Hamas War

Monday, November 6, 2006

Peculiar Priorities and Paz-Pines

This is not Peter Piper's peppers, but there are lots of "p's."

One of the things that facilitates corruption in Israeli Government is the fact that Government Ministers are also Knesset Members. Actually being a minister or a "sgan" (vice or assistant) is one of the great gravy trains of Israel politics. That's why the Israeli Government is jam-packed with ministers, certainly many more than a country of 6,352,117, as of July, 2005 needs for good clean government.

Some of the less prestigious ministries are just revolving doors; I trust that they have a Sir Humphrey Appleby to keep things going. When Ophir Paz-Pines resigned from his position as Minister of Science, Culture and Sports he was the eighth in the past decade. Also, does a country really need a government ministry, for Science, Culture and Sports?

Paz-Pines resigned from the cabinet after Avigdor Lieberman joined it. He made a great speech to his Labor colleagues urging them to vote against being in a coalition with Avigdor Lieberman, whom he considers "a racist."


"Lieberman is a man who holds racist views and has made statements which are to the detriment of Israel´s democracy," he said, adding, "I had no choice but to resign."
Why should Paz-Pines have so much against Lieberman? He's not a terrorist. He supports the existence of the State of Israel, unlike Paz-Pines's friends:

President, Mahmoud Abbas, received on Sunday, in the presidential HQ, the
former Israeli minister Ophir Paz-Pines, who resigned recently after the
joining of the minister, Avigdor Lieberman, to the Israeli government.
And back in Chelm, while hundreds of thousands of Israelis are living below thepovertyy level, the Israeli Government donated food and medical supplies to the Arabs in Gaza:


210 truckloads of food, medical supplies and other basic commodities were transferred to the Gaza Strip through the Karni crossing throughout the course of the day. In addition, 250 calves, 39 truckloads of medical equipment and 42,000 kg of flour went through the Sufa crossing.
Why should they work when Israel and others take such good care of them? Because of the generosity of others, they can devote their time and money to terrorism against Israel and build up the military infrastructure on the border with Israel.

Wake up Israel!
Wake up world!

10 comments:

Don Radlauer said...

Where did you hear that this aid had been "donated" by Israel? All the reports I've read stated only that the aid was "transferred" - meaning that it was aid from overseas that Israel permitted to pass through its checkpoints into the Gaza Strip.

I think you're barking up the wrong tree here.

lilfeathers2000 said...

*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*
Have A God Blessed Week!!!!
Blessings
*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.

Batya said...

Don, interesting interpretation, but if it really were from other countries, foreign agencies, that fact would have been mentioned.

"lil..." thanks

Anonymous said...

Israel also rewards P oliticians as ministers without P ortfolio.

Batya said...

true, true!
How could I have forgotten such a source of gravy from the pork barrel!?

Don Radlauer said...

Muse, please check your facts. You claim that if the aid had been donated by foreign countries, "that fact would have been mentioned" - but the fact that foreign countries donate to the Palestinians is mentioned, all over the place and constantly. Israel, on the other hand, is not among the donors to the Palestinians; if we were all of a sudden donating substantial aid to them, it would be making headlines all over the place. The right-wing press, in particular, would be screaming bloody murder; and they aren't.

Again, I think you're being entirely too fast to assume that the facts are such as to support your beliefs, instead of getting the facts first and then seeing if your beliefs measure up to them.

Batya said...

I quoted, linked, the official IDF website and just rechecked it. It gives the distinct impression that this was an Israeli donation. Having worked in pr, I'd say that if it had come from someplace else it would have been noted.

Don Radlauer said...

I checked the IDF site as well - and I think your interpretation is exactly the reverse of correct. However, I went one step further: I emailed them to ask for a clarification. This was at about 3:00 in the afternoon, and I haven't heard back so far. I have no idea if they'll answer me; I have very low respect for the IDF Spokesman's Office, having had some dealings with them in the past.

I'd suggest that we both try to find some other sources for the story; maybe one of them has clearer language than the rather sketchy IDF report.

Don Radlauer said...

Just did a quick Google search - not a definitive research project, but I did get a little material. Other than a couple of sites that merely quoted the IDF story verbatim (which obviously doesn't help us figure out what it meant), I found only one site that was of some value, David Frankfurter's Terror Finance blog.

There's nothing very specific to help us in the article text itself, but the headline reads, "International 'humanitarian aid' diverted to finance Hamas". I'd say that's a pretty good indication that Dave (an occasional colleague of mine, and an expert on aid to the Palestinians) thinks the aid had origins outside of Israel.

Batya said...

ok
thanks for the clarification, don