Behind the Lines: Israeli Libertarian

Daniel Danon Hates Guns and Freedom

2009-07-31T04:14:00.002+03:00

As of now, MK Daniel Danon is sponsoring a bill to ban everybody aged under 21 from owning guns and everybody under 16 from entering public ranges. On his site, he writes: "Today, even 4-year-olds can enter public ranges for "fun days" or other activities. This bill will stop this."

This is of course scaremongering of the most blatant kind - obviously it is meant to conjure up an image of four-year-olds running around with guns. This is of course not goes on at public ranges in ISrael or anywhere. It is true that young children can shoot at ranges since an early age in Israel - but, like in other countries, they do so under the safe supervision of adults.

I have written MK Danon a letter [reproduced below]. Those of you wishing to write him a letter can do so at ddanon@knesset.gov.il.

Dear MK Danon!

I have recently become informed that you have sponsored a bill that limits the age at which a person can receive a firearms license (under your proposal, a young citizen can not receive a firearms license until they are 21 years old, and no person younger than 16 years old can attend a public range and shoot there for training). As a Likud voter and a citizen of Israel, I am extremely concerned about this bill, for several reasons:

1.The bill discriminates against women. While it is true that men in Israel complete mandatory service by 21, a woman will have completed her service by the age of 20, and yet entirely unable to carry a weapon in self-defense for one more year. Considering hundreds of women in Israel are assaulted – sexually or otherwise – every year, this is a serious concern.

2.Citizens in Israel can obtain a license for a car – typically a far more dangerous contraption than a firearm – at the age of 18 and even earlier. A car can be the cause of a lethal accident even if the driver does everything right, whereas lethal accidents with firearms are nearly impossible unless safety rules are broken. Yet for some reason you wish to deny mature citizens of Israel, people who are old enough to serve the country in war and vote for your party, the means of self-defense. Do you genuinely believe that an Orthodox-Jewish woman or an Arab-ISraeli man aged 18 should not be able to defend themselves or to participate in the shooting sports?

3.Finally, and most prominently, I am concerned that your bill seeks to deny access to public ranges to young boys and girls aged below the age of 16. Nobody, of course , favors four-year-olds running around with lethal weapons, unsupervised – but this is not what this is about. At shooting ranges in Israel, all shooters are observed at all times by instructors, and young children come to shoot with their parents. Anybody who can observe the basic rules of gun safety (which consists of treating all guns as if they were loaded, keeping one's finger off the trigger unless one intends to fire the gun, and not shooting anything one doesn't intend to destroy, as well as being aware of the nature of one's target) can safely shoot at a range. These rules are simple and even a ten-year-old can easily master them.

Nor is the notion of young children participating in the shooting sports so unacceptable. Many experts believe that introducting young children to the shooting sports early not only imparts useful skills that could then be applied in the young man's future military service, sports career, or individual sefl-defense, but also improves various mental and physical faculties – individual responsibility one one hand and hand-eye coordination on the other. Obviously, like all other sports, shooting sports are healthy and good for our children – in the United States and Europe, there are even youth teams that compete in these sports, at early school ages. As for hunting, abroad that often invovles participants as young as nine years old (obviously, operating with adult supervision), using shotguns or rifles.

Given these facts, it makes little sense to further restrict and discourage people who seek to legally own firearms in Israel, especially given the dysmal shape of our Olympic shooting teams and the security situation in this country. As a member of the Likud Party, the notion of further reducing the ability of Israel's citizens to defend their homes and country from terrorism and crime should be especially disturbing to you.

I would like to conclude my letter by pointing out that while I have voted for your party in the last election, your actions on this bill will impact my decision regarding whether I vote for it in the next election.

Sincerely yours,
Boris Karpa,
Teudat-Zehut [number omitted]

Dromi is Acquitted!

2009-07-15T16:48:00.002+03:00

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3746822,00.html

The Beersheba District Court on Wednesday decided by a majority vote to acquit southern farmer Shai Dromi of manslaughter beyond a reasonable doubt. However, the court did convict him of weapon offenses.

Here are my thoughts [which have also been reposted on the Daily Capitalist site]

1.This is very remininscent of the Boernie Goetz case in America, where a man was convicted of firearms charges because the prosecutor could not get him on the manslaughter charge due to self-defense claims. Let me remind Western Readers - Israeli courts are not required to convict people even if they're guilty under the facts. One doubts why they did it in this case.

2.The judge in Israel is not bound to convict every criminal who is technically guilty. The judges here decided to convict Shai Dromi on a 'firearms charge' in relation to a .22LR rifle. These are not designed as weapons (though of course, as the case proved, one can technically kill with them). These are designed as sporting weapons, and in Europe they're often sold without licenses (note I am deliberately avoiding discussion of the US policy). I think it was petty to convict for possession under the circum

3.I realize that adoption of US-like firearms laws is currently not a possibility in Israel, but I think this is proof should relax them, if even slightly. Under the current laws, most citizens of Israel cannot own weapons at all:
http://server103.http.co.il/~hamitvac/files/wordocs/tavchinim.pdf

Perhaps it would be best to except some types of weapons from the licensing requirements, or at least make it easy to purchase one. Specifically, rifles and shotguns are classic home defense weapons and they cannot really be comfortably carried or used by criminals (in the US, the gun-ownership utopia/dystopia, rifle murders constitute about 3% of total murders, even though dozens of millions of people have them). Such a limited reform would allow men like Dromi to defend themselves.

Netanyahu's New Governmeent - Questions

2009-04-12T22:47:00.005+03:00

On this blog, I sometimes post articles I don't quite agree with. This is one from Daniel Doron, the founder of ISCEP. My comments about the article are shown below, in bold. For full disclosure - I voted for Likud.

Big government? Yes, but there's a reason

Apr. 11, 2009
DANIEL DORON , THE JERUSALEM POST

Is Binyamin Netanyahu's government too big? Yes. Is that good? No. So why would Netanyahu, an experienced politician, create such an unwieldy beast? He and his government face two historic challenges: an economic crisis that has yet to fully unfold, and a nuclear threat from Iran.

How big is this crisis? We do not know. World-class economists had disagreed about how long it is going to be, what are its causes, and whether it is a crisis at all. Many say it'll be over by the end of this year. Similarly, we are not certain that Iran is such a huge crisis at all. It's not certain that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, it's not certain it's capable of having them, it's not certain that they plan to use them on us.

We all want a government that can face these challenges. Could Netanyahu's critics suggest a better alternative to the coalition he managed to form, considering the sanctimonious refusal by Kadima to join a wider coalition?

No, I cannot suggest a better alternative. But that does not make Netanyahu beyond criticism. We must continue to criticize all parties when they deserve it, to improve Israel's political climate to the point a truly free society is possible and feasible.

Netanyahu would probably prefer a more compact government. No one has suffered more from coalititis - the disease afflicting our body politics - than he. When previously prime minister, he had to devote most of his time to political survival, fending off his many adversaries from the Left and Right. They so exhausted him that he was unable to carry out most of the excellent reforms he had planned.

So he sacrificed ideas and decency for political purposes. Thank you for making this clear.

As finance minister, Netanyahu proved exceptionally able to push through crucial reforms when given a chance. When he enjoyed the backing of prime minister Ariel Sharon, Netanyahu exhibited not only an ability to frame and execute major reforms, but also a willingness - so rare among politicians - to pay a heavy political price to get them enacted. He succeeded in saving the country from an Argentina-like collapse, and in transforming 20 years of no growth and deep recession into five years of spectacular growth. But he paid for his boldness and determination by losing an election.

SO YES, Netanyahu's first task was to establish a (relatively) stable government that will allow him to handle the challenges facing the country with a modicum of a national consensus. This required as big and as varied a coalition as he could get. In politics, especially in our politics, there is no free lunch, so Netanyahu had to pay with a large and costly government. However, should Netanyahu - as he probably intends - manage to use this wide coalition to push through even some of the reforms he spoke about, especially in land use and education, the savings from these reforms, the bureaucratic waste they will cut and the efficiency they will generate will pay in spades for the additional costs of his big government.

So what some condemn as wastefulness may turn out to be a wise investment in facilitating basic reforms that have enormous potential returns.

IF YOU WANT to appreciate how intense is the personal and ideological animus that certain critics in politics, but especially in the media, have toward Netanyahu precisely because he is not part the cabal that dominates both our politics and our economy, precisely because his reforms are the only real challenge to the corrupt system of spoils that enrich them - just examine the maelstrom of criticism that greeted his appointment of Yuval Steinitz as finance minister.

True, it may have been better had Netanyahu found an accomplished economist to serve as finance minister. But a good finance minister needs qualities even more rare than a knowledge of economics (which Steinitz, a very capable man, can acquire in a reasonable time). Steinitz certainly has integrity, a keen intelligence, a good temper, a knack for teamwork and loyalty to his mentor, Netanyahu. Above all, in contrast to almost any economically savvy candidate for the job, and certainly any candidate with former economic or business experience, the very fact that Steinitz does not come from such a background may prove a refreshing guarantee that he is neither tainted by nor beholden to any of the vested interests that dominate the economy.

I invite our readers to list those they consider qualified and experienced candidates for finance minister, and to find one who would not come loaded with baggage and representing vested interests. A clean slate can have immense advantages.

Two word: Omer Moav.

MOREOVER, UNTIL he learns the ropes Steinitz will be helped by a prime minister who, unlike most politicians, has an excellent understanding of economics, and of how vital a healthy economy is for the survival of a country. Netanyahu also knows what must be done to assure that the economy gets well.

Steinitz will also be helped by an excellent professional team, the "treasury boys" as the enemies of reform often refer to them. Last, but certainly not least, he will enjoy the advice and backing of our exceptional Bank of Israel governor, Stanley Fischer, a top-notch economist of international fame. Steinitz will not be facing the crisis alone.

Yes, it would be great if circumstances had allowed Netanyahu to form a smaller, more efficient government based on a stronger Likud. But under the circumstances, he should be congratulated for his determination and skill in forming a government that may yet do great things, especially in economic reform.

This is the main question that I would like to ask Mr. Doron. What is this 'reform' that we're talking about? We already understand that Netanyahu's economic platform as expressed before the elections will not be implemented.

We already realize Mr. Netanyahu is not a principled free marketeer in the vein of Paul Broun, Ron Paul, or even Reagan or Thatcher. So what is this reform so precious and wonderful that we must all not just rally behind Bibi but defend him from all criticism?

The Man Speaks

2009-01-06T16:07:00.001+02:00

Uncomfortably Close

2009-01-05T16:40:00.001+02:00

So I was coming home from college today and saw my entire street blocked off – police, firefighters, Army troops, the works. Naturally, I assumed that a rocket fell on my street and asked one of the soldiers where it hit – and was told it hit a 'kindergarten', with the guy pointing in the vague direction of my house. Nobody was injured, he said.

There is a kindergarten literally in front of my house. I assumed immediately this was the one hit and started making my way past the cops, spectators, and TV crews, while frenziedly calling all the house phones, trying to get to my father – I realized he wasn't directly injured, but I feared he might have had heart problems due to the events.

By the time I got closer to the end of the street Mom reached Dad's spare cell and it turned out he had slept right through the whole thing – and the rocket hit a different kindergarten a block away. It was empty – all of them are – so there were only ten people in psychological shock.

Israel's President speaks

2009-01-05T09:25:00.001+02:00

Yesterday, we saw our soldiers with their heavy bags, carrying on their backs not just their gear, but the entire history of our people. We saw the commanders, with their night vision binoculars, looking forward, towards the future.

We are not a people who desires war. We are not an aggressive people. We do not aim to destroy the Arabs, but to bring peace. We say that the government was in grave doubt about this decision – it was because they feared doing an injustice. It is very important enough that the cause of our war be just.

Even today the government maintains a moderate tongue. We do not wish to destroy Gaza or even destroy Hamas. We only want the terror to end. When I look at the children of the Palestinians, my heart bleeds. They are being used as weapons, and we have no desire to hurt them or any other innocents. I am proud of the soldiers and commanders who have planned this operation. Operation Cast Lead is a justified and just action, aimed at hurting the Hamas, improving the Army's capacity for deterrence and achieving a long-term stable situation in Gaza and the surrounding area.

Some say that our reaction is disproportional. I ask: what is proportional? Should we only stop part of the rockets? The proper balance is between avoiding harm to innocents and making sure that the extremist maniacs realize that they have no chance, and ensuring they pay a heavy price for their actions.

We can't know how long the operation will go on. Nothing in life is perfect, and nothing is final. We are a small, democratic, fair and peaceloving nation. We feel this war is necessary and just. If we win it, then peace shall be our victory.

Shimon Peres, President of Israel, talking to schoolchildren in the South of Israel

My thoughts:

1. It seems to me that he's not really addressing the schoolkids, he's addressing the media present.
2. It also seems that he is already preparing the public for the idea that the Army will probably start short of ending the rocket fire completely. That is.... words cannot express my feeling regarding how pathetic this is. But that said, Peres is a Kadima member. Fail is their profession.
3. As this progresses, I am getting more and more the feeling that Israel will quit on this before getting a real achievement, and go home, probably because of international pressure. Hamas will declare victory.
4. The above is an optimist prediction. The pessimist prediction is that Hamas does something 'successful' – kidnaps another soldier, blows up an APC full of troops, or maybe hits a schoolbus with their rockets, and THEN Israel will leave. This will essentially be a Hamas victory, no matter what casualties we inflict on them. It'll be like the Tet Offensive, reproduced on a miniature, retarded Middle-Eastern Scale.

In the meanwhile, in America

2008-08-01T15:30:00.000+03:00

Ayn Rand/Nathaniel Branden

2008-07-18T19:09:00.000+03:00

To My American Readers - Thank You All

2008-07-04T11:35:00.000+03:00

I make it a personal habit to congratulate my American correspondents, and people on forums I frequent, on the 4th of July. Usually, I try to find something important to say to them, but this year, I'm flat out. Maybe I'm just too cynical after some of the recent events, but I don't have anything to say outside of the obvious:

What happened in 1776 was not just important for Americans. It was an event that shook the world – because it proved that the idea of freedom isn't just yet another utopia. That freedom can work. That freedom is an option.

The tyrants can take over the world, and they can make us all slaves. But they cannot change the past. The very fact that at one point in the past, men risked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to declare liberty, and then maintained this liberty for generations, is a blow to tyrannies of all kinds. And they know it. Men like Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams are dangerous to them, even two centuries later.

The message of Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams is uniquely American – but it is also eternal. It reminds us overseas – it reminds all people in the world – that no matter what injustice we are subjected to, we are all, ultimately, free. We deserve to be free. We are no worms, crawling under the throne of some king or almighty leader, we are human beings, with human dignity and freedom inherent to our very nature. That is the message of America.

America is the land of endless opportunity – because America is the land of freedom.

America is the land of limitless wealth – because America is the land of freedom.

America is the land of almost unstoppable military might – because America is the land of freedom.

Never has this power, or this wealth, been America's share because it has some special resources, or minerals, or because its people have the right diet. Forever has America's message been: “Do what we do, accept our message of freedom, and you will be wealthy and powerful and happy, just like us.”

America's message is one that America can share with the world – freely – and does share, freely, without losing her wealth, or its power. Because freedom is not hoarded, nor is it rationed.

The message of freedom is universal. That message, above all else, is America's gift to the world.

Thank you, America.

Because They're That Awesome.

2008-07-03T10:23:00.000+03:00

Regarding the terrorist incident

2008-07-03T09:52:00.000+03:00

Police said the incident was definitely terrorism, emphasizing that the perpetrator, Jabr Duwait, a 32-year-old father of two from East Jerusalem, was carrying an Israeli identity card.[4] He was being hired by a local construction firm for the Jerusalem Light Rail.

From Comrade Wiki, of course.

Previously it was said that one of the policemen involved was wounded by gunfire. This appears, as of now, not to be true.

At least 4 killed, 36 hurt in J'lem bulldozer terror attack

2008-07-02T13:05:00.000+03:00

From the Jerusalem Post

At least 4 killed, 36 hurt in J'lem bulldozer terror attack
Jul. 2, 2008
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

At least four people were killed and 36 were wounded - two seriously, four moderately and 30 lightly - on Wednesday afternoon when a bulldozer driver went on a rampage in downtown Jerusalem.

Police said that the driver plowed his vehicle into two public buses, toppling them over, and slammed into several cars.

The driver was shot dead by an elite policeman, police said, adding that the incident was a terror attack. Police emphasized that the terrorist was carrying an Israeli identity card and was a resident of east Jerusalem.

Witnesses said the driver was killed after a brief struggle with two policemen.

One of the elite policeman was lightly wounded, apprently by gunfire, indicating that the terrorist was armed.

The attack, on the junction of Jaffa and Sha'arie Yisreal streets, set off a panic in the area. Dozens of people ran through the streets to flee the scene of the attack and a car was still stuck under the bulldozer. Police said it was unclear how many people were in the trapped vehicle.

The bulldozer was apprently being used for construction work on the Jerusalem light rail project.

MicroBalrog Notes:

1. Ban guns. They'll use tractors. And illegal guns.

2. Guns are even useful against guys with tractors.

Less and less army recruits

2008-07-01T13:20:00.000+03:00

According to the department of Human Resources Planning of the IDF, only 52% of the young men will be joining the army this year.

Year after year, the percentage of people avoiding military service increases - and yet, states the Army, "this situation will not hurt national security".

I suspect it will not hurt national security because we do not need these men anyway.

The more people opt out of 'compulsory' military service, the better - because the more of them opt out, the more pressure it puts on the army to switch over to a real, voluntary military.

Via Oleg Volk

2008-06-25T15:24:00.000+03:00

Germany Jails Homeschool Parents - AGAIN

2008-06-25T14:54:00.000+03:00

On Wednesday, June 18, a district court in the German state of Hesse sentenced Jurgen and Rosemary Dudek each to three months in prison simply because they homeschool their seven children.

More here.

I see a sense of certain irony that the press release is dated June 19th - Freedom Day.

I would gloat about this as well - but this is Israel, and ISrael, just like Germany, does NOT know better about this.

If you have children, I suggest you GTFO of a country that bans homeschooling - even if you do not intend to homeschool yourself. A country that bans homeschooling is not likely to respect any kind of parental rights.

Knesset Approves Castle Doctrine

2008-06-25T09:35:00.001+03:00

Knesset approves law allowing property owners to kill intruders

By Haaretz Service

The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on Wednesday approved in second and third readings a broad version of the "Shai Dromi Bill," which absolves from criminal responsibility anyone who kills or injures an intruder in his home, business or farm.

According to the approved version, "a person shall not be held criminally responsible for an action that was necessary immediately to repel someone breaking into or entering a residence, place of business or fenced farm, with the intention of perpetrating a crime, or someone trying to break in."

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what the Israeli Libertarian calls "retarded". Sure, it's a very nice bill. I agree with it almost completely.

But let's be honest:

Practically nobody in Israel can own guns.

What good does it do to an 82-year-old grandmother (the usual target of break-ins in this country) when a 17-year-old fool gets into her house with a knife or simply a stick? Or even his bare hands?

As he slams her, head-first, into a wall, will the fact that she has a right to self-defense be of any use to her?

Those in support of citizen self-defense must recognize this for what it is: an empty, idiotic gesture.

The right to self-defense is useless without the tools of self-defense.

Plain, Senseless Thuggery

2008-06-22T11:38:00.001+03:00

"The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) released its semi-annual report Sunday, detailing evidence of abuse inflicted on Palestinian detainees while being taken into custody by Israeli soldiers.

The report, dubbed "Unlawful in reality – soldiers' abuse of Palestinian detainees," unveils a series of cases in which Palestinians who were arrested and handcuffed were abused by IDF soldiers while being detained or transported to a holding facility, to the extent that some of them needed medical attention.

The PCATI report noted 90 testimonies of abuse between 2006 and 2007, but said the actual number of cases is higher. The IDF, said the report, is doing little to nothing to stop this abuse."

The newsflash is from here.

What really freaks me out is not really the article, but the public's reaction to it. Let us head over to Ynet and see what the readers think.

Right now, none of the commenters are even bothered that the soldiers are illegally abusing people. The only commenter who thinks this is disgusting is an American poster.

The locals post niceties such as this:

"send the human right group members for a training in China

these persons have nothing to do in their lives except to denounce bad jews."

Another fellow is 'not bothered by this' becase 'it means the IDF is fighting terror (despite having an incompetent government)'.

How does this mean that the IDF is fighting terorr?

Are these people, perchance, torturing terrorists to obtain useful information (which is illegal)? Are they perhaps interrogating them?

No, this is not the case. What we're talking about here is the soldiers grabbing some guys who may or may not even be terrorists, beating them - read the article! - and then handing them over to Shabak, who may or may not torture them for informatio. That is often illegal too, but that is not the point.

If one is a great fan of overreaching, sadistical government, they may argue here that torturing people for information should be legal.

But what purpose on earth does it serve to just grab people and beat them up?

One of the founding values of the IDF was supposed to be "the dignity of Man". How does it preserve the Dignity of Man to act like this? Do you suppose the dignity of Palestinian suspects is furthered by them being beaten up like that? Do you think the dignity of the soldiers is?

Why can anybody support this? What use is this to anyone, outside of plain, senseless thuggery?

P.S. I do not, naturally, believe that the IDF deliberately issues orders for soldiers to abuse Palestinians, or anything like that. However, the fact that a lot of people are okay with this behavior, and that the army does not properly investigate it, is symptomatic of many things wrong with our society.

It's BAAACK

2008-06-22T11:33:00.000+03:00

My dear friends!

I realize, of course, that I have most likely lost all readers in the past three months that this blog has been silent, but I am back, to bring you more of my snarky, hate-filled comments regarding the future of the Israeli welfare state (short summary: it has none).

That's just insane.

2008-03-06T10:11:00.000+02:00

The Knesset passed in first reading a bill increasing the maximum penalty for the sale of firecrackers to 7 years.

Do I need to comment at all? Can there be comments on this?

IDF troops mutiny over Sofas, abandon post

2008-02-21T13:41:00.001+02:00

From Yedioth Ahronoth:

Five soldiers of the Shaked Batallion of the Givati Brigade abandoned their posts yesterday due to a conflict with their commander.

According to the IDF spokesman, the troops have abandoned the front-line outpost (later to return) due to their commanders' attempt to enforce a General Staff Order according to which no civilian furniture may be put in Army tents, in this case – several sofas.

Original Article in Hebrew

Now returning to the actual topic of the blog...

2008-02-18T11:21:00.000+02:00

Apparently, the Central Bank is considering removing Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir from the relevant money notes, and replacing them outright with politically neutral poets.

That is a great thing, in my opinion. The worship of David Ben-Gurion (Altalena disaster, anyone?), and Golda really, really needs to end.

Remember this one, conservatives?

2008-02-18T11:14:00.001+02:00

A Blast from the Past.

2008-02-18T11:13:00.001+02:00

Why National Health care will kill your freedom

2008-02-15T13:33:00.003+02:00

State-funded health care has always been the flagship project of modern-day welfare statists. Golda Meir is famous, among other things, for diverting funds from the front during her tenure as a minister in 1948, so that the Israeli state-funded health care system could be funded.

Varying arguments exist at to its effectiveness and cost – arguments from cost, life expectancy, infant mortality, and blah, blah, blah. I do not possess the intellectual and statistical tools necessary to properly discuss the effectiveness of this measure, but I will do so once I've researched the issue.

But there is something that should be really glaringly obvious.

Let us suppose that we have a state-owned health care system in place. For simplicity, suppose that this a system where people simply pay for the system from their tax money.

So here are Citizen A, Citizen B, and Citizen C. Should citizen C start smoking – and potentially, cause himself lung cancer – he will thus hike up the health care expenditures of our theoretical country, and thus jack up the health care bill of A and B. If previously, banning smoking was an issue for two or three prudes at best, now citizen A and B have a vested monetary interest in voting for a smoking ban.

When a group of people believes that they're acting for their own self-interest, they may eventually switch to another avenue of profit if the current one doesn't work as well as they expected it to. Conversely, if a group of people believes that they're acting for a higher cause, they'll often get disillusioned, tire of it, and leave. But teach people they can do both at the same time (in the way that teachers' unions persuade everybody that by whining for higher pay, they are actually 'securing the future of our children) – and you have yourself a truly relentless contingent.

Now here are Citizen A and Citizen B – they're well-persuaded that by destroying the hobbies making C's life worthwhile, they're both doing him good and improving their own paycheck. Do you imagine how miserable these two are going to make you?

Consider the United Kingdom with its variety of health-related media fads – a struggle (recently) against smoking in pubs, for compulsory 'health food' in schools, and now, using health as a justification for fingerprinting children. Because, you know, a monitored child is a healthy child. Consider in this vein Israel, with the government still struggling against alcohol consumption. Oh, and consider the War on Drugs.

How does that tie in all of a sudden, you ask?

Once you've persuaded society that it's good and proper to have A and B to pay for C's health care, then the best and most important argument against the war on drugs, against bans on the food-of-the-week, against regulations on how much fashion models may weigh – the argument that a person owns his own body – loses all weight forever. If A and B are compelled to pay for C's health expenses, it would be downright immoral for him to live a lifestyle that keeps A and B's expenses up.

Nationalized health care is the last brick in the wall encasing our freedoms. Once it's in place, it's pointless to rattle our chains and shout "For the love of God, Montressor!"

In that story that doesn't help anybody, either.

A simple advocacy of the jury system

2008-02-14T19:24:00.000+02:00

Today I discovered – after reading the student magazine at Tel-Aviv University, 'Thesis' – that 98% of trial proceedings in Israel end in a conviction. This number is not, of course, in itself meaningful So let us compare this to similar numbers in the US, or – even better – the Russian Federaion. Approximately 20% of US trials, and 18% of Russian trials end in an acquittal – or, in other terms, about ten times as many, in relative, not absolute numbers, as in the Israeli justice system.

Something is clearly wrong here. Naturally, the fact Israel allows the prosecution to appeal the case increases the power of the government. Under Russian law, the judge in an appeals court is prohibited to render a decision that would worsen the situation of the defendant or convict. He can, at worst, render a previous judgement stand, but never make it worse for you. In America, if the jury finds you not guilty, it's over – but not so in Israel.

Worse, Israel's system doesn't have juries at all – it has judges, and that's it. Judges who are not appointed by elected officials or elected directly – in fact, none of the judges in Israel are elected directly – but instead, appointed by a committee where most of the members are judges or members of the attorneys' association. As result, they copy the governing prejudices of a single narrow caste, and apply them to their practice with varying degree of subtley.

That, of course, is the very monstrosity that a jury system is designed to prevent.

Contemplate, in comparison, the American jury in the way it is supposed to function. You have twelve people, selected at random. Then, unlike an Israeli court, where a vote of 2-1 judges is enough to convict a man on the facts of the case, the unanimous agreement of all 12 jurors is necessary to acquit.

Naturally speaking, should there be the suspicion that the jury convicted you due to their long-standing hatred of blacks, Jews, bald people, you will be allowed to appeal. But the converse is not true. The jury can vote to acquit you, and should they do so, it is almost impossible that their decision will be reversed.

Naturally, this leads to a certain amount of people being released who shouldn't be – somewhere on the Internet, a particularly trigger-happy reader is already typing the name 'O.J.Simpson', but of course, that's the whole damn point of juries.

Naturally, juries rarely to acquit people who are blatantly and obviously evil murderers – though it sometimes happens (see O.J. Simpson again). Had they been known to often make such mistakes, humanity would have long since abandoned the trial by jury.

When American judges are polled on their opinion on their cases in a variety of research, they usually state they would have made the same decision as the jurors – except as, as I said, in a variety of borderline situations where the scales could conceivably tip both ways.

It is exactly in such situations that the jury – with it's lack of elite-dictated prejudices, and, most importantly, with its tendency to acquit – is going to come in useful.

Sure, maybe a few more guilty people will be set free. It's still better than having innocent people imprisoned.

And rember: It's better to set two dozen guilty men free than to imprison one innocent.

Castle Doctrine Yay!

2008-02-13T17:52:00.001+02:00

Israel's Castle Doctrine law, sponsored by a Likud MK, passed the first reading in the Knesset today 119-1.

We will soon be able to shoot intruders in our homes.

At least those happy 2% that have guns.

A Letter to A Republican Friend

2008-02-12T16:23:00.000+02:00

You know, I was never one of these starry-eyed people who thought that Ron Paul was bound to win, no matter what. I believe Ron Paul could win, if nothing went disastrously wrong. And I still say it – he could have won, damn it.

Ron Paul was not a RINO, like some other candidates. He was at that precarious edge where conservatism and libertarianism meet – you can call him a conservative or a libertarian and be equally right.

You and I are not really different in our views. We both want the income tax gone, we want the government reduced in size and in power, we want the Constitution, we want our freedom. And you know, Ron Paul would have helped us both a whole damn lot. Oh, sure, he wouldn't repeal all the steaming piles of New Deal crap- sorry, regulations and taxes – in one day. Nobody can. But he'd have cut a thick, quivering, slice right out of Shelob's belly and you know it, too. And even had he not won, we'd have given them a good fight – you and I, together.

Do you imagine it, now? Imagine the Presidential debate, Ron Paul versus Hillary Clinton, Hillary trotting out the same old statist solutions – "ban guns, raise taxes, destroy private enterprise" – and Ron Paul arguing, not for a different statist solution – "regulate guns, raise taxes" – but for something actually different. Imagine an actual stand-up fight between Hillary – the very embodiment of everything wrong with the American Left – and Ron Paul. It would have been the Battle of Yavin all over again. Even if we didn't win, we'd create a real alternative for them. There'd be a fight, a real fight for freedom.

And yet we're not getting that fight. Instead, the GOP will run McCain or someone very like him. You know what that means? Either Hillary wins – and that's not going to be nice in any shape or meaning of the word – or McCain wins. Which is even worse.

Any economist will tell you that people repeat activities which benefit them. Any zoologist will tell you that even an octopus can be taught to repeat an activity that benefits it. Operating on the tenuous assumption that the GOP leadership posesses at least the IQ of a piece of invertebrate seafood, if they can win by running a McCain for office, that this is what they'll do. Again and again.

McCain is indistinguishable from a Democrat in any of his major positions, except, of course, his desire to bomb stuff abroad (which many Democrats hold to as well). Elect him, run a guy like him for office in 2016, and you will destroy American conservatism. There will be a political spectrum not unlike the one in Europe – Welfare-State Party R and Welfare-State Party D.

And unfortunately, I have a very personal reason to care, even though I am not an American at all. You see, what happens in America reflects on the world entire. When Reagan cut taxes and deregulated business, his example was followed in dozens of countries. America doesn't have to invade countries to lead the world – it leads by example, too, whether it wants to or not. And now you are all set to give the world a terrible example.

Should the mantle of the Welfare-State descend upon America completely – as it seems to be about to – there will be no visible alternative. If America adopts gun licensing, universal compulsory education, huge taxes, Europe-style, there will no longer be an alternative for anybody to point to, no longer an prototype to call upon of how different things can be, no longer a source of libertarian ideas and conservative examples.

Damn it, man, you could have voted for Fred Thompson. At least the man had ideas. You could have voted for Tancredo. What, have you deliberately searched for the most unprincipled, most socialist, most un-conservative man in the entire Republican party? Have you decided that you will ruin what's best in America, no matter what it costs?

I know you'll be stamping your feet and calling me a fanatic. It's awesome how the 'moderates' are quickest to stamp their feet and call other people names when someone questions the value of their moderation – but you know, maybe that's a good sign. Maybe that's because, deep in your heart, you, too, wished you could have a real candidate, someone who would actually challenge the status-quo.

But maybe you're not like that. Maybe you just didn't vote for Ron because you didn't like his foreign policy. Don't you feel stupid now, lying there with your own foot on your throat? Here, you can have your wonderful war that you so wanted – it's just that you can't have any guns, or freedom, or gold to go with it. You ended up with a guy who promised you the war you wanted, but you have nothing else. Nothing.

Don't you feel like a fool now, sitting there and slurping on that bean soup you traded your bithright for?

Oh, I know what you're going to say. You're going to claim that I hate Jews and Israel, and so on. Except of course, I'm an Israeli citizen. My ID card number is 307333377 so you can verify this claim. Like that term, 'ID card'? Israel has national ID cards. Soon enough, you will have a shiny new one, too.

I want you to realize, deep in your mind, what a McCain vs. Clinton race means, for America, for the world, for everybody. It means America no longer has any meaningful opposition to the marauding, all-prevailing, State, outside of several think tanks and two or three Congressmen. It'll take decades until someone runs on a real small-government platform. I'll be 31 by the time whoever wins the next election leaves office.

The incrementalist socialists took about 70 years to get government to the size it is today – if you start counting from FDR. About 95 years if you start counting from Wilson.

Do you want to bet on how old I can be until we can cut government back to its proper size – the size at which we can buy M1928 Thompsons over the counter, never fill out an income tax form, never fear a government agent seizing our children and business and everything we hold dear? How old will I be then, you Quisling? 70? 90? 100?

That's your legacy, you moron. You destroyed the only meaningful chance you, me, anybody who's reading this letter, ever had to actually experience what a free society would be like. Oh we can work for our children, for our principles, just to poke Leviathan in his eye. But we will never, ever, ever get to experience what it's actually like.

Imagine if we were characters in A New Hope. Imagine how the rebels would have felt if Rebel Command would have looked at those Death Star blueprints, with the thermal exhaust port marked out good and clear, and said "Let's surrender. It's not like an X-wing can actually get in there." That's how a lot of people feel right now. Because that's what you did.

I hope you feel proud.

Boris Karpa is a columnist and libertarian activist in Israel. He can be reached through microbalrog@gmail.com

Thinking Beyond Ron Paul

2008-02-11T14:24:00.000+02:00

What Next?
Thinking Beyond Ron Paul
by Darian Worden
DarianWorden@gmail.com

Attribute to The Libertarian Enterprise

It looks like Ron Paul is not heading to electoral success. If Paul will not go on the ballot in November then his libertarian supporters ought to think about what comes next. Those with no interest in Paul should still think of what impact his campaign has had on the future of the libertarian movement and what to do about it.

More here:
http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2008/tle455-20080210-05.html

Ron Paul Wins 2008 Primaries

2008-02-10T09:31:00.000+02:00

This may sound strange to some people – McCain has the nomination almost completely locked up, and it seems Huckabee is angling for the VP slot. It is most likely, at this stage, that America is headed for a Hillary or a McCain Presidency, and it is completely unclear which is worse. Some people will argue Hillary is Satan. Others will argue McCain is Hitler. Both are valid, relevant points.

But I will argue Ron Paul can still win, even if he does not 'win'. In fact, in many senses, Ron Paul has already won. Even if he has a heart attack and dies today, Ron Paul will die victorious

Consider this: Never before had a libertarian candidate received so much grass-roots support, so many actual primary votes, so much money. Ron Paul raised more money in just one day than Badnarik had in his entire election cycle by an order of magnitude.

Ron Paul has made it so that quitting the UN, abolishing the income tax, the War on Drugs, and all gun control laws altogether weren't just things that people talk about in radical party meetings, but something that gets serious page space on Newsweek. By doing that alone, Ron Paul has triumphed.

Ron Paul's campaign staff was not prepared for the battle they fought. They came to run to just make a point, and they ended up drawn in a fight to win, and they couldn't manage it. But, again, Ron Paul has already won, and now – with the help of his valiant volunteers – can win something that McCain, Hillary, and their minions can never accomplish.

Restoring Constitutional order to America will not take one day, not even one decade. We have decades of long, hard work ahead of us. Ron Paul has said it again and again, and I am just repeating what he said.

If we want to make sure Ron Paul wins this – if we want to ensure liberty wins – then, no matter how disappointed we feel right now, we must not quit.

Yes, we believed Ron Paul was going to fly the X-wing up the thermal exhaust port of the Welfare State and blow it all to smithereens. But that was not going to happen, even had he won the Presidency.

If we want to win – if we want to live free, or at least have our children live free – then we must move immediately to capitalize on what we have done. We must use the mailing lists of the people who were active and who donated in the Campaign to raise money for the cause of liberty, and to organize events of various kinds for libertarian causes even after the campaign – just like the Goldwater people did with his donor lists after he lost the election.

We must utilize the organizational capital and the political momentum gained by this campaign to build connections between the various wings of the freedom movement. Those who gained positions within the GOP must remain there, to continue pulling the party in the right direction. Those who made signs, stood at street corners, canvassed, must now make signs, stand at street corners, and canvas for the various mini-Ron Pauls that are now beginning to run.

Join the GOA. Join the JPFO. Join the HSLDA. Remain active.

Do not allow the minor and superficial loss of this campaign get you out of activism. If that happens, Hillary and McCain truly win.

Remember, Ron Paul – and freedom – won in this primary cycle, and with your help, they will win again

More about Israel's public sector.

2008-02-09T19:29:00.000+02:00

According to TheMarker – the economic supplement to Ha'aretz, of course – there is such a thing as the Department for Public Complaints Against Judges in the Ministry of Justice. (I don't know if that's the official name – I only read about this in a Russian translation of the Hebrew article. If I find out better, I'll correct it). So anyhow, the director of this department gets paid 61,000 NIS per month before benefits. When the benefits are factored in, her salary rolls in to 78,000 NIS per month, or 935,000 NIS per year. That's $252,700 per year – more than the salary of the speaker of the US Senate.

Naturally, my readers will point out, this is only an exception, and most of the employees of the state don't get paid as much. That is true. The Chief Administrator of the Ministry of Defense (separate, I note, from the Minister, or from the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry), whose job is undefined – apparently, TheMarker has not the slightest clue what the man actually does for a living. He gets paid 60.7 thousand shekels per month. The various Deputy Chief Executive Officers of the Ministry of Defense (no, there is not just one Deputy CEO of the Ministry of Defense, that would be a naïve assumption) get 58,000 NIS. Crane operators in the state-owned ports get up to five times what a regular crane operator gets – 52,000 NIS per month.

Naturally, the same thing that happens every year will repeat itself. The country will whine for a month about the salaries of these losers and forget about it. People who suggest cutting even one bureaucrat from his desk will be derided as anti-hevrati (anti-social) and possibly even anti-mamlachti (anti-statist).

And yet people insist on whining Israel has too much capitalism. Surely, the stupid of some people is a marvel to behold.

Radicals for Capitalism: Brian Doherty and the Past of the Libertarian Movement

2007-12-01T17:52:00.000+02:00

These days, my friends often give me books for my birthday. And my last birthday was no different. A very good friend of mine gave me two books – one was a history of the Goldwater Presidential candidacy, and the other – Bryan Doherty's "Radicals for Capitalism", a history of the modern American libertarian movement. It was a hefty hardcover book, with 150 of its 750 pages dedicated to indexes and bibliographies. And yet, it turned out to be not just an informative – but a singularly informative read.

Bryan Doherty is an employee of the Cato Institute – one of the few libertarian political institutions that made it into the political mainstream, and has been in the past endorsed by such figureheads of the status quo as Greenspan, Bernanke, and even the (in)famous Rupert Murdoch. Many libertarians have derided the Cato Institute as a group of "Beltway libertarians", "sell-outs", and what-have-you. And yet – at least on the pages of "Radicals" – Doherty does not return fire.

The book describes with sympathy – if not always with total agreement – the various figures of the libertarian movement, from such titans as Lysander Spooner, Robert Nozick, and Ayn Rand to the more obscure Raymond Hoiles, Isabel Paterson, and Andre Marrou. He describes the personal habits of libertarian figures as well as their work – always with a smile, sometimes sympathethic, sometimes ironic, but without any hostility to any of them. And while he's at it, he always provides a bibliographic reference to their work – so if you're done reading the works of all the bigshots like Rand and Nozick, this book can be your guide to an entire world of reading.

That is not to say that this book is entirely uncritical. Doherty details the rise and fall of the United States Libertarian Party (and yes, it had a rise), the habits of Ayn Rand's close circle, and even dedicates page after page of his book to quote critics of his very own Cato Institute. He is always sympathethic to all libertarians – and yet, he finds himself too mature to fawn over anyone, even his own team.

The book is the only academic history of the modern libertarian movement, and as such there is no other work to which it can be honestly compared. But despite that, several judgements can already be passed on it. It is both easily readable – to be attractive not only to the scholar but to the every day leader. If you're a libertarian who wants to know more about the origins of the movement, "Radicals" is a good place to start. If you are an opponent of libertarianism, the book is again a good place to read up about the nature of the movement -
Doherty writes no agitprop.

Regardless of who you are, if you are interested in politics today, "Radicals for Capitalism" is a compelling read. It tells of a small group of dedicated political outsiders who, after decades of work, have slowly wormed their way into the political mainstream. Sure, today's America is light-years away from the ideal of the Founding Fathers – but it's also been steered a far way from the welfarist paradise FDR and his faithful had in mind – and Doherty's book gives a very fair insight about the role the libertarian movement played in this shift.

Boris Karpa is an Israeli libertarian activist and political columnist. He can be contacted at microbalrog@gmail.com or http://israelilibertarian.blogspot.com

Ron Paul Should be the Zionist Choice for US President

2007-11-17T21:34:00.000+02:00

Ron Paul Should be the Zionist Choice for US President

by Shmuel Ben-Gad

He opposes US foreign aid to Israel.

Since the Six Day War, US presidents and presidential candidates have tended to speak of the US and Israel as great friends and allies. They have also tended to favor the shrinking of Israel's borders. This has reached a low point under the Bush administration, which is the first one to explicitly make its policy the establishment of an Arab state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Thus, the US alliance with Israel has been a decidedly mixed blessing.

Israel receives military and financial assistance, and also some diplomatic support at the United Nations, but the US puts pressure on Israel to surrender parts of the homeland. Even worse, this relationship seems to foster a mentality of dependence amongst many Israelis who, it seems, cannot imagine Israel defying the United States in any major way

Read the full text here.

Allanea versus Old Fat Ugly Bitch

2007-11-15T03:55:00.000+02:00

So there I was in a bus, on the way to one of my jobs. In front of me [seats facing mine] were two really slutty-looking girls, maybe 17 years old, maybe less. And one of them had her feet up on the seat next to me [facing them].

So an Ugly Old Bitch [incredibly fat and ugly] comes up with a small crate of oranges. I kid you not. And the UOB starts whining and bitching and moaning loudly about the girl having had her feet up on the seat: “Oh you had your feet on the seat! It's terirble! I'm disgusted to sit on it now!” - she sat down on it and kept whining and whining and shouting. I'm not in favor of feet on chairs, but that was too much.

So I say, in the most polite tone I can muster: “Excuse me, ma'am, if you dislike sitting on that seat, perhaps I will get up and you will trade with me? I assure my seat is clean.”

She gets even angrier. “You...! Why did you interfere! Who asked you to speak? Who the hell asked you? Young people like you are why this country looks like that!”

I get angry. So I say with the most solemn and serious tone imaginable:

“I don't know about you, but I LOVE this Country and am PROUD of it. If you don't like The Country....” [ominous pause]

She shut up immediately, in mid-sentence. It was a marvel to behold.

Israel, the Gun-Lover's Paradise... or not?

2007-11-02T20:21:00.000+02:00

According to the August, 2007 report of the Ministry of the Interior, the amount of firearms in civilian hands has been successfully reduced over last eight years.

From 301,243 guns in civilian hands in 1999 they
went to 214,751 guns in civilian hands in 2007.

Of these firearms, 127,811 are owned by corporations.
13,227 are on expired licenses.

I remind you all Israel has 7.1 million people. As such, assuming ever one of those guns is held by a person, less then 2% of our population are armed as civilians.

Do I need to explain how bad that is?

Strikes, kids, and violent crime, Oh My!

2007-10-30T12:30:00.000+02:00

So the highschool teachers are on strike, this being the 18^th day (I believe).

Last night there were two terrible crimes. A 16-year-old Israeli Arab kid being stabbed to death, and a 13-year old girl dying out of alcohol poisoning and drug overdose after having sex many, many times with her two classmates. Obviously the parents claim this was an act of rape since Precious Daughter would never have agreed to have sex two guys at once. Obviously there's a huge media hoopla and the other kids are facing rape charges that can and WILL ruin their lives.

And, OF COURSE the media claimed that the school strike had something to do with this.

Except that - according to an official police press release on the matter, violent crime among highschool-age kids dropped 49% during the period of the strike. Sexual assault and rape – 90% drop.

So, if the idiots in charge of the media claimed the school strike was responsible for 'rising' crime rates, and if they claim it really does affect crime rates, will they now claim it is responsible for falling crime rates?

Oh wait. They are only stupid in one direction.

Big Brother On a Shoestring Budget

2007-10-29T00:18:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow, on Monday, 29^th Octobrer 2007, the Knesset Constitutional Committee will discuss the Communications Data Act 2007. The press have termed it 'Big Brother Act' with good reason – it will allow the government – the Police and the General Security Service free and unfettered access to your communications data – they will be able to ask for phone records (i.e. know who you called and who called you), internet communications records – and they will not need a warrant to get the info.

Let me get this across to you American readers – and Israeli readers – they now demand acess to information on what sites you browse and for how long.

This is in a country where police already have a special unit dedicated to monitoring teen blogs and then raiding the teen in question if the blog shows 'signs of suicidal psychology'.

In a country where they already 'make and receive dozens of thousands of requests for information every year'.

Of course, on paper they would still require warrants.

But the access to warrants will be made ridiculously easy now.

More importantly, the law allows for the creation of a database of communications data with the police force, which the polcie will not need warrants to access. This will contain a variety of stuff, most interestingly a map of the cellphone network, allowing them to pin down the locations of cellphone users in real time.

And what do you think the rationale for this monstrosity is?

Answer: Not fighting crime. Not fighting muslim terrorism.

They are doing it because going through lawyers and courts and judges the old-fashioned way costs too much money. No, I kid you not.

Dr. Michael Birnhak from the University of Tel-Aviv has it all here in Hebrew:

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3464920,00.html

This was in today's Ha'aretz

2007-10-25T00:47:00.001+02:00

"Ehud Barak has stated that the Labor Party will do everything to prevent Yigal Amir from being released. If Labor will head this struggle, he can consider himself on te path to freedom already."

Zionism

2007-10-24T23:34:00.000+02:00

Now that I actually have more than two readers, I will ask you guys two questions:

What do you guys define as Zionism?

Do you view it as merely the claim the “Jews have the right to independence in Israel”, or do you view it as an ideology that mandates a given kind of state in Israel? For example, Ben-Gurion's 'classical Zionism' mandates a socialist state of sorts.

Do you believe it is the moral duty of all Jews qua Jews to support Zionism as you have defined it in 1?
Do you see yourself as a Zionist?

My own answers are as follows:

1. I believe Zionism is seen, by and large [especially by a large proportion of Israelis] as a mandate for a particular kind of state, one which backs large 'social equality' programs and is, by and large, defined by Ben-Gurion's legacy. I oppose this sort of Zionism.

This said, I support Israel's existence and I support Zionism as the simple contention that the Jews have the right to self-determination. Six million Jews live in Israel, and they have the right to be independent just like anybody else.

2. I don't see it as anybody's moral duty to support Zionism o any other ideology, no matter how benign. This said, a large sub-group of people use 'anti-Zionism' as a way to camouflage their hatred of Jews in general, or their hatred of America who supports Israel. Noam Chomsky is an instructive case.

3. I am inasmuch a Zionist as I believe in Israel's right to exist. I am not a Zionist in the mold of Ben-Gurion OR Menachem Begin. Further I am a member of the Free State Project .

The Strange Case of Ariel Zilber

2007-10-24T09:11:00.000+02:00

The anniversary of the Rabin assassination is approaching swiftly, and the media is whipping up their usual storm of adoration for the man. Over the years, Rabin has stopped being, it seems, a mere mortal, and became a form of quasi-deity for these people, a sort of mini-Jesus that had laid down his soul for the Peace Process.

It not, however, the identity of Itzhak Rabin this post is concerned with, but rather the media idiocy du jour.

It appears that a group of people, most notably Larissa Amir, Yigal's wife, have starred in a 15-minute video requesting the early release of Yigal Amir (under Israeli law, well-behaved lifers can have their sentence cut down to 'only' 20 years, and Amir is a well-behaved prisoner). This video was distributed online, on Flix.co.il (Israel's Youtube), and in DVD form as well.

There is nothing really to it. The video is amateurish as all get-out, and could have possibly been done by a twelve-year old using Windows Media Player.

But of course the media strives on creating frenzies. This time they had done their best screaming their head off about the Evil Extreme Right. Naturally they've been demanding that the public ignore the video and those behind it - while replaying fragments of it on TV and inviting Larissa to every show possible.

This would have been well and good, but here's the thing: A single person of major note, Ariel Zilber, appeared in the video.

Ariel Zilber is a local singer of medium fame. He sings and plays the piano, awfully at that. He is known for his right-wing views and has previously campaigned for Feiglin during the Likud primaries.

But now he has commited the unforgivable sin.

He was included in the 15-minute Video Of Doom saying that he is not sure Yigal Amir killed Rabin [even though Amir confessed the killing and video footage of it exists], and that he believes Amir should be treated 'like any other prisoner'.

This was enough.

First, multiple cities have cancelled appearances of Zilber at city-sponsored events (starting with Tel-Aviv, of course, which is the San Francisco of the Middle-East).

Then, musical artists of different kinds have decided they wish to boycott Zilber.

And now, a radio station announced it will cancel airing a radio show because Zilber is in it in a minor role (even though it's already been recorded).

And, with the witch-hunt elevated to a new level, people down here have started demanding the maximum five-year penalty "for incitement of violence" for those responsible for this video. This has been the talk of the radio show hosts this morning.

Does nobody think this is a little bit of an overreaction?

Demanding that Amir should be treated like all the other prisoners is now such a terrible crime that it merits a witch-hunt of this sort? What, are there no real problems for this country to deal with? Have all of them gone mad?

Suggestion

2007-10-24T02:38:00.000+02:00

I should get a dollar every time someone calls me an antisemite on the Internet for supporting Ron Paul.

Protecting Foreign Molluscs.

2007-10-23T15:01:00.000+02:00

According to Ynet, the Eilat Port Authority has seized a whole lot of terrible, terrible, illegal contrabanda. Not drugs, mind you, and not guns for Palestinian terrorists.

Seashells. Crates upon crates of illegal seashells.

Apparently, the importation of foreign molluscs is illegal under CITES .

Inspectors have commented, saying: "We don't want people ruining our beaches, but we also want to protect beaches abroad."

After this, they took the obvious action to protect the endangered foreign mollusc.

They destroyed them.

Another day of hard work for the Israeli government: protecting foreign molluscs and the environments by destroying endangered species specimens.

Thank you all.

2007-10-22T14:26:00.000+02:00

Since I published the post two days ago about Ron Paul and aid to Israel, I've received a whole lot of page views and positive comments, both through this site and through email. Thanks, people.
I would especially like to thank Renee for her thoughtful comments and email.

I would like to thank the people who posted a link to this blog and my post on DailyPaul, LibertyPost, and ESPECIALLY LewRockwell.com. I have long wanted to be on Lew's site, but my stuff just somehow never gets through their editors - except this time. Thank you guys. It really does mean something to me.

You guys are awesome. Thank you.

A little anecdote for my readers about just how wasteful the Israel Defense Force is, both with its own money and American money.

I spent most of my IDF service as first a system administrator, and then just a useless clerk at a base that conducts training for command staff on simulators. Essentially they put up LAN networks in comfortable air-conditioned rooms and then input data from wargaming computers that simulates what these people would be getting in a real combat sit... scratch that, they basically play wargames on computers.

Anyhow, just a month or so I arrived on base, our Communications Officer decided that this was UNREALISTIC. That the officers had to be trained in conditions approaching real field conditions (nevermind here that during real combat situations brigade staff do their thing from real airconditioned rooms). So he had a genius plan:

We would order a whole bunch of M113 armored personnel carriers, in both the ordinary and the communications version (the one fitted for more fancy electronics), put them out on our lawn, and then drill holes in them and pipe LAN cables through the holes , mounting the exercise computers inside for extra realism.

This would be wasteful if it were done - it cost us millions to order and receive the M113s.

They were new (or looked new) when they arrived.

Wasting them on this would be stupid in and of itself.

But then they descended to a new level of stupid.

In the 18 months I served in that unit, the APC's were to my knowledge never used in exercises, nor were they ever fitted for LAN cables.

They rusted.

They gathered dust.

Weed grew through the tracks.

But that was basically it.

Note this: Here we took several million (possibly several dozen million, I don't know how much 15-20 M113's cost) dollars of US and Israeli taxpayer money, dumped it on our lawn and let it rot away.

If you are American or Israeli, it is likely your money paid for this.

Are you happy about it? I sure am not.

But remember, if you oppose this sort of spending, you hate Jews. And freedom.

And the Strikes Begin Again

2007-10-22T10:39:00.001+02:00

Some of you know already that Israel's public sector is continuing on it's usual trajectory of strikes, strikes, and more strikes.

Merrily, last week there were three announced strikes:

One by the high-school teachers. What is it about? Why, the teachers don't get paid very well, despite the fact the public education budget is huge enough to send every kid in the country to private schools in America and there would be money left to by them all tickets there.

So the teachers, in their glory, have made a deal with HR companies, to find them temporary jobs while they clamor for a doubling of wage and a suspension of the pro-accountability reforms. Note I am not kidding about that one.

Israel has practically no private schools (only 60,000 children are in private schools), and homeschooling is virtually banned except for a few dozen families. So what this means is that the union will be able to extract yet more money from the hapless taxpayer. It's only a question of when and how much.

The second strike was by the Union of University Directors (Irgun Rashey Ha-Universitaot). These didn't even have the common decency to demand wages – they were making a raw political demand, an increase in the budget of higher education. They got it. Several hundred million shekels.

Scarily, the government caved before the strike even technically began.

Israel has no private universities, only a few private colleges, which are hamstrung and crippled by the government. To close down all public universities effectively means shutting down all public education.

And yet nobody in the media asked if it is even legitimate for a public servant to deny citizens the services which are their right under law in order to demand political reforms. (Bear no mistake – the size of a budget, any government budget, is a political issue).

And so, on the heels of this one came the strike of the senior university staff. They will not conduct any lectures until their wages are increased. Again, this essentially shuts higher education down for a few days (over 60% of university lectures are shut down).

So here you have it: Education is ostensibly a 'right' under Israeli law, but unelected officials are enabled by the state monopoly on education to deny it to us on a whim or a political demand.

The only way to fix this is not to adjust labor laws, reform salaries, or increase budget.

The only way to fix this is to kill the public monopoly on education.

Kill it.

Kill it with fire.

Let there be private universities, where people will be able to hire professors based on their individual accomplishments rather then collective bargaining, let there be homeschooling which will promote a variety of opinions and mindset, and for the love of God let there be private schools.

Then maybe we won't have to be holding onto the edge of our seats every time autumn approaches, checking if the public education monopolists decide to hold our education system hostage again.aa

Questions for The Republican Jewish Coalition

2007-10-21T00:38:00.000+02:00

Questions for the Republican Jewish Coalition

Recently, there was a large hoopla in the libertarian areas of the political Internet about the Republican Jewish Coalition. The Coalition – so did the Internet have it – refused to receive Ron Paul at their “Victory 2008 Republican Jewish Coalition Candidates Forum”. According to a variety of sources, Ron Paul was not allowed to get on the forums because he was 'not seen as a top tier contender' and 'opposed aid to Israel'. Given that the Internet is plagued with the kind of folks that'll blame 'the Israeli lobby' for global warming if you let them loose, I was doubtful.

But given that the editors of http://capitalism.co.il are very interested in the Ron Paul Revolution, I went out and called the RJC myself to verify. RJC's very kind press secretary (whose surname I was, unfortunately, not able to write down) confirmed to me that this was indeed true: Ron Paul was not invited because he was considered a 'long-shot candidate' and because he 'votes against aid to Israel' and 'criticizes the Israeli lobby'.

I will not discuss the first of these statements – the RJC has invited Huckabee, who polls consistently behind Ron Paul in both straw polls and scientific Gallup and Harris polls, and then refused to replace him with Ron Paul when Huckabee refused to arrive at the Candidates Forum. It is clear to me that the main reason for Ron Paul not being invited is the difference in policy between him and the RJC.

Is Ron Paul an enemy of Israel? He clearly isn't. He supported Israel's action against the Osirak reactor when practically everybody – including the Reagan Administration – condemned Israel. He has steadfastly refused to support congressional condemnation of Israel, or military aid to nations like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

What seems to be the core of the argument? The military aid to Israel. The 2.25 billion dollars per year of funding that Israel receives. For those not in the know, this aid comes in the form of funds that must be spent on American equipment and services – essentially a subsidy for U.S. companies. As such, it is a subsidy program for both Israel's government and the United States' military-industrial complex.

And yet, is this program necessary for Israel's survival, or even beneficial for its well-being? Certainly not according to the Jerusalem Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, who state outright: “Foreign aid is the greatest obstacle to economic freedom in Israel.” Certainly not according to Binyamin Netanyahu, who, during his tenure as Prime Minister, hinted quite broadly that Israel would be better off without foreign aid.

Foreign aid does not only destroy Israel's indigenous military industries – even now, production of army shoes, Tavor assault rifles, and other items have been shifted in part or in whole across the Atlantic to qualify for the American funds – but it has a more insidious effect. It acts as a crutch for a military bureacracy that is huge, inept, and corrupt.

Not unlike Third World officials who feel they don't need to modernize their economy because the West will keep pumping in aid and money, Israeli Ministry of Defense officials believe that no matter how bad their own screw-ups are, they are safe – as long as they can fall back on American money and weapons.

As a result, the Israeli MoD is capable of immense amounts of waste – wasting, in fact, more Israeli taxpayer money then it receives in aid from America. When I spoke to Knesset Member Yossi Beilin, he told me that the Knesset members are not even allowed to read most of the military budget before passing it. This allows for truly unprecedented amounts of waste.[2]

There is no place here to speak about army units deploying more vehicles then they have personnel[1], army units purchasing brand new armored personnel carriers and allowing them to rust away on the lawn unused until they are beyond repair. Let us just mention that an IDF officer retiring at the rank of major 33 receives $100,000 in benefits, that the amount of generals in the Israeli army rises 80% every ten years. Israel still practices the draft, which recruits thousands of soldiers the country doesn't need for any sensible military use. Ehud Barak, the Minister of Defense, claims 75% of the nation's non-combat soldiers serve no national defense purpose. The hidden economical costs are estimated to be $15,000 per draftee.

And here's the punchline: the budget for the civilian MoD bureaucracy (not the army) comes up to half the sum of US aid to Israel on its own (4-5 billion NIS). Further, according to the Ministry of Defense, only 20% of the military budget funds actual fighting and combat support units. 80% is the cost of bureacracy and rear-echelon units. That comes out to over ten billion dollars – over FOUR TIMES the size of US aid to Israel.

I would understand support for this sort of 'aid' among the American Democrats – they are known to believe that throwing money at problems solves them. But those are Republicans we're talking about here. And thus I have a few questions for any RJC members who happen to be reading this:

You people are smart enough to realize that welfare to African countries doesn't help them develop. Why do you think welfare to Israel is going to have any different effect? You people are smart enough to oppose subsidies for an abortion clinic in Omaha or a farm in Texas. Why are you willing to throw America's money at a government institution thousands of miles away? Why do you insist throwing money at people who let billions of dollars of their own money go to waste pointlessly? Maybe, just maybe, if Israel was deprived of the American government teat, it would use it's own taxpayer money with more efficiency.

Most importantly, why are you so quick to assume that a person who opposes this welfare program is not a candidate whose opinions bears listening to, if not on this one issue, then on others? Does disagreement on this one point make a candidate unlegitimate to you, even though he agrees with the Republican Jewish Coalition on so many others?

Boris Karpa is a libertarian columnist and professional translator in Ashdod, Israel.
He can be contacted at microbalrog@gmail.com

[1]”Ma'ariv”, 27.10.03.
[2]According to the 2004 Annual Report by Israel's Inspector-General, while the Knesset budgeted 46.8 billion shekels to the IDF, de-facto 58.5 billion shekels were transferred. The difference is over 3 billion dollars wasted, or a sum greater then the entire US aid to Israel.

Slavery and Five Year Plans, oh my!

2006-09-07T22:54:00.000+03:00

The Engineering Corps will perform a project for Israel Railway whereby four bridges will be built to create level separations in places of road/railway crossings. This will cost ten million shekels.

This appeared in ‘Israeli’ newspaper from 7.9.2006. In the same article, the following was to be found:

Israel Railway is now examining the meaning of the one-billion budget cuts under the Five Year Development Plan.

I would like to ask the following questions:

1. How does the utilization of the labor of unwilling persons (draftees) for such purposes differ from slavery?
2. What is Israel doing having Five Year Plans?

The rockets.

2006-07-27T18:16:00.000+03:00

About Israel and the rocket attacks – I guess many of you want to know what really is going on. So, let me deal wih all the questions all of you must be asking right now.

So, first of all, I'm safe, and so is most of Israel. If you're south of Haifa (that's the little bump on the Israeli coast that you see on maps) then you're pretty much out of Hizbullah's missile range, and if you're not REALLY close to Gaza, you're out of the Palestinians' missile range, too (the ones in the West Bank don't have any rockets to speak of, or we'd be really screwed.)

Israeli society, in my opinion, is reacting rather well to the events – what this is doing to the Israeli population is turn it really patriotic, and really anti-left. There's now only 27% support for the disengagement plan – all the bad things that were predicted, by even the most extreme right came true. Rocket attacks on Ashkelon? Check. Karmiel? Check. Haifa? Check.

Still, the extremist left (Meretz and such) are still being their ugly self.

What's much worse is that business and factories have been almost paralyzed throughout the North, as people are advised not to go to work unless their workplaces are shielded. Many still refuse to go to work for fear of bombings, and businesses are losing millions (the government is debating extending a law to ban firing people who are absent from work due to the war).

In the Center (think of Tel-Aviv and the whereabouts) people are rallying to support the North – giving shelter to families who are fleeing the emergency, even putting them up in their own homes. Certain businessmen (like Gaidamak) are funding the construction of refugee camps for those who are leaving their homes in fear of the bombing

But outside the North, generally daily life has gone on. People go to work, party, have a life. We're not ALL living on a front line.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

2006-06-06T15:24:00.000+03:00

Mandate for Liberty

2006-05-23T01:01:00.000+03:00

Mandate for Liberty
Boris Karpa

Surely by now all of you have heard about Exodus Mandate – a Christian religious group that wants to take children out of government schools and into homeschooling environments. As far as I can see, the Mandate is as close to the mainstream media's definition of the Evil Theocratic Religious Right as can be. For example, they don't really like gay people. According to Wikipedia, "The group is active within the Southern Baptist Convention and has introduced a succession of anti-lesbian and anti-gay initiatives within the Convention."
The author of this short article, on the other hand, is a Jewish-born libertarian bisexual agnostic who's engaged to a German-born atheist lady. One would think there's no real reason such a person would endorse Exodus Mandate – and yet, I can say with all proper conviction, the Exodus Mandate is a very good thing for the cause of restoring individual liberty in America and in the world entire.
To understand why anybody, regardless of religion, should cheer Exodus Mandate for it's efforts, one should read the original blueprint for the institution of statist oppression – the Communist Manifesto.
In that work, among many interesting things, Marx and Engels outline ten measures that need to be accomplished politically in order to bring about the dictatorship of the Proletariat (they believed that would later transcend into a perfect stateless society). In any event, they have listed not the definition of this future state, but ten measures, that, if introduced, would inevitably lead to it's formation. In their very words:

Of course, in the beginning, this cannot be effected except by means of despotic inroads on the rights of property, and on the conditions of bourgeois production; by means of measures, therefore, which appear economically insufficient and untenable, but which, in the course of the movement, outstrip themselves, necessitate further inroads upon the old social order, and are unavoidable as a means of entirely revolutionizing the mode of production. [The Communist Manifesto, Chapter II: Proletarians and Communists]

In this text, Marx and Engels provide us with a clever insight which applies to all systems of government. You do not need, they say, to topple the regime outright to achieve the revolution you wish – merely introduce new institutions which mandate a new kind of relationship between the individual, society, and the state, and, as the new system of relation asserts itself, it spreads out to all sectors of public, and eventually private life. Change the way people commute, work, and teach their children, and your revolution is assured. It is interesting that Marx has mentioned, as the tenth plank of it's platform, 'Free education for all children in public schools.'
So if this is true – and there are a group of measures that, if accomplished, achieve the continuous growth of government and its increased intrusion into private life, would there not be a group of measures that would, if introduced, cause a great
decrease of it's intrusion? One is reminded of Neil Smith's maxim: When the enemy screams "Foul!" the loudest, you know you're doing him the most damage. Those who help him scream are also the enemy.
When education is public and control of it belongs to the state, the natural tendency is for it to be used to teach the values of whatever dominant majority happens to be in control of the government. In America, this means taking children to Earth Day rallies and having them chant 'they want to drill our parks for oil that will pollute our sea and soil' or that 'emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology' is 'racist'. And the longer that this public mandatory education system persists, the more people are assured that their civilization cannot survive without it – nevermind the greatest achievements of civilization – parliamentary democracy, the concept of individual liberty, the printing press, the lightbulb, the automobile – were given to us by people who never saw the inside of a public school. And with government in control of our schools – can you guess what this will do to individual liberty in twenty years? A century?
Further – as Marx understood – it's the 'natural interest' (if it wants to remain existent) of private schooling and homeschooling to defend it's raison d'etre, the 'bourgeois state of mind' – the ideas of individual liberty and private property. Granted, there are for sure socialist homeschoolers, but in general, it's likely the supporters of state control of education would not take their children from these schools.
No, Jerry Falwell is not by any means an advocate of personal liberty in the Neil Smith or H.L. Mencken mod – and I would not use his programs on my children – but it is to be granted that he's no statist either. To quote the man himself: "I hope to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we don't have public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them."
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why we want Mr. Falwell to win. Because whne people are taken out of the government's schools – especially to environments that 'present free-enterprise economics without apology and point out the dangers of Communism, socialism, and liberalism to the well-being of people across the globe' – the NEA and DOE lose power. Because parents who don't have their children in public schools will not vote for increased Federal control over the curricula, and they will not vote for more NEA budgets. And their children, who learn about free-enterprise economics, will not vote for more FDA regulation and DEA powers and EEOC controls.
A system of education that Mr. Falwel and Ray Moore envision cannot exist but in an environment based around individual choice and free markets, and Mr. Falwell knows it full well. And when this happens, this will – as such things do – bring about more and more individual freedom – much more then Mr. Falwell and the theocrats around him want, perhaps. Certainly more then we have now.
As such, I suggest that Jerry Falwell, Ray Moore and the Christian Right are our unwitting friends. And as such, I recommend that if a general Libertarian Manifesto is to be written – a practical, non-Rothbard Manifesto to include all small government advocates – it is to have as it's first plank the words:

1.Education of all children in private schools or homeschooling environments.

Et ceterum censeo Department of Education delenda essem.

Short Bibliography

1. Marx, Engels, "The Communist Manifesto"
2. L. Neil Smith, "Lever Action"
3. Vin Suprinowycz, "Send in the Waco Killers"
4. Seattle Public Schools website, Definitions of Racism
5. http://www.theocracywatch.org/schools2.htm

More from the Court of Injustice

2006-05-16T12:19:00.000+03:00

[reposted from Bureaucrash]

In today’s ruling, the High Court of Injustice has ruled that Israeli firms are not to be allowed to advertise their products on foreign television channels that broadcast into the Jewish State. The court ruling, translate from Hebrew by yours truly, reads in part:

“RTVi has illegitimately exploited funding that was intended for the appropriate channels, and thus prevented their arrival to the cause of guaranteeing proper quality broadcasts even to sectors that are not represented in general media due to the existing market failure.”

The lawsuit was prepared by Channel 9, which is a Russian Israeli news channel which does exist, despite what the Court ruled above.

Amazingly, the owner of RTVi – the American-based anti-Putinist media company you may have heard of – is now going to be paying Channel 9 restitution because he has evilly exploited the funds of the Israeli companies. Further, the government will also be paying restitution to RTVi because of allowing the Evil Free Market to proceed with this.

The Cable and Sattelite Council – our FCC – has hailed the decision, “hoping that the legislators will provide them with tools to enforce the ruling.”

You understand, the court didn’t actually rule this basing on existing law or anything. Just general ‘we think it should be so’. Even the Israeli regulators have actually ruled previously that this is LEGAL.

Welcome to the Jewish State, citizen! Move along! Move along!

High Court of Injustice

2006-05-16T12:06:00.000+03:00

[crossposted from Bureaucrash]

So, the yesterday the Israeli Supreme Court has upheld restrictions on marriage. Not on gay marriage, as you may think but on marriage between Israelis and Palestinians. As you may or may not know, there are Arabs in Israel – not in the Territories – who hold Israeli citizenships. In past years, many Palestinians have married some of those Arabs, and received Israeli citizenships – just like you would if you married an Israeli. Now, the legislators went and did something about it – and now, Iraqis, Americans, Cambodians may receive a citizenship in the Jewish state by marrying an Israeli, but Palestinians cannot. Naturally, people appealed. And what do you think the court said?

Let me quote a foreign newspaper:

In a minority opinion, Chief Justice Aharon Barak argued that the law should be overturned because security concerns should not take precedence over basic civil rights.

But the majority opinion, led by Justice Mishael Cheshin, contended that “the benefit it (the law) brings to the security and lives of the residents of Israel outweighs the harm it causes to some citizens of Israel."

What can I say about Hashin (that's the right spelling of his name) other then what he said about himself?

Also, to the supporters' of Aharon Barak's "activist judiciary" doctrine (which he himself openly endorses: How does it feel to be lying there, with your own boot on your neck?

Meanwhile in saner countries.

2006-05-13T17:38:00.000+03:00

FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE ROUNDUP

There are a number of pro-gun bills pending in Congress that require your action. Please review these legislative initiatives and be sure to contact your U.S. Representative at (202) 225-3121, and your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121, and urge him or her to cosponsor and support these measures. Additional contact information can be found using the "Write Your Representatives" feature at www.NRAILA.org.

. H.R. 5092-This bill would improve BATFE's process for punishing FFLs and establish guidelines for BATFE investigations. This bill was drafted in large part to address recent BATFE abuses at Richmond, Va.-area gun shows highlighted in hearings before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's Subcommitee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

. S. 2599/H.R. 5013-Legislation to prohibit the confiscation of lawfully owned firearms during states of emergency. Would guarantee legal recourse for victims of illegal gun seizures

. H.R. 1384-This bill would remove several antiquated and unnecessary restrictions imposed on interstate firearms business since 1968.

.S. 1082/H.R. 1288-Legislation to repeal the draconian D.C. gun ban and restore the right of lawful District residents to own firearms to defend themselves and their families.

. H.R. 4547-Federal legislation requiring recognition of out-of-state Right-to-Carry permits.

. H.R. 5005-This measure will codify congressional policies, roll back restrictions, and correct errors in federal firearm laws.

Go for the Lifeboats

2006-05-09T02:43:00.000+03:00

Go for the Lifeboats

The obvious solution to the problems with Israeli education

By now, everybody knows the Israeli education system is in bad shape. Only about 35% of high school students are eligible for a Bagrut certificate when they are done, and even if the pass, it doesn’t really guarantee that they actually know anything. Violence is on the rise. And you can’t really even expect the school year to start on time – if the teachers won’t go on strike, the parents will.

If this weren’t enough confusion, the political powers also quarrel about the content of education. There’s not enough religion, says Ovadia Iosef. There’s too much religion, says Tomi Lapid. There’s not enough national values, mutters Livnat. There’s too much nationalism and militarism, grumbles Sarid.

And everybody is of course right. The education system is not simply faltering – it also fails to impart any form of values which would actually spur the children on to a productive life as citizens of a Jewish nation. With a complete lack of correct steering at the ministerial helm, adequate budgets, and qualified teachers, the educational system is acting like the proverbial transatlantic liner.

Anybody with half a brain who inspects the varied solutions suggested by the politicians, activists, and experts, will tell you the changes will take years to take hold – and will not likely bear effect on the current generation of high-school pupils. And yet, what is the alternative?

The 1953 State Education Act recognises three types of education which you can give your child and comply with the compulsory education statutes. Those are state schools, state religious schools, and private institutions ‘as recognised by the Ministry of Education’.

De-facto, under Ben-Gurion, this meant one thing – that the state established a near-monopoly on education, in the same manner the Altalena incident established a state monopoly on armed force. To this day, there’s only a small and very limited amount of private schools in Israel, and homeschooling is almost unheard of.

The state monopoly on education has had the same result as all state monopolies – you can’t really receive education of any quality, and when you can, it’s an education almost entirely controlled by the political powers. This may seem attractive to a degree – the political party of the day gets to use the education system to impose it’s values on everybody else – but when you consider the fact that you have no guarantee that it’s your values that get imposed, the bet starts to get really dodgy – and with the demographic situation as it is today, there’s not even a guarantee that in a few decades those will still be Jewish values.

So what do we do? The answer is frighteningly obvious – but it is a threat to the existing balance of power in the country. Histadrut members and Ben-Gurion fans – please skip this page.

When your transatlantic liner was just smacked with an iceberg, the correct choice is not to change the oil in the engines, or to repaint the deck pink. The correct choice is to get the women and children into the lifeboats and swim for it.

Similarly, when the national education system has a 35% success rate at turning out something even remotely resembling educated children, the choice is not to campaign for reforms that will be likely not to benefit your child currently in school – even if they actually work. The choice is to take your child out into the private education system.

The method works. The writer of this article has received his high-school diploma in “Tabeetha” – a private institution dating back to 1871. They charge a monthly payment absolutely anyone can afford (640 shekels per month for a 9^th grade student), and they are as good as you would expect a school dating back to the 19^th century to be. Of course, there’s one problem.

There’s precious few places.

The system of regulations imposed by the Ben-Gurionian Ministry of Education means that there’s a very small amount of private schools in Israel – certainly not enough to pose a viable alternative to the average parent.

There is, thus, an imperative to deregulate private education.

Yes, I actually said this. We must make sure that there’s as many private schools in the country as the traffic will bear. Not only we must allow it to happen – by issuing much more licenses and ‘recognition’ than the Ministry of education currently does, to anybody that can guarantee that the children will not get sexually harassed and the classes actually start on September 1^st (yes, I do know that the government schools cannot pass that test. But we do need to give the state some advantage) – but we must also encourage this. In the very same manner we support poor families by funding their children’s education in a public school, we must issue vouchers to those who wish to take their children into private education – to ensure that it will never be seen as the haven for the children of the rich alone.

This, however, is not enough. What this article is really about is another reform, so radical that some will even consider it revolutionary. To put it simply, we must make it legal – not simply ‘theoretically legal if you comply with 500 pages of regulations’, but practically legal and achievable for the average person – for private individuals to educate their children at home, instead of sending them to a school, public or private.

This is not a new idea – it is currently widely practiced in several Western nations, in particular the United States, where about 1.1 million children are homeschooled^ⁱ. Most of those parents who homeschool their children don’t have specialized training – rather, they teach them from a variety of schoolbooks and material produced purpose. Before this material was available, regular schoolbooks have been used. Today, however, homeschooling in America is an established subculture anyone can join.

It is not as outlandish as it may seem – it works, and in fact it works much better than public schools do – practically every study performed by legitimate scientists within the United States points out that an average homeschooled child performs significantly better than an average ‘client’ of the public school system on the various standardized tests.^ⁱⁱ

Then again, the public school system in Israel is vastly inferior to it’s American equivalent – as may be inferred from the Americans’ superior performance on such tests as the OECD international reading comprehension tests (the so-called “Pisa tests”) – or merely from the fact the Americans now invest over $5,000 per student per year, a form of care Israel’s public education system is simply unable to provide.

Much more importantly, our education system is fraught with problems like violence and frequent strikes, which the American education system does not even come close to encountering. Does one really think that a parent – if he’s even minimally dedicated to the education of his child – can do worse than an education system where sexual abuse of children by their classmates is a recurring problem, and where the school year is simply not guaranteed to begin on time?

Some would argue that homeschooling is an “elitist solution”, one available only for the children of the rich. One is tempted to reply that even if it were so, it would be unfair to deny it’s benefits to one part of the population just because others are unable to make use of it. (To return to the liner analogy: there are six places on the lifeboat, and a hundred passengers. Would it be “fair” to burn the lifeboat – or would you rather that six lives be saved “unfairly”?) But happily, this is not even the case. As Dr. Brian Ray points out, the average cost of teaching homeschooled children is approximately $546^ⁱⁱⁱ per year in America. Middle-class parents are the most common homeschooling demographic in the United States – and there’s no reason they can’t be that, in Israel.

Well, apart from the big problem – homeschooling is extremely regulated in Israel to this very day – though Ben-Gurion’s compulsory education laws were recently amended to allow it. Still, parents who homeschool their children have to jump through far too many hoops – and society and the media still brand them out as “strange”.

If we truly want to ensure that our children - who will not simply be the doctors, nurses, and politicians, but also the elevator technicians, bus drivers, and construction workers of tomorrow – go to an education system where we have a guarantee we can choose the value system imparted to them – or at least that the school year starts on September 1^st – then it is necessary that we take action now.

We must now introduce the same method that worked for Americans, and Canadians, and countless other – we must introduce the free market. Let us deregulate private schools, and let us deregulate homeschooling, and let us make every effort possible to ensure that those solutions are not simply available to the average Israeli, but also perceived as such (even today, poor parents can send their children to the few private schools that exist in Israel – but the myth that the price is unaffordably high prevents many from doing so). We must create a system of vouchers and tax rebates to aid those who care enough to send their children to a private school or teach them themselves.

For years, the Israeli state has – sometimes inadvertedly, sometimes in a calculated fashion – prevented the creation of a free market in education in Eretz-Israel. Instead, a centralized, industrial system has been set up – one where the oppressive majority of pupils are riding that very proverbial transatlantic liner. It is now our duty to ensure there are enough lifeboats.

Boris Karpa is a student at Tel-Aviv University. He is a contributor to The Libertarian Enterprise, Concealed Carry Magazine, Libertyforall.net and several other periodicals

i See US. National Center For Education Statistics report, “Homeschooling in the United States: 2003”, NCES 2004-115

ii “According to the 1998 ACT High School Profile Report, 2,610 graduating homeschoolers took the ACT and scored an average of 22.8 out of a possible 36 points. This score is slightly higher that the 1997 report released on the results of 1,926 homeschool graduates and founding homeschoolers maintained the average of 22.5. This is higher than the national average, which was 21.0 in both 1997 and 1998.” Cited according to “Academic Statistics on Homeschooling”, hosted at http://www.khea.info/

iii Dr. Brian Ray, Strengths of Their Own: Home Schoolers Across America, National Home Education Research Institute, Salem, OR, 1997. Cited according to Vin Suprynowicz, “Send in the Waco Killers”, Mountain Media, LV, Nevada, 1999

Details about the People's Army

2006-05-09T01:01:00.000+03:00

http://daniel-77.livejournal.com/33319.html#cutid1

This link here is to the blog of a right-wing extremist Hazit supporter. Read with caution. Since it's in Russian, I will translate the main bits – the person's account of his Miluim (reserve) service. Many of this I can confirm for having served a part of my enlisted service in the same base.

Italic is translated.

Super Army

The bureaucracy and the total relaxation make it so we can only assemble an APC/IFV and enough crew after half a day at least – and that despite us having the personall cell numbers of all the relevant officers and staff.

Hen

He is the commander of the reserve company. I have never spoken to him, but he's been there for five years.

This summer our Own Army kicked him out of his home in Netzarim.

...

The Beduins.

The Beduins have lost all shame, and are happily driving through the fire testing zone on jeeps and ATVs. They wear partly Army uniforms, steal what they can. They keep waving at us, the bastards.

[racism omitted- Allanea]

All of this, thievery apart, also blocks the exercises – there's civilians in the fire zone of tanks and artyllery.

There's few left, but...

The reservists are special – mostly volunteers defacto. Statistics say only 5-10% of the enlisted to draft service actually are reservists.

The Contact Officer admitted to me only 60% of the battalion are heard from in any way. The others are soldiers on paper alone...

I haven't written it. A militarist patriot Army-loving guy had. You judge the 'professionality of the IDF' from this.

Again?

2006-05-08T23:14:00.000+03:00

His first act as Prime Minister was to allow a small amount of Palestinian workers into Israel. Fine by me.

His second act? To start a program guaranteeing every officer in the IDF starting with a rank of Major would be issued a personal car. This is at a time the total government budget is estimated to be 281.4 billion New Israeli Shekels per year.

In the meanwhile, the Minister of Education (also a Labor member) is expanding the school feeding program whereby children at the schools are given free food courtesy of the .gov.il and the Government's Glorious Subcontractors.

Does nobody REMEMBER what happened to the limited feeding program where the food was provided courtesy of subcontractors that were members of the Likud Center (i.e., our equivalent of the National Party committee)? Does anybody think that this will result in anything other then more graft, yet more graft, and horrible food? Has anybody in Israel not eaten food made by the government during the Army? Why the hell do we have to subject everybody's children to it?

But I should not complain. This was the obvious result of appointing Labor socialists to two of the most wasteful offices in the land.

Elsewhere, in saner countries...

2006-05-08T10:37:00.000+03:00

National group honors councilman (IndyStar)

Scott Keller, a Republican City-County Council member, received an award in Washington last weekend for his sponsorship of the city's human rights ordinance.

The ordinance bans discrimination in the workplace and housing market based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Log Cabin Republicans, a national organization supporting equality for gays, gave him its Heartland Hero Award for courageous work in organizing a campaign that persuaded four council members to switch their vote last December.

The news release from the group noted that Keller received several death threats during the debate and after the ordinance passed. Several police officers volunteered to guard his home, it said.

Not to worry -- the gun enthusiast can protect himself.

"As a Republican and a certified firearms instructor, I believe in the Second Amendment," Keller told the group. "I have a .357 Magnum. If they don't get me on the first shot, they won't have a chance to take a second shot."

Things you did not know (nor wanted to) about the Israeli Economy.

2006-05-07T13:48:00.000+03:00

Prices for several Key Products are not set by the evil free market but rather by the Benign Regulatory state. This is why bread in Israel is significantly more expensive then in such an Evil Capitalist Country as the United States.
Recently, the new Labor-Kadima government, which cares about you, raised the price of bread 7%.
While any of the two above is retarded, the actual dialogue durin the Knesset debates of this is priceless. My translation follows:

Opening Comittee Chairman Statement: "I would like to note that the raise is not enough and te Cabinet would like to raise the bread prices by 15% more due to the rise in fuel prices."

MK Shaul Ya'halom: (3 minutes later) "I implore you - before it is too late - cancel this edict. If the government needs to raise prices, raise the prices on fuel ."
[snip]
MK Ya'ir Peretz: "I join with MK Ya'halom's suggestion. If the government were smart, it's increase the fuel prices more instead of the bread."

I kid you not. Actual text of discussion.

Daniel Doron Speaks

2006-04-30T10:04:00.000+03:00

fPro-market reforms weren't defeated on March 28
Originally published in Wed 26 Apr 2006 in The Jerusalem Post

Commentators and pundits claim that the Likud’s election defeat signifies a rejection of Binyamin Netanyahu’s pro-market reforms and the embrace of the socialist policies of Amir Peretz’s Labor Party.

Nothing of the sort. While the formation of a Kadima-Labor coalition will most probably result in the adoption of some of Labor’s disastrous economic policies, the predominant reason for the election results has been, as usual, a concern with the Arab-Israeli conflict and much less with economic issues.

You can read the rest here.

I doubt this greatly though. If pro-market candidates could win elections in Israel, the pro-market opinion would be so much more noticeable in this country. I mean... does Israel even look like it has a pro-market majority?

Is there no limit?

2006-04-19T22:51:00.000+03:00

What now? What? Is there no depth of idiocy to which people will not descend? Is the human mind, the basic decency, not supposed to rebel at some point and scream: God, I'm not supposed to be doing this, this is stupid? Do not people have some form of shame?!

Now, as some of you may now, there's such a thing in the world as a PISA exam. It's an international exam taken by school children to compare the quality of the schools in different industrialised nations.One of these nations is Israel.

As you understand, the whole point of the exam is that it's taken in classes all over one's nation, with the young and innocent taking it with no preparation above what they normally study in school. Why? To test their normal school study levels.

So, the teachers in Israel, apparently having failed reading comprehension, claim that the students in Israel are not ready for this exam, and must receive additional instruction (yes, I am aware that this defeats the whole point). Of course, the teachers would receive overtime pay for this. They have started demanding this, and now they are on strike because all their attempts to get the Ministry of Education to go along have failed.

So they are now on strike – depriving the pupils of whatever instruction they get. And now they are even further outraged, and why?

Because the PISA exams will be taken in the various schools on different dates starting on April 23^rd. Of course, they will be on strike – unless the eeeeevil Ministry of Education succeeds with it's lawsuit that would rule striking just on the day of the exam illegal and make the teachers actually work for a day, on pain of losing pay.

The teachers are now claiming that by doing this, the government had 'declared war on the teachers' union'.

Oh god! The outrageous concept that people actually work for their wages! For one whole day!

The union people have also added: “If these people win the lawsuit – God forbid – then we will find other ways to hurt them, if you know that I mean.”

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3241146,00.html

Blast In South Tel Aviv Injures At Least 30 people

2006-04-17T14:04:00.000+03:00

This just in.

To tell the truth, I can't really comment on this in any way - no information.

So just linking you all.

In the meanwhile, in Golani camp...

2006-04-17T12:49:00.000+03:00

A total of 17 veteran Golani Brigade infantry soldiers, angered by a series of disciplinary an procedural moves within their unit, abandoned a northern border stronghold which faces Hezbollah troops, Army Radio said on Monday.

In what was described by Army Radio as a "mutiny," the 17 soldiers left the fortress after six of them underwent a disciplinary hearing for an incident in which one allegedly dumped shampoo on sleeping bags belonging to soldiers from a yeshivat hesder unit [which combines religious studies with army service].

The soldiers fled to the nearby town of Kiryat Shmona, where they hid in an abandoned structure, eluding senior brigade officers and other commanders for hours.

From Ha'aretz .

Yet again, Golani troops demonstrate their proclivity to obey discipline. Now, observe what those procedural moves where.

The radio said the protest was staged after the brigade commander, Colonel Tamir Yadai, had implemented regulations canceling many privileges previously accorded veteran soldiers within Golani...

Note here: These privilege are illegal in the first place. They involve veteran soldiers (that is, people nearing the end of their mandator service) abusing the younger troops and making them work for them. And they mutiny when this is is cancelled.

...as well as forbidding them from singing certain songs traditionally sung by the unit's soldiers.

Just a little WTF moment for you.

P.S.

This is not new to Golani.

Citizens Against Liberman.

2006-04-14T19:43:00.000+03:00

There has been now a host of people who collected, and submitted to Ollmert, 300 signatures, urging him to abstain from including Liberman in the coalition. Among these people is leftist intellectual and writer Joshua Sobol. They claim, for no basis in fact that I know of, that Liberman wants to deny the right to vote to Arab-Israelis. Liberman, true, advocates an oath of fealty to Israel as obligatory to vote and to be elected, but this is (while it is wrong and I oppose it) – not the same as full-on racial discrimination. He has also repeatedly said he will give up that position in order to implement his other, comparatively sane reforms.

Now, to be clear: I oppose Liberman, and he's a crazy racist fuck.

But to say he's not a legitimate part of the political process – while the Shas party, which claims gays are sick people, the Kadima party, headed by the most corrupt idiots in Israeli society, the Labor party – with it's almost equal corruption and hatred of 'the rich' – are is unbelievable in it's hypocrisy.. How is Liberman worse then Shas?

Again: I did not vote for Liberman. Not will I vote for him in 2010, unless of course he ditches his racism.

Further I ask: Why should Ollmert consider the signatures of 300 people and not the votes of the dozens of thousands who voted for Liberman?

PS: The Yediot Ahronot article is here.

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3239748,00.html

Look at this fellow.

2006-04-13T22:27:00.000+03:00

This man to the right is Valese. Israel Vales. He is the son of a "famous Haredi family", and he's under arrest for killing his three-month old child. I do not say he is a suspect, because he confessed this crime. According to Tuesdays 'Israeli' newspaper, he was upset because the child didn't let him sleep. He 'elineated before the investigators the different ways in which he 'calmed down' the child - beatings, kickings, biting, and finally smashing the child's head against the wall.' Numerous bite marks and other signs of injury were found on the baby's body.

You would think it'd be over once he confessed. But oh no. He's now claimed he's been 'intimidated into confession'. There are now eminent rabbis coming out to his defense, claiming the 'allegations are as false as the ones the evil Europeans mounted on our ancestors'.

At last news report, people are rioting in Jerusalem, burning trash cans and demanding his release.

Only one quote is needed from Israel's media: Members of the ultra-Orthodox community have been disseminating flyers containing threats of rioting unless Vales is released by Passover eve. The community is convinced of Vales' innocence, despite his confession to having beaten his son. The flyers call for the community to "unite and protest against this blood libel" and declares the arrest to be an "evil conspiracy" devised by the "evil regime" against the "dear gentle young man."

This is the Ha'aretz report.

Observe now:

You create a welfare system designed to encourage people not to work, but instead to have 5, 6, 10 children.

You encourage people monetarily not to work, but to 'study the Torah'.

You create a community where people do not work, but have children and 'study the Torah'.

Then, in that community, people are encouraged to have children as early as possible - no matter whether they are mature enough to handle it.

This is your creation.

Israeli legislators, meet Israel Vales.

Why I am not posting about the coalition forming.

2006-04-07T23:02:00.000+03:00

First, a lot of the coalition comments are lies. A lot of party members, on all sides, are deliberately issuing false reports, or making moves deliberately planned to confuse their opponents, such as Labour's attempt to form a government led by Peretz. Since all parties have cadres of trained spinmeisters to produce false information, while the coalition talks themselves are secret – with little sources of true information, I see it pointless to comment on the situation.

Second, what really determines the situation in the country is the public mood. As of now, according to polls, the majority of the citizens of Israel want a bigger government. Only twenty-seven percent want less taxes and less government intervention.

Read it again: Twenty-seven percent.

And then tell me, how for the love of allmighty God can you expect this country to improve?

Peretz and Ollmert join forces.

2006-04-05T01:15:00.000+03:00

It is now decided. If there were any doubts at all, it has now been decided:

Ollmert will let Peretz into the coalition.

This will mean, regardless of what official assurance they offer, that the economic reforms of Netanyahu are dead. They will now allow Labor, by their very presence in the coalition, to lend credence to the ideas of socialism, while discrediting the very idea of a free market.

Nevermind whatever free-market reforms Netanyahu performed were minimal at best and thoroughly half-assed. Nevermind the corruption of Netanyahu's entourage. What the electorate remembers – and will be reminded day after day by Peretz and his men – is that this is the free market.

Let us ignore the fact that the course of privatisation and deregulation will now be slowed down if not stopped altogether. Let us ignore the fact that Labor lacks any fiscal responsiblity whatsoever – their representatives shout down Stanley Fisher because he, they say, "has no authority to speak about economics. The mere fact that they will act, consciously and deliberately, to discredit free-market ideas, should be enough.

Yes, I know Braverman, Peretz's second-in-command, claims to support the Irish or Swedish economic model (nevermidn the two are not the same), which would involve deregualtion of the market and taxing the resulting prosperity to help the poor. Does anybody really trust this guy?
Not that I would be disappointed if my expectations proved false...

Nation surrounded by foes... how quaint

2006-03-30T02:46:00.000+02:00

This is in response to a comment I hear very often from Israelis and non-Israelis alike, stating that “Israel needs the draft” because if it were not for the military draft, Israel would be crushed by it's enemies. This is usually followed up by the statement that “Israel is a nation surrounded by foes.” Ladies and gentlemen! Especially non-Israelis! Boris Karpa, citizen of the state of Israel (ID Card 307333377) now debunks this for what it is:

Total, insane, unmitigated bullshit.

A military draft may be justifiable when a nation is facing total, industrial-scale warfare (think Israel in 1948, France in 1914-1918, and so forth). Such warfare, determined (so some theoreticists believe) by numbers, rather by individual skill, requires one use as much manpower as possible. In this case, since the defense of the Motherland depends on draftees, surely the military draft is morally justified, especially if the potential enemy will likely commit numerous atrocities on the civilian populace.

The problem is that this theory (leaving aside it's numerous faults, inconsistencies, and so forth) no longer applies in any way to what is happening in Israel. Israel is no longer a country 'surrounded by foes', and the threat of being attacked by multiple enemies from different sides is... well, last time that happened, it was in 1973. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq were involved as the main attackers. Egypt and Jordan have peace treaties and economic cooperation with Israel, Iraq ain't attacking anyone anytime soon, and Syria has recently even failed to respond to an Israeli attack on it's positions.

All the enemies of Israel can do now is fund terrorists. Said terrorists are getting less and less effective all the time – and are hardly the kind of force that you would need draftees to cope with. Nor are they a good explanation for the host of clerks, schoolteachers, and other needless 'duties' a lot of current Israeli soldiers pull against their will. Wouldn't Israel be better off if these people were left free to go to university, start a business, or even work at a real job?

But forgive me. We are a nation surrounded by foes. That way, we don't need to repeal the 58-year old state of emergency. That way we don't need to reduce the authority of Shabak to tap phones and administratively detain people. That way we don't need to cut the defense budget, close government-owned defense-sector plants, and – God forbid! - send herds of elderly generals out to pasture. Nor do we need to repeal the military draft – or actually care about any of the nation's internal problems.

Bein a nation surrounded by foes sure does help things.

Elections and Photos

2006-03-30T00:40:00.000+02:00

Hello people. First of all, the reason I didn't post was the run-up to the elections. I was active in the Ale-Yarok campaign. Why Ale-Yarok? Well, they want to legalize gay marriage, prostitution, gambling, and yes, light drugs. It's not good enough, but it is good.

Second, yes, Ale Yarok lost. By this I mean, they did not get into the Knesset and it does not seem likely they ever will (although the leadership is whining childishly and claims that it is possible they will get in once the last votes are counted. Bullshit, I say).

Third, Labor won – they have 22 mandates and are likely to have a key seat in the coalition. Is it necessarily bad? I do not know. On one hand, they favor a growing welfare-state. On the other, they oppose the system of children's payouts that existed before Netanyahu, as they “merely caused the poor to get stuck in poverty.” Then again, they want to increase the minimum wage.

What's really interesting is that they claim to want to do it by reducing current military and other budgets and shifting that into welfare. Which is not all bad, in my opinion, because it cuts down on the silly illusion that the Army is sacred – in Israel, most everybody believes the defense budget is sacred and not to be touched, even though we are no longer in reality in a situation where we would need to fight an all-front war.

Further, Labor wants to eliminate a lot of the bureaucracy weighing down the market in Israel – or at least claims to want to. If they do that, that would utterly kick ass. But frankly, I don't believe that. The leader of Labor, after all, is Amir Peretz. The leader of the fabled Israeli Union. Father of the strikes. Will he break down the influence of the government employees? Riiight.

And now, for pictures.

Yosi Beylin, leader of the Meretz Party

Note the slogan over his head. Yes, it IS a vodka commercial.

And I can do WHAT about this?

2006-03-17T19:00:00.000+02:00

Recently, I've been trying to find out if there are other libertarians anywhere around me. For this purpose, I distributed a variety of ads around my campus with “Seeking neoliberals, libertarians, capital-anarchists etc.” and my phone number and email. I have gotten a variety of responses – and even an invitation to study with an free-market/austrian economics group (they're called Citizens for True Social Justice ). I recommend you, too, also go and study with them. My goal of forming a campus libertarian group has not however been reached yet.

Instead, I have received this email:

“neo liberalism is the name of the stupid mainstream in economics, as far as know.
i encountered the term "libertanians" in the book "when corporation rule the world" as the name for those who present themselves as liberals but they mean freedom for the corporations and not for the people. are we talking about the same thing? “

What can one really respond to this kind of... stuff?

Sneaky Olmert

2006-03-12T12:28:00.000+02:00

In today's newspapers, it says - one of the back pages - that the Israeli oil refinery companies - previously state owned, one in Haifa, and one in Ashdod - will be privatised soon, and the bidding has already begun. They will be sold in parts to different corporations, so as to encourage competition in the market.

There are no leftist protests, and there is not much publicity - but Olmert has sneakily made another blow against big government in Israel - and without doing the mistake he did with the privatisation of Bezeq, where it was sold off to just one businessman, with regulations making it difficult for VOIP companies to compete.

But, yes... another nail in socialism's long-awaited coffin.

Boris likes this. A lot.

Voter Apathy?

2006-03-10T21:30:00.000+02:00

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3225705,00.html

The person above supports mandatory voting, among other ways to reduce “voter apathy”. Why is voter apathy a bad thing, I don't know.

Dear Mr. Safran Hon!

I, too, study at the Tel-Aviv University, and perhaps we even met (I study at the Gilman building, if you wonder.) But unlike you, I do not believe there is something particularly wrong with Western hedonism and its attitude towards elections. After decades of progress, Western civilisation has reached a status – unheard before in history – where a man can fairly sure that whatever government policy is, it will not oppress him, his friends and family, and deprive him of his livelihood (unless he's Marc Emery). In the 1600's, hunger was a prevalent problem in Europe. Now, the prevalent worry of the West – Israel included – is not starvation, but obesity.

The solution for hunger has been found – Western capitalism, and some limited welfare payouts to the few unable to work, can guarantee nobody will starve. Not even in Israel. A westernized perception of human rights guarantees a lack of death camps and mass-destruction. Nothing REALLY BAD will happen if you don't vote, and by now, everybody knows that.

On the other hand, what GOOD will happen if you DO vote? We are left to choose between a nondescript centrist (Olmert) who cannot even point out a single achievement in his 40-year political career to describe how he served Israel, a socialist extremist (Peretz) whose political ideology is best left to the history books, and a sleazy corruptionist (Netanyahu) who has taken the beautiful values of the free market and of liberal economics, and used them as a fig leaf to cover a policy of cronyism and growing government democracy (under Netanyahu's reforms, regulatory bureaucracy GREW). We are left to choose between even more extreme leftists (Meretz) and religious right-wingers (MAFDAL) proudly wrapping themselves in the orange cloths of Gush Katif and Amona.

Their foreign policy differences are equally useless – Netanyahu has signed peace agreements in the past, and will, I am sure, do so again if elected PM. Olmert and Peretz state their positions outright.

Why the hell SHOULD we vote? What is the glorious new future that can be opened to us if we do? What is the POINT?

The idea of a 150-shekel fine for not voting is downright harmful. Personally, if the difference between paying and not paying the fine will induce a person to come to the polls - and otherwise he wouldn't have come to them, this person is probably not the kind of person who follows the nation's politics with care, learning about the different issues and watching the Knesset channel – that person will come to the election anyway. If a person doesn't care about the issues involved, are you SURE you want him to vote?

Most importantly, the whole point of a western democratic republic is the preservation of indiviudal rights. That, and nothing else, is the key point of democracy – the principle that “All men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights...” To preserve these rights is the purpose of government in a Westernized democratic republic. Not to give money to the poor – well and good though that be ( I support doing that). Not to fund Mr. Ollmert's salary. Among those rights is the right to express my political opinion on Election Day – and that opinion could well be “I don't give a damn.”

Sincerely yours,

Boris Karpa

We're the Government. We're here to help.

2006-03-09T19:11:00.000+02:00

Do you remember the Compensation and Evacuation Act? The one where we got the Gush Katif people out and compensated them for property lost?

Well, except we didn't.

The Inspector-General's report on the subject is out.
It's not written by settlers. It's a government paper.

It says, among other things:

"The Act does not allow for proper compensation of the evacuees."

But even if it did, the majority of people have not received their cash yet.

According to the government, only 40% received the entire sum they deserve so far - and 10% didn't receive the sum at all.

Wasn't eminent domain about taking your property, but at least PAYING you for it?

Screw Denmark, here comes Israel

2006-03-09T19:05:00.000+02:00

Does anybody remember the call of the Muslims for te Denmark government to do something about the EVIL, EVIL drawings of Mohammad because they offended their religious feelings?

Guess what, I suspect the Israeli government would have accomodated. Recently, Shinui has broadcasted a campaign message which involved seven religious Jews (attire and all) grabbing onto the ankles of a 'secular Jew's (no attire) to prevent him from walking. This was to symbolize the damage dones by the power of the religious lobby, and the fact that 'they' don't want 'you' to get to the voting booth and vote Shinui. A distasteful bit, I think, especially as some religious vote for Shinui and Hetz.

But what Judge Dorit Beinish did was worse.

She banned the broadcast of the ad, citing it 'offends the public emotion.'

What that means, I know not.

What I know is Shinui now broadcasts their stuff with the relevant scenes replaced with mere black frames - and it says it even better, IMHO.

Brief Summary of Israeli Gun Laws

2006-03-06T13:36:00.000+02:00

Firearms Act, 1949, gives a lot of discretion on the subject to the Ministry of The Interior and the Ministry of Defense. The offshoot of this is

A)According to the law, anything with a barrel that shoots objects that can harm a human, or any part of such an item is a firearm. MoI has discretion. Currently, airguns are firearms. Further, the Ministry of Defense has the authority to define what firearms are "military firearms" - barring access to common serfs. Ever since 1950, any rifle larger than .22 and any automatic weapon were firearms.

B) The MoD can decide who it gives licenses to. The current policy is that gun licenses can be only given to:

a)People inheriting guns (no carry, possession only)
b)Hunters (2 shotguns only)
c)ex-military captains, private guards, taxi/bus drivers, gold dealers, inhabitants of danger zones (1 handgun only.)
d)target shooters (2 guns only)
e)Civil guard volunteers (1 handgun
f)Civil Guard Snipers (rifles)

.22 rifles are banned, except grandfathered ones, hunting with rifles is illegal. Any form of outdoor shooting is illegal. People may only buy 50 rounds per year, except those shot at public ranges.

Note that inhabitants of "danger zones" often get issued full-auto guns.

Their Faces

2006-03-06T12:33:00.000+02:00

I promised to have images uploaded of the Meretz student meeting yesterday, and indeed I do.
So here I go.

Random lefty activist:

They accompanied Mrs. Gal'on throughout the event. Here's another one of her "guards"

Here's MK Gal'on herself:

The lady on the right is from HADASH, the communist party - she asked Gal'on whether she opposes the fashion industry. Naturally enough, Gal'on said - with PRIDE! - that indeed she does just that. Note the facial expression.

Our next specimen is this here fellow. He's an operative of the Labor party, accusing Gal'on of slandering the good name of the Labor party - "Why are you saying we are not the real left? SURE WE ARE!"

The next picture is of him arguing with the HADASH lady, accusing her, among other things, of killing the 'true communist movement'. Either way, I would like to point out that this lady was opposed to the fashion industry and it's promotion of a "certain kind of feminine beauty."- so how can I not post pictures of her and not point out she's a large-breasted blonde? :D

And, just for kicks:

Zehava Gal'on

2006-03-05T14:30:00.000+02:00

I just attended a political meeting with Zehava Gal'on, who is a member of the Knesset for the Meretz party.

It seems that the lady had very interesting ideas on personal liberty. First of all, she supported legalizing non-religious marriage and gay marriage (it was interesting to see how the tolerant leftists edged away when I pointed out I was bisexual). And she said she "supported the right of every woman to own her body and her life". But then it got weird:

"I would wish the government to provide free education since age 2 and up through college."

When I asked about school vouchers, pointing out they are already proposed by some right-wing parties, she said "It may be a good idea, but it's a right-wing idea." Also, she said she believes "it is the responsibility of the government to provide education.

I should have mentioned homeschooling.

There was also her stance on the military draft - she believes that every citizen should be granted the free choice to either serve in the military or... serve the government for two to three years in another manner. The rationale for that? "We provide you with free education, so you owe the government some service." - didn't I already pay for that with tax money?

There was a communist lass there who asked MK Gal'on why doesn't she oppose the fashion industry (it humiliates women, you see). Gal'on replied "Actually, I frequently speak out in public both against beauty contests and the fashion industry."

There also was a Labor agitator who tried to prove his party was the Real Left-Wing Party[tm].

More details of this silliness coming soon - and pictures, once I can upload them!

The Man Who Speaks For Himself

2006-03-05T11:36:00.000+02:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvan_shalom

This man is Silvan Shalom. He has criticized the government for, and I quote, allowing the Ale-Yarok party to run in the elections.

Under Israeli law, all parties are allowed to run, unless they ‘oppose the goals of Israel as a democratic and Jewish state’. To my knowledge, the last time a party was banned it was for advocating Israel bomb it’s own Arab citizens (Kahane Hai). Even the Arab parties who advocate turning Israel under the warm, loving hand of the Shariat law are allowed to run – and yet, Silvan Shalom wants to ban Ale-Yarok because they are advocating… the legalization of marijuana.

He has continued to state that a war should be waged on all drugs, “regardless of type”, also stating “it starts with a cigarette and ends in heroin and cocaine.”

I can’t really add anything here. The man speaks for himself.

Introduction

2006-03-05T11:23:00.000+02:00

So, dear friends.

I’m Boris Karpa. I live in Israel, and this nation does not comply with any of the famous libertarian principles. Here, the political climate is all about Big Government [mamlachtiut, in Hebrew], gun control [Let’s just say these guys are not just after guns, they are after knives and airguns and airsoft), drug prohibition [They’ve made movement to ban the drug legalization party from running in the elections. It failed – so far], and so forth.

Israel does not have trial by jury, poisoned tree principle, or any kind of protection against unreasonable search and seizure. We have a government monopoly on electricity (de-facto), local phone calls (de-jure), and nearly everything is regulated by them.

There is no separation of religion and state – the religious interests, various yeshivas etc. benefit from a 950 million-shekel budget. The government is corrupt like there’s no tomorrow.

And, last but not least, as far as I know, there’s no libertarian party, movement, or anything like that in Israel. There’s just me. Boris Karpa, a guy with a camera and a blog, who will take all of you through the deepest recesses of the Israeli body politic.

Buckle up and ready your barf bags! Let’s lock and load!