The President Who Cried Wolf

In hindsight, going to war in Iraq was a grave mistake. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. There's nothing new or groundbreaking about that statement.

Now the world is abuzz with talk of Iran developing nuclear weapons. A lot of people feel like this is deja vu all over again, and in a way they are right. President Bush and most of the presidential candidates seem to be on a war footing with Iran, but people don't believe the WMD argument anymore. Bush used it up in 2003 and it turned out to be false. Why believe in the Iranian nuclear threat this time around?

I believe Iran is developing nuclear weapons. I admit I believed the same thing about Iraq four years ago, but this time around I'm more convinced. For one thing, Ahmedinijad has made several statements about Iran's nuclear program, though he claims it is for peaceful purposes. Why does this oil rich country need nuclear power? Have the ayatollahs suddenly become environmentalists? Second of all, a lot more countries are warning of Iranian nukes than there were countries that supported an invasion of Iraq. Changes of leadership are not the only cause of this major difference. Both France and Germany have said they are truly concerned.

President Vladimir Putin is trying to play against the United States and Europe in this matter. He's shortsighted here. Though he acknowledged Iranian nukes would be a threat to Russia, he doesn't think they are being manufactured. He thinks it is in Russia's best interest to side with Iran on this issue, but that is extremely dangerous for his country, exactly because Iranian nukes are also threats to Russian national security.

Having said all this, I still oppose a war against Iran at this point. A war is the second worst option on the table, only being better than letting Iran get nukes. A war would be disastrous for everybody. Even with a large international coalition, such a war would be devastating to many countries and wouldn't assure the destruction of Iran's nuclear program. The United States military is stretched thin and Israel would be bombarded by missiles from the east and north, courtesy of Iran and their Lebanese subsidiary, Hezbollah.

The best option is harsh sanctions until Iran allows sufficient inspections. This is the only option that would avoid disaster, but countries like Russia and Venezuela are making the success of such a move doubtful.

A Racist Nobel Laureate

James Watson, who was one of the scientists to win the 1962 Nobel Prize for Medicine for the discovery of DNA, may be a talented scientist but he's also an idiot. He said in a recent interview that the West's foreign policy toward Africa was wrong, since it's based on the assumption that black people are intellectually equal to white people. He says tests have shown that this isn't the case. He also said that anyone who has spoken to a black person could see that blacks aren't as intelligent as white folks.

As a world renowned geneticist, not-so-dear Watson is a very dangerous racist. His bogus scientific proof can sound convincing to many. Never mind that in the past there were advanced and successful African civilizations, including black African civilizations, which were destroyed by European colonialism. In fact, in ancient times, black people were treated equally in the Greek and Roman cultures. This concept of black inferiority came only later, when Africa became the main source for slaves. But racists don't know this and won't acknowledge it.

There's a chance British authorities will indict him for hate speech. I hope they do, even if he goes back to the United States, where he'll be safe from prosecution. It won't bother him much, but at least it will inconvenience him.

The Surprising Hezbollah Swap

Israelis were surprised yesterday by the sudden swap of one Israeli dead body in exchange for two dead Hezbollah fighters and one 50-year old Lebanese prisoner. Not only did we not know there was a deal in the works, we never even heard of the dead Israeli before, even though he had been missing since January 2005. Gavriel Davit apparently drowned in Israeli waters near Haifa and his body was swept away by the currents of the Mediterranean into Lebanon. The deal also included information about the whereabouts of Israeli Air Force officer Ron Arad, who was captured in Lebanon in 1986. Apparently the info was neither new nor useful.

This is quite an odd deal. It's supposed to be a trust-building step on the way to a bigger prisoner exchange which would include the return of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, the two Israeli soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah on July 12, 2006, triggered the Second Lebanon War. But Hezbollah is still insisting that a precondition to any information about their condition is the release of hundreds of prisoners. Unfortunately, this probably means that Regev and Goldwasser are already dead, so there isn't any real reason to keep talking to Hezbollah. Prisoners should not be released in exchange for information or dead bodies - only in exchange for live captives.

The release of one prisoner yesterday is not that bad compared with the release in 2004 of four hundred terrorists in exchange for three dead soldiers and one Israeli drug dealer, but it isn't that great either. The Israeli government says that since he's in his 50's and apparently lost his sanity in prison, he's not a threat to Israel. Alright, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Unless I'm wrong about the two soldiers being dead, I don't see how yesterday's exchange is a positive move in any direction. It isn't as if we're in peace talks with Hezbollah. Peace is not on their minds.

Annapolis 1786 and 2007

Here's an interesting bit of American history. The Annapolis Convention of 1786, which was convened after the Articles of Confederation proved inadequate for the United States, was a failure. Eight states snubbed it. The five states that showed up did achieve one thing - they called for another convention in Philadelphia, which would eventually produce the constitution and create "a more perfect Union".

Why the history lesson? Because it seems like the Israeli-Arab peace conference scheduled to take place in Annapolis next month is doomed to be snubbed by most Arab states, and quite possibly by the two main parties - Israel and the Palestinians. Every day the newspaper headlines show warnings from different countries warning about things that may doom the Annapolis conference to failure. Israel is complaining about rockets from Gaza and the Egyptians allowing arms and terrorists into Gaza. The Palestinians are complaining about roadblocks within the West Bank. The Egyptians and Jordanians, as well as other Arab countries have issued warnings of their own that if this or that will not be fixed they will not attend. Even the host, the United States, is thinking of postponing the conference.

At this point, it seems Annapolis will fail in achieving a settlement. The most I'm hoping for is a repeat of the 1786 Convention in the form of an agreement to hold another conference, which would be more successful. This can be achieved. The two sides can get as close as possible to an agreement but realize they don't have the political capital at home to get it approved, so they'll announce they've made progress but need another conference, possibly in a few months from now, when the outcomes of the criminal investigations against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be clearer, and thus the political scene more stable.

The most irritating thing about this ongoing conflict is that there is a consensus between Israelis and Palestinians regarding most of the issues, but two main problems stand - refugees and Jerusalem. Both sides have to be very creative in finding solutions here, because currently the two sides' positions are the exact opposite of one another.

Bill Clinton's Gore-ish Nightmare

Step 1 of Bill Clinton's nightmare is coming true. He had a dream of winning a Nobel Prize for Peace for his efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. Now his former Vice-President, Al Gore, has gotten the nod while Clinton himself is empty handed. The next steps in the nightmare are as follows:

• Gore's Nobel convinces him he should run for president.
• Gore defeats Hillary in the primaries.
• Since Hillary is not elected president, Bill is not appointed Special Envoy to the Middle East, which would have been his best chance to earn his own Nobel.

So, Gore, December in Norway, January in Iowa? That would be interesting...

But enough about presidential politics. Do Al Gore and the United Nations' Panel on Climate Change deserve the prize? The Nobel committee certainly gave in to a trend. It's very fashionable to talk about global warming these days. That doesn't mean that it was wrong. It was right to address this issue this year.

Are Al Gore and the UN panel the climate change advocates most worthy of a prize? Yes, they are. Al Gore is not only the most prominent advocate, he's also been addressing the topic for decades. He didn't hop on a trendy bandwagon - he created it. The worthiness of the UN panel is less clear cut. On the one hand it didn't say anything that other scientists haven't been saying for years. On the other hand, it is the most high-level official panel to say these things, and that is their importance and that is why, in the final analysis, the panel is worthy of the Nobel.

Bad Movies, Free of Charge

Israeli satellite TV company Yes has opened up its pay-per-view service, DVDBox, to all customers for free. This comes as compensation for serious disruptions in service in some parts of the country. Fortunately for me, I have not experienced these disruptions at all but I still get free access to DVDBox. All in all, I can't complain, though those who actually couldn't watch television for whole days certainly can.

I expected to find the best movies playing on DVDBox. After all, these are movies that should be worth paying extra for, the cream of the crop, right? Wrong. There are some good movies, like "The Illusionist", "Children of Men", and "Alpha Dog", as well as a few children's movies that might be good. Other than that, I found most of the movies to be worse than those on the usual movie channels. First, there was the hour and a half I wasted on "The Contract", a stupid movie making absolutely no use of the talents of its two wonderful actors, Morgan Freeman and John Cusack. I later learned it was a direct-to-video flick. There were other stupid movies which I didn't even watch - "Step Up", Paris Hilton's "Pledge This", "Stick it" and "End Game".

Anyway, broadcasts are still being disrupted in other areas of Israel. Foreign spy ships have been mentioned as possible culprits, though oddly enough, they're Dutch ships. The folks at Yes have promised that further compensation will be given to customers, and again, I hope to benefit from the woes of others, getting compensated for something that didn't happen to me. I'm thinking free access to all channels for 3 months would ease my non-suffering just fine.

Nobel Week

With the announcement of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine tomorrow, the 2007 Nobel Week will be upon us. Aside from the annual question of whether any Israelis will win any prizes (David Grossman and Amos Oz are always mentioned as top contenders for a Literature Nobel), which applies to all categories, I'm most interested in which political controversies will be conjured up by the various Nobel committees.

I don't expect controversies in the first three prizes to be announced, unless they involve embryonic stem cell research or cloning. The picks for medicine, chemistry and physics might cause debates among scholars as to whether or not the winners were the most worthy scientifically, but the winners there are usually selected truly because of scientific merit. The last three prizes, literature (to be announced Thursday), Peace (Friday) and Economics (next Monday) are the interesting ones. The peace prize is purely political. No matter who is chosen, controversy will quickly follow. Bloggers will start analyzing what message the Norwegian committee is sending President Bush. It could be someone big and famous (a world leader, Bono, Bill Gates etc.) or it could be someone relatively unknown, like when Shirin Ebadi and Wangari Maathai were awarded the prize in 2003 and 2004, respectively.

Literature and economics are less political. Economic research has more direct political impact than the exact sciences, though usually this prize is awarded according to merit. I'm sure the committee didn't give Robert Aumann the prize in 2005 for his extremist right-wing views. It will be interesting to see if the winner of the literature prize will be a critic of President Bush like 2005's Harold Pinter, or a persecuted writer like last year's winner, Orhan Pamuk.

Anyway, brace yourselves for some international discontent this week.

Wisdom of Ahmedinijad

Mahmoud Ahmedinijad's lecture and Q&A at Columbia University turned out to be a farce. Lee Bollinger, the president of Columbia, opened with an attack on his guest, calling him a petty and cruel dictator. Interesting. I thought being a petty and cruel dictator should bar a person from speaking at a university. When it came his turn to speak, the Iranian president said nothing new, except for the revelation that homosexuality doesn't exist in his country. Other than that, he pretty much repeated old mantras.

In the end, the event didn't do any harm, but it didn't do any good either. If anything, it harmed Ahmedinijad and Columbia University. It still should not have taken place. As could be expected, it did not turn into an intellectual dialogue. Bollinger and the audience insulted Ahmedinijad without really challenging him with specific questions. Ahmedinijad gave general replies, but didn't really answer anything.

A Christiane Amanpour interview with Ahmedinijad is scheduled to air Wednesday night on CNN. I hope she'll ask him the pointed questions that should be asked, like what specific aspects of the Holocaust have not been researched - a question he probably won't have a good answer for.

A Light Unto the Nations?

Avraham (Avrum) Burg, the former chairman of the Knesset and the Jewish Agency, has a new idea. The Jews need to be a bridge between the Christians and Muslims of Europe. As the former "other" of Christian Europe, we can work to bridge the gaps between Christians and Europe's new "other", the Muslim population.

Huh? Who the hell wants us to be a bridge? Muslims generally aren't crazy about us Jews, many Christians aren't either. Besides, we can't claim neutrality. Despite all that Christianity has done to the Jewish people since the 4th century, most Jews would probably side with Christians in disputes between them and the Muslims. That's doubly true about Israeli Jews, who would rather see themselves as a European country rather than a Middle Eastern one.

Burg has become quite a theorist, as in theories that have nothing to do with reality. The problems of integrating Europe's Muslims is none of our business as the Jewish people. It's only the business of European Jews - not as Jews, but as Europeans. We need to take care of our own problems before we start meddling in others, and before lecturing Europe about how it treats its Muslims we should take a good look at how we treat our own.

Blogrush

I just added a new widget, Blogrush, to my blog. As their website describes it, "BlogRush is a "Cooperative Syndication Network" that rewards its users for their contributions to the network -- from the impressions they provide of the BlogRush Widget to the referral of other users through 10 'generations' of activity and the impressions of the widget that they provide. BlogRush was designed to be incredibly viral and to provide its users with tremendous distribution leverage to receive exposure for their blog content (onto related content blogs) that they could never achieve on their own; at least without a massive advertising budget."

Blogrush uses the category you provide and combines it with a scan of your blog's content to place links to your posts on related blogs, and to link to related blogs from yours. Too bad only one category can be chosen for the whole blog and not per post. I picked "politics", even though I also write about other things. Hopefully, the content scanner will be effective, so when I write about autism the link will be placed on another blog about autism, rather than on a website about politics.

I should mention that I first came across Blogrush on Gert's blog.

They Don't Make Transformers Like They Used To

Two of my favorite toys as a kid were transformers. One was a fire truck and the other was a race car. They were very easy to tranform - no more than five steps that took less than a minute to complete.

Remembering the hours of joy my transformers provided, I decided to buy my nephew Transformers for his birthday. I bought him a set with two robots - Optimus Prime, who turns into a fire truck, and Megatron, who turns into a tank. Only when my nephew opened the box did we learn that it comes with a full page of instructions for each robot, with a gazillion steps. He lost interest immediately because it was too hard. I spent a couple of hours figuring out how to transform them. When I finally succeeded, I realized that now I have no idea how to turn it back into a robot. After a long struggle to make it a robot again, I saw that it would take me hours to do this a second time and that I had absolutely no chance of teaching my nephew how to do this. You need a goddamn engineering degree to figure it all out!

Another problem with the toys is that in car mode, the pieces don't fit neatly. Also, the different parts come off very easily. They don't break and you can easily put them back on, but I'm sure the pieces will go missing very quickly. In the Transformers from the 1980's, the only removable parts were the weapons and the head (which became a passenger while in car-mode).

I should look for my old transformers. I don't know if they're still around, and they definitely are headless and weaponless, but they're heck of a lot of fun. My nephew will like them and have no problem transforming them, and that would compensate him (and me) for the bad experience for the crappy new transformers.

Toymakers, remember: toys should be user-friendly and simple, not hideously complicated!

Happy New Year 5768

Rosh Ha'Shana, the Jewish new year, has come upon us. What awaits us during the 68th year of the 58th century? Hopefully, no wars with Syria or Lebanon. Maybe this year we'll start a real dialogue with the Palestinians, the Arab League and Syria. So far, that hasn't happened. Olmert has just gone through the motions regarding the Palestinians but hasn't done anything of significance.

It will be the year of the presidential primaries in the United States. The November elections themselves will already be in 5769. So who will it be? Hillary vs. Rudy, I hope.

Politics and war and peace aside, what do I hope this year will bring me personally? I hope it will be a good year. I hope to finish up my studies and find an interesting thing to do afterwards - either start working somewhere or continue on with my studies, who knows where or on what continent. I hope that if I start working, I'll find something that won't be a damn desk job but rather something that really interests me. I hope a lot of writing will be involved, and of the interesting kind.

Until next year (or rather, the next post) Shana Tova!

CNN and Slate Quoted Me

I just googled "Emmanuel Schiff" and discovered that I'm famous. Okay, not famous, but this blog was mentioned once on national television in the United States and quite possibly worldwide, as well as being quoted a few months later in one of the Internet's most widely read e-zines.

My search brought up a transcript of live coverage of Pope John Paul II's death on CNN. This April 4, 2005 broadcast included a segment about reactions to the pope's death on the blogosphere. Here's the part where the reporters talk about me (and maybe even show my blog on-screen):

TATTON: And, of course, not everyone is full of praise for the pope or the Catholic Church here. Emmanuel Schiff, this is a poli-sci, a political science student, in Israel. He's saying that the pope was way too conservative on many issues, but also progressive on many other things, such as relations with Jews. Emmanuel goes on to look at who the next pope might be. He's got his list of the top five on his site here.

This is something very popular amongst bloggers today. They are looking at what happens next.

They are referring to this post from the same day. Now that I got into it to remind myself of the post, I noticed there's a glaring typo there - " He way too conservative on many issues" (I wonder if the "way" is supposed to be "was" or I forgot the word "was" and meant to say he was way too conservative). What a shame, the only time millions saw my blog - it had a typo.

Next I found an article in Slate about blogger reaction to Mohammed ElBaradei's Nobel prize. The writer refers to me as a conservative blogger based on that one post. Shame on him! Quoting my entire post from October 7, 2005, he writes:

Other conservatives respond with equal parts incredulity and cynicism. "I was under the impression that prizes, especially the most prestigious ones, are supposed to reward success and remarkable achievements," writes political science student Emmanuel Schiff. "I was wrong. As it turns out, inaction and repeated failures may not prevent a person and/or organization from winning."

It's quite amusing to discover I was quoted on CNN and in Slate long ago without my knowledge. Now I wonder if I've been mentioned anywhere else in the mainstream media, mentions that have no trace in regular Internet searches.

Potential Attorneys General

Now that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has finally resigned, it is time to pick his replacement. I know all the chatter is about Michael Chertoff, but I'd rather focus on other potential nominees whose nomination would make things interesting. Some of these are very unlikely, but I'm just having fun with this.

• Sandra Day O'Connor: What would bring more trust back to the Justice Department than a former associate justice of the Supreme Court? She's considered a moderate, so her nomination would go through fairly easily. On the other hand she's 77 and retired from the court to be with her ailing husband, so there isn't much of a chance of her nomination happening.
• Joe Lieberman: If Bush nominates Lieberman the Republicans would win back the Senate. The "Independent Democrat" of Connecticut would be replaced by someone appointed by Republican Gov. Jodi Rell, making the Senate split 50-50, with Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote in favor of the GOP.
• Arlen Specter: The moderate Republican senator from Pennsylvania, a former chair of the Judiciary Committee, disagrees with President Bush on many issues, including legal matters. He'd be an interesting addition to the administration. His appointment would also add one Democrat to the Senate, appointed by Gov. Ed Rendell.
• James Baker: He's a veteran of the US cabinet, having served in various positions under Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and a lawyer who helped the Bush team win in the Supreme Court in 2000, and thus in the election. He has a mixture of professional experience (though never as a prosecutor) and partisanship that would make for very interesting confirmation hearings. He's 77, and thus a bit unlikely to become the next AG.
• Patrick Fitzgerald: There is no chance in hell that Bush would nominate the special prosecutor in the Plame CIA leak case who indicted Scooter Libby, but still, I can fantasize, can't I?

Stupid Miss Teen USA Video

The video below is so funny and so sad simultaneously. This seems to be pure stupidity and not just momentary pressure. Sure, it fits the stereotype of the stupid beauty pageant contestant, and there are many contestants who don't fit the stereotype (and might even be geniuses), but it is still funny. Also, it can be used as an educational video - how not to answer questions.

God's War Machine

Christiane Amanpour's special documentary mini-series, "God's Warriors", which aired on CNN this week, was an interesting series. Each episode focused on the fanatics of a different religion - Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Here's my take on the series, episode by episode.

God's Jewish Warriors
To Israelis who have watched Chaim Yavin's documentary series "The Land of the Settlers", most of the information in this episode was not new. Yavin's series exposed the settler's violent and expansionist tactics.

Amanpour seemed to be giving a history lesson on the Middle Eastern conflict which at first I thought was too much. But now that I think of it, Israel is the only place where this form of militaristic Jewish fanaticism exists. Unlike Christian and Muslim fundamentalists who would like to create theocracies world-wide, Jewish fundies only want to establish one here in the Holy Land, so I guess it is natural for a show about the modern day's God's Jewish Warriors to focus on Israel.

I found the most interesting part of the episode to be the fundraisers in the United States. I know about the Evangelical support Israel gets, but I never realized how much money from American Jews and Christians is going into the settlements. It is scary.

The main problem with this episode was that Amanpour implied that Zionism equals support for settlements. It is also too bad she didn't show more of the opposition to the settlers, like she showed protesters against Christian fundies in the US.

God's Muslim Warriors
This was the least informative episode. Though the interviews were interesting, most of it has already been said before, including in Amanpour's previous special report about Muslim extremists in the UK. The most interesting part was when I finally understood who the hell the hidden Imam is and what he means to Shiites.

I was surprised Amanpour didn't report about the state of affairs in Saudi Arabia. The reports from Iran were interesting, but hearing about the even more repressive Saudi Arabia would be interesting. Maybe as a woman the Saudis would not allow Amanpour to come in and report.

God's Christian Warriors
Amanpour did the right thing when she avoided "Jesus Camp"-style mega churches as much as possible, since that aspect of the rise of Evangelicals has been told many times. The interview with Jerry Falwell and the tour of his Liberty University were interesting, but they pale in comparison with the most interesting segments. These were the reports about varying degrees of resistance to the mainstream fundies.

First of all, there was the Rev. Greg Boyd, who opposes using Jesus to bolster conservative politicians and political goals. Then there was Richard Cizik, a man who agrees with the Evangelicals on basically everything except for environmental issues, which is enough for other fundies to call for his resignation.

One of the most interesting segments was when the leader of Battlecry, Ron Luce, faces a protest against him in San Francisco. Luce claims he was surprised by the anger. Is he just pretending? I don't think he is. He really doesn't understand what's wrong with his fundamentalist values.

One part I didn't like about this episode was the return to an issue already covered in the first episode - the Evangelical support of Israel. But as long as Amanpour was already interviewing Pastor John Hagee, she should have asked him whether he would continue to support Israel if it made a peace deal with the Palestinians which created a Palestinian state. He probably would not, since that would delay the Second Coming in his warped mind. Instead she said that in Hagee's mind, Israel could do no wrong.

All in all, it was an interesting series, though far from perfect. Christiane Amanpour said in an interview for Israel's Channel 2 that she feels connected to all three religions she investigated, since she has a Christian mother, Muslim father and Jewish husband. I'd like to see a fourth installment, one about the extremists of other religions. Sure, they don't affect our lives as much as the monotheistic fundamentalists, but it is still interesting.

Is Oskar Schell Autistic?

After reading Jonathan Safran Foer's "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" I went to Wikipedia's entry for the book. The 9-year-old narrator Oskar is described there as "possibly autistic (at the very least he shows some signs of Asperger's Syndrome)". What the? While I read the novel I never thought he might be autistic. He's so not autistic!

So I Googled the novel's title and Oskar along with the word "autistic" and found many book reviews and references where he received an autism or Asperger's Syndrome diagnosis from several commentators. Again, what the? Oskar is often compared to Mark Haddon's autistic protagonist in "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time", a book I haven't read. But for the purpose of "diagnosing" Oskar that doesn't matter. I may not be familiar with the famous fictional autistic boy, but I do know a real autistic kid from, well, incredibly close (and when he was a little baby he was also extremely loud).

First of all, not every child who is extremely intelligent and takes an interest in sciences is an autistic savant. We neurotypicals have our fair share of geniuses. Secondly, Oskar doesn't show any anxiety about meeting new people, going to places he has never seen before and entering into new situations. In fact, he is very friendly to strangers (maybe even too much).

Some people cite Oskar's rules as evidence of his autism. He doesn't use public transportation, elevators and bridges. Considering the fact that his father was killed in a terrorist attack that is a perfectly normal reaction. Besides, Oskar is willing to break the rules when he must. There is one eccentricity - Oskar's insistence on wearing only white clothes - that I cannot explain, but it in itself is not enough to make a case for an autism spectrum disorder.

People also say Oskar has difficulty expressing his feelings. After the trauma he has gone through, wouldn't most normal children, or even adults, have trouble expressing themselves?

I haven't seen anyone write about Oskar's grandfather being autistic - but if anyone in this novel has the condition, it is Grandpa. He doesn't speak. He expresses himself in writing. If he's autistic and autism is genetic, maybe it makes more sense that Oskar is indeed autistic. But even this old "empty Schell" of a man is not autistic. He loses the ability to speak when he is in his 20's or early 30's, and though it is suggested it is a psychological problem and not a physical one, I have a hard time believing an autistic adult would regress at that age. The guy experienced the horrors of the Dresden bombings during World War II. That's enough of a trauma to render anyone speechless (though he lost his speech gradually).

Anyway, do you agree? Have I missed any points? Do you think Jonathan Safran Foer meant for Oskar to be autistic? Your comments are welcome.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

I just finished reading "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer. I found it to be extremely good and refreshing. Since it tells the story of a boy who lost his father on 9/11 I didn't expect it to be such a funny book. Oskar Schell, the narrator, reminded me of Holden Caulfield from "The Catcher in the Rye", and I'm quite sure Safran Foer intentionally imitated J. D. Salinger. The only part I didn't like about the book was the ending of the grandparents' storyline, which seemed kind of pointless. I won't elaborate so as not to spoil the ending for those who haven't read it yet.

Just a few days ago I wrote that I was afraid I might have lost the ability to concentrate on a novel. "Extremely Loud" has shown me that the problem isn't with me - it's the books. I finished "Extremely Loud" in 3 days because I found it fascinating. I guess the books that took me months to read are just not my cup of tea. The next novel I intend to read is Safran Foer's literary debut, "Everything Is Illuminated".

My next post: "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" and Autism

Will Kucinich Lose His House Seat?

According to the New York Observer, Rep. Dennis Kucinich is facing a serious primary challenge for his own House seat in Ohio's 10th district. His challenger is Rosemary Palmer, the mother of a Marine killed in Iraq who opposes the war but says Kucinich isn't doing anything realistic to bring it to an end. Read more about Palmer here.

I hope she wins. Kucinich really does get on my nerves. I don't like extremes and he is definitely in the left-liberal extreme, and he isn't very effective either. A search through the Congressional database (THOMAS) shows that in the current Congress none of his legislation has become law. Of the bills he co-sponsored in the 110th Congress, only six have become law - 4 of them bills naming post office buildings, and the other two had 200 and 300 other co-sponsors. Hardly a personal achievement.

Kucinich is great at introducing lagislation, but awful at getting it passed. In fact, the last time a bill he authored became law was in 1998, when his bill to "make available to the Ukrainian Museum and Archives the USIA television program 'Window on America'" became Public Law No. 105-373 . Important stuff!

Sci-Fi Religions Vs. Fantasy Religions

After watching an interview with an Israeli scientologist, where the interviewer mocked the idea of aliens coming to Earth 75 million years ago, I came to the conclusion there isn't really much difference between the mainstream religions and UFO religions. Of course the idea of aliens creating humanity is ridiculous, but are the mainstream creation myths any more believable?

The main difference between the more accepted religions and religions like Scientology is the literary genre of their origin stories. The myths of the bible, ancient European mythologies and Eastern religions all use the magic of fantasy fiction. Pillars of fire, virgin births, monsters and rain dances can easily be placed in the same section of the library as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. UFO religions, on the other hand, use Science Fiction to explain how we got to where we are. What's wrong with that?

This doesn't mean that every sect and cult should be accepted as a legitimate religion. I only referred here to one aspect of the matter. There are so many other aspects, such as how the religion treats its believers and whether or not it puts them in harm's way (e.g. making them commit suicide or preventing them from taking vital medication). I don't know enough about Scientology to judge whether it should be accepted as legitimate.

Alberto Gonzales, Time to Join Carl Rove

Deputy White House Chief of Staff Carl Rove announced his resignation today. The question is whether he really will stop being a central figure in the drafting of policy. He's been secretive as it is, and now if he continues in an unofficial position he'll be even more secretive. It is said that he has been less influential since the Republican losses in 2006 and now he isn't working for any presidential candidate, so hopefully it is indeed the end of the Rove era.

Now, on to the next Loyal Bushie who should leave the administration - Alberto Gonzales. The Attorney General won't resign and Bush won't fire him. Congress should impeach him. The sooner the better. The guy has lied to Congress, pushed illegal wiretapping and fired qualified US attorneys for political reasons. Those are only the impeachable offenses we know about. There are probably more.

Oh, and a note to President Bush: when Gonzales finally leaves office, don't nominate Harriet Miers as his replacement.

Wasting My Time

I've always been a slacker, a master of the fine art of procrastination. I've done quite a bit of not much during my lifetime - and by that I'm trying to poetically say I have wasted hundreds of hours just doing nothing important, not that not much has become of me. Despite all my ineffectively used days I'm quite a successful guy, with impressive achievements under my belt. But I digress.

I am procrastinating as we speak (or, rather, as I write this post). I have one last paper to write, which shouldn't take me that long, and after that I have to get to work on my thesis. To work on my thesis I have to go to far away archives for whole days, something to which I'm not looking forward. My thesis is very interesting, but I don't enjoy the idea of spending my days in squalid archives (and no, I'm not misusing the word squalid - archive-keeping is one thing Israel isn't very good at). So I don't have much incentive to get the little paper done to make room for the thesis.

So now I'm not working on anything and I keep thinking that I should. I don't read any books because I think to myself that I don't have the time, but then I go off and waste my time on the Internet or watching TV. I could have at least read a book goddammit. And the last book I tried to read I couldn't finish. It's supposed to be a Sci-Fi classic, The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, but I just can't get myself to sit down and read the whole thing. I don't know if it just isn't the book for me or if I've lost the ability to concentrate on good literature. I haven't tried a different novel, either.

I need a vacation, a real official vacation somewhere else. But in the past I've had vacations while I still needed to do things, and that kept me feeling uneasy when I should have been having fun. So it's a paradox. I need a vacation to clear my head and be able to return and work with vigor, but I also need to get the work done so I can have a worry-free vacation.

Oh, never mind. I'll get off my ass and start working eventually.

Arafat Died of AIDS

Yasser Arafat's doctor, Ashraf al-Kurdi, has revealed the fact that Arafat had AIDS. He claims the Israelis injected it into his blood in order to cover up the fact that the Palestinian chairman was poisoned. Now that's a load of crap, isn't it?

There's something very suspicious about the circumstances of Dr. al-Kurdi's revelation. Danny Rubinstein of Haaretz reported the following:

"Jordanian news site Amman quoted al-Kurdi - a former Jordanian health ministry official - as saying that the virus had been injected into Arafat's bloodstream close to his death, and that the real cause of the chairman's death was poison.

Hours earlier, al-Kurdi was interviewed on television news station Al-Jazeera. However, the network cut short the live interview with al-Kurdi as soon as he mentioned that the former chairman had contracted HIV."

Sounds to me like he let it slip that Arafat had AIDS, which pissed off someone who called al-Jazeera and made them stop the interview and forced al-Kurdi to go to another media outlet to "explain himself" and return to the old poisoning theory.

The fact that Suha and the people who surrounded Arafat kept al-Kurdi away when Arafat got really sick means he had something he'd be ashamed of (not that AIDS is a shameful disease, but in traditional societies like the Palestinian culture it is certainly considered a disgrace - and a sign of homosexuality).

So Arafat died of AIDS. He was not murdered by Israel. Give the conspiracy theories a rest.

Jesus Campers for Israel

Yesterday I watched the excellent documentary "Jesus Camp", about an evangelical camp for little fundamentalist Christian kids, who are being taught to spread the word of JC (that's Jesus Christ, as he is called in one very catchy Christian pop song during the film). It's a terrifying movie, but I truly hope that there are a lot less children indoctrinated like that than it seems.

One thing that I noticed was that in the home of Torey, one of the 3 children who were the focus of the film, they waved three flags - the flag of the United States, a flag with a cross on it, and the flag of Israel. Oh, boy. These are our friends, huh? The good old Christian fundamentalists that think of Israel as nothing more than their Agent of Armageddon.

Then today I got a link to an interesting YouTube video from a Christians United for Israel conference, where Max Blumenthal, a Jewish reporter (in other words, a hell bound reporter) asks about the role of the End Times and eschatology in the evangelical support of Israel, and eventually gets kicked out.

Take a look:

A Present From the IDF

I got a letter from the army today informing me of my permanent discharge from reserve duty. Since my release from my mandatory 3-year service a few years ago I've never been called to reserve duty, but there was always a chance the army would summon me one day. But now, as part of cuts in human resources, the IDF has decided I'm not needed.

Thank you, IDF! Not being needed has never felt better!

Long Live President Peres

Don't die on us, President Shimon Peres. Yes, you're 84 years old, and you'll be 91 by the time your term ends, but hang in there. We don't need idiots like Ruby Rivlin as our head of state, which will surely happen if you push up daisies any time soon. You yourself aren't that great. You should have retired long ago. But at least you're a Nobel laureate and the world sees you as a great statesman.

You'll probably make the presidency interesting again, and this time not for possibly illegal behavior. You're the most active and political person in Israel, but you're in an office that is ceremonial and apolitical. You'll give the governments that serve during your presidency a lot of hell.

Let the fireworks begin!

Unhappy Anniversary

It's the one year anniversary of the Second Lebanon War. Hizbullah still has Israel's soldiers and we still have Ehud Olmert as our Prime Minister, despite the Winograd commission's findings of incompetence. Just great, huh?

So, will we have any war with Syria this year? Two back to back wars are not a good idea (just look at Afghanistan and Iraq). The Middle East needs to wait a while till its next frivolous war.

You're Fired!

I've been let go from my current university-related source of income. Bummer. I have to find a new job next year or find a scholarship. It's all for the best, though. I don't like what I've been doing and now I might find something that will interest me.

Williams Syndrome

The New York Times Magazine has an article this weekend about a rare condition called Williams Syndrome. It has one thing in common with autism - people with Williams don't understand facial expressions, body language, phrases and context. Everything else is pretty much the opposite of autism. People with Williams are overly friendly and talk a lot.

I have a neighbor who probably has this condition. I always thought she was just retarded, but she fits this description exactly. She talks to me whenever she sees me, and when I'm in a hurry she doesn't notice I don't want to talk. She's like that with everybody, even complete strangers she has never met before.

Now neurologists are using Williams Syndrome to study the role genes play in human behavior and personality. Unlike autism, the exact cause of Williams is known. When DNA separates in two to become sperm or egg cells, instead of having all the 30,000 genes of a regular reproductive cell, about 25 genes go missing, causing the embryo created by that cell to have Williams. Fascinating stuff.

SelectSmart Claims I Like Kucinich

According to SelectSmart.com's Presidential Selector, my top 3 ideal candidates in the 2008 race for president of the United States are Al Gore, Denis Kucinich and Hillary Clinton. It's true that I like Gore and Clinton, but Kucinich?!? Both Clinton and Kucinich got the same score - each one of them is compatible with my preferences 68% of the time. Aren't the two on different ends of the Democratic spectrum?

Turns out that I don't really agree with my two favorite Republicans - McCain and Giuliani (36% each). I must say I'm disappointed that none of the candidates, Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike, have reached 70%. Maybe I should run myself (so what if I don't meet residency and age requirements).

Here are my full results:

1. Theoretical Ideal Candidate (100 %)
2. Al Gore (69 %)
3. Dennis Kucinich (68 %)
4. Hillary Clinton (68 %)
5. Joseph Biden (67 %)
6. Michael Bloomberg (66 %)
7. Christopher Dodd (64 %)
8. Barack Obama (63 %)
9. John Edwards (63 %)
10. Bill Richardson (62 %)
11. Wesley Clark (61 %)
12. Ron Paul (53 %)
13. Alan Augustson (53 %)
14. Mike Gravel (49 %)
15. Kent McManigal (40 %)
16. John McCain (36 %)
17. Tommy Thompson (36 %)
18. Rudolph Giuliani (36 %)
19. Mitt Romney (36 %)
20. Elaine Brown (33 %)
21. Tom Tancredo (31 %)
22. Chuck Hagel (30 %)
23. Mike Huckabee (27 %)
24. Newt Gingrich (25 %)
25. Jim Gilmore (24 %)
26. Fred Thompson (23 %)
27. Duncan Hunter (20 %)
28. Sam Brownback (19 %)

Neurodiversity in Israel

The weekend's Haaretz magazine has an article [read in Hebrew or English] about adult autistics who say autism should not be cured. It should be recognized as a "neurological minority". The term neurodiversity was not used in the article (though the term neurotypical was). I don't know if there is a Hebrew term for neurodiversity. If there isn't, I'd suggest מגוון נוירולוגי or גיוון נוירולוגי. I believe this is the first time this aspect of autism is addressed in a major Israeli newspaper.

Some of the adults in the article understood they were autistic after their children received an autistic spectrum diagnosis. They are high functioning autistics and think that autistic behavior should not be stopped, but rather there should be intervention to allow autistic people to function well in society. Communication is the means, not the ends, they say.

They are absolutely right when it comes to autistic people. In the effort to make children normal a lot of times the children get abused, sometimes physically (like aggressive chelation therapy) or mentally (like my sister's obsession with breaking some of my nephew's harmless repetitive habits).

That doesn't mean there shouldn't be research into the causes of autism.

And just a note: Blogger's spellchecker doesn't recognize the term neurodiversity, and suggests the word "narratives" instead. It's a bit ironic, since neurodiversity is indeed a different narrative regarding the autistic spectrum.

Katsav's Shameful Plea Bargain

Moshe Katsav will not go to jail. Under a plea bargain crafted by his lawyers with Attorney General Menny Mazuz, he will admit he committed minor sexual offences and will receive a suspended sentence of one year. He will also be required to pay the accusers compensation.

This is quite a questionable plea bargain. It seems prosecutors have built a solid rape case, and could have achieved a conviction. Mazuz's reasoning for his decision is unacceptable.

"This agreement minimizes the harm to the institution of the presidency," said the attorney general. "It was important to spare Israel from seeing a president on trial." Well, actually, the harm to the presidency has already been done. Seeing a president on trial would be very good for Israel and would give us the feeling that equality before the law exists here. It is true that a president charged with rape is an embarrassment for Israel, but the embarrassment stems from the very possibility that our president could do such a thing. It is even greater an embarrassment if our president gets away with rape, despite the evidence against him, only because he is the president.

Mazuz also said that this is a big step. Katsav's status will change from president to sexual offender. Technically, that's true. But if the evidence against him is so strong, the change should be even more dramatic - from president to prisoner.

Another Weird Search Term

According to Tracksy.com, someone found this blog by searching for "Tzipi Livni nude pictures". I seriously hope this person was not looking for pictures of Israel's foreign minister naked, but rather wanted to know what her stance is regarding the whole Maxim sexy Israeli soldiers photo spread controversy. As a feminist woman who is in charge of the government body (New York Consulate and Foreign Ministry) that came up with the idea to use the female body (not nude, but scantily clad), it is interesting to know what she thinks.

Then again, maybe the person who searched for that is just a guy with a fetish for powerful women, or women in business suits.

After Four Years

I forgot to mark the 4-year anniversary of my blog earlier this month. Four long years. On previous anniversaries I did some kind of look back, but I won't do that this time. Instead, I'll try to guess what my posts will look like 4 years from now, in June 2011.

I'll probably still be complaining about the stalemate between Israelis and Palestinians, but at least I will praise the involvement of US President Hillary Clinton and her special envoy to the Middle East, First Gentleman Bill Clinton. President Peres will also be giving the Israeli government a hard time, being a very politically active president. I doubt there will be a Palestinian state by then, but we might have a peace treaty with Syria and we'll be in the process of leaving the Golan Heights.

Getting Laid In the Holy Land

Israeli politicians are all hot and bothered about the apparent collaboration of Israel's foreign ministry (or the Israeli consulate in New York, to be specific) with an issue of Maxim Magazine dedicated to female Israeli soldiers. I don't know if the girls in the pictures are still actually in the army, but it doesn't really matter. It's disgusting that we're promoting tourism by saying we've got sexy women in Bikinis and tight uniforms, either as eye candy or as asses to be tapped. The tag line might as well be "Israel: Come Get Laid". Hey, Mr. Horny Guy, forget about sex tourism in Thailand - do it here!

Maxim seems like an odd magazine to me. Wikipedia describes it as a "lad magazine", meaning it has sexy pictures and stories about sex, but no nude pictures. So, basically, it's a publication for horny guys who don't even have the balls to buy Playboy or Penthouse? Pathetic...

Vaccines and Sudanese Refugees

When my niece was born, my sister decided not to vaccinate her against certain diseases, fearing that vaccines had something to do with my nephew's autism. "Everybody else is vaccinated anyway, so there's nobody who can get her sick", was her main argument then, when she tried to convince me (and probably herself) that the risks of vaccination are greater than the risks of non-vaccination.

For the past few years a small yet steady stream of African refugees, mostly from Sudan (Darfur and South Sudan), has been crossing the border into Israel. Their numbers have recently risen and their plight has gotten more press coverage. While in the past they were arrested and deported, government policy now allows them to stay in Israel, but they do not have any legal status here. Most of them don't even receive refugee status, and the government doesn't lift a finger to help them. They've been pretty much stranded. Some Kibbutzim have taken some of them in, others have been given jobs in Eilat, but even those are only temporary solutions.

I thought of pitching in somehow to help them, maybe by volunteering at a Kibbutz where they are staying or something of the sort. But then I realized that there may be health implications. Even if I am vaccinated against most diseases they may have, I can still become a carrier and pose a health risk to my niece. Then I thought of the fact that not only can I become a risk factor, a lot of people who either come into contact with the refugees or with others who have been in contact with them, may pose a health threat to my niece and any other child who was not vaccinated.

I should talk to my sister about this. It isn't too late to give my niece the vaccines she hasn't taken yet. Now, with the current situation, my sister may be convinced that the risks of not being vaccinated outweigh the perceived menace of mercury.

And an apology to the refugees if this post makes them sound like little more than carriers of dangerous diseases. I still plan to help them.

Autism Wars

One of the most troubling aspects of the debate about the causes and treatment of autism is the hatred both sides feel for each other. The "Autism Blogosphere" has more posts devoted to vilification of the other side than serious, fact-based arguments. Too bad nobody seems to realize that both sides, anti-Mercury advocates and supporters of neurodiversity, are trying to look out for their children.

But let's not be too naive, either. Part of the conflict here is political and financial. Both sides want to get more money and resources for the type of research they support. Also, each side believes that if too much money is spent on the other side's research and not on their own, their children will be hurt.

Also, supporters of Neurodiversity, including autistic people, don't appreciate autistics being described as monsters by The Mercurys. The strong opposition to the use of chelation, a dubious and possibly dangerous method, is also understandable.

What made me write all this? The New York Times has an article about the Wright family, founders of the multi-million dollar charity Autism Speaks, where Katie Wright, mother of Christian, an autistic child, and her parents Bob and Suzanne, are fighting because she thinks they aren't paying enough attention to (and signing enough checks for) mercury research. This isn't quite a Mercury vs. Neurodiversity case, but it shows that there are even rifts between views that aren't exact opposites of each other.

Read "Autism Debate Strains a Family and Its Charity".

This Week in Failed Prime Ministers (FPMs)

It was a good week for our current FPM, Ehud Olmert. The election of former FPM Ehud Barak as chairman of the Labor Party and the election of PFPM (Partially Failed PM) Shimon Peres as the next president of Israel, allow him to stay in office for a while longer. Former FPM Benjamin Netanyahu was humiliated when the Likud's presidential nominee, Ruby Rivlin got only 37 votes in the Knesset.

I used to have a fantasy about Israel's next general elections. I hoped we may get a chance to pick between two great candidates for prime minister: Avishai Braverman of Labor, and Tzipi Livni of Kadima. Now that seems far fetched. Even if Livni will be Kadima's next nominee, the real fight will be between two very bad options. So, which FPM is the lesser of evils - Bibi or Barak? Barak, but not by much.

Meanwhile in Gaza, the results of former FPM Ariel Sharon's policy of unilateral withdrawal are now proving that the disengagement was a disaster. Most Israelis believe Sharon was one of our greatest leaders, but he was not. His insistence on pulling out of Gaza without talking to the other side was a mistake for which we will pay for a very long time.

But I'll end on an optimistic note. The day Shimon Peres was elected president also saw the conclusion of a 3-day conference of Israeli and Palestinian peace NGOs in Tuscany, Italy, organized by the Peres Center for Peace. Representatives of over 100 organizations participated and discussed ways to promote peace even while our governments aren't negotiating with each other. One of the conference's achievements was the creation of a network of NGOs who will now cooperate with each other. Hey, there may still be some hope yet.

Labor Primaries: Round 2

Ami Ayalon may lose tomorrow's Labor Party primaries. Until recently, it seemed as if he'd beat Ehud Barak handily in the second round of voting, but then he made a horrible mistake. He got himself into an alliance with outgoing chairman Amir Peretz, and probably promised him a senior cabinet post. Peretz can bring Ayalon many new votes, but will probably cost him twice as many.

Peretz gives me the creeps. This inept man, who never talks but only yells as if he's at a goddamn protest rally, is about to end his tenure as Minister of Defense, and should never be given another ministerial job in his life. He is a vulgar, uneducated, unintelligent man, who has done the country almost nothing but harm in his posts as defense chief and labor union leader. Following the Winograd Report, he and Olmert should have been exiled to the political wilderness.

Despite all this, I will still vote for Ami Ayalon. I will do it with even greater reservations than I did two weeks ago, but I have not been convinced Ehud Barak wouldn't be worse. When deciding between one failed leader as the candidate's sidekick and another failed leader as the candidate himself, I'd rather vote for the ticket where at least the certified failure won't be leading the party. Besides, Ayalon promises that Prof. Avishay Braverman, former Ben-Gurion University president, will still be his number two and Labor's chief financial minister. I'm a big fan of Braverman. Had Ayalon not reiterated his running-mate status, I would probably switch sides.

40 Years and Counting

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War's final day. It was Israel's greatest victory, but its aftermath was also Israel's greatest mistake. Israel should have unilaterally pulled out of all the territories it had captured within a year, when it still had a chance. It would have been even better to give the lands back in exchange for peace, but the Arab League's "three nos" of Khartoum (no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel) made that option impossible in the short run.

Israel needs to get out of the territories, but unlike 40 years ago, it cannot pull out unilaterally. That was the wrong approach in Gaza and Southern Lebanon. Negotiations won't magically fix things, either. After all, these are our enemies who would rather see us gone. Nevertheless, negotiations are better than nothing. We must start talking to Syria, President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League. So far, Olmert has only talked about the possibility of talking to them but isn't showing signs he actually intends to seriously negotiate.

40 is a typological number in Judaism, a recurring number with special cultural significance (like 7 and 12). According to the old testament, the Israelites wandered through the Sinai desert for 40 years. Many rulers ruled for 40 years, and at the end of many events in the Book of Judges, there was peace for four decades. Noah spent 40 days in his ark, and the 12 Israelite spies were in Canaan for 40 days.

Forty years of occupation - what an unholy number (not that I believe in holiness). Let's hope it doesn't take another 40 years to get rid of it. I'd be happy if we could end it peacefully in 40 days or 40 weeks, but I don't see that happening. Maybe within 40 months.

Stop the Academic Boycott of Israel

Here's a message I got from one of my most leftist bleeding-heart peacenik friends. I mention his political leanings just to demonstate how counterproductive and simple-minded this boycott is:

On the 30th May 2007, a resolution to boycott all Israeli academic institutions was passed by Britain's University and College Union (UCU).

If you agree with the following please sign the petition at: http://www.petitiononline.com/stopucu/petition.html

THIS ACADEMIC BOYCOTT HAS TO BE STOPPED IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE:

- It is counter to the universal principle of academic freedom

- It is a form of prejudice & discrimination; it unfairly singles out Israel

- It is counter-productive to peace & reconciliation

- It stifles scientific advancement, which depends on international interaction

An academic boycott is counter to the universal principle of Academic Freedom. Academic life is about building bridges, not destroying them; opening minds, not
closing them; hearing both sides of an argument, not one alone. Boycotts are a betrayal of these values. This principle has been formally recognized by UNESCO, he International Council for Science, the Middle East Studies Association, the journals Nature and Science, the American Association of University Professors, and other learned societies around the world. Only in an atmosphere of academic freedom, unfettered by partisan political manipulations, can scientific advances of benefit to all mankind be made.

Not only does a boycott of Israeli academia violate the principle of academic freedom, it would do so in a discriminatory matter. Any institution representing academics, including trade unions, must adhere to universal, objective criteria for
determining its policy towards academic boycotts. This has not been the case. Only Israel has been singled out for such treatment. Whatever the rights and wrongs of Israeli government actions, Israel is very far from being the worst abuser of Human Rights in the world, yet no other country has been targeted for boycotts.

Prof. Sari Nusseibeh, President of Al-Quds University, bravely opposes the boycott and issued the following statement:

"An international academic boycott of Israel, on pro-Palestinian grounds, is self-defeating: It would only succeed in weakening that strategically important bridge through which the state of war between Israelis and Palestinians could be ended and Palestinian rights could therefore be restored. Instead of burning that bridge, the
international academy should do everything within its power to strengthen it."

And indeed, there are a number of joint projects between researchers at Al-Quds University and Israeli universities, a choice that is far more likely to contribute to peace than would the blacklisting of researchers of one nationality.

The passed boycott is a dangerous precedent, opening the door to the spread of political boycotts to other organizations and other countries, and to other political issues as well. Clearly, a trend of this kind would destroy the system of peer review which assesses academic research on merit, not nationality or political opinion.

With very few exceptions, those leading the boycott call are not the leaders of British academia, but, rather, political extremists seeking to use the boycott as part of their broader campaign to delegitimise the State of Israel. These boycott proponents seek to hijack the union and use it as a weapon for propagating their marginal political
agenda.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

- Sign the petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/stopucu/petition.html

- Contact Sally Hunt General Secretary of the UCU at shunt@ucu.org.uk and ask for a National referendum

- If you are studying at a British University, contact your local branch of the UCU. Details can be found on: http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2229

The Labor Leadership Contest

Though I would rather see Ofir Pines win the chairmanship of the Israeli Labor Party, I voted for Ami Ayalon in today's primaries. Why? Pines has no chance of winning. Barak was a terrible leader. Peretz is so bad he shouldn't even be in government, and Danny Yetom is a mini-Barak.

I'm not too crazy about Ayalon either, but of the top 3 candidates, his views are the closest to my own, he has Avishai Braverman as his unofficial running mate, and it seems he has been good at the previous posts he held in the military and the Shin Bet.

Weirdest Search Term: Sperm Donation to Amish

Once in a while, I take a look at my blog's stats. I see how many people visited, which pages they read, where they are from and how they found my blog. One of the things I can check is the search terms used to find it. A few days ago someone googled the term "how to donate sperm to amish" and somehow reached my site, the blessed result of mixing terms from unrelated posts.

Why the hell would the Amish want sperm donations from outsiders? I doubt that any procedure that brings about the birth of a child whose biological mother is not married to his biological father would be consistent with their religious doctrine.

A Reminder That Qassam Rockets Are Deadly

A 32 year old woman was killed in Sderot tonight when a Qassam rocket hit the car she was in. This is a reminder to all those who consider the Qassams to be no more than flying pieces of metal that these are real weapons. They are deadly, and they are being aimed at civilians, and Israel must defend itself against these weapons.

Collective punishment is not going to solve the Qassam problem. Targeting Qassam-launchers on their way to an attack is the answer, albeit the partial, short-term answer. When possible, the Air Force should wait for the launchers to exit crowded areas before blowing them up, but that isn't always an option. Civilian casualties should be avoided at all costs, except for the cost of Israeli lives. If a car is on its way to a launch site full of rockets that have the potential to kill Israelis, our military has to shoot it down.

The Palestinians are in disarray. Not only are Hamas and Fatah fighting each other, each one of them is split into different factions. Even the Hamas, which used to be united, is no longer centralized. This is very bad for Israel, because now not only will they be fighting each other, they'll all also try to outdo each other in their fight against Israel. This is definitely bad news for everybody.

Six Feet Under and Brothers and Sisters

Last week I watched the entire final season of Six Feet Under, and days later I started watching the first 20 episodes of Brothers & Sisters. Maybe because of the proximity, I found a lot of similarities between these two shows, other than the obvious fact that both star the excellent Rachel Griffiths. Take a look below. Did I miss anything?

There's one major difference between the shows. Six Feet Under was a great show - real quality television. Brothers & Sisters is a fun show to watch, but quality TV it ain't.

Beware of SPOILERS!!!

Brothers & Sisters	Six Feet Under
William has heart attack and falls into pool	Nathaniel Sr. dies in accident	Father dies in pilot episode, leaving grieving widow
William and Holly	Ruth and Hiram	Parent's infidelity revealed after death
Kitty returns from NY	Nate returns from Seattle	A child returns home to LA
Ojai Foods	Fisher & Sons Mortuary	Family business
Kevin Walker	David Fisher	Gay repressed brother
Tommy asks Kevin for his sperm. Kevin refuses at first, but then both he and Justin donate sperm.	David asks Claire for her egg, so he and Keith can have a child. She refuses.	Asking a sibling for help conceiving (gay brother either asker or donor)
Julia Walker goes into labor 29 weeks into pregnancy	Brenda goes into labor two months early	Premature birth
Joe kisses Sarah's half sister Rebecca.	Nate cheats on Brenda with his step sister Maggie.	Rachel Griffiths' character has marital problems. Sisterly infidelity involved.
Husband Joe Whedon	Boyfriend Joe (Season 4)	Rachel Griffiths' character has significant other named Joe
Sarah is Joe's son Gabriel's step mother	Brenda is Nate's daughter Maya's step mother.	Her character is also a step-mother

Isn't it fun to waste time on totally unimportant things once in a while?

Students Strike, Higher Education Suffers

Israel's university and college students have been striking since April 10. The student organisations are opposed to a new government-appointed committee, led by former minister of the treasury, Avraham Shochat, which is examining reforms in Israel's higher education system.

The committee is expected to recommend higher tuition fees as an additional source for the university's depleted coffers, along with setting up a large scale student loan system and scholarships for those who cannot afford the tuition. I think this is a good solution, but the student organisations are only worried about students' pockets, not about what is best for our institutes of higher education.

The students demand that the government lower the tuition (in other words, raise tuition subsidies), and in addition, they demand that it should raise the universities' budgets. Both of these things cannot be done at the same time. Where will all the money come from? We, the students, should stop this strike. Lowering tuition fees in the current state of affairs is the wrong cause.

Even though I do not support this strike, I'm angered by the university presidents' attempt to force the students to end their strike. On Friday they announced that the semester would be extended by two weeks and students who return to class on Monday will be assisted with any missed study materials. However, they warned that students who do not return may lose this semester and will have to repeat it next year. Instead of negotiating with the students, they are bullying them.

Let's go back to school, not because we are forced into it, but because we understand that we are wrong. Let's accept the government's compromise proposal, which is too generous in my opinion. The proposal promises not to raise the tuition for those who are already studying, and raise it only for new students who will start studying in the future.

A Winograd Commissioner's Reading List

Some people may be interested in this message sent to the Israeli Political Science Association's mailing list by Prof. Yehezkel Dror, a member of the Winograd Commission that is investigating the Second Lebanon War:

Dear Political Science Colleagues,

Obviously I cannot and will not comment in any way on the Winograd Partial Report and on reactions to it, certainly not before the Final Report is out and the Committee is disbanded.

But, "without prejudice" and on a purely academic basis, let me share with you all the details of three recent books, out of a larger list, which I found very relevant in my methodological studies on evaluating war results:

Dominic D. P. Johnson and Dominic Tierney, Failing to Win: Perceptions of Victory and Defeat in International Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.

Robert Mandel, The Meaning of Military Victory. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2006.

William C. Martel, Victory in War: Foundations of Modern Military Policy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Shabat Shalom

Yehezkel Dror

I'm not familiar with these books, but taking a look at them may help us understand how the Winograd Commission reached its conclusions.

Over 100,000 Protesters Demand Olmert's Resignation

Organisers of the protest rally in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square say that as much as 200,000 people are in attendance. Police estimates are more modest, saying there are more than 100,000 protesters. Is this enough? No. There have to be a lot of demonstrations over time to get Olmert to do the right thing and resign. Are Israelis angry enough to make sure the prime minister gets the message that, as author Meir Shalev put it at today's rally, Olmert is fired? I'm not sure.

Since yesterday, somehow, Tzipi Livni seems to be under fire more than Olmert. Critics say she should have been bold enough to resign. As I've said previously, why the hell should one of our best, most intelligent ministers leave the government to the fools that the Winograd Commission criticized?!? Olmert and Peretz should resign, not Livni.

Olmert, Don't You Dare Fire Livni!

Rumor has it that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wants to fire Foreign Minister and Deputy PM Tzipi Livni. This, as a response to the fact that she called for his resignation. A possible replacement would be the current minister of transportation and former Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz. This would be a grave mistake for many reasons.

First of all, Tzipi Livni was the only cabinet minister to be praised by the Winograd Commission. If the rebuked prime minister and defense minister stay, and only Livni goes, replaced by Mofaz, who may still be criticized by the final Winograd Report regarding his days as IDF chief of staff and defense minister, then this horrible government would become even worse. Mofaz hasn't been a great leader, and if Olmert eventually resigns while Mofaz is his deputy, the chances of this mediocre (at best) politician becoming prime minister will be greater.

Also, the Israeli cabinet is different from the US cabinet in the fact that its members do not serve at the pleasure of the chief executive. Personal loyalty to the prime minister is never a requirement. So, Livni calling for Olmert's resignation is not reason enough for him to fire her. Certainly not under the current circumstances.

Firing Livni may be the straw that breaks Israelis' backs. Livni is much more popular that Olmert, Peretz and all other cabinet ministers, maybe except for Peres. I know I'd certainly have much more motivation to go to a demonstration calling for Olmert's resignation if he had the Chutzpah to get rid of the one person who performed well during the Second Lebanon War. And I don't mean Chutzpah in a good way.

Tzipi Livni or Meir Sheetrit for Prime Minister

Ehud Olmert has been a colossal failure as prime minister of Israel. The Winograd Commission's partial report, released Monday, supplied an abundance of evidence demonstrating he is unfit for leadership. The Second Lebanon War is far from being his only failure. He must step down.

I do not want new elections now. If that happens, we will have Benjamin Netanyahu as our prime minister. Last time he was our chief executive, 1996-1999, he was a terrible leader. His election would be disastrous to any peace efforts, among other things.

For fear of Netanyahu's election, the only good solution I can see is for the government to choose a new prime minister from among Kadima's current cabinet ministers. The best choice would be Tzipi Livni, the deputy prime minister and foreign minister, but the ultra-orthodox Shas party and the ultra-right wing Israel Beytenu (Israel Our Home) may leave the coalition if she is selected. I'd be happy to see these two parties out of the government, but without them the government wouldn't have a parliamentary majority and there would be new elections.

The second best choice is Minister of Housing and Construction Meir Sheetrit. He has been calling for negotiations with the Arab League (and says we should talk to them in Arabic, not English) and has done well in his various cabinet posts. Israel Beytenu would probably leave the government, which is very good, but Shas would stick by him. After all, for the Sephardic Shas not to support Israel's first Moroccan prime minister would be unthinkable.

I hope Shimon Peres won't be Olmert's replacement as prime minister. His testimony before the Winograd Commission showed that loyalty to the prime minister is more important to him than loyalty to what is best for the country. He told the commission he thought the government was making the wrong decisions but said nothing at the cabinet meetings. That is also why he should not be president after Moshe Katzav.

Autism: Hollywood's Cause De Jour

From the New York Times:

Autism has become to disorders what Africa is to social issues, the celebrity cause du jour. “Oprah,” “Larry King,” “The View” and MTV all devoted full hours to the subject in recent weeks, sometimes with appearances by the singer Toni Braxton (the mother of a boy with autism); the disorder is the focus of documentaries now making the festival circuit, like “Autism: The Musical.” Most intriguingly, it has turned up in a spate of dramas that take autism beyond “Rain Man.”
Read the entire article.

The Democrats' First Debate

The first debate among Democratic presidential hopefuls started at 2 am Israel time last night. Despite the late hour, I watched the whole thing. I didn't see anything revolutionary. Most of what was said there could have been anticipated in advance, on issues such as Iraq, Iran and the war on terror. Nevertheless, the debate gave me some new perspective on some of the candidates.

I've been leaning towards Hillary Clinton, but I don't know if she is electable. Even though she did a good job last night, now I'm not as sure that I will vote for her, not so much because of her performance, but rather the performance of her rivals. Barack Obama was very impressive. John Edwards, who in 2004 and until now seemed to be an inexperienced pretty boy, also seemed intelligent and knowledgeable and has interesting ideas.

Christopher Dodd is a new face to me. I've heard of him before, but this is the first time I've heard him speak. He made a good impression as well.

Even Dennis Kucinich did a good job. I don't support his views (other than the impeachment of Vice President Cheney, which would be a blessing to the world), but he had some good arguments last night.

Former Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska was last night's entertainment. He's a grumpy old man who should join the cast of the Daily Show, filling in for Lewis Black when Black is not available.

The two people who I thought didn't do so well were Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Bill Richardson. I never considered Biden as someone I'd vote for, but I did think of Richardson as a serious possibility. I am now much less likely to vote for Richardson. I didn't like the fact that it took Richardson time to call for the attorney general's resignation just because he is Hispanic. Most of his policy answers weren't very convincing, either.

I think I'll stay up next week to watch the Republican debate, even though I won't be voting in the Republican primaries. I like this kind of stuff.

Judeophobe Watch

Take a look at this new blog from Beacon Eating Atheist Jew, which "gives normal human beings a chance to debunk, refute, chastise, and debate anti-semitic postings from various Judeophobic web sites".

Great idea, BEAJ!

Happy Independence Day!

Happy 59th birthday Israel!

I attended a party last night, where I barely knew anyone, though I met a few people I haven't seen since high school, so it was fun. Today my family had a bbq and that was fun too.

This country may be far from perfect, but I sure am happy it exists.

Autism Among the Amish

Kevin Leitch has an interesting post about the claim that there are no cases of autism among the Amish because they don't vaccinate their kids. Turns out that they do vaccinate their kids (only 4% don't, according to a survey), and though there may be no autism diagnoses among the Amish, it doesn't mean there's no autism, because they don't go to modern doctors to get diagnosed.

Read Kevin's post for more details.

The Israeli Government and Liviu Librescu's Funeral

The Israeli media has been critical of the lack of official government representation at the funeral of slain Virginia Tech Prof. Liviu Librescu. I really don't understand why the media expected the prime minister or his ministers to attend. Though Prof. Librescu died heroically while saving his students, he didn't do it as an Israeli or on behalf of the State of Israel. He hasn't even lived in Israel for more than 20 years. The massacre in Virginia is an American tragedy, and though Israelis sympathize with America's loss, it is not an Israeli tragedy.

So no, there was no reason for Israeli cabinet ministers to attend Librescu's funeral. In fact, had any of them done so, it would have been a cynical exploitation of the Librescu family's personal tragedy.

Autistic Children's Siblings More Likely to Have Developmental Disorders

There's an interesting article in today's Haaretz (sorry, couldn't find an English version) about the results of a new study conducted by researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and UCLA. According to the study, siblings of autistic children are more likely to have delays in their motor, cognitive and verbal development than children who do not have autistic siblings. These delays usually start at around 4 months of age, but most children catch up by the time they are four and a half years old. Some children may have learning disabilities at an older age.

The explanation for this is that these children share some genes that cause autism, and thus share some traits that autistics have, though fewer and less severe.

The study was published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Haaretz Editorial: Israeli Help For Darfur

I totally agree with today's Haaretz editorial (click here for the Hebrew version):

More than 250,000 people have been killed in Darfur since 2004 and nearly 2.5 million Sudanese have fled their homes; the situation in the region could now spiral completely out of control.

The widening of the conflict to include Chad and the Central African Republic has already caused more suffering and killing in the region. International efforts are focusing on pressuring Sudan to agree to the deployment of a large multi-national force in Darfur. One can see almost everything in the approximately 12 camps that are strung along the border with Sudan, under deteriorating humanitarian conditions: children who have lost their parents, refugees who have lost all their possessions, murder and other forms of violence. The acts of violence that have spread to Chad in recent months have caused hundreds of thousands of local people to flee their homes, undermining living conditions and what little security there still was in the region. It is not rare for babies to die from hunger and disease, for women to be raped and for people to be murdered. International assistance to about a quarter of a million displaced persons is declining.

Under such conditions, Israel should not be missing from the list of countries providing life-saving help to the region's inhabitants. Nearly 20 non-governmental agencies are operating in eastern Chad - Italians, French, British, Dutch, Spanish, American and international groups that have made assistance to the victims of violence in Darfur the focus of their work.

The Jewish-American Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), which provides psychological and welfare assistance to the victims, is alone in representing Jewish values, which consider assistance to refugees paramount. Some of its funding comes from contributions by IsraAID, an umbrella organization for humanitarian assistance, which also sent a few Israeli volunteers. This is not enough of a presence.

Israel should extend immediate assistance, whether funded by non-governmental agencies or directly, to refugees and displaced persons who have found shelter in Chad. The absence of diplomatic ties between the two countries should not be an obstacle. Israeli assistance to the victims of the tsunami in Indonesia, with which Israel also does not yet have full diplomatic ties, is an important example in this regard - despite the differences in the nature of relations between the countries.

In the past Israel has shown that it can provide much-needed aid to disaster areas throughout the world, demonstrating the Jewish values on which its establishment was based. Assistance to Muslim victims can illustrate much better than any international public relations campaign that the principles by which Israel was established are universal and do not discriminate between humans based on religion or race.

Israel, which came into being after the Holocaust cannot stand idly by in the face of the suffering of Darfur's refugees.

New York Magazine's Party Town of Choice

Here's some good news ahead of Independence Day. New York Magazine recommends Tel-Aviv as a 4-day trip for partying (it also recommends Tokyo, Japan for the food, Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada and Annapolis, Md. for families). Tel-Aviv is definitely a great city for party-goers and clubbers (which I am not). Other than that, I don't really like the city. I prefer other cities and towns in Israel over it, cities that are much more beautiful (most of Tel Aviv is butt ugly) and where the residents are much nicer (many people from Tel Aviv tend to think their city is the center of the world and act accordingly).

I hope I'm not discouraging anyone from listening to New York Magazine. Come see Tel Aviv. Just be sure to visit the rest of Israel too.

Palestinians Giving Up Right of Return?

According to a post on Eye On The World, many Palestinian refugees are disavowing the right of return, while their leaders keep using the issue for political gain and as leverage in negotiations with Israel. The Palestinians interviewed are those who live in Lebanon or outside the Arab world. I wish I could believe the majority of Palestinians aren't really interested in the right of return, but unfortunately, that isn't the case.

While most Palestinians living in western countries may be happy where they are, most Palestinians who are unable to emigrate to Europe and North America and still live in Arab countries that grant them no rights, as well as Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, still demand a right of return. This would not just be a return to a future Palestinian state (something to which I don't object), but a return to the State of Israel itself, to Haifa, Jaffa, Beersheba and elsewhere. This kind of return is unacceptable to Israelis, regardless of who is responsible for the creation of the refugee problem.

Refugees should be compensated or given the right to return to the future State of Palestine, in accordance with the country's capacity to absorb new immigrants, so as to not cause a collapse of the new state. Return to Israel itself is never going to happen. The million dollar question is whether the Palestinians and Arab states will ever accept this.

The Holocaust and a Rat

I've had a crappy few days. For one thing, Holocaust Remembrance Day was depressing. I attended two alternative memorial events on two consecutive nights. These were discussions rather than ceremonies. We discussed what we can learn from the Holocaust (that we need a strong Israel so a Jewish holocaust will never again occur, that we should know that every person is capable of horrible things, or that maybe we have a responsibility to protect other victims of genocide, etc.) and what the Holocaust means to us.

Then yesterday my sister complained that she and I are not independent enough, and she thinks it is because of the Holocaust. My mother is very overprotective of us, as her parents were very overprotective of her. They fled Poland after the Germans entered it and lost almost all their family members. So as my mother grew up, they followed her around all the time, even here in Israel. Somehow, she managed to become independent, though. Then she became an overprotective mother, but we aren't independent enough. Don't get me wrong, she's an excellent mother, though imperfect. So, anyway, realizing even my own life has been shaped by the Holocaust is pretty depressing.

To top that off, there was a rat in our kitchen. We caught it and drowned it (not very humane, but releasing it into the wild would just mean it would return to another house). That was disgusting and surprisingly depressing.

At least one good thing came out of this. My father told my nephew about the rat and my nephew was upset. He didn't like the idea of killing the rat at all. He thought we should have released it far away. Just a few years ago he wouldn't care about an animal's death. On the other hand, he wants to get rid of the family of street cats that has settled in our garden. But then again, so do I (neither of us wants to kill them, just to relocate Momma Cat and her kittens somewhere else).

By the way, the whole Virginia Tech massacre didn't help my mood either.

A Taxing Puzzle

I usually don't solve the New York Times' daily crossword puzzles, but I love their "Editorial Puzzles", those special puzzles they publish once in a while. Today, in honor of Tax Day in the USA, they have a set of puzzles that will give you the answer to this question: What’s the best way to show a tax auditor how concerned you are?

A Loony Paranormal Explanation For Autism

Here's something all sides of the mercury/neurodiversity debate can agree on - that the following theory about autism is absolutely crazy:

"The Crystal Children began to appear on the planet from about 2000, although some date them slightly earlier. These are extremely powerful children, whose main purpose is to take us to the next level in our evolution, and reveal to us our inner power and divinity. They function as a group consciousness rather than as individuals, and they live by the" Law of One" or Unity Consciousness. They are a powerful force for love and peace on the planet.

[...]

[The Crystal Children] are incredibly telepathic. Many of the Crystal Children have delayed speech patterns, and its not uncommon for them to wait until they're 3 or 4 years old to begin speaking. But parents tell me they have no trouble communicating with their silent children. Far from it! The parents engage in mind-to-mind communication with their Crystal Children. And the Crystals use a combination of telepathy, self-fashioned sign language, and sounds (including song) to get their point across.

The trouble comes about when the Crystals are judged by medical and educational personnel as having "abnormal" speaking patterns. It's no coincidence that as the number of Crystals are born, that the number of diagnoses for autism is at a record high."

That's a quote from this website, which I learned about through a post about Jenny McCarthy's autistic son Evan. She thinks Evan is a Crystal Child and she herself is an Indigo, one evolutionary step before the Crystals.

The odd thing is that she talks about "healing autism" and calls it a serious health issue. Doesn't that contradict the view that it is just a misdiagnosis of humanity's next evolutionary step? Oh, well, maybe I'm expecting too much logical thinking from a woman whose claim to fame is being a Playboy Playmate and host of stupid MTV shows.

Daily Show Reveals: The Jews Run Israel

Here's a funny clip from the Daily Show: Senior Diplomatic/British/Middle East/Anything Correspondent John Oliver interviews Danny Gillerman, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations.

Two Peoples, Two Narratives

The Wise Bard: A different model of coexistence

This is interesting: a project where one textbook contains the historical narratives of Israelis and Palestinians side by side. The narratives often conflict with each other. This is a positive project. Both sides should know the other side's version of events, and think critically about both versions. Knowing what the other is saying and not taking your own side's story as is does not mean necessarily that you stop believing in your people's general narrative.

Kudos to Prof. Dan Bar-On of Ben-Gurion University is Israel and Prof. Sami Adwan of Bethlehem University in the Palestinian Authority for coming up with this idea at PRIME (Peace Research Institute of the Middle East). Now let's hope the Israeli and Palestinian education departments will start using this book soon. I wouldn't hold my breath.

My Own Evolution

I recently went through all my previous posts in preparation for an upcoming project (the nature of which I cannot disclose at this time). It is interesting to see how my blog evolved. At first, it was a very personal blog, writing about girl trouble and frequently writing about my nephew. As time went by, I stopped writing about girl trouble, somewhat reduced the number of posts about my nephew, and political commentary became the dominant feature of this blog.

As I look at my earlier posts about my nephew and autism, I see the evolution of my own vocabulary and terminology regarding this condition. Other than the fact that I wrote "high-performance" instead of "high-functioning" in my very first post about him in June 2003, I also used various loaded terms about autism which I would not use now. I no longer see autism as a disease or an illness, for example.

My thoughts about treating or curing autism were inconsistent. Sometimes I thought my nephew can be cured, sometimes I thought he'll always be autistic (as I do now, and I doubt that I'll ever think otherwise again). I was always fairly consistent in my views regarding the causes of autism. I never thought thimerosal can be the sole cause, but I've never ruled out that some kids may be effected by it.

Regarding politics, I must point out that I was right all along about at least two things: the disengagement being a bad move, and that the Second Lebanon War was a justified war that was carried out badly (I didn't even remember that I questioned the wisdom of our leaders as early as July 14, the 3rd day of the war).

Politically Incorrect Passover Joke

The following joke amused me, even though it is a hawkish right-wingers' kind of joke:

A few days before Passover, the Israeli Ambassador got up to
speak at the U.N. "Ladies, and gentlemen," he said. "I have
much to say. But before I begin, let me tell you an old
Passover story, as the holiday is almost upon us".

"When Moses was leading the Jews out of Egypt, he had to
cross the near endless Sinai desert. The Israelites were so
thirsty they could hardly go on. So Moses struck the side of
a mountain with his staff and a pond appeared with crystal
clean water. Now the people rejoiced and drank to their
hearts content.

"But Moses wished to cleanse his entire body. So he went
over the other side of the pond, took off his clothes and
dove in. Only when he came out did he discover his clothes
had been stolen. And I have good reason to believe that
the Palestinians stole Moses' clothes."

At this point, the Palestinian delegate jumped out of his
chair and screamed, "You lying fool! Everyone knows
there were no Palestinians at that time"!

"Exactly," said the Israeli Ambassador. "And with that,
let me begin my speech".