I have for some time now been feeling quite uncomfortable about the somewhat large amount of e-mails I receive from bloggers requesting that I add them to their blogroll. I know that I have offended many people by not doing so, and this is why I would like to do a little explaining.
To begin with, it isn't personal. The fact that I do not add a certain individual to my blogroll does not mean that I dislike the person. I have several real life friends, even close friends, who write weblogs, but are not on my blogroll.
Most importantly, my weblog is a pro-Israel blog. So if a blog isn't pro-Israel, and doesn't deal a great deal with supporting the Israeli cause (not just in the form of links, since I judge by contents), I simply will not be adding it to the blogroll.
If a blog/website however is supportive of Israel, whether it be through political education, telling the truth about life in Israel, or discussing Judaism (which may also be a combination of both of the above, although I also confess that Judaism is of personal interest to me), I am indeed more than willing to link it to my page.
I realise that I am very selective, and I hope that readers will be understanding.
Auschwitz still on my mind. I am not quite sure why, but this photo made me somewhat wet eyed. I suppose it is all the different things the picture represents, although most especially the young people wrapped in the flag of the independent State of Israel, while standing on land that mass murdered their people little more than 50 years ago.
Now this is precisely one of the reasons why I shall never agree with leftists. The logic of "not all palestinian Arabs feel the same way, and should therefore not be judged as a group" simply doesn't persuade me. I mean, c'mon..
Unofficial results in Gaza local elections award Hamas terrorists two-thirds of the seats and give them a giant card for them to play in gaining concessions from the PA's ruling Fatah party.
Fatah is the dominant party in the Palestinian Authority, which recently held presidential elections won by Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), although there were allegations of fraud. In the Gaza elections, Fatah won only 26 out of 117 seats while Hamas won 76, according to preliminary reports, which Fatah discounted.
An Arab survey center's exit polls gave Hamas victory in three of four districts in Gaza. Hamas also showed strength in the recent elections in Samaria in which it won more than a third of local council seats. Thursday's voter turnout in the first-ever Gaza elections was more than 80 per cent,
Hamas supporters paraded with victory chants in the streets of Rafiah, which borders Egypt and has been a major point of transfer of weapons from Egypt through an extensive tunnel system. The elections were in smaller towns and not in Rafiah or Gaza City, which are expected to take place in three months.
A significant Hamas victory was in the Bet Hanoun area in northern Gaza where terrorists have launched dozens of Kassam rockets against Israel. Fatah apparently won in a central Gaza town next to the Jewish community of Netzarim.
The apparent victory for Hamas spells trouble for Abu Mazen, who has been trying to convince the terrorist organization to halt all attacks against Israelis. Hamas has agreed to a "cooling-down" period only on the condition that Israel frees Arab prisoners.
I know I am constantly rubbing the facts up against people's faces. Those of you who are already aware of these things simply must tolerate it, for I believe I will continue as long as there is such a large number of ignoramuses out there (aka "forever").
Did you know?...
...that there were over 60 major terrorist attacks BEFORE Israel gained control of the West Bank and Gaza? Yet 'Palestinians' claim that their justification for terrorism is 'occupation'.
If the Palestinians are allowed a State in the West Bank, they will control the mountains overlooking coastal Israel. This higher ground will allow them to snipe and mortar Israeli population centers and return Israel to the indefensible pre-1967 borders. Over 65% of Israel's citizens live in the strip of land between the West Bank and the Mediterranean.
Who's Targeting Who?
Palestinians
79% Israeli non-combatants
30% Israeli civilian women
4% Israeli children (<12yo)
13% Palestinian casualties killed by Palestinians (accidently) Violating Geneva Conventions
Palestinians:
(a) use children as combatants
(b) place weapons and w. factories amongst civilians
(c) attack civilian Israelis from within civilian (Pal.) areas
(d) bus children to the front lines for use as shields and as firebombers
Israelis
35% Palestinian non-combatants
4% Palestinian civilian women
3% Palestinian children (<12yo)
2% Israeli casualties killed by Israelis (accidently)
Israel's military takes great care to not fire indiscriminately at Palestinians because terrorists largely operate in civilian areas, violating the the Geneva Conventions. The low percentages of Palestinian women and children killed is a testament to this care and discretion.
Today I am extremely pleased indeed. Earlier today I received a letter from the university. At first I thought to myself: Oh dear, an actual letter in paper? Am I in some sort of trouble or something? I thought for a second, and couldn't think of anything I had done wrong. Well besides stealing an occasional toilet paper roll, but that is my protest against the printing quota. And besides, they don't know I do that. Okay so anyway, several months ago, possibly about half a year ago, I asked the head of the Department of Anthropology if I could get a special permission to take Hebrew as part of my studies in Anthropology. The Department of Social Science doesn't permit languages as a "free choice", but I asked for an exception on the ground of "Hebrew's historical importance and uniqueness", as well as the fact that I shall be needing knowledge of Hebrew for my graduate studies.
I didn't think I would get a reply, and I had pretty much decided to bury the idea, until today when I received this letter telling me that The Department of Social Science has concluded that I will be granted a special permission to take Hebrew, if I supply them with evidence that I need knowledge of Hebrew for what I need to study. (Easily done, I just need a letter from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem).
How delightful! I shall be enrolling in Hebrew language studies next week. The University of Iceland only teaches Biblical Hebrew in the department of theology, but it is interesting nevertheless. I doubt that it will be much of a challenge for me, since I already studied modern Hebrew, but at least I'll get to study something I'm interesting in, plus it will look good on my resumé. The only problem is that Hebrew is taught 3 times a week, so I'll be at school all the time. Oh and I have to sign out of Islamic studies since otherwise I'll have too many credits. But that's all right..
Palestinian Media Watch have released a palestinian propaganda video called "Kill a Jew - Go to Heaven". Watch the video: Here (Hat tip: Israel Midnight Café)
But to sum it up, it basically describes how Jews are the scum of the earth, plotting to destroy everything, take over everything, etc etc, and how nobody in the world likes those pigs and monkeys. Oh and, that they should all be killed, of course.
But you know I have to "slightly" disagree on this! I happen to be extremely fond of Jews! But then again, the anti-Jew propaganda is always very easily proven wrong. Another example is also borrowed from Israel Midnight Café (he is doing some super-blogging these days, I'm so hooked on his page). That would be "Iranian Regime Daily Denies Holocaust".
The Tehran Times, a mouthpiece of the Iranian regime, writes of the "exaggerating of the suffering of the Jews" and says "Every year on January 27 the media give wide coverage to the so-called Holocaust."
This reminds of how the theory muslims have about how "no Jews working at the World Trade Center showed up for work that day (9/11)". Nevermind the fact that it's veeeery easy to prove this theory wrong...
I've added a new set of photos to my photo galleries called "Israeli food". I know I've been lazy with this, and I realise that it is possible that not everybody is as fascinated by food as I am. But well, tough luck.
The best thing in the world of blogs these days (*mandatory reading* for any blog addict) are the series Lisa is currently writing called "How Lisa came to Israel". They are long, but what a sheer delight (although depressing at times) reading about the experiences of this talented writer. She has finished 4 parts now, and I am anxiously waiting for part 5.
I don't have a life anymore (not that I did before), thanks to my teachers.
I am taking 18 credits at university (fulltime studies is 15), along with having a part time job. But the reading pressure is ridiculous. I read from the time I wake up until midnight, every day. I take breaks to go online and have something quick to eat, or make coffee. If I will ever become a university teacher I will bear in mind that in ONE 5 credit course (that's the standard), it is too much to read 4 books, 20 articles and write 3 essays! Not to mention the fact that all the reading material is in a foreign language (English), making everything harder, slower and more demanding, since I read at least 5 times slower in English than I do in my native language (Icelandic), along with having to take dictionary breaks. (During my first year at university I took "dictionary breaks" every 5-10 minutes. I mean, how was I supposed to understand words like "dichotomy"? I remember this one time we got to read a book in Icelandic. It was so nice and easy.. And to think that for the native English speaker it's like that all the time! One of my courses is even taught in English, and I think we need special permission to get to do our assignments in Icelandic. This doesn't bother me as much as it might bother many of the other students, since my English is far better than the average. However, I am unable to produce proper, academic text in English. That I can only do in Icelandic. But I suppose I must learn to do so sooner or later.
I wish to point out this article in The Jerusalem Post: Today's Jewish anti-Semites
Here are some bits from it, but I recommend reading the whole article.
In a recent poll, 62 percent of Germans said they were "sick of all the harping on about German crimes against the Jews." Two thirds of Germans said they believe Israel is waging "a war of extermination" against the Palestinians.
Jews often focus their attention on Holocaust sentiment among non-Jews to gauge anti-Semitic feelings. But while feelings about the Holocaust serve as an indicator of general sentiment about Jews, there are other indicators no less important or revealing.
Sensitivity about the Holocaust may tell us what a person feels about Jews, but it may also simply tell us what that person feels about dead Jews.
Today the vast majority of anti-Semites are not calling for Jews to be deported to death camps. They are calling for the destruction of the Jewish state and, as was the case in previous generations, they are seeking out and finding Jews like Karl Marx who share their hatred for the Jewish people and willingly advance their evil agenda.
Such a Jew was found by the British conservative magazine The Spectator in one Anthony Lippman. Lippman is actually an Anglican, not a Jew, but as the child of Jewish Holocaust survivors, he will do.
In a recent article, Lippman writes hypnotically about his mother's sufferings in Auschwitz only to explain that the job of Holocaust survivors and their children is to speak out against... Israel.
ANOTHER such Jew is Tony Judt. Since the start of the Palestinian terror war, Judt, a historian at New York University, has been outspoken in his rejection of Israel's right to exist.
In a series of articles in The New York Review of Books, The Nation and The New Republic, Judt has led the charge in claiming that "the depressing truth is that Israel today is bad for the Jews," and that for Jews to feel good about themselves again Israel must cease to be a Jewish state – that is, Israel must cease to exist.
This perverse line of reasoning, whereby the only way for Jews to be happy is for us to again be powerless, has brought Judt under attack by prominent Jews who have exposed the anti-Semitism inherent in his argumentation.
Judt allows that there has been a rise in anti-Semitism in Europe in recent years, but he blames this on "the policies of Israeli government."
