Artists 4 Israel Hits the Culture War Front

Artists 4 Israel (A4I) is a community of creative individuals working together in an ongoing, collaborative project expressing Israel’s right to exist in peace and security.

Phyllis Chesler on Chronicles:

Pajamas: "Artists4Israel 2 the Rescue"

 - Beautiful Truths vs Ugly Lies … and All That Jazz"

(...) For those who can still remember what it was like when Beat poets first began to read their poems in coffee houses — the rhythm and excitement of it — welcome to the twenty-first-century version. Think poet (as in poetry slam, with its political-ethnic-gay aesthetic, its daring and poignancy); think stand-up comic, graffiti artist, musician, and break dancer; then, cross that energy and expressiveness with the skills of a playwright, a theater director, an actor, a ballroom dancer, a muralist, a painter, a photographer, a fundraiser, a lawyer who produces plays, and you begin to get a sense of what Artists4Israel is like. (...)

Artists4Israel is less than a year old. It has been something of a whirlwind year. The group came together when Operation Cast Lead and the propaganda fallout against Israel began. (...) According to Dershowitz: “Hamas started a culture war. We decided to be pro-active rather than defensive. … Artists 4 Israel is the offense. Rather than countering the misconceptions, lies and hates preached by the terrorist funded Hamas culture war against Israel, A4I utilizes the arts to tell our own stories and create our own narratives highlighting the rights, beauty and strength of Israel.”

Artists4I created pro-Israel posters and stood with them at the United Nations. Then, they stood outside a showing of the Rachel Corrie play and tried to arm theatergoers with some facts since they were about to be entertained by a very gripping series of Big Lies. Very quickly, Artists integrated themselves into the graffiti community, the downtown art gallery world, the world of street performers and political performance artists — and then, all youthful exuberant energy, they began a series of projects which almost defy description.

They developed the Fashion Police project. (...) Let me quote from three of their seven-point mission statement. Their mission is to “unite artists and showcase culturally relevant works which promote a positive image of Israel”; “counter misconceptions that the arts community does not stand behind Israel;” and “utilize the arts to counter misconceptions about Israel in the media and popular culture.”(...) (...) Reach out. Join them. Invite them into your communities. Fund their work. (...) Read it all >>>

I love the Keffiyeh Exchange Program!

For some time now, the Jewish community has been disturbed by the keffiyeh fashion craze. Artists 4 Israel is doing something about it. Modeled on the NYPD’s Cash for Guns program, Artists 4 Israel is offering Free Stuff for Stupid Scarves. In partnership with a number of clothing brands, bars and restaurants, Artists 4 Israel will be giving away gifts to anyone who gives up their keffiyeh at any of our drop-off locations. Along with the free gift, recipients will also be provided a short but important flyer documenting the bloody meaning of the keffiyeh and opening their eyes to the beauty and wonder of Israel.

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Of Palestinian Pincers, Terror and Crime, again

Does anyone know a way out of this pincer movement?

Hamas:

- Haaretz: "Meshal: Upcoming Middle East conference is doomed to fail"- "The U.S.-sponsored international conference on Israeli-Palestinian peace is doomed to fail because it will serve only Israel's interests, Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal said in a CNN interview broadcast on Monday. >>>

Fatah:

- Jerusalem Post: "Summit failure may ignite new intifada" - "A failure in the upcoming US-sponsored Middle East peace conference would have more dangerous repercussions than the botched Camp David summit in 2000, Fatah officials warned on Tuesday. This was the first time senior Fatah officials hinted at a possible wave of violence if the conference - expected to be held in Annapolis, Maryland, next month - did not meet the Palestinians' demands. >>>

- Daily Mail: "Police raid finds £50m Da Vinci masterpiece in a lawyer's office"- "A stolen Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece was recovered in a raid on a lawyer's office yesterday. Police officers interrupted a meeting during which it is understood a deal to buy the £50million painting was being negotiated. Four men were arrested and are due to appear in court today. The Madonna with the Yarnwinder, painted in 1501, was taken from a castle belonging to the 9th Duke of Buccleuch, Britain's largest landowner, four years ago. >>>

- Elsevier: "Saint Martin centre of global narcotics trade" - "The Caribbean island of Saint Martin is an important centre for international narcotics trafficking, and through it also money flows to terrorist organisations. This is the conclusion of the Dutch Ministry of Justice in a confidential report on 'Organised crime and law enforcement on Saint Martin'. The report, dating back to June, speaks of an 'important and multi-purpose role concerning (international) drugs trade'. The Antilles island functions as a port of transit not only for cocaine, but also for heroin, marijuana and synthetic drugs. Moreover, local law enforcement agencies mention a flow of funds to terrorist organisations through the island. Large sums of money, the proceeds of drugs and human trafficking, arrives on bank accounts of organisations connected to the Taliban and Hamas. According to American intelligence, on the island itself are terrorists who have been trained in Al Qaeda training camps and are barred from flying to the United States. The Ministry of Justice report cautions the credibility of the information, but does stress that American intelligence agencies are not optimistic concerning crime and law enforcement on the island."

Biding our Time

If things seem a little uninspired lately it's because we're working on an in-depth series of posts regarding the Neo-com story. We've dug out some insightful and at times disconcerting new information on the subject, which is to be the next main political development in postmodern history.
Therefore today again assorted news items:

- Ominous news is emerging from Pakistan, a Muslim country with a strong strain of the fundamental variety, a nuclear power, a country with uninhabitable mountain areas under Taliban rule, and a military strongman as President who seems to be losing it. An interesting article from Canada's National Post.

- CNN is reporting that the Lebanese security forces are doing battle with Sunni jihadist operatives near the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp: Islamic militants, security forces battle in Lebanon. Jerusalem Post is reporting the possibility of Syrian involvement, and thinks it knows why: Analysis: Why might Syria wish to sow chaos in Lebanon now?

Not reported by the Western media:

- Israeli Army vows to operate till Hamas surrenders
- Qassam hits house in Eshkol town
- Barrage continues: 16 Qassams hit western Negev

Orwell's Press from Hell

I may be one of a dying breed: call me peculiar, but I like to form an independent opinion, based on fullness of information, on my own - thank you very much!

Considering the postmodern press is doing our thinking for us by predigesting and preselecting the news as they see fit, I might as well open up a independent press agency here and make a day-job out of screening their omissions and censoring. I fear however I am already otherwise engaged.

I do however intend to nail Orwell's Infernal Journalism to the doorpost of hell whenever the opportunity presents itself! Such posts shall be announced, thus:


Israel and the P.A., already problem areas due to the overt anti Israeli media bias displayed by amongst others Britain's 35,000 strong membership of the National Union of Journalists (btw unheard of in the history of the press!), present today's focus. Here goes ...

... what the Western press didn't say:

- 20 Qassam rockets launched at Israel on Thursday
- Qassams ignored abroad
- 3 wounded as Qassam hits Sderot home
- Hamas blames world, Israel and Arabs

And it's not just "The Lighthouse" that's peculiar in that sense: here's yesterday's post from "Barking Moonbat Early Warning System"!

While we are on the subject of eccentricity, yesterday the world saw the first reports of a new digital application: cyber warfare, of Russia against "Soviet era ally", Estonia! It takes some getting used to by NATO: at present they don't consider it an Article 5 offence, which would normally kick the Musketeer Doctrine (all for one, one for all) into gear. Russia meanwhile, is peeved, denies as yet unpronounced charges, which it qualifies as "serious", calls for substantiation.

Hizbollah's scorched earth mentality backfires yet again

I promised revisiting the Regensburg speech, but there are other pressing news items. For some weeks now I have been googling two articles whisked from Lebanon's The Daily Star newspaper. One I have already mentioned in an earlier post about a new phenomenon in Middle East politics, the Iranian-Syrian invention of National Islamism. It seeks to replace and incorporate Arab Nationalism with Islamism, a highly suspect and volatile potion indeed! The Palestinian and Lebanese subcontractors are Hamas and Hizbollah respectively. The idea is uniting Sunnis and Shiites, Arabs and Iranians under a "patriotic" Shiite-Islamic banner led by the axis Iran and Syria, with the primary goal of victory over Israel and its Western allies. This is not to be achieved by means of a negotiated settlement mind you, which is anathema to the National Islamists. The asset of Iran's nuclear capability looms large.

- The Syrian Al-Assad Ba'ath regime (sister-party to Saddam Hussein's) being predominantly secular, and Iran just about owning Syria, is in a position to dictate terms.
- The leadership in what are usually termed "the moderate Arab countries" is largely irrelevant to the doctrine: the policy as envisioned is grass-roots up.

The article underscores what stands out when you think about it: the moderate elites would be delighted to see Israel and its allies put the axis and its subcontractors in their place, but are unlikely to do anything themselves, occupied as they have been for decades with self-preservation.

The article closes with the ominous conclusion that even moderate success will set the Israeli-Palestine peace settlement back at least a generation. Against this backdrop a drama is presently playing out in the streets of Beirut. Since early December of last year Hizbollah with the assistance of Christian turncoat Michael Aoun has been camping out in the streets of Beirut in an effort to topple the Siniora government, which is seen by the protest movements as pro Western and thus "unpatriotic".

Hizbollah's scorched earth mentality has brought Lebanon into a war with Israel over the summer of 2006, at a material cost which, by the U.N. is estimated at $10 billion; through increasingly violent protest rallies and strikes it is now jeopardizing Prime Minister Siniora's attendance of the donor conference known as Paris III, where the sole agenda item is Lebanon's total public debt of about $41 billion, or 190 percent of Lebanon's GDP. It is slowly dawning on the country just what Hizbollah's state-within-a-state is costing, and that's just the material down-side.

- In another article it becomes apparent how disastrous the situation actually is: Hizbullah is not only having to deal with its devastating blunder of last summer and the protracted and futile encampment on Beirut's streets, they also have to deal with Syria's troubles with the international community over the Hariri murder tribunal.
- Added to that the fact that the Iranian pay-master is not amused that the investments haven't been paying off and over the loss of buffer territory at the Lebanon-Israeli border.
- Hizbollah's own Shiite community is also far from pleased: not only did it have to sustain the suffering due to the war, the reconstruction and "reimbursement" promised by Tehran is also not forthcoming.

Considering all this, it becomes apparent that what we are witnessing these days in Beirut may be the last desperate efforts to salvage an impossible situation, one of which the citizens of Lebanon have had enough.

The outside world may have another impression, but Israel has calculated that its policy of military restraint, in place since the Oslo peace process in 1993, is not paying off. Two particular reasons stand out in this respect: the lack of willingness or ability of ordinary Lebanese citizens to constrain Hizbollah's state-within-a-state at the southern border, and the fact that during the years of restraint Hizbollah has been piling up rockets on the Israeli border. The Palestinian organisation Hamas, at present in government, is a not only Iran's subcontractor, but is also Hizbollah's peer, and the two are emulating and incorporating successful elements of each other's strategies. It may well be that the next miscalculated kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Hizbollah will not cost Lebanon $10 billion, but will result in total bankruptcy.

- The meeting in Damascus of Palestinian President Abbas with Hamas' supreme leader Khaled Meshaal this weekend for crucial discussions on whether Hamas will accept the terms of a coalition with Fatah, is yet another cross current in the National Islamist's proxi power play with the forces of democracy.
- The latest news from Tehran is that it said it was still cooperating with the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, despite announcing a day earlier that it was barring 38 inspectors from working in the country.
- The aforementioned story is not carried by any other news outlet, but the Jerusalem Post carries a article about Iran just having taken delivery of a number of Russian Tor M-1 missiles (purchased before the recent U.N. sanctions were imposed) just as three days of military maneuvers went under way in Iran.

Nobody is at this stage advised to hold their breath till democracy breaks out in the Middle East.