Ten Ways To Tell if You’re an Anti-Semite (with apologies to David Letterman)

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Nemo

10. You’re careful to specify that you’re not an anti-Semite, only anti-Zionist.

9. Your definition of a non-violent protest is one in which the Palestinians only throw rocks and Molotov cocktails.

8. You think Israel is a racist state because it’s mainly for Jews, but you don’t think the 52 Islamic states are racist because they’re mainly for Muslims.

7. You think BDS (Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions) just wants Israel to go back to its 1967 borders (that are in reality the 1949 Armistice lines).

6. You believe that the Mavi Marmara, one of the six ships sent from Turkey to break the Israeli blockade of Hamas-run Gaza, was just carrying aid to the Palestinians.

5. You believe that suicide bombing against Israeli civilians is okay, but you’re horrified at the Boston bombing.

4. You believe that Palestinians can do what they want to Israelis, but any counter measures by the Israelis are automatically war crimes.

3. You’re willing to speak out and volunteer for the Palestinian cause, but you wouldn’t do so for the Tibetan, Cypriote, Kurdish or other causes.

2. You feel that because you’re against many of the things the West does, including capitalism and intervention in Third World countries, that you automatically have to be against Israel, the invention of the West.

1. After reading the above nine reasons, you still think you’re only anti-Zionist.

The Jerusalem Post Conference and Caroline Glick

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Nemo

The second annual Jerusalem Post Conference, subtitled Fighting for the Zionist Dream, was held in New York City rather than Jerusalem – probably to attract the widest possible audience of supporters of Zionism and Israel.

The highlight of the conference was the speech and later panel appearance by the polarizing senior contributing editor of the Jerusalem Post and editor of Latma, Caroline Glick.

Latma, which is similar in concept to Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show except with satirical songs thrown in, depicts two leftist and clueless television reporters editorializing on the current Israel-related news. Cutting through all the propaganda surrounding events, such as the Mavi Marmara flotilla, the songs can be devastatingly funny and spot-on accurate. The flotilla song We Con the World (sung to the tune of We are the World) drew millions of hits and was worth more to the Israeli side than any hasbara, as it countered the exasperated horror routinely expected from the Arab world and the EU. To say that Ms. Glick is an Israeli national treasure would be an understatement.

Born into a middle-class Jewish home in Chicago, she was raised in a traditional left-leaning liberal environment. After making aliyah to Israel, she claimed to have come to understand realpolitik. To her, leftists are fools who wish for a world that doesn’t and will never exist. For example, the fact that Israelis, Americans, and the European countries want there to be peace in the Middle East and want there to be a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, doesn’t mean that the Palestinians or the Arab world wants the same. She believes that the Palestinians will never give up the idea of the destruction of Israel and at best will yield to a two-stage solution in which the Jewish state is first stripped of defensible borders and is then attacked with missiles and bombs until it is defeated, whether it takes decades or centuries. She has a long-term strategist’s view of the Middle East that is not pleasant, but certainly devastating.

Thus, when she speaks even to a pro-Israel audience, she can be condescending, and when she replies to other speakers, she can be dripping with sarcasm and animus. She is like an elementary school teacher who must tell a clueless kindergartner over and over again not to place his wet hand over an electrical outlet. Like the greater public, the student never quite gets the danger even if he is shocked over and over.

Like Snidely Whiplash, the evil enemy of Dudley Do-Right in Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, she curled her lip in a snarl that said it all. Except in this version, she was the hero and Dudley was a dud who didn’t know what he was doing. She is brilliant, incisive, cutting and just a shade paranoid. But in the world she lives in, paranoia can be life saving.

So is she the wunderkind of Israeli politics or just the enfant terrible? Maybe she is just an acerbic Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who, against the wishes of his superiors, railed at the UN against the passing of the Zionism is Racism resolution in 1975. I believe she is a brilliant person – with a blind spot. That is, she doesn’t see that we Americans do see what an impossible and unfair situation Israel is in. Where anything Jews do is biased and under-handed, whereas whatever their opponents do is above-board and laudable. Where suicide bombing and indiscriminate rockets are simply tools of resistance, but Israeli defense is a war crime. Where an American Jew is accused of dual loyalty if he supports Israel, but an Irish American is just supporting his heritage when he supports Ireland. Where 12 million Jews are said to control the world, while a billion Moslems are helpless and a billion Christians wring their hands in silence. In such a world, it is not surprising that Caroline Glick is angry and frustrated. It is only surprising that more of us citizens of the world are not.

Glick does not think too highly of Americans. When she started her presentation, she stated that she would much rather speak on another topic, but that we Americans needed to hear her. She said that the purpose of the BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) movement was the destruction of the state of Israel, not just the elimination of Israel from the West Bank. She asked why Jews are inviting anti-Semites, including former President Carter and BDS members to speak at Jewish forums? Are we fools and dupes?

After the 1973 Israeli–Arab war in which Israel conquered the West Bank, part of Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, the international left abandoned Israel. Leftist Jews now join with Israel’s enemies to destroy it, while stating how courageous they are. But Israel and American Jews need each other, and might not survive without each other. There is an unwillingness to call things by their names. These are uncomfortable truths. Glick is very angry but still hopeful.

My problem with Caroline Glick is that I think the majority of Americans, including a majority of Jews, do understand Israeli-Arab problems and the unremitting prejudice against Israel from the Arab world, many EU countries, and especially the UN. I see a perceptible turning to Israel even among the twenty-somethings who are traditionally more to the left of the political spectrum. , the contemporary news site of the young, has gotten consistently more pro-Israel in its reader comments. Several years ago, the majority of the readers’ comments were anti-Israel; today, the majority are either pro-Israel or at least understanding of its positions. In fact, I see that Israel today is in a far stronger position than its friends think and its enemies desire.

Debunking Fake Albert Einstein Quotes

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Boma

Last updated on May 2, 2013

The reason for the proliferation of so many fake quotes attributed to Einstein is that he has become synonymous with genius and wisdom. Surely, if Einstein had said these things, then they must be wise indeed!

This post will examine popular quotes on the internet that have been falsely or mistakenly attributed to Albert Einstein.

I will update this page as more fake Einstein quotes circulate the internet. Please post a comment for any questions or corrections.

Fake Quotes Attributed to Einstein

1. “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

This false quotation is commonly printed on self-help and motivation posters. While the sentiment is nice, there is no evidence Einstein ever said this.

The first appearance of this quote is from (2004) by Matthew Kelly, p. 80, however there is no evidence of it being printed prior, and no evidence Einstein said it.

The quote is probably based on (1940) by George Reavis, where a fish goes to school and is required to work on his running and climbing. The Animal School was reprinted in 1999 and may have influenced Matthew Kelly or someone else to create this fake attribution.

Another alternative is that the false quotation is based on what Einstein Self-Portrait (1936),

What is significant in one’s own existence one is hardly aware, and it certainly should not bother the other fellow. What does a fish know about the water in which he swims all his life?

This real quotation may have influenced the false one above.

2. “It would be my greatest sadness to see Zionists do to Palestinian Arabs much of what Nazis did to Jews.”

There is no recorded evidence that Einstein ever said this quotation.

The motivation for this fake quote should be apparent. It would be beneficial to pro-Palestinian activists to show that a paragon of wisdom, and a Jew himself no less, was also pro-Palestinian and/or anti-Israel.

This fake quotation also compares Zionists to Nazis, which is suspicious because Einstein was a supporter of Labor Zionism. However, Einstein did sign an in 1948 that said, “Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the “Freedom Party” (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties.” The fake quote originally posted above, may have been inspired from this open letter.

3. “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

This is another fake motivational/inspirational quote attributed to Einstein. The first recorded instance I found of this quote is from (2010) by Alice Calaprice and Freeman Dyson on p. 481, however Alice lists the quote under the “Probably Not By Einstein” section.

There is no evidence Einstein ever said this quote, and frankly it doesn’t sound like something Einstein would say, as he was a highly logical individual.

4. “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”

This quote is actually written by E. F. Schumacher in a 1973 essay titled “Small is Beautiful” which appeared in The Radical Humanist: volume 37, .

This first false attributions of this quote to Einstein began to circulate on the internet in 1997, and then later appeared in print in BMJ: The British Medical Journal, volume 319, 23 October 1999, .

5. “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

There is no evidence Einstein ever said this. The likely origin of this quote is from the Basic Texts of Narcotics Anonymous, which is the first known source of this quote. The Basic Texts were first drafted to members in 1981 and published in 1983.

6. “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.”

There is no first hand source of Einstein’s writing or speeches that contains this quote. The first appearance of this quote that I can find is in (2006) by Robert E. Hinshaw, . In this book Hinshaw quotes Gilbert Fowler White’s Journal of France and Germany (1942 – 1944) as the original source of the quote. It is here that Gilbert Fowler White wrote,

“As I look back over the truly crucial events in my life I realize that they were not planned long in advance. Albert Einstein said, ‘There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.’”

The most likely source of Gilbert’s for an Einstein quote on miracles would be David Reichenstein’s Die Religion der Gebildeten (1941), which was released a year prior to Gilbert’s Journal. It is here that Reichenstein asks Einstein about Arthur Liebert’s theory that uncertainty and indeterminism in quantum mechanics allows for the possibility of miracles. Einstein replied that he could not accept the argument because it dealt “with a domain in which lawful rationality does not exist. A miracle, however, is an exception from lawfulness; hence, there where lawfulness does not exist, also its exception, i.e., a miracle, cannot exist.”

Gilbert Fowler White may have inadvertently invented this Einstein quote based on his understanding of Einstein’s above.

Will There Ever Be Peace Between Israel and the Palestinians?

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Nemo

If you really want to be depressed, contemplate the chance of success for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The issues between them seem insurmountable.

As long as Israel holds the West Bank it is ruling a recalcitrant population. But if it withdraws to the 1967 borders, which are in reality the 1949 armistice lines, the narrow middle of the country could be cut in half by an Arab/Palestinian attack.

Israel is composed of leftists and secularists who are willing to withdraw
from some or all of the West Bank. It is also composed of the right and the ultra-religious, some of whom are willing to live in peace in the West Bank with the Palestinians, whether the area is called Judaea and Samaria or Palestine.

The Palestinians seem to want the West Bank Judenrein, something it was not before the Jordanians invaded in 1948. Given the current realities, it is not possible to get 500,000 religious and nationalistic Jews to withdraw without an Israeli civil war.

Based on history, if Israel does withdraw, the future of peace is less than assured.
When Israel withdrew from Lebanon, it got Hezbollah; when it withdrew from Gaza,
it got Hamas. If it withdraws from the West Bank, it could get a militarized Palestine
importing arms and rockets from Syria, Lebanon and Gaza. If Jordan falls to the
majority Palestinian inhabitants, the future is bleak for Israel.

When the Palestinians speak in English, they proclaim that Israel must withdraw
to the 1967 borders. When they speak in Arabic, they frequently say that the Jewish state of Israel must be destroyed and that not one inch of the area can ever be in Jewish hands.

The western press and many of their reporters who lean to the left always seem to favor the underdog. Israel is far stronger than the Palestinians, so there is little doubt of their allegiance. The UN, with a core of Arab and other third-world countries, is understandably anti-Israel, sometimes even shading into anti-Jewish. With more than twenty wars going on between Islamic extremists and what they consider to be infidels, it is surprising that the UN mostly criticizes Israel. Or maybe not.

With Israel’s hundreds of nuclear and other sophisticated weapons, you would have
to be insane to try to destroy it. The Arab terrorist groups must know what the
endgame would be. The question is: Are they fanatical enough to try it anyway?

Justice and Freedom Deteriorating in Palestine

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Boma

In the past month the Palestinian Authority has been repeatedly interfering in the affairs of journalists and judges. Five journalists have been arrested this month by the Palestinian Authority security forces. The Palestinian Authority claimed that the journalists were inciting against the PA leadership, and were supporting Hamas. Two of the journalists still remain in jail.

One of the journalists, Walid Khaled, was ordered to be released by a judge, but the Palestinian Authority has so far refused to comply.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate called for the journalists’ release, and warned that freedom of expression had “seriously deteriorated” in the West Bank.

Palestinian judges have recently gone on strike to protest the Palestinian Authority’s repeated attempts to interfere in the judicial system. Hasan Khraisheh, deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said that the Palestinian Authority was trying to seize control over the judiciary system by appointing its supporters to senior positions.

The Palestinian Authority has tried to to install the justice minister as attorney-general, and has tried to pass laws without consulting the PLC, both of which would violate the constitution.

“We want to be fully independent in our work“, said Ibrahim Amr, chairman of the Palestinian Judges’ Society. “We don’t want anyone or any party to interfere with our work.” He added, “This marks the beginning of the collapse of the Palestinian judicial system“.

The Tragedy of Rachel Corrie

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Nemo

A few weeks ago an Israeli Court decreed that Israel was not responsible for the death of International Solidarity Movement activist Rachel Corrie. Corrie was killed a decade ago trying to prevent an Israeli bulldozer from leveling Palestinian houses near underground tunnels by the border of Gaza and Egypt during the Second Intifada. Those on the left will say that she was a martyr to the cause; those on the right that she got what she deserved. It seems to me that she was a troubled young lady who was used by those around her for their own ends. She was in a war zone and people — militants, reporters or innocents frequently die.

We do know that the ISM believes Israel is an illegal state and deserves to be destroyed. We know that it and/or she placed herself in harm’s way. We also know that a dead martyr is far more powerful than a living one.There are two photos of her that I think show who she really was. In the first, she is burning a mock American flag surrounded by a multitude of young Palestinians. She seems to be screaming and her face is apparently contorted with hate. In the second, she is giving an interview shortly before her death. She looks worried, as if she is in way over her head.

Rachel Corrie - Interview

The tragedy of Rachel Corrie is a young woman full of promise, however misguided, who was never allowed to grow up and see the world as it actually is. Over the past 10 years, she has been made into a plastic saint by the left and a whore literally servicing Hamas by the right. I believe she was a young, idealistic, confused woman who has been used by many, including the ISM, the Palestinians, the left and even her own parents, to make her something she was not. I feel that she will never have a full life because the ideology of others was considered more important than her life.

The Insane Quotes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Boma

The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a controversial and polarizing figure.

His wide ranging statements include Holocaust denial, insinuations that Israel should be destroyed, declaring that the United States has never won a war, and saying that there are no homosexuals in Iran.

There is some debate whether Ahmadinejad has seriously called for Israel to be destroyed, or whether he meant that Israel’s form of government should end. The truth is he has called for both – for Israel to be destroyed, and its government to be ended.

Below is a list of statements made my Mahmoud Ahmadinejad categorized by Holocaust denial, statements on Israel, statements on the United States, and statements on technology and culture.

Holocaust Denial

“They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets. The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets, (it) deals very severely with those who deny this myth but does not do anything to those who deny God, religion, and the prophet. If you have burned the Jews, why don’t you give a piece of Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to Israel? Our question is, if you have committed this huge crime, why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime?” Source: Jewish Virtual Library (December 2005)

“Of course, some governments and their people always hated the Jews because of the ugly conduct of some of them. They wanted to drive the Jews out of Europe. But anti-Semitism was planned mainly by some European governments and politicians, and by the Zionist network. They made hundreds of films, wrote hundreds of books, spread rumors, and conducted psychological warfare, in order to drive them away, to the land of Palestine. Four or five years after World War II, they suddenly claimed that during that war, the Holocaust affair had taken place. In other words, according to their claims, several million Jews were burned in the crematoria. They created two slogans. The first was about the injustice suffered by the Jewish people. By means of lies, very twisted propaganda, and psychological warfare, they created the notion that the Jews suffered injustice, and, secondly, that they needed a land and an independent state. They acted so effectively that some of the world’s politicians and intellectuals were also deceived and influenced.”
Source: MEMRITV (September 18, 2009)

“If the Holocaust that you talk about was real, why don’t you allow the subject to be studied? One can freely research any issue, except for this issue, which is sealed. It is a black box, which they do not allow to be opened or reexamined. They do this in order to exploit it.”
Source: MEMRITV (September 18, 2009)

On Israel

“Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury.”
Source: CNN (October 27, 2005)

“There is no doubt that the new wave in Palestine will soon wipe off this disgraceful blot from the face of the Islamic world.”
Source: Al Jazeera (October 26, 2005)

“Today too, the most important issue in the world is Palestine. If a war breaks out in Iraq, we believe it is due to the provocation of the Zionists. If it happens in Afghanistan, it is because of their provocation. If Sudan is oppressed, it is due to Zionist seduction. We consider all the arrogant, colonialist schemes to be inspired by the Zionists.”
Source: MEMRITV (September 18, 2009)

“The world powers established this filthy bacteria, the Zionist regime, which is lashing out at the nations in the region like a wild beast.”
Source: Jerusalem Post (February 20, 2008)

“Death to Israel! Death to Israel!”
Source:

“I want to tell them (western countries) just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out.”
Source: Democracy Now! (December 13, 2006)

“The establishment of the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world.”
Source: Worldpress (October 30, 2005)

“Our dear Imam said that the occupying regime [Israel] must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement… I have no doubt that the new wave that has started in Palestine, and we witness it in the Islamic world too, will eliminate this disgraceful stain from the Islamic world.”
Source:

“Confronting this regime and opposing Zionists are a national duty, as well as religious and Islamic duty, and a human duty. Even the people of Europe and America despise the Zionists. They hate them. They feel humiliated by the Zionists, who are a burden on them.”
Source: MEMRITV (September 18, 2009)

“I believe that with the complete formation of the global Zionist network, they have seized control of the fate of the European governments, and of the US government. To the independent countries in the world, I would like to say: You should know that the influence of the Zionist network on your culture, your politics, and your economy is tantamount to a violation of your independence. They cling like ticks. The moment they gain influence, they never stop.”
Source: MEMRITV (September 18, 2009)

On the United States

“The United States has never entered a serious war, and has never been victorious.”
Source: The Atlantic (September 21, 2010)

“Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism? You should know that this slogan, this goal, can certainly be achieved.”
Source: New York Post (September 23, 2007)

Technology and Culture

“We will convert the entire world to Islam with our logic. We are confident that the Islamic logic, culture, and discourse can prove their superiority in all fields over all schools of thought and theories.”
Source:

“In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country. […] In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don’t know who’s told you that we have this.”
Source:

“Is there art that is more beautiful, more divine, and more eternal that the art of martyrdom? A nation with martyrdom knows no captivity. Those who wish to undermine this principle undermines the foundations of our independence and national security . . . The message of the (Islamic) Revolution is global, and is not restricted to a specific place or time . . . Allah willing, Islam will conquer what? It will conquer all the mountain tops of the world.”
Source:

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