Month: April 2002

Under the especially revealing title "Suicidal Lies" (31.3), Thomas Friedman of the New York Times gives his distorted version of Middle East realities. Friedman’s short essay is full of flaws, but since he shouldn’t be taken all too seriously, I won’t bother to address his endlessly recycled legend about the so-called "generous offer" rejected by … Continue reading “Suicidal Truths”

First it was the Pope coming out against Israel’s "humiliation" of the Palestinians, then, a day later, the President of the United States calling on Ariel Sharon to pull back his tanks. But don’t think that Israel’s Amen Corner didn’t see it coming. You gotta give these guys credit: they know when someone is about … Continue reading “The Anti-Americans”

Al Jazeera TV footage showed the bodies of five Palestinian men executed when Israeli soldiers found out where they’d hidden in a building in Ramallah on Sunday. They had feared for their lives and apparently had good reason to do so. Four were shot with a single bullet to the head. One was murdered with … Continue reading “Pogrom In Ramallah”

A rash of particularly vicious anti-Semitic attacks in France – the burning of a synagogue and the beating of a French Jewish couple – has brought condemnation from the government of Lionel Jospin and, notably, from the Palestinian Authority representative in France and the grand mufti of Marseille, Soheib Bencheikh, who denounced “these barbarous acts”:"Our … Continue reading “The Real Anti-Semitism”

As the violence escalates in the Middle East between Israelis and Palestinians, the pressure for intervention by the United States or some other force increases as well. I listen mostly to NPR while driving, but the experts they have on repeat a drumbeat similar to what one gets on the cable and network news. Greta … Continue reading “Middle East Bloodshed: The U.S. Role”

The situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank territories deteriorated into virtually all-out war in the past week, with both sides escalating the rhetoric and the violence. The continued leadership of PLO Chairman Arafat seems doomed. The administration now finds itself in an uncomfortable but familiar role as peacemaker for the Middle East conflict; Presidents from … Continue reading “American Foreign Policy and the Middle East Powder Keg”

Is the statement, ‘America’s position as pre-eminent world power will not last indefinitely’ a truism? That is to say, is this a statement too obviously true to be worth making? It was not blindingly obvious to Nately, Catch-22‘s embodiment of east coast rectitude and privilege. Whilst visiting his whore he was taunted by an old … Continue reading “Nately’s Old Man”

Sorry to disappoint some of my readers: terrorists haven’t got me yet. Yesterday (Saturday) in Tel-Aviv they were close, but no cigar. A minute ago, my parents called from Haifa saying they just survived another attack. “May they move next to your home”, an American reader identifying himself as “Baba” recently wished me. Thank you, … Continue reading “The Auschwitz Logic”

The leering ugliness of the Israelis’ Easter blitzkrieg is darkly illustrated by the news that, having marched into Ramallah, the IDF prepared a special Easter television broadcast for this historically Christian city: "Porn movies and programs in Hebrew are being broadcast by Israeli troops who have taken over three Palestinian television stations of Ramallah, irate … Continue reading “Putting Israel First”