Just a Dinner Party in Germany

Out of the blue, a friend of mine said that he was uncomfortable with the fact that Israel was patrolling the Persian Gulf with two U-boats that Germany had given to Israel as a present and which Israel had armed with nuclear weapons.

My friend continued and explained that the whole world knows how in 1981, Israel had “started a war with Iraq” to bomb its nuclear reactor and that it was now planning to do the same with 17 nuclear sites in Iran. He added that the Iranians were not stupid and that they had buried their sites deep in the earth and that Israel was mad with its plans to attack Iran with those two small U-Boats.

I blew up. But he was adamant, yes, he said, he knew that those were Israel’s plans and this would not be Israel’s first mistake. Israel, after all had gone into that war in Gaza and a couple of years ago in Lebanon. I explained that I had no idea what Israel’s plans were and that I doubted very much that my friend had any inside information from the depth of Israel’s – probably non-existent – strategic planning. However, I reminded the flabbergasted dinner table – flabbergasted because of my reaction – that unlike Germany or any other country in the world, Israel had enemies that made clear their wish to annihilate it. Iran is one such enemy and that country has now been allowed to become nuclear.

Before Israel allows Iran or anyone else to annihilate it, it will strike. I have no moral qualms about that. My German friend does. Israel is not considering the other six billion inhabitants of the earth, he said. Some Germans are rightly uncomfortable with the fact that Germany had started two world wars. My friend is taking this discomfort a step further: he is terrified by the idea that German U-Boats – be they in Israeli hands- could trigger a third world war. This would be a third world war that could be laid at Germany’s door.

Israel’s irresponsible and immoral conduct vis-à-vis the Palestinians produces more and more anti-Israel sentiment. The willingness to accept a serious threat to Israel’ existence is where such sentiment should not be allowed to go.

2^nd Dinner

Two days later, at a different dinner party in Germany, I was lectured to by a German lawyer. This man explained to me how well Israel had done in the last twenty years. Every year – he told me – Israel enlarges the territory that it populates; every year it cultivates more land. To top it all, Israel manages this without waging war.

Choosing who to dine with is an art.

The F.. French, Eggs and Nurses.

The other day, in a small town in the Alsace, I entered a Leclerc store, one of those enormous French hypermarkets, when the cashier called after me to tell me that I had entered the wrong way. It was forbidden to enter by the tills, she said and insisted and made me go back and re-enter through the special entrance aisle.

I wanted to know why and was told “c’est le règle”, this is the rule. I asked why it was the rule and her explanation was “par c’est que”, because.

The cashier may have been just a stupid French girl but her thinking seems to shed light on what is wrong in the European Union. When the precursor to the EU, the European Economic Community, was created, the two main players were France and Germany. France that had twice failed to fight the Germans was afraid that Germany might at some point want to start another war. It wanted to hug Germany into a collaborative structure. Germany, at the time still a pariah, was grateful for anyone who was willing to partner with it. Germany a federative state, allowed France a super-centralised state, to structure the European institutions as it wished.

The result of this marriage of Mr Guilt and Mrs Fear, are bloated and wasteful EU institutions and a constant downpour of directives with which the administration of the European Union makes our lives a misery. Recently, UK hospitals were instructed that they were not permitted to test foreign nurses from European countries to ensure that their standard equals that of British nurses. Would it not be terrible if one such untested nurse would mistakenly poison the originators of this directive? The latest idiocy is a European directive that sets the number of eggs to a carton throughout Europe at ten. Sell twelve eggs in a carton and the EU will fine you.

Israeli Soldiers Rock the Casbah

A short video clip that was aired in YouTube last week has caused much controversy in Israel. The clip shows six Israeli soldiers doing a dance routine in an empty street in Hebron. It was prepared by the soldiers for their farewell celebration at the end of their stint in Hebron. The Israeli army is considering punitive action against the soldiers who participated in the making of the video.

This short video is just innocent fun. The only scandal is the fact that Israeli parents continue to send their sons to secure the illegal and immoral Jewish settlement of Hebron and the ultra right-wing settlers who were allowed to move into Arab Hebron after the Six-Day War.

British Ambassador to Lebanon: Cow – not Pig

The British ambassador to Lebanon, a woman named Frances Guy, referred to the late Ayatollah Hussein Fadlallah, a staunchly anti-American cleric who was mentor to the militant Hezbollah in Lebanon as a decent man whose death was sad news, adding, "the world needs more men like him".

An Israeli spokesman diplomatically responded, "Sheikh Fadlallah was behind hostage-taking, suicide bombings and other sorts of wanton violence, but Ambassador Guy said he was a man of peace, and Ambassador Guy is an honourable woman."

Not being bound by diplomatic niceties, I would have said that she is a pig but that would have made her unacceptable to her Hezbollah friends, and we would not want that. Cow?

Foreign Secretary Hague should fire her without delay.

Can They Talk Without Guns?

According to the Israeli press: Israel will not hesitate to use force to protect its gas fields from being claimed by Lebanon, Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau warned this week in an interview with Bloomberg News.

Is Israeli cabinet members’ version of “penis envy” “gun envy”?

What next? Will Israel’s Minister of Health threaten to send the Israeli army to countries that sue Teva (the Israeli generic drug manufacturer) for infringement of patent rights?

When will they ever learn?

The Pope’s Latest Non Apology

Earlier today, the Pope has come out with yet another expression of regret on the subject of sexual abuse.

Has he finally managed to get it right?

Again, the Pope spoke of “… sins of priests came to light — particularly the abuse of the little ones,” adding that “in admitting men to priestly ministry and in their formation we will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation…”

The Pope has still not accepted that he is answerable for the COVER UP by the Church, popes, cardinals and bishops. He continues to go on about the wrong kind of priests who found their way into the Church.

Will he ever? I do not think so.

King Cameron's Gold

On his first visit to Afghanistan, David Cameron, the new British Prime Minister arrived with money for his troops. Just like kings used to in the old days, Cameron came to the front to hand out coin-filled purses to the warriors.

Just in case they had not understood who their benefactor was, King Cameron clarified that the soldiers’ pay rise would be backdated to – surprise surprise -the day on which he was elected. Cameron’s advisers will doubtlessly remind the soldiers and their families of this benevolent act of our new king in five years’ time, before the next elections.

Until then, the happy soldiers will be expected to fight with greater enthusiasm.

Sissinghurst and the Vatican

Visiting Vita Sackville-West's Sissinghurst to enjoy the flowers in the magnificent gardens is like visiting the Vatican museum in order to enjoy the art.

In both places what you see is mainly hordes of people.

Should all those people not be somewhere else? working perhaps?

Shipwrecked

More about Israel, the Turkish boat and Gaza:

The whole world has turned against Israel following its seizing of a Turkish boat heading for Gaza. Israel itself is divided between those who are angry with the government for the failed operation and those who think a biased world should not be permitted to dictate to Israel in matters of national security.

1. My heart does not bleed for the death of knife wielding men on a Turkish boat who attacked Israeli soldiers. They were nasty men who knew what they were getting themselves into.

2. The international media that describes a Turkish boat with men armed with knives and whips, as a “peace convoy” either does not know what it is saying or is just plain biased.

3. The Western world has a growing problem with an ever more fundamentalist Turkey. Fortunately, Europe did not succumb to the pressure and grant them EU membership.

HOWEVER, Israeli public opinion that cries out against a hostile world believing that the problem lies only in Israel’s poor public relations suggests pure blindness.

Contributing to this blindness is the fact that for 43 years, ever since the 1967 War, the international community let Israel get away with its land-grabbing policies. Most Israelis were either born or immigrated to the country after 1967. They take the Occupied Territories for granted. They even take occupation for granted. Changing their states of mind will be hard.

Ship of Fools - But Who Are the Fools?

In attacking the boats that were trying to make their way to Gaza, Israel has managed to be morally wrong as well as a bungling failure.

I am intrigued by the fact that very few voices - if any - to stop Israel from this folly, were heard before it all went pear- shaped. Especially in Israel, where everyone now seems – rightly – to attack the government for “Operation Sky Winds”, the sane minority was not really heard in this matter.

One reason for this lack of opposition is that Israel’s sane minority is rather small. Any opposition to the right-wing majority’s militancy is dubbed as “leftist” in a country in which “leftist” has become a dirty word. A country in which those who have the courage and energy to stand up against the government agenda are referred to as “anarchists”, “traitors” and “fifth column”. Most succumb and have retreated to live in their “bubble”.

A second reason is that many of Israel’s “left wingers” themselves are too busy with “right or wrong my country” whilst forgetting the need to ensure the first part of the well known saying “my country, may it always be right”.

If Israel does not want to lose more important battles, its sane minority must save it from continued acts of immorality and folly. Immorality does not always equate to recklessness but with time it very often leads to it. That is where you lose your battles. In this battle, Israel lost on the public opinion front. The nasty and evil Hamas won with their wits without even having to fire a shot. Israel must choose its battles more wisely – it cannot afford to lose the important ones.