Category Archives: Israel

When In The US, Speak English

Conservatism, English, Israel, Nationhood, Republicans

I remember an old joke that was told in Israel, and was aimed at the ultra-orthodox who dress oddly and won’t speak Hebrew:

An Israeli in shorts and a Tembel Hat is walking down the street, when from across the street an ultra-orthodox Jew in black garb shouts obscenities at him in Yiddish. These Jews believe that speaking Hebrew before Messiah arrives is heretic. To ensure messiah comes (often referred to as the longest coming in history), the Jew has to remain weak, dispossessed and persecuted—a sickly spirit without a corporeal country.

The Israeli shouts back, “Speak Hebrew, goy!” Goy means non-Jew.

Kova Tembel:

This reminds me of Donald Trump’s retort to Jeb Bush rattling off in Spanish on the campaign trail. The Trump retort was, incidentally, not only righteous but culturally conservative in the extreme. CNN:

Trump took a jab Wednesday at Jeb Bush for using Spanish to dismiss the mogul’s conservative credibility.

… “I like Jeb,” Trump told Breitbart News. “He’s a nice man. But he should really set the example by speaking English while in the United States.”

Trump was referring to the former Florida governor’s comments to reporters on Tuesday about Trump’s policies.

“El hombre no es conservador,” Bush said, which translates to, “This man is not a conservative.” …

The Stuff That The GOP ‘Stars’ Are Made Of

Democrats, Iran, Israel, Politics, Republicans

“GOP Stars Go Gaga Over Democrat” is the very apt title of a WND news headline dealing with Sen. Chuck Schumer’s poke at Barack Obama’s Iran deal. The GOP can’t wait to find a bipartisan way into the arms of a hip and powerful Democrat like Chuck Schumer, who showed what he’s never concealed: he’s a hawk for Israel; a dove when it comes to the US. And and an all-round hypocrite. But Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee beams and creams himself.

Watch the other Republicans—except The Donald—do the same. All the Republicans who turned out the other night for a performance of a lifetime, at Quicken Loans Arena, can’t wait to get on the DC party circuit.

“Thank God for Sen. Schumer and his opposition to this reckless nuclear deal with Iran,” Huckabee said in a statement. “While I disagree with Sen. Schumer on most things, I applaud him for putting peace in the Middle East above partisan politics. Despite endless arm-twisting and enormous political pressure from the White House, Sen. Schumer chose statesmanship over partisanship.”

The former Arkansas governor said he hopes the decision will inspire other high-ranking Democrats to follow.

What’s next? Find out in “Showdown with Nuclear Iran.”

In recent weeks, two powerful Jewish Democrats in the House, Reps. Steve Israel and Nita M. Lowey, also from New York, announced their opposition to the nuclear agreement.

“Sen. Schumer’s opposition to the agreement sends a signal to every pro-Israel Democrat in Washington that they don’t have to ‘walk the plank’ for President Obama – they can stand for peace and reject this bad deal. And I pray that they will,” said Huckabee.

Schumer, the likely future Democratic leader of the Senate, announced his decision to oppose the deal on Thursday.

“Advocates on both sides have strong cases for their points of view that cannot simply be dismissed,” Schumer said Thursday night.

“This has made evaluating the agreement a difficult and deliberate endeavor, and after deep study, careful thought and considerable soul-searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval,” he said.

MORE.

A REMINDER (9/21/017): Some Shin Bet Veterans Not Against Iran Deal

Foreign Policy, Iran, Israel, War

Ami Ayalon, former head of Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service, and a former chief of the Israeli Navy, said this about the US deal with Iran:

“… when it comes to Iran’s nuclear capability, this [deal] is the best option.”

“When negotiations began, Iran was two months away from acquiring enough material for a [nuclear] bomb. Now it will be 12 months,” Ayalon says, and the difference is significant to anyone with a background in intelligence. “Israelis are failing to distinguish between reducing Iran’s nuclear capability and Iran being the biggest devil in the Middle East,” he says.

“Ayalon and several of the other Israeli war heroes who appeared in The Gatekeepers, an acclaimed 2012 documentary about Shin Bet, endorsed Obama’s best argument for the agreement—that the alternative is much worse.”

MORE.

Israel: A Quality Society, Not A Suicide Pact

Israel, Judaism & Jews, Terrorism

“Ten Hours of Walking in Israel as a Woman in Hijab” (via Target Liberty) serves as a remarkable testament to the quality and tolerance of Israeli society. So conclusive and vivid is this video depiction that words pale by comparison. It is a rather long clip. My tolerance for text-less material taking time to get through is limited. But, here, a picture in time is indeed worth a thousand words.

Editor Robert Wenzel disagrees, writing this at TL:

In commerce, there is peace.
What Corey Gil-Shuster didn’t film is what occurs at Israeli government checkpoints.

Checkpoints? The reason there is “peace in commerce” is because those manning checkpoints care about the security of their Israeli countrymen, Jew and Muslim, to ensure that hijab-swaddled individuals do not have vests of explosives under their garb.

Would you feel at ease in a cinema or a supermarket where hijabs went unchecked?

Kudos to the Israelis.