Eric Umansky

Good for the Jews!

From Gulf News (via Secrecy News):

The next ambassador from Bahrain to the United States will be a Jewish
woman named Huda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo, according to a report in
GulfNews.com last week.

"Huda is Bahrain's nominee for the post and this is of course very good
news for Bahrain's deep-rooted values of tolerance and openness," said
Faisal Fouladh of the Shura Council, the upper house of Bahrain's
legislature.  The Shura Council currently includes 11 women, including
one Christian.

See "Bahrain set to name Jewish woman envoy" by Habib Toumi, GulfNews,
April 25:

 

http://archive.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/bahrain/10208344.html

Alone among Muslim countries, Bahrain and Bosnia have Jewish diplomats
in senior positions, said Stephen S. Schwartz of the Center for Islamic
Pluralism (www.islamicpluralism.org).

"Network" Killed the Political Star

Least satisfying investigation ever. From the BBC:

UN Says 'Network' Killed Hariri

A UN commission investigating the death of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri says the evidence suggests a network of people was responsible for the attack.

No individuals were named, but the investigators said what it called the "Hariri Network" might also be behind other deadly attacks in Lebanon.

What exactly were the other possibilities? That it was a lone killer who, you know, figured out Hariri's schedule and detonated a sophisticated bomb as Hariri's car was passing.

The Real Story Behind Hamas' Gaza Takeover?

Too tired to post much, but Vanity Fair has a pretty extraordinary (and deeply reported) article in its upcoming issue about how the U.S. tried last year to get Fatah to essentially mount a coup against Hamas:

Within the Bush administration, the Palestinian policy set off a furious debate. One of its critics is David Wurmser, the avowed neoconservative, who resigned as Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief Middle East adviser in July 2007, a month after the Gaza coup.

Wurmser accuses the Bush administration of “engaging in a dirty war in an effort to provide a corrupt dictatorship [led by Abbas] with victory.” He believes that Hamas had no intention of taking Gaza until Fatah forced its hand. “It looks to me that what happened wasn’t so much a coup by Hamas but an attempted coup by Fatah that was pre-empted before it could happen,” Wurmser says.

I actually wrote a piece for Slate last year about the U.S.'s arming of Fatah, a policy that struck me as completely  dunder-headed:

The idea is simple: Squeeze Hamas, fortify the opposition, and hope for the best. It's a tempting concept, but it's a bad idea. The United States and Europe employed a similar game plan through much of the 1990s—throwing cash at the Palestinian government, the security forces in particular, just as long as they opposed Hamas. It not only proved ineffective, it made things worse.

Go read for the Vanity Fair story and you'll see all the sordid details,including how the U.S. supported Mohamed Dahlan, one of the bigger sons-of-bitches in Gaza. 

Iraqi refugee update

The U.S. is still moving at a snail's pace in admitting Iraqi refugees:

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - The United States admitted 444 Iraqi refugees in February, according to preliminary figures released by a U.S. official on Saturday, up from 375 in January but below the pace needed to meet its 12,000 annual target...

More than 2 million Iraqis are believed to have fled to neighboring countries such as Syria and Jordan since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled former dictator Saddam Hussein and eventually triggered a brutal insurgency.

In fiscal 2007, the United States admitted 1,608 Iraqi refugees, up from 202 the previous year.

Welcome to the Ballistic Intifada

Sixty-one Palestinians (about half civilians) and two Israeli solders have died since Israel launched a commando raid into Gaza. The raid was launched, of course, because  Hamas has begun firing  missiles on the previously out-of-range  city of Ashkhelon.  Israel is nearly stuck. It can't let missiles continue to hit one of its cities. Yet it's unlikely to be able to stop them. As even Israel's leaders recognize, re-occupying Gaza would probably hurt Israel more than it would help.

All which of reminds me of something I mentioned two years ago, when I first read a brief reference about the possibility of a ballistic intifada:

It is precisely because technology, such as missiles, is becoming cheaper and more accessible that political solutions are what's needed. In other words, if it's becoming ever-easier for movements and people to get the means to kill, then one of the best things you can do is try to remove their desire to kill.

Israel needs to do what it can to protect its citizens. But over the long run, the best chance of that happening  involves  Israel's leaders holding  their noses and negotiating with Hamas.

Mughaniyeh, an inside job?

So thinks his widow:

The fact that the Syrian government is not allowing an extensive investigation of Imad Mughniyeh's assassination proves that Syria was involved in the killing, the arch-terrorist's widow said Monday.

"The Syrian traitors are responsible for his death," she said in an interview in Iran. "Damascus's refusal to let the Iranians investigate the incident is only one more proof of that."

Army Radio reported that in the months leading up to the assassination there were rumors of bad blood between Mughniyeh and Hizbullah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. Mughniyeh, according to the rumors, was trying to usurp Nasrallah and take over as the leader of Hizbullah.

Immediately after the assassination, Syria declared that it was leading an investigation and even went so far as to arrest a number of suspects. Damascus, however, refused to allow the Iranians to participate in the probe.

Where Iraqis Have Fled to

[Swiped, with gratitude, from Friday-lunch-club.]

What's Going on in Gaza

This was a long-planned operation.  The border wall went on for 17 kilometers and two-thirds of it was toppled yesterday.

A snippet from the scene:

Among those returning were Osama Hassan, 25, who went shopping with his 17-year-old fiancee Sarah for their wedding essentials. He bought a special mattress for his injured back; she brought kitchen supplies.

“I’m Fatah, but today, I wish I could see (Hamas prime minister Ismail) Haniya and kiss his forehead, because without the gunmen doing this, we would have been stuck in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

So why did Hamas make the move and what will the upshot be? My guess would be Hamas figured they had little to lose: They'd be viewed as heroes in Gaza for breaking the siege.  Egypt couldn't do much about it , since  they'd want to avoid images of having their own soldiers crack down on Palestinians. And by opening the border, they seem to have check-mated Israel and U.S., who had put their eggs in the really questionable of a siege.    

Tony Karon has some deeper thoughts on it:

The Israelis have no choice but to recognize that the group’s control of Gaza is an intractable reality, that will force the Arab world and Abbas himself to accelerate efforts to restore Palestinian unity. And Israel will have no choice but to pursue the cease-fire option offered by Hamas as the most effective means for ending rocket fire out of Gaza.

The whole Annapolis strategy is based on the false premise that Arab leaders could be rallied to the purpose of isolating Hamas (and also Iran) through blockades and even military action in furtherance of U.S. and Israeli objectives.

We'll see, but sounds about right to me.

Meadow, a M.O.T.

From the Jerusalem Post:

'Sopranos' Star on Birthright Discovers Her Jewish Spirit

"Everyone assumes I'm Italian," says Jamie Lynn Sigler, 26, with a sigh, pausing over her hummus lunch at the open-air market in Jaffa, one of the stops on her birthright israel tour. "Even kids on the trip keep asking, 'Are you Jewish?'"

...

On the birthright trip, which brings Diaspora young people between 18 and 26 to Israel for free 10-day tours, her group was accompanied part of the time by a small group of Israeli soldiers.

Through them, Sigler said she heard about a much different life than the one she and her friends lead in America. She was taken by their sacrifices and the pride they have in their country and history.

"It's so different but so inspiring to be part of that," said Sigler, her face dominated by a pair of large designer sunglasses. "I would want to move here and join the army" too.

[Hat-tip: Nextbook via my sister]

The Jewish Taliban?

A Haaretz report from the holy city of Jerusalem:

An American immigrant was attacked and beaten Sunday night in Beit Shemesh by a gang of ultra-Orthodox zealots, in what appears to be an escalation of tension between religious groups in the city....

This week, a family in one of the city's modern Orthodox neighborhoods received warnings and threats because a television in their living room faced a main thoroughfare that borders an ultra-Orthodox housing project. In October, five ultra-Orthodox men assaulted a woman and an Israel Defense Forces soldier for sitting next to each other on a bus bound for Beit Shemesh.

Signs along main streets call on people to dress modestly, meanwhile, and women say they no longer feel comfortable jogging along some roads.