But what does it mean?
Erm, via Allison Lives

Diane of Gotham has gone from black on pink to ...pink on pink.

Diane! We can't read pink on pink! What do you take us for?

Just kidding. It appears she's having some problems. I'll update you when she manages to fix it, that is, if she updates me.

E-mailed to me by Our Sis:
Once upon a time a powerful Emperor advertised for a new Chief Samurai.
Only three applied for the job: a Japanese, a Chinese and a Jewish Samurai.

"Demonstrate your skills!" commanded the Emperor.
The Japanese samurai stepped forward, opened a tiny box and released a fly. He drew his samurai sword and "swish"; the fly fell to the floor, neatly divided in two! "What a feat!" said the Emperor. "Number Two samurai, show me what you can do."

The Chinese samurai smiled confidently, stepped forward and opened a tiny box, releasing a fly. He drew his samurai sword and "swish, swish"; the fly fell to the floor, neatly quartered!" That is skill!" nodded the Emperor.
"How are you going to top that, Number three Samurai?"

Number Three Samurai stepped forward, opened a tiny box, released one fly, drew his Samurai sword, and "swoooooosh," flourished his sword so mightily that a gust of wind blew through the room. But the fly was still buzzing around! In disappointment, the Emperor said, "What kind of skill is that? The fly isn't even dead."

"Dead, schmed," replied the Jewish Samurai. "Dead is EASY.....Circumcision. THAT takes skill!"

This is a bit over the top: “A respected Saskatchewan native leader said Adolf Hitler did the right thing when he killed six million Jews during World War II”. Is this a joke or what? It gets better/worse (depending which side you’re on): “"…That's how Hitler came in. He was going to make damn sure that the Jews didn't take over Germany or Europe. That's why he fried six million of those guys, you know. Jews would have owned the goddamned world. And look what they're doing. They're killing people in Arab countries."” This must be a joke.

Fred linked to it over on Israpundit. Hiya Freddie, how ya doing?

Hollywood to the rescue
I approve very much of Blogatelle’s initiative for solving the world’s ills.

A bit worn, I know, but my fantasy cel-dip (celebrity diplomacy) would still have Clint Eastwood standing over a hovering, quivering Saddam/bin Laden/Nasrallah/insert the bad guy of your fancy, “Uh-uh. I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kind of lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well do ya, punk?”

I know, I know, I’m more likely to get a John Lennon look-alike plus goatee plus black and white Kaffiya singing Happy Christmas (War Is Over) or worse. Oh, well. The dream is over.

Don't mind me.

Needless to say, the news here is all about the nasty bribes and payoffs in the Likud “primaries”. Labor thinks they’re going to win back votes. They can just think again.

Aha! I spy an opportunity to be catty, which thankfully has no existential meaning for me and mine:

Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh): Spirituality for the young and good looking?
I always thought that using (an abundance of) sex as a means on the spiritual road to enlightenment a weird idea. I strongly suspect that most people came to Osho’s Ashram in Poona, India, mainly for the sex and not for the spiritual stuff (even if they told themselves otherwise), which is fine by me. People often delude themselves in much more destructive ways. So I’m not really surprised that twelve years after Osho’s death, (reading between the lines of this article) it looks like the sex has at last officially become the end. Well, I must say, it took longer than expected.

Funnily enough, the Hebrew version of the article, which appeared in Haaretz today, has cut out the mention of sex and AIDS testing that appeared in the original version. Are they getting prudish in their old age, or was it translated by an ex-disciple who thinks the emphasis on the sex in the media is taking it out of its spiritual context and making it sound too sensational? If it’s the second reason – maybe he or she didn’t get it at all. Based on everything I’ve ever read that Osho wrote, and I admit that I found reading his stuff a terrible waste of time and usually couldn’t get past the first few chapters (I also once saw a video of him talking which was an equal waste of time), I personally think Osho was a crook and charlatan. I do believe the sex stuff was invented mainly to attract suitably gullible and misguided customers. This is a rather mean thing for me to say, considering I know some ex-disciples of his who are very sweet and lovely people. What can I say? I’m obviously just not spiritual enough to have shed off my nasty cynicism, yet. This is another reason I left my Buddhist group – I felt like a fraud. I was a fraud.

Will I be getting responses telling me I don’t know what I’m talking about? Very likely, and probably rightly so. But I can’t help feeling a malicious delight that Osho’s Ashram in Poona is finally coming clean about what it seems to have been all along - a holiday resort for people who want to live it up and feel self-righteous and spiritual while they’re at it.

A (belated – sorry my fault) Hannuka story from the Jerusalem Post:
“Bus 16 moved slowly through traffic in Haifa. Olga Grossman Solomon was sitting in a seat that faced backwards. Across the aisle, in the window seat facing forward, a plump woman with soft white hair was staring at Olga. When a passenger got off, the stranger moved over and leaned across the aisle.

"Is your name Olga?" she asked. "Are you a twin?"

A twin! Olga's heart pounded. The question sent her hurtling back more than half a century to a freezing platform in Poland. Olga was clutching her momma Shari's long skirt, and a man with immaculate white gloves and a stick was asking, "Are you a twin?"”

Read on.

Strange
The Jerusalem Post claims that, unlike the interest shown by the Israeli media in this story, the Palestinian press remained indifferent to the plight of Nur Abu Tir. It was written before her body was found.

And if we're on the subject of Lebanon
Remember the Wazzani River business?
It seems the Lebanese haven’t started pumping, yet. They claim it’s because of technical problems.

Hezbullah – it seems CBC can’t understand what all the kerfuffle is about.
The Canadian National Post attempts to explain to Canadians a few things about the Hezbullah, for those who think they’re OK because they only want to kill (Jewish) Israelis.

Awful news
The body of 5-year-old Nur Abu Tir from East Jerusalem was found yesterday, in a drainage pit inside the grounds of the family home. They suspect family members (or A family member) of her murder. The motive seems to be sexual molestation.

I can’t believe we missed this.
We were in the best place in Israel to see it. How annoying! R.T. (who came with us this time) and I actually stood looking at the sky last night, but obviously not at the right time. Harry R. caught it from outside Jerusalem. (Sorry Harry, couldn’t link to the direct post – you should try fixing your archives or something).

We're off to Mitzpe Ramon tomorrow morning.
It's really cold there now. I've been packing long-unused sweaters.

We'll be back Saturday. See you then.

Someone in Haaretz gets it.
Thank you, Ari Shavit, for explaining what is as clear as the blue sky, but completely eludes most of the Israeli left, who continue to insist that the rest of the Israelis fail to see things as they do, because they are stupid and uneducated.

“Thus, the dove-hawk paradox is not an expression of the hysterical moods of a confused mob. The dove-hawk paradox is not the caprice of a stupid and frightened public. Indeed, the dove-hawk paradox does indicate that the Israeli majority is more mature and balanced today than it has ever been”.

Go read.

Diane and Grasshoppa also comment on this.

5 year-old Nur Abu Tir from East Jerusalem is still missing. I find the theory of her being kidnapped as part of a family feud rather hard to believe. Not that such family feuds do not often result in kidnapping and murder, But this is a small child, after all. The family seems pretty convinced, though.

Then again, I didn’t want to believe Eli Pimstein had murdered his baby, either.

Update: Channel 1 is saying something about sexual abuse in the family now.

Two Israelis have been shot dead in Hebron.
Two soldiers, military police. A boy and a girl.

Anti-Zionism is an anachronism
In this week’s UK spectator, Geoffrey Wheatcroft explains why anti-Zionism isn’t anti-Semitism. A very interesting and persuasive read.

I had some thoughts about anti-Zionism, while reading, that don’t necessarily have anything to do with Mr. Wheatcroft’s argument.

One thing I think anti-Zionists fail to understand is that however Zionism began and whatever it meant to accomplish, and however you feel about all that on a philosophical level, it’s ancient history. There is now an Israel. The great majority of its citizens were born here. They are Israelis. They have no memories of the countries their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents came from. The Israeli nation may have been artificially created; it may have been a great mistake (I don’t believe that but I can respect others that do), but the fact is that now there is an Israeli people.

Geoffrey Wheatcroft talks of “One early Jewish opponent of Zionism, the ardently assimilationist Austrian writer Karl Kraus, thought the notion nonsensical: it was absurd to imagine that German, French, Slavonic and Turkish Jews had a common bond, or that any interest united the caftan-wearing tradesman of the Galician shtetl with the literary poseur of the Viennese cafיs”. Well today’s Israel proves him wrong. While his literary, Viennese, cafי-frequenting descendants were probably exterminated by the Nazis, this descendant of caftan-wearing tradesmen of the Galician shtetl is happily married to a descendant of Turkish rabbis and wealthy Bukharans. We get on just fine and we have a lot in common, thank you very much.

We are here. We don’t want to assimilate into a Palestinian state. We are not Palestinians. This week a whole nation held its breath as thousands searched for a lost baby. While I was waiting for my youngest daughter to finish her dancing lesson on Sunday afternoon, a man rushed past me towards the TV corner there, calling urgently, as if she was his own daughter “Have they found her? Have they found her?” A whole nation was horrified when the tiny body was finally found and the unbearable truth came to light. A father had done this to his own offspring. Fathers all over the country rushed home to hug and kiss their children, newly appreciative of their relatively normal lives.

We are here. This is our home. Our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents may have spoken many languages. We speak Hebrew, the language Karl Kraus may have known only as a language in which to utter prayers he probably couldn’t understand. Contemporary anti-Zionists, rush past Israeli inhabited areas, on entering the country, lest they be contaminated by our moral deficiencies. They hurry off to show their solidarity with the Palestinians and to console them for the great injustice of the theft of their land by the Zionists. They fail to see, in their haste, that we are not like the French in Algeria, who returned to France; and that we are not like the British in India, who went back to England. We are home. We have not transported “life at home” to a new venue. Everything that went before is gone. The Galician shtetl has gone forever, as has the Jewish neighborhood in Baghdad. Now there is something new. This is our home and I, for one, love it dearly, corrupt politicians and all.

In summing up his essay, Mr. Wheatcroft, who describes himself as an honorary Jew, asserts that “More than 100 years later, every single dispute involving Israel demonstrates that, whatever else it may be, it is not a nation like all others, and maybe never can be”. I’m not sure by which standards Mr. Wheatcroft is gauging us when he makes this claim. As I see it, the only point in which we are not a nation like all others is in the particularly harsh judgment we receive from those who arrogantly see themselves as our moral betters.

[If anti-Zionism is an anachronism, you may argue, does that not mean Zionism is an anachronism, too? My Oxford dictionary from 1969, defines Zionism as “A movement resulting in the re-establishment of a Jewish nation in Palestine”. Seeing as this has already happened, Zionism could definitely be seen as an anachronism. A Jewish nation in so-called “Palestine” is a fait accompli.]

This is exactly what I’ve been talking about.
Dr. Patch Adams is in Israel and has been visiting Israeli victims of terrorism in hospital. He plans to visit Palestinian hospitals and refugee camps as well. This is REAL peace activism. He didn’t make a beeline for the Palestinians, like they usually do. He took the time to be in Israeli hospitals because he sees our wounded as also deserving of a bit of his laughter, even though I understand he is far more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israel.

Politicians – can’t live with them, can’t live with them (I)
Dr. Yossi Beilin didn't do very well in the Labor Party primaries. Neither did Yael Dayan (Moshe's daughter). So now they're moving to Meretz. Gil sums all this up nicely. Yael Dayan is probably one of the most aggravating people in Israeli politics, but I disagree with Gil. She's done a lot in recent years for women's rights, violence in the family, sexual assault victims and so on. Anyway, Meretz is really a much more suitable party for them both. Maybe someone could get Mitzna to go, too ;-). Gil says that Yossi Sarid, head of Meretz, is “one of the most arrogant people in Israel and I’m not referring to his political views at all. I will even dare and say he is at least as arrogant as Bibi is”. Oh, Gil, what Sarid forgot about being arrogant, Bibi hasn’t even learnt yet! I’d say Bibi has a gigantic chip on his shoulder, whereas Sarid is quite convinced that Planet Earth is truly a fortunate place to have him walking on it.


Politicians – can’t live with them, can’t live with them (II)
I notice the EU court has OK-ed a decision to ban the sale of cigarettes marked as "light" or "mild" in EU countries. But they are not advocating a ban on EU countries exporting such cigarettes, mainly to countries less fortunate or affluent than EU countries. What hypocrites. They are opposed to waging war on poor unfortunate countries (although they supply them with the very weapons that make these wars necessary) because of the anticipated civilian fatalities, but they don't mind killing them slowly with their cigarettes.

This brings me back, for some reason, to the tendency in Israeli politics for (nearly) all the dirt to be out in the open. I have discussed this in the past. I find it hard to contain my utter disgust with the Likud's corrupt "primaries", which reached an historical peak with the election of an unknown pipsqueak named Inbal Gavrielli to the 29th spot on the list, which means she is very likely to be a Knesset member by February. A lawyer (I think, or is it a law student?), a woman, new blood, why am I taking offense? Well mainly because of her family connections. She belongs to a family of criminals. According to Haaretz (Hebrew version), two of her uncles went to prison in the 1980’s for drug dealing and trafficking, extortion, forging documents and fraud and now are mainly involved in the international gambling scene (including illegal gambling in Israel, I believe). I am opposed to legalizing gambling in Israel, by the way, but that’s for a separate post. One of these ex-con uncles was very much involved in her being elected to the Likud list. Even if she is on the level about her political agenda, whatever it is, and has a lot to offer, she will still be under a lot of pressure from La Familia, and their pals, to push their interests, whatever she says, won’t she? Right out of The Godfather, eh?

The upside is that she's right out there in the open. Most, if not all, politicians have the backing of unsavory characters, and they have to look after their backers' interests. But we usually don't know exactly who they are or what their agenda is until it's too late. This little lady we can keep our eye on.

My nausea might just cause me to vote Shinui (a small liberal, secular party, that runs on the vehemently-opposing-religious-coercion ticket, a little too vehemently for my sensibilities) and not Likud in the end. According to this poll (Hebrew) I'm not the only one who's nauseated. These Likud "Primaries" could affect other ex-lefties who were planning to vote Sharon. This week has been a sharp reminder that we're not voting Sharon; we're voting Likud. Yuck.

The Guardian discovers home schooling.
A few years ago I was very interested in home schooling and read a lot about it on the net. Not that I dreamt of not sending the girls to school and teaching them at home, but because before they started school I fantasized about supplementing what they would got thrust at them in school with some quality stuff. When my eldest daughter started school I had zero expectations of the system. This must be the reason I have been so pleasantly surprised. The state school they spend their days in isn’t bad at all. Its not that I think it is the best school in the world, far from it, but I’m satisfied, and I think they are happy there. They seem to be learning a thing or two, and even acquiring some skills of self-study.

In Israel, school is compulsory. The law probably has its roots in the early years, when a lot of poor, uneducated people came to live here (or lived here already) and sent their kids out to work instead of to school. They couldn’t be trusted to make their own choices for their children’s education (I know this sounds unpleasant, but I think you’ll agree that kids have rights too). There is, however, some sort of legal loophole that does allow for home schooling, in some cases, and there are apparently a handful of families who take advantage of this. I hear the authorities dislike it and give them a hard time.

Home schooling always comes over as sort of daring and pioneering, doesn’t it? As a parent, I always think that people, who educate their kids themselves, from beginning to end, must be wonderful, wise, patient people. The kind of parents we all want to be. I would lose patience and interest after about two minutes. I love working outside of the house. Housework bores me silly and (as a result?) I’m not very good at it. The idea of being stuck home with my kids, day in, day out, has very little appeal for me. I’m sure they’d be bored silly, as well. Home schooling obviously requires energies I just don’t possess. I think not being able to afford not to work is also rather relevant to the question of home schooling, too, don’t you? It’s obviously a rich person’s luxury.

Home schooling advocates often put an emphasis on the inability of regular schools to encourage a love of learning in children. They even go as far as to say that school stifles and destroys a child’s natural love of learning. They say it does bad things to a child’s character, or things to that affect, because of the unpleasant and unnatural atmosphere, lack of freedom and so on and so forth. This is all probably true, and makes me feel a pinch of guilt for ruining my girls’ minds by sending them to such a horrible institute. But maybe kids who don’t go to school are missing out as well.

They say “It takes a whole village to bring up a child”. Well these days most kids don’t live in a village or in any such close, nurturing community. (Actually, I know someone who grew up in a close, nurturing village that was sexually abused by family members and was thrown out when she finally found the courage to speak up, but you know what I mean…) Even extended families no longer live together and often don’t meet up on a regular basis. School is a regular, relatively stable society for kids. It’s their community. As I see it, the social side of school, for good and for bad, is much more important than the math and science kids learn there, especially in these days of readily available information. In school, children learn how to live in society. They learn that living with people is not easy, that it is full of challenges, but that it is also wonderful, interesting and exciting. They get the opportunity to meet people who are very different from them, and they learn to get along with them. Today, most of us work with other people. Learning to live with them and understand them, especially people we don’t particularly like or choose to be with, is a very important skill for life. Shielding children from anticipated unpleasantness of the social life in schools prevents them from gradually developing the ability to deal with such unpleasantness in adult life.

A reason many people give for home schooling is bullying and violence in schools today. But if you take your kids out of school because they are being bullied, or just because they don’t enjoy their social life there, you are not giving them the opportunity to deal with these problems. You are encouraging them to run away from difficulty. Of course, if you feel that your kid’s school cannot protect its wards from danger then this is not a suitable school for them, but is this a reason to write off the whole idea of schools?

A lot of people cite religion as a reason for home schooling. These are Christians wanting to avoid unwanted influences. This seems very strange to me, maybe because Judaism is such a very social religion. Judaism kept going in the Diaspora because Jews stuck together. Jewish men always studied together; first, as small children, in the “heder”, then, during youth, in the “yeshiva” and later on, as adults, together with the community, in the Rabbis’ “drashot”. This is still the religious Jewish way of life. Ten Jews are the minimum required to pray together.

My parents both stood out as Jews in predominantly Christian schools, when they were growing up. My mother even went to a Catholic convent during the war. Rather than hasting their assimilation, this experience served to sharpen their Jewish sensibilities and helped turned them into avid Zionists and then Israelis. Seeing other ways of life doesn’t necessarily encourage people to emulate them, but there is always the danger.

Erm, I seem to have lost my line of thought. Is that the time? I really must go.

Reshet Bet radio station:
"Two-year-old Hodaya Kedem Pimstein, whose body was discovered in a forest in western Jerusalem on Tuesday, was buried Wednesday afternoon at the Har Hamenuhaut cemetery in Givat Shaul, as details of her slaying were released for publication.

The father, Eli Pimstein, has admitted to drowning the baby in her bath and afterwards burying her in a pit that he had prepared a month ago. He has reenacted the crime to the police".

In Hebrew it says the court sent him for psychological observation. The police are opposed to this because they say his actions were planned and calculated. They also say he initially dug the pit a month ago and went back on Wednesday to deepen it further.

Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear:
“The day my mother died, I wrote in my journal, "A serious misfortune of my life has arrived." I suffered for more than one year after the passing away of my mother. But one night, in the highlands of Vietnam, I was sleeping in the hut in my hermitage. I dreamed of my mother. I saw myself sitting with her, and we were having a wonderful talk. She looked young and beautiful, her hair flowing down. It was so pleasant to sit there and talk to her as if she had never died. When I woke up it was about two in the morning, and I felt very strongly that I had never lost my mother. The impression that my mother was still with me was very clear. I understood then that the idea of having lost my mother was just an idea. It was obvious in that moment that my mother is always alive in me.

I opened the door and went outside. The entire hillside was bathed in moonlight. It was a hill covered with tea plants, and my hut was set behind the temple halfway up. Walking slowly in the moonlight through the rows of tea plants, I noticed my mother was still with me. She was the moonlight caressing me as she had done so often, very tenderly, very sweet... wonderful! Each time my feet touched the earth I knew my mother was there with me. I knew this body was not mine alone but a living continuation of my mother and father and my grandparents and great-grandparents. Of all my ancestors. These feet that I saw as "my" feet were actually "our" feet. Together my mother and I were leaving footprints in the damp soil.

From that moment on the idea that I had lost my mother no longer existed. All I had to do was look at the palm of my hand, feel the breeze on my face or the earth under my feet to remember that my mother is always with me, available at any time”. (Pg. 5)

Providential that Zionism should be on hand
Eric Hoffer, The True Believer:
“The communal compactness of the Jews, both in Palestine and the Diaspora, was probably one of the reasons that Christianity made so little headway among them. The destruction of the temple caused, if anything, a tightening of the communal bonds. The synagogue and the congregation received now much of the devotion which formerly flowed towards the temple and Jerusalem. Later, when the Christian church had the power to segregate the Jews in ghettos, it gave their communal compactness an additional reinforcement, and thus, unintentionally, ensured the survival of Judaism intact through the ages. The coming of "enlightenment" undermined both orthodoxy and ghetto walls. Suddenly, and perhaps for the first time since the days of Job and Ecclesiastes, the Jew found himself an individual, terribly alone in a hostile world. There was no collective body he could blend with and lose himself in. The synagogue and the congregation had become shriveled lifeless things, while the traditions and the prejudices of two thousand years prevented his complete integration with the Gentile corporate bodies. Thus the modern Jew became the most autonomous of individuals, and inevitably, too, the most frustrated. It is not surprising, therefore, that the mass movements of modern times often found in him a ready convert. The Jew also crowded the roads leading to palliatives of frustration, such as hustling and migration. He also threw himself into a passionate effort to prove his individual worth by material achievements and creative work. There was, it is true, one speck of corporateness he could create around himself by his own efforts, namely, the family - and he made the most of it. But in the case of the European Jew, Hitler chewed and scorched this only refuge in concentration camps and gas chambers. Thus now, more than ever before, the Jew, particularly in Europe, is the ideal potential convert. And it almost seems providential that Zionism should be on hand in the Jew's darkest hour to enfold him in its corporate embrace and cure him of his individual isolation. Israel is indeed a rare refuge: it is home and family, synagogue and congregation, nation and revolutionary party all in one”. (Pg. 43)

This was written in 1951, when Israel was three. A lot of Israelis feel nostalgic for that feeling of togetherness and the perception of a collective goal of those early years. On the other hand, a lot of people felt excluded from that feeling and still bear a grudge towards that young, secular, idealistic, Ashkenazi Israel.

I’m not sure if I like the way he claims that one of the main reasons Judaism survived down the centuries was exterior Christian pressure. Although Jews were never treated as equals, there were never such harsh pressures in the Moslem world as in Christian Europe, and still the Jewish communities flourished.

This is fascinating
William Dalrymple writes in the Guardian about Anglo-Indian mixed marriages in the 18th century and early 19th century. Don't you just love anything about British India?

Dalrymple sees these mixed marriages as a sign of multiculturalism, but I notice he only talks about British men marrying Indian women. Nothing about British women marrying Indian men. I'd say more a sign of dominance by the conquerer than true multiculturalism, even if some of the guys who took native wives also took on pseudo-Indian mannerisms. Maybe the practice stopped not only because of the Indian mutiny and the large scale British destruction of Indian upper echelons, which is Dalrymple's explanation (interesting in itself). Couldn't it also have something to do with indignant British women disliking being usurped? They probably had the full backing of Queen Victoria in their feelings! I can imagine her not being very amused by her officers’ un-British behavior, er, behaviour.

Well, anyway, Dalrymple has written a whole book about this phenomenon. I don't find it that fascinating, though. Actually, the editorial review in Amazon.com is quite enticing.

My Weather Pixie has got a Christmas tree.
Oy! Weather pixie people! I'm Jewish! Where's my Hannuka candelabra?

I'm sorry to say I'm the bearer of bad news, today
They've found the body of little Hodaya and arrested the father for the murder. It looks like they suspected him from the start. They said on the radio that they found her with the help of specific information. I heard him crying on the radio this morning. I really didn't want to believe he had anything to do with it, although everyone says he seemed very weird on TV (I didn’t see him). I think I’d look a bit weird on TV too, if my daughter had gone missing. Yesterday on the radio they broadcast the message she left on her mother's answering machine on the morning of her disappearance. A tiny, chirpy voice saying "Boker Tov!" (Good morning)

Can you imagine what the mother is going through?

They're still searching for Nur. They have been investigating family members about the suspicion she was kidnapped as part of a family feud. One family member has even been in police custody for two days, but refuses to cooperate.

Wounded soldiers up north
Yesterday, two soldiers were badly wounded when patrolling the northern border with Lebanon. A roadside bomb planted on the Lebanese side of the border detonated just when the patrol was passing.
One of them has serious head wounds; the other one lost both legs.

The search continues for the two little girls in Jerusalem.
Police have been checking a letter Hodaya's father had on his computer, but it seems there's nothing in that. Nur's family seems to be in a feud with relations and the police are looking into that, too. In the meantime, no girls.

Lest we forget that I am an ex-party member
Today, when I went to get some money out of the bank, I saw a crowd of people outside a building. It looked like there were stalls and things. When I got nearer I saw that it was a Labor Party polling station. The people outside were campaigning for various candidates in today’s party primaries, which were to determine the list for the elections. Likud’s was yesterday, but only party center members got to vote. In Labor all members voted. The festive atmosphere outside the labor polling station reminded me of my five minutes as Labor Party member. Bish and I joined up after Yitzhak Rabin’s murder. We were the guys who gave the world Ehud Barak. Well, I admit having been in awe of Barak for many years, ever since, as head of Military Intelligence, he went on TV to let all Israel hear a tape connecting the Achille Lauro attack to the PLO or the PLF or something. Well, he was very impressive, whatever. Imagine my surprise when years later I discovered Bish was also a fan (Bish is his last remaining fan, besides his wife, maybe.). So we became party members for the sole purpose of making him head of the party.

The whole being-a-party-member was very strange for us. The main thing I remember about going to vote were all these old timers hanging about there, Ben Gurion look-alikes.

I soon stopped paying party fees. Bish hung on a bit longer.

Oh, enough with the felafel, already! Who cares where felafel came from? Any Israelis reading this, who had felafel this week, stand up. Last week? This month? Last month?
See? All still seated.

Guess what? I don’t invite R.T. (and from now on Dad too) every Friday lunchtime for FELAFEL, I invite them for SPAGHETTI (good stuff too). This I stole from the Italians who in turn stole it from the Chinese (wait a minute, didn’t I read recently that Marco Polo never really got past Turkey and it’s all a big lie?).

What is Israeli? Are those three-cornered “tembel” hats, they used to make us wear in summer camp when I was a kid, Israeli? For the last twenty years, no Israeli kid would dream being seen dead in one of those hats. Are felafel and tembel hats and Hava Nagila (Ugh!) more Israeli than computer engineers with Jericho handguns stuck down the back of their jeans? Or a group of settler kids, the boys with their knitted kippot (yarmulkas) hanging off the side of their heads, the girls with black skirts down to their ankles? Or a convoy of cars full of families on a trip, all with bits of blue ribbon tied on their antennas for identification? Or someone meeting someone else in the street and starting to yell at him: “You s$%t! You maniac! You lunatic! Why haven’t you called me?” and then both of them embracing, obviously delighted to see each other? Or happy toddlers coming out of a Hannuka show, hand in hand with mum or dad, on a sun-drenched Hannuka morning, squinting at the light, faces still covered with sugar powder from the doughnut they ate during the interval?

When I was a child we used to go down UN Blvd. in Haifa, which became Zionism Blvd. when the UN became unpopular, by equating Zionism with racism, to eat felafel at the King of Felafel stall. It was owned and run by Arabs. Was I busy thinking about how Israeli the felafel was while I was eating it? No. I was just eating felafel.

So some Israelis left Israel and went to live in the US. So they opened a felafel stall. They could just as easily have opened a “steakiya” which is just as much an Israeli phenomenon, which like felafel stalls, peaked during the nineteen seventies. Were they trying to make a patriotic statement by opening an Israeli felafel stall? No, if they wanted to make a patriotic statement they wouldn’t have left Israel. They would have continued doing a month’s army reserve duty a year and continued scraping a living here. They opened a felafel stall in the US because they wanted to make a better living. So do please excuse them for not putting up a big notice saying: “Yes, we are Israelis selling Palestinian felafel, this is very remiss of us, but we really need to make a living.”

I heard felafel was Egyptian. Or was it Lebanese? Maybe the Palestinians should be apologizing, too. Cultural theft? The French claim they invented cricket. How very degrading for the Brits.

Administration stuff
A. Comments in which anyone calls anyone else a Nazi will be deleted, as of now. Behave yourself, QS!
B. I'm rather sorry I posted about that French book. I've been getting a scary amount of hits from people searching for it on Google.
C. I enjoyed the nutty hate comment immensely. I find it hilarious that someone actually spent time writing such pathetic drivel. Fear not, any more like it will be deleted.

Goodness me!
An article by Tanya Reinhart that is not spewing hatred and venom! Maybe this is because it appeared in Yediot Aharonot and they probably wouldn’t have accepted her usual offensive material. The content of the article is rather hallucinatory: “If Mitzna sticks to this plan, which offers a real alternative and hope, there is a good chance that he will be the next Israeli prime minister”. Who has she been discussing this with if she thinks this is the case? Obviously only fellow LINGUISTS!

The whole country seems to be holding its breath. Two little girls from Jerusalem went missing, yesterday. The first is Hodaya, a 22-month-old toddler, who disappeared from the yard of her father’s home in the Jewish neighborhood of Kiryat Yovel at 11:30. The other is Nur, a 5-year-old girl from the Arab village of Umm Toubas in Southern Jerusalem, she was also playing in the yard of her home, and went missing at 19:30. The police say the cases are unrelated. I’ll tell you if there are any developments.

Update: Someone commented here (in Hebrew) that the nights in Jerusalem are very cold right now. I hadn't thought of that. Poor little things.

Why should we feel apologetic about our accomplishments? Israel is a country poor in natural resources to draw from. It’s not as if we plundered Arab oil or anything, God forbid. We even found some for the Egyptians and gave it back to them on a platter, when we signed a peace treaty with them. Before the Jews got here, this country was a swamp-ridden, malaria-infested hellhole. The Jews dried the swamps the local Arabs had been living next to for hundreds of years, and built roads. Had those local Arabs (now known as Palestinians) accepted the partition plan in 1947 and two states had been created in 1948, it's very likely that Israel would have reached the same, or similar, economic and technological accomplishments.

Our accomplishments are down to human resources (well, maybe not mine personally... although, in my role as a minor bureaucrat, I may, in some small way, be helping maintain the rule of law over the rule of the jungle, that usually prevails in the Middle East). For years we’ve been hearing that we owe our affluence to Palestinian labor, but now they're gone and we’re doing just fine without them. (Imported Thai workers may eat a few domestic dogs here and there, but they haven’t been known to blow themselves up on buses).

I love driving along the Ayalon freeway, which cuts right through the center of the greater Tel Aviv area, connecting Tel Aviv’s northern satellite towns to the southern ones. Along the way, you pass the tallest buildings in the Middle East, which house a vibrant business center (yes, even in these dark depressed days). When I came to live in Tel Aviv, about seventeen years ago, most of the tall buildings did not yet exist, but the vibrant business center did. It just grew taller, flashier and more inspiring.

The Palestinians could have been a part of this exciting venture, and not just as laborers. This is what we were offering them, in effect. The vision of a New Middle East may have been naive, but it was a wonderful one. The Palestinians chose to pass. The whole region could have profited from Israel's impressive creative ability. The whole region chose to pass.

So why should we feel apologetic? As I see it, if we end up building that fence Martin Van Creveld talks about (remember? So high even birds can’t fly over? Can’t find a link to this, offhand, that isn’t pro-Palestinian), we'll be fine. The Palestinians will starve. But even that doesn't give them a jolt. Or maybe it does, but the deeper significance of it for them is so unpleasant they'd rather starve. Seven years of unsuccessful self-rule, with billions in foreign aid and a great deal of international good will (which is a lot more than what Israel got in the early years), have shown just how much Israel isn't beholden to the Palestinians for anything. There is no reason why the Palestinians couldn’t have used those years to flourish. No reason but their own pathetic ineptitude. For two years and more, they have been trying to stick their failure on us, and quite successfully, I must say (At last, something they do well. Oh, I forgot blowing themselves up among unarmed civilians. They’re excellent at that). They've got most of the world convinced, including Haaretz’s Danny Rubinstein (yawn). Haaretz hasn’t translated that particular article, for some reason. Just as well. We don’t need any more “Made in Israel” food for anti-Israel propaganda, than Haaretz already supplies.

Haaretz was derogative of the current trend in Israel to wear Magen Davids, the bigger the better, in this weekend’s magazine. Of course, if you think this terrorism war is all down to “the occupation, stupid”, then you are going to see any outward sign of affection for your country and people, especially using any sort of abstract symbol, as Nazi style nationalism, aren’t you? By the way, the article claims that the Magen David only became a Jewish symbol par excellence in 1897. Anyone care to challenge that, armed with data, if such data exists?

I don’t remember my mother without her Magen David. At one point, she lost the Magen David she had worn for many years and swiftly replaced it. Was she, as Prof. Moshe Zimmerman puts it in the article, clinging to a symbol? Was it “a substitute for any real achievement” caused by her “enfeeblement”? Or was it her way of expressing her Jewish identity, which was a very important part of who she was?

Simon Weisenthal Center: SUICIDE BOMBER: HEROIC ROLE MODEL FOR YOUNG READERS IN NEW BOOK
"A newly released best-selling novel for teens, Rever la Palestine (Dream of Palestine), sympathetically portrays a young Palestinian who becomes a suicide bomber. The fifteen-year-old Egyptian author, Randa Ghazi, who lives with her family in Italy, writes about Palestinian teenagers who fight 'bloodthirsty Jews, who assassinate children and old people, profane mosques, and rape Arab women.'

Dream of Palestine is being touted as 'surprisingly mature' and 'a great text of suffering and hope.' One of the novel's heroes calls for Jihad against the Jews who are 'a doomed people' and to 'kill all Israelis.' The main character is encouraged 'to kill hundreds in his suicide bombing' and later does blow himself up along with five Israelis.

Released to coincide with the Christmas season, and inexpensively priced, Dream of Palestine has quickly sold out in major bookstores in Paris. It has been released by Flammarion, the third largest publishing house in France, a subsidiary of the Italian media giant, Rizzoli Corriere della Sera, which includes among its holdings one of the largest Italian daily newspapers and Rizzoli bookstores in the United States.

The Wiesenthal Center is urging Amazon France and other French online websites to stop selling the book which is full of libelous accusations and which clearly incites racist violence and validates terrorism. The themes in this book could serve as the basis for litigation.

WE MUST ACT NOW to raise our voices in protest of this horrific book. The Jewish community of France has launched a protest, but more, much more needs to be done..."

I've looked it up on Amazon France but I can't read the review, not knowing French. Could someone please do it for me and put a translation or a summary on my comments?

***Important levivot (latkes) update***
Last night I added a grated carrot to the levivot and it was very good.

He's cruel, that Tim Blair, that's what he is.

Where is Arab anti-Semitism leading?
Ehud Yaari, top Israeli expert on Arab affairs, says some scary things in the Jerusalem Report. He starts off by describing just how trendy anti-Semitism has become on Arab TV. His conclusions are alarming:

”…The essence of the message is that there is no possibility of making peace with the Jews -- not because of any political argument or clash over territory, but because that nation is a priori unfit to be counted among the human race. The Jewish religion is one big, ongoing lie, and Jewish history is the fruit of a consistent distortion of the past. Furthermore, the Jewish people present a future threat to the rest of the world.

For some time now I, along with a few colleagues who lend their ears day by day to the voices coming from the other side, have been asking ourselves: Where is this campaign leading? After all, this is not about withdrawing from the territories or granting Palestinian refugees the "right of return." Rather, it is a far-reaching, dangerous rationale laying the ground for the justification of a mass exile of Jews from Israel -- "ethnic cleansing" in contemporary terms -- and even beyond that, it is gradually building a case for justifying genocide!"

More about Suzanne Goldenberg
Just before Mum died I discussed an article in Haaretz about Suzanne Goldenberg, former correspondent for the UK Guardian in Israel. On 2nd December, Haaretz published a reaction to the article in the letters to the editor. I think it’s worth translating:

”As someone who has read the articles of Suzanne Goldenberg, former Guardian correspondent in Israel, I can determine that, during all the time she was here, she represented Israel in a negative light with unfair, one-sided and venomous reporting.

She never wrote one positive word about Israel. On the other hand – not one word of criticism about the Palestinians. Arafat, according to her reports, is the Mother Teresa. She never wrote about cruel murder, without trial, of suspects of collaboration with Israel and the public abuse of the bodies of those murdered. The most terrible of Palestinian terrorist actions were Israel’s fault, according to her.

She didn’t write about Israel and its accomplishments in science, in technology, in hi-tech, about Israeli democracy. She tells us now about freedom of the press in Israel, these words of praise she utters only now, from afar.

She was a willing accomplice in the Arab propaganda effort to butt Israel and undermine the legitimacy of its people. When I saw she had left, I said “Good riddance”.

The only thing that can be said in her defense is that the Guardian newspaper is a newspaper with a decidedly anti-Israel editorial line, and that its editor for foreign affairs, Brian Whittaker, competed with her in writing anti-Israeli articles.

Eli Tavori
Jerusalem”

Hannuka is not a time for dieting.
Gil has posted a recipe for levivot (latkes). I use my mum’s recipe, which is written on a little piece of paper, which used to be pink but is now brownish and full of stains. When I left home Mum and Our Sis gave me this recipe along with Mum’s recipe for Spaghetti Bolognese (which I no longer use because it has meat in it). Thus armed, I went out to find my fortune. I found Bish instead. He has turned out to be a real treasure, but you wouldn’t have thought it at the time.

So here goes: Grate 4 big potatoes. Let drain. (I often add things at this point. Usually onion, sometimes zucchini (courgette), also grated and drained, sometimes chopped parsley. I tried tofu once, but it wasn't a success); mix 2 eggs; 4 tbs self-raising flour or 4 tbs plain flour and 1 tsp baking powder; add salt and pepper. (I once tried whole-wheat flour but it wasn’t as nice). Heat oil and fry till golden brown.

Actually, our recipes are very similar. Gil’s has more flour; Mum’s has more potato. Probably affected by what was available in days of old. I’ve tried making levivot using fancy recipes I’ve seen in books and they’re never as nice as the simple “heimischer” ones.

By the way, levivot are much tastier when the kids have taken an active part in making them.

Next year I’ll give you my mother-in-law’s recipe for sufganiot (Hannuka doughnuts). I’ll have to learn how to make them myself, first.

The new Gotham
is PINK. Yippy, she's back!

I'm not sure I am, yet, though. I'm finding it hard to write anything worth posting.

We went to a Hannukah thing with a dancing performance my youngest has been practicing for, for months. I really wasn't in the mood, but I couldn't disappoint her by not coming. She had a panic attack and nearly bailed out. Tears and hysteria. Trying to calm her down took my mind off things for a while. When she finally did her bit, I was busy smiling, waving, taking photos. When she'd finished, I suddenly thought how Mum would have "kvelled nachus". A friend who lost her father many years ago told me this never stops happening, but instead of being painful, it becomes a tender thought.

This morning I thought about Bish's father. He passed away about three years before I met Bish. Although I never actually met him, I feel as if I know him very well. I often find myself reacting to something Bish does or says by thinking: "He's just like his father" or "That (trait) he definitely got from his father". Isn't that funny? His father lives on in me, although I never met him.

Chris Newman, with dagger in hand, offers us an excerpt of Oriana Fallaci’s interview with the Palestinians' beloved Ra’is (although he was yet to become Ra’is when interviewed), in which he shares his perception of peace with Israel. Of course, we weren't very accommodating about a Palestinian state at the time, either. This is worth reading too.

”The empty path welcomes you,
fragrant with grass and little flowers,
the path paved with paddy fields
still bearing the marks of your childhood
and the fragrance of mother's hand.
Walk leisurely, peacefully.
Your feet touch the Earth deeply.
Don't let your thoughts carry you away.
Come back to the path every moment.
The path is your friend.
She will transmit to you her solidity, and her peace.”

Thich Nhat Hanh.


For seven days we have grieved. We have cried, we have laughed, we have cried some more, we have prayed, we have talked, we have remembered, we have hugged, we have kissed, we have shaken hands, we have shaken more hands, we have cried some more. Today we got up from the Shiva, the seven days of mourning, and returned to Mum’s grave. The circle of mourning has been completed. Now we begin our new life.

During the Shiva I learnt things about my mum I didn’t know. Well, not really things that I didn’t know, maybe things I didn’t really notice. I suppose you take your mother’s qualities for granted unless you get the opportunity to see her as others see her.

Throughout the months of her illness, Mum was always so grateful to the many people who were such good friends to her, so kind and so devoted in their day-to-day help and support. I said to her many times, we all did, that this was because she had been such a wonderful friend to them and they wanted to show their appreciation and love. She refused to accept this at all. I don’t know why, maybe because she was a genuinely modest person.

Mum didn’t see anything out of the ordinary in the way she always thought about other people and made such a great effort to show them she cared about them and appreciated them. Dad says she used to spend a fortune on stamps. Right up to her death she was more worried that her caregiver wasn’t eating properly and about the social worker’s sick child (to their amazement) than about her own troubles. When I came to be with her, she was forever sending me home to look after Bish and her beloved granddaughters. Her main worry, when she was diagnosed, was how would she look after Dad. I’m sure that’s why she was so determined to fight the illness, against all odds.

It was only during the Shiva, listening to people’s recollections and seeing the great efforts some people made to be there with us, that I realized how many people loved her and thought she was special. Someone said she was a ray of sunshine. People said she was always happy and smiling. Many people talked of her remarkable energy. Others spoke of her extraordinary ability to listen.

She lives on in our hearts. In time, I will come to accept that I will never again open the front door to find her standing there, smiling, with baskets full of gifts, her fragrance and freshness filling the room. In time, the pain of not being able to be with her will ease. It will take time, because she has always been there for me, for thirty-seven years. And I will be happy, knowing how very fortunate I am to have had her for my mum. And I will know that she is still there for me, but in a new way.

My family and I were surprised and deeply moved by the many kind, comforting words we received, on the comments of Not a Fish and by e-mail, from readers and fellow bloggers. Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) says: “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting” (Chap. 7). And I say, better, but not easier. I have been comforted, knowing you have been with me in my bereavement.

When I started Not a Fish, Mum had not long been diagnosed with cancer and was receiving heavy doses of chemotherapy. At first, I suppose, writing a blog was a feverish escape from sorrow and worry. But soon I discovered my parents were delighted and proud and it became a joy for me to be able to give them a little something of myself every day. I never mentioned Mum’s illness here (besides a hint here and there), because it was her private matter. I didn’t want to embarrass her. Later on, towards the end, I didn't want my personal pain to add to the heavy burden already carried by my dad. He was so devoted in his caring for Mum. I’d like to think Not a Fish has been some sort of small comfort for him.

When she became bedridden, Mum liked R.T. to read her this poem, which was one of her favorites when she was young. It always amazed me that, however busy she was, and she was always very busy, she always seemed to have time to enjoy looking out at the sea and at the sun setting into it, at the end of the day.

LEISURE

By Wm. Henry Davies.

”What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.”

"That year, although I was still very young
My mother left me,
And I realized
That I was an orphan.
Everyone around me was crying.
I suffered in silence . . .
Allowing the tears to flow,
I felt my pain soften.
Evening enveloped Mother's tomb,
The pagoda bell rang sweetly.
I realized that to lose your mother
Is to lose the whole universe".*

My mother has passed away.

There will be no new posts on Not a Fish for a week or so.

___________________________
*Vietnamese poem quoted by Thich Nhat Hanh in A Rose For Your Pocket.

Big day in Israel today, too.
300,000 or so Likud members go to vote for their party chairman. Who will it be? Bibi Netanyahu or Arik Sharon? The answer to that is, of course, the answer to who will, most likely, be the next prime minister of Israel. Well, you all know who I prefer. He's winning in the polls, too. For weeks now, Israeli media have been gleefully asking what happened to Bibi's magic touch. We'll see.

Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers.
It is today, isn't it? Yesterday I say what looked like a mutant chicken in a delicatessen. The South African lady behind the counter said it was a Thanksgiving Turkey. I'd never seen one before. A turkey I mean, Thanksgiving or otherwise.

Update: I mean a whole turkey. Dead.

Fun game.
Many thanks to Andrea. I really needed that.
Of course, the beauty is I can play abominably and nobody knows.

Be warned, if you're busy, don't even think of clicking through.
People are complaining about this bitterly on Andrea's comments.

It's not the same
Nathan Guttman in Haaretz writes about former UK Guardian correspondent to Israel and the PA, Suzanne Goldenberg, who has moved to Washington DC. She says, among other things: "I think it is fair to say, if you look at most of the European coverage, it's probably less critical than Ha'aretz and not more critical, on occasion, than Yedioth Ahronoth or other commentators”.

Not fair at all. Israeli reporters never imply that Israelis are themselves to blame for a suicide bombing in the very same story that reports the details of the said suicide bombing (It sounds so tasteless put like that, doesn’t it? But the foreign media do just that regularly). Terrorists are never called militants in Israeli newspapers. Acts of terrorism are never condoned or "understood". Israeli newspapers often publish articles giving completely opposite points of view side by side, even Haaretz sometimes (well, occasionally). It must be understood that the Hawkish viewpoint is so widespread and understood in Israel that the press exposing Israelis to alternative viewpoints is acceptable, even positive, if not taken to extremes (Haaretz has definitely been going a bit overboard for the last year or so). In Europe, most people never get the other side of the picture. Many have no idea one exists. That's why Haaretz's English language edition gives foreign readers such a distorted view and is so harmful. In Israel, people who read Haaretz also listen to the news on the radio and watch the news on TV, at least a few times a day. Some even read other newspapers as well. Haaretz isn't anyone’s only source of information and readers can confront the ideas and views expressed in the newspaper with other ideas and views. Haaretz often reacts to things happening and being said in Israel that the foreign reader is completely unaware of. Criticism in the Israeli media is in a certain context.

People like Ms. Goldenberg are completely ignorant of this context, of course, but still have no problem being judgemental. Ms. Goldenberg says: "I think that the foreign press coverage of the conflict is presenting people with the facts they don't want to see. I think it's hitting too close to home - people just don't want to be confronted with what's going on.".

Actually, we do know what's going on.

But tell me this: Why should we be receptive to views expressed by people who tell us that it is understandable for Palestinians to be blowing up Israeli babies, given their dire circumstances? There's a limit to how many times we can hear what a terrible time the Palestinians are having, even if we know it’s true, while buses explode every other morning blowing Israeli schoolchildren into little pieces.

Ms. Goldenberg claims “Israelis are resistant to hearing or seeing anything that challenges their version of events”. This would be true had there not been any Oslo Accords and had there not been any generous offers at Camp David in the summer of 2000. As it is, it’s Ms. Goldenberg and her friends who are “resistant to hearing or seeing anything that challenges their version of events”, not us. We went out on a limb to try and not only hear and see another version, but actually live it. Our reward is suicide bombings.

There's a lot more to be said in reaction to her claims. Another time.

Light blogging lately.
Real life is making blogging difficult.

More of the same.
I was sent an e-mail, by someone, whose name I will not divulge, because I have not requested his permission to do so. He said, among other things:

"I'm an Islamicist, by the way, and a lifelong liberal, yet I find myself in
full agreement with almost everything said by yourself and your
correspondents. It never ceases to amaze me how many of my fellow liberals are taken in by the 'poor Palestinian victims' lobby. It doesn't surprise me from within Islam, where anti-Semitism is built into the system. But for Western liberals brought up with a more than passing knowledge of the Holocaust, and holding political views totally opposed to those found in the Arab and Muslim worlds, to round on a democratic and socially liberal Israel
and support repressive Islamic states is simply shocking."

This e-mail got me thinking about peace activists. Again.

Foreign peace activists who say they come to this area to promote peace offend me. Why do they offend me? Because if they were truly interested in promoting peace they would take the time to listen to the suffering of the Israelis. They would go to the hospitals, and hold the hands of the Israeli wounded, they would visit the families of the Israeli dead.

I am grateful that peace activists and humanitarian organizations are helping Palestinians. They are needed there. There is great misery and suffering on the Palestinian side.

It's true, we Israelis look after our own. The Jewish Diaspora and others who support us pitch in. We don't need food and we can manage with medical supplies and aid. We don't need help rebuilding our coffee shops, pizzerias and discotheques.

What we do need is a bit of compassion. We do need not to be told constantly that we deserve to be blown up and that we alone are to blame for our suffering. This is insulting and offensive. It fills our hearts with anger and hatred, even if they were not there before.

In cutting themselves off from the suffering of the Israelis, the peace activists are not helping promote peace. They are helping prolong war. They are going to the Palestinians and saying to them, with great love and compassion: "You poor dears. You do not deserve to be treated in such a fashion. The Israelis are wrong and are doing you a great injustice." Thus they encourage the Palestinians. They strengthen their determination while alienating Israelis, even those who yearn for peace and who are truly willing for painful compromise.

Why do they not say to them: "We help you because you are desperate, and because you need our help. In return you must do your utmost to stop suicide bombings and all other violent activities, in order that you may sit down and negotiate with the Israelis and reach a peaceful solution"?

Most Israelis left in the peace camp are those who, like their foreign counterparts, seem to see in Israel and the Israelis the only guilty party in this conflict. They also seem to fail to see the need for supporting the Israeli victims of this conflict and offering them their compassion.

They do nothing to earn the respect of their Israeli brethren and indirectly encourage the Palestinians' violence. Therefore their peace efforts are not only useless, they are actually detrimental to peace.

This need not be the case. Would it not be a powerful message for peace, if after every murderous suicide attack against innocent Israelis, peace activists would leave the Palestinian towns and refugee camps and go to spend some time with the wounded and visit the mourning families of those murdered? Afterwards, they could go back to the towns and refugee camps and continue giving humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

There may be some who do this, but I have not heard of this happening.

Could it be that they do not do this because the Palestinians might harm them if they are seen to be giving any support to Israelis? Could it be that they dare not visit the mourning house of Israelis, lest they be unwelcome?

If they are really committed to peace, these considerations shouldn't hinder them. They are willing to risk Israeli bullets, after all.

But they do not do these things. Nor do they do ride Israeli buses in a show of solidarity and compassion, as Stefan Sharkansky and others have suggested. They make no effort to show that they give a damn about the suffering even of Israeli babies, who could hardly be blamed for the situation any more than Palestinian babies.

But they are called peace activists, nevertheless.

OK, important message:
Diane said I should change my template and it would fix my archives. Seeing as I am fond of my rather infantile template I was reluctant to do this. I have however been messing about with it a bit, and lo and behold: Functioning archives!

Chins up, old chap
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this Jerusalem Post article. Yehuda Avner, an Israeli diplomat and former ambassador to Britain tells of his friend, a pro-Israel "British Foreign Office type". I do hope his optimistic prophecy at the end comes true.

I could relate to this article too. Jonathan Ronsenblum, on being a reluctant Republican.

"Republicans, on the other hand, are far more likely to trust in the righteousness of American arms. They see American foreign policy as the least narrowly self-interested of any country, and prefer a world policed by America to one policed by Kofi Annan and the UN bureaucracy. They cannot understand why America's ability to protect itself should be subjected to the economic interest of the French, who would not only sell their grandmothers for a drop of oil, but who look with cynical disdain at anyone who would not. And they question the UN Security Council's moral authority to dictate to America, especially when that Security Council was recently chaired by Syria, a country that killed tens of thousands of its own citizens in a few days, and holds its neighboring state captive".

Kisa Gotami
Kisa Gotami was the wife of a wealthy man of Savatthi. She had only one child. When her son was old enough to start running about, he caught a disease and died. Kisa Gotami was greatly saddened. Unable to accept that her son was dead and could not be brought back to life again, she took him in her arms and went about asking for medicine to cure him. Everyone she encountered thought that she had lost her mind. Finally, an old man told her that if there was anyone who could help her, it would be the Buddha.

In her distress, Kisa Gotami brought the body of her son to the Buddha and asked him for a medicine that would bring back his life. The Buddha answered: "I shall cure him if you can bring me some white mustard seeds from a house where no one has died". Carrying her dead son, she went from door to door, asking at each house. At each house the reply was always that someone had died there. At last the truth struck her, "No house is free from death". She laid the body of her child in the wood and returned to the Buddha, who comforted her and preached to her the truth.

A fishing boat full of explosives blew up last night next to an Israeli navy gunship, opposite the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Four soldiers were injured.

Update: The BBC knows what really happened: It was a “'Suicide' attack on Israeli naval patrol […] The Israeli military says its patrol boat approached the other vessel and tried to make contact with two "suspicious" people on board after it entered Israeli waters. When there was no response, they sprayed water at it and then fired warning shots in an attempt to force it back into Palestinian waters, the spokesman said. The "suicide fishing boat" then exploded, injuring the three Israeli servicemen and damaging their boat.”

[Emphasis mine; inverted commas - theirs]

La Cosa Nostra di Ramallah just has to keep the people entertained. Blogging is going to the dogs.

Shabbat Shalom.

Lt. Dan Cohen was killed in Hebron a week ago tonight. His parents found this farewell letter:

”Does one human being have a purpose?

The world exists for something that has yet to come, that is yet to happen, and every one of us is an essential part of the development of the world and of humanity with a view to that exalted something.

Therefore, what is required of everyone, and in actual fact the purpose of life, is to be a part of the puzzle in the best way he can. This means that someone who walks the path of the religious Jew must carry out the Jewish religion in the most effective way so as to make the generations that follow better than him, by influencing his descendants and his environment.

I must belong to the part that is meant to influence its environment, and you belong to the part that influenced (as in influence and in abundance [same root in Hebrew – I.J.]) its descendants. I just wanted to tell you that I am quite happy/contented with what I have accomplished in the limited time frame allotted to me, and that I feel that I was a quite good “Shofar” [traditional: a ram’s horn used in Jewish rituals; here used figuratively, meaning mouthpiece – I.J.] for the way you educated me and that I can’t think of a better way to bring up a child than the way you brought me up (well, maybe you spoiled me a bit…).

In my meager experience I have seen that the people who usually break in an irreparable way as a result of bereavement, are the people who have some feelings of guilt. Although you have no reason, I know you well enough (especially Mom), to know that you may regret some things that you did or didn’t do, that you said or didn’t say. I just wanted you to know that you really did do everything right, and besides short breaks, I have been happy/contented for over twenty years, and I just want to say thank you!

Danny”


[This is my (inadequate) translation. In my attempt to keep it as close as possible to the original, I have translated the Arabic word “Mabsoot”, often used in Hebrew slang, as “happy/contented”. This is the closest equivalent I could think of. – I.J.]

Curiosity killed the cat
The Christian Science Monitor reporter writes about The Routine of Terror.

I'm feeling like we’re a freak show. At least they edited the pictures of the bus on Israel TV. There was an awful video of it on CNN, showing something that shouldn’t be shown. I was worried my daughters would see it. (This is not connected to the CSMonitor article, which is OK. I'm reacting to a flashback I had, just now, to that CNN thing).

So archives are not working properly on Mideast: On Target, either. I have therefore taken the liberty of posting the whole of this essay:

Thursday, November 21, 2002

The EEC: Killing Jews Selectively
By Yisrael Ne'eman

Believe it or not in Cairo the European Union is still trying to negotiate an agreement between Arafat’s Fatah/Tanzim and the Hamas where it will be agreed only to kill Jews in Judea, Samaria and Gaza but not inside of Israel’s 1967 lines. The Islamic Jihad is not part of the picture and they hold the right to kill Israeli Jews wherever they may be found. Neither the Fatah/Tanzim who were involved in the Kibbutz Metzer massacre, nor the Hamas who took credit for this morning’s suicide/homicide bus bombing in Jerusalem’s Kiryat Menachem neighborhood (killing 11 and wounding 45) seem to be making progress towards classifying Jews to be massacred.

The problem is understandable since neither group wants to stop killing Jews. Limiting killing Jews to specific areas also cuts down on the possibilities of high casualties. The Europeans want to prove that only certain Jews deserve to die, mainly those in the 'occupied territories'. Does that mean these areas are to be Judenrein? After all there are Arabs living in Israel and even if there will ever be a peace agreement (there almost was one when Barak was prime minister) does that mean no Jews are allowed to live in a peace loving, secular, democratic Palestinian state?

Categorizing Jews into those deserving of death and those who are allowed to live due to geographic domicile sounds contradictory to the usual 'humanistic' line being pushed at us by the self-righteous European Union. To this observer it rings of German policies towards the Jews in the 1930’s when the Nazis wanted to rid the Reich of its Jewish citizens through state sanctioned terror, only here the terror is Palestinian and it will now get the sanction of the EEC.

But looking ahead how do the European intermediaries expect to handle such international terror attacks (when the Jews are preferred targets) such as the bombing of the Jewish community building in Buenos Aires in the 1990’s? Surely Diaspora Jews should not be killed. But what happens if a Diaspora Jew gives money for Jewish development beyond the 1967 borders? Is he not an accomplice to other Jews living in this wrong geographic area and thereby a legitimate target?

And what if a non-Israeli Jew (or even an Israeli for that matter) just wants to visit a Jewish holy site like the Cave of the Machpela in Hebron or even the Western Wall and Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem (many have forgotten this area was captured by Jordan in 1948, emptied of its Jewish residents until recaptured by Israel in 1967). One could probably make the case for his being allowed to live if he is only visiting, but the exact amount of hours need to be negotiated, otherwise he may be considered a temporary resident and draw the death penalty. This could be avoided however if he were to make a generous donation to Yasir.

The Europeans may consider the areas of residence of certain Israeli Jews to be illegal, but that does not take away the legitimacy of these people to live. The Europeans are no longer compromising with terror, they are encouraging it.

But don't worry, the Hamas and Fatah/Tanzim are not going to come to any implemented agreement not to kill Jews based on Jewish geographical residence, so in the end our valiant European peace-makers will fail.

She says she's through blogging...
...but she gives her blog a new look. I wonder.

Original Mahler manuscript discovered in Jerusalem
Conducter, lecturer and very new immigrant, Charles Bornstein, discovered, by chance, a manuscript of Mahler's First Symphony with previously unknown corrections by the composer, in the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem.

Pathetic.
A man who knows Tawfiq Fuqara was driving his car this week when he heard about Fuqara's alleged hijack attempt on the news. "As soon as I heard it, I burst out laughing," says the man, who wished to remain anonymous. "I pictured him trying to hijack an airplane and I couldn't stop laughing. I had to pull over to the side of the road and stop for five minutes until I calmed down."

Such a strange story this attempted hijacking.

”The French insurance firm, AXA, has agreed to look into insurance policies taken out by Jews living in Arab countries before the establishment of Israel. It has promised to pay policy holders or their heirs if the policies were not cashed in”. Haaretz.

We’re back in Bethlehem. This is where yesterday’s suicidal mass murderer came from. This time the army blocked off the entrance to the Church of the Nativity straight away to prevent terrorists from hiding there.

This is much too good to leave on the comments.
"An international force is a terrible idea", By Ze'ev Schiff Ha'aretz 14 November 2000.
Thank you Haggai for this, and also for linking to the obituary for Abba Eban, by his cousin Oliver Sacks, which I missed in Haaretz.

N.Z. Bear on opposition to divestment from Israel in Yale and other Campuses.

Mitzna is wasting his breath
(Israeli) Left or Right - it's all the same to the Palestinians.

Early morning. A bus in a residential area in South Jerusalem: 11 murdered; 50 injured. 8 critically wounded. Many schoolchildren on the bus.

Parents hurrying passed with their small children on the way to school and kindergarten, trying to cover their children's eyes, so they won't see the bodies. One mother trying to explain to her small child what has happened and he can't understand and keeps asking "Why? Why?"
(Eyewitness account, Reshet Bet radio station)

The first name released: A thirteen-year-old girl, Hodaya Asaraf. Her first name means "thanksgiving". She is not the only youngster murdered. There is also Michael Sharshevsky, 16, who was killed with his mother; Ilan Perlman, 8, who was killed with his grandmother, and Yafit Revivo, 13. And another five adults. And then there’s the wounded.

The Shiva, the seven days of mourning will soon be over. The twelve families mourning their loved ones, killed in Hebron on Friday, will get up and go back to their fresh graves. What difference does it make to them if it was a terrorist attack or a “legitimate” military ambush? Their loved ones are gone forever. I am with them in their sorrow.

This is precious: Arafat is extending his hands to Amram Mitzna, sparkling new chairman of the Labor party, so that together they can create the Peace of the Brave (kissy kissy) and sail hand in hand into the sunset (more kissy kissy) [OK, I made the last bit up]. Now I feel much more convinced to vote for Mitzna. [This was a humble attempt at sarcasm]

Arafat can’t loose with Amram “OsloSpeak” Mitzna because he “has said (that) even if Arafat fails as a peace partner, he would unilaterally withdraw from much of the territories”. Thus our new master negotiator. I’d say Arafat’s rubbing his hands together with glee at the chance of engaging this easy touch for a game of “Till Death Us Do Part” poker (emphasis on the Death).

[Message for Andrew: I don't mean ANYTHING by this. I have no POINT to make. I'm just being a small-minded, catty Israeli, expressing my displeasure at "OsloSpeak" Mitzna's intention to negotiate (unskillfully) with a terrorist and a liar, if elected. Hopefully, I'm not the only Israeli with these sentiments, so maybe we'll be spared his bright ideas reaching fruition.]

And now for a joke (warning: could cause tears, but not from mirth):
What sort of Israelis does the BBC see fit to interview?
Those who despise Israel and other Israelis the most, of course.

This UK Guardian writer is a bit panicky about the danger of nasty chemical and biological warfare. I love this. Even the most hysterical Israelis seem to be a lot more sensible than these British alarmists, and we've got much more chance of it actually happening here in the foreseeable future.

I suppose silly journalists will be silly journalists will be silly journalists.

Follow up on Shas
If you thought I was writing off Shas, religious Sephardi party yesterday, forget it. Shas is very durable. And they haven’t started giving out good luck charms yet (Don’t even ask). So far only one Arye Deri supporter has dared leave Shas and move to Rabbi Kadouri's party.

Presenter Dalia Yairi, political expert Hanan Crystal and a religious political expert whose name I didn't catch, discussed this on Reshet Bet radio station this morning and speculated if it would all end in a summit meeting between the Rabbis, the new party evaporating. At the end of the day, with all Arye Deri's political power and popularity, Rabbi Ovadia is boss. It would be interesting to see how much votes the charismatic Arye Deri is really worth, though. And the Kadouri family, for that matter.

Dalia Yairi floated an interesting hypothesis - that the whole business is nothing more than a publicity stunt to revive interest in Shas, in view of the poor results the party is getting in the polls. Crystal and the other guy didn't back her up, but even if it's not intentional, this new party is focusing a lot of attention on Shas, isn't it?

Shahar Ilan, Haaretz expert for religious matters, pointed out later, also on Reshet Bet, that the Kadouri family has no political power and that they're probably in it for the payoff they'll get from Rabbi Ovadia in return for getting out of the race.

A word of explanation, in case you've been finding all this bewildering: Shas is not a very modern or democratic party (understatement time). I have never considered voting for this party (duh!), but someone, who will remain nameless, says he regularly tells pollsters he intends to vote for Shas, just to throw them off the track. He seems to regard this as some sort of patriotic duty.

Hey, who said there aren’t enough Hannuka songs?
Not long, yet. They’re already selling sufganiot (Hannuka doughnuts) in the supermarket.

More information about the archeological find in Ein Gedi.
I must say it's rather tiresome to have every little (attempting to be) humorous remark of mine analyzed to death in the "comments". There are no grand messages in things I write. As I have said before, I'm not trying to make any points in this blog, I am reacting. A thought pops into my head and I jot it down.

The story about the archeological find is much more interesting. Haaretz has more details.

Which era in time are you?

So it looks like Mitzna is heading Labor
Today has been a fun day in politics. Labor party members have been choosing the head of the party. They had Fouad Ben Eliezer, Haim Ramon or Amram Mitzna to choose from. According to exit polls Mitzna got 57%. The media is giving it a lot of attention. No on else could really care. Most people I know who voted for Labor in the past have no intention of voting for them this time. They’ll probably be taking a few voters from Meretz, seeing as the two parties will be indistinguishable, as far as their platforms are concerned, with Mitzna heading Labor.

Another interesting development is the establishment of a new Sephardi (Eastern Jews) religious party, supported by Rabbi Kadouri, and, which could take votes away from Shas, the veteran Sephardi religious party, if it takes off. The new party, Ahavat Yisrael, claims to be affiliated with the ever-popular ex-con Aryeh Deri, who says he’s steering clear of these elections, because he’s got another court case soon. It looks like a few of Deri’s political cronies in Shas are moving to the new party because his successor as head of Shas, Eli Yishai, is pushing them out, with the support of Rabbi Ovadia Yossef. The elections could turn out to be a showdown between Rabbi Ovadia, Shas’ spiritual leader, widely accepted as the spiritual leader of all the religious Sephardi Jews and Rabbi Kadouri, who is a popular Kabbalist. Many people believe Rabbi Kadouri is not really aware of what goes on around him, because of his advanced age. His grandson handles his lucrative business of selling blessings to the gullible. There’s no love lost between the two Rabbis, but Rabbi Ovadia tolerated Rabbi Kadouri’s backing of Shas in the past because of his immense popularity with the Shas voters.

There is a lot of disillusionment with Shas anyway, because their ministers are seen to be squandering money and are thought to be insensitive to their voters, many of whom are very poor. There’s a story circulating that Rabbi Ovadia has a jaguar (car not animal). The change in the voting system this time is bound to lose them a lot of votes, as well.

It seems it’s not just me that thinks peace is more than some scribbled names on a piece of paper. Barbara Amiel seems to favor Bibi Netanyahu. Well, that’s her business. She may have more influential connections than me in Israel. But I've got the vote.

What? The Jews were here two thousand years ago??!
Erm, what were the Palestinians doing back in the period of the Roman conquest and the Jewish rebellion?

Cut the OsloSpeak, why don’t you?
OsloSpeak is all about emphasizing the details and avoiding the substance. OsloSpeak is all about ignoring unpleasant truths that we’d rather not notice, in the hope they’ll go away. OsloSpeak is oh so civilized, so European, so Anglo-Saxon. Let us all just sit down together for some nice tea and biscuits and we’ll all feel much better.

Thanks to OsloSpeak, for the last decade we’ve busied ourselves with the details and hoped the substance would disappear. Well, surprise, surprise, it’s back again, and what do you know? The Arabs still don’t want us here; they still don’t accept our deep roots in this country; they still don’t respect our religious beliefs. They still refuse to compromise.

How can that be? OsloSpeak is such a successful, logical language, thought up by the best minds with the best of intentions. The Palestinians were all meant to be having a lovely time by now, all affluent and educated. The Palestinians were all meant to be benefiting and not just a tiny layer of “Tunisian” newcomers and a few American immigrants of Palestinian descent. The Palestinian leaders weren’t meant to be pocketing the money while feeding the people on hate. The Palestinian Authority was meant to be fighting the radical Moslem organizations and preventing terrorism against Israelis. How could it possibly not be working? It doesn’t add up.

It must be the Israelis fault.

Bzzzzzz. Wrong answer! Anyone else like to try?

How about: OsloSpeak is the wrong language.

I used to be quite fluent in OsloSpeak. Ah, those were the good old days. Some day, years from now, we old-timers will sit around the campfire on Lag Ba’Omer, after the kids have gone off to play Truth or Dare, and remember OsloSpeak.

But right now we need a new language, one that the oh-so-civilized West may not be able to decipher, even with it’s acclaimed LINGUISTS. We need a language that will be quite clear to the people in question (and not the Scandinavians).

Just do me a favor, while we’re trying to formulate the grammatical rules of the new language, DON’T TRY RESURRECTING OSLOSPEAK. It’s better for everyone, if it just stays buried.

My blog the Golem
I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by all these lively discussions on my comments. I realize that I have a certain responsibility for the content of the comments because it’s my blog. So behave yourselves, you lot! Oh, and please don't use my comments for dealing in illegal substances or inciting to violence (not that this has happened yet, as far as I've noticed, you've all been very good). Or else ;-)

I find the discussions interesting and often eye-opening. Many propose points of view I hadn’t though of and remind me of pieces of information I had forgotten (or didn’t know).

But sometimes I feel rather detached from them. It’s like: you kids feel free to chat among yourselves while I sit here quietly and stare out into oblivion. This will sometimes happen to me when I’m sitting with a group of “real-life” friends. I lose track in the middle of a discussion and then I tend to either daydream; go check up on the bookshelves (if I’m in someone else’s home); wander into the kitchen and end up helping the host/ess with the tasties; strike up a rival conversation or watch the smaller kids playing (usually most rewarding). Bish (who is much nicer than me) wonders why we’re never invited again.

Then again, my latest post about Hebron was a direct result of a thread of comments on the subject, so my hazy detachment obviously has its limits.

I would like to say something in memory of Abba Eban, who passed away today at 87, but I really am too tired. Haggai has said a few words about him.

OK, I'm angry and I'm tired and I’ve got a headache. The little angel on my left shoulder says: "Imshin, go to bed. Leave it for tomorrow". The little devil on my right shoulder says:

"With whom exactly are we to make peace?"
Iran supports Islamic Jihad and Hamas by pouring in millions of dollars to fund their activities.

While Friday night's Hebron attack, funded and aided by Iran, was taking place, representatives of Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, were giving out $10,000 each to four families of men killed by the IDF in a special ceremony in another part of the city. According to the IDF, these men were on their way to perpetrate a terrorist attack. The Palestinians claim they were innocent laborers.

Following Friday night's attack, celebrations took place in the Gaza strip. Palestinians took to the streets to express their delight at the great success.

So you want us to evacuate Hebron Jewish quarter do you? You think this is the right time? You think it'll give the Palestinians the right message? You think this will prove to them and to the world that this war is not about the territories, not about colonialism? I don’t think you’ve thought it out right to the end. Think about the victory celebrations; think about the feelings of pride in the hearts of Palestinians at the great military victory; think about the surge of motivation for more carnage and more attacks in the hope of more such successes.

The problem with the Palestinians is not that they are hopeless and depressed. The problem is that they're not hopeless and depressed enough to stop the carnage and make peace. They still believe they're on the right track. And as long as they continue to feel this way, they will see no reason to stop the attacks or prevent them. If they see tangible results, they really will have no reason to stop the attacks or prevent them.

You know I believe in evacuating the permanent Jewish presence in Hebron, and all the other settlements that are not part of, or adjacent to, large population centers (in return for unpopulated areas), but not until the time is right.

The time will not be right until the Palestinians have fully understood a few things. One of them is why we are here. I believe in evacuating Hebron, I believe in painful compromise in Jerusalem, but the Palestinians must accept and respect our deep connection to Jerusalem and Hebron and other places of religious meaning to the Jews. Many Jews already accept and respect the deep connection of Moslems to these places. Those Jews who don’t must also learn to respect and accept the beliefs of their neighbors. But Peace cannot mean we Jews give up all our beliefs and bow down to those of the Moslems. Peace means mutual respect and understanding.

For peace to be possible, Palestinians must make an effort to understand, accept and respect that Jews have a history in this land too, and that large parts of it are held dear by Jews as places of pilgrimage and worship, and that even if they are evacuated by Israel, Jews must be allowed free access and worship rights in them. Only when they accept that we are not a foreign entity in this area, but as much a part of it as them, will peace, real peace, be possible.

We'll probably come to some sort of agreement with them before that happens (or hell freezes over, which may happen first). Until such an agreement is signed and implemented – heavily reinforce the police presence in Hebron. Make sure the settlers there behave themselves or throw the book at them. Enough pussyfooting around them. Enough double standards. Arrest without bail for settlers involved in shootings, beatings, not to speak of killings. Serious prison sentences for the offenders. Expel families of those who mistreat their Arab neighbors. No more sending children out to create havoc. If a ten year-old settler (not liable to criminal law in Israel) kicks over the stall of an Arab, destroying his merchandise, hold his parents responsible and expel the whole family from Hebron, immediately. I think the settlers there will soon learn to live in peace with their neighbors, if not because they are capable of respecting fellow human beings, then because they are forced to.

But no evacuation under fire. No wholesale pictures of Jews being yanked out of their homes, as Diane puts it, while Arab neighbors cheer and jeer, if we’re lucky, and shoot, if we’re not. Evacuation of settlements – yes. As part of a real, meaningful peace agreement, one that respects both sides’ religious beliefs, among other things.

Bish believes the Palestinians are at the end of their tether; that they are close to breaking point; that what we are doing to them may be cruel, but it is effective and it is working. I hope he’s right. Oh, I do so hope he’s right.