Liteblogging on Wednesdays this semester, but I did want to point out that Steve Clemons has a good wrapup of yesterday’s Israeli elections. Check it out while I slog through work & class on Yet Another Rainy Day.

The Palestinian elections didn’t leave me feeling very good, but I’m more hopeful today.

Orcinus has a post up today about the frightening levels that Holocaust deniers go to try to harass and intimidate people who stand up to them.

Fire bombings, death threats, and more. And all this in America.

On a related note, a Hong Kong based banker I know recently reported that he:

Was in the Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Airport earlier today, and was in the bookstore looking for something to read on the plane when a I stumble across The International Jew by Henry Ford packaged with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Lovely. Those books, or books very much like them, are sold in not a few Muslim-focused bookstores, but I’m a little taken aback that they’re so mainstream as to make it into the airport bookshop.

As a Jew, this kind of thing starts to make me wonder if I’m really welcome in certain parts of America after all. I thought we’d resolved this issue in the US Constitution, but apparently not. Silly me:

Missouri legislators in Jefferson City considered a bill that would name Christianity the state’s official “majority” religion.

House Concurrent Resolution 13 is pending in the state legislature.

[snip]

The resolution would recognize “a Christian god,” and it would not protect minority religions, but “protect the majority’s right to express their religious beliefs.

The resolution also recognizes that, “a greater power exists,” and only Christianity receives what the resolution calls, “justified recognition.”

What’s next, legalized discrimination on the basis of what religion you are?

So famous Holocaust denier David Irving has been sentenced to three years in jail in Austria for violating this law:

whoever denies, grossly plays down, approves or tries to excuse the National Socialist genocide or other National Socialist crimes against humanity in a print publication, in broadcast or other media.

Given the recent debate over free speech issues regarding the Danish cartoons, a lot of people are probably going to say that Irving should not be jailed for what he did. I’m not so sure.

I don’t see this so much as a free speech issue as an issue about lying. I don’t think it is unreasonable to say that in countries such as Austria, if you’re going to talk about the historical record of WW2, you have an obligation to do so accurately. Irving is entitled to whatever opinions he wants, but he’s not entitled to his own set of facts, and I think it’s acceptable to call him on that difference.

We send people to jail for perjury, after all. Why is this so different?

I’d be lying if I said I were not deeply concerned by the results of the Palestinian elections. Hamas’ charter, after all, does not even recognize Israel’s right to exist.

However, I remind myself that Sharon was viewed as a similarly unlikely partner for peace when he became Prime Minister, and those dim expectations of him turned out to be not so dim after all. So perhaps there’s still hope.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a dominant figure for decades in shaping the Middle East, was fighting for his life on Thursday after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage.

As I write this, whether Sharon even survives or not is still up in the air. If he does survive, the odds that he will again be active in politics are slim indeed.

A friend of mine pointed out this afternoon that whether Sharon’s illness is bad news or not depends on whether you think that continuity of government in Israel is a good thing. I’m not so sure about that.

Regardless of what you think of Sharon or his government, political instability is not what Israel needs. A sudden transition of power with elections upcoming and with both Likud and Labor in transition thanks to Sharon’s recent forming of Kadima, make for a very, very confusing time Israel this spring.

The menorah is polished, the candles are out, and the table is prepped for wax drips. All we need now is sundown!

Here’s some Chanukah fun for all. (Thanks for sending me the link, Shari!)

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Shir l’Shalom still makes me cry.

Simon Wiesenthal, who waged an untiring campaign to track down Nazi war criminals and keep alive the memory of six million Jews killed in the Holocaust, died on Tuesday at the age of 96. Full obit here.

Zecher tzaddik livracha.
(The memory of the righteous is a blessing)