The Dubious Priorities of Western Diplomats

As Netanyahu noted in his speech yesterday, a nuclear Iran poses a grave threat to the world at large and Israel in particular, and cannot be allowed to come to pass. As such, you would think Western diplomats would be far more concerned about Iranian nuclear reactors that are up and running than they are about a Syrian one that was reduced to rubble years ago.

Egad! Who ARE These Dim Jews?

The L.A. Times reports that "Obama's Jewish backers (are) on edge over his Mideast peace plan."

On edge, are they? Poor lambs. If I were them, I wouldn't be "on edge." Right about now I'd be hurling myself off the Obama bandwagon for good.

How's All That 'Outreach' Workin' For You, Barry?

Robert Spencer contrasts "outreacher" Obama and "realist" Netanyahu:

[Obama] has again and again reached out to the Islamic world, assuring Muslim countries of his respect for Islam. Again and again he has been rudely rebuffed, but that has not stopped him from making the attempt again and again. After the death of Osama bin Laden, he claimed that Osama was “not a Muslim leader, but a mass murderer of Muslims.” Then he made sure to give this mass murderer of Muslims a solemn Islamic funeral.

John O. Brennan, Obama’s top counterterrorism advisor, summed up the Obama administration’s warmly positive stance toward Islam in an August 2009 address: “Nor does President Obama see this challenge as a fight against `jihadists.’ Describing terrorists in this way–using a legitimate term, `jihad,’ meaning to purify oneself or to wage a holy struggle for a moral goal–risks giving these murderers the religious legitimacy they desperately seek but in no way deserve. Worse, it risks reinforcing the idea that the United States is somehow at war with Islam itself. And this is why President Obama has confronted this perception directly and forcefully in his speeches to Muslim audiences, declaring that America is not and never will be at war with Islam.”

That may be so, but Netanyahu’s statement is true as well – at least the first part of it: “Militant Islam threatens the world.” America is not and never will be at war with Islam, but a significant element of Islam is at war with America, Israel, and the rest of the free world – and Netanyahu is much more realistic about that fact than any other Western leader.

Update: O'Bama (his Oirish surname) reminds us that it's always easy to ask someone else to make a "wrenching compromise."

Not That It's Biased or Anything

The Glib and Mewl header re the Bibi speech says it all,  ("Tough-talking Netanyahu refuses to budge") thus obviating any need to read the rest of Paul Korning's Bibi-bashing article.

On which issues would the G&M have Netanyahu (obviously, one of those stubborn, stiff-necked Jews) "budge" that would not result in Israel's demise?

Netanyahu Buries Peace Hopes in Congress--OnIslam

Netanyahu Buries "Peace" Hopes in Congress

Much better.

QuAIA Is Full of Quap

From the Ceeb (which is also replete with it):

QuAIA claims Israel has an "apartheid system" that extends gay rights to only some people, and that the country's treatment of Palestinians constitute apartheid. Jewish groups have dismissed that assertion as inaccurate and call the group discriminatory.

It's more than "inaccurate" (could the Ceeb have employed a more tepid adjective?). It's a flagrant lie of the Goebbels-eque kind.

FYI--Canucki Useful Imbeciles (a.k.a. Gaza Boatniks) To Hold a Press Conference

From rabble (of course):

Press Conference for the Canadian Boat to Gaza

WHERE:Friends House - 60 Lowther Ave., Toronto (2 blocks north of Bloor, one block west of Avenue Road).

WHEN: Thursday May 26, 10 a.m.

WHAT: In last third of June, a Canadian boat will set sail in the Mediterranean as part of the Freedom Flotilla II, joining at least 10 boats with representatives from nations around the world, to show the Palestinians of Gaza that they have not been forgotten. The Israeli government has made it clear that does not want the boats to reach the shores of Gaza, and the Canadian government as usual supports them unconditionally.

"As Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker puts it, the Freedom Flotilla is the Freedom Ride of our era, and we will not be deterred by intimidation," says David Heap of the Canadian Boat to Gaza steering committee. Prominent Canadians join with international voices calling for safe passage of the Canadian Boat to Gaza to challenge the blockade.

WHO: We will hear brief statements from:

John Greyson, Film-maker and delegate aboard the Canadian Boat to Gaza. 

David Heap, Canadian Boat to Gaza steering committee.

James Loney, Christian Peacemaker Teams member, former hostage in Baghdad (2005) and author of the recent book Captivity.

Michael Mandel, Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School & Specialist in International Law.

Suzanne Weiss, Holocaust survivor & human rights activist, Independent Jewish Voices & Not In Our Name.

With the support of over a hundred civil society organizations and thousands of individuals, the Canadian Boat to Gaza campaign (www.tahrir.ca) has raised more than $300 000 towards the purchase and equipping of a boat as part of the Freedom Flotilla II (www.freedomflotilla.eu).

With additional statements from: Ursula Franklin, Anton Kuerti, Lyn Adamson. There will be an opportunity to ask questions of participants and about the Canadian Boat to Gaza.

Shame on them all. What say we all show up at the press conf. and heckle 'em a la Code Pink at the Bibi speech?

Update: Isn't it a bit silly to be worrying about blockade-busting when A) Egypt is getting set to open its border with Gaza and B) a new "mega-mall" is about to open there?

BDS Newsletter

Not the kind you think.

Xtra Loves Its Loony Libby

Did you know that NDP loudmouth yenta/anti-Zionista Libby Davies was LGBTD'd? Not that it matters, but I had no idea until I read this in gay rag Xtra:

...Davies is not yet sure if she will remain NDP House Leader in the next Parliament; she’ll find out when Leader Jack Layton announces his shadow cabinet. But Davies is her party’s senior queer MP and one of four out gays and lesbians in caucus.

“That’s four of us, so hey, we’ve got a team!” she says enthusiastically. “I’m very excited to meet them, and the fact that they got elected is great, and we should be very proud of the history of our party…. I’m still going to miss Bill Siksay a lot.”

And her advice for her new gay colleagues?

“Be out, be proud, be strong, take on the issues, be vigilant about human rights and what the Conservatives are doing,” Davies says. “Our party has an incredible record of standing up for LGBTQ rights, and we'll continue to do that.”

As for Libby's record in standing up for Israel's right to exist and defend itself--that, too, is "incredible," but not in a good way.

Farber Careers From Career to Career

Well, it's official. The Ceej's Bernie M. Farber is leaving Official Jew-dom and entering the rough and tumble of politics. (The Ceej is being collapsed/absorbed along with other Jewish/Israel advocacy groups into one big streamlined outfit.) Not that he intends to let any of the political muck adhere to his shirtsleeves. No, indeedee! As he tells the Canadian Jewish News, he intends to avoid "mudslinging" and conduct his campaign with all due "civility".

Er, he knows he's getting into politics, doesn't he, and not one of those genteel interfaithy "human rights-y" samosa-fests he's used to attending--the ones where you get to schmooze convivially with all and socky?

No matter. Bernie's certain that the voters of the provincial riding of Thornhill will fall for a earnest "social justice" type, even though voters everywhere seem to be tacking rightward, and even though Thornhill, which is situated in the conservative 'burbs ringing Toronto, isn't exactly prime lefty territory. (At the moment, both its federal and provincial reps are Tory.)

But, hey, Bernie's got that mega-impressive C.V. on his side, and voters are sure to be wowed by that, no?

He said he was “immensely proud” of what Congress had accomplished under his watch.

“We have worked especially effectively with interlocutors outside of our community. That’s been the real strength of Congress. For example, when the United Church of Canada was poised to vote on a boycott, divestment and sanctions resolution last year in B.C., CJC went there to work the room and turned that around. That, to me, is a huge part of our legacy.”

Kudos for that BMF, but it's not as though the UCC, which is even heavier into the "social justice" tripe than the Ceej, has divested itself of Zionhass. For example, it still loves its KAIROS, one branch of which is devoted to the sort of "replacement theology" that wants to "replace" undeserving Jewish Israel with a "deserving" Arab Palestine.

Oh, well. Bernie can always point to his manifold other "accomplishments": his effort to link arms with devout Muslims in a failed bid to get the province to cough up funding for religious schools; his search for that e'er elusive line separating free speech from hate speech (a quixotic quest that propelled him to the front of the line of those championing state censorship and our our demented "human rights" system); his remarkable powers of persuasion that got the feds to spring for memorial plaques galore.

And let's not forget what a shrewd judge of character and the passing political scene he is: how he "kvelled" when the Wahhabis paid for a bamboozle-the-Jews scheme to "twin" mosques and synagogues; how he marched with pride as a faux-gay in the Pride Parade; how he thrilled to that Jews-mentoring-Somalis stuff; how he backed Richard Warman, Canada's pre-eminent (and, in fact, only) semi-covert sussing-outer of pajamas-clad Prairie Aryans; how he earned plaudits from one of Canada's most exquisitely multicultural of pundits, Order of Canada-winning Harpoon Sidiqqui.

Surely the voters of Thornhill will be bowled over/blown away by all that.

And if not, the CJN reports that the door is always open for Bernie to return to Official Jew-dom:

...while he intends to win, if he fails in his bid for the Thornhill seat, he’s “ready, willing and able to come back in a senior professional role in a new re-org.”

What exactly that role would be is still in question.

Shimon Fogel, the new CEO of CIJA – or Newco, as the restructured Jewish community advocacy apparatus is being temporarily called – said he was “confident” that Farber’s move into politics would continue to contribute to the “welfare of our community” and that Jewish Ontarians would “continue to benefit from his knowledge, expertise and commitment to amcha (the Jewish people).”

Fogel also said he would welcome Farber back to Newco if he wanted to return to Jewish communal work.

“If Bernie’s political aspirations do not work, there is absolutely an honoured place for him within the organization,” he said.

Fogel added: “However, CJC – like the other agencies [currently operating under CIJA, which include the Canada-Israel Committee, University Outreach Committee and the Quebec-Israel Committee] – will no longer exist as an independent entity. So his role will be defined within the context of the new advocacy agency.”

In other words, within the "new" context, I, Fogel, will be at the top dog while you, Bernie...not so much. In other other words, "hasta-la-vista-and-don't-let-the-door-hit-your-keester-on-the-way-out." (Er, was that too uncivil?)

BTW, I'm sure mega-bucks were paid out to someone to come up with the name "Newco," but it's a truly dreadful moniker. It makes Official Jewry sound like a cracker company.

Update: It's a sad day for those who've enjoyed reading Bernie M. Farber's unintentionally amusing "tweets" (most recently, his heartfelt regrets re the sudden death of professional wrestling's Randy "Macho Man" Savage). Now that he's segueing into politics, BMF of the CJC tweeteth no more.

Epiphany Time

As I watched Israel's Prime Minister deliver his eloquent, impassioned speech today, one that connected with members of both American political parties, eliciting dozens of standing ovations, I was hit by this thought: I know what the Republicans--no, what the U.S.--needs. They need an American Bibi.