So yes, I might blog or not.

The Israeli peace camp has often called for the release of Barghouti, but the security establishment has strongly opposed it. The 52-year-old, life-long activist is held responsible by Israel for directing many attacks and suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, and he was sentenced in 2004 to five life sentences

And the meme.

No. Actually I see no evidence of this of Israelis moving to the left when it comes to the peace process….if anything, I would suggest Israelis are voting rightwing and becoming far more hawkish, while economically, most Israelis stand firmly on the left – just think of the success of the recent of the housing protests.

I suspect this is the meme is the hope of the last bastion for the Israeli media, who are the last, and greatest concentration of lefties, still left in Israeli society. Mazel Tov with the meme…but it might have more weight; if the organization Barghouti lead (the Tanzim wing of PLO) was not the terrorist recruitment arm for Al Aqsa’s Martyrs’ Brigade. Some of us can still remember the havoc and blood of the intifada.
The Ballad of Oslo’s Children.

This actually explains a great deal about the Toronto Star in general. If the editors cannot be bother to proof the fussy little things like ‘language’ why bother checking the facts…

I can hardly believe I have lived to witness such a miracle, and miraculous it is. The enemies of Israel have rarely returned any Israeli captive – let alone one who is still alive. After six years of captivity that can only be described as cruel and contrary to all established international law concerning the welfare and treatment of captured soldiers, Gilad Shalit has been redeemed out of Egypt.

The price for Shalit’s redemption from captivity was steep and bitter. The ransom has been paid with yesterday’s blood, and possibly, tomorrow’s tears. It is not a deal I would have wanted to be made and it is a deal which has caused controversy and much bitterness within Israel – and inside the Jewish community outside of Israel. But today, in harsh reality of day; we know the price and value of a Jewish life. One Palestinian is worth 1/1027th of a single Jew. I did not set this value on a Palestinian life, and neither did the government of Israel; this is the price the enemies of the Israel have demanded for a single Jewish life. So be it, and let the blood be on their hands.

Everyone and their grandmother has criticized the Israeli government. In an act of irony Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu even wrote a treatise years ago arguing against the negotiation with terrorists or the release of terrorists for any Israeli. And yet, it was the Likud government lead by Netanyahu, who was able to secure the release of Gilad Shalit. There is an old axiom in Israeli politics – Only the Israeli left can make war, only the Israel right can make peace. Only the Israeli right could have paid this bitter ransom..

Those outside of Israel often forget how small the country of Israel is – understandably so – given that Israel often punches above her weight. This smallness, creates an interesting dynamic within the society. Israeli society looks at the soldiers of Israel, as literally their own sons and daughters. There is a connection, a personalization of each soldier of the IDF. There is a ‘parental or family’ type relationship between civilian and military within Israel society so Gilad Shalit was not just the son of Noam and Aviva, but of everyone.

Intrinsic within this relationship is a trust, a sacred trust, between the soldiers of Israel and the people. It translates simply like this; no matter what, one way or another, we will bring you home, alive or dead, we will bring you home. The price for Shalit was bitter, but the sacred promise has been fulfilled and the trust preserved. And this, is far more important than what might possibly come in the future. Many other countries say this to their soldiers, but only Israel, fully lives out this creed.

Ask yourself this; who did Israel exchange for the life of Gilad Shalit? Murders and thugs, and such as these, are not the people to lay the foundation of a great society. This is a society based on infamy and blood which will topple under the weight of its own corruption. Someone explain to me how Israel is the loser of this exchange when the likes and lives of those like Amana Jawad Mona are no longer Israel’s responsibility to clothe and feed? I will take a thousand Gilad Shalits over the likes of her.
(Source: Arutz Sheva)

Even now, the enemies of Israel demand more Israeli soldiers be captured and held hostage for ransom. The truth is, the enemies of Israel, have never stopped trying to capture the treasure of the Israeli nation, but, Baruch haShem, their best efforts to date have resulted in only empty hands.

For the past six years, Gilad Shalit has been held in captivity, for six years, Rosh HaShanah has come and gone without Shalit numbered among us. On Yom Kippur, it is thought that our life and portion for the coming year is sealed in the Book of Life. On this day, it is held lawful to pray with even the greatest transgressors among us in the synagogue, and yet, for five Yom Kippurs; Gilad Shalit has not been counted among our midst.

But even so, for six Yom Kippurs, Adon Olam has written Gilad into the Book of Life and sustained his life against the odds of men. And in this year, 5772, Adon Olam has deemed that Gilad Shalit’s portion of life shall be that he can be counted among his people during the holy days of Sukkot. For those who do not know, after the Babylonian captivity ended, Sukkot was the first sacred holiday observed after the resumption of sacrifices in the Temple.

So it is right and proper that a captive of Israel has been redeemed and returned during Sukkot. For those who question the wisdom of the Israel government, perhaps, it is better to have a little faith in the one who has always sustained us and redeemed us.

The Jerusalem Post:

The Palestinians on Tuesday welcomed as “historic” a decision by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE] to grant the PLO’s parliament-in-exile, the Palestinian National Council [PNC], the status of “Partner for Democracy.” The new status, which is reserved for parliamentarians from countries neighboring the Council of Europe, enables members of the PNC to speak before the PACE assembly and most of its committees.

The Iranians are far more deserving of partnership status than the Palestinians, and at least the Iranians do regularly hold elections – even if the fix is in. Meanwhile the Palestinians are lead by a man whose term of office expired over two years ago and who has post-poned elections – indefinitely.

It is no secret that Sullivan is no fan of Israel, and he hasn’t been for years, if anything his animosity towards the Jewish state is perhaps the closest thing he has actually has in common with traditional American paleo-conservativism. In fact, he animosity towards Israel really reminiscent of the old school wasp attitudes towards Jews in general.

His latest ‘dish’ is a rant against Israel and nature of the relationship the United States has with Israel. While one can be critical of the relationship and even suggest the net benefit of a relationship with Israel carries more negatives than positives (a fact I would disagree with) it does not help to make your case if your argument hinges on misinformation.

For example, and I quote ‘Which ally violates the Non-Proliferation treaty and manages to get its super-power protector to maintain total silence on this glaring fact?’

Israel has never signed the Non-Proliferation treaty – period. Simply put, you cannot violate a treaty if you have never been a party to the treaty.

What a sad day for Canadian politics. I didn’t agree with Layton’s politics (either local or federal) but he was a patriot, and fought the good fight, as he saw fit.

Not much more we can ask of a man than that.

Am I surprised that the US and Canada are singled out as ‘high-cost manufacturing countries’? No, this is the price to be paid for having a standard of living which elevates most of the citizenry from living 12 to a room and having to dump a bucket down a public drain twice a day.

What is galling, is that these companies (especially the automakers), demanded our governments use public funds to help them stave off bankruptcy just a scant few years ago. GM is free to build their cars in whatever country they desire, but when you suck at the public teat, then be prepared to give back.

In GM’s case, the company is mooching off the taxpayers of Canada and the US. Time to end financing and corporate tax breaks for corporate welfare bums who cannot remember where their bread gets buttered. Frankly, the entire board and executive management of GM should be tarred, feathered and run out of North America.

I was a fan, I still am. I mean how can you not like a voice as smooth as cognac or a woman who wears as much eyeliner as Winehouse did? Really now. Unlike others, ‘Rehab’ is not my favourite song. I doubt anyone will ever sing “Me and Mr. Jones” or “You know I am no Good’ like Winehouse did when she was on her mark. The young Winehouse even gave Dinah Washington a run for the money on her version of “Teach me Tonight’.

What surprises me in her death is those who seem compelled to make some cheap remark or express a kind of self-satisfied smugness that Winehouse is dead – presumably from the consequences of her own behaviour. One of the things which is so lost in all the eulogies is not her excesses or addictions but her bi-polarism. The personal excesses, additions and eating disorders are classic symptoms of mental illness and not the cause. I doubt there was a 12 step program in this world which could have saved her.

Modern pharmacology has come a long way since the days of Victorian Bedlam but it still falls so short of being the pancrea for a mind that ails. The body often develops tolerances for the stabilizing drugs used and dosages have to be constantly monitored and adjusted or medication changed with varying degrees of effectiveness. Not to mention the side effects of the drugs are often horrendous in their own right which lands the patient in a special kind of interior hell with little or no hope depending on the degree of affliction.

Mental illness is a terrible thing to behold. I know intimately the struggles people who deal with it in various forms on a daily basis. It touches my family and my friends. In fact, I live surrounded in the downtown core by the excesses of untreated mental illness. While I might smile at sight of an alleged Moses and Jesus duking it out at Dundas Square; there is a terrible battle taking place within the mind of those afflicted for which there is little to no escape – except perhaps in death.

As an artist, Winehouse was a blessing and a gift. Did she squander her gift? That is up to a higher power than me to decided. What I know to be true is simply this; she left two albums of incredible music to be savoured by us. This is two albums more than most of today’s wildly popular recording artists can be said to possess in their entire musical catalogues. The best eulogy of her that I have read to date is Skippy’s. Unlike most of Skippy’s, this time he has not overdosed on an excess of vulgarity.

Baruch Dayan Ha’Emeth