Washington PostGlobal end-of-2006: readers' fave proverb or saying

Replying to a Washington PostPostGlobal 2006-year-end query:

What is your favorite proverb or saying from where you live that you would want to share with the world? What does your proverb tell us about today?

I responded:

"We survived Pharaoh? We'll survive this, too..." goes the refrain of a popular song released many years ago by veteran Israeli pop-rocker, Ariel Zilber.

Casting a wry and darkly acerbic, yet wearily hopeful eye at personal and national predicaments, the tune tallies a litany of woe, each stanza ending with the tag line reminding the listener that a bit of historical perspective in facing crises is a useful trait.

The song incorporates a traditional Jewish attitude, memorialized in the Passover Seder, of sensible gumption and looking beyond the present peril to better times ahead. And not a moment too soon, taking a quick look up-thread at some of the obnoxious, mean-spirited replies slamming Jews ("Neocons" in WaPo PC-speak) and Israel in what was - clearly - to have been a pleasant, end-of-year multiculti "contrast and compare." Sheesh. Get. a. life. you losers...

And to the rest of the WaPo bloggerati: a healthy and successful 2007 to you and yours.

Israel: This Little Piggie Went to Heal...

"Jews and pigs? What, like, together? Isn't that, umm, un-kosher?"

Well, not really. Turns out that a "team from the Weizmann Institute of Science have demonstrated for the first time how tissues transplanted from pig embryos might, in the future, be able to induce the human body to produce blood-clotting proteins for hemophilia patients and other critical substances."

Read the rest here. More on Jewish views of this issue are here, here and here.

Sure beats going Islamic over anything porcine...

Cox & Forkum have more on the "Perils of Piglet" here.

Israeli and Palestinian reactions to Saddam execution

From Haaretz:

In the wake of the execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh on Saturday expressed his concerns about Iraq's path in the post-Saddam era.

Sneh told Israel Radio that Israel was concerned about the strengthening of Iranian influence in the Shiite sections of southern Iraq and also in the central government. Iraq had also become a regional "power station" for terror that could spread chaos throughout the Middle East, he said.

"We have to be worried about what is going to happen now," he said.

From Ynet News:

PA residents reminisced over the Gulf War, when dozens of Scud missiles were launched at Israel . The missiles, which landed in the center of the country in 1991, were accompanied by celebrations and chants: "Saddam, strike Tel Aviv."

The Iraqi president remained popular among the Palestinians also during the recent intifada, when he promised to transfer USD 25,000 to families of Palestinians killed in terror attacks and clashes with Israel.

From The Jerusalem Post:

He further endeared himself to the Palestinians during the recent uprising with Israel by giving US$25,000 to the family of each suicide bomber and US$10,000 for each Palestinian killed in fighting. The stipends amounted to an estimated US$35 million.

Day By Day: Saddam

Click on image for full-sized original

You mean, that - that's it?...

The morning after...

...the night before.

Well, even though it took me almost an hour's-and-a-half on a jam-packed bus ride from downtown Jerusalem to make a 20-minute journey home to Gilo yesterday afternoon, it was nice to crunch around the neighborhood to get a few shots for posterity...

More at the JPost of the storm's ravages countrywide.

Only in Jerusalem: snow, a shofar & 'suspicious objects' (Exclusive video, pics)

Downtown Jerusalem's Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall is usually a pretty dreary place on a freezing, wet winter afternoon. That is, until the snow starts...

First thing this gift-shopkeeper did was to pull out a ram's horn shofar and wail to the skies over the surprising snowfall.

(All photos and video: Dave Bender)

Dozens of pedestrians looked like they all suddenly got contagious nearsightedness, as they held out cellphone cameras, angling for that blurry, shaky shot...

Bus transport security personnel were also out, very alert - and very drenched - in the sleety snowfall. So alert, in fact, that a backpack forgotten alongside a bus-stop bench had the police bomb squad was there within moments.

Working quickly in the blowing snow and rain, the officer got into his gear, and inspected the bag (faces of all security personnel blurred intentionally).

Traffic snarls throughout the city were added to by the security scare, as buses crammed with passengers lined up along the street.

A bus security guard, meanwhile, kept the crowds at a safe distance. After a fast check, passersby got the all-clear.

(The Peanuts "Snow Dance" did the trick, apparently)

Keshertalk has more pics of the white stuff.

Here at home in Jerusalem's southern Gilo neighborhood, atop a hill overlooking the city, it's snowing like crazy. I will add more pics in a post further up, as the night, and snow, deepens. Until then, go here to see just how high up Gilo is (and me too, actually), in relation to the rest of Jerusalem.

The U.N., cow farts and how to tell them apart

James Lileks. My hero:

In another display of pitch-perfect priorities, the U.N. has released its findings on cow flatulence. There's quite a lot of it.

The 400-page study, $27 million of which probably went to Saddam Hussein for old times' sake, discovered that the planet's livestock, including 1.5 billion cattle, produce 18 percent of greenhouse gases. Apparently the beasts of the field do nothing but wander around all day asking their brethren to "pull my hoof."

Every time a cow feels a small sense of relief, a polar bear goes through the ice.

Read the rest. Just make sure you set down the hot coffee, or cover the keyboard and computer screen first.

The Peanuts snow dance for a white Jerusalem

Just something sweet - and perfectly timed to the music, you'll note - to either warm up a freezing Jerusalem day (no - no snow... yet), or bring on the white stuff.

Thanks for joining us. And now we return to our regularly-scheduled Peanuts mideast mayhem...

JerusalemOnline news update: Dec. 27th (Video - Channel 2 TV)

• Qassam lands near Ashkelon strategic facility
• Dollar-shekel exchange rate rises in response to rate cut
• Winter storm hits Israel; Snow on Mt. Hermon
• Special: click to watch Life in Sderot between Qassams
  
  

  
  

  Click here or on image for latest Israel
  Channel 2 TV news update

Ahhh, kwitcher' crabbin' awready and get happy...

...as Magnum Photos gives us the joy in black and white...

(Click on photo for the pop-up player -
and turn on you speakers)

IaLG on Yahoo 'You Witness News': The Lebanon War

Yahoo News is featuring the second Lebanon War, The Iraq War and the US-Mexico immigration debate in a three-part audio slideshow on their "You Witness" News year-end review.

A Yahoo editor separately interviewed a Lebanese college student, Rami Cheleb and myself about photographs we shot during the fighting and posted to our respective Flickr sites.

I spoke of scenes of wanton destruction and loss of life across the north and along the border during the conflict, of Israelis, civilian and soldiers, and locations affected by the some 4,000 Hizbullah Katyusha rocket barrages. Horrific details about one lethal rocket strike are here.

Considering the time constraints, I felt our half-hour interview was professionally conducted and fair, and was boiled down to about 33-seconds and six photos for my segment. As for the final product, well, you listen in and watch and let me know.

For comparison, here are a few segments from our discussion, wrapped into a longer podcast. Leave a comment below with your impressions: Fair/unfair, slanted/balanced and to which side?

The full photo series is here, video coverage is here, and the audio is here, and in the Odeo podcast gadget up there near the top left-hand side of this page.

Israeli economy shrugs off military, political woes

Click here or on image for Globes
Israel business news

Fitch Changes Israel's Outlook to Positive:

Fitch Ratings Monday changed the outlook on Israel's foreign and local currency Issuer Default ratings (IDR) to Positive from Stable. "The Positive Outlook reflects the Israeli economy's increased dynamism and resilience following the reforms of recent years, demonstrated by the limited economic impact of the war in Lebanon and the strong rebound now underway," said Richard Fox, Head of Middle East and Africa Sovereign Ratings at Fitch.

Seeking Affordability in Israel:

Home ownership is widespread in Israel, where some 70% of the country's 5 million citizens own their own homes.

Refusal to Cooperate Leaves Arab Economies Far Behind Israel's:

This year Israel recorded the best economic year in its history. In the 1990s, Israel proposed that the Arab world join it to transform the Middle East in a grand renaissance of prosperity and renewal. The Arabs rejected the vision and a new Middle East didn't materialize. On the contrary, the vision only led to the rise of Islamic defiance that found itself threatened by it. Israel sincerely wanted to advance a joint economy with the Palestinians and Jordan, but Arab leaders refused.

'Peace Breaking Out' index: Sderot residents turn to Supreme Court over Kassam rockets

SFX: DING!

SOUND UP: TELETYPE (under v/o)

V/O (1940's-style radio announcer): "And here's the latest "Peace Breaking Out" index for Friday morning, December 22nd. Nearly a month into the reputed ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The Jerusalem Post leads with a update that:

A group of Sderot residents are set to submit a petition to the High Court of Justice to instruct the cabinet to react more harshly to Kassam rocket attacks against their city, it was reported on Friday.

One of the architects of the petition, Avi Farhan, told Army Radio that he was "sure that if one Kassam was fired on Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan or Ramat Aviv, the government would have acted long ago."

"I hope that the High Court will correct this injustice and order the government to act and to stop gambling with our lives," he added.

Haaretz adds:

The security cabinet will meet early next week to decide whether to uphold the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported Friday.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided Thursday to press on with Israel's policy of restraint toward the Qassam rocket fire from Gaza, which has continued despite the declaration of a bilateral cease-fire. Nonetheless, he informed Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that this restraint cannot last much longer if the launches of the past few days persist.

Olmert apparently does not want to jeopardize his planned meeting with Abbas, which he hopes will demonstrate that he is making diplomatic progress.

Israel National News reminds that:

A separate attack on Thursday hit the port city of Ashkelon. The city is home to strategic oil and gas pipelines and a large electric power plant.

Some 45 Kassam rockets have been launched from Gaza against Israel since the November 26 truce went into effect, according to remarks made by Prime Minister Olmert Thursday afternoon.

From Israel's Foreign Ministry:

his decision was taken in an effort on Israel's part both to bring about a calming of the situation and as a signal of Israel's readiness to contribute to an improvement in the security and political condition of the region.

Israel is interested in maintaining a cease-fire as a means to end the violence and to enable progress in the political negotiations. In doing so, Israel is knowingly undertaking the risk that the terrorist organizations will exploit the cease-fire to rearm and to rebuild their infrastructure.

Veteran Sderot resident and US immigrant, Mechi Fendel, movingly writes:

It seems the media and the politicians (from all parties) are starting to wake up to the abnormal situation of a city in Israel during “peacetime” being bombed.

Mechi Fendel at a protest against the
ongoing rocket attacks. Click on the
photo for her blog.

I think MK Ms. Shelly Yechimovitch observed so well – most kids don’t remember a Sderot without Kassam missiles. My 4½-year-old son was born into a Kassam-falling world. He’s been taught since he’s 2 years old to run for cover if he hears the warning. Over the weekend we were at a family simcha near Jerusalem, and my son kept on “hearing” the warning siren and telling us to run to a shelter. He’s just not used to a Kassam-free Shabbat!

The Hamas terrorists are terrorizing the people of Sderot and at the same time causing terror within Gaza. Anyone trying to oppose the sending of Kassam missiles from his home in Gaza is killed. They are trying to kill us, in Sderot, all the time. I also feel bad for the “innocents” in Gaza – but it would be for their benefit too if Israel does a fully-encompassing attack to get rid of the Hamas once and for all.

A protest against the Kassam threat.
Click on the photo for her blog.

And finally, in the words of This Ongoing War:

There have been numerous injuries and plenty of damage from the random firings of these 'heros', mostly among their own children, siblings and cousins. Yesterday, though several rockets crashed into the southern Israeli city of Sderot, most of the injuries were among small Arab children in Gazan Bet Hanoun where a rocket fell short. Your local media won't report it (Pal Arabs injuring other Pal Arabs? Who cares?).

SOUND UP: TELETYPE (under v/o)

This has been a "Peace Breaking Out" index update for Friday morning, December 22nd.

Previous "Peace Breaking Out" updates are here.

SFX: DING!

Dancing in the rehovot

Who ever said white Jewish guys can't dance?

(H-T: Israelity)

'Nicely done, Mr. Chamberlain!'

From Ynetnews:

The law firm at which former US Secretary of State James Baker is a senior partner used an Israeli middleman to bypass US sanctions on Iraq and push through a multimillion-dollar collection effort involving the regime of Saddam Hussein, according to an Israeli businessman who said he mediated the deal.

Nir Gouaz, president of Caesar Global Securities in Israel, told WND that Baker's firm, Houston-based Baker Botts, made about USD 30 million collecting funds owed to a South Korean company by the Iraqi government at the peak of American sanctions imposed against Baghdad.

"As a citizen of Israel I cannot just sit by and watch the hypocrisy being spewed by Baker," said Gouaz. "If Baker was still a private citizen I could keep his business dealings private, but now he is involved in diplomacy that sells out Israel. People need to understand he is acting out of economic considerations."

The Iraq Study Group report (Note: .pdf file download)

Hannuka in Jerusalem's Old City (Exclusive photos)

Supplications to God jammed in the crevices
of the Western Wall (Photo: Dave Bender)

Took a stroll down to the Old City last night, and made my way through the alleyways down to the Western Wall plaza, photographing all the way.

More photos after the jump. Comments and critique are welcome.

(Cross-posted at Israelity)

US immigrant to Israel yocks the house for Hanukkah

Campbell told me his amazing aliya (immigration to Israel) saga last year in an interview for The Jerusalem Post's local weekend edition, "In Jerusalem." Not only a very funny and honest guy, Yisrael is the kind of warm, clear -eyed neshama that we need here:

"So what's so funny about Israel?" I asked him in the Sept., 2005 interview...

"Damn near everything," says 42-year-old Yisrael Campbell, a Torah student, stand-up comic, father of twins and a convert who made aliyah five years ago. After entertaining the crowd from behind the mike at comedy clubs from Los Angeles and Las Vegas, to New York and London, his close-up-and-personal humor is now yocking the house throughout Israel.

"When I was 19 I read Exodus," says [Campbell], recalling the initial spark to his Zionistic fire. "I was ready to move to Israel; I was ready to turn the desert green. If Kitty Fremont (Exodus's female protagonist) was still here, she'd have been about 85..." he guffaws.

More here (in their for-pay archives). More interviews are here.

(H T: Kesher Talk)

Any more minimalist, it would vanish edge-on

Cute copy, too:

Hanukkah has got to be tough. Instead of finding 1 decent gift like most Chistmastians do, Hanukkahians need to find 8 (but only on their 8th birthday, otherwise there are more candles and it's even harder.) The 100% recyclable stainless steel credit card dreidel could make a nice modern addition to traditional Hanukkah gifts...but we think it's just a concept. Maybe next year. Until then use Moses Pez or something.

War on Terror: The boardgame

Hey Kids! Just in time for for the holidays!

Everyone starts with the best intentions. Then things start to get cramped. Then you notice your neighbour has more oil than you. Before long, war is waged, nukes are dropped, revolutions are fought and terrorists are doing your dirty work, before turning on you...

... and the Axis of Evil is a spinner in the middle of the board. You can fight terrorism, you can fund terrorism, you can even be the terrorists. The only thing that matters is global domination - err, liberation. Read more about the game.

Meanwhile...

Bitter after being snubbed for membership in the "Axis of Evil," Libya, China, and Syria today announced they had formed the "Axis of Just as Evil," which they said would be way eviler than that stupid Iran-Iraq-North Korea axis President Bush warned of his State of the Union address. Read more.

Dreidels and Texas Swing (Trust me - it rocks)

Ahh, sweeeeet. No place like Texas.

(H-T: Reubicon 3)

Casualties in Hamas - Egyptian gunbattle at Gaza crossing

Boredom and anarchy between Gaza and Egypt:

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh waiting for permission to cross
Rafah border from Egypt into Gaza on Thursday evening. (Reuters)

From The Jerusalem Post:

Witnesses said Hamas gunmen were firing at the Egyptian side of the border, drawing return fire from the Egyptians and presidential guards from Fatah.

During the battle, masked gunmen in three cars and a bulldozer stormed the terminal, witnesses said. The gunmen went on a rampage inside the building, destroying computers and furniture inside and plunging the area into darkness, the witnesses said.

From Ynet News:

Defense Minister Amir Peretz has ordered the closure of the Rafah crossing in Gaza Thursday to prevent the return of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to the Strip with dozens of millions of dollars in aid.

From Haaretz:

Other senior Hamas officials have taken into Gaza in recent months millions of dollars raised overseas for this purpose. Security sources said that the decision was made in order to curb the cash transfer, and not to prevent the actual return of Haniyeh to Gaza.

More details on the Hamas money trail.

Further to the north:

The IDF reports that Palestinians fired a Kassam rocket into a "city in the western Negev," Thursday evening, causing damage, according to my beeper. UPDATE: The rocket hit Sderot, damaging cars and buildings.

Earlier,

Palestinian terrorists fired a rocket into Israel from Gaza Thursday morning, breaching the ceasefire for the 24th time. Despite the mulitple attacks, the latest of which caused destruction on a kibbutz near Gaza, the Israeli government and defense forces have not responded to the aggression. This latest attack came as PM Olmert sat for meet-and-greets and welcomed praise from leaders on his European tour.

Hannukah: Leaving the "latkes" (Video)

This is the first episode of the "Israelicious" cooking show, hosted by renowned Israeli-American chef, Phyllis Glazer.

Learn how to make fast & easy
"sufganyot" for Hannukah.

For the "covenantally-impaired" among us, consider "sufganyot" the Jewish-Israeli version of "beignets." Unless you're from New Orleans. In which case, I'll just shut up and let Phyllis get on with it...

Neighborhood Bully (reprise)

Yes. I ran this during the war against Hizbullah last summer. It bears repeating (see previous post - I am so sick of this lunatic crap). Don't like it? Sue me.

Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.

He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly.
To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one's command.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin', they say.
He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.

From the album "Infidels", Copyright © 1983 Special Rider Music

Iranian-Jewish man love (not for view on work computers)

WORDS ARE inadequate to express the feeling of insult, sacrilege and anger that I feel when Ahmadinejad and his ilk call this history into question. It is my family's history, the history of my people, and the shared history of much of the world. It is also the history that my colleagues and I at Yad Vashem can verify and recount in great detail, based on the 110,000 published titles and the 70 million pages of documentation in our collection, and the personal records of a sizable percentage of the individual Jews who were murdered. Read more.

Iranian president shares the sweet stuff with
Neturei Karta representative (Photo: AFP)

Report: Israeli army 'boycotting' settler draftees

An Israel National News report charges the Israeli army with systematic and prejudicial enlistment policies against West Bank settlers and supporters.

"Young anti-expulsion and Land of Israel activists are being quietly rejected by the IDF using psychological clauses and other methods," according to their site, which is considered a mouthpiece for the Israeli right in general and settlers in particular.

Worthwhile viewing - whatever your political stripe.

Background on this contentious issue is here, here, and here.

DishonestReporting of The Year Award

Listen to HonestReporting's staff talking about some of the best and worst media from 2006 on their premier podcast.

History won't look back on 2006 as a pleasant year for Israel. We saw Hamas voted into power, Ariel Sharon crippled by a stroke, Qassams rain on Sderot, and the kidnappings of Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Our hearts and solidarity went out to one million northern Israelis forced to hunker down in bomb shelters for weeks. We saw too many senseless deaths, none more poignant than Daniel Wultz, Eliyahu Asheri, and the Taluzi brothers.

Most of all, we'll remember 2006 for Israel's two-front war in Lebanon and Gaza.

Read, and hear more.

Food Porn: Chocolate & Apricot Challah

I never had much of a sweet tooth (give me schug for dessert over chocolate anytime...), and this may not even halichaly qualify as "bread," but rather fall into the "cake" category for blessings - especially for S'faradim who are pretty strict about it, but - don't it look good?

So, if you can't eat it at the beginning of the meal, have it at the end...

Ingredients: Makes 2 Loaves

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling loaves
• 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for the bowl and baking sheets
• 2 tablespoons of honey (When measuring the honey use the same spoon you used for the oil. The oil will coat the spoon, allowing the honey to slide right off.)
• 3 large eggs (one of these is for the wash)
• 4 ounces 62% semisweet chocolate, chopped into chip-size chunks
• 1/2 cup to 1 cup diced dry apricots, depending on tastes (optional)

Read on for the calorific rest.

NPR's Hannukah menorah contest - Mel Gibson gets waxed

So, is this, like, sacreligious - or what?!

Mel Gibson Mel-norah. This menorah works on two levels: It symbolizes a willingness to accept Gibson's apology for his anti-Semitic rant but also, for skeptics, offers the chance to watch hot wax drip down his punim (the Yiddish word for face). Materials: Mel Gibson cutouts and menorah.

More here.

JerusalemOnline Israel News (Video - Channel 2 TV)

• PA chief vows to never recognize Israel
• IDF: Nuclear Iran an existential threat
• Iranian leader admits to Jewish addiction: click here
  

Click here or on image for latest
Israel Channel 2 news update

The Fabulous Baker Boyz: the nasty is in the details...

James Baker: Split loyalties and the prospects for Israel

From The Nation:

Until now, there has been no concrete evidence that Baker’s loyalties are split, or that his power as Special Presidential Envoy–an unpaid position–has been used to benefit any of his corporate clients or employers. But according to documents obtained by The Nation, that is precisely what has happened. Carlyle has sought to secure an extraordinary $1 billion investment from the Kuwaiti government, with Baker’s influence as debt envoy being used as a crucial lever.

The secret deal involves a complex transaction to transfer ownership of as much as $57 billion in unpaid Iraqi debts. The debts, now owed to the government of Kuwait, would be assigned to a foundation created and controlled by a consortium in which the key players are the Carlyle Group, the Albright Group (headed by another former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright) and several other well-connected firms. Under the deal, the government of Kuwait would also give the consortium $2 billion up front to invest in a private equity fund devised by the consortium, with half of it going to Carlyle.

From The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs:

While a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq will have enormous implications for the security of the Middle East as a whole, Israel and other American regional partners should not try to second-guess this decision when it involves questions about whether the U.S. should put its soldiers in harm's way. However, the specific strategy that the Baker-Hamilton report proposes for facilitating an American pullback - the use of an international support group including Iran and Syria - poses serious problems that affect vital Israeli interests.

(H-T: Yidwithlid)

Mererhetoric has more.

Oh, what the hell - why be a stingy Jew, when we can go "whole-hog" - excuse the expression - huh, Jimbo? Here's a bucketful of links for the "Baker-impaired."

Blood Brothers: Is There a Jewish DNA?

An interesting look at the question, in - of all places - the Wall Street Journal:

It all began with a "serendipitous feeling" that hit him while he stumbled through Auschwitz in 2000. Like most visitors John Haedrich was deeply moved by what he saw. But this was something different. A kind of epiphany. Though raised a Christian, for reasons Mr. Haedrich cannot quite articulate, he began to suspect that he might be Jewish. Gradually, this hunch became too vital to ignore. He decided to investigate his origins by taking a DNA test, the results of which confirmed that he had, according to the test conclusion, "rather populous pedigree of Ashkenazi Polish Jews."

Read the rest here. More background is here.

Iran: Ahmadinejad gets his annual Jewish holiday fix

Been away all week, and unable to update the page, but I'm back with the latest:

(And they even got the Persian accent right in English)

Gaza: it's a family affair

Gaza: it's a family affair (Photo: archive)

From Haaretz:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday the government would react with
restraint to continuing Qassam attacks, saying Israel was hoping to give the cease-fire a chance to develop into further steps toward a peace process.
Olmert, who has said he was running out of patience with the ongoing
rocket attacks, did not tell the parliamentary committee what level of violence would prompt an Israeli reaction.

Do you suppose the following would do the trick?

Al Mullah Omar, 24, is a fighter for the Popular Resistance Committees. Anyone interested in attacking Israel can join the group, he said. All that matters is that fighters are willing to attack Israelis by any means, no matter how long the odds of success. The group's ethos of pure militancy has made it the fastest-growing armed wing in Gaza, aided, according to Israeli authorities, by generous funding from Iran. Omar expects his children to grow up to be fighters.

"If I have a son and he doesn't join the resistance, I'll snap his neck," Omar said.

But at least Omar's saying this during the "ceasefire," huh?

JerusalemOnline news update: Dec. 3rd (Video - Channel 2 TV)

• Olmert, Peretz lock horns over response to Kassams
• Thieves rob Hanukkah aid for Sderot residents
• Jerusalem of Gold glows, and parties, after dark

Click here or on image for latest
Israel Channel 2 news update

Age-old Christian-Muslim rift ends; Jews taking cover

'Peace Breaking Out' Index: IDF implores gov't not to widen 'ceasefire' to West Bank

SFX: DING!

SOUND UP: TELETYPE (under v/o)

V/O (1940's-style radio announcer): "And here's the latest 'Peace Breaking Out' Index for Sunday morning, December 3rd – exactly a week into the reputed ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Palestinians in Gaza fired a Kassam rocket into the western Negev early Sunday morning, with the projectile hitting near Kibbutz Kfar Aza. There were no injuries or damage in the attack. This was the seventh such attack since the so-called truce came into effect. The army has been instructed not to respond to any of the rocket strikes.

The security cabinet was to hold a debate Sunday on whether to expand the Gaza Strip cease-fire to the West Bank, with senior security officials warning that such a move could lead to a spike in terrorism.

To back their argument that continued IDF activity was necessary in the West Bank, senior IDF sources in the Central Command said that last week alone Palestinians tried smuggling some 10 pipe bombs out of Nablus through the Hawara Checkpoint, south of the city.

"The terror here never stops and only grows," one officer said of the West Bank. "The only way to keep it under control is by retaining our presence in the territory."

There were 287 terror attacks including shootings, Kassam rocket attacks, stabbings and roadside bombs in November, in comparison to 172 in October, 115 in September and 151 in August, according to statistics released by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies.

MSNBC gives a chilling close-up view of continuing war preparations deep within southern Gaza:

Abu Abdullah scoops yet another spoonful of white powder from a fancy dinner plate into a yellow and black steel tube. The white stuff looks like flour, but it's actually a mixture of store-bought nitrate fertilizer with a dash of ordinary sugar—the 30-year-old Palestinian militant's latest recipe for homemade high explosives. He has almost finished assembling another rocket at a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hideout in Gaza's Khan Younis refugee camp.

Rocketmaker Abu Abdullah with the Moqawana 2 in a hideout
in the Khan Younis refugee camp (Photo: Michael Hastings)

Elsewhere, in Gaza:

"A hitherto unknown group calling itself the Just Swords of Islam issued a warning to Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip over the weekend that they must wear the hijab or face being targeted by the group’s members.

The group said its followers last week threw acid at the face of a young woman who was dressed “immodestly” in the center of Gaza City. They also destroyed a car belonging to a young man who was playing his radio tape too loudly.

In a related story, Haaretz notes that police arrested a left-wing activist during a rally held in Tel Aviv Saturday night against what protesters dubbed Israel's "siege" of Gaza.

There were no reports of the Tel Aviv rally's marchers protesting the extremists' violence against the Gazan civilians, or military preparations against Israeli civilians, as noted in the MSNBC report.

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This has been a 'Peace Breaking Out' Index update for Sunday morning, December 3rd.

SFX: DING!