It's Almost Supernatural

Attempted Islamic Jihad Attack Foiled

Shin Bet foils pullout bomb plot

Security forces have uncovered a plot masterminded by the Islamic Jihad to attack evacuating forces or Gaza settlers during disengagement, details released for publication on Wednesday revealed. A 10-kg explosive-belt was found hidden in a solar water heater at the Muwassi Palestinian enclave in Gush Katif Wednesday morning. According to officials, two of the cell members were supposed to be suicide bombers who were expected to wear IDF uniforms.

Divided Unity

Disengagement protestors and the soldiers who are to evict them together form a minyan so that the afternoon prayers can be said.

Stolen from Someone Else's Zion

South African Zionist Fed Press Release

Here's a press release from the SA Zionist Fed. I draw attention to it to highlight the praise for South African president Thabo Mbeki.

The South African Zionist Federation extends its sincere thanks to the President of South Africa, the honourable Mr Thabo Mbeki, for the very meaningful letter sent by him to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during this most difficult time in Israel's history. In his letter the President acknowledges the pain suffered by those families for whom Gaza was their home, and recognizes that the Israeli government and people will do everything possible to minimize the trauma of their resettlement. He reiterates the importance of the pullout from Gaza in the interests of peace and stability in the Middle East, and as the first step towards the implementation of the Road Map to peace. In conclusion he assures Prime Minister Sharon of the South African government's support in dismantling the settlements.

The Rabbis

At Jerusalem Post, a very important editorial interview with Prof. Moshe Kaveh. Kaveh is a religious Jew who almost chose the rabbinate but eventually opted for the world of academic research. Today he is the president of the Bar-Ilan university. The Bar -Ilan university knows all about religious extremism since it was the university attended by Yigal Amir - the extremist who 10 years ago assassinated Yitzhak Rabin.

In the interview Kaveh speaks about the crumbling partnership between the State and religious Zionism as well as the threat that many Rabbis like former Israeli Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapira pose to the very ideology of religious zionism. The threat posed is not an intentional threat but stems from an extremists tendency to hear what he wants to hear and close his ears to what he doesn't want to hear.

It's an important read, and there is too much to give excerpts, so go read the whole thing: Editor's Notes - Religious Zionism's crumbling partnership.

The title may be sensationalist - religious Zionism's partnership with Israel will not crumble. They in fact, are faced with a challenging opportunity which can make them even stronger.

Our Special Soldiers

Watching the scenes from CNN has been heartwrenching, but I must pay respect to our special police forces and soldiers.

They have behaved calmly and resolutely. When the settlers have screamed at them they have listened and embraced them. They are hugging the settlers. And crying with them. The soldiers and police are weeping with the settlers. You can't help but cry. Remember that the soldiers are all unarmed.

But they are obeying their orders as I firmly believe they should do. A quote from one Rabbi who is opposed to the disengagement:

"....we have to follow orders. We cannot refuse. If the order comes we must immediately evacuate to avoid any possible conflict between a soldier ordered to evacuate and one who is to be evacuated. We feel the pain, we cry, but we do not refuse orders."

And a quote from a soldier

"I’m going in to enforce the law. I don’t want to hurt anyone and don’t expect problems. I’ll go in, speak, hug, and cry, and I’ll help to pack. If need be, I’ll carry my brothers on my shoulders. I’ll absorb everything they have to say, in the hope that the power of my compassion overcomes their fury."

The settlers as well deserve praise. They are making the ultimate sacrifice yet the evacuation so far has on the whole been non-violent. There have been isolated incidents of violence but this is not representative of the whole. King Soloman once said "Gam Zeh Ya'avor." (Even this will pass).

Everything has been fully transparent. The press have had unconditional access everywhere.

For those who believe in the power of prayer, Tehillim 20 and 91 should be read as often as possible.

"Ya'ancha HaShem BeYom Tzara..." (May Hashem answer you on this day of distress.)

(Quotes from Rabbi and soldier via Bennie Penzik Vignettes.)

Disengagement: Worth Reading

Bnei Menashe families vow to stay: The Jews from India are known as Bnei Menashe.

A test of our Society: Today will be a painful day, no matter how it and the next few days turn out.

How the IDF plans to evacuate the Gaza settlements: Includes a series of graphical depictions of the concentric rings.

Figures from Gaza - How many have left and how many remain?

Chriac asks Abbas to help free kidnapped French journalist: President Jacques Chirac has asked PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to do all he can to help free a journalist working for French TV who was kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen.

Business Day Sinks Lower

The Business Day has included another one of Stephen Friedman's ever disgraceful and predictably anti-Israel opinion pieces.

Friedman says that the Gaza withdrawal is tantamount to the creation of illusory independent Bantustans in South Africa: Failure of SA's homelands should serve as a cautionary tale for Israel.

The Israeli government is not the first to decide on its own to separate itself from some over whom it rules — apartheid’s rulers did just this in the mid-1960s when they declared Transkei “independent” and claimed that its “citizens” (including both our democratically elected presidents) were now foreigners. They then repeated the trick in Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei. Both governing groups acted unilaterally and did not negotiate the decision with representatives of those they governed (the apartheid government always found compliant chiefs to endorse its decisions publicly — the Israelis have not even done that). (...) Morally, there is little difference between decreeing part of a country “independent” so that its residents can no longer claim rights in the rest of the land, and withdrawing unilaterally from territory in an attempt to prevent the dominated gaining other land, or rights in a common society.

Effectively, he is calling for the destruction of Israel.

When Apartheid South Africa created Bantustans their intention was a racial separation. They denied people with legitimate claims to citizenship of South Africa their rights. The separation was NOT supported by Black South Africans. Does any similarity between the two separations stand up to a serious consideration of the facts?

The Israeli-Palestinian separation is supported by the majority on both sides. Palestinians even view it as a victory. The separation is a political (not racial) separation aimed at eventually creating two independent states for two peoples living side-by-side in peace.

Gaza has never been part of Israel (although Jewish communities have resided there even before the establishment of Israel). It was originally supposed to be included as part of a Palestinian state under the 1947 UN partition plan. Egypt then occupied Gaza until 1967. After a defensive war Israel was compelled to occupy the Gaza strip, but never annexed it. The occupation effectively ended in 1994 under the Oslo Gaza-Jerico plan. Under this plan the Palestinians came to rule themselves (but Jewish settlements remained in Gaza.) The Oslo accords, which both parties signed to, called for an interim Palestinian self government and a phased withdrawal from the territories along with an end to terror. The disengagement plan is a logical continuation of the withdrawals that were initially made under the Oslo plan. It is unilateral because the Palestinians failed to live up to their promises of an end to terror.

An overwhelming majority of Palestinians support a two state solution and this can only happen if Israel withdraws from some of the territories. This is a political separation of people living in two separate entities. It is not even remotely similar to the context of the apartheid creation of the Bantustans which separated people within one country on the basis of their skin colour.

...the Israelis control Gaza’s borders and insist on their right to enter it should they decide that their security is threatened.

Can anyone rationally argue that there is no security risk for Israel? The threat of Gaza becoming a terrorist haven where weapons are easily smuggled in is real and Israel needs the means of preventing this from happening. Moreover negotiations are already taking place to allow for a corridor of safe passage for the Palestinians between Gaza and the West Bank. Even the Geneva initiative, which the Israeli majority outrightly rejects, understands the needs for an initial (hidden) Israeli presence at cargo and passenger terminals.

Friedman rants that the withdrawal is really a "rejection of the Palestinian rights" and excludes them from a "common political space". In other words he believes that the Palestinians should have full Israeli citizenship even though Gaza is NOT part of Israel. The Palestinians in Gaza are citizens of the Palestinian Authority and vote in its elections. They deserve rights in Israel as much as an American deserves rights in South Africa.

Friedman reveals his true intentions not by his calls to deny the Palestinians their right to a state of their own in Gaza and the West Bank; rather his intentions are revealed by his placing automatic responsibility for the Palestinians on Israel.

By Friedman's warped logic (unviability of an independent Palestinian state) what makes more sense?

1. Palestinians are absorbed by Israel; where two competing nations have shown their inability to live together in peace.
2. Gaza is absorbed by Egypt and West Bank absorbed by Jordan. Commonalities exist because all nations are Arab and Islam is the shared religion.

Option 2 would make much more sense. You can't argue that the Israeli occupation makes option 1 more realistic because both Egypt and Jordan have previously occupied Gaza and the West Bank respectively.

By arguing against an independent Palestinian state AND expecting Israel to absorb all the Palestinians Friedman is revealing his psychodrama fantasies where the Jewish state is destroyed. As I said have already said, if you want the Jewish state to be destroyed then stand up and say so, but don't cloud your wishes around illogical meandering.

Friedman's rejection of the two state solution resigns him to the obscure and irrelevant confines of political discourse and the Business Day newspaper does a disservice to their readers by continually including his invective sloganeering.

Stephen: Taking his surname a tad too seriously, or hoping for the destruction of Israel?

The Star of the Cartoons

While the Business Day complains about the horrible!ghastly!evil! Sharon; the Star newspaper take a much more reasoned perspective.

The caption says "Trying to work a miracle".

Damned If You Do; Damned If You Dont

Some of the local coverage of the Israeli disengagement from Gaza has been nothing short of alarming.

Take the above Business Day cartoon for example. Most people would consider the business newspaper to be fairly reasonable and pragmatic. They are; except when it comes to Israel. Israel takes the first step to create change in a seemingly intractable conflict but still the Business Day cartoonist can’t see past his own predetermined prejudices.

Can he reasonably argue that Israel should withdraw from all of Gaza and the West Bank in one big bang manoeuvre?

Israel has categorically stated that they are disengaging in the hope that mindsets can change so that the two parties can get back to the negotiation table. Negotiations call for two sides to make compromises. Generally you can only win a concession from the other side by making one yourself. If Israel were to make all their concessions in one big bang swoop they would have nothing left for the negotiating table!

Land in the West Bank can only be relinquished via a negotiated settlement whose outcome will end all claims of belligerency.

Israel has made the first move, received nothing in return, and still the Business Day attempts to whip up some anti-Israeli rage.

Yesterday I managed to catch three separate interviews with the acting Israeli ambassador to South Africa, on SAFM, SABC Africa, and SABC3 news at 10. (The news at ten interview was head and shoulders above the first two.)

Not once was the ambassador asked a real question from an Israeli perspective. Not once was he asked, “Is there a worry that you are sending a signal to the terrorist groups that terror works?”

More Scary Stuff

The Jewish Torah is divided into 54 "portions", in Hebrew called Parshas. Each week a different parsha is read. The full Parsha is read on Shabbat (Saturday) in the synogogue.

This Shabbat, to my surprise, Gaza was mentioned in the Parsha. The Parsha read was called Devarim, which is the first Parsha in the book of Deuteronomy (Deut chapt 1-3:22).

It's Almost Supernatural...