I think French policy indicates that you can’t simply allow millions of immigrants (in their case, Muslim) into your country and then ghettoize them and prop them up with subsidized housing, all the while barring entry into good jobs. For the most part France and the EU has bought into the concept that allowing any immigrants from anywhere to come in, but the heavy-duty cradle to grave socialism, and it’s subsequent slow growth economy, simply cannot accomodate, much less assimilate, the new “citizens”. The result…

France’s Jewish population has been variously estimated at between 500,000 and 700,000 and its Muslim population at five million to six million. But French Jews here say the community has been depleted by frequent departures, the majority to Israel. Jewish Agency figures show that almost 14,000 French Jews have resettled in Israel since 2001.

These Jews have a lot of intellectual resources, and a lot of French capital. This is good for Florida and Israel, and ultimately bad for France. Regardless of any criticism of AIPAC or Israel, the suburban ghettos of France are far removed from Israel, and many of the French Muslims hail from nowhere near Palestine. Nonetheless, the Jews there are harassed and murdered by Muslims, regularly enough for the Jews to leave.

Great article on the resurrection of the Arab League proposal of 2002. I especially like the comment by Livni halfway down the page concerning a “symbolic” right of return. The next sentence is fascinating to me.

One of the best articles I’ve read in a long time. I really like Uri Avnery, and that a man can serve in the Israeli Knesset and now be a spokesperson for Palestinian rights and justice is a testament that peace could be achieved if only the zealots would get out of the way.

In order to retain my monthly membership as a contributor, a cool link about…purse bibles.

To be consistent with the current theme here, the money quote:

“Consider the plight of Rollie Massimino, the coach of the Villanova Wildcats . . . Villanova was ranked, well nowhere . . Several thousand years earlier there was another underdog group that didn’t have much to work with. They were called the Israelites.”

See y’all in January if not sooner!

Hezbollah: Coming Soon To Your Hometown

Ok, my last post Re: Israel until 2007.

Classy diplomacy from Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, the former Iranian ambassador to Syria. While ambassador to Syria (80s) he helped to found Hezbollah and has supplied Hezbollah with rockets ever since. He could sure teach ambassador whatshisname in Australia a thing or two about diplomacy, and tolerance. But I guess since he just wants to kill Jews and not make fun of their noses, this is probably a red herring.

In an interview with a Tehran newspaper on August 3, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, who, as Iran’s ambassador to Syria, helped found Hezbollah after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, boasted of the military experience that Hezbollah fighters gained while fighting alongside Iran during the Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s. Although Iran continues to deny that it is a major supplier of Hezbollah rockets, Mohtashamipour acknowledged that Hezbollah has medium-range Zelzal-2 missiles and short-range Katyusha rockets, which are both made by Iran. He also referred to the Hezbollah militia as Khomeini’s “spiritual offspring.”^[2]

He also wishes to forbid immigration of European and American Jews to Israel.

I didn’t want to do this, but Scottie put me up to it. I couldn’t find any logical way to defend the systematic racism of David Duke. I invite the millions and millions of Logifans out there to attempt to do so for themselves by clicking the link above (you’ll have to search his name) and coming to their own conclusions. Perhaps if the Isreali ambassador simply held a contest to pay cartoonists to insult Asians or Arabs, as Ahmadinejad had done against Israelis, he would have been fine. There’s good diplomacy. Excuse me while I NOT self-flagellate.

The above article makes some interesting points about the influence and history of AIPAC and Israel. In all honesty the Walt and Mearsheimer paper is a rather sober account and not an Israel bashing diatribe…however I think it does minimize the threat to Israel to makes it’s point. I haven’t read the whole W & M paper (dissertation, remember?) but I think it is a worthy read. I also think the above is a solidly researched history as well. I think there are bigger foreign policy threats to US than Israel, namely Iran and, in the long run, China. As mentioned in one of the previous links the Saudi lobby is probably more dangerous (i.e. representing a government which is far less of an ally than Israel, and highly tolerant of anti-American terrorists) than the Israel lobby.

Let me start by saying I have a lot of sympathy for the people of Lebanon. In my opinion the country of Lebanon has for the most part been an innocent bystander in the Arab-Israeli conflict, sending only token forces if any in the great battles against Israel. In many ways Lebanon is similar to Israel, a very fragile and small country. And it has been hijacked by some brutal people (Iran via Hizbollah) in the name of regaining Palestine. Only recently have they ousted Syrian secret police only to have the power vacuum filled literally by Israeli bombs and Hizbollah. I share the sentiment of the (warning this links to an Israeli website which is designed to burn the eyeballs of all peace and justice loving individuals) Lebanese PM when he says, “I Hope the (Lebanese) army will be the only military entity to be recognized by all residents of southern Lebanon ,” Amen, brother, and good luck with that.