SPECIAL NOTICE:
It’s the first of the month again and time for another wonderful reader update. Israelstreet reached 112 countries last month (another all-time record) with new readers in La Paz, Bolivia; Accra, Ghana; and Baku, Azerbaijan. As I note every month, the israelstreet family now covers every part of the globe (except Antarctica!).
Your humble servant would like to make special mention of some countries whose readerships have zoomed: Hungary (12 different cities), Mexico (11), and Finland (10). And as always I would like to thank my HUGE American audience for their loyal readership with especially heavy clusters of readers in the areas of Dallas, Ft. Worth, Denver-Boulder, Baltimore-northern Virginia, New Jersey-New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, San Diego, Los Angeles, the Bay area of San Francisco, and my own home U.S. area of Davis-Sacramento, California. In fact, israelstreet was read in 48 out of 50 states in the U.S. (here’s a callout to West Virginia and North Dakota to get on board!).
But today, I am especially mentioning my Canadian friends from these 36 cities who visited this blog in September:
Winnipeg, North Vancouver, Kingston, Richmond Hill, Richmond, Ajax, Belleville, Lethbridge, Halifax, Granby, Scarborough, Wolfville, Sorel, Edmonton, Calgary, Abbotsford, Montreal, Victoria, Ottawa, London, Brampton, Toronto, Concord, Lac La Biche, Newmarket, Saskatoon, Gloucester, Laval, Blainville, Etobicoke, Sainte-Therese, York, Barrie, Duncan, Markham, and Bracebridge.
And just to give you a flavor of how large and interesting our family is–here is where some of our readers live who have visited this blog in the last 48 hours alone:
Rishon Le Zion Israel, Saint Joseph Michigan, Heimsbrunn France, Cape Town South Africa, Cebu Philippines, Maisons-Lafitte France, Manchester Great Britain, Bracebridge Canada, Vladiovstok Russia, Tehran Iran, Avondale Arizona, Jamaica New York, Jinan China, Sunnyvale California, Paris France, Chula Vista California, Fort Worth Texas, London United Kingdom, Clarks Summit Pennsylvania, Tel Aviv Israel, Brooklyn New York, Ashkelon Israel, Kiev Ukraine, New Rochelle New York, Fort Lauderdale Florida, Stamford Connecticut, West Covina California, Chapel Hill North Carolina, Marseilles France, Cheboygan Michigan, Crawfordsville Indiana, Berlin Germany, Mountain View California, Rancho Palos Verdes California, Murrieta California, Hagatna Guam, Oldbury Great Britain, Uppsala Sweden, Msida Malta, Montclair New Jersey, Davis California, Wayland Massachusetts, Bergen Norway, Socorro New Mexico, Monmouth Oregon, Yehud Israel, San Francisco California, Dallas Texas, Vacaville California, Burlington Canada, Oakville Canada, Senas France, Riyadh Saudi Arabia, Columbus Ohio, Landsberg Germany, Dearborn Michigan, Cairo Egypt, Oklahoma City Oklahoma, Toronto Canada, Tel Aviv Israel, Palos Verdes Peninsula California, Kerrville Texas, Lancaster Pennsylvania, Espoo Finland, Yekaterinburg Russia, Saint Francis Minnesota, Markham Canada, Lexington Park Maryland, Mississauga Canada, Mogilno Poland, Folsom California, Ludhiana India, Long Beach California, Amsterdam Netherlands, Cherry Hill New Jersey, Canton Ohio, Gorey Ireland, Oxford Maryland, Asheville North Carolina, Sioux Falls South Dakota, Asker Norway, Sydney Australia, Holon Israel, Las Palmas Spain, Mountain View California, Seattle Washington, Kefar Menahem Israel, San Antonio Texas, Islamabad Pakistan, Singapore Singapore, Helsinki Finland, Madras India, Saint Louis Missouri, Netanya Israel, Chicago Illinois, Courcay France, Kent Washington, Dhaka Bangladesh, Cleveland Ohio, Las Vegas Nevada, Ottawa Canada, Bonn Germany, Patchogue New York, Pompano Beach Florida, Medford Massachusetts, Buenos Aires Argentina, Haifa Israel, Snohomish Washington, Croydon Australia, Jacksonville Florida, Paterson New Jersey, Dothan Alabama, Costa Mesa California, Wichita Kansas, Toulouse France, Kuwait Kuwait, Batesburg South Carolina, Rimavska Slovakia, Helena Montana, Whitefish Montana, Milwaukee Wisconsin, Gan Yavne Israel, Bern Switzerland, Portland Oregon, Jamesville New York, Ramacca Italy, Charlottesville Virginia, White Plains New York, Liberty Lake Washington, Gijon Spain, Altadena California, Baltimore Maryland, Indianapolis Indiana, Decatur Georgia, Livermore California, Moscow Russia, Dulles Virginia, Dallas Texas, Atyrau Kazakstan, Karachi Pakistan, Raholt Norway, Laval Canada, Minsk Belarus, Vanerbijlpark South Africa, Moncton Canada, Istanbul Turkey, Bangkok Thailand, Mittelshuchting Germany, Melbourne Australia, Conway Great Britain, Beijing China, Madiun Indonesia, Kampala Uganda, Tallahassee Florida, Bremen Gernmany, Auckland New Zealand, Geulim Israel, Hanoi Vietnam, Pontypool Great Britain, Beirut Lebanon, Osaka Japan, Mumbai India, Bend Oregon, Sofia Bulgaria, Edmonton Canada, Ames Iowa, Ada Michigan, Somerville Massachusetts, Whittier California, Livingston New Jersey, Cookeville Tennessee, Mulberry Florida, San Jose Costa Rica, Port Moresby Papua New Guinea, Hayward California, Fort Walton Beach Florida, Sacramento California, Recife Brazil, Honolulu Hawaii, Bellport New York, Waldwick New Jersey, Medina Tennessee, Alpharetta Georgia, Rochester New York, Patrai Greece, Bowling Green Kentucky, Eagle Idaho, Minneapolis Minnesota, Watertown Massachusetts, Canton Ohio, St. Louis Missouri, Corvallis Oregon, Caulfield Australia, Mesa Arizona, Winston Salem North Carolina, Ludington Michigan, Blankenfelde Germany, Horgenzell Germany, Duisburg Germany, Dusseldorf Germany, Bergholz-Rehbrucke Germany, Rehoboth Beach Delaware, Bloomington Indiana, St. Paul Minnesota, Dacula Georgia, Birmingham Great Britain, Brunswick Maine, South Bend Indiana, Rancho Cordova California, Jonesboro Georgia, Wijchen Netherlands, Tucson Arizona, Las Vegas Nevada, Nanjing China, Colorado Springs Colorado, Lund Sweden, Glasgow Scotland, Germantown Maryland, Lisbon Portugal.
Your humble servant humbly thanks each and every one of you!
*Please note that the “Visitor Maps” feature on this website does NOT list all the visitors to the site–just a sampling; as administrator, your humble servant reads a complete listing each day.
UPDATE 9 am Israel time Monday:
The big news in Israel overnight has been rain! Stormy weather has occurred throughout the country, including flash floods in the Negev and sandstorms in Eilat. But that has not put a dent in Sukkot celebrations that began last night.
Just so you can see a picture of what an Israeli sukka looks like, I have included a picture of the one that my son and I built on our back patio a few days ago. You are all invited for dinner any night this week!
Our sukka here in Ashdod before the guests arrived last night. Note the palm fronds on top (and the dates on the corners). The bricks on the table were to hold down the table cloth in the heavy wind coming in from the Mediterranean about 500 meters away.
TODAY’S BLOG:
It is difficult, if not impossible, for a politician to let go of a delusion–particularly when that politician’s legacy is so invested in that delusion.
Take the grand Israeli delusion fostered by Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Ehud Barak (the latter in his role at the time as Chief of Staff of the IDF) back in 1993 with the Oslo Accords. Despite knowing that the PLO and Palestinians had never renounced violence, these men deluded an Israeli public starving for peace into believing that the Palestine Liberation Organization, aka the Palestinian Authority, was a partner for peace.
And then the murderous suicide bombings began in 1993.
This is what the delusion of Rabin, Peres and Barak produced--a generation of barbaric Palestinian bombers that murdered more than 1200 Israelis.
And then came a second Palestinian intifada with an even greater number of homicidal suicide bombings from 2000-2005.
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One hundred and seventy barbaric bombings later with more than 1200 Israelis dead and countless others physically or emotionally scarred for life, the Israeli public’s delusion that the Palestinians would ever be a partner for peace evaporated. And, it must be added that many in the Israeli “left” were shorn of their delusion as well. By the way the bombings did not stop because the PLO/PA suddenly found peace, they stopped because Israel built a homicide bomber prevention barrier.
Yet today two of the remaining architects of the delusion, Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak, tenaciously cling to their delusion about the PLO to the dangerous detriment of Israel and the Israeli people.
Ehud Barak’s outburst yesterday is a case in point.
Early last week, before PLO/PA leader Mahmoud Abbas left for New York, he gave a speech in Arabic in which he said that that there would be no peace until “all Jews are evacuated from Jerusalem, our holy city and the eternal capital of our state.” Then, Abbas took to the U.N. podium and in a speech that was supposed to have been conciliatory proceeded to viciously and fraudulently excoriate Israel for everything from “ethnic cleansing” to “brutal occupation, torture, and abuse.”
And for good measure, Abbas added: “Israel’s overall policy is ultimately leading to the weakening of the Palestinian National Authority, undermining its ability to carry out its functions and to implement its obligations, which threatens to undermine its very existence and threatens its collapse.”
In response to Abbas, Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman stated the obvious:
” . . . this was a speech of flagrant incitement and a verbal attack. This speech will make clear to all those who live with illusions and are not honest with themselves what are the true intentions of Abbas and what he is striving to reach. Instead of thanking Israel for saving the Palestinian Authority from financial and humanitarian collapse just a few days ago, Abbas chose to lie and slander Israel. Anyone who heard Abbas’s speech should understand that he does not intend and does not want to be a partner to a settlement with Israel.”
One would have thought that Lieberman’s remarks would have been met with universal approbation within the Israeli government, but Ehud Barak went crazy yesterday. Not only did he denounce Lieberman, he demanded that PM Netanyahu call an urgent Cabinet meeting on Israel’s relationship with the PLO/PA.
Barak, acting (not for the first time) as if he were the Israeli Prime Minister, declared: “Lieberman’s comments on the Palestinian Authority and its head do not represent the policy of the Israeli government, and harm Israel’s interests. If Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) and Salam Fayyad won’t rule Judea and Samaria, as Lieberman dreams they won’t, Hamas will.”
Barak’s delusion simply will not die. To people like him and Shimon Peres, the PLO’s Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies will always be Israel’s partners for peace–no matter what vile excrement they spew from the podiums of the world.
Never mind that the PLO’s Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh are one in the same–Abbas’ remarks at the U.N. could just as easily have been made by Haniyeh.
And here is a news flash for Ehud Barak (and PM Netanyahu): Hamas is currently in the process of taking over the Palestinian areas of Judea and Samaria. In doing so, it is using the same argument that resonated against the PLO in Gaza–namely that the PLO/PA is a bloated, corrupt organization that serves itself instead of the Palestinian people.
No matter how much Israel props up Abbas and his cronies, the PLO/PA is on its way out–a fact that most of the Arab donor countries have recognized during the last six months in refusing to fulfill their “donor pledges” to the PLO and shifting their money to Hamas in Gaza.
The obvious question is what will happen to the PLO/PA “security apparatus” that has been working with Israel to maintain order in Judea and Samaria. Probably the same thing that happened to them in Gaza–they will turn toward Hamas or be jailed. Either way, Judea and Samaria will become a more violent place, and there is nothing that Israel can do about it except prepare for that day and slightly delay its onset.
Just as the PLO/PA is on its way out, so should the delusional Ehud Barak be unceremoniously dumped from the Israeli government as soon as possible–perhaps at that meeting he wants called to criticize Lieberman.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.