tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:52:59 +0000Out-of-the-box-thinking on Jewish civilization, politics, and the Arab-Israel conflicthttp://elliotjager.com/elliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)Blogger367125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-2031708863028934666Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:52:00 +00002010-03-03T15:52:59.697+02:00During the last full week of February, Jews and Muslims memorialized their respective founding prophets who, coincidentally, both died on their own birthdays.Judaism commemorated Adar 7 as the day when Moses was born and died (coinciding with February 21); Islam commemorated Rabi-al-Awwal 12 (coinciding with February 26) as Muhammad's birthday and the anniversary of his death. The day, Milad http://elliotjager.com/2010/03/moses-muhammad.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-4985900464578250350Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:45:00 +00002010-03-03T15:50:45.084+02:00Friedrich Naumann When thinking of 20th century Germany, the first thing that comes to mind isn't its liberal tradition. Yet not only has a centrist liberal polity emerged from the ashes of the Nazi regime which ruled from 1933 until 1945, but the origins of liberalism in Germany can be traced to a political tradition dating back to the early 1900s. To hear Prof. Moshe Zimmermann, the 67 http://elliotjager.com/2010/03/german-liberalism.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-971687684662777201Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:12:00 +00002010-02-20T19:38:57.936+02:00Dear Reader,Below is the final editorial I have written for The Jerusalem Post in my capacity as Editorial Page Editor.I am delighted to tell you that I have accepted a new job with the Jewish Ideas Daily website as managing editor. It is an ideas-driven (as opposed to news driven) site and I look forward to the challenge. I join an outstanding team of editors.So, please visit Jewish Ideas Daily:http://elliotjager.com/2010/02/check-out-my-new-home.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-4383905817928729855Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:47:00 +00002010-02-12T12:49:18.701+02:00The eleventh hour The Islamic Republic of Iran celebrated its 31st anniversary yesterday with an enormous rally held in the shadow of the Azadi Tower. The monument was built by the Shah in 1971 to commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire. The plaza surrounding the monument has been cynically renamed Freedom Square.One day, when the Iranian people overthrow this evil regime, http://elliotjager.com/2010/02/iranas-time-runs-out.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-6773911434942485771Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:53:00 +00002010-02-11T10:55:37.019+02:00Away with campus timidity In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful… The members of the Muslim Student Union at the University of California, Irvine, condemn and strongly oppose the presence of Michael Oren on our campus… Oren personally participated in the Israeli Defense Force in wars that took place in Lebanon and Palestine…Oren and his partners should only be granted a speakers http://elliotjager.com/2010/02/it-is-tough-to-be-pro-israel-on-campus.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-4125589960037725713Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:59:00 +00002010-02-09T10:00:14.416+02:00Viral irrationalism More than 300 people in Monsey and New Square, two hassidic enclaves north of New York City, have contracted the mumps, a disease spread by coughing and sneezing. Symptoms include fever, headache and swollen glands. Now the disease has reached haredi communities in Brooklyn and New Jersey.Epidemiologists suspect the outbreak started in August in a Catskills summer camp with anhttp://elliotjager.com/2010/02/mumps.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-2356231362637796252Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:29:00 +00002010-02-08T17:33:42.358+02:00Amr Moussa's missed opportunity Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa must be frustrated having to spend an inordinate amount of time holding together his fractious membership when, plainly, he’d rather be out bashing Israel.Lately, to keep Libya as the venue for the March 27 Arab League summit, Moussa has had to soothe Lebanese feelings. Lebanon’s Amal Party holds a grudge against Col. http://elliotjager.com/2010/02/arab-leagues-clear-think-secretary.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-4399503599037290025Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:12:00 +00002010-02-05T09:21:47.379+02:00Dear Reader,Later this month, I will be leaving The Jerusalem Post to take on a new and exciting role at the Jewish Ideas Daily website. I look forward to telling you more about it soon.Shabbat shalomEJ[What happens to the truce between Assad & the Muslim Brotherhood if he makes real peace with the Jewish state?]Frustration in Damascus Israel has completed its withdrawal from the Golan Heights ashttp://elliotjager.com/2010/02/war-drums-in-north.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-1945377092538028890Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:16:00 +00002010-02-03T08:18:12.757+02:00 A new front? Israelis were told yesterday that it was too dangerous to swim, sail or fish along the coast south of Ashdod.Since Friday night, several explosives-laden barrels have either been heard detonating in the Mediterranean or have washed ashore in Ashdod and Ashkelon. It is not clear if these devices, originating in Gaza, were intended to be pre-positioned at sea for a terror attack http://elliotjager.com/2010/02/thesis-about-zero-sum-game-conflicts.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-2542953789278958790Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:32:00 +00002010-02-02T09:34:55.051+02:00The ‘Goldstoning’ of IsraelThe Goldstone Report was born in bias and matured into a full-fledged miscarriage of justice. On Friday, Jerusalem presented UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with its initial rebuttal of Judge Richard Goldstone’s bill of particulars on the way Israel fought in Gaza between December 27, 2008, and January 18, 2009.A more comprehensive, point-by-point refutation is in the http://elliotjager.com/2010/02/providing-hamas-hizbullah-with-legal.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-6853816569260736975Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:30:00 +00002010-02-02T09:31:58.930+02:00China endangered?China is never happy when weapons are sold to Taiwan, but this time Beijing threatened to boycott American companies, including Boeing and Raytheon, involved in the deal. The People’s Republic of China reacted to Washington’s announcement on Friday that it will sell defensive weapons to Taiwan worth $6.4 billion with customary bluster. The Foreign Ministry protested to Jon http://elliotjager.com/2010/02/china-does-not-want-to-see-defensive.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-3796847629813627150Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:32:00 +00002010-01-29T11:37:23.964+02:00‘Never again’When Netanyahu declares that “Never Again” will we allow the hand of evil to sever the life of our people, he is warning: Doomed are those who try.Talkbacks (1) The bookseller Barnes & Nobel lists 8,194 Holocaust titles. Amazon stocks 2,049 Holocaust memoirs. Type in the word “Holocaust” on Google and you’ll get about 17 million hits. Not counting Jewish museums with permanent http://elliotjager.com/2010/01/are-we-understanding-lessons-of.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-8326442141666675978Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:10:00 +00002010-01-27T11:11:30.818+02:00Crying wolf on IranTel Aviv [is] orchestrating a campaign to portray Teheran as a regime hell-bent on starting a nuclear war in the volatile Middle East.- Iran's Press TV, January 26, reporting that Russia and China continue to oppose sanctionsOnly the mullahs know if Iran is "hell-bent" on starting a nuclear war. Jerusalem opposes Iran's quest for atomic weapons not only for what the regime http://elliotjager.com/2010/01/iran-bomb-predictions-have-been-wrong.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-1170408575117235127Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:55:00 +00002010-01-26T07:58:51.956+02:00From Crete with hateThe Etz Hayim Synagogue on Crete was struck by arsonists on January 5 and again - more devastatingly- on January 16. Over the weekend, Greek police arrested four men described as bouncers and waiters for perpetrating the attacks, saying they were motivated by a dislike of Jews.Attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions are up throughout Europe, attributable, say experts, to http://elliotjager.com/2010/01/connection-between-anti-semitism-anti.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-7926497525176449938Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:13:00 +00002010-01-15T11:18:05.755+02:00{DEAR READERS -- I AM TAKING OFF A WEEK OR SO. PLEASE CHECK BACK JAN 25th...THANKS!)==================================================================================Making sense of HaitiIt's not all that often that the front pages of Israel's newspapers and the lead stories on the nightly news programs all devote themselves to a catastrophic event on the other side of the world. Sixty years-plushttp://elliotjager.com/2010/01/where-was-god-conundrum.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-351043925673602947Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:22:00 +00002010-01-13T13:25:19.529+02:00Diplomatic demarcheTurkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has just won the King Faisal International Prize for service to Islam. Indeed, under Erdogan, Ankara's foreign policy is driven by Islamic solidarity. A country that was once directed by Western-oriented secularists is now under the sway of his democratically-elected AKP, a Muslim religious party. Vigorous support for Hamas, Iran andhttp://elliotjager.com/2010/01/my-seat-is-higher-than-yours.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-7784635831235389759Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:19:00 +00002010-01-12T07:20:35.519+02:00An Arab lamentMarwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, is lamenting President Barack Obama's backing for the idea that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. "Worse, it seems the…administration has slowly but surely adopted [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu's position on the need for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a 'Jewish state,' which predetermines the http://elliotjager.com/2010/01/look-who-is-worried-about-obamas-middle.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-9216161522021896814Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:26:00 +00002010-01-11T07:29:06.743+02:00Why we are hereCast your mind back to before Muhammad destroyed the Jewish tribes of Arabia; before Islam expanded beyond the Arabian Peninsula reaching Jerusalem in 638. Before the ancient Roman Empire and the emergence of Christianity; before the Greek empire; even before the Persians came onto the stage of history.Consider the distant 10th century before the Common Era when the ancient http://elliotjager.com/2010/01/because-in-our-hearts-we-never-left.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-9192313384297936622Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:34:00 +00002010-01-08T15:37:02.209+02:00[George Galloway and friend.]Why no 'Viva Somalia?'What could be worse than being forgotten in the rubble of war? As The New York Times reported this week, Gazans feel forsaken. The constant flow of humanitarian aid is staving off hunger and disease, but a pall of listlessness besets the Strip.It is so dreary that B'Tselem, an Israeli-staffed organization that's funded mostly by European http://elliotjager.com/2010/01/george-galloway-picks-cause.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-1577047178406782881Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:15:00 +00002010-01-06T14:18:45.527+02:00'Turning' IslamistsDuring the Cold War, Westerners consoled themselves in the belief that most people behind the Iron Curtain did not believe in Communism; they were simply entrapped by a morally bankrupt system driven by a moribund ideology. It was not so much the allure of capitalism that ultimately won over the people of Eastern Europe; it was the failure of Communism.What will it take to "http://elliotjager.com/2010/01/balawi-versus-zeid-which-direction-will.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-2797700120517678496Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:53:00 +00002010-01-05T12:59:58.005+02:00Washington's open armsHuman nature being what it is, gratitude has its limits. The more we are on the receiving end of a recurring good, the less grateful we become. Nations are likewise susceptible to "What have you done for me lately?" syndrome.It is fitting, therefore, to acknowledge the ongoing aid Israel receives from the United States. It may not come out of purely altruistic motives, yet http://elliotjager.com/2010/01/bunker-busters-for-uae-cruise-missiles.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-1672871288790462966Mon, 04 Jan 2010 08:29:00 +00002010-01-04T10:32:56.900+02:00Name the enemyThe clear, present and continuing danger posed to Western civilization by the worldwide Islamist terror network cannot be overcome while the American, European and other freedom-loving peoples are neither mobilized nor steeled for the sacrifices ahead.No serious observer minimizes the perils. The attack carried out in November at Fort Hood by Nidal Malik Hasan, an American-born http://elliotjager.com/2010/01/who-is-enemy-what-do-they-want-what.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-4684762640680662969Fri, 01 Jan 2010 05:05:00 +00002010-01-01T07:10:57.340+02:00The meaning of 443Eli Cohen, 29, was heading home on Route 443 on the night of December 21, 2000, when his car was sprayed with automatic weapons-fire by Palestinian terrorists.When the High Court of Justice this week, unhappily marking Cohen's 10th yahrzeit, ordered the IDF to lift its blanket ban against Palestinian traffic on that same road, reactions were predictable.On the Right, there were http://elliotjager.com/2010/01/can-west-maintain-its-soul-in-face-of.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-7834293875735413529Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:33:00 +00002009-12-30T07:37:04.215+02:00[The mediator and the 'moderate']Terms of referenceAfter 100 years of conflict, Arabs and Jews have seen peace envoys come and go; peace plans rise and fall. While these efforts have not always been driven by altruism, certainly America's are rooted in good intentions.Obama administration peace envoy George Mitchell is now trying to coax the comparatively moderate Mahmoud Abbas back to the http://elliotjager.com/2009/12/george-mitchell-on-his-way-back-to.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362081.post-699085952384096964Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:15:00 +00002009-12-29T10:18:04.201+02:00[The worst was yet to come. The late Shah]What the leaders of the free world can do to support the people of IranLooking back from the perspective of more than three decades, the exile of the Shah of Iran and the country's fall to Islamist tyranny in 1979 was arguably the West's worst geo-strategic setback in the second half of the 20th century and doubly disastrous for Israel.Those who had http://elliotjager.com/2009/12/make-it-1979-all-over-again.htmlelliot_jager@yahoo.com (Elliot Jager)0