Segacs’s World I Know

Another big win for the Habs!

Game 7, here we come!

Early reports say that the IDF has blown up the car of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi. No indications of whether Rantisi himself is among the dead. This is all very preliminary.

Please let it be true!

Update:Haaretz says they got him. Still waiting for confirmation.

Update #2: An LGF commentator posted a link to Israel Channel 10, who is reporting the story live. If you speak Hebrew, and have Media Player, go see.

Update #3: Channel 10 has changed its status on Rantisi from “killed” to “critically wounded”. Two of Rantisi’s guards were apparently killed in the missile strike, but Rantisi seems still to be among the living. They’re showing shots of Rantisi in the hospital, after being rushed there by ambulance.

Update #4: They’re back to saying his status is “killed”. Seems he was pronounced clinically dead at a Gaza hospital. Reports still conflicting. Also, they are reporting that the expected US reaction is an assertion that Israel has the right to defend itself.

Update #5: All the news outlets are confirming it now. Reuters. CNN. FoxNews. BBC. He’s really dead.

Update #6: CNN says that the three people killed were Rantisi, a bodyguard, and Rantisi’s son, Mohammed, 20.

And of course, the PA is spewing its usual threats about retaliation… just like it did after Yassin’s assassination. But the wall did its job, and the large-scale “retaliation” (i.e. attempted murder of innocent civilians to “avenge” a murdering terrorist) has thankfully not materialized. Even the Israeli reports seem a lot less fearful today than they did after Yassin’s death.

Harry isn’t impressed by how the voting on Sharon’s disengagement plan will be taking place:

Am I the only one who is a bit worried about 200,000 members of the Likud party determining the future of Israel? Shouldn’t the referendum be open to all Israelis, not just Likud? Last time I checked Ariel Sharon is prime minister of all Israelis not just Likud members. We should be wary of Likud’s central committee and membership due to their voting track record. I mean, they voted a waitress into a top spot of their party list last election…

He follows up with a scary position statement by the “Manhigut” faction of the Likud party – a fringe element, no doubt, but in the grand tradition of fringe, the term “lunatic” wouldn’t be too inappropriate.

I’m with Harry on this one. Luckily, most members of Likud aren’t like that. But unfortunately, there are enough wingnuts that it makes the voting strategy a little suspect, to say the least.

A few surprisingly on-point Gazette editorials today:

Here’s Norman Webster on the Khadr family and Canada’s welcoming of terrorists:

In his book, Cold Terror: How Canada Nurtures and Exports Terrorism Around the World, [author Stuart] Bell sums up: “Canada has tried to smother terrorism with kindness. … It is perhaps a typically Canadian approach. But it is wrong, dead wrong.”

And here’s Ian Mulgrew on Svend Robinson:

The 52-year-old New Democrat MP always has had a flair for the dramatic and a penchant for look-at-me stunts. But this televised mea culpa topped them all. In one stroke, Robinson created the impression he was leaving politics because of serious psychiatric issues, while simultaneously wedging the door open for his return.

And back to hockey, on the national anthem booing saga:

Let’s see what happens tonight when the series resumes in Montreal. We hope those Bell Centre louts who have booed the U.S. anthem in the past will take a cue from the class showed in Boston on Thursday, and at the very least stand in respectful silence.

On that last one, let’s hope there’s no booing at the game tonight at all – whether for an anthem, or for the game itself. Go Habs!

And on that note… it’s sunny and beautiful out so I’m officially declaring the weekend begun.

Have a good one! And GO HABS GO!

Fadi Fadel has been released:

Thirty-three-year-old Fadi Fadel was kidnapped 10 days ago, leaving his Montreal-based family fearing for his life. A Reuters report earlier Friday said that he had been assaulted but Arab television footage showed him ecstatic and displaying no visible injuries.

The Syrian-born Canadian citizen was not released as quickly as some of the other kidnapped aid workers, probably because his captors “accused” him of being Jewish, Israeli, or even an Israeli Mossad agent. (Apparently to the Islamists, they’re all equivalent accusations).

Fadal’s parents, family, and the Canadian government spent a lot of time denying these “accusations”. And precious little time saying anything about the fact that “Jew” and “Israeli” aren’t dirty words. Perhaps that’s understandable, as their goal was to secure Fadal’s release. But it leaves an icky feeling in the taste of my mouth. Perhaps the Canadian government didn’t directly negotiate with the terrorists… but they sure played their game. If we spend a lot of time saying “release him, he’s not Jewish”, then isn’t that almost like saying that it’s okay to kidnap Jews?

One year ago, Meryl posted a very appropriate Yom Ha’Shoah discussion, in which she pointed out that in 1933 in Germany, the Jews were encouraged not to draw attention to themselves so as to avoid being harassed:

From The Testimony of Lucille Eichengruen:

Interviewer: What happened after 1933?

Answer: In 1933 the climate changed. There were restrictions, there were ugly incidents – we walked to school, children would beat us up. Children would yell at us and make nasty remarks. We were told to be quiet on the streetcar. We were told not to draw attention to ourselves, and slowly and gradually people began to leave. Students, teachers – it was a very unsettled situation. It was constant turmoil and for a child it was not conducive to learning.

“We were told not to draw attention to ourselves.” It’s what Jews used to do. It’s what Jews had to do. It’s what the world was used to Jews doing. That’s why the German police told its Jewish population to stop wearing any outward signs of Judaism so they wouldn’t be attacked by thugs — last year. It’s one of the attitudes that got six million of us slaughtered then, and countless thousands more murdered over the centuries.

We don’t keep our heads down anymore. We won’t.

The Nazis didn’t want the Jews to draw any positive attention… but they encouraged negative attention. Which is why they imposed the yellow star armband or patch. They wanted the Jews to keep their heads down – but to be easily identifiable for humiliation and harassment.

The yellow star was a symbol of shame and fear. But the outward symbols of Judaism that many Jews wear today – kippot, magen david or “chai” necklaces or even souvenir t-shirts from Israel with IDF logos or Hebrew lettering – are anything but. They’re symbols of pride. They’re saying, you can’t label us because we’re proud to advertise who and what we are!

I wear my magen david necklace all the time. (These days I also wear an Israel flag pin on my jacket lapel.) But even I removed my necklace before going touring around Europe. I told myself it was because I didn’t want to risk breaking or losing it – same as the other jewellery I left at home. But if truth be told, I was also a little nervous about travelling with the star of david around my neck through the same countries that forced their Jews to wear yellow stars only a few short decades ago. I’m not proud of that. Far from it. But I didn’t want to ask for trouble either.

Now it’s two years later, and if I had to do it again I’d probably wear the star. Because I’ve learned that sometimes you have to wear your colours with pride, in order to let the world know that you will never again allow them to make you wear their colours with shame.

If the PQ wins the next election, they will overturn any municipal demergers that citizens vote for this June, Landry said today:

The Parti Québécois leader said that it is the Quebec government that is responsible for municipal borders and not the citizens. Landry’s comments provoked murmurs in the audience.

Landry said that to demolish the megacities would be one of the worst things to ever occur in the political history of Quebec.

I lost track of how many double-negatives there are in that one.

Not that this surprises me too much, of course. It was the PQ that merged the municipalities in the first place, without consulting the people and while steamrolling over democracy. They’ve done it once; they can do it again. It wouldn’t shock me.

And the Liberals are allowing demerger referendums as promised, but they’re not exactly making it easy. Today is the last day to revise the electoral list, in a procedure that’s so unclear that 9 out of 10 staunch demerger activists have no idea what they’re supposed to do. Then, 10% of the people in each sector have to sign a register calling for a referendum, in order to have one. Most people don’t know how to go about that, or even what the steps involved are.

No, Mr. Landry, the demolishing of the megacity wouldn’t be one of the worst things to ever occur. That honour goes to the creation of the megacity in the first place.

The whole thing drives me nuts. Why is 50%+1 enough to take Quebec out of Canada, according to the PQ, but not enough to win back our cities that were stolen from us in the first place? I’d love to see Landry’s reaction if the Federal government were to tell him that the Federal government is responsible for provincial borders and not the citizens.

Nobody ever said Quebec politics make sense. But the blatant disregard for the will of the people is just getting worse. And with Charest’s approval rating in the toilet, Landry can pretty much say whatever he wants and still get elected next time around.

After her army service and before starting university, an Israeli friend of mine worked for a while as a security guard at elementary schools.

All the schools have armed guards now in Israel, for obvious reasons. They guard entranceways, check bags of people going in, and basically stay on the alert for anything suspicious. It’s sad but necessary. And as much as I hated my friend’s choice of job, it did pay better than waitress or gas station attendant… and let’s face it, these days it wasn’t really any more dangerous. But as much as I love Israel, I was grateful that I live in safe, secure Canada, where schools don’t need security guards.

Not anymore.

This morning, on my regular drive to work, I passed by a local Jewish elementary school, as I do every day. Yesterday was the first day of classes after Passover for the students there, and I didn’t notice anything in particular since I went into the office very early. But today, I drove by while the kids were out in the schoolyard for recess. And in addition to the teachers at their regular posts inside the schoolyard fence, I couldn’t help but see the security guard standing just outside. He was wearing a big jacket saying “SECURITY” in huge letters, and wearing an earpiece, and he was watching the traffic and all the people around the school with an alert, hardened look in his eyes.

He was the only guard I saw, but there may have been others. I understand why it’s necessary. The U.T.T. firebombing makes extra security a necessity. From the parents’ point of view, the more the better – anything to protect their kids.

But it also saddens me immensely that it’s come to this. That here, in safe secure Montreal, we need security at elementary schools to prevent sickos with agendas from attacking children.