... always a sow's ear.
My last post touched on the subject of Israel's attempts at rebranding itself. Such attempts are doomed to fail. Even The New York Times' Israel-friendly Jerusalem correspondent, Ethan Bronner, admits as much:
"'There aren't many other places in the world where white people with guns tell brown people what to do', said Ethan Bronner, The New York Times correspondent in Israel, today as he tried to explain Israel's image problem in the international press. Bronner was on a panel discussion on the subject of Israeli Hasbara at the Eilat Journalism Conference. He said that even if in Israeli eyes [my italics] the state of Israel is not colonialist, for foreigners its actions are very similar to colonialism. Therefore, said Bronner, especially in Europe, which went through a comprehensive de-colonization process over the past century, but also in the US, there is a principled [my italics] problem with Israel's image. Bronner also pointed to a specific example: International coverage of the IDF takeover of the Turkish [sic] flotilla to Gaza: 'You're starting from an inferior position', he said, 'because most people don't understand why you're trying to prevent the equipment from reaching Gaza. It's clear why you're trying to prevent weapons from getting there, but unclear why other equipment is banned. And when you try to stop it, 9 people are killed. It's not good. It doesn't look good. You have a lot of catching up to do if you want to argue that some of the people on the boat were really nasty'. Lilach Sigan, editor of Globes daily magazine, asked Bronner why the international media only dealt with Israel's actions around the Turkish [sic] flotilla and did not devote sufficient coverage to the Turkish and IHH connection. 'We're not perfect', she pointed out, [but] 'the problem is that the focus is only on Israel's mistakes [my italics] and not on the mistakes of Hamas and the suffering they inflict on the Palestinians'. After Sigan's statement elicited applause from the audience, Bronner replied: 'Nine people died. Who shot the 9? Not Turkey. That's the story. If no one had been killed on the flotilla, nobody would have cared about it. Nine died. That's the main thing. Those are the first 15 paragraphs'." (Translated from the Hebrw as How to wink in English, Oren Persico, The 7th Eye, 21/11/10 - found at Yes, NYT's Ethan Bronner actually said this on-record, Didi Remez, 972mag.com, 22/11/10)
Nevertheless, as if the current flood of Zionist bullshit swamping the ms media and the internet isn't enough, Israel is about to launch yet another propaganda offensive - in Europe:
"The Foreign Minister is planning to initiate a new public relations campaign in a number of European capitals [London, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, Paris, The Hague, Oslo, & Copenhagen] early next year. The campaign, which will make extensive use of professional advocacy and public relations experts by Israeli embassies in Europe, aims to also use as many as a thousand people in each country, who will be willing to volunteer to spread Israel's message... Each ambassador was instructed to prepare... a list of at least 1,000 'allies', who will be routinely briefed by the embassy for advocacy and public relations. These 'allies' will have to be willing to take action on behalf of Israel, through support demonstrations and rallies, in publishing articles in the press, etc. Among the types of persons that will be sought to assist in the campaign will be members of the local Jewish community, activists in Christian organizations, journalists, politicians, intellectuals, academics and activists in student organizations. The novelty of this campaign is that it will not rely on the work only of Israeli diplomats and volunteer supporters, but on professional lobbying and public and public relations companies hired by the embassies... The professional lobbyists and PR agents will be provided with materials from the embassies, which will be produced by a special team at the Foreign Ministry. The Foreign Ministry team will produce 3 types of materials: political messages on the peace process, the settlements, etc will be encapsulated; 'branding' messages which will position Israel in specific areas of activity, such as technology, economy, tourism, etc; and messages about problematic developments in the Middle East which are not directly related to Israel, such as human rights in Iran or Syria, Hezbollah's takeover in Lebanon, etc. The ministry has also instructed the ambassadors in those 9 capitals to focus their activities on organizing groups of influential persons from those countries to visit Israel. The ambassadors were also instructed to hold, at least once a month, a high profile public event." (Liebermann urges Europe embassies to use 'allies' in PR efforts, Barak Ravid, Haaretz, 28/11/10)
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
She's Green Alright
What follows is an interesting insight into rambamming US-style from the website green LA girl. The rambammed, Siel, describes herself as "an environmental writer and activist" and her website as "my personal blog about eco-friendly, sustainable living in Los Angeles."
Reading the following extract from her post, Israel, image, and lactose intolerance (4/5/09), it's obvious that our green LA girl is indeed excruciatingly so - at least when it comes to the dynamics of the Middle East conflict, of which there is zero reference in her post. What fascinates, though, in her description of rambamming foreplay, is the flickering awareness that something isn't quite right, an awareness unfortunately snuffed out by some quality wining & dining at day's end:
"After an uneventful 14-hr flight I'm now in Israel! I'm here with 3 other American journalists on a clean tech tour organized by the America-Israel Frienship League, self-described as a 'non-sectarian, non-political, not-for-profit organization strengthening ties between the people of the United States and Israel'. The League organizes a whole bunch of such trips for differenent American groups every year - and is very open about its goals: To show that there's more to Israel than the Middle East conflict. Basically, Israel's trying to change its image - to rebrand. I've already developed mixed feelings about these efforts, which seem necessary because the general perception of life in Israel is skewed, but [they] also make me queasy at times. For example, I could empathize when one tour organizer talked about how people around the world think of pasta when they think of Italy, but guns when they think of Israel - and how she felt this image did not at all reflect what living Israel was actually like. I felt less comfortable when a government employee involved with this rebranding process went so far as to say it's more important for Israel to be perceived well, than to be right - and that perception is what was of great importance, politically or otherwise. This comment I found strangely chilling, if very LA. I also found the candor with which everyone talked about this rebranding effort - Yes, the word rebranding was actually used, and plans to announce a new tagline of sorts ('like New York's Big Apple'') were discussed - very refreshing... These conversations, BTW, happened over dinner at a Chinese restaurant near Tel Aviv... The meal included everything from sushi rolls to what looked like mini empanadas to made-from-concentrate lemonade to a rich chocolate souffle to what I believe was a lamb-and-veggies stirfry. One of my fave things about Israel so far: The kosher restaurants, which are very convenient for a lactose-intolerant person like me."
How many of our own rambammed* even have Siel's flickering awareness that something's not quite right here? [See my 30/3/09 post I've been to Israel too]
Reading the following extract from her post, Israel, image, and lactose intolerance (4/5/09), it's obvious that our green LA girl is indeed excruciatingly so - at least when it comes to the dynamics of the Middle East conflict, of which there is zero reference in her post. What fascinates, though, in her description of rambamming foreplay, is the flickering awareness that something isn't quite right, an awareness unfortunately snuffed out by some quality wining & dining at day's end:
"After an uneventful 14-hr flight I'm now in Israel! I'm here with 3 other American journalists on a clean tech tour organized by the America-Israel Frienship League, self-described as a 'non-sectarian, non-political, not-for-profit organization strengthening ties between the people of the United States and Israel'. The League organizes a whole bunch of such trips for differenent American groups every year - and is very open about its goals: To show that there's more to Israel than the Middle East conflict. Basically, Israel's trying to change its image - to rebrand. I've already developed mixed feelings about these efforts, which seem necessary because the general perception of life in Israel is skewed, but [they] also make me queasy at times. For example, I could empathize when one tour organizer talked about how people around the world think of pasta when they think of Italy, but guns when they think of Israel - and how she felt this image did not at all reflect what living Israel was actually like. I felt less comfortable when a government employee involved with this rebranding process went so far as to say it's more important for Israel to be perceived well, than to be right - and that perception is what was of great importance, politically or otherwise. This comment I found strangely chilling, if very LA. I also found the candor with which everyone talked about this rebranding effort - Yes, the word rebranding was actually used, and plans to announce a new tagline of sorts ('like New York's Big Apple'') were discussed - very refreshing... These conversations, BTW, happened over dinner at a Chinese restaurant near Tel Aviv... The meal included everything from sushi rolls to what looked like mini empanadas to made-from-concentrate lemonade to a rich chocolate souffle to what I believe was a lamb-and-veggies stirfry. One of my fave things about Israel so far: The kosher restaurants, which are very convenient for a lactose-intolerant person like me."
How many of our own rambammed* even have Siel's flickering awareness that something's not quite right here? [See my 30/3/09 post I've been to Israel too]
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Miranda Does Israel
I've already covered Daily/Sunday Telegraph 'journalist', Miranda Devine's recent Jewish Board of Deputies' rambamming in Israel in my posts Dear Miranda... (31/10/10) and Dear Miranda... 2 (6/11/10). Those wishing to know more, however, might be interested in her "chat" with this week's Australian Jewish News. Some quotes and my commentary:
Miranda writes that, during her 5 day junket, "[w]e met rabbis, journalists, students, peace activists, Israeli settlers, Palestinians in east Jerusalem and in a West Bank refugee camp, and Israelis from the highest level of government."
Alas, for dedicated students of rambamming such as myself, Miranda's we is never disclosed. Nor do we learn the names and affiliations of those rabbis, students, or peace activists. As for the Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank refugee camp, it seems that their story was obviously insufficiently compelling to make the chat.
Of the journalists, so-called, Miranda mentions only The Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh, whom she praises for his use of the expression "balance of terror," cited as an example of his "rare insight into both sides of the conflict" Precisely how this Cold War term, implying nuclear parity, applies to the Palestinians and their Israeli overlords is anybody's guess, but hey, credit where credit's due for Miranda's admirable devotion to recycling, given that, in reporting an earlier chat with Abu T in May, she also alluded to his "rare insight into both sides of the conflict." (Why 'balance of terror' feels safer than the peace process, SMH, 13/5/10. See my 19/5/10 post A Real Journalist.)
No, the only ones who really matter in Miranda's chat are those Israelis from the highest level of government, such as Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon whose rare insight (accompanied, no doubt, by the famous Israeli Nu, zeh barur, lo? shrug*) is that in an age of "instant food," everybody wants an "instant peace" already. Unfortunately, Miranda's trip was so "packed," she simply didn't have the time to ask him how long peace would take given that the occupied Palestinians have been hanging out for it since 1967. [*Nu, it's clear, no?]
No time for questions while a chopper is waiting to whisk you off to Israel's Stalingrad, the smoking ruin which was once the town of Sderot: "We flew by helicopter south to Sderot, where dozens of Israelis have been killed* and wounded in the past decade by rockets fired from nearby Gaza. We saw burned-out missiles, piled in neat stacks at the back of the police station, and labelled with the date they arrived. One bore the previous week's date. People are starting to return to the town after the rockets slowed in 2008, but you can understand the fear Israelis have, with a hostile Hamas-controlled Gaza in their midst, and the future prospect of a similar threat in the West Bank." [*9 killed, according to sderotmedia.org.il (What you need to know about Kassams)]
Yes, folks, Nu zeh barur, lo? The other side of the balance of terror eternally twirls its moustache and gleefully rubs its bloody hands together as it plots the next fiendish mini-Holocaust, while the Israeli side cows in fear at the orgy of destruction to come: "And here you see why the Gaza blockade exists, as Israel's enemies boast that smuggled Iranian-built rockets can reach Jerusalem, or shoot down planes at Ben Gurion Airport." Of course, if only Miranda had had the time, she'd have read the documents recently obtained, after a long court battle with the Israeli government, by Israeli NGO, Gisha - Legal Centre for Freedom of Movement, which reveal that the blockade has bugger all to do with security and everything to do with what Israel has been perpetrating on the Palestinians since before she was even a gleam in her father's eye: a deliberate and systematic policy of collective punishment, in this instance taking the form of "a policy of deliberate reduction" of basic goods, including food and fuel. (gisha.org) Well... she would, wouldn't she?
Asked what she learnt from "the mission" and if her views had changed, Miranda reveals a startling optimism. She was, she opines, "more optimistic about a two-state solution along the 1947 borders before I went to Israel."
So, while her fellow pundits' reference point is the 1967 Green Line, implying a Palestinian state on just 22% of historic Palestine, Miranda valiantly sticks to the borders proposed by the UN in 1947, implying a Palestinian state on 46% of Palestine! Ah, but that was before she went to Israel where her eyes were miraculously opened: "We flew in a helicopter over the country and saw how tiny it is - just 18 kilometres at its narrowest point between the West Bank and the Mediterranean coast, its most populated and vulnerable territory." So, stuff the 47... err... 67 'borders', let's go whole hog!
But, just as Miranda's vision could do cinemascope, so too could it do microscope: "We stood on a hill above Gaza and saw the rubble on top of a plateau where Israeli settlements had been razed." She's looking down on the Gaza Strip and the only rubble she can see is that of razed Israeli settlements? Now that's what I call focus!
From razed settlements to crazed settlers: "Later we met some of the settlers further north at Gush Etzion. While I admired their enterprise and courage, I saw how difficult it would be to persuade these people, some of whom had only arrived from the US or Russia in the last 10 or 20 years, to leave land they have felt connected to for 3000 years." Courage? Miranda admires the courage of those who already have a home, but choose, on the basis of some twisted ethno-religious fantasy, to avail themselves of Israel's racist and discriminatory Law of Return and become spear carriers for the colonisation of the land of another people. Oh, yes, and do it while protected by one of the world's most powerful military forces possessed of the very latest in state-of-the-art American weaponry. Felt connected for 3,000 years? Yes, Miranda, the tooth fairy lives.
But there's more! Miranda on the Australian media's coverage of the Middle East: "The left-leaning media, in particular, is unashamadly slanted against Israel, in my opinion, without a real grasp of the wide range of views among Israelis, all of which are enthusiastically promoted by their own media." My God, where to begin? Here we have baseless assertion piled on baseless assertion: 1) that Australia has a left-leaning media; 2) that this is unashamedly slanted against Israel; 3) that Israelis hold a wide range of views (on what exactly?); 4) that these are reflected in the Israeli media; 5) and that it's the alleged left-leaning media's inability to grasp 3) and 4) that results in anti-Israel bias. To point out only the bleeding obvious with respect to assertions 3) and 4), if Israeli thinking is really so wonderfully diverse, how come it never seems to translate into even so much as a dent in Israel's ongoing colonisation of Palestine?
On the other hand, maybe "[p]art of the bias... may stem simply from the natural tendency of the media to support the underdog." Hello? The underdog? Whatever happened to the Palestinians as the major half of the balance of terror equation?
Finally, "I think I present reasonable, fair-minded opinions similar to those held by most Australians, but I often do so in a provocative or unpredictable way. You don't have the luxury of politely sitting on a fence when you write a newspaper column twice a week." IOW, to hell with homework, critical thinking, and considered opinion, just shoot from the lip.
Miranda writes that, during her 5 day junket, "[w]e met rabbis, journalists, students, peace activists, Israeli settlers, Palestinians in east Jerusalem and in a West Bank refugee camp, and Israelis from the highest level of government."
Alas, for dedicated students of rambamming such as myself, Miranda's we is never disclosed. Nor do we learn the names and affiliations of those rabbis, students, or peace activists. As for the Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank refugee camp, it seems that their story was obviously insufficiently compelling to make the chat.
Of the journalists, so-called, Miranda mentions only The Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh, whom she praises for his use of the expression "balance of terror," cited as an example of his "rare insight into both sides of the conflict" Precisely how this Cold War term, implying nuclear parity, applies to the Palestinians and their Israeli overlords is anybody's guess, but hey, credit where credit's due for Miranda's admirable devotion to recycling, given that, in reporting an earlier chat with Abu T in May, she also alluded to his "rare insight into both sides of the conflict." (Why 'balance of terror' feels safer than the peace process, SMH, 13/5/10. See my 19/5/10 post A Real Journalist.)
No, the only ones who really matter in Miranda's chat are those Israelis from the highest level of government, such as Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon whose rare insight (accompanied, no doubt, by the famous Israeli Nu, zeh barur, lo? shrug*) is that in an age of "instant food," everybody wants an "instant peace" already. Unfortunately, Miranda's trip was so "packed," she simply didn't have the time to ask him how long peace would take given that the occupied Palestinians have been hanging out for it since 1967. [*Nu, it's clear, no?]
No time for questions while a chopper is waiting to whisk you off to Israel's Stalingrad, the smoking ruin which was once the town of Sderot: "We flew by helicopter south to Sderot, where dozens of Israelis have been killed* and wounded in the past decade by rockets fired from nearby Gaza. We saw burned-out missiles, piled in neat stacks at the back of the police station, and labelled with the date they arrived. One bore the previous week's date. People are starting to return to the town after the rockets slowed in 2008, but you can understand the fear Israelis have, with a hostile Hamas-controlled Gaza in their midst, and the future prospect of a similar threat in the West Bank." [*9 killed, according to sderotmedia.org.il (What you need to know about Kassams)]
Yes, folks, Nu zeh barur, lo? The other side of the balance of terror eternally twirls its moustache and gleefully rubs its bloody hands together as it plots the next fiendish mini-Holocaust, while the Israeli side cows in fear at the orgy of destruction to come: "And here you see why the Gaza blockade exists, as Israel's enemies boast that smuggled Iranian-built rockets can reach Jerusalem, or shoot down planes at Ben Gurion Airport." Of course, if only Miranda had had the time, she'd have read the documents recently obtained, after a long court battle with the Israeli government, by Israeli NGO, Gisha - Legal Centre for Freedom of Movement, which reveal that the blockade has bugger all to do with security and everything to do with what Israel has been perpetrating on the Palestinians since before she was even a gleam in her father's eye: a deliberate and systematic policy of collective punishment, in this instance taking the form of "a policy of deliberate reduction" of basic goods, including food and fuel. (gisha.org) Well... she would, wouldn't she?
Asked what she learnt from "the mission" and if her views had changed, Miranda reveals a startling optimism. She was, she opines, "more optimistic about a two-state solution along the 1947 borders before I went to Israel."
So, while her fellow pundits' reference point is the 1967 Green Line, implying a Palestinian state on just 22% of historic Palestine, Miranda valiantly sticks to the borders proposed by the UN in 1947, implying a Palestinian state on 46% of Palestine! Ah, but that was before she went to Israel where her eyes were miraculously opened: "We flew in a helicopter over the country and saw how tiny it is - just 18 kilometres at its narrowest point between the West Bank and the Mediterranean coast, its most populated and vulnerable territory." So, stuff the 47... err... 67 'borders', let's go whole hog!
But, just as Miranda's vision could do cinemascope, so too could it do microscope: "We stood on a hill above Gaza and saw the rubble on top of a plateau where Israeli settlements had been razed." She's looking down on the Gaza Strip and the only rubble she can see is that of razed Israeli settlements? Now that's what I call focus!
From razed settlements to crazed settlers: "Later we met some of the settlers further north at Gush Etzion. While I admired their enterprise and courage, I saw how difficult it would be to persuade these people, some of whom had only arrived from the US or Russia in the last 10 or 20 years, to leave land they have felt connected to for 3000 years." Courage? Miranda admires the courage of those who already have a home, but choose, on the basis of some twisted ethno-religious fantasy, to avail themselves of Israel's racist and discriminatory Law of Return and become spear carriers for the colonisation of the land of another people. Oh, yes, and do it while protected by one of the world's most powerful military forces possessed of the very latest in state-of-the-art American weaponry. Felt connected for 3,000 years? Yes, Miranda, the tooth fairy lives.
But there's more! Miranda on the Australian media's coverage of the Middle East: "The left-leaning media, in particular, is unashamadly slanted against Israel, in my opinion, without a real grasp of the wide range of views among Israelis, all of which are enthusiastically promoted by their own media." My God, where to begin? Here we have baseless assertion piled on baseless assertion: 1) that Australia has a left-leaning media; 2) that this is unashamedly slanted against Israel; 3) that Israelis hold a wide range of views (on what exactly?); 4) that these are reflected in the Israeli media; 5) and that it's the alleged left-leaning media's inability to grasp 3) and 4) that results in anti-Israel bias. To point out only the bleeding obvious with respect to assertions 3) and 4), if Israeli thinking is really so wonderfully diverse, how come it never seems to translate into even so much as a dent in Israel's ongoing colonisation of Palestine?
On the other hand, maybe "[p]art of the bias... may stem simply from the natural tendency of the media to support the underdog." Hello? The underdog? Whatever happened to the Palestinians as the major half of the balance of terror equation?
Finally, "I think I present reasonable, fair-minded opinions similar to those held by most Australians, but I often do so in a provocative or unpredictable way. You don't have the luxury of politely sitting on a fence when you write a newspaper column twice a week." IOW, to hell with homework, critical thinking, and considered opinion, just shoot from the lip.
How Zionist are The Greens?
"If we wish to found a State today, we shall not do it in the way which would have been the only possible one a thousand years ago. It is foolish to revert to old stages of civilization, as many Zionists would like to do. Supposing, for example, we were obliged to clear a country of wild beasts, we should not set about the task in the fashion of Europeans of the fifth century. We should not take spear and lance and go out singly in pursuit of bears; we would organize a large and active hunting party, drive the animals together, and throw a melinite bomb into their midst." (Theodor Herzl, The Jewish State, 1896, pp 93-94)
Yeah... right, Theo. And today your large and active hunting party is called the IDF. It has driven the bears into a small (Gaza) strip of land and routinely throws bombs of all varieties into their midst.
Which talk of bears brings me to The Greens:
"I have just received a circular letter from Michael Danby MP in support of Martin Foley as the Labor candidate for Albert Park in the forthcoming state election. It's a perfectly good letter, outlining Mr Foley's excellent track record and promising more of the same in the future. But why did Mr Danby have to ruin it by adding this PS: 'Remember if you vote Liberal, your preferences could go to the anti-Israel Greens political party'? Well, of course they could. But where's the evidence that The Greens, which has many Jewish members, is 'anti-Israel'?" Steve Brook Elwood, Vic (The Australian Jewish News, 26/11/10)
Well?
Yeah... right, Theo. And today your large and active hunting party is called the IDF. It has driven the bears into a small (Gaza) strip of land and routinely throws bombs of all varieties into their midst.
Which talk of bears brings me to The Greens:
"I have just received a circular letter from Michael Danby MP in support of Martin Foley as the Labor candidate for Albert Park in the forthcoming state election. It's a perfectly good letter, outlining Mr Foley's excellent track record and promising more of the same in the future. But why did Mr Danby have to ruin it by adding this PS: 'Remember if you vote Liberal, your preferences could go to the anti-Israel Greens political party'? Well, of course they could. But where's the evidence that The Greens, which has many Jewish members, is 'anti-Israel'?" Steve Brook Elwood, Vic (The Australian Jewish News, 26/11/10)
Well?
Friday, November 26, 2010
The Wit & Wisdom of The Angry Arab
The latest gems from The Angry Arab News Service, polished by Yours Truly:
"Some people, both Easterners and Westerners, often observe that Arabs blame too many of their problems on Israel. I say that we should blame Israel far more than we do. Its dirty hands are involved in just about every injustice, war, sedition and fragmentation in the Middle East. And there has never been any fight for justice anywhere in the region in which Israel has not been on the side of the oppressors, the abusers and the killers." (5/11/10)
"As I was reading yet another favorable review of an Israeli author in The New York Times this morning, I thought: Has there ever been an Israeli author who hasn't been reviewed favorably in the US press. Just one? And have you noticed that, no matter what an Israeli writes - poetry, fiction, speeches, or hate speech - he/she gets rave reviews in the US? I mean, I'm dying for just one Israeli book to be citicized in the US. Only one. And have you noticed that every review by an Israeli, no matter how warmongering and terrorist his background or his present, contains at least one or more words about his/her 'anguish'? Oh, I get it now. Is it anti-Semitic to review an Israeli author unfavorably in the US? PS: Do a google search of the words 'Israeli' and 'anguish' and tell me what you find." (17/11/10)
"Tel Aviv University's Middle East & Islamic Studies (& Hate) Association of Israel is launching a new journal on Middle Eastern women. (Sharqiyya) This is like the Nazi Party launching a journal on Jewish studies, or the South African apartheid regime launching a journal on African studies, or the Bush Presidential Library launching a journal on peace studies. Such audacity on the part of a racist and terrorist regime! What will this journal be carrying? Confessions of jailed female Palestinian prisoners extracted under torture? Of course, I shall be providing no links." (18/11/10)
"I reported yesterday that The Middle East & Islamic Studies (& Hate) Association of Israel is launching a journal devoted to Middle Eastern women. I am told that they found a token Arab, Mahmoud Yazbak, to sit on its board. I don't know the guy but I assume he's one of these: Stand up, Mahmoud! Sit down, Mahmoud! Good boy, Mahmoud! Now, come and have your treat.
"I have just received an advance copy of the first issue. Most juicy! Here are the feature articles: 1) How to torture Arab women, Israeli-style 2) Discover how Israeli troops sexually harass Arab women 3) Why Golda Meir is a model for women the world over: learn all about her orders to bomb women and children in Palestinian refugee camps 4) The anguish of female Israeli soldiers when they torture and kill Arabs." (20/11/10)
"I was just thinking: Practicing Muslims pray 5 times a day. I curse Israel at least 50 times a day." (21/11/10)
"Here is the secret recipe for Sabra Hummus obtained recently by The Angry Arab: 1 cup hummus; 4 cups tahini; 5 cups crushed cockroaches (must have wings); 3 heaped spoonfuls of rat feces; 4 cups of *** from the trash can of a sitting Israeli prime minister; 3 cups of vomit from an Israeli soldier fresh from his killing spree; 3 spoonfuls of Ariel Sharon's bedside drool; a pinch of sand from the nearest street. Enjoy boycotting Sabra Hummus." (25/11/10)
"Some people, both Easterners and Westerners, often observe that Arabs blame too many of their problems on Israel. I say that we should blame Israel far more than we do. Its dirty hands are involved in just about every injustice, war, sedition and fragmentation in the Middle East. And there has never been any fight for justice anywhere in the region in which Israel has not been on the side of the oppressors, the abusers and the killers." (5/11/10)
"As I was reading yet another favorable review of an Israeli author in The New York Times this morning, I thought: Has there ever been an Israeli author who hasn't been reviewed favorably in the US press. Just one? And have you noticed that, no matter what an Israeli writes - poetry, fiction, speeches, or hate speech - he/she gets rave reviews in the US? I mean, I'm dying for just one Israeli book to be citicized in the US. Only one. And have you noticed that every review by an Israeli, no matter how warmongering and terrorist his background or his present, contains at least one or more words about his/her 'anguish'? Oh, I get it now. Is it anti-Semitic to review an Israeli author unfavorably in the US? PS: Do a google search of the words 'Israeli' and 'anguish' and tell me what you find." (17/11/10)
"Tel Aviv University's Middle East & Islamic Studies (& Hate) Association of Israel is launching a new journal on Middle Eastern women. (Sharqiyya) This is like the Nazi Party launching a journal on Jewish studies, or the South African apartheid regime launching a journal on African studies, or the Bush Presidential Library launching a journal on peace studies. Such audacity on the part of a racist and terrorist regime! What will this journal be carrying? Confessions of jailed female Palestinian prisoners extracted under torture? Of course, I shall be providing no links." (18/11/10)
"I reported yesterday that The Middle East & Islamic Studies (& Hate) Association of Israel is launching a journal devoted to Middle Eastern women. I am told that they found a token Arab, Mahmoud Yazbak, to sit on its board. I don't know the guy but I assume he's one of these: Stand up, Mahmoud! Sit down, Mahmoud! Good boy, Mahmoud! Now, come and have your treat.
"I have just received an advance copy of the first issue. Most juicy! Here are the feature articles: 1) How to torture Arab women, Israeli-style 2) Discover how Israeli troops sexually harass Arab women 3) Why Golda Meir is a model for women the world over: learn all about her orders to bomb women and children in Palestinian refugee camps 4) The anguish of female Israeli soldiers when they torture and kill Arabs." (20/11/10)
"I was just thinking: Practicing Muslims pray 5 times a day. I curse Israel at least 50 times a day." (21/11/10)
"Here is the secret recipe for Sabra Hummus obtained recently by The Angry Arab: 1 cup hummus; 4 cups tahini; 5 cups crushed cockroaches (must have wings); 3 heaped spoonfuls of rat feces; 4 cups of *** from the trash can of a sitting Israeli prime minister; 3 cups of vomit from an Israeli soldier fresh from his killing spree; 3 spoonfuls of Ariel Sharon's bedside drool; a pinch of sand from the nearest street. Enjoy boycotting Sabra Hummus." (25/11/10)
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Burning Question
How come 'lost Roman tribes' look like Romans...
"Genetic testing of villagers in a remote part of China has shown that nearly two-thirds of their DNA is of Caucasion origin, lending support to the theory that they may be descended from a 'lost legion' of Roman soldiers... Many of the villagers have blue or green eyes, long noses and even fair hair, prompting speculation that they have European blood." (Genetic tests may prove theory of China's lost Roman legion, Nick Squires, Telegraph, London/ Sydney Morning Herald, 25/11/10)
... but 'lost Jewish tribes' are indistinguishable from their fellow countrymen?
"A 19-metre-tall Jewish menorah... rises from a mountain overlooking the city of Manado, courtesy of the provincial government. Israeli flags decorate motorcycle taxi stands, one near a six-year-old synagogue... Long known as a Christian stronghold and more recently a home to evangelical and charismatic Christian groups, the Manado area in northern Indonesia has become the unlikely setting for increasingly public displays of pro-Jewish sentiments as people have embraced the faith of their Dutch-Jewish ancestors... They researched Judaism at an internet cafe in Manado, turning to Google for answers... 'We're just trying to be good Jews', said Toar Palilingan, 27, who, wearing a black coat and a broad-brimmed hat in the ultra-Orthodox style, led a Sabbath dinner at his family home recently with two regulars. 'But if you compare us to Jews in Jerusalem or Brooklyn', said Mr Palilingan, now also known as Yaakov Baruch, 'we're not their yet'." (Indonesia's novice Jews turn to Rabbi Google, Norimitsu Onishi, The New York Times/Sydney Morning Herald, 24/11/10)
"Genetic testing of villagers in a remote part of China has shown that nearly two-thirds of their DNA is of Caucasion origin, lending support to the theory that they may be descended from a 'lost legion' of Roman soldiers... Many of the villagers have blue or green eyes, long noses and even fair hair, prompting speculation that they have European blood." (Genetic tests may prove theory of China's lost Roman legion, Nick Squires, Telegraph, London/ Sydney Morning Herald, 25/11/10)
... but 'lost Jewish tribes' are indistinguishable from their fellow countrymen?
"A 19-metre-tall Jewish menorah... rises from a mountain overlooking the city of Manado, courtesy of the provincial government. Israeli flags decorate motorcycle taxi stands, one near a six-year-old synagogue... Long known as a Christian stronghold and more recently a home to evangelical and charismatic Christian groups, the Manado area in northern Indonesia has become the unlikely setting for increasingly public displays of pro-Jewish sentiments as people have embraced the faith of their Dutch-Jewish ancestors... They researched Judaism at an internet cafe in Manado, turning to Google for answers... 'We're just trying to be good Jews', said Toar Palilingan, 27, who, wearing a black coat and a broad-brimmed hat in the ultra-Orthodox style, led a Sabbath dinner at his family home recently with two regulars. 'But if you compare us to Jews in Jerusalem or Brooklyn', said Mr Palilingan, now also known as Yaakov Baruch, 'we're not their yet'." (Indonesia's novice Jews turn to Rabbi Google, Norimitsu Onishi, The New York Times/Sydney Morning Herald, 24/11/10)
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
From Israel With Love
Chinese drones? Shock, horror! We'll all be rooned!:
"China is ramping up production of unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs] in an apparent bid to catch up with the US and Israel... The US and Israel are the world leaders in developing such pilotless drones, which have played a major role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and which analysts say could one day replace the fighter jet." (China's drones could soon challenge US, Jeremy Page, The Wall Street Journal/The Australian, 23/11/10)
Those cunning oriental untermenschen! How the heck could they have caught up with USrael on this? Well...
"On Monday morning, after weeks of undercover investigation, an elite police investigative unit detained the CEO, owners and some of the employees of the EMIT company under suspicion that they illegally sold military technology to the Chinese government. Detectives from the police's International Serious Crimes Unit detained the suspects for further questioning, and after doing so, made public allegations describing a web of forgeries and lies through which the suspects allegedly conspired to sell the sensitive military technology - including the Sparrow Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) - to the east Asian superpower.
"The Kadima-based company is suspected of selling UAVs without receiving governmental clearance to do so, and of exporting military-related research to Chinese sources. They were also suspected of forging documents in order to export the equipment from Israel. Police would not say whether EMIT's founder and managing director, Ephraim Menashy, was or was not the lead suspect in the case. Menashy was the chief pilot and the test pilot for the UAV MALAT division of Israel's aviation industries during 1981 -1991. The company's CEO is suspected of bypassing export laws by claiming that he was lending the Sparrow UAV and its accompanying equipment to China in order to display it at a weapons exhibition. According to police allegations, once the CEO's actions were uncovered, he began a deliberate campaign to destroy evidence, including changing and forging contracts that he had made with the customers in question. Attorney Devora Hen, who was representing EMIT, said in an interview on Army Radio Monday that 'The CEO denies all of the incidents ascribed to him, and especially the way in which they were presented in the press'. The Sparrow, released in 2004, is, according to the EMIT company, already in use by an Asian navy. Among its features are superior surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and remote warfare operations. EMIT is one of the world leaders in the development of UAVs, and works with Israel Aircraft Industries, Elbit and other top Israeli military developers, as well as US-based Kollsman and Canada-based Oerlikon Contraves. EMIT designs, develops and manufactures cost-effective UAV systems, specialising in avionics, autopilot systems and full size and compact GCS (ground control stations) with up to 200km communication range. This is not the first time that an Israeli company has run into legal and diplomatic problems over UAV sales to China. In 1994 IAI sold China Harpy drones, a killer UAV that hovers over enemy anti-missile batteries and radar systems and then destroys them by diving into them. The scandal surrounding that sale still plagues US-Israel relations, especially in the field of military technology cooperation." (Man questioned for illegal UAV sales, Rebecca Anna Stoil, The Jerusalem Post, 22/5/06)
For more on the (ever-spreading) joy of drones see my posts The Big Picture (3/11/10) & Supping With the Devil (19/5/08).
"China is ramping up production of unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs] in an apparent bid to catch up with the US and Israel... The US and Israel are the world leaders in developing such pilotless drones, which have played a major role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and which analysts say could one day replace the fighter jet." (China's drones could soon challenge US, Jeremy Page, The Wall Street Journal/The Australian, 23/11/10)
Those cunning oriental untermenschen! How the heck could they have caught up with USrael on this? Well...
"On Monday morning, after weeks of undercover investigation, an elite police investigative unit detained the CEO, owners and some of the employees of the EMIT company under suspicion that they illegally sold military technology to the Chinese government. Detectives from the police's International Serious Crimes Unit detained the suspects for further questioning, and after doing so, made public allegations describing a web of forgeries and lies through which the suspects allegedly conspired to sell the sensitive military technology - including the Sparrow Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) - to the east Asian superpower.
"The Kadima-based company is suspected of selling UAVs without receiving governmental clearance to do so, and of exporting military-related research to Chinese sources. They were also suspected of forging documents in order to export the equipment from Israel. Police would not say whether EMIT's founder and managing director, Ephraim Menashy, was or was not the lead suspect in the case. Menashy was the chief pilot and the test pilot for the UAV MALAT division of Israel's aviation industries during 1981 -1991. The company's CEO is suspected of bypassing export laws by claiming that he was lending the Sparrow UAV and its accompanying equipment to China in order to display it at a weapons exhibition. According to police allegations, once the CEO's actions were uncovered, he began a deliberate campaign to destroy evidence, including changing and forging contracts that he had made with the customers in question. Attorney Devora Hen, who was representing EMIT, said in an interview on Army Radio Monday that 'The CEO denies all of the incidents ascribed to him, and especially the way in which they were presented in the press'. The Sparrow, released in 2004, is, according to the EMIT company, already in use by an Asian navy. Among its features are superior surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and remote warfare operations. EMIT is one of the world leaders in the development of UAVs, and works with Israel Aircraft Industries, Elbit and other top Israeli military developers, as well as US-based Kollsman and Canada-based Oerlikon Contraves. EMIT designs, develops and manufactures cost-effective UAV systems, specialising in avionics, autopilot systems and full size and compact GCS (ground control stations) with up to 200km communication range. This is not the first time that an Israeli company has run into legal and diplomatic problems over UAV sales to China. In 1994 IAI sold China Harpy drones, a killer UAV that hovers over enemy anti-missile batteries and radar systems and then destroys them by diving into them. The scandal surrounding that sale still plagues US-Israel relations, especially in the field of military technology cooperation." (Man questioned for illegal UAV sales, Rebecca Anna Stoil, The Jerusalem Post, 22/5/06)
For more on the (ever-spreading) joy of drones see my posts The Big Picture (3/11/10) & Supping With the Devil (19/5/08).
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