Ariel Sharon: Making The World Safe for Jewry
A bomb threat was called in against the new San Francisco JCC which opens only five days from now.
“A police spokeswoman reported that while no bomb has been found, officers are being especially cautious in the wake of an Israeli missile strike that killed Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin.”
Thanks Arik!
[Update] More on the backlash front: Arson attack on French JCC. NYC steps up security at synagogues and other Jewish institutions. Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi announces more potential assasination targets, saying: “Everyone is in our sights.” Apparently, including Arafat.
What an odd response you have.
While I don’t wholly support Sharon’s decision, these JCC bomb threats have been happening for years and years and years. I certainly don’t blame Israel for them
Police Boost Security At Synagogues
The NYPD is boosting the police presence at local synagogues and in predominately Jewish neighborhoods following Israel’s assassination of a Hamas leader.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the Israeli consulate and the United Nations will also receive extra security.
Kelly says he does not know of any specific threats against New York targets, adding that the measures are simply a precaution.
…NY1
ok..babylonian, you are gonna dismiss all real threats before this yassin thing..and then point out all speculation after.
If it wasn’t Sharon it would be some other excuse. In fact, the entire al-Aqsa intifada is an exercise in the subterfuge of the boogeyman. Instead of responding to a genuine initiative for peace and normalization between a secure Israel and an independent Palestine by then-PM Barak and then-President Clinton, Palestinian leadership (such as it is) chose instead to respond to a campaign stunt by Likud party leader ahead of the 2000 elections.
Hamas has never been serious about ceasefires, or two-state solutions, or even about Palestinian liberation. They are and always have been all about narrow fundamental religious control. And their spiritual consciousness has never been above blowing as many Jews to bits as they are able.
Sharon had to do something to protect the Israeli people from future suicide bombings–unfortunately, he made a decision that will most likely provoke the Hamas to increase bombings both in Israel and abroad. Sharon is essentially a representative for Jews in Israel and the rest of the world, his decisions affect all of us, frightening, isn’t it?!
We need to distinguish between what we can control and what we cannot (and all the subtleties in between). For example, how much of events can Jews, Israelis and Zionists really expect to control in terms of Arab-Muslim demonization of Israel, Jews and Zionism when the 2-state solution was never even on the agenda of all but four member nations of the 57-member nation Organization of Islamic Conferences (incl. three out of the 22-member nations of the Arab League)? And this basic dynamic even goes back to when Gaza and the West Bank were under the control of Egypt and Jordan, respectively.
We must maintain perspective. As bad an idea as occupation and settlement is and continues to be, armies can be withdrawn and settlements evacuated and dismantled. Suicide bombings are hardly a quid-pro-quo by any reasonable standard.