Israeli democracy vs. daddy's latifundia - by Erez Tadmor

...Over the last 40 years, most power centers have not intersected with Israeli democracy. While the public has undergone mostly positive ethical, political, cultural and sociological changes, the key central positions and the senior professional establishment are almost completely immune to these changes. A generation comes and goes, but positions for judges, lawyers, lecturers, generals, division heads and senior managers are all divvied up among the members of the tribe by the old lords of the manor, enlightened only in their own eyes and in the eyes of their descendants. The few changes that have affected the Left have been against their will and were very unwelcome.

Erez Tadmor..
Israel Hayom..
01 Feburuary '18..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/not-your-daddys-state-anymore/

On Tuesday, the organization Physicians for Human Rights announced that 63 doctors, psychologists and social workers had undergone training at their offices on how to fill out paperwork in a way that might prevent the planned deportation of illegal migrants.

Israel has given illegal African migrants until the end of March to accept a $3,500 stipend and voluntarily depart or face imprisonment. This policy has sparked a country-wide debate on the issue that includes a left-wing campaign comparing the deportation to the Holocaust.

But if we look behind Physicians for Human Rights' laundered words, we will find an organized effort to teach professionals how to take advantage of their licenses and status to mislead the state and undermine the policies of the elected government.

In an enlightened country governed by the rule of law, this should result in these individuals' immediate dismissal and the revocation of their licenses to practice. They are a disgrace to their profession and they are abusing the public's trust. But judging from the acceptable norms in our public service sector, Israel is not and has never been an enlightened country.

This effort is just a drop in the deluge of bizarre initiatives in recent weeks, which included petitions signed by doctors, academics, diplomats, psychologists, artists, pilots and even classical musicians. The petitions reflected an ugly, anti-democratic mentality.

The problem is these power centers – the oligarchy-like professional unions that dominate a large portion of the professional fields and senior bureaucratic positions. These people feel like they are better than the public and above the law. The rules and guidelines of public service do not apply to them – rules are too trivial and insignificant for people with such hyper-developed consciences as the Israeli Left.

The deluge of petitions, much like the absurd civil disobedience threats, reflect a political phenomenon that has been largely ignored in public discourse: The latifundia mentality accepted in the old elite circles. Latifundium in Latin is an estate on a large parcel of land. The Roman Empire handed out latifundia to nobles or soldiers it wanted to reward.

So while we naively believe that the duty of public servants is to serve the public, many in the public service sector actually view their posts and jurisdictions as a sort of family-owned estate that has belonged to them for generations, or at least since "the Left founded the state." In other words, they own the deed to the state.

Tired of the man who raised an "armed generation" that dodged military service - by Dr. Reuven Berko

...The tranquility of the green island holds the cries of the paratrooper Szenes, who left her safe home in Kibbutz Sdot Yam and was dropped into Yugoslavia, from where she infiltrated Hungary, risking certain death, to save Jews. She was tortured, executed, and all that remains of her anguish is a memorial and a Hungarian exoneration of the charge of "treason" that appeases the consciences of the murderers of our people as well as Geffen, who is besmirching her memory.

Dr. Reuven Berko..
Israel Hayom..
24 January '18..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/real-heroes-risk-everything/

As I was reading the thoughts of poet Yehonatan Geffen, in which he sang a song of praise for Ahed Tamimi, who assaulted an IDF officer, giving her equal status to Anne Frank, Hannah Szenes, or Joan of Arc, I felt tired of the man who raised an "armed generation" that dodged military service. The forgotten poet, who once wrote poems and songs for our children, is now parading around his garden naked, wrapped in a "literary" cloak and provocatively – as an exhibitionist – showing his intellectual nether regions in a desperate attempt to scrape up some relevancy.

Geffen trampled the dead symbols of our people – part of an attempt by some of the twisted members of the pantheon of the Left, who feel that if they are not in charge, we are all doomed.

Although I tried, I could find no similarities between Ahed Tamimi (a member of the same family as the murderer Ahlam Tamimi, who was an accessory in the suicide bombing at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem – who are apparently converts to Islam with Jewish ancestry), who made sure she was caught on camera hitting IDF soldiers, knowing that she win popularity among her people and the perverts in Israel, and Anne Frank, the Jewish girl who hid from the Nazi threat until she was caught and died a miserable death in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, leaving behind her famous diary.

I had to overcome my gag reflex at Geffen's comparison of Ahed, who "nobly" exploited the soldier and the IDF regulations that required him to exercise restraint, to the red-headed King David, who risked his life to kill Goliath. With a stroke of his pen, Geffen turned the blonde Ahed into a redhead simply for the sake of the idiotic comparison. David put his life on the line, but Ahed knew that in prison she would receive everything from bandages to groceries, dental care, family visits, and possibly even a college degree.

Geffen, the author of the famous children's book "The Sixteenth Sheep," is weak on history. Any comparison between Miss Nabi Saleh and Joan of Arc – the "virgin of Orleans," is baseless. Joan heard "holy voices," undertook to lead an army in the battles between two feudal houses in France and England, and was burned on the cross at the orders of the church as a devil worshipper; whereas Ahed, who is sitting safely in an Israeli prison, was acting as a minor provocateur serving the terrorist machine: no sword, no horse, and no heroic acts. Just a camera as she slapped and clawed at an Israeli officer who was acting correctly.

Jews discriminating against Jews

Michael Freund
JPost
15 July '10

Each week for the past nine months, a small band of noisy left-wing protesters has been gathering in the heart of Jerusalem. Though claiming to be motivated by the highest of ideals, these would-be campaigners for human rights appear to have trouble respecting even the most basic of society’s ground rules.

The demonstrators have repeatedly clashed with the police, broken through security barriers, attempted to block roads and even sought to storm privately-owned property. Mustering all the indignation at their disposal, they have waged an increasingly strident battle in an attempt to draw attention to their crusade.

Thus far, more than 100 have been arrested, and 44 have been slapped with indictments for a variety of offenses.

And just what, you might be wondering, could spark so much ire? What possible “injustice” could prompt people to come out in such a regular, and raucous, fashion? Why, it must be Jews moving into Jewish-owned homes in Jerusalem, of course! The scene of the action is the Shimon Hatzadik neighborhood, which the media prefers to call by its Arabic name (what a surprise) of Sheikh Jarrah.

LOCATED JUST north of the Old City, the area is home to the tomb of Shimon Hatzadik (Simeon the Just), a high priest who served in the Second Temple and who was among the last members of the Men of the Great Assembly (Anshei Knesset Hagedola) more than two millennia ago.

For centuries, the site was popular with Jewish pilgrims, and in 1876, the tomb and a surrounding plot of 18 dunams (4.5 acres) were purchased by a committee of Jews. Dozens of families subsequently moved in, with the neighborhood eventually serving as home to a thriving community of hundreds of Jews.

But in 1936, Arab rioters assaulted the area’s Jewish residents, and during the 1948 War of Independence, Jordan invaded and captured the neighborhood, bringing about a temporary end to the Jewish presence there. The Jordanians allowed Arabs to move into the deserted Jewish residences, effectively creating a cadre of squatters.

But after the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War, efforts began to correct this historical injustice by restoring the area to its rightful Jewish owners. Sanctioned by the courts and with the backing of police, Jewish families have been moving into homes in the neighborhood for years, in some instances forcing out Arab residents who had no legal or moral right to be there.

And this – believe it or not – is what incenses the leftwing activists so much. Tossing aside the area’s historical Jewish connection, they choose to ignore the fact that the Jewish presence is being renewed after it was snuffed out by Arab violence and hatred several decades ago.

(Read full story)

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Leftist hypocrisy in Hebron

Op-ed: Hebron myths, leftist propaganda countered in wake of ‘dancing soldiers’ video


Orit Struck
Israel Opinion/Ynet
12 July '10

Orit Struck heads the legal department in Hebron’s Jewish community and runs Judea and Samaria’s human rights organization

The radical leftist camp was all over the video showing IDF soldiers dancing in Hebron as if it found a great treasure. The camp’s spokespeople quickly declared that the clip was filmed “on a major street in Hebron, or one that used to be major at least. Arab movement on the street is limited, school children go through metal detectors, and soldiers screen the adults.”

How terrible, thinks the average Israeli, who regularly goes through at least one metal detector or security guard at restaurants, movie theaters, or malls.

The radical Left has been trying to convince us to put on its own distorted glasses. Through these glasses, history begins in 1967, Hebron is a “Palestinian town,” and every street we see must be “Shuhada Street,” the city’s central thoroughfare.

Yet the street chosen by the soldiers as a dance floor happened to be the one right above Hebron’s ancient Jewish cemetery. The 80th anniversary of the 1929 massacre was marked right below this street. From their grave, the 67 murder victims must recall the British soldiers who did nothing while the City of our Forefathers turned into a killing field – these victims must prefer the dancing IDF solders.



The street in the clip is known as “Tavger Road,” named after Professor Benzion Tavger, who in 1974 chose the restoration of the Hebron cemetery over a university position. “The cemetery was neglected, the tombstone shattered, with Arabs using them for construction,” Tavger said to explain his choice. The cemetery was desecrated and destroyed under the command of Jordanian soldiers, who controlled the city until they were replaced by our dancing soldiers.

Right below of the improvised dance floor also lie the graves of baby Shalhevet Pas, Mordechai Lapid, and his son Shalom, as well as dozens of others murdered in Hebron merely for being Jewish. The Arab murderers did not take into consideration the “peace” deals signed by their leaders, forcing the IDF to adopt a policy of separation between Jews and Arabs.

(Read full article)

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