Eretz Yisrael Time

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Friday, March 31, 2006
Here is the actual story as written by the participant. I've erased certain details for security reasons.

Friday afternoon I was on my way home, I stopped by the Gilo trempiada to pick up anyone going to Efrat.

A lady in her 40's gets in and says she is going to Efrat. She had the appearance of a nice Jewish women (Tichel on the head and all) and spoke fluent Hebrew!
So I picked her up and started driving.

As I was driving something felt wrong, I turned and asked the women what her destination was, she answered "derech Efrat", I asked her to specify a yishuv and she kept quiet, at this point I became very suspicious and asked her if she was Jewish, She said yes and so I kept driving.

I then took a wild guess and asked her if she needed to get to Bet Lechem?, She said YES!!

I swerved my car to the shoulder, jumped out and told her she has ten seconds to get out of my car, I was counting down with one hand on my gun. She started getting out and saying that I was embarrassing her and that she was Jewish!!

I of course was feeling embarrassed and very confused! I asked for her Teudat Zehut, she answered that she does not have it with her! I once again asked if she was Jewish and this time she told me she was an Arab woman!

After several seconds of yelling at this woman, I told what the difference between a Jew and an Arab is! "YOU GUYS BLOW UP AND MURDER!!!!"

I immediately called a local security official who instructed me to have this woman open her bags to make sure she was not carrying a bomb! I ordered her to rip open all five bags she was carrying and dump them on the sidewalk.

She complained and yelled a little but I made it very clear I was not fooling around! After several seconds she started dumping her clothes out on the sidewalk!

After being sure she was not carrying any weapons I ordered her to get back into the car and that I was taking her to the nearest checkpoint! She got back in and I sped to the nearest Machsom! I jumped out and approached the MAGAVNICK with this story!

I was FUMING (after what happened the day before in kedumim!) This woman has some nerve!

The Magav told me that he will escort me to the Bet Lechem base where they will arrest the woman!

I arrived at the base and told the Magav that I will stick around till this woman is arrested! He then asked her for a Teudat Zehut and she pulls out a green Palestinian ID!
She then turns to me and says - " Toda Raba" - I turned to her and said - When you sick Muslims stop blowing people up I might take you in my car - till then keep your mouth shut!!!

The Magav came back after 20 minutes and said to me the following " this woman broke the law and we will therefore arrest her, but you too broke the law!"

In disbelief I replied....WHAT?!

The Magav looked me straight in the eyes and says: "You were transporting a palestinian without a permit!!!!"

I was in completes shock!

I looked this guy back in the eye and said " put the cuffs on! I would love to stand in front of the judge and explain this!!"

He then tells me that I can go and they will deal with the woman!

I say NO WAY!! I am here to make sure you don't let this woman go!!

The magav turns to me and says..."go home"! I left out of total disbelief!!!

PEOPLE:
If you are waiting for a tremp or are picking someone up ASK ABOUT ANY SUSPICIONS YOU HAVE!! Dont be shy or you might be DEAD!!
I had a bad feeling making a woman empty her belongings - BUT - that's because I am Jewish!!! AND THAT"S EXACTLY WHAT THE ARABS ARE BETTING ON!!!
This case is exactly what " Lerachem al achzarim" means!!!!
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Some minor changes have resulted from counting the outstanding votes.

Except for providing Olmert with 61 nearly guaranteed disengagement votes (assuming the Gimlaim vote as he wants), as of yet I can't see it affecting anything else besides some internal perceptions (and 6 specifically happy or disappointed individuals).



  • Kadima 29 (up from 28)
  • Likud 12 (up from 11)
  • Meretz 5 (up from 4)
    ---------------------------------------
  • Shas 12 (down from 13)
  • Lieberman 11 (down from 12)
  • Raam-Tal 3 (down from 4)
For Kadima, overall this is good because Shas and Lieberman now can't ask for as much.

For a potential Labor coalition it doesn't effectively change anything, except make the idea much more interesting to Shas and Lieberman now that they are less important to Kadima. It may also make the idea more interesting to Labor as they can still get rid of any (at least one) choice of partners and still have 61.



  • Avoda 20
    ...(Prime Minister, Foreign, Finance, Industry-Trade, Labor, Education)
  • Shas 12
    ...(Interior, Justice, Construction&Housing)
  • Likud 12
    ...(Agriculture, Communications)
  • Lieberman 11
    ...(Defense, Security, Transportation)
  • Gimlaim 7
    ...(Health)
  • UTJ 6
    ...(Deputy Minister - they don't like taking full responsibility)
  • Meretz 5
    ...(Environment)
Total 73 seats.

In short, the idea is still doable and even more favorable to Avoda if Peretz really wants to be Prime Minister and not second string.
As a number of bloggers and pundits have already pointed out, there is a good possibility that we can still foil Kadima.

A Labor/Perertz led coalition with most of the smaller parties can easily block Kadima’s entrance to the government. Not only that, but there is less of a problem of portfolio greed as most of the parties have just a single issue or two that is really important to them and they want the same results anyway.

One viable Coalition configuration could easily be:

Avoda 20
...(Prime Minister, Foreign, Finance, Industry-Trade, Labor, Education)
Shas 13

...(Interior, Justice, Construction&Housing)
Lieberman 12
...(Defense, Security, Transportation)
Likud 11
...(Agriculture, Communications)
Gimlaim 7
...(Health)
UTJ 6
...(Deputy Minister - they don't like taking full responsibility)
Meretz 4
...(Environment)

Total 73 seats.

Everyone gets what is important to them – either a good seat, or at least the knowledge that this will forever destroy Kadima.

The Likud might prefer only the Justice ministry to start going after the Kadima people, and Liebrrman may want it also. Meretz would obviously want Education, but the other coalition partners would never agree, so it would stay with Labor.

If only Amir Peretz has the guts to try this.
This election, if anything, has not only proven that sound bites have shrunk to the length of single word, but if something fails or is unpopular, don’t fix it – rename it.

For those that haven’t caught on yet, disengagement was a failure, for every reason, and even its implementers know it.

The solution? We now have a “Convergence” plan. The difference? Nothing, except that the name that is linked to failure (disengagement) is replaced with a clean word (convergence) that carries no baggage (yet).

And Kadima? Failures and rejects from their party. Sharon destroyed the Likud from the inside. Destroyed its name, destroyed its reputation, and destroyed its standing in the public’s eye. So instead we have Kadima. And what is Kadima? The same exact people that brought us ‘disengagement’ and other problems merely repackaged under a different name.

It was only a matter of time that after disengagement convergence the Katushya Convergence Rockets would begin to fall, but now at least we have a new name for voter apathy, it called, well we don’t have a new name, because no one even needs to repackage it, the public doesn't care enough for it to warrant a new name.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Anyway you slice it there is not even close to a Right-wing or Center-Right constellation of parties. On the other hand, it looks like the Left can form a viable coalition without Kadima if they wanted. It would be tight, but it would be doable.

The numbers may still change slightly, but that is all.

I’m waiting for the final numbers, but Baruch Marzel may have come very close (or even in) despite the various campaigns against him. We’ll know later in the morning.

I think there are lessons here for the Right. Stop attacking your fellow right-wing parties. Your opponents are the Left-wing parties. How much money and campaign time was wasted attacking each other (and I don’t just mean against Marzel)?

Every Right-wing party looked at the pie and kept trying to slice it at the expense of the other Right-wing parties as opposed to exclusively trying to expand the pie by attracting unaffiliated and undecided voters.

Also learn that Israelis now care about social/economic issues, and you can’t continue to be a one-trick pony anymore, or at least only harp on one issue.

Wake up! Stop counting on Shas and UTJ to stand by your side! They aren’t Right-wing parties and never were. Their constituents may very well be, but they aren’t getting voted in for that. They are getting voted in for the money.

And on that note, I wanted to discuss how the religious parties will be playing a role in the upcoming disengagements, but perhaps I'll save it for another post.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Who won these elections?

A party with no ideology (except for kicking settlers out of their homes) with a leader who is tired of fighting and winning, and social-based parties that will bring back socialism and higher taxes. And this is where nearly half the citizens couldn’t even be bothered to go out and vote.

What does that say about Israel?

Israel has lost the will to survive. Israel has lost the will to fight. Israel is looking for quick and easy solutions to real problems that don’t have quick and easy solutions.

No one cares that 2 people were killed today by a Kassam rocket. No one cares that the Gazans have been importing Katushya rockets and now begun to use them. No one cares that Israel is not properly fighting the terrorists. No one cares that disengagement has failed or that the socialist infrastructure that was crushing our economy to the point of bankruptcy was nearly at the verge of being removed and positive outcomes were finally being seen by the overall improvements in our economy and the increase in available jobs.

Unfortunately, it is only us, a minority in this country that are still willing to fight for a free market, oppose terrorism, and to keep for our homes and country.

We won’t let these results discourage us. The fight will be more difficult now, but we can’t give in, because if we do then all is lost for everyone in this country, not just us.
The initial exit polls are coming in, and beyond portraying the mass voter apathy, it is pretty clear that any sort of strong ‘right-wing’ bloc is not even close. Lieberman’s party already declared their willingness to join Qadima, Labor obviously wants to join, and the evening’s surprise, the Pensioner’s party said they have no ideological stance beyond their one issue, so whoever takes care of them gets their support (actually they have a stance and it is Left, read 3.2 and 3.3. hattip Robert Klein).

The Ultra-Orthodox parties Aguda/Degel and Shas both did slightly better than expected, but they will also go with Qadima for the money. They won't get as much as they wanted perhaps because Qadima doesn't really need them anymore, but they'll get their bone for keeping quiet during the next disengagement.

After the Likud’s devastation, we can expect a coup against Netanyahu, and if it succeeds Silvan will probably try to bring the Likud into Qadima (which will just make the party disappear).

The NRP NU is already trying to blame their poor less than expected showing on Baruch Marzel whose unity attempt they spurned. Oh please.

On the other hand, Qadima did very well, but not well enough to get the 100% free hand it wanted (just 95%).

Labor and the Pensioner’s party did very well, which shows that economic issues are now going to take the forefront, unfortunately I hope this isn’t a step backwards towards an even larger government, more government interference, and of course higher taxes, but it may very well be. (Shitreet thinks a 200% tax on cars is a good thing).

It may very well be that the government will be so busy raising our taxes to create economic equality (everyone equally poor?) that it will be too busy to waste the time throwing me out of my home in exchange for Katushya (that’s right the Gazans launched their first Iranian Katushya rocket today into Ashkelon) rockets. Aren't we glad the censors did not let that get published until the polls were nearly closed?

Oh well.

The counting of the votes will continue until the morning and they'll also start to count the soldier's votes.

Time to go to sleep and see what changes by the morning (I don't expect much, maybe Alei Yarok will get in after all).
Just to let the readers know. JoeSettler placed his vote where his keyboard is. (Money where his mouth is)

Without hesitation, worries, or qualms, JoeSettler (and Mrs. Settler too) voted Baruch Marzel / Chazit while JoeSettler Jr. watched and learned how democracy works (or doesn't).
Disengagement rockets launched from Jew-free Gaza killed 2 more people today, on election day. It is not expected that this will affect any potential Kadima voters as this time the two were "only" Beduins, just as previous rockets "only" hit Ashkelon, Sderot, and the South. No serious IDF response is expected.

It's unfortunate that if Kadima wins and pulls out of additional parts of Eretz Yisrael then the rocket attacks will just escalate and start hitting more towns and cities - eventually including those where Kadima voters live.

Unfortunately, ideology is not the only thing missing here.
There is no party that properly represents us voters, there is no party we feel we can trust to fulfill our wishes (and their promises or platform). There is no party whose vote is not without serious risk of one backlash or another. There is almost no party with any principles (or positive ones at least).

In short, despite the plethora of choices, we are left with no one to vote for.

Certainly 'Just Not Qadima' should be our rallying cry and model for voting this election, but who says that the party we vote for won't then join Qadima (nearly all of them have openly published their list prices for joining).


I've been pleasantly surprised as to how many people have told me they are voting Marzel/Hazit (which is the party I am voting for). Is it a risk? Yes. But I don't see at a bigger risk than voting for any other party that will join Qadima if Qadima get enough seats and offers them enough money/jobs/seats.


In ‘The Princess Bride’ Westley and Vizzini (“inconceivable”) are in a battle of wits over the cup with the iocane poison. Vizzini calculates and analyzes as to the (unknowable) motivations and thought processes of Westley, and in which cup Westley most likely put the poison. Vizzini (thinks he) figured it out, and he then tricks Westley to look away while he switches the cups, putting the (he assumes) poisoned cup in front of Westley. He and Westley then both drink up.


This election is scary beyond belief. My house is on the line. Your house in on the line. Increased terrorism is on the line. Missiles will be hitting large cities. More capitulations. An ineffective and inappropriate separation wall/fence. The potential loss of Hevron, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, and even the Temple Mount.

And like Vizzini, there are those that are calculating and contemplating, ‘don’t vote for Marzel it a wasted vote’, or ‘your vote will go to Qadima’, and ‘if we have this many and they have that many seats this will happen’, and so on.

Sometimes you can simply outsmart yourself with all these twists and turns.

Vizzini died in the end. He outsmarted himself, because he didn't look at other options besides the ones obviously placed in front of him.

Did he choose wrong? Yes and No.

You see, it turns out that both cups were full of poison. Westley, our hero, built up an immunity to iocane powder so it really didn’t matter which poisoned cup he drank from, he would survive either way.


It's times like these that we have to trust in Hashem, and even if things don't turn out the way we think is best right now, we need to remember that in the long term it will. G/d didn’t bring us this far so we can fail right before the finish line.


We have are own immunity to our local version of the iocane poison. Perhaps we may not feel so well immediately afterwards, but it is our Torah communities that will survive, thrive and win in the end.

The former residents of Gaza may still be homeless, jobless, and facing incredible difficulties, but they are still holding strong, and while it may take years, their communities will come back even stronger from the experience.


We need to do what is right and vote for the party that best represents what we believe in and want, and leave the calculating and scheming to G/d. Ultimately, it’s out of our hands.

I’m proudly voting Marzel because Marzel represents uncompromising Torah values and love for Am and Eretz Yisrael, not to mention serious Democratic Reform (within the Torah’s boundaries).

I’m doing my part, G/d will do G/d’s.
Monday, March 27, 2006
I've been contemplating how to work in Shitreet's "Kadima has no ideology" into a post.

We all know that that isn't really true. Kadima members do have an ideology, it's called holding on to your seats and betraying your voters for your own self-advancement.

But I guess that doesn't translate well into a campaign slogan, "Vote Kadima, We only believe in advancing ourselves".

We know that they don't have any pretenses to being honest.

A friend just pointed out this link in the Israeli business paper Globes.

Apparently Kadima's Shitreet, as Minister of Transportation, blatantly tried to replace a senior and seasoned employee in the Ministry of Transportation's computer department with someone who by the guy's own admission doesn't know the first thing about computers.

Can we say "Political Appointment"?

The former employee sued and got her job back.

Has an investigation been called for? Are the rest of the newspapers publishing op-eds on Shitreets corruption? No and no.

I'm certainly glad that Shitreet's admits to a complete lack of ideology, because it just wouldn't have been clear by examining his actions and deeds.

Dear Reader, Whomever you choose to vote for, go for it, just not Kadima.
Watch this video if you want to know more about Marzel and the people in his party (Hazit).

http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20060326_hazit/hazit.htm


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Sunday, March 26, 2006
Rotter.net published their own poll that shows very different results. Still not very encouraging - as Kadima still leads, but close enough that it could very well be more interesting than expected.

Saturday, March 25, 2006
[Parts of this post got erased, so I am rewriting it from memory. It may look slightly different from before.]

I assume that Ze’ev is a bit upset at JoeSettler’s endorsement of Baruch Marzel for the upcoming elections though it is nothing personal, but the fact is that there were two very revealing articles in this weekend’s paper that say a lot about the candidates, personalities, and parties involved and just confirms my decision.

To begin with, HaMakom, a new regional paper, printed an interview with NRP’s Zevulun Orlev.

Confirming
Ze’ev’s comments in my previous post, Orlev admits that Marzel was willing to join the National Union’s union for the purpose of unifying the Right. Orlev claims that he had no role in the decision to reject Marzel, and not only should Marzel renounce his candidacy in the upcoming elections, but "Marzel is disqualified ("פסול" in Hebrew) as a human being in [Orlev’s] eyes" !!!

I think this says a lot more about Orlev than it does Marzel.

[The original post got erased from here on]
BaSheva ran an interview with Benny Elon. Benny stated that "he doesn't denigrate anyone. It could very well be that Marzel would bring a new spirit into the Knesset, but you have to understand that he doesn't have any chance to pass the threshold. If you could publicly prove that he [Marzel] has the possibility to pass the threshold, it would better to help him rather than damage the entire [Right-wing] camp. But that isn’t the situation…”


Marzel party just completed a Commitment Campaign”, 57,734 people have committed themselves to voting Marzel.

That is pretty close to passing the threshold.

Benny Elon – Marzel is counting on you now. You've said you would do what is best for the camp. Orlev is proving to be a drag on the NU and the Right, don’t let the Right down when it comes to Marzel.


Thursday, March 23, 2006
I’m not going to talk numbers, but rather a possible and likely scenario.

To begin with Kadima will not do anywhere as well as they and the media are planning, and the Likud will do better than everyone expects. But either way a lot of Kadima members are going to be very disappointed that they aren’t being made into Ministers and the like.

And why won’t they become VIPs?

Because no matter how many seats he has, Olmert is still going to have to heavily reward Lieberman (can anyone name anyone else on his list?), Shas, Aguda/Degel, and Labor for them to join him instead of a Netanyahu lead Likud-Labor (or Likud-Right) coalition. The price will be so high that he will have to take key seats away from his own party members – and they all know it.

As there is no unifying factor (besides selfish self-aggrandizement) holding Kadima together as an incoherent movement, Netanyahu and Peretz will quietly make offers to the most potentially offended Kadima members in exchange for their support for the position of PM and coalition leader, and these guys will jump at the offer (I don’t believe they can jump parties right after the elections for legal reasons, but they can vote however they want).

Kadima will lose the vote for coalition leader and after the legally alloted time period the rats will return to the parties they abandoned and Kadima will be down to less than the 14 seats they are at today, and then disappear by the time the next election comes around.

Oh, and Marzel will get into the Knesset by the skin of his teeth. But he will get in.
Monday, March 20, 2006
If you had asked me last year which party I would endorse for the next elections, by default I would have said the National Union.

I respect Benny Elon and Aryeh Eldad both as individuals and as upright, unwavering legislatures. Once Efi Eitam joined their party I felt they presented an appealing team that well represented many of the national and partisan issues important to me.

I admit, I don’t see any of them as national leaders as much as I see them as partisan leaders (even though their platform covers a wide range of issues), but that is fine as none of them were/are in any position to take their place as a national leadership candidate (I think Efi Eitam made a huge mistake by not joining the Likud and Manhigut Yehudit from the start – which would have made him a candidate for Prime Minister, and to me, making that mistake means he isn’t right for the position).

Voting for a partisan party is as close as you can get to directly electing your representative in Israel (except for joining a party and voting in the primaries – which is also very important to do – even if it isn’t the party you vote for in the regular elections), so while I may not get to select the “Prime Minister” at least I get to elect the equivalent of my local representative.

But I also must admit that I was disappointed by all their roles in the disengagement. They participated and stood side-by-side in the field quite properly, but I didn’t see any of them coming out and acting like the strategist and leader that we needed. I saw none of them properly positioning the “troops” or providing the leadership and control that was needed say at Kfar Maimon, which could and should have been anything but the beginning of the end - had it been played out differently.

But as I said, by default the National Union would still have gotten my vote.

But then they joined forces with the Not Relevant Party (Mafdal). Instead of letting this useless political party die, or pull a “Meimad” and join the Likud, the NU saved it and not only threw these politicians a life preserver, but they gave them the best seats on the boat.

I have zero respect for the leaders of the Mafdal and I don’t mean just their actions leading up to the disengagement, I mean in general. I’ve discussed them elsewhere so there is no point in repeating myself here, but in short I will not give my vote to Mafdal. Period.


This certainly puts me in a dilemma. I won’t vote Likud because while I think Bibi has better potential to do it right this time, he will probably be thrown out and Sharon’s boy Silvan is going to take over. Certainly Limor Livnat doesn’t deserve my vote.

Going to the other side, in my eyes that only leaves Baruch Marzel (Hazit) and Kleiner (Herut).

I won’t vote Kleiner (Herut) because if I’m going to vote Right not only do I want a party that cares about religious issues, but I want a party whose political views stem from Judaism and where Judaism is central to their ideology, not something peripheral to it. Nor does Kleiner have any politically charismatic attraction that makes me want to vote for him.

This basically leaves me with Marzel.

And Marzel leaves me with a big problem.

But before I get to the problem, let’s discuss Marzel. He’s religious. He's ideologically unambiguous. He manages to easily get the establishment (and others) worked up like another former Knesset member we won't mention by name. And certainly if I’m voting partisan, he’s that.

As Mrs. JoeSettler mentioned in a recent TV interview, Marzel will represent and fight for Jewish interests in Israel and worldwide, regardless of what the world says or thinks. He has Jewish pride and Jewish values and that is what he will try to promote.

I would have been most happy if his party had joined the National Union.

But the problem is, as the National Union keeps trying to hammer into our heads, is that Marzel probably won’t make the minimum number of votes to get in. My vote will be thrown away.

I’ve given that a lot of thought. A vote for Marzel might be like a vote for Kadima (or just not voting).

But you know what? That’s wrong.

I need to vote for whomever I think will best represent what I want, without calculating his chances of getting in. Right now that is Marzel.

And let’s look at the reality, let’s look at the two most likely political constellations.

If Kadima forms the government (most likely situation right now) then the NU will be just some weak opposition and an extra seat or not really won’t matter. (Kadima, Shas, Aguda/Degel, Leiberman).

If the Likud and Labor join together, you can also guarantee that the NU won’t be in that group (Likud, Labor, Aguda/Degel, Shas, Leiberman).

A strong right-wing block? With who? Leiberman is effectively just as left as Kadima is, Shas and Aguda will go with the money, and we would be left with a constellation of parties that isn’t particularly Right, but is holding together to simply foil Kadima (which for Leiberman, Aguda/Degel and Shas isn’t really that important, as they would sit in a Kadima government).


I don’t see the NU being that important or key that a vote for them will change anything, prevent the next disengagement, or get this government to fight terrorism, or anything else I value.

In short a vote for NU will also be throwing my vote away (and I won't give the Mafdal a seat).


If Marzel gets in (and is allowed to stay in) then at least he can irk the establishment and do it with impunity (and immunity) as well as represent a lot of my political legislative goals.

If Marzel doesn’t get in, well the way I see it, nothing is really lost, and I voted for the person I most wanted to get in (based on existing choices).

As a last point, I’ve noticed that a lot of religious Sepharadim are planning on voting either Shas or Marzel. They feel that Marzel would best represent their religious, social, and political goals and needs. Again, their only question is whether he will get in. In my opinion Shas will have enough seats anyway and will sit in any government. Better they should vote for Marzel who will represent them more completely.


JoeSettler endorses Baruch Marzel and Hazit for Knesset 2006.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Was Olmert pandering to the ‘We want a strong leader against terrorism’ vote by capturing Ze’evi’s killers? Of course he was. Has he proven that he will be a strong leader against terrorism? Obviously he hasn’t.

If Olmert was a strong leader against terrorism then the Rotenberg Power Facility in Ashkelon would not be issuing directives to their employees to avoid congregating in groups to evade being killed in large numbers by the frequent Kassam missile attacks that have hit the sensitive site since the disengagement (already causing an explosion in a building).

Nor would Kibbutz Nir Am be planning a lottery to determine which 11 of their 80 families deserve to be protected from terrorism, as they are not being given enough Kassam shelters to protect everyone from the frequent rain of missiles in their area (as opposed to stopping the missiles at the source), as it is too expensive!

Disengagement was and is a failure, and the continued inaction against the sources of terrorism just keeps deteriorating Israel’s deterrence even further as we can see up North.

And yet Olmert wants more disengagements and ineffective but highly visible operations that don’t make anyone safer.

The polls say that Kadima jumped up after the Jericho action. If nothing else, it means that Israelis want their leaders to fight terrorism, but unfortunately, Israelis are also very quick to ignore escalations of terrorism once the escalation becomes routine. So Kassam missiles, knifings (still not as many as secular Israelis do to each other in the bars), and other miscellaneous attacks (like suicide bombers) don’t really rock the boat after a while. And if the leaders don’t really fight it, well that’s OK, because it’s apathy that rules in Israel (hopefully Kadima voters will be so apathetic they'll stay home on election day).

I keep saying this, and I’ll keep on saying this…

The truth is, and everyone knows it, the only way to stop the Kassam missiles is to send in ground troops, and once that is done, then everyone knows that disengagement was a failure and a mistake from the start.

So why is apparently everyone for more disengagements you ask? Why is Kadima riding high?

Because everyone knows that Israel won’t fight terrorism for real because it means that nearly all its policies have been wrong; because the Left have managed to infiltrate and inculcate an attitude of defeatism, resignation, and despair into this country. As Olmert has said (properly influenced by his far left wife and children), he’s tired of fighting, he’s tired of winning. All Israelis know that the option of properly devastating the terrorist infrastructure is out of the question with all our potential leaders, so instead they run towards the (far distant) second option, which is useless, but at least provides them with a warm fuzzy feeling like they’re doing something (despite the actual facts on the ground).

And in response to my favorite is the typical Leftist comment, how many Israelis have been killed and injured since the disengagement as opposed to before?

I could simply answer with 'how many people suddenly find themselves running for bomb shelters every night which they never had to do before the disengagement?' And 'how often did the Electric Company have to tell their employees to not congregate to avoid being killed in large numbers?' but that would be cynical of me.

(It's the same way that Israel doesn't react to suicide bombers unless a lot of people actually got killed).

But unfortunately, the answer will only be given after (G/d forbid) the disengagement missiles hit the Rotenberg’s various fuel facilities head on and wipes out an x mile radius (I'm sure they're adding on thicker layers of concrete even as you read this).

Hopefully it will never come to that, but that is what the Palestinians are trying to do, and that is what Olmert won’t block with ground troops, after all that would mean that there is a military solution to terrorism and disengagement was a failure and a mistake.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
I have to admit, the best campaign ad on TV so far belongs to...

...Labor!

It's a simple ad.

It starts off knocking Amir Peretz big time. It derides all of the candidate's shortcomings such as his poor English, lack of leadership experience outside of the unions, provincial, etc. It finishes off with the question of "Who is this leader?", and instead of Amir Peretz that we are expecting, we get a picture of Ben-Gurion. Very powerful.

Alei Yarok also has some very entertaining ads.

NU/NRP ads are well done, but they really don't speak to me at all.

Most funny goes to the Meretz ad where their ultra-Orthodox candidate says she supports homosexual marriages. Strange though, almost all their ads seem geared directly towards homosexuals. I guess it's their freedom from religion thing they're promoting.

Shinui and Chetz are just pathetic in how each one wants to show how they hate the religious more than the other. They probably brought in a neo-Nazi to produce their commercials.

Likud has two excellent anti-Olmert ads. One asks people in the street to name one thing Olmert has done in his 40 years of politics, and everyone is stumped and answers "ehhhhhh' (the ad finishes off Ehhhhhhud Olmert), the second points out his "successes" as mayor of Jerusalem.


Kadima's ads are mostly just pathetic attacks on Netanyahu using old footage.


The Chareidi party had an excellent ad. It wasn't made for their audience (which isn't supposed to be watching TV), but was rather something for the general public. It pointed out that 80% of the volunteers (I didn't catch if it meant organizations, or full or part time volunteers) in Israel are Chareidi. It pointed out how many people and families (specifically not Chareidi) are given free assistance by these volunteers (such as free meals, free medical supplies, free medical assistance, etc.). It was good use of public airtime to let the general public realize that the Chareidim give a lot back to the Israeli community and they are direct beneficiaries. I hope they show it a few more times.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
This video (in Hebrew) just came out. It points a lot of fingers and I think should be watched before the elections.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
A few months ago there was a comment "war" on this site mostly between PurpleParrot and truth (and everyone else) about Jews (religious vs. secular) volunteering. Here is an article that discusses just that.


Eighteen Percent of Israeli Jews Volunteer

19:30 Mar 09, '06 / 9 Adar 5766
By Ezra HaLevi

According to a survey released by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, 650,000 Israelis take part in some regular volunteer work – 15.7% of Israel’s Jewish and Arab adults.

According to the survey, 18% of Israel’s Jews engage in volunteer work, while half that proportional percentage - just 9.1% - of the country’s Arabs do.Of Israel's volunteers, about half work with organizations such as Magen David Adom emergency medical services and the Yad Sarah medical equipment lending organization. The other half volunteer on a private basis or for smaller groups.

Volunteers contributed an average of eleven hours a month.

Among Jewish volunteers, the study demonstrated, volunteerism increased with level of religious observance and was highest among the Hareidi-Religious sector.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006



I'm too lazy to create an actual parody blog site of my own, so instead just go here to see the parody I wrote for Purim.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Following last week's expose in Makor Rishon on Peace Now, Makor Rishon has done it again.

Last summer a senior officer fled from England (he never even got off the plane) as he was worried he was to be charged and jailed with war crimes (read my post on it here).

Last week it happened again.

It's no secret that the lawyer filing the charges against these IDF officers is a radical leftwing former Israeli Jew living in England.

What Makor Rishon uncovered this week is that all the information supplied to the lawyer was supplied by none other than the members of Yesh Gvul, an extremist leftwing Israeli organization, that holds among it's esteemed members none other than the draft dodging son of our own current interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert!

I think the title of this post says more about them than any other comments I could write.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Peretz said that the Arabs and Palestinians (there’s a difference?) are not our enemy, terrorism is. Personally I wonder who he thinks voted for Hamas.

In an unusual twist, Zim came to the aid of the Dubai Ports World, saying they sail into DPW’s ports all the time (not under the Israeli flag though) and they are one of DPW’s biggest customers. If I were DPW I don’t know how I’d feel being outed like that, even for my own benefit.

NU-NRP went clubbing last night and handed out postcards. Each postcard apparently had a picture of a geeky religious settler family with 10 kids (or something like that) and said at the bottom, “Do you really want them as your neighbor?” I guess that is one way to turn the fear factor to your favor and stop another potential disengagement.

Olmert said he gave orders to act with an "Iron Fist" against Arab Palestinian terrorist terror attacks. If only he put in half as much effort as he did in Amona, terrorism would be wiped out worldwide.

Again the Arabs Palestinians terrorists attempted another megaterror attack from Gaza. Again hitting inside the Ashkelon power plant and injuring some workers and this time caused (unspecified) damage to the station and an explosion.

Kadima and Olmert keep dropping in the polls, but not yet fast enough.

And there were the usual roundup of Molotov cocktails, stonings, and attempted knivings.


Shabbat Shalom from the Holy Land.
Deuteronomy 7:3:
You shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter to his son, and you shall not take his daughter for your son.
Baruch Marzel did something interesting and unusual today. At the end of the YNET article you will see that a number of people called him a racist for what he said and did.

In a step unusual for a politician, Marzel wrote a letter to an Israeli celebrity who is about to marry a non-Jew and told her that assimilation is wrong and dangerous for the Jewish people.

"I was pained to hear you intend to marry basketball player Jasikevicius," Marzel wrote in a letter to Aberjil. "I have nothing against Sharas, and he may well be a wonderful, charming man, but as long as he has not converted, you must not make such a move."

Marzel sent two messages in one, the first is that she should not marry a non-Jew, and the second is that if he were to convert then there wouldn’t be a problem.

The general response on the website was that protesting the mixed marriage was racist!

Yet everyone ignored that Marzel said that if the man were to convert to Judaism there would be no problem (true I’m ignoring what is involved with a proper conversion, but that is a different subject). Marzel certainly isn’t protesting this man’s race. He is protesting this man’s current beliefs and religion as incompatible with Judaism (for the sake of marriage).

Is it racist to demand that we retain the integrity of the Jewish people and our message of 3300 years? (No).

True, perhaps this lady doesn’t best represent the Jewish message right now, and (in this case) halachically her children will be Jewish, but this is her final step towards her personal assimilation and essentially another Jew who is lost to our people.


Sometimes one draws lines in the sand to clarify positions, yours and everyone else’s.

All good Jews (I said "Jews" not humans) should be on the same side of the line on this issue. Marzel’s side.

Perhaps we all need to work harder so that that the reasons are obvious to all Jews (even Israeli Jews) no matter how disengaged they may be from Judaism and Torah.

I think it is very interesting that Marzel took the time to write this letter.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
I have to admit, I’d say the Unilateral Disengagement was a great success - if I were an Arab.

Not only were thousands of Jews kicked out of their homes by other Jews, and not only hasn’t their own government taken care of them, but it’s trampling on them even more, to the point where the temporary hotels they are staying at plan to kick out these Jewish refugees before Pesach, even though the government (Kadima) still hasn’t supplied them with their alternative temporary housing arrangements.

But why stop there?

The southern Israeli towns are now under constant daily missile barrage, which the Israeli government is unable to stop, and not because it can’t, but because it won’t, as the only way to stop the rocket attacks is to physically go back into Gaza with ground forces, and that would mean that it was a mistake to leave in the first place. Catch-22.

Of course none of this has stopped Israel from letting Arab workers from Gaza still enter Israel (so much for ‘disengagement’) even as some of those very same Arabs try to blow up the crossing points (warning their fellow Arabs first) or hospitals that treated them, and generally just try to sneak through with suicide bombs.

And let’s not even talk about Hamas, because it’s really the average Palestinian who has become even more emboldened by the unilateral retreat, and that’s what put Hamas into power.

So nearly every other day yet another Palestinian attempts to stab a Jew, such as today in Tzomet HaGush, or the knifers caught near Bethlehem and Maarat Hamachpela.

But the truth is, it’s still the Secular Israeli club-hoppers that holds the record for stabbing their fellow Jews, but the Palestinians are certainly trying to catch up and learn from their example.

And of course, we have Olmert and crew trying to hide their responsibility in the Amona police brutality. No surprises there. But it shows that at least the government properly desensitized their police and soldiers with the disengagement, so they can now look upon their own people as the enemy.

Yes, overall the disengagement was a great success - for the Arabs. I’m sure they can’t wait for Olmert to implement the next one.
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