Israeli editorial cartoonist and veteran American immigrant, Yaakov Kirschen's Dry Bones series has faithfully chronicled Israeli history, life and foibles for nearly 40 years.
For the upcoming tete a tete between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and American President Barack Obama, he revised a classic Dry Bones cartoon"that, more than 30 years ago, back in 1977, gave Jimmy Carter an accurate history lesson in Occupied Territories."
"If the reports leaking out of Washington are accurate, the new President seems stuck with the old misconceptions that withdrawing from territory will placate those who lust for our destruction and that America can help by negotiating on behalf of the Arab states that refuse to negotiate directly with the Jewish State of Israel."
Many fans think this profound parody of Jewish observance, tradition and cockeyed optimism about the future, in the face of missile attacks during the 1991 Gulf War is one of his best.
Jerusalem, looking north from an outlook in the city's southern Gilo neighborhood. I shot this with a camera-phone, and Photoshopped the lo-rez image to bring out the dreaminess of the landscape. (Photo: Dave Bender All Rights Reserved)
..."Israel of the Western mind (and indeed of the Arab mind) is a hateful place: right-wing, militaristic, authoritarian, racist, ultra-religious, neo-colonial, narrow-minded, undemocratic, indifferent to world opinion, indifferent especially to Palestinian suffering.
"Yet the Israel I know is mostly secular, raucously, almost wildly democratic, has a vibrant left wing, having founded in the kibbutz movement one of the only successful experiments in socialism in human history. It is intellectually disputatious; any two Israelis will have three opinions and be happy to argue them to a lamp post. It is multi-ethnic, there is a great stress on human solidarity, there is due process. And I've never heard an Israeli speak casually about the value of Palestinian life. I've heard Israelis voice a desire to neutralise Hezbollah or remove Hamas from leadership in Gaza, but I've never in any context heard an Israeli express the view that the value of a human life is determined by race."
Yes, I know it's not a new post, but it's worth repeating.
Gaza-born, Egyptian author Nonie Darwish is a fierce, and fearless opponent of the rise and spread of radical Islam in the Middle East and elsewhere - particularly the United States.
Her disillusionment with Islam after the 9/11 terror attacks against the U.S. led her to question the most basic tenets and assumptions of her upbringing: the Muslim daughter of an Egyptian army officer, stationed in the Gaza Strip prior to the 1967 Six Day War.
Speaking with journalist Dave Bender, she talks about the spread of Islamic Sharia law in the U.S., it's effect on college campuses and Arab communities and what Americans and their government should do to to thwart it's proponents. This video is the first of several segments:
(Apologies for the so-so video quality: I shot it, handheld, with my Samsung Omnia, and rough edited in Adobe Premier).
For commentators on this video (see below) who call her a rabble-rouser, here are just two examples of what she's talking about:
Five Men Convicted in Miami Terrorism Trial - Vanessa Blum (Los Angeles Times) After two mistrials, five men from Miami were convicted Tuesday of trying to join with al-Qaeda in plots to topple the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago and bomb government buildings in South Florida.
A federal jury in New York Tuesday convicted Oussama Abdullah Kassir of providing support to al-Qaeda by building a terrorist training camp on U.S. soil. Kassir traveled to Bly, Ore., in late 1999 to establish a military-style facility at the direction of Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri of the Finsbury Park mosque in London, who has been designated a terrorist by the U.S. At the camp, Kassir taught techniques for waging jihad, including "how to kill a person by slitting their throat with a knife," according to the indictment. Upon returning overseas, Kassir operated for nearly four years what prosecutors say were "terrorist web sites" that offered instructions on how to prepare bombs and poisonous compounds.
This lady is sick. She's telling just what Americans want to hear using typical American rhetoric, and half of what she says isn't true. She doesn't know what shariah is. She's frankly advocating a racist Red Scare-type political oppression against Muslims similar what liberals suffered during the Cold War. House of perpetual War? She's promoting perpetual war by taking the Cold War to new fronts. She should take her hate mongering somewhere else.
It's strangely appropriate that National Geographic happened to release this feature about Mariam Farhat in time for Mother's Day. Farhat (a.k.a. Umm Nidal) sent three of her sons to die in suicide missions against Israel; Palestinians in turn elected Farhat to their parliament.
A Soldier's Mother has a painfully poignant entry about what the average Israeli must face daily, and, especially in recent days over the prospect of a missile war with Iran, and other neighboring countries and entities:
"They sent us something that is designed to be attached, hung, or using the magnet conveniently located on the back, stuck to the refrigerator door. The slogan says, “To be protected exactly in time.” (Trust me, it sounds better in Hebrew).
"The rest of the hand-out features a map of Israel in various colors. To the right of the map, the question: “How much time do we have to get to a protected area?”
"Below the question, there’s a legend, divided into two parts. The top part covers the bulk of Israel from the north Isra(bordering Lebanon and Syria), the instructions say to enter immediately. The next area, just to the south and west of these areas shows that you have 30 seconds. From there, down through the rest of the country, you have anywhere from 60 seconds to 3 minutes. To comfort those who know us personally, we are in the 3 minute zone, aren’t we lucky?"
"A grey, blustery sand storm rolls fiercely into Kalandia. The sky turns a dark brown over this Israeli checkpoint bordering Jerusalem and Rahmallah. The dust burns your eyes as you focus on a Palestinian family approaching the cement block which serves as your desk. They wear red and white scarves over their faces, protection from the freezing, relentless winds. They reach for their identity cards, but you know that it could be a gun or a knife. You are half Mr. Nice Guy and half combat soldier. You must be able to go from a warm smile to loading your M-16 in half a second. You are an IDF volunteer who the Palestinians and Israeli soldiers refer to as a Humanitarian Officer."
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Prosecutors asked a judge to drop charges against two ex-AIPAC staffers accused of passing along classified information.
In a statement Friday, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia said restrictions on the government's case imposed by Judge T.S. Ellis III made conviction unlikely.
"Given the diminished likelihood the government will prevail at trial under the additional intent requirements imposed by the court and the inevitable disclosure of classified information that would occur at any trial in this matter, we have asked the court to dismiss the indictment," Peter Carr said.
The motion all but guarantees a dismissal when Ellis convenes a hearing, likely within days.
Pals of yours truly, in one of my last IDF reserve duty maneuvers deep (and I mean no kiddin' deep) in the heart of the Negev Desert. (Photo: Dave Bender)
A wonderful item showing the reality of life in Israel and the Israeli Army, behind the headlines:
"This picture really doesn't have a lot to do with Independence day, this is just so significant a part of the military lore that every soldier (or ex-soldier) feels his/her heart warming up at the sight of this scene, as inevitable as it is unbelievable.To explain: imagine that your unit is going through an action-packed week or two of training on one of the most deity-forsaken pieces of real estate somewhere in the middle of nowhere. You breath dust, sleep in dust and eat dust, mixed with some barely bearable elements of combat rations and machine oil. Black coffee (with some dust) is the best you are able to get in the way of delicacies. The water you drink from twenty liter plastic jerrycans is warm and somehow contains more dust than water. You run, you schlep heavy hardware built mostly of sharp corners, you crawl, you shoot and sometimes (by mistake) get shot upon. You are not getting enough sleep, enough rest and you wonder when the heck it will come to an end.And then, when your unit commander declares a half an hour break and you turn your back to your tank or your APC to take a look at some non-military part of the environment, what you suddenly behold is a miracle. In the middle of nowhere, access to which is prohibited to civilians due to this nowhere being a fire zone, besides the said nowhere being totally inaccessible physically to any vehicle less robust than an APC, you see a dilapidated van, full of things you will normally pass on the street without giving them a second glance but here, in the... you know, being more attractive, seductive and debilitating then any wonder of paradise." Read the rest.
More, maybe, all too personal accounts of IDF reserve duty, are here.
faro0485 (4 days ago)
tehlemurz (5 days ago)
This lady is sick. She's telling just what Americans want to hear using typical American rhetoric, and half of what she says isn't true. She doesn't know what shariah is. She's frankly advocating a racist Red Scare-type political oppression against Muslims similar what liberals suffered during the Cold War. House of perpetual War? She's promoting perpetual war by taking the Cold War to new fronts. She should take her hate mongering somewhere else.