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September 30, 2007
Hollywood Fraggers
The Los Angeles Times has been running a dialog between Andrew Breitbart and David Ehrenstein about Hollywood's recent surge of anti-military, anti-victory movies.
Breitbart is conservative and deeply suspicious of Hollywood's suicidal plunge to the left.
Ehrenstein is leftist and well, he doesn't notice any left wing bias in Hollywood. He just sees, er, patriotic free speech.
Which is a lot like saying that a marriage is solid because the husband abuses his wife.
Click here for this rather weird exchange.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:47 PM | Comments (6)
Abbas the, Ahem, Moderate
We are constantly being told that Fatah and its Holocaust denying President Mahmoud Abbas are moderate. Time and again, we are assured by the current Israeli and American governments that Abbas "deplores violence" and that he is a "political pragmatist."
Well, yes, he deplores violence when he speaks to the Western press. To the Arab press, he's just another admired Jew-hating jihadist.
And Abbas is a political pragmatist. He advocates the destruction of the state of Israel over several years. Hamas and Hizbullah want to do it now, the sooner the better. But Abbas is content to do it over several generations, using various methods.
Thus, to strengthen Abba's hand, Olmert and Co. release Fatah aligned terrorists from Israeli jails in order to prove that there are positive results to negotiations with Israel.
Olmert has yet to show the Israeli public what they get in return save dead Jews and steadily shrinking borders.
Oh yes, Israel gets lots and lots of, well, promises.
These terrorists vow to give up their murderous ways against Israel.
But, guess what, sharia, Islamic law conveniently provides an out, a terrorist loophole. It's, ahem, kosher for Muslims to lie to infidels in order to further jihad: taqiyya
So much for Arab/Muslim honor.
Thus Israel releases convicted terrorists, indeed strengthens Fatah's hand, and Abbas has even more gunmen at his disposal to kill even more Jews.
This is known as the politics of national suicide.
Anyhoo!
Now that Hamas has bitch-slapped Fatah in Gaza, Abbas has decided to pull back the happy-g0-lucky secular image of Fatah, and roll with the latest fashion: insane Islam.
It's Jihad for Dummies in Fatah Land.
Never forget that the conflict between Israel and her so-called Palestinian enemies has nothing to do with the so-called occupation of Judea and Samaria. It was never about the 9,000 Jews who lived in Gaza.
It has always been about the existence of the state of Israel.
It's always been about the intolerance of the 22 Arab/Muslim states for one tiny Jewish state.
It's always been jihad disguised under a hundred fashionable grievances that resonate with the gullible liberals of the West.
Once again, we remind our readers of this simple equation when evaluating Hamas and Fatah:
Fatah is Hamas
Hamas is Fatah.
For further proof:
A new squad of morality police has begun detaining Palestinians who eat or drink in public during Ramadan in the West Bank, where the Islamic month of daytime fasting was always widely observed but never imposed.
The 12-member squad appears to be an attempt by President Mahmoud Abbas' West Bank government to challenge the monopoly on religious righteousness claimed by the militant group Hamas, the rival ruler of Gaza.
The sudden deployment of Ramadan police was unexpected in Ramallah, the seat of Abbas' government and the most cosmopolitan and well-to-do of the Palestinian cities. Ramadan squads have not been set up in other West Bank towns.
To read the rest of this article, please click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2007
Last Ramallah Lyncher Arrested
Let's face it, it's been a tough week.
But then I saw this good news and my spirits immediately rose. I just had to share the story with the Seraphic community.
There is some measure of justice.
Mazal Tov to the fine men and women of the IDF intelligence services who tracked down this terrorist after all these years. Let every jihadist know that Jewish blood will be avenged, that we will never forget, never forgive.
Too bad the death penalty in Israel has only been used once—for Adolph Eichmann.
IDF soldiers have arrested the last of the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorists responsible for the brutal lynching of two IDF reservists in Ramallah seven years ago.
Soldiers apprehended 36-year-old Tanzim terrorist Hayman Zaben in Shechem early Wednesday. Zaben was one of those responsible for bludgeoning to death IDF reservists Vadim Nurzitz and Yossi Avrahami in a PA police station in Ramallah in October, 2000.
The two Israeli reserve soldiers had accidentally entered PA-controlled Ramallah, just six miles north of Jerusalem, and were arrested by PA police. It was once they were in custody that the lynch occurred.
TV images of the lynching show a body of one of the two Israelis being tossed from the police station window to a mob of local Arabs who beat the soldiers’ bodies with anything they could get their hands on. The mob is seen waving body parts in the air and proudly displaying their blood-soaked hands to their comrades.
To read the entire article and to view the lynching video—which is quite graphic and disturbing—please click here.
Karen and I wish all our friends a lovely, joyous and meaningful Succot. Seraphic Secret will be off-line until Sunday for the observance of the holiday of Succot and then Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:29 PM | Comments (9)
No Peace for Israel
Here's a fine article, originally a radio talk, by Pofessor Paul Eidelberg, on the dangers of appeasement to the jihadists.
We in America should heed these lessons well. Entire swaths of Europe might already be lost, but we still have a chance to stanch the tide. Though judging by the, ahem, progressive response of students and faculty at Columbia—they're just furious at Bollinger's "insulting treatment" of Jew-hater Mahmoud—Columbia University might already be Columbiastan.
Israel is retreating toward its 1949 Auschwitz lines. Many attribute this retreat to Israel’s ardent desire for peace. This desire for peace, however, has resulted in ceaseless Arab terrorism and Israel’s emasculation.
This desire for peace, uttered ad nauseum by Israeli policy-makers and opinion-makers, has stupefied Israelis, emboldened Israel’s enemies; and made Muslims contemptuous of Jews.
Did England’s or France’s desire for peace transform Germans into doves? Germany was the home of humanism, of philosophy and science. Are Muslims more humanistic than the nation that produced Kant, Schiller, Heine, and Einstein?
But let me address Israel’s current political elites: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak—and of course Israel’s so-called elder statesman President Shimon Peres. These Alice-in-Wonderland politicians would have us believe that withdrawing from Judea and Samaria will pacify Israel’s distraught Arab neighbors—like giving them a daily dose of Prozac.
I ask these peace addicts: Why should you expect peace from Muslims who despise Israel as an outpost of Western civilization that threatens the autocratic power structure of Islamic states?
Why should you expect peace from Arabs who teach their children to hate Jews and exalt suicide bombers? Is it not foolish of you and shameless to negotiate with Palestinians when 85% of these Arabs are committed to Israel’s destruction? What do you want to negotiate—the mode and date of your destruction?
To read the entirie article, please click here.
Hat Tip: Unity Coalition for Israel.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)
The Hollywood Surge is Failing
Not too long ago I predicted that In the Valley of Elah, Hollywood's latest smear against our troops, would flop—big time—at the box-office.
That was an easy call.
The per theater average of Elah indicates that only the earnest, dopey Sundance fanatics turned out for the first weekend—all 85 of them. The film is a stench of red ink, a jihadist enabling loop of anti-American sedition.
However, Elah will do a very brisk business in the black market souks in Gaza, Judea and Samaria.
You think I'm kidding?
I wish.
There are consequences in the Arab/Muslim world to producing such movies. Jihadists use them as recruiting tools; they are proof that we infidels are so corrupt, so decadent that we don't even bother to defend our own values. These movies show the jihadists that Islam is fated to rule over the infidels.
Why do the studios green-light such obvious losers?
That's easy. The execs want to "be in business" with writer director Pauil Haggis, so if he's, ahem, passionate about a project, well, they'll roll with the 120 pages and takes a bath on the bad side of the ledger in the hopes that Haggis with deliver another project that has the faintest whiff of commercial potential.
But more important is the matter of ideology. The executives in Hollywood are, for the most part, arch leftists. They view themselves as the vanguard of the intelligencia and they see it as their duty to deliver "progressive" messages to the great unwashed.
That's you.
They also like to give each other meaningless awards at boring, endless dinners shows.
They love to congratulate themsleves on how brave they are for making films that are cutting edge and anti-establishment.
Conveniently forgetting that they are the etablishment.
In any case, there are a few more anti-American films surging out of Hollywood and they too will implode.
Finally, we in Hollywood need not churn out only mindless entertainment (though I happen to love mindless entertainment) in time of war. Casablanca is a war film, a stirring patriotic movie that is a classic. It won the Oscar in 1942.
Now, what do all these films have in common — besides being passionate indictments?
They all flopped. Or will, soon enough. (Except for, maybe, The Kingdom, which apparently has an appalling whiff of vigilantism.) And this is something we out here in Hollywood just cannot wrap our minds around.
What the hell is wrong with this country? We support the troops, showing them as the dysfunctional, murdering, drug-addicted, red-state crypto-rapists in need of psychoanalysis we all know they really are. Hey — even the Marine officer in Alan Ball’s award-winning American Beauty a few years back was humanized by making him a sadist and a closet queen. And this is the thanks we get?
These days, when you go in to pitch a new war movie, the first thing the studio exec does after offering you some bottled water and asking you whether you’ve yet given to Al Franken’s senatorial campaign, is warn you that “we’re trying to avoid jingoism here.” In the old days, we made a million Bataan movies but only one The Best Years of Our Lives. It the interest of fairness, it’s time to change that. As some snarky punk — I think it was Robert Frost — said, “a liberal is a man too broad-minded to take his own side in argument.” That’s us, baby — in spades!
To read the entire article, please click here.
Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Dr. Carol
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:52 AM | Comments (4)
September 25, 2007
Inside Columbia University: The Saudi Lobby
We received the letter below from a Senior Professor at Columbia University who wishes to remain anonymous. Free speech at Columbia University does not extend to Republican Professors who support Israel. Such orphans must remain in the closet, or hazard coming out to social ostracism and losing their faculty appointments.
Thus, progressive Democrats in action.
As Seraphic Secret has pointed out time and again, the threat of tyranny comes almost exclusively from the left in America. Those who most vigorously call for freedom of speech are, in fact, quickest to strangle those individuals who disagree with their radical opinions.
Make no mistake about it: the least free places in America are our elite universities, and as more and more petro-dollars flow into university bank accounts, the so-called Middle Eastern Studies Departments become official Jew-hating groves of academia, and before we know it, some universities will be so corrupted by Islamic money that Jew/Israeli and America hatred will become the norm.
And then jihad will be required courses for students on our universities.
At some point we will have to declare these institutions, their faculties and students: enemies of the state.
I am not being a fantasist, not after what I saw and heard at Columbia yesterday. I am, sadly, being realistic.
Here is the letter from our Columbia Professor. It is most illuminating.
1) The faculty at the School of International and Public Affairs made the invite, (also last year). They are the most radical of all the faculties at Columbia with some of the most odious hate America types imaginable. They hate Bollinger and any aspect of the university that deals with money, especially the fund raisers.
2) You were right on target alluding to the Summers' incident when discussing Bollinger's craven decision not to overrule his own faculty. He's afraid of being voted out like Summers and that makes him worthless. His opening questions were his way of lashing out at the SIPA faculty, but we both know how much that is worth. He has not only enabled Iran, but also the SIPA faculty who will now endeavor to outdo themselves with another invite of this kind next year. They'll probably go for Chavez or Robert Mugabe.
3) For all the talk about the Jewish money Bollinger will lose from alumni, the real problem for him is the Saudi money. As you know the Saudis HATE Iran and they're not happy about this appearance. It serves Columbia right: do you know that Columbia began removing its King's Crown logo from many of its mailings so as not to offend the Saudis? You see, the King's crown has crosses on it. They replaced it with the Queen's crown, (which has spades), until some richer American alums cried foul. Now they just avoid the crown altogether. We were all stupid enough to think it was about offending secularists, but of course it was the Muslims.
4) Bollinger probably won't survive this unless John Kluge rides to his public rescue... and that may not happen. Kluge probably wants to stay silent about this and he's not married to Bollinger anyway.
5) There is strong talk that Bloomberg may be the next president of Columbia. I'm not sure he would do better, but he would probably have more guts.
Yesterday when I heard the wretched Columbia students cheering Mahmoud every time he mentioned the Palestinians, it occurred to me that a terrorist has just been arrested in Israel. He had just taken part in shooting and bomb attacks near Shechem.
This terrorist was just released from an Israeli prison as a gesture of good will to Fatah. He took a solemn vow that he would not take up arms against Israel.
So much for Arab honor.
These are the people the Columbia students were cheering.
Here is my final word on this vile affair: For the most part, liberal arts education at our Universities involve teaching American students that the traditions they come from are worthless, things to be discarded and spit upon. Mahmoud comes from a culture where children are taught to die for their traditions and culture.
Who wins in such a battle?
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:28 PM | Comments (22)
Columbia: The Persian P.O.V.
Well, I hate to have to say it, but I told you so:
This from the Islamic Republic News Agency on Mahmoud's visit to Columbia:
Ahmadinejad-Colombia [sic] Varsity (?) - Address
Despite entire US media objections, negative propagation and hue and cry in recent days over IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's scheduled address at Colombia [sic.] University, he gave his lecture and answered students questions here on Monday afternoon.
On second day of his entry in New York, and amid standing ovation of the audience [bold type by Seraphic Secret] that had attended the hall where the Iranian President was to give his lecture as of early hours of the day, Ahmadinejad said that Iran is not going to attack any country in the world.
Before President Ahamadinejad's address, Colombia University Chancellor in a brief address told the audience that they would have the chance to hear Iran's stands as the Iranian President would put them forth.
He said that the Iranians are a peace loving nation, they hate war, and all types of aggression.
Referring to the technological achievements of the Iranian nation in the course of recent years, the president considered them as a sign for the Iranians' resolute will for achieving sustainable development and rapid advancement.
The audience on repeated occasion applauded [bold type by Seraphic Secret] Ahmadinejad when he touched on international crises.
At the end of his address President Ahmadinejad answered the students' questions on such issues as Israel, Palestine, Iran's nuclear program, the status of women in Iran and a number of other matters.
Original article here.
And of course, as I predicted, there's a transcript of the, ahem, debate, but, gee, what a shock, Lee Bollinger's opening remarks have been disappeared—as have all remarks deemed offensive to the peace-loving Islamic Republic of Iran.
So, what was accomplished by this charade?
That's easy. Another huge propaganda win for the Islamist terrorist world. As I said, Bollinger is an idiot and Columbia University is now directly complicit in aiding and abetting jihad and, no doubt, strengthening the genocidal hand of Hamas and Hizbullah in Gaza, Judea and Samaria.
I strongly urge every Columbia University alumnus to withhold all contributions to Columbia. Vote with your check book. That's the only language these useful idiots understand.
Oh, and of course, Mahmoud, met with, ahem, Jewish Rabbis, AKA Rodefim, in New York.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:38 AM | Comments (4)
September 24, 2007
Dance with the Devil
It's official.
Bollinger's an idiot.
I know, everybody's all hot and bothered about his fierce intro/attack on Mahmoud.
Yippee.
You think anyone in Iran is going to see that?
If you do, you are, and I say this with all due respect, also an idiot.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, Libya, Yemen (oh wait there are only 27 TV's in Yemen) or anywhere in the peace-loving Arab Muslim world?
Think again.
What they are going to see in Iran and the Arab/Muslim world are Al Jazeera clips of Mahmoud blathering on about the Palestinians—which drew applause from the Columbia audience, stunning, huh? And his looooong monologue about the happy-go-lucky women of the joyous Islamic Republic of Iran.
One of my favorite Bollinger moments was when he got all patriotic and teary-eyed about Columbia University graduates who are serving in the U.S. armed forces in Iraq, some of whom have been killed and wounded, by Iranian trained terrorists.
This from the man who has banned the ROTC from Columbia University.
Repeat after me: massive intellectual fraud.
Let's give credit where credit is due. Mahmoud spoke an important truth: he said there are no homosexuals in Iran.
The audience jeered and laughed.
They should be more sober.
There are no homosexuals in Iran because, as Yoni observed, they have all been murdered—publicly hung or stoned to death. The religion of peace in action.
Bollinger, like almost every liberal I've ever met, does not understand evil and how it operates. Arrogant and intellectually vain, Bollinger believes that by posing glib questions about free speech he's defeating a tyrant.
It's the opposite.
By engaging in toothless dialog with a Holocaust denier, with a man who at this moment is murdering Americans in Iraq, Bollinger reveals himself as a dupe and a hapless tool of a master jihadist.
The students of Columbia cheered every time Mahmoud brought up the Palestinians.
This is going to play beautifully on Palestinian and Persian TV. I mean, it's going to go over big time. The Columbia kids are on-board with defeating the Zionist dogs. Al Manar, and Al Jazerra won't even have to sweeten the audio track. And the cut-aways to the cheering American kiddies—golden. Leni Riefenstahl would have killed for such footage.
Mazal Tov Dean Bollinger, you've just, no doubt, helped kill a few more Jews. And you've proven that America is a weak and clueless country with no idea who the enemy is.
You may not see it that way, but that's how the Arab/Muslim world sees it, and that's what counts.
As Hugh Hewitt said on his radio show a few minutes ago: “You can't dance with the devil and walk away unscathed.”
From Seraphic Friend Yehudit at Kesher, photos from ground zero of the NYC anti-Ahmadinejad Protests
And the great Caroline Glick, on the jihadist enablers at Columbia:
As a result, what was said yesterday at Columbia is of no consequence whatsoever. What matters is that by inviting Ahmadinejad to its campus, Columbia University announced that supporting or opposing the genocide of the Jews is a legitimate topic for discussion. In so doing, as an institution Columbia has taken itself beyond the pale of legitimate discourse. As an institution, Columbia has embraced depravity by renouncing the intrinsic sanctity of human life.
To read the entire article, please click here.
Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend: Progressives Unmasked
And finally a bit of sanity from the Governor Schwarzenegger:
Governor Schwarzenegger Issues Statement on California’s Divestment from Iran.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued the following statement today regarding legislation to divest from Iran, AB 221. “California has a long history of leadership and doing what’s right with our investment portfolio. Last year, I was proud to sign legislation to divest from the Sudan to take a powerful stand against genocide. I look forward to signing legislation to divest from Iran to take an equally powerful stand against terrorism.”
AB 221 by Assemblymember Joel Anderson (R- La Mesa) creates the California Public Divest from Iran Act which prohibits CalPERS and CalSTRS from investing public employee retirement funds in a company with business operations in Iran. CalPERS, the state’s employee retirement fund, is the largest pension fund in the nation and CalSTRS, the state’s public education retirement fund, is the second largest pension fund in the nation.
September 2006 Gov. Schwarzenegger signed two bills, AB 2179 and AB 2941, prohibiting the state’s pension funds from investing in companies with active business in Sudan and indemnified the University of California from liability that might result from its divestments from Sudan.
In the 1980s, the state approved similar measures to allow state entities to divest in South Africa in order to protest its apartheid policies.
Via: Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Los Angeles
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:39 PM | Comments (8)
Terror University
Below is a fine article about Columbia University as an enabler of Jihad.
Seraphic Secret would like to point out that freedom of speech, so highly touted by the left, is quite selective. Lawrence Summers, former President of Harvard University, was ousted after making comments deemed sexist by members of his, ahem, progressive faculty.
I guess the frail ladies of Harvard got seized by the vapours.
At the moment, several thousand, ahem, progressive faculty members at Stanford are trying to block Donald Rumsfeld's appointment to a faculty position because, well, y'know, they don't like what he's going to say.
Progressives are, in case you haven't noticed, the new thought-control police.
In short, the left supports freedom of speech when it comes from the left, from leftist tyrants, mass murderers like Castro and Hugo Chavez, and from Islamic tyrants and Jew-haters like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
If Columbia really believed in freedom of speech they would invite the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan to speak at Columbia.
But they don't believe in freedom of speech.
They are narcissists who revel in their self-righteous, suicidal ideology.
It is naïve to ignore the uses to which Ahmadinejad will put his invitation. Over the past years, Ahmadinejad’s confrontational rhetoric and policies have resulted in diplomatic isolation and economic hardship for Iran. These developments are unpopular among Iranians. It is beneficial to Ahmadinejad and his regime, then, if he can claim to the Iranian people that his leadership is not hurting their country. If he can demonstrate that he is treated abroad as a respected leader, he will be better able to counter his critics at home. Columbia’s invitation thus gives political assistance to Ahmadinejad.
Bollinger has written that “it should never be thought that merely to listen to ideas...implies our endorsement of those ideas.” That is true. But the argument against the official invitation of Ahmadinejad is not an argument against listening to his ideas. It is an argument against bestowing prestige on Ahmadinejad. There are many ways Columbia can engage with his ideas without giving him the politically valuable respectability of an official speaking invitation. Columbia can hold a forum on his views. It can play recordings of his speeches and ask experts to comment on them. It can create courses on the history and ideology of the Iranian Revolution. Indeed, if “listening to ideas” is truly Bollinger’s goal, then bringing to campus Ahmadinejad, a master of deception and propaganda, should be one of his last options.
The issue here is not free speech. That is a red herring. We have heard no one argue against free speech. The issue is values: What standards should Columbia use in giving out valuable, prestigious official speaking invitations? Whatever standards apply, they should preclude an invitation to the head of a regime that behaves as Iran’s does and they should in particular preclude an invitation to an individual who promotes hatred and violence as Ahmadinejad does.
To read the entire article, please click here
Hat Tip: Stefanie L. Pearson, The Shalem Center
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:10 AM | Comments (3)
September 23, 2007
Rally Against Iranian Jihad & Their Western Enablers
MONDAY, SEPT. 24:
What: Ahmadinejad to speak at luncheon at National Press Club by videolink
When: Protesters needed from 11:00-2:00. Come for however long you can.
Where: Washington, DC: National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW.
Please note: Attendance inside is limited to NPC members, their guests and accredited media only.
Our protest will be held outside of the NPC Building at the corner of 14th and F Streets NW which is close to the Metro Center metro station.
For More info: Contact Meagan Buren at 202-230-7389 or Brandon Gray at 202-857-6627
MONDAY, SEPT. 24:
What: Rally led by Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Community Relations in cooperation with United Jewish Communities, UJA-Federation of New York and Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Speakers include Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles F. "Chic" Burlingame, III, (Capt., USNR, Ret.), pilot of American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11.
When: 12 p.m. (rain or shine)
Where: NYC: Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 2nd Ave. at 47th St. Across the street from the U.N.
For more info: Conference of Presidents, 212-318-6111 or info@conferenceofpresidents.org or the JCRC, 212-983-4800, ext. 161 or info@jcrcny.org
MONDAY, SEPT. 24:
What: Rally by students from Columbia and dozens of other organizations.
When: 12:30 - 3 p.m.
Where: NYC: Outside Columbia University at W. 116th St. and Broadway.
Only people with Columbia student IDs will be allowed on campus. The main protest will happen on Broadway on public space next to the building where Ahmadenijad is speaking, so even non Columbia people can protest at this event.
For more complete information please go to The Israel Project
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:28 PM | Comments (0)
Operation Orchard Yields North Korean Nuclear Material
More revelations about Operation Orchard.
Israeli commandos from the elite Sayeret Matkal unit—almost certainly dressed in Syrian uniforms—made their way stealthily towards a secret military compound near Dayr az-Zawr in northern Syria. They were looking for proof that Syria and North Korea were collaborating on a nuclear programme.
Israel had been surveying the site for months, according to Washington and Israeli sources. President George W Bush was told during the summer that Israeli intelligence suggested North Korean personnel and nuclear-related material were at the Syrian site.
Israel was determined not to take any chances with its neighbour. Following the example set by its raid on an Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak 1981, it drew up plans to bomb the Syrian compound.
But Washington was not satisfied. It demanded clear evidence of nuclear-related activities before giving the operation its blessing. The task of the commandos was to provide it.
Today the site near Dayr az-Zawr lies in ruins after it was pounded by Israeli F15Is on September 6. Before the Israelis issued the order to strike, the commandos had secretly seized samples of nuclear material and taken them back into Israel for examination by scientists, the sources say. A laboratory confirmed that the unspecified material was North Korean in origin. America approved an attack.
News of the secret ground raid is the latest piece of the jigsaw to emerge about the mysterious Israeli airstrike. Israel has imposed a news blackout, but has not disguised its satisfaction with the mission. The incident also reveals the extent of the cooperation between America and Israel over nuclear-related security issues in the Middle East. The attack on what Israeli defence sources now call the “North Korean project” appears to be part of a wider, secret war against the nonconventional weapons ambitions of Syria and North Korea which, along with Iran, appears to have been forging a new “axis of evil”.
To read the rest of the story, please click here.
This video presentation includes animated scenes reconstructing the raid. Well done.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:11 AM | Comments (2)
Columbia U: "Sure, We'd Invite Hitler."
Columbia University, where Nazis and Islamo Nazis are always welcome.
You think I'm being, er, facetious?
And Jewish parents, don't forget to send in your massive tuition checks to Columbia University. It's vital that you continue to pay the salaries of these, um, educators. Because y' know, if your kids don't go to Columbia, chas v'shalom, they might end up at Yeshiva University.
Hat Tip: Weasel Zippers.
Just to set the record straight for these enlightened ivy leaguers.
1. Jihadists have a specific goal when they speak in Western venues. It is to show the home team that they have power and legitimacy in the west. It is to demonstrate the inevitable rise of Islam and the decadence of the west.
2. The Arab/Muslim world views our freedom of speech as a fatal weakness.
3. On television, the Muslim world never sees any debate—there never is. They never hear any tough questions—and there won't be. They only see what the government wants them to see: a nifty photo-op of their glorious leader taking the west by storm, and being treated with great respect. Which counts for everything in the Muslim world.
4. By inviting the Iranian tyrant to speak Columbia University puts the stamp of legitimacy on a regime that is one of the most repressive on earth. This is a regime that denies the Holocaust, a regime that threatens genocide to Israel—please don't tell me it's a bad translation. The Nazis at the Wannsee Conference never used the words murder or kill when they were talking about the Jews of Eastern Europe either. This willful obtuseness with language by the chattering classes on the left is a form of Jew-hatred the world should no longer tolerate. It's disgusting.
5. The Iranian regime declared war on America and they have been killing Americans ever since. Inviting a man who orders the killing of Americans on a daily basis excuses these murders past, present and future. Has Columbia University never heard of the massacre at the Khobar Towers? Oh wait, they probably have heard of that atrocity, but they don't care. This is a university that bans the ROTC from campus because of the "Don't ask, don't tell policy." Of course, this Soviet-style ban immediately revokes any freedom of action on the part of adult gays who might just want to serve their country. But y'know, the tyrants on the left know better.
6. The Iranians are also responsible for the slaughter of 85 Argentinian Jews in 1994. Does this state sponsored terrorism resonate with Columbia University? Are they going to sit down with this smiling butcher and discuss it with him?
7. No, they will not.
8. Of course the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis of over 400 days is ancient history to the academics at Columbia University and the Iranian tyrant who took part in this crime. He was just a student, right? Like the Columbia students in the 60's. Good times.
9. Let's face it, Columbia University is filled with, in Lenin's words, useful idiots. The Iranian tyrant will smile and blather on about "justice." No one in the room will understand that he's actually talking about Islamic justice, which means publicly hanging accused homosexuals, or stoning women to death who are suspected of adultery. People will say, “What's the harm in inviting him to speak, the Republic can take it. Grow up.”
10. But these people are jihadist deniers. These people have not a clue about how this visit plays in the Muslim world. These people do not understand propaganda and how it inflames jihad.
11. They do not understand that invitation to speak at Columbia University is a vital step forward in jihad, another step in our dhimmitude.
12. How are the Dems responding? Check out the progressive Jew-hating kids at the Daily Kos. A Jewish lesbian has a crush on Mahmoud, because he's like all cute and cuddly and most important, he speaks out about the "horrors of the Bush administration." Via: Little Green Footballs.
In the preface to his great history of Rome, Livy explains his motive in writing this monumental work:
...to trace the progress of our moral decline, to watch, first, the sinking of the foundations of morality as the old teaching was allowed to lapse, then the rapidly increasing disintegration, then the final collapse of the whole edifice, and the dark dawning of our modern day when we can neither endure our vices nor face the remedies needed to cure them.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:20 AM | Comments (10)
September 21, 2007
The Shofar Weeps
Karen and I are in the car, driving to the cemetery to visit Ariel's grave. There we will recite Tehillim, Psalms, pray, and contemplate this annihilating abyss in our lives.
Karen puts Rabbi Shlomo Riskin's Shabbat Shuva Drasha CD into the deck.
The title of Rabbi Riskin's lecture is: The Message of the Shofar as it Weeps on Rosh Hashanah Shouts Exceedingly on Yom Kippur, Confounds Satan and Vanquishes Iran
Rabbi Riskin was my counselor in Camp Massad when I was 7 years-old. He inspired me as a child and he inspires me still as an adult. The lecture is filled with riveting and luminous Torah insights.
Rabbi Riskin points out that one of the sounds of the shofar, the Teruah, is a broken sound signaling that G-d has created an imperfect world, a world that is a veil of tears. As we pull into the gates of the cemetery Rabbi Riskin says: “...a world where even some people die too young.”
Karen shivers and says: “No one will believe this.”
I can only shake my head. There are worlds within worlds.
We park. We walk to Ariel's grave. Karen gets down on her hands and knees and polishes our son's headstone. Lemon sunlight bounces off the black granite and blinds me for a moment. Seeing only dazzling white light, I try and and try and try to convince myself that our son is not under this earth.
But he is.
His physical body.
In the lecture Rabbi Riskin reminds us that prayer should be more than asking for a good year, for a good living, for good health; authentic prayer is not a tit-for-tat affair. He considers this small-minded. As the great Hasidic master Reb Nachman of Breslov taught we are really asking for spirituality, to be close to G-d, to make us resilient and strong. We're asking that redemption should soon arrive. And we're celebrating His Kingship. We are also joining with G-d in a partnership to complete and refine this imperfect world.
Karen and I wish all our friends a G'mar Chatima Tova, a lovely Shabbat, a meaningful Yom Kippur and fast.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:36 PM | Comments (10)
N.Y. Times to Host Ahmadinejad
Update#1: This story is false.
We apologize to our readers and to The New York Times.
Update #2: Okay, Ahmadinejad is not being hosted by The New York Times, but he is being hosted by The National Press Club. And this is not a joke.
Here are some excerpts.
In principle, the Zionists lack any religion. They are lying when they say that they are Jews. They have no religion. They are against religion, because religion means friendship, brotherhood, peace, and justice. Religion means to respect the divine prophets. Note this. Religion means to respect others. It means friendship between peoples. Note that wherever the Zionists are, there is war, and wherever there is war, they are the ones behind it. As a matter of fact, if you examine American society, you will see that they oppress the Americans. They oppress the Europeans, even though they are a minority. They infiltrated in an organized manner... No more than 10,000 of them are part of the organization, and the rest just follow them. But they have become a powerful underground political party, which has the money and the media at its disposal. They do not want friendship and peace between peoples. They do not want there to be friendship between the Swedish government and other countries. This way they get rid of their complexes about the Prophet of Islam and all other prophets. As you know, an affront to the Prophet of Islam means an affront to all the divine prophets, because the Prophet of Islam is the Seal of the Prophets.
Therefore, because the Zionists have no religion, I strongly suspect that they are behind [the Swedish cartoon], and that they want to embarrass the Europeans, and make the European governments face a challenge. They want to instigate a war, because war is the essence of their existence. If the world is calm, the people of Europe the Germans... If the world is calm, they will eradicate the Zionists. I’m convinced of this. Do you know how many messages I get from Germans every day? They have an aversion to the Zionists. The Zionists humiliated the German people very much. But the Zionists are in control. The moment the world is calm and people can express their views, you will see that they will drive them out of Europe. The people of Europe themselves will drive them out. The [Zionists] do not want such a thing to happen, and that’s why they instigate new turmoil every day.
This from the man just invited to speak at Columbia University.
As commenter David Paulin has pointed out Columbia University does not extend freedom of speech to an ROTC program.
But to this thug Ahmadinejad, they just roll out the red carpet.
No Jew, no decent person should give one penny to this disgusting institution.
Alumni should let Columbia know that they will not longer send the university any money.
Columbia has become a poison ivy.
Inviting this man to speak at Columbia legitimizes him and his genocidal fanatical beliefs. It raises his stature, his Jew/Israel hatred in the Arab/Muslim world.
The unthinkable becomes normative because, well, an Ivy League university thinks enough of him to engage him in civilized dialog.
But he's using the opportunity for propaganda purposes.
Columbia and the National Press Club are just useful idiots. They are accomplices to evil.
Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs
Update #3: Groups to Demonstrate Sunday, Monday in New York Against Visit by Iranian President
Several groups are planning rallies Sunday and Monday to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's planned visit to New York, where he is scheduled to speak at Columbia University Monday and address the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday.
Ahmadinejad has spoken openly about his plans to share nuclear technology with like-minded countries and his stated goal to govern the world . He has also said Israel should be "wiped off the map," called the Holocaust a myth and said Jews should return to the European countries from which they escaped.
At 12:30 p.m. Sunday, New York City Council Member David I. Weprin (D-Hollis), chair of the New York City Council Finance Committee, will join other elected officials, community groups and civic leaders to protest Ahmadinejad's visit and urge Columbia to rescind its invitation. The rally is to take place at Columbia's main gate at W. 116th St. and Broadway.
On Monday, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York are sponsoring a rally at 12 p.m. (rain or shine) at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 2nd Ave. at 47th St., across the street from the United Nations.
One of the speakers at the "National Rally to Stop Iran Now" is Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles F. "Chic" Burlingame, III, (Capt., USNR, Ret.), pilot of American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. She is co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America and a director of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. Burlingame can be reached at 914-844-3146 or db@911familiesforamerica.org. The rally is being held in cooperation with the United Jewish Communities, the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. For more information, contact the Conference of Presidents at 212-318-6111 or info@conferenceofpresidents.org or the JCRC at 212-983-4800, ext. 161 or info@jcrcny.org .
Also on Monday, students from Columbia and other universities including Rutgers, Brooklyn College and Queens College as well as high school students, are scheduled to join together from 1-3 p.m. to protest Ahmadinejad's speech to students and faculty. Ahmadinejad's address is scheduled for 1-2:30 p.m. at Lerner Hall, located at W. 116th St. and Broadway. The students will join activists from dozens of Jewish organizations including StandWithUs, Hasbara Fellowships and The David Project, at W. 116th St. and Broadway. Please see below for students available for interviews, expert sources on Iran and information about Ahmadinejad.
Via: The Israel Project
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:46 AM | Comments (11)
Israel & U. S. Shared Intel for Raid
The latest on Operation Orchard.
Israel and the United States collaborated on intelligence ahead of an alleged IAF raid on a suspected Syrian nuclear site on September 6, the Washington Post reported Friday.
According to the report, Israel informed the US this past summer that North Korean personnel were in Syria to help the country's nuclear program. The intelligence in question reportedly included satellite imagery.
In return, the US provided some sort of corroboration.
To read the rest of the story, please click here.
Well, all this is sort of obvious. The Israeli jets had to have the squawk codes of the American fighters in the region or they would have ended up in a nasty friendly engagement. Also, the Israeli commando unit on the ground in Syria, no doubt, came through Iraq, courtesy of the U.S.
Nevertheless, it's good to know that Israel and America are working so closely together to halt the spread of nuclear arms among the Arab regimes.
This video presentation of Operation Orchard includes animated scenes of the attack.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:58 AM | Comments (2)
September 20, 2007
Syria Elected to UN's Nuclear Watchdog, I'm Not Kidding
This is is so absurd, so grotesque, it's actually funny.
Two weeks after Israel's alleged bombing raid in Syria, which some foreign reports said targeted North Korean nuclear material, the UN's nuclear watchdog elected Syria as deputy chairman of its General Conference on Monday.
The 51st session of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) opened in Vienna on Monday and will run through Friday.
The Syrian news agency SANA proudly reported the election on Tuesday, adding that Syria was also successful in including "the Israeli nuclear arsenal as an item on the agenda of the conference."
To read the rest of the story, please click here.
Keep in mind that Syria just assassinated another Lebanese politician opposed to Syrian domination of Lebanese politics.
Keep in mind that Syria has been buying nuclear material from North Korea. That's why Israel mounted Operation Orchard and there was a big boom in western Syria.
Keep in mind that Syria is a particularly cruel fascist dictatorship.
Okey-doke, we can't resist.
Appointing Syria to the IAEA is like:
1. Putting a pedophile in charge of a kindergarten.
2. Appointing Goering to head up the Nuremberg Trials.
3. Having Lindsay Lohan as your drug counselor.
You get the idea.
We invite Seraphic Secret readers to contribute their whackiest analogies to compete with the U.N./Syrian axis.
It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 05:57 PM | Comments (16)
Jimmy Carter's War Against the Jews
Democrat Jimmy "Jihad" Carter is waging a war against Jews and the State of Israel. This excellent five minute flash video answers every libel the ex-President of the United States has hurled at the State of Israel.
Jimmy Carter: another Democrat the jihadists just adore.
Via: David Horowitz and the Terrorism Awareness Project
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:09 PM | Comments (5)
Fun and Games in Auschwitz
As hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were being gassed to death and then burned to ashes in Auschwitz, German officers, guards, physicians, office clerks and concentration camp bureaucrats were frolicking under the shadow of the crematorium.
Click here to go to the article. And make sure to view the slide show.
One of the most sobering moments of my political education was watching Rosie O'Donnel explain to the American people that terrorists are people just like you and me; they are loving mothers, she insisted, who also have mothers and fathers. Her point was that parenthood binds us together in a common humanity that transcends every national and religious borders.
Deep liberal thinker, Rosie.
At that moment I realized that people like Rosie make genocide not only possible, but inevitable for the Rosies of this world refuse to recognize evil. And when evil is denied it runs rampant.
Perhaps evil is like the sun; gazing at it's blazing face is simply too painful.
Anyway, these Germans all had mothers and fathers.
These Germans had families. They went to work in the morning and came home at night.
“I'm home, darling.”
“How was your day?”
“Oh, you know, the Jews, always complaining.”
“My darling, no one appreciates how hard you work.”
“Where are my lovely children? Time to play.”
True, their work consisted of committing genocide, but they were devoted husbands, wives and fathers and mothers.
Modern day jihadists are exactly the same creatures. They have mothers and fathers. They have wives—often multiple wives—and they have many children. And they love their children with such militant fervor they teach them that the highest religious virtue in Islam is to die as a shahid, a martyr, by murdering Jews.
So click on the link, watch the slide show, and understand that these Nazis are not dead. They have been reborn as Islamo Nazis.
You know who else does not recognize evil, who enables evil?
Columbia University.
Did Columbia University never hear of the Khobar Towers? This massacre was carried out by Hizbullah, a terrorist group that is trained and financed by Iran.
Does Columbia University care?
Probably not. They hide their immorality behind the fig-leaf of, ahem, academic freedom. Gee, have they invited the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan to speak in the name of academic freedom?
As Offspring #3 would opine: “Duh.”
What a disgusting institution.
Hat Tip: Seraphic Cholent Friend, Michael Makiri
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:09 AM | Comments (28)
September 19, 2007
Jerusalem Protest Rally Against Olmert
It's about time.
And Seraphic Secret is in Jerusalem.
In spirit.
Okaaaay, we do the best we can.
We will blow our shofar here in Tinsel Town in support of this rally against the leftist appeasers in the Israeli government who would betray the Jewish people to jihadist genociders.
Women in Green is planning a rally Wednesday night in Jerusalem against the plans of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to divide Jerusalem and establish a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria.
The protest has been called by the grassroots nationalist camp organization for 7 PM at Paris Square at the southern end of King George St., a block away from the Prime Minister's residence in the capital. It will be timed to coincide with a dinner meeting between Olmert and visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
Those who can blow a shofar (ram's horn) are asked to bring one.
Asked if she is expecting a large turnout for the event, Women in Green co-founder Nadia Matar told Arutz-7, "We know that we have 350,000 people who signed a petition against a Palestinian state, and many more who feel the same way. We also know that in general, only the die-hard activists generally show up for protests like this. This will be our opening shot; we have to get the ball rolling."
A press release for the event states that Olmert and Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah have "already signed an 8-point document which basically calls for the creation of a PLO state in all of Judea and Samaria, the destruction of over 95% of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, the division of Jerusalem, and the handing over of the Temple Mount to the PLO."
Women in Green quotes Israel's founding Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, as having said:
“No Jew is at liberty to surrender the right of the Jewish Nation and the Land of Israel to exist. No Jewish body is sanctioned to do so. No Jew alive today has the authority to yield any piece of land whatsoever. This right is preserved by the Jewish people throughout the generations and cannot be forfeited under any circumstance. Even if at some given time there will be those who declare that they are relinquishing this right, they have neither the power nor the jurisdiction to negate it for future generations to come. The Jewish Nation is neither obligated by nor responsible for any waiver such as this. Our right to this land, in its entirety, is steadfast inalienable and eternal. And until the coming of the Great Redemption, we shall never yield this historic right.”
The press release likens the historic appeasement in Munich that led to World War II to what is likely to occur following the "appeasement of the Arabs planned for this November" at the US-sponsored international Middle East summit in Washington.
"Whereas the allied powers couldn’t have guessed the extremity of Hitler’s designs," the announcement states, "our leaders have no such excuse. The only honest conclusion twelve years after the Oslo Accords were signed is that the Arabs want war, not peace. The Arabs’ sole and consistent purpose remains the destruction of Israel. Therefore, ongoing peace negotiations have nothing to do with peace.
"History sometimes arrives at climactic junctures that are followed by a point of no return. Once crossed, the momentum leading to disaster becomes unstoppable. We fear that the second Munich conference being planned for this November is such a juncture.
"Israel’s leadership has lost all sense of national responsibility and accountability as it rushes heedlessly down this path. It doesn’t represent the interests of the Jewish people or the Jewish State, but submits willingly to foreign interests and pressures. It has become the accomplice of Israel’s enemies in securing the enemy’s goals."
To read the entire article please go to Arutz Sheva
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 05:44 PM | Comments (8)
Israel to Adopt Seraphic Secret Security Plan, Maybe
Finally, the State of Israel is paying attention to Seraphic Secret.
Time and again we have urged the State of Israel to switch off the electricity to Gaza, the Palestinian state, a terrorist Islamic entity that sends missiles into Israel every day of the week. A state that is ruled by Hamas, whose Covenant calls for the destruction of the State of Israel, whose charter actually quotes The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a rock solid source for a world-wide Jewish conspiracy to rule the world.
Seraphic Secret has urged the lame Israeli government to turn off the electricity to Gazastan like a gazillion times.
Okay, they're finally listening.
Sheesh, took long enough.
I just want one thing in return:
An exclusive option to the film and TV rights to the Operation Orchard story.
I'm the man to write and produce that film. In fact, Hollywood will not touch this incredible story, You know why? The good guys are Jews-Israelis and the bad guys are, y'know, Islamist genociders.
Jihadist Muslim Jew-haters are the new fashionable accessories in liberal Hollywood.
Hey, maybe I should chuck this Hollywood gig and start consulting on security matters.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel on Wednesday to reconsider its decision to declare the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity," warning that any cutoff of vital services would violate international law and punish the already suffering civilian population.
In one of his toughest statements aimed at Israel since taking the reins of the UN on Jan. 1, Ban said he was "very concerned" at the Israeli government's declaration earlier Wednesday "and its announced intent to interrupt essential services such as electricity and fuel to the civilian population."
"Such a step would be contrary to Israel's obligations towards the civilian population under international humanitarian and human rights law," he said.
"I call for Israel to reconsider this decision," the secretary-general said in a statement read by UN spokeswoman Michele Montas.
The government decided to declare the Gaza Strip an enemy entity on Wednesday, choosing to adopt a plan presented by Defense Minister Ehud Barak during the security cabinet meeting in which it was recommended that electricity be cut off the region's 1.4 million Palestinian residents.
To read the rest of this story, please click here.
Hat Tip: Seraphic Chaver, Kishke
And here's an article from Arutz Sheva that sums it all up rather nicely: How Can the Kassams be Stopped
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:12 PM | Comments (9)
Olmert Spins like a Persian Centrifuge
Here's how it works:
Olmert secretly negotiates a deal with Arab Holocaust denier and terrorist leader Mahmoud Abbas. Olmert knows that the terms of the deal are foul, disgusting, but look, he's a leftist political hack so he does what comes naturally: he secretly leaks the secret deal through one of his leftie hack ministers—to test out public reaction.
He wants to see how far he can go—old appeaser that he is—before he's forced to swallow the electric Kool-aid.
Well, the trial balloon goes up, and whoa, it is not well received. The balloon actually explodes. Big time. What a stunner, the Jewish people are deeply, mortally attached to the entire City of Jerusalem; have been for several thousand years.
Really Ehud, didn't you get the memo:
If I forget thee O Jerusalem may my right hand forget her cunning. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy.
— Psalm 137
So now Olmert AKA Neville Chamberlain is blaming TOG.
The Other Guy.
“It was all Chaim Ramon's plan,” we imagine Olmert saying, “I, as Prime Minister had absolutely nothing to do with negotiating this deal. I was busy, with, um, insider trading.”
Several ministers express outrage at vice premier's letter proposing ceding parts of Jerusalem to Palestinian Authority. Kadima MK warns party could turn into Meretz; Olmert's office says plan does not obligate prime minister.
To read the rest of this article, and to get a good chuckle, please click here.
Hat Tip: Seraphic Chaver, Kishke
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:37 AM | Comments (7)
September 18, 2007
Olmert to Divide Jerusalem
I admit when I'm wrong. I'm enough of a man to step back and take responsibility for my mistakes.
I've libeled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
I've said that he's not fit to be Prime Minister.
I've said that he's not a strong, decisive leader.
I was wrong.
He's a great leader, a great Prime Minister—for the so-called Palestinian people.
For the Jewish people, he's only suitable to lead some ghetto Judenrat.
This from that fine blog Israel Insider:
The independent Palestinian news agency Maan published a Hebrew document late last week that purports to represent the "principles" apparently agreed on in negotiations between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. While the offices of both men denied any connection to it, comments by Israeli President Shimon Peres confirm some of the main points. On one of the most controversial points, that Israel has agreed to surrender sovereignty the Old City of Jerusalem, Peres pointedly refused to comment.
To read the entire article, please click here.
The people of Israel must rid themselves of Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni and their entire regime of appeasers and fools before Israel is swallowed by a sea of genocidal Jihadists.
Hat Tip: Seraphic Chaver, Kishke
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:41 PM | Comments (20)
The Syrian-Iranian Explosion
Further proof that the Syrians and Iranians are developing weapons of mass destruction.
Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in a Jane's Magazine report that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.
To read the entire article, please click here.
Meanwhile, the mighty Caroline Glick reminds us of the necessity of Recognizing the Axis of Evil.
Can somebody tell me why the wretched Ehud Olmert is Prime Minister of the Jewish State when Caroline Glick is clearly the Jew most qualified for the job.
I'm baffled. But then, I work in Hollywood, I walk around in state of permanent confusion.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)
Jihadists Endorse Hillary and Barak
My favorite bit of comedy from the Democrats is that support for Israel is a bi-partisan issue.
This is a Big Lie.
True, there are Democrats who support Israel. But the party as a whole, has made a landslide plunge to the left, has swallowed the poison pills of multi-culturalism, and moral equivalence. In this toxic brew Jew/Israel-hatred has infiltrated the Democratic party like a virus. Just scan the threads of the Daily Kos to get a sense of this wretched all-consuming medieval mindset.
But the proof that the Democrats are not good for Israel, not good for America and are favored by jihadists everywhere is readily available.
It's so naked that the Democrats, many of them Jews—what a shock—are in total denial.
Ask the jihadists.
This from the Cinnamon Stillwell, one of 27 Conservatives in San Francisco.
Last week, I was lucky enough to receive an advance reading copy of WorldNetDaily.com Jerusalem bureau chief Aaron Klein's soon to be released book, Schmoozing With Terrorists: From Hollywood to the Holy Land, Jihadists Reveal Their Global Plans—to a Jew!
While I haven't yet read the entire book, one particular chapter caught my eye. Noting how closely America's foes follow U.S. domestic politics, Klein interviewed a number of Palestinian and other assorted terrorists about their views on the 2008 presidential election. And guess who the terrorists endorse, above all others, for president? That's right. Hillary Clinton.
The chapter in question is titled, "Terrorists Go Ga-Ga Over Hillary Clinton," and indeed they do. They base their support on the belief that Hillary will pick up where her husband, former President Bill Clinton, left off, in regards to the failed Oslo Accords, thereby assisting them in their goal of annihilating Israel. They also base it on the understandable assumption that Hillary will effect a premature withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, which, they note, would be seen as an American defeat. In the process, the jihadists make a very strong case (at least for those are aren't on their side) for not following their advice.
Taking it a step further, the jihadists also endorse fellow presidential hopeful Barack Obama and heap praise upon the Democratic Party, and the left in general, for its, shall we say, rather weak-kneed approach to fighting terrorism. For Republicans, they have nothing but contempt. A badge of honor, if there ever was one.
Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Jeremayakova
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:51 AM | Comments (13)
PA Celebrates 9-11 Terror Attacks
Y'know how the Israeli and American governments are always telling us that the PA and its Holocaust denying President Mahmoud Abbas are moderate, people with whom we can do business.
Y'know how they are always telling us that Fatah are really the good guys on the block, as opposed to the crazies in Hamas.
Didn't Israeli PM Olmert release a hundred or so Fatah terrorists as a confidence-building measure in the good ol' PA?
Yeah, we're confident they're still a bunch of terrorists.
Anywhoo.
It's all smoke and mirrors. We've been through these scenes before with Fatah and Arafat. We were assured that he was no longer a terrorist. We were told over and over again that Fatah were moderate, even as they were killing Jewish civilians. Sheesh, they even gave the old murderer Arafat a Nobel prize even as he was micro managing a dozen terrorist acts all over the world. Guess when you kill enough Jews you still qualify for a Nobel Peace Prize in Sweden.
Call me whacky but those Swedes should just give the next Nobel Peace Prize to The Dear Leader in North Korea. Makes as much sense—at least the Swedes will be consistently insane in their choices.
But I digress.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas is no different than Arafat. Like his predecessor, Abbas also has 17 security services at his disposal.
Factoid: In the Arab-Muslim world, a security service is shorthand for: terrorist gang.
Wait. I take that back. Abbas is different than Arafat.
He wears a much nicer suit than Yassir, who looked like something the cat dragged in. Mahmoud is a very well dressed terrorist. A bespoke terrorist. I understand he has his suits made for him on London's Saville Row. Your tax dollars at work, America.
Otherwise, Arafat and Abbas play the exact same game. They make nice to the western press and say the exact opposite to the Arab press. In short, they lie to the gullible western media and tell the truth to their genocidal homeboys.
Seraphic Secret has, time and again, drawn this simple equation:
Fatah is Hamas.
Hamas is Fatah.
The only difference is this: Hamas boast that they want to annihilate Israel immediately. Fatah favor the destruction of the State of Israel by incremental stages.
Both agree that the future Palestinian state will be Islamic and, naturally, Judenrein.
Oh, and by the way, the PA despise America even as they demand our tax dollars. They also celebrate the 9-11 atrocities quite openly in their Fatah financed newspapers and TV stations. America hatred is like a national fever among the Palestinians.
But sure, give these barbarians their own state.
Oh wait, they already have it: It's called Gaza. And what a lovely place it is. Another Arab/Muslim paradise—Judenrein, naturally.
For more details read how the the peace-loving Palestinians celebrate the 9-11 atrocities—if you have the stomach for it.
The Palestinian Authority continues a long tradition of celebrating the 2001 World Trade Center terror attacks by publishing cartoons in its official daily that glorify Osama Bin Laden and the attacks, or mock the suffering of the U.S. This year's cartoon shows Bin Laden smiling while making the “V” for victory sign with two fingers in the shape of the burning Twin Towers. The PA daily that published the cartoon, Al Hayat Al Jadida, is owned by the PA and controlled by the office of Mahmoud Abbas. The only text on this cartoon is "Exclusive to Al Hayat Al Jadida," which means it was prepared specifically for the official Palestinian Authority daily.
To read the entire article and to view the official PA cartoons, please click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:25 AM | Comments (7)
September 17, 2007
Gaza: The New Order
Now that Gaza is Juderein, read about the Islamist utopia Hamas are creating.
For years, the seaside Flower of the Cities resort was that rare place in the Gaza Strip where the dress code did not rule out bikinis. Now, with some of its cinder-block cabanas turned into prayer rooms, the beach club shows how Hamas is consolidating its hold here three months after seizing power.
Bushy beards and black head-to-toe cloaks for women have become common at the club, which the armed Islamic movement torched in June after routing the secular Fatah party on the streets. The facility has been rebranded the al-Aqsa Resort, with a new logo featuring the revered mosque complex in Jerusalem next to a beach umbrella. Hamas followers collect the $2.50 entrance fee.
To read the rest of this article please click here.
Douglas Farah comments on the article and life in Gaza.
Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Jake Novak.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:26 PM | Comments (0)
Jew-Hatred and Jihad
Even the 9/11 Commission Report, the summation produced by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States in July 2004, falls short in this regard. Its chapter on "Bin Laden's worldview" makes no mention of his hatred of Jews. This silence is all the more surprising in that the commission quotes documents in which bin Laden unambiguously expresses his hatred of Jews. For example, in the "Letter to the American People" of November 2002, which the report repeatedly cites, bin Laden warns: "The Jews have taken control of your media, and now control all aspects of your life making you their servants and achieving their aims at your expense." Osama goes on: "Your law is the law of rich and wealthy people. . . . Behind them stand the Jews who control your policies, media and economy." Yet the report's authors inexplicably fail to see the significance of these words and the ideology behind them. The report also ignores the history of Islamism. It accords the entire pre-1945 period just five lines. Yet it is precisely this period that fostered the personal contacts and ideological affinities between early Islamism and late Nazism—the linkage between Jew-hatred and jihad.
To read the entire article, please click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:17 PM | Comments (2)
Israel's Deterrence
Several weeks ago, Karen and I invited Omri, of Mere Rhetoric to Casa Avrech to join us for Friday night Shabbos meal. Omri arrived with a bottle of wine, a big smile, and lots of rhetoric.
Actually, not mere rhetoric, but spellbinding Shabbos conversation. Our young friend authors one of the best blogs in the known universe.
Here's Omri's take on the Israeli raid into Syria.
Under the delusion of international assurances and Oslo headiness, Israelis had decided that the era of big wars was over and that the future of Israeli security lay with the IAF. Call it the Don Rumsfeld approach to Middle East security — light, swift units designed to fight in close urban areas. The problem is that—as it turns out—armies still need to use tanks and soldiers to defeat large numbers of enemy tanks and soldiers trying to kill them or invade their territory. And Israel specifically still needs to be able to convince its enemies that not only can it use its tanks and soldiers, but that it's willing to do so. Since Halutz resigned and Ashkenazi took over, the IDF has moved away from the over-reliance on the IAF that had marked Halutz's disastrous tenure.
To read the rest of the article, please click here.
Has anyone noticed that New York Times Jerusalem correspondents Steven Erlanger and Isabel Kirshner have, so far, imposed a near total black-out on the Israeli raid story? Is this because they know that Hamas and Fatah will revoke their press credentials if they write about this daring strike? Or maybe the editorial desk in New York are just not interested in a story that does not lead with collateral damage.
As Stephanie Gutmann points out in her seminal book, The Other War: Israelis, Palestinians and the Struggle for Media Supremacy, Western correspondents, who usually favor Arab victimhood and delusions anyway, are subject to strict censorship and intimidation by the Palestinian authorities. Thus, the news that comes out of the major media outlets is doubly slanted against Israel.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:03 PM | Comments (8)
In the Valley of Elah: The Review, Better than the Movie
I have not seen "In the Valley of Elah," Hollywood's latest assault on the American military, but my good friend Dirty Harry over at Libertas has, and he is one brave man. I dunno, maybe he's getting paid for Hazardous Screening Duty. In any case, as I said, I have not seen the film but from Dirty Harry's description I can guarantee no one else in America will bother to see it either. Yup, sounds like the only solid audience for this flick is in Osama's Caliphite Caves in Wackistan and the Al Quada death squads—they can use it as a recruiting tool.
Elah is a near-perfect example of agenda over quality filmmaking. To portray even a single soldier back from the war as grounded, honorable, and worthy of admiration (like 99.9% are) undercuts the anti-war message. But to portray every soldier as unstable and cruel is weak one-dimensional storytelling. It’s the same when it comes to the Iraqi victims. There are two and neither is humanized or even given a face. They’re blurs useful only as props to defame our soldiers. Had the Iraqis been real people the story would’ve been stronger because the horror of the crime would’ve been more real. But Haggis knows that putting a human face on the Iraqi people works against his anti-war sentiments. If we start seeing Iraqis as human we might find it harder to agree with Haggis and abandon them to the death squads and al-Queda.
To read the rest of the review, please click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:33 AM | Comments (3)
September 16, 2007
The Secret Israeli Raid
Right before Rosh Hashanah I wrote about the audacious Israeli raid deep into Syria—codenamed Operation Orchard—that took out a nuclear cache that North Korea sold to the Iranians. More details of this raid are being revealed and it's clear that when the full details are known it will rank as one of the great military strikes of all time. Israel also inserted ground forces into Syria, a commando unit to direct laser beams on the target.
I can just see the post cards: “Hey, Ma, I'm in Syria. Hope I don't have to stay over Shabbos. It's kinda harsh.”
The Syrians have spent billions of dollars on the latest Russian air defenses, and yet these defenses went dark because the Israelis completely jammed them. If they wanted to, the IDF could have bombed Damascus back to the stone age. Once again, as in the Cold War, Russian technology and training prove ineffectual against the IDF. Putin must be banging his head against the non-existent Berlin Wall. And Puppy Assad, well, he's going to be demanding some coupons back from the Ruskies. “Nothing worked against those Jooz.”
Hey, maybe it's, y'know, a Zionist conspiracy.
Nothing worked.
As Offspring #3 would opine: “Duh.”
Syria is a thugocracy. Officers are promoted based not on merit but on loyalty to the minority Alawite regime, hence every corner of the Syrian military is corrupted by graft and brutal political infighting. Tribal and religious loyalties are all consuming. Mediocrity rules.
Israel is a Democracy, only the best rise to become officers and commandos. In symmetrical warfare, Israel makes dust of her Arab opponents.
Meanwhile, over in Iran, the Mullahs have to be wondering when the Israelis are going to be dropping in for a quick visit. The Persian air defenses are not half as elaborate as the Syrians, and the Persian air force is even worse—really, I'm not kidding—than the Syrian. I suppose the only card Iran will play is trans-national terrorism: killing civilians, taking hostages, hosting another Holocaust denial conference. But in the end, the Israelis are coming, and though the dolts in the U.N. will shout and scream, everyone, including the Sunni Arab world, will sleep a lot easier once the Persian nuclear facilities have been annihilated.
While I was in shul over Rosh Hashanah, others were gathering the threads of this story:
It was just after midnight when the 69th Squadron of Israeli F15s crossed the Syrian coast-line. On the ground, Syria’s formidable air defences went dead. An audacious raid on a Syrian target 50 miles from the Iraqi border was under way.
At a rendezvous point on the ground, a Shaldag air force commando team was waiting to direct their laser beams at the target for the approaching jets. The team had arrived a day earlier, taking up position near a large underground depot. Soon the bunkers were in flames.
To read the rest of the story, please click here.
Today is Tzom Gedaliah, The Fast of Gedaliah. Here's a fine primer for this solemn day.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:10 AM | Comments (19)
September 12, 2007
Rosh Hashanah 2007
Eruv Rosh Hashanah, commonly known as The Jewish New Year, but in truth referred to as Yom Ha-Zikaron, Day of Remembrance, or Yom Teruah, the Day of Sounding the Shofar. Now we are witness to a series of violent assaults on the existence of the State of Israel.
Last Thursday, the Israeli Air Force penetrated deeply into Syrian territory and apparently bombed an Iranian arms shipment that was being transferred to Hizbullah.
However, there is something wrong with this picture.
Iran are constantly arming Hizbullah. It's non-stop. Why would Israel suddenly spring into action and fly over Turkey then penetrate so deeply into Syrian that the IAF were just a few miles from the Iraqi border?
The intel for this raid has been building for months. Security was top-level. The raid was perfectly planned, split-second timing was crucial; this was a daring attack, extremely dangerous and carried potentially serious international blow back.
In truth, Israel had no choice.
The North Koreans have been selling nuclear material to the Syrians. And this cannot stand.
As John, from the invaluable military blog Op For, explained to Seraphic Secret:
This is cause for concern. The hardest part about constructing a bomb is finding grade fissible material. If Iran bought direct from the North Koreans, the Syrians could put together a crude device in short order. Mating it to a delivery system, different story. But who needs missiles and jets when you have a fanatic with a back pack and access to Israeli cities?
There was a second purpose to the Israeli raid, and that was to test Syrian radar and ground defenses. If you check your world maps you'll see that the most direct route from Israel to Iran is over Syria.
Sooner or later Israel must take out the Iranian nuclear facilities.
With the success of this raid the IAF has an excellent portrait of the capabilities of Syrian radar and their reaction times. Syria did not scramble a single jet. Not surprising. Their pilots are grapes; they would be annihilated by Israeli top-guns. Syria would be left without jets or pilots. Assad's regime would be defenseless against an always looming military coup, not to mention Syria's bellicose Arab and non-Arab—Iran—brethren.
North Korea, the hermit kingdom, might be dismantling parts of her nuclear program, but at the same time this cash-starved tyranny is doing a brisk business with Iran and any other trans national jihadist group with hard currency to spare.
This unholy marriage cannot be ignored by Israel. Even the current Israeli government, foolish and ineffectual as it is, recognizes an existential threat when it looks them straight in the eye. It's not hard to mistake the face of a genocidal, Holocaust denying regime.
For the moment, Gazastan, the de facto Palestinian state, must be contained—turn off the power for crying out loud—military might and political treasure must be summoned for the real threat. Indeed the true war lies, as it has for over 30 years, in Persia.
As we move into the most solemn days in the Jewish calendar, Karen and I thank all our Seraphic Friends for your friendship and support. Let us all pray for victory over our common enemies.
Kesivah vachasimah tovah.
Seraphic Secret will be observng Rosh Hashanah and then Shabbat, so we will be off-line until Sunday.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:51 AM | Comments (12)
September 11, 2007
9-11 Zachor, Remember
“Do you know what's happening in New York?”
“No, what?”
“Better turn on the TV, ” says Ariel ZT'L.
I click on the remote. It takes us a few seconds to get oriented. Soon, the pixels cohere into a dreamlike, violent vertical image. Ariel sits on the couch with us. In the master bedroom, we watch as the one of the Twin Towers belches smoke.
Is this an accident?
How is this possible?
I'm supposed to be working on a screenplay. As always I'm on deadline, but movies, entertainment, Hollywood magic seem, well, obscene as I watch my fellow Americans being incinerated, turned to blood and bone, blasted into ash and nothingness.
It's difficult making sense of the reports coming in. My gut tells me that this can't be an accident. No commercial jet would ever fly at such a low altitude, especially over densely populated Manhattan.
My stomach clenches.
When I lived in Israel my stomach did the same thing when I spotted an unattended suitcase in the central bus station in Jerusalem.
The second plane slices into the second tower.
“There are people trapped in the upper floors,” I say to myself as much as to Karen and Ariel.
A canopy of billowing black and gray smoke is spreading over the island of Manhattan. Never has this mighty strip of land appeared so vulnerable.
Thick tears cut silvery channels down my face.
“How many people work in the Twin Towers?” Ariel asks.
“At this time of day, could be fifty thousand people,” I answer.
Ariel reaches to my night table for a siddur, the prayer book, recites Tehillim, Psalms.
1. Avenge me, O God, and champion my cause against an impious nation; rescue me from the man of deceit and iniquity. 2. For You are the God of my strength; why have You abandoned me? Why must I walk in gloom under the oppression of the enemy? 3. Send Your light and Your truth, they will guide me; they will bring me to Your holy mountain and to your sanctuaries. 4. Then I will come to the altar of God to God, the joy of my delight and praise You on the lyre, O God, my God. 5. Why are you downcast, my soul, and why do you wail within me? Hope to God, for I will yet thank Him; He is my deliverance, the light of my countenance, and my God.
—Psalm 43
Soon it becomes clear that this is a terrorist attack. Soon it becomes clear that America has been targeted by terrorists. Soon it becomes clear that thousands of Americans have been murdered.
The Towers buckle, collapse. It feels like the end of the world. A voice inside my head whispers: Nothing will ever be the same. This country will never be the same.
The talking head on television says: “This is a great tragedy.”
Ariel sits up and says: “It's not a tragedy, it's an atrocity.” Ariel's voice is braced by steel, unusual for our son who is such a mild and gentle soul.
I should have realized that a society that does not know the difference between a tragedy and an atrocity will be a culture that has little idea how to recognize and make war on evil.
Six years ago our beloved son Ariel was still alive. We think about him every day, every hour. To forget him would be unnatural, unbearable, a tragedy.
Six years ago over three thousand Americans were slaughtered by Islamic terrorists. We should think about them every day, every hour. To forget them would also be unnatural, a sin—another atrocity.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:53 AM | Comments (39)
September 10, 2007
Qassam Injures Dozens
Over 40 Israeli soldiers were wounded after a Qassam rocket launched from northern Gaza landed on a military base in the western Negev early Tuesday morning. This is the largest number of casualties to date resulting from a single Qassam attack.
Three rockets were launched at around 1:30 am, from the area of the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun. Two of the rockets landed in open areas, but one landed in the Zikkim base, about 1 kilometer north of the Gaza Strip, next to a tent containing several soldiers from a battalion in basic training.
Two of the casualties were seriously injured, nine were moderately injured and 30 were lightly injured. The wounded, along with their battalion members, were scheduled to complete basic training mere hours after the attack took place.
To read the rest of the story, please click here.
This attack indicates that that the terrorists have improved their ability to aim the Qassam rockets. These are not pin-point laser munitions, but they don't have to be. They are weapons of terror. Last week the Arab terrorists targeted a children's day care center. Today an army base. Soon the terrorists will improve the Qassam's range and the lethality of these rockets will make them something more than just a weapon of terror.
They will be weapons of slaughter.
I will say it again: It is time for Israel to turn off the power to Gaza. There is no reason for Israel to enable her blood enemies. The so-called Palestinians have received more foreign aid than any other country on the face of the earth. They could have used the money to build an infrastructure, to build an electrical power grid—instead of relying on Israel, their enemies, for electricity.
Instead, the so-called Palestinian leadership stole the money, or used it to buy weapons to kill Jews. But mostly the PA leadership just pissed away billions upon billions of dollars on the most corrupt thugogracy the world has ever seen.
And oh yes, Suha Arafat, Yassir's pretend wife, gets about a million dollars a month to fight on behalf of her beloved Arab brethren from her seventeen-room luxury Paris apartment. It's a tough life—shopping all day long—but somebody's gotta do it.
There is no reason for the IDF to invade Gaza. Just turn off the power and let the terrorist state of Gazastan implode. The citizens of Gaza voted Hamas into power, let them take full responsibility for their free and proud choice.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:15 PM | Comments (11)
New York: Islamists Day Parade
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:58 PM | Comments (3)
MoveOn.org Calls General Patraeus a Traitor
...as General David Petraeus provides his Iraq assessment to Congress--the antiwar group MoveOn.org is running a full-page advertisement in the New York Times under the headline: "General Petraeus or General Betray us? Cooking the books for the White House."
Let's be clear: MoveOn.org is suggesting that General Petraeus has 'betrayed' his country. This is disgusting. To attack as a traitor an American general commanding forces in war because his 'on the ground' experience does not align with MoveOn.org's political objectives is utterly shameful. It shows contempt for America's military leadership, as well as for the troops who have confidence in him, as our fellow soldiers in Iraq certainly do.
General Petraeus has served this country for over 35 years with honor, distinction, and integrity. And this is not just about General Petraeus. After all, if General Petraeus is "cooking the books," then the entire military chain of command in Baghdad, and all the staff, military and civilian, who have been working with General Petraeus are complicit, since Petraeus did not write his report in isolation. They are all, apparently, 'betray[ing] us.'
MoveOn.org has been working closely with the Democratic congressional leadership --as an article in today's Sunday New York Times Magazine makes clear. And consider this comment by a Democratic senator from Friday's Politico: "'No one wants to call [Petraeus] a liar on national TV,' noted one Democratic senator, who spoke on the condition on anonymity. 'The expectation is that the outside groups will do this for us.'
To read the rest of this article, please click here.
Notice: Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama have not denounced Moveon.org. Why? Because they are in this gang's pocket, they need their money. Clinton and Obama have been bought and sold by these vile creatures.
These people have no shame. No shame at all.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:50 PM | Comments (16)
Israeli Undercover Grocers Deliver the Goods
A group of undercover Israeli soldiers disguised as Arabs on Friday kidnapped a senior Hamas member of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, near the Rafah crossing in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians sources told Hamas' website.
Palestinian sources told Ynet that the man was apparently involved in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
The sources said that the undercover soldiers entered the Gaza Strip, and carried out their operation near the Rafah Crossing. According to the sources, the undercover soldiers were disguised as grocers riding a donkey-pulled wagon. Sources said they disguised force even chatted with locals near the crossing.
According to the report, the undercover soldiers approached a plot of land belonging to Muhawesh al-Kadi, a senior Hamas official who acts as spokesman of the organization’s special security forces in Rafah.
Al-Kadi was working his land when the disguised force approached and kidnapped him. The Palestinian sources reported that the operation went quickly and smoothly. The undercover force left Rafah with al-Kadi, and brought him to Israel.
According to the report, the operation was carried out about 2 kilometers from the security fence, in an area where a large number of Hamas gunmen are stationed.
Hamas officials confirmed that this was one of the Israelis' most daring acts and that troops disguised as Arabs had not entered so deep into the Strip for a long time.
At first, Hamas officials believed that al-Kadi was kidnapped by Fatah members on the backdrop of Friday's clashes in the Strip, and ruled out the possibility that it was an Israeli operation due to the distance from the fence and the boosted presence of Hamas gunmen in the area.
Hamas even considered launching an attack on Fatah members, but an inquiry in the area revealed that the man was kidnapped by an Israeli force that left toward Kerem Shalom, where it was guarded by two helicopters.
The IDF's Spokesperson's Office did not respond to the report.
I wonder if they wrapped the terrorist in paper or plastic.
Original story from Ynet News
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:27 AM | Comments (8)
Rewriting the Holocaust at The New York Times
Recently, The New York Times Published this story by Isabel Kirshner:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/world/middleeast/06stalags.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Karen wrote a letter to the Editor. They will never publish it, so we do.
Isabel Kershner’s “revelation” (9/6/07) of the existence of "Holocaust Pornography" was misleading and itself, pornographic in its disregard for the atrocities that befell millions of Jews during the Nazi reign. To naive readers who are unfamiliar with the facts on the ground, your reporter hinted that there is speculation as to whether the most humiliating acts of the SS described by the witnesses at the Eichmann trial ever occurred, and that most Israelis perceive the horrors of the Nazi regime as "sadism and pornography."
I never heard of this perverted slant of memory and have been immersed in Holocaust history since my youth and as an adult, learned every detail of the Shoah as a docent at the Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, and an interviewer for the Shoah Foundation.
The perversion that passes as "revisionist history" is rife throughout your newspaper in its depiction of the creation of the State of Israel. Now you have committed a greater crime of using this post modern relativism to blacken and contort the oral histories of survivors who recounted the abominations they experienced by the Nazis.
Your correction of the statement made by a Yad Vashem researcher did not clarify whether Block 24 simply existed, or whether the atrocities described there actually took place. There were in fact, brothels, where Jewish women were forced to service SS men. This is not an invention of the pornographic pocket books. Mengele’s documented experiments were worse than anything these pornographers could ever imagine.
My hands are usually blackened after I finish reading the Times, now I feel that they are stained red by the blood of my long lost relatives who died in the Shoah. Their blood calls out from the pages of your newspaper, asking for correction, clarification, and justice. Those illustrations were as incendiary as the depictions of "Allah" that were considered too provocative to publish in your newspaper.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:26 AM | Comments (2)
September 09, 2007
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere # 133: Plus Olive Thomas
Olive Thomas
For the past few days Americans have been talking about a certain unfortunate Hollywood star who, it seems, made a suicide attempt.
“But he was a movie star,” people say in shock. “He had it all. It doesn't make any sense.”
Ah, little do they know.
Hollywood stars have been killing themselves since Hollywood first invented the illusion known as the movie star.
Let me tell you about Hollywood's first suicide.
She is buried in the Bronx.
Not one of my Hollywood friends knows that she ever existed. Nor are they familiar with any of her once hugely popular films. But her funeral was attended by thousands of devoted fans; women wept and fainted dead away.
Her death was Hollywood's first great scandal.
Olive Thomas (1894-1920) was the first Hollywood star to crash and burn.
I've only seen one of her films, The Flapper, and she is just luminous, adorable, a bundle of sizzling energy. You can't take your eyes off Olive. She has that alchemy where ordinary beauty and charisma are transformed into that indefinable something we call star quality.
Olive was a poverty-stricken child from a small mill town in Pennsylvania. There was an early marriage at 16 and divorce at 20. On to New York, where she rose from shop girl, to Condé Nast model, to Ziegfeld Follies headliner. Thomas traveled to the West Coast where she became a bit player in the rough and tumble world of the emerging film industry.
And then, like magic, Olive Thomas was a movie star.
She married Jack Pickford, a dashing male star. But Jack was a deeply troubled man, an alcoholic, a drug addict, a womanizer, and soon enough Olive discovered that Jack had syphilis.
Jack Pickford
Their marriage was a tsumani. There was booze and fights and some say both were heroin addicts. But there is absolutely no evidence that Olive took drugs. This seems to be guilt only through marriage. Olive smashed up three expensive cars and miraculously walked away unscathed. Thought it does appear that Olive was drunk each and every time. They gave each other lavish gifts. But there was no real communication. Emotionally, Jack and Olive were children.
Olive Thomas was no angel. She drank, obviously. She had a potty mouth. And there's an anti-Semitic quote on record which is just sickening. But, let's face it, this was probably standard for the small town America which spawned Thomas.
Olive committed suicide in Paris by drinking a dose of mercury bichloride with alcohol and died four days later. The drug was being used as a topical medication for Jack's syphilis. It was an excruciatingly painful death and Jack sat by her side the entire time watching her die.
Her death was ruled accidental. They say Olive was drunk and ingested Jack's medicine by mistake. This seems highly unlikely as Olive and Jack had been together for years. She knew exactly what his medicine bottles looked like.
Jack's sister, Mary Pickford was the biggest star in Hollywood and it was she and the studio who probably made sure that the cause of death was listed as accidental. In those days, the studios wielded near absolute power.
In truth, Olive's death is still a mystery.
Ping!
Ping!
Ping!
My Powerbook beckons.
Look what's just arrived in my e-mail account.
The latest round-up of the Best of the Jewish Blogosphere. Ah, my day is made.
Check it out:
We'd like to thank Rubicon3 for including Seraphic Secret's Towards Catastrophe in this week's excellent round-up.
Afterwards, you can return to these Olive Thomas links:
The Olive Thomas Home Page.
Here's the most thorough and scholarly article about Olive Thomas that I've seen.
You can purchase the Olive Thomas DVD Collection
Another bio of Olive with even more information.
The Complete Olive Thomas Filmography
The only book about Olive Thomas. Olive Thomas: The Life and Death of a Silent Film Beauty, by Michelle Vogel
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:25 PM | Comments (18)
September 07, 2007
Osama: The Pitch
Well, the anniversary of the 9-11 atrocities are fast approaching and who pops out of his Caliphite-Cave?
Yup, Osama bin Laden.
I gotta tell you, he's like some aging Hollywood starlet. He's dyed the gray out of his beard, and euuw, he looks like a drag queen. A really unattractive drag queen. Sheesh, millions of dollars and Osama can't hire a decent hair colorist and stylist.
Oh man, what a great idea for a Hollywood comedy:
Here's the pitch: Terrorist leader hires top Beverly Hills hairdresser to make him look good for his next terror vid. Naive hairdresser—perfect gay role for Brad—flies to remote Wackistan and proceeds with his gentle and peaceful ways to civilize and pacify the terrorist leader. Think "Brokeback Mountain" meets "Shampoo."
I gotta pitch this. Immediately. The D-girls will eat it up. It's high-concept, zany, and politically correct.
So utterly stupid they will buy it in the room.
Anywhoo!
Watch out. Osama is pissed. At the Democrats. You know why? Because they haven't pulled our troops out of Iraq like they promised. The chutzpah!
Okay, Osama didn't say chtuzpah. I'm taking literary license here. I'm a screenwriter, I need some room, y'know?
Osama compares Iraq to Vietnam. He accuses Donald Rumsfeld of mass murder. Sound familiar? I'm telling you, Osama sounds exactly like George Clooney, Jane Fonda, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, most everyone in Hollywood. Hey, when did Osama become a Tinsel Town player?
What am I saying? He sounds exactly like my local sot-so Jewish weekly.
He also adores Noam Chomsky. So what if Chomsky was born a Jew? They both hate America, they both hate Israel, they both hate Jews. Osama can slit Chomsky's throat after Chomsky has served his purpose. Think Stalin and Isaac Babel.
I love this part: The Kyoto Prorocols, Osama is like all shame, shame that America has not signed. He's Mr. Green.
This from a guy who slaughters and incinerates innocent human beings: men, women, children. Call me crazy but I see something of a contradiction here.
But hey, I'm sure the post-modern deconstructionists at Duke University will straighten out my decadent middle class way of thinking.
Yup, Osama's really worried about global warming. Isn't that touching. He's like all sensitive and totally Sierra Club. I'll bet he gets lots of marriage proposals from women in the Bay Area, Oregon and Seattle. No problemo, ladies. Osama has multiple wives, always room for one more in the harem. You might even get to wear a tie-dyed burqa. Or not. Osama's kinda touchy about women's rights. I'd play it safe and stick with the basic black burqa. It's the new, um, black.
I'm telling you, Moveon.org should recruit this guy as a spokesman and fund raiser; they are on the exact same page. And I have a sneaking suspicion that OBL has been writing most of the posts on the Daily Kossack. I'm not exaggerating, Osama's talking points might be lifted directly from The Daily Kos, Nancy Pelosi—or Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama or John "Pretty Boy" Edwards.
The Dems must be thrilled to know that OBL is counting on their policies. I wonder if OBL has been donating money to Hillary's campaign?
Osama does the Holocaust: He says that if the Nazi genocide had occurred closer to Muslim countries, "most of the Jews would have been saved by taking refuge with us."
Hellloo! Osama. Reality check! The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Hussein, traveled to Germany, had private meetings with Hitler and heard all about the Final Solution. And the Mufti was like: “Mein Fuhrer, when do we start?”
The Mufti raised an all Muslim SS Brigade in the Bosnia to help Hitler exterminate Jews.
"Mein Kampf" is still a best seller in the Arab world. It should be. The title translates: My Struggle. Which in Arabic is, get this: My Jihad.
And as for how lovey-dovey Muslims and Jews were in the good ol' days: It was the Muslims, back in the middle-ages, who invented the yellow star for Jews to wear on their clothes, not the Christians.
OBL repeatedly and proudly takes credit for the 9-11 attacks. The tin-foil-hat crowd who claim that it was an inside job are going to have to come up with some lunatic spin to counter this obvious truth. Shouldn't be too hard.
Osama's all angry about Western colonialism. Wow, he's been taking extension courses at Harvard. But then , gosh darned, he gives it away, reveals that he and his religion are the true Imperialists. Because the point of the video, Osama's real point is simple: if you—meaning everyone on the face of the planet—does not convert to Islam—Osama and his terrorist buddies are going to kill you.
Counter Terrorist consultant Daveed Gartenstein-Ross analyzes the Bin-Laden tape. H/T Jeremayakova.
Pamela, at Atlas Shrugs, has a great write-up on the OBL terror vid.
The Mighty Michelle Malkin also has a full round-up.
Karen and I wish all our Seraphic Friends a lovely and meaningful Shabbos.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:45 PM
| Comments (6)
The Path to 9-11: Not “What they are doing to your film is a disgrace.September 06, 2007
A Night in Hollywood: Obsession