…Last segment ended with a reference to Obama, the subject of Michael Oren’s new book and what gets my attention is not only his reportage, leastwise what has appeared in his promotional op-eds, but the reaction of the IBJs, the Inside the Beltway Jews. They are pathetic.

It’s like my book cover. I don’t think mentioned on the webcast that I had to change it. An interesting phenomenon. The original cover is my idea executed by the brilliantly gifted illustrator Gad Pollack, a refugee from the Soviet Union who became Haredi. He illustrates children’s books and for my money is far more than an illustrator, he is an amazing artist.

I described to him what I wanted to him and got it right away: the portrait of Arafat as a grinning monster, against the backdrop of the Dome of the Rock because his ancient Palestinian freedom-fighter character was just a ruse. He was as much of a Muslim lunatic as Osama bin-Ladin.

Anyway, I discovered that people here in Israel love the cover, versus Jews in the Diaspora who hate it. Even pro-Israel, national religious Jews.

And since the Exile is my primary market, I have substituted a different cover…