There is a perfectly good explanation for all of this

On the heels of the Madoff scandal, which is challenging enough to spin, Israel now needs to be defended from the consequences of its own murderous behavior. In today's Sunday papers opinion pages across the country, I'm guessing you will find shrill letters blaming everything on the Palestinians. Here's one from the Boston Sunday Globe op ed page: http://tinyurl.com/8v4dw8

WHEN YOUSEF Munayyer ("Ignoring the plight in Gaza," Op-ed, Dec. 21) compares Hamas and the people of Gaza to the people in 1949 Berlin during the Soviet blockade, he stands history on its head. Berliners were not firing missiles on civilians in neighboring towns. They were not holding a kidnapped Russian soldier hostage for years. They were not smuggling in arms to launch terrorist attacks.

[Oopsie. We better not mention the doubts about who, exactly, fires all those rockets. Also, the political prisoners? Um...1 Israeli prisoner vs 10,756 Palestinians as of 3/07. And the weapons? The US is giving Israel $2.55B in military aid alone for 2009. The little rockets are no match for the awesome military might of Israel, paid for by the US taxpayer.]

That is the reality of Gaza. Collective punishment? Well, as Munayyer suggests, the Gazans overwhelmingly support Hamas's terrorist activities. They are reaping the consequences of their own choices. They are not simply innocent bystanders, like the neighboring Israelis who have seconds to react when a missile from Gaza is heading toward a residence or a school.

[Reality? The man cites nothing but lies. Hamas was democratically elected. Notice he does not deny the collective punishment. How could he? He justifies it because the Palestinians elected Hamas. In other words, in his mind they deserve to be collectively punished for displeasing the Israelis. They are not innocent bystanders, he says, like the neighboring Israelis. Racist much?]

Israel has shown time and again that is willing to negotiate peace with former enemies. It has done so with Egypt and Jordan. It has been attempting to do so with very limited success with the weak Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank. Hamas, however, can't bring itself to end its acts of terrorism, even during the truce that recently ended.

[Get real. The US pays Egypt to support our Middle East policies, which of course mean sucking up to Israel. Mubarak is a dictator, and he's been there for 25 years. He is loathed by the Egyptian people, and his government does not reflect their wishes. Nothing in the Middle East can be taken at face value because the US government meddles incessantly on Israel's behalf. So spare us the hagiography.]

If you weep for the people of Gaza, place the responsibility where it belongs: on the Hamas thugs who run it, and the people there who support them.

[Well we do weep. And we will continue to place responsibility exactly where it belongs: with the thugs who run Israel and the people who support them.]

But it doesn't stop there. We are also treated to a melodramatic apologia from a Rabbi about Madoff. http://tinyurl.com/8v4dw8

BERNARD MADOFF'S confessed Ponzi scheme assaults four core Jewish values.

Whom Can You Trust? In the wake of Madoff's profound violation of his ethical and fiduciary duties, can we trust anyone any longer?

[Meaning can Jews trust other Jews.]

Sustenance and Spirituality. A classic Jewish text teaches no sustenance, no spirituality. What will happen to all those good organizations, that did all those good works, whose funding has been decimated?

[Those organizations being Jewish charities.]

Desecrating God's Name. Madoff is a Jew. Jews are supposed to sanctify God's name, kiddush hashem. That is, a non-Jew is to see how a Jew behaves in the world, in the marketplace, and sees authenticity, integrity, compassion, and says: "Wow, there is something beautiful about Jewish truth." Madoff did just the opposite: not sanctification, but desecration.

[You see here a total disconnect from reality.]

Trashing the Jewish People's Name. Jews are supposed to be an or la'goyim, a light unto the nations. But in a time of massive demoralization, uncertainty, and collapse - fertile soil for the seeking of scapegoats - Madoff gives anti-Semitic blogs just what they need: the face of a Jewish financier who is indeed unreconstructed evil.

[Again, total disconnect from reality.]

He goes on to bring up the Talmud, of all things, recommending that the Jewish people study it. If you've never looked into the Talmud, it's quite an eye-popper. Click through for the many details.

Among other things, the Talmud teaches that harm must be done to the work of Christians.

Since the Goim minister to Jews like beasts of burden, belong to a Jew together with his life and all his faculties:

"The life of a Goi and all his physical powers belong to a Jew." (A. Rohl. Die Polem. p.20)

It is an axiom of the Rabbis that a Jew may take anything that belongs to Christians for any reason whatsoever, even by fraud; nor can such be called robbery since it is merely taking what belongs to him.

In Babha Bathra (54 b) it says:

"All things pertaining to the Goim are like a desert; the first person to come along and take them can claim them for his own."

And in a later passage, the Mossad motto makes an appearance:

A JEW MUST ALWAYS TRY TO DECEIVE CHRISTIANS
In Zohar (I, 160a) it says:

"Rabbi Jehuda said to him [Rabbi Chezkia]: 'He is to be praised who is able to free himself from the enemies of Israel, and the just are much to be praised who get free from them and fight against them. 'Rabbi Chezkia asked, 'How must we fight against them?' Rabbi Jehuda said, 'By wise counsel thou shalt war against them' (Proverbs, ch. 24, 6). By what kind of war? The kind of war that every son of man must fight against his enemies, which Jacob used against Esau - by deceit and trickery whenever possible. They must be fought against without ceasing, until proper order be restored. Thus it is with satisfaction that I say we should free ourselves from them and rule over them."

It would be very useful for people to understand the wide variety of brutal and unethical practices explicitly approved by the Talmud. When we say that someone like Michael Chertoff, for instance, is a Talmudic Jew, that means he has been formally instructed through religious indoctrination to lie to, deceive, steal from and kill non-Jews: approximately 97% of the population of the United States. Attorney General Mike Mukasey -- same thing. It's not like the difference between Episcopalians and Catholics; it's the difference between following a religion or following a secret plan for murderous racism.

Such a hideous secret kept for such a long time. But no more.