Originally I wanted this headline: “Prime Minister of Israel to Honor President of Terror.” But I figured it was too long.

The exact headline, from today’s New York Times, runs as follows: “Meeting To Take Place in Palestinian Territories.”

Can this be true? Yes, it’s true.

Miri Eisin (further from the Times) said that such a meeting between Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas, for the first time outside of Jerusalem, was “a possibility.”

Had enough? Too bad. There’s more. Like this from Eisin, who serves as Olmert’s spokeswoman:

“Miss Eisin said a meeting in Palestinian territory would be ‘a gesture of honor’ from Israel.”

That’s right – gesture of honor.

More -- you glutton for punishment? Okay, here’s the rest from Ms. Eisin: This gesture of honor would show that “this is a partnership, not a patron-client relationship.”

Isn’t that special?

Mr. Olmert is (apparently) untroubled by the deadly rockets flying into Israel from Palestinian territories. No problem.

Mr Olmert is (apparently) perfectly all right with the siege of Sderot.

As long as he’s prime minister, 1,400 rockets slamming into Israel is no big deal, just another day at the office.

Too bad about those Israelis already murdered by Kassam rockets from Palestinian territories – but the show must go on.

Anyway, Rabin already set the tone. Those dying Israelis are “sacrifices for peace.” Since Oslo, well over a thousand Israelis have been so sacrificed for this “peace.”

The killing of Israelis and the dying of Israelis continues without let-up, but Mr. Olmert thinks it’s proper to extend a “gesture of honor” to this Holocaust-denier.

Yes, Mr. Olmert is keen to demonstrate that this is a “partnership” between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. That the real partnership is between Mr. Abbas’s Fatah and Hamas – both of which are desirous of destroying Israel, the same gang, the same thugs, but different names – is of no apparent consequence to Mr. Olmert.

As Israelis hide in bomb shelters, as shops are closed, schools are emptied, as Israelis shudder at every siren and flinch at every sound, as Fatah and Hamas have kept not a single promise except to cleanse Israel of Jews, as Israelis fear for their loved ones in the face of this terror, all of it coming from the Palestinian territories, Mr. Olmert approves a meeting in just such a place, with a man named Abbas who presides over it all. Indeed, such a man, such a terrorist in a suit, merits a "gesture of honor."

Is this absurd? Is this obscene?

But yes, and Jacob bowed before Esau.

A caravan of cars set off from Modiin to Sderot on Tuesday. It took us a long time to get there, but the drive normally takes just a bit more than an hour (when you're not in a convoy....).

One hour away from us, there are thousands of Jews under enemy rocket fire. And we worry about.... what?

I experienced what it means to be in Sderot when a Kassam hits and I saw some of the destruction. I visited with an older lady and her neighbor and heard their stories from the front - the front yard, that is: you see, a Palestinian Authority rocket struck the yard in front of their building last week.

When the "Color Red" alert was sounded, we took refuge in Shoshana's dining room. There was a span of 10 seconds - who had time to get to a bomb shelter? - then the rocket slammed into the city. It sounded as if the city itself should have shook, but we only heard the very loud impact. Then the ambulances....

I got a haircut, ate a shwarma, bought some basic supplies for volunteers to distribute, and brought some food to a lady unable or unwilling to venture out to the market.

I left feeling that we had done something - something small, but at least we had not allowed Sderot to remain "over there" and "someone else's problem" in our own minds and for all with whom we share this story.
Stories from the front - the front yard, that is.


Mostly, however, I admit I felt anger - at the enemy, of course, but also at a government that allows its people to live under artillery fire for SIX YEARS and does not put an end to it. I felt frustration, knowing that the same roads we drove on to get to Sderot were plastered with bitter posters saying "Prepare for the coming of the Kassam" in the months leading up to the expulsion of the Jewish towns in Gush Katif. And, like night follows day, the number of Kassams on the western Negev tripled in 2006.

See and read more about our Modiin=Sderot trip in the form of news at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122586 and here http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122582

For those of you who live in Israel - organize your own such "soldiarity shopping convoy" to Sderot. And tell me and the media about it.

For those of you who live overseas, how about arranging a fund to help those who do make the trip down south to purchase supplies and support local Sderot businesses?

The "ALEF" chat list operates under the auspices of the University of Haifa and on the University computer. It is monitored and controlled by Prof. Avraham Oz, a radical anti-Israel extremist and frequent collaborator with Ilan Pappe (see this page about him).

The list was originally set up to be a chat list for leftist Israeli academics. In fact there are almost no Israeli academics who post to it. It has become a chat list for anti-Semites and Neo-Nazis from all over the world. It has hosted longwinded "debates" by anti-Semites on the list who insist that Hitler was in fact innocent with regard to the Holocaust . One ALEF regular is a groupie of David Irving and has published sycophantic letters he wrote to Irving.

In recent days, other members of the list have been posting Holocaust Denial materials. Here is an example (spelling errors left uncorrected):

To : alef@list.haifa.ac.il
Subject : [alef] Italy: Thou Shalt Not Question the "official Holocaust narrative"

From: Miriam Reik (ALEF Regular)

The issue of Holocaust denial gets sillier and sillier. It is silly for the state to try to decide the truth of history--let historians do it--and criminalize any deviations. For the most part, in official circles of historical studies, holocaust denial has been marginalized and making a fuss about it puts it back in the spotlight. Those who believe everything in the official holocaust narrative would therefore be wise to let it be. Even sillier, however, is to regard holocaust deniers as ominous evil spirits so that an entire university has to be shut down upon their approach. Really!--Miriam
A step too far?
John Hooper
May 18, 2007 9:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_hooper/2007/05/a_step_too_far.html
Should Holocaust deniers be prevented from airing their views? And, if so, how far is it right to go in stopping them? The questions arise because of what happened over here on Thursday night in the central Italian university city of Teramo.
Robert Faurisson, a retired academic who has been convicted five times in his native France for denying crimes against humanity, had been invited by a member of the staff to give a lecture. His host is one Claudio Moffa, a professor who run the university's master's programme in Middle Eastern studies.
Moffa was asked by the university authorities to think again. He refused. So the rector, Mauro Mattioli, decided the only thing left was to temporarily shut down the university, which he did.
He said his decision was forced on him by security considerations. In a statement, the university authorities spoke of a "climate of tension that could endanger the safety of students".
Indeed, when Faurisson tried earlier today to speak at a hotel, there were scuffles with protesters and the event was cancelled. However, it is also worth noting that the rector had been given a clear indication by Italy's centre-left government of what was expected of him.
In a letter quoted by La Repubblica, the higher education minister, Fabio Mussi, said "inviting to an Italian campus a figure ... who denies the gravity of the Shoah has no academic merit, but merely bears witness to a mediocre provocation".
For professor Moffa, on the other hand, it is a question of academic and intellectual freedom. His website vaunts a declaration of support for his initiative, signed by more than 20 other Italian academics.
The professor claims that he is not himself a Holocaust denier. But his most recent relevant posting to the site is entitled "Why Faurisson and the 'deniers' convince me more and more".
Picking up on the prison sentence given to David Irving and the various penalties inflicted on his guest, he poses the following question: "Why is ... judicial harassment that smacks of manic obsession necessary if the arguments of Faurisson and Co are indeed 'unfounded'?"
Answers anyone?

Faurisson attacked by Zionist paramilitaries in Italy
By Daniele Scalea

Claudio Moffa, the professor of Afro-Asian history at the Universitא degli Studi of Teramo (Italy) organizes a master's degree named after former ENI's manager Enrico Mattei and dedicated to the Middle East. This year master's lessons took also a taboo theme in European countries: mythologization of the Holocaust and its exploitation by US and Israeli ruling classes for political and financial purposes. Level of master's lecturers and participants is high and their cultural background really various: among others, we could cite Moffa himself, Franco Cardini (famous historian), Massimo Fini (well-known journalist and philosopher), Tiberio Graziani (University of Perugia), Maurizio Blondet (journalist and essayist), Fabio Alberti (manager of a humanitarian NGO working in Iraq and Palestine), Vittorio Dan Segre (professor and former Israeli diplomat), Domenico Losurdo (philosophy professor), Israel Shamir (world-wide well-known reporter and essayist), Giulio Andreotti (former Italian premier), Samir al-Kassir (Syrian ambassador) and Abolfazl Zohrevand (Iranian ambassador). On the wave of master's great success and considering students' interest, Claudio Moffa also decided to invite Robert Faurisson, a controversial French professor who denied that Nazi persecution of Jews during the Second World War reached the quantitative and qualitative levels described by mainstream historiography. According to him, German leaders never ordered a genocide, homicidal gas chamber didn't exist and the number of Jewish victims is very much lower than six millions.
Because of his theories Faurisson was removed from his chair, deprived of pension, criminally prosecuted and subjected to some physical aggressions: nevertheless 78 years-old professor is still fighting for freedom of research in Europe. It's important to say that neither Faurisson nor Moffa have neo-Nazi affections: on the contrary, Claudio Moffa during his youth was active in a far leftist organization.
Invitation of Faurisson caused a lot of complains by Zionist movements and individuals, which yet had seen the Enrico Mattei master's program as "unfriendly" towards Israel. A number of Jewish personalities have signed a petition against freedom of speech, writing that nobody researching the Holocaust could go beyond some "unquestionable facts" (which obviously must be decided by the same petitioners!) and asking academic and political authorities to ban the event. Professor Moffa defended his initiative promoting a counter-petition in favour of freedom of speech, opinion and research (undersigned by hundreds of academicians, students, journalists and common people) and publicly inviting some of the critics to a cross-examination of Faurisson's lecture - but they all have refused.
Italian mainstream media, especially two Italian newspapers (post-communist "L'Unitא" and " la Repubblica", the latter owned by a Jewish billionaire), began an aggressive campaign against professors Moffa and Faurisson; moreover, some extremist Zionist organizations, such as the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, publicly asked the University of Teramo to forbid Faurisson's lecture. Just a few days before the event, in face of Moffa's refusal of cancel the lecture, University's Chancellor decided to close all buildings and rooms connected to Political Science Department. Even the Italian minister of university and research Fabio Mussi took side against Faurisson's lecture, but Claudio Moffa courageously didn't surrender and moved the event into a hotel in Teramo.
May 18th, professor Faurisson arrived at Teramo and, before the lecture, he gave a press conference in front of the hotel. But, just a few minutes after the end of the press conference, a small group of Zionist hooligans tried to attack the elderly French researcher. He was saved by the promptly reaction of professor Moffa and other onlookers. After that, Zionist riff-raff engaged in a brawl with some onlookers and policemen, injuring vice-chief constable Gennaro Capasso (a clavicle's fracture for him). Teramo's Chief Constable, rather than defend some quiet citizens from just 50 criminals, obliged Moffa and Faurisson to cancel the lecture and leave the county under escort.
But who were the attackers? They are some middle-aged Jews from Rome, members of the LED, (Lega Ebraica di Difesa), Italian branch of the J.D.L. ("Jewish Defense League") founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane. That organization supply paramilitary training to his members (some even volunteer in Tsahal, the Israeli army) and "guard" Jewish areas in Rome. LED actions are not only "defensive": often they physically attacked persons whose only "fault" is to have criticized Israeli politics. For example, in 1992 LED paramilitaries (armed with iron bars and revolvers) assaulted the office of a small right-wing political party, the Movimento Politico, literally destroying both office and party. In 1995 LED members attacked supporters of a Jesi basketball team who had insulted a Jewish player. In 1996, after absolution of an elderly former SS officer, Jewish paramilitaries surrounded the Military Tribunal of Rome, taking in hostage judges and attorneys until Italian Minister of Justice, with an unconstitutional decision, cancelled tribunal's sentence and ordered to re-arrest the accused. From 2002, LED has being responsible for a number of aggressions against leftist pro-Palestine militants. All those crimes remained unpunished. LED is not isolated among Italian Jews: Riccardo Pacifici, alleged leader of LED, is vice-president of Rome's Jewish community. The day after aggression, interviewed by an Italian newspaper, he not only refused to condemn the violence but also asked for removal of professor Moffa from his chair. In response, Claudio Moffa has started to organize the next year master's program. Moreover, it has been constituted a "Committee Against Repression of Freedom of Speech and Thinking" which is promoting a new appeal .
<>Daniele Scalea

The IDF has publicly informed all Hamas terrorists how to activate an anti-IDF force field that is more powerful even than the one around the starship Enterprise. That force field would inevitably fail in every other episode of the Star Trek television show, only to be repaired in the nick of time by Chief Engineer Scott.

But the force field that the IDF spokesperson granted to the Hamastanian enemy is infinitely more reliable and effective.

As reported by my colleagues at Israel National News.com: "Following a missile hit in the vicinity of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's home in the Shati neighborhood of Gaza City, an IDF spokeswoman said that 'Haniyeh’s home definitely was not the target.'"

"Definitely." That little word says so much. It says, "Oh no. We would never even think of harming Haniyeh or his lovely house! Oh, no, no, no. Don't be silly."

So now, much like in the story of the Biblical Noah, any animal will know that he or she can find refuge in the "ark" of Haniyeh's home.

They "cloak themselves"? Like the Romulans?

I understand that Haniyeh's wife is to start renting beds on the second floor of her house to wanted terrorists seeking a rest from a hard day of shelling Sderot schools. Maybe it will become the new Arafat-style Mukata. Remember that? It was the "headquarters" where wanted PA terrorists hid out with their PLO Godfather, enjoying his beta-version anti-IDF force field.

But if a Palestinian Authority terrorist is not fortunate enough to live near Ismail Haniyeh or the Mukata, he can always grab any child within reach and go on with his business appointments completely unmolested (which is generally less than can be said for the child). This method apparently works wonders for keeping those pesky IDF helicopter gunships away.

As reported in the Jerusalem Post last year, the PA terrorists "'cloak' themselves in women and children and families. There can be a situation where for days we know a terrorist is in a certain place and we don't attack him... We feel that he's in a place that could be problematic. There are at least 10 operations we don't carry out for every one that we do," [Israeli Air Force Chief Eliezer Shkedy] said.

They "cloak themselves"? Like the Romulans, also from Star Trek?

The difference between Star Trek and life in the Middle East, of course, is that one is filled with bizarre creatures in outlandish costumes who are constantly threatening the future of the universe, and the other is a TV show.

 

The Labor Party primaries are coming up.  At the moment there are only three contenders left running to head what is Left of the once dominant party in what had been a One-Party Israeli State.

The three who remain include Amir Peretz, whose chances of getting elected are about the same as those of Dennis Kucinich.  After last summer's fiascos, the public understands that Peretz is incapable of properly managing a felafel stand or of tying his own shoes.

The other two contenders are Ehud Barak, who was Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001, and Ami Ayalon.  Ayalon is slightly ahead in the polls.  Ayalon is basically a bald Yossi Beilin and his preferred policies and platform are simply Uri-Avnery-Lite. 

So from the point of view of Israel's survival, which of the three is the contender whose victory in the primaries would be the most beneficial?

The answer is clearly Ehud Barak.

Huh, you say!   How can that be?  After all, Ehud Barak personally dropped 4000 katyusha rockets on northern Israel this past summer!

Well, if you are going to answer your own questions, you don't need me.

Of course, Barak dropped 4000 rockets on northern Israel this past summer, some not very far from me.  That is why it would be good if he were to win the Labor primaries!  The public KNOWS that those missiles landed in northern Israel all because of Barak's cowardly unilateral capitulation to the Hizbollah in 2000.   So with Barak as head of the rump Labor Party, any leader of the Likud or of a post-Olmert Kadima could easily defeat the Labor Party!  Labor would pass into history as a curious anachronism, sort of like the Whig Party.

In contrast, Ayalon would be the new boy on the block and that might protect him from the public's contempt for the Labor Party.  Of course, Amir Peretz is hated even more so than Barak and is regarded as much stupider than Barak.  So his winning the primaries would also be good for Israel, by producing the demolition of the Labor Party.  But that seems unlikely to happen.