Three "major' topics were headline news earlier this week. The first was absolutely revolting, dealing with sex allegations against former President Moshe Katzav. Coverage of accusations against Katzav are described almost down to the last detail. It's as if Israel radio and TV news are attempting to compete with porno shows, rated triple X. Disgusting. I would suggest that anyone in Israel with children at home keep an ear out for such sordid details and be ready to turn down the volume real fast. Before the kids start asking for explanations.

The second item is the juicy quote from our illustrious Education Minister, Yuli Tamir, a founder of Peace Now. During a meeting of the Knesset Education Committee, she said to the former Director General of that ministry, Ronit Tirosh: "I'm clearing out the trash and sh-t you left me."
What fine examples from official Israel radio/tv and the Education minister to Israeli children!

The third item making big news is the impending drought. A former Israeli water authority chief, interviewed during the daily radio news program said that one of the repercussions will include empty water faucets. That shook up the country. Especially when he added that a good rainy winter this year will not solve Israel's water deficiency.

However, no one is asking the really important question which is: why isn't there any water. I'm not talking about the technical reasons: no rain, and refusal by the treasury to finance massive construction of desalinization plants. That's the easy side. But what is at the root of the problem?

Observant Jews repeat at least twice daily Kriyat Shema. However we repeat not only Shema Yisrael, HaShem Elokenu, HaShem Echad. We also recite two other paragraphs from the Torah. One of them speaks specifically about rain. If we implement G-d's will, He will reward us with rain. If we don't do as He instructs us, we will suffer droughts.

A story on the TV news seemed to explain why we are drying up. It was not enough that the Israeli government expelled almost 10,000 Jews from Gush Katif. An Arab who worked for a Jewish farmer in Gush Katif filed suit against his former employer because he, the Arab, had lost his job. The official reaction from the SELA authority, supposedly assisting the expellees, was that the compensation granted to the former Gush Katif residents included funds to pay damages to Arabs demanding reparation because they had lost their jobs and that any such court cases were the expellee's problem, not theirs.

In other words, the government expects citizens who were expelled from their homes, who still don't have permanent residences or employment, to pay off terrorists who are today shooting rockets into Israel from Gush Katif, with whatever is left of their compensation. And of course, it doesn't take too much imagination to figure out where most of that money will go.

Corruption takes many shapes and forms. Israel has witnessed more than its share of corrupt politicians, judges, police, prosecutors and others. Most corrupt people are attempting to either get rich/richer or obtain/maintain power.

But there's another type of corruption. I'll call it moral, ethical sleaze. What could be sleazier than telling people evicted from their homes that they have to pay off their terrorist enemies because the government stole their land and employment from them? This is more repulsive than the Katzav affair mentioned above.

Of course, this is not a 'major news story.' After all, who really cares what happens to those 'settlers' who dared 'occupy' Arab land and were rightfully kicked out of their homes, which were subsequently destroyed?

But in my humble opinion, this is why we are in the midst of a major drought. We are doing it to ourselves. We are drying ourselves out.

(Anyone wishing to express a thought or opinion to the Sela Authority can email them at: sela@sela.pmo.gov.il or fax them at: 972-2-6529217)

A unique new idea has been proposed by one Ronen Eidelman: Medinat Weimar, translated into simple English, the State of Weimar.

The idea, espoused at http://medinatweimar.org/ suggests establishment a Jewish state in Thuringia, Germany, with the city of Weimar as its capital.

Interesting, no? I sent in a comment (which was rejected because 'comments has been closed'), saying that I agree 100% that creation of a new state in Germany be established, but not for the Jews, rather for the Arabs. It is supposed to be a beautiful area, with a multitude of natural resources. Let all the Arabs from Israel go over there and dig for oil. We'll stay here and live without the oil.

Besides which, the Germans and Arabs have a long history of cooperation. Amin El-Husseini met with Hitler in Berlin, during which they planned out the 'final solution' which included annihilation of the Jews living in Israel.

If it goes really well maybe the German wax museum with a real-life statue of Hitler will add a figurine of the Mufti too.

Should my idea be rejected, I would suggest a pilot trial period, including Peres (President of the new state) Olmert, (Prime Minister of the new state) and a couple of hundred thousand others, to test out the area. One hundred years would seem to me to be a reasonable amount of time to determine if the Jewish Weimar state has any future.

This morning started off fairly regularly, as Sundays go. A favorite person of mine was coming in to visit.
 
My friends Prof. Rachel Suissa and her husband Erez Urieli have lived for a number of years in Norway, but are both native Israelis. They initiated an organization there called 'the Center against anti-Semitism, which negates much of they slander spoken and written about Jews and Israel in general, and more specifically about places like Hebron. They produce a high-quality publication four times a year, which is distributed in tens of thousands of copies to influential people in Norway and throughout Scandinavia.

Rachel flew in last week for a short visit and this morning drove into Hebron. We had a meeting with a few people here in our offices and met with others she knows here in the community. I also pointed out to her the presence of Israel-hating anarchists who have chosen Hebron as a location to spout their abhorrence of Jews in Hebron.
At about 11:45 we were on our way to grab a bite at the Gutnick Center, next to Ma'arat HaMachpela. We never made it.

About 30 meters from the Ma'ara I drove past a group of what looked to be diplomats, being guided by an Arab. I pulled over the side, stopped the car and got out. Asking who the people were, I was told 'French diplomats.' I approached the head of the group, pulled out a business card, introduced myself, and asked if perhaps I could speak with them too, as to present 'another side' of the story.
 
However, they didn't have time. A soldier there told me, in response to a question, that the Arab was allowed to that point, but no further. I went over to the car to take out my camera in order to record the event and later figure out who our distinguished guests were.
 
As soon as I walked over with the camera a member of the group came over and started waving his hands in the air, trying to block my view to prevent me from photographing. Wherever I went, he went too, and eventually moved his hands from the air to me and to the camera, pushing me, and holding on to my arm and the camera. At one point my glasses went flying, thanks to his active hands.
 
Rachel, see what was transpiring, came over to try to stop him from assaulting me. For her efforts she received an elbow in the stomach and a big push from the Frenchman.
 
I called over to the soldier asking him to notify the police because we had been attacked. When he refused, I continued with the group, on their way to Ma'arat HaMachpela, where I called to a border policeman that I had been attacked, and requested that he prevent to offender from leaving. He did just that and called the police. The attacker was taken to Hebron police headquarters where he was questioned and Rachel and I issued a complaint against him.
 
I don't have names of everyone on the group, except for the French Deputy Consul General in Jerusalem, Alexi LaCour Grandmaison, who was carrying a book in Arabic called "Hebron, the old city."
 
 
But that wasn't the end. Whey I arrived at police headquarters in Kiryat Arba to issue the complaint, I walked into an office where I had been instructed to go. As soon as I walked in an officer with a tag on his shirt identifying him as Ya'akov ben Moshe, began ranting and raving, screaming at me, as if I'd just committed murder. He yelled that he would stop Jewish terrorism in Hebron and that he'd 'take care of me.' When I asked him why he was speaking to me in such a way; after all he hadn't heard my side of the story, he yelled, "I'm the boss here and I'll do whatever I want to do.'
 
After a few minutes of this, including threats against me, he walked out. I followed and asked for his remarks in writing. He started yelling again and screamed at me 'jump…'
 
Rachel and I finally concluded issuing our complaints, however, because the Frenchman holds a diplomatic passport, probably nothing will be done to him.
 
However, I find it sad that foreign diplomats tour Hebron with Arabs, read Arab literature about Hebron, and choose to ignore the Jewish community here in the city. Then again, they are French.
 
So, that's what I did today – all in a day's work.

See photos: http://www.hebron.com/english/article.php?id=409

Next week's headline will almost certainly demand that Israel relinquish Jaffa Street to the Arabs.

The fact that so many terror attacks have occurred on this road, including exploding buses and concluding with today's bulldozer attack is proof that Israeli security forces are incapable of protecting citizens walking or driving on this street. The only possible solution for such a situation is to continue the same policies practiced by the past Israeli governments: If you cannot protect it, abandon it.

Following transfer of Jaffa Street Israel should seriously consider a package deal by which King George Street is also given to the Arabs. After all, who wants to occupy a road named after a British King, and besides which, it's impossible to drive on these roads - the traffic jams are terrible.

It's likely that Neturi Karta will demand equal rights, in which case most of Mea Shearim and Geula will go too.

In the end it's likely that Israel will keep only the Gilo neighborhood in Jerusalem in order to access the tunnel roads leading to Gush Etzion and Hebron. After all, the Jerusalemites will have to have a secure way to escape from the city.

Police confirm overly severe law enforcement against Jews in Hebron

This afternoon, at a meeting of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, the commander of the Hebron regional police force told the MKs that for years the Hebron police have practiced overly severe law enforcement against the city's Jewish residents.

He informed them that Hebron police formed special 'Israeli disturbance squads' to deal with any and all complaints against Jews, even the most minimal, on the level of 'special investigative squads' (Tzacham in Hebrew).

This is the first time that an official representative of the police has confirmed Hebron community complaints that the police practice 'selective law enforcement' in the city.

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The Supreme Court: Continued tours by "Breaking the Silence" in Hebron will be 'conditional on restrained behavior on their part.'

Supreme Court judge Eliyakim Rubenstein yesterday accepted the Hebron Jewish Community's request to participate as a respondent to the petition filed by the extreme left-wing group "Breaking the Silence."

Following a violent demonstration in Hebron on April 25, the Hebron police forbade further tours by "Breaking the Silence' in the city. The group petitioned the Supreme Court, demanding to be allowed to continue 'educational tours' of Hebron. The state prosecutor's office reached an agreement with the police and the group, allowing limited tours in Hebron. The Hebron Jewish Community petitioned the Supreme Court, demanding to participate as a respondent to the left-wing group's petition, while also requesting that the court issue a temporary injunction disallowing implementation of the agreement until the petition was heard in court.

Judge Rubenstein pointed out in his decision that while the petitioners, "Breaking the Silence" claim to be "discharged soldiers who served in Hebron and are presently 'peace activists,' the Hebron Jewish Community, requesting to participate as a respondent, claims that the petitioners are 'provocateurs, whose goal is to incite the Arab population against the Jews, and not educational, as they claim.'

Judge Rubenstein decided not to issued a temporary injunction preventing an agreement reached between the state prosecutor's office and 'breaking the silence' despite the Hebron Jewish community's claim that 'already on 15.6.08 this agreement was violated by the petitioners when they arrived in Hebron without prior knowledge by the police for a tour in the area.' However, he declared that the actualization of the agreement would be conditional on restrained behaviour by the petitioners.

He also said that the Hebron Jewish community is not immune from displaying restraint.

In conclusion Judge Rubenstein set a hearing of petition for the end of October.