Is Civil War the Only Solution for Israel?

Israel is deteriorating and it is deteriorating fast. In the past, intransigent Israeli prime ministers such as Golda Meir or Yitzhak Shamir used prevarication as a strategy to put off a compromise with the Arabs. Now this could be the cleverest option for the Palestinians: hold out for a bit longer and the Zionist experiment will implode.

The extreme right has been permitted to thrive under consecutive Israeli administrations ever since 1967 (and that includes much to Israel’s shame, Labour party administrations). Yesterday, yet another peak was reached when right wing settler activists attacked an Israeli army-base in the occupied West Bank. They threw rocks, burned tires and vandalised military vehicles. A senior IDF officer was hit in the head by a rock thrown at him by one of the Jewish terrorists.

Jewish settlers have been terrorising Palestinians for many years. Occasionally, when they feel that they do not get enough support from the army for their outrageous behaviour, they attack the army.

Is it possible that civil war is the only solution that will save Israel? We are unlikely to find out, as the left of centre in Israel will not really go all the way.

France and her Prostitutes

French parliamentarians have a habit of dealing with the truly important issues: In 1913, they lengthily discussed the colour of their soldiers’ trousers and rejected the suggestion to issue French soldiers with camouflage coloured trousers. No dull colours for French soldiers. They should appear on the battlefield in bright red trousers. “Le pantalon rouge c’est la France” was the explanation given by the War Minister. Now, as Europe is descending into what may become war-like chaos, the French parliament had nothing better to do than pass a decision on what French men should do when they take off their red or other coloured trousers: under a new law, clients of prostitutes are to be criminalised and prosecuted.

With London disconnecting from the Continent again, we could offer frustrated French males some …what’s the French word for massage?

Bernhard Meinhof at the Grand Canyon

They started a conversation on the shuttle from the park's visitor centre to the top of the trail. It was clear that they had just met on the bus. He was American, she was Russian and he spoke about the "Red Army of Bernhard Meinhof Gang". She had not heard of the Bernhard Meinhof Gang and so he continued: They were Germans and they liked East Germany. Carlos the Jackal was part of it. They attracted mainly supermodel type girls who only wanted to sunbathe when they went to training camps to help the Palestinians.

She was not that interested in his story but she did want her photo taken at almost every rock on the trail. For that purpose, she posed with her hair flung out in various reclining positions in numerous spots overlooking the Canyon. Occasionally she would shriek something that she must have heard in Russian versions of romantic Italian trash.

By the time they reached the first stop, he already had his arm around her. Soon thereafter they were kissing. A few hours later, on the way back, he was vomiting.

Questions:

1. Is bringing up Baader-Meinhof (or his version:Bernhard Meinhoff) a proven chat-up line?

2. Did he play sick to get her to play nurse?

3. Does the Russian girl need an immigration visa?

4. Did she poison him in order to play nurse to prove her long-term value?

F****** on Amtrak

A couple of months ago, I took a train from Los Angeles to San Juan Capistrano. Two friendly-faced young black men were talking quietly in their seats across the aisle. At some point the not so young white woman who sat in front of me called across the aisle “excuse me, please do not use that word.” And just in case it was not clear, she called out the letters “F-U-C-K”.

The word fuck was not even used as a swear word in their conversation and the black young men looked at her with some bemusement.

"Why do you object to the word?” I asked. “I am an English teacher” was her response. “Yes?” I said. “This is not a nice word” was her explanation. “Fucking is a word for something rather nice, actually” I said “don’t you think?” This was too much for the lady; she got up and said, “I am getting the train supervisor.”

A few minutes later, she returned with the ticket collector who asked the black men to refrain from using blasphemous language on the train. “You must also tell him,” the white moral authority said pointing at me and the ticket collector told me to please behave on the train. Blasphemous language should not be used on the train, I was told, not even in private conversations. I asked about my rights under the First Amendment, and whether they do not allow me to say fuck on the train. But the ticket collector said no, adding that she did have the authority to instruct me.

Thou Shalt Not Kill

Tickets to the Frankfurt book fair allow entrance (to non exhibitors) from 9:00 onwards. My first appointment was in Hall 8 at 9:00.

Hall 8 is a ten-minute walk from the entrance and I did not want to be late. I tried to explain this to the ticket controller but he would not budge. “I am only following orders”, he explained. There were four or five more people in a similar situation.

I asked to see the supervisor who, after a few minutes and some shouting, agreed to let me in before 9, provide I could show her evidence that I did indeed have a 9 o’clock appointment. Fortunately, I could.

Send the Former IDF Chief Rabbi to jail.

The man has already earned his place in hell but before that he should go to jail.

In reaction to the prisoner swap in which jailed Palestinian murderers were exchanged to free Gilad Shalit, Rontzki, the former chief rabbi of the Israeli armed forces has said that Israeli soldiers should “kill terrorists in their beds”. This would make such people, who according to this revered rabbi “should just be shot, exterminated”, unavailable for future prisoner swaps. “A lot of cases shouldn’t reach court”, instead this religious moral authority explained that the army should rely on the “wisdom of commanders and fighters.”

Had an Arab called for such action against Israelis, Israel would have him in jail for incitement. Israel seems to have different rules when it comes to Jewish terrorists. They are allowed to roam the country, spread hatred and attack Arabs. The Israeli security service – so successful when it comes to finding Palestinian terrorists – finds it very difficult to find perpetrators of Jewish hate crimes against Arabs.

Brigadier General (Res) Rabbi Avihai Rontzki – is a shame to the Jewish people and a disgrace to the State of Israel - save us from any more of his disgusting hatred spewing mouth.

Gilad Shalit and Israel’s Mass Hysteria

He is finally back. It has been reported that 79 per cent of Israel’s population approve of the prisoner exchange.

Not all, but many of the 1027 Palestinian prisoners are murderers, men and women with blood on their hands. Many have made it clear that they do not regret their deeds and many of those released are likely to go back to terrorism. Some Palestinian terrorists who have been released in the past, have gone back and killed again. So why has Netanyahu agreed to this deal?

Natanyahu has previously made it clear that he is against such swaps. He attacked previous governments for agreeing similar exchanges and is ideologically opposed to what he has just done. With this deal, Israel has handed Hamas, with its unwillingness to recognise Israel, its call for the Jewish state to be abolished and for the continued armed struggle against Israel, a coup vis-à-vis the Palestinian Authority run by Mr Abbas which has chosen the non violent route to achieve statehood. It may be that that Mr. Netanyahu wished to do just that: weaken that Palestinian element that does not fit Israel’s view and propaganda. If Hamas gains power in the West Bank in addition to ruling the Gaza Strip, Israel will be able to claim that there is no Palestinian partner for peace. This would suit Netanyahu and his friends and enable them to continue with building of further Jewish settlement in the Occupied Territories.

However, I believe that what really pushed Netanyahu to act against his deep convictions was the Shalit family campaign. Much has been written in the last few days about solidarity in Israeli society as the driving force that generated the deal. I would call it mass hysteria. Well and professionally orchestrated mass hysteria into which the Shalit family has very successfully propelled Israel’s population. Wherever you went, you could not avoid seeing Gilad’s photo, on big road signs, on car stickers, in electronic media in social networks. Calls for the government to pay whatever price to get Gilad back became part of life in Israel. They set up a camp in front of the Prime Minister’s residence, held marches in which wives of senior cabinet members took part, infiltrated every public debate with their propaganda of “Free Gilad Shalit”. This family managed to force Israel’s President, it’s Prime Minister and his wife meet with them, almost at command. Families whose sons were killed in action do not benefit from such attention. This was an amazing, well-oiled marketing operation.

The willingness of parents to turn the world upside down to get their son back is obvious. Yet, the by-product of Shalit’s release is the message given to the Arab world that Israeli society will pay any price to release a prisoner. In their hysteria they did not consider the almost certainty that Israelis will die as direct result of the release of unrepentant murderers. The next murder will turn the same people hysterically to demand action against Hamas. In such actions Israeli soldiers might get killed. This is why the deal was wrong. Hysteria does not lead to good decision-making. Unfortunately, that is how weak and visionless governments function.

Dates for readings from "Ist es noch gut, für unser Land zu sterben?"

Current dates for readings from Ist es noch gut, für unser Land zu sterben?

4 October Frankfurt

6 October Lübeck

17 October Braunschweig

18 October Hamburg

Mrs Merkel – More Pressure, Please!

Earlier this week, at the Berlin book launch of my new book, “Ist es noch gut, für unser Land zu sterben?” I was asked why Israel was stubbornly disregarding the advice of Mrs. Merkel. Indeed, Germany regularly reprimands Israel for building in the Occupied Territories and Israel regularly disregards these lectures.

Two days ago, it was reported that the German Chancellor, Mrs. Merkel, had yet again called Mr Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister and “ expressed anger” over the approval of 1,100 housing units in the Gilo neighbourhood, an area of Jerusalem that Israel annexed in 1967.

According to the Chancellor's office, Merkel told Netanyahu that the new housing permits "raise doubts over the Israeli government's readiness to begin serious negotiation with the Palestinians.”

I could have done my bit to help the German economy and saved the German taxpayer the price of that phone call. There is nothing to doubt. Mr. Netanyahu and his government represent that part of Israel’s population that wants to hold on to territory and are willing to pay the price of no peace.

Israel is likely to continue with this strategy, as it seems to be bearing fruit. Poisoned fruit, some may say.

Mrs Merkel, more pressure, please!