My head is spinning

Even for someone like me with little faith in the Obama administration's foreign policy, today is exceptional:

-- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announces the resumption of "limited contacts" with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood to "emphasize the importance of non-violence, democratic freedoms, and the rights of women and minorities in such contacts." Whaddya think, will this be as successful as our outreach to Iran?

Somehow I doubt we can influence the thinking of the man rumored to be the Brotherhood's secret candidate for president, Mohamed Selim al-Awa. He's reportedly close to Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the famous 'spiritual' leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who prayed in Tahrir Square for Muslims to reconquer Jerusalem. But, hey, maybe we can persuade him to break off ties with Hamas. Al-Awa has also claimed that the Egyptian Copts are storing weapons in their monasteries to use against the Muslims, so he'd be equally good at restoring inter-religious amity within Egypt. How open do you think he'd be to guaranteeing the rights of minorities?

-- Israel has been added to our list of 36 specially designated countries believed to "have shown a tendency to promote, produce, or protect terrorist organizations or their members." What does this mean? Israelis will now be subjected to a special security screening if they are detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the division of the Department of Homeland Security responsible for enforcing the immigration laws. I don't know how many Israelis are usually detained by ICE, but I'm glad to know we're safe now. And I wonder if CAIR, ISNA, or other U.S. groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood had any influence on this decision.

Seriously, I can understand the need to have contact with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, especially if they are among the winners in the September elections. But I'm willing to bet that our "limited contacts" will only serve to enhance their credibility, while bringing us nothing.

Indeed, we'll be boosting the group seen by the 'good guys' - secularists, democrats, all those young people you saw demonstrating - as the biggest threat. According to one of the Youth Coalition's leaders: "The Brotherhood is tyrannical in its opinions and views, and I think they will take the side of the Islamist businessmen who fund it and have strict Islamic ideologies ... Whatever constitution they might form would not fulfill the demands of Egyptians for civil rights and democracy."

The long view

I'm not a big fan of decades-long demographic projections, but this analysis is quite thought-provoking. According to UN data, if current fertility rates remain constant, Israel will have more young people by the end of this century than Turkey, Iran, Germany, Italy or Spain.

The author of the analysis suggests that these trends will have a direct impact on the Mideast regional military balance:

"if present trends continue, Israel will be able to field the largest land army in the Middle East. That startling data point, though, should alert analysts to a more relevant problem: among the military powers in the Middle East, Israel will be the only one with a viable population structure by the middle of this century.

That is why it is in America's interest to keep Israel as an ally. Israel is not only the strongest power in the region; in a generation or two it will be the only power in the region, the last man standing among ruined neighbors."

Israel is already an economic powerhouse, whether you're measuring GDP growth, patent applications or venture capital. It also rates on the cheerfulness scale: according to a recent Gallup poll, a higher percentage of Israelis than Americans consider themselves to be thriving.

So what does this all mean? Hey, I don't know - except that Israelis, despite all their problems, are up, not down. No wonder their neighbors (and dwindling Europe) dislike them so much. (Thanks to Richard Landes.)

More on innovation

Yesterday's entry described Israeli innovations in armor defense technology; today's is about the lack of EU innovation, as bemoaned by EU council chairman Herman Van Rompuy.

Van Rompuy blamed the lack of innovation on "societal problems" and said people "live in a climate of despair and are depressed." Which is interesting, if you think about it: if Europeans were beset by existential enemies on all sides, would they be more likely to innovate? (Just for the record, the latest Gallup poll reports that Israel is the seventh highest country on the happiness index. Ahead of it are several European countries, rather undercutting Van Rompuy's argument. )

The solution, according to Van Rompuy: political leaders must be upbeat and work hard to get people to invent new things. No suggestion, of course, that the massive weight of governmental taxation and regulation could be a cause of the problem or that the EU, itself a mighty bureaucratic machine, might be least able to fix the problem. Earlier this week, Ernst & Young released a report decrying the wastefulness and complexity of competing EU programs intended to foster innovation.

In fact, Van Rompuy's remarks sound a lot like what used to emanate from Soviet and Warsaw Pact leaders. I'm sure that's just a coincidence...

Porcupine Dart

Porcupine Dart is the name of a new Israeli armor defense system that, in a test at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, successfully hit an incoming tank round and destroyed it. This is apparently the first time that a tank round was intercepted and destroyed in mid-flight.

Another new Israeli tank defense system, the radar-based Windbreaker, fires small metal slugs at an incoming projectile, detonating its warhead a distance from the vehicle. It has already been used successfully against rocket-propelled grenades fired against tanks patrolling the Gaza border. (Thanks to Daily Alert.)

Israel will need all the new defense technology it can develop, probably sooner rather than later. Especially as Fatah has now, under Egypt's leadership, agreed to form a Palestinian national unity government with Hamas. Hamas continues to demand the destruction of Israel and large numbers of Egyptians want to tear up the peace treaty with Israel, so I absolutely cannot understand why anyone thinks the Hamas-Fatah accord will promote peace.

Free speech on campus

In this video, David Horowitz shows disturbing scenes from various American college campuses. In response to the annual Israel Apartheid Week organized by the Muslim Student Association (an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood), he has proposed a Palestinian Wall of Lies. Needless to say, his efforts meet with considerable resistance - a less brave soul would easily be discouraged. As for whether Israel society is apartheid, watch this video from a Candid Camera-like Israeli show. In it, one actor poses as an Arab woman asking to be served in a convenience store while another, behind the counter, refuses to serve her. The video records the reactions of the Israelis who witness this exchange. Based on this admittedly unscientific poll, the bystanders pass with flying colors. (Thanks to Mona Charen.)

Protecting civilians

While NATO is tearing out its hair trying to protect Libyan civilians (sometimes from the Gaddafi forces, sometimes from the rebels), Israel has premiered a new, automated anti-missile system. Last weekend, after a Qassam missile hit a schoolbus and injured a boy, Iron Dome shot down nine incoming missiles fired from Gaza. No civilians were injured. Now, don't wait for the UN to applaud this rescue of innocent civilians, because in the UN world there are no innocent Israeli civilians - only evil Zionists. But take a moment to feel sorry for the folks pushing for a boycott of Israeli goods: since Iron Dome is a unique technology, other countries may want to buy it to augment their own defense systems. You can also feel sorry for Hamas. They didn't expect Israel to retaliate for their targeting of the schoolbus by attacking Hamas positions in Gaza. Now they're asking for a ceasefire, most likely because, according to YNet, "some 20 terrorists were killed in Gaza, dozens of others were wounded, and assorted targets across the Strip had been destroyed." I say, 'go, Bibi, go!'

Goldstone and goose feathers

Judge Richard Goldstone, author of the infamous United Nations report blaming Israel for intentionally targeting civilians during the recent Gaza conflict, conceded in an op-ed published in the Washington Post on April 1 that Israel did not do so. He also conceded that Hamas was guilty of such conduct. I'm reminded of the story that opens Joseph Telushkin's Words That Hurt, Words That Heal (one of my favorite books). In it, spreading slander is compared to scattering the feathers from a pillow to the winds. Collecting the feathers is impossible, as is repairing the damage done by the slanderous words. Goldstone lent his name and prestige to a genocidal hatchet job; one op-ed now cannot remedy the consequences.

Buycott Israeli products

Opponents of the state of Israel have called for a boycott of Israeli goods tomorrow, March 30. If you want, you can instead make it a buycott day. Here's a link giving the availability of Israeli goods in various U.S. markets. I intend to buy something - I see that Israeli cosmetics are available in Walgreen's as well as major department stores...

Putting it all together

So what about the assumption that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the key - and an absolute requirement - for peace in the Mideast? And how can anyone make this argument with a straight face, given what's going on in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen and elsewhere today? Well, Israeli-American commentator Caroline Glick has some ideas.

She compares the left's silence about the slaughter carried out by Vietnamese and Cambodian communists in the 1970s to the way in which the New York Times omitted the main point of the speech just made by Sheikh Qaradawi, the main 'spiritual leader' of the Muslim Brotherhood, in Cairo. After pointedly refusing to share the stage with the secular internet revolutionary leader Wael Gonim, Qaradawi called for the destruction of Israel.

Qaradawi is the most powerful Muslim 'spiritual' authority (yes, I put it in quotes because it sticks in my craw to call a purveyor of hatred 'spiritual') in the world today, so what he says matters a great deal. If you'd like to see him in action for yourself, here is a some short video from MEMRI (courtesy of Charles).

And, in case you're wondering whether virulent anti-Semitism is really that much of a problem, John Rosenthal has collected a series of pictures showing how Libyan demonstrators label their enemies, including Qaddafi, with the Star of David.

For decades, Arab rulers have deflected the anger of their citizens onto the United States and Israel. Those turkeys are now coming home to roost.

A message for the demonstrators in Egypt

Here's a message, forwarded to me by Rachel, that puts the relationship between Israel and any future Egyptian regime in a new perspective:

"Dear Egyptian demonstrators,

Please do not damage the pyramids. We will not rebuild.

The Jews"

Warming to my topic

Jean-Patrick Grumberg, a dissident French blogger, describes here a demonstration in central Paris on December 26 by what he calls Islamo-Palestinian groups celebrating the second anniversary of the Gaza conflict. A small group from the LDF (Jewish Defense League) mounted a counter-protest.

The blog entry includes a video in which a young veiled woman holds up an Arabic flag, saying "you see this flag, and soon it will fly over the Elysee [Palace of the President of France]." Another voice tells an LDF member to "go away, dirty Frenchman of sh---y origin."

At the risk of being too long, here's my (very) informal translation of Grumberg's analysis of these remarks and of the situation in general:

"Two short sentences which show that on French soil, the enemies of Israel and the enemies of the French are the same over-excited people. Two short phrases which show a confident Islam, sure of its imminent victory, sure that France already belongs to it, already strong enough to announce proudly, in the heart of Paris and without any complex, its political goal: the taking of power in France.

The pretentious assurance of these Muslims is of course nourished by the complicity of the French and European governments, by the complicity of the Left parties (who are, as if by accident, equally hysterically anti-Zionist) and, alas, by the passive resignation of the French who have been deprived of any democratic means of expressing their opinion. This portends nothing good. Beyond that, it poses three questions:

1) Given the Muslims who proudly announce that their flag will soon fly over the Elysee, how does one describe the French people who support them? Traitors of the nation? Autistic? 'Care bears' who think that everything is greatly exaggerated in order to frighten people? The anti-racists who think these demonstrations are delusions used by the extreme right to fuel its populist demagogy?

2) Will there be a moment when the French will look reality in the face, or has reality become 'Islamically incorrect'?

3) You have seen the video, you have seen the arrogance of the young woman. Now imagine that same young woman, had Israel been defeated. And ask this question: on which side would it be better for the people of the (still) free world to be, in terms of their own interest? On the side of Israel, or of the Palestinians?"

Anyone who claims that the French have the 'Muslim problem' under control should watch this video, or another one linked to my earlier entry.

Ah, that Religion of Peace!

As The Jerusalem Post reports, not all Arabs are pleased that some of their brethren helped Israel battle its forest fire. Some quotations:

"May Allah punish all Arabs who helped put down the fire.We pray to Allah that the fire will grow and spread to oil wells in the Arab world.”

“O Allah, burn them [Jews] before the Day of Judgement.O Allah, destroy them and all the enemies of Islam.”

“May Allah take revenge against them and displace them together with our corrupt [Arab] governments.”

There are plenty more quotes in the article, but you get the drift. So much for Islamic peace, tolerance and respect for non-Muslims, particularly if they happen to be Jews.

America and Israel

In contrast to yesterday's entry about European anti-Semitism, here's an article by American-Israeli journalist Caroline Glick about recent U.S. public opinion polls measuring U.S. support for Israel. Some highlights:

-- "93.5 percent of Americans believe that the United States should be concerned about Israel's security."

-- "Whereas 78 percent of American Jews voted for Obama in 2008, today a bare majority of 51 percent approve of his performance in office . . . This is directly related to Obama's hostility towards Israel."

And for those, like me, who missed it, she recounts an appalling exchange:

"On Tuesday State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley was asked, "Do you [i.e. the administration] recognize Israel as a Jewish state and will you try to convince the Palestinians to recognize it?

As Rick Richman at Commentary's blog noted, Crowley repeatedly tried to evade answering the question. Reporters were forced to repeat the question six separate times before Crowley managed to say, 'We recognize that Israel is a --- as it says itself, is a Jewish state, yes.'

As for whether or not the administration will try to convince the Palestinians to recognize the Jewish state, Crowley could not bring himself to give a simple affirmative answer."

So, what do you think? Will President Obama at some time will change his Mideast policies because he realizes they are wildly unpopular? Or, as with ObamaCare, will he assume the problem is that we're all just too dumb to understand how brilliant his policies are?

A ray of light

In the welter of anti-Israel speeches, boycotts, accusations of Israeli apartheid and Nazism, here's one rational voice. UK Methodist preacher David Hallam is suing his church for its decision to boycott some Israeli goods.

Hallam's view: "What I object to is money which I am putting on the collection plate on a Sunday being used to fund a political campaign against the Jewish state. This is both discriminatory and a misuse of a charity's funds . . . The Methodist Church seems to think it has a God given right to tell Jews how to run their affairs. It is very disturbing we are getting involved in a territory where we don't have any members or churches."

What's really interesting about this case is that Hallam is going to sue on the basis of an EU directive against racism: Israel is being discriminated against because it is being singled out, even though many other countries have worse human rights records. If Hallam succeeds, this should put a damper on other boycotts and anti-Israel actions in Europe, since most countries are members of the EU. (Thanks to Daily Alert.)

Friends of Israel

For anyone who's interested in supporting the State of Israel, a new and prestigious group called the Friends of Israel Initiative has been organized to counter efforts to de-legitimize and demonize that country.

The group includes Jose Maria Asnar, former prime minister of Spain, and former Czech president Vaclav Havel, among others. As Aznar puts it: "All we want is a normal and reasonable conversation about Israel. Surely, that is not too much to ask."

If you want to support the group, you can sign the petition on their website here and also sign up to receive their newsletters.

Ah, Scandinavia!

Here are a few updates from Scandinavia to round out your picture of beautiful fjords, tall, blond and handsome people and a lot of reindeer:

-- Sweden's sole anti-immigration party won enough seats to be represented in parliament, and may end up joining the government, albeit only over the dead bodies of most mainline Swedish politicians. If you're wondering why people voted for this new party, here's one possible explanation:

"In Malmö, Sweden's third-largest city, almost 40% of the population is foreign; and some immigrant neighborhoods in the city have unemployment rates exceeding 60%. In Malmö's mostly Muslim Rosengard neighborhood, fire and emergency workers refuse to enter without police protection. An immigrant-fuelled crime wave affects one of every three Malmö families each year, while the number of rapes has tripled in 20 years."

-- And in Norway, the government is doing a great job of adhering to high moral standards. It recently banned any sea trials of submarines built in Germany but destined for the Israeli navy. Why? Because it considers the Israeli navy's blockade of Gaza to be illegal. If you really want to inform yourself about Norway (at the risk of making yourself ill), trying reading a short little book, The Anti-Jewish Riots in Oslo, by Eirik Eiglad.

Next time someone tells you it would be great if the United States could just be more like Scandinavia, see if he or she knows anything about this stuff. (Thanks to Daily Alert.)

Disrobing the Left

Professor Fred Gottheil of the University of Illinois performed an unusual experiment. He researched the backgrounds of some 900 academics who signed a petition against Israel, and discovered that many of them were in gender or women's studies departments.

Gottheil then prepared a petition protesting human rights violations in Middle Eastern countries, primarily those against women, gays and lesbians and emailed 675 signatories of the original petition, asking them to sign his. Almost none did so.

His explanation: these academics are primarily anti-US or anti-capitalist, with the defining issue being opposition to Israel. They are interested in their academic specialities primarily because those fields allow them to criticize the status quo here. Actually caring about women or minorities is in last place.

A fool

The fool I'm talking about is the new British prime minister, David Cameron. He tried to curry favor with Turkey by slamming Israel, referring to Gaza as a 'prison camp'. Pandering may have its uses, but the current Turkish regime is most likely to pocket Cameron's groveling - and demand more concessions from him.

Meanwhile, the Wikileaks documents reveal that British forces in Afghanistan have caused at least as many civilian casualties as have the Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank. That makes the United Kingdom - which is supporting the one-sided Goldstone Report condemning Israel - itself vulnerable to attacks from the 'international community' for various purported war crimes. Fawning over the current Islamist leaders of Turkey won't ward off that problem. (Thanks to Daily Alert.)

We're all Israelis now

At least, that's what Kyle-Anne Shiver thinks should happen. She argues that Americans and Israelis face a common enemy - radical Islam - and should stand together. She's ashamed of President Obama's equivocation on any issue involving Israel, and fears we will abandon that country in its hour of need. (Thanks to Josie.)

The preceding entries demonstrate that, even more than you might think, we are indeed in it together. After all, isn't it an odd coincidence that the primary backers of the mega-mosque planned near Ground Zero in New York are linked to one of the main organizations that mounted the flotilla? How much clearer does it have to get?

Krauthammer on Israel

Columnist Charles Krauthammer writes that Israel has traded territory for peace and gotten more hostilities; mounted two military operations to disrupt, dismantle and defeat its enemies in Lebanon and Gaza, to an outpouring of international criticism; and now is under tremendously heavy fire for blocking the delivery of yet more arms to Hamas in Gaza. As he puts it:

"What's left? Nothing. The whole point of this relentless international campaign is to deprive Israel of any legitimate form of self-defense ... The world is tired of these troublesome Jews, 6 million -- that number again -- hard by the Mediterranean, refusing every invitation to national suicide. For which they are relentlessly demonized, ghettoized and constrained from defending themselves, even as the more committed anti-Zionists -- Iranian in particular -- openly prepare a more final solution."

Never again, huh?