Ari says

Report: Jewish poverty rate in the U.S. higher than in Israel

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 07:28:00 +0000

Haaretz reports,

Steven Nasatir, JUF / Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago president, says one of every five Jews among Chicago's 270,000 Jews is poor or almost poor according to the federal government's definition. He says there are no figures for the general poverty rate among Jews in the United States, but according to the federations' umbrella organization, the UJC, 15 to 20 percent of American Jews are poor.

In fact, the Jewish poverty rate in the United States is higher than that in Israel. In Israel 24 percent of the population is considered poor, but about half is not Jewish.

New York also has a high rate of Jewish poverty. "Usually the words 'Jewish poverty" are seen as a contradiction in terms, says William Rapfogel, CEO of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty. "It's not. More than a quarter of the members of the world's richest Jewish community live close to the poverty line."

A survey conducted for the federation five years ago showed that 350,000 Jews in New York City and state live close to the poverty line. The highest poverty rate is in Brooklyn. Ultra-Orthodox families make up 27 percent of those living below the poverty line, 23 percent are Russian speakers under the age of 65, 21 percent are Russian speakers over 65, 13 percent are non-Russian speakers over 65 and 16 percent are unemployed or handicapped.

See the article for more.

Arabs rally for Shalit, Regev, Goldwasser

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 05:27:00 +0000

Ynet reports,

Dozens of Israeli-Arabs participated in a rally for the realese of kidnapped soldiers Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev and Ehud Golwasser in the village of Kfar Kassem on Wednesday evening.

Guests of honor included MK Ibrahim Sarsur (Ra'am-Ta'al) and Noam Shalit, Gilad's father.
Shalit told Ynet that participants "expressed their support for my family and for Gilad. They believe in co-existence and working to better the relationship between our communities."

Cont.

Back to Israel...

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:17:00 +0000

On Sunday the 18th of November I head over to Israel for three months. The vague plan is to share my time between learning Hebrew at ulpan, volunteering and doing whatever else takes my fancy. I hope to update the blog fairly regularly (certainly more regularly than in recent times) and discuss what i'm up to as well as interesting things i've been reading.

Speaking of which, i've just added an element to my side-bar called "Ari's Starred Items" which contains direct links to items that i have read and enjoyed in google-reader.

I hope you enjoy reading over the next few months! As always, feedback is welcome.

Facebook and hyperreality - what i should have written in my sociology essay

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 06:48:00 +0000

Earlier in the year I learned about the concept of hyperreality. The term hyperreality was first used by sociologist Jean Baudrillard in his book “The Gulf War Did Not Take Place” (1995) to describe a situation where through technological communication, reality itself becomes a product of that technological communication.

As members of the 21st century, it is interesting to consider the impact of hyperreality on our lives. The flavour of the month appears to be facebook. Not only is media such as newspapers being splattered with references to and articles about facebook, real-life conversations and situations are dominated by discussion relating to facebook.

Recently, i have noticed that barely any social occasion can occur without someone either requesting that a certain photo be "facebooked" or someone mentioning the "relationship status" of a "mutual friend" or a funny "wall-post" which they have received. I am personally approaching my one-year facebook anniversary and am not proud to tell you that I am a perpetrator of the aforementioned crime*. Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of facebook, has been quoted saying that he wants to make facebook an indispensable part of life social interaction and disturbingly, he seems to be succeeding in achieving his goal. I'm not sure what are the ramifications of the intertwining of facebook and real-life social interaction, but the situation certainly bares a resemblance to Baudrillard's definition of hyperriality and that concerns me.

*Yes, i noticed the irony of this post being fed into my facebook "notes!"

Islets of Langerhans

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:20:00 +0000

I just found this cartoon that i drew when i was doing biology in year 12. Maybe some of you will appreciate it. Click on the image to make it larger.

Writers' blog

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:11:00 +0000

As you may have noticed, i didn't blog for a few months. The main reasons for my lapse in blogging were: i didn't feel i had anything original to say, i felt that what i did write was written poorly and that very few people were actually reading my blog.

My question to you, my reader, is what would you like me to write about?

Thanks for your input!

Remembering Rabin

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 03:50:00 +0000

On Sunday night my friend (Bez) and I attended commemoration for Yitzchak Rabin, the ex-Prime Minister of Israel who was murdered by a Religious Zionist Jew in 1995. The event- Melbourne's only official commemoration of Rabin - was organised by Hashomer Hatzair, Australian Jewish Democratic Society and Meretz Australia (all of these organisations are on the political left). There were hardly any attendants and I am fairly certain that Bez and I were the only people present who would identify themselves as being part of the Orthodox Community (EDIT: apparently there were a few others).

The speakers focused on Rabin himself and there was little more than a brief mention of the effect that Rabin’s murder had on Israeli society and the way it changed Israel's perception of democracy. Most importantly, it did not assess the role and responsibility of the Religious Zionist community for Rabin’s assassination. This was a highly appropriate approach considering the background of crowd and the hosts(and something that I fully support) but was disappointing considering that this was Melbourne's only official event in honour of Rabin.

Due to the event's lacking of breadth and the significance of Rabin's murder, I feel that it was the responsibility of a united community body such as the Australian Zionist Youth Council (AZYC) or the State Zionist Council (SZC) to hold a ceremony which focused on these additional aspects. Moreover, in light of current attempts by Yigal Amir's supporters to push for his exoneration, the Religious Zionist community of Melbourne should have made certain that it discussed and debated the reaction of the Religious Zionist community to the assassination, the lack of preventative actions taken by the community and the way that Religious Zionists should approach politics today, 12 years after the assassination.

As for the commemoration that actually took place, I don't want to go into the details of the speakers, but i would like to mention an analogy made by one of the speakers in response to a question from the audience. The speaker described how when he first came to Australia (he was originally from Israel) , farmers from the Victorian Highlands held a protest and drove their tractors to Parliament (or some similar building) and protested about their right to live and farm as they always had. The speaker remarked the farmers' cause seemed noble but that the reason why the farmers were being deterred from their traditional style of farming was because it is not suited to the Australian environment and it is not sustainable or the best use of limited resources. Despite this, Australians remain sentimental about the myth of The Man From Snowy River.

The speaker then compared the farmers' situation to the Zionist Dream and noted that what the Zionists originally set-out to do is not necessarily what is best suited to present-day Israel, its inhabitants and its neighbours. But like the myth of the Man From Snowy River, the Zionist Dream persists. Interestingly, a member of the audience (a guy from Hashomer Hatzair) pointed out that in the case of the farmers, the body politic was represented by the parliament and a lawful and logical decision could be made but in the case of Israel, the body politic consists of Israeli citizens and is not representative of all those affected by Israeli policy and therefore the decisions that it makes are not as fair as those made about the farmers.

It is also interesting to note that the event was concluded with the singing of Shir L'Shalom (the Song famously sung before Rabin was murdered) and that Hatikva was NOT sung.

Whilst I am on the topic of Rabin, I would like to mention the brilliant speech given by R' Aharon Lichtenstein of Yeshivat Har Etzion soon after the murder of Rabin. You can read the transcript of the speech here.

Melbourne Graffiti Tours

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 13:24:00 +0000

Last week saw the arrest of a Queensland teenager for allegedly coming down to Melbourne for the sole purpose of tagging Melbourne's trains and other public transport. All the authorities seem to be distressed by the phenomenon of groups of teens traveling to Melbourne to graffiti, but I think they're missing out on a brilliant tourism opportunity.

Imagine it; Melbourne Graffiti Tours: $700 all inclusive (airfares, accommodation and paint - bail money not included). It would be perfect for the artsy image the city is always trying to put forward...

Middle East solution - take advice from MASH

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 00:02:00 +0000

The other day I was watching an episode of MASH where Frank schemes to setup a boxing match between Klinger and Zale to make himself feel manly and to impress Margaret. When Hawkeye and BJ catch on, they convince Klinger and Zale to sabotage the boxing match and both punch Frank.

I was thinking, wouldn't it be great if the Palestinians and Israelis got together, realised how stupid their conflict is and decided to figuratively punch the rest of the world in the head? I know i'm dreaming but still, it's a nice thought...

politicans hit wiki

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 07:18:00 +0000

It seems that Aussie politicians have been editing wikipedia entries in order to make themselves look better.

One offender was the PM and other members of the Federal cabinet etc.,

A new website, WikiScanner - which traces the digital fingerprints of those who make changes to entries in the online encyclopedia - points to the department as the source of 126 edits on subjects ranging from the children overboard affair to the Treasurer, Peter Costello.

On June 28 an employee of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet modified Mr Costello's entry to remove a reference to the nickname "Captain Smirk".

WikiScanner also identifies employees of another department, Defence, as the most prolific Wikipedia contributors in Australia. After the Herald made inquiries yesterday, the department said it would ban Defence staff from accessing the encyclopedia, which is billed as the "free encyclopedia that anyone can edit".

Defence computers were found to have made more than 5000 edits to Wikipedia entries, including to articles on the "9/11 Truth Movement", the Australian Defence Force Academy and even the Vietnam War-era Pentagon Papers.

Not to be left out, it seems the office of the premier of NSW also brushed over some damning information:

The online encyclopedia's entry on Mr Iemma had previously included details of an outburst he had at a media conference last year, where he called the then chief executive of Sydney's Cross City Tunnel a "f---wit", unaware that his microphone was switched on.

Iran to sit on anti-racism committee

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 06:26:00 +0000

Ynet reports that Iran is set to sit on a UN anti-racism committee.

The decision to include Iran in the committee has been slammed by UN watchdogs. "As a UN spokesperson against racism, Iran will invert totally the message and mission of the United Nations," Anne Bayefsky, senior editor of the New York-based Eye on the UN, said in a press release.

"Iran is now poised to wrap itself in a UN flag as a lead agent of the next global conference against racism, Durban II," she added, referring to the 2001 UN conference on racism held in Durban, South Africa, which saw unprecedented levels of anti-Zionist rhetoric and calls for Israel's destruction.

strippers and politicians

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 04:33:00 +0000

You've got to worry about the state of Aussie politics... Michelle Grattan of the Age reports the current "stripper affair":

KEVIN has done it, not just once but twice, as he confessed last night. Brendan Nelson has done it, when he was 20. Alexander Downer says he has never done it when on official business. Tony Abbott won't talk about whether he's done it, because he doesn't want to fib. And nobody quite dares to ask John Howard whether he's been to a strip club.

Gough Whitlam, on the other hand, has been to the classical French version — and what's more he took a government minister, and a female one at that.

While the great strip club debate raged on yesterday, with accusations and denials about whether the Government had smeared Mr Rudd — who flagellated himself for the umpteenth time — the former Labor prime minister, highly amused, recalled his visits to the Lido cabaret and the Folies Bergere in Paris.

Mr Whitlam told The Age that as ambassador to UNESCO in the 1980s he was expected to take visiting ministers and opposition figures to the two famous clubs. He escorted Susan Ryan, who was education minister and minister assisting then prime minister Bob Hawke on the status of women, to the Lido, "where the exploitation of women is very tasteful".

"Paris had real class in nightclubs," said Mr Whitlam, who chose not to make any specific comments about Mr Rudd. "Nothing so crass as they have in New York."

Read on

Israelis polled on government's policy of expelling refugees

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 03:35:00 +0000

As pointed out by a few people and also discovered by myself, ynet has reported the results in a survey in which Israelis were asked whether they support the government's policy of expelling refugees. The exact question posed was,

"Over the past year 1,500 refugees from the Sudan have illegally entered Israel. The government believes most of them have come here looking for work. While the refugees claim they are escaping persecution and genocide and returning would mean certain death. Recently the government of Israel adopted a policy to deport most of the refugees to Egypt soon. Do you support the government's policy of deporting the Sudanese refugees or do you think that they should be allowed to legally stay in Israel?"

Overall, 47% were in favour of the policy, 39% were opposed and 14% were undecided. The breakdown is as follows,

A breakdown of the data found that 42% of women opposed the policy whereas only 36% of men said the same. A majority of men, 54%, were in favor of the government's policy compared to 40% of women.

Attitudes towards religion also seem to play a role, the study found that the more religious the individual, the more likely they were to support the government's policy.

Of those who identified themselves as strictly Orthodox, 67% were in favor of expulsion compared to 13% who opposed it. Among respondents who identified themselves as religious, 55% were in favor of expulsion compared to 35% who were opposed. Similar figures were noted for respondents who defined themselves as traditional – 52% favored expulsion compared to 31% who opposed it.

The only sector where support for the government's policy was the minority opinion was among secular respondents – 39% favored expulsion compared to 49% who opposed it.

Egyptian soldiers kill 4 Sudanese refugees at ISraeli border

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 03:46:00 +0000

An AP article on Ynet reports,

Egyptian soldiers killed four Sudanese refugees, beating two to death in front of horrified Israeli soldiers, an Israeli TV station reported Thursday, screening what it said was army surveillance video and interviews with the soldiers.

Egyptian police said that authorities arrested two Sudanese refugees Thursday, seriously injuring one when he scuffled with police. But Egyptian police Capt. Mohammed Badr did not report any deaths.
Channel 10 TV said the incident happened late Wednesday night. In the video, the refugees are seen running toward the border with Israel. Then, according to one of the soldiers, who was not identified and whose voice was distorted, Egyptian soldiers opened fire, killing two.

The other two tried to climb the border fence but were tackled by Egyptian soldiers, the TV report said.

Israeli soldiers were sent to the scene to try to help the refugees, and at one point they got into a tug-or-war with the Egyptians, each side holding on to the Sudanese.

"We pulled one way they pulled another, they pointed their guns at us," said one of the soldiers. He said the Israelis let go for fear that the Egyptians would fire at them.

Then the Israeli soldiers said they watched helplessly as the Egyptians passed the two refugees from one to the other, beating them. "We saw them gang up on them and beat them on the ground until they stopped moving," said one soldier.

"They killed two men with their own hands and sticks and rocks," he said. "We heard them crying and screeching in pain until they died."

The Israeli military said it was looking into the incident. There was no confirmation from Egypt of any

refugees being killed.

Hundreds of Sudanese refugees, many from the war-wracked Darfur region, have crossed the desert border from Egypt into Israel in recent months.

Last month, Egyptian border guards shot and killed a Sudanese woman and wounded four others. She was the first Sudanese refugee to be killed.

I urge you to note if your local newspaper includes the story and if it doesn't write in quoting this article.

Finally

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 23:06:00 +0000

Finally, it looks as though UN peacekeeping troops will be deployed in Darfur, starting in October. The Age reports,

The UN Security Council voted 15-0 to begin sending a joint UN-African Union force of as many as 26,000 troops and police to Darfur before the end of the year to quell violence that has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced more than 2 million in four years.

The full force will take about a year to muster and could cost $US2 billion ($A2.4 billion), said peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno, who added that a substantial number of troops would arrive before year's end.

Meanwhile, the Save Darfur Coalition issued a statement, imploring world leaders to,

muster the “determined political will” to implement the resolution and to surpass the measure’s glacial timeline by deploying peacekeepers to Darfur as they are recruited.

Let's hope this brings an end to the madness and killing.

The Coming of Messiah - in Bendigo?

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 09:06:00 +0000

So, here's what i learnt today. Apparently, Isaiah 62 contains the quote, "God wants to crown Bendigo with his Glory." Just in case it never occurred to you, the place to be when the Messiah comes and the Temple is rebuilt is none other than Victorian town, Bendigo. At least, according to The Tabernacle of David Bendigo Australia . I'm bloody confused and am definitely getting it all wrong, but you've got to admit it's an amusing pamphlet.

A Godless Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 08:51:00 +0000

Check out Uri Orbach's attempt to reform the commandment not to use God's name in vain in his article, "A Godless Campaign."

If the Ten Commandments were written today, there would certainly be a clause for believers: “A person shall not make excessive use of the name of the Lord. The name of the Holy One Blessed be He shall not be used or publicized for personal, political, or commercial use. Explicit, direct, and public use of the name and/or one of the names of the Creator (henceforth ‘Hashem’ and any other name known to the public) will be considered a transgression of one of the Ten Commandments:”You Shall Not Take, 5767/2007."

A Jewish lesson in self hate

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:00:00 +0000

I really enjoyed Bradley Burston's piece titled, "What self-hating Jews can teach Muslims." Burston starts off by definining "self hate" and pointing out its value and the pitfalls of believing in your own superiority.

Self-hate, in the Jewish context, is assailed by traditionalists, quantified by sociologists, catalogued by hobbyists, ribbed by comedians, feared by parents.

It is also underrated.

Simply put, we have much to learn from the self-hating Jew. Like the paranoid who is under actual surveillance, the Jew who is viciously critical of matters Jewish - or for whom Jewishness and Israel are sources of shame - may shed light on issues we may wrongly choose to ignore or accept.

...

At the core of it, one suspects, is the goes-without-saying superiority complex embedded in the teachings of many Jewish religious figures and deeply ingrained in much of the Jewish public at large, the assumption that the Jewish mind is of higher quality, the Jewish heart of broader tenderness, the Jewish soul of more profound morality, and the Jewish belief system of greater legitimacy.

It's time we got over it.

Perhaps we need our self-haters to help.

Burston then explains how this trait of self hate could assist the Muslim world,

The sense of moral superiority and ultimate entitlement is strong within Islam as well. This has proven no healthier for Muslims than it has for Jews. It has reached its most extreme form in jihadism, and an explicit goal of eventual domination of all areas once ruled by Muslims. But in making war on the West, Al-Qaida has effectively touched off a war against Islam. For quite some time, the vast majority of victims of worldwide Islamic terror have been Muslims.

...

May we, Muslim and Jew, have the wisdom to address our own failings with the vigor with which we attack each others'.

Let's hear it for healthy self-hate. It may just be what the world needs now.

Though, if the Jewish Self-Haters are meant to be acting as role models for their Muslim counterparts, you'd think this might give them a false sense of superiority and jeopardise the process.

Votes for children and haredi rabbis ban hiking

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 02:13:00 +0000

It's a few days old and in the meantime, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks has resigned, but this is too bizarre to ignore. The Age reports,

Evan Thornley, Mr Bracks' parliamentary secretary for national reform policy, suggests parents should have the right to vote on behalf of their children under 18 - the more children, the more votes.

He sees this as a natural progression in the evolution of our democracy, from the 19th century when only men who owned property could vote, through to all men getting the vote, then women, then the recent lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18.

The goal of moving from "one vote, one value" to "one person, one vote" would be to break down short-term thinking and encourage thinking about cross-generational issues such as global warming, education funding and job creation.

In totally unrelated news,

Haredi leaders are warning their congregations against hiking, following two outdoor deaths of yeshiva students. "Don't be tempted to hike because it's life-threatening," Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and Rabbi Aharon Steinman wrote in a statement meant to be released to the community formally in the upcoming days.

A 15-year-old yeshiva student from central Israel died Friday afternoon after he collapsed due to dehydration during a trip to Amud River in the north. The evening before, 20-year-old Zvi Miller, a yeshiva student from Netanya, died after dehydrating during a hike along the Zeelim River when he and his friends ran out of water.
...
The Teshabin Yeshiva in Jerusalem, where Miller had been a student prior to his death, announced they were cutting short the summer vacation and asking students to return to the yeshiva by the end of the week, in the hopes that Torah study would prevent additional tragedies. Several other yeshivas announced that they intended to follow suit.

You'd think it would be smarter to explain the need to keep hydrated... but apparently that is not the way things are meant to be done.

Alternative rabbinical court system...

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 12:10:00 +0000

Rivkah Lubitch writes about a proposal to establish an alternative, women-friendly rabbinical court system:

Today’s rabbinical courts must undergo a fundamental change, not just an administrative change. At a conference held last week by Kolech, the religious women’s forum, there was a discussion on establishing alternative rabbinical courts (and yes, we need to find them another name!). The new court must be based on four things: the inclusion of women, educated and knowledgeable judges, judges with both vision and daring on issues of Jewish law, and on a constant search for justice. Anything less will not be a solution, just a recycling of what already exists.
....
Finally, the new court must be based on seeking justice. This demand is not self-evident, since there is a contradiction between justice and the fact that a get, a Jewish divorce, depends on the husband’s will. This is because if the get is subject to the husband’s will, then he will not give a get without the woman giving in to his demands. And if the woman surrenders, then this is not justice. So as long as the problem of the coerced get is not solved, it won’t be possible to get justice in the rabbinical court. The new court must make justice its guiding principle.

Interesting.

Prostitution degree in NZ a possibility

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 04:41:00 +0000

The Age reports,

Funding for tertiary courses in prostitution could be considered under changes aimed at boosting quality and relevance in the sector, New Zealand education officials say... TEC chief executive Janice Shiner said under the new system a request to provide prostitution courses would be assessed against the same criteria as any other course.

Bloody weird.

I'm back... and Kiryat Gat municipality Vs Bedouin boys

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 13:27:00 +0000

Sorry for the lack of blogging over the last week - i was out of contact.

It seems i got a nice "welcome back to the internet" present from ynet in the form of an article describing how the Kiryat Gat municipality has held an emergency meeting to deal with the phenomenon of Jewish girls falling for Bedouin boys...

The Kiryat Gat municipality has decided to act against a phenomenon it has been dealing with for years: The southern town's female teenagers fall in love with young Bedouins and leave home.

An "emergency conference" held in the city on Sunday was aimed at "preventing a disaster," according to Haim Shalom, the conference's initiator, who heads the municipality's community, welfare and health department.

Leaflets used contained inflammatory quotes which claimed to be from the Koran. Rahat Mayor Talal al-Krenawi, refuted the quotes, commenting:

All the quotes presented are not real and are absolute nonsense. On the contrary, the Koran supports women's rights and has said more than once that a woman must not be harmed

In general, the Koran does not present violent stances. I suggest to those who brought these quotes to go study before they write nonsense. The Koran is holy, and the person who wrote those quotes does not understand anything.

Ethiopian Jew speaks out against Darfur refugees

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 05:25:00 +0000

Danny Adino Ababa, an Ethiopian Israeli who spent time in Sudan during his family's Aliyah journey, writes why Israel should not assist Sudanese refugees.

Ababa distinguishes between Jewish refugees and the Sudanese,

There are Jewish refugees here who chose to become a part of this people, and who feel like refugees no less than those who maintain that they fled the hell of Darfur. I am sensitive to their plight, and perhaps there is some truth to the argument that they are being persecuted. However, the exodus from Egypt is shrouded in a crude lie.

They depart in a planned manner, in a detailed and financed program with one objective – not to flee, but rather, to seek their fortune. If we lend a supporting hand to the Sudanese refugees, we should also give it to the Russian prostitutes who infiltrate Israel through the Egyptian border – because both share the same objective - to earn a decent living.

Ababa explains that he would reject Sudanese refugees,

Perhaps I am speaking out of vengeance. Yes, I am acting out of vengeance. From that pain, from the deep memories that have left scars which refuse to heal. I am a refugee who was hurt by the Sudanese treatment. And today, as an Israeli, they are knocking at my door and asking me to extend a helping hand. But I do not wish to do so. They do not deserve it. Not here.

Ababa seems to be confused about the details,

Had the world cared about them, it would have taken them in. The Arab nations shirk responsibility despite them being Arabs just like themselves. And with regards to Christian refugees – the Christian world is far greater than our tiny piece of land.

Currently, the black (Muslim) population of Darfur is fleeing from Arab militias, showing Ababa's lack of understanding of the situation. Furthermore, Ababa's statement that "perhaps there is some truth to the argument that they are being persecuted," seems odd given that the most conservative statisticians have the current death toll at 300,000.

With greatest respect to Ababa and his family's suffering, I have to say that i am disturbed by Ababa's condemnation of an entire, diverse, population. Especially since many of the current refugees would have been children, if even alive, at the time of his family's time in Sudan.

Battle of the hypocrites

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 23:57:00 +0000

In today's Age, Waleed Aly, a lecturer in Monash Uni's Global Terrorism Research Centre, discusses the battle of ideologies between al-Qaeda and the West.

Aly argues that because would-be terrorists are now "recruiting themselves",

The implications are clear: a terror threat that is self-perpetuating, and too random to be dismantled systematically. It follows that, ultimately, the only way to defeat it is to dismantle it intellectually; to persuade people not to subscribe to radical ideology. And that is only achievable by winning the battle for Muslim hearts and minds: the battle of ideas.

He then argues that currently, the West is held in very low regard by many Muslims,

Western governments, then, face a simple but significant charge: hypocrisy. To this, they may vehemently protest. But in the context of the war on terror, their most crucial audience, the Muslim world, is, in large numbers, not convinced. This has frightfully devastating potential for the West's cause in the battle of ideas, and it is imperative to understand the seriousness of this challenge.

This is juxtaposed by the image that Bin Laden and others have constructed,

Ponder his myth for a moment: the young man who inherits a fortune but leaves it all behind to trek through the Afghan mountains in the depths of a vicious winter to repel the invading Soviets. Later, he settles in Sudan and devotes his wealth to building basic infrastructure such as roads. All along, he refuses worldly indulgences. He could live in a palace, but opts instead for a cave. This is not accidental. The symbolism is potent, even if rarely understood in the West. Bin Laden manages to present himself as the very opposite of every perceived Western indulgence: sincere rather than arrogant; self-sacrificing rather than self-interested; charitable rather than greedy. He brings a deceptively principled veneer to his deeply unprincipled conduct.

Aly concludes with,

While al-Qaeda presents itself as a vanguard for the defence of Muslim honour, it has, along with its affiliates, massacred considerably more Muslims than anyone else in recent years. Deadly bombings, particularly in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, have shaken its credibility. It is difficult to maintain you are acting in Muslims' defence when you demonstrate little compunction in killing them.

In the battle of ideas, it is not as though al-Qaeda is invulnerable.
The problem for the West is that, at this point, the Muslim world's reckoning appears to be that the greater hypocrisy is not in the West's favour.
The predicament is urgent, because it is this judgement, more than anything else, that will determine who wins the battle of ideas. As the weekend has shown, that calculus may be fatal.

Initiative for IDF soldiers to preserve sperm "just in case"

noreply@blogger.com (ahhhri) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 05:08:00 +0000

Ynet reports,

One year after seeing their comrades fall in the Second Lebanon War , some 150 soldiers, both in active service and in reserve decided to sign a biological will according to which they will freeze sperm for the future use by their spouses.

Some soldiers, who currently do not have significant others, have their parents down as executors of their will, allowing them to choose if the sperm is to be used to impregnate a surrogate.

The article tells the story of "A", a 31yr old reservist in the IDF,

A contacted Rosenblum and signed a biological will stipulating his sperm is to be kept frozen for five years, allowing his wife to use it is she sees fit.

"It costs NIS 2,000 (about $470) for the initial procedure and another NIS 700 ($165) a year to preserve the sperm," said A. "We have no idea what's going to happen and I want to make sure I can have children."

Rosenblum has recently started a new initiative, calling for the forming of a special sperm bank for IDF soldiers.
Every man joining the IDF would be able to donate sperm, which would be kept until the donor is 45.

Should the donor be harmed, the use of the sperm would be at his spouse or parents discretion.