FYI: No internet until the 18th

Hi all,

Just a quick FYI...I have no internet until the 18th, except what I can squeeze in at the public library. As you can tell, the lack of internet has put a temporary stop to my blogging. But, emphasis on 'temporary'. I'll be back so soon as my connection is set up!

What's more dangerous than an anti-Semitic, suicidal terrorist?

I know, I've asked before. And, yeah, the answer is still the same: a self hating Jew. Well, we have just such a shmuck here, in Jonathan Littell. This is from an interview discussing his book, which follows a mentally disturbed, incestuous, homosexual SS officer.

But doesn't the unprovoked nature of the destruction of the Jews, the underlying ideology, the apparatus that was created to implement it, its scale, make it exceptional in human history?

"I personally understand the arguments for the exceptionality of the Holocaust, but I don't agree with them. The basic argument is that the Nazis wanted to kill all the Jews, but I don't see the difference between that and an extermination policy that was aimed - and implemented on a large scale - at groups such as the peasants in the Soviet Union or in Cambodia. Every genocide is exceptional."

Littell says that one of his aims is to show "how it happened." But he also wants to show that it is not just a problem between Germans and Jews. "If you reduce it to that, then everyone else can say, why should we care about it? That's what I find dangerous in the whole Jewish centeredness of the commemoration. It leaves many other victims outside the equation."

But the Nazi ideology was aimed explicitly at the Jews as a race.

"I think the extermination of the Jews is a universal problem, I think it concerns everyone. Beyond that, I think that today the issue is being used for political purposes in Israel." There was one event that "shocked me horribly," he relates. "I went to Birkenau and spent a couple of days there for the research. One day I was up in the tower over the entrance. Just then a few buses of Israeli kids - around 16, I think, schoolkids - arrived. I watched the whole thing and it was amazing. First they entered under the arch at the camp entrance. Then they unfold these huge Israeli flags. They march down to the end, where the gas chambers were, and stay there for three minutes - the teacher probably explained something about the place. Then they march back, waving their flags, and fold them again under the arch. The boys start smoking cigarettes and slapping the girls' asses, and then they leave. That ceremony has nothing to do with what actually happened in Auschwitz. It is more like, you know, 'Listen up, young future Israeli soldiers, this is why you are going to fight.' It is political, a mechanism. It has no connection to what actually happened. The Holocaust, I think, is being exploited politically, in a way that the Nazi extermination policy against other groups - Russians, homosexuals, Gypsies - is not."

Asked whether he thinks the Holocaust shapes Israeli actions today, he replies: "On the one hand, Israel is a country that underwent a serious trauma, and the Holocaust made it dramatically paranoid. But then there is also greed and land-grabbing and all that shit. That's just inexcusable. I'm sorry, but this cannot be excused by traumas that occurred 60 years ago."

He acknowledges that "there is clearly a raw nerve of fear," but adds immediately, "which I don't have. I don't feel fear. Bizarrely, Israel, which was created to be a safe haven for Jews, has become the most dangerous place in the world for the Jews. And has made it more dangerous to be a Jew in other countries, too."

Littell says Israel uses the Holocaust to justify "inexcusable" acts, by which he means the situation in the territories, and he likens the actions of the Israel Defense Forces to the behavior of the Nazis in the period before they came to power.

Would you really compare the two?

"No, we cannot compare: There is nothing like genocide in the territories, but they are doing absolutely atrocious things. If the government would let the soldiers do worse things, they would. Everyone says, 'Look how the Germans dealt with the Jews even before the Holocaust: cutting the beards, humiliating them in public, forcing them to clean the street.' That kind of stuff happens in the territories every day. Every goddamn day. And now they have this whole generation of mad Russians who don't care about anything and are very right-wing."

Most of what Littell knows about ongoing events in Israel comes mainly from "Red Cross worker types" with whom he is in contact. He last visited Israel, he says when asked, when he was eleven.

Does the fact that the book has now been published in a Hebrew translation in Israel hold any special meaning for you?

"I think the Israelis should take a better look at themselves. When they read a book like my book they shouldn't just look at the Jewish side of things. More pragmatically, what's important is to reach a certain level of understanding and apply it to what is happening now and maybe use that to correct things. Sitting around talking with historians about what happened 60 years ago is not very interesting if you don't apply it to what's happening today."

Such as?

"Like how what the Americans are doing in Iraq is unacceptable. I'm not talking about the war but about torture and things like Abu Ghraib. Understanding the Germans of 60 years ago may make you feel that you're not that far from it, as Americans or as Israelis. So maybe it will be possible to enforce our social mechanisms to prevent our societies, at least, from going completely off the wall."

What should your Israeli readers do?

"I think the Israelis, instead of beating their breast, should take a long, hard look at what they are doing now. I am not saying that present-day Israeli society is comparable to Nazi society in World War II, but it is definitely one of the most crazed Western societies."

That's interesting, particularly from someone who hasn't been to Israel since he's been 11. Of course, the terrible thing is, this guy -- despite declaring that he would "Not at all" define himself as a Jew -- was born a Jew...and such whackos only give ammunition to the Jew haters out there.

Carter's "gesture" ... we're still waiting

Hey, Carter, what's this? Surely, there must be a mistake...Hamas would never ... lie ... right??

Hamas has yet to pass a letter from kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit to the Shalit family, despite Hamas head Khaled Mashaal’s promise in April to former United States President Jimmy Carter that the group would provide a letter from Shalit as a “gesture” to his family. Hamas has sent the Shalit family two letters and a recorded message from Gilad Shalit since the young soldier was first kidnapped in mid-2006.

Some Israeli intelligence officials say that Mashaal and other Hamas leaders in Damascus may have limited influence over Hamas leaders in Gaza, including those holding Shalit hostage. Mashaal may be unable to fulfill his promise to Carter, they said this week.

Leftist Jewish group offers Israel advice on suicide

Yeah, that's me paraphrasing... but this sort of thinking is exactly that: suicidal.

The new leftist American Jewish J Street lobby has stated that Israel should "talk with its enemies," including Hamas, and that the United States needs to exercise further pressure to restrict Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. "We have absolutely no problem taking a position that says the actions and policies of the Israeli government are counterproductive and not in the best interests in our opinion of either Israel or the United States," Jerusalem Street executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami told Newsweek magazine.

Well, it depends what policies you're talking about. I've got some real issues with some of Olmert's ideas, but, I'm guessing, they'd be more in line with your way of thinking than not...

He said the lobby is trying to fill a gap that he says exists between public opinion and the pro-Israel views of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Ben-Ami said the new lobby wants to break up the "alliance between the neo-cons, the radical right of the Christian Zionist movement and the far-right portions of the Jewish community that has really locked up what it means to be pro-Israel."

Right...what it REALLY means to be pro-Israel is to want to have tea-time talks with people who have vowed to utterly and completely destroy you. Silly me, I keep forgetting that!

J Street previously has stated that allowing Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria to expand is like giving alcoholic beverages to a drunken friend and then giving him the keys to the car to drive home. Concerning Hamas, Ben-Ami said that not talking with enemies is a "silliness that the only people you talk to when you want to make peace are your friends.

So, Mr. Ben-Ami, would you have held discussions with Hitler? You know, WE know where they stand on Israel and Jews. What else remains to be said? Do we really need them to lie to us? That is damaging, not helpful.

The Legacy of a dead Jewish community

This is a pretty incredible gift from beyond the grave.

Two Torah scrolls that were hidden from the Nazis have been dedicated in the Golden Rose Synagogue in the Ukraine community of Dnepropetrovsk. One scroll was found in the attic of a Ukraine home. It was sent to Israel for restoration.

The second Torah scroll was hidden in a cave after the Nazis invaded Belarus in 1941 and then was sent to China for safekeeping. The Chinese government agreed several years ago to release the holy scroll, which also was restored in Israel.

"These two Torah Scrolls came from Jewish communities that died out in the Holocaust," said Dnepropetrovsk Chief Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky. "This fact is proof as to the rebirth of Jewish life here."

When I read things like this, "Never Again" takes on so much more significance.

The Jews did it! The Jews did it!!!

Grandma's dead? Oh, hell, shot? You mean, we hit her? Crap, what are we gonna do? Oh, I know! Blame the Jews!! What do you mean they weren't there? Does it matter? Just blame the Jews!!

Gaza Arabs have accused the IDF of killing an elderly woman who reportedly died of gunshot wounds on Friday morning. The woman was killed in the village of Khaza east of Khan Yunis, Gaza sources said. She was identified as 70-year-old Yosra Abu Roq.

Officials in Gaza accused soldiers of entering the village and firing on civilian houses, killing Roq. IDF spokesmen said that no soldiers were present in the area at the time of the alleged killing.

Terrorists fire on Israel and...hit Gaza

You gotta love ineptitude.

Gaza terrorists fired a short-range rocket at Sderot on Thursday night. The rocket fell short, landing within Gaza.

The attack caused the “Color Red” warning system in Sderot to sound, and residents ran for shelter. A young girl fell and suffered facial injuries while running. Paramedics treated her at the scene.

British UCU to reconsider boycotting Israel

More absurd bias and hatred.

The University and College Union (UCU), the largest trade union and professional for academics and lecturers working throughout the UK, called on its members Wednesday to "consider the moral and political implications of educational links with Israeli institutions, and to discuss the occupation with individuals and institutions concerned, including Israeli colleagues with whom they are collaborating."

The motion, which was passed at the UCU's annual congress in Manchester, noted the "continuation of the illegal settlement eneterprise, killing of civilians and the humanitarian catastrophe imposed on Gaza by Israel and the EU'.

If UCU were to implement the motion, it would encourage its 160,000 members to consider cutting off links with Israeli academic institutions - most of these links are with individual Israeli academics such as research partnerships, peer review of papers, or academic conferences.

Philosophy Professor Tom Hickey, who headed the initiative, said Wednesday that the call was not to boycott Israeli academies altogether, but rather for the lecturers to reevaluate their ties with Israeli institutions, given the situation in Gaza.

The matter, he said, was in the early stages of discussion. The UCU still has to conduct serious discussion prior to any decision on an overall academic embargo.

Jeremy Newmark, joint head of the "Stop the Boycott" campaign said, “UCU has again demonstrated how out of touch the it is with the vast majority of its membership and with the wider academic community. This motion does nothing to help the Palestinians.

“Trade Unions exist to defend their members in the workplace. Our legal opinion, produced at the request of UCU members, shows that this motion promotes discrimination," he said, "it runs counter to all that a trade union should stand for, discriminating against some of its members instead of defending all of them."

Lorna Fitzsimons, also of the "Stop the Boycott" campaign, added that “boycotts of any kind do nothing to promote peace and moderation in the Middle East, as well as undermining the academic freedom and integrity of British academic institutions.

“A boycott has never been the right answer for those looking to genuinely help Palestinians and Israelis. The way forward must be to build bridges, encourage dialogue and allow ordinary Israelis and Palestinians the opportunity to engage with each other," she said.


The British Foreign Office spokesperson responded to the motion by saying that the British government "fully supports academic freedom and is firmly against any academic boycotts of Israel, Israeli universities or academics," but added that "the motion passed does not impose a boycott on Israel."

(Emphasis added)

More human rights violations since Hamas took over?

I'm sure the western media is hiding under a table somwhere at the utterance of these words, but...

An Arab human rights group has charged that Gaza residents have suffered less freedom and more human rights violations since Hamas staged its military takeover of Gaza last June. The Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights labeled both the Hamas and rival Fatah factions as guilty for using the law "as a tool to justify practices and policies each side uses to challenge the other."

Muin Barghouti, an official of the rights group, told reporters in Ramallah that the number of Arabs killed in local clashes is more than those killed by the IDF. Palestinian Authority minister Abdel-Razak al-Yahya told Reuters News Agency that human rights violations are far worse in Gaza then they are in Judea and Samaria. Hamas spokesman Ehab Al-Ghsain denied the charges except for what he said are isolated cases of abuses of human rights.

Hmm, I guess that mean things were better even under big, bad Israel...go figure

Bias? In reporting?

You must be joking, right? Bias against Israel and Jews?

Australian Jewish groups have criticized a government-sponsored media watchdog for suggesting the "Jewish lobby" pressured the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper to reject an article by longtime Middle East correspondent Ed O'Loughlin.

The article, meant to be a farewell from the region, ran in the Herald's sister publication, The Age (Melbourne), but was rejected without comment by SMH editor Alan Oakley. The article accused Israel of murdering Reuters photographer Fadel Shana and places the responsibility for Israel's ongoing conflict with local Arabs on Israel's shoulders.

Jewish media observers have accused O'Loughlin of biased reporting since he began working in the area in 2002. Tzvi Fleischer of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council told the Australian Jewish News O’Loughlin “is obviously a talented journalist who brilliantly distorts facts and substitutes opinions for news.”

UN's racist anti-racist conference to be held in Geneva

Charming. So glad the that UN is really interested in solving matters, and making the world a better place...

The follow-up meeting to a 2001 UN conference has been set for Geneva from April 20-24, 2009.

The initial conference, known as The World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, took place in Durban, South Africa in September, 2001 and was marred by open anti-Semitism, sales of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, and near-violence against Israeli and Jewish delegates to the conference.

Israel, the United States and Canada have already announced they will not attend the follow-up session because it has become clear that the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic tone that characterized the initial conference will continue to define the conference.

(Emphasis added)

Would be suicide bomber apprehended

So, just wondering, is there a penalty for getting caught? Like, 50% fewer virgins, or all virgins are over 70, or something like that? Imagine the look on the face of the would be shahid as you told him that, once he finally gets to paradise. Hmm, it could be fun to be Allah (once you get past the whole murderous psycho thing).

Special police forces arrested two Islamic Jihad terrorists Tuesday morning, one of whom confessed he was prepared to carry out a suicide bombing attack. A gag order on the arrest was lifted Wednesday morning.

Police took into custody Ismail Abu Alkazar, who was involved in planning a terrorist attack. They also arrested a second co-terrorist.