Bookworm on Aug 25 2008 | Filed under: Israel
I recognize that these are just two snippets that focus on microcosms of entire cultures in a technological age. They’re nevertheless an interesting moment in “compare and contrast,” since both appear in today’s papers.
From Israel: scientists have figured out how to use technology to make the paralyzed stand and walk.
From the Taliban: Talibani fighters were [...]
Bookworm on Aug 14 2008 | Filed under: Barack Obama, Israel
Joe Lieberman has been persona non grata for pal-ing around with the Republicans, but the media was incredibly excited to discover that a few “leading” Republicans have moved over to the Obama side — as if nobody has ever heard of RINOs in the first place. Aside from the fact that these RINOs are leaders [...]
Bookworm on Aug 12 2008 | Filed under: Barack Obama, Israel, Sex
Three hours and 12 minutes — that’s how much time I’ve got to myself this morning. I am beyond excited. I haven’t really hit the online news yet, but I did discover some things last night that I wanted to bring to your attention (assuming you haven’t already read them). I expect that, as I [...]
Bookworm on Aug 04 2008 | Filed under: Holocaust, Iran, Israel
With regard to Iran, Israel is currently facing two options. It can launch a preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, which will allow Israel to survive intact while inflicting minimal loss of life or property against Iran. Alternatively, it can allow Iran to take a preemptive strike against Israel (which would be a nuclear strike), [...]
Bookworm on Aug 02 2008 | Filed under: Hamas, Israel, Palestinians
Sometimes, the bizarre nature of the Middle East defies description (all emphasis mine):
Nine Palestinians were killed and dozens hurt in battles in Gaza City between forces of the rival Hamas and Fatah movements on Saturday, prompting Israel to open its border to fleeing Fatah members.
The fighting, which lasted most of the day, was sparked when [...]
Bookworm on Jul 30 2008 | Filed under: Israel
At long last, not a moment too soon, and probably way too late, horrible Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is stepping down:
Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced on Wednesday he would step down in September after a party leadership vote, announcing the end of a premiership dogged by graft investigations.
“After the election of my successor [...]
Bookworm on Jul 21 2008 | Filed under: Iran, Israel, John McCain
Obama’s getting the press, but McCain’s saying the important stuff, at least to those who believe that Israel, as the sole liberal democracy in the Middle East, deserves our support:
American presidential candidate John McCain told Israel’s Channel 2 News station that stiffer sanctions might stop Iran’s threats against Israel. In the interview broadcast Monday, the [...]
Bookworm on Jul 17 2008 | Filed under: Arabs, Hezbollah, Israel
In my post yesterday about the corpse/prisoner swap in which Israel exchanged, I noted that an inviolate body is a very important part of Jewish religious law, going back to the ancient Jewish revulsion against pagan sacrifice and the subsequent desecration of corpses. (I also noted that I didn’t think that was a sufficient reason [...]
Bookworm on Jul 16 2008 | Filed under: Israel, Media matters
I’ve been moving around the internet a bit looking at stories about the way in which Israel turned a brutal, mass murderer over in exchange for two bodies. What’s fascinating is that the stories keep calling it a “prisoner swap,” as if there’s parity in the exchange. Prisoner swap, after all, implies that Israel gave [...]
Bookworm on Jul 16 2008 | Filed under: Israel, Media matters, Muslim violence
Palestinians and Hezbollah are wildly celebrating the release of a great Lebanese hero, Samir Kuntar, from Israeli prison. Their excitement matches that felt in South Africa when Nelson Mandela was finally released. Nelson Mandela, of course, was a principled man who spoke up against apartheid and was imprisoned for exercising his freedom of speech against [...]
Bookworm on Jul 15 2008 | Filed under: Israel
In a post I did yesterday about the way in which liberals cherry-pick religious writings to support their ideological viewpoints, I discussed Rabbi Gamliel’s ancient edict about hostages, to the effect that the general good (tikkun olam) mandates that families may not pay a premium for a kidnapped family member, even if they can afford [...]
Bookworm on Jul 02 2008 | Filed under: Gun control, Israel, Palestinians
This is not a picture in America, but the top two pictures in this story illustrate perfectly why it matters that a nation’s citizens — the vast majority of whom are law abiding — can bear arms.
It is also interesting to note that, while the Beeb instantly tried to paint the Israelis as killers, this [...]
Bookworm on Jul 02 2008 | Filed under: BBC, Britain, Israel, Media matters, Palestinians
Honest Reporting captured the first spin that the BBC put on the terrible story of the latest massacre in Israel (a Palestinian versus Israelis, of course) — and, as always, it was Israel who was spun as the brutal aggressor. Orwell clearly understood something in the British psyche when he wrote 1984 — or, more [...]
Bookworm on Jun 24 2008 | Filed under: Arabs, Islam, Israel, Muslim violence, Uncategorized
David Suissa has created a series of ads to remind people of all the marvelous contributions Israel has made to the world during its short time as a country (and, impressively, a country perpetually under siege).
I think it’s time to create some ads for the Muslim and Arab world too (click on thumbnails to enlarge):
Hat [...]
Bookworm on Jun 24 2008 | Filed under: Hamas, Israel, Media matters, Palestinians
Did you know that a rocket could break a truce? I didn’t. Being neither a scientist nor a weapons expert, nor a member of the MSM, I kind of thought that, absent human intervention, rockets would just lie around inert. It’s just always seemed to me that, for a rocket to fly through the air [...]
Bookworm on Jun 23 2008 | Filed under: Iran, Israel
Believe it or not, the words of my post title were my exact words to my children the other day. My daughter came up to me, very concerned, because she’d heard somewhere that Iran has a nuclear bomb. I assured her that Iran does not yet have a nuclear bomb, although it wants one. My [...]
Bookworm on Jun 18 2008 | Filed under: Hamas, Israel, Palestinians
Richard Baehr initially supported Ariel Sharon’s decision to withdraw Israel from the Gaza Strip. He now believes that the withdrawal was a terrible mistake, and carefully explains why. As for me, I don’t think it was a mistake then. I think it collapsed for a reason that could not be foreseen. Let me explain.
What I [...]
Bookworm on Jun 17 2008 | Filed under: Arabs, Hamas, Israel
Hamas never enters into truces with an eye to peace. It enters into truces with an eye to getting its troops rested and rearmed before the next offensive. Israel, equipped with knowledge of both core Islamic doctrine (hudna) and Hamas’ own past behavior, nevertheless keeps giving its opponent a breather, rather than keeping the pressure [...]
Bookworm on Jun 08 2008 | Filed under: Israel, Japan
There is a horrific story out of Japan today about a man who crashed a truck into a crowd of people, and then proceeded to complete the carnage by stabbing as many of them as possible. The story says that the man ended his spree only when surrounded by police:
A witness told NHK the [...]
Bookworm on Jun 06 2008 | Filed under: Barack Obama, Israel, Jews
Mona Charen provides ample evidence proving that the 61% of American Jews who claim to support both Israel and Obama are suffering from dangerous cognitive dissonance — and she didn’t even include the mere 24 hours it took for Obama to flip-flop on Jerusalem.
Sphere: Related Content
Bookworm on May 31 2008 | Filed under: Arabs, Israel, Palestinians
One of the things that has infuriated me for years in the roiling battle between Israel and her neighbors is Israel’s utter ineptitude at courting the media. For decades, after ever single “event,” the Palestinians offered dozens of sympathetic people up for interviews with the MSM, while the Israelis offered terse, uninformative commentaries from tight [...]
Bookworm on May 31 2008 | Filed under: Israel
Gail, at the Crossing the Rubicon, has a wonderful site, not just because of the interesting posts she writes, but because of the visuals. I’m a word person, but Gail sees things. It’s no surprise, then, that Gail found a site with the most amazing aerial shots of Israel that you’ve ever seen. If you [...]
Bookworm on May 28 2008 | Filed under: Iran, Israel, Palestinians
The other day I did a lengthy post explaining (to my own satisfaction) why there is nothing “McCarthyite” about the fact that American Jews assume that those who support Palestinians are not just supporting peace, but are in fact hostile to Israel or anti-Semitic — or both. This is because, I said, the relationship [...]
Bookworm on May 27 2008 | Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Arabs, Barack Obama, Iran, Israel, Palestinians
Obama adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski has accused American Jews of McCarthyism for being critical of Israel’s critics. He’s not the first and he won’t be the last. The pattern, repeated over and over as we learn more about Obama’s advisers, is that one of them speaks fondly of the Palestinians or harshly of Israel, [...]
Bookworm on May 23 2008 | Filed under: China, Communism, Immigration, Iran, Israel, Russia
There was a round-up of illegal aliens in Marin County. The story included the obligatory reference to the children who had to watch their parents being arrested for illegal activity:
Wilson said children watched while their parents and other adults were taken away by authorities. Some were removed while accompanying children to the school bus, [...]
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