• Home
  • About
  • Concepts, Coins, and Terms
    • Anthropolitical Psychology
      • Civilizational Narcissism
      • Conflict – Language Uptake – Social Programming and Scripting – A Suggestion
        • Language Uptake – Programming – On Learning to Listen
        • Mouth –> Ear –> Mind –> Heart System
        • Social Grammar
      • Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy
      • Malignant Narcissism
      • Narcissistic Scripting
      • Normative Remirroring
      • Paranoid Delusional Narcissistic Reflection of Motivation
    • FTAC – “From The Awesome Conversation”
    • God Mob
    • Intellectual Battlespace
    • Islamic Small Wars
    • New Old Now Old Far Out and Lost Left
    • Political Spychology
    • Shimmer
    • Syndicate Red Brown Green
  • Library
    • About Language
    • Alpha by Author
    • Dicks and Spooks – Political Spychology
    • Judaism and Jewish Culture and Life
    • Russian Section
  • Comments and Contact
  • X of Interest
    • A-Z Links
    • Alpha – Zulu
      • Associated Articles of Governance – United States of America
      • Daniel L. Everett – Reading Highly Recommended
      • Khamenei and Iran – Assorted Reference
      • Lee Smith’s Comment on ‘Media Warfare’ in the Middle East
      • Lies are Told for Only Two Reasons
      • On Being a War Journalist — Francesca Borri in Syria – 7/1/2013
      • Putin and Russia — Assorted Reference

BackChannels

~ Conflict, Culture, Language, Psychology

BackChannels

Tag Archives: Hamas

FTAC: Regarding Palestinian Dissent

25 Thursday Apr 2019

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Gaza, Gaza Suzerain, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Palestinia

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Gaza, Hamas, MEC, middle east conflict, Palestinian Dissent, Palestinian Governance, Palestinian Political Represion, PLO / PA, West Bank

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Historical_boundaries_of_Palestine_(plain).svg (Creative Commons) | Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_(region)

https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/10/23/palestine-authorities-crush-dissent

This is the report: https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/10/23/two-authorities-one-way-zero-dissent/arbitrary-arrest-and-torture-under

Regarding Palestinian Land Ownership: http://www.badil.org/en/publication/periodicals/al-majdal/item/1055-land-ownership-in-palestine/israel-1920-2000.html

“Palestine”, so declared in the course of Roman conquest, has never been a sovereign power but a suzerainty through all of its existence.

“The Palestinians” have never before been a People, but given 70+ years of the Arab Apartheid that stranded the refugees of 1948, one may grant that the Palestinians are a unique People desperate for autonomous, responsible, and responsive modern governance.

We know the Palestinians are not getting that governance.

This is the kind of “governance” meted to Palestinians by Hamas:

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14057/hamas-gaza-protests-torture

–33–

A Few References Concerning Palestinian Child Soldiers

28 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Gaza, Gaza Suzerain, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Palestinia

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

child soldiers, David Bedein, documentary film, Hamas, middle east conflict, PLO

New Vimeo Release by David Bedein and the Center for Near East Policy Research

The terror of return – 3min from David Bedein on Vimeo, published October 28, 2018.


Related Reference

Awford, Jenny. “GAZA’S CHILD SOLDIERS Palestinian militant group Hamas parade toddlers armed with machine guns in chilling echo of ISIS ‘cubs of the caliphate’”. The Sun, December 12, 2016:

One image which showed a schoolboy holding a rifle was captioned: “Hamas cubs, they are the next soldiers of Gaza and the next liberation army, god willing.”

Another picture of a toddler wearing a beret and holding a gun was captioned: “Generation after generation Hamas is increasing its enthusiasm, dignity, and power.”


Arutz Sheva. “PA curriculum inciting terrorism”. Interview with David Bedein. October 9, 2018.


Child Soldiers International. Forward. “Why 18 Matters”. PDF. 2018:

When I spoke with a warlord ‘General’ about why he recruited children he said, ‘Children are abundant, stupid, they obey orders, don’t ask questions, and cost nothing. They are very cheap! They never desert, cannot go home and I can get as many as I want immediately.


Cohen, Shimon. “UNRWA teaches children to blow themselves up”.  Arutz Sheva, August 10, 2018.

Bassem Eid as quoted by Shimon Cohen:

Eid also criticized the education provided in UNRWA schools. “I worked in several UNRWA schools in the territories and in Jordan, and children aged 9-10 want to be killed and kill Jews and to release their people. “Who taught you that?” I asked. They said that was what they were learning in schools, and I asked teachers at UNRWA schools in Jordan if children were taught to blow themselves up and be killed. They said “of course. How else will they liberate the land from the Israeli occupation? ” UNRWA is aware of this, and the international community knows that all UNRWA studies are full of hate and incitement. The international community continues to inject funds because it is against Israel.”


Gordon, Evelyn. “How the World Encourages Hamas to Recruit Child Soldiers”. Commentary Magazine, January 21, 2015.


Gross, Judah Ari. “IDF: Hamas cynically sent 7-year-old girl to breach Gaza border”. The Times of Israel, March 30, 2018:

According to the army, the young girl was spotted by soldiers as she approached the security fence. The troops, who were on the Israeli side, met the girl as she reached the fence, an army spokesperson said.

“When the IDF troops realized it was a girl, they picked her up and made sure that she could get back to her parents safely,” the army said. It did not say how it coordinated with girl’s parents on the Gaza side.


Grossman, Hannah. “The Child Soldiers of Palestine.” The Excelsior, March 21st 2018.


Hilkowitz, Michael.  “Palestinian Child Soldiers: The Horrifying Silence.”  The Times of Israel, October 29, 2015:

For some reason, we never hear any discussion of child soldiers in Palestine, but we all very clearly know they exist and that it is nothing new. The PLO, Fatah and the Palestinian Authority have for decades used children as fodder to throw rocks, fireworks and explosives at soldiers, as bombers, as lookouts and couriers. Hamas has been even more brazen, publicizing its recruitment of an army of child soldiers. In the current wave of terrorism in Israel and Palestine, we have seen attackers as young as 13 years old. These child soldiers have been called to action by Abu Mazen, The PA, and Hamas who then glorify them to encourage more children to commit attacks.


Pardo, Eldad J. “Palestinian Elementary School Curriculum 2016-17: Radicalization and Revival of the PLO Program.” IMPACT-se, April 2017:

The curriculum also promotes the century-old paradigm of a ceaseless effort to destroy Israel in stages. A new generation of Palestinian children is methodically being educated in the spirit of the Ten-Point Program adopted by the Palestinian National Council ([PNC] (the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO], at its twelfth meeting in Cairo June 8, 1974). The plan called for the establishment of a national authority “over every part of Palestinian territory that is liberated” with the aim of “completing the liberation of all Palestinian territory”. The curriculum includes an uncompromising rejection of Israel and a combination of violence and international community pressure to accommodate Palestinian demands. What used to be the strategy of one extremist guerilla movement has now become the standard for all Palestinians students.


Toameh, Khaled Abu. “Hamas Forms “Liberation Army” in Gaza, Thanks to EU Support.” Gatestone Institute, January 21, 2015:

The Hamas campaign, entitled, “Vanguards of Liberation,” is aimed at recruiting young men whose ages range between 15 and 21.

So far, the Hamas recruitment program has attracted hundreds of youths from the Gaza Strip who, according to the movement, will form the nucleus for the new “Liberation Army.”


 

“Children’s Army of Hamas – short” – David Bedein, published to YouTube March 22, 2015.


All children deserve more. #WorldChildrensDay

CC: @UNICEF pic.twitter.com/oEovR4tN1X

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDFSpokesperson) November 20, 2018


Wikipedia. “David Bedein”.

Wikipedia. “Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group”.


“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us” — Golda Meir, n.d.

 

All children deserve more. #WorldChildrensDay

CC: @UNICEF pic.twitter.com/oEovR4tN1X

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDFSpokesperson) November 20, 2018

–33–

A Front Line Look at Gaza’ s “Peaceful Protests”

18 Friday May 2018

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Gaza, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Palestinia

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

assault, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Palestinian


Shared from Israel Defense Forces Facebook page where it was posted yesterday at about this hour.


–33–

“Hey, Martha!” — BackChannels Reading Page on Facebook

16 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Also in Media, American Domestic Affairs, Anti-Semitism, Asides, BCND - BackChannels News Day, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Gaza, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Turkey

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Erdogan, Hamas, Islamism, medieval v modern, Militant Islam, NATO, Turkey

BC-ADV-HeyMartha

https://www.facebook.com/BackChannels/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/turkey-expels-israeli-consul-spat-gaza-violence-180516063533535.html

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2018/05/14/hamas-urges-palestinians-toward-injury-and-death/

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270149/12-reasons-turkey-should-be-expelled-nato-ari-lieberman#.WvWF-uvHLjY.twitter

–33–

FTAC: Palestinian History (To This Point) Compressed

15 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Palestinia, Political Psychology, Russia

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

exploiting the masses, Hamas, medieval v modern, middle east conflict, Palestinian, Palestinian history, PLO, political blackmail, Soviet Era, totalitarianism

The Palestinian liberation movement descends directly from the Soviet Era and Moscow’s interest in leveraging grievance into the political power familiar to the world’s most piratical dictatorships. This is not to excuse western perfidy on parts of the global far right in the 20th Century, but to note where the phoniness in Palestinian politics originated.

At the end of WWII, what Adolph could not hold, Uncle Joe picked up and although representing a very different system from that of the German fascists, the feudal authoritarianism was there to encourage similar drift associated with absolute power — or “political absolutism” — in the middle east. (Note regarding Moscow: two major revolutions, three governments, one-hundred years — and The Bear remains absolutely authoritarian, criminal, and totalitarian).

We know today the KGB’s relationship with Arafat and the PLO (also the pride Yuri Andropov took in the airline hijackings of the 1970s) and we have learned within the past couple years of Mahmoud Abbas’s own KGB record.

Keep loving Moscow — and you will love even more Palestinian suffering by way of its designs.

Note well that ALL Palestinian top leaders have become multi-millionaires while Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh long ago developed reputations as billionaires.

The seduction, captivity, and suffering of the Palestinian main base has turned out a long-lived and powerful business for thieving elites and their systems of patronage.


Related on BackChannels

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2018/02/06/set-palestinian-kgb-and-other-backchannels-observations-related-to-the-middle-east-conflict/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/09/23/ftac-these-too-are-palestinians/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/03/08/bds-cult-modules/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2015/10/12/ftac-tip-to-the-kgbs-amplification-of-middle-eastern-anti-semitism/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2017/07/29/ftacantidote-to-what-poisoned-the-palestinians/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/12/27/excerpt-1920s-the-spread-of-hate-russia-germany-laqueur/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2017/12/29/ftac-middle-east-conflict-back-to-max-erwin-von-scheubner-richter-and-forward-to-the-plundering-of-palestinian-misery-by-palestinian-leadership-elites/

–33–

FTAC: Hamas’s Latest KGB-Style Theater: “Palestinian Killer”

31 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Gaza, Gaza Suzerain, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Political Psychology, Political Spychology, Politics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

dictatorship, Gaza, Hamas, kleptocracy, MEC, Medieval Political Absolutism, medieval v modern, middle east conflict, Soviet / post-Soviet politics, unfreedom

“On the streets of Gaza people have a sense of security – except when Israel attacks” — In defensive modes, preventive, responsive, retributive.

The Palestinians have long surrendered their dreams to propaganda, the PLO/PA, and Hamas as well as the corruption attending such governments that hold themselves beyond criticism.

From what sense of ethics, integrity, or justice were the greenhouses and synagogues of Gaza destroyed after departure in 2005?

Such rage would seem to have been set loose by officially and socially approved, promoted, and popular anti-Semitic incitement, the same that had Hamas in 2006 proclaiming to Palestinians that Hitler admired them as ideal revolutionaries (PMW: “Hamas: Hitler praised the Palestinians as models”).

Perhaps Israel should treat as poison the disinformation fed to the Palestinians and see the same receive an antidote in an honest telling, for Hamas fairy tales have only enslaved the Palestinians and gotten them to get themselves killed for show.


Posted to YouTube March 30, 2018.  Ten more Palestinians were to draw fire and die, and the cause should be clear through what the cameras recorded in the way of “peaceful” demonstration.


One may marvel at the power of bad ideas and failed dreams to continue placing the innocent in harm’s way — and for the global press, the more souls corralled and misled into martyrdom, the better for sympathy and “understanding”, never mind the squandering of billions of dollars intended for Palestinian practical betterment going into the pockets of corrupt and venal leaders and their systems of patronage.

The Soviet Union dissolved in bankruptcy about 26 years, and yet the scenes remain much as Yuri Andropov must have seen them when promoting dictatorship beneath the cover of Popular Liberation Movements.

The peace camps of the west may have to soon decide whether they wish to remain in business by doing their part to sustain the middle east conflict on bogus claims; and Mr. Putin may soon have to decide whether he will take KGB and more general historic Russian barbarism forward with the cynical manipulation and destruction of every space in which Moscow has chosen to play.

Related on BackChannels

Set: “Palestinian KGB” and Other BackChannels Observations Related to the Middle East Conflict.”  February 6, 2018.

Related Online

Algemeiner Staff.  “As IDF Thwarts Gun Attack on Gaza Border, Israel Warns that Palestinian ‘Return’ Protests are ‘Cover for Terror’.”  The Algemeiner, March 30, 2018.

Danan, Deborah.  “Gaza’s Millionaires and Billionaires — How Hamas’s Leaders Got Rich Quick.”  The Algemeiner, July 28, 2014.

Menachem, Yoni Ben.  “Corruption in the Palestinian Authority.”  Jewish News Syndicate, March 10, 2018.

“Palestinians destroy synagogues in Gaza”.  The Telegraph, September 12, 2005.

Palestinian Media Watch.  “Hamas: Hitler praised the Palestinians as models.”  May 18, 2006.

The Tower Staff.  “Hamas Leads Violent March, Using Human Shields, at Israeli-Gaza Border.”  The Tower, March 30, 2018.

Wikipedia.  “Israeli disengagement from Gaza”.

–33–

Also in Media: “The View from Israel: The Inevitable Outcome of the Establishment of Palestine.”  March 7, 2017

09 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Also in Media, Anti-Semitism, Gaza, Gaza Suzerain, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Palestinia

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Hamas, middle east conflict, One State, PLO, Two States

How about the future political face of Palestine?  In Gaza, Hamas just elected their replacement to Ismael Haniyeh. If you thought that the old face of Hamas was bad, the new face is even worse.  Haniyeh was a disciple of the Muslim Brotherhood. His replacement, Yahya Sinwar, is an arch-terrorist linked to the extremist Islamic Salafist movement.

Sinwar was released from a twenty-year prison sentence on gross terrorism charges as part of a prisoner exchange for the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier kidnapped from Israel and dragged into Gaza by a Hamas terror cell and kept in captivity for five years. Sinwar is not only responsible for the deaths of many Israelis. He is also reported to have murdered Palestinians with his own hands on alleged charges of “spying” or “collaboration” though it is more likely that they opposed his ruthless Hamas oppression.

Source: The View from Israel.: The Inevitable Outcome of the Establishment of Palestine.

Probably most stories about the Middle East Conflict are unconsciously about the oppression of Palestinians by tyrannical Palestinian governments.  BackChannels may note as well that all have some relationships — from talk to arms — with Moscow as in the Soviet days.  Today, of course, Moscow represents not Communism but plain despotism — “political absolutism” is the term for look-up — beneath the banner of resurgent nationalism that in fact sustains an enormously wealthy oligarchy while much of the rest of the state falls into financial collapse.  That Hamas and the PLO exploit the Palestinians for similarly kleptocratic gain should surprise no one but the perpetually naive given to the programming of the leftover Far Left.

In related news:

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-swiss-parliament-pulls-the-plug-on-bds/ – 3/8/2017.

–33–

FTAC – Module – 12-25-1991 -> 12-25-2016

18 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Anti-Semitism, Books, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Gaza, Israel, Palestinia, Russia

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

21st Century Feudalism, 21st Century Neo-Feudalism, anti-Semitism, Gaza, Hamas, Jew hate, middle east conflict, Moscow, Nazism, totalitarianism

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/10/03/palestinian-kgb/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/11/28/a-short-page-referencing-works-by-or-associated-with-ion-mihai-pacepa/

The Cold War ended with the dissolving of the Soviet Union, December 25, 1991.

This represents Putin’s Russia today:

http://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-resurrects-the-kgb-moscow-security/

Those who have energy and time may want to review the “narrative arc” from 25 years ago to this day.

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2015/10/12/ftac-tip-to-the-kgbs-amplification-of-middle-eastern-anti-semitism/


The prompt: a Gaza tykes’ combat training film — uniforms, guns, and all — focused on killing Jews.


Posted by The Israel Project on Facebook, May 9, 2016.

Related Reference

Freimann, Myer.  “Hamas Killed 160 Palestinian Children to Build Tunnels: Militant group used child labor to construct underground network in Gaza.”  Tablet, July 25, 2014.

–33–

← Older posts
  • Compassion
  • Empathy
  • Justice
  • Humility
  • Inclusion
  • Integrity
____________

Caution: The possession of anti-Semitic / anti-Zionist thought may be the measure of the owner's own enslavement to criminal and medieval absolute power.
___________

Diane Weber Bederman Recommends BackChannels on Facebook!

"If you want to read great ideas and great prose, check out this FB page: BackChannels. James S. Oppenheim is a brilliant writer Get a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, sit down and enjoy."

Recent Posts

  • Ukraine: Russia’s Invasion Force and Western Posture
  • Ukraine: Putin Is In Control
  • Ukraine: Putin’s Control x Threat
  • Ukraine v Russia: Broken Ceasefires –> Massed Army: Midnight is Coming
  • Ukraine, Russia, and NATO’s Prevarication
  • Ukraine: ‘Bidenlain v Putler” — Russia Adds Heat to Its ‘Frozen Conflict’ with Ukraine

Categories

  • 21st Century Feudal
  • 21st Century Modern
  • A Little Wisdom
  • Also in Media
  • American Domestic Affairs
  • Anti-Semitism
  • Asides
  • BCND – BackChannels News Day
  • Books
  • Conflict – Culture – Language – Psychology
  • COVID-19
  • Epistemology
  • Events and Other PSA's
  • Extreme Brown vs Red-Green
  • Fast News Share
  • foreign aid
  • Free Speech
  • FTAC
  • FTAC – From The Awesome Conversation
  • International Development
  • Islamic Small Wars
    • Gaza Suzerain
  • Journal
    • Library
  • Journalism
  • Links
  • Notes On Reading BackChannels
  • Philology
  • Philosophy
  • Poetry
  • Political Psychology
  • Political Spychology
  • Politics
  • Psychology
    • Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy
  • Referral
  • Regions
    • Africa
      • Central African Republic
      • Kenya
      • Libya
      • Mali
      • Morocco
      • Nigeria
      • South Africa
      • Sudan
      • Tunisia
      • Zimbabwe
    • Asia
      • Afghanistan
      • Burma
      • China
      • India
      • Myanmar
      • North Korea
      • Pakistan
      • Turkey
    • Caribbean Basin
      • Cuba
    • Central America
      • El Salvador
      • Guatemala
      • Honduras
      • Mexico
    • Eastern Europe
    • Eurasia
      • Armenia
      • Azerbaijan
      • Russia
      • Ukrain
      • Ukraine
    • Europe
      • France
      • Hungary
      • Poland
    • Great Britain and United Kingdom
    • Iberian Peninsula
    • Middle East
      • Egypt
      • Gaza
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Israel
        • Palestinia
      • Jordan
      • Kurdistan
      • Lebanon
      • Palestinian Territories
      • Qatar
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Syria
      • United Arab Emirates
      • Yemen
    • North America
      • Canada
      • United States of America
    • Norther Europe
    • Northern Europe
      • Sweden
    • South America
      • Argentina
      • Brazil
      • Columbia
      • Ecuador
      • Venezuela
    • South Pacific
      • Australia
      • New Zealand
      • Papua New Guinea
      • West Papua
  • Religion
  • Spain
  • Syndicate Red Brown Green
  • transnational crime
  • Uncategorized
  • Visual Data

Europe

  • Defending History
  • Hungarian Spectrum
  • Yanukovych Leaks

Great Britain

  • Stand for Peace

Israeli and Jewish Affairs

  • Chloe Simone Valdary

Journals

  • Amil Imani
  • New Age Islam

Middle East

  • Human Rights & Democracy for Iran
  • Middle East Research and Information Project

Organizations

  • Anti-Slavery
  • Atlantic Council
  • Fight Hatred
  • Human Rights First Society
  • International Network Against Cyberhate
  • The Center for Victims of Torture

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Epigram

Hillel the Elder

"That which is distasteful to thee do not do to another. That is the whole of Torah. The rest is commentary. Now go and study."

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? If not now, when?"

"Whosoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whosoever that saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world."

Oriana Fallaci
"Whether it comes from a despotic sovereign or an elected president, from a murderous general or a beloved leader, I see power as an inhuman and hateful phenomenon...I have always looked on disobedience toward the oppressive as the only way to use the miracle of having been born."

Talmud 7:16 as Quoted by Rishon Rishon in 2004
Qohelet Raba, 7:16

אכזרי סוף שנעשה אכזרי במקום רחמן

Kol mi shena`asa rahaman bimqom akhzari Sof shena`asa akhzari bimqom rahaman

All who are made to be compassionate in the place of the cruel In the end are made to be cruel in the place of the compassionate.

More colloquially translated: "Those who are kind to the cruel, in the end will be cruel to the kind."

Online Source: http://www.rishon-rishon.com/archives/044412.php

Abraham Isaac Kook

"The purely righteous do not complain about evil, rather they add justice.They do not complain about heresy, rather they add faith.They do not complain about ignorance, rather they add wisdom." From the pages of Arpilei Tohar.

Heinrich Heine
"Where books are burned, in the end people will be burned." -- From Almansor: A Tragedy (1823).

Simon Wiesenthal
Remark Made in the Ballroom of the Imperial Hotel, Vienna, Austria on the occasion of His 90th Birthday: "The Nazis are no more, but we are still here, singing and dancing."

Maimonides
"Truth does not become more true if the whole world were to accept it; nor does it become less true if the whole world were to reject it."

"The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision."

Douglas Adams
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" Epigram appearing in the dedication of Richard Dawkins' The GOD Delusion.

Thucydides
"The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."

Milan Kundera
"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."

Malala Yousafzai
“The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born.”

Tanit Nima Tinat
"Who could die of love?"

What I Have Said About the Jews

My people, not that I speak for them, I nonetheless describe as a "global ethnic commune with its heart in Jerusalem and soul in the Land of Israel."

We have never given up on God, nor have we ever given up on one another.

Many things we have given up, but no one misses, say, animal sacrifice, and as many things we have kept, so we have still to welcome our Sabbath on Friday at sunset and to rest all of Saturday until three stars appear in the sky.

Most of all, through 5,773 years, wherever life has taken us, through the greatest triumphs and the most awful tragedies, we have preserved our tribal identity and soul, and so shall we continue eternally.

Anti-Semitism / Anti-Zionism = Signal of Fascism

I may suggest that anti-Zionism / anti-Semitism are signal (a little bit) of fascist urges, and the Left -- I'm an old liberal: I know my heart -- has been vulnerable to manipulation by what appears to me as a "Red Brown Green Alliance" driven by a handful of powerful autocrats intent on sustaining a medieval worldview in service to their own glorification. (And there I will stop).
One hopes for knowledge to allay fear; one hopes for love to overmatch hate.

Too often, the security found in the parroting of a loyal lie outweighs the integrity to be earned in confronting and voicing an uncomfortable truth.

Those who make their followers believe absurdities may also make them commit atrocities.

Positively Orwellian: Comment Responding to Claim that the Arab Assault on Israel in 1948 Had Not Intended Annihilation

“Revisionism” is the most contemptible path that power takes to abet theft and hide shame by attempting to alter public perception of past events.

On Press Freedom, Commentary, and Journalism

In the free world, talent -- editors, graphic artists, researchers, writers -- gravitate toward the organizations that suit their interests and values. The result: high integrity and highly reliable reportage and both responsible and thoughtful reasoning.

This is not to suggest that partisan presses don't exist or that propaganda doesn't exist in the west, but any reader possessed of critical thinking ability and genuine independence -- not bought, not programmed -- is certainly free to evaluate the works of earnest reporters and scholars.

Archives

Blog at WordPress.com.