Rabinfest 2013: Martin Sherman Sets the Record Straight

A taste:

The perception of a positive Oslo-related Rabinesque “heritage” can only be maintained by pervasive distortion, deception and deceit. For the Oslo Accords were an act of moral turpitude that by any rational criterion of common sense and common decency should bring dishonor to anyone associated with it. It was an egregious, imbecilic blunder that precipitated all the tragedy its opponents warned of, and none of the benefits its proponents promised.

Rabinfest 2013: Yuval Rabin and His Father's Legacy

It's that time of year again! Today is the Yahrzeit of Yitzhak Rabin, according to the Jewish calendar. From last Saturday night and until the 4th of November (the day Rabin died according to the Gregorian calendar) , the Israeli Left and the Israeli MSM will be celebrating Rabinfest.

What would a festival be without a clown? Although I have not seen the Rabinfest organizers hiring professional clowns, there is always a leftist who is willing to beclown himself/herself for free. This year's festival has just begun, and it already has its first gratis clown, who is none other than the late Prime Minister's son, Yuval Rabin.

No, Yuval was not trying to be funny. He was absolutely serious. However, when one says ridiculous things with a straight face, it can be comical:

He then launched into criticism of those who link Oslo to terrorism. “To argue that terrorism happened because of Oslo is cynical and deliberately wicked,” he accused. “The escalation of terrorism is an ongoing process, and various factors did ‘contribute’ to it, but one thing is consistently clear – those who commit terrorism are against compromise.”

No good deed should go unrecognized, so I would like to thank Yuval Rabin for bringing a smile to my face. Who in the world are you trying to fool, Yuval Rabin? You cannot fool me, for I have been here in Israel long before the Oslo Accords. I remember Israel before the accords and after. Nobody claims or claimed that there was not terrorism before the Oslo Agreements. However, only a buffoon can claim they did not cause a sharp rise in terrorism. As the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted way back in 1998:

More Israelis have been killed by Palestinian terrorists in the 5 years since the first Oslo agreement was signed in September 1993 than in the 15 preceding years, the Government Press Office (GPO) has announced.

A total of 279 men, women and children have been killed in 92 lethal attacks by Palestinian terrorists since the signing of the Oslo Accords. This does not include victims of attacks launched by Lebanese-based terror organizations or incidents along Israel's borders.

So who is Yuval Rabin trying to fool? He cannot fool God. He cannot fool me either! If he is trying to fool himself....well, never mind.

Yuval Rabin did not always make me smile. In fact, one time I was truly embarrassed for him. It happened during his father's funeral. I was sitting at my desk at work in downtown Jerusalem, listening to the funeral on the radio. It was time for the son to recite Kaddish. Yuval Rabin totally mangled it, apparently thinking that the Aramaic words in the prayer were in Hebrew. His stuttered rendition was even more garbled than that of a second generation American Jew in a Conservative Temple reading the transliteration from the Silverman siddur. Yes, the thought that the entire nation and Jews all over the world heard this made me cringe in my seat. The son of the slain Prime Minister, ostensibly an educated man, does not even know how to say Kaddish!

This was the true legacy of Yitzchak Rabin and so many other secular Zionists: children woefully ignorant of their own heritage. Thousands of years of Torah and ethics were traded in for a dry nationalism combined with socialism, army service and speaking Hebrew: an Israeli version of "bagels and lox" Judaism, which like its American cousin has gradually evolved into a bizarre combination of liberalism and crass materialisim. What a sad joke!

May God save us such clowns and their [self] deceptions.

A "Blast" From the Past: Rabin Promissing That There Will Not Be Katyusha Rockets From Gaza

Technically, he was correct. We are getting mortar fire, Kassams, Grads and Fajr-5s:

Mazal Tov! Margalit Har-Shefi Engaged

Okay, I am a few days late on reporting this. But I just heard about it today! From INN:

Margalit Har-Shefi of Beit El is engaged to marry a man from Be'er Sheva, a member of the Chabad chassidic movement. The engagement party was held Sunday in Jerusalem.

Fifteen years ago, when she was a 19-year-old law student, Har-Shefi was publicly blamed of being complicit in the murder of Prime Miniter Yitzchak Rabin. She had known assassin Yigal Amir, and was convicted of not taking seriously and therefore not reporting, remarks he made about murdering Rabin which she said she considered mere rhetoric. She was sentenced to nine months in prison.

Even attempts by Emunah, the Religious Zionist Women's Organization, to let her be at home for the Passover Seder were denied and she was only allowed to conduct the seder with a Chabad volunteer so as not to spend it in the company of criminals.

In recent years, many public figures have come forth to fight to retroactively exonerate Har-Shefi. In 2007, former Israel Security Agency (Shabak) head Ami Ayalon announced that Har-Shefi was falsely convicted. “Har-Shefi did not know that Yigal Amir wanted to murder the Prime Minister. I know this from intelligence, I was head of the intelligence agency,” he declared.

This year, MKs and rabbis advocated on Har-Shefi's behalf, calling on State Prosecutor Moshe Lador to vindicate her retroactively. The request was rejected.

In 2001, as she began her jail term, Har-Shefi said, "I am being sent to prison today for one reason only: They had to find someone to blame, to cover up for an entire network that fell asleep on the job - as if I, a 19-year-old girl at the time, was the one who could have saved the country from this terrible trauma."

She admitted after the Rabin assassination that she – like many others – had heard Yigal Amir say that he wanted to kill the prime minister. However, she has argued from the beginning that his threats sounded “imaginary,” and that if she had known that Amir actually planned to commit murder, she would have done everything in her power to stop him.

Politicians and activists on the political Left opposed the move to vindicate Har-Shefi, although their arguments were largely philosophical, and did not mention the specifics of the case, such as Ayalon's declaration that Har-Shefi was innocent. MK Yoel Hasson (Kadima) said, “We must not pardon or relieve the burden of anyone who was involved in Rabin's murder,” and added that anyone who does so is “no less than a collaborator.”

The far-Left Peace Now organization accused those speaking up for Har-Shefi of running “a cynical campaign whose aim is to cover up the murder and pardon Yigal Amir in the future.”

Once out of prison, Har-Shefi' was hounded by the left and then-Education Minister Yossi Sarid refused to allow her to engage in education, even as a teaching assistant.

I can only say Mazal Tov. She yizku livnot bayit ne'eman beyisrael!

Dvar Torah for Chayei Sarah: Honesty is the Best Policy

In this week's Torah portion we read about Abraham's purchase of Ma'arat HaMachpela, the Patriarch's Cave, from Efron the Hittite. Here's a story that I read in volume two of the book "Avihem Shel Yisrael", a compendium of stories about Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu zt"l:



Even before the 1929 massacre of Hebron's Jewish Community by the Arabs, the Cave of the Patriarchs was closed off to the Jews. It did not matter that this was the resting place of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah. The Arabs would only let the Jews up to the seventh step of the stairs leading up to the entrance.

After Hebron was liberated by the IDF during the Six Day War, Jews were finally able to enter the Cave of the Patriarchs. Chief Rabbi Nissim sent Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu to take care of the place. Many soldiers were there. Also present were high ranking officers like Rabin, Bar Lev, and Uzi Narkis. Some important Rabbis also came to Hebron to pray at the burial place of the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish People.

The soldiers, some of them wounded, some of tired from days of battle, took a nap on the rugs that were there. Those that were hungry grabbed a bite to eat. Suddenly the Sheikh of the Cave, whose name was Jabri, started yelling at the soldiers and the commanders.

"Get out of here! You are not giving this site proper respect! We Muslims wash our hands five times before entering and remove our shoes. You Jews, have no respect: sleeping here, eating here and entering with your dirty shoes. Get out!

Seemingly, the sheikh was correct. Everyone was silent, except for one.

"Listen ya sheikh," answered him Rabbi Eliyahu in Arabic, a language familiar to him and to most of the high ranking officers. "If the king's servant comes wearing dirty clothes and serves the king food from a dirty platter in front of the the king's ministers and servants, he is certainly liable the death penalty. However, if the king's son, who hasn't seen the king for twenty years, and his father and mother miss him and cry about him at night - if this son, will show up in ragged and dusty clothes, without making an appointment, and will enter in the middle of a meeting of the king and his ministers and say, 'Father, I've come back' - he'll come to his mother and say 'Mother, I'm home' - the father and mother will surely hug him heartily, dirty clothes and all. He's their son."

"Listen ya sheikh," continued Rabbi Eliyahu. "Abraham is our father. Sarah is our mother. We feel at home here. You are the children of al-fatma, the maidservant Hagar. You are behaving here as is proper for a servant to behave, we behave here as is proper for a son to behave."

The sheikh turned red with shame and anger. He lost the argument, and in addition was called "ibn al-fatma". He returned in anger to his office.

The officers there were upset. "We want to live in coexistence and peace with the Arabs. Why did you anger him?"

The rabbi answered, "You have to tell them the truth. That's the only way they understand.

The argument continued for several minutes, until the sheikh came out of his office again. He turned submissively to Rabbi Eliyahu and said, "ya chacham, ya sidi, (wise man and master) please forgive me."

The Rabbi did not answer him. Instead he turned to the commanders and said,
"You see which language they understand. I grew up among them as a child in the Old City of Jerusalem. Tell them the truth and they understand.

Rabinfest IV

Some satire from Latma (Hat tip to Batya):

Update: The clip is no longer embedded. It was brought to my attention that the lady in the film is not properly dressed. If you want to see the film anyway, it is here.

Rabinfest 2010 III

Here's the latest:

Globes reports that none of the major television networks will provide live coverage of Rabinfest's major event, the yearly memorial in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. The event will be broadcast by channel 8, and on radio by reshet gimmel. My guess is that just as Israelis will not show up at Rabin Square, they will not let this bizarre form of paganism enter their homes through the radio or the television set. This is true no matter what pop stars will participate.

Kalman Libskind has written the ultimate article about the "Rabin Legacy". At the time of this post their are already over 500 talkbacks.

Update: Ha'aretz reports that TV Channel 1 will broadcast Rabinfest. Why didn't they want to at the beginning?

Industry sources earlier told Haaretz that the ceremony organizers' had demanded a large sums for the rights to the event, as well as refusing to allow advertisements during the program, a condition that deterred commercial networks.

If so, Rabinfest is not just lowly leftist propaganda, it's big bucks!

Rabinfest 2010 II

This is well worth reading. I'll post a snippet:

Public opinion polls commissioned before the assassination predicted a Netanyahu victory over Rabin in the 1996 elections, an indication that the public started to understand that the “victims of peace” are not leading to peace, and that there is no connection between Oslo and peace; the predictable Oslo war only proved the righteousness of those who sounded the alarm starting in 1993.


Against this backdrop, it is easy to understand the ongoing decline in the number of participants in events held to mark a non-existent legacy. Rabin was not a man of letters and did not leave a moral mark. The “Rabin Legacy” slogan was invented in retrospect by “men of letters” and PR experts, in order to appropriate the man’s name and tragic death for the purpose of promoting his erroneous way.


The media continue to be enlisted to the cause of the Oslo march of folly, and continue to disparage and reprimand anyone who questions the false “legacy.”

הפטרה לחג פסטיבל רבין

מהערה 12:


והייתם מסיתים חודש ימים לפני רבין אלוהיכם. שלוש פעמים יראה כל השמאלן בישראל, בכיכר אשר אבחר, בחג הרבין,בחג הרבין ובחג הרבין. לא יראו את פני ריקם כי אם בדברי שטנה נגד הימין אשר נתתי בפיהם יראו את פני.

והקהלתם את בתי ספריכם ואת גדודי צבאכם ביום השנים עשר והלבשתם בגדי לבן, ושרתם שירים נוגים לאלוהיכם. ובחצות היום עגילים חפשו לכם, זכר למציאת אשת האלוהים לאה, על גדודיה ועל צבאותיה.

וברביעי לחודש עצרת תעשו לכם, כל מלאכה לא תעשו. ועשיתם עצרת גם בצאת השבת הקרובה, והקהלתם את שמאלניכם בעת ההיא בכיכר אשר אבחר. והסתתם הסתה גדולה ביום ההוא, ושתיתם ויסקי לשובע - כי גדול היום לרבין, הוא אלוהי הניקוטין אשר ברא את בלק לייבל ביום הווסד פרשת הדולרים.

בשלוותא תשבו שישה ימים, ותמוטטו את עצביכם, כי בשלוותא ישב רבין אלוהיכם בעת מלחמת ששת הימים כאשר התמוטטו עצביו. ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון מאה ועשרים מינים, ואגדתם במליאה במינם, ונשאתם נאומי תודה לרבין אלוהיכם. ושמחתם ביום רבין אלוהיכם, כי הרבין הוא הנותן לכם כוח לעשות חיל.

Rabinfest 2010: Israelis are Sick of Tired of it

As the years go by it has become clear to more and more Israelis that the Oslo Accords have worsened our security both on the long and short term. Rabin's legacy is cemeteries full of the victims of the Arab terrorists that he armed. Rabin's legacy is security guards at the entrance to shopping malls. Rabin's legacy are public schools that look more like fortresses than educational facilities.

This year Rabinfest has started out with signs that the public has had enough. Like this:

After a decade and a half in which the Israeli Left used hyped-up annual memorials to turn slain Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin into a hallowed martyr figure, a Knesset member for Rabin's Labor party says this was a mistake. On the 15th anniversary of Rabin's assassination, MK Einat Wilf has asked her party to move Rabin's oversized portrait from its central position on the Labor Knesset faction room wall, and to put back the picture of David Ben-Gurion that hung there previously.

Ben-Gurion was Israel's first prime minister and the head of Mapai, Labor's predecessor. He announced the re-establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, led the country during the War of Independence and was the dominant figure in Israeli politics for decades.

Rabin's portrait hangs between two Israeli flags behind the head of the table, behind the seat that is reserved for the party chairman.

"It is time for the Labor party to stop clinging to what could have been and to cease building up Rabin as a symbol of all the hopes that have been lost,” Wilf said in a Ma'ariv newspaper interview. “I want to place David Ben-Gurion's portrait at the head of the room as is proper for a person who represents the nation's resurgence, and not the picture of the man who symbolizes, for many, missed opportunities.”

Looking at Rabin's and Ben-Gurion's portraits, she said, made her understand what was causing Labor's public standing to slide downward since the 1995 assassination. Labor, she clarified, “identifies him with all that he could have been and did not become. Instead of identifying with a Ben-Gurion-style spirit of action, we identify with an unfulfilled future."

Israelis have also had enough of "bein hametzarim":

In order to unite the people around the Rabin memorial day nonetheless, 44% recommend marking it only according to the Hebrew date – the 12th day of Heshvan, while 10% say it should be united with the anniversary of biblical matriarch Rachel's death, which is marked the day before. Twenty-one percent, on the other hand, have no interest in a memorial day which would unite the people, and the rest (25%) did not respond.

Kahane Memorial and the Israel Press

There is something about the late Rabbi Meir Kahane that makes the journalists go nuts. Posters announcing this year's memorial inspired this amazingly pathetic sentence in jpost:

Just a day after the arrest of alleged Jewish terrorist Ya'acov Teitel, and less than a week after the anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by a right-wing activist, Jerusalem has been plastered with posters in support of another controversial figure - the late ultra-nationalist orthodox rabbi Meir Kahane.

The journalist that wrote the sentence, or one of the editors over at jpost, just couldn't resist connecting the Kahane posters to the Rabin assassination and the alleged acts of Ya'acov Teitel. All this in the first sentence of what is supposed to be a news article.

At the end of the article there is a nice quote from MK Michael Ben-Ari:

Ben-Ari declared staunchly that Kahane "was not a racist... he loved Israel and if that means he was a racist, he was a racist... People who call him racist are the racists."

Bullseye!

In the meantime, Voice of Israel government radio proves again that they support free speech, that is as long as you are a leftist:

Voice of Israel government radio, which is part of the state-regulated Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), banned on Tuesday commercials urging attendance at memorial services for murdered former Knesset Member Rabbi Meir Kahane. His family said it will sue the government.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, a Knesset aide to MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari (National Union), warned that if the IBA does not cancel the ban, he will demand that it also prohibit commercials calling on the public to attend memorial services this week for former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin.

The radio network yanked the ads after receiving complaints from listeners, including Peace Now, and explained its decision by saying that the issue of Rabbi Kahane is too “controversial.” The commercial featured a one-sentence statement by MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari, who urged people to attend the services on the 19th anniversary of his death this Thursday. There was no reference in the ad to the history, life or political views of Rabbi Kahane.

By the way, the memorial will be on the 18th of Marcheshvan, Nov. 5th, at 6:00 PM at Heichal David Hall, 14 Oholiav Street in Jerusalem. Hope to see you there!

Another Reason to Pray for Rain

The Kinneret is low, the price of water is high and the land is thirsty. If that is not enough, here is another reason to pray for rain:

The main memorial observance for assassinated prime minister Yitzchak Rabin, which was scheduled for Saturday night at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, has been postponed for a week.

Organizers said the event was pushed off "because of weather constraints and the constant rain that is expected to fall this weekend."

Rock 'n' Roll Rabin

[From THE CHURCH OF RABIN AND PEACE]:

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're gonna get in my supercharged Subaru,
and head down Highway 1.
Gonna go up to Mt. Herzl,
and have ourselves some fun.

Gonna light some candles for Yitzchak Rabin,
and sing a song of peace.
At night we'll go to the Russian Compound,
and drink a couple of beers.

Rock,rock, rock 'n' roll, rock 'n' roll Rabin. (4x)

Then we'll head on out to Talpiot,
and disco the night away.
Let's dance!

Rock,rock, rock 'n' roll, rock 'n' roll Rabin. (4x)

The Rabin Rap

[From THE CHURCH OF RABIN AND PEACE]:

November 4th 1995,
the last day Rabin was alive.
It was Saturday morning when the busses came
to take us to Tel Aviv.

This is the Rabin Rap, Rabin Rap, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra..........

We went to the mall to do some shopping,
man that place was really hopping.
Then we went to good old Kikar Malchei Yisrael.

This is the Rabin Rap, Rabin Rap, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra..........

You see Rabin was real low in the polls,
With his peace agreement that was full of holes.
It was a real sad situation if you know what I mean.

This is the Rabin Rap, Rabin Rap, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra..........

We needed money for the kibbutzim,
The Histadrut and Kupat Cholim.
If the government falls the well will be dry.

This is the Rabin Rap, Rabin Rap, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra..........

So we organized a demonstration,
In order to make a big sensation.
"Yes to peace, no to violence," was the motto of the day.

This is the Rabin Rap, Rabin Rap, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra..........

We sang about peace, we sang about love,
With pictures of an olive branch and a dove.
A beautiful production, Disney would have been proud.

This is the Rabin Rap, Rabin Rap, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra..........

Then that guy shot his gun,
And it was all over son,
The police and the GSS were swaying to the beat.

This is the Rabin Rap, Rabin Rap, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra..........

You might think that this sounds lame,
But the rabbis and the settlers are to blame,
Or maybe the opposition, let the brainwashing begin!

This is the Rabin Rap, Rabin Rap, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra..........

So let's talk about love and practice hate,
Start right away, please don't wait,
This is the way to power, no time to hesitate.

This is the Rabin Rap, Rabin Rap, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra..........

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize became a joke ever since it was awarded to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzchak Rabin in 1994 for the ill fated "Oslo Agreements". The Norwegians continue to prove that they have a poor sense of humor by awarding the prize to Mr. B.O. I am not laughing.



As the Hebrew saying says, a lie doesn't have legs. Sooner or later the lie will be revealed. Obama's rhetoric is out of touch with reality. Chances are that it will bring much more bloodshed than peace.

Update: More from some jbloggers:

The Weekend Roundup - The Nobel Peace Prize Jumps the Shark

Why Obama?

This isn't a joke - Obama wins Nobel Peace Price

Declining - the prize

They Were Wrong (Part 2)

Here's a recording of Yitzchak Rabin saying with absolute certainty that rockets will never be fired on Israel from the Gaza Strip. Remember this one for Rabinfest (Hat tip to Rafi).

No Weddings On Yitzchak Rabin's Yahrzeit

This is simply amazing. The "National Authority of Religious Services" lists Rabin's Yahrzeit as a day of "national remembrance" on which one should not marry.



Give me a break!

Correction!: The page is not on the site of "National Authority of Religious Services". The page is from the site of "The Jewish Life Information Center", which the "National Authority of Religious Services" links to from its main page, "http://www.religions.gov.il/." In any case it is pretty pathetic!

Rabinfest 2007: It's not over until it's over

Yogi Berra once said, "It's not over until it's over." Well, The 12th of Marcheshvan is behind us, and the 4th of November has also passed. In spite of this, Rabinfest 2007 is still going strong, and there is no end in sight.

The latest is a ruling by the Israeli Football Association (IFA) against the Beitar Jerusalem Soccer club:

Beitar Jerusalem has been slapped with a two-match crowd ban following the behavior of Beitar's fans during a minute of silence held in the memory of assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin this week.

The Israeli Football Association (IFA) delivered the sentence after having found the team guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct with severe circumstances. In addition, a suspended sentence of two additional games without supporters was handed down to the team.

George Orwell fans will love the following from the IFA ruling:

"This was a mass disruption on the part of a significant part of the supporters among Beitar fans. The number of disrupters reached into the hundreds. "The issue at heart is (respecting Rabin's memory), something considered to be a national consensus(CX: you guys got to be kidding) and an assault on it is an assault on our democratic existence(CX: you guys wouldn't recognize a democratic idea even if it slapped you in the face). Due to that consensus, the excess of those supporters shook the country, crossed every red line. This incident has nothing to do with freedom of expression."(CX: It's all about the reaction of people who are sick of having the ideas of the Rabin cult shoved down their throats.)

The Final Rabinfest 2007 Update?

I sure hope so. Here's the latest festivity:

The left-wing Peace Now organization has demanded that a soccer club be probed because its team's fans booed the name of Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin during a moment of silence before Sunday's game. Peace Now did not define what law the fans had broken.

The incident involved the Beitar Jerusalem team, whose management condemned the booing. "We are sure that the overwhelming majority of our fans will join us in condemning the calls," an official said.

The Beitar Jerusalem club will pay the price for their fans' heretical behavior:

The Israel Football Association has decided to punish the Betar Jerusalem soccer club for its fans' behavior at Sunday's game during a minute of silence for slain Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin. The fans booed Rabin's name and chanted "Yigal Amir," who is serving a life sentence in prison for murdering Rabin.

The team's fans have been noted for unruly behavior and racist comments at games, but punishment has been rare until the booing was considered embarrassing enough to rule against Betar. The punishment will be decided later in the week, but a fine is the harshest punishment that can be applied, according to Voice of Israel government radio.

Beitar Jerusalem's owner, Arkadi Gaydamak, sides with the Beitar fans:

Russian-Israeli billionaire and Jerusalem mayoral candidate Arkadi Gaydamak said Monday that he would not condemn the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team. Several politicians condemned the team and its fans on Monday after fans whistled and booed during a moment of silence in memory of slain Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin on Sunday.

Gaydamak, who owns the team, blamed the game’s organizers for the incident. Holding a respectful moment of silence “is not appropriate for a soccer field,” he said.

Let's hope that this is the concluding event of Rabinfest 2007!

Update: See also Joe and Batya.

Rabinfest 2007 Update (4)

Tel Aviv Rally Marks 12 Years Since Rabin Assassination: Nothing new here, just the same old politicians spouting the same old nonsense that only idiots believe.

Amir's Son: Yinon Eliyah Shalom: I'm against giving multiple names to children. It makes life hard for the gabbai when he has to call them up to the Torah.

Bradley Burston joins Yair Lapid in admitting that the Israeli left did not have the country's best interests in mind when it supported the disengagement:

But for many on the left, slamming the dungeon door on Yigal Amir didn't go nearly far enough. Following the 1995 assassination, the rage of the left - as well as its guilt over its often waffling support of Rabin - was so all-consuming, that it was not enough for its members to see Yigal Amir apprehended, indicted, convicted and imprisoned for the rest of his natural life.

The left wanted to see the right as a whole punished for the murder. The left wanted to see the right as a whole suffer for the crime. The left was willing to wait as long as necessary to see the right punished. Ten years later, the left would get its chance.

When Ariel Sharon floated the notion of expelling all settlers from the Gaza Strip and several settlements in the West Bank, the left kept quiet about the longterm wisdom of Israel taking unilateral actions that bypassed the Palestinian Authority.

How better to pain the right, than to erase entire swaths of the settlement enterprise. How better to pierce the very heart of the national religious right, than to use the Israel Defense Forces to oversee the expulsion of settler families, the demolition of settler homes, the dismantlement of settler schools, synagogues, hothouses, farms and small businesses.

If revenge is a dish best served cold, you couldn't get much colder than the left. There was little concern for the plight and the fate of the settler deportees, the baffled and distraught children, the deeply betrayed teens, the suddenly unemployed and homeless parents.

The right was finally paying the price for the assassination, and the left was there to watch every moment, live and in color, by satellite.

There was little speculation on the left as to the potential consequences of the act, the effect it might have on the rise of Hamas, the chance that jihadists would exploit the pullout to attack Sderot and other border towns, kibbutzim and moshavim within Israel.

There was little willingness on the left and among leftists in the media, to go after the prime minister over a long series of corruption suspicions. After all, this was Ariel Sharon, of all people, the vaunted champion of the right, the very symbol of settlement expansion, who was taking the settlement movement apart, red roof tile by red roof tile.

I know, a little bit of truth and a lot of nonsense.