Musings From Kiev

It is with considerable happiness and relief that I sit in an Internet cafe on Meidan Square in the center of Kiev and read on Haaretz and CNN that the ceasefire in Lebanon seems to be holding and the Lebanese and international contingents are moving into the area between the Litani and the border, with the support of Israel. The thought that all those people I met in shelters or in refugee camps in Zichron Yaakov and Bet Shemesh must now be on their way home and will be able to go back to normal life without the threat of imminent extinction from missiles fills me with unrelieved joy. It is a joy too to read that Israelis have already gone back to scandals concerning apartment deals by the PM and sexual harrassment by the President--in other words, normality, --tawdry normality, true, but normality. Better sex scandals than falling missiles. I am left by my week in Israel with an intense love for the country and the conviction that I need to return to live there at some point before I get too old to be of use to the cause of helping to build a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike...I have spoken to my life partner, Tatyana, about it and she has agreed, although we have many things to deal with first, like finding her daughter Hannah a good college, and helping her get started in life, so it may be years before we head Artza (to Israel)

Kiev feels normal too--banal reklama (advertisement) everywhere, people slowly and painfully getting on their feet economically...Yuschenko and Yanukovich somehow finding a way to share power to the disgust of almost everyone--but hey, its better than violence. Anything is better than violence. History moves forward haltingly, with lots of jogs and ups and downs, and who knows where the hell we are all headed, but in the meantime, Tanya and I are alive and well and headed for beautiful Crimea, where those green mountains plunge dramatically to the limpid Black Sea and life is full and rich. And so chevreh, rybyatimi, I hearby announce that I am leaving behind politika for a week of swimming, touring ancient fortresses, some with connections to the mysterious Khazars and other proto-Jews, lots of wine, beer and great food. I'll be back August 27 or thereabouts in NY and will at that point turn this thing into a serious blog with links up the wazoo, and an agressive outreach strategy I expect to make up as I go along with the help of serious blogosphere affectionados like Dima Zabarko and Dan Ruby. Until then, my friends, my advice is to love life and live every day to the fullest. I certainly plan to.

Continued...

Russian Refugees In Bet Shemesh

Dear Friends,

Have arrived in Kiev from Ben-Gurion Airport today after an eventful and rewarding week in Israel. Since last posting, I spent four days in Jerusalem, connecting with old friends and collecting material for stories for Jewish papers on how Arab-Jewish encounter groups have survived this turbulent period (with great difficulty, but Jews and Arabs in East and West Jerusalem--especially young people are still meeting and vowing to continue their friendships despite what is happening.) I also spent an hour with several hundred Russian-speaking refugees from the northern part of the country who are presently living in a school building in Bet Shemesh, a town of about 25,000 in the hills west of Jerusalem. They were driven from their homes in towns like Nahariya, Carmiel and Ma'alot by the relentless rocket barrage their and were invited to stay in Bet Shemesh for the interim. The town government of Bet Shemesh has provided the families with trips to Jerusalem, and nearby attractions like water parks and caves. The families live rent free and are provided with nourishing meals. The kids, who speak fluent Hebrew are thriving; several of them told me this is the berst vacation they ever had. The adults, many of whom have arrived in past 7 years and speak ponly minimal Hebrew have had a harder time. Despite all the kindness shown them by members of the Bet Shemesh municipality, and Russian-speaking volunteers from the community, they are going through a whole range of searing emotions. It is hard to sleep on mats on the floor for weeks at a time and to exist as refugees without privacy, No one knows when it will be safe to return home (no one believes the cease-fire will stick) or be able to work and make money again. Many are literally without any money left. Nearly everyone expressed great love for Israel and a committment to stay (although everyone seems to know some famlies who, in the past several weeks have boarded planes to Moscow and Kiev with the intention of moving back there), but they also expressed the feeling of being marginalized in Israeli society, of, as they put it, being treated worse than the Israeli Arabs, who they say, receive all kinds of social benefits, despite their hostility to the Israel state. When I asked a 12 year giirl what it had been like to endure a week in a shelter in Nahariya before her family fled south, she visibly shddered and said, "It was horrible. I was sure we were going to die and I was frightened to death. Now sometimnes I wake up in the middle of the night with nightmares that a rocket exploded on us and killed my whole family."

For me it was fascinating to see Russian Jews in the process of transforming into Israelis and comparing them to the many Russian Jews I know in the U.S. I see all the similarities and the common origin and yet somehow they are already a somewhat different species; they are grafting their lives onto a very different branch of world civilization--Israel and the Middle East as opposed to the polnay zapadnye reality of America. Yesterday, I had lunch with some Russians--consuming humus y salatim at a Mizrachi restaurant on the beach in Ashkelon, with plenty of shashlik etc, and talking to the kids in their sparkling Hebrew and it was a wonderful feeling that despite the trauma of the past month, they are thriving and immesaurably strengthening Israel.

Must run, as my time on the computer is up. I'll send some more reflections on my time in Israel and give you a report on Kiev and votpusk ve Krim in the days ahead,

Walter

Continued...

Haifa

Yesterday was one of the most exhilarating and profoundy depressing days of my life. I spent the day in Haifa--my beloved hometown where I spent the best years of my life as a young reporter 1976-79, and the city yesterday was achingly beautiful from the vista of Yefe Nof Street--I had forgotten just how beautiful is, but it was almost dead. Hardly any traffic, the port was empty. A visitor does not see physical destruction, until they take you to a few of the houses that were blown up. I accompanied a group of Hadssah women from the U.S., first to Rambam hospital and then on a tour of the city--which was cut short by air raid sirens again and again.

The first siren came when we were inside the hosital, but they insisted that we go inside the conference room where we had been scheduled to go anyway, but a little later, because it is the most secure spot in the hospital. We spoke to several soldiers who had been gravely wounded in Lebanon whose lives were saved by the wonderful; doctors there. It turned out a rocket had landed a kilomter away from us, but it didn't explode.

Then we began a tour of the nearby Bat Galim neighborhood which was abruptly cut short by another siren and we rushed into the shelter of a nearby rundown apartment building. The shelter was tiny with maybe 30 people crammed shoulder to shoulder in a small space--verry hot and smelled bad. Residents of the house were sobbing--a young single mother cradled her 2 year old and said, "I cant take this any more...its been going on for weeks and my nerves are snapping." I asked her why she didnt evacuate to Tel Aviv or somewhere else safe and she replied, "I already went there, but I couldnt impose on people any more, so I came back. I have no money now and nowhere to go". Her car was destroyed in a boming attack. Her mother wailed, "What is going to happen to us...Please help us."

After we left there we went into another shelter in a parking lot underneath a kenyon (mall) where a mixed group of Jewish and Arab kids were being entertained by musicians beating drums. One Arab counselor shouted, "The Jews and Arabs of Haifa stand together. We wont let Nasrallah tear us apart." By the way, everyone I spoke to--mostly non-Russians had learned from Russian-Israelis via the media the meaning of "Nasral" pa Russki and had a good laugh from it. Calling him "shit" is one of the few bright spots of the "matzav" (situation) here.

I saw young Israeli girl soldiers working with the Arab and Jewish kids, helping them to laugh and sing and those girls were so wonderful that at that moment I vowed to myself something I haven't vowed in 25 years--that I intend to come back and live the remainder of my life in Haifa, where I can make a contribution for the sake of my own people, the Jews, and also for the Arabs and for the peace of the sacred Land we both love and cant manage to share. I kept breaking into tears throughout the day, but felt uplifted and hopeful. Then on the long bus ride to Jerusalem, my spirits flagged and I felt a sense of hopelessness as I heard of the decision of the cabinet to go on to the Litani--nothing but death and destruction as far as the eye can see.

My friends, understand me, I devoutly hope it works. The Israelis have convinced themselves that is the only way and I pray with every fiber of my being that Olmert and company are right and I am wrong. But hevreh, it is so FUCKING painful here, you have no idea. I love Haifa and the people of Israel so much and their world is falling apart. If you are up there, Hashem, save the people of Israel, save the world and stop this killing now.

Walter

Continued...

Straight From The Red Zone

I just have a second on the computer--I'll have more time starting Thrusday and will post reports from Israel and answer some of the comments from Sam, Alex and others once I have my computer set up properly. Glad the blog is stirring things up a little.

I am visiting my counsin's kibbutz in the "red zone" between Haifa and Acco. Experienced an air raid siren during luch in the Chader Ochel (eating room) and just visited the site where a katushya landed in the kibbutz fields four days ago and picked up several of the lethal little pellets they pack the rockets with to kill as many civiilians as possible.

Its horrible, the hatred that caused people to fill the rockets with the tiny killing projectiles. What is interesting is that people here arent concerned with the whole argument, who is right, who is wrong, who is good, who is evil. Of course, they support the IDF operation, but no one is shouting, "We are good, they are evil" as is happening on rubyjewsday. All people are thinking about here is how to survive--how to get to the shelter as quickly as possible, whether to drive the car, if so, which road to take etc.

Anyway, I stand by my argument that killing children is killing children whether they are Jews or Arabs, and I find a little humorous the shouting by Sam, Alex and others, "We are good, they are evil." What is this--tretse class, third grade????

The level of the argument is rather silly, it seems to me. No one in this world is absolute good or absilute evil, unless we count Hitler and Stalin. Even if one posits Nasrallah as in the same group, the children of Qana do not belong there, whether they danced with joy for the rockets flying at Israel or not.

C'mon Sam, we are human beings and they are human beings having a bitter struggle, an existential one, but this is not about angels and demons. Do you know any Jewish angels or for that matter Jewish demons??? I dont.

As Shakespeare said, "The elements are monstrously mixed in man..." I only pray that this horror end right away for the sake of the children of Israel AND the children of Lebanon.

My best to you all,
Walter

Continued...

Killing Children Is Killing Children?

What if that children are used as a life shield by terrorists? Who is responsible for that?

Using civilians as a life shield is a war crime and crime is committed by Hersbola. Walter wants to put the responsibility on IDF - the idea is not new - but absolutely contradicting to common sense.

All liberal pigeons of piece are usually as irrational as, say, anti-Semitism. I am also sorry for all kids killed in Dresden in 1945, however, Hitler is a criminal Roosevelt - is not and WWII had right and wrong sides.

Viktor Gornstein

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Moral Equivalency?

The final comment left by Walter is nothing more than a moral equivalency argument. You were not saying that the childrent killed by the collapse of the building in Qana was rightous (I'm not sure what exactly caused the collapse...).

Walter is creating a strawman that you say it is just to kill the Lebanese children because Jews are good, and the terrorists are bad. However, you were not stating the childrent were evil, since they do not have the moral responsibility to not dance in the streets when Jewish civilians are killed. When adult Lebanese do that, whether or not they are officially part of Hezbollah is no matter, they are no longer consider either innocent or civil.

Therefore, Walter's argument is appealing to the heart strings and because childrent are dying on both sides of the conflict their deaths are equivalent morally speaking when it is anything but moral to have children indoctrined in hate, and used as shields for terrorist fighters.

Hope this helps rebut the arguments made by Walter.

Dima Khantsis

Continued...

Walter's Reply

Even if it was 28 not 35, and even if only 15 of them, not 35, were children, and I havent seen your numbers confirmed anywhere else, does that make killing kids OK? Are we to accept Sam's apparent premise that the children blown to pieces were not really innocent civilians, even the one-year-old? How were those kids more guilty than Israeli children killed in Nahariya? Guilty of what? Being alive? Is that you distinguish good from evil, by asserting that it is OK to blow up children? You may have more "moral clarity" than me, but that kind of moral clarity I can happily live without. And saying that its wrong to blow up Arab children doesnt mean I dont love Jews. It means that it hurts me terribly to see my own people blow up children and then having other Jews tell me I should harden my heart and tell myself thats its OK for Jews to blow up children.

Best, Walter

Continued...

An American Zionist Weighs In On The War

I understand what Sam wants. It is rather simple: destroy Hezbollah, so they would stop killing Israelis now. This will bring peace now. Who know what will happen in a few years.

I do not understand what Walter wants. His heart bleeds for Jews and Arabs. I wonder if his heart bleeds for Germans who were killed by RAF bombings in WWII. If it does I would be worried about his heart.

On a factual note, 35 children killed by Israel in Qana. This is Arab math. The latest estimates put the number at 28 total: all women and children. Where were the men? Was it a controlled explosion by Hezbollah? Why blame the Jews first, John? As a person, who deals with the news on full-time basis you should be better prepared with the fact. Please, edit that paragraph.

And finally, "To accomplish that means evincing a spirit of reconciliation and willingness to cooperate with moderate Palestinians and Arabs; it means showing respect for Arab culture and the Islamic faith, and it means negotiating with the Palestinians for a solution however difficult that may be, rather than trying to impose our own conditions and borders unilaterally." Only a naive (well meaning) from New Jersey may talk like this. We the Russian Jews think outside of the box, and distinguish good from evil. And I’m proud to say that in the conflict between Arabs and Jews, Jews are good. If you do not see this, you do not love Jews and you have no moral clarity.

Destroy radicals, give moderates a chance. With radicals at the helm, moderates have no chance even to survive.

Alex Koifman
American Zionist (born in Russia, matured in America)

Continued...

Debate On the War In Israel

See directly below an article by my good friend, Sam Kliger, in support of a full throttled prosecution of the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah until victory, and then my counter-argument that the war needs to be ended as soon as possible for the sake of both israelis and Lebanese. I hope readers will find the discussion enlightening.

Continued...

It's a War, Stupid

By Sam Kliger


Yes, this is a war, and it is as ugly as any war could be. Israel faces a terrible enemy, who must be killed now, or else… What could happen else, I leave it to the imagination of those who have creative minds. If Israel will not get rid of Hezbollah now, Hezbollah and all who support it, including the so-called “innocent civilians” (how “civil” and how “innocent” some of them are we can see when they dance and celebrate on every casualty on Israeli side, on every Jew killed), will imminently get rid of Israel, no doubt. Then the turn will come for other religious groups.

Symbolically, when the war in Southern Lebanon entered its culminating stage, the Jews all over the world commemorate Tisha b’Av, the 9th of the month of Av, when the ancient Israel faced its most formidable tragedy: Jerusalem and its shining Temple on the hill was destroyed (fist by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, and then by the Romans in 70CE), Jews were killed, exiled and lost their independence for about 2000 years. We do not want this to happen again. And there is a price to pay for keeping Israel safe, prosperous, and on float.

There is a lot of talk today about cease fire, both on a diplomatic front and in the Jewish community here. Some American Jews are also calling for an immediate cease fire, while President Bush seems to stay firm in his support for Israel and its right to defend itself. First destroy Hezbollah and only then the conditions for a lasting cease fire might be reached.

When in 2004 Russian Jewish Americans voted for Bush in astounding proportion of 3 to 1, while their American Jewish brethren voted for John Kerry in the same rate, many American Jews were surprised.

Russian Jews were trying to rationalize their choice by indicating Bush’s tough stance against terrorism, his support for Israel, and even his tax-cut initiative. But the true unconscious motive of their vote two year ago has revealed itself just recently. Russian Jews felt by their guts that the moment will come when the very existence of Israel will be on stake. And I leave it again to your creative imagination to envision what would happen today if the President of the United States was John Kerry. So, turn on your imagination: Hezbollah attacks Israel, kills several soldiers, kidnaps two, Israel starts its retaliation operation, international community calls for an immediate cease fire, UN Security Council passes a resolution introduced by France and Russia condemning Israel and giving it 24 hours for a cease fire, US representative to the UN (not John Bolton!) does not veto the resolution; Israel complains but succumbs to the pressure, Hezbollah rockets continue to fall in Israel … No need to continue.

President Bush might be not as intellectual, sharp-minded or sophisticated as, let’s say, Noam Chomsky, or even John Kerry, for that matter. He might be stubborn and way too religious. On top of that, he is a former alcoholic, and made many fatal mistakes in Iraq. His approval rate is close to a freezing point (32F). His team is a bunch of cruel idiots, which improperly treats and tortures “human beings” (another bunch of “pure angels”) at Guantanamo.

But he possesses, in the minds of many Russian Jewish Americans, such qualities as commitment to friends, sense of history, and, most importantly, moral compass that allows him to distinguish between good and evil. In today’s era of moral relativism, where “peace” is “war”, an “enemy” is somebody with whom one should make peace, “true” is “false”, and “just” is “unjust”, an ability to recognize the real evil, which is a global Islamic terrorism and fascism, is a unique talent and a rare skill. And not only recognize the evil, but also to have a strong will to stand alone against the evil risking to lose allies and supporters. I vividly recall another President of the United Sates, Ronald Reagan, who did not hesitate in the early 1980s to call the Soviet Union “an evil empire.” Many in the West were unhappy with his remark, but not us, “refuseniks” living in USSR and striving to get out of that empire.

And I am proud that many Russian Jewish Americans have a unique gift (emanating probably from their own experience under cruel Soviet regime) to recognize the presence of such a moral compass in current US president. We can only pray and hope that we would be able to descry such a knack among the candidates for the next US president. I personally think that Rudy Giuliani might have it.

From a clear perspective of moral compass, let’s try to answer some questions. Who is responsible for igniting the war? Who committed an unprovoked attack across the Israeli-Lebanon border? Who bears the moral and historic responsibility for breading Hezbollah and stir it up against Israel? Who is responsible for the death of civilians in Qana? If you are an honest person, you know the answers. The moral difference here is that Israel never intends to target civilian population, while terrorists always do. Israelis never celebrate the death of their enemies, terrorists do. Israel protects its civilian population with all means; terrorists use the civilians as human shield. Israel’s enemy is one who bears arms against Israel and the Jews with a desire to kill; Islamic terrorists consider all Jews as archenemies, and Christians, Buddhists, Hinduisms, atheists, and agnostics as just enemies. Israel wants to live in peace with their Arab neighbors; terrorists want to kill as many Jews as possible.

Therefore, any moral relativism, any “balanced” approach is irrelevant to this war. Israel is waging a just war, a sacred war against the enemy, which has to be destroyed by all means. And those who ignited the war, who desire to kill the Jews and wipe out Israel from the map, should pay the price.

Those who call for an immediate cease fire, who repeat senseless words that this crisis does not have a military solution, are not just moral relativists, or hypocrites. They are simply blindfolded by their ideology which is a blend of multiple fashionable isms, like socialism, hedonism, pacifism, pragmatism, cynicism, agnosticism, multiculturalism, and many others.

There is a military solution to this crisis, and it is to defeat Hezbollah in the current campaign, and to prepare for new turmoil in a world where there is still evil. To wage a war against evil forces is not only unavoidable, but it is a virtue. Especially, given the fact that this war is not only for Israel and its safety, but it is to protect other countries, including Muslim, from these barbaric, militant Islamists. There are more wars like this one ahead of us, and we all, Jews and non-Jews alike, have to unite in the face of an inevitable.

And I can only hope that Americans will learn a good lesson from this war; that they will come to the next presidential elections in 2008 with prepared homework and will vote for a candidate that has a moral compass and the guts to stand against the evil.


Dr. Sam Kliger is a Soviet-born sociologist living in New York.

Continued...

I Know Its A War--And It Needs To End ASAP

By Walter Ruby

Dear Sam,

Many thanks for agreeing to come aboard rubyjewsday.com to present your views on the most critical issue facing world Jewry today. We have had many wonderful opportunities to dialogue informally on many important Jewish issues over the past several years—at your office at the AJC and over a few shots of vodka at Gambrinus Restaurant and elsewhere, and I am gratified we will now be able to continue to discuss and debate online so as to share our views with a wider audience, as the first step to creating ongoing dialogue forums on rubyjewsday.com in which others—Russian-speaking and American-born Jews alike can be involved.

I want you to know up front that I believe your essay is a strong one and you make some powerful points. You are at an advantage in this discussion in that you are presenting a black and white, absolute good vs. evil perspective, whereas my position on the horror that has consumed Israel and Lebanon in recent weeks is far more nuanced, and I will admit up front, fraught with internal contradictions. Yes, I am desperate for a cease-fire to stop the horrendous bloodletting on both sides, to save countless Jewish and Lebanese lives alike, but, I also have concerns that a cease fire now might indeed strengthen Hezbollah’s hand. On the other hand, days or weeks more of slaughter of innocent Lebanese, many of whom began this war as supporters of the Cedar Revolution and opponents of Syria and Hezbollah, but are now shouting their solidarity with Hezbollah out of fury at Israel’s systematic destruction of their country, will likely strengthen Hezbollah even more.

After placing our respective essays on the blog, Sam, I will be headed for JFK Airport to board a plane for Israel, to take part in a long anticipated family reunion in Zichron Ya’acov, a pretty town on the Carmel ridge about 15 miles south of Haifa. A rocket fell in Zicron on Friday, although thankfully no one was hurt. I lived in Israel for four years of my life, Sam, two of them in Haifa, which has been turned upside down by the Hezbollah shelling. Like you, I am torn apart by every Israeli casualty and am frightened for Israel’s survival and, would not want to go on living in a world without Israel. Yet I mourn every Lebanese death as well. My whole life experience tells me this conflict—by which I mean the whole 100 year long Israeli-Arab conflict is not about absolute good versus absolute evil, not about right versus wrong, but is an existential tragedy concerning two peoples, each with a just claim to the same tiny piece of land, who, tragically, have not figured out a way to share it; have not figured out a way to include the Other in its national narrative.

Sam, let me express one strong point of disagreement, actually dismay, at your contemptuous dismissal of the “so-called innocent civilians” in Lebanon, hundreds of whom have had their lives extinguished by Israeli bombs. Sam, can you really mean that the 35 children, some as young as a year old, killed in the Israelis bombing of that residential building in Qana, were not, in fact, innocent civilians, were not innocent victims? Your implication seems to be that since many of these children may grow up to become haters of Israel, it is acceptable to slaughter them, perhaps it is better to kill them before they grow up.

Sam, I realize that war hardens hearts on both sides, but I know your heart is good and therefore can’t believe you really mean this. Where is the old fighter for human rights and justice, the refusenik of the 1980’s who loathed the unjust Soviet system and fought for a better life, not only for Jews but for all Soviet citizens? Can you now harden your heart to the extent of saying it is OK to kill civilians if they are Arabs and Muslims?

You appear to present all Arabs, all Lebanese as immutable enemies of Israel, as though our own actions have nothing to do with turning many of them into enemies. Sam, I visited southern Lebanon in the immediate aftermath of Israel’s invasion of that area in 1982, and vividly remember meeting Shiites in Tyre and various villages who hailed the IDF as liberators from years of oppression by the PLO, which ran southern Lebanon as its private lawless fiefdom, the way Hezbollah does today. There was no Hezbollah in those days, but it was created a few months later and quickly grew into a powerful force, thanks to the growing rage of Shiites at Israel for turning what was supposed to have a short in and out operation into an endless, grinding 18 year occupation of South Lebanon. That same Israeli invasion//occupation initiated by Arik Sharon, took thousands of Lebanese lives and turned a majority of Lebanese into haters of Israel to the point they were willing to tolerate Syrian occupation for more than two decades. As I predicted on the Topaler show at the beginning of this war (see my posting entitled 84-16 on the blog below) the present invasion is having exactly the same impact, strengthening the hands of Hezbollah, Syria and Iran and Muslim radicals everywhere and discrediting those Arabs and Muslims who have argued that an honorable peace with Israel is possible.

As for George Bush, Israel’s supposed great champion and defender that you and other so ardently Russian Jews embrace, has it occurred to you that perhaps Bush is doing Israelis no favor by allowing, indeed encouraging, this horrible dance of death to go forward? Bush is apparently content to use Israelis as proxies, as cannon fodder in his self-delusional worldwide war against terrorist evil. There is a report in this week’s Forward (English version) that Israel recently tried to reach out to Syria to activate diplomatic contacts and the extreme ideologues in the Bush Administration sought to prevent that from taking place. What kind of craziness is that? The role of the U.S. has always been, and should continue to be, to encourage Israeli-Arab conciliation, not to discourage it.

Yes, Sam, Osama and the fanatics of Hezbollah and Hamas may be irreconcilable in their approach to Israel, but there are still hundreds of millions of Muslims who are not yet there, who are not necessarily ready to sacrifice themselves and their loved ones to kill Zionists. The impact of Bush’s policies since 9-11, especially the absolutely disastrous invasion of Iraq, has been to push untold numbers of moderate Muslims right into the eager hands of the fanatics. Will Israeli’s security really be enhanced if we so infuriate the people of Egypt and Jordan that they overthrow their present regimes and join an Islamic front against Israel? Maybe that will give someone like John Bolton to say, ‘You see, I told you they were all the same’’ But what will be the impact on the people of Israel who will have to go on fighting war after war, seeing their young ones die, year after year, decade after sorry decade?

No, Sam, this crisis, and Israel’s lifelong crisis of being a Jewish island in an Arab/Muslim sea, does not have a military solution, because six million Jews cannot fully vanquish 1.2 billion Muslims. We can push Hezbollah back a few kilometers but how does that constitute success if we drive the bulk of Lebanese (and Palestinians, Egyptians and Jordanians) into Hezbolllah’s camp and see them load up on even longer term missiles that can in fact reach Tel Aviv and beyond? The military experts, including those in Israel, have already concluded that Israel will not be able to destroy Hezbollah in this war; that in fact the silnaya ruka (iron fist) approach, that, despite what you say, has made little distinction between Hezbollah and civilians, has given that loathsome organization a huge shot in the arm.

Sam, I think we actually agree that the central problem facing Israel and the Jewish nation that loves Israel is the deep reservoir, the festering swamp of Arab/Muslim hatred for Israel; a witches’ brew of bile and fury that is 100 years in the making. Where we differ is that you are convinced the only solution is an intensified Israeli silnaya ruka to beat the Muslims into fear and submission. I believe the only long term hope for Israel to have a future besides endless killing and suffering is to drain that swamp of hatred to the point where Arabs and Muslims accept Israel’s existence, even if they are not in love with it.

To accomplish that means evincing a spirit of reconciliation and willingness to cooperate with moderate Palestinians and Arabs; it means showing respect for Arab culture and the Islamic faith, and it means negotiating with the Palestinians for a solution however difficult that may be, rather than trying to impose our own conditions and borders unilaterally. My approach does not mean surrender or endangering our security or surrendering our belief in the justice of the return of the Jewish people to live in their land. But it posits that there is another, much larger, people surrounding Israel and the Jewish state cannot survive in perpetuity in permanent antipathy for the Arab-Muslim world within which Israel is fated to live.

Israel had to respond to the unprovoked Hezbollah aggression, and it has done so and showed it will strike back hard when provoked. We have made that point in spades and now is the time to wind this thing down. As Yitzhak Rabin, a tough old warrior who helped to build the Jewish state, growled plaintively in the Rose Garden 14 years ago as he grimaced and forced himself to shake the outstretched hand of Arafat, “Enough killing! Enough!.”

Continued...

Young Russians Boogey To Support IDF

I am posting this piece at the behest of my good friend Lenny Gussell. Wish I could be there myself, but I'll be Israel, so the least I can do is give this affaijr a hearty endorsement!

Dear friends,
RJeneration has teamed up with Ycrop.com and RussianMix.com, the biggest and best Russian culture, art and party people in NYC, to bring you an event that is as hot as it is timely.

The Russian-speaking Jewish young professionals of NYC unite to celebrate and benefit the troops of the Israeli Defense Forces as they fight for the future of Israel and the Jewish people!

Dance to the beats of Tonearm and DJ Spacedog while showing your support for Israel! 100% of the proceeds from this party will go to a fund for lone soldiers in Israel, most of who are from the former Soviet Union and have no family in Israel.

Donate generously whether you’re coming or not!



Thursday, August 10 @ 8pm till late

Brand new, not yet named, club in Manhattan83 Worth Street (btw Broadway & Church), TriBeCa
21+ with ID, $10 at the door.
100% goes to benefit the lone soldiers. Donate more here, they need it!
OPERATION BEGINS @ 8pm: Doors open9pm: Our guest TONEARM with an instrumenal set10pm till late: DJ SPACEDOG (afro/euro rastafunk)

Continued...

Kagan vs. Krasny Redux

It looks like Alec Brook-Krasny and Ari Kagan were listening to the Appeal I placed on this blog a few weeks ago—or at least each of them belatedly came to the same conclusions that I did at the time. After going to court against each other with charges that the others’ nominating petitions were fraudulent, the two candidates for State Assmebly in the 46th District pulled back from the precipice at the last minute and agreed to drop the charges against each other. Now with Marty Levine having decided to drop out of the race, we will have two Russian candidates running against each other in the September 12 Democratic primary---and, in the absence of a credible challenger in the Republican Party, the winner is all but assured of becoming in November the first Russian-speaker to be elected to higher office in New York State. This is an exciting, uplifting milestone for the entire Russian community no matter which candidate ultimately wins.

So prosdovliyim to both candidates for having the good sense to forego the degrading nominating petition challenges that have been used so frequently to disqualify Russian candidates in the past and which reek of machine politics of both the Brooklyn and Soviet variant. Now let the sprint to the primary election get under way full throttle and let the best man win. Two things are for sure, though, neither of these guys lacks for self-confidence bordering on chutzpah, but one or the other of them is going to get a serious reality check in November. Look at the quotes each gave me the other day for a story that will run this week in Jewish Week:

Ari Kagan: “This is fantastic news, because it means I will be the first Russian-speaking assemblyman. If I can’t beat Brook-Krasny, I have no place in American politics.”

Alec Brook-Krasny: “I going to beat Kagan by 80 percent to 20 percent because I have a solid record of accomplishment and he does not.”

Looking forward to finding out who is right

Continued...

An Invitation to Mel Gibson

Dear Mel,

This is a free invitation to come and do teshuvah on rubyjewsday. As an old peace and love relic from the 1960's, I can assure you that the Jews dont start all the wars in the world--quite a few of us Jewish peaceniks spent the better part of our lives opposing them. As for you---nu, talk about clueless middle aged men behaving badly! Really, Mel, one would have expected a somewhat better performance from the guy who managed to outwit the Anti-Defamation League and score millions with The Passion of the Christ. I never saw your movie--I'm not into S&M flicks--and it sounded truly vile, but the marketing strategy was brilliant, so you must have something going on upstairs. The Christian Right slobbered all over it, and made you into a kind of cardboard saint. And then for you to go out and get falling down drunk, pawing several blondes, and manage to get pulled over by a Jewish cop, who you go and curse as a f----- Jew? Real bright, Mel! But hey, we're all weak.

By the way, loved you in The Year of Living Dangerously. As someone who also dabbled with being a foreign correspondent, I thought at the time that being a dashing correspondent who looked like Mel Gibson and got to dabble with Sigourney Weaver while a revolution was going down all around them would be a nice thing to be. And you played that role with a lot of intellegence as well as panache. I wasnt into the Mad Max or Lethal Weapon muscle stuff but you didnt really lose me until you turned out to be an anti-Semite, as well as a Jesus freak and a right-wing Republican to boot. That is a drunk, lecherous fundamentalist Christian spouting obscenities against the Jews. Serious hypocrisy, Mel, and serious stupidity! Now Abe Foxman has you right where he wants you. But everyone is redeemable, so come to rubyjewsday and spill your guts to your heart's content. Then go forth and sin no more.

Continued...