Bernie - back from the USSR

The current spate of controversies surrounding the candidacy of Bernie Sanders in the 2020 presidential race includes his trips to various socialist heavens. Including his 1988 visit to Soviet Union.

1988. The perestroika, lead by Mikhail Gorbachev, is at its peak. Aside of old apparatchiks and babushkas, no one believes anymore in the shining future of socialism, managed by the "mind, honor and conscience of our era", the crumbling Communist Party of Soviet Union.

The Berlin wall has one year left to stand. The arms race, imposed by Ronald Reagan, has been irrevocably lost by USSR, its economy collapsing under the burden. Anti-Russian sentiments are rising in the "satellite" socialist countries of the Soviet camp in Eastern Europe. The camp is slowly but surely being teared apart.

The attitude of the Soviet people to the boogeyman of seventy years, the Western capitalism and, especially, to the Big Satan, the most cursed capitalist enemy, has changed drastically. (It will go back to enmity and alienation during Putin's rule, but for now...). The flow of information from the West is unstoppable now, and Soviet people are seeing for the first time the huge gap between their lives in the socialist heaven and these in the West.

And the flow of information in the other direction is unstoppable now too. Hundreds thousands immigrants from USSR are now in the West, telling it all. The previously suppressed stories and books by the dissidents and victims of the regime are published even in the USSR, not to mention the West. The truth is out.

And this is the year when one Bernie Sanders, then Mayor of Burlington, heads with a group of other Burlington notables to Yaroslavl, a soviet city to become a sister city of Burlington. The itinerary of the team also included Moscow and Leningrad*.

Unsurprisingly, their itinerary was managed exactly as it is described in the remark below. Surprisingly, Bernie and his comrades for that trip didn't see through it, and here is the trip report from the horse mouth:



So here are the salient points from the Bernie's speech:

• Openness and warmth of the citizens and officials. He didn't really get to see many real citizens, naive as he is, but yes, the times have changed, as I have described above.
• It (the above warmth) might go back to WW II. Wrong. The huge assistance provided (with a big loss of lives and enormous effort) by Americans and Britons during WWII was one of almost totally forbidden subjects.
• People were delighted by the presence of Ronald Reagan etc. Crap. Soviet people at the time didn't give a flying donut about high level summits like this one. Again - talking with token "citizens" might have confused him.
• Surprised by the degree of self-criticism Soviet officials displayed. Perestroika, man, where have you been?
• Moscow News has articles with self-criticism and debate... same thing again. Bernie has no idea whatsoever about what is going on in that place.
• Soviets estimate that they are behind US about 10 to 15 years in healthcare. In 1988 it is rather 20 to 30 years, but why be a nitpicker? The healthcare was free, of course (better bring some food to your near and dear patient, and yeah, that rare medicine - be a good father/mother/son... and get it via your connections...
• Housing now. How about young newlyweds waiting for years and years for their government-built low quality 50 square meters flat, while folks close to the trough get it without delay?
• Public transportation. Measured by visits to Leningrad, Moscow and Yaroslavl - two major centers of state investment and one major tourist destination. All in all, about 5-7% of total Soviet population, with absolutely unreliable train, bus and airline services that caused headache and toothache to so many millions...
• Moscow Metro now - "the fastest, cleanest and most effective I have seen in my life". "With many works of art, beautiful chandeliers etc..." this one made me choke up. The Moscow metro, built on the bodies of hundreds of Stalin's prisoners, far from all of them being criminal ones. And beautiful chandeliers...
• Culture palaces for young people with cultural programs - where grooming of "pioneers" and "komsomolets's" with party-approved cultural programs and impoverished libraries where only party-approved books were available. Both under tight control of that three-letter outfit, needless to say.
• And to crown it all: "They want to go back to some early vision of their revolution". Ye gods - when the last thing the vast majority of Soviet people wanted to hear at the time was more inane revolutionary slogans and revolutionary ideas...

To summarize, there are only two possible explanations to the above nightmarish inanity: either the man is dumb as two planks or he really lacks elementary information.

It is not for nothing that I have mentioned above the flow of information from USSR to the West and the waves of immigrants who came over to US, ready to tell it all. So we have here a man who dedicated himself to politics and spent quite a few years in social-related activities, leadership etc. And this man was heading a delegation to another country without trying to learn the basic A to Z about it? When this information was so easily obtainable? Hard to believe, ain't it?

Well, it is not my job to explain the inexplicable. It is rather my duty to point out that this man, with a bachelor of arts degree in political science (that he himself describes "as a mediocre college student because the classroom was "boring and irrelevant", while the community was more important to his education") - that this man, who freely and so convincingly displays his ignorance in most vital matters, is vying for the presidency of United States.

Heed the message, dear Americans.


(*) Not surprisingly, Moscow, Leningrad and Yaroslavl were usually included in a standard itinerary of Western tourists. The sightseeing offered and the tourists' timetables were orchestrated to the minute details and, of course, coordinated with the KGB and its well-trained watchers. Even during the years of perestroika. The masters of Potemkin village creation made their lives easier by channeling the tourists through the same well-mapped treks...

Nachman Shai's open letter to Benjamin Netanyahu

Update: in the first version of the post the letter was wrongly assumed to be by Benny Begin. Apologies.
(With thanks to Vittaly).

Nachman Shai with an message for Bibi. Apologies for bugs in translation, if encountered.

***

Without flaming, out of appreciation and clear vision.
(Published by Ynet)

My acquaintance with Bibi, I call him Bibi, is long-standing. I first met him 43 years ago, after his brother Yoni's death in Entebbe. Yoni was my classmate at Rehavia Gymnasium in Jerusalem. A few years earlier, immediately after the Yom Kippur War, I interviewed him as commander of the Golan Heights Armored Battalion. It was the only journalistic interview Yoni had ever given.

In 1976, Bibi asked to speak to me and presented his vision for the war on terror. He was 27 years old and already brilliant at the time. He has developed an international counter-terrorism project and recruited people from all over the world to assist. The project exposed him both in Israel and in the US. Later, the late Moshe Arens chose him to serve as his deputy at the Washington Embassy. At the time, I served as the embassy spokesperson and couldn't help but admire his personal and policy capabilities.

Once again, we worked together in the First Gulf War - he in political PR and I in the military, and later in the Madrid Conference and beyond. Of course, I also followed him during my years in the Knesset, and occasionally we even talked and exchanged opinions.

I value and respect him even today, so I refuse to join the chorus that now rolled him in the tar in the outskirts of the city. But last Thursday I listened to the things he said on television - true, with great excitement, a stir of emotion and lack of sense - and realized that he could go no further.

It's over, Bibi.

The Israeli prime minister cannot burn the house on its residents. No, you can't. Only yesterday and maybe tomorrow you will send Air Force pilots or other IDF fighters to protect this home. A home is not just land, roads, buildings. The home is the set of values ​​and norms we all share.

You, the Prime Minister of Israel, have to respect our democracy, which has been serving you for 13 years. This democracy rests on the foundations of law and order and morality. Without them, it would not be democracy and will collapse. So many countries have already seen it. It might happen to us too. The distance is short.

No, this is not a "coup" and it is not an attempt to oust illegally a prime minister. The law keeping and enforcement system has come to a wise and measured conclusion that the Israeli prime minister should be prosecuted. Even now my hands are shaking at the sound of those words. This system may be faulty. But once a decision has been made, after many hesitations and varied considerations, including the timing, the way is now open to you to fight for your innocence. Not through the microphone and booth, which you so well use, but in court. There and only there.

I wish you got out of the indictments. It's hard for me to watch another convicted prime minister go to jail, but the decision is not mine or yours, and at this moment no longer public. Only the justice system, which you have complimented at the beginning of your speech, then roasted it on fire. The court will hear you, Bibi, with an open heart and soul. Go there, cope, and if there was nothing, there would be nothing.

***

To be on the safe side, follows the original in Hebrew.

Read more »

So, how about it now, Bibi?

In this recording Bibi, at the best of his glorious indignation and superb powers of speechifying, explains why Olmert, suspected of corruption, must resign. A part of his tirade reads:

A prime minister neck deep in investigations does not have a moral and public mandate to make fateful decisions for the State of Israel. There is a fear, I must say, and it is real and not unfounded, that he will make his decisions for his personal interest of political survival, not for the national interest.

To remind you all, at the time Olmert resigned even before the charges against him were finalized to indictment.

MK Miki Zohar* and will of the people

The above mentioned is one of the chief brownnosers of our illustrious and legally haunted PM. It is not news, besides he is only one of many. However, his recent musings on the ongoing legal battle between Bibi and the justice system left a good part of the nation flabbergasted.

“The attorney general and the legal system will have to consider the election results, because the people are the sovereign,” Likud MK Miki Zohar** told Kan public radio. “The people determine the social norms.”

“Those who are responsible for Netanyahu’s legal fate are only the Israeli nation and Israeli citizens,” Zohar said. “If they come to the ballot station in a few months and again tell the attorney general, law enforcement systems, the left and the media that they want Netanyahu as their prime minister — with all due respect to everyone, he will remain their prime minister.”

I am not sure I have to comment on this too extensively. Just, as a side notion: this revolutionary idea, if expanded and fully implemented, will save uncounted billions that are going into support and maintenance of the legal system. No obscure and complicated law books, no judges, thus no lawyers, only the people who determine the social norms and thus the award and/or punishment for each of their fellow citizens.

Come to think of it, there is no need for the law enforcement too in this new world. Just volunteer citizen committees, equipped with rope, tar and feathers, as in the good old days.

Wow. Just wow.

On the other hand, that brief Knesset bio blurb says that the ideas man also chairs the Lobby for the Promotion of Sports and an Athletic Lifestyle. Should the Hon. MK focus solely on sport in the future?

Vote.

(*) The one on the right in this picture. The hand is, apparently, obscuring his tongue to hide its color.

(**) This comes from a man with apparent knowledge of the law:

Makhlouf Miki Zohar ... holds a 'Bachelor of Laws' (LLB) degree from the College of Law and Business in Ramat-Gan and a Master of Laws (LLM) degree from Bar-Ilan University.

AIPAC as (another) left-wing conspiracy

In a post on his Facebook page, Netanyahu slammed what he called the Left's "double moral standards."
"They criticize an alliance on the Right with right-wing parties while the Left is working to bring radical Islamists into the Knesset to set up its own alliance," the prime minister wrote.

Interesting.

P.S. And just to make clear where I stand on this issue: here is where.

Miri Regev and degenerate art

She wasn't any good as IDF Spokeswoman either.

History provides many examples of political leaders’ efforts to censor art and restrict public funding of culture in the name of promoting nationalist ideals and protecting communities from adverse artistic influence. The Jewish people have not come out on the winning side of such efforts.

There isn't much I can add to the above quote from the article by Scott Mortman, the Israeli Chair of the America Israel Cultural Foundation.

When you assign the ministry of culture to a person proud of not ever reading Chekhov and the ministry of justice to a person whose main goal is to limit the power of the High Court of Justice etc etc... the outlook is poor.

Gaza - as a bolt out of the blue?

Whatever you say about our politicians, their ability to play dumb*, coupled with their ability to point an accusing finger at somebody else are still up there with the best.

Recently, while desperately searching a way out of the Gaza stand-off, some of our ministers happened to find what looked to them a suitable scapegoat: out Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot. The soldier's soldier was suddenly blamed in the situation:

...one unnamed minister was quoted as saying, “In the final analysis, Eisenkot’s policy on responding [to Gaza violence] has failed and allowed things to deteriorate.”

Amazing, but it is not all:

Ministers used the meeting to lambast the IDF chief for allowing an Israeli “loss of sovereignty” on the border, and what they called the military’s insufficient action against the balloon launchers.

The sheer gall and stupidity of these attacks is mind-boggling. Blaming your gun for not jumping up and shooting your enemy? The very same people who are responsible for IDF and should decide, after interminable months of border violence, what to do, are accusing IDF in inaction?

To the honor of our illustrious minister of defense, whom I never suspected of overflow of any honor at all, he stood up in defense (no pun intended) of CoS.

It’s ridiculous that cabinet members are blaming the chief of staff for a policy they laid out. This crosses a red line, and it hurts national security.

Liberman's response has probably been strong enough, because lately, due to the general impotence and lack of ideas, our ministers have found another, even better, scapegoat.

According to the lightning theory that emerged Thursday, the projectiles were armed, ready and aimed at Beersheba and Gush Dan in case of an outbreak of violence with Israel when lightning struck in the area and sent them on their way.

Five bolts of lightning struck in the Gaza area around between 3:10 and 3:20 a.m. that morning, according to maps produced by Dr. Barry Lynn of the Weather-It-Is company and the Israel Total Lightning Network, which tracks lightning strikes.

Four of them touched down out at sea, but one struck within the Gaza Strip.

So now it is not Hamas and even not the so handy Gadi Eizenkot. It is He who sends the bolts out of the blue. To save the ministers' faces, which are already so covered by the proverbial eggs that it is difficult to see them.

What can I say? If it looks like bullshit, if it sounds like bullshit, if it smells like bullshit - it is probably a politician...

(*) Or being dumb, choose your preferred option.

Some pigs are not like the others: right, Jerusalem Post?

The story starts with this cartoon a veteran cartoonist posted:

A veteran Israeli cartoonist was cut loose on Tuesday from the magazine he worked at for nearly three decades over an illustration portraying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud lawmakers as pigs from George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” The cartoon by Avi Katz drew on a photo of Netanyahu and members of his Likud party snapping a selfie at the Knesset following the passage of the so-called Jewish State law last week.

Undoubtedly, the cartoon was inspired (besides Orwell) by this picture:

Likud MK Oren Hazan takes a selfie with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, and MK David Bitan, right of Netanyahu, after the passage of the so-called Jewish State law at the Knesset on July 19, 2018.

I wouldn't go into the rights or wrongs of the artist's vision or his politics. Should I mention my opinion of many years that Jerusalem Post is quite a provincial rag, and that nothing has happened so far to persuade me differently? Nah, no need, really.

I shall just throw in another tidbit that may look somewhat unrelated to the matter and hand. At the first glance, possibly. Here is a Russian cartoonist, in a country that is not known for its gentleness toward dissidents of all stripes, publishing a cartoon including... but see for yourself:

"Orthodox devils" - says the caption.

And you know what: so far Mr. Kopeikin, the author of the cartoon in question, was neither fired nor fed a Polonium cookie.

Make one wonder, innit?

Is football the universal religion or is BBC off its collective gourd?

It started for me with looking at the reports on this night's skirmishes on the Gaza border, after a series of rocket and mortar shells barrages from the neighbors. Somehow it evolved in getting to the BBC site. And this is part of what I have found in their World section of the news:

Surely you understand that it is a rare client what clicks on the World section of their site. And even there, all the coverage the murder of "over 100" Pakistanis got is the following:

A suicide bomber has killed at least 128 people at a campaign rally in south-western Pakistan - the deadliest attack in the country since 2014.

A local candidate was among the dead in the Mastung town, police say. So-called Islamic State (IS) claimed the attack.

Earlier, a bomb attack on a similar rally in the northern town of Bannu killed four people. The attacks come ahead of general elections on 25 July.

It must be clear to anyone that vying with Scarlett Johansson isn't all that easy.
And here comes the front page of BBC of that same day (click to enlarge):

What, indeed,  could compete with the crucial question of football vs religion? Or with the way Thai cave smells?

Yeah... and this is the way it goes.

P.S. And regarding the skirmishes mentioned: this is the closest BBC got to any mention of those:

So there.

Untied Airlines and me

When it comes to traveling, rarely a person undertaking the voyage is more discombobulated than I. Both acquired with years fear of flying and the unwillingness to leave home add a lot to the dealing with all these Internet sites offering you the most convenient and the cheapest way to get you from point A to point B. In this case, from point Z* to point X with a plane change in point Y. And back, hopefully.

So, being in thrall of all the "best offers", timetables, prices, stopover points, timelines etc., I missed a certain point, when making the final choice and clicking on the fateful "Make the purchase" (or whatever it says) button. My inattention brought me to the bunch of misbegotten malcontents, malfeasance - minded marauders of civil aviation, otherwise known as Untied Airlines**. Yes, the ones whose exploits in passenger-oriented violence, casual murder of animals and other similar innovations in customer service are the sign of the times and the talk of the day.

I noticed my oversight only when it came to the online check-in procedure. The usually simple and quick process of filling in a page of basic data came in this case as a sequence of several pages, with kind of questions more suited for an application to some spy agency. But the breaking point came when somewhere on page 5 the system stopped responding, mulled on some issues for a while and came with a notice: "For security reasons your check-in process can't be continued at this time".

OK, I said, no big deal. After all, that whole home check-in procedure doesn't really save you much time, not in point Z, where most of your time is spent in the security-bound lines anyway. So, after getting to the old-fashioned check-in counter, I was unpleasantly surprised to see that our seating arrangements were changed by the airline - we were bumped about 9 rows back. I've mentioned this discovery to the check-in wallah, with a (feeble, I know) protest of a "But I have reserved these seats several months ago!". His response, coupled with his unwavering steely gaze was  crushing: "No matter, it is the same cabin, after all". No further arguments...

Well, looking forward to the pleasant vacation and keeping in mind that for the flight back I have reserved (and paid for) something called "enhanced seating", I have swallowed this small insignificant crow and otherwise our way to the point X was uneventful and even more or less on time.

On the way back I haven't even attempted the doomed in advance online check-in. So, after repeatedly swapping our passports in that infernal machine at the airport in point X, we have eventually got our boarding passes, and lo and behold: our seats were bumped back again, far away from the general area of the duly paid for "enhanced seating". Now I was pissed off. So, when we got to the terminal, which almost wholly belongs to the Untied Airlines, I have started to search for a service agent. To my chagrin, there wasn't a single one available. About 45 minutes before our flight take-off time a harassed - looking agent appeared at out gate and got swamped immediately by all kinds of needy people, mostly of the stand by category. When my turn came, I was told that the agent can't see my ticketing on the computer (?), so I shall have to defer my issues to the service agents in point Y, where the long flight to point Z is starting.

The first available service agent at point Y was an apprentice (as he himself confessed) who decided to redirect my issue to his neighbor - an important looking lady who, pointedly ignoring the apprentice's attempts to draw her attention, took care meanwhile of several other customers, who came by way after me. When she deigned to take a brief look at the apprentice's screen with my ticket info, she immediately declared that I didn't have a claim for the enhanced seating, since I haven't purchased any. My attempts to demonstrate the ticketing email on my phone were rejected outright and quite rudely.

Only when I asked for the lady's name (for submitting a complaint), did she jump into action. Which action consisted of  a) complaining of me being annoying and b) calling for a supervisor to get rid of the said annoyance.

Well, to shorten the story, the supervisor's intervention resolved the whole drama. She was a rather nice person, who took a look at my ticketing email and, seeing the proof of purchase, moved the poor apprentice aside and, after a few manipulations on the computer, found us two seats in the enhanced seating section. She also told me that, due to cancellation of the previous flight from point Y to point Z, the wave of newcomers caused a turmoil with seating and even (kind of) apologized for the misunderstanding and inconvenience caused.

Well, as an afterword: only in the morning after landing in point Z, I have found an email from Untied Airlines, partially quoted below:

There has been an aircraft swap for your flight today to Tel Aviv, which has resulted in seating changes. We have done our best to keep your original seating preferences, but your seat assignments have changed.

New seat assignments:

[Passenger 1] - 30A
[Passenger 2] - 30B

We appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

There are three intriguing points about that email: that it was sent about two hours before take-off time from point X; that it contradicts the flight cancellation story of the supervisor; and the reference to "original seating preferences". Original my foot.

But no matter. What matters is that SWMBO was able to relax in the enhanced seat (having, to be frank, legs longer than mine, it is a significant point), that the justice triumphed and that I have learned to double check the situation before clicking this "Make the purchase" button. Hopefully to avoid the good services of Untied from now on.

So there.


(*) Point Z, being of course the Zionist Entity.
(**) Well, kind of, if you know what I mean.

Bibi and his cigars: I am sure he didn't inhale!

Of course, only a millennial wouldn't recognize the reference to inhalation. Besides, one doesn't usually inhale cigars' smoke anyway. It is a bit different with champagne, though.

To preempt the obvious questioning: no, I am not happy with the charges of bribery as described in a very general way in this article:

The gifts the Netanyahus received—such as cigars, champagne and jewelry—were given over the course of about a decade, reaching a total of about NIS 1 million—NIS 750,000 in gifts from Milchan and about NIS 250,000 from Packer, according to the police.

And:

According to the police, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth owner and publish Arnon Mozes discussed mutual assistance to promote one another's interests during private meetings that began in 2009 and lasted for several years.

Nope, I am not happy about it, unless in my own general way of cynical suspicion toward any and all politicos out there. The words of Peter the Great that could be roughly translated as "Every superintendent should be hanged after three years of service without investigation and without trial" ring now as true to me as at any other time.

The main reason I am unhappy about is that the political scene in our smallish place is devoid of people who look half able to take over that thorny and sleepless job. There are a lot of mice and no men*. Not that Bibi is... but I am diverting from the main subject.

At the end of the day, no matter what his other transgressions are, Bibi confesses to taking the above mentioned cigars, champagne etc. And no matter what will the final decision of Attorney General be (we'll have to wait for it quite a long time, several months at least) - the law forbids a person in Bibi's position to receive gifts of any kind - even a movie ticket.

No matter whether the whole caboodle will come to trial or, moreover, the trial will end in a conviction: this behavior stinks to high heaven. As does the wall-to-wall support Bibi receives from the coalition parties.

This, to remind you, in a country where one PM (Itzchak Rabin) resigned because a foreign account in his name, containing about $10,000, was discovered.

And another PM (Menachem Begin), who, aside of other stuff, is remembered for this:

His family lived in a one bedroom flat on Rosenbaum street in Tel Aviv the entire time he was in the opposition, a period of almost three decades.

And his three rooms flat in Jerusalem...

Just go, Bibi.

(*) "Men" in this case applies (but not limited) to cisgendered men and women as well as to all 70+ known genders.

Kaya Netanyahu, Bibi and our barking lawmakers

A short time ago I, together with a lot of other Israelis, experienced a jaw-dropping event. A bunch of Knesset members were recalled from their vacation to vote for a new law that will... yes, that will allow Kaya Netanyahu, the First Dog, to stay at home after biting somebody (again).

We'll never know whether it was an isolated event of ridiculous ass-licking by some eager Likud mandarins or a trial balloon, meant to check the limits of that sanity envelope that is supposed (oh well...) to rule the behavior of our lawmakers. In any case, I have written then:

... I can already see a bill granting immunity to the incumbent PM being pushed through the Knesset by Bibi's faithful, whose number is legion. And I sincerely hope this attempt will fail.

And here we are, less than three months after that post was written, and the law is already in the works:

The proposed legislation to shield the prime minister from police investigations would constitute an amendment to Israel’s Basic Law: The Government. The new bill stipulates that criminal investigations against a sitting prime minister cannot be conducted for corruption, fraud or breach of trust.

MK David Amsalem, who proposed the bill, and Prime Minister Netanyahu

And yes, we know that the idea for the law in question isn't exactly new and stems from the so called "French law". The French law protects the incumbent president of France from investigations - while in the office. At least from investigations not directly related to his duties as a president. Why should we adopt a bad law here, remains unclear, though.

As you will be able to see in the linked Ynet article, not all coalition members are happy with the idea. Some MKs realize that it is not the usual left vs. right dogfight and are firmly (for now) against the law. Several amendments that allow a few investigations of Bibi, that are looming, to start, were added to mollify the objectors.

The opposition to the law, outside of the solid ranks of Likud, is quite strong. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is a staunch critic of the disastrous idea.

"A complete bar on the ability to investigate a serving prime minister, such as MK Amsalem proposes, fails to strike a balance between the various public interests and ignores the special mechanism currently stipulated in the Basic Law: The Government," Mandelblit writes, and warns that "the result to which the bill leads is extremely severe and unacceptable – there will be no power to investigate a serving prime minister, even if clear, specific evidence has come to light that gives rise to a suspicion of a serious act of bribery, for example, or other serious offences."

A scathing rebuke to the incessant mad lawmaking was voiced by no one but a loyal Likud member (in the past), president Rivlin.

Rivlin accused political leaders of weakening state institutions by attacking them for narrow political gain. “From the ‘political’ professional bureaucracy to the ‘political’ state comptroller, the ‘political’ Supreme Court ‘politicians,’ the ‘political’ security forces, and even the IDF, our Israel Defense Forces are ‘political;’ the whole country and its institutions – politics,” he said.

This doesn't seem to deter the boiling mad solons of a few ruling parties.

“There are judges in Jerusalem who have forgotten that there is also a government in Jerusalem,” said Bennett

Well, maybe it's time to create a new ministry, something in the line of "Netanyahu family laws Ltd"?

With Kaya Netanyahu as a minister?

Afterword: yes, and read this too.

Bibi on Kurdish referendum: zigging and zagging

Politics is a tough business, crossing a minefield is nothing compared to it. It was barely ten days ago when Bibi, ahead of everyone else, declared his unequivocal support for the Kurdish independence.

Israel supports the establishment of a Kurdish state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, as Kurds in Iraq gear up for a referendum on independence that lawmakers in Baghdad oppose.

Israel has maintained discreet military, intelligence and business ties with the Kurds since the 1960s, viewing the minority ethnic group -- whose indigenous population is split between Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran -- as a buffer against shared Arab adversaries.

Well, it didn't take long for another zig (or zag, whatever).

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu barred the Israeli government from commenting on Monday's Kurdish independence referendum in Iraq, two officials said, after his September 13 endorsement of Kurdish statehood irked Turkey.

Of course, there were a few developments since the Bibi's rush to support the Kurds. First of all, no one else joined the sentiment. The opposite is rather true: powers that be, of all kinds, including the countries that are rather on the opposing ends of the political globe, unanimously rejected the Kurds' plea for independence. It is not only the parties directly threatened by the outcome of the referendum (Iraq first of all, but also Turkey and Iran, having in mind their own Kurds possibly joining the exodus).

And then there was Bibi's latest visit of USA, which included a meeting with the POTUS and, most probably, with other VIPs. I bet that Bibi was told off regarding his hasty declaration of support, seeing as how US State dept doesn't share this enthusiasm at all.

Thus the sudden change of direction. Of course, the precarious existence of people oppressed for hundreds of years isn't a big factor in the political calculations. To be fair to Bibi, this consideration wasn't weighing too heavily on the minds of all other world politicians who refused to support the referendum and to promise assistance to Kurds.

To be even more fair to Bibi (!), there might be another consideration that the Ynet article mentioned:

But Kurdish officials said such rhetoric is unsolicited and damaging. ”Our adversaries attack us as a ‘second Israel in the region’ and this kind of Israeli talk contributes to that,” one Kurdish official said.

Indeed, the wave of conspiracy theories, ridiculous as they are, isn't very helpful to the Kurds. But then, why didn't Bibi take this into account before rushing forward with his initial declaration of support?

We know, don't we?

Is our Knesset barking? Kaya Netanyahu bill, Alan Dershowitz etc

There are lots of law proposals being in process of lively debate, modification and sometimes quiet death on someone's shelf. Some of them outlandish, some reasonable and some (like the hotly debated recently law on state assistance to disabled people) vital for thousands of citizens, eagerly awaiting tangible results.

Meanwhile, the first family which, for reasons* of its own, decided to add to its roster a first dog two years ago, has experienced a few domestic upheavals due to the said canine's tendency to bite all and sundry.

The dog, Bibi assured his constituents, was “gentle and of a good disposition.”

Kaya herself must not have gotten the memo: five months later, during a reception at the Prime Minister’s Residence, she bit a member of Knesset who leaned in to pet her. Three months after that, she struck again, biting one of Netanyahu’s secret service agents. Eventually, she also bit the prime minister himself.

Since Kaya is the first dog, I don't even try to argue that this behavior is unseemly or should be in any way restricted. The first dog sees, the first dog bites. As it should be. There is a small catch, however: if a dog bites somebody inside the Israeli borders, the dog should be quarantined for a period of time (ten days) required to ensure it (the dog) isn't rabid.

Which might be good enough for a regular dog, but not for the first one, apparently. Bibi wants Kaya to stay at home, with its loving family. So, to accomplish this, the Knesset members were yanked out of richly deserved summer break. To vote on an amendment to the law which... you guessed the rest. Yep, Kaya the serial biter will stay at home, thanks to our suddenly proactive lawmakers and the appropriate legal beagles. So much for lawmaking and lawmakers.

Kaya, meanwhile, got more exposure in our media, paired with another member of the first family, Yair Netanyahu, Bibi's son.

According to a Facebook post by Talila Amitai, one of the Netanyahu family's neighbors, Yair Netanyahu took the family dog Kaiya for a walk in one of the local dog parks but failed to pick up her waste. Amitai wrote that when she pointed this out to the Israeli leader's son, who was accompanied by a bodyguard at the time, he stuck up his middle finger towards her in response.

There are different versions of the event (or non-event), but as far as Kaya concerned, it is a moot point. She poops, the rest is history, with its different versions and interpretations of thereof.

But what is the connection between the canine poop and the illustrious legal man, mentioned in the headline, one of the more eloquent supporters of Israel and all around brilliant person?

I happened to hear a summary of an interview Alan Dershowitz granted to Israeli radio and his views on the ongoing investigations into alleged Netanyahu's financial and other misdeeds frankly surprised me. To start with, he somehow concluded that Israeli police, on its own, persecutes Bibi. Of course, the usual culprit that motivates the police is, according to Dershowitz, the leftist media. But curiously, he has decided that police pursues our poor Bibi using its free will and free initiative.

Not to mention the inherent absurdity of the idea of our police being politically motivated, professor Dershowitz obviously doesn't know much about the local police, its authority and its betters, which are not that different from those in US of A. The attorney general here is the person whose authority it is to open (or to close) any police investigation, much as it is in US. Blaming the cops in the various investigations plaguing Bibi lately is missing the point by a mile (or 1.6 km).

I have googled up other opinions on the subject by professor Dershowitz and was surprised to find out that he expressed his deep dissatisfaction by this state of affairs quite a lot of times. Here is one example, from January 2017:

...Dershowitz took aim at the Israeli left and media outlets for what he described as attempts to use ongoing police investigations into the Netanyahu family to hobble the Prime Minister.

"[T]hey can't beat him through democratic means, so they're trying to use these investigations and the media to push him out of office. That would really undercut democracy. He's been elected by a proper method of election in Israel and he should be left to complete his term without interference. If there are issues they should be pursued after he leaves office.”

So, the Prime Minister, according to this, should be granted immunity while in the office. And the reasoning behind the idea is:

"The Prime Minister in this case has to work 24/7 particularly now, between now and the time when President Obama leaves office, to respond to the U.N. Security Council resolution, to the Kerry speech, to try to prevent another Security Council resolution - the idea that the Prime Minister is now going to have to be questioned about what appears to be relatively trivial incidents, really undercuts democracy."

So, Bibi works 24/7 and couldn't be bothered. I would agree if it were not widely known that he spent 5 years fighting the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, which, according to him, is (was) a part of that much hated leftist media that destroys the country and him personally. If the relentless fight for the freedom of canine quarantine described above (2 years only) wasn't so widely know, etc. A good part of these 24/7 isn't spent worrying about the fate of the country, but about the fate and the chair of one Benjamin Netanyahu, unfortunately.

Another poor argument used by Alan Dershowitz in the interview was "this is not how things are done in United States". Really? Kenneth Starr vs William Clinton and Robert Mueller vs Donald Trump - how is it exactly different from investigations of Bibi? Aside of multi-million budgets unseen in Israeli police cases?

In another article (Hebrew), professor Dershowitz went even further:

When asked what he thought of Israel's former prime minister [Olmert] behind bars, he replied, "First of all, the prime minister was sent to prison for things that were done before he was prime minister, and he was not sent to prison during his term of office, only after he left. Attorney general said unequivocally that the issue under investigation was not similar to what was being investigated in Olmert's or Sharon's case, and that suspicions in their cases were much more serious."

First of all, the chief reason Olmert decided to quit was the ongoing investigation. Then, to prejudge the seriousness of the cases against Bibi, when the final conclusions and relevant materials haven't been passed by the police to the attorney general seems to be out of character for a famous legal mind.

Anyway, logical or not, I can already see a bill granting immunity to the incumbent PM being pushed through the Knesset by Bibi's faithful, whose number is legion. And I sincerely hope this attempt will fail.

Besides - wouldn't now be too close to the Kaya Netanyahu bill?

One member of the family at a time, please.

(*) The reasoning is a bit outdated, since the current POTUS, unlike his predecessors, isn't known for his love of four legged beasts.

Benjamin Netanyahu at his best: zigging and zagging

Whatever they say about Bibi, in one aspect of his behavior he is consistent: he will switch direction at the merest sign of trouble for his ruling coalition, i.e. to his seat of power.

His sudden change of heart regarding the plan to establish a pluralistic prayer pavilion at Jerusalem’s Western Wall is just another example of his all consuming passion for that chair.

The cabinet on Sunday suspended a government-approved plan to establish a pluralistic prayer pavilion at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, following calls by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition allies to scrap the deal. The announcement was swiftly condemned by Israel’s Reform Movement and the Jewish Agency.

But, Bibi being Bibi, even this decision was half-hearted:

In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said that Netanyahu instructed Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman and Likud Minister Tzachi Hanegbi to formulate a new plan for the site.

It also said construction work on the southern edge of the Western Wall plaza — where the pluralistic prayer pavilion was slated to be built — would continue uninterrupted.

Just in case Bibi detects that the damage caused by his sudden about-turn might outweigh the threat of not turning about. But of course.

Still, I tend to think that the ToI headline on David Horovitz' op-ed is a bit of exaggeration:

Netanyahu to millions of Jews: We don’t really want you

First of all, I seriously doubt that there are literally millions of conservative and reform Jews hurt by this zigzag. Besides, there are more young American Jews being indoctrinated by J-Street, JVP and extreme left - the writing is on the wall*. Not that the two cases are completely unrelated.

As a side note: I would dare guess that the case of pluralistic prayer pavilion is quite closely related to the recent brouhaha with the work performed on the railroad during Shabbat. Political horse trading in its typical naked glory.

Yep. As it was said, politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly, and for the same reason.

Quite the time.

(*) This statement of mine must be amended. Apparently the report used and several other articles using it as a base for alarm were quite significantly exaggerated. Not that there isn't a reason to worry, but on the other hand panic doesn't help too. Here it is:

Vast majority’ of Jewish students are connected to Israel, insists Brandeis prof

Hat tip: Elise Ronan.

Read and share this, so says Bibi

Our illustrious leader should seemingly be buoyed by the warm rays of sunshine directed at him from the White House, by the total absence of opposition leaders of note at home, by the unending strife among the potential enemies, by the tolerably well doing economy etc. But to rest on his laurels is not Bibi's lot, apparently. In the best tradition of various chieftains of the past, Bibi is always on guard and always looking out for the enemies who aim to dethrone him, be these enemies real or imaginary.

We all have barely recovered from the intolerable noise of his multi-year battle against the late Israel Broadcasting Authority, eventually replaced by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation - a move that doesn't make any visible sense, having only an explanation: Bibi's unrelenting hate of the media. A man, who has a free (you don't pay for its paper version, it is free) newspaper practically of his own, could not tolerate criticism, coming out of the media owned/financed by the government, spending a good part of his valuable time for several years fighting that criticism. The fact that this media is financed by the taxpayer, who might want to hear this criticism, didn't phase Bibi at all.

And now Bibi turned his main turrets in a new direction: the enemy within. The repercussions of his recent snubbing of the German foreign minister are still not fully known or understood, but Bibi isn't stopping at this doubtful act. His rhetoric ratchets up continuously. And now he's introduced a new term into his repertoire of battle cries: "putsch". Just to make sure we are on the same page:

Putsch: A sudden and decisive change of government illegally or by force.

Here is a snapshot of his recent Facebook post:

To be fair - Bibi didn't say it by himself, he just endorsed an article (in Hebrew) from the Internet outfit called Mida. "Read and share" adds Bibi. So what is there to read and share?

The headline of the article says most of it directly:

Leftist putsch attempt: "We encourage harm to government institutions"

The article claims that the left is trying to carry out an illegal coup, with cooperation between organizations and leaders of various protests. The article also claimed that the demonstration outside the attorney general's house exposed this "truth".

Yep. A demo by a few largely irrelevant fringe elements of our generally right-leaning society is qualified as a "putsch" by a delirious journo, and our glorious leader unsubtly endorses and recommends this "slight" exaggeration. Nothing more, nothing less.

But wait, this is not all. Besides presenting several reprehensible characters who took part in the demo and were duly arrested for some excesses, the article points a finger at a person who, according to the author, is the real engine behind the "putsch". No one else but Ehud Barak, a warrior, a Chief of Staff, a PM and a defense minister in his past. Go figure...

What next? Is the next term to be introduced by Bibi to be "enemies of the people"? With all the expected consequences? Where does the paranoia of a ruler stop indeed?

Just to make it clear (in case some polite people in civil clothing come by to question me in the future): the "Leftist putsch" article referred above does describe several revolting characters of the leftie fringe groups I largely despise. I don't harbor especially warm feelings towards Mr Barak as well - for reasons not having to do with this post.

But paranoia is surely a big step on the road to madness. And Valium is not a name of a computer game, but a fairly useful medicine in many cases.

So there.

Mobileye sale and knee biters, large and small

The media, of course, is full of praise for the successful exit of Mobileye, the Israeli maker of safety and self-driving car technology, sold to Intel for a serious amount of money ($15.3B, as the media says). I, like many other folks, applaud and congratulate the company owners and employees with their success and wealth. And, seeing how some of the proceeds of that sale will inevitably end up in our treasury's pockets, I too will expect to make a shekel or two out of it in various ways our inventive ministry of finance and others will undoubtedly devise.

So it was kinda strange to see a sour face on the general background of celebration and joy. The sour face belongs to no other than our progressive Haaretz, via its reporter, one Eliran Rubin. The article in question:

Mobileye Founder After $15.3 Billion Exit: 'It’s Not the Money. We Want to Change the World'

But it is not the headline, it is the lede that caught my attention:

Amnon Shashua defends the sale of the self-driving car technology firm to Intel as essential for the company’s growth.

Have you notice that word that somehow jumped out at me when I've read this sentence? The "defends", I mean? Apparently the sale itself isn't as obviously desired step in a high tech Israeli start-up career as one might consider. Somebody had even asked Amnon Shashua why has he done it, judging by the following response:

Asked why he consented to selling Mobileye when it was riding the crest of the autonomous-car wave, with a market cap of $10 billion and alliances with some of the world’s top auto makers, Shashua said he saw it as the only way for the company to keep growing.

I can only guess who was asking and so can you.

The motive of the sale to Intel needing defence appears once again in the article:

Yesterday Netanyahu and Economy and Industry Minster Eli Cohen defended the move, saying it boosted economic growth and helped lure multinational companies to Israel.

I happened to hear part of that on radio, and the last thing that would have come to mind of the listener was that the speeches were defensive in any conceivable way. You can take it to the bank.

But nothing to do about it, I guess. Knee biters will be knee biters, no matter what. And, since small knee biters were mentioned, here is an example of one:

Taking Purim to Moscow - really, Bibi?

Purim, between other things, is for practical jokes. So, probably, one should consider the latest Bibi's shenanigan being a part of that tradition.

In a meeting with Putin in Moscow, Netanyahu said Persia had made “an attempt to destroy the Jewish people that did not succeed” some 2,500 years ago, an event commemorated through the Jewish holiday of Purim, which Israel will celebrate starting Saturday night and lasting in some places until Monday.

“Today there is an attempt by Persia’s heir, Iran, to destroy the state of the Jews,” Netanyahu said. “They say this as clearly as possible and inscribe it on their ballistic missiles.”

Putin, somewhat uncharacteristically, found a soft way to respond to this amazing hysterical historical lesson:

Adopting a conciliatory tone, Putin said that the events described by Netanyahu had taken place “in the fifth century B.C.”

“We now live in a different world. Let us talk about that now,” Putin said.

Calling for a doctor and a padded cell would have been a breach of diplomatic protocol, surely. Oh well... and of course, Putin's way out of the issue, the "We now live in a different world." was readily provided to Putin by Bibi himself.

But no doubt, this visit will be touted by Bibi's office as another brilliant victory by Bibi over... whatever.

Happy Purim, anyway, people!

One story, two headlines

The recent arrest of four Daesh-related would be terrorists in France isn't, probably, something outstanding or even surprising these terror-filled days. However, it's interesting to watch how the coverage of the story differs from place to place.

Here is a snapshot of the front page from a French source (English version of France 24):

The gist of the story is succinctly summarized in the lede of the article:

Anti-terrorism forces arrested four people Friday in southern France, including a 16-year-old girl, and uncovered a makeshift laboratory with the explosive TATP and other ingredients for fabricating a bomb.

Nothing of substance was forgotten, even the somewhat secondary in its importance fact that one of the four plotters was a 16-year-old girl. Here is the full article, if you want to know more.

And here comes the front page from CNN, the relevant item circled in red:

As you can see, the 16-year-old girl became the main feature of the story. At least if you, like 99% of the Internet surfers, skim the surface of the front pages. If you are such a busy surfer, you might be also unaware of the sad fact that 16-year-old girls (and younger) are quite able to - and frequently do - push the button of their suicide belt, stick a knife into the back of a human being, squeeze the trigger of a gun etc. Provided sufficient motivation/brainwashing and tools, of course.

But we wouldn't want y'all to become paranoid, would we? Or to start complaining incessantly about the media? Right?

Man, do your duty! Or else...

The notorious State Duma Deputy, Yelena Mizulina, has already appeared on these pages. Twice, and I've used the same picture of her twice, which is really doing an injustice to the lady. So here is another one:

This time Ms Mizulina turned to a new domain for her unerring sense of problem solving: the male performance in their marital beds. Here is the article, translated mostly by Google, with some nudges here and there from yours truly.

State Duma Deputy, Yelena Mizulina from the party "Fair Russia", Chairman of the Duma Committee on Family Affairs, Doctor of Jurisprudence proposes to introduce a penalty for men for failing to perform their marital duty.

- The family is a social unit, - says Mizulina, - evasion of execution of marital duty is an evasion of duty to the community. If a man for no apparent reason (eg health-related.) systematically fails to fulfill his conjugal duty, or executes it carelessly to get done with it - he must pay a fine to the State. This measure will further strengthen the family and improve the morale in the country. And adultery must be punished as treason - by imprisonment. It is proposed to set the quota of execution of marital duty in Russia for men aged up to 45 years - to 1 time per week. For older people, this rate can be reduced.

The idea looks good, but I would suggest that for the public to get into the spirit of the thing, a few public executions here and there, from time to time, would be helpful.

So there.