Wednesday, March 11, 2009

HBJ or IJSL or some such thing

BWD or Black while Driving, has often been cited or considered an offence in some North American policing circles, and it occurs to me there should be a similar catchphrase for Israelis - maybe HBJ (human but Jewish) or IJSL (Israel Jew still living) or some such thing. What brings this to mind? Well, Ha’aretz is reporting that Interpol has received a list of 25 names of IDF officers which Iran wants apprehended and returned to Iran to trial to face war crimes charges.
Interpol says it is studying a request from Iran for 25 Israeli officials to be placed on its most-wanted list over Israel's offensive in Gaza. The international police agency says it took the unusual step of confirming the request publicly, as Iranian government officials have made their request public.

Interpol says in a statement released Tuesday that its legal team is studying the Iranian request for the issuance of 25 red notices, the highest-level alert Interpol issues. The Lyon, France-based agency says it received the request Saturday.
And this from a regime which regularly still stones woman and hangs gays. I admit the fact that Interpol is even taking the time to ‘study’ the issue rather than to telling the Iranians to shove their ‘request’ where the sun does not shine offensive for no other reason than Iran does not hold jurisdiction over IDF officers to try them in the first place. The world wide Iranian Caliphate has yet to be established.

So far no word when the Iranians will be sending in the names of Jordanian army officers who took part in the Black September massacre to Interpol. The Jordanians claimed approximately 3.400 Palestinians where killed in 11 days of fighting while the PLO routinely refers to the deaths of 10,000+ civilians – either way, the Jordanians have the Israelis beat hands down as Israel only managed to kill 1,300 Palestinians in 25 days of fighting.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

More than anything, it further proves that any numbers that are provided by Palestinians are always shaky at best.

They've lied about so many massacres, it makes my head spin.

The real crime is that the media knows better, but they print unverified lies because it sells--it's sick that the media puts the lives of Jews at risk so they can get better ratings.

It's a tragedy really.

K. Shoshana said...

I think it’s too easy to blame the media and really the media couldn’t publish with any regularity what people are not ready to believe. Today, in my local newspaper (and largest Canadian daily) there was an article referring to Marwan Barghouti as the Palestinian Mandela. Take a gander at the comments – very few commenters are outraged by the comparison…but again, with all this talk about “Israeli apartheid” is actually works to equate the two in the public’s mind.

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/600032


Barghouti’s evil deeds are legion, and yet, he is being romanticized as the great Palestinian hope…the ethos of which is, Barghouti’s crimes are completely understandable, and even forgivable, as he only intended to throw off the yoke of his oppressors and tormenters…he is a good man, with pure intentions, who has to go down into the murk of evil and wallow in it, because his is ‘cause was just’ and his oppressors evil-doers. It didn’t matter how many suicide bombers he sent to implode over countless innocent Israeli civilians, women, children, the elderly…its his intentions, not his deeds, which hold significance.

In the end, I think its one of those philosophical differences which underscores one of the essential differences between Judaism and Christianity. Wherein Judaism, your acts are more important than what thoughts you hold in your mind or heart (with certain caveats), but in Christianity all can be forgiven providing your intentions were ‘noble’, and of course, most of the western world has this ongoing love affair with dead Jews, and only dead Jews. Living ones seem to be far too problematic for most people to hold a collective fondness for.

Chris Taylor said...

I quibble on the characterisation of Christianity.

Your thoughts and your deeds should line up. If there's a disconnect that's hypocrisy, which very few religions regard favourably.

Noble intentions and ignoble deeds (or a lack of noble deeds) are not exactly kosher under the cross.

The forgivable part is that because no one lives in 100% faithful synchronicity with G-d's will, we have the facility to ask and receive divine forgiveness. That doesn't mean the forgiveness of other humans automatically follows suit, and that also needs to be addressed.

K. Shoshana said...

Chris, you’re a stand up honorable guy, but one thing we need to get straight before we go any further is that nothing is kosher under a cross. Take Robin Hood and the whole tales from Sherwood Forrest comes directly from a Christian ethos. In Judaism, stealing from a thief is still stealing, no matter what you intended to do with the proceeds of crime.

Chris Taylor said...

I think you know I was using it as slang and not in the literal sense.

Okay, I'll bite: what is the biblical underpinning for Robin Hood? I don't think there is such an animal. Its existence would no doubt be a big surprise to Orthodox and Maronite believers.

The myth of Robin Hood is certainly rooted in English culture, but I think it would be a lot harder to justify as an all-encompassing theme across the entire range of Christian sects.

You may as well claim that The Sopranos comes directly from a Christian ethos. I don't think that is a supposition one could argue, either.

If you are going to nitpick Christianity, wouldn't it be better to base it on examples from the New Testament, and not cultural artifacts limited to one particular nation?