Wanted: New Leadership

The fact that Israel is desperately in need of some leadership is hardly open to doubt, as the recent wave of corruption scandals and the findings of the Winograd Commission made clear.

But if there is still anyone out there who thinks that the Jewish state is currently being led by intelligent and thoughtful people, consider the following news item.

This morning, Israel Radio reported that the Speaker of the Knesset, Dalia Itzik, has a new proposal to bring about an end to Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza - she suggests bringing in a military force belonging to the Arab League, and stationing them in the area.

When I heard this on the radio, I of course went to check my calendar to see if perhaps this is some sort of Middle Eastern version of an April Fool's Day ruse.

But it isn't. Ms. Itzik is absolutely serious. It doesn't seem to have occurred to her that inviting a large, well-armed Arab military force into Gaza might pose a threat to Israel and its interests, nor does she seem to have considered the fact that Arab League troops are unlikely to risk their lives in order to prevent their fellow Palestinian Arabs from assaulting the Jewish state.

Furthermore, as anyone with even a remote understanding of the region is aware, the Arab League continues to maintain an official economic and trade boycott of the Jewish state, with the aim of damaging the country and denying its legitimacy. Why, then, Ms. Itzik would think it wise to station their troops along Israel's borders is anyone's guess.

If Dalia Itzik's proposal is at all indicative of the kind of strategic thinking that guides our present leadership, then it is no wonder that Israel finds itself in its current predicament.

A Landslide in Damascus!!

what is surprising is that 2.38% of Syrian voters actually had the courage not to vote 'yes' in this farce masquerading as democracy
Well, the results are in, and they are quite surprising.

Syrian President Bashar Assad won a whopping 97.62 percent of the vote in a referendum aimed at "confirming" him for another 7 year term of office as Dictator of Damascus. This was actually an increase from the 97.29 percent that he received 7 years ago when he inherited the throne from his late father, Hafez Assad.

The outcome, of course, was hardly unexpected, as Assad was the only candidate allowed to run. But what is surprising is that 2.38% of Syrian voters actually had the courage not to vote 'yes' in this farce masquerading as democracy.

Speaking to reporters, Syrian Interior Minister Bassam Abdel Majeed said - apparently with a straight face - "This great consensus shows the political maturity of Syria and the brilliance of our democracy and multi-party system."

In fact, what it shows is that Syria remains a backwater of authoritarianism and repression, one that is not worthy of being courted or cultivated (Nancy Pelosi please take note).

Syria is a dangerous dictatorship that has a penchant for stirring up trouble throughout the region, whether it is interfering in Lebanon, allowing fighters to cross into Iraq to join the insurgency, or hosting terror groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Damascus.

And as the results of the referendum make clear, Syria's neighbors aren't the only ones who are chafing under Mr. Assad and his regime.

Apartheid, Saudi style

Just imagine the international outcry that would ensue if Israel were to declare Jerusalem and Tel Aviv off-limits to anyone but Jews.
Or if Italy were to close off Rome to anyone who isn't a member of the Catholic Church.
One can only begin to imagine the fury that would erupt, as the editorial pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post would no doubt lead the charge against such rancid acts of ethnic and religious discrimination.
And yet - it is precisely this kind of prejudice that is being practiced in Saudi Arabia on a daily basis, where Wahabi apartheid bars entry to "infidels" to places such as Mecca and Medina, as I note in the news item I wrote below that appears in today's Jerusalem Post.
Interestingly enough, I checked the US State Department's annual country reports on human rights and religious freedoms, and neither of them even mentions the Saudis' outrageous state-sanctioned policy of segregation.
And these, of course, are the very same Saudis being touted as "moderates" and "allies" of the US and the West. What sheer and utter hypocrisy. 


The Jerusalem Post, May 25, 2007

Saudis Arrest Christian for Entering Mecca
By Michael Freund

Saudi officials have arrested a man in Mecca for being a Christian, saying that the city, which Muslims consider to be holy, is off-limits to non-Muslims.
Nirosh Kamanda, a Sri Lankan Christian, was detained by the Saudi Expatriates Monitoring Committee last week after he started to sell goods outside Mecca's Great Mosque.
After running his fingerprints through a new security system, Saudi police discovered that he was a Christian who had arrived in the country six months earlier to take a job as a truck driver in the city of Dammam. Kamanda had subsequently left his place of work and moved to Mecca.
"The Grand Mosque and the holy city are forbidden to non-Muslims," Col. Suhail Matrafi, head of the department of Expatriates Affairs in Mecca, told the Saudi daily Arab News. "The new fingerprints system is very helpful and will help us a lot to discover the identity of a lot of criminals," he said.
Similar restrictions apply to the Saudi city of Medina. In a section entitled, "Traveler's Information," the Web site of the Saudi Embassy in Washington states that, "Mecca and Medina hold special religious significance and only persons of the Islamic faith are allowed entry."
Highway signs at the entrance to Mecca also direct non-Muslims away from the city's environs.