Israel, The Only Jewish Country, Model Seder on National Television

Israel's President Ruby Rivlin

Model Seder, 5780, 2020, Channel 11

Model Seder, 5780, 2020, Channel 11

Wednesday, soon before Passover, 5780, 2020, began, there was a lovely, traditional "Model Seder" on Israel's Channel 11. Various entertainers, plus Israel's President Ruby Rivlin "beamed in" participated in a national Pesach Seder.

It's in times like this when we're reminded that Israel is the only Jewish country in the world. Granted that it's too easy to complain; people sure do.

I was going to blog about politics. But in these difficult corona, COVID-19, times, I really think it's better to write about something good and encouraging. In addition, when Prime Minister Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu explained the corona lock-down restrictions, he related them to the Passover holiday and family observances.

Let's look at the good and our blessings. One thing for sure, modern technology has made these restrictions much easier to bear. What do you think?

Rivlin versus Netanyahu

In his new position as President of the State of Israel, Likud veteran Ruby Rivlin is sounding more and more like Leftist Labor leader Isaac Herzog:

AFP Photo/Gali Tibbon

Netanyahu missed chances to repair US ties: Rivlin

Netanyahu has caused ripples with his outspoken attacks on the July 14 accord on Iran's controversial nuclear programme between Israel's arch foe Tehran and world powers led by the United States.
"It seems to me that there have been three periods during which we could have envisaged a renewed dialogue with the United States despite our differences of opinion," said the president, whose role is purely ceremonial. (Yahoo news)

Any Israeli who blames Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the trouble with the United States is playing dangerous political games from the enemy's side.

The problems between the United States Government and the Israeli Government are not due to Bibi, and Ruby should know that.

Firstly, there's an old intrinsic problem between the USA and Israel which even predates the establishment of the State of Israel. The United States State Department has always been pro-Arab and anti-Israel. In 1947, it strongly recommended to then President Harry Truman to vote "NO" for a Jewish State in the United Nations. That is the truth, and things haven't really changed, although after much personal debate Truman defied them and had his representative vote "YES." And over the decades there possibly were a few U.S. Presidents who weren't ideologically in favor of Arabs over Israelis, but I can't think of any offhand.

Beautifully crafted, pro-Israel speeches by Jewish writers like Eli Wiesel for visiting U.S. Presidents should not be confused with actual American policy. 

Too many Jews and Israelis can't tell the difference between policy and stage production. Isn't it obvious that a visiting or hosting POTUS is not going to say the truth, that the USA has never supported a Jewish State over a theoretical Arab one aka Palestine sic, and wouldn't lose sleep over the need for a Post-State of Israel wing in their fancy Holocaust Museum?

Remember that the incredibly still-worshipped four time Democratic President Franklin D Roosevelt not only did not have saving European Jewry as a war aim during World War Two, but he kept out fleeing Jewish refugees during the war as much as possible. And after the war the Americans made it as difficult as possible for any refugees to enter the United States.

And today, with Barack Hussein Obama as U.S. President, Israel hasn't a chance. Obama stated very early on that his greatest dream is to facilitate the establishment of a "State of Palestine." Of course, he insists that it wouldn't harm Israel. Yes, he's the same one who stakes his personal reputation that the Iran "deal," his term, is good for world peace. So if you think he's reliable about Iran, then you no doubt can trust him re-Israel and the Arab terrorists. But if you, like many, think that his Iran deal is dangerous, then rethink everything else he supports including Palestine, sic.

Poll: Support for Iran Deal Plummets to Lowest Level Yet

A rally against the nuclear deal. Photo: Facebook.

American support for the nuclear deal between six world powers led by the U.S. and Iran has dropped to an incredible 21 percent low, staining what the Obama administration hoped would be its crowning foreign policy achievement in the second term. (Algemeiner)

There is no reason at all for Prime Minister Netanyahu to be trying to appease Obama and the United States State Department. Simply put:

They are our enemies.

And it is outrageous for Israeli officials, like President Rivlin to claim otherwise and to blame Prime Minister Netanyahu for the problems between the two governments!

The Israeli Right's Double-Jointed, Fork-Tongued "Leaders"

Why is it that time after time after time, the minute that Israeli politicians from the Right make it into positions of power they suddenly bend over Leftwards, like human pretzels?

The first big shockeroo, from which we are still suffering was Menachem Begin after he broke the Left's monopoly over the Prime Minister's Office.  Instead of doing what everyone, Right, Left and Center, had expected fully annex all of Judea, Samaria, Jordan Valley, Golan and Sinai, he quickly communicated with Egypt's President Sadat and offered him the Sinai, with the added bonus of destroying all of the Jewish communities which the Leftist Labor party had established.

Destruction of Yamit

The so-called Right wing, pro-Jewish settlement in all of the Land of Israel, Menachem Begin crossed the biggest "red line" in Israeli policy. He destroyed Israeli homes and communities. In charge of "logistics" was Arik Sharon, who apparently developed a taste for that sort of blood, because he, also from Likud, proposed Disengagement which gave the Arab terrorist territory Gaza Gush Katif and destroyed the very communities which had been established as compensation for the Israeli communities which had been destroyed in the Sinai.

Destruction of Gush Katif

The irony of all this is that the Leftist Labor party and its ideological twins could never propose and activate such policies, because the Likud in opposition is always much more Right. The Oslo Accord, the most extreme Left policy that Labor ever succeeded in passing did not do a fraction of the damage done by Likud's Begin and Sharon.

Ruby Rivlin

Naftali Bennett

So now, for all who had been happy that loyal Likudnik Ruby Rivlin had been elected President and that Naftali Bennett's political power has been increasing, recent news has us in the doldrums, yet again. I wrote about Rivlin's inferiority complex in terms of the USA here, and now Naftali Bennett has tied himself in a political knot, too, by supporting the death penalty for Jewish terrorists sic, when it isn't even on the books for Arab terrorists.

We who are loyal to the Land of Israel and promote Jewish Life and Settlement in all of the Land Gd gave us are still looking for a reliable, powerful and effective leader to take us out of this mess.

Diplomatic Isolation, Good or Bad for Israel?

President Ruby Rivlin's recent comment about Israeli isolation shows the neurotic hypersensitivity of many Israelis.

Ruby Rivlin, Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Israeli president warns of isolation over row with US on Iran"I am very worried by the battlefront (that has opened up) between Obama and Netanyahu and by relations between the United States and Israel," Rivlin told the Maariv daily.
"The prime minister is leading a campaign against the United States as if we were equals, and that is liable to hurt Israel," he said.
"We are to a large extent isolated in the world at the moment... I'm not a pessimist but for the first time I see that we are alone." (News-yahoo-AFP)

Remember that Labor Party head Isaac Herzog's big campaign promise was that he could get along better with Obama than Netanyahu.

Unlike Rivlin and Herzog, I was born and raised in the United States. And PM Bibi Netanyahu actually spent some very crucial years growing up there, too. I'd say that we know the USA a lot better than Rivlin and Herzog. There's actually something very troubling in what Rivlin said.

"...as if we were equals..."

It sounds very much like he has a serious inferiority complex when it comes to the United States. And like many/most Israelis, he seems to have an inflated and distorted idea of the reliability of the Americans as trusted allies and supporters of Israel.

During most of the sixty-seven years since the establishment of the State of Israel, the attitude of the American State Department was ambivalent at best. In November, 1947, it recommended voting against the United Nations resolution supporting a Jewish State. After much personal debate then President Harry Truman instructed the American delegation to the UN to vote in favor. And over the next twenty years or so, until after the 1967 Six Days War, the USA did not offer any aid to Israel.

Remember that we defeated the Egyptians, Syrians and Jordanians in 1967 without the help of any foreign country. We had no allies, and that was good! Yes, you read it correctly. I have no doubt that foreign allies would only have slowed down the Israeli victory if not preventing it completely. The so called "help" we got from the Americans during the 1973 Yom Kippur War actually made it more difficult for us to fight.

Even the greatest military experts of the second half of the twentieth century agree with me on this. There is no logical explanation for Israel's victory in 1967. The numbers just don't add up. Our Arab enemies had more military arm, power and fighters than we had. Also tactically and geographically they were much stronger. They also had allies, and the United Nations cooperated with their plans to destroy Israel by withdrawing peacekeeping forces when Egypt's Nasser demanded they do so.

All that the State of Israel had was the prayers of the Jewish People and the Help of Gd.

Since I remember that time so clearly, I do not fear "isolation." I also remember too well how contrary to our great victory in 1967, we were almost destroyed during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. And during those frightening days, instead of praying, fighting and praying, the Israeli Government kept on consulting with Nixon and Kissinger, who were planning a stalemate. They had hopes that America would be invited in to "keep the peace."

Considering the difficult history Israel has had with the USA, I just can't understand why most Israelis, including some of our highest ranking political and government officials, can still worship the myth of American friendship and superiority.

No Surprise: Rivlin's Bending Over Leftwards

Well, it seems that Ruby Rivlin, the Revisionist and Betari from birth, from the most distinguished of true settler families, has joined all the other so called Right politicians and is falling Leftwards from his office as President of the State of Israel.

Rivlin at Gonen Shiva

Mark Neyman (GPO)

Rivlin and the Bereaved Mother: The Story Gets WorsePresident Reuven Rivlin angered the bereaved family of Danny Gonen instead of comforting them when he visited them on their shiva – the seven-day mourning period – and new details have emerged on just how badly the president has apparently handled the situation.
As reported by Arutz Sheva Friday, Assaf Golan, an editor at Makor Rishon, who visited the family, posted on Facebook Thursday night that the bereaved mother, Dvora Gonen, was in a furious emotional state during the shiva, after public officials and senior IDF officers who came to visit her told her that her son is to blame for his death. “Worst of all” was President Rivlin, who said that if Danny Gonen had been carrying a gun, the terror attack would never have happened.... (Arutz 7)

Could it be that Ruby was always a bit soft in his ideology, or unlike the Leftists who preceded him as President, he thinks he has to be a Centrist to be a good national leader? That is my big problem with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. I heard him state equivalently that although he can prove the Right is right, he thinks as Prime Minister he must move to the Left, which he calls Center.

They all base this on the precedent of Menachem Begin who after being elected (yes indirectly as party leader and forming the ruling coalition as is the Israeli system) Prime Minister in 1977, reversed his lifelong ideology/policies and destroyed Jewish towns and villages in order to give the Sinai to Egypt.

I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised that Ruby had the unmitigated gall to blame the victim of Arab terrorism instead of blaming Arab culture and society and that so-called "partner for peace," the P.A.'s  Abbas for supporting terrorists and their families.

Bibi's Newest Government-- Can it Last?

I guess that the whole world is asking that question, and here in Israel, that'll be the theme of many newscasts and editorials until the government implodes. Israel doesn't have a betting country like England where lots of money was made and lost betting on the sex of Will and Kate's second child and the names of that child. Once Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana's name was revealed the big bets were on today's British Elections.

Binyamin Netanyahu

Miriam Alster/Flash 90

I wonder if those betting places are also taking bets on how long Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's coalition will last. All I can say is that I wouldn't buy tickets to travel abroad too far in advance, or I may miss voting, since we don't have absentee voting here in Israel. Two of my recent trips trips were timed to allow me to vote. Two and a half years ago I left just after voting, and this past visit I arrived home the day before elections.

Ironically, the last/final coalition agreement signed was with Bayit Yehudi's (Jewish Home) Naftali Bennett, who in both his Knesset campaigns stressed his aim to be part of Netanyahu's government. It seems that is the way Netanyahu works. He first makes the most difficult of the potential partners sign. And lastly he signs with his most natural allies. Finally he divides whatever is left with his own Likud Party. In his previous coalition he started by pulling a shocker and signing up Likud-traitor Tsipi Livni as Justice Minister. That brought in her personal loyalists, but she ended up being the one to destroy his government from within.

This time, Bibi, again went for a former Likudnik with high ambitions, Moshe Kahlon, first and created an offer Kahlon couldn't resist. I wonder if Kahlon will pull a Livni... IMHO, the two parties that Netanyahu can rely on for loyalty are the chareidim and Bennett's. Chareidim won't sit with Yair Lapid, and the feeling is mutual. Last time he allowed Bennett to force him into accepting Lapid and persecuting the chareidim. That was a dual mistake for both Bibi and Bennett. Lapid worked in tandem with Livni, learning how to get away with disloyalty, until Bibi finally disbanded the coalition and declared new elections.

Another time bomb in this coalition is Aryeh Deri's Shas, which already has a track-record of disloyalty. Ex-con Deri was davka given Finance, which I blogged about before. It really turns my stomach.

Here's how it stands now:

• Jewish Home: Chairman Naftali Bennett will be appointed Education Minister, while MKs Uri Ariel and Ayelet Shaked will be named Agricultural Minister and Justice Minister, respectively. Ariel will also control the Settlement Division and hold responsibility for implementing a program regulating Bedouins in the Negev. In addition, the party will choose a candidate for deputy defense minister.
• Kulanu: Party chairman Moshe Kahlon will serve as Finance Minister as well as chairman of the Housing Cabinet. MK Yoav Galant will beappointed Housing Minister, while a third person, apparently Kahlon associate Avi Gabbay, will be appointed Environment Minister. 
• Shas: Chairman Aryeh Deri will serve as Economy Minister, Negev and Galilee Development Minister, and possibly also Religious Affairs Minister, although this post may be given to another member of the party. In addition, Deri will appoint MK Yitzhak Cohen to head the Planning Administration within the Finance Ministry. Under Shas' agreement with Likud, which is subject to certain changes, Cohen may end up taking the post of Deputy Finance Minister. 
• United Torah Judaism: MK Yaakov Litzman will serve as Deputy Health Minister, while MK Moshe Gafni will chair the Knesset's Finance Committee. (Arutz 7)

There's still plenty left for the Likud to fight over, but many fear that Bibi will pull a fast one and accede to President Ruby Rivlin's pressure and establish a "unity government" which give the plums to Herzog and leave pretty much nothing of value to the Likud.

Nu, what do you think? Are you betting?

Israeli Elections, 2015, 5775, Dangerous Instability of "Unity" Government

I'm not at all surprised that it has been taking Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a very long time to construct, negotiate his newest government coalition. His last one was an unstable disaster, and I am certain that he does not want to repeat such a scenario.

Vote counting in Israel, as complicated as it is, meaning you have to count all those little pieces of paper, record the numbers, add up each parties share and then calculate percentages, subtract the parties that didn't make the minimum and then recalculate to get the actual amount of Knesset seats per party.

Photo by Linda

That's child's play compared to what Bibi has been trying to do. He has to get enough like-minded party leaders to agree to work with him and compromise their ministerial dreams and promises to voters. And this year, we had the Passover holiday right in the middle of the limited time period Israeli law allocates to the possible Prime Minister. And during Passover, some party leaders won't do anything as mundane as negotiate for political gain.

And we must not forget that the previous, meaning outgoing government was a coalition nightmare, since two of the party leaders behaved unabashedly as opposition. They were Tsipi Livni and Yair Lapid. Netanyahu had no choice other than to fire them and call for new elections. OK, maybe he should have acted much, much sooner against Livni which would have given Lapid a lesson/warning, but he didn't.

So now, with the results of this more recent elections, he's pretty much left with a similar dilemma. At least he doesn't have Naftali Bennett insisting on bringing in Lapid as a "package," which meant he could not have the chareidi MKs.

But negotiations have not been going all that well for Netanyahu. And the pressure by President Ruby Rivlin to construct a monstrous "national unity government" has only been making things worse:

Israel needs a broad government as possible, given the current efforts to prevent the nuclearization of Iran, President Reuven Rivlin told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Wednesday’s Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem, a source close to Rivlin said on Thursday.
The source said Rivlin also had spoken about the need for a broad coalition with Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog at an event last week in Ein Gedi. (Jerusalem Post)

The key slogan to Herzog's camp was "anyone but Bibi," so for him to join such a coalition without a very pricey "gift" would be problematic with his supporters. And the previous government fell apart due to conflicting aims of its supposed partners. IMHO a unity government would be a total and utter disaster. Isaac Herzog is no Menachem Begin who humbly joined the Labor Party's national unity government in 1967.

There very well may be more political stability and strength in a small, like-minded coalition, which is what some pundits say will be:

Meanwhile, Likud sources are preparing for the possibility that Netanyahu will present a 61-MK coalition that will comprise Likud, Kulanu, Habayit Hayehudi and the ultra-Orthodox parties. After the coalition is sworn in, Netanyahu could turn to Yisrael Beytenu or, alternatively, the Zionist Union. Complicating a potential deal with the Zionist Union (the Labor-Hatnuah joint list) is Labor leader Isaac Herzog's insistence on Tzipi Livni and her Hatnuah party being part of the government, something that Netanyahu adamantly opposes. (Israel Hayom)

Also take into account that Netanyahu may be faced with rebellion from his own Likud MKs if he makes a deal with the Leftist Herzog:

MKs David Amsalem, David Bitan, Jackie Levy, Miki Zohar and Abraham Naguise reacted to a Channel 1 report from Monday that Netanyahu held a secret meeting before Passover with Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog to explore the possibility of a national unity government.
“We promised out voters a nationalist government,” Amsalem said. “We have to go with those we see eye to eye with ideologically, not with [Arab Zionist Union MK] Zouheir Bahloul.”
What is being described in the party as a “mini-rebellion” by parliamentarians who have not started work yet, came amid reports that Netanyahu was not succeeding in his attempt to woo Herzog. (Jerusalem Post)

As I've said before, I'm glad I'm not in Bibi's shoes.

Shabbat Shalom to All

I Sure Don't Envy Bibi Netanyahu!

Even though the Israelis voters spoke pretty clearly and do prefer Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for another term of office, giving his Likud Party many more seats than they gave Herzog-Livni's, assembling a coalition won't be easy for him. Besides Naftali Bennett who has made it clear that he firmly supports Netanyahu and hasn't leaked any demands, all of the other party leaders are making it clear that they aren't in Bibi's pocket and expect a hefty payment, meaning important cabinet position for them and most of their MK's.

Just a couple of years ago, Netanyahu invited Avigdor Lieberman's party, Yisrael Beitenu to run with Likud on a joint list, which ended up to the benefit of Lieberman and detriment to Likud. This year, on its own, Yisrael Beitenu has lost strength, but it still has the power to make or break a coalition. Lieberman is playing hard to get, insisting that although he's leading one one of the smallest parties in Knesset, he still deserves a "senior position."

All during the campaign my feeling was that the Likud could not count on former Likudnik Kahlon at all in terms of joining the coalition. He'd be like the classic "woman scorned," even though he was the one who left the ship. And now the rumor is that he's going to play Bennett's old role dragging in Lapid as a "third and very unwanted wheel" as a condition for his joining a Likud government.

"According to Israeli television, Kahlon will demand that Netanyahu also invite his rival and erstwhile finance minister Yair Lapid into the government." (Jerusalem Post)

Yair Lapid's total lack of loyalty and discipline was one of the reasons Netanyahu had to declare new elections. And it was also Lapid's rabidly anti-Chareidi conditions that Bibi accepted which seriously damaged Likud's relationship with the Chareidi parties. And Netanyahu needs those MKs to form a coalition.

Nothing here is going to be easy. Voting and counting the votes are long over. The results are clear. The Israeli electorate does not want a Herzog-Livni government, not even just Herzog. It wants to give Binyamin Netanyahu another term of office, but the political leaders, MKs elected last week mostly have their own egos as priority, not the good of the country nor the will of the people.

As I've written before, I predict instability, and I wonder if Netanyahu will succeed in this seemingly impossible task. If he doesn't, then Herzog will get a chance to form a government coalition. And no matter who finally succeeds I doubt that the government will last very long. There is also a possible scenario that no coalition will be formed, and we'll be voting again this coming summer.

And don't forget that the media's rumor mill has been talking of President Ruby Rivlin pushing Netanyahu and Herzog to come up with a "National Unity Government," like the one that had Shimon Peres and Yitzchak Shamir trading places in the Prime Minister's office.

What do you think?

President Ruby Got More Applause than PM Bibi at Begin Event

Last night I attended the big festive celebration of ten years of Menachem Begin Heritage Center and Museum. Security was tight, almost like at a foreign airport, because both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Ruby Rivlin were to be there. And yes, they were and yes they spoke.

Officially the evening was a tribute to the late Menachem Begin, a Betari who had led the "Irgun" aka "Etzel" in the war of liberation against the British. After that he was leader of the opposition here in Israel until he shocked the Leftist establishment with his Likud victory in 1977. He then served as Prime Minister and shocked the State of Israel and the world by offering Egypt the Sinai in exchange for "peace." That's when he lost me as a supporter.

As part of the deal he included the destruction of all of the Jewish communities in the Sinai. Some were "reconstituted" afterwards in Gush Katif, then later destroyed by Ariel Sharon's Disengagement Plan. My husband works in the Begin Center, which is why I frequently attend its events.

Many people, yes, those who attend events in the Begin Center feel the way I do, but we still highly respect a lot of what Begin did over his long active public life and feel more for Likud members/politicians like Ruby Rivlin than we do for any other high ranking Israelis.

There was much celebrating and applause last night for our President Ruby. Even though the Likud has been in power most of the past thirty-eight years, his election victory was the very first time that a Likudnik, an unabashed Betar Jerusalem supporter and ideological Betari, has been Israel's President.

In the forty-four 44 years since our aliyah, I have seen so many changes in Israeli society. Not that long ago, you wouldn't see an identifiable religious person in the Israeli media. Then it began becoming more common to see the man in a discreet kippah. Now we see women, like the evening MC who covers her hair, wears sleeves and high necklines.

There has been lots of progress in Israeli society integrating religious and Right in various roles. The last holdout, and the most difficult, seems to be in academics. That's why there has been so much protest against the Ariel University.

The success and popularity of the Menachem Begin Heritage Center and Museum is an important step for Israeli society.

Ruby Rivlin, Israel's Newest President, G-d Willing Will Unite Us

The Israeli position of President is different form what a "president" is in most countries. It's supposed to be ceremonial, a figurehead, not a policy maker.

Ruby (Reuven) Rivlin, who has spent decades in the public eye, as a descendant of the the Rivlin for whom Rivlin Street is named, as head of the Betar Jerusalem soccer team, politician, MK, is now the President of Israel.

Rivlin succeeds Shimon Peres who just couldn't take off his "politician hat." Peres is most popular with foreigners, especially Leftist office holders, media and diplomats.

Rivlin and Peres are very different. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that those who are happiest to see Peres go are the same ones who are happiest to see Rivlin in the office. To my mind Peres seemed to be more interested in impressing and pleasing foreigners than relating to ordinary Israelis. Rivlin is thought of a warm, friendly uncle, one of the family.

Especially now during a time of war, tension and stress, we do need a President who can unite us into one loving family.

Go for it Ruby!

President-Elect Ruby Rivlin, Best Described as... Human

If you were to sum up Israel's President-elect Ruby Rivlin in one word, it would probably be "human." He's not the polished, diplomatic, underhanded, sneaky charmer that outgoing, faster please, President Shimon Peres is.

CREDIT: REUTERS/RONEN ZVULUN

And unlike the Israeli and international media, I'd say that Right wing is a very superficial way of describing Ruby Rivlin.

(Reuters) - Reuven Rivlin, a right-wing legislator opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state, was elected Israel's president on Tuesday to replace the dovish Shimon Peres in the largely ceremonial post.

Dry Bones

Rivlin is also a Jerusalemite and from famous Jerusalem family that was among the pioneers to move out of the walled city. Yes, the Nachalat Shiva Street, Rechov Rivlin is named for his ancestor.

Israeli television was full of clips of Ruby doing things that would have had most politicians dying of embarrassment, like his sitting in a corner whining, blubbering and crying and pulling out his hair because it looked like his soccer team, Betar Jerusalem, was about to loose the championship game.

His political rehabilitation, which increased his popularity greatly was performing on television as a comedian.



This isn't the usual way to make it in politics, but it has worked for Rivlin. And may he continue being himself in good health for a long, long time. Long live President Ruby!

I'm So Glad That Ruby Rivlin is Israel's New President and Not Shitrit

Reuters

Thank G-d! Ruby Rivlin got 63 Knesset votes, and Shitrit didn't make it.

Now in all honesty, I don't expect miracles from Ruby. The position of President of Israel was created to be ceremonial, to free the Prime Minister from time consuming photo shoots with ambassadors and all. I trust that Ruby will be charming and not try to stretch the job into being a faux Prime Minister.

Shimon Peres tried to stretch stretched the position, because he really wanted to be Prime Minister and make policy to undermine Bibi Netanyahu. I had/have no doubt that if Meir Shitrit had been elected he would have attempted to continue Peres's precedent.

So let's wish Ruby Rivlin, Israel's newest President a long, healthy and productive life.

Avigdor Lieberman on TIME'S: The 100 Most Influential People in the World

Yes, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is on TIME Magazine's The Most Influential People in the World list, not two-time Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu nor Tsippi Livni nor the Ehuds, Olmert and Barak.

No surprise. Bibi's stuck in that empty bagel hole trying to find the elusive "please everyone" shelter. Leaders don't hide in shelters.

A leader exudes confidence not bagel-twisted compromise.

Please, don't get me wrong. I honestly don't trust Lieberman, and I'm not one of his fans. I admire his charisma and choice of words which suit what your typical Israeli is looking for.

He's a different sort of politician than Ruby Rivlin who touched all bases in his Yom Zikaron, Soldiers and Terror Victims Memorial Day torch-lighting speech. (If there's any problem with the video, just click the previous highlighted text.)

Sorry, but it's in Hebrew. Click here for the English translation on the IMRA site. Every time I hear it, all I can think of is how he would have made a better Israeli President than Shimon Peres.

Back to Lieberman: There's an irony in the words used in TIME:

The new Israeli and American administrations may be on a collision course. And the co-navigator of the Israeli ship of state is Avigdor Lieberman, the Foreign Minister, who heads the right-wing Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Is Our Home) party, the main partner of Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud in the new coalition government.

"Co-Navigator" The term means joint leader. But Bibi Netanyahu isn't on the list of the One Hundred Most Influential People in The World.

Sorry, Bibi, from the "center" one follows. You're not a leader until you take a real stand.

Tolerance and Racism

As Durban II is about to open, attended by an assortment of international hypocrites, it's eye-opening to listen to Israel's veteran Likud MK and Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin:

"There are those who say that we need to transfer Umm el-Fahm [to Palestinian control]," Rivlin said. "This is a city in Israel, was [a city], is, and will be forever." (complete article)

Unlike Israeli Leftists and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who believe in throwing out the baby with the bathwater, Rivlin, descended from the Nachalt Shiva Rivlins, recognizes Eretz Yisrael, The Land of Israel, as Jewish regardless of who's living there. And that includes places like Umm el-Fahm.

Rivlin promotes civil rights to all Israeli citizens, Arabs and Jews, unlike Arab leaders who promote killing all Jews.

And while all this is going on, a new very expensive of course, Holocaust Museum opened near Chicago. Of all the Jewish fundraising causes, nothing attracts money like dead Jews. What does that say about racism?