More thoughts on the circus
I already gave a little mention to the establishment circus being passed off as an inquiry into the war on Iraq. I only found out a couple of days ago that questions were being asked about two of the panellists' ability to be objective about a war they both supported. One is a zionist activist, Martin Gilbert, who writes questionable histories of Israel and hagiographies of Bush and Blair. The other is a chap called Sir Lawrence Freedman who I had never heard of until I saw a Jerusalem Post article implyin

Israel arrests its own spy
There have been a few episodes of Israel bombing Jewish and allied targets but this is the first I have heard of one of its own spies being arrested whilst working for, rather than against, the Mossad. This is all over the internet now but check out the Reuters article headed Frayed cloak, rusty dagger:According to witnesses, a black-clad man in his 20’s attached a magnetic replica bomb to the door of a car parked in Tel Aviv’s tony port district, and tried to slip away. He was spotted by two diners at a nearby restaurant who, thinking him a terrorist or mob contract-killer, alerted polic

Review of that Sand book by someone who has actually read it
Here's Deborah Maccoby's review of the book, The Invention of the Jewish People, by Shlomo Sand:Shlomo Sand’s controversial book, written to debunk popular mythology about the Jewish people and its relation to its Holy Land, has itself created its own mythology among people who don’t appear to have read it.Thus Sand is said to deny the right of Israel to exist, on the grounds that the Jewish people of modern times has no genetic connection with the ancient Jewish inhabitants of the land. As a corollary to this, Sand’s claim that the Palestinians ar

Circus begins
The UK's Iraq war inquiry began today. The BBC has a Q and A about it but I can't be bothered to read the whole thing. Here's what I noticed from skimming:Will the witnesses be testifying on oath?No they will not, leading some to question whether the merits of the inquiry. However, all those appearing will be required to sign a piece of paper saying they will give a "full and truthful" account of events. There is also controversy over the powers of the panel. There are no judges nor QCs on the body, leading many to question whether it has the expertise to question whether the

Fear of a BDS planet
It's getting hard to keep track of Israeli press mentions of the boycott, divestment & sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. Their frequency & tenor bespeaks a growing alarm at the BDS threat — notably, amongst establishment journos. To whit:Sever Plocker, Chief Economics Editor and Commentator for Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest daily, in an article noting "Israel in midst of freefall on global front," Nov. 3:By coincidence, or not, large foreign investors are pulling out of Israel.Another Yedioth journo, Ron Yishai, on Oct. 14, on