Archive for March, 2007

Brit Tzedek v’Shalom’s misleading petition

Saturday, March 10th, 2007

By Vic Rosenthal

Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, an American Jewish organization which claims to be “pro-Israel and pro-Peace” is asking people — especially Jews — to sign a petition which says:

I call on your Administration to urgently promote talks between Israel and any party – including the Palestinians, Lebanon, and Syria – that accepts Israel’s right to exist by engaging in direct negotiations, back-channel contacts, and/or an international peace conference.

At first glance, this is ambiguous. Does it mean that Israel should talk to anyone who accepts her right to exist, and should do so in any of several ways? Or does it mean that anyone who engages in negotiations, back-channel contacts, or a peace conference thereby accepts Israel’s right to exist and Israel should talk to them?

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Israeli Newsman Says “Don’t Bomb Iran”

Saturday, March 10th, 2007

One of the most pressing questions today for Israel and her friends is this: How can Iran be stopped from obtaining (and using) nuclear weapons? The answer may not be what you think. Murray Farber is a retired journalist in Fresno.

By Murray Farber

Visiting Fresno yesterday, Israeli TV newsman Gil Tamary offered his opinion on a hot current question: Should Israel, the U.S. or any other country bomb Iran to block its development of nuclear weapons?

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Intolerance or rationality?

Friday, March 9th, 2007

By Vic Rosenthal

An Israeli professor has generated a storm of criticism in Australia:

According to [Prof. Raphael] Israeli [of the Hebrew University], who didn’t back down when he was approached by the national press, the experience of the West proves that when a Muslim minority becomes more than one-tenth of a country’s population, it bodes ill. “When the Muslim population gets to a critical mass you have problems. That is a general rule, so if it applies everywhere it applies in Australia.” Even though their numbers are still well below that in Australia, complained Israeli, “they are so vocal, and they make so much noise,” that it’s incumbent on the state to implement a “preventative policy” that will leave the Muslim citizens as a “marginal minority” before life becomes “untenable.”

Dr. Colin Rubenstein, president of the Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) [the “establishment” so roundly criticized recently by left-wing Jews! — ed], harshly criticized Israeli’s “unacceptable and unhelpful” views, saying that the Council “will not be co-hosting any of his further appearances in Australia.” — Ha’aretz

Is this a racist or “islamophobic” (I hate this word) sentiment that should be shouted down, or is it a political statement that can be true or false?

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Missing Iranian official may connect Iran with Iraqi Mahdi militia

Friday, March 9th, 2007

There’s been lots of speculation about whether an Iranian official who recently disappeared may have defected to the West or been kidnapped by the US or Israeli intelligence, and about what information he can provide:

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Was “Ruach Shaked” deliberately misleading?

Friday, March 9th, 2007

By Vic Rosenthal

Unsurprisingly, given the sustained anti-Israel and antisemitic content of the Egyptian media since (and before) the ‘peace’ treaty, some Egyptians are outraged by alleged Israeli war crimes in the film “Ruach Shaked”, directed by Ran Edelist, which was shown on Israeli television last week. The Jerusalem Post reports that

Severe warnings emerged from Egypt on Friday that Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer would be arrested if he set foot on Egyptian soil. It followed the documentary film about the Shaked Reconnaissance Unit which seemingly held Ben-Eliezer responsible for the deaths of 250 Egyptian prisoners of war during the Six Day War.

“We demand that the Egyptian court bring these murderers and war criminals to justice on Egyptian soil,” Egyptian MP Mustafa Bakri told the Kol al-Arav newspaper on Friday.

It’s clear that the incident did not happen — Shaked did not kill unarmed Egyptian prisoners of war, but rather a lesser number of Palestinian Fedayeen who, while retreating, were still fighting.

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