Tag: Israel

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The World Dithers While Israel Fights

The Cinch Review

JihadIn Nigeria, the jihadist group Boko Haram is reported to have massacred at least 100 people a few days ago while attacking, taking over and largely burning down a town named Damboa. They gunned people down as they fled their firebombed homes. The official death toll is naturally expected to increase. Of-course, they’ve been massacring many thousands—mainly Christians—for a very long time now. What you might call their “vision of Islam” involves eliminating all Western and non-Islamic influences, so schools and students have all along been favored targets. The world briefly paid closer attention when, in April of this year, instead of simply massacring people they chose to kidnap some: more than 200 schoolgirls. Twitter hashtags were brought to bear against the group by those concerned in the world-at-large, but so far the jihadists have only responded with more massacres, destruction and kidnappings. (Perhaps improved WiFi access in the area would better get the message across?) So, aside from token measures, the world wrings its hands. Continue reading “The World Dithers While Israel Fights”

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Dissembling for Dummies: A Lesson from Prime Minister Erdogan

The Cinch Review

Dissembling from Prime Minister ErdoganYesterday at the White House there was a press conference by President Obama and Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey. Most of the focus going into it and coming out of it has been on the various Washington scandals currently erupting, but I don’t have anything unique to say about those. I did happen to watch the press conference, however, and it was a question directed to Prime Minister Erdogan, and more importantly his manner of answering, which caught my attention.

The question was from Juliana Goldman of Bloomberg News. After asking President Obama the scandal-questions of the day, she addressed Prime Minister Erdogan: “And also, Mr. Prime Minister, what is the status on efforts to normalize relations with Israel? And do you still plan to go to Gaza in the coming weeks?” (I’m using the AP transcript.)

A question, then, firstly about normalizing relations with Israel, and then about visiting the Gaza Strip. Erdogan’s complete answer was as follows:

In your question about Gaza, according to my plans, most probably I would be visiting Gaza in June. But it will not be a visit only to Gaza; I will also go to the West Bank.

I place a lot of significance on this visit in terms of peace in the Middle East, and this visit in no way means favoring one or the other. I’m hoping that that visit will contribute to unity in Palestine, first of all. This is something that I focus on very much. And I hope that my visit can contribute to that process. Thank you.

What’s interesting about this? First, although the question was about relations with Israel, in his answer he does not even use the word “Israel.” His statement that his visit to Gaza “in no way means favoring one or the other” might easily be taken—and likely was taken by many listening—to mean that he intends no favoritism of the Palestinians over the Israelis, but is that what he’s actually saying? I think not; he preceded that statement by pointing out that he will also visit the West Bank, i.e. not only the Gaza Strip. Gaza is ruled by Hamas; the West Bank is ruled by the Palestinian Authority, dominated by the Fatah party of Mahmoud Abbas. Erdogan hopes to “contribute to unity in Palestine” by visiting both places. He does not intend to show favoritism to Hamas by visiting Gaza only.

By completely ignoring the question about Israel, and not even using the word “Israel,” what importance would it be fair to say that Erdogan actually places on normalizing relations with Israel? Continue reading “Dissembling for Dummies: A Lesson from Prime Minister Erdogan”

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Newsflash: It’s illegal to spray paint stuff in the New York City subway system

The Cinch Review

You would think that even a tourist from Bangladesh would understand that it’s against the law to whip out a can of spray-paint and start coloring things in the NYC subway (despite some people’s nostalgia for how things were in the 70s and 80s) but a journalist living in New York named Mona Eltahawy was arrested for doing so, and persecuted the poor arresting officers with strident demands to know what she was being arrested for. Well, “duh,” as they say. Watch below, if you have the gumption. Her attempt to deface an advertisement with which she did not agree was vigorously opposed by a blogger named Pamela Hall.

There’s so much to say on this subject that it’s hard to know where to begin and where to end.

If the goal of the ads was to cause controversy and provoke debate, they have succeeded to the nth degree.

The ads state:

IN ANY WAR
BETWEEN THE CIVILIZED MAN
AND THE SAVAGE
SUPPORT THE
CIVILIZED MAN

SUPPORT ISRAEL
DEFEAT JIHAD

These ads were designed by Pamela Geller, in response to anti-Israel ads that ran in September of 2011 in the MTA system. Due to legal challenges, Geller’s ads did not run until now (as it happens in the wake of the recent anti-YouTube riots throughout the “Muslim world”).

I strongly support the sentiment behind the ads, but I wouldn’t have written them this way. I think that when the word “savage” is invoked, versus the “civilized man,” the first thought by the average liberal New Yorker would be of Native Americans victimized by white Europeans. Their education, from high school, college and popular culture (right up to James Cameron’s “Avatar”), kicks in very strongly at the concept of “savages.” If there are any savages, they must be noble ones. It is the so-called “civilized man” who is to be suspected, if not loathed outright.

So, if you label anyone as a savage, you have awarded them with an advantage, in terms of public relations.

I simply would have worded the ads this way:

IN ANY WAR
BETWEEN FREEDOM
AND OPPRESSION
SUPPORT FREEDOM

SUPPORT ISRAEL
DEFEAT JIHAD

In the end, that’s what this is about. Still, Pamela Geller has provoked debate about all of these issues, and perhaps some of those who are asleep will be woken up by the ruckus. That would be a very good thing.

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Change of heart on Israel: Nicky Larkin

The Cinch Review

A young Irish filmmaker named Nicky Larkin went to Israel and the West Bank with the intent of making a film exposing Israel’s unjust treatment of the Palestinians, something which was treated as gospel truth by the bulk of his peers in the Emerald Isle. After seven weeks, and thanks to a mind at least open to being open, he went home with a dramatically different perspective. Continue reading “Change of heart on Israel: Nicky Larkin”

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Gilad Shalit and the Incongruous Swap

The Cinch Review

After five years of being kept as a hostage by the Islamic terrorist group Hamas in Gaza, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has returned to Israel today. In return, Israel is releasing over a thousand prisoners requested by Hamas (nearly five hundred released today) including many who committed murders and were involved in bombings.

It makes no sense, of-course. Aside from the absurd imbalance in swapping all of these convicted terrorists for one Israeli soldier who has not been accused of any crime, there is the obvious point that this only encourages Israel’s enemies to attempt to kidnap soldiers again in the future, knowing the enormous potential reward they can obtain through this tactic. Continue reading “Gilad Shalit and the Incongruous Swap”

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Bob Dylan in Tel Aviv

The Cinch Review

In fairly typical if frustrating fashion, Bob Dylan seems to have treated his gig today in Israel like any other gig, not playing any special songs (e.g. “Neighborhood Bully”) or making any big pronouncements. (I think Bob believes all his songs are special.) The most amazing thing about the set list is that it is identical to the one from his show in England a couple of days ago. When was the last time Dylan played two consecutive shows with exactly the same set list? For the record this is what he played in Ramat Gan stadium today: Continue reading “Bob Dylan in Tel Aviv”

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Rickie Lee Jones on Dylan, Israel, and Boycotts

The Cinch Review

Bob Dylan’s concert in Tel Aviv is scheduled for tomorrow night in Ramat Gan stadium. Today the Jerusalem Post has some quotes from two artists who are opening for Dylan: Asaf Avidan and Rickie Lee Jones. Both say nice things about Dylan and their anticipation of the show. (And, contrary to early reports, and just as I thought, Rickie Lee Jones is not scheduled to sing with Dylan and his band; although she indicates she’d be glad to do so if asked.) Continue reading “Rickie Lee Jones on Dylan, Israel, and Boycotts”

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Israel, Syria and Mid-East contrasts

The Cinch Review

It’s being reported that somewhere around 20 people were killed when hundreds of Syrian “protesters” attempted to invade Israeli territory today, and were fired upon by Israeli soldiers. It doesn’t take a geopolitical-egghead-genius to see that the Assad regime is trying to distract from its own ongoing and far more efficient killing spree against Syrian citizens who are demanding something like basic human rights. Nevertheless, this new tactic of throwing willing martyrs at the borders of Israel is one that seems likely to continue, and has to worry the Israelis. At some point international pressure will rise and say, “Israel has no right to shoot these people” (i.e. no right to defend its borders) and that’s when the crowds will really start gathering. Continue reading “Israel, Syria and Mid-East contrasts”

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Obama: Pulling the Carpet from Under Israel

The Cinch Review

The last time President Obama attempted to fundamentally shift U.S. policy against Israel—when he tried to order the Israeli government to prevent Jews from building homes in Jerusalem—the backlash, domestically, and from Congress, was so severe that he had to back down. On this occasion, the situation is still developing—Netanyahu meets Obama today, and will himself address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday—but I think in this case the damage to Israel is all but impossible to undo. (File it under “elections have consequences.”) Continue reading “Obama: Pulling the Carpet from Under Israel”

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Pete Seeger merits sanction for anti-Israel BDS campaign

The Cinch Review

Pete Seeger wrong on Israel BDS
Pete Seeger was wrong on Adolf Hitler, wrong on Joseph Stalin (for over 60 years) and — yes! — wrong on Bob Dylan going electric at Newport. Yet, he gets cut a great deal of slack even by those who don’t share his ideology. He mentored a lot of individuals who later grew out of his party-playbook worldview (and you know what party I’m talking about). (Lest I be accused of innuendo: the Communist party.) He is given so much slack, and, in his old age, so many salutes and tributes even from those who have disagreed with him on substantive issues because he is seen to project a deep-seated concern for his fellow-man, even if that has sometimes led him to certain errors; errors along the lines of persistently shilling for a dictator responsible for the deaths of millions. Pete Seeger also has the ability to put over a folk song in a way that many find endearing. Continue reading “Pete Seeger merits sanction for anti-Israel BDS campaign”

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Indignez-Vous – Time for Outrage

The Cinch Review

Currently a raging bestseller in France, and spreading around the world, is a short book by Stéphane Hessel called Indignez-Vous, or A Time for Outrage. As taken apart by Ron Radosh, the screed begins by trying to make the case for reinvigorating the selfish old socialism which has brought Europe to the point of insolvency, and moves logically onward to identify the greatest danger in the world: Israel, of-course.

The fact that something like this has caught on in such a big way (and now has been published in the U.S. by The Nation) is as disturbing as it is nauseatingly unsurprising. The vapors from Fukushima are not the only source of an expanding and lethal stink in the world today.


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A Commercial Message: Fight the Boycott

As at least a partial-Irish-ex-pat, I keep an eye on news from the Emerald Isle. Today I saw this story: Group calls for boycott of Israeli products.

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign is urging a boycott of Israeli products and services – saying Palestine must not be forgotten.

Two members of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla will be holding a public meeting at the Central Hotel on Exchequer Street in Dublin this afternoon at 2pm.

Fintan Lane and Derek Graham were on board different ships intercepted by Israelis while trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The IPSC is also hoping to highlight what it calls the complicity of Veolia, the operators of the Luas in Dublin, with Israel’s regime. [sic]

A spokesperson for the Irish Anti-War Movement said: “It is vital the murders of peace activists trying to break the siege of Gaza, and most importantly the cruel siege itself are not forgotten and that Israel is held to account for what it is doing to the Palestinian people.

“The easiest and most concrete way, ordinary people can put pressure on Israel and show their solidarity with the Palestinian people is by supporting the campaign of boycott, sanctions and divestment.

“Today we want to make the shops and shoppers in Dublin city aware of the connection between Israeli atrocity and some of the goods stocked in Dublin shops, and appeal to them not to buy these goods or stock them.

“Israel does very significant trade with Ireland. We need to hurt Israel in the pocket if we are to put pressure on them to end their cruel oppression of the Palestinian people.”

Charming indeed. This kind of thing is breaking out all over, but it’s nothing new either. The campaign of divestment and boycott against Israel has been going on for years, centered amongst the European left. The current situation merely gives it a renewed head of steam and focal point. And make no mistake: The attackers on the Mavi Marmara gave their lives for just this purpose, knowing that the next day’s headlines would deal a massive blow to the image of “the Zionist regime,” and rally the opposition of those across the world only too willing to swallow the ready-made narrative of “Israeli atrocity,” pushed with vigor by the likes of Turkey’s Erdogan.

Most countries in Israel’s neighborhood refuse to trade with the Zionist regime anyway, so an economic boycott by the larger world is no small thing. In fact, it’s part of a growing multi-pronged existential threat.

That’s why I’ve added to my sidebar a link like this: FIGHT THE BOYCOTT: BUY ISRAELI!

That takes you to Amazon.com and some products labeled as “Made in Israel.” As an added bonus, buying anything from Amazon after following a link from THE CINCH REVIEW benefits this website at no added cost to you, the discerning consumer!

Of-course, there are plenty of other ways of buying Israeli products. You can find many listed on this page: Ways To Help Israel.

Shalom, and go raibh maith agat.

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More on Israel, Gaza, the Blockade and the Blockheads

Charles Krauthammer’s column today is as concise and powerful as his best.

The world is outraged at Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Turkey denounces its illegality, inhumanity, barbarity, etc. The usual U.N. suspects, Third World and European, join in. The Obama administration dithers.

But as Leslie Gelb, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, writes, the blockade is not just perfectly rational, it is perfectly legal. Gaza under Hamas is a self-declared enemy of Israel — a declaration backed up by more than 4,000 rockets fired at Israeli civilian territory. Yet having pledged itself to unceasing belligerency, Hamas claims victimhood when Israel imposes a blockade to prevent Hamas from arming itself with still more rockets.

He goes on to assert, correctly, that this entire escapade has nothing to do with helping the people of Gaza, and everything to do with depriving Israel of any means of self-defense, even such passive means as a blockade. He also outlines the result of every recent “land for peace” gesture by Israel: only more attacks, from enemies who are now nearer. He finishes:

The world is tired of these troublesome Jews, six million — that number again — hard by the Mediterranean, refusing every invitation to national suicide. For which they are relentlessly demonized, ghettoized, and constrained from defending themselves, even as the more committed anti-Zionists — Iranian in particular — openly prepare a more final solution.

But read it all.

And courtesy of the Canada-Israel Committee, here are some figures on how much aid is regularly delivered to the people of Gaza.

Despite the fact that Israel publicly offered to inspect and then transfer the flotilla’s aid to Gaza several days prior to the incident, many opponents of Israel are now making wild accusations that humanitarian supplies are being blocked from entering Gaza.

The facts put these charges to rest – just take a look at how much aid Israel regularly delivers to Gaza, and what it means in real terms for Gazans:

  • Over one million tons of humanitarian supplies were delivered by Israel to the people of Gaza in the past 18 months – that’s equal to nearly one ton of aid for every man, woman and child in Gaza.
     
  • In the first quarter of 2010 alone (January-March), Israel delivered 94,500 tons of supplies to Gaza. It’s very easy to miss what that actually means for the people of Gaza. The breakdown includes:
    • 40,000 tons of wheat – which is equal to 53 million loaves of bread;
    • 2,760 tons of rice – which equals 69 million servings;
    • 1,987 tons of clothes and footwear – the equivalent weight of 3.6 million pairs of jeans; and
    • 553 tons of milk powder and baby food – equivalent to over 3.1 million days of formula for an average six-month-old baby.
  • This reflects a long-term effort on the part of Israel to deliver a massive and comprehensive supply of aid to Gaza’s civilians, while restricting the ability of Hamas to import missiles that have been launched at the cities of southern Israel. In 2009 alone:
    • During the Muslim holy days of Ramadan and Eid al-Adha, Israel shipped some 11,000 head of cattle into Gaza – enough to provide 8.8 million meals of beef;
    • More than 3,000 tons of hypochlorite were delivered by Israel to Gaza for water purification purposes – that’s 60 billion gallons of purified water; and
    • Israel brought some 4,883 tons of medical equipment and medicine into Gaza – a weight equivalent to over 360,000 260-piece mobile trauma first aid kits.

Read the full statistics and judge for yourself. Humanitarian crisis in Gaza? Not according to the facts.

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The War of Isolation Against Israel

The Cinch Review

The false narrative of the supposedly innocent “aid flotilla” attacked by Israel (when in reality the only violence which took place occurred when IHH terrorists attacked Israeli commandos with the goal of creating this story) is lending fuel to an already-burgeoning global movement of boycotts and divestment that poses a very real risk to Israel’s survival. From the Wall Street Journal:

Israeli officials point to a significant toughening by many allies on important Israeli strategic issues, such as peace efforts with the Palestinians and the country’s nuclear program. But the fallout has ricocheted beyond diplomacy as well, they say. It is reflected in incidents including British grocery chains dropping products produced in Israeli settlements; Scandinavian pension funds divesting from an Israeli defense company; and the spread of an annual “Israel Apartheid Week,” backed by mostly left-leaning Western organizations, to 50 cities world-wide. Continue reading “The War of Isolation Against Israel”

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Israel Under Attack

The Cinch Review

Hamas fired two Kassam rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip earlier today, but that’s far from the most serious attack being made on the Jewish state. Unable to defeat Israel in a direct military assault, her enemies have become well practiced at tactics that seek to damage her in the court of world opinion, to strip her of support (or even tolerance) and to encourage the kind of opposition that could ultimately break the nation’s spirit.

The inhabitants of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank receive more international aid per capita than any Continue reading “Israel Under Attack”

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Israel, Iran and the Bomb

The headline from Haaretz describes the results of a survey conducted in Israel: ‘1 in 4 Israelis would consider leaving country if Iran gets nukes’.

Some 23 percent of Israelis would consider leaving the country if Iran obtains a nuclear weapon, according to a poll conducted on behalf of the Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University.

Some 85 percent of respondents said they feared the Islamic Republic would obtain an atomic bomb, 57 percent believed the new U.S. initiative to engage in dialogue with Tehran would fail and 41 percent believed Israel should strike Iran’s nuclear installations without waiting to see whether or how the talks develop.

“The findings are worrying because they reflect an exaggerated and unnecessary fear,” Prof. David Menashri, the head of the Center, said.

It’s nice that the professor thinks it to be an exaggerated fear, and it’s also completely irrelevant, of-course. Put a fear of imminent annihilation over people, and over their children, and they will react. Many will be stoic, of-course. But many will vote with their feet. It’s just human nature.

Back in December, when rockets were flying from Gaza into southern Israel, and the world was condemning the Israelis for finally taking tough military action against Hamas, I wrote the following in this space:

Hamas’s strategy of firing missiles into southern Israel cannot be understood in isolation. Although in isolation it is bad enough. No country on earth can tolerate these kinds of open attacks against its citizens and long remain a nation at all. But Hamas in the south is acting with a strategy similar to Hezbollah in the north. Both receive support from the Iranians, who are themselves pursuing a nuclear weapon and talking publicly of wiping Israel off the map. Theirs can be seen as a three-pronged strategy for the destruction of Israel without ever having to fight the Israeli Defense Forces in one enormous battle. It is a war of attrition, of threat and of fear. Israeli residents in the south of that tiny country must evacuate their homes under threat of Hamas missiles, just as residents of the north had to in 2006 as Hezbollah’s rockets were launched over the border (and just as they might have to again at any time). The mere fact that Iran is pursuing an atomic bomb and talking about the destruction of Israel puts a threat of doom over the heads of all Israelis. Imagine how magnified that will be once Iran actually achieves the bomb, or announces that it has achieved it. Imagine trying to raise a family when enemy missiles, with ever-increasing range and lethality, are closing in from the south and from the north, and when a nation that openly wishes your family’s death achieves the practical capability to cause it. Imagine trying to carry on a business — trying to carry on anything at all. The Iranian strategy, with the enthusiastic support of Hamas and Hezbollah, is to simply make life in Israel untenable for a critical mass of Jews, who will then either go somewhere else (those that have somewhere else to go) or give up the fight. A conventional war of nations and of armies, of the kind that Israel has won repeatedly in its history since 1948, is therefore avoided. Or, at the least, postponed until Israel is much more weakened and demoralized.

It is not an outlandish strategy. It is a very practical one, and it is one that is being pursued with some effect.

Israel simply cannot afford the kind of crisis in confidence over her future that the fact of an Iranian nuclear bomb would create, most of all among her own citizens. That is why Israel will act against Iran before the day that Ahmadinejad can stand up and credibly say, “Our glorious Islamic Republic now has the ultimate weapon and we cannot be touched.” The consequences of Israeli military action against Iran may well include difficulties for everyone else, but the circumstances permit Netanyahu — or any Israeli leader — no other choice.

That is, unless President Obama’s sweet overtures achieve their purpose of getting the Iranian regime to reverse course and demonstrably renounce its pursuit of nuclear energy and weapons. The hour is getting late.