Children of Hamas
"Bastards", I shouted in a rare display of road rage as a couple of cars ran over a crossing narrowly missing a school child. Then I realized with a small amount of embarrassment and guilt that I had my children in the car. You have to careful what you say around kids, sometimes they don't understand and sometimes they twist what you say. A bit like the BBC. I switched on the radio in time to hear the news. We are all news junkies these days and we listen to or read the news on the hour every hour and all the minutes in between in the hope that someone will announce 'it's all over, the boys are coming home and we are safe at last'. Peace, but not 'Now'
Peace Now! What a great concept. Instant peace in return for, well, an Utopian existence where everybody beats their Kassams into ploughshares in the Garden of Eden. Just add diplomacy, add a little Joseph factor (sell your brothers) and a dash of cut your nose off to spite your face. Perfect. Now we can all sleep at night. I was surprised, no, - amazed, to read that at a recent 'peace immediately' demonstration, there were very few people from the South. You would have thought that those guys, being pounded by missiles, going through the trauma that you and I couldn't even imagine, would be screaming for peace. But no, the demonstrators were mainly made up of middle class Israelis from Tel Aviv. Extraordinary! To all you "embarrassed" Jews
When you come and live in Israel, that comfortable Diaspora fence you have been perched on all those years suddenly disappears. There is no more grey area; you're either for us or against us. It's ironic that such a symbol of security should also be the symbol of indecisiveness. Such is the nature of The Fence. It's easy to criticize Israel from afar, it's easy to be drawn in by the ludicrous political correctness, western liberalism and, in many cases, a sense of extreme embarrassment forced on and often embraced by Jews in the Diaspora. It's easy to shout and scream and criticize, worrying what your non-Jewish neighbors or colleagues may think, becoming the ultimate apologists. It's easy to scream from your comfortable pseudo-ewish ivory towers. What seems to be harder is for you to muster some sense of loyalty and support for your own people (Jews) and your own country ( Israel). (Just a reminder.) And there aren't enough righteous gentiles to save us all. Christmas Jews
This time of year is always steeped in nostalgia. Every Anglo reminisces about the lovely atmosphere during the season of good will, looking at the lights, the dressed up shop windows and the decorated trees. Oh, and those cold winter nights crunching through the snow. Ah happy days! Well, go back then if it was so wonderful. I have nostalgic moments too and then I remember how bloody cold it was, how I was excluded from the office parties because I couldn't eat their food, drink their wine and didn't want to wish every stranger 'Happy Christmas' and kiss some drunk secretary under the mistletoe. Ok, maybe the mistletoe thing... I was more interested in rushing home to light Hanukkah candles and publicize the miracle of how the few vanquished the many, how we stood on the brink of extinction, culturally and religiously, to be saved by an army and leader who knew that the Hellenization of the Jews would have destroyed them just as surely as any holocaust. A light from the darkness of Mumbai
"Let us deal wisely with these people" Pharaoh said, as they cast all the baby boys into the river committing mass murder. But the parents of a little baby boy hid him, only for him to be saved by the kindness of an Egyptian Princess who named him Moshe. Every time I close my eyes I see that little orange ball. I see his messy blonde hair and the sad eyes of a baby boy who has witnessed terror beyond belief. I read all the papers, listened to the news and tried to find some light in the darkness but all I saw were the sad eyes and the orange ball. An unfortunate drop of discrimination
The 7:43 train pulled out of Modi'in Central station. I sat on my seat mildly out of breath after a last second sprint and acrobatic dive saved me from waiting another 25 minutes for the next train. In the UK, when you're on public transport, the idea is to be as anonymous as possible. You don't look at anyone and you certainly don't speak to anybody. In fact, if you say hello or ask an innocent question about changing trains, people look at you with suspicion and you are immediately branded as strange and people will avoid sitting near you. Great, if you're on a packed train. The Apocalypse Appreciation Society
'And Mohammed travelled there unto Babylon and fought the Dragon. After the dragon he fought the fiery snake and so did the apocalypse begin and end on that day'. Now, I am not an expert on the Koran and, to tell the truth, I have never owned nor opened a copy but, after a focused internet search via Wikipedia, I can assure you that the verse above does not appear anywhere. So the passage that I saw stuck to a lamppost is probably fake. More likely the words are lyrics to some thrash metal group. Everyone has a version of the "end of days" and all religions at least agree on one thing - the bad guys will be vanquished and we will all live in peace as long as we are all Christian or Muslim or just accept and pray to one Gd. A bit like a haredi version of Star Wars. No land grab
The fact is that giving up land is a lazy and easy way out. Every other nation on the face of the Earth would fight tooth and nail to keep its borders secure and its territory safe. There is no such thing as painful concessions; they lead to death and destruction. Use history as your lesson. And what applies in the larger scheme of things applies here and now. My daughter looked down, somewhat despondent, somewhat confused and somewhat lost for words. I, on the other hand, had taught her the most important lesson of all, protect what's rightfully yours and remember that appeasement usually returns to bite you on the arse. La salle de bains
The English have a long and well-documented love affair with the French. OK not so much love as mutual understanding. Actually, who am I fooling, it's been a disaster. From the day William the Conqueror waltzed into London and said "I am you're new King and everyone has to eat frogs legs and soufflé", it's been downhill. Especially as most of Northern France was once part of England. Didn't know that, eh? Well read you're history books. Then came Waterloo, Trafalgar and many other battles, but we kicked their behinds every time. In fact the Brits have never lost a significant battle since. They have always bounced back. Today the wars take on different personas; instead of soldiers we have diplomats and French lorry drivers that burn sheep. |
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