Simchat Tora

It is a specially joyful holiday this year. For Jews this is not a given at any time so when we have a minute in our history when we feel collective joy and harmony, we note it.

This post and this song are dedicated to Debora Orr for her attempt to empty a dropper full of poison into the happiness felt by all of Israel at the return of Gilad Shalit.

Mipi El

None is mightier than God
None is more blessed than the son of Amram
No greatness can match the Tora
And none study the Tora like Israel

***

Or, if you want it in more deconstructionist mode, here is Boris Yellnikoff on the subject of joy:

" I happen to hate New Year's celebrations. Everybody desperate to have fun. Trying to celebrate in some pathetic little way. Celebrate what? A step closer to the grave? That's why I can't say enough times, whatever love you can get and give, whatever happiness you can filch or provide, every temporary measure of grace, whatever works. And don't kid yourself. Because its by no means up to your own human ingenuity. A bigger part of your existence is luck, than you'd like to admit. Christ, you know the odds of your fathers one sperm from the billions, finding the single egg that made you. Don't think about it, you'll have a panic attack."

So, is an Arab always a Terrorist*?

[*Just to clarify: The question is ironic and the answer is, to those who are ironically-deficient, of course not]

According to Prof. Abu-Khalil, the appellation "Arab" is, as per definition, interchangeable with "terrorist".

Here he is , throwing his daily tantrum:

"Killing Arabs in their bed

Can you imagine if a Muslim cleric spoke those words: "The Israel Defense Forces' former chief Rabbi criticized a prisoner swap deal that is due to set abducted IDF [...], saying on Monday that Israeli soldiers should from now on "kill terrorists in their beds.""

The rabbi, as you will notice, specifically said "kill terrorists in their beds." Abu-Khalil translates it for the dim reader who does not understand what a terrorist is as "Killing Arabs in their bed". Prof. Abu-Khalil, who calls himself an Angry Arab surely is something of an expert on what an Arab is.

If you think it was mere sloppiness on abuKhalil's part, here is another example, repeating the same synonymy between "Arab" and "terrorist":

"Netanyahu threatening blood: can you imagine if this language was used by Arabs? They would have said: look, they speak like Nazis

They do speak like Nazis: not all Nazis, like the worst Nazis, like Goebbels: " "Any released terrorist who returns to terrorism – his blood is upon his head." "Any released terrorist who returns to terrorism –

I often wonder whether prof. Abu-Khalil is on the payroll of the Mossad. He serves Israeli interests so brilliantly.

Gilad Shalit is coming home ...

Pisa, standing in for Snoopy at Simply Jews, nailed the matter:

" Israel is about to get back a young man who never did anything wrong, a simple citizen of this country. The Palestinians, on the other hand, are going to be flooded with almost one thousand criminals, and good luck building a stable society with that... One simple citizen for us, one thousand criminals for them. We win. "

Tomorrow, by the time I wake up in the morning and turn on the computer, Gilad will have been restored to his family.

Compelling agreement ...

"In a speech at Brooklyn Law School, Rashid Khalidi made this claim:

This carefully crafted propaganda was the work of seasoned professionals. People like someone you probably never heard of, a man named Edward Gottlieb, for example. He’s one of the founders of the modern public relations industry. There are books about him as a great advertiser.

In order to sell the great Israeli state to the American public many, many decades ago, Gottlieb commissioned a successful, young novelist. A man who was a committed Zionist, a fellow with the name of Leon Uris. He funded him and sent him off to Israel to write a book. This book was Exodus: A Novel of Israel. Gottlieb’s gambit succeeded brilliantly. Exodus sold as many copies as Gone With the Wind, which up to that point was the greatest best-seller in U.S. history. Exodus was as good a melodrama and sold just as many copies."

Now read this article, by Martin Kramer, from which the above quote is taken.

And now this reminder:

"Consider Jewish scholars in this light: All of them have a high regard for logic, that is for compelling agreement by force of reason; they know, with that they are bound to win even where they encounter race and class prejudices and when one does not like to believe them. For nothing is more democratic than logic; it is no respecter of persons and makes no distinction between crooked and straight noses.. "

(Nietzsche, The Gay Science, 348)

Narratives: A Juxtaposition

Narrative #1:

The disgusting Israeli press

Israeli propaganda has the sophistication of Saddam's media apparatus. So Israeli racists desecrate Arab cemeteries, and the Israeli newspapers manage to make the headline NOT ABOUT THE DESECRATION but about Israeli "president's" condemnation of the attack. So the Israeli racist attacks are buried under propaganda headlines about Israeli official propaganda. Here is the story: "The cemeteries were desecrated on Friday, the eve of Yom Kippur, when headstones were smashed and racist slogans were spray-painted on graves. The two cemeteries, one Muslim and the other Christian, were vandalized by graffiti that said “Death to the Arabs”, and “Price Tag”, Channel 10 reported."


Narrative #2:

"While we're on CNN's coverage of attacks on holy sites in Israel, an article today on

While we're on CNN's coverage of attacks on holy sites in Israel, an article today on desecrations of Muslim and Christian graves in Jaffa ignores a Molotov cocktail attack on a syngague in the very same city. Thus, Dan Morgan and Kevin Flower report:

Less than a week after the arson of a mosque in northern Israel, dozens of Christian and Muslim graves were vandalized in an Arab section of the Israeli city of Jaffa.

More thahan 100 graves were vandalized in the Muslim cemetery of al-Kazakhana and at a nearby Christian cemetery in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, according to residents and a CNN producer who visited the locations.

Some of the graves were spray painted with graffiti while others were smashed.

Meanwhile, CNN completely ignores last night's attack on the Ba'al Hanes synagogue, a rather relevant incident in the context of an article about attacks on sacred sites in Jaffa. As Ha'aretz reports:

About 200 Arabs and Jews gathered in Jaffa on Saturday night to protest the desecration at the cemetery and calling for an end to violence and racism. At one point during the demonstration, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the roof of Rabbi Meir Ba'al Hanes synagogue in Jaffa. The building was empty at the time and there were no reports of casualties. Firefighters, police and medical teams were rushed to the scene."

________________

Please notice that the Camera report included, in full detail, the information about the desecration of Muslim and Christian graves in Jaffa, while Prof. AbuKhalil's "News Service" is completely silent about the attack on the synagogue with a firebomb. Mentioning it would, I suspect, ruin the perfection of his Arab narrative.

Following the desecrations:

“Israel shows tolerance for religious sentiments and a desire for peaceful coexistence without violence, but will show no tolerance for those who oppose it”, said Netanyahu during a cabinet meeting."

Don't you wish the same determination would come from other regional leaders under similar circumstances?? Never mind leaders. How about just self-proclaimed 'intellectuals"?

Quotes from an Arab Spring

The Angry Arab reports approvingly:

"The NATO rebels closed down the synagogue in Tripoli. A statement from the rebels said that they won't allow the reopening of the synagogue unless the petitioner is not an Israeli, and a supporter of Israel, and that he should be a supporter of Palestinian right to return."

If you find it a bit hard to understand the rational-ethical connection between a synagogue in Libya and poor Palestinians, here is an extensive explanation that does not even pretend to be rational or to care about the finer points of distinction between anti-Israel rhetoric and antisemitism:

"No, Mr. Gerbi. You are not here to play the hero or be martyred; you are here to play the victim. The Jews through history have perfected the role of ‘the victim’ to a fine art. There is no doubt that they were victimized, mostly in Europe and they were killed and murdered in their millions, amongst other minorities, during the Nazi regime. But they have used this to maximum effect to gain sympathy and a homeland in Palestine.

This story was plastered all over the western press, especially in the US, with no mention whatsoever of the atrocities Israel is committing against Palestine and the Palestinians."

As I said often enough, anger makes you stupid.