The upcoming “freedom” flotilla to Gaza

Simple (via The Propagandist)

The EDL and their like as a forest fire

There is a wildfire going on right now. It is above and beneath the surface of a great forest and exquisite flora. It is called Jihadism, Islamism, or simply, Islamic religious fanaticism. And it is consuming vast tracks of the great Islamic and Arab civilization that guided the world in science, literature, and philosophy, centuries ago.

Its flames of hatred scorch nearby forests and civilizations forcing them to take drastic measures to defend themselves. Like park rangers who burn a patch of land so the wildfire will have nothing to cling to, defenders of democracy find themselves limiting some of its rights and liberties. But like those controlled burns these measures must be strictly supervised or else it will turn into a wildfire in it’s own right. Devastating democracy and western civilization in a way no different than that aspired by Jihadism.

But this uncontrolled forest fire is what the EDL, the English Defense League, and like-minded organizations and individuals desire. Whether they vandalize a mosque in protest against the peace process or burn the Koran in the name free speech. Hate is hate, and as it burns books and the ideas they contain it will burn the people who believe in those ideas. No matter what belief system the hate filled person subscribes to.

In an EDL demonstration in England Rabbi Nahum Shifren of California, was a guest speaker. In his speech he attacks the Israeli consulate, the liberal media, and everything else he considers liberal and tolerant. According to him, he has no problem with Al Qaeda and those advocating Sharia law, “they’re just doing their job,” he shouts. And calls the EDL to do theirs. The very same job: attacking the values of the democratic world they live in.

When two forest fires conjoin, a ten thousand-fold hell unleashes at a lightning speed, with no way of telling one fire from the other. Leaving behind nothing but smoke and ashes. For us caught in between the work is twice as difficult. But someone has got to take on the duties a park ranger, whether as law enforcement agent, an educator, or a mere spoken voice of sanity. Or else the ashes will be us.

Judge Richard Goldstone defends his career as a judge during South Africa's apartheid

With the help of a sympathetic interviewer he does it very well, highlighting what has made him a hero in South Africa. Israel isn’t mentioned.

Richard Goldstone @ Yahoo! Video

This is why attacking his record from that era had achieved nothing.

IDF Soldier Saves Palestinian Girl Life

A great news piece available on YouTube.
Shows the true face of the Israeli army despite the blood libels.



And remember, “stones can kill”

Why must we be the suckers now? Avigdor Lieberman's orchestra of nonsense.

I hate to transfer internal debates to the international arena, I have a Hebrew blog for that, but in our times, when nothing stays private so to speak, some concerns and doubts need to be said.
To be blunt Israel’s foreign affairs minister public denunciation of the two state solution while de facto accepting it makes suckers of us all. While the Palestinians are the ones who actually rejected the idea, due to the statements of Lieberman and those who share his views, we have painted ourselves as the guilty party; guilty in the crime that victimized us. Because the constant Palestinian rejection of the two state solution was always expressed in brutal murderous violence against our civilian population. Therefore it’s hard for me to fathom the political wisdom behind these statements.
Even though the tone has subsided by now the bias elements in the international media, which are known to be vast, won’t let these statements be forgotten. As a result, we the advocates have to undo the damage. But bombastic statements can only be undone by other bombastic statements or a contradictory action. Any word or fact we say or use may make our case better understood on the micro level, but won’t change the general bad impression of this government.
Liberman has his followers in the advocates’ community, people I respect like Melanie Philips and Daniel Pipes, if they can defend his reasoning, so be it. But as I read the news here in Israel the new/old prime minister now talks about a political self-rule to the Palestinians whose status will be determined in the future. That status can only be only one thing and one thing alone, a Palestinian state. This means a predictable course of events, the international/peace process is going to take a few steps, when push come to shove, the Palestinian leadership will either stall or bail, and we will get the blame. Which returns us to my opening question, why must we be the suckers now?
Even if this predictable episode will not be bloody, hopefully, what’s the point of going through it?
Anybody…?