Free Republic

<p>Jews, according to both anti-Semites and philo-Semites, are smart folks. Anti-Semites claim that Jews are highly intelligent -- and therefore threaten the world via conspiratorial monetary and political control. Philo-Semites point out that Jews have provided a vastly disproportionate number of Nobel Prize winners, as well as various leading scientists, philosophers, writers and artists. Virtually everyone agrees, then, that Jews are intelligent. And yet for all of our intelligence (I am an Orthodox Jew), large groups of American Jews lack the most basic instinct for self-preservation; they lack the understanding to protect Jews by acting to protect Israel. The non-religious Jewish community demonstrates particular blindness. Most non-religious Jews, who see no special value in Jewish identity, distract themselves with "social justice" policies -- policies like abortion-on-demand and gay marriage -- that directly contravene traditional Jewish values. Meanwhile, they ignore existential threats to Jews worldwide -- threats they cannot escape with protestations that they aren't practicing Jews, or that their Judaism only goes as far as the occasional bagel. For many non-religious Jews, political liberalism trumps both Jewish values and Jewish existence. How else to explain the disastrous series of events last week in New York? The United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York scheduled an anti-Iran rally highlighting the blatant Jew-hatred of visiting Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Federation invited both Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin (R-AK). Palin accepted. So, at first, did Clinton -- but when she learned that she would be appearing on the same stage as Palin, she backed out. At that point, the organizers of the rally made a terrible decision: They disinvited Palin. Politico.com reported that the decision was made after Democrats complained that they did not want the rally turned into a partisan event. This is the height of idiocy. In the possibility of a nuclear Iran, Jews face the gravest menace since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. They must mobilize every ally, unearth every friend, in order to create a groundswell of support for a military strike against Iran by Israel -- the only true solution to Iranian nuclear ambition. And yet they turned away Sarah Palin -- perhaps the future vice president of the United States, and at the moment, the most popular female politician in the United States -- because they feared offending Democrats. Only a baseline allegiance to the Democratic Party -- only a deep-rooted leftist partisanship -- can explain such behavior. Any rational group, seeking to draw attention to the Iranian situation, would leap at the opportunity to host Palin, who routinely draws tens of thousands of fans. More than that, any rational group would recognize that if high-ranking Democrats withdraw from anti-Iran rallies simply to avoid being seen in public with high-ranking Republicans, then perhaps Democrats aren't the friends of Israel they purport to be. Any rational group would be suspicious that Hillary Clinton is more concerned with Sarah Palin than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Any rational group would use their anti-Iran rally as a forum for candidates, allowing those with the most pro-Israel message to capitalize politically. Instead, the organizers disinvited Palin. In doing so, they demonstrated a political bias unworthy of a pro-Israel organization. More than that: In rejecting Palin, they demonstrated loyalty to Democrats over loyalty to Jewish causes. That became especially clear when the text of Palin's un-given speech was released. "We gather here today to highlight the Iranian dictator's intentions and to call for action to thwart him," the speech reads. "He must be stopped. The world must awake to the threat this man poses to all of us. Ahmadinejad denies that the Holocaust ever took place. He dreams of being an agent in a 'Final Solution' -- the elimination of the Jewish people. He has called Israel a 'stinking corpse' that is 'on its way to annihilation.' … Iran should not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Period. And in a single voice, we must be loud enough for the whole world to hear: Stop Iran!" This is strong stuff. And it is stuff that the rally organizers abandoned when they kowtowed to Democrats rather than recognizing that support for Israel must be a non-partisan issue. It was foolish. It was dangerous. And most of all, it was dishonorable.</p>

Israel's Yes TV satellite company is establishing a reputation for pushing the boundaries with its ads. Last year, Yes created a minor furor when it produced a commercial featuring faux-angry mobs of Orthodox Jews dancing in the streets to the tune of the Village People's "YMCA" to protest the cable company's new high definition television. The entertaining ad sparked protests, with one critic calling the ad "anti-Semitic." (You can see the ad here or here.) As a follow-up, Yes has just released a new ad likely to be just as controversial, but for entirely different reasons. The latest commercial, which...

A well-known art group has ruffled the Catholic Church’s feathers by portraying John Paul II as a paedophile. Artist group Surrend has again achieved its goal of provoking the establishment through two displays on a Polish website depicting the late Pope John Paul II as a paedophile, reported public broadcaster DR last week. The webpage, placed on the vaticansex.pl website, shows an image of the late pontiff lifting the gowns of two alter boys while saying: ‘I’m against homosexuality, but all for paedophilia.’ The second image is of the former pope burning in the flames of hell. The webpage was...

When I tell you that Americans are quickly losing their ability to discern right from wrong, this is what I mean. That kind of discernment is being rapidly and systematically purged from their brains and their souls and their consciences by America's own "educational system." You attend institutions like Columbia today not for "higher education," but for advanced degrees in intellectual confusion, moral relativism and anti-Americanism. This is what has me distressed about Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia. I simply can't get the sound of the spontaneous applause for this genocidal lunatic out of my mind. I know political correctness is...

The President of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, really gave it to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He really did. He called Ahmadinejad a "petty and cruel dictator" and many other harsh names. All richly deserved. And it is likely that President Bollinger felt that he had done a good thing. In fact, however, as many of us predicted, it was Ahmadinejad who won. The very moment the Iranian Holocaust-denier was given a university platform, he won. Even the deserved insults gave Ahmadinejad a victory. Most people do not like their leaders publicly insulted abroad, even if they agree with most of...

Isn't it always? But enough about Iran, let's talk about me! The same university that shouted down an American anti-illegal-immigration activist and the same university culture that just deemed former Harvard honcho Larry Summers too misogynist to be permitted on campus is now congratulating itself over its commitment to "academic freedom." True, renowned Stanford psychology professor Philip Zimbardo is not happy. "They can have any fascist they want there," said professor Zimbardo, "but this seems egregious." But, hey, don't worry: He was protesting not Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presence at Columbia but Donald Rumsfeld's presence at the Hoover Institution.... Lots of prime...

When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeatedly threatened to wipe Israel off the face of the map, the world collectively yawned. When he denied the Holocaust ever happened, few paid attention. When he threatened to destroy the United States, few noticed. When he was accused as an accomplice to murder of an Iranian dissident in Europe, no one cared. (Column continues below) When he openly embraced and supported terrorism, including the recruitment of thousands of suicide bombers, there was little protest. When it was learned that he was actively involved in the holding of 52 American hostages at the U.S. Embassy...

RUSH: James in New York City. James, nice to have you on the program, sir. Welcome. CALLER: Thank you, sir. I mentioned to your screener that the message better go out to these other countries that think they're going to harm the United States, that there are nuclear weapons in the United States, and it doesn't take our Air Force or our Army to deliver them. And if they think that we're going to sit back the first time they trigger something like that and just take it, they're in for a big, big awakening. And on the other issue,...

RUSH: I mentioned yesterday David Duke was over in Iran attending the Holocaust-Didn't-Happen Convention sponsored by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and I said, "If you listen to David Duke, you can't tell the difference between him and Jimmy Carter," and a lot of people wrote me, "You can't say that! David Duke has become... You can't say that!" Yes, I can, and now I'm going to prove it. We have two side-by-side comparisons. First up, David Duke yesterday on PMSNBC live with Rita Cosby. She said, "The president of Iran just said a short time ago that the Zionist regime will soon...

Well, the ISG -- the Illustrious Seniors' Group -- has released its 79-point plan. How unprecedented is it? Well, it seems Iraq is to come under something called the "Iraq International Support Group." If only Neville Chamberlain had thought to propose a "support group" for Czechoslovakia, he might still be in office. Or guest-hosting for Oprah. But, alas, such flashes of originality are few and far between in what's otherwise a testament to conventional wisdom. How conventional is the ISG's conventional wisdom? Try page 49: "RECOMMENDATION 5: The Support Group should consist of Iraq and all the states bordering Iraq,...

RUSH: To the phones we go. We'll start in West Palm Beach here across the bridge. This is Chris, and welcome, sir. Nice to have you with us. CALLER: Hey, Rush, thanks for having me here. Hey, it amazes me. I don't think George Washington wanted war with the British as badly as you want war with Iran, and this troubles me that you have somehow got the American people to believe that if we didn't attack Iraq and if we don't go into Iran, somehow Al-Qaeda is going to come over here and conquer Washington, DC. Now, I don't...

Iran, which has often proclaimed its intent to carry out a second Holocaust, this time against the Jews concentrated in Israel, will be holding a Holocaust-denial conference on December 11-12. A certain illogic is evident: if you yourself find Jews so loathsome that you seek to exterminate them, why is it implausible that someone else should have had the same idea and acted on it, especially when so many people including all reputable historians say that is exactly what happened just six decades ago? The illogic is compounded by the fact that just last August Teheran held an international Holocaust-cartoon...

“I have travelled to all the continents except for one,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said recently, “and I know what is going on out there. Everybody is eager to hear the Iranian people’s message. The world is rapidly becoming Ahmadinejadised.” And he’s right: Ahmadinejadization is spreading. Its symptoms are clear from his Friday letter to the American people. Addressed to “Noble Americans,” in the letter Ahmadinejad calls on America to withdraw from Iraq, end support for Israel, and convert to Islam. If we do those three things, peace will ensue: we’ll be…Ahmadinejadized. “Now that Iraq has a Constitution and an...

I should seriously write a book called, The Idiots Guide To Not Thinking Seriously About Islam. It’s hard to find a subject where mushy thinking is more in vogue – where political correctness conquers reality more thoroughly. People actually are afraid to think seriously on the subject, because the logical conclusions are too frightening for many to contemplate. And so, there’s no place where comfortable clichés are more readily deployed. Probably the most glaring illustration of inanity here were recent comments by his Holiness, the Dalai Lama. On leaving a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, the leader of Tibetan Buddhists...

In a recent commentary, former New York Mayor Ed Koch - a Democrat with at least half a brain (which makes him the leading intellectual light of his party) - asked rhetorically, "Why do so many Americans refuse to face the fact that our country is at war with international terrorism?" Because they're liberals? During the Spanish Civil War, as the climactic battle for Madrid approached, Nationalist leader Francisco Franco told a reporter: "I have four columns marching on Madrid and a fifth within the city ready to rise at my call." Franco's comment gave rise to the World War...

Robyn E. Blumner is one of those feminist writers who specializes in reducing complex issues to lectures on Mars and Venus. Blumner bestows her wisdom in the St. Petersburg Times. The title of a recent offering ("U.S. could use more girlie men") caught my eye. Use them for what – objects of ridicule? But, no, Ms. Blumner is serious. She wants to feminize national security – to take decisions of survival out of the hands of "macho" males and substitute weeping for weapons, sentimentality for strategy and negotiations for no-nonsense. To illustrate her point, Blumner uses the HBO drama series...

A little over three years ago, CBS sent Dan Rather to Baghdad to ask meaningless questions to, and provide a propaganda vehicle for, Saddam Hussein. Last night, Communication for Barbarians Service broadcast Mike Wallace's equally meaningless interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran's fanatical leader. Interviews with evil leaders are meaningless at best and destructive at worst. Few reporters will ask real questions or challenge the propaganda responses of these leaders. These interviews merely offer them invaluable "humanizing" time and ask questions that reconfirm the low state of television news. Mike Wallace And The Barbarian In Teheran In this image...

What is it about tyrants that gives media types goose flesh? The question came to mind while pondering "60 Minutes" thug Mike Wallace's transformation into Barbara Walters in an interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Wallace's reputation is as an ambush interviewer – the tough guy who's not afraid to ask any question of anyone. He's the eternal cynic who won't buy anyone's lies. He's the emotionless inquisitor. He's the media's version of Torquemada. What a matchup! Wallace vs. Ahmadinejad. How many rounds would a bout like this last? Would Wallace ever make it out of Tehran alive? How long...

The uniqueness of the Holocaust was not the Nazi's determination to kill the Jews of Germany and even of neighboring Poland. Other genocides, such as those by the Cambodians and the Turks, sought to rid particular areas of so called undesirables by killing them. The utter uniqueness of the Holocaust was the Nazi plan to "ingather" all the Jews of the world to the death camp and end the Jewish "race" forever. It almost succeeded. The Nazis ingathered tens of thousands of Jews (including babies, women, the elderly) from far flung corners of the world--from the Island of Rhodes from...

Jerusalem, Israel (Aug. 9, 2006) – The debate raging in Israel these days is how far and how fast to push into Lebanon, and how to define victory once the phase of intense military operations is over. The government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has already changed military strategy twice in four weeks of fighting. On Tuesday, they assigned an “over-seer” from the general staff to second-guess Maj. Gen. Uri Adom, the operational commander in the north. None of these are signs of a well-planned war. The Israeli press is full of reports of disputes within the General Staff,...