't praise Israel for respecting human shields - they either
don't believe it or they think Israel is stupid. And there is no reward for
stupidity.

And the world certainly isn't impressed by the restraint Israel has shown so
far. That's because even restrained operations can make a headline or get a
few seconds on the evening news on a slow news day

The truth is that the PR costs of a massive brutally effective operation are
barely more than the costs of a mediocre one.

That's because you get almost the same coverage for an operation taking
place simultaneously in ten locations as in only one. The same goes for
casualties.

The Olmert-Peretz-Halutz approach is wrong. Dead wrong.

The last thing Israel can afford to do today is continue policies that could
ultimately corner it into accepting a timeout for a Palestinians arms build
up.

For if Israel accepts such a timeout, the Jewish State may find itself in
the same situation as the proverbial frog in pot of water being slowly
heated to a boil.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Olmert and Peretz .

Olmert Will Begin Targeted Assassinations

I was actually wondering about whatever happened to Israel's policy of targeted assassination of terrorist leaders and whether there had actually been any while Olmert has been Prime Minister. Whether that have been or not, it looks like there may be some now:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert instructed the heads of the defense establishment to target members of the Hamas leadership. This was reported by British newspaper The Sunday Times. Israeli security sources reported to the newspaper that the decision was made in cooperation with Defense Minister Amir Peretz.

According to the report, the decision was made on the background of the fatal Qassam rocket that landed Wednesday in Sderot that killed Faina Slotzker and robbed one of Peretz's bodyguards of his legs. After the incident, the newspaper writes, Israel decided in a desperate attempt to stop the Qassam rockets, not to allow Hamas political leadership in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and abroad to "escape responsibility" any longer.

The Sunday Times reported that Peretz was the one who advocated the change in tactics against Hamas.

I suppose the story might carry more weight if instead of quoting a British newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth could have reported it based on their own sources.

It's also odd that the same Peretz who was reported to have claimed about the Kassam attacks on Sderot:

while the current situation is unacceptable, he does not believe he will achieve total success, signaling a"limited" number of attacks will be an acceptable reality.

is the same one who has decided to restart targeted assassinations. The YNet News article above about the new policy mentions Peretz's decision to change tactics in the same paragraph about his tears at news that one of his bodyguards had his leg amputated as a result of the blast--let's hope his new change in policy is based on more than an emotional reaction.

That brings us to the key question. Assuming that the story is true, is it a well thought-out plan or a reaction to bad poll numbers and growing discontent?

For that matter, is Olmert up to the job of seeing through such an operation successfully and then dealing with the inevitable backlash from world opinion? Considering Olmert's reflexive apologizing in the past--he apologized to Egypt when Egyptians were killed after infiltrating into Israel and shooting at the IDF; he apologized about the Gaza Beach incident--will he stand firm and defend a targeted assassination or wither under the inevitable condemnations?

Place your bets.

My bet is that instead of being seen as a sign of strength, Olmert's decision will come across as an act of desperation--and he will act (read: apologize) accordingly.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Olmert and Peretz and Hamas.

Woman Killed in Sderot Rocket Attack

From Arutz Sheva:

Woman Killed in Sderot Rocket Attack

A woman was killed and a man lost his legs when two Kassam rockets landed in downtown Sderot. The Islamic Jihad and Iz A-Din El-Kassam terrorists claimed credit.

The rockets fell not far from the house of former Sderot Mayor Amir Peretz, Israel's Defense Minister.

Fatima Slutzker, 57, who was killed in the attack, and Maor (ben Dorit) Peretz, 24-year-old guard assigned to protect Peretz's house, were hit by the rockets' wildly-scattered deadly shrapnel. Both were taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, where the woman died, leaving behind her husband and two sons. Peretz had both of his legs amputated. Six other people were treated for light injuries. Close to ten Kassams were fired at Sderot today.

Four other rockets were fired at the western Negev this morning (Wednesday), two volleys were fired into downtown Sderot last night, and yet another rocket landed near a children's nursery in a nearby kibbutz yesterday morning.

"People went into panic and began yelling when they heard the boom this morning," one eyewitness said.

Another resident told Arutz-7 that it is becoming impossible for many people to continue living in the city in the face of such fears and uncertainty.

Meanwhile, Olmert's dealing with Hamas does not seem to be any more coherent than the way he conducted the war with Hezbollah

MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union), commenting on the government's refusal to send in massive forces to enter Gaza, said bitterly, "Only a rocket on Tel Aviv will cause [Prime Minister] Olmert to take over Gaza."

Today's victim is the seventh victim of a Kassam attack.

Today's victim was Israel's seventh direct victim of a Kassam rocket, among the nearly 1,700 that have been fired since the withdrawal from Gaza. Mordechai Yosifov, 49, and Afik Zahavi, a 3.5 year old on his way to nursery, were killed in June 2004. Three months later, two young cousins - Dorit Aniso, 2, and Yuval Abebeh, 4 - were killed just before the onset of the Sukkot holiday. Four months later, Ella Abukasis, 17, was killed by a Kassam rocket as she was walking home; she jumped to protect her brother when the Red Dawn rocket warning alert sounded. In July 2005, Dana Gelkowitz, 22, was killed in a Kassam attack at Netiv HaAsarah - the only non-Sderot Kassam casualty among Israelis.

In addition, three foreign workers were killed in a Kassam attack in Gush Katif in 2005, and two Bedouin were killed when they moved a previously-unexploded Kassam in a field.

Meanwhile, in contrast to Israel's reaction when civilians are accidentally killed, Hamas is gloating:

Hamas Boasts: Kassam Has Defeated Israel

An official Hamas communique states, "The enemy, in his despair, has tried everything against our Kassams, but he knows that all his plans will fail."

Abu Obeideh, the spokesman of the Iz A-Din El-Kassam military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization, publicized this statement: "Everyone knows that the main purpose of all the Israeli military missions is to stop the Kassam rockets. The enemy, in his despair, has tried all means of pressure, instilling fear, killing and collective punishment, but he recognizes the fact that all his plans will fail with the launching of the first volley from between the columns of armor, and despite his planes and intelligence gathering."

The Hamas spokesman said, "Our fighters have dealt successfully with the military missions, and this has brought Israel to announce another plan indicating its despair, according to which it will no longer announce where the rockets fell, in the illusion that this will mislead the resistance." He said this will not disturb them from determining their targets "with precision and with new means." The proof of this, he said, is the high number of "accurate hits among the colonialists [Israeli citizens] and homes, and their running to the shelters, the sounding of rocket warning systems and street demonstrations by colonialists who have no security in their homes."

Israel must think carefully before considering conquering the Gaza Strip, the spokesman warns, because it will not fulfill its goal and will simply cause additional defeats for its army.

Olmert has claimed that Nasrallah does not have the appetite for another war with Israel--Actually it is Olmert who does not have the stomach to do what is necessary: neither against Hezbollah or Hamas.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Sderot and Olmert and Kassams and Hamas.

Appeasement Means Always Having To Say You're Sorry

He will be surprised when he sits with me at how far we are prepared to go. I can offer him a lot.
Prime Minister Olmert

"I think that someone has lost it in this country – it's becoming obvious that the Israeli government doesn't know how to defend the state of Israel on the political and explanatory front."
Zvi Mazel, Israel's former ambassador to Egypt and Sweden

In Losing The Media War, Israel Matzav discusses how Olmert is in full appeasement mode now, following the conclusion made by the IDF that the shelling of a home in Beit Hanoun was caused by a technical failure in their artillery.

IM notes the response from the Israeli leadership:

o Chief of Staff Dan Halutz has ordered all artillery fire into the Gaza Strip to be stopped "until further technical, professional and operational inquiries were completed."

o Defense Minister Amir Peretz has ordered that "all artillery fire into the Gaza Strip must first be approved by OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant."

o And then there is Olmert:

who is falling over himself offering more and more concessions in response to 'Palestinian' calls for mass murder of Jews. Tonight, Olmert apologized again for yesterday's shelling, and sent a message to 'moderate Palestinian President' Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen that he is willing to 'go far' in a projected meeting with Abu Mazen.

"He will be surprised when he sits with me at how far we are prepared to go,” Olmert said Thursday evening. “I can offer him a lot."

No doubt.

This from:

the can-do guy who said that if:

"the terrorist organizations impose a violent confrontation, both Israelis and the Palestinians will have to bear the consequences."

the visionary who declared in the beginning of August that:

Israel's success in Lebanon will create "new momentum" for his plan to unilaterally withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria.

the keen tactician who said this week:

I am still proud to say that I was among the initiators of the Disengagement

the shrewd negotiator who promised:

There is an honest, real will on my part to give a lot and receive little in return.

Olmert made that last statement back in June when he gave 375 rifles to Abbas.
This time, Olmert wants to release terrorists.

Israel Matzav links to a YNet News article Want to win media game? Don't apologize. Some advice is offered by Dr. Ra'anan Gissin, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's media adviser and a strategist who now works as a foreign media expert. He says that Israel needs to win not only on the military front, but the media front as well:

You must broadcast the images of the terror groups hiding their rockets and launching those rockets from those residential areas. The world doesn't see enough of those images. Take one cell, don't destroy it, follow it and then show the world the images of the rockets being fired from within neighborhoods. Because if you kill the cell, and the world never sees it – the world won't believe it ever existed."

...Gissin notes that Hizbullah invests 15 percent of its Iranian given 100 million dollars in operating the al-Manar television network. Israel's spokespeople need to be the right people for the job, says Gissin, not just "eloquent English speakers."

Zvi Mazel, Israel's former ambassador to Egypt and Sweden gets it.

"The world must understand that the lives of Israeli citizens have become hell – they can't work, they can't live, not to mention the economic damage. If Livni and her friends were saying that, then our situation would be completely different."

"The world must be told in the clearest manner that the responsibility lies solely with the terror organizations, which bring it on themselves. Foreign Minister Livni should have convened the foreign press by that afternoon and explained to the journalists that terror groups operate from within the civilian population with the intent to draw the IDF there."

Mazel says that the world must understand that despite Israel's withdrawal from Gaza the Palestinians continue to relentlessly launch Qassam rockets at Israeli towns with the intent to kill.

There is a confidence in the IDF that it can rebound and learn from errors in the war with Hezbollah.

The question remains whether Israel is up to the challenge of dealing with the media.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Media and Terrorism and Gaza and Olmert.

A Battle Of Wits Where One Side Is Unarmed?

Moshe Arens has a plan for Outwitting Ahmadinejad:

Dealing with Ahmadinejad is no simple matter. To western minds, he seems completely irrational. Why does he insist that there was no Holocaust? Why does Iran need a nuclear weapon? Is it worth arousing the hostility of much of the world in order to achieve this capability? And if he has already embarked on this course, why threaten Israel daily and make it easier for both the UN to order sanctions to be imposed on Iran and for the U.S. and its allies to begin thinking of last-recourse measures to forestall this development?

...But when a rational player confronts an irrational one, the irrational player has a decided advantage. While he is counting on the rational response of his opponents to his moves, they don't know what to expect of him. Maybe their best bet is just to let him have what he wants, rather than risking his irrational response to their move. Given the reticence of the U.S. and European nations in facing up to the bellicose, adventurous leaders of Iran and North Korea pursuing their nuclear ambitions, one begins to wonder whether they have not decided to revert to such a strategy. Maybe it is better to be at least temporarily safe than sorry.

But what if the irrational player is confronted by an irrational opponent? Now here is a brain-buster. And maybe this is what Olmert had in mind. Let Lieberman act the role of the irrational player, and now let's see what Ahmadinejad will do. Maybe this is the way to outwit the madman in Teheran. Lieberman's past statements about bombing Teheran, destroying the Aswan dam, laying waste to Gaza, and stripping Israel's Arab citizens of their citizenship might very well make Ahmedinejad believe that now he is up against an entirely different type of opponent.

Mr. Arens' suggestion is only an exercise in rhetoric anyway, since Lieberman is not in a position of authority equal to Ahmadinejad, and is muzzled by the 'sane' Mr. Olmert.

But that is just the problem.

Arens uses the word crazy, meaning insane. But crazy also refers to someone possessed by enthusiasm or excitement; intensely involved or preoccupied about something.

Lieberman is possessed by and intensely preoccupied with the idea of the survival of Israel. And he shows it.

The same cannot be said for Olmert.

That is Israel's real disadvantage

Technorati Tag: Israel and Olmert and Lieberman and Ahmadinejad.

What Does Israel Have Against Judaism?

In this article Jonathan Rosenblum touches on 2 separate but connected issues: a bill that was recently introduced in the Knesset that would forbid any attempt to bring a minor closer to Judaism--and the history of the Israeli government's attempts to forcibly diminish Judaism among children immigrating to Israel.

Hypocrisy Watch

by Jonathan Rosenblum
Yated Ne'man
October 25, 2006

Meretz MK Chaim Oron introduced a bill last week in the Knesset that would impose an automatic six month jail sentence on anyone attempting to influence, directly or indirectly, a minor to be chozer b’teshuva, under the auspicies of any organization that has as one of its purposes bringing Jews back to religious observance. For the time being, at least, the proposed legislation is going nowhere. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is still ardently courting United Torah Judaism in the hopes of bringing the chareidi party into his coalition, and he is not about to let such an incendiary piece of legislation make any headway in the Knesset.

Oron, it would seem, is interested primarily in generating a little publicity for himself by stirring up a religious tension. With Tommy Lapid and his Shinui party now just a bitter memory, Oron hopes to win over some of Lapid’s former supporters. The introduction of the law remains a painful reminder that religion-baiting still has a constituency in Israel today.

In his written materials in support of the legislation, Oron compares his bill to existing anti-missionary legislation. Yet his bill is, in fact, much further reaching than the anti-missionary legislation now on the books. The latter outlaws primarily financial inducements to change one’s religion from Judaism. And the government has never made any serious attempt to enforce laws against missionaries. In any confrontation between missionaries and anti-missionary groups such as Yad L’Achim and Lev L’Achim, the latter are far more likely to be arrested by the police than are the missionaries.

Unlike the anti-missionary statutes, Oron’s proposed bill contains no clause limiting its application to the use of financial inducements to convince minors to adopt religious observance. It is so broadly and unclearly worded that the teaching of Torah, mitzvot and Jewish holidays could easily be interpreted to fall within the ambit of the statute. In the terms of American first amendment jurisprudence, the proposed statute would exercise a "chilling effect" on all teaching of Torah to minors not from religious homes. It would return us to the days of the Romans.

ADMITTEDLY, there is the tiniest germ of a legitimate idea in Oron’s proposal. Parents do not own their children. But they have been entrusted with responsibility for their education. Only totalitarian states refuse to recognize any parental rights to educate their children. In a series of cases nearly a century ago, the United States Supreme Court struck down state statutes denying parents’ the right to provide their children foreign language instruction or a parochial school education. More recently, the Court recognized an exemption for the Amish to state truancy laws that would have required them to keep their children in school until the age of 16.

Parental rights to guide their children’s education are not absolute, but they are far from negligible. Certainly, the Torah community can be counted upon to resist with full force government regulation that limits our ability to provide our children with a chinuch designed to produce yeraim ve’shleimim.

BUT ON THIS SCORE, ORON IS A COMPLETE HYPOCRITE. There are groups in Israel devoted to luring children from religious homes into the secular world. They advertise in the media, and prawl malls and other places where disaffected teenagers from Torah homes are likely to be found, offering them housing, a family to help them make the transition to a secular lifestyle, and other inducements. Oron’s Meretz party has always been a strong supporter of such groups.

INDEED THE HISTORY OF THE JEWISH AGENCY and the State of Israel is that of one concerted effort to destroy the Yiddishkeit of children from Torah homes. Between 1939 and 1942, approximately 1,000 Polish Jewish orphans found their way to Teheran.

Over 80 percent of these children came from religious homes. In Teheran, the children were prevented from saying Kaddish for their parents and punished when they persisted. Refugee rabbis in Teheran were denied access to the children. The Jewish Agency informed the Polish government- in-exile, which was paying for the camp in Teheran, that it would forgo all funding if the Polish government insisted that the children be provided with religious instruction.

When the head of the camp, a member of Hashomer Hatza'ir, was told that the children were refusing to eat non-kosher food, he replied, 'Let one or two die of starvation and they will soon forget about kosher food."

Once in Israel, few children were placed in religious institutions, despite the promise of Youth Aliya head Henrietta Szold that placement would be in accord with family background.

Agudas Yisrael, the party to which the parents of over 60 percent of the children had belonged in Poland, prepared hundreds of places for them in Israel. Yet only 30 out of 1,000 children were placed in Agudah institutions. In one camp, Szold herself did the selection. Though 21 of the 29 children had learned in chadorim or Bais Yaakov schools, not one was placed in an Agudah institution.

The "soul-snatching" of the Children of Teheran, in the words of a contemporary columnist in Ha'aretz, was just a prelude to the deliberate efforts to extirpate Judaism from the younger generation of immigrants from Arab lands.

A government commission established in the '50s to study the absorption of the Yemenite community found that the prime objective of the government's absorption policy was "adaptation of the child to the mode of living expressed in the community at large," a euphemism for uprooting their religious identity.

That same commission found that the shaving of peyos, an important symbol of religious identity for Yemenite Jews, was a "methodical practice." So too, the commission found, was "the disturbance of traditional religious study." The tents for prayer were locked to keep children from gathering for religious instruction and holy books removed and strewn on the ground.

Yemenite teachers were forbidden to teach the children. Anyone religious was barred from the refugee camps. When the Yemenite Jews protested this policy in the Ein Shemer camp, one was shot dead by the authorities.

The children were forced to live apart from their families in central children's houses, where the guides told them, "Shabbat does not exist in Eretz Yisrael," and took them on Shabbos hikes, during which they were encouraged to pick oranges in imitation of their counselors.

Parents who wanted to send their children to religious schools were threatened with eviction from their homes and the loss of their Histadrut work permits - a virtual sentence of starvation in those days.

All this was possible because the Yemenite Jews were subhuman primitives in the eyes of those charged with their absorption. Their fervent religious belief was simply one more proof. The absorption authorities considered it an act of mercy to remove the children from their parents.

The focus of the North African aliya, too, was on separating children from parents. Parents were encouraged to send their children to Israel alone, and those who refused remained stranded in transit camps for much longer periods.

To encourage parents to allow their children to go alone, Youth Aliya promised that they would be placed in religious institutions. Most were sent instead to secular kibbutzim.

A 1956 counselor's manual from one such kibbutz emphasizes that the children are to be taught that "belief in G-d is a reactionary doctrine that has no place among mankind's progressive fighters."

The bright thread running through all Israeli absorption efforts is the arrogant contempt for Jewish religion. Those who complain loudest of religious coercion today were themselves perpetrators of deliberate and systematic coercion of hundreds of thousands of children to shed their religious upbringing.

Nor are the attitudes of the early days of the State something of the past. After the massive airlift from Ethiopia in Operation Solomon , Jerusalem's Kol Ha'ir wrote: "So it was with the Jews of Yemen, so too with those of North Africa. So that the young at least would have some chance, the tradition had to be destroyed, the family had to be destroyed.... Better the salvation of the young so that at least they can integrate."

The late editor of Ma’ariv editor Shmuel Schnitzer hit the nail on the head, when he wrote, in response to calls for a Knesset Commission of Inquiry to study the burgeoning ba’al teshuva movement in Israel: Where were the calls for such a commission of inquiry in the early days of the state, when there was not a house in Meah Shearim sh’ein bo meis? When did the Knesset concern itself with the cries of religious mothers whose children had left their homes and their ways? Far from demanding investigations of the matter, the Zionist movement celebrated the destruction of traditional religious homes, as proclaimed itself the wave of the future.

Today the wave is headed in the other direction.

Technorati Tag: Israel and The Jewish Agency and Henrietta Szold and Chaim Oron..

Ex-Mosad Chief Wants To Put Us At Ease About Iran

Gee, what a relief.

DESPITE Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s declaration this week that Iran poses “an existential threat to Israel”, a former Mossad chief who is visiting Australia said Tehran lacks the military and strategic capability to destroy the Jewish State.

“Israel is indestructible today. It’s not so simple just to think you can have a device on your hand and you will able to hurl it on to a certain location and wipe out a nation,” Efraim Halevy told an Australian Friends of the Hebrew University dinner at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday.

Halevy, who ran the spy agency from 1998-2003, rejected assertions that Israel faced an “existential threat” during its recent war with Hezbollah. Such claims have “eroded Israel’s self-confidence”, he said.

“Israel has known of this threat [from Iran] for more than a decade-and-a half and has watched this threat grow – you must assume that Israel was not sitting on its hands ... or [waiting] for someone else to do the job.”

What is not at all clear is why--after the appeasement, concessions, and actions Israel has taken against her own citizens and best interests--we should make such an assumption.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Iran.

Terrorists for Israeli Soldiers: A Convergence On Appeasement

Now that Olmert's Convergence plan is off the table for the time being, the rumors persist that he is involved in other ways to deal with terrorism: trading for the lives of kidnapped soldiers with the release of prisoners.

Leaving aside just which and how many prisoners/terrorists would be released, the plan--rumor or not--is already having its effect.

According to World Net Daily:

Palestinian terror organizations are currently training in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to carry out operations aimed at kidnapping Israeli soldiers, said a terror leader whose group in June abducted Israeli Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

The leader thanked the international community for what he said was its recognition that kidnappings of Israeli soldiers are not considered terrorism but "military operations that bring very big results."

He told WorldNetDaily the "best way" to gain the freedom of thousands of Palestinians being held in Israeli jails, including convicted terrorists, is by more kidnappings of Israeli soldiers.

"We are now planning and training for the next kidnappings. Even if [Israel] releases hundreds of prisoners in exchange for Shalit, we still have thousands more to liberate. More Israeli soldiers must be abducted," said the terror leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity amid reports Israel is considering releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit.

Thanking the international community for recognizing that the kidnappings of Israeli soldiers are not considered terrorism but "military operations that bring very big results."

Nice touch.

Meanwhile, the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers seems to be so successful that it has attracted new groups:

A previously unknown group, which said it is based in the Golan Heights,
threatened Wednesday to abduct Israeli soldiers to swap them for Syrian
prisoners in Israel.

In a statement faxed to foreign news agencies in Damascus, a group calling itself the Men of the National Syrian Resistance threatened to "take the necessary measures" to secure the release of 16 Syrians jailed in Israel.

...Referring to Hezbollah, whose July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers sparked a 34-day war with Israel, the statement said: "The Lebanese model, the model of Hezbollah, is not so far from us concerning implementation and preparations to release our detainees."

The implications of all this for Israel's going into Gaza and Lebanon to force the release of the kidnapped soldiers is not good:

According to government spokesmen, Israel's harsh military response to the kidnappings in Lebanon and Gaza has taught our enemies that from now on, there will be a heavy price to pay for kidnappings.

However, this response has not persuaded the Lebanese and Gazans to release the soldiers without getting something in return. In exchange for Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, in Lebanon, and Gilad Shalit, in the Gaza Strip, Israel will have to release hundreds of prisoners to Lebanon and the territories.

On the issue of whether Hezbollah won the war in Lebanon, there is debate back and forth.

Does anyone doubt that if Olmert trades prisoners/terrorists for Shalit, it will be an unqualified victory for Hamas and Palestinian terrorists?

Technorati Tag: Israel and Hamas and Olmert and Goldwasser and Regev and Shalit.

Haveil Havalim #85 Is Up (Finally)

Sorry about the delay--it couldn't be helped, but I know people like their Sunday Haveil Havalim Fix.

My daughter--who celebrated her birthay on Shabbos with fever--has returned to a normal temperature.
Thank you for your patience.

If there are any errors, please email me at daledamos@gmail.com

Enjoy!


Jewish Fractals

Not Quite Perfect Magen Fly

Not Quite Perfect Magen Gold


Observations on Life

The Ignoble Experiment The Inevitable "Talk"

The Ignoble Experiament Life's Not Fair... And Maybe It's A Good Thing.

Me-ander Having fun at "Savta's" (Grannie's)

Psycho Toddler The Plaque (Yahrzeit Plaques--his father's and in general)


Back to School

Ra'anana Ramblings Haute cuisine in their schoolbags? posted at Ra'anana Ramblings.

Life With Estee
goodbye summer, goodbye stay-at-home mom!

Michael Zilberstein's Journal (In Russian. Michael Zilberstein, a Russian-speaking Israeli blogger, writes about the administrative measures which may be taken to stop children from going to Israeli private schools - and the justification the government has to offer - it's attempt to fight "elitism".)


Israel and Jews

Shooting Israel (Exclusive images) Just uploaded many of the hundreds of photos I shot over the last few weeks across the north of Israel during the war, in one spot, including many that I posted recently that may already be archived. There are many earlier images as well, some photographed abroad.

Miriams's Ideas
http://miriamsideas.blogspot.com/2006/08/israel-needs-death-penalty.html

Ya'aqov Ben-Yehudah presents Shimshon Cytryn Update - September 3 posted at The (not) Forgotten Prisoners of Zion.

Israel Matzav LA Times: Israel Pegs Its Pullout to Release of Captives; JPost and Haaretz: Maybe

IRIS Israel's Debacle an Opportunity for Change

Colossus of Rhodey Comics for Israel

Pillage Idiot Baseball in Israel

Blog Free A Report from an E-Pal Up North

It's Almost Supernatural Between Unilateral Withdrawal and a Hard Place

Carl in Jerusalem The first scene of Ehud Olmert's last act

Life In Israel presents What does "elite" mean? posted at Life in Israel.

Blog Free Gelatin Scandal

The (not) Forgotten Prisoners of Zion presents Shimshon Cytryn posted at The (Not) Forgotten Prisoners of Zion.

The Israeli Tikkun blog
Whom did you vote for in today’s elections?

Westbankblog Boogie Yaalon "I'm More Afraid of the Corruption in Israel Than I Am Of the Iranians" (report on Blogger Conference with Moshe (Boogie) Yaalon)

Olah Chadasha has finished the first part in a series highlighting the IDF in the Israel-Hezbollah War http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpyVxnF8CHs

Life in Israel presents Ron Arad - a TV actor? posted at Life in Israel.

Meryl Yourish The Merkava question

Bagel Blogger Will the Real Three Stooges come Down

Shiloh Musings Jerusalem of...

WestBankBlog Protesters in Neon, and Protesters in Camouflage

Atlantic Review presents Anti-Americanism and Anti-Semitism posted at Atlantic Review.

Media Backspin Fox News, Shalit Kidnappings Linked

A Barbaric Yawp Sorry, I Thought He Was a Jew

me-ander Survivor Rights

Greetings From French Hill One Of Those Days

Israel Rules Those Humans Do The Darndest Things

Boker Tov, Boulder Olmert vs. Kahane: The Nightline Debate

In the US

Random Thoughts 12 Year Old Jewish Girl Beaten Unconcious; Bystanders Ignore Pleas For Help

Joshua Pundit Common sense from Bill Maher - of all people

Carl in Jerusalem presents Georgetown: Islam okay, Protestantism not

A Volokh Conspiracy Non-Jewish American Politicians of Jewish Descent:


Hezbollah and Lebanon

Kesher Talk Lebanon: You are There

Dr. Sanity Hezbollah's 'Historic' Victory

Gates of Vienna Old Nasrallah Had a Farm

Israellycool "The Most Significant Piece of Reporting To Come Out of the War"

The Baltimore Reporter wow, a Democrat tough on terrorists…. (Lantos)

Joshua Pundit Congressman Tom Lantos:No US aid to Lebanon unless UNIFIL patrols Syrian border

Wizbang A Must Read On The Israel - Hezbollah Conflict

Gates of Vienna Are Your Going to Believe Me or Your Lying Eyes?

Haganah Reality check? posted at haganah.

Cross Currents The World Council of Churches and Making Religion Irrelevant

Israelly Cool Responsible


Judaism

Blog Free Elul

Reb Shraga Feivel – A Seething Musical Spirit

There are no feminists on a sinking ship presents Deconstructing Arachim/Discovery arguments Part 2...Shmitta. posted at There are no feminists on a sinking ship.

There are no feminists on a sinking ship presents Deconstructing Arachim/Discovery arguments Part 1 posted at There are no feminists on a sinking ship.

Letters of Thought presents On Chassidic Historical Revisionism posted at Letters of Thought.

A Simple Jew presents Guest Posting From Rabbi Dovid Sears: Eynei Chakhomim: Eyes Of The Sages posted at A Simple Jew.

Random Thoughts: Morality Without Religion- A Comment to The Self-Righteous

Random Thoughts: Frum & Gay

Serandez http://serandez.blogspot.com/2006/08/Feminism in Halacha--2 points

Sweet Rose The Plight of the BT


The Media

Esser Agaroth CNN Complicity? Or Parapraxisity? posted at Esser Agaroth.

Cross Currents The Methodology of Media Bias

Israel Medad Picking your way through a story

Israel Medad BBC Publishes Item to the 4th Degree

Villainous Company NYTimes Watch: It's Not Easy Being Blind

Confederate Yankee Armored Vehicle Experts: Reuters News Vehicle Not Hit By Israeli Missile


The UN

Elder of Ziyon UN hypocrisy shines through

Done With Mirrors Self-Defense is Naughty


The Palestinians

Elder of Ziyon Extrajudicial Killing of PRC leader


Had to put them somewhere...together

Secular BlashphemyAhmadinejad wrote letter to Merkel about the Holocaust

Jewish Current Issues Postscript to A Mel Gibson Postscript

Yisrael Medad When Chomsky was a Zionist Youth Leader

Meryl Yourish The Nasrallah interview: Some thoughts

Soccer Dad Milbank vs. Mearsheimer


You can submit one or two of your best Israel or Judaism related posts to dhgerstman at hotmail dot com.

If you'd like to host an upcoming edition you can e-mail Soccer Dad at the same address.

You can also submit entries to Haveil Havalim using either Conservative Cat's submission form or the submission form at BlogCarnival.

Listed at the Truth Laid Bear Ubercarnival.

Technorati Tags: Blog carnivals, haveil havalim, Israel, Judaism.