And the Jewish Man of the Year Award goes to...

Gaza
Lieutenant General Keith Dayton is the U.S. Security Assistance Coordinator to the Palestinian Authority. He is the man leading the U.S. effort to train the security forces loyal to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "The situation has gotten to be quite dire in Gaza," he told Congress yesterday. His opening remark are now available and worth reading. Here's one paragraph:

"The recent violence in Gaza may in fact be the beginning of a sustained effort by the Hamas military wing to reassert the dominance of the most extreme elements in the Palestinian political community, and to eliminate altogether Abbas' legitimate security forces in Gaza, creating an extremist state on the border of Israel, a major concern that is the subject of frequent discussions I have with my Israeli counterparts. I note that the Presidential Guard unit at the Karni crossing with Israel, who has already received training coordinated by the USSC mission and funded by European donors, successfully stood its ground last week and fought off a determined Hamas attack. The NSF battalion there also acquitted itself well, despite its dire need of material and financial support and the death of its battalion commander. I fear Hamas is in this fight for keeps. For this hearing, let me say that the worrisome scenario in Gaza that I have been warning about for the past several months is coming to a head. We are entering a rough patch, but all is not lost and our regional partners share that sentiment. However, it is critical that those who support the legitimate authority and forces represented by President Abbas receive the critical assistance they need."

Boycott
The Jewish man of the year award - if such a prize were to exist - should probably go to Prof. Steven Weinberg of Texas for his decision to boycott Britain because of the boycotting of Israel by British institutions ("I'm not calling on anyone else not to go to Britain," he told Haaretz). It's bold, refreshing, original and justified. The boycott-foolishness has been going on for too long without any proper response (not that I suspect it will stop now). Weinberg is accomplished enough as to make this act of protest meaningful.
The British Guardian, the first to publish this story, has a lively debate going on which you can read here.
More about the many awards Weinberg received (apart from the Jewish man of the year) can be found here . A list of Jewish Nobel Prize winners, including Weinberg, is here.

AIPAC
The New York Sun revealed this morning that Intelligence agencies have decided to declassify a large volume of classified information in order to move forward with the criminal prosecution of two pro- Israel lobbyists accused of trafficking America's national secrets. Here's my latest blog related to the trial.

Time out
I'm taking a time out and will not be posting more blogs until after Memorial Day, next Tuesday (a new baby landed in my house and I need to get used to her).
You can still read the dialogue with my current guest, John Judis, who writes about American politics and I will have a new guest coming early next week.