Weather It Is (Just the Facts, Please)

Good Evening:

We would be remiss if we didn't mention that we would be entitled to feel a bit buffeted by the changes in weather.  One might be of the opinion that today it was a bit on the warm side, but that the sudden windy weather and light rain also leaves much to be desired.

Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion, even The New York Times Editorial Board.  Yet, I wondered, how they could blame Israel for the failure of the peace talks.  In their recent editorial, they cited two reasons: i) Israel did not release the latch batch of prisoners, and ii) Israel announced building of 700 new homes.  However, Israel never agreed to release Israeli Arabs as part of the prisoner release, and Israel never agreed (prior to the start of the talks) to end all building, especially in Gilo (a suburb of Jerusalem).  Moreover, prisoner releases were suppose to be dependent on progress in the talks, and the Israeli government was certainly justified in concluding that there was not enough progress to justify further releases.

My question is: how could The NYT's editorial board reach their erronious opinion, giving these set of fairly basic facts.  I have thought of two possible answers: i) they read only NYT's articles, and have been misled by their own reporters (unlikely), and/or two: political leanings trump truth.  If the latter, than one is forced to even concede that The NYT's board has wilfully changed the "facts" to fit their political agenda.  Why they wish us ill, I do not know.

Lastly, the NYT's reporting and opinion does matter: witness the number of supportive comments supportive of blaming Israel for the impasse -- regardless of the Palestinian position to ultimately negate the two state solution by insisting that their expatriates return to Israel "proper," rather than to "Palestine.". Of course, I used to be a "New York Times Jew," until the reality of the facts of living in Israel intruded on The New York Times fantasy world.

Getting back to our locale: I am not sure if the prisoners will or will not be released (I hope not), but I am pretty sure that we're in for a last gasp of late winter cold before warm high pressure builds its way northward from Africa.  The high will combine with low pressure situated far to our east to bring the warmest period of summer like weather since (well...) last summer.

So, I can with certainty say: put away those winter clothes, at least until Independence day when it always seems to turn a bit chilly, just in time for the fireworks.

Modim L'Simcha,

Barry Lynn