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May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide
Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting

May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review Jan. 3, 2006 / 3 Teves, 5766

Turning Munich into a movie

By Suzanne Fields

Suzanne Fields
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Munich, 1938. Neville Chamberlain compromises with Hitler and declares, in one of history's most breathtaking moments of naivete bordering on simple-mindedness, that he has made "peace with honor." The Holocaust and World War II promptly follow.


Munich, 1972. Germany hosts the Olympics for the first time since Hitler presided over the 1936 games. The president of the Federal Republic of Germany opens the Olympics as "a milestone on the road to a new way of life, with the aim of realizing peaceful coexistence among peoples." Eight Palestinian terrorists of the "Black September" terror cell burst into the Israeli compound in Olympic Village and take hostages, of whom they will eventually kill 11. Most of the terrorists (and planners) get away.


"Munich," 2005. Steven Spielberg, who made "Schindler's List," one of the best movies about the Holocaust, and "Saving Private Ryan," a brutally realistic World War II movie, bases "Munich" on the aftermath of the evil at the '72 games. Gone is the heroic spirit, the do-or-die sensibility on behalf of fighting evil, the recognition of courage for doing right no matter how high the price or how messy the execution. Instead, the director describes "Munich" as a "prayer for peace." He renders the movie as a politically correct piety that is the moral equivalent of Chamberlain's prayer for "peace in our time." (Neither Chamberlain nor Spielberg identifies the gullible deity prayed to.)


The movie's less than subtle subtext invokes the Iraq War, suggesting that the violent American response to Islamist violence, like the violence required of Israel to protect itself, can only beget a circle of blood and death in which nobody wins.


The movie plot is simple. Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, gives orders to a squad of five "foot soldiers" to track down and kill the members of Black September who got away. The aim is not revenge but to prevent the terrorists from killing again, something the German hosts would not or could not do. In the words of Prime Minister Golda Meir: "Every civilization finds it necessary to negotiate compromises with its own values." So far, fair enough.


The Israeli avengers start out as tough, cold warriors doing what's right for their country. Like the American soldiers dispatched to save Private Ryan, they can kill up close, looking their victims in the eye, dispatching evil men who intend to kill again. As difficult as it is to watch, we feel safer knowing the avengers are willing to do that.


But Mr. Spielberg can't resist bringing into admiring focus the stereotypical guilt-ridden, agonizing Jew, willing to conspire in his own destruction, the stereotype whom the Israelis long ago replaced. He turns the resolute idealistic Israeli leader of the squad of avengers into a vulnerable, hesitant, self-questioning Hamlet, suffering from what can only be characterized in post-modern terms as "post (paranoid) traumatic stress syndrome." In this scenario, which has no recognizable basis in actual fact, the enemy morphs from the Palestinian terrorist into the Israeli government.


Mr. Spielberg insists he doesn't want to demonize anybody, so to avoid doing that he demonizes the Israelis, ignoring the reality that Palestinian terrorists started all this by bursting in on sleeping Jews. Because we don't see much of the terrorists, except in brief cinematic flashbacks, we don't hear about the murder of civilians, usually women and children, in airports and markets over the years. The movie dispatches the Mossad to operate without context, without precedent. There's no hint that payback, dealt from strength, is meant to inhibit future terrorists.


Curiously, at the end, the camera pans the New York City skyline, with the Twin Towers standing prominently tall. "Had to show them," Spielberg tells Time magazine. The terrorism that began in the Middle East has come at last to our shore. Mr. Spielberg insists he didn't mean for the pan to the Twin Towers to carry "resonance" with the murder of the Israeli athletes. But why else would he put the scene there but to suggest, in a heavy-handed way, that just as Israeli violence begets violence, the violent American response to September 11 will only beget violence?


Mr. Spielberg's movie, which is entertainment after all, can ignore the "clash of civilizations" and its deadly implications, but the rest of us cannot. When warring with evil, the civilized world must be wary of negotiating compromises with its cherished values. It's a matter of life or death.

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© 2006, Creators Syndicate, Inc

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