Me thinks the lady doth protest too much…

Me thinks the lady doth protest too much…And the Man doth not protest at all.

Actually the Hamlet quote really is, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks," but no one remembers it that way. No matter, it's the idea that counts.
Let's say the Lady is US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The woman had an absolute cow when plans for Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo neighborhood were okayed last week (or was she just looking for something to make a stink about – and do ladies have cows and make stinks??). Even the Anti-Defamation League's Abe Foxman called Clinton's remarks a "gross overreaction" to a "policy difference among friends." She wasn't the only one to insult and threaten Israel last week. US Vice President Biden said that Israel's move "imperiled" the US plan to launch periphery talks between Israel and the PA Arabs. Since then, Administration officials have been searching high and low for complex Thesauruses to find synonyms for "insult" and "imperil" so they can say the same thing in a hundred other ways and also be shown on prime time TV.
The European Union got into the act too. The leftwing site, Haaretz.com, reported, " In addition to the U.S. condemnation of Israel's announcement, the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers also condemned on Friday Israel's announcement approving new construction in east Jerusalem."
(Middle East peacemakers??? Oh puhlease, Haaretz…Has anything they've done over the years advanced peace, or have they just contributed to the isolation and abuse of Israel? Plus, Ramat Shlomo is NOT some tenement neighborhood in east Jerusalem and not in Eastern Jerusalem either. It is a beautiful area in Northern Jerusalem, next to Ramot, another larger and popular Jerusalem neighborhood.) Meanwhile, with the world against Israel and our own government misguidedly apologizing ad nauseum, our officials have also bought stock in Roget's Thesaurus, trying to find a host of new ways to say, "We are sorry. We are lowly. We are unworthy. Forgive us, master."
I mean, what are they scared of? That Clinton or Biden or PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said the announcement of construction one day in the loooong distant future threatens the periphery talks? Another, puhlease, don't be foolish. Nothing will stop those talks, because through those talks the Arabs can only come out big winners and the Israelis big losers. And the Arabs, US or EU can kvetch all they like, but there's no way, unfortunately, that they're not going to race to the table.
Meanwhile the isolation of truly friendless Israel has encouraged Arabs throughout the country (including Gaza) to step up its violence with stones, guns and missiles.
Hm, sounds like one of my blogs. See list of related articles below.
A Thesaurus of Excuses
Of course, there is an excuse for everything. Arabs shot up Route 443 near Modiin two weeks ago because Israel was going to call the burial places of our ancestors, Me'arat HaMachpela and Rachel's Tomb, protected landmarks. The rioting continued in Judea, Samaria and Eastern Jerusalem over the past few weeks, including a rock attack at a bus in Hebron. Then my friend, Valerie, was stoned near Tekoa (she has subsequently been operated on), and the excuse was the announcement of future Ramat Shlomo building, or perhaps it was because the Hurva Synagogue was rededicated (after Arabs destroyed it in 1948). Whatever! They haven't decided which excuse to use.
Back to... the lady and her cohorts protest too much. But the man doth protest not at all.
Instead of letting the US State Department say our municipal announcements "undermined trust and confidence in the peace process," why doesn't Israel's own Prime Minister say, "Constant Arab stone throwing and attacks on innocent Jews throughout Israel – Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria – are undermining our trust and confidence in the peace process, in the real intensions of the Arabs toward peace, and the position of the United States as an honest broker."
Why doth the man not protest at all? "Israel will not sit down to periphery talks or any talks until there is a complete cessation of violence in every location in the country, whether within or outside the green line. As long as one rock is thrown, there will be no talks."
But the man doth protest not at all.
FINALLY SOMEONE DOTH PROTEST – and that someone is US
Well, finally, at least someone is protesting against this latest round of violence. And we must all go!! All of us. We must do our part to stop the violence. We are all sick of going to funerals of victims of terror. We're tired of hearing that any more of our friends are in the hospital because they were attacked by Arabs who were mad about Ramat Shlomo, Kever Rachel, the Hurva Shul or any other ridiculous excuse.
On Motzei Shabbat, we're going to protest the rioting – not just here in Gush Etzion, where I live, but all over the country.

Motzei Shabbat, Parshat Vayikra, 5 Nisan (March 20, 2010), 8:30 PM:

In Judea: at the Gush Etzion junction, for details: Yehudit Katzover - 050-7161818, Nadia Matar - 050-5500834
In Samaria: at the Hawara junction, for details: Esther Karish 052-8119042
In Benjamin: at the Talmonim junction, for details: Yitzhak Shadmi 052-2456696
Transportation from Kiryat Arba-Hebron to the Gush Etzion junction will leave at 8:00 p.m. from the Kiryat Arba Local Council.
Estimated conclusion: 10:00 p.m.

In my area, Kiryat Arba/Hebron Chief Rabbi Dov Lior, Efrat Rabbi Shimon Golan, Nokdim Rabbi Yaron Dorani and other community rabbis will speak, plus Dr. Amiel Ungar (writer and lecturer at Judea and Samaria University Ariel) and Kiryat Arba's Eliyakim HaEtzni.
The protest has been called by the Samaria Residents Committee, the Benjamin Residents Committee and the Judea Action Committees.
We all must be there. Every one of us.

For related reading: http://voices-magazine.blogspot.com/2010/03/our-country-do-or-die.html
http://voices-magazine.blogspot.com/2010/03/were-not-sure.html

http://voices-magazine.blogspot.com/2010/02/voices-of-purim-today.html

http://voices-magazine.blogspot.com/2010/02/voices-of-purim-today-part-2.html