Gilad Shalit: The Cost of Freedom

These are the real losers in the trade.

Gilad Shalit and I were both born in 1986 to a loving Jewish family who only wanted what was best for us. While I was studying journalism at Emerson College, Gilad was being held captive by Hamas. I think it’s fair to say that every Jew has strong feelings regarding the kidnapping and emotional release of Israeli Defense Force Sergeant First Class Shalit. In 2006, Shalit was kidnapped from his army post inside Israeli territory by Hamas agents who took him to the Gaza Strip. This morning Shalit was returned home to his parents and greeted by Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu. Shalit’s freedom cost the State of Israel 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, many among them guilty of planning horrific suicide bombing.

It is fair to say that no other country in the world would trade over one thousand prisoners for a single soldier. Then again, no other country in the world is in the situation Israel is in. Plenty of countries draft soldiers, but no country besides Israel is as dependent upon the service of every 18 year-old as is the Jewish State. This is why the nation's pledge to return every soldier, even their corpse, is considered sacred and the Israeli public overwhelmingly supported this prisoner swap.

But does that mean it was the smart thing to do? Will the Israeli public still support the prisoner trade if (when?) the freed prisoners return to terrorism? The cost of Shalit’s freedom rewards Hamas for what was a legal act of war and will only encourage them to kidnap another soldier.  Will the Israeli public still support the swap when Hamas brags that the success of Shalit’s kidnapping encouraged them to kidnap whomever they nab next?

How should we feel about Svuel Schijveschuurder, whose parents and three siblings were killed in a Jerusalem suicide bombing, only to see the criminal responsible being released in this deal. Along with Yossi Mendelevich, who lost his 13-year old son in a suicide bombing, Schijveschuurder and other victims tried to block the trade because they are convinced it will lead to their nightmare being renewed.

I personally feel nothing but joy for Shalit and his family as he returns home after a horrible ordeal he will spend years recovering from. But I also feel great sorrow. The final outcome of this ordeal is the greatest victory in the history of Hamas, and while it is also a victory for Shalit and his parents, the 18 year-olds currently serving in the IDF are the real losers in this deal. Their value as Hamas captives has just gone up. Way up.   

The City of Boston v. The Bill of Rights

This was designed by EddieAtari and posted on the Occupy Boston Facebook

I’ve been hesitant to weigh in on the Occupy Wall Street protests because to be honest, I am still not sure what to make of them. I support the movement’s general aim of improving the financial sector, but without stated goals or any sort of leadership, I’m still not sure what the end game is.

The movement has spread to dozens of cities around the country, including Boston, and my reluctance to weigh in on this movement vanished when the Boston Police Department arrested 141 people for protesting peacefully, only to be followed by Mayor Thomas Menino telling the world, “Civil disobedience does not work for Boston; it doesn’t work for anyone.”

Come again Mayor Mumbles? Ever hear of Martin Luther King Jr.? Mohandas K. Gandhi? The Boston Tea Party!?!?!?

The city was fine with Occupy Boston protesters (an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street) filling in Dewey Square, but when their protest spread to the Rose Kennedy Greenway, Menino’s tolerance for the Bill of Rights ran out.

Mark Leccese, a Boston Globe blogger and one of my favorite Emerson College professors, pointed out that between the Mayor and BPD Commissioner Edward Davis, they don’t even have a straight story regarding their decision to bust up the protest.  BPD spokeswomen Elaine Driscoll first told The Boston Globe they would not let protesters spread because of expensive renovations recently performed. However, Commissioner Davis did not seem as worried about the upkeep of city property as much as the threat of Anarchists. The Boston Herald quoted Davis as saying: “The group that was here for the first ten days was working very closely with us, but they warned us yesterday morning that a new group, the anarchists, wanted to take control.”

In the process of arresting 141 peaceful protesters, the Boston Police made a point of roughing up a handful of Veterans For Peace. The BPD even arrested Legal Observers who were properly identified. 

Given Boston’s reputation as the birthplace American liberty (the suburb of Lexington to be exact), this whole episode is an utter disgrace. I have always been known to give the Boston Police Department credit where credit is due, but in this case, they should hang their heads in shame.

Editors Note: If you would like a better understanding of how other police departments have responded to these protest, an NYPD officer using mace against a handful of defenseless girls at an Occupy Wall Street event says it all. 

NOFX Was Punk In Drublic

NOFX guitarist Eric Melvin

NOFX’s performance at Boston’s House of Blues last night was a total mess of epic proportions, but the band wouldn’t have had it any other way. They took the stage half-cocked, drinks in hand and ready to have fun. As fans affectingly chanted “NOFX Sucks” the band tore through a set of career-spanning tunes that were connected by some of the wittiest stage banter I have ever heard. They were far from tight, but the comedy alone was worth the ticket price.

Sure, there were more stalled starts than can be counted, and the sound guy was drunk (leading to some ear-splitting feedback at times), but their carefree interactions with the audience were almost as much of a highlight as their run through, “Stick It In My Eye.”

Singer Fat Mike made plenty of jokes about college kids taking Adderall, his early childhood in Newton, Mass, and the group even took a couple of well-intended jabs at local acts like Dropkick Murphys and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

The musical element of the performance was far from polished but it didn’t have to be. NOFX makes punk music and take themselves far from seriously. Anti-Flag, who played an energized set before NOFX, worked the crowd up with messages of unity, brotherhood, and resistance to capitalism and military aggression. Although both acts have a similar set of fans, the force-fed message of Anti-Flag couldn’t be farther from the on-the-fly humor NOFX brought on-stage. Anti-Flag encourages tolerance of all races, ethnicities and sexes. NOFX, whose makeup consists of “White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean,” made jokes about Jews, Mexicans, and even the death of Steve Jobs (“That’s just what the world needs. Less jobs”).

I’m sure they could have squeezed in an extra song or two if they’d been a little sharper, but if they’d been any tighter, it wouldn't have been as much fun.

NOFX guitarist El Hefe

"NOFX sucks!"

NOFX frontman Fat Mike

This guy didn't stop crowd surfing

Photographing punk shows is a contact sport

Gulp

Anti-Flag

R.E.M. Breaks Up

This first ran with my review on Jambase.com

After 31 years, R.E.M. has called it quits. On their website they posted this note: "To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening." R.E.M. 

In honor of the group, the music they gave the world, the progress they made for gay artists, and the sanity frontman Michael Stipe helped Thom Yorke of Radiohead find, I have linked to a review of their live show I published a few years back. I've also included a few of the photos that didn't make the cut the first time around.

This one's for the Man On The Moon...

Secret Service Won't Spy For CIA

Where was he when that Iraqi started throwing shoes?

The Atlantic just ran a major feature that offered one of the most intimate views of the Secret Service that has ever been provided. How reporter Marc Ambinder convinced the agency to give him such an up-close understanding of how they protect dozens of world leaders during the UN General Assembly both puzzles and astonishes me.

One of the most interesting tales that came to light was that the Secret Service pulled their guns on the Turkish delegation during a misunderstanding that arose from Prime Minister Erdogan’s unwillingness to wait for Obama’s motorcade to pass.

Another interesting fact is that on more than one occasion, the CIA has asked the Secret Service to spy on the leaders they have been tasked with protecting. Although he refused to comment on the request, Mark Sullivan, Director of the Secret Service, told Ambinder that the agency is only a consumer of intelligence, not a collector.

Although the agency refused to confirm that the CIA asked them to collect intel on two occasions, former director W. Ralph Basham told Ambinder: “Once you lose the confidence of those individuals you protect…. It would never be a workable situation.”

Props to the Secret Service for standing their ground and being the more honorable agency. But you can’t blame the CIA for asking. Who ever said spying was supposed to be honorable anyway?

Right Of Return: I'm Going To Kiev!

These people also don't want Jews on their land.

The Palestinians deserve a nation of their own, but according to the PLO’s Ambassador to the United States, that nation should not allow Jews. Maen Areikat told USA Today that it was in the best interest of both Jews and Palestinians “to be separate.”

When asked to elaborate about a possible Jewish minority in the future Palestinian State, Areikat added, “I believe… that as a first step we need to be totally separated.”

On the surface, this statement seems logical enough. However, if Israeli’s and Palestinians need to be separate, then why have multiple Israeli peace proposals been denied on the grounds that Palestinians demand the “right of return?”

A key Palestinian demand has been that Palestinians should be allowed to return to the Israeli territory their ancestors inhabited, in addition to the right to a nation of their own.

You may wonder why Palestinians would even want to live in Israel if they have a nation of their own. I wonder  if Palestinians have a right to return to the lands their great grandparents were forced off of, does that mean I am entitled to my own farm on the lands in the Ukraine my great grandparents were forced off of?

But those are issues for another blog post. What needs questioning is if the Palestinian Authority insists on the right of return for Palestinians to Israel, but does not believe that Palestinians and Israeli’s should live together, then what kind of Middle East do they want?

The scenario this ambassador strives for would either not include a Jewish State at all (a scenario more aligned with the policy of Hamas than the PLO), or a Jewish State flooded with Palestinian refugees that boarders a Palestine that does not allow Jews. Both scenarios are unrealistic and anti-Semitic. But this can be expected from a people who plan to unilaterally declare statehood while in the midst of a bloody civil war between the separate governing bodies of Gaza and the West Bank.

Call me when the PLO gets practical… 

Dropkick Murphys @ Fenway Park

I had the pleasure of reviewing a performance by the Dropkick Murphys at Fenway Park for Glide Magazine/Hidden Track this past weekend and I felt like sharing the review with the loyal readers of andrewbruss.com.

I’m well aware that 750 words can only convey an auditory/visual experience to a certain extent, and I can only hope the epic nature of this performance has been conveyed in my review. Additionally, I’ve attached a few photographs that did not run in my review to paint a better picture of how the ballpark was set up, as well as youtube clips of "Kiss Me I'm Shitfaced," and an acoustic "Echo's On 'A' Street." Enjoy!