Mostly a bit of news and a
variety of materials that are worthy of being shared.
Let me begin with a brief update
on the little boy I've been tracking -- Zakkai. He's making good progress
in his recovery and is becoming more like himself. But all is not smooth:
he's clingy, which is understandable considering the trauma he's had; wants to
be carried on stairs, which he finds difficult to navigate; and still has some
discomfort. Since his balance isn't good and he has other problems
connected to the surgery on his spine, he has rehabilitation specialists
working with him to help him regain his former mobility.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Center for Near East Policy
Research, which has produced a variety of materials on UNRWA over the years, has
just put out a new video on the "Right of Return" as taught in the UNRWA
schools.
See this and understand why UNRWA
is part of the problem, and why peace is not possible while the Palestinian Arab
kids in its classrooms continue to be taught to kill Jews in order to regain
"their" land. This is stunning documentation -- you get it from the mouths
of students, teachers and administrators themselves (with subtitles). What
the kids say is most stunning of all:
This is one of those things that
everyone should know about. UNRWA would have people believe that it is a
"humanitarian" organization benignly serving a population disenfranchised by
Israel.
Please spread this around
broadly.
~~~~~~~~~~
Lawrence Korb, who served as
Assistant
Secretary of Defense during the Jonathan Pollard affair, was here
this week. You can find here (scroll down a bit) a video clip from
his news conference on Tuesday, making the case for Jonathan's release. He
provides important background information:
~~~~~~~~~~
Unreal. Incredible. But no
surprise in this unreal and incredible world. John Brennan, who by all
accounts makes Chuck Hagel look good, has been confirmed by the Senate as the
next CIA head.
What is there to say that hasn't
already been said?
~~~~~~~~~~
Barry Rubin, whom I cite often
because of his sharp analyses, gave me a laugh today. And when I can laugh about
Secretary of State Kerry, I think it's worth sharing:
Said Rubin:
"In practically his first outing
as secretary of state abroad, John Kerry made some remarkable statements in a
meeting with young Germans. The main thing being widely quoted is
this:
"'In America, you have a right to
be stupid if you want to be,' he said. 'And we tolerate it. We somehow make it through that.
Now, I think that’s a virtue. I think that’s something worth fighting
for.”'
"Of course, there’s a
right to be stupid in America! Indeed, just this week it’s been expanded into
having a right to be simultaneously stupid and secretary of
defense!"
Rubin also quoted Kerry saying
something else so incredibly insensitive and impolitic that I did a
double-take:
"You know, education, if you make
the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an
effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in
Iraq."
For those of us who might doubt
that even Kerry would really say anything quite so obtuse, we are provided with
a video clip:
America is in a heap of
trouble.
~~~~~~~~~~
It was announced yesterday that
Obama has decided to skip a planned speech in the Knesset when he's here, opting
for a more "politically neutral" venue instead. Apparently he's afraid of
being interrupted by right wing MKs.
MKs Avi Wurtzman (Habayit
Hayehudi) and Tzipi Hotovely (Likud-Beiteinu) have written to the
president urging him to reconsider.
US "sources" are saying that
rumors that the president will be demanding a timetable for withdrawals from
Netanyahu are not true -- that he intends to present a "general framework" for
peace and no more. Do not ask me what a "general framework" means, or how
it differs from the 100 previous frameworks that failed.
~~~~~~~~~~
Who knows, by the time I next
write, there may be a coalition. There was no way Netanyahu was going to miss
that March 16 deadline set by Obama, upon which his coming would
depend.
For a while now it's been a
question of who blinks first and according to latest rumors, it's Yair Lapid who
has, surrendering his demand for the Foreign Ministry (which is being saved for
Lieberman). Apparently agreement is now close.
There's a great deal yet to
discover.
~~~~~~~~~~
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Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner,
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