Summary of Recent Posts

Mel Gibson has finally admitted that what he said was anti-Semitic and apologised for it.

Although he says that “There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark” he still doesn't really face up to what he is “But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite.”

Anti-Semitism and alcoholism have features in common. They both require an honest admission that the person has the disease before anything can be done about it. Both diseases produce denial in the people who have them. The alcoholic who declares indignantly: “I don’t have a drink problem!” is similar to the anti-Semite who claims: “I’m not anti-Semitic, just anti-Zionist!”

I hope the following is genuine and not merely professional damage limitation.

I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery.

There is more hope for Gibson, now that he is learning what he is, than there is for other, more dangerous anti-Semites who will never admit it. Compare Mel Gibson and the Presbyterian Church USA, for instance.

Gibson’s background is an outdated form of Catholicism which rejects any recent developments in Church attitudes to Jews.

The leaders of some modern Protestant Churches, on the other hand, have failed to face up to their prejudice and try to deal with it as the Catholic Church has. They are in denial just as much as any alcoholic about a drink problem, and need to be confronted about it.

I have been tenting in Teton National Park during the current Hezbollah attacks on Israel. I plan to write some evalution of the situation soon.
(See link to pictures of Israel below.)

1. However, let me just say a few words now:
Some of the media coverage of Hezbollah relentless rocket attacks on Israel would be considered treason if it was covering the Nazis Blitz on London. Poor Germans, they are being attacked by powerful England without regard to the life of innocent German civilians.

This is the first time since WWII that an independent nation is attacked by rockets day after day, week after week from another state, and the "victims" in the eyes of the media are the Lebanese who support Hezbollah. Israel does not want to kill civilians and sacrificed many soldiers' lives to minimize Arab casualties, but it can not prevent civilian casualties when Hezbollah is shooting rockets from populated areas, as evident by video coverage. Even the UN Human Rights representative in Lebanon was outraged by Hezbollah use of civilian coverage and blamed them for many Lebanese civilian casualties.

Lebanese civilians were warned by radio and leaflets several times to evacuate Hezbollah zones and allow Israel to diminish daily rocket attacks that injured 2,000 Israeli civilians, killed many, forcing one million Israelis to shelters, and driving a quarter of a million to move to safer areas.

2. The following pps presentation shows beautiful Israeli communities that have been attacked by Hezbollah. These are beautiful pictures before any attacks. This is what they are trying to destroy.

http://www.jerusalemonline.co.il/SupportIDF/SupportIDF.html

Link: http://office.websense.co.il/campaign/has_200706/front/default.asp

Send a hug to the IDF! Also some chocolates. Like many little acts of kindness, it costs nothing.

Just click here.

A sweet antidote to the hatred.

Well, did he or didn’t he apologise? Mel Gibson is a ‘traditionalist’ Catholic stuck in a 1950’s time warp, before the Church began to change its attitude to Jews. Observing his behaviour can be like examining a religious fossil, to discover what life was like in those far off times.

Cathnews tells us Gibson is ashamed of his anti-Semitic outburst. But is he?

The Guardian also says that Mel Gibson apologises for anti-semitic abuse, but then, would the Guardian recognise anti-Semitism if it tripped over it? Julie Burchill stopped working for that paper because she found it too anti-Semitic.

The BBC also tells us that he “says sorry”, but then, what would they know, either? Melanie Phillips notes the strange absence of any mention of his remarks about Jews in their account and asks: "Why was the BBC so determined not to report what Gibson actually said? Just what is it with the BBC and the Jews?"

Read Gibson’s full apology here and notice what is missing.

As this article points out:

And, when he had a chance, a real chance to say, “I want to apologize to the Jewish people for the hideous remarks I made since I do not feel that way at all”, he demurred.

All that can be said in his favour is that at least his prejudice is frank when he is drunk, and he cannot pretend it is something else once he is sober again. He is anti-Semitic and knows it now. At least there is some hope that he might learn from this. He cannot simper virtuously and hide, as some people do, behind the dishonest claim that he is “not anti-Semitic, merely anti-Zionist”. He knows what he is, so perhaps he can do something about it.

For those who delude themselves that their hatred is virtue, there seems little hope

Link: http://maurice-ostroff.tripod.com/id56.html

By Maurice Ostroff

Contrary to the impression created by the media, Israeli bombing of Beirut has been confined to only 1% of the city. The targets have been confined to Hizbollah terrorist command centers in the south.

In an article “As bombs hit south, life goes on north of Beirut” in the Washington times Betsy Pisik wrote

But just north of Beirut, business remains strong in the lush resorts of the nearby Shouf Mountains. Nightclubs in the Christian suburb of Jounieh still rock to '80s disco and '90s Eurobeat, and Lebanese who weathered the country's horrific 15-year civil war still sip arrack and eat hummus late into the night.

Beirut, once the jewel of the Middle East, is wobbling back to its feet even as the Israeli army and air force pulverize its southern region.

In the Hamra area, home to students and the campus of the prestigious American University of Beirut, more shops reopen and traffic grows heavier by the day. Hotels that emptied at the beginning of Israel's assault on July 12 are raising rates again, even though most of the guests are foreign journalists.

In the Achrafiyeh neighborhood, which is predominantly Christian and Sunni, streets are peaceful and increasingly busy. The fabled night life, with its restaurants and nightclubs, is likely to pick up again by the weekend.

But in the glamorously rebuilt city center, shops selling luxury brands are not just closed, but swept clean. Fearing air strikes, the owners have taken the diamonds out of Cartier

Washington Times, July 26 2006