Jewish Superheroes of the Holocaust

Yesterday was Holocaust Memorial Day, the day set aside to remember the liberation of Auschwitz -Birkenau concentration camp - a solemn day for all people especially for the Jews. Many of us have relatives or neighbors who survived those awful years in concentration camps, having their families wiped out.

What is most interesting are these photographs that put the enormity of the Holocaust into a more individual perspective.

20 Photos That Change the Holocaust Narrative

To be honest, I have always had trouble learning about the Holocaust, the evil of mankind, the depravity, the depths that people are able to sink to - but these pictures also remind us of the amazing people who were in these camps, those who survived and those who did not. We are reminded of their individuality. They were not just the numbers tattooed into their arms designed to take away their humanity, but real people, real individuals.

These were amazing people who did amazing things while in the camps, the self-sacrifice to stay alive, the self-sacrifice to to help each other, extraordinary things to keep their faith in G-d under incredibly hellish circumstances that we can't even imagine. The amazing people who were tortured and murdered simply for being Jews… were individuals.

For those surviving, the ability to put on plays and shows in the DP camps, needed a strength that is unimaginable. To move on with their lives and build new families even when they already had a family that was wiped out needed a strength that is beyond incredible.

When we think about the Holocaust we are overwhelmed by the scale of the destruction, a third of the Jewish People wiped off the face of the earth. Over 6 million people gone - along with their descendants. But these pictures are an opportunity to break down that number into faces, friends and relatives… individuals. Special individuals - our Jewish superheroes.

We honor them.

My Prediction for the Keystone Pipeline

Recently the Canadian government has been getting tired of waiting for 5 years! (can't image why they might be impatient) to hear from the Obama administration whether or not they will go ahead with the Keystone XL Pipeline that will bring Canadian crude oil to Texas refineries - a project that would bring plenty of much needed jobs and help bring energy independence to the United States.

Of course Secretary of State John Kerry has basically told the Canadians to cool their heals - we aren't ready to make a decision.

My prediction for the Keystone XL Pipeline? President Obama will pass on the project - citing environmental concerns. At this point the Obama administration doesn't have the guts to straight out tell the Canadians that he's not interested. He'd rather be obnoxious and string the Canadians along while he waits for the midterm elections to pass. At that point when there is nothing more for the Democrats to lose, Obama will announce the big news.

Iranian Peace "Overtures"?

Melanie Phillips is spot on about the Iranian situation, but that's no surprise, she generally is.

‘Game on’: why Iran goads the gullible west

Jim Geraghty from the National Review comments in todays 'Morning Jolt':
Why Is the Administration So Credulous about Iran?

"Wary" is my word of 2014 so far. On front after front, we, the American public, are being asked to accept, on faith, that the big changes afoot will lead to good outcomes, despite ominous indicators. The State of the Union address might as well begin with John Williams's Jaws theme.

It's full speed ahead on the individual mandate despite the headaches and messes so far. Full speed ahead for the employer mandate in 2015, despite the fear that some employers will prefer to pay the fine and dump their employees into the exchange. We're told expanding Medicaid won't leave state governments or federal taxpayers on the hook for much higher costs of providing medical care. We're assured that raising the minimum wage to $10 per hour will help all the low-income workers, won't slow down already sluggish hiring, and that we won't notice the price hikes at the cash register. Let's leave Iraq to sort out its own troubles. Let's get out of Afghanistan. "Trust us," they say.

And oh, by the way, the Iranians say they're giving up their nuclear weapons.

Now, we know these guys. We know these guys because they took over our embassy in 1979. We know these guys from the Khobar Towers attack. We know these guys from our recent State Department report on terrorism:

Despite its pledge to support the stabilization of Iraq, in 2011 Iran continued to provide lethal support – including weapons, training, funding, and guidance – to Iraqi Shia militant groups that targeted U.S. and Iraqi forces. Iran also continued to provide weapons, training, and funding to Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups, including Palestine Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. Since the end of the 2006 Israeli- Hizballah conflict, Iran has provided significant quantities of weaponry and funding to Hizballah, in direct violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.

In 2011, the United States discovered that elements of the Iranian regime had conceived and funded a plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States in Washington D.C. Mansour Arbabsiar, an Iranian-born U.S. dual-national working on behalf of the IRGC-QF, was arrested in September 2011 for his role in the plot; also indicted in the case was an IRGC-QF officer who remains at large. Arbabsiar held several meetings with an associate whom Iranian officials believed was a narcotics cartel member. This associate, in fact, was a confidential source for U.S. law enforcement. The thwarted plot underscored anew Iran's interest in using international terrorism – including in the United States – to further its foreign policy goals.

Qods Force provided training to the Taliban in Afghanistan on small unit tactics, small arms, explosives, and indirect fire weapons, such as mortars, artillery, and rockets. Since 2006, Iran has arranged arms shipments to select Taliban members, including small arms and associated ammunition, rocket propelled grenades, mortar rounds, 107mm rockets, and plastic explosives. Iran has shipped a large number of weapons to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in particular, aiming to increase its influence in this key province.

In 2011, Iran remained unwilling to bring to justice senior AQ (al-Qaeda) members it continued to detain, and refused to publicly identify those senior members in its custody. It also allowed AQ members to operate a core facilitation pipeline through Iranian territory, enabling AQ to carry funds and move facilitators and operatives to South Asia and elsewhere.

This is, arguably, the most ruthless, underhanded, amoral and dangerous regime in the world. (Maybe North Korea. I'll take other nominations; but let's face it, Iran is in the top three, even in a rebuilding year.)

Why would we think these guys are going to honor their word?

When the Iranians aren't insisting that the deal guarantees their right to enrich uranium -- contradicting John Kerry -- and claiming that they have a secret side agreement with the U.S. — meaning either they're lying, or our government is lying to us — they're offering messages like this:

Twitter Hassan Rouhani: Our relationship w/ the world is based on Iranian nation's interests. In #Geneva agreement world powers surrounded to Iranian nation's will

Here's Jeffrey Goldberg's pitch:

So why support negotiations? First: They just might work. I haven't met many experts who put the chance of success at zero. Second: If the U.S. decides one day that it must destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, it must do so with broad international support. The only way to build that support is to absolutely exhaust all other options. Which means pursuing, in a time-limited, sober-minded, but earnest and assiduous way, a peaceful settlement.

Er, really? That's the best argument? Most experts put the chance of success at better than zero? Or we need to go through the motions to persuade the world we're not warmongers? Look, the world's opinion on our alleged warmongering has very little to do with our actual mongering of any wars. If we were "warmongers," we wouldn't have "led from behind" in Libya and Bashir Assad would be a red spot on Damascus rubble right now. Besides, the world's usual suspects are going to call us "warmongers" no matter what we do.

Here's the Israeli Defense Minister with a different interpretation of what's driving our foreign policy:

Ya'alon had lashed out at Kerry and savaged Washington-led peace talks in private conversations, according to a report Tuesday in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily. The paper recounted the defense minister lambasting the proposed security arrangements drawn up by Kerry as part of his peace proposal, saying it was "not worth the paper it is printed on" and would not provide security for Israel.

The report also quoted Ya'alon calling Kerry "inexplicably obsessive" and "messianic" in his efforts to coax the two sides into a peace agreement. The defense minister reportedly said Kerry has "nothing to teach me about the conflict with the Palestinians. All that can 'save us' is for John Kerry to win a Nobel Prize and leave us in peace."

Legacy time, baby! Time to reach out to the world's worst and get their signatures on the dotted line, because nobody ever garnered a reputation for being a peacemaker by warily assessing their foes.

RIP Ariel Sharon, Nelson Mandela and Margaret Thatcher

The Politics of Funeral Attendance

Today was former Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon's funeral. He spent his life defending Jews and the State of Israel. He was a proud Jew, showing his support for the "Jewishness" of the State by visiting the holy Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the only holy place we have in the world. While not anywhere perfect, it seems that Sharon did his best to defend the Jewish state and her citizens, putting himself in harms way time and time again. I will not hide my disappointment and anger in his decision to remove the Jews from Gaza (I was in Israel at the time, the 'disengagement' rocked everyone) - but I will give him the benefit of the doubt that somehow he thought that this was what was best for the State.

On a related note, what is interesting to note is who showed up at his funeral. Looking back over the last year - there have been two other notable funerals: Lady Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela.

Lady Thatcher is best well known for standing shoulder to shoulder with President Ronald Reagan when facing down the Soviet Union, ultimately bringing down the Iron Curtain and bringing freedom to millions of people across eastern Europe, the Baltic states and all those countries swallowed by the Communist regime. An amazing lady in her own right, a person who brought Britain back into the forefront of world politics - she is someone who should be honored by all.

What was interesting about her funeral was who showed up to the funeral and who did not. There were no former presidents in attendance. Neither was the current one. Who did the Obama administration send? Ex-Secretaries of State George Shultz and James A. Baker III and assorted other officials. Three current Republican House members did also attend. Not one Democrat was there. Interesting.

Nelson Mandela's funeral, on the other hand, brought world leaders out of the woodwork. Mandela was no doubt an important man in bringing South African apartheid to an end without bloodshed - perhaps he was the only one who could have done it. While we no doubt had a special leader we are speaking of, there are legitimate concerns related to his questionable associations with terrorist leaders PLO Yasser Arafat and Libyan Muammar Gaddafi. To add to these concerns, we know that Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe attended his funeral - were they friendly?

Three ex-Presidents, and the current occupant of the office, traveled to South Africa to give their respects. Not one could be bothered to show their face in London earlier in the year?

Vice-President Joe Biden is currently in Israel for former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's funeral - certainly a nice gesture, but not one that makes sense ideologically, when we know that Sharon was a hard-liner (read: believed in the security of the Jewish State), but one that makes sense politically. Since we know that the Obama's foreign policy is in shambles - Iran's red lines are being erased by the minute, oh wait I forgot, we made a "peace" deal, they are considering thinking about getting rid of their nuclear weapons, Syria's President Assad has been using chemical and conventional weapons murdering his people wholesale… it is always a good time to pressure Israel into doing something stupid (read: re-starting the "peace process").

Make no mistake, Vice-President Biden is only in Israel to further pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making the same mistakes Ariel Sharon did in the name of "peace". In other words - look, "hardliner" Sharon managed to pull out of Gaza and make "sacrifices", why can't you? That is the only reason Biden is there - to get more concessions out of Israel. We will see what comes out of this visit.

Funerals bring out the essence of the person being honored - we see what they stood for and we see who shared their values. This past year has certainly been interesting.

Quick News Round-up

Robert Gates, former defense secretary, offers harsh critique of Obama’s leadership in ‘Duty’
If he was so unhappy, why did he stay? Or speak up?

Report: Kerry is Behind European Boycotts
This had better be wrong.

Judge rules Chicago gun ban is unconstitutional
Finally some good news for the 2nd Amendment in Chicago.

Kerry and the long-term cost of releasing terrorists
Why is Israel playing this dangerous game?

True Palestinian ‘Peace’ Motive: Eradication of Israel
If the Arabs are clear about their aim of destroying Israel, why does Israel still bother negotiating?