"Abandoning Yesha Means No Longer Having To Say 'I'm Sorry'"

According to Olmert's National Policy of Guilt, the 'occupation' has inspired the Left with a sense of guilt that would put any Jewish mother to shame. But that is no Jewish mother--it's Ehud Olmert:

In his speech at the opening of the Knesset, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, "For forty years we have been flagellating ourselves with a sense of guilt that we competently understood too late, that which we should have understood from the beginning." He was referring to Israel's victory in the Six Day War of 1967 and its "occupation" of Judea, Samaria (the "West Bank") and Gaza (YeShA).

Olmert's words may be the key to understanding this current rush to disaster that would lead a lemming to scratch his head in disbelief:

What frightens the Left, reflected in Olmert's admission of guilt, is the possibility that Jews did "steal Arab lands," that Israel does discriminate against Arabs, that Israel is responsible for Palestinian terrorism, that Zionism is racism. So, they blame "the settlers." It's convenient and it diverts attention from more basic questions of national self-doubt and identity. This explains why the Left clings so desperately and tenaciously to a "peace process" even though it's a total fantasy - and everyone involved knows it.

For the Left, a Palestinian state would vindicate what happened in 1948. It would legitimize Israel's existence and free Israel from the burden of responsibility for Arab refugees. In fact, the Left undermines the integrity of the state itself. If the Left is correct, Zionism is wrong.

For the Left, abandoning YeShA means no longer having to say "I'm sorry"; no need to defend the Jews' moral, legal and historical rights to live in YeShA or anywhere else. If Palestinians can be convinced or forced to accept a state, then Israel is off the hook. To the Left, a Palestinian state is doing t'shuvah.

But making the state of Israel into a Korban Oleh in the process is not the answer.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Olmert and Annapolis.

Just How Many Nuclear Sites Does Syria Have?

More than one, apparently--according to Antiterrorism Blog:

While proof of a Syrian nuclear site is trickling down, including in this Washington Post article, the question now remains: what exactly do we know about the Syrian nuclear program?

Last night, The Croissant ran a story from the Kuwaiti Al Seyassah about potential new secret nuclear sites in Syria.

Here is an excerpt:

Western sources think that Syrian intelligence provided some information on the facility bombed on September 6 by the Israeli air force in order to focus the attention just on this particular site while work goes on at other secret sites.

Indeed, observation satellites have allegedly located in Syria at least 2 other sites similar to the one destroyed last month.

In another article from last year, he claims that the nuclear material for the reactor came from Iraq--both before and during the war.

It ain't over yet.

[Hat tip: The Corner]

Technorati Tag: Syria.

The JBlogosphere and The Blog Gap

Closing the Blog Gap is the name of a piece written by Gary J. Andres for The Washington Times. In it, the gap he is dealing with is the one that exists between conservatives and liberals. Thus far, he claims--and it would be difficult to argue the point--the liberals have made much better use of the internet...and of blogs. Andres reports that while there are a number of liberal blogs that are getting over one million views each week, no conservative blogs can reach those numbers.

The question is why:

Why the blogosphere became such a popular tool among Democrats is a complicated topic, but several factors deserve mention. First, liberal bloggers share anger toward the war in Iraq and President Bush. Rage is their organizing principle, a focused wrath not evident among conservatives. Second, with Republicans controlling the White House and both houses of Congress after 2002, bloggers on the left rallied with one mission — to beat the Republicans. Third, most liberal bloggers consider themselves activists, engaged in a cause, rather than pundits analyzing policy. The conservative side of the blogosphere is populated with more thoughtful commentators who make detailed arguments about ideas. Readers of liberal blogs get a feast of ad hominem argument, vulgarity and raw anger. Finally, liberal blogs publish more online diaries by ordinary citizens and encourage local involvement and commentary. On the conservative side, content is more national in scope and written by "front-page" bloggers with fewer opportunities for readers to take action.

It is not that hard to translate the conservative vs liberal comparison into one that applies to the JBlogosphere. While the JBlogosphere concerns itself with all things Jewish, Israel is naturally a major focus--regardless of one's political orientation. Using Andres' argument, just what are we up against when we write in defense of Israel?

1. Those who blog against Israel, whether they be Muslim or of the West are filled with anger and rage--often without supporting arguments; the 'facts' are taken for granted and all that is required is to take to the soap box and spew condemnations. Wit and sarcasm is no substitute for rage when it comes to energizing the readership.

2. Bloggers against Israel have a similar mission: destroy Israel, boycott Israel, or isolate Israel--or all three. That puts JBloggers in something of a defensive position since we tend not to advocate the destruction of Arab or Muslim countries--nor even of Palestinian Arabs.

3. We tend to focus on what we believe are rational arguments and on history and statistics and the like, as opposed to the latest rallies, demonstrations, and letter writing campaigns. Other than Rabbi Avi Weiss, how many Jewish leaders consistently organize rallies in defense of Israel and Jewish interests?

The issue at stake is more than just the numbers--getting more hits. There is also the question of how to have an impact. Andres writes:

Republicans and conservatives need to find their own niche in this space that fits the temperament and style of their activists and fully support these projects.

Where do we start? One way may be to catch the attention of the larger general blogs. Based on the admittedly small universe of general blogs that I read regularly, there are only a handful in the JBlogosphere that are doing that, and even they are not quoted regularly.

So what is the niche for the JBlogosphere--assuming there is one out there at all?

Technorati Tag: JBlogosphere.

Kissinger on the Annapolis Summit

Henry Kissinger's article--Bold Script, Weak Actors--came out on Tuesday.

He writes that part of the impetus on the Israeli side is due to new developments going on all around them in the Middle East:

The intifada and the global momentum of radical Islamism have brought home to the Israeli public and leadership that their state is threatened by four new and growing dangers: first, an altered security environment in which the principal threat is from groups with no defined geography and operating from small, mobile bases; second, the demographic challenge because the alternative to a two-state solution could become a single state in which the Jewish population turns into a minority; third, the existential threat of nuclear proliferation, especially from Iran; and finally, an international environment in which Israel finds itself increasingly isolated because of the growing perception in Western Europe and in small but influential circles in the United States that Israel's alleged intransigence is the cause of Arab hostility to the West.

Part of the problem, of course, is to what degree going forward with a two-state solution is going to resolve these problems--and to what degree it will just whet the appetite once again of those who want to destroy Israel, and of those who are content to sit back and watch.

Kissinger breaks this down into some more specific questions:

The definition of a Palestinian partner has so far proved elusive. Gaza is governed by Hamas, which is unwilling to recognize the legitimacy of Israel, not to speak of the specific terms under negotiation. Who then takes responsibility for Gaza? And it is unclear how much of the West Bank population Abbas can speak for.

Several Arab states have declared their willingness to recognize Israel once it returns to the 1967 borders. But recognition of the existence of a state has historically been treated as a factual, not a policy, matter. A key question, therefore, becomes exactly what is meant by "recognition." Will the moderate Arab states place pressure on Hamas to accept the premises of the peace process? Or will the fashionable pressure for "engagement" with Hamas turn into an alibi for evading that necessity?

Are the moderate Arab states prepared to expand and strengthen the small group committed to genuine co-existence? Will recognition of Israel bring an end to the unrelenting media, governmental and educational campaign in Arab countries that presents Israel as an illegitimate, imperialist, almost criminal interloper in the region?

But bottom line--Kissinger is still a diplomat, with a diplomat's confidence in the power of negotiation. This despite the fact that Abbas is trying to dictate terms as if he is the victor in a war.

Is all this nothing more than a retread of Nixon's concept of "an honorable end to the war" and "peace with honor" in Vietnam?

Remember what happened to South Vietnam? A Toronto Star editorial in 1973 on "peace with honor":

"Exit with face saved" would have been a more accurate phrase than peace with honor; for, whatever the terms of the Paris agreement may say, it's obvious that there is no guarantee of peace between North and South Viet Nam. Hanoi maintains its goal of unifying all Viet Nam under Communist rule, while the government of South Viet Nam and a considerable number of its people mean to resist that dubious blessing.

Some things don't change.

Technorati Tag: Henry Kissinger.

The Guardian: 3 Videos From Gaza

The Guardian is now featuring 3 short videos on its website of life in Gaza. Today it features the 2nd one:

Occasionally the mask slips and unpalatable truths emerge. The Guardian has filmed rare scenes inside Hamas-controlled Gaza which the various players in the unfolding tragedy of the Middle East would rather we did not see - Hamas beating up Fatah dissenters, Palestinian doctors forced by their Fatah paymasters to go on strike or forfeit their salaries, the militants who log on to Google Earth to search for Israeli targets for their Qassam rockets. The images, now on the Guardian's website, affront our concept of right and wrong, but they serve our understanding of what is going on...

Sure, all in 4 minutes.

The first video is Inside Gaza: medical emergency:

In the first of his three exclusive films for Guardian Unlimited focusing on life in an increasingly isolated Gaza, Clancy Chassay finds hospitals deserted as doctors and nurses are forced to take sides in the political infighting between Hamas and Fatah

Today's video--Inside Gaza: 'Resistance is our strategy'

In the second of his three exclusive films for Guardian Unlimited, Clancy Chassay witnesses the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades launch a rocket into Israel and finds the militants using Google Earth to prepare their attacks.

It features the obligatory scene of the journalist standing idly by as terrorists fire a rocket at Israel--and adding that no one was injured by the rocket. (And if they had?). I wonder if journalists accompanied the IRA when they planted roadside bombs.

But then again: those were terrorists, these are the resistance.

The series probably finishes tomorrow.

Technorati Tag: Gaza.

1948: The Forgotten Middle East Refugees

From Artuz Sheva:

U.N. Documents Show Arab Collusion against Jews

United Nations documents dating from 1948 revealing collusion against Jews by Arab countries are to be shown at a conference next week of Justice of Jews from Arab countries. Former Canadian Justice Irwin Cotler will release the information at the beginning of a summit of 40 delegates of "forgotten Jewish refugees" displaced from eight Arab countries.

More than one million Jews have been displaced from Arab countries, where human rights violations have gone virtually unnoticed. American Congressmen are considering resolutions that require the plight of Jews from Arab countries to be raised along with the claim by Arabs of millions of refugees from families who fled Israel in the War of Independence in 1948. Arab countries encouraged them to leave, promising they would return after the annihilation of the new Jewish state.

It's not too clear just what kind of collusion they are talking about here. However, if you go to the website for Justice For Jews From Arab Countries, there is a press release in PDF format which clarifies:

NEWLY-DISCOVERED DOCUMENTS FROM U.N. ARCHIVES REVEAL COLLUSION AMONG ARAB COUNTRIES IN 1948 TO PERSECUTE JEWS IN STRUGGLE AGAINST ISRAEL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Shira Dicker (917.403.3989)

New York City (October 23, 2007) - They have been called the 'forgotten refugees' of the Middle East but after a landmark summit and press conference in New York early next month, the narrative and plight of displaced Jews from Arab lands will be difficult to forget.

On Nov. 4 -5, 2007, 40 delegates from 8 countries and 5 cities across the United States will travel thousands of miles to attend the groundbreaking New York Summit, organized by Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC).

The highlight of JJAC's New York Summit will be a press conference on Monday, November 5th at the offices of the American Jewish Committee (165 East 56th St. Manhattan, 12:30pm). At the conference, the Hon. Irwin Cotler, former Justice Minister of Canada, will release documents from 1948, recently discovered in U.N. archives, that reveal collusion among Arab countries to use their Jewish populations as virtual hostages in their struggle against the creation of the State of Israel.

There is also a media kit available at the site that features:

• October 23, 2007 - Press Release "DOCUMENTS FROM U.N. ARCHIVES REVEAL COLLUSION AMONG ARAB COUNTRIES AGAINST JEWS"

• Chart: Displacement of Jews From Arab Countries: 1948-2005

• Background On Middle East Refugees

• Facts on Middle East Refugees

• Legal and Political Bases for the Rights of Former Jewish Refugees

• Legal Report Executive Summary

• International Rights and Redress Campaign

• Organizations Participating in the International Rights and Redress Campaign

Here is a sample of some of the information provided in the documentation:

Facts on Middle East Refugees

• For over 2,500 years, Jews in substantial numbers resided in areas that are today Arab countries (e.g. Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, etc.) – fully 1,000 years before the advent of Islam.

• The exodus of Jewish refugees from Arab countries occurred mainly between 1940s and the 1970s. In fact, there were more Jews displaced from Arab countries (856,000)¹ than there were Palestinians who became refugees as a result of the 1948 Arab Israeli war (726,000)².

• From 1948 to 1958 97% of all Jews that were living in Arab countries had been uprooted, either due to government sponsored anti Jewish decrees or the hostile political, social and economic climate created there.

• More than $100 billion³ of Jewish individual and communal assets were confiscated by Arab Governments.

• On two separate occasions the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ruled that Jews fleeing from Arab countries were indeed ‘bona fide’ refugees who “fall under the mandate of my (UNHCR) office”.⁴ The statistics are stark: 856,000 Jews from Arab countries in 1948 – reduced to 7,800 in 2001.

• Since 1947, the United Nations General Assembly’s predominant focus has been on Palestinian refugees:
a) 681 resolutions on the Middle East conflict, including 101 resolutions on Palestinian refugees;
b) Numerous UN agencies and organizations mandated or newly created to provide protection and relief to Palestinian refugees; and
c) Over the last 58 years, tens of billions of dollars have been disbursed by the international community to provide services and assistance to Palestinian refugees.

• During that same period, there were no UN resolutions; no support provided by UN agencies; nor any financial assistance forthcoming from the international community to ameliorate the plight of Jewish and other refugees from Arab countries.

• In all relevant international bilateral or multilateral agreements, (i.e. UN Resolution 242, The Road Map, The Madrid Conference, etc.), the reference to ‘refugees’ is generic, allowing for the recognition and inclusion of all Middle East refugees - Jews, Christians and other minorities.

1 Estimates based on UN document “Trends and Characteristics of International Migration since 1950 – Refugee Movements and Population Transfers” (UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs, Demographic Study No. 64 ST/ESA/Ser. A/64).

2 United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, P. 18; United Nations. Annual Report of the Director Genera of UNWRA, Doc. 5224/5223. 25 November 1952

3 World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries

4 Mr. Auguste Lindt, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Report of the UNREF Executive Committee, Fourth Session – Geneva 29 January to 4 February, 1957; and Dr. E. Jahn, Office of the UN High Commissioner, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Document No. 7/2/3/Libya, July 6, 1967.

Check out the Justice for Jews site.

Technorati Tag: Jewish Refugees.

Being Orthodox and Living With Rabin's Legacy

West Bank Mama writes about what it is like being an Orthodox Jew in Israel in the aftermath of the murder of Yitzchak Rabin, even after all these years--and writes that the situation is starting to change.

Read the whole thing.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Yitzchak Rabin.

Soccer Dad is #22!

Soccer Dad writes:

If you're going to waste your time reading blogs, reading these 100 blogs is the most efficient way to do it.

That assessment is based on a study of "Cost-effective Outbreak Detection in Networks", in which Soccer Dad ranks #22 out of 100 in Top 100 blogs for unit cost case and PA objective function. The idea is to pinpoint the network of blogs that provide most of the important stories circulating through the internet.

Read the whole thing.

Technorati Tag: Blogs.

Grabbing At Straws...

and coming up with Marwan Barghouthi?

Barbara's Tchatzkahs has the translation of an interview Yedioth Ahronoth did with Barghouthi--translated by someone from The Institute for Middle East Understanding. Why understanding hinges on the words of a terrorist mastermind is not clear, though the article claims that more and more people see Barghouthi as the solution to a variety of problems--including bringing Gilad Shalit home and countering Hamas.

See what you think.

Technorati Tag: Marwan Barghouthi.

Israel Readying Plans For Cutting Power To Gaza (UPDATED)

Last month, Israel declared Gaza to be "hostile territory"--the idea being to cut off electricity and fuel, but now water, to Gaza in reaction to rockets fired at Israel.

The rockets have not stopped--now what?

The Defense Ministry is now completing a plan for harsh economic sanctions against the Hamas government in the Strip. The plan includes cutting electricity for several hours every time there is a Qassam rocket attack.

The security establishment decided a few days ago to cut electricity to the Beit Hanun area in the northern Strip in response to rocket fire, in keeping with a September cabinet decision to designate Gaza as "hostile territory." Power was to be cut for periods of two hours, during the evening or the night.

Meanwhile, at that same meeting, it was also decided that along with more stringent sanctions against the Strip, restrictions in the West Bank would be eased. Israel has recently removed 24 physical blockages, to ease movement of residents, as well as one permanent roadblock, Barak told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley.

Data was presented at the meeting stating that Israel has five electric lines going into the Gaza Strip. Four deliver power to an army base in the area of the Strip or to neighborhoods in Gaza City with hospitals, and therefore they cannot be shut down. The fifth line transmits power from Israel to Beit Hanun, the source of extensive rocket fire.

The defense establishment and the Israel Electric Corporation are working on possible joint steps involving power. A plan is to be presented soon to the government that would allow for power cuts that do not necessitate bombing of power stations, an action that would cause additional and long-term damage.

It's painful to read about Israel bending over backward to defend herself without putting any Palestinian Arabs at risk. After all, this is a war.

Just how far is Israel ready to go--or not go. According to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: very far:

Speaking at an Atlanta synagogue Sunday, Ginsburg noted that the former president of Israel’s high court, Aharon Barak, had said that while the U.S. had its Sept. 11, “we’ve had our 9/12, our 9/13 and so on. And yet we have strived mightily to remember what we stand for as a nation.”

Ginsburg said that when the Israeli justices were asked if authorities could torture someone who knew when and where a bomb would go off, “The answer of the Supreme Court of Israel was unequivocal: torture never.”

Of course in this day and age, one man's torture is another man's physical coercion. I'd like to think that in Ginsburg's hypothetical scenario, Israel would not shy away from the use of coercion to save lives.

I'd also like to think that if this business of designating Gaza a 'hostile territory' has any teeth to it, that Israel is willing to do more than just deprive Palestinian Arabs of some late night TV.

UPDATE: Another example of Israel not making full use of the tools available to deal with "hostile territory" that is trying to kill its citizens:

Two Israeli banks decided within the last month to end services to Gaza in view of the government's decision to designate the Hamas-controlled region as an "enemy entity" – but the Bank of Israel is blocking the move.

The Bank has ordered Bank HaPoalim to postpone its decision to cut off operations in the Gaza region until an alternative is found for the local population.

Bank of Israel officials said this week that they fear a cash flow problem would exacerbate problems in Gaza. [emphasis added]

Yes, that would be the idea.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Gaza.