Subscribe to Print Edition | Sun., November 04, 2007 Cheshvan 23, 5768 | | Israel Time: 15:49 (EST+7)
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Five comments on the situation
By Yoel Marcus
tags: Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres 

1. This week Ehud Olmert couldn't claim to be unpopular. The dramatic disclosure that he had prostate cancer plucked at the heartstrings of even the toughest media figures and political rivals. The courage, composure and optimism he displayed as he informed the public of his upcoming surgery turned his greatest critics into lapdogs. Except maybe Micha Lindenstrauss. The newspapers and the electronic media were full of moving, sentimental descriptions of his heroic deportment, along with various diagnoses of his illness, including graphic diagrams of all the private bits that might be affected and where they are located. One journalist wrote that he looked pale. Another said his complexion was yellowish, "something between egg yoke and egg white." Anyone who read Ben Caspit's opus in Maariv would swear the man had personally sat in on all the talks between Olmert and his doctors. In the Knesset, a long line of MKs waited to shake his hand and pat him on the shoulder. But despite all their displays of sympathy, when the politicians return to their offices they engage in cold, cynical calculations about their moves if the worst happens. Prof. Motti Ravid says that the statements about Olmert being fully functional, apart from a "couple of hours" after the surgery, are too optimistic. I can't help wondering what effect these remarks are having on the opponents and rivals of Tzipi Livni, who will be replacing the prime minister during his expected incapacitation of "only four hours." Maybe our leaders of old were right when they hid their illnesses from the public. There might be a club hidden behind all the friendly pats on the shoulder.

2. You know what? Enough is enough with this Annapolis summit. Since all the participants will have their legs tied, as President Shimon Peres put it, all we can expect is minimal achievement, if not outright failure. What should be preoccupying us now is the fact that Israel has become a dangerous place to live in - a country full of corruption and con men and thieves; a country of violent teenagers walking around on the third week of the teachers' strike with knives in their pockets, raping, stabbing and beating people up; a country where old women are brutally attacked and robbed in their homes; a country of wild drivers, fatal car accidents and a police force that is never there when you need it; a country with supermarkets that sell rotten meat and a bureaucracy that turns the lives of citizens trying to get what's coming to them into a nightmare; a country whose security guards are murdered in the street; a country where sipping coffee at a nightclub ends in a brawl; a country of vodka, drugs, switchblades and tears. A real cuckoo's nest.

3. Contrary to the widespread belief, also subscribed to by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, that sanctions like cutting off electricity in Gaza for short periods of time constitute collective punishment which will have the whole world leaping down our throat, yours truly thinks that when we are faced with the kind of war being forced on us by Hamas, the "eye for an eye" method is not half bad. True, people have sympathy for the weak, and one baby in an incubator dying because the electricity goes off is enough to get the world hopping. On the other hand, no country would sit still while its cities and towns are subjected to a daily barrage of Qassam rockets and mortars, year after year. Charging a "passive" fee for the Qassams seems preferable to the kind of large-scale military operation that Ehud Barak is threatening, which could be lengthy and bloody. These sanctions are a warning sign, and at least they don't kill.
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4. Nahman Shai, who coined the famous phrase "drink some water" in his days as army spokesman during the Gulf War, is upset with the Home Front Command for recommending that gas masks be upgraded and the public equipped with sealing materials and other civilian protection. The Second Lebanon War may have left us with wounds that are not fully healed, but Shai sees no reason for driving the country crazy with this old-fashioned gear at a time when the economy and tourism are flourishing. "Israel is not going to be wiped out by Iran," said ex-Mossad chief Ephraim Halevi at a lecture at the Ben Zvi Institute in Jerusalem. Anyway, what good will gas masks or masking tape do if we get nuked?

5. An unconventional request, from the bottom of my heart, to the Israeli legal system: Please, for God's sake, finish up with Moshe Katsav already. No matter how you look at it, he is not going to sit in jail. From a public perspective, he is already disgraced. He won't be running for prime minister as he planned. Even mayor of Kiryat Malakhi is out of the question. Dreyfus he's not. At most, he'll be remembered as a major-league dirty old man.
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  1.   Let me make the record clear 11:37  |  Natallie Durson 02/11/07
  2.   About 3rd point 11:39  |  Uri 02/11/07
  3.   Jews are Jews 11:39  |  David Tretzer 02/11/07
  4.   YEAR AFTER YEAR MY ARSHE 12:00  |  indrajaya 02/11/07
  5.   TERROR FIGHTING REQUIRES 2 EYES FOR AN EYE 12:19  |  Tom Bell 02/11/07
  6.   # 5, TOM BELL 12:31  |  indrajaya 02/11/07
  7.   lots of prevarication 12:49  |  Jane 02/11/07
  8.   TOM Bell: you and your country are the terrorists 12:53  |  Palestinian 02/11/07
  9.   Legitimate rights my arshe 12:55  |  bobby 02/11/07
  10.   heart to heart is THE BEST 12:56  |  Atilla 02/11/07
  11.   #3.Jews are Jes, and you are a Jew-Hater. By that reason you .... 13:20  |  Vittorio 02/11/07
  12.   #6&8Indra&Pal:- Regarding the CONTENT of your DOGMATIC response.. 13:52  |  Tom Bell 02/11/07
  13.   #3 14:04  |  Jasmine Murphy 02/11/07
  14.   Killing field Gaza 14:51  |  Dav 02/11/07
  15.   YEAR AFTER YEAR MY ARSHE 14:59  |  indrajaya 02/11/07
  16.   270 Palestinians killed vs 2 Israelis is not an eye for an eye 15:09  |  Apartheid 02/11/07
  17.   You know what? Enough is enough 15:37  |  GPWS1 02/11/07
  18.   Five Comments 15:37  |  goldie klugman 02/11/07
  19.   #14Apart- BASICALLY YOU WANT MORE JEWS TO DIE, 16:00  |  Tom Bell 02/11/07
  20.   Jane knows best 16:04  |  john 02/11/07
  21.   Marcus should offer his eye for a brain 16:10  |  Tosefta 02/11/07
  22.   #16 16:16  |  B 02/11/07
  23.   Dav parrots propaganda 16:20  |  john 02/11/07
  24.   "270 Palestinians killed vs 2 Israelis is not an eye for an eye" 16:45  |  Dennis 02/11/07
  25.   19 Tom Bell Suppose the Palestinians cease attacking and Israel 17:05  |  Apartheid 02/11/07
  26.   john gets the truth from official IDF spokespersons 17:38  |  Apartheid 02/11/07
  27.   How True 17:39  |  Danite 02/11/07
  28.   indrayas shame #15 17:40  |  Danite 02/11/07
  29.   Dead babies 19:22  |  Ben 02/11/07
  30.   David Tretzer racist statement 19:59  |  Shimon 02/11/07
  31.   Israel`s racist savagery 20:24  |  peacelover 02/11/07
  32.   Shimon "racist statement" 20:37  |  Eric Baumer 02/11/07
  33.   Bad analogy 22:15  |  Michael Greenberg 02/11/07
  34.   Yes, "An Eye For An Eye" 22:44  |  BIG 02/11/07
  35.   Good analogy bad explanation 22:44  |  Ben 02/11/07
  36.   #1, Natalie, you are not clear 22:50  |  Ron 02/11/07
  37.   "Arabs will always be Arabs" Shimon 23:18  |  Barrister 02/11/07
  38.   Gee 23:34  |  What a load of trash 02/11/07
  39.   To Big & Ben & Apartheid 23:54  |  Zev 02/11/07
  40.   I Would Prefer 23:59  |  Yoram 02/11/07
  41.   #25 apartheid, that`s not the only possible outcome 00:02  |  newageblues 03/11/07
  42.   37 Barrister 00:08  |  Shimon 03/11/07
  43.   Question to all Israel haters 02:15  |  Israeli 03/11/07
  44.   Zev--its disingeneous 02:15  |  Ben 03/11/07
  45.   # 9 , BOBBY 05:27  |  indrajaya 03/11/07
  46.   heard about the American script writers going on strike... 05:32  |  Smadar 03/11/07
  47.   peace lover change your name. You make it ugly 07:11  |  ray 03/11/07
  48.   Unfortunately Jews will always be Jews and they have lost 11:42  |  Heinze 03/11/07
  49.   yoel marcus bores the tits off me. 11:47  |  harzion 03/11/07
  50.   Indrajaya # 45 and compliance with the UN 12:49  |  ChanahS 03/11/07
  51.   Five Comments 12:49  |  Joe Rosen 03/11/07
  52.   Ehud Barak-let Gaza alone. 14:06  |  De 03/11/07
  53.   A real cuckoo`s nest.????? 14:12  |  Josh 03/11/07
  54.   Natalie Durson gets it wrong again!!! 15:35  |  sabra 03/11/07
  55.   Indra whatever # 4 15:39  |  sabra 03/11/07
  56.   Indra # 6 15:44  |  Sabra 03/11/07
  57.   Jane # 7 15:48  |  Sabra 03/11/07
  58.   DAV 14 15:52  |  Sabra 03/11/07
  59.   Marcus, make up your mind. 15:59  |  zeev 03/11/07
  60.   to ChanahS #50 16:53  |  zeev 03/11/07
  61.   palestinian # 8 to answer your question on whoes the terrorist, 17:52  |  terrornator 03/11/07
  62.   to Sabra #57 17:54  |  zeev 03/11/07
  63.   apartheid,270 to 2 sounds fair to me,but,would rather see 2700 to 17:57  |  terrornator 03/11/07
  64.   eye for an eye,i`ll agree,one israeli prisoner released for one 18:03  |  terrornator 03/11/07
  65.   sabra #56 100% correct,the pals have always been the trash of 18:12  |  terrornator 03/11/07
  66.   to sabra #58 18:44  |  zeev 03/11/07
  67.   to Palestinian #8 - not all of you 19:05  |  zeev 03/11/07
  68.   To "Apartheid" (why would one call oneself A?) 19:19  |  Ehud 03/11/07
  69.   to sabra #55 19:55  |  zeev 03/11/07
  70.   The arabs hate the palestinians 20:16  |  Bjorn 03/11/07
  71.   Yoel Marcus 20:41  |  Mordechai ben Tzur 03/11/07
  72.   to terrornator #64 20:43  |  zeev 03/11/07
  73.   PALASTANIAN DONT INSULT FREEDOM FIGHtERS 20:54  |  TOBIA 03/11/07
  74.   to sabra #56 21:03  |  zeev 03/11/07
  75.   Bjorn #69, the well-known ME expert from Norway 21:30  |  zeev 03/11/07
  76.   apartheid and dead palestinians 23:35  |  scallywag 03/11/07
  77.   to Mordechai ben Tzur #71 01:29  |  zeev 04/11/07
  78.   Israeli and haters 02:03  |  Truths 04/11/07
  79.   Comment #1 02:43  |  Motic 04/11/07
  80.   Eye for an eye 02:49  |  Sherlock Holmes 04/11/07
  81.   #4 Indrajaya Yes, Gaza is occupied... by Hamas 06:46  |  Daniel 04/11/07