BARACK IT TO ME GENTLY: According to Rosner's Blog on Haaretz: Obama Supports Israel. Period.

Maybe make that: Obama Supports Israel. Periodically.

Ali Abunimah at The Electronic Intifada is none to happy with Obama, and provides a picture of then Illinois state senator Barack Obama and his wife Michelle with Columbia University Professor Edward Said and Mariam Said at a May 1998 Arab community event in Chicago at which Edward Said gave the keynote speech.

True, that was 8 years ago.

But cheer up Ali--it's a long way to the election and Oabama, Edwards, and Clinton have plenty of time to get nuanced.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Barack Obama.

SHOCKER: BBC poll: Israel has worst world image. I suppose the only thing more shocking is how close Iran is. Israel: 56% negative; 17% positive. Iran: 54% negative; 18% positive.

And what is behind Israel's negative image?

"It appears that people around the world tend to look negatively on countries whose profile is marked by the pursuit of military power," said Steven Kull, director of the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, which conducted the research along with pollster GlobeScan. [emphasis added]

That's it! Disengaging from Gaza, threatening to retreat from the West Back--it must be just like Abu Abir said:

Mr. Abir blamed the Jewish state for the desecration of the Gaza synagogues by Palestinian Arabs, claiming the decision to leave the structures intact was part of an Israeli conspiracy.

Israel "left the synagogues behind so the world would see the Palestinians destroying them," Mr. Abir said.

Boy, those Zionists just can't get anything past these guys.

Technorati Tag: Israel.

IT'S CALLED ISLAMOFASCISM FOR A REASON: Treppenwitz thinks Palestinians who are suddenly surprised, and upset, by bookburnings by Hamas--shouldn't be.

Meanwhile, Elder of Ziyon points out that the book in question is of Palestinian Arab folktales that apparently are considered suitable for children, and shares one of the stories.

No doubt Hamas is doing it for the kids.
Yeah, we know the kind of curriculum Hamas prefers for impressionable minds.

Technorati Tag: Hamas and Palestinians and Bookburnings.

CBS 60 Minutes Gets It: Jihad.com

From 60 Minutes, a piece on the extent and power of Jihad via the Internet.

Technorati Tag: Islam and Jihad.

Pictures of the Purim Parade in Ma'aleh Adumim

Good News From Israel has 314 pictures posted on his website of the Purim Parade/Carnival from Sunday, March 4, in Ma'aleh Adumim. Called Adloyada, the theme of the parade was Biblical stories.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Purim.

Driving Miss Daled Amos

What did you do on Purim?

Me, I drove my daughter around town.

I drove her to the Chagiga Motzei Shabbos.
I drove her home from the Chagiga.
I drove her over to buy food for Mishloach Manos and back.
I drove her to deliver Mishloach Manos.

Just one catch.
I had to drive the car at 10 miles per hour.

Something my 7 year old ate on Shabbos disagreed with her so much that on Motzei Shabbos she threw up: and everywhere I had to drive her--and she insisted that I drive her--she also insisted that I drive slowly, otherwise she thought she would throw up again. She didn't have to tell me twice--though she did. Every time we got into the car.

Fortunately, where we live there are a lot of side roads and driving in the 2-10 mile range was for the most part not a problem.

I was sure that I was going to get stopped by a policeman, thinking I seemed suspicious driving up and down streets at a crawl.

"Sorry officer. You see: today is Purim, I'm delivering Mishloach Manos, and my daughter is nauseous and may throw up any minute. Go ahead sweetie--tell the nice policeman"

Anyway, we survived the day without incident, and it was a Chag Sameach.
As I hope it was by you.

Technorati Tag: Purim

Rice and the 'Borderline Schizophrenia' of US Diplomacy

Condoleezza Rice singlehandedly redid the border between Iraq and Turkey during a session of the US Senate when she was asked to explain recent negotiations between the Kurds of Northern Iraq and Turkey:

This is regarding the PKK, which we have categorized as a terrorist organization in our list. The PKK performs activities at the border between Turkey and Kurdistan and is responsible for the attacks inside Turkey." [emphasis added]

The border of course is between Turkey and Northern Iraq, not Kurdistan.

Michael Rubin comments on the repercussions of Rice's mistake:

It has become fashionable in Rice’s tenure to abandon allies, be it democracy activists in Egypt, Cedar Revolution activists in Lebanon, and now Turkey. It is unfortunate in the extreme. Her careless remarks bring Turkey closer to taking action on its own in Iraq, where the PKK has established bases.

Of course, if you follow Rice's exploits in the Middle East you can see that Israel has been abandoned as well. In fact, a few years ago Rice had another case of 'borderline schizophrenia' when, back in November 2005, she said the following:

Good morning. Two months ago, Israel and the Palestinian Authority took an unprecedented step on the road to peace with the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, returning control of that territory to the Palestinian people. Israeli and Palestinian leaders have been hammering out practical arrangements to gain the benefits of that withdrawal and improve conditions in the rest of the Palestinian territories.

...First, for the first time since 1967, Palestinians will gain control over entry and exit from their territory. This will be through an international crossing at Rafah, whose target opening date is November 25th. [emphasis added]

Of course, Gaza has never been Palestinian territory--assuming you are referring to the Palestinian Arabs. James Taranto noted Rice's error and pointed out the actual historical background:

Before World War I, the entire region, including Israel and the disputed territories, was part of the Ottoman Empire. Between World War I and 1948, the British administered it. In 1948 the Arabs went to war rather than accept a U.N. partition of Palestine that would have created Jewish and Arab states. After that conflict and until 1967, Egypt controlled Gaza and Jordan controlled the West Bank.

It is a historical error on Rice's part that is telling, and derives in part from her fixation on coddling the Palestinian Authority. Unfortunately, when it comes to Israel, Rice has not limited herself to merely mis-stating the facts. The problem is that not every diplomatic end in the Middle East can be achieved by ramming it down Israel's throat. Rice commented in an interview with Cal Thomas last year that

...I know too, as a student of international history, that there are so many things that once seemed impossible that, after they happened, simply seemed inevitable.

That of course is the whole point--that to be sustainable some things have to happen and develop on their own. They cannot be forced.

This is another element of history that Condoleezza Rice seems to have forgotten.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Condoleezza Rice.

Israel Vs. Real Apartheid

The ongoing claim that Israel is an apartheid state is apparently in ascendancy again, having most recently manifested itself in the form of “Israeli Apartheid week”. It's Almost Supernatural from South Africa notes some of the flaws in the comparison:

...The problem with the comparison is that the separation between Israel and the Palestinian territories is more akin to the separation between South Africa and Mozambique (or any other bordering state) than to South Africa and the Bantustans.

There are many differences in practice (Israel does not rely on the Palestinian territories for labour) but the key difference is one of design.

The separation between South Africa and the Bantustans was designed and implemented by apartheid South Africa. The separation between Israel and the Palestinian territories however, was designed by the 1947 UN partition resolution 181. It was not Israel that created this separation (in order to racially subjugate a majority population!) The UN created the separation in order to create two separate states for two separate nations. This happened all over the Middle East once the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

Those that now claim that Israel has created Bantustan-like homelands for the Palestinians are either completely ignorant of the Middle East history, ignorant of what apartheid really was, or they are being deliberately malicious. Either way I am certain that part of their campaign is driven by hate.

I wonder how many of the silly American students participating in the recent “Israeli Apartheid week” can even name a single apartheid law passed by the old South Africa.

Meanwhile, as long as there are people out there making the comparison--can anyone point us in the direction of the Palestinian Nelson Mandela?

Technorati Tag: Israel and South Africa and Apartheid.

Michael Freund on Israel and the Blogosphere

From the Jerusalem Post:

As archeologists continue to excavate the site of the Mughrabi Gate alongside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, it remains anybody's guess what they might just find underneath the mounds of soil, rock and debris.

But one item already unearthed by this dig should have us all deeply concerned, and that is the mainstream media's disgraceful habit of parroting Arab propaganda.

As one tool for addressing the problem:

In order to better counter the Arab propaganda machine, the Jewish state should actively reach out to its many supporters in cyberspace, and especially in the blogosphere, for help in disseminating the truth.

Freund suggests how to tap into the potential of the Blogosphere--and not just the JBlogosphere:

This can be accomplished by launching a concentrated and effective outreach effort aimed specifically at influential bloggers, who should be courted with the same resources and commitment as the mainstream press.

The government and Jewish groups should begin by organizing periodic fact-finding tours of Israel for key bloggers, giving them a chance to learn firsthand about the situation here in the region.

An annual conference of pro-Israel bloggers, attended by key Israeli statesmen and personalities, could help to galvanize what is already a burgeoning network of support for the Jewish state.

It is also crucial that Israeli spokesmen and leaders take the blogosphere into account when formulating their media strategies and messaging tactics, both by sending them relevant information and making sure to keep them in the loop.

SURE, mainstream entities such as CNN, the BBC and The New York Times will continue to dominate the news business for years to come. But the battle for public opinion is far from being a lost cause. Israel just needs to start thinking a little more creatively about how to wage the battle. By working with our allies in the blogosphere, Israel can begin to turn the tide in its favor and chip away at the falsehoods being spread by the press.

If we can't beat the media, let's circumvent it. Reaching out to bloggers seems like a good place to start.

One Jerusalem has taken steps by inviting bloggers to conference calls with Natan Sharansky, Bibi Netanyahu and others. One thing that I would like to see is resource material--especially video--made available for bloggers for reinforcing the impact of their posts.

The key is to see to what degree Israel follows up on Freund's suggestions.

Update: This is not the first time the idea has been raised about Israel looking towards blogs as a way of getting the word out and bypassing the MSM. Way back in October 2003, Israel actually held a conference about advocacy where the topic of blogs was raised and An Unsealed Room was there:

Pow-Wow at the Israeli Foreign Ministry

If blogging has been light over the past few days, it's because I've been in Jerusalem most of the time attending this:

The Foreign Minister is currently hosting a three-day seminar to coordinate public relations efforts with heads of three privately funded Israel advocacy groups.

Gideon Meir, the ministry's deputy director-general for Public Affairs, said that "taking into consideration that the public relations budget is continuously on the decline, the fact that groups have sprouted up to help Israel advocacy in the US, and provide services worth a great deal of money, is something very welcomed by the Israeli government."

Among those attending the seminar are Jennifer Laszlo-Mizrahi, head of the Israel Project, which conducts polling and focus group studies, helping the government craft its messages abroad, and Larry Weinberg from Israel 21C, a group that places stories about Israel dealing with matters other than the conflict in the media.

I am sad to report that the Israeli government officials I am meeting with have never even HEARD of a blog. Sort of kills the theories about the Israelis paying off people like Charles and Michael.

Seriously, I have been trying to make some of them understand that there are these amazing people out there called bloggers who are advocating for Israel for FREE on their own time -- and many of them aren't Jewish OR fundamentalist Christians.

Go over to An Unsealed Room's original post to read her other impressions.

Over 3 years later and Michael Freund has to reintroduce the idea.
Not a good sign.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Blogging and JBlogosphere.

Addressing Islamic Terrorism Vs. Fostering Religious Brotherhood

The New York Times on the movie Obsession:

When “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” a documentary that shows Muslims urging attacks on the United States and Europe, was screened recently at the University of California, Los Angeles, it drew an audience of more than 300 — and also dozens of protesters.

...The documentary’s proponents say it provides an unvarnished look at Islamic militancy. “It’s an urgent issue that is widely avoided by academia,” argued Michael Abdurakhmanov, the Hillel president at Pace.

Its critics call it incendiary. Norah Sarsour, a Palestinian-American student at U.C.L.A., said it was disheartening to see “a film like this that takes the people who have hijacked the religion and focuses on them.”

It's not clear who Sarsour thinks the focus should be on at a time when Islamist terrorist attacks are going on around the world.

Overall, the article tries to be evenhanded:

Mr. Shore describes his film as nonpartisan and balanced, and many viewers agree with him. Traci Ciepiela, who teaches criminal justice at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs and has a screening scheduled this week, says she learned from the film and did not think that it was unfair or inflammatory.

But others see it as biased. Arnold Leder, a political scientist at Texas State University, San Marcos, decided not to use it for his course “The Politics of Extremism” because of what he called “serious flaws,” including that it did not address Islam in general, the history of Islam and the schisms within the faith.

Little Green Footballs, on the other hand, thinks the article tries to smear the movie.

Myself, I think it the article is interesting if for no other reason than the reasons given by those who oppose the movie. Sarsour, above, thinks that highlighting the actions of Islamist radicals is wrong.

• Arnold Leder, a political scientist at Texas State University claims the movie has “serious flaws,”such as not addressing Islam in general (It's treatment of non-Muslims as second-class citizens?), not discussing the history of Islam (It's history of attempted global conquest?) and not dealing with the schisms within the faith (How is that relevant to Islamist terrorism?). He goes call the movie "a polemic." I assume Leder considers this a condemnation, but a polemic is nothing more than a controversial argument. Give it time...
  
  
• Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, director of U.C.L.A. Hillel, claims the movie is “a way to transfer the Middle East conflict to the campus, to promote hostility.” He must be new on campus.
  
  
• A student is quoted as saying that “the movie was so well crafted and emotion manipulating that I felt myself thinking poorly of some aspects of Islam.” Considering the topic and the fact that the movie is not a condemnation of Islam itself but of Islamists, just why is that a problem?
  

Maybe the key to the problem is the disconnect between Robert Friedman a discussion leader sent by the “Obsession” filmmakers and some of the audience at Providence College.

Mr. Friedman told the audience, “You have to understand a problem before you can solve it.”

But most of the viewers, including both a rabbi and a Muslim chaplain on a discussion panel put together by the students, said the film did not foster understanding.

Mr. Friedman is talking about dealing with the actual problem of Islamist extremists and terrorism; the rabbi and Muslim chaplain are talking about creating better relations between the two religions--a fine idea, but something which is clearly not what the movie is meant to do.

This may be a substantial difference of opinion on how to deal with and relate to the situation.

“The question about radical Islam and how do we fight it is unproductive,” said Yehuda Sarna, the New York University rabbi on the panel. “The question is how to break down the stereotypes facing the two religions.”

The problem is that saying that fighting radical Islam is unproductive may very well end up being a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Obsession and Islam and Islamists.