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Total number of comments: 20 (since 2010-06-26 20:46:53)

bookwoman

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  • Crossing into Israel: 'two highly-charged narratives'
  • Smoking gun: even as it enters into talks, Israel declares policy of separating Gaza and W.B.
    • bookwoman September 6, 2010 at 5:25 pm

      "You cannot underestimate the profound extent to which demographic considerations drive everything that Israel does."
      Demographic AND territorial considerations, i.e. grabbing the maximum amount of territory while striving to reduce the number of Arabs to a minimum.

      (Hmmm, wonder if I'm going to be moderated out of existence again?)

  • Revenge of the Nerds: Partying with the boys of Im Tirtzu
    • bookwoman August 20, 2010 at 5:06 pm

      From a recent Ha'aretz article by Yossi Sarid:

      "Fear is doing its job. And after all, that was the main purpose of the report - to intimidate institutes of higher education, and not only them. And indeed, some have already been intimidated. The president of Tel Aviv University, Prof. Joseph Klafter, has asked to examine the syllabi of his university's sociology courses, lest they be stigmatized as anti-patriotic.

      That is precisely what the destroyers are counting on - the fear they sow, and the calculations university presidents will make to prevent the flow of donations from suddenly drying up.

      This is not a time for hesitant, stuttering responses; it's a time to stand up and speak clearly. And anyone who is afraid to say the following should go home, and not undermine his colleagues' courage:

      * A thought police will not arise on college campuses.

      Lecturers will be hired, or not, solely on the basis of their academic talents and achievements.

      Quotas will not be established for lecturers based on their views, nor will there be an artificial and arbitrary balance between leftists and rightists.

      No external political organization will be allowed to dictate course syllabi and reading lists.

      The voice of the masses will not be the voice of academia; no views will be banned because they cannot pass the Knesset's electoral threshold. That is what we learned from our teachers and from history, and that is what we will continue to teach.

      Like the Torah, Zionism has 70 faces, and each of us has the right to chose the face he prefers. If the face of Zionism resembles that of Im Tirtzu and its funders, we should consider a face transplant. And if the Ariel college, for example, claims exclusive ownership of modern-day Zionism, than we will be post-post-Zionists.

      But in fairness, the warning must be given in time: When Israeli academia is besmirched and slandered, it is liable to capitulate and include the science of occupation on its syllabus. And only unabashed rightists, top patriots will teach this course - a supreme contribution to the glory of the State of Israel, its global legitimacy and the effort to prevent imposition of a boycott."

      The Im Tirtzu characters may be pathetic failures (although I fail to see the humor in any of this) but they are also dangerous, as witness Sarid's article. And by the way, his last paragraph indicates that Israeli university administrations and professors are just as cowardly as their American counterparts.

    • bookwoman August 20, 2010 at 4:23 pm with 2 replies

      To a European this is all familiar, in principle as well as behavior, bringing to mind the extreme right-wing student associations of Germany and Austria during the 1930s, whose members would harass fellow students (Jewish) as well as Jewish professors. Watching what Israel is turning into, step by step, is absolutely fascinating for anyone who knows something about Germany during the inter-war years.

  • cognitive dissonance on Jewish power
    • bookwoman July 30, 2010 at 7:07 pm

      In my opinion the Holocaust Museum doesn't belong on our National Mall in DC and never did. It isn't part of our national history, except incidentally.

      If---no, WHEN---the day comes when I see

      1) that museum is removed from the Mall (send it to Germany; I know they already have one, but they are the ones originally responsible for that particular crime so they could probably use a second one);

      2) the Congress institutes a complete investigation into the attack on the USS Liberty and the associated cover-up,

      that's when I'll know that the decades-long Zionist occupation of our country is finally over. Probably then something else bad will take its place, but I'll deal with that when I see it.

    • bookwoman July 30, 2010 at 6:13 pm

      "Oliver Stone is known to many Americans knee-deep in culture with political teeth; and his films are treasured by many thoughtful Americans in much the same way Rolling Stone magazine is. "

      Precisely for this reason I think Stone's enforced groveling and public humiliation will shock these same average Americans who aren't generally that aware of Zionist power in their country. It may serve as a consciousness-raiser, make them think a bit. The very opposite effect intended.

      What kind of people take pleasure in publicly grinding someone's face in the dirt in this way, anyway?

  • Israeli police working with settlers to occupy Palestinian home in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City
  • In 'FT,' Oxford chancellor calls on EU to step in before strangulation of Palestine leads to 'further disaster'
  • IDF report confirming Goldstone’s key findings is suppressed inside Israel
    • bookwoman July 26, 2010 at 5:40 pm with 1 replies

      Does anyone have an approximate estimate of this blog's daily readership? Just curious. I have been reading it daily since the attack on the flotilla, and aside from finding it addictive I never fail to be impressed with the quality of the discussion and the contributors. With obvious exceptions, we all know who they are. (Here's a radical idea: Could we just ignore them, instead of wasting so much valuable time and space refuting them?)

  • Freeman says special friendship has damaged US 'values... influence, leadership, credibility'
    • bookwoman July 26, 2010 at 3:19 pm

      This is too much, it's crossing the line. Why waste time and blog space on these people? We know what they are, at least some of them; they try to stir things up, and enjoy the enraged reaction and endless discussions they provoke.

      Can't we just ignore them? Nothing would irritate them more.

  • Smear tactics show that lobby is losing power in discourse
    • bookwoman July 24, 2010 at 5:02 pm

      They aren't "running in front", they are following---reluctantly, timidly, recognizing dimly that something very big is starting to happen and they have become irrelevant in what is going to be a sea change.

  • Message to Israelis who oppose BDS - go to Bil'in and see for yourself
  • New Yorkers protest Tzipi Livni despite hidden location
  • Flotilla fallout: What exactly was the U.S. role?
    • bookwoman July 3, 2010 at 4:10 pm with 3 replies

      Lysias,

      I read the article on the Ha'aretz website this morning. Just when I thought Obama couldn't sink any lower than he already has, he does. It's galling and sad to watch him groveling and backing down from principle. How am I possibly going to be able to vote for this man again in 2012? I don't think I can, not even holding my nose.

      I'm mad. I'm thinking rude words in several European languages.

  • CNN on the growing cultural boycott
    • bookwoman July 3, 2010 at 12:09 am

      "Don’t want to read too much into it, but I think there’s change in the wind…"

      Like the recent Kristof article in the NYT. Perhaps the mainstreams are beginning to see that they have zero credibility on matters concerning Israel and Israel-in-America and are finally trying to reach an audience that they realize they have lost. Market share, you know. But half-hearted and timid is better than nothing, which is what they have had until now.

  • IHH report on the freedom flotilla
    • bookwoman June 30, 2010 at 4:19 pm

      "It is beyond satire or reason that they consider themselves beyond any accountability for these blatant crimes"

      Accountability, a good, solid word, and both morally and legally an important concept. Shortly after the flotilla incident a brave man at the Brookings Institution, Mr. Charles Ebinger, wrote an article discussing that most taboo of subjects, the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, in the light of recent events. His point was precisely that it's high time the US begins to hold Israel accountable for its actions, especially when said actions turn out to be damaging to us. Not surprisingly I gather he has become the target of the usual vicious hate campaign. You know the modus operandi---silencing by intimidation. Perhaps someone could send him a kind word, I'm sure he would appreciate it. Unless he has joined the ranks of the unemployed since the article his email address is: cebinger@brookings.edu

      I like your name, justicewillprevail. Wishful thinking?

    • bookwoman June 30, 2010 at 2:50 pm with 1 replies

      Interesting information about the make-up of the propaganda people, hayate. Thanks.

    • bookwoman June 29, 2010 at 7:35 pm

      Hayate,
      This is old news, but it seems last year the Israeli Foreign Ministry began recruiting platoons of bloggers to infiltrate anti-Zionist websites and spread The Truth As Defined By Israel. Google this phrase: "Twitterers Paid To Spread Israeli Propaganda". Wonder whether any of them have made landfall at Mondoweiss? Now who might they be, I wonder....

  • Religion doesn't matter any more,
    • bookwoman June 29, 2010 at 8:38 pm

      You make a valid point, azythos. "Anti-Semitism" has too long routinely been used by the Zionists as a club with which to attack anyone even mildly critical of Israel. I speak from experience. By doing so they have devalued the word to the point where, to be honest, just hearing it makes me see red. It's easy to forget that in a larger context it does describe an objective reality which lies just beneath the surface and which, given the right conditions, might indeed manifest itself as you describe.

      Yes, the larger part of the population is ill-informed and gullible. I understand your concern. Is that a reason not to speak up, though? I'm not asking rhetorically; I would like to know what you think.

    • bookwoman June 28, 2010 at 4:58 pm with 5 replies

      "And yes, they are moronic enough to do it in plain daylight."

      Be grateful for their boundless arrogance, both in Israel and here, it will likely be their undoing. Notice how they are increasingly being forced out into the open?

      Speaking of gratitude, as a refugee from NPR et al. I can't tell you how happy I am to have discovered this website in the last few weeks. Finally a few honest souls with the guts to speak the truth on the subject at hand. Best of all, it seems to be a happy mix of Jews and non-Jews, with nary a Neo-Nazi crackpot in sight. I'm even grateful for the Maximalist, for reminding me of why I fled from the mainstream media in the first place.

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