Ummmm......hello, Jewcers? What's with this yenta? Comic relief? Penance for running Richard Silverstein? Somebody on the staff's grandmother?
Arabs have mansions? Well, that settles it. Take another chunk of the West Bank, pronto. That'll show 'em.

Seriously, it's kind of scary to note how closely Batya's remarks parallel the "we're out of work and the Jews are transporting the Eiffel Tower to Scarsdale for their daughter's Bat Mitzvah" rants from the white power guys.
Batya, look in the mirror. They have some over at Loehmann's.

I believe Michael Weiss is actually BOTH Batya AND Silverstein...! Always the provocateur, Michael donned a fake beard last week and a silly hat this week -we just need Craig to work on the pictures to show us how that's possible... Craig?

after silverstein and batya, i think jewcy needs a saner guest blogger for next week.

They have the highest standard of living anywhere in the Middle East.

Boris

I went to one of Batya's blogs (mentioned on her profile). She decries the deluded leftists infesting Jewcy, and says she won't reply to commenters lest they think that she's "bothered" by their comments.

Hey, Batya, the idea is that we're having a conversation. You're of course free to do as you want, but it seems to me that if you accept the position of guest blogger, you ought to also accept the implicit requirement that you interact with your readers-especially the ones who disagree with you.

Richard Silverstein + Batya, divided by two = Isaiah Berlin

Batya, you've been misinformed, Jewcy is infested with secular neoconservatives, not leftists. However, it's good for us to hear the settlers point of view, we don't get that too often in mainstream media.

Umm, I'm a religious leftist, thank you very much.

Though I have been called everything from neocon to commie on these very boards so...I'm glad it keeps me on my toes.

that I pretend to be a feminist in order to get laid. I can't forget that one.

Adam,

 I am always impressed that one can be called a neocon and a commie at the same time. I've had it happen on many a message board, and once in a graduate seminar. For some reason, one anonymous message sender thinks I am an Islamofascist, apparently. 

I figured that since you know little first hand about my neck of the woods, the pictures would help.  It never occurred to me that there would be readers who would deny the veracity of the pictures.  I'm disappointed in the intellectual dishonesty shown here.  Someone is giving lots of money to the local Arabs, and the media is ignoring it.

Here's a related story I posted less than two weeks ago, from the BBC of all places and here's how it starts:-

"Mazraa Sharqiya is not your average Palestinian village.  Expensive jeeps and cars line the pristine streets. Expensive villas nestle behind high stone walls.  Whereas many modern Palestinian homes are built from cinderblocks, here there are opulent four-storey residences, many of them clad in marble.  With about a third of Palestinian households in the West Bank living in poverty according to the United Nations, Mazraa Sharqiya is an obvious exception to the rule.  Some Palestinians even refer to the village as the Miami of the West Bank on account of the wealth and the seemingly endless summer partying."

Note: while one-third of Pal. households are poor (and, of course, that's relative; they could be simply living as they always have been without knowing they are poor), two-thirds are not.  And a good deal live in houses like above.  In Sinjil and Turmos Aya, near Shiloh, in Silwad further south and in the ultimate "America in Pal.-Land" - Deir Dibwan.

Batya, Yes, life for Israeli Arabs is much better and freer than in any other part of the Middle East, absolutely. And I have made that point ad nauseum in defending Israel from its irrational critics.  That said, your statement "no Jew lives in such luxury" is blanket and simply untrue. And the implication is even worse given the social problems that exist in Israel vis-a-vis its Arab population. Ignoring this problem (a complex one to be sure, with any number of reasons) entirely is just callous. And to suggest that most Israeli Arabs live a life of luxury, as you did above with the way that you phrased it, does ignore that problem.

Batya and Silverstein are definitely not the same person. I could see Silverstein and Noah feldman participating in a reality TV show in "occupied Palestine" trying to compete for the affections of terror babe Ahlam Tamimi. Stunts that the contestants could do to gain her affection would be
1) Silverstein blogs incessantly to have Tamimi freed and tells the Roth family to get over the loss of their daughter
2) Feldman sues Sbarros and Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem to have pork included on their menu, and demands that the pizza with pork on it be called the "Qassami pizza"
3) Silverstein wages a one man protest outside of Yad Vashem to force them to appoint Azmi Bishara head of Yad Vashem and Norman Finkelstein as chief historian
4) feldman sues the Jerusalem municipality for allowing eruvim in Jerusalem

The reason so many Arab Israelis have huge houses is because they've become experts on construction, since being a construction worker is one of the few jobs legitimately open to them.  I have Israeli Arab friends who live in similarly large mansions--that they built entirely by themselves.  Frankly, if you can build something like that I say more power to you.  And anyway, Batya, do you really think Israeli Arabs are the problem?  Isn't it the Palestinians giving us headaches? 

"And anyway, Batya, do you really think Palestinian citizens of Israel are the problem? Isn't it the Israelis that are imprisoning, shooting, displacing and in general performing sociocide upon the Palestinians?"

There you are, Tamar. All fixed, no charge.

Tamar--the arab houses in Shiloh are in the territories. My guess is they are owned by Palestinians (or maybe Jordanians), not Israeli Arabs. Perhaps Batya can clarify.

My question is where did th emoney for these house come from? US tax dollars sent for PAlestinian relief work? Just curious......

Didn't mansions begin popping up in the territories as soon as the PLO came back from Tunis after Oslo? With Fatah officials building palaces on the Gaza waterfront and so forth? I can't really argue with that, it's important that freedom fighters be paid handsomely, otherwise the field won't attract the talent it needs.

I'm going to have to post some sort of explanation, ok?  I'll write it up now, including a map.

I don't see what the problem with these mansions are, or the "truth" they are supposed to reveal.   (Some Arabs are richer than some Jews - shocking!!!)  The only news article relating to these homes tells a story of diaspora Palestinians making money in America and reinvesting it back home.  Why is this a problem, exactly?  Diaspora Jews invest tons of money into Israel.  Irving Moskowitz alone has poured millions into developing parts of Jerusalem.     

You would think these wealthy, cosmopolitan Palestinian Americans would be precisely the type of people that Israel would want returning to the West Bank, as people with something to lose have far more incentives for peace than those kept in squalor in the camps.  Really, why spend all that money on the fancy furniture and marble columns, only to have it go up in flames in an IDF counter-strike to a Qassam launch?        

People like this Batya woman drive me mad. Sigh. She belongs to an unfortunate, but well established cyber-phenomenon: that of patronizing, religious-right wing Jews who hijack entire threads on great progressive Jewish spaces,invigorated in their delusion that they have found a spiritually and intellectually misled crowd to preach to.

Batya, we ran away from the likes of you. Seen it, read it, witnessed it all. Now, please, contribute something Jewcy or don't post at all. We can find the kach cyber boards if we want to on our own, promise. No need to bring it to us.

Sigh. A fellow (Jewish) Jewster.

Surely, Batya is a bit batty. But why group her in with the Kach party folks? That seems kind of harsh.

Um, no.

How offensive to deal with this bigoted nonsense, here of all places. Hopefully she gets the point and won't proceed to clobber us with Biblical verses, a gajillion set of maps (BCE-CE), clips of babbling goons or worse, eloquent demagogues from Arutz 7 type of mediums. And, to top off, the chutzpah of a few quotes from civil, humanitarian sources as an underhanded way of promoting biblical, fundamentalist visions of Israel.

But hey...what could be worse? Palestinians eating caviar? The nerve.

The anon "Jews" are actually radical Commies with shiksa mothers. They are paid by Arab organizations to slander good real Jews like yourself and spread Plo propaganda. When exactly did "Palestine" exist? NEVER! Keep up th good work.

"The anon 'Jews' are actually radical Commies with shiksa mothers. They are paid by Arab organizations to slander good real Jews..."

Regarding Jewcy's relationship to the PLO, I can only repeat once again our carefully prepared single-sentence response to all inquiries on that topic: "As an incorporated for-profit entity, Jewcy seeks competitive advantage through mutually beneficial partnerships with other organizations, and does so without consideration to potential partners' race, gender, class, nationality, refugee status, history of embezzlement from the UNRWA, or batshit antisemitic bloodlust."

That's just the lawyers talking, but as for the "radical Commies" thing, here's a serviceable characterization of Jewcy political orientation: Most Jewcy staff are pretty happy with the Euston Manifesto. And if the Presidential election unexpectedly comes down to a five-way run-off between Christopher Hitchens, Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Charles Krauthammer, and Karl Marx, Hitchens will win the Jewcy staff vote, Moore and Chomsky will battle for a distant second, Marx will get no votes, and everyone will hiss at Krauthammer.

"Commies".
How quaint.
Moon-howlingly loony, but quaint.

http://www.richardsilversteins.blogspot.com/

I can see I made an impression on some of the more right-wing among you. Still making nasty wisecracks about me.

"after silverstein and batya, i think jewcy needs a saner guest blogger..."

BTW, despite yr implication that my views are not "sane" I'll issue a challenge by noting my views are entirely within the mainstream of the American Jewish community (though decidedly not American Jewish leadership) according to recent polls:

1. end the Occupation

2. two state solution

3. withdraw from most W. Bank settlements

4. Israel should talk to Hamas, Syria and not attack Iran

5. Israel should be a democracy, not a theocracy

Any Jewcy readers who have problems w. any of those positions are the ones whose "sanity" should be questioned as you are outside the American Jewish mainstream.

Richard Silverstein

Tikun Olam (blog)

" I pretend to be a feminist in order to get laid."

Not even remotely funny.

Richard Silverstein

Tikun Olam (blog)

You've made an impression on the lefties, too. ;)

SD

For libel. He is getting his little diaper sued off!

Silverstein writes:

1. end the Occupation so that the HAMAS and the PLO can escalate the terror and exterminate Israeli Jews

2. two state solution - one state for the Palestinians and one fo rthe Jordanians

3. withdraw from most W. Bank settlements to appease the Palestinians and escalate the terror

4. Israel should talk to Hamas, Syria and not attack Iran about expediting the tossing of the Jews into the sea

5. Israel should be a democracy, not a theocracy and that is why Arab Nazis like Azmi Bishara should serve in it

Dickie writes: Any Jewcy readers who have problems w. any of those positions are the ones whose "sanity" should be questioned as you are outside the American Jewish mainstream.

Richard Silverstein

Tikun Olam (blog)

Dickie, who has no idea what Tikun Olam means, shows what sanity really means - anyone agreeing with him is an insane self-hating "Jew."

Three cheers for Batya!

Big deal.

What only us Jews are allowed to have nice houses?

Jeeze Louise.

Richard, you seem to have some problems with quote attributions. Adam was saying that commenters on Jewcy had accused him of being a pretend feminist in order to get laid, he wasn't saying that himself (he doesn't need to, the beard does it).
Yours sincerely -oops, sorry, I meant yrs sincerely

That is, indeed, what happened.

And even if it wasn't, and that was a direct quote, I mean really...I would say it would be at least remotely funny.

it's the beard and the Modern History degrees that do it anyway.

I was not going to comment, really. This post and its various responses have proved rather too much and thus I've succumbed.  Originally, before the thread meandered into a street-brawl, I was going to mention a few really nice houses I've been to that are owned by Jews in Israel.  Israeli Arabs are citizens of Israel also, many nice houses belong to them and not merely Palenstians, and don't we want all Israeli citizens to have a high standard of living, etc? That however seems rather incidental after reading some more recent postings.  I won't bother engaging the assorted far right anonymous comments and insults.  I do wonder to which mainstream American Jews Silverstein is referring.  Obviously most would rather have a democracy and think continued settlement in the occupied territories is probably a bad idea, but negotiations with Hamas and Syria?  That's not something I'd tag (at least without qualifiers) as a mainstream position.  I am not sure there is an American mainstream (Jewish or not) seriously interested in dialogue with terrorist non-regimes like Hamas or provincial dictatorships like Syria.  Except perhaps in academia... Non-recognition of a state is a form of communication, if not dialogue.

Joey - with Chomsky and Moore as the only viable alternatives, I'd have to vote for Hitchens (his command of written and spoken English is certainly better than the other choices).

And Adam, yes, it would be rather funny even if you actually said it...

Little Dickie's Diaper Droppings now at new address:
http://dickiesilverstein.blogspot.com/