TONIGHT ON SIXTY MINUTES...

I have just stumbled upon what looks like a great site of investigative journalism. Take this snippet from November 2002:

In recent times, the world has been flooded with cases of church leaders being involved in child sex abuse. In this issue, our cover story takes a snapshot of the discusting pedophilic practice of the church.

On the local front, with reports suggesting Australian Jews were offered 'army training' in Israel, we question whether young Australian Jews would be shooting for Israel.

Sounds like a lead-in to a demented Muslim version of 60 Minutes (called 72 Virgins, perhaps?). In fact, the above extract was bought to you by The Call of Islam - Australia's Leading Islamic Periodical.

It seems that some of Australia's muslims like to promote racial harmony on one hand (by disparaging Christians and Jews) and on the other hand cry foul when some Aussies question their loyalties. I have no idea what the readership of this garbage is, but if it is Australia's leading Islamic periodical as claimed, then I assume it isn't insignificant.

It is time for the "reasonable" Muslims of Australia, and in fact the rest of the free world, to come out against terrorism and incitement against Jews, Christians and all other religions. Until I hear their voices, I will assume they are in the minority.

YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME

Another example today of why the road map is probably doomed to failure:

Palestinian security forces said on Monday they had detained and later released to her family an 18-year-old woman planning a suicide bombing in Israel.

Palestinian security officials said that after a brief detention she was released to her family and an investigation was underway into her motives and whether she was affiliated to one of the three militant groups that declared last week a three-month suspension of attacks on Israelis.

What is this? The Keystone Kops? Now call me paranoid, but I do not feel very safe entrusting my safety to the palestinian police.

Now seems like a good time to recap progress on the road map so far:

* Israel grants 3,000 Palestinian workers and businessmen in Bethlehem permits to enter Israel
* Israel agrees to release 350 palestinian prisoners with "no blood on their hands" but the palestinians claim that anything short of full prisoner release is a potential "deal-breaker"
* The palestinian authority does not attempt to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure but rather encourages the terrorist groups to declare a hudna
* Arafat, in the meantime, creates a new terror enclave in northern West Bank

Excuse me for not sounding hopeful....

GOOGLE SEARCH FOR WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

I just received a very clever email:

Type this as a search, including the exclamation marks, into www.google.com: "weapons of mass destruction".
Then click on "Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction" which should be the first item listed.

THANKS FOR THE CONCERN

Niall Cook takes Yobbo to task for the "Atheists for Israel" logo:

Does the Yobbo realise how funny his latest addition to his blog looks?

I've been looking at the pic the last couple of days trying to figure out which graphics he's collaged to create the one he has and I think I've worked it out. Obviously, there's the Star of David, but, Sam....you've butchered it! The lower point is missing. I don't think most jews would appreciate that. I might be wrong, of course, not being a jew myself.

Well, Niall, being a Jew myself, I am in no way offended by the logo. I applaud anyone who has the courage to stand up and support Israel on moral grounds, whether they believe in a supreme being or not. What I DON'T appreciate are comments such as the following:

"If the U.S. were in any way serious about brokering a peaceful solution to the middle-east issue, they would cancel all foreign & military aid to Israel until the state-sponsored terrorism ceased."

And this:

I decry un-necessary violence and the tit-for-tat killings from both sides of the middle-east argument both Israeli and Palestinian. I see no end to the problem until such times as both protagonists agree to stop their petty attempts to wipe each other off the face of the planet.."

So thanks for the genuine concern about our feelings, Niall, but I say the logo can stay.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

Question: What is almost as predictable as reading about a new outbreak of violence in the middle east?
Answer: Reading an article entitled
Serena, Venus through to semi-finals.

Is it just me, or is women's tennis now a real yawner?

MY RESPONSE TO WILKIE

The vast majority of Israelis have hatred for the barbarity of war. It is not something that we have chosen, but have had inflicted upon us since 1948.

If you have hatred for the barbarity of war, then why are your misgivings directed solely at Israel and not the palestinians? Do you honestly believe that Israel has waged war on them and their actions constitute self defence?

Perhaps you can visit the following link to truly appreciate what I am saying:
http://www.all4israel.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=faces

David

UPDATE: Wilkie responds "Thanks."

RESPONSE FROM PROFESSOR WILKIE

I just received this response from Professor Wilkie:

Thank you for your further comments. My hatred is for the barbarity of war, not for the Israelis in particular.

I don't get applications from the countries you mention, I would also have grave misgivings about them although, as I have been taught by this episode, academic freedom means turning a blind eye to any such misgivings.

I will finish by saying that if you met me, I don't think you would find me the monster that you envisage.

Yours sincerely

Sorry again

Andrew Wilkie

PROFESSOR OF HATRED

I am sure some of you of you have already read about anti-semitic Oxford professor Andrew Wilkie, who wrote the following email to an Israeli student requesting the oportunity to work in his laboratory:

Dear Amit Duvshani,

Thank you for contacting me, but I don't think this would work. I have a huge problem with the way that the Israelis take the moral high ground from their appalling treatment in the Holocaust, and then inflict gross human rights abuses on the Palestinians because they (the Palestinians) wish to live in their own country.

I am sure that you are perfectly nice at a personal level, but no way would I take on somebody who had served in the Israeli army. As you may be aware, I am not the only UK scientist with these views but I'm sure you will find another suitable lab if you look around.

Yours sincerely,
Andrew Wilkie

I first read about it on Yobbo's blog and immediately felt my blood pressure rising. I have since penned the following email to Wilkie:

Dear Mr Wilkie,

I read your e-mail response to Amit Duvshani, rejecting his request to work in your laboratory. I have also read your apologies after complaints were made against you. But to paraphrase you "I don't think this will work".

I could bombard you with facts about the conflict in this part of the world, such as the Arab states' initiation of all wars against Israel, Israel's capturing of land in self-defence, and the palestinians documented admissions of using the "land for peace" formula as a trojan horse trap. I could also bombard you with facts about Israel, its democratic nature and its treatment of all law abiding citizens. But reading your hate-filled e-mail, I can only conclude that the facts would only stand in the way of your deep-seated prejudice.

You see, Mr Wilkie, I do not believe you for a second when you claim you are not anti-Semitic, just like I don't believe anyone who claims they are only anti-Zionist. You write of Israeli inflicting "... gross human rights abuses on the Palestinians because they (the Palestinians) wish to live in their own country." Yet you don't seem to recognize the Jews right to live in their own country free of human rights abuses such as suicide bombings and shootings. Or perhaps you views these as legitimate acts?

Even if Israel was committing human rights violations as you claim, which is something I strongly contest, why do you single out Israeli's? Do you also reject students affiliated with Hamas? How about students from North Korea and Iran?

I think it is quite telling that you mention the Jews "appalling treatment in the holocaust." By treating Mr Duvshani in the manner in which you did, by demonizing Israel and by denying her the right to defend herself, you have clearly not learned anything from this dark episode in history, except perhaps the utility of mentioning it to make offensive parallels with the current conflict.

Mr Wilkie, I hope you take time to contemplate the amount of distress caused by your conduct.

I doubt he will respond to me, but that is not the point. I hope he is flooded with similar emails (his email address is awilkie@worf.molbiol.ox.ac.uk). This guy is a disgrace and I genuinely hope he is fired from his position.

NICE GUYS DON'T ALWAYS FINISH LAST

A moment of on-field sportsmanship from Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist has led to him being signed up to play a role in the corporate world.

Gilchrist has joined foreign exchange company Travelex as a non-executive director.

The company already sponsors Gilchrist but says it chose him after his decision to walk in the World Cup semifinal despite being given not out.

Company chairman Lloyd Dorfman says Gilchrist has showed strong ethics in a high-pressure situation.

"Here you've got a guy who is prepared to walk himself out in the critical moment in the semifinal of a World Cup tournament, and in terms of integrity I don't think you can do much better than that." (Taken from OurBrisbane.com)

Go figure....being a nice guy actually helping you climb the corporate chain. Next thing you know, politicians will be telling the truth. At any rate, way to go Gillie!

I wonder if Lleyton Hewitt will be getting any similiar offers. Apparently not, unless companies are looking to hire the 'dumbest ever' people.

STICKS AND STONES WILL BREAK MY BONES

The media generally loves to portray the middle east conflict as a battle between David (the palestinians) and Goliath (Israel). The image of the stone-throwing palestinian teenager juxtoposed against the soldier has become the weapon of choice for the left-wing media. After all, what chance does a stone throwing kid have against an M-16?

One fallacy is that having big rocks thrown at your head is not liable to cause any severe damage. Try telling that to a friend of ours whose life has been irrevocably affected by such an occurrence.

Another fallacy is that the palestinian teenagers only ever throw rocks. Those of us who actually live here and either serve in the army or have family and friends serving, know that these kids are involved in far more malignant activities.

In many cases, their rock-throwing exploits occur in tandem with the firing of real weapons. The idea is to cause our soldiers to think twice about firing back. When they do, you can be sure the media bloodhounds are there in force to capture the next day's front page picture.

In other cases, these teens are actually directly causing much death and destruction, whether it be by firing guns or by attaching explosives to themselves and attempting to lose their virginity to 72 fellow virgins in the Islamic version of heaven. Just today, a telephone company worker was shot and killed by a 15 year old palestinian boy.

The point here is not to say that all palestinian teens are involved in these activities, but rather to expose the palestinian's, and indeed the media's, cynical use of these children to inflict damage to Israel's standing in the world and, even more importantly, to the lives our civilians and soldiers.

"TOUGH CROWD"

I just read this article from The Sydney Morning Herald:

Man killed for singing Sinatra off-key

A 25-year-old Filipino man has been stabbed dead for singing a Frank Sinatra classic out of tune during a birthday party.

Police officer Noel Albis said the victim, Casimiro Lagugad, was asked to sing Sinatra's popular song My Way during the party in the Manila suburban city of Caloocan on Sunday.

"Witnesses said the suspect, Julio Tugas, 48, one of the guests and a neighbour of the victim, got irked because Lagugad was singing out of tune," Officer Albis said.

"Tugas suddenly attacked the victim and stabbed him in the neck," he added.

Guests rushed Mr Lagugad to the hospital, but he died while being treated.

In my opinion, singing in tune is no easy task. If the assailant felt he could sing the song better, perhaps he should have taken a stab at it.

SUICIDE MISSION

I know I talk alot about suicide bombers. But check this out for a suicide mission (taken from The Age, June 23 2003):

In an unscheduled preliminary to the world heavyweight championship fight in Los Angeles, three spurned autograph seekers took on Mike Tyson in a Brooklyn hotel lobby early on Saturday. Big mistake - everybody lost.

Police said the former heavyweight champ was standing in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel at 5.30am, waiting with his sister for a ride to a local airport to catch a connecting flight to the Lennox Lewis-Vitali Klitschko title fight in Los Angeles.

Just then, two men and a woman returned to the hotel, drunk, after a night on the town, a police official said.

When they asked the former champion for his autograph, Tyson refused and took an escalator up one level, sources said. The three followed.

"There is a verbal exchange," said the official. "One of the males (later identified as Samuel Velez, 22, 162 centimetres, 111 kilograms) makes overtures that he has a gun. Tyson knocks him out.

"The other male (identified as Nestor Alvarez-Ramos, 24, 172 cm, 72 kg) picks up an object from the hotel lobby (a stanchion that holds a velvet rope) and swings it at Tyson. He misses.

"A melee ensues. The woman (identified as Thamara Ocasio, 27, the wife of Velez) jumps in," the official said.

No boxing match.

In an instant, the 36-year-old champ (182 cm, 104 kg) and the two men are rolling around on the floor of the hotel lobby, flailing away at one another.

BELGIUM B.S AND BOYCOTTS

What is the deal with Belgium??

Firstly, they have taken it upon themselves to mete out "justice" on behalf of the world, by enacting a war crimes law whereby foreigners can be tried no matter where alleged crimes are committed. The law has attracted a score of lawsuits accusing world leaders of all sorts of abuses, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (over his role in the killings of palestinians in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982), U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (over "war crimes" in the war in Iraq).

Then we see that they are involved in trying to boycott Israeli-made fruits, as evidenced by this lovely little poster that made its way into my email inbox.

This is the same Belgium that was involved in some of the worst atrocities of the last century in the Congo. Their hypocrisy has reached France-like proportions.

I feel a retalitory boycott coming on..

UPDATE 13/07/2003: Belgium scraps the war crimes law

TO TRUCE OR NOT TO TRUCE

Many segments of the media decried the fact that Israel attempted a hit on Hamas leader Rantisi's life at a time when the palestinian authority was said to be attempting to secure a truce from Hamas. Israel has repeatedly come out against a truce, saying that anything short of the full dismantling of terror groups is insufficient. Is Israel being inflexible? I think the answer lies in the definition of truce....to Hamas. Perhaps Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Yasin can answer this one....

"It is impermissible for Muslims to stop jihad as long as an Islamic territory is occupied, only in [ie except for] cases of truce with the enemy and until a sufficient force for liberation is gathered." (Hamas leader Sheikh Yasin, in an interview in al- Muharrir (Paris), published 26 December, 1994)

"Reconciliation with the Jews is a crime ... If reconciliation means a truce and a cessation of fighting for a specified period of time, Islam allows the imam [leader] of the Muslims to undertake such a reconciliation if he believes that the enemy is strong and the Muslims are weak and need time to prepare and buildup. I single out Palestine in particular, because it is a land of holy places and an Islamic religious endowment (waqf) that cannot be conceded by any ruler, president or king. Nor may any generation concede it, because it is the property of all generations of Muslims until the Day of Judgement.
As for the permitted duration of the truce, many Islamic jurists are of the opinion that it must not exceed 10 years."(Sheikh Yasin interview in Filastin al-Muslimah (London), March 1995)

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING A LITTLE LIGHTER...

Here are some great one-liners from Steven Wright, a very funny guy indeed:

I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Borrow money from pessimists - they don't expect it back.
Half the people you know are below average.
99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my hand.
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met.
OK, so what's the speed of dark?
How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?
If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.
Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
I intend to live forever - so far, so good.
What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."

FUZZY LOGIC

These excerpts taken from Islam - The Modern Religion:

"Both Jews and Christians believe in that part of the Bible which Christians call the Old Testament. The Old Testament contains references to the prophet Muhammad, on whom be peace and blessings. That Book declared him to be a true prophet...."

Nowhere does it say that Muhammad is a true prophet. He is not even mentioned in the Old Testament.

"..So it is necessary for the Jew and Christian to believe that Islam is true.You therefore do not need to argue over the details of Islam with a Jew or Christian."

Well, I guess if you have such great proof, then why bother debating?

"..If he thinks Islam is wrong on any point he has to answer for himself why his Bible recommends Muhammad if he taught a false religion. If he wants to reject the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) then he has to also reject his Bible. But then if he rejects his Bible he is no longer a Jew or a Christian and you have won the debate."

Hmmm.....

"Now what remains is for us to specify where in the Bible to find mention of our prophet. In the Old Testament there are many references. The most significant is Song of Solomon, chapter 5, verse 16. This verse mentions our prophet by name. It says in the Hebrew language Bibles "He is Muhammad." But English translation have "He is altogether lovely" instead of the real truth. You need to insist that, since it says our prophet's name in the Hebrew, the "altogether lovely" translation is nothing more than a camouflage hiding our prophet's name. Tell every Bible reader whether Jew or Christian to ask any Hebrew scholar to read the Hebrew word which appears as "altogether lovely" in the translation. You will hear that word pronounced "Muhammad." Why then hide what you should believe? "

That is your "most significant" proof? Sounds like a strong case. Except for the fact that "Song of Solomon" is not part of the Old Testament. It is part of what us Jews call the Tanach, but is not part of the 5 books of Moses (the written Torah). The Tanach contains words of the Jewish prophets after the events of the Old Testament. While we believe that the Torah was written by G-d (through the agency of Moses), the same does not apply to the Tanach.

In any event, read the Song of Solomon (or as we call it, the "Song of Songs"). It is a love poem that was written by King Solomon as a metaphor for G-d's great love for the Jewish people. So it seems odd that all of a sudden Muhammad would be mentioned. "he is altogether lovely" fits the context, despite also fitting the actual meaning of the Hebrew word!

And perhaps the fuzziest of them all.....

"If all this seems too easy it is just because the truth is on your side."

COMPLICIT IN TERROR

Israeli radio reports today that senior Palestinian cabinet minister Mohammed Dahlan has reportedly demanded that as part of a future cease-fire accord, Israel free Marwan Barghouti, currently on trial for murder, and pardon a number of senior Palestinian officials, including Tawfik Tarawi and Rashid Abu Shbak, currently on Israel's lists of wanted fugitives.

Maybe I am missing something, but the new palestinian cabinet is supposed to FIGHT terror, not support it. But then again, look at the credentials of their "prime minister", Abu Mazen, taken from The Media Line:

"..He then continued to Moscow where he studied for his doctorate.

This doctorate, written in 1982 was entitled "The Truth about the Secret Nazi-Zionist Relations." In this essay he asserted, while quoting Holocaust deniers, that the Zionist movement collaborated with the Nazi Party, not only in order to confiscate the Jews' belongings, but also to annihilate them. Moreover, Abu Mazen claimed in the essay that the Jews inflated the number of victims in the Holocaust when stating there were six million, when in fact there were no more than one million. This, claims Abu Mazen, was done in order to win international legitimacy to build the State of Israel."

Perhaps even more disturbing than this is his alleged role in the Munich olympics massacre.

Some of you may ask "But should this man be condemned for actions/words from a long time ago?"

"On March 3rd [this year], Abu Mazen was interviewed by another London based newspaper, A-Sharq Al-Awsat. When asked of his statement regarding putting a stop to the armed struggle, he made a comment that caused anger in the Israeli media. "We didn't say we would stop the armed struggle. We said that the militarization of the Intifada should stop." He explained, "The armed struggle needs conditions and options which we don't have in Palestine. We can't compare the events in Palestine to Lebanon or Algeria. Therefore, military action under these conditions is not serious. This is why we said that there is no option but to stop it for a year [this was the subject of discussions in January at the Palestinian faction talks in Cairo] and it won't be perceived as caving in on our side. The conditions are still insufficient."

When pressed, Abu Mazen added, "It is our right to protest. The intifada must continue and it is the right of the Palestinian people to stage an uprising and use every means possible to defend its existence."

Needless to say, I am somewhat apprehensive about trusting these guys to fight terror.

(SELF-HATING) JEWS FOR A JUST PEACE?

I have just started hearing about an organization called "Jews for a Just Peace". While I do not know too much about them, their letters to the editor in some Australian newspapers are indicative of what they stand for...palestinian rights and moral equivalency between Israel's responses to terrorism and the terrorism itself. Take the following letter written to the Age newspaper today:

Keep talking

Jews for a Just Peace vigorously condemns last week's hideous and depressingly ongoing carnage in Jerusalem - the suicide bombings by Hamas against Israeli civilians in response to the "accidental" slaughter of Palestinian civilians by Israeli helicopter gunships in the hunt for Hamas militants in Gaza.

These murders make it clear that there are those in this conflict who prefer the slaughter to the peace. Despite this, we urge prime ministers Abbas and Sharon to re-energise their commitment to negotiations - even (and especially) amid the spiralling death toll.

A recent poll in the mass-circulation Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot indicated that two out of every three Israelis accept the assertion that "the occupation is bad for Israel". It is time Mr Sharon started listening to the wishes of his people.
Barry Carr and Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo,
Jews for a Just Peace,
St Kilda

Notice how they punctuate "accidental" before the word slaughter and refer to the terror AND the response as murders. Furthermore, they take for granted a chain of causation between the Israeli strike to kill terror leader Rantisi and the Hamas homicide bombing, even though these homicide bombings have been going on constantly for over two years. In fact, they don't expressly mention the assassination attempt on a terror leader but rather stress the "slaughter of Palestinian civilians by Israeli helicopter gunships in the hunt for Hamas militants". Yes...that dreaded word "militants", which somehow gives justification for atrocities, unlike the word "terrorists".

Why do Barry Carr and Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo make a point about being Jews? If they are truly comfortable in being Jewish, why do they make such a point of siding with the palestinians? If they are truly for a "just peace", why aren't they as vigorous in their condemnation of palestinian terrorism as they are of Israeli military operations? To me, this reeks of self hatred.

The irony is that these two twits are potential islamic terror targets, just as I am, for the sole reason of being Jewish. Even if they do hate it.

THE TRUTH ABOUT ISLAM AND ANTI-SEMITISM

Check out this link:

http://www.conceptwizard.com/pipeline_of_hatred.html

WHY I WISH ISRAEL HAD KILLED RANTISI



Yesterday's attempted assassination of Hamas leader Rantisi was only regrettable from the point of view that he escaped and still lives.
This is a man who coordinates terror operations against innocent men, women and children. To those who say "but he is only resisting the occupation of lands captured in the six day war", I would respond by providing a few excerpts from the Hamas covenant. You decide whether Hamas only wants Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders.

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it" (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory)."

"Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious. It needs all sincere efforts. It is a step that inevitably should be followed by other steps. The Movement is but one squadron that should be supported by more and more squadrons from this vast Arab and Islamic world, until the enemy is vanquished and Allah's victory is realised."

"The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine."

"The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."

"Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement"

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."

"The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.."

JUST IN CASE YOU THOUGHT THE ROAD MAP WAS GOING TO WORK OUT...

This just in from the associated press:

The Palestinian prime minister said Monday he will not use force against militant groups under any circumstances, despite their stated determination to derail a U.S.-backed peace plan with attacks on Israelis, including two weekend shootings that killed five soldiers.

The prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, also defended himself against complaints at home that he has been too conciliatory to Israel, including in a speech at a Mideast summit last week, and that Israel has given little in return.

Abbas said he has coordinated every move with Yasser Arafat - a barb at the veteran leader who said in public last week that the summit yielded no achievements.

Observations:
1. It is good to see that by giving up more land and security we will receive in return......nothing.
2. It is good to see that Arafat is irrelevant now that there is a new palestinian prime minister.

RICHARD GERE, STICK TO ACTING

Some Hollywood actors mistake their acting talents for insight into complex political situations. Take one Richard Gere, who thinks that playing King David on screen means that he should get involved in the middle east conflict.

Mr Gere recently visited Israel and met up with various Israeli and palestinian politicians and dignitaries, ostensible to advance the cause of peace. I say ostensibly, because I suspect that his sympathies lie with the palestinians. Take the following excerpt from an article in the Baltimore Jewish Times:

"All the people here are involved in action for peace between Jews and Arabs in Israel," Ms. Tamir [Israel's former absorption minister, Yuli Tamir] told Gere, "but we are also working hard on dialogues with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza."

For a moment, Mr. Gere threw Ms. Tamir off balance when he asked whether she trusted Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's commitment to peace.

And of course there is his warm pose with Hanan Ashrawi, that almost made me bring up today's breakfast.

You would think that if he was truly a humanitarian, he could have visited some terror victims and come out strongly against the massacring of innocent Israeli civilians. But instead, he is another in a long list of celebrities who may have plenty of money in the bank, but is morally bankrupt.