Surely it is March Madness

 

Usually for March Madness one fills in their brackets with the sixty-four teams and then predicts the winners of each down to the national championship. It takes skill, knowledge and a fair share of luck. The March Madness I am referring to is society seemingly busting at the seams everywhere one looks. The recent shooting in Ferguson, Missouri where somebody used the cover of the crowd protesting outside the police headquarters building to shoot two police standing outside the building striking one in the shoulder and the other in the face. These police were not part of any investigation, had not shot anyone had not done anything to warrant this shooting other than they were police officers in Ferguson. This was a horrific act of violence which is unfortunately not all that unexpected especially when remembering the shooting of two police officers in New York City who were merely sitting in their squad car and were police and thus deserving of whatever they got. Disrespect for societal norms and authority is once again growing across the world. The protests which have taken place in much of Europe have also had their share of riotous behavior and the breaking of police lines to assault specific targets often with ties to Jews such as Synagogues and Jewish Schools and Yeshivas.

 

On another front the actions of European governments and the European Union have started yet another campaign against Israel by financing and erecting buildings and placing Arab businesses or families into these structures immediately as the finishing touches are being applied. All of these structures have been placed in Area C where Arab building is forbidden by the Oslo Accords. Area C was presumed to remain a part of Israel according to the layout and the assignments of rights to the lands in Areas A, B and C. Area A was presumed to belong to the Arabs while Area C was presumed to remain a part of Israel and Area B was the part to be negotiated as to where the actual border would be placed. Obviously the Europeans have chosen to nullify the Oslo Accords as far as the restrictions upon the Arab side while altering the particulars to make the rules even more stringent and restraining on the Israelis. There may even start once more the idea that all of Jerusalem must remain undivided and as such all of Jerusalem must be rewarded to the Arabs once again and then demand a five, or maybe a ten or even a twenty mile wide thoroughfare complete with an eight lane highway, dual rails for passenger train traffic, a third and fourth rail lines for goods traveling between the two parts of the Arab entity, a special wide two lanes in each direction for busses and another three wide lanes in each direction for trucks and tractor trailers and other commercial traffic, rest areas appropriately set along a scenic path for those who desire to walk between Judea and Samaria to Gaza or the other direction. This causeway and thoroughfare right of way would also become owned by the Arabs completing their state. When Israel demands to know how they are supposed to make transit from north of this zone to south of this zone it would not be surprising for the European Union, United Nations and President Obama to be backing a plan that everything south of the Arab thoroughfare would now belong to the Bedouin Tribes and be formed into the first ever Bedouin State where any claiming to be Bedouins may raise their families and tend their flocks. Israel would then what, be warned any actions against this equitable settlement of every problem that they should take it quietly before the world comes up with further divisions of the lands and reasons every Jew must be removed until every Jew resides in Tel Aviv. Kidding aside, and there are those who will claim that this would be a fair start to an agreement if only it addressed whatever other claim that could be imagined, Israel had faced some rather astounding votes taken to denounce her or to refuse to allow any academic interactions.

 

Such was recently voted upon in the London University where over two-thousand students, professors and other staff voted on whether to boycott all of Israeli academic institutions. The results were revealing as seventy-three percent favored the ban and sixty percent of the professors supported the ban. Fortunately this was simply a nonbinding resolution as the fact that a mere four-hundred-twenty-five people refused to accept and approve this motion is a frightening prospect that the new anti-Semitism, the anti-Israel or often referred to as the anti-Zionist platforms and resolutions are often introduced. It comes complete with the similar refrains such as I am not against Jews, just the Israeli government and the existence of Israel. Talk to these anti-Israel types and they will inevitably prove to be anti-Zionist as well. When asked to list exact things the Israeli government has committed they inevitably list the theft of Arab lands and the Occupation of Gaza and the (West Bank) Judea and Samaria. When asked if they hold similar opposition against China or Turkey you will mostly get the deer in the headlamps stare of complete vapid dumbfounded stare. Then you need to slowly coax these afflicted people back to life or they will stand there until they collapse and are hospitalized for suffering from some unidentified ailment. It has a name and it is unaware or creeping anti-Semitism. You have to explain that China swallowed Tibet around 1951 and has illegally occupied Tibet ever since and that Turkey invaded Cyprus in July 1974 and took half the island before being stopped and there the armistice lines was drawn and Turkey cemented their claim and hold on the northern half of Cyprus by kicking out the Greek citizens residing there and brought in families from Turkey and gave them the vacated houses. Now, if your poor afflicted person appears to have regained their composure you can ask again about if they hold any other nation responsible for their occupations and see if they have internalized the information you provided, the likelihood is nothing will have changed.

 

The good news was the last Liberian has been released from the hospital marking their final Ebola victim to have received treatment. It appears the fears of a worldwide pandemic were a bit premature but they also restricted travel out of the afflicted areas and may have prevented the spread of Ebola further. The heroic acts by many healthcare professionals who volunteered and placed themselves in the midst of the outbreak of this deadly disease should be lauded with high praise. They were likely instrumental in preventing the spread of this epidemic into the world and making it a pandemic. What is a pity is that it takes an emergency before many of us turn our attentions to some of the people who need assistance the most and instead join the protest which only requires one’s attention and time for a Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning spent carrying a sign for those few hours each week. Perhaps if one is truly dedicated to the cause they camp out at the protest site over the weekend and display their dedication and definitely join up if there is planned a stronger statement where specific targets are to be targeted. At the other end of the spectrum, an American aid worker who had volunteered in Ebola infected Africa to aid in battling the epidemic has tested positive for Ebola and will be admitted to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland to be treated. Our hopes and prayers are with this goodhearted person struck by the very ailment they had sought to relieve and treat in others living with them in Africa.

 

Further, the war against ISIS has taken a few baby-steps in containing and possible taking back the city of Tikrit in Iraq. Meanwhile, the Iraqi military and the militias have shocked their United States trainers and imbedded advisors who have complained to the Iraqi government that these forces have been committing atrocities. The reports claim that some of the atrocities committed by the Iraqi forces border on the same level of violence and disrespect for those captured and in their custody as have been leveled on ISIS. This had disturbed their American trainers and if not rectified could lead to the removal of all United States trainers and other support personnel. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said the images amounted to “disturbing and serious allegations.” Below are a pair of photos the first reveals a captive being either hung while blindfolded and restrained or actually having been flung from what appears to be a guard tower with the second depicting a man who had recently been dragged by a yellow rope tied to his right ankle. Both are examples of treatment of prisoners which is unacceptable from a properly trained military and are acts expected of the likes of al-Qaeda and ISIS, not United States trained troops.

 

captive ISIS suspect hanging from guard tower by Iraqi forces

 

Captive ISIS fighter who has just been dragged by his right leg by Iraqi Special Operations Forces from the “Golden Brigades”

 

 

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. the big news are the lost e-mails from her private internet server of Hilary Clinton. This is simply the latest in a maelstrom of troubles and tribulations which are surrounding Ms. Clinton leading some to question if she would even care to run for President and face an even more thorough investigation of her actions by a seeming hostile media. Of course the media cannot get tired of chasing down every lead or hint of misadventures by Hilary going forward. The real problem is that Hilary lacks in charm as much as her husband simply oozes charm which means every explanation she gives simply gets her deeper into the already deep mire of scandalous accusations. It is still our contention that Elizabeth Warren is the media chosen darling they hope will become the Democrat candidate for the 2016 Presidential elections. There are a number of potential candidates waiting in the wings but the odds of a democrat winning election to the White House is considered edgy as the odds of a candidate, other than the Vice President, of the same party who have held the White House for eight years are historically poor.

 

Also in the news is the continued fighting under the ceasefire in the Ukraine despite assurances from the Russians that they have nothing to do with the fighting. This leaves many to question where the rebel forces obtained their heavy weapons. Did they have howitzers in their basements, tanks and APCs in their garages and heavy machine guns hanging over the mantle atop the fireplace? The fighting in Syria continues with the death toll rising now estimated to be over two-hundred-thousand civilian lives alone and who knows how many fighters have died. In Nigeria media reports have apparently confirmed that elite South African mercenaries have joined with the forces at the front lines in Nigeria’s war against the extremist Islamic terrorists of Boko Haram. There is a fight worth waging but the world has mostly turned a blind eye to the struggles against Boko Haram which is just as necessary as is opposing ISIS. They have become one and the same as Boko Haram has officially tied themselves to ISIS and claim that they are fighting to establish the Caliphate. The same goes for the forces from Libya who have been announcing their intentions of invading Italy and taking control of Rome and with it Vatican City where they plan on making the cathedrals into Mosques and claiming supremacy over all of Christendom in the process. Such an assault would be a test for NATO and one which Putin would carefully watch for developments which might signal the death of NATO leaving additional nations Putin wishes to claim for Russia more readily assaulted if NATO has become ineffective by the witness to lack of concern or action in Italy. What a world we live in and yet, somehow we each and every one of us make it to the market and have milk in the refrigerator and can pop some popcorn and watch sports or other television allowing us the serenity of ignoring the crazy madness all around us.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

What the Post Ferguson Riot’s Commentaries Taught Me

 

After having the unpleasant experience of reading a small number of articles through which the reactions from numerous American Jewish rights groups officially released statements, amongst these groups included two statespersons from the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) plus spokespersons from JCPA (Jewish Council for Public Affairs) and AJWS (American Jewish World Service); the commentary from these and other rights groups were virtually interchangeable. The only addition to the Jewish rights groups’ commentary was the addition of mentioning how Jews should be more sensitive to racial injustice due to the historic injustices the Jewish people have faced over the dozens of centuries, an addition which probably was more destructive than it was informative. It is not that the Jews have not suffered from injustices since the times of slavery in Egypt to the current problems facing Jews across many European cities, on campuses throughout the world including within the United States, across the Arab and Muslim worlds, and even within the borders of Israel from terrorist groups and oft even from fellow Jews who have joined those for whom the simple existence of Jews in Israel is sufficient offense in their hearts and minds; it is that such prefacing is unnecessary and even more-so if it is being implemented in order to spur an emotional response from other Jews, as these were general statements which would be published throughout the United States and potentially beyond and as they appeared to separate the Jews from the rest of society and place within them a special ability to be the adjudicators of social justice, an ability based on offenses which the majority of Jews have never experienced, especially in the United States. But what was also a basis for most of these commentaries was the implication that there had been a miscarriage of justice by the grand jury not deciding to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of Michael Brown on that fateful day in Ferguson, Missouri.

 

What struck me about these virtually identical reactions to the grand jury’s verdict was not so much their refusal to even consider any of the evidence from the investigation but their ability to automatically side with the rioters cause and complaints even as they claimed that the rioting was not an appropriate answer. Then came their broadening their convictions of American society for not having actually made any real progress over the past half a century since the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and the presumption that racism was still rampant across American society. They then went on in many cases to point to particular evidences that such racism was still prevalent which included such items as that black students are suspended or expelled from our public schools at a much higher rate than white students, a higher rate of arrests and convictions and longer jails sentences for black Americans over white Americans, and, as was stated in one commentary, “there are many other examples that show the continuing racial divide.” These cited perceptions give away the progressive liberal perspective which shapes the lens with which these rights groups view the world and how they simply accept every canard which paints American society with a broad brush of having made no progress over the last fifty years despite the glaring evidence that shows a world of change has taken place transforming American society into a virtually post-racial America. The reason these groups refuse to credit the average American and the society they collectively produce with having made any progress is because if progress has been achieved then they have less of a cause celeb with which to bludgeon the social fabric and demand continued funding in huge proportions in order to continue to collect their over bloated salaries and pontificate ponderously at great length about the ills of society which their social engineering will eventually lead the way to an enlightened society. These are the same people and the same perspective which looks across the United States and continues to believe that there has been no progress in combating pollution and feel that the air quality, water quality and the general levels of pollution are identical to what is was fifty years ago. They continue to believe that Los Angeles is smog bound, Denver sits in a brown dome of polluted air, Lake Erie is still choked with nitrates and no fish live within and the Cuyahoga River still catches fire every summer. I guess the correct concept here would be for these people to wake up and smell the roses, even on the banks of the Cuyahoga River which if it is flashing anything it is the bright sunlight through the crisp clean air sparking off the scales of the tiny fish living in that once polluted river.

 

The main realization that came over me was how these same Jewish organizations could continuously protest that they knew best how to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict if only those Israelis in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ruling coalition would listen to their sagely wisdoms. These were the same American Jews who agreed with one single idea from the entire eight years during President George W. Bush’s administration; and that was the idea for Israel to pull up every last single Jewish resident, every last IDF and other security forces, every single Jewish business, farm and factory from within the entirety of the Gaza Strip and turn it all over to Arab rule trusting that Mahmoud Abbas would then transform the areas freed of any Jewish influences into the Arab version of Hong Kong or Shanghai. Well, as we all know, that worked out just exactly as predicted, just not how they had predicted and instead became the Hamas run rocket launching and tunnel headquarters financed and armed by Qatar and Iran and dedicated to wiping out Israel and then murdering every Jew on the planet. Now many of these same geniuses are the ones in the fore calling for Israel to repeat this disengagement this time with Judea and Samaria so that the rest of Israel can enjoy the same horrors as Sderot and the Gaza Strip kibbutzim and towns with twenty-four/seven rockets raining down on their lives except this time the rockets will be falling on the most densely populated and industrial heartlands of Israel as well as onto Ben Gurion International Airport really giving President Obama reasons to ban all commercial flights into Israel as well as most of the world joining in on that boycott. Simply put, such an idea would be the fastest way to guarantee either the death of Israel or the final war between Israel and any Arab presence between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Such a move would lead within a few short months to an us or them situation leading inexorably to a final war.

 

One might think that there would be a name for people who no matter the evidence they refuse to alter a single iota of their perfect little plan to right all the wrongs in the world. Those who constantly will point out the obvious truth which makes their presentation of these tried and failed ideas worth another go around, that being that they were not the ones entrusted with the reins of power and if they would be trusted, then this time it will work as it should in a perfect world. Never mind that their promise sounds remarkably like the promise made by those who have tried these exact same ideas before when they were the ones promising they could make it work. I think I have figured out what the appeal of making such ridiculous and absurd claims has to be; they have noted that those who made this claim before and failed just as miserably as every other attempt at righting the ills of human societies, those leaders lived extravagantly with every opulence and overindulgence imagined by man and never suffered for want of any sort and were completely removed from the squalor and degradations that they were causing. Perhaps that is their hope for getting it right, that it will be right from their viewpoint and not so much the rest of us. Whatever Pollyannish thinking they try to pass off as eternal wisdom they are selling as the solution, be it for the rioting resulting from the correct verdict reached by the Ferguson grand jury or their solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, be assured that any prudent and wise person should steer well clear of their suggestions and take a more reasoned route which has proven prudential and workable in the past rather than trust those who claim that if only we let them take charge this time all will be well. Somehow calling these people progressive is almost as absurd as when we referred to them as liberals as they are about as close to libertarian as they are to progress, true and real progress.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

What Ferguson Riots and Temple Mount Have in Common

 

The rioting in Ferguson and across numerous other major cities in the United States has much in common with the Palestinians rioting on the Temple Mount, over many of the major Arab neighborhoods across Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem as well as assaults against any Israeli vehicles with rocks and the assaults on police with rocks, explosive fireworks and fire bombs in almost every confrontation with law enforcement. Anyone watching the riots in the United States the similarities become obvious as the rioting mobs have overturned police vehicles and other vehicles, throwing fire bombs at stores and police officers, assaults on police officers and media personnel both camera persons and reporters alike and lastly there have been recorded confrontations of protesters against fellow protesters who apparently did not get the memo that they were not invited to join the ‘demonstrations’. In both sets of rioting and disorder the main reason behind both is the feeling of a need to make public their feeling of discontent with the society and demanding exclusive rights and special treatment especially by law enforcement and other official state representatives. Both are responses ginned up by the leadership of their communities who have proclaimed that they have been cheated in life and that the shooting of somebody from their communities who had committed a serious crime that resulted in being killed by a member of law enforcement assumedly without cause despite every review and legal review found the shootings to be in line with the legal and department regulations and guidelines.

 

Ferguson offers a similarity which comes from their complete indignation and refusal to end their violent protests and destructive actions even in the face of evidence that runs counter to their narrative. In both instances they have been delivered a story line which runs counter to the truth and is designed to garner anger and revulsion aimed at those who are different from them no matter how slim the difference, they are revolting against the defined other. In Ferguson the other is the police, police of any racial origin, against the authorities who run a fixed game against the riotous people, against the investigative arm of the law, a grand jury with an integrated composition all of which agreed with the findings of no charges were required by the law, and these riots were instigated and led by instigators which were provided by organizations which plan to make political gain from the rioting and may have even paid the leading instigators sent to rile up the crowds and maintain a level of agitation which will spark continuous rioting and destructions.

 

Across Israel and particularly in Jerusalem and atop the Temple Mount we have seen the parallel to the rioting in Ferguson with the major difference being that there will be no end to the riotous behavior as their incitement will continue at an ever higher levels and are instigated with an aim to continue their violence until either Israel has been eradicated or until the rioters and their leadership are defeated and been removed from Israeli society and lands, all the lands as defined in San Remo and defined in agreements between the Zionist Congress and the British Mandate which allowed for the founding of the Palestinian Arab State of Transjordan which later became simply Jordan in return for the guarantee into perpetuity that the lands west of the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea inviolate and presumably guaranteed by the British Crown. The rioting within the borders of Israel are demanding that the Israelis, especially the Jewish and other non-Muslims, be removed from all lands which the Arabs claim is holy lands and demanding that any and all lands which have ever been tread, let alone governed even if from afar, be returned to them with all other than Muslim being forced to accept Dhimmi second level lesser citizens who live at the convenience of their Muslim betters who may revoke any privilege including the privilege of life at their slightest whim. For reasons which apparently are beyond the Arabs’ abilities to understand the Israelis, the Jews and many Druze in particular, refuse to accept being reduced to that of conquered people with less rights than any privileged group who would have complete control over every aspect even to include their lives. The fight in Israel between Israel and the Arabs living within Israeli borders, which includes two distinct areas where the Israelis are permitting the Arabs to have complete autonomy, Gaza and Area A and much of Area B in Judea and Samaria (renamed deliberately by Jordan to remove all reference to the historic names which directly indicated their Jewish roots as being part of the Jews ancient homelands), is not over ownership of any lands which can be divided or over rights or anything beyond the greater conflict which is pitting Islam against the Western World, India and the Buddhist and Hindu lands, Russia by the Chechens, China against the Uyghurs living in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on into central China, the Philippines conflict with the Moro Islamic rebels living mostly on the islands of the Mindanao region, the Nigerians and spilling into the lands of Cameroon, Niger, Chad and others regional nations against the Boko Harem Islamist militant revolutionaries, the South Sudan with the Sudan even after their separation and recognition as an independent nations, and the rest of the twenty-some places where Islamic forces are engaged in violent conflicts with their neighbors or engaged in revolutionary activities within a national border.

 

In Israel the conflict and violence is about a religious war where Islamic forces are demanding that they be granted their rightful position of superiority over the other religions and peoples as they claim is their right as described in their Quran. The riotous behavior within Israel is being incited and reinforced daily by statements by Mahmoud Abbas and other leaders within the Arab society; the leaders and officers of the terror groups Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and others; incitement fed directly through all forms of media including television stations run by Fatah and Hamas, radio programs by numerous Islamist sources, UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) run schools; Hamas and Fatah run schools and madrassas; comics and newsprint propaganda and often stories and lessons taught by family members which encourage their children to take up violence or potentially become suicide murderers who assault Israeli targets with targets with Jewish roots preferred in order to commit atrocities such as the recent assault on the Synagogue where four Rabbis and a Druze police officer lost their lives and near a half dozen others were injured seriously despite the location of the synagogue in the ancient Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Har Nof in West Jerusalem located several miles west of and within the Green Line 1949 Armistice Line which defines the pre 1967 lines between Jordan occupied lands and Israel.

 

The rioting on the Temple Mount has been a direct result to Mahmoud Abbas inciting that any Jew setting foot on the Temple Mount is a desecration to the al-Aqsa Mosque despite the fact, as inconvenient as it may be, that the al-Aqsa Mosque was built on an area which is part of the Temple Mount which was added during the time of King Herod and after the building of the Second Temple and is not on the holy lands of the First Temple or the Second Temple which are believed to have been built over the same areas and having similar dimensions. The implication is that the al-Aqsa Mosque covers the entirety of the Temple Mount despite its location in a corner of the large plaza. Abbas has referred to Jews visiting the Temple Mount even in small groups of not more than a dozen and usually less than six at any time as herds of unclean beasts stampeding and trampling holy Islamic lands and an action which must be fought violently as constant rioting will prevent the Jews from being permitted to ascend to the Temple Mount because the Jewish leaders are timid and afraid of the rioting Muslims and Muslims in general. The unfortunate item is that Prime Minister Netanyahu and much of the Israeli security forces and those responsible for the Temple Mount have reacted to the rioting by suspending the rights for Jews to ascend to the Temple Mount in order to mollify the Arabs thus presumably leading to a lessoning of the instigations which are spurring the riotous behavior. That could not be further from the truth as the timidity before the Islamist violence is rewarding of their behavior and will only serve to feed the hunger to continue these riots on into the future because they are accomplishing the desired ends and are keeping Jews from being permitted to ascend the Temple Mount. The only answer to this violence and the only way to bring it to an end would be to gather groups of Jews, preferably in the hundreds, and march them en-masse onto the Temple Mount using one of the entrances more accommodating a large group especially if it is one of the entrances the Jordanian Waqf insists is for Muslims only and forbidden to all others, especially Jews. Such a display performed daily, better yet three or four times every day including on Shabbat if possible without compromising the blessings of the Sabbath. Perhaps such will come to be and should it come to fruition, please drop us an e-mail from our homepage and we will do our best to attend, at least I would make any effort to join such a blessed event. One dreams.

 

Beyond the Cusp