"It is strange that an election that merely extended the status quo would be historically transformative, but that may be the case with Benjamin Netanyahu’s triumph in Israel. The catalytic event is not so much Netanyahu’s victory but his racist pre-election rants against Arab voting (which was, historically, a point of Zionist pride) and, even more so, his categorical rejection of any two-state solution during his tenure. A fundamental alteration of the American alliance with Israel may be inevitable. There are signs it is already underway.
Obviously, Republicans have responded to Netanyahu’s triumph with unadulterated joy. The political success of a right-wing government tightly allied with their party gives them a vicarious victory over Obama, against whom they have raged ineffectually in the U.S. The more telling response is the equal outpouring of joy and relief from the anti-Israel left. 'Netanyahu’s Win Is Good for Palestine,' writes Yousef Munayyer in a New York Times op-ed today. As Munayyer has written more explicitly elsewhere, he believes in the 'one-state solution' that would eliminate Israel altogether as a Jewish homeland. Likewise, the Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah exults in Netanyahu’s reelection, which forestalled the possibility of a moderate Israeli government that 'would have attempted to draw Palestinians back into 'negotiations' over what would at most be a ghetto-like bantustan designed to legitimize Israel’s theft of vast tracts of land, its annexation of Jerusalem and its abrogation of the rights of Palestinian refugees.' Partition is Abunimah’s greatest fear. Maintaining singular control of the territory will allow its eventual Arab majority to dominate it." (NYMag)
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| Dennis Hof, Diane Clehane, and Heidi Fleiss at Michael's. |
"It was Wednesday; I went to Michael’s. I was having lunch with Ron Mwangaguhunga who publishes the daily blog The Corsair. There was a lot of activity in the room on arrival. Frank DiGiacomo of the Hollywood Reporter is doing a big piece – an oral history on Michael’s. He was there with photographers and cameramen. It turned out to be a good day to follow this story because today’s Guest List had some fascinating touches to it. For example, beginning with: At table one was a guy named Dennis Hof, who owns something called The Bunny Ranch in Las Vegas and is also the star of the HBO documentary “Cathouse.” You know all about it already, no? Actually I didn’t but everyone else in the room seemed to. Table one, incidentally is in the bay at the head of the front room, so everyone can get a good look when passing by. Many a famed face has sat that table. Many of those most particularly recognizable of the rich, the chic and the shameless, too ... In the room with all this going on was Mickey Ateyeh and Julie Greiner, Exec VP of Macy’s; Peter Brown and Mike Holtzman; David Sanford of the WSJ and his partner Lewis Stein; Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post; Judy Licht Della Femina at the table right behind her husband’s, with Lisa Birnbach; and across from them was Bob Friedman and guest. Paul Wilmot was lunching with WWD editor Jim Fallon; Glenn Horowitz; Joan Gelman with Lynn Goldberg, Greg Lawrence (Jackie O biographer); Denise LeFrak Colicchio with her sister Francine LeFrak (Sane Sky Jewelry), and a friend; Jack Myers with Sue Fennessy and Bob Flood; Arthur Shorin of Tops Sporting; Leonard Shulman; Barry Frey with Maury Rogoff; Todd Joyce; Noble Smithy, Aerin Brown; Cynthia Lewis; Shelly Palmer; Rebecca Belldegrun in from Los Angeles; and a couple who were in town from Sydney, Australia, Mr. and Mrs. Peter von Fritz. Mr. Fritz came to the table to introduce himself and to tell me that his wife read the NYSD every day in Sydney, and that he was with her. Immediately I asked to meet her, a very nice woman whose reservation was in the name of Baroness von Fritz. She did indeed look like one’s imagination of a modern baroness; very attractive, smartly dressed, gracious and poised. She told me she’d found the NYSD quite some time ago and has been reading it ever since. Then I told her a little bit about the room and the day and the special guests. I think she enjoyed the verbal tour." (NYSD)
"In every life there are pivotal moments, “Sliding Doors”situations, where things would be very different if another path had been taken. your life could have been very different if another path had been taken. I’ve had several of these, but the first one happened when I was very little in Leeds, England. My father was getting his PhD at the university there, and my mother was teaching locally. My sister and I were both born there, and we lived in a quintessential Yorkshire home — dark, coal-stained stone; long, thin windows; and a door my mother painted bright red. It was a good time for our family. My mother would push me in a pram to the to fish and chips shop on the corner — now called the Fishermans Wife — every time she didn’t want to cook or do dishes (read: every other day), and by all accounts we were a happy little family. Then my dad’s thesis was accepted and he got his degree, along with two job offers: one from the University of Leeds … and another from Riyadh University in Saudi Arabia." (Paula Froelich)
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