Author: miscellany101

Think you’re not expendable?


Think again! The war party desperately wants to fight Iran and they’ll use any excuse to do so, no matter how flimsy, transparent, or false it may be. They were able to convince an unquestioning public to go to war in Iraq and tie that war to the black ops/psyops 911 and they’re cooking up equally sinister things for their war against Iran. Take a listen to some of the things they’ve considered already:

What strikes me about all this is this was a meeting held by some of the top American officials in government and one of them, even for just a moment, wanted to consider sacrificing Americans at the hands of other Americans in order to go to war against Iran. What if we alter the equation just a bit and sacrifice Americans at the hands of non-Americans, in other words, use Americans to provoke a response from a hostile enemy, knowing those Americans will be killed. This type of idea was thought of before during the Kennedy Administration in its war against Cuba and was called, Operation Northwoods and one could draw the conclusion, has extended to today and 911. An Administration intent on going to war will do anything, even sacrifice its own citizens, to realize that goal, even when a war is not necessary, nor in the best interests of the country. People who are so quick to give in to such urges need to be removed from office, never to return again.

America’s Brown Shirts


Paul Craig Roberts was on to something when he wrote in 2004 of America’s rise to fascism through right wing talk radio. The airwaves are filled with abuse against those who oppose the government of G.W.Bush and his policies.

Bush’s conservative supporters want no debate. They want no facts, no analysis. They want to denounce and to demonize the enemies that the Hannitys, Limbaughs, and Savages of talk radio assure them are everywhere at work destroying their great and noble country.

Show hosts, who advertise themselves as truth-tellers in a no-spin zone, quickly figured out that success depends upon constantly confronting listeners with bogymen to be exposed and denounced: war protesters and America-bashers, the French, marrying homosexuals, the liberal media, turncoats, Democrats, and the ACLU.

Talk radio’s “news stories” do not need to be true. Their importance lies in inflaming resentments and confirming that America’s implacable enemies are working resolutely to destroy us.

Using tactics that resemble the Nazi Brown shirt movement’s slogan, “All opposition must be stamped into the ground”, talk radio has made dissent unpatriotic and akin to treason, the punishment of which is death. Hosts have attacked people who oppose the wars on terror, and they have attacked liberals, multiculturalism, immigration, and just about everything else not in lockstep with current right wing philosophy and just about anyone else not a card carrying member of the Republican Party. Those politicians that right wing radio supports lend their voices occasionally to these efforts, calling the shows to be tossed soft ball questions by hosts or make unchallenged policy announcements to an eager fan base which finds its voice in the voice of the Right. Rallying the people to the cause of talk radio’s right wing hosts, talk show hosts are even applauded by those very politicians the brown shirts support. Witness this dialog between the sitting president Bush and Rush Limbaugh on the occasion of LImbaugh’s 20 year anniversary on the air.

THE PRESIDENT: President George W. Bush calling to congratulate you on 20 years of important and excellent broadcasting.

RUSH: Well, thank you, sir. You’ve stunned me! (laughing) I’m shocked. But thank you so much.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s hard to do.

RUSH: (laughing) I know, it is.

THE PRESIDENT: I’m here with a room full of admirers. There are two others that would like to speak to you and congratulate you, people who consider you …

… friends and really appreciate the contribution you’ve made.

RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much.

The divisive nature of talk radio has its own hazards for the American society in general. The latest victims of the polarization right wing radio fascism brings to American society were killed while worshipping on a Sunday morning.

Jim David Adkisson told investigators all liberals should be killed and admitted he shot people Sunday morning at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by CNN affiliate WBIR.

“He felt that the Democrats had tied his country’s hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of major media outlets,” the affidavit said. “Because he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement … he would then target those that had voted them into office.”

Talk radio pundits will not accept responsibility for the actions of their brown shirts; America, unlike Nazi Germany is an extremely litigious society, but the responsibility is theirs. On any given day, a listener can hear between three to nine hours of talk delivered to bolster an Administration intent on waging wars throughout the globe, usurping the rights of citizens in order to fight those wars and withholding for itself the right to interpret, frame and enforce laws. Vigilantism at the top makes it much easier for the Jim Adkissons of the world to carry it out against fellow citizens.

Have you heard?


One of Israel’s most ardent enemies, Syria, says it wants peace with the Jewish state.  In fact, according to this particular Syrian diplomat, Israel has the chance to have peace with all of the Arab world, not just Israel’s contiguous neighbors. The latter part most likely is bluster on the part of this diplomat; he can’t possibly equate his one country with all of the Arab world, except that he’s most likely egomaniacal, but this is what he says:

Syria is interested in securing a peace agreement with Israel that would see a normalization of ties and end to the longstanding state of war between the two countries, Damascus’ envoy to the U.S. has said.

“The negotiations are a historic opportunity for Israel to make peace, not just with Syria and Lebanon, but with the whole Arab world,” Ambassador Imad Moustapha said, according to an interview broadcast on Army Radio on Monday.

*snip*


In response to the statements, Peace Now Secretary General Yariv Oppenheimer called on Israel to complete negotiations with Syria while the current Knesset is still in office.

“The government of Israel has an obligation not to miss this chance for peace with Israel, and to present a full peace agreement to the public,” Oppenheimer told Army Radio.

This is pretty significant, because Israel has always said it wanted recognition by its neighbors of its right to exist, which it seems the Syrian is saying is on the table.  But because this is such a desirable result it almost certainly means  there will be a casus belli for Israel to attack the border with Syria and exacerbate tensions so that peace won’t be possible, because peace is not in the long term interests of Israel, territory and natural resources are.   Let’s see how long before such an attack takes place.

Another lie debunked


Remember the July 7, 2005 London city bombings where fifty-six people lost their lives?  It inevitably came down to blame going to Al-Qaeda, although alot of what happened that day was clouded in confusion and open to a lot of speculation.  The actions of the UK government didn’t help matters because they refused to hold any type of inquiry that would answer questions being asked by all in British society, citing how security concerns would be undermined by such efforts!(?)   A great deal was made of the fact that the severity of the blasts, both in damage to property as well as loss of human life, was not characteristic of the Irish Republican Army, an organization which has been at odds with the British government for years, and could only be the work of Al-Qaeda.  By default, the blame has stuck for the last three years.  Now, comes word from the UK, that al-Qaeda is NOT the biggest threat of all the terrorist groups on the British horizon, but rather…..surprise…….the IRA!

Dissident republicans from Northern Ireland are engaged in suspicious activity more than any other radical group in the UK including Islamic extremists, according to security sources.

Statistics from the Home Office of the UK reveal dismal figures regarding arrests and convictions of people for terrorism. More than half of all arrests made for terrorism related offenses were bogus and the people were released without further charges, while the conviction rate for terrorist activity  stands at a paltry 18%.  However, since that fateful day in July,2005, two anti-terrorism laws were inflicted upon UK society which arguably led to the diminished  rights of British citizens and the increased powers of the State which claims to protect them.  Al-Qaeda has served as a useful tool for governments who while claiming to fight it, even when it poses no threat, are also fighting its own citizens.

The Bush Administration takes its marching orders


Not long after the Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates said a war with Iran would be disastrous on a number of levels, with his Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen adding he too wasn’t interested in fighting Iran, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called on the Administration to tighten sanctions against Iran and keep all military options on the table.

The Bush Administration has already passed legislation enacting sanctions against Iran, and Gates in the speech linked to above already said all options should be kept on the table, so what is the significance of Barak’s comments to the Israeli media?   The Israelis are insisting on the logistical use of American military bases in Iraq to strike the Iranians.  If they are not able to convince the Americans to hit Iran, then the next best thing would be to use American materiel to do the job, and as we’ve already noted some forward American bases are five minutes from Iranian nuclear targets.

However, what is more likely is this talk coming from Israel is meant to sabotage any attempts at rapprochement currently being made by Iran to America.  The Iranian president has gone on record with American media saying they, the Iranians, want good relations with the US and will do everything they can to foster such a cordial atmosphere if the US stops being confrontational.  He also repeated his denial that Iran is building nuclear weapons.  Such talk coming out of Tehran has to be somewhat disconcerting to Israel which has built its entire existence on threats of its demise due to hostile neighbors.  Even when there were none able to be a suitable threat, Israel made them up, as they are doing presently with Iran.

America, Afghanistan and the Taliban


We were all told how the US had to rid the world of al Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and save the Afghans from the evil scourge of Islamic fundamentalism.  A lot of people bought into that and/or signed up for it.  Even Laura Bush signed on with her own rhetoric about the need to help the women of Afghanistan overthrow their shackles of oppression represented by the burkha, the Taliban and Islam.  Rarely are acts of imperialism done in the name of the people who live in the occupied country, but  rather in the interests of the occupier.  Therefore, America isn’t really concerned about OBL, the Taliban or Afghans themselves and this news item underscores that point:

Under the far harsher regime of Afghanistan, death for apostasy is still on the statute book, despite the country’s American-backed “liberation” from the tyranny of the Taliban. The Western world realised this when Abdul Rahman, an Afghan who had lived in Germany, was sentenced to die after police found him with a Bible. After pressure from Western governments, he was allowed to go to Italy. What especially startled Westerners was the fact that Afghanistan’s parliament, a product of the democracy for which NATO soldiers are dying, tried to bar Mr Rahman’s exit, and that street protests called for his execution.

One can only wonder what other left overs from the Taliban are being used by the occupiers to oppress the citizens of Afghanistan.

Guess what some are saying is the greatest threat America has ever faced?


And it ain’t al-Qaeda, jihadists, or surprisingly my choice, the press. It’s Republicans! I’m not so sure I wholeheartedly support this notion because there have been a few Republicans who’ve called a spade a spade and denounced what’s going on in the American body politic, but there is a fringe, mentioned in the article whose mention I would like to underscore in the excerpt below.

The neoconned Republican Party is the greatest threat America has ever faced. Let me tell you why.

Republicans think the United States is the salt of the earth and that American hegemony over the rest of the world is not only justified by our great virtue but necessary to our safety. People this full of hubris are incapable of judgment. People incapable of judgment should never be given power.

Republicans have no sympathy for anyone but their own kind. How many Republicans do you know who care a hoot about the plight of the poor, the jobless, the medically uninsured? The government programs that Republicans are always adamant to cut are the ones that help people who need help.

I have yet to hear any of my Republican friends express any concern whatsoever for the 1.2 million Iraqis who have died, and the 4 million who have been displaced, as a result of Bush’s gratuitous invasion. Many tell me that the five- and six-year long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are due to wimpy Americans “who don’t have the balls it takes” to win. Killing and displacing a quarter of the Iraqi population is just a wimpy result of a population that lacks testosterone. Real Americans would have killed them all by now.

Macho patriotic Republicans are perfectly content for US foreign policy to be controlled by Israel. Republican evangelical “christian” churches teach their congregations that America’s purpose in the world is to serve Israel. And these are the flag-wavers.

Neoconservatives, such as Billy Kristol, insist that loyalty to the country means loyalty to the government. Thus, criticizing the government for launching wars of aggression and for violating constitutionally protected civil liberties is, according to neoconservatives, a disloyal act.

In the neoconservative view, there is no place for the voices of citizens: the government makes the decisions, and loyal citizens support the government’s decisions.

In the neocon political system there is no liberty, no democracy, no debate. Dissenters are traitors.

The neoconservative magazine, Commentary, wants the New York Times indicted for telling Americans that the Bush regime was caught violating US law, specifically the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, by spying on Americans without obtaining warrants as required by law. Note that neoconservatives think it is a criminal act for a newspaper to tell its readers that their government is spying on them illegally.

Judging by their behavior, a number of Democrats go along with the neocon view. Thus, the Democrats don’t offer a greatly different profile. They went along with the views that corporate profits and the war on terror take precedence over everything else. They have not used the congressional power that the electorate gave them in the 2006 elections.

The author of this essay is a former official in the Ronald Reagan administration, most probably making him a Republican himself! I applaud him for his courage and honesty. I disagree with him however, when he states towards the end of his article, that Democrats can’t be any worse. In due time, with the same forces at work on the Democratic party they can produce equally disastrous results as we’ll come to see in the near future.

Don’t quit your day job!


Someone please tell me this candidate for US Senate in Kentucky is NOT a  serious candidate, nor a libertarian! In a radio interview in Kentucky, US Senate candidate Sonny Landham had this to say in response to questions posed to him about his fellow Arab/Muslim Americans.

there has been a holy war going for thousands, and thousands, and thousands of years. Long before we were ever thought of. The Muslims look at infidels. Anyone who is not a Muslim is an infidel. Whether you are a Jew, a Bhuddist, a Catholic, a Protestant, or an atheist, you are still an infidel. They will lie to you, and they will not tell you the truth because it is not a sin for a Muslim to lie to a infidel.

If I had my way, I would stop Arabs coming into this country. And I would take all, uh, non citizens of the United States, finger printing them, and having a complete background check before they set foot into this country.

Tom Dec: Uh, pretty good, how are you? Uh, um, why do you support bombing the OPEC countries if they don’t turn over oil to us, and how exactly is that a libertarian position?

Sonny Landham: Uh, this, that was not quite what I said. My first statement was, do the steps that we have in the switch and drill, and somebody said, well that’s not my diplomatic way and if that doesn’t work, I said I would bomb those camel dung-shovelers back into the sand, and you’re going to wind up having to do it. Now, I’m pro-Israel all the way. As far as my book goes, Israel can do no wrong, Israel has a right to survive. It’s the camel dung-shovelers that say Israel does not have a right to survive, we don’t recognize Israel. Well, pal, I am for Israel. The biggest thing we ever did was to stop Israel…Israel in the six day war.

In case you’re wondering, the other candidates in the race are Democrat Bruce Lunsford and Republican Mitch McConnell, the incumbent.

Knee jerk


The ADL is upset about the appearance of political cartoons in Arab publications throughout the Middle East.  This one is my favorite.

Saying such cartoons are ‘perverse, bogoted and age-old conspiracy theories that portray Israelis and Jews as controlling the candidates’ the ADL published an entire group of them on their website. I would like to offer up, without comment, one of my own caricatures.

Could it be American Jews are Israel’s worst enemy?


There’s no reason for the United States to go to war with Iran or conduct a military strike against Iranian targets.  The only reason such talk graces the printed pages of American newspapers and magazines or finds its way on American airwaves or the ethernet is because of Israel.  It appears however, some in Israel don’t think it’s such a good idea either.  Again and again, former Mossad chief Halevy has downplayed the Iranian threat in articles published in Israeli sources, and again and again his proclamations have been ignored by American media!  What gives?  Could it possibly be that American Jews, many of whom are former leftists turned neocons, are believers in the notion of “permanent revolution“?  Such a notion surely sounds like the global war on terror proclaimed by Bush, which has no end in sight nor success markers and which with the choice replacement of capitalism with democracy would be enough to get the hearts and minds of most Americans enlisted and on board.  More insidious however are those American Jews who are Israel firsters, who put the interest (or rather their perceived interests of Israel) above those of the United States.  In a misguided attempt to help their country of choice, they believe using the full power and might of the US military is enough to keep Israel safe.  The problem is they do so from afar, in the relative safety of the US, whereas some Israelis on the ground in Israel have different ideas of what’s Israel’s interests.

I do like that such leftists turned neocon Israel firsters are easily spotted.  The tactics they are using to engage America with Iran are the same faulty, deceitful tactics they used with Iraq.  Here and here are other examples of  lies straight out of the play book of the Office of Special Plans’, formerly run by Doug Feith  where the reality is completely different.  No doubt there are some Israelis who want war with Iran as there are some Americans but such a war would not serve either of the countries’ long term interests, inflict very high civilian casualties in Iran, Iraq, possibly Israel and could have a more devastating effect globally than the Iraqi war has had to date.

Overstating Our Fear


I was surprised to find an editorial in the corporate press that has some semblance of reason to it regarding the phony war on terror. Written by a veteran CIA employee/operative/bureaucrat, several of the points bear mentioning here and any place else during this election season. It appears both of the presidential candidates are giving in to the war party in Washington which wants an indefinite war against global jihadists. Carle stresses there is no global jihad movement but rather disparate nationalist movements in various parts of the world. One could go on and speculate that what they all have in common is a desire to rid themselves of occupying forces.

The author dismisses al-Qaeda calling them small men and a secondary threat to the United States. Such a statement will not make him popular in the halls of a government that has spent the last seven years building up al-Qaeda as the second Russian coming. In fact Carle says the threat posed by al-Qaeda is an exaggerated one made by this Administration, and cautions Americans not to be fearful. The “nationalist” movements, Carle says hate America because of its freedoms, a rather typical neocon refrain, but he goes on to say such movements are neither interested in attacking America nor capable of overtaking their own societies. The unspoken point there being America need not get involved fighting them.

What I like the most about this piece is the timing. The emotional rollercoster the public has been on because of the bluffs, threats, intimidations of the Administration has taken its toll and seems to have prompted some to take a step back and call for cooler heads to prevail. The author didn’t come right out and say we’ve been fed lies by Bush and company but he says things aren’t as bad as they are made out by some to be. There is no mention of Iran in this peice, but one can certainly draw the same conclusions about that country as has been made about the global war on terror. Good editorial; it’ll take a lot more like these to restore my confidence in the main stream media so I’m not holding my breath.

The evil of Christian zionism


Two of America’s more quoted Christian evangelists are in the news for the same reason.  Pat Robertson and John Hagee are calling for another war in the Middle East against Iran.  In Robertson’s case he wants the Israelis to hit at or strike Iran.  In one of his more delusional interviews, Robertson asserts:

But with Israel, it’s not a question of whether they can be moderate or extreme. The question is the survival of their nation. And if Iran gets nuclear weapons, they have announced in advance they’re going to use them against Israel. And Israel has no choice but to make some kind of a strike against the Iranian nuclear facilities, and to do so fairly soon.

Nobody wants to do it, but nevertheless, they’re going to have no choice. They do have nuclear submarines they can launch cruise missiles from. I don’t believe the U.S. would allowing a refueling in Iraq, although some people have mentioned something like that.

This is 2002 all over again.  Completely ignoring his own country’s NIE of 2007 which states Iran does not presently have the capacity to build nuclear weapons has dismantled any weapons building program and has shown no signs of starting one, even surreptitiously, Robertson makes more than a leap of faith in his declaration, ‘ when Iranians get nuclear weapons they’ll use them against Israel’.  In fact, the leading religious figure in Iran has said his country is prohibited from using nuclear weapons, nullifying any statement anyone else may or may not make on behalf of Iran.  One interesting note about Robertson’s  statement on Israel not being able to refuel in Iraq is Israel and the US are coordinating closely on tactical issues surrounding Iran.  In fact, Israeli jets have used American military bases in Iraq for some time and the forward most base puts Israel within a 5 minute strike of an Iranian nuclear facility.

John Hagee’s Christian’s United for Israel held their convention in Washington, which could be seen as no more than a political rally for John McCain, who by the way has tried to distance himself from Hagee, and which has as its theme, ‘Your chance to vote for Israel’.  One of the workshops of the convention was Iran: Eye of the storm, which talked about the need to get rid of a “nuclear” Iran.  Israel firster Joe Lieberman spoke at the convention, despite cries from Israeli Jews for him to kick Hagee to the curb, to make the case for sanctions against Iran and warning of an attack if they don’t work.  Lieberman used the same fear mongering expressions based only on conjecture, alleging

A nuclear Iran is a mortal danger to all of our allies in the Middle East–both to the Arabs and Israel–and it is a threat to us. A nuclear Iran would transform the balance of power in the region in the worst possible way. As Iran continues to expand the reach of its missiles, it will soon not just be the Middle East that is threatened, but Europe as well.

The President of Iran has made his genocidal intentions toward Israel clear. And he regularly leads his Iranian audiences in chanting “Death to America.”

It’s interesting Americans and Israelis both want the US to attack Iran but for different reasons.  The US wants  to protect its ally, while the Israelis want Americans to do it in order to spare Israelis the nuclear option. Either way, the use of religious Christian figures to call for war increasingly makes Islam seem like the ‘religion of peace’ indeed.

Are the Brits finally catching on?


It’s not enough the US relied on the faulty Downing Street memo and used its existence as an excuse to go to war in Iraq.  Effectively blaming the British for America’s mistake, the British government still seemed to be in synch with US policy in Iraq.  Well, maybe not anymore.  Now it appears the British government is questioning the integrity of US leaders, including George Bush when it comes to torture.    There is a very long paper trail  which indict the Bush Administration in it’s decision to torture, or bend the rules concerning torture of people it has captured in this phony war on terror, so there is plenty for the British to hang their hat on when condemning US policy.  Citing a committee report which

said there were ‘serious implications’ of the striking inconsistencies between British ministers continuing to believe the Bush administration when it denies using torture. ‘The UK can no longer rely on US assurances that it does not use torture, and we recommend that the government does not rely on such assurances in the future,’ said the committee. ‘We also recommend that the government should immediately carry out an exhaustive analysis of current US interrogation techniques on the basis of such information as is publicly available or which can be supplied by the US.’

it marks a definite shift in British attitudes towards  America.  This observer only wishes such a shift began four years earlier before headlines such as these graced papers around the world:

British troops in torture scandal

British troops accused of sexually abusing Iraqi boy, 14

British soldiers tortured Iraqi civilian to death…

What’s up with the NYT


The New York Times’ track record over the last seven years has been dismal. First off their reporters were nothing more than mouthpieces for this Administration’s call to war, which led to one of them Judith Miller leaving that paper. They followed up her departure, sometime later, hiring William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, who also has a losing track record when it comes to reporting or commenting on the Iraq war. The NYT has on its staff the likes of Thomas Friedman, whose ‘suck on this’ explanation of why we went to war in Iraq is something no one should take seriously, including his managers. So I see where they’ve brought on another loser, who graced the editorial pages with a piece that is both incendiary as well as pathetic.

Benny Morris’ editorial entitled, Using Bombs to Stave off war, is already a contradiction in terms, because usually bombs are a sign of war, and it gets progressively worse after that. The only saving grace to this editorial is the opening sentence, word, which seems to be placed there either as foreboding, or tongue in cheek. What really bugs me is the nonchalant attitude Morris uses to talk about killing people with whom he disagrees. We won’t even talk about the factual errors in his piece which he uses to promote, incite war, such as his assertion that Iran’s on a march toward nuclear weaponry or that the President of Iran has threatened the existence of Israel, and therefore the Israelis are afraid of him. (The latter is hilarious, even Morris’ own generals have said Iran poses no existential threat to their country.) But this is the kind of misleading reporting, editorializing the NYT has come to be known by the last seven years, and there’s no indication it’s going to get any better. If you’re interested in a good laugh however, or want to be reminded of just how bad a job the Times does informing its readers, then check out the Morris editorial here. Remember, Li-on!

The convergence of zionism and Judaism


I believe it’s an unspoken truth that the two are inextricably related so much so that the lines are blurred and many people see them as one.  I don’t however, for in my opinion zionism is a political movement dedicated to the return of Jews to a certain part of the world at the expense of the people already living there, whereas Judaism is a belief in God, or G_d as I’ve seen some people write it while not quite knowing why they do it that way, that has some semblance of justice and fairness for all His creation.  Perhaps that’s my projection of ANY religion that takes off from the point of a benign and benevolent Creator, which I see wholly inconsistent with oppression and genocide, the likes of which are taking place in the occupied territories of Palestine.

I was very happy to hear that the Saudi regime initiated an interfaith meeting where they invited people from the major religions to Spain to talk about what they have in common and how they could foster better relations with one another. There’s certainly a lot to talk about there in this atmosphere of Islamophobia,  although I’m sure members of other faiths have plenty to talk about with Muslims.  The Saudis are generally very non-confrontational so they avoided inviting any religious representatives of Christianity, Islam or Judaism, from Palestine or Israel and there was the beginning of a conference whose doom was sealed before it ever got started.  Jews wanted Israeli Jews present probably because they thought their presence would indicate de facto recognition of Israel by the Saudis who until now have not recognized that state.  Moreover they were not to pleased with the mention of “zionism” in anything other than a good light.  Most likely, the conference organizers don’t equate zionism with Judaism as some Jews would like.  That criticism of “zionism” which I think had no place in an interfaith conference but whose defense by some Jews highlights the confusion between religion and politics, as it pertains to Judaism.  Some of the Jewish participants, and most notably one Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee said the conference would be little more than a photo opportunity unless it led to a follow-up in Saudi Arabia with Israeli Jews which seems to mean Jews won’t participate in a follow-up conference unless those two conditions are met: Israeli Jews are invited and it take place in Saudi Arabia. However,  not all Jewish participants were in such a conundrum about their religion and the state of Israel and were optimistic about the chances for the future.  The identification of a religion with a nation state has no place in an interfaith dialogue, especially one with as poor a human rights record as Israel.  That some Jewish members made that connection is more than unfortunate.