Contribution to Academia in Israel

To the American Studies Association,
Thank you for reminding me to increase my annual end of the year contribution to the Ben Gurion University in Israel. The academic institutions of Israel have contributed much more to making the world a better place than you guys have.

Yityish Aynaw

Thank you, Yityish Aynaw for representing Israel in the Miss Universe competition and showing the world the diversity of the Jewish people. We hope to hear more from you in the future and that you will continue to make us all proud.

Anti-semitism in Malmo

In the year 2012 there was a medical meeting in Malmo, Sweden concerning a subject which particularly interests me. I did not attend because the city of Malmo has been the location of anti-Semitic physical as well as vocal attacks on the small Jewish community that lives there. To make matters worse, the mayor of Malmo, a person by the name of Ilmar Reepalu, does not recognize the anti-Semitism in his city but instead blames it on the Jewish community for not denouncing the State of Israel. That would be like blaming Catholics for not denouncing the Vatican. Why should we Jews have to denounce Israel? Mr. Reepalu wants us to be obedient to his ideas. I am sorry Mr. Reepalu. I have a brain and can think for myself. If you don't like me, I will travel elsewhere and spend my money somewhere other than in your city.

The Israel Palestine Relationship and Middle East Instability

There are people who say that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs is the root of instability in the Middle East. That is obviously incorrect. The turmoil in the Middle East is mainly due to conflict within the Arab and Moslem world, secular nationalists versus Moslem fundamentalists, Shiites versus Sunnis, and Iranians versus Arabs. The Jews have been a convenient scapegoat since before the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. If you can blame all your woes on Israel or the Jewish people, then you don't have to take responsibility for them yourself.
However, although the Israel/Palestine question is not the cause of instability in the Middle East, creating a stable relationship between Israel and Palestine that is reasonably accepted by both sides would go a long way in promoting the interests of both. It would make Israel less isolated and open Palestine to greater financial opportunities and stability. Actually with a little compromising, the common interests of both sides are greater than their differences. The cooperation that is actually going on already between Israel and the Arab world below the radar could come out into the open and blossom. It would not stop the conflicts that exist within the Arab and Moslem world, but it wouldn't hurt.

Visionary Israel

Some leaders have vision, but can't seem to make things happen on the ground. Others can pull things off on the ground but lack vision. Ehud Barak had the vision to offer Yassir Arafat the best deal that the Israeli people would have accepted at that time, but Arafat rejected it and started the Intifada. Netanyahu lacks the vision to offer the Palestinians a deal they can accept. He has the ability to keep things as they are with a temporary peace. The Israeli people are willing to accept the status quo because a temporary peace maintained by military superiority and a fence beats a present war. When Barak offered his best deal to Arafat, it was rejected. When Barak again tried to create a Palestine with a first step out of Gaza, the Palestinians elected Hamas and used Gaza as a base to fire rockets into Israel. My advice to the Palestinians is this. Cultivate and enable the visionary Israel of people like Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni, or you will be stuck with the Netanyahus.

Murder at Shopping Mall in Kenya

The mass murder by radical Moslem terrorists at a shopping mall in Kenya is an example of people who kill in the name of religion. This is not religion but a perversion of religion. The purpose of belief in God is to give meaning to life whether one is a Jew, a Moslem, a Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist, or any other Religion. These terrorists do not give life meaning but rather promote chaos. If one would say that the opposite of God is called Satan, then Satan is who they represent.

Obama and Syria

President Obama deserves credit for his handling of the Syria problem, at least so far. By holding his fire until the right time and then using the threat of American military power to move Putin and Russia to put pressure on Syria to give up the chemical weapons, he is promoting American interests at no cost to us. Our enemies know that he does not rattle the saber frivolously, but when he is pushed to act, he is ready to unleash American power. He means what he says. He said he would get Bin Laden and he did, something the Republicans were not able to do despite draining our economy, exposing the limits of our military, and weakening our strategic position in the attempt. Now on the news, we see that the leader of Iran wants to talk to us because the economic pressure we have put on his country is working. We should also give credit to Senator Mc Cain for playing the bad cop in good cop bad cop stance that helps President Obama in dealing with Putin. Putin is now in the position of siding with a corrupt frightened Syrian government that probably won't survive. Obama has to keep up the pressure to make sure that the Syrian government loses its ability to use chemical weapons again. He will do it.