Israel Matzav

Sunday, March 08, 2015

Some dogs have more brains than some humans

For the Hebrew-impaired, the dog is relieving himself on a campaign sign that says "Left is Meretz." Meretz is one of our extreme Leftist political parties. From here.

Labels: Knesset elections 2015, leftists, Meretz

Monday, February 02, 2015

Israelis to Obama: 'The hell you'll tell us whom to vote for'

President Hussein Obama's efforts to influence Israel's upcoming election may be backfiring. This is Anshel Pfeffer, one of Haaretz's more Leftist writers.

Tonight's @haaretzcom poll is the worst for Labor in a long while: Leaves Herzog with no option for a coalition. Ensures Netanyahu 4th term.
— Anshel Pfeffer (@AnshelPfeffer) February 2, 2015

Haaretz - for those who have forgotten - is Israel's Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily, probably the most Leftist rag among Israel's better known Leftist rags. (By the way, only about 5% of Israelis read Haaretz - they have a much wider audience among the elites in the US and Europe).

Here's the weepy news about the latest polls.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud would win 25 seats and the Labor Camp would secure only 23 if elections were held today, a new poll conducted by Haaretz-Dialog found on Monday.

The poll, which was conducted under the supervision of Professor Camil Fuchs with a representative sample of 514 respondents, showed Netanyahu gaining three more seats than what his party was predicted to win in the last poll conducted in January. The margin of error in the poll was 4.2 percent.

Naftali Bennett's Habayit Hayehudi weakened in this poll to receive 14 seats, compared to 16 in the last survey. The Joint List (Hadash and Arab parties) strengthened, predicted to win 12 seats, while Yesh Atid weakened from 12 to nine seats.

Kulanu and United Torah Judaism were both slated for eight seats, while Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas were predicted to receive six seats. Respondents gave Meretz five seats and Yachad was predicted to get four.

That would put the Right at 25+14+8+6+6+4 = 63, the Left at 23+9+5 = 37, the Arabs (who have never been in any coalition at 12 and Kulanu (which really could go either way) at 8.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Jewish Home party, Knesset elections 2015, Labor party, Likud party, Meretz, Shas, Tzipi Livni, United Torah Judaism party, V-2015, Yesh Atid party, Yitzchak Herzog

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Tzipi and Buzi sing something stupid

With apologies to the Hebrew-impaired, this was too good not to share.

Let's go to the videotape.

Heh.

Labels: Balad, Binyamin Netanyahu, Jewish Home party, Knesset elections 2015, Labor party, Likud party, Meretz, Naftali Bennett, Tzipi Livni, Yitzchak Herzog

Thursday, November 20, 2014

It starts: Mayor of Ashkelon bans Arab workers from schools

It took a little longer than I thought, but good evening from 31,000 feet above the Atlantic. According to my trusty map, we are just about due south of Newfoundland right now, heading across 'the pond.' Air travel in the modern age is quite bizarre. First, we pulled away from the gate and they announced that we have a half hour hold because otherwise we will show up in London before their curfew ends at 6:00 am (you can't land at Heathrow before 6:00). And now we're going over 740 miles an hour and it keeps going up. I don't recall ever going more than a few miles per hour faster than 700....

In the wake of Tuesday's terror attack in Jerusalem, Ashkelon Mayor Itamar Shimoni has banned all Arab workers from his city's schools. 'Temporarily' of course. Here's what it gets rich: The workers were building shelters to protect the kids from Hamas' rocket fire from Gaza. As you might imagine, the Left is seething....

The mayor explained that the increased presence of Arab workers in close proximity to educational institutions is potentially harmful to residents' security, and therefore their employment will stop until the tense security situation improves.

The contractor which performs the work in the schools in the city is employed by the Defense Ministry, and it should be noted that the work carried out in Ashkelon is done by Israeli Arabs and not by Arabs living in Judea and Samaria.

The decision angered Meretz MK Issawi Frej, who accused Shimoni of "racism of the lowest kind.”

“Under the poor excuse of a 'sense of security', Shimoni wishes to make the city of Ashkelon clean of Arabs and contaminate it with anti-Semitic racism,” charged Frej. “I call on Interior Minister Gilad Erdan and on the Chairman of the Local Government Center, Haim Bibas, to publicly condemn Shimoni and ask him to reconsider his decision with all its consequences."

The decision was also condemned by the President of the Israel Democracy Institute, former Kadima MK Yohanan Plesner.

But Shimoni was also condemned by Labor MK Nachman Shai of the 'sane' Left, as well as by Ofer Shelach of Yesh Atid, which is in the coalition (one has to wonder for how long). Here's guessing that Shimoni's decision will stand, at least for now. And here's hoping that every neighborhood in Jerusalem makes the same decision.

Labels: Ashkelon, Gilad Erdan, Labor party, London Heathrow Airport, Meretz, Nachman Shai, Ofer Shelah, Palestinian terrorism, personal stuff, racism, Yesh Atid party

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Abu Mazen's success

With the end of the holiday and the Sabbath here in Israel, it's become clear that 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President ~~Mahmoud Abbas~~ Abu Mazen's United Nations General Assembly speech was quite a success... but not quite for the reasons he wanted. Abu Mazen has managed to unite Israeli politicians across the board in blasting him for his hatred.

"Mahmoud Abbas has again proved his only expertise is spreading lies and incitement against Israel," Communications Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) slammed Saturday night. "He has denied the Holocaust in the past and now, in this surreal speech at the UN, he has accused us of 'genocide.'"

"This is not how a 'peace partner' talks, and certainly not anyone who wants for 'reconciliation between peoples," Erdan continued. "Now it is clear why he insists on partnering with the Hamas terrorist organization, with whom he shares the 'struggle against Israel' and will promote our delegitimization through false propaganda."

"Mahmoud Abbas always finds a soft spot for murderers, rocket launchers, and our enemies in general," Jewish Home Chairman and Economics Minister Naftali Bennett added. "We saw missiles launched at Ben Gurion Airport two months ago, and it's good to know these launchers are members of Mahmoud Abbas's 'Palestinian state.'"

"Now Israel must find new and creative ways to allow us to just survive here," Bennett fumed. "A Palestinian state west of the Jordan River is not one of them."

Even the extreme left took issue with Abbas's speech.

"While Israel has acted harshly in Gaza and made things difficult [for the Palestinians], you cannot call it 'genocide," Meretz Chairman Zahava Gal-On stated Saturday. Gal-On - who did not explicitly condemn Abbas - did add, however, that Abbas's words were "serious and grave." [But see below. CiJ]

"These are false and outrageous statements," MK Eitan Cabel (Labor), added. "It would have been better if they had not spoken, and these words are worthy of condemnation from all who truly love peace."

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon had some more biting remarks.

"Through his speech at the UN, Mahmoud Abbas proves for the umpteenth time: this is not a leader who wants peace and the advancement of his people's lives, but a person who distributes lies, incitement, and hate speech against Israel," Ya'alon stated Saturday. "Mahmoud Abbas is not a man of peace, and is not really interested in an agreement with Israel, which means recognition of the Jewish national homeland."

"Time after time, Mahmoud Abbas goes on to deceive the international community, to throw at Israel false and racist accusations out of the hope that threats, pressure, and lies will scare us and make us acquiesce [to his demands]," Ya'alon continued.

Ya'alon implied that Abbas's speech was particularly grave, and may have jettisoned future plans to renew peace talks.

"He has no partner for a political agreement - which is essential to end the conflict - and we will therefore not compromise the security of Israeli citizens," Ya'alon said, referencing plans to make a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. "In every situation, we are responsible for our own destiny and our own security, and we will be in the future."

Ya'alon concluded by blasting Abbas for "not really coming to terms with our own existence" and added that the claims "are detached from reality."

Prime Minister Netanyahu is on his way to the United States to counter Abu Mazen's (and Iranian President Hassan Rohani's) 'slander and lies.'

But despite the quotation above, Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On actually backed Abu Mazen.

“Meretz supports Abbas’s international efforts to bring the end of the occupation and to get international recognition as a [Palestinian] state and member of the UN before and as a corridor to reaching peace in bilateral negotiations between equals,” the party leader said.

The speech reflected Abbas’s total distrust of Netanyahu as a partner for peace, Gal-On said.

According to Gal-On, “Netanyahu refused to negotiate for five years and the talks under American sponsorship led nowhere and wild construction continued in the settlements. Now Netanyahu wants to continue ‘managing the conflict’ instead of solving it,” she lamented.

Gal-On proves the prophet Isaiah right once again. Isaiah warned that those who would destroy us would spring forth from among us. What could go wrong?

Labels: Abu Mazen, Binyamin Netanyahu, Eitan Cabel, Gilad Erdan, Holocaust denial, Meretz, Moshe Yaalon, Naftali Bennett, United Nations General Assembly, Zehava Gal-On

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Abu Bluff seethes: No 'progress' in 'talks'

'Moderate' 'Palestinian' President ~~Mahmoud Abbas~~ Abu Mazen whined to a delegation of Meretz MK's on Thursday that no 'progress' is being made in the 'talks.' Israel isn't willing to commit suicide quickly enough.

Abbas told a visiting delegation of Meretz representatives, headed by MK Zehava Gal-On that the Palestinian people are ready for peace but that there cannot be an interim agreement but only a final status deal that can be implemented in stages. Abbas reassured the MKs that he had given up hope of returning to his childhood home in Safed and that Palestinian refugees will not return to Jaffa or Acre.

Abbas's statements were the first leak from the talks in which US Secretary of State John Kerry was supposed to be the only one authorized to reveal information to the public.

The Palestinian leader complained that the two sides were not meeting often enough. He said the delegations should be meeting every day, and that he wanted to meet with Netanyahu directly.

Abbas also told the MKs Israel’s continued construction in the settlements and east Jerusalem neighborhoods does not create the appropriate atmosphere for the current peace talks. Abbas said the PA leadership was nevertheless interested in making the peace talks with Israel succeed.

Abbas reiterated his commitment to achieving a just and lasting peace based on a two-state solution with the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, said a statement released by the PA president’s office following the meeting.

Abbas told the Meretz representatives that the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails was unrelated to the launching of the peace talks.

Now, tell me what he's saying in Arabic....

Labels: Abu Mazen, Israeli Knesset, Meretz, Middle East peace process

Monday, July 22, 2013

With friends like this...

Meretz MK Esawi Frej has already decided that there is only one acceptable outcome to any 'negotiations' between Israel and the 'Palestinians' and there will be only one side and one party to blame if that outcome does not occur. You guessed it: A 'Palestinian' state is the outcome, and Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu will be to blame for the 'explosion of violence' that will happen if there is no 'state.'

"I want to compliment the prime minister today - but the compliment comes with an asterisk," Frej said in a press release. "After half a year of tireless legwork by (US) Secretary of State (John) Kerry by land, air and sea - we have succeeded to receive a declaration of renewed negotiations."

However Frej warned that Netanyahu's past record in political maneuvering implies that any current successes should be digested with a grain of salt.

"The difficult decision is now closer than ever Mr. Prime Minister," Frej addressed Netanyahu, "if you resort to your delaying tactics again, I am afraid you will cause an explosion."

...

Frej expressed dire predictions should the renewed talks fail to succeed, pointing a finger of responsibility at the prime minister.

"If you do not make the right decision, and lead to an explosion, we will all be hurt - it doesn't matter who you blame," Frej said, "even if you succeed in blaming the Palestinians - the responsibility will ultimately be yours."

Talk about raised expectations. If the likely result of these 'negotiations' is an explosion (and I agree with that part), why are we even going to the table? What Frej and the 'Palestinians' want us to do is to surrender. Why on earth would we want to do that?

Labels: Arab blame game, Binyamin Netanyahu, Meretz, Middle East peace process, negotiations without preconditions, Palestinian state, two-state solution

Sunday, June 09, 2013

Meretz party seethes: Senior PA official denied entry into Israel due to incitement

Senior 'Palestinian Authority' official Jibril Rajoub has been denied entry into Israel due to statements he made in Arabic that were exposed by Palestinian Media Watch. The radical Leftist Meretz party, which wanted to host Rajoub at a conference, is furious.

The Israeli government prevented senior Palestinian Authority leader Jibril Rajoub from entering Israel, citing examples of his incitement against Israel that were exposed by Palestinian Media Watch. Israeli TV Channel 2 News cited Rajoub's statement last month:

Let's go to the videotape.

The radical Leftist Meretz party is seething.

Israel's Meretz Party had invited Rajoub to attend a party conference in Israel. Israeli TV Channel 2 reported that Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon explained his decision with the words:

"Jibril Rajoub incites [against Israel]. I'm not prepared when someone spits on me to say that it's rain." [Channel 2 News (Israel), June 7, 2013]

Meretz chairwoman, MK Zahava Gal-On, criticized the decision saying: "This is an attempt at silencing one of the outstanding peace-seekers on the other side." [Haaretz website, June 6, 2013]

'Outstanding peace seekers?' Read the whole thing and watch the rest of the videos to find out how big a lie that is.

Labels: Jibril Rajoub, Meretz, Middle East peace process, Moshe Yaalon, Palestinian incitement, Palestinian Media Watch

Monday, November 19, 2012

Peace can only come as a result of the terrorists' unconditional surrender

A ridiculous statement from Meretz's Zehava Gal-On.

MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), Meretz Knesset candidate Michal Rosin and Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On gathered under a staircase in Meretz MK Ilan Gilon's home Monday, after a siren went off during an anti-war forum hosted by the party and attended by residents of the south.

Gal-On said that true security can only come as a result of a negotiated agreement, and a land incursion can "trap Israel in the Gazan mud and bring a high price in human lives."

Really? Do we have 'true security' with the Islamist regime in Egypt thirty years after Camp David? Do we have 'true security' with Jordan 18 years after we signed a treaty with them, and will we still have it if the Muslim Brotherhood replaces the house of Hussein? Do we have 'true security' with the 'Palestinian Authority' 19 years after Yitzchak Rabin stood on the White House lawn with Yasser Arafat and Bill Clinton?

No. We have security with none of them. All of them would like to wipe us out, and would do so in a New York minute if they are ever - God forbid - given the opportunity.

Does France have security from Germany today? Does England? Does Belgium?

Does South Korea have security from Japan today? Does Russia? Does the Phillipines?

What's the difference? The difference that World War II was fought until there was a winner and a loser. The winners have security. The losers surrendered.

We will have security - and therefore peace - when we trust in God enough to fight the Arab terrorists to the finish. When they see they cannot defeat us, we will have both peace and security. When we come cowering for peace because we are tired of fighting, we will have neither peace nor security.

True security as a result of a negotiated agreement? Name me one time in history that it's happened.

Labels: Israel wants peace, Israeli national security, Meretz, Zehava Gal-On

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

The shortest national unity government evah?

When we last left the Plesner Committee, its Haredi representative had just joined the Yisrael Beiteinu and HaBayit HaYehudi parties by resigning over the failure to include Arabs in the recommendations. Prime Minister Netanyahu disbanded the committee two days ago, but given that Plesner is now the be-all-and-end-all of the Kadima party, which is in a fight for its life, Plesner released his report on Wednesday anyway. Now, Shaul Mofaz is backing Plesner by threatening to withdraw from the coalition if Plesner's recommendations are not implemented. This is from the second link.

Water and Energy Minister Uzi Landau said that the committee’s choice not to deal with Arab enlistment brings “unequal equality.”

“It is strange that the enlistment of haredim, who make up eight percent [of those who don’t serve], is obvious, while national service by Arabs, who make up half of those who don’t serve, is seen as illegitimate,” Landau stated.

The Yisrael Beytenu minister also pointed out that the number of secular Jews who do not serve in the IDF is significantly higher than the amount of haredim.

“Everyone should learn these numbers,” Landau said. “Yisrael Beytenu will oppose any partial recommendations and all attempts to soften the blow, as Plesner and his friends did.”

Landau called for the Knesset not to miss a “historic opportunity” to bring all Israeli citizens into “the army of the people.”

MK Danny Danon (Likud) said that the Keshev Committee marks Kadima’s end, because rather than seek to end inequality, Plesner was more concerned with pleasing his party’s Arab voters.

“The people of Israel are sick of seeing Arabs sit back while a small percentage of the population carries the whole burden,” Danon stated. “All Israeli Arabs must do national service.”

Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On called the report “Kadima’s swan song,” saying that it is meant to “strengthen their pointless partnership with [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu.”

“Instead of proposing a bill to bring equality, the report is meant to purify discrimination,” she stated. “Mofaz is a ‘paper tiger’ who creates fake crises and threats to leave the coalition to keep Kadima alive.”

Yesh Atid founder Yair Lapid accused Plesner of giving “discounts” to different sectors in society, such as postponing haredi enlistment to age 23, preventing equality.

“This is an impractical outline that will prevent many from enlisting,” Lapid said. “Expanding the number of those who serve and requiring it of all 18 year olds, is necessary in order to stop Israeli society from breaking apart.”

The Haredi representatives weren't very happy with the recommendations either.

“There has never been such a pile of evil and maliciousness as this document,” said MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism). “Plesner’s personal position was [already] known to us, and his conclusions were known from the outset,” he added.

Plesner said during the press conference called to unveil the final document that in order to implement this principle, the document recommends personal fines for those refusing to serve; the withdrawal of state benefits they may have been entitled to such as housing benefits and municipal tax breaks; and the cancellation of the monthly NIS 850 state paid subsidy granted to full time yeshiva students.

In addition, anyone refusing to serve would get a criminal record.

According to a report in Maariv, spiritual leader of Shas Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef told the party’s political leader Interior Minister Eli Yishai that the imposition of personal sanctions on yeshiva students would lead to Shas quitting the coalition.

UTJ Chiarman MK Yisrael Eichler warned that Israel could experience sectarian conflict similar to that of its neighbors if conscription is not ended and a professional army established in its stead.

But Kadima seems determined to push ahead, proving once and for all that they hate Haredim more than any other party in the Knesset. Kadima party chairman Shaul Mofaz on Wednesday asserted that the implementation of the Plesner Report is a condition for his party staying in the government.

"The ball is in Prime Minister [Binyamin Netanyahu's] hands and he has a matter of days," Mofaz added, declaring that "the Plesner plan is the only plan."

In his report published earlier Wednesday morning, Plesner recommended that 80 percent of ultra-Orthodox participate in national or military service within four years and that personal and criminal sanctions be imposed on those who do not serve.

Although Netanyahu dismissed the Plesner committee earlier this week after a number of its members quit in protest of various issues, sources close to Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would nonetheless use its recommendations as the basis for a new law.

While offering several tracks of service for haredi men, the report recommends that service be defined as a personal responsibility, and that failing to complete it result in criminal proceedings and/or a fine and the loss of potential government benefits.

The report further suggests limiting the number of haredi men who can receive "permanent [student]" exemptions from civil or military service to 1,500.

In addition, it contains a recommendation to shorten the service required of haredi men to 24 months. Currently, men are required to serve three years in the IDF. A civil service track would be shortened to 18 months.

Mofaz seems to forget that his party went into the coalition because poll after poll showed it being wiped out by elections. Maybe he thinks that by waving a red flag at the Haredim, he can draw more votes from other secular parties. I doubt it. Labor seems to be coming back, and both they and Meretz have a longer and richer history of baiting the Haredim than Kadima has.

But we could yet have the shortest national unity government evah....

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Haredim, IDF, Kadima, Labor party, Meretz, Shaul Mofaz

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Netanyahu going to early elections?

The heck with Iran. Prime Minister Netanyahu has apparently decided to go to early elections.

As many of you know, one of the parting gifts we got from retiring Supreme Court Chief Justice Dorit Beinish was the court's declaring the Tal Law - the law which legalized the deferral of IDF service by yeshiva students - unconstitutional. The law becomes void on August 1, and everyone has been waiting to see what happens to it.

Over the weekend, Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman, who has proposed a bill that purports to 'equalize' army service, said that his party, the second largest in the coalition, is no longer bound by the coalition agreement, because the coalition has not dealt with most of the thorny religion/state issues that the party wants changed. And three opposition parties - Labor, Meretz and Kadima - are all submitting bills to dissolve the Knesset.

Israel Radio has just reported (2:00 am) that Prime Minister has summoned the members of a coalition that is pushing for universal army service to an 'urgent' meeting at 9:00 am - before Sunday's cabinet session. According to members of the coalition, the meeting means that Netanyahu has decided to play ball with them 'even at the risk of new elections.' And a senior member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party says that the real reason for dissolving the Knesset - which he also thinks will happen - is an attempt to cut the budget.

The Shas member said expected budget cuts are the real reason for dismantling Israel's governing coalition, rather than talk about drafting ultra-Orthodox Israelis into the military.

Members of another coalition faction, United Torah Judaism, are also preparing for early elections. The party's chairman, Knesset Member Yaakov Litzman, said he doesn't know when elections will be held, but added that "we are preparing for every possibility."

Well, maybe. But I suspect that the real reason Prime Minister Netanyahu may have decided on elections is that the polls look quite good for the Likud right now.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Kadima, Labor party, Likud party, Meretz, Shas

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Jewish Leftist party head refers to 'Jew-boys from Brooklyn' on Army Radio

Zehava Gal-On, the leader of the shrunken Meretz faction in the Knesset (a far Left, but Jewish party) made a reference to 'Jew-boys from Brooklyn' during an interview on Razi Barkai's Army Radio show on Wednesday (Hat Tip: Aryeh Z).

While discussing the influence Diaspora Jews exert in Israel, Galon expressed frustration at the possibility of “Jew-boys” (the derogatory word is Yehudonim in Hebrew) deciding Israel’s fate.

Before her slip, Galon made reference to Nazi Germany when discussing Israeli politics and attempts to limit the Supreme Court’s power. “This is a matter of principle, are we an enlightened country that builds a wall to protect ourselves from a fired-up mob or oppressive majority… That is why they allowed judicial overseeing from the Supreme Court… It is the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, we’ve seen the power of an oppressive majority…”

Barkai responded by joking, “I’ll erase that from the protocol.”

Galon continued, “If 10 mandates [in Knesset] are enough to change how Israel determines whether to go to war with Iran or not. Organized groups will come from Brooklyn and get the right to vote. All the decisions about life and death here, whether to evacuate the territories, whether to authorize outposts, those sitting in New York or Brooklyn will decide for us?

“Groups of Jew-boys… Jews, organized in the Diaspora, will decide how we live here?” Galon continued, quickly correcting her mistake.

“That’s what our government wants to do,” she concluded. “No more human rights, no more democracy, no more court system to protect us.”

Gal-On later described her words as a 'slip of the tongue.'

But they weren't. This is really the way Israel's Left (and most of the 'Supreme Court' justices are in tune with Meretz's political philosophy) thinks. They have nothing but contempt for religious Jews, and would sooner give the land to the Arabs than make it more comfortable for religious Jews to live here. They must be defeated if Israel is to thrive as a Jewish state.

Labels: Israel's suicidal Left, Meretz, Zehava Gal-On

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Why Meretz (USA) is with the Golan

On Sunday, I pointed out with some degree of bemusement that Meretz (USA) advocates boycotting products made by Jews in Judea and Samaria and not those made by Jews in the Golan Heights. Here is their rather innovative theory of international relations to explain their actions. The boycott statement did not make explicit reference to goods and services made in settlements in the Golan Heights.

The goal of this campaign is to end the policies of Settlement and Occupation in the West Bank by calling them out and achieve a two-state solution. Therefore, we have explicitly focused on boycotting products that are the direct result of the Settlement and Occupation policies and that impede the ability to reach a two-state solution with the Palestinian people. Peace with Syria is an important issue, and we believe a final Israeli-Syrian peace agreement will involve a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights. But, it is clearly settlement in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with a settler population of roughly 500,000 that constitutes the more immediate threat to peacemaking, human rights, and Israel. In order to highlight this threat, and to avoid conflating the West Bank and Golan Heights issues, we did not reference goods and services made in the Golan in our targeted boycott.

In other words (and the assertions I made on Sunday of lots of Meretz voters in the Golan have been called into question - the Golan went for Kadima and Labor in the last election), we're not going to try to fight an issue on which there is a wall-to-wall consensus among Israel's Jews.

And why aren't they advocating boycotting 'east' Jerusalem?

Our opening statement in this campaign - http://www.meretzusa.org/buy-israel-%E2%80%93-don%E2%80%99t-buy-settlements-they%E2%80%99re-not-same refers to settlements beyond the Green Line. Notwithstanding Israel's annexation of parts of the West Bank and incorporation of them into the Jerusalem Municipality, Gilo and Ramot are beyond the Green Line - even though we recognize that, "a number of settlements could one day become part of the State of Israel should there be equitable land swaps under a final-status peace agreement." Gilo and Ramot, as well as Ma'aleh Adumim and some others, most likely fall into this category.

In other words, again, they don't want to argue with a clear Israeli consensus.

Okay, folks. Time to get to work on making keeping Judea and Samaria a consensus issue as well.

Labels: East Jerusalem, Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria, Meretz

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Meretz (USA) is with the Golan

Meretz USA, the American support branch for the uber-Leftist Israeli political party that holds three seats in the current Knesset, is advocating boycotting products made in the 'settlements.'

They advocate boycotting all of the major wineries in Judea and Samaria; Gat Shomron, Givon, Gush Etzion, HaCormim, Livni, Noah/Hevron Heights, Psagot and Tura Estate.

But in a nod to realpolitique, Meretz USA does not list Israel's largest winery that is located in territory liberated in 1967: The Golan Winery, located in Katzrin in the Golan Heights.

No, that's not because so many Israelis support retaining the Golan. It's because so many Golan residents are Meretz voters.

The real question is, why?

Labels: BDS, Golan Heights, Golan Winery, Meretz