It's About the Jewish Nation Bill

Why are we going to have new elections? The New York Times says:

Israel’s march toward early elections set out last week with a political row over a nationality bill. This week it morphed into a clash over proposed housing changes and the state budget.

But Israeli political analysts said the call for elections, 20 months after the current coalition was sworn in, was not about nationality or reduced-cost housing or any other issue of ideology or principle.

Instead, they said, Mr. Netanyahu had simply had enough of his fractious coalition partners and wanted a more manageable government made up of rightist allies and the ultra-Orthodox parties he has long considered his natural partners.

“It is not about this law or that,” said Yehuda Ben Meir, a former politician and a public opinion and national security expert at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. Noting that there was room for compromise on the nationality bill and that Mr. Netanyahu originally voted in favor of the housing bill, he said the prime minister appeared to have used these issues to force a coalition crisis.

There is no question that the current coalition is not exactly what a Prime Minister dreams of. But it is my opinion that yes, the Jewish Nation Bill was the straw that broke the camels back.

On one hand we should be sad that so much money will be wasted on new elections. On the other hand, the true face of Livni and Lapid, and not to mention politicians further to the left, has been revealed. The law, which more or less gives legal status to a few sentences from Israel's Declaration of Independence, was just too Jewish for these people! They don't want a Jewish State. They want a "State of all of its citizens."

They had agreed to this law in the coalition agreement. They proved to be people who do not keep their word. Let's hope that the Israeli electorate pays these politicians back in kind, and that the next coalition will be proud of being Jewish.

Thomas Friedman Strikes Again

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Here's a quote from good (?) old Thomas Friedman in the New York Times:

I am stunned at what I see here politically. On the right, in the Likud Party, the old leadership that was at least connected with the world, spoke English and respected Israel’s Supreme Court, is being swept aside in the latest primary by a rising group of far-right settler-activists who are convinced — thanks, in part, to the wall and dome — that Palestinians are no threat anymore and that no one can roll back the 350,000 Jews living in the West Bank. The far-right group running Israel today is so arrogant, and so indifferent to U.S. concerns, that it announced plans to build a huge block of settlements in the heart of the West Bank — in retaliation for the U.N. vote giving Palestinians observer status — even though the U.S. did everything possible to block that vote and the settlements would sever any possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state.

Well, I am stunned when a journalist who has done absolutely nothing of note for the Jewish People, calls the elected leaders of Israel, many of whom have put their lives on the line during service in the IDF, "arrogant".

What's more, Tom thinks that "the U.S. did everything possible to block that vote". Well Tom, there are others that think differently, others that are actually knowledgable on the subject. Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton had this to say:

Bolton said the Obama administration should have followed the model set by former President George H.W. Bush, and then-Secretary of State James Baker, 20 years ago in blocking a similar initiative to upgrade the Palestine Liberation Organization’s status from an “entity” to a “non-member state,” the same status held by the Vatican.

“We’ve been through this before. We did this 20 years ago and defeated the Palestinians,” Bolton said, according to a transcript provided by Newsmax.

“And this is how we did it. Secretary of State Jim Baker issued a statement saying he would recommend to the president that the United States make no further contributions, voluntary or assessed, to any international organization which makes any change in the PLO’s status as an observer organization.”

“If the administration had simply done what Jim Baker did 20 years ago, this thing would have been deader than a doornail,” Bolton added.

I think that what John Bolton said is quite logical. The UN is funded largely by the United States. If Obama really wanted to prevent the vote, he could have done so. Thomas Friedman, as usual, is off the mark.

A New Song For the Passover Seder

Are you looking for something different and exciting to say at this year's seder? Here's a song that you can recite or sing before "Chad Gadya":

On the Eve of the Fifteenth
by Cosmic X

On the eve of the fifteenth it will be so nice,
The Temple Mount free of foxes and mice.
Fine wine, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and paschal sacrifice.

Jerusalem is being built, with its holy sites,
The prayers are soaring up to the heights,
In spite of the anti-Semites and other mental mites,

On the eve of the fifteenth...

We shall be free from B.H. Obama,
Secret sympathizer of the odious Osama,
Born in Kenya, Indonesia, Hawaii and Havana,

On the eve of the fifteenth...

We shall be free from the full of vice Joe,
Who at Sheikh Munis University put on a show,
Recieved raging applause from the arrogant low.

On the eve of the fifteenth...

We shall be free from the Secretary of Dirt,
To kiss slimy Suha herself she did exert,
Poor partner for life of the cigar wielding pervert,

On the eve of the fifteenth...

We shall be free of J Street, The New York Times and other things rotten,
Rahm your heart, your God you have forgotten,
When the they go down it is down to the bottom,

On the eve of the fifteenth...

It's time to come home, sell your houses and cars,
Leave behind your baseballs, shopping malls and bars,
Because when we go up we go up to the stars,

On the eve of the fifteenth it will be so nice,
The Temple Mount free of foxes and mice.
Fine wine, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and paschal sacrifice.

By the way, "He who says something in the name of the one who said it brings redemption to the world"(Avot 6:6). Therefore, if you recite this at your seder, please say it in the name of "Cosmic X".

Cosmic X in the New York Times

I still get a kick when the New York Times links to my humble blog, even if the link was created in a random computerized fashion:

We're in The New York Times Again

Do you think that perhaps some day they will contact me to write an op-ed?

Cosmic X in the New York Times!

I checked out my stats and saw that someone came from here(Click on the pic to enlarge):



I know, this isn't exactly the front page.

I predicted that I would make the Times one day! ;)