Israellycool

“A wiser feller than myself once said, ’sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar, well, he eats you.’”

- The Stranger, The Big Lebowski

And this Bar needs to eat some humble pie.

Top model Bar Refaeli, who recently granted a less than patriotic interview to Yedioth Ahronoth, slammed Israel yet again in a six-page interview with the British Tatler magazine.

The magazine’s October issue features a smiling Refaeli, although it is unlikely the average Israeli reading her interview will be left with the same expression.

“In Israel, everyone thinks they can touch you. The paparazzi there are very rude and they touch me. In Israel, everyone thinks they can do all sorts of stuff. They feel that the can talk to me, touch me, and say, ‘Hold on a minute,’ and I’ll stop. I’m not comfortable in Israel. I just feel very uncomfortable,” Refaeli told interviewer Camilla Long.

The six-page interview details Refaeli’s instant rise to fame as a model at 8 months. “The baby ads still run today,” the model boasted.

“When I was born, nobody was named ‘Bar’. But my mother was famous, and when I was born, a big article was published featuring my name in large print. Now loads of kids are called ‘Bar’, boys and girls.”

The interview also touched on Rafaeli’s draft-dodging, which she shrugged off, saying she could not enlist because she was sick and hospitalized. She elegantly avoided all mention of her hasty and convenient marriage to a much older family friend, which exempt her from having to enlist to the IDF.

When Long tried coaxing her about it, the Israeli model said, “I’m sick, and that’s how I’m treated? They treated me badly on purpose because I was famous. It was ridiculous.”

Refaeli also took a moment to dismiss compliments granted her by the Israeli public. “Sometimes my mom tells me I was voted number one whatever in Israel. She asks if I’m excited, and I say, ‘No. I really don’t care. Let’s move on.’”

One a positive note, Refaeli pointed out what she did like about her homeland. “I like riding horses and going out to restaurants with friends,” the top model concluded.

I’m surprised she is able to walk the runway, given how far her head is up her own tush.

But not to worry, Bar. You still have your admirers.

Don’t ask.

And still on the subject of modelling and Jews.

In interview with Yedioth Ahronoth, Israeli model Bar Refaeli slams Israel, announces move to Los Angeles, says has no regrets regarding dodging army service.

It all started a while back, when top model Bar Refaeli said she had no intention of bringing more of her famous friends to Israel, and announced she was entertaining the idea of relocating to Los Angeles.

Well, now it’s final. In an interview for a special holiday magazine in Yedioth Ahronoth, Refaeli declared that she was moving to the city of angels.

“It’s easier with the paparazzi in Los Angeles, because they give you more space and don’t push you or touch you. I believe I will never only live in Israel, so Los Angeles will be home at least for the next few years,” Refaeli said.

In her interview, the Israeli model said she was not against army service, even though she never enlisted, having married an acquaintance to evade the draft. The couple was soon divorced.

“I really wanted to serve in the IDF, but I don’t regret not enlisting, because it paid off big time,” she said. “That’s just the way it is, celebrities have other needs. I hope my case has influenced the army.

“Israel or Uganda, what difference does it make? It makes no difference to me. Why is it good to die for our country? What, isn’t it better to live in New York? Why should 18-year-old kids have to die? It’s dumb that people have to die so that I can live in Israel,” Refaeli added.

Yep, she’s all model and no role. I think I would prefer even Boy George representing Israel.

Looks like someone prefers life on the inside.

Mordechai Vanunu, the technician who served 18 years in jail for delivering nuclear secrets to the Sunday Times in 1986, is going back to jail.

On Monday, Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court sentenced him to six months in jail for having committed 14 violations of the restrictions imposed upon him when he was released from prison in April 2004.

The restrictions included an order from the minister of interior prohibiting Vanunu from leaving the country and a series of restrictions from O/C South Ya’ir Naveh, which include an order to inform the authorities 48 hours before changing his address and 24 hours before leaving the area he lives in or deciding to sleep outside his home, and a ban on speaking with foreign citizens before receiving approval from the authorities or participating in Internet chats.

“The state indicted Vanunu not just because he had contacts with foreigners (without carrying out the preliminary procedure of informing the authorities and receiving permission from them) but because he maintained contact with foreigners, which included handing over information relating to his work at the Center for Nuclear Research in the Negev,” wrote Judge Yoel Tzur. “The commander’s orders that are the subject of our hearing were issued to anticipate future dangers. The accused’s deeds, which were listed in detail in the verdict and in the declarations that Vanunu made, led to the conclusion that the possibility that [he will] harm national security is a near certainty.”

What is also a near certainty is the fact that this “whistleblower” won’t really feel like whistling if he drops the soap in the shower.

South African Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils has rejected the comparison between South Africa’s apartheid and Israel’s policies designed to protect her citizens from terrorism.

Believe it or not, he is claiming apartheid was not nearly as bad.

Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils on Thursday accused Israel of conducting a policy against the Palestinians that was “worse” than apartheid.

Speaking on the sidelines of a UN meeting on the situation in the Palestinian territories, Kasrils said South Africa’s townships had never been attacked by helicopter gunships and tanks, in contrast to the military means employed by Israel.

“The analogy between apartheid and Israel’s occupation of Palestine is often made. It is not the same thing. The occupation is absolutely worse,” Kasrils told reporters.

South African based blogger Steve has much more on the Jewish Kasrils.

Meanwhile, I would like to remind Kasrils that despite his outright support for Hamas, as a Jew, he falls under article 7 of the Hamas charter:

“The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.” (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).”

And as far as I can see, there is no “useful tool” exemption clause.

Roseanne Barr’s blog is back online, and with it her warped sense of nonsense. Here she is again with one of her pet topics: Israel-bashing.

I truly believe that millions of jews are not zionists, and that even if they are, they do not support Israeli occupation. I believe that Jews all over this planet choose peace in the middle east over the never ending death machine of hatred and division and terror that exists there now.

I am a kabbalist, as was Jesus Christ…(the one whom I follow). He tells me to seek first the Kingdom inside of my soul, and leave the rest to Him. I must in good conscience speak out against injustice especially when the agents of that injustice invoke God. Some blogger calls me a religious bigot for saying these things, and for saying that it takes lots of ritual abuse of children to turn out a “believer”. Guilty as charged, and ready to burn at the stake if called to.

The woman is obviously suffering from FITH disease. Take this post for example:

I must pause here to apologize to those who came here looking for Roseanne Barr. I can imagine your puzzlement to find me instead. Well, I always was like this, even though you are familiar with another part of me. I am Roseanne Barr, but yet I am also not her. I am the part of her that sneaked around her edges. I was she who is and is not yet, but is now she who became she who is.

It was in Safed that I was cured of my multiple personality disorder, also called Dissociative Identity Disorder. The part of me that would never stop believing that it spoke directly to god, was finally able to take total control of the body. It was not as the psychiatrists wanted, because it was that part that they called “crazy”.

Yep, sounds like she is down to the one personality now..

Given that Barr is quite clearly one red string short of a Kabbalah Center, my only response is courtesy of Walter Sobchak from my favorite movie of all time, The Big Lebowski, played by her former Roseanne co-star John Goodman (language warning).

Michelle Malkin has brought to my attention the vile views of celebrity Roseanne Barr, who not only bashes Israel, but also Judaism.

On being a jew and not supporting israel…
 
I think the zionists made a huge mistake when they factioned the left in germany. They ended up trading jewish lives for land, instead of standing together with the socialist factions that opposed hitler. Zionism was the last nail in the casket of European jewry. The arab’s protection is the only reason any holy site remains in israel. The jews line up to stone women who try to access those sites. I saw it with my own eyes. The arabs do not invade other countries. The israelis do. I am sick of israel and I am sick of zionists. They are propped up by evangelical christians who cannot wait for the arabs to kill them so that their genocidal war god whom they misname jesus can come back.
 
In their twisted logic, the jews call that support for israel. In the christian’s form of suicidal insanity, all the jews need to die in israel so that “/peace/” can be attained there.
 
The koran is the exact same book as the torah and Mohammed is just like Paul of tarses.
 
The jews are raised to be suicide bombers too, and that abusive cult-programming that is done to jewish children, beginning with genital torture, remains strong even after the religion itself is abandoned. There is no israel really, and there will soon be no jews, I fear, unless the promise of the covenant comes to pass.. the covenant states that free thought will allow the jews to abandon their need for separatism, their obsolete and archaic woman hating religion and join the struggle for human rights first, before any other cult indoctrinated group, because the jews will have had access to higher learning and science and therefore give birth to the rational mind therefore transforming religion by re translating the torah into science.

Doesn’t quite sound like the same person who barely three years ago, was seemingly into Judaism, and spoke fondly of visiting Israel.

In the pilot, an apron-clad Barr bustles about her vast kitchen, preparing Friday night dinner for her extended family.

“My spiritual teachings have really helped me to … not strike out, lash out or lose it,” she says while preparing to light Sabbath candles.

The show‚Äôs Emmy Award-winning executive producer, R.J. Cutler (”American High”), noticed her use of Judaism as anger management. “Roseanne is larger than life, almost like a mythic figure, and when she‚Äôs upset, it‚Äôs mythic in a way that makes one think of Zeus,” he said. “Like many people, she‚Äôs on a spiritual path to try to become the best person possible, although she‚Äôd be the first person to tell you she‚Äôs better at it some days than others.”

—-

As Barr rose to the top of the comedy world, she continued her Jewish journey. Even though her mother sent her to church as well as an Orthodox religious school, she says, “I always remained interested in Judaism.” In the early 1990s, she wed husband No. 2, Tom Arnold, a convert to Judaism, in a Jewish ceremony.

On her daytime talk program, “The Roseanne Show,” in 1998, she announced a personal ad seeking “three normal, healthy, Jewish single men” for her three daughters. Then there were her studies at the Kabbalah Centre, which blends Jewish mysticism with self-help spirituality.

Barr started meditating daily and, in 1999, she and Yardeni visited Israel, a trip she regards as “the bat mitzvah I never had.” She immersed herself in an ancient mikvah and wrapped red string around Rachel‚Äôs tomb, which she now wears around her wrist “to remind me to keep my big mouth shut when I‚Äôm ready to say something nasty.”

I’m guessing the string fell off.

Self-positioned poster boy for victimhood of nasty blogger behavior - Richard Silverstein - seems to think acceptable blogger conduct includes modifying reader comments and publishing them in their modified form, without any note as to their modification.

Below is a screenshot of a comment thread on his blog (needed since he could very well change the comments again). At the top is a comment I submitted, which as you can see is awaiting moderation by the author and is not visible to other readers of his site. The comment directly below it is my comment as it was published by Silverstein.

By modifying and then publishing my comment, he is misrepresenting the totality of what I said. And even if you argued that the parts he omitted are not substantial, the mere fact that he omitted them is problematic, and illustrates that he had a problem with them. 

This is just another example of his dishonesty and disregard for “netiquette,” as I pointed out last year:

I have corrected him on a number of occasions, pointing out errors in

his posts. Instead of doing the honest thing and

inserting/acknowledging the corrections via updates to his posts, he

just makes the corrections.

Furthermore, despite the fact that he habitually deletes comments of mine, he makes a point of leaving up the ones in which I pointed out his mistakes. The net result is to render my comments meaningless, since his posts do not contain the error to which I am referring.

By manipulating and modifying reader comments, as well as updating his own posts in a material way without any acknowledgment, he is being patently dishonest in an attempt to advance his arguments.

While I truly find Silverstein’s actual views reprehensible - not to mention poorly argued - it is his right to express them. What really bothers me is the dishonest way he is conducting the discourse, especially hypocritical considering his own gripe with bad blogger conduct.

Why am I bothering posting about this? Because I think it is important that anyone who happens to visit his site and read his posts and accompanying comments know about the inherent dishonesty. I think it also sheds light on how he can so easily espouse the views he does.

Nasty Jewish Lefty blogger Richard Silverstein is revelling in the fact he has been cited in a number of articles regarding his “victimhood.” So much so, that he has become a real-life Obi-Wan Kenobody. Here’s part of a post of his from yesterday:

I don’t know why Jewish wingnuts like Steven Plaut or Rachel Neuwirth taunt me. They only end up making me stronger.

Uncanny.

And the similarities don’t end there.

Nasty blogger Richard Silverstein has been mentioned in the New York Times, in an article on nasty behavior in the blogosphere….as a victim.

Women are not the only targets of nastiness. For the last four years, Richard Silverstein has advocated for Israeli-Palestinian peace on a blog (richardsilverstein.com) that he maintains from Seattle.People who disagree with his politics frequently leave harassing comments on his site. But the situation reached a new low last month, when an anonymous opponent started a blog in Mr. Silverstein’s name that included photos of Mr. Silverstein in a pornographic context.

“I’ve been assaulted and harassed online for four years,” he said. “Most of it I can take in stride. But you just never get used to that level of hatred.”

The joke here is that Silverstein is an example of someone guilty of a similar kind of behavior. In the past, he has accused me of racism and impropriety, and has also tried to start fights with many other blogs. His complaints about having “harassing comments” left on his site ring hollow when you consider the comment he once left on my site:

Here Dave provides further ammunition that the purpose of JIBA is to promote a “pro-Israel” ideological goal. Not to mention that he’s finally cottoned on to the fact that LGF is going to win whatever category he’s in because mediocrity with mass readership is gonna win JIBA every time.All of your readers including Dave himself are welcome to come visit (link to his site removed- ed.) & raise a ruckus as you did last time.

Not really what you would expect from someone sick to death of people “who disagree with his politics frequently leaving harassing comments on his site.”

Silverstein recently complained to Blogger.com about what he refers to as the “Pornographic, Defaming Site.” He is referring to the blog Little Dickie’s Diaper Droppings. While I certainly don’t think any good is achieved with this site, I don’t see how it is “pornographic,” and certainly do not see the “photos of Mr. Silverstein in a pornographic context” mentioned in the NYT article. Unless you count the picture of the child with his head in the toilet. As for “defaming”, Silverstein’s own site has been more guilty of defamation than that one. At any rate, I do not think the blog in question is much worse than the blog that recently referred to me as “is-really-a-tool”, and also accused me of impropriety. But I don’t see my blog mentioned in the NY Times!

By the way, one of Silverstein’s complaints to Blogger.com is this:

Initially, the site also displayed images of me in violation of my copyright rights. Though Blogger has removed those images, the site is deeply invasive of my privacy

Again, very rich coming from someone who posted a photo of me on his blog without permission, using it to poke fun.

Update: Ck says pretty much the same thing. But worth reading for the accompanying picture alone.

Update: Lisa Goldman raises some good points in the comments to the Jewlicious post.

I’m glad you mentioned the article, but I think you skipped over some salient points about the Silverstein mention.1. It is not true that Silverstein advocates for Israeli-Palestinian peace on his blog. Actually, what he does is highlight and link to MSM articles that further his All Evil Israel, All the Time agenda. He has no clue about the real dialogue that’s going on in Israeli society (because he doesn’t live here, perhaps?) and his writing is utterly lacking in balance.

2. It is supremely ironic that he complains of being harassed, given that he has not hesitated to harass me over being excluded from my Global Voices roundups (me: but I write about the Israeli blogosphere and you are not Israeli; RS: I don’t care! I wanna be in the GV roundups! And the fact that you’re excluding me means you’re a right-wing fanatic!).

3. He was never excluded from anything due to his opinions. If he wanted to participate in the JIBs, then he could’ve nominated himself - no-one was stopping him.

4. He is not an important blogger! I mean, putting him in the same article with Blogher, Dooce and Richard Scoble makes me think of that old Sesame Street song about one of these things not belonging. Who reads the guy’s blog besides a few like-minded people? He has never expressed an original idea, nor has he influenced other bloggers.

5. As you point out, he has *never* been civil to anyone who disagreed with him. So who is he to join the clamour for online civility?

For those who don’t know, Lisa is someone who does advocate for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

A few days ago, the group Independent Australian Jewish Voices was launched. Founded by anti-Israel, Jewish “freelance journalist” Antony Loewenstein, the group was inspired by the British group Independent Jewish Voices (or Jews for Genocide, as Melanie Phillips refers to them).

The group set up the following petition:

The Declaration

Statement of Principles: A Call for an Alternative View

We are Jews with diverse opinions on the Middle East who share a deep concern about the current crisis in the region.

We are committed to ensuring a just peace that recognizes the legitimate national aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians with a solution that protects the human rights of all.

We condemn violence by all parties, whether state sanctioned or not. We believe that Israel’s right to exist must be recognized and that Palestinians’ right to a homeland must also be acknowledged.

As Australians we are privileged to live in a democratic state that embodies the principles of tolerance and free speech. We feel there is an urgent need to hear alternative voices that should not be silenced by being labelled disloyal or “self-hating.”

Uncritical allegiance to Israeli government policy does not necessarily serve Israel’s best interests. Our concern for justice and peace in the Middle East is a legitimate opinion and should be met by reasoned argument rather than vilification and intimidation. In particular, we are concerned that the Jewish establishment does not represent the full range of Jewish opinion. Contrary to widespread concerns, anti-Semitism is not fuelled by Jews who publicly disagree with actions of the Jewish State.

Jews understand what it is to suffer racism and victimization and therefore we are not only concerned about anti-Semitism but also the demonisation of all other minorities.

We call upon fellow Jews to join us in supporting free debate to further the prospects of peace, security and human rights in the Middle East.

We invite you to keep informed and add your signature here.

Needless to say, the Australian mainstream media has welcomed this new group which “takes on Jewish lobby.”

I was going to prepare a lengthy critique, but I think Dr Colin Rubenstein, the executive director of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, has essentially done the work for me.

The publicity surrounding the issuing of the “Independent Australian Jewish Voices” statement appears out of all proportion to the petition’s significance. After all, why wouldn’t a community of more than 100,000 include a small percentage who disagree with positions adopted by elected and other representative bodies advocating the viewpoint of the substantial majority?

Of course, the originators and signatories are free to do as they wish, but so are critics from the wider Jewish community free to highlight their flaws and distortions. For example, despite language apparently calling for a two-state solution to satisfy the aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians, the group’s prime movers are on record as being opposed to Israel’s existence, seeking to replace it with yet another Arab-majority political entity. This not only abuses the trust of those who signed the petition in good faith, but also gives the lie to the IAJV claim that it wants to be Israel’s “true friend”.

For instance, initiator Antony Loewenstein says Israel is a “fundamentally undemocratic and colonialist idea from a bygone era” and calls for Israel to be replaced by a “binational state”. Loewenstein is on record not only as accusing Israel of implementing “apartheid-like policies”, but damning all past Israeli leaders as displaying “a disdain and virulent racism towards the Palestinians” and stating that when Israeli leaders publicly declare they want a two-state solution, he doesn’t believe them (here’s one example of his comments- ed).  A number of other signatories, including Sol Salbe, Avigail Abarbanel and Ephraim Nimni, have similar views.

Additionally, the petition’s claim that voices critical of Israel are being “silenced” or subjected to “vilification and intimidation” is absurd. When the petition had garnered less than one-tenth of 1 per cent of the Jewish community it was featured on the front page of The Australian Jewish News, and widely reported in all the broadsheets and on TV and radio. Robust debate about the Middle East occurs all the time in the letters and opinion pages in the Jewish News and at community meetings.

Further, with anti-Semitic violence on the rise globally, it is hardly surprising that many in the community disapprove of untrue claims about “Zionist” control over debate that can be seized on by anti-Jewish conspiracy theorists.

Also, contrary to the implications of the IAJV statement, our community leadership reflects the view of the vast majority of the Australian Jewish community, shared by both the elected Israeli leadership and the majority of the Israeli public, that Israel’s long-term security must ultimately come from a lasting peace based on a democratic Palestinian state co-existing peacefully alongside Israel.

It amazes most of the community that some signatories insist on seeing Israeli policies as solely to blame for the present impasse at a time when the existential threat to Israel has never been more explicit. Among the many facts ignored by IAJV are: that Iran’s leadership, which is building nuclear weapons, says the Holocaust never happened and Israel must be destroyed; the Iranian-funded Palestinian leadership says it can never accept the existence of Israel for religious reasons nor renounce violence as a way to achieve its destruction; and the record of Israel’s commitment to a two-state solution, from Camp David and the Clinton plan in 2000 to unilateral disengagement from Gaza and plans for the same in most of the West Bank.

Additional concerns are raised by the IAJV’s comments condemning equally all “violence”. All violence is to be regretted, but to suggest that any and all Israeli acts of self-defence against rocket attacks, suicide terrorism, kidnappings and other violent war crimes emanating from the Palestinian side are just as condemnable as the original acts is morally blind.

Therefore, there is little sympathy for those who insist it is primarily Israeli policies — rather than Palestinian rejectionism, terrorism and lack of the rule of law, plus the flow of outside support to extremists — that are blocking peace.

Finally, there were some people who signed the statement who have little or no engagement with the Jewish community, but identify themselves as Jewish to deflect criticism when they malign the organised Jewish community and Israel. It is hardly surprising that other members of the Jewish community are annoyed when individuals who have made no effort to contribute to our communal life and institutions complain those institutions do not represent them.

We already have a vigorous debate about the Middle East both in Australia and in the Australian Jewish community. But the thin-skinned plea that one-sided critics of Israel be entitled to special immunity from scrutiny, because this is inanely alleged to constitute censorship, is an attempt to stifle constructive discussion. Joining a debate is not silencing it, and this claim is simply intolerance disguised as victimisation.

Let’s continue to have an empirically based debate on the crucial question of advancing genuine Middle East peace, instead of such fruitless theatrics.

Despite watering down the petition to attract naive lefties,  Loewenstein and Co’s petition has so far only attracted 467 signatures. But that’s including the obviously fake names which are cropping up, such as:

Another fake name made its way in to the petition - Ben Zonar- and the Australian Jewish News (see right) was there to point it out to its readers…and Loewenstein.

I think the point is clear - Loewenstein is not only dishonest about his intentions with the petition, but he is also embarrassingly ignorant.

I would also like to remind you all that he truly is a self-hating Jew. I say this on the basis of comments he made about fellow Jew, comedian Austen Tayshus, and not solely on the basis of his hateful views on Israel.

My debating opponent, “comedian” Austen Tayshus, preferred the tactics of bullying and arrogance. Tayshus served a useful purpose in exemplifying the ugly bigotry of the mainstream Jewish community. On the other hand, sadly, it reinforced very unfavourable opinions that have been created in the wider community - through the 2003 Hanan Ashrawi affair - of the intolerance of many Jews towards dissenting opinions and Palestinian voices of reason. Jews are often their own worst enemies. It also might help if Tayshus didn’t look so much like those awful caricatures we know from the 1930s!

Classy guy.

Update: I’ve found this fabulous picture of Ant. Not sure, though, why he’s making that “L” sign. Hmmm..

Update: An anonymous Israellycool reader has started a worthwhile petition of his own: Australians who Reject Antony Loewenstein

We are Australians, of all religion, colour and creed, who find Antony

Loewenstein completely offensive and are tired of his incessant whining.

We know that Tzipi Livni is a woman, not a man.

We are honest enough to say what we think, and not water down a

petition, concealing our true beliefs to con well-meaning lefties into

signing it.

I encourage you all to sign it.

Update: Speaking of bogus names:

Note: I

realize that this post may actually fuel Loewenstein’s ego, but

I think it is important for those who read about the group and petition

to fully understand Loewenstein’s motives, and not be duped by the

media’s coverage.

Members of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta (no relation to Jimmy) are up to their old tricks, this time meeting with Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not alone, Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah can now also count himself among Neturei Karta’s friends.

On Tuesday six Neturei Karta activists arrived in east Jerusalem to show their support for Salah at his protest tent pitched in the Wadi Joz neighborhood.

During the visit, Israel Hirsch, from the strictly Orthodox Mea Sheraim neighborhood, gave a rallying speech expressing his support for Salah, who also spoke at the meeting.

Earlier this month Salah was arrested at the Mugrabi excavation site after forcibly breaking through the police line guarding the area along with several of his followers. A court slapped him with a restraining order and he has since maintained the required 150 meter (500 feet) distance from the walls of the Old City.

“The Zionists have no right to change Jerusalem,” Hirsch told Ynet on Tuesday. He also said that Salah and his followers greeted the Neturei Karta members “with joy and warmth.”

If this meeting was anything like their meeting with Ahmadinejad in Iran, I am not surprised there was “joy and warmth.” I just hope Hirsch laundered his trousers afterwards.

“Everything we do near the Temple Mount riles the Muslim world against us. The excavations are being done in the name of the Jewish people, but not everyone agrees to this. Not every Jew is a Zionist. We object to these actions and we’re here to convey this message to Muslims,” added Hirsch.

In response to the official standpoint that the motive for constructing the new bridge is a matter of public safety, Hirsch replied: “One must act to save lives, but have the Palestinians do it. The Zionists have no business sticking their noses in this matter.”

And I don’t want to know where the Neturei Karta members have been sticking theirs.

To those of you who were willing to give Rabbi publicity whore Shmuley Boteach the benefit of the doubt after I ripped him a new one in my last post, I dedicate this post to you…

Introducing the Boteach Bobblehead! Only $20!

In case you are wondering, this is not a Photoshop. This is taken straight from Boteach’s site. Just scroll down past the various advertisements for his television show and books, and you’ll see it.

By the way, I don’t think Boteach has grasped the concept of blogging, judging by the “(dictated by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and unseen prior to being sent)” disclaimer on this blog entry. Of course, this isn’t the first time he’s had difficulties with the whole blogging thang.