So the Dutch, ever attuned to ruffling feathers and then giving the finger to the duck, have produced a documentary on John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's "The Israel Lobby." You might remember that thesis, originally circulated in the London Review of Books, for its argument that American Zionist groups, namely AIPAC, and various evangelical backers of Israel, who believe the holy land is the return depot of the Son of Man, control U.S. foreign policy. How much so? Well, the word "strangle-hold" was used, until the authors wisely decided to drop it. And we apparently went to war in Iraq as a personal favor to Ariel Sharon ("One for the road, Bulldozer.")

The New York Times, ever ranged against the perpetuation of conspiracy theories, hosted a fascinating symposium in May called "Jews and Power." If this is how the Sulzberger clan distances itself against nasty but enduring rumors, then Times, Inc. stockholders might consider now a good time to sell. Bad PR! The event — sort of like the New Yorker Festival, except way more open about who's in charge — borrowed its provocative title from Ruth Wisse's well-regarded intellectual history of the subject, published by Shocken Books a year ago as part of its series of volumes dealing with explicitly Jewish themes. (Also not to be missed: David Mamet on why anti-Semites are limp-dicked liberals who can't close). Some of the conversational pairings were rather inspired: Shalom Auslander, the smashmouth Spinoza of upstate New York, kibitzed with Rebecca Goldstein, author of Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity, on what it's like to give up Orthodoxy and any chance of not being hounded to an early grave by your parents. Also, Washington Post journalist Warren Bass, reconstructed lefty Paul Berman, and Mideast analyst Aaron David Miller partake in this fruitful discussion:

At Shimon Peres's Facing Tomorrow conference in Israel, Google cofounder Sergey Brin told the audience about his family's fight against anti-Semitism in the former Soviet Union before emigrating. His father, Mikhail Brin, wasn't allowed to pursue his interest in physics because Jews were barred from the field over concerns that they would learn nuclear secrets — never mind the role Julius and Ethel Rosenberg might have played in giving the Soviets those very secrets. Eventually, Brin's mother Evgenya got a via to emigrate in 1979, right before the Iron Curtain officially dropped again. Of course, now that the country is open for business, Brin wants back in. (Photo by Jon Klinger)

On our hunky God-mayor's "Gavin Newsom for Governor" tour that included stops in donor-rich New York and Los Angeles, a stop in Israel got the excitable pol talking about Israeli startup Project Better Place. The company's plan is to build a network of charging stations for a fleet of electric vehicles in Israel. Of course, there's no actual money behind bringing the idea to our shores yet, so you can probably expect it to become a reality about the same time San Francisco turns on the free Wi-Fi network Gavvy-Gav promised. Can't get enough of the hair? Video after the jump.

A soldier from an elite unit of the Israel Defense Force will be spending 19 days behind bars after posting photos of his base to Facebook, reports Ha'aretz. Those photos have presumably been taken down. But I turned up dozens of photos posted by soldiers in the IDF goofing off with their units, brandishing weapons and, in the case of the photo above, standing next to a multimillion-dollar American jet fighter — even though the Israel Air Force specifically ordered its members to remove any photos posted to the site. It looks like Facebook's problems with privacy aren't limited to accidentally letting your boss see you taking hits off a bong, but could potentially lead to military intelligence leaks as well.

Unlike certain grandfatherly former presidents, Matt Drudge hasn't yet forgotten the dark lessons of our shared childrens' book history. It starts with a hug, Jimmy—then Hamas will want a cookie. Soon you've handed over Israel to extremists, and then they'll just be thirsty for milk. American milk. [Drudge]

Israeli president Shimon Peres has invited a number of luminaries to celebrate the country's 60th year of independence, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Yahoo president Sue Decker and Google cofounder Sergey Brin. They'll be discussing technology as part of the Facing Tomorrow conference in May. Zuckerberg's Facebook has been drawn into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict already, and is also banned in nearby Syria, so at least he has some relevant geopolitical experience.

The West Bank is fucked. I mean, I can barely follow what's going on right there what with the market crash and Eliot Spitzer's mistress, but I'm sure something is happening there and it's terrible. For one, Jewish settlers in the West Bank were being automatically listed as residents of "Palestine." How dare Facebook project its conception of Israeli-Palestine relations onto to their users' virtual identity? For shame. Now users in major settlement blocs can choose between listed as residents of Israel or Palestine. Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg consulted Dennis Ross on this matter. [Reuters]

Hi-rez satellite imagery used to be used exclusively for good, noble purposes, like raining down high-quality American bombs on worthy targets and showing Saddam Hussein's trailers of doom to the U.N. But now, thanks to the anti-American weirdos at Google, anyone can access these sensitive images for whatever foul purpose they can conceive. And Palestinian terrorists the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade are reportedly using Google Earth to target a beleaguered Israeli city with crude rockets.

"He only flies." So says a member of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's entourage, explaining why, in a fly-by tour of Israel, Ellison is traveling in-country by helicopter. Ellison, in Israel with wife Melanie Craft, the novelist, and flyboy son David. The Ellisons included a tour of Sderot, a town near the Gaza Strip that's been hit by rockets. Ellison reportedly promised to beef up the local community center's air-raid defenses. "Ellison expressed a desire to keep his trip as quiet and private as possible," writes Haaretz's Guy Grimland — perhaps because he doesn't want to remind customers in the Arab world of his Jewish roots. Sorry, Larry, can't help you there.

• Thanks to Madonna, a Malawian boy can now look forward to a life of bad food, gloomy weather and falling short in international sporting contests. Hope he enjoys the in-flight champagne and prawns. [Guardian]
  

The photo above comes from a recent Israeli newspaper story suggesting that Mayor Bloomberg is looking to buy "a luxurious penthouse in the "Jerusalem of Gold" project on Rabbi Akiva Street." The New York Sun, monitor of all things Jew-related, reports this morning that the story is untrue; Bloomberg isn't considering buying any property in Israel. And the original article leaves room for the rowback:

The fine folks at Animal point to this interesting bit on News Hounds, detailing how Hezbollah issued a "directive" to Fox News in particular and the media in general "not to show outgoing Katyusha rocket fire." Such a reaction might have been prompted by segments like the above, where Fox's Bill Hemmer points out (from the Israeli side) where such rockets had likely been fired from, and where they likely landed. Apparently Hezbollah believes that such coverage helps the Israelis target their positions. Since Fox has personnel on the Lebanese side of the border who might, you know, get all dead and stuff if one of those rockets "accidentally" went the wrong way, Fox agreed to abstain from rocket spotting.