Quotes of the Year

"On a more serious note, I sincerely hope that when the President goes in for his annual check-up, the doctors at Bethesda will do a brain scan. Surely something must be terribly wrong with a man who seems to be far more concerned with a Jew building a house in Israel than with Muslims building a nuclear bomb in Iran ."

columnist Burt Prelutsky

Atara bat Shlomo v'Hannah z"lv, May she rest in peace.

I first met Atara in 1992 shortly after her amazing husband, Max Mont, passed away. It was at Rafael Ortaz's Sephardic choir which was pretty embarrassing back then. We rehearsed at the Westside JCC on Olympic Blvd. It was love at first sight! We took to one other immediately.

She would always stand between me and another strong singer in an attempt to stay in tune. She loved to sing but was not entirely on note.

In spite of our inferior quality, the choir had the privilege of performing for Prince Simeon of Bulgaria when the Israeli consulate honored his father, King Boris, for preventing the Nazis from taking the Bulgarian Jews during WWII. (Bulgaria is the only European country in which the Jewish population increased during the Shoah.)

When I made my decision to convert (my father was Jewish but we couldn't prove that Mom is) through the orthodox Beit Din of Los Angeles and moved from Pasadena to Pico Robertson, Atara became more and more interested in Judaism as a religion. We spent many hours talking about what I was learning. She started coming to Pico to join me at my friend's for Shabbat meals and in the process came to know the Sigala family, the Hepners who bought the home of some old friends of hers, my roommates, Vera and Susan, Elyse, Rena, and many others as well three of my four children.

She always considered herself to be my big sister in spite of the fact that she was only three years younger than my mother. The pillow on her couch declared, "Age is just a number and mine is unlisted." Brava!

She was the person from whom I sought advice on many an occasion. I learned she had uncommon wisdom, but as is so common, I didn't always listen and invariably paid the price.

She only became angry with me once that I recall. And, of course, she was absolutely right.

She stayed with me where I lived in Beit Israel next to Mea Sha'arim in Jerusalem, when your daughter had her bat mitzva in Israel. Those stories are too hysterical to retell now!

It is so hard for me to accept that I can no longer telephone her and hear her call me "Shushu" and have her scold me for one more nutty thing I pulled off. When I would meet a possible suitor, she would always insist that she had to check him out before I could got serious. She met some of them and was always right.

My mind cannot wrap itself around her absence. This will take a long time.

I annoyed her, she annoyed me, we argued with each other and loved one another madly.
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"A Japanese View of the Palestinians" by Yashiko Sagamori

A Japanese View of the' Palestinians'

An interesting questionnaire for Palestinian Advocates

By Yashiko Sagamori

If you are so sure that " Palestine , the country, goes back through most of recorded history," I expect you to be able to answer a few basic questions about that country of Palestine :

1. When was it founded and by whom?

2. What were its borders?

3. What was its capital?

4. What were its major cities?

5. What constituted the basis of its economy?

6. What was its form of government?

7. Can you name at least one "Palestinian" leader before Arafat?

8. Was Palestine ever recognized by a country whose existence, at that time or now, leaves no room for interpretation?

9. What was the language of the country of "Palestine"?

10. What was the prevalent religion of the country of "Palestine"?

11. What was the name of its currency? Choose any date in history and tell what was the approximate exchange rate of the Palestinian monetary unit against the US dollar, German mark, GB pound, Japanese yen, or Chinese yuan on that date.

12. And, finally, since there is no such country today, what caused its demise and when did it occur?

You are lamenting the "low sinking" of a "once proud" nation. Please tell me, when exactly was that "nation" proud and what was it so proud of? And here is the least sarcastic question of all: If the people you mistakenly call "Palestinians" are anything but generic Arabs collected from all over -- or thrown out of -- the Arab world, if they really have a genuine ethnic identity that gives them right for self-determination, why did they never try to become independent until Arabs suffered their devastating defeat in the Six Day War?

I hope you avoid the temptation to trace the modern day "Palestinians" to the Biblical Philistines: substituting etymology for history won't work here. The truth should be obvious to everyone who wants to know it.

Arab countries have never abandoned the dream of destroying Israel; they still cherish it today. Having time and again failed to achieve their evil goal with military means, they decided to fight Israel by proxy. For that purpose, they created a terrorist organization, cynically called it "the Palestinian people" and installed it in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria. How else can you explain the refusal by Jordan and Egypt to unconditionally accept back the "West Bank" and Gaza, respectively?

The fact is, Arabs populating Gaza, Judea, and Samaria have much less claim to nationhood than that Indian tribe that successfully emerged in Connecticut with the purpose of starting a tax-exempt casino: at least that tribe had a constructive goal that motivated them.

The so-called "Palestinians" have only one motivation: the destruction of Israel, and in my book that is not sufficient to consider them a nation" -- or anything else except what they really are: a terrorist organization that will one day be dismantled.

In fact, there is only one way to achieve peace in the Middle East.

Arab countries must acknowledge and accept their defeat in their war against Israel and, as the losing side, should pay Israel reparations for the more than 50 years of devastation they have visited on it. The most appropriate form of such reparations would be the removal of their terrorist organization from the land of Israel and accepting Israel's ancient sovereignty over Gaza, Judea, and Samaria. That will mark the end of the Palestinian people.

What are you saying again was its beginning?

"Palestine" Lovers

"Palestine" lovers are Israel haters. So-called "Palestinians" by their own overt behavior repeatedly prove they love hate-speech, suppression of women, murder of their own children, terrorism, "honor killings," corruption, dictatorship, brainwashing, lies, theft of trillions of dollars in international aid to enrich their own corrupt leaders.

They use the aid to buy more bombs and guns instead of educating their children, building up their own land and economy. They use the international aid to wreak destruction and shoot missiles into Sederot and southern Israel almost daily.

How can reasonable, rational people support the creation of a 23rd Arab nation? The people who now call themselves "Palestinians" are really Egyptians, Syrians, nomadic herders and other Arabs who came to work on Jewish land that had been abandoned and forgotten for two-thousand years.

The Jewish pioneers bought those swamps in the north and deserts in the south at exorbitant prices from the Ottoman Turks and wrestled with that unforgiving land until they created lush fields of grain, flowers and vegetables and orchards overflowing with luscious fruit.

The Arab "brothers" of the so-called "Palestinians" have refused to give them citizenship in their existing 22 (twenty-two) Arab countries so that they can be used as pawns to drive the Jews into the Mediterranean Sea.

The creation of a "Palestinian" state will be the absolute certain destruction of the only Jewish state on earth.

Those that demand a "Palestinian" state are supporting terrorism, suppression of women, hate speech, bombings, murder of children, "honor killings," on top of simply EXPRESSING THEIR OBVIOUS VITRIOLIC ANTISEMITISM and seeking the annihilation of Israel and the Jewish people.

Response to Pat Buchanan

Mr. Buchanan, with all due respect, I must strongly disagree with you.
I especially note your question, "Were all four Israeli leaders deluded fools?" My response is, absolutely!
I challenge you to show me even one benefit to Israel for all the concessions Israel has made to the Palestinian Authoriy.
I lived in Israel for three years. When I arrived there in May of 1996, I was still a starry-eyed idealist, a product of the 60's "peace and love" generation. I truly believed we could all get along.
What I discovered by the most bitter of experience was that terrorists do not negociate, they murder.
The Arabs do not want a piece of the land, they want it all.
When an Arab terrorist speaks in Arabic, believe what he says. What he says in English is often the exact opposite of what he intends.
They want to drive the Jews into the Mediterranean. They want to see every infidel either converted or dead.
When the Palestinian Authority uses children's television programs patterned after Sesame Street to brainwash its little children to revel in spilling their blood to take the land away from the "Zionists," BELIEVE THEM.
They do not want peace or compromise or pluralism, THEY WANT MY PEOPLE GONE OR DEAD.
THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY HAS NOT CONCEDED ONE SINGLE THING IN SPITE OF ISRAEL'S GREAT CONCESSIONS.
Would you want your women living like the Saudis? Imagine a woman in America not being able to go out unaccompanied, not allowed to drive a car, not allowed to show her hair or her neck? Please!
These misogynistic, hate-filled, blood-thirsty monsters understand only power and strength.
Israel will only survive with strength, power and the help of the Almighty.
Wake up, Mr. Buchanan. Stop being naive. Face reality. If you and people like you do not, expect to be dhimmis in a world-wide Islamic empire.

Memorial Day Rant: Terrorists Do Not "Negociate," They Murder.

Thank G-d for the practical intelligence of the majority of U.S. citizens!

I was once very liberal. When I first registered to vote in 1968, it was in the Peace and Freedom Party. Having children, maturity forged from difficulties, the passing years and a life of struggle have brought me around to a much more realistic view.

The three years I lived in Israel sealed it.

Terrorists do not negociate. They kill. They murder innocents. Jimmy Carter made an idiot of himself. What an embarressment!

You can be sure that the terrorists are laughing themselves silly!

And, of course, they think the same of Senator Obama. They endorsed him because they know they can use him for their own evil purposes. And believe me, there is terrible evil in this world!

Thank you, President Bush, for standing before the Israeli Knesset and telling it like it is!

Americans! Ask "The Greatest Generation!" Remember World War II. Talk to my step-dad who fought in the Pacific and lost his younger brother, Jimmy, in Italy.

Wake up Americans! Come out of your ivory towers bleeding heart liberals! If you want to continue enjoying your free speech and your liberty, WAKE UP!

Terrorists intend to destroy the most basic premises of this amazing country in which we are privileged to live.

G-d bless George W. Bush and John Mc Cain. Their powerful stance will keep us free and strong!

Shabbat shalom!