Imagine a nation that prohibits workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, allows gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, provides domestic-partner benefits in the private and public sectors, recognizes gay adoptions (and gay marriages performed abroad), has LGBT celebrities whose careers haven’t been hurt by their coming out, and saw more than 100,000 people attend its most recent Pride parade—even though the whole country is smaller than the state of New Jersey?

What if I told you that, despite being one of the most pro-gay democracies on Earth, this country is under fire from the gay-activist set?

You may have guessed: I’m talking about Israel—a country that, when it comes to Pride, proves size doesn’t always matter.

—-

Many vocal queer activists are accusing Israel of using its positive record on LGBT rights to divert national and international attention away from Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people. They’ve created a term for this: Pinkwashing.

In the New York Times op-ed “Israel and Pinkwashing,” Jewish lesbian writer and playwright Sarah Schulman defines the term as “a deliberate strategy to conceal the continuing violations of Palestinians’ human rights behind an image of modernity signified by Israeli gay life.”

Pinkwashing is a misleading term because it implies that Israel’s treatment of gays is merely a stunt, which is completely invalid. Are pinkwashing activists really suggesting that the richness and diversity of pro-gay life there is all a conspiracy by the government to distract me from other issues within the region? It would be hard to make up the reality that is gay life in large swaths of Israel.

You really can’t invent a climate of not just tolerance, but acceptance, for the sole sake of propaganda.

If people like Schulman are claiming that progressive attitudes towards the gay community are being used to conceal certain violations against Palestinian people, then they must also accuse Israel of womenwashing (for the rights women have), speechwashing (for freedom of speech), presswashing (freedom of press) and other transgressions.

Each year the Human Rights Campaign applauds Fortune 500 companies that provide benefits to their LGBT employees. Is HRC pinkwashing by not highlighting some questionable practices of Corporate Equality Index honorees like Bank of America and Nike?

In January, members of our LGBT community have been arrested and tortured in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for their sexual identity. Why have we heard so little from these same activists protesting such atrocities?

And how many of them protested Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s  anti-gay statements when he visited New York City?

I have no issue with people criticizing Israel’s policies or treatment of the Palestinians but the Jewish State is singled out more than many other nations. Activists are perpetually dismissing Israel’s record on LGBT rights for the sake of highlighting other issues.

This is wrong.

Israel is held to a standard that no other country has to clear: In the last ten years, the United States went to war with Iraq and Afghanistan and civilian losses there caused by the U.S. military are far higher and have continued longer than any conflict in Israel.  

Read the whole thing.

JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images

[source]

a) 49

b) 56

c) 62

d) 70

e) 81

Answer here.

I wouldn’t have guessed.

Of course, this nice interview is too much for some to bear:

This coming from someone who knows next to nothing about Judaism.

The Azazma Bedouin tribe has kidnapped 17 Egyptian border officers after one of its members was killed trying to sneak into Israel, security sources said Thursday.

The tribe kidnapped 17 border guards of the Central Security Forces during their shift around 4 p.m. Thursday along the Israeli-Egyptian border, the security officials said.

The kidnappers are detaining the guards somewhere in the desert near the border as negotiations continue between the military leadership and sheikhs of the tribe to release them, they said.

When asked why they kidnapped the border guards, the culprits made the cryptic claim that their jeans made them do it.

Which is not surprising considering his conversion to Islam and very anti-Israel views.

Update: It seems I was confused. Cat Power is some female singer I have never heard of.

..who produces music like this:

So I can’t say I’m personally devastated.

And apparently, she’s felt “sick in her spirit” for quite a while.

Cat Power and another person who looks "well educated" on the Middle East

Marshall has been praised for her soulful vocals and raw, minimalist guitar playing. Cat Power’s concert appearances were unconventional and unpredictable for many years, and critics often called her an erratic live act. Marshall faced substance abuse problems which she said affected her performances..

—-

Marshall’s live shows have been known for their unpolished nature, with songs beginning and ending abruptly or blending into one another without clear transitions. She has also cut short performances without explanation. On some occasions this has been put down to her suffering from stage fright and the influence of alcohol.

—-

By the turn of the century, Marshall’s live performances had become erratic and unpredictable, with The New Yorker suggesting, “It is foolhardy to describe a Cat Power event as a concert,” citing “rambling confessions” and “[talking] to a friend’s baby from the stage.” Marshall later attributed this period to a drinking problem, telling HARP magazine in 2006 “I didn’t know I was messed up.” Marshall has admitted abusing alcohol in the past; in a 2006 interview with The New York Times, she declared herself to be sober, which she defined as having had “seven drinks in seven months.”

Following the cancellation of the arranged tour of “The Greatest” album in 2006, Marshall used the hiatus to recover from what she described as a “psychotic break,” brought on by mental exhaustion and alcohol abuse, which had left her feeling suicidal. As part of her recovery, she was admitted to the psychiatric ward at Miami’s Mount Sinai Medical Center but left after a week, stating “being in there wasn’t me.” She later likened the experience to “a pit of hell.” Marshall gave a first person account of her breakdown in an interview for the November 2006 issue of Spin.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am most certainly not mocking mental illness, and I hope Cat Power finds some peace.

She’s just not going to promote it by blaming Israel.

A collection of private photos showing Adolf Hitler looking like a complete tosser has been published.

The album features black and white images of the Nazi leader using expressive hand gestures and unusual poses taken by his personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann.

In one, he is seen raising his fist in the air while in another, he appears to be pointing to an imaginary audience. He is also seen leaning against a tree wearing lederhosen.

The photographs, taken in the late 1920s to show the dictator how he appeared to the German public, were later banned from being published by Hitler for being “beneath one’s dignity”.

But they were published in Hoffmann’s memoirs entitled Hitler was my Friend in the 1950s, which have now been re-issued in English.

Saturday Night Fuhrer?

"Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, Nor Hell a Fuhrer, like a Woman scorn'd"

"I may look like a dumbass in these shorts but mein really kampfy"

"Jew talkin' to me?"

A photo of the "Mossad agent"

An Israeli couple who came to the city on March 3, 2010, will be deported for “suspicious activities”. Shneor Zalman and Yaffa Shenoi came on a multiple-entry visa and rented a house on Rose Street, Fort Kochi, for Rs 50,000 per month, far higher than the market rate.

“Central intelligence got an alert about a covert operation being carried out by suspected Israeli agents after the 26/11 terror attacks in which south Mumbai’s Chabad House came under attack and six Jews, including a Rabbi and his pregnant wife, were killed. A communication was sent to all states and it was our wing in Kerala that traced this couple at Fort Kochi,” an intelligence officer here said.

Indian agencies will question two suspected Israeli agents before they are deported. “We have traced the couple’s financial transactions. Preliminary investigations suggest similar Israelis are camping in various parts of the country,” an official said.

Duo were under lens

In their report, the state intelligence department said a group of people turned up at the couple’s rented house regularly and held meetings.

“These meetings lasted for hours in the night. They were under close surveillance”.

The deportation order was slapped on Zalman and Shenoi last Monday after undercover Kerala Police officers tracked them for a year, questioned them and filed a report to Ernakulam collector P I Sheik Pareeth.

Shneor Zalman, born on September 2, 1984, and Yaffa Shenoi, born on January 27, 1988, entered the country on multiple-entry visas (one of them being AP 2569691). While Zalman’s passport number is 13143659, Shenoi’s is 11665711.

Fort Kochi is a major hub for foreign tourists next to the neighbourhood of Mattancherry, famous for its Jew Town. This is the historical part of town where Jews set up their first trading outpost centuries ago and built the country’s oldest synagogue in 1568.

“A monthly rent of Rs 50,000 is disproportionately high, even in Fort Kochi. This is one of the main factors that made us suspicious,” the intelligence source said. “They have been in the country from March 3, 2010. When their visas expired on March 3 last year, they went out and returned on April 1, 2011 on a new visa.”

When I first read this, I thought it was a sick joke. The Chabad movement has a lot of money and the willingness to spend it to help bring Jews back in the fold. Meetings lasting in to the night would more likely be shiurim or Torah learning sessions. Nothing here smacks of Mossad.

This is of course what Rabbi Shneor Zalman claims. 

Rabbi Shneor Zalman and Yaffa Sheina Bernstein said they were stunned by a story run by the Times of India in which unnamed Indian security officials said they were secret Israeli agents that would soon be deported from the country.

“I was invited here by the Jewish community of Kochi with the full knowledge of local authorities,” said Zalman, a 27-year-old rabbi from Jerusalem. “I have no idea how they got the impression I was part of a Mossad operation.”

He said he and Yaffa Sheina ran an outreach center catering to Jewish travelers in the popular tourist destination as well as to the city’s remaining 50 Jews, part of a once much larger community whose origins date back to the 16th century. Zalman insisted their sole motivation for being in the country was to provide religious services to local members of the Jewish community and had nothing to do with Israel.

 Meanwhile, I received this further information via email:

This relates to a deportation order issued by the District Collector, Ernakulam to Zalman and Shendi Bernstein, who have been living in Cochin, India for the past year and serving as Rabbi at the Cochin Synagogue in Mattancherry. Apparently, the District Collector – the topmost government official in the district – was acting on the report filed by The Foreigners Registration Officer and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Administration & Crimes), Kochi City. The reason cited for the deportation is that they had organized religious activities related to the “Religious Life & belief” at a Synagogue in Mattancherry. The order goes on to state that since there is no special endorsement in their entry visas to do such activities in India, the Foreigners Registration Officer etc.etc. cited above has recommended issuance of a “Quit India” order.

For the uninitiated, the couple in question were granted visas specifically on the request of the tiny Jewish community in Cochin since they have found it had to organize religious services on their own due to the drastic fall in numbers (The entire Jewish community in Kerala now number not more than 20!) The letter requesting the issue of visa to the couple and addressed to the Indian Ambassador in Israel and issued by the Trustees of the Synagogue in Cochin had specifically cited the inability of the community to continue with their religious life here due to the sorry state of their numbers and consequently, the couple were granted visas on two successive years on the same grounds.

While the official account of the events remains thus, there are quite a few “leaks” given to news outlets which paint something entirely different. Malayala Manorama Daily (Kochi Edition), one of the largest selling newspapers in Malayalam – the vernacular language, on the 8th of February 2012 carried a report, which while sticking to the official version, stated in the penultimate and final paragraphs (a rough translation of the same would read as) follows :-

“They have been accused of indulging in witchcraft at their homestay in Fort Nagar, where they used to reside previously.

However, the police refused to confirm the complaints to such effect.”

On 9th February 2012, the same newspaper cited above carried the news of a press release by Mohammed Rejib, State Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) – a Salafist Party whose leadership has been accused of terrorist
links in the past and whose current Chairman is currently in a Bangalore Jail facing charges of terrorism. In the press release he asked for a “comprehensive enquiry into the activities” of the couple.

At the same time the reports coming out in other news outlets were even more fantastic.”The Hindu” – a nationwide daily in India – carried the following report:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article2872561.ece

A small website reported the same story as thus:
http://indiawires.com/7605/news/national/kerala-suspected-spy-couple-from-israel-to-be-deported/

While all this may be attributed to the press running wild with it’s imagination, the sad fact is that Zalman Bernstein and his wife have been ordered out of the country for organizing religious services, the original purpose for which the Synagogue sent him an invitation in the first place. The irony is even more palpable when you come to note that couple were charged with the “crime”, a “trial” was held and a “verdict” was handed out, all without any notice ever being served on the them. Furthermore, the sad fact remains that neither the Synagogue, where the high crime of holding a religious service was
committed, nor it’s office bearers, were not notified of such charges, at any point in time.

The only recourse open to the couple is to file an application before the Collector who has issued the order (The Collector is currently on a personal visit to the US and is not expected to be back for another 5 days. In the meanwhile, his official charge has been handed over to a deputy who is unlikely to take any action in this regard, the bureaucracy in India being what it is. If you happen to be a journalist in the vicinity of Chicago, it would be point of interest to note that the person in question is due to visit a certain facility there as reported in the Deccan Chronicle newspaper
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/kochi/collector-study-us-waste-treatment-tech-626)

The only other option open to the couple – the filing of a Writ of Mandamus in the High Court of the State – is a stiff challenge, since the couple being foreigners will have a tough time proving that they are eligible for the right of due process, open to the citizens of India.

I request you to forward this to your friends/relatives/colleagues so as to generate as much interest as can be done, so that this story will be picked up by the media and the facts of the matter can be brought to light; so that not only the couple, but the entire Jewish community of Cochin can be cleared of the asinine charges levelled against them.

Please help spread the word.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has sent a letter declaring his intent to run for Congress in New Jersey’s newly formed 9th District.

Boteach sent the letter of intent to the offices of the Bergen County Republican Organization by the Jan. 31 deadline but has not decided definitively to run, the New Jersey Jewish Standard reported.

He would face the winner of the Democratic primary between US Reps. Steve Rothman and Bill Pascrell. Two other potential Republican candidates also have submitted letters of intent, according to the PolitickerNJ website.

Boteach told the Jewish Standard that one of the factors that will go into his decision of whether to run will be how much money he can raise for the race. He said he will make up his mind in the next two months.

He told the newspaper that he wants to “bring Jewish values into the political discourse.”

Wasn’t he supposed to supposed to be the next Chief Rabbi of England or something?

In the meantime, his mention of bringing values into the political discourse has inspired me to make a contribution.

 Yeah, I’m not a fan.

Muhammad Al-Mane’i, Sinai Bedouin: There was a time when they would bring us jeans. These pants used to have belts. If you looked at these belts from the front, you’d find a secret compartment, and when you opened it, you would find a magnet inside. When we asked what these magnets were, we were told that they cause sterility.

Interviewer: In other words, it causes infertility.

Muhammad Al-Mane’i: Exactly.

Interviewer: There was a time when these jeans with belts would invade us from Israel, and we used to take the magnets out and chuck them away.

[…]

Interviewer: Israeli products contain lethal poison. You might not feel this poison now, but you will in the future. Israel will remain an enemy lying in wait for Egypt, no matter what happens and regardless of the agreements, because Israel has its eye set on Egypt.

What the Bedouin fails to realize is how Zionist Death Jeans^TM are even more lethal in combination with Zionist Sex Gum.^TM

In any event, I think you’ll agree jeans that not only have the ability to cause infertility, but also the ability to invade people, are pretty impressive.

Diabolical!

It all went down on Twitter after Silverstein saw that Mackey posted the Israeli Iran-themed HOT ad, something Silverstein himself had posted here:

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/01/17/popular-culture-exposes-racism-that-enables-israeli-war-fever/

Notice the sheer arrogance of Silverstein. He expects that a NY Times reporter should 1) know of Silverstein 2) read his blog and 3) have noticed Silverstein’s post. The thought that this was not the case sends him in to a tailspin.

Ironically, the NY Times were the ones who published the infamous article on the lack of civility in the blogosphere, citing Silverstein as a victim!

But using his line of reasoning, Silverstein himself should have cited me when he originally posted the video, since I posted it the day before. And since I know for a fact Silverstein reads my blog on a regular basis, there is actually a strong chance he did pilfer it from Israellycool!

Meanwhile, Silverstein really should consider that chip on his shoulder. Because chances are, the Mossad implanted it there.

(hat tip: Brian of London)