I have never been a Robert Fisk fan, but he certainly knows our man daffy:
He was a crazy combination of Don Corleone and Donald Duck - The Independent,
I do not have an editor on the blog, and consequently, there are often careless grammatical mistakes to be found in any given post. Generally, I do not even bother to proof-read what I have written since this is a ‘free’ venture and I have only so much available ‘free’ time. In my mind, this is acceptable – given no one pays me, but when your job is ‘editor’ and you are paid for exercising ‘editorial skills’, it is assumed you will exercise your skill set ‘on the job’. Apparently, this isn’t a given for the editors at The Toronto Star.
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…
The Supreme Court of Canada has unanimously upheld a lower court’s ruling that linking to someone else’s website does not constitute defamation.
The top court ruled against former Green party campaign manager Wayne Crookes, who argued that posting links to sites with defamatory statements was the same as publishing the defamatory material.
My only criticism; it took too damn long to hand down a ruling.
Gilad Shalit has returned home.
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.
I realize it is fashionable for the Euroweanies to align themselves with Palestinian ’causes’ but when the Palestinians represent a direct perversion of your organizations core values; it is an act of moral treason to vote them into your organization with the status of ‘partner for Democracy’.
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.
I never really ‘got’ why Andrew Sullivan has a following. He goes completely half-cocked on the strangest tangents – just think his embarrassing public tirades over Sarah Palin’s last child and his demands for pregnancy medical records. He is an alleged conservative pundit who, as far as I have been aware of him, has yet to endorse a Conservative candidacy or even a conservative position. And finally, he has been wrong far more often than he has been right.
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.
Heather Mallick, (yes, I am going to quote the dreaded Heather Mallick) hits on an almost interesting idea. Her latest column is a rant against Toronto Transit Commission’s proposed fee increase and ends with suggestion of making the service free to all citizens of the city.
While I am not down with ‘free’ transit – if only because someone will always have to pay one way or another – someone always does when it’s ‘free’, but Mallick does make a very valid point. Public transit in Toronto is rapidly becoming endangered to the point where only the middle class can afford to ride it with any regularity while the red rocket is speeding by the working poor.
Mallick is getting slaughtered in the comment section by all the ‘free ranging market capitalists’ who have suddenly sprung up in Boss Hog’s Toronto, but what is getting lost in the slaughter is the fact those who regularly commute via car from the outlying suburbs shoulder none of the tax burden for services used. For example, if you live in Pickering, Mississauga or Oakville and commute via car; the roads in the city are plowed for your safety and convenience. It literally does not cost a suburbanite a dime to help maintain the infrastructure a commuter regularly takes advantage of while driving in our city.
Maybe, it is time to end the gravy train and charge a toll at all entrance points into the city of Toronto. I would even go so far as to suggest both entrance and exit tolls be leveled. Entrance or Exit from the city would be approximately the cost of a cash fare of a TTC. The increased revenues could used to continue to subsidize the public transit, maintenance, scheduling and repair of transit infrastructure, and if there is anything left over – put it into maintaining road maintenance.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced on Monday that he has decided to delay the local elections for a third time, without setting a new date. Palestinian democracy has been crippled since the Islamic militant Hamas violently overran Gaza Strip in 2007, forming a rival government to President Abbas’ West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. (Ynet News)
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.
Apparently, Hamas has ‘imposed’ a ceasefire on the Gaza Strip. So far only rockets have rained into Israel today.
But my WTF moment for this morning came courtesy of the Palestinian Authority comments reported in the Toronto Star’s report on the ‘ceasefire’
A spokesman said Abbas’ Palestinian Authority planned to use the renewed violence to bolster its case for statehood at the United Nations next month. “An independent Palestinian state is the remedy for violence,” Husam Zomlot said. “It would control its borders and prevent such deterioration from happening.”
What I really do wish is that someone would ask the Palestinian Authority’s ‘spokesman/men’ how exactly will the PA be able to assert control over Hamastan? Oddly enough, the Associated Press report managed made to make that same point in the next paragraph.
Abbas, who wields limited power in the West Bank under Israel’s overall security control, asserts no such control at this time. Hamas routed his loyalists from Gaza in a violent 2007 takeover, and a reconciliation pact the two sides signed in May has stalled. Hamas, backed by Iran, opposes both peacemaking with Israel and Abbas’ statehood bid.
How very odd of the Associated Press; no doubt an editor feel asleep on the job and all well be back to normal in the next AP report.
