Bloodthirsty Liberal

So cynical.

US Vice President Joe Biden declared Tuesday that the window had not yet closed on an Israeli military strike against Iran, but that the window for sanctions and diplomatic efforts to halt Tehran’s nuclear program would soon shut.

Biden also stressed Israel’s right to take the action it sees necessary and that Israel’s security is a “fundamental national interest” of the United States, criticizing some in the American Jewish community for questioning the Obama administration’s commitment to the Jewish state.

“The window has not closed in terms of the ability of the Israelis if they choose on their own to act militarily,” he said. “But diplomacy backed by serious, serious sanctions and pressure – on that score the window is closing in the near term.”

Speaking to the Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative Movement during the group’s 2012 convention in Atlanta, Biden related a conversation he had had with Defense Minister Ehud Barak in which the vice president told him, “Were I an Israeli, were I a Jew, I would not contract out my security to anyone, even a loyal, loyal, loyal friend like the United States.”

The Conservative Movement of Jews is not a political movement; it is a group of Jews that are not Orthodox and not Reform. Politically, they tend to be democrats, but can be swayed sometimes to vote for a Republican. The Obama administration is probably worried about this group. They have the Reform Jews in the bag and they won’t be able to persuade the Orthodox Jews. The Conservative Jews are swing voters. In certain states, especially Florida, Obama needs their votes. They bought into Hope ‘n Change, despite Reverend Wright, in 2008. Will they buy it again? That’s my reading of this. If I am wrong, I’d love to hear alternative explanations.

- Aggie

Hey all you Arab deniers, trying to commit an intellectual Holocaust by rejecting the Jews’ historic legitimacy in the land of Israel—yeah, you—suck on this:

Another amazing find on the Temple Mount: Archeologists digging under Robinson’s Arch in the archeological garden next to the Kotel have found remains of a structure from the late First Temple period, under the base of the drainage ditch currently being exposed.

This is the physically closest structure to King Solomon’s Temple ever unearthed.

On the floor of the ancient structure, the diggers discovered an ancient Hebrew seal from the late First Temple period. It is made of semiprecious stone and bears the name of the owner of the seal: “To Matanyahu Son of Ho…” (the rest of the name is not legible).

The name Matanyahu appears twice in Chronicles 1:25, in a section listing names of Hebrews whom King David had appointed to sing G-d’s praise and perform other functions at the Holy Tabernacle. A few lines away, the name Netanyahu also appears. Both names are etymologically very close and mean the same thing: “Gift to [or from] G-d.”

…

“These names are mentioned several times in Scripture. They are typical of names in the Judean Kingdom at the end of the First Temple period – from the late 8th century BCE until the Temple’s destruction in 586 BCE.

“Finding a First Temple seal in the location closest to the Temple Mount is very rare and a very moving experience. It is like a tangible message from the person Matanyahu who lived here over 2,700 years ago.”

It’s almost a little spooky that the day after Prime Minister Netanyahu lost his father (at age 102), he gained a great-great (etc., etc.) grandfather. Talk about a tangible lesson!

PS: I’m not aware of any archeological evidence tying Mohammed to the Temple Mount—I don’t think the mountain came to him, or he to the mountain—but we’ll report as soon as we hear any.

I tried to get there, but I didn’t make it past Fitchburg before night fell. Didn’t help that I was going the wrong direction. (Via reader Jeanette):

Taking a post-event look at the Global March to Jerusalem, it is as important to identify what did not happen as it is to look at what did occur.

The most obvious conclusion is that the GMJ organisers failed to get the numbers of participants they declared having in advance, with only single percentage numbers of their vaunted one to two million marchers actually taking part. Despite GMJ organiser Ribhi Halloum’s feeble attempts at face-saving post-event spin, any objective observer can only conclude that the project’s organisers are clearly out of touch with majority concerns and opinion.

This was also reflected in the picture around the world with, for example, a mere 50 activists turning up for the GMJ event in Germany and 100 in Ottawa. Even in London – a major hub of anti-Israel activism and home to a significant proportion of GMJ organisers and their various organisations – the turnout to shout at an empty Israeli embassy was not particularly impressive.

What they lack in quality, however, they more than make up for in quantity:

Hot on the heels of the ‘Global March to Jerusalem’ will come yet another event designed to continue the assault on Israel’s legitimacy – the April 15th ‘Air Flotilla 2? (also known as ‘Welcome to Palestine’) or ‘flytilla‘ as last year’s (Hamas approved) similar event was dubbed.

Once again, the aim is to have large numbers of international “activists“ flying in to Ben Gurion airport on one day – in the words of the organisers – as part of the “challenge to Israel’s illegal siege of Palestine”.

“There is no way into Palestine other than through Israeli control points. Israel has turned Palestine into a giant prison, but prisoners have a right to receive visitors.

Welcome to Palestine 2012 will again challenge Israel’s policy of isolating the West Bank while the settler paramilitaries and army commit brutal crimes against a virtually defenceless Palestinian civilian population.”

Am I a bad person if I think that it would be deliciously (though tragically) ironic if the only El Al planes ever to crash would be these ones carrying Moslem bigots and haters?

Of course I am.

What do you do on Land Day, but share the land—in the form of rocks, boulders, etc.

Land Day turned violent Friday when Arabs began hurling Molotov cocktails and stones at soldiers near the Kalandia checkpoint north of Jerusalem.

The riots began after Friday afternoon Muslim prayers – often a starting point for violence – when dozens of masked Arab youths began rioting at the checkpoint.

Soldiers responded with teargas and deployed the “Skunk” – a vehicle loaded with canons spraying a noxious-smelling liquid. A machine that transmits high frequency sound waves was also employed.

All very humane, naturally, but I wonder if the Israelis couldn’t have gotten into the spirit of the day by employing a byproduct of the land: lead.

They may yet get their chance:

Meanwhile, Jordanian news sites reported some 20,000 people are gathering in order to take part in the massive march towards the Israeli border. According to reports, 4 rabbis from the extreme anti-Zionist Neturei Karta sect were marching with them.

The stridently pro-Hizbullah Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported 120 Hamas-provided buses will be transporting protesters to the Israeli border to participate in the “Global March on Jerusalem.”

And this isn’t even Nakba Day, which comes in seven weeks! Talk about your proliferation of holidays! But then, every day is a good day for the Daily Humiliation of the Palestinian (Arab) People™.

If that’s okay with the Arabs, this is:

QUESTION: Is it the State Department’s position that Jerusalem is not part of Israel?

MS. NULAND: Well, you know that our position on Jerusalem has not changed. The first Media Note was issued in error without appropriate clearances. We reissued the note to make clear that Under Secretary – Acting Under Secretary for R, Kathy Stephens, will be traveling to Algiers, Doha, Amman, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem. With regard to our Jerusalem policy, it’s a permanent status issue; it’s got to be resolved through negotiations between the parties.

QUESTION: Is it the view of the United States that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, notwithstanding the question about the Embassy, the location of the U.S. Embassy?

MS. NULAND: We are not going to prejudge the outcome of those negotiations, including the final status of Jerusalem.

QUESTION: Does that mean that you do not regard Jerusalem as the capital of Israel?

MS. NULAND: Jerusalem is a permanent status issue; it’s got to be resolved through negotiations.

QUESTION: That seems to suggest that you do not regard Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Is that correct or not?

MS. NULAND: I have just spoken to this issue –

QUESTION: No, no. But –

MS. NULAND: — and I have nothing further to say on it.

QUESTION: You’ve spoken to the issue but didn’t answer the question, and I think there’s a lot of people out there who are interested in hearing a real answer and not saying – and not trying to duck and say that this has got to be resolved by negotiations between the two sides.

MS. NULAND: That is our –

QUESTION: What is the capital of Israel?

MS. NULAND: Our policy with regard to Jerusalem is it has to be solved through negotiations. That’s all I have to say on this issue.

QUESTION: What is the capital of Israel?

MS. NULAND: Our Embassy, as you know, is located in Tel Aviv.

QUESTION: So does that mean that you regard Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel?

MS. NULAND: The issue on Jerusalem has to be settled through negotiations.

…

QUESTION: I just want to go back to – I want to clarify something.

MS. NULAND: Yeah.

QUESTION: Perhaps give you an out on your Jerusalem answer. Is it your position that all of Jerusalem is a final status issue or do you think – or is it just East Jerusalem?

MS. NULAND: Matt, I don’t have anything further to what I said 17 times on that subject. Okay?

QUESTION: All right. So hold on – so – I just want to make sure, you’re saying that all of Jerusalem, not just East Jerusalem, is a final status issue?

MS. NULAND: Matt, I don’t have anything further on Jerusalem to what I’ve already said. Please.

The reporter is being unfair. Ms. Nuland can’t redefine her boss’s (and her boss’s boss) offensive and ignorant policy toward Jerusalem.

A point made by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:

“For more than three years, the Obama Administration has followed in the flawed footsteps of its predecessors by refusing to fully implement U.S. law and move our embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

“Now, the Administration has gone even further. A mistake on a press release is understandable, but today the Administration doubled down on its determination to treat Jerusalem as separate from Israel. Where does the Administration think Jerusalem is? On Mars?

“Legitimizing the myth that Jerusalem isn’t part of Israel undermines our ally Israel’s sovereign right to designate its own capital, and lends credibility to efforts by Palestinian leaders and extremists who continue to deny the connection of the Jewish people to their historic capital, Jerusalem.

“The Administration needs to face reality, recognize publicly that Jerusalem is the undivided capital of Israel, and fully enforce U.S. law by moving our embassy to Jerusalem.”

If Jerusalem were on Mars, the UN’s Human Rights Council would declare it an illegal occupation and a daily humiliation of the Martian people.

If you’re like me (and if you’re here, you are, a little bit, deal with it), you approach video from Israel with trepidation. When will the bomb go off, the first stone fly, the front loader plow through the crowd?

None of that happens here. Smile:

Only in Israel: High school yeshiva students turn downtown Jerusalem, once the scene of Arab suicide bombings, into a stage for a “flash mob” dance.

…

The video was filmed two days before Purim on the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, to the delight of passers-by.

Purim: figures.

And if you’re like me (I’m not that bad), you also can’t help contrast the life-affirming behavior with what happens when young men from other cultures band together in urban areas.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery:

Official Palestinian Authority TV has produced and broadcast a music video imitating the Jewish tradition regarding Jerusalem, mimicking the Biblical expression “If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill, may my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember thee,” [Psalms 137:5]. This verse from the Book of Psalms expresses Jewish longing for Jerusalem after its destruction and the Jewish exile.

The song broadcast on PA TV and performed by an Egyptian singer includes scenes from the markets in the old city of Jerusalem, Arab children playing, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, blended with scenes of riots, stone-throwing, and clashes with Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem. No Jewish holy sites or landmarks are shown and the only Israelis seen are soldiers.

The song, which mimics the Jewish longing for Jerusalem described in the Bible, includes the following lyrics:

“May my right arm forget me, may my left arm forget me.
May the light of my eyes and the openings of songs forget me, if I forget Jerusalem.”

…

Palestinian Media Watch has documented a number of examples of the PA mimicking and expropriating Jewish tradition, while claiming Jewish history to be a falsification of the “authentic ancient Palestinian” history.

Last week, Palestinian Media Watch reported on the PA’s misrepresentation of Hebrew coins minted in 66 CE, four years prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Rome, as Palestinian coins.

The Palestinian claim that Jerusalem has been the “capital” of a “state of Palestine” is another example of this misrepresentation. While historically there never was a Palestinian state and Jerusalem never was an Arab or Muslim capital, the PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash warned in a Friday sermon that “unless Jerusalem will be Palestinian, as it was throughout history, the capital of the Palestinian state… there is no peace.”

May I make a suggestion? Instead of rewriting history, denying identity, or committing genocide—all of which have been tried—why don’t they just convert? Operators are standing by. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

One other suggestion: when asked which branch of Judaism you’re interested in, check the box for Reform. They’re like Jewish Unitarians.

PS: While the title of this post recalls one TV show, now I’m thinking along the lines of another: The Jewish Apprentice. Donald Trump, wrapped in rabbinical garb, puts a team of hopeful Arabic converts through their payos to select a winner whose ultimate goal is a sanctioned conversion to Judaism (and maybe a two-bedroom flat in a “settlement” in Samaria). Each week a contestant is eliminated as The Donald mimics firing a Qassam missile launcher while snarling “Yuh fired.”

Chutzpah, thy name is Arab:

One principle of Palestinian Authority religious belief is that the Palestinians’ fight against Israel is for Allah and for Islam. Accordingly, the PA presents the conflict with Israel as a fight on behalf of all Muslims to liberate what they claim is Islamic holy land. See examples below.

Now PA TV has broadcast a song accusing Israel of being the one fighting a religious war “in your name, oh God.” The song demonizes Israel as an oppressor that “tortured” Palestinians and “usurped” Palestinian land, all in the name of religion.

…

“My country – they [Israel] usurped, divided and stole
The truth – they mutilated
The freedom – they suppressed
Our fields – they burned and seeded with our corpses
Our villages – they uprooted and replaced with their houses
In your name, oh God, they tortured me
In your name, oh God, they expelled me
They destroyed, in your name,
they ruled in your name, oh God, hear my prayer
In our homes – they attacked us
With destruction – they threatened us
To ruin – they pushed us.”

…

While Israel does not portray the conflict as a religious war, the PA emphatically defines it as such. In January, Palestinian Media Watch exposed a speech by the PA Mufti in which he presented the killing of Jews by Muslims as a religious Islamic destiny.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has said that taking Jerusalem away from Israel on behalf of Islam is a fard ayn, a personal religious obligation on every Muslim.

“I say to the leaders of our Arab nation and to its peoples: Jerusalem and its environs are a trust that Allah entrusted to us. Saving it [Jerusalem] from the settlement monster and the danger of Judaization and [land-] confiscation, is a personal [Islamic] commandment [Arabic: fard ayn] incumbent on all of us. Therefore, I call all of you to serious and urgent action to save [Jerusalem] and to make available all possibilities in order to strengthen our resolve and to maintain its historical, cultural and religious character.”
[Al-Jazeera TV, March 27, 2010]

The Palestinian Authority Minister of Religion Al-Habbash has stated many times that the conflict with Israel is a Ribat, a religious conflict or war to defend or liberate land said to be Islamic.

“Settlement monster”? What a great expression! One I intend to use as my own from now on.

ROOOOAAAARRR!!!!!!!!

I’m glad somebody is getting the snow we aren’t. It appears to agree with them:

After weeks of hype, snow finally settled in Jerusalem and began melting quickly on Friday, and light snow was expected to continue intermittently for much of the day.

Schools were closed throughout Jerusalem, several West Bank settlements, Safed and in other parts of the country.

…

For North Americans, the amount of snow in the capital would seem like amateur hour, but in Israel, the highly-anticipated winter flurry brought countless people out to “play.”

Play on!

PS: We got snow too yesterday. Only ours isn’t melting.

You remember him. As his Wikipedia page puts it:

On April 11, 2003, Jordan revealed that CNN knew about human rights abuses committed in Iraq by Saddam Hussein since 1990 in a New York Times story called “The News We Kept to Ourselves”

They sat on the human rights abuses to insure continued access. But that wasn’t enough to get him canned. This was:

On January 27, 2005, during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Jordan was reported to have said that American troops were targeting journalists. Although there is no transcript of Jordan’s statement, Barney Frank claimed Jordan seemed to be suggesting “it was official military policy to take out journalists”, and later added that some U.S. soldiers targeted reporters “maybe knowing they were killing journalists, out of anger” – claims that Jordan denied.

On February 11, 2005, Jordan resigned to “prevent CNN from being unfairly tarnished by the controversy over conflicting accounts of my recent remarks regarding the alarming number of journalists killed in Iraq.”

Anyhow, this is CNN:

CNN has reportedly fired most of the Jews in its Jerusalem bureau, cutting half the bureau but leaving Arab workers and reviving charges of CNN’s pro-Arab slant.

CNN denies the charges, claiming a budgetary downsizing, but two producers in the CNN Jerusalem office confirmed that four of the eight-person bureau, all Jews, were told they were being fired, leaving only one Jewish producer.

We strongly reject any suggestion that the reorganization in the Jerusalem bureau is in any way based on the small number of contract employees concerned being Israeli, particularly given CNN’s long history of working with locals in the region, declared a CNN spokesman, cited by Media-bistro.

Media Bistro, Dreuz.info, and several Israeli media sources confirmed that CNN had fired Jewish workers with between ten and 25 years of experience. But several of the sources suggested that CNN’s was not so much anti-Jewish as pro-Arab.

“They are moving more and more of their activities to the Gulf,” said an ex-CNN correspondent who asked not to be quoted on the record. CNN made Abu Dhabi its fourth global hub in late 2009, along with New York, London, and CNN headquarters in Atlanta.

And from these people we get our “news”?