Nationalist Mutiny Spreads in Israels Military

Ah, the crazy is growing fast and furious on the ground, and your Intrepid Traveler has but to stoop ever so slightly to pick both hands full. This is the Weekend Holyland Update, flight 11-20-09, taking off from the fields of suicidal nationalism and passing through the lands of political shenanigans (exclusive scoop there), a partial victory in a key civil rights battle, shades of krystalnacht in reverse, morbid jehovahism, mob racism, and a good word to a mediocrity poster child. Fasten your seatbelts and keep all parts of your body in the vehicle, the natives are getting restless.

Jehovah-Nazi mutiny is spreading in the IDF. First it was the “Shimshon” company who used the ocassion of their swearing in at the Wailing Wall as full fledged fighters (at the end of basic training) to lift signs saying that “Shimshon doesn’t evacuate Homesh” (Homesh is a settlement in northern Samaria that was evacuated in the Disengagement and since then the settlers have been staging marches trying to get back up there. The army has to play nanny and shepherd them down the hill every time). Then it was Nachshon company hanging a banner at their base. The anti-disengagement slogan “A Jew doesn’t evacuate a Jew” has featured as well. Trainees at the division’s main base were found out and their banner taken before they had the chance. It shows no sign of stopping (especially since no decisive response has been forthcoming), and an internal military estimate has some 30% of all soldiers refusing an order to participate in the possible mass evacuation of even outposts, let alone established settlements. That’s what happens when you nurture a theofascist militia inside your army.

The Green Beast is acting in a manner for which to describe we must reach into the dictionary, leaf to P and stop at “pussillanimous”. None of the brave little grunts have been dishonorably discharged for presuming to tell the duly elected government which lawful orders they will and will not carry out. Now, of course it is the right of anyone to refuse orders they consider illegitimate – but in that case hand over the M-16, bubba. I got myself a discharge from the beast precisely because I didn’t want to carry out the orders government was giving me through it. But these guys have taken Louis XIV’s political philosophy to even greater extremes – the State, the Military, the Word of God himself – is Them.

The overt mutiny is so far contained to a single brigade – the Kfir Brigade, Israel’s newest infantry brigade, formed exclusively for jack-boot duty in the occupied territories, so the other infantry units can at least practice at being real soldiers. A large portion of this division’s manpower comes from among the Settlers and from what is known as “arrangement yeshivas”. How was part of the orthodox Jewish community persuaded to go along with the whole secular state authority thing and send their kids to the army, where they would be exposed to the big bad secular world? There’s an “arrangement”, whereby they spend part of the 18-21 years in their yeshivas instead of in the actual army, and in return do a little more reserve service every year. Byt he time they’re doing reserve they have a wife and a few kids, and the danger of defection is containable.

So anyway, the bulk of the actual refusenik soldiers come from two of these “arrangement” madrassas whose head Imams – sorry, Rabbis – have been openly preaching refusal. And being funded for the state the whole time, and their institutions allowed to participate in the “arrangement”. So now the chickens are coming home to roost and everyone is terribly surprised and discussing gravely how to address the problem. Guess hindsight is 20:20, and those of us that been talkin’ bout this shit for years now? We’re unsavory types. Not to be taken seriously. Oh well.

In a not-unrelated incident, a 16 year-old yeshiva zombie was arrested for stabbing  an Arab in Jerusalem. He is now suspected of being a serial attacker. That’s OK tho, I still get accused of using inflammatory language when I call them Sicarii.

We had a big scoop at Scoop.co.il this weekend: turns out that the attorney representing former OM Olmert on the various corruption charges he’s facing? He’s been meeting regularly with current PM Bibi Netanyahu *since before the elections*. Which I’m sure there are a million perfectly innocuous explanations for, despite client Olmert and candidate Bibi being from opposing parties and Olmert not even running in the election, and at least ostensibly doing all he can for his party’s nominee, Tzippi Livni. Then comes word this week that this very same right honorable attorney, one Yehudah Weinstein, is one of the four final candidates to replace current Attorney General Menny Mazuz. And he’s also representing rogue ex-judge Dan Cohen, who was awaiting extradition from Peru in a jail but has now been released to house arrest and extradition looks less likely. Question is, what does Bibi get here. File under “Things That Make You Go Hmmmm”.

Moving on to another “We”, we the reality based community had a pretty big, albeit not final, victory this week, when full implementation of the hideous biometric database law was put off for two years, during which the database will run on an experimental VOLUNTARY basis. Enough of Knesset critters realized that maybe this isn’t a very good idea after all, and lucky for us the prime mover behind the abomination was Meir Shit-rit from Kadima, which is in the opposition, so it didn’t become a point of principlal for the ruling coalition to ram it through.

This decision means that while Mr. Shit-rit will be able to deliver some money to the dubious company he hired for this project before the recent elections, when he was Minister of the Interior (a company which has been kicked off three bids in the US and has yet to deliver on its contract here for an inter-transportation “smart card”). However, only idiots who want to be tools of the government will surrender their identifying features to an entity that allows its population registry to roam free on the internet, whereas free women and men with half a brain will not be forced to and not be denied basic services (such as being issued an ID card or a passport). We will, however, be denied “smart government” services, which the government is reserving for the benefit of those who submit to tooldom.

My friend Att. Jonathan Kilnger got a small measure of the credit he deserves for the victory (man appeared before the Knesset so many times on this, he shoulda pitched a tent in the building), but my very good friend, visual genius Eran Vered and our mutual friend Ram-On Agmon, were denied acknowledgement by the reporters who chronicled the victory in the couple of days after the decision was announced. Eran and Ram-On were a major power in spreading the word and filling the Hebrew Net with tons of material on the issue, in various registers from calm and dense with facts to your more, um, traditional resgisters of political advertising (but maintaining factual truth. After all, to paraphrase Don Barzini, we are not Republicans). They were denied their just recognition by an ill informed mainstream media, but we’re here to set the record straight.

Y’all heard of Krystalnacht, right? Three days of beer and pogroms throughout Germany against Jewish homes and businesses in 1938, just before the war and the final solution. What not everyone knows is that when the drunks finished partying, there was a hell of a property damages bill. The nazi regime thought it would be cute to charge the Jewish community of Germany collectively for the damages, which came to about a billion reichsmark.

A similar feat of judicial logic was displayed this week in an Israeli court against another sort of undesirables – peace activists. One in particular. Matan Cohen was hit in the eye by a rubber bullet in 2007 at a demonstration against land theft under the guise of the security barrier in the village of Beit Sira. This week the dishonorable Dalia Ganot, district judge in Tel Aviv, rejected Matan’s suit for damages, decided that he was lying, and ordered him to pay the blue pigs 50,000 shekels for having the temerity to sue them.

Now, under ordinary circumstances this would be a legal “he said, she said”, although we do know that justice Ganot’s judgment can be a little questionable sometimes, like the verdict in which she once expressed understanding for the anger of a slaver-pimp over his slave-prostitute not being able to earn during her period. But beyond that, as Ken Kesey once said to solve a problem, “I know the guy”. Matan is a friend of mine. He had a rubber bullet taken out of his eye, contrary to Ganot’s pulled-out-of-her-ass decree that he was hit by a Palestinian-hurled rock. So fuck you, justice Ganot. I sincerely hope you leave the bench for private practice, make an obscene amount of money – and need each and every last penny of it for medications. For an eye problem.
And to a medley of medieval racism and superstition:

Aviram Baruchian, star midfielder for football (soccer) club Beitar Jerusalem, aka “Racist Central”, said in an interview that he for one wouldn’t mind at all if an Arab player were signed to play for Beitar. The club’s organized fandom reacted immediately and within days it was reported that Baruchian had met with the fans and was forced to apologize for his deviation from judonazi orthodoxy. His agent,who understands that a racist incident won’t help export his client to Europe, is saying now that Baruchian’s own opinion of the matter hasn’t changed. Which means he only apologized for voicing it. OK.

Yaacov Litzman, Israel’s Deputy Health Minister (he’s from Torah Jewry, an Ashkenazee ultra-orthodox party that won’t accept a minister’s position so as not to convey full complicity with the Zionist regime), has forced a hospital to continue treating a brain-dead child as though she were alive and keep her on life support and feeding. Not clinically dead – brain dead. There is no recovery from that. But in the 12th century, when orthodox Judaism’s founding medical texts were written, they didn’t know much about that, so it must not be important. Taliban rule, anyone?

The ultra-orthodox of Jerusalem have found another diversion from the long, boring Sabbath afternoons: They are now rioting outside the Jeruaslem Intel facility, (which was lured to our poverty stricken capital at great expense and effort to be the lynchpin of an employment bonanza for the city). Reason for the rioting? The plant (which is on the outskirts of town, not near where any of them live) works at a limited capacity on the Sabbath too!!! Now, under the usual twisted status quo of Israel, this would be something of a violation and reason for foot stomping. But there is a problem: The Intel plant has been in Jerusalem since 1985. It has always employed a small number of workers on the Sabbath. Some processes in a microchip plant can’t be shut down for 24 hours and more. It operated in the exact same manner during the previous municipal administration in Jerusalem, headed by ultra-orthodox Uri Lupolianski. Why now? Politics, and the ever-present need to offer an oppressed youth, afforded no outlets for normal energy, a framework in which to blow off steam without threatening the Rabbicracy.

The shaping “compromise”, mediated by Knesset chairman Ruby Rivlin (our next president, btw, once Shimon croaks, or has enough ^[hah!]), says Intel will only employ non-Jewish workers on the Sabbath (which I’m sure is largely the case already) and limit work to the most sensitive production lines (ditto). And if a Jewish worker needs the cash and wants to work the w/e for the 150% pay? Tough. The jehovah patients will look after your yiddishke soul whether you want them to or not. BTW, it is illegal to force a worker to work on his or her religion’s day of rest in Israel, and while there are industries where that is a major barrier to getting the job in the first place, that simply isn’t the case with a plant like Intel.

Staying in Jerusalem, on the same week Israel chose to exercise its illegitimate control over East Jerusalem by demolishing a number of Arab homes built there, and by simultaneously beginning work on 900 new units in the settlement neighborhood of Giloh. Because nothing shows you really want peace like a nice 1-2 sucker punch.

Quick regional detour: The inflamed spirits that accompanied the two consecutive World Cup-qualifying matches between Egypt and Algeria have really gotten a bit too much. I woulda been happy for our neighbors to have won, but it’s only a game, yo. Y’all need to seriously chill. Good thing these two don’t share a border, or I guarantee some bored grunts on patrol woulda been exchanging potshots by now.

Speaking of regional, when you hear “Israel” and “Morocco”, which do you instinctively figure is the more modern, advanced, liberal? After all, Israel is a democracy, whereas Morocco is a constitutional Monarchy, for crying out loud, right? Well, I don’t know how much each of you count by this metric, but…Number of women heading Moroccan ministries: 7. In Israel: 2.

Oh, and a kind word. My general view of reigning Chief Justice Dorit Beinish is rather poor. I see her as a poster child for mediocrity (Go to her wiki. See anything under writing and publication? Exactly). She’s a former State Prosecutor, and really not much more than a skillfull organizational climber and fighter. Plus, she has a very black stain on her record: in the trial of Haggai Amir, brother of the vermin Yigal who murdered PM Yitzhak Rabin, she (then the prosecutor at the trial) knowingly suborned perjury by putting a General Security Service witness on the stand to stay that contrary to defendant’s claims, the service wasn’t operating any undercovers who were egging the defendant and his brother and their co-conspirators on. It is now public, admitted knowledge that they were. The mole even gave Yigal the gun. Haggai Amir, judonazi scum that he is, had a valid legal point and it was overcome by perjury.

Anyway, while I think Beinish is, in Supreme court and Chief Justice standards, a nobody who was only chosen because former Chief Justice Aharon Barak needed a yes woman to carry on his agenda, my hat is fully, flouridly off to her this week, as she bravely and unequivocably slapped down the repugnant spectre of privately owned and run prisons in Israel. Rather than resorting to that favorite Supremo trick of fobbing off an undersired piece of legislation on technicalities, so as not to run headlong into the whole activist judiciary mess, Beinish slapped her ovaries on the table and explained in clear and simple terms that the right to greviously deprive an individual of basic civil rights is not something that may be divested by the state to private entities. If improvements are needed to incarceration and detention facilities to make them compliant with the law, then the State must do so, and not simply find a hustler tp put up a shack. No. Simply no. Not even if you rewrite it, make it longer, change the style… Just no. Bravo, Madam Chief Justice.

And on that unaccustomed note of contentment, the pilot shall now come in for landing at your point of origin. WHU airlines is not responsible for any illusions, sympathies or misconceptions that may have been misplaced on our tours. Please collect your luggage and check your comments and thumbs. Thank you for flying the crazy skies.