Rabin's Deliberations

Eitan Haber strikes again. Yes, another article in Ynetnews, where Haber invokes the name of Rabin in vain. Let's take a look:

The main concern of every prime minister, defense minister, chief of staff and each cabinet minister individually, should be the security of the nation – but also the safety of human beings.

Every prime minister and every minister should regard every soldier, male and female, in the standing and reserve army as though they were his own sons and daughters, and to ask whether the assignment at hand is that crucial that they would have sent their own children to face the imminent danger.

So far so good. But then Haber makes the mistake of invoking the holy name:

I can only give a personal example: While Yitzhak Rabin served as defense and prime minister, for six whole months he deliberated over the preparations for the abduction of Mustafa Dirani, who had been holding kidnapped airman Ron Arad.

Some 82 soldiers, if my memory doesn't fail me, were sent deep inside Lebanese territory to the heart of the danger, in order to collect information on Ron Arad.

What would have happened, heaven forbid, if the two choppers had been brought down with the soldiers (this incidentally happened a few years later)? How would have Rabin explained his decision to the country? Would he have explained how he prepared, deliberated and agonized until finally giving the order for the helicopters to take off?

Here are a few lines from the book written by the head of the intelligence unit at the time, Major General Uri Saguy: "During the planning phase, we asked ourselves whether we had the ability to execute such a complex mission…

I didn't envy him for a moment (Rabin), that he would be the one who would ultimately have to approve the operation. Rabin, in his way, probed and demanded and asked endless questions before arriving at his decisions…Rabin turned every stone as to be sure that the risk he was taking was a calculated risk.

He was a military man in every sense of the word – and was fully aware of the meaning and dangers involved in such a mission…

This is also very good and nice. Unfortunately Rabin did not exercise the same caution in diplomacy that he demonstrated as a military man. This is the guy who, in spite of all of the warnings of the intelligence community, brought Yasser Arafat and his thugs to "Gaza and Jericho first", and by doing so caused the death of thousands of Israelis and the wounding of myriads. The Oslo Agreements taught the world that terror pays, and I am of the opinion that the current global jihad is a direct result of this.

The Rabin legacy is not one of caution and deliberation. It is a legacy of carelessness, foolishness, ignorance, corrupt politics and hubris. Let's remember this as Rabinfest 2006 is only a month and a half away.

The Silent Holocaust

Tzvi Fishman writes another important article.

Peace With Moslems

As the latest diaglogue between Christians and Moslems continues, Islam History Professor Moshe Sharon of Hebrew University explains why there will never be true peace between Israel and our Moslem neighbors:

The veteran expert on Islam says that Western officials fail to grasp that the Arab and Islamic world truly see Israel’s establishment as a “reversal of history” and are therefore unable to ever accept peaceful relations with it. From Moslems’ perspective, “Islamic territory was taken away from Islam by Jews. You know by now that this can never be accepted, not even one meter. So everyone who thinks Tel Aviv is safe is making a grave mistake. Territory which at one time was dominated by Islamic rule, now has become non-Moslem. Non-Moslems are independent of Islamic rule and Jews have created their own independent state. It is anathema. Worse, Israel, a non-Moslem state, is ruling over Moslems. It is unthinkable that non-Moslems should rule over Moslems.”

Olmert, Livni, Peres, etc. did you get that?

Selichot This Motzei Shabbat

Believe it or not, I am really looking forward to this! I love selichot! Read this old post to see why.

Today's Links

Australian Activist Realizes The Truth

The ISM-Terror Connection (hat tip: Backspin)

Media Monkeys on our Backs

The Palestinian Arab Death Cult Lifestyle

No longer the political fringe

From 9/11 to 9/13

Update: Yesterday I blogged about commuting to Tel Aviv, and today I read the following at INN:

The Tel Aviv Central Bus Station, known as the ‘white elephant’ of Tel Aviv, may be shut due to deficient safety conditions. The building opened to the public in 1993 after decades from planning to construction, a structure that has been plagued with misfortune since opening day.

Tel Aviv City Hall officials on Thursday will call upon the city’s magistrate’s court to issue the closure order after determining the central bus station lacks an adequate sprinkler system, adding there are other safety hazards as well.

Bus station operators state this is not so, but City Hall insists that due to the safety violations, the bus station’s operating permit will not be renewed.

With all of the deficiencies of the "new" Tel Aviv Central Bus Station, the old one was worse! Let's see what happens.

Another update:

Goodbye Barak (and good riddance)

AL-DURA: THE TRIAL (PART ONE)

Commuting To Tel Aviv

The curse of Adam (with the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread) has hit me with full force as I am now commuting from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.

For those of you who don't know, the journey from the dry mountain air of Jerusalem to the humid seaside of Tel Aviv is, without traffic jams, only 45 minutes apart. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem not only differ in climate, they are two different worlds with different personalities. The differences between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are so vast that it is mind boggling.

In any case, it takes me an hour and a half from the time I leave my Jerusalem home until I get to my Tel Aviv office, and an hour and a half to get back home. If I did not wake up early and pray in a Terah minyan it would take even longer to get to TA, as the traffic jams get worse the later it gets. At work I live on caffeine, and as the week goes by I lack more and more sleep. On the Sabbath I catch up on a lot of the sleep that I missed during the week.

There are also advantages to working in Tel Aviv. The city has a charm all its own that can be appreciated even from a die hard Jerusalemite. And of course, it has one very precious thing that Jerusalem lacks: the sea.

Today's Picks

Jameel finds a great editorial in...The Guardian.

Sultan Knish tells us about Ben Hecht.

Batya shares her thoughts on Israel's leadership crisis.

Larry Derfner tries to take on Caroline Glick but ends up with his foot in his mouth. First he writes:

I'm writing about this because I was one of the reporters on the Moassi beachfront on that June 28 that the column describes, and the behavior of the young settlers there that day wasn't innocent at all, which is what readers of Glick's column would conclude. One of those settlers did in fact try to murder that Palestinian teenager, and he had help. I don't know if it was Cytryn who hit the Palestinian boy in the head with a rock thrown full force from a few feet away, but I know that one of those Jewish marauders did, and others tried to join in the attack. And while this was the worst violent crime they committed during those three days on the Gaza beachfront, it was by no means the only one.

Then he writes:

I got to the beachfront a little after the incident for which Cytryn is standing trial, so I didn't see it with my own eyes. But a TV cameraman showed me the raw footage he'd shot, and I watched it a few times. The images still in my memory are fleeting, but I remember seeing an IDF soldier with a rifle standing with a Palestinian boy - Halil Mejeida, 18 - in his custody behind a wall. I remember seeing a boy hoisting himself atop the wall and hurling a rock at Mejeida, and another boy trying to get at Mejeida, who was lying on the ground as the soldier tried to protect him.

According to Israel National News, the "raw footage" that Derfner saw was fauxtography:

Regarding the alleged "lynching," A.D. said the television footage of an Arab lying on the ground and then two Jewish boys running towards him and throwing rocks at him was a distortion of what actually happened. "That's not the story!" he said. "I saw this same Arab get hit in the head with a rock - and yet he continued to throw rocks, like a tiger, for the next 15 minutes! And then I saw some reporters go over to him and tell him to lie down and act as if he was unconscious. Later on, he was taken out walking on his own, holding on to a soldier..."

And finally the Derfner enlightens us with more "information":

I don't know how long Mejeida stayed in the hospital, and I don't know what kind of condition he was in when he got out, but was the media account of that incident a "fabrication" of "a crime that was never committed," as Glick's column has it?

Derfner "didn't see" and "doesn't know", but that doesn't prevent him from writing. These are your journalists, O Israel.

By the way, be sure to check out The (not) Forgotten Prisoners of Zion blog which has been covering the Cytryn case. See also Israel National News.

Update: An article in Hebrew about the Meshulami family.

Mazuz Disqualifies Two Members of Olmert's Inquiry Commission

I previously wrote in the post entitled Saving Olmert's Hide:

I personally saw an article in HaYisraeli, showing how most if not all those appointed by Olmert to investigate the war have received favors from Olmert in the past or are in need of favors in the future. Too bad that I did not save the article, and too bad that HaYisraeli doesn't have on online edition!

Olmert does not know that you just cannot fool all the people all the time! His Inquiry Cover-up Committee received another blow today as two of its members are disqualified:

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has disqualified David Haivri and Yedidya Ya’ari from serving on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Edmoni Commission investigating government actions during the war in Lebanon.

Mazuz explained that there is a conflict of interests, with Haivri serving as the Boeing representative in Israel and Ya’ari being affiliated with the quasi-governmental Rafael weapons development firm.

Mazuz’s legal opinion comes ahead of a Movement for Quality Government petition to the Supreme Court seeking to have the two disqualified for obvious conflict of interests.

The move is yet another embarrassment for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is under mounting pressure to approve an independent state commission of inquiry into the war.

It looks like the rule of Ehud Olmert, probably Israel's worst Prime Minister ever, is nearing its end.

Where Is Tovya!

Has he been kidnapped? Did he go to Yeshiva to immerse himself in learning? Did he get married? No online presense since February 2006! Where is he? This inquiring mind wants to know!

A Special Place In Hell

Check out this op-ed in Ha'aretz, and see what The Muquata posted about it.

Those that promote appeasement are the ones that deserve "A Special Place In Hell" for all the misery that they have caused.

Saving Olmert's Hide

Read how Ha'aretz columnist Yoel Marcus is trying to save Olmert's hide:

Yes, there were bungles that need to be investigated. If Olmert were the prime minister of England maybe he would save his skin by sacking Amir Peretz and Dan Halutz. Maybe he would be chucked out himself. But with so much anger over the mismanagement of the war, the dilapidated state of the bomb shelters and the way the home front was left to fend for itself, it was obvious that the clamor for a commission of inquiry would not be given up easily.

Olmert has chosen to appoint three investigation committees, one for each aspect of the war. He has said no to a state commission of inquiry. This time, he is right. A year-long probe, with lawyers, witnesses and a war of Gog and Magog raging at home while the Gaza and Palestinian front still looms before us, is a luxury we cannot afford.

It is important to investigate, to fix whatever needs to be fixed, and kick out those who have screwed up, but we don't need a state commission to do it. Anyone who wants a judge is free to petition the High Court. Israel is a democracy, and leaders can be brought down when the country goes to the polls or by a majority vote in the Knesset. In the end, the voter has the last word. There is no reason to drive the country insane with a state probe.

It is no secret here in Israel that the investigation committees that Olmert set up lack teeth, as pointed out by INN:

Olmert's committees would have no authority to subpoena witnesses or to have officials fired, whereas a state commission of inquiry would have these authorities.

What's worse is the idea of those being investigated appointing their own investigators:

Lawmakers have stated that despite the impressive lineup on the committees, the move by the prime minister wreaks of an attempted cover-up, insisting a self-appointed commission cannot legitimately investigate the actions of the very government that appointed and oversees it.

(I personally saw an article in HaYisraeli, showing how most if not all those appointed by Olmert to investigate the war have received favors from Olmert in the past or are in need of favors in the future. Too bad that I did not save the article, and too bad that HaYisraeli doesn't have on online edition!)

It is sad that a journalist like Yoel Marcus would choose to support such an obvious attempt at hiding the truth.

Don't Delete That Blog!

Mirty stopped blogging and deleted her blog. Someone else took her blogger user and sent us all to Detroit.

How long will it take for jrants to remove this blog from the index?

Whatever Happened To Tov'ya?

Where is Tov'ya? He used to have a blog Zion Report which seems to have disappeared. If anyone knows leave a comment or email me.

Thanks.

A Nice Film: Friday in Jerusalem

I received the following email:

My friend Gil Ronen made this film, and I'm helping him spread the link around. If you like it, I hope you'll consider posting a link to it on your blog or passing it on to your friends by email. Thanks!

http://films.izfone.com/

It's a nice film. Enjoy!

BTW, some interesting things about Mr. Ronen:

Gil Ronen, a former Correspondent in the Territories and Correspondent in the Knesset for IDF Radio, founded Or Adom, an activist group against police brutality, which led to the establishment of the Department for Investigation of Police Officers in Israel's Ministry of Justice. Ronen now runs Katzir.com, a studio specializing in Flash animations.

Read this as well.

Moshe Feiglin Does It Again

Another great article by Moshe Feiglin. I first saw it a few days ago in the HaYisraeli newspaper. I am glad that an English version is now available: The Commission of Inquiry's Conclusions:

The following are the conclusions of the Commission of Inquiry that will not be established. And if it is established, the parameters of inquiry will not be correctly defined. And if they are defined, it will not have the appropriate authority. And if it does, it will be afraid to speak the truth. And if it does speak the truth, Israel's media and justice system will be sure to delegitimize it.

Read the rest.

The Plague of Internet Pornography

by Tzvi Fishman
Aug 28, '06 / 4 Elul 5766

Little Joey may be sitting quietly in his room, glued to the computer, but do you know what he is watching? The statistics are frightening. They speak for themselves.

There are over 500 million pages of pornography on the Internet. Two out of five Internet users regular visit pornography sites. In a February poll of university students in America, 87% admitted having "virtual sex" with their computers. Over 63 million viewers enter adult websites per month, reaching 42.7 percent of the Internet audience. The Internet pornography industry generates $12 billion dollars in annual revenue - larger than the combined annual revenues of ABC, NBC and CBS.

These staggering statistics are only the beginning. It turns out that the largest group of viewers of Internet pornography is children between ages 12 and 17. 80% of these teenagers view pornography online while doing their homework. Surveys reveal that the number-one media concern for American parents has shifted from television to the Internet, with 85 percent of parents saying that the Internet posed a greater risk to their children than any other media.

Read the rest.

Do Murderers Sit Shiva?

This is a piece that I wrote last year but I did not post for technical reasons. As the injustice, criminality and foolishness of the "disengagement" become clear to more and more people, I feel that this piece is still timely:

Ari Shavit of Ha'aretz wrote an interesting article in the midst of the "disengagement" entitled "Israel Must Sit Shiva." The article describes at length how Gush Katif looked as it was being destroyed by the IDF and the Israeli police:

Gush Katif is dying. The settlements are breathing their last. Some are reconciled, others are resisting. Some are fighting back, others are falling apart. Some are grieving deeply, others have broken hearts. The settlers have been defeated. Their greenhouses are withering. Their synagogues are empty. Their rooms are wide open. Their villages are ghost towns.

From the description we might have thought that Shavit was equating Gush Katif to an old man who was on his death bed dying of natural causes. Perhaps he was likening them to a patient in the last stages of a terminal illness.

But the truth is that the greenhouses did not wither because the residents of the Gush were inexpert farmers. Nor were the synagogues empty for lack of people that wanted to worship. The villages did not become ghost towns because their inhabitants sought better fortune elsewhere.

Gush Katif was a block of settlements that was healthy socially and economically. Their contribution to Israel's economy is well known. Their participation in the combat units of the IDF was high. In spite of the difficult security situation, which was a direct product of the Oslo Agreements, the residents of Gush Katif showed great tenacity. Gush Katif was alive and vibrant.

But, as Shavit pointed out, Gush Katif was dying, and now it is already dead. However, Gush Katif did not die of natural causes. Gush Katif was murdered in cold blood. The Gush was a victim of a violent slaying, ordered by a prime minister who swindeled his constituants, carried out by his troops, and cheered on by Israel's mainstream media.

Shavit goes on to point out the lack of compassion showed by the Israeli secular intellectuals towards the suffering of the settlers:

The hard-heartedness of the intellectual and legal elites in the face of the catastrophe that befell the residents of Gush Katif will not be forgotten. It will seep into the groundwater of our shared lives and pollute it.

Yeah, right. Our shared lives are already polluted by the post-Zionism, anti-Zionism, anti-Judaism and corruption in the highest echelons of the Israeli government and media that made the destruction of Gush Katif possible.

Shavit continues with the following observation:

Gush Katif was a world of its own - a world of work and faith, of patriotic innocence and communal warmth; a world that touches the heart, that was established in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, as this world is being buried in the sand, Israel must sit shiva for it.

In my view Ari Shavit's piece is full of errors that stem from his secular-leftist weltanschauung, and I have not come to elaborate on all of these mistakes. However, his reference to sitting shiva is bizarre, entirely out of place, especially coming from the pen of a secular-leftist. It is true that relatives of the departed sit shiva. However if the relative murdered the deceased, does the murderer sit shiva? I don't know, and its not the kind of question that I am going to ask my rabbi! In any case, even if the halacha requires the murderer to sit shiva, the spectacle would be quite repugnant. Such is the case of Gush Katif's destroyers sitting shiva for it.

The IDF's "Morals"

In the continuing struggle against the IDF's warped moral system that endagers soldiers in order not to harm the enemy's civilians, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed opens his column in Besheva with the following:

לפני הכל צריכים לעורר מחאה גדולה נגד המנהיגות המדינית והצבאית. ובמיוחד כנגד ה'מוסר' הקלוקל שהכשיל את המלחמה, לפיו נשלחים חיילינו להיהרג כדי שלא לפגוע ב'חפים מפשע'. 'מוסר' זה הוא היום כלי הנשק היעיל ביותר של כוחות הרשע.

Translation:

Before anything else we must raise a great protest against the political and military leadership. And especially against the defective “moral system” that caused the war to fail, according to which our soldiers are sent to be killed in order not to hurt “innocents”. This “moral system” is today the most effective weapon of the forces of evil.

I agree.

Some Good Stuff

An interesting analysis of the war:

Ehud Ya'ari's Opinion

Zman Biur does the boogie:

Time to Boogie?

Another scholarly post from Eliyahu:

Flaubert's Observations of Jerusalem and the Jews Living There [1850]

Update:

Some Positive Benefits of the War

Granting Forgiveness - Gush Katif

HH #84!