Post Annapolis Background Sound

I've spent my whole life as a professional cartoonist dealing with deadlines. They are very curious things, these deadlines. When you first get them, and mark them down on a calendar, they seem to be so very far away. No sweat. No pressure. Plenty of time.

And then, suddenly, they jump up and let you know that somehow time has slipped by, the deadline is looming, the squeeze is on, and hysteria sets in.

You'd think that the leadership of the Jewish State would be better at handling deadlines than some Jewish cartoonist. That they'd understand at the start what pressure they've signed up for at the end.

But you'd be wrong.

So when do YOU think that hysteria about the "Palestinian State by the end of 2008" Annapolis deadline will kick in?

Nu?

The 1947 Partition Plan (1975)

Today's "Golden Oldie" Dry Bones cartoon was done way back in 1975. More than thirty years ago! To mark the 28th anniversary of the 1947 UN two-thirds majority vote for the partition of western Palestine into a Jewish and and Arab state. A plan which was then rejected by the Arab states.

Today, November 29, 2007 is the 60th anniversary of the UN partition plan vote.

My guess is that if they had a time machine and could go back to revisit that fateful decision of theirs, the Arabs would reject it again! The weakness of the fledgling Jewish State being too tempting to resist attacking.

So what's your opinion? What do you think?

George W.'s Clever Move

We've been so hungry for good news that it was tempting to listen to the Annapolis speeches, look at the smiling faces, and try to find a ray of hope. But

1. Abbas explained that the terrorism is caused by the occupation.

2. Olmert expressed sympathy for the plight of Palestinian "refugees" with no mention of the Jewish refugees of 1948.

3.George W. changed the goal to one that he can actually pull off: the setting up of a Palestinian State... with no demands for an end to terror, or any demand for recognition of Israel as a Jewish State, or even an end to the ongoing rocket and missile attacks being launched by Palestinians at Sderot and other Israeli towns.

Here in Israel a big deal was made of the fact that the Saudis applauded Olmert's speech. Frankly I was not surprised.

So tell me ...Were YOU surprised?

Cooking Our Goose (1978)

1978. Camp David.
Egypt, Israel, and America.
Sadat represented Egypt. Begin represented Israel. And President Carter was squeezing us. Our goose was being cooked.

2007. Annapolis.
The Palestinians, Israel, and America.
Abbas (Abu Mazen) represents part (at best) of the West Bank Palestinians. Olmert represents Olmert. And President Bush is having a really big photo op. Our goose is being cooked.

Zionist Nightmare

I woke up this morning, flicked on the radio and caught the middle of BBC news coverage of the about-to-begin Annapolis thing (meeting? conference?, event?, gathering?).

I groaned as I heard the traditional demands for even more "painful concessions" from Israel which would be required for "progress". The interview was given by some woman who obviously could not hear my groans and clever retorts.

I stomped out of the bedroom ...and when I returned, my wife (who had continued to listen) said "Did you know that that was Olmert's spokesperson?"

The Olmert government is a Zionist nightmare.

Sunday Mail: November 25, 2007

Posting a cartoon every weekday leaves no room for me to simply share news, ideas, and other stuff with you. So welcome to 'Sunday Mail: Letters from Dry Bones', the new, once-a-week Dry Bones feature.

Item One: Last Minute! Americans: Impact Annapolis NOW!!
Americans have a way to send a loud and clear message about what is happening in Annapolis right now. CCJ (the Coordinating Council on Jerusalem) has set up a fantastic system to enable Americans to call the White House, the State Department and/or the Israeli Embassy. The CCJ is subsidizing both the system and all of the calls, so it's completely free!! If you are in the States just click here and then type in your name, state and phone number. In moments your phone will ring and you will be connected to the White House, State Department or the Israeli Embassy. There's even a suggested script for a short, effective message... and please let us know how it goes!! Free Annapolis Phone Calls.

Item Two: Chanukka? Already?!!
Wow! With Chanukka starting so early this year (December 5) the
holiday season has really come on fast!! Are you ready? Got gifts for everyone? No? Well, I've got a tip for you.

For quality gifts from Israel, check out JewishSoftware.com: They have all kinds of different products related to Israel, Judaism and the Jewish people, learning Hebrew and more ...and right now they're having a Chanukka sale ...but I recommend that you look through the whole site because there really is a lot to offer.

A word to the wise though: You need to make your orders ASAP to get your order in time for Chanukka. There is very little time left! Click here.

The Israeli "Shield" ?

The Israeli news item that is on the front pages of our local press is like an episode out of "the Shield" ...the American TV show about cops who go "too far" in fighting the bad guys and who have to keep their deeds hidden from police investigators.

Here's the story as reported by Israel's Haaretz newspaper: "

Five police officers, including a superintendent, have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in planting bombs targeting alleged underworld figure Michael Mor and his cousin.
A gag on the story was lifted yesterday; the arrests were made in recent weeks.
The five officers plus a civilian are suspected of planting the bombs a year ago to avenge a grenade-attack on the home of one of the policemen, and in response to a series of threats the suspects attributed to members of Mor's gang.

"The suspects concluded this was the most effective and correct way, in their view, to act against those criminals," said Shlomo Lamberger, the deputy head of the Police Investigation Department (PID) at the Justice Ministry." - more

I'm curious.

Has this story made it big outside of Israel?

Thanksgiving (1997)

This "Golden Oldie" Thanksgiving cartoon was published 10 years ago, the day after Muslim terrorists had slaughtered 58 foreign tourists who were visiting Egypt. The innocent victims, mostly Germans, Swiss and Japanese, were attacked with knives and shot with automatic weapons. Some of the bodies were then mutilated.

You can read about it on Yahoo News in a piece called 1997 Changed Egypt's Tourism

* * * If you celebrate Thanksgiving Day have a happy.
And you know what? Even if you don't celebrate this American classic... have yourself a great day! (I'm feeling generous)

The Madness Continues . . .

Yup. The latest is that our incompetent Prime Minister has now decided to arm our enemies... over the objections of the army and our security forces.

According to YNet:

Olmert approves supply of 25 armored vehicles to PA

Despite IDF, Shin Bet's warning that equipment could reach terror organizations, prime minister agrees to hand over to Palestinians armored vehicles from Russia, 2 million bullets as goodwill gesture to Palestinian President Abbas ahead of Annapolis summit - more

The situation is becoming more and more bizarre. How is Olmert surviving the practically unanimous Israeli wish for him to just go away?!

Your thoughts?

Winter (1986)

Okay. I admit it. I really love this little besieged country that I live in. Sometimes it annoys my friends. That's what this "Golden Oldie" cartoon from 1986 is really about. And I haven't changed. The skies broke open this morning and winter rains drenched our streets, and roads, and fields, and pedestrians, and my living room.

Yup. I had meant to check the rain gutters and drains after the long dry summer... but well, doing this blog takes so much time and so our living room ceiling began to leak, in a number of places, puddles of water spreading across the floor...

So the LSW (Long Suffering Wife) and I got out a ladder and we used a broomstick to poke out the gunk that was clogging the drain.

We were both then soaked in the shower blast of all the previously dammed up water. I felt joy at the gift of rain that was cleansing and replenishing the land. I kept it to myself, however, the LSW being more concerned with the fact that her shoes were now filled with cold, dirty water and her clothes were soaked.

A happy, rain-filled winter to the Land of Israel!

The Last Windup

Although Hamas has "taken" Gaza, their "rival" Abbas's Palestinian Authority does not seem to be in control of the West Bank. The "Moderate" Abbas is a convenient fig leaf for the monster that lays in wait for us.

Of course I could be wrong and Annapolis is really a slick and clever trick by Dr. Condoleeza Rice, the Bush administration's Secretary of State which will bring peace and security to the region.

Yeah, right.

So what do you think?

Oy Veh, it's OJ!

"Do you really think that there are people who are addicted to watching OJ Trials on TV?", I asked my daughter.

She said that I was "beginning to obsess" and that if I couldn't "just give it up" I'd have to take "the first step". I'd have to "admit" to my own dependency!

Actually, I am not interested in OJ, or interviews about OJ, or books or gossip about OJ... I'm just hooked on the OJ Trials. TV shows like CSI present a fantasy view of criminal investigation. "Reality TV" offerings like "Survivor", "American Idol", "The Apprentice", etc. are Make-Believe Reality... The OJ Trials are the real thing. And I am powerless to resist their pull.

So now that I've admitted to being an OJ Trialaholic, tell me, do you think less of me?

...And where were you during the First OJ Trial?

Hooked On OJ (1995)

Okay, I'll admit it! Back in 1995 I was an "OJ Trial" addict. When I could tear myself away from the TV coverage I'd plop myself down at Cafe Tamar (across the street from where I then lived in Tel Aviv) to argue the intricacies of the day's testimony with fellow addicts.

For the past few days I've been watching the online streaming video coverage of the OJ hearings in a Nevada courtroom. In the wee hours of this morning I staggered to my PC and Googled Google News. Yup. While I slept, OJ had been indicted on 12 counts and will stand trial on various kidnapping and armed robbery charges.

Then, instead of getting on with my life, I wolfed down breakfast while watching a streaming rerun of the prosecution's closing argument. Taped before the judge had made the ruling that I had already read on Google News!!

Yikes! ...I'm still hooked! Do I have the strength to just say no to the coming OJ Fest? Can I break my "OJ trial watching" with sheer willpower? No I don't think that I can.

My daughter says I need to find a 12-step program. Is there an OJ Anonymous group out there?

Or do I need to start one?

What do you think?

40 Years Later

It's forty years after 1967. An interesting number. We are taught that we were condemned to wander in the desert for forty years after our liberation and the great exodus from Egypt. It is commonly agreed that it took 40 years for a new generation to arise ...and that having taken Israel out of Egypt it was necessary to "take Egypt out of Israel". What was needed was a tough desert generation to replace the diaspora "galut" Jews that had grown up in Egypt.

These last forty years of our wandering since 1967, however, are different. During most of that time it was our diaspora-born leadership (like Golda, and Begin, and Shamir) that was like a tough desert generation.

Olmert and today's "leadership" are something else.

Do we really, after forty years, now have to rely on Diaspora Jewry to stop an Israeli giveaway of Jerusalem... and the Golan Heights?

So what do you think?

Nu?

Anwar and Menachem (1977)

Exactly thirty years have slipped by since I drew today's Golden Oldie. It was published on November 11 1977 ...less than a month after our hated "Travel Tax" had been abolished.

Back then, in 1977, we were about to be treated to two real statesmen, rising to meet the challenge of making a real peace. Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin.

What a pitifully far cry from those leaders are 2007's version of leadership ... Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert!

The Battle for Jerusalem

In my last posting I wrote that "Jerusalem does not belong to Israel. Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish People." and I wondered if the Jews of America had "the courage to stand up at this incredible turning point in history and stop this runaway Israeli government?"

Well, we have the answer, and it's called the Coordinating Council on Jerusalem. You can find them at www.ccjer.org.

The CCJ is a broad-based coalition of major American Jewish organizations which take differing views on many matters, but which unite around the firm conviction that Jerusalem is the Capital of the Jewish People and the heritage of all Jews everywhere and that oppose any negotiations which involve possible concessions of Jewish sovereignty or control over Jerusalem.

Al Quds (the Holy) is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.

Olmert's Solution

Jerusalem does not belong to the State of Israel. Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish People. My question is this: Do the Jews of America have the courage to stand up at this incredible turning point in history and stop this runaway Israeli government?

It looks like we, the Jews of Israel, can't do it alone.

Negotiations With Non-Democracies (1987)

Kingdoms and dictatorships are easy to deal with. There's one guy, or a small group of guys whom you have to please. Democracies are not so easy. Maybe that's why American Secretaries of State find it so frustrating trying to deal with Israel. Here in our democracy, like in America, we each get to have our say. And what most of us are saying is that we are worried about what's being set up for the meeting in Annapolis. If that makes it more difficult for Dr. Rice to push through her plans, well... it's a free country!

Danger Ahead

Caution! Danger ahead at Annapolis! Events are unfolding like a movie scene of a horrendous crash, shown in slow motion! How do we stop this farce? We probably can't? So get ready.

We're about to go over the falls.

School Strike (1978)

In case you haven't heard, there's a month-old high school strike here in Israel (and again not the grade schools)... and, well, the public doesn't seem to care.

As it was back in 1978, so it is now in 2007. Interesting, I think is the fact that a teen-ager who was a high school student back in the strike of '78 is now in his or her forties! ... and likely to have a kid or two in the high school strike of 2007!

The Two Palestines

Qassam rockets continue to rain down on the Negev town of Sderot. And the world, including the Israeli government, continues to ignore it. And so we will cede more of the land of Israel to the "good" terrorists.

Does anyone not understand that after the Annapolis appeasement concessions we will face an even hungrier and more aggressive foe?! ...and probably a Hamas-run West Bank as part of a reunited "Palestine"?

* * *

For further info on our concessions to the terrorists, watch your front pages and TV screens... For further info on the largely unreported war that is going on in the southern part of Israel, the Western Negev and in the city of Sderot, you'll have to check with SderotMedia.com.

A Sick Situation

Yup. It's a sick situation.

Sympathy for Ehud Olmert's illness is replacing horror at his incompetency.

So how do you see it?

The U.S. Embassy (1977)

Thirty years ago this month, in November of 1977, I did a cartoon about how it was time for the U.S. to move its embassy to Israel's capital city, Jerusalem.

Well, here we are in 2007 and the American government is not dragging its heels. That would imply that they are resisting pressure. As far as I can see there's nobody exerting pressure... so there's no "resistance".

Oh, and by the way, eighteen years after this cartoon was published, in 1995, Congress finally voted to move the embassy to Jerusalem. Yup. Twelve years ago.

Wanna know what happened?

Click here.