13 Tammuz 5779
16 July 2019
PHOTO OF THE DAY:
“What did you do at summer camp?”
Graduation at a Palestinian summer camp yesterday.
There is nothing new about the above photo–we see ones like this every year at this time. Most summer camps run by the PLO and Hamas are simply militia camps for juniors where hatred for Israel is pounded into the kids’ heads.
Just out or curiosity, do you think that playing the kneeling Israeli soldier is a punishment or reward for achievements in camp?
The News On The Israeli Street
All Netanyahu all the time . . .
We are now exactly two months away from the next election. So what do you think was the main news story on Israeli television last night?
If you guessed another expose about PM Netanyahu, you are correct.
This one again involved Hollywood tycoon Arnon Milchan (remember the cigars and champagne?) and is beyond absurd. According to police-leaked testimony of former Netanyahu confidante Nir Hefetz, Netanyahu supplied an IAF helicopter to take Milchan to Amman to discuss a free trade zone near Eilat with King Abdullah.
It turns out that the helicopter was supplied by the Jordanians, not the IAF. But that did not stop 20 minutes of banal Israeli television news.
Following that on the news . . .
. . . came another 20 minutes about the supposedly “hideous” gay conversion comments by Education Minister Rafi Peretz—who is an orthodox rabbi.
Those comments came in a “gotcha interview” on Israel’s Channel 12 news.
Peretz was asked about his attitude toward LGBTs and specifically his opinion on conversion therapy. The question was asked with everyone in the world knowing how an orthodox rabbi would respond.
But what Peretz actually said:
“I respect every person, whoever they are. As a rabbi in Israel, I admit our Bible says other things [about gays]. But this doesn’t mean I’m giving them grades. I think that it is possible to change. I can tell you that I have deep familiarity on the issue of education, and I have also done it [sexual orientation counseling].”
He was then asked what would he say if a gay person came to him for advice. Peretz answered: “I would first of all embrace him, then I said let us think, let us learn, let us consider. The goal is that first of all he gets to know himself better and then he can decide.”
To say that Peretz’s comments have evoked a firestorm of criticism is an understatement. It ranges from gay pride demonstrations in the streets, to declarations from the Israeli teachers’ union this morning that if Peretz is not fired, it will call a strike at the beginning of the school year (of course, the teachers’ union finds a reason to strike at the beginning of every year).
We all know that gay conversion therapy is a discredited practice, but do you really think that Peretz should be fired?
Your humble servant thinks not. Peretz’s comments were thoughtful ones coming from the perspective of orthodox Judaism.
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TODAY’S BLOG:
Ehud Barak Sinks Ever Deeper Into The Epstein Quagmire
Former PM Ehud Barak in one of his favorite poses.
It was just a couple of days ago that FM Ehud Barak was issuing statement after statement to the media that his only involvement with convicted and now once-again accused sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was that of a partner in a business venture. Barak said more than once that he rarely saw Epstein.
It turns out that Barak’s relationship with Epstein was far deeper than that.
In an explosive interview to The Daily Beast yesterday, Barak said this:
“The man who introduced me to Epstein about 17 years ago was Shimon Peres. [I don’t remember if the event was in New York or Washington, but] there were many famous and important people, including, if I recall, both Clintons and hundreds of others.”
Say what? 17 years ago?
And what a selective memory–not remembering where the event was but happening to remember that Shimon Peres introduced him to Epstein and that the Clintons were there? Of course, it has been reported that Bill Clinton was a frequent flyer on Epstein’s personal jet called by reporters “The Lolita Express.”
Then Barak follows these selective memory tidbits with more:
“[I have met Epstein] more than 10 times and much less than a hundred times, but I can’t tell you exactly how many. I don’t keep count. Over the years, I’ve seen him on occasion.”
More than 10 and much less than 100: leading to Barak’s famous arrogance “I don’t keep count.” However many times Barak and Epstein met, it certainly appears to have been more than “on occasion.”
Barak continues by addressing the underlying accusation:
“I never attended a party with him. I never met Epstein in the company of women or young girls.”
Obviously, this is just hard to believe. Epstein continually partied and always in the company of women and young girls. We are supposed to believe that Barak met him between 10 and 100 times, and never saw Epstein in the company of women or young girls?
But wait, it all becomes even more sordid with Barak then saying that he did visit Epstein’s private Caribbean island–known to the locals as ‘Pedophilia Island’— “once, for several hours—and years after the publications about sex parties or orgies there [but] I’ve never been there at a party.”
Obviously, Barak knew full well about Epstein’s past activities on his island, and undoubtedly surmised they were still continuing. And notice that Barak never says that he didn’t engage in various activities while on the island; he merely says that he was never at a party there.
The point is that Epstein’s life on the island was a continual “party”–a party peopled by men illegally committing sex acts with underage girls.
Finally, the reporter for The Beast asks Barak if there is any chance a photograph of Barak with young girls might show up in some place like Epstein’s safe–where he apparently kept hundreds of such photos to use as leverage against numerous important people (the island was honeycombed with secret cameras).
Barak’s response: “There is no chance whatsoever.”
That may well be true, but given Barak’s selective memory and his proclivity to dissemble, one cannot help but wonder.
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.