It's Almost Supernatural

Life in Israel

Daniel Gordis is an exceptionally emotive writer who provides monthly takes on life in Israel. There are few articles that I recommend more than the one's by Daniel Gordis. Please, read the whole article. His words will often fill your eyes with tears. This week however, Daniel describes the new hope in Israel.

The entire article is available here: Waking up is hard to do

Here is a brief snippet:

A lot of people have vested interests in denying that anything is different; they don't want to wake up and see the difference. They're correct, of course, that if things are quiet, it's not for lack of terror organizations trying. Just yesterday, the security forces found two belts, one of 10K and one of 20K, in West Bank searches. And yesterday, as well, they arrested three Palestinians on the way to an attack in Jerusalem. Daily stuff. We're all over them, and we've got much better intelligence. The difference these days is that we're stopping them.

The Israeli left doesn't want to admit how much better things are, because they'd have to acknowledge that our strategy is working. The security fence, an ugly blight on the face of the hills of the West Bank, and an uglier concrete monstrosity near Jerusalem and in other areas, works. Plain and simple. If they can't get through, they can't do much. And more and more, they can't get in.

And if you consistently kill the leadership of an organization, you will eventually lessen its effectiveness. The world, and the Israeli left, and a handful of IAF pilots might not like the "targeted assassinations" (or the extra-judicial executions, as the European press calls them), but they work. (One does suspect that if American forces found bin Ladin, he might not make it to trial, no?) Hamas is a weakened organization. Same with Jihad. Even Fatah. They're all badly damaged, and nervous. Might not be a popular approach, outside Israel or even in, but it works. You just have to go out to dinner to sense the difference it makes.

The right, of course, is equally concerned that people might begin to
suspect that the war is subsiding. Because the siege mentality is going to be critical in
convincing people here that the army ought not force settlers out of their homes. (Even those who support the disengagement must admit, by the way, that the pain of pulling families from their homes,
after decades in which both Labor and Likud governments encouraged them to move there, is going to be heart-breaking. And there probably will be some violence. We're heading for a different sort of turbulence.) So to suggest that it's "over," or "almost over" would return the country to Oslo-like confidence, and with it, they're afraid, all the accommodations that should not have been made the first time, and certainly shouldn't be made now.

© "Daniel Gordis (www.danielgordis.org) is Director of the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows, and the author, most recently, of If a Place Can Make You Cry: Dispatches from an Anxious State (Crown)."

Major suicide bombing in Jerusalem thwarted

Acting on pinpoint information security forces were able to thwart a man carrying a 10 kg bomb in a school bag.

The sources said Shin Bet agents and IDF troops closed in on a trio of Palestinians from the Nablus area at the A-Ram neighborhood at the northern tip of the capital Tuesday night. They told interrogators that they had been sent by a Tanzim cell which was receiving orders from Hizbullah in Lebanon. The trio included an 18-year-old suicide bomber and two men escorting him to the city. The head of the cell told interrogators they were waiting for a fourth Palestinian man who was to deliver them a suicide bomb belt, the security sources said. Acting on this information, security forces were able to locate that man traveling in a taxi stopped at the Akraba roadblock near Nablus. He was carrying a school bag which contained a powerful 10-kilo bomb, which sappers later detonated.

Another attack was thwarted in the Gaza strip.

Alert guards at an outpost in the northern Gaza Strip spotted two armed men attempting to sneak into the nearby Jewish settlement of Dugit and shot them dead before dawn Thursday.

In a search after daylight, troops located the bodies of the Palestinian infiltrators just 30 meters away. They discovered they had been wearing IDF uniforms and were armed with Klashnikov assault rifles, ammunition clips and hand grenades. One apparently had a flak vest.

In the local media today

Daily Sun

Arafat the guilty party - Clinton

WASHINGTON, US - Bill Clinton blames the continuing Middle East conflict on Yasser Arafat. He said the Palestinian leader made a "colossal mistake" in refusing peace terms four years ago when both sides were so close. In his memoirs, Clinton recounted how Arafat appeared confused in their crucial Camp David talks in July of 2000 that ended when "again, Arafat said no". Clinton described how he was part-negotiator and part-fireman in his efforts to end chronic Israeli- Palestinian mistrust.

Business Day
Opinion and Analysis section

Free and fair Palestinian poll is key to peace
Ziad Asali

Article calling for a two state solution. Asali ensures that he covers each decent point with a controversial one.

The Palestinians must explore all avenues that may lead to a viable, contiguous and independent state.

Contiguous?

The Palestinians should insist on their right to hold elections and to be given the chance to make and express their choices. It is past time for the Palestinians to go to the polling booths, to cast their votes to elect their representatives. So far, the US and Israel have not backed such a move. Yet it should not be impossible to get the US to shift its position.

The Star
SA to host talks on Mideast peace.
I thought the talks were on the execution of the inalienable rights of the Palestinians. Surely talks on Mideast Peace would involve some Israeli representation?

Dumb Drum Libel

Drum magazine has attempted to turn one of the postive aspects of Israel into a negative in an amateurish article on Ethiopian Jewry in Israel. Drum magazine refers to the Ethiopian Jews as "second class" citizens of Israel. I am amazed at how widespread the use of the idea of "classes" has become by journalist's in describing Israeli society.

BLACK JEWISH TROOPS die in combat, & fighting to preserve society that keeps isolated an under privileged enclave.

Today, the plight of the black Israelis is well publicized. But it first made headlines in January 1996, when rioting broke out among the Ethiopian Jews.

These "second-class citizens" went on the rampage after discovering that their donations to the national blood bank were being secretly poured down the drain.

The fury went white-hot when Zvi Ben Yishai, chairman of the National Aids Committee, offered the excuse that the HIV/Aids rate among black Israelis was 50 times that of white citizens.

"Pure racism," said Adiso Masala, head of the Organisation of Ethiopian Immigrants. "We are blood brothers with the Israelis, but our blood is thrown in the garbage because we are black!"
Ten thousand blacks demonstrated in Jerusalem, carrying placards that read: "Apartheid in Israel". Riot police used batons, rubber bullets, water cannons and teargas to quell them.

Yet these turbulent people had once been given an emotional welcome by the white Israelis, who saw them as a long-lost Jewish tribe restored to the nation. After more than 20 years, the so-called "Falashas" find it difficult to fit in as Israelis, and the second generation is showing symptoms of serious social problems.

The numbers speak for themselves, revealing patterns that are an ironic echo of some African American community statistics. According to The Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews, the average salary is below the poverty line and 66 percent of Ethiopian families are on welfare.

No less than 40 percent of Ethiopian schoolchildren are behind in reading; their school dropout rate is double the national average. Only 28 percent of the black Jews matriculate, and their juvenile delinquency rate is double the Israeli average.

Amazing isn't it. The fact that so many of them are on welfare is written down to racism. It has nothing to do with the fact that these people were rescued from Ethiopia and brought to Israel with only the clothes on their backs. Neither does Drum magazine consider that it may be due to the absence of any formal education that most of the Ethiopians arrived with.

The article ends with the following invective:

the blacks are almost as marginalised as they were in Ethiopia

Read the whole article here

Contact Drum magazine editor Alice Bell with comments. Be polite.
Alice Bell

Fax +27 (0)11 322 0891
[email protected]

UPDATE(26/06)
COHAV have written an excellent response to DRUM.

Dear Ms Bell

I have just read, with complete incredulity, an article in DRUM, about the Ethiopian community in Israel.

Just who is Marvin Cobb and what are his credentials for writing in such a negative way about one of the 20th century's modern miracles.

The absorption of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians by Israel, taking enormous risks to rescue them and saving them from starvation and almost certain death, is worthy of great praise, not criticism and condemnation. Taking a people from a middle ages concept of life to the challenge of living in modern Israel has been a truly remarkable achievement.

To suggest as Mr Cobb does, that "BLACKS ARE ALMOST AS MARGINALISED AS THEY WERE IN ETHIOPIA" is frankly quite incredible. An enormous investment has been made in educating the new Ethiopian immigrants and helping them to take the enormous leap into a different lifestyle with a new language and a new culture.

Of course it hasn't been easy, but at least Israel has held open her gates when the rest of the world turned its back and was prepared to let a whole people perish.

It is undoubtedly true that one of the worst effects of the Intifada and Palestinian terrorism has been a fall in the economy and an inevitable rise in unemployment, and the Ethiopians, like many other Israeli communities have suffered as a result. But few of them would deny that their life in Israel compares very favourably with the dire conditions they endured in their original homeland.

Sadly since the Intifada a staggering 21 per cent of the Israeli population is living below the poverty line, so inevitably the Ethiopian community has their share of this statistic.

Mr Cobb says many of them are on welfare. If you look at it through the bottle's half full eyes, then we should welcome the fact that an Israeli welfare system can give them the help and support they need.

Dragging up a sensitive 8 year old issue regarding donating blood does nothing to reflect the huge progress that has been made since then, and smacks of a very warped agenda.

Ethiopians serve with pride in the IDF and the suggestion they are "always to the fore among combat troops and the police" simply is not borne out by the facts. Mr Cobb can't have it both ways. If he claims the school drop out rate is high and many fail to matriculate, then those people would not even have to serve in the IDF. As it is, many serve with distinction, becoming officers and holding highly responsible positions.

What is better Ms Bell and Mr Cobb, perishing in Ethiopia or living free and productive lives in Israel?

The mere fact that Israel has an ambitious plan to further integrate the Ethiopians into Israeli society speaks volumes. And never forget that most communities opt to stick with their own, so the fact that they live in their own areas and communities is not surprising.

Nor should we forget that Jews around the world were happy to pay ransom money to rescue their fellow Ethiopian Jews.

Life certainly isn't a bed of roses for Ethiopians in Israel or for many other Israelis. Hopefully if the Palestinians can be persuaded to talk peace instead of terror everyone's situation can improve, but no-ones best interests are served by people like Marvin Cobb writing one-sided allegations in DRUM.
Joy Wolfe Manchester UK

UPDATE(05/07)
Drum magazine did not print any responses to their shameful article. Please keep writing to them. Here is a Ha'aretz article showing what life is really like for Ethiopians who have, with just the clothes on their back, arrived in Israel.

Middle East peace plan is stuck at a red traffic light

The Cape Times today ran a vividly descriptive Gill Katz article on the extraordinary and complex country called Israel.

Johannesburg 7am. The radio is full of news from the Middle East. Baghdad is reeling yet again from a terrorist attack. More innocent people die, and world leaders point fingers at each other in typical `J`accuse`(l accuse) fashion.

The radio presenter talks about what it must be like to wake up in a country occupied by an unwanted resident called `Terror`.

I smile wryly to myself as I drive to work. My eyes on the road and my ears listening to the radio, I pass a favourite coffee bar and am tempted to stop and treat myself to breakfast, but conscience and an impending meeting change my mind.

I recall my daily morning coffee and bagel ritual at Cafe Hillel in downtown Jerusalem a few weeks ago. At 7am one sees a cosmopolitan Israel on the move. A combination of religious and secular making their way to their places of work. The Israelis are as nervous about buses as I am. I flinched every time a bus passed, wondering, `Will the suicide bomber on board decide this is a good location to commit his life to 72 virgins in the hereafter? And if the bomber is female, will she be rewarded with 72 delicious heavenly hunks?

During my stay in Israel, I read in The Economist: `The Qu`ran is unequivocal about suicide: as a mark of despair in Allah, it earns eternal damnation. On the other hand, martyrdom - death in jihad, incurred in Allah`s name - earns eternal bliss.'

Totally confused as to what it meant, I had spoken to Rami, the exuberant taxi driver who happily drove me from place to place.He had a story for every nook and cranny in that extraordinary and complex country called Israel. Rami had spat pumpkin seeds out of his side window and scowled at me when I asked him my many questions. `Aiiieeee, suicide bombings... they are mad... mad,' he said.

To continue reading "Middle East peace plan is stuck at a red traffic light" click here

Clinton: No peace without Arafat

Business Day today ran an article where Bill Clinton claims that there can be no peace without Arafat.

LONDON — Yasser Arafat is so influential in the Palestinian territories that the US and Israel have no choice but to work with him if they want peace In the Middle East, former US president Bill Clinton said in an interview published yesterday ahead of the release of his 957 page memoir, My Life.

Clinton then continues (in a flip flopping manner so characteristic of Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry) - providing evidence suggesting that there can be no peace with Arafat.

But the former president also blamed the Palestinian leader for the collapse of Israelil-Palestinian negotiations in 2000. He said then-Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak was ready to make major concessions but Arafat was not able to "make the final jump from revolutionary to statesman ... he just couldn't bring himself to say yes".

Clinton said that as he was preparing to leave the White House, the Palestinian leader thanked him for his work and called him a "great man".

"I replied: I am not a great man. I am a failure, and you have made me one."

Clinton is advising Israel to negotiate with a terrorist who "just can't bring himself to say yes".

Blaming the JOOZ!

Speaking about the beheading of American Paul Johnson Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah has once again blamed the Jews. (Two weeks ago he said exactly the same thing - almost word for word).

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Crown Prince Abdullah blamed Israel for the execution. Speaking to Saudi television, he said, "Zionism is behind it. It has become clear now. It has become clear to us. I don't say, I mean. . . . It is not 100 percent, but 95 percent that the Zionist hands are behind what happened."

Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef said, "Al-Qaida is backed by Israel and Zionism, " and a Saudi official in the US argued that Zionists and others who argue for regime change in Saudi Arabia "share the same objective as Osama bin Laden."

Barry Rubin, the director of the Global Research Center in International Affairs at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya comments:

"by refusing to face the truth that the Saudi regime is now being attacked by products of its own ideology and system, Abdullah is indeed endangering the future of his regime

HE wants to show that the people behind the attacks are the worst possible people, not only aren't they really Moslems, but they are the worst enemies of Moslems; therefore they must be Zionists.

This just another example of how deep the hate toward Israel runs, and how difficult it will be to make peace in the region, especially with the Saudis."

Map of Israel

Eye on Israel. Something to bookmark straight away. (Thanks Media Backspin)

This site is anamazing interactive map of Israel. The map zooms in to the finest details - showing nearly every bus and train route. You can zoom in to details of virtually every historical, religious, or natural site. Brilliant informative pictures are displayed once you have zoomed into the specific sites. Descriptions of the sites are also provided.

A must see web site.

The Intifada is over

Charles Krauthammer’s says in his latest column that it's becoming increasingly obvious that the intifada is over. (Thanks LGF)

WASHINGTON — While no one was looking, something historic has happened in the Middle East. The Palestinian intifada is over, and the Palestinians have lost.

For Israel, the victory is bitter. The last four years of terrorism have killed almost 1,000 Israelis and maimed thousands of others. But Israel has won strategically. The intent of the intifada was to demoralize Israel, destroy its economy, bring it to its knees and thus force it to withdraw and surrender to Palestinian demands, just as Israel withdrew in defeat from southern Lebanon in May 2000.

That did not happen. Israel’s economy was certainly wounded, but it is growing again. Tourism had dwindled to almost nothing at the height of the intifada, but tourists are returning. And the Israelis were never demoralized. They kept living their lives, the young people in particular returning to cafes and discos and buses just hours after a horrific bombing. Israelis turned out to be a lot tougher and braver than the Palestinians had imagined.

The end of the intifada does not mean the end of terrorism. There was terrorism before the intifada and there will be terrorism to come. What has happened, however, is an end to systematic, regular, debilitating, unstoppable terror — terror as a reliable weapon. At the height of the intifada, there were 9 suicide attacks in Israel killing 85 Israelis in just one month (March 2002). In the last three months, there have been none.

The overall level of violence has been reduced by more than 70 percent. How did Israel do it? By ignoring its critics and launching a two-pronged campaign of self-defense.

First, Israel targeted terrorist leaders — attacks so hypocritically denounced by Westerners who, at the same time, cheer the hunt for, and demand the head of, Osama bin Laden. The top echelon of Hamas and other terror groups has been either arrested, killed, or driven underground. The others are now so afraid of Israeli precision and intelligence — the last Hamas operative to be killed by missile was riding a motorcycle — that they are forced to devote much of their time and energy to self-protection and concealment.

Second, the fence. Only about a quarter of the separation fence has been built, but its effect is unmistakable. The northern part is already complete, and attacks into northern Israel have dwindled to almost nothing.

This success does not just save innocent lives. It changes the strategic equation of the whole conflict.

Israel - A state of mind

An amazing article from Tashbih Sayyed in Pakistan today says that Muslims can learn a great deal by studying the struggles of the Jewish people. (Thanks LGF)

Jews, throughout their history, have been the symbol of intellectual freedom and have therefore represented the highest level of openness. Their love for knowledge, their penchant for debate, their urge to learn by questioning, and their refusal to submit to any dogma has always posed a challenge to the establishment that depends on the blind following of the masses. The Jews' thirst for truth has always threatened the status quo.

Absolutist fundamentalists do not like the status quo to be disturbed.
To prevent the Jewish state of mind from disturbing the status quo, absolutists have always looked for ways to keep the Jews confined in physical ghettos. But physical ghettos could not prevent the Jews from pursuing the path of truth. Nobody could succeed in confining them in intellectual ghettos. Jews, despite there political poverty and social helplessness, have continued to demonstrate the power of openness by excelling in intellectual fields. Despite their relatively small numbers, they always remained an overpowering influence on thoughts and ideas. And for a dogmatic state of mind, nothing can be more dangerous than a free mind.

All throughout their history, Jews have been forced to struggle to preserve their identity and traditions. They have always found their lives and properties in jeopardy; at the mercy of a jealous and envious establishment. Expulsions, inquisitions, gas chambers, and holocausts have always remained just around the corner, confirming that the absolutist and fundamentalist state of mind cannot tolerate a free mind to exist. Anti-Semitism symbolizes this complex.

Sayyed even considers the birth of Israel a blessing to the Muslim people

I am convinced that the only way to save the Muslims from being permanently consigned to the dustbin of history is to destroy the basis of anti-Semitism from the Muslim traditions and liturgy. And this can only be done by exposing the Islamist agenda. Muslims have to be informed of the real reasons of anti-Semitism by creating an alternative source of information and education from within the Muslim community. Only a Muslim challenge to the dark ideology of Islamism can undo the damage done to the Muslim mind.

Since only Jews represent over five thousand years of human pursuit of knowledge, struggle to prevail over bigotry and absolutism, and perseverance against a perpetual desire on the part of evil forces to destroy them, their history—if presented in an honest fashion to the Muslims—can go a long way in destroying anti-Semitism. Therefore it is vital that Israel is supported, defended and protected by all those who want the Muslims to progress as civilized people.

I consider the rebirth of the Jewish State to be a blessing for the Muslims. Israel has provided the opportunity to show the world the results of the Jewish state of mind in action...a mind that yearns to be free, and a mind that longs to see that all humanity enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
If the American civic faith has given the world a hope to be able to live with dignity, self respect and honor in peace, the Jewish traditions and culture of pluralism, debate, acceptance of dissension and difference of opinion have manifested themselves in the shape of the state of Israel to present the oppressed Muslim world with a paradigm to emulate. And if we want this world to be free of any kind of terror, we will have to defend this state of mind, whether it is seen in the shape of Israel or in the form of the United States of America

Sayyed is editor-in-chief of Muslim World Today and Pakistan Today, California-based weekly newspapers, president of Council for Democracy and Tolerance and adjunct fellow of Hudson Institute.

Read the whole thing.