All of Israel's Arab MKs Attend anti-Blockade, Pro-Hamas Rally

If it was just anti-blockade, it would be one thing.

But MK Taleb al-Sana of the Islamist/nationalist Ra'am-Ta'al party actually helped Ismail Haniyeh deliver a message to the rally

Some 1,000 people, among them all of Israel's Arab MKs and community leaders, gathered Thursday at the Israeli side of the Gaza border to express solidarity with the residents of Gaza, one year after Israel's offensive there. MK Taleb A-Sana relayed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh's message to the Israeli side via a mobile phone.

During the rally, Israeli Arab MK Jamal Zahalka directed harsh criticism at Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who he said enjoys "classical music and killing children in Gaza."

Zahalka is a member of the nationalist Balad party; but presumably the national communist Hadash MKs were there as well; however, I assume that "Arab MKs" left out the Druze.

Everything else aside, they are doing the best they possibly can to make Yisrael Beitenu more powerful and look correct.

Hebrew U Correctly Prevents Leftist Incitement on Campus

The largely Arab and communist Hadash party was going to hold a 'conference' to commemorate 'dreadful and damned Zionist war', referring to Operation Cast Lead on the Hebrew University campus.

Hebrew University quashed it.

"The institution permits political activity as long as it does not violate Israeli law and does not go against the university's principles."

Just like some rightists (for instance, Yoaz Hendel, recognize a hard line needs to be taken against rightist incitement, it's also important to recognize the same regarding leftist incitement. I think that both of them, given the context that is Israel, would be blockable under similar U.S. standards like Brandenburg

The Haredi Pyramid Scheme

One interesting question about the Haredim is how they pay to live, given that so few of them work.

Apparently a pyramid scheme has been going on for a while

Few people know about the pyramids of haredi (ultra-orthodox) free-loan societies (Gma"chim), charitable funds which do not necessarily rely on generosity of donors (whose numbers have diminished in the past couple of years), but which answer the question: how do haredim pay for the apartments that they buy for their large numbers of children.

To obtain money (tens of thousands of dollars) from a free-loan society, partly as a loan and partly as a grant, the average haredi borrower puts aside a much smaller sum (a few dozen dollars) toward the free-loan society when a child is born or shortly thereafter. In this way, money coming in from young parents immediately goes out to older parents who have to marry off a child. With the haredi population's impressive growth rate (about 6% per year) the model has worked marvelously as the pyramid has a growing base.

Of course, all pyramid schemes eventually fail, and the people at the base really get it socked to them. According to the people over at Vos iz Neias, the s**t is about to hit the fan here, thanks to the convergence of a whole bunch of factors. These factors include:

1. Child Allowance Cuts-The last time the non-Haredi public rebelled was in the 2003 elections, giving 15 seats to the secularist Shinui party. One of the biggest measures they got done was on the financial side in terms of child allowances. See, before May 2003, the government gave far, far larger allowances per child to those families with more children. These families were pretty much all either ultra-Orthodox or Arab. However, whoever it was, this was still an obscene policy. Back in 2003 before the initial cuts, a family with one or two children got 146 Shekels (at the time, about $30) in child allowances per child per month. A family with 8 children, however, got 508 shekels (at the time about $106) per child per month. The law has gradually phased that out. Today, any additional child born after 2003 causes a family to get a flat additional 159 shekels per month, while the rate increases for pre-2003 births have flattened.
   This hurts the Haredi pyramid scheme on two levels.
   
   • Less Money Coming In-Of course, they could start working (and will have to do that or starve eventually), but that hasn't had that much of an increase yet; the result is less available cash
   • A decrease in birth rates-Mind, they are still very high, because they still refuse to use birth control or condoms or abstain from sex, their reading of the Oral and Written Torah forbidding such things. However, the number who work is still quite low. Only about 40% of those between 20 and 60 in Beitar Illit and Modi'in Illit, two ultra-Orthodox cities right across the Green Line in the West Bank. In Hadera, a secular city, over 80% of those between 20 and 60 work. And 30% of Haredi men work; the women work in addition to dealing with all of the kids. Mind you, the growth rate is still EXTREMELY high. The Bank of Israel's recent study on fertility and child allowances found that ultra-Orthodox women had a fertility rate of 7.5 in 1996-1999, 7.24 in 2001-2002, and (after the allowance decreases) 6.74 in 2006-2007.
     
     Mind you, my own Jewish great-great-grandparents back in the old country (although all my great-grandparents were born in Europe [one in France, though his parents were born in the Pale, and the other 7 in the Pale of Settlement] I believe a few of them had more children here) also had a very large number of children, at least the four who I know for sure brought their entire families over here. But that's for another post, and at any rate, back when they were born, it was not always clear how many children would survive, and of course the world was less populated. Also, they all worked for a living, or at least one of them did.
2. The Economic Crisis-Since some of course do work, it's hitting Haredim as well, and those ones have less to give communally
3. Housing Prices-Housing Prices in many places are high

Anyway, apparently it's coming to a head now.
It is good that it is happening now, because the longer it takes to occur, the more screwed the state of Israel will be.

How Will Airlines Deal With Rectal Bombers?

One thing that did not get nearly the media attention the Nigerian bomber did is possibly the worst threat-the rectal bomb.

In "Hatred is the Mother of Invention"

One of the growing threats facing airline security is bombs carried inside the body, which may be able to evade conventional scanners. In August an Al-Qaeda militant passed through several airport security checks with a bomb hidden in his rectum.

After taking two flights he detonated the device at the private palace of his target, a prominent Saudi prince. The blast blew the bomber to pieces and left his arm embedded in the ceiling but failed to kill his target.

Security officials admit there is little screening technology available to stop people hiding bombs in bodily orifices. “It’s one of the industry’s biggest concerns,” said a source.

That is a bit of a kink in the rectal bombing methodology. However, generally the human body is better equipped at expelling things from the rectum than stuffing things in there. One assumes that the next rectal bomber will take actions to make that happen.

Even Naked Air, as Thomas Friedman suggested years ago, would not prevent the rectal bomber, so this will be tough to solve.

Haredim Stone a Car in Jerusalem

Now, of course, that sort of thing has been going on for a long, long time in Haredi neighborhoods on Shabbos. Certainly I remember hearing plenty about it when I was in Israel from June-August 1997.

Ramot neighborhood, Jerusalem;

Of course, that doesn't make it any more acceptable.

On Sheikh Jarrah

As much as I wholeheartedly disagree with settlers and settlements in general, I have to differ with leftists regarding Sheikh Jarrah.

It's true that it is currently inhabited nearly entirely by Palestinians. However, the important thing is not so much the small (only a few thousand at most) Palestinians who live there as is the area surrounding it.

Directly to the north are a whole bunch of Israeli government buildings (the Ministry of Building and Housing, among others) as well as Jewish neighborhoods up to Route 1. The Green Line is directly to the west. Directly to the East is Mount Scopus and the Hebrew University enclave, which is also internationally recognized as part of Israel.

Directly to the South is the American Colony, Wadi al-Joz, and Bab al-Zahra. However, just south of that is the Old City and Mt. Olives. Israel will not under any conditions be giving up any of the Old City. It's just not in the possible scheme of things. Widespread international sanctions, whatever, will not change that. If the Israeli government agreed to such a plan, it would without a doubt spark a civil war and Palestinians would almost certainly end up driven entirely out of the Old City; this could well end up sparking a World War given what would happen on the Temple Mount in such a situation and how I assume Islamic governments would react.

As such, it is frankly anti-peace for Ir Amim to be saying something like this, since it pushes Palestinians to think they might get a part of it, and since Israeli control of it has no real effect on the viability of a Palestinian state and will not be given up without a fight by Israel, pushing such an idea is harmful to ending the conflict.

These plans complement government efforts to ring the Old City with Jewish development, effectively cut it off from Palestinian areas, unilaterally create an integral population link between the Old city and West Jerusalem and thwart the feasibility of future agreed-upon borders for Jerusalem in the context of a two-state resolution

So, really, Sheikh Jarrah will stay under Israeli control. I would urge its residents to get Israeli citizenship (as East Jerusalem residents, they all have that option; most have deliberately chosen to keep the status somewhat equivalent to the U.S. notion of 'permanent resident/Green card holder') and try to assimilate as best they can; that goes for other Arab Israelis as well. I would urge Jewish Israelis to help them assimilate, and accept them warmly.

Now, as for the land ownership dispute, frankly I'd want to be able to speak and read Arabic and Turkish (or whatever language the Ottomans spoke and used) and frankly have better Hebrew as well, in addition to knowledge on document forgery, plus the ability to personally view the facts before I came to a conclusion, since I don't trust anyone involved.

However, the sentiments espoused by Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Pepe Allalo of Meretz are no less racist than those espoused by the disabled children's parents protest the other day or Avigdor Lieberman or the communal settlements that prohibit non-Jewish residents. At least these ones are:

The issue here is not legal – who does or doesn't own the property. This is an Arab neighborhood in
everyone's opinion and only Palestinians should live here. The residence of Jews here is a provocation and harmful to the calm in the city

Of course, his remarks about the Haredim going wild are right on. Update: I actually went to Sheikh Jarrah in the summer of 2010 and my thoughts on this post no longer reflect my current views.

If Kadima Disbands, where will its MKs go?

Of course, it may not fully disband at all, even though it does seem like the beginning of the end. Interestingly, Ha'aretz thinks that Netanyahu is pushing hard right now because, of all things, he thinks a Lieberman indictment (which has supposedly been "close" for well over six months) is finally "imminent," and it would cause Beitenu to leave the coalition.

This is kinda too bad, I was hoping this was as a buttress in the case of a rightist (or Haredi) breakaway from the coalition. The latter would be if my hope of actually getting tough on the Haredim happens; not just the 'insufficiently modest' women-beating, racist (against their fellow ultra-Orthodox Jew, even), Shabbos-rioting "minority", but against the entire non-working, non-serving, unacceptably educating in regard to future employment majority.

Or in the former case, if the peace process starts moving and, say, Habayit Hayehudi and the rightist elements of Beitenu and Likud leave the coalition. Though all of Beitenu might leave if Lieberman wants it, if he gets indicted, the party might split. In that case, maybe Sofa Landver, Danny Ayalon and some others might stay, who knows?