« January 2007 | Main | March 2007 »
February 28, 2007
Bibi & Bill: A Love Story
This is great. An instant classic.
This video clip of Bibi Netanyahu on the Bill Maher Show is nothing short of astonishing. Bibi scores point after point, and what's most amazing is that the uber-liberal Maher, normally cynical and snarky, is right there with him, all quiet and respectful. Usually, I skate right past Bill Maher, but here, he's just pulled into Bibi's powerful orbit and Bill just can't pull away. It is riveting. Bibi tells the truth—over and over again—and Maher can't bring himself to resort to any cheap wisecracks. He senses that it just won't wash.
Watch Maher's face when Bibi discusses Hizbullah, Iran, and America's vital role in world affairs. It's as if Bill just got hit with a bucket of ice-cold water. Maher wants Bibi to help him nail the war in Iraq but he's in way over his head and Bibi skillfully buries Maher's childish liberal pretentions.
It's a thing of beauty.
The end is stunning.
Bibi looks right into the camera and says: " We've deviated from that "perfection" of powerlessness into power. And I think there' s a real historical adjustment that has yet to take place in the perception of a large portion of mankind towards the Jews. Well, we refuse to be victims, and we're not going to be annihilated again. And we will defend ourselves with the same moral code that any democratic and normal society would apply to itself. We are just not going back into those gas chambers."
(Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend Jeremiah for the transcription.)
Bill Maher, mezmerized, answers: “I hope you come back when you are Prime Minister of Israel.”
Bill Maher, yasher koach for being a mench and for defending Israel.
Bibi, you did good.
Via: Seraphic Friend Yehudit at Kesher.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:55 PM | Comments (12)
Jewish Jew-Hatred
In December, 2006, I published an essay with the American Jewish Committee (AJC) titled "'Progressive Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism." It slumbered for a while and then suddenly provoked the interests and passions of more people than I could ever have imagined. More about these reactions soon. For now, the facts:
With assaults against Jews and Jewish institutions annually numbering in the hundreds, anti-Semitism has once again become a serious threat, made all the worse by the rhetorical violence that helps to fuel it. Much of this rhetoric is directed aggressively against the Jewish state and those deemed "guilty" of supporting it. Often hardly distinguishable from verbal anti-Semitism at its ugliest, it issues not only from jihadist preachers and neo-Nazi hate-mongers, but increasingly from otherwise respectable intellectuals, scholars, artists, and journalists. Some of these people are themselves Jews. In the spirit of George Orwell's seminal insight--"[I]f thought corrupts language, language also corrupts thought"— I set out to examine their words and the degree to which they might be consonant with today's anti-Semitism, especially in its more virulent anti-Zionist forms.
I am not the first writer to take a hard look at Jewish authors whose statements go well beyond what most reasonable people would see as legitimate criticism of Israel and who call into question the very essence of the Jewish state and its right to continued existence. Writing in the pages of TNR about Tony Judt—who professes that "Israel today is bad for the Jews"—Literary Editor Leon Wieseltier pointed out that, to confuse the object of anti-Jewish hostility with its cause, as Judt does, is not to understand anti-Semitism but to reproduce it.
Go to Kesher where Seraphic friend Yehudit has the entire article by Alvin Rosenfeld, and all the links. A must read.
P.S. It's Tony Judt, Tony Kushner, and those of their ilk who are not just bad for the Jews, but good for jihad.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:37 PM | Comments (4)
Inconvenient Truth: Bush Greener than Gore
I think it’s an amusing double-standard. Gore gasses away about the environment while he and his friends use private jets to go from huge, air-conditioned home to home, and he is heaped with accolades and good press, while Bush says little about the environment but lives the green-creed in Midland and gets only negative press. On every issue.
So, while you hear nothing at all about President Bush successfully gaining international co-operation for a green initiative that does not destroy economies like the Kyoto treaty, and you read nothing about how the president is committed to helping the restoration of ancient Iraqi Marshlands, you hear rather too much about all the preening and moralizing going on by Green Al Gore…except when he cancels interviews that might make him address…inconvenient dissent.
To read the entire article by Anchoress, please click here. She needs the company as she lives in a sealed room inside a church.
Via: Libertas
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:02 AM | Comments (24)
Top 10 Signs I'm More Insecure than Robert
Actually there are 11... I'm too insecure to do just 10.
by Jake Novak
11. Robert is secure enough to just make fun of liberals... I just make fun of everyone and hope nobody takes me seriously.
10. Robert is unafraid to publish all the key emotional details of his courtship with Karen... I'll do the same as soon as my wife legally proves she isn't insane for marrying me.
9. Robert wrote Body Double... I WATCHED "Body Double," or whatever I could see when I wasn't cowering in the theater.
8. Robert is proud to say he is a conservative Republican... I'm too insecure to admit I am the last living member of the Whig Party.
7. Robert uses a combat knife to cut the Challah... I just threaten it a few times, but am too afraid to really do anything to it.
6. Robert occasionally gets his pieces accepted for publication by The Jewish Press... I'm afraid I'll be rejected by the Jewish Press editors as a READER.
5. Robert is unafraid to continue pumping loads of money into Apple... With what I've heard about pesticides, I'm too afraid to eat an apple.
4. Robert went to BTA for high school... When I was in high school I was afraid to get within 6 blocks of the BTA building
3. Robert never misses an episode of 24... I watch "Heroes", but only while clutching my lucky blanky
2. Robert is secure enough to write a lot about Jane Austen and women's dresses... I think Jane Austen is women's tennis star
1. Robert has a Tec-9 to feel safe. I need at least a Tec-10, sometimes a Tec-11
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:06 AM | Comments (12)
University Lefties Censor Obsession, What a Shock!
Following on the heels of Newsweek’s outrageous smear piece on Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the New York Times takes out a hit on the film Obsession: Film’s View of Islam Stirs Anger on Campuses.
And they dig up a rabbi to do it:
Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, director of U.C.L.A. Hillel, called the documentary propaganda and said it was “a way to transfer the Middle East conflict to the campus, to promote hostility.”
The rabbi that the New York Times dug up to co-sign their smear job is a far-left anti-Zionist Peace Now creep who recently settled out of court, for a physical attack on pro-Israel writer Rachel Neuwirth in 2003.
For the full story, click here to go to the tzaddikim at Little Green Footballs.
Meanwhile over at the invaluable blog Kesher, Yehudit covers the Obsession controversy over at NYU, where, get this, another, er, rabbi, enables the Muslim "activists."
Click here to order Obsession, the movie, and to see powerful clips. This is a great film.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:58 AM | Comments (6)
February 27, 2007
The Guest Who Talks to Food
I'm attending a L'chaim for friends here in Los Angeles. For those of you who don't speak Yeshivish, a L'chaim is a low-key Orthodox engagement party. Friends and family gather, food is served, and the chosson, the groom, usually delivers a d'var Torah, a short Biblical exegesis that often thematically ties in The Parsha, the Torah Portion of the Week, the wonders of marriage, how lovely and smart the kallah, the bride is, and how blessed are both families — whew, that's a lot to pull together, but believe me, it's usually done with intellectual elegance and genuine feeling.
I have to attend this L'chaim without Karen because she's still in the eleven-month mourning period for her father ZT'L, and not permitted to attend public celebrations. Let me tell you, it's not easy for yours truly to go anywhere without the love of my life. I'm like some amputee, feeling phantom pain from the missing limb. But what I feel is a very real physical disconnect. It's like: who am I without Karen?
Answer: Spectral.
Anywhoo.
The family celebrating the simcha is one of the nicest, most prominent here in Jewish Los Angeles. They have a lovely home, they are incredibly generous to all charities, and they are active in most community Jewish affairs.
When I enter, the host, the Father of the Kallah hugs me and says: "My hero. I love this guy."
Everybody stares. They have no idea why this good and prominent man is hugging the local weird screenwriter.
Father of Kallah explains: "Robert writes the greatest blog ever. He tells it like it is."
Blank stares all around.
Here's the thing: Seraphic Secret is read world-wide, but completely ignored in my very own community.
My host smiles, releases me, and tells me to keep up the good work. I thank him for his support and wish him a huge mazal tov. He and his wife and all his children are really the good guys of the world. Rare people indeed. And I do not just say this because he's a reader of this blog. He's the real deal.
One of the local yentas flutters over to me.
Yenta: You have a website?
Me: Uh-huh.
Yenta: Gave up screenwriting, didja?
Me: I multi-task.
Yenta: What's your website, shopping and schlepping and all that mall stuff?
Me: Exactly.
Everybody from the Los Angeles Jewish community is here.
I stand by the pool chatting with my stockbroker. I have this huge urge to blather on about the day I decided to buy Apple stock and he sort of hesitated and now it's totally turbo-charging my portfolio.
"Where's Karen?"
"She's in avelut?"
"Right, sorry, I forgot."
"No problem."
I stand by the food table chatting with a cardiologist. I have this huge urge to tell him my theory that the only reason my heart still beats is because Karen loves me.
"Where's Karen?"
"She's in avelut"
"Oh yes, I knew that."
I stand in a corner, all by myself, yearning for Karen's presence. A good friend approaches.
"Saw that article about you in The Jerusalem Report."
"No kidding, you're the first."
"You come off kinda pompous. Hope you don't mind me saying."
"Karen thinks it's the most accurate article ever written about me."
"Then you're in real trouble."
The host calls everyone into the house. It's time for the chosson's d'var Torah.
It's really crowded. And moi mentally melts when in the presence of more than three people.
I hang in the backyard with the Mexican waiters, but I can still see and hear the chosson, a fine young Rabbinic student. He speaks clearly and articulately. His parents and sisters have tears puckering in their eyes. I do too.
I'm such a wuss.
Oh-oh. Someone is murmuring. Loudly. And it's not the Mexican waiters. They're totally cool and respectful.
I turn my gaze to the food table.
Oh boy.
It's one of the guests.
Sigh.
The Guest is talking to the food.
But I smile. I am happy. Because in any other community, in any other social set this Guest would probably be ignored. This Guest would never even be invited to such an event. But here in this lovely and generous community, this Guest is treated with love, respect and dignity.
I return home to Karen and tell her all about the evening, all about the Guest, and Karen wisely points out that:
"That Guest is the only person in this community who calls me Dr."
"True."
The Guest has genuine respect for Karen's Ph.D.
Abruptly, I remember something vital about the Guest:
"You know what the Guest calls me?"
"What?"
"Maestro Screenwriter."
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:06 PM | Comments (22)
1/2 Hour News Hour Against the Oscars
Even the RE-RUN of the 1/2 Hour News Hour up against the Oscars did relatively well in the overnight ratings.
The only conservative leaning comedy show on television got a 0.7 rating and about 750,000 viewers. That number will probably rise when the full ratings come in later this week.
That's still 44% more viewers than the Fox News Channel had for that time slot--The Oliver North Show--the week before the original run of the show.
That's 68% better than CNN at the same time this Sunday night.
Clearly, the show has an audience.
Clearly, it should be picked up.
Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend at a major TV Network here in Lose Angeles.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)
True Gore
Gore’s mansion, [20-room, eight-bathroom] located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).
Truth is, these people don't even believe their own doomsday predictions. It's all just feel-good politics.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:00 AM | Comments (11)
February 26, 2007
With Anti –Tank Gunners Like These...
After the Oscars, I needed a laugh. Can someone tell me if the troops in the video are French, or French-Canadian? Apparently one can tell by their accents. Proudly, I do not speak French.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:34 PM | Comments (6)
Oscar Night Snooze
Hey, didn't you just love the way Hollywood royalty went out of their way to thank our troops for all the sacrifices they're making in Iraq and Afghanistan?
(Irony meter is turned up to Stratospheric Level, in case you have not noticed.)
Not one word about the war. Not one word acknowledging our troops deployed in war zones at this very moment.
But Hollywood insists that they support our troops.
Even Mao knew that lefties lie, famously stating: “I like to deal with rightists. They say what they really think — not like the leftists, who say one thing and mean another.”
Disgraceful
In the world according to Hollywood, there is no war against Islamic terrorists — but there is a "climate crisis."
Don't you feel all guilty and awful about yourself? Isn't America just a miserable country for melting all those nice polar ice caps? And aren't the elegant Hollywood stars just wonderful and brilliant for, y'know, bringing this impending apocalypse to our attention?
Oh yeah, aren't you just jumping for joy that the Oscars are Green? You know who are really, thrilled? The Islamic loonies who are trying to destroy western civilization. They're sitting and watching this freak show and going: “These Americans are decadent fools. They are worried about switching off lights in their mansions rather than our jihad against Jews, Christians, Israel and America. May Allah bless them.”
No, the color of Oscar was not green but yellow.
Karen really liked Helen Mirren's gown. Pay attention ladies: that's the look you get when the fabric is expertly cut on the bias. Hey, no snarky cracks! Yours truly has spent years on film sets with incredibly talented costume designers and thus have soaked up some pretty weird bits of Anna Wintour-like ephemera.
Listen, I am secure enough in my masculinity to pass on important fashion tips to our readership.
Oscar Hostess Ellen DeGeneres: her various outfits were, um, very Ringling Bros. Did you catch those white shoes? Frightening.
Melissa Ethridge, did you just say that you have a wife? Head in hands, completely puzzled. Please pass the Valium, Karen.
Hey, one of my tante's is attending the Oscars! How'd she get invited? Oy, look at that black shmata she's wearing. It's a crime against humanity. And what's that Klingon necklace wound around her neck? Oh my gosh, it's not my tante from the Bronx, it's Meryl Streep. Will someone please teach that woman the ABC's of fashion. Did "The Devil Wears Prada" leave no residual effects whatsoever? Fourteen Oscar nominations and she still looks like she just rode in on the shtetl express. Absolutely tragic.
Naturally, "United 93," got the cold shoulder. You know why? Because it's about genuine, existential threats — Islamic terror. It's about Americans who bravely fight back, Americans who realize that the government does not have all the answers, and sometimes good citizens have to organize and fight evil. The film is raw and real and chilling, and it touches the very emotions that Hollywood dares not admit even exist. And it is superbly crafted.
For shame.
The Death Montage. Tears pool in my eyes when I see all the great actors, directors, writers and technicians who are no longer with us. And then a photo of the great Japanese director Shoei Imamura flashes on the screen. How in the world did that I miss that? Now I'm really depressed and fall into a sad silence. The Oscar audience is also silent—because they have absolutely no idea who over 99.9% of the dead are, and care even less. Let me tell you, memories are hyper-short in this town.
A few years ago I was making a film with the great Oscar-winning actress Ellen Burstyn. During a few free hours I quizzed her about her amazing career, spending a great deal of time on her work on Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show. At one point Ellen turned to me and said, "Do you know how rare this is? No one in this town cares about movie history."
The only real Hollywood magic came to us, naturally, by way of the new Apple ad for their new phone. A brilliant montage of Hollywood stars saying hello on the phone — and then a shot of the new Apple phone.
This ad was, I have to tell you, thrilling. Not just because I saw my Apple stock shooting up, but because some of the old shots reminded me of what great Hollywood films used to be.
The rest of the evening, along with the films Hollywood chose to honor, was like a massive dose of Thorazine.
P.S. My apologies to Seraphic commenters whose comments were lost on this post. There was a glitch on Movable Type and I had to rewrite and, sigh, post this anew.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:23 AM | Comments (29)
February 25, 2007
The Best of the Jewish Blogosphere
Whoopee! The Best of the Jewish Blogosphere just hit my in-box. Haveil Havelim #108: The Get-Lost Edition has been compiled by the cleverly named Life of Rubin. It's a fine round-up, and Seraphic Secret's Divest from Terror has been included. Thanks so much, Mr. Life of R.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2007
Setting the Shabbos Table
“Dad, you know it's a real mitzvah to set the Shabbos table.”
“Really?”
Ariel ZT'L nodded his head
Ariel had a way of making little suggestions that spurred me to make small changes in my routine that inevitably made huge changes in my life.
“By setting the Shabbos table you help usher in the holiness of Shabbos, you bring kedusha to Am Yisroel — and you help Mommy out.” Ariel's eyes twinkled.
Ariel was just 14-years old when he said this to me. That's when I took on the seemingly minor obligation of setting the Shabbos table.
Friday Morning, Casa Avrech, Los Angeles, California, Planet Earth.
5:00 AM: My eyes pop open. There is absolutely no chance of going back to sleep. There is vital work to be done and yours truly is the man to accomplish said work.
5:10 Dressed, I step outside and plant the flag of my country on the front lawn of Casa Avrech. Sheesh, it's still the only flag on the block. After so many years you'd think someone would be shamed into hoisting a flag too. But no. Ours is the only flag on the block.
5:11 I have to crawl under my SUV to get the NY Times. I vow to murder the delivery kid. Every single morning he deliberately flings the paper under the car. I know, I'll rat him out to immigration.
5:14 My blood pressure rises to dangerous heights as I skim the front page of the NY Times. These people should be arrested for sedition, treason, sheer stupidity. Heck, I should be arrested for paying for a subscription to this rag. But Karen just has to do the puzzle, and I have to know what the enemy is saying.
5:17 Glance at the Op-Ed pge. Migraine creeps up. Close the Op-Ed page. Migraine retreats. That was easy.
5:19 Time for coffee. Karen makes this incredible cold brew toddy for me.
5:20 Ahh... ddiction.
5:33 I've got a system worked out, and it goes like this: Clear dining room table of loose change, keys, baseball cap, scattered mail. Take damp washcloth and scrub table clean, then take dry towel and wipe dry. Unfurl Shabbos tablecloth, and SNAP! lay it on dining room table — in one smooth movement. It has to be in one smooth movement or —
— or nothing. Or I shrug my shoulders and feel like a monumental failure. Such are the goals I set for myself when I set the Shabbos table.
Go figure.
5:35 Now for the complicated part. I have to decide how to fold the napkins. Oh boy. Do you know how many variations there are for napkin folding? Too many. You know what I do? I fold a nice simple rectangle. Every single Shabbos. Maybe once in a blue moon I'll haul out the napkin rings and shove the linens through and try and make some kind of decent-looking arrangement, but oh gosh, it ends up looking so hopelessly heterosexual, so pathetic, that I wonder why I even bothered.
5:37 Silverware. I love this part. Start with the two forks. Put them on the left, on the napkin, the big fork on the left and then the small fork. Then on the other side of the plate, the knife, the soup spoon and the dessert spoon. This is the fun part because I just whip around the dining room table like an orbiting astronout, distributing the silverware automatically. Really, I can do this in my sleep.
5:40 We bought two dozen heavy glasses just for Shabbos. They fit perfectly in my hand. They're just the right size and weight. When one breaks, we order a replacement immediately. Yup, we're that obsessive.
5:44 Place the challe tray at the head of the table. I use a pretty unconventional challe knife. I figure if it's good enough for combat, it's good enough for cutting challe. When we have guests for Shabbos and they glimpse this knife they don't know whether to flee, hide or laugh. But it does the job. Cuts through challe like butter.
5:45 Last things: Place salt near the head of the table. At the center of the table I arrange two little flags side-by-side: the stars and stripes, and the Israeli flag. I choose the Kiddush cup I'm going to use. Usually I favor my grandfather's cup. Rav Shmuel Avrech ZT'L was a student of the Brisker Rav, an amazingly self-sufficient and intensely private man, my grandfather adored Karen and it was through Karen that I was finally able to know my grandfather in the last years of his life.
5:50 The Shabbos table is set. I stand for a long moment and remember Ariel. It was he who set me on the path to do this small mitzvah. The house is quiet. Birds outside have just begun to wake and chirp. Shards of sunlight break through the windows. Ariel is gone, but I keep him alive through these small mitzvahs, these small gestures.
6:00 I daven. Between each and every bracha I sense my son's presence.
7:00 I step into my office, sit down and write a Shabbos note to Karen. I have been writing these notes to Karen for over 15 years. They are short little missives in which I tell her that: 1. I appreciate all the hard work she's done during the week, 2. Let her know some of the things I've been up to in Hollywood, 3. Bring up various issues with the girlses, 4. Tell her that I love her now and forever, 5. Wish her a good Shabbos.
7:10 I sit back and look forward to Shabbos when Karen's Shabbos note will be sitting by my plate waiting for me when I get back from shul. I look forward to this note the entire week.
Jason Maoz, the extremely able Senior Editor of the Jewish Press, asked Karen to expand on her The Solace of Lost Siddurim article. Rising brilliantly to the challenge, Karen rewrote her piece and you can find it at this week's Jewish Press.
Karen and I wish all our Seraphic friends a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:55 AM | Comments (47)
February 22, 2007
In Search of Lost Democrats
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
— John Fitzgerald Kennedy's Inaugural Address Friday, Jan 20, 1961
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:34 PM | Comments (4)
"West Bank" Oscars
By Debbie Schlussel
Will the Academy Awards ever stop sympathizing with Islamic terrorists?
Given recent history--and one of its chosen nominees for Sunday's Oscars show--that's doubtful.
This year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated West Bank Story for Best Live Action Short Film.
A take-off on the movie musical classic, "West Side Story," "West Bank Story" reduces unprovoked Islamic terrorism against innocent, mostly Jewish civilians to a Jets versus Sharks feud, solved with dancing, singing, and hummus. If only it were that simple.
But it isn't. In "West Bank Story," the entire conflict is a matter of feuding kosher and Palestinian falafel restaurants. The entire conflict is solved after 20 minutes of musical numbers and hummus-eating. Apparently, filmmaker Ari Sandel hasn't been paying attention to what really goes on in falafel shops -- and behind Israel's green line, not just the West Bank.
To read the rest of this story, please click here.
Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend and collector of Jewish films, Michael Makiri
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:05 PM | Comments (2)
1/2 Hour News Hour: 1.5 Million Viewers!
The news gets even better.
The ratings are in for The 1/2 Hour News Hour on Fox. The heavily-promoted premiere delivered 499,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo and 1,478,000 total viewers.
The show gained about 170,000 demo and around 300,000 total viewers from its lead-in. Half the viewers immediately tuned out, giving The Line Up just 231,000 demo and 787,000 viewers at 10:30pm.
SF Chronicle, Feb. 16: "If 1.5 million viewers watched -- slightly less than Stewart's nightly 1.6 million audience and more than Colbert's 1.2 million -- Surnow said, 'it would be a huge number.'"
-- Update: 10:43am: "The show was definitely popular with Tivo users," an e-mailer says. According to Nielsen's live data, the show averaged 1,398,000 viewers and 442,000 in the demo. The original stats, listed above, are live + same day DVR data, showing that 80,000 total viewers and 57,000 demo viewers time-shifted the show and watched it later in the day.
-- Update: 10:46am: The satire's time slot was up 69 percent in viewers and up 94 percent in the 25-54 demo compared to Q1 '07 to date.
Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend at a major TV Network here in Lose Angeles.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:23 PM | Comments (7)
US, Israel, Iran: Covert War & Elevated Risks
By -- Fred Burton
Stratfor Terrorism Intelligence Report
Hyperlinks via Seraphic Secret.
Amid a general atmosphere of saber rattling by the United States and Israel, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Feb. 8, 2007 that any aggression against his country would be met with reciprocal strikes by Iranian forces inside and outside the country. Khamenei's remarks were merely the latest installment in a drama of rhetoric, arms acquisitions, military exercises and missile launches designed to demonstrate to the United States and Israel that any potential strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities would come at a very high price.
The United States and Israel also have used overt pressure tactics in the hopes of forcing Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions and to help end the chaos in Iraq. Khamenei referred to these efforts as the "enemies' psychological operations" and said they are "an indication of weakness and a state of paralysis." Speaking to an audience of Iranian air force members in Tehran, the ayatollah railed against international sanctions and threats, saying, "Fear and surrender to enemies is a method used by those nations and officials who have not comprehended the power of national resolve, but the Iranian nation, relying on its successful experiences of the last 27 years, will stand up to any enemy and threat."
Clearly, there is a lot of rhetoric flying around. But despite the threats and bluster, it is not at all clear that the United States has either the capacity or the will to launch an actual attack against Iran -- nor is it clear that Israel has the ability to attack Iran's nuclear infrastructure on its own. For its part, Iran -- in spite of its recent weapons purchases and highly publicized missile tests -- clearly is in no position to go toe-to-toe with the U.S. military.
With neither side willing or able to confront the other in the conventional military sense, both will be looking for alternative means of achieving its goals. For any nation-state, its intelligence services are an important weapon in the arsenal -- and it now appears that a covert intelligence war between the United States and Iran, first raised by Stratfor as a possibility in March 2006, is well under way. So far, the action in this intelligence war has been confined mainly to Iraq and Lebanon. However, recent events -- including the mysterious death in January of a top Iranian nuclear scientist, who was believed to have been a target of Mossad -- indicate that this quiet war is escalating, and soon could move to fronts beyond the Middle East.
Intelligence Wars
The covert intelligence war between the United States and Iran now appears to be well under way. As it has evolved against the backdrop of the war in Iraq and Tehran's nuclear ambitions, it has exhibited many characteristics that were notable in the U.S.-Soviet Cold War. For example, irreconcilable geopolitical interests and conflicting ideologies prompted the present conflict. The United States appears to be following its tried-and-true Cold War doctrine of containment, and Iran has pursued the Cold War practice of equipping and training proxies to inflict pain on an adversary that is locked in a war -- following the examples set by the Soviet Union in Vietnam and the United States in the Afghan-Soviet conflict. Other similarities include the heavy use of disinformation, propaganda, agents of influence and covert action by both sides.
With its missile purchases, tests and nuclear program, Iran also has started an arms race of sorts in the region. This arms race, along with Iran's support for Hezbollah and controversial and provocative statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, inevitably has pulled Israel into the fray. Iran clearly regards Israel as a pressure point to be used against the Americans. The regime in Tehran also views rhetorical attacks against the Jewish state -- not to mention actual attacks waged by Iran's surrogate, Hezbollah -- as a way to curry favor or gain influence with the Muslim masses. This is, in effect, the same reason the Iraqis launched Scud missiles against Israel during the first Gulf War.
Israel is far from a passive victim of Iranian skullduggery, of course. It has been involved in these types of intelligence wars since the founding of the state -- and, if one counts the Jewish insurgent attacks against British forces and Muslims in the 1930s and 1940s, even before. Out of geopolitical necessity, the Israelis cannot take the Iranian threats lightly; they are fully engaged in this current clandestine war.
Of course, Iran is not the first country in the region to have threatened Israel with harsh rhetoric while attempting to develop nuclear weapons. Iraq was in a similar position more than 20 years ago. Thus, beginning in 1980, Israel developed a program of assassinating and threatening scientists who were associated with Iraq's nuclear weapons program. This was followed by the bombing of Iraq's Osirak reactor in June 1981. As recently as the 1990 assassination of Canadian scientist and "supergun" creator Gerald Bull, Israel's clandestine hand appears to have been working to thwart Iraqi weapons programs.
A New Salvo?
There is reason to believe that Israel -- whose reputation for conventional military strength was dealt a considerable blow during last summer's conflict with Hezbollah -- now might be dusting off the strategy it successfully employed against Iraq. Specifically, Iranian news sources on Jan. 25 reported the death (a week previously) of Ardeshir Hassanpour, a high-level scientist who is believed to have played a key role in Iran's nuclear program. His death has not been officially explained, but Stratfor sources have indicated that Hassanpour was a target of Mossad. If he was indeed assassinated by agents of Israel, it would mean the Jewish state has raised the stakes in the covert war -- and reprisals could be coming down the pike.
However, the capabilities of Iran's intelligence services today are very different from those of 1980s Iraq. Though the Iraqi service was quite adept at operating domestically -- in torturing, murdering and instilling fear in its own population -- its efforts to strike U.S. targets in Asia and Africa in January 1991 (following the launch of Operation Desert Storm) demonstrated a much lower degree of tactical sophistication and aptitude in operations abroad. The Iraqi operatives blew themselves up, planted IEDs that did not detonate and made naive mistakes, such as dispatching operatives using consecutively numbered Iraqi passports. They were simply too clumsy to wage a nuanced and complex intelligence war.
Iran is a different story. Between the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), the special operations elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (also called the "Pasdaran" in Farsi) and Hezbollah, the Iranians have a well-developed clandestine infrastructure that has a history of effectively conducting assassinations and terrorist attacks abroad.
The Islamic Republic's covert capabilities were honed during the revolutionary struggle and became evident soon after the shah was toppled. The revolutionaries' first targets were Iranian monarchists in exile, who were trying to foment a counterrevolution in Iran. Later, after many of these opponents had been eliminated and the threat brought under control, MOIS shifted its focus to exiled dissidents and other opponents of the regime. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, influential leaders of these groups were targeted and killed in a sophisticated campaign that stretched from the Middle East to Europe to the suburbs of Washington.
Iranian agents and surrogates also engaged in overt attacks -- kidnappings, automatic weapons and grenade attacks in public places and bombings. Hezbollah in particular was quite active on this front; notable incidents included the abductions of CIA station chief William F. Buckley in 1984 and U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins in 1988 (both men died in captivity), as well as numerous hijackings and bombings.
Because Iran's conventional military forces -- though among the best in the region -- are clearly no match for those of the Americans or others, the sophisticated and highly disciplined intelligence service, and its ability to carry out covert campaigns, is a key component of national security. In the past, kidnappings and assassinations -- carried out with sufficient deniability -- have proved an effective way of eliminating enemies and leveraging the country's geopolitical position without incurring unacceptable risk.
Therefore, when Khamenei warned that attacking Iran would result in the attacker's interests around the world being targeted by Iranians, he was referring not only to Iran's conventional military strength but also to its well-developed clandestine capabilities.
Reciprocity
Reciprocity is one of the defining characteristics of an intelligence operation. For example, if a U.S. case officer were to be discovered by the Russians and PNG'd (declared "persona non grata"), it would be quite normal to see the Americans quickly detain and expel a Russian intelligence officer, known as a "Rezident." Similarly, if the FBI perceived that a Rezident was getting too provocative in his countersurveillance routine and decided to break the Rezident's car tail light or slash his tires, the bureau's Russian counterpart, the FSB, usually would respond in kind with an American case officer in Moscow. This principle extends to assassinations: If you kill one of ours, we will kill one of yours.
The concepts of reciprocity and vengeance are also deeply ingrained in the cultures and religions of the Middle East. In a conflict between the Iranians and Israelis, these concepts would figure prominently in any covert strikes -- as they frequently did in the past. To illustrate:
-- February 1992: Israeli agents assassinated Hezbollah leader Abbas Musawi. A month later, immediately after the 30-day mourning period for Musawi ended, the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was bombed.
-- July 1994: Israel Defense Forces killed dozens of Hezbollah members in a strike at the group's Ein Dardara training camp. Hezbollah's response: the vehicle bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires and attacks, eight days later, against the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish charity in London.
-- March 1995: MOIS carried out a well-planned strike against U.S. consulate employees in Karachi, Pakistan, killing two and wounding a third. It is believed that MOIS staged the attack in response to the killing of an Iranian intelligence officer, for which Tehran blamed the United States.
In short, Khamenei's recent threats of reciprocal attacks, in light of history, should not be taken lightly.
Emerging Risks
With this in mind, it is to be expected that the Iranians would retaliate against the party they believe to be responsible for the assassination of Hassanpour. Precisely which assets would be used in retaliation is an important question. If Hezbollah were activated, for example, one might expect a strike along the lines of the Buenos Aires or London attacks. But if MOIS operatives carried out the strike, it would have a completely different feel. MOIS frequently has employed stealth and deception to get the assassins within close range of their targets -- close enough to kill them with pistols or knives, often in the targets' homes.
If past cycles are any indication, the Iranians would take somewhere between four and six weeks to launch a reprisal -- or, in other words, a strike could come as early as the last week of February. According to source reports, MOIS and Hezbollah have been conducting pre-operational surveillance over the past year or so to collect targeting data in many different locations, so it is likely that a target already has been identified. This activity -- which began before the summer Israel/Hezbollah conflict and continued after its conclusion -- is a strong indication that the Iranians have been thinking about "off-the-shelf plans" that could be executed later as needed to protect their interests. Once plans were prepared, however, it still would be necessary to move operatives into place, acquire weapons and fine-tune details before an actual strike was carried out. This last step would require additional surveillance, so countersurveillance efforts will be crucial, especially for Israeli and Jewish targets, over the next few weeks.
As a rule, the activities of Iranian diplomats in Western countries are watched closely in an effort to determine who among them are likely to be MOIS officers. With international tensions with Iran at their current levels, the activities of these officers will be scrutinized closely in coming weeks. American and Israeli intelligence officers also will be watching the Iranians closely in developing countries -- working with intelligence and security services of friendly countries and on a unilateral basis in locations where the host government is less cooperative -- or less competent. Meanwhile, counterintelligence agents will be taking a keen interest in anyone who meets with suspected MOIS officers -- especially Lebanese or Iranian visitors from out of town. That is because the Iranians have shown a tendency to use "out-of-town talent" to carry out attacks in the past, such as the strikes in Buenos Aires. Monitoring such activity could help to pre-empt any plans for a retaliatory strike by Iran. The Iranians know this well -- it is not a new concept -- and therefore likely would plan any retaliatory actions to take place in a country where, from their perspective, there is less risk of being detected or caught after the fact.
History and Khamenei's statement last week support the possibility that a reprisal attack very well could take place far beyond the Middle East. Countries in Asia, the Americas or Europe -- where MOIS and Hezbollah have conducted operations in the past -- are possibilities to consider. The risks to Israeli or Jewish targets are highest in areas where the Iranians have a diplomatic presence to support the mission, and where the host country's intelligence service and law enforcement officials are corrupt or otherwise ineffective.
If a strike against an Israeli or Jewish target in such a location should transpire, it would differ from a jihadist attack in that there would be no claims of credit by Iran. The attack itself would send all the message required.
Was this forwarded to you? Sign up to start receiving your own copy – it's always thought-provoking, insightful and free.
Go to https://www.stratfor.com/subscriptions/free-weekly-intelligence-reports.php to register
Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, William Cochran, Vintage Knives
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:28 AM | Comments (3)
February 21, 2007
Say the Word
a·cap·no·tic
n. a nonsmoker
u·ca·le·gon
n. a neighbor whose house is on fire
floc·ci·fy
v. to consider worthless
e·pi·car·i·ca·cy
n. taking pleasure in others' misfortune
ca·co·zel·i·a
n. the use of rare or foreign words to appear learned
Hat Tip: Futility Closet
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:34 PM | Comments (4)
The Big (ger) Liars
"Everybody in politics lies, but they [Bill and Hillary Clinton] do it with such ease, it's troubling."
—David Geffen, to Maureen Dowd, NY Times, Feb 21, 2007
I read the entire column and just burst out laughing.
Listen, if a Hollywood producer, excuse me, the Hollywood producer, is "troubled" by the Clinton's, um, dishonesty, then let me tell you, it must be off-the-charts.
Watch for the Clinton attack machine, and it is vicious, to go after Barack Obama with true killer instincts. Obama has very little experience in politics; he's in for a reality check.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:46 PM | Comments (6)
The Ratings Are in for 1/2 Hour News Hour
10-10:30PM FOX 1/2 Hour News Hour:
Rating: 0.9
Share: 1.5
HUT (Households Using Television) Level: 65.7%
Estimated Viewers: 1,033,000
Ratings went up 11% from the previous half hour and fell 33% for the next show, which was "The Line Up."
— Just as a comparison, at that hour CNN did a 0.5 rating with just 570,000 viewers. MSNBC did a 0.2 with 219,000 viewers.
— And at that hour a week before on FOX, they only did a 0.5 with 519,000 viewers for "War Stories with Oliver North."
In English: excellent ratings!
It looks like the only things on Cable that beat it in that time slot were the re-run of Futurama on "Adult Swim" with a 1.4 rating and "Patch Adams" on USA also with a 1.4 rating.
If the show can score another 0.9 for the next new broadcast of the show, it looks like the only Conservative leaning comedy show on TV will probably be picked up.
This is very good news.
Hat Tip: Anonymous Tipster at a major network here in Los Angeles.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:53 AM | Comments (4)
Jane, Churchill, The French Revolution, and Shidduchim
"What calm lives they had, those people! No worries about the French Revolution, or the Napoleonic Wars."
— Winston Churchill, on Jane Austen's Novels
Well, of course, Jane Austen had intimate knowledge of the French Revolution and the bloody Napoleonic wars. Two of her brothers served in the Royal Navy.
Sir Francis William Austen (1774 - 1865) became an admiral of the fleet. Francis was a great supporter of Jane's novels. In a letter to Eliza Quincy of Boston he wrote: “Of the liveliness of her imagination and playfulness of her fancy, as also of the truthfulness of her description of character and deep knowledge of the human mind, there are sufficient evidence in her works; and it has been a matter of surprise to those who knew her best how she could at a very early age and with apparently limited means of observation, have been capable of nicely discriminating and pourtraying such varieties of the human character as are introduced in her works... She was a most agreeable companion and by the lively sallies of her wit and good-humored drollery seldom failed of exciting the mirth and hilarity of the party.”
Charles John Austen (1779 - 1852) was the youngest of the Austen children. Charles enlisted in the Royal Navy when he was twelve-years old, and spent a great deal of time at sea, five years in North America. Charles adored his older sister's novels and read Emma three times.
Jane Austen was certainly inspired by her two brothers many adventures, and she paid tribute to the officers of the Royal Navy in Persuasion.
Jane also had a cousin, Eliza de Feuillide, whose husband, the Compte de Feuillide, had returned to France in an attempt to secure his estates — and was guillotined on 22 February, 1794. Thereafter, Eliza and her son Hastings spent a good deal of time at the Austen home in Steventon. Eliza was especially close to her cousin Jane.
So the question is: why didn't Jane Austen ever mention the major convulsion rocking Europe at the time? I posed this question privately to a literary scholar who reads this blog every once in a while, a brilliant woman who's something of an expert on the period. She did not bury me under obtuse literary theory, but was quite straightforward, stating: “Jane Austen wrote about what she knew.” Which is to say, the rural domestic life of the British family, and the desperate search for suitable marriage partners for a house filled with yearning daughters.
In short: Jane Austen wrote about shidduchim.
Here's an entire book devoted to what Jane Austen did not write: Jane Austen & The French Revolution
And here's probably the very best likeness of Jane Austen, that we have. It's only recently been discovered. As you can see, she is hard at work.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:04 AM | Comments (8)
February 20, 2007
Another Day, Another Homicide Bomber
Would-be bomber ditches explosives in Rishon LeZion dumpster, unclear if bomb was faulty or if he changed his mind. Bomber arrested with several other Palestinians in Bat Yam apartment
For the full story and a video, click here for Y-Net News.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:51 PM | Comments (0)
Wisdom from John Edwards, Democrat
— John Edwards, Democratic Presidential hopeful.
The subtext of Edward's statement, which Democrat apologists conveniently skate past, is that once again, Israel is painted as the ogre of the middle-East. Once again, for having the temerity of possibly exercising national self-defense, Israel is portrayed as the major regional threat. In short, the victims are blamed, not those who, on the one hand deny the Holocaust while at the same time promising a new one.
Hey John, you don't think that maybe bigger short-term threats to (world) peace are:
1. Iran nuking Israel — as they have promised to do.
2. Al Queda and their various terrorist free-lancers killing who knows how many people.
3. Hamas, vowing to "eliminate the Zionist entity." Thus unleashing a world of rockets from Gaza.
4. Hizbullah, trying to topple the Lebanese government. In short, a bloody sectarian war, with Syrian intervention.
5. Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade, see #3.
But on the plus side John, you just wrapped up the Daily Kossack vote. Mazal Tov!
Here's the original article from Variety by Peter Bart. The Real Hollywood Politics
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:24 PM | Comments (10)
Divest From Terror
One of the questions most frequently asked by readers of Seraphic Secret is, what can I, the ordinary citizen, do to combat Islamic terrorism? Well, here finally, is an organization, Divest Terror, that is spearheading a drive to attack the financial underpinnings of jihad. Believe it or not, you and I, and millions of other Americans are unwittingly supporting jihad by investing in certain publicly-held coroprations. The time has come to divest. I have combed through my porttfolio and I urge all of you to do the same.
There are some 400 public companies that do business with terrorist-sponsoring states. Many of these companies provide critical revenues and advanced equipment and technology to these countries. In addition, each of these European, Asian and U.S.-owned subsidiary companies provides moral and political cover to the governments of these countries, obscuring the fact that they are providing hard currency, weapons, technology and safe harbor to terrorists.
Accordingly, DivestTerror.org does not differentiate among companies operating in terrorist-sponsoring states. Until such time as these countries discontinue their sponsorship of terrorism, it is our view that no company, regardless of the scale of their operations, should be willing to do business with them.
Regrettably, hundreds of multinational and American companies have, to date, refused voluntarily to send this vital security message to the terrorist-sponsoring governments. A dozen of these companies exemplify the various ways in which this behavior is helping prop up such governments and, thereby, enabling their ability to aid and abet terrorism. (N.B. All of the information concerning the activities of this illustrative Dirty Dozen was derived from publicly available sources.)
1. Seimens AG
2. Alcatel SA
3. Statoil ASA
4. BNP Paribas
6. ENI SPA
8. Hyundai
9. Total SA
10. Lundin Petroleum
11. Oil & Natural Gas Corp. Ltd.
12. PetroChina
Click here to Enlist to Divest Terror
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:08 AM | Comments (3)
February 19, 2007
Aliens in My Bedroom
1. The alarm to the house: Red light. Laser-like intensity.
2. The digital clock on Karen's night table. Pulsating green numbers.
3. Karen's computer: Two sharp green lights.
4. VCR: Another digital clock, not the same time as Karen's clock. Gotta fix that some day. Uh-huh.
5. DVD Player: Another green light. I should just get out of bed and switch it off. But then I'll just have a red light.
6. Cable Box: Another digital clock, different time than the VCR and the digital clock. What time is it?
7. Apple Powerbook: Sleeping, but pulsating a fierce, other-worldly white light.
8. Electric toothbrush: Steady pin-prick of green light.
9. Electric shaver: Displaying a row of rectangular lights. Like grinning green teeth.
10. Recharging PDA: Solid green light.
11. Apple Wi-Fi: Steady, sigh, green light.
12. Cell Phone: Recharging on my night table. Guess what color the light is?
13. Land line phone: Three red blips, day and night. Inches from my nose.
14. Powercord: On the floor, a tiny rectangle of harsh red light, like some new strain of insect.
And what's this? A whole new display of pulsating green and red lights across the room. I've never seen those before!
Oh boy.
It looks like aliens have landed in the master bedroom. Casa Avrech is under attack. It's four in the morning and I climb out of bed to investigate these strange new lights. Cautiously, I make my way toward the frightening pin-points of green and red. Sheesh, I just know I'm gonna be hoisted up to the mother ship, and terrible experiments will be conducted on my mortal body.
I get closer and closer to the strange new lights.
WHAP!
"Ouch!"
"Robert, are you okay?" Karen says groggily.
"I walked into the mirror."
"Why?"
"I thought I saw aliens."
"Good thing you didn't shoot."
"Well, gee-willikers, Karen, bullets wouldn't be very effective against a superior race now would they? Everybody knows that."
When I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn I was afraid of the dark. Now, there is no darkness. Our nights are splashed in the neon greens and reds of our electronic devices. It's disorienting and, well, just plain unnatural.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:18 AM | Comments (29)
February 18, 2007
The Best of the Jewish Blogosphere: Take # 107
Soccer Dad puts together a wonderful compilation from the Jewish blogosphere, with the witty title: I'm Sorry Folks, I Just Can't Do Haveil Havelim #107.
That's just how I feel, except I mean it.
Karen's fine piece, The Solace of Lost Siddurim is, wisely, included.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:09 AM | Comments (12)
February 16, 2007
The 1/2 Hour News Hour
Let’s cut to the chase: Fox News’ Half Hour News Hour, the conservative-leaning comedy show created by producer Joel Surnow (24), is hilarious — indeed is flat-out, gut-wrenchingly funny. I recently watched DVDs of the show’s first two episodes — Episode 1 is set to premiere on Fox News this Sunday at 10:00 PM EST, and will be repeated Sunday the 25th. Episode 2 will air March 4th. These first two episodes of the show provide some of the funniest, most outrageous moments I’ve seen on a major TV network. You simply will not believe some of the things this show gets away with saying and showing, how politically incorrect the show genuinely is (as opposed to Bill Maher), how many taboos it breaks …
To read the rest of the story and an early review go to Seraphic Friends, Libertas.
We urge everyone to watch "The 1/2 Hour News Hour."
Karen and I wish all our friends a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:14 PM | Comments (14)
With Allies Like These Who Needs Enemies
European opposition to American efforts in Iraq is expressed in many little ways. For example, American transports flying badly wounded U.S. troops back to the United States, often ask European air controllers for a more direct flight path through European air space.
This is in order to get the wounded soldier or marine to the American hospital more quickly.
This is particularly useful when the aircraft have been turned into a flying ECU (Emergency Care Unit), and doctors are actually treating the seriously wounded in flight.
The European air controllers rarely allow the direct flight.
It would mean some more work for them, but saying "no" is another way to stick it to those bastards who removed Saddam Hussein from power, and continue to fight Iraqis who want to destroy democracy in Iraq. When the American medical flight reaches American air space, air controllers are quick to give the transports the shortest possible route to its destination. Some of these medical flights are non-stop from Iraq to Texas, where there are several major military hospitals.
Hat Tip: Strategy Page
This should come as no great surprise. When French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin was asked at a press conference in London whether he wished for the United States to win in Iraq, the dapper Frenchman refused to answer.
"Civilizations die from suicide, not murder."
--Arnold J. Toynbee, A Study of History
There could be no better epitaph written for Europe, rapidly crumbling into Eurostan.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:32 AM | Comments (9)
You Talkin' to Me!
breed·bate
n. one who seeks an argument
viv·i·sep·ul·ture
n. burial alive
bo·an·thro·py
n. the delusion that one is an ox
leth·o·no·mi·a
n. a propensity for forgetting names
in·fan·dous
adj. too horrible to mention
Hat Tip: Futility Closet
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 05:41 AM | Comments (4)
February 15, 2007
America vs. Iran: The Shadow War
While the U.S. military and intelligence proceeds cautiously on exposing Iran's involvement in Iraq's insurgency, and treads carefully on exposing Muqtada al-Sadr's backing of the Shia death squads, a war is being fought in the shadows -- a war which we only see glimpses of.
To read the rest of Bill Rogio's enlightening report, please click here.
Almost twenty-eight years ago, The Islamic Republic of Iran declared war against The Great Satan -- that's America if you don't speak Islamobabble -- when they invaded the American Embassy in Tehran. Ever since then Iran's ruthless and highly efficient intelligence service, The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), and her proxy army, Hizbullah, have been killing and kidnapping Americans and, of course, Jews. Most notably for Americans, the abductions of CIA station chief William F. Buckley in 1984 and U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins in 1988. Both men died in captivity.
The Iranians know that they are at war with America; the unfortunate part is that most Americans are blissfully unaware of this brutal and bloody conflict that is being fought in the shadows.
Even now, as Iranian agents kill and maim American soldiers in Iraq, American liberals demand proof, absolute proof, that the highest levels of the Iranian government have authorized these attacks.
This absolute proof obviously cannot be produced. If our security services did have such proof it would be foolish to make such documents public and thereby compromise the sources that leaked them.
The world of intelligence is, by definition, never exacting, never perfect. Far from absolute.
In other words, those who demand absolute proof of Iranian mischief in Iraq are far more interested in attacking the credibility of President Bush than in protecting our servicemen.
We already know that they have no interest in winning this war -- for that matter in winning any war. They are, by nature, inclination, education and ideology: defeatists.
It's lucky these people were not around during WWII. "Hey, let's get the heck out of Europe, the Germans are just slaughtering innocent Jews and if we stay here they might even slaughter more. Let's scram and maybe things will get better."
Imagine a world where Liberals rule, where America is indifferent to the plight of civilians at their time of greatest need because, y'know, it's just too darn hard to fight a bunch of terrorists. Imagine a world where America's allies suspect, with good reason, that America withdraws her forces from the battlefield as soon as casualties appear. Imagine a world where hysterical congressman scream for an exit strategy before troops are even inserted, before the battlefield even takes shape.
Such a world invites genocide, and make no mistake about it, a gilt-edged invitation is extended to the jihadists -- right to our shores.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:18 PM | Comments (0)
True Construction
Here’s a short video about the Israeli construction taking place near the Temple Mount, to replace an access ramp that collapsed three years ago, for the benefit and safety of all visitors. There is an enormous effort right now by Islamists to incite the Muslim world against Israel because of this construction, using Big Lie tactics and deceptive propaganda.
This shows the truth:
To view the video, click here to go to Little Green Footballs.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:37 PM | Comments (0)
Jew Hate Week
Seraphic Friend Yehudit from that fine blog Kesher, reports on the most foul End Israel (no, I will not even type the word) Week -- for that is their true, well, endgame. All their talk of justice is just a tissue of lies. These people are crypto genocidiers, intent on the destruction of the Jewish state.
Here is Part One.
Here is Part Two.
Here is Part Three.
Do not fool yourselves, these people and the groups they represent are not "merely anti-Zionist." They are rabid Jew-haters.
Note: They are not attacking China for for the cultural and physical genocide the Chinese have perpetrated in Tibet. No, of course not. They are not throwing their bodies against the brutal Islamic Sudanese regime for the genocide in Darfur. They are not protesting Syria's systematic assassinations of signifigant Lebanese political opposition leaders. No way are they going to protest Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's strongman, and the harrowing of his country. And what do they care that Kim Jong Il has used famine as a weapon against his own people, murdering approximately 2-3 million North Korean citizens. This is probably excused under the banner of multiculturalism. Or the dead are conveniently swept under the rug and labeled "capitalist propaganda."
These zombie Jew-haters will never oppose true evil.
Especially if that evil comes in the guise of Arab/Muslim statehood, or even non-state players. We can assure you that these creatures are, deep in their anti-democratic hearts, great admireres of Al Queda and their like. We can assure you that when these knuckleheads slink back to their spray painted hovels with posters of Che on the wall, OBL is reverently referred to as a freedom fighter. These groups, who are absolutely obsessed with Israel, are no different than those, who in years past, made romantic cause with murderous Jew-hating groups like The Red Brigades, and The Baader Meinhof Gang.
These pathological cases will only attack Israel, the Jewish state, where a million Arab citizens live in more freedom than they could ever find under any Arab regime on the face of the earth. They will only attack a state where women are truly free and not brutalized and murdered in honor killings on a daily basis. They will only attack a state where homosexuals can live in peace and security, as opposed to Arab states where they are regularly imprisoned, horribly tortured and mutilated. They will only attack a democracy. They will only attack a state where freedom of religion is assured, as opposed to, say, Saudi Arabia, where a Jew is not even allowed to enter -- except for Henry Kissinger who was given special diplomatic dispensation. This religious bigotry does not bother these people at all.
And why should it?
They are Jew-haters.
Saudi Arabia and the Taliban are, no doubt, their ruling-class ideals.
Let us be clear: These zombie Jew haters are not anti-war activists. They are not seekers of justice in any form that rational people could ever recognize. These people are: liars, cowards and in the final analysis, they are jihadists -- if not yet in action, then certainly in language.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)
Statehood and the Palestinians
The wonder is not that the Palestinian Authority seethes with violence and instability; there are other places too where bloodshed is the daily fare. The wonder is not that the Palestinians, who receive copious amounts of international aid — more than $1.2 billion last year from Western governments alone — channel so much of their resources and energy into weapons and warfare. The wonder is that so many voices still push for a Palestinian state.
But has any population ever been less suited for statehood than the Palestinians? From the terrorists they choose as leaders to the jihad promoted in their schools, their culture is drenched in violence and hatred. Each time the world has offered them sovereignty — an offer that the Kurds or the Chechens or the Tibetans would leap at — the Palestinians have opted instead for bloodshed and rejectionism.
To read Jeff Jacoby's entire article, please click here.
Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Mordechai Schiller
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:38 AM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2007
The Solace of Lost Siddurim
by Karen Avrech
Since Ariel ZT'L, died much of my waking and sleeping life, since I dream of him often, is taken up with assembling images of my son. I have said many times that the piercing sense of loss is mounting as time passes. Paradoxically, as the years go by, I am increasingly feeling the immediacy of Ariel's presence, something I blocked out in the early years, perhaps as a defensive measure.
I have flashbacks now to his early years. The other day I saw him vividly as a two year old, in a red fleece jacket, rosy-cheeked in the New York cold, head covered in his navy wool hat. Images are returning, and tears are falling from my eyes at the oddest moments,
Along with the grieving, one seeks messages. There must be some meaning, some ongoing connection. A small miracle that gives solace. I like to tell myself that I was granted one such "message" recently.
My older daughter gave me a siddur (prayer book) with an inscription at the close of her year in Israel. It was the same year that Ariel died. She wrote that she was grateful for the experience, grateful to us for allowing her to be in Israel at that time, knowing how hard that year was for us all.
This past November, five years later, we were visiting her younger sister at the same seminary. I lost the siddur on that trip. I know I dropped it in the taxi on our way from the hotel to the school. I called the taxi company three times and each time they angrily told me that they didn't find any siddur. I gave up.
I loved that siddur with the special inscription.
Two months later, on a trip to my newly married daughter's home in Teaneck, I asked her for a siddur for the morning prayer since I no longer had my own travelling siddur. She gave me one that felt very comfortable in my hand. I said, "Oh, this feels so familiar." I looked for an inscription to see where it came from, to whom it belonged.
What a surprise -- it was originally mine. It was a siddur that was given to me by my father ZT'L upon the birth of my youngest daughter. I had forgotten all about it. It was inscribed by my father with a Hebrew poem he had composed for the occasion. My father died this past year, so I was thrilled to rediscover this siddur.
I prayed.
As I turned the pages, I noticed that some of the prayers had penciled annotations in the margins. For example, the different paragraphs of the Sh'ma were given names: Chesed, Din, Tiferet.
But the handwriting was Ariel's!
I began to cry. He had written comments on some of the prayers. I don't know if he had used the siddur in a class, or just needed to make his own insertions.
Now the lost siddur had led me to the siddur that I was meant to find. A new gift from the same daughter from the two people in my life who were no longer alive to speak to me: my father and my son. A small miracle that brings some solace where comfort is rare.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:59 PM | Comments (18)
The War Against Judaism
"That cursed Israel is trying to destroy al-Aqsa mosque...Nothing will work with Israel except for a nuclear bomb that wipes it out of existence."
-- Mohamed el-Katatny of President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP) to the Egyptian Parliament.
This from a spokesman of a "moderate" Arab state.
Let us be clear, there are no moderate Arab states.
There are only various degrees of Jew-hating Arab states, oppressors of women, and Christians; these are fanatical petro-tyrannies, geographical freaks. Let us never forget that except for Morocco, each and every Arab state is Judenrein. And the PA, along with the oh-so-sensitive Israeli left, have designed the same final solution for Judea and Samaria.
The brutal expulsion of Jews by Jews has already been carried out in Gaza. And oh, what a Garden of Eden has been created.
But why did Israel expel Jews from Gaza?
In return for peace, correct?
And what did Israel get in return?
Kidnapped soldiers.
Endless rockets.
Endless war.
And what did the Palis get?
Civil war. An economy in shambles. They never learn. What a shock.
But you would think that Israel would have learned from this experience. You would think. But you would be wrong. Very wrong.
Which brings us to the repair work in Jerusalem. This is just more mass hysteria being whipped up in the Arab world to pull focus from the vicious civil war being waged by Hamas and Fatah, and remind the Palis to return to what they do best: killing Jews.
The truly clueless Mayor of Jerusalem Uri Lupolianski has suspended construction as of late Sunday night in response to Arab riots and leftist Israeli protestors--let's call them what they are--terrorists enablers.
This is not complicated. If you back down in the face of bullies, when you are being intimidated by gangs of liars and thugs, well, you lose one small battle after another. And then when the larger battles come along, in places like Lebanon--you end up losing a war. And if you end up losing one small war, you will inevitably lose another small war. It becomes, you know, a habit. And guess what happens next? You lose the big war. The important war. Iran is counting on this scenario.
The Iranians are not stupid. Nor are they madmen. They are not fooling around. They are not making idle threats. The Persians mean what they say when they promise a world without Israel. These are the same fanatics who sent hundreds of thousands of little boys as human minesweepers in the eight-year war against Iraq. And the Mullahs smiled as blood gushed like oil.
Rule #1. Appeasement encourages terror.
Rule #2. Never forget Rule#1
If you forget Rule #1 you are correctly perceived by the Arab/Muslim enemy as weak, not as sensitive and reasonable. And they will repay your weakness with even more rioting, with even more killing, with even more terror.
Next, and I guarantee this, the Arab/Muslim citizens of Israel will demand that Israel renounce Judaism in favor of a "full democracy." Just wait and see. The cultural and religious war aganst Judaism is just beginning. And the left in Israel will, as they always do, enable these Arab/Muslim Jew-haters.
These most recent riots are not just a war against Israel, but a war against Judaism, against the very foundations of Judaism. They are designed to deny the Jewish connection to Israel, to Jerusalem, to the ancient Jewish Temples.
Beware, if Israel relents on this construction, she is relenting on the very basis of her existence.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:52 AM | Comments (8)
Mobilize Now, Save the World
Jerusalem Post
Just over three years ago, at the
first-ever global forum on anti-Semitism organized by the
State of Israel, the essential task was to define the beast
-- the new anti-Semitism. Since then, as the fourth such
global gathering meets this week, efforts to incorporate the
"three-D" distinction between legitimate criticism of Israel
and the new anti-Semitism -- demonization, double standards
and delegitimization -- have become part of international
documents and discourse.
These and other accomplishments, as important as they are,
have been dwarfed by the quantum leap anti-Semitism itself
has taken. It has leapfrogged from isolated attacks against
Jews to incitement to genocide -- the actual elimination of
the Jewish state.
This shift has come in the form of a pincer movement. On one
side, we have the Iranian regime, which is denying the
Holocaust and calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map"
while racing to develop the physical means of doing so. On
the other side, we have what is, in effect, international
silence in response, coupled with growing willingness to
discuss Israel's existence as a mistake, an anachronism, or
a provocation.
We must recognize the fact that though sympathy for Iran's
expressed goal of Israel's destruction is hardly mainstream,
the idea of a world without Israel is more acceptable in
polite company, the media and academia today than Hitler's
expressed goal of a Europe without Jews was in 1939.
Given this situation, it should be clear that we are beyond
the stage of definitions. The Jewish world now must mobilize
at a level no less than during the struggles to establish
the State of Israel and to free Soviet Jewry. It is this
latter struggle that presents the most potent model for
action today.
Though both sides of the genocidal pincer are in quite
advanced stages of development, the Jewish world remains
mired in pre-mobilization debates reminiscent of the early
stages of the Soviet Jewry struggle in the 1960s. This may
be hard to recall in light of the subsequent success, but
back then a debate raged among Jews over whether a campaign
to free Soviet Jewry was "too parochial," and whether being
out front risked making it too much of a "Jewish issue."
Before these internal debates were resolved the Soviet Jewry
effort could not be regarded as a movement, capable of
attracting allies and moving governments. Nor were such
debates easily, or ever fully, put to rest.
As late as 1987, when the by then mature and powerful
movement organized the largest-ever Soviet Jewry rally on
Washington's mall to coincide with Mikhail Gorbachev's
visit, some Jewish leaders wondered if the community could
be mobilized, and if such a rally would be
counterproductive. They warned that only a few thousand
souls would brave the winter weather, and that the Jewish
community would be considered "warmongers" who were spoiling
the recent warming of US-Soviet relations.
In actuality, over 250,000 people came to a rally that was
pivotal in opening the floodgates, not just to 10,000 or
20,000 Jews, which seemed like a dream at the time, but to a
million Jews who came to Israel over the following decade.
Since it has been a while, a reminder is in order of what
full mobilization looks like.
First, as Shlomo Avineri has recently proposed, Iranian
officials should get the Soviet treatment. Just as no Soviet
official, including sport and cultural delegations, could
travel without being accosted by protests and hostile
questions, so it should be with anyone representing the
Iranian regime. As in the Soviet case, such protests will
not themselves change Iranian behavior, but they are
critical to creating a climate that will influence the
policies of Western governments.
Second, an inventory of the governments and companies that
provide Iran with refined oil, huge trade deals, and even
military and nuclear assistance should be taken and public
pressure be put on them to end their complicity with a
regime that is racing to genocide.
Third, the pension funds of US states should be divested
from all companies that trade with or invest in Iran. This
divestment campaign must be pursued without apologies or
hesitation.
Fourth, every country that is party to the Genocide
Convention should be called upon to fulfill its obligation
under that treaty and seek an indictment of President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the charge of incitement to genocide,
which is a "punishable offense" under Article III of that
treaty.
Fifth, human rights groups, such as Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch, which are heavily nourished by
Jewish values, passion and funding, must stop squeezing both sides of the genocidal pincer.
These groups must be challenged, on the one hand, to
press for enforcement of the Genocide Treaty, to stand up
for human rights in Iran, and to oppose and expose Iranian
support for terrorism. On the other, they must stop
perverting the sacred cause of human rights into a cudgel in
Iran's hands against Israel. This happened just months ago
when, during the Lebanon war, such groups all but ignored
Hizbullah's terrorism from behind human shields and called
Israel's self-defense a "war crime."
Just as the two sides of the pincer themselves are
connected, so too must be the efforts to combat them. All
the above steps concern the Iranian side of the pincer. But
combating the other side, the denial of Israel's right to
exist, is no less critical - and more difficult, since at
times they necessitate confronting, not a rogue regime, but
our own cherished institutions. On this front:
First, universities that provide chairs for professors who
campaign against Israel's right to exist should be
boycotted. In a number of countries, denying the Holocaust
is a criminal act. In the current context, denying Israel's
right to exist lays the groundwork for a second holocaust
even more directly than does denying history. Therefore, the
promulgation of such an ideology should be fought even by
societies that justifiably revere freedom of speech.
This may seem a hopelessly difficult task, but it is not.
After 9/11, one woman, a student, took on Harvard
University, which was ready to accept a $10 million "gift"
from a Saudi sheikh. Harvard backed down, showing that moral
clarity, unapologetically and passionately expressed, can
change seemingly unassailable ideas.
We must stand for a basic principle: If denying the
Holocaust can land a professor in jail, denying Israel
should not land him tenure.
Second, support for Israel must be demonstrated. Two decades
after the massive Soviet Jewry rally of 1987, we need to
return to the Mall on Israel's Independence Day in May with
two messages: Support Israel and Stop Iran. It is late, but
not too late, to overcome those fears of being "too
parochial" that the Soviet Jewry movement succeeded in
dispelling more than 30 years ago.
The fight to support Israel and stop Iran now is, if
anything, less "parochial" than the Soviet Jewry movement
was then. Then, the Jewish world took on a global
superpower, the Soviet Union, and confronted the reigning
American foreign policy paradigm -- detente -- with a very
different one: linkage of trade to human rights.
Then, we successfully argued that the freedom to emigrate
was not just a Jewish concern, but a universal one, and we
were more right than we knew. The Jackson/Vanik amendment
and the Helsinki Accords were critical factors in triggering
the internal collapse of the Soviet empire. This collapse
not only freed millions of Jews, but all the peoples behind
the Iron Curtain, and ended a half-century-old superpower
stalemate that threatened the entire planet.
Now the world stands at a no less fateful watershed. The
world's most dangerous rogue regime is on the verge of
obtaining the ultimate weapons of terror. Already, Iran's
confidence that it will not be stopped has led to one war,
last summer's war in Lebanon started by Hizbullah. Already,
Iran is fueling conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and
Gaza -- and all this before the regime enjoys its own full,
declared nuclear umbrella.
The moment before mobilization is always a lonely one, in
which it seems that the obstacles to making a cause
universal are insurmountable. Yet, as in the case of the
Soviet Jewry movement, we are not alone. We are surrounded
by potential allies who may not themselves know they are
ready to join us until we create a movement for them to
join.
Our leadership will give others the opportunity to act. If
the Jewish world does not lead the way, who will? It is as
true now as it was then; if we build it, they will come.
A decade after the wave of democracy that came with the fall
of the Soviet Union, an Iranian-led wave of terror is rising
that will not stop until it is stopped. Ultimately, we
overcame our fear of parochialism to stand up for Soviet
Jewry, and left the world a much better place for it. Now we
must do the same to prevent a second holocaust, and in the
process save the world.
The writer is chairman of the Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:54 AM | Comments (8)
February 12, 2007
Dems Imam Has a Nuclear Meltdown
Imam Husham Al-Husainy, who delivered the now-infamous lines about doom, oppression, and occupation at the DNC winter meeting with party chairman Howard Dean standing at his side, was intervewed on Sean Hannity’s radio show.
And the imam had a shrieking, sputtering, complete meltdown. This one is a real hoot.
You won't see this on NBC, CBS, ABC or CNN, no way. Nope, just go to Little Green Footballs to get a good look at The Dems Imam.The Dems will probably seat the Imam next to Jimmy Carter and Michael Moore at their 2008 convention.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:18 AM | Comments (11)
Jihad at Barnard College
It's tenure time at Barnard College, and Nadia Abu El Haj is aspiring to attain the coveted Barnard professorship title in her field of Anthropology.
Unfortunately, tenure for Nadia Abu El Haj does about as much to further Columbia and Barnard’s academic standing, as Hamas has done to promote peace in the Middle East.
To read the reat of this article please go to Seraphic Friend Muquata.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:45 AM | Comments (15)
February 11, 2007
Hamas, Fatah, & The Saudis on the Road to Jihad
A careful reading of the understandings between the two parties shows that Fatah has moved closer to Hamas, and not vice-versa. The Palestinians' general impression is that Abbas was forced to sign after all his US-backed attempts to weaken or topple the Hamas-led government failed.
To read the entire analysis by By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, please click here.
The American taxpayer is now funding Hamas gunmen. Yup, read the article. Our "friends," the Saudis have rigged an agreement that guarantees more terror, more Jihad, more dead Jews. And the Saudis are described as "moderates." Sheesh, if that's moderate, how do you describe the other loonies on the block? Syria is, what, less moderate? Iran is, um, tempermental? Sudan is maybe a little excitable? Truth is there are no moderate Arab states -- not when it comes to Israel, not when it comes to Jews, and not when it comes to America, and Christians.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)
Islamists' Historiography
by Jonathan Rosenblum
Jerusalem Post
February 8, 2007
Last week, I was privileged to attend a lecture by Bernard Lewis at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The audience greeted the nonagenarian scholar with a degree of reverence and adulation that probably no other academic in the world commands. Many stood at the end of his presentation, and I fully expected to hear cries of "Bravo! Bravo!" Younger members of the audience will one day tell their children how they heard Lewis, still in full command of his subject, in much the way that aging baby-boomers regale their offspring with memories of Grateful Dead concerts.
Lewis was part of a double feature that began with the screening of Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, a powerful documentary that has been widely shown on American TV, but for some inexplicable reason has yet to appear on Israel TV. One of the film's great merits is the prominence given to the testimony of Arabs and Muslims. Nonie Darwish, daughter of the Egyptian military commander of Gaza in the '50s, killed in battle with Israeli forces; Walid Shoehat (an alias), a former PLO member and Israeli security prisoner, Brigitte Gabriel, a black Lebanese Christian, raised to hate Jews, and The Jerusalem Post's own Khaled Abu Toameh, whose courage and reporting it would be impossible to praise too highly, all appear frequently.
Equally powerful is the late Alfons Heck, a commander in the Hitler Youth, who compares the indoctrination of Muslim youth to that of Nazi Germany, and wonders at the world's inability to see the parallel. Martin Gilbert, Churchill's official biographer, recounts how Churchill saw himself as a failure for his inability to make his countrymen see the looming danger posed by Hitler.
Gilbert clearly feels the same sense of frustration today at the Western world's refusal "to connect the dots" and see radical Islam as a global problem. Recognizing radical Islam as a single problem, Gilbert archly observed, would obligate the West to do something - and that it has no more interest in doing than Chamberlain had in confronting Hitler. (Incidentally, the film contains clips of the smugly smiling Chamberlain on his return from Munich, as he proclaims "peace in our time" to a roaring throng.)
The pairing of Obsession and Bernard Lewis proved a happy one. No one is better positioned to comment on the deformations that have seized the Muslim world than he. He has been studying the Muslim world for 70 years, and writes with great affection and respect for the historical achievements of Muslim civilization and religion. At the same time, he has become the leading student of what went wrong with the Muslim world and led to the radical Islam, seeking world dominion, so horrifyingly portrayed in Obsession.
Lewis noted, for instance, that classical anti-Semitism, in the sense of attributing cosmic evil to Jews, has no historical antecedents in the Muslim world. The Ottoman sultans were adamant in rejecting the blood libel. European anti-Semitism is a late import into Islam, fostered by the close association of the Nazis with the Mufti of Jerusalem and Ba'athist groups in Iraq and Syria.
One of the most important points made by Lewis concerned the historiography of the Islamists. Most in the West view the fall of the Soviet Union as a consequence of the Reagan administration's decision to confront it and engage it in an arms race that proved ruinous to the Soviet economy, but that is not how the Islamists see things. In their view, the Soviet Union was destroyed by mujahideen in Afghanistan, who drove the mighty Soviet army from the country. And that view, says Lewis, is not entirely implausible.
Osama bin Laden wrote at the time that Muslims had defeated the more dangerous of their two main enemies, and that defeating the effeminate Americans would prove easier. The appetite of the Islamists in Teheran to expand the area under their control has been similarly whetted by ongoing Western fecklessness.
"Iran is a mortal threat," says Lewis. And he does not believe Ahmadinejad will be deterred from using nuclear weapons by the fear of retaliation. Mutual assured destruction does not work -- indeed it may even be an incentive -- to those who view a nuclear conflagration as hastening the advent of the hidden 12th imam. If they martyr their own people in the process, Lewis commented, they have only done them a favor by providing them a quick pass to the great brothel in the sky. [Bold type by Seraphic Secret]
The day after the Lewis lecture, I had lunch with a senior American official in the country for the Herzliya Conference, and mentioned Lewis's point about jihadist historiography. The need to avoid providing further credence to that narrative, he replied, is precisely why the United States cannot allow Iran to go nuclear or be perceived as fleeing Iraq. Either event would only confirm the narrative of Islam's advance and Western weakness. Iranian possession of the Bomb would cause to skyrocket the status of a state with an explicitly expansionist agenda under the banner of Islam. Every anti-Western terror group in the world would seek protection under Iran's nuclear umbrella.
To stress the point, the official emphasized one of Obsession's main points - appeasement of expansionist powers only leads to a far more destructive confrontation later on - and referred me to a nearly 20-year-old Commentary article on the Munich agreements. Had France and England adopted a tough stance at Munich, Hitler's generals were prepared to unseat him. Instead, Czechoslovakia was stripped of its main defense line in the treacherous Sudeten mountains. It was, in Hitler's words, "served up to me," and a clear path to Eastern Europe provided for the Germans. Czechoslovakia's wealth and well-developed military industries thereafter played a major role in powering the Nazi war machine.
Unfortunately, the West still remains divided between America and a Europe unwilling to acknowledge the threat at its doorsteps, and in many cases within its gates. That same divide exists within America itself.
As Jeff Jacoby points out, every Republican presidential hopeful lists the battle against the jihadists/global jihad/radical Islam/totalitarian Islam at the top of their priorities for the years to come. That battle barely rates a mention on the Web sites of any of the eight declared Democratic candidates. [Bold Type by Seraphic Secret]
The future depends on who wins the debate in the West no less than it did at Munich.
Hat Tip: Mordechai Schiller
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:50 AM | Comments (6)
February 09, 2007
Women Leading Men to Torah
Seraphic Secret is blessed with a mighty cross-section of readers. We have Jews and non-Jews, soldiers, Jane Austen lovers, political geeks, movie lovers, NRA members, and of course fervent Zionists. There are also quite a few students attending seminaries in Israel who manage to click to our web site when they are not learning Toarh. One young student was kind enough to send a fine D'var Torah for this week's parsha to us.
In Parshas Yitro , the Torah describes Bnei Yisroel at Har Sinai, as "Bnei Yisroel" and "Bais Yakkov," why the need for the double lashon? And why does the name Bais Yakkov percede the name Yisroel?
Rashi explains that Bais Yakkov was referring to the women, and Yisroel to the men.
But why do the women come first in the pasuk?
In Gemara Shabbos it says that Rav Yossi never called his wife his wife, he called her, his home. That's why Hashem refers to the women as Bais Yakkov because they create the homes of Am Yisrael.
But this doesn't answer our question of why Bais Yakkov comes first. Midrash Rabba explains that when it comes to performing mitzvot, women show much more zrizoot. For example, they refused to participate in the chet ha egel. They listen more carefully, so Hashem says, speak to them first.
Another opinion holds that they should lead their sons to Torah. Women don't have a chiuv in Torah but the enviorment is dependent on the women.
If Hashem wants Kabalas Hatorah to succceed He must start with the women. Hashem must have their support, so they can help spread it throughout Klal Yisroel.
Karen and I wish all our Seraphic Friends a lovely and meaningful Shabbos.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:23 AM | Comments (9)
Anna Nicole and the Palestinians
Anna Nicole Smith’s life was a train wreck.
Her entire tragic life in the public eye, was predetermined by the choices she made -- or didn’t make. She was reluctant to give up the spotlight, preferring instead to be a ‘victim,’ albeit one that was a caricature of real victimhood.
You think Seraphic Friends Sigmund, Carl and Alfred are making a joke here. Try saying: Self-induced victimhood. Yes, click here to find out how Anna Nicole and the Palis share the same Dali-esque space.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:32 AM | Comments (1)
February 08, 2007
The Middle East Conflict Analyzed... Seriously
By -- Larry Miller
The Palestinians want their own country. There's just one thing about that: There are no Palestinians. It's a made-up word.
Israel was called Palestine for two thousand years.
Like "Wiccan," "Palestinian" sounds ancient but is really a modern invention
Before the Israelis won the land in the 1967 war, Gaza was owned by Egypt, the West Bank was owned by Jordan, and there were no "Palestinians."
As soon as the Jews took over and started growing oranges as big as basketballs, what do you know, say hello to the "Palestinians," weeping for their deep bond with their lost "land" and "nation."
So for the sake of honesty, let's not use the word "Palestinian" anymore to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths, until someone points out they're being taped.
Instead, let's call them what they are: "Other Arabs Who Can't Accomplish Anything In Life And Would Rather Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal Struggle And Death."
I know that's a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this, then: "Adjacent Jew-Haters."
Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country.
Oops, just one more thing. No, they don't. They could've had their own country any time in the last thirty years, especially two years ago at Camp David but if you have your own country, you have to have traffic lights and garbage trucks and Chambers of Commerce, and, worse, you actually have to figure out some way to make a living.
That's no fun. No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel. They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course -- that's where the real fun is -- but mostly they want Israel.
Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel - or "The Zionist Entity" as their textbooks call it -- for the last fifty years has allowed the rulers of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own people away from the fact that they're the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, and tribally backward on God's Earth, and if you've ever been around God's Earth . . . you know that's really saying something.
It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poetic about the great history and culture of the Muslim Midleast.
Unless I'm missing something, the Arabs haven't given anything to the world since Algebra, and, by the way, thanks a hell of a lot for that one.
Chew this around & spit it out: 500 million Arabs; 5 million Jews.
Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that, if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals..
Really? Wow, what neat news. Hey, but what about the string of wars to obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths to drive every Jew into the sea?
Oh, that? We were just kidding.
My friend Kevin Rooney made a gorgeous point the other day: Just reverse the Numbers. Imagine 500 million Jews and 5 million Arabs. I was stunned at the simple brilliance of it . Can anyone picture the Jews strapping belts of razor blades and dynamite to themselves? Of course not.
Or marshaling every fiber and force at their disposal for generations to drive a tiny Arab State into the sea? Nonsense. Or dancing for joy at the murder of innocents? Impossible. Or spreading and believing horrible lies about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood of children? Disgusting.
No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jews would ever do to people is debate them to death.
Mr. Bush, God bless him, is walking a tightrope. I understand that, with vital operations in Iraq and others, it's in our interest, as Americans, to try to stabilize our Arab allies as much as possible, and, after all, that can't be much harder than stabilizing a roomful of super models who've just had their drugs taken away.
However, in any big-picture strategy, there's always a danger of losing moral weight. We've already lost some. After September 11th, our president told us and the world he was going to root out all terrorists and the countries that supported them.
Beautiful.
Then the Israelis, after months and months of having the equivalent of an Oklahoma City every week (and then every day), start to do the same thing we did, and we tell them to show restraint.
If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, we would all very shortly be screaming for the administration to just be done with it and kill everything south of the Mediterranean and east of the Jordan.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:39 PM | Comments (15)
Counterinsurgency 28
General Petraeus' main brain is, surprisingly enough, an Aussie:
Petraeus, who along with the group's members declined to be interviewed for this article, has chosen as his chief adviser on counterinsurgency operations an outspoken officer in the Australian Army. Lt. Col. David Kilcullen holds a PhD in anthropology, for which he studied Islamic extremism in Indonesia. Kilcullen has served in Cyprus, Papua New Guinea and East Timor and most recently was chief strategist for the State Department's counterterrorism office, lent by the Australian government. His 2006 essay "Twenty-Eight Articles: Fundamentals of Company-Level Counterinsurgency" was read by Petraeus, who sent it rocketing around the Army via e-mail. Among Kilcullen's dictums: "Rank is nothing: talent is everything" -- a subversive thought in an organization as hierarchical as the U.S. military.
To read the entire article, go to that invaluable mil blog, OP FOR.
And here is a PDF of Col. Kilcullen's article: Twenty-Eight Articles: Fundamentals of Company-Level Counterinsurgency.
This is Col. Kilcullen's paper: Complex Warfighting
From Small Wars Journal: Kilcullen's, Counterinsurgency Redux
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:54 AM | Comments (2)
Shovels of Jerusalem
The contrived Palestinian and Arab world outrage over archaeological digs and restoration in Jerusalem would be laughable -- if the deceit weren’t so deadly.
Let’s clear a few things up.
Firstly, when it comes to the deliberate destruction of Holy Sites (Jewish and Christian), the Palestinians take the prize.
Here is a reality check:
Seraphic Friends Sigmund, Carl & Alfred analyze the latest Arab assault on history, memory, and the deliberate destruction of Jewish and Christian Holy Sites. Essential reading.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:51 AM | Comments (2)
February 07, 2007
Notes on "24" Season 6
Okay, we're into Season 6 of 24, and it's time for a few random observations. If you have not seen 24, watch out, there are some spoilers here.
1. Love the fact that the "suitcase nuke" was actually: In. A. Suitcase. Truth is, a genuine suitcase nuke would be quite a bit larger.
2. Said suitcase nuke was detonated by a Toys R' Us looking switch. A real nuke would entail a somewhat more, er, complicated system. But listen, this is Hollywood, we have to make things really simple, and most of all, make drama happen very quickly. Details are often incredibly messy.
3. Also, love that the nuke was detonated "in the Valley" and we have not seen any devastation whatsoever, nor one single fatality. Not even a second degree burn. Besides, who cares about the Valley anyway?
4. This season should be titled: "My Family is More Dysfunctional Than Yours. Much More."
5. Presidential Advisor Thomas Lennox, Peter MacNicol, has some of the best lines ever. And though we're supposed to hate him as some sort of right-wing lunatic gone wild, here's his advice to the latest clueless President of the United States regarding the Islamic crazies: "“With all due respect Mr. President, George Washington’s enemies wore bright red coats and marched in a straight line.” You just gotta love this little guy.
6. Mrs. Graeme Bauer, Rena Sofer -- I gave Rena her first Hollywood job in Stranger Among Us. She's the Chatam Sofer's great, great, great grand-daughter. Anyway, she gets all snarky with Jack when, snarling and armed to the teeth, he busts into her home. She's not worried about national security. Nooooo. It's their, em, personal history that's got her all hot and bothered. What is it with the women in Jack's life? Don't they ever get over him?
7. My favorite Minor Character: The Torture Drug Agent. He carries around this cool, shiny briefcase that has some pretty nasty