'Beyond Holocaust Museums'

An excellent thought piece by David Suissa from Aish.com:

If you want to get in trouble in the Jewish world, critique anything that has to do with Holocaust remembrance. It's a pretty untouchable subject, and for good reason.

(...) The Holocaust overwhelms me with grief.

So it is with some trepidation that I share with you my problem with the Jewish world's obsession with Holocaust remembrance.
Maybe it's a personal thing. I don't like feeling like a victim. It makes me smug, arrogant and constantly outraged. It feels good in the moment, but I never feel like doing anything except remind the world that I'm a victim, over and over again.

I share many of his sentiments. Read the rest, to get to his surprising conclusion.

La'g B'omer: 'A little bit of rhythm, a whole lot of soul'

From the YouTube page:

Recorded in Manchester UK on February 25th 2007. Rabbis Danny Bergson - acoustic guitar and vocals and Mitch Goodman - electric and acoustic guitars, present an outstanding composition of Acheinu, a song of true oneness.

Happy La;g B'Omer!

Borat to do 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

From Yahoo News:

Sacha Baron Cohen will play Freddie Mercury in a big screen adaptation of Freddie Mercury's life, it has been claimed. The Borat and Ali G comedian has apparently been approached about taking on the role of the iconic star, as producers beginning casting for the movie. Borat's image and looks were apparently inspired by the Queen singer and Baron Cohen is said to have been chosen ahead of Johnny Depp for the part. An "insider" said: "Film makers are working flat out to get the best possible script. Sacha loves the idea he can get away with playing Freddie after modelling Borat's look on him."

Hmm. Those "insiders" might want to give that "lookalike" idea a bit more thought:

Israeli-led team discovers new planet; Olmert, Peretz mull visit

Grease? It's just one of the most fitting words here.
Knesset member (Labor) Shelly Yechimovitch,
Defense Minister Amir Peretz

From The Jerusalem Post:

"Hizbullah has rebuilt itself and is prepared for another Israeli strike," Naim Kassem, the deputy secretary general of the Iranian-backed terror organization told Al Jazeera TV on Saturday.
"We have completed the groundwork necessary and we have new battle plans," Kassem added.

Meanwhile, in another dimension - "a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind," we have this:

"The person who will inherit the defense portfolio from me will receive a ministry in better condition than the one I headed," Defense Minister Amir Peretz said in a Channel 2 TV interview aired on Saturday.
Peretz was responding to the Winograd Committee's interim report, published on Monday, which put the most of the blame for the outcome of the Second Lebanon War on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Peretz and former IDF chief of general staff Lt. -Gen. [res.] Dan Halutz.

...Amir, motek, (sigh) ya' yutz, dafuk b'sechel, listen - "You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination."

Peretz, in a typical, telling
moment of military vision

But listen - if you hurry, there's still time for you and Ehudi to book a ticket:

An international team headed by a Tel Aviv University astronomer has discovered a new planet, HAT-P-2b, outside our solar system. The planet's "mother star" is some 400 light years from Earth.

More on this story here.

IDF troops returning from Lebanon,
after battles in Summer of 2006.

Remember, dear readers: A nation of heroes, a government of cowards.

150,000 tell Olmert, Peretz: Don't Let the Door Hit You in the Butt On the Way Out (Video)

Today's Headlines:

---

• Over 100,000 gather in Tel Aviv to demand Olmert, Peretz resign
• Foreign Minister Livni mulls quitting
• Rolling Stones and Britney Spears set to appear in Israel this summer
  
  
  
  Click on image for latest Israel
  Channel 2 tv news in English
  

Olmert's last gasp?

Click and read on...

Winograd Report

PM Olmert to Israel: Drop Dead - L'etat, C'est Moi!

"Feeling the 'Winograd' Noose"
(Photo: AP)

Ehud Olmert. Go home. You utterly failed and betrayed the people of Israel and the House of Israel in it's hour of need. Take Amir Peretz with you. We are a nation of heroes. You lead a government of craven cowards.
“Good evening. This afternoon I received the first part of the Winograd
Committee report (). The Government established the Committee seven months ago in order to examine the Second Lebanon War.

"I have studied the main points of the report. The report is grave and
harsh. There were achievements. There were failures by the main
decision-makers with myself at their head. Lessons must be drawn. Faults - and they are many - must be corrected. There is much to do. I intend to act in order to correct everything that needs correcting, thoroughly and
quickly."
Ehud Olmert. Go home. You utterly failed and betrayed the people of Israel and the House of Israel in it's hour of need. Take Amir Peretz with you. We are a nation of heroes. You lead a government of craven cowards.
"I intend to convene a special Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, 2.5.07.  I will propose that a team be appointed to quickly study the report and implement the necessary lessons.

"It would be incorrect to resign and I do not intend to do so.

"This Government made the decisions and this Government will correct the
faults."
Ehud Olmert. Go home. You utterly failed and betrayed the people of Israel and the House of Israel in its hour of need. Take Amir Peretz with you. We are a nation of heroes. You lead a government of craven cowards.
"From our point-of-view, the submission of the report does not close a
chapter in the war.  The submission of the report opens a new - and no less important - chapter, that of correcting the faults and learning the lessons.

"This evening, I am thinking about the bereaved families who lost loved ones in this just and unavoidable war.  I am thinking about the wounded and I am thinking about Udi, Eldad and Gilad Shalit.  Like all of Israel, I believe that it will be possible to bring them back home quickly."
Ehud Olmert. Go home. You utterly failed and betrayed the people of Israel and the House of Israel in its hour of need. Take Amir Peretz with you. We are a nation of heroes. You lead a government of craven cowards.

"Lastly, I would like to thank the Committee of Inquiry - its Chairman,
retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, and its members: Prof. Ruth Gavison, Prof.
Yehezkel Dror, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Menachem Einan and Dr. Chaim Nadel, for
their serious, thorough and dedicated work.”

Honor and thank them by leaving. Ehud Olmert. Go home. You utterly failed and betrayed the people of Israel and the House of Israel in its hour of need. Take Amir Peretz with you. We are a nation of heroes. You lead a government of craven cowards.

Changed Israel At Level Ground URL - and changed it back...

You are still here: http://betbender.blogspot.com for the meantime. Please ignore the following, if you received it in an email:

http://IsraelAtLevelGround.blogspot.com. You used to be at http://betbender.blogspot,com.

Thank you for visiting. Please update your bookmarks, etc.

Can't imagine why I didn't do this sooner.
D



--
Posted By Dave Bender to Israel At Level Ground at 4/30/2007 04:37:00 PM

Palestinian human rights advocate slams Arab culture for woes (Exclusive video interview - Updated)

Jerusalem-based Palestinian human rights advocate Bassam Eid on Palestinian suffering:

"It's not because of occupation but because of Arab culture... They could have, at least, built the infrastructure of Gaza strip."

Read the rest here in the The Washington Times.

How he's still alive after repeatedly slamming the Palestinian leadership for years is a mystery to me. Many who have voiced far more neutered criticism of the Palestinians have commonly died in shootings or been found strung up on telephone poles in Ramallah and Gaza.

I have no doubt that voices in Palestinian society and the Arab world would consider his measured (and all the more scathing for that) appraisal of the Palestinian leadership's failings treasonous. I have interviewed Eid, and in my honest opinion, he means what he says, and walks the walk. Any viewer has to give him credit for that.

Eid, in a refreshingly honest, forthright and exclusive interview, shares his analysis of the state of the Palestinian leadership, power-sharing with Hamas, relations with Israel, and the relative state of freedom to critique Arab society - only available in Israel.

(More clips of my interview with Eid, held in 2004/5 will be posted here during the day. D)
Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

(Click back a bit later and refresh the page (F5) if the videos do not show or play)

Iran threatens 'tens of thousands of missiles'

From The Washington Post:

Iran will strike U.S. interests around the world and Israel if attacked over its disputed nuclear program, a senior official was quoted on Thursday by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

"Nowhere would be safe for America with (Iran's) long-range missiles ... we can fire tens of thousands of missiles every day," said Mohammad Baqer Zolghadr, the deputy interior minister in security affairs.