Beit Shemesh - in the words of religious men

My friend David, who is a religious Jew, had this to say about Beit Shemesh.
Michael Lawrence, Israel speaker, agreed on facebook with a poster that said it's a Chillul Hashem (desecration of the name).

It's hard not to agree with both  here.  For the record, I find the actions of the Haredi at Beit Shemesh disgusting and disgraceful.  Government leaders and Rabbonim have all condemned this.  There have been mass protests, and I believe it is all long overdue.

One thing that is positive, is that these Charedi are not representative of all Charedi (a fact lost to the press).  All religions have their extremists, but I think its wrong to compare to extremists of other religions who kill people in the name of God and rule entire countries, putting down all rebellion.  These extremists are not even on the same page as that.

New Zealand Israeli Embassy Chanukah function

Very much enjoyed the Chanukah function put on by the Israeli Embassy in Wellington.  It was a joint function between the Orthodox and Progressive communities.  Whilst I have my own views on practice, it is great that the communities can work together.  Not to say that everything is perfect, as the Wellington community is only a shadow of what it once was.

We sort of gate crashed the function, but the candle lighting was beautiful, and it was good to see a lot of old faces, lots of young Israeli travellers, and a lot of children.

Wellington City Councillor accuses Mossad of orchestrating 9/11

Young but Grumpy has uncovered that a Wellington City Councillor, Bryan Pepperell has accused the Jews (Mossad) for orchestrating the 9/11 attack.

How do people with such whackpot ideas get elected???

David Shearer on Palestine

I'd not heard much about David Shearer before he became Labour leader.  Interestingly, he was based in Israel for a while, and by all accounts, was a real asshole.

Here is an article he wrote on Red Alert on Palestine from before he became Leader of the opposition. 

Some basic falsehoods:

The Palestinians have been trying to secure a state for years based on the internationally recognised 1967 borders with Israel.

Actually, no they have been refusing all peace efforts that would create a state.  At least if it meant a state alongside Israel

The longer the talks go on, the more that Jewish settlers build their homes inside a future Palestinian state – around half a million at last count with numbers growing by more than 5% a year.

The main falsehood here is "talks".  Palestinians are refusing to talk.  And the Palestinians are happy letting their population grow, and have no pressure to absorb refugees.

The issues are not that complicated. Palestinians want to determine their own future. They want freedom, just like other Arab states who we back wanting the same thing. They already conduct democratic elections. What makes it complicated is the Palestinians are occupied by Israel.

What bollocks.  If issues were not complicated, then we would have had peace in 2000.  Palestinians want all kinds of things, but peace with Israel is not necessarily one of those things!

And Israel’s tail wags the US dog. Already Obama is coming under pressure from the Republicans for not being staunch enough backing Israel.

Seriously, is this true?  A Labour minister is essentially stating that the Jews (Israelis) run the US government.

Obama doesn’t want to give Palestinians the chance of a vote, because the US will need to veto it. And that will look bad in the eyes of not only Arab states, but most of the rest of the world’s states which will support the Palestians.[sic]

And not because the Palestinians are having their own problems with violence or recognising Israel.

That’s a US problem. New Zealand should support the Palestinians simply because it’s right. It won’t solve the problem, it won’t stop more settlers building on land that’s not theirs, but it’s an important principle.

Aha, because its right.  Its right to fire rockets.  Its right to blow up buses.  And its right to blame everything on Israel.

David Shearer is Mister Nobody in parliament.  Its easy to see why.  Even the Greens make better and clearer statements than he does.  

 

Jamie Hyams elected mayor of Glen Eira CC

Great news - Jamie Hyams has been elected Mayor of Glen Eira City Council.

Jamie is an all around good bloke, and one of the few people I know who can read a persons argument and provide clear facts without resorting to emotion.

Here's a great interview with him on ABC TV about the construction of new homes in the West Bank.

Great Israel Videos from Danny Ayalon

Danny Ayalon has some great videos on Youtube.  Make it very easy to understand the peace process.

Other great videos include the Refugees and West Bank explained

NSW Greens abandon BDS

After a year of lies, the NSW Greens have finally abandoned BDS

This is after being exposed as liars, losing the unloseable elections, and some embarrassing costings released.

They are still a bunch of anti semites, but now its no longer official policy.  Good news, I think.