Monday, September 06, 2010

Some Brief Items

The Guardian has another (fairly negative) review of Martin Gilbert's In Ishmael's House. This reviewer claims the following:
the great Moses Maimonides was one who temporarily converted to Islam to escape death during that period . . .
I don't believe it, but I think the claim is made in Muslim sources, and here is another example of it being given recent currency. Anyone have a Jewish source that refutes the claim?

EOZ has a post about that Time "Why Israel Doesn't Care about Peace" cover (and article). So does Mere Rhetoric, along with some earlier covers.

According to Ynet:
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatened to halt the recently launched direct talks with Israel should he be pressed to make concessions regarding the 1967 borders, the return of Palestinian refugees and other issues.

"I'll grab my briefcase and leave," he said Monday during an official visit to Libya.
Glad to hear it. If Abbas is going to be inflexible about the "right of return," then maybe Bibi can be trusted not to give away the farm. And not giving away the farm probably means that the only possible favorable outcome is no agreement at all. I can't figure out what Bibi thinks he is doing.

Remember all the Israel-bashing about the case of "rape-by-deception"? Yaakov Lozowick informs us that it is "Time to Demand Retractions." Victor Shikhman, the author Lozowick links to, we learn, is "demanding an apology from Andrew Sullivan, which is unlikely to be forthcoming." "Unlikely to be forthcoming"? Perish the thought!

A recent Huffpo article--"Who's Afraid of Shariah?"--claims that only a "miniscule percentage of Muslims" advocate stoning. According to Wikipedia "Stoning is practiced in Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, and Nigeria." Just sayin' And speaking of Iran, here is the latest on the Ashtiani case.

A Kos diary reveals that Pamela Geller is an "Israeli Secret Agent." It isn't fair. I run a reasonable, mild-mannered, and rather bookish blog and nobody accuses me of being anything cool.

Angry Arab favors Sheitlach

No comments: