In Israel the violence continues against the opposition with the arrests of Nadia Matar as well as Limor HarHamelech. Meanwhile Niso Shaham who was caught on video calling for the beating of unarmed and non-violent protesters has been approved by the Fatah Suprem... I mean Israel Supreme Court to become the Jerusalem District Chief. In the words of Supreme Court Judge Ayala Procaccia, "a candidate's failure in the line of the duty does not necessarily disqualify him from promotion on the count of breaching the public's trust. Public trust is a term that also recognizes penitence, asking forgiveness and seeking answers."
Of course had Niso Shaham been responsible for attacks on Arabs rather than Jews, the same Supreme Court would of course have decided that he was quite unfit, regardless of whatever regrets he might have expressed. As a limited victory, the Supreme Court has agreed to bar David Edri, who trampled Yehuda Etzion, from dispersing demonstrators. Of course I expect that the police will ignore this ban when it suits them and without punishment.
For more on these and a general roundup of the situation, Israel Justice is an invaluable site.
Meanwhile Asia Times has a great Spengler article "It's easy for the Jews to talk about life"
The better one gets to know the Jews, the more peculiar they appear. "Remember us unto life, O King who delights in life," they pray on the solemn occasion of their New Year, which this year fell on September 13. Unfeigned and spontaneous delight in life is uniquely Jewish; the standard Jewish toast states, "To life!" while the most characteristic Jewish gibe admonishes, "Get a life!" We are not dealing here with so-called lust for life that involves a pile of broken dishes and a hangover the next morning. Instead, the Jews evince a liking for life as such. That is not only unusual; it is almost unnatural.
On the strength of the evidence, we would have to say that life at best seems an acquired taste. Most people dislike life, at least their own lives, judging from the cult of celebrity and the universal passion for spectator sports. The average man or woman rather would live vicariously through the glamour of actors or athletes than dwell upon the failure and humiliation of their own lives.
It's easy for the Jews to talk about delighting in life. They are quite sure that they are eternal, while other peoples tremble at the prospect impending extinction. It is not their individual lives that the Jews find so pleasant, but rather the notion of a covenantal life that proceeds uninterrupted through the generations.
life as such, the run-of-the-mill business of being born, having children, growing old and dying, is not an attractive proposition. The desire of all nations is eternal life, to be exalted above this muddy vesture of decay. A people that clearly foresees its own end will crawl into a hole and die like a sick animal, as we observe so tragically among aboriginal populations forced into communication with the modern world.
What makes the Jews different is their unique belief that the Covenant gives them eternal life, a belief grounded, to be sure, by thousands of years of history, and survival against all odds against the depredations of the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Alexandrine and Roman empires, not to mention more recent unpleasantness.
Even Jewish humor expresses a faith in Jewish eternity so vivid that the opposite is unimaginable. That is the sort of faith that moves not only mountains, but continents. The enormous influence of this tiny people, which now comprises barely 15 million individuals, stems entirely from this unshakable belief in its own eternity.
If God fulfilled his pledge to this tiny and apparently insignificant nation, restoring them to their ancient and promised homeland and its capital Jerusalem, then why should others doubt the same promise of eternal life to all the nations who come to him?
Over at IsraPundit, Ted Belman has a good post on The failed policy of supporting Siniori and Abbas
She points our the obvious that Hezbollah and Hamas both achieved electoral victories and subsequently left the government hoping to achieve more power and of course they are only proxies of Iran and Syria.
She also points out that in both cases Saudi Arabia is working to bring the radicals and the moderates together. But in either case any such unity will be anti-Israel and anti-US.
And of course ultimately the only source of unity among the divided Muslim world has always been America and Israel, which is an ominous reality in and of itself.
Lemon Lime Moon posts on Dubai buying 20 percent of Nasdaq
For all of the rhetoric about a war on terror, the sentiments fall flat in the face of the latest goings on: Mayor Bloomberg and Ahmedinejad, the Dubai Ports fiasco .. and we can take this back to Jimmy Carter/Z. Brezinski dumping of the Panama canal into foreign hands, Brezinski being a man dedicated not to his adopted nation the US, but to global government and money making. Brezinski who is making a come back along with Jimmy Carter. Does anyone remember what Hamilton Jordan said that if the old crowd like Brezinski had anything to do with Jimmys presidency that Jordan would not? He said
"If, after the inauguration you find Cy Vance as secretary of state and
Zbigniew Brezinski as head of national security, then I would say that we failed
and I would quit."
That administration under the tutilage of those men betrayed General Somoza and Nicaragua and helped place the Sandanista Communists in power. So why think today is different.
Via Daled Amos, information on the protest rally against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the UN
Monday, September 24th
12 noon, rain or shine
2nd Avenue at 47th Street
Subways: 4,5,6, or 7 to Grand Central Station
Join the National Rally To Stop Iran Now.
Dag Hammarskjold Plaza across from the United Nations
Sponsored by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Jewish Community Relations Council of New York
in cooperation with the United Jewish Communities, UJA-Federation of New York and Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Simon Wiesenthal Center.
For more information contact:
Conference of Presidents at 212-318-6111 or
info@conferenceofpresidents.org
JCRC at 212-983-4800 x 161 or info@jcrcny.org
Meanwhile a meaningful and easy fast to Jews on this Yom Kippur and a good year to everyone else.
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