June 2005 Archives

Earlier this month, Ynet published an interview with former Israeli Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu in which his position on the disengagement was paraphrased thusly:

In a surprising interview with ultra-Orthodox daily "Mishpacha" (family), the spiritual leader of the national-religious world, and one of its most strident opponents of the disengagement plan, said Gush Katif residents should leave their homes quietly and called on IDF soldiers not to refuse orders to evacuate settlements.

Throughout that article, Ynet mixed direct quotes (none of which, as it turns out, actually addressed the refusal of orders) with its own conclusions (which did), most notably here:

The rabbi also called on Orthodox soldiers not to refuse orders to evacuate settlements, saying they must remove residents "with broken hearts and tears in your eyes," instead of allowing "all sorts of wicked people" to drag settlers out of their homes with glee.

"We must not allow a situation of Jews fighting Jews," he repeated.

Rabbi Eliyahu's apparent "change of heart" created quite an unhappy stir in the anti-disengagement camp. Then, last week, he clarified his position (or did he?) in a new interview published at Arutz Sheva and summarized (again) at Ynet.

Q. Is it permitted to actively help in the expulsion?
A. It is absolutely forbidden.

Q. A career officer or policeman - must he resign?
A. ...They need not resign in fear that the expulsion may happen. They must inform their commanders that they cannot carry out these orders, and ask to be excused from training exercises related to the disengagement.

Q. A reserves soldier who is called up to the army and whose service helps the disengagement directly or indirectly - must he ask to be released from this reserve duty?
A. ...Yes, certainly, he must ask for such a release and not help directly or indirectly.

Q. What happens if he is not released and is threatened with imprisonment?
A. We said above that the Torah prohibits us from taking part in this act. Therefore, a soldier must tell his commander, "I am not refusing orders, but I cannot fulfill this order."... [and if he ends up sitting in jail for this, it will be considered a merit for him, and 'he is fortunate that he was caught because of something the Torah commanded him.']

Q. If so, what did [you] mean in [your] ruling not to refuse orders?
A. We do not want to dismantle the army that protects the residents and the citizens, and therefore we are against refusal in principle. The soldier must say, "I can't." If they force him to do this forbidden act, he should enter the family's house, sit on the floor, cry with them, and be saved from the prohibition in a passive manner.

Clarification or concession to pressure? Hard to tell.

Laurence Simon has lost one of his kittycats. The grand grumpus herself has passed away.

Thanks for the laughs and rest in treats, Edloe. And thanks to Lair for sharing her.

(with a nod to Charles Johnson...)

Guess who's demanding a permanent seat on the UNSC?

SANAA (AFP) - Foreign ministers of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) opened a meeting with a call for a Muslim permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

OIC secretary general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu urged a greater role for Muslim countries in world affairs and demanded a "permanent representation for the Islamic world on the UN Security Council".

"The Islamic world, which represents one fifth of total mankind, cannot remain excluded from the activities of the Security Council which assumes a fundamental role in keeping security and peace in the world," he said Tuesday.

It can't? Oh, dear. There are certainly some very good reasons why it has up until now. Let's try to keep them in mind, shall we?

Amir Oren in Ha'aretz:

Lieutenant General Halutz, who has publicly hedged the certainty of the implementation with a possibility of a change in the government's decision, has admitted that a cancellation of the evacuation is possible. The army juggernaut is pressing forward and is slated to crush anything that stands in its way, and eject everyone who dwells there, but it has a driver, the government, and it is within its authority to stop what it has started.

[ . . . ]

What will happen if there is no evacuation? The same thing. A little war or a little peace - the IDF is planning for both alternatives, with the evacuation or without it, when the dust settles or if there is no dust. The renewal of terror, which this month has thus far killed seven Israelis, is taken into account before, during and after the evacuation, as is American pressure - there being no Europe - for an immediate continuation of the peace process.

A renewal of fighting in the north is possible, not certain, following the elections and the governments that have arisen in Lebanon and Iran, as a reminder of the connection between an Arab application of force and an Israeli withdrawal, or its cancellation. The blessed disengagement will not win Israel a reduction in pressures, and its cursed cancellation will not be considered a sign of the disintegration of the democratic state of Israel, but rather merely a defeat for its government. The "no" in the French public to the European constitution will be interpreted as Jacques Chirac's failure, not as the end of the road for the Fifth republic. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is not Israel. He is just a prime minister, who has not learned - yet - to hold proper elections before the minor evacuation, in the footsteps of which will come better, major evacuations.

For the life of me, I can't imagine what a "better, major evacuation" might consist of. I do hope I never find out.

Almost (but not quite) as disturbing as the news that Russia's state prosecutor is investigating the Shulchan Aruch for alleged racist and anti-Russian material (deep breath) are the comments posted to today's Ha'aretz article on the subject. There's nothing like a little state-sponsored blood libel to bring out the antisemites in all their rage and hateful fury.

Jewish law constittes incitement??? The answer is so simple : YES & YES & YES. There is no need for two to think about it. It is is so clear as Sun light during August day in Sinai.

Thanks
Abu Mohamad [Ein Kareemy Al Qudssy]

Abu Mohamad, by the way, sometimes claims to come from Dubai, UAE, and sometimes from "Al Quds Al Arabia," which is actually the name of a newspaper and a political description of a place (Arab Jerusalem). But that's neither here nor there.

On a different note, there's this curious comment from someone called Jo:

Even though the (the Brit Hadasha) New Testament is a Jewish book, it is considered by some (when taken out of context) to be anti-semitic. The Shulchan Aruch has many references in it to non-Jews and isnt so pleasant (and this is in context). The Tenach and the Brit Hadasha is straight forward but people rely more on commentaries or opinions than to look for themselves. . ..

Yeah, well, enough of that.

This one's supposedly from a couple in South Africa planning to make aliyah soon. Oy.

This is another sign from above that Jews must get out of the exile.
As stated in the report the Russian authorities are "upset" at what Jewish Law says about the treatment of non-Jews. Well the Russian`s are right. The Shulchan Aruch does certainly assert very strict racist laws regarding the treatment of non-Jews;but these apply primarily to non-Jews living in Eretz Yisrael and would certainly be seen as racist outside Israel.

But all of the nattering aside, this is looking like very serious stuff -- for the remaining Jews in Russia, certainly, but also for the rest of us. And I expect the Arab press will be watching the developments closely.

From Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's very lucid dissent in Kelo v. New London:

Petitioners own properties in two of the plan’s seven parcels—Parcel 3 and Parcel 4A. Under the plan, Parcel 3 is slated for the construction of research and office space as a market develops for such space. It will also retain the existing Italian Dramatic Club (a private cultural organization) though the homes of three plaintiffs in that parcel are to be demolished. Parcel 4A is slated, mysteriously, for “ ‘park support.’ ” Id., at 345–346. At oral argument, counsel for respondents conceded the vagueness of this proposed use, and offered that the parcel might eventually be used for parking. Tr. of Oral Arg. 36.

I was wondering why "Big Yellow Taxi" has been playing in my head since Friday. (And, yeah, I'm like the millioneth person to think of this, I'm sure.)

According to an official IDF press release, the incident earlier today went like this:

As a result of security assessments and information indicating the intent of extremists to use uninhabited structures in the southern Gaza Strip to construct an outpost prior to the disengagement the IDF demolished 11 uninhabited structures this afternoon, near the Israeli community of Shirat HaYam in the southern Gaza Strip. According to IDF assessments, the construction of this outpost could have led to possible confrontations.

The activity was completed quickly and decisively. During the activity, dozens of civilians illegally entered the closed military zone that was declared, in an attempt to interfere with the IDF activity and vandalize IDF equipment and vehicles. As a result of this rioting, scuffles broke out between the civilians and the IDF force at the scene, during which 10 Israeli civilians, an Israeli Policeman, 4 Border Policemen, and 5 IDF soldiers were lightly wounded and were taken to hospital for further treatment.

During the activity an IDF soldier shouted out a political statement in public. He was taken from the scene and will be tried by a senior officer.

A soldier shouted a "political statement." For which he will stand trial. Gee, I wondered. What could he have said? "I support Sharon?" "Get out of my face you settler freaks?" Unlikely. For that, he probably would have gotten a promotion. What he shouted (after he had already been arrested for refusing to demolish the structures) was this:

"Yehudi lo megaresh yehudi"

A Jew doesn't expel a Jew.

Damn straight.

(Actually, a Jew doesn't expel an Arab -- or anyone else --, either, which is a big problem I have with this pervasive anti-disengagement slogan. Still, in this context it has the meaning intended. Don't ask me to do this. This, I won't do.)

More on this:

"I am proud that he was able to stand up and say what he feels," declared Ralph Bieber – father of IDF soldier Avi Bieber, who refused his military orders during the demolition of a row of abandoned homes in Gush Katif on Sunday.

"We have been getting phone calls from people who are proud of what he did and that he was able to say what he feels," Bieber told The Jerusalem Post late Sunday night.

The Bieber family moved to Israel from New Jersey nine years ago and, following two years in Efrat, moved to the nearby settlement of Tekoa. Ralph, an insurance broker, said he spoke at length with Avi, 19, about what he would do the day the army called on him to participate in the disengagement.

"He discussed this with me and I said to him 'I can't tell you what to feel. You should do what is in your heart," Bieber recalled Sunday night.

On Sunday, Bieber said, in the middle of the violent clashes with the settlers, he received a phone call from his son.

"He saw his officers beating up other Jews," Bieber recalled. "He never saw anything like this, Jews beating other Jews. He called me in the middle and said 'Abba [father], what should I do?' He said: 'Jews are beating. Jews are beating Jews.' I said go to your commanders and that is what he did."

Update: Avi has company.

Rove was (mostly) right.

Yes, there was a terrorist attack near Hebron today. An Israeli teenager was killed and three others were wounded. Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs have claimed the "credit."

Next?

Well, Israel's Labor party seems to be having some problems.

The Labor Party's leadership race, which was set for Tuesday, will be delayed for anywhere between two weeks and six months, pending a decision by the Labor central committee on Sunday.

Labor chairman Shimon Peres and secretary-general Eitan Cabel announced on Thursday that they had no choice but to convene the committee to delay the race due to the many incidents of irregularities and illegalities in the party's recent membership drive.

Cabel recommended that the election be delayed for at least two months to conduct a serious investigation. But Peres, who is leading in the race, said he wants it in two weeks, Histadrut Labor Federation chief Amir Peretz, who is running second, still wants a vote on Tuesday, and former prime minister Ehud Barak, who was expected to fare poorly in the race, wants it delayed by as much as six months.

Unfortunately, "irregularities and illegalities" are the rule rather than the exception in Israeli politics. If you're wondering why, here's a recent (JPost) op-ed that may shed some light.

Shabbat Shalom.

For the last three years, there has been a Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem with protests but no significant problems. Today (now yesterday), just one week ahead of the fourth annual parade, city officials gave notice that they were shutting it down.

The city council, including the mayor, decided "it is not right to allow the march or other planned activities to take place in the streets of Jerusalem, fearing that it will create an uproar, offend a wide sector of city residents and out of fear of public disturbances," wrote Eitan Meir, Director-General of the Jerusalem Municipality in a letter to event organizers.

This is total unadultered bullsh*t. And it's further evidence of an alarming trend toward erosion of the ideals of democracy and tolerance in Israel of late. This clearly has nothing to do with security or saving lives. It's just another arbitrary and capricious imposition of the will of the few and the elite on the liberty of those who dare to disagree.

Last month, organizers of the international WorldPride event, scheduled to be held in Jerusalem in August, agreed to postpone it for a full year in deference to both the security concerns and the emotional upheaval anticipated in connection with the 'disengagement,' electing to hold only the dramatically scaled down parade on June 30th. It's sad to note that WorldPride has so much more respect for the spirit of compromise and accomodation than Jerusalem's municipal leaders do.

Update: (perhaps to be moved up top tomorrow)

Good news (for now).

The Jerusalem District Court ordered the Jerusalem municipality on Sunday to drop its ban on the fourth annual gay pride parade in the city, accepting a petition by Open House, Jerusalem's gay and lesbian community center.

Judge Moussia Arad, who is vice president of the court for administrative affairs, also ordered the municipality and Mayor Uri Lupolianski to pay court costs of NIS 30,000 [roughly $6,500] each.

The judge ruled that City Hall cannot discriminate against a particular public because certain of its members object to that public's opinions or sexual orientation.

Yes, there go those "activist judges" again. Upholding the ideals of democracy and tolerance and all that other "liberal" stuff.

I.e., mine. On the equation of "messianic Judaism" with the Reform and Conservative movements. Not.

Posted at The Jewish View.

Today, June 21st, was the longest day of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere), and this fact is well known. What's not as well known is that it's not at all the latest sunset of the year in these parts.

While the difference over the next few weeks is measured in seconds rather than minutes, the sun will continue to set later over the Philadelphia metropolitan area for another week or so. Meanwhile, sunrise is probably already a full minute later than it was last week. There is complicated symmetry to this process. It works the way it works. But for a scientific explanation of the effect, go here.

In a press release (published today by IMRA), Physicians for Human Rights-Israel "calls upon the Palestinian society and its leaders to strongly condemn the use of patients for violent purposes."

What brought this on? This did.

The IDF thwarted a suicide bomb attack Monday morning when soldiers caught a young woman, Wafa Samir Ibrahim Bas, 20, wearing explosives strapped into her underwear at the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, it was released for publication.

Apparently the young woman took advantage of the fact that she had been issued a permit by Israel allowing her entry into Israeli territory for humanitarian assistance, IDF officials said.

The woman was intending to blow herself up in a crowded room at the medical clinic in Beersheba where she'd been receiving treatment for burns sustained in an accident at her home. When an alarm at the humiliating checkpoint she was forced to pass through in order to carry out her plan gave her away, she tried three times to detonate herself on the spot.

So, with that in mind, let's look at the actual context of PHR-I's "call for condemnation" of this heinous attempted attack.

In the past Israel has sealed the passage points (Erez and Rafah) for patients for extended times, as part of what was described as security measures. Patients who needed crucial treatments outside of the Gaza Strip were seriously harmed by these closures and some even died as a result. A sweeping hardening of the rules and regulations on all patients is a collective punishment which endangers the lives of many and is not allowed. So to, taking advantage of the ill for the purpose of committing attacks is inherently wrong and we call upon the Palestinian society and its leaders to strongly condemn such actions.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel has and will continue to work against the occupation. The violations of the Palestinians' human rights, and specifically the right to health, in the occupied territories are a direct result of this violent occupation. However, as long as the violence continues each side to the conflict must observe the basic principles specified in international conventions and law. The protection of the ill, medical professionals, ambulances and hospitals is one of the most important of these principles.

Sickening.

Bloggybottom, a new blog by, well, a certain Mr. Ess, links to, quotes and comments on this rather incoherent press conference by Condi Rice in Ramallah. I have a few words of my own to add. But first, Secretary Rice:

The United States’ position about Hamas has not changed. You know that we list -- continue to view Hamas as a terrorist organization. This is going to be a Palestinian process. But I will say one thing about how the presidential elections went. And that is that the man who said that he was for peace between Israel and the Palestinian people, that he could imagine a future for the Palestinian people where they lived in a state side by side with Israel based on a process that went along the roadmap to the establishment of a Palestinian state, that he could imagine a world in which Palestinian children could grow up without fear, that that is the platform that the Palestinian people chose in the presidential elections [what happened to the end of this sentence? ed.]. Because I think that is the platform that the Palestinian people -- that expresses the hopes of all people around the world.

Let's leave aside for a moment the fact that, as everyone knows, the palestinian people had no choice in the presidential elections. Or that they had only one choice, which amounts to the same thing. And that this "choice" had nothing to do with "the hopes of all people around the world," or even with the hopes of the palestinian people, for that matter. I'd simply draw your attention to my previous post, here ("there is no place for a Jewish state in Palestine"), and point out that when Abu Mazen talks about the palestinian people living in a state side by side with Israel, he's not talking about the Jewish state of Israel. He's talking about living side by side with a "state of Israel" that's a bi-national secular state, i.e., a non-Jewish state. Despite the efforts of President Bush to nudge them in that direction, neither Abbas nor the rest of the current palestinian leadership accept the notion of a Jewish state. Period. (Remember Aqaba?) And Condoleezza Rice knows this.

I frankly don’t think that it is the dream of mothers and fathers around the world that their children will be suicide bombers. I don’t think it is the dream of people around the world that their children will have no future but one of violence. [non sequiter alert] And so this is a man of peace, his government is a government that is seeking peace. And it is the goal and the policy of the United States government to support a Palestinian leadership that is, we believe, determined to come to a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The man is not a man of peace. His government is not a government of peace. The current palestinian leadership is determined to come to a peaceful resolution of the conflict by redefining "Israel" in its own twisted image. And Condoleezza Rice knows that, too. She's a rather intelligent woman.

Omri has commentary on another of Condi's obtuse remarks at the same press conference.

Boker Tov Boulder brought my attention to this eye-opener in yesterday's Jerusalem Post. It's an essay by Judea Pearl, Daniel Pearl's father and a noted "crusader for peace." He's writing about his experience at the US-Islamic World Forum, in Doha, Qatar, where he was hoping to find support for the "two state solution" and the progress of the 'roadmap.'

I had a friendly conversation on this issue with one of Dahlan's aides, who confessed that "we Palestinians do not believe in a two-state solution, for we can't agree to the notion of 'Jewish state.'" "Judaism is a religion," he added "and religions should not have states."

When I pointed out that Israeli society is 70 percent secular, bonded by history, not religion, and that by "Jewish state" Israelis mean (for lack of a better term) a "national-Jewish state," he replied: "Still, Palestine is too small for two states."

This was somewhat disappointing to me, given the official Palestinian Authority endorsement of the road map. "Road map to what?" I thought, "to a Middle East without Israel?" Where was the reform and liberalism among the post-Arafat Palestinian leadership that was expected to breed flexibility and compromise?

I discussed my disappointment with an Egyptian scholar renowned as a champion of liberalism in the Arab context. His answer was even more blunt: "The Jews should build themselves a Vatican," he said, "a spiritual center somewhere near Jerusalem. But there is no place for a Jewish state in Palestine, not even a national-Jewish state. The Jews were driven out 2,000 years ago, and that should be final, similar to the expulsion of the Moors from Spain 500 years ago."

[ . . . ]

Qandil's bald statement drove home a very sobering realization: in 2005, I still cannot name a single Muslim leader (or a journalist, or an intellectual) who has publicly acknowledged the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a dispute between two legitimate national movements.

So there you have it. Not a nice way to wrap up the week. I'll try to do better.

Shabbat Shalom.

Two completely unrelated reports I've spotted this morning bear watching -- for flying pig sightings.

First, from Nablus, where palestinian Prime Minister Qurei spoke to the graduating class of Al Najah University:

The premiere also added that the state of chaos in the occupied Palestinian territories, which he described as "disturbing", would lead to dissolving the current government if it continued, saying that the government and security services should assume their responsibilities and enforce law and order, or another government that could rise up to the challenges must be formed.

"There is no future for this country if the chaos continues, and anarchy and its beneficiaries should all go to hell," the Prime Minister charged, calling to a unified stance to end the current lawlessness and refrain from holding the Israeli occupation always responsible for it.

Yes, I'll repeat that.

. . . calling to a unified stance to end the current lawlessness and refrain from holding the Israeli occupation always responsible for it.

Well, I'll be.

And then there's this, via Meryl, via Citizen Smash:

Two employees of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals were arrested on animal cruelty charges in Ahoskie, N.C., after investigators saw dead dogs being thrown into a grocery store garbage container Wednesday, according to the Ahoskie Police Department.

Ahoskie police conducting surveillance as part of a monthlong investigation reported finding 18 dead dogs in the container and 13 animal carcasses in a van registered to PETA and seized by authorities.

The cats and dogs were taken Wednesday from animal shelters in Northampton and Bertie counties, police said. Animals had been collected every Wednesday for four weeks, and carcasses had been found dumped in Ahoskie every Wednesday for about a month, Ahoskie Police Chief Troy Fitzhugh said.

It actually gets worse (fluffy kittens, drug violations). And Ingrid Newkirk, President of PETA PUTA, has announced a news conference today to address this disturbing (I'll bet) report. But do read Meryl's commentary, which puts the story into sharp perspective.

So Dennis Kucinich and Neil Abercrombie have found a few Republican chumps to co-sponor their newest tuck tail and run proposal. Kucinich is touting this as a bi-partisan resolution and says he's confidant of passage, now that he has [two] Republicans on board.

Yes, he said that with a straight face.

Oy.

Update: (Thurs. 6/16)

"Today is the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq,'' Kucinich said at a news conference in Washington today. "It is time to thank our troops and say, 'come home.' "

Since today is the last day of the heat wave, I'm putting off until tomorrow some outdoor things I should have been doing all week. And spending too much time at the computer. So here's another thought, this time out of my left field (sort of).

Question: How is the recent Senate agreement on the "nuclear option" like the Middle East "peace process?"

One of my many problems with the "peace process" is that Israel is always expected to make costly and virtually irrevocable concessions (of land, mostly) in return for promises of future good better behavior. This has been tried in the past, of course, without what I'd call encouraging results. And whenever Israel makes such concessions, within a relatively short period of time she can expect to be asked, "yes, but what have you done for peace lately?"

So last month a committee of fourteen came up with an agreement, largely touted by the media as a "win" for the Democrats, in which the Senate rules would remain untampered with so long as the Democrats limit their judicial filibuster activities to "extraordinary circumstances" (undefined).

More ink has been spilled (figuratively speaking) on this subject than it deserves, and I'm not going to go over it all again. But this post and this one, too, over at Cooped Up reminded me of the alarming similarities between the length and shape of the Democrats' end of this stick and that of Israel's in its "land for peace" negotiations. As Jeff points out, the result is a few virtually irrevocable appointments of (IMO) dubious quality to the federal bench and the potential for resurrection of the "nuclear option" again whenever the Democrats finally think they've got themselves an "extraordinary" circumstance" That's a "win?" Only of time, and that only so long as more irrevocable concessions are in the offing. Sad, and not only for Democrats.

By the way, while I'm out here, I'm in total agreement with Jeff on this, too.

And finally (OT) -- will the autopsy results put an end to the accusations? Of course not.

Ever notice how some people who normally go out of their way to extol the virtues of the Constitution, the "rule of law" and the American flag seem to fly right off the handle sputtering with righteous indignation every time a judge or jury, having examined all of the evidence presented through the best efforts of both sides, comes to a conclusion that they, having examined only part of the evidence as filtered through and spun by their favorite media outlet, disagree with?

Well, I have. (And, yes, that was one sentence. Sorry.)

Perhaps resistance isn't futile after all?

Yuli Edelstein is to become the first Likud MK to move to Gush Katif in advance of disengagement. Edelstein said he believed that he and his family would be staying for a long time in Moshav Gadid.

"Wide public support is needed to forcibly evacuate settlers, but support is now declining," he said. Edelstein is the fourth MK to move to the settlements that are scheduled for evacuation.

He joins Effi Eitam (National Religious Zionist Renewal Party) and Uri Ariel (National Union) in Gush Katif; Arye Eldad has moved to Sa-Nur in northern Samaria.