Obama's Visit to Israel

So President Obama finally visits Israel. He ignored visiting there in his first term. Now he's been and gone. Was his visit a good thing? In his mind, I'm betting he thinks that he was awesome, spoke eloquently and accomplished his objectives. Some of which were to use his cool style to convince the young Israelis to abandon their mainstream political leaders, like their current Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and lead the way to make the appropriate concessions with the Palestinians that will lead to peace. Some other under the cover agenda items included pressuring Netanyahu to apologize to the Turkish PM for Israel's killing of about 9 of their citizens during the Mavi Marmara boat fiasco. In time, we might eventually find out what other pressure tactics were used by the suave Obama on Israel's leadership.

The short answer though is: Obama's visit was absolutely NOT a good thing.

For starters, the timing was terrible for Israel. Israel was struggling to create a government until just days prior to his visit. Surely the Israeli leadership had many other more important issues to tackle, rather than to focus on appeasing their nemesis in Obama.

In general, despite Obama's sometimes beautiful words, his visit was a slap in the face to most Israelis. His purposeful avoidance of speaking to the Knesset (Israel's Parliament) was the most obvious insult. Instead, he insisted on speaking to mostly university students who are for the most part left leaning, liberals (by Israeli standards). Even here he did not allow students from Ariel University in the West Bank to attend his speech.

Even though, he mostly said the right things, some rang hollow while others made some listeners wince. His hollow words were his constant assertion that he will not tolerate a nuclear Iran. While most Israelis understand Iran's truly existential threat, most Americans and for that matter, most of the rest of the world, does not. Just like the simple case of someone else being threatened by gun point, perhaps a robbery captured on video on TV, we the viewers may gasp but in the end we march to the kitchen to get another slice of pizza. Since we are not in that desperately, dangerous position, we just won't get it.
Further, since Obama's history of back pedaling on issues, hiding secrets and outright lying, Israelis, even including the left leaning liberal students, don't trust him. Nor should they.

He continues to live in some kind of magical, mystery world with blinders on. He still continues to praise the Arab Spring and doesn't even get his super colossal mistake of pushing Mubarek out the door while ushering in the Moslem Brotherhood. As if supplying them advanced weapons worth billions of dollars plus tons of cash, isn't enough, he's considering jumping into Syria to help the rebels kick Asad out of Syria.  Those same rebels who hate Americans as much as they hate Jews and will have no problems dropping chemical weapons on Israel given the chance.

At the beginning of his speech he joked about how the media built a wall of lies about his crummy relationship with Netanyahu. You know the saying that there exists a bit of truth in every joke? Well please tell me how Netanyahu, the State of Israel, and American Jewish leaders were treated by him and his administration over the past few years? You'd have to be living on Mars to not agree that he has  imposed a very strained relationship with one of his closest allies, to put it mildly.

He showed his continued arrogance by sticking his nose into another country's business. The same arrogance he detests shown by the British Empire and other empires, obviously does not apply to him.

Therein lies the point. To get slapped in the face is bad enough. But to get slapped in the face while telling you that he is your best friend is the ultimate insult. I sincerely hope that most people, especially Israelis are not that ignorant or gullible.

The West Discovers Morsi is an Anti-Semite but what about Abbas?

So finally the West finally discovers that the new president of Egypt, Morsi, is an Anti-Semite. Even the White House has felt the pressure to address his vitriolic statements that have come to light recently. After all, the Obama administration decided that after it announced that despite the current turmoil in Egypt where it appears that the country is literally falling apart, the States is still planning on giving Egypt a squadron of F16 fighter jets and 200 Abram tanks. These weapons are considered some of the most sophisticated in the world today. I guess the White House felt responsible for bringing Morsi into power so now they feel obligated to prop him and the Moslem Brotherhood up. Even the mainstream media like Time considered him so for his valuable contribution to help mediate a temporary cease fire in the latest battle with Hamas and Israel...

Some of the statements made by Morsi contain the same old sick words that Jews have heard for hundreds of years: 'Jews are the descendants of apes and pigs...'.  

Ok, so now we all know that Morsi and the Moslem Brotherhood don't like Jews. What a surprise! Just maybe, despite the words of the Obama administration, the Moslem Brotherhood weren't the 'moderates' they originally thought them to be.

But what about Mahmoud Abbas? He's the leader of a group of Arabs who call themselves Palestinians (a name given by the Romans to the Jews back in the day) who Israel is expected to hand over precious land to. That 2 state solution is constantly being bantered about probably every few minutes somewhere in the world. Whereas Netanyahu, the democratically elected president of the only democracy in the Middle East is considered by many as a right wing, war monger, Abbas is somehow considered a moderate, intent on making peace with Israel. 

Did everyone forget about Abbas's doctoral dissertation that denies the Holocaust (hence the bogus title of Dr.)? I don't think anyone can argue that if you deny the Holocaust, that qualifies you as an Anti-Semite. Sadly, it is with this corrupt, 2 faced regime, that Israel is forced to 'make peace'.  The fact is that Abbas and Morsi are cut from the same cloth. Their intense hatred of Jews and of course Israel is symptomatic of most Arab and Moslem leaders throughout the world.

It's high time that the West rediscovers Abbas's Anti-Semitism as well!

The Climate Gets Ugly

One doesn't need to look too hard to find headlines like:

Iran continues to develop nuclear bombs to destroy Israel

Hungarian MP wants Jewish members of parliament to be identified

Syrian's stockpile of chemical weapons may end up being used on Israel

Hamas uses ceasefire to rearm for next conflict against Israel

Egypt's Arab Spring will mean the end of it's peace agreement with Israel

Greece's National Socialism party uses Jews as scapegoats for its problems

Swedish artist uses Jewish ashes stolen from death camp in painting

Brazil sponsors Israel hatefest in Porto Alegre

Finnish MP spreads Jewish conspiracy: US controlled by wealthy Jews

The UN continues to bring more resolutions to condemn only Israel

The EU condemns Israel for building houses in east Jerusalem

Arabic newspaper in Toronto publishes Anti-Semitic cartoons


I could go on and on, listing similar headlines from every country in the world. I'm not so sure that these headlines existed in such abundance and in such an incredible distribution throughout the world back in pre-world war II days as they do today.

The world can and should be a beautiful place. And from time to time I am rewarded by meeting beautiful people with open hearts and minds. Mostly I find beauty in nature as I am blessed to be living in a large country filled with some of the most magnificent natural beauty that G-d has ever created.

But sadly the world is also filled with ugliness. The constant anti-Semitism and attacks on my Jewish homeland are ugly stains that refuse to wipe clean. All this while most 'good' people (Jews and Gentiles) remain painfully unaffected. While I was forced to endure anti-Semitism while growing up in a modern, liberal, democratic country, Canada, I fear that the world's morality is sinking ever deeper and my children will have to endure more of the same. Or worse.

Stop the Rockets

So after thousands of rockets fired by terrorists in Gaza rained down on Israel, Israel has finally decided it's had enough and decides to respond in kind. So far so good. Way overdue if you ask me. It was probably the rockets that were fired at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem that finally pushed Israel to act.

In any case, Hamas continues to fire rockets even as I write this blog.

Now Israel is considering a ground war. It has thousands of troops waiting at the border to walk into Gaza and go after the terrorists.  I pray they don't do it. But not for the reasons you might think.

I'm tired of hearing about Israel's love affair with world opinion. Of their highly esteemed moral compass. Also tired of hearing about their incredible Iron Dome defense system. I'm tired of people like Bill Clinton saying things like: 'Israel has every right to defend herself but we encourage her to limit casualties'. No matter how carefully Israel deals with trying to limit hurting 'innocent' civilians, they will. And they will surely be condemned for it. As for their Iron Dome - that's great but it's for defensive purposes only. Unfortunately defensive actions don't win wars. And why in G-d's name do people in the West (I'm not even talking about radical Islamists), get off warning Israel to limit casualties? Those comments should be aimed directly at Hamas terrorists. After all, it is they who started  and continue to fire rockets at Israeli citizens, schools, etc., and doing so in the protection of Arab citizens, schools, etc. 

Prior to any action, you must ask yourself, what are you going to achieve. A ground war is exactly what Hamas wants with Israel. And the more prolonged, the better. The better chance that Israeli soldiers will be killed and the better chance that young Palestinians will be killed and video taped and sent to CNN and elsewhere, garnering sympathy from all corners of the world. And then what? Eventually there will be a cease fire. After a few months or even weeks, armed with bigger and better arms from Iran and other sponsors, Hamas will start again. Maybe this time they will hit deep into Tel Aviv and do some serious damage to Israeli citizens. Therefore sending troops into Gaza simply won't work.

I would not want my 20 year old son to walk into that death trap so little Palestinian kids, used as suicide bombers can get him killed. Booby trapped schools, hospitals and mosques. Why should they risk their lives? Just to save 'innocent' Palestinian civilians? Sorry but no! Those 'innocent' civilians aren't so innocent. After all they elected Hamas. Hamas is a world recognized terrorist organization with it's mission to destroy all of Israel. 

The only way to stop Hamas from it's constant attacks on Israel is for Israel to fly as many sorties as it takes to bomb them into submission. And if 'innocent' Palestinians die in the war, so be it. Why is it Israel's problem? During WWII, the US had no problems using nuclear bombs to shut down Japan. And yes, they sure did kill a lot of  innocent civilians. Approx. 200,000 died. That's what happens in war. Just like the US could not be responsible for Japanese citizens then, Israel cannot be held responsible for Palestinian citizens in Gaza now. The US gave Japan an ultimatum to surrender but the Japanese ignored it. Rather than entering into a long, difficult ground war with Japan, nuclear bombs were used. And the effect was immediate. Japan surrendered and the war was over for them, until this day!

I suggest that Israel do the same. Give Gazans a warning to stop firing rockets or they'll be flattened. Let the world know that this is going to happen and if the world cares, they should open their doors to the 'innocent' Palestinians. Any of the more than 50 Arab nations should step up to the plate and allow them in before Israel strikes.  Who ever is left in Gaza will be dead. All the weapon caches will be destroyed and most buildings flattened. 

Continuing to play the Hamas game will not accomplish anything. This scenario will continue to replay itself over and over. As Iran gives better rockets and more high tech missiles to Hamas, future attacks by Hamas will result in more serious tragedies for truly innocent Israelis.

Who Threw Who Under the Bus?

I have read a number of articles lately decrying that past Republicans threw Israel under the bus. Most of the points they make are true. No doubt, from Roosevelt to Bush, the Arab nations have been appeased at Israel's expense. This mostly due to the US interest in Arab oil. That said, no truly objective person can honestly say that relations between the US and Israel have never been better. In fact they've never been worse since Obama took power. What I find most offensive is his two faced platform. This multiple personality disorder continues to remain unchallenged by the general media and continues to remain untreated. While campaigning for the top job he said on many occasions that Jerusalem is Israel's capital, and it must remain so as THE undivided capital of the Jewish State. Once in office he stated by way of interview (you can find this video on the internet) that the word 'undivided' was an unfortunate term. To date, his administration can't even answer the simple question: Which is Israel's capital, Jerusalem or Tel Aviv?

 We all know of his first important speech as president. The infamous 'Cairo speech'. Thats the one where he invited the then outlawed Moslem Brotherhood to listen to him glorifying Islam as a nation of peace. In that speech he insinuated that Israel exists solely because of the Holocaust. In that speech he declared plainly that the US does not support the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. He admonished the Arabs hostility towards Israel but bade moral equivalency between Israel's behavior and the Palestinians. When campaigning he visited Israel. As president, he never did. When he was in Sderot, Israel, the home to tens of thousands of rocket attacks from the Gaza strip, he said that if rockets were fired at his daughters he'd do anything to protect them. To numerous Jewish organizations he stated that the US support of Israel was sacrosanct and in no uncertain terms, the States has Israel's back. 

In short, prior to taking office no one could say that he's not a friend to Israel. After taking office- quite the opposite. No president before him had ever brought up the subject of Israel's nuclear arms and suggested that Israel sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (since if Iran can't have nuclear arms, neither should Israel). The fact that the tiny democracy of Israel has been attacked outright so many times by so many countries and yet has refrained so far from using it's supposed nuclear weapons says a lot about their code of ethics and their deep understanding of how wars can start and end. His treatment of Bibi, arguable the president of the State's closest ally made headlines when Obama let Bibi into the White house through the back door, kept him waiting while Obama had dinner with his family but didn't feed him and basically treated him like he was an enemy of the state. His words to the French leader caught on the microphone about how Bibi was a pain in the ass, hit a nasty chord. When he spoke to a pre-selected group of Jewish leaders (they only invited left leaning Obama supporters) in 2009 he said and I'm quoting so there is no denying this: 'When there is no daylight, Israel just sits on the sidelines, and that erodes our credibility with the Arab states.' Then there was the famous 'Let's crucify Israel' for announcing an expansion of housing in East Jerusalem while the vice president was there. Bibi was dressed down by Mrs. Clinton and the hate speeches kept coming from almost every area of government on the audacity of Israel to make such an announcement while embarrassing Biden. The Obama administration jumped on this as much as they did the anti-Muslim video as the cause of the attack on the US embassy in Libya. And the argument is just as foolish. At no time during his presidency did Obama attack any foe publicly as he did Israel on this one occasion. To paint the picture clearly: While Iran is getting away with murder, world terror, and continues to build nuclear bombs - Obama was and continues to negotiate with them, but when the tiny, US ally of the US wants to build some more housing in their crowded, capital city, they get nailed to a cross in front of billions of witnesses.  

I can go on and on to list numerous other non-friendly Israeli attacks by Obama and his administration. Some are often benign and blown out of proportion or subtle pokes while others are quite serious.  The one that stands out the most so far is Obama's insistence that Israel should return to pre-1967 borders! A border that was less than 9 miles wide in the middle of the country and is absolutely indefensible today. Israel is under constant existential threat from it's neighbors. One can see that even existing peace treaties are not worth the paper they're written on. With the Moslem Brotherhood and other Islamists taking over in Egypt the Sinai peace treaty is all but dead. The Sinai peninsula contains a who's who of terrorists including the overtly anti-American group Al-Quaida. With the turmoil brought on by numerous Arab springs all over the middle east, each and every Israeli neighbor threatens to attack Israel. For an ally to suggest that Israel return to pre-1967 borders is unthinkable. There are 2 reasons Obama said this:

1. He's naive as hell and really thinks this would make the Arabs agree to make peace with Israel.

2. He's no friend to Israel.

The fact that he made this suggestion in public prior to speaking with Israeli leaders on this, points to reason # 2 above. He wanted to plant the seed to the American public and the world at large.

Not long ago, Bibi asked to meet the president regarding Iran's plans to wipe Israel off the planet. But Obama was too busy. He had important things to do, like going on the Letterman show. Is this how you treat a friend and ally? With friends like that, who needs enemies.

Back to my original point. Why am I so offended by him when it comes to Israel?  When it came to social/political values he made some important talking points to these prior to his election. For example he stated back in 1998 that he believes in wealth redistribution. His associating with Marxists and other communists are well documented. So his current policy of more government and more welfare programs and higher taxes shouldn't be a surprise. However his 2 faced behavior when it comes to Israel reminds me of Yasser Arafat who spoke of peace to an American audience and hours later spoke of destroying Israel in arabic to a Palestinian audience . Had Obama made clear to the American public how he really felt about the relationship between the US and Israel as we have seen since he's been in power, he would have lost the Jewish and pro-Israel votes but he would have gained some respect from people like me for his honesty. At least I and others would have known where he stands vis a vis Israel. His constant appeasement to Islamists and his constant apologies to American enemies are one thing but his love affair with throwing Israel under the bus, is  a very dangerous thing for Israelis first and for the free world second.

Please check out my video: Change the World

How You Should Vote in the US Election

So they finally faced off in their first debate. A lot was riding on this and it paid off. Even the polls sponsored by the majority of left leaning democrats (for the most part) had to admit that Romney kicked Obama's ass! Of course the media came to Obama's defense with all kinds of excuses. My favorite: Al Gore suggested that Obama was off his game because he wasn't used to the high altitude in Denver. And to think that had I been able to, I would of voted for him as president back in the day.
I too swallowed the media spin back then just like many of the dumbed down Americans do today with their love affair with the empty shirt, President Obama.
At least I came around to my senses and so can you.

Obama had no answers to Romney's attacks on the state of the US economy. I'm not sure if you know how big the # one trillion is. According to CNN: "If you start spending a million dollars every single day since Jesus was born, you still wouldn’t have spent a trillion dollars." It's true that Obama inherited a deficit but he managed to blow the US debt (money borrowed and spent by the government) by over 1 trillion dollars in less than 4 years! That's by far the fastest rate of spending by any previous president! More jobs lost since the depression. More than half the population on some form of government welfare program. Obama's answer is to continue what he's been doing since in office. That is, more spending, more government hires, more taxes, more welfare programs, more union support, etc.
Romney wants to close existing loop holes (much like the current loop hole laden sanctions on Iran) to make those that don't pay their far share of taxes- pay up and cut taxes on small business  (since they are the primary job creators) and the middle class (since they fund most of everything). He's focusing on jobs so those new employed people will spend more, create wealth and use that money (that's currently non-existent) to fund vital government programs.

Until this debate, most people thought that Romney was either an idiot or just some rich prick who only cares about other rich pricks. Why did they think that? Because of the media spin that has fawned over Obama all these years. Yes Romney is a wealthy man but he's self made. While Obama attacks business people with comments like 'You didn't build your business, the government enabled you to do so', people like Romney risked his money, used his ingenuity and worked his ass off to succeed despite government interference. What has Obama done? For the most part he is a self declared 'organizer'. Of what? We're not too sure. After 2 books, we still don't know the exact details of his past. For G-d's sake, we're not even sure where he was born, what religion he is, who brought him up, etc.

I hope that this debate has shed some light on who these people are. Obama without the world's best speech writers, without following his teleprompter was just an empty shirt. Pay attention to his closing address. He meanders on about.....nothing. He really doesn't have a clue. Or maybe he does. Maybe his real agenda is to bring America down. He himself believes in 'wealth redistribution'. He thinks that the UN should run the show. He wants more rights for illegal immigrants so he can more votes. He wants more government - more votes. He wants to keep the economy down so that the poor rely on government handouts. The more handouts, the more votes he'll get.

According to Gallup, Romney won 72 to 20, the largest debate win that Gallup has ever found in modern times.

Here are a few voting tips if you're still undecided:

If you're unemployed or under-employed- vote for Romney.
If you're poor and wish to move up- vote for Romney.
If you're self-employed or run a small business- vote for Romney.
If you run or work in a medium or large size corporation- vote for Romney.
If you are poor and wish to remain so- vote for Obama.
If you are unemployed and wish to remain so- vote for Obama.
If you are non-Moslem- vote for Romney.
If you are a radical Moslem or a sympathizer- vote for Obama.
If you are anti-American- vote for Obama.
If after the first debate you still think that Romney is an idiot- you are an idiot and vote for Obama again.
If you think that more government, more taxes and more spending are the answers to the current economy woes, continue to vote for Obama.
If you think that less government, tax cuts and less spending are the answer to the economy, vote for Romney.
If you like socialism, wealth redistribution (Marxism) or prefer communism, vote for Obama.
If you think that Islam is the religion of peace, vote for Obama.
If you think that radical Islam is the # 1 problem facing our world right now, please tell Romney how you feel.
If you get your news from CNN, CBC, The Guardian, New York Times and other left leaning media, vote for Obama.

I believe that the real failure of the current administration is Obama's foreign policy. In my opinion, it looms larger than the economy. I can't wait until they meet again to debate that!

Peace Out!

Toronto's Gay Pride Parade Celebrates Hate

Toronto, Canada is home to one of the world's largest parades designed to celebrate gay and lesbian rights. It's quite a wild party and it attracts quite an audience. It also receives funding (hundreds of thousands of dollars) from various levels of government as well as from corporate sponsors. 

Unfortunately a group known as Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QUAIA) has been allowed to hijack the parade and carry their hateful message slandering Israel as an apartheid state.

After years of conflict regarding Pride's policy of allowing QUAIA to participate, Pride's answer to us (really to their sponsors including our city and province) was to establish a Dispute resolution process (DRP) that would be objective and handle complaints formally.

That idea seemed to silence many of the critics and the funding continues again this year.

About a week ago a colleague emailed me a complaint form from Prides' committee as part of this process (DRP).

I filled it in and mailed it. I received confirmation from the chairman, a lawyer by the name of Mr. Douglas Elliot. I then went up north for the weekend. I was shocked to get a call from my daughter at home in Toronto who told me that a reporter had called asking to interview me about how I felt about my complaint and my personal contact information (name, telephone, address) being published in a popular gay magazine/website called Xtra. My daughter was in distress thinking that our house may be attacked, or our family may be harassed as a result of this. Of course this crossed my mind as well. When I returned home I saw the original website in Xtra that contained a scanned copy of my complaint form in entirety. There were 2 other complainants including the Jewish gay group Kulanu who were also published without their permission and thus retracted their complaints.

All the sponsors including all levels of government and citizens of Toronto must know this. The DRP is a farce designed to intimidate complainants. I read Mr. Elliot's article in Xtra where he arrogantly states that once a complaint is submitted (unless done anonymously through a lawyer), the complaint is public property and it can be posted on a billboard! He effectively told me that the respondent to my complaint, in this case QUAIA, received a copy of my complaint and they must have sent it on to Xtra magazine.

I suggested that Prides DRP was deeply flawed and if they were sincere in their attempts to resolve disputes, that they could forward the complaint but not the complainants contact information. It should operate like our by-laws. When a person complains about a neighbor to the by-law department, the officer will never divulge who originated the complaint, for obvious reasons.

As a Jew, Israel supporter and defender of those people that are discriminated against, whoever they are, I am adamant now more than ever that Pride should not get any funding from us. Israel is clearly not an apartheid state, it promotes freedom of choice for the gay community and the fact that it is only Israel that is accused of this from a multitude of countries throughout the world who have undeniable records of anti-gay policies including public lynching of gays, wreaks of good old anti-Semitism. If Pride wants to allow hateful, discriminatory groups like QUAIA to hijack their parade they should be allowed to do so but not at our expense.

I sent the above as an open letter to various government officials in Toronto and Ontario and to representatives of most of the corporate sponsors and so far I've barely received any responses.   

It's time we stopped sponsoring hatred!