I have been wanting to do this for some time now, and what better time than one the first day of the year. (At least according to one calendar).
I want to tell each and every one (well, lets say almost each and every one, but hey, the majority!) of my blog-readers, that I have very much enjoyed the many intelligent comments and e-mails I have received from you during the past year, as well as having enjoyed reading your websites. I do a lot of reading, but I do admit that I am very selective when it comes to what I read. So in other words, I think you are all outstanding represententatives of the Israeli cause.
I would like to pay a little tribute to those of you that I have spent the most time reading.
A Jewish Perspective: A great writer. A Jew, but certainly a true American, who tells things like they are. I hope to read many of your insightful posts this year.
Clarity and Resolve: This man is like an oracle. If you read his blog, you will become smarter. That's just the way it is. Patrick you rock ;)
Geviha: Always the mysterious Geviha Ben Pesisa. I suppose I have wondered more about him than about most others. Very intelligent, but the more you read, the less you know about him. Everything he writes is perfection. Hasidic Gentile: Like the name suggests he is the spiritual non-Jew, seeking answers in Judaism. His website is a mixture of spirituality, and an extraordinary way of sheding light on the Israel-palestine conflict. Israellycool: The first pro-Israel blog I ever read. Don't try to compete with him, he will outblog anyone. I read his page several times a day. His mixture of humor, intelligence and truth is unmatched by anyone (no offense, people). I get frustrated when he goes on blog-breaks. I need to work on that. My Obiter Dicta: A rabbi who teaches Jewish and Talmudic studies. A very intelligent & interesting blog, and a very sweet person, who I am happy to have gotten to know, even if it is only "virtually". Neither Here Nor There: Unusual, intelligent blog, that takes on a variety of things, written by a couple of lovely people. Nice Jewish Boy: The weblog of a Jewish guy from California who writes interesting thoughts about life, Israel and whatever comes to mind. On the Face: Absolutely priceless. Along with Treppenwitz one of the 2 blogs where I spend the longest time reading. It was love at first sight when I first read this blog. I laughed and cried at the same time. The author, Lisa, hypnotizes her readers with her amazing talent and writing skill, and hilarious, sweet, sad and obscure stories about daily life in Israel. Smooth Stone: THE Super Blogger. Smooth is incredible, unbelievably informative and brilliant. How could someone not love Smooth. The Daily Spork: The Spork is a pro-Israel Arab. Need I say more? The Education Wonks: Ed Wonk takes on far more than Israel and palestinians, but he is a very clever & cool guy, with an intelligent, informative and interesting website. Go Wonks! The Pirate's Blog: I used to think that the Pirate was at least not more than mediocre where intelligence is concerned. Perhaps that has to do with the fact that I wasn't particularly impressed with his slogan "no friggin in the riggin". But after having a few discussions with him I've learned that he is actually a very smart guy! Treppenwitz: Words cannot describe how much I love this blogger! I read every single word he has to say slowly, to enjoy his delightful stories properly. David had a gift when it comes to writing, and I am really glad he had chosen to share it with the world. yiddishe-kop: Well Miri, you know I think you're great! I am extremely addicted to this excellent website of a super-cool and exceptionally intellligent young girl from Chicago.
There are also other people I'd like to mention:
Alice: You're cool! You should start a blog. I promise I'll hang out there. Scott in New Zealand:
I don't really know you who are, but you've left intelligent and nice comments on my website, and you're on the other side of the planet (I am not the one who is on the other side of the planet, it is YOU, haha), so don't stop visiting! Jack Schiller: Ok I really have no idea who you are either, and I don't even know if you read this. But you left such a friendly message on my guestmap, and that was sweet, thanks. Adam: You're a smart guy and I like you. You should start a separate blog, a pro-Israel one. I'd read it far more often than I read the one you have now. I lack motivation when it comes to poetry and stuff. The other people on my blogroll:
I do still read you, but not as often, and you certainly wouldn't be on my blogroll if you didn't kick butt. The Israeli who reads my blog around 30-50 times a day: I don't know who you are, but get a life!
And this is acceptable? It must be, because I am certain that it would not take long to find at least a thousand similar examples. For it is a fact that Israel has frequently and repeatedly helped nations that would not only never help Israel, but wish to see Israel destroyed, and the Jewish people with it.
What does the fact that the world condones it actually tell us?
All major media outlets ignore Israel's massive humanitarian aid to South Asia - an indication of a national ethos of caring.
When disaster strikes anywhere in the world, Israelis can be counted on to help. So it's no surprise that within hours of the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the following humanitarian missions all departed from the tiny Jewish state:
IDF rescue team on its way to Sri Lanka
œ The Israeli organization Latet ('To Give') filled a jumbo jet with 18 tons of supplies.
œ A medical team headed by four doctors from Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital arrived in Sri Lanka on Monday night (Dec. 27), carrying medicine and baby food. The doctors specialize in rescue operations, trauma and pediatrics.
œ An IDF rescue team is now on its way to Sri Lanka with 80 tons of aid material, including 10,000 blankets, tents, nylon sheeting and water containers, all contributed by the IDF.
œ A ZAKA rescue-and-recovery team arrived in the disaster areas Monday night, armed with its specialized equipment for identifying bodies.
œ A Health Ministry contingent left for Thailand on Monday night to aid in rescue efforts. The group includes doctors, nurses and four members of the IDF.
œ Israel has also offered its assistance to India \ a search-and-rescue team from the Home Front Command, as well as consignments of food and medicine.
Yet, with the exception of UPI (as of this writing - Tues. 4pm EST), none of the major news outlets have dedicated an article to this remarkable Israeli humanitarian effort. This, despite the fact that the IDF sent all Israel-based journalists a press release Monday evening (Dec. 27), inviting them to the airport to cover the departure of one IDF group.
This is all the more surprising given the fact that the major news agencies have entire teams of reporters in Israel, who submit at least one 'Israel-article' each day.
So what did the Associated Press send out today to its 15,000 subscribing news agencies? A dreary story about the construction of a new IDF base near Jenin. AP sarcastically remarked in this 'news' story that the base's 'elaborate color scheme and landscaping shows that the army is not planning to pull its forces out of the area anytime soon.'
The lack of media interest in this Israeli humanitarian effort means that Israeli benevolence toward other peoples is not fairly conveyed to the western world. Perhaps if it were conveyed, observers would come to understand something else \ that Israel's response to Palestinian violence is also motivated by the highest ethical concern for all human life, and is not (as the media so often portray it) driven by an oppressive, mean-spirited national ethos.
Over 50 thousand people have lost their lives. That's nearly a quarter of Iceland's population. I am incapable of even getting anywhere near understanding the death, sorrow and pain this is causing. Not much to say. I can only pray that it will end. Unfortunately, death tolls are expected to continue rising.
We are experiencing a great tragedy in history. For once, it is not by the hand of human beings.
22 thousand.That's a lot of lives...
The largest part of European tourists that are missing are from Sweden. There are even missing Icelanders. Over 500 missing Israelis. I don't know anybody personally. All I can do is feel horrified, and as usual when a tragedy occurs, feel relieved that "it wasn't me". At least not this time.
Dhimmi Watch and the Qur'ans excellent treatment of dirt.. err women
I've added two new links. The first is Mentalblog, and the second is Dhimmi Watch. It is actually taken from Jihadwatch, but I reckon it deserves its own link here.
For those of you who don't know:
Why Dhimmi Watch?
Dhimmitude is the status that Islamic law, the Sharia, mandates for non-Muslims, primarily Jews and Christians. Dhimmis, "protected people," are free to practice their religion in a Sharia regime, but are made subject to a number of humiliating regulations designed to enforce the Qur'an's command that they "feel themselves subdued" (Sura 9:29). This denial of equality of rights and dignity remains part of the Sharia, and, as such, are part of the law that global jihadists are laboring to impose everywhere, ultimately on the entire human race.
The dhimmi attitude of chastened subservience has entered into Western academic study of Islam, and from there into journalism, textbooks, and the popular discourse. One must not point out the depredations of jihad and dhimmitude; to do so would offend the multiculturalist ethos that prevails everywhere today.
But in this era of global terrorism this silence and distortion has become deadly. Therefore Dhimmi Watch seeks to bring public attention to the plight of the dhimmis, and by doing so, to bring them justice.
The website had several interesting entries posted today, such as:
US Latinas seek answers in Islam; uncomfortable questions ignored
The Christian Science Monitor has a large feature about American Latinas converting to Islam: "US Latinas seek answers in Islam." (Thanks to all who sent this in.) It's easy to see why Jasmine Pinet would find "Hello, Sister" more appealing than "Hey, mami," and not want to be regarded as a sex object. But the idea that the Taliban originated the features of Islam that discriminate against women, and that a return to the Qur'an will help women assert their rights, is laughable.
The Qur'an, after all:
1. Likens a woman to a field (tilth), to be used by a man as he wills: "Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will" (2:223); (well, what am I wasting my life at university for then??).
2. Declares that a woman's testimony is worth half that of a man: "Get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her" (2:282); (Hah! Well we wouldn't use the word "remind" here..).
3. Allows men to marry up to four wives, and have sex with slave girls also: "If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice" (4:3); Oh dear
4. Rules that a son's inheritance should be twice the size of that of a daughter: "Allah (thus) directs you as regards your children's (inheritance): to the male, a portion equal to that of two females" (4:11);
5. Tells husbands to beat their disobedient wives: "Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them" (4:34). Oh well that's only fair! (Yes, sarcasm..).
Geviha was writing about how blogging is lonely, and he asked readers to pin his guest map. At first I thought: Lonely he says. Well there's no need for such negativity! But then I placed my pin on my current location - a 103.000 square km island near the north pole. When I saw the little person representing myself, all alone on that remote island, it startled me a little. Due to the fact that my imaginative head keeps me occupied in a world filled with interesting people, places and things, I suppose I didn't realise how isolated I am.
In 9 days from now I will, in a matter of hours, be transported to another continent. So in a way, isolation is a state of mind. It can be everywhere, I suppose. Or can it?
Hasidic Gentile also placed a pin. He chose to place his pin on Norway. I have no idea why, and I'm still wondering about it.
Perhaps I shall get one of those maps as well. They are quite neat. In the meantime, check out the one on Geviha's site, in the lower right corner.
Update:
I stole Geviha's idea of a guestmap, so please put your pin!
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into villages and seaside resorts across Asia on Sunday, killing more than 5,600 people in six countries.
Tourists, fishermen, homes and cars were swept away by walls of water up to 20 feet high that swept across the Bay of Bengal (search), unleashed by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake centered off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra (search).
In Sri Lanka (search), 1,000 miles west of the epicenter, more than 2,425 people were killed, the prime minister's office said. At least 1,870 died in Indonesia, and 1,130 along the southern coasts of India. At least 198 were confirmed dead in Thailand, 42 in Malaysia and 2 in Bangladesh.
Five Swedish children abducted by their Palestinian father more than six months ago and taken to the Gaza Strip flew back to Sweden for a dramatic Christmas Day reunion with their mother, their family and police said.
The children left from Tel Aviv's international airport and arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, just after 9:30 p.m. (2030 GMT) Friday, their mother, Elizabeth Krantz. They arrived with their father, Ismail Nowajah, in Kungsbacka in southwestern Sweden early Saturday morning.
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Hmm. In the Swedish newspaper "Aftonbladet" the article covering this ended with saying "Och polisen säger sig inte heller ha något polisiärt intresse av fallet eftersom pappan inte längre är misstänkt för något brott", meaning that the police has no further interest in the case since the father is not suspected of any crime. Hello!! Earth to Sweden! The guy kidnapped his kids against their own and their mother's will and held them for half a year, and he's "not "suspected" of a crime"??? Is it me, or does this not sound right?
Something tells me that if I would do such a thing, or somebody from a real country (as opposed to the 2 made up choices of i) never neverland, ii) palestine), we simply wouldn't just get away with it. And more importantly, even if we would get away with it, people would at least acknowledge that we had done something wrong.
I am going to allow myself to say that Ismail Nowajah, like countless other palestinians, is having his crime ignored, "because he's palestinian". Not because people love palestinians. No. Lets not live in denial here. Everybody hates Arabs, C'mon. My grandmother is scared of them. But because they have "issues" with Jews (especially Israelis), they have become the world's darlings, putting their behavior above the law, even in a "civilized" country like Sweden.
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