Thursday 20 October 2011

Send the Former IDF Chief Rabbi to jail.

The man has already earned his place in hell but before that he should go to jail.

In reaction to the prisoner swap in which jailed Palestinian murderers were exchanged to free Gilad Shalit, Rontzki, the former chief rabbi of the Israeli armed forces has said that Israeli soldiers should “kill terrorists in their beds”. This would make such people, who according to this revered rabbi “should just be shot, exterminated”, unavailable for future prisoner swaps. “A lot of cases shouldn’t reach court”, instead this religious moral authority explained that the army should rely on the “wisdom of commanders and fighters.”

Had an Arab called for such action against Israelis, Israel would have him in jail for incitement. Israel seems to have different rules when it comes to Jewish terrorists. They are allowed to roam the country, spread hatred and attack Arabs. The Israeli security service – so successful when it comes to finding Palestinian terrorists – finds it very difficult to find perpetrators of Jewish hate crimes against Arabs.

Brigadier General (Res) Rabbi Avihai Rontzki – is a shame to the Jewish people and a disgrace to the State of Israel - save us from any more of his disgusting hatred spewing mouth.

Gilad Shalit and Israel’s Mass Hysteria

He is finally back. It has been reported that 79 per cent of Israel’s population approve of the prisoner exchange.

Not all, but many of the 1027 Palestinian prisoners are murderers, men and women with blood on their hands. Many have made it clear that they do not regret their deeds and many of those released are likely to go back to terrorism. Some Palestinian terrorists who have been released in the past, have gone back and killed again. So why has Netanyahu agreed to this deal?

Natanyahu has previously made it clear that he is against such swaps. He attacked previous governments for agreeing similar exchanges and is ideologically opposed to what he has just done. With this deal, Israel has handed Hamas, with its unwillingness to recognise Israel, its call for the Jewish state to be abolished and for the continued armed struggle against Israel, a coup vis-à-vis the Palestinian Authority run by Mr Abbas which has chosen the non violent route to achieve statehood. It may be that that Mr. Netanyahu wished to do just that: weaken that Palestinian element that does not fit Israel’s view and propaganda. If Hamas gains power in the West Bank in addition to ruling the Gaza Strip, Israel will be able to claim that there is no Palestinian partner for peace. This would suit Netanyahu and his friends and enable them to continue with building of further Jewish settlement in the Occupied Territories.

However, I believe that what really pushed Netanyahu to act against his deep convictions was the Shalit family campaign. Much has been written in the last few days about solidarity in Israeli society as the driving force that generated the deal. I would call it mass hysteria. Well and professionally orchestrated mass hysteria into which the Shalit family has very successfully propelled Israel’s population. Wherever you went, you could not avoid seeing Gilad’s photo, on big road signs, on car stickers, in electronic media in social networks. Calls for the government to pay whatever price to get Gilad back became part of life in Israel. They set up a camp in front of the Prime Minister’s residence, held marches in which wives of senior cabinet members took part, infiltrated every public debate with their propaganda of “Free Gilad Shalit”. This family managed to force Israel’s President, it’s Prime Minister and his wife meet with them, almost at command. Families whose sons were killed in action do not benefit from such attention. This was an amazing, well-oiled marketing operation.

The willingness of parents to turn the world upside down to get their son back is obvious. Yet, the by-product of Shalit’s release is the message given to the Arab world that Israeli society will pay any price to release a prisoner. In their hysteria they did not consider the almost certainty that Israelis will die as direct result of the release of unrepentant murderers. The next murder will turn the same people hysterically to demand action against Hamas. In such actions Israeli soldiers might get killed. This is why the deal was wrong. Hysteria does not lead to good decision-making. Unfortunately, that is how weak and visionless governments function.

Saturday 1 October 2011

Dates for readings from "Ist es noch gut, für unser Land zu sterben?"


Current dates for readings from Ist es noch gut, für unser Land zu sterben?

4 October Frankfurt
6 October Lübeck
17 October Braunschweig
18 October Hamburg


Mrs Merkel – More Pressure, Please!




Earlier this week, at the Berlin book launch of my new book, “Ist es noch gut, für unser Land zu sterben?” I was asked why Israel was stubbornly disregarding the advice of Mrs. Merkel. Indeed, Germany regularly reprimands Israel for building in the Occupied Territories and Israel regularly disregards these lectures.

Two days ago, it was reported that the German Chancellor, Mrs. Merkel, had yet again called Mr Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister and expressed anger” over the approval of 1,100 housing units in the Gilo neighbourhood, an area of Jerusalem that Israel annexed in 1967.

According to the Chancellor's office, Merkel told Netanyahu that the new housing permits "raise doubts over the Israeli government's readiness to begin serious negotiation with the Palestinians.”

I could have done my bit to help the German economy and saved the German taxpayer the price of that phone call. There is nothing to doubt. Mr. Netanyahu and his government represent that part of Israel’s population that wants to hold on to territory and are willing to pay the price of no peace.

Israel is likely to continue with this strategy, as it seems to be bearing fruit. Poisoned fruit, some may say.

Mrs Merkel, more pressure, please!