The most important file

UK Chancellor George Osborne using the oldest meeting trick in the book, the newspaper (The Times, as it happens) buried at the bottom of the materials. Except that he was holding up the materials.

Still, it's a good sign for the UK that he saw the EU meeting as a snoozer, since it's the one that discussed next steps in the EU emergency finance package for countries in distress.

One hopes the Irish representative (Martin Mansergh) was paying attention.

Photo: The Council of the European Union

Spending is futile

The Wall Street Journal editorial page uses forecasts of a modest positive impact of Spain's World Cup win on its economy to prove, to its own satisfaction, that it doesn't matter how much money is spent in any economy --

But there's no such thing as a free celebration, and the money spent celebrating Sunday's 1-0 victory over Holland is, by definition, not available for spending on other things. A household that buys a crate of bubbly to toast Andres Iniesta will certainly improve the wine merchant's fortunes, but probably at the expense of someone else—perhaps a carpenter who had been booked to perform repairs, or wages for a cleaning lady.

To put it another way, winning the World Cup does not expand the Spanish economy's productive capacity, and so the euros spent celebrating have to come from somewhere—either forgone consumption elsewhere, or reduced savings, or increased debt.

So far, so supply side enough. But there's more ...

The labor market for Spain's World Cup heroes may be brighter than ever, but their victory will do nothing for the 20% of the Spanish work force that is currently unemployed. For them, loosening up Spain's still-rigid labor market would do a lot more good than any national party.

Mention of Spain's 20 percent unemployment is where things get crazier than Nigel de Jong's kung fu tackle on Xabi Alonso. Because if Spain's problems were so deep-rooted, you'd expect its unemployment rate to have always been 20 percent.

Two years ago, it was 11 percent.

Which yes, is a tad high for a booming economy but it's a lot less than 20. So why did unemployment go up so much? Because people stopped spending due to the financial crisis. A little World Cup celebrating in that context is just what the doctor ordered.

That Tuesday Boy problem

"I have two children. One is a boy born on a Tuesday. What is the probability I have two boys?"

Much effort has been expended on this one. The initial presumption is that the answer must be 1/2 or 1/3, depending on how the set up of the question is interpreted.

Actual answer: 13/27. Seeming implication: having a boy born on a Tuesday makes it less likely to have another one. As one would suspect, it's not true. You can do this kind of trick with lots of ancillary events (for boy born night or day, the answer is 3/7).

Sorely lacking in the hours of reading this blogger has done on the topic is any intuition for the 13/27 answer, and indeed the attempted explanations seem to veer ever deeper into the philosophy of probability.

So here's our attempt. By specifying not just that one child is a boy but is one born on a Tuesday, the question has done two things. (1) It has introduced a 2nd characteristic into the event i.e. day of week as well as sex and (2) it has ruled out some events that would otherwise count. Example: 2 boys born on Saturday don't count as positive events. 2 girls born on Saturday already didn't count because of the specification that one child was a boy. In other words, the day-of-week seems irrelevant, but it's still grabbing a portion of the outcome space and putting other parts of it off limits.

The implications of this logic for an opinion poll asking whether the US president is a socialist are left to the reader.

Don't put him down as arrogant

Summer Quiz --

Identify which of the following are titles to (1) Rush albums or (2) Seamus Heaney poetry books.

District and Circle
Hemispheres
Power Windows
Hailstones
Seeing Things
Test for Echo
Vapor Trails
The Spirit Level
Gravities
Signals
Opened Ground
Permanent Waves
Caress of Steel
Keeping Going

Answers tomorrow.

UPDATE: Heaney bibliography; Rush discography.

Why you should never connect through JFK

If you think missed connections and lost bags are bad enough ...

Four guns went missing and were believed to have been stolen from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security detail after American Airlines lost luggage containing the weapons, NBC reported.

It said the Glock 9mm guns had been placed in checked baggage -- as security protocol dictates -- at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and were supposed to be placed on a flight to Washington for Israeli agents assigned to Netanyahu, who was meeting President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

But workers mistakenly sent the luggage to Los Angeles where it was learned the guns were missing, and police said they believe they were stolen, NBC television reported Tuesday out of New York city.

Someone was set up

Here's a strange one. The Ambassador from the UAE to the USA did a public interview with Jeffrey Goldberg from The Atlantic at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado. But the Washington Times is first out of the block with actual quotes and the apparent scoop -- that the UAE would rather see an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities than have Iran with nuclear weapons. The Washington Times was remarkably efficient in getting approving quotes from a usual suspects list (e.g. John Bolton), while National Review's Cliff May hails "an Arab neocon."

Now Goldberg himself is a tad more circumspect although he also recognizes the Iran scoop in the quotes. But the UAE government has rushed out an official statement denying the imputed meaning of the quotes, if not the quotes themselves --

"These statements came as part of general discussions held on the sidelines of an unofficial gathering and were taken out of their context in which Mr. Otaiba was speaking," the senior official said. "Iran is a neighboring country and we maintain historic relations with it." He stressed that "the UAE respects and believes in the sovereignty of other states and in the principle of non-interference, of all forms, in their internal affairs." "Already, the UAE declared, more than one time and in official statements issued by the Foreign Ministry, its position on the Iranian nuclear issue," Al-Haidan added.

"The UAE totally rejects the use of force as a solution to the Iranian nuclear issue and rather calls for a solution through political means that are based on the international legitimacy, transparency as well as the need for working, through the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on the right of all states to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

All that can be said at this point is that Ambassador seems to have been a tad unaware of the hornets nest he was walking into. So let's see the transcript and perhaps the likely "recall for consultations". Worth watching.

UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal says that there were two sets of remarks, one in public to Goldberg and another on the sidelines (and perhaps off the record) to the Washington Times.

The Hand of God takes it up a notch

Interview with Uruguay's Luis Suárez, the man who pushed the rules of soccer to the limit to benefit his team vs Ghana --

"Era la circunstancia del momento, no me quedaba otra situación y la mano de Dios la tengo yo ahora", dijo Suárez ... "Cuando me iba estaba mirando en la pantalla gigante y le pedía a Dios que lo erraran, y que pasara un milagro… y pasó", comentó casi incrédulo.

Roughly speaking ... it was the circumstance of the moment, I had no other option and the Hand of God, I have it now .. when I was watching on the big screen I asked God for mistakes (in the penalty kicks) and what will happen .. a miracle happened.

So God not only helped out with the handball but made the Ghanaians miss their kicks. That's some God!

Ireland's fiscal experiment

Paul Krugman and National Review's Stephen Spruiell have been e-duelling about whether Ireland's experience shows that tight budgets work. We've outlined our position here and here. Anyway, Spruiell takes another run at it today noting that relatively non-austere Spain seems headed for another ratings downgrade and that its credit default swap spreads, which once looked somewhat better than Ireland's (part of Krugman's argument) now look just as bad. And in addition, since Ireland's crash was worse and the economy was more constrained by the Euro, the outcomes don't look great but would even have been worse without the austerity.

So to repeat and augment what we've said before.

First, credit default swap spreads on their own don't tell much of a story. Actual debt problems are driven by the yields needed to sell new debt. Right now, Ireland is selling 8 year bonds at 5%. Germany sells at 2.3%. That's not good for an economy that is still shrinking in current value terms (one quarter's growth in output not withstanding).

Second, the most direct measure of whether budget cuts are working is, er, whether they actually cut the deficit. Ireland has yet to show that it can do that. Yes, it can cut relative to the "it would even have been worse without the cuts" scenario. But that doesn't change the ugly economics of borrowing 12-15% of GDP a year.

But finally (and this is something that the a lot of the outside scribblers on Ireland miss) -- the big story is the banks. Ireland could achieve all the budget stringency in the world and it doesn't change at all the massive exposure to the banking sector through the liability guarantee and the bailout of the nationalized Anglo Irish Bank. It's excessive deference to lenders to Irish banks, and not lenders to the government, that has Ireland in so much trouble. It's doubtful any fiscal policy -- stimulus or shrinkage -- can overcome that kind of exposure.

Russian spy network latest

No one could have conceived of a strange Russian-accented person with gadgets effortlessly blending into American suburbia. Never been done.

That's their man

Karl Rove uses this week's Wall Street Journal column to describe Barack Obama's supposed defeat at the G20 summit in Toronto, but as he assembles his evidence, this appears --

The European Union president (sic), Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, tore into Mr. Obama's stimulus and other spending policies in a stunning address to the European Parliament in March 2009, calling them "the road to hell" and saying "the United States did not take the right path."

One assumes that his summer intern could only find a couple of suitable G20 quotes so he had to dig up a 15 month old story to augment his case. And Mirek Topolanek is one of those where are they now people. His government collapsed in the middle of the Czech EU presidency, he had a cameo appearance in those embarrassing Berlusconi videos, and most recently he was in the news when ...

He said that Transport Minister Gustav Slamecka is a homosexual who "gives in" when he faces a serious problem." About Prime Minister Jan Fischer, he said, "he's simply a Jew; he's not gay and he gives in even sooner." Fischer is Jewish. Slamecka has not publicly commented on his sexual orientation. Topolanek also accused the Roman Catholic church of "brainwashing" believers.

The comments came in an interview for a gay magazine in which he provided the above pose.

And he's one of Karl Rove's inspirations.

The news magazine demographic

From the US Dept of Justice complaint describing the alleged Russian "espionage" ring and in particular the segment relating to the journey of "Richard Murphy" back to Moscow with a particular computer; Murphy would buy a US-Milan plane ticket and then in Milan get a fake Irish passport in the name of Eunan Doherty for his laundered journey to Moscow. But of course he would need to able to recognize his handler in Milan ...

Password [Handler] - "Excuse me, could we have met in Malta in 1999" ... [Murphy's reply] "Yes indeed , I was in La Valetta, but in 2000" ....

[Murphy's] recognition sign: "Time" magazine in [his] hands, (title to be seen from outside).

Sign of danger:
"Time" magazine in [his] left hand (title to be seen from outside).

Think carefully about how you carry your print publications in public. Someone could be watching.

Sepp Blatter must go

This one will need updating.

For a start, here's the officiating team at England -- Germany:

Ref: Jorge Larrionda
Linesmen: Pablo Fandino, Mauricio Espinosa
4th Official: Martin Vasquez

All from Uruguay.

Not clear yet who most obviously missed the goal.

... on the other hand, if we're naming names, then Gareth Barry and John Terry should be implicated in England's catastrophe too for their roles in 3rd and 4th German goals. And now that we think of it, Terry was at fault in the first one also.

Good God. Argentina vs Mexico. Our officials are mostly Italian --

Ref: Roberto Rosetti
Linesmen: Paolo Calcagno, Stefano Ayroldi
4th Official (who is the one who could actually see replays): Jerome Damon.

Remember fans, the unaccountable and incompetent FIFA was on display for everyone to see in the Thierry Henry handball against Ireland.

Photo: REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

The land of milk and honey and soccer

It's always interesting to see what other material can break through the dominant pro-Israel content at the blog of Commentary magazine. Usually it's Barack Obama's declining poll numbers. But today Jonathan Tobin revels in a supposed dilemma for American soccer fans, who, it is said, must choose between the trendiness of the sport and the nationalist tensions brought to the fore by international competition --

While I wish the American World Cup team well, as I would any endeavor in which my fellow citizens represent our country, the business of wrapping team sports in national flags is sheer humbug ... It is far better to leave this nonsense to the denizens of Old Europe, unstable South America, and the despotic Middle East, whose one democracy, Israel, is not allowed to compete against its neighbors in soccer but must instead play against the powerhouses of Europe to get into the World Cup, and thus has never been allowed to participate.

What's revealing about this is the cultural gulf between Israelis and the group who would claim to be their staunchest supporters. Now maybe in strategic matters they are, but on the simple matter of wearing the team colours and wanting them to do well in competition against other countries, Israel is just another country, being which is what one assumes the ultimate objective for Israel actually is.

To the practical matters: it's not true that Israel has never qualified for the World Cup. They played in Mexico 1970. Furthermore, is Israel hurt by having to play through European qualifiers to make the competition? It's not clear. If they weren't in UEFA, they would have to play out of an Asian group where the distances are huge and there are can be some very difficult matches against unfamiliar opponents.

Example: New Zealand clinched World Cup qualification in a playoff against Bahrain. By contrast, Israel is grouped with countries that are not very far away and whose players they know well from club football, since many of their best players ply their trade in Europe anyway.

And is there a penalty to being a small country in the European qualifiers? Well, other than the western usual suspects, the 3 countries coming out of the European groups were Slovenia, Slovakia, and Serbia, all of which have population in the same range as Israel.

In short, if you're looking for evidence of a giant prejudicial conspiracy against Israel, soccer isn't the place the look. Don't ruin it for everyone.

Out, damned ball

Thierry Henry, perhaps with the ball a little stuck to his hand out of guilt, after France's lone World Cup goal today versus South Africa.

Photo: REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Different job, different times

European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, in a New York Times interview --

Mr. Barroso said: “I was surprised by those remarks. They don’t conform to the facts. The distance Turkey started to show” from NATO partners and the West “started with the invasion of Iraq and the pressure put on Turkey by the previous U.S. administration” of President George W. Bush.

Above, Mr Barroso, then as Portuguese president, hosting the Bush-Blair war council on Iraq in the Azores, right before the invasion in March 2003. Not only did he not voice any qualms then, 3 months later he popped up in the White House to say --

Now you [George Bush] are taking great risks in the Middle East peace process. Let me congratulate you for that initiative, for re-energizing the peace process. I think the United States of America and Europe -- Portugal being a European country -- we have a lot to do together and I am very much looking forward to this opportunity to discuss with you, and always with the spirit of friendship that exists between the Portuguese and the American people, discuss all these ideas.

And we'll stand by you, because I think that what you have been doing is really great achievement. We have won the war, now we all have to win the peace. And I think that we are going to reach that goal.

One irony: the new Barroso, who recognizes the role of Iraq in damaging US-Turkey relations, is the right one. But this blind spot remains strong among most American conservatives, who strain for other explanations of the Turkish alienation even when it's staring them in the face.

Le Coq-up Sportif

So a truly classic day for French soccer at the World Cup. The players on strike, and then the French referee Stéphane Lannoy makes multiple errors in the Brazil versus Ivory Coast match. Kidding around with Luis Fabiano about him having handled the ball before he scored was the symbolic low point, but the injury reports still have to come in. If soccer had an actual governing body, something might be done about it.

Heckuva job, FIFA

Franck Ribery and Thierry Henry walking to the team bus after the players abandoned their training session in apparent protest at the fallout from Nicolas Anelka's row with Raymond Domenech.

Remember, it was ultimately Swiss bureaucrat Sepp Blatter's choice as to whether France or the Rep. of Ireland would appear in the World Cup.

Photo: REUTERS/Charles Platiau

Not to mention the duty free shop

The good news is that for the latest installment of New York Times pundit Tom Friedman from his visit to Turkey, he's not relying as so often in his past travels, on the taxi ride from the airport for material to enlighten us all.

The bad news? He's getting inspiration without even leaving the airport --

All you have to do is stand in the Istanbul airport and look at the departures board for Turkish Airlines, which flies to cities half of which I cannot even pronounce, to appreciate what a pulsating economic center this has become for Central Asia.

The worse news is that this airport-based journalism, and his actual meetings that did take place in Turkey, are leading him to think of Turkey as Dubai-on-the-Bosphurus, and not to question why this large democratically-run country has become alienated from the USA, other than, in his view, the deleterious effects of being denied EU membership. In particular, like pundits of many stripes contemplating this puzzle, there is no mention of the role of the war in Iraq.

Come back Bono's family to Ballyjamesduff

Bono --

It [Bloody Sunday] was a day when my father stopped taking our family across the border to Ulster (sic) because, as he said, the “Nordies have lost their marbles.”

If you need an explanation ...

Let the next bow row begin

Saudi King Abdullah is visiting the USA after his G20 visit to Canada.

One assumes that he'll meet Barack Obama. Body language will be watched closely.

When the IRA was fab

Not so long ago we noted the anger being displayed by American pro-Israel commentators against Ireland, most recently in connection with broad Irish support for the blockade-busting Gaza flotilla. So it's only fair to note a post by Commentary's Jonathan Tobin, who seems genuinely troubled by the falling out between the two countries. He goes through the version of Irish history known to all, where Liam Neeson, ably assisted by Julia Roberts, took on the Empire before being done in by a skulking Alan Rickman (the most mischievous piece of Neil Jordan casting ever, but that's another story).

But seriously --

Michael Collins, who led the IRA against the Brits during the 1918-1922 “Black and Tan War,” accepted partition of the country as the price of peace and Irish independence in the South. He paid for this with his life when IRA extremists assassinated him. But the peace he made stood the test of time. By contrast, the Palestinians, who are cheered in the Irish Republic, whose independence was bought with Collins’s blood, have consistently refused to accept a partition of the country or to make peace with Israel under any circumstances.

Three points. First, we really don't know what Collins' ultimate plan was. But it seems clear that he viewed the specific border between the Free State and the Six Counties as being up for grabs, and there was indeed a "border war" to change it. In fact, this forgotten episode resulted in a relatively recent frisson in the British media, when it was discovered that once-rising Labour star Ruth Kelly was the granddaughter of a man who was interned on a prison ship for participating in that campaign.

Second, Liam Neeson notwithstanding, Michael Collins was a terrorist. As far as Britain was concerned. So in embracing Collins, Tobin needs to take on the question of terrorism in the foundation of Israel and by extension how today's terrorists might be tomorrow's you-know-what. You're on the slope already.

But third, this Partition business. It's a fair point. One of many recent bust-ups in the blogosphere was over Jeffrey Goldberg's assertion that the critical Palestinian error was not taking partition in 1948. And it's true -- it's not what the Collins "stepping stone" logic would have recommended. 62 years later, it's not clear what the upside to that decision has been. So maybe the Michael Collins moment for the Palestinians has passed, although he never seems to go out of style.

One out of three ain't bad

From Dail Eireann confidence debate in Taoiseach Brian Cowen --

Ruairí Quinn (Lab) -- The republican Oliver Cromwell gave advice to a decrepit, corrupt and now defunct government and Parliament in Westminster many years ago. I offer it to the Taoiseach: “In the name of God, go”.

The Taoiseach: I am not corrupt, Deputy Quinn.

Case Study

There's a nice example of extreme disingenuousness from Commentary's Jonathan Tobin, who discusses the West Bank's semi-official boycott of goods produced in Israeli settlements, while referring to this as a boycott of Jewish goods. From his perspective, you get some nice historical slyness with that sleight of hand.

Someone is mischief-making

Statement from Saudi Press Agency --

Prince Turki bin Abdulaziz told Saudi Press Agency that the alleged letter to him circulated by some media and internet sites was nonexistent and fabricated by enemy parties wishing to spread confusion and excitement.

The statement comes context-free so one is left to speculate why it was necessary, but the Google leads to this story --

Saudi Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud has warned the country's royal family to step down and flee before a military coup or a popular uprising overthrows the kingdom.

The letter is unclear about whether the supposed uprising will be for more or less Islamic strictures than are currently the case, but the main issue with the letter appears to be its dodgy sourcing to an Egyptian news agency and then its propagation by a semi-official Iranian news outlet.

Too many suspects on this one.

Farewell then Celtic Tiger

Not that it's news given the economic disasters of the last 3 years, but it needed some kind of official milestone. So what was once a supply-side nirvana of low taxes, light-touch regulation, running the European Union, pundits beating a path to our door to find out the secret, owning half of Manhattan, Dubai, Sofia, and of course London is in 2010 symbolized by ...

Michelle Morrison, the wife of singer Van Morrison, has told a court in a sworn statement that she has no confidence that her neighbours would plant trees ro screen their 'Celtic Tiger-style house' from hers.

Appropriately, it's now just a phrase that means godawful big and ugly.

You can't get there from here

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For some reason, right-wingers think it's hilarious that some Israelis have floated the idea of a "reverse flotilla" to Kurdistan (sic) or Armenia (already an independent state).

Good luck with that boat journey, dudes. Just get a map before you go.

Most annoying people ever

It's been clear for a while that the active role of Irish people in the Gaza flotilla has come to the attention of Israel's American defenders. Michael Rubin a few days ago saying that the Republic should prove its non-hyprocrisy by opening its borders to everyone. And National Review's Jay Nordlinger, not bothering with the arguments at all --

Ireland as a whole is a nasty little state, where Israel is concerned. Strange, because they were such friends of the Jews during World War II, huh?

Of course Israel still has its Irish friends. In extreme cases, some have found that the flag above is fairly easy to adapt to such causes, since it already has a 6 sided star in it.

But what's particularly strange about the fury against the Irish on the Palestinian issue is that it's all anger about peaceful forms of protest. Marches, flags, statements. Yes, you can go to a protest and find some strange conjunctions. Just like you could at a US Tea Party rally. Even the Rachel Corrie crew didn't put up any resistance once they knew the game was up. Yet with the rhetoric they attract, you'd think they were terrorists.

Which raises another point. Boycotts. Because they might end up as the most damaging form of protest about Israel's policies in the territories. Note the escalatation of rhetoric against it: the Palestinian boycott of goods produced in the Jewish settlements is "economic terrorism." Not to mention cultural terrorism. Ireland had a lot of that type of terrorist in the 19th century.

Land of 5 billion welcomes

National Review's Michael Rubin (previously seen in the Irish context taking on Mary Robinson) thinks he has a devastating retort to Ireland's rhetorical activism on behalf of the Gaza flotilla and in particular the Rachel Corrie ship which is still en route to Gaza --

Ireland cooperates with the Schengen Agreement, signed in 1985, which has since expanded to create a common European area with stringent visa controls at its collective borders. But if the Irish government in its postmodern wisdom believes that its own arbitrary notions of social justice trump border policing, customs, and inspections, perhaps it’s time that Ireland stopped policing its own frontiers. No more passport control or customs checks at the Dublin airport, or at coastal ports. After all, Ireland faces only a flood of economic migrants from the developing world, certainly no existential threat.

Ireland is not a Schengen country. Nor is the UK, with which the country has a Common Passport Area. So just on the facts, he's wrong.

But even the broader analogy is ludricrous. There's nothing in the Gaza-bound cargo that would be denied admission to Ireland (in fact, the Rachel Corrie cargo was inspected in Ireland before it left). And as for "border policing, customs, and inspections", the Gaza flotilla was not at any border, nor was it subject to police or customs inspection.

But most of all, isn't a tad disproportionate, shall we say, to claim that any country which criticizes the Israeli raid on the flotilla should prove its bona fides by dismantling all its border controls?

So easy a caveman could do it

Weekly Standard's Matthew Continetti on Turkey's role in the Gaza flotilla fiasco --

The trend that few have noticed is that these elements are pulling Turkey out of the Western alliance structure and toward the Middle East. The break began in 2003 when the Turks denied the U.S. Fourth Infantry the ability to invade Iraq from the north.

So the breakdown in relations with Turkey began over the invasion of Iraq.

Interesting.

Later --

Since 2005, Americans have been worrying about Iran's ambitions for regional hegemony. Maybe it's time we started worrying about Turkey's regional ambitions as well. The Turks ruled the region from 1453 to 1922, after all. A renascence (sic) of Turkish power, in an Islamist guise, would cause all sorts of troubles no one can anticipate.

So after nearly 9 years of the Global War on Terror, a conservative begins to wonder if the restoration of the Caliphate could be closer than we think.

Somewhere in Afghanistan, a man laughs.

UPDATE: Bonus tunnel vision from Robert Pollock in the Wall Street Journal --

What's more, Turks remain blind to their manifest hypocrisies. Ask how they would feel if other countries arranged an "aid" convoy (akin to the Gaza flotilla) for their own Kurdish minority and you'll be met with dumb stares.

Another country did organize an aid convoy for the Kurdish minority in Turkey. It's called Kurdistan i.e. the effectively autonomous Kurdish provincial government in Northern Iraq.

It would be nice if conservatives woke up to the link between the US invasion of Iraq and the slow disintegration of traditional US Middle East policy, but it's not likely.

Commentary and dissent not merged

A selection of quotes from the blog of Commentary Magazine over the last couple of days --

Jennifer Rubin -- The “sick addiction” to the Democratic Party prevents the majority of American Jewry from recognizing who their true pro-Israel allies are.

Jonathan Tobin -- As with the case of Israel’s December 2008 counterattack on terrorist strongholds in Gaza after years of ceaseless missile attacks on its southern towns and villages, today’s naval confrontation offers American Jews a stark choice. They can back Israel or Hamas.

Particular bizarre about the 1st quote is its reverse Marxist mode of analysis -- that voting based on economic and social factors is an opium that prevents American Jews from seeing their "true" allegiance to Benjamin Netanyahu's version of Israel.

UPDATE: More Jennifer Rubin --

There is a single question that every individual, group, and nation must answer. To borrow from the most pro-Israel president since Harry Truman: if you are not with Israel, you are against her. And if you do not oppose with every fiber of your being and every instrument at your disposal that which intends the Jewish state harm, you are enabling her destroyers.