Government: Jews Cannot Be Trusted

The AIPAC security case has now gone beyond just AIPAC.

According to an article in the New York Sun:

The Pentagon is invoking the prosecution of two pro-Israel lobbyists and a Defense Department analyst for illegal use of classified information as a basis for stripping security clearances from government contractor employees who have dual citizenship in America and Israel or family members living in the Jewish state.

In at least three instances, Defense Department attorneys have used or attempted to use the case involving the former staffers of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to justify withdrawing a security clearance or denying one in the first place, according to a Virginia lawyer who closely tracks such disputes, Sheldon Cohen.

According to the article, Mr. Cohen did a study of Israel-related security cases and found that what he called "an unusually large number" of those security cases concerning foreign influence appear to be connected to Israel.

Another lawyer, David Schoen, had a client at Lockheed Martin who was born in Israel but moved to the US 25 years ago. A few months ago his security clearance was revoked by the Defense Department. The reason given was his dual citizenship, possession of an Israeli passport and his mother and siblings living in Israel--in spite of the fact that his wife and children are American, he never had problems at Lockheed and Schoen's client fully disclosed everything when he was given clearance.

Apparently, only one thing mattered to the government:

At a hearing a few weeks ago on the Lockheed engineer's case, Mr. Schoen said, a government attorney sought to file the indictment of Messrs. Franklin, Rosen, and Weissman as an exhibit. The government argued that the indictment showed Israel was actively spying on America, Mr. Schoen said.

Mr. Schoen said he strenuously objected that the indictment was irrelevant to his client's case and, as a charging document, no proof of anything. "The only relevance can be is here are two Jews in Washington who are accused of spying for Israel so now any Jew is suspect for that," he said. [emphasis added]

It needs to be noted that in the AIPAC case being used as the basis for determining a security risk, neither of the 2 former AIPAC employees were Israeli citizens.

The article quotes a law professor who notes this and says:

"All it says then is that somebody of a certain ethnicity may be more amenable to do the bidding of a foreign government," Mr. Spiro said. "These folks are being picked out for their national association which in this case is a proxy for their ethnic identity.... It's sort of like corruption of the extended blood."

According to Mr. Cohen, there really is no evidence that the Pentagon itself is actually hostile to Jews per se, rather people with ties to Israel--or any country in the Middle East--are among the casualties of the generally stricter clearance process since 9-11

Meanwhile JTA News reports:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday named Gregg Rickman, a dogged investigator who has tracked the Swiss banks’ role in the Holocaust, as the first special envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism around the world.

Mr. Rickman might not have to look far.

See also: Is Israeli Dual Citizenship A Security Risk?

Technorati Tag: Israel and AIPAC and Anti-Semitism and Gregg Rickman.

Late Lag B'Omer Mini-Meme

I just found out this morning that I had been tagged by SerandEz with this meme.
The first song I listened to on Lag B'Omer was:

Sing, Dance, and Play.
Followed by The Alphabet Song and Happy and You Know It.

My daughter commandeers the CD player in the morning, and these were the first 3 songs on the CD.

In self-defense, we gave her a pair of headphones and showed her how to plug them in--

She's also into Schlock Rock.

Links To Wake Up To On Thursday Morning

The week is just over half over and so far I've had to answer my 6 year old daughter's questions:
o Why she does not get presents on Mother's Day when Imma and Bubby do
o Is she a teenager

It's all downhill from here.

Meanwhile, here are some links.

AbbaGav writes about Superland, gravity and bravery.

Adloyada describes how to free Alaa by googlebombing. (Egypt)

A Simple Jew has just finished Maseches Megillah and has started Masesches Taanis

The Astute Blogger has a post on the Pope's Fatwa that wasn't

Biur Chametz writes about the uncovering of the historical Lag B'Omer

ConservaJew disagrees.

Crossing The Rubicon has found an op-ed in the Telegraph opposed to funding Hamas

Elder of Ziyon thanks Iran for a history lesson that they know nothing of.

Elie's Expositions: May 16th marks one year since his son Aaron passed away.

Erica's Blog writes about a friend's Chabad humor

The Hashmonean writes on how the former PA Security Funds Manager confirms that Arafat directly funded terrorism.

Heichal HaNegina writes about Lev HaOmer

The Ignoble Experiment, aka Live Dangerously! has taken her last final

I'm Haaretz, Ph.D. had an un-Happy Mother's Day

Israel Perspectives shares Israeli celebrity, Yair Lapid's answer on why he stays in Israel.

Israel Matzav translates an article on Pere' statement that Consolidation in the West Bank will take place during the coming year

Jack's Shack asks how did you come up with your name for your blog--and gets 80 answers.

Judeopundit has Linkim and notes the ACLU stand on terrorism

Letters of Thought waxes philosophical in Vilna.

Life-Of-Rubin on the coverage of the murder of Daniel Wultz

me-ander has a reminder that the 6th Kosher Cooking Carnival is not limited only to recipes

Mirty's Place writes about change.

The Muqata received a video invitation to a bris.

Ocean Guy: Somewhere on A1A writes about a terrorist's website.

On the Contrary: Don’s Mideast Musings post's his response to a question about a 'Palestinian Holocaust'.

Perspectives of a Nomad provides an approach towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians

Psycho Toddler and Dr. Bean sing their classic single "I Got Your Blog"

SerandEz has links and writes about the New York Magazine article

Shiloh Musings sees the future of Israel resting on the shoulders of the women

Simply Jews writes about the demand for better cellphone service in Gaza

Smooth Stone rebuts the comparison of Israel with South Africa

Soccer Dad has a new feature: Insta-pudding

Treppenwitz writes about the value of saying hello

Meryl Yourish writes about pulling the plug on 'Convergence'

WestBankBlog writes about why she made Aliyah.


Technorati Tag: Blogs and Israel and Judaism.

The Lawsuit The Moslems Did Not File

In his post Kosher Cooking, Soccer Dad notes that the Star-K has a Virtual Kosher University that is funded in part by McDonald Corporation's Cy Pres Fund--a fund that is maintained with money from a settlement that McDonalds reached. Soccer Dad gives the breakdown of who benefits from this settlement:

McDonald’s will pay the Settlement amount of $10 million. Those funds will be placed in a cy pres fund for distribution to charitable or other tax-exempt organizations to be mutually agreed upon by the parties on or before the effective date of the Settlement. The distribution will occur as follows: 60% to vegetarian organizations; 20% to Hindu or Sikh organizations or both; 10% to children’s nutrition or hunger relief organizations or both; and 10% to organizations promoting the understanding of Jewish law, standards and practices with respect to Kosher foods and dietary practices, and the observance of such standards by persons of the Jewish religion.

I thought it was interesting that of all the groups who got a share of this money--Moslems are not one of them. Why is that?

Apparently there were some Moslems who wondered the same thing:

Certain Muslim objectors contend that the Settlement disregards class members of the Muslim faith, principally those who observe the Islamic dietary laws of Halal. The objectors state that the Muslim community, approximately 7 million in the United States, comprises a large portion of the putative class. Approximately 2000 Muslims have elected to opt-out of the Settlement. The objectors allege that no efforts were made to contact or solicit Muslim groups prior to the receipt of the objections.

...Both Plaintiffs and McDonald’s deny that Muslims or any other putative members of the Settlement class are excluded from the benefits provided for in the Settlement. Moreover, Muslims did not bring suit against McDonald’s despite the nationwide publicity associated with the dispute and will nevertheless receive benefits under the Settlement. [emphasis added]

Whatever the reason that Moslems did not participate in the suit, ignorance is not one of them.

So why didn't they bring a suit as well?

Let's play a game--which of the following things is not the same?

1. Protest against limits on immigration
2. Write letters demanding the firing of a radio personality for comments about Islam
3. Complain about a TV series portraying Moslems as terrorists
4. Demand that a speaker not be allowed to speak on campus
5. File a suit to get a share in a settlement

My point?

The first 4 examples are emotional cases that Moslems have gotten passionate about. There was a perceived threat and the Moslem community responded to it.
Not so in the case of the McDonalds Fund.

I remember that between the 2000 and 2004 elections, there was talk about the importance for Moslems to get involved in the process, the political process. To an extent that is beginning to happen, but to a larger degree this has taken the form of protests and demands to squelch and shut up any perceived threat or insult.

Historically, actions taken by the Moslems have been passionate and reflexive, rather than proactive.

Examples of reacting to rumored threats:

August, 1929 Arab Riots and Massacres in Hebron, Jerusalem, Safed, Haifa, Motza and elsewhere. The Jews had set up a dividing screen at the Wailing Wall in Yom Kippur of 1928 to separate men and women worshippers, prompting rumors that the Jews wanted to build a synagogue at wall, which were spread deliberately by Haj Amin El-Husseini. Amid heightening tensions, a demonstration by Jews in 1929 and Arab incitement ignited violence and rioting again Jews. Thousands of Jews fled the ancient Jewish quarter in Jerusalem. The Hebron Jewish community was evacuated after 64-67 were killed in riots.

July, 1951 Assassination of Jordan's King Abdulla because of rumored plans for peace with Israel. His grandson Hussein was crowned in his place following the brief reign of Tallal.

Sept, 1996 Al-Aksa tunnel riots - Arab sources spread the false rumor that a gate opened in an underground tunnel tourist attraction by the Israeli government, endangered the foundations of the Al-Aqsa mosque. This caused several days of rioting and numerous casualties.

More recently there were the violent Moslem protests against the Danish cartoons--4 months after they were published, sparked in part by the addition, by an Imam, of 3 faked cartoons to the original 12 which he then brought to the Middle East and displayed them, claiming they were indicative of the Danish attitude towards Moslems.

And when Moslem leaders are not instigating?

In The Muslim Claim to Jerusalem, Daniel Pipes notes the mild Moslem response to the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, until by various means--including creating new Hadiths--the Moslems were aroused to take it back. Even after Saladin captured Jerusalem back from the Crusaders, 2 later Moslem leaders--one of them Saladin's grandson--willingly traded Jerusalem away for political gain. Pipes quotes Emmanuel Sivan of the Hebrew University that Jerusalem:

was a city strongly coveted by the enemies of the faith, and thus became, in a sort of mirror-image syndrome, dear to Muslim hearts.

One need only look at the pictures of the desolation Al-Aqsa mosque from 1877 and 1922 to see that (see also here, here, and here; hat tip: The Astute Blogger).

Right now Moslem emotions are easily inflamed and their leaders--whether CAIR, Imams, or Arab despots--are making use of that.

Meanwhile, straightforward possibilities to work within the system and to take advantage of opportunities slip under their radar.

Opportunities like funding for projects.
And opportunities for peace.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Moslems and Cy Press Fund and Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Mosque.

Moslem Apartheid

At a time that it has become popular to call Israel an apartheid state and compare it to South Africa, some apply the term apartheid to Hamas.

Little Green Footballs points to an article in The Jerusalem Post about Hamas in Kalkilya supporting the call to close the local YMCA under the pretense that it is a threat to prosletize the local Moslems. Some YMCA offices have already been burned down. Under the title Apartheid Hamas, LGF writes:

The Hamas charter is quite clear about their intent to establish an Islamic state ruled by shari’a law, and one of the steps toward this goal is the eradication of Christian organizations—like the YMCA.

On a different angle, today on Best of the Web, James Taranto responds to those that claim there is a need to do business with Hamas. Taranto writes:

These warnings about the consequences of refusing to do business with Hamas are reminiscent of the arguments made in the 1980s by opponents of sanctions against South Africa--yet those sanctions surely hastened the end of apartheid. The moral case for sanctions is even stronger in the Palestinian case. Apartheid entailed the subjugation of South African blacks; Hamas seeks the elimination of Israeli Jews.

But accusing Moslems of apartheid is neither new nor limited to Hamas. Back in December 2001, Colbert I. King wrote Saudi Arabia's Apartheid for the Washington Post. He quotes an American official who had just finished a tour of duty in Riyadh:

"One of the (still) untold stories, however, is the cooperation of U.S. and other Western companies in enforcing sexual apartheid in Saudi Arabia. McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and other U.S. firms, for instance, maintain strictly segregated eating zones in their restaurants. The men's sections are typically lavish, comfortable and up to Western standards, whereas the women's or families' sections are often run-down, neglected and, in the case of Starbucks, have no seats. Worse, these firms will bar entrance to Western women who show up without their husbands. My wife and other [U.S. government affiliated] women were regularly forbidden entrance to the local McDonald's unless there was a man with them."

Colbert goes over some anti-apartheid history, writing that after Leon Sullivan joined the board of directors of GM in 1971, he got them to withdraw out of South Africa. His next step was to draft a set of workplace principles in 1977 for US companies to practice, including in South Africa. The first one on the list was: "Non-segregation of the races in all eating, comfort and work facilities."--which obviously is not being followed today in Saudi Arabia. But today, in regards to Saudi Arabia, instead of an uproar there is quiet.

In December 2002, The San Diego Union Tribune carried a story about another kind of separation carried out in Saudi Arabia:

The city of Mecca lies 45 miles east of Jeddah. A few miles before reaching the city, the highway splits.

Green signs overhead direct non-Muslims to steer their cars into the right lanes to take a fork that completely bypasses Mecca. A ring of small mountains surrounds the city, preventing even a distant view of it.

Only Muslims may enter the ring of mountains and the historic and holy city of Mecca. Cars going straight stop at a checkpoint just beyond the signs, where everyone must present documents proving he or she is Muslim. The city of Medina, Islam's second-holiest site, similarly is off-limits to non-Muslims.

John V. Last wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal about this back in August 2003, noting the discrepancy:

This law is something of a singularity among major religions, because it isn't merely the Grand Mosque that is off-limits to nonbelievers, the way, for instance, a Mormon Temple is. It's a city--a major city with hotels, supermarkets, schools and a population of 1.2 million people. (The city of Medina, population 700,000, also forbids non-Muslims.)

...In 1995, incidentally, Saudi money funded the building of an enormous, $50 million mosque in Rome, just a stone's throw from St. Peter's Square.

But how is the media dealing with the situation in Saudi Arabia today? Today it is not a major focus.

The articles above about segregation in Saudi Arabia are from 2001 and 2002. Just as the media today did not publish the Danish cartoons, they are more unlikely to point to issues such as the segregation of women and non-Moslems in Moslem countries--issues which are more likely to be viewed as internal affairs.

Besides, there's always Israel.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Apartheid and Hamas and Islam and Saudi Arabia and Mecca.

"Daled Amos" Will Never Be The Name Of A Perfume

This evening I went into the local Walgreens to pick up some medications. Inside, I passed by a sign for Spirit for Men by Antonio Banderas. Just what does Bandaras know about perfume--then again, who cares?

For that matter, what does Noam Chomsky know about the geopolitical situation? When he recently visited Lebanon, did he read up on the underlying situation behind the headlines? Some think he has a lot to learn about the situation there.

What makes a professor of linguistics into an expert on the Middle East?
Or actors...or singers...for that matter.

Part of the answer comes from the status of intellectuals. In his book Intellectuals, Paul Johnson traces the rise of the intellectual as mentor back to the 1700's:

With the decline of clerical power in the 18th century, a new kind of mentor emerged to fill the vacuum and capture the ear of society. The secular intellectual might be deist, skeptic, or atheist, but he was just as ready as any pontiff or presbyter to tell mankind how to conduct its affairs. He proclaimed from the start a special devotion to the interests of humanity and an evangelical duty to advance them by his teaching.

That will cover Rousseau, Russell and Sartre. But how do you account for Chomsky, Streisand, and Bono. Stefan Kanfer, writing for the City Journal, thinks this is more of an American phenomenon:

In America, you come across two kinds of fame: vertical and horizontal. The vertical celebrity owes his renown to one thing—Luciano Pavarotti, for example, is famous for his singing, period. The horizontal celebrity, conversely, merchandises his fame by convincing the public that his mastery of one field is transferable to another. Thus singers Barbra Streisand and Bono give speeches on public policy; thus linguistics professor Chomsky poses as an expert on geopolitics.

I think the key word there is merchandises. These people that Kanfer refers to are expert salesmen. Their fame in one area is a commodity that can be marketed to other very unrelated areas as well. If anything, it is the fame--not necessarily the native expertise--that is being marketed. This holds true for Chomsky as well as Streisand. I wonder how many who hold by Chomsky in his politics have the faintest idea, or interest, in his work in linguistics above the popular level.

Today, the marketing of fame extends to the point that we are supposed to assume that millionaires have a talent the will make them good senators or governors. Or that business acumen is the key to running government.

Along similar lines, this way of thinking allowed for the myth that members of the media had a special wisdom that endowed what they say and write with a special accuracy and insight that could not be matched by their readers--whether advising them on whom to vote for or assuring them on the existence of Santa Claus.

Today, however, we see the rise of blogs that challenge the media's stranglehold on information and its dissemination.

Who knows, perhaps with their new-found fame, bloggers too will some day be able to market their fame into other areas as well.

But I'm not giving up my day job (my wife made me promise).

Technorati Tag: Intellectuals and Paul Johnson and Noam Chomsky.

Oz Yashir: Jewish Interpretations Of The Wizard Of Oz

Welcome to visitors via Soccer Dad's Haveil Havalim #70
For the latest on the story about Iran instituting a yellow badge for Jews see Report About Iranian Yellow Badge May Be Incorrect

May 15, 2006 is the 150th anniversary of the birth of L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz. In addition, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the movie version appearing on TV. In Wizard of Politics: Down the yellow brick road of overinterpretation, John J. Miller recounts all kinds of interesting background information on both the book and its author--and how the book has been interpreted:

Yet there is a long history of digging deeper into Baum's books and searching for hidden meanings. The most famous of these is to interpret "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" as a parable of the Populist movement of the 1890s: Dorothy represents the American people, the Scarecrow symbolizes farmers, the Tin Woodman stands in for factory workers, and the Cowardly Lion is William Jennings Bryan, the three-time Democratic presidential candidate. One of the leading concerns of Bryan and the Populists was to get off the gold standard (the Yellow Brick Road) and replace it with the silver standard (the color of Dorothy's slippers in the book).

It's only natural that there would be some Jewish interpretations of The Wizard of Oz as well. At Torah.org, Rabbi Daniel Bouskila, spiritual leader of the Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel in Westwood, California invokes images from both The Wizard of Oz as well as the Talmud and the Kabbalah in finding in the story a metaphor for Prayer, which require in part the heart and the brain:

But our journey continues. There is an additional challenge that lies ahead. As we seek to synchronize our brains and hearts to create a meaningful encounter with the divine, we are faced with the prospect of the fears and insecurities we all have in coming before G-d. If we stop to think about what it means to actually be in G-d's presence, it is a frightening experience. In other words, in order to approach G-d's throne, we need to find the courage to do so. It takes courage for a human being to ask G-d to forgive his sins and answer his prayers.

So our journey now adds an additional character: the Lion, who traveled down the yellow brick road in pursuit of courage.

Rabbi Bouskila also finds allusions to Shabbos within The Wizard of Oz as well.

In Midrash, Jewish Identity, and the Musical Wicked, Gary Shapiro looks for meaning in the musical 'Wicked'--a 'prequel' to The Wizard of Oz based on the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. Shapiro sees the book Wicked as more than a prequel:

However, a traditional Jewish literary term fits Maguire’s work better than the expression prequel. Wicked the novel is a kind of midrash or deep commentary on the classic film. Rabbinic midrash begins from the Torah text and raises probing questions, fills in narrative gaps, and enlarges upon ideas that are latent in the original. And midrash frequently challenges what we think we know about biblical teachings. L’havdil, as we say when comparing the incomparable, but Wicked the novel engages in a similar interpretive effort vis a vis The Wizard of Oz.

With this in mind, Shapiro finds that Wicked operates in a way similar to the midrash that explains the source for Kriat Shema. In the case of Wicked, he finds in Maguire's book and the musical a search into the meaning of good and evil--an explanation of which Shapiro points to in both midrash and in the Pesach Haggadah, where he finds that evil is not necessarily absolute and sometimes deceptive in appearance.

Returning to the The Wizard of Oz, there is Schlepping Over the Rainbow which Danny Miller posted in his blog last year. For Miller, watching the movie is a yearly experience that carries a special meaning:

The early scenes of the film on Dorothy Gale’s Kansas shtetl were filmed in black-and-white, a bleak foreshadowing of the encroaching doom that would forever obliterate the Jewish way of life throughout Europe. The danger to the Jews first took the form of nasty Miss Gulch, a classic anti-Semite who wanted to take Dorothy’s precious dog to the authorities and “make sure he’s destroyed.”

Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, though outraged like many Jews who had to endure such indignities during the early years of Nazi influence, feel powerless to stop Miss Gulch and they hand the poor mutt over to certain death. Miraculously, the dog escapes and finds his way back to Dorothy’s loving arms. Dorothy realizes that evil still lurks around the corner and she tries to run away. By this time Miss Gulch’s rabid anti-Semitism has grown into a tornado of hate, sending Dorothy and her entire house up into the gale winds of the unknown. Her town and former life disappear as she lands in the mysterious land of Oz.

Miller analysis extends to the main characters, whether they are Jewish or not.

According to Miller:

• Dorothy, the Munchkins, Scarecrow, and The Cowardly Lion are Jews.
• Glinda the Good Witch, Tin Man, and The Witch's Guards are not Jews.

The residents of the Emerald City? They are members of a Master Race who, "though beautiful, graceful, and strong, they lack individuality and are easy prey to a charlatan who has delusions of grandeur and hopes that no one would pay attention to the man behind the curtain."

Miller used to be indignant that Glinda puts Dorothy through all sorts of dangers, when she knows the secret of how Dorothy can get home safely.

But no more:

I now see this as the film’s most Jewish message of all. For thousands of years Jews have struggled as a people against forces that tried to destroy them or make them assimilate into the larger culture. Instead of succumbing to the waves of persecution or taking the easy way out, the tiny Jewish population thrived against all odds. It wasn’t powerful weapons or armies that allowed Jews to survive, it was their own quiet knowledge of their worth as a people.

More to the point, is a comment by Shiloh Musings:

I don’t understand why our ancient and distinguished Jewish People keeps begging the wizard to do what we can and should do for ourselves.

Only when Toto, the dog, pulled the curtain away, and the wizard’s humanity and weakness were exposed did the Wizard of Oz admit the truth. He had no magic powers. Dorothy, who had killed the wicked witch, was much more powerful than himself. If Dorothy wanted to go home, she had the power to do it herself. If we want true security, it won’t come from the UN, US or any foreign body. It’s up to us, only us, to use the “oze” inherent in us.

If only we can find the brains, the heart, and the courage to do it.

Which I think is the point of the movie:

• The Scarecrow who "has no brains" plans and leads
• The Tin Man who "has no heart" cries
• The Cowardly Lion "who has no courage" puts his life on the line for his friends
• Dorothy who is looking for a way home finds it was always within reach
  

What they were looking for was there all along. The same is true for us.
Even a fool, The Wizard, was able to see it.
The question is, when will we.

Crossposted at Israpundit

Technorati Tag: Israel and The Wizard of Oz and Jews and Judaism.

Crossing Jordan

Arutz Sheva reports that Hamas seems to have its eyes on more than just Israel. Apparently they have tried not only to store weapons in Jordan, but also to assassinate Jordanian officials as well:

Jordan announced Wednesday that it had arrested 20 suspects and seized stockpiles of Hamas weapons, including dozens of grenades and Iranian-made Katyusha rockets. Three Hamas members were shown on Jordanian television Thursday confessing to planning to kill senior Jordanian intelligence officials and stockpiling weapons in the
Kingdom.

One of the three Hamas members admitted that he received training in resisting interrogation methods from Hamas in Syria. Another admitted he obtained weapons and ammunition on behalf of Hamas in Jordan--neither of these is going to endear Hamas, or Syria, to Jordan.

The Hamas response is interesting in that they actually don't come right out and deny it:

Hamas chairman and PA prime minister Ismail Haniyah denied that his terror group was involved. "We are surprised by this media escalation in Jordan," he told reporters. "There has been no change in Hamas's policies toward Jordan and what is going on in the media is not acceptable to us."

So according to Haniyah:
1. He is surprised that Jordan has broadcast the confessions on TV
2. There is no change in Hamas' policies towards Jordan (whatever those may be)
3. Hamas doesn't like the negative publicity

But based on the way Haniyah is quoted, he does not come right out and say that Hamas was not behind those arrested--Apparently terrorist double-speak is not directed only at Israel.

Meanwhile, it seems that King Abdullah II continues to take on the role of his father, just as Hamas is following in the path of Arafat. Arafat, like Hamas, also had plans for Jordan, and was chased out by King Abdullah's father in what became known as Black September. Meanwhile, like his father, King Abdullah claims to be responsible to some degree for looking out for the Palestinian Arabs, saying that Hamas' plot:

...will not stop Jordan from pursuing its national role towards them leading to their full rights, foremost of which is the establishment of an independent Palestinian state

In an already complex and tense situation, Hamas has managed to increase the existing fears of the royal family in Jordan of the potential for an overthrow of Hashemite regime by its Palestinian majority, making it into a Palestinian state.

The players have changed, but the plot remains the same.

Technorati Tag: Hamas and Jordan and King Abdullah II and Ismail Haniyah.

Haveil Havalim #69 Is Up!

Soccer Dad has just posted this week's edition of Haveil Havalim--Haveil Havlim #69.
This week's edition has a wide-ranging array of posts, featuring posts on:

• Learning curve
• No (Ha)mas
• Orthodoxy and Israel
• Honesty is such a lonely word
• Jewish Observance
• Miscellany
• Israel, Islam and the World
• New Blogs
• Remembering

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

Listed at the Truth Laid Bare Ubercarnival.

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

Totten on Israeli Arabs

Friday, Michael Totten put up a post on Israeli Arabs

The Palestinians of 1948

JAFFA and JERUSALEM - There are more Arabs in Israel than there are in Beirut. One Israeli in five is an Arab. They aren’t Israeli Jews. Nor are they the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza. They were born and raised in Israel. They carry Israeli passports. They have full rights of citizenship. They vote in Israeli elections, and they field their own candidates in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. They don’t clamor for a state of their own, nor do most of them wish to join a Palestinian state once it is born. They hardly - ever - have anything to do with the terrorism campaigns waged by Yasser Arafat’s Fatah, Islamic Jihad, or Hamas. They are the lucky ones who were not driven out, who did not flee to the wretched refugee camps of Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria during the Naqba - the creation of Israel - the “catastrophe.” They are Israeli Arabs, the Palestinians of 1948. And they are almost completely invisible and forgotten outside of Israel.

It's another illuminating post where he talks to a number of Israeli Jews and finishes off with an interesting conversation with an Israeli Arab.

Totten concludes:

Israelis are not what I would call friends with the Palestinians of 1948. But they aren’t enemies either, though they once were. Making peace with the Palestinians of 1967 will not be easy, to say the least, especially when Hamas is the government in Ramallah. But there’s nothing eternal about Arabness and Jewishness that makes it forever impossible.

Go take a look at what Totten has found out about what Israeli Jews and Arabs say about each other.

At the end of the article there is a button to click on if you want to make a donation that will enable Totten to continue these sorts of reports.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Israeli Arabs and Michael Totten.