No Brainer

Condi wants to know why "donor pledges" to the increasingly out of control and dangerous Palestinian entity are not being fulfilled?

According to Reuters:

LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - "Donor nations meet on Friday to discuss aid to the Palestinian Authority among recriminations that some have been slow to provide promised money and doubts about a U.S.-backed Middle East peace effort.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to press Arab nations to make good on their pledges of aid, arguing that it is vital to support Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as he seeks to negotiate peace with Israel." -more

The Iranian-backed Palestinians are a clear threat to peace and to the countries of the region. Everyone in the area knows it but won't say it. Will Condi be successful in getting "donor countries" (including Arab states) to fund the monster that seeks to destroy them?

What's your opinion?

Durban II

The story from yesterday's Associated Press:

"Ad Calls on US to Skip UN Conference
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER

- WASHINGTON (AP) - Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, law professor Alan Dershowitz and former CIA Director James Woolsey are among 25 religious, academic and legal figures calling on the U.S. to skip next year's United Nations anti-racism conference in a full-page ad set to appear Thursday in four newspapers.

In the ad, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press Wednesday, the signers label the conference as anti-Semitic and urge Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to announce that the U.S. won't participate.

The ad is scheduled to run in the New York Sun and The Washington Times, as well as the political newspaper Politico and Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.

Next year's conference is known as Durban II, a reference to the South African city that hosted the World Conference Against Racism in 2001. At that meeting, criticism of Israel prompted the U.S. and Israel to walk out.

A few months later, Israel's then-deputy foreign minister, Michael Melchior, said the conference 'hosted the most racist speeches and proposals to be heard in an international forum since World War II.' He added that 'the conference became the mouthpiece for a new and venal form of anti-Semitism.'" -more

Your thoughts?

The Jewish Refugees

My deadline was a couple of hours away and I was frantically searching for a topic for today's cartoon when I got an email headlined Congress adopts first ever Jewish refugees bill. The email was dated April 1st. Yikes! Was it true or just another annoying April Fools' Day joke?

The story then started appearing on various news sites.

Here's the story as just published in Haaretz

"The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday approved an unprecedented resolution recognizing Jewish refugees from Arab countries who were forced to flee their homes in the aftermath of the creation of the state of Israel.

According to the language of the resolution, U.S. officials involved in Middle East peace negotiations which also reference the Palestinian refugee question are to "also include a similarly explicit reference to the resolution of the issue of Jewish refugees from Arab countries."

"The world needs to understand that it is not just the Arabs and it's not just the Palestinians in the Middle East, but also Jewish people who themselves were dispossessed of their possessions and their homes, and were victims of terrorist acts," one of the bill's co-sponsors, Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) said.

"Jewish refugees outnumbered Palestinian refugees, and their forced exile from Arab lands must not be omitted from public discussion on the peace process," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)." -more

I was at first so sure that it was an April Fools Day hoax that I went to the source of the original information and left a comment asking if it was a joke.

You can see the comment I left, and the info that they sent me by clicking on Point of No Return, a blog about the Middle East's forgotten Jewish refugees.

So how do you think Condi and Bush will handle this one?

Purim Shmendrik Awards 2008

• The 2008 Shmendrik Awards
  Shmendrik: (shmen- drik) n. (Yiddish) a pathetic and foolish small time ineffectual loser, a jerk.
  
  Like the Worst-Dressed list or the Worst Movies awards, our awards highlight the activities of the losers amongst us. With these awards we recognize the achievements of those who, through their actions, have seemingly unwittingly aided the enemies of the Jewish people and the Jewish State. The awards are given every year on or about the week of Purim.
  * * * This year, for the very first time, Israeli Shmendriks beat out all foreign competitors and have made a clean sweep of the awards, amazingly taking first, second, and third places!! * * * Below are this year's "winners".

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• GOLD SHMENDRIK - First Place -
  Ehud Olmert (Israeli Prime Minister)This loser was far and away the most nominated candidate for Shmendrik of the Year by Dry Bones fans. If you have to ask why Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert deserves to be awarded the Golden Shmendrik Award, well, you just haven't been paying attention!

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• SILVER SHMENDRIK - Second Place - David Landau (Haaretz editor)
  At a private meeting of some 20 journalists with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in September, 2007, Ha'aretz newspaper editor David Landau urged the U.S. to "rape" Israel - to force a settlement on the country. In a December 26 story on the incident, Jewish Week editor Gary Rosenblatt quoted Landau saying: "'I told [Rice] that it had always been my wet dream to address the secretary of state' on these vital matters."!!Background Story by CAMERA

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• BRONZE SHMENDRIK -Third Place - Dr. Zali Gurevitch, head of the Hebrew University Teachers' Committee that awarded a prize to a graduate student for a research paper which claims that Israel is racist because Israeli soldiers do not rape Palestinian women. The paper was published by the Hebrew University's "Shaine Center," at the "enthusiastic recommendation" of the professors' committee headed by Dr. Gurevitch!Background Story

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And a Happy Purim to us ALL!

Israel in Hot Water

Prime Minister Olmert has launched an IDF attack on the Hamas war machine in Gaza in an attempt to stop the missile attacks on Israel's cities.

But will Olmert use Dr. Condoleeza Rice's arrival in Israel this week to explain a curtailing of the operation?

* * * Flash! Olmert hasn't waited! The news has just come in that the Prime Minister has suddenly ended the operation in advance of the Rice visit! ...According to DebkaFile:

"Prime minister Ehud Olmert suddenly decided on the pullback of Israeli ground and armored units from northern Gaza before dawn Monday before they reached their goal of halting Palestinian fire. Stage one of Operation Hot Winter was announced at an end. He was later attacked by members of the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee for aborting the operation in contradiction of the pledges he and the defense minister made Sunday. Both had vowed that military ground action would press on until the Hamas missile-rocket offensive against Israeli civilians was stamped out."-more

Your thoughts on the situation?

Parallels

1.Kosovo is as much the heartland and homeland of the Serbs as Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem are the heartland and homeland of the Jews.

2.The Serbs, like the Israelis, have been painted by the media and the U.S. State Department as the bad guys ...and are now viewed as the villains by most Western governments.

3.The independent state of Kosovo will be replaced by an Islamic Republic, as would a proposed independent state of Palestine.

* * *So please help me understand. Why is the U.S. State Department under Condoleeza Rice, and every one of her predecessors, so firmly and unreasonably on the "wrong side"?

U.S. Jerusalem Embassy Act (1995)

Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon that was published on October 31, 1995.

In September 1995, the new Jewish year of 5756 had been designated "Jerusalem 3000". It was to celebrate the 3000th anniversary of King David's declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jews.

On October 23, 1995, the U.S. Congress passed into law the "United States Jerusalem Embassy Act" which recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel, and which ordered that "the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem no later than May 31, 1999". President Clinton was not amused.

On October 25th Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert went off to America to take part in Jerusalem 3000 celebrations.

On October 31st I published this cartoon which tied together the Congressional Act, the Presidential response, Jerusalem 3000 and the fact that keeping the American Embassy in Tel Aviv inferred that TA rather than Jerusalem was our capital city .

Tomorrow, more than twelve years later, yet another fearful American President and another appeasing U.S. Secretary of State will be in Jerusalem.

The American Embassy remains in Tel Aviv.

Your thoughts?

An Undivided Jerusalem

Yes. U.S. Law demands the moving of the American Embassy to Jerusalem. And it recognizes the united city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. "But, well, hey, you know, you've got to be reasonable, and well..."

So, in case you didn't know it, here's part of what the U.S. Congress made law back in 1995:

Statement of the Policy of the United States.

(1)Jerusalem should remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected;

(2)Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel; and

(3)the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem no later than May 31, 1999.

Oh and the bit about how Condi needs to file reports every six months on the "progress" being made, the law states:

At the time of the submission of the President's fiscal year 1997 budget request, and every six months thereafter, the Secretary of State shall report to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate on the progress made toward opening the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.

To read the whole text of the The Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act of 1995, just click here.

Sunday Mail: January 6, 2008

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.

Historic Visit

A friend called me this morning to tell me about a January Clearance Sale of Jewish History. "I know!" I sputtered and went into a tirade about the January 9th George W. Bush visit to Israel. I raged about how the Americans seem ready to sweep away History in their eagerness to appease the Palestinian terrorists.. "I'm not talking about Bush and Rice" said my friend. "Don't talk to me about Olmert!" I fumed in response, "He has already signaled his desire to give away whatever he can."

"Listen!" my friend shouted, "This is a January Clearance sale of a five disk crash course in Jewish History by Rabbi Berel Wein! ...and lots of other stuff. They've slashed the prices ...check it out at Jewish History.

So my question is, how do we get a copy to George W.?
Olmert's a lost cause.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

The idea of rewarding good behavior has been lost. It does not matter that Palestinians are bombing the civilian population of the Negev. It does not matter who's been "naughty or nice". George W. seems ready to establish his "legacy" by coming to the region and giving the terrorists a state by the end of 2008!

Your thoughts?

Like White on Rice

Condoleeza Rice is quoted as having said at the close of the Annapolis conference that she had grown up "as a black child in the South, being told she could not use certain water fountains or eat in certain restaurants".

I guess she feels empowered now that she gets to decide on which group of people have to know their place. In her mind, a "whites only" area is anathema, but a Jew-free neighborhood, town, or country is apparently "just fine".

Read about Dr. Rice's latest "No Jews Allowed" effort here.

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?

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!

It Just Keeps Getting Worse

Like the cartoon says, as we get closer to what's now being called the Annapolis meeting, things just seem to be getting worse.If consulting with Clinton and Carter is any indication of what's awaiting us at the "talks", I'd say we, and the chances for peace, are now in serious trouble.

But, hey... What do you think?

U.S. Secretary of State (1974)

Back in 1974, Dr. Henry Kissinger, then the American Secretary of State tried to save negotiations by not letting us negotiate.

So at the time of this writing another American Secretary of State, Dr. Condoleezza Rice is here in Israel, in the process of, I fear, trying to save negotiations by not letting us negotiate.

Charming the Americans (1979)

August 1979. 28 years ago. American Ambassador to the UN, Andrew Young secretly met with PLO terrorist chieftain Arafat. Back then, meeting with PLO terrorist chieftains (like Arafat or Abbas) was frowned upon.

In the ensuing years the terrorists have managed to charm the whole world... and especially the western media. Ambassador Young was fired back then for what Secretary of State Rice has now been ordered to do.

The Latest Bush Plan

As reported in Egypt:

Fuelling the arms race doesn't make peace
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates's current tour of the region had been heavily trailed as a mission to promote peace in the Middle East. Indeed, it is their first visit in this part of the world since US President George W Bush called on 16 July for an international Middle East peace summit to be held in autumn.
Yet the only tangible outcome of the Rice-Gates visit so far has been $63 billion worth of arms deals concluded with America's "allies" in the region -- $30 billion for Israel, $13 billion for Egypt and $20 billion to be shared between Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Oman and Bahrain. Little has been heard of peace, or even Bush's hoped-for conference.-more

As reported in China:

Rice defends U.S. arms sale to Saudi Arabia
WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended on Sunday the Bush administration's decision to sell military equipment and technology to Saudi Arabia to guard against alleged threat from Iran. -more

And for a detailed and informed analysis check out:

An Idealistic Alternative to the Saudi Arms Deal by Walid Phares.

* * *

So now... what do YOU think?

Don Quixote (1977)

Click on the cartoon for a larger version:

Today's news is about the trip to the Mideast by President George W. Bush's Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice.

Today's Golden Oldie is from thirty years ago. Back then the American President had sent his Secretary of State (Cyrus Vance) searching for peace by trying to force Israel to open the gates to the PLO terrorists. Back then I gave Carter the benefit of the doubt and cast him as an idealist rather than as an enemy. So we had Jimmy as Don Quixote and Cyrus Vance as Sancho Vanza (Quixote's servant Sancho Panza).

Back then, when I did a full-page cartoon, I always added a Doobie strip at the bottom. It gave the little fellow a chance to respond to the page by speaking the cold, hard, and cynical truth. Interesting to note that today, the situation has changed! the Arabs and Israel are facing a foreign enemy force... and we didn't have to call for Cuban mercenaries!

We've got Iran!

Hamas and Abbas

When I sat down to do this cartoon about Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, an old limerick popped into my head.

There once was a lady from Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger
They returned from the ride,
with the lady inside
And the smile on the face of the tiger

I eventually chose to go with the fairy tale approach. At first I planned to have Condoleeza Rice as Little Red Riding Hood but then decided to have Mr Shuldig read the Palestinian fairy tale to Doobie, his dog.

- - - - - - - - - - For those of you who don't know about the Palestinian "Unity government", here's the story as it's now being reported in the Lebanese Daily Star:

"In Gaza, senior Hamas legislator Mushir al-Masri said a unity government would enjoy 'full Palestinian, Arab and Islamic legitimacy.' As a result, he said, 'the entire international community, the Zionist enemy and the US administration" would have no choice but to deal with a new reality'.

Abbas said that he planned to ask Prime Minister Ismail Haniyya to tender his Cabinet's resignation to open the way for him to form a new government.

A political adviser to Haniyya said on Saturday the new government, expected to be unveiled in the coming days, would not recognize Israel" -more

And here's Yid with a Lid's coverage:

"As predicted, the new united terrorist government of Palestine will not recognize the right of the state of Israel to exist as democratic Jewish nation. In the press you can see the headlines "Israel unsure about agreement," or "Israel frosty about the agreement". It kind of makes you want to hijack a TV network just so you can scream across the world, "HEY WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF IT WAS YOUR KIDS?" Would you be "frosty" if there was a merger of two terrorist organizations that wanted to kill your family? Would you be unsure if they refused to recognize that your country had the right to exist? What if both groups had destroying your county as part of their constitutions?" -more

And So It Begins

The title of the cartoon is "And so it begins". By that I meant the turning away from the Bush administration's pro-Israel, anti-terror position.

News Item:

Rice ripped for avoiding terrorist label on Hamas

A US Jewish group on Monday demanded US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice immediately retract remarks she made during a press conference in Europe two weeks ago in which she called Hamas a "resistance movement." - more

Many of us expected more from Condi:

"To the State Department Arabists, Jewish blood in Israel was always expendable. That’s why when Dr. Rice became the Secretary of State, there was a collective sigh of relief, as everybody (based on her past record) thought she would clean up the Department from all the old extra baggage… alas, instead they have “reeducated” her…" - more

So what do YOU think?

Was this:

1. Just a slip of Condi's tongue?

2. The State Dept. has re-educated Dr. Rice?

3. Bush is ready to betray us and this is the first step?

Thoughts? Opinions?

Nu?