How can one be compelled to accept slavery? I simply refuse to do the master's bidding. He may torture me, break my bones to atoms and even kill me. He will then have my dead body, not my obedience. Ultimately, therefore, it is I who am the victor and not he, for he has failed in getting me to do what he wanted done. ~ Mahatma Gandhi
If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? If not now, when? ~ Rav Hillel, Pirke Avot
This Red Sea Pedestrian Stands against Judeophobes
"...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
In Gaza:
In Israel:
The American Left thinks that what is happening in Gaza is a war crime, and that what is happening in Israel is deserved. We do not live in a civilized society when this is the case. Please don't tell me you are for peace when you find violence against Israel to be acceptable, when you close your eyes and say nothing while rockets fall on Israeli towns for 7 years. The new season of American Idol is coming up. I suspect that interest will wane about that time.
I think a piece of shit socialist blog called "The Mustard Seed" sums it all up with a post called "Fuck Israel." I'd link you to it, but choose not to do so. If you're really interested go on your own, and see what Leftist peaceniks are really about: fucking Israel.
The Obama transition team was aware of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's relationship with the firm currently being investigated, CDR Financial Products, because Richardson had introduced the firm's founder, David Rubin, to Obama fundraisers during the Democrat convention in Denver last August.
And it looks like Fast Eddy Rendell, one time Clinton supporter turned ne'er-do-well dingdong, may be involved with David Rubin von Stubin as well. My my my, isn't the shit hitting the spam. I do not believe I have a large enough bowl to accomodate all the popcorn that is going to be consumed on this one. Pass the antacids please.
Update 2: At the 51 second point in the IDF video, hit pause. In the lower left corner you will see what appears to be 6 objects that seem to be the same shape and dimension as the objects being loaded into the truck. Watching that a few times it could be the roof of a building. If those object are on the roof it could be a coincidence that they are the same dimension, or they could be rockets hidden on the roof so that civilians wouldn't see them. They could be something else. It's hard to say from the video. If I were on a jury trying the Israeli pilot on a war crimes charge, and the only evidence I had was that video, and the testimony of Ahmad Samur, I would have to vote not guilty. We have not been to the scene, we have no way of knowing whether the scene was tampered with, only Samur's testimony that it was not (we have already established that scenes can be created for the camera as was done with Al-Dura). Is there a reasonable doubt as to whether those objects on the truck were rockets or not? One thing I can conclude from the video: there were more than four "canisters" on multiple trucks. Samur's testimony is already incorrect less than a minute into the IDF video. Perhaps only four "canisters" were being loaded into that specific truck. But there were far more on the others. Again, there is not enough information available to draw a conclusion that should be presented by Al Jazeera, or Larry Johnson, as fact.
Update 1: Since posting this I have gotten the full video from the IDF's Youtube channel. The man in the Al Jazeera video said they took 50 small pieces of iron, some welding equipment, 4 gas canisters, 2 gallons diesel, 2 gallons of gasoline. How many trucks does it take to haul that stuff? There were 4 at the scene. One drove away loaded with what appears to objects of the same dimension as the "canisters" being loaded onto the truck. One looks loaded to me, and appears to be leaving while another was being loaded. How many men does it take to load the above list of materials? Watch both videos. I think Ahmad Samur is full of shit, and possibly was not even at the scene. That explosion is pretty big. Everyone around that truck would have been dead, or seriously burned. Mr. Samur looks pretty unscathed to me. Like I said, one cannot conclude anything from that Al Jazeera story. But Larry Johnson sure did.
This is how the No Quarter coverage of Gaza is going to look.
Larry Johnson has placed the following Al Jazeera video on No Quarter.
Then presents the following:
As the Israeli human rights analyst correctly notes, if these men were actually loading missiles with high explosives the truck would have disappeared. So ask yourself one question–if you were out loading your truck with gas canisters to use in your home because you cannot rely on public services and someone dropped a bomb and killed your son, would you be pissed? I suspect the answer is yes.
What Johnson selectively leaves out is that the human rights worker clearly states that the military analyst said that the truck would have disappeared had the rockets been prepared to be launched. A formal investigation has not taken place as to the purpose of the tubes; for rockets, or civilian purposes. A welding gas canister has a rounded end. See if you notice round end with a valve system on those objects.
This is a picture of a truck fitted with a grad rocket launcher. What's that on the back of the truck, gas canisters? Funny, if I didn't know any better I'd say those launch tubes are very similar in dimension to the "canisters" in the video.
This is a photo of a fully assembled grad rocket (there are a few types in different lengths, some shorter than this).
If you watch the video it is clear the tubes being carried by the men by the truck are not fitted with an explosive head, as seen here. I think we can be certain that the tubes in the video do not represent fully assembled grad rockets. So let's rule now that the men in the video were not loading armed rockets into the truck just for shits and giggles.
Is it possible that the tubes were disassembled grad rockets, to be fitted with their explosives, and propulsion systems? Yes. Is it possible that these were civilians and the tubes were for non-violent purpose? Yes. But Johnson selectively edits for his audience. I think I will wait until the full investigation is completed, and the report filed, before I pass judgement. Johnson fails to possess the integrity to do the same. He couches his presentation as demonstrating the PR problem Israel will face as a result of the Gaza invasion (something that will happen regardless of whether a single civilian dies or not). But what he's really doing is manipulating his audience into believing that Israel wrongly killed those people in the video to inflame them.
And it looks like I'm not the only one who is trying to figure out what is truth and what is fiction.
I will not go on with this exercise much longer as I think anyone with a brain by now realizes that Johnson has an axe to grind with Israel, and that journalistic integrity and objectivity are out the window.
If a formal investigation into this incident is undertaken with the cooperation of B'tselem and concludes that these were civilians that were hit, that the intelligence was wrong, and Israel is at fault, then I expect the people responsible to be punished. If it turns out that these were Hamas operatives I would hope Johnson would state as much at No Quarter. Monkeys will fly out of my butt first I would imagine.
My point is that there really no one to trust in all of this. There is no source of information I consider credible in its details. Larry Johnson is being very clever, but he's not fooling anyone, except perhaps himself., and those of his readers that are too dimwitted to pay attention to detail, or form their own opinions.
Here's what we know.
Hamas broke the ceasefire.
Hamas was firing rockets during the ceasefire.
Hamas refused to renew the ceasefire. Egypt, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority warned Hamas that Israel would take strong military action.
Israel was gathering intelligence on Hamas positions during the ceasefire (if you're against Israel you will conclude that it was planning this operation and planned to carry it out regardless of the ceasefire status, as many No Quarter readers are concluding, and if you support Israel, or you have any common sense, you will conclude that Israel was gathering this intelligence in the event that the ceasefire was not renewed by Hamas and action needed to be taken; of course it is possible that Hamas and Israel are in cahoots for a reason someone else can present to me...with Fatah out of the way I find it hard to believe how this benefits Israel though there can always be heavy duty black ops shit happening; it is also possible that this is all being orchestrated by the ghost of Christmas Past).
Israel has been bombing targets in Gaza for eight days.
Israel has launched a ground invasion with the stated purpose of taking control of areas where rocket launches are being staged.
Humanitarian aid has been flowing into Gaza, tonnage being flown in by the Red Cross and other nations into Israel, and convoys were coming in prior to and during the operations.
We know that distribution of aid is difficult because of the military operations.
That is the only thing any of us can be certain about. We cannot be certain how many have died. We cannot be certain how many are Hamas operatives and how many are civilians. We do not know a lot of things. Instead of presenting questions as facts we should all be praying that this ends as quickly as possible, with the lowest death toll possible, and when this bullshit is over the rockets never again fall on Israel or Gaza. Tall order I know, but what the hell? It doesn't hurt to ask.
In the wake of Larry Johnson's decidedly biased, and often inaccurate coverage of the situation in Gaza, I emailed him to express my concern that he was fanning flames, and failing to address the most important issue in the conflict: how do we get past this bullshit. Larry wrote back a very short response that I will not publish here as it was private correspondence and I'm not an Obamabot. He said he would write in more detail, which he did not do. Instead he wrote the following post at No Quarter. The language of the opening sentence was a message to me that this was his full response to my email (in a post of his the previous day I commented that he was beating a dead horse on the issue and avoiding posting regarding solutions). I suspect that his solution is that Hamas succeeds, which is perhaps why he won't discuss it. In response to his assessment of how Israel should have handled this situation, all with the purpose of making sure that Israel had "the moral highground" (apparently there is no morality in defending your citizens against 7 years of rocket fire directed at civilian targets, in violation of international law). I wrote the following comment. For the purpose of the thread I edited it as this is very long. But it was my intention to publish it at No Quarter as a post. But my comment went into spam, and I found that the last post I submitted was deleted so I decided not to waste my time. No Quarter is to be a place of biased Gaza reporting as far as Larry Johnson is concerned. Bravo Larry; there will be no quarter for journalistic integrity. Bravo.
So, before you read what follows, please read Larry's post. And read the comments there too so you'll have an idea as to what it going on there, if you don't already. This will probably be my last post on Larry's bullshit as there are far more important things going on in the world than the wingnut bullshit at NQ. But as a former writer for No Quarter silence was not an option.
Larry, I find only one flaw in your argument; the evidence clearly shows that regardless of whatever action Israel takes it is condemned by one international body or another.
When Israel launched it's targeted killings campaign against Hamas leaders it was condemned. When Israel used Apache helicopters to do what you suggested and fire at launch sites, it was condemned. Israel has been losing the PR war since it invaded Lebanon in 1982, and has been hated by the Arab boys club that is the UN since partition, so let's not pretend the world would join hands and buy Israel a Coke and keep it company if it did what you suggest. That's crap. And the statements of condemnation from the UN prove me right.
A lot of good that does...got any other suggestions?
We might as well put Olmert and Mashaal in a ring together. When Mashaal slaps Olmert, Olmert gets to slap him back...
What is the moral high ground exactly? I find it interesting that only Israel need be condemned here for not holding it. Certainly Israel had a unique opportunity to be a source of enlightenment, a model for how a country should behave. There were many moments through her history that Israel has been that example, and in many ways continues to do so, it's just not widely reported.
I remember speaking to our local Chabad Rabbi (the same community as the Rabbi and his wife that were tortured and killed in Mumbai) on this a few years back. He said something that I hadn't really thought about. Throughout the ages Jews have been condemned for supposedly holding themselves to a standard that was different than Christians/gentiles. The perception being that we felt we were better because of it, and the misinterpretation of the meaning of "the chosen people." But what pisses people off even more (my language, not his) is when we fail to live up to the standard that the rest of the world sets on us. It's a Catch-22 that no non-Jew is ever going fully comprehend, or at least hasn't yet.
Morality is something that has been sorely lacking throughout human history. In the 20th century, the most organized act of genocide in history was carried out against my people (I will not say largest as the United States' extermination of North America's indigenous peoples is greater in terms of numbers). And the evidence clearly shows that the world community was complicit, including the United States and Great Britain. It was out sheer guilt that the United Nations created Israel. Having been reborn into the world, the modern State of Israel had a unique opportunity to show the world what being a Jewish state meant. And it did time and again. One of the two most notable examples came when Mossad captured and tried Adolph Eichmann, It would have been very easy for Mossad to assassinate him in Buenos Aires and parade his dead body before the media, but they did not. He was tried in front of the world, forced to face his accusers, and under the weight of overwhelming evidence, was executed.
And the legacy of that execution continues to be a lesson that Israel teaches. Capital punishment has been illegal in Israel since 1954. Only convictions for crimes against humanity, acts of genocide, and war crimes are punishable by death in Israel. Many have been convicted and sentenced to death in Israel but they all had their sentences overturned on appeal. Eichmann is the one exception; the only convict ever executed in the State of Israel.
How many men and women have been electrocuted, hung, and injected in the United States based on circumstantial evidence, no evidence, or based on race? Let's not sit here and judge the morality of Israel. America, with more innocent blood on its hands than Israel could ever hope to shed, is in no position to judge based on any kind of moral authority. And if Americans need Israel to be their Jimminy Cricket, guess what? Jews are human too and fuck up as bad as everyone else. One need only look at the bible to see that.
Weeks after the exodus from Egypt, where the Torah says that God set a pillar of fire by night, and a column of smoke by day to lead the people, where the sea was split and the Pharoah's army was drowned in it, the Israelites assemble at Mount Sinai. There, the midrash teaches, God raised the mountain above the people and demanded that they audibly accept the law that He brought before them, as a moment to seal the choice the Israelites made to enter into the covenant with God. The Divine Presence appears before the entire Israelite nation in this moment. They accept and Moses is bidden to climb the mountain to receive the law so that it could be tranmitted to the people. This is why we call ourselves the "chosen people." It is not that God chose us because we were so righteous. It is because when God offered the covenant to us, we chose to accept it. According to the midrash we were in fact at the bottom of the list, and we happened to be the people that said yes.
In typical fashion, while Moses is gone, everyone gets antsy and they build the golden calf. You don't fuck up much bigger than that. But then the Israelites fuck up again. It is because of their kvetching that Moses was forbidden to enter the Promised Land. The people had been without water. God instructs Moses to speak to a rock and water would issue from it. But the people kept bitching and bitching until he lost it and struck the rock, in defiance of God's command, which he did in front of the entire nation. This really pissed God off and so Moses was banned.
The history of our people is not one where we are this holy, morally right people. We sin, we fuck up, we do wrong, like any other people on this earth. Both Temples were destroyed because of our fuck ups. Perhaps the difference is how we wrestle with that, how we attempt to work on fixing it. That is why the code of Jewish law is called Halachah. It literally means, "the walk." It is a journey. It is a struggle. The conflict with the Palestinians is no different.
Israel fucks it up left and right. Israel has also done the right thing in many instances. Just look at the Israeli Supreme Court record. The fact that Israeli governments often operate in the wrong, despite the rulings of the courts is one of the bizarre matters of their government that I do not comprehend, but no doubt is in part a product of there being no constitution in Israel, something that needs to be corrected (something I've been advocating for years), and of the fact that if you put two Israelis together you have a new political party. Add a third and that party has factions. You think I'm kidding? Walk down Ben Yehuda street sometime. Every 3 feet is a group of Jews arguing politics, and pissing nails over the same issues we are on this blog [No Quarter].
It took a long time for me, being raised a Jew in a family that has supported the creation, birth, and life of modern Israel for 4 generations, including having family that fought against the British in the Hagannah, to understand that the asshats running the Palestinian political machine are not representative of the Palestinian people in their totality. The terrorists don't speak for all the people, just as the Israeli government does not speak for all Israelis, or all Jews for that matter. But with the blind hate I have seen on this blog and elsewhere, that doesn't matter much, especially when you are so busy dousing the flames with gasoline with your morally superior stance.
Has Israel maintained the morality it displayed in 1961 and 1962? It certainly did in 1967, after driving the Jordanians out of the West Bank (territory that was supposed to be the new Arab state, which was rejected by the Arab nations, and which Jordan occupied in 1948 and held until 1967). After capturing East Jerusalem from Jordan, Muslims feared what would happen to the Temple Mount. Would the Israelis level the mosques and build a new Temple, would Muslims be banned from having access to the their holiest site outside of the Arabian peninsula? Israel could have done those things I suppose. But instead they gave the administration of the Temple Mount, our holiest site, to the Muslims, who control it to this day. And what thanks has Israel gotten in exchange? The Palestinian Authority has been excavating beneath the Temple Mount in an attempt to erase any other archeological evidence that the Jewish people ever had any presence there. And in their overwhelming desire to do this, they have potentially caused serious damage to the foundations of their own holy sites. That's what blind hatred does.
And speaking of blind hatred, let's look at Benyamin Netanyahu. This was a former shoe salesman from Cheltenham Pennsylvania. He made aliyah to Israel. Never served in the army. But this man, this man would leave morality in any form behind in order to justify actions he might take against the Palestinians, and if Ehud Olmert does not find a way to turn this mess into a truce with international inspectors consisting of a multinational force that I described on another thread here earlier today, that is exactly what the world is going to get from the next Knesset. So if you think shit is fucked up now, just wait until that fascist gets elected. Instead of, by your own admission, beating the dead horse, and protesting against those that fail to understand your position, you might start leading the dialogue here to how are we going to salvage this mess so that Palestinian children and Israeli children can grow up without fear. Still waiting on that one Larry. Should I start holding my breath?
What can be said about Israel after Eichmann could be said about the United States after the Nuremberg trials. What can be said about a world community that was complicit in the deaths of 6 million Jews and another 5 million homosexuals, Roma (gypsies), Catholics, disabled, and prisoners of war? The hypocrisy is astounding. The Nuremberg trials were not about justice. They were about the world expunging their guilt (a sham as the allies allowed Nazi war criminals to escape from Europe, including Eichmann),
an exercise completed by the UN creating the State of Israel. And one of the great shames is the millions of American lives that were laid down because the governments of the United States and Great Britain did not stand up to Hitler, when they knew damn well what was going to happen. So let's stop talking about moral high ground. There are only two morally sound governments on this planet to my knowledge, Bhutan, and the Tibetan government in exile under the Dalai Lama. All are guilty. All have committed crimes. All are complicit in the deaths of innocents. You want to be angry at the asshats who keep fucking this up over and over again? Great, let's get shitfaced and smash some things together. But this exercise of yours is not accomplishing a thing.
Me, I assume Israel is going to fuck up. I also assume Hamas and Fatah are going to fuck up. So far no one's let me down yet.
This is not an attempt on my part to expatiate Israel for its sins. Quite the contrary, let's gather the leaders of every fucked up nation on this planet and try them all together for crimes against humanity. What I am saying is that when the UN created Israel, it was not done with the understanding that it could only continue to exist if it maintained the moral high ground. If that were the standard by which all nations were held then perhaps we wouldn't have Saudis cutting people's hands and heads off, perhaps we wouldn't have the government of Sudan allowed to commit genocide in Darfur because of their oil (and anyone who doesn't think that's why it is still being allowed to happen is a dumb shit).
Where is the righteous indignation over Africa, an entire continent far more fucked that the Palestinians could ever hope to be, another instance where the whole planet has blood on its hands.
Where is that post of the day condemning Sudan Larry?
What has the world community done since 1948? Allowed genocide in Cambodia, Ruwanda, Darfur, Yugoslavia...again and again the world has blood on its hands. Only Israel is repeatedly condemned, and has committed no act even remotely comparable. What act of genocide has Israel committed? If genocide were the policy in Gaza and the West Bank, as some commenters at No Quarter, and other blogs, have suggested, we would not be having this argument. It would be moot. Every last man, woman, and child would be dead. No country on this earth is held to such a standard as is Israel. The United States will not even allow its own military and leaders to be subject to an international war crimes tribunal. Israel has committed no crime above and beyond any other nation. That doesn't mean it should be allowed to, but it also means that every nation that does should be as loudly, as vehemently, as publicly condemned as Israel.
As a Jew, I am ashamed and angered by the crimes committed by the Israeli government. I am also angered by the crimes committed by Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, and every other fucking nation on this planet.
As a Jew who was raised to put the needs of others on the same level as my own. I was taught that a Jew holds life, any life, as being the most sacred thing on this earth. Any Jewish law is to be broken if it means saving a life. So when I started to come out of the biased haze I had regarding the Palestinians, it was painful to see how the government of Israel was conducting itself in certain aspects of its handling of the territories, etc. It also pains me that almost every time Israel lifts restrictions, curfews, opens borders so people can go back to work (Israel having been the largest employer of Palestinians until the second intifada), Israelis die and have their bits scraped off walls, buses, school buildings... It pains me every time I hear a Palestinian child, an innocent child is killed. It also pains me to know that innocent Palestinian children are being raised to blindly hate Jews, by the very people who are launching the rockets. These kids aren't just fucked by Israel if they are killed. Even if they were to live they'd be fucked by Hamas who is raising them to love martyrdom, raising them to take their place in the rituals of hate. What comforts me is that I know there are families in Gaza, and the West Bank who are not raising their children that way, in spite of the bombs that are falling as I write this. Just as children in Israel are being raised to continue to hold the dream of peace in their hearts, even if their classmates had to have their body parts scraped off the sidewalk so their family had something to bury.
In the end Larry, what fucking good is your righteous indignation going to do for Israel and the Palestinians? Not a goddamn thing. But it certainly is fueling people's hate here, on both sides of this argument. Whether that is your intention or not (it is becoming unavoidably obvious that this is your agenda) it keeps happening, and you keep fanning the flames. Where does that fall on your morality scale?
So listen Zahal, you better remember, no civilians must die, or else the world will hate you. After all, everyone knows that the rest of the world manages to fight wars without doing that. Just like the miracle that was Dresden, not a single civilian casualty.
When civilians die at the hands of American bombs it's called collateral damage. When Israel does it's called a war crime. Astounding hypocrisy, and why? Because if a Jew does it, if a Jew, who the world has set up as living under some abstract moral standard that the gentile world doesn't even take the time to comprehend (when you have studied all the tractates of the Talmud you drop me an email), a standard it presupposes, then that is some great moral failure on our part. The rest of the world can kill indiscriminately, can kill Jews indiscriminately, and who gives a fuck? Who in the end gave a fuck about what happened to the Jews in Mumbai? Who's still talking about that now? They got a video clip on No Quarter, well slap my ass and call me Charles!
Israel targets the organization that has sworn to destroy her, the right of any sovereign nation under international law, and civilians die as a result of what every nation on this planet would call collateral damage, and it loses the "moral highground." That's crap. A mosque got bombed? Israel says there were weapons being stockpiled there. Insurgents did the same in Iraq. So now I'm sure I'll hear how we didn't bomb the mosque, we captured it. Too bad Israel couldn't launch a ground offensive into Gaza to do the same without violating everyone's sense of morality. Everyone just admit to the double standard. I promise you'll feel better.
By the way, here's a little IDF video of the mosque. Is it inflammatory to blow up a mosque? You bet your ass. Is it an afront against God to to store weapons in a house of worship? Where I come from it is. I know Hamas worships an angry, vengeful Allah whom they believe commands them to kill infidels, but really, don't you think you could have stored those rockets in a hospital or a school or something, or are they full?
The loss of human life is tragic, and could have been avoided, if anyone, anyone showed enough valor to do the real work that needed to be done. But everyone has failed. The Israeli government, the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, the UN, the Quartet, the Arab League, every political body has failed, and not because Israel is some bastion of hate and committers of war crimes. But because, in the end, the governments of this world don't give a fuck if we live or die. It's always, always about the money. The sooner people wake the fuck up and realize that, the sooner this senseless killing will end. Or maybe some industrious and right thinking people at No Quarter could petition the UN to just turn the whole region to a nuclear sheet of glass. That'll show 'em.
In the clearest sign that Israel may actually be attempting to break Hamas' control of Gaza, instead of engaging in pre-election posturing, the IDF has sent tanks and infantry across the border. At this time there is no word as to how deep into Gaza these forces will go, though the stated objective, according to the Israeli Ministry for Foreign Affairs, is to seize control of the area of Gaza from which rockets are being launched.
In a statement released Friday, Hamas leader Khaled Masaal stated Israel would face a "black destiny" if it were to invade.
Sheikh Abdel-Rahman al-Jamal stated, "I call on the resistance to continue pounding Jewish settlements and cities. We will remain on the path of jihad."
Ehud Olmert has said that any truce talks must come with the provision that international monitors will police the border to maintain a cessation of rocket fire into Israel (and that Israelis don't try to get macho in the face of such a cessation). It has been reported to me that such monitors would be unarmed. A ludicrous notion, but the fact that Olmert is demanding monitors at all is a major step for the psyche of the Israeli government, which has traditionally objected to monitors of any kind.
For its part Hamas is not high on the monitors idea, presumably because this would piss on their Qassam Rocket Parade and they might actually have to stop trying to scare and kill Israelis. Sorry assholes, play time is over. Palestinians and Israelis want peace and you fuckers have been standing in the way for far too long. Let's hope that sanity prevails. If a truce is not reached, and Hamas rockets continue to fall, the American Left's worst nightmare, a Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Ministership (well really, their worst nightmare is Israel continues to exist), with all the rightwing bullshit it would entail, will most assuredly happen.
Let's get this over with. Someone broker the truce, get effective, and interested monitors in place, and get Hamas off the world stage. There can be no tolerating radical Islamist genocidal bullshit in Gaza, or anywhere else for that matter. And Israel, you need to get on the good foot in the West Bank. It's time for the Israeli government to start cultivating atzei z'atim (olive trees) instead of tearing them down.
Jerusalem belongs to God, not Jews, Muslims, or Christians, and it's about fucking time the Israelis and Arabs started acting that way.
Here is Defense Minister, and candidate for Prime Minister, Ehud Barak's statement regarding the ground invasion. It is true that Israel showed restraint by not launching massive retaliation sooner, and must take military action to thwart Hamas rocket attacks, regardless of the types of weapons used (katyusha and grad rockets are explosive, Hamas is in possession of them, and is now using them), this press conference is election theater.
I am reserving judgement on all this until I see the results. In spite of the body count, which is remarkably low considering the tonnage being dropped by Israel, the international community did not respond to the repeated complaints filed by Israel to the United Nations regarding the rocket attacks from Gaza, which have been going on for seven years. Had the international community stepped in, and stopped Hamas we would not be here. So while the Left wrings its hands over Israel's supposed bloodlust, it's darling, the UN, is very much responsible for things going this far, and for the deaths of every man, woman, and child on both sides of the border since the time the first complaint was filed.
The fact that the UN is a worthless piece of shit is another story. But we'll play the NQ game that Israel must complain to the UN, just for shits and giggles.
[Apparently I have been graciously allowed to speak again at No Quarter. Thank you O mighty potentate. Susan has a post up now explaining that comments have mysteriously ended up in the spam filter, like the Bermuda Triangle of the Internet, and that our comments were released. I saw the spam filter. There were three, two were mine, a repeat because I wasn't sure what the hell was going on, and one that seemed to be Nigerian style bullshit. And my comment on the thread in question is not there. And a post I submitted with the Death to Juice Photo was deleted from the admin. page without being published. Whoops! My comments, and the award still stands.]
It's awards time at OMV. The First Annual Douchey Awards have already begun to be handed out. Our winners so far are Ryan Seacrest, and the genocidal Hamas lover from the pro-Palestinian two minutes hate fest in Manhattan last week. Today we hand out a special prize.
The Yassir Arafat Memorial Lies and Obfuscation Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Distribution of Lies and Disinformation goes to Larry Johnson and SusanUnPC at No Quarter. Since the breakout of escalated hostilities between Israel and Hamas, Larry and Susan have bent over backwards perpetuating the classic anti-Israel memes: Israel is indiscriminately killing civilians, Israel's response is "disproportionate," the media is pounding the constant pro-Israel drumbeat (a notion so utterly ridiculous it is barely worth mentioning), and Alan Dershowitz is an Israeli apologist and pseudo-intellectual. Okay, so you can make a strong case that he's an Israel apologist, but pseudo-intellectual he is not. Ironic that Johnson and Susan are banning people while criticizing Dershowitz, who has been an outspoken champion of American civil liberties. Maybe he didn't give Johnson a sufficiently large enough kickback from his World Jewish Conspiracy take last year. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
Perhaps the zenith of Johnson's bullshit, and what put him over the top for this year's Yassir Arafat prize, was his complete and total misrepresentation of the Etzel bombing of the King David Hotel. Johnson attempted to make a corollary between the Irgun and Hamas, presenting the KDH bombing as evidence that Jews were terrorists that targeted civilians, and we just had to accept that.
Sorry Larry, but unlike the rabid, brainless zombies you have been attracting to your blog with your propaganda and disinformation campaign, some of us know the truth about the KDH, and that Etzel, though a terror group, was nothing like Hamas beyond the use of bombs. What Johnson failed to mention was that as a policy, Etzel did not intentionally target civilians, while Hamas does, in violation of international law. He failed to mention that the King David Hotel was in fact the headquarters of the British Mandatory Authority, and the British Military in the British controlled province of Palestine. He also failed to mention that prior to the bombing at the KDH, Irgun operatives called the hotel switchboard, the offices of the Palestine Press newspaper, and the French Consulate to warn them of the bombing. The British, in spite of the repeated warnings, failed to evacuate the building. Ninety-one people died. Hamas does not give Israelis the same courtesy when they blow up buses, cafes, discos, markets, malls, and any of the other exclusively civilian targets those ratfuckdouchebags blow up with their lunatic homicide bombers. What draws my ire is that Johnson knows all this and intentionally withheld this information to make a propaganda point. And if he didn't have that information than he is sorely misinformed and should stop making any comments on the current situation as misinformation and obfuscation is the last thing that is needed when both sides in this conflict are notorious liars, with actual truth being hard to discern much of the time.
Johnson and SusanUnPC are coming off as radical Islamist apologists, who claim to have the security interests of the United States at heart (the bullshit is flying so hard and fast, that despite his protestations that he is a supporter of Israel, it is becoming increasingly impossible to be able know how that could possibly be true). Instead they are sending out blatant disinformation about Israel's actions in Gaza, and Israeli history, to fan the flames of public opinion in a conflict that desperately needs to be resolved so that the Palestinians and Israelis can finally stop living in a state of constant post traumatic stress, war, and suffering.
Backed by Iran, Hamas, like Hezbullah, wishes to see a worldwide Islamic caliphate. All infidels convert or die. Y'all get back to me about how serving their propaganda machine is in the national security interests of the United States. That oughta be a mind bender. Perhaps you're operating under the misguided Ron Paul notion that if we just appease the radicals and Al-Qaeda, they'll just leave us alone.
Johnson's hypocritical bullshit was a strong test for the Douchiak 800o Hypocrisy Meter, but it handled the NQ ratfucking just fine.
And the price I've paid for my dissent against the all knowing, all seeing brainiacs at No Quarter is that I have been banned from commenting. A very glorious distinction for someone who got asked to be a writer for the blog. I am yet another Jew who was shrouded at No Quarter for speaking out about Larry Johnson's obvious obfuscation of the facts, and attempting to get Johnson to steer the conversation to the heart of the matter: how to achieve peace and security for the Arabs and Jews. Surely it's not going to be accomplished by lying and propaganda. That tactic hasn't worked for Israel or Hamas either.
Though I have been accused of censoring here recently, I have banned or deleted no one that addresses the topic at hand, and is not an overtly hostile doucheratbag spewing lies and propaganda, regardless of which side of the security fence they fall. In fact, no one has been banned here since the Pamperbot purge. Of course if you are a douche and you comment here I reserve the right to point out your hypocritical doucheness. The war on hypocrisy demands it.
Tomorrow we'll be applying a little truth serum to Johnson's bullshit assertions regarding what Israel "should have done."
So congratulations No Quarter on your prize. You've earned it. Choke on it.
As we rapidly careen to the massive spiral of Aaack! that will be the Pampers Administration, and the ever expanding pile of stupid in the Middle East, there is a glimmer of hope on this New Year's Day.
The newest initiative in the fight against misogyny, and for proportional representation of women in society, 51% is online with its new website. It may still have a few bugs, but that'll all be worked out. Yours truly will have a guest essay up in the coming weeks.
So go on over, take a look around, and maybe drop a few ducats to support the cause.
[from the Shtuey News Network] In response to Hamas' call for the extermination of juice, the Israeli Foreign Ministry released a statement that Israel will not be outdone, and will undertake a program of exterminating all fruit. The Agricultural Ministry advised that this might not be so smart considering that a rather large portion of the Israeli GNP is derived from produce exports. Ehud Olmert responded by scratching himself.
And now it's time for a new Oh...My Valve segment: Wake Up Assholes! (brought to you in Douche-o-Vision).
Like many people I am sick to death of the seemingly unending violence between Israel and the Palestinians. So why don't we all just put down our guns, hold hands, and sing Cumbaya? For those of you who think the supporters of Hamas simply want a homeland in Gaza and the West Bank, WAKE UP ASSHOLES!
What does the sign say? From the River to the Sea? But wait, that would be all of Israel and the West Bank and Gaza. Hmmm...
And you wonder why there's no peace. When you come up with a reason why Israel would negotiate with political bodies that advocate her destruction, you get back to me.
On the other hand, bombing the shit out of Gaza isn't necessarily the smart plan either. I agree with the assertion that it drives ordinary Palestinians into the arms of Hamas. Not too good. So what can we conclude?
Two stupids don't make a smart, and don't make peace either.
Stay tuned folks. Wait 'til you find out why Hamas took power in the first place. You will take a dump. And then you'll piss nails. And then, if you are still in possession of compassionate soul, you'll probably cry.
The Shut the Fuck Up You Pampers Bootlick Massive Waste of our Resources Award goes to Ryan Seacrest of American Idol fame for his invoking of Pampers in Times Square (around minute 2).
Pampers of course was nowhere to be seen to usher in the Year of the Pamp. But the Clintons were, yucking it up and pushing the button on the big new ball. It was nice to see them having a good time considering the bullshit they had to put up with this year.
Sure the economy is tanking, we're shedding jobs, people are hurting, and we're just getting warmed up. Naturally the thing to do is spend millions of dollars on a gigantic crystal ball. Oh great and mighty Times Square Crystal Ball, tell us our future...
Happy 2009....wuh hoo! Enjoy it while you can because after the 20th it's really gonna suck. Fortunately I have installed some new features on the OMV Bus of Shame.
I have installed an industrial strength, all terrain, shock absorbant, warm and comfy, surface to air Hypocrisy Meter. As some of you may recall my last one was rendered inoperative after being blindsided by a Planet Asshat NPR Class battle cruiser, the SS Davidfolkendouche. Sensors show an approaching wave of interstellar doucheness, so I invested what little I didn't give of my shares of World Jewish Conspiracy dividends to Bernie Madoff, in the Douchiak 8000; "the most durable hypocrisy meter in the known universe." At least that's what the guy at the office supply store said.
Also new for 2009, OMV will be embracing the digital age, broadcasting across cyberspace and beyond in hi-def BarackoVision so that you can feel like you are basking in the holy light of Barack Tiberius Waffalo's ignominious aura. OMV BarackoVision viewing goggles can be purchased at your local Phlegm's Consignment Shop for only $19.95. All proceeds will benefit the I Can't Believe People Are That Stupid Institute's pro bono lobotomy program for incorrigible dingdongs. We thank you for your support.
click on the flag if you want to laugh. If the Congress and the Resident don't govern with your consent, put this flag on your website. But someone might call you a domestic terrorist if you do. Ooops!
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