These are comments on the assault, protests and violence that occurred at the outpost in Judea destroyed by Israeli police on orders of the Supreme Court and implemented by the interim government of acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The author is a talented American Israeli writer and parent of two teen age children, Onnie Schiffmiller. The response to Ms. Schiffmiller's comments by regular IsraPundit contributor, Jerry Gordon, on the disaster at Amona have been posted elsewhere on this weblog in Part II.

Asked to explain the institutionalized anti-religious practices he's encountered, Aaron replies, "It's the new nature of the cultural war in Israel. The great divide used to be the so-called right wing versus the so-called left wing. Essentially, whether or not to give up land to the Palestinians. Now the mask is coming off and the real battle is starting to be waged openly – religious nationalism versus anti-religious post-Zionism.

"More simply, is Israel supposed to be a Jewish state based on religious ideals or will it be a state like all others that just happens to be comprised mostly of Jews? At its core, it is what all the land withdrawals and proposed land withdrawals are about, and it's what my 'yarmulke problems' are about. That is the fight I am witnessing here. The victor will determine the future of Israel and the Jewish people."

This is a response to comments on the assault, protests and violence that occurred at the outpost in Judea destroyed by Israeli police on orders of the Supreme Court and implemented by the interim government of acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The correspondent is a talented American Israeli writer and parent of two teen age children, Onnie Schiffmiller. Her thoughts on the disaster at Amona have been posted elsewhere on this weblog in Part I.

Onnie, thanks for your thoughtful comments in response to the email I sent you and others last night about the terrible events yesterday at Amona.
Violence for violence sake as you point out never achieves anything.

But look at the pictures forwarded me by Dr.Rachel Ehrenfeld , Barbara Taverna and others. They bespeak of a pogrom. The horrific scenes depicted in the photographs bolster the head line sent to me this morning by my buddy, Lori Lowenthal Marcus, President of the Philadelphia ZOA referring to that Torah prediction: "you have begun eating your young." That message is graphically portrayed in the Amona photos.

Here are Lori's comments:

"I'm sickened by what happened in Amona, and even more sickened by the way it will be portrayed in the media. Once again true lovers of Israel will be demonized and the demons lionized"

Another equally angry and devastating comment came from Adina Kutnicki, a committed Zionist:

“Jerry, what can anyone say about these horrific pictures, other than that the Golem has taken over Israel's leadership and the Erev Rav have taken over the rest.”

“Looking at these brutal pictures I am reminded of stories my grandmother used to tell me about the beatings Jews suffered under the Cossacks. Horses on Jewish heads, opened skulls would have been unimaginable to think about before the expulsion from Gush Katif. Every brutality is now on the table if you are a zionist in Israel. The next time they will absolutely shoot to kill or maim. I am also positive that 100,000 people will not only be expelled for the new Hamastan in the making, but that they will be refugees and maimed in the process.”

“I am for the time being disengaging from the State of Israel, but not from its citizens. Until they learn to control the barbarians in their midst I will no longer say a prayer for the State. In addition, I am selling all my Israel Bonds ( it only helps the gov't with these pogroms) and the JNF won't get my money either. They are busy planning soccer fields ! in the Negev, instead of taking care of the refugees.”

As to your comment, Onnie, laying partial blame on alleged uncivl behavior of protesting youngsters connected to a "laissez faire" child development attitude in Israel, that's something for the Israeli civil society to come to grips with, including parents, teen age children, the secular community, rabbis and yeshivot leaders you cited.

Yoram Harzony of the Shalem Center whose writings, especially The Jewish State:The Struggle for Israel's Soul, Basic Books, 2000 and in the Center's quarterly Azure and talks here in the US I value highly has made the point that the Educational Ministry in Israel and absorption of the views of so-called revisionist historians have biased education in Israel to the extent that kids shoudl be "ashamed" of the Zionist state ethos. As a parent of teen age children in Israel, you would be in a most advantageous position to determine if Harzony's position "resonates."

Lori Lowenthal Marcus, visited Israel last week with a contingent of US Jewish educators and met up with Israeli educational and tourism professionals. She was appalled at the views of almost all American and Israeli Jews in the group that were decidely post-Zionist.

I think it's a reflection of the post-Zionist "realities" of the Israeli society, that officials in the Education Ministry have never come to grips with, and in many cases have fostered the direct opposite-trashing that heritage, whether religious, secular or both.

I remember how proud you were, as were my cousins in Ma'aleh Adumim when your son and their children endeavored to go or went in the heat and dust of last summer to protest the Gush Katif withdrawal.

In the wake of the Hamas election victory, withdrawal may not have been strategically smart for Israel's security, let alone the economic well being of those disposssed and living in squalor in caravans and hotel rooms. Their plight reminds me a lot of the Hurricane Katrina "displaced persons' and our government's less than stellar record in coming to the aid and assistance of those whose lives have been disrupted and destroyed.

Having recently seen the devastation along the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans, I have some idea as to what occured there

The difference was that Katrina was a natural disaster, the Gush Katif expulsion was man made.

Having been man made, little has been in evidence that we read of or hear from relatives and friends in Israel to rectify it.

Further, mainstream Jewish groups, with some exceptions, here in the US, have not come to the fore at the community level and sought direct aid. Yes, there have activist groups that have organized drives and scheduled air flights with clothing, blankets and other humanitarian items from both Los Angeles and New York, but very little in the way of appeals from the "usual suspects:" the synagogue pulpits and local Federation leaders. Myself and others here in the northeastern US have raised questions about the seeming indifference, so have my friends across the America and Canada in their communities. But what we have met is stony silence.

This is particularly galling, especially with the evidence that Israel got significant economic trade benefits from the EU as a result of the unilateral withdrawal.

But there's another undercurrent that I see, from reports of relatives both in Israel and with close contacts there.

That's the disparity between the Sharon/Olmert government failure to stop the ramshackle Arab housing projects that have sprung up without permits in the Gush Etzion bloc, that thwart the goals of building the E-1 project. Many of us here and a fair number in Israel believe that E-1's development is vital to control over those areas of Judea that afford protection of a unified muncipality of Jerusalem and the ridgeline control of the Jordan river border of Israel on the east.

"Bogie" Ayalon, former ZAHAL Chied of Staff (COS) was on Lori Lowenthal Marcus's program, the ZOA Middle East Report on WNWR.com, on Wednesday, this week. He affirmed his criticisms he made last summer, when he left ZAHAL. He talked about the daily rain of Qassem rockets that fall inside the green line in Ashkelon and the northern Sinai that have disappeared from the press. I captured his views among others in my American Thinker piece on the subject last June entitled “Gaza Disengagement: Balagan! . Both his and my assessment haven't changed in the ensuing devastating events.

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld sent me and others a Channel 2 report and English transcript of an interview with the Hamas No.2, El Tayib with his "red beard" inside the courtyard of the GSS complex in the Russian Compound. Lori Lowenthal Marcus who was visiting Israel last week commented to me yesterday, that she met him when she and others in the company of Jerusalem Post writer, Khaled Abu Toameh and a European television crew were visiting Palestinian polling stations. He even asked Lori "how she was." As if he already knew something momentous was up.

Some others on my listserv remarked in response to Dr. Ehrenfeld's email , "well, that's not extraordinary" because the GSS has held regular discussions with Hamas on "prisoner exchange" issues. Could be, but coming close after the comments of Hamas leadership following their electoral victory of last Wednesday, it raises a question about what the Israeli government is doing. Through a certain auspices involved with exchange of counter terrorism information between the US and Israel, we are checking that out.

But look at the cynical comments that Lori Lowenthal Marcus got back via email in response to the Channel 2 Hams excerpt with El Tayib.

"And as for Red Beard, my intelligence has come back, so far, that whatever the representatives of Israel say, it means nothing : They won't speak to Hamas means they will speak to Hamas. They won't fund Hamas means they will fund Hamas. They won't abandon the Settlements means they will abandon the Settlements. They won't divide Jerusalem......................."

Many of us are concerned that Israel is being tough minded out front while cutting deals behind the scenes with "the devil." Is this "real politik" or more "protekzia?"

This comes at a time when Members of the U.S. House of Representatives led by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R FL). and revered Holocaust Survivor, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) and Rep. Elliot Engel (D- NY) have co-sponsored a bill, ("The Palestine Democracy Support Act of 2006") to be brought up for a vote next week. A large number of fellow House colleagues have signed on to the proposed measure.

From an interview with Steve Feldman, executive director of the Philadelphia ZOA www.phillyzoa.org chapter Chairman Ros-Lehtinen of the Middle East and Central Asia Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee, I heard yesterday, the sense was that Congress was going to be pretty "tough" on any Hamas led government in the Palestine National Authority (PNA). Provisions of importance would include: (1) cut off of US aid of terrorism and destruction of Israel remain part of their party platform; and, (2) limitations on the travel by PNA officials in both Washington and New York to a radius of less than 25 miles normally applied to governments that espouse terrorism.

I contrast what the US is doing with what your government may be doing with Hamas "behind the scenes." There's a cognitive disconnect there.

Given my background I'm not naive about these activities. But, what I and others fear is that Israel may not in the end be as tough as its public pronouncements.

Similarly, President Bush's announcement prior to his State of the union address this week that the US would defend Israel against an Iranian threat-nuclear or WMD, reminds, those of us who can recall it - the similar pronouncements from his father during the first Gulf war when Israel was hit by Saddam's rockets and possibly with chemical agents, as well. The Iranian threat is palable and serious and may likely emerge prior to the general Knesset vote for some form of action-whether by our military or yours, or both.

When whatever Palestinian government in the disputed territories is formed within the next ten days, we'll see how the interim Olmert government handles it.

But, your views are important ones. As parents of young committed Zionist children you and we would hate to see them become jaded by the less than thoughtful actions of Israel's leaders and others in the secular and religious communities.

One thing for sure, Israel needs to eliminate the corruption at all; levels of government.

Whether its expansion of the Basic Laws, which appears ineffective, or a written Constitution that Dr. Yitzhak Klein and his Israel Policy Center are developing-others are too, we understand - Israel has to become a functioning transparent, accountable government and civil society to match its Jewish ethical standards. Dr. Klein has also been in the forefront of document abuses of civil rights of Israel expelling from Gush Katif, and now, doubtless Amona, too.

Perhaps then the genus of the Zionist ethos can prevail.

So, you and the family and all Israelis have lots on your plate. We are in solidarity with you, my cousins and friends in Israel.

But, we still disturbed at the assault on civil protest at Amona and the moral corruption that exists in Israeli officialdom that facilitated it.

We hope that the Torah prediction that Lori Lowenthal Marcus cited, will not occur: “we have begun eating our young.” Yours and my cousins wonderful children should never be visited by such a ghastly curse.

Am Yisroel chai.

Shabbat shalom.

I will not bandy with thee word for word,

But buckle with thee blows, twice two for one!
King Henry VI, Part 3

We have a saying in this country: "Payback's a real bear," and "bear" isn't exactly the word we use. Here is a guide for developing and deploying the kind of propaganda whose purpose is to evoke loathing and hatred of enemies. It is based on (1) propaganda cartoons from the Spanish-American War and World Wars and (2) books on psychological warfare and propaganda. Some comic book covers from the Second World War also are instructive; note how the enemy is portrayed with bestial and subhuman features, and in the process of menacing helpless prisoners, women, and/or children. (This is a basic theme that we must use as frequently as possible.)

Fighting Yank 8, June 1944. Japanese with exaggerated Asian features are about to use a red-hot iron to torture a Navy nurse but they are beaten up by a hero with an American flag on his costume.
Fighting Yank 13. Japanese with exaggerated Asian features menace American children with poisonous snakes.

Per Adolf Hitler, "All propaganda has to be popular and has to adapt its spiritual level to the perception of the least intelligent of those towards whom it intends to direct itself." His propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels added the following advice:

"...there was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the stronger, 'and this will always be the man in the street.' Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology... Hatred and contempt must be directed at particular individuals." -H. Trevor-Roper (ed), The Goebbels Diaries, p. XX, cited in Regan, Geoffrey. 1987. Great Military Disasters. New York: M. Evans and Company.

Before anyone objects to my citing two of the most evil people who ever lived, note that

(1) the Islamofascists are using Hitler's and Goebbels' methods extensively so Civilization had better use them back
(2) Hitler and Goebbels learned their craft from Anglo-French propagandists of the First World War and possibly the American Yellow Press. The depiction of the enemy as a subhuman or a monster was not a Nazi invention:

Grant Hamilton's "The Spanish Brute: Adds Mutilation to Murder," which was conceivably the model for:

which is in fact the model for the following.

There is plenty more where this came from and it is all placed in the public domain. This is very important because

"To be effective, leaflets must scatter. Bundles of paper which fall intact make little impact on the enemy [or prospective audience, the general public in this case] unless they hit him on the head." (Linebarger, Psychological Warfare)

The image should, if necessary, be backed up by facts. This one has highly-graphic violence that I am not going to show anyone who does not click on the link but it also has short descriptions and a reference to show that the Palestinians actually did this. This is easily far more vicious-- by intention-- than the one of Ariel Sharon butchering children and it is also factual.
There are plenty of other sites with good material, like this image from ProtestWarrior.com. It shows a hand holding a chain that is attached to a veiled woman's neck and the caption, "Support Islamic property rights against Western imperialism: say no to war!"

Cartoons with embedded factual information and permission-to-copy statements are probably the fastest way of spreading propaganda. All that has to happen is for enough people to like the cartoon enough to post it on their own Web sites and blogs, where it will get even more exposure-- and deployment to even more Web sites and blogs. The only caveat is that, once these dogs of war are loose, they can never be called back because the cartoons are not protected by any copyright or other form of control. On the other hand, I can envision no reason to want to call them back. Islamofascism (NOT Islam as a whole) is the enemy of Civilization.

Downloadable royalty-free leaflets were first used (as far as I know) by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership around 1999 or 2000, although others might have pioneered the idea. In this case, an attention-catching image can be backed up with substantial factual information and references. Here is one of the International Solidarity Movement's Olive Harvest (in which a terrorist plucks hand grenades from a tree).

Royalty-free leaflets can be devastating if you have (1) people to distribute them and (2) people to distribute them to because, if people like them, they can then run off as many copies as they want. In fact, clever drawings tended to circulate in and between offices with photocopiers before the Internet even existed; this is why the distribution technique is so attractive. I suspect, however, that they do not propagate as rapidly as electronic cartoons.

In summary, we must repay the Islamofascist hate propaganda with truth for falsehood and compound interest. I use computer art software to create my material but we must have cartoonists who are as good as Grant Hamilton (creator of "The Spanish Brute, Adds Mutilation to Murder") and Louis Raemaekers. We must give full rein to our creative talents to create brutal, hard-hitting, and effective images that will expose Islamofascism as the vicious menace to Civilized Humanity that it is.

Hamas ran a disciplined non-violent campaign. "Reform and Change" appealed to the outcry among Palestinians to address extensive corruption within the ruling Fatah party. It selected candidates known for community leadership, service and credibility.

From the New York Times

When Hamas chose to participate in this general election, its campaign focused not on the conflict with Israel, but on the slogan "change and reform."

From the Council of Foreign Relations

Why did Hamas win?

Experts say Palestinian voters were sick of the corruption and incompetence of Fatah, which has run the PA for the decade since it was founded. Fatah leaders skimmed off much of the billions in foreign aid the international community has given to the PA, leaving ordinary citizens living in desperate conditions. The 2000 intifada and its reprisals, both military and economic, from Israel devastated the PA economy, yet Fatah leaders refused to reform the Palestinian security services and crack down on suicide bombings and other militant attacks against Israel. Hamas, on the other hand, has steadily built a reputation as a clean, non-corrupt party that could deliver results. Its network of hospitals and schools provides social services to Palestinians that the PA did not, and a string of victories in local municipalities in 2005 showed Hamas members to be more effective administrators than the Fatah old guard.

From the Washington Post:

The party, known formally as the Islamic Resistance Movement, won on a slogan of "change and reform" and will probably focus first on issues relating to corruption, unemployment and education after forming a government. Hamas officials have indicated that separating boys and girls in the classroom could be part of the effort to rethink education.

From President Bush

Q Mr. President, is Mideast peacemaking dead with Hamas' big election victory? And do you rule out dealing with the Palestinians if Hamas is the majority party?

THE PRESIDENT: Peace is never dead, because people want peace. I believe -- and that's why I articulated a two-state solution early in my administration, so that -- as a vision for people to work toward, a solution that recognized that democracy yields peace. And the best hope for peace in the Middle East is two democracies living side-by-side.

So the Palestinians had an election yesterday, and the results of which remind me about the power of democracy. You see, when you give people the vote, you give people a chance to express themselves at the polls -- and if they're unhappy with the status quo, they'll let you know. That's the great thing about democracy, it provides a look into society.

From Slate

One of the group's most popular spots was a Western-style ad plugging their uncontroversial "Change and Reform" campaign slogan. The other ad in heavy rotation showed armed militants battling Israeli troops. For all their newfound message discipline, it seems, kinder and gentler may yet be out of reach.

Technorati Tags: Hamas.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Moshe's son is from America. A family who's returning, and has returned farther than many born into it, he's learning in yeshiva in Israel. He called his father, "The land is in trouble, can I stand for Israel?" His father answered from New York, "If I was there, we'd go together." The yeshiva called to verify, permission given? Yes.

The black clad policemen came, shouting voices and faces twisted in anger and hatred. They did not come to remove those defending the land, they came to break them. They smashed through the door and broke through the windows. They waded in to the seated defenders, boys of 14 through 18, billy clubs swinging. "Achim! (Brothers!)", the boys called, "stand fast!" as boy after boy was smashed on the head, blood splattering everywhere.

After so many heads that his hand was drenched in sweat, the club slipped away from the officer before Moshe's son was hit. Moshe's son saw and dove for it, fearing not the risk of being shot to prevent another boy being struck. The policeman saw him and dove as well, coming up with the club first. Standing two feet away, Moshe's son stood fast, ready to be struck. Staring in to, in his own words, "a look of hatred such as I have never seen", the officer grabbed him and threw him out the window!

Click here for the rest of this account!

"Land of Israel activists, young and old, made their way to Amona to struggle against the destruction of nine more Jewish homes. Arutz-7 offers a glimpse of the story behind the masked rooftop youth."

"Protestors continue to stream toward Amona, having cut through local Arab villages and back roads. They are met by a line of Border Police with clubs who chase after and beat anyone who attempted to cross the line. Many succeeded nonetheless."

Click here to watch and read.

Unnamed senior governmental officials have announced that additional unauthorized outposts, in the Shechem district, will be removed ahead of the 28 March 17th Knesset election, the daily Ha’aretz reports on Thursday.