I was a KISS fan when I was a kid...

Although I don't listen to their music anymore, I am now a renewed fan of Gene Simmons!

Don't you just love the reactions to his opinions.

Healing Iraq

Found a blog by an Iraqi. Day-to-day reporting on the situation on the ground. But this time, the usual slant is absent, and the blog makes for good reading.
What struck me particularly is this entry: Nicolas Berg

Good on ya, Zayed.

Origins of "Allah"

Check here for a detailed explanation of the name of the murderers idol.

Nothing has changed

I recently read Burt Hirschfeld's "Behold Zion". I'd never read it before. It's a novel about the founding of Israel, and covers the period from the start of the 20th century until right after the six-day war.
While reading the book, a feeling started creeping over me, getting stronger and stronger. It was the feeling that I was reading very recent history, or even a novel about a possible future! And this book was written in 1968!
Most of the events in the book are historic. The actions and attitudes of the UN, Britain, France and the US are all historic and documented. Quotes from contemporary newspapers and politicians are all literal. It's only the main players in the story that are fictional, and even they may well be based on actual people, I don't know.

So the things that struck me were the rhetoric from the Arabs, the constant low-level warfare, the terrorism (as horrific as it is today), the unanimous bias from the entire world, with the present-day exception from the US. And even the division within Israel itself over the best course of politics. All this even before the official founding of Israel in 1948, and IT HAS NEVER STOPPED.

Gaza was an issue before 1967 too. So was the Golan. Sinai was conquered twice, and returned to Egypt, who still is all but an active participant in the war against Israel. There were compelling, inescapable reasons for the wars fought since 1947, and nothing has changed, unless for the worse.

So if nothing has changed, why should Israel be so defensive? Destroy your enemies and everyone who supports him. Don't be hesitant about territories that murderers use as a base of operations, take the land and claim it as your own for all eternity. Deport the occupiers to their relatives across the border in Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon.

But don't worry about the opinion of the world. Because it will never change. It never has before.