The Stockholm Syndrome

Even before it is out, Burg's book is making headlines. I wish I could call it names, but I haven't read it, and I probably never will. It might be a good read, I admit, but the fact that it was picked up by almost every possible anti-Jewish anti-Zionsit sites puts me off. Besides I saw Burg's interview with London and Kirschenbaum and he wasn't able to provide proper answers to their probing questions (no attacks, no provocations, just musings) and in fact endorse his claims by anything other than the ramblings of his burning mind and vivid imagination. He went on whining in his monotonous voice, reciting a well-prepared well-rehearsed speech, totally oblivious of the anchors' questions. He invoked his dead father (who is probably turning over in his grave) and went on to explore his gut feelings that he is welcome to keep for himself as far as I am concerned. For me, he is just another example of a self-hating intellectual Jew trying to make a living maligning his fellow Israelis, as soon as his career petered out, just like Uri Avneri. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you well. .

Arik Bachar
Ma'ariv. June 10, 2007

With a coveted EU passport in his pocket, with a yearning for the Diaspora that spat his father out, Avrum Burg is free to go to France and leave the feeling of disgust to us.

They say that the people residing in the Land of Israel is so stupid that it cannot elect its leaders. Avrum Burg is the ultimate proof of the stupidity put forth by this thesis, proof that the filters of the Israeli electorate do a better job than most believe.
This is the man who would have been our PM, the one with two passports and a multitude of faces. The one who came to the conclusion that Zionism is not so great only after his retirement conditions were revised. Not to mention the police inquiry into his shady business enterprises. Only after he hit the glass ceiling did he realize that his meteoric light was dimming and started to search the depths of his tormented soul for proof that perhaps the Jewish presence of Israel is misplaced and that in fact we were at our best while in exile.
In his wonderful interview with Arik Shavit for the Ha'aretz (available on the net, mostly on Zionist-bashing, Jewish-blood-sucking sites, in case you have had too much to eat and cannot puke), Burg is taking the Stockholm Syndrome to incredible heights: the loyalty displayed by the average hostage towards the goals of his abductors pales next the Burg's burning adoration of the same Diaspora that spat out (and on) his ancestors and devoured all those who lacked the foresight to run for their lives before it was too late.
Last week I returned from a visit I to those places that make up Burg's love and desire: Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Lodz ghetto, places Burg himself must have visited while wearing elegant suits provided for him and paid for by the Jewish people. Since he confessed to Shavit that the ideas he put down in his soon to be published book had been on his mind for quite some time, one can assume that Burg came up with profound realization that "Israeli society is afraid, ... [experiencing] this utmost fear, the ancestral fear of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust" while searching for it in those very locations. And what is the amazing observation that this retired genius who purported to be the great hope of Zionist politics brought back from Poland? That the people subjected to the ultimate genocide is not always behaving in a rational manner. Really, Burg! You mean we should no longer be wary 60 short years after the terrible trauma?
You are talking about the belligerent Israeli society and the disproportionate use of force against explicit threats to complete that genocide? Go to Rwanda, Burg, and observe the behavior of those who survived an extermination attempt 13 years ago. Then perhaps you will appreciate how restrained Israel actually is. Go to your beloved America, the center of your coveted exile, where you claim that that Jews can attain their their utmost glory, and count the number of human lives exacted in response to the 3,000 WTC victims.
However, in spite of everything, Burg is one more example of the vitality of the Jewish people. He managed to find in the Shoah the exact opposite of what most Israeli have learned: namely that the Jews believed and hoped up to the very last moment, when they were pushed into the gas chambers. But 60 years ago, as they stepped over the threshold of the phony showers built for them on the soil of the continent that Burg's heart goes out to, they must have thought, every last one of them, that perhaps moving to Palestine in the mid 1930's might not have been an entirely bad idea.
So now Burg holds a EU passport that entitles him to vote, work and reside as a proud Jew in France. Congratulations, Mr. Burg, but when you take up lodgings over there, remember to cover your head with a see-through skullcap, just to be on the safe side. And you can let us deal with the disgust on our own, and to drink from the well into which you chose not only to piss, but also to throw up.

Burg's Passport
Ar'el Segal
Maariv May 19, 2007
(not that holding a foreign passport is amoral, criminal, or even illegal, no such thing. But one who served as Knesset Speaker and Director of the Jewish Agency - "President of the Jewish people" - is in no position to urge Israelis to acquire a second passport and clear out of the country that is not only their homeland, but that they also love, cherish, build and sometimes even die for. And die young, too.)
Several days ago a Jerusalem Court rejected the appeal of French citizen and former Jewish Agency director (1995-1999), Monsieur de Bourg, who insisted that the Jewish Agency keep on covering the costs of a private driver for his private jeep, to the tune of 22,000 NIS/month (~ 5,500 USD). Justice Sara Shdior explained that "Burg failed to list all pertinent details to his claim, such as the fact that the Jewish Agency is not the only or the main sponsor of Burg's vehicle, as he is entitled to funding from the Knesset, as former Knesset speaker. He also failed to mention that the fact that he sometimes uses said jeep for purposes connected to his activities as a private businessman.
During the Gaza disengagement I sat next to Mr. Burg as guests of Nissim Mishal's talk show. When I was done talking, Burg looked at me with arrogance and disdain, and proceeded to regurgitate the corny cliches of the articulate left, the so-called voice of sanity. I was not impressed. I had always considered Burg a self-content megalomaniac pompous ass. As a matter of principle I'd rather not share in other people's flatulence. I even make it a point to restrict my own to "under the blanket" situations. But I must confess that I had shared the general opinion defining Burg's public figure as an honest politician, a man of principles. Yet the fact that the former Jewish Agency Director and Knesset Speaker bends over backwards for a foreign passport is quite metaphoric - one more indicator of the decomposing political leadership which justifies the rapidly spreading feeling of despair. If a former chairman of the official body in charge of bringing Jews to Israel uses his wife's birthright to obtain a French passport, where does it leave the others?
And perhaps Burg's appeal (which was rejected in court) to obtain funding for his private driver from the Jewish Agency is one more proof of Mr. Burg's principles - unfathomable impudence and great sense of humor: one more attempt at cracking jokes at our expense.

Gilad Shalit has a French passport, because his mother is French. What good did it do him?

New Toys for British Army in Iraq and Lessons in Ethics

Israeli Drones over Iraq
Felix Frish
Ma'ariv June 6, 2007

While the British academia (cacademia) is pushing for a boycott of Israeli goods, Her Majesty's Army is purchasing Israeli drones.

One day after PM Blair's attempt to reassure his Israeli counterpart by opposing the academic boycott, the British Army signals its willingness to cooperate with Elbit Systems and places an important 110 million USD order for Hermes 405 drones to be used in Iraq operations.

These UAV's are also being employed by the IAF and according to foreign military analysts, they have the capability to launch missiles against different targets. According to Elbit Systems, its British subsidiary, Tacs-U will be in charge of the production along with French Thales. According to the contract, British ground crews will also be trained to use this sophisticated tool. Yossi Ackerman, President and Director General of Elbit: "The Hermes 405 has gained worldwide recognition among UAV users."

And now for something that really blew my mind: British army officers travel to Israel to learn about training the next generation of officers and military ethics . Once again: while the British academia calls for boycott, British and Israeli military come closer.

A large international delegation consisting of Army officers from the UK, US, Germany, Finland and other countries, attended a congress on military ethics organized by the Center of Ethics in Jerusalem and learned from Israeli officers how to instill the military ethics principles into younger generations of officers. The delegations also visited the dividing wall.

(adapted from Felix Frish and Yuval Lidor, Ma'ariv June 8, 2007)