Wow! It's Arlene Peck - Internationally syndicated coumnist and TV talk show hostess!

The Greatest Double Cross
(an update of Like Father ... Like Son? Part 2 )

Sad, isn't it, that the next generation -- George Jr. -- apparently hasn't learned from the mistakes of his father. Why do I get the feeling that President George W. Bush is heading towards selling Israel out, and is on the verge of the greatest double-cross since the Allied nations sold the Sudetenland to Adolph Hitler?

I was delighted with the conduct of our President and Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair during our Iraq crisis; however, I get the feeling that they are in the process of making Israel a sacrificial lamb in their efforts to give themselves a public relations counterbalance to the war against Iraq.

Folks, I don't feel reassured. Israel is on the chopping block to pay for Bush's and Blair's political history and the future benevolence of the Arab nations. I hope that, unlike his father, President Bush doesn't underestimate the power of the Christian Coalition or the American Congress.

Are we supposed to wait with bated breath while Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), who is the figurehead puppet of Yassir Arafat, announces a "breakthrough" in a renewed Middle East "peace" process? This "road map" looks very much like the insane proposition that Barak made and that Arafat walked away from at Camp David. But while an anemic media breathlessly reports on the wonderful advances being made in that area, has anyone remembered that this is the same Abu Mazen who authored a book denying the Holocaust, and who reportedly financed the Fatah operation that led to the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich? How fast we forget. And that he's been Yassir Arafat's senior deputy since the 1960s, and that he was instrumental in forming the Fatah group.

Or maybe we should wait for the members of the United Nations to show how they have arranged "a just and fair peace in the Middle East?" Unfortunately, according to them, the previous deals with the Israelis are going to be called off. Remember? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Bush promise that before anything would be done, the "Palestinians" [Arabs] would cease their terror attacks, stop the hate-filled writing in their newspapers, remove the books that are used throughout the region to train their children to hate and kill their Jewish neighbors? Oh yes, and have a workable democracy.

The Israelis are probably feeling like Charlie Brown when Lucy holds the football. Does anyone besides me see something wrong with the Arabs giving up nothing but the promise not to kill more Jews that week? And we all know that what comes out of their minds and mouths is truthful. Meanwhile, Israel, as usual, has an imposed list of concessions a mile long -- while all the Arabs have to do is promise to "reform" themselves. Fool me again? No, I think not.

Is Bush going back to the unworkable premise of Oslo to appease the European Union? Gawd, you'd think that we would learn that the United Nations is not a body of men that can be trusted when it comes to Israel. Hey, this group isn't a body of anything other than self-serving entities. This is the same group of men who gave Libya the leadership of the committee on Human Rights, and also let Iraq head the Global Disarmament Committee Security Council!

This, I believe, is the time to review our current policies and plans for the future. For all practical purposes, to our credit, we are no longer in the United Nations -- and we should stay out.

The French are coming in after the fact. Along with the Germans and Russians, they have done everything to support the enemy and sabotage our policies. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds. Do you think they care for one minute what happens to the Jews in Israel? In the best of times, and even with their favored countries, what they do best is to cry over corpses. In the Middle East, they don't even notice the carnage when it is the "Zionists" who are being slaughtered. After the fact, this Euro-trash voices phony condolences over the Holocaust. Yet their parents were the first to send Jews to the camps and take over their property and valuables.

Israel cannot be allowed to be sacrificed to appeasement by Bush or Blair so they might keep their political parties intact -- because long after they've gone from the scene, the "peace settlement" which has been imposed on the Jewish people by the Quartet will have done its damage. Possibly for good. They would have created the world's most concentrated terror apparatus ever known, which would only serve to facilitate its continuing terrorism on Israelis.

It bothers me greatly that the entire "international community" is busily endorsing and planning the "Palestinian state" to be carved out of the State of Israel. Given the current circumstances, it is ludicrous to even consider such a state.

Any kind of a "road map" which is planned as creating a "Palestinian" terrorist state in the heartland of Israel, and implemented to chop up the State of Israel, is a guarantee for the destruction of Israel. At this point, I am so suspicious of the United States' allies that I have no confidence in any who might become involved in the "road map." Good L-rd, our "friends and allies" have been shown to be actively working against our country and aiding and abetting the enemy. France, since the Gulf War, has sold Iraq the planes that were being used to shoot our soldiers. Russia has sent "advisors" to Iraq, the same as they did during Vietnam to train our enemies. And they are still doing that! I've never trusted the Germans, and Italy had protest marches a million strong against Americans. Send them into Israel as peace keepers? I'd rather send the fox into the henhouse.

Recently I received press reports that the CIA has now set up a department to implement the "road map." They are gearing up to be involved in the supervision and monitoring which has been proposed by those longtime enemies of Israel, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. Well, why not? They did a wonderful job training a generation of "Palestinian" [Arab] snipers. So now all those thousands and thousands of "Palestinian Police" that Nobel Prize laureate Shimon Peres stupidly supplied with guns are able to use their CIA trained skills to murder Israelis. Lovely. We've all seen how marvelously it's worked with the United Nations. Now the CIA can have its "Palestinian" [Arab] allies give them needed information relating to other terrorist groups while ignoring any help that might be given to Israel.

The CIA's first duty is to serve America's interest, no matter who is hurt. Which reminds me. Did I mention that there is one team within the CIA that's supposed to focus on the reorganization of the "Palestinian" [Arab] security services? Just what Israel needs, a better organized "Palestinian" [Arab] army. Oh yes, and let's not forget, there is a 'special operations committee that is going to implement the "settlement" freeze. Hey, it's about time that someone dealt with the rapid growth of Arab settlements. Unfortunately, the last I heard, it is going to be for the Israeli settlements, and they are going to force the evacuation of the illegal outposts. Along with the reopening of "Palestinian" [Arab] institutions, which were being used to incite hate and promote terrorism

I've long written about how there is a double standard when it comes to anything involved with Israel. Isn't there something wrong with a "road map" that allows the sovereign State of Israel to be chopped up like a salami? Yet the "Quartet" is gearing up to implement a "side-by-side" Palestinian [Arab] state next to (or within?) Israel.

Has anyone bothered to ask the Jewish State what is acceptable to the Jewish people? Does anyone care? These Islamic fundamentalists have no intentions of living side-by-side with anyone! If they have their say, the Christian and Jewish minorities in their own countries will be removed and replaced with Islam. Life has absolutely no value to their culture, and I believe it to be a hateful one filled with violence.

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The Good, The Bad, and the Greedy

Let me tell you a little story. A story about good and evil. And even about religion. Have you ever wondered why religion is losing its hold on so many people today? Well, I just might have an inclination.

It all started with a little congregation in Marina del Rey. And, a Chabad Rabbi, Shmulik Naparstek, who had a dream of a synagogue. He wanted to build this synagogue in the midst of a crowd that was anything but "religious." And, amazingly, against the odds, he built and they came. It became a congregation that grew to several hundred members.

The Rabbi was clever, although not clever enough as it turned out. He knew that the neighborhood where he wanted to make his mark was not like that of those in Brooklyn or "the Valley." Yet somehow, they still came. He managed to get both the prayers and the payers. You know, the wealthy people who didn't want to go to the synagogue, yet they wanted to ease their consciences by donating large enough sums of money to make the congregation grow. And they began to feel at home. Amazingly, it worked. Little by little they stayed around to see how their "investment" was paying off. The congregation included some former Israelis and they began to actually enjoy what many of them would never have done when they were living in Israel. They started to get "into" their Jewishness.

Somehow there was always enough money around to see that the congregants would have a lunch at the Kiddush. Many hours would be spent on Shabbat singing and just enjoying the nice vibes that surrounded them. People who never even knew what the Sabbath was found themselves going to Friday night dinners in the synagogue (sans money most of the time) and the numbers grew! Pretty soon a much larger building was built, and then a school. The place was rocking!

The yearly dinner became more successful, and finally a couple of years ago our little congregation had a dinner to end all dinners. The Mayor and Governor Gray Davis were there, and spoke beautifully about Rabbi Naparstek. The congressmen and all the state officials were there. But the topper was Bibi Netanyahu as the guest speaker. And the wealthy bought the tables. They brought their friends. Everything was perfect.

Well, not exactly. Jealousy reared its ugly head in the form of a higher power. Who was this Marina rabbi to have such kavod heaped upon him? Rabbi Shlomo Cunnin, who heads the Chabad of the West Coast, apparently didn't like it. It was even said that he also didn't like the fact that he had sons who weren't as successful as the Rabbi in our little Marina synagogue. Because it had grown to be a big synagogue.

What to do? What to do? After all, like Saddam, he was the boss and his sons needed to be given a break -- or at least a synagogue. So little whispers began to float into the otherwise pristine atmosphere of the Marina Chabad synagogue. Complaints were made that the tables at the dinner were mixed. Men and women actually sat together! How terrible! Yet it was always known that had it been any other way, the ballroom of the posh Beverly Hills Hotel would never have been filled. Nor would the successful Friday night dinners or Shabbat kiddushim .

Interestingly enough, many Chabad houses have "mixed dinners" (including every Chabad house outside the state of California where the evil dictator reigns). The height of hypocrisy was how in Rabbi Cunnin's Chabad house in the Westwood area, there have been many "mixed" affairs, including sit-down dinners -- like the reported bris of high roller and philanthropist, David Suissa of Olam magazine fame. In those days he was a heavy supporter of Cunnin. Now, however, he's joined the ranks of the many who saw through the sham and travesty of nepotism at its worst.

Then charges of funds manipulation against the Marina rabbi were raised in a way unbefitting a rabbi -- a charge that I always found to be very curious. Especially since the Chabad telethon in Los Angeles annually raises enormous amounts of money, and there have been questions about where the funds eventually end up. I wonder: maybe in a shed in the wilderness as was recently discovered in Iraq.

So the "big Rabbi" of the entire Chabad of the West Coast took the "little Rabbi" of the Marina to court to confiscate his property and take over the synagogue. The place that had been so painstakingly built up from a little storefront eighteen years previously. But it wasn't your regular court. It was a Bet Din tribunal and, lo and behold, the "little Rabbi," Narparstek, won! But wonder of wonders, Rabbi Cunnin was somehow able, by behind-the-scenes manipulation and deception of rabbis, to fashion a "new" verdict that reversed the earlier ruling! Wow! What power! It is also something that is seemingly unprecedented in all of Jewish history because it is, I understand, contrary to halacha (Jewish law).

So the "big Rabbi" of the entire Chabad of the West Coast brought the entire issue into civil court. As a result, the earlier confiscation of the "little Rabbi's" property was confirmed and Cunnin was able to take over our beloved synagogue.

And the result? Well, our synagogue has been closed up. The school is no longer functioning. No more happy Shabbat dinners, no loud kiddush after Saturday morning services. No more kids -- many of them the Rabbi's eight children, who are now looking for a new place to live because their spacious and welcoming house is now for sale.

For all practical purposes the Chabad of the Marina has scattered to the four winds. The deed to the property is now in the hands of Rabbi Cunnin and, I suppose, his sons. You know, I thought I lost my faith in the system during the OJ Simpson trial when a double murderer got off. I was a believer until then. And now, quite frankly, I am even more disillusioned. I don't know all the details of the transactions and I don't want to know. All I know is that something evil and very wrong was done to my congregation and to the rabbi and his family who led us in spiritual life.

Interestingly enough, at a recent Israel Independence Festival I approached the Chabad booth and started to tell the rabbis who were manning it my feelings about the shanda upon their group. Without exception, all of them told me how much in agreement they were with me. Several not only agreed but continued to tell me how the actions of Cunnin have cost them dearly. Money that would have been earmarked for the Chabad is lost. It's true, as they will never receive donations again from people like me who are so disgusted by the actions of their leader. Yet where are they in leading a protest? Several Chabad rabbis have called me since that day. Sadly, they were encouraging me to write something. Anything to bring out the truth! One even told me, "We know what Cunnin did is terrible. We are afraid to say anything because of the power he holds. If we were to speak out now, we're afraid he will come after us individually. But you speak out for us."

Is it such old news now that what has happened can be swept under the rug and forgotten? I don't think so. I know I for one will never forget, although I might forgive one of these days. I wonder what the Lubavitcher Rebbe would say if he were around now. Could this have happened then? I think not.

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We Just Don't Get it!

I think I'm getting mellower. I used to think that there were only two kinds of people in the world: Jews and anti-Semites. For too long I overlooked the "good Christians" from the religious right who truly love Israel. As long as they're not trying to convert the Jews, I am grateful for their love and concern. We need their support and aid in fighting the "cause of the Lord!"

Now I have broadened my assessment. I believe that we just don't get it! I think that the rest of the word is just so damn naive that for the most part, they will believe whoever is telling the �big lie� the loudest and the longest. Arafat, without question, was and is the master of that method of brain-washing. Until him, nobody had ever dreamed that there should be a �Palestinian state� carved in and around the Jewish State. It is known and accepted that even their Koran does not lay claim on Israel. And Israel is not mentioned even once in their Bible. In the Old Testament however, there are over seven hundred citations, which reflect the Jewish claim to Israel.

So, knowing that, I am more than a little concerned with the latest method of conveying the deed to the State of Israel over to the Arabs. The Palestinian "Prime Minister," Abu Mazan, is being touted as the �new counterpart� to Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon. More disturbing, Sharon is being pushed into serious negotiations with Mazan in the implementation of the planned "road map" and giveaway of the Jewish State.

Noooo, I don't think so. This is the very same Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) who has been the same �close aide� of Arafat for the past forty years. And if memory doesn't fail me, the same man who financed the Fatah operation that led to the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics? This is the same man who was even instrumental in forming the terrorist Fatah group, and wrote a book denying the Holocaust. And now he's being billed as �the Israeli counterpart�? Puh-lease.

But as naïve as the Americans and most of the others who are promoting him and this road map are, the Jews who allow such thinking are beyond just stupid. It is simply unforgivable. I understand how the self-serving politicians are able to swallow the pretense of this �road map.� Those promoting it have made it obvious that the scheme -- and it is a scheme -- constitutes a reward to the terrorists in the form of statehood, next door to or within Israel. They could care less if it's based on the pretense of rewarding the terrorists by their actions. Nor are they concerned about how this "road map" and its "right of return" policies would hasten the demise of the Jewish state.

What part of the words "Homicide Bombing" doesn't the world understand? We are at the moment on a �code red� for the country. Maybe now that the United States is beginning to experience in a very small way what Israel is forced into, we might just begin to understand who and what the enemy is. You can't negotiate with terrorists! If these vermin are able to strike and kill civilians as expected, would we in the USA �hold back� and �give peace a chance?� I hope not! They understand power and that's all!

I am astounded, how there is no outcry over the obvious double standard. President Bush has always talked tough when discussing the terrorists. He has said numerous times how he would never negotiate with terrorists. Remember �You're either with us or with the terrorists�? As I write this, the television is once again showing horrible scenes of yet another homicide bombing. Why is Israel being forced to join in this appeasement policy? We as a nation would never negotiate with terrorists. Yet while our government and every other country is preoccupied with the "road map," these Islamic fundamentalist and their close brothers, the "Palestinians," go along their merry way, bombing and terrorizing everything in sight! We had a reprieve when Arafat walked away from the "wish list" that former Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered him. As unbelievable as it was at the time, Arafat still didn't think the "giveaway" offered to him was enough. Now, however, like an unwanted fungus, it's back again in the shape of the �road map.�

Enough! Enough of bombing houses and going into the meetings with the enemy like a reluctant dog going into the vet. The infrastructure of this terrorism culture has got to be dismantled and destroyed. Transfer is not the forbidden word that it used to be. When there is a cancer in a body, it has to be removed. Neither negotiated with nor appeased; it has to be cut out. The same must be done with the enemy. If the world has its way, they would force Israel to show restraint and "make nice." But Israel has to do what's good for itself. It's not a question of making peace. It's now to the point of survival.

For G-d's sake, it's ludicrous. We have the same enemy! The United States is now on Red Alert � High Caution! Who do we think caused this? Asian students from Cambodia? Tourists from Holland or New Zealand? The Islamic fundamentalists are out to destroy anyone who is different from them. They are the founders of terrorism. I'm sick and tired of the political correctness of if all. We know who the enemy is and have the means to destroy them. So does Israel. Let them do what's necessary!

I don't know the answer. I do think, however, that the few who seem to be "getting it" are the Christian coalition who finally realize that their future is tied into the fate of the Jews. Because, folks, it's not just the Jews these crazed terrorists want to see off the face of the earth. Their textbooks and leadership teach their children that anything other than "their way" is an abomination and the infidels should be killed. Sometimes politics make strange bedfellows. Praise be the L-rd!

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The Thought Police

For almost thirty years, I have been a featured columnist in the National Jewish Post & Opinion. The publisher, who at this writing is 97 years old, never once during that time told me what I could and could not say. Gabriel Cohen was the ultimate newspaperman. Nobel Prize honoree Elie Wiesel once told me that he started his career under Gabe as a "stringer." That was long before me; however, even during my tenure, I had never heard the words "politically correct." In fact, I happily skipped along, secure in my feelings that whatever I felt as a columnist, my paper would see that I was able to air it.

There were times when I'm sure I angered some and sometimes I even strived to get that reaction. At least from my standpoint, it made them think. And when these readers wrote in about my strong Zionist feelings, which they didn't agree with, I answered, "Aw, but I'm a columnist, not a reporter. I'm able to write about my feelings and not just report the facts." I wrote about how the self-haters disgusted me, about the horror I felt because of Jew-haters such as Richard Dreyfus, Woody Allen and Barbara Streisand, who frightened me.

I knew I could write a column and it would be published. Yet those days are apparently over. I recently returned to the United States from London. I wrote two columns about the Iraq war and any anti-Semitism I might have found during my trip. As usual, I sent in my articles and was stunned to receive a call from the editor saying that my columns would not be accepted. It seems that three of the publisher's eight children, who are running the paper now, "feel I am not only politically incorrect but 'mean to the Arabs'. They are distressed that I write 'ugly' things about them." This, dear readers, only one day after the recent bombing in Tel Aviv.

Folks, it frightens me. Moreover, it angers me when I encounter Jews who are such self-haters. They would do anything to stop someone whose ideas don't coincide with their own leftist views, no matter what the cost. Years ago, I wrote a column about the fear I had that the Arabs were traveling to our shores to buy up our country. However, with the leftist tidal wave that has penetrated our schools and yes, even our Jewish newspapers, my fear is no longer solely from the Arabs. It is appalling that there are Jews out there who hate themselves. Even more so, that they are gaining control of the press and classrooms and are determined to muzzle thoughts and ideas that are contrary to their disposition to appease Arab terrorism. These are the same morons who, I am sure, were still saying, "Let's negotiate," "We don't have to fight," "War isn't the answer," as they were being dragged into the ovens by the Nazis sixty years ago.

I suppose I'm just an old fashioned girl. When a reporter-journalist-columnist sees something newsworthy, they have a duty to report it. We are artists who paint with words. And the truth is something that the folks at the National Jewish Post & Opinion just don't want to admit. Maybe their new newsroom attitude is out of stupidity or cowardice, but I tend to think it is simply hatred for themselves and the Jewish people. Certainly their actions, and their control of the press, is dangerous.

Publishers need a sense of reality, to be able to evaluate ideas and the behavior of people. Trying to muzzle a seasoned journalist who has been published by them for thirty years (and unpaid for the past ten) is not the way to go. I don't know whether they are being hostile to me personally or if it is just my ideas that they suddenly don't like. It concerns me how much I've changed, as behavior like this has convinced me that leftist liberals have no respect for any ideas but their own. They somehow just don't "get it" and stay clueless. It is sad, but so very dangerous when these same people, with their leftist mentality, get control of the press.

You readers have the right and the responsibility to know what is really happening in the world, not the picture the leftists want to portray for you. I know it would be nice to paint doves on vans and stand by the side of the road giving peace signs to passers-by, but that is fantasyland.

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Like Father ... Like Son? Part Two

Several years ago, I wrote a column about the senior George Bush and my concerns about his throwing Israel to the wolves in his efforts to appease the Arabs. In those days I would write about the infamous anti-Semitic duo of Baker and Bush. Sad, isn't it, that the next generation, George Jr., apparently hasn't learned from the mistakes of his father.

Back in the days of the Gulf War I found it ludicrous that Israel was forced to sit idly by and let Saddam Hussein lob his scuds over the border at will. Aw, but that was then, and now Israel wouldn't be put in that precarious position like in days past? Surely our illustrious President would not want to make the same mistakes that Daddy Bush made. Blunders which I am sure contributed to his being a one-term President? Naw, I don't think so. But, hey, I'm not alone in my apprehension of whether his intentions are honorable. Even according to a recent article in The New York Times , �There is every indication that President George W. Bush is on the verge of the greatest double-cross since the Allied nations sold the Sudetenland to Adolph Hitler.�

I have been delighted with the conduct of our President and Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair during our Iraq crisis. But why do I get the feeling that they are about to make Israel a sacrificial lamb in their efforts to give themselves a public relations counterbalance to the war against Iraq? Are they serious? In the middle of the chaos that is going on in the military action in Iraq they take the time out for a press conference to give reassurance to the Arabs that the Middle East "Road Map� is alive and well.

Folks, I don't feel reassured that Israel is on the chopping block to pay for Bush and Blair's political history and the future benevolence of the Arab nations. I hope that, unlike his father, President Bush doesn't underestimate the power of the Christian Coalition or the American Congress if he continues to push Israel to the brink as his daddy did. They didn't believe the propaganda hype then, nor do I think they will again.

Are we supposed to wait with bated breath while Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) who is the figurehead puppet of Yassir Arafat, is trounced out and the world is given the dog-and-pony show before the biased media? Or possibly to the United Nations to show how they have arranged �a just and fair peace in the Middle East?� Unfortunately, according to them, the previous deals with the Israelis are going to be called off. Remember the earlier one where Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was told that his 120 corrections would be included and the war with Iraq long over. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Bush promise that before anything would be done, the Palestinians would cease their terror attacks, stop the hate-filled writing in their newspapers, and remove the books that are used throughout the region to train their children to hate and kill their Jewish neighbors?� Oh yes, and have a workable democracy. The Israelis at this point in time are probably feeling like Charlie Brown when Lucy holds the football.

Does anyone besides me see something wrong with the Arabs giving up nothing but the promise not to kill more Jews that week? And we all know how truthful the words that come out of their minds and mouths is. Meanwhile, Israel, as usual, has an imposed list of concessions a mile long, while all the Arabs have to do is promise to �reform' themselves. Fool me again: While under Arafat's instructions, the Palestinians loudly call on Israel to withdraw its forces and leave the �occupied territories� while they in turn will do their very, very, best to end terrorism. No, I think not.

Is Bush going back to the unworkable tenets of Oslo again to appease the European Union? Gawd, you'd think that we would learn that the United Nations is not a body of men that can be trusted when it comes to Israel. Hey, this self-serving group isn't a body of anything other than self-serving entities. This is the same group of men who have Libya heading the Committee on Human Rights and Iraq heading the Global Disarmament Committee Security Council?

Their purpose is not to tie the hands of the evil within their realm, but to restrain the United States and vote against the Jewish State at every opportunity. So let me understand if I've got it right: This is the same illustrious body of international countries that we should put our faith and trust in?

I've got a better idea. This, I believe, is the time to review our current policies and plans for the future. For all practical purposes, to our credit, we are no longer in the United Nations, and we should stay out. The French are coming in, after the fact, and doing their utmost to influence the terms of the rebuilding and occupation of Iraq. They, along with the Germans and Russians have done everything to support the enemy and sabotage our policies. Maybe because they have so much in common -- Saddam Hussein has ordered Iraqi domestic businesses to show preference to German companies as a reward for the really terrific help Germany gave in rejecting the war against Iraq. It was also reported that over 101 German companies were present at the Baghdad Annual exposition. Russia has even been found to be selling weapons and training the Iraqis in their use, which is another one of their own United Nations violations.

These are the wolves that Israel would be thrown to? Their hypocrisy knows no bounds. Do you think that they care for one minute what happens to the Jews in Israel? In the best of times, and even with their favored countries, what they do best is to cry over corpses. In the Middle East, they don't even notice the carnage while it's the �Zionists� who are being slaughtered. After the fact, this Eurotrash gives phony condolence over the Holocaust. Yet their parents were the first to send Jews to the camps and take over their property and valuables.

It is self-delusion to even think -- especially during these critical times -- that assigning another "terrorists' state" to the so-called �Palestinians� is going to solve any of the problems which we as Americans are facing with the third-world nations. Israel cannot be allowed to be sacrificed by the appeasement of Bush or Blair so they might keep their political parties intact. Because long after they've gone from the scene, the damage to the Jewish people by the �peace settlement" which has been imposed with the "Quartet" has done its damage. Possibly for good. They will have created the most concentrated state of terror the world has ever known. It bothers me greatly that the entire international world is busily endorsing and planning the "Palestinian" state to be carved out of the State of Israel. And given the current circumstances, it is ludicrous to even consider such a state.

Any kind of a "road map" which is planned as a Palestinian terrorist state in the heartland of Israel, and implemented to chop up the State of Israel, is a guarantee for the destruction of Israel. At this point, I am so suspicious of the United States' allies that I have no confidence in any who might become involved in the �road map.� Good L-rd, our �friends and allies� at this point in time have been shown to be actively working against our country and aiding and abetting the enemy. France, since the Gulf War, has sold them the planes which are being used to shoot our soldiers. Russia has sent "advisors" -- the same as they did during Vietnam -- to train our enemies to use the equipment that they also sold them in violation of the sanctions. And they are still doing that! I've never trusted the Germans, and Italy at the moment is having protest marches one hundred thousand strong against Americans! Send them into Israel? I'd rather send the fox into the henhouse.

Recently I received press reports that the CIA has now set up a department to implement the "road map." They are gearing up to be involved in the supervision and monitoring which has been proposed by those longtime enemies of Israel -- the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. Well, why not? They did a wonderful job training a generation of Palestinian snipers. So now all those thousands and thousands of �Palestinian Police� that Noble Prize laureate Shimon Peres stupidly supplied with guns are able to use their CIA-trained skills to murder Israelis. Lovely. I'm going to feel ever so much safer now that I've learned that the CIA has totally shut their eyes to any conflict-of-interest in their efforts not to have to concern themselves with any conflict of interest in this �monitoring� role. We've all seen how marvelously it has worked with the United Nations. Now the CIA can have their "Palestinian" allies give them needed information relating to other terrorist groups while ignoring any help that might be given to Israel.

It's obvious that the CIA's very existence is to serve America's interest, no matter who is hurt. Which reminds me. Did I mention that there is one team within the CIA departments that's supposed to focus on the reorganization of the Palestinians' security services? Just what Israel needs, better reorganization the Palestinian army � or was that Palestinian Authority? Oh yes, and let's not forget, there is a "special operations committee" that is going to implement the settlement freeze. Wow! It's about time that someone dealt with the rapid growth of Arab settlements! The last I heard, however, it is going to be for the Israeli settlements, and they are going to force the evacuation of the illegal outposts. And the reopening of Palestinian institutions, which are being used to incite hate and promote terrorism.

I've long written about how there is a double standard when it comes to anything involved with Israel. How come the world doesn't see anything wrong with a group of countries that could be considered anything but friends being given the right or acceptance to chop up the sovereign State of Israel like salami?

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Dateline: London (April, 2003)

George Barnard Shaw once said, "The English and Americans are two nations divided by a common language." I've been here a week and still can't understand what they are saying most times. Last night I walked out of what I'm sure was a successful play because I didn't understand a thing they were saying and, worse, didn't understand the humour. However, what I understood is that they are a good people who seem to be suffering economically as with everybody I know back in California.

It's funny how prophetic we sometimes can be. I had been invited as a speaker to the ZOA group at Hillel at the University of Maryland. I wondered what topic to discuss with them and finally settled on Jewish Pride. And how their lives would be forever changed by terrorism.

How true that was. When I arrived at Washington's Union Station to catch my Amtrak train taking me to JFK for London, all the passengers were turned back and re-directed because of a bomb threat. And so it starts.

Four American marines were slain by a suicide bomber cab driver in Iraq. Saddam's henchmen sent their check for $35,000 to the terrorist families while Arafat's thugs sent another for $10,000 -- and Saudi Arabia will probably have another one of their telethons to raise more for the families of terror. I wonder, though, now that what I have been warning for years, that Israel is the canary in the coal mine and that their suicide bombings are heading our way, will those paid murderers still be called "activists" and "militants"?

I had planned on reporting from Italy. However, at the last minute, after being told of anti-Semitic incidents in the press by my editor, Nissan Raclaw in Arutz Sheva , and after watching a million strong Italians protesting the United States, I changed my plans. Instead, I headed for London. Unfortunately, the London Tourist Bureau wasn't any help and I never received any direction as a journalist on what to see and where to go.

I did, however, end up in quite possibly the most elegant hotel in the world: The Lanesborough. It is a five-star rated hotel which should be a six. They had concièrges who were able to direct and fill me in on more attractions than those at the Tourist Bureau ever knew. And wow, what an elegant place! Besides having a bath that had what felt like a ten-foot tub, they had crystal decanters of bath oils and shampoos.

What I found interesting was how in America they still haven't learned and are still supplying everything from Evian water and French wines in the mini bars to French soaps in their bathrooms. In London's Lanesborough, the creams were from Dallas, Texas. Their wines in the room were from Ein Gedi, Israel, and if you wanted kosher, it was there. Michael Jackson stays in the penthouse. I can't imagine what his accommodations could be considering that I, as a commoner, had two butlers who waited with bated breath to attend to my needs. Maids were somewhere but never seen. Like magic the rooms were cleaned. It was like Mary Poppins.

I think the Lanesborough was the only hotel in London that accepts dogs, and each morning it was kind of cute to see butlers and dogs in a procession down the street. Speaking of dogs, one morning while I was traveling to Stonehenge and Bath on one of their largest Trafalgar Tours, I noticed a "doggie" cemetery which was filled with little tombstones. And they think we in California are unusual. Trafalgar Tours has been around forever, and it's so much easier when you're never in the same place twice to catch a tour like that and sit back and let someone "do you."

It was the ideal atmosphere to listen to the feeling about the war in Iraq. The English papers were filled with stories about how now that it was winding down, Mr. Blair should urge America to speed up work on the Middle East peace process and their "Road Map to peace." And how immediately after Iraq comes "Palestine," and how Mr. Bush has promised as much. Oh really? What does that mean?

The daily papers discussed at length how Mr. Bush has shown in past weeks some irritation with the intransigence of the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who shows no signs of wanting to restart the peace process. The gist of the tone was how pressure must be applied to both parties. According to the British and European attitude, Arafat's new prime minister should promise to be a good boy and recognize Israel in its 1967 boundaries and renounce all claims to any part of historic "Palestine." (Not Israel, mind you, Palestine.) And if Israel should balk at the rape of their country, then America needs to show that it is ready to flex its financial AND military muscle.

Britain's role, of course, is to be a consistent and supportable partner in this "vital quest for peace." Another interesting side angle were the columns that I read warning Britain how rabid anti-Semitic attacks were endangering the country and how the Brits should be made aware that it could happen there if not checked...

I traveled to the Jewish sections of Golders Green and Hendon and headed for the landmark restaurants: Kaifeng, a fabulous Chinese restaurant which happens to be glatt kosher, and Blooms, which has been in operation since 1920. In between bites of awesome corned beef I spoke with the owner/grandson of Blooms, Jonathan Tepper. Although there are only about 225,000 Jews living in England and they are surrounded by a far larger Moslem community, most of them were Indian and not Arab. Relations between them are fairly cohesive. There had been very few isolated incidents of anti-Semitism, but for the most part, they aren't too political and prefer to live low-key.

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The Morons Still Marched

G-d those people are civilised. London is a city of polite people and I have never had to listen more carefully in my life when someone spoke to me. I'll have to admit when it comes to service, we in the States could learn a lot from the English. I hope we treat them when they come to our country as nice as they treated me.

I returned from a day in the country and decided to spend my last few days at the Ritz Hotel. They just don't make opulent places like that anymore. My room was large enough to land a plane in. It was furnished with a lot of gilt and chandeliers and reminded me of Versailles. I got there just in time for their world famous Afternoon Tea and it is truly an event. It sure beats our "coffee breaks" in the States. Everyone is so proper and they speak in whispers.

Security has been tightened considerably. If it weren't so sad it would almost be comical to see the dowager matrons coming in for tea and having their packages from Harrods examined before being allowed in. Or the hotel doors being locked late at night except for guests of the hotel.

It's a shame what Arab terrorism has brought us to. Everyone is much more aware and wary now. Those are scenes which I had become accustomed to for the past several years in Israel. In England, however, it is something new.

Unfortunately I had occasion to visit the emergency room at the hospital, and the staff at the hotel couldn't have been more solicitous. What amazed me the most was how, after receiving excellent treatment, they wouldn't take my money. Nobody would take it. Not even for the antibiotics! Apparently in England health care is free. Come to think of it, nobody would take my Visa travelers; checks either, or American money.

I met Carol Gould, who is my publisher and English connection in the Jewish press through the Internet media outlet Jewish Comment . Over crumpets, which I always mistake for stale biscuits, she told me that the dinner party circuit now is held for Jews. And if you're a Jewish American you get a double whammy. Why? Because you're accused of every crime that has ever been committed since the days of William Penn. If you're only American, then you're blamed for starting slavery, for the genocide against native Americans and for funding the "racist Zionist State."

According to her experience, Americans were previously verbally attacked for funding the IRA. That stopped, however, and now it's been replaced by an obsessive deploring of American support for Israel.

Being a member of the press and seeing how easy the news media such as CNN and the BBC are able to manipulate and form the news, I'll wager that a good part of their misinformation comes from lack of knowledge. This daily media propaganda has served to totally distort the British public's perception on the plight of Israel. Instead, they are constantly fed the "plight of the poor Palestinians." Carol told me that recently the HMS Ark Royal aircraft carrier, which was serving in the Gulf, asked their Ministry of Defence to disconnect them from the BBC news because it was demoralizing and biased against the coalition.

I was unaware that since the war in Iraq, CNN has cut out all the newscasters that their subscribers watch for. Commentators and shows such as Larry King, Lou Dobbs' Moneyline, and Wolf Blitzer have been replaced with 24-hour around-the-clock coverage of Middle East news, with a preponderance of Arab commentators -- including Rula Amin, whose obvious bias knows no bounds. As a result, a lot of people are queuing to buy satellite dishes so they can watch FOX news.

Tourism is down fifty percent and everyone from the casinos to the cab drivers is suffering. I rarely, if ever, saw an American tourist, and it's obvious that they, as well as we, have been hurt by the lack thereof.

Outside my window, traffic was tied up for hours while about twenty-five thousand anti-war protesters went by chanting anti-war slogans. I wondered: had anyone told these morons that the war was actually over? Marching past was a conglomerate of people -- many that I'm sure would come out and protest anything and everything. These idiots were carrying signs about everything from sweatshops in Nigeria to animal rights. Yet I noticed that didn't stop them from wearing their Nike sneakers or Adidas T-shirts. I was told that from a million protesters it had dwindled to about a hundred thousand of these misfits who would probably come out for anything.

Perched on top of a lamp post was an Arab wearing his terrorist black hood and the Palestinian flag draped over his back and shouting "Peace!" in a menacing way at the passing marchers!

In vain I looked for one sign in support of their troops there. These marchers were completely oblivious that their cause was a thing of the past but they still had to protest ... something ... anything.

Unfortunately, no matter how fine the service at the hotels like the Ritz or Lanesborough, it matters not when tourists are afraid to travel there. And, although the numbers of the discontented have dwindled to a tenth of what they once were, television coverage manages to capture them and they receive the publicity they want. Those who watch the evening news around the world see these outspoken protestors shouting from the lamp post. They have therefore accomplished their mission, which is to damage their economy and stop tourism. And it's all under the guise of "peace." Looking at the majority of those people I'll bet a large percentage of them never had a date for the prom. Disruption, I think, is their way of making up for it.

It's a shame that the London Tourist Board was so unresponsive. However, so was the presenter of the BBC "Today" program, James Naughtie, whom I met while in NYC the previous week. He seemed delighted to meet with me when we spoke there, and told me to contact him when I came to London. At the time I mentioned that when we got together I'd love to discuss with him why the BBC was so anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. Do you think that is the reason he didn't answer any of my six calls to his office? Of course it was. It reminded me of a response I received from the Israeli Consulate when, in experiencing a similar rebuff, I was told that it was because Israel was having one of her periodic strikes -- a frequency in which Israel seems to have no peer.

My last evening was spent dining at the Hispaniola, one of those marvelous dinner boats on the River Thames. Despite the romantic atmosphere and delicious food, the place was empty. Again there were no tourists in sight. My French waiter told me that he had been living in London for the past four years because he had no country anymore. It had turned into an Arab nation and they had lost their culture. He lamented the fact that although the politicians have encouraged their takeover for votes and personal gain, the regular people don't see anything other than problems for them as a result. �'They come over from their Arab countries, and receive our benefits and send the money that they make back to their families. All the money is going out ... not in! When we go somewhere else, we spend the money that we make in that country.'' Shame they didn't think of that before.

Many of the English people complain about the large Moslem numbers, which have increased dramatically over the past fifteen years. They are angry and concerned that the Pakistani Moslem community have bought large tracts of property and are putting housing and mosques all over. The English complain, but they are caught up in the Politically Correct syndrome. Government has to support a multi-racial community but the real English people don't seem to like it.

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Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows

There is an old expression that goes �With friends like these, who needs enemies?� And frankly, I've had mixed feelings when it comes to many of those �good Christians� out there who only want to show the Jews the right way.

There used to be country clubs that said "No blacks or Jews allowed." I remember growing up in the South and attending far too many banquets when the minister would give the invocation in the name of �Christ our Lord.� Many a time I sat there thinking, �How very rude.� I'll bet even today, if you travel to some of the smaller southern towns, they'll look for your horns if you say you're Jewish. But the worst, I thought, was when I was living in Israel and large groups, like the Southern Baptists, would come over. They were barely off the tour bus and they would be out in the lobby trying to "convert."

A man who came into a terrific gimmick and founded, �Jews for Jesus,� Moshe Rosen, and I have gotten into it many times about using those misguided souls who wanted to show the Jews the right way and lead them down the path of Jesus. He wasn't thrilled that I would tell him, �Better they should be Jews for Moses.� But I think he understood. To do such a thing as trying to convert someone is reprehensible. It's like going over to someone's house for dinner and then saying you're not eating because you're not sure their dishes are clean enough for you.

But let's not forget that there is another kind of Christian. My e-mail has been flooded with kind letters from gentle Christians who truly accept the fact that the Jewish state belongs to the Jews and are happy to share it in a loving way. And let me tell you something about these folks. We need them now. But it's a two-way street.

Recently I had on my television show -- Wow! It's Arlene Peck -- Avi Davis, along with Father Keith Roderick, who is a well-known priest and the head of an umbrella group of over sixty-five Christian organizations. He spoke eloquently about how Jihad isn't directed only against the Jews. According to him, the rapid rise in Islamic fundamentalism is fast taking over much of Europe. And every place that there were Christians in Israel, the Arabs there have terrorized and moved them out to the point that their numbers have declined drastically. In Europe, and in much of the world, they are tearing down churches and replacing them with Mosques. How long have we seen the same thing in Israel where they continue to "de-Juda-ize" the Jewish holy places? Look what they just did to Joseph's Tomb!

I recently heard Dr. Daniel Pipes say the same thing: The rapid rise of Islamic fundamentalism is the greatest danger to the world as we know it today because they are determined to wipe out both Christianity and Judaism and replace it with their own brand of rigid belief. And even if only twenty per cent of these people are determined to destroy our way of life, that's three hundred and fifty million people out there who strive to culturally and physically kill us.

Have no doubt about it; we are definitely in a race against time. And that, folks, is why we need each other. Christians won't have a Holy Land to visit if Arafat and his gang of thugs have their way. Maybe some of them ought to write our President the next time he gives one of his speeches about the "Palestinian" state that he dreams about.

I hope that maybe those in the Christian community are realizing that the time has come to make a few amends. I haven't forgotten how so many of their clergy spoke up when the Nazis exterminated the mentally ill, yet they were as quiet as the Moslem leaders today when it comes to speaking out against the terrorism from their brethren. I wish one of them would explain to me why, even to this very day, the Good Friday service of many Christian denominations contains a long list of �reproaches� that accuses the entire Jewish people of killing Jesus.

Maybe in their hearts they realize that we must band together in fighting this growing cancer. Changes are being made rapidly. A U.S. Jewish group is now making efforts to build closer ties with Christian evangelicals. These are the people who have long supported Israel. Many in the Jewish community are aware that it's in the best interest of both groups to work jointly on issues that are of mutual concern. If they could limit it to their marvelous support of Israel, religious accommodation in the workplace, social services, and a movement to pass legislation protecting the right of religious organizations, it could be terrific. It's just when they get in that mode of �showing the Jews the right way� that I get a little nervous and a lot offended. And I have a hard time ignoring their women's rights, abortion, and separation of Church and State issues.

Because evangelicals are based on proselytizing, it's worth noting that they have endorsed active cooperation with Jewish groups because they feel so strongly about increased threats to Israel's security and what they perceive as Israel's international isolation. I'm starting to think that it's a good thing that so many of them think that the return of the Jews to Israel is a condition of the second coming of Jesus. Whatever their beliefs, it's Biblical and it couldn't be manifested any too soon.

European fears of the Gathering Jihad are real -- and probably too late. I believe the European Union appeased them by an anti-Israel and anti-American policy. The Arabs apparently succeeded in distancing Europe from their American allies. As the plan of the Islamic fundamentalists progressed, the European Union became increasingly eager to pander to the Moslems, who by now had a fairly large control of their economies. This situation has developed to a point in Europe where it is changing the picture of native culture in these countries, and within a few years will have accomplished the fundamentalist goal of establishing Islam in whatever country they have made inroads.

I truly believe that their twenty-year plan has been working right on schedule. France is probably the best example that I can think of, and at the moment tend to think it couldn't have happened to a better country. Finally many of those "good Christians" are beginning to recognize that they can't just "make nice and be understanding" with these people, because their whole existence is based on the Koranic decrees to change our Judeo/Christian society, as we know it, into an Islamic society.

I wrote about this fear almost twenty years ago and was considered a racist and definitely politically incorrect. Unfortunately, there are still self-haters and the misguided and unenlightened who still just don't "get it." We have been so busy defending their culture as a manifestation of our innate sense of fairness that we've failed to realize that their culture doesn't want to (as Rodney King said) "get along." They want to destroy our culture the same way they don't want a Palestinian state next to Israel: They want Israel, period.

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Let Them Fend for Themselves

So, they don't like the USA? Germany and France are in a huff about our "policing the world." You know, I sort of agree with them.

We have taken far too much on ourselves in the care and feeding of much of those European countries. We had a war there over fifty years ago. Can anyone tell me why we are still spending millions and millions of dollars sending our troops over to those ingrates? For what? Who are we protecting? The French? Germany, which started both world wars? It nauseates me when I think of the short memories those countries have. I hope to G-d that when all of this is over, we'll remember who was with us, and who sided with the terrorists. What possesses us to continue sending our tax dollars to people who not only treat us with scorn, but also, obviously, with hate.

So they don't like us? They don't want our help? Fine. We'll stop giving them money, aid, and for sure we don't need any troops there to drain our economy while building up theirs. Hey, if it weren't for our saving the French not so long ago from their newest buddies, the Germans, they wouldn't even have a nation called "France." It would have come under the heading, "Greater Germany."

As to the Jewish aspect, the French were the ones who rounded up their Jews for the Nazi ovens even before they were ordered to do so. And the French were the ones who tried to build a nuclear plant capable of making a bomb for Iraq. No wonder they now want to appease Iraq. But what's our excuse? We owe them nothing.

If they do decide to give their "approval," are they going to send troops? Give money? No way. The most we can expect from our "allies" the French is to sit back and watch as once again America liberates a country from a madman. Isn't that what they are good for -- standing on the sidelines like they did in WWII?

At the same time, we in the United States, I'm sorry to say, are not always dealing with a full deck. There is a long list of violent acts against America by Moslems. Many American lives have already been lost by their radicalism, right? So why is it that when I go to my local post office, I am faced with a celebration stamp for the Moslems and their religion? To me it is obscene that our government has a stamp honoring those whose religion killed so many Americans. In our quest to be "politically correct" have we totally lost our minds?

Why aren't these anti-war activists marching against terrorism instead of against war? Someone ought to tell them that just about every corner of the world is under direct attack or under immediate threat by the "peaceful" nation of Islam. For years I have been writing about the senseless violence that Israel has had to contend with at the hands of evil, mindless people with evil, mindless, sub-human values.

For some reason, our press -- and actually the world press -- has been unable to call terrorists and murderers what they are. They are called "gunmen," "militants," "activists," and good old-fashioned "guerillas." And oh yes, "freedom fighters." Why? They are terrorists. Why is that word so difficult to put into print? Why must the news desk often only describe the carnage wrought by homicidal terrorists as deaths caused by "suicide bombers?"

Radical Moslems are the source of most of the evil in the world. Just look where there is a brutal regional conflict, and you'll find that the radical Moslems are the root cause. I'm sorry, I just don't buy it when I'm fed the fallacy of a "peaceful people" and how the Arab world doesn't support the policy of the few. Their few are what -- three hundred million, four? Show me one mosque that has come out publicly in support of our fight against terrorism. Is there one Arab cleric who has done so? Not to my knowledge.

We talk about going to the "source." What exactly have we as Americans done to offend these Islamic radicals with our policies? It offends them to have "infidels" walking around their "hallowed ground." Interesting how nobody ever finds fault with the continuous desecration of Jewish and Hindu holy places and icons perpetrated by Moslems with impunity. Anyone want to remember Joseph's Tomb?

If my memory serves me, the Arab leaders sure didn't have a problem just a few short years ago when we sent in our troops to save them and their oil. Oil which I believe should be used to reimburse us for the destruction they've caused us. And I'm talking every last dime. France isn't fighting for peace. It all comes down to their billion dollar oil deals that both France and Germany have struck with Saddam Hussein. And speaking of oil, we shouldn't be buying any of ours from the Arab states.

The roots of terrorism in the Arab world lie in the evil and totally abusive way their families are being raised. That is the nature of their infrastructure. They bring up their children to be terrorists. That is the natural result of a fundamentalist culture that raises its children in a dysfunctional system from birth. They are pre-conditioned in a misogynist system, where farm animals are treated with more sensitivity than women. Why do we keep saying Saudi Arabia is a "moderate country?" We know of their barbaric laws: chopping off body parts and creating a system that constitutes a total degradation of women. Yet the press always overlooks that. I'm sick and tired of the Western world overlooking the murderous tactics that are being pushed through by the seventh-century mentality of the Arab countries.

There is no "cycle of violence" with Arab terrorism. Israel is in a defensive mode. Indeed, the entire Western world is now in the same boat. The same way the Moslems' ultimate goal has always been the demise of Israel, so now are we in the West facing the same reality.

I wrote two years ago about how the wave of terrorism in Israel was only the beginning. I also said that 9/11 was the canary in the coal mine, because they were "testing." If the Arabs got away with such destruction, then the flood doors would be opened. Today we are talking about running out and stocking up on water and duct tape and plastic sheeting to make "safe rooms." Gee, didn't we watch that not so long ago in Israel? And now it's coming to our shores. I fully expect the "suicide bombers" to start in Starbucks and our shopping malls. Hey, they were pretty successful doing it to Israel. International organizations are still meeting and passing resolutions for a "balanced approach." But there is no "balanced approach" to terrorism. If the Moslem Arab radicals won't live in the twenty-first century, that's their problem. We can't let them drag us back with them.

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Give War A Chance!

It's funny. For years I wrote about the double standard that Israel lives under. How cheap Jewish blood is to the rest of the world. I couldn't open a newspaper or watch the evening news without seeing something glorifying the poor Moslem "activists" who were killed by Israelis. And over and over we'd hear about the plight of the poor downtrodden "Palestinians." World opinion was never on the side of the Jewish state.

Remember? Ah, well, that was then. Now it is we in the United States who are getting lambasted by the world opinion polls.

Peace! No war! Sounds lovely. Israel has probably been saying that since its inception. In order to have peace, however, it's necessary to have a partner. Just like a marriage, it takes two.

It hasn't been that long ago that I wrote a column about the lack of interest of the Hollywood crowd in demonstrating any support for Israel. It is a fact that I find unusual and deplorable, considering how much of the talent in �Tinseltown� is Jewish. It is a city of benefits and causes, and not a week goes by when I'm not invited to one of them.

I find their participation on the numerous marches against the war in Iraq even more offensive -- and especially those participants who, paradoxically, supported a continuation of the intifada in Israel. Are they that stupid that they aren't aware of the damage they have probably done to their careers? I don't know about you, but I will never attend a movie starring Susan Sarandon or Sean Penn. Or (and it pains me to say this) George Clooney.

Who are these �stars� to even take a public stand and be counted among the knowledgeable? Probably the only good thing that came out of the imbecilic �view of Iraq� by Mr. Penn was when a reporter asked him about his opinion of the war and he answered "How should I know? I'm only an actor!" How dare these ignorant celebrities push themselves into the center of this controversy by the mere fact that they are "Hollywood"!

I'll make a wager that the majority of these �activists� who are now taking out full-page ads against the impending war have never even once been in the area. And especially never traveled to Israel. I don't claim to be an expert on the Middle East; however, as a columnist/journalist I have traveled to the area twenty-five times, and covered the incursions into Beirut in June of 1982 and again in 1993. Some of us are at least familiar with the political and social situation of the area we are writing about. Not so with the growing list of "celebrities" who are becoming more and more vocal about Bush and our war on Iraq.

What I find most appalling about their grabbing of the spotlight and opposing our ongoing preparations against the �underdog� is their complete lack of visibility when it comes to the suffering of Israel. Where are their marches against Arab terrorism, or support for their victims? Is Hollywood so blind that they can't see beyond the convenient headline they have been able to conjure up concerning their latest march?

Considering the sheer numbers of Jews in the film industry, I find it unexplainable why they aren't in the forefront of protesting for their fellow Jews who are living under fear and terror in Israel. So many of them, although Jewish by birth, have lost their identity by assimilation and lifestyle. I've written about how the Jewish men out here have left the fold in their search for the perfect blonde Barbie doll. Or, even more so, for the "obedient" Asian woman (yeah, right!). Jewishness means nothing to them -- much less Israel. (Yet it amazes me how someone like Jon Voight, who is not Jewish, has become a strong supporter of Israel.)

Then there are the "self-haters" like Ed Asner and Theodore Bikel. Theo was once a friend, but now considers me an �enemy� because of my allegedly radical thinking. He once wrote in response to one of my columns: �Your views are abhorrent to me, as I know they are to most Israelis also, regardless of what you state in your pseudo-journalistic rants. What you write are not articles, they are rabble-rousing pamphlets.� And that, folks, was the nice parts of his email! Yet men like these could have shown the way to the uninformed other members of their ilk in the film industry.

It's not a question of whether they are observant Jews and keep the traditions, or do or don't eat shellfish. It's that they have a lack of Jewish values. They have probably never searched the newspaper for a Jewish-sounding name when there has been a catastrophe somewhere in the world. Tears have never run down their faces when they saw a bombing in a disco or a stroller lying on its side after a bombing -- when one of their �downtrodden Palestinians� decided to blow up a pizzeria.

I know when I read about the atrocious crime spree of �Son of Sam� David Berkowitz in the 1970s, I shared with many Jews a collective feeling of shame. And when the truth finally came out, how happy we were to find out that Berkowitz had been adopted and was, therefore, �not Jewish.�

Evil homicide bombers wantonly massacre Israeli civilians, but an insensitive media somehow manage to distance themselves from any blame for the Arabs' alleged victimhood.

Recently I had Connie Stevens as a guest on my celebrity interview show in Los Angeles, �Wow! It's Arlene Peck!� We showed clips of her during another war, with Bob Hope entertaining the troops in Vietnam. The stars of past years were different. They went over to the battlefronts to support our President and give support to the men who were there fighting for them -- not, as so many have done lately, by giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

It's not in them to fight the terrorist who has come to our shores. How can we expect these self-serving, ignorant people to relate to Israel? Despite their so-called �Jewishness,� I personally think these people are traitors, and when they go to be "human shields" I encourage them to stay. If they love Iraq so much, let them stay and protest the despicable treatment of the "Palestinians" and Iraqis by their very own leaders -- and see what happens to them.

I find it ironic that these antiwar demonstrations are only increasing the chances of war. Hussein and his henchmen are watching the same television coverage, so he has to see scenes showing opposition to war and comparing our President to Hitler. That, if nothing else, encourages the madman of Baghdad to continue his march toward acquiring weapons of mass destruction. They just don't �get it.�

Peace is lovely. I went to a rally that actress Sally Kirkland invited me to recently. It was some sort of a �New Age� conference, and there were thousands there who had come to discuss their ways of protesting war. Hey, it sounds good. The crowds there were in a big warm fuzzy. But I think that the Sean Penns of the world, who feel the need to fly over to Iraq to support the enemy, are plain and simple traitors. Traitors who shouldn't be allowed back into our country. Our country, because it shouldn't be theirs.

I watched with absolute disgust when I saw the city councils across the country vote for measures against the war. Excuse me? Is that the same as some imbecile celebrity capturing world attention because they put up a peace sign? It's great that our country has the freedom to be diverse and we have the right to free speech and inalienable rights. It would be nice if they would maybe remember how previous generations fought for those rights with their blood, sweat, and tears.

Give war a chance because I believe that war is the only road to peace. We've been engaged in dialogue for so long that we've lost the opportunity of surprise. We've given the enemies a chance to regroup and plot. The United Nations is a waste. NATO is a better alternative. Turkey, formerly the one moderate democratic nation in the Middle East aside from Israel, now questions whether they will support the war against Iraq. It is in Turkey's interest to fight terrorism without blackmailing us to the tune of 30 billion dollars.

If Saddam isn't stopped, it could seriously retard the war on terrorism. It would send the message that it's an open season for terrorists. Of course, the French would be a vital ally. We need them badly in our war with Saddam. After all, without them who will be around to show Saddam how to surrender? That's what they've always done best.

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Tell It Like It is

It's a good thing I'm not in government. At least, not in Israel. Because I have never given a damn about the political correctness of it all. As far as my feelings about the kamikaze sub-humans that strive for "martyrdom" by blowing up Israeli kindergarten classes: they should die pre-emptively. I mean it. It has now reached the point that we need to meet them on their own terms, by not only hunting down the terrorists themselves and destroying them, but also by hunting down their family members and friends who share these same evil intentions and will most likely act on them one day.

We should start with the proud mom who screams at the coffin of her child, all the while clutching a check for $25,000 from America's good friends the Saudis, and hoping maybe the family can collect another ten or twenty thousand from Saddam or Arafat. Hey, after all, it's only payment for raising such a good example of Palestinian youth. But I wouldn't stop there. If Israel would locate the house of the terrorist, and his cousins' house next door, and -- without risking the life one Israeli soldier -- drop a bomb right on it, then maybe, maybe , it might get the potential terrorists' attention. If these evil people who raise their children for hate and destruction and monetary gain by fulfilling their mission of "martyrdom" see that their plans to annihilate Israel aren't working, they might think twice. If they weren't given the chance to spend their terrorist funds, then possibly their neighbors would hesitate in strapping fake bombs on their three-year olds at rallies. We've all seen the pictures of them marching around holding toy guns.

If daddy and uncle are impressed enough, then it might get through their evil heads that they won't get a chance to spend their money. I truly believe that the only way to stem terrorism in Israel is to liquidate those who know, aid, and abet the killers and their families.

If I remember correctly, Momar Kadafy ("leader" of Libya) was no different from Arafat at one time. At every chance, he carried out terrorist attacks against the United States and supported those who were against Israel. That is, until U.S. President Ronald Reagan dropped a bomb on his palace and his daughter was killed. It was an unfortunate way to make the point; however, after that, Kadafy's methods changed. It's been a long time since Kadafy has been a major player in the terrorism game.

The American President recently spoke to graduating military cadets, and told them that the only way to win the war against terrorists is by going on the offensive, not the defensive. Let him remember that thought when it comes to Israel.

I am weary of Palestinian (Arab) "victim hood." More so, I am beyond tolerance of their obsession with Israel. Frankly, it reminds me of the loser who never had a date for the prom. Everyone was at fault. Nobody wanted to go out with him. Instead of accepting the fact that maybe, just maybe, his attitude, personality, and appearance left something to be desired, it was a lifetime aura he carried around of the poor, poor victim -- dumped on by womankind.

The Arabs somehow have reached the twenty-first century with a ninth century mentality. The Arab war is not so much that of religion, but that of mentality. Their motivation has always been to continue their hatred of Israel, and teaching each generation how they are oppressed. If it weren't so illogical I could almost find it amusing that there are over three hundred million Arabs, and five million of these Jewish "oppressors." Give me a break!

With all of the oil in the Arab world, there are billions and billions of dollars that could have been used for their people via research, education, and medicine. Instead, much of it has been spent in the casinos of the world or shops in London. It would have been easy to bring their people into the modern world. Yet they would rather keep their population in wretched camps. How much easier it would have been to share their good fortune rather than blame, blame, blame the United States and Israel for all their misfortune. Can anyone name three accomplishments of the modern Arab world? I won't even begin to list the pages and pages of Jewish contributions to medicine, art, literature, etc. Probably, in today's crazy times, I would be criticized for it anyway. It would be politically incorrect.

We're so crazy about not hurting anybody's feelings in America that we go out of our way not to profile Middle Eastern visitors to our land because we don't want lawsuits from them. Has anyone noticed who the perpetrators of the heinous crimes against humanity that we are trying to prevent are? A movie recently opened which was about terrorism. But they couldn't show it like it is, where the real terrorists were Arabs. Instead, they had neo-Nazis as the ones dropping the bombs on American cities. Really. Show me how many Nazis there are around lately who are planning terrorist attacks. The people in Hollywood didn't want to take the chance of lawsuits from the Arab community for portraying the truth.

Next, they'll be showing films with the bad guys coming from New Zealand. All in order to be "politically correct."

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Why Are We So Few In Numbers?

Don't you wonder sometimes where we went wrong? There has to be a reason why we as Jews are so few in numbers. My mother, Queen Mollie, had it right, I think, when she said �We're our own worst enemy.� We are a people of questions and sometimes that causes a problem. (Or actually Jews may be a people of �question,� but that is not the cause, it's the effect.) Is it possible that the basic cause is that each Jew has his own �agenda?� The old expression -- probably Jewish -- that when three Jews get together you get four different opinions is so true. It's not easy going through life knowing everything better than the next guy. It would be a little more prudent to learn that it's what you learn after you know it all that counts. Which is a fact of life that I don't quite understand.

I blame the media for their anti-Semitic actions, and I'm right in doing so. But we as a people also have more than our share of self-haters and ACLU believers. How come there are more than a billion of the closest copycat religion to Judaism -- Moslems -- and only twelve million Jewish people scattered around the globe? We are one people yet, throughout history there has been no Jewish unity. G-d knows why we fight unity, but we do. Israel's twenty-nine political parties are a perfect example of such mishigos . Their political system is a disaster. Yet they continue with it, knowing the ultimate results. We can't seem to be unified and yet we all know: "United we stand, divided we fall."

The Moslems, I believe, have been put on this earth to hate everybody. That's their job. Yet the only thing that these billion people will unite on is their intense hatred of Israel and the Jews. They even hate each other. Actually, they especially hate each other. The various factions of Moslems and Sunnis and Arabs are always at odds. They are supposedly the same, yet they are totally different in their relationships among their masses. But when it comes to bonding together, nothing accomplishes that better than a terrorist act against an Israeli somewhere. Or a tragedy such as 9/11 to have them dancing on the rooftops in celebration.

They had a plan, and we, quite simply, didn't. They joined and followed the plan together. The Moslems stay united in their claims and long-range plans. The Jews, I think, quite often just want to �be right.� Too often that has resulted in being �dead right,� as we followed the Jewish leaders who would rather leave than fight, or the Jewish leaders who urged the Jews to stay in Europe because everything would be okay.

Yes, Jews are street-smart and book-smart, but these exemplary traits have not hindered (European) Christian "ethnic cleansing" of the Jews. And if the Arab world has its way in the near future, they'll finish the job that Hitler started. For fifty years their people have lived in those wretched camps and been brainwashed daily about the infidel Jew. Mothers, in admiration of homicide bomber �martyrs,� strap fake bombs onto their children and proudly march them around. Mothers who, incidentally, are having babies by the dozen. Meanwhile, the average Jew has only two children. Another reason for our stalled numbers -- aside from the obvious gene drain resulting from the Holocaust -- is the Jewish invention of assimilation, intermarriage and conversion.

Jews, it seems, have excelled in every humanitarian field of endeavor possible -- not because they are Jews, but because they possess the inherent trait to do better. To strive higher. (And that's probably the reason why they question every decision made until they are satisfied.) For being such a minute drop in the sea of humanity, the accomplishments of the Jews are astounding. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded innumerable times to Jewish recipients. The reason, however, is not because they were Jewish, but in spite of that fact in most cases. These recipients accomplish these heights because they possess the inherent trait to want to better all of mankind.

Hey, I'm no maven on Jewish law, but isn't it true that Moses received the Law and it was written in the Torah? What better point of reference is that? It says that the Jews have the inherent urge to add, change, interpret, and otherwise agree to disagree, at times violently. And that, folks, wound up in the Talmud, Midrash, Halacha , and Gemara , along with a few other places of reference. So no wonder it's a little confusing that we live in a "Catch-22," where we have the given right to disagree, but to some it's been to the detriment of our people. Personally, I think that when we do it, we are assured that the things that we believe in and practice are examined and understood to the max. Too many of those cults go though life with "blind faith." Jews have faith, but are not blind.

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The Truth About Pollard

Usually I disagree with most everything Ed Asner thinks politically. However, when we're not talking politics, I find him an adorable man and an exciting guest on my television show Wow! It's Arlene Peck! In addition, his acting is amazing. I find it ironic, however, that he with his leftist leanings was able to carry off so terrifically a part in a new play about Jonathan Pollard. Interestingly enough, it was the part of Israeli Rafi Eitan -- a man who betrayed Pollard and ultimately caused his capture and destruction.

The 11th Hour was a powerful and moving production. But I sat there thinking how ironic it is that we are on the verge of war with Hussein, and even now Jonathan Pollard sits in jail as he has for the past seventeen years. What I found riveting about this new production is how -- instead of putting the blame on Casper Weinberger and various presidents who have promised the Israeli government his release -- Israel, at the time of Pollard's imprisonment, was the culprit.

I cannot open a newspaper today without something being written about the danger of Iraq and their possible acquisition of nuclear weapons. Yet had it not been for that brave man, Jonathan Pollard, passing along the evil plans of Saddam Hussein to kill Israelis (which the United States should have shared with their closest ally) how many Jews would already be dead? So that being the case -- that because of his information the world was given almost twenty years of peace -- then why is there a question of his release?

Why isn't Israel doing more to protest his inhuman incarceration? For how many years has he been in virtual solitary confinement? Those who did far more, those who gave secrets -- which he never did -- and did things that were injurious to America have received far better treatment and were released many years ago. Jonathan Pollard never cost one American life! It's long past time for his release!

What does it take to wake up and smell the coffee? We in the United States are being told to stock up on duct tape and water and expect "suicide bombs." Has it occurred to anyone how the actions of Jonathan Pollard are what is needed to protect us?

We in the United States have been blind for so long that only now, I believe, are we beginning to realize what Israel has been experiencing, through this new war with the Arabs. So when does that realization filter down to people -- to the part that Jonathan Pollard played?

I have long known the truth about the travesty of Jonathan Pollard's incarceration. Over the years I have befriended his former wife, Annie, who visited me in Marina del Rey a couple of times. I remember she told me how she was only in her early twenties when she was taken along to jail with him and watched by guards for twenty-four hours around the clock. Annie suffered five years of such abuse, while Jonathan was also placed in deplorable conditions. For several years they had even placed him in a mental ward.

Last year I had dinner with that fine gentleman, Dr. Morris Pollard, who still grieves for the loss of his son. I have spoken to Jonathan's sister Carol, and at various times worked with individuals who were working in some capacity for his release. I am even mentioned in a book about the subject. But I have been turned down by Hollywood producers for a movie about Jonathan Pollard, and told �The time isn't right." I wonder: When is the time? What does it take to �Be time?�

I have long known how the world has apathetically condoned the imprisonment of Jonathan Pollard. Few people have known the "true story" behind the "spy story." I know how our government promised his release and never kept their word. In fact, I remember that during dinner with Dr. Pollard, he told me that he thought Bill Clinton would release his son after making that promise to Bibi Netanyahu -- who, after their Wye Accords meeting, relayed the message to him. At the last minute, however, they "couldn't pay the ransom," and Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, who had millions to donate to the Clinton Library. I knew all of that.

But not until I was watching this new play did I fully understand how the Israeli government, represented by Rafi Eitan, betrayed his trust and turned the Pollards over to the American authorities. All throughout their dealings he was told �Israel takes care of our own. We will bring you and Ann to Israel.� Yet when the moment of truth came, and Jonathan and Annie Pollard were able to elude the FBI and army of U.S. government officials who were following them into the gate of the Israeli Embassy, Israel turned their backs on them. Until that moment of truth, Pollard believed that what both governments had been telling them about �Laws of Return" and "We'll work some sort of deal� were viable alternatives. But at the moment of truth, none of it was true.

In fairness, I spoke with Martin Blank, the author of the play, and mentioned to him that America, and specifically Casper Weinberger, were a pivotal part in the scenario of what happened to Jonathan Pollard. Oh, and let's not forget prosecutor Joseph DeGenoa -- who is still full of venom and anti-Semitism when he talks about Jonathan. Author Blank felt, however, that to make it totally factual, he had to stop with Jonathan's capture. The imprisonment and deal-making that happened later was �another kettle of fish� and something to be continued.

I wish the author, Martin Blank, great success with his new play The 11th Hour, and his stars -- Bruce Nozick who ably plays Jonathan, and Steve Harris (probably best remembered from the soap opera General Hospital , as well as Broadway), who plays Pollard nemesis John Reilly. Indeed, the world needs to remember this very important issue.

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Yes! We Want Oil!!

Lately I've been reading editorials and watching television interviews about how the Iraqi people are really, really, nice and aren't the enemy. They aren't the problem. It's Saddam Hussein. It's the same thing I've I heard about how the Islamic mentality and religion aren't the cause of our drastic change of life. Nooooo, it's all the fault of Osama Bin Laden. Well folks, I don't buy it. I think I've lost my trust.

How naïve are we, and in how much of a dream world do we want to continue to live? Contrary to what our airport security guards believe, it's not seven-year old Asian girls who should be stopped en route. It's not even Southern Baptists traveling in groups who should be detained and be made to take off their shoes so they can be checked for bombs. The Israelis have the right methods, and we, in America -- instead of all these touchy-feely, politically correct attitudes -- should be taking lessons from them. They've long known the secret.

I can listen to commentators from now until next Tisha B'av telling me about how peaceful the Arabs are, but I have serious questions. All that aside, I tend to think that I'm not alone when I feel this terrible resentment to a people who have thrown the world into a downward spiral in their quest for world domination. A little over a year ago, all we had to worry about was the lack of morality in the NFL, whether Ricky Martin was gay, and did Britney Spear have implants installed. Remember? I want to go back to the naïveté of when the words Al Qaeda weren't in our vocabulary.

September 11th was our wake-up call. And finally, maybe there are those in the world who are becoming aware, no matter how anti-Semitic they are, that the terrorism in Israel is a wake-up call for even them. These primitive and evil people have been able to throw the world and our economy into a chaotic state, which is costing us billions upon billions of dollars. The Iraqis are able to finance the terrorism from this oil money. They have money to pay the families of the homicide bombers, and to finance the camps that support them. We have every justification to use that same oil money to reimburse us for the �Homeland Security� expenses that they have made necessary -- starting with the World Trade Center. Once our economy is on the same track that it was before 9/11, then let them go back to reorganizing their government and using their oil funds to build more palaces or whatever it is that they want to do. But for the immediate future, we should be compensated for the war that has been forced upon us. And that means every last cent of our depleted stock markets, rebuilding costs, even the embassies and boats that they've sunk in recent years.

With the way that the Iraqi government treats their oil by setting it afire to pollute the air for months for hundreds of miles around, it would be a blessing. At least the money from that oil would be used to benefit the people who had been victims of its prior misuse. Ever since I can remember, the Arab world has been using their oil as a coercive weapon. Do you think that Saddam is any exception? He understands power. Hence, to stop him (or his brothers), you have to neutralize their �weapons� or confiscate them. Since dictators and sheikdoms use the oil as a weapon, then to my thinking, it's okay -- even necessary -- to take the oil out of their hands and use it for good deeds. Such actions will even help the Iraqi people, and create precedents for the rest of the world.

The Arabs have raised the flame of terrorism, and unfortunately the cowardly politicians have paid attention to this in negative ways. The more they would terrorize, the harder the world leaders would work to help them with cash and diplomatic initiatives. It disgusts me to think how we've pandered to these fundamentalists and the oil money for decades, but the time has come to stop.

Why are we still listening to the cry, �Saddam hasn't personally attacked us?� If I remember correctly, Hitler didn't attack our soil either. And it disgusts me when I see those with their past track records -- such as the Germans and French -- siding with the present-day Hitler again. Rumsfeld hit it on the head when he recently referred to them as the �Old Europe.� His comment resulted in hostile responses that show me that the truth is sometimes painful.

I'm still mad as hell that �Daddy Bush� didn't go in and finish the job. The trouble with us is that we talk things to death. Israel had the right idea in 1982. They didn't meet with their enemies for over a year and try and get their permission. Israel didn't give warnings and chances to the Iraqi dictator to have time to hide his weapons. No, they went over in the middle of the night and in three hours did the job. Then they flew back victorious, and Saddam Hussein was without his bomb-making facility.

At this point in time, with the sorry record of the United Nations and their support of terrorism, I consider this band of rogue countries to be nothing less than supporters of terrorism too. It's enough already! Do it!

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Them vs. Us

One of the things that I loved while living in Israel was the feeling of "We are all one." Everyone went into the army, and there was never a feeling of division between the people. Military officers and army privates socialized, and lifelong bonds were created. Cab drivers never felt a reluctance to hit on any pretty woman who got into their cabs, as they would anywhere else in the world. Their attitude -- or chutzpah -- forged and kept a unity that has bound the Israelis together no matter what their social standing.

Yet I noticed a feeling of resentment growing when I was there a couple of years ago. The same way we in California feel resentment towards the Mexicans who are swarming over the border and immediately applying for our social services. This paralleled how the secular Israeli felt about the ultra-Orthodox. Many were verbalizing about being held �hostage� over having their social services cut and their sons and daughters going into the army, while the �haredi� stayed home, studied, and were not obliged to do military service. Israel may have a varied cultural mishmash of people -- Russian Jews, Middle Eastern Jews, American Jews, European Jews, all from very different cultures -- but even that seems to be an easier blend than the religious versus the secular.

What has been festering for many years is now spoken in most conversations, and has now apparently found a provocateur spokesman in a politician Yosef �Tommy� Lapid. He ran in the recent Israel election as the self-styled defender of Israel's secular Jews. When someone enters the fray of Israeli politics with a cause of pitting the European Jews against the Middle Eastern ones, or the religious against the secular, or even the rich against the poor, it has a negative effect. Yet the thinking of the country has obviously been going along with that trend for the past several years.

While one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist, the same can be said for Israeli public opinion in relation to the ultra religious. But conflict aside, many of us believe that were it not for the religious Jews, Judaism as we know it would soon disappear. Assimilation resulting from intermarriage, or from differing agendas, is rampant among the secular Jews outside of Israel. The numbers are shrinking, not growing, in all sectors except the religious community.

No wonder the Israelis find it so difficult to blend in like most of the world. Take the Mexicans, or Koreans, or any of the other ethnic groups that regularly settle in our country, and within a few short years they are �American.� They speak only English, they attend the schools, and have blended into our native culture. Not so with the Israeli. They could be living here for thirty years and they will always be Israeli. They give parties and only invite Israelis. They do business with Israelis. They have their homes in Israeli neighborhoods and attend services with only Israelis. Even the restaurants they frequent open when the others close, and play Israeli music. When they move here, they commit a social, psychological, and emotional suicide. They do not want to nor do they know how to integrate.

More and more of the secular in Israel are becoming disgruntled with what they consider a small part of the population that is leaching the taxpayer subsidies and perks that should be returning to the majority who protect Israel. Many times I heard friends in Tel Aviv tell me �They don't work. They don't go into the army. They don't support themselves, but sit with hands out for me to provide them for all their needs. What about our needs? Why should our society suffer because of them?�

I can find much of that attitude around my own Marina del Rey (California) congregation. I call them the �payers and the prayers.� Rarely do I see those who support the synagogue there, but they make the perks possible -- for example, the free lunches and benefits that we enjoy. I think they do it to ease their own conscience for not being as religious as they might like to be. The prayers reap the benefits, but don't pay their way.

I think the electoral system in Israel is a cancer, because of the conflicts arising from the dozen or so splinter groups that manage to bring down the government like clockwork every few years. It's certainly not a democracy as we know it, but some sort of vague patchwork of a legislature. The entire system is such a mess that the inequities cannot be corrected until this multiparty and unwieldy Knesset will be redesigned into a system where the majority of votes in the Knesset can no longer decide who will be Prime Minister. They are on the move to elect a Prime Minister who is independent of the Knesset vote. However, there are a lot more changes that have to be made in the system to make it a real democracy. In Israel's case, it's too much of a good thing. The electoral system is so chaotic, and they have given the religious parties more power than their numbers deserve. And, that has caused much of the resentment, with no answer in sight.

The haredi situation has got to be solved. Because of the chaotic democratic system in Israel, they seem to have created a country within a country. They not only have their own schools with their own curriculum (since they don't have to report to the minister of education), but they also have their own social and judicial systems, which run on their own agendas which are not necessarily those that are best for Israel.

Someone has to pay for all these luxuries and expensive services. They are not part of the daily civil responsibilities. This is the anger that has emerged. The feeling seems to be that if you don't work, but only study, then you shouldn't be eligible for housing subsidies. If you're young and healthy and not willing to work on anything, then you should not get welfare or support � nothing. The separation is evident. However, if they continue to be independent of the mainstream educational system, and only study the Torah, they will never become future productive citizens without the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic.

A little country, Israel, has 29 political parties. Based on population ratios, the USA should have 870 political parties. Think about it. It is not secular versus religious; it's Jew versus Jew.

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Let's Open the Mental Institutions Too!

I'm adopting the creed of "take no prisoners." Why? Because I know, sure as shootin', that the minute there's a prisoner exchange to be made somewhere, some politician will use them as a bargaining tool. Use everybody, that is, except Jonathan Pollard. For him, the powers that be will keep him incarcerated for another eighteen years. Jack the Ripper could be let out of jail, but Pollard? Forget it.

Ah, but he's the one exception in the world. Pollard is just too controversial for the mainstream politician. Maybe if the public knew a little more about the reasons why the jail should be opened to let him out -- including the many improprieties surrounding his incarceration -- pressure might be made on the Jewish leadership to open their mouths. That, of course, is something that they've yet to do.

At one point I thought that the Human Rights Hollywood crowd, who are always so vocal in their campaigns for the release of wrongful prisoners, might want to get involved. After all, the Streisands, Penns, Sarandons, etc. are always so keen on being liberal, progressive, and caring. I spoke of the feasibility of a screen play showing a man who merely wanted to help Israel, gave them information that the U.S. was withholding from its ally, and he still sits in prison. Sound like a good project? Yeah, right. On the subject of Pollard's release, they're almost as quiet as the "peaceful" Moslem community when it comes to the topic of terrorism in the Western world.

I even made the rounds to the offices of two of the biggest producers, and pitched a made-for-television show about Jonathan Pollard. Might they possibly want to film a television show about the disgrace of this man? They couldn't have cared less. The sad thing was that both of these major producers were Jewish. The topic, they told me, was one that they didn't want to bring up. This wasn't "the time."

We let in terrorists who want nothing more than to kill us, yet we continue to imprison Pollard.

And since I'm speaking of prisoners ... Years ago, I believe I chaired the only female-run discussion group in a federal institution. It was a Jewish discussion group at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Out of 2,800 inmates who were in the prison, never more than ten of the prisoners were Jewish. I used to tell the Jewish prisoners that they had to be products of mixed marriages. Even they used to make jokes about how they conned the "public." All of them deserved to be there, yet most of them had lawsuits pending about their "unfair incarceration."

The "do-gooders" were naive then and haven't changed now. Twenty years later, though, they are marching to the tune of "Let's understand the poor downtrodden terrorist." Oh, excuse me: "militant." Well, I didn't buy it then and I don't buy it now. How does a rational mind comprehend a people who can name a soccer tournament after the suicide bomber who killed 29 people and injured 140 last year during a Passover Seder, as the Palestinian Authority daily al-Hayat al-Jadiad reported with great pride?

I cannot count how many terrorists -- not "militants" or "activists," but terrorists -- that Israel traded while I watched helplessly. Usually it was a thousand PLO members for one Israeli. Which, in retrospect, is a pretty fair trade. However, some of these guys who were let out of those jails were pretty bad characters.

Even worse than the prisoner trades were the �good will� releases of the Peres and Rabin regimes. They just opened the prison gates and let everybody out in the hope that Arafat really meant what he said.

That's why I'm for the death penalty. There are too many misguided people who think that criminals are just a misunderstood group who should be let out of prison. And Israel isn't the only place that does such crazy things. Recently, Illinois' outgoing Governor George Ryan -- who is facing possible criminal indictments for activities while serving in office -- did what I lovingly call a � Shimon.� He opened the doors of death row, and commuted the death sentences of 164 inmates to life imprisonment without parole, and pardoned four of them. Half of his jail had Dead Men Walking. It was enough, at least, to cause catastrophe in our penal system. Not to mention the heartbreak for the families of the victims -- those who didn't have the chance for a pardon.

The liberal left has gone off the deep end. I wonder when the mental institutions will be opening their doors and letting the loonies roam free? Oh, excuse me, the "emotionally challenged." And in the interest of political correctness, heaven forbid if we mention that the Moslem religion is not only dangerous but also violent. Yet the ACLU rushes to release them too. How many of these Islamic terrorists were saved to come back and kill another day?

Recently I heard a talk by Dr. Daniel Pipes , who is probably one of the world's foremost experts on Islam and its culture. One of the things he said impressed me. He spoke of how there are over a billion Arabs in the world, and that although maybe only 15% are in the category of terrorist, that's close to two hundred million people who are dedicated to the demise of the Western culture. "Not all the Moslems are terrorists; however, all the terrorists are Moslem." Their numbers are growing at an enormous rate. The danger of their taking over is a clear and a present danger. We are allowing too many of the enemy into our country because of naiveté and the fear of racial profiling. We are not doing enough to secure out borders.

So do any of you see anything wrong with the picture that the terrorists are free to come and go, yet non-violent criminals are kept in prison? That Syria is President of the United Nations Security Council, and Libya is on the UN Human Rights Committee, while Israel is never even allowed to serve on the board. How about letting out all of the residents of our mental institutions? That seems to be what the United Nations is advocating. Shame on them that they've become a legal excuse for a sounding board for anti-Semitism -- something Hitler only dreamed about.

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Give the French to Canada!

It's a good thing that I'm a columnist rather than a reporter. I don't have to be politically correct. I'm allowed to give my opinion when I speak. And folks, when it comes to the French, my opinion of them is pretty low.

A few years ago, I remember being in the most elegant restaurant in probably all of Europe: Maxim's. I had been invited as a journalist by the management, and was having dinner with the head of the establishment. At one point I took note of the hovering waiters pouring expensive wines and asked, �How much would this dinner cost in �real' money?" He answered me, �Oh, about $600.00.� For dinner! I looked around and wondered who could afford that kind of dinner, and noticed a few Arab patrons in the restaurant. However, it was far from full.

My dinner companion then smiled and said, �When you go home, tell your fellow Americans that we want them to come. We need the tourists here.'' Later he related that since the Gulf War -- when his country, France, supported Saddam Hussein and refused air space to the United States -- our countrymen (and women) were staying away in droves. In vain he tried to convince me that they had learned their lesson and had changed. Yeah, right!

Today I almost have to smile when I see how the French have pandered to and embraced the Arabs -- so much that they are slowly taking over the country. I truly believe that within ten years the French culture will be taken over by mosques and Middle Eastern restaurants at every corner. I wonder how long it will be before the French women will be wearing burquas. Not such an impossible thought when you consider the increasing Islamic influence in French society, a result of Islam's thirst for world domination. [There are currently over one thousand mosques in France, and new ones are being built at the rate of about two each week - Ed.]

Not a day goes by that I don't read a news story about a rabbi's car being set on fire, or that Yeshiva children have been beaten on the way to school. Some some of these articles are so blatantly anti-Semitic that I can only shake my head in wonderment at their rabid comments.

The latest news is that the French are now refusing to recognize wedding ceremonies where the presiding rabbi just happens to be a resident of Judea, Samaria, or Gaza, including weddings performed in "pre-1967 Israel." The French Consulate in Jerusalem has turned down certificates of marriage to French citizens who want to marry an Israeli. The latest complaint was from a French woman who had converted to Judaism, but her marriage was turned down by the Consulate. She was advised that the French government does not recognize it because the marriage certificate bore the signature and heading of a rabbi from Gush Etzion, which they believe to be "occupied territory."

I wonder if it would have been okay for them had the wedding party worn yellow stars during the ceremony? How ludicrous that it should matter where the rabbi who oversaw the ceremony lives. Maybe if the bride wore a burqua, the French Consulate might have been satisfied. Funny how it doesn't seem to bother them when they recognize marriages performed by Syrian imams in occupied Lebanon? Or by Moroccan imams or tribal witch doctors in occupied Sahara? Iraqi imams are going strong in occupied Kurdistan -- and what about all those French priests from occupied Euskadi?

Ah, but the rabbis are Jewish, and we know how the French feel about The Jewish State (or "that sh..ty little country" as it was described by the French Ambassador to England).

Most recently, the renowned French University Paris VI has decided to stop all collaboration with Israeli universities, and has requested of the European Union to do the same. Does anyone see anything reminiscent of the pre-Holocaust period, when Jews were banned from the professional sectors? How soon, if unchecked, will this ludicrous plan continue throughout all the French universities and into the European Union? Perhaps this explains why, according to recent media reports, that of all of the anti-Semitism the Jews of Europe are currently experiencing, those who live in France are leaving at twice the rate as from the other nations.

French bookstores have been saturated for many years with not only anti-Semitic literature but also anti-American treatises. I find it ironic that according to them, Israel is an "occupier" and America is hated for being "aggressors." Correct me if I'm wrong, but for the entire twentieth century Europe was the birthplace of World War I, World War II, communism, fascism (all of which were overcome only with the help of the United States), colonial oppression, and lots and lots of appeasement of anybody who they just happened to be pandering to. Right now they're catering to the Arabs and all that oil revenue.

The French have to be made to understand that such actions have repercussions. Americans and Israelis have power. We as a people have political, ethical, and financial resources against the Jew-haters who are now crawling out of the woodwork and goose-stepping in the Palestinian marches. I will never buy anything French again, ever! No more Evian, wines, perfume, make-up, or trips to France. Even French kisses don't appeal to me.

The shame of it all is that the country is so gorgeous. Maybe someone could arrange to have the Canadians take over. They're nice people. I don't think that I've ever met a Canadian that I didn't like. The French? They don't even like each other.

I've been invited to Italy by their tourism ministry. They have assured me that there is no comparison between the two countries, that Jewish visitors are welcomed, and their citizens have no fear. I'll keep you posted. I do know Italian men are the closest I've ever found to the Israeli ones. In the interest of fair reporting, I'll do my research diligently. That's the beauty of being a columnist. I just have to give my opinion.

Stop supporting the French and European economies -- buy Israeli! See our list of links to merchants offering products produced in Israel.

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It's All About Envy

December 30th, 2002

I remember Rodney King, after the South Central LA riots, saying "Can't we all just get along?" I've thought about that, and have come to a conclusion: No, we can't all get along.

It's great to have the attitude of "love thy neighbor," and believe that war isn't the answer. But when there are people whose sole existence is based on your destruction, the attitude better be one of a strong defense rather than turning the other cheek.

Somehow the reasons behind acting on that defense seem to be getting lost in the phraseology of the media. The tirade against Israel is so consistent and uniform in the style of reporting that sometimes I have to wonder if there are more than a few of these "journalists" who coincidentally are on the payroll of the Arabs. I can't help but wonder who else would have instructed them not to use the word "terrorists" when it comes to the Arab/Israeli conflict.

Where did these media sources pick up the catchy phrase "martyrdom" to describe mass murderers? Who has instructed them to describe terror groups such as Hamas as "freedom fighters?" When Arabs and Moslems strike Americans, they are labeled terrorists. Why the one-edged sword?

The media speak of the "cycle of violence" each time an Israeli is killed. Yet I rarely see or hear any explanation that Israelis -- who are defending its citizens, just like any democratic government -- are justified in their actions. When Israel finds it necessary to retaliate against a particularly violent terrorist attack against its citizens, somehow the reason for the provocation is relegated to the back section of the newspaper -- and usually under a heading about the "cycle of violence."

I keep waiting for ABC [including Peter Jennings, whose Mid-East perspective was formed in the bedroom of a well-known Arab propagandist], BBC, CNN, and even lately FOX, to refer to these Terrorists as Terrorists. Terrorists are not militants. Terrorists are the ones who sneak up on unsuspecting innocents, such as patrons in a coffee shop or disco, or even students praying in class, and shoot them or blow them up. Despite the reports, there is no moral equivalency between terrorism and defense against it.

Whenever the cry for journalist accountability goes out, the defense of "free speech" is raised. But I've yet to read any of their reports which mirror the continued polls of "Palestinians" that show that eighty-one percent of the Arabs support continued violence. Free speech indeed.

Phraseology. The code word "resistance" serves to clothe murderous activities in a semblance of legitimacy. How about the keywords "struggle for independence" -- I wonder what they could mean? The Arabs are clever, though, phrasing their actions like that, because Americans tend to become confused and compare it with their own War of Independence. But the two couldn't be more different. There are no legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people. Their sole goal is to kill Jews. If they ever accomplished that, then they could move on to the Christian people, who they also consider an abomination. ["First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people."]

Like I said, phraseology. Josef Goebbels, who was Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, once said, "If you tell a lie enough times it becomes the truth.'' The world media repeat the lie of calling the Jewish towns "settlements" in "occupied territory," which allegedly is an obstacle to peace. There are no territories, only survival.

I was told by Egyptians, while viewing their pyramids, that Israel "just appeared" one day out of nowhere. Israel didn't just appear. The same for making Judea and Samaria bloom: It took a lot of hard work and brilliant engineering.

While the LA Times 'resident Nazi' Tracy Wilkinson continues her almost daily attacks on the Jewish state with her columns of the "Life draining from Towns in West Bank" variety, I find it amazing how almost every column that she writes Tracy somehow manages to glamorize the terrorist and sends a plea for compassion to his suffering family. The LA Times will devote two pages to the olive trees, which were cut down from the 'freedom fighters' family orchard. Yet, there is absolutely no empathy with the Jewish side of the story.

The Terrorists win their propaganda fight. And they garner the front-page sympathy columns about how their cities are suffering because of the actions of a few, the mothers of Yeshiva students bury their children. It's not a militant attack but yet another terrorists attack, damn it! Terrorists attack! While she writes two page columns about how "The Palestinian children don't have enough to eat and signs of malnutrition have crept into a population that was once relatively healthy." I want to scream out, these people who are so obsessed with the complete and utter destruction of Israel, have chosen this path by their evil and mindless bombings. Now, they find that they have no one but themselves to blame for the situation they now find themselves in.

As a journalist, I know how easy it is to change a news column by a phrase here, or a nuance there. It's the job of the press to report the news, not to make it. Yet, watching the media coverage when it comes to the events in Israel, I feel as though I am watching the coverage of the Warsaw ghetto uprising only from Hitler's perspective. What is wrong that they just don't 'get it'? I would love to see the reaction from my country if these same animals strapped bombs to their own women and children to go in and butcher civilians. Would we say the Arab cause is equivalent to our own? They probably would, as the vast majority of our government activities and press have never even traveled to the area and are totally uninformed about whom they're writing. Yet, they continue to write about the 'roadmap' for the Middle East which they've conjured up. In reality, it would be the road to hell. All it does is condone and reward savage acts of terrorism on one side in the vain and delusional hope that somehow their Arab neighbors will be miraculously transformed from a sow's ear into a silk purse. It's not going to happen.

By the time, if the time ever comes, that they are brought out of the seventh century mentality, it will be too little and too late. Too much damage has already been done by their obsessed hatred of Jews. They have already sacrificed their morality and health of their family structure. The Islamic culture, as we know it today has already committed moral suicide. They don't have to plan the suicide in the coffee shops. They're already dead.

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Victims of Arab Terrorism

December 25th, 2002:

Every time I write one of my columns about Israel and the constant terrorism they face from their Arab neighbors, the anti-Semites come out of the woodwork. Even worse are the Jewish leftists who feel some abnormal, pathological compulsion to defend the "rights of the 'Palestinians'."

What is wrong with these people? Do they not read the same papers and watch the same television shows that I do, and view the carnage done by terrorists?

I don't care. Truly. I just want to lash out at these imbeciles and make them spend a day in the hospital wards being made to feel the pain of innocent victims.

I've had readers write me to say that if the miracle of remorse doesn't happen, take them out and shoot them. I'm not sure I would go quite that far, but you get the idea of my frustration. Especially since the Arabs are so good at calling in the press to their hospitals to bemoan their wounded. I remember when I was in Beirut in June of 1982, covering the war there. The Israeli public relations were terrible, while the Arabs specialized in making mountains out of nothing. And folks, this was 'way before they discovered they could send out their stupid rejects (as "suicide bombers") then collect more than enough money to pay the mortgage, and maybe even retire from the funds paid to them from Saddam, the Saudis, and Arafat. And all for just blowing themselves up along with half of a Jewish pizza joint, or a nursery school.

Since the Oslo �Peace� Agreement between Israel and the PLO, hundreds and hundreds of Israelis have been murdered in stabbings, shootings, bombings, and stoning by terrorists. Not militants -- terrorists!

It makes me want to gag when I read headlines in the LA Times like "Rabbi Fatally Shot by Militants" while his six children looked on. As usual, the LA Times resident anti-Semite reporter, Tracy Wilkinson, deplores what "some see" as an Israeli campaign to harass the Arabs out of their homes !

If that weren't enough, the editorial for today bemoans the �Sad and Silent Night for Bethlehem Residents," brought about, of course, by the Sharon government's aggression toward the 'Palestinians.' How can anyone overlook the true reasons behind this sad situation? I remember being in Bethlehem seven years ago, before the tragedy of Oslo, and it was packed with people celebrating and hopeful for the future.

Arafat! It was Arafat who brought the terrorism to their front door. The Christians ought to be shouting from the rooftops how the Arabs have managed to de-Christianize that city in such a short time. They also are victims -- but it's the Jews who are filling the cemeteries and hospitals. While the media overlooks these savage atrocities perpetrated by these monsters, those who have been affected must go on.

Oslo � what a farce! How many killers of innocent men, women, and children are walking around free today and serving in Arafat's �Palestinian Police Force?� The list of attacks against Jews has risen dramatically, yet the press too often depicts Israel as the �oppressor.� It's been enough to make me vote Republican in the next election ... something I didn't think I'd ever do.

Recently I had a chance to meet with Shifra Hoffman. Shifra is the Executive Director of the Shuva (Return) Emergency Aliyah Movement and the spearhead of (VAT) International, which is the original support and consciousness-raising organization for the Victims of Arab Terror. Our paths crossed over twenty-five years ago when she had me on her radio show, which was based in New York. The woman is still a dynamo, and she was in LA briefly to promote her organization.

Thank G-d there are organizations such as this who speak out against the growing threat of Arab terror! Have we totally forgotten the silence of the Second World War and the German threat that went through our country? I cringe when I see the golden stars of Hollywood touring Iraq and crying about their �plight." Baghdad Sean and Hanoi Jane may be the most vocal in their imbecilic gestures of 'justice for mankind' maneuvers, but most of the Hollywood scene is full of silence. How many of them are visiting the hospitals in Israel while trying to impress us at home with their wisdom and patriotism? I shudder to think of how many Americans died because of Jane Fonda's grandstanding in the Viet Nam war.

Thank G-d; there are organizations like Victims of Arab Terrorism! Because the help the victims need is not going to come from the Jewish Hollywood crowd, who won't be crying out about the murdering and maiming of Jewish children. Unfortunately, because the situation in Israel is so desperate, the organization has grown from a few hundred in 1986 to a collective voice of thousands of members worldwide. Long after the politicians and the Fondas have had their press coverage, the Shifra Hoffmans are still there visiting the hospitals, and helping the families out with their bills. Most of the time they are the first there to visit the hospitals, the memorials, and even into the homes of victims. Most importantly, they are raising the consciences of the people, so they know what is happening with these victims who seem to be ignored by the press and outside public.

I remember many years ago having Steve Allen as a guest on my television show. We discussed a short story he had written called �The Day The Jews Disappeared.� I found it profound , and something that should be seen by everybody. What surprised me the most was Steve's telling me that he didn't publish it because his Jewish friends didn't want him to "make waves," and that they were afraid to spur more anti-Semitism!

Some people, unfortunately, just don't "get it." They think it couldn't happen here, but it could -- and has. Shifra's philosophy is simple: �Who is a Jew is not a problem for Arafat. If we can't be united with the love of one Jew for another, then the hatred of the nations should compel us to be united. Bottom line, after Auschwitz, is that one victim is one too many.�

It's enough that we have to grieve for those murdered in everyday life in Israel's streets. We should not have to experience the one-sided manner in which this conflict is being portrayed to the world, and the isolation and hostility that kind of coverage breeds. Jews have lived through pogroms before, but the past few years of "media pogroms" is as dangerous as the physical kind. Because when the outrageousness of portraying Israel as the "aggressor" and terrorist groups such as Hamas and Fatah as "activists" or "militants" is ignored for long, then people become desensitized to the suffering of the real victims in the war.

The leftist media have abandoned Israel as not being a liberal cause, and therefore not fashionable. The Hollywood gang only chooses what is politically correct. Israel isn't politically correct now, nor has it ever been. But as Edmund Burke has said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing ."

Good people, do something!

Victims of Arab Terror

In the U.S.A.:
VAT INTERNATIONAL
1673 East 16th Street, Room 146
Brooklyn, New York 11229
Telephone/Fax: 718-375-2532

In Israel:
P.O. Box 32103, JERUSALEM
Telephone/Fax 972-2-5821-106

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I'm a Basic Person

There are some things that to me are so basic and simplistic that I simply can't understand why others don't see the logic as I do. I remember years ago, growing up in the South and seeing the regularity of the KKK burnings and frequency watching them march through the streets. I thought they looked stupid. After all, here were grown men walking around in sheets and pointed hats. They looked like the morons that they were. Yet those around me accepted this phenomenon without question.

Today, I feel the same when I see the 'Palestinians' walking around shooting off their guns in the air, which will probably kill someone when the bullets land. Why are they wearing the same stupid looking dirty tablecloths on their heads and black mask on their faces in public demonstrations? If they are so proud of being Suicide Bombers (a.k.a. Murderer Bombers), why don't they want people to see their faces? They say they're not ashamed of what they are doing, so what's the deal with the covered faces? Is it because they are in fact really cowards?

When the Arabs first brought their brand of getting attention to the public, I watched on television while they burned three Pan Am airplanes in the desert after tormenting the passengers for a week. And the week that they disgusted the world by their surprise attack and murder of the Israeli Olympic athletes. I couldn't figure out then, nor can I now understand, how doing such heinous things was supposed to make the world like them. Is that supposed to be the point of all their horror? Can the key point of terrorism be that �Hey, we're a misunderstood, downtrodden people who really just want to get your attention and then you're going to like us.�

I don't think so. I just believe that there are some people who are the Devil's children. I think that they have roots that stem from a religion that is violent and based in hatred. There are some people who are just plain evil. How else can you rationalize the Holocaust or 9/11? I wouldn't be surprised if the leftists today tried to explain away the concentration camps with the excuse that Hitler came from an unhappy home.

The fact that escapes me the most is how the world can sit and condone the obvious double standard that Israel is forced to live under. Why are the basic discrepancies in the treatment of the Jewish state in the International Red Cross and United Nations not only accepted but also actually condoned -- and not only by the "international community" but even by Israel itself! Why aren't they, and we, shouting from the rooftops about the downright evil psyche of the Arabs, instead of promoting all this "politically correct" stuff?

I wonder during the Christmas season if any Christians remembered and took note of how Arabs are desecrating Christian holy places as fast as they can. Remember how Arafat's thugs took over Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity and trashed it, while terrorizing the nearly 200 worshipers who happened to be in there for over a month?

The list of Arabs' looting church valuables and desecrating scriptures is long. There have been many monasteries and churches that have been defiled in recent years. Moslems seem to have an affinity for constructing latrines over the holy places of other religious groups and cultures. Or in the case of the Jewish cemeteries, building them into their new hotel (the Intercontinental) before 1967.

They've even modernized their activities now into "protection" rackets. Where Bethlehem was once a happy and peaceful Christian enclave, they have been taken over by 30,000 Arabs and now are a small, shrinking minority. But where is the outcry from Christians?

Israel cannot give in to Arab terrorism because to do so would be fatal. Obviously the rest of the world -- including �good Christians' -- accept such barbaric behavior.

Sometime I question whether the problem is that the Moslem religion is just so flawed and evil, or are its followers just as stupid as goats. What kind of mentality would encourage their children to stand around in the streets throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at tanks, while waiting for them to grow up enough to strap on bombs to their bodies so their families can collect the bounty for their doing such a moronic thing?

What's even worse is how the world has seemed to accept this dysfunctional behavior and now call them �militants," "guerrillas," and (G-d forbid) "freedom fighters," instead of the deranged, monstrous terrorists that they are.

Recently, several hundred Arabs were in our country illegally, and considered a threat to the nation. They were detained and arrested in a "sting" operation. The jail doors hadn't even shut before the ACLU and talk shows sprung into action about the poor Arab "detainees." Who do they think that we're now living in fear of? Good G-d, these people have changed our lives directly forever. We are told how to pack our suitcases and what to wear to the airport in an effort to speed the process of boarding a plan in less than two hours ... for what? Why? To avoid a terrorist attack by ... who? Eight-year old Asian girls, or grandmothers from Sweden? No. By Arabs.

We can't even discuss publicly how virtually every senseless act of death and destruction has been enacted by Arab males between the ages of 21 and 40. Why can't we even talk about this problem without "human rights" groups filing lawsuits to protect these immoral people and their actions? Is it because we're afraid to speak out against the Islamic world? Do we cringe because we're afraid of being vocal against the sons of Allah?

Every other culture or religion seems to be fair game, but the Islamic religion seems to have a pretty big lobby, backed by all that oil which somehow makes the rest of us turn a blind eye. When these barbarians -- who still reside somewhere in the seventh century -- are pandered to by our government and press, it makes me ashamed of belonging to either.

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