In what might be a watershed development, police defused a car bomb in New York’s Times Square. The bomb was of the classical Iraqi type: propane cylinders and gasoline. Fireworks were used instead of explosives. Amateurish, yes, but simple and efficient.

If the car bomb was planted by Muslims, that might be a harbinger of Pearl Harbor proportions. A 9/11-type hijacking is a relatively sophisticated affair, but Muslim saboteurs can easily plant any number of car bombs anywhere in America. Unless the American national spirit has changed drastically in the last seven decades, such ubiquitous attacks would push US public opinion toward an all-out war against terrorist-supporting Muslim regimes.

Quantity is the real test. If car bombs start popping up in US cities, we can assume the Times Square bombing attempt was for real. Some details are immediately suspect. Why would the terrorists use a false license plate instead of renting a legitimate car? How did they get hold of a license plate which the owner had sent for scrapping? Why use an SUV instead of a roomy mini-van, which is standard car for bombings, and less conspicuous for parking? Not the least, technical failures are extremely uncommon in car bombs, which are carefully assembled in suitable conditions.

The Israeli government has agreed to indirect talks with the PLO, which will include the final-status issues: Jerusalem and refugees (Arab refugees from Israel, not Jewish refugees from Arab countries, mind you).

Even the Rabin-Peres government refused to discuss Jerusalem, and even Olmert refused to discuss the refugees beyond a token number.

There is really nothing to discuss with the Arabs about Jerusalem: they want it all, including the Temple Mount. At most, Jews will continue wailing at the Western Wall as we did in the Middle Ages. The Temple Mount is negotiable for atheistic Jews, but not for good Muslims.

Netanyahu’s decision to discuss the refugees’ right-of-return will be fateful. No Palestinian leader can give up on his people’s right of return. As the return will remain the last stumbling block in the peace talks, the Israeli government will come under tremendous pressure to admit the refugees. Many voices will claim that a few hundred thousand Arabs won’t change Israel’s demographics— ignoring the fact that those are the worst Arab criminals and terrorists, fourth-generation welfare recipients, brainwashed with Jew-hatred. If Israel agrees to discuss the refugees, she would likely admit them.

The American Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist movements have condemned Israeli conversion reform. Unnecessarily liberal as the new law is, it is still insufficiently liberal for these atheist ‘rabbis.’

They want Israel to recognize Reform conversions, which are about as substantial as declarations of ‘Allah Akbar!’ and conservative conversions which teach Jewish tradition more than Jewish religion.

The American ‘rabbis’ want the simplest conversion to gloss over the mind-boggling intermarriage rate. Indeed, why not intermarry if, as those blind guides claim, our religion is merely about ethics? Christian spouses are perfectly ethical.

The debate over conversion procedures is nonsensical: in the atheist state of Israel, Slavs feel themselves perfectly comfortable and won’t convert to Judaism even under the most simplified procedures.