Can you imagine living in a country where after a spectacular failure related to your job (and in my opinion, in this case, a totally unpredictable and unpreventable failure), a senior official immediately resigns on his own, with possibly more to follow.

Not in Israel.

Talk about an opportunist.

Meridor can't even toe the party line on something that has universal consensus within the Likud.

MK Gilad Erdan said "The Likud's stance on the legal system are substantially different than Meridor's"

Meridor said, "Wherever I go, people talk about Friedman. This is a battle we have lost. I cannot remember such damage to the faith of the public in the justice system, and so many complaints about the system."

Wherever you go Dan?

You're hanging out with the Lefties. You don't belong in the Likud.

As you probably heard, an army base near Kibbutz Nachal Oz was hit by Kassam the other evening, some 8 soldiers were injured and one unfortunately lost his leg.

The soldiers report that they and their commanding officers have been trying to get the base relocated to a new location (currently) outside of enemy fire - with no success.

The second option they requested was more reinforcements of the structures against the missile and mortar attacks.

So they asked to retreat. They asked to hide in bunkers.

The only thing they actually did NOT ask for was to fight the enemy and stop the fire on them and more importantly the civilian settlements around them - who don't have the option to retreat or bunker down.

This is the now ingrained result of the Left and Barak's philosophy to flee, whether it be from Lebanon, Joesph's Tomb, Gaza, Hebron, and anywhere else.

For some strange reason certain people were claiming that having General Michel Suleiman as president was going to be a moderating force in Lebanon. I admit it probably helped with some of the internecine fighting as he would unite every under the Iran/Syrian/Hizbollah (pick one) flag.

In the meantime, "Iran and Lebanon have signed a security agreement, according to which Iran will supply the Lebanese army with weapons and equipment over the next five years."

"The agreement between the two nations was signed during Lebanese President Michel Suleiman's two-day visit to Teheran, which ended on Tuesday. The visit focused on security and defense cooperation, as well as on regional and international matters of mutual concern, an Iranian source revealed to the paper.

"By supplying the Lebanese army with weapons, Iran will thus be responsible for arming Lebanon's two major armed forces: the national army, and Hizbullah.

Well, there goes the neighborhood.

There were two separate interviews in the weekend's paper that I read, both of which surprised me.

The first was with Silvan Shalom. When asked about Moshe Feiglin in the Likud, Shalom said he has absolutely no problem with Feiglin being in the Likud.

Shalom said the Likud is the national politcal home for any and all Israelis who accept the basic positions of the Likud (which of course Moshe does and tries to promote to all the other Likud members).

Shalom of course is not exactly the best friend with Netanyahu which could explain the response, though you should note that Shalom didn't show up at Feiglin's primary convention.

On the other side was an interview with Benny Begin.

Begin responded to the question by answering that his disagreement with Feiglin is well known, and he needn't go into it, instead the interviewer should ask what he has in common with Dan Meridor (on the far left), at which point he describes how much he and Meridor have in common. Quite worrisome.

Of course, he owes his return to the Likud to Netanyahu - who absolutely hates Feiglin.

It seems after all, that it is all politics.

Wouldn't it be amazing if someone in the mainstream media asked what the Prime Minister's wife knew about her husband financial schemes.

After all, she profited off of him all these years, she obviously knew that his civil servant salary certainly didn't approach the amount of cash he actually supplied her with.

Obviously they will never ask.


In other news, it sounds like the Chabad family in India didn't survive. God avenge them.

It amuses me to no end the number of Israeli politicians that are trying to imitate Obama. Like his policies or not, one thing Obama has done is lay down a very detailed and organized visions and plan for his term (or two).

Meanwhile almost all the Israeli politicians are busy trying to imitate his email and internet campaigns - but are ignoring what made Obama's campaign unique, that he is planning and offering something (actually) different and has clearly mapped out his way to do it.

In fact there is only one Israeli politician who has done that, and he preceded Barack Obama by a number of years.

That politician is Moshe Feiglin.

For years Moshe had made his positions clear on every issue. Moshe has laid forth his 100 day plan for all to see. Moshe has offered the Israeli public an alternative solution.

Meanwhile the rest of the Israeli politicians continue to repackage the same old news they gave us yesterday that didn't work then and won't work now.

Like him or not, Feiglin is the only breath of fresh air in the cigar filled backrooms and corridors of Israeli politics.

Feiglin represents change (for the better).

Last night I was at the Moshe Feiglin Primary event. The hall was packed and full of electricity.

One particular event stood out in my mind for its hilarity.

They showed a video of Moshe on some Israeli talk show facing off with one of the heads of Peace Now.

As expected, the Leftist was saying that they are the only game in town and the Right has no solution.

So Moshe took him to task.

He got him to admit what he defines as the crux of the problem – the friction between the Arab community and the Israeli community, that Arabs and Jews (or was it Palestinians and Israelis?) can't live together.

He had him say he loves Eretz Yisrael - all the while the Leftist kept trying to argue where the borders are, Moshe kept firm and said Eretz Yisrael and didn’t discuss borders.

Moshe pointed out that despite $150 Billion Dollars spent in additional security and peace measure since Oslo (from security guards to the Wall) we are further from peace and security than ever, and it is just costing more and more.

Moshe then pointed out 2 Arab university studies that clearly stated that 80% of Gazans and 60% of Arabs in Judea and Samaria would like to leave and permanently move elsewhere (Dubai, Canada, and the EU leading the list of desired locations).

The Peace Nower kept arguing that those studies are meaningless and irrelevant to any discussion. The show interviewer kept throwing up the word "transfer". They became heated and irrational in their responses.

But Moshe calmly continued and asked, why they didn’t have a problem paying Jews to leave, but do have a problem paying Arabs? Can they understand their double standard? Can they not accept that their Land for Peace formula is not working.

Then Moshe dropped the bombshell.

Moshe continued and pointed out that if the $150 Billion additional Dollars spent on all the additional security measures since Oslo had been wisely utilized, every Arab family in Israel could have received a minimum of $250,000 dollars each to start off a new life elsewhere. And as Israel continues to throw away money on never-ending security measure, the amount per family could actually double or triple that – not bad for your typical Arab who may at best make $5000 a year under Palestinian rule (average Palestinian salaries dropped a lot ever since the PA took over).

And what country wouldn’t want a new immigrant with a quarter million dollars in their bank account?

At that point, the logic hit some of the other people in the show (not right wingers in fact) and they started to argue that Moshe was 100% right, and why aren’t we considering that alternative instead.

Moshe continued to bash the Peace Nower and asked him, does he really love Eretz Yisrael like he claims, and can he consider a moral and workable solution like this one or does he just want to kick Jews out of their homes and in reality doesn't love Eretz Yisrael?

You can guess the response.

.

Thanks Hartzl for the link.


In the meantime, I just find it amusing that someone would consider it immoral to offer someone (who makes just $5000 a year) $250,000 dollars to move to a new location and start a new and peaceful life. There wouldn't even be enough conflict there to even turn it into a reality TV show.

This pilgrim will be celebrating the holiday of Thansgiving with a Turkey Rolleda (I guess that translates as sliced turkey pieces rolled up as a chunk of meat and held together by a string net), cranberry sauce, cranberry jelly, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin soup together with immediate family and friends (they'll be joining us at the meal, we aren't eating them).

I said Full Tachanun today, but without a Bracha. :)

There may be a righteous man in S'dom after all. Jerusalem District Court Judge Moshe Drori has permitted Noam Federman to return to the site of his home.

While the court didn't address the damage the government, army and police did to Noam by destroying his house, he did clearly state that the State and army acted completely improperly here and forget about out of proportion, the judge stated that the army completely misapplied the law.

Furthermore, the judge stated that the State has failed in any way to prove their case, and in fact their actions may have been unconstitutional.

The judge also threw away any claim of violence on Federman's part, as it was he that was totally bruised over and not a single policeman.

To quote the judge:

“Let every person decide for himself how he would act if a police officer turns to him at 1:30 in the night and wants to give him papers ordering him out of his house, with his wife and nine young children sleeping in their beds, and their father sees himself responsible for their welfare and safety… The State did not bother to explain why it needed a force of 100 policemen to remove a person from a military zone that had been closed for ten months, with no prior warning or attempt at dialogue… The eviction was not balanced, not reasonable, not right and not appropriate.”

Judge Drori is a graduate of Netiv Meir yeshiva high school in Jerusalem.

Where this will go remains to be seen, but at least there is one Judge in this country who isn't apparently corrupt and immoral.

Read more on A7.

The government would rather attack the Gush Katif refugees than Hamas (or Fatah) terrorists.

This morning 20 Yasamnikim entered Nitzan with violence on their hands and minds (and horses).

Nitzan is the "temporary" location of many of the expelled Gush Katif residents where they live in caravans while waiting for the government to provide them with a permanent housing solution to replace the one the government stole and destroyed.

One particular Gush Katif family had enough waiting and moved out on their own to the Shukda settlement in the Negev.

This left their 90 meter caravan open and available. So another family in Nitzan, tired of being squished into their 60 meter "temporary" caravan decided to move over to the 90 meter "temporary" caravan.

This morning, 20 black-uniformed Yasamnikim came and violently expelled them from their new temporary residence.

in response, the residents of Nitzan uselessly protested on the highway.

You can see an interview here.

Is there no end to the evil this government can do?

The major Israeli papers this week published an ad from the League of Arab States.

The ad was address to all Israelis, telling them they could have a "Full diplomatic and normal relations for comprehensive pease (sic) agreement and Ending the Occupation."

Wow! Imagine that, peace with all the dictatorships and 3rd world countries in the Middle East.

And what are the Arabs asking in return?

Well, besides Israel evacuating all Jews to the pre-67 lines unconditionally (that would include the Golan, Gilo, the Old City and the even the Kotel), in using the codewords of 242, 338 and 194 they are simply saying that they will simply flood Israel with Arabs.

More openly, they even take it a step further, by saying "assures the rejection of all forms of Palestinian patriation which conflict with the special circumstances of the Arab host countries" they are simply saying that the descendants of the Arab refugees will be kicked out of their "host" countries and shipped over to flood Israel.

And they are counting on Israelis being stupid enough to fall for all of this.

I have to agree, there are certainly those that will want to be fooled.

Oh come on, how ridiculous can you get?

In Ashkelon, hundreds of local residents protested today the complete lack of military retaliation against Gaza for the missile fire.

That's not ridiculous, that's normal (if still a somewhat subdued reaction).

What has clearly reached ridiculous proportions is the Leftie counter-protest.

The Lefties were protesting that Israel closed the crossing into Gaza in response to the rocket fire. (Big deal, so they closed the crossing, they have unlimited tunnels in and out of Gaza for everything they need.)

No further comment needed.





http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/156202

You have to feel sorry for Peres.

Here he is the Prince of Peace, doing everything he can to give away the Land of Israel to the Arab enemy and no one will have any part of it. The Arabs refuse to create a state, and when Peres goes abroad to speak (such as in England, watch the video) he is attacked instead of lauded.

It reminds me of when he and Arafat were on TV and Arafat started lying and accusing Israel of all kinds of nonsense, while Peres stood there dumb-struck - after all they were there to talk peace on TV.

Peres never seems to catch on that his definition of Peace (an idiotic peace plan, but at least one where Israel still exists) is not what the world wants to hear about.

Despite all the irrefutable evidence of clear Jewish purchase and ownership, the left-wing controlled High Court is planning to have the Jewish owners of Beit HaShalom in Hevron evicted from their property - in what has been described as "judicial thievery" and "legalized injustice".

In Beit El, there is a similar situation regarding 9 homes owned by Jews on Jewish owned land.

Olmert, Barak and the Left are really instigating before the elections.

Here's something different that passed through my email box.

Remember when Supersol used to run their "American Food Week"?

That was great for those of us suffering from good food withdrawal. Now of course they don't have to do that anymore as Heinz Ketchup is pretty much ubiquitous anywhere in this country.

So now our problem is slightly different. You can easily and constantly find a range of American food products, but every store carrying American products is carrying the same exact stuff. There's hardly anyone bringing in anything new, different or exciting.

Despite all the amazing kosher food products available in the US, they are just bringing the safe stuff they are sure is sure to sell.

Don't get me wrong, I admit I am feeling a bit spoiled, but still... Boring.

Anyway, over at the KosherCookingCarnival.com they are going to be live blogging the Kosher Food Show in New Jersey.

Maybe some enterprising individuals will see this as an opportunity to bring over some different stuff.

I'm hungry.

(And don't forget to vote today).

My wife lost an earring last week when touring the City of David. Some archaeologists found it and are now claiming it is 2000 years old.



I've repeatedly asked the archaeologists to return it to no avail.

Some assistance anyone?

There is going to be one area of US foreign policy where I was sure that US President Obama would agree with JoeSettler (but for entirely different reasons), but it would appear to not be the case.

Back when, under Netanyahu, a plan was implemented to wean Israel off of US foreign and military aid.

And it was going great. US foreign aid to Israel was approaching zero (perhaps it already had).

And then Olmert came along and got another $30 Billion pledge from Bush (all in envelopes?) - undermining all of Netanyahu's efforts and planning.

Israel does not need US foreign aid.

We are now a strong country economically, and all foreign aid does is create an unhealthy dependency for Israel. Meanwhile, for the US it is actually good as it keeps Israel on a leash while looking good politically for local Jewish consumption. But tachlis, it is bad for Israel.

In terms of military aid, it is also extremely problematic. Local military industries find their arms tied because they aren't allowed to compete in certain markets or to develop certain products.

The military is forced to spend the money in the US, even if something homegrown would be better (for the military and the economy). And the whole purchasing system from the US is internally corrupt, lacks proper oversight and is effectively noncompetitive (meaning the military will pay more than they have to if they had their choice of sources -even within the US suppliers).

Furthermore, most of the big manufacturers have local representatives, and all this system does is cause problems as the military won't buy local for the same price or even less (to just touch on that iceberg)

I will admit that I would wean Israel off it slightly more slowly than from the foreign aid (to be on the safe side), but it has to go.

And again, foreign military aid to Israel is good for the US.

Much of the Israeli Military aid goes directly back into the hands of US contractors and manufacturers (it should be all, but that is another story).

Israel, the most innovative developer of weapon systems can be (and has been) forced to back down when they compete with US industries, and in the end, the US has a big influence (just like with the foreign aid) simply because they are supplying the money.

In fact, Foreign and Military aid is actually a keystone in US foreign policy, for instance, that is all that keeps Egypt from overtly attacking Israel. Without it, Egypt would financially collapse and the only logical move to save their dictatorial regime would be to attack Israel. There is simply no incentive for Egypt to change its political system or to fix itself economically as the US is propping it up.

Israel is not some 3rd world Arab dictatorship. It's time we divest from US foreign aid. When Netanyahu is back in power I assume that will be one of the first things he does. I will hope that Obama will cooperate with him and work with him towards Israeli interests as we define them.

Barack and Rahm (Lightning and Thunder).

Let's hope we can stay out of the storm.

(Actually it should be Ra'am, so let's pretend it is so this pun will work)

(I am not the person who first noticed this or originated this comment, but it is so appropriate).

While the Leftists (excluding the anarchists) are so proud of their wall they are building, it seems that the Arabs have found yet another way to circumvent it quite easily.

On Thursday morning, drivers on Route 60 (the main highway through Gush Etzion) found themselves under a barrage of Molotov Cocktails near the Beitar junction.

The Arabs are now launching them right onto the main highway from the other side of the wall.

In fact, the presence of the wall makes it difficult to catch them at all.

I just got back from Beit HaShalom in Hebron and the Federman Farm in Kiryat Arba after visiting with some friends ahead of reports that the government was planning to kick out the legal owners from their homes tonight.

Luckily, at this point nothing was happening.

But after visiting the destruction at Noam Federman’s farm, one my friends said it right when he said this was nothing other than state-sponsored terrorism.

I am sure that you have this image in your mind that Federman's farm was just some hut or caravan in the middle of nowhere that was knocked down – and you couldn’t be more wrong.

What was destroyed was a house. A real house with stone walls, a roof and a Pladelet door (the door is still standing). A house that was lived in for years (not to mention all the other buildings of the farm).

But that isn’t even half of it. The farm is littered with destroyed furniture, toys, equipment and more. They even smashed the dog house.

And this farm isn’t in the middle of nowhere. It isn’t some outpost on some empty hilltop. It is in the middle of Kiryat Arba – inside the government-built security fence (what’s left of it at least) of the town!

When we got there Noam Federman was sitting in a chair around a campfire with some friends, burning what was left of his kitchen cabinets (and quite surprising to me, in a good mood).

Someone asked him why did they do this to him.

He answered quite simply, “When a good person does a good deed, you don’t ask why. When a Rasha (evil person) does a bad deed, you don’t need to ask why either”.

Man, the Lefties are going all out.

Apparently they are planning to take some major violent actions tonight against the Jews in Hebron, Migron, and some other sites.

Next the Shabak is going to be announcing that they heard about a Pulsa Denura against Olmert (of course no one will be arrested as there will be no one to arrest). Imagine what that will do for Kadima in the polls.

Meanwhile, back in the real world...

Two Jewish boys were kidnapped this morning at Migron by Arabs.

Border Police witnessed the kidnapping and did nothing.

Other Jewish youths near the site saw what happened and chased after the Arabs freeing the tied captives, though one was stabbed in the head and both were beaten badly.

One freed captive was taken to the hospital to treat his injuries. The other was arrested by the police (sic).

It's time that an independent body be established to examine and handle complaints against the police.

Most people who have filed a complaint (with the police) will tell you a similar story. First a counter complaint and investigation was likely opened against the complainer, and second, ultimately the original complaint was ignored, lost, or closed for any number of inexplicable or unreasonable reasons (i.e. other policemen involved in the incident vouched for one another).

It is unacceptable that an organization that has proven to be so rife with corruption and non-compliance with the law actually be in charge of investigating and policing itself.

It is an interesting question. Will Hamas resume attacks before or after the elections. Presumably it will be based on who they think will win.

The JP had an interesting article (I can't find the link yet) describing the scale of tunnels now crisscrossing the entire Gaza strip, as well as the few found in Judea and Samaria.

Barak is paying off Hamas for quiet to give him an advantage in the elections, and now hopes to extend the "ceasefire" for another 3-6 months. Basically so that the country will pay for it only after the elections.

And Hamas uses this time to continues to heavily arm and build more tunnels that are going to be difficult to dealt with (and even more difficult in 3-6 months from now).

Most amusing are the stories (from humanitarian organization sources) of cement shortages in Gaza . Israel has been letting in tremendous amounts of cement, so where has it all been going?

You guessed it.

In short, nothing new.