We knew nothing about him when we agreed to host him, but apparently, Honest Reporting considers him one of the most politically hostile correspondents around.
Maqbool's very professional, meaning that he's charming and polite and doesn't argue when interviewing. It's not that he pretended to agree with me, but afterwards he did tell me that he found my interview full of points he hadn't heard before and was hoping to get them all in the final broadcast. No, we haven't seen the final broadcast. Our television only receives Israel's Channel 1 and Jordan. I'm curious about the show and hope that we'll receive a dvd of it.
Maqbool told us that he does visit Ramalla frequently. He also claimed that it's possible to wall Israel in after Israel gives the Arabs the land they want. I mocked that idea as technically impossible, reminding him that "I'm sure your contacts in Ramalla told you how easy it is to breach the walls." He just "smiled" in response. This isn't anything just my paranoid mind devised. It has been broadcast on Israeli news shows, showing various holes in the fence/wall. There is no budget for upkeep.
After twenty-seven years' experience dealing with journalists, diplomats, etc, I don't expect them to be our friends. Only rarely have I been very pleasantly surprised.
I believe in straight-talking bluntness, no wishy-washy politician-like ambiguous political double-talk. There's nothing to be "flexible" about. I'm not "diplomatic." I'm determined and confident, not dreaming. I'm a pragmatist.
If that makes people uncomfortable, big deal.
Experts counseling women in "rape protection" say that it's all in the "body language." The same advice goes for keeping the bullies away.
The parents of the Chabad emissaries, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holzberg, murdered in Mumbai lit Chanukah Candles in India at the location of the terror attack. That's the right reaction.
We're all fighting the same terrorism. We must be unbending. That's the lesson of Chanukah. We will only survive if we're strong and uncompromising.
Our enemies are the descendants of the Biblical Amalek. The gematria of Amalek is the same as the gematria of "doubt." Show doubt, weakness, compromise and Amalek, our enemies will get stronger. It can be likened to a Law of Physics.
That's why we light one candle more each night of Chanukah. By showing our strength, we get gradually stronger and stronger. That is the true lesson of Chanukah.
Chag Urim Same'ach
May We Have An Enlightened Chanukah
