It's not every day that you have a life-changing moment. But there I was, channel-surfing, and out pops Yossi Beilin.
He was on for maybe six seconds; not sure which network it was, Fox, CNN or MSNBC. I can't give it to you verbatim, but the gist was that Israel should not be putting down Yasser Arafat; you know, this business of deporting him or killing him. No, said Beilin, we must raise him up, give him more power.
I punched my remote control to "mute" and switched to an Elvis movie. I sat there with my eyes glazed, my mouth wide open. My wife asked if I felt sick. I said, yes, but no need to rush me to the emergency room just yet. My kids came over and said I suddenly looked dazed, irritable and terrible. Was it Elvis? No, not Elvis, I said. I like Elvis. Elvis is part Jewish.
Is Yossi Beilin Jewish?
As I write this, I have not yet recovered. Is this it? It begins with the bang of Herzl and Jabotinsky and ends with the whimper of Beilin and Peres?
I thought I knew the score, but never imagined it to be that absurd. Beilin opened my eyes. Six seconds was all it took.
We've got them over here, too, but in America we can afford them.
When things get dull around here, we send in the clowns, people like Jane Fonda, Michael Moore and "rabbi" Michael Lerner.
We're so big and strong that even when we lose a war (Vietnam), nobody here can tell the difference. This minute we are fighting two wars. We are killing and being killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Perhaps, by the way, one of our clowns can explain how the Iraqis, whose hatred for us grows by the day, get an 87 billion dollar freebie, while Israel, like a misbehaving child, gets spanked by having its $3 billion "loan" guarantee slashed for the sin of settlements.
So, as we're getting mauled on two Islamic fronts, here's what tops our headlines - the split between Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.
But can Israel afford such frivolity? Can Israel afford to lose a war? Can Israel afford a Beilin, the pied piper of Oslo?
As Beilin seeks more power for Arafat (I still gasp at this), are the headlines in Israel about Demi Moore romancing her boy-toy Ashton Kutcher? I suspect the latest burial tops the news.
Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post and Prof. Steven Plaut, from Haifa, regularly, and brilliantly, give us the real deal on Israel's loony Left. I used to think, ?Naw, can't be that bad!?
That six-second Beilin sound-bite cured me. Now I understand. Bad? It's worse. If Beilin (and that birthday bash for Peres) is any measure, Israel is being run by the dimwits of Chelm.
Do I sound hysterical? Well, here's the problem. There is nothing to watch, nothing to read. I crossed out Peter Jennings 20 years ago. If you don't know why, don't ask. Likewise, I switched off CBS and NBC, where, incidentally, Martin Fletcher did a piece on Gaza, describing the leader of Hamas as a loving "father and grandfather." I can't watch CNN, where I've just learned that Jerrold Kessel is leaving. Who's going to replace him? Logically, Hanan Ashrawi.
What's to read? The New York Times and that character Bennet? The Philadelphia Inquirer? Are you kidding?
Can you imagine the uproar from Pat Buchanan and Robert Novak if Israel were to get a gift of 87 billion dollars? (They resent the three billion for Israel in "loans.")
Here's what I'm doing. I'm turning up the sound on Elvis. He's singing "Heartbreak Hotel." Yes, heartbreak hotel -Beilin's Israel in a nutshell.
He was on for maybe six seconds; not sure which network it was, Fox, CNN or MSNBC. I can't give it to you verbatim, but the gist was that Israel should not be putting down Yasser Arafat; you know, this business of deporting him or killing him. No, said Beilin, we must raise him up, give him more power.
I punched my remote control to "mute" and switched to an Elvis movie. I sat there with my eyes glazed, my mouth wide open. My wife asked if I felt sick. I said, yes, but no need to rush me to the emergency room just yet. My kids came over and said I suddenly looked dazed, irritable and terrible. Was it Elvis? No, not Elvis, I said. I like Elvis. Elvis is part Jewish.
Is Yossi Beilin Jewish?
As I write this, I have not yet recovered. Is this it? It begins with the bang of Herzl and Jabotinsky and ends with the whimper of Beilin and Peres?
I thought I knew the score, but never imagined it to be that absurd. Beilin opened my eyes. Six seconds was all it took.
We've got them over here, too, but in America we can afford them.
When things get dull around here, we send in the clowns, people like Jane Fonda, Michael Moore and "rabbi" Michael Lerner.
We're so big and strong that even when we lose a war (Vietnam), nobody here can tell the difference. This minute we are fighting two wars. We are killing and being killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Perhaps, by the way, one of our clowns can explain how the Iraqis, whose hatred for us grows by the day, get an 87 billion dollar freebie, while Israel, like a misbehaving child, gets spanked by having its $3 billion "loan" guarantee slashed for the sin of settlements.
So, as we're getting mauled on two Islamic fronts, here's what tops our headlines - the split between Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.
But can Israel afford such frivolity? Can Israel afford to lose a war? Can Israel afford a Beilin, the pied piper of Oslo?
As Beilin seeks more power for Arafat (I still gasp at this), are the headlines in Israel about Demi Moore romancing her boy-toy Ashton Kutcher? I suspect the latest burial tops the news.
Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post and Prof. Steven Plaut, from Haifa, regularly, and brilliantly, give us the real deal on Israel's loony Left. I used to think, ?Naw, can't be that bad!?
That six-second Beilin sound-bite cured me. Now I understand. Bad? It's worse. If Beilin (and that birthday bash for Peres) is any measure, Israel is being run by the dimwits of Chelm.
Do I sound hysterical? Well, here's the problem. There is nothing to watch, nothing to read. I crossed out Peter Jennings 20 years ago. If you don't know why, don't ask. Likewise, I switched off CBS and NBC, where, incidentally, Martin Fletcher did a piece on Gaza, describing the leader of Hamas as a loving "father and grandfather." I can't watch CNN, where I've just learned that Jerrold Kessel is leaving. Who's going to replace him? Logically, Hanan Ashrawi.
What's to read? The New York Times and that character Bennet? The Philadelphia Inquirer? Are you kidding?
Can you imagine the uproar from Pat Buchanan and Robert Novak if Israel were to get a gift of 87 billion dollars? (They resent the three billion for Israel in "loans.")
Here's what I'm doing. I'm turning up the sound on Elvis. He's singing "Heartbreak Hotel." Yes, heartbreak hotel -Beilin's Israel in a nutshell.