Back on Track

Attending Restoring Love in Dallas, I'm experiencing a personal renaissance. About six years ago, I established a non-profit organization called "Shelanu: Direct Representation Israel." It's purpose was to re-establish the importance of the individual in the relationship between citizens and Israeli lawmakers. In particular, Shelanu promoted direct, plurality elections such that 120 Members of Knesset would be directly elected in 120 districts in Israel.


Shelanu has not succeeded. Not yet. The organization has attracted some wonderful, dedicated people into its fold, most of whom were native Israelis. But, it has not gained the critical mass of activists and supporters needed to turn the enterprise into the organic, viral movement necessary to achieve the influence and change it sought. I've spent many hours wondering what was missing in my efforts and in the design of the movement. I think I see what's been missing.


Changing the system of government in Israel will require a huge shift of active, public support towards individual responsibilities and rights. It will mean a public rejection of collectivist patronage in favor of a mass movement of individual rights and responsibilities; of giving and living freely. It will require an unequivocal declaration that social solutions are not the responsibility or mandate of the government; the government is responsible only for securing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The army. The courts. The roads. The records. Religious organizations, not funded by government, could handle welfare functions, locally and with familiarity. With holiness and love.


I just have to readjust the blueprint of a movement,.

Leftist Libelous Groupthink Over Loughner

If you've listened to pundits on TV or read them in mainstream newspapers, you might think that Sarah Palin and/or other right-leaning conservative figures contracted tragic Jared Lee Loughner's shooting spree last week.

A thorough initial investigation of the killer reveals absolutely no connection to mainstream conservative figures like Palin, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, or Bill O'Reilly. A more honest, fact-based appraisal of Loughner leanings would show that his demons were inspired at least as much by leftist rhetoric as by right wing ideology.

Consider this. Loughner's documented complaints against Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman currently fighting for her life after being shot through the brain, were not based upon her credentials as a politically active liberal. Loughner railed against Giffords being a "fake." Gabrielle Giffords is well known as a "blue-dog" Democrat, i.e., one who demonstrates a more moderate political philosophy than the more extreme leftism that currently characterizes the Democratic Party. Loughner is also a fervent "9/11 Truther," who espouses that the 9/11 terrorist attacks against America were perpetrated with the collusion of elements in the U.S. government. Along the political spectrum, the Truther movement is far more accepted on the left than the right. It would be more reasonable to conclude that Loughner was influenced more by leftist extremism than by rightist rhetoric.

The most reasonable conclusion is that Jared Lee Loughner is a dangerously psychotic individual who realized his awful potential to inflict deadly harm. According to his best friend, he did not fall into either right or left camps, but was heavily influenced by conspiracy theories in general.

But, as Rahm Emannuel so stated so clearly in what was the Soviet propagandist style, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." What's more, if you can customize a crisis out of a tragedy, even better for engineering consensus among a political base. "Mainstream" leftist pundits have chosen to ignore the established, documented facts regarding Loughner, make politically expedient but spurious causal connections, and project a libelous connection onto their right-leaning bogeymen. At this point, the left's favorite bogeyman is Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin responded eloquently this past week to the attempts to link her to Loughner's murder spree. She called these attempts a "blood libel" and she used the label correctly and appropriately. Yes, the term "blood libel" does originate from a traumatic, tragic, and heinous act against Jews. However, that term "blood libel," has indeed become a common metaphor for the slanderous accusations of murder to unjustly blame an innocent party. It has been used numerous times, without outcry by Jewish organizations, to denounce slanderous claims against Israel, the IDF, and Jews in general.

While Abe Foxman was right to defend Palin against the leftist onslaught of slander, he was absolutely out of line to take her to task for using "blood libel" to describe the slander against her. Other Jewish groups have been even more emphatic to tow the left-wing line in vilifying Palin for her use of the term. It seems like the knee-jerk tendency of so many American Jews to identify with the left has blinded them to the unfortunate fact that they are aiding and abetting political libel themselves.

Netanyahu Fails the Leadership Test... Again

This week, Benjamin Netanyahu showed himself to be, like so many other Israeli "leaders," someone who could lay false claim to virtues of leadership. Netanyahu has decided to kowtow to Barack Obama and extend the freeze on building in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem. Why? That is a difficult question to answer for a variety of reasons.

Let's start with the rumoured quid pro quo that Israel will supposedly get for playing ball in Obama's court. Last week, the inducement was a promise by Hillary Clinton that the US would veto any UN-imposed peace deals. In other words, in return for Israel continuing to set a precedent in abandoning its legitimate claims on Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, the Obama administration will continue the policy that every prior American administration has maintained. This week, the stick looks a bit more like a carrot, with Obama offering to sell Israel 20 F35 stealth fighters if they discriminate against Jewish construction for another three months. Bear in mind that these warplanes would are estimated to arrive in 2017. Can the Obama administration be trusted to keep the deal if 90 days pass, the Palestinians still show no interest in real peace, and Israel resumes construction? No.

The proof is in the rotten pudding that was been served up during the recently ended ten month moratorium on construction. The result of Israel's show of good faith? Arab rejectionism produced a PA refusal of any reciprocation. The result? More demands of Israeli good faith, i.e., more Israeli concessions to reward PA intransigence.

Netanyahu seems to be in abject fear of disappointing Obama, perhaps over fears that Obama will be more inclined to deal strongly with Iran if Israel does it his way. But, a pro-Israel Congress, arguably more pro-Israel with the new crop of freshmen House and Senate legislators, will not obligingly tolerate Obama abuse of Israel at the UN or with regard to Iran.

Netanyahu has been letting Obama achieve an undeserved level of primacy in how Israel protects itself and conducts its peace negotiations. This must stop immediately. Come on, Bibi, grow a backbone! Instruct Israel's hasbarah organs to show that Abbas is no peace partner. Make public Israel's decision to stop amputating her communities in return for a nebulous sense of international acceptance. Let Obama know, in no uncertain language, that Israel's historic heartland is not for sale. Let Mahmoud Abbas and the rest of Fatah and Hamas know that when Israel presents a concession, PA reciprocation is the only acceptable response and that barring such a response, Israeli concessions may be reversed and taken off the table.

Most importantly, Bibi, remember to whom you are responsible. Remember the source of your legitimacy as a leader of the State of Israel. It doesn't lie with Obama. The source includes the citizens of Israel. Do right by them. Stop being Obama's poodle.

Pray for a Republican Victory on Tuesday

Usually, I'm impressed with Gil Hoffman's reporting and analysis. His articles are characterized by a clear and logical line of reasoning, linking observations with qualitative insights. As such, I was surprised by his analysis and conclusions in his article today, which stated that a Democratic loss in the midterms would translate into greater problems for Israel.

The 2010 U.S. midterm elections for Congress (, for both House and Senate,) are widely viewed as a referendum mainly on domestic policy, but also, to some degree, on foreign policy.

When Democrats lose control of the House, and moreso if they lose the Senate majority as well, President Obama, his facilitators, and handlers, will face a sobering reality. They can either defy the great majority of Americans and continue to push unpopular, economically disastrous policies, or they can concentrate on bolstering enough support from the mainstream and struggle to secure a second term in the White House. Clinton faced this choice in 1994 and drastically changed his policies to win a second term.

Given the priority of the economy, especially jobs, on the U.S. public's agenda, the executive branch of the U.S. will not be concentrating on foreign policy. They will certainly not be squandering any resources on any "peace process" unless a clear breakthrough is on the horizon.

While the economy is foremost on Americans' minds, polls indicate that the majority is very unhappy with Obama's foreign policy direction. His aggressively antagonistic posture towards Israel angers a majority of Americans, who are pro-Israel. They are by and large opposed to gestures which appear to appease imperialist and extremist elements in the Muslim world. Obama's kowtowing to the Saudi Prince and his support for the building of the Mosque at 9/11's Ground Zero have demonstrated to most Americans, including those who voted him into office and now suffer "Obama Remorse," that he is out of touch with his public. The pragmatic leaders in the Democratic party know this and it scares them.

The revitalized elements in the Republican party, which are successfully and effectively promoting many candidates for the Congress, are also staunchly and characteristically pro-Israel. With a Republican Speaker of the House, and perhaps a Republican Senate Majority Leader, Obama is going to find funding difficult for even the most miniscule expenditures if he tries to pressure Israel. The President may set foreign policy, but the Congress controls the government's purse strings for implementing those policies.

A Democratic defeat will go a long way in neutralizing the motivation for the Obama Administration to pressure Israel. To the contrary, a Republican victory will revitalize the spirit of kindred alliance that links Israel and the U.S. and defang the far left's open hostility towards the Jewish State.

Dan Halutz: Ignorance and Politics

Dan Halutz has announced his entry into politics. This former IDF lieutenant general distinguished himself through his disastrous and lethal incompetence in the last Lebanese War. He wasted no time in demonstrating his total ignorance of Israeli-US relations by opening his mouth.

Halutz opined that by refusing to extend the ban on housing starts in Judea and Samaria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would anger US President Obama, and the result would be to harm efforts to prevent a nuclear Iran. Halutz's abysmal disconnect with reality is remarkable, but not wholly unexpected.

As Jonathan Rosenblum pointed out so well in this week's Jerusalem Post Magazine, only an ignoramus regarding U.S. politics would assume that Israel has to placate the ego of the U.S. Commander in Chief in order to safeguard bi-national relations. And only a political imbecile would be blind to the fact that Barack Obama's demonstrated foreign policy incompetence has made him almost irrelevant to long-term U.S. foreign policy.

Israel has, for ten months, instituted a building freeze in Judea, Samaria, and parts of Jerusalem. In other words, Netanyahu gave in to Obama's initial demand to discriminate against Jews in their own land. In return, Mahmoud Abbas delivered Netanyahu's meeting his requests, even at significant political expense.

How fitting that an ex-general who bought into the concept of planned mediocrity when it came to his military decisions would hitch his wagon to the apex of Israeli political mediocrity, the Kadima party.

It is no anomaly that the left wing in Israel constantly seeks to ingratiate itself with the left wing in the U.S. and, of course, Europe. That is the way of political elites. They regularly seek to bolster their counterparts and, by so doing, cement the concept that elites should have disproportionate influence.

Putting it All Together

Three years have past since I started this blog. Truth be told, I've written sporadically. Since I started my job, I've barely had time even to think. Perhaps, I've been escaping the challenge ahead, avoiding the regular commitment that comes with infusing real meaning in my life. So, I'm back. Which leads me into the theme of this blog, "Putting it All Together."

If there is going to be a movement to change the form of government in Israel, it's got to be bigger than just changing the form of government in Israel. It's got to be about changing the way Israelis think of themselves. It's got to be about principles and why principles are important. It's got to be about the effects of principles - and the lack of principles - on our lives and our country.

A Shelanu movement could do so much for this country. Defining the things that are important to us, clearly, directly, and significantly, will help us address so many issues.

I need to be better at this. No matter how good I get, I'll need help.

Where Electoral Revolutions Come From

Three years ago, electoral reform was the hot topic. We were angry, asking ourselves and those around us why we tolerated a system whose coalition intrigues could have put Ehud Olmert in the prime minister's office and Histadrut uber-union hack Amir Peretz in the defense ministry. For the first time, Israel lost a war with terrorists, solely because Olmert's government could not decide on how to let the lawyers command the troops. There were meetings among well-heeled organizations discussing the need for changing the electoral system. There were calls for reform from senior policy makers.

So, what happened since then? What hasn't happened? Global financial meltdowns. Iran's nuclear bomb drive. An Obama presidency quadrupling the U.S. debt to more than all the previous presidents combined, wreaking havoc with the economy. The discovery of huge gas reserves off of Israel's shores. But, seriously, when have we Israelis ever had a breather? It still doesn't change the fact that we need a truly representative, personally accountable, and constrained system of government.

In the United States, people have been organizing to make a real difference. The Tea Party, a true grassroots movement of regular Americans - many, many regular Americans - have realized that they, as individual citizens, have real power. They are not waiting for some political saviour to emerge to prevent the ruin of the United States of America. Barack Obama, perhaps the most personally charismatic politician in U.S. history, with the financial backing of billionaires, will likely lose his party their majorities in both Houses of Congress. He will lose them not only because of failed policies, but because American citizens are holding their elected officials personally responsible for failing to protect their interests. In short, individual American citizens will be firing many of their legislators in November because these legislators have forgotten that they were hired to do a job.

The American mainstream media, long dominated by the left, have mocked these American patriots, falsely portraying them as fringe kooks, religious extremists, and even racists. But the Tea Party's message of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and individual empowerment is difficult to besmirch in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Where is Israel's Tea Party movement? Okay, so Israel didn't have a Tea Party in its history like Americans had the Boston Tea Party, in which patriots dressed as native Americans dumped British tea into Boston harbor to protest taxation without representation. But we have many examples of individuals taking power in order to right wrongs. We've had revolts against other forms of tyranny in the past. Why not fight against the tyranny of a system that devalues the work and standing of the individual citizen? Why not fight against a system of government that celebrates mediocrity and collectivism?

America and Israel have an intertwined destiny. America's founding fathers knew this, and so did modern Israel's. While these two countries were young, they celebrated liberty and responsibility, integrity and truth. But, whereas America's founding fathers codified these principles into a constitution that framed the limits of governmental power - and guaranteed individual liberties, Israel took a collectivist left turn. In trying to satisfy narrow interests, Israeli politics ignored the value of the individual citizen, the individual politician, the individual Jew. In our generation, we are pupils of clear lessons on how individual initiatives changes the world, how applied principles of freedom and self-reliance at the individual level create a healthy society, how government's fail when they try to run marketplaces and individual lives.

In Israel, anyone with special needs acutely feels the limits of socialized medicine. True, we have "competing" sick funds, but the "single payer" to the hospitals is still the Ministry of Health. And so, we have lines for operations. And we have the "gray market" for health care, those private physicians and clinics which charge premiums outside of our sick fund framework. Government-run healthcare is wasteful and, ultimately, harmful to the same poor people it claims to protect.

Presently, Israel is in much better shape than the U.S. and Europe. In this regard, the world's reluctance to lend Israel money has worked to Israel's benefit. But, are most Israelis benefiting? Much of Israel's financial success has been driven by high-tech. High-tech benefits from immunity from the interference of the Histadrut super-union. In the Internet sector, start-up costs tend to be lower than in heavier industries. Other sectors that employ Israelis - agriculture, textiles, heavy industry - have not experienced the growth and profitability enjoyed by high-tech. These industries have shrunk. And let's not forget that Israelis are among the most taxed citizens in the "free world." To a large extent, our tax shekels end up in the "entitled" pockets of Haredim and others who manipulate the collectivist, proportional system of Israeli representation. Our tax shekels prop up a massive government bureaucracy filled with redundant ministries and budgets which exist largely to facilitate political favors. We can change this.

It's easy to be cynical; it takes courage to become inspired. Israelis should carefully observe how the Tea Party movement in America takes down a self-destructive, elitist, political machine. We should watch and learn.