Rael Jean Isaac

A JOYOUS NOBEL

Departing from its miserable choices (Harold Pinter for literature, Mohammed El Baradei for "peace"), the Nobel Prize Committee made Robert Aumann co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics (with Thomas Schelling) for his work on game theory. An Orthodox Jew, Aumann brought 34 family members to Stockholm, including children, their spouses, grandchildren and great grandchildren. They had moved to a hotel close to the hall so they could rush there for the ceremony once Shabbat had ended. Aumann, with his flowing white beard, took the award with a white crocheted kippa on his head, clad in the special suit he had made in Tel Aviv because the standard suit did not conform to the religious prohibition against shaatnes, combining wool and linen.

A refugee from Nazi Germany who moved with his family to the United States in 1938, Aumann went to City College and then to MIT, moving to the Hebrew University math department in 1966, the year after he received his doctorate.

A committed Zionist, Aumann opposed Sharon's "disengagement." Indeed he noted that in terms of game theory, the withdrawal signaled Israel did not know what to do and was merely taking an action for the sake of "doing something." One doesn't need game theory to know the withdrawal was a disaster but the international left went into a tizzy, withseveral hundred academics calling for Aumann to be disqualified on the grounds he favored "oppression of the Palestinian people."

CHANUKAH AT THE WHITE HOUSE

The following is excerpted from an op-ed by Hudson Institute President Herbert London in The New York Sun, Dec. 23-25, 2005:
"On December 6, I went to the White House Chanukah party. Jews from the most to the least observant were present. At the top of the stairs on the second floor, the West Point Cadet Choir sang Chanukah songs in Hebrew....President Bush and Mrs. Bush greeted everyone with their usual cordiality. In fact, the president lit Chanukah candles and proceeded to tell the tale of this celebration. For me, however, the most startling scene occurred at about 8 p.m. Several chasidic leaders noted that it was time for prayer. They sought a minyan, a prayer group of 10 males. Once assembled, these men proceeded to daven....Here in what is ostensibly a Christian country, in a White House led by a born-again Christian, one can find chasidim praying in the Dolley Madison room....My heart swelled; I was simply filled with pride...America is a magical place.... Imagine, if you can, the response to a group of chasidim that wished to pray in the Saudi Royal Palace. Their heads would be cut off before the first words were uttered...As I stood in the second floor corridor, tears were rolling down my cheeks. Yes, I have a love affair with America. I love our history, our tradition, and our tolerance…..there isn't any nation in the world that can reproduce the prayer service I observed on December 6. That was the essence of America."

A PERES GEM

The man who may well be Israel's Foreign Minister (again!) has gone from his customary imbecility to outright incoherence. "Politics is about credit," Peres explained. "Unity is an attempt to put credit aside and put unity in the center. My worry isn't about credit. My worry is my country. It costs, but it's right."

RICE'S LIST

On December 6, speaking in Germany, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice listed the places that had been victims of terror: among those she listed were New York, Washington, London, Madrid and Amman. No mention of Israel, although only a day earlier Israeli civilians had been murdered in a suicide bombing in a Netanya mall.

KADIMA'S FUTURE

Barring Sharon suffering another more serious stroke, his Kadima Party is predicted to win the forthcoming elections. If this indeed happens, in one sense it will be a highly unusual event in Israeli politics. No party that was established to challenge the traditional ideologically based parties (Labor, Likud and the religious parties) has ever received the largest share of electoral votes. Even Ben Gurion, the leader many Israelis thought indispensable, could only muster ten seats (in the 120 seat Knesset) when he broke away from Labor to form his own Rafi Party, this though he took with him many of his party's best known and most popular figures, including Moshe Dayan. Four years later, the Rafi Party was history.

But even if Sharon's Kadima defies previous upstart parties by winning the election, its subsequent trajectory is predictable. In the wake of the public disillusion that brought down the long-ruling Labor government following the 1973 war, The Democratic Movement for Change, a new party led by former general Yigael Yadin on a "good government" program, won an astonishing 15 seats, quickly to split and die. Sharon's party has no program whatever. It is based purely on himself and his plan for self-divestment of Israel’s historic patrimony. Without him, Kadima will disintegrate.

THE U.S. INSPIRED RIOTS

Oliver Roy, research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research, said of the rioting Muslim youths in France: "It is nothing to do with radical Islam or even Muslims...these guys are building a new idea of themselves based on American street culture." If this is the caliber of French "scientific research," maybe more than their immigration policy needs an overhaul.

KRAUTHAMMER LOSES IT

Like many other neoconservatives, Charles Krauthammer lost his former astuteness once he endorsed Ariel Sharon's wicked and strategically insane expulsion of the Gush Katif and northern Samaria settlements. This said, Krauthammer's column of December 9 "Progress in the Mideast: Peace Without Treaties" is still a mind-boggling exercise in self-delusion. According to Krauthammer the intifada is over, defeated by Israel; Sharon has set Israel "on a path to a modest and attainable territorial solution to the century-old conflict;" Israel's regional isolation is easing; once Israel retreats from 92% of Judea and Samaria the security fence willl make it almost impossible to launch attacks into Israel; the Palestinian national movement has matured and with Arafat gone will move from revolution to nation-building.

Where does one begin? This is a farrago of nonsense worthy of Shimon Peres.

BLAMING THE VICTIM

An off-the-wall jury has determined that the chief blame for the 1993 (first) bombing of the New York World Trade Center lies not with those who planted the 1,500 pound bomb, but with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, then owners of the World Trade Center, which, the jury determined, "should have known" the attack was coming and "should have known" to shut down the garage to the public and to its upstairs tenants.

Of course there was no way the Port Authority could have anticipated such a hitherto unthinkable act. This jury is yet another illustration of the extent to which tort law has run amuck, slamming deep pockets (in this case New York and New Jersey taxpayers) with a blithe disregard for genuine responsibility. The jury apportioned the Port Authority 68% of the responsibility for killing six people, injuring 1,000 and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage and business disruption. Since the jury attached over half the blame to the Port Authority, the taxpayer will also be on the hook for 100% of any damages for pain and suffering that are awarded.