Sometimes, after writing one of my politically incorrect columns, I get e-mail - lots and lots of email. Most times, they arrive after my "dissertations" on how I cannot - no way, no how - understand how the government in Israel continues to kowtow to the American State Department and European Union's demands, acting like a 'banana republic'.



Truly, it amazes me how the same band of old and destructive men continue to call the shots in the Israeli government. Then again, as big as our country is, it is a wonder that the Democrats could not find anybody other than John Kerry to save the party. And how is it that the Republicans could not do any better with what they came up with? We also had slim pickings.



Yet, as bad as our decisions are, and they are sometimes very bad, I sit amazed at the fact that citizens of Israel are not demonstrating by the millions over the appalling lack of leadership that continues to plague them daily among the powers-that-be. Shimon Peres? Good Lord! How are people still listening to him after the fiascoes this man has caused over the decades?



I think it's time to 'get the hook', as they did in the old Vaudeville days, and drag Peres off the international stage before he causes his usual destruction while pretending to be a "statesman". Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Shimon Peres the same man who is the perennial prime minister and holder of various other key positions, yet who has never won an election by the citizens of Israel? Naw, this isn't possible. Is it? Could this be - a man who is appointed by his Likud counterpart, Ariel Sharon, on what seems to be a regular basis from the opposition, to keep the band-aid of unity on Sharon's government? And it is allowed to happen? Truly, I do not understand it (but I know that Israel does not have a written constitution or direct election of government leaders or Knesset members by the people themselves).



Has nobody remembered the thousands of Oslo-related murders of innocent civilians in Israel, and the many more thousands of maimed or wounded Israelis as a result of actions initiated by Peres and his self-serving commentaries? Well, for one thing, the current prime minister, Ariel Sharon, appears to be suffering from dementia and complete loss of memory.



How does it work? It seems that every time the Likud gets into trouble, they do the "appease" dance and rush to bring back the very same politicians who got them into that situation in the first place. Then Labor comes to the rescue, and they both celebrate by re-opening the jails and releasing a couple of hundred terrorists as another 'good-will' gesture.



So, I read and I listen to the news. And, frankly, I was a little surprised to read in the Los Angeles Times a headline that said, "Labor OK's Alliance with Sharon". Ok, that didn't surprise me. They are always sharing these alliances with Sharon. We have all seen them do this dance before. What does surprise me, though, is how there is not more outrage and how these same men keep being voted in or appointed to powerful positions decade after decade. How long are they going to play musical chairs with the same tired old men before letting fresh blood make some of the decisions? And they talk about the old Palestinian leadership?



Now, what do I know? I am just an American interloper sitting in the comfort of my Marina del Rey home watching the same savages on our television who have been bombing and terrorizing the citizens of Israel for years. Silly American me. I actually thought at one time that if a party such as Labor were roundly defeated by the electorate, then that's it. However, that's not how it works in Israel.



From what I understand, only as an outsider mind you, socialism is so entrenched in the culture of Israel that no matter how many times the Likud is actually voted in by the country, Shimon Peres will always be there to pick up the pieces for Sharon. They will never have to worry about having a date for the prom, as they always seem to have each other. The hell with the voters!



Which reminds me, how come nobody notices that though the majority of Sharon's own party voted overwhelmingly against the establishment of a Palestinian state a couple of years ago, and again an over two-thirds majority voted against his unilateral disengagement plan, he is still able to proceed on his merry way?



Hey, what do I, as a tourist, know? It seems to me that refusing to allow your own people the right to go to the polls by way of a referendum - before this disastrous disengagement plan leads you guys to the brink of civil war - might not be the way to go. I don't think that dividing and wounding your constituents is the way to go, other than for the purpose of making a lot of people in my State Department happy.



I know if George W. would wake up one day and say he wants to turn California over to Mexico, we'd need a vote (although, come to think of it, I think that's already happened).



Folks, to me it looks like this is only the first step of a further withdrawal from most of the Jews' ancient land, from Judea and Samaria. I wouldn't be surprised if the next step would be broaching the subject of how Tel Aviv or Haifa is Muslim. Hey, they've already staked a claim to Jerusalem as their capital. And maybe you could move Abraham and the rest of the family to Toledo since Islam has already set Hevron up for destruction - in the name of Allah.



Just a thought now, even though I'm only a 'tourist' from America. I like the fact that the nine million of us Jews who are living like me, outside Israel, have a place to find refuge. In fact, silly as this sounds, I consider myself as an American-born Israeli. Hey, if American Blacks, most of whom have never even set eyes on Africa are called African-Americans, then why not the Jews? And with anti-Semitism at an all-time high, it might be a prudent thing to do. So, shouldn't the million-plus European Jews who are once again facing dangers from Jew-haters have a place to go when the time comes? Does Sharon really have the right to give away to the sworn enemies of the Jews part of their and our home and refuge?



Incidentally, the same article in the LA Times quoted the front-runner in the upcoming election, Mahmoud Abbas: "Arafat will remain the beacon that will lead us in the struggle for the end of the Israeli occupation of our land occupied in 1967, where we will build our independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and by fairly solving the refugee problem, which is the heart of the Palestinian issue." Ain't that grand? I wonder if he thinks anything should be done about the nearly 1 million Jews who were forced out of Muslim nations?



I'm not even very religious, but somehow, it's important to me that the Muslims aren't given a Palestinian state, which is obviously going to be an Islamic springboard to remove what will be left of Israel. But, then, what do I know?