Posted 1/31/2004 10:04:00 PM

1. Giving Chezi the last word:

http://israelnn.com/article.php3?id=3275


2. January 30, 2004


COMMENTARY


Dumb and Dumber

By HARRY STEIN

How much further can the academic Left sink?

You would like to think that academe hit rock bottom last summer, with the
release of a "study" at Berkeley "proving" that conservatives are mentally
ill. Conducted by four researchers, two of them Berkeley profs, it "culled
through 50 years of research literature about the psychology of
conservatism" to establish that the sickness manifests itself in rampant
intolerance and a conscienceless capacity for cruelty. "Hitler, Mussolini
and former President Ronald Reagan were individuals," the study
confidently asserted, "but all were right-wing conservatives because they
preached a return to an idealized past and condoned inequality in some
form."

Who would have thought that just four months later, another study, by
Dartmouth researchers, would challenge the Berkeley one for offensiveness
and idiocy? "Proof That Bigotry Can Tax The Brain," one newspaper headline
described the study. To discern the hidden presence of racial bias in
white thinking, the researchers confronted a group of "well-educated" and
"well-meaning" white undergraduates with images and words associated with
black people in the presence of a black "experimenter." Then, using
magnetic-resonance imaging, they measured activity in the students'
brains.

It turned out that the higher the test subject scored on the bias meter --
i.e. the more his brain showed agitation -- the worse he later performed
on a test of cognitive ability. The effect of contact with another race
taxed the biased white brain to the point of making it unable to
concentrate. Imagine the excitement of the researchers as "objective"
research confirmed what they'd known all along: that Jim Crow might be
dead and buried but that residual racism survives in white hearts -- even
if unconnected in any way to actual behavior.

Yet knowing who these kids were, isn't it just as likely that all the test
showed was their hypersensitivity not to be racist -- because they know
that's what it means to be a nice, ethical person? Perhaps true, study
author Jennifer Richeson replies, but struggling too hard not to appear
racist shows that one is uncomfortable with members of other races --
ergo, still biased. "[The test subjects are] being more careful when
talking to a black person. They're trying to make sure not to say the
wrong thing," she explains. Talk about defining bias down!


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Besides, why shouldn't they be careful? For these days, even the most
innocuous statement or action can bring down the devastating charge of
racism. Consider an incident at the University of Virginia just a week
before the Dartmouth study came out. In the midst of a free-wheeling
conversation about favorite sports teams, an employee of the school's
medical center said something like: "I can't believe in this day and age
that there's a sports team in our nation's capital named the Redskins.
That's as derogatory to Indians as having a team called the Niggers would
be to blacks."

Though nobody present was offended, since the context was perfectly
understood, the remark ignited a firestorm. The staff union at sponsored a
"protest against racism at U.Va.," and Julian Bond, national chairman of
the NAACP and a history professor at the school, demanded that the
offending employee make a public apology and undergo sensitivity training.
As night follows day, the university president issued a mealy-mouthed
statement, calling on all members of the university community "to be alert
to the rights and dignity of all our people and also alert to racial and
other insults."

All this in reaction to a guy trying his hardest to prove that he's not a
racist. At least they didn't strap him into Dartmouth's Race-O-Meter.

Mr. Stein, contributing editor to City Journal (from which this is
adapted), is the author of "The Girl Watchers Club," just out from
HarperCollins.

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107542547777416088,00.html


3. You might enjoy: http://www.newsonterror.com/

4. Israel's surrender on rhetoric:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1075349809318&p=1006953079865

5. For Tu B'shvat:
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11989

Posted 1/30/2004 11:42:00 AM

1. The mass murderer who blew up the bus in Jerusalem yesterday was not
only a member of the PLO under Arafat's direct command and control, he was
employed as a "policeman" by the Palestinian Authority, getting his
salary from Arafat.

2. A Note from the editor of the Jewish World Review:
Dearest readers:

A few moments ago, my heart sank.

Going through my e-mail, I learned that one of this publication's
periodic contributors, Chezi Goldberg, who dedicated his life to
working with "at risk" teens and who was originally from Toronto and
living in Jerusalem, was killed in today's bus bombing.

But what is so eerie was not his death --- that stung and I'm still
feeling sick over it. And I mean SICK! What stung were the near
prophetic words in one of his essays.

It's the middle of the day. I understand many subscribers are busy.
But PLEASE take a moment and read these essays.

And then forward them to somebody you know --- and ask them to do
the same.

It's important that his words move over the web no less than the
jokes we always forward!

I'm CERTAIN that after reading the two articles you will agree with
me.

PLEASE do it for Chezi. Do it for all of us. PLEASE

Binyamin L. Jolkovsky,
Editor in Chief
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/

3. We have often commented on the antics of Uri Avnery. Avenry heads a
splinter anti-Israel extremist group called "Gush Shalom"
www.gush-shalom.org, no doubt funded
by the usual overseas ill-wishers. Avnery is considered the father of
Israeli anti-Zionism and wrote a book "Israel without Zionists" back in
the late 1960s. He is so extremist that when his own mother died, she cut
him out of her will and declared in her will that she regards him as a
traitor. He has been compared by many to Lord Haw Haw. Mikey Lerner of
Tikkun regularly runs Avnery's ravings and endorses them. I guess Lerner
runs the rebuttals of Avnery on the same web page on which he posts a
photocopy of his Rabbinic ordination certificate and the transcript of his
studies from Rabbinic seminary....

Avnery runs ads in the Israeli press for his movement, paid for by
Guess Who. They inevitable involve attacks on Israel and defense of
Palestinian hatred of Jews. But today's ad in Haaretz by Avnery goes a
bit beyond his usual fare. Avnery writes a short screed under the title
"Only with Violence/Force" in which he defends the Hizbollah having
kidnapped the three Israeli soldiers and holding their bodies as
extortionate
bargaining chips to force Israel to release the hundreds of imprisoned
terrorists. You see, explains Avnery, it is all Israel's fault. Had
Israel voluntarily released all the terrorists long ago, the Hizbollah
would have had no reason ro grab Israeli hostages in the first place to
extort the release of
the terrorists. SO because Israel was obstinate and "only understands the
use of force" (his words), it is all the Sharon government's fault.
Avnery does not consider the possibility that executing the 450 terrorists
would also have removed any incentive for the Hizbollah to grab bargaining
chips.

Someone just asked me why Israel has not tossed Avnery into
"administrative detention", which is usually used to hold terrorists and
occasionally Kahanists. I do not have a good answer.

4. The Great Satan from MIT:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=11902

5. Among the Demonocrats:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11979

6. Quote of the week? From Frontpagemag
After the New Hampshire primary, Dennis Kucinich's new slogan is: ".001
Percent of America Can't Be Wrong!" John Edwards' new slogan is: "Vote for
Me or We'll See You in Court." Joe Lieberman's new slogan is: "Sixth Place
Is Not an Option." (Bumper sticker version: "Ask Me About My Delegate.")
Al Sharpton's new slogan is "Hello? Room Service?" Wesley Clark's new
slogan is: "Leading America's War on Fetuses." Howard Dean's new slogan
is: "I Want to Be Your President ... And So Do I!"

7. A nice article:
http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/1/29/222213.shtml

8. From the Left Coast:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11988

Posted 1/29/2004 02:41:00 PM

I am Ashamed to be an Israeli

By Steven Plaut

I have spent most of the past 12 years being ashamed to be an Israeli.
Israeli governments made me ashamed, and they did so by abasing,
disgracing and humiliating me as a Jew and as an Israeli.

I have been ashamed for 12 years at being an Israeli because this was the
period in which the governments of Israel abandoned the struggle for
Jewish national survival. They stopped trying to defend me and all other
Jews. They lectured me that it was my fault that the Arab fascists were
attacking Jews, and that it was within my power to stop the carnage if
only I would agree to demean myself sufficiently, to grovel before the
terrorists of the Middle East, and to appease the anti-Semites. I
could achieve peace if I would agree to place my neck in an Arab noose,
but if I refuse to do so then I would be the impediment to peace and my
obstinacy would be to blame for all further carnage.

For 12 years, my government pursued a policy of defending me and my family
by abandoning all attempts to defend us. My government decided to pursue
peace by pretending that war did not exist. After two millennia of
anti-Semitism, my government decided that anti-Semitism does not REALLY
exist, and that when people randomly murder Jewish children it is because
they have some legitimate grievances, because they have suffered, and
because Jews have shown them insufficient sensitivity.

My government implemented policies based on the presumption that the
making of concessions to blood-thirsty terrorists would be rewarded with
moderation and goodwill, that importing armed Nazis into the suburbs of
Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem would cause them to seek peace. My government followed policies
based on the notion that the Jews were evil, insensitive, and selfish. My
government decided that if Jews would only "share" their land and
resources with those who rule the entire territory from the Atlantic Ocean
to Central Asia, that is, with those who refuse to agree to any "sharing"
that allows a Jewish state to exist anywhere in the Middle East, then
there would be peace.

My government decided that rewarding terrorists for violence would end
violence, an dthen told me that there was simply no alternative to
coddling terrorists and nazis.

My government pursued peace by pretending that war did
not exist. My government sought peace through arming and bankrolling
terrorists. My government decided that anti-Semitism can only be overcome
by redressing the "underlying grievances" that it reflects. My government
fought terrorism by not fighting it, and by trying to appease it. My
government insisted that I must coddle anti-Semites and terrorists, and
must pander to their agenda and desires for there is no other choice.

My government over the past 12 years preached to me that it was my own
pride and my
parochial patriotism that was the obstacle to peace. It told me I must
seek peace through self-abasement and self-humiliation. My government
told me that if I would show willingness to compromise, then so would
the Arabs.

My government has been wrong about everything,
but refuses to admit it has been wrong about anything.

My government decided that Palestinians are a "nation" and that chunks of
my Jewish lands were in fact "Palestinian lands". My government decided
that Arabs may freely live any place they wish anywhere in the land of
Israel, but I may not live freely where I might choose if it happens to be
across the
"Green Line". My government instituted discrimination against me and
against other Jews in the name of "affirmative action", quotas and
preferences for Arabs and directed against me.

My government fought for my survival through cowardice and endless
"restraint", turning my other cheek against my will, pursuing endless
"goodwill gestures", which only enflamed the violence.
It did so despite the fact that I and my fellow Israeli
citizens voted repeatedly to revoke the "Oslo approach" and voted in
favor of pursuing war against our enemies, not appeasement. My government
abandoned all of northern Israel to the mercies of the Hizbollah rockets,
now aimed at me in the thousands. My government abandoned the Jewish
towns near the Gaza Strip to rocket barrages from the PLO.

I have spent the past 12 years cringing in shame. My government made me
feel that way. But I have NEVER felt as ashamed at being an Israeli as I
did this week, when my government decided to reward the Hizbollah for
murdering three of my fellow citizens in cold blood. My government also
abandoned Ron Arad, releasing his kidnapper, rewarding the terrorists who
kidnapped him, who "sold" him to Iran and possibly murdered him.

My government decided to release nearly 450 murderers with blood on their
hands in order to "buy" the release of the carcasses of three of my fellow
citizens who were murdered by the Hizbollah after they had been kidnapped
by it. My government had abandoned southern Lebanon to the Hizbollah and
assured me there would be complete tranquility thereafter. After the
farcical Israeli "withdrawal" ordered by my government, the Hizbollah has
fired almost daily into Israel, has sent in terrorists who murdered
Israeli civilians, and snatched the three soldiers (two Jews and one
Bedouin Arab) whose bodies were released this week, after murdering them
in cold blood.

Last week the Hizbollah murdered one more army officer working a
bulldozer; in response my government punished some empty Hizbollah
buildings. The prisoner "deal" was possible only because my government
refuses to execute the murdering savages, the terrorists. My government
thinks capital punishment is inhumane, and its absence has made possible
the murders of 1300 of my fellow countrymen. That is like twenty two
September 11ths, when measured proportional to population.

The Hizbollah also held as prisoner a man who had entered
Lebanon for criminal purposes, possibly a drug deal to pay off his
gambling debts. I opposed releasing any terrorists to get him released.
I might have considered agreeing to release a handful as payment to the
Hizbollah to keep him imprisoned there, if he is indeed a drug smuggler.

My government decided to respond to the murders of the three POWs by
rewarding their murderers, not by converting three Hizbollah towns into
large parking lots, not by bathing the Hizbollah leaders in napalm. My
government signaled to all my fellow citizens that it was unwilling to
avenge our deaths. My government let every Israeli soldier know that his
life would be worthless if captured by the enemy because my government would
always seek "deals" with those who murder POWs. My government made it
known that by grabbing some Israelis as hostages, anyone could obtain any
concession they want from my country. My government also let
every soldier know that, if captured in war, he would be abandoned to his
fate by my government. My government agreed to this "deal" with the
Hizbollah, a deal that spit on the family of missing Israeli airman Ron
Arad. The man who kidnapped and "sold" Arad has been released by my
government as payment for the release of the common criminal.

My government is trying to cover its shame by boasting that it "held out
tough" and refused to release the baby-murdering terrorist Samir Kuntar,
the man who murdered the members of the Haran family in Nahariya. My
same government boasts that it would have released this arch-murderer had
the Hizbollah so much as told Israel where Ron Arad (or his grave) is.

So much for "standing tough".

My government is a disgrace. My government practices cowardice and
pretends it is courage. My government displays indifference to the
Israelis who will now be murdered by those released terrorists and
murderers. My government had the gall to pretend it was acting out of
compassion and morality when it signed this capitulation, when it placed
that smirk on the face of the Hizbollah chief terrorist, boasting of his
victory. To drive home the point that the "deal" proves to the world that
the Jews are on the run, the terrorists blew up a bus in Jerusalem, the
same Jerusalem they pretend is holy to them, as part of celebrating the
stampede of Jewish flight. After all, the Hizbollah was being rewarded for
terror, so why should not the Palestinians follow their lead in obtaining
Israeli surrender?

The bus atrocity in Jerusalem was carried out by the "Al Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades," a PLO terror group under the direct command and control of
Yassir Arafat.

My government pretended it was suddenly acting
out of Jewish ethical values. My government would not know a Jewish
ethical value if it popped up in its face. My government pretends there
is a "Part B" to this capitulation, in which information about Ron Arad
will be released. I do not belive them. I think my government is lying
to window-dress this act of cowardice.

As I watch the victory smile on the mug of the Hizbollah Chief
Terrorist, my own government
makes me cringe. My government makes me ashamed of being an Israeli.


(Here is how someone else sees the "deal".
http://israelnn.com/news.php3?id=56739
and
http://israelnn.com/news.php3?id=56728)

Posted 1/28/2004 10:36:00 AM

1. Yigal Tomarkin is Israel's answer to the famous junkyard in Sanford and
Son. An "artist" specializing in making rusting eyesores that have enraged
more than one group of residents who have to look at them. Tomarkin is
probably even better known for his racist and anti-Semitic bon mots, a
partial list of which appears in the Jerusalem Post piece below.

Now if you still had any doubts that Yossi Beilin and Shulamit Aloni
were really calling all the shots for the Ariel Sharon government, then you
should know that the Sharon Likud government, elected to end groveling
leftist anti-Jewish Israeli Oslo self-hatred, has just decided to give the
sameTomarkin a national prize for his "art". Can Dror Feiler, the kapo
pro-terror "artist" in Sweden, be far behind?

As background, here are some old Plaut pieces on Tomarkin:

Yigal Tomarkin is Israel's official Sculptor of Junk. He is a
geezer and vintage member of Israel's bohemian artsy-shmartsy set, who
specializes in spouting Far-Leftist anti-Orthodox poppycock and in
building rusting eyesores all over the country. His art looks like
something taken from the back lot at Sanford and Son.
We have had many an occasion to comment on the aging Junkster in the
past. First, Tomarkin is famous for saying that when he watches Orthodox
Jews walking about he can really understand why the Nazis wanted to murder
all the Jews. His art has triggered mass protests by Israelis demanding
that it be removed from their streets lest it lower their property values.
But perhaps the most theatrical Tomarkin affair was one in which
Tomarkin was involved in the theft of a statue from a town square in
Europe, which turned up in Tomarkin's own studio after he had altered it.
Haifa's weekly Kolbo July 4, 03 carries an interview with the
Michaelangelo of junk, and reveals some other juicy tidbits from his bio.
Two years ago Tomarkin got involved with the cops because he had been
smacking around his misses, choked her, and threatened to kill her. At
one point he took a pistol and pointed it at his own head and threatened
to make her watch his transformation into a Tomarkin sculptured original.
Tomarkin claims the Israeli Secret Service put his wife up to bringing the
charges as part of some sort of Chamishite conspiracy against him.

The Attorney General indicted him for all this, but last week
cancelled up on grounds that the couple claimed they had resolved things.
Tomarkin is 70 and the Misses is 42.
Tomarkin however is angry that the police gave him back his guns
after making them impossible to fire. Personally, I think they would
make a far more aesthetic sculpture than anything else he has rusted up.

and also

Tomarkin makes
"sculptures" that are rusting hulks and eyesores, sure to lower the property
values of anything within sight of them. The largest collection of his junk
sits atop a mountain at Kochav Yarden, near Beit Shean, I guess because
placing it anywhere else might arouse the masses in revolt. (I think it is
divine justice that any ghosts of Crusaders haunting the old fortress there
next to his art have to look at it.) Naturally, Tomarkin is defended by
the same sorts of professional artistic pontiffs who defend the
Christianity-in-Excrement art in the US against critics like Giuliani, the
same people who dismiss you as a Philistine if you cannot see anything
creative and aesthetic in a blank white canvass with a piece of snot in its
corner. In any case, Tomarkin routinely argues that his works are
sacrosanct and no one should be able to remove or "improve" or tamper with
them, no matter how ugly or where they sit.

Tomarkin is in some ways a symbol of all that is wrong with an Israel
where radical secularism and post-Zionism have created an atmosphere in
which Dana International, Yair Lapid and Ping Pong are High Culture.
Tomarkin in some ways is the symbol of Tel Aviv bohemianism, and I would
like to remind you all that the term "Tel Aviv" appears in the Book of
Ezekiel referring to a distant backwaters in Iraq whither the Judeans were
exiled, far away from culture and Zion.

And now Tomarkin has joined the forces of Junkyard Psycho-Crime.
Let me explain. There operate around the globe, or at least in wealthy
countries, activist groups whose purpose in life is to rid the world of
psychiatry. Specifically they battle against the institutionalization of
the mentally ill and the psychotic. Inspired by such deep forms of
Hollywood policy analysis as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest", these groups
want all institutionalization in psychiatric wards ended because it is
oppression.

In large part, it is thanks to such anti-psychiatry fringe groups that
the United States is now host to hundreds of thousands of psychotics who
live on the streets, eat from garbage cans, talk to themselves, and die from
tuberculosis and similar diseases of the Third World. There are many good
discussions of this contribution of anti-psychiatry to mass homelessness,
none better than Rael Jean Isaac's book: "Madness In the Street" by Rael
Jean Isaac and Virginia C. Armat.

Anyway, Tomarkin - the same King of Junkyard Art -has now gotten
involved in crime with some of these anti-psychiatry lunatics. One such
anti-psychiatry group operates in Israel, and it has links with a much
larger such group in Germany, no doubt loosely tied to some radical Greens
there.

In Germany, the anti-psychiatry group has targeted a German psychiatrist
who lived before World War II, named Karl Buhnhofer (spelling?). He was
regarded as a leading thinker in German psychiatry and there were two busts
in his honor in front of two leading German psychiatric hospitals, one
hospital named after him. He is somewhat controversial, mainly because he
thought psychotics should not have children and is believed to have
certified as psychotic some people after Hitler came to power. It is not
completely clear what his politics were and some say he was an anti-Nazi.
In any case, his son - a Christian pastor - was strongly anti-Nazi and later
was killed for this in a concentration camp. The German anti-psychiatry
movement hates him, less because of suspicions about his ideology and more
because they hate psychiatry.

Two years ago the two busts of Buhnhofer suddenly disappeared from Berlin
and all signs pointed to the loony anti-psychiatry fringe. The same day
they disappeared a sign appeared on one hospital demanding it be renamed for
Princess Diana instead of Buhnhofer.

And then the two stolen sculptures suddenly showed up in the "studio" of
Yigal Tomarkin. (Haaretz June 8, 2000) No doubt passed on to him by the
Israeli affiliate group of the Psychoteutons. Tomarkin then took the two
busts, sliced and defaced them, adding things like male sexual organs to the
heads, and then displayed his handicraft at the Tel Aviv Cinematek.
Eventually it was realized the "art" was in fact stolen and defaced
sculpture from Berlin, and they were shipped back to Germany to some sort of
theater.

Tomarkin has not been charged with any crimes in Israel, a fact that is
in and of itself a severe crime you might want to discuss with the Minister
of Police.

Here is what the Jerusalem Post has to Say about it:
A prize too far

Jan. 28, 2004

The prestigious Israel Prize was awarded for the first time in 1953. It
took it some 40 years to spawn controversy. That began when Education
Minister Shulamit Aloni insisted on honoring someone outside the accepted
consensus ? Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz, who had referred to IDF soldiers as
"Judeo-Nazis."
Ever since the floodgates opened, the prize has been increasingly
associated with controversy. The latest was visited upon us yesterday with
the announcement that sculptor Yigal Tumarkin will be this year's arts
category winner.
Education Minister Limor Livnat, hardly Aloni's political twin, phoned to
congratulate him. She was equally chipper last year about awarding the
prize to painter Moshe Gershuni, until he refused to attend the ceremony
and was denied the NIS 50,000 prize by order of the High Court of Justice.
It must be admitted that the choices of the Israel Prize committees are
getting stranger and stranger. Consensus is by no means synonymous with
quality. Consensus doesn't necessarily negate greatness, but can mean
mediocrity. History often vindicates creators who were rejected by their
peers in their day. It relegates to oblivion others who enjoyed ephemeral
celebrity in a given period.
But bestowers of national honors aren't prescient art historians. State
accolades mean collective appreciation of the prize laureate's life's work.
If collective plaudits for a given individual are impossible, then perhaps
that individual will have to continue without a state prize.
Alternatively, if the state award-givers cannot steer clear of discord,
perhaps it's time to reconsider the Israel Prize altogether. It's not
sacred. The prize isn't a must.
Yigal Tumarkin is no stranger to controversy. He first scandalized
post-Holocaust Israeli opinion in the early Fifties when he broke the taboo
of those years and moved back to his native Germany, from which he fled in
1933. But Tumarkin and scandals became inseparable ever since.
He once said he wished he had gunned down Raphael Eitan and Rehavam Ze'evi.
He branded then Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lahat "Papa Doc" for proposing to
relocate Tumarkin's upside-down glass pyramid Holocaust memorial from
outside city hall.
Tumarkin has fashioned a pig wearing phylacteries, and on November 4, 1988
told Tel Aviv Magazine that when seeing haredi Jews he can understand the
Nazis.
By way of retracting that, he published an op-ed in Hadashot 10 days later,
writing that, "The outward strangeness of the Jew and the pretentiousness
of the notion that God chose us... caused violent surrounding cultures to
clash... with this arrogant minority... The image of the cunning, ambitious
scoundrel, lending money at exorbitant interest, turned the bent,
hook-nosed bearded Jew into the enemy of civilization... which didn't help
belatedly enlightened Jews."
That eventually cost Tumarkin Yad Vashem's Zussman Prize, which curiously
enough was awarded the artist known for insisting that "the Jewish
Holocaust wasn't the only holocaust." The Yad Vashem steering committee
later rescinded its decision, but not before Tumarkin was turned into
another trendy victim of the repression of free expression.
Shas MK Eli Yishai reminded the public yesterday of Tumarkin's slurs
against Sephardi Jews, which moved the sculptor to immediately reiterate
that "Moroccan Jews are indeed crybabies" and "ought to stop burdening us
with so many poor children." In 1997 the Israel Prize for journalism was to
go to Shmuel Shnitzer. The High Court denied it to him because of one op-ed
alluding to the high numbers of HIV-positive Ethiopian immigrants. That was
a minor glitch in comparison to Tumarkin's notorious volubility.
In January 1998, 26-year-old Tatiana Soskin was imprisoned for two years
for drawing a caricature depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a pig.
Tumarkin's pig with phylacteries is no less offensive. We agree that
extreme insults against an entire public must be taken seriously, and
sometimes even punished. But if so, than how is it defensible not only to
tolerate such hateful words against fellow citizens, but to celebrate and
reward those who say them?
The Israel Prize awards committee could hardly have been oblivious to
Tumarkin's troubling record. He isn't just naughty and cute. The committee
members didn't arrive here yesterday from a faraway galaxy. They know whom
they nominate. They knew the nomination would generate outrage, and
justifiably so. In other words, they were being willfully provocative.
This is foolish and superfluous, especially in our polarized society. The
Israel Prize is quickly becoming a bane on the arts it is devised to
promote, and a divisive luxury we can ill-afford.

This article can also be read at
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1075185792306

2. This article is written by Bassam Eid, a "human rights activist" in the
West Bank who spends far more of his time bashing Israel for defending its
children than in documenting PLO abuses of Arab human rights (and for this
is the darling of Betselem), but nevertheless can turn out interesting
pieces on the state of human rights for those living in the PLO Reichlet.
Take a look at:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/387765.html

3. You will all be happy to hear that Israel's Far Leftist groups Gush
Shalom, Yesh Gvul, and some others, all well funded by the usual overseas
ill-wishers, will be testifying at the Hague AGAINST Israel, in the
"trial" concerning Israel's security fence. They would much prefer no
fence so that the Palestinian terrorists will have an easier time
murdering Jewish children and other civilians.

Posted 1/27/2004 09:17:00 PM

1. Quite a few people have asked me for the source for my claim that
Kerry has come out for Yossi Beilin's Geneva "Initiative". Here is the
primary source:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/386103.html


2. It is illegal to show disrespect to Bin Laden (no joke):
http://chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=5735

3. Kerry's Sugar Daddies:
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11939

4. Wahhabis: http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article3066.html

5. Ann the Amazon:
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article3051.html

6. Lots of funny stuff at http://www.iconoclast.ca/mainpage.html

7. Fascinating story:
http://israelnn.com/print.php3?what=news&id=56867

Posted 1/26/2004 07:22:00 PM

1. Free Speech also under attack in US:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/01/25/a_little_less_freedom_of_speech/

2. Graffiti:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/mort/zuckerman_new_anti_sem.php3

3. The Saudis behind Iraqi violence:
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11900

4. Bin Laden is PC: http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1482

5. Marxism at Notre Dame University - If you search this carefully you
will find the name of a certain Lecturer from Ben Gurion University who
thinks courts should suppress the free speech of those who criticize him:
http://www.nd.edu/~remarx/Marxism2000/schedule.html

6. The ISM Terrorists:
http://www.israelnewsagency.com/internationalsolidaritymovement.html

Posted 1/25/2004 10:11:00 AM

The New York Sun --- January 21, 2004 Wednesday


Anti-Semitism: The French Crisis

By MICHEL GURFINKIEL

There is currently an upsurge of anti-Semitism all over Europe. In France,
the European country with the largest Jewish community (600,000 to 1
million, or 1% to 1.5 % of a global population of 62 million), it is
reaching alarming proportions. According to recent polls, anywhere from
one-third to one-half of French Jews either feels threatened enough or
unsure enough about the future to consider leaving the country or to
advise his children to leave the country.

This is not petty anti-Semitism, as we may have known it for about 50
years in North America and in most of Western Europe - a tale of marginal
incidents being carried on by fringe extremists - but rather a development
that affects the entire nation. This is not a case of mere anti-Zionism
either. The contemporary French anti-Semites are explicitly targeting Jews
and Judaism, not Zionists. And they make no distinctions between the
Jewish people at large, whether the Jewish community in France, in Europe,
or in Israel.

And finally, this is not a case of bigotry, where anti-Jewish prejudice is
derived from a lack of information about Judaism and the Holocaust. On the
contrary, Judaism has been playing an important and visible national role
in France throughout the last decades of the 20th century, and Holocaust
awareness or pieties about the Holocaust are deemed to be part and parcel
of the contemporary national culture of France. The 16th of July, the
anniversary of the infamous roundup of Parisian Jews in 1942, is now a
national day. Every school where Jewish pupils were arrested either by the
German Gestapo or the Vichy France police has been turned into a national
landmark. For all that, the new anti-Semitism has been gaining ground day
by day.

President Chirac, who first flatly denied anything like that was taking
place, now acknowledges it as a major political concern. On November 17,
2003, he solemnly warned that "attacks against French Jews are attacks
against France" and issued orders for a monthly review, at the highest
government level, of anti-Semitic incidents.

What Are the Facts?

Since 2000, anti-Semitic violence has been rampant in France. According to
the Interior Ministry, anti-Jewish violence has dramatically increased, to
a yearly average of about 120 incidents in the 2000-02 period from a
yearly average of about 10 incidents throughout the 1990s. Some 80% of all
racist incidents in mainland France (except for the island of Corsica),
are anti-Semitic. Some 20 synagogues, schools, and other communal
facilities were destroyed either by arson or vandalization in the 2000-02
period. Two further cases of complete vandalization (one synagogue, one
high school) occurred in 2003.

Several Jewish shops have been attacked. Jewish people are routinely being
molested or harassed in some areas, especially on their way to synagogue
or school or at school. Several rabbis have been attacked and beaten in
the street. Jewish youths have been attacked while exercising at public
sports facilities. Jewish school buses have been stoned or even shot at.
One case of abduction and one of near lynching in the street have been
reported. And there is some reason to believe that two murder cases in
2003 were motivated by anti-Jewish hatred.

Even if and when actual violence is subsiding, the climate of the country
is deteriorating. Murderous anti-Jewish slogans such as "Death to Jews!"
are routinely being shouted at large-scale street demonstrations. Various
groups and even elected officials are campaigning for a global boycott of
Israeli and "Israeli-related" (i.e., Jewish) goods, or for the suspension
or the termination of academic cooperation with Israel or even with
individual Israeli scientists, a move prohibited under French law.

Explicitly anti-Jewish books have been published by major publishing
houses, including books intended for children and teenagers, a market
that, in theory, is strictly regulated by law in France.

A radical Islamist preacher who publicly singled out some French
intellectuals for being Jewish and therefore foes of Islam, Tariq Ramadan,
was turned into a television superstar of sorts. So has an Afro-French
humorist who indulges in provocative anti-Jewish jokes and statements,
Dieudonne Mbala.

Moreover, according to various reports and at least two recently published
books ("Les Territoires Perdus de la Republique," edited by Emmanuel
Brenner, and "La Republique et L'Islam," by Michele Tribalat and
Jeanne-Helene Kaltenbach), schools and universities are becoming major
hotbeds of anti-Semitism.

In some cases, both parents and pupils insist on rewriting the textbooks
in a more anti-Jewish or anti-Israel way, and dropping programs and
debates about Judaism and the Holocaust, which are part of the
government-mandated curriculum. In many places, Jewish students, teachers,
and academics feel physically or verbally threatened or abused but get
precious little support from principals or teachers and colleagues.

The Response

The response from the government and the other powers that be has been
limited or ineffective for too long. It took more than a year, from
October 2000 to November 2001, for the French press (some exceptions
notwithstanding) to report extensively about the anti-Semitic crisis. Even
now, some press and broadcast groups keep referring to "intergroup
friction," as if Jews were engaging in racist violence as well or
retaliating, which is not the case. The French political class has reacted
in an even more awkward manner.

Political parties and nongovernmental organizations didn't call for
demonstrations against anti-Semitic violence, as might have been expected,
or as it has occurred in the past (in 1980, 1982, and 1988), nor
associated, on April 7, 2002, with a mass rally against anti-Semitism and
terrorism sponsored by the Conseil Representatif des Institutions Juives
de France (the Representative Council of Jewish Organizations in France).

Under the socialist government of Lionel Jospin, until April 22, 2002,
officials - especially at the Interior Ministry - were busy denying or
downplaying the crisis. Things have improved since the 2002 elections,
with the conservative government led by Jean-Pierre Raffarin. Still, the
Interior Ministry remains very cautious in its estimates of anti-Semitic
incidents and seems at times reluctant to enforce the existing antiracist
laws, including a new law passed by the conservative-dominated National
Assembly at the request of the conservative Jewish representative for the
9th District of Paris, Pierre Lellouche.

An extremely small number of people have been prosecuted or indicted for
anti-Semitic offenses. Those who have, unfortunately, have not been
sentenced as heavily as the law permits. More often than not, French
courts have turned down complaints of anti-Semitism. There is even a case
of a Jewish family that was sentenced to a 3,000-euro fine for simply
having lodged such a complaint.

The Muslim Factor

The new anti-Semitism in France has much to do with the unprecedented
immigration from the Islamic world, both legal and illegal, that is
currently reshaping the country. Conservative estimates - in the absence
of reliable race or religion-related statistics, which are not allowed
under French law - put the current Muslim population of France at 6
million. Some sources point to 8 million.

The non-Muslim population is aging and declining. Its fertility rate is
said to be close to 1.4 children for every woman, just like in most
neighboring European countries (e.g., Germany: 1.3; Italy and Spain: 1.2).

The Muslim population, however, is young and rising: its average fertility
rate is said to be of three or four children for every woman. When it
comes to the youngest age bracket - residents under the age of 25 - the
overall ratio of Muslims rises significantly (25% to 30%). Moreover, there
is evidence that intermarriage is common between non-Muslims and Muslims,
that most interfaith families tend to associate with Islam rather than
with Christianity, and that conversion to Islam in rising all over France,
whereas the Christian faith and practice is plummeting. Islam may thus
develop soon into a full-fledged French religion and culture, and even
replace Christianity, at some point in the future, as the main religion of
the land.

Quite naturally, this sudden demographic and religious change is bringing
about a social and political change: French Muslims are poised to play a
growing role in the coming elections (most are French citizens by now,
especially the younger generation, since France bestows full citizenship
on any child born on its soil) as well as in education, business,
professions, the Civil Service, the police and the military forces.

The conservative minister of the interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, is in favor of
affirmative action for Muslims. Perhaps as a first token of things to
come, he put a Muslim prefet (governor), Aissa Dermouche, in charge of the
departement (county) of Jura, in Eastern France.

Now, it is a sad fact that traditional Muslim culture, both at the popular
and the scholarly level, is deeply contemptuous of Judaism and the Jews.
And it is another sad fact that contemporary Muslim culture - either
strictly religious or semi-secular - is permeated by a more extreme, more
radical, anti-Semitic philosophy, according to which Jews are not just
despicable but intrinsically unreliable or evil and should be either
marginalized or annihilated.

As far as Muslim immigrants in France are concerned, they come from
countries where these negative views are nurtured by religious education,
political discourse, the educational curriculum, and the press. Once in
France, they keep in touch with their country's culture and biases in many
ways, including Arab television networks. The same considerations apply,
to a large extent, to the French-born citizens of the Muslim faith, who
are the sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters of the immigrants.

French Muslims thus live in a cultural enclave and are well equipped to
dismiss those parts of the dominant French culture that do not fit their
own culture. Admittedly, some parts of the immigrant community are less
prejudiced.

As a rule, the more committed to Islam and Arab culture they are, the more
anti-Semitic French Muslims tend to be. Conversely, the less committed
they are, the more likely they are to reject anti-Semitism. This
translates into ethnic lines.

French Muslims of Arab descent are usually religious Muslims and
unreconstructed anti-Semites. French Muslims of Berber descent (especially
the large Kabyle community, estimated at 1.5 million) are usually more
secular and more prepared to reject radical anti-Semitism and engage into
good relations with Jews. As for militant Berbers or Kabyles, they tend to
be frankly friendly with Jews and to entertain positive views about
Israel.

Old Anti-Semitism Reawakened

The growth of Islam and of Islamic anti-Semitism is only one side of the
problem. The other side is that it is reawakening and reinforcing an
autochthonous French anti-Semitic tradition. Anti-Semitism, both right
wing and left wing (the 19th century socialist, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
advocated "either sending back the Jews to Asia or exterminating them")
played a rather important role in French culture and politics from the
Revolution through the Third Republic, and was turned, with comparatively
little effort, into a state policy under the pro-German Vichy regime, from
1940 to 1944.

Even after it was suppressed as thoroughly politically incorrect in the
post-Holocaust era, it has retained tacit or not so tacit acceptance in
many quarters, including the political establishment. The man who headed
the French Resistance against the Germans and Vichy, and then founded the
Fifth Republic, General Charles de Gaulle, in 1967, shockingly described
the Jewish people in a public speech delivered in the wake of the Six Days
War, as "an elite, self-conscious, and domination oriented nation" - an
anti-Semitic cliche. One year later, he alluded to "noteworthy Israeli
influences" in French public life.

The socialist president of France, from 1981 to 1995, Francois Mitterrand,
was reported to have expressed similar views in private. He had been close
to radical anti-Semitic circles as a young man and remained for all of his
life a close (and devoted) friend of Pierre Bousquet, the head of the
Vichy police during the war, and as such, one of the main organizers of
the Holocaust in France.

It comes, accordingly, as no surprise that the lesser ranks of French
politics and public administration feel free to engage in radical
anti-Semitic discourse or practice of one sort or the other. Vilification
of Israel as an illegitimate "rogue state" or even as a "little s___
state" is not infrequent among senior civil servants, especially at
France's foreign office, the Quai d'Orsay.

Anti-Semitism has also extended, time and again, to mainstream politics,
either in a thinly veiled form as "anti-Zionism" (a term favored by the
left) or as "anti-lobbyism"(a euphemism in use at one well-known far right
organization, Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front).

Quite obviously, the present anti-Semitic crisis in France should be
addressed by the citizens of France first, either Jewish or not. Quite
naturally, it should elicit appropriate concern from Jewish communities in
the rest of the world. However, the fact that an important, democratic
nation in Western Europe can be so quickly and so thoroughly undermined by
anti-Semitism should also be matter of concern - and a warning - for all
Western nations, including America.


New York Post Online Edition: news

JEWS RIP KERRY'S MIDDLE EAST PLAN

By STEFAN C. FRIEDMAN and DEBORAH ORIN
--------------------------------------------------------------------
TRIPLE THREAT: Jewish leaders ripped Sen. John Kerry's (above) idea to use Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter or James Baker to defuse the Mideast crisis.
- AP
Email Archives
Print Reprint



December 4, 2003 -- Presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry set off a firestorm among Jewish leaders yesterday by saying Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton or former Secretary of State James Baker could be used as a special envoy to the Middle East in the Massachusetts senator's administration.
Kerry's comments - made during what was billed as a major foreign-policy speech at the Council on Foreign Relations - were met with light applause at the event.

But the proposal sparked shock and anger in the Jewish community, especially in view of former President Carter's perceived anti-Israel stance at the latest "peace summit" in Geneva.

"I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. None of those three would be on my list," said Abe Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League.

"Two are biased on the side of the Arabs - Carter and Baker - and Clinton tried and failed, so why would we use him again?"

Clinton sought to craft a comprehensive Mideast peace deal in his final months as president, but failed. Israel's current government says it would never offer as many concessions to Palestinians as Clinton proposed.

Carter over the years has been increasingly critical of Israel, and said at the Geneva conference that the inability to resolve the Mideast conflict helps foster terrorism. Baker was secretary of state under President Bush's dad, and was widely seen as tilting anti-Israel.



Another prominent Jewish leader said,: "What is [Kerry] trying to do - commit suicide? It's at best naive and ignorant. Remarks like this are why more Jews are considering voting for Bush."

Jews are among the most loyal Democrats, but Republicans believe they are making significant inroads among Jewish voters because of the president's strong support for Israel.

Betty Ehrenberg, international-affairs director of the Orthodox Union, said, "Many in our community view Mr. Baker and Mr. Carter as tilting toward the Palestinians."





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Posted 1/23/2004 03:33:00 PM

1. A poll just showed that about 18% of Britons are anti-Semites. My
guess
is that the percent of Israelis who are anti-Semites is about the same.
They are known as Leftists.


2. "Lord of the Rings" is anti-Islam?
http://chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=5701

3. The Tale of a Leftist "Rabbi":
http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/21336/format/html/displaystory.html

Posted 1/23/2004 10:04:00 AM

1. Now just in case you were not certain that Yossi Beilin's "Geneva
Misunderstandings" or the "accord" signed by ex-spook Ami Ayalon and his
terrorist friend were both designed to produce the destruction of Israel
and a Sceond Holocaust, the proof is that large ads are in the Hebrew
press today endorsing the accords, signed by a large group of French
professors.

Meanwhile, now that it looks like John Kerry is the up and coming
Demoliberah, I suggest a closer look at him is in order.

Did you know that he also just endorsed the Beilin "deal"?
Did you know that he used to hang out and denounce America together with
Hanoi Jane Fonda?

Did you know:

Senator Kerry often speaks of his war record and his military
service during the Vietnam war. No one doubts that he served and by most
accounts, served well. Kerry was also awarded the distinctive honor of a
Silver Star. But some questions linger.

The Silver Star is awarded to those who have exhibited ''gallantry
in action'' while in combat with an enemy of the United States.

It's true that Lieutenant (j.g.) Kerry was in combat. Indeed, his
boat had been fired upon by the enemy. Kerry beached his boat and an
enemy soldier broke and ran. Tom Belodeau, one of the boat's gunners,
admitted this enemy soldier was wounded in the attack. Lt. Kerry then
chased the wounded man behind a ''hootch'' where he ''finished him off.''
It was for this action that he was awarded the prestigious Silver Star.

There were some who felt this act was not deserving of such an honor.
Dan Carr, a Marine who served 14 months in Vietnam, questioned whether
such an honor should have been bestowed on a man who killed a retreating
and wounded enemy soldier.

When young Kerry returned to the States, he began protesting against
the Vietnam War. On April 23, 1971, Kerry testified before Congress about
atrocities he had allegedly seen and heard about. He testified that
American soldiers ''raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from
portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off
limbs, [had] blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages,
shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged
the countryside of South Vietnam.'' He stated there never was a communist
threat in Vietnam.

He joined a group called ''Vietnam Vets against the War.'' This
group eventually abandoned him because the members realized that he was
using their cause as a platform for his own personal gain. He was making
it appear as though American soldiers were out-of-control animals,
rampaging across Vietnam torturing and killing for sport. This was not
their message. They were protesting the war. They werent accusing their
fellow soldiers of being murderers and rapists. They had not seen any of
the behavior Kerry stated he witnessed. One member remarked that Kerry
seemed to be making it up to give people what they wanted to hear.

Recently, Senator Kerry gave a speech at a Vietnam War Memorial,
and any of the veterans turned their backs to him and walked away. They
saw him as the man who called them war criminals in his testimony before
Congress. The man who received the Silver Star for killing a wounded,
retreating enemy soldier, had accused them of hideous war crimes.

Michael Benge, a Viet Nam POW from 1968 to 1973, wants Americans to
know that it was Kerry who blocked ''The Vietnam Human Rights Act.''
(HR-2833) Benge believes that action gave Hanoi the green light to ignore
violations of human rights with the blessing of the United States.

Senator Kerry can often be heard making the statement that the Bush
Administration is controlled solely by ''special interests.'' Of course,
he is untouched by this disease that he says permeates the Republican
Party.

The senator was the head of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA
Affairs in 1992. He pushed vigorously to normalize relations with
Vietnam. He visited Vietnam and praised them for being open and reported
he was convinced they were not holding American POWs. Many families didnt
believe him then and dont believe him now. But why would he be so anxious
to normalize relations with the former enemy?

The answer is special interests and money. Collier's International,
based in Boston, was immediately awarded the exclusive contract to rebuild
Vietnams infrastructure by the Vietnamese government. They made tens of
millions of dollars from the contract. The chief executive officer of
Collier's International was a man named C. Stewart Forbes. Interestingly,
Senator Kerrys middle name is Forbes. There is a reason for that. C.
Stewart Forbes is John Kerrys cousin.

The New Yorker Magazine touted Kerry as the senator who defeated the
''mendacious POW lobby.'' Yes, Kerry helped defeat those tenacious family
members who wanted to know what happened to their missing loved ones. His
strange bedfellow in this battle against POW families was none other than
fellow Senator and former POW John McCain.

This committees final report in 1993 was chilling. It determined
that American POWs were left alive in Viet Nam after the war but felt none
were still alive. It makes no attempt to identify those left behind, how
they died, who killed them, and where their remains are located. They
were abandoned in life and death.

Is Senator Kerry in full support of our intelligence gathering
capabilities? His voting record indicates he is not.

In 1994/95, Kerry proposed a bill to gut $1.5 billion from
intelligence and freeze spending for two major intelligence programs--the
National Foreign Intelligence Program and Tactical Intelligence Program.
(S. 1826) The bill did not make it to a vote, but the language was
retooled, the amount dropped to $1 billion, and it was finally defeated as
S. Amendment 1452 to H.R. 3759. (S. 1826, Introduced 2/3/94)

He voted to cut 80 million from the FBI budget. (HR-2076)

In 1997, Kerry felt there that were no threats to the United States.
This prompted him to place this statement in the Congressional Record:
''Now that the [Cold War] struggle is over, why is it that our vast
intelligence apparatus continues to grow even as Government resources for
new and essential priorities fall far short of what is necessary?''
(Congressional Record, 5/1/97, p. S3891)

Twelve days after 9/11, Senator Kerry had the nerve to make this
statement: ''And the tragedy is, at the moment, that the single most
important weapon for the United States of America is intelligence. we are
weakest, frankly, in that particular area. So its going to take us time
to be able to build up here to do this properly.'' (CBSs ''Face the
Nation,'' 9/23/01)

After spending years trying to lay waste to our intelligence
capabilities, succeeding at times, and failing at times, he now preaches
about how our intelligence community was negligent.

In ''Golden Boy--Part Two,'' his abysmal record on supporting the
military will be covered.


See also
Jews on Kerry http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/12546.htm
and

http://chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=5698
and
http://chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=4370
and
http://chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=2254
and
http://chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=2176
and finally http://www.jews4clark.com/page.asp?p=76


2. From the Homeland of Winston Churchill:

I would be suicide bomber in Israel, says British Liberal Democrat MP

By Ben Russell, Political Correspondent 23 January 2004

A senior MP provoked anger last night after claiming that she would
consider becoming a suicide bomber if she was living in conditions faced
by the Palestinians.

Jenny Tonge, the former Liberal Democrat spokeswoman on international
development, said that she did not condone the Palestinian bombers, but
said she could "understand" their actions.

Her comments, which came a week after Reem al-Riashi became the second
Palestinian mother to carry out a suicide bombing, were immediately
condemned as "sickening" by the Conservatives. Dr Tonge also faced a
dressing down by Liberal Democrat whips over the comments to a campaign
meeting at Westminster.

The MP, who once called on Tony Blair to drop "bread not bombs" on
Afghanistan, told Sky News: "From minor things to major things their life
does not feel like it's worth living.

"What I said was that I did not condone suicide bombers. But I do
understand why people become suicide bombers. It's out of desperation."

"And I guess that if I were in their position ... and saw no hope for the
future at all, I might just think about it myself," she added.

Dr Tonge, who will not be contesting her Richmond Park seat in south-west
London at the next election, was condemned last night by Michael Ancram,
the shadow Foreign Secretary. He said: "These comments will sicken those
across the world who have lost loved ones to suicide bombers. There can
never be an excuse for taking innocent lives, and I am surprised that Ms
Tonge is voicing her support for such terror.

"Charles Kennedy should say whether he stands by her comments and, if he
doesn't, he should deal with her firmly."

A Lib Dem spokesman also criticised Dr Tonge's outburst. He said: "She was
expressing her personal views and certainly not speaking for the Liberal
Democrats. We do not condone terrorism in any circumstances, either by
suicide bombers or anybody else."

Lord Janner of Braunstone, the Labour peer and chairman of the Holocaust
Educational Trust, said: "I think that for a member of either House of
this Parliament to say she has sympathy with it is awful."

James Purnell, Labour MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, who is leading a
delegation of backbenchers to Israel, added: "Last night the delegation
met with victims of suicide terrorism from both sides. They would be
appalled by what Jenny Tonge has said."

3. Ariel Sharon to expand affirmative action quotas for Arabs and
discrimination quotas against Jews:

State firms must have Arab directors
By Yair Ettinger

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday declared that every state-run
company must have at least one representative of Israel's Arab community
on its board of directors.

Sharon, who made his announcement at a meeting of the ministerial
committee on the non-Jewish sector, said that every one of the 105
companies must have at least one Israeli-Arab director by August of this
year.

The prime minister also ordered the civil service appointments committee,
headed by retired judge Menachem Ravivi, not to make any new appointments
to the boards of state-run companies that do not have at least one Arab
member.

Last August, the committee decided to adopt a plan proposed by the
National Security Council for more equality of the Arab sector. Among the
ideas put forward was a proposal to appoint an Israeli Arab to the
directorates of all state-run companies and to increase the overall number
of Israeli Arab in the civil service. Deputy National Security Adviser
Reuven Gal told the committee that there are currently just 31
Israeli-Arabs on the boards of directors of state-run companies.

Three years ago, the law regulating the running of national corporations
was amended to introduce affirmative action in the appointment of Israeli
Arab to top civil service jobs. Some 18 months ago, this amendment was
expanded to include the law regulating the State Comptroller's Office.

4. PC Mindlessness:
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=1640&u_sid=981030

5. Joke corner:
Dave Letterman Shticks on Arafat:

http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/top_ten/archive/ls_topten_archive1993/ls_topten_archive_19930916.shtml
and
http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/top_ten/archive/ls_topten_archive1996/ls_topten_archive_19960529.shtml
and
http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/top_ten/archive/ls_topten_archive1999/ls_topten_archive_19990607.shtml

6.
> A new computer virus has been detected that you may want to take
> precautions
> against.
>
> This is the Palestinian Virus - a virus that settles in your PC,
> claims it
> was there before your PC was built or Bill Gates was born, then
> demands
> parts of your hard drive.
>
> If you want the virus to leave you and your PC alone, you can try to
> give
> the virus the hard drive space it wants, but it will refuse the deal
> and
> start killing data on your computer.
>
> Some people have suggested a solution for this virus problem is to
> give the
> virus its own PC. As stated above, this virus has been known to
> refuse the
> offer. Other nearby PCs won't take the virus either, even if the
> virus is
> compatible with the other computers. The virus seems to want nothing
> less
> than to take over your entire computer together with the removal and
> destruction of all your data.
>
> Software based anti-virus solutions have been proposed, but so far
> only
> hardware solutions have had any impact. The only solution we have
> been able
> to determine that may work is the physical removal of the virus from
> your
> computer.
>
> The only problem with this solution is all the other computers will
> object,
> and you will be castigated in the media and by the UN.

Posted 1/22/2004 11:29:00 AM

1. Welcome to the University of DUH!

Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Palestinians easily scale Israel's $1.9 billion security fence

Palestinians easily scale Israel's $1.9 billion security fence
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Tuesday, January 20, 2004
http://216.26.163.62/2004/me_palestinians_01_20.html
TEL AVIV - Palestinian infiltrators have succeeded in breaching Israel's
new
security fence and barrier system.
Israeli security sources said Palestinian infiltrators have scaled the
four-meter high concrete fence by using a simple ladder.
The Israeli project calls for the establishing of a 730-kilometer fence at
a
cost of $1.9 billion. Most of the project consists of a concrete wall or
chain-link fence with sensors, cameras and military patrols.

In one case, the sources said, Arab infiltrators brought a ladder to the
fence in the northeastern West Bank. They quickly scaled the fence and
entered a waiting car that took them to Israeli Arab villages. The
infiltrators were deemed as Palestinians looking for work.

The sources said an Israeli command center spotted the infiltrators but
could not respond quickly enough to capture them. They said this
constitutes
a breach in security that must be resolved.

2. Useful Idiots:
http://jewishworldreview.com/0703/thomas_2003_07_03.php3

3. From the January 20 Late Show with David Letterman, the "Top Ten
Howard Dean Excuses." Late Show home page.

10. ''The Iowans turned it into a popularity contest''

9. ''People don't seem to find shouting 'Presidential' ''

8. ''Weekend before the caucus, wasted 55 crucial hours marrying
Britney Spears''

7. ''By mistake, campaigned in Ohio''

6. ''Due to fatigue on campaign trail, kissed hands and shook babies''

5. ''Dennis Kucinich stole one percent of my vote''

4. ''Saddam Hussein endorsement didn't help''

3. ''In retrospect, shouldn't have opened speeches with 'Yo Mama'
jokes''

2. ''Bad idea to keep asking self, 'What would Dukakis do?' ''

1. ''Majority of voter base stayed home to watch 'My Big Fat Obnoxious
Fiance' ''


3. Intellectual Diversity is not the Diversity on Campus the Left Wants!:
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/212004c.asp
and also
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/212004d.asp

4. More pronoun problems:
"Feminists and Their Politically Correct Speech Codes"

Posted by Judson Cox
Thursday, January 22, 2004


I received an e-mail from a young woman who was incensed that I
used a masculine pronoun in a generic sense. The column that upset her,
argued that western culture is superior to Islamic culture due to (among
other reasons) our valuing of womens rights. She argued that the use of
''gendered language'' makes ours a sexist culture with no greater moral
standing than Afghanistan under the Taliban.

The English language holds the masculine form of a pronoun to be
generic. If referring to ''an American'' as ''he'' upset her, the problem
is her insecurity. However, her argument is symptomatic of the bias
against American culture often prevalent in our colleges.

In many Islamic societies, women are considered to be just
property. Unmarried women who are raped are executed, because the loss of
their virginity is thought to bring shame upon their families. Married
women who commit adultery are stoned to death. Women who appear in public
uncovered may be beaten and jailed. Women are not allowed to drive, work,
or even leave their homes without permission. Not having a degree in
Womens Studies (sorry, ''Womyns'' Studies), I believe that being beaten or
killed is worse than seeing a masculine pronoun!

There is not absolute gender equality in America since absolute
equality is impossible. No two people are born with the same talents and
have abilities to the same degree. Women are better than men at some
things, from nurturing children to applying eye makeup while driving.
Such disparities dont bother me; perhaps I should take a Mens Studies
class (if such courses existed). Notice that my reader did not complain
about languages such as French or Spanish, in which the feminine form is
most common. If it is American, it is bad; if it is another culture, who
are we to judge?

There is income disparity between the genders; men generally earn a
little more than women. This is mainly because women are more likely to
take maternity leave, suspend their careers to raise children, pass up a
promotion to spend time with their children or leave their profession when
they marry. Individual women make these career choices. In charges of
sexual discrimination, assault, or harassment, and in child custody cases,
women are given legal preference. Due to affirmative action in hiring,
women are given preference. If there is gender discrimination in America,
it is not against women.

While feminists get flustered over ''gendered'' language, my column
is read in many foreign countries. I frequently receive e-mail from
readers who identify themselves as citizens of Islamic nations. They may
disagree with me on every point, hate America, and all she (oops, more
''gendered'' language) stands for, call me names, and threaten my life.
However, some get it. They understand that America is prosperous because
we allow every individual to contribute to our economy. Most foreign
readers realize that America is morally superior because we protect the
freedoms and rights of each of our citizens. They begin to view our
soldiers as liberators. Like the youth of Iran, they understand their
only hope for a better way of life is to embrace Americanism.

Our leaders have had the guts (to use a gender neutral term) to
wage wars when necessary, end western slave trade, free much of the world
from Nazism, Fascism, Imperialism and Communism, and are now protecting
millions from Islamic fascism. Our soldiers have fought and died for
foreign peoples. Our economic system has brought jobs and prosperity to
the ends of the earth. America has been a beacon, a force, an example,
and a refuge for those oppressed under the boot of tyranny, and the fatwas
of Mullahs.

The average blue-collar American Joe, who serves his country, works
his job, raises his family, pays his taxes, votes, drives a gas guzzling
truck, shops at Wal-Mart, and puts a few bucks in the collection plate,
does more to help the poor and oppressed of the world than feminists and
liberals with their ''gender neutral'' politically correct speech codes.


5. Avrum Burg wants a "One-State Solution" where Israel ceases to exist?
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1074691762960

6. More on the Snow White Nazi:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1074691764995&p=1006953079865

7. Clinton President of Africa?
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1074691765243&p=1006953079865

8. http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=11868
Nothing Left for the Israeli Left
By Asaf Romirowsky
FrontPageMagazine.com | January 22, 2004


Last month marked the thirtieth year memorial of the death of the Old Man
David Ben-Gurion, Israels first Prime Minister and founder. Few today
realize Ben-Gurions impact as a leader and politician, but his influence
remains. Ariel Sharon and Shimon Peres, the two grand figures of Israeli
politics today who each embody their wing of Israels political spectrum,
were in the trusted circle of Ben-Gurion. Both see themselves as
continuing his legacy.

Peres was appointed as director-general of the nascent Defense Ministry at
the age of 29. Sharon, at age 25 was appointed to lead the Unit 101
commando team that specialized in reciprocity for Arab attacks.

Peres was a consummate politician, who would become a lifelong trusted
aide, and was one of the several government officials in 1954 who was
working to restore Ben-Gurion to power. Conversely, Sharon was a lifelong
soldier. He had joined the Haganah at the age of 14, during the 1948 War
of Independence, the same Haganah that Ben-Gurion commanded until he
turned it into the IDF. Today, they are political polar opposites. Sharon
is Israel's Prime Minister and Peres is the head of the opposition.

Interestingly, both men make good arguments in how they see themselves
carrying on Ben-Gurions legacy. The Likud (under Sharon) prefers to
remember Ben-Gurions aggressive policy towards the Palestinians, and the
Old Mans forceful military tactics. Labor (embodied by Peres) prefers to
remember Ben-Gurions vision of sharing territory with the Palestinians,
and his agreement to an equitable cease-fire at the end of Israels War of
Independence in 1948. A close analysis, however, reveals that Sharon is
more authentically furthering Ben-Gurions legacy.

It is Ariel Sharon who now emerges as Ben-Gurion's true prot?g? not only
in centralized power his party holds twice as many seats as the
opposition but Sharon is also a realist, willing to consider the prospect
of a two state solution. Ben-Gurion in 1937 did the same when the Peel
Commission offered him a tiny state for the Jews.

In February 1955, Ben-Gurion was the defense minister who supported strong
reprisals against Egypt after a Jewish cyclist was killed and an Israeli
border patrol was ambushed. This resulted in operation Black Arrow led by
a young, career military man named Ariel Sharon. When Ben-Gurion was asked
by Prime Minister Moshe Sharett to comment on the military actions he
said, Our isolation is not a result of [the operation]; it came [about]
earlier when we were pure as doves. [1]

In this years memorial for the late Prime Minister, Sharons deputy Ehud
Olmert delivered a message that was clear. Israel must depend on its own
ability to defend itself and not on international support. This accords
with Ben-Gurions vision that the dream must fit the reality we live in. It
was Ben-Gurions belief that a partial Israel under Jewish control is
better than a whole Israel with an Arab majority. Olmert highlighted the
importance of the land of Israel saying, a Jewish state without the
integrity of the land is better than the integrity of the land without a
Jewish state. [2]

Sharon is following in his mentors footsteps with regard to Israeli
foreign policy, and he strongly believes that Israels strength will
determine the reality only if he can ensure a relatively good relationship
with Washington. It is through this prism that Sharon views the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict; he wants to create an environment where they
can co-exist, but not at the expense of the Jewish polity. As Prime
Minister of Israel, my primary responsibility is to ensure the security of
the citizens and State of Israel. There will be no compromise with terror.
And Israel, together with the nations of the Free World, will continue
fighting terrorism until it is completely defeated. There can be no peace
with terrorism! [3]

Like his mentor, Sharon also sees it probable that the conflict will
continue and Israel will have to stand strong. As he stated at the recent
Fourth Herzliya Conference Like all Israeli citizens, I yearn for peace. I
attach supreme importance to taking all steps, which will enable progress
toward resolution of the conflict with the Palestinians. However, in light
of the other challenges we are faced with, if the Palestinians do not make
a similar effort toward a solution of the conflict I do not intend to wait
for them indefinitely. [4]Similarly, in 1938, Ben-Gurion said, The
conflict had lasted 30 years, and is liable to continue for perhaps
hundreds more. [5]

Sharon has a strong chance of being perceived as the student who best
exemplifies Ben-Gurions farsightedness, if Israel and America maintain
their objectives, especially in the way they view the war on terror as a
mutual goal, and if Sharon adheres to his policy of strength.
Interestingly, at the present it is Sharon, unlike his fellow classmate,
whose policies are supported by the majority of the Israeli public, and is
the one they turn to when they seek a sense of security. Since the
beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, the Israeli public has shifted to the
Right. This fact, attributed to Sharon on the one hand, is also due to the
fact that the Israeli Left offers a less coherent, and acceptable message
to its constituents.

This suggests that Sharons leadership is comparable to Ben-Gurions
administration, an administration that governed Israel for almost 30
years. As Michael Bar-Zohar highlights, For thirty years, from his
conquest of the Zionist movement in 1933 until his resignation in 1963,
Ben-Gurion was the leader of the Palestinian Jewish community and the
State of Israel. [6] This is the same type of support and stability that
is easily seen in Israeli society today.

Moreover, Sharons ongoing quagmire with the settlements and the
Palestinians is similar to the conflict-ridden situation Ben-Gurion faced
during the Altalena episode, as Haaretz correspondent Bradley Burston
writes, Should he [Sharon] make good on his hints, the enterprise would be
tantamount to Sharon's Altalena, a decision to follow in the path of David
Ben-Gurion, the thorny, controversial, knowingly divisive path of the
prime minister Sharon first served as a thorny, controversial, knowingly
divisive young military commander more than fifty years ago. [7]

Sharons Ben-Gurionism has become pivotal to Israels future, since it
highlights the need for both a strong and secure Israel, coinciding with a
solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sharons stance today proves
how much Ben-Gurion influenced him, and the fact that Sharon himself wants
to be seen as a Ben-Gurion and not as Ze'ev Jabotinsky shows that the
political Left is falling by the wayside.

The Right simply offers a more centered and far-reaching message. As
Sharon moves Israel to the center, the Left has nothing left.

NOTES

[1] Bar-Zohar, Michael. Ben-Gurion A Biography, New York: Delacorte Press,
1978, P. 218.

[2]
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1070512321103


[3] http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0nio0


[4] http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0o350

[5] http://www.likud.nl/press278.html


[6] Bar-Zohar, Michael. Ben-Gurion A Biography, New York: Delacorte Press,
1978, P. 281

[7]http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=372230&displayTypeCd=1&sideCd=1&contrassID=2

Posted 1/20/2004 10:11:00 PM

Subject: Concise Explanation of the Middle East War
by Steven Plaut


Myth #1: Israel is an aggressor.
Truth #1: Israel is the victim.

Myth # 2: The "intifada" wave of Palestinian terror was caused by Israeli
occupation.
Truth #2: The "intifada" wave of Palestinian terror was caused by removal
of Israeli occupation.

Myth #3: The territory of Israel used to be an Arab Palestinian state.
Truth #3: There has never been an Arab Palestinian state anywhere, anytime.

Myth #4: Arabs are mistreated by Israel.
Truth #4: Arabs under Israeli rule are treated infinitely better than are
Arabs living under Arab regimes.

Myth #5: The West Bank is Palestinian land.
Truth #5: The West Bank is Jewish land, even though some governments of
Israel have been prepared to relinquish it.

Myth #6: Creation of a Palestinian state will produce peace.
Truth #6: Creation of a Palestinian state will produce escalated war,
perpetual terrorism and barbarism.

Myth #7: Arab war and terrorism against Israel was produced by Israeli
occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Truth #7: Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza was produced by
Arab war and terrorism against Israel.

Myth #8: Israeli leftists are seeking to achieve peace.
Truth #8: Israeli leftists are motivated by hatred of their own country
and their own people, and are seeking their destruction.

Myth #9: Arab terrorism is a byproduct of poverty.
Truth #9: Arab terrorists are almost all middle class and educated yuppies.

Myth #10: The key to peace is granting Palestinians hope.
Truth #10: The key to peace is taking away Palestinian hope (of destroying
Israel).

Myth #11: The Palestinians seek to have their own state alongside Israel.
Truth #11: The Palestinians and their apologists seek to destroy Israel
and conduct genocide against Jews.

Myth #12: Zionism is a form of racism.
Truth #12: Anti-Zionism is a form of racism.

Myth #13: Arab violence is a result of excessive use of force by Israel.
Truth #13: Arab violence is a result of insufficient use of force by Israel.

Myth #14: Israel can only achieve tranquility through displays of niceness.
Truth #14: Israel can only achieve tranquility through displays of harshness.

Myth #15: Israeli displays of flexibility and willingness to make
concessions build Arab trust.
Truth #15: Israeli displays of flexibility and willingness to make
concessions are seen by the Arabs as signs of weakness and encourage Arab
aggression and irredentism.

Myth #16: The bulk of Palestinians want peace with Israel and oppose terror.
Truth #16: Virtually all Palestinians support war and endorse
terror. None have publicly denounced terrorism.

Myth #17: Arafat is trying to halt the terror.
Truth #17: Arafat personally commands the terrorist groups carrying out
most of the violence.

Myth #18: The Road Map is an effective plan to achieve peace.
Truth #18: The Road Map is an effective plan to achieve the destruction of
Israel.

Myth #19: The Palestinian cause is similar to that of black South
Africans under apartheid.
Truth #19: The Palestinian cause is similar to that of the Sudeten
Germans in Czechoslovakia.

Myth #20: Israel is an apartheid country.
Truth #20: Israel is the only state in the Middle East that is NOT an
apartheid country.

Myth #21: The Arab war against Israel is a struggle for justice.
Truth #21: The Arab war against Israel is a struggle for injustice.

Myth #22: The Middle East war is a result of unwillingness by Israel to
share land and resources.
Truth #22: The Arabs control land from the Atlas mountains to Central
Asia. The war is because they are unwilling for the Jews to control an
area smaller than New Jersey.

Myth #23: Arabs became refugees because Israel expelled them.
Truth #24: Jews from Arab states became refugees because the Arab
countries expelled them.

Myth #25: The Middle East war is about Israel refusing to acknowledge the
Palestinian right of self-determination.
Truth #25: The Middle East war is about the Arab world refusing to allow
the Israeli Jews the right of self-determination.

Posted 1/20/2004 10:47:00 AM

Amnon Lord on the Treasonous Left:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull%26cid=1074485521192

A Plausible Peace Plan at Last:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1074485521133&p=1006953079865

For Peace Build MORE Settlements:
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11743

Egyptian Dissident Tells it How it Is:
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11831

Parody of dean speech:
DEAN TO IOWA: 'SHUT UP YOU GUN-TOTING HOMOPHOBES'

IOWA -- With the characteristic charm that earned him the love and respect
of roughly 18 percent of Iowa Democrats, presidential candidate Howard
Dean bid the state farewell as he stepped onto his private jet tonight.

"Shut up, you gun-toting, God-fearing homophobes," Mr. Dean said to a
cheering crowd of Iowa Democrats. "Your caucus is a meaningless exercise
dominated by extremist special interests just like I said on Canadian TV
years ago."

Mr. Dean's aides said their candidate plans to "ride the wave" of his
third-place Iowa finish on to "a decent showing" in New Hampshire.

"We're just so relieved to be out from under the burden of that
'frontrunner' label," said an unnamed Dean aide. "Everything went along
just as the Governor planned...except for that little matter of Kerry
winning."

-- Scott Ott, courtesy Scrappleface, Copyright 2003 Scrappleface. All
rights reserved.



CAN BARBIE COME OUT AND PLAY?
-- Not If The Saudi Religous Police Have Their Way!

by Denis Schulz


"Psst! You want to buy a Barbie doll -- only 100 Saudi riyals on the black
market? That's $27 US dollars. It comes in a plain brown package so no one
will know what you've got. If you should, unfortunately, come across some
of Allah's enforcers (the Saudi Authority for Promotion of Virtue and
Prevention of Vice) they will think you have just purchased one of the
hottest items on the Saudi toy market-a bobble-headed Osama bin Laden
doll. Let them think what they will and keep quiet unless you're one of
those who like being beaten across the derriere with a switch.

If you prefer not to suffer the indignity of a switching, and you're
afraid you might be caught, then you might wish to purchase a special
Spanky & Alfalfa Tushy Pad for 100 Saudi riyals. That's also $27 US
dollars. Place the pad where you think it will do the most good and let
Allah's enforcers whale away to their heart's content. Remember to cry out
and beg forgiveness. And please -- there are no refunds on Barbie dolls
lost or damaged in confrontations with the police.

"Psst! Hey, you -- want to buy a Barbie doll?"

Because of its high birthrate and increasingly young population, the
Middle East has become one of the world's largest toy markets. Doting
parents spend about $1 billion dollars a year on toys, jewelry, and
clothes for their children. And Saudi Arabia is no exception.

One billion dollars is a lot of money even for Bill Gates. It will buy
thousands and thousands of Osama bin Laden bobble-head dolls for little
Mohammed, and hundreds and hundreds of coloring books depicting Allah's
transformation of Jews into monkeys and pigs for little Fatima. Even if
one adds the obligatory cost of a case or two of Jihad Cola -- Saudi
Arabia's new national drink -- to the expense of a bobble-head doll and a
coloring book, the average Saudi family will still have a few riyals left
in the pocketbook; enough, perhaps, to purchase a Barbie doll, a stuffed
animal, a Britney Spears cami and pants set, and, maybe, a Huckleberry
Hound wristwatch -- all items considered evil by the Saudi religious
police.

Evil? Barbie is evil? How could that be possible? Does she come wrapped in
a Victoria's Secret catalogue with a 1-800 number tattooed on her butt?
Couldn't they cover her with a burqa? Her boobs aren't that big! Who would
know unless they peeked? Oh, you say her blonde hair would give her away?
And what would that do? Remind them of Richard the Lion-Heart? Everything
reminds them of Richard the Lion-Heart! And let's face it, she's not
exactly the Flying Nun.

What are the Mullahs frightened of? Do they think Barbie is some kind of a
jinn capable of casting spells on poor little Fatima; something that would
put impure thoughts in her head; make her want to get behind the wheel of
a Hummer; display her ankles on an escalator; hum 'do-wa-ditty' while
preparing kumis for the Lord and Master; deliberately belch at
inappropriate moments? Any of those?

Oh, yes -- all of those and more. Barbie is freedom; Barbie is democracy;
Barbie is capitalism; Barbie is America; Barbie is non-Muslim; Barbie is
sex; and -- most importantly -- Barbie is a Mattel.

A what? A Mattel? And that's bad?

Oh, yes, according to the Saudi intelligence ministry -- apparently run by
Abdul Mortimer and Hamid Bullwinkle -- Mattel is owned by the Jews!

Owned by the Jews? Really? Who'da thunk!

Yes, it's a vicious, sadistic Zionist plot to undermine Saudi culture, say
the Wahhabis. Given half the chance, the Jews will turn little Fatima into
a whore. They will take her out of the kitchen, cover her butt with a
miniskirt, tuck some birth control pills in her purse, and set her down
beneath a lamppost on some dirty street corner where she will be forced to
compete with Irma La Duce for a livelihood.

Obviously, anyone who would seriously entertain such an absurd scenario
would be easily outraged -- unbalanced, of course, but easily outraged;
and that accurately describes Saudi Arabia's mullahs -- unbalanced and
outraged. They feel exactly like Jefferson Davis felt when John Brown
crossed the Potomac River and invaded Harper's Ferry; like Lester Maddox
felt when he was handing out those axe-handles in front of his restaurant;
like George Wallace felt when he stood in the doorway of that schoolhouse
in Alabama -- and just like Wallace they are saying, "Segregation today,
segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!"

So Saudi's God squad is going from store to store, confiscating Barbie
dolls and stuffed animals; flowers and candles that might or might not
represent non-Muslim religions; anything that might resemble a Buddha, a
star of David, or a Christian cross. And these are the rascals that are
supposed to be helping us in the War on Terrorism?

Barbie, run for your life!

Denis Schulz is the publisher of The MaxFlax Report. He can be contacted
at maxflack@one.net.

Posted 1/20/2004 10:30:00 AM

1. Background: The kapo art piece celebrating the woman mass murderer in
Sweden, vandalized by a heroic Israeli diplomat, was supposed to be part
of an "art exhibit" related to a conference on "genocide".

Israel Radio reported that the genocide exhibit included 20 pieces of art
from artists around the world. Three works were selected from Israel, all
of which presented the conflict from a Palestinian point-of-view, while a
pro-Israel piece of art was excluded following diplomatic pressure from
Syria.

2. On "ART" http://israelnn.com/article.php3?id=3228

3. Israel Appoints Anti-Semite:
Ministerial Committee Approves Anti-Semitic Appointment
By a vote of 3-2, a ministerial committee has voted to recommend that
Irineos, the anti-Semitic leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in
Jerusalem, be appointed the official Patriarch of the Church. The
appointment has great political and financial repercussions.

In the vote, Ministers Meir Sheetrit (Likud) and Tommy Lapid (Shinui), who
have long been in favor of the appointment, were joined by Foreign
Minister Silvan Shalom (Likud), who had wavered for a long while before
finally deciding yesterday to support it. Welfare Minister Zevulun Orlev
(National Religious Party) and Jerusalem Affairs Minister Natan Sharansky
(Likud) voted against.

The decision must still be approved by the full Cabinet, possibly in its
next meeting. Orlev is not optimistic that the Likud ministers will vote
against the recommendation. He said that there is a "dark cloud hanging
over this appointment," and that Irineos' loyalty to the State and his
integrity have "not been proven." He said that he cannot understand why
all those that have long objected to Irineos, such as the police, the
Shabak, and others, were silent at the last meeting.

The Greek Orthodox Church owns many properties in western Jerusalem,
including those on which stand the Knesset, the Prime Minister's and
President's residence, the Great Synagogue, and more. The Patriarch thus
has the authority to carry out many large-scale real estate deals, and in
fact Irineos informed Arafat a few months ago that he plans to grant him
as "a personal gift" land in western Jerusalem.

Copies of letters from Irineos to Arafat in which he uses sharp
anti-Semitic terminology and openly expresses support for PLO terrorism
against Israel can be seen on Arutz-7's website . On July 17, 2001,
Irineos wrote,
"You [Arafat] are aware of the sentiments of disgust and disrespect that
all the Holy Sepulcher fathers feel for the descendants of the crucifiers
of our Lord... actual crucifiers of your people, Sionists [sic] Jewish
conquerors of the Holy Land of Palestine..."

Irineos asks Arafat to support him in his quest to become Patriarch,
promising that if he is elected, "rest assured, Mr. President, that the
rights of our most beloved Palestinian people on the Holy City of
Jerusalem will find the most 'hot' supporter."
http://israelnn.com/print.php3?what=news&id=56444

4. Pro-Israel Bengali in prison:
http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ArticlePage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%5El3206&enZone=Culture&enVersion=0&

5. Wall St Journal on Sweden's "ART":
January 20, 2004


REVIEW & OUTLOOK


Art for Politics' Sake

"I pulled the plug on the three spotlights and plunged the exhibit into
darkness," said Zvi Mazel, Israel's ambassador to Sweden, after attacking
a display that glorified Palestinian suicide bombers in a Stockholm art
museum over the weekend. If Ambassador Mazel wanted to expunge the
exhibit, he achieved the exact opposite. Thanks to this undiplomatic art
criticism, the work is now more famous than its creator could have ever
hoped for.

Maybe this is what Mr. Mazel wanted. His vandalism turned the artist, and
the Swedish curators, into a highly public exhibition of the kind of
European opinion that justifies terrorism against Israel. Entitled "Snow
White and the Madness of Truth," the work showed a picture of a woman with
an angelic smile who killed herself and 21 Israelis in Haifa last fall.
Mounted on a small raft, the photo floats in blood-colored water.

Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds said Mr. Mazel misunderstood the
message of Israeli-born artist Dror Feiler. Maybe so, but Mr. Feiler, who
has lived in Sweden for 30 years, made his compassion for suicide bombers
crystal-clear. "I can definitely understand them," the artist said. "They
have nothing to live for, so they look for something to die for."

That's a bizarre statement to make about a pretty, 29-year-old lawyer and
mother of two who murdered so many, but there's such a thing as artistic
license, we suppose. Given what passes for "art" these days, perhaps Mr.
Mazel's outburst should also be classified as a kind of political
performance art.

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107454994860605581,00.html