At first glance Parshas Balak appears to be confusing. It is named after Balak, King of Moav, yet Balak appears as a minor character in it. It focuses primarily on Bilaam whom G-d treats as a wicked person, yet it is not entirely clear why. After all at every turn Bilaam does nothing more than obey G-d's own commands with seeming humility. When G-d reproves him, Bilaam bows his head and accepts it. He should qualify as a righteous person but he is not. Indeed the people of Israel who repeatedly seem to be sinning, including in this very same Parsha appear to be spiritually inferior to Bilaam and yet it is them G-d chooses and not him and indeed forces Bilaam to proclaim their blessings. Let us begin with the origin of Bilaam. Bilaam was the descendant of Lavan, the uncle of Yaakov, who took him in and repeatedly deceived him and yet at every turn, Lavan would proclaim his righteousness and declare that he is the wronged party. That kind of pious wickedness, that false hypocritical
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Showing posts from June, 2007
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Friday Afternoon Roundup - Rudy
Sometimes you need a little break for the weekend and sometimes you just need to take the time out to watch a terrorist get shot via a missile through a building. A relic directed by James Cameron from before 9/11 when political correctness had not yet made it impossible to do a movie with Muslim villains. Enjoy the future Governor of California demonstrating the proper negotiating tactics to be used with terrorists. A version of my piece on Rudy appeared as an Op-Ed in the Jewish Press . It has been linked to on Lucianne and some other places. The latest Hevel Havalim is out, go see Hevel Havalim #122 here and Our Children Are The Guarantors has a nice roundup of his favorite parts of it too. Steven Plaut meanwhile has a good piece up on the End of the Katsav Affair . "71% of Israelis dislike the deal, but that is because at least 50% think Katsav is innocent, and the others probably just want an actual indictment and trial to set the record straight... Ben Dror Yemini, an ed
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Prejudice and Anti-Semitism Distinguished
Whenever a controversy begins, typically over a remark about or involving Jews, there are quickly people who emerge to argue that the individual is question is no anti-semite. And that is likely often true as well. For example when Noah writes in Slate that John Updike is no anti-semite, that is likely the case. But then no one was arguing that indeed he was. Anti-semitism was a word coined to describe something like a dedicated antipathy toward Jews. Anti-semitism tends to manifest itself in the extreme in obsessional behavior, conspiracy theories involving Jews and responses ranging from hatred to phobia. The milder forms of Anti-semitism result in merely social antipathy, slurs and thinly disguised hostility. But there is a vastly larger pool of prejudices that are widely held without making one an anti-semite. When John Updike describes a character as a "Rich Jew" he is echoing back a literary prejudice regarding Jews that was widespread throughout literature. From Shakes
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Poor Richard Silverstein and Tikkun Hamas
The Forward in its current incarnation has never met an Anti-Semite it didn't like. Especially a Jewish one. This time out it profiles the tragic wrongdoing done to Richard Silverstein or the Tikkun Hamas blog. Poor Richard has been having a bad month. First he wailed despairingly that Palestinians are busy killing each other instead of killing Jews (as he would prefer) and then someone created a mean blogspot blog parody of him. When normal bloggers have parody blogs created of them, they shrug their shoulders and move on but as everyone knows the biggest bullies are the first to whine when anyone shoves them back. Their cowardice is exactly what drives their viciousness in the first place. Richard Silverstein has made a career of defending terrorists who kill Jews but when a blog mocks him, Richard runs for his lawyer. So Richard Silverstein lawyered up and began threatening to sue Google. (You would think that a blogger whose blog is subtitled "Making the World a Better Pla
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78 Year Old Man Menaces the Olmert / Peres Government
(While rockets are falling on Sderot and the corrupt and criminal government is undemocratically clinging to power while the media is lionizing Peres as Israel's savior, the press found the time to report on Dr. Radday Raikhlin , a 78 year old retired electronics engineer and Russian immigrant who continues his fight against tyranny that he began in Russia by issuing absurd threats which promptly get him arrested. This time he's been charged with threatening to shoot Olmert and Peres. Now I'm sure Olmert and Peres are afraid of an unarmed 78 year old man who has trouble leaving the house with assistance. But as Reichlin pointed out, " When Arabs mark the Nakba Day on Independence Day, the police do not come. But today, I hadn't even pushed 'send,' and the police were at my door." Here presented a rough, via Babelfish translation of a humorous description Reikhlin had written of a previous arrest and court date. An Arrest From Channel Two On July
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The Arab Who Beat an IDF Colonel in Olmert's Name
Colonel Mordechai (Moti) Yogev was a former Brigadier Commander and Reserve Deputy Commander of the Gaza Division who had served for 20 years in the IDF. He had served as the Chief of Staff of the military district of Gaza commanding the fight against Palestinian Arab terrorism on the front lines. He retired and remained a Colonel in the IDF Reserves. Today Colonel Yogev has severe trouble walking. A severe beating by an Arab left him crippled for life. The Arab was not a terrorist. He was an Arab Druze Border Police Officer sent to smash the men and women, boys and girls who stood at Amona opposed to the plan to demolish Jewish homes there. Colonel Yogev was one of those men. Eyal Fery, one of the Border Police Officers knocked him to the ground and beat him over and over again. At his trial, Fery stated that he had been only following orders. This is not at all surprising. At Kfar Maimon, the head of the police southern district, Niso Shaham and Roni Ohana, the Commander of th
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg: Cold Fish for President
As Bloomberg coyly flirts with a Presidential run, I like millions of other Americans wait with bated breath for a man with all the leadership qualities of a cold fish in an icebox who has only held one elected office in his life to run for President. Every Presidential race needs a crazy billionaire to enter it as a third party candidate believing that the moment the public sees his paid prime time infomercials they will fall worshipfully at his feet. Unfortunately Ross Perot was actually entertaining. Michael Bloomberg is not. Bloomberg could put a room to sleep even if he was reporting the end of the world. Maybe he thinks that what this country needs most of all is a President with the speech delivery of Ben Stein, the warmth of an ice cube and the empathy of a DMV teller. A man whose biggest achievement is that he took over for the other New York Mayor in the race and didn't entirely screw the city up. I like most New Yorkers can't help but remember Mayor Michael Bloomberg
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Friday Afternoon Roundup - Rabin and the Altalena, Shas and Herzl
- With the anniversary of the Altalena now here, it's appropriate to remember the Labor Socialist massacre of Etzel men, the attempted murder of future Prime Minister Menachem Begin and the destruction of a ship full of arms that might have allowed Israel to hold on to all of Yerushalayim in 1948. The same destructive viciousness behind the attack on the Altalena can be seen in the brutality of Yassam thugs and the destructive sellout by Rabin himself, Peres, Barak, Sharon and Olmert; all products of the same socialist school. One can only see Rabin himself, a man who is responsible for every Arab terrorist murder since 1992 but who had begun his career of treachery long before then. (Footage courtesy of Judea Voice) - Haaretz clamors, the Israeli Supreme Court orders and the Olmert government continues to aid in the transfer and evacuation of Fatah Gaza terrorists to Israel. The madness is beyond belief because these terrorists were the same ones responsible for the mu
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In the City of G-d the Abomination Parade Goes On Under Olmert's Watch
The failed Olmert / Barak regime can't protect the people of Sderot. Now rockets are again being fired from Lebanon into Israel. But these utter failures can protect one thing. They can protect the gay pride parade in Jerusalem. Against the wishes of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim residents of Jerusalem, Olmert and his gay daughter got their way and desecrated a city holy to millions of people and 8000 police protected 2000 marchers who felt the need to recreate a little slice of Sodom and Gommorah in the City of G-d. Along the way many were arrested. While the stories are full of supposed planned acts of violence by Haredim against the gay marchers, none of them are reporting the beating of two girls simply conducting a prayer protest against the parade by Yassam thugs. It gets in the way of the fuzzy stories about gay liberation and Haredi intolerance. Olmert's own favorite police thug, Nisso Shaham, who had boasted that he "knows how to deal with Haredim" by beat
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Reductio Ad Occupationum - Blame Israel for Everything
As the fighting goes on in Gaza the world watches and frets wishing those nice boys in their ski masks would stop shooting at each other and get back to their usual time honored hobby of killing Jews. The bout of savage barbarism that exploded in Gaza and is threatening to spill over into the West Bank challenges the world's deeply held assertion that every terrorist atrocity against Israel was caused by Israel's oppression of the Palestinian Arabs. The sight of Fatah and Hamas terrorists shooting, beheading and throwing each other off tall buildings leads any intelligent person to the inevitable conclusion that Fatah and Hamas haven't been killing Israelis because they had no choice but because they are ruthless murderers greedy for power and who have no regard for human life. That however is too difficult a conclusion for Western liberals and some conservatives who have staked so much on the belief that Palestinian terrorism is the product of oppression. Instead they adop
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The Left Wing Death Cult
With the unerring ability of progressives to look over a complex political situation and instantly pick the most evil side by choosing the one that hates America the most, the new love affair has begun. All across left wing sites, a Hamas victory is being cheered on against the American-Israeli puppets of Fatah and promptly praised as symbols of the Palestinian people's resistance. Overlooked are the minor issue that at this point the "Palestinian people" seem to be fleeing Gaza and the glorious Hamas heroes of the resistance have been busy looting and shooting anyone who wasn't on their side. But when progressives decide to endorse terrorists, whether it's FARC in Columbia or Hizbullah or Hamas, such concerns are quickly overlooked. Because in the end their love affair with the murder of Americans and American allies are what counts. Yasir Arafat's Fatah which once made the hearts of progressives flutter all across Europe and America has been rejected now and
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Goliath's Challenge - Islam and the World
And there went out a champion from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a javelin of brass between his shoulders. And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them: 'Why do ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.' And the Philistine said: 'I do taunt the armies of Israel this day; give me a man,
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The Latest News From Sunny Gaza
Welcome to sunny cheery Gaza where after the Israeli withdrawal, the friendly Palestinian Arabs have abandoned violence and built a model democracy that is the envy of every other nation in the region. Business is booming as typical Arab ingenuity has come to the rescue with developing industries in agriculture, computers and medicine. All around Gaza, a construction boom is taking place as new high rises are going up and the residents of Gaza are all walking around with big smiles on their faces. Now let's take a look at some of the happy news from sunny Gaza. 1. Hamas and Fatah Offer High Rise Hang Gliding Lessons In the interest of fostering brotherhood and mutual friendship, activists from Fatah and Hamas have been offering each other hang gliding lessons. While Gaza still lacks aircraft, the locals have been making do by using tall buildings instead. Lessons are free and the instructors are always eager for new students and when a new student hesitates to take his first leap,
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Friday Afternoon Roundup - Wake Up To The War
- Over in Gaza, the Hamas party is going on with the execution of such crucial figures in the Fatah power structure as Abbas' guard's cook. Human rights groups are baffled as are western observers because they've spent the last decade fervently insisting that terrorists aren't evil, just misunderstood people protesting against oppression and looking for a better life. Throwing a cook off the top of a building doesn't seem to really fit well into that bigger picture. But the fun part of viewing people through an ideological lens and insisting that no matter what they do is part of the ideology, no matter how out of whack, is that you're never wrong until they shoot you. Someone over at DailyKos had the following solution to the problem invite the leaders of both hamas and fatah to become partners in a solar energy water distillation agricultural project using the profits to build infrastructure that enhances the quality of life for all involved. Somehow unless th
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The Final Death of the Oslo Peace Plan is Here
No it didn't come from a decade and a half of broken treaties and a murderous war prosecuted by the assorted terrorists of Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad against Israel and civilians within Israel. Nothing that happened, no atrocity shook the resolve of the world community to force Israel to continue making concessions to the homicidal and corrupt regime of Yasir Arafar. For America and Europe and the Rabin-Peres governments, a Fatah regime was meant to create a serviceable Palestinian state next door that would end the fighting, pull Israel out of the territories and stabilize the Middle East. Now as Hamas fighters are cutting the expensive Fatah forces that the United States trained and armed and those same forces are abandoning their weapons and fleeing the fighting after minor casualties, the Oslo Accords finally go down in flames. The world had put its hope in a Fatah regime that was rotten to the core all along. Arafat's government was nothing more than a nepotist clique
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Armilus at the Wall
Daniel 8:9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beauteous land 11 It magnified itself, even to the prince of the host; and from him the continual burnt-offering was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. 12 And the host was given over to it together with the continual burnt-offering through transgression; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it wrought, and prospered.
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Islam gives us the Pregnant Suicide Bomber
JERUSALEM: Israeli security forces arrested a pregnant Palestinian mother of eight and her niece, also a mother, as they worked to carry out a pair of suicide bombings in Israel. While several women have blown themselves up in attacks on Israelis in recent years, among them a 64-year-old grandmother, there is no record of a pregnant woman attempting such an attack. There is no figure more sacrosanct in human society than the pregnant woman. The pregnant woman brings forth the next generation of a people. Even the most savage barbarians protect their own pregnant women. It is a fundamental biological instinct in mammals. Islam and Arab terrorism by contrast represent the ultimate and overwhelming degradation of human life. It is Orwell's boot on the face of mankind forever. Islamic terrorism has used children in war. They've used grandmothers in war. Now they've used pregnant women in war. Before this attack, we had already seen a pregnant suicide bomber in Iraq. But each ti
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Zionists vs Un-Zionists, the Struggle of Our Time
( Israeli paratroopers put up an Israeli flag on a fence as they stand on a wall in the Temple Mount after capturing the area during the Six Day War June, 1967 ) We have just finished Parshas Shelach which tells the story of the spies sent to scout out Israel, the majority of whom returned to spread fear and doubt, claiming that the land was uninhabitable and unconquerable. Instead they want to choose a new leader and return to slavery in Egypt, which some were always eager to remind everyone, had fleshpots with plentiful fish and meat and vegetables. This follows a week in which in our present time former Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg issued a tirade stating that Israel was doomed as a Jewish state and it was time for everyone to get their foreign passports and get going. Avraham Burg had himself left his Jewish wife and moved to Europe and intermarried, leading the way back to Egypt and the fleshpots. Burg is hardly alone. Sharon's son Omri was caught on tape talking about grabbin
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Stop Talking to Us About Dead Jews, We Want to Hear About Global Warming
A coalition of liberal Jewish groups is conducting a campaign to inform political candidates that Jewish voters don't actually care about Israel. Instead after a survey of a few thousand respondents at Jspot, they announced that what the majority of American Jews really care about is the environment. Another way of putting it might be, "Stop talking to us about dead Jews in Israel, we want to hear about global warming." While millions of Jews were being butchered in Europe, too many American Jews sat by with folded hands, too busy worshiping at the altar of FDR's liberal policies to care about the ashes drifting over Auschwitz. When some activists and politicians, Jewish and Non-Jewish tried to oppose the FDR administration and fight for the rescue of Jews, the response from the Jewish establishment came down to, "Stop talking to us about dead Jews, we want to hear about the New Deal." One is reminded of G-d asking Kayin where his brother is while Kayin repl
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Media Deliberately Misquoting Lieberman on Iran
I'm no fan of Senator Lieberman but the media response to his statements that the US should conduct cross-border raids into Iran against attackers who are striking at US forces from there (similar to what Turkey is doing in Iraq) is a fantastic example of deliberately mis-characterizing what he said. The media's distortions imply that Senator Lieberman called for bombing Iran, a US invasion of Iran or even a nuclear attack on Iran. Let's consider the CBS2 Chicago story headline "Lieberman: Bomb Iran If It Doesn't Stop". In fact what Lieberman was actually proposing was hitting terrorist training camps inside Iran. Several headlines read, "Lieberman: US Should Weigh Iran Attack" and "Lieberman: US Should Weigh Iran Attack". Of all the papers, only Australia's Sydney Morning Herald got it right with "US should attack Iran base : Lieberman". The difference is pretty blatant. This is what Senator Lieberman actually said. Mr. Liebe
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