A WOMAN IN PUBLIC LIFE IS NEVER AUTOMATICALLY RESPECTED, NOT EVEN AS A PRIME MINISTER.

DOESN'T TAKE LONG - DOES IT?

The email cartoons, doctored photos of Rudd's head on a knitting-Gillard's photo, practical jokes of a wax figurine placed in a Centre-Link line of job-seekers in Sydney, etc., etc.

 This is only the first week! 

Admittedly, politics is a dirty game and politicians are fair game for satirists, cartoonists and opponents. But no other PM (except perhaps Mark Latham?)has had to suffer the number of public indignities and offences heaped upon Julia Gillard, the first female Prime Minister of Australia..

Why?- This is the question.

 Is or was it her politics? Is it her personality? Is it because she deposed a male? Is it because she deposed a popularly elected and a male politician? Is it because she was the wrong person at the wrong time in the wrong position? Is it because she was not seen to have "feminine charisma"? Is it because she was not the "acceptable type" (by conservative Oz standards) of female, i.e. with a standard family unit in the background supporting her?

I contend that it was all of the above, to a greater or lesser degree depending with whom one is speaking.

However, the Labor Party itself did not seem to be under such fierce attack. Only Julia Gillard personally seemed to be the one everybody was either hating, deriding, insulting, offending and in general showing complete disrespect for the position, let alone the person at the Head of the Australian Government.

Did she deserve it as a politician? Not more than any other, whether Tony Abbott or anyone else. 

Did she deserve it as a person who was clever enough to earn the respect of her colleagues? Certainly not.

Did she contribute to her own demonization?

 Here I think that she may have a case to answer.

She had or still has , what I call our 'feminine weak streaks'. I am listing them below because they show up in weak leaders even in business or in organizations.This is very apparent in most of us females: when we are verbally 'attacked',-we don't always know how to respond. This is vitally important for a female politician or anywhere in a position of authority to master.

 It is all about communicating on equal terms.

We tend to retreat; we tend to feel threatened; we try to avoid being publicly or privately attacked verbally because we feel so vulnerable; we try to avoid confrontational  issues and  tend to take all criticisms personally.

We tend to feel threatened by all criticisms,  instead of separating them into issue-oriented and personal. 

We do not know how to fight a bully. We cannot simply ignore a bully,- they thrive on hurting us and we show it that they do, so they continue bullying.

We show a lack of self-confidence when fighting back angrily!In an argument, instead of entering into a civilized debate, many of us tend to bite back with personal vitriol and wounded pride. 

So where did Julia go wrong as a female and a Prime Minister?

Tony Abbott had her measure. As the Leader of the Opposition he was attacking the Labor Party,- while Julia took it personally. We had the 'mysoginist' speech, we had the gender wars, but she did not respond by attacking the attacker on his own political terms! 

This is what Rudd did immediately. This is what the Labor voters wanted to hear from their Labor Party leader. This is why women in leadership do not always earn the respect of men because they are showing personal insecurities in the face of  critical attacks.

A simple case in point: when as the Prime Minister she was so rudely treated by that idiot of a radio interviewer, she did not know how to shut him up. He may have lost his job because the PM was made to feel a 'victim' when in fact she should have got up and walked off in indignation! 

In leadership, a female in particular, CANNOT AFFORD TO PLAY THE VICTIMHOOD CARD!

This is why Nigella Lawson was immediately criticized when her husband attacked her physically in public: because she got up crying instead of giving him a good slap in the face! 

We feel sorry for a victim but we respect those who refuse to act like one.

 MM

POSTCRIPT: Listening to commentators lamenting the loss of the first female PM in such an undignified manner, they said that there are no role models for Gillard to have copied, except Margaret Thatcher who is/was on the wrong side of the political spectrum for a Labor politician to want to mimic.
Actually, Thatcher did not exhibit the female traits that I enumerated above and this is why probably, everyone not only accepted her, but the people admired her in the end.
Many on the Left of course hated her because her policies were draconian towards working people in some industries. The economy demanded it and she dared to do what probably even her male colleagues didn't dare to do. She was known as the "iron lady" for good reasons.
Gillard was also supposed to be tough, but unfortunately she did not come across in her interviews or speeches  more than 'wooden'. Only in her final speech, which she must have prepared herself, did she come across as speaking from the heart and genuine.
 If only she could have been like that on all other occasions when she spoke in public to the media.

Tony Abbott however suffers from the same problem of being disliked by many people. He is a 'blokey bloke' and for other reasons as well is not popular either. However he won't be ridiculed like Julia was,- no one would dare, I bet!
If only the Libs. would do the same to him and switch to Malcolm, We might even see a bit more of a civilized parliament then.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is one feisty lady with guts at 71! I wish she would go into politics to liven things up for the blokes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=584M1rcr9ik

ANTISEMITISM: its racist manifestations today.

An Open Letter to John Galliano

Learning about the Holocaust is a great first step. Don't stop there.

by Herschel Gluck

   

Once upon a time everything was great. You were king of the fashion hill, creative director for the legendary fashion house Christian Dior, the designer of choice for A-list actresses and models, and an award-winning leader in the fashion industry.

And oh you were outrageous! “I don’t feel the need to apologize,” you said. Your critics were “bourgeois people, condescending and smug.” And even if you were offensive, so what, it was “better to be talked about than not.”ⁱ

But you blew it. Two years ago you were in Paris, drunk, and told someone she had a “dirty Jew face.” You denied it – of course – but there was a video and the world heard you say, “I love Hitler. People like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be gassed.”

Natalie Portman – she wore your designs – said, “I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano’s comments that surfaced today. In light of this video, and as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way."ⁱⁱ

Oops.

You were fired. You went into rehab. You disappeared. But now you want to be famous again. You blamed the booze, but give me a break – in vino veritas (in wine there is truth) – everybody knows that.ⁱⁱⁱ So you got chummy with Abe Foxman and the ADL, read books on the Holocaust and Jewish history, and met with Jewish community leaders as penance.^iv It must’ve been hell.

Are you sincere? I hope you are. You told Vanity Fair, in your first ever sober interview, “I have been trying to find out why [my] anger was directed at this race. I now realize I was so angry and so discontent with myself that I just said the most spiteful thing I could.”^v

In other words, you were miserable, self-absorbed, angry, and needed a target and oh darn, it just happened to be the Jews?

Well, that’s nothing new.

Sigmund Freud explained, "Jews are hated not so much because they killed Jesus, but because they produced him."

Hitler claimed, “I free humanity from the shackles of the soul, from the degrading suffering caused by a false vision called conscience and morality.”

A former confidant of Hitler’s said, “It is against his own insoluble problem of being human that the dull and base in humanity are in revolt in anti-Semitism. Nevertheless Judaism, together with Hellenism and Christianity, is an inalienable component of our Christian Western Civilization – the eternal "call to Sinai," against which humanity again and again rebels.”^vi

Humanity rebels against Sinai?

The Talmud (Shabbos 89) uses wordplay to explain: the Torah – the source for Jewish values – was received at Mount Sinai. Sinai is similar in pronunciation tosinah (“hate” in Hebrew). God gave the Torah on a mountain called “Sinai” because sinah – tremendous hatred aimed at the Jews – emanates from there.^vii

Sinai is the source for Jewish values. Jews – by embracing Judaism – embrace a moral God and values and ethics and all its associated baggage. And that embrace made them the target of those at war – be it personal or global – against morality and values.

You were angry with the Jews because you were angry with yourself. In your anger and discontent you lashed out, and who better to lash out against than the Jews? It’s a story as old as Sinai.

But why be negative? Judaism doesn’t start and end with the anti-Semitism. Look at what Jews are and have given to the world. Jews are fiercely independent, critical thinkers. They value life, love, family, and community. They believe in social action, justice, equality, charity, self-sacrifice, and peace. They believe in leadership and personal responsibility. And the Torah teaches that a relationship with God is impossible in a world without harmony and mutual respect. (And they produce pretty actresses to wear your dresses, too.) Those are great things.

The Jewish people have been around forever. And they have lasted in spite of anti-Semitism, exile, and a miniscule population (the world’s Jewish population is estimated at about 14 million, or 0.2%). And in spite of those things they have had a massive impact on humanity (20% of Nobel Prize winners are Jewish, the world’s biggest religions are based on Judaism, I can go on).

Are they perfect? Of course not. They bicker and argue and use poor judgment and make mistakes like everyone else. But those aren’t reasons to hate them.

Welcome back to the real world. You have already learned a lot about yourself. Hopefully you’ll learn a lot about the Jewish people, too. And who knows? Maybe a few Jews will learn from you and investigate their heritage as well.

Isi Leibler and the "Anti-Semitism Tsunami'.

A Global Tsunami of Anti-Semitism

by Isi Leibler
May 28, 2013
http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4654

Participants at the fourth conference of the Global Forum for Combating anti-Semitism,  held under the auspices of the Foreign Ministry this week in Jerusalem, will be provided with data highlighting the accelerated global erosion of the status of Jews and Israel.

In the post-Holocaust era, many had predicted, mistakenly, that the world’s oldest hatred would recede, even anticipating that anti-Semites would soon become an extinct species. Instead, defaming Jews has emerged as the greatest global political growth industry - a virtual tsunami. In fact we are witnessing a resurrection of the medieval paranoia which effectively blamed Jews for all the disasters of mankind.

The most concentrated venom is relentlessly directed against ‘the state of the Jews’ (anti-Israelism) which is now the principal vehicle employed to demonize Jews. It dominates debates at the UN and other international organizations where rogue states and barbaric regimes seek to delegitimize the state of the Jews.

The bias and double standards against Israel became so intense that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) decided to explicitly define such behavior as anti-Semitic (see page 29).

The escalation of Jew hatred over recent years has been greatly accelerated by the economic meltdown and surge in unemployment throughout Europe. Such an environment breeds xenophobia which, since time immemorial, was always directed against Jews, exploiting them as scapegoats.

The era of the internet and electronic global communications has been a boon to Jew baiters, enabling them to globally disseminate their hatred instantly and effectively.

New varieties of Judeophobia have emerged and integrated with the traditional anti-Semitism which had been temporarily muted due to revulsion at the horrors of the Holocaust. The new blend fuses traditional right wing religious, racial and economically inspired hatred of Jews with leftist varieties which now dominates indigenous Western anti-Semites. Ironically, the left bases its demonization of the Jewish state on bogus Israeli human rights violations whilst avoiding condemnations of Arab anti-Semitism and abdicating its traditional long standing role of purporting to champion rights of the oppressed and condemning human rights violations – an area in which the Arab world excels.

The greatest outpouring of anti-Jewish hatred emanates from the newly empowered Moslem countries with its combined population of 1.6 billion. In conjunction with their diasporas in Western countries, they frenziedly promote a devilish brew of unique Islamic anti-Semitism combined with the traditional Western varieties. They depict Jews as vampires; descendants of apes and pigs; evil creatures disseminating AIDS; the masterminds behind 9/11; etc. Their incitement is at least as potent as the worst Jew-hatred promoted during the Nazi era. In addition, the Jihadist component has been the principal element stoking the escalation of global violence, terror and murder against Jews.

We also witnessed the emergence of Jewish anti-Semites, who are now increasingly promoted to the forefront by our enemies as representing “decent” Jews. They legitimize Holocaust inversion as a vehicle to besmirch their kinsmen – comparing Israelis to Nazis and Palestinians to Jews during the Holocaust.

The hatred has reached epic levels in Europe, the continent whose soil was drenched in Jewish blood only 70 years ago and ironically today commemorates an annual Holocaust Memorial.

Incredibly, European Jewish communities probably face greater anti-Semitism today than prior to the Holocaust. Then, at least liberals and much of the left were willing to condemn the Nazis and speak out on behalf of Jews. Today, under the guise of promoting human rights, the left is usually heading the anti-Jewish pack.

This is cogently summarized in the introduction to Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld’s new book “Demonizing Israel and the Jews” where he states “today well over 100 million Europeans embrace a satanic view of the state of Israel. They believe that Israel is exterminating the Palestinians… This current widespread demonic view of Israel is an imitation of the diabolical beliefs about Jews which many held in the Middle Ages, and those promoted more recently by the Nazis and their allies”.

Opinion polls confirm that nearly 50% of Europeans regard Israel as a greater threat to the peace and stability of mankind than North Korea, Iran or Syria.

There is also increasing anti-Jewish street violence in European cities, much of which is understated as hooliganism. In many cities Jews are advised not to wear kippot (Jewish skullcaps) or other signs of Jewish identification.

In France, the aggressive approach of sectors of Islamic migrant communities has resulted in murders.

Attitudes in the UK have also dramatically changed as reflected in the frenetic and shameful hostility and bias towards Israel and the Jews expressed by the bulk of the media.

These attitudes even permeate the British judiciary, with one judge acquitting a group which had vandalized products designed for Israel on the grounds that it was engaging in justified opposition to the “occupation”. More recently a judge upholding the right of UK Teachers Union to boycott Israel condemned the plaintiff for behaving inappropriately by suggesting that Israel was relevant to the Jewish religion. The UK Protestant Churches have reverted to their former hostility to the Jews with some even challenging Israel’s legitimacy.

Even Germany, despite its special relationship with the Jews, has been displaying signs of growing anti-Semitism and Holocaust fatigue.

Other European countries are witnessing a resurgence of xenophobia and neo-Nazism. The situation in Hungary is especially stark where Jobbik, the Nazi party whose supporters proudly chant Heil Hitler and other Nazi slogans, gained 17% of the vote. In Greece its Neo-Nazi counterpart “Golden Dawn” recently polled 12% of the vote.

Belgium, Holland and the Scandinavian countries, especially those hosting substantial Muslim immigrant communities with electoral clout, have also registered major upsurges in anti-Semitism.

In these communities, many Jews are in denial. Leading somewhat cloistered lives and not personally encountering anti-Semitism, they refuse to acknowledge the intense hostility saturating their societies.

The greatest impact is on the younger Jewish generation whose parents grew up in an environment in which they took pride in their Judaism and association with Israel. But in a climate in which the media and society continuously bombard them with defamatory reports about Israel Jewish pride and dignity is undermined and increasing numbers of younger Jews seek anonymity. Some even engage in anti-Israeli rhetoric to attain social acceptability.

Such a pariah lifestyle is not an environment likely to inculcate a positive Jewish identity and there is now serious concern about the long-term survival of many established Jewish communities.

Some read the writing on the wall and recognize that there is no future for their children in Europe, and contemplate emigration or encourage their children to leave.

There is no denying the fact that the government of Israel has badly mishandled the situation. It has merely paid lip service to the problem and its diplomats abroad ceremoniously condemn anti-Semitism. But there has been no real effort to coordinate a global campaign to confront the hostility and systematically promote our position in the battle of ideas in which the struggle against anti-Semitism should have been a priority.

The Israeli government’s hosting of a global conference with endless speeches on anti-Semitism every three years is surely not the answer. What is required is the creation of a global operating center to coordinate an ongoing campaign to combat the plague. However, there is no indication of any intention to create a permanent Secretariat to deal with the issue.

There are many talented diaspora Jews and non-Jewish friends willing to cooperate with us in such a project. This is one area in which the resources of major US Jewish agencies like the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, with numerous years of experience and engagement in this arena, could provide considerable assistance.

Yet, to date we have failed to take effective action to confront this scourge which in the long run extends beyond Jew hatred and will damage Israel no less than diaspora Jews. Many Israeli leaders fail to appreciate that the battle for the mind, which we are losing, is an extension of the military conflict.

The writer’s website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com.

He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com

This column was originally published in the Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MY RESPONSE TO ISI LEIBLER.

Dear Isi,

I agree with your serious concern about the anti-Semitism ‘tsunami’!

 However, the average Aussie women I meet in my work in the Australian women's movement,,- all activists and volunteers but who knew nothing about Jews except what they read or have heard about us as  ‘stereotypes’,- are suddenly faced with another ‘tsunami’,- the influx of refugees and immigrants from so many African and Asian countries, with their strange religions  and foreign cultural customs,- that I find now after 65 years in this country, for the first time actually,- that they look at us in the Jewish community with totally different eyes!

Actually I meet with a great deal of respect for us nowadays.

 I am sure that in the European countries with their own influx of  foreigners, they must also rethink a little about their perceptions of their Jewish communities and their Jewish citizens.

Notwithstanding the anti-Israel lobbyists, particularly in academia who are most probably funded by the Arabs,- I don’t see much sympathy for them in the general community any longer, because as usual, the Arabs shoot themselves in the foot. They had learned from Goring et al. about ‘if you tell a lie often enough, everyone will believe it’,-like putting all the blame on Israel for terrorism in the West, - but now everyone can see for themselves how they fight and kill each other, so no one can be fooled any longer. The media's frenzied attacks on Israel and constant pro 'the poor Palestinians' bias has also subsided quite a bit.

My main concern however, is the move to the Right, the neo-Nazi xenophobes and racists as in Greece and the UK who will attack us too in the end, not only the Islamists, as a reaction against the Islamic terrorists who are home-grown, as well as against the influx of foreigners in all European countries. It's Eurabia/Eurasia in many parts of Europe after all!

These new Nazis however should not be against Israel,- they would probably like to send us Jews all there to get rid of us!!!!

Perhaps we Zionists are being a bit too pessimistic about the anti-Semitism at the moment?

MM

 

Steven Hawkins and BDS terrorism, UK..

Fairfaz newspapers today, 10/5/'13. wrote about Professor Hawkins joining the BDS movement in the UK, having cancelled his attendance at a conference in Jerusalem at the behest of anti-Israel activists.

Peofessor Giulio Meotti of Italy responded below and was reproduced in ARUTZ7, Israel.

 

Opinion: Would Stephen Hawking Survive Under an Arab Regime?

 by Giulio Meotti, Italy

World-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking joined the boycott of Israel. Hawking, who has Lou Gehrig's disease, uses a wheelchair. He communicates through a computerized voice system.

Professor Hawking certainly knows that researchers at Tel Aviv University have launched clinical trials on a revolutionary new technology intended to protect the human brain from neurodegenerative disorders such as the one from which the famous scientist suffers and that at Ben Gurion University, they have found an enzyme that so far delays Lou Gehrig's disease in mice.

Would Professor Hawking boycott a possible Israeli breakthrough in treating the disease?

Or more to the point -

Would Professor Hawking ever survive in any Arab country or under the Palestinian autocracy he shamefully defends?

While in the Arab world disabled people have been called “the invisibles,” because they are segregated and hidden from the public eye, Israel’s work with illness and disabilities would merit a book in itself.

Israel’s dedicated determination in tackling head-on the physical problems that arise either from natural causes, terrorism or war is astounding and says much about Israel’s moral lesson to the world beyond the headlines on how it deals with terror, drones and suicide bombers.

In the world’s consciousness, the word “Israel” has become equated with fear, but for people like Hawking, the Jewish state is in fact the world's most important laboratory for healers of disease. There is an amazing quantity of research, of inventions, of newfound techniques for curing and helping the ill, the blind, and the paralysed to return to normal life.

Scientists at Hebrew University have developed the drug Exelon for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injuries.

The Weizmann Institute had led to the development of promising new therapies for acute spinal cord injuries. Indeed, the late actor Christopher Reeve described Israel as the “world center” for research.

In Israel it is very common to see children with Down syndrome in television programs, a group of challenged children went to the March of the Living, and there are many special parks for disabled people. Paraplegic war heroes are the protagonists of many television series and Israel's disabled athletes are extremely successful, like brave swimmer Keren Leibovitz.

Five major wars and frequent terror attacks since Israel’s founding in 1948 have resulted in thousands of disabled veterans and civilian survivors of suicide attacks. Each morning, these people wake up to the worst nightmares: brain injuries, birth defects, paralysis. But they epitomize Israel’s joy de vivre. They are a microcosm of the unfailing spirit so many of us in the West associate with being Israeli.

There is one image that explains Israel better than an abundance of words: it is the dance for disabled members of the army. During the grand opening ceremony for the celebration of Israel's Independence, the disabled dance in their wheelchairs, led by young people who leap around them, take them by the hand, dart away and back again.

There is joy, not sadness, on those faces that are at once so young and so mature. Their pain, their disabling, is part of Israel, a citadel state that for more than half a century has tragically walked between life and death.

One of the most important tumour suppressor genes was cloned in 1983 by scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot (defective copies of this gene are found in more than half of all human cancers).

A non-invasive diagnostic method for detecting breast and prostate cancer was developed by another Weizmann’s pioneer.

Israel developed the early diagnosis of “Mad Cow” bovine disease in Creutzfeldt Jakob genetic disease in humans with a urine test instead of a brain biopsy.

The list of inventive Israeli medical miracles includes a revolutionary supportive metal in a coronary arteries to prevent a heart attack, a vaccine that prevents the development of juvenile diabetes and the discovery of a gene linked to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Israel's miracle is epitomized by Professor Reuven Feuerstein, the pioneer who has dedicated his life to pushing Down people beyond their supposed limits. He has said that “chromosomes will never have the last word” and has helped people with this syndrome to achieve a level of functioning that most people who work with them thought impossible.

Feuerstein’s method has been adopted by many European countries. Another example is the 2,248 “children of Chernobyl” who have been brought to Israel for treatment.

In Palestinian Arab society, the most famous disabled person was Hamas founder and arch murderer Ahmed Yassin.

In Iraq, terrorists used disabled women for suicide attacks.

In Israel, Down syndrome youth can ask to be inducted into the army. One leader in this work was Moshe Gottlieb. I interviewed his life for my book "A New Shoah". In Israel, Moshe was known as the healer of Down syndrome children and someone who could help people deemed by others to be untreatable.

Moshe was murdered on his way to another day’s work of charity in behalf of the sick and disabled. Moshe was one of the nineteen victims of the suicide bomber attack in Jerusalem on June 18, 2002. After leaving a high paying job at a fur coat factory in New York, Moshe in 1978 went with his wife and children to live in Jerusalem, where he expanded his medical practice and began an intensive study of the Torah. It was in a Jerusalem clinic for the chronically ill that he saw most of his patients.

Every Tuesday, Moshe took the bus to Bnei Brak, the poor suburb of Tel Aviv inhabited by hareidi religious, and worked free of charge in a centre for children with Down syndrome. He chose Tuesdays because in the Jewish tradition it is a day that God called  “twice as good,” and therefore one must give twice as much glory to the Lord. Every other day, Gottlieb saw patients in his office. Many of them were desperate cases, chronic patients and the seriously disabled.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Moshe worked with seriously ill patients at Tel Chai. He cared for a woman in a vegetative state for thirteen years, with impressive dedication. He also worked at Aleh, a residential care facility for disabled children, always bringing gifts; and he did charity work for orphans.

This is the story of the Middle East conflict and the moral abyss the BDS will never be able to fill: death cult vs. Israel’s right to life.

In Gaza and Ramallah, Stephen Hawking would be just another human shield. In Israel, he lives

Is ME peace possible? Experts' analyses.

One of the best aspects of cruising holidays for me is the chance to meet and hear a variety of expert lecturers on board the cruise liners. Depending on the standard of the particular company, the destinations and passengers the line caters for and the number of days it spends at sea, lectures one can listen to and courses one can take on board are many and varied.

We were fortunate to be taking a cruise along the Brazilian coast, along the Amazon River and up the Atlantic ocean and Caribbean sea over 3 weeks on a luxury liner, Crystal Serenity in March 2013.
The company provided a number of top 'celebrity lecturers'

https://plus.google.com/photos/108084405371853566621/albums/5865571338771507889?authkey=CKDVsPnRqsLufw#photos/108084405371853566621/albums/5865571338771507889?authkey=CKDVsPnRqsLufw

on a variety of current affairs topics and having plenty of lazy days at sea, it allowed us to listen to some very stimulating lectures on international affairs, including a panel discussion on the Peace Process and separate lecture by General (ret.) Anthony Zinni of the USA on mediating in the ME.

The panellists included also Dr. Jay Wolff, US historian, Neil Leiffer, US international economist, as well as General Zinni, former Chief of the American forces and speacial envoy to the ME. Moderator was Ken Rees, UK former journalist and author. The general topic was: is peace possible between Israel and the Arab Palestinians?
Jay Wolff didn't think it possible as long as the Arabs will not accept Israel's right to exist. Neil Leiffer was more optimistic, as he believed that economics will prevail in the end and in particular, hoping that new generations will forego violence in favour of coexistence.

 General Zinni was less optimistic due to what he has experienced,- a wide cultural divide.
In his subsequent lecture he was able to give an insight into his experience as a negotiator and discussed the art and science of mediation and conflict resolution in foreign lands such as the ME.

General Zinni:
Negotiations are not part of diplomacy. One needs to create two layers in mediation and conflict resolutions between the parties: Must bring in some seniors of stature who are above the mediators and with whom mediators can confer.He himself needed to have an understanding of cross-cultural, historical background and for that purpose relied on the author, Aaron Miller and his book
 " A Much too Promised Land".
Re Jerusalem: one has to consider also 16 Christian religious groups,- as well as the Jews and Moslems.
Re final status issues:1) Jerusalem; 2) Right of return of the Palestinians,- e.g. by compensation if not in person; 3) Final borders; 4) Settlements; 5) water control; 6) Recognition of Israel; 7) Security;
8) Economic cooperation; 9) Status of the Golan Heights which controls the Sea of Galillee below and the Shaba Farms area.

During the time of his period of trying to negotiate between the parties, he could not believe how friendly the Israelis and Palestians were when they met, particularly those involved in security on the ground, slapping each other on the back, joking and exchanging friendly questions about their families. However, the moment they sat down to discuss issues, they started to argue and shouted at each other. The politicians in particular were the worst!

In general:
 *He considered the MOSSAD to have the most balanced and accurate information.
 *One must not lose sight of the people who are most affected,- not the righteous and the debaters.
* One needs to mediate for the future, not for the past. Cannot resolve the past.
* The media is ruthless, but have to deal with them and this is not always in the best interests of progress in mediation.
*

Lobbyists are not a problem in his experience,- they just want to be kept informed!

General Zinni also gave a lecture on LEADERSHIP TODAY.(see later on http://anivlam2.blogspot.com.au


(MM)

ISRAELIS among the happiest in the world?

(Excerpt from CAROLYN GLICK article)

 

The “international community’s” inability to accept that sober-minded contentment is better than pipe dream fantasies has caused leftist writers in Israel, Europe and the US alike to express mystification at a recent survey carried out by the OECD, which ranks Israelis among the happiest people in the world. The ranking made no sense to commentators.

Israelis work harder than other members of the OECD. We complain more than other members of the OECD. We don’t have “peace.” And yet, we are among the happiest people in the OECD.

What gives?

Nirvana. Just around the time we began extricating ourselves from our socialist straitjacket, we were also recognizing that the peace thing wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be. And at that point we began to understand that happiness and success aren’t about what other people give you – money, treaties, a phone line after a five-year wait. Happiness and success are about what you accomplish. At that point, sometime between 1996 and 2000, Israelis began creating large families and embracing the free market. Today, with an average of three children per family, Israelis are the fecund outliers of the industrial world. And as David Goldman at PJ Media has demonstrated, there is a direct correlation between children and human happiness. This is why fruitful Israelis have the lowest suicide rate in the industrial world. When you have children, you have a future. And when you have a future, you work hard to secure it, and have a generally optimistic outlook. What could be so bad when your kid just lost his first tooth? Israelis are also happy because we see that we can build the future we want for our families and our country even without another glitzy signing ceremony at the White House every six months. Our country is getting stronger and more livable every day. And we know it. Those on the international stage that share our view that life is about more than pieces of paper signed with Arab anti-Semites recognize what is happening. For them Israel is not “that shi**y little country.” It’s “The Little Engine that Could.” Take the Chinese. Last July China signed a deal with Israel to build an inland port in Eilat and a 180- km. freight railway to connect Eilat to Israel’s Mediterranean ports in Ashdod and Haifa. The purpose of the project is to build an alternative to the Suez Canal, in Israel. The Chinese look at the region, and they see that Egypt is a failed state that can’t even afford its wheat imports. The future of shipping along the Suez Canal is in doubt with riots in Port Said and Suez occurring on a regular basis. On the other hand, Israel is a stable, prosperous, successful democracy that keeps moving from strength to strength. When the freight line is completed, as far as the global economy is concerned, Israel will become the most strategically important country in the region. Then there is our newfound energy wealth. Israel became energy independent on March 30, when the Tamar offshore gas field began pumping natural gas to Israel. In two to three years, when the Leviathan gas field comes online, Israel will become one of the most important producers of natural gas in the world. Moreover, in 2017, Israel will likely begin extracting commercial quantities of oil from its massive oil shale deposits in the Shfela Basin near Beit Shemesh. Geologists assess that the field alone contains some 250 billion barrels of oil, giving Israel oil parity with Saudi Arabia. Chinese, Russian and Australian firms are lining up to sign contracts with Israeli energy companies. International analysts assess that Israel’s emergence as an energy power will have a stabilizing impact on the global economy and international security. Israel can end Asia’s oil and gas hunger. It can reduce European dependence on Russia. It will remove OPEC’s ability to dictate world oil prices through supply manipulation. Israel’s discovery of its energy riches couldn’t have come at a more propitious time. Had Israel discovered its oil and gas 65 or even 20 years ago, we wouldn’t have had the economic maturity to manage our resources responsibly. But now, with our free market, our hi-tech sector and our entrepreneurial culture, we can develop and manage our resources wisely and successfully. At 65, Israel is becoming a mature, responsible, prosperous and powerful player in the international arena. The only thing we need to ensure that we enjoy the fruits of our labors is security. And the one thing we can do to squander it all is place our hopes in “peace.” And so we won’t, ever again.

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=310293

The San Remo declaration 1920. 90th anniversary:

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmMmJ46O-3Q&feature=player_embedded >

ICJW representative to the UN

Informal Jewish NGO Caucus

 

Hosted by

Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organization

February 6, 2013

 

Reported by Fran Butensky, ICJW representative to the UN in New York

 

The timing for this meeting couldn’t have been better. An article in the New York Times that morning reported on Bulgaria’s persistent investigation in tracking those responsible for the bus bombing last summer targeting and killing Israeli citizens. The result was the government’s courageous decision to single out Hezbollah and pressure the European Union to recognize them as a terrorist organization.

 

Thanks and recognition was given to the Bulgarian government for their steadfast support and for standing up for their principles during WWII at great risk for their safety.

 

There were two guest speakers:

 

H.E. Ambassador  Stephan Tafrov, Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to the United Nations in New York was a journalist and literary critic who speaks 6 languages and has translated major literary works.

 

We were told that on March 9^th his country plans to celebrate the rescue of 48,000 Jews during WWII. They are very proud of this and will pay homage to the Bulgarian Jews. They were the only country where there were more Jews remaining after that before the war.

 

All countries had the choice to join or not with Nazi Germany who put huge pressure on them to join the axis powers which Bulgaria did. Immediately after, Germany invaded Bulgaria but allowed them to keep their King (Boris) in power. Germany’s first priority was to organize the deportation of the Jews. However, in Bulgaria there was always an absence of Anti-Semitism that was never a part of their culture. They never had ghettoes, Jews were a part of the government, officers in he army and members of Parliament.

 

Ultimate authority lay with King Boris  who became the main figure. He had no Anti-Semitic views and considered the Jews loyal subjects of the crown. When the Germans began facilitating anti-Jewish legislation, it is now widely believed that the King went along with it for fear that deportation would be a much worse fate. Leaders from every avenue of Bulgarian life urged the king not to yield to pressure and he did not. Dmitar Peshev (who, in 1973 was awarded “ Righteous Among Nation” by Yad Vashem) called on 42 members of Parliament to protest any deportation of the Jews. The Church urged citizens to open up their homes and provide shelter and safety to the Jews. The King’s wife who was Italian, arranged for many Jews to escape with Italian passports. With the exception of the Jews from the territories of Macedonia and Thrace, not a single Jew was deported. They were sent to labor camps but all of them survived the war. It should also be noted that Bulgaria did not send a single soldier to the front.

 

Right before his mysterious death, King Boris met with Hitler who accused him for being responsible for Hitler’s failure in the deportation of the Bulgarian Jews.  The King died suddenly at a young age and it is widely believed but not proven that he was poisoned. We must be thankful to him for ultimately, he was the one who saved the Jews.

 

The atmosphere at the meeting was one of respect and gratitude to the Bulgarian government and its courageous citizens for their extraordinary efforts to save the lives of so many Bulgarian Jews during WWII.  Ambassador Tafrov recognized this with humility and pride.

 

 

H.E. Karoly Dan, Ambassador and Consul General of Hungary

 

Ambassador Dan started his remarks by stating that today there are extremist hate groups in his country speaking out against Jews in an attempt to influence the government and include Anti-Roma and Anti-Jewish factions in Parliament.  Thus far, there have been zero results and he told us that they will not let it happen.. The government is trying to fight back as much as possible and enacted a new penal code with jail terms of up to three years to cover this.

 

Hungary has been an outspoken ally of Israel at the UN, working together on many issues. They are concerned about the perception in regard to the Jewish situation. It will be hard to win back their reputation. Assimilation is a concern. Hungary was broken apart. It is a broken country. They were not as fortunate as Bulgaria – deportation happened.

 

Today, there is a vibrant renaissance of Jewish life in Hungary. They are trying to erase the stain on their country.  They want to make amends and will be commemorating the 70^th Anniversary of the deportation of the Jews.