Of course it is equally probable that a bunch of fearless real spies on motorcycles carried out the attack.

The ethical question about targeted assassination aside – the Iranians are hell-bent on getting a bomb. These scientists are critical leaders in the regime’s efforts.

TEHRAN — A scientist linked to Iran’s nuclear program was killed in his car by a bomb-wielding assailant on Wednesday, a bold rush-hour attack that experts say points to a further escalation in a covert campaign targeting the country’s atomic officials and institutions.

The precision hit in a northern Tehran neighborhood killed the 32-year-old chemical engineer employed at Iran’s main uranium-enrichment facility and brought to four the number of Iranian scientists killed by bombs in the past two years. No one asserted responsibility for the bombing, which prompted a swirl of accusations and denials as well as renewed concerns about worsening tensions between Iran and the West.

And this one occurred on the yarhtziet of another scientist:

The killing bore strong resemblance to two 2010 attacks on nuclear scientists and came on the same day as a ceremony for the second anniversary of the killing of another professor, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, in an explosion.

Let the greatest Rabbis in the Jewish world go to Bet Shemesh. Let each walk a little second grader to school. Let their rebbetzins hold a girl’s hand and say, “Come my dear, don’t be afraid, I will walk you to school.” Let them, our Gedolim, our Torah giants, look in the face of the Chasidim yelling “Nazi” at little girls and Jewish policemen and tell them to be silent.

Judaism is not monolithic. But in response to violence extremism we must be united and show that this is not accepted – whether it is the vandalism and burning of mosques or the terrorizing of women.

Read more here…

It’s like been an avalanche of silliness for Jews, Jew haters, Jewish Jew haters, and just plain morons of late. I’m not goig to label anyone, because that would be politically incorrect, but what am I supposed to do with all this nonsense?? For instance, the State Department released some archival documents from the Nixon administration which contained some bon mots by one Jew named Henry Kissinger:

A White House official, Leonard Garment, saying he was flooded with letters and phone calls with Jewish appeals, asked Kissinger for help and guidance. The late Alexander Haig, Nixon’s national security adviser, sent him Mrs. Meir’s letter and said “We will have to consider the best means by which to proceed.” … According to transcripts released by the State Department, Kissinger, who was Haig’s deputy, said to Garment: “Is there a more self-serving group of people than the Jewish community?” Kissinger is Jewish… Garment, also Jewish, replied: “None in the world.” … At this point, Kissinger was quoted as saying “What the hell do they think they are accomplishing?” … Kissinger went on: “You can’t even tell bastards anything in confidence because they’ll leak it.” … But Kissinger said he would take up the issue with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin and also meet again with Jewish leaders. “They ought to remember what this administration has done,” he said.

First of all, “Leonard Garment?” Back in the Shtetl was his name Lieb Shmatta? As for Kissinger, was he simply internalizing his boss, President Nixon’s casual anti-Semitism? How else to explain the attitude of this Jew who achieved the power that he did thanks to inroads made by other “self-serving” Jews? Heh. Still no comment from Kissinger’s office.

But whatever, Kissinger is an old man now. We have to start thinking about things like what street in New York will we name after him? How about we rename Avenue J deep in the heart of Brooklyn “Henry Kissinger Way?” A sign on Avenue J was recently vandalized to read Avenue Jew. The proximity of Jews and stupid anti-Semites seems like an ideal place to remember Henry.

And after the ceremony, maybe we can go to Efraim’s Barber Shop on 2385 Nostrand Avenue just off of Avenue J(ew) and ask for a Hitler Haircut. Yes. I said Hitler Haircut. The New York Times Style section noted:

CLEAN-CUT young men have been going to F.S.C. Barber in the West Village and asking for the same haircut: buzzed on the sides, longer on top and slicked back with a dab of pomade. You could call it a modified McSqueeb, a J. Edgar Hoover or maybe a Jimmy Darmody, after the character in “Boardwalk Empire.” … But a lot of them just ask for a Hitler Youth, said Sam Buffa, a founding partner of the barbershop. “I was trying to not use that” term, he added.

See? People can be sensitive, and even well-meaning, but they can still raise the ire of the ADL. Like the otherwise fine and clever people at Wódka Vodka. These purveyors of quality discount vodka have used clever ads in past advertising campaigns ie “Hamptons Quality. Newark Pricing” and the more provocative “Escort Quality. Hooker Pricing.” For the upcoming holiday season I guess they decided to stick with provocative when they put up these billboards in a few locations in New York:

Yeah. “Christmas Quality. Hanukkah Pricing.” The Jews weren’t amused and now the billboards are down. Kissinger would probably say that this was yet another example of the Jews acting in a grossly self-serving manner, getting in the way of the Vodka dudes spreading vodka fueled holiday cheer at discount prices. Oy. But what do you want? People can’t leave us alone. Like, check out these dudes. They put out a clever video on YouTube showcasing their musical chops and mastery of Internet memes. 43 memes in 3:53 seconds – stuff like badgers, chocolate rain, Charlie bit my finger, rickroll etc. It’s funny and it’s catchy and here it is:

So yeah, guaranteed viral! Over 6.5 million views, nearly 200,000 likes and over 60,000 comments. Thing is that the members of the GAG Quartet are Israeli. As a result, a nice chunk of the comments referenced horrifically anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments. Why? I don’t know. It’s ridiculous. What does this video have to do with race or politics? I guess when it comes to Jew hating, people don’t really need a good reason to go off the handle. Maybe that explains why Jews are, you know, so self-interested sometimes?

Ah what do I know…

“Obviously, Israel is a special ally, and my bet is that we would be funding them at some substantial level,” Perry said. “But it makes sense for everyone to come in at zero and make your case. As a matter of fact, we ought to try doing that with some of those agencies that I was trying to think the name of.”

Really? Really?

By the end of the debate, Perry’s campaign issued a statement with a major clarification: Perry is “a friend to Israel and understands the challenges faced by the country,” according to Talking Points Memo.

“We must not let any daylight show between our two nations,” the statement says, adding that Perry “does not believe weakening Israel is the road to peace. A strong Israel is in the best interests of the United States and the region.”

Texas is home to the largest pro-Israel Christian groups in the country, Christian United for Israel.

There are statistics that suggest that as many as 60% of released Palestinian terrorists have returned to terror activities in the past, so this trade may cost more Israeli lives.

The deal has strengthened Hamas, a staunch enemy of Israel, and has raised the specter of further kidnappings and lopsided trade deals in the future. In fact, it appears that Israel is about to release 80 Egyptian prisoners for a foolish American-Israeli who thought it was a good idea to witness the “Arab Spring” and was taken into custody on a foolish accusation of espionage.

There is the question of timing and wonder at whether Netanyahu acted out of political expediency in order to use the deal to undermine the strength of Fatah and the PA during these days of trying to secure Palestinian statehood at the UN.

The deal ultimately pitted the families of some who lost family or who had been severely injured in terror attacks against the state and even the Shalit family.

In other words, there is a great deal of bitterness and concern blended with the joy of seeing Gilad Shalit hugging his father today.

But make no mistake, while there are extenuating circumstances and challenging implications, that hug was a great moment for Israel.

In thinking about today, I went back to another lopsided trade about two years ago when in an attempt to free Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, Israel released a large number of prisoners including the sadistic Samir Kuntar who murdered a father in front of his four year old daughter and then murdered the daughter as well. The Israelis received two corpses in return, not even living soldiers.

The Israelis didn’t know they were going to receive two bodies; when the coffins were pulled out it was a shocking moment. But even seeing those boxes, it was clear that the deal had been inevitable.

Here’s the Jewlicious essay from then. It discusses the wife, Karnit, and mother, Miki, of Ehud Goldwasser as they spoke at his funeral:

Karnit spoke of Ehud’s love for the “moledet” which translates into “homeland” or “nation of birth.” This love for the moledet was a part of him, she said, and part of his motivation to serve his country, Israel…

The mother, Miki, spoke to the people of Israel and said to them, “zikpu komatchem” which translates into “straighten up” or “raise yourselves up.” You won the [Lebanon] war, she told the nation, so raise yourselves up and be proud. As her son lay there, killed defending the country, she stood resolute, stone-faced and commanding and told the people of Israel to stand tall and be proud of who they are. It is an incredible thing to see and hear precisely because she’s doing it at the moment of her greatest loss. At her own son’s funeral she did this.

And it became so clear, watching these women speak, that the trade – difficult and imbalanced as it was – had to be made. These families sacrificed their loved ones for an idea that a place for the Jewish people was necessary, important, just and good, AND the reality that such a place cannot exist without the commitment of the nation to send its husbands, fathers, sons and brothers off to war. The least the nation could do is sacrifice to bring them back to their families, even dead.

And far more so to bring back one of their sons alive.

Either way, what is interesting about the Roadmap is that as you read it, it becomes quite clear that conditions in the Middle East have changed considerably since 2003 when this document was produced. Conditions have changed for Arab states in general, but also for the Palestinians who are now divided into two areas and two governments (neither one of which has held elections recently – a requirement of the Roadmap).

In other words, the Quartet, in order to try to save peace talks and prevent unilateral action, have signed off on an impossible plan. There is no way this Roadmap can be implemented as written, because key elements cannot be addressed. For example, what about Hamas?!

Those elements are critical to ensuring the basis of this plan, which is to assure both sides that they will be safe after a peace agreement is signed and two states are created.

One can only assume the Quartet decided to pass the buck to the Palestinians and Israelis rather than opening up the discussion among themselves again. Maybe they think they (the Quartet members) won’t be able to come to some sort of consensus again and rather than reopen what would become a Pandora’s Box, they prefer to leave things as they are. However, they are placing Israel and even the Palestinians in an extremely challenging situation, one unlikely to be resolved this way. You can’t expect real progress when you base your foundations on a fiction.

A Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The following is a performance-based and goal-driven roadmap, with clear phases, timelines, target dates, and benchmarks aiming at progress through reciprocal steps by the two parties in the political, security, economic, humanitarian, and institution-building fields, under the auspices of the Quartet [the United States, European Union, United Nations, and Russia]. The destination is a final and comprehensive settlement of the Israel-Palestinian conflict by 2005, as presented in President Bush’s speech of 24 June, and welcomed by the EU, Russia and the UN in the 16 July and 17 September Quartet Ministerial statements.

A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will only be achieved through an end to violence and terrorism, when the Palestinian people have a leadership acting decisively against terror and willing and able to build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty, and through Israel’s readiness to do what is necessary for a democratic Palestinian state to be established, and a clear, unambiguous acceptance by both parties of the goal of a negotiated settlement as described below. The Quartet will assist and facilitate implementation of the plan, starting in Phase I, including direct discussions between the parties as required. The plan establishes a realistic timeline for implementation. However, as a performance-based plan, progress will require and depend upon the good faith efforts of the parties, and their compliance with each of the obligations outlined below. Should the parties perform their obligations rapidly, progress within and through the phases may come sooner than indicated in the plan. Non-compliance with obligations will impede progress.

A settlement, negotiated between the parties, will result in the emergence of an independent, democratic, and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors. The settlement will resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and end the occupation that began in 1967, based on the foundations of the Madrid Conference, the principle of land for peace, UNSCRs 242, 338 and 1397, agreements previously reached by the parties, and the initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah – endorsed by the Beirut Arab League Summit – calling for acceptance of Israel as a neighbor living in peace and security, in the context of a comprehensive settlement. This initiative is a vital element of international efforts to promote a comprehensive peace on all tracks, including the Syrian-Israeli and Lebanese-Israeli tracks.

The Quartet will meet regularly at senior levels to evaluate the parties’ performance on implementation of the plan. In each phase, the parties are expected to perform their obligations in parallel, unless otherwise indicated.

Phase I: Ending Terror And Violence, Normalizing Palestinian Life, and Building Palestinian Institutions — Present to May 2003
In Phase I, the Palestinians immediately undertake an unconditional cessation of violence according to the steps outlined below; such action should be accompanied by supportive measures undertaken by Israel. Palestinians and Israelis resume security cooperation based on the Tenet work plan to end violence, terrorism, and incitement through restructured and effective Palestinian security services. Palestinians undertake comprehensive political reform in preparation for statehood, including drafting a Palestinian constitution, and free, fair and open elections upon the basis of those measures. Israel takes all necessary steps to help normalize Palestinian life. Israel withdraws from Palestinian areas occupied from September 28, 2000 and the two sides restore the status quo that existed at that time, as security performance and cooperation progress. Israel also freezes all settlement activity, consistent with the Mitchell report.

At the outset of Phase I:

*
Palestinian leadership issues unequivocal statement reiterating Israel’s right to exist in peace and security and calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to end armed activity and all acts of violence against Israelis anywhere. All official Palestinian institutions end incitement against Israel.
*
Israeli leadership issues unequivocal statement affirming its commitment to the two-state vision of an independent, viable, sovereign Palestinian state living in peace and security alongside Israel, as expressed by President Bush, and calling for an immediate end to violence against Palestinians everywhere. All official Israeli institutions end incitement against Palestinians.

Security

*
Palestinians declare an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism and undertake visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere.
*
Rebuilt and refocused Palestinian Authority security apparatus begins sustained, targeted, and effective operations aimed at confronting all those engaged in terror and dismantlement of terrorist capabilities and infrastructure. This includes commencing confiscation of illegal weapons and consolidation of security authority, free of association with terror and corruption.
*
GOI takes no actions undermining trust, including deportations, attacks on civilians; confiscation and/or demolition of Palestinian homes and property, as a punitive measure or to facilitate Israeli construction; destruction of Palestinian institutions and infrastructure; and other measures specified in the Tenet work plan.
*
Relying on existing mechanisms and on-the-ground resources, Quartet representatives begin informal monitoring and consult with the parties on establishment of a formal monitoring mechanism and its implementation.
*
Implementation, as previously agreed, of U.S. rebuilding, training and resumed security cooperation plan in collaboration with outside oversight board (U.S.-Egypt-Jordan). Quartet support for efforts to achieve a lasting, comprehensive cease-fire.
o
All Palestinian security organizations are consolidated into three services reporting to an empowered Interior Minister.
o
Restructured/retrained Palestinian security forces and IDF counterparts progressively resume security cooperation and other undertakings in implementation of the Tenet work plan, including regular senior-level meetings, with the participation of U.S. security officials.
*
Arab states cut off public and private funding and all other forms of support for groups supporting and engaging in violence and terror.
*
All donors providing budgetary support for the Palestinians channel these funds through the Palestinian Ministry of Finance’s Single Treasury Account.
*
As comprehensive security performance moves forward, IDF withdraws progressively from areas occupied since September 28, 2000 and the two sides restore the status quo that existed prior to September 28, 2000. Palestinian security forces redeploy to areas vacated by IDF.

Palestinian Institution-Building

*
Immediate action on credible process to produce draft constitution for Palestinian statehood. As rapidly as possible, constitutional committee circulates draft Palestinian constitution, based on strong parliamentary democracy and cabinet with empowered prime minister, for public comment/debate. Constitutional committee proposes draft document for submission after elections for approval by appropriate Palestinian institutions.
*
Appointment of interim prime minister or cabinet with empowered executive authority/decision-making body.
*
GOI fully facilitates travel of Palestinian officials for PLC and Cabinet sessions, internationally supervised security retraining, electoral and other reform activity, and other supportive measures related to the reform efforts.
*
Continued appointment of Palestinian ministers empowered to undertake fundamental reform. Completion of further steps to achieve genuine separation of powers, including any necessary Palestinian legal reforms for this purpose.
*
Establishment of independent Palestinian election commission. PLC reviews and revises election law.
*
Palestinian performance on judicial, administrative, and economic benchmarks, as established by the International Task Force on Palestinian Reform.
*
As early as possible, and based upon the above measures and in the context of open debate and transparent candidate selection/electoral campaign based on a free, multi-party process, Palestinians hold free, open, and fair elections.
*
GOI facilitates Task Force election assistance, registration of voters, movement of candidates and voting officials. Support for NGOs involved in the election process.
*
GOI reopens Palestinian Chamber of Commerce and other closed Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem based on a commitment that these institutions operate strictly in accordance with prior agreements between the parties.

Humanitarian Response

*
Israel takes measures to improve the humanitarian situation. Israel and Palestinians implement in full all recommendations of the Bertini report to improve humanitarian conditions, lifting curfews and easing restrictions on movement of persons and goods, and allowing full, safe, and unfettered access of international and humanitarian personnel.
*
AHLC reviews the humanitarian situation and prospects for economic development in the West Bank and Gaza and launches a major donor assistance effort, including to the reform effort.
*
GOI and PA continue revenue clearance process and transfer of funds, including arrears, in accordance with agreed, transparent monitoring mechanism.

Civil Society

*
Continued donor support, including increased funding through PVOs/NGOs, for people to people programs, private sector development and civil society initiatives.

Settlements

*
GOI immediately dismantles settlement outposts erected since March 2001.
*
Consistent with the Mitchell Report, GOI freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements).

Phase II: Transition — June 2003-December 2003
In the second phase, efforts are focused on the option of creating an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders and attributes of sovereignty, based on the new constitution, as a way station to a permanent status settlement. As has been noted, this goal can be achieved when the Palestinian people have a leadership acting decisively against terror, willing and able to build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty. With such a leadership, reformed civil institutions and security structures, the Palestinians will have the active support of the Quartet and the broader international community in establishing an independent, viable, state.

Progress into Phase II will be based upon the consensus judgment of the Quartet of whether conditions are appropriate to proceed, taking into account performance of both parties. Furthering and sustaining efforts to normalize Palestinian lives and build Palestinian institutions, Phase II starts after Palestinian elections and ends with possible creation of an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders in 2003. Its primary goals are continued comprehensive security performance and effective security cooperation, continued normalization of Palestinian life and institution-building, further building on and sustaining of the goals outlined in Phase I, ratification of a democratic Palestinian constitution, formal establishment of office of prime minister, consolidation of political reform, and the creation of a Palestinian state with provisional borders.

* International Conference: Convened by the Quartet, in consultation with the parties, immediately after the successful conclusion of Palestinian elections, to support Palestinian economic recovery and launch a process, leading to establishment of an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders.
o Such a meeting would be inclusive, based on the goal of a comprehensive Middle East peace (including between Israel and Syria, and Israel and Lebanon), and based on the principles described in the preamble to this document.
o Arab states restore pre-intifada links to Israel (trade offices, etc.).
o Revival of multilateral engagement on issues including regional water resources, environment, economic development, refugees, and arms control issues.
*
New constitution for democratic, independent Palestinian state is finalized and approved by appropriate Palestinian institutions. Further elections, if required, should follow approval of the new constitution.
*
Empowered reform cabinet with office of prime minister formally established, consistent with draft constitution.
*
Continued comprehensive security performance, including effective security cooperation on the bases laid out in Phase I.
*
Creation of an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders through a process of Israeli-Palestinian engagement, launched by the international conference. As part of this process, implementation of prior agreements, to enhance maximum territorial contiguity, including further action on settlements in conjunction with establishment of a Palestinian state with provisional borders.
*
Enhanced international role in monitoring transition, with the active, sustained, and operational support of the Quartet.
*
Quartet members promote international recognition of Palestinian state, including possible UN membership.

Phase III: Permanent Status Agreement and End of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict — 2004 – 2005
Progress into Phase III, based on consensus judgment of Quartet, and taking into account actions of both parties and Quartet monitoring. Phase III objectives are consolidation of reform and stabilization of Palestinian institutions, sustained, effective Palestinian security performance, and Israeli-Palestinian negotiations aimed at a permanent status agreement in 2005.

*
Second International Conference: Convened by Quartet, in consultation with the parties, at beginning of 2004 to endorse agreement reached on an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders and formally to launch a process with the active, sustained, and operational support of the Quartet, leading to a final, permanent status resolution in 2005, including on borders, Jerusalem, refugees, settlements; and, to support progress toward a comprehensive Middle East settlement between Israel and Lebanon and Israel and Syria, to be achieved as soon as possible.
*
Continued comprehensive, effective progress on the reform agenda laid out by the Task Force in preparation for final status agreement.
*
Continued sustained and effective security performance, and sustained, effective security cooperation on the bases laid out in Phase I.
*
International efforts to facilitate reform and stabilize Palestinian institutions and the Palestinian economy, in preparation for final status agreement.
*
Parties reach final and comprehensive permanent status agreement that ends the Israel-Palestinian conflict in 2005, through a settlement negotiated between the parties based on UNSCR 242, 338, and 1397, that ends the occupation that began in 1967, and includes an agreed, just, fair, and realistic solution to the refugee issue, and a negotiated resolution on the status of Jerusalem that takes into account the political and religious concerns of both sides, and protects the religious interests of Jews, Christians, and Muslims worldwide, and fulfills the vision of two states, Israel and sovereign, independent, democratic and viable Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security.
*
Arab state acceptance of full normal relations with Israel and security for all the states of the region in the context of a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace.

Eli Yishai hurts Israel gravely.

Eli Yishai is a menace to all Israelis.

Eli Yishai should retire tomorrow and his party needs to disappear. His party is Shas.

Who is Eli Yishai? He is Israel’s Minister of the Interior. This is a very important position in Israel, which is why Shas, a coalition-making party, demands it whenever they can. What does the Ministry of Interior do?

* Supervision of local authorities and direction of their policies in accordance with government social and economic policy.
* Regulation of personal and legal status of Israeli residents in matters of citizenship and registration, immigration, entrance to and exit from the country, censuses, and the dissemination of census information.
* Physical planning throughout the country via national, district, and local outline plans.
* Control of emergency services including evacuation, assistance, care of casualties in wartime, firefighting, and other emergency matters.
* Organization and administration of local authority elections and preparation of electoral rolls for national (Knesset) elections.
* Enforcement of planning and construction laws through the Construction Supervisory Unit.

As far as emergency services go, to show how incompetent Yishai is, consider that during the Carmel fire last year, it was revealed that Israel’s fire fighting services were out of fire fighting chemicals. This is a mere 4 years after the second Lebanon war in which Hizbullah fired a few thousand missiles at Israel. This is despite the blistering summers Israel experiences and the several-year drought it had been facing.

As the Carmel was burning, causing the deaths of about 40 Israelis and destroying entire forests, it became clear that not only were there no chemicals for Israel’s fire fighters, but there were also no planes available to fight the fires. Well, a couple of small planes were available, but they were meaningless in the context of the fire. Not only that, but Israel’s fire fighting services were woefully undermanned to deal with this fire. In the end, thanks to assistance from other countries such as Greece, which did have an air fire-fighting force with a bunch of specialty Canadian planes in service, the fire was controlled.

Okay, you say, but this points to incompetence, not idiocy. Besides, the Interior Ministry has a history of dismissing Israel’s fire fighting services, so why should Yishai leave the government?

Good Question.

Because he’s an idiot.

In 2010, Joe Biden, VP of the USA, Israel’s most important and closest ally, was on a visit to Israel. This was an important visit because it was intended to show Israelis and Americans who support Israel that the two nations still had an important relationship between them. That they were still close allies and that whatever Obama was doing or saying, however much he was dismissing or insulting Israel’s prime minister, the bonds between the USA and Israel were unassailable.

There was, however, one thing that was already known which is that Obama felt the settlements were an obstacle to peace. As he said in his Cairo speech:

The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.

And in case anybody had any doubts, Obama’s attack dogs at the State Department (yes, under Hilary) made sure that Israel understood eastern Jerusalem – which they call East Jerusalem – was considered an extension of the West Bank and construction there would be something that undermines the peace talks the US sought to bring about. As PJ Crowley, the State Department spokesman who had a pretty tough time calling Israel a Jewish state said,

“We’ve made our views known to Israel. This kind of construction is a type of issues that should be subject to permanent-status negotiations,”

Pretty clear, right?

So what did Eli Yishai do? He ensured that his Ministry of the Interior announced the approval of construction of 1800 new units in a Jerusalem neighborhood called Ramat Shlomo which sits in the eastern part of the city. The announcement was made during Biden’s feel-good trip to Israel.

It instantly turned the situation sour. In fact, it caused such a low point in Israel-US relations that it seemed as if this would be when the US imposes a peace agreement on Israel that precludes eastern Jerusalem with its holy sites.

Eli Yishai did that. And you can bet your sweet patooties that Yishai did it on purpose. He wanted to make a point to both the Americans and his prime minister about who really controls Jerusalem. By doing so, he instead weakened Israel’s hold over eastern Jerusalem dramatically. This was a slight that Obama will never forgive or forget. Besides, Yishai’s stupidity forced Netanyahu into such a difficult corner that for the first time ever, an Israeli PM agreed to freeze all settlement construction and although it was unstated, in Jerusalem there was also a moratorium on construction in eastern Jerusalem.

So what can one expect Yishai to do? What would an idiot do?

Repeat his mistake.

So Yishai did it again. The idiot actually did it again a few days ago. It was announced by his ministry that 1100 new homes had been approved in Gilo. Gilo is a Jerusalem suburb which is not inside the Green Line and therefore is presumably in the “1967 lines with land swaps” that Obama has announced as the baseline for future talks.

To remind everyone, a few days ago is when Israel and the Palestinians had a showdown at the UN about Palestinian statehood. Indeed, it was a week when Obama showed friendship and US support for Israel that he had not shown since entering office. He stood at the UN and despite the knowledge that his position would single out America, he said that the US rejected the idea as it had been presented. He also personally asked Abbas to back off from asking the UN for statehood and had the entire US foreign diplomatic service follow this position.

Israel actually met with some success last week at the UN. A number of countries indicated that they won’t support the Palestinian bid, or would refrain from active voting. Netanyahu gave a good speech and Obama’s speech also proved effective, and pro-Israel.

Those were just speeches, however. The real diplomatic fight was just beginning because the Palestinians went ahead with their request for a state. This meant that the UN Security Council needed to explore the question and vote on it. A majority would give the Palestinians a moral victory and isolate the Americans. Either way, it was likely to go up to the General Assembly as well. Israel’s allies are few but were trying to help out. In this regard, the Quartet, the US and Germany were extremely active. The plan was to try to get the Palestinians back to the table. The Palestinians were demanding a freeze on settlement activity in order to come to talks and Israel was refusing another freeze, but in light of the sensitivity of the discussions, everybody was keenly aware that the issue of settlements needed to be toned down dramatically.

The one thing that shouldn’t have happened is an announcement of 1100 new units in a part of the city that was bound to raise some serious opposition.

Thus, in the midst of one of Israel most critical periods, as it was battling to salvage a victory in what had been an extremely effective Palestinian strategy to single out Israel for approbation, to do an end-run around the Oslo Accords and UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, and to secure international consensus at the highest level possible that eastern Jerusalem to its 1967 lines, which includes the Kotel – the Western Wall – were in fact Palestinian, Eli Yishai decided to ignore the fire-red “fragile” sticker on the box and drop it. Hard.

The State Department jumped into action, immediately criticizing the new construction. Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, is humiliated and furious that her efforts at diplomacy on behalf of Israel were so blatantly undermined. The media is having a field-day with the story, and, of course, the Palestinians are using it as an example of Israel’s desire to steal Palestinian land and prevent their statehood. Yes, Holocaust revisionist Mahmoud Abbas is trying to convince the on-the-fence Security Council nations to vote for Palestinian statehood and he now has some excellent ammunition which arrived at just the perfect moment.

Why?

Because Eli Yishai is an idiot.

And furthermore, his party is not helping anybody with its shenanigans.

I didn’t even get into the issue of the many problems he and they have caused and are causing to converts, prospective converts, immigrants to Israel and Jews who aren’t Orthodox in general. Trust me, however, he and they are just as senseless when it comes to those matters. Yishai needs to leave government, and so does his party. Seriously, vote for Labor or something, not these screw-ups.

The first Endgame post included the following:

Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian PM, has established a two year plan for creating the infrastructure of a Palestinian state. This has been described by the Palestinians as a proactive measure intended to lay the groundwork for peace. However, they have also made it clear that if no “peace” is forthcoming, then they will take their preparations and declare a state unilaterally. While it’s doubtful they would do so, the point of the exercise is to be ready and to function like a proper government in the view of the world’s western nations. It is also, of course to place pressure on Israel because Israel would end up losing a great deal of negotiating leverage if the world accepts a new Palestinian state. Also, becoming a high contracting party gives the Palestinians some advantages they do not currently enjoy on the diplomatic and other fronts.

In the comments, I added:

…the benefits will be of unilateral statehood by the Palestinians…

Part of the strategy, in my opinion, is to scare Israel into believing the Palestinians will actually unilaterally declare statehood. The way they will do it in order to get approval and recognition by other states is to couch their language carefully so it appears they agree to 1967 borders including Jerusalem, but the weak language will permit the Palestinian entity to actually pursue statehood encompassing all of Israel.

The benefits of statehood are many. Right now, on many international conventions, the Palestinians have no status because they’re not a “high contracting party,” i.e. a state. The minute they become a state with status among all nations, they can make many demands that they are precluded from making right now. Just as one example, consider that they had to ask the UNHRC to deal with the Goldstone Report by having other countries do their bidding. As a state, they could have taken diplomatic steps directly and on their own. The Hague and UNESCO conventions also deal with high contracting parties differently than with non-state actors.

and:

It’s a win-win strategy. If you threaten a state with all the implications, it may get the Israelis to give up more. If they don’t fall for it and you actually declare a state, you couch your language in a way that keeps claim over all of Israel (since negotiations were never completed) and you benefit from all the benefits attendant to high contracting parties.

and:

How do the Palestinians view the two states? What the stats I quoted [from a poll mentioned in the comments] show is that [they believe] the state we’ll call Palestine will have absolutely no Jews in it, since 98% of Palestinians believe it is essential that all the settlers should leave the occupied territories/West Bank. The question doesn’t state whether this includes east Jerusalem, but I suspect that for many of them it does.

The other state they would allow…will be called Israel. [For them] it will be composed of Jewish Israelis, non-Jewish Israelis of whom most are Arabs, and… all those Palestinian “refugees” (by which they mean all Palestinians) that also move into Israel. We know that they view this as part of the second state because a full 87% of Palestinians state it is essential that refugees be given the right to move into Israel AND receive compensation. A full 48% consider any alternative as unacceptable and 75% are in the “unacceptable” column regarding any sort of limitation on the numbers of refugees.

And

When you know what you are up against, you change tactics. The idea is that we’ve entered a period where the Palestinians intend to use means other than suicide bombs to achieve their goals, and what I’m reading from their behavior is supreme confidence about the outcome of their various campaigns around the globe.

Of course, Israel did not change tactics.

In the second endgame post, I expanded on the thesis and spoke of the numerous Palestinian bluffs. Among other things I referred to my bluff #2, the declaration of a Palestinian state. Two of the things said about that were:

#2 may happen, but everybody must know that there is absolutely no way that Israel would ever again leave the Western Wall or the Temple Mount. Since the trial balloon floated here provides the Palestinians with everything the Jordanians and Egyptians held in 1949, including the Temple Mount and the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem, there is no way Israel would ever permit this to happen. In other words, the world would be signing off on an interminable war. I doubt that any serious thinking western diplomat would ever let their governments go that route.

and

I was asked why Fayyad would propose a state…My response was that it’s a win-win threat to make. It scares the Israelis and may get them to make additional concessions to avoid this outcome, and if it doesn’t scare the Israelis and somehow a Palestinian state comes into being, the manner of its coming into being will ensure that they can proceed to demand the rest of Israel. The process of seeking to make Israel into part of Palestine continues in one way or another.

and in the comments I predicted:

Obama’s administration will not buy it and will not give in to this trial balloon. Clinton – the former President Clinton – was there in person when the Israelis offered his plan to the Palestinians and were refused. He knows what is on the line here and there is no way that a White House with a Clinton in it, even if not in the Oval Office, will think for a minute that this is a line that can be crossed with Israel.

There is no way that a President with Rahm as an adviser could be ignorant about the implications of modifying 242 or giving the Palestinians unilateral reign over the Jewish Quarter and the Temple Mount.

I closed my comments by predicting that:

My prediction is that all these bluffs will play well in the US and poorly in Israel. They [Palestinians] will probably get further concessions out of the Americans…and therefore from the Israelis.

It’s all one big game, however, and that’s the long term prediction here: they will keep things just at a simmer (turning up the heat when needed as they’re doing now) for as long as possible.

In the third Endgame post I wrote:

If they end up having to somehow actually go through with a declaration of statehood, then if they do have the blessing of the UN Security Council and especially if they modify UNSCR 242 and 338, then according to international law, east Jerusalem would become East Jerusalem and the official Palestinian capital. However…if this were to happen, the Palestinians would build in some mechanism that allows them to continue to seek the remainder of the land between the River to the Sea. In other words, it’s just another stop-gap in their master plan.

And I quoted from Salam Fayyad’s two year statehood plan to make my point:

Though the issue of refugees will be addressed in the final status negotiations, it is certain that no political settlement can be accepted by Palestinians without a just and agreed solution to this fundamental issue in accordance with international resolutions, including UN General Assembly Resolution 194.

The refugee issue will remain under the jurisdiction of the PLO, through its Department of Refugees’ Affairs. The Government affirms its full commitment to all PLO decisions in relation to this issue. Within limits of its jurisdiction, without derogation of PLO’s responsibility…

And I translated this:

Translation:
We are never going to accept any conclusion to the conflict without acquiring a right for all Palestinians to move into Israel. In order to avoid this appearing to be messy or part of our aggression as a newly formed government, we’re going to remove this issue from our government.

The conclusion was simple:

Thirty two government agencies are going to function in the new, never-before seen state of Palestine, but the refugee problem is handed off to the PLO. Why would they do that if they thought the achievement of statehood would be sufficient? They wouldn’t. The PLO is going to be the address for those things that a “state” couldn’t and wouldn’t do. Any fighting that takes place, any attacks, any language that is deemed too aggressive will be blamed on the PLO, and of course “refugee rights,” not the new state of Palestine.

They also are demanding that UNGA resolution 194, the so-called “right of return” resolution which the Arabs rejected when it was first presented 60 years ago, become the governing rule for the Palestinian refugees. UNGAR 194 is a Trojan Horse, code for the desire to recreate demographics so that Israel could stop being a Jewish state. It is a desire to return not to 1967/1949 lines, but a desire to return to 1920 lines.

Have you guys been watching the latest flags in photos coming out of the PA? Take a look at the logo they created for this UN state campaign – you can see they put “194″ right next to “Palestine:”

UN General Assembly Resolution 194 goes back to 1949 and has language about the return of refugees to their homes. The Arabs rejected it, but these days this resolution is their best friend because they claim it is the foundation of their claim for a “right of return.” We won’t get into whether they have a case (they don’t) but more important is the implication here. The Palestinians are asking for a state called Palestine in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and eastern Jerusalem, and as part of that state, they expect to have UNGAR 194 also come into being. So the new Palestine is not the endgame, it is merely a tactic within the endgame.

We are watching grand theater here; it’s very sophisticated diplomacy by the Palestinians. There’s a reason they keep photographing Abbas smiling, he has led his army to a battlefield victory. What he has done is successfully delay and dodge negotiations for as long as Obama has been in power. He succeeded in having Obama impose a precedent of stoppage of all settlement construction with eastern Jerusalem as part of that equation. He drove a wedge between the White House and Israel’s Prime Minister’s office. He has kept everybody off-balance by having different government officials make conflicting public statements about the Palestinian agenda. And then, just when it became clear that Obama was showing fatigue and was busy fighting Republicans and the economic malaise in the USA, Abbas moved forward with the UN statehood bid.

The anticipated benefits of the bid include the possible weakening or disengagement of the US from its hand-holding of the peace process and from Israel; providing a stronger role and influence to the Europeans, who tend to have populations and governments sympathetic to the Palestinians; winning all sorts of advantages in negotiations as others offer concessions to stop the statehood bid; the possibility of getting a state without making any concessions at all AND also generating a stronger diplomatic presence to pursue the refugee “return” issue (194) to the forefront.

Obama, must have been quite angry with Abbas. After all the support he gave the Palestinians and the pressure and demands he had placed on Israel, Abbas was now maneuvering with the Palestinians’ best self-interests even if it meant harming the US at the UN and internationally. Frantically trying to save Obama’s lousy Middle-East policy, one can only imagine all the concessions the Americans forced Israel to accept this week to try to bring the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. And still the Palestinians said no. Why no? Because they know they are weakening the US greatly and putting a real wedge between Israel and the US while also creating a serious problem for the US as it seeks to maintain its Arab allies and friends. Whatever happens now, state or no state, the Palestinians pocket the advances made and use them as a baseline for any future talks.

Oh, and all this talk about how they’ll be made to pay a price for this action? They know it’s meaningless. They will simply threaten everyone that they’ll have to disintegrate their government or the PA or else…The money will be sent immediately.

They are winning this one by a landslide. It turns out that between Arafat and Abbas, Abbas is the shrewder one.

As for the speeches at the UN, I have to say that Netanyahu surprised with his effective speech, Abbas did not surprise with his speech riddled with falsehoods and Obama appears to have finally awakened to the little snow-job Abbas pulled on him and finally understands why Israel needs to have some real security.

Make no mistake, though, this is a huge victory for the Palestinians – an avoidable one, which Israel handled very poorly (there were many ways to handle this – I suggested an extreme one in this post and also in this post – and it’s going to be hard for Israel and even the US to regain leverage in talks in the future. Or worse, there will be an unofficial state declared and Israel will have to deal with all the legal pressure the Palestinians bring down on them.

BDS is for the birds
by: themiddle

Let’s say they get a state and remove the barrier. Then what? After all that complaining about how the barrier is exclusionary, steals Palestinian land and harms Palestinian communities, they want to take it over and push all the Jews in their midst over beyond it while stealing their homes and land, excluding them and harming their communities?

Or maybe all those complaints about the “Wall” were disingenuous?

Maybe?

Oh, and to those who missed it, the PLO PA representative to the USA, Maen Areikat, told shocked journalists that it’s best if no Jews lived among the Palestinians. Of course, he was merely quoting the words of his boss, Abu Mazen, but still, being in the USA and all, this was impolitic. Once USA Today compared his envisioned state to Nazi Germany, however, the seasoned diplomat realized this was bad for business and immediately explained in a media offensive that he had been misquoted and was in fact only referring to Israelis who should be separated from Palestinians and then only temporarily.

Oops, turns out he has been interviewed on this topic before.

So, you think it would be necessary to first transfer and remove every Jew—

Absolutely. No, I’m not saying to transfer every Jew, I’m saying transfer Jews who, after an agreement with Israel, fall under the jurisdiction of a Palestinian state.

Any Jew who is inside the borders of Palestine will have to leave?

Absolutely. I think this is a very necessary step, before we can allow the two states to somehow develop their separate national identities

Oh, and he doesn’t know whether gays will be permitted to live in the new Palestine. Bummer for John Greyson and Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.

Hey, now they can switch the word Israeli for Palestinian and finally have an accurate name!

The Current Unelected Leader of the Palestinians Does Not Want a Single Jew in his Palestine

According to JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Egypt has banned the export of palm fronds to Israel and Jewish communities abroad, leading to fears of a lulav shortage for the Sukkot holiday.

Israel had previously imported about 700,000 palm fronds a year in the run-up to Sukkot, which is about 40 percent of the annual demand, Haaretz reported. Another 700,000 of the 2 million lulavs used in Diaspora Jewish communities also come from Egypt.

The palms are grown in the Sinai Peninsula.

Israel’s Agricultural Ministry said in a statement that it is encouraging local palm farmers to increase their production. The ministry also has issued special licenses to import lulavs from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and Spain. The holiday begins on the evening of Oct. 12.

While Egypt reportedly has not given a reason for banning the palm export, it is believed that the current unstable relations between the two countries is the cause.

Hat tip to Bangintout.com for the photo.

Martha Stewart in Jerusalem

As Rosh haShana approached, Martha Stewart visited Israel and blogged each day about her experiences. Why Israel? Why not. The trip was funded by Israel’s Ministry of Tourism. Ms Stewart scouted locations for her television show and had time to attend her nephew’s wedding at the Rockefeller Museum, have goat cheese at Shai Seltzer’s farm, eat hummus in Abu Ghosh, sample the produce at Mahane Yehuda, and hang briefly with PM Netanyahu and his wife, Sarah.

Martha wears an Israeli made scarf and meets a top T.A. pastry chef

At the Jerusalem market, she ate a cucumber salad in ginger vinaigrette, along with yellowtail sashimi, tuna tartare, red mullet and shrimp carpaccio, as prepared by Assaf Granit and Yossi Elad.

Who is her nephew? Josh Bernstein of The Discovery Channel’s “Into the Unknown.” He married Lily Snyder, a daughter of Mr. James Snyder who directs the Israel Museum.

Her blog tracking her five days in Israel can be found HERE, and here for Day Two, and here for Day Three, and Four, and Five.

Be sure to browse the hundreds of pictures she took. My favorite is the picture of the fire grilled eggplant she ate in Jerusalem. Come to think of it, I think I will go to Gil Travel and see if they can mimic her trip for me. I need some hummus, badly.

The intentions of the mob were obvious. According to eyewitness, Rev. Giovanni Esti – a Catholic priest and missionary of the Comboni order— “We saw the group that attacked the Israeli embassy. It is hard to think that it was a spontaneous event. It was a planned event. This attack was carried out by recruited football fans. What is most disturbing is that the embassy was not adequately defended,” said the missionary.

Had the Egyptians penetrated the Israeli Embassy’s last security door, they would have set upon and likely killed anyone they found. The rioters smashed the offices, and tossed equipment and files to the streets. Although some of the details are unclear, the 85 members of the diplomatic core and security agents were evacuated by Egyptian commandos to the airport and flown to Israel on military jets.

The Israeli Embassy, a symbol of peace and normal diplomatic relations lay trashed and occupied until the morning by the rioters.

They had tried before.

On Saturday, August 20th, they attacked the building, and one Egyptian managed to scale the twenty-story building to replace the Israeli flag with an Egyptian one.

The Egyptian military authorities then built a 12 foot high security wall – but that only seemed to have enraged them.

On Tuesday, August 23, organizers of the attack called for a million-man march on the Embassy to call on Egyptian authorities to kick the “Zionists” out.

One week later, on Tuesday, August 30th, marking the first day of the Muslim feast Eid Al-Fitr, thousands of Egyptians held a massive protest in front of the Israeli Embassy. This time Egyptian security forces had been increased and no one managed to infiltrate the grounds of the embassy building.

However, on the night of Friday, September 9th, at the start of the Jewish Sabbath, the rioters came with enough people, battering rams, tools, and weapons to actually succeed. There were no Egyptian security people there; they also attacked a nearby police station.

The attacks on the Israeli Embassy according to many were premeditated and planned, and the organizers were waiting for the right moment. With the death of three Egyptian soldiers on August 19th during clashes between Israeli soldiers and terrorists on the Israeli Egyptian border, they found the provocation they needed. Despite Israel’s immediately issued an apology of deep regret over the deaths and a vow to convene a joint Israeli/Egyptian investigation, the organizers had all they need to provoke angry mobs to do their bidding.

Up until then, those who had been calling for the removal of the Israelis relied on Egyptian anger over Israel’s close relationship with Hosni Mubarak.

“I insisted on climbing on the roof and take down the flag of the Zionist entity,” said Ahmad A-Shahat to Al-Jazeera, the one who scaled the Israeli Embassy on August 20th, “because that was one of the goals of the revolution – to depose Mubarak and all his friends, among them the Zionist entity.” .

The series of events that took place follow a predictable pattern common of pogroms, when emotional hatred against Jews can be physically acted out.

Those who perpetrate pogroms — a Russian word to describe a form of violent riot against a particular minority group — aim to not just murder, maim, and defile, but also to destroy property, homes, institutions, sacred objects. Without the safety of a place to live or work, the hated are unlikely to return.

Pogroms have been instigated by accidental deaths, but often don’t require an actual victim. Rumors, prejudice, and jealousy often suffice. With enough preparation, it doesn’t take much to inflame the passions of those already predisposed to hate.

Pogroms are often orchestrated by governing authorities to divert attention from the cruel poverty, repression and unfulfilled promises of the government. Pogroms are also notoriously organized by opposition groups to destabilize governments. What transpired at the Embassy was not spontaneous and it will be interesting to see who the authorities eventually blame for the Pogrom.

There are many questions that remain unanswered about this pogrom:

Why was Egypt lax in protecting the Israel Embassy that night when a Facebook event announced the intentions of the mob? Did the Muslim Brotherhood have a hand in organizing the attacks and if so, what are the repercussions? What is the fate that awaits Egypt’s persecuted Coptic Christians? Who is to benefit from the re-imposition of martial law?

Not all Egyptians support the rioters and the pogrom.

Egyptian opposition leader Wael Ghonim wrote “what we are witnessing now is contrary to what I dreamt of. We need to wake up quickly.” He is joined by millions who do not want to see their new-found freedom undermined by undemocratic Islamic groups.

However, when it comes to bigotry, hate, and prejudice, it is difficult to undo quickly what generations of propaganda have instilled. When it comes to anger over socioeconomic trouble, nothing is better than a scapegoat.

Thanks in part to televised dramas and other programs, many in the Arab world believe that Jews use blood in bizarre matzoh rituals, desire world domination, and use sorcery and witchcraft. The fall of dictators has destabilized local economies. Add to this poisonous mix the belief that Jews occupy Muslim land and holy sites, and there is fertile ground for greater and more pogroms, perhaps culminating in a new Arab-Israeli war.

Sadly, if history offers any lessons, the pogrom this past Friday night is a precursor for how Jews and Israel will be treated on the streets of “liberated countries,” and in diplomatic hallways around the world for some time to come.

Unless stopped by internal forces, these attacks may continue until all vestiges of Israel are gone from Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world.

*For a detailed hour-by-hour account of the assault see Wikipedia

Missles continue to rain down on Israel – and not condemnation from the UN Security Council. A man had a heart attack – which saved him from being killed. His house was directly hit while he and family were in hospital with him.

Charges dropped in Dominique Strauss- Whether or not he is guilty, it will be interesting to see if this high ranking politician in France will run for presidency.

Tragic life of Amy Winehouse has a new sad ending. We don’t know how she died.

Jerry Leiber, 78, co-wrote “Hound Dog” and other hits has passed away in Los Angeles.

The Jewish angle on the revolution in Libya, and the collapse of Mad Man Quaddafi — Rebels asks leader of UK’s Libyan Jews to run for office

Last but not least – I penned an article about the rebirth of Jewish life in Detroit here – and now it’s also on Huffpost.

The Jewish Forward in their editorial wrote:

‘Jewish homes were being attacked, windows broken. Jewish residents were cowering in the safest rooms of their homes. Sympathetic gentiles in the area were sneaking word to some of their Jewish neighbors to keep their lights turned off. Marauding bands of outside agitators were roaming around, blaming Jews. This was taking place not in, say, prewar Poland or the Pale of Settlement back in an even earlier time. This was taking place in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.”

One cannot help but think that the mainstream press, and even the Jewish community, preferred to refer to the events as “racial strife.” Was it because the victims were predominantly chassidic Jews? Were the Jews actually instigating violence?

Rabbi Dovid Eliezrie, a friend who I often fiercely disagree with, got it right. He describes the Crown Heights Riots, a America’s Pogrom. Looking back, it is hard to disagree with him and his article is worth reading. He writes:

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg wrote afterwards in the Jerusalem Report that the Jewish leadership did not react since “Chassidic blood was flowing.” Imagine for a moment if mobs of angry blacks were attacking Jews in the upper west side. Would the ADL, AJC sit stoic, politely asking for the violence on both sides to stop and a commission be established to look into Black civil rights. Would they, as Jerome Chanes , a former leader of the JCRC in New York, just last week, two decades later, still describe the pogrom as a “riot” clinging to the argument it was not driven primarily by anti-Semitism.

The Forward continues:

On this anniversary of the violence, [Ari Goldman] penned a courageous account of what it was like to be a legman amid an anti-Jewish riot for the newspaper that boasted of issuing “All the News That’s Fit To Print.” He called in the facts, and they got rewritten into a story of a racial clash between blacks and whites or between blacks and Jews, when, in reality, no Jews had attacked anybody. The riot was an attack on Jews.

For more on pogroms, read my article about The Kielce Pogrom of 1946.

I’m sitting here in Simi Valley, California, working on Camp Jewlicious and the lush setting brings me back… Last week I was in Abu Ghosh where I was blessed to attend the wedding of my dear friends Margot and Tamar. Tamar is an Oncological nurse and Margot works for the World Jewish Diplomatic corps. The ceremony was beautiful – the photo above shows both brides dressed in their wedding finery, surrounded by beaming family and friends.

I know some may take umbrage with this whole exercise, what with the halachic issues and the notion that gay marriage is some kind of threat to the institution of marriage itself. Others will point to the fact that while Tamar and Margot had to get officially married overseas in order to have their marriage recognized in Israel – it was indeed recognized and they now enjoy all the myriad rights and privileges accorded to heterosexual couples in Israel. Me? I don’t want to use this occasion to score ideological points or argue at all.

Tamar is an amazing woman. Oncological nursing is brutal work, caring for people stricken with Cancer is not an easy thing to do. It’s a testament to the size of her heart and her abundant goodness that she would choose such a profession. But there’s more! Tamar also served in the IDF in a combat unit and continues to do reserve duty as a shooting instructor. Such is her love of and dedication to the land of Israel and the Jewish people. Margot is a renaissance woman, an accomplished musician, spectacular shofar blower, a great cook and a tireless advocate on behalf of the Jews, having worked for Hillel, Leadel, and the WJC. I’ve seen Margot in action at the Jewlicious Festival in Long Beach, at the GA in New Orleans and at the Muslim Jewish Conference in Kiev. Tamar and Margot, dedicated residents of Jerusalem, unequivocal lovers of Israel and the Jewish people, thank you for being a part of my life and enriching the lives of everyone you touch.