8/23/03

Your daily hypocrisy from the pal administration

Mahmoud Abbas on the IDF's successful assassination of four terrorists:

"There is no doubt that what the Israeli troops carried out today is an ugly crime," he said. "We condemn such acts. This is against peace and the peace process."

Mahmoud Abbas on the suicide bombing that killed 20, including many children:

"I announce my strong condemnation of this horrible act which does not serve the interest of the Palestinian people at all, and I have given my instructions to the security minister to launch an investigation."

Yeah, you gotta love the guy. And believe him when he says he condemns the murder of civilians. Funny, he didn't mention that it was a violation of the shudna or of the peace process. Imagine that. permalink

American Digest

I don't know who these people are, but damn, they have a good website. Charles Johnson sent me to this memo (read the whole thing, it's excellent):

It has come to our attention, through a continuing rain of the body parts of our citizens onto our streets, that "your issues" do not seem to be resolvable through considered and mutually agreeable negotiations. The outcome of these 'negotiations' in the recent past seems to us to be one of we give and you take and then you kill us. We have decided that this is not a program that we wish to continue.

Indeed, it would seem to be the case that your "central issue," although internally generated within your institutions and religion, seems to be the eradication of the state of Israel and the extermination of the Jewish people here and abroad. We mention 'abroad' since it would seem to us that your goal is to first create a base that includes the entire state of Israel, kill the Jews within those borders, and then use that land as a base to kill Jews throughout the world. Perhaps we are wrong in this but we find that a people is best known by the company they keep.

We have had a similar experience with this "central issue" as a "final solution" towards the middle of the last century. We discovered, after millions of us had been slaughtered, that mollification, negotiation, and submission was not a successful policy. Indeed, we created the state of Israel around the central concept of 'Never again.'

Please note that after no little reflection and soul searching, we have decided to return Israel to this concept as the foundation of our internal and international policy from this moment forward.

But there's so much more on this weblog that you simply need to read the main page, then hit the archives. They lean right (farther to the right than I care for, actually), but damn, it's an excellent weblog. There's this:

Belsen, Dachau, the Gulag, the Killing Fields, the Towers, Jerusalem -- they all attracted and employed men like this; men happy in their work and proud, damned proud, to be killing. They and their masters have always been the same and the only answer to their ambitions has always, in the end, been the same. These are people with whom negotiations are futile; who live only for the death of Israel and the Jews. This is their only goal. All their protestations and excuses are merely ploys to gain time and arms in order to make their ultimate extermination of their enemies complete.

And this, on evacuating New York City in the event of a terrorist attack:

No, as we saw yesterday, the city is prepared to cope with a massive disruption as long as there is no terrorism and hence no panic involved. Beyond that, any plan for the "orderly evacuation of New York City" is about as real as a redevelopment plan for Middle Earth.

The terrifying truth is that there is no plan that can be made to evacuate New York City. Officials can go through the motions, but I'd bet my life that any scenarios that have been run on this problem always result in a death toll somewhere north of five thousand on a good day.

The best that New Yorkers can hope for, should they come under massive terrorist attacks that paralyze the entire city and kill thousands of citizens, is that Mayor Bloomberg can be safely escorted to the downtown heliport so that he can make it to his private jet for a relaxing week at his home in Bermuda. Concerned citizens may then line the promenade at Brooklyn Heights and the other areas and buildings in which they are trapped to wish him "Bon voyage."

I don't know that I agree with that, and I'm betting Diana Moon won't, but this weblog has excellent writing and fascinating or funny subjects. (Loved the "Is Kansas flatter than a pancake?" post.)

Nice work, guys. permalink

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8//22/03

There was no hudna

Terrorists have "revoked" the so-called cease fire. This was the cease fire in which attacks were made nearly every day—a lessening of attacks was considered a cease fire. No, a cease fire is the cessation of all attacks.

Here's proof there was no hudna, and the terrorists have been lying all along:

The IDF arrested four members of an Islamic Jihad terror cell from the West Bank town of Jenin on Tuesday, thereby thwarting another terrorist attack on the day a suicide bomber killed 20 people and wounded over 100 in Jerusalem.

According to security report released Thursday, the terrorists were on their way to carry out a suicide bombing in Haifa.

An IDF unit arrested the bomber, 26-year-old Omar Utman; his driver Ashraf Halil, and Muhammad Thana, who was in a leading car and was meant to clear the way for the car carrying the suicide bomber.

These attacks cannot happen overnight, or in a matter of hours. They take months of planning and strategy.

During their interrogation by the Shin Bet the terrorists gave up their commander and planner of the strike, Bashar Shuhana.

Shuahana was released from an Israeli prison in March this year. He was serving a two-year sentence.

The terrorists also led the interrogators to the suicide bomber's explosives belt, which weighed 10kg. Army sappers detonated it device in a controlled explosion.

Now you know why the pals want their people released from prison. They need more planners to take the place of the ones the IDF arrest.

Also during the "hudna:" the weapons-smuggling and weapons-making went unchecked.

Palestinian terrorists have been attacking the Israeli Negev town of Sderot and civilian settlements in Gaza with a barrage of Kassam missiles and mortars, a military source told The Jerusalem Post.

"Since 10 p.m. last night (Thursday) Palestinians have been launching a steady hail of Kassam missiles and mortar shells aimed at Sderot and Jewish communities in Gaza," the source said.

"The Negev town of Sderot has suffered extensive damage to homes with 28 mortars and at least 6 Kassam missiles. These are not small rocks that Palestinian children are throwing. These are missiles with explosive warheads whose only purpose is to kill innocent Jewish civilians and destroy a cease-fire for which Israel desires," the source said.

And just to make your morning even more depressing, here is the face of one of the victims of this week's suicide bombing:

His name was Shmuel Tabenfeld. He was three months old. He was an American citizen, as was his mother—also dead now.

Goldie Taubenfeld, 43, and Shmuel Taubenfeld, 3 months, NY

A mother of thirteen, Goldie lived in New Square, an orthodox community near Monsey, NY, and was in Israel with her husband and two of her children for a family wedding. Both she and her son, Shmuel, were killed in the attack.

Goldie and Shmuel were buried in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening.

They were in town for a wedding. Their family had a funeral instead.

Build the wall, Ariel. Build it high and wide and safe. Then let the palestinians eat the fruits of their own industry. If they stay true to form, they'll kill each other off within a decade.

Buh-bye.

Wizbang readers: Try the main page, and see how little has changed in two years.

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8/21/03

I'm back

And I'm tired. Below is the only entry I wrote at CAJE. There wasn't much extra time, and when I did have the time, I found myself chatting with various other Jewish educators, or going to the concerts at night, or just plain hanging around schmoozing.

I haven't had dinner yet, and I've just driven 540 miles in about nine hours. And cleaned up two separate incidences of cat barf.

There is a cricket in my kitchen sink that I cannot seem to kill, but that has managed to startle me twice. The cats are yowling, the pot is boiling, and I may not get to another entry until tomorrow morning.

Oh, and I didn't stop in Charleston, West Virginia, or any of its suburbs. Again.

If you really missed me, you could always show your appreciation for my return by, oh, hitting my wishlist. The Two Towers is out on DVD in a day or two.

Or you could donate to Magen David Adom. I have pictures of me standing in front of the ambulance that was donated by the people of Columbus. More details later. permalink

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8/17/03

CAJE

So I don't know if it's the Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education, the Conference of American Jewish Educators, or the Conference on the Advancement of Jewish Education, but I do know this: There are 1200 Jewish teachers here at Ohio State University, and so far, my luck is holding: My roommate has not arrived. I may have the bathroom all to myself. Just like I did at Clarion, for five of the six weeks, anyway.

The odds were 400 to 1 that I'd find the three other teachers from Richmond, whom I did not know. Found 'em. I heard them talking about two of the synagogues, and thought, "Yeah, I know Beth El is a common name, but how many Beth Ahaba's can there be?" and said to them, "Or Atid." One of them is in my dorm.

Oh, the ride through Ohio was much less mountainy. Pictures to come when I get home. I expect I won't have time to do much else. They seem to have really scheduled things tightly.

Debbie Friedman, who is the Beatles of Jewish music, gave a concert tonight. Who knew that "Oseh Shalom" could be such a rocking song? (Aside to Charles and a few others: Yeah, here at a gathering of more than a thousand Jews, we sang about world peace, instead of preaching how many infidels should be murdered. We're better than them.)

I'm having a little trouble configuring the ethernet connection. Either it's not working in my room, or I just don't know how to to it correctly. Even after I, er, borrowed an ethernet cord from the computer room downstairs. I may try to plug in there, but in the meantime, there's the old standby: disk and FTP.

Oh, I have pictures of a truck fire/near explosion that happened in W.Va. yesterday. Looks like a bomb hit it. Anyway. More when I can get a few minutes. permalink

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Last week's blogs are archived. Looking for the Buffy Blogburst Index? Here's Israel vs. the world. Here's the Blogathon. The Superhero Dating Ratings are here. If you're looking for something funny, try the Hulk's solution to the Middle East conflict, or Yasser Arafat Secret Phone Transcripts. Iseema bin Laden's diary and The Fudd Doctrine are also good bets if you've never been here before.