Geert Wilders Speech

'In a generation or two, the US will ask itself: who lost Europe?'

Here is the speech of Geert Wilders, Chairman, Party for Freedom, the Netherlands, at the Four Seasons, New York, introducing an Alliance of Patriots and announcing the Facing Jihad Conference in Jerusalem.

The speech was sponsored by the Hudson Institute on September 25, 2008..

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Dear friends,

Thank you very much for inviting me.

I come to America with a mission. All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West. The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe.


First I will describe the situation on the ground in Europe. Then, I will say a few things about Islam. To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem.


The Europe you know is changing. You have probably seen the landmarks. But in all of these cities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world. It is the world of the parallel society created by Muslim mass-migration. All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighborhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen. And if they are, they might regret it. This goes for the police as well. It's the world of head scarves, where women walk around in figureless tents, with baby strollers and a group of children. Their husbands, or slaveholders if you prefer, walk three steps ahead. With mosques on many street corners. The shops have signs you and I cannot read. You will be hard-pressed to find any economic activity. These are Muslim ghettos controlled by religious fanatics. These are Muslim neighborhoods, and they are mushrooming in every city across Europe. These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city.


There are now thousands of mosques throughout Europe. With larger congregations than there are in churches. And in every European city there are plans to build super-mosques that will dwarf every church in the region. Clearly, the signal is: we rule.


Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam, Marseille and Malmo in Sweden. In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim. Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighborhoods. Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities. In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims. Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils. In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims. Non-Muslim women routinely hear 'whore, whore'. Satellite dishes are not pointed to local TV stations, but to stations in the country of origin. In France school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire and Diderot; the same is increasingly true of Darwin. The history of the Holocaust can no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity. In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system.. Many neighborhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves. Last week a man almost died after being beaten up by Muslims in Brussels, because he was drinking during the Ramadan. Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II. French is now commonly spoken on the streets of Tel Aviv and Netanya, Israel. I could go on forever with stories like this. Stories about Islamization.


A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live in Europe. San Diego University recently calculated that a staggering 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now. Bernhard Lewis has predicted a Muslim majority by the end of this century.


Now these are just numbers. And the numbers would not be threatening if the Muslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate. But there are few signs of that. The Pew Research Center reported that half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France. One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks. The British Centre for Social Cohesion reported that one-third of British Muslim students are in favor of a worldwide caliphate. Muslims demand what they call 'respect'. And this is how we give them respect. We have Muslim official state holidays.


The Christian-Democratic attorney general is willing to accept sharia in the Netherlands if there is a Muslim majority. We have cabinet members with passports from Morocco and Turkey.


Muslim demands are supported by unlawful behavior, ranging from petty crimes and random violence, for example against ambulance workers and bus drivers, to small-scale riots. Paris has seen its uprising in the low-income suburbs, the banlieus. I call the perpetrators 'settlers'. Because that is what they are. They do not come to integrate into our societies, they come to integrate our society into their Dar-al-Islam. Therefore, they are settlers.


Much of this street violence I mentioned is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighborhoods, their cities, their countries. Moreover, Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored. ,.


The second thing you need to know is the importance of Mohammed the prophet. His behavior is an example to all Muslims and cannot be criticized. Now, if Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem. But Mohammed was a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile, and had several marriages - at the same time. Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed. Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. If it is good for Islam, it is good. If it is bad for Islam, it is bad.


Let no one fool you about Islam being a religion. Sure, it has a god, and a here-after, and 72 virgins. But in its essence Islam is a political ideology. It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every person. Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life. Islam means 'submission'. Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia. If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies.


Now you know why Winston Churchill called Islam 'the most retrograde force in the world', and why he compared Mein Kampf to the Quran. The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor. I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times. I support Israel. First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz, second because it is a democracy, and third because Israel is our first line of defense.


This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam's territorial advance. Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines, Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia. Israel is simply in the way. The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War.


The war against Israel is not a war against Israel. It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lay awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming.


Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities. But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West. It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values. On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam. They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed. The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning. It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination. If they can get Israel, they can get everything.So-called journalists volunteer to label any and all critics of Islamization as a 'right-wing extremists' or 'racists'. In my country, the Netherlands, 60 percent of the population now sees the mass immigration of Muslims as the number one policy mistake since World War II. And another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat. Yet there is a danger greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of America as the last man standing. The lights may go out in Europe faster than you can imagine. An Islamic Europe means a Europe without freedom and democracy, an economic wasteland, an intellectual nightmare, and a loss of military might for America - as its allies will turn into enemies, enemies with atomic bombs. With an Islamic Europe, it would be up to America alone to preserve the heritage of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem.


Dear friends, liberty is the most precious of gifts. My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives. All throughout Europe American cemeteries remind us of the young boys who never made it home, and whose memory we cherish. My generation does not own this freedom; we are merely its custodians. We can only hand over this hard won liberty to Europe's children in the same state in which it was offered to us. We cannot strike a deal with mullahs and imams. Future generations would never forgive us. We cannot squander our liberties. We simply do not have the right to do so.

Remember Dubai ?

This is from an e-mail friend in Dubai who is originally from Scotland. He talks about the current economic climate there.

Bob



Hi Bob

What the heck happened???


Simple - Greed Corruption and incompetence by a few that comprise the ruling elite of bankers politicians and CEO's

Suggest you watch "Zeitgeist"

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

Dubai is also broke and an estimated 2,000 expatriates are leaving daily - many leaving behind houses, apartments and cars that are now unsellable even at 25% price of September 2008.

Officially over 3,000 abandoned cars have been collected by police but figure is probably several times that ,as many cars are sitting around in various parking lots. Over 2,000 (2/3) of the official figure were classified "Luxury" BMW's, Porches Etc. Sales of new vehicles have dropped to near zero while prices of 2nd hand have dropped +50% if a buyer can be found.

A 1 year old BMW is now cheaper than a new mini KIA. Personally however wold have KIA (as I do) due to far lower running and maintenance costs. + after 3 years it has been incredibly reliable with only problem a broken ashtray probably due to overuse. I regret I am a heavy nicotine addict.

Dubai became the largest construction site on the planet with 20% of its tower cranes - Now a forest of "Dead and Dying Tower Cranes" and abandoned tower blocks.

Having exhausted its oil (Production is now below 10% of that in 1991) Dubai became a "Cinderella State"

A magic wand turned a square yard of dry salty desert sand into several thousand dollars worth of real estate. Midnight came in October 08.

Over 3,000 real estate companies in this former village were in existence in October 08, a few with up to 1,000 commission paid agents .. All drove around in fancy cars and had phenomenal life styles based on cheap and easy loans in turn based on their commissions on ever increasing property prices and rents that rose over 10 fold since 2001.

What an insane party they had.

Over 400 tourist hotels under construction but traffic was such that it would take hours to get to them or anywhere else. Tourist and business arrivals have dropped +70% and I can now live in a hotel cheaper than renting a studio.

An insane law here to encourage national to buy property was that they did not have to pay back loans unless property was rented out. Result it costs them nothing to sit on empty properties while demanding extreme rents. Result is high rents and as of Nov 08 +40% mortgages in default. Where I am living now is a Cluster of 300 apartment blocks apparently all sold yet occupancy is 10% at most and some nice looking cars are gathering dust in the car parks.

Since returning from holiday in August time to drive around Dubai has about halved.

Dubai property prices rose 43% in first half of last year, Rents even more so.

Why should a studio apartment here have been valued higher than my 5 bedroom house in Scotland which overlooks fields and a golf course.

Greed Corruption and Incompetence of a few has been a worldwide plague.

Regards

Alan

Lord Ahmed Threatens ...

Lord Ahmed Threatens Parliament Into Submission

A Member of Congress announces she is inviting Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders to come to Washington to meet with members of Congress and discuss his documentary film “Fitna.”

When Congressman Abdullah hears about this, he threatens the Member and the entire Congress that, unless Mr. Wilders’ visit is cancelled, he will mobilize 10,000 Muslims to prevent the visit from taking place.

As a result, the visit is cancelled and Congressman Abdullah praises Allah for delivering a victory to the Muslim community.

Of course, this couldn’t possibly happen in the United States, right? Read the commentary below, roll the clock back thirty years, and ask yourself how many Brits do you think would have believed it could happen in Great Britain today?

What was unthinkable in Great Britain thirty years ago is reality today. This is “cultural jihad” at work.

Twenty years ago who would have believed that today Harvard would create “women only” gym hours to meet the demands of Muslims. Or a state legislature would allow an imam to open its session with a prayer that calls on “victory over those who disbelieve.”

Or the Fairfax County (Virginia) police department dropping an anti-terrorism training program after complaints from Muslim police officers – one of whom was engaging in the various types of subversion the training program was intended to prevent.

For the British Parliament to abandon its right to free speech by knuckling under to the intimidation tactics by Lord Ahmed will only invite more – and bolder – tactics. To think that we in America can follow the path Great Britain has trod and not end up dealing with the same intimidation tactics is the worst form of wishful thinking.


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Lord Ahmed threatens Parliament into submission

http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2009/01/lord-ahmed-threatens-parliament-into.html

Lord Ahmed is a repugnant individual. Not only in appearance, but in association, character and morality. And to hear that he has threatened jihad on the House of Lords if their lordships should fail to meet his demands only serves to intensify Cranmer’s loathing of the man.

It appears that a member of the House of Lords had invited the Dutch politician, Geert Wilders, to a private meeting in the Palace of Westminster. She had intended to invite her colleagues in the Lords to a private viewing of his ‘documentary’ Fitna, followed by discussion and debate in true parliamentary fashion. This is, after all, a liberal democracy, and their lordships enjoy the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of association, not to mention certain parliamentary privileges for the protection of their function in the legislature.

But no sooner had the unsuspecting baroness sent out her invitations, Lord Ahmed raised hell. It is reported that he ‘threatened to mobilise 10,000 Muslims to prevent Mr Wilders from entering the House and threatened to take the colleague who was organising the event to court’.

And so Fitna has been cancelled: it shall not now be screened in the House of Lords on 29th January.

The Pakistani Press is jubliant, and Lord Ahmed is praising Allah for delivering ‘a victory for the Muslim community’.

It is a sorry state of affairs indeed that a parliament whose liberties have been forged through centuries of religious intolerance should succumb to the threats of one intolerant Muslim. Lord Ahmed is manifesting a notion of Divine Right, and one suspects it is precisely the sort of defence of Islam that Prince Charles shall make when he is sworn ‘Defender of Faith’. The blasphemy laws are being re-forged to protect one god, one faith and one prophet; they no longer defend YHWH, Christianity, Jesus Christ or the Church of England. Lord Ahmed is not functioning as a Labour peer; he is the self-appointed khalifa of all things Islamic. He is not concerned to protect freedom of expression or freedom of speech, but to stifle debate and ensure that Parliament submits to the Dar Al-Islam.

It is for moments such as these that one might hope the Lords Spiritual might enter the fray and defend the right of the noble baroness to extend an invitation to a democratically-elected Dutch MP. Their silence is deafening. They no longer believe anything strongly for fear of causing offence; they no longer defend anything for fear of being abolished.

If Lord Ahmed had threatened Cranmer with ‘10,000 Muslims to prevent Mr Wilders from entering the House’, His Grace would have assured his Lordship of 100,000 people of all faiths and none to prevent the Muslims from preventing Mr Wilders from entering the House.

There are occasions when turning the other cheek is sheer folly.

Amnesty Bill Provisions

England Gun Ban Could Happen Here

The Federal Reserve System

A Second Look At The Federal Reserve System
In 7 Parts: by Edward Griffin


Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Part 7

An Eloquent Marine

AN ELOQUENT MARINE
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:07:09 -0700
Reconnaissance Marine in Afghanistan

It's freezing here. I'm sitting on hard, cold dirt between rocks and shrubs at the base of the Hindu Kush Mountains along the Dar 'yoi Pomir River watching a hole that leads to a tunnel that leads to a cave. Stake out, my friend, and no pizza delivery for thousands of miles.

I also glance at the area around my ass every ten to fifteen seconds to avoid another scorpion sting. I've actually given up battling the chiggers and sand fleas, but them scorpions give a jolt like a cattle prod. Hurts like a bastard.

The antidote tastes like transmission fluid but God bless the Marine Corps for the five vials of it in my pack.

The one truth the Taliban cannot escape is that, believe it or not, they are human beings, which means they have to eat food and drink water. That requires couriers and that's where an old bounty hunter like me comes in handy. I track the couriers, locate the tunnel entrances and storage facilities, type the info into the handheld, shoot the coordinates up to the satellite link that tells the air commanders where to drop the hardware, we bash some heads for a while, then I track and record the new movement.

It's all about intelligence. We haven't even brought in the snipers yet. These scurrying rats have no idea what they're in for. We are but days away from cutting off supply lines and allowing the eradication to begin.

I dream of bin Laden waking up to find me standing over him with my boot on his throat as I spit a bloody ear into his face and plunge my nickel plated Bowie knife through his frontal lobe. But you know me. I'm a romantic. I've said it before and I'll say it again: This country blows, man. It's not even a country. There are no roads, there's no infrastructure, there's no government. This is an inhospitable, rock pit shit hole ruled by eleventh century warring tribes. There are no jobs here like we know jobs.

Afghanistan offers two ways for a man to support his family: join the opium trade or join the army. That's it. Those are your options. Oh, I forgot, you can also live in a refugee camp and eat plum-sweetened, crushed beetle paste and squirt mud like a goose with stomach flu if that's your idea of a party. But the smell alone of those 'tent cities of the walking dead' is enough to hurl you into the poppy fields to cheerfully scrape bulbs for eighteen hours a day.

I've been living with these Tajiks and Uzbeks and Turkmen and even a couple of Pushtins for over a month and a half now and this much I can say for sure: These guys, all of 'em, are Huns. Actual, living Huns. They LIVE to fight. It's what they do. It's ALL they do.

They have no respect for anything, not for their families or for each other or for themselves. They claw at one another as a way of life. They play polo with dead calves and force their five-year-old sons into human cockfights to defend the family honor. Huns, roaming packs of savage, heartless beasts who feed on each others barbarism. Cavemen with AK47's. Then again, maybe I'm just cranky.

I'm freezing my ass off on this stupid hill because my lap warmer is running out of juice and I can't recharge it until the sun comes up in a few hours.

Oh yeah! You like to write letters, right? Do me a favor, Bizarre. Write a letter to CNN and tell Wolf and Anderson and that awful, sneering, pompous Aaron Brown to stop calling the Taliban 'smart.' They are not smart. I suggest CNN invest in a dictionary because the word they are looking for is 'cunning.' The Taliban are cunning, like jackals and hyenas and wolverines. They are sneaky and ruthless and, when confronted, cowardly. They are hateful, malevolent parasites who create nothing and destroy everything else. Smart. Pfft. Yeah, they're real smart.

They've spent their entire lives reading only one book (and not a very good one, as books go) and consider hygiene and indoor plumbing to be products of the devil. They're still figuring out how to work a Bic lighter. Talking to a Taliban warrior about improving his quality of life is like trying to teach an ape how to hold a pen; eventually he just gets frustrated and sticks you in the eye with it.

OK, enough. Snuffle will be up soon so I have to get back to my hole. Covering my tracks in the snow takes a lot of practice but I'm good at it. Please, I tell you and my fellow Americans to turn off the TV sets and move on with your lives.

The story line you are getting from CNN and other news agencies is utter bullshit and designed not to deliver truth but rather to keep you glued to the screen through the commercials. We've got this one under control. The worst thing you guys can do right now is sit around analyzing what we're doing over here because you have no idea what we're doing and, really, you don't want to know. We are your military and we are doing what you sent us here to do.

You wanna help? Buy Bonds America .

Saucy Jack
Reconnaissance Marine in Afghanistan
Semper Fidelis

Mitchell: Middle East Envoy

Mitchell, A Mideast Envoy With A Tendentious Legacy

By David Bedein, Middle East Correspondent
Published: Friday, January 23, 2009

Jerusalem — Following President Obama’s appointment of former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell of Maine as his Middle East envoy, it may be instructive to remember the tendentiousness of George Mitchell’s 2001 report titled “The Mitchell Report on the al-Aqsa Intifadah” ( http://www.mideastweb.org/mitchell_report.htm ).

This genesis of this report stemmed from President Bill Clinton’s Oct. 2000 appointment of an international investigation commission to determine the causes of the Palestinian insurrection, which was deemed the Second Intifada — the Arabic term for “shaking off” — in this instance, shaking off Israel. To this commission, President Clinton named Sen. Mitchell, who is of Arab descent through his mother, as its chairman, along with a Jewish-American, former U.S. Sen. Warren Rudman, to the panel, in addition to three prominent European diplomats.

The initial Israeli response to the publication of the Mitchell Commission report in May 2001 was a sigh of relief when the Mitchell Commission did not blame Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for instigating the riots in Sept. 2000 when he visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which some said had sparked the Arab rioting.


However, even with the Sharon Temple Mount accusation out of the way, the Mitchell Commission report accepted every Palestinian premise for the violence at the time.

The Mitchell Commission accepted as a given that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)-led riots were based on a movement for “independence and genuine self-determination,” without giving any credence to the PLO goal, stated in all PLO publications, maps and media outlets, even during the current Oslo process, which consistently and clearly states that “liberation” of Palestine, all of Palestine — in stages — remained the goal.

For some reason, the Mitchell Commission characterized the rioters armed with Molotov cocktails as “unarmed Palestinian demonstrators,” a term that they apparently borrowed from PLO information reports that were published at the time.

The Mitchell Commission took the position that Israel’s security forces did not face a clear and present danger when faced with a mob trying to kill them with rocks and firebombs.

It made no mention that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has amassed 50,000 more weapons than they were supposed to have, in clear violation of the written Oslo accords.

The Mitchell Commission surprisingly accepted the notion that the PA security officials are simply “not in control” of their own tightly controlled security services.

The Mitchell Commission would not consider reliable intelligence reports that documented the PA had planned the uprising. It also failed to relate documentation showing the PA had spent past seven years preparing its media, school system and security services for a violent confrontation with Israel.

Indeed, in late May 2000, a senior official of Israeli intelligence conducted a press briefing where he revealed intelligence information that the PLO was planning riots for late Sept. 2000.

It said the notion the PA leadership had failed to prevent terrorist attacks against Israel as only an Israeli “view,” ignoring consistent incitement that Arafat had conveyed to his own media for the previous seven years.

The Mitchell Commission also rejected Israel’s characterization of the conflict, as “armed conflict short of war”; (How else would you describe an army that fires mortar rounds into Israeli cities?)

The Mitchell Commission also condemned the Israel Defense Force’s killing of PLO combat officers during a time of war, without giving an alternative.

Instead of issuing a clear call to the PLO to stop sniper attacks on Israel’s roads and highways, the Mitchell Commission simply “condemned the positioning of gunmen within or near civilian dwellings,” leaving the observer to assume that PLO attacks from empty embankments would be acceptable.

The Mitchell Commission suggested that “the IDF should consider withdrawing to positions held before Sept. 28, 2000, … to reduce the number of friction points,” ignoring the fact that this would leave entry points to many Israeli cities without appropriate protection during a time of war.

The Mitchell Commission also demanded that Israel should transfer to the PA all tax revenues owed, and permit Palestinians who had been employed in Israel to return to their jobs, strangely recommending that Israel once again pay salaries of armed PLO personnel who were at war with Israel.

Meanwhile, the Mitchell Commission took a page out of Arab propaganda when it called on Israeli “security forces and settlers to refrain from the destruction of homes and roads, as well as trees and other agricultural property in Palestinian areas,” and would not relate to the possibility that some of the trees and agricultural land had been razed may have been provided cover to PA security forces during combat.

The Mitchell Commission also accepted the notion that “settlers and settlements in their midst” remains a cause of the Palestinian uprising, because these Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria violate “the spirit of the Oslo process,” even though not one word appears in the actual Oslo accords would require the dismemberment of a single Israeli settlement.

In conclusion, the Mitchell Commission drew a strange comparison between “settlement activities” and the Palestinian inability to resume negotiations, so long as “settlement activities” continue, providing an excuse for the PLO to continue its armed conflict.

In short, the Mitchell Commission Report drove a nail into the coffin of any credibility that George Mitchell could ever have to serve as a potential Middle East envoy.

Defend Geert Wilders

Defend Geert Wilders and Freedom of Speech

January 22, 2009 - Washington, DC and Copenhagen, Denmark: A Dutch court yesterday ordered the criminal prosecution of Geert Wilders, Dutch parliamentarian and leader of the Freedom Party (PVV), for his statements - written, spoken and filmed -regarding Islam. The Amsterdam Court of Appeals has deemed such statements "insulting," declaring that they "substantially harm the religious esteem" of Muslims.

Clearly, the effect of this Dutch court order is to set new limits to public debate in Dutch society, in this case about the highly controversial but nonetheless crucially important subject of Islam. This makes the prosecution of Geert Wilders an unacceptable breach of the sanctity of freedom of speech in Western society.

Having ordered a criminal prosecution for the opinions of a duly elected leader of a legitimate political party, Dutch authorities have dealt a devastating blow to political expression. While Dutch prosecutors prepare their indictment and Geert Wilders' future hangs in limbo, who in The Netherlands will dare discuss political and cultural matters related to Islam - Islamic law, Islamic integration, Islamic crime, Islamic policy - openly, freely and fearlessly? The chilling effect is instantaneous. If, indeed, Wilders is ultimately convicted, free speech will cease to exist in the heart of Europe.

The International Free Press Society believes this court-ordered prosecution against Geert Wilders, a central figure in the fight against the Islamization of the West, amounts to a dangerous concession to the strictures of Islamic law, which prohibits all criticism of Islam, over Western traditions of, and rights to robust and unfettered debate. As such, it is tantamount to a surrender to totalitarian influences that undermine all Western freedoms. And as such, it must be resisted.

It is important to recall recent history. Two Dutchmen, Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh, have been murdered for their outspoken opposition to Islamization in The Netherlands. Another Dutch politician, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, has been infamously forced into exile. Wilders alone now carries this debate over Islam in Dutch society forward - forcefully but logically, outspokenly but reasonably, and always peacefully. In order to do so, this member of Dutch parliament lives in a virtual prison, consigned to 24-hour guard by Islamic death threats against his life. Now, Dutch authorities have ordered him to be prosecuted for the Orwellian crime of committing "insulting" words.

As Wilders puts it, "If I have to stand trial, I will not stand trial alone, but also with the hundreds of thousands of Dutch people who reject the Islamization of The Netherlands." He will also stand trial with those in The Netherlands and beyond who reject government prosecutions of free speech. In recognition of this dire situation, the IFPS immediately calls on every supporter of free speech to come to the aid of Geert Wilders. To assist in this effort, the IFPS has launched an international campaign in defense of Geert Wilders and his freedom of speech.

To support these efforts, we urge you to contribute to the Geert Wilders Defense Fund. Donation information can be found at the IFPS website at http://www.internationalfreepresssociety.org.

The War With Israel Is Over ... They Won

M. Ibrahim

From an Arab to his Arab Brethren ...

To my Arab brothers: The War with Israel Is Over - and they won. Now let's finally move forward With Israel entering its fourth week of an incursion into the same Gaza Strip it voluntarily evacuated a few months ago, a sense of reality among Arabs is spreading through commentary by Arab pundits,letters to the editor, and political talk shows on Arabic-language TV networks.

The new views are stunning both in their maturity and in their realism. The best way I can think of to convey them is in the form of a letter to the Palestinian Arabs from their Arab friends:

Dear Palestinian Arab brethren: The war with Israel is over. You have lost.Surrender and negotiate to secure a future for your children. We, your Arab brothers, may say until we are blue in the face that we stand by you, but the wise among you and most of us know that we are moving on, away from the tired old idea of the Palestinian Arab cause and the "eternal struggle" with Israel.

Dear friends, you and your leaders have wasted three generations trying to fight for Palestine, but the truth is the Palestine you could have had in 1948 is much bigger than the one you could have had in 1967, which in turn is much bigger than what you may have to settle for now or in another 10 years. Struggle means less land and more misery and utter loneliness. At the moment,brothers, you would be lucky to secure a semblance of a state in that Gaza Strip into which you have all crowded, and a small part of the West Bank of the Jordan.

It isn't going to get better. Time is running out even for this much land, so here are some facts, figures, and sound advice, friends. You hold keys, which you drag out for television interviews, to houses that do not exist or are inhabited by Israelis who have no intention of leaving Jaffa ,Haifa , Tel Aviv, or West Jerusalem . You shoot old guns at modern Israeli tanks and American-made fighter jets, doing virtually no harm to Israel while bringing the wrath of its mighty
army down upon you.

You fire ridiculously inept Kassam rockets that cause little destruction and delude yourselves into thinking this is a war of liberation. Your government, your social institutions, your schools,and your economy are all in ruins. Your young people are growing up illiterate,ill, and bent on rites of death and suicide, while you, in effect, are living on the kindness of foreigners, including America and the United Nations. Every day your officials must beg for your daily bread, dependent on relief trucks that carry food and medicine into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank , while your criminal Muslim fundamentalist Hamas government continues to fan the flames of a war it can neither fight nor hope to win.

In other words, brothers, you are down, out, and alone in a burnt-out landscape that is shrinking by the day. What kind of struggle is this? Is it worth waging at all?

More important, what kind of miserable future does it portend for your children, the fourth or fifth generation of the Arab world's have-nots? We, your Arab brothers, have moved on. Those of us who have oil money are busy accumulating wealth and building housing, luxury developments, state-of-the-art universities and schools, and new highways and byways. Those of us who share borders with Israel, such as Egypt and Jordan , have signed a peace treaty with it and are not going to war for you any time soon. Those of us who are far away, in places like North Africa and Iraq , frankly could not care less about what happens to you. Only Syria continues to feed your fantasies that someday it will join you in liberating Palestine , even though a huge chunk of its territory, the entire Golan Heights, was taken by Israel in 1967 and annexed. The Syrians, my friends, will gladly fight down to the last Palestinian Arab.

Before you got stuck with this Hamas crowd, another cheating, conniving, leader of yours, Yasser Arafat, sold you a rotten bill of goods - more pain, greater
corruption, and millions stolen by his relatives - while your children played in the sewers of Gaza.

The war is over. Why not let a new future begin?

Youssef M. Ibrahim, a former New York Times Middle East Correspondent and Wall Street Journal Energy Editor for 25 years, is a freelance writer based in NewYork City and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Hamas Inflates Numbers

January 22, 2009
War Is Deceit: Gaza doc says Palestinian death toll inflated

Will the world take note? What do you think? War Is Deceit Update: "Gazan doctor says death toll inflated," from Ynet, January 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):

What really is behind the numbers reported on the number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip? Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera reported Thursday that a doctor working in Gaza's Shifa Hospital claimed that Hamas has intentionally inflated the number of casualties resulting from Israel's Operation Cast Lead. "The number of deceased stands at no more than 500 to 600. Most of them are youths between the ages of 17 to 23 who were recruited to the ranks of Hamas, who sent them to the slaughter," according to the newspaper article.
The doctor wished to remain unidentified, out of fear for his life.

A senior Palestinian Health Ministry official later denied the claims, and the Israel Defense Forces' estimate on the number of casualties in Gaza has also remained unchanged.

Despite the claims, the IDF stood behind its estimate that between 1,100 to 1,200 people were killed in the Strip during the fighting, more than two-thirds of them Hamas members.

The army initially believed that the number of civilian casualties was higher, as many Hamas men walked outside their houses dressed in civilian clothes, leaving their weapons at home.

Dr. Moaiya Hassanain, who is in change of the emergency department at the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, denied the figures presented by the Italian paper.

Hassanain told Ynet that the Palestinian figures were issued cautiously, without any political considerations, and that several casualties may not have been reported as their bodies are still under the rubble or have not been handed over to the rescue forces and authorized medical officials.

'Mostly armed teenagers'

A Tal al-Hawa resident told the newspaper's reporter, "Armed Hamas men sought out a good position for provoking the Israelis. There were mostly teenagers, aged 16 or 17, and armed. They couldn't do a thing against a tank or a jet. They knew they are much weaker, but they fired at our houses so that they could blame Israel for war crimes."

The reporter for the Italian newspaper also quoted reporters in the Strip who told of Hamas' exaggerated figures, "We have already said to Hamas commanders – why do you insist on inflating the number of victims?"...

For propaganda's sake, Einstein.

Harry Truman

Harry Truman after the presidency:

Harry Truman, from Missouri, was a different kind of President. He probably made as many important decisions regarding our nation's history as any of the other 42 Presidents. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.

Historians have written the only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence, Missouri. On top of that, his wife inherited the house from her Mother.

When he retired from office in 1952, his income was a U.S Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an 'allowance' and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.

After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There were no Secret Service following them.

When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, 'You don't want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it's not for sale.'

Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, 'I don't consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise.'

He never owned his own home and as president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.

Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale.

Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, 'My choices early in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference.'

5 Minutes To Midnight

5 Minutes to Midnight

By Gerard Group Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Ilana Freedman

These are dangerous times. The volume and ferocity of anti-American chatter across the Internet have reached a level we have not seen since the days leading up to 9/11. The radical Islamists, who would use violence against those who do not accept their view of life, have become arrogant enough to bring their savage methods to new depths of depravity. To understand this bolder enemy, we must recognize what they are capable of.

Mumbai Last November, a handful of terrorists came into Mumbai by stealth, and within hours brought a city of 18 million to its knees. They attacked ten symbolic sites favored by tourists, murdered some 200 people, and left a wake of indescribable destruction, shattering thousands of lives in their wake.

They singled out American, British, and Jewish targets, and ordered the terrorists to “kill to their last breath”. Many of their victims were savagely tortured before being murdered. So brutal was the torture that experienced doctors who later examined the bodies were in shock and could not find the words to even speak about it.

Gaza In Gaza, Hamas brought a different kind of terror into the news. Hamas fights her enemies with cowardice and unspeakable cruelty. While terrorists have been given free reign to shell civilians living in southern Israeli towns, they hide behind the women and children of Gaza, drawing Israeli fire to its rocket launchers which are placed deep in densely populated areas, putting their own people at mortal risk.

During the last two years, nearly 6,000 rockets were fired from Gaza, aimed at schools and homes, mostly in the little town of Sderot, which has taken the brunt of the ceaseless barrage. Israel finally responded with a mighty attack to silence the rockets that had plagued its citizens for the last eight years, and while the number of rockets has been reduced, they did not stop, continuing to terrorize the people of southern Israel.

The True Face of Hamas

There is now a mountain of documentation demonstrating that over recent months, Hamas has acquired massive caches of weapons and explosives which they stored in mosques, schools, and throughout residential neighborhoods.

They have humiliated, brutalized, and murdered their Christian and Fatah ‘enemies’ in cold blood. And after Israel dropped leaflets in Gazan neighborhoods, urging civilians find shelter away from the aerial attack, Hamas forced them back into their homes, preventing them from finding safety from the bombs. No wonder the number of civilian casualties is so high.

On December 24, in a final blow to any semblance of civilized governance, Hamas passed a new penal code firmly rooted in Shari’a law. Among the punishments that this new code enables are forty lashes for drinking wine, cutting off hands for theft, and crucifixion for ‘treason’.

Their reversion to a seventh century penal code underscores their intention to achieve ultimate power that will drive the lives of their people back into the dark ages. The current plight of the people of Gaza can be laid squarely at the feet of Hamas.

What This Means for the West

Hamas supporters have used the current conflict as another excuse to stir the boiling cauldron of Islamist hatred against the West. Their mantra of “Death to Israel, Death to America” feeds their frenzy and has spawned demonstrations throughout the United States, demonstrations that are growing increasingly hysterical and out of control.

Last week in New York City, seven police officers were hurt - two with head wounds - when a pro-Hamas demonstration became violent.

In San Francisco, pro-Hamas demonstrators shouted, “I want you to watch as I kill your children, cover your children in their own blood! I want you to watch me blow your children’s brains out”.

In Florida, a demonstrator screamed, “Go back to the oven,” referring to the murder of Jews in the Holocaust, “You need a big oven, that’s what you need.”

Here in America, we watch these events unfold as if we were viewing a new kind of reality show. But this is not theater and we, who watch passively, as we sit comfortably in front of the television, need to be alarmed.

It is difficult for Westerners to comprehend the depth of hatred that radical Islamists feel against those who are unwilling to adopt their faith. For them, multi-culturalism is not an acceptable way of life, it is evil.

Their view of life demands that we either convert to their version of Islam, or die. They have made it plain that their goal is to globalize jihad, and turn the world into a global Islamist state ruled under shari’ah law. For them, negotiation is not an option, there is only one way, and there is nothing to negotiate.

A few years ago, Abdurahman Alamoudi presented himself as a so-called ‘moderate’ Muslim, and that he had a large following. He was an open supporter of Hamas and Hezballah, yet so highly esteemed that he had access to the White House (before he went to federal prison for his role in an assassination plot against the Saudi Crown Prince).

Not surprisingly, few took note when he told a Muslim conference in Chicago, “Muslims sooner or later will be the moral leadership of America . . . either we do it now or we do it after a hundred years, but this country will become a Muslim country.” It was one of many warnings that we ignored.

Yousef al-Khattab, a NYC taxi driver, enjoys the benefits of life in America, even as he runs a website called RevolutionMuslim.com. On his website, he wrote, “We pray that we may witness the dismantlement of western, secular dominance across the world as we hold it to be pagan and idolatrous in the majority of its presumptions.

We seek a resurrection of the just example set forth by centuries of Islamic rule throughout the ages and we hold it to be self evident for the objective soul and mind that Allah is One and that Muhammad ibn Abdullah is His Prophet and that the religion offers the solution to all of the world’s ills and afflictions.” Is anybody listening?

Radical Islam has taken a firm hold in our society. Hamas is only one of an undetermined number of radical Islamic groups that aim to do us harm. They have used the freedoms that they profess to hate to achieve access to our universities, our industries, our government, and our collective conscience.

They use our sense of fair play against us to impose their moral superiority, and demand our sensitivity to their rights, while simultaneously demanding that we forfeit our own.

So now, while Christian children can no longer pray in school, the same schools have adopted programs that teach our children what it is like to be Muslim, how they eat, and how they pray.

There are now terrorist cells in virtually every state in the union. Their aim is to globalize jihad, and replace our Constitution with the Koran, our penal code with shari’a law.

They range from the well known names such as al Qaeda, Hizballah, Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood (which masquerades under many other names), and includes lesser known groups like Jamaat al-Fuqra, Darul Uloom, and Islamic Jihad. Associated with these groups are not-for-profit front organizations through which these groups launder money to support terroist activities.

For example, Jamaat al-Fuqra compounds have sprung up all over the country to provide Muslim warriors with rural campuses for combat training. Security is high and outsiders are not welcome.

Darul Uloom, the school of Islam embraced by the Taliban, have active centers in Florida, Maryland, Texas, Connecticut and New York.

And CAIR, which claims to be nothing more than “a Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group”, was named as an un-indicted co-conspirator in the recent Holyland Foundation terrorist funding trial, Never-the-less, it provides sensitivity training to the FBI.

Today, in unassuming Muslim centers in Brooklyn, NY; Jersey City, NJ; Boston, MA; Fairfax, Virginia; and Dearborn, Michigan, jihad is being plotted, while we bend over backwards to ensure that they are not disturbed.

Today, we in America stand on the threshold of madness as we allow our nation to be undermined by those who would destroy all that generations of Americans have fought and died for.

The time is 1939 and we are Europe denying the growing threat of the Third Reich. Here in America, it is five minutes to midnight and it is time to wake up.

Ilana Freedman is the Editor of IntelAnalysis and is CEO of Gerard Group International, Inc.

Sirens and Serpents, Goodbye 31

[One morning last week I came back from early services to find an avalanche of bread on our front walk and lawn. Clearly the Holy Hurler is back at work. The rear of our place doesn’t have a square foot without a pyramid of canine excrescence, and now he is determined to get the front of the house decorated as well. Will I have to install security cameras to catch him in the act?]

[Muffy, bored with her role as heroine, is back to being Muffy the Slut. Whenever a prospective male is in sight she raises her tail to display the merchandise.

Two kittens, now almost fully grown, from her first litter are around, as is one from her second litter. A new visitor is a scraggly skin-and-bones one-eyed cat I’ve named The Pirate. The coloring seems to be Muffy’s but this pirate is so filthy it’s hard to be certain.

Since the onset of winter, and particularly since the ‘war’ began three weeks ago, we have been going through cat vittles at an amazing rate. I thought it has to do with cold weather, and the felines’ need to burn calories to stay warm. But a neighbor says all the animals are affected by the anxiety vibes adults and children are giving off. The animals need, she says, comfort food as much as we do.]



GOODBYE 31: January 17/18, 2009


SIRENS AND SERPENTS


One of the problems with being a politician is that you lie with such regularity no one believes you on those rare occasions when you tell the truth.

Barak and Livni are saying the operation in Gaza has achieved its goal, but the public can’t accept it as the rockets keep falling. Naive Israelis. They thought the goal was to stop the attacks when, in fact, the goal was to increase the electoral prospects of Barak and Livni.

These prospects having increased – quite dramatically in the case of Barak – the curtain can be lowered on the Gaza Follies. It is midnight as I write this. At 2am a unilateral cease fire goes into effect. And if the bad guys keep shooting? We will complain to our friends, the Egyptians. And we will get really, really, really annoyed.

Another factor leading to the Unilateral Surrender, sorry, Unilateral Cease Fire, is that the Enlightened Ones have been taken aback by the degree of religious fervor the war has unleashed.

Miracle stories abound, starting with the one in which two soldiers are directed away from a building by a woman in black who identifies herself as the Matriarch Rachel. Moments later the booby-trapped building explodes.

It would be easy to mock this tale with a pitying and condescending smile. As a veteran of Gush Katif where I witnessed numerous miracles, and as a recipient of bombs and bullets that should have sent me to Valhalla but which I survived, I know better than to dismiss this and all the other tales.

What must infuriate the Enlightened Ones are the pictures of secular soldiers putting on ritual fringes, kissing Torahs and asking religious people to pray for their safety.

Definitely not in keeping with their view of Israel as a secular, progressive state.

Last Monday some forty-three Women in Green members and friends showed up. We had been expecting twenty, and were set up for that number. With the overflow we had to use our front lawn, smelling – to my shame – of fresh dog poop. It was wonderful seeing these people, dear friends, valued friends, true comrades in arms. It was less wonderful seeing that they were accompanied by a crew from Israel television Channel 1.

I had promised myself to do no more interviews, and tried to ignore the tv crew who intruded on the hugging/kissing/reminiscing and nagged for ‘just a few words’. With some Women in Greeners saying ‘talk to them, Moshe’ I agreed.

Looking around to see if Rachel was in the vicinity, and finding the coast clear, I did one of my trademark shticks, one that Rachel hates. I turned to the cameraman and stuck my cigar up one nostril. “Why are you doing that?” said the interviewer, taken aback.

“This way I can continue to smoke while talking to you.”

We never did see our segment on television, but have been told that Rachel was very effective.

By the time Women in Green departed Rachel was near collapse. We put the house back in order and, just as Rachel was about to lie down we were informed that reporters from Sweden, Norway and Canada were on the way. Rachel pleaded with me to deal with them and I, on a role from my earlier shtick, agreed.

The Swedes and Norwegians arrived simultaneously, though in separate cars. I recognized the Norwegian as one who had done a hatchet job on us in Gush Katif. When told that I wouldn’t see her until the Swedes left she got huffy and demanded to see Rachel. Rachel, I told her, was busy with a representative of Morpheus Magazine. In compensation I directed her to a gentleman whose English was already passé in the time of Chaucer and who spoke in such a slow and convoluted manner listeners were rumored to have slit their wrists while listening to him.

The Swede was a delight, and not just because she was beautiful. Most of the time was spent discussing Scandinavian composers, about whom she was very knowledgeable, so I was in heaven. For all I know she will do a piece like ‘Hitler loved Wagner, Moshe loves Lars-Erik Larsson’. I really don’t care. A wonderful hour.

That left the Canadian, who never showed up. Rumor has it his dogsled overturned, he was pissed on by a penguin, mauled by a moose, and turned into blubber by a bear.

We had a houseguest for several days, a dear old friend from Brooklyn. Desperate to escape from here, even if only for a few hours after yesterday, we took him to the village near Rehovot where we had celebrated Rachel’s birthday. Everything was fine until we were ready to leave. I couldn’t start the car. The alarm went off and would not stop. Pressing the code didn’t help. Finally we managed to get it going, and assumed the problem was a weak battery in our car starter.

The next day, Wednesday, I took Rachel to Ashkelon for an appointment, and the car wouldn’t start when we were ready to return. The alarm was going off, and when a woman approached I apologized for the noise.

“Don’t apologize” she said, “I have the same problem. It’s the army…”

She proceeded to explain that our Peace Partners in Gaza planted many mines and booby traps that are set off by a remote car starter, and to neutralize these the army has equipment that renders many frequencies unusable. I have since learned that thousands of our cars are affected.

The inconvenience is a small price to pay for keeping our boys safe in the war effort, but infuriatingly large if the war effort exists solely to boost Barak and Livni.

2am. I suspect the bad guys will honor the cease fire, violating it just enough to show they are still in charge, but not enough to force genuine retaliation. Then, when the elections are over, and a government of snivelers is formed, they will resume full scale shooting. If I were a betting man, and had something to bet with, I would wager that we will have a coalition government with Netanyahu the Spineless as Prime Munster, and Barak and Livni reprising their current roles as Virtual Defense Minister and Brain-Dead Foreign Secretary. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

9am Two rockets have just fallen on Sderot. Does that upset us? Of course not! We are opening all the crossings so that humanitarian aid can flow in, and are opening field hospitals at certain crossings so that injured Peace Partners can receive first aid before being transferred to hospitals in Israel. [short pause while I mop up my vomit]

Rhetorical questions. Will the world love us now? Will they at least hate us less?

2pm Sirens sounded here and everyone, except you know who, raced to the sewervilla. I stood outside, puffing away, a laundry basket on my head for protection. Those emerging from the sewervilla after the explosion looked, laughed, and applauded. My reputation as Resident Lunatic is secure.

Sirens go off several times each day, but the one that disturbed me most was the siren set off in Jerusalem and Bet Shemesh by a malfunction. My mother and her neighbors were panic stricken.

On Thursday consecutive sirens were heard late afternoon. Rachel hurried out and I promised to follow, but stayed glued to the tv. It was the last scene of Karl Marx’s ‘A Night at the Opera’ and Kitty Carlisle was singing an aria from Puccini’s “Muppets In Outer Space”. I couldn’t help noting that the siren was more on key than the soprano.

Friday afternoon we had four consecutive sirens, the last just as Shabbat began. This last had the loudest explosion and all through Shabbat rumors spread about where the missile had landed. None of the rumors has been confirmed.

As Shabbat ended a siren was heard, but few responded. In our case we could hardly waddle. A neighbor – the wife of the Holy Hurler! – had brought us her home-baked bread, a genuine Yemenite delight, consisting of one part zaatar, one part cumin, and eight parts cement.

Now we can only watch as the homunculi who rule boast of their glorious triumph, while we weep at how they have once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

When the Almighty punished serpents for tempting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He made them crawl. But in His wisdom, He allowed them to remain dangerous. Snakes may crawl, but they also bite. You may find a snake loathsome, but at least you treat it with caution if not respect.

When the Almighty made us – His people – loathsome crawlers couldn’t He have left us with something that would have made the world treat us with caution rather than contempt?

- moshe

A Basic Truth

A Boss Who Tells it Like it Is ...

To All My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.

However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.

First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You've seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I'm sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.

However, what you don't see is the back story.

I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.

My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business - hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the discount store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don't. There is no "off" button for me When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden - the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations ... you never realize the back story and the sacrifices I've made.

Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn't. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.

Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds.

Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:
I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Worker's compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.

The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.

Here is what many of you don't understand ... to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.

So where am I going with all this?

It's quite simple.

If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more.

Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship

So, if you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about ...

Signed,
Your boss

My Death Sentence

MY DEATH SENTENCE
Si Frumkin - January 9, 2009


This was the law of the lands where the swastika banner flew proudly. The 1000-year Reich lasted just 12 years; then the lights went on again all over Europe for a brighter, happier, productive future for those who had lived through it.

I was just 14-years old. I had memories but, more importantly, I had hope. I had hope that what I had lived through would not be repeated, that I would live a normal life like everybody else – Jew and non-Jew, that I would acquire knowledge I could pass on to others – including, I hoped, my children and their children, that I could do something that might make my world – and everyone else’s - a better place to live in.

My hopes became reality after I came to America at the age of 18. I graduated college, got a job, bought a house, fathered children, made friends, became involved in humanitarian causes, and loved and appreciated the wonderful country that gave me the opportunity – and the inalienable right - to pursue happiness.

It had never occurred to me that there might come a time when I and my family might be sentenced to death once again for the crime of being born Jewish. It never crossed my mind that the world would once again be hearing the shouts of “Kill the Jews” and “Jews to the ovens!” I realized that there were some who hated Jews but I was sure that this was a tiny, mindless, insignificant minority – surely smaller in numbers than those who believed the Earth was flat or that Elvis was alive.

I was wrong.

Hatred is with us again. The legions of haters are proudly waving their flags and flaunting their slogans around the globe. And just like the nazis of seventy years ago they are not bashful or apologetic in disseminating the ideology of mass murder. They are dedicated, enthusiastic, committed, and ready to die for their deadly doctrine. One of their religious leaders put it best: “We love death as much as the Jews and Christians love life!”

A less literate, young man at a New York demonstration was even more frightening by waving a misspelled placard that demanded, “Kill All Juice!” The photo brings a smile to most that see it on the internet but it isn’t funny. We know that he doesn’t want to kill orange juice – he wants to kill me, my children and grandchildren and all those other “juice”.

In Fort Lauderdale, on December 30, hundreds of anti-Israel demonstrators protested the Israeli military operation in Gaza. Their hatred encompassed all Jews – “Go Back to the Ovens! You Need a Big Oven” and “Kill All Jews!” (this time spelled correctly), read their placards.

Pamphlets in Denmark demand, “Kill Israel’s People”, and on the reverse, less correctly, “Kill Jewish People Evry Where in Ther World”. In Mumbai, a city with very few Jews, the Islamic terrorists went to the trouble to find a tiny, unmarked Chabad facility to slaughter the 6 Jews there. In Britain the police are unable to guarantee security for Jewish schools. In Amsterdam, in January, a crowd at a rally chanted “Hamas! Hamas! Jews to the Gas!” In Belgium, pro-Hamas demonstrators burned a public menorah and painted swastikas on Jewish-owned shops. In Berlin, the police chief warned Jews not to wear scull caps in public and avoid “acting Jewish”. In France, a burning car was rammed into a Toulouse synagogue. In southern Sweden a Molotov cocktail was thrown into a synagogue. And there is more, everywhere…

The hatred is not hiding. On the official Hamas website, on 12/31/08, there were calls for attacking Jews throughout the world, “…a Jewish adolescent boy in an Australian synagogue, a Jewish minister in the Georgian government, a Jewish businessman in the New York Stock Exchange, an illiterate Jew from Ethiopia…they all belong to the same gang and the same nation…” And Al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri demanded that Jews be attacked worldwide, “…everywhere you can reach them. Support your mujahedeen brothers and children against them.”

The British online forum “Ummah” asks, “Have we got a list of top Jews we can target? Can someone post names and addresses?” And, in response, “Saladin1970” gives a link to 100 top British Jews.

There are those who believe that this isn’t anti-Semitism – just anti-Zionism. Here is a quote from a great and wise man: “When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews. You are talking anti-Semitism” (Martin Luther King, 1968).

I am worried.

Si Frumkin , a Holocaust survivor and longtime Jewish activist, now devotes his time to public service, lecturing, writing, and whatever else has to be done.

Theatre Of The Absurd

GOODBYE 30, January 11, 2009


THEATRE OF THE ABSURD



This war is all a fake. All show business. True, people are dying. But they aren’t important people. They are, Jews and Arabs, the cannon fodder of history. Or, if you will, the dispensable extras.

If the war can’t be as carefully scripted as a Broadway play because there is no way to totally control the unexpected, then at least it is Improvisation Theatre. And, as in most improvisation, the outline and major points are set beforehand.

The incompetents who lead us, facing electoral defeat, have established their Tough Guys and Dolls credentials by responding to those who have been attacking us with impunity for years. Now they add to their macho [b]luster by apparently defying The Whole Civilized World demanding an immediate cessation of hostilities. They will preen and pose, and when convinced that the lumpenproletariat will vote them back into office, will accept a ‘cease fire’ that will last until they are again safely in the seats of power. And a day, a week, a month, a year later, the attacks will begin again. And our people, shell-shocked and punch drunk, will be amenable to whatever ‘solutions’ are offered.



What drives me crazy is how my people, the national religious public, high on fantasies of optimism, fail to understand what is happening. Even Gush Katif has taught us nothing.

In 1917 the Soviets closed the churches, persecuted the priests, made religion an object of contempt, and declared nationalism irrelevant to the great march of World Socialism. When the Germans attacked in 1939 the Soviets realized that the Russian people would not lay down their lives for World Socialism. So the churches were reopened, priests reinstated, and the Russian masses fought the Germans for God and Mother Russia. And when the war was won, the Soviets reverted to repression instead of expression.

So it is today. The Enlightened Ones, who despise us with no less vehemence than did the Soviets, are allowing religion to appear in formerly ‘no go’ areas like the electronic media. Newsreaders, displaying enough cleavage to embarrass a prostitute, are using terms like “God willing”, “With God’s help”, etc. Soldiers are often shown at prayer, being blessed by rabbis, expressing their hope that the Almighty will protect them. Even Chabad, banned for years from army bases, is allowed to approach soldiers once again. And my people, both here and abroad, are ecstatic at what they see as a religious revival portending wonderful things to come.

Beautiful fools. Wonderful fools. Holy fools. But fools, nevertheless. When things quiet down the Enlightened Ones will again declare manifestations of belief as regressive primitivism and force faith back to its ‘out of sight, out of mind’ status.



I am doubtless too far gone in my misery to share Rachel’s optimism as expressed in her latest, GKV 148, sent off hours ago. It is not that I don’t see, or appreciate, the outpouring of sympathy and affection from many ordinary Israelis.

The problem is that all these acts of kindness are insignificant in light of the immediate threat to our very existence.

Yet Rachel is not a fool, and it may well be that these acts of kindness are vastly more significant than what I perceive as the overall threat.

May she be right, and I wrong.



We were visited by journalists on Thursday. Rachel was brilliant in presenting our position. La Passionara at her best. The program will be shown on “Dan Rather Reports” on HD Net, whatever that is. It airs on Tuesday, the 13th, at 8pm NY time and is re-shown throughout the week at various times. It can also be downloaded as a podcast, whatever that is, from “i Tunes”.

Their visit, for all Rachel’s brilliance, left me in despair. Here were three Jews, two Americans and an Israeli, and they might as well have been Martians in their inability and unwillingness to understand us. I have no doubt we will be written off as right wing fanatics, and our appearance balanced by a ‘Death to the Jews’-spouting Imam to show extremists from both sides.

When, in conversation, I stated that we have seen many miracles, and gave the example of forty Iraqi scuds killing over two thousand Iranians in Teheran while thirty-nine Iraqi scuds killed only one person in Tel Aviv, I was met with blank stares. The producer, an Israeli woman, said “That was no miracle. Most Tel Aviv residents had left the city for Eilat.” Who was it who said ‘there are none so blind as those who will not see’?

However educated, intelligent and charming these people are, there is no chance of their understanding us, much less sympathizing with us. Though Rachel disagrees, I no longer see the point in even trying.

We have always been hated, and we have always tried ingratiating ourselves with those who hate us. Whatever we try, be it fawning, begging, bribing, identifying with them against our own, has not worked. Worse, such behavior has added contempt to the hatred. When hatred combines with contempt, we are at our most vulnerable. When hatred combines with fear, we are least vulnerable.

Note how from 1948 until the Oslo Accords in 1992, when there was no ‘peace process’, we were feared. And there were few deaths from terrorism. From Oslo to the present, during a continual ‘peace process’, we have been killed in the thousands.

Since we cannot avoid being hated, let us at least be feared as well. It’s safer.

moshe

More From Gush Katif

GUSH KATIF VIEWPOINT 148
January 9, 2009

A WAKE-UP CALL
by Rachel Saperstein, Neve Dekalim/Nitzan

We woke to the wail of sirens. Another day begins with the sounds of war. We hear the explosions in the distance. I have had no time to run out to our sewer pipe cum shelter. I open my front door to see my neighbors exit from the pipe.

“Rachel, why didn’t you come out to join us” someone shouts.

“I’m moving a bit late” I answer.

I see my Bnei Menashe neighbor carrying her new baby wrapped in a blanket on her back. An older daughter carries a younger brother in her arms.

We have been busy during the day. Media people are arriving to see how we, the evicted from Gaza, are faring.

“How do you feel watching the war? You were removed from Gaza to bring peace to the area and now there is war. Do you think the government is waking up to the reality of the disengagement?”

I sigh. “We warned them. We actually described the scenario: Hamas shooting from Gaza; Now Hezbollah’s shooting from Lebanon;.and shortly our peace partners will shoot into Tel Aviv. We were removed from our homes and the scenario is taking place.”

I spent an hour sitting in the Community Center. The Ministry of Defense had set up an office there while the sewer shelters were being put in to place. Their sign, as well as their presence, has disappeared.

Instead, Miriam and Aliza are in the Center answering calls from factories, kibbutzim, zoos, city councils and private people from all parts of Israel, all calling to invite our people to a day’s outing. I am impressed by their efficiency and enthusiasm. Every day our children and their moms are loaded onto buses and whisked away for a day out of harm’s way.

The Israeli public are all too aware that this kindness will be repaid when their areas come under attack and they will need us as places of refuge.

A group of art students from the Shenkar Art School show up in our cul de sac with paints and brushes.

“We volunteered to come here and paint your sewer pipes to make them more attractive” said one. Neighbor’s children came out to help and their handprints were placed on the painted cylinders. The results resembled a flower garden similar to a Monet painting. We thanked them, brought out drinks, and complimented them on their lovely artwork.

The kindergartens are now being reinforced. A concrete wall is being built halfway up the outer wall of each building. They have put some concrete on the roofs as well. I’m not sure this makes any sense as rockets tend to hit the upper part of a building. But I’m not a rocket scientist, merely a skeptical onlooker.

There is a pulling together in the community. The Emergency Committee that functioned in Gush Katif has been reinstated. Our people have once again taken charge of their lives. We have many strong people here. We are doing rather than having others do for us. This is a sign of health.

January 10.

Shabbat ended as it began, with multiple warning sirens.

This war has been our wake-up call. A call to action.

#################################

We see the Gush Katif community rising from its ashes. Many still need our help. And we of Operation Dignity are there for them. We live here and can offer immediate financial aid as needed.

Please make your checks, earmarked for Operation Dignity, payable to Central Fund for Israel. Send them to

Central Fund for Israel, 980 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10018, USA

or: Central Fund for Israel, 13 Hagoel Street, Efrat 90435, Israel

Shekel checks should be sent to

Operation Dignity, POB 445, Nitzan 79287, Israel

Jewish Doctor Murdered

Thursday, January 08, 2009
PARIS: Jewish Doctor Who Served Muslim Community Brutal Murdered

They will never tell you that the good doctor tended to Paris' North African community, which is overwhelmingly Muslim. One of his patients probably murdered him. No leads, no suspects .... yeah right. Wouldn't want to set up any riots by arresting a perp for murdering a Jew, eh?

Valenton, Paris - Jewish Doctor In Brutal Attack Passed Away Vos Iz Neias

Valenton Paris - Doctor Désiré Amsellem, 70, who was shot in his office last Friday and left there until he was discovered 24 hours later in unconscious condition, has just passed away.

As was reported here on VIN News, Mr Amsellem was a prominent Jewish doctor in Valenton, a suburb of Paris. He is Algerian Jew and his patients were primarily North African.[code for Muslims]

The Jewish community is concerned that the Police has no suspects, and no attention has been given to this, as a possible hate crime.

A family member that Spoke to VIN news from the Hospital Bicètre in Paris said, "there is a mandatory autopsy, as much as we have fought there is complicity by the Bet Din of Paris. He will be buried in Eretz Yisrael at the earliest possible time"

Dr. Amsellem leaves behind a wife, 1 son that lives in Paris, and 2 daughters that live New York.

UPDATE: This comment from Ayo gave me great pause. They are worse than I could imagine. They are truly depraved ....

This is a very common story among those who face persecution at the hands of Islam. Many Hindu doctors in Kashmir during 1989 and onwards were systematically murdered by the Muslim communities they faithfully served. They were lured out of the office or asked to come help a muslim patient in the middle of the night, never to return again.

In 1947 Pakistan, many Hindu doctors were exterminated as Pakistan implemented their "Final Solution" for the Hindu minority by luring them in the same fashion. The same patients who they served, saved and nurtured back to help repaid them with brutal torture and death, kidnapped their daughters and wiped out their families. One such hospital was Jeevanmala Hospital which is now in Pakistan. Many Hindus understand your pain.

This is the beauty and tolerance of Islam, this is the Peace of Islam, this is how they repay kindness. -Ayo Gorkhali

Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 09:12 PM

Warning To U.S. Jews

Thursday, January 08, 2009
WARNING TO U.S. JEWS
US Jews, gird your loins, it's here.

Warning to U.S. Jewish Centers Northeast Intelligence Center

6 January 2009: Despite official U.S. intelligence reports denying specific threat information as a result of Israeli action in Gaza, the Northeast Intelligence Network has confirmed increased terrorist “chatter” that specifically suggests pre-operational planning by Muslim terrorist operatives against Jewish assets and people throughout North America. “Chatter,” in the lexicon of intelligence agencies, encompasses various forms of communications, from communication intercepts to postings on Arabic language message boards.

Investigators and researchers of the Northeast Intelligence Network have seen a dramatic spike in postings on Arabic language web sites used by Islamic terrorists within the last several days. The rise of these communications is obviously in direct relation to Israel’s actions launched against Islamic terrorists in Gaza. Investigators however, have observed a disturbing change not only in the tenor of these postings, but in their specificity.

“The message being sent by Muslim terrorists considered ‘reputable’ Internet sources, as much as one could consider such sources as ‘reputable,’ is one of individual, if not collective action across the globe,” stated Douglas J. Hagmann, director of the Northeast Intelligence Network. “There is a call to action being made over the Internet by posters who have established a perceived level of legitimacy. These posters are the individuals who have achieved a following in the virtual world, based in part on their history of accuracy relative to terrorist operations and their posting history. Their message is to take action against Jews anywhere in the world, including inside the U.S., Canada and all Western countries, as well as their American backers,” stated Hagmann.

Although the intelligence value of the majority of Internet postings can be reasonably questioned, there have been notable exceptions, and it continues to be an accurate indicator of the pre-operational interests of Islamic terrorists, according to Hagmann.

“The call is to strike out against Jewish places of worship, Jewish centers, and schools, especially in the U.S.,” said Doug Hagmann. He added that the more recent postings have risen from “rallying cries to the level of authoritative directions, with the admonishment that it is the moral imperative of all practicing and faithful Muslims to strike out against the Jews, especially those living within the relative security of the U.S. I’m not sure how much more specific of a threat one might expect to get from Internet postings,” added Hagmann.

“Anyplace where Jews gather for school, worship services or social events are being described as “desirable targets,” according to these communications. Emphasis is also being placed on body count and visible carnage, including attacks against children.

Concurrent with these Internet postings on the same terrorist web sites are those of a political nature. Hagmann stated that researchers have found a consistent theme among those who voice support for HAMAS and not just for the residents of Gaza. “To the ‘reputable authors’ of these Internet web sites, there is absolutely no distinction between Palestinians living in Gaza and HAMAS. In fact, there seems to be a push for Gaza residents who are not already doing so to support HAMAS in any way possible, from providing supplies and shelter to taking a more active role.

The enemy of my enemy…”

From reporters to ‘Middle East expert talking heads,’ the media is not portraying this situation accurately, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by terrorist supporters, especially in the West. We are seeing a growing solidarity among Muslims of all sects to rally behind what is being described as the “slaughter” of Palestinians by the Israelis. Featured prominently within these communications are reports by Western media sources such as CNN, MSNBC and the major television networks that feature video of alleged Gaza victims. Such footage is being used to inflame the sentiments of the readers of the Arabic websites, followed by instructions to readers of all Islamic sects to avenge the deaths of Muslims in Gaza.

Letters From Israel

[Today is La Passionara’s birthday. As is traditional, she has been reminding me since last June. We are supposed to go out to a restaurant but everything in Ashkelon is closed. Ditto for Ashdod. I’ll have to think of something. What’s left of my manhood is at risk.]



GOODBYE 29 January 7, 2009



COMFORT FOOD: EAT YOUR WAY TO HAPPINESS



One of the reasons men, most men, love being called up for reserve duty or even active service is that one is, of necessity, detached from the cares of every day life. A nagging wife? A sick child? A boring job? Unpaid bills? The list is endless. In uniform, kitbag on your shoulder, you wave and say “I’ll take care of it when I get back in thirty days/forty days/whenever” and off you go to have fun with the guys. You may be crippled or killed or shell-shocked for life but the odds are in your favor and the risk makes your activity that much more pleasurable.

Even in a miniature country like this, where you needn’t cross oceans or continents to get to the action, where the front may be twenty minutes from your home, walking out the door in your uniform is like stepping into another world.

Having played most of the different male roles – I am currently doing a COG, Cantankerous Old Grump – I have come to the conclusion that the true heroes are the LLBs, the Ladies Left Behind. This is not to take anything away from the troops. I know what they are going through. Several, including one in critical condition, are from Gush Katif. And my daughter Tamar just called to say she is on the way to the funeral of another who was from her settlement.

Still, everyone is praying for the troops, concerned for them, while civilians – largely Les Girls – are on their own. Which isn’t really true. There has been a tremendous outpouring of support, for people in the south generally, for Gush Katifers in particular. Free this, free that, home hospitality, you name it.

Three consecutive sirens just sounded [8am, Jan.7] and the effect was quite beautiful. The thud of the first explosion was heard simultaneous with the second siren, the thud of the second with the third siren. Alas, the third thud was unadorned by appropriate background music.

I puffed away – no smoking in the sewervilla! – and stroked Cholera while watching a crowd enter and exit the sewervilla as if it were the F train on Delancey Street.



An interesting phenomenon is that a lot of people are noticeably putting on weight. Comfort food is what helps you get through the tension. And comfort food is, by definition, fattening. No one says ‘I’m so nervous, I’ll have a green salad to calm me down’. And even if, by superhuman effort, you keep meals more or less consistent with proper eating, how do you get through the hours and hours of televised war reporting without varieties of nuts and chocolates? You don’t survive a half hour of al-Jazeera chewing on a carrot. Nothing less than a cheesecake will do.

Added weight on a gelatinous blob like me goes unnoticed. On most people it can’t be unnoticed. So my particular problem is less overeating than hyper-tobacco-incineration.

I’m going through my cigars at a scary rate. And they’ll soon be finished. If you think I’m weird now, watch me then. And don’t be surprised to read that seventy flatbed trucks loaded with stogies are being delivered to me, under UN auspices of course, to solve my humanitarian crisis.



If we can expand the definition of graffiti, there is a Graffiti War going on here, an echo of the Gaza War. And the battlefield is each sewervilla. Printed posters have gone up on sewervillas and tombstones saying “We are returning to Gush Katif… An historic injustice will be made right… We will again be Israel’s first line of defense…” Most of you think the very idea is absurd, or impossible given geopolitical realities. Be that as it may, many of us think of little else. Yesterday, when it was reported that our troops were in the former settlement of Netzarim, some here wept openly.

At the same time, government crews race from sewervilla to sewervilla spray-painting “Defense Ministry Home Front Command cares about you.” They don’t do it if people are around as our reaction has been less than enthusiastic.



Another siren, another thud. This one landed two kilometers down the road in a farming community called Beit Ezra. No one hurt, thank G-d, and no serious damage, but lots of soiled underwear.



Later La Passionara got her way, and it was wonderful. She had read a review of a restaurant in a rural community out of rocket range not far from Rehovot, and off we went. Everything was picturesque, including the food, and we walked and walked and walked around the village, oohing and aahing about things like a well dug in 1870 and crystallized dog poop from 1893. As we were about to leave La P saw a museum devoted to the community’s history. The door was open but as we entered a woman said “Sorry, I’m closing up”. She then asked Rachel where were we from, Rachel said ‘Gush Katif’, the woman appeared genuinely excited and took Rachel on a private tour while I – o’ Joy! – sat on a bench outside and billowed clouds of cigar smoke into the ionosphere. A happy birthday, indeed. And I can relax for half a year, at least.



There have been numerous articles, learned and not so learned, decrying the use of the term ‘disproportionate’ in describing Israel’s response to eight years of missile attacks from Gaza. My own feeling is that ‘inadequate’ would be a better word, especially in light of today’s news about a three-hour cease fire which is clearly the precursor to leaving before the job is done.

Proper use of the term would be, say, “French President Sarcasti’s marriage to a super-model after dumping a plain wife is clearly a disproportionate act.”

Keeping in mind that the killers of Jews in Mumbai were Pakistanis and not Palestinians, and those who blew up the Buenos Aires Jewish Center were Iranians and not Palestinians, it is clear the war is not between Israelis and Palestinians but between Jews and Muslims. Given that there are some ten million Jews and one billion Muslims, proportionality would call for one thousand Muslim deaths for every Jew killed.



Several of you have criticized me fiercely for expressing bewilderment that so high a percentage of Jews had voted for Obama despite paying lip-service to being supporters of Israel. I have just seen a poll indicating 70% of Republicans support Israel, while 55% of Democrats support Israel. Is it any wonder I have become disillusioned with my co-religionists in my old age when Christian believers are more steadfast in support of Israel than Jews?



We just had a call from someone who identified himself as a journalist. I think he said – not kidding – Borat from Kazakhstan. I wanted to pass him off to Rachel, but she was out for a walk. I told him to call back later but he pleaded, “Just one question…” “Just one” I said.

“How do you feel about Palestinians suffering so cruelly in Gaza?” he asked.

“Hamas leader Khaled Maashal said ‘We Palestinians will defeat you Jews because we wish for death as you wish for life’.”

“So?”

“So, may they get what they wish for.”



moshe