The Mondial and Gush Katif

I thought I taught my husband well. No sports. No sports shows. No discussing sports. And for over 30 years it worked and then something horrible happened. The Mondial or as I believe it is called in the rest of the world: the World Cup. Maybe someone should explain to me why we don’t use the same term as the rest of the world, but I guess I just answered my own question.


You see I believe men's sports is an excuse for men to spit on the ground, rub dirt on their clothes, run amok, curse, kiss and hug each other and well, basically act like little boys again. I also believe that nice Jewish boys have better things to do with their time.


But here I am, my long suffering husband got the 'modial bug'. So during the mondial's six month period (I know the ,modial is only - well however long it really is - it just seems like six months) I have, on occasion, sat in the same room with my husband and (sort of)watched the little boys, I mean, the teams run around some kind of field, intently following a ball and trying to kick and hit it and, at the same time, listen to some other screaming guys give a blow-by-blow account of the efforts of said teams as they run around after each other or is it after the ball?


It is interesting (only to me) that they seem to fall down a lot, hold various parts of their anatomy and mouth out cries of pain. You can't really hear the yells of pain because of all that bloody blowing of horns, but I guess if you've heard one kid fall down and cry, you've heard them all.


Now here is the sad part. My husband, I am embarrassed to say this, is actually rooting for one of the teams. Don't be cute enough to ask me which team, do you honestly think I know which teams are playing and against whom? I had enough of a scare when I found out that there were also semi-final and final games. For crying out loud, if you want to decide which team won toss a coin or just fight to the death. Now that would be interesting.


In any case, I did find one thing very interesting: the color choices of their uniforms. I would not even insult my own intelligence and try to remember what team wore what colors. Firstly I do not know what teams are playing and secondly I would like to utilize the few brain cells I have left for more important tasks like remembering where I left the house keys. I did enjoy imaging what would happen if an entire teams' uniforms got ruined in the laundry and they walked out onto the field in that muddy pink-gray color white underwear eventually turns.


But then it happened. Right there in front of the whole world, a whole team in orange uniforms! And I thought, isn’t that nice after five years, the world is once again being reminded of Gush Katif with ORANGE shirts everywhere. I saw, what seemed like, hundreds of supporters wearing everything ORANGE, including face paint. And as far as I am concerned it's our orange and it's about Gush Katif. The gerush is a sad chapter, one of so many other sad chapters in the long ancient-modern history of our country. With the Nine Days upon us and Tisha B'Av just around the corner, we can only hope and pray that our fasting and praying brings us the redemption we don't reserve but are desperate for.


וכל המתאבל על ירושלים זוכה ורואה בשמחתה


May the mourners of Jerusalem be deserving and see Her rebuilt.

Reminder of Why Tisha B'Av

Five national tragedies occurred:
• During the time of Moshe, the sin of the ten spies who spread lies about the Land of Israel to the generation of Jews who just witnessed the exodus, creating a sense of fear in their hearts that would eventually prevent them from entering the Land.
• The First Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar (Babylonians). 100,000 Jews were slaughtered and millions more exiled.
• The Second Temple was destroyed by Titus (Romans). Around two million Jews died, and another one million were exiled.
• The Bar Kochba revolt was crushed by Roman Emperor Hadrian. The city of Betar (last Jewish strong hold against the Romans) was destroyed. Over 100,000 Jews were slaughtered.
• The Temple area and its surroundings were plowed under by the Romans and Jerusalem was rebuilt as a pagan city (named Aelia Capitolina) and Jews were forbidden to enter the city.

Other tragedies occurred on Tisha B'Av including:

• The Spanish Inquisition; with the expulsion of Jews from Spain on Tisha B'Av in 1492.
• On the eve of Tisha B'Av 1942, the mass deportation began of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka.

I WANT TO BE AN ACTIVIST AND GET AWAY WITH MURDER (at least larceny)

I subscribe to Dry Bones and on the menu for today was a Golden Oldie: Crime Conference 1975. I have to admit I was a bit miffed that there was yet again another Golden Oldie; I was looking forward to some new material.


But as with anything connected to the Jews, there is 'nothing new under the sun': Same old anti-Semitism in the same old double-standard the world is so good at providing. Hey, why work hard at inventing new topics for anti-Semitism, when the old stuff has worked well for years? Just ask Suha Arafat and our friend in the White House, Hilary Clinton (for the innocent I am talking about how Suha claimed we poisoned the wells in Aza and that was before she ran off to France or wherever she is hiding out now with the millions in aid her husband stole).

In any case, the Golden Oldie has two links. For today's tidbit I bring you the story of – and I quote from the Jerusalem Post of all places: "A group of activists who broke into an arms factory near Brighton last year and caused damage costing around £180,000 ($275,000) were found not guilty last week of causing criminal damage."  [The BOLD is mine]


You can find the whole revolting article in this link:
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=180316


I'm sure the BBC had a field day with this little item.

Scary Humor and Norman

Ever since Latma (http://www.latma.co.il/) produced that wonderful clip "We Fool The World", I have begun to really believe that humor is nearly the best way to go. Stop explaining ourselves, stop teaching others and for heaven sake stop apologizing. It makes no difference no matter what.

The following clip is so well done, so realistic, so bloody real, it's too scary to be funny. But it is so good I had to share it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIDLoUbS8YU

Until my next blog entry, I leave you with Norman. For those of you who do not know him, you will NOT thank me for this introduction. But we cannot ignore the Norman's of the world, because they are one of the tribe, as it were.
Norman Finkelstein: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB_CKL5h2_8&feature=related

Selected Tidbits:

We haven't talked in a while, I would like to share with you some selected tidbits, I've been collecting.  While the world goes on its merry way, we must concern ourselves, with ourselves.


I couldn't resist sharing this one and completely forgot about this event in a re-published article I found in Aish.com Helen Thomas should be Fired by Canera.org http://www.aish.com/ci/s/95751129.html
In this article they mention the incident with Don Imus (for the innocent, Don is/was a NYC-based radio announcer who's been around since I was in high school), who was fired from CBS and MSNBC after he made some nasty racial remarks. As the article states " It took little more than a week before he was fired by CBS and MSNBC, losing both his radio program and his television show. The mainstream media gave the story prominent attention for weeks, including updates on the controversy and opinion pieces denouncing the talk show host."

Back to the whole Aza thing, here is something Ehud Barak said.  I am happy to hear he actually said something both intelligent and timely.
"There are 1.5 million people living in Gaza and only one of them really needs humanitarian aid,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. “Only one of them is locked in a tiny room and never sees the light of day, only one of them is not allowed visits and is in uncertain health – his name is Gilad Shalit, and this month four years will have passed since he was kidnapped.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=ZprVPKi-W6s

Board of Inquiry? Well break out the violins, let's all start picking wild flowers and start singing kum-baya.

I have been unusually, and I may say uncharacteristically, quiet about Netanyahu's ill-fated, but all too obvious, decision to allow a 'board of inquiry' to investigate the flotilla thing. What got my blood pressure boiling was the fact that two of the members are foreigners. I want to say I am shocked. I want to, but I can't – it was too bloody obvious. It was also way to obvious that Netanyahu would be the one who would do this. Only a Likud government would do this. Bloody hell.



Of course, the icing on the cake was the statement made by a newscaster sometime after that ill-fated announcement was made, that this may not be enough for the 'international committee' and they (the whole bloody world) may anyway dismiss the findings of this board and still demand their own inquiry.


What was Netanyahu thinking? What do most Israelis who are bent on placating the world think? That this step is the best thing for Israel and that the whole world will love us and accept us. Well break out the violins, let's all start picking wild flowers and start singing kum-baya.


There is nothing to learn; terror activists in the guise of peace activists got on a boat. They know that if they were attacked it was good and if Jews died it was good - so it was a win-win decision for them. They were armed to the teeth and had half the whole bloody world on their side. They had 'holding rooms' ready in advance for abducted Israeli soldiers and handy-dandy cameras everywhere to record the ""terrible deeds"" (double quotes on purpose) of the Israelis.


Then they 'made off for grandmother's house (Gaza)' waiting for the Israelis to meet them in the woods (Israel's territorial waters). No good was going to come out of this. And don’t you believe it, except for the "greatest minds of our times" in the Knesset, everyone else in Israel knew this was not going to end well.


And to answer your question: "No, we are never going to learn." We send tons of aid every bloody day to Gaza. We trained their bloody police force. We give medical aid to their sick. And we do plenty of other good deeds which do not need to be mentioned.


All I would like to say is "Thank you Mr. Prime Minister", but I guess that sentence is no longer so cute.

Lauren Booth – Please tell me it's true. Or When will American Jews Prove me Wrong? Go ahead. I dare you!

Ok, this is going to be the mother of all posts (up till this time). What the %^*#$ are American Jews doing while the whole bloody world is vilifying us? Make me happy and just give me two, no one is enough, give me one example of what the heck they are doing to stand up to this never-ending, lie-fest against Israel?


I'll tell ya what they are doing: they are busy making sure their kids are set for space camp, dance camp, fat camp and a trip around the bloody world, which won't include Israel, cause, darling it's just a little too dangerous there these days. They are busy making sure their summer plans to Greece, Rome and France are in order and that their facials and manicures are scheduled and are on time and that Bubby's 85th surprise birthday party is planned down to a T.


Now of course we have Darling Lauren, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHxYwCS3sXc


telling the world about Israel's "massacres" on the bloody flotilla, in Gaza, in the "West Bank" (where ever that is) and in Jerusalem. Executions of the bloody peace activities??? – Shot in the back of the head????? You're good Lauren, I'll give ya that. And as the little darling states, she wants England to cut ties with Israel. Well please, I beg of you, please cut ties with Israel. Now!


Now tell me, where is 'our own American Lauren', yelling the truth about the bloody peace activists, and the bloody flotilla at PRO-ISRAEL rallies all over the US? Who in the Five Towns has gone without sleep making sure that everyone hears the TRUTH about the bloody flotilla? What Rabbis in Chicago, Cleveland and California have gone hoarse talking to everyone they know about the TRUTH? What nice Jewish political figures (yes the ones with the kippas and the ones without) throughout the US have run themselves ragged trying to get out the message? What group of mothers or fathers or dentists or lawyers have stood up ANY WHERE in the continental United States and screamed the truth?


And I do not mean a message of apologia, we Jews are soooo good at providing those messages. Nice little Jews, trying desperately to explain what happened and why and how and how sorry we are that someone got a bloody paper cut on board the flot-hitler – sorry flotilla. Where is the no-nonsense message that lies will not hold out and that Jews in America are the same as Jews in Israel. Ah there's the crux of the matter, but before I get to that little morsel, just one more question. What are the schools and the so-called Jewish educators doing; what message are they bringing to the next generation of Jewish students?


I'll tell you what the message is – silence. Oh and we are soooo good at that. Silence is golden, since "if we wait long enough, it – here is comes folks – will all blow over". So all those wonderful Jewish students are left to scratch their heads, slink along the corridors of the colleges and keep silent cause even if they wanted to talk back or create their own message – THEY HAVE NONE. They are not educated. They have no idea why they are Jewish, what is a Jew and why the heck we are in Israel in the first place. Most can’t quote the Torah (not a Bible, not a Jewish Bible, not the TORAH). Can't give an accurate account of Jewish history, except something about the holocaust and about the establishment of Israel (as if there is a connection between these events).


Let me put it to you very simply: once upon a time, a long time ago, a 'crazy man with a mustache' and some 29 fanatics dragged the world down into destruction. And America and American Jews did what they do best: they enjoyed their garden parties, summer camps and shopping on 5th Avenue. What were the excuses at that time? They didn't know what was happening and they didn’t want to make it a "Jewish issue". Right, as if making it into a 'Jewish issue' would have change things or saved even one Jewish soul.


TODAY the world is burning around us all. Jewish kids are abused on college campuses throughout the world. These kids and their parents begin to question if it is a 'good idea' to wear anything 'too Jewish' outside their 'neighborhood. But they won't bloody stand up and be counted.


And here it comes: they are afraid of be accused of dual loyalties. You see, no American Jew wants to cross that line and prove that he is a good Jew before he is a good America. What if things good bad in Israel, where will our good American Jews go? (Remember Little Helen's tirades?) Our American Jew thinks, like his cousins in Europe, that the answer lies in trusting goyim to 'take care of us'. Dual loyalties are dangerous for Jews. Now since the 'viability' of Israel has been proven (we were not wiped off the face of the earth by our neighbors who tried time and time again), we have a new burden: the 'friendship' between America and Israel. This burden has always been portrayed as America bending over backwards to be our friends and partners and how Israel seems to always screw it up, by doing something naughty if not outright illegal. I never understood the logic behind the idea that America is Israel's "staunchest ally" and that because Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East - America will always be our friend. I never understood the logic until I realized that this whole friendship-thing is a great way to keep American Jews quiet, controlled and scared to make too much noise. This is certainly a case of keeping your enemies close, but keeping your friends closer.


I want to remind everyone that Jews have lived in Europe since Roman times. Did that ever stop the multitude of European rulers (secular and religious) throughout the ages from starving, burning and killing us en masse and as always throwing us the hell out of every place we ever laid our collective heads?


Up until and including WWII, it didn't matter to European anti-Semites that we were an established presence there and today it won’t matter to American anti-Semites that Israel is somehow 'important' to them. IT ISN'T AND WE ARE NOT.


No amount of assimilating or 'being essential to a country's anything', ever made a difference when it came to getting rid of the Jews.


Stop fooling yourselves.


You know I was taught that American Jews learned the lessons of their silence during the Shoah and would never be quiet, would never again allow Jews to be harmed/killed/massacred. Wrong! American Jews always stay the same. Before the Shoah, American Jews felt the European Jews were an embarrassment: too Jewish, too old fashioned, too funny talking. Well, what is it today? WE in Israel are not backward (ask Microsoft, Intel and hundreds of other hi tech companies who have established their Research and Development centers here in Israel), not poor and uneducated (see how strong our economy is). So what is it? Don’t like a strong Jew? Don’t like a Jew in uniform protecting his own? Get used to it. Don’t make excuses for it.


So all I have is one thing to say: Prove me wrong American Jews. Go ahead, I dare you.

Remembering our own Rachels

I didn't know that the ship used in the so-called Gaza flotilla was called the Rachel Corrie, named for an American "Peace Activist".

The following Youtube clip was sent to me by a friend; talks about the forgotten Rachels killed by terrorists (yimach shimom u'zichrum). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co2X5LKH5n0


I want us to also remember our first Rachel, Rachel Imanu.

Here Yaacov talks about burying his beloved wife Rachel, in Bereshit:

"I didn't even take her into Beit Lechem itself which was in the land, and I know that you feel badly about this. But know that God told me to do this, so that she will be a help to her children. When Nevuzaradan, the King of Babylonia, will exile them and they will pass by her grave, Rachel will come out and cry, and beg God for mercy. God, in turn, will answer and respond to her: 'There is reward for your actions, so says the Lord, and your children will return to their borders.'" (Rashi, Genesis 48:8)