1. A man and his weaknesses: Sometimes I read Haaretz out of curiosity. Certain parts of the newspaper possess a cultural elitism that appeals to me. Other parts, however, contain standpoints that should be debated. But by far the more interesting parts are the articles and reports that reveal just how crazy the Jewish people have been throughout the ages. Every generation and its haters. As a strong believer in freedom of expression, I contend that Haaretz has every right to exist and to disseminate its views, even the views of Sefi Rachlevsky, for example, who might as well be a member of the ultra-Orthodox Naturei Karta zealot cult in secular clothing. He wears the same self-righteous expression, and like them, he rejects democracy and freedom of expression as a priority of the utmost importance. One could assume that, given the power, he would put most of us in re-education camps. Therefore, I was not surprised to see Rachlevsky attack another Haaretz columnist, Gideon Levy (of all people), for writing an opinion piece in defense of Israel Hayom's right to exist. To Levy's discredit, he did it through pursed lips and with a disgusted expression, as people of his kind are wont to do. But he was kind enough to allow us to continue to exist. Thank you very much for that. I happen to know that Levy subscribes to Israel Hayom, and he has been heard saying that he prefers us over Yedioth Ahronoth. In case you didn't know, Rachlevsky has appointed himself the defender of free journalism, which he describes as "the final defense against racist fascism and capitalist cannibalism" (one of the mantras the left-wing zealots often repeat). Therefore, he supports the legislation aimed at silencing Israel Hayom. How surprising. Fortunately for Levy, he wasn't raised in the fragrant fields where false-prophet Rachlevsky's donkey lives. In Levy's case, the principle of freedom of expression overpowered the natural tendency to silence voices that differ from his own, a tendency so prevalent among the members of Levy's and Rachlevsky's socio-political class. But freedom of expression does not win with Rachlevsky. He is one of a group of pompous windbags, so full of venom that it eats away at them from inside, whose articles provide a glimpse into the conversations of well-known idle bums who feel dramatically superior to the Israeli proletariat. 2. This week, the excellent website Presspectiva demonstrated how the Haaretz English edition causes extensive damage to Israel's image by sometimes mistranslating Hebrew texts, and undermining Israel's assertion that its actions are justified. Quite a few articles published in Haaretz's English edition, which is considered very credible for some reason, actually serve the delegitimization propaganda campaign against Israel. For example, earlier this week, Haaretz ran an article by the great lover of Jews, Amira Hass. The headline was "Lag Ba'omer: Hebron settlers light a fire in an olive grove in Tel Rumeida." Despite the mean-spirited headline, Hass was unable to provide one piece of damning evidence in the body of the article, saying only that "the owners of the olive grove watched with concern as the fire neared their olive trees." In other words, not a single tree was set alight, much to our relief. Haaretz in English, which translated the original Hebrew text written by Hass, turned the report into something far more sinister. The English headline read: "Lag Ba'omer in Hebron: Settlers torch Palestinian orchard" (Haaretz issued a tiny correction the following day). But it was enough for Peter Beinart, one of the most prominent voices in the radical Jewish Left, to turn the lie into a blood libel. He tweeted a self-righteous tweet saying calling the incident a "Lag Ba'omer pogrom." Nice, huh? Jews spreading blood libels about orchard burning, fanning the flames of the anti-Semitic fire along the way. Speaking of Beinart, this is not the first time that he has supported his self righteousness with information gleaned from left-leaning sources, some of which are outright anti-Israel. This man has built his career around being a prophet, forewarning of the impending "collapse" of Zionism. He has crucified Israel for its original sin (the Palestinians, of course) in every possible venue. To Israeli ears, Beinart sounds archaic and outdated. A careful examination of his basic arguments reveals that he has been recycling the same arguments raised by the Israeli Left in the 1980s, before the Oslo Accords and the diplomatic experiments. Some of his assertions simply aren't true and it does not appear that he is familiar with the different viewpoints that exist in our country. He simply gathers all his information through Haaretz and Haaretz-like cultural filters. Nevertheless, the liberal media view him as a star. 3. And still, it might be worthwhile to bring up the topic of price-tag attacks again. Just among ourselves. Even though the price tag attacks do not constitute terror, and involve mainly property damage and nothing more, the public and international damage they cause is immeasurable. So far most of the price tag perpetrators have not been caught. And why is that? I am well aware of the evidence that keeps popping up indicating that Palestinians themselves are actually behind some of these so-called attacks on Palestinians, but we also know that there are corrupting figures among us as well. In my previous articles I have argued that in addition to the moral injustice, the basic assumption that motivates price-tag attacks is the misguided idea that this fringe population can achieve a balance of deterrence with the state. Obviously this idea is a case of silly hubris, as the bulldozers of the 2005 Gush Katif evacuation proved. If the state should decide, heaven forbid, to evacuate more settlements, it will be done. Another important point was raised by Amnon Lord in Makor Rishon. He wrote that price-tag incidents not only fail to create deterrence, they actually have the opposite effect: They make the idea of evacuating settlements more palatable to the public. He has nicknamed these price-tag perpetrators "useful vandals" who serve the interests of outside forces. Every price-tag attack, which, incidentally, the Palestinians couldn't care less about, is blown up to gargantuan proportions in the Israeli and global media, undermining the legitimacy of the settlement enterprise and sabotaging its image as a protective physical and moral belt protecting the heart of Israel. It is thanks to this conditioning of the Israeli public opinion that author Amos Oz was able to make the despicable remark equating "these perpetrators of hate crimes" to "Hebrew neo-Nazis." Fine. We have all condemned Oz for saying this, and we have disciplined him with our spoken and written words. But large parts of the media, which despise the settlement in Judea and Samaria and are eager to delegitimize it (and there is a clear correlation between the delegitimization of Israel in the global media and the delegitimization of the settlements in parts of the Israeli media,) welcome these outbursts with open arms. These remarks nestle deep in the public's awareness and legitimize the next calamitous evacuation. Beware. 4. This week Israel marks the 47th anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem. Not too long ago I visited the Shrine of the Book (a wing of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.) I stood before the scrolls of the Book of Isaiah alongside Christian Americans who have a special love for Israel. They were surprised that I was able to read a 2,000-year-old scroll. They asked me to read something to them. One particular verse stood out to me: "Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her" (Isaiah 66:10). After I translated these words, spoken in the eighth century BCE, I explained that our sages, who lived after the destruction of the Second Temple, understood this verse to mean that "all those who mourn Jerusalem get to see its joy." For how long did the Jews vow: "If I forget thee O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I remember thee not" (Psalms 137:5)? And it is we who lived to see the realization of Zechariah's words of comfort: "There shall yet old men and old women sit in the broad places of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the broad places of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the broad places thereof" (Zechariah 8:4.) Happy Jerusalem Day.
