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January 30, 2009
Friday Footwear: The Guess Who Edition
Charles “Buddy” Rogers checks out Mary Pickford's
footwear, My Best Girl, 1928.
We should write about: Gaza, or Hamas, or Hizbullah, or Iran, or Pakistan, or Wazirastan, or Londonistan, or Amsterdan, or the ahem, stimulus package, or the temper tantrum at Davos, or the jihad enabling mainstream media, or Samantha “We Should Invade Israel” Power, or Obama closing Gitmo, or Obama dismantling the firewall that protects this republic from transnational terrorists, or Obama sucking up to the Jew-hating Arab Muslim world.
But:
Hey, it's Friday.
Friday Footwear, kids, AKA Girls Love Footwear, and we do have our priorities. And because we are completely superficial and because we are suffering from serious Obama fatigue—it feels like he's been President for-evuh—we will not shirk our duty but move forward with this blog's most anticipated—sad really—and popular feature.
“Daddy, did you get the footwear picture I sent?”
“Lemme check.”
I click into my Gmail account and there it is, an attachment from Offspring #2.
Oh joy!
“Hey, those are great.”
“Guess who's modeling the shoes?”
Oh man, I hate trick questions.
“Offspring #3?”
“Nope.”
“You?”
“Nooo.”
I am in a mental cul de sac.
“Who is it?”
“Mommy!”
“Get out of town.”
I realize in a stunning rush of clarity that my three girlses all have the same slim ankles. DNA can be a wonderful thing.
"The shoes are mine but Mommy wanted to try them on. She really likes them.”
“But Mommy's not wild about high, high heels.”
“These are Banana Republic, they have a special platform support that makes them really comfortable.”
Wow, magic high-heels. Will wonders never cease.
“What about the color, what is it?”
“Taupe.”
So that's taupe. A word I have never used and a color I have never recognized in my entire life.
“Hard to dress.”
“Oh no, taupe's a neutral. Goes with everything.”
“Cute.”
Excellent tapering heel, like an upside down skyscraper.
“Yah, really cute.”
“You did well.”
“Thanks, daddy.”
“No, thank you, now I can fill my Friday Footwear slot.
Karen comments: “I should have been wearing sheer stockings with the shoes, black doesn't really go.”
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and meaningful Shabbos.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:50 AM | Comments (23)
January 29, 2009
The 18: Call President Obama
Our friend Michael Fenenbock of The 18, leads the charge against a so-called two state solution, which, in reality, is a Final Solution aimed at the Jewish people.
Here's the new video:
Contact: The 18
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:26 PM | Comments (3)
The Third Jihad
This is a must see video, a 30-minute digest of a longer film.
A few observations:
1. There is a libel popular among the chattering classes that goes something like this: mid-east terrorism is caused by the Arab-Israeli conflict. Resolve the Palestinian conflict and all troubles will vanish. This is false. Israel is, and has always been, the central front against radical Islam. The Islamists use the conflict to justify their aggression.
2. Feeding off this meme is the notion that because America supports Israel, a transparent democracy, the Islamic world hates America. This is also false. The Islamists hate America for who we are, a freedom-loving republic opposed to totalitarian regimes.
3. Prisons are feeding grounds for Islamist recruiters. I know, I spent a good deal of time in various prisons doing research for films and I can testify that violent Islamist gangs rule the yard. Radical Islam appeals to the sociopath. That's why closing Gitmo is so dangerous. Putting hard-core jihadists in American prisons is exactly what the terrorists desire. It makes recruitment and operations-planning so much easier.
4. Like a disease, terrorists must be isolated or the ideology spreads in prisons—and in the halls of academia.
5. Europeans took a short break from their in-bred Jew-hatred out of nothing more than mild embarrassment at Auschwitz. But they have now regained their Jew-hating chops, calling it, what else? Human Rights These oh-so-civilized creatures enable and encourage the Islamists at most every turn. For instance, Spain has revived The Inquisition.
6. The cultural fall-out of Holocaust denial and Holocaust justification are making their way into the mainstream. The world of fashion is now pushing Nazi Chic.
7. Finally: Only Muslims can fix what is gravely broken in the Muslim world, that's why this video is so significant.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:20 AM | Comments (4)
Thanks to Allah for the Holocaust
An Egyptian cleric speaking over horrifying images of the Holocaust "Hopes It Will Happen Again, Allah Willing, At The Hand Of Muslims."
Let's take note of a few important points:
1. Egyptian TV is run by the state, opinions expressed have to be vetted by government censors—who obviously have no problem with the genocidal yearnings and historical lunacy in this friendly chat.
2. The cleric spends a great deal of time on Theodore Herzl. Everything he says about him is false. Herzl was a secular Jew, a journalist. He did not invent dynamite. That was Alfred Nobel.
3. The Holocaust is no longer denied, but justified. As always in the Arab world, conspiracy theories need not make any sense. Holocaust denial lives quite comfortably alongside Holocaust justification.
4. Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel and is viewed as a moderate Arab country. If this is moderate, can you imagine the world-view of the non-moderate Arab states.
5. Don't bother trying because the world views of moderate and non-moderate Arab states are exactly the same. They only differ on the eliminationist tactics to be deployed against Israel.
6. Imagine that you're an Arab Muslim child somewhere in the mid-east. You turn on your TV and view this video. What will this Arab child will conclude about Jews and Israel?
7. And that's why there will never be peace in the middle east, only various forms of accommodation, because the Arab Muslim world—backward and barbaric—exists on a steady diet of Jew-hatred and lies, justified by Islam.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:26 AM | Comments (4)
January 28, 2009
10,000 Violent Women and One Screenwriter, Part II
Chapter II of my prison series, 10,000 Violent Women and One Screenwriter, is up at Big Hollywood:
“In high school,” says Cindy, “there were always these chicks, boosters and cheerleaders, the girls who wore different outfits every single day of the week; chicks who made you feel like crap; and they enjoyed your misery. You know something, Robert? Prison is like being back in high school all over again.”
To read the entire story, please click here.
If you'd like to order Within These Walls, the movie I wrote based on my prison research, click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:55 AM | Comments (4)
January 27, 2009
There Are Cults and There Are Cults
Corbusier Pony Skin Lounger. But viewed in a different light—a Tallis Bag.
I'm in LAX.
Karen was in Teaneck for Shabbos visiting Offspring #2, her wonderful husband, and our beautiful granddaughter Ma'yan Ariel.
Now, I'm picking up Karen and her mother, who will be staying with us for a few weeks, escaping the frigid East—oh man, that sinister global warming is using cold to trick us—and relaxing in laid back L.A.
Before getting on the plane, Karen phones to tell me—I can hear her smiling on the phone—that the Satmar Rebbe is on her flight.
Says Karen: “He's carrying an amazing Tallis bag, it looks like pony hide, very Corbusier.”
“I wonder where he got it.”
“Oh, it's probably custom made, I've never seen anything like it.”
Funny, I've been thinking of buying myself a new bag. My thirty-year old Tallis bag is shredding, but I'm reluctant to retire the poor but loyal velvet pouch. We've been through so much together.
I'm like, “Hey, go over to the Rebbe and ask him where he got the bag, and get a b'racha—a blessing—while you're at it.”
Karen goes: “Oh nooooo, I can't. Besides the Rebbe is sitting in first class.”
“So walk into first class and —”
“No, we're not allowed.”
I'm thinking this is the perfect set-up for a Monty Python sketch: The peasants are revolting, etc.
Karen and I have been separated for three days and already I'm half out of my mind with lack of sleep. During the night, I wake up every hour on the hour, look to the other side of the bed and it's empty. I get all panicky and dry-mouthed and have this fantasy that by going away Karen realizes just how little she needs me and decides not to return to yours truly.
Abandonment issues. Don't ask.
Interpolation: President Obama and the Cult of Personality
The magazine racks in LAX are all Obama, I think even Popular Mechanics have contrived to put the 44th President and Michelle on the cover.
This messianic fervor is kind of disturbing.
The left have always indulged in the worst excesses of the lunatic cult of personality: Marx, Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, Ho Chi Minh, Mao. International figures.
But now, a genuine home-grown cult—Obama worship—has emerged. From the slobbering coverage of Obama from the New York Times—their stock has achieved junk bond status, quite an accomplishment—to the politically horizontal limousine liberals of Hollywood, plus I don't know how many covers on Time, Newsweek and People. This republic is in the grip of intellectual collapse, a cult of personality that should, for any sane people, be a source of deep embarrassment.
Personally, I'm a bit confused by the Obama cult, especially coming from Jews. I know this sounds all close-minded, but a man who spends some twenty plus years in an avowedly racist, Jew-hating, America-hating church is morally kinda compromised
But hey, I'm not as sophisticated as liberals.
A word of caution about Obama worship.
These things never end well. And I can pretty much guarantee that the Obama years will turn into: Jimmy Carter, Take II.
End Interpolation and…
Back to the Rebbe, more specifically, the Rebbe's Tallis bag .
So I'm in LAX, on shpilkes—Yiddish: pins and needles—waiting for the love of my life to come through the revolving doors, when three Hasidim חסידות סאטמאר enter the terminal and stand nearby. They're all chatting in Yiddish on their Apple i-phones and Blackberry's. I edge closer, the total yenta, expecting to overhear words of Torah and wisdom, but no, the Hasidim are yakking away with their buddies or wives, kvelling—Yiddish: boasting—about what a z'chus, positive energy, it is to pick up the Rebbe.
I know how they feel, picking up Karen, I mean: big z'chus.
Obviously, they're Satmar Hasidim, because they're wearing those neat calf-length trousers and the black slip-ons that strongly resemble Dolce Gabbana metrosexual flats.
“Is this where the plane from New York is coming?” One of the Hasidim asks me.
I'm wearing my black velvet yarmulke so it's safe to talk to me.
“Yup.”
“Is it on time?”
“Uh-huh. Are you waiting for the Satmar Rebbe?”
Huge smile. “Yes, yes, how did you know?” The Hasid is delighted.
“My wife is on the flight and she called to tell me.”
“Does your wife feel safer knowing that the Rebbe is on the same flight?”
I chuckle and extend my hand, introducing myself.
“So listen, my wife was telling me that the Rebbe carries a beautiful Tallis bag…”
By now the other two Hasidim have holstered their phones and drifted over to take part in our conversation.
The Hasidim exchange bright and amused looks;
One Hasid says: “Oh yes, the Rebbe's tallis bag…”
Second Hasid: “Somebody once asked to pet the tallis bag…”
Third Hasid chuckles and twines his fingers through his corkscrew style peyes, which are super long, silky—he's gotta use really expensive conditioner—and reach his shoulders.
I want peyes like that.
“So is the bag custom made?”
“No, no, you can buy it in a store.”
“Really, I've never seen one like it.”
“Maybe only stores in Williamsburg carry them,” suggests Big Peyes Hasid.
A few minutes later, the Satmar Rebbe and his entourage appear.
I step forward to get a closer look. The Tallis bag is the only luggage the Rebbe is carrying.
Wow, Karen's right. It's a beauty. Black and white pony skin—massive nose thumb at PETA—classic Corbusier, the Jewish edition.
I'm about to introduce myself to the Satmar Rebbe: Welcome to L.A. and, uh, by the way, Rebbe, where did you get that fashion forward Tallis bag?
Then Karen, in movie slow motion—think Bo Derek in 10—slides through the revolving doors and my cult of personality for the Satmar Rebbe and his awesome Tallis bag all but disappears in favor of the woman who I've been in love with since I was nine-years old.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:23 AM | Comments (32)
January 26, 2009
And the Ladies of Gaza
The women in my life, Karen and Offsprings #2 & 3, lead full and busy lives. There are book clubs where ladies sip tea and discuss a novel, there are Torah study groups, prayer groups. The girls get together with their friends and go to the movies or to the theater.
I thought it was all pretty exciting until I saw what the ladies in Gaza are up to.
Roll the videotape:
“...through your sacrifice and the blood of your sons we forced the Jews out of Gaza and we will liberate Jerusalem from the filth of the Jews.”
Hey, I have a terrific idea, let's divide Jerusalem, expel Jews from Judea and Samaria AKA The West Bank, and hand over those areas to the peace-loving Arab Muslims.
What could possibly go wrong?
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:36 AM | Comments (12)
January 25, 2009
Sunday Morning: Bagels & Blogs
Soccer Dad's Shiny Happy Dhimmi #10 is up and live.
Don't miss this cutting edge round-up of blogs dealing
with the pressing threat facing civilization—no, not
so-called global warming.
Ann Sheridan prepares a hearty dinner. Great actress,
great cook, great, um, rifle.
Confession. I'm unforgivably inept in the kitchen. Here's the culinary memo:
1. Ask Offspring #2 and #3 and they will testify—I'm pretty sure—that growing up, on Sunday mornings, they actually looked forward to yours truly whipping up a brilliant mushroom omelette.
2. Yawn, you say, what's the big deal about an omlette?
3. Listen all you fancy shmancy iron chefs, it so happens that my omelettes are so tasty that I do not give out the Seraphic Secret recipe for fear of tipping the delicate balance of the known universe.
4. Hmm, what else do I cook in the kitchen? That's what you're thinking, I know. It's a reasonable question.
5. Nothing. Zip. Zero. Nada. Sad, huh?
So: Seraphic Secret is always interested in improving our skills. Thus for the first time we are including the busiest blogger in the Jewish Blogosphere, Batya's Kosher Cooking Carnival. This week hosted by Ilana-Davita, with The Green Edition. I'm going to take a stab at Pesky Settler's Chicken Veggie Pizza.
Seriously.
Or maybe I'll just hand it over to Karen.
Yeah, that sounds like a plan.
Frum Fatale
Going to shul on Shabbos morning, ladies? But, goodness gracious, you have nothing to wear. We are familiar with the tragic dilemma. But fear not, hope is on the way. Exclusive to Seraphic Secret, here's the new style for the religious Jewish woman—classic Audrey Hepburn cross-pollinated with a healthy dose of early Joan Crawford... Okay, not quite. This frum fatale is actually from a Vogue layout, 1940's. But it works, right? I fully expect this look to catch on in the shtetls of Boro Park, Monsey, Jerusalem, Teaneck and natch, Beverly Hills.
Finally, the durable and most excellent Haveil Havalim #202, The Super Hero Edition, hosted by the super Super Raizy.
Yours truly must, must, must single out A Mother in Israel's Official Haredi Guide to Modest Necklines. I'm fascinated by the intersection of fashion and religious standards of modesty.
And for something completely different, head on over to Big Hollywood, where yours truly writes about 10,000 Violent Women and One Screenwriter.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:04 AM | Comments (8)
January 23, 2009
Friday Footwear and, Um, Covert Ops
Lilyan Tashman says: “You go girl!”
Obama, Gaza, Obama, Gitmo, Obama, Geithner, Obama, Kennedy, Obama, Sulzberger, Obama, Obama, Obama, Obama.
Bet you thought Seraphic Secret was going to write about you know who.
Well no, sorry, today is Friday Footwear and even the Anointed One gets bumped.
We do have our priorities.
“I'm in Bloomingdale's.”
Who is this? Surely not the love of my life who is allergic to the snooty, overpriced aisles of Bloomie's.
“Wha?”
“Let me explain they're having a sale in the shoe department and I just found boots that are 40% off and another 15% off if you get a Bloomingdale's charge card and there was absolutely nothing at Loehmann's and I was just window shopping and saw the Big Sale sign at Bloomindale's so what do you think?”
Delivered in single burst, like on Purim when the sons of Haman are named in one hurried and scornful breath.
“And the boots are?”
“Really cute.”
I'm like totally sold. “Hurry home.”
An hour later Karen slips into the boots and whoa, on the sole is the following inscription: STUART.
As in Weitzman.
I'll bet Karen does not know that Stuart Weitzman was briefly in the CIA before he turned shoe designer.
A totally logical career progression if you ask moi.
These boots are crafted for treading lightly over the rain-slick cobblestones of some dreary East European capital where CIA agentess Karen is receiving state secrets from a freedom loving partisan. And then, whoosh, she disappears into a swirling shroud of fog. Only to reappear in skin tight jodhpurs, Victorian blouse with ruffles at the neck, velvet riding jacket, and wicked silver spurs strapped to her boots. It's off to the hounds where our Jewish Mata Hari cleverly extracts valuable intel from corrupt iron curtain officials.
Dissolve:
Betrayed by a double agent, Karen sits in her tiny cell, in a terrifying women's prison. She awaits her fate with courage and stoicism. She will not break, even under torture.
“My footwear,” she cries, “gives me strength!”
Madame Verushka, the inexplicably kindly warden, allows our heroine to keep her boots. For warmth, for defensive kicks against hissing female assassins, for the perfectly timed prison break—that brings Karen home, bruised but unbowed, to America, to freedom.
Ah, footwear that multi-tasks, heavenly!
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and meaningful Shabbos.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:41 AM | Comments (16)
January 22, 2009
Remembering the Mercaz Harav Martyrs
Top row, left to right: Avraham David Moses, Ro’i Aharon Roth, Neria Cohen, Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar. Bottom, left to right: Yochai Lifshitz, Segev Peniel Avichail, Yonadav Chaim Hirschfeld, Doron Meherete, May Their Blood Be Avenged.
Last week Offspring #3 came home for winter vacation with four lovely guests, friends from Stern College for Women. One of the girls is deeply involved in B'lev Echad. We spoke about the project and I immediately volunteered to help spread the word about this important event.
Jewish Unity Event Planned for Anniversary of Mercaz Harav Massacre
A historic Jewish event will be a worldwide broadcast of eight Torah scrolls being dedicated in memory of the eight boys who were murdered while learning Torah.
The event will take place on the one-year anniversary of the attack, February 24th, 2009 in Jerusalem, Israel at Yeshivat Mercaz Harav. We hope to attract tens of thousands of people participating live at the dedication, while hundreds of thousands view the live broadcast online.
In addition to the Torah scroll dedication, a global learning initiative and mitzvah (good deeds) campaign in memory of the victims who devoted their lives to these causes has been launched. "The purpose of this is to create an unprecedented celebration of unity to commemorate these eight students and the Torah to which they were so committed," explains Jeremy Joszef of Woodmere, NY, one of the project's organizers.
An anonymous family from the New York area is funding the project and event, while a small group of young adults along with hundreds of volunteers from around the world are organizing it. The volunteers are using all avenues of communication in order to spread the event to all corners of the world. They have already reached 50,000 people in less than a month and continue to build momentum as the event draws closer.
The project is operating under the title of B'lev Echad, the Hebrew term for "one heart." It is not being associated with any specific organization in the hopes that it will attract Jews from across the religious and political spectrum. "We could have easily gotten any organization to back us, but we specifically did not want to attach ourselves to any organization and bring in any politics," the anonymous family emphasized. "We didn't want to turn off any types of people from any community."
Participants who sign up will receive specific instructions regarding what to learn, with content geared toward both young people and adults. Schools will receive resource material, including signage, preparatory learning packets, and details about the 8-for-8 mitzvah campaign including suggested projects. All the information and more can be found by clicking here.
B'lev Echad is a grassroots organization that is committed to involving everyone who is interested in participating in a meaningful and inspirational tribute. B'lev Echad is apolitical by design and as such is able to transcend borders regardless of religious persuasion/commitment and political affiliation and agenda. B'lev Echad is wholly funded by a New York area family and thus does not engage in any fund raising.
Eight Heavenly Princes
The following article appeared in the memorial book “Shemonah Nisichei Adam — 8 Heavenly Princes,” recently edited and published in Hebrew by the 12th Graders of Yashlatz. The English version of the book is due for publication in February 2008. For more details see www.yashlatz.com/book.
March 6, 2008
On Thursday evening, the eve of Rosh Chodesh Adar II, 5768, the terrorist entered the“Mercaz HaRav” yeshiva grounds. The terrorist came into the front courtyard at around 8:30pm, carrying a cardboard television box. He set the box down on the railing of the steps leading up to the dormitory building entrance.
He took a Kalashnikov rifle out of the box, and opened fire on a group of students from“Yashlatz” and “Mercaz HaRav” who were standing at the entrance to the yeshiva. Among them was Yonadav Chaim Hirschfeld, hy’d, Ro’i Roth, hy’d, and Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar, hy’d.
The terrorist then walked in the direction of the library, and there his campaign of murder continued. He entered the library through the main door, and began shooting wildly in all directions. Most of the students in the library, who had heard the first round of shooting outside, got up from the tables and hid behind and between the bookshelves. Doron Maharate hy’d, the first one targeted in the library, was so immersed in his studies that he never even left his desk.
Unfortunately, the bookshelves were a death trap. The terrorist proceeded to walk down the aisles between the shelves, shooting at the books and anyone hiding behind them. He then went back to the first row of shelves, and retraced his path, shooting again to make sure that each of his victims was dead.
Five students were murdered in the library: Segev Peniel Avichayil, hy’d, Yochai Lifshitz, hy’d, Doron Maharate, hy’d, Avraham David Moses, hy’d, and Neriya Cohen, hy’d. More students were injured.
At that very hour, the Beit Midrash in “Yashlatz” was being set up for a Rosh Chodesh party. Those students who didn’t want to curtail their learning went to study in the nearby library, and that is where they met their deaths.
At the first sound of gunfire, the students in the “Mercaz Harav” beit midrash escaped, and were offered shelter in nearby apartment buildings. The “Yashlatz” students took cover in their dormitory building. Approximately fifteen minutes after he fired the first shot, the terrorist was shot and killed by Yitzchak Dadon, an avrech (young student) who studies at “Mercaz Harav,” and Captain David Shapira, a graduate of the yeshiva who lives in the neighborhood.
At that very hour, the Beit Midrash in “Yashlatz” was being set up for a Rosh Chodesh party. Those students who didn’t want to curtail their learning went to study in the nearby library,
The Kedoshim, Martyrs
Neria (ben HaRav Yitzchak HaCohen) Cohen HY”D, 15, of Jerusalem, a 9th Grader at Yashlatz who was described as “full of boundless joy, enthusiastic about Torah and life, and forever asking questions, striving to understand a sugya to its depth.“
Segev Peniel (ben HaRav Elyashiv) Avichail HY”D, 15, of Neve Daniel, a 10th Grader at Yashlatz who was described as “sensitive, serious and diligent, a real Talmid Chacham who was completely devoted to his family and friends”.
Yonatan Yitzchak (ben Dror) Eldar HY”D, 16, of Shilo, a 10th Grader at Yashlatz who was described as “having an incredible love for Torah and especially Halacha, and often the last person to leave the Bet Midrash.”
Avraham David (ben Naftali) Moses HY”D, 16, of Efrat, a 10th Grader at Yashlatz who was described as “blessed with a pure neshama, totally honest and with an unparalleled level of scholarship and devotion to his Torah studies.“
Yochai (ben HaRav Tuvya) Lifshitz HY”D, 18, of Jerusalem, a 12th Grader at Yashlatz who was described as “incredibly perseverant, diligent and organized who never wasted a second of his day.”
Ro’i Aharon (ben Yaakov) Roth HY”D, 18, of Elkana, in his first year at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav, who was described as “someone truly humble, whose prayer was so devout and genuine that it taught and inspired everyone.”
Yonadav Chaim (ben Tzemach) Hirschfeld HY”D, 19 of Kochav Hashachar, an alumnus of Yashlatz and in his first year at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav, who was described as “always happy, a ball of energy, extremely intelligent and everyone’s best friend.”
Doron (ben Mekonent) Meherete HY”D, 26, of Ashdod, in his tenth year at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav, who was described as “having a tremendous desire to succeed in Torah, someone with a large heart who loved helping others, and who never got angry.”
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:43 AM | Comments (3)
January 21, 2009
Liberals Are, Um, Liberal Till the End
Seraphic Secret has received a dozen notes asking us what we thought of President Obama's inauguration. Here are some brief impressions:
1. It was a coronation. President and Mrs. Obama were treated like royalty.
2. President Obama's speech went like this: on the one hand big government is not the complete solution, on the other hand big government is going to save you. As always, Obama counts on delivery and his stirring oboe tones to mask the fact that he's not really saying anything. Just maintaining a cool, in-control image designed to reassure everyone.
3. Rev. Joseph Lowery's prayer was absurd. Didn't he notice that a black man has just been inaugurated as POTUS.
Black will not be asked to get in back;
When brown can stick around:
When yellow will be mellow;
When the Red Man can get ahead man;
And then white will embrace what is right.
That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen.
Utter and complete drivel.
4. Somebody puh-leese grab the poet, send her to Gitmo to recite her verses, and I guarantee the terrorists will sing like birdies. Torture. Real torture.
5. The vast audience cheered Jimmy Carter, an openly anti-Semitic creature whose administration ushered in the age of modern Jihad by enabling the Islamic Republic of Iran. History is dead, does not matter when you are a liberal.
6. I was hoping that the multitudes would keep the oft-repeated Obama promise that we have entered a new era of change, cooperation and bi-partisanship. But of course that only applies to Democrats. When President Bush appeared, he was loudly and roundly booed. Same for Mrs. Bush, Vice-President and Mrs. Cheney. Take a look at the You Tube video above.
Classy 'till the end.
We fear that we have just glimpsed the next four years—and Seraphic Secret is vaguely ill.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:29 AM | Comments (29)
January 20, 2009
Real Battle of Algiers, Part II
Algerian Jews
Finally, we turn our gaze to the Jews of Algeria for they were truly stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Needless to say, director Gillo Pontecorvo—born Jewish but his real religion was Communism—cleanses The Battle of Algiers of all references to the Jews of Algeria and their treatment at the hands of the FLN. Indeed, Pontecorvo created a Judenrein film, much like the Algerian terrorists ultimately created yet another—of twenty-two—Judenrein Arab Muslim states.
The second part of my controversial article, The Real Battle of Algiers, has just been published in Big Hollywood. To read the complete story, please click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:37 AM | Comments (10)
January 19, 2009
Chaos
The BBC are not exactly known for their love of Israel or of the Jewish people, so when this interview with senior British military adviser, Col. Kemp, was broadcast, we can only assume the producers were in the dark as to what would happen.
I'll bet bet that Col. Kemp will never again appear on the BBC.
Col. Kemp makes one comment that stands out for its simplicity and stark truth. He says that war is chaos. Most of us have been conditioned to war and battles by viewing carefully choreographed violence in the movies. Shot-countershot. All neat and comprehensible. We are given landscapes where geography and the movement of men and the trajectory of armaments is perfectly understood.
War bears no relationship to the movies. The only shoot-out in the movies I've ever seen that comes close to evoking the battlefield is the motel siege in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) where the cops and the Barrow gang blindly blast away at each other, never sure at whom they are aiming. The scene is just howling madness, confusion that evokes true combat—it's gut-clenching.
War is black fog and complete chaos. That's why there is so much fratricide. That's why civilians get killed even when they are not targeted.
And Israel, more than any other army in the world, tries to control that horrifying chaos in order to reduce civilian casualties. Of course, the world does not care, nor does the world take note that Hamas use human shields as a defensive measure.
But here's the simple truth that emerges out of the chaos in Gaza: Israel has killed no one.
Hamas and their enablers are responsible for every single death in Gaza.
H/T Aussie Dave
11:59 am PST Regarding the BBC's pathological hatred of Israel, here's an item the BBC chooses to ignore. In fact, this is an important story that portrays Hamas in their true light, as serial terrorists and war criminals who regularly intimidate journalists into serving as nothing more than vulgar propaganda outlets for Islamists.
Israeli media reports that Hamas took over the first floor of the building that the BBC offices in Gaza last night and fired rockets from there, trapping the journalists above. Despite the fact that their reporters have now escaped the building, the BBC has so far not said anything about this.
For the complete story, please go to my friend Prof. Richard Landes at The Augean Stables. H/T Paco
12:29 pm PST You know those peace-loving folks who took to the streets to express their outrage at civilian deaths in Gaza? According to these supporters of Hamas, the IDF should be charged as war criminals.
We're waiting for these same people to take to the streets and express righteous indignation at the mass slaughter in Congo:
The LRA [Lord's Resistance Army] has hacked, beaten to death or burnt alive at least 620 villagers in Democratic Republic of Congo amid a struggling multinational offensive against the rebel group, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch.
Full story, here
Of course, we will see no such demonstrations. The global left and their Jihadist allies have no interest in preserving human life, or ridding the world of genocidal tyrants. Their only interest is destroying Jewish life. Under the clever guise of mere anti-Zionism, Jew-haters focus exclusively on Israel, charging the Jewish State with crimes that Israel does not commit but are commonplace in the Arab Muslim world and a way of life in most African nations.
It's just an updated blood libel.
And oh yeah, there is a, ahem, robust U.N. peace keeping force in Congo. As always, they are doing a bang-up job of hiding in their barracks and observing mass murder from afar.
So, yeah, Israel needs an international peace-keeping force in Gaza to rein in Hamas. Because it's worked so well in the past.
IDF soldierettes are a far more effective fighting force than
the amoral U.N. who usually end up aiding genociders.
12:51 pm PST This is almost funny. Arab TV shills for Hamas, and then gets word that a rocket was launched from their own building. The news bunny is de-lighted. I'll bet she strings for the New York Times.
So let's review: Hamas use civilians, Mosques, schools, and U.N. buildings to store weapons and as human shields. The Hamas also launch missiles from TV broadcast studios. According the the Geneva Conventions, these locations automatically become legitimate targets:
Article 28 of the Geneva Conventions:
The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations.1:08 pm PST Hamas are rounding up members of Fatah in order to make peace, sing Kumbaya. I'm just messing with your head. They're being tortured. Waiting for those peace-loving folks to take to the streets and express outrage.
Still waiting.
Also waiting for those who are always kvetching about enhanced interrogation at Gitmo to get all hot and bothered, write editorials, and demand that Hamas be charged with war crimes.
Crickets chirping.
1:26 pm PST Hey, just realized that Israel called the unilateral cease-fire just in time for Barack Hussein Obama's coronation. Maybe I'm just horribly cynical, but could it be that Israel timed Operation Cast Lead and the cease-fire for the last days of President Bush's administration. Because, y'know, Obama promises to be such a strong ally of Israel. Nah, couldn't be. After all, Obama spent over 20-years in a Jew-hating church. Nothing to worry about. My friend Carl in Jerusalem ponders the Obama equation.
1:29 pm PST T Shot in the head in a terrorist ambush. Outrage from the international community. Just kidding. Nothing of importance here, just a Jewish civilian living in the Jewish State.
2:04 pm PST Stop the presses, those evil genocidal Joooz have opened a field hospital at the Erez crossing point for residents of Gazastan. Must be part of a sinister plot by the international Jewish conspiracy.
Warning: Deeply disturbing images of the Zionist devil giving Arab Muslims top medical care. And oh, gratis, yeah, paid for by the hated Zionist entity. H/T Carl in Jerusalem.
3:21 pm PST Tomorrow, President-elect Obama will be sworn in as President of the United States, as he insists, Barack Hussein Obama. I suppose the inclusion of his Muslim middle name is meant to assure us and the world that the United States is a multi-cultural paradise.
I'm sure that the Arab Muslim terrorists—95% of them also named Hussein— will now realize how nice and democratic we are and join us in Kumbaya.
Too bad that Harry Truman's middle name was not Adolph. Imagine all the good-will we would have garnered.
We know that Obama is the chosen one because the fawning press have told us so, endlessly, shamelessly. The mainstream media are so deeply in the tank for Obama that whatever credibility they once had is long gone. It is blindingly clear that no matter what Obama does, no matter how many missteps, his presidency will be viewed in the most favorable light by the chattering classes.
This is affirmative action taken to its logical and most degrading end-point.
The inauguration has the look, feel, and price-tag—an astonishing recession-defying $170 million—of a gilt-edged coronation. This most unbecoming fever elevating Obama and his administration—mostly retreads from the Clinton years—to the ranks of royalty is not only foolish, but feels like some vulgar pageant staged by a self-aggrandizing, delusional middle-European duchy, the kind of fin de sicle kingdom to which director Ernst Lubitch brilliantly poked fun in more than a few movies. Cue Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette McDonald.
Bette Davis has some excellent advice for the Obama stimulus plan.
It's in the air, Obama will cure America's ills and bring forth a new age of Aquarius. My friend Bookworm, one of the best bloggers in the known universe, draws our attention to some fun facts about Obama's stimulas plan. As Bette Davis said in All About Eve: “Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night.”
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:24 AM | Comments (39)
January 18, 2009
Cease The Stupidity, Please
Seraphic Secret will be updating throughout the day, so just keep scrolling downward.
Let's review:
1. Israel declared a unilateral cease fire late Saturday.
2. Olmert states that all of Israel's objectives have been achieved.
3. The Hamas continue firing missiles into Israel.
4. Gilad Shalit, kdnapped by the Hamas and never seen by the oh-so-caring Red Cross, is still in cruel captivity.
5. Sigh, back to the status quo.
Meanwhile the Hamas leadership have come out of hiding, and here's our exclusive photo:
11:24 am PST Jack fills us in with his Gaza War Update # 19.
Haveil Havalim #201 is up and live. Lots of good stuff to read from the Jewish Blogosphere.
Soccer Dad weighs in with Shiny Happy Dhimmi #9.
Aussie Dave and The Muqata continue live-blogging the, er, cease-fire.
11:56 am PST The Hamas, shattered but not broken, are now waging a PR war, trying to position themselves as victors. This from their bunkers in hospitals and in the warm embrace of U.N. buildings. Nothing like human shields to bolster aggressive rhetoric. They will continue to fire missiles at civilians—they are incapable of fighting like real men—but not enough to provoke a determined Israeli reaction. In short, they will wait for the IDF to withdraw, declare victory, then continue digging tunnels and firing missiles.
As for Egypt, being treated like a pro-Western actor in this whole affair, let us bear in mind that they have turned a blind eye to the rockets which are brought into Egypt from Iran via Syria—by truck. It's a well known operation supported by thousands of terrorists, including elements in the Egyptian government, army, police and border patrol. Anyone who expects the Mubarak regime to clamp down on the smuggling is fooling themselves. Egypt works hard at placating the Muslim Brotherhood while at the same time making nice-nice to America—can't lose all that foreign aid.
The IDF are, reportedly, furious with the government for not allowing them to finish the job. And the feckless Israeli leadership once again proves that they are unworthy of the IDF and the Jewish people. Let's hope that in the upcoming elections this infamous group who have betrayed Israel and the West—the war in Gaza globalized Arab Muslim terrorism—will be flung on the ash heap of history.
12:50 pm In 1973, The Yom Kippur War, the Egyptian Third Army was completely surrounded and the IDF could have wiped that broken army off the face of the earth. At that point, naturally, a cease-fire was declared, saving the wretched Arab army. Arabs then poured into the streets of their capitals and celebrated victory. The Arab Muslim world defines victory against the Jews as, er, breathing. Sort of like cockroaches scuttling about after a nuclear blast. Until Hamas are broken and formally surrender, Israel and the West will be at war with these terrorists.
Killer make-up for IDF soldierette.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:26 AM | Comments (8)
January 16, 2009
Goodbye (Elite?) Iran Unit
Day 21 of the Gaza War
IDF soldiers in urban, three dimensional battlefields, must smash holes in walls between buildings in order to avoid booby traps. So expert are the IDF at this form of warfare that Israeli officers were dispatched to Iraq to train American troops. Thus, numerous lives were spared.
Seraphic Secret will be updating throughout the day, so keep scrolling down. And hey, don't forget today is, ta-da, Friday Footwear.
Setting aside the aggressive and amusingly overblown rhetoric of the Hamas leadership regarding a cease fire, it's obvious that Hamas are collapsing. The IDF possess superb intel and given enough time and patience the entire Hamas leadership would be terminated with extreme prejudice.
Terrorist cell phones are useless because the IDF has technology that can laser-in on particular cell phones and death-dealing drones are dispatched within seconds to delete the caller. Hence, Hamas are crippled by lack of communications.
The leadership cowers in bunkers and use children as messengers.
Seraphic Secret has received word from friends fighting in Gaza and all agree that Hamas are pretty lousy fighters. They are not great marksmen, fire their AK-47's on full auto instead of short, disciplined bursts. The terrorist booby traps have become tediously familiar. And when prisoners are taken, the terrorists sing like birdies.
As one soldier wryly commented: “The Hamas take time out from fighting to stand on line and get hand-outs from relief agencies.”
In a further sign of the rapid collapse of the Gaza terrorists, the IDF wiped out an Iranian unit, considered an elite group.
Palestinian sources reported Thursday that the "Iranian Unit" of Hamas, members of the group's military wing trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, had been destroyed.
According to the sources, most of the unit's members were killed in fighting in the Zeytun neighborhood, where they had been deployed by the military leadership of Hamas.
The unit numbered approximately 100 men who had traveled to Iran and Hezbollah camps, mostly in the Beka'a Valley, where they were trained in infantry fighting tactics. The militants were also trained in the use of anti-tank missiles, the detonation of explosives, among other skills.
Full story here.
Seraphic Secret does not want to underestimate the enemy, they are cruel and determined, but in the end, they are only effective against civilians, mainly women and children. Against real men, real solders, Jewish soldiers, the Hamas and all their Muslim terrorist allies are weak as women, cowardly as dogs.
Seraphic Secret urges the Israeli leadership to continue Operation Cast Lead until the Hamas are but dust and ashes.
And there should be no cease fire until Gilad Shalit is returned from his cruel captivity.
9:55 am PST Our good friend, John Noonan, an expert on weapon systems that fall from the sky, explains why the use of smoke screens is not a war crime.
10:38 am PST Michael Fenenbock, founder of The 18, which Seraphic Secret supports, paid a visit to the Gaza battle zone and filed an exclusive report for Little Green Footballs.
10:48 pm PST The dogs of war have been released and the IDF are finally being allowed to fight properly and destroy the terrorists. It's about time.
10:57 am PST Welcome to New Zealand—unless you are Jewish.
10: 58 am PST Welcome to Britain—unless you are Jewish.
10:59 am PST Welcome to Germany—unless you are Jewish.
11:00 am PST Welcome to Denmark—unless you are Jewish.
11:01 am PST Welcome to Turkey—unless you are Jewish.
11:02 am PST Welcome to France—ditto.
12:07 pm PST Hey, kids, welcome to a special edition of Friday Footwear! Listen, we know, there's a war in Israel, but let's not forget that one of the things we're fighting for is, um, Friday Footwear. Seriously, do you think the Islamists permit women freedom of footwear choice?
No way.
So: Offspring #3 attends Stern College for Women in New York. During winter vacation she always comes home with college friends. The girls need a vacation and with sub-zero temperatures in NY—oy, that global warming—California is the perfect destination.
Now, Offspring #3 brings home four, count 'em, four friends. Let's do the math: Offspring #3, plus 4 friends, plus 1 Karen. That's 6 female human beings with yours truly, the 1 male in Casa Avrech. The girls are all bubbly and chatty and they let me know right away that they are well aware of Seraphic Secret.
Always fishing for compliments.
“So, do you like when I write about politics?”
Eh.
“Israel?”
Eh.
“I know, Hollywood!”
Double eh.
“So what is it you like?”
All together: “Friday Footwear!”
I take the compliments where I can get them. No pride, just a groveling writer.
Says one Stern Girl: “Friday Footwear comes around and everyone calls Offspring #3!”
Soon enough, I have enthusiastic models. Seraphic Secret is going to make the Stern Girls famous.
“Are my shoes nice enough?” Meek Stern Girl inquires.
“Fab-u-lous.”
Stern Girl #1 just loves her Michael Kors shoes. Well, sure, Michael's a nice Jewish boy, Bar Mitzvah and all, and these silvery flats are just perfect for Jewish Philosophy or Finance classes. And hey, maybe even for that not so casual Shidduch date.
Didn't get the brand name, but Stern Girl #2 is definitely sending out that patterned Park Ave. vibe. The low-cut flats are proud to do an Israeli dance—yup, there's such a class at Stern—and shazzam, quick as a Mossad agent, switch to a dreamy Cole Porter number and make like the Jewish Cyd Charisse.
Group hug. Five happy and footwear-proud Stern Girls on their way to shul for Friday evening Shabbos services. Snapping this pic, yours truly recalls the wise words of a spectacularly talented Hollywood Wardrobe Designer who, on location, stated: “I design my wardrobes from the footwear up.” I was totally, “Wha?” Calmly, she explained: “Everything you need to know about a woman can be discovered in her choice of footwear.” Doubting me: “Everything?” With complete sincerity: “Absolutely everything.”
2:07 pm PST Jack, Jack, Jack, you are awesome: Gaza War Update Chai point five.
2:10 pm PST Awesome too are Aussie Dave and The Muqata who so brilliantly live blog the war so that I feel like optioning their posts for a blockbuster movie.
2:14 pm PST Yet another reason to love the IDF:
Karen and I wish all our friends, relatives and our beloved IDF a miracle in Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:42 AM | Comments (21)
January 15, 2009
Dear World
Day 20 of The Gaza War
Seraphic Secret will update throughout the day, so just keep scrolling down.
This video says it all. Oscar worthy!
9:28 am PST Jack checks in with Gaza War Update #17.
9:37 am PST One more impressive hit from The IDF's Greatest Hits. No wonder Hamas are seeking a cease-fire. A few more days and they will all be, ahem, retired.
9:42 am PST Finally, a sane way of dealing with the U.N.
9:46 am PST Aussie Dave and The Muqata should receive medals for their invaluable live-blogging of Operation Cast Lead.
10: 29 am PST From the Children of the Diaspora to the IDF.
11:06 am PST Seven-year-old boy in very serious condition after shrapnel hit his head from Grad rocket attack in Be'er Sheva. Boy's mother shielded him with her own body as rocket hit. The boy is going into emergency neurosurgery right now at Seroka hospital. Memo to dinosaur media: where's the outrage? H/T The Muqata
11:09 am PST Jew-hatred sweeps Europe. Duh.
11:16 am PST “Hamas is misunderstood.” This wisdom from—I kid you not—The Army War College, where Strategic Collapse is in progress.
11: 26 AM PST I have no idea why PBS exists in this age of cable and satellite TV. Oh wait, so Bill Moyers can use Nazi genetic theories to hurl a blood libel at Jews. If you donate money to PBS you are a gold-plated moron.
11:33 am PST Cease fire talks, but no mention of Gilad Shalit. Criminal.
11:36 am PST My good friend Marvin Silbermintz is one of the funniest people I know. He was a staff writer for Jay Leno for over 20-years—yarmulke, beard, leaving early on Friday. Now Marvin has launched a truly funny blog, and G-d knows we need to laugh. So check out Marvin is Mad.
The Blue Thingee
I'm sitting and watching a fascinating film on TCM, Dramatic School, (1938) with Luise Rainer, Lana Turner, Genevieve Tobin, Paulette Goddard, Gale Sondergaard, Anne Rutherford, and Virginia Grey. Killer cast, huh? Confession: I've never been crazy about two-time—back to back!—Oscar winner Rainer, she always seemed a bit, uh, high-toned for my taste. But here she's playing a drama student who takes herself waaaay too seriously. Her cheekbones are sharp as a snowplow and her eyes are wide like saucers. Rainer's performance is seriously funny as she swans around spoofing self-absorbed actors. I'm really into the film when Karen calls me over, opens her palm and whoa! I'm looking at this Blue Thingee. Karen goes: “Guess what it is.” Hunh? Is this some subtle form of Psych-Ops? I stare at the Blue Thingee and oh boy, I actually get scared because if I guess wrong Karen will think I'm a complete idiot, realize that she married the wrong man, kick me out of the house and I'll end up on skid row—I'm pretty sure they don't get TCM on skid row—living in a cardboard box and telling the other winos that I used to be a big-shot Hollywood screenwriter and they'll all figure that I'm just another smelly schizo. But if I guess correctly, Karen will be suspicious and figure that somehow I'm cheating and she'll kick me out of the house—you already know my subsequent fate. So, I take a deep breath and hazard a guess. Karen's eyes go wide and lovely, just like Luise Rainer, and she goes: “How did you know?” I shrug. I have no idea. Okay, I'm not on skid row. Still hanging on to the good life. Maybe Karen figures I'm just a genius. Or not. Anyhoo. Would you like to guess what The Blue Thingee is? Answer, before I go to sleep tonight.
1:37 pm PST Stephanie Guttman, author of the The Other War, the best analysis of the media's role in the Arab war on Israel, now asks: Can We Trust the Casualty Figures?
1:59 pm PST We knew this was coming. Barack Obama makes it clear that he's going to reach out to Syria and Iran “in ways that we have not before.” Lemme guess, overnight pajama parties in the Lincoln Bedroom. That was the brilliant tactic used by Bill Clinton that was so successful with terrorist leader Yassir Arafat. Now, reaching out to the world's greatest Jew-haters might sound odd, but hey, Obama has lots of experience in that area: 20 years listening to Jeremiah Wright. I wonder at what point American Jews will, y'know, wake up.
5:43 pm PST Obama was only kidding. No need to kill Osama. This guy is just priceless. I feel so much safer.
7:56pm PST I'm in awe as Jack hammers away and sends us Gaza War Update # Chai.
BB says: “Obviously, the Blue Thingee is a make-up sponge for applying blush, moisturizer, foundation. Mazal Tov to my BFF Mata Hari.”
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:58 AM | Comments (15)
January 14, 2009
Marriage Hamas Style
IDF soldier praying. Photo via The Muqata.
Day 19 of the Gaza War
Seraphic Secret will update this post throughout the day, so just keep scrolling down. Our apologies for not responding to comments and private e-mail. We're just really short on time, trying hard to keep up with work, blogging, and family life.
Seraphic Secret often cites the genocidal Hamas covenant as evidence that the terrorist group is functionally built on Jew-hatred and the desire to eradicate Israel and all Jews from the face of the earth.
It's a straightforward and utterly honest document, for instance Article 32:
The Hamas regards itself the spearhead and the vanguard of the circle of struggle against World Zionism... Islamic groups all over the Arab world should also do the same, since they are best equipped for their future role in the fight against the warmongering Jews.
Reading this constitution, you feel that you have stepped back to 7th century Arabia, with all its tribal and religious savagery. And for most reasonable people—even those who delight in criticizing Israel—the vulgar Jew-hatred and joyously genocidal promises of the Hamas constitution are pretty darn sobering.
Here at Seraphic Secret we consider ourselves inured to the casual barbarisms of transnational terrorists, and reasonably well informed regarding the ins and outs of the Arab Muslim war against Israel and Judaism. We do not wear blinders, we recognize the existence of evil, nor do we fool ourselves with delusions of peace—there is no peace with incipient genociders—unless it is the peace that settled over Japan and Germany after the allies reduced those evil societies to smoke and ashes.
Too, we are not cynical—well, the Hollywood part of us is kinda cynical, but hey, welcome to the biz. No, we consider ourselves realists who carefully process information and learn from the past.
Bu this morning, our comprehension of the level of pathology among the Palestinians reached a whole new level.
We now see the stunning toxicity of the death cult that is Palestinian society—filtered through the lens of marriage.
Here's an enlightening bit of conversation between a Hamas terrorist and his loving wife:
“It’s either victory while alive, or martyrdom,” he said. “Both ways are victory.”
His wife, in a white head scarf, agreed.
“Two days ago, he was very tired and he didn’t want to leave the house,” she said. “I told him you have to leave, you have a responsibility.”
But the sight of her brother unconscious in the hospital bed seemed to jolt the couple into an alternate reality, one where they were vulnerable and afraid. The man’s eyes glistened with tears as he asked the doctor question after question.
Back outside, the woman regained her composure.
“I prefer you as a martyr,” she said to her husband.
“What if I am injured?” he asked.
She repeated her preference for death.
Full story, here.
Okay, I know that some will find this husband-wife exchange inspiring, even endearing. For true believers, Communists or Islamists, the purity of ideology takes precedence over mere personal feelings.
But for those of us who are not completely insane, this marital back and forth highlights the rabid nature of Palestinian society. And for those who are not steeped in self-delusion, this snippet should serve as a warning sign that a society that produces such a marriage—you're fooling yourself if you think this is an aberration—should never be recognized as anything but a blight on humanity, and should never be handed a state.
10:44 am PST The writing says: Gilad [Shalit]: We Are Coming To Get You.
Via The Life in Israel, via The Muqata:
"My friends brother in law took this picture. It is from a Reserves Battalion connected to the Engineering Corps. This is a giant-armored tractor called a "D9". Their job is to go in and clear the path for the incoming troops.
Before this battalion went in yesterday to Gaza to do their work, the soldiers sprayed graffiti across the whole giant front of the bulldozer shovel expressing their strong desire to bring Gilad Shalit home.
10:57 am PST Jack, suffering Jack Bauer envy, checks in with Gaza War Update #16.
10:59 am PST My blog-heroes, The Muqata and Aussie Dave continue live-blogging the war.
Virginia Bruce
2:43 pm PST So: I'm watching an old MGM film, Born to Dance, (1936) an Eleanor Powell vehicle co-starring Jimmy Stewart and Virginia Bruce. Music by Cole Porter. Not a great film, but Bruce is just stunning. She introduces Porter's classic, I've Got You Under My Skin. Her eyes draw you in and drown you. At one time Bruce was known as The Most Beautiful Blonde in the Movies. That's quite a title when you consider that Marlene Dietrich, Constance Bennett and Carole Lombard were hanging around tinsel town at the same time.
Anyhoo.
Completely random: I grab Return Engagement, a fascinating if obscure—my favorite—book featuring enlightening text by James Watters, and heart-stopping photos by Horst, of Hollywood beauties—then and now.
I open the book, and I swear, find myself face to face with photos of, yup, Virginia Bruce. There's a biographical sketch—a life of glamor and major tzuris—that ends with this quote from The Most Beautiful Blonde in the Movies, age 72, a few months before she died:
Yes, Virginia, Seraphic Secret remembers.
3:31 pm PST No, Hamas did not accept a cease fire.
3:59 pm PST Israel hit with rockets from Lebanon. The question is: will Iran order Hizbullah—who now control Lebanon—to open a second front against Israel?
4:06 pm PST Pop Quiz: Who supports Israel's actions in Gaza?
1. Democrats
2. The Muslim Brotherhood.
3. Republicans.
File answer under, “Duh.”
4:19 pm PST In the, ahem, sophisticated world of academia, the latest fad—yup, Jew-hatred is the fashionable accessory among the left—is to boycott Israel. Here's how to do it effectively:H/T Aussie Dave.
Don't thank us, we're givers.
10:33 pm PST If Israel accepts a cease fire now, the govt. should be hung out to dry. Hamas are on the verge of collapse. Why else do you think they're talking cease fire? This is no time for the IDF to halt operations. And what about Gilad Shalit? There should be no cease fire without his return.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:39 AM | Comments (8)
January 13, 2009
The Mosque of Red Death
Day 18 of The War.
Seraphic Secret will update this post throughout the day, so just keep scrolling down.
Christians attend Church, where they worship, sing, listen to a sermon, and when they leave, generally, feel closer to G-d, closer to their family, closer to their fellow man.
Jews go to shul, Synagogue, pray, listen (okay, sometimes not) to the Rabbi discuss the Torah portion of the week, and then, generally they feel closer to G-d, closer to their friends and family—and oh yeah, unbelievably hungry.
Muslims in Gaza go to their local Mosque and, well, let's roll the videotape:
9:55 am PST Here's Jack with his invaluable Gaza War Update numero 15.
10: 00 am PST Continuing their super hero efforts, The Muqata and Aussie Dave live-blog The War.
10:08 am PST You know how Israel is always being accused of war crimes, genocide, apartheid, you name it. It's all a blood-libel, of course, for truth has been eclipsed by rabid Jew-hatred. But for those who are interested in truth, here's a video of real refugees, (excuse me, but hiking 20, 30 or one hundred miles does not make you a refugee) fleeing genuine genocide—committed by Arab Muslims—now living in Israel.H/T Aussie Dave.
10:28 am PST Using civilians as human shields is not an aberration but a religious and social doctrine woven into the Palestinian industry of death. H/T Aussie Dave.
11:11 am PST Exhausted by all the news of war? We feel your pain. So, here's a brief excursion into an obscure but absolutely fascinating slice of Hollywood history. Don't thank me, I'm a giver.
Silent film star Madge Bellamy
A few years ago, I was up in Toronto, on location for Within These Walls, a film the Academy Award winning actress Ellen Burstyn, acting as producer and star, asked me to write. Ellen, one of the great Hollywood actresses—past and present—discovered the true story and immediately realized its potential as a powerful and entertaining film. The challenge of playing a hardened murderess—redeemed by training dogs for the disabled—greatly appealed to Ms. Burstyn.
Head on over to Big Hollywood for my article, The Madge Bellamy Acting Workshop.
11:47 am PST I'm told by several reliable sources that the IDF is calling up massive numbers of reserves. Numerous tanks are on the move. Overhead, drones circle Gaza 24/7. IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi is anxious to crush Hamas once and for all. He has a rock-solid plan that, so far, is working beautifully, and tons of excellent intel. The order of battle calls for using overwhelming force—ground troops, air strikes, and naval bombardment—against the terrorist entity in Gaza. Apparently, there is indecision in the government, Livni, Barak and Olmert disagreeing on the next step. We hear that Gen Ashkenazi is angry, frustrated. The IDF understands that if Hamas survives this war, they will claim victory. Hence, the IDF are determined to humiliate Hamas, cripple their infrastructure of terror and send a message to terrorists everywhere that if you spill Jewish blood, you will cease to exist.
4:03 pm PST I just had lunch with my agent. We discussed various projects, my scripts, a deal-in-progress, the possibility of the actor's going out on strike, the scores of Hollywood execs fired in the past few weeks because of the recession—and I just felt awful. I'm in Hollywood but my heart and my soul are with the IDF in Gaza.
4:11 pm PST My friend Double Tapper has been called up and he's in Gaza now. Do visit his fine blog so you can say hello and offer support. He's an excellent man. Before he left for war he posted this from the Book of Amos:
Thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of Gaza, yea, for four, I will not reverse it: because they carried away captive a whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom.
So will I send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour the palaces thereof;
And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon; and I will turn My hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord G-D.
6:19 pm PST Hey, guess what Jack's been doing?
1. Taking the lovely Mrs. Jack out for dinner and dancing.
2. Attending Daf Yomi.
8:34 pm PST Pop Quiz: What happens to the poor Gitmo prisoners once they are released?
1. They take the little lady dancing.
2. They join inter-faith dialog groups and share with priests, ministers and rabbis.
3. They return to the warm embrace of Muslim terrorism.
If you answered #1, you're a bit naive. If the little lady is caught dancing she is stoned to death.
If you answred #2, then you're either a member of the ACLU, or deeply stupid.
If you answered #3, then you're IQ is above two digits. Mazal tov!
The Pentagon said on Tuesday that 61 former detainees from its military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, appear to have returned to terrorism since their release from custody.
Full story here
President-elect Barack Obama has promised to sign an executive order on his first day in office to close Gitmo. Because, obviously, that's the most pressing business facing these United States. Now we can all sleep safe and sound.
BB is dressed to kill—the Muslim terrorists.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:36 AM | Comments (27)
January 12, 2009
Gaza Flashback
Day 17 of The War.
Seraphic Secret will try and update regularly, so just keep scrolling down.
Before the State of Israel expelled 9,000 Jews from Gaza, creating yet another Judenrein Arab Muslim paradise—hey, twenty-two Judenrein Arab Muslim states are not enough!—the Israeli Knesset debated the expulsion and various politicians promised peace and security.
We, on the right, who opposed this infamous expulsion, were accused of being anti-peace, of not understanding geo-politics. We were told that expelling Jews from Gaza would improve Israel's security.
We insisted that the Palestinians would use Gaza as a forward base for terrorist operations. Further, we predicted that Iran would step into the vacuum and spread its hegemony.
I have yet to hear one pro-expulsion advocate admit that they were wrong, that their actions compromised Israel's security and set the stage for Israel's current strategic dilemma.
Worse, many of those who were dead wrong about Gaza are now agitating for a withdrawal from Judea and Samaria AKA The West Bank.
On can only conclude that wishful thinking too often masquerades as sophisticated political thought. H/T The Muqata.
Roll the videotape:
9:56 am PST Molotov cocktails burn French Synagogues. No doubt by, ahem, French Youths.
10:01 am PST Jack, the hard working Jack, presents Gaza War Update 14.5.
10:14 am PST Excellent sign from a pro-Israel rally in New York: H/T Weasel Zippers.
10:17 am PST Ralph Peters shreds Hamas and the leftists who enable them. Superb.
Israel hasn't killed a single civilian in the Gaza Strip. Over a hundred civilians have died, and Israeli bombs or shells may have ended their lives. But Israel didn't kill them.
Hamas did.
It's time to smash the lies. The lies of Hamas. The UN lies. And the save-the-terrorists lies of the global media.
To read the complete article, please click here.
10:47 am PST More Hamas war crimes. A booby-trapped school—and zoo. Somebody call PETA.
10: 51 am PST How many war crimes can Hamas commit? Lots and lots. The brave Hamas leadership is cowering in the basement of Shifa hospital, and that's where they are collecting their salaries. Hey, don't you think that these CEO's are kind of inept and should, y'know, get dead?
Asked why Israel was not acting against Shifa Hospital, Dichter answered that an attack on a hospital could not be carried out "for obvious reasons."
"Shifa is in the middle of a very crowded area in Gaza and you would have to get through half-a-million Gazans to get to the hospital and arrest Hamas people there. So that's not doable. Striking the hospital is out of the question for obvious reasons. So in this case we have to just bite our tongues," he said.
The former Shin Bet chief said that is was common knowledge in Gaza that Hamas holds meeting in the hospital. "Shifa Hospital, which is situated in the more wealthy western part of Gaza City, is a very big hospital, but you can hear from the Palestinians who visit there, it is somewhat of an open secret, that Hamas commanders walk around the hospital, in some instances wearing doctors' robes," he said. "In some cases, the Hamas commanders kick medical teams out of rooms so that they can hold meetings."
Full story, here.
11:31 AM PST Sounding the shofar to announce war.
The sun and the moon have blackened, and the stars have withdrawn their shine. And HaShem shall roar from Zion, and shall emit His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall tremble, and HaShem shall be a shelter for His people and a fortification for the Children of Israel.
—Book of Joel
2:49 pm PST As always, the best way of keeping up with the information flow about the war is through live-bloggers The Muqata and Aussie Dave.
3:03 pm PST Israeli reservists have been called up and they are heading into Gaza to crush Hamas. H/T The Muqata.
Announce this among the nations; prepare for war; arouse the mighty; let all the men of war approach and ascend. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; the weak shall say, “I am strong.”
—Book of Joel
3:33 pm PST This is a great service—from Chabad—send a package, to an IDF soldier or to an Israeli family under missile attack. Do it and Seraphic Secret will be your bestest friend!
4:27 pm PST More war crimes from guess who?
Hamas are not content to just hide behind human shields, they are stealing humanitarian supplies and reselling them. We're waiting for the, ahem international community to object. I'll bet the good citizens of Gaza are just thrilled that they voted these barbarians into power.
Hamas on Monday raided some 100 aid trucks that Israel had allowed into Gaza, stole their contents and sold them to the highest bidders.
Full story, here.
5:24 pm PST Shameless plug:
Silent star Madge Bellamy.
A few years ago, I was up in Toronto, on location for Within These Walls, a film the Academy Award winning actress Ellen Burstyn, acting as producer and star, asked me to write. Ellen, one of the great Hollywood actresses—past and present—discovered the true story and immediately realized its potential as a powerful and entertaining film. The challenge of playing a hardened murderess—redeemed by training dogs for the disabled—greatly appealed to Ms. Burstyn.
Click on over to Big Hollywood and read my full article: The Madge Bellamy Acting Workshop.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:37 AM | Comments (11)
January 11, 2009
Hamas and their Many, Many, Human Shields
Day 16 of the war.
A source in Israel—an IDF soldier—has sent word to Seraphic Secret that Hamas are forcing civilians to stay in homes and apartment buildings that are weapons depots. The IDF has warned these residents to leave because these buildings are now military targets and the IDF is doing everything possible to minimize civilian casualties.
But Hamas, whose goal is to maximize civilian casualties, posts guards outside these buildings and shoots those who attempt to leave.
Hamas are terrorists and should be prosecuted for war crimes. Even the Nazis built their military facilities away from civilian populations, to protect their citizens from allied bombs. But Hamas have no interest in the welfare of the citizens of Gaza, no interest in building a functioning state—only in destroying the Jewish State.
Seraphic Secret understands that the so-called international community has no interest in the endless and relentless crimes committed by Hamas against Israel and its own Arab population. Jew-hatred is rampant in the streets, and only the most gullible swallow the line that these protesters seek peace and co-existence with Israel. What we are witnessing is enthusiastic support for a proudly genocidal organization whose covenant calls for the destruction of Israel and the death of all Jews everywhere.
If you believe that the war with Hamas, with the Palestinians, with the wider Arab Muslim world is about land or national boundaries, then you are delusional.
This is an existential conflict that can only end when Hamas, and all terror organizations, are defeated militarily, politically, and reduced to nothingness.
Heeeere's Jack with Gaza War Update #14. And Jack—busy boy our Jack—with Haveil Havalim #200—wow!—The Harvey Edition.
And from Soccer Dad, Shiny Happy Dhimmi #8. Great stuff.
And from yours truly, a much needed BB morale booster.
Aussie Dave and The Muqata continue live-blogging the war.
Lion of Zion reports that:
For the first time in the Gaza Brigade, tatzpitaniyot (female spotters) killed a terrorist from afar. Tatzpitaniyot from the field intelligence brigade opened fire in the direction of a group of terrorists that had neared the security fence and hit one of them using “Spot and Shoot,” a remote-controlled weapons system.
For the full story, please click here.
Welcome to Germany:
Full story, via Weazel Zippers.
Jennifer Laszlo of The Israel Project, separates fact from fiction in Gaza. Must read.
The brave Hamas terrorists are confronting real soldiers, Jewish soldiers, so naturally they are running away like frightened women. No surprise here, Hamas and all Arab Muslim terrorists, can only murder women and children.
A senior Israeli military commander involved in Operation Cast Lead said on Saturday that Hamas militants are suffering from exhaustion and are deserting battle.
The commander told reporters that Amir Mansi, the commander of Hamas' rocket-launching program in the Gaza City area who was killed by the Israel Defense Forces on Saturday, fired mortars himself after junior Hamas operatives refused to go outside, fearing an Israeli strike.
The IDF official estimated that more than 300 Hamas operatives have been killed since Israel launched its ground offensive in Gaza one week ago.
Full story here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:18 AM | Comments (5)
January 09, 2009
Unforseen Sanity: Cease Fire Rejected
Day 14 of the War
7: 02 am PST The pattern is tediously familiar, the Arab Muslims begin a war with Israel. They openly state their goals: to wipe Israel off the face of the earth and to drive the Jews into the sea.
Israel responds and hammers the Arab armies, slices and dices the Arab terrorists. The world media have a series of grand mal seizures and quick, before the Arabs are brought to their knees in abject surrender, a cease-fire is imposed on Israel.
Next we see the Arabs declaring victory, dancing in the streets, and getting billions in foreign aid to, ahem, alleviate hunger and poverty. Monies that are promptly used to buy arms, build a terrorist infrastructure, and prepare for the next round against the despised Jews.
Israel rejected the UN resolution for a cease-fire in Gaza. This was a wise move. Militarily and politically. A cease-fire would only rescue the rapidly collapsing Hamas, terrorists who are unable and unwilling to battle real men, real soldiers. Hamas are only capable of killing women and children—especially Muslims whom they use as human shields. In fact, IDF troops discovered a Hamas map that details their plans to hide among civilians.
Accepting a cease fire would also place Hamas, a proudly genocidal organization, as an equal to Israel in the U.N. This is moral inversion at its worst. It would be like giving The Crips a seat on the Los Angeles City Council.
To quote from the Hamas Covenant:
Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it. (Preamble)
And this:
[Peace] initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement... Those conferences are no more than a means to appoint the infidels as arbitrators in the lands of Islam... There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.' (Article 13)
Israel has instituted a daily three hour humanitarian truce, but of course, Hamas use this truce to fire at the IDF and undermine all humanitarian efforts. Why? The more suffering in Gaza the more rage at Israel for it never occurs to the craven media that Hamas are responsible for the suffering in Gaza. In truth, Hamas have two goals, to kill Jews, and to increase civilian casualties in Gaza.
Let the world moan self-righteously about the suffering in Gaza. This is the same world that ignores the thousands of missiles that pour into Israel year after year, the same world community that couldn't care less about Gilad Shalit, the kidnapped Israeli soldier. The same world community that relentlessly holds Israel responsible for the dysfunctional Arab Muslim world.
Seraphic Secret hopes and prays that Israel's leaders continue this war of defense and vanquish Hamas.
Seraphic Secret will be updating all day, until Shabbat. Just keep scrolling down for the latest war news, morale boosting pics of you know who, our popular, totally random, and deeply whacky Hollywood anecdotes. And hey, today is Friday and you know what that means: Friday Footwear. Alas, we are that superficial.
8:48 am PST Chained to his computer, Jack presents his Gaza War Roundup #13.
8:51 am PST Aussie Dave and The Muqata continue live-blogging the war.
9: 01 am PST From The Muqata, a reminder to those who hate and try to destroy the Jewish people:
9:37 am PST Don't forget to head on over to Big Hollywood, the new conservative multi-blog, founded by Andrew Breitbart and edited by my good friend John Nolte. I have two articles up: The Ten Best Movies (I Screened) in 2008. And my controversial The Real Battle of Algiers.
11:33 am PST Joshua Pundit comments on the infamous U.N. cease-fire resolution. No mention of Hamas missiles raining down on Israel. No mention of Gilad Shalit. A moral abyss. What else is new?
11:41 am PST You know what time it is? It's time for the daily BB morale booster.
11:56 pm PST For those who still cling to the notion that the Arab Israeli conflict is about borders or land, this should disabuse you of that quaint notion. H/T Weasel Zippers
12:23 pm PST The moment you've all been waiting for. Yup, it is Friday Footwear. Seraphic Secret at it's most shallow.
Stealth-like, as if on a black-op mission, Karen scopes out the new racks of shoes at Loehmann's. She knows that deliveries are unexpected, footwear smuggled in the dead of night through secret and complex tunnels that wind their way from New York to Los Angeles. In Karen's ear, there is a seductive whisper. Karen turns, and there they are, beckoning: “I have been expertly cross-bred between the dancing, light-as-air Cyd Charisse and the coolly wicked, Gloria Grahame.” Karen turns away. She tells herself that she's just looking, not really buying. Comes the next dangerous line of dialog: “I am Cole Haan, on sale you fool!” Karen tells herself, “What's the harm in trying them on? It won't go beyond that. It must not.” A deep, warm fog rolls in as Karen slips into the shiny shoes. She turns this way and that. They fit. They are practical. And, oh dear, they have that fab-u-lously slightly dangerous look—girlishly military—that makes them perfect for everyday wear. And they are on sale. Cole Haan on sale. Shazzam! It's over. Abruptly, Karen is home, modeling the new shoes for Robert. He says: “Cute, unbelievably cute.” Once again, the deranged universe is in perfect order.
1:06 pm PST Seraphic Secret has long maintained that a two-state solution is, in reality, a Final Solution aimed at the Jewish State. Hence, we strongly support The 18. In fact, Gaza is the Palestinian state, and it is nothing less than a terrorist entity bent on Israel's liquidation. An argument can also be made, but it won't for political reasons, that Jordan is also a Palestinian state for 80% of her population is Palestinian. Now, the great and mighty Soccer Dad sees signs that the notion of a two-state solution is dying.
1:24 pm PST Good grief, Jack, don't you ever sleep, rest, nap, spend time with Mrs. Jack? Gaza Update 13.5.
Joel McCrea
1:46 pm PST From John Kobal's invaluable People Will Talk, a snippet from an in-depth interview with the durable leading man, Joel McCrea, (1905 - 1990) who stresses the actor's moral responsibility towards image and choice of roles.
He [director Tay Garnett] was trying to get me to do Postman Always Rings Twice, but I turned it down. You know why? I've always had a feeling of responsibility towards the image that I'm creating, and if I'm moving in with Lana Turner and going to bump off her husband, then this isn't the image I want. I wanted The Virginian, I wanted Union Pacific, I wanted to be the guy who rode off into the sunset, “right” over “evil,” I always felt that. It wasn't the money, I never turned a thing down because of money.
Karen and I wish all our friends, relatives and especially the IDF a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:54 AM | Comments (20)
January 08, 2009
It Can (and is) Happening Here
H/T Australian National Resource via David Suissa
Seraphic Secret will be updating all day, just keep scrolling down for the latest war news, morale boosting pics of you know who, and of course, our popular, totally random, and deeply whacky Hollywood anecdotes.
My in-depth article The Real Battle of Algiers, is now up and live on the new and exciting conservative blog Big Hollywood.
Here's a summary:
The Real Battle of Algiers is a two part essay that illuminates the skillful jihadist propaganda that is Gillo Pontecorvo's film, The Battle of Algiers. I examine the true historical record, the inconvenient facts excluded from the film, including the horrifying Muslim Jew-hatred that helped fuel the battle of Algiers, and the eventual expulsion of Algeria's entire and ancient Jewish community by the Algerian terrorists after the French surrendered.
As I've said many times, movies are a moral landscape.
The Battle of Algiers is a movie that inhabits a deeply immoral and dishonest landscape. It's a beautifully crafted film, but at the core it is a stealth piece of Jihadist propaganda. Like Leni Riefenstahl's work for the Nazis and Sergei Eisenstein's films for the Soviet Communists, Pontecorvo's movie is in service to a totalitarian and genocidal ideology.
To ream my complete article, please click here.
Summary of IDF operations from last night:
The operation in the Gaza Strip continued throughout the night, with Infantry Corps, Armored Corps, Engineering Corps, Artillery Corps and Field Intelligence Corps forces operating in large numbers throughout the Gaza Strip, with air and naval support of the IAF and the IN.
The IAF attacked a number of targets, based on IDF and ISA intelligence, including the house of Yaser Natat, who was in charge of the rocket firing program in the Rafah area, and the house of Muhammad Sanuar, the commander of the Hamas Han Yunes Brigade.
In addition, the IAF struck approximately 60 targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including:
* A mosque used as a weapons storage facility and as a meeting place for Hamas terror operatives
* A Hamas Police structure
* Fifteen tunnels used by Hamas terror operatives against IDF forces, some of which were located under houses
* Ten weapons storage facilities
* A number of armed operatives
* Fifteen launching sites and underground launching pads used to fire mortar shells at IDF forces
The Navy, Air Force and Artillery Corps continued to support the Ground Forces throughout the Gaza Strip, striking Hamas targets, groups of gunmen and terrorists identified in rocket launching areas and located near the forces.
One mortar shell was fired into the western Negev overnight.
One IDF soldier was lightly wounded during the overnight activity.
Jean Harlow as Lola Burns in Bombshell.
TCM Alert: This coming Saturday, Jan. 9, the film I picked as the best I screened in 2008: Bombshell with Jean Harlow. Here's what I wrote:
Bombshell, (1933) Starring Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Frank Morgan, Una Merkel and Franchot Tone. Harlow plays Harlow. That’s what this film is really about. Harlow, all wisecracks and fed-up with Hollywood’s merry-go-round insanity, is Lola Burns, a Hollywood sexpot. Her father and brother are always angling for handouts, and the studio publicity flack cooks up outrageous stunts to add heat to an already overheated reputation as a smoldering blonde bombshell. Harlow, a hugely appealing and gifted comedienne, delivers the best, most energized performance of her career. In truth, like Lola, Harlow yearned for a normal life, husband and children, but was thwarted by bad judgment in men, and a monstrously overbearing mother who controlled every aspect of her daughter’s life and career. The great director Victor Fleming with ace screenwriters John Lee Mahin and Jules Furthman cooked up this Hollywood tale as a thinly disguised look at Fleming’s former lover, the great silent film star Clara Bow. Fleming observed that Bow’s life, on the surface was Hollywood glamorous, but when Bow went home at night, her mansion was filled with dog droppings and her deeply unstable family soaked her for every penny she earned. Bombshell is actually a screwball comedy before Hollywood invented that most entertaining genre.
Set your TIVO, your DVR, or hey, watch it in real time, but do not miss this great, entertaining movie. Check local listings for time of broadcast.
Ah, the religion of peace, home to a certain element who make their opinions known in orderly and dignified protest. As in Ft. Lauderdale Florida, where it was strongly suggested that “Jews should go back to the ovens.” This morning, Dennis Prager pointed out the upside to this Islamic filth: a defacto admission of the Holocaust. Ever get the feeling that the year is actually 1933? H/T Seraphic sister-in-law Elana Singer
More on Hamas, but this time a video made by fellow Arabs. This is a must-see, and rarely seen look at the terror group's steel grip on Gaza. H/T Aussie Dave.
Warning: This is an extremely disturbing video, but, hey, so are the Hamas.
Yesterday, Seraphic Secret promised to post the Hollywood picture of your choice to every reader who sends a pizza to IDF troops. Christoper did send a steaming hot pizza—wonderful!—and requested a pic of silent star Betty Blythe in The Queen of Sheba, specifically, Betty in her notorious pearl gown. Hmm, we are quite familiar with said gown. Problem is, Seraphic Secret does not post risque photos. And gee-willikers that pearl gown leaves very little to the imagination. But look, we have located a rare and dazzling photo by Albert Witzel of the divine Blythe and hope this satisfies our end of the bargain.
Until 1924, Witzel was the premier portrait photographer in Los Angeles who frequently worked as a still photographer for movie productions. Among his famous subjects were Charlie Chaplin, Olive Thomas, Bessie Love, Lila Lee, Theda Bara—real name Theodosia Goodman, Billie Burke, and Francis X. Bushman, a massive star, now forgotten. Witzel's original prints are eagerly sought by collectors.
The ever-vigilant Jack is up and live with his Gaza War Update numero 12.
11:08 am PST Meanwhile, in Israel, our hard-working blogger-buddies Aussie Dave and The Muqata continue live-blogging the war.
11:30 am PST Wow, Jack is on a roll. Gaza War Update 12.5 is up and live. Check. It. Out.
12:36 pm PST Yours truly was chatting with Omri of Mere Rhetoric about what year this is. I know, you think it's 2009. But I told Omri that it's 1933, and the threat to civilization by the Islamists is as great as the threat from Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Omri countered that we're well past 1933, that we're into 1938. You know what, he's right.
12:49 pm PST By now you probably know that missiles were fired into Israel from Lebanon. Everybody's scrambling—including IDF spokesmen—to put out the narrative that Hizbullah are not responsible. In short, everyone's terrified that Israel will strike back. IDF reserves have been called up, and the IAF already have a long list of targets against Hizbullah/Iran who run Lebanon. Let's be clear, Hizbullah terrorists might not have launched the missile, but they certainly gave the nod to the thugs did. As Joshua Pundit explains, nothing happens in Lebanon without Hizbullah's okay.
1:06 pm PST Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, is an eloquent spokesman for Israel and Judaism. Karen and I have been friends with Rabbi Hier ever since we moved to Los Angeles over 20-years ago. We have shared lunch with Rabbi Hier and his lovely family on Shabbat. His is the voice of decency and common sense in a world that seems to devalue these qualities.
In the Wall Street Journal—the New York Times and the L.A. Times are busy shilling for Hamas—Rabbi Hier explains that Jews Face a Double Standard.
Many people ask why there are so few Israeli casualties in comparison with the Palestinian death toll. It's because Israel's first priority is the safety of its citizens, which is why there are shelters and warning systems in Israeli towns. If Hamas can dig tunnels, it can certainly build shelters. Instead, it prefers to use women and children as human shields while its leaders rush into hiding.
And then there are the clarion calls for a cease-fire. These words, which come so easily, have proven to be a recipe for disaster. Hamas uses the cease-fire as a time-out to rearm and smuggle even more deadly weapons so the next time, instead of hitting Sderot and Ashkelon, they can target Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The pattern is always the same. Following a cease-fire brought on by international pressure, there will be a call for a massive infusion of funds to help Palestinians recover from the devastation of the Israeli attack. The world will respond eagerly, handing over hundreds of millions of dollars. To whom does this money go? To Hamas, the same terrorist group that brought disaster to the Palestinians in the first place.
For the complete article, please click here.
3:18 pm PST This is how the IDF treats Hamas terrorists who have been discovered in tunnels as they bring in weapons to kill Jews. The horror, the horror. H/T Kishke
3:26 pm PST As Israel fights Hamas, Islamic terrorists are busy, busy, busy torching the homes of Christians in The Philippines. No doubt, this is because the peaceful Muslims of The Philippines are reacting to the war in Gaza—or some such post-modern nonsense.
3:33 pm PST Oh, speaking of Hamas tunnels, Jimmy "Jihad" Carter has informed the world that the tunnels are, um “defensive.” Jimmy, Jimmy, don't you know that G-d curses those who hate the Jewish people? Sigh. Hell's waited too long for this terrorist-enabler.
3:38 pm PST After posting about the former President—thanks so much for Robert Mugabe, and the Islamic State of Iran—we definitely need a morale booster.
Brigitte Bardot contemplates her next hand.
5:28 pm PST Here's a knowledgeable military analysis of the Israeli Air Force, Lessons Learned:
The Israelis are using more high resolution targeting pods, including some using high rez (SAR) radar for all-weather ground surveillance. This gave them more information, more quickly. This was aided by greater use, than ever before, of UAVs. The Gaza battle areas have been under intense UAV surveillance 24/7 since operations began. This explains how the air force is now able to generate a constant supply of new targets. Hamas is suitably shocked, or so it appears from what Arab language reporters are broadcasting from within Gaza. There's a higher than expected use of faked bomb victim stories, which is largely attributable to the greater precision with which the air force is identifying and hitting targets. Hamas appears to be in disarray, having been hit with a more devastating attack than their Hezbollah advisors had endured. As a result, Hezbollah is getting nervous about what a second round of fighting in southern Lebanon might do to them.
For the entire story, please click here.
5:44 pm PST Get clued in to how the Israeli Air Force carries out its precision bombing, and the technology that makes it all possible:
One of the more potent weapons Israel has developed for its current war with Hamas, is a detailed and very current GIS (geographic information system). Such systems are common for use by businesses (for marketing, site selection and so on), and the military has adapted that technology to their use. A GIS is a combination of aerial photography and other databases (land ownership, telephone and utility customers and military intelligence data.) The GIS is stored and accessed as a digital file, and updated frequently (sometimes in real time.) Israel has used their GIS to select targets in Gaza, and then to call the civilians in the target building to tell them to get out before the smart bomb hits. Hamas made these residences into targets by storing weapons and other military equipment there. Some buildings didn't get a phone call, because the building was used by Hamas as a headquarters or barracks.
This use of the GIS explains how Israel bombed over 500 buildings, while killing fewer than 200 civilians. The GIS is equally useful for ground units, making it easier to move through the crowded cities of Gaza, or identify structures encountered in the open areas. Naturally, Israel isn't releasing many, if any, details of their GIS. But it is known that the United States has used a similar system in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the U.S. and Israel have been sharing lots of ideas about how best to fight these kinds of urban battles.
Source: Strategy Page
6:08 pm PST Hamas are desperate for a cease-fire. No kidding. Hamas are only good at killing women and children, Jew and Muslim alike.
While some Hamas leaders have been openly signaling their readiness to accept a new cease-fire, others are still calling for pursuing the fight against Israel "until victory."
What is clear is that Hamas is now desperate for a lull in the fighting. But it is also eager to score some kind of a "military victory" before a cease-fire is reached.
Hamas can't accept a new cease-fire without having proved to the Arab and Muslim masses that it was capable of making Israel pay a heavy price for its military offensive.
Hamas is fighting for its survival and its leaders know that their collapse would constitute a severe blow not only to the movement, but also to its patrons in Teheran and Damascus.
For the complete story, please click here.
8:53 pm PST The UN has approved a cease fire resolution. Yup, anything to save Hamas and hammer home the message that Israel, unlike every other country on the face of the earth, has no right of self-defense. Let's hope that Israel ignores this infamous resolution and completes the mission.
9:06 pm PST IDF troops battle their way through the streets of Gaza.
H/T The Muqata
9:37 pm PST Noah Pollak succinctly and eloquently nails the so-called journalists who are covering and commenting on Gaza:
Allow me to propose a metric for evaluating whether a journalist is behaving responsibly or not: If he reports that Israel bombed a UN school and killed 30 civilians, he is irresponsible. If he reports that Hamas used a UN school as a weapons cache and base of operations for launching mortars at the IDF, and the IDF’s return fire killed the Hamas cell along, tragically, with a yet-unspecified number of civilians, then he is behaving responsibly. If he wishes to be particularly scrupulous, he might additionally note that Hamas had rigged the school with explosives which detonated after the IDF took out the mortar team, killing a large additional number of civilians. And he might add that you can go to the IDF’s Youtube channel to view footage from 2007 of Hamas using the very same school as a mortar-launching base.
Journalists who abjure reporting the vital details of this story should be called what they are — activists masquerading as reporters.
Source: Commentary
9:41 pm PST Say goodnight, BB.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:43 AM | Comments (12)
January 07, 2009
The Horrors That Do Not Count
Seraphic Secret will be updating all day—as our writing schedule permits. So just keep scrolling down
Yesterday, in the Congo, 100 people were slaughtered in Africa's longest running civil war. Each month 50,000 people are murdered in Congo by the various militias.
Where are the international protests?
Starvation in Zimbabwe is rampant, deliberately caused by the tyrant Robert Mugabe.
Where are the international protests?
In Mumbai, India, Islamist terrorists from the Islamic state of Pakistan, murdered scores of civilians, tortured, sexually humiliated and then murdered the Jews of the Chabad House.
Where were the international protests?
This past week in Iraq over 100 civilians were murdered by Arab Muslim homicide bombers, a group of shieks in Yusufiya, and women and children praying at a Shiite shrine.
Where is the outrage in the Arab Muslim world?
Last week, Hamas in Gaza murdered scores of men—they were called collaborators, but that's short-hand for any personal grudge—tortured, shot and their bodies left to rot in the streets.
Last week, Egypt tried to send ambulances and doctors into Gaza. Hamas blocked entry at the Gaza-Egyptian border. Next thing you know the world media ran video of crowded Gaza hospitals without mentioning the medical aid that Hamas callously turned back.
Hamas fires mortars from the UN school, and yet the world media blames Israel for subsequent deaths.
Israel made over 90,000 phone calls to the civilians in Gaza warning of impending attacks so they could seek shelter. But Hamas took advantage of these phone calls to use the civilians as human shields.
The international media are mouthpieces for Hamas.
And far too many believe that any methods used against Israel are legitimate for they are pathological Jew-haters disguised as “mere anti-Zionists.”
It is right and proper that Israel has banned these terrorist enablers from Gaza and from the battlefield. Israel finally understands that truth is not a value held in esteem by the world media. Israel finally understands that a sort of post-modern morality grips the western media and the first victims of this broken morality are the Jewish people, the oldest, most reliable scapegoat in the world.
Once, Jews were despised because we did not have a country of our own. Now, we are despised for having a country. Moral inversion at its most cynical.
The violent and ugly protests across the globe in support of Hamas, a frankly Jew-hating and genocidal terrorist organization, has two goals: to make Jew-hatred as acceptable in the West as it is in the Muslim world. And to bring about a cease fire in Gaza as quickly as possible because Hamas are rapidly collapsing on the battlefield.
Like all Arab Muslim terrorists, They're only good when it comes to killing women and children.
Israel's war of defense against Hamas should have a single goal: to destroy Hamas, and bring about their complete and unconditional surrender. Only then will the world understand that those who spill Jewish blood will pay an enormous price.
Okey-dokey, time for a morale booster:
BB says: “Take that you terrorist dogs!”
11:06 am PST
The IDF dropped leaflets along parts of the Philadelphi corridor (see map at left) this evening urging residents to flee by 8:00 pm. The leaflets may indicate where the IDF intends to strike next.
Full story at Israel Matzav.
11:12 am PST From The Muqata, this dead-on spoof of the NY Times:
11:16 am PST Continuing their fine work, my pals Aussie Dave and Jameel live-blog the war. Riveting.
11:26 am PST Good grief, the evil Jooz have murdered Assud The Jew-eating Bunny.
11:34 am PST Caroline Glick and Brigadier General Yossi Kupperwasser discuss the the war in Gaza at Pajamas TV. Um, I hate to come across as superficial and totally Hollywood but Caroline and Yossi should, y'know, get, as we say in la-la land, “camera-ready.” Image counts just as much as message.
11:51 am PST Camera-ready as in, Veronica Lake:
11:54 am PST Or Dietrich:
11:56 am PST How about Ava Gardner?
12:06 pm PST Bibi Netanyahu says Militant Islam Threatens Us All.
Imagine a siren that gives you 30 seconds to find shelter before a Kassam rocket falls from the sky and explodes, spraying its lethal shrapnel in all directions. Now imagine this happens day after day, month after month, year after year.
If you can imagine that, you can begin to understand the terror to which hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been subjected. Three years ago Israel withdrew from every square inch of Gaza. And since that withdrawal, our civilians have been targeted by more than 6,000 rockets and mortars fired from Gaza. In the face of this relentless bombardment, Israel has acted with a restraint that other countries, faced with a similar threat, would find hard to fathom. Israel's government has finally decided to respond.
For this action to succeed, we must first have moral clarity. There is no moral equivalence between Israel, a democracy which seeks peace and targets the terrorists, and Hamas, an Iranian-backed terror organization that seeks Israel's destruction and targets the innocent.
Full article in The Wall Street Journal.
12:21 pm PST E-mails pouring in castigating yours truly for exclusively focusing on women and the importance of image-management. Okaaaaaay. Here's The King, Clark Gable, camera ready.
12: 26 pm PST The great Jimmy Stewart:
12:28 am PST And let's not forget Admiral John Ford:
12: 44 am PST Want to show IDF troops that you love and support them? Sure you do. Send them a steaming hot pizza! Believe me, troops, no matter where they are stationed need to know that people—even complete strangers—are thinking of them.
1:10 pm PST Okay, here's the deal: for every pizza sent by a Seraphic Secret reader we will endeavor to post the Hollywood picture of your choice. This one is for our good friend Dr. Carol.
2: 24 pm PST A superb opinion piece that articulates our thoughts perfectly:
On the political front, it is high time to acknowledge the failure of the fantasy that the Palestinians are legitimate actors worthy of statehood and its privileges. Contrary to the prevailing elite view, legitimacy is not conferred by such facile exercises as the holding of popular elections — though such exercises are not without consequences, which we will come to momentarily. There are certain minimal requirements for statehood, not least of which is accepting the right of one’s sovereign neighbor to exist.
For the complete article, please click here. H/T Treppenwitz.
2: 41 pm PST Jack, the blogger who never sleeps, is up and live with his Gaza War Update 11.5.
3:13 pm PST I need a break. Time for a totally random and nutty Hollywood anecdote.
Corinne Griffith in The Divine Lady
Corinne Griffith was not the best actress of Hollywood's silent era, but she was one of the most beautiful—the camera loved her—and she was featured in numerous starring roles. Her best performance was in The Divine Lady, 1929, a powerful film that tells the story of Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton. Sadly, the film was released just as sound triumphed in Hollywood. The Divine Lady was honored with an Academy Award for Directing and Griffith was nominated for her performance. But the film was quickly forgotten. Griffith's career nose-dived in the sound era.
Griffith was married four times times. Her last marriage was in 1965 when she married a singer-realtor—very L.A.—named Dan Scholl, 45-years old. Griffith and Scholl separated after six weeks. The divorce was incredibly ugly. Scholl claimed that Griffith tricked him by claiming that she was 51-years old when she was really 71. Hey, men are not too swift when it comes to women's ages, right?
In court, Griffith, under oath, announced: “I don't give my age because it is part of my religion [Christian Science] not to.”
Then she denied that she was Corinne Griffith and claimed that she was Griffith's younger sister and stand-in, and had been since the 1930's when the real Corinne Griffith died in Mexico.
Silent stars Betty Blythe and Claire Windsor, were sworn in and both said that the Corinne Griffith in the courtroom was the same Corinne Griffith they knew in the 1920's.
Corinne Griffith was not good with men, but she was great with money. She invested all her earnings in Los Angeles real estate. The only money she ever gave away was $10,000 to the campaign of Governor George Wallace, in 1972.
At Griffith's death in 1979, her estate was valued at $150 million.
3:38 pm PST From the great Debbie Schlussel, Krysallnacht: Another Synagogue Attacked. H/T Lance
3:47 pm PST Once the Nazi Party seized power the very first German citizens to sign on to the Jew-hating program were professionals, university academics, scientists, and physicians. Time has done nothing to temper the utter stupidity of a major portion of the academic left. And yes, the Nazis were leftist, The German National Socialist Party. So here we go again, Jew-hating academics in Ontario Canada. H/T Dr. Carol.
4:02 pm PST It's called Taking Chance, from HBO, and it looks promising. H/T John Noonan.
5:11 pm PST The IDF continues operations against terrorist tunnels.
5:45 pm PST My list of the Ten Best Movies (I Screened) in 2008 has been published in Big Hollywood.
6:58 pm PST Videos demonstrating how Hamas uses civilians as human shields. Plus some nice precision IAF hits on the terrorists.
7:16 pm PST The next time someone tells you that Hamas supports social and welfare programs for the residents of Gaza, tell them that they are gold-plated idiots for believing such tales. Hamas are murderous thugs who hide behind children and steal the humanitarian aid that is shoveled into Gaza.
Other civilian complaints state that Hamas gunmen pull children along with them "by the ears" from place to place, fearing that if they don't have a child with them they will be fair game to the IDF. Others hide in civilian homes and stairwells, UNRWA ambulances, and mosques.
In other reported cases Hamas gunmen hold civilians hostage in alleyways in order to provide themselves with a living barricade to ward off IDF forces. Reports somewhat more difficult to verify say the group's men shot Fatah operatives in the feet to make sure the latter would not attempt a coup.
Full story here.
Say goodnight, BB.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:13 AM | Comments (21)
January 06, 2009
The Gaza War (s)
The Gaza War continues with bullets and missiles, and in cyberspace, the Gaza War is also being waged.
Updates throughout the day. Just keep scrolling down.
Here's Egyptian cleric Muhammed Hussein Ya'qub, appearing on Egyptian state-controlled television:
Good thing that Egypt is a “moderate” Arab state, not like all those other radical Jew-hating Arab Muslim states.
Sigh.
I don't know about you but we need a morale booster.
Brigitte Bardot says: “Go Operation Cast Lead!”
Jack, hard-working Jack, is out with his Gaza War Update #10.
Continuing their invaluable live-blogging of the war are Aussie Dave and The Muqata.
Mayor Bloomberg slices and dices a CNN newsbunny who's shilling for terrorists.
Hey kids, what time is it? It's time for the IDF's Greatest Hits!
An Israeli warplane on Tuesday struck the home of a militant leader from the Islamist group Hamas' rocket division in the Gaza Strip. Ayman Siam is believed to have been killed in the strike against the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces said Siam was at home at the time of the attack.
As well as being the founder of Hamas' rocket launching programme, he headed the group's artillery throughout the territory, the IDF said.
The rest at Weasel Zippers
Do you get the feeling that IDF intel is so precise that they know where every Hamas terrorist leader can be found?
No wonder, like rats, the Hamas leadership is hiding in deep, underground bunkers. And some, the really brave ones, are in Gaza hospitals, disguised as doctors and nurses.
I'll bet the boys and girls of Hizbullah are watching and going: “Whoops, that could be me.”
This is a shock. A synagogue in France was fire-bombed. Who would have thought that France, home to liberty, yadda, yadda, would be fertile ground for Jew-killers?
Good thing Sarkozy is working so hard to make sure the IDF doesn't win in Gaza or the loyal Muslims of France might get angry. Can't have that. Waiting for the media to blame the Jews for the fire-bombing. The line being: If Israel ceased to exist and all Jews were, y'know, not breathing, everything would be cool with the religion of peace.
12: 58 pm PST Okay, by now the media have accused Israel of a major war crimes, of being baby-killers, the whole familiar meme. But as always, pictures and initial reports are wrong. My pal Omri, at Mere Rhetoric, analyzes this latest slice of terrorist propaganda. Let's be clear, the civilian casualties in this episode were victims of Hamas. This is what happens when terrorists use civilians as human shields.
Here's the IDF spokesman.
Hamas have two goals: to kill as many innocent Israelis as possible. And to make sure that numerous Arab civilians—preferably women and children—also die. And to use their deaths for propaganda purposes. Yes, they are that evil.
Here's a video of mortar fire coming from that same U.N. school in Oct 2007. Clearly Hamas and their UN collaborators have turned the school into a forward base for launching terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.
According to Article 28 of the Geneva Conventions: The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations
Hamas are responsible for the civilians in the UN school, hence war criminals which is sort of an oxymoron considering that they are already Islamo Nazis.
Colleen Moore dances for joy at Big Hollywood's launch.
1: 16 pm PST Big Hollywood is up, the new conservative film and culture blog founded by Andrew Breitbart and edited by my close friend John Nolte. Big Hollywood supports Israel, big-time, and soon we will devote an entire day to Israel.
My article about “The Real Battle of Algiers” will be posted in a day or two. Meanwhile head on over and enjoy. It's filled with refreshing and thought-provoking articles and reviews.
1:46 pm PST You know how Democrats claim that support for Israel is bi-partisan. You know how Democrats are always insisting that they love and support Israel? Well, turns out that it's not so true. Even when it comes to Operation Cast Lead.
Sixty-two percent (62%) of Republicans back Israel’s decision to take military action against the Palestinians, but only half as many Democrats (31%) agree. A majority of Democrats (55%) say Israel should have tried to find a diplomatic solution first, a view shared by just 27% of Republicans.
While 75% of Republicans say Israel is an ally of the United States, just 55% of Democrats agree. Seven percent (7%) of Democrats say Israel is an enemy of America, but only one percent (1%) of Republicans say the same.
Full story, here. H/T Jake Novak
3:01 pm PST I'm in awe of Jack. Here he is with Gaza War Update 10.5.
3:06 pm PST More faux photography from the country that just eats it up, like they eat snails and frog's legs. Figures.
4:11 pm PST Robert D. Kaplan on the Iranian Beast in Gaza:
Israel’s attack on Gaza is, in effect, an attack on Iran’s empire, the first since its offensive on Iranian-backed Hezbollah in 2006. That attack failed for a number of reasons, not least of which was Israel’s poor intelligence on Hezbollah: historically, its intelligence on the Palestinians has been much better. Moreover, this attack seems more deliberately planned, with narrower, publicly stated aims – all in all, a more professional job. But there is a fundamental problem with what Israel is doing that goes to the heart of the postmodern beast that the Iranian empire represents.
To read the complete story, please click here.
8:43 pm PST Welcome to Londonistan.
The number of anti-Semitic attacks in London has risen sharply following Israel's land assault on Gaza, Jewish community groups said today.
Their leaders have compiled a dossier of attacks against Jews which will be handed to seniors officers in the Metropolitan police.
The attacks include claims of:
An attempt to burn down a synagogue in north-west London.
An assault on a Jewish motorist who was pulled from his car and punched.
A gang of youths chanting anti-Semitic slogans as they tried to enter restaurants and shops in Golders Green.
The Community Security Trust, which is responsible for the safety of Jews in Britain, has also noted the emergence of anti-Semitic graffiti in Jewish areas across London.
Slogans sprayed on walls include: 'Kill Jews' and 'Jews are scumbags.'
Full story at Weasel Zippers
8:47 pm PST And Ireland...
Full story at Weasel Zippers.
Do you get the feeling that support for Hamas, a genocidal bunch of thugs, is the norm in the Arab Muslim world? Do you get the feeling that Jew-hatred has gone mainstream, especially in Europe?
9:08 pm PST Let's CUT TO another scene, another mood, something more uplifting:
IDF soldiers heart each other. And we heart them.
9:55 pm PST Richard Landes and Yizchak Sokoloff discuss media bias at Pajamas TV. Great stuff. I had lunch with Richard a few months ago. His passionate and articulate defense of Israel and common sense morality should be a model for Israeli spokesmen as they confront a hostile world-wide media.
Say goodnight BB:
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:43 PM | Comments (30)
Surprise Message from Usama bin Laden
Seraphic Secret has several secret and reliable sources in the intelligence community. One of our most trusted and knowledgeable sources has leaked a secret communique by none other than Usama bin Laden.
We feel it our patriotic duty to share this with our readers.
Interoffice Memo:
From: Usama Bin Laden
To: Barack Hussein Obama
In the name of Allah, in the name of The All Merciful Prophet, greetings upon your head.
For too long the dog Bush The Son has waged brutal war against Islam, against those holy warriors who answer the call of Islam to fight Jihad against the Jews and the Crusaders. This war has crippled the Holy Warriors and prevented those who love Allah and His Prophet from slaughtering Crusader American and Jew infidels. But Bush is past and by the grace of Allah and His Prophet you are now in the White House, soon to be a Holy Mosque.
In the name of the Holy Warriors we give thanks for the wisdom you display in anointing the infidel Leon Panneta—we know his real name is Pinsky The Jew—as next Director of Central Intelligence.
We give thanks, for Panneta/Pinsky has no experience in the intelligence field, and he is a well known critic of the interrogation methods that we most fear and that have kept America safe from our Holy Jihad fighters these past seven years.
We give thanks for a return to the bountiful days of Jimmy “Our Jihad Brother” Carter who also appointed the most ignorant outsider Stansfield Turner as director of the satanic CIA. The Iranian dogs—Death to all Shia!—swiftly brought the Great Satan to its knees.
We give thanks for a return to the glorious days when the degenerate sexual beast Bill Clinton—real name Benish Cohen—appointed the great dupe, and another non-professional, John M. “The Kraut Jew” Deutch as Director of the CIA. Those were the blessed years when Allah caused his humble servant to build Al Quada, bomb the Twin Towers—if at first you don't succeed try, try again—and build the all powerful, all Holy, Jihad network, that has better ratings than all the Jew-networks on The Great Satan American Television, a subsidiary of The International Jewish Conspiracy.
Indeed, we give thanks to the Democrats, AKA The Elders of Zion, who meekly submit to the will of Allah and His Messenger.
His humble servant praises the Dhimmi Obama and his most wise choice for the CIA.
The Jihad against The Great Satan and The Zionist Entity will now comfortably and courageously enter its next phase in which the infidel dogs of the West will convert or their heads will separated from their bodies.
Blessings Upon Allah and His Prophet.
Your Best Blood Enemy,
Usama bin Laden
P.S. Your woman (who talks too much!) and little female infidels (who smile too much!) dress like wantons. Enclosed please find three burqas. Don't worry, one size fits all. And black is slimming.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:33 AM | Comments (6)
January 05, 2009
The Unbearable Lightness of the Blood Libel
In the middle-ages, Christians in Europe routinely accused Jews of killing Christian children in order to use their blood to bake the Passover matzo.
This was a Blood Libel. And it usually resulted in pogroms where entire Jewish communities were given the choice of converting or having their throats slit. Often, entire Jewish communities were martyred.
The Blood Libel was not only a lie, but it turned reality on its head in the most gruesome fashion, for Jewish law is meticulous in forbidding the eating of blood, in any form.
The classical Blood Libel has virtually disappeared from the European Christian world—the Blood Libel never made any headway in America, American Christians have always been deeply anchored in the Jewish bible.
But the Blood Libel lives on in the Arab world, literally. It was dramatized in an Egyptian multi-mini-series Horseman Without a Horse, with a scene of a Jew slitting the throat of an Arab child, perhaps the gruesome scene I have ever had the misfortune to screen. This mini-series remains the most watched and most popular drama in the Arab world.
The Blood Libel has mutated into general and vicious attack on the Jewish State, whereby every action taken by Israel is condemned through a series of vile lies and distortions.
Currently, Israel is accused of the massacre of citizens in Gaza—patently untrue. Ignored is the fact that Israel, more than any other country under arms, goes to the greatest lengths to avoid civilian casualties. In fact, the IDF sent thousands of text messages, plus 90,000 phone calls to the residents of Gaza warning them to vacate homes that were used by Hamas as weapons depots, 90,000 warnings on how to avoid being a casualty.
Further, precision bombing has minimized civilian casualties.
Ignored by the world is the fact that Hamas have been firing missiles into Israel for years. In fact, as soon as the Israeli government expelled 9,000 Jews from Gaza, Hamas declared victory and commenced their brutal missile offensive on Israeli civilians. Since the Hamas aggression began 25% of the residents of S'derot have abandoned that unhappy city. How long can one endure when the sky is screaming and the earth is on fire?
In truth, Hamas are responsible for every civilian death in Gaza for they use civilians as human shields.
Most perverse is that the world relentlessly accuses Israel of crimes that are, in fact, widespread in the Arab Muslim world—the murder and torture of civilians, a savage disregard for human life, and a casual acceptance of cruelty and murder.
Indeed, a death cult grips the Arab Muslim world, personified by the beheadings of so-called infidels, and homicide bombings carried out as regularly and casually as reruns of an old TV show.
That the dinosaur media focuses exclusively on so-called civilian casualties in Gaza—Hamas terrorists on a gurney are invariably counted as civilians because they are not wearing uniforms—is proof that the media are either stupid or willing dupes of Islamic terrorists.
The world-wide demonstrations against Israel are a massive blood libel.
The round the clock reports on CNN and other networks, where moral idiots called anchors and journalists, count dead Arabs as a proof of Israel's “war crimes,” are a blood libel.
The sophisticates in the U.N. routinely engage in the blood libel.
The leaders of the European countries have returned to their comfortable Jew-hating roots by coddling up to Arab Muslim terrorists—first it was Arafat, now it's Hamas, Hizbullah and Iran—and roundly condemning Israel for having the temerity to exercise national self defense.
The sacred Hamas Covenant, ratified in 1988, is a proudly Jew-hating document that revives The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, calls for the complete elimination of the State of Israel and of Jews everywhere, is a classic blood libel.
And of course, the greatest blood libel of all is that the Western media never, but never cites this frankly genocidal document as the founding constitution of the Palestinian State—Gaza.
The hard-working Jack is up with Gaza Update #9.
Seraphic Secret is busy, busy, busy today—conference call, screenplay to polish—but we will try and update as often as we can. And please forgive our tardiness in responding to comments. We are just buried. Also, our spam filter is having a nervous breakdown and spamming legitimate e-mail.
Aussie Dave and The Muqata continue to live-blog the war. These two bloggers are an invaluable source of information and impressions.
Seraphic Secret took part in a conference call for bloggers with the San Francisco Israeli Consul-General. Omri, of the most excellent Mere Rhetoric, sums up the conversation here.
Hey, how about a morale booster? Okay, if you insist.
Brigitte Bardot says: “Go IDF.”
My good friend Dirty Harry has been tapped by Andrew Breitbart as Editor-in-Chief of the exciting new blog Big Hollywood.
I've been asked to be a regular contributor, a great honor, for the list of contributors is long and impressive.
My first article is "The Real Battle of Algiers," a two part essay that illuminates the skillful jihadist propaganda that is Gillo Pontecorvo's film, The Battle of Algiers. I examine the true historical record, the inconvenient facts excluded from the film, including the horrifying Muslim Jew-hatred that helped fuel the battle of Algiers, and the eventual expulsion of Algeria's entire and ancient Jewish community by the Algerian terrorists after the French surrendered.
As I've said many times, movies are a moral landscape.
The Battle of Algiers is a movie that inhabits a deeply immoral and dishonest landscape. It's a beautifully crafted film, but at the core it is a stealth piece of Jihadist propaganda. Like Leni Riefenstahl's work for the Nazis and Sergei Eisenstein's films for the Soviet Communists, Pontecorvo's movie is in service to a totalitarian and genocidal ideology.
Big Hollywood makes its debut tomorrow, Tuesday January 6, 2009.
And here's Big Hollywood founder Andrew Breitbart on this much-needed new corner of the blogosphere:
On Tuesday, I launch Big Hollywood (bighollywood.breitbart .com), a big group blog that will feature hundreds of the big minds from the fields of politics, journalism, entertainment and culture.
Big Hollywood is not a “celebrity” gabfest or a gossip outpost - it is a continuous politics and culture posting board for those who think something has gone drastically wrong and that Hollywood should return to its patriotic roots.
Big Hollywood’s modest objective: to change the entertainment industry. To make Hollywood something we can believe in - again. In order to give millions of Americans hope.
Until conservatives, libertarians and Republicans - who will be the lion’s share of Big Hollywood’s contributors - recognize that (pop) culture is the big prize and that politics is secondary, there will be no victory in this important battle.
To read the complete article, please go to Dirty Harry's:
Staged Photos are pouring out of Gaza. The Arab Muslim world understands that truth matters little to the mainstream media, image is all, and so they shamelessly stage false scenes to increase the public perception of the Arabs as eternal victims. And the Western press, slaves to Hamas in Gaza, or their kneecaps will be blown off, cooperate in this terrorist enterprise.
The Persians—what a shock—are volunteering to go to Allah, by slaughtering Jews, natch. The Iranians are yapping away because their proxy army in Gaza, Hamas, are collapsing, taking massive casualties. The IDF have captured numerous terrorist prisoners—that will result in piles of intel that will lead directly back to Tehran. The IDF has displayed most excellent intel-gathering in the Gaza and the Persians must know that the Israelis will, any day, come screaming across the sky and reduce the Nantaz Nuclear facility to nothingness. Anyhoo, most anxious to see how the Mullahs plan to get these 70,000 volunteers to Israel. Perhaps El-Al. As my friend Omri comments: Whatever.
3:34 pm PST Jack, Jack, Jack, don't you ever sleep? The man is a marvel. Here he is with Gaza War Update 9.5.
3:45 pm PST Seraphic Secret has quite a few loyal readers in Melbourne, Australia. We'd like you to know that your lovely city is home to Jew-hating Islamists who would gladly slit your throat if they knew that you were friends with yours truly, a Zionist, and hey, a Hollywood Jew. Here are a few pictures of your peace loving Muslim neighbors from yesterday's rally.
4:07 pm PST Okay, time for a much needed break from the war in Gaza for a totally random bit of Hollywood trivia. This is one of my favorite true Hollywood stories.
Joan Bennett
In 1951, Hollywood star Joan Bennett met with her agent Jennings Lang to discuss a project. In fact, they were having an affair. Bennett's husband, producer Walter Wanger—at the time his brilliant career was sort of in the toilet—spotted his wife and Lang parked in her convertible. Wanger walked up, pulled a gun and blam! blam! fired twice, hitting Lang in the groin and the hip. Thankfully, the wounds were not mortal and Lang survived. Later, Bennett delivered one of the greatest lines in Hollywood history when she told her husband: “Walter, he was only an agent!”
10:18 pm PST IDF troops training for war in Gaza. Good stuff.
10:25 pm PST I don't think you'll see this story in the dinosaur media because, y'know, it reveals Hamas as utter and complete barbarians. Hamas Declares Open Season on Jewish Children.
10:34 pm PST Jew-haters here, Jew-haters there, Jew-haters in Anaheim. Notice the forward fashion sense of this Jew-hating jihadist female/whatever. The Black burqua is the new, um, black burqua. And get a load of the official “Hey I'm the Next Homicide Bomber Headband.” Very Woodstock. And the Lone Ranger mask is, well, mysterioso, right? Just hints at the hidden depths of Jihad Jane.
10:46 pm PST Joshua Pundit was in on the Consul-General conference call this morning and when I heard his voice I wanted to blurt out, real fan boy style, “Love your blog. Can I puh-leese be a member of Joshua's Army.” But yours truly managed to keep mouth firmly shut. Anyhoo, here's Joshua Pundit with the Latest From the Gaza Front.
10:59 pm PST Okay, gotta go. I DVR'd the season premiere of The Bachelor. I just gotta find out what happens with Jason. This show is ultra brilliant, Hitchkockian (suspense) meets Busby Berkeley (endless babes.) Hey, even Seraphic Secret does not live by classic Hollywood films alone.
Say good night, BB.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:48 AM | Comments (20)
January 04, 2009
Terrorist Rhetoric: Fact vs. Fiction or What I Learned in Hollywood
Let's begin with Jack's most excellent War in Gaza Update # 8.
Also just published is Haveil Havalim #199.
Last night, Karen got all upset by the deeply biased media coverage—Fox was the best, putting the war in context, not shilling for Hamas, etc.—and the world-wide protests against Israel.
I thought to myself: what else is new? It's not as if the world loves Jews, except when they are dead in massive numbers—Auschwitz and company—and even that genocide is actively denied by the Arab-Muslim world.
And then I remembered something that Bibi Netanyahu told us at the Nefesh B'nefesh Bloggers Conference; it went something like this, and I'm paraphrasing from memory:
“The best weapon we have against our enemies is the truth.”
I've watched movies obsessively since I was a child. I've studied movies, obsessively for just as long. I've written and produced movies and TV shows for over 25 years and I'm here to tell you that fiction is far more potent than fact. In fact, fiction, well-crafted, becomes more real than reality.
Fiction carries a simple and clear message. Fiction has a story-line that is deeply personal. Fiction lays out a moral universe that is comfortable.
And that is why the big lies that dominate the media and Arab-Muslim propaganda are so powerful—they carry dramatic heat—and the cool facts we recite fall on deaf ears.
The Muslim Arabs have created a narrative whereby they are the eternal victims of Jewish Israeli aggression. The Muslim Arabs have created a narrative that, no matter how horrendously they act—homicide bombings, pogroms, Jew-hating rhetoric that makes Nazi propaganda look tame—it counts for nothing because Israel and Jews are so evil that anything is justified.
What to do?
Do we resort to endless lies, do we parade dead babies in the streets in order to score valuable minutes on CNN and the BBC?
Well, of course not. Israel-Judaism respects truth, and unlike the Arab-Mulsim world, we sanctify life.
There is only one rational path and that is to do what has to be done for self-preservation. Apologize to no one and to make it clear, especially to the media who shill for the Arab-Muslim terrorists, that their presence in Israel, or Gaza, is not welcome as long as they aid and abet Jew-killers.
Israel refused to allow UN rep Richard Falk to enter Israel. The media complained for maybe thirty seconds and then it was forgotten.
Why?
Because they were intimidated. Because they realized that if Falk can be punished, so can they. Because Israel stopped being a punching bag. Israel said enough is enough, this man is a U.Nazi and we have the right to expel such creatures.
It's almost funny, the Israeli government had little problem expelling 9,000 Jews from their homes in Gaza—which lead directly to the Second Lebanon War, and to Operation Cast Lead—but the government moans and kvetches and refuses to expel hostile reporters who, with their dispatches, enable Hamas, a proudly genocidal organization.
Busy, busy today doing stuff, but we will update as often as we can.
Morale booster—for our troops.
10:25 am PST The IDF's Greatest Hits, Take #2.
Another senior Hamas terrorist, Muhammad Hilo, was also killed in the same airstrike. Hilo was in charge of the Hamas special forces in Khan Yunis.
12:56 pm PST Hey, have you noticed that when Arabs slaughter other Arabs there are no protests from the, ahem, international community, or from the peace-loving Arab Muslim street. BTW, these alleged Israeli collaborators are, almost always, victims of private tribal and religious vendettas. Yup, for the Caliphite Islamists it's a good time to settle personal scores and blame it on the evil Jooz.
1:08 pm PST Good Lord, 35 Arab civilian casualties. Oh wait, they were slaughtered by an Arab-Muslim female homicide bomber in Iraq. Nothing to get excited about here.
1:12 pm PST Baruch Dayan Emet, Blessed be the True Judge.
1:16 pm PST The Arab Muslim world spins their false narrative using faux photography, and creating fictional scenes for the news. It's called propaganda. Naturally, the gullible western press has not a clue.
1:21 pm PST Dead babies on parade. Hey, did it ever occur to anyone that maybe the children were killed by Hamas. They have this habit of blowing themselves up as they build bombs intended for Jews. And Hamas are embedded in dense civilian areas. Barbarians.
1:25 pm PST I'm a glutton for punishment. Just turned on Al CNN and wouldn't you know, the news bunny is asking an Israeli spokesman about humanitarian aid to Gaza. I'm waiting for her to ask the same question to the Egyptians who share a border with Gaza. BTW, don't the Egyptians just love their Arab brothers in Gaza? Answer: No, they don't. Egypt would like nothing better than for Hamas to be annihilated to the last man.
1:37 pm PST The IDF's Greatest Hits continue.
1:48 pm PST Ah, Paris, city of lights, fine food, buttery croissant, the Louvre, wretched movies, and oh yeah, terrorists wild in the streets calling for Jewish blood.
1:56 pm PST The Utility of Force in Gaza, a fine and rational analysis by a man I'm proud to call a close friend.
2:03 pm PST Per Rahel's request. Most combat soldiers in the IDF are male, but women also serve, and they are beautifully deadly.
And of course:
2:36 pm PST My mate Aussie Dave continues to live-blog the war. Awesome coverage. Next time I'm in Israel I'm going to buy Aussie Dave a beer or ten.
2:38 pm PST Jameel, not his real name, is also blogging the war live and for this man we will buy, what else, waffles.
2:44 pm PST Digression for the sake of sanity: Doris Kenyon (1897 - 1979) was a lovely actress of the silent screen. Today she's pretty much forgotten. But she was the favorite star of a woman named Alma Sophia Kappelhoff of Cincinnati. When Alma gave birth to a little girl in 1924, she named her Doris in honor of the star. Doris Kapelhoff went to Hollywood and became Doris Day. Talent via osmosis.
Doris Kenyon
Doris Kapelhoff AKA Doris Day
Seraphic Secret has to take a break, helping a young screenwriter with a script.
4:38 pm PST Rule #1 of screenwriting. Figure out what your main character wants, why he can't get it, and then how he gets it. If you neglect this simple narrative progression you are screwed.
4:40 pm PST One of my favorite military bloggers, Op-For, hangs at the Erez Crossing.
4:57 pm PST This from Jameel at the Muqata:
Zvi Yehezkeli (Channel 10 TV) reports that the machine gun weaponry firing at IDF troops now in Gaza City were given to the PA and Fatah by Israel as a "sign of goodwill, confidence-building measure."
In screenwriting this is called irony. In real life it's suicidal insanity.
5:01 pm PST Hey, I have a fab-u-lous idea: let's divide Jerusalem and hand it over to the Arabs! What could possibly go wrong?
5:02 pm PST I'm overflowing with brilliance. Let's expel every Jew from Judea and Samaria AKA The West Bank, hand it over to the Arabs and heck, they will be so touched that peace will break out and everyone will sing Kumbaya. Oh wait, we tried that in Gaza. Didn't quite work out. But gee-willikers, let's try it again. What could possibly go wrong?
5:13 pm PST Soccer Dad trains his laser sights on terrorist spokesman Christian Al Amanpour. I look at her on CNN and two words come to mind: Leni Riefenstahl.
5:42 pm PST ABC news just reported that the reason Egypt has not opened its border with Gaza is because they have been advised not to by Israel. If you believe this you are a first-class moron. Hamas is a splinter group of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist terror group at war with the Egyptian regime. The Brotherhood assassinated Anwar Sadat. In fact, in spite of their public pronouncements, Egypt is delighted that Israel is finally rolling over Hamas.
5:51 pm PST Middle Eastern politics alert: the peace-loving Persians have just put a bounty on Mubarak's head—literally.
5:57 pm PST Mugabe—Jimmy Carter's bestest pal—is using hunger as a weapon in Zimbabwe. Look at all the protestors in the streets. Oh, wait, they're far too busy calling for Israel's destruction. Nothing going on in Zimbabwe but mass murder. Ho-hum.
6:12 pm PST Save the poor starving Gazans. H/T Elder of Ziyon via Joshua Pundit.
6:59 pm PST Gaza City Surrounded. From Joshua Pundit:
...the IDF have pretty much closed the ring around Gaza City, using variations of similar tactics they've used before to divide the Strip into three sections.
The IDF already controls the ground at the Hamas launching sites in the North Strip in what used to be Jewish communities around Netzarim and at Beit Hanoun in the north and has captured parts of the Zeitun refugee camp. They also took over the old airfield at Dahaniya.
At the same time, the Israeli navy dropped off IDF troops in an amphibious landing in the southern Philadelphi enclave which is the main artery for the weapons smuggling tunnels which supply Hamas and the IDF has almost completely taken this area over from Hamas.
The idea (which appears to have been fairly successful) is to isolate the diferent Hamas commands from one another, kill off or capture the Hamas jihadis outside the ring around Gaza City and isolate Hamas' main force in the tunnel complex known to Army intel as 'underground Gaza'. That's where Hamas' leaders and what's left of their fighters are holed up. And of course, it's built underneath civilian areas.
Full story, here.
7:20 pm PST You know who's not happy? The Iranians. They have spent millions arming and training the Hamas terrorists and in just a few days thousands of their missiles have been destroyed, Hamas capabilities seriously degraded, and terrorist bodies are piling up like cordwood. In addition, the Mullahs can't help but notice that Israeli intel is scary accurate, indicating top notch electronic surveillance patiently compiled over years, and, no doubt human intel from Arabic speaking Israelis agents—that's what the Arabs get for expelling the Jews from their lands—and Arabs in Gaza and Egypt who are sick of Hamas, plus Arab states—Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia—who are anxious to see Hamas liquidated. The Mullahs realize that the IDF has the Nantaz nuclear facilities in their sights, and a plan that will turn it into ashes. Believe me, behind their dopey bluster, the Persians are plotzing.
Seraphic Secret has to sign off now. Gonna sit down and watch Harold Lloyd's last silent film Speedy (1928).
Say goodnight BB:
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:16 AM | Comments (19)
January 03, 2009
IDF Enters Gaza
Shavua Tov. We made Havdalah a few minutes ago. I turned on my computer and discovered that the IDF has, at last, moved into Gazastan.
Jack has posted Gaza update 7.5.
Seraphic Secret live-blogs, just keep scrolling downward.
Here is the prayer we recite for the IDF in shul, synagogue, every Shabbos.
He Who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — may He bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Forces, who stand guard over our land and the cities of our God, from the border of the Lebanon to the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the Aravah, on the land, in the air, and on the sea.
May the Almighty cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them. May the Holy One, Blessed is He, preserve and rescue our fighters from every trouble and distress and from every plague and illness, and may He send blessing and success in their every endeavor.
May He lead our enemies under our soldiers' sway and may He grant them salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for them the verse: For it is the Lord your God, Who goes with you to battle your enemies for you to save you.
Now let us respond, Amen.
IDF troops prepare for battle in a staging area on the Israeli-Gaza border
Photo By Ariel Jerozolimski
Anti-Islamist Brigitte Bardot
says: “Go, IDF!”
My pals in Israel Jameel and Aussie Dave continue live-blogging the war. Invaluable.
Omri, at Mere Rhetoric, is also doing a fine job of covering the war.
Seraphic Secret would like to point out that:
1. Hamas, in Gaza, to the west of Israel, is a proxie for Iran.
2. Hizbullah—in control of Lebanon, to the north of Israel—is a proxie for Iran.
4. Iran, to the east of Israel, genocidal and spreading its hegemony over the region, is building a nuclear program.
In short, Israel is surrounded by a ring of genocidal, Jew-hating regimes. Seraphic Secret strongly urges Israel to cut off the head of the snake, Iran, and destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities. As long as Iran has military teeth, Israel is in mortal peril.
7:16 PST: Hamas has announced that they will fight to the last man. To which we say: fab-u-lous.
7: 18 PST Good Lord, is the CNN Barack Obama look-alike anchor really that dumb. He just asked Israel spokesman Mark Regev why Israel feels the need for an aerial attack and a ground invasion at the same time. Duh, to win the war. BTW, the dopey CNN anchor forgot to mention the most excellent Israeli navy is dong a nice job of off-shore shelling.
7:24 PST Barack Obama II on CNN just informed us that innocent civilians in Gaza are dying. This anchor is a shill for Hamas. Not a word about Israeli civilians under fire for years. More German civilians died in WWII than allied civilians. The Nazis were responsible for all that death and destruction. And Hamas uses civilians as human shields, which makes them responsible for any civilian deaths in Gaza.
7:30 PST The UN Security Council are meeting to formulate a response to the war. I have a great idea: the UN should cease to exist. The U.N. is a Jew-hating forum that does nothing but condemn Israel for existing and allows genocide—Sudan, Congo, Rwanada—to flourish. And Barack Obama promised to kick in another 50 million to support the U.N. Comforting thought.
7:38 PST President-elect Obama has no comment on the war in Gaza. He's “closely monitoring international events, and deferring to President Bush.” Smart move by a wily politician. Let Bush take all the heat and hope that things quite down by the time he parachutes into office. Keep dreaming.
7:42 PST Okay, that's it, can't take CNN a moment longer. They're shamelessly shilling for Hamas.
7:45 PST Have you ever noticed that the moment the terrorists start getting their butts kicked by Jews the world gnashes its teeth and demands/begs/weeps for a cease-fire? Pathetic bunch of losers.
7:48 PST Yours truly needs a morale booster.
Okay, feel better.
7:52 PST Just deleted two terrorist comments. Furthermore, we tracked down their identities and have alerted the world-wide Jewish conspiracy to monitor these knuckle heads.
8:00 PST Watching Fox news now. Never thought the day would come when I'd be grateful for Geraldo Rivera.
8:04 PST How come I'm getting older and Geraldo looks younger? Must be those five marriages.
8:08 PST Geraldo is interviewing Hanan Ashwari. She lies. And lies some more. Claims that Hamas doesn't use Mosques or Universities or private homes as ammo depots. Hey, Geraldo, say something. Fatah put Ashwari out to pasture years ago. Leave it to the American media to resurrect this terrorist. What's funny about this is that Fatah are supplying the IDF with a ton of Gaza intel. Fatah are as anxious to liquidate Hamas as are the Israelis.
8:18 PST Former UN ambassador John Bolton now commenting on Fox. Makes a moral argument for the necessity of eliminating the evil of Hamas. Thank G-d for Bolton.
8:21 PST Endless commercials. Hey, ever hear of a silent film star named Jetta Goudal? She was gorgeous, but had a short career because she was nutty as a fruit cake. Anyway, her real name was Julie Henriette Goudeket and she was a gold-played Jew-hater, always making cracks about hook-nosed Jews. Goudal claimed that she was born in France to aristocrats, but in truth she was born in Amsterdam and her parents were Orthodox Jews, her father a successful diamond merchant.
Jetta Goudal
8:41 PST A spokesman for the Arab League, formed in1945 exclusively to oppose the birth of the state of Israel, is yapping away about “Is-ra-eli aggression.” He really, really wants a cease fire. No kidding, Hamas is getting hammered. You think this Jew-hater would be calling for a cease fire if Jews were getting wiped out? I don't think so.
8:44 PST My brain is melting. Gonna take a break and get something to eat. Back soon.
9:18 PST I'm back. Footage of pro-terrorist demonstrators in NY. They're upset by deaths of innocent Palestinians. Oh, yeah sure they are. Where were they when Hamas and Fatah were slaughtering each other in Gaza? Where were they when the Jordanian army slaughtered 30,000 Palestinians on Black September. What about the 50,000 innocents who die in the Congo every month? And gee, Sudan is committing genocide in Darfur, over a million have been murdered, and hundreds of thousands of women raped. You know why these people never say a word about true evil? Because they are a bunch of Jew-haters hiding behind the fig-leaf of “mere anti-Zionism.”
9:29 PST Mini documentary on Fox about Moussif Hassan, the son of a Hamas leader, who now denounces Hamas, and labels Islam a “drug.” This young man is a convert to Christianity. Reveals that Hamas tortures and murders, well, everyone they don't like, and conveniently labels them Israeli collaborators. Details Hamas torture methods. Makes you yearn for good ol' water-boarding. Hope young Moussif packs heat 24/7 and checks the undercarriage of his car every morning.
9:35 PST Barak has ordered a 40km naval blockade around Gaza. Oh goody, hope Cynthia McKinney and her buddies—how come Jew-haters are called peace activists by the dinosaur media?—try to run the blockade and get blown out of the water. I really want to run this headline: McKinney Sleeps With the Fishes.
9:37 PST Commercial for a weed whacker. I'm tempted to buy. Which means that I'm half out of my mind because I don't know a weed from a rose—and care even less.
9:38 PST Maybe I'll send away for the Elvis CD they're pushing.
9:39 PST Hmm, the Titan Peeler looks nifty, though I have o idea what it's for. I'll just grab my trusty credit card and...
9:40 PST Or not.
9:41 PST Signing off for tonight. Gonna watch B'tipul with Karen, the Israeli TV series that has been remade as In Treatment on HBO. We need some cheering up. Back tomorrow morning.
Say goodnight, BB:
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:07 PM | Comments (12)
January 02, 2009
Gaza: A Matzav Within The Matzav Plus a Deeply Superficial Digression From War
IDF tanks at Gaza border (photo: Amir Cohen)
Near midnight, last night, Seraphic Secret dialed Israel and spoke with Karen's brother, Rabbi David Singer, who lives with his wife Elana and their lovely children in Efrat. My brother-in-law, who is more like the brother I never had, is my go-to-guy when I'm trying to get a clear idea of “Ha Matzav,” Hebrew for “The Situation.”
Matzav is code for: “Hey, the surrounding Arab states are obviously a bunch of genocidal goons and loons, but we can't actually articulate such a heart-stopping thought so we're just going to understate the horror with an awesomely bland label: The Matzav.”
This bit of linguistic delusion allows Israelis to sleep at night.
It's a bit like calling the Nuremberg Laws “controversial legislation.”
Before getting to The Matzav, David asked about the film business, does the economic meltdown affect the movie biz or is Hollywood recession-proof?
My response: “When money is tight, the first thing families do is cut back on entertainment. Most people don't realize that during the depression Hollywood suffered staggering losses—except for MGM, who actually posted profits. Currently, the studios are cutting back on development, and box office will suffer. It also doesn't help that Hollywood produces so many mediocre movies—films the public actively shuns.”
“What about TV,” David asked, “don't they need a constant supply of product?”
“They do, but the networks and cable stations are developing more and more reality shows to fill their schedules. These shows are cheap to produce, get high ratings, and spawn spin-offs like mating rabbits. In short, as the economy worsens, you can bet that Hollywood will also suffer.”
I asked David for his impressions of Gaza, Operation Cast Lead.
David expressed full support for the offensive and claimed that pretty much the entire country—except for the extreme lefties who, like most lefties, have but a tenuous relationship to reality—is fed up with the aggression from Gaza and desperately want to crush the enemy.
David sighed, and I sensed a “but” coming.
“But,” said David, “I'm really afraid that Olmert, Livni and Barak made a deal with Fatah and Egypt to go into Gaza, destroy Hamas and then turn it over to Fatah.”
I let this sink in and my stomach did an Olympic level reverse flip. Yup, David might be right, all the diplomatic moves that Livni pulled before the offensive certainly hint at such a foolish alliance.
Let's be clear, Fatah and Hamas share the identical strategic goal: the annihilation of Israel and the death of Jews everywhere. They only differ on tactics. Hamas insists on round the clock terrorism coupled with massive propaganda efforts, whereas Fatah favors limited terrorism coupled with equally incendiary propaganda that features relentless Jew-hatred and legitimizes an Islamic genocidal theology.
There was a brief silence, both of us lost in our thoughts.
Finally, David stated: “Look, we hope this offensive works out. I trust in Ha Shem, G-d, and in our soldiers. But Olmert and Livni... well, it's not a good thing when you don't trust your own government.”
Absorbing this common-sense thought I wondered to myself if there is any Israeli politician who would be trusted by a majority of the Israeli public.
I have no answer.
David expressed deep concerns about Israeli Arabs who are rioting in support of Hamas.
I agreed: “They're a Fifth Column, nothing less. Israel cannot suffer such treason for much longer.”
“Very worrying,” David dead-panned.
“What about the North, Hizbullah in Lebanon?” I asked.
“Yeah, we're waiting for them to make a move. It's a real possibility.”
“I don't think they'll attack unless the IDF pushes ground troops into Gaza. That will give Hizbullah the perfect opportunity to attack with their long range missiles, then Israel has to deal with two-fronts at the same time. No army likes to find itself in that situation.”
“Yeah, you're probably right.”
On that happy note, I asked about Jeremy, David's eldest son, on active duty somewhere in the land of Israel.
David disclosed Jeremy's deployment, information Seraphic Secret will not reveal.
David said: “It's not easy.”
“Nope,” I agreed.
We wished each other a good Shabbos and said goodbye.
And before dropping off to sleep I recalled the exalted words of the Jewish prophet Joel (Hebrew: יואל).
Announce this among the nations: prepare for war; arouse the mighty; let all the soldiers approach and ascend. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning forks into spears; the weak shall say, I am strong.
Several readers have written asking how they can help Israel: One of our wonderful advertisers Hatzalah is a worthy place to start. Their volunteer medics rush to all scenes with incredible speed and they have saved numerous lives. Please donate generously.
A Palestinian terrorist-spokesmodel gets on Fox News and lies, and lies and lies so more. Her act puts Julius Streicher to shame. The Fox anchor, unlike most, doesn't put up with her outrageous blood libels. H/T Treppenwitz.
Jack is out with his most excellent Gaza Roundup #6.
Which calls for our trusty morale booster:
Brigitte Bardot, the stalwart anti-sharia
movie star.
The IDF has entered the blogosphere, check out their site, some good stuff there.
Pop Quiz: What is today?
Marilyn says: “Hey, Seraphic Secret, isn't today Friday Footwear?”
Well, yes it is, Marilyn, but there's a war in Gaza, do you actually think that we'd spend time on something so superficial?
You bet we would.
So: Karen waltzes into my office, back from a lightning, F-16ish sortie into Loehmann's and announces that she bought some new shoes. “Well,” says yours truly, “let me see and judge.” Karen, graceful as Cyd Charisse, slips into her latest, greatest purchase. I study the new flats and hand out the highest compliment one can bestow on women's footwear: “Cute shoes!” Karen frowns: “Really?” I'm like: “You know me, I'm a harsh critic, merciless even. Those are cute, cute, cute. They're all, Tuesday Weld Tortures Dobie Gillis to Death.” Karen sighs with relief and marches back into Casa Avrech. CUT TO: A half hour later. Karen limps into my office and announces the looming tragedy: “The shoes hurt, right here.” The love of my life steps out of her Tuesday Weld Tortures Dobie Gillis to Death flats and shows me the spot where her itsy-bitsy foot is being cruelly lacerated. Reasonably, I go: “You'll have to return them.” Karen's expression gets all stern, like Golda Meir sending the Mossad to liquidate Black September terrorists—only Karen's much prettier. “I am not returning these shoes. They are too nice!” “But—” Karen shakes her head back and forth and her eyes go all flinty. She separates her words like cobblestones: “Not. Returning. Shoes.” And that is why Seraphic Secret has Friday Footwear, even during Operation Cast Lead.
Ground assault into Gaza tonight?
IDF troops on the Israeli-Gaza border wait for orders.
Photo: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty)
Karen and I wish all our friends, our relatives, and the IDF a lovely and meaningful Shabbos.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:32 AM | Comments (13)
January 01, 2009
Ten Best Movies of 2008, Part II
Once again, Seraphic Secret is taking a short break from blogging the Gaza war to look back at the Ten Best Movies I screened in 2008. I have to admit that I did not see one contemporary release that comes close to the quality and passion of these older films. And keep in mind that most of these classic studio movies were produced on modest budgets, never intended as studio blockbusters. These ten products of Hollywood's golden age are what Hollywood used to do best: solid, unpretentious entertainment.
William Boyd, Mary Astor, Louis Wolheim in
Two Arabian Knights.
4. Two Arabian Knights, (1927), produced by Howard Hughes, Directed by Lewish Milestone, starring William Boyd, Louis Wolheim , who was fluent in Yiddish, and Mary Astor. Winner of the Oscar for Best Comedy Direction in 1927, the first and last time that category was included in the Oscar ceremonies. This hilarious and beautifully crafted movie was immensely popular with the public. Until quite recently, it was considered a lost classic, and then the negative was unearthed among the Howard Hughes archive. Boyd, the future Hopalong Cassidy, unbelievably young and matinee idol handsome, is paired with Louis Wolheim—his trademark broken nose is like a potato glued between his eyes—are squabbling WWI doughboys, captured by the Germans. They escape to Constantinople and there compete for the affections of an Arabian princess, the stunning Mary Astor. The script by Donald McGibney Wallace Smith Cyril Gardner James T. O'Donohoe and, whew, George Marion Jr. is tight and liberally sprinkled with brilliant sight gags. A sparkling pleasure from beginning to end.
3. Blonde Crazy (1931) starring Jimmy Cagney, and Joan Blondell, Directed by Roy Del Ruth. Wonderful and clever film about two con artists, the manic Jimmy Cagney, and the sexy, wisecracking Joan Blondell. Most of their victims are low-life crooks and con artists. But Cagney is tempted by a big score to become an outright thief, breaking the code Blondell holds dear. Like most movies, this is a love story. Cagney is all jangling nerves, constantly looking for the next mark, while the wide-eyed Joan Blondell waits for her partner in crime to realize that this partnership can yield only love or heartbreak. Blondell was one of the hardest working actresses in Hollywood. Born poor, to vaudeville performers—her father's real name was Blustein—she clawed her way to the top and never took her fame or good fortune for granted. For a few months Blondell was shooting so many films simultaneously—Blondell appeared in more Warner Bros. films than any other actress— she finally checked into a hotel and slept for three days straight.
Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones in Cluny Brown.
2. Cluny Brown, (1946) with Jennifer Jones and Charles Boyer. This was director Ernst Lubitch’s last film. The Lubitch touch is most in evidence with Jennifer Jone's light-as-air performance as Cluny, a poor young beauty who is sent away by her uncle to “work respectable” as a maid in the English countryside. You see, Cluny is a passionate plumber, and everywhere she goes in polite society people are shocked, just shocked by Cluny's commitment to good plumbing. There's a great moment when Cluny confronts an overflowing sink, rolls up her sleeves, and then all business, rolls down her stockings to attack the problem. Charles Boyer stares in disbelief, and then his expression softens and love settles into his heart. Jennifer Jones won an Oscar for her fine work in Song of Bernadette, but as everyone in the movie business knows, comedy is harder than drama and here Jones is just incandescent. Cluny Brown, not often screened, is a gentle comedy and an irresistible love story that should be seen by everyone who loves movies.
1. Bombshell, (1933) Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Frank Morgan, Una Merkel and Franchot Tone. Harlow plays Harlow. That's what this film is really about. Harlow, all wisecracks and fed-up with Hollywood's merry-go-round insanity, is Lola Burns, a Hollywood sexpot. Her father and brother are always looking for handouts, and the studio publicity flack cooks up outrageous publicity stunts to add heat to an overheated reputation as a smoldering blonde bombshell. Harlow, a hugely appealing and gifted comedienne, delivers the best most energized performance of her career. In truth, like Lola, Harlow yearned for a normal life, a husband and children, but was thwarted by bad judgment in men, and a monstrously overbearing mother who controlled every aspect of her daughter's life and career. The great director Victor Fleming with ace screenwriters John Lee Mahin and Jules Furthman cooked up this Hollywood tale as a thinly disguised look at Fleming's former lover, silent film star Clara Bow. Fleming observed that Bow's life, on the surface was Hollywood glamorous, but when Bow went home at night, her mansion was filled with dog droppings and her deeply unstable family soaked her for every penny she earned. Bombshell is actually a screwball comedy before Hollywood invented that most entertaining genre.
Here's Part I of my Ten Best of 2008.
My close friend Dirty Harry agrees with Seraphic Secret, the New York Times review of Valkyrie, reveals a severely broken moral compass.
And hey, let's start a list of The IDF's Greatest Hits of the Gaza War. Here's #1.
This calls for another BB morale booster for our troops:
My friends Jameel and Aussie Dave brilliantly live-blog the war. I suggest a Pulitzer Prize for both, but we all know that only politically correct liberals are ever in the running.
And heeeeer's hard-working Jack with Gaza Round-up 5.5. Somebody treat this man to lunch at Pico Kosher Deli.
Seraphic Secret volunteers.
The IDF has a You Tube account where you can screen their latest blockbusters.
Oh man, definitely need yet one more BB morale booster.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:09 PM
| Comments (2)
Here's the reason Israel has, finally, gone to war against Gaza. Jack, steadfastly chained to his computer, eye on the Gaza blogosphere, has just released his Gaza Roundup #5. Hmmm. Still no morale boosting pic of the anti-Islamist Brigitte Bardot as Seraphic Secret suggested to Jack. Okay, we'll do our patriotic duty. I'm like the Bob Hope of the Gaza war.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:41 AM
| Comments (8)
Here's the current rocket range of those pesky Hamas missiles the dinosaur media is so sanguine about. Tel-Aviv is next. No wonder Israel finally went to war. H/T The Muqata
BB says: “Hang tough, Israel. We're in this together.” Why We Fight, Part II
And here's another good reason to fight the Islamists. Contrast the aspirations of Muslim-Arab women in Gaza with Jewish-Israeli mothers in Israel.