Lebanese Daily Star amazingly objective.

It's widely accepted that the Euro-American media are more objective and more open to discussion and feedback than the Arab media. Most online newspapers these days ask for readers' input, and most have forums and other areas where people can comment on the articles and editorials.

Generally though after reading an article you have to go to another part of the site, usually the forums, in order to express your opinions. The one and only newspaper on the web, that I know of anyway, that actually includes an option for commenting immediately at the end of each and every story is the Lebanese Daily Star. A very simple thing, but for some reason virtually no one does this. And the last people I'd expect to do it would be an Arab paper. (Well, actually the last people I think most people would expect. I myself am not that surprised, since I've never accepted this prejudice that claims that the Arabs are uncivilized and democratic people who don't care what their people think.)

Like I say a simple thing, but rather remarkable. And encouraging. I'm also surprised at the objective and sophisticated tone of their reporting in general. Witness this article discussing the reasons for Turkey's rather sudden chill towards Israel. I would have expected an Arab paper to almost automatically blame it on Israel's actions, but they seem to suggest that it's due more to Turkish politics than to anything Israel's done. In fact they seem to be defending Israel's positions here, which I'm sure would surprise those who think that all Arabs and all Muslims (not the same thing, by the way) blame everything on the Israelis.


The language is quite circumspect and politic, and maybe I'm reading a bit too much between the lines, but it seems to me that one of the things that they are implying is that if Turkey wants to be accepted as part of the European Union then it only follows that they have to take an anti-Israeli, if not openly anti-Semitic, stance.

Which would at least support my long-held contention that the major source of opposition to Israeli policies, and indeed to its very existence, is not in the Muslim world, but in Christian Europe. I know that there are still many people who claim that European opposition to Israel is not anti-Semitic, but let's not fool ourselves. The British, French, Russians, and Poles, in particular, have been trying to wipe out the Jews for centuries. (The Germans too, of course, but they at least seem to have learned their lesson. And actually the only reason that all of the Jews were in Germany in the first place is that they had been driven out of most of the other countries in Europe.) No one can deny that it ws Christian persecution in Europe that drove the Jews out in the first place. (A movement that began during the 19th century, long before Hitler, popular mythology notwithstanding.) The fact is that the Jews and the Arabs have been living peacefully in the mideast for thousands of years. The only times they ever seem to have been in conflict is when European Christians show up and start stirring up trouble, using the policy of divide-and-conquer in order to take control. (Check out the history of the Crusades.) And throughout the glory years of the great early Islamic civilizations, some of the most tolerant societies which have ever existed, Jews were more than welcome and even achieved high ranks in the various courts.

But I was talking about the Daily Star, and shouldn't digress like that. All in all I'm amazed at the positions their editorials and articles take. They recommend that the Saudis allow women to vote, they question how much good Arafat is doing the Palestinians, and take other positions you wouldn't expect from an Arab paper. And perhaps those who claim that there are no democracies in the Arab world, are unaware that Lebanon is certainly one. In fact, isn't it curious that two of the most progressive states in the Middle East, Lebanon and Jordan, both happen to border on Israel?






Dozens of swastikas appear in San Francisco.

The San Francisco Examiner reports that dozens of swastikas were scrawled on the windows of stores displaying campaign posters for a Jewish candidate to the SF Board of Supervisors.


As I said in the previous post, I can't say that I'm in the least surprised or even really that shocked. In a post on Orcinus they express surprise that this could happen in San Francisco, supposedly a "liberal" city. But given the degree and intensity of the attacks on Jews (disguised as attacks on Israel) in the leftist and liberal blogosphere, I would think that SF would be one of the first places this type of thing would happen.

And it's not going to stop there. The next step will be direct assaults on Jewish stores, then on Jewish homes, and then to direct attacks on Jews themselves. It's only a matter of time. And with the likelihood of a Catholic like Kerry getting elected, I certainly wouldn't expect the government to do anything about it. If anything, I'd expect them to tacitly encourage it, beginning with supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Jews really need to wake up to the degree of danger that they are in. Not just the Israelis, but all Jews everywhere. The situation is just as dangerous as it was during the 1930s, if not worse. Except that this time it's not just the Christians but the Muslims as well. These people are totally committed to the complete elimination of Jews from the planet. And too many Jews are wasting time and energy trying to figure out why this is, and, even worse, trying to negotiate with them. Who cares why it is? Let's fight first, and then later try to analyze the why's and wherefore's.

"What's the difference between a Jew and a pizza? A pizza doesn't cry on its way to the oven." -- Joe Kennedy, father of Kerry mentor Edward Kennedy.



Jewish tourists assaulted at Auschwitz.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that a group of Jews touring Auschwitz were assaulted by three French-speaking individuals.


I can't say I'm surprised in the least. The Christians and Muslims in the world don't seem able to accept responsibility for their actions, and are looking to blame someone else for their problems. Same old story.

I'm really blown away by the increasing amount of anti-Semitism in so many of the leftist blogs these days. People like Norm Chomsky, sites like Counterpunch, Cursor, Yellow Times and so many more just keep repeating these lies about the Israelis, and, as always, if you repeat lies over and over again eventually people start believing them.






Syria rejects Israeli peace overture.

I note in the post below how William Safire claims that American policies are pushing various countries there toward peace and democracy. I quote his entry on Iraq, but he also mentions Syria.


Which is why this article in the Guardian, Syria rejects Israeli offer of talks, reporting that the Syrians have rejected requests from the Israelis for peace talks as "not serious" is so interesting.


So it would seem that they do not really want peace, they just want to try to convince the international community that they do. Most likely because they're terrified of the US invading them from neighboring Iraq. But they began the 1967 war, not the Israelis.

Basically they want to negotiate with the US, not with Israel. As always, looking for someone else to blame for the problem, and trying to avoid dealing with the real issues. And they basically just want the Israelis to give in and withdraw, without addressing the real serious issue of the Golan Heights, which directly overlook Israel, and from attacks can be easily made.

At least the Guardian notes that Syria and Israel are still technically at war, which they have been since 1948, something that is NEVER mentioned in the many articles on the conflicts. Given the degree and extent of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in Britain these days that's rather surprising. I've read dozens, maybe hundreds, of articles from the British press on the subject, and I think this is the first time I've seen this mentioned.

The Israelis are also still technically at war with Saudi Arabia, and also have been since 1948, something else which is never mentioned. And the claim that they do not want peace would seem to be contradicted by the fact that they have successfully negotiated peace treaties with both Egypt and Jordan, and haven't had any problems since. And by the fact that in order to defuse tensions with the Syrians they withdrew their troops from southern Lebanon, where they have long battled Syrian-supported forces. But they're still "not serious."

You often read that the Israeli-Palestinian "conflict" could "lead to war." But the fact is that there has been an active state of war there since 1948. The reason that the Palestinians and other Arabs constantly refer to the 1967 borders is an attempt to create the impression that it all began then. To try to hide the fact that it all really began when the Arabs declared war in 1948, and that the Israelis, being totally committed to peaceful coexistence, then and now, only took measures in 1967 to protect itself after three separate wars were launched against it over the previous twenty years.

The Arabs also constantly demand that the Israelis respect the various UN resolutions that have been passed against it. But they conveniently ignore that in 1948 they totally refused to respect the original UN resolution which originally partitioned the lands, and continue to do so. You can't have it both ways folks. The first step towards peace is for the Arab countries to drop their declarations of war against Israel, and to recognize the country. Israel can't recognize Palestine until the other countries recognize it. It doesn't make sense, legally or otherwise.






27 Israeli pilots refuse to bomb civilians.

This story will certainly be widely covered. Here's the Scotsman's story.


This is good. Peace there cannot come from "road maps" and other proposals from outside the area. But only when the people there get so sick and tired of fighting that they simply lay down their arms and refuse to participate any more. This goes for both sides.



Dr. Edward Said has died.

NY Times article. Dr. Said was a prominent Islamic scholar, possibly the most well-known one in the world. I won't be crying any tears for him. He was a long-time supporter of Palestinian terrorism, and for many years, a strong supporter of Yasser Arafat. And he hated Jews with a passion, and supported the use of violence against them.


It's a very long article, which amounts to a good overview of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I won't say that he was an entirely evil person. For one thing, he at least realized that the two-state notion was unworkable, and was able to claim that the Palestinians and Israelis could live together in peace. But he used his position as a prominent scholar, probably the most famous Muslim academic in the world, to repeatedly attack the Israelis. I'm not claiming that the Israelis are entirely without blame, they certainly bear at least 1-2% of responsiblity for the troubles. But he genuinely hated Jews and in doing so helped to prolong the conflict.


To continue to claim that the Palestinians are victims is absurd. It takes two to tangle. The historical facts are that the Palestinians began this war by attacking Jews. And as a scholar it was his duty to acknowledge and publicize that. It's too bad, because at one point he was a somewhat competent scholar. His best known work, Orientalism, is an excellent overview of the distorted views Euro-Americans have of mideast and other cultures, and especially of how these views have developed over time. He should have stuck to scholarship.






Israel and the Palestinians.

The Guardian has a Weblog Special offering a wide variety of views on the conflict. Pretty nice job, all perspectives included.






Jews and Arabs have NOT been fighting for centuries.

Stumbled across this statement: "Why would the conflict between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East, bubbling for millennia, automatically be required one day to end?" I think a lot of people have this idea. But it's not true. The Jews and Arabs have been sharing the Middle East for a long time, and nearly always in peace. The great earlier Islamic civilizations were extremely sophisticated, as tolerant and multicultural as any in history. Jews played a prominent part in them, and rose to positions of power in many courts.

The current conflict is not ancient at all, but very recent, purely 20th century. Some of the more radical Palestinians and other Arabs have tried to give the impression that the Jews first showed up in 1948, and that they are interlopers who have occupied others' land, but there have been communities of Jews there all along. And, like I say, living mostly in peace with their neighbors. Their claim to the territory is unbroken and just as ancient as anybody elses, if not more so.

And like all of the other wars in this area, this one will end and people will live in peace. However, I must note that while there have many wars in this area going back a very long time, I don't know of one that was settled by negotiation. So far, at least, there's always been a winner and a loser. Unfortunately that's life. But people put it behind them. The Israelis and Palestinians hate each other now, but do they hate each other more than, say, the French and Germans did in 1945? Yet, they now get along very well.

Everything passes, everything changes. Never lose hope.



Saudi defends aid to bomber families.

Via Yahoo News and Reuters. As I noted in the previous post, it's not just the Palestinians that the Israelis are fighting, but the Saudis and Syrians as well. This article reports that the Saudi royal family is encouraging suicide bombers by giving aid to their families. They won't condemn them, but they do condemn the Israelis for trying to defend themselves.


Wouldn't this statement apply just as much, if not more to the Palestinians? So it's wrong to specifically target the individuals directly engaged in violence, but it's ok to attack people at random, killing those who never engaged in it themselves?


Their arrogance is unbelievable. Their position is that Israel is entirely responsible for the conflict, and the Arabs have never done anything wrong, hard as that is to believe. The fact that the Road Map recently proposed doesn't even address the outside support for Palestine would lead one to believe that the international community agrees with them.

None of the problems in the middle East, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Palestine, whatever, are going to be solved until the Saudis are dealt with. The Saudi royal family is at the center of it all. He's lying through his teeth when he says they're not financing them directly. They are.






Israel and Hamas in total war, but British may finally begin to act against Hamas.

Guardian article. As you probably already heard, Israel and Hamas have declared "total war" on each other. A very sad day for all. I sort of thought it was inevitable, given the so-called Road Map which led the Palestinians to believe that their attacks are causing the international community to support a state for them, but still sad.



There are no words to express how frightening Hamas' words are to Jews everywhere. "The Zionist entity." After 55 years they haven't even gotten to the point where they can use the term "Israel." But it's a clever use of propaganda. Refer to the opponent not as people, but as objects of some sort. An "entity," not a "nation."

It should be clear to anyone from these words that this has nothing whatsoever to do with a Palestinian state, but that that is just an excuse to hate and kill Jews. No one should fool themselves into thinking that this will stop with Israel either. They want to eliminate every Jew in the world, no matter where they are. They state so explicitly, and I believe them.

And that may finally be getting through to the British, who have long supported (not just tolerated, but supported) them as an expression of their own vicious anti-Semitism. Jack Straw, foreign secretary, announced that they are at least considering beginning to make efforts to cut off funding for Hamas.


It's about time, but given the history of British and European support for the Palestinians, I'll only believe it when I see it. Even better would be terminating British and other European arms sales to the other Arab nations, particularly Syria and Saudi Arabia, who consider themselves to be at war with Israel and have so since 1948, and who are the primary backers of Palestinian terrorism. Something the Road Map didn't address at all. Probably because the members of the so-called Quartet behind it are addicted to Arab oil.

I know most won't agree with me on that, and believe, for some reason, that the Americans and British support the Israelis. But it's not that simple. The British have a long and vicious history of anti-Semitism, full on Jew hating in fact. And the Americans (on the religious right in this administration) are Christian fanatics who, in their hearts, don't think anyone not of their religion is even human. They could care less about the Jews when it comes down to it.

As always, just one man's opinion.






Possible solution to the Israeli settlement problem.

One of the problems with the Israelis withdrawing from the settlements that they made is the unlikelihood of them simply being turned over to the Palestinians. Has anyone ever suggested making them a test case of whether the two peoples can live together in peace by inviting the Palestinians to share them?

Two nations living on separate sides of an armed frontier can never provide the framework for a lasting peace, only a temporary truce that will sooner or later break down again. They either live in peace together, or they remain at war.



Hamas breaks off peace talks.

The NY Times reports on the decision of Palestinian militants to reject peace talks and keep on fighting. So does the Guardian. Will someone please politely tell these people that the war is over. They lost.

It does appear however that, for the first time, there is a significant part of the Palestinian population that is tired of fighting and is ready to make peace. Maybe even enough to confront the militant minority.


The blindness of these people is unbelievable. "We have no alternative." Of course they have alternatives. All sorts of them.

The Guardian says it's a "surprise." I personally wouldn't use that term. But what do I know?

It also doesn't really make sense for them to continue fighting. Unless they have assurances of outside assistance, or they're aware of plans being made for other Arabs to mount a larger scale attack. Or just hoping. They don't really think the Jews will ever give up, do they?






Palestinians back out of road map to peace.

The Israelis have a saying about the Palestinians: "They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." And now they've done it again. The Guardian reported today that the new Palestinian Prime Minister has, for some reason, decided to back out of scheduled peace talks with Mr. Sharon. This despite Mr. Sharon's fighting vigorous opposition within his own party, and getting his cabinet to approve the latest so-called "road map" to peace.


Unbelievable. I can't find any sense in their actions. Apparently, they want the war to end before they begin the talks necessary to end the war, an endless circle leading nowhere. The fact remains that they don't want peace with Israel. They remain committed not to peaceful coexistence, but the entire elimination of Israel, exactly as is stated in the PLO's charter. (Just one man's opinion.)






Sharon embraces new peace efforts.

The NY Times reports that the Israeli Prime Minister is ready to give the latest peace plan a serious try, including the approval of a Palestinian state, despite concerted opposition from his own party and the continued attacks by Palestinian terrorists.


This is encouraging. Hopefully the Palestinians will respond in kind, although with Arafat still controlling the armed forces I have to be skeptical. But nothing lasts forever. Like I said before, the fighting will stop when both sides simply get sick and tired of it all, and care more about peace than anything else.


Disclaimer: Since this is a new blog and I'm just jumping into the fray, I have to say that I'm Jewish and a strong supporter of both Israel in general and Mr. Sharon in particular. I personally think the Palestinians are entirely responsible for the problems, and that only by their changing their position can anything else change. I don't see the possibility of peace while Arafat is at large, but maybe even he's had enough by now. I have much more to say on this, but I'll have to work into it gradually.






Palestinians in Gaza protest against terrorists -- finally!.

The Globe and Mail reports that residents of in the Gaza strip seem to have had enough of extremists causing trouble.


This is very encouraging. The only people who can stop the war between the Palestinians and the Israelis are themselves. All the road maps and proposals from outside the country just make things worse by leading folks to think someone from outside will fix it. The fighting will stop when people have had enough of it, when the Palestinians care more about ending the violence than they do about eliminating Israel, and vice versa. This is a big step forward from lynching those who suggest making peace.

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