Palestinian women are the most interesting. They want sexy stuff…

Palestinian Panty Pogrom

Palestinian Panty Pogrom

Today in Israel it’s Holocaust Memorial Day. This morning the sirens sounded and everyone stopped for a moment of contemplation. Cars halted on highways, everything was quiet save for the mournful shriek of the air raid sirens. Today is a day that commemorates the Holocaust that saw the annihilation of 6 million Jews at the hands of the Nazis and their enablers during WWII. The definitive phrase is “Never Again” and while we use that to imply that never again shall the Jews be victims of Genocide, we ought to also contemplate and consider other victims of Genocide.

Representatives of most of the world are united in Geneva today at The World Conference Against Racism. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reminded the world that we don’t have to look far to see victims of Genocide. Right in our own backyard, the brave people of Gaza are suffering untold oppression at the hands of brutal Zionist thugs. We were reminded that Gaza is nothing less than one giant concentration camp whose inmates are subject to random death, hunger and deprivation.

One story of such deprivation published recently by Spiegel Online was particularly touching. The subject was the sexy underwear market of Damascus:

“It all started about four or five years ago,” says Hayek. His grandfather was a merchant too, selling underwear — still chaste in those days — to women. But then Syria got wired. “Ever since people started going to Internet cafes, and seeing what the rest of the world is wearing, demand has completely changed,” says Hayek. Damascene women at first asked bashfully for “special designs.” Now the fruits of the Internet-fuelled imaginations of Syrian designers are displayed in the open… The customers tend to be mothers buying underwear for their soon-to-be-married daughters… “The mothers believe their son-in-law will be less interested in other women if his wife surprises him with more and more new gimmicks at home,” he says. In a culture where there is always the danger that the man may find a second or third wife for himself, wives want to make sure their husband stays loyal to them, Abu Adnan speculates… Abu Adnan also has leather outfits, sold complete with whip, and maid costumes featuring zippers at crucial points, which are in short supply. His best seller, however, is the “applause” design. Abu Adnan holds up a slip decorated with feathers. “Please clap your hands twice,” he says. After two sharp claps, the slip falls out of the shopkeeper’s hand. “A built-in mechanism releases magnets,” he says. “This way the man can undress the woman without touching her.”

The news of exotic Syrian underwear has spread across the Middle East. These skivvies now represent an important export item and sales are often seen as a barometer of regional tastes and politics.

After many years in the underwear business, Nasser says he’s an expert on what goes on in Arab bedrooms. “I tell you, Palestinian women are the most interesting. They want sexy stuff — the saucier the better.” … “As long as Israel is quiet, we do very good business with Gaza…”

Hence we see that one of the first victims of Israeli intransigence in Gaza is the Palestinian bedroom. With heightened tensions, along with basic food supplies, badly needed medicine and other humanitarian aid, imports of sexy Syrian undies are jeopardized as are countless Palestinian marriages and boudoirs. This undeniably has a detrimental effect on the birthrate and is in fact a manifestation of Genocide and a heinous war crime that ought to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. As a nation that mourns the victims of the Nazi Holocaust, it is shameful beyond comprehension that we are perpetuating pogroms against Palestinian panties. Shameful.

Oh the humanity.

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About the author

ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

74 Comments

  • guys– this article embarrases me as a jew and a human being. it also hurts my feelings. this is what it’s come to in order to gain 2 minutes of someone’s attention?

    don’t get me wrong, i generally love sarcasm and satire, and you could at least *try* to do some of that here.

    then again, this might be marginally hilarious if it wasn’t so fucking pathetic…

    cmon guys, make an effort, will you?

  • People in Gaza are not starving to death. Their situation may be less than ideal but it is in no way remotely comparable to any kind of genocide anywhere ever. Yeah, my sense of humor may be perverse but there’s a point to it and I wrote this in the great tradition of irony and satire. You don’t have to like it but you can’t deny the existence of a valid message.

    How valid? That’s the debate. Inspired by Durban II – discuss.

  • CTC, I certainly do not claim the West has never failed, but manz of zour claims lack substance. First of all, much to the dismay of activists, Israel cut off the supply of weapons into Gaza by destroying tunnels solely used for that purpose. And yes, it is cheap propaganda if news providers simply buy pre-made press releases without looking into matters themselves. It might make you wonder that Palestinians depend so heavily on Israeli aid and infrastructure but hardly get any help from their Arabic brethren apart from cheap propaganda. You seem to try to justify the suffering of non-Muslims in the Middle East bz telling us anecdotes of humanity that lack any substance whatsoever. Christians are denied basic human rights in the Palestnian territories even outside warfare. I cannot claim rights for myself if I am not willing to grant them to others. Israelis want to live in peace and thez can deal with a multicultural society. Apparently, terrorist supporters among Palestinians are not capable of that and do not care what this will mean for their brethren. Or do you think that a criminal verdict is the fault of the judge and not of the criminal that committed the crime?

  • what “sense of humor”? what “great tradition of irony and satire?” i see no evidence of a great tradition here, by a long shot.

    “people in Gaza are not starving to death” — finally, the first (albeit tentative) bleat of tongue-in-cheek satire on this page.

    seriously, what “message”? is a juvenile, snarky commentary, intended for the 18-21 demographic, coupled with a picture of a woman’s crotch instantly a “message” “in the great tradition of irony and satire?” when does that transformation occur– the second you click “post”?

    if you want to be funny or perverse or satirical, man, by all means GO FOR IT. we’re not holding our breath.

  • By the way, I enjoyed the post and thought it made its point amusingly. I think I finally understand what drives Gazan Palestinians to launch rockets at Israeli civilian centers.

  • I don’t justify collective punishment; terrorists do. They are cowards and hide among children. Whimps they are, not warriors. Nothing to be proud of and nothing to justify. They take their own people’s suffering into account to boost their little whimpish ego. And to claim that Israel does not support Palestinians in various ways is a blatant lie.

    Middle, you’re right. It’s getting tiring to read this shtuss.

  • dividend: people were really, really pissed at Jonathan Swift after the publication of “A Modest Proposal” so I think I’m in good company. Please also note that most of the language used in this post was inspired by stuff I’ve read online by critics of Israel’s genocidal policies against the people of Gaza and Palestine.

  • Without going into the question of who is to blame for the situation in Gaza or the WB, the tendency to mock the Palestinian suffering – which is getting so common in the pro-Israeli blogosphere – does not credit us as Jews, or as human beings, for that matter.

  • noam: What am I mocking? There’s a market in the Arab world for fancy panties. That’s great! There’s a market for that here too. The post’s underlying article humanizes the people in the Middle East. They like to use lingerie in the bedroom just like the rest of us! Wow!

    CD: And I am not dismissing Palestinian suffering. I’m contextualizing it. I’m saying it’s not Genocide. You think grossly exaggerating Palestinian suffering helps them any?

  • CK – I admit, I expected you to stand behind your ugly post, but it seems you rather dodge. BTW, I wonder – have you ever been to the West Bank or Gaza, or do you get all your information from FOX?

  • Noam: I live in Israel. I don’t own a Television. I’ve been to Gaza and some of my photos of Ramallah and Halhul are on flickr. I totally stand behind my post. Where’s the dodging? I genuinely care for the Palestinians – we even helped raise funds for humanitarian supplies for Gazans in the aftermath of the last war in Gaza. You’re not talking to an idiot or a right-wing neanderthal.

  • CK – it is not a question of Right and Left. I know some very sensitive Rightists. It’s a question of basic human decency. Making fun of the weak, of people who suffer, is both too easy and ugly. By “weak” I don’t necessarily mean Palestinians. Imagine a similar post on the Arab, or the Radical anti-Israeli, blogosphere, mocking the people of Sderot, or the casualties of terrorist attacks near your home. It would have made me just as uncomfortable.

    (I think you can make fun of almost everything, but the context matters. We can both make holocaust jokes – but I wouldn’t tell them to my German friends. And I would certainly not like if they tell one to me. Sitting in west Jerusalem and telling jokes about the people of Gaza is not the same – but it is still very bad taste).

  • Well then, we can agree to disagree, ok? I’d have expected a little more understanding from you given that you facetiously wrote the following recently on the YNet talkbacks: “When will we understand that all the Arabs are a threat to the state of Israel and to the life of each and every one of us?” in order to prove a point about talkbacks and law?

    But look, it’s all good. I really just want discussion. The notion that this post seeks to posit is simply that there is no genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. It’s a distortion that serves only to inflame and obfuscate and does not actually help the Palestinians.

    Agree or disagree?

  • if you are taking my posts out of context, at least provide a link to help my blog’s ratings (:

    as for the bottom line, i tend to agree – in fact, i think people who claim that there is a genocide, miss the real nature, and the real cruelty, of the occupation.

  • Please everyone visit Noam’s well written and thought provoking blog at promisedlandblog.com. Sorry, I was too lazy for HTML.

    Now at least we’ve found a point of commonality. Someplace where we can agree rather than bicker about the literary merit of a stupid blog post. See how that works?

  • This, “do you get your information from FOX” is such a boring, tired line. This is just a typical, divisive person with no sense of humor.

    By the way, is Jewlicious considered a left-wing blog? Should we “right-wing neanderthals” stick to Little Green Footballs?

  • I thought we had a little of everything politically, although we could probably use one staunch right wing loonie and one staunch left wing wacko to balance us out.

  • So, we’ve established that the Zionazis are not committing genocide against the Pseudostinians. Of course, that’s easy to confirm just by looking at the population figures. Even the Pseudostinian figures claim that the Pseudostinian population is growing. Since genocide is, by definition, the eradication of a people, a growing population is ipso facto proof that there is no genocide. It just shows the total dishonesty of the Pseudostinians for them to tout a growing Pseudostinian population (even if they are exaggerating) while simultaneously claiming that the dirty Jews are committing genocide. It is also proof of the stupidity, credulousness, and anti-Semitism of much of the world for them to scream about genocide when they must know that nothing of the sort is happening. People who scream “genocide” are either lying or too stupid to live.

    So what’s the “real cruelty” of the occupation? I figure that genuine genocide would pretty much top the list, but since you admit that this is not happening, I guess you mean that there is something worse.

  • Since when has Jewlicious been expected to cater to a certain political scope only? I would as little want to be mentioned in one breath with LGF as with Silverstein.

  • So CK likes to go on panty raids at Jorge’s house of Palestine love.Whats the big deal.As for Jewlicious sometimes it hangs to the left and somedays it hangs to the right.

  • As a whole, the site has trended to the right over the last year or two. That seems partly a matter of personnel (i.e., who’s posting), and partly the impact of external events (like the emergence of Iran as a threat, the withdrawal from Gaza, etc.). Even Middle, I daresay, who no one would describe as a lefty (except in domestic US political matters, of course), has tacked to the right.

    It’s an interesting phenomenon that one might think has to do with the new Likud-ish government in Israel– but there’s been little here to suggest that Bibi is viewed as a refreshing agent of change, in the way Obama is viewed by his supporters, for example. Instead, the trend seems to amount to a bunker mentality, a grim acceptance of the status quo, leavened (sorry!) by fantasies of “deporting” Palestinians, etc.

  • I was being sarcastic Froylein. But there is also nothing wrong with Little Green Footballs.

  • Morrissey,

    I don’t think anybody here has mentioned or even thinks about “deporting” Palestinians. That’s just something the other side throws out along with “genocide,” “apartheid,” and “nazi=zionist,” to make Jews appear as heartless animals.

    I also don’t care who the gov’t is in Israel, nor does it have any effect on my personal political affiliation. When Olmert was in power I didn’t become a Democrat. Don’t be ridiculous.

  • Only one poster posted something about deporting Palestinians and even she didn’t advocate that. Where are you getting this, Tom?

    You are right about the bunker mentality and the grim acceptance of the status quo. I still believe my positions reflect a centrist and pragmatic viewpoint.

  • Middle, I take it you agree with me, at least in part. Among other signposts in this trend: the near-silence with which the election results and the coalition-building process were greeted. You yourself heaped scorn on Olmert for months while highly praising Livni, yet when Kadima lost…. And it’s not as if Bibi lacks a track record.

    Anyway, it’s an observation, not a criticism. It’s good, however, to have someone like Noam around for a bona fide, CTC-free discussion. Good, in short, to hear from someone who agrees with the US president when he says, as he did a few weeks ago, that the status quo in the Mideast is unsustainable.

  • Unsustainable in what sense, Tom? It’s pretty much been going on like this since the Balfour Declaration. You know: low-level terrorist violence against Israel, Israeli retaliation, occasionally an actual war; international hand-wringing and UN resolutions, etc.

    Or do you mean that you expect a big hot war to break out soon?

    I expect one as well, precipitated by the successful (it is to be hoped) Israeli destruction (or at least crippling) of the Persian nuke project.

    With Obama’s apparent endorsement of the Saudi “peace plan”, his refusal to meet with high-level Israeli government officials, his craven kow-towing to Abdullah, his general cozying-up to anti Semitic dictators, and numerous other signs, he’s pretty much signaled to the Israelis that the US doesn’t have their backs anymore. Going slumming by hosting a faux Seder at the White House can’t hide what’s going on.

    His cowardly and foolish actions pretty much guarantee that Israel will be forced to attack. If even the US has abandoned Israel and Obama has pretty much let everybody know that a nuclear Iran is A-OK with him, what choice does it have? And what has it got to lose?

  • Tom, the near silence exists because it’s stupid to become all hysterical about Bibi or Lieberman. As I keep writing, it’s too early to tell how they’ll play out and the US administration is going have a large impact on what happens in Bibi’s government. The silence is there because there’s nothing to say. He didn’t even win the most seats, Livni and Kadima did.

    Second, Kadima was Likud Lite. Olmert, Livni, Mofaz and their mentor, Sharon, were all Likudniks and it’s only when the Likud was hijacked by forces from farther to the Right that these folks discovered a different outlook. Bibi is closer to them than he is to people like Feiglin, it’s just that sitting in opposition has forced him to be vocal and strident.

    Olmert received scorn for months for what he did in office. When Bibi fucks up like Olmert, I’ll write about it. In the meantime, I happen to agree with the one thing he has done: demand that the Palestinians accept that Israel is a Jewish state in order to proceed with negotiations.

    As for keeping the status quo, I believe I’ve written over and over that the settlements need to be moved west of the Fence. That seems like a pretty large move to me. I don’t believe there are many options regarding actually negotiating with the Palestinians. It’s not even their internal divisions that constitute the problem, it’s that they actually believe they have won this conflict and have now moved into the Single State Solution Or Else This Is Apartheid stage of their program.

  • Actually, the fence should be moved east of the settlements.

    The fact the the Pseudostinians think they’ve won is a hopeful sign. When they think the thing is in the bag, they have a tendency to fuck up hugely and show people their true faces.

    Kind of like what Imanutjob did at Durban yesterday. When even the supine Euros get up and walk out en masse, something is up.

    Of course, that was just a meaningless gesture that cost them nothing, so it probably doesn’t mean anything. Anyone can out on a Captain Renault show in public while pocketing their winnings.

  • you are right, Tom. I do think the status quo is unsustainable. And I wonder what kind of political arrangment (regarding the Palestinians) does people like Ephraim and Tori have in mind. this is the one answer I never get from the Right.

  • The Pseudostinians should be put back under Egyptian and Jordanian control, respectively. Then, when they get uppity, King Abdullah can do what his father did and open a can of Black September whup-ass on them. Since this will be a case of Muslim Arabs killing Muslim Arabs, the world will not care about it, since Jews will not be doing the killing. Also, since Arabs know how merciless Arabs are, the Pseudostinians will not dare to do anything. The reason they “resist” Israel is because they know that the Jews, being civilized, will always stop short of really kicking their asses.

    Problem solved.

  • The mentioning / suggestion of a “transfer” (i.e. deportation) not only being possibly legitimate as an ultima ratio but also legal in terms of the Geneva Convention was truly appalling. Tom and I had a longer conversation about it the other day when I was in the US. Tom suggested I should publish a cute pic of myself to get away with, hmmmm, daring ideas, too.

  • Noam, why do you assume I agree with Ephraim? This is along the same lines as you believing everyone on the “right” gets their news from FOX. IMO, you seem like a very divisive person who likes to label and belittle people.

    I happen to agree with TheMiddle, that settlements east of the fence have to be evacuated. I also agree with Bibi’s insistence on Palestinians recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. However, and I’m not sure where TM stands on this, I don’t think a peace agreement with the current leaders of the Palestinians will mean much. I am not opposed to the peace meetings, but I don’t believe they will go anywhere.

    I guess now you got your answer from someone on the dreaded right.

  • Who mentioned deportation???

    By the way, the situation in the ME is unsustainable for many reasons, the least of which have to do with Israel. You people are basically accepting the wider Arab narrative, that Israel is the cause of all the trouble in the Middle East.

  • This really is puerile stuff, reminiscent of the Nazis making light of Jewish suffering.

    And you wonder why Israel and its supporters are so detested around world?

  • I was wondering when the next poster who compared Jews to Nazis would arrive.

  • The Pseudostinians are suffering, yes, that’s true.

    But their suffering is entirely self-inflicted. You cannot act as they have done towards Israel and the Jews over the years and not expect blowback. Throwing in their lot with Hamas was the last straw.

    In any case, their election of Hamas just shows that the Pseudostinian claims to “nationhood” are completely bogus. As part of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas does not believe in the existence of a distinct Pseudostinian nation. Their goal is the establishment of a unitary Muslim caliphate that will replace the existing Arab nations such as Egypt, Syria, Jordan, etc. To support Hamas is to deny the existence of a “Palestinian nation”.

  • Let me “nuance” my statements:

    I do not believe that Israel is under any obligation, moral, legal, or otherwise, to evacuate any part of Eretz Israel that it has won fair and square in wars that the Arabs have forced upon it.

    I do believe, however, that Israel will be forced to do just that because the nations that condemn Israel are without morals and have decided that it is easier to make the Jews knuckle under than it is to hold genocidal aggressors (that would be the Arabs, just in case you’re not clear on that) accountable for their aggression and to compel them to suffer the consequences of the failed aggression for which they are responsible.

    For its aggression against the rest of the word, Germany was forced to give up all the lands it conquered, cede some traditionally German lands it claimed to Poland and Czechoslovakia, etc., as just indemnification for the war it had started, and was cut in half and occupied by foreigners for decades. They deserved everything they were made to pay, and more. The Arabs should be treated in exactly the same way.

    However, since the West has seen fit to sell what last shreds of soul it has to the Arabs in exchange for oil and out of fear of Islamazoid terrorism, it is inevitable that Israel will be forced out of Yehuda and Shomron. If this can be done in the context of a true peace agreement, as called for in UN resolution 242, then I would accept it. However, it is obvious that the Pseudostinians have no intention of ever recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. Bibi is right to insist that they do so as a condition for continued negotiations. The fact that they balk at this shows that they are not interested in rel peace.

    Therefore, the ONLY decision Israel needs to make is how best to fight the next battle from a situation of advantage. If withdrawing behind the Fence/Wall is the way to do that, fine. But until such time as there is someone to talk to about real peace, I don’t see how retreat under fire will help anything at all. We saw what happened in Gaza. If Israel leaves Yehuda and Shomron, Abbas will be dead in less than a month and Hamas will take over just as they did in Gaza and the Qassams will start to fall on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

  • CK:

    “People in Gaza are not starving to death. Their situation may be less than ideal”

    what degree of “less than ideal” is acceptable to you? here’s the results of the “Weisglass diet:”

    http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=33081

    OPT: Signs of worsening malnutrition among children
    IRIN
    Reuters Alertnet
    21 Apr 2009

    GAZA CITY, 21 April 2009 (IRIN) – Rising poverty, unemployment and food insecurity in Gaza, compounded by the recent 23-day Israeli offensive, have increased the threat of child malnutrition, say UN agencies, health ministry officials and healthcare NGOs in Gaza.

    UN World Health Organization (WHO) officials are concerned by the warning signs, including rising malnutrition indicators – like increased cases of stunting, wasting and underweight children – and continuing high rates of anaemia among children and pregnant women.

    A Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/World Food Programme (WFP) qualitative food security assessment for Gaza in 2008 and early 2009 points to increasing food insecurity compared to 2007, said FAO food security adviser Erminio Saco based in Jerusalem; and according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) food acquisition and energy consumption in Gaza declined by 10 percent between 2005 and 2007.

    Over the past 18 months the agricultural sector has been struggling to cope with an Israeli blockade on imports and exports, causing lower productivity and reducing access to affordable fresh food, according to FAO [see: http://www.apis.ps/documents/AGR%20Sector%20Gaza%20Report_final.pdf%5D.

    Stunting

    The UN Children`s Fund (UNICEF) said in January that 10.3 percent of children under five are stunted (low height for age), a steadily increasing trend over recent years.

    Stunting is usually attributed to a chronic lack of protein and micronutrients, including iron and essential vitamins, according to WHO. `More than 10 percent of children in Gaza are chronically malnourished,` said WHO officer Mahmoud Daher in Gaza, reporting a slight increase over 2008.

    Children`s hygiene has also declined due to the lack of a consistent electricity supply since the blockade was instituted. Clothes washing and bathing has been limited, especially during the conflict, according to residents.

    In April 2008 UNICEF estimated there were about 255,000 under-five children in Gaza, with about 26,265 at risk of malnutrition, and 657 most likely to be severely wasted [see: http://www.irinnews.org/pdf/UNICEF_Rapid_Nutrition_Assessment_report_Gaza.pdf%5D.

    Roughly two-thirds of the population – 50 percent of whom are under 18 – is deemed food insecure, according to FAO.

    Wasting and underweight

    The number of under-five children suffering from acute malnutrition – wasting (low weight for height) – in Gaza almost doubled between 2006 and 2008 from 1.4 to 2.4 percent, according to UNICEF. Wasting is considered a public health problem if the affected population exceeds 5 percent, but WHO is concerned by the significant increase.

    In 2008, 2.5 percent of under fives were underweight (weight for age), according to WHO in Gaza.

    Anaemia

    `Anaemia among children and pregnant women is high in Gaza and there are fluctuations in the rates according to availability of food and the political and economic situation in the area,` said Daher.

    WHO believes iron and vitamin A deficiencies have increased during and since the conflict. The results of WHO`s current anaemia assessment in Gaza are due in May, but according to Daher, 65 percent of children aged 9-12 months, and 35 percent of pregnant women are anaemic.

    The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has an assessment due in July, but is also concerned about the increase in anaemia cases, according to UNRWA health officer Mohammed Maqadma.

    There is a positive correlation between malnutrition and low meat (animal proteins) intake, low consumption of fruit, family size and income, according to UNICEF.

    The amount of affordable fresh fruit and protein on the Gaza market has been significantly reduced due to the closures, according to OCHA. `The last shipment of livestock entered Gaza on 31 October 2008, and since the Hamas takeover in June 2007 livestock imports have been severely restricted,` said OCHA field officer Hamada al-Bayari in Gaza.

    The director of all 56 primary healthcare centres run by the health ministry in Gaza, Fouad Issawi, said cases of stunting and anaemia increased in 2008 and 2009. Since 2007 the amount of anti-anaemia drugs – like ferrous carbonate (with vitamin C) and folic acid – required by primary health clinics had increased dramatically, he said.

    `There was a rise in anaemia amongst children in our centres in 2008 and [this is] continuing,` said Adnan al-Wahaidi, director of Ard al-Insan Benevolent Association in Gaza, the main healthcare NGO supporting an estimated 16,000 undernourished children [see: http://www.ardelinsan.org/index.php?lang=en%5D.

    `Women with children who are underweight or wasting have been coming to the centres in greater numbers over the last few months; many of their husbands died during the recent conflict or are unemployed.`

    es/ar/cb

    © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org

  • TM:

    “Only one poster posted something about deporting Palestinians and even she didn’t advocate that. ”

    a bit disengenuous, no? she basically said “I don’t actually advocate ethnic cleansing but I just want to idly mention that Israel is within its rights to do so”

    btw, have you figured out whether the geneva conventions allow for the deportation of 5 million palestinians yet? inquiring minds want to know.

  • tm:

    “And yes, it’s important to have people like Noam and Xisnotx here.”

    i appreciate the love, tm, but noam & I are Jewish. there’s a limit to the utility of talking amongst ourselves. consider setting limits w/CTC rather than banning him completely.

  • I really tried engaging CTC. I personally have nothing against him as long as he behaves. Banning him was TM’s call, not mine. But dang, he’s annoying sometimes. Writing multiple back to back comments that have little to do with the underlying post… oof.

  • There is little to discuss with CTC. He’s a pretty sharp fellow and knew exactly what he was doing here. I don’t see what limits I can set with him.

    Should I ask him to stop generalizing about Jews? Should I ask him to stop claiming that everything we say is “propaganda?” Do I really need to talk to somebody who keeps trying to equate Jews with biblical figures in order to claim that God is on the Muslims’ side? Should I continue to accept the endless commentary, all of it negative and all of it generalized, about Jews? What limits are acceptable?

    To be honest, the only way to fight back is to do to him what he does to us, except focus on Islam. Why would I want to do that? It’s not how I think and it’s not what I believe. It would be nothing more than a way of fighting back. I’d rather he find another site to spam. He wasn’t here to learn, let’s put it that way.

  • Ephraim – I won’t argue with you on the historical narrative or about morals, since frankly, I wouldn’t know where to begin. I don’t agree with almost everything you say. So lets leave it there.

    There is, however, one point I would like to make. by claiming the situation is “unsustainable”, I mean that we need to decide what to do with the Palestinians. And we need to do it fast. If we don’t give them civil and political rights, we establish a de-facto Apartheid (you can use another word for it if you like). If we do, we have an Arab majority. There is not other option, unless we get out of the WB (who will take control is a different issue).

    That’s why I claim again and again that a Palestinian state is the only way to save the Jewish state. As long as we do our best to prevent the possibility of such a state ever being formed – some people claim that it is too late already – we put the thing we are trying to defend in danger. Everybody is talking about the dangers the peace process might bring on Israel. Leftists have to answer for it again and again. But what about the danger from the right? Who will answer for this?

  • Tori – if American Jews would have argued against the settlements with the same zeal they search for hints of anti-Semitism in the Arab world, all would have been fine and I wouldn’t have gone through the agony of translating my thoughts to English.

  • CK — My comment on food insecurity & malnutrion in Gaza is stuck in the queue. It needn’t be posted in its entirety, but you really should read this whole piece to see the scope of the problem:

    http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=33081

    stunting the growth of children is not going to improve Hamas’ disposition.

  • Noam, I would like nothing more than to let the Pseudostinians have their state if that would bring peace, as much as I think they are the last people on earth who deserve one.

    But I think that allowing the creation of a Pseudostinian state under the circumstances with which Israel is now faced would make things infinitely worse.

    Personally, I believe that there is going to be another war. I don’t say that with any happiness or glee, either, just so you know. I think it is sad and horrible. But there was war when Israel was not in the territories, and there’s war now that Israel is there. It is within the power of the Pseudostinians to stop it if they want.

    And, while I don’t agree with all of this “Apartheid” nonsense, even if it were true, it would be preferable to Jews getting murdered by terrorists.

    The settlements and the “occupation” are not the cause of Arab anger at Israel. They are the result of it. In view of the history, I don’t see how it is possible to seriously claim, based on the evidence, that withdrawing will bring peace. All indications are that it would bring the exact opposite.

  • x, the Geneva Convention does not allow for the deportation of the Palestinians; the respective paragraph means that a country may evacuate its own people in case of bellicose struggle requiring it, which means “possibly against their will but for their own safety”. It definitely does not make for the kin liability deportation interpretation of “transfer”.

  • @ck: just because “people are pissed” does not warrant your self-comparison to jonathan swift (let alone even self-analogy, or even mention).
    you need to read a lot more than high-school/secondary level literature to figure out what satire is, or if you fancy coming off as ‘edgy’ or ‘funny’ or whatever.
    really, i see no different in the “satire” of your post and your pathetic self-defense, the latter of which just seems like another sad, lame joke.
    No one is laughing *with* you, man: sorry to break it to you.

  • OK, dividend, the planned post on eating Palestinian children is hereby cancelled.

  • Seriously, x, you get your “Israel Is Killing Palestinian Babies” news from something called “Occupation Magazine”? Do you expect anyone to take seriously a magazine that has articles entitled “How Much Israeli Arrogance Will the US Take”? Why not just link to straight to the Hamas website and save us the trouble?

    If the Pseudostinians want to eat, they should stop tearing down the greenhouses people give them (you know, for free) and refusing to allow Jew food from Israel into Gaza like they do all the time (http://www.mererhetoric.com/archives/11274019.html). Diverting practically all of their fuel and other resources into making missiles doesn’t help too much either.

    Starving Pseudostinian kids are their own fucking fault. Israel is not to blame for it.

    But their strategy is obviously working: if even Jews can be conned into believing that starving Pseudostinan kids are the fault of the evil Zionazis, how much more so will everybody else believe it? I don’t think malnourished Pseudostinian kids bothers Hamas at all; on the contrary, they want and need suffering children to con idiots like you into believing it’s all our fault. It is beyond monstrous. But it is not surprising: the welfare of the people it rules is the lowest priority for Hamas. All they care about is killing Jews. Everything else is secondary.

  • TM:

    “Only one poster posted something about deporting Palestinians and even she didn’t advocate that. ”

    a bit disengenuous, no? she basically said “I don’t actually advocate ethnic cleansing but I just want to idly mention that Israel is within its rights to do so”

    btw, have you figured out whether the geneva conventions allow for the deportation of 5 million palestinians yet? inquiring minds want to know.

    First of all, it was only one poster and it happened only once so there’s nothing disingenuous about stating that.

    Second, if she believed that Israel was within its rights to do so, then there is nothing to argue about regarding her mention of that information. She stated what she thought was fact and dismissed the idea from her own viewpoint. Had she advocated it on the basis of knowing that it’s a legal possibility, then you’d have something to complain about. She presented the information as a basis for the logic that led her to certain conclusions about the position of the Palestinians. People are allowed to be mistaken. She did not advocate transfer, merely stated that she believed it was permissible.

    As for transfer of population, I have now found two sources that say that in certain circumstances (which probably don’t apply to Israel and the Palestinians) it may be permissible:

    58. A number of political solutions are available to States faced with problems of governing a plural society. As explained in the second progress report of the Special Rapporteur on the protection of minorities, Eide, op. cit., pp. 15–19. State responses may range from homogenization to separation. Each point on the policy spectrum is neither intrinsically benign nor malign; that determination would rest on a variety of human rights criteria. Homogenization and territorial separation fall into two general categories: those based on egalitarianism and those based on dominance. The egalitarian – and, therefore, legal – nature of physical separation of populations requires consent and voluntary movement. The criteria for egalitarian territorial separation, according to the Special Rapporteur, entail:

    (a) Voluntary choice of each party involved;

    (b) No hierarchical ranking between groups;

    (c) Sharing of common resources on a basis of equality;

    (d) Whenever the groups interact, there are no privileges for members of one group to the detriment of members of another group. Ibid., pp. 16–17.

    That’s from UNCHR
    http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/0/683f547c28ac785880256766004ecdef?OpenDocument

    And this article from a law professor who claims that while laws regarding population transfer have changed dramatically since Nuremberg, and ostensibly the legal right to do so has been eliminated, in actuality they are still in existence and it is only a matter of circumstance which determines how such an action would be viewed.

    http://law.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4600&context=expresso

  • Ephraim:

    ” I don’t think malnourished Pseudostinian kids bothers Hamas at all; on the contrary, they want and need suffering children to con idiots like you into believing it’s all our fault. ”

    so, then why play into their hands and limit food shipments into Gaza?

  • Because if you permit the Hamas government to give their people the benefits of a normal life while they continue to bomb your civilians and while they continue to openly call for your destruction, then you are strengthening them even more. After all, they get to have their cake and eat it too.

    It may not be working, but at least Hamas isn’t able to boast to its people that it has actually gotten them anything or improved their lives in any way.

  • They’re not being limited, Hamas refuses to let them in when it suits them because Jew food has cooties. Check out the link I posted (why it didn’t show up as a link, I don’t know, but just go to “Mere Rhetoric” and search under “Hamas”).

    And Middle’s right. Why should anyone on G-d’s green earth expect Israel to feed the people who are bombing them? I swear to G-d, that’s like asking why the Allies didn’t airlift food into Berlin during WWII to help the poor starving Nazis. Are you out of your mind? What planet are you living on?

    And don’t give me that “why punish the civilians just because Hamas is shooting rockets at Sderot? Isn’t that collective punishment?”

    You’re goddam right it’s collective punishment. They voted for Hamas. Let them suffer the consequences. Everybody else in the world is expected to take responsibility for the government they vote in. Why should the Pseudostinians be any different?

    I have no sympathy for people who tear down greenhouses that could have fed them so they can use the materials to make missiles to shoot at the very people who gave the the fucking greenhouses to begin with and then whine that they’re starving. Chutzpah, thy name is Hamas.

    I’m sorry, but I only have so much sympathy to spare, and there are any number of better candidates for it than people who shit where they eat because they have no sense.

    And last time I checked, Egypt has a border with Gaza too. If they would rather their kids starve because they don’t want them to eat Jew food, let the eat Egyptian food instead. There are plenty of poor people in Israel who can use the food.

  • Nice try prodigal. Poor effort though. Not only was I not offended – I didn’t even chuckle.

  • Jewlicious is not geared towards readers like your kids who I am certain love Israel and have a firm sense of Jewish identity.

  • What a lewd photo. Any cheesy photo of a girl in a bunnysuit etc. would be okay but that is borderline pornographic.

  • i thought the article was very funny CK…don’t let the thought police wear you down

  • Well one thing, those panties fit very nicely.something i have not seen in years.
    Now we know what they are hiding.