The Day In Israel: Tuesday Feb 9th, 2010
The Iranian Foreign Minister has called Israel a “crazy country run by crazy people.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Manchour Mottaki declared Monday that Israel was now weaker than ever before, adding that it was a “crazy country run by crazy people.”
Mottaki told the Al-Jazeera news agency that Israel was in no position to embark on another military conflict, due to its internal political crisis and its losses over recent years in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
“Israel is a crazy nation run by crazy people,” Mottaki declares. “Therefore, we must prepare for the chance that Israel will do something crazy against everyone in the region ? the Syrians, the Lebanese and the Palestinians.”
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
11:10PM: More glorification of violence on a palestinian children’s show (hat tip: PMW).
Notice how the child host objects to the caller saying “son of a bitch” – not the content of the song.
8:35PM: Earlier this week, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren was heckled while trying to deliver an address at the University of California, Irvine
Eleven people were arrested as Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren was repeatedly interrupted while trying to deliver an address Monday night at the University of California, Irvine.
Oren was speaking about US-Israeli relations and was interrupted nearly a dozen times.
A young man began with the first outburst, yelling, “Michael Oren! Propagating murder is not an expression of free speech!” The man’s yelling was followed by both heavy applause and objections.
The outburst closely resembled part of a statement released by the university’s Muslim Student Union (MSU) prior to and against Oren’s appearance, which said, “As people of conscience, we oppose Michael Oren’s invitation to our campus. Propagating murder is not a responsible expression of free speech.”
It was not clear whether those disturbing the speech were members of the MSU.
After the fourth protester began heckling him, Oren left the podium, surrounded by security. He returned but was repeatedly harassed by students.
Oren took the stage again to complete his address and eventually a large number of those in the audience stood and exited, disrupting him for a final time. They then held demonstrations outside the arena, chanting, “Michael Oren you will see, Palestine will be free.”
The MSU said in its statement, “We strongly condemn the university for cosponsoring, and therefore, inadvertently supporting the ambassador of a state that is condemned by more UN Human Rights Council resolutions than all other countries in the world combined.”
The statement said Israel “massacred” 1,400 people, including 700 women and children.
The MSU further said that “Oren took part in a culture that has no qualms with terrorizing the innocent, killing civilians, demolishing their homes, and illegally occupying their land. Oren is an outspoken supporter of the recent war on Gaza and stands in the way of international law by refusing to cooperate with the United Nation’s Goldstone Report – a fact-finding mission endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council.”
Director of the University’s Political Science department, Professor Mark P. Petracca, chastised the protesters, telling them, “This is beyond embarrassing…this is no way for our undergraduate students to behave. We have an opportunity to hear from a policy maker relevant to one of the most important issues facing this planet and you are preventing not only yourself from hearing him but hundreds of other people in this room and hundreds of other people in an overflow room. Shame on you! This is not an example of free speech.”
Here’s the video.
The hecklers and those applauding them sure looked Muslim to me.
6:28PM: According to the IDF, ISMers such as Bridget Chappell have been disrupting and interfering with IDF operations.
Approximately 50 foreign nationals are currently residing in the West Bank and working together with Palestinian groups to disrupt and interfere with IDF operations, military sources said on Monday.
The High Court of Justice on Monday released two women from Spain and Australia who had been arrested in Ramallah for involvement in the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Troops raided their apartment on Sunday on the grounds that the women had overstayed their tourist visa and were involved in violent anti-Israel protests.
Overnight Monday, IDF troops raided the Ramallah offices of an organization called ‘Stop the Wall,’ which protests the construction of the West Bank security barrier. According to the organization, some 40 of its activists are currently being held by authorities. In January, another ISM activist from the Czech Republic was arrested in the West Bank and deported from Israel.
Defense officials confirmed that the IDF’s Central Command and Judea and Samaria Police, together with the Interior Ministry, have begun cracking down on foreigners engaged in violent anti-Israel activity in recent weeks.
“We do not have a problem with differences of opinions,” one officer said. “But we are forced to act when these activists and nationals participate in protests that are extremely violent and put peoples’ lives at risk.”
According to security officials, ISM has recently increased its activities against the construction of the security barrier and over the summer issued a call to its activists to come to Israel to participate in the protests.
According to the officials, the IDF has noted a growing presence of foreign nationals at the weekly demonstrations in Bil’in, Ni’lin and near the settlement of Neveh Tzuf (Halamish), where a top Palestinian government official was also spotted several weeks ago.
While the IDF is not concerned with the possibility of a third intifada “due to the tight grip it has on the Palestinian territory and the effective crackdown by PA security forces on Hamas infrastructure,” there is concern that the new wave of violence could flare up into a new conflict and undermine diplomatic efforts to restart negotiations.
These activities, plus others such as acting as human shields for terrorists, are the reason I refer to these numbskulls as terror enablers, rather than terror supporters.
4:48PM: Egypt’s soccer coach has indicated he may not be interested in coaching the Israeli soccer team.
At least I think that is what he is saying. He’s rather subtle.
Israel’s soccer world has been abuzz with rumors that Egypt’s coach would soon switch camps to train the national side – until Tuesday, that is, when Hassan Shehata put an end to speculation in the bluntest possible terms.
“I’d rather die of hunger than entertain the possibility of coaching Israel,” he told Egyptian daily al-Masry al-Youm.
Shehata came close to losing his post when Egypt failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
But the 60-year-old manager in January regained hero status among Egyptians when his side overcame Ghana to bring home the African Cup of Nations for a record third year running.
“I can understand Israel’s jealousy of the Egyptian team and its successes,” Shehata was quoted as saying. “But it would be impossible from my perspective to visit Israel or train its team – even if Israel were the only country in the world that wanted to hire me.”
He continued: “How can these Zionists think that I would take on the task of coaching a side that includes murderers of children and pensioners? How could I work to help a team that represents a nation of occupiers?”
The veteran trainer, known in Egypt’s press by his nickname “The Teacher”, now looks set to lead his side’s campaign to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
“From the moment I was born I have been hearing about the Israel that murders Arabs, that bombs, that levels towns and villages – but this is the first time I have heard that Israel plays soccer,” he said.
Wow. He’d rather die of hunger than entertain the possibility of coaching Israel.
Here’s hoping he gets what he wants.
3:38PM: Yet another example of a palestinian work accident which was really an accident at work…as opposed to an explodation of the premature kind.
A cleaner died on Monday in Qalqiliya after falling and hitting his head on the floor at work, his colleague said.
12:55PM: A group of anti-Israel British academics has asked Elton John to cancel his upcoming concert in Israel.
Dear Elton John:
Like much of the world, we think you’re a good bloke. You came out when it was difficult; you admitted your addictions were stronger than you were; you’ve poured money into AIDS research. Oh, and then there’s the music – not bad at all. But we’re struggling to understand why you’re playing in Israel on June 17. You may say you’re not a political person, but does an army dropping white phosphorus on a school building full of children demand a political response? Does walling a million and a half people up in a ghetto and then pounding that ghetto to rubble require a political response from us, or a human one? We think it needs a human response, and we think that by choosing to play in Tel Aviv you’re denying this. You’re behaving as if playing in Israel is morally neutral – but how can it be? How can the cruelties Israel practises against the Palestinians – fundamentally because the Palestinians are there, on Palestinian land, and Israel wants them to go – be morally neutral?
Okay, you turn up in Ramat Gan, and it gets to that ‘Candle in the Wind’ moment, and thousands of lighters flicker – but there won’t be any Palestinians from the Occupied Territories swaying along with the Israelis – the army won’t let them leave their ghettoes.
Please read what Judge Goldstone said about the onslaught on Gaza; what Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have been saying for decades about the crimes committed against the Palestinians. Of course the Israeli state denies it has a case to answer, though it’s knee-deep in ethnic cleansing and land-theft and the endless daily suffocating of Palestinian lives and hopes. Political or not political, when you stand up on that stage in Tel Aviv, you line yourself up with a racist state. Do you want to give them the satisfaction?
Please don’t go.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Haim Bresheeth
Mike Cushman
Professor Steven Rose
Professor Jonathan RosenheadLondon, February 2010
I simply do not have the time to give this letter the thorough fisking it deserves. Suffice to say that Elton may wish to consider his relative likelihood of survival in Israel and the palestinian “ghettoes,” as an openly gay man.
8:55AM: Here’s another photo of terror enabler Bridgette/Bridget Chappell, who I posted about yesterday.
Australian national Bridgette Chappell, right, and Ariadna Jove Marti from Spain, speak after their release from a prison in Ramle, central Israel, Monday, Feb. 8, 2010. The International Solidarity Movement says the two women have been released on bail and have been prohibited from entering the West Bank until their legal status is clarified.They were arrested by the Israeli military in the Palestinian-ruled West Bank town of Ramallah on Sunday for overstaying their visas, but also alleged involvement in violent protests in the West Bank, according to the Israeli military. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
I am not 100% sure, but that looks like the sketch of a gun on her shirt.
About the Author
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.Filed Under: General
Mottaki is living in Cloudcuckooland. I don't notice any political crisis in Israel now that the left is getting put in its place, and losses from Cast Lead were at worst slight. Now, if Mottaki wanted to draw inferences from Israeli casualties caused by traffic and highway accidents, he might be more credible.
Interestringly, the left thinks that Barak made a "deal with the devil", and the right thinks Netanyahu did. After the way Barak is handling the "freeze", I think Netanyahu did, but he can't be absolved from blame. This is really a strange way to build public support.
There's an interesting paragraph in a Financal Times article:
Either those "insiders" want to stoke the "Israel Lobby" frenzy, or they don't care and want to get some cover over the failure of Obama's push. (The third option – that they or Obama actually believe lawmakers would have rejected reform over Israel is the scariest, therefor I choose to exclude it from consideration).
My recent post Electronic commerce: A page is turned
The last line crept in somehow. Click on the name to get to the FT article.
Last line "crept in" due to CommentLuv plugin, which automatically inserts a link to the last blog post of a commenter.
Can't you feel the love?
I'm not sure if you're a fellow American Y.K. but my take on the American electorate is that domestic issues are much more important than foreign affairs. Americans are much more concerned about issues such as health care, unemployment, cost of living and other quality of life issues than they are with peace in the Middle East. I think the Financial Times is on to something here.
Yeah, I know this, but the FT paragraph seemed to suggest that (some Obama people thought) lawmakers would have voted against reform due to Israel, which seems completely illogical to me… Maybe I misread?
My recent post Electronic commerce: A page is turned
The Financial times is British, isn't it? Funny coloured paper? I'm always sceptical about analyses of one country by another.
But at any rate, think of it this way. People in the U.S. are getting more concerned about the economy, and less about health care. Not all of the lawmakers Obama is pushing are so enthusiastic, either. Where they have constituencies to whom Israel is important (parts of New York, and not only the liberal parts, for example), this sort of thing could sway someone one way or the other. Remember, we are talking about individual people, not whole parties.
British academia isn't what it once was. The Labour governments idiotic target of trying to get 50% of high school graduates to attend university has meant a massive slip in the quality of universities and academics. In effect these 'new universities'- mostly former technical colleges; have been flooded with left wing firebrands who are neither smart enough to teach vulnerable youngsters or independent enough in their thinking. They have a natural biased against Israel and no respect for the facts.
As long as the anti-Israel folk (who are not anti-Semites and merely want middle-eastern Jews to die, not all Jews) have to resort to lies to make their point we don't have to worry.
If we are so bad, why is it so difficult to come up with a complaint about Israel that doesn't require lies to be told?
More to the point, why are our taxpayer-funded universities paying people to make war on us? One of the main proponents of the academice boycott is right here.
I have not made up my mind about this, but I think that academic freedom is an experiment that has failed. I think we should consider, very strongly, abolishing tenure. And in the States, I would like to see the people paying the bill (the parents) take charge of the curriculum. A tuition-payers union would be a great thing.
I agree. American colleges too often roll out the red carpet for foreign students while American students get priced out of their higher education. The system is in serious need of an overhaul.
(Just in case I wasn't clear, in the first paragraph "here" means Israel.)
I think America really needs to ban student visas from certain parts of the world, except for persecuted religious minorities (Jews, Christians, and some minority Moslem groups, among others). Too often Jewish students are persecuted by foreign students in American and Canadian universities.
Part of the problem is that for religious minorities a student visa is a very needed way to get to refugee status; Baltimore's vibrant Iranian Jewsih community basically started out as Yeshiva students as Ner Yisrael. The whole thing would need a shift in thinking which is unlikely to happen.
“From the moment I was born I have been hearing about the Israel that murders Arabs, that bombs, that levels towns and villages – but this is the first time I have heard that Israel plays soccer,” he said.
This is very significant. While Egypt has been giving us some help (see Dave's recent pages), their spreading this sort of thing may make the whole thing irrelevant in the long run. Ditto Jordan. And this is also why a Palestinian state may also do more harm than good. It does not seem like such a state will do other than continue to poison its people's hearts against us, only this time we will be much more vulnerable militarily.
As I heard a former general say here, Iran was once a very good friend of ours. Things change. Peace is nice, but it's no substitute for security.
That is similar to something I am starting to ask anti-Israelis more and more:
Do you really think peace will come if all Jewish residents leave the "west bank", "east" Jerusalem, and Golan?
So far I have not heard someone say yes. Usually avoidance. Although I've only asked a few people.
Well, we have at least one person on this site who says this, but he is not anti-Israel.
Yes, I am pro-Israel and I still believe land for peace works better than any other alternative. Israel has made peace with Egypt and Jordan and the peace has held for decades. Syria, while still hostile to Israel, no longer has plans for a military solution to their problems with Israel. I can see the Golan Heights as a demilitarized zone in return for normalized relations with Syria (including their withdrawal of support for anti-Israeli elements in Lebanon such as Hezbollah) East Jerusalem is a tough nut and I don't have a real solution. But then I'm just an American, and a Goy at that! You guys can come up with a solution and we Americans will support a negotiated settlement.
"Land for peace" is essentially a "cash for credit" deal, and unfortunately the Arabs' ran out. As we saw in the last ten years, there's absolutely no risk to the Arabs if they default – instead the U.N. will rush to bail them out and demand more Israeli concession to stimulate a "peace process" (after condemning the Israeli response). By now, many Israelis want to foreclose the entire concept.
Btw, note that the Jordan peace and Syria relative quiet were achieved without significant territorial concession, that "withdrawal of support" is essentially unenforceable**, that "normalization" is completely not in store, and that a Golan deal would be unrecoverable for Israel unlike Egypt or Jordan deals. That said, I don't think it's even close to happening – the Syrian regime needs an external enemy, so they'll always come up with new demands***. I believe Syria overestimates its position significantly, and will find out their chance has gone by the time they actually decide to do a deal.
** e.g. Jordan kept hosting Maashal until Israel made it too embarrassing, but required the release of Yassin from jail. i.e. we were bargaining to release a terrorist with a country we were supposedly at peace with!
*** Assad in an interview with Sy Hersh recently demanded Israel will accept "refugees" from Syria. That was after declaring Israel won't get any "peace" but only a treaty, that Syria will keep its current relations with Iran after any deal and demanding more territory than the Golan proper…
It's still a wonderful question that cant really be defeated by anyone with a brain.
” In effect these ‘new universities’- mostly former technical colleges; have been flooded with left wing firebrands who are neither smart enough to teach vulnerable youngsters or independent enough in their thinking. They have a natural biased against Israel and no respect for the facts.”
Hey, that’s me you are talking about. I teach in a “new” university, and I am right wing, and strongly pro Israel. I have colleagues who agree with me.
I am not a firebrand, but I think I am quite independent in my thinking. I don’t have occasion to discuss politics with the students, however.
Moral – don’t generalise.
Certainly there is no point in generalizing; even our own Haifa University, referred to some as "occupied territory" (I think that's pushing it a bit), has the very pro-Israel Dr. Stephen Plaut. I think he was talking of the majority.
May I ask what you teach? I've seen a study (in the U.S.) in which the more scientific the subject, the less left-wing the professors tended to be. (Generalizing here, of course.)
Good luck, in any case.
Thanks for sharing this video of the disrespectful treatment of Ambassador Oren at UC-Irvine, Dave. As an American, I am angry and embarrassed that a high-ranking official representing the interests of our close ally should be treated this way at an American university. The faculty member was rightly outraged at such behaviour by some in the audience. This is not free speech. This is thuggish behaviour and should not be tolerated. Security was there and acted appropriately (i.e. no violence) but I think the evening was ruined for everyone in the audience and for Ambasador Oren.
Golan is the most possible because we are working with a state, not a bunch of people in 500 militias. The problem is that "dorktator" could easily "allow" miltias to setup shop in Golan and then claim he has no power to stop the militias. Not a prospect I think anyone wants. The Golan border is the one conventional border Israel has left where tanks are still usable.
And so…
I would love to be at such a speech. Unfortunately, I would probably be arrested for assault and battery.
I love that guy that says "You are failing your exams"
Thanks for a pleasant article!