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| GUSH KATIF |
PRAYERS FOR GUSH KATIF IN ENGLISH AND HEBREW
Posted by Gush Katif Community, April 30, 2005. |
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| GUSH KATIF |
NEED SUPPORT FOR AN AD TO BE PLACED IN ISRAEL
Posted by Rub Muchnick, April 30, 2005. |
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Hello, I'm the US Chapter Coordinator of Manhigut Yehudit (The Jewish Leadership Movement - www.jewishisrael.org) We'd like to place the following ad throughout Israeli newspapers. Would you like to sign onto this letter on behalf of your organization? If yes, do you know of any other groups that would sign. Obviously, the more the merrier. Thanks, Rob Muchnick
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ABOUT "CHECKMATE"
Posted by Judith Binder, April 30, 2005. |
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About the "Checkmate" essay, I wrote THIS IS A POWERFUL MESSAGE. Below is what Yochanan ben-Chaplin wrote in reply. [Editor's Note: This discusses "Checkmate" by Ross C. Leiber. To read it, click here. ] "...she must either disappear or surprise a foe or two, by breaking away from existing paradigms." This statement is written in the context that Israel must recognize its roots of reason in Judaism, and take the lead from that basis, rather than follow Western ideology. Given that Western ideology has forgotten its own roots, and turned to secular humanism/socialism for its answers, this is an astute perception. As evidence, the author continues, "...'respect" for Israeli democracy was shown by the US, EU, and UN, during the Geneva Agreement 'world tour' - another dagger in Israel's back by the world.' community." Another truth stated here by the author: "...time is short." He goes on: "Expelling the settlers and creating a Palestinian state to please the US State Department is at worst suicidal, and at best a suicide attempt. No matter which party the US President belongs to, the policies of the State Department to encircle, shrink, and jeopardize Israel's security never change." He's right, and his assumption for the reason behind this is partly correct: "...Israel doesn't have oil." What are more important are the other reasons for this: that a secular world government cannot abide with a nation of G-d's chosen. That is, Israel doesn't have oil, and Israel does have Jews. "To my knowledge, no journalist has commented that the US, by nudging Sharon along this undemocratic path in the name of "democracy", has made a mockery of the Administration's proposals for democracy in the Arab world." Oh, really?! I send articles out nearly every day. Two come immediately to mind: Beth Goodtree's scathing indictment of Bush, and Caroline Glick's recent insightful piece. Neither of these journalists are unknowns, especially Glick, deputy managing editor of Jerusalem Post. The author needs to widen his range of reading material. But this is an article about "changing the paradigms," and the author is brilliantly concise in his observations about Arab hatred and global anti-Semitism in general, and Isreal's mistakes, both tactically and in terms of PR. An especially sharp observation: "The world doesn't want Israel to win the PR battle. The Arabs don't bring up ridiculous accusations like the Protocols, blood libel, and Holocaust denial because these don't work. They know they do work. The EU and the UN act as if they were all true. Therefore, they must be. That's what being an accursed people is all about. 'Zionism is racism' is back again. For a large segment of the world, no Israel with all their Jews killed would be better than no Israel with the Jews exiled, because once again they would have to be put into ghettos, restricted, and discriminated against." He then states that Israel must fight this PR battle, and "History will take care of the rest. It always does." Wrong. Israel must fight the PR battle because the G-d of Israel insists upon truth and honesty. History takes of itself in Israel because YHVH is in charge of Israeli--and all human--history. Overall, this is a brilliant, well-thought-out plan, and I basically agree with the approach if not all the details: Israel must get tough, and realize it is alone. But I must disagree with him on one point: "Miracles are neither easy to come by, nor are they cheap these days." Miracles have never been cheap, nor have they been expensive. Miracles are acts of G-d, who performs the miraculous routinely as a manifestation of His nature, His grace and mercy, His loving-kindness, His favor, and also His fury. G-d decides when He will act, and His miracles cannot be bribed or bought. They are no easier or more difficult to come by than they ever were, and anyone who does not recognize this does not truly appreciate the air in their lungs, the blood in their veins, the life in their bodies, because there is no more miraculous, precious gift than life itself. So the author's presupposition that Israel is somehow capable of performing its own miracles is supremely flawed. |
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GAZA TOWN INVADED
Posted by Voice of Judea, April 30, 2005. |
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Arab caught infiltrating Shirat Hayam, a Jewish beach front village in western Gaza. On two separate occasions over recent days residents of Shirat Hayam, a small beach front fortress which houses some 15 Jewish families, detected Arab infiltrations, which were possible despite large walls and fences that surround this isolated area. The I.D.F. and local security personnel were unable to offer answers to this dangerous and serious security breach. The Jews living in Shirat Hayam are concerned about the apparent plans the Arabs are making to carry out a massacre there. The Arab scout was obviously sent to scale the walls and penetrate the town in order to test the security apparatus and to collect intelligence. Local Jewish residents believe that they are not receiving the necessary defense support from the I.D.F., due to political manipulations that would like nothing more than to see the Jews run away and surrender their homes out of fear. To Read The Rest Of This Story Please Visit http://www.voiceofjudea.com 2- Thousands of fatherless children in Tel Aviv this summer. Today's front page story in Maariv: "Because of the expulsion, reservists soldiers will have to give up their summer vacationThousands of call up orders are already in the mail Next week, almost every combat reserve soldier will receive their call up ordersThe biggest reserve recruitment since the year 2002 Thousands of women and children will have to spend their summer vacation without dad" Voice of Judea Commentary: Thousands of women and children will have to spend the summer without dad? Is the correspondent who wrote this article referring to the thousands of Jewish children who were left orphans after their parents were left murdered in wake of the nave and criminal Oslo agreement? No. No major Israeli correspondent sheds a bloody tear from our national tear ducts for the children and the widows of those who were murdered because the government gave guns and believed the false promises of their new found terrorist peace-partners. Was our noble correspondent referring to the children and wives of the Jews who will be, God forbid, expelled from their homes in Gaza and the northern Shomron? Is this feature headline a reflection of the feelings of a broken nation that is about to experience the separation of babies from their mothers' bosoms at the hands of soldiers who are being sent to carry out Sharon's expulsion decree? No! The story is referring to the poor children in Tel Aviv whose fathers are being sent to tear down Jewish homes and synagogues. Amir Rapaport, one of the most distinguished journalists in Israel, has written this stirring piece about the fathers who will be sent to beat their fellow Jews and force them to leave their homes and farms this summer. To Read The Rest Of This Commentary visit http://www.voiceofjudea.com 3- The referendum, Sharon's eleventh plague. Sharon told Maariv correspondent Ben Kaspit last week in his Passover interview that he was terrified of the pressure to conduct a national referendum. Sharon said that serious progress in his disengagement plan could not be made until the "danger" of the referendum was cleared away by the Knesset vote against making a government sponsored referendum on the subject of the disengagement. To Read The Rest Of This Story Please Visit http://www.voiceofjudea.com
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XENOPHOBIC DIALOGS
Posted by Yashiko Sagamori, April 30, 2005. |
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This essay was written by Zack Lieberberg. I translated it from the Russian.
Remember my Uzbek schoolmate Akmal Usmanov? One day he taught me a valuable lesson in ethnography. I had spent the previous summer in Kazakhstan, then a Soviet republic bordering his native Uzbekistan. When I began describing a local dish I had tried there, Akmal interrupted me gently. Sounding distinctly uncomfortable, almost unhappy, like a parent whom unforeseen circumstances are forcing to tell his child the terrible truth about the birds and the bees a couple of years prematurely, he solemnly informed me that Kazakhs were not really human. I trust you will not mix up Kazakhs with Cossacks. The latter are descendants of Russian and Ukrainian runaway serfs. The former are not that easy to distinguish from Uzbeks. For a European (in the archaic sense of the word), telling them apart is possible but a bit tricky, like telling a Korean from a Japanese. You've got to know what to look for. I didn't. That should explain why I met this morsel of information with skepticism. "Why aren't they?" I asked. Akmal wasn't prepared to explain the obvious. He thought for a few seconds and then told me, "They boil their tea with lamb fat." "Then I am not human either," I retorted. "Why?" Akmal asked. "I eat pork," I said. "You don't understand," he assured me. "No, I don't," I agreed. "They are all liars," Akmal said. "And everything an Uzbek says is always true?" I inquired. "Of course, not. But that's different." "How so?" "They have no honor." "And Uzbeks are all honorable people, without exception?" "That's not the point." "Then tell me what is." "They are disgusting." "How?" "They boil their tea with lamb fat. They are not really human." "Do you realize that if you put an Uzbek and a Kazakh next to each other, most people will never be able to guess which is which?" I asked. "You don't understand," he said hopelessly. "They are worse than animals." "What about Estonians?" I asked him then. "What about them?" "Are they human?" "How do I know? I've never seen one. I guess they are." It makes sense. A much larger Kazakhstan is hugging Uzbekistan from the North. Tiny Estonia is located thousands of miles to the northwest. If Uzbeks assigned their neighbors, the Kazakhs, a lower position on the evolutionary tree, then the Estonians, due to their drastically different culture, should be situated on a different branch altogether, closer to the invertebrates or, at least, amphibians. Apparently, this isn't how xenophobia works. Russians sneer at Ukrainians who despise them in return; although, explaining to an Englishman how the Russians are different from the Ukrainians would be as hopeless a task as explaining the difference between the English and the Irish to a Tajik (not to be mistaken for a Turkmen). We are all mildly and indifferently curious towards something distant and foreign. To really hate something, we must encounter it daily and grow accustomed to it. One might think this would explain the omnipresence of anti-Semitism. Jews live everywhere. When they move into a new country, they can be easily recognized by their gurgling R's, funny accent, and awkward sentences, but their children blend into the general population wonderfully well and often speak and write the local language (and do many other important things as well) better than the locals. In the eyes of a foreigner, the difference between a Russian Jew and a Russian Russian is probably even less that between an Uzbek and the Kazakh. Is that enough reason for the Russians to hate Jews? It's not quite that simple. Let me tell you about my other schoolmate, Anatoly (Tolik) Potapov. He was born in a village called Maslovka not far from the city of Voronezh. Don't let the word village mislead you. In this blessed country, a village is a place in the suburbs where the tired breadwinner comes after a hard day's work in the city to spend the night in a comfortable house he could easily sell tomorrow for a seven-digit price. His wife picks him up from the station in one of their three cars. His well-behaved dog wags his tail at him happily from behind an invisible fence surrounding an impeccably manicured lawn. His children won't disturb his well-deserved rest; they are hanging out with their friends in one of the many relatively inexpensive eateries conveniently located just outside the neighborhood. While his wife prepares a health-conscious dinner for him, he spends 30 strenuous minutes on the treadmill, watching CNN and dissipating the stress accumulated during the day at the office. Well, the village of Maslovka wasn't quite like that. Chances are, it was much worse than your idea of the Gulag. Both Tolik's parents were illiterate in the most literal sense of the word, just like most of their generation of villagers. Tolik was the youngest of the 14 children his mother gave birth to. Only three of them made it past the age of 3: Tolik himself, his older brother, and their much older sister. None of the three remained illiterate. His sister could read a little and even sign her name. His brother became a Ph.D. in electronics. Tolik, after graduating from Moscow U., earned himself a Ph.D. in math. At the time he disproved my theories about anti-Semitism, we were freshmen and very close friends. This is how it happened. One of our classmates, Yuri D., did something ugly. I told Tolik that I was surprised Yuri had that much ugliness in him. Tolik responded casually: "What else can you expect from a Jew?" He caught me unawares. I wasn't ready for someone who shared a room, most classes, most meals and lots of vodka with me to hate Jews so easily. Not knowing how to react, I said helplessly, "I think he is Polish." (Actually, as I learned later, he was Ukrainian.) "Jewish, Polish same difference. They are all scum,- my friend assured me. While he was delivering this stunning revelation, I had time to ask myself if he had ever seen a real Jew until he joined the university. So, instead of reacting angrily, I asked him deviously, as every Jew worth his foreskin should, what he thought of Dr. Feldman, our calculus teacher who was very popular with the students. "He is great!" Tolik assured me. "Why?" "He is Jewish," I said. "Really? Well, as they say, even among Jews one can find a good person." Fortunately for me, at that time, Jews were grossly overrepresented both among the students and faculty. (Two years later, this aberration was ruthlessly corrected.) Poor Tolik was one of only three ethnic Russians among the group we hung out with. So, I slowly went through the list of our friends. As they were one by one exposed as Jews, Tolik's vision of the Universe changed right in front of me. When I mentioned that the girl he was desperately in love with was also Jewish, he finally became suspicious and asked me how I knew. I explained to him that Russian last names usually ended with an -ov, or -yev, or -in, while Jewish last names often sounded foreign and ended with an -er, or -man, or something else equally unlikely for a red-blooded Russian, like, for example, -berg. He looked at me with horror in his eyes. "Yes," I told him sadistically. "Me, too." He left the room without saying a word. I never reminded him about that conversation until he himself mentioned it a couple of months later. "Do you remember our conversation about Yuri D.?" he asked. "Vaguely," I said. "I am ashamed of myself," he said. "Forget about it," I said. But then my curiosity got the better of me and I asked him why he had been so sure that Jews were bad people if he had never seen a Jew and couldn't tell a Jew from a Russian. He explained to me that, although, as far as he could tell, no Jew had ever lived in Maslovka of even visited there, it was common knowledge among the villagers that Jews were bad people - dishonest, full of hate, always plotting to betray the Motherland or to trick an honest Russian guy out of what was rightfully his. Besides, even those who had never been to a church (the Maslovka church had been closed decades earlier) knew that Jews were Christ-killers. Apparently, you can hate Jews easily without ever coming into a contact with a single one of them. 3984 Actually, this is a well known phenomenon. Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice was produced in 1597, 307 years after Jews were expelled from England. Most English theatergoers of the time - as well as several generations of their ancestors - had never had a chance to meet a Jew. Nevertheless, they effortlessly recognized the typically Jewish traits of the title character. Making Shylock a Gentile would have deprived the play of its essential context to a much larger degree than, for example, making Othello a Norwegian. I am sure that some Norwegians have killed out of jealousy, although among the Moors such a crime was probably more common. It's much harder to imagine a situation that would have forced a Norwegian to attempt convincing those around him that he is just as human as they are. The apparent eternity of Diaspora has taught both Israel and the goyim a lesson that will not be unlearned. The goyim do not view us, either as individuals or as a nation, as equal and deserving of the same rights that are granted to everyone else. Look, for example, how the entire world, without a single exception, and that includes the majority of Jews both in Israel and elsewhere, accepted the crude lie of the "Palestinian people". (When Yashiko Sagamori published her article questioning the non-existent history of Palestine, most readers took it as an amazing piece of smart demagoguery rather than a statement of plain truth.) On the other hand, Jews themselves lack the mentality needed to assert their right to exist in a form of their choosing. Therefore, they can neither have a country of their own, nor enjoy full rights among Gentiles. The restoration of Israel has changed the face of anti-Semitism but failed to diminish it. This wasn't unpredictable. Even without a single peaceful day throughout its entire modern history, Israel's economic, scientific, technological achievements can stun any unbiased observer. The never-ending Arab war against Israel is the single most important factor preventing mass aliya from all over the world. Without that war, Israel would turn into a perfectly peaceful superpower within a generation or two. Within a few decades, the absolute majority of Jews from all over the world would have been living in Israel. Why would we expect anyone on earth to want that to happen? Even though I do not think that the prosperity of the United States, or any other country in the world besides Israel, was created mainly by the Jews, our contribution has consistently been much higher than our proportion to the population. (Without it, how could we be accused of controlling the world? Just compare us to another homeless people, the Gypsies.) This is true even for anti-Semitic countries like Russia; this is even truer for those rare countries that are still good to their Jews. Why would the nations want to lose those who can be so productively exploited when needed and so easily dismissed when not? (Remember James "F-k the Jews" Baker?) Each country does it in its own manner. The Soviet Union kept its Jews from leaving by what passed for legal means there. The United States keeps all Diaspora Jews from going home by preventing Israel from defending itself. The survival of Israel is absolutely necessary for the physical survival of the Jewish people. The surrender of Gaza is bound to be one of the stages of the new final solution. And yet, I'm sure there are still ways for Israel to save itself. In my view, however, it will be impossible until Jews finally realize that anti-Semitism is a fact of life and plan for it; that its manifestations are many and anti-Zionism is only one of them; and that we must accept this fact and learn to live with it rather than hoping that one day anti-Semitism will finally disappear. Judging by our history, anti-Semitism is likely to survive the Jews, not vice versa. Polish anti-Semitism, for example, effortlessly outlived the Polish Jewish community. One of the most vital aspects of living with anti-Semitism should be an assertive "Israel for Jews" policy. The world, having never objected to the "Arabia for Arabs" concept, will respond by calling us racist in every language, even including Hebrew. If we are to survive at all, we will have to learn to live with that form of blood libel as well. Yashiko Sagamori is a New York-based Information Technology consultant. To read other articles by the author, go to http://www.middleeastfacts.com/yashiko/ or email ysagamori@hotmail.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
JOIN THE SOLIDARITY MISSIONS TO GUSH KATIF/GAZA & MORE DEPARTING MAY 29 & JUNE 5
Posted by AFSI, April 30, 2005. |
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AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI & ZOA are issuing a last call for their ten day, May 29-June 7 CHIZUK mission. The trip will include visits to the four communities of the northern Shomron which are threatened with evacuation, and two nights and three days in Gush Katif/Gaza, visiting as many of the 21 communities as possible that are slated for expulsion. Wearing our orange shirts of solidarity, our message of "Not One Inch," will be a clear one. In addition, we will visit other threatened Shomron communities, and conclude our trip with a celebration of Yom Yerushalayim -a day of commemoration, prayer and thanks for the re-unification of Jerusalem. Since the Kassam rockets that land on Gush Katif carry the address Al Quds (Jerusalem) painted on them, it is clear that saving Gush Katif means saving Jerusalem and all of Israel. For information, call AFSI at 212-828-2424, or write: afsi@rcn.com. The DOV HIKIND mission, June 5-8, consists of three days and two nights in Gush Katif/Gaza offering CHIZUK to the 8,500 inhabitants, who with boundless mesiras nefesh, continue to persevere in the shadow of expulsion. For information, contact: Lev Kropsky, 718-853-9616. If other groups are planning similar missions, please contact AFSI so that we can publicize this information as widely as possible. Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI is a pro-active pro-Israel advocacy group. AFSI may be contacted by mail at 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128 (Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717); by email at afsi@rcn.com; or by accessing its website: www.afsi.org. Helen Freedman is Executive Director. Herb Zweibon is Chairman. |
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HANANIA'S UNREAL REALITY
Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, April 30, 2005. |
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Syndicated columnist Ray Hanania's April 22nd article about Palestinian Arabs accepting "reality" was actually an exercise in accomplishing the exact opposite. While later uttering some welcome common sense, he prefaced this by rehashing the same, time-worn fractured fairy tales and toxic untruths which Arabs have poisoned their own people with for decades. Compared to Hamas & Co., he may be a moderate ... but everything is relative. As it appeared in at least its April 27th version in the Orlando Sentinel, much of "Palestinians Must Accept Reality of the 'Right of Return'" was devoted to demonizing Israel for its alleged original sin regarding Arab refugees. Hanania then shifts gears and proposes that Arabs should next forget about all of this and accept a two-state solution. Who's kidding whom here? There were so many errors in this alleged reality article, it is hard to know where to begin. The assertion that Israel bears full blame for the flight of Arabs totally ignores the fact that if a half dozen Arab states didn't invade a reborn Israel in 1948 and had accepted the 1947 partition plan, there would not have been one Arab refugee. After Arabs initiated hostilities, all Hades broke out. No one wants to stay in a war zone, and no one is squeaky clean once hostilities erupt. The author ignores the fact that the purely Arab state of Jordan was itself created in 1922 from some 80% of the original 1920 Palestine Mandate. Had Arabs accepted the '47 plan, Arab nationalism would have thus wound up with some 90% of the total pie. So much for the Arab claim that Jews got all or most of the land. Contrary to the article's main thrust, volumes of solid, well-documented evidence--from Arab sources as well as others--show that Arabs bore far more responsibility for the flight of their own refugees than the Jews did. As just a few of numerous sources, consider the following: The current darling of the West, Palestinian Arab leader, Mahmoud Abbas, stated in Falastin a-Thaura in March 1976 "The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians...but instead they abandoned them, forced them to leave...and threw them into prisons (refugee camps) similar to the ghettoes in which Jews were earlier forced to live." A frequent critic of the Zionists, The Economist, had this to say on October 2, 1948 "Various factors influenced their decision...there is little doubt that the most potent were the announcements by the Higher Arab Executive urging the Arabs to quit...clearly intimated that those Arabs who remained and accepted Jewish protection would be regarded as renegades." And, as the last of numerous other examples that could be given, consider The Memoirs of Haled al Azm (Beirut, 1973), Syria's Prime Minister in 1948 "Since 1948 we have been demanding the return of the refugees...But we ourselves encouraged them to leave." Now also consider the other following crucial facts Mr. Hanania ignores When the United Nations Relief Works Agency--UNRWA--was set up to assist Arab refugees, the very word refugee had to be redefined to assist those people. So many Arabs were recent arrivals themselves into the Palestinian Mandate that UNRWA had to adjust the very definition of "refugee" from its prior meaning of persons normally and traditionally resident to those who lived in the Mandate for a minimum of only two years prior to 1948. Do you really understand what this is saying? Also keep in mind that for every Arab who was forced to flee the fighting that Arabs started (after all, how dare Jews want in one tiny, resurrected state what Arabs demand for themselves in some two dozen others--most conquered and forcibly Arabized from non-Arab peoples), a Jewish refugee was forced to flee Arab/Muslim lands (where they were commonly known as kilab yahud, "Jew dogs") into Israel and elsewhere...but with no UNRWA set up to assist them. As just one of many examples, greater New York City alone now has tens of thousands of Syrian Jewish refugees and their descendants. As for those "native Palestinians," Arafat himself was born in Cairo, Egypt. Scores of thousands of other Arabs came from Egypt earlier in the 19th century with Muhammad Ali and son's Ibrahim Pasha's armies and many, like Arafat a bit later, settled in Palestine. Hamas' patron saint, Sheikh 'Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, was from Latakia, Syria...a neighbor of those Syrian Jews above. During the mandatory period after World War I, the League of Nations Permanent Mandates Commission recorded additional scores of thousands of Egyptian, Syrian, and other Arabs entering into Palestine and settling there. Indeed, this influx of Arabs (with one of the world's highest birthrates) into the land is well documented, but few--except scholars--usually delve into these sources. And too many of the latter these days tend to have an anti-Israel bias and agenda...so such facts are simply ignored, down played, or whatever. It is estimated that for each one of these incoming Arabs who were recorded, many others crossed the border under cover of darkness to enter into one of the few areas in the region where any economic development was going on because of the influx of Jewish capital. These folks later became known as "native Palestinians." Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from some of those same "Arab" countries--Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Yemen, and so forth--became the so-called settlers. While this is not to say that there were not native Arabs also living in Palestine, it is to say that many, if not most, of the Arabs were also relative newcomers--settlers--themselves. And there were Jews whose families never left Israel/Judaea/Palestine despite the tragedy of the Roman wars and the subsequent great Diaspora as well. Perfect justice exists nowhere among the realm of man. It wasn't present when scores of millions became refugees as a result of the partition plan which divided the Indian subcontinent into a Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan during the very same year that Arabs rejected a similar plan which would have given them a total of 90% of the Palestinian Mandate. The Arab-Israeli conflict could have been solved long ago had Arabs been willing to grant Jews (or Kurds, or Berbers, or black African Sudanese, etc.) a tiny sliver of the very rights they so forcibly demand for themselves. And that's the real reality Mr. Hanania refuses to confront his own rejectionist brethren with. Gerald A. Honigman, a Florida educator, has created and conducted counter-Arab propaganda programs for college youth, has lectured on numerous campuses and other platforms, and has publicly debated Arab spokesmen. His articles and op-eds have been published in both the print media and on websites. |
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THE WICKED KINGDOM
Posted by Aubrey Wulfsohn, April 29, 2005. |
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The government of Israel has for many years become more and more dependent on the USA. Every American president is in turn praised by Jews as being the most pro-Israel president ever. When American and European politicians publicly pledge their eternal support for Israel they mean a small defenceless ghetto. The present president is better than his predecessors in that he does not make promises he will not keep The USA makes sure that Israel has not enough vital arms to last more than one week of a war and then pressures Israel by sending further arms only after there is a cease fire or retreat. The USA is perpetrating money-for-land blackmail. American money is conditional; for instance it has usually to be spent on American contractors which is more or less universal. More importantly the USA always reneges on their promises refusing to give the promised money unless Israel agrees to further concessions. Furthermore Israel is getting promises of grants and loans worth a tiny fraction of the monetary value of the land and infrastructure that it is giving up. Under these conditions Israel should tell Uncle Sam as to where he should shove his money. One of George Bush's aides when recently visiting Israel divulged the American plan for Israel (presumably based on the disallowal of spatial expansion) to become one large metropolis with a park in the north and a park in the south. This plan has subsequently been changed to a North Israel metropolis with a park in the north and a South Israel metropolis with a park in the south. Ariel ben Shmu'el Sharon does have reason to believe that because of the hatred of the rest of the world the only solution is for Israel to shrink to obscurity, except as a tool for the USA to divide an Arab empire. He does not believe in, or accept, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In that sense, Israel is a myth. All the Jews can go somewhere else, the lucky ones to the USA. They may go to synagogues wherever they are and mouth the words Israel, Hebron and Jerusalem and learn about a mythical Torah. There is already the officially Jewish region Birobidzhan in Russia; it has plenty of swamps and kadochis (fever). Peace now would be useful there as Israelis had experience from fixing up the Galil. They may even have, as a Jewish region, one of the U.S. states controlled by them, possibly Utah as Florida will be hard to get. Maybe Sharon is hurting as he claims, but has the compensation of a (fleeting) adoration, by most nations, as a statesman, of amassing wealth, of a Nobel Peace Prize, etc. His fans believe that what he is really doing is tricking the U.S. State Department but in reality he is nowhere competent enough to achieve this. Even if he is right, the methods he and the Likud are using to enforce his beliefs are evil. Much is being written about this already, much too late. I cannot compare the Likud with the Natzional Sozialistiche Deutsche Arbeit's party as they are not a socialist-labour party but derived from an alliance of Herut with the former Liberal Party. Herut subsequently pulled out. Likud cleverly made a condition for incorporating Labour into the government that a religious party joins the goverment as well. They knew full well that Sharon could buy a religious party. Even the National Union is tainted by their propping up of the government and voting for the disengagement on principle. I shall not write about elective dictatorships. However I quote an old proverb: "****, said the king and all the courtiers squatted and strained because in those days the word of the king was law". Yitchak Peres can resist as he holds the axe of 'indictment' over Sharon's head and he usually gets his own way. The Prime Minister is a tired, weak, aber-botel (i.e., with senile dementia) old man who refuels his energy only from his succeses over his opponents. This reminds me of of the Master, the rapidly aging arch-enemy of the Doctor (Who?) and who was uncertain of being reincarnated. The Master used a fiendish machine to drain off the life-energy of captured young women, virgins, beautiful in appearance, in order to renew his own. After each success against Sharon lands up with the same beatific smile which Yitchak Rabin used to have when getting a point over Menachim Begin. The tactics are not actually his but decided upon by a think tank team headed by Dov Weisglass (let the wise man not glory in his wisdom and potential riches). They are so rational that almost everything they decide upon is predictable. Unfortunately their decision, as to which settlement is to be vacated first, and when, is hard to predict. Sharon understands only violence. He is unafraid of God, passive resistance and peaceful demonstrations. He used to terrorize Arabs but now he has turned to terrorise Jews; even Lidud MK Landau is now being over-careful. He is using the Arabs to help him terrorise the settlers in Gaza and Hebron. The Arabs will help in Gaza by picking off any protestors who manage to evade the roadblocks. He says he is unafraid of assassination but he still has a magnificent entourage of security guards. It is extremely unlikely that a rational right-wing Jew would assassinate him as Sharon would once again achieve hero status and Netanyahu, or one of the quasi-ministers, would take over without change of policy. It would be stupid for an Arab to assassinate him as he is about the best friend the Arabs have. Sharon is afraid of George Bush. He is afraid of the refusal of parts of the IDF to obey his orders. He is afraid of indictment over fraud. His intentions have been obvious even before he became prime minister. One of his first actions as prime minister in waiting was to offer ex-general ben Eliezer the ministry of defence. All these kibbutz-class over-rapidly promoted generals share the same political views. His treatment of the security of Hebron and environs made it evident that Hebron was a thorn in his side and he wanted to get rid of the Jewish presence there. It is sure that he is quite willing to cede the old city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount to the Arabs - the Temple Mount is at present virtually under their complete control He is a 'godfather' using the Palestinian Authority, and associates, to help him make an offer to the settlers that they can't refuse. He is not averse to letting the Arabs do his work for him, killing, usually religious, soldiers and popping off 'settlers' whenever they can. The purpose of his lack of reaction to their attacks is to scare the residents into leaving the Gaza strip. Sharon is going backwards, not forwards. There will be no U-turn and it is pointless to send him, or Georges Bush, begging letters In the past he had many achievements but hardly any of these have remained or will remain. The Sinai has been given away, Gaza is back to chaos and will be given away as well. The Lebanese border is still dangerous and almost all of the 'settlements' are on their way out. What else has he done besides unnecessarily losing battle-fodder? According to ex prime minister Ehud Barak, and he should know, Sharon is corrupt. Hardly any other Jew in Israel could accuse Sharon of this without landing in jail. The Courts are corrupt in that they are unduly influenced by their political views and their personal animosity to orthodox judaism. In theory, for a non-Israeli democracy, the legislature and the judiciary are independent. Certain people are getting kickbacks for the sale, at ridiculously low prices, of infrastructures in territory to be vacated. Sharon is bluffing when he threatens a new election - it is likely that he would lose and this bothers a large 'perquarantage' of MK's who do not want to lose their jobs. However, he does not need the Likud. I noticed in the last election campaign that the posters for the Likud had a large 'VOTE SHARON' and as an afterthought mentioned 'Likud' in small print. He might become head of a diferent faction but unlikely to have enough support to form a stable government even with the help of a presumably smaller Shinui and the Arabs. The purpose of his anti-referendum stance is to obfuscate the disengagement issue and allow him to win his budget vote. He has not much reason to dislike a referendum because, as his team will be wording the referendum to his advantage and because there is a large minority of Arab and non-Jew Israelis who would support the disengagement. Arab-Israelis would be allowed to settle anywhere they liked without losing their citizenship so the disengagement would be convenient for them and Sharon is at present trying to get the Arab vote by trying to relax the extended family restrictions. Many parties are in favour of a referendum because they would lose seats in the new elections. Some of the religious party MK's wanted a referendum as this would have let them retain their jobs and put them off the hook for supporting disengagement. Sharon manipulates the greed of the religious parties; he has stated correctly that he could buy whatever religious party that he wishes. He bought off Binyomim ben Ben-Zion Netanyahu, the price being allowing him a free hand into instituting a capitalist state; like Hoffmann's Shlemiel, Netanyahu should avoid looking in a mirror. All the religious parties, though not simultaneously, have been propping up the government knowing full well its intentions. They are relying the 'Messiah Solution'; when the Messiah comes they will get it all back and they are quite willing to wait. The religious party MK's are unreliable, in some instances twisting the intentions of their sages to their own advantage. Even the sages are up for sale and unphased about the loss of holy sites - they are more worried about money for education and their students having to be eligible for the army. They would be quite happy with the mythical Israel, unlike the Naturei Carta who especially do have a strong link to the Land of Israel. They would, for money, agree to support the government in the budget vote even knowing that their subsequent antdisengagement would be useless. MK Gafni of UTJ actually said they were washing their hands of opposition to the disengagement and that this should be dealt with by God directly. God will not help them as they have little merit. After the budget passes they will be rely on God without any imput on their own part. God does not act this way. There is also what I call the 'Shabatai Zvi Option' - all Jews convert formally to Islam and this is easy - they could still eat kosher and go to shul as Shabatai did. This option worked for Shabatai in Turkey and prevented a mass progrom (to the dismay of the western press). However this will not work in Israel as we are dealing not with Turks but with Arabs who are not averse to killing other Muslims, and even other Arabs. There is a myth, put out by guess who, that Sharon is the only one who is capable of running Israel and dealing with America. He seems to have convinced most Israelis on this. Another myth is that that settling on land is Sharon's idea. Way before the State of Israel existed settlers specifically started farming in the northern Galilee and, despite the Tel Hai disaster, enabled that little but strategic bump to be incorporated in the Israel in the original partition - it was not Sharon's idea. The claim of civil war is ridiculous - how can there be a civil war between the virtually unarmed citizens against the IDF and para-military police. That is not civil war, that is a a massacre. Anyway there is already a civil war in Israel between the Arabs and the Jews. A bloodless putsch by the IDF could topple Sharon. What would he, in his previous incarnation as General Sharon, have done? Encircled the Knesset by tanks till it capitulates (idea due to Golda Meir)? After his downfall Israel must be careful to use violence only in self-defence, the interpretation thereof being loose enough for positive action. The nations, united only by their hatred of Israel, would love nothing better than to bomb it to smithereens. No-one took heed of God's prophet Menachem Mendel Schneerson of Lubavitch; they paid him lip service and went to him to get blessings. He had warned Menachem Begin, Yitchak Shamir and others as to the blood of Jews which would be shed, resulting from giving up territory. He had forecast that the Arabs would refuse (97 percent of) Israel when offered (as by ex PM Barak); this was even rational as the Arabs are extremely reluctant to voluntarily give up parts of the holy land to Jews; they follow the Torah law of not giving away any of the Holy Land. Why is the President of Israel not saying anything, or does he agree with Sharon's plan? President Ezer Weitzmann did not hesitate to criticise government policy. The incumbent chief rabbis say nothing - they do not want to lose their jobs. I end with a suggestion for the Jews who love the Land of Israel. One of the prayers in the eighteen benedictions, said three times daily, morning, afternoon and evening,on weekdays is for the uprooting of the 'malchus harosha'ah', the Wicked Kingdom. Those who pray should deeply intend that passage instead of just rushing through it. This is not a prayer for the death of those concerned, just their removal from power. Similarly to what Rabbi Ovadiah Joseph said; may they all live to be a hundred and twenty The base to the present wicked kingdom is the axis of evil, made up
the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and the Defence Minister.
Almost all the cabinet ministers constitute the rest.They are nowhere
near the level of their fathers.
Aubrey Wulfsohn is at the Warwick Mathematics Institute in Coventry,
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A HUGE PROTEST MASSED AT GUSH KATIF THIS PAST WEDNESDAY
Posted by Janet Lehr, April 29, 2005. |
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I sat at the Seder and paid attention to the math, what about the Israeli press!!! 80,000 Israelis converged in Gush Katif in Gaza this past Wednesday. Unfortunately, this was not reported in the American media, and probably not widely reported in Israel. But 80,000 Israelis are equivalent to 860,000 Americans. 80,000 is equivalent to about million protesters!!! [Editor's note: Estimates varied betwen This article is called "What Israel can - and must - learn from the French" aand was written by Caroline B. Glick and appeared today in Jewish World Review. http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | So it looks like the EU's constitution might have run up against an iceberg. According to a report from Paris in The Weekly Standard, French President Jacques Chirac may have overplayed his EU card by allowing the French people to decide by referendum whether or not they wish to ratify the French-authored, 448-article EU constitution. Opinion polls taken in mid-April indicate that 56 percent of French voters now oppose the constitution which they are set to vote on in late May. According to the report, French opposition to the constitution is based on a combination of economic populism and general distaste for the entire project - one which diminishes their national sovereignty and puts them under the control of people they dislike and distrust. If this negative trend is not reversed, it seems that the French voters will reject the plans of the nonelected European bureaucratic elite that have been more or less pushing through the program of European unification for the past few decades without public oversight. That is, the European elite, in progressing to their post-nationalist (and anti-American) dream regime of multinational elites writing treaties and regulations and hatching plots together in Brussels, may actually suffer the consequences of cutting themselves off from the people in whose name they purport to be working. The most striking aspect of this turn of events is that it reminds us what it means to live in a democratically governed society. It means that when elections are free and fair and direct, the leaders of any particular government are supposed to reflect the collective will of their people and that the policies of a democratically elected government will, at the end of the day, be a reflection of the self-interests of the community of voters that make up its society. If, as the West has for the past 400 or so years, the citizens of a country are considered rational actors, then the result of elections should be the emergence and development of peaceful, non-revolutionary, wealth-creating societies. In countries where elections are corrupted - either by non-direct electoral processes or by regimes that organize them in a manner that prevent the people from exercising an authentic free choice - the connection between the governed and their leaders becomes attenuated and the policies of the government will not be informed necessarily by the interest of the people. This is the case, no doubt, in Saudi Arabia. Last Saturday, in the third round of municipal elections in that absolute monarchy, Islamist candidates were swept into office. The fact that women in Saudi Arabia are denied the vote, like the fact that the country is governed as much by the religious thought police as by the secret police, no doubt had something to do with the results. In the Palestinian Authority the situation is even more acute. Palestinians are governed by a series of interlocking yet quasi-independent tyrannies. On the one hand, they have the PA itself with its secret police and goon squads, better known as the Palestinian security forces, that determine whether they will receive jobs, various licenses or permits to work in Israel. As well, the PA determines the content of school and university curricula, mosque sermons, newspapers, and radio and television broadcasts. On the other hand, Palestinians are governed by the terrorist organizations that rule their streets from Rafah to Jenin. Some, like Hamas, bring them into their fold through Saudi-funded welfare services. Others, like Fatah, bring them in by intimidating them or paying them off with PA, Iranian or Hizbullah-financed salaries. Given this situation, the PA-ruled areas can be compared to a jungle and the strongest force in any particular area is the most popular one. So, when PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas wants to pander to the people, he panders to the strongmen, who are also terrorists. This presents both Israel and the US with an unworkable situation. Under pressure from both to reform his security services, he turns to strongman Rashid Abu Shabak - strongman Muhammad Dahlan's replacement as head of the Preventive Security Service (the PA version of the KGB) - to head the PSS in both Gaza and Judea and Samaria. Shabak is a powerful man. But he is also a mass murderer and master terrorist. He commanded the bombing of the school bus in Kfar Darom in November 2000 that killed two adults and left three children legless. He is known in Gaza as both the father of the Palestinian mortars - over 5,000 of which have rained down on Israeli communities in the area since their introduction in 2001 - and as the "collaborator hunter." According to The Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh, over the past several years, Shabak has "hunted down" more than 100 Palestinians who have assisted Israel in its counter-terror operations. Yet in the jungle of Palestinian society, it is not enough to coddle terrorists. What is most important is to be a terrorist. And so, Hamas is poised to become a political force to be reckoned with after the planned July 17 elections for the Palestinian legislature. Hamas leaders have already made clear that they are first and foremost a terrorist organization and will not abandon their arms as a result of their political involvement. As Mushir al-Masri told the press this week, "Our fingers will remain on the trigger." Masri maintained that Hamas's participation in the elections, "does not mean it is on the way to becoming a political party." In the meantime, the Palestinians, election or no election, are preparing for the next round of war, which they plan to open in September, immediately after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to expel all Israeli citizens from their homes in Gaza and northern Samaria is completed. This week there were several reports that Palestinians have already smuggled anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns into Judea and Samaria. The Islamic Jihad is reorganizing in the Jenin area which is set for Israeli withdrawal. At the same time, the IDF is sending special forces to man the 180-km border with Egypt which now, for the first time since the signing of the peace treaty 25 years ago, is considered by the IDF to constitute a strategic threat to Israel. As for Israel, after buying off a sufficient number of Likud backbenchers to prevent a national referendum on his planned withdrawal and expulsion plan, Sharon managed to scare a lot of friends of Israel in Washington earlier in the month with his talk of the likelihood of civil war breaking out. Americans take the specter of civil war very seriously. But what they cannot possibly understand from where they sit is that it isn't the Israelis slated for expulsion from their homes that wish for civil war, but Sharon's newfound supporters on the far Left. Voicing this bloodlust most recently was Haaretz columnist and Susan Sontag-admiring pseudo-intellectual Avirama Golan. Golan explained her opposition to the proposal to build new communities in Nitzanim for the set-for-expulsion Israelis thus: "Transferring the evacuees from Gush Katif to a brand new neighborhood built especially for them along the beautiful strip of Nitzanim transmits a problematic implicit message. This is a message that says [once again] to the Jewish settlers in the territories: You are a chosen group You will not be like all the other Israelis... If this is what the government does in the evacuation of Gush Katif, the main sting of the evacuation of the settlements will be neutralized It will be as though nothing has been done." So, for Golan, if the thousands of Israelis whom the government plans to forcibly expel from their homes and farms are not treated poorly, then the whole operation won't be meaningful. She wants her political antagonists who insist on believing in God and Jewish rights to suffer. And if they don't, then Sharon will have failed her. What Golan represents is the Israeli version of the European elites. She and her buddies represent a tiny minority of Israelis, but like their European counterparts, they exert a great deal of influence through their control of the media, the legal system and the universities. As Amnon Abromovich, Channel 2's chief commentator, said of the prime minister at a conference on Sharon's withdrawal plan, "In my view, we must protect Sharon not only from political threats but also from legal threats." When his remarks were subject to scrutiny this week, he relented and said that Sharon should only be protected by the media until September - after the withdrawal goes through. Eighty-thousand Israelis braved the rocket-and-mortar onslaught on the Israeli communities in Gaza on Wednesday to come to Gush Katif and demonstrate against Sharon's planned withdrawal. The prime minister's supporters claim that a majority of Israelis support the plan. But the truth is probably different. A majority of Israelis is probably indifferent today to the plan, but indifference cannot be confused with support. Given this, and given that from day to day it becomes increasingly apparent just how ill-advised Sharon's plan is from both a strategic and an operational perspective, it is clear why Sharon and his elitist supporters and protectors are so deathly afraid of a referendum. But the issue that Israelis, friends of Israel and supporters of Israeli democracy should be raising now is as follows: The French have recourse to a referendum to voice their views on a project that was undertaken largely without their consent and with which they have become increasingly disenchanted. The Israeli pubic is forced by events to face the dangers that Sharon's plan poses to the country and its citizens. In the absence of a referendum - and assuming that the government will not fall before the withdrawal because the Labor, Yahad (Meretz) and Arab parties will protect Sharon to ensure that elections are out of the question - what is the vehicle through which Israelis will be able to voice their opposition to a plan adopted without their consent with which they are becoming increasingly disenchanted? Janet Lehr is editor/publisher of a daily e-mail called "Israel Lives." She can be contacted at janetlehr@mindstring.com |
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ON BEING DISLIKED: THE NEW NOT-SO-UNWELCOME ANTI-AMERICANISM
Posted by IsrAlert, April 29, 2005. |
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This was written by Victor Davis Hanson, a military historian and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. His website is victorhanson.com. This appeared in www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200504290803.asp Last year the hysteria about the hostility toward the United States reached a fevered pitch. Everyone from Jimmy Carter to our Hollywood elite lamented that America had lost its old popularity. It was a constant promise of the Kerry campaign to restore our good name and "to work with our allies." The more sensitive were going to undo the supposed damage of the last four years. Whole books have been devoted to this peculiar new anti-Americanism, but few have asked whether or not such suspicion of the United States is, in fact, a barometer of what we are doing right - and while not necessarily welcome, at least proof that we are on the correct track. The Egyptian autocracy may have received $57 billion in aggregate American aid over the last three decades. But that largess still does not prevent the Mubarak dynasty from damning indigenous democratic reformers by dubbing them American stooges. In differing ways, the Saudi royal family exhibits about the same level of antagonism toward the U.S. as do the Islamic fascists of al Qaeda - both deeply terrified by what is going on in Iraq. Mostly this animus arises because we are distancing ourselves from corrupt grandees, even as we have become despised as incendiary democratizers by the Islamists. Is that risky and dangerous? Yes. Bad? Hardly. At the U.N. it is said that a ruling hierarchy mistrusts the United States and that a culture of anti-Americanism has become endemic within the organization. No wonder - the Americans alone push for more facts about the Oil-for-Food scandal, question Kofi Annan's breaches of ethics, and want investigations about U.N. crimes in Africa. If we are mistrusted for caring about those thousands who are inhumanely treated by a supposedly humane organization, then why in the world should we wish to be liked by such a group? EU bureaucrats and French politicians routinely caricature Americans, whipping up public opinion against the United States, even as they fly here to profess eagerness to maintain the old NATO transatlantic ties. Is it to our discredit that what Europe has now devolved into does not like the United States? Mexico, we are told, is furious at the United States. Mexico City newspapers routinely trash Americans. Vicente Fox usually sounds more like a belligerent than the occasional visitor at the presidential ranch. That is not so bad either. In short, who exactly does not like the United States and why? First, almost all the 20 or so illiberal Arab governments that used to count on American realpolitik's giving them a pass on accounting for their crimes. They fear not the realist Europeans, nor the resource-mad Chinese, nor the old brutal Russians, but the Americans, who alone are prodding them to open their economies and democratize their corrupt political cultures. We must learn to expect, not lament, their hostility, and begin to worry that things would be indeed wrong if such unelected dictators praised the United States. The United Nations has sadly become a creepy organization. Its General Assembly is full of cutthroat regimes. The Human Rights Commission has had members like Vietnam and Sudan, regimes that at recess must fight over bragging rights to which of the two killed more of their own people. The U.N. has a singular propensity to find flawed men to be secretary-general - a Kurt Waldheim, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, or Kofi Annan. Blue-helmeted peace-keepers, we learn, are as likely to commit as prevent crimes; and the only thing constant about such troops is that they will never go first into harm's way in Serbia, Kosovo, the Congo, or Dafur to stop genocide. Even worse, the U.N. has proved to be a terrible bully, an unforgivable sin for a self-proclaimed protector of the weak and innocent - loud false charges against Israel for its presence in the West Bank, not a peep about China in Tibet; tough talk about Palestinian rights, far less about offending Arabs over Darfur. So U.N. anti-Americanism is a glowing radiation badge, proof of exposure to toxicity. The EU is well past being merely silly, as its vast complex of bureaucrats tries to control what 400 million speak, eat, and think. Its biggest concerns are three: figuring out how its nations are to keep paying billions of euros to retirees, unemployed, and assorted other entitlement recipients; how to continue to ankle-bite the United States without antagonizing it to the degree that these utopians might have to pay for their own security; and how not to depopulate itself out of existence. Europeans sold Saddam terrible arms for oil well after the first Gulf War. Democratic Israel or Taiwan means nothing to them; indeed, democracy is increasingly becoming the barometer by which to judge European hostility. Cuba, China, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah - not all that bad; the United States, Taiwan, and Israel, not all that good. Personally, I'd rather live in a country that goes into an anguished national debate over pulling the plug on a lone woman than one that blissfully vacations on the beach oblivious to 15,000 elderly cooked to well done back in Paris. Mexico, enjoying one of the richest landscapes in the world, can't feed its own people, so it exports its poorest to the United States. Its own borders with Central America are as brutal to cross as our own are porous. Illegal aliens send back almost $50 billion, which has the effect of propping up corrupt institutions that as a result will never change. Given its treatment of its own people, if the Mexican government praised the United States we should indeed be concerned. Who then are America's friends? Perhaps one billion Indians, who appreciated that at a time of recession we kept our economy open, and exported jobs and expertise there that helped evolve its economy. Millions of Japanese trust America as well. Unlike the Chinese, who on script vandalized Japanese interests abroad in anguish over right-wing Japanese textbooks, Americans - who at great cost once freed China - without such violence urge the Japanese to deal honestly with the past. After all, the Tokyo government that started the war is gone and replaced by a democracy; in contrast, the Communist dictatorship that killed 50 million of its own and many of its neighbors is still in place in China. At a time when no one in Europe seems to care that Japan is squeezed between a nuclear North Korea and a nuclear China, the United States alone proves a reliable friend. The French, on spec, conduct maneuvers with the ascendant Communist Chinese navy. Eastern Europeans do not find the larger families, religiosity, or commitment to individualism and freedom in America disturbing. Apparently, millions in South America don't either - if their eagerness to emigrate here is any indication. It is the wage of the superpower to be envied. Others weaker vie for its influence and attention - often when successful embarrassed by the necessary obsequiousness, when ignored equally shamed at the resulting public impotence. The Cold War is gone and former friends and neutrals no longer constrain their anti-American rhetoric in fear of a cutthroat and nuclear Soviet Union. Americans are caricatured as cocky and insular - as their popular culture sweeps the globe. All that being said, the disdain that European utopians, Arab dictatorships, the United Nations, and Mexico exhibit toward the United States is not - as the Kerry campaign alleged in the last election - cause for tears, but often reason to be proud, since much of the invective arises from the growing American insistence on principles abroad. America should not gratuitously welcome such dislike; but we should not apologize for it either. Sometimes the caliber of a nation is found not in why it is liked, but rather in why it is not. By January 1, 1941, I suppose a majority on the planet - the Soviet Union, all of Eastern Europe, France, Italy, Spain, and even many elsewhere in occupied Europe, most of Latin America, Japan and its Asian empire, the entire Arab world, many in India - would have professed a marked preference for Hitler's Germany over Churchill's England. Think about it. When Europe orders all American troops out; when Japan claims our textbooks whitewash the Japanese forced internment or Hiroshima; when China cites unfair trade with the United States; when South Korea says get the hell off our DMZ; when India complains that we are dumping outsourced jobs on them; when Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinians refuse cash aid; when Canada complains that we are not carrying our weight in collective North American defense; when the United Nations moves to Damascus; when the Arab Street seethes that we are pushing theocrats and autocrats down its throat; when Mexico builds a fence to keep us out; when Latin America proclaims a boycott of the culturally imperialistic Major Leagues; and when the world ignores American books, films, and popular culture, then perhaps we should be worried. But something tells me none of that is going to happen in this lifetime. Harv Weiner, a businessman in Dallas, Texas, is the founder and moderator of Isralert. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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A PILLAR OF FIRE
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 29, 2005. |
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Miracles do happen - sometimes. Recall when Pharaoh sent his troops to capture or kill the Jews being led out of Egypt by Moshe Rebbeinu. The Jews had their backs to the proverbial wall or, in this case, between the Pharaoh's pursuing army and the Nile River at the Sea of Reeds. There was no normal way that they were going to escape the might of Pharaoh's army. After the ten plagues, the first miracle on their journey was a Pillar of Fire which appeared between the advancing forces of Pharaoh and the Jewish people. The Pharaoh's army was halted in what was clearly a miracle of major proportions. The prior miracles of the 10 Plagues should have been sufficient to warn off Pharaoh as well as the officers and men of his army. But, leaders who think they are earthly gods have no need of warnings from a higher authority. The Pillar of Fire should have turned them around but, despite the Fire Pillar, Pharaoh drove them forward. Perhaps it is time once again for HaShem to bring back His Pillar of Fire to stand between the Jews of Gush Katif and Israel's Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon's army, pressed into service to forcibly remove Jews from their homes. Like Pharaoh, Sharon has crowned himself to become a demi-god, answerable to no one except himself. He believed his own propaganda which the Israelis used to shout - "Arik, Melech Yisrael (King of Israel)". Sharon, like Pharaoh should have been alarmed by all of the Plagues. Sharon's Plagues were the Terror attacks the Muslim Arab Palestinians brought against Israel, the Wars, the Terror but - like Pharaoh, Sharon was blinded by his own arrogance. He refused to recognize or understand that the Arab Muslim Palestinians were a plague in and of themselves, not only infecting the Jewish nation but, wherever Islam felt empowered by the successful Arab Muslim Palestinians Terror attacks on the Jews to attack all Free Western countries globally. Imagine the consternation of Sharon, who like Pharaoh, had around him advisors of a low and corrupt nature. Once he too was an advisor to Menachem Begin, along with Ezer Weizman and Moshe Dayan during the Camp David Accords which led to the abandonment of the Sinai. Have you noticed that whenever there is to be an abandonment of Jewish Land (given by G-d to the Jewish people in perpetuity), Sharon and, of course, Shimon Peres are always there to execute the dangerous deed? Imagine if the Pillar of Fire moved about, in front of Sharon, then forward to the Knesset and the Supreme Court. Imagine the consternation of all the nations to see such a miraculous display. Would the these G-dless and corrupt Jews flee the country or accept a higher authority through "teshuvah"? I suppose this is wishful thinking but you (all of you) might ask HaShem to return His Pillar of Fire and disabuse Sharon, Bush, Peres, et al, of their plans to force the Jews off their Land HaShem promised to Abraham in perpetuity. I fear, however, that all Israelis will first have to be dealt a mighty blow before they throw off the leadership of Arik Sharon and his collaborators, the Peresites. Those good people who faithfully settled the formerly barren Land and believe in a Higher Authority will no doubt unfairly suffer for a crime for which they are not responsible. Hopefully, that will be of short duration or, perhaps for them, not at all. Those who believe in nothing but themselves and call themselves "The Left" may very well meet the fate of Korach. (Korach and his followers who opposed the leadership of Moshe Rebbeinu were swallowed up by the earth in a "miraculous" earthquake - courtesy of HaShem.) Hopefully, HaShem will deliver the wake-up call that gives "The Left" sufficient time to abandon the evil path they have chosen. Here I include President George W. Bush who surely has brought retribution upon the good people of America who do not deserve the punishment they will have to share with the Bush Dynasty and his crowd of advisors. Whether it is a collapsing economy, a plague or natural disasters it's coming our way. We do live in interesting times. (By the way, that is a Chinese curse NOT a blessing.) Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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HOW ISRAEL SHOULD HAVE TREATED THE ARABS; PROTEST SHARON AND RISK ARREST
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 29, 2005. |
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SETTLEMENTS: HOW THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN SET UP Rabin was the first radical Prime Minister of Israel. His Labor Party predecessors were somewhat appeasement-minded, but not so extreme in what they would cede. Timid in pursuing Jewish rights and interests, they never boldly and public made a case for what the Jewish people are entitled to. That enabled the evolving misinterpretation of the Balfour Declaration and Palestine Mandate, so that our contemporaries do not know, and cannot tell from a cursory glance at the preamble, that the Mandate was meant to confer Jewish statehood on the whole little area now comprising Israel, the Territories, and Jordan. The Laborites were so docile towards the British, as to be taken for granted (as they are now towards the US). When in self-defense Israel liberated Judea-Samaria and Gaza, it failed to plan strategically for integrating them into the State. Instead, Moshe Dayan turned the keys of the Temple Mount and of Hebron over to the otherwise quaking Arabs (who then abused Israel's trust in them). He should have retrieved property that the Jordanians and pogromniks had seized from Jews years earlier. To get a Jewish presence back into Hebron, religious and patriotic Jews had to use subterfuge. Other Jews similarly set up isolated little settlements amid the Arabs, or in unsettled areas that then the government let Arabs come in, surround, and now claim that these are Arab areas from which the Jews should vacate. Leftists cite Zionist subterfuge with indignation. The shame is that the patriots had to resort to such measures, because Leftists left them no alternative. Their indignation should be against the anti-Zionist, self-denying, self-destructive policies of the Left. Leftist appeasement of the fanatical Arab enemy is recipe for war and defeat. It lays somewhere between treason and suicide. What should Israel have done? First, at the end of the Arab attempt to exterminate the Israeli Jews in 1949, Israel should have expelled the remaining Arabs, with compensation for those known to have helped Israel, and let none in. Israel today would not have an Arab fifth column and there would be no Arabs in Knesset to tip the balance against measures of national security. Second, when Israel acquired the Territories, it should have annexed all the vacant land, isolating the Arab cities. It should not have granted the Arabs of Jerusalem the privileges of Israeli health and welfare benefits. It should have let the Arabs out of the area, if they wished, but not to work in Israel. There would have been no hinterland to build a PLO state out of. There would have been little income to keep the Arabs anchored there. Those Arabs would have left. That would have ended the problem with the Palestinian Arabs, though not with the Arab world. Israel would have had secure boundaries from the east, north, and partly from the south. The southern approach would have been more secure if Israel had kept the Sinai. Israel's mistake is to try to please its concession-demanding and territory-demanding critics, who in any case are implacable, rather than figure out what is best for it. WHY ABBAS STILL IS ACCEPTED Abbas had a terrible record, but was hailed as the hope for reform and for peace. Other than a few perfunctory nods to peace, he has continued violating agreements and upholding jihad. That is in line with the Arab methodology of false promises and subversion. To someone familiar with jihad, this is unsurprising. To someone else who finds out about it, it should be appalling. Why then is there no outcry against him? I think that the answers are: (1) Western conspiracy with the Arabs against Israel; (2) A media conspiracy of silence about the Arab record; and (3) Wishful thinking that: (a) Maybe Abbas will come to reason; and (2) Maybe Israel soon will be gone. Abbas will not come to reason, Western style. He doesn't think like a Westerner. He is succeeding using Arab methods. There is no hint of Western or Israeli retribution. This way, he takes no risks; he avoids potential assassination. HOW ARMS ARE SMUGGLED THROUGH THE SINAI In two incidents, the IDF caught one or more Arabs carrying a sack of arms from the Sinai to Gaza. Egypt did not assist the IDF (IMRA, 3/30). This is open country. It has just a few roads and a short border. Egyptian police easily could intercept such smuggling. Obviously, Egypt wants the arms to go to the terrorists. SHARON REWARDS SUPPORTERS WITH CABINET POSTS Likud Party officials in the Knesset who supported PM Sharon's abandonment plan or the budget on which his regime keeps its tenure, were given Cabinet posts at great government expense and inefficiency during budgetary austerity. The public recognized how cynical a ploy that is (IMRA, 3/30). SUPREME COURT'S HOSTILITY TOWARD JUDAISM CONTINUED The Court ruled valid the conversions by alien workers and tourists who started studying Judaism in Israel, then went to a foreign country for a swift, non-Orthodox conversion, and returned to Israel as immigrants under the Law of Return and entitled to a few thousand dollars of subsidies. The problem with non-Orthodox conversion is that the Orthodox don't recognize it, and consider as gentiles such "converts," who pledge to only a minimal observance of Judaism. The Orthodox are not allowed to marry such non-Jews, whom the Court dubs "Jews," by government decree, not by religion. As a result, the Orthodox will have to keep a register of authentic Jews, to protect legitimate Jews from marrying quickie ones. MK Effie Eitam said, "The Supreme Court is carrying out a hostile takeover of the character and identity of the State of Israel as a Jewish state in accordance with Jewish tradition. Judges who represent an extremist and marginal worldview within Israeli society are forcing their opinions on the general public." The judges are issuing religious rulings, which is not their provenance, and they are issuing them in order to blur Judaism. That is in accordance with their secularist hostility towards the religion (Arutz-7, 3/31). When people criticize Israel for not having separation of religion from state, do they have in mind the Supreme Court interference with religion, i.e., with the Jewish religion? (One does not hear of Israeli interference with the Muslim religion.) CERTAIN DEMONSTRATIONS ARE ILLEGAL IN ISRAEL After a heavy bombardment of Jewish communities in Gaza, several residents held a peaceful protest along the road. Without notice to desist, the police suddenly declared the protest illegal (though it wasn't). They arrested them and the prosecutors demanded that they remain under house arrest for the whole process of their proceedings, which lasts for months. This is a way of keeping them subdued during their communities' uprooting from Gaza. Violent demonstrators often are held for shorter periods, but this is political by the government (Arutz-7, 3/31). Keeping Jews immobile during the drawn out proceedings is a means of undemocratic punishment of the innocent, in Israel, commonly thought to be democratic. It deprives families of their livelihoods. What does the government think they would do, if able to move about freely, in between hearings? So now the law is what the cop says? Nothing may be done without government permission? Anyone who doesn't is scolded as not obeying the law, as if such law has any legitimacy. In Israel, the law is used to restrict democracy. Although Israelis pride themselves on having a government of laws, it is a government of activist judges, high-handed PMs, and rogue cops. "TIMES" EXPLAINS W. BANK BORDERS The effect of the separation barrier, unilateral withdrawal, and building in Jerusalem's suburbs just over the Green Line represents an Israeli definition of its future border. (Yes, that is what the Right warned of, but nobody listened). The notion of the barrier becoming a border gained ground when the Supreme Court of Israel (and the World Court) demanded that the fence be recast nearer the Green Line that the world and the Left would like to be the border with a PLO state. The Green Line is just the armistice line from the war's end in 1949. (Yes, I stress that, because it shows a lack of significance to that line, which therefore has no standing to be a border.) The area on the Israeli side of the fence encompasses only 8% of Judea-Samaria, and this is before final status negotiations. (Negotiations imply more Arab demands and Israeli concessions.) Some of the Jewish towns further in may not remain Israeli. (This puts the lie to critics of Israel who asserted that the fence was a major land grab. The critics probably counted on most people not having access to maps that would refute their assertion. When I saw such a map, I realized that the land-grab criticism was false propaganda.) 99.5% of the Arabs in Judea-Samaria would live on the Arab side of the fence. This amounts to fewer than 10,000 out of two million Arabs! (That fact further refutes critics' claims that Israel is occupying and oppressing the Arabs and that the Arabs have some right to "resist". Besides, at Oslo, they abjured warfare.) The Arabs are not satisfied with having control over 99.5% of their people in 92% of Judea-Samaria (though why they should have any there is a good question). "They argue that all Israeli settlements beyond the Green Line are illegal. They reject the annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967. (It should be "eastern Jerusalem," but the "Times" would rather imply that it is a separate city and Israel's inclusion of it within Jerusalem is unnatural and improper). They contend that the 8% of the W. Bank inside the barrier is among the best land for housing and agriculture. Unilateralism, they say, is no substitute for negotiations." (The "Times" accurately stated the Arabs' inaccurate claims. That is an old "Times" trick. Reiterate the Arabs' false arguments as on a par with the Israelis' true statement of international law, without stating the Israeli case. That fails to establish what is factual. Is the land inside the barrier best for housing and agriculture? What if it were? Israel has legitimate claims to it. The "Times" condoning of Arab falsehood and omission of the Israeli view leaves readers unable to decide properly for themselves. Unaware and deceived, many tend to side with the Arabs.) (Why should Israel negotiate further with these Arabs who violate what previously was negotiated with them? Why should Israel ever negotiate with fanatics out to destroy it?) (The Arabs can reject the annexations, but annexation is legal, reasonable, and ethical. The Arabs, after all, were the aggressors and still are. As scofflaws, the Arabs are in a poor position to complain about other things being illegal. Most of their building in Jerusalem and much of it in the Territories and in Israel is illegal.) Israel is in violation of its commitment to the Road Map. PM Sharon says he has not begun to implement the Map, because it has as a prerequisite the P.A. eradication of terrorism, which prerequisite the P.A. has not met (and refuses to). (Here the "Times" did give the Israeli answer. It is a satisfactory answer. However, the "Times" crafts this and most articles to engender indignation against Israel and not the Arabs for cheating on agreements.) "Large municipal boundaries around smaller communities are a standard Israeli device, critics say, to make it seem that new settlement construction is merely "thickening" existing settlements. The official municipal boundaries of Male Adumim are huge, larger that Tel Aviv's, and stretch nearly to Jericho. The settlement is built up on only about 15% of its official area. (My reply to this is more analytic than factual. Perhaps some of the boundaries are too extensive. But that happens. My father's town of New Milford, CT, is physically larger than Manhattan. However, it is reasonable to allow for natural growth. The US does not want to allow that. Therefore, the State Dept. criticism is unreasonable, in any case.) "Given the proximity to Jerusalem, the passions on both sides are intense. Israelis want E1 (the area to connect Jerusalem with Maale Adumim) to provide contiguity of Jewish settlement around Jerusalem, while Palestinians (Arabs) want it to ensure contiguity of Palestinian settlement between East Jerusalem and the W. Bank." (Steven Erlanger, 4/19, p.1.) This statement equates the wishes of the Arab aggressors and their Israeli victims, who have the far better legal, ethical, and historical claim to the Holy City and the right to protect their capital from repeat Arab terrorism and invasion. It misstates the passions of the Arab rulers. The Arabs have never shown permanent interest in Jerusalem, until the infidels get it. Then the Arabs want it. It does not have much historical or religious significance to them, myths about it notwithstanding. When Jordan controlled the Old City, it neglected the mosque on the Temple Mount, kept Jews from their holiest site, discouraged Christian access, and it used to have snipers firing upon Jews in the New City. Giving the P.A. control over the Old City and other parts of eastern Jerusalem would return the city to civil war and Islamic intolerance of other faiths' holy places. The "Times" does not provide that type of historical and factual background, which would undermine its case. Neither does the "Times" explain that the Arabs have been striving to surround or cut off Jewish communities. The Arab complaint that in this case, Israel is moving to preserve its communities, is hypocritical. If the public knew how pervasive Arab hypocrisy is, it would give less credence to Arab arguments. A TEST OF ABBAS' WORD Abbas promised to end P.A. media defamation of Israel. Weeks later, P.A. TV still featured claims such as that the Jewish state tortured, burned, and exterminated Arabs in the name of God (Arutz-7, 4/1). Ironically, Israel doesn't do much of anything in the name of God. Its secularists are in charge. The Arabs are lying about Israel, as if Israel were fanatical like the Arabs. "AL AHRAM" ACCUSES ISRAEL OF DODGING PEACE The official newspaper of Egypt alleges that Israel bars peace by deliberately starting conflicts elsewhere in the region. No examples given (IMRA, 3/25). The Arabs routinely slander. Defamation is their means of argument and propaganda. It also reflects Arab antisemitism, which fantasizes that the Jews constantly plot mischief. It is not seemly for Egypt, which started several wars and many raids against Israel and gratuitously intervened in Yemen's civil war, to complain that another country starts conflicts. POST-ABANDONMENT PLANNING In what post-abandonment security planning is the Sharon-Peres regime engaging? None disclosed, none discerned. Abandonment is fraught with risk. Security afterwards should be planned. Some of the measures would encounter heavy international condemnation, that might be somewhat ameliorated by public relations. Effective public relations mean criticizing the Arabs. In case you haven't noticed, the government of Israel rarely criticizes the murdering, arms-smuggling, treaty-violating Arabs for anything worse than "not trying hard enough" to do something positive to which they have agreed (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 3/31). Although the Arabs, proceeding with a strategic plan for the conquest of Israel in phases, complain that Israel constantly schemes, Israel does no strategic planning. Israel is content with the status quo. Israel does not consider the consequences of policies such as Oslo, Map, and abandonment. It fails to prepare for the problems left in their wake. If Israel analyzed the problems in advance, it would have to admit that those situations should not be allowed to occur and that the "peace plans" are unacceptable. JORDAN-ISRAEL RELATIONS Jordan states that Israel has agreed to release Jordanians from its prisons, and that this caps efforts at improving relations between the two countries (IMRA, 4/1). Why is it that a dangerous concession to the Arab aggressors improves relations with the Arabs, and there are no concessions by the Arabs to Israel, nor even Arab compliance to agreements with Israel? Do the improved relations last? No. Soon the Arabs are complaining again, accusing again, and demanding concessions again. Relations really don't improve with the Arabs. The notion of improving relations is a ruse for wresting concessions from Israel, that craves peace, for the Arabs, who crave Israel. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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THE LUNABRIT PLAN OF STAGES
Posted by Steven Plaut, April 29, 2005. |
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1. The "Plan of Stages" of the British Moonbats at www.discoverthenetwork.org/moonbatcentral/2005/04/ plan-of-stages-of-british-moonbats.html British academic moonbats this past week decided to declare "academic boycotts" against two Israeli universities, one in which I happen to be employed. In Israel the "boycott" by the Lunabrits is being referred to as the "Plan of Stages." [The "Plan of Stages was always the PLO's official doctrine of destroying Israel piece by piece, until all the Jews would be in the sea and a new Islamofascist state would replace it on all its territory.] The "boycotters" are motivated by hatred for Israel and Jews, not any desire for peace. They are the pseudo-academic equivalents to pogromchiki. They are like those people who want to destroy "Israeli apartheid" while ignoring the fact that Israel is the only state in the middle east that is NOT an apartheid country. Prof Mina Telcher, a leading mathematician, was denied the opportunity to put the Israelis' side of the story before the vote. A bit of AUT pre-boycott boycotting. British Jews and non-Jews outraged at the "boycotters" are organizing a "Boycott the Boycotters" campaign. The London Times denounced the Association of University Teachers in no uncertain terms: "Their actions are an echo of the Nazi ban on Jewish academics, and the general discrimination so common three generations ago." Columnist Joseph Farah condemned the AUT as anti-Semites. Adam Logan, a non-Jewish lecturer in pure mathematics at the University of Liverpool, says he will resign from the University of Liverpool if they attempt to enforce the boycott. Not since 1930s Germany have Jews been the targets of an official boycott in a civilized country. Only recently leaders of Britain's 10,000 Jewish students complained of the presence of the "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" book being distributed on many campuses throughout Britain. Where are the boycotts of Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, China and countless other countries who are truly limiting academic freedom? But no doubt the most incredible aspect of the affair is the unambiguous condemnation of the boycotters of Israeli universities by ... (drumroll) ... a pro-terror Palestinian university! Yes, Al-Quds University in Israeli-liberated eastern Jerusalem has come out AGAINST the British academic boycott of Israel. "We are informed by the principle that we should seek to win Israelis over to our side, not to win against them," said the university spokesman, which is headed by Dr. Sari Nusseibeh. Never mind that Nusseibeh is himself an anti-Israel pro-terrorist extremist and his university is a bastion for suicide bombers in training. "Therefore... we believe it is in our interest to build bridges, not walls; to reach out to the Israeli academic institutions, not to impose another restriction or dialogue-block on ourselves." Of course the REAL reason the Palestinian university opposes the British boycott of Israeli universities is that they realize what the British moonbats do not - that Israeli universities are bastions of the pro-Palestinian Israeli Left, where non-leftists are routinely subject to harassments. That does not interest the Brits though Israeli leftist academics are as much Untermenschen in their enlightened minds as are all other Joos. Israel's Foreign Ministry over the weekend accused the British Association of University Teachers of hypocrisy - saying Israel is the only Mideast country with complete academic freedom - and urged British academics to distance themselves from the boycott. The Brits are now preparing McCarthyist blacklists of Israeli academics who fail to endorse Palestinian terror. All Israeli leftist moonbats who support the anti-Jewish Palestinian terror will be exempt from the boycott. Meanwhile, one of Britain's foremost scholars from Oxford University, Dr Emanuele Ottolenghi, from The Middle East Centre at St Antony's College, has issued his own condemnation of the AUT boycotters: "Regarding the AUT recent decision to boycott Haifa University and Bar Ilan University in Israel, I am shocked to learn that, in addition to a call for boycott, the AUT is ready to offer a waiver to scholars on condition that they publicly state their willingness to conform to the political orthodoxy espoused by the academics who sponsored your motion. Oaths of political loyalty do not belong in academia. They belong to illiberal minds and repressive regimes. Based on this, the AUT's definition of academic freedom is the freedom to agree with its views only. "Given the circumstances, I wish to express in no uncertain terms my unconditional and undivided solidarity with both universities and their faculties. I know many people, both at Haifa University and at Bar Ilan University, of different political persuasion and from different walks of life. The diversity of those faculties reflects the authentic spirit of academia. The AUT invitation to boycott them betrays that spirit because it advocates a uniformity of views, under pain of boycott. In solidarity with my colleagues and as a symbolic gesture to defend the spirit of a free academia, I wish to be added to the boycott blacklist. Please include me. I hope that other colleagues of all political persuasions will join me." Caroline Glick writes in the Jerusalem Post: "THIS DECISION (by the AUT) is an act of pure anti-Semitism. Israel is being singled out from all the countries in the world. There is no call to boycott Palestinian universities, which celebrate terrorist massacres, indoctrinate students to jihad and are used as recruiting grounds for terrorist organizations. There is no call to boycott Saudi Arabian universities, where gender apartheid and religious persecution are the explicit and rigidly followed norms. And of course, no one would think of boycotting Chinese universities for China's occupation of Tibet. Only the Jewish state and its research universities are unacceptable. " 2. This is called "Unlearned "Rabbi" Rages at Ratzinger" and was written by Ilana Mercer. It appeared today in FrontPageMagazine.com (http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=17881) Liberals can always be trusted to see God in Mumia Abu-Jamal and the devil in the Pope. As if on cue, they launched a rash of appalling attacks to mark the beginning of Benedict XVI's pontificate. Rabbi Michael Lerner, the editor of TIKKUN, a befuddled, New-Age magazine, emphasizing interfaith activities, wasn't persuaded by good manners, or by the Holy Father's brilliant mind and beatific smile - the whole holy package, really - to withhold his insufferably sanctimonious sermon. Lerner, in whom delusions of grandeur and an atrocious lack of decorum combine, claims to speak (boy, is he windy!) for the entire universe, which is apparently agreed that, "The New Pope [is] a Disaster for the World and for the Jews..." But then, the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics are not the only people Lerner lectures. A regular busybody, the Rabbi is always poised to remind Israelis, whenever their civilians are blown to smithereens by suicide bombers, to take the blame and turn the other cheek. That Sub-Saharan Africa is home to more than 60 percent of all people living with HIV "is by and large the Catholic Church.s fault," as Lerner sees it. No matter that an enormous AIDS-education effort has been underway for some time in these regions. Or that there isn't a village that has not been missionized by AIDS educators. It is the church's opposition to providing "birth control information to the poor of the world," that has ensured "AIDS would spread and kill millions in Africa," or so Lerner alleges. According to his logic, Church doctrine is killing Africans, for whom salvation will come when the Church joins Planned Parenthood's African chapters in hanging condoms on every baobab. Presumably Lerner knows that the main source of HIV transmission in Africa is rampant, promiscuous, heterosexual sex. One doesn't have to be a South-African AIDS counselor, as I once was, to know that much. What moves people to fornicate into the afterlife? The inability to refuse sex, for one. Sexual violence is endemic in Africa, and I don't mean campus 'date rape'. In South Africa, for example, a woman - toddlers and babies included - is raped every few minutes. Cultural factors also determine infection rates. African patriarchs don't like prophylactics; African women risk battery, and worse, should they insist on their - Like, reproductive freedoms. (uttered in staccato, tart tones, indigenous to North America). There's also the entirely uncontroversial concept of time preference rates - the degree to which different people discount the future in favor of immediate gratification. Less delicately put: When do most Africans want sex? They want it now! A death-defying desire, indeed. Here's a simple enough proposition for Lerner and other liberals to contemplate: The Church also enjoins against sex outside marriage. If the Church's do's-and-don'ts carry so much weight in Africa, how come this injunction is generally ignored? Isn't it rather foolish, then, to imagine that Africans aren't using protection in deference to Church doctrine? Or that if the Church sanctioned sheaths, Africans would put them on? In all likelihood, the Church's consecration of condoms will have the same overall effect on African infection rates as its condemnation of sex outside marriage. Lerner's Fritjof-Capra inspired Judaism helps explain why he is furious with the Pope for "suggesting that secularism is now repressing religion." Jewish "representatives" have long insisted that America must evolve into a secular and religiously neutral society, a stance that rests on dubious legal precedents set by a hyperactive Supreme Court. Last I looked it was the secular Left - and Jewish leaders - that was determined not to rest until the last nativity scene was removed from the public square. The "Rabbi" is also lathered up at Cardinal Ratzinger for not discarding a filament of the Christian faith, the belief that the path to God is predicated on accepting Christ... This is a slippery slope toward anti-Semitism, and a return to the chauvinistic and triumphalist views that led the Church, when it had the power to do so, to develop its infamous crusades and inquisitions. ... This new Pope does not represent what is most beautiful and sacred in the teachings of Jesus," he added. What bad form and chutzpah it is for a Jew to lambaste this immensely learned churchman about doctrinal issues, in general, and the centrality of Christ to Christianity, in particular. (Lerner's energies would be better spent protesting the faith of Jihad, honor killings, clitoridectomy, and forced marriage.) I certainly don't hear Catholics telling orthodox Jews to ditch their maddening dietary laws, because these make people of other faiths feel inferior. As for Catholics reviving The Rack; shouldn't Lerner be warning his Network of Progressive Spiritual Activists about more pressing perils? Still, Lerner's campaign for "kumbaya Catholicism" is not all worthless - its gift is Cardinal Josef Ratzinger's coruscating appraisal of Buddhism, rivaled only by Ayn Rand's. Contra Lerner, Rand was a staunch defender of Western civilization, not unlike the Holy Father. And like him, she was uncongenial to Buddhism "and its equivalents." If "manufacturers of railroad engines suddenly went irrational and began to manufacture covered wagons, men would step into the industrial vacuum and start manufacturing railroad engines. But - when we are offered Zen Buddhism as the latest word in human thought - nobody volunteers to step into the intellectual vacuum to carry on the work of man's mind. Pope Benedict XVI's goes one better, calling "Buddhism an autoerotic spirituality that offers transcendence without imposing concrete religious obligations - offers false hope, in that it guarantees purification based on a morally cruel concept of reincarnation resembling a continuous circle of hell... At the time," laments Lerner, "Cardinal Ratzinger predicted that Buddhism would replace Marxism as the Catholic Church's main enemy." Not quite: there are some hopeful signs Pope Benedict XVI is closer than Lerner to realizing that the dangers (to Europeans and Americans) don't come from the practitioners of The Pancha Shila. Ilana Mercer is the author of Broad Sides: One Woman's Clash With A Corrupt Culture. Mercer has written for WorldNetDaily.com, VDARE.com, The American Spectator, the Colorado Gazette, the Orange County Register, The American Conservative, and Insight On the News. Her work has appeared in The Financial Post, The Ottawa Citizen, The Calgary Herald, The Report Newsmagazine, and London's Jewish Chronicle, among other publications. For more about her work, visit IlanaMercer.com. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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HAPPY PESACH
Posted by Golan Residents Committee, April 28, 2005. |
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Contact the Golan Residents Committee by email at golan-r@golan.org.il |
| GUSH KATIF |
ORTHODOX JEWRY IN US ORGANIZING TO HELP GUSH KATIF
Posted by Susie Dym, April 28, 2005. |
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To: Friends of Israel in the United States I am delighted to report that there is now a nationwide cohesive group of Jewish activists in the US who are working together to prevent the displacement, by force, of the 9000 Jews of Gush Katif. The Gush Katif Jews are the only remaining impediment to establishment of a full-fledged world terror capital in Gaza. These activists are doing great stuff. For example, they are
contacting rabbis in their area to find out who is sympathetic,
contacting their local Jewish press and their senators, visiting Gush
Katif on 5 June or sponsoring others to do so, putting together an
email list of concerned American Jews, and so forth.
Please contact Jon Hambourger at www.savegushkatif.org
(jon@caphomeloan.com) if you can help in your area. And please keep
me posted, as well - my email address is
sddym@bezeqint.net. Thank you so much for caring and helping! Help save Gush Katif. Please email this flyer to your distribution list. On July 25th, 9,000 Jewish residents of Gush Katif (Gaza) will become homeless, by order of the Israeli government. Unless we act now to avert this tragedy, these Jews will be expelled from the land and homes they have lived in for decades, their communities obliterated, their lives shattered. But the Jews in Gush Katif have faith that their 22 communities will remain standing strong. They are placing their trust in Hashem, and in the meantime, they are making improvements to their homes, and planting crops that won't be harvested until after the date set for disengagement. With the same simple faith and trust that the people in Gush Katif have, we can change the course of history. This is what you can do: a.. Send your email address to us at info@savegushkatif.org Gush Katif Forever
Here is what you can do to help your brothers and sisters in Israel: 1.. Give generously to Friends of Gush Katif (501c3) www.katifund.org. All funds raised go to programs that help the residents of Gush Katif, including: "Panim El Panim" (face to face): a program where the residents of Gush Katif and other settlements in Yehuda and Shomron go door to door from Haifa to Eilat, distributing vegetables grown in Gush Katif as well as a CD and a brochure that explains the importance of the settlements. By doing so, they educate the misinformed citizens of Israel about the strategic necessity of their communities, and they help dispel the negative image of settlers that the mainstream media has foisted on the general public. "Making homes livable": Despite the impending expulsion, there are several families committed to moving to Gush Katif. All that is required is money to make old, abandoned homes habitable. These new residents have the power to show the world the steadfast faith that we, as a global community, have in the settlements. 2.. Come to Gush Katif. The Jews in Gush Katif want to see you, and the world needs to know that you care enough to come. On your next trip to Israel, make a stop in Gush Katif. New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind has scheduled his second mission to Gush Katif on June 5th. Can you imagine the power of 1000 American Jews showing up together? If you can't physically come, then sponsor someone else to come. 3.. Wake up the leadership in your community and get committed. The price for not acting NOW is too high. If we leave Gush Katif, it is that much easier to give away Hebron and Jerusalem, G-d forbid. This decree can only be averted if we start working now. Organize parlor meetings in your community to talk about the importance of Gush Katif. Contact your local congressman and senator and tell them to oppose the impending expulsion. Do everything you can to stop 9,000 Jews from losing their homes, and the rest of Klal Israel from losing its values. This is a defining moment in the history of our people. Let's recognize this fact, and with the same simple faith and trust that the people in Gush Katif have, let's get to work. For more information, and for help in setting up Gush Katif support groups in your communities, please email info@savegushkatif.org, log on to www.savegushkatif.org or call 310-288-0333. Susie Dym is spokesperson for Mattot Arim, an Israeli grassroots group working towards peace for peace since 1992. As such, she has had a leading role in organizing opposition to Sharon's trampling over the Knesset, his own party - the Likud - and the Jews who live in Biblical Israel. Contact her by email at sddym@bezeqint.net |
| GUSH KATIF |
MOVING FORWARD TO SAVE GUSH KATIF
Posted by Ken Heller, April 28, 2005. |
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Here's what we're working on: 1. we are distributing CDs, Flyers, and Bump stickers via Pesach programs from Miami to S. Diego. Also, several people volunteered to take these materials to their home towns and distribute them in shuls and retail businesses.
We have two primary goals: * to create support from our own people, against the "disengagement" from Gush Katif (Gaza) and Northern Samaria. What we need from you: * email your contact list the strategic importance of retaining Gush Katif and Northern Samaria and ask for their support (I will supply you with plenty of great articles, power point presentations, and videos) I truly believe that if (IY"H) we gain sufficient momentum, we can avert this potential tragedy. And, if all we accomplish is to show 9,000 Neshamot in Gush Katif that we love them and appreciate their maseret nefesh, this is also good. Chag Kasher V'Samayech,
P.S.: please send business to ARCS Corporate Printing (310-854-5687) and to Community Links (310-965-1544). SAVE GUSH KATIF
Ken Heller is a pro-Israel activist and a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of Americans For A Safe Israel. He can be reached at kjhnha@aol.com. |
| GUSH KATIF |
THE SETTLEMENTS' RESPONSE TO ARIEL SHARON: LOYALTY TO OUR LAND AND PEOPLE
Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, April 28, 2005. |
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This was written by Yehudit Tayar, a veteran spokesman for the Settlement Movement. She lives in Samaria with her husband and family - all of whom have chosen to serve in some of the most dangerous units of the Israel Defense Forces. The Hebrew title "Sar HaBitachon" is pathetic. "Bitachon" in Hebrew means security and "Sar" means Minister. What security is Shaul Mofaz ministering? I just came back from Katif where I have been fortunate to spend a great deal of my time for the past thirty years. The officers in our army cannot look us in the eye. They sit helpless while dozens of missiles hit Jewish civilian and military targets. They sit helplessly due to direct orders from this so-called minister of security. They know as we do that something can be done but that they have been told not to do anything even though 100 missiles have already hit us. The launchers of these deadly missiles are televised and aired on Israeli T.V., so it is certainly not a question of finding them, only eliminating them. The callous policies of abandonment of citizens of Israel by this government are painfully reminiscent of the abandoning of one of our soldiers to bleed to death in the Tomb of Joseph under the orders of an Israeli government. That was the first time that I felt ashamed to be an Israeli. Today I am ashamed for the Prime Minister, the so- called Defense Minister of Israel and all of those elected to office in order to give us security and protection because they have deliberately decided not to do so. While Mr. Sharon is off in the United States meeting with President Bush the citizens of Israel are under attack. The demonic plan to uproot thousands of decent, patriotic and loyal citizens of Israel while terror is on the escalation throughout the land is dangerous not because of so-called Jewish extremists but because of real Muslem terrorists. The same terrorists that are found in Jerusalem spitting out hate and disclaiming the Jewish rights to the Temple Mount, the same hate that is perpetrating terror and the smuggling of weapons of destruction in Shechem, Ramalla, and the North of Israel. Perhaps Prime Minister Sharon and Defense Minister Mofaz are waiting for us to return fire on to those who are firing on us and endangering our lives and the lives of our children. Perhaps they are seeking an excuse to confiscate our weapons that were given to us by legal license in order to protect our lives. Perhaps this is yet another attempt to smear us with the label of fanatics and extremists. I invite them and all of you to come to see us in Katif. To see the children going off to nursery school and schools, to see the farmers working in their hothouses and fields, to see mothers shopping with their infants. Come and see the children playing, and the dignity of these wonderful Jewish pioneers who are determined to continue in the direction we have always gone: protecting the Torah, the Land and people of Israel by being the kind of Jews we are supposed to be. Neither the rockets and missiles of hate nor the disdain and callous abandonment of our government will change us. Governments come and go. Prime Ministers and Defense Ministers disappear into the pages of history. We, the people of Israel go on and we will be here long after them. We are writing glorious pages in the history of our people: endurance, love, humility, and belief. Would that the governments and elected officials of our country and people prove the same loyalty to our Land and people. Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). |
| GUSH KATIF |
RESTLESS IN GAZA
Posted by IsrAlert, April 28, 2005. |
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This was written by Asaf Romirowsky, Tech Central Station and appeared in the Middle East Forum (http://www.meforum.org/article/705) April 26, 2005. Asaf Romirowsky is a Campus Watch Associate Fellow for the Middle East Forum and the Israel Affairs associate for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. We are entering the 100-day period before the disengagement from Gaza begins. The odds are we will see pictures similar to what we saw when Israel gave back Yamit - a settlement that came to be known as the Jewish capital of Northern Sinai - in 1982. As Ehud Barak famously remarked after the Israeli pullout of Lebanon, "Withdrawals are not photogenic." We may assume that contested withdrawals are even less so. In his book The Revolt, former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin was confident that despite opposing political beliefs during the British mandate the Jews would never reach a point of civil war. As he wrote, "Two factors saved the people from the catastrophe of civil war. In the first place we did not teach Irgun fighters to hate our political opponents. One-sided hatred is obviously a threat to national unity. Mutual hatred brings almost certain civil war. Whenever we saw manifestations of hatred against us we grieved and were astonished. Was such brother-hatred possible, we asked ourselves." He held this belief to be true when he agreed to give back the Sinai Peninsula for peace with Egypt. And yet, Israelis still did not leave peacefully and many left the country disappointed in Begin and his government. In 1982, Ariel Sharon had to go down to Yamit and help remove the residents. Now he is asking many of those same people more than 20 years later to evacuate their homes from Gush Katif. Begin had an easier task than Sharon does today. As Israel's prime minister Sharon is possibly facing the one scenario Begin thought would never occur among Jews. As he moves ahead with the disengagement from Gaza, Sharon himself admitted to an NBC interviewer, "The tension here, the atmosphere here looks like the eve of civil war." Moreover, Sharon's plan puts Israel's democracy to the ultimate test - a democratic state forcing thousands of its own citizens to leave their lawful homes. Oslo proved to the world that all the promises made by Arafat were just talk, with no real intention to resolve the situation between Israelis and Palestinians. And yet, Sharon is taking Israel back to the road map - an outgrowth of that same program. To the naked eye it would seem like Israel has overcome the latest intifada, and then Arafat's death created the right environment to cede Gaza to Abu Mazen's Palestinian Authority. But have the rules of the game really changed that much since Arafat's death? If one looks at Abu Mazen's list of demands for peace, they have not changed since Arafat's tenure. He still is demanding a complete right of return for Palestinians refugees, Israel's complete withdrawal to the untenable pre-1967 borders, and making Jerusalem the Palestinian capital. Abu Mazen's "peace" is more means than end here again, Abu Mazen and the PA will be tested. President Bush vowed to defeat terrorism in an unprecedented global war. Part of that promise required that the Palestinians crack down on the radicals' in their midst. Yet, today, the PLO covenant (www.unitedjerusalem.com/PLO_COVENANT/plo_covenant.asp) still calls for the destruction of Israel in any means possible and still acts as the Palestinian constitution: "The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national [qawmi] duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine." How is the disengagement furthering peace if the Palestinians own constitution has not be changed to recognize the other's right to exist? If there is no recognition there is no compromise or solution. In practice, security will be the bottom line. Can it be achieved? The basis for coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians depends not only on rebuilding trust and acknowledgment between the two parties but on creating a secure environment, dismantling terrorist networks, reforming the media and education, and stopping weapons smuggling into Gaza and the West Bank. If we are to believe that Abu Mazen is sincere, he should make it clear now, though real actions and deeds. Begin was right to say that "we are a small nation which has laid the foundations for its freedom. Our enemies are many; our friends are very few. Who knows what the morrow holds for us?" Sharon cannot know what tomorrow will bring, but as someone who has fought an every war since Israel's establishment the big question for him is how will these 100 days be used and will they create a concrete understanding between Israelis and Palestinians. At the same time he must secure the foundations of freedom that make Israel the Jewish state, and not place such duties in the hands of Israel's enemies. Harv Weiner, a businessman in Dallas, Texas, is the founder and moderator of Isralert. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
FOUR SEDER QUESTIONS
Posted by Women in Green, April 28, 2005. |
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This was written by Sarah Honig and appeared in the Jerusalem Post on
April 21, 2005.
The Haggada we'll recite tomorrow night speaks of a child who hasn't yet learned to ask - ostensibly like the stellar hotshots of our otherwise imperious media. If they were only the proverbial tots, lacking elementary exposure to life's complexities, dayenu - it would have sufficed us. But those now clamming up are the very ones who should be hammering hardest at the most difficult, penetrating and discomfiting queries. Were our press true to its fundamental duty, it wouldn't cease demanding replies from a premier whose policy is to evade any meaningful discussion of the most profound ideological reversal imaginable. It's impossible to envision a comparable situation anywhere in the free world - even where existential matters of life and death aren't at stake. Nowhere would the media be so lackadaisical, so docile and so incredibly uncritical. On this, the eve of what will probably be the last Seder ever in Gush Katif, there are four questions the press should have harped upon relentlessly, regardless of the journalists' own political predilections. The answers are key to every individual Israeli's endurance prospects. 1. How is Israel's long battle for survival different this year from all preceding years? Why are terrorists rewarded and emboldened this year, whereas in previous years it was deemed essential not to give in but to combat terror uncompromisingly? Ariel Sharon may pooh-pooh Hamas mouthpiece Mahmoud Zahar's crowing assertions that his outfit's atrocities drove Israel out. Yet didn't Sharon admit precisely this in Texas, when he announced that the retreat from Gush Katif was geared to "reduce terror?" Isn't the flipside of his unfortunate statement that the terrorists have succeeded in terrorizing Israelis into fleeing for safety? No one bothered asking. 2. How are Afula and Ashkelon different from Sderot and Gush Katif? Does Sharon believe that the former are immune to the shelling to which the latter have been subjected? Does he sincerely trust that Gaza's famed humanitarian benefactors will spare Ashkelon from the pounding they had no qualms about inflicting on Sderot? Does he believe that the ambassadors of goodwill from Jenin, who'll take over the four neighboring settlements soon to be ceded, won't be tempted to aim their rockets at Afula and Hadera? And doesn't the surrender of 30-year-old settlements signal the Arab world that nothing the Jews built in this land is permanent, and that frightened Jews can be pushed out of Afula and Ashkelon too? What happened to convince Sharon that the fates of Tel Aviv and Netzarim aren't after all inextricably linked (as he kept stressing to us for decades)? The press never pressed for an explanation. 3. How is this year's version of the road map to "peace" different from the edition popularized last year? Didn't Sharon notice that America is no longer adamant about dismantling terror's infrastructure as a precondition to progress along the anyway dubious Saudi-charted course? Even insistence on this demand never guaranteed its implementation. There's no way of proving conclusively that terror cells have been thoroughly eradicated, particularly when the PA itself is one large unreformed (though whitewashed) terror syndicate. Yet now even this primary, albeit rickety prerequisite for further "headway" has been removed. Didn't Sharon hear Bush beat about the bush and yammer awkwardly about "lack of confidence on either side?" Did Sharon really fail to realize how assiduously and systematically his host avoided comment on the need to demolish terror's underpinning? The question wasn't posed. 4. Last but hardly least, can Sharon reveal to the benighted masses how his currently projected withdrawal is different from all other withdrawals? Past experience teaches us incontrovertibly that each Israeli concession only amplifies international clamor for more of the same. Still, regardless of the unequivocal historical record, Sharon's hype remains that by relinquishing vital strategic assets Israel gains indispensable diplomatic credit, especially in Washington. How can Sharon in clear conscience (assuming he has one) assert that Israel will accrue valuable bonuses from "disengagement?" If anything, his egregious territorial generosity has only compromised such seemingly secure urban complexes as Ma'aleh Adumim, whose de facto annexation was always taken for granted. Rather than better, hasn't he made things far worse? Hasn't he hastened Israel's shrinking to the 1949 armistice lines - those which ultra-dove Abba Eban dubbed the "Auschwitz borders?" This question too was never put to the PM, who exempts himself from minimal accountability even on issues of self-preservation. Nevertheless, let there be no doubt. Our molders of public opinion haven't unexpectedly lost their capacity to ask. They're not uninitiated infants. They deliberately refrain from asking. They refuse to ask. They don't want to embarrass a former foe whose enthusiastic accomplices they've become. They surrender their integrity and professional inquisitiveness willingly, because they're no longer in the business of uncovering the truth, but of collaborating to cover it up. Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
| GUSH KATIF |
THE PRIME MINISTER IS LEADING THE WAY TO CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
Posted by Dr. Ron Breiman, April 28, 2005. |
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Professors for a Strong Israel declares that the irresponsible policy of the Prime Minister, having crossed all the red lines, is leading the country towards non-violent civil disobedience. This is the only democratic means remaining to those who value human dignity and human rights, and who hold high the basic norms of Zionism, Judaism, and democracy. We are convinced that, even in the Israel of 2005, where the institutions of the media and of law enforcement sacrifice their integrity to the Molech of "disengagement," and where the Prime Minister, losing sight of the real enemy, threatens to use the people's army against the people -- even here, even now, common sense will prevail and the transfer will not pass. Dr. Ron Breiman is Chairman of Professors for a Strong Israel. |
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IS BUSH A CONSERVATIVE? ABBAS ENDORSES GOAL OF CONQUERING ISRAEL
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 28, 2005. |
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IS BUSH A CONSERVATIVE? Tongue-in-cheek, I wrote a piece asking whether Pres. Bush is a conservative. Its point was the coinciding of Bush's policies on the Arab-Israel conflict with those of the Left. It is just a coinciding. Bush supports the Arabs because he favors the oil industry colluding with them to overcharge over phony oil crises, because of appeasement, and because of State Dept. anti-Zionism and perhaps his own Christian replacement theology that the Jewish people no longer have a Covenant with God that includes entitlement to the Holy Land. The Left favors the Arabs because of their own antisemitism, anti-Americanism, and romantic notions of Third World moral superiority. The leftist view is divorced from reality. So is the State Department's. The Arabs are the enemy not just of Israel but of the entire West if not the entire world including themselves. Whatever your ideology and theology, if you strengthen an enemy out to kill you, and if you do so by weakening an ally who deflects some of the enemy, you are a fool. A reader took up the question of how conservative Bush is, in an analysis so thoughtful, I reproduce it here in toto. It seems that Bush is as little a conservative as the leftists are "progressive." How progressive are the leftists, when they support medieval and theological Arab dictatorships against the Israeli welfare state, murderers against victims, and bigots against the tolerant? I have one relevant comment about my reader's analysis. He makes sense on his points, but stops short of a final revelation, one that also could be made about the Left. Here is that conclusion. "Conservative" and "liberal" were fine-sounding terms that demagogues often usurped, to appear respectable. These demagogues are caricatures of their ostensible ideology. Many far leftists call themselves liberal, and the others have retreated into an extreme ideology of the welfare state. Correspondingly, many reactionaries call themselves conservative. What Bush really stands for is a corporate welfare state. Thus he gives great subsidies to corporations, under-charges them for services or in taxes, lets them over-exploit the environment, and even subordinates foreign policy to their perceived short-term interests. On the other hand, like most conservative Presidents, he accedes to popular demands for entitlement programs that probably are too costly, ineffective, and counter-productive. For him it is politics, not liberalism. An unfortunate characteristic of politics is pork barrel legislation. Congress appropriates funds for weapons that don't work or bases the military doesn't need, to provide employment in their districts. Presidents, conservative and liberal, have not made much of an issue over the need to close under-utilized bases and to shame those who would build boondoggle weapons at a risk to national security. The truth is, for those porkers on Capitol Hill and in the White House, the public Treasury is a trough for their supporters and associates. Ideology is something that they cite because YOU believe in it. Now for my reader's essay: "True. But Mr. Bush is also a big spender and a big government guy. He simply refuses to balance the budget, something conservatives are supposed to champion. Conservatives mock the left as 'tax and spend' liberals that cannot and will not balance the budget, nor have they ever seen a spending-program they did not like. He has expanded the size, influence and scope of the federal government. He and the Republican Congress are spending like proverbial drunken sailors and they are giving sailors a bad name. He's expanded the Education Department with his "no child left behind program," a department Ronald Reagan threatened to eliminate according to conservative principles. But even Reagan was a big spender. Conservatives believe education is best left at the local level, to parents, teachers and to the school board, not to big government. "Bush has vastly expanded Medicare with his new prescription drug plan that he campaigned on. Had a liberal Democrat in the White House brought about this prescription drug plan the Republicans would be incensed. Liberals are accused of being weak on our borders. Well? Liberals are accused of appeasing dictators, gangsters and thugs. Liberals are expected to appease terrorist enablers and terrorists themselves such as Mahmoud Abbas whom Bush called a man of peace and who is expected to visit the White House soon and to appease Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz (Wahhabi crown prince of Saudi Arabia) who is expected to pay a visit to Bush's Crawford Texas ranch today. Bush will assure the prince that he is doing his utmost to create a Palestinian (terrorist) state. "Which side is George W. Bush on? According to one conservative author, conservatives don't have a plan to fix the world (or the Middle East for that matter). In fact we are suspicious of such grandiose "visions." We are realistic enough to know that human nature is imperfect (and that some cultures and regimes are violent, such as the Third Reich, Nazi Germany, the Saudi regime, Palestinian Authority and much of the Palestinian populace). Conservatism is the accumulated wisdom of human experience. It is skepticism of quick fixes and utopian schemes (like 'road maps' and other nonsense). It is everything we have learned over the years, often at great cost. "President Bush is no conservative. He has grasped little -- if anything -- of what we've learned over the years, often at great cost." ISRAEL CONDONES OWN PERIL P.A. military intelligence officers attempted to smuggle into the P.A. anti-aircraft missiles. Israeli Defense Min. Mofaz said that crossed a "red line." He demanded that the P.A. prevent such efforts and locate any such missiles already inside. IMRA asked whether by "locate" such missiles, Israel wants the P.A. to hold, destroy, or transfer them to a third party. Min. Mofaz's media representative said it would be sufficient for the P.A. to hold such missiles. (Hold for what, the next breakdown in negotiations and the signal to fire?) Thus the P.A., which showed its bad faith by attempting to smuggle such weapons in, is to be treated as a responsible governing body of good faith, and allowed to hold onto such weapons. IMRA had to assure readers that this was not a Purim parody (IMRA, 3/27). If the terrorists fire a missile at an airliner, no airline would take a chance on flying to and from Israel, even if the first missile misses. Israel must not let it come to this (Arutz-7, 3/27 from Zeev Schiff). The P.A. claims that Israel has not made any "progress towards peace" (IMRA, 3/27). Is P.A. smuggling in anti-aircraft weapons progress towards peace? Is the P.A.'s inviting terrorists to join the P.A. police, instead of disarming and arresting them, progress towards peace? Is reiterating the gal of jihad progress towards peace? Frequently, my sources have to assure readers that some suicidal, naive action by the government of Israel is not a parody but real. Every time the Arabs cross what Israel calls a "red line, the government draws a new red line, rather than punishing the Arabs. Israel's is a government of grovel - bluster but grovel. The IDF should be sent not against Jews in Yesha but to track down any missiles smuggled in, and incidentally to kill all the terrorists there and to disarm the population. Otherwise, Israel will have no civil aviation. The current status of letting the P.A. continue its war of attrition is ridiculous. P.A. "SECURITY COOPERATION" Israeli security officials arrested an Islamic Jihad cell in Jenin, that had been testing and manufacturing rockets. Some of the members had been released under the aegis of "security-cooperation" with the P.A. (IMRA, 3/28). The program should be called "insecurity cooperation." Israel releases terrorists, the US says that is a good thing to do, the terrorists return to Jew-genocide, and the US deplores it but then ignores it. Every week, one hears of new foolishness by the government of Israel, new evil by the Arabs, and new callousness by the US. The government never learns - too leftist to think? ISRAELI AIR FORCE PLANS The Air Force intends to improve its technology, so its unmanned vehicles can sneak up on the Arabs. IMRA throws cold water on the Air Force assumption that it would dominate the skies over the P.A.. The Quartet would work so as not to allow it (IMRA, 3/28). Israel doesn't get it. The Quartet is working to sacrifice Israel to the Arabs, for some kind of credit with the Arabs. The Quartet does not get it. The jihadists will turn on it all the harder, seeing how weak it is in sacrificing its ally. ABBAS ENDORSES GOAL OF CONQUERING ISRAEL Although subsequently the agreement to unify broke down, when Abbas' PLO and Hamas agreed to unify, their joint platform was the strategy of phases, or the phased conquest of Israel (IMRA, 3/29 from Michael Widlanski). It means that they would conquer Israel piecemeal. They would acquire Yesha, perhaps in phases, and from there attack and take over Israel. This is the theory of the PLO Covenant, that the PLO and Pres. Clinton pretended the PLO had nullified. This announcement shows that Abbas seeks conquest and war. Let the US stop pretending that Abbas is a reformer. WHAT IS HAPPENING? "Haaretz comments: 'The extremist camp has grown, and today its members number in the thousands. It is currently girding its loins to stop the disengagement - and once again, we are witnessing intensive violent activity whose goal is to fan the flames of hatred between Arabs and Jews. (The Arabs do that sufficiently to have led them to start several wars.) Now, as then, preparations for the disengagement are being accompanied by daily pogroms in Arab communities, destruction of property, harassment of soldiers, physical assaults on Palestinians, cutting down trees, beating and throwing stones at passersby, threatening nighttime patrols through Arab villages and even shooting with intent to kill. When such things happen under the guise of Purim celebrations, they are accompanied by a phrase that recalls the Goldstein affair: 'The rioters were drunk.' ...Had it not been for the presence of human rights activists in the area, it is doubtful that the public would even know about what happened. These activists brought about the arrest of Avri Ran of Itamar; they are also the ones who reported the poisoning of livestock in the South Hebron Hills. The settlers, for their part, attacked the soldiers and policemen who came to arrest them and ultimately succeeded in chasing them off." (Foreign Ministry, 3/28) This doesn't make sense. The Jews of Yesha did not do this sort of thing before, the Arabs did and "Haaretz" did not complain. Now those Jews are on the defensive. They would be ruining their case if they did these things. I wonder why I see these complaints only in "Haaretz." Are they false, in that leftwing extremists have been lying or taking Arab lies seriously? Or are they true and the Right censors them from its publications? I asked Prof. Steven Plaut about it. He suspects that the news stories are highly exaggerated by the yellow press in order to defame the Jews. (I know this has happened before.) There needs to be independent verification. ISM STUDENT EXCHANGES PROMOTE TERRORISM The deaths of two members of ISM, closer monitoring of members trying to sneak into Israel, and the exposure of ISM interference with Israeli counter-terrorism has stunted the organization's recruiting. The new head of the organization has renamed it Palestine Summer Encounter (sounds more like the name of a program than of an organization) and arranged with some Bible college in Judea-Samaria to bring young people in as exchange students. The students are heavily subsidized. The head of the Bible college blames Israel, instead of the P.A. and Muslims Arabs who persecute Christians, for the Christian plight from the P.A.. He is overlooking the Muslim terrorists' takeover and desecration of the Church of the Nativity, a couple of years ago, as well as of Jewish shrines, the Muslims' concept of treating Christians as inferior to them, PLO shakedown of Christians' stores, etc. (Prof. Steven Plaut, 3/28). P.A. Christians must be somewhere between being hostages and dhimmis, and being naive collaborators with the Muslims, and being fellow antisemites. They are being pushed out of the area but are defending the pushers. If the Muslims succeed in destroying Israel, the P.A. wound not need to appear somewhat civilized to international supporters. It then may well oppress the Christians harder. It always needs a scapegoat and its people like having someone to hate. Its preachers already urge the murder of Christians. The age of Christian martyrdom is now, again. WHAT P.A. REFORM? Arafat's conduit for money-laundering donations into private accounts remains intact; his successors demand funds from Israel. It means they are seeking funds for themselves. The difficulty the rulers would have, if they wanted to eradicate terrorism, is that by really jailing and ceasing to fund terrorists, they would ensure their own assassination by other terrorists. The P.A. security forces number 62,000 (Winston Mid East Analysis, 3/30). That is double the number allowed by Oslo and far more than the non-official militias combined.) ARAB LEAGUE ON "OCCUPATION" To the Arab League, there is "occupation" and "oppression" by Israel and there is all other occupation and oppression. When it (mistakenly) considers Israel to be occupying Arab areas, the League suggests boycotting and breaking diplomatic relations with it. When it considers Iran to be occupying some UAE islands, Syria to be occupying Lebanon, and Arab armies to be oppressing parts of Sudan, then the Arab League merely asks the offending power to desist. Nor does it place responsibility on Sudan for its crimes against humanity (IMRA, 3/30). TERRORISTS READY FOR ACTION Using the pseudo-ceasefire time to replenish their stores, P.A. terrorists have been given credit for staying "calm," although there have been some attacks and many attempted ones. The terrorists have continued smuggling in arms, have had experts teach how to boost firepower, and have mined tunnels to be blown up when given the signal (Arutz-7, 3/30). The governments of the US and Israel and much of the media act as if this pseudo-ceasefire means progress towards peace. It is a deadly pretense. THE OTHER ARABS HATE THE W. PALESTINIAN ARABS The Arab states are not promoting another Palestinian Arab state "because they believe in freedom and self-determination for the Arab people who live there. Instead, they are doing so to create a permanent staging ground from which they will continue their war of attrition against the Jewish infidels who have the audacity to live in what they consider to be Dar al-Islam" (Joseph Farah, WorldNetDaily.com, 2/11 from solicitation by PRO ISRAEL) or the realm of Islamic rule. Another motive is that the Arab states would not want the western Palestinian Arabs to live amongst them, now that they have proved subversive to their hosts successively in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Kuwait. WOULD A NUCLEAR IRAN BE STABLE? The EU has tried to halt Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons, but supposes that a nuclear-armed Iran would be responsible, lest it bring about its own destruction. Meanwhile, Iran pursues "unstable revisionist policies." Iran is aggressive, and its leaders are isolated from all but its clients, who are terrorists. The EU approach was shown up by Iran's continued deceitful pursuit of nuclear status. Unfortunately, the EU undermines any US military option. That leaves the prospect of a nuclear-armed "core member of the evil Axis," that takes action in behalf of its proxies and could let a crisis escalate out of control. The best option is to keep nuclear fuel from Iran (IMRA, 3/30) while trying to get the regime overthrown. If necessary, bomb its facilities. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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"ESCAPE" OF TWO TERRORISTS CONTINUES ARAFAT POLICY
Posted by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, April 28, 2005. |
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The Palestinian Authority (PA) reported this week on the "escape" from prison of the two terrorists they had arrested after the Tel Aviv suicide bombing in February. This "escape" is yet another indication that Mahmoud Abbas is using the same strategies of duplicity that were used by the Arafat regime. Arresting terrorists immediately after bombings, only to quietly report their "escape" after the bombing was no longer a news item, was an effective tool used by Arafat. Because of this approach, the West praised him as a terror fighter, while he was praised at home as a terror supporter. The PA under Arafat used varied methods to facilitate these "escapes." The following item from the PMW archives is the PA's own description of one particularity creative "escape" from a PA prison of 3 terrorists in 1999. Al Quds: October 6, 1999 "Governor of Nablus, Brigadier General Mahmud Alaalul, a member of the revolutionary committee of Fatah...disclosed the details of the escape of three Islamic Jihad prisoners... VISIT PMW VIDEO ARCHIVES WITH IMP MATERIAL ON 12 TOPICS http://www.pmw.org.il/tv.html VISIT PMW VIDEO ARCHIVES ON PA INCITEMENT TO GENOCIDE http://www.pmw.org.il/tv%20part6.html VISIT PMW VIDEO ARCHIVES ON PA INCITEMENT OF CHILDREN TO SHAHADA [MARTYRDOM] http://www.pmw.org.il/tv%20part1.html Itamar Marcus is director of PMW - Palestinian Media Watch - (http://www.pmw.org.il). PMW is based in Jerusalem. Barbara Crook, a writer and university lecturer based in Ottawa, Canada, is PMW's North American representative. |
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THE BRITISH ACADEMIC POGROM
Posted by Steven Plaut, April 28, 2005. |
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1. Some universities that the British Moonbats are NOT Boycotting Britain's leftist moonbats just decided to "boycott" two Israeli universities because the British leftists want all the Jews thrown into the sea. Alan M. Dershowitz has just denounced these people as British McCarthyists opposed to peace. In Dershowitz's words: "By targeting Israeli Jews, Britain's "Professors Against Peace" - that's what they really should be called - have displayed bigotry against Jews, done violence to academic freedom and anti-discrimination laws, and are fast closing a window of opportunity for reconciliation in the Middle East." Never mind that Israeli universities are themselves dominated by leftists and are arguably the most-left-wing arenas in the country. This does not interest the British boycotters, who want the Israeli leftists thrown into the sea and blown up by Palestinian bombers just as much as they want all other Israelis dealt with this way. Like a certain German house painter in the 1930s, these British bigots make no fine distinctions among different types of Joos. British Jews and non-Jews are increasingly denouncing the "boycotters" for what they are - anti-Semites, and some are calling for international boycotts of the bigoted boycotters themselves. Jewish lecturers have been resigning from the British Association of University Teachers - Britian's organization of academic terrorism against Jews - in droves. Remind you a little of Berlin in the 30s? The "boycott" is part of a world campaign to delegitimize and demonize Israel and endorse the terrorism and aggression against Israel by the Islamofascist world. The boycotters want Israel not only to end its "occupation" of the West Bank but of all of Israel. Had these moonbats been alive in 1937 they would without any doubt have been organizing boycotts of Czechoslovak universities as acts of solidarity with Nazi Germany in order to protest the "occupation" of the Sudeten lands by the Czechs and the "mistreatment" of ethnic Germans by Czechoslovakia, while never having a world to say about German plans to destroy Czechoslovakia or human right sabuses inside Germany. The British moonbats did NOT propose that their own British universities be boycotted by the world due to the British occupation of Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands, and North Ireland. They did NOT propose boycotts of the "universities" operating in Arab fascist countries, generally under the direct control of the state. Among those universities that the British anti-Semites did NOT propose be boycotted are those run by the PLO in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. These "universities" however are little more than training centers for terrorists and bomb makers. Most of the suicide bombers have been students at PLO run "universities. The new "moderate" head of the PLO has done nothing to stop the activities of student terrorist organizations and everything to encourage them. (For clean copy and links see www.discoverthenetwork.org/moonbatcentral/2005/04/ some-universities-that-british.html) 2. Two Haifa local weeklies reported this past Friday that a dissident lecturer at the University of Haifa is being threatend and harassed for participating in a panel AGAINST the Sharon disengagement plan for the Gaza Strip. The lecturer, Dr. Guy Enosh, teaches social work. He is not tenured and has been delicately "warned" repeatedly that expressing support for the movement opposing Sharon's "disengagement plan" could jeopardize his position in the university. Some people at the same university that has never acted to fire Ilan Pappe are not comfortable with non-leftist faculty members being on the payroll. (For the record, I have experienced such "warnings" myself at the University of Haifa for many years.) Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
| GUSH KATIF |
POLICE BAR GUSH KATIF TEE SHIRTS AT THE KOTEL
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, April 28, 2005. |
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This is a news item from Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews); it is archived at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=80968 (IsraelNN.com) Some opponents to the Gaza/Shomron Disengagement Plan were unpleasantly surprised when they arrived at the Kotel (Western Wall) on Wednesday. Police stationed at the entrance prohibited girls wearing the orange Gush Katif solidarity tee shirts from entering the Kotel area, instructing them to first remove them. One family told INN.com that they were treated "not nicely" by police, who were extremely rude and made no attempt to hide their own political leanings. > Police explained they were under orders regarding the tee shirts, adding the Kotel is not a place to voice political statements. When asked, police stated they did not have similar orders regarding Peace Now or similar left-wing tee shirts. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
| GUSH KATIF |
A WALL OF FAITH AROUND GAZA
Posted by Michael Freund, April 28, 2005. |
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These are difficult times for opponents of Ariel Sharon's Gaza withdrawal. Politically, Sharon has succeeded in dodging the various obstacles that stood in his path. Diplomatically, his proposal has received the "blessing" of US President George W. Bush and much of the rest of the world. Domestically, the media stands solidly behind him. Israel's courts are almost certain not to intervene, and local pundits and opinion-makers are backing him enthusiastically. Indeed, at this point it seems there is little standing in the way of Sharon's plan to expel Gaza's Jews from their homes. Little, that is, except for faith. Recently, a couple I know decided to move to Gush Katif. Determined to stand in solidarity with the thousands of Jews living under threat of expulsion, they left behind a comfortable villa, friendly neighbors and familiar surroundings, and moved into a tiny caravan, together with their numerous, and rather boisterous, children. The father is a respected physician, and he will continue to treat his patients by commuting to and from his clinic in Jerusalem. The mother has thrown herself into the campaign against withdrawal, speaking out, raising funds and dedicating her time to protecting her family's new home. Why did you do it? I asked. What prompted you to move? "We couldn't. We just couldn't sit back and watch," he replied. "The pullout would endanger Israel, and we need to show the world that this land is ours." But what will you do, I said, if soldiers come to remove you from your home. How will you deal with such a situation? "If they want to remove me, then I'll chain myself to the bed," he said, adding, "They'll have to drag me out, but no matter what, I won't use violence." How naïve, you might think. What could these people possibly hope to accomplish? The jig is up, the game is over. Perhaps they should just throw up their hands and accept defeat? Sorry, but that is just not the Jewish way. If it was, then Israel would have closed up shop and called it quits a long time ago. All is not lost. This game is far from over. Those who love the land of Israel and cherish it can prevent the retreat from taking place. The first step is to reach out and help those people, like my friend the doctor, who are willing to move to Gush Katif. Over 1,000 Israelis have already done so in the past few months, and many more are reportedly in the process. To meet the demand, long-time activist Datya Yitzhaki launched the "Minhelet Kela", a Hebrew acronym for the Gaza Absorption Authority, which has been busy refurbishing homes, thereby enabling dozens of families to make the move and help strengthen Gush Katif. There are numerous empty structures of all sorts throughout the area, many of which can easily be converted into living space. Yitzhaki and her colleagues, who can be reached at: eylond@ort.org.il, note that this would enable Gush Katif to absorb thousands of additional residents in the coming months, giving it a big numerical, as well as emotional, boost. The second, and equally critical, step in blocking the withdrawal is to create a "Wall of Faith" around Gush Katif prior to the date of the planned expulsion. If tens of thousands form a passive human chain around the area, one bound together by resolve and faith, they can prevent the demolition from taking place. In effect, it all boils down to simple arithmetic: bring as many people as possible, making it hopelessly impractical to remove them. There are sure to be untold thousands of Israelis who will take part in this undertaking, but I think it is essential to reach out to friends and supporters abroad as well, such as US Christians, and to encourage them to come and take part in protecting Gush Katif. The presence of large numbers of US Christians standing arm in arm with Israeli Jews in defense of G-d's Holy Land, would send a potent message that is sure to echo through the corridors of power in Jerusalem and Washington. In Hebrew, Gaza is referred to as Aza, which means "strength" or "might", perhaps suggesting that only if we muster within ourselves the determination to stand up for what we believe in, can we possibly merit to succeed. Now, more than ever, this is a struggle for the integrity and the future of the Land that was given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Anyone who believes in the Bible, and in G-d's eternal promise to His people Israel, can not and must not remain silent. Michael Freund served as an aide to former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. |
| GUSH KATIF |
SIDING WITH THE ENEMY
Posted by Naomi Ragen, April 28, 2005. |
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The most horrendous aspect of the expulsion of Jews from their homes (commonly known in politically correct terms as "the disengagement" ) is the growing evidence of how many Israelis completely side with their enemies. Years of brainwashing from the BBC, CNN, and The New York Times (and almost every other media source) that have painted Israeli Jews living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza as some species of subhuman, who can justifiably and morally be shot at, blown up, orphaned and widowed have done a remarkable job. Whatever one believes about the necessity of uprooting thousands of Jews from Gush Katif and Samaria, where they have built homes, businesses, raised children and buried their dead for over 30 years, the reality of blowing up synagogues (recently suggested by the IDF) and handing over Jewish homes to members of terrorist organizations responsible for logging bombs homes and school buses, killing and injuring dozens--surely is not a cause for either celebration or glee. Unfortunately, that is often the case nevertheless. In letters to the editor published on YNet in response to the online news service's article about yesterday's 80,000 strong demonstration against the expulsion, we find comments like: "Get out of there already. Go find yourself someplace else!' ' Bring in 200,000 troops to Gaza, close the place up and throw away the key' 'Settlers, we are not afraid of your threats. Nothing will help you. Start counting the days until you are thrown out." It has often been repeated, and with some justification, that what Yasir Arafat and his merry band of murderers couldn't accomplish with four years of daily killings, i.e. the complete demoralization of Israeli society, Mr. Sharon's government is now accomplishing with its own hands. In a leaflet handed out at the demonstration, protestors wrote: "...If the army succeeds in expelling Jews from their homes, it will become polluted. Our sons will no longer volunteer for elite units or to become officers. They will avoid reserve duty." My own son, a new recruit, is going to have his training shortened in order to prepare him for participation in the expulsion, along with every other new recruit. I can just imagine what these things are going to do the morale of the next generation of Israeli soldiers. I have been clear about my opposition to this step that the government of Israel is now zealously pursuing. My reason is simple: it has no possibility for bringing us closer to peace -- quite the opposite. If I was a Palestinian terrorist, or even just an ordinary Palestinian, wouldn't watching the Israelis "unilaterally" throw Jews out of their homes and blow up their synagogues, simply whet my appetite, giving fuel to my hopes that what had seemed a complete failure, the intifada, was in truth an enormous success? Wouldn't it encourage me to think that another four years of blowing up buses, killing small children and their pregnant mothers would be a great tactic for accomplishing more of the same? And if I was an Israeli soldier, listening to the Left and the Right, wouldn't it hurt my morale, disturb my training, and perhaps, weaken my resolve? It would be behoove Israelis to remember that whatever side of the political spectrum they find themselves, their enemies don't make such fine distinctions, and like it or not, siding with the enemy either by demoralizing our soldiers or wishing "settlers" all the worst equally endangers our lives, our families and everything we all hold dear. Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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MORE PLAYING WITH WORDS AND LETTERS
Posted by Batya Medad, April 28, 2005. |
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My mind never ceases to host dancing Hebrew letters, busy changing partners. In addition, people write to me asking questions, stimulating my mind even more. Suddenly I realized that I had left out an important, possibly the most important variation of the word, "chametz." Remember that the word "chametz" is made up of the letters, "chet," "mem" and "tzaddi" in that order, and one must banish it from one's possession during the Passover holiday. But if you reverse the order of the letters, you have the word "tzemach," plant. The verb, "l'tzmo'ach," means to grow, expand. There are no coincidences in Hebrew; there must be a reason for this. Judaism is the one religion that recognizes all of man's physical and spiritual needs and contains a series of Laws to control these needs to utilize them for good. Chametz is powerful; it can both destroy and create, like G-d. When we rid ourselves of the chametz, desist from playing G-d, we can enjoy the benefits of the tzemach, the growing, expansion, progress. The next word I'll be playing with was inspired by a shiur (Torah class) this past Shabbat HaGadol by Rabbi Reuven Grodner of Kfar Adumim. He and his wife Chaya were here in Shiloh and he gave a very stimulating class. What I'm writing is not a transcript of what he said, though there are many things I learned from him that day. He had my mind spinning with ideas. If it hadn't been Shabbat, I'd have been taking notes non stop, and then I would have run home to the computer to write it all down before the glorious messages and ideas were forgotten. But, as we all know, not only was it Sha! bbat, but it was also the Eve of Passover. Saturday night, once the sky filled with stars, I couldn't run to the computer. I had to set the table for the Passover Seder. And then until well after midnight we were busy with the tradional reading of the Hagadah and eating the ritual foods and the festive meal. The next night, once the holiday restrictions were eased there was so much else to do, and now so little of what I learned and thought is remembered in accessible places of my mind. One word keeps playing in my brain, as it played while Reuven spoke. It's "Pharoh," "Parroh," as we say in Hebrew. "Peh," "resh," "eyin," "heh." "Pri," "ra," bad or evil fruit. "Ra" means "ratzon atzmi," or ego, selfishness. "Avodim hayinu l'parroh b'Mitzrayim,..." "We were slaves to Pharoh in Egypt,..." Maybe I'm the only one, but every once in a while I've wondered why Yaakov and clan stayed in Egypt. Why didn't they leave as soon as the famine was over? Why did they make that deal with Parroh for the land, the riches? Look again at that very well-known line in the Haggadah, and read "Parroh" as its meaning. "We were slaves to the evil fruits, the addicting riches and materialism in Egypt." When we read it like that, everything becomes clear. Their sometimes irrational behavior even after seeing those great miracles include worshipping the Egyptian cow and dreaming of the "Egyptian delicacies." The Children of Israel weren't happy to have left. Many blamed Moshe for making a difficult situation worse. I'm reminded of the Holocaust survivors who, despite all they suffered at the hands of the Germans still considered the German culture superior to all others. Even when their daily lives became more and more difficult, the majority made no serious attempt to leave. And they didn't rebel in sufficient numbers to be successful. Human nature hasn't changed, or has it? Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom This is Musing #115. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il |
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I FOUND THE ANSWER! IT'S APATHY
Posted by Arlene Peck, April 27, 2005. |
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Recently, while in Atlanta for a class reunion, the number of which you could pull my fingernails out and I would not divulge, I think I found the answer to the lack of interest in the realm of concern of my fellow Jews. It is, I think, a matter of apathy and irrelevance. People just do not care anymore. The priorities have chanced. My dad came out of the service in the Second World War and knew he had to finish school and get into a business to raise a family. Today, we are lazy and without a clue about the subjects that make a real difference. I remember when I lived in Israel and the men there, unlike most of the ones I meet here who are gay, married or dead... sometimes all three, were sexual beings. If they woke up at three in the morning, it was to make love. Today, they'll get up at 3:00 A.M. to watch a Lakers game. It is all about the mere acquisition of things, seeing all there is to see, buying a bigger, better car or watching sports on television. I think that maybe it is because life has turned into a series of sound bytes. That, and the fact that so much of the population has "dumbed down". I speak to a lot of Christian radio and Church groups. They may mean well but for the most part, they have no conception of what the map of Israel even looks like. When I speak of the "new Palestinian State" that the world is pushing for in Gaza and ask how many of them even know how big this fictional country is going to be, usually all I receive are blank stares. They are always amazed when I say that Gaza is about eight miles by twenty-four miles. Good heavens, we have shopping centers that size! Disneyland's manicured grounds are about that much just to walk around! However, I have decided that for the most part, the majority of the population has no concept of the Middle East or the mindset that is so savage and barbaric that bombings, murder, mayhem, and be-headings are a way of life. We just do not want to deal with it. While on the Christian programs, I have been asked, "Why doesn't the 'Hollywood crowd' support Israel?" Until recently, I just thought that we are for the most part so assimilated that the Jews of the West Coast can tell you everything about their trophy wives, (usually Asian or very, very blonde) hobbies, the latest gadgets or cosmetic surgery but events like Passover can come and go and it doesn't make an impression. Even Israelis living here do not make an effort to inconvenience themselves and march in a rally or really work for an organization like the "old days". For the most part, they will write a check and think they have done their obligation. Maybe it is because I, as a journalist, have been somewhat consumed by the events in Israel and the madness that seems to be taking over the world as we know it by the Islamic and Islamist culture. The fear of losing our civilization and lives to a barbaric and evil identity is to some of us is not only real but also marching over the hill. Yet, our media focus on moronic events and too many of us are consumed with the daily happenings of Michael Jackson or Scott Peterson instead of concern for the thousands of other people being killed by Muslim jihadists or the countries that are being taken over by Islamic law and wars. People, for the most part, just do not care - or notice. The world could be crashing down and all our politically correct population notices is whether Britney Spears is pregnant or why did Brad and Jen really break up. We have mastered the Orwellian talent of double-speak anyway. Love is hate and hate is love. Hey, even I, who once considered herself well versed in political issues, am confused. We are weary of watching our soldiers sent home in body bags from a barbaric country whose culture still treats their women like farm animals and has no concept of what democracy means. Nor, do they ever intend to. Wouldn't matter anyway as their interpretation will bear no resemblance to our own. Yet, somehow we, as a nation, still want to hold onto the believe that the trashing of our way of life as we know it in defense of this violent culture called Islam has a reason behind it that's going to be positive. As a journalist, I am confused as to what happens to Israel's leaders ten minutes after they take office and follow our Presidents like puppy dogs. Israel is not the fifty-first state! Nor is it a banana republic, which has to kow-tow to any leaders when they snap their fingers! We are too bored and apathetic. We have gotten used to the be-headings and horrific sights sent to us via the glory of Allah. Maybe though, before we all smell the blood of jihad on our own shores on a regular basis, maybe it is time to smell the coffee? Arlene Peck is an internationally syndicated columnist and television talk show hostess. She has recently joined Shalom TV AT NCTA. She can be reached at: bestredhead@earthlink.net and www.arlenepeck.com |
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DANISH QUEEN WARNS AGAINST RISE OF ISLAM
Posted by Janet Lehr, April 27, 2005. |
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On the occasion of her 65 birthday, Queen Margrethe II says in her new book people must on occasion show their opposition to Islam. It must be remembered that the Danish King, during WWII sewed a yellow Star of David onto his clothes to stand proud with Jewish Danes against the Nazi onslaught. US see how long before the EU and other groups demand an apology! Good for her for speaking and up with truth! COPENHAGEN - Denmark's Queen Margrethe II warned against the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Denmark and the world in a new book out on Thursday, saying people must on occasion "show their opposition to Islam". "It is a challenge we have to take seriously. We have let this issue float about for too long because we are tolerant and very lazy," she said in the authorized biography "Margrethe" written by journalist Annelise Bistrup. While she did not specifically refer to fundamentalism, she spoke of "these people for whom religion is their entire lives". "We have to show our opposition to Islam and we have to, at times, run the risk of having unflattering labels placed on us because there are some things for which we should display no tolerance," she said. "And when we are tolerant, we must know whether it is because of convenience or conviction," added the queen, who has reigned since 1972 and celebrates her 65th birthday on Saturday. Janet Lehr is editor/publisher of a daily e-mail called "Israel Lives." She can be contacted at janetlehr@mindstring.com |
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THE CHOSEN PEOPLE: ONLY JEWS ARE CHOSEN TO EVICT JEWS
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 27, 2005. |
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Some will recall that it was the Nazis who thought through the best method of identifying, gathering, calming and finally transporting the Jews of Europe out of their homes. Using Jews as surrogate Gestapo to herd their own people seems an infallible method of disposal. What is even more astonishing is that those Jews, with their vaunted superior cleverness, never catch on. Like dumb sheep or scapegoats like Azazel (destined to be hurled over a cliff) they are herded about by their own leaders who are, of course, taking instructions from whatever present day bullies, tyrants and dictators - be they French, Poles, Russians, Saudi Princes or even American Presidents. Today we hear reports about the Israeli Knesset babbling about the unfairness of Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon's invitation to Egypt to bring its armor and helicopters into the Sinai Desert - in effect breaking the 1979 Camp David Accords to keep the Sinai de-militarized. Sharon and his thugocracy must again be laughing as the weak Knesset burbles about what they should do - which virtually insures that they will be too late to do anything by the time Mubarak, at Sharon's personal invitation - moves his troops and full equipment into the Sinai on Israel's southern border. (It is already known that Egyptian Intelligence is in Rafa and Gaza.) The Knesset, in artful avoidance is awaiting the opinion of Sharon's lackey, Attorney General Menahem Mazuz, to take any effective action. It will not matter that later Sharon's and his malicious cohorts are brought up on charges for subverting the Jewish nation's defenses. Even if they receive final judgment - as happened at the Nuremberg Tribunals or the Eichmann trial, the Jews of Israel will have already suffered with the Jews of Gush Katif and North Shomron catching the first vicious blows of uprooting and eviction. Historians and survivors can later give testimony about how the Jews allowed themselves to be used time and again to betray their own people. Words like "Judenrat", "Kapos", and other descriptions of our own traitors come to mind. No doubt, it would not be difficult to go back to the Roman invasion of 67-70 C.E. where Jews were used to betray their own people. So now we have the betrayers of today, anxious to please foreign masters, repeating what was instituted by the Nazis and European collaborators. They simply recruited the Jewish leaders to disassemble the Jewish communities, evacuate the Jews - all the while promising them safety for their own families and peace with a hideous race of pagans who practice murderous rituals of Terror, bombing and homicidal martyrdom. We Jews don't really need outside enemies because we have a surplus of Jews willing to help murder our own people. It really doesn't matter as to which name they give themselves: Leftists, Peace Now, Breira, International Solidarity Movement or weak Likud, useless Knesset, Prime Ministers who obey foreign masters, Jews who carry our the malicious goals of the Arabist State Department....etc. They are all the same. Regrettably, such Jews, most of whom are concentrated in the big cities of the coast will not come awake until the Arab Muslim missiles, rockets, bombs and artillery strike the roofs of their houses (not the house down the block or in another nearby town). Until they are, G-d forbid, burying their own children, wives, husbands, mothers and fathers they will not come awake or say "Something is happening - this is NOT peace." Jews are good at practicing the art of avoidance on the highest levels. Even when they were being gathered and ushered into cattle cars - often by the Jewish "Judenrat", they behaved themselves in civilized manner. Later, in the camps it was Jewish "Kapos" who followed the orders of their Nazi overlords. The Jews did not riot or kill the "Judenrat" who put them on the deportation lists. They calmly accepted their fates as their Jewish leaders told them to be calm. Not to worry, because the Nazis gave the Jewish leadership the well thought out words and slogans: "You are being moved to better places, to work camps. Here is a bar of soap and a towel to go into the showers. Just march over to those long trenches at Babi Yar, leave your clothes and stand at the edge, calmly awaiting the bullets. Behave yourselves or your killers will become angry." The "Judenrat" of Israel is hard at work assuring us that all is well and they have everything under control. Now we await Sharon's orders. "Vote for Disengagement." "No, we will not evacuate Judea, Samaria, the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights or East Jerusalem." What Sharon tells us is just not true. "President George W. Bush is our friend and will not weaken the nation of Israel. That's all lies of the extreme fundamentalist Right to frighten the people but, just in case, perhaps its best to have your suitcase fully packed under your bed." Are we Jews really that impossibly stupidly optimistic? Do we really believe Sharon and his gaggle of pathetic thugs who slavishly echo what he says? Have we not watched as the Bush Dynasty moves to placate the Saudis, forgive the Syrians, tell us that Hezb'Allah is evolving into a "political" organization which will eventually accept democracy? Note the "body language" when Bush greeted the Saudi Prince: Bush hugged and kissed the Prince. They walked through the fields holding hands... Wow! Do we really believe that Iraq will not fall into the same pattern as all other Muslim Arab dictatorships, with the same religiously taught hatred of the Jewish people and their Jewish State? We already see the Jews of America (except for some stalwart activists) accept the same advise that Stephen Wise gave to the Jews during WWII: "Don't make waves because anti-Semitism will grow in America." Now we have AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations approving Sharon's "Disengagement" and other toadies being patted on their backs and told by the pro-Arab U.S. State Department not to protest the re-partition of Israel because "it's good for the Jews". The Jews of Israel were taught by the de-Judaized leaders of Israel that there is no G-d. That this non G-d had no right to gift the Land of Israel to the Jews and, therefore, we Jews have no claim on our Land. That we can be moved elsewhere like a sack of potatoes and it will make no difference - it doesn't violate our Human Rights. That the Jewish Holy Places are not Holy and even if they were, it's better to transfer them into the hands of the pagan Muslims since they still practice human sacrifice - now calling their Muslim Terrorists "Shaheeds" (Martyrs for Islam). The Jewish leadership wants a secular nation so they can eat treif (like Tomy Lapid, Israel's Justice Minister prefers). They want to be like the converted Marranoes of Spain who, even after their Christian baptisms were hated as "false Christians". Come to think of it: the Mormons have been baptizing dead Jews from the names on their tombstones. Surely, they would like the names of live secular Jews for conversion. Let us provide the Mormons with the names of Ariel Sharon, Shimon Peres, Yossi Beilin, Yossi Sarid...et al. How comforting it will be for these Jews to know that they no longer have to carry the burden of being Jews. Now they can be what they always wanted to be - just a regular Gentile among the other nations. I am certain the Mormons will be happy to oblige and take away their pain. Let's gather the names and, after they are officially de-Judaized, they can have a baptismal certificate to hang on their walls proclaiming they are non-Jews. Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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FORD FOUNDATION - IMPLEMENTATION OF POST-DURBAN GUIDELINES SLOW AND NOT TRANSPARENT
Posted by NGO Monitor Organization, April 27, 2005. |
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SUMMARY: Since the Ford Foundation issued guidelines and declared its intention to implement more stringent funding guidelines, there has been limited progress with a number of highly politicized NGOs continuing to receive Ford funding. As the following update demonstrates, implementation is taking place, but slowly, and with very limited transparency. As documented by NGO Monitor, the Ford Foundation provided funding to a number of human-rights based NGOs that engaged in demonization and anti-Israel activities. In response to the controversy, particularly after the 2001 Durban Conference, Ford Foundation President Susan V. Berresford initiated a review in December 2003 and pledged that Ford would act to ensure that funds no longer went to "groups that promote or condone bigotry or violence, or that challenged the very existence of legitimate, sovereign states like Israel." Previous NGO Monitor updates have noted limited progress in fulfilling this declaration, with a number of highly politicized NGOs continuing to receive Ford funding. As the following update demonstrates, implementation is taking place, but slowly, and with very limited transparency. 1) On 20 December 2004, NGO Monitor drew Ford's attention to the activities of the Al-Dameer Association of Human Rights, the recipient of a $50,000 grant from the Ford Foundation in 2004. Al-Dameer engages in anti-Israel demonization while condoning Palestinian terrorism. In addition it is a member of the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), which played a key role at the 2001 Durban conference. NGO Monitor's analysis was sent to the Ford Foundation, whose Assistant Secretary and Associate General Counsel, Nancy Feller replied on 3 December 2004: "Thank you for your communication of November 24. As you know, we put such information through an established review process, which we will do in this case." No further correspondence on this issue has been received. 2) The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network continues to receive grants. This EU-based organization has repeatedly launched politicized attacks on Israel and chose to highlight criticism of the assassination of Hamas terrorist leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin through links on its website to politicized Palestinian NGOs. 3) Ford's list for 2004 indicates that it is no longer funding a number of highly politicized NGOs. These include the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Physicians for Human Rights - Israel, MIFTAH and the Habitat International Coalition. Despite this, both PCHR and PHR-I continue to list the Ford Foundation as a major donor, and this contradiction must be addressed. In addition, Ford's funding guidelines have led to protests from a number of US universities such as Harvard. This issue is outside of NGO Monitor's mandate, other than to note that the primary cause of the guidelines was Ford's recognition of the abuses of funding by NGOs in the Durban framework, rather than other Ford grantees. The NGO Monitor organization (www.ngo-monitor.org) promotes critical debate and accountability of human rights NGOs in the Arab Israeli Conflict. See the original article for live links to additional material. |
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VLADIMIR PUTIN COMES TO ISRAEL
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 27, 2005. |
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Why would any Jew believe the assurances of the KGB aka Vladimir Putin, Russia's current President? Putin is back to his Cold War mind-set which includes arming the Muslim Arabs with SS18 ground-to-air missiles. SS18s are deadly and don't become less so because former KGB Putin says: "Not to worry." KGB Putin is shipping nuclear fuel to Iran and building the first nuclear breeder plant at Bashar. KGB Putin doesn't care if Israel disappears tomorrow but, he does need the fiction that his Washington mouthpiece, President George Bush will keep believing Putin is his "Good Friend". KGB Putin will push as far as the Washington President allows him. There are Big Oil stakes at play so the rogues dictators are playing the game for all it's worth. KGB Putin comes to Israel to lie to us and we pretend to believe him. KGB Putin is like the rest of the infamous Quartet (led by the pro-Arab U.S. State Department, the anti-Semitic E.U.-European Union and the anti-Israel U.N.- United Nations). He has to join in the push or Putsch to move Israel out of the territories she liberated in 1967 in order to please the Arab client states and mollify the Bush Dynasty with the pretense that Russia is not going back to the days and tactics of the Cold War. But, Putin has already energized many of the Soviet era tactics, to include stirring up trouble between the hostile radical Islamic States of Iran, Syria and then move into the Gulf Oil States. Bush in Washington just goes along, telling us about his "Good Friend" Putin, whom he can trust. Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will, no doubt genuflect to KGB Putin and, like an oversized "Bubba" (Doll), Sharon will tell us that Putin is Our Friend in Israel - just as Sharon tell us now how he respects the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen). We will, of course, hear from Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, Yediot Aharonot, the radio and TV as to how great a man is KGB Putin and how Sharon has so much confidence in Putin's assurances. In the meantime, our great Bubba will accept the SS18s going to Syria and the nuclear fuel going to Iran like the gullible Bubba that he is. This is from today's Arutz Sheva Daily News Service: IsraelNationalNews.com. It's called "A First: President of Russia in Israel." Russian President Vladimir Putin will be arriving in Israel tonight, the first such visit by a Russian premier. Sales of missiles to Syria and nuclear fuel to Iran will likely be on the agenda. Mr. Putin's visit to Israel, lasting through Friday morning, will include working meetings with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Moshe Katzav, as well as an official tour of the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum and a meeting with Red Army veterans living in Israel. The Russian leader will be arriving at the head of a delegation of more than 200 people, including two ministers in his government. Putin's official visit to Israel, as well as a subsequent visit to the Palestinian Authority, is part of an increased involvement by Russia in events in the Middle East. In meetings with the Russian entourage, Israel is expected to voice objections to Russia's planned sale of missiles to Syria, as well as Russia's agreement to provide Iran with nuclear fuel. Putin, for his part, has repeatedly said in the past that the missile deal with Syria will go forward despite Israeli objections, as the weapons system is intended only to defend the Syrian capital. Israel expressed concerns that the missiles would end up in the hands of the terrorist organization Hizbullah, backed by Syria, which has positions overlooking northern Israel. Such a scenario would violate Russian commitments not to sign any weapons deals that can threaten Israel. As for the nuclear fuel supply agreement with Iran, Putin has said that "Iran is a good friend of ours," explaining that the deal is for civilian use alone. The fuel, as well as the know-how, Russia is to provide Iran, Israel has warned, can be used for the Islamic Republic's nuclear weapons project. Aside from the serious security concerns Mr. Putin will have to allay, he is bringing with him a gift: a large statue in memory of the Holocaust. The statue, weighing three tons and more than six feet in height, portrays Jewish figures encircled by barbed wire. The statue's base declares in Russian and Hebrew that it is a gift from the Russian people to the people of Israel. It will be formally presented in a ceremony Thursday in the presence of President Katzav and President Putin. |
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HsOLOCAUST EDUCATION FROM A BARTENDER
Posted by Judy Lash Balint, April 27, 2005. |
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This essay is from Alison Golub who lives in Beersheva.
A few weeks ago a friend of mine told me a rather startling story. I started to wonder whether it was a "This could only happen in Israel" kind of story (of which I have heard and experienced many), or whether it reflected some kind of new movement of which I am unaware. I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since, and so I thought you all might want to hear it too. I am still trying to formulate my own thoughts about it, so I welcome your insights and opinions as well. So this friend of mine was hanging out at a pub in downtown Be'er Sheva with some other friends. As he approached the counter to order his drink, he noticed that the young bartender, a student dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, had a short row of numbers tattooed on his arm. Given that the guy was a good fifty years too young to be a Holocaust survivor, my friend's curiosity got the better of him and he asked what the tattoo was. The young man answered, "Exactly what you think it is." My friend couldn't stop there, and pressed him further. The man replied that his grandmother survived Hitler's camps and was now nearing her end. She had given her grandson her blessing to tattoo onto his arm a likeness of the very same numbers she had on her own. My friend, in recounting this story to me, remarked that he was quite moved by the gesture. I must admit that at first I was quite taken aback. Quickly, however, my shock turned into appreciation and not a small amount of admiration. I have spent most of my academic life studying the Holocaust from political, psychological, and personal perspectives, and this is the first time I can remember that I have come across a truly original idea in the domain of Holocaust memorialization. With what amounts to probably twenty minutes in a tattoo artist's chair and the marking of a 1-inch by 3-inch area of skin, this young man has managed to both honor his grandmother and her experience, as well as send a rather striking societal message. Indeed, whether the people around him are respectful of or appalled by his choice, there is no doubt that he causes at least a hundred people a day to think about the Holocaust, if only for a moment. My friend was most impressed by how the young man's action represents a kind of "taking back" of the image of the tattoo and the victim experience. In much the same way as African Americans have reclaimed and empowered the term "nigger" by using it amongst themselves, there is something powerful and honorable about taking a tattoo that was forced upon his grandmother without her consent and purposefully choosing to place it upon himself with her blessing. The fact that Jews still exist in the world is proof that Hitler didn't succeed, and many say that simply living an honorable life can be our own revenge. This young bartender has taken this a step further. His existence would not have been possible without his grandmother's survival, but in thirty years when her life is a distant memory, his simply being alive won't be enough to memorialize her. Perhaps these numbers on his arm will be. Indeed, one of my biggest fears regards the landscape of our global society in thirty or forty years. What will Holocaust education and memory be like when the last survivor has left us? I fear this period deeply, and I will weep the moment when our world will be deprived of the brilliance and strength of spirit and beauty and insight that Holocaust survivors bring to us. When the Holocaust exists only in history textbooks and museums, this young man will have and show a personal connection that won't be attainable in any other way. In the summer, when he will roll up his sleeves and have no choice but to show his tattoo, he will make people think and feel and react in a way that no one else will be able to do. So I have informally polled a great deal of people already, and received greatly mixed reviews. People over the age of 60 have tended to be enthusiastically in favor of the young man's choice, while those between the ages of 35-55 have generally been vehemently against it. Responses from individuals in my own generation have been fairly equally split. I'm still not totally sure how I feel about it, but I'm inclined to believe that anything that can evoke such strong emotion, on both sides of the spectrum, is worthy of deeper investigation. In any case, that young bartender in Be'er Sheva has certainly made a lot of us think. My friend also posted an article about this experience at www.israelity.com, and he has a blog at www.arimiller.blogspot.com "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" by Judy Lash Balint (Gefen) is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com |
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IF PA'S VIABLE, ISRAEL WOULDN'T BE; ISRAELI LAW AGAINST "RACIST" SPEECH; POLLARD WAS NOT TREATED THIS WAY
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 27, 2005. |
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WHY EASE RESTRICTIONS ON P.A. ARABS? The restrictions involved the number and hours for passing through checkpoints. "The easing of restrictions was made possible by the steady decrease of civilian involvement in terrorist activity in Nablus and the introduction of advanced security examination systems in the security checkpoints. These include computerized examination systems, metal detectors and x-ray baggage scanners, which have proved to significantly improve the quality and speed of the security examination." (IMRA, 3/24.) Was there a decrease of civilian involvement in terrorism or an increase in IDF detection of it, apprehending terrorists before they reached the checkpoints? Does the technology eliminate the usual problem that as soon as Israel withdraws checkpoints, terrorists pass through? Will the IDF become over-reliant on technology? It can be defeated by human ingenuity. This is the sort of thing that Israeli universities should be studying. ANOTHER DANGER FROM ABANDONMENT (OF N. SAMARIA) "The withdrawal is also expected to endanger Israel's water supply from the area. PA elements currently dig illegally, and are expected to intensify this activity once Israel leaves - depleting and salinating the water supply used for agriculture in the Gilboa region and possibly wiping out regional farming." (Voice of Judea, 3/24.) M0SCOW MISCHIEF, AGAIN Russia has offered the P.A. helicopters, to "counterbalance" US-British "defense" support for the P.A. (Winston Mid East Analysis, 3/25). Russia should offer them to Israel, to counterbalance US-British offensive support for the P.A.. As an aggressor, the P.A. should be demilitarized. IF P.A. IS MADE VIABLE, ISRAEL IS MADE NON-VIABLE Sec. Rice said, "Without a viable and contiguous Palestinian state that represents the aspirations of the Palestinian people - meaning enough land to function well - there will be no peace for either Palestinian people or Israelis." "This statement does not address the concerns troubling Jerusalem. She will no doubt be asked by Israeli officials how does that vision and the support lavished on Abu Mazen fit in with the refusal of nine Palestinian organizations, including Abbas' own Fatah, to halt their terrorist offensive against Israel, their acceptance of a lull at most - not a ceasefire - and his own refusal to dismantle them, as required in the first stage of the Middle East road map." "Israeli leaders failed to react to the new US secretary's words or ask for much needed clarifications." (Sharon always gives in to US demands, no matter how dangerous for Israel.) The US has specified: (1) Israeli towns, however large, that obstruct P.A. territorial contiguity must be removed; (2) All Israeli towns east of the security fence must be removed; (3) The P.A. must enjoy economic viability. That would mean contiguity with Jordan and gaining the Jordan Valley and the natural barrier to invasion of Israel that it presents. That correspondingly would limit Israeli access to Jordan (and give the P.A. an opportunity to subvert Jordan); (4) That notion of viability and contiguity might mean that the P.A. would be expanded to connect to Egypt and Syria, removing all of Israel's defensive borders; and (5) That the P.A. get a sovereign land corridor between Gaza and Judea-Samaria, though that would bisect Israel (Winston Mid East Analysis, 3/25). ISRAELI LAW AGAINST RACIST SPEECH "In 1977 Israel's criminal code was changed. Section 144A made "racism" a crime. Racism was defined as "persecution, humiliation, demeaning, displaying animosity, hostility, violence or strife toward a population group or parts of such a group, all on the basis of skin color or membership in a racial or ethnic-national grouping." What is wrong with that? "First, the law criminalizes some expressions of speech, and so infringes free speech. Second, the definition of 'racism' in the law is so vague as to render the entire law arbitrary and useless. Third, in its implementation and enforcement the law has already been used in an arbitrary and anti-democratic manner for partisan purposes." "The law has become a bludgeon to suppress free speech selectively, used against some right-wing Israeli Jews. At the same time there has never been any attempt to prosecute Arabs nor left-wing Jewish extremists under the same law." "The immediate motivation for the framers of Israel's law was the activities of followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane. The law's purpose was to suppress the freedom of speech of these Kahanists and of some other fringe groups among Israeli Jews." "The vagueness of the anti-racism law is extremely problematic. The law's language was so poorly formulated and thought through that it would make statements like 'I do not want to date non-Jews,' or 'I do not like blond women' crimes. Should reading certain passages in the Bible be prohibited because they offend some modern ears?" "The law explicitly makes advocating discrimination against a demographic group to be racism. But Israel is full of groups advocating discrimination against Jews as part of affirmative action preferences, and, of course, also discrimination against males. Not a single person has ever been prosecuted in Israel for this. Why not?" "Racism is, after all, a belief or a feeling, albeit an evil one, but a private one. Do we really want a Racism Patrol inspecting bars and poker games, hunting down individuals making racist statements in chat rooms or in salons?" "The anti-racism law is not merely an assault against free speech, but arguably the most ludicrous law Israel has on its books. A Kahanist was indicted and convicted of racism for selling T-shirts printed with the words 'Where there are no Arabs there is no terrorism.' (There is a lot of truth to that.) Another is under investigation for selling an anti-disengagement-plan board game." "In contrast, no racism by Arabs has been prosecuted. Nor has bigotry by politicians such as Shinui's Tommy Lapid, whose entire party agenda is based on anti-haredi bigotry. When communist Sami Michael, a prominent writer and a leader of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel, made comments which struck me as justifying Hamas's mass murders of Jews, he was not prosecuted as a racist. No Arab political parties, regardless of how outrageous their statements are, have been banned or prosecuted under the anti-racism law. Neither have Israeli professors, artists or intellectuals endorsing and justifying Arab terrorism against Jews, or declaring that Jews are not entitled to any form of self-determination." "Free speech is alive in Israel, but wounded and threatened as the internal political divisions in Israel deepen. Besides the prosecution of those utilizing free speech and saying things of which the political establishment disapproves, there are growing, open threats from the government to use the police, intelligence services and preventive detention without trial to bully opponents of government policy into silence. The very fact that assaults against free speech for "racists" are so popular in Israel, especially among the chattering classes, illustrates how shallow, conditional and dubious is the commitment by so many in Israel to democracy." (STEVEN PLAUT, "JER. POST," 3/23/05, a few paragraphs omitted.) P.A. BREAKING LATEST AGREEMENT Israel retained security responsibility for Qalqilyah, because the PA has not assumed proper responsibility for Jericho, that Israel relinquished to it 10 days earlier, and to Tul Karem. The PA has failed to disarm and monitor wanted individuals in these towns (IMRA, 3/25). Should Israel be surprised? The P.A. breaks all its agreements. Arafat always did. These men whom Israel designated as wanted, are in good standing with the P.A.. That is because the Arabs do not adhere to Western standards of honor. They have the fanatic's dedication to holy war, while Israel has the Western dedication to peace. Our murderers are their heroes. HOW DO THE ARABS PERCEIVE SHARON'S PLAN? Hamas representative Bahar discussed the significance of Sharon's plan: 'The painful and qualitative blows which the Palestinian resistance dealt to the Jews and their soldiers over the past four and a half years led to the decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip." "All indications show that since its establishment, Israel has never been in such a state of retreat and weakness as it is today, following more than four years of the intifada," he continued. Hamas's heroic attacks exposed the weakness and volatility of the impotent Zionist security establishment. The withdrawal marks the end of the Zionist dream and is a sign of the moral and psychological decline of the Jewish state. We believe that the resistance is the only way to pressure the Jews." "There can be no clearer exposition than Bahar's statement of the Palestinian view that Israel's plan to hand over strategic assets to its enemy in the midst of war and receive nothing in return is a victory for terror." Most Israelis agree. The difference between the Sharon plan and the Map is that the Sharon plan does not call for anything from the Arabs (IMRA, 3/26). Sharon just gives away assets to the enemy. The logical conclusion for Hamas is to continue its success by exerting more terrorism! However, some of its premises are mistaken. The Israeli people preferred firmness. The military had defeated the terrorists until Sharon relented under pressure from the US, which has turned every Israeli victory into defeat by stopping its troops' momentum, rolling them back, and demanding concessions from it. Israel's leaders, under their sick ideology, betrayed the people. The Right long has pointed out that the Arabs view concessions as weakness to be exploited. Sharon's plan is disastrous. It would heighten the war. U.S. & ISRAELI VIEWS OF "SETTLEMENT BLOCS" US and Israeli officials differ over what the US expects of negotiations, when it says that large population centers must be taken into account and the 1967 borders not completely retreated to. Israel thinks the US means that Israel may retain large towns in Judea-Samaria. The US language implies, points out Dr. Aaron Lerner, that Israel may keep the annexed, Jewish-populated neighborhoods of Jerusalem, if it gives up the large towns in Judea-Samaria (IMRA, 3/26). Resolution 242 refers to secure borders, which the US is ignoring. The US keeps asserting that it won't tell the parties what negotiations should conclude, but it does order them! Sharon lies about the meaning of Bush's letter. Contrary to Sharon's assertion, Bush's letter does not diverge from the policy of the traditionally anti-Zionist State Dept.. FROM THE FORMER REFORMER OF IRAN The root of terrorism is America and its dividing of the world into Americans and non-Americans. So said Iran's Pres. Khatami (IMRA, 3/21 from MEMRI). What about Islam's dividing the planet into the world of Islam and the world of war? Remember when Pres. Khatami was deemed moderate. He wasn't towards infidels. He was pro-terrorist. JEWS BUY MORE PROPERTY IN OLD CITY The Greek Orthodox Church, major landowner in Jerusalem, is short of cash. Accordingly, it sold a couple of large properties in the Old City, to Jews. When news of this reaches the Arabs, Church relations with the Arabs are likely to become strained (Arutz-7, 3/18). 53 Deputies of the Jordanian Parliament asked the government to oust Patriarch Eireneos for selling those properties in violation of Jordanian law #27 of 1985, under which he was elected, to put him on trial, and to void his other property sales. They accuse him of setting Arabs against Greeks, when he replaced some Arab officials with Greek ones (IMRA, 3/19). The Arabs, however, seek to replace Greek officials with Arab ones. It is typically Arab to blame other peoples for doing the kind of thing that the Arabs do. Jordan had seized the Old City by invasion. Years before the Patriarch's election, Jordan had to disgorge the Old City and had lost any jurisdiction over it. Those Deputies are being high-handed. It gives an idea what the West faces, in dealing with Islamists and their topsy-turvy notion of law and of rights. POLLARD WAS NOT TREATED THIS WAY "When a high-ranking Egyptian General laid his hands on the re-entry cone technology for missiles, called carbon-carbon, he tried to leave the country. He was stopped at the airport. Instead of bringing him to trial the State Department slipped in and had him released and sent back to Egypt." "Just prior to Bush's first successful election to office there was a huge oil play. In the late 1990s, there was a super glut of oil offshore in foreign oil farms and super-tankers with their holds full of oil." "Yet the multi-national corporations played as if there was no glut nor was there an investigation why they had not ordered the crude into their storage reserves. Nor did Congress want to investigate why the U.S. based cracking plants were not producing refined oil product. At the same time that the false reports of an oil shortage were being pumped out of Washington, there was pressure to open up the Alaskan fields, the off-shore drilling in Florida and California." "The artful shortage was to be the pressure needed to break through the conservation and ecology laws protecting tender habitats. If there was a national crisis then Congress could be persuaded to over-ride the conservation laws designed to protect sensitive areas. So, the oil companies manufactured a crisis and the Bush Administration went along with the scheme." "There was also the value in rising crude oil prices that allowed U.S. oil prices to also be artificially raised. The excess profits to U.S. oil companies topped out in the billions of dollars, perhaps trillions. That is all being replayed as the crude oil shoots up to $55 per barrel and the Saudis and multinational oil corporations are rolling in money. The rest of the world is suffering." "The Congress refused to pass on excess profits tax as the oil companies swindled the American consumer. The Bush Administration played its role in ushering in this flagrant embezzlement to move smoothly. The oil and power industry poured in substantial donor monies for the Bush campaign and he delivered profits and a pollution safety net." (Winston Mid East Analysis, 3/27.) Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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REVISIONIST HISTORY BY KOFI ANNAN
Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, April 27, 2005. |
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This is from The Washington Times, April 19, 2005 Embattled U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan wrapped himself in the cloak of victim hood, on April 4, 2005. He attempted to shift blame for the scandal in the oil-for-food scandal to the United States and Great Britain. Mr. Annan complained that most of Saddam Hussein's ill-gotten gains came from smuggling that occurred outside of the program. He said that Washington and London "knew exactly what was going on" and "decided to close their eyes to smuggling". It would be difficult to imagine a more dishonest, misleading account of history. To be sure, it is hardly a secret that the United States and Great Britain were willing to overlook some sanctions violations by Turkey and Jordan because difficult trade offs had to be made. The benefits Saddam gleaned from smuggling were out weighed by the damage that near-zero-tolerance enforcement methods would have done to the economies of Jordan and Turkey, two relatively friendly Muslim nations bordering Iraq. If anything, this demonstrates the futility of trying to use sanctions in an effort to change the behavior of a totalitarian dictator like Saddam Hussein. When the U.N. Security Council initially imposed sanctions on Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War, the secretary-general (at the time, Boutros Boutros-Ghali), was to oversee virtually everything related to Iraqi oil revenues, and Saddam Hussein was to be excluded from the process entirely. But Saddam held out for a better deal, and it came in 1996, when the Security Council created the oil-for-food program. That program, which gave the Iraqi dictator responsibility for contracting with oil suppliers and distributing goods purchased through it, was a recipe for corruption and abuse. Why did the Clinton administration acquiesce to this? Because throughout the 1990s, it was under intense pressure from fellow Security Council members - such as Russia, China and France, along with the Arab League members and myriad international church and humanitarian organizations "to weaken sanctions against the Iraqi government or end them altogether. The world was treated to one lecture after another about the inhumanity of the sanctions regime and how it and not Saddam Hussein's refusal to permit foodstuffs and other supplies to reach the Iraqi people in an equitable manner - was responsible for their suffering. In 1998, Dennis Halliday, the U.N. administrator of the oil-for-food program, resigned to protest the sanctions. "We are in the process of destroying an entire country," he said, calling sanctions on Iraq, including those regulating the use of dual-use goods (items with civilian and military uses), were even more porous. After 1998, when Saddam kicked out weapons inspectors there was no one in Iraq investigating the trafficking in dual-use items. "In theory the UN. Oil-for food program people were doing the job, but in practice, they didn't have the time, the expertise or the willingness to hire more personnel." Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute said in testimony before the House International Relations Committee last year. "Moreover, U.N. officials who met with U.S. government and congressional groups to discuss the issue related to sanctions were hostile and angry; furious over any insinuations that the program could be improved in any way," Miss Pletka added. Their main concern was objecting to the holds that that the United States and Great Britain placed on particular contracts to send goods that might have military uses into Iraq. Moreover, while Saddam was looting the oil for food program, Mr. Annan was boasting to the Security Council that he was making it a tremendous success. For example, in a March 10, 2000, report, Mr. Annan openly bragged about how closely he was supervising the program and how he had turned it into focal point for tracking and coordinating the distribution of goods inside Iraq. In sum, Mr. Annan is behaving dishonorably when he tries to blame Washington and London for his own failings - and the failings of the United Nations as an institution - in implementing sanctions against Saddam Hussein. Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). |
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WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE JEWS IS GOOD FOR THE GENDER
Posted by Yashiko Sagamori, April 26, 2005. |
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On April 19, HaAretz startled its readers with the following bit of news: The European Union will not consider removing Hamas from its list of terrorist organizations so long as it refrains from demonstrating "respect for human rights". Here is a simple sanity test: Is it good or bad? The answer is, this is very good for everybody. This is why it's good for the Jews. First, it shows Eurabia's opposition to a terrorist organization created specifically for the purpose of killing Jews. Second, it indirectly acknowledges that Jews are also human. Can we possibly ask for more without becoming obnoxious in that unique, unmistakably Jewish way? But it is also good for Hamas. First, it implies that Eurabia's authorities are not planning to prosecute Hamas for the hundreds of murders committed by its members, and, therefore, it's OK to murder Jews as long as their human rights are not violated in the process. Second, it promises that as soon as Hamas leaders find an opportune moment to issue an insincere statement asserting their profound respect for human rights, their organization will no longer be blacklisted, which will allow Eurabian governments to finance and arm Hamas without having to use as intermediaries those charitable organizations with minarets that grow all over the Old Continent like maggots on a dead body. And, last but not least, it is good for Eurabia, because it maintains an illusion that what was formerly known as Europe still has something left of its old dignity. Trying to preserve what's left of American dignity, President Bush publicly announced that Hezbollah must disarm. Although he said it in a very strict tone of voice and in the presence of the press, Hezbollah not only failed to disarm immediately or at least promise to do so in the near future, it carelessly ignored our president's stern words altogether. I have a bad feeling that Sheikh Nasrallah does not respect the president. That's not good for anyone on this side of the War on Terror. But is it really unexpected, considering that our noble war is becoming as permanent and as meaningless as the war on drugs, the war on poverty, and a few other noble but totally meaningless wars that still go on, although nobody any longer cares to remember what they are about, mostly because they have miserably failed to render any real victories for this country? But let us suppose that Hezbollah decided to heed President Bush's admontion and lay down its arms. What would happen next? It would become a perfectly legitimate political party, which, due to its huge popularity and the unstoppable democratization of the Middle East, would soon become a major political force in Lebanon. But wait! Hezbollah already is a major political force in Lebanon. So, what would change? Only one thing: its militia would merge with the Lebanese army. Would that be good for anyone on our side of the War on Terror? I don't think so. Of course, things would have been very different had President Bush, instead of making meaningless sounds, undertaken practical steps towards physical eradication of Hezbollan and its members. But such steps would require courage and wisdom that don't seem to be able to survive in the Washington, DC, climate. As if to prove my point, Mahmud Abbas announced in a strict tone of voice that Hamas will have to disarm after the elections planned by the PLO for July 17. He was careful enough not to use the word immediately. Therefore, if Hamas disarms any time between now and never, it will still be in compliance with Abu Mazen's edict. But why would Hamas wait so long? It could disarm today, take part in the upcoming elections and, due to its huge popularity and the unstoppable democratization of the PLO, become a major political force on Israeli-occupied Israeli territory. But wait! It is already a major political force there. So, what would change? Nothing. Of course, things would have been very different had Prime Minister Sharon, instead of bleating humbly in the direction of Israel's enemies, led Israel to undertake practical steps towards physical eradication of Hamas and its members. But such measure would require courage and wisdom that don't seem to be able to survive in the Jerusalem climate. That's very bad. On April 22, the newly elected Pope, Benedict XVI, wrote in his message to the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni: As I announce to you my election and the solemn inauguration of my pontificate on Sunday, April 24, I trust in the help of the Most High to continue the dialogue and strengthen the cooperation with the sons and daughters of the Hebrew people. This friendly note made me feel glad that I was not a Catholic. It's not because I think that Jews are any better than Catholics - that would be utterly preposterous, of course. It's because, as I was reading the Pope's words, I couldn't help thinking that I, even under the best of circumstances, would have never made a good Pope. Celibacy or being a woman has nothing to do with it: when a person reaches the age of Benedict XVI, the former is no longer a problem and, therefore, the latter makes no practical difference. Besides, at least one Pope, John VIII, was a woman. The problem is, I can't express myself the way a half-decent Pope should. If I were elected Pope, and the Chief Rabbi of Rome was my friend, and I felt like bragging to him in a nice, friendly way, this is what I would've written to him: Hey, Ricci, in case you haven't heard, I'm the Pope now! Is it terrific or is it terrific? But, seriously, cross my heart, I hope to God that under my leadership Catholics will finally learn to get along with you people. I can understand the Pope's reluctance to use the word Jews; like many Gentiles, he may believe that it constitutes an insult, and Jews themselves use it in a self-deprecating way, like American Blacks who sometimes address each other with the N word. But "sons and daughters of the Hebrew people?" Give me a break! I wouldn't be able to concoct something like that if my life depended on it. But let's get back to the Pope's letter. Is this good or bad? Let's see. It's good for the Catholics, because it gives them hope that the new Pope may succeed in converting Jews to the true faith and thus finally get rid of us all in that uniquely Catholic, totally bloodless way. It's also good for the Jews, because it gives them hope that the new Pope will fight anti-Semitism. Well, fight may be too strong a word. Let's say, not actively encourage. What? You think this is not enough? That's so typically Jewish! No matter how much you give them, they will ask for more, and the more you give them, the louder they become. Listen to me, Jews; this is nothing to sneeze at. You probably know that the newly elected Pope traditionally chooses his new name after a former Pope whom he admires the most and hopes to emulate the closest. We didn't have to guess who was Papa Wojtyla's role model: there was only one Pope John Paul before him. With this Pope, however, it's a bit trickier; 15 Benedicts have sat on St. Peter's throne before him. Go figure which one he likes the best. Hopefully, he is not going to follow in the footsteps of number 14 who wrote on June 14, 1751 in one of the most important encyclicals of his papacy, A Quo Primum - On Jews and Christians Living in the Same Place, adressed to Polish Catholics: Our credible experts in Polish affairs and the citizens of Poland itself who communicated with Us have informed Us that the number of Jews in that country has greatly increased... The Jews have so replaced the Christians that some parishes are about to lose their ministers because their revenue has dwindled so drastically. Because the Jews control businesses selling liquor and even wine, they are therefore allowed to supervise the collection of public revenues. They have also gained control of inns, bankrupt estates, villages and public land by means of which they have subjugated poor Christian farmers... The most serious is that some households of the great have employed a Jew as "Superintendent-of-the-Household"; in this capacity, they not only administer domestic and economic matters, but they also ceaselessly exhibit and flaunt authority over the Christians they are living with. It is now even commonplace for Christians and Jews to intermingle anywhere. But what is even less comprehensible is that Jews fearlessly keep Christians of both sexes in their houses as their domestics, bound to their service. Furthermore, by means of their particular practice of commerce, they amass a great store of money and then by an exorbitant rate of interest utterly destroy the wealth and inheritance of Christians. Sounds familiar? He keeps going for a few more pages about how Jews have practically turned Poland into the West Bank and Gaza with their settlements and how bad it is for all the good people. So if you want to figure out why Poles hate us so much, you may want to read the encyclical. Besides, it may help you appreciate the come-on line that came from Pope Benedict XVI. Benedict XIV may rest in peace. World War II helped the Poles to get rid of the Jewish yoke. Immediately before the war, a thousand-year-old community of Polish Jews was 3.3 million strong. Combined efforts of Nazi invaders and Polish patriots have led to its disappearance. In 1970's, less than 10,000 Jews still lived in Poland, but the Polish hatred of Jews continues burning undiminished. As long as we are in the Pope-quoting mood, let me show you something you've heard a lot about, but were too lazy to read. On March 12, 2000, the late Pope John Paul II delivered a Prayer for Forgiveness. The prayer had an introduction, a conclusion, and 7 parts listing various sins. Each part was read by a cardinal and the Pope. Here is part IV: IV. Confession of Sins against the People of Israel That sounds fine to me, but is it really good for the Jews? To answer this question, let's see how Catholic attitude towards Jews has changed in the five years that have passed since the prayer was delivered. Let us, for example, take a look at the predominantly Catholic France. It used to be ashamed of its anti-Semitism; today it carries it proudly, as a banner. It would be unfair, however, to single out the Catholics. The explicitly anti-Semitic campaign for divestment from Israel was initiated by the Presbyterians. The explicitly anti-Semitic boycott of Israeli universities in Great Britain is being promoted by a perfectly secular organization, the Association of University Teachers. The list can be easily continued. To put it in simple, straightforward words, the truth is terrible. Anti-Semitism among Christians of every creed in Eurabian provinces has reached the levels that can only be compared with the time when they were provinces of the Third Reich. Apparently, the Christians spontaneously came to the conclusion that the Pope's apology miraculously absolved them from all responsibility for the persecution of my people in the past, present, and future and let their ancient hatred fly with abandon. The resurgence of anti-Semitism is not limited to the EU. It's happening in the former Soviet republics. It's happening in Canada. It's happening in the UK and the United States as well, although so far more on college campuses than in the streets. The problem is, this will not go away. Just like 70 years ago, the wave of anti-Semitism is not the only fundamental societal change unfolding before our eyes. Just like 70 years ago, it is a sure symptom of an impending catastrophe that will affect not just Jews but everyone, without exception. Just like 70 years ago, not a single world leader is attempting to honestly face the problem. Unlike 70 years ago, Jews can still save themselves by making aliya. And this brings me to the topic I have been carefully avoiding in all my articles. You see, I do not live in Israel. It makes it very tempting for me to suggest that Israelis follow my views: after all, if something goes wrong, I will not pay for it, but they will - with their and their children's blood. That's why, although I am opposed to disengagement, just like I would be opposed to an amputation of my own leg, no matter how many world-famous doctors assured me that without it I will finally be able to become a ballerina, I do not urge Israelis to resist it. If they do, Sharon will lock up them, not me. However, there is something that I, as a Diaspora Jew, have a right to ask the Israeli government. What kind of an idiot will go to live in a country that evicts its own law-abiding citizens from their land and surrenders its territory to its sworn enemies, in an absurd attempt to placate them? This is very bad for the Jews. As always, it is bound to be at least as bad for the rest of the species. Yashiko Sagamori is a New York-based Information Technology consultant. To read other articles by the author, go to http://www.middleeastfacts.com/yashiko/ or email ysagamori@hotmail.com |
The disengagement will not bring peace. The goal of the Arabs' is
not the occupation of Gaza, but the complete destruction of Israel,
and Gaza is only one of many steps leading to that cherished goal. But
it will stop many Jews around the world from returning to Israel. Many
of those Jews will perish in the next Holocaust, which they might have
survived had the Israeli government had courage and wisdom to defend
its people and their land. But why would we expect the Israeli
government to be any wiser or more courageous than our own?
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NATION BUILDER TURNED NATION DESTROYER
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 26, 2005. |
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Building a nation is obvious even to the eye of the casual observer. Killing a nation is even more blatantly obvious. Whatever motivated Israel's Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon in his early years to be what we thought was a 'nation builder' is either gone today or was never there. Perhaps we mistook Sharon's attraction to combat and leadership of the Israeli Army (IDF) as a talent for 'nation building'. For example, I think that men like David Ben Gurion had vision both long and deep but, well beyond combat, necessary though that may be. Yes. Yes, I know Ben Gurion had his flaws and made his mistakes but, he was indeed a Nation Builder. Sharon, on the other hand, has always been driven by an enormous ego which always came first - before the Country. Again, don't mistake the desire to be victorious in battle as the same as a visionary who wishes to build a nation. Even when Sharon turned political, he moved his military mind-set to combat other politicians. For him, politics was just another war. When he became Prime Minister and had the laws of government under his control, he then broadened his base of combat to wage conflict against his own people. Whoever disagreed with his ideas, be it one close friends or a large segment of the people, he viewed them as his enemy(ies). When Sharon tells us about how "he feels our pain" what he really means is that, he enjoys our pain - because pain is intimately involved in his ritual of battle. In the Friday edition of the Pre-Pesach Jerusalem Post April 23rd (as well as the English Ha'aretz and I assume the Hebrew papers), Sharon gave self-serving interviews. I will grant you this: Sharon can be an enchanting scoundrel when he wishes to co-opt whomever he speaks with or to. Regrettably, Sharon has proven to be a quintessential liar and is a master manipulator of the facts to suit his goals. While I cannot include the entire interview, there are a few points worth noting. Sharon indicated that Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) was different than Yassir Arafat and that Abbas was a man of good intentions. Somehow Sharon 'forgot' to mention that Abbas was a co-conspirator with Yassir Arafat for 40 years, helped plan and assist in funding Terrorism, including the slaughter of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, massacre of children at Ma'alot, etc. Presently, now that he is solely in charge, Abbas has not achieved one measure of his obligations under the 'Road Map' to eliminate Terror, confiscate Terrorists' weapons, prevent the smuggling of illegal weapons into Israel, and the breaking up of the Terrorist organizations. He has allowed the Terrorists to re-arm and replace the leaders killed by the IDF, But, he was chosen by President George W. Bush as the best surrogate to Arafat because he dressed like a businessman and spoke in modulated tones. It didn't matter that he was a dedicated Terrorist in a suit. In these interviews, Sharon replied to a pointed question about possible Civil War, that the evacuation will be as peaceful as he can make it. This from the man who, along with Moshe Dayan and Ezer Weizman, advised then PM Menachem Begin to give up the Sinai Desert with oil fields that would have enabled Israel to be self-sufficient in oil, two very sophisticated high tech military bases, destroy Yamit and the small farming villages ... plus all the infrastructure. Together, on their advice, Israel surrendered assets worth $17 Billion and received from Egypt only a cold peace - plus a smuggling route for weapons into Gaza. Replacing those assets plunged Israel into a dire economic recession, which still impacts Israel's economics to this day. Also on U.S. advice, Begin chose NOT to request equal compensation from America who demanded this inequitable sacrifice to Egypt's President Anwar Sadat. Sounds familiar? Just like when then PM Ehud Barak took the IDF on a midnight rat race retreating from Israel's security zone in Lebanon after being assured of $800 million compensation from American President Bill Clinton to re-position Israeli forces on the Israeli side of her border with Lebanon. (That promised funding never came to Israel - nor did Bush choose to honor the commitment.) Barak, like Sharon, had an 'idea' which proved faulty as the Syrian-Iranian backed Hebz'Allah filled the vacuum left by Barak's precipitous retreat. Keep in mind that "ideas" are merely a series of thoughts with no guarantee of accuracy or fulfillment. Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yossi Beilin also had an 'idea' called 'Oslo', negotiated in secret with no military, security or intelligence experts advising. Such negotiations without prior consultation with and approval by the Israeli Knesset would normally categorize these men as traitors in any Western nation. These subversives negotiated with foreign nations to weaken Israel's outer borders - which allowed the Arab Muslim Terrorists to become a a killing machine, turning any civilian (man, woman or baby) into a target. Israelis who were sacrificed - were dying for these Osloids' 'idea'. When a Member of Knesset wanted a formal investigation of the "Oslo Conspiracy", Sharon went ballistic and called upon Sharon to kill the proposal for investigation - which Sharon did. Now we have Sharon throwing his considerable weight around with another of those infamous 'ideas' tied to the Bush "idea" of the "Road Map", the question arises: When did Sharon make Israel a vassal state to the U.S. government policy and, specifically to the "Idea" of one man: President George Bush? Or was that "idea" implanted by the pro-Arab State Department, with Father Bush and James Baker being volunteer instigators of an "IDEA" which is now being birthed as a deformed monstrosity? Bush may have come into office as a first time born-again Christian, with belief in and friendship toward the Jewish State of Israel but, he was then re-born once again, accepting the ideas of two oil men and the bureaucracy of the State Department which hated the Jews and the Jewish nation. Is Sharon so naive, so ignorant of geo-politics that he believes in the Bush Dynasty's promises to protect the Jewish State of Israel? When asked, both Sharon and Bush have well-scripted answers which are nothing more than artful avoidances, if not outright lies. Getting back to Sharon's "Disengagement Idea" - as filtered down through the bowels of the "Quartet" which was headed by the pro-Arab State Department, included the E.U. (European Union), U.N. (United Nations) and Russia... Sharon has requested $500 to $800 million to pay the 9,000 settlers just compensation, plus the cost of moving the settlers, their communal property (schools, synagogues, businesses, farms, greenhouses, cemeteries and infrastructure) and the military bases which protect ALL of Israel from the Terrorists in Gaza. (Just like Barak's request for compensation for his retreat from Lebanon.) But, instead of getting grant funds for the deportation and destruction of 30 year old (3 generations) communities, the Bush Dynasty has gone back to the leveraged trick of 'loan guarantees' that worked very well against PM Shamir and was passed on to PM Rabin. (PM Shamir was offered $10 Billion in "loan guarantees" to assist in the absorption of the suddenly released Soviet Jews. BUT, with one excuse after another, those "loan guarantees" were withheld almost as a blackmail technique. The guarantees were only made available after the U.S. shoved PM Shamir from office and gave the Israeli Prime Ministry to a compliant Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. Buying these two was not a problem. The U.S. offers Israel a $3 Billion loan guarantee, issued in three phases. A "Loan Guarantee" means that Israel can obligate herself to the general market by borrowing money - ALL of which must be repaid with high interest rates. The supposed benefit is that, with the credit worthiness of Israel - backed by the U.S. loan guarantees, the rate of interest is marginally reduced. Israel must again go into substantial debt to fulfill the Bush mandated "Road Map: and Sharon's "Disengagement/Deportation" scheme. The next part of the trick will be coercion via the threat to withhold the guarantees unless Israel crawls and does exactly what Bush (and/or the State Department) dictates. That is called a "Dangle" which will hang over Israel's head like the proverbial Sword of Damocles. These demands would include (but not necessarily be limited to) abandoning the rest of Judea and Samaria, the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights - and what is now called East Jerusalem. Make no mistake. Today's civil battle for those with eyes to see clearly shows that, IF Israel can be forced to surrender Gush Katif and 4 settlements in the Northern Shomron, then the battle for the unity of Jerusalem as the capital of only the Jewish State is joined - make no mistake -this IS the battle for Jerusalem. Getting back to Sharon's Jerusalem Post (and other) interviews, he says that the Arabs must stop Terror before he continues with the evacuation Road Map. The fact is that Sharon has already accepted Terror as a way of life and yet he continues to move forward the implementation of the "Road Map" irrespective of continued Terror on a far more massive scale. This has been confirmed by the military General Staff and Intelligence, both of whom are ignored by Sharon. Sharon says smuggling of weapons must stop, knowing full well that Hosni Mubarak (President of Egypt) has been a co-conspirator with the Arab Muslim Palestinian Terrorists by allowing the tunnels to be dug and the weapons to be transported across Sinai. And yet, Sharon accepts (invites) the "idea" of Egyptian troops, between 4-7,000 men, with armor and helicopters to establish a perimeter at Rafiah. Even Bibi Netanyahu has stated that breaking the Sinai agreement of disarmament is not a good "idea". In other words, Sharon assists Egypt in re-establishing an armed Southern Front (illegal by the Camp David Accords) and a jump-off staging area for when Egypt gets around to mounting an all-out attack, probably in coordination with Iran and Syria against a truncated Israel. (Note! Don't count Iraq out of the "Terrorism" business either, once they go back to typical radical Islamic governance.) Presumably, the reader does understand that Egypt has received free $60 + Billion dollars spent mostly on American high tech weapons since the Camp David Accords, making Egypt what former Sen. Frank Church called the military colossus of the Middle East. Israel's senior staff has long been worried about the day when Egypt goes radical Islamic under the Islamic Brotherhood. The interviewer (Editor, David Horowitz) asks Sharon: "If Kassam rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza, would we not go back in?" Here Sharon, despite his body mass, begins to dance fast. Sharon tells us that he does not see a situation in which we would be required to go back into Gaza "on the ground". Sharon is inferring that we would somehow go back in to defend with air power our Israeli civilians across the Gaza border. Sharon already knows that, once we are out of Gaza/Gush Katif and Kassam Rockets (or mortars and Katyusha rockets) are fired in salvos, neither the U.S. nor the Quartet will allow Israeli counter-attacks - nor searches in 'hot pursuit' of Terrorists. Can we go back into Gaza as America did into Dresden, Germany and fire-bomb the entire city? Probably not - for sure! Arik knows that he is on a very short leash, with a choke collar (which one uses to restrain and train a dog). When Arik gives Israel assurances, he knows he is lying - which, of course, he does very well. Sharon always flops backs on the misleading verbiage that his relationship with America is very friendly. Take that answer apart for the real truth. The American people and the Congress are, indeed, very friendly to Israel. The Bush Administration, led by the pro-Arab State Department, is Very Friendly to the Arab Muslim countries, their oil, their cash flow and then - far in the rear, they have this vague friendliness for Israel - which is more of a political bone thrown to the American people and the Christian Zionist supporters of Israel. (Note! For more than 30 years I have written about the plan of the Arabist State Department and the oil multi-national industry to disassemble Israel which is now viewed as an irritant by Saudi Arabia - so that the oil business would not be unduly disturbed and now it is obviously happening.) Bush and company do not wish to look like a selfish or even an anti-Semitic government just because they follow the wishes of the Saudi kingdom. Subverting and even betraying an ally for oil is not that big a deal for the Bush oil consortium and the ever hostile U.S. State Department. The interviewer goes on: Question: "Are Ofra and Beit El part of a bloc?" (Note the evasive answer.) Sharon: "Beit El and Ofra are a large settlement with thousands of residents." (He just doesn't answer the question as to their prospective political evacuation.) Clearly, Arik Sharon is not now nor has he ever been a Nation Builder. As this Jewish nation's leader, he is submissive to the interests and mandates of other foreign nations. Granted, Israel is a very small nation and must make 'gestures' of appeasement to mollify her enemies and friends who have their own vested interests. However, cutting off parts of your own body to please others, slowly brings you to the point where what you have left to give up, no longer allows you to walk, to pick up things and, finally you are unable to protect yourself as you are now a multiple amputee. Israel is cutting off her own body parts to a point where there is little left on her already minuscule body. Sharon has lied so many time that nothing he says now can be believed. He will continue making gestures of releasing Arab Muslim prisoners - even those with Israeli blood on their hands - even as they return to Terror (as many of those already released have done). Sharon speaks about Diaspora Jews coming to Israel BUT, he has made Israel an undesirable destination for World Jewry as he quashes democracy, increases brutality of the Police and Army, uses the Shabak (Secret Services) to coerce Israelis - even by arresting and jailing girls as young as 13 (last week - they missed their family's Seders). So who wants to live in a Police State, run by crooks called politicians - unless they have always been one and the same? To sum up: On one hand you have a born-again Christian morphed into a person who has adopted the wishes of his father, James Baker, the Arabist State Department 'et al' to transfer the Jewish State over to a pagan Muslim civilization in defiance to G-d's promise to the Jewish people. One the other hand, you have PM Arik Sharon (Likud), Vice PM Shimon Peres (Labor) and the entire irreligious Left who wishes to de-Judaize Israel by evacuating ALL the Jewish holy sites and forcing evacuation of those religious folk of quality from the Land that they have worked hard to settle, make green, fruitful and profitable. Clearly, the forces of Good and Evil have joined in a battle to the end. Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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REMEMBER ETTY HILLESUM
Posted by Patrick Dempsey, April 26, 2005. |
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Etty was deported to Auschwitz from Westerbork on Tuesday 7th. September 1943. On board the "Transport" she found room enough to write her last letter, a postcard to those of her friends. The postcard was thrown from the Train where passersby found it and mailed it on. The postmark; Wednesday 15th. September 1943, addressed to:- Christine, Etty Hillesum was murdered at Auschwitz on Tuesday 30th. November 1943, 84 days after being "Transported East". I did not want to finish her Book so that in my mind I could keep her, somehow alive in my imagination. Sadly, in my rush to find out what she had to say next, her work had been done and her epitaph is here to be written. Patrick Dempsey is an Irish Catholic who writes on the Holocaust. Contact him at patrick1010@tiscali.co.uk |
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SHARON VISIT TO BUSH RANCH FOLLOWED BY THAT OF SAUDI RULER
Posted by Sergio Tezza (Hadar), April 26, 2005. |
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I wonder what kind of Saudi - and James f... the Jews Baker - concocted "road trap" they are preparing for us now... This is a news item from yesterday's Arutz Sheva (www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=80796). The pictures were posted yesterday on IsraPundit (www.israpundit.com) by Joseph Alexander Norland, cohost of IsraPundit, who wrote, "I didn't make these up - honestly! I have heard of men who would chase anything wearing a dress, but this is ridiculous!" The close proximity of the Saudi de facto ruler's visit to
that of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's dilutes the claim that Sharon's
visit to the Bush ranch was a special privilege granted only to close
allies. The visit was touted by the Israeli press as an indication of
the special relationship granted Israel due to plans to withdraw from
Gaza and the northern Shomron.
[Editor's note: A comment by Robert in IsraPundit: "As Jay
Leno said, 'The Saudis are really helping in the 'War on Terror'. If
it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be fighting terror.'"
Another comment by Jennie: "I did get a giggle this morning Fox
news showed that very same picture with the song " Love Is In The
Air" playing in the background even I was shaking my head at this one
thinking to myself Prez what could you be thinking by holding the
crown prince's hand especially in light of the fact so many fellow
Americans distrust the Saudis along with the fact rising oil costs
have put many companies an employees out of work an none of us want
to be perceived as having a whim to hold the crown princes hand nor
do we feel love is in the air given the behavior of the Saudis. I
cannot fathom the direction the war on terrorism has turned if the
Saudis have been encouraging jihad then why would they have been
greeted with such a warm welcome? To add to that at one point North
Sudan was being credited for being a somewhat beneficial ally in the
war on terrorism but as of yesterday the 700 Club broke a story which
dispelled that a video tape snuck out of North Sudan showing a
terrorist training camp for youths where children were being schooled
in how to kill Christains, Jews and those of other faiths along with
two former members of the camps one a former instructor who not only
gave insight but also said the North Sudanese govt was well aware of
the existance of not just that camp but at least 8 others. Now we all
know the fact that there has been an ongoing campaign by the North
Sudanese to wipe out the predominately Christain South. That tape
shown on the 700 Club documented and busted the North Sudanese red
handed. A reporter with the 700 Club took the tape to the North
Sudanese ambassador and played it for him all of it televized of
course. The ambassador just sat there stonewalling saying no I don't
think so it isn't correct as the reporter said oh yes take a look at
the date and location then came complete silence. Heh I certainly
hope at least some of our leadership watched that telecast on the 700
Club because it proved that North Sudan was in fact supporting
terrorism."]
Contact Hadar at Hadar-Israel@verizon.net |
Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is due to meet US President
George W. Bush at his ranch in Texas today.
Bush has urged Saudi Arabia to expand "the role of its people in
determining their future." But, despite muted US State Department
criticism, the Saudi Kingdom has largely ignored US encouragement to
become democratic. It is far from backing away from Islamic rule.
Militant Wahabi Islamists swept the latest municipal elections held
there. Women were not allowed to vote or take part in the local
elections.
Just this weekend, Saudi Arabia detained 40 Christians for praying
within the country, which has made the practicing of any non-Islamic
religion illegal. The men, women and children, Christians from
Pakistan were found praying in a private residence and immediately
arrested according to Al-Jazeera. The Arab news station also reported
that Christian tapes and books were found and confiscated.
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WHAT IF 100,000 JEWS COME PROTECT GUSH KATIF?
Posted by Anita Tucker, April 26, 2005. |
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I know we're all rejoicing in Pesach preparations but it's important to spread this message as we join with all of Klal Yisrael in celebrating Chag HaMatzot this week. Forward to your friends and family as well. When the Ramatkal, Dan Chalutz, was in Gush Katif yesterday and was asked what the army would do if it came to evacuate and found 100,000 Jews standing in opposition. He said that Tzahal couldn't do anything against that kind of public pressure and that it would send the decision back to the Knesset rather than deal with this. Therefore, we are all asked to realize the importance of the moment and save Israel by being there and not allowing ANY Jews to be evacuated from any of Israel. The domino effect of capitulating and allowing the evacuation of Gush Katif (God forbid) is obvious and despite declarations to the contrary, it would be very difficult to evacuate other parts of Israel if we stand firm for and with Gush Katif, May it be a Chag Geula for ALL of KLAL YISRAEL and may we indeed see a Kibutz Galuyot and safety and good health for all of Israel, Shabbat Shalom and Chag SAMEACH veKasher! See you all during Chol HaMoed in Gush Katif, Be"H! Anita Tucker lives in Gush Katif, Gaza. |
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OPERATION CHECKMATE
Posted by Denise Andrades, April 26, 2005. |
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This strategic piece of commentary on the plight of Israel and the Jewish people and their constant need to protect and protest at the diminishing land mass being claimed by the Muslims (and Christians) is most alarming. The Muslims keep telling us that Mohammed is the last prophet. My question is who was the first and why no respect for our Torah written by the first scribe, Moses? This is a seriously distressing situation for the Jewish people with rising European ant-Semitism and discrimination in all of the Arab nations. Israel is more important than ever and even as a secular Australian with Jewish roots I feel more than ever like going to live there. I would demonstrate in the Arab sectors holding up my placard with the words "Go back to Mecca where you belong." I don't want to kill them, but because they want to kill me, what choice do I have? Yes the world should be made to sit up and watch us as we have to eliminate all opposition to our religious views as they want to eliminate us. They have made themselves fair game with their lack of respect for our holy sites and their wrecking of all the other surrounding religions icons, like the giant Buddhist statues in Afghanhistan and creating a Mosque at the site of the Golden Temple where Ram the Hindu god is supposed to have been born. It's time the world stopped the aggressive behaviour OF THESE ARROGANT AND DESTRUCTIVE MUSLIMS and teached them a lesson in humility. Personally I don't give a damn about them owning all of the oil, because its only going to run out and then where will we all be? It is evil to base political decisions on such limited economic resources. And then they create really disgustingly rich oil shieks who don't even share their wealth with the rest of the population. The whole situation stinks and I am living for the day when as a Jew I can feel proud and know the Temple Mount is under the control of the Jewish people and we can commence construction of the Third Temple dedicated to our God, JHWH. CHEERS/SHALOM |
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FRIEDMAN...YOU'RE WHAT GIVES LIBERALS A BAD NAME
Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, April 26, 2005. |
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And I'm no right-winger. While he sits--on that rare occasion when his boss isn't paying for his travels around the world (careful Tommy...despite your frequent Arab derriere kissing, with your last name, you'd better remember Danny Pearl)--in a home probably farther away from his New York Times office than the State of Israel is in width, Friedman loves to take other Jews to task for wanting something beyond a 9-mile wide rump state status imposed upon them in 1949 by a United Nations more concerned with limiting Arab losses than halting their initial aggression. That's how Israel got those pre-'67 armistice lines--not borders--that have served as a constant invitation to 300 million Arabs who surround it to sever it in half. The U.N.'s Ralph Bunche, the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, had plenty to say about this. So did Lord Caradon, Eugene Rostow, and other architects of Resolution 242. I wonder if Tommy ever read them? It certainly doesn't appear so. Let's get something straight. It's not Israeli annexation of all the disputed territories that's at issue here--despite how Friedman constantly twists the truth--but justice's demand that the travesty of the Auschwitz lines imposed upon the Jews in their sole state at long last--as U N Security Council Resolution 242 called for--be rectified. Israel isn't looking to rule over millions of Arabs, and he knows this. Yet this is what Friedman dwells on and how he chooses to present Israel's case. There are a few choice words describing those who indulge in such things. Read my mind... Any 22nd Arab state--and second, not first Arab one created out of the original 1920 borders of Palestine (Jordan created from the lion's share in 1922), should not be born at the expense of the minimal requirements for some sane semblance of security for Israel's Jews. Nations (which dwarf Israel in size and power) habitually conquer, acquire, and manipulate territories often hundreds or thousands of miles away from home in the name of national security. Think Panama or the Falklands War for just a few examples. Only Jews are expected to forsake even minimal needs in these regards. That's what the issue regarding the territories is really all about. Reading Friedman, however, you'd never know it. Poll after poll taken among Arabs repeatedly show that the size of Israel is not the issue. The very existence of a Jewish State on what Arabs claim to be purely Arab patrimony is. Arabs fought three wars with Israel before the latter was ever in the disputed territories. Friedman knows all of this, as he knows that his buddy, Mahmoud Abbas, got elected running on a platform calling for Israel's destruction--but by "more acceptable" means. Blown buses bring bad press. Yet Tommy chooses to paint Jews in search of a fair territorial compromise with those who delight in disemboweling their children merely as extremists. Listen to a typical Friedmanism from one of his latest op-eds, "Rooting For The Good Guys": "...This withdrawal is a threat to the Jewish religious nationalists. Their goal is not peace, but to conquer Israeli society with their messianic vision and biblical map..." He devoted about 85% of that article to this theme and the rest--the last two paragraphs--to addressing the Arabs. A few years back, he took great pride in his claim to be the originator of the so-called "Saudi Peace Plan." This also tells you where Friedman is coming from. That "peace (of the grave) plan" called for a total withdrawal of Israel to the Auschwitz lines and a "return" of millions of Arabs (most of whom never lived in Israel) who have been raised on Jew-hatred and canonizing those who blow Jews apart to the Jews' lone, rump state. Half of Israel's Jews were refugees from "Arab"/Muslim lands--but without some two dozen other states to choose from. Friedman should have to live with such neighbors in his own back yard...or perhaps have to take an Egged bus to work. As just one of many other examples of "justice"--Friedman style--listen to his advice to some thirty million truly stateless Kurds, whose best chance at independence was sacrificed after World War I on the altar of British petroleum politics and Arab nationalism. While I'm not a wealthy author and New York columnist, my work on this subject was published in a heavily Nobel Laureate-sponsored academic journal, the Fall 1981 Middle East Review, and can be found on recommended reference lists of leading universities all around the world--including Paris' famed Science Po...Not bad for someone who had his academic career nipped in the bud because his politics differed with the tenured chief honcho who used one set of lenses for the scrutiny of Israel and another for the study of the neighborhood in which it exists. Here's Friedman on the Kurds' quest for their share of justice. He stated in the March 26, 2003 New York Times that they should be told point blank... "...What part of 'no? don't you understand' ...You Kurds are not breaking away." While Tommy and professors such as the one described above laugh at or belittle the needs and aspirations of others in the region, both he and they are tireless proponents of the demands of the Arabs themselves for the creation of their 22nd state. While he gives a few sentences of lip service regarding Arab extremists--even though, unlike Israel's own few real "extremists," those of the Arabs are in the clear majority when it comes to not conceding rights to others--he allows Israel no wriggle room in dealing with the fragile realities of its pre-'67 existence. Jews as perpetual victims are what his kind of "liberals" demand. And for those who do not know, the '67 Six Day War began with an Arab blockade of Israel--a clear casus belli--and other hostile acts as well. That's how Israel wound up in the disputed, unapportioned (not purely Arab) lands of the original Mandate and elsewhere...fighting yet another defensive war for its very life. Liberals (as well as other fair-minded folks) are not supposed to just shed tears over victims but are supposed to want to see a long term resolution to their victimization. Perfect justice doesn't exist anywhere among the realm of man, so Friedman and his ilk should not demand it in terms of the Arab-Israeli dispute either. This being the case, the basic needs of the sole state of the world's longest victimized people--the Jews--should not be subjected to the treatment that those like Friedman constantly subject it to. $ID |
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BRITISH BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS
Posted by Judith Prewitt, April 26, 2005. |
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The boycott is outrageous. This first item is a letter was written my friend Dr. Benjamin Szwergold. Dear Sir, The recent AUT decision to boycott Israeli Academic institutions is antisemitic in the best tradition of the actions of the Nazi academics in the universities of the Third Reich. You sir, and your colleagues just joined their ranks. Your action goes against everything that Universities and Colleges nominally aspouse, such as freedom of thought and opinions. It is nauseating but alas, not surprising...... Shame on you ! Benjamin S. Szwergold, Ph.D.
Statement by AUT general secretary Sally Hunt: AUT Council today decided to boycott Haifa University and the Bar-Ilan University. The executive committee will issue guidance to AUT members on these decisions. Council delegates also referred a call to boycott the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the executive committee will investigate the background to this and will report in due course. Council delegates also agreed to circulate to all local associations a statement from Palestinian organisations calling for an academic boycott of Israeli institutions. Press contact:
This is called "UK teachers' union passes boycott of Israeli
academics" and was written by Talya Halkin and Sari Cohen. It appeared
in the Jerusalem Post Apr. 22, 2005.
New motions to boycott Israeli academics were passed on Friday at the annual meeting of the Association of University Teachers in the UK. The AUT voted to pass two of three motions directed against individual universities and to boycott Haifa University and Bar Ilan University.
The AUT accused Haifa University of restricting the academic freedom of staff members who are critical of the government, and protest Bar Ilan's campus in the settlement Ariel in the West Bank, The Guardian reported.
A third boycott proposal against the Hebrew University was dropped after delegates to the meeting questioned the evidence of an alleged case of Palestinian land confiscation by the university.
The Israeli Embassy in London released a statement condemning the boycott as a biased and adverse move which, far from promoting peace efforts, it ignores and sabotages progress made between the Israelis and Palestinians.
"The resolutions are as perverse in their content as in the way they were debated and adopted. The AUT ignored overwhelming academic and public rejection of the proposed motions.
"The fact that no AUT member who wanted to argue against this decision was allowed to speak, and the case for the Israeli universities was not presented to delegates, speaks volumes about the relevance and fairness of this debate," the embassy statement read.
As the statement notes, Israeli universities are rare institutions in which Arabs and Jews work and study side by side.
"In particular, Haifa University, which was boycotted today, has a substantial Arab faculty and student body. Such institutions are at the forefront of efforts to develop cooperation between different communities and thus further steps towards peace."
"We are certain that the British Government and British university
authorities will make it clear that no discrimination or bias on the
grounds of nationality, race or religion will be tolerated in UK
higher education. Academics should be at the forefront of
international cooperation - by passing these resolutions the AUT is
doing exactly the opposite," it concluded.
Britain's Orthodox chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks expressed his
disappointment in the AUT's decision.
"This is a political campaign," Jonathan Spyer, Director of the European Affairs of the Global Center in International Affairs at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzeliya, told The Jerusalem Post after Friday's bote.
"Indeed," he said, "the model or metaphor for it is the campaign against South African apartheid."
"The boycott," added Spyer, who is an expert on Europe-Israel relations and on the new anti-Semitism in Europe, "should be seen as part of a broader strategy toward the de-legitimization of Israel, leading to eventual sanctions against the country. This is a political campaign. The people behind the campaign, such as Sue Blackwell, are opposed to the continued existence of the State of Israel. In line with PLO policy of the 1970s, they wish to see the Jewish State replaced by a 'democratic-secular state', i.e., a single state with a Palestinian Arab majority between the Jordan and the Mediterranean."
The motions had provoked a heated debate earlier this week before the AUT assembled on Wednesday for a three-day meeting in Eastbourne, in South-East England.
Pro-boycott activists were hopeful that their motions stood a
better chance of being passed this year after they were turned
down in 2003. One reason for their optimism, they said earlier this
month, was that they have now received the unequivocal support of
the Federation of Unions of Palestinian Universities' Teachers and
Employees, a sister union of the British association. The
Palestinian federation has recently released a statement endorsing
the British call to boycott Israeli universities. In an interview
with The Jerusalem Post earlier this month, Sue Blackwell, a
Birmingham University lecturer and one of the leaders of the
boycott proposal, told the Post that she "completely agreed" with
comparisons between Israel and the former Apartheid regime in South
Africa.
Dr. Judith Martha Prewitt, FIEEE can be reached at
MadameProfessor@EarthLink.net
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U.S. JEWRY & POLLARD; SHARON'S DEFENSE OF ABANDONMENT; WHY SHARON CALLS A REFERENDUM UNDEMOCRATIC
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 26, 2005. |
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U.S. JEWRY & POLLARD The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported about the hearing. It contends that the State of Israel and "members of the Jewish community" of the US lobbied hard and long for clemency." Justice4Pollard calls that report a sanitized version. Actually, the State abandoned Pollard and so did most US Jewish organizations. They turn away at their own peril, for this is "a case that continues to be used to call into question Israel's reliability as an ally and the loyalty of American Jews." "Judge Sentelle's hostile observation that 'the problem with Mr. Pollard is that he thinks he is unique' speaks more about America's contempt for the cause Jonathan served - Israel and the Jews - than it does about Jonathan personally. This is the very issue that Israel and the Jewish leaders -with the help of the Jewish media- have spent 2 decades trying to ignore. By turning their backs on Government excesses and judicial inequities, they have tried to convince themselves that this really has nothing to do with them." "Anyone who was in the courtroom last Tuesday had the same sinister message - that Jews are fair game in America - driven home to them all over again." The US Jewish media either neglected or misrepresented his case. (I remember the "Jewish Week" of New York writing a hatchet job about Pollard, with fabrications it should have checked and debunked rather than reiterated.) The report stated that Pollard could appeal to the US Supreme Court but not now unlikely that Court would be to grant a hearing. "The third judge, who dominated the hearing, Judge David Sentelle, is described by the JTA as "visibly frustrated." "Judge Sentelle repeatedly side-tracked the oral argument, verbally harassing and nitpicking on irrelevant matters until the presentation time was used up." "In fact he was openly hostile, mocking, and scornful. He went so far as to insist that in this case the court does not have the authority to allow Pollard's security-cleared attorneys access to their client's own sentencing file. How much more obvious could Sentelle's contempt be, than to suggest that the court has no authority over court documents! The best legal minds in the country support Jonathan Pollard's attorneys' right to access the material in their client's own sentencing docket. But JTA takes no note of this and fails to mention that the American Civil Liberties Union, The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, The American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists and prominent individuals have filed a "Friend of the Court Brief" in support. Even the Government had previously conceded that the Court has the authority to grant access to the documents, but had confined its argument to the position that the Court should not do so in this case." (IMRA, 3/22 from Justice4Pollard.) The hearing was more cover-up. Ours is a government by conspiracy, whitewash, and cover up. WHY SHARON CALLS A REFERENDUM UNDEMOCRATIC "NOT a Purim spoof! Yesterday at the Likud party caucus, Ariel Sharon harangued the Likud leaders to reject the idea of a national referendum on his 'disengagement' plan for Gaza, claiming it was dangerous and undemocratic. When challenged to explain why it was dangerous and democratic, he replied, "No one knows to what it could lead. It could lead to ELECTIONS." So now we understand. Undemocratic things are those that lead to elections" (Prof. Plaut, 3/22). The abandonment plan is dangerous, because it gives free rein to terrorists to arm with heavier weapons and attack Israel all along its border at times and places of their choosing. Sharon's tactics for getting it authorized are undemocratic. 1. "The successful withdrawal from Southern Lebanon is a precedent for everything that will take place in Gaza and Northern Samaria after the withdrawal from these areas". There were a hundred missile attacks, alone, killing 28 people. 2. "There is less incitement from the Palestine Authority since Abu Mazen's entry into his position as president". The government is not monitoring this. (IMRA reports continued mosque and media incitement.) 3. "Abu Mazen is a peace seeking leader". The Israeli government ought to publicize and criticize Mazen for constantly admitting that he will not disarm the terrorists and, in fact, will enroll them in his official police. His "statements do not represent any willingness for peace or co-existence with the people of Israel." 4. "Aid given to the PA education is a positive development". "...reports from the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, www.edume.org, ... show that the PA's educational system is based on continuing the war against the "Zionist State". 5. "The United States promised to recognize settlement blocs". PM Sharon cites "agreements reached in his meeting with Bush on April 13th, 2004. The only problem is that the American Embassy informed me that the American Foreign Ministry completely denies any such promise of recognition of settlements." 6. "As part of the United States' gestures of good will to Israel for the Gaza and Northern Samaria withdrawal, the US will aid in the buying of the property belonging to the residents of the settlements." US Aid denied being asked and denies that it would. 7. "Israel is expecting the United stated to automatically provide additional funding for the high cost of dismantling and pulling out of the settlements". "There is no indication of such on Capitol Hill" 8. "Jerusalem is not up for negotiations". "However, one must pay close attention to US Secretary of State, Condeleeza Rice, who clearly states that the US opposes any settlement activity beyond the '67 borders. When I asked the US Embassy spokesman whether reconstruction of the famous "Hurva" synagogue, located in the Jewish Quarter of Old City of Jerusalem and destroyed by the Jordanians in 1948, was considered to be "illegal settlement activity", the answer was, 'yes'." 9. "Improvement of Security". "Anyone visiting the Elei Sinai community in the most northern most part of Katif in Gaza will quickly see that the distance between the front porches of that community and the major power station in Ashkelon is within shooting range. Is it not quite evident that after Israel's pullout from such an important strategic region that Ashkelon's power station will not be threatened by PA security forces and all the terror organizations who populate the Gaza Strip? 10. "The Western Negev will be strengthened". "Most recently, guides from the Jewish Agency reported that they had received guidelines not to encourage organized groups to sleep over in the facilities of the Western Negev region, because of security concerns from Gaza. A sign of things to come?" (IMRA, 3/23.) NEW P.A. ACCUSATIONS AGAINST ISRAEL The P.A. accused Israeli troops of herding Arabs, returning from the Sinai to Gaza at the Rafiah crossing, into a room where they are irradiated in order to give them deadly diseases. The P.A. Ambassador to Sri Lanka alleges that two Israelis killed Arafat with a laser device. He claims that they were caught by P.A. guards and held Canadian passports (IMRA, 3/22). The passports may have been mentioned to irk Canada, already sensitive to Israeli agents' improper use of its passports. The pair has not been produced. It's the usual accusation without evidence. Arab slanderers are capable of going into non-existent detail. I have the impression that the major US media ignores that particularly ridiculous type of defamation, though it repeats other types against Israel. (I wonder whether the European media, more biased, reiterates it.) Why doesn't the US media publicize constant Arab accusations that Israel poisons the Arabs, debunk them, and draw the proper conclusions about Arab unreliability and viciousness? One needn't demonize the Arabs to show they are like demons. HOW THE IDF DEFEATED ARAFAT The myth had gained currency that terrorism in general cannot be stopped. Israel, however, stopped it as a major force, though a relatively few attackers got through. It defeated Arafat. Other countries are studying what Israel did, to learn how to do the same. Israel's methods were: "1) Highly advanced intelligence capabilities; 2) Precision-guided weapons for preventive targeted attacks against terrorists; 3) Isolation of the political leaders (Arafat); 4) Extensive perimeter defense; 5) A motivated and resilient civilian population, which continues to identify closely with the IDF." Unfortunately, Israeli appeasement detracted from this success: "The transfer of control of cities and villages to the PLO and other groups under the ill-considered Oslo 'peace process' had severely impaired Israel's capability to monitor and, where necessary, act against Palestinian (Arab) terrorist activities." Hence most Israeli casualties were in the first year. Training kept IDF casualties to a tenth of what Arafat expected. "In parallel, the policy of isolating Arafat in a 'closed military zone' without ready media access was a highly successful example of psychological and political warfare, and clearly a better option than arrest, exile or assassination, however morally justified. As a result, Palestinians no longer heard his support for 'martyrs,' but saw his impotence daily, particularly when first the U.S. government, and then, with reluctance, even Arafat's European backers, agreed that he had become 'irrelevant.' (So they turned to Abu Mazen, with fresh cynicism/naivete.) The IDF took (excessive) risks to avoid inflicting excessive civilian casualties. With whatever it did, however, its ideological enemies found fault. Israeli incompetence at propaganda let it appear that the IDF was neither competent nor ethical. Thus NGOs unfairly and incorrectly accuse Israel of war crimes and violations of international law (when it is terrorism that violates international law). They used biased sources (IMRA, 3/23 from Gerald Steinberg). Imagine how well the war would have gone if the government were patriotic! Its failure to arrest Arafat indicated impotence. Arafat should have been put on trial for another 10 crimes every month. That would have shown his criminality. JORDAN: FOR OR AGAINST ANTISEMITISM? King Abdullah plans an initiative against antisemitism. He said he has sent messages to other Arab states urging them to fight antisemitism, but he did not reveal the content. He told some US Jewish organizations that he wants to remove the religious component from the Arab-Israel conflict. His speech to an Arab summit in Algiers, however, did not mention antisemitism. IMRA reminds us that his schools' textbooks are antisemitic (IMRA, 3/23). I'll bet that the Jewish representatives did not ask him about his antisemitic schools. They are better at memorializing dead Jews than preserving live ones. HOW MUCH CORRUPTION IN THE P.A.? The P.A. claims a 27% increase in territorial income. It attributes it to fighting corruption, since commerce did not grow. There must have been a lot of corruption! There still is, according to candidates in the 2004 P.A. elections. It was a major issue. Even the official newspaper complains that the government buys $76,000 new cars for Ministers who are supposed to turn in their older cars but don't. The existence of that critical editorial represents progress (IMRA, 3/23 from Palestinian Media Watch). It became popular to complain about corruption, so its existence cannot be assumed from complaints. Corruption and dictatorship are their problem, not ours, so any reduction in it does not necessarily affect us positively, since their jihad continues. The perquisites of Israeli officials can match those stories. For example, for an automobile, a Member of Knesset sold his vote and put over Oslo, hundreds of Israeli deaths ago. Corruption may be keeping PM Sharon hostage to the Left and therefore to the Arabs. The last two Israeli elections were financed by illegal foreign donations. Arbitrary power there increases corruption. CIVIL PROTEST IN ISRAEL Some opponents of Sharon's abandonment plan blocked traffic. Others brought to residents of Israel literature with produce from their Gaza hothouses that Peres is eager to give, free, to the P.A.. Police detained them all, regardless of what they didn't or wouldn't do. They were detained because of what they stood for - opposition to the government plan. Detainees report sudden police violence, deliberate as ascertained by police removing their ID. Police claim it was minimal or provoked by non-cooperation (Arutz-7, 3/23). If provoked, arrest. They didn't arrest. Therefore, the violence must have been simple brutality. I think that the police don't know how to cope with civil protest, are brutal, and are confused over who is protesting and whether it is legal. There is a combination of willfulness and incompetence. I disapprove of blocking other people's traffic. Ironically, doing that was a police tactic, as by halting the Purim gift-givers. Civil disobedience on highways should be reserved for major issues, such as this one. It is resorted to in student and labor disputes. I think it curbs sympathy, whereas its promulgator believes it draws attention to the national crisis. WHICH WAY TURKEY? Turkey now joins the Arab states in which Hitler's autobiography, "Mein Kampf" is a best seller. The book blames the world's problems on the Jews (sorry, lost source). How fast Turkey turned against its Kemalist, secular heritage! The secular parties' corruption cost them public favor. SHARON'S NEW PROMISES Fresh from breaking all his old promises, such as promising to abide to votes against his plan, PM Sharon is making new promises, to shore up his budget, whose approval is needed for keeping his post. The new promise to opponents of his abandonment plan is that he would not make further withdrawals except as negotiated with the P.A.. The promise has an escape clause. After all his dissembling about the advantages and consequences of his plan, his contradicting the platform on which his Party won a landslide victory, his dirty politics (and dirty tricks), his lying about accepting the results of votes on it, and his ignoring the votes of his Cabinet, it is amazing that some people still believe Sharon. One hopes that the people will stop obeying his illegal orders (Winston Mid East Analysis, 3/24). WHAT DO THE ARABS WANT? The Jerusalem Post writes that the Arab summit "opted to readopt the 'Saudi plan' passed in Beirut in 2002. This plan included the familiar Palestinian (Arab) positions calling for Israel to withdraw to the 1967 lines and establish a (second Arab) Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital... The fact is that, once again, the governments meeting in Algiers missed an opportunity to lead toward the peace they insist they want, and to assuage Israeli concerns about their true intentions. There is a simple measure of leadership: Will these states take steps that encourage the Palestinians to moderate their demands, most importantly concerning the 'right of return'? Will they encourage the Palestinians to take more realistic positions that are fully consistent with Israel's sovereignty and right to exist?" (Foreign Ministry, 3/24.) The Arab summit showed their true intention: conquer Israel. If they tried to "assuage Israeli concerns about their true intentions," they would have been lying and perhaps deceiving. It would be dangerous for Israel if they encouraged the Palestinian Arabs "to moderate their demands," for then Israel might sooner make a deal that gives the Arabs concessions. Giving aggressors concessions is unfair to the victims. It also positions the aggressors closer to victory. WHY CHIEF OF STAFF WAS DISMISSED "Moufaz, Israel's Defense Minister told Yaalon that he was relieving him of his duties because he did not think he fully supported the disengagement plan. Moufaz conceded that Yaalon was one of the finest Chief of Staffs Israel ever had and said that he has not one complaint against Yaalon other than the fact that he once voiced doubt about the disengagement plan. Ironically, Yaalon has given full backing to Sharon and has since showed complete loyalty to the plan." (Voice of Judea, 3/24.) Mofaz' action seems totalitarian and paranoid. U.S. BACKTRACKING ON WHO IS A TERRORIST At a briefing, the State Dept. representative said, "And you saw that there may have been people elected that may have been members of Hamas, but they weren't terrorists. They were people who advocated the importance of improving the quality of life for people in the region, people in the Territories. And they were businesspeople, they're professionals." (IMRA, 3/16.) Many terrorist leaders are professionals, doesn't the State Dept. know? Their domestic program doesn't matter, when their ideology and organization is terrorist. The domestic program is a means to power, not evidence of decency. The State Dept. either is getting ready to make a deal with Hamas or naively believes its fairytale ending to Hamas. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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NOT RELIGIOUS AND NOT STUPID
Posted by Sergio Tezza (Hadar), April 26, 2005. |
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This was written by Daniel Hulkower and appeared in Arutz-Sheva (http://israelnn.com/article.php3?id=5036) April 20, 2005 as an Opinion piece. Hulkower is an immigrant from Brooklyn and lives in Kiryat Ata. He hopes to soon enter the Israeli army. I am not a religious Jew. In America, my Friday nights were spent with my friends and my Saturdays were spent on my motorcycle. (If you live in Brooklyn, New York and saw a red motorcycle driven by someone wearing a helmet that said "It is forbidden to give them a state" in Hebrew - that was me.) In Israel, it is not much different for me; I am secular and very proud to be Jewish. I am an ardent Zionist and a proud supporter of Judea, Samaria and Gaza (as a matter of fact, I have been to Gush Katif twice already, and I am planning on going on the upcoming Arutz-7 tour, as well). The fact that I am secular kind of distinguishes me from my fellow right-wing Zionist counterparts. The reasoning behind my support for the settlements is not as much religious as it is political. I know stupidity when I see it, and giving land to terrorists in exchange for ho-hum peace plans is a good definition of stupid. I know very well that giving land for peace can not and will not work. I have done my reading and research, and discovered that the land-for-peace concept is a leftist hoax, which guarantees nothing but more terrorism and the further destruction of our state. Recently, I saw I sign near Haifa that proclaimed, "22 Dead. Leave Gaza Now!" 22 soldiers dying for their country and that all of a sudden means that withdrawing from Gaza will surely prevent more from dying? The contradiction there, of course, is that if soldiers are there fighting terrorism, destroying weapons tunnels, preventing Kassam rockets from flying and halting the free movement of terrorists, then why pull them out? If we do that, the only logical conclusion is that these things will continue to happen, but nobody will be there to stop them. If the Israeli army is then forced to reenter Gaza, then that means more soldiers may be killed and the whole Disengagement was for nothing. People today also complain about the money being spent to protect these lands, but it will cost just the same when we have to go back in. So why withdraw in the first place? Furthermore, with a recent increase in terrorism of a whopping 330% - with Kassams landing in Gush Katif, thus breaking the Sharm El-Sheikh agreement - why bother leaving? The point of withdrawing from Gaza is so that the Palestinians will be able to keep themselves in line, but they cannot. For the life of me, I will never understand why people (especially secularists like myself) believe that the Palestinians are trustworthy partners in peace. Forget for a minute the fact that Gaza is ancient Jewish land, and look at the fact that there is no evidence the Palestinians have ever proven themselves worthy of their own state. I cannot understand why this does not occur to enough people. Through increases in terrorism, both inside and outside Green-Line Israel, with anti-Israel hatred brewing daily throughout Gaza and the West Bank, why do enough people not realize that Palestinians are not our "friends and peace partners"? Even when the supporters of Disengagement bring up their worn-out argument that "soldiers are dying," it does not occur to them to examine why this is so. It is not because 8,000 Jews live in red-roofed houses and make deserts bloom, it is because Palestinians want to destroy us. People call the leftists "misguided", but I am sorry, folks, you do not need to be a prodigy to know to who your enemies are. Well, for all those in Judea, Samaria and Gaza who believe that most leftist groups are comprised of secularists, and that all secularists are leftists, just know that there are many out there like me and my friends. We support you and your fight. If need be, I would not think twice about going to Gaza to fight at your side. Contact Hadar at Hadar-Israel@verizon.net |
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FAMILY TOUR OF DUTY
Posted by Judy Lash Balint, April 26, 2005. |
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This essay was written by Laura Ben-David, who lives in Neve Daniel.
Contact her by e-mail at Laura@LBWx2.com
When we moved to Israel from South Florida over 2 1/2 years ago we were realizing a 2,000 year old dream. We were not moving as a political statement, or to double the number of passports we have to carry - (though both happened whether we wanted it or not). In fact when we chose to live "over the green line" it had nothing to do with idealism or extremism or any other "ism". It was simply a place within the land of Israel that was beautiful and had excellent schools. When we left America we were not leaving an oppressive, dictatorial state to practice religious freedom like so many others who have left such countries. We were not seeking a democratic way of life, the right to vote, free speech, freedom to protest the government, or any of the other freedoms that we Americans take for granted and of which we would expect nothing less. Unlike our ancestors who underwent countless challenges and difficulties to move to the Promised Land, we went with a 40-ft container filled with our belongings, moved into a lovely rental home, were greeted by all sorts of services and assistance. Really, there has never been a better time to move to Israel from this perspective. Spiritually we knew we were going to a much better place. There is no place like it in the world. And hundreds of millions of people across the globe, of three of the major world religions, agree with that. At least that hasn't changed. But something happened. Despite Israel's reputation as an island of democracy in a sea of religious dictatorships, the reputation is grossly inaccurate. Though represented as a democracy, the State of Israel is anything but. As Sharon's "unilateral disengagement plan" looms ever closer, the Jewish citizens of Gaza and from a few towns in northern Samaria are bracing themselves for eviction from their homes and their land. Though Sharon's use of the word "unilateral" was meant to indicate that it was don't without negotiation with the Arabs, it is more accurate to say that it was unilateral because it was without negotiation with much of anyone. Though it went against the very party that Sharon represents, and theoretically against the moral fiber of every democratic society in the world, Sharon has used everything in his power, whether legal or not, to make this happen. I know that there are often very difficult decisions, and even huge concessions, that need to be made in any type of negotiations. Sometimes they can be very painful ones. But I have always lived in a democracy where even if something I so strongly believed in was voted against, there is a sense of security in knowing that a sacred process was followed. The process of democratic vote. The process that says that the majority wants it a certain way, and that is the way it will be. And I can live with that even if it is strongly against my own choice. I am very sorry to say that that process is not in place in the State of Israel. Yesterday, the first day of Chol Hamoed (intermediate days of Passover), we had the good fortune to join our friends the Goldsteins on a trip to the beautiful Jewish communities in the eviction-threatened Gaza Strip. Shaul Goldstein is not only the Mayor of Gush Etzion, he is also the second-in-command of the Yesha Council and he knows the Gaza communities in a way that no tour guide could. We first stopped at Netiv Ha'Asarah on the northern border of Gaza. We saw beautiful Jewish homes there in towns on both sides of the border; homes that looked like they came right out of Boca Raton, Florida. Unbelievably, the homes on the "Gaza" side of the fence are slated to be taken away from their Jewish residents and handed over to the Arabs on a silver platter so that they will border the other Jewish town. Hamas will then have no need to improve their Kassam rocket weapon technology at that point as the distance between their homes and the Jewish homes will be much less than ever before. We then toured all over the Jewish neighborhoods of the Gaza Strip. We went to Gush Katif, and saw its various communities, like Ganei Tal, and others. A little fishing village, several very large neighborhoods with stunning homes, clean, colorful parks with children everywhere, schools; Everything one would imagine in any blooming, vibrant town. Plus so much more. The famous Gush Katif industry of hydroponic vegetables and many plants and flowers were evident all over as greenhouses filled the scenery. We stopped at a fabulous greenhouse to buy plants for our new home. We wondered if we would ever have the chance to buy there again. We stopped for lunch in a lovely little village where our children ran and played on the beautiful playground equipment set upon perfectly manicured green grass with colorful flowers abound. What was remarkably evident was the extreme care that the villagers used to maintain their homes and their surroundings. Yet these people are about to be taken from their homes, their parks, their green grass, and their flowers. After lunch we went the short distance to the beach. The land that is called the Gaza Strip is actually a relatively narrow parcel of land that runs along the Mediterranean Sea and takes up around 20% of Israel's coastline with it. As our children romped in the still-cold-from-winter waves, I stood back and enjoyed the fresh air, the salt-spray, the joyful shouts all around me, and all I could think of is that Sharon wants to give this all away. I looked around at the many children splashing and having a wonderful time, wondering which of them lived here and were about to have the beach that they grew up on taken away from them. I wondered how many of those same children had come to Israel with their families on Aliyah, realizing the same dream I had, only chosen this wonderful sea-side life in place of the mountains I chose. How many of their grandparents had come on Aliyah after being harshly evicted from their homes in World War II Europe, or in post-1948 Middle East. To have come so far to find the Jewish haven - and then to have Jews, themselves, do the evicting! It is unconscionable; -- it is unthinkable! Our final stop in Gaza was the small neighborhood of Kfar Darom. We were all invited into the home of Shaul's friend, a delightful man who lost his wife, Miri Amitai, to an Arab terror attack. We then saw the beautiful synagogue that was built in her memory and to the memory of four others from the community who lost their lives to terror attacks. It had taken tremendous efforts to raise the necessary funds to build
the synagogue and place of Torah learning. As I sat reading a leaflet
about the synagogue I was struck dumb by the overwhelming absurdity of
the planned events. Here is a community that lost five of its members
to terror attacks. After much time and effort they finally raised
enough money to build a beautiful synagogue. Now the country in whose
name they died is prepared to hand over the synagogue built in their
names to the Gaza Arabs from where their murderers came. This is our
democracy in action.
"Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" by Judy Lash Balint (Gefen) is
available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com |
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ESCAPE BY SCAPEGOATING
Posted by Evelyn Hayes, April 25, 2005. |
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The upright are downwrong and would leave themselves to the beasts if the beasts would let them.
How many have to suffer because those who want to escape the consequences of confronting the confrontational, scapegoat the Jew? The opposite of war is settlement. All of Israel is a re-settlement.
The Jews were in Gush Katif before the British misuse of its mandate and will be there after
Evelyn Hayes is author of "The Eleventh Plague, Twins, because their hearts were softened to accept the unacceptable" and "The Twelfth Plague, Generations, because the lion wears stripes." Contact her at haze@rcn.com. |
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BUSH'S ROAD MAP GOES NOWHERE
Posted by David Singer, April 25, 2005. |
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30 April 2005 marks the second anniversary of the launching of the Road Map to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. This performance based and goal driven plan is yet to get off the ground despite its sponsorship by President Bush in June 2002, and its endorsement by Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, in Ministerial statements made on.16 July and 17 September 2002. The detailed plan with its clear Phases, timelines, target dates and benchmarks was finally unveiled on 30 April 2003 by this powerhouse group calling itself the Quartet. All of them must now be feeling decidedly queasy at their impotence in failing to get the plan up and running. They only have themselves to blame for their present quandary as they are forced to sit and watch Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, try to put his own unilateral disengagement plan into operation. This super-global partnership had incredibly based the foundations of its plan on the same principles as the failed and discredited Oslo Process, which had begun in a blaze of hope in 1993 only to sink into oblivion in 2000. The mistakes the Quartet repeated were many. Firstly the Road Map was time-based demanding its three complex Phases be met by specified dates between 2003-2005 - an unrealistic and unattainable goal, given the 120 years that the conflict has raged and the enmities that have been created. Secondly the vision of the two State solution was always a misnomer. What the Quartet actually proposed was a three State solution in the former Mandate of Palestine by creating an additional Arab State between Israel and Jordan, the two successor States to the Mandate already exercising sovereignty in 94% of the total area of former Palestine. The framework of the Mandate had been created by the San Remo Conference and the Treaty of Sevres in 1920 and confirmed by the League of Nations in 1922. The Quartet's idea of a second Arab State in the remaining 6% of former Palestine where sovereignty still remained unallocated, failed to recognise the legal right conferred on Jews by the Mandate and article 80 of the United Nations Charter to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in these very areas The Road Map, like Oslo, simply ignored these historic, geographic, demographic and international law realities as though they never existed or had any relevance to the current conflict. Thirdly weighed down by hundreds of UN General Assembly resolutions fictitiously claiming the West Bank and Gaza Strip to be "occupied Palestinian territory" and any Jewish presence in the West Bank and Gaza to be "illegal", the Road Map required that no further Jews be allowed to settle in the West Bank and Gaza and called for the removal of the 400,000 Jews currently living there. Fourthly, absent from the Road Map was any acknowledgement that the Jews had returned to areas of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 from where they had been driven out in 1948 by the invading Arab armies of Jordan and Egypt or had been massacred by marauding Arab gangs as had occurred in Hebron in 1929. Fifthly, the Quartet naively articulated the belief that the Arab population could undertake an unconditional cessation of violence, terrorism and incitement and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere. Is it any wonder that this Road Map has gone nowhere when the conditions for its implementation are so impossible and its omissions so glaring? So what must the Quartet now do, if they want to really try and bring peace to the region. Firstly, they must have realistic expectations of what they can hope to achieve. Existing peace treaties signed by Israel with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994 must be the building blocks for any hopes of peace in the region. Allocating sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza between Egypt, Jordan and Israel will separate the Jewish and Arab populations and extend immediate Arab Statehood in Jordan or Egypt to the presently stateless Arab population of the West Bank and Gaza. The introduction of each Government's, army, police and legal structures into the West Bank and Gaza will lead to a substantial lessening of the violence that has marked the past two years of lost opportunity, help restore law and order and enable a return to normal civilian life. Secondly, no time frame should be set on completing negotiations to achieve the above objectives. Thirdly, substantial international financial aid should be given to Egypt and Jordan to reconstruct the devastated Arab populated areas of the West Bank and Gaza coming under their sovereignty and help restore some semblance of dignity and hope for the future. Fourthly recognition needs to be given that in core areas such as Jerusalem, refugees and water rights, the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty lays down modalities that can and should be followed in trying to resolve these issues. Fifthly, the existing Road Map should be used as wrapping paper for tomorrow's fish and chips. Then perhaps we might get a credible Road Map that can lead to somewhere. David Singer is an Australian Lawyer and Convenor of Jordan is Palestine International, an organisation calling for sovereignty of the West Bank and Gaza to be allocated between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine. |
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IS IT ALL FOR NAUGHT?
Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, April 25, 2005. |
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According to our sages, after hearing Pharaoh's decree that all male newborns be thrown into the Nile, Amram -the leader of the Israelite community - divorces his wife in order to set an example and prevent suffering and infanticide. Other commentaries suggest that Amram separates from Yocheved in a state of utter despair, declaring, "It is all for naught!" At the time, Amram is unaware that he has already planted the seed of redemption (Yocheved is three months pregnant with Moshe). For a Jew, perhaps nothing is more agonizing than feeling as if one's efforts have been wasted, and yet it is often our greatest moments of anguish and despair which allow for the possibility of deliverance. According to some midrashim, Amram's voluntary and exemplary act of separation from his wife is seen as a great action in G-d's eyes (see Aviva Zornberg's "Reflections on Exodus"). This is strange and seems to run contrary to family-oriented Jewish tradition. Many of us are familiar with and more comfortable with the commentaries which give credit to Miriam's greatness in admonishing her father and reconciling her parents (and consequently the rest of the Israelite couples). But it seems that Amram's greatness lies in his authenticity and righteousness, as authentic cries, groans and pain can be heard and felt in the heavenly realms. Our remarkable ability to turn inward, in times of severe crisis - in search of our true selves - while simultaneously reaching outward to G-d is quite possibly the greatest of all human achievements. It's no easy task and yet it doesn't require any of the qualities which we mortals usually attribute to exceptional accomplishment - In fact, great intellect, talent, and self-confidence are actually a hinderance to effective introspection, whereas a shattered ego can release an imprisoned soul. This is when true prayer becomes possible. And, ironically, it's this occasional exchange of our external selves and physical labors with an intense and existential grappling and questioning of the purpose and direction of our efforts which can activate a redemptive response from On High. This type of exertion can transcend logic and appears to be almost other-worldly, and that may be why it seems to elicit an appreciative response from the heavenly realms. We entered the month of Nissan having expended tremendous energy towards trying to avert Prime Minister Sharon's decrees concerning the Gaza Strip. Our benign efforts and use of acceptable and lawful channels seemed spent. And, in the best of Jewish tradition, we did take a moment to separate from the mundane in order to pause and reflect. I think I speak for many of us when I say that garnering the resources and stamina necessary to focus on Pesach preparations was particularly tedious and draining this year. And perhaps a few of us were asking, "Is it all for naught?" And then, perhaps miraculously, we got word of a three week delay in Sharon's disengagement plan. Maybe the "bulldozer" is having engine problems, second thoughts, or tactical difficulties. Whatever the reason, we got a welcome reprieve just in time for the holiday. And it seems that a lot of us are enjoying an exceptionally joyful Pesach. Although we rarely see immediate results, I'm quite sure that our sincere efforts and expressions on all fronts and in all realms throughout the years have been well worth it. Take a moment to look back and see what we've done and how we've struggled to stop the unstoppable and "irreversible" process The current battle to secure and preserve the Jewish communities in Gaza and the Shomron is part of the continuing war against everything Oslo wrought. I believe that our determination, efforts, and exceptional stamina and spirit have made an impact, and one day we may merit seeing the miraculous fruits of our labors. The following is a special tribute which outlines some of those efforts and is to be included in a book that I've written. Let us not dismiss any of the below labors as having been wasted: The War against Oslo is in its eleventh year. It has been fought by a small, but highly mobilized and motivated army - an army without a military budget, uniforms or weapons of war. Sometimes the battle has been visible and thunderous, but more more often than not, it has taken the form of an unpretentious, constant flurry of activity. "For the sake of Zion I will not be silent, for the sake of Jerusalem, I will not rest." (Isaiah 62:1) Ellen W. Horowitz and her family live on the Golan Heights. She is a painter, columnist and author of the upcoming book, The Oslo Years - A Mother's Journal. |
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DISTURBING TRUTH
Posted by John R. Cohn, M.D., April 25, 2005. |
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< p> At least since late 2000, when the Palestinian
Authority's late president, Yasir Arafat, ratcheted his low level war
against Israel into a full-blown conflict, there has been considerable
debate about the use, or lack of use, of the word "terrorist" by
mainstream news media. Adhering to a perceived maxim, "ne man's
terrorist is another man's freedom fighter", newspapers, television
and radio networks, as well as spokespersons for various governments
and agencies have struggled to avoid the "T" word. Individuals who
attacked unarmed civilians with the express purpose of killing as many
as possible have been variously called "militants", "gunman", and even
"commandos".
Recently, the ombudsman for The New York Times, citing the statement of his own Jerusalem bureau chief, suggested that perhaps such efforts had gone too far, writing that a newspaper's "earnest effort to avoid bias can desiccate language and dilute meaning." At first blush this piece was seen as progress and even lauded by many who had been critical of the news media's approach. But, the battle over "terrorism" is just the most visible manifestation of the MSM's refusal to recognize the legitimate rights of the Jewish people. The terrorist "tree" has obscured the bias "forest". Journalists have often sought parallels between contesting sides, as if adherence to balance guarantees neutrality and comes closer to accuracy. Deborah Lipstadt, who successfully defended a highly publicized libel suit by a Holocaust denier, was told she would only be interviewed on a national network about her newest book, if her protagonist, scathingly criticized in the court's decision, was also given network time. A few short years ago, newspapers around the world headlined a non-existent massacre in Jenin, because the Arabs, backed by an equally dishonest UNRWA official, claimed it was so. Despite an Arab record of fabricating countless "facts", for journalists to require truly independent confirmation of such horrendous charges before reporting them would have been labeled as "bias". Don't you trust Arabs? At such times it is not just language but truth that has been damaged. If someone were to contend that Brooklyn was in fact in California, would they merit time on national television or space in The Times to espouse their alternative worldview? Would the answer between those contending Brooklyn is in California and those insisting it is situated in New York be presumed to lie, as with claims about the Holocaust or the Middle East's so-called "cycle of violence", somewhere in between? The logic of such a compromise would still lead to a flawed conclusion, although one geographically closer to the truth. Brooklyn is in Iowa. In the Middle East, the origin of the "terrorist" word problem, the predicament becomes most obvious when there is no possible parallel to draw. In contrast to the lively debate that characterizes Israeli politics, there is no Palestinian left, no Palestinian peace movement marching in the streets demanding that Abbas turn his troops on Hamas, using whatever force is necessary to disarm them and rein them in. Why not? Can one readily name any democratic Western nation that does not have its "peacenicks"? Indeed, our country has had people opposing war since our revolution in 1776, including some who protested war against Nazi Germany. It seems fair to contend that the latter, especially in retrospect, may have had a few screws loose. Are we to believe that all the screws are ratcheted down tight in the Arab world? Is there nobody there, right or wrong, who is willing to demonstrate to demand their government be more vigorous in the pursuit of peace? Hundreds of thousands around the world protested George Bush's plan to invade Iraq and depose Saddam, a man responsible for the death of more Muslims than anyone in the twentieth century. Where were the protesters against Saddam's brutality? Undoubtedly, some were in the mass graves found in Iraq. A CNN network executive said that during the rule of Saddam they distorted their coverage to maintain access and protect their Iraqi employees, who they feared would be killed or tortured. The Israelis don't intentionally kill journalists, of course. Is that why nobody worries about currying their favor? What has really been lost is not just language but the journalist's moral compass. Refusing to label those who intentionally massacre civilians, and the more the better, as "terrorists" is in reality a manifestation of inability or unwillingness to distinguish right and wrong. That is a problem not limited to journalists. As David Brooks recently noted on the op-ed page of The New York Times, "sinful" in our society is most often associated with chocolate. Maybe we need more bias and not the impossible task of trying to avoid it, at any cost. The real truth does not always have to lie somewhere in between. Calling terrorists "terrorists" may not just be a linguistic but also a moral judgment as some editors contend. Then again, sometimes moral judgments may be the right thing to do. John R. Cohn is a Philadelphia physician and Clinical Professor of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. He is also a frequently published political commentator, who speaks on the Middle East and the media. He was selected as "Letter Writer of the Year" in 2003 by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA). |
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US CONGRESS BILL: JERUSALEM TO REMAIN WHOLE
Posted by IsrAlert, April 25, 2005. |
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This comes from Roee Nahmias and Yitzhak Benhorin. It appeared in www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3077007,00.htm Proposal submitted by U.S. Senator Sam Brownback calls on international community and Arab countries to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, states "Jerusalem not mentioned in Koran." A U.S. senator drafted a bill demanding the recognition of Jerusalem as the unified and indivisible capital of Israel before any recognition of an independent Palestinian state. The proposal, which was submitted by Senator Sam Brownback (Republican - Kansas), also calls on the international community and Arab countries to acknowledge Jerusalem as Israel's capital in exchange for considering the possibility of permitting the establishment of a Palestinian state. "180 days prior to the recognition of a Palestinian state, the U.S. would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem," the proposal states. "Jerusalem is where the Israeli government, president, parliament, and High Court of Justice are situated." According to the bill, Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran and was never the capital of any other nation. "Jerusalem is essential in Judaism, it is mentioned in the bible 766 times," the proposal states. Threat to national security Brownback, a devout Catholic, is considered an avid supporter of Israel. He submitted the proposal also on the behalf of fellow Republican Senators Michael Crapo (Idaho) and Gordon Smith (Oregon). The fact that solely Republicans signed the proposal does not bode well for its approval or implementation. U.S. President's Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have refused to carry out a Congress resolution from the mid 1990s that called to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, as they believe it would have a negative affect on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The Americans continue to delay the embassy's move on account of what they claim are threats to national security. Harv Weiner, a businessman in Dallas, Texas, is the founder and moderator of Isralert. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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POLLARDS FREEDOM AND OUR FREEDOM
Posted by Naomi Ragen, April 25, 2005. |
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Early this year I met with Jonathan Pollard's lawyers and heard a tale of incredible duplicity and downright fraud in everything concerning Jonathan's legal rights. There is no question that Jonathan Pollard was railroaded in one of the most disgusting displays of injustice since the Dreyfus case rocked an anti-Semitic French government. Pollard, unlike Dreyfus, actually did commit a crime. But the distance between his crime and his punishment is huge and should give us all a sense of anger and urgency in seeing him freed. His "crime" was passing on vital information to a friendly government that helped it to prepare for a rocket attack against its citizens, information that the US deliberately withheld from Israel. For that he has been tortured for 20 years in the worst prison conditions possible. Below, Caroline Glick describes her meeting with Pollard and why on Passover, the holiday of freedom from oppression and bondage, we should all be thinking about Jonathan Pollard. Her article appeared April 22, 2005 in the Jerusalem Post. Jonathan Pollard is one of the most polarizing figures of our times. Pollard, a former intelligence analyst in US naval intelligence, has now served 20 years of a life imprisonment sentence following his conviction for transferring classified US intelligence materials relating to Arab ballistic missile and nonconventional weapons programs to Israel from May 1984 until his arrest in November 1985. For his contribution to Israel's security and for his long suffering in prison, Israelis consider Pollard a national hero. He is commonly considered the source of Israel's preparedness for the Iraqi missile attacks during the Gulf War. Israelis across the right-left and religious-secular divide are basically unified in their hope to greet Pollard in Israel as a free man. For many American Jews, Pollard is reviled as a traitor. Since his arrest, a cloud of suspicion has hung over all Jews employed in the Pentagon, the State Department, the US military and intelligence services. Time after time, baseless allegations surface of American Jews spying for Israel. In spite of Israel's strategic alliance with the US, American intelligence agencies define Israel as a "country of concern" for intelligence breaches and American Jews are under constant, often malicious scrutiny. All a person has to do to expose the deep frustration of Washington Jews with the constant discrimination by intelligence agencies is mention the name "Pollard." Immediately he will be showered with bitter statements like, "If it weren't for that traitor, we wouldn't be in this position," and, "I hope he rots in jail." For the past 12 years Pollard has been incarcerated in Butner Federal Prison in North Carolina. He was transferred to Butner from Marion Federal Prison in Illinois where he was held in a subterranean cell in solitary confinement for seven years. Pollard's treatment, like his life sentence, is unprecedented in the history of US espionage investigations. Never has a spy in the employ of a friendly country received such a sentence. On average, spies working for countries considered US allies receive between 4-7 years in jail. Aldrich Ames, the most notorious spy in recent history, who as head of the CIA counter-intelligence department compromised all US intelligence emanating from the Soviet Union for over 15 years and caused the death of more than 10 US agents operating in the Soviet Union while sentenced to life in prison was never placed in solitary confinement for stretches comparable to Pollard. I went to see Jonathan Pollard last week. During a two-and-a-half-hour meeting, we spoke at length about his espionage, the conditions of his imprisonment, his feelings toward the US, Israel, the Jewish people and his hopes for the future. Pollard is now 50 years old. He grew up in South Bend, Indiana. He studied political science, economics and classics at Stanford University and was studying towards a doctorate in military history at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts when he was recruited in 1979 by Naval Intelligence. Pollard first visited Israel in 1971 for a summer program at the Weitzman Institute. He refers to his Jewish background as "modern-Orthodox, American style. The centrality of Israel for the Jewish people was emphasized." "I had thought constantly about aliya," he says, "But it's hard to pick up a nd leave the 'Golden Medina.' My parents are proud Americans. My father is a decorated Army officer. He carries a copy of the US Constitution in his pocket. But when I joined Naval Intelligence my father warned me that it's not a good place for a Jew. There is a lot of anti-Semitism there. But even when I saw it, I thought it would be better for me to stay." Today at Butner, Pollard is employed as a window washer. His life is one of constant terror. "I will give you an impressionistic description of my life. It involves constant noise, constant violence; profanity every conceivable type of profanity. There is no place to be quiet or to find quiet to read. You really have to be disciplined not to be provoked. You need to be disciplined to see when a situation is getting out of hand and to get away as quickly as possible. I have to be ready if my door opens at 2 in the morning. "I live in a small room, not in a cell, with a roommate. My room is so small that when I sit on my bed and stretch out my arms I touch both of the walls. And it is impossible to lock the door. When I am not washing windows I spend my day reading and listening to the radio to NPR and the BBC." The prison has television sets set up in common rooms for inmates. His fellow inmates include murderers, rapists, armed robbers, pedophiles and other violent criminals. On September 11, Pollard was in the TV room, watching CNN. What did you feel when you saw the World Trade Center and the Pentagon attacked? "I felt sick to my stomach. The worst thing for me was that a lot of the Muslim inmates here greeted the attacks by saying Alla Akhbar and cheering." But why would it bother you to see the US under attack? After all, you betrayed this country. To this, Jonathan gave me a look of profound sadness and said, "I fell in love with two women Israel and the US. It doesn't work in private life, and it doesn't work in politics. My reaction to September 11 was as an American. As an American, I believe that this country is guarding the gates of Western civilization from the barbarians." In 1983, shortly after Israel and the US signed a memorandum on intelligence sharing, then deputy director of the CIA Admiral Bobby Ray Inman unilaterally breached the agreement by stopping all intelligence transfers to Israel on Arab and Muslim states not directly bordering Israel. This included Iraq, Iran, Libya, Tunis and Pakistan. Inman was hired after leaving the agency by a company called International Signal and Control. The company's owner, James Guerin, was imprisoned later for transferring military technology to Iraq and South Africa. Pollard, who was privy to the now embargoed intelligence, believed that Israel faced the specter of chemical and biological warfare attacks from these countries. Pollard claims that he considered all legal venues for ending the embargo but felt that informing the media, testifying before Congress or involving the US Jewish leadership of the situation would all be ineffective. He claims also that "there was an incident during Operation Peace for the Galilee that provided me with my introduction to the US-Israel 'special relationship.' I saw the incredible cynicism with which the US views Israel. It flew in the face of everything that I thought was the point of the relationship. The way I viewed the world was destroyed. I had never before thought that my loyalties towards the US and Israel were in contradiction. But then I understood." What did you understand? "I understood that we are alone." Pollard argues that his decision to spy for Israel, and thus betray the US, stemmed from his conviction that he "was preventing a second Holocaust." One can question whether it was necessary for him to prevent it personally, or whether he could simply have quit his position, informed the responsible Israeli officials of the mounting dangers and let Israel with its intelligence agencies and military -- contend with the issue as a sovereign state. But the fact is that Pollard chose himself for the task and Israel, too, in employing Pollard as its agent, chose him for the task. Over the 18-month period that Pollard worked for Israel, he provided suitcases of documents to his handlers on a regular basis. Rafi Eitan, Israel's master spy who served as Pollard's chief handler from his position as head of the Office for Information Cooperation (LAKAM) at the Israeli Embassy, told him that his information was discussed at cabinet meetings and Pollard understood that his main contractor was then Maj.-Gen. Ehud Barak, who then served as Commander of Military Intelligence. Yet, when Pollard was arrested, Israel did whatever it could to deny its connection to him. From the moment then prime minister Shimon Peres ordered embassy security officers to physically eject Pollard and his wife-at-the-time Anne from the embassy, Israel has done everything in its power to distance itself from Pollard. It wasn't until 1995 that he was granted Israeli citizenship and it wasn't until 1998 that Israel officially recognized that Pollard was its agent. Binyamin Netanyahu was the only prime minister to have made a serious effort to get Pollard released. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has abjectly refused to take any action on Pollard's behalf. For Pollard, who expected to be protected by Israel if caught, it is the treatment he has received from the Israeli government that surprises and disturbs him more than the harsh and disproportionate punishment that he has received from US authorities. "I had two particularly memorable terrible days since I was arrested. The first was when the FBI showed me transcripts of statements that Israeli officials made shortly after my arrest. It was clear that the Mossad had three goals. They wanted to put all the blame on the Office for Information Connections and Rafi Eitan; they wanted to protect AIPAC at all costs; and they wanted to bury me. It was the Mossad that was the source of all the disinformation about me and my character. The lies that I used cocaine and was a mercenary, selling secrets to countries other than Israel, it all came from them. "Later, in 1995, a Mossad agent came here to see me and suggested that I kill myself. I said that while I would die for Israel, I would not die for some group of toadies. "The Israelis claimed that mine was a rogue operation. But this was a total lie. Not only did the senior political and military leadership know what was happening, Ariel Sharon tried to use me for his own ends. Rafi Eitan was Arik's man. And he asked me to collect political intelligence for Sharon what people in Washington were saying about him and the like. I refused. "But what hurt me the most was when I saw the unclassified version of the Eban Report. [The Eban Report was a report of the Knesset's sub-committee on intelligence services investigation into the Pollard affair that was published in 1987.] It made me almost physically ill. The report includes a summary of a midnight conversation between Peres and [then US Secretary of State George] Schultz about a week after I was arrested. Schultz asked Peres to return the documents I took and Peres agreed but made Schultz promise that the documents wouldn't be used against me and Schultz agreed. "No one ever told me about this agreement. I could have used it in my defense. It is the country's responsibility. Israel had standing before the court. Israel is the only country to participate in the prosecution of its own agent. "Several years later [in 1990] Sharon attacked Yitzhak Shamir for going along with my abandonment. But that is what Sharon is doing now." Although sources close to Sharon claim that Pollard may be released on the sidelines of the destruction of the Jewish communities in Gaza and northern Samaria and the pullout of IDF forces from the areas, White House sources know of no request on Sharon's part to release Pollard from prison. Ahead of Sharon's visit to the White House last spring, 112 Knesset members, including Sharon himself, signed a letter to President George W. Bush asking him to release Pollard from prison. Sharon refused to deliver the letter to Bush. This month, ahead of Sharon's meeting with Bush at his ranch in Texas, all current and former Israeli chief rabbis signed a letter to Bush requesting that he free Pollard. Again, Sharon refused to deliver the letter to Bush during his meeting. After meeting with Pollard, I contacted James Woolsey, the former director of the CIA. Woolsey told me that upon taking up his position in 1993 he reviewed Pollard's entire file carefully. "This man would not be my first candidate for clemency, but 20 years is a long time. As a general proposition, one dimension of this is that a substantial penalty has been paid, so that the element of deterrence is dealt with. "I do think there is a consideration here. Israel and the US, Australia, Japan, Poland and Britain are all in this war on terror together. We need to pay attention to the concerns of the citizens in fellow democracies. I would feel this way if it were Japanese espionage. We have to have a degree of sympathy for the sentiments of citizens in a fellow democracy." At the same time, Woolsey was quick to explain, "This is not a recommendation for clemency." Woolsey also stated that Pollard was not suspected of having transferred secrets to governments other than Israel. In his view "the heart of the matter" was the US fear that Israel's own intelligence apparatus would be penetrated by hostile governments and that as a result the materials Pollard transferred would be picked up. This, he explained, "would present a danger to the US ability to collect intelligence." "The fear was that the Israeli government itself might have been penetrated, not that Pollard gave the information to anyone else." When Pollard speaks of his future, he says that he has been training himself to go into a non-security related field if released from prison and most of his reading materials are scientific. "I have an interest in alternative energy sources to replace oil and in water desalination." Is there any reason that the US should worry about security damage you may cause if released from prison? "There is no substantive American worry regarding my release. My life has been destroyed so deterrence has been achieved. Nothing I know and certainly nothing I would ever do would be antithetical to US interests. The bottom line is, I want to come home so I can be with my wife, my people and my land." In the days that have passed since the interview it occurred to me that the reprehensible behavior of the Israeli government in the Pollard affair tops that of all concerned parties all of whom have behaved reprehensibly. Aside from the anti-Semites who take pleasure in spewing Jewish conspiracy theories, Israel was the only side that gained anything from Pollard's espionage. The US gained nothing and Pollard lost everything. In shirking its responsibility for Pollard, Israel paved the way for the entire story being blown out of all proportion by opportunistic enemies of Israel and American Jewry for two decades now. If Israel had resolutely stood by Pollard, then the aspersions cast on Washington's Jews would be far more circumspect than they are today and the US would have seen that Israel is an ally to be reckoned with, not a doormat to be stepped on at will. Pessah is the holiday of freedom. But for a nation to be free it must take responsibility for its actions, no matter how grave those consequences may be. In shirking its responsibility a nation is doing more than casting out the unwanted weight. It is casting off its own ties to freedom. Pollard said, "The abandonment of a nation begins with the abandonment of an individual." If we wish to maintain our integrity as a free people, we can do so only by taking on the task of bringing Pollard home. He may be a hero and he may be a fool. However he is viewed, he is one of us and he has been discriminated against and persecuted because he helped us. And other Jews are being persecuted because we refused to defend him. It is time for us to take responsibility for Pollard because his imprisonment paves the road to our servitude. Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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JORDANIAN PRISONER RELEASE; IS BUSH A LEFTIST?
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 23, 2005. |
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IS BUSH A LEFTIST? Although the package smells, conservatives don't open it to see whether the fish inside is rotting. They fail to question the coinciding of Pres. Bush's policy towards Israel with leftist ideology. The Left talks about the non-existent peace process, and so does the Bush Administration. The Left wants Israel to cede Yesha to the Arabs, and so does Bush. The Left demands that Israel reduce security measures in order to make life easier for the Arabs, and so does Bush. Bush wraps his fish in the old newspaper of solving the Arab-Israel conflict that the Arabs don't want solved. They want conquest. Aren't conservatives supposed to be at the other end of the political spectrum from leftists and jihadists? Part of the answer is that there is no straight-line political spectrum from left to right. There never was, not when the Nazis and fascists were placed on the right, the Communists were placed on the left, and the two groups shared a totalitarian ideology. But this is different. Bush is an oilman. The oil industry appeases the Arabs. Hence, Bush has a pro-Arab policy. Is this policy good for the US? No. The US is betraying Israel and its army to the Arabs, although the Arabs are enemies of the US. He is building up the army of Egypt, although Egypt hates the US. ARAB CREDIBILITY The Arab states and P.A. emit a constant stream of incitement to ethnic violence, preposterous charges against their prey, and other false propaganda. The Western media ignores most of it, accepts uncritically other aspects of it, and often publishes it in parallel with what their enemies say, as if of equal consideration. The Western media does not serve its people. The Western media should not ignore what the Arabs say, but neither should it give credence to it. It should publicize their ranting, especially their weekly exhortations to kill Christians, Jews, Americans, etc., and show what is wrong with it. Oppose fact to fantasy, and truth to lies. I know fellow Americans who have no idea of Arab culture's savagery. They have a false idea that the Israeli Right is extremist. These people read the "NY Times," the renowned newspaper that excused Stalin's murder of six million Kulaks, hid the Holocaust, presented Castro and Allende as reformers rather than dictatorial Communists, and distorts the history of Zionism. JORDANIAN PRISONER RELEASE The government of Jordan has latched on to the issue of Israeli release of P.A. prisoners to demand the release of Jordanian prisoners. There is no reason for releasing the Jordanian terrorists. That would not stop the government of Jordan for two reasons: (1) Why shouldn't it demand this? There is no reason for releasing the P.A. terrorists, either, for it has proved counter-productive; and (2) When did the Arabs require reasons for demands? The Arabs have excuses, pretexts, and rationalizations, not reasons. The Jordanian government gives this rationale: it is demanded by Jordanian public opinion. First the government makes a public issue of prisoner release, and then it cites public opinion. Let it stew in the juice of its own making! Half the released terrorists released revert to terrorism. If Jordan were anti-terrorist, it would want them kept incarcerated. What is Israel's excuse -- Israel is discussing the issue with the kingdom. It should demand that Jordan first honor the terms of the peace treaty, and normalize relations. That is the Arab way, not keep its end of the bargain but tack on more demands of the enemy. Let this remind us that peace treaties or no, the Arabs remain Israel's enemy. "DISENGAGEMENT" Critics of Agriculture Min. Katz say he would rather disengage from Gaza and northern Samaria than from his Ministerial portfolio (IMRA, 3/21). It is well known that Members of Knesset keep Sharon in power because they are leery of risking another election. That is a personal corruption that puts their current privileges against the future lives of the entire country that Sharon's policy imperils. EX POST FACTO ARGUMENT Until PM Sharon switched policy to extreme appeasement, the policy of all Israeli governments since acquiring Yesha was that the area was disputed. This means that Israel had a proper claim to them. Recently the government went to court, claiming that the pioneers knew when they settled down in Yesha that Israel held only a temporary, "belligerent occupancy" status there. How could the pioneers know that, since the government at the time denied it? This reasoning is ex post facto (IMRA, 3/22). Has the government no shame in its attempts to appease the US and the Arabs? Apparently not. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CURBED AT WEIZMANN INSTITUTE Scientists at the Weizmann Inst. have bumper stickers in favor of expelling the settlers. A computer programmer there wears a small lapel pin in the form of an orange star of David. It symbolizes solidarity with the Jews of Gaza. Leftists complained that the pin interferes with their concentration. The Institute threatens to dismiss the programmer for wearing it (Prof. Steven Plaut, 3/23, e-mail). HIDDEN ARGUMENT FOR ABANDONMENT The Shas sage, Rabbi Yosef, has called the abandonment plan madness. Nevertheless, he urged his party's Members of Knesset to vote against holding a referendum for it. He rationalized that if this were put to a referendum, so might religious issues that his party already has secured. The fallacy in his rationalization is that a referendum in Israel cannot initiate such a problem. The referendum is instituted only after the Knesset has passed the problematic legislation. Therefore, the referendum gives the people a chance to retain what the Knesset otherwise might cede. Why then did the Rabbi oppose a referendum. It is said that Sharon's staff told him that Israel has to carry out the abandonment in order to keep the US willing to take out Iran's nuclear facilities. It is a difficult argument to refute (IMRA, 3/23). Who knows what the US would do? What we know is that so far, the US has not acted. Let Sharon demand US action before Israel makes concessions, if it must make them at all. I think that the US would not bomb Iran unless I feels it has to, for itself. TERRORISM IN THE GULF S. Arabia has pressed hard against its local terrorists. As a result, many fled to neighboring Gulf states. There they formed cells and commit terrorism. Several of the Gulf States have been fighting battles with terrorists and have been arresting them. The terrorists enjoy much local sympathy, until their depredations against innocent people disgust the natives (IMRA, 3/21). This means that Arabs lack common human sympathy for other peoples. Only when the terrorism they condone against others strikes home, do they abhor it. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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THOSE WHO KNOW NOT HOW TO ASK
Posted by Yuval Zaliouk, April 23, 2005. |
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Dear Jewish friends, This is truly extremely painful! Israel may, MAY, survive the calamity of eviction of Jews by Jews from their homes and lands, but Israel will not survive the ignorance that brought about this stupefying idea. A whole Israeli generation is growing up without even the most basic knowledge of Judaism, Jewish history, Tanach, Talmud, Haggada etc. etc. In the following article, Jonathan Rosenblum asks: "Commentators on the Haggada have long been perplexed by the quotation of the same verse in response to the evil son and the one who does not know how to ask. The author of the Haggada deliberately drew a connection between the one son and the other. But why such a negative view of a son incapable of formulating even the simplest question?" Is it a coincidence that of those who push the eviction most are on the left? Tonight. in the Seder, ask these questions in addition to the regular four. It may save us all. This article is called "Think Again: A nation that knows not how to ask." It was written by Jonathan Rosenblum and appeared in The Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull& cid=1114049938298&p=1006953079897) yesterday. Commentators on the Haggada have long been perplexed by the quotation of the same verse in response to the evil son and the one who does not know how to ask. The author of the Haggada deliberately drew a connection between the one son and the other. But why such a negative view of a son incapable of formulating even the simplest question? Some commentators have suggested that it is not stupidity but apathy that explains the failure of the fourth son to ask. Unlike the evil son, he is not bothered if his fellow Jews wish to participate in absurd ancient rituals. But, like him, he feels completely alienated from everything associated with the Seder night. He doesn't ask because the proceedings are irrelevant to him. Of all the many failures to be laid at the door of the Israeli educational system, the most serious, and the one with the greatest implication for Israel's future, is the creation of a generation of Jewish youngsters indifferent to their nation's past. A member of the founding generation once lamented: "We sought to create a generation of great apikorsim (deniers) and succeeded only in raising amei ha'aretz (ignorant boors)." Since then the situation has only worsened. Thirty years ago, secular Israelis my age knew the country and every settlement in it, with the appropriate biblical references. Today few know their way beyond the beach and the local mall. Over half of Israeli high school students have never visited Jerusalem. That great apikorus David Ben-Gurion insisted on a place for Talmud, Tanach, and biblical archeology in the basic school curriculum of the nascent state. He understood that the "Third Jewish Commonwealth" could only survive if it was connected in the hearts and minds of its citizens with what had gone before. That required basic Jewish literacy. What secular Jewish student knows anything of these subjects today? Or even of Jewish history? Hillel Halkin accurately summed up the worst offense of a 9th-grade history text prepared by the Ministry of Education: its studied neutrality concerning Jewish history. "Nowhere is the ninth-grader reminded that he belongs to the people that he is reading about, that he is flesh of their flesh, blood of their blood; nowhere that their story is his." THOUSANDS OF young Israelis trek to the Far East annually to explore Eastern mysticism. It never occurs to them to learn something about the treasures of their own religion first. Nothing in their education has given them any hint of a tradition that fully absorbed many of the greatest minds in history. The recently published Letters to a Buddhist Jew - an epistolary exchange between Rabbi Akiva Tatz and David Gottlieb, an articulate Jewish Buddhist - should be required reading for Israeli students who assume that all depth lies outside their own tradition. Even basic Jewish pride has disappeared. During the Holocaust, Jews who had passed for decades as gentiles came forward to share a common fate when the Jews of their town were rounded up for extermination. Yet when the UEFA insisted that Maccabi Tel Aviv play last Rosh Hashana and the UEFA spokesman taunted Israeli Jews with the necessity of choosing between football and synagogue, few hackles were raised and the option of forfeiting was never seriously entertained. As novelist Aharon Appelfeld charged last year, modern Israelis "flee from being Jews." Every reminder that they are Jews "makes them flinch [and] arouses disgust in them." The result is a "black hole of identity" in place of the "internal organs of the soul." Nor is this self-alienation accidental. It is, in large part, the result of a systematic attack on Jewish identity by major institutions of the state. In the turbine case, our Supreme Court forbade the government to give any value, no matter how minuscule, to the prevention of Shabbat desecration, ruling that only economic considerations could be taken into account. More recently, the court ruled that there was no valid municipal interest in instilling Jewish national identity through banning the sale of pork - something that has been abhorrent to all Jews for millennia. The draft constitution prepared by the Israeli Democracy Institute would codify the court's jurisprudence and render unconstitutional any law having its roots in the religious history of the Jewish people. Given the demands of daily life in Israel, we do not have the luxury of being the only country in the world to educate our young to be indifferent to their past at best, contemptuous of it at worst. On Seder night, we celebrate our birth as a people. May this year's telling of the Exodus from Egypt trigger some curiosity about our national mission in all those Jewish sons and daughters who presently do not care enough to ask. Yuval Zaliouk writes the Truth Provider columns. To subscribe, send an email to ynz@netvision.net.il |
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REMEMBER, OH ISRAEL
Posted by Jacob Gurewich, April 22, 2005. |
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Israel is in great danger! When Saddam's Scuds hit Israel, we caved in to the anti-Semitic James Baker, and did not retaliate - risking the lives of thousands of innocent Jews in Israel. Instead of harshly retaliating, we relied on dubious, experimental American missile devices. We caved in to the Papa Bush/Baker/Weinberger administration; just as Sharon is now caving in to the George W. Bush/Powell/Rice administration. By not destroying the nests of the Arab thugs and their Qassam rockets, and expelling the murderers from the Land of Israel, Sharon is endangering the lives of innocent Jews in Israel. Sharon is betraying Jewish settlers and the entire Jewish Nation. In concert with our own Enemy Within, ironically with a majority of only 2 Arab votes, he became a dictator and is trying to uproot Jewish settlers from the Land of Israel. What a farce! In biblical times he would have been judged and stoned. Adding insult to more criminal acts, Sharon supports Israel's pseudo allies to establish an Arab homicidal state in the Land of Israel. Akin to millions of diabetic human beings who are Insulin Dependent, our pseudo allies are Petroleum dependent--oil is more important than Jewish blood. So hearken Be'li-al and hearken well: The evil Roman heathens uprooted Jews from the Land of Israel. Neither you nor Peres, the vulture with whom you are tied, will live to see Jewish settlers being uprooted from the Land of Israel, or the establishment of an homicidal Arab state within the Land of Israel, ever! You joined your soul mates, the abominable coterie et al., endangering the State of Israel. You joined those with whom you grew up and waved the red flag, and are an alien growth, a despised weed. True Judaism vomits them up. The Jewish Nation shall band together as one united front, and shall be unstoppable--our strength shall be formidable. Remember Israel, oh remember the vision of Ze'ev Jabotinsky - the son of Chava, the daughter of Meir Zack - who beseeched the Jews of Europe before the Holocaust: Eliminate the Diaspora, or the Diaspora will eliminate you! Alas, a third of the Jewish Nation was brutally slaughtered in 33 German death camps. Thousands of our sons and daughters sacrificed their lives to liberate our homeland. We must eliminate and swiftly dispense with this evil plan to uproot settlers from the Land of Israel, or the plan's villainous architects will dispense with us! AND YE SHALL NEVER SEE AN ARAB STATE WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL! This poem was written by Jacob Gurewich, who is author of "The Enemy Within", "a series of essays describing the author's first-hand experiences as a founding member of the Israeli IRGUN (IZL), the underground Organization founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky." His website address is http://www.jackgur.com |
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IS ABU MAZEN A "PALESTINIAN" MOSES?
Posted by Yuval Zaliouk, April 22, 2005. |
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Dear friends, Greetings from Israel and happy Passover to all of you who celebrate it and the meaning of it, FREEDOM!!! So, is Abu Mazen going to lead his people to freedom? Read the following Jerusalem Post article. Your Truth Provider,
This article is called "Whom should we back?" and was an opinion piece in yesterday's Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1114049937543&p=1006953079865) What was initially whispered in Washington and Jerusalem is no longer a secret: Mahmoud Abbas is losing altitude. The Palestinian Authority leader whose electoral success was originally hailed - mainly by those who were either tendentious or ignorant - as the dawn of a new era is actually failing to rule. He certainly has yet to spend his time coaxing investors and creating jobs, clearly one of the most urgent things to do in order to truly end the violence he had so admirably condemned. On the security front, Abbas is nowhere near disarming the numerous gangs that roam the streets he nominally governs. As for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the prospect of him confronting them in broad daylight, or even just in the dark of night, has never seemed less likely. Faced with such setbacks, those who once deluded themselves that Abbas was "their kind of guy" now wonder what it is they must do to support him. Israel must avoid such thinking. Too much experience has been accumulated here about the impracticality, and boomeranging, of rule by proxy. Israel's nurturing of allies like Bashir Gemayel, Sa'ad Haddad and Antoine Lahad, as well as interlocutors like Yasser Arafat, all failed to deliver the strategic goods. Politically, the common denominator among these was the Israeli failure to adequately gauge prospective allies' limited following. For our part, we believe that the weakness such leaders displayed stemmed from their lack of solid democratic credentials. The way the Oslo Accords' masterminds saw it, this deficiency was not only tolerable, but even advantageous. That is what Yitzhak Rabin meant when he promised that Arafat would deal with the extremists "bli bagatz u'betzelem," namely without being "burdened" by an independent judiciary's supervision and assorted human-rights groups' scrutiny. As it turned out, the PA's lack of such institutions and norms not only failed to deliver peace, it delivered war. Today, those of Oslo's supporters who concede its general failure often agree also about its misconception concerning democracy. In the spirit of the American analysis of the Middle East since the September 11 attacks, Israelis of all stripes should finally understand that it is not up to them to choose their neighbors' leaders, nor to back or trip them. That also goes for Abbas. Seen through a democratic rather than an opportunistic prism, Abbas's predicament lies not in his current lack of clout, but in his lack of viable opponents back when he ran for office. Had he faced, and defeated, a Hamas candidate back then, his adversaries would not have been in a position to undermine and intimidate him the way they currently do. Even so, many outside the PA still question the wisdom of allowing Abbas's regime to be toppled, one way or another, by Islamists. The answer to them is that if he has failed to win the people's hearts no external power will salvage him, however unpalatable Israel might consider such a shift. And if the people's genuine democratic choice is Islamism - and we'll presumably get a good sense of this should elections to the Palestinian National Council take place as scheduled in July - then that is what they will have. Chances that the Palestinian people will be satisfied with Islamist leaders are low, and prospects that the same people power that crowns them eventually will depose them are high. The choice, in any event, cannot be Israel's or any other foreign power's; it can only be made by the Palestinian public. Yuval Zaliouk writes the Truth Provider columns. To subscribe, send an email to ynz@netvision.net.il |
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CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DENOUNCE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ISRAEL
Posted by Sliwa News, April 22, 2005. |
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For more information, contact: Dennis Hale, Judeo-Christian Alliance, www.judeo-christianalliance.org, Phone: (617) 552-4165 The Judeo-Christian Alliance (JCA), an initiative of the Boston-based David Project, called on the United Church of Christ to speak the truth about violence against Jews in Israel. The JCA made the call after the denomination announced that it will consider two proposals to divest from Israel at its upcoming General Synod. "Both resolutions are written as if occupation was the cause of Palestinian violence. Palestinian violence is the cause of the occupation," says Dexter Van Zile, JCA director and a member of the UCC. "The Palestinian violence against Israel takes place in the context of a world-wide Jihad intended to impose religious apartheid on non-Muslims. Hamas' constitution makes that plain." Dennis Hale, president of the JCA said the resolutions are based on an inexcusable ignorance of the history and politics of the Middle East. "The ignorance is inexcusable because the truth is readily available to anyone who will look for it; but in its zeal to demonize Israel, the UCC, like other mainline Protestant denominations, has taken the fatal steps from willful ignorance to appeasement and then to active collaboration with the real enemies of peace," he said. "Like their intellectual forebears, the 'peace in our time' appeasers of the 1930s, the UCC and its brethren are the architects not of peace, but of unending warfare against the innocent. Their actions bring shame on Christians everywhere." The UCC has a role to play in framing Christianity's response to militant Islam, Van Zile says, but the denomination is unable to acknowledge there's a problem, as evidenced by the resolutions, which make no mention of the religiously motivated hostility toward Israel. "The leadership of the UCC is in the grips of a bad case of Jihad denial," he says. "They can't create a rational response to a threat they deny." The Judeo-Christian Alliance is an initiative of the David Project, a group that promotes a fair and honest understanding of conflict in the Middle East. The JCA was founded to give Christians in the U.S. the information they need to act with an informed conscience about the Arab/Israeli conflict. |
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ISRAEL AND THE VULTURE
Posted by Louis Rene Beres, April 22, 2005. |
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The following article was written immediately following the first Oslo Agreement in 1993. Its persistent truth after almost twelve years of enlarged Jewish suffering now speaks for itself. Indeed, today, anticipating Prime Minister Sharon's self- inflicted Jewish deportations from Jewish land, a timely new subtitle for this now classic article might be added: "Jewish Self-Destruction in the Time of `Disengagement.'" A vulture was hacking at my feet. It had already torn my boots and stockings to shreds, now it was hacking at the feet themselves. Again and again it struck at them, then circled several times restlessly round me, then returned to continue its work. A gentleman passed by, looked on for a while, then asked me why I suffered the vulture. "I'm helpless," I said. "When it came and began to attack me, I of course tried to drive it away, even to strangle it, but these animals are very strong, it was about to spring at my face, but I preferred to sacrifice my feet. Now they are almost torn to bits." "Fancy letting yourself be tortured like this!" said the gentleman. "One shot and that's the end of the vulture." "Really?" I said. "And would you do that?" "With pleasure," said the gentleman, "I've only got to go home and get my gun. Could you wait another half hour?" "I'm not sure about that," said I, and stood for a moment rigid with pain. Then I said: "Do try it in any case, please." "Very well," said the gentleman, "I'll be as quick as I can." During this conversation the vulture had been calmly listening, letting its eye rove between me and the gentleman. Now I realized that it had understood everything; it took wing, leaned far back to gain impetus, and then, like a javelin thrower, thrust its beak through my mouth, deep into me. Falling back, I was relieved to feel him drowning irretrievably in my blood, which was filling every depth, flooding every shore. Even by the standards of Kafka's uncannily prophetic insights, the parable of the Vulture is remarkable. Examined as a lesson for Israel in its protracted struggle for survival in the Middle East, especially after its recently concluded agreement with Yasir Arafat, this cautionary tale is right on the mark. Indeed, it reads as if it were written originally with no other struggle in mind. Consider the scenario. A man is being destroyed, slowly and painfully, by a fierce and predatory bird. Repeatedly, the bird hacks at its victim, immobilizing him systematically and purposefully, piece by piece. The man, of course, has not allowed this process of sequential dismemberment to proceed without defensive reaction. Fearing, above all, for his face, for his very being, he has preferred to "sacrifice my feet." Rather than confront his enemy head on, frontally, with some hope of emerging victorious, he has calculated instead, quite rationally he maintains, the cost-effectiveness of appeasement. In the end, his rational calculations prove altogether erroneous. It is true that our victim does draw some satisfaction from the final mutuality of death - the vulture drowns "irretrievably" in the man's own blood - but it is a satisfaction that is necessarily short-lived. There is more. Before the dreadful demise of both victim and victimizer, a "gentleman" promises aid to the former. The gentleman needs only to return with his "gun;" the man needs only to "wait another half hour." All the while, the vulture, not merely a beast animated by instinct, "understands" the plan against it, and decides, again after "calm" and careful calculation, to launch decisive thrusts. So what if they turn out to be more carnivorous frenzies. It is now too late to stop the hacking. Events have achieved an unstoppable momentum of their own. What must be done must be done. The "gentleman," of course, never returns. Like the vacant American President Clinton, who now urges Israel onward with a delusionary "peace process," he has other, more urgent, preoccupations. The problem with his promises is not that he is necessarily deceitful or meanspirited (he is, after all, a "gentleman"), but that he is interested only in himself. For too many years, the "vulture" has been hacking away at Israel. >From its fragile beginnings, Israel has been heeding one "gentleman" or another. Although the United States has hardly urged the Jewish State to deal with its painfully progressive decomposition by explicitly recognizing the advantages of firing "one shot," the implicit promise is always present: "Negotiate, compromise, yield, beg; there is really no risk involved. There is always the last resort of overwhelming military power." This promise, whether it refers to American or to Israeli forces, or to both, is of little or no value. Taken too seriously, it will likely lead Israel toward one form or another of the "Samson Option." While enemies of the Jewish State will "drown irretrievably" in the full fury of Israel's most terrible weapons - in the lifeblood of a victim that has waited for too long to ensure its survival - this fate will occasion no celebrations in what is left of Jewish Jerusalem. Faced with the end of the Third Temple Commonwealth, Israel's leaders will curse their enemies and their "gentleman," but it will be an indecipherable curse, a curse heard by no one. It will emerge, of course, that this Oslo "peace process" is an oxymoron, a paradoxical conjunction of terms that could seal the fate of an imperilled ministate - one smaller than some counties in California. For Israel, a long-suffering and increasingly directionless victim, the process may lead to complete and irreversible helplessness. Sacrificing more and more essential security in the hope that predators will be satisfied, it will learn too late - unless Kafka's revealing parable is understood by the endangered People of Israel - that the lure of carrion only inflames the vulture. In an unspeakable irony genuinely savored by the insatiable vulture, Israel could even become the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Louis Rene Beres is the author of many publications dealing with Middle Eastern security issues. Strategic and Military Affairs columnist for The Jewish Press, he is Chair of "Project Daniel," a private group advising Israel`s Prime Minister on nuclear strategy matters. |
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A PASSOVER PRAYER
Posted by Ruth, Nadia and Michael Matar, April 22, 2005. |
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There is despair in the Holy Land today, Hatred abounds, not only from the Arabs, but also among Jews themselves. America and Sharon have unwisely fostered and brought about a divided nation. Terrorism reigns. Abu Mazen, an evil man in sheep's clothing, seems to have the ear of Bush, the EU, the UN and Russia. Sharon himself has said that Israel is close to a civil war. From whence cometh our help? From whence cometh our salvation? It is time that Israel turns to fervent prayer, for there seem to be dark days ahead. Not a happy time to celebrate Passover, the joyous holiday of Freedom. And, yet, we Jews are an eternal people, who have trusted in the G-d of Israel throughout the ages. We must turn to Him to save our nation. Although we are undeserving of His help, perhaps He will show us mercy and kindness. May this Passover be an undoing of our enemies. May He who has brought us out of Egypt to be a holy nation, restore us to our halcyon days of yore. May all those who celebrate this Holiday of Freedom be blessed with new hope and fortitude! Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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JERUSALEM
Posted by Kaustav Chakrabarti, April 22, 2005. |
O! Jerusalem, What a beautiful name |
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PERES FUND FOLDS FOLLOWING WND STORIES
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, April 22, 2005. |
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David Bedein, the director of the Israel Resource News Agency scores another major scoop. As I have written before, this is all done on a shoe string budget and without any large or even small organization to back him up. Imagine what could be done with only a small amount of serious money. Yep, this is an appeal to help him. You can send him an email at media@actcom.co. il and get details or go to https://www.israelvisit.co.il/BehindTheNews/member.htm and help directly. This article was written by Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem bureau chief, and it appeared today in World Net Daily (www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43921). JERUSALEM - In what some here are calling a curious development, a multi-million-dollar investment fund founded in 1999 by Israel's Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres announced this week it would liquidate its assets and return the money to all investors, according to an Israeli media report. The move follows WorldNetDaily exclusive articles exposing a private probe, brought to Israel's Knesset Ethics Committee, questioning whether Peres profited from the fund, which secured investments from the Palestinian Authority and several supporters of the politician while he was a government minister - a conflict of interest that could require Peres to vacate his government position. As WND reported, the Israel Resource News Agency in February privately requested the Knesset probe the establishment by Peres of the Peace Technology Fund, a $160 million venture-capital entity created in part to encourage investment in the Palestinian economy. Investors in the fund, allegedly procured while Peres was minister of regional cooperation under Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 1999, include the Palestinian National Authority and several companies that in the past have contributed to the Peres Center for Peace, a non-profit think tank founded by Peres. The fund's first investment - a $9 million, 3-percent stake in Paltel, a Palestinian telecommunications company - was announced in Business Week in June 1999, one month after Peres assumed his ministerial position that year. The article reported, "A venture capital fund founded by former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres has taken a $9 million, 3.3 percent stake in Paltel ... The investment is the first by the peace fund, which was established last year by Israeli and Palestinian investors." The price of Paltel's shares jumped from 2.5 Jordanian dinars in May 1999 to 4.5 in August of that year, reportedly realizing a nearly $10 million profit for the Fund's investment. The stock increase has been widely attributed to a monopoly license granted in August 1999 by the Palestinian Authority to Paltel for the company to operate exclusive wireless services in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. David Bedein, director of the Israel Resource News Agency, raised questions regarding the possibility Peres profited from the Paltel investment, and whether he knew in advance, through government contacts while he was an Israeli minister, the PA was going to grant Paltel the exclusive contract. Other questions surround Peres' involvement in the procurement of a $22 million investment in the fund by the Palestinian National Authority, also allegedly while Peres was an Israeli minister. The PNC is a monetary branch of the Palestinian Authority. As well, nearly $10 million was raised by the fund from Bank Leumi, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Federmann Enterprises, Koor Industries, Arison Investments, Strauss Holding, Delta Galil, Daimler Chrysler and Keter Plastics. Most are contributors to the Peres Center for Peace, which itself is listed as a member of the fund's advisory board. WND reported that the Ethics Committee responded last month to Bedein's probe request, explaining to him they are not an investigative body and can determine only whether documented activities violate government rules. Bedein said the Knesset asked him to provide them with detailed information about whether Peres received or continues to receive fees for allegedly securing multimillion-dollar investments or profits from previous fund ventures. But before Bedein commenced the next stages of the investigation, the fund sold all its holdings and decided to return all monies to original investors, according to an article this week in Israel's Yediot Ahronot Hebrew daily. The fund reportedly sold its investments to Palestinian entities. "I find it to be a very strange coincidence that immediately after the Knesset ethics committee asked for verification of Peres' assets in the Palestinian Authority, and after their request was publicized, the fund suddenly announced they are divesting and returning assets," said Bedein. "It sounds like they are running scared." The fund, registered in the Cayman Islands and classified as an international investment entity, did not issue an explanation for its sudden closure. Sources told WND a slew of private investigative firms have quietly offered their services in conducting various probes of the fund. "The next step is to find the proof of any wrongdoing," said Bedein. "For example, since Peres was the minister of regional cooperation when the Palestinian investment was made, was Peres was paid a consulting or broker fee as payment for bringing in the investment? Consultants procuring investments for companies or funds typically receive finder's fees of 2 to 5 percent. The Palestinian Authority's investment of $22 million could have earned Peres a fee of $440,000, according to Bedein. "Also, why is the Peres Peace Center, a nonprofit political think tank, qualified to provide financial consultation services to the fund?" asked Bedein. He added, "all this comes at a very strange time regarding financial interests of Peres and others. It happened just as Peres announced he wants to turn Gaza into a Club Med. Who is going to profit from that?" Bedein was referring to statements Peres made this week following talks with French President Jacques Chirac regarding economic possibilities from Israel's plan to withdraw Jewish communities this summer from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Peres suggested building a Club Med in the lands being evacuated. "We could convert a settlement into a Club Med," Peres told reporters. "We must not wait for the political solution but create economic and social hope" in the region, Peres said. "We must coordinate on the economic front." The developments also come at a delicate time for Sharon, whose Likud party is bitterly divided over the Gaza withdrawal. Nationalist opponents have been regularly calling for Sharon's resignation. If Peres is found in breach of the Israeli government's official code of ethics, he would be required to vacate his post, a move that likely would undo Sharon's current unity government between Likud and Peres' Labor party, and could precipitate new elections in Israel. Shimon Peres is a regular political fixture in the Jewish state. He served twice as Israel's prime minister - following the formation of a unity government in 1984, he was an alternate prime minister with Likud leader Yitzhak Shamir, and again in 1995 after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Peres has held numerous other government posts, including deputy defense minister, minister of immigrant absorption, minister-without-portfolio, minister of transport and communication and minister of information. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appointed Peres foreign minister until Labor left the government in 2003, and created for him the position of vice prime minister when Labor again joined Sharon's coalition in December. Peres founded the Center for Peace in 1996 with the aim, according to its website, of "realizing [Peres'] vision of a 'New Middle East,' in which people of the region work together to build peace through socio-economic cooperation and people-to-people relations." Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
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THE MOST PROBABLY REASONS FOR SHARON'S SURRENDER OF JEWISH LAND
Posted by Israel Landsman, April 22, 2005. |
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In the recent Jerusalem Post interview Ariel Sharon "justified" the pullout from Gaza by the unwillingness of many Diaspora Jews to make Israel their home. In that, he repeated the call made by Israel's president, Moshe Katzav, a while ago, to the Jews at large, to come to settle in Israel. The two politicians, dedicated to the creation of a Palestinian state, lament that not enough Diaspora Jews decide to expose themselves and their children to the daily threat of Palestinian terrorist attacks and become sacrificed on the altar called "the US foreign policy priorities." What have those two politicians done(and they could have done a lot) to make Israel a safer place for Jews and non-Jews alike? Most of Moshe Katzav's "activities" consist of periodic and abject appeals to the international community for help in this or that and his disgraceful readiness to shake hands with Jewish enemies, in Rome or elsewhere. As for Ariel Sharon, his glory is in the past. He's just an old man who's painted himself into a corner from the very first time when he allowed the US administration to blackmail him with the Sabra and Shatila episode. Scared by the propect of a trial at the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, Sharon has been surrendering Israeli sovereignty to foreign powers from day one of his accession to his office as Prime Minister... He who uses lame excuses shouldn't expect to be reciprocated with either trust or respect. Apparently, many Jews who reside outside of Israel aren't that desperate (or that ignorant) as to trust the above-mentioned individuals with their lives. Israel Landsman lives in Berlin, Germany. |
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TO THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT OF SHARON AND PERES: DAYENU -- IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ENOUGH
Posted by Bernard J. Shapiro, April 22, 2005. |
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Dear Friends of Israel: Like most of you, I am frustrated, angry and depressed over the actions of the Israeli government. We must, however, get over the depression and then use our anger to spur ourselves to greater action on behalf of Israel. EIN BREIRA. In that spirit I offer the following chant or song to sing at demonstrations (slightly abridged from the popular song sung at Passover). Sing the traditional Dayanu and the new resistence against the deportation of Jews from Eretz Yisrael. Please distribute to your friends for their family Seder this year as widely as possible:..........With Love of Israel If you had collaborated with enemy to get elected to office, Dayenu -- It would have been enough to rebel against your rule If you had collaborated with the enemy and not given away our Sacred Land and Holy Places, Dayenu -- It would have been enough to rebel against your rule If you had collaborated with the enemy, given away our Sacred Land and Holy Places; and not divided the People of Israel setting brother against brother, Dayenu -- It would have been enough to rebel against your rule If you had collaborated with the enemy; given away our Sacred Land and Holy Places; divided the People of Israel; and not beaten and abused women and children, Dayenu -- It would have been enough to rebel against your rule If you had collaborated with the enemy; given away our Sacred Land and Holy Places, divided the People of Israel; beaten and abused women and children; and not suppressed our freedom of speech, Dayenu -- It would have been enough to rebel against your rule If you had collaborated with the enemy; given away our Sacred Land and Holy Places; divided the People of Israel beaten women and children; suppressed our freedom of speech and not endangered our water supply, Dayenu -- It would have been enough to rebel against your rule If you had collaborated with the enemy; given away our Sacred Land and Holy Places; divided the People of Israel; beaten women and children; suppressed our freedom of speech; endangered our water supply and not released terrorist murderers into our midst, Dayenu -- It would have been enough to rebel against your rule If you had collaborated with the enemy; given away our Sacred Land and Holy Places; divided the People of Israel; beaten women and children; suppressed our freedom of speech; endangered our water supply, released terrorist murderers into our midst and not surrendered our strategic mountains that protect us from attack, Dayenu -- It would have been enough to rebel against your rule If you had collaborated with the enemy; given away our Sacred Land and Holy Places; divided the People of Israel; beaten women and children; suppressed our freedom of speech; endangered our water supply; released terrorist murderers into our midst; surrendered our strategic mountains; and not created a Palestinian State dedicated to the destruction of Israel, Dayenu -- It would have been enough to rebel against your rule If you had collaborated with the enemy; given away our Sacred Land and Holy Places; divided the People of Israel; beaten women and children; suppressed our freedom of speech; endangered our water supply; released terrorist murderers into our midst; surrendered our strategic mountains; created a Palestinian State and not broken G-d's Covenant with Abraham, Dayenu -- It would have been enough to rebel against your rule If you had collaborated with the enemy; given away our Sacred Land and Holy Places; divided the People of Israel; beaten women and children; suppressed our freedom of speech; endangered our water supply; released terrorist murderers into our midst; surrendered our strategic mountains; created a Palestinian State, broken G-d's Covenant with Abraham and not defamed religious Jews and their TORAH, Dayenu -- It would have been enough to rebel against your rule If you had collaborated with the enemy; given away our Sacred Land and Holy Places; divided the People of Israel; beaten women and children; suppressed our freedom of speech; endangered our water supply; released terrorist murderers into our midst; surrendered our strategic mountains; created a Palestinian State, broken G-d's Covenant with Abraham, defamed religious Jews and their TORAH and not jeopardized Jewish rule in Jerusalem, Dayenu -- It would have been enough to rebel against your rule TO THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT OF SHARON AND PERES: You have done all of these things. You have collaborated with the enemy; given away our Sacred Land and Holy Places; divided the People of Israel; beaten women and children; suppressed our freedom of speech; endangered our water supply; released terrorist murders into our midst: surrendered our strategic mountains; created a Palestinian State; broken G-D's Covenant with Abraham; defamed religious Jews and their TORAH and even jeopardized Jewish rule in Jerusalem. DAYENU! WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR RULE! BY YOUR ACTIONS YOU HAVE FORFEITED ANY CLAIM TO LEGITIMACY. DAYENU! "FOR ZION'S SAKE I WILL NOT HOLD MY PEACE, AND FOR JERUSALEM'S SAKE I WILL NOT REST" Bernard J. Shapiro is the executive director of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies and the editor of The Maccabean Online and the Freemanlist. Contact the Center at Freeman Center For Strategic Studies, P.O. Box 35661, Houston, Texas 77235-5661. Phone or Fax at 713-723-6016 |
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BBC BIASED BIMBO GETS REWARD
Posted by Steven Plaut, April 22, 2005. |
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The BBC has never been shy about its biases. It is anti-Blair and anti-American and tried to sabotage the invasion of Iraq. Blog-space is sites devoted to fighting the bias of the BBC, perhaps the best of which is BBCWATCH. It was the BBC's bias that may have been the cause behind the famous suicide of a government expert on Iraqi weapons, and a British court soundly criticized BBC for its reporting. David Kelly had killed himself after being identified falsely as the anonymous source of BBC's report accusing the government of exaggerating claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to bolster support for war. Harvard Professor Peter Hall has denounced the bias of the BBC while defending its right to independent reporting. John Reid, the chairman of the British Labor party, claims the BBC acted as the "friend of Baghdad" when Saddam was still in charge. During the war, the BBC was swamped with letters of outrage against its anti-American bias. The Weekly Standard denounced the BBC as cowardly and biased. Even more outrageous is the fact that the BBC is financed by the British taxpayer, in a television tax that proves that many British politicians just never learned anything from the American revolt against taxation without representation. (The British taxpayers do not vote for who runs the BBC nor what it will air.) Josh Chafetz writes: THE WAR IN IRAQ has left in its wake a string of embarrassments for the BBC that have many questioning its privileged status. Throughout the war, the BBC was consistently--and correctly--accused of antiwar bias. These accusations began almost as soon as the fighting did, when the BBC described the death of two Royal Air Force crew members, after their jet was accidentally downed by a U.S. Patriot missile, as the "worst possible news for the armed forces." On March 26 (less than a week into the fighting), Paul Adams, the BBC's own defense correspondent in Qatar, fired off a memo to his bosses: "I was gobsmacked to hear, in a set of headlines today, that the coalition was suffering 'significant casualties.' This is simply NOT TRUE." He went on to ask, "Who dreamed up the line that the coalition are achieving 'small victories at a very high price?' The truth is exactly the opposite. The gains are huge and costs still relatively low. This is real warfare, however one-sided, and losses are to be expected." Outside critics were even blunter: They revived the nickname "Baghdad Broadcasting Corporation," a coinage from the first Gulf War, when BBC broadcasts from the Iraqi capital were censored by Saddam's government without viewers' being notified. But of all the BBC's biases, none is so naked as its hatred of Israel. Every terrorist murdering Jews is an "activist" or a "militant" according to the BBC, unlike the IRA people who tried to bomb BBC headquarters in London, who of course were "terrorists". The BBC routinely counts the Palestinian suicide bombers in the body count of the "victims" of terrorist atrocities, letting everyone know it thinks Israel is evil and ultimately responsible for Middle East violence. It is quite candid about its belief that Israel needs to grant complete independence to the Palestinians in ways that the BBC never thinks should be applied to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, or the Channel Islands. This past week arguably the most biased reporter of all at the BBC is to receive the "Member of the British EMpire" award. (Member of the British Empire? Talk about illicit occupations!!) She is BBC reporter Orla Guerin, who has come under sharp attack for what some perceive as an anti-Israeli bias in her coverage, will receive an MBE honor from the British government for "outstanding service to broadcasting." Israeli Minister Natan Sharansky, who last year wrote a formal letter of complaint to the BBC over Guerin's coverage, said it is a pity that a lack of anti-Semitism was not a criterion for the award. Sharansky protested that Guerin, in her report, portrayed the event as "Israel's cynical manipulation of a Palestinian youngster for propaganda purposes." He said this "reveals a deep-seated bias against Israel. Only a total identification with the goals and methods of the Palestinian terror groups would drive a reporter to paint Israel in such an unflattering light instead of placing the focus on the bomber and the organization that recruited him." Another Israeli official, who responded to the news by saying he was "shocked," said Guerin is among the most anti-Israeli journalists reporting from Israel today. The UK's own Evening Standard, which interviewed Guerin in 2003, wrote that she "questioned Israel's claim to be a democracy, compared its press freedom with Zimbabwe's and accused its officials of paranoia." This is not the first award to naked anti-Israel biased bimbo reporters in the UK. In 2003 granting the United Kingdom's Political Cartoon Society awarded Dave Brown of the Independent its "cartoon of the year" award for a cartoon he drew depicting a naked Ariel Sharon biting off the bloodied head of a Palestinian child. (http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/moonbatcentral/2005/04/bbc-biased-bimbo.html) Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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YESHIVA U. ROSH YESHIVA: ISRAEL'S TORAH JEWS MUST VOTE ON DISENGAGEMENT
Posted by Lisa Rubin, April 21, 2005. |
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THIS IS A GREAT TALK BY RABBI HILLEL SCHACTER OF YESHIVA UNIVERSITY. He shows how the situation in Israel is a Mandatory War, In which even loss of life requires it! The argument about cutting off a diseased limb to save a patient? He explains that the patient decides. This means that either: The residents of Gush Katif & Hebron decide; or all the Jews in Israel must vote on it - only allowing those who are Orthodox, shomer shabbos, etc. The arguments about Gush Katif not being part of Israel? Nonsense!! He shows how that differentiation had to do only with one limited halacha! Obeying the "law of the land"? - that only applies to monetary and related matters. He says it does not apply at all in this case, as in matters of Torah, etc. Even more amazing, he shows how it does not apply in a Jewish State. He agrees that people complain about how Israel is run, but points out that in Talmudic times, the gov't was involved with idolatry, and worse. More to the point, PRECISELY BECAUSE the non-Jews are trying to get the land is proof that it is a recognized Jewish State! In other words, every time Connie Rice, Bush or anyone say to give it over, it verifies that it IS a JEWISH STATE - and thus we must literally fight to the death to keep it. Ahhh. Pure and simple. Do listen to it! In Faith, and Good Shabbos and Pesach, too. This news item is from today's Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com). Yeshiva University's RIETS Kollel program head Rabbi Hershel Schachter, in a Talmudic lecture on the Disengagement plan last week, refuted the notion that it's merely a matter of government law. The notion that the disengagement is a question for the Israeli government to decide, and that "the law of the land is supreme" in this case, was presented by two leading YU rabbis in a recent conference. Rabbi Schachter strongly disagrees. Citing Talmudic and rabbinic sources in abundance, Rabbi Schachter noted that Gaza is clearly within the borders of the Land of Israel. He noted that G-d told Isaac not to leave the Land of Israel, but rather to live in Gerar (present-day Gaza) - thus proving that Gaza is in the Promised Land. (The rabbi also noted and resolved an apparent difficulty in Rashi's commentary on this point.) Rabbi Schachter acknowledged that Gaza does not have the same Halakhic [Jewish legal] sanctity as other parts of the Land, thus exempting it from certain Land-oriented commandments. However, he emphasized, some rabbinic opinions hold that this does not detract from the commandment or importance of living there. Independent of the above point, Rabbi Schachter said that there is a separate commandment to establish a Jewish state in the Land of Israel. This commandment certainly applies to the entire area of the Land of Israel, he said, and not just to those areas that are Halakhically sanctified. Furthermore, another commandment exists that is key to the entire issue: that of waging defensive war. Where and when it applies is an intricate question, the rabbi taught, but it certainly applies when there is pressure to surrender sovereignty over some of the areas of the Land of Israel to a foreign sovereignty. War, by definition, means the loss of life, such that this commandment cannot be pushed aside because of the fear that lives will be lost. Just as doctors must sometimes amputate a limb in order to save one's entire body, so too individual lives are put at risk - and worse - in order to save the People as a whole, or Klal Yisrael. This Klal is found only in the Land of Israel [based on the Minchat Chinuch's explanation to Megillah 14a]. The question that remains, Rabbi Schachter explained, is whether the lives to be put at risk will help us win - or, as some feel, this is just a losing battle, with more and more lives being lost with no gain in sight. This, he said, is a very strong question - and can be decided only by the endangered entity itself. That is to say, just like a person in danger can "choose his risk" [based on rabbinic interpretations of the story of the four lepers in Kings II, 7], so too the Klal in Israel - not the government, but the people themselves - can and must decide for themselves whether retaining all parts of the Land means winning the war, or losing it. Rabbi Schachter further said that the concept of the "supremacy of the law of the land" does not apply in this situation. That concept applies only in areas of monetary and civil law, but certainly not in issues of religious prohibitions and obligations such as Sabbath or marriage and divorce. "The issue of the Land of Israel belonging to the Jews is not just a monetary matter of real estate," the rabbi taught, "but rather belongs in the [other] realm of 'issur v'heter.'" Since the Land belongs to the Jewish People not as real estate, but rather as a legacy given by G-d to the Jewish people, it can be given away only if retaining it would exact a price so high that the Klal does not feel it's worth it - and this can be ascertained only by polling all those Jews in Israel who subscribe to the Thirteen Principles of Faith. The entire lecture can be heard at "http://www.yutorah.org". |
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ISRAEL'S BIG GAMBLE
Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, April 21, 2005. |
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This was written by Cal Thomas and is filed at http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/home/ link.php?file=../html/article.html?id=5585 After meeting on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, President Bush said, "The United States is committed to Israel's security and well being as a Jewish state, including secure and defensible borders. We're committed to preserving and strengthening Israel's capability to deter its enemies and to defend itself." The president did not say what he meant by such a "commitment," but it is hard to accept that Israel's security is preserved and strengthened when the American government, over several administrations, has pressured various Israeli prime ministers into relinquishing land to its sworn enemies. The two sides haven't even gotten to the road map yet and are still in what might be called the "pre-road map stage." But Sharon has said that even in this stage, certain conditions must be met before moving to the road map, itself. These, reasonably, include a full cessation of terror, violence and incitement, the dismantling of terror groups and collection of their weapons, as well as the cessation of smuggling of terrorists and weapons, particularly from Egypt, through the Gaza Strip and into Israel. None of these conditions, which are spelled out in the road map, have been met, but that does not deter President Bush, or those who have preceded him, from pressuring Israel to give more. On every previous occasion when Israel has caved to U.S. pressure and ceded territory vital to its own defense, the Palestinian and Arab side has behaved like a giant boa constrictor. It swallows its prey, rests for a bit to digest it, and then starts looking for more. The Bush Administration wants to send additional tax dollars to the Palestinians to build infrastructure. If new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas wants money for Palestinian infrastructure, he can draw on considerable amounts socked away in secret Swiss bank accounts by the late Yasser Arafat. According to Issam Abu Issa, former chairman of the Palestine International Bank, Arafat misappropriated hundreds of millions of dollars, and he and some of his cohorts became millionaires while they allowed many Palestinians to live in squalor. Read all about it in the fall 2004 issue of Middle East Quarterly. If one visits the State Department's Web page on which the "road map" appears, one finds the headline "A Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." The key words are "performance-based." So far, it is only Israel that has been doing the performing. The Palestinians have limited their performance to lip service and meaningless gestures. In the past, the Palestinians were happy to reduce incidents of terror in order to get the next piece of land. After they got it, the terror resumed because terror is at the center of their strategy to capture all the land. What they don't get by intimidation, they will try to take by all-out war at the appropriate time. Phase One of the road map was supposed to be completed in May 2003. It called for "ending terror and violence, normalizing Palestinian life and building Palestinian institutions." Since not one of these objectives has been realized, even in the "pre-road map" period, how could anyone other than a cockeyed optimist believe that the Palestinians are serious about co-existing with Israel? Sharon has repeatedly said that moving forward depends on these steps. Yet he acknowledges the problem of continuing terror, although at different levels of intensity. So, if it is a condition for "moving forward" that the terror completely stop, but yet the terror continues, why is Israel moving forward anyway? Doesn't he make the case against the very policy he is implementing, which includes the uprooting of thousands of Jews in Gaza (along with the evacuation of their cemeteries and synagogues)? It was none other than Sharon who urged these Jews to live in Gaza in the first place. The flaw from the beginning has been the belief that what Israel does or doesn't do affects the conduct of her enemies, whose policy remains the elimination of Israel - by hook, by crook or by road map. The Unity Coalition for Israel (http://www.israelunitycoalition.org) is "the largest worldwide coalition of Jewish and Christian organizations, with more than 200 groups representing millions of people dedicated to Israel. Though we have many different backgrounds, we have one common goal: A Safe and Secure Israel." "Israel is not just a Jewish issue. Millions of Christians resolutely endorse the principle of peace with security for the state of Israel. Because we work closely together and speak with a united voice, our message is being heard!" |
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UNREQUITED WESTERN GOODWILL; PHONY INVESTIGATIONS; SNAPSHOT OF NPR; AIPAC CENSORS INFO ON GAZA RETREAT
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 21, 2005. |
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OIL Oil consumption is growing rapidly, due to economic growth in China and India and to wasteful self-indulgence in the US. Hence the price, pollution, and our dependency upon suppliers are rising. Supplies are less stabile and more easily disrupted by Islamists. These make conservation and switching to other sources of energy, especially non-polluting and renewable ones, imperative. Does our President propose conservation and alternative fuels? Not significantly. He cites increased costs of conserving, though conserving by definition saves money. He should be ashamed of himself. He is an oil man, not the patriot supposed. Actually, the oil industry could do quite well, without such selfish and self-destructive policies. First, it has invested in the alternative means of energy production. Second, supplies are being consumed so fast, it would have no problem getting high enough prices. High enough for reasonable businesses. Not high enough for greedy ones. They are short-sighted too, for the higher prices they secure for the Arabs arm the jihad against them. GOODWILL TOWARDS ARABS ETHNOCENTRIC I dined with three fellow Jews who were too busy to inform themselves about the Arab-Israel conflict, and do not realize they were misinformed about it. They made assumptions about the Arabs based upon their own culture and outlook. That gives the Arabs undeserved credit and slack. They thought that a peaceable solution is possible. The solution should be reached via compromise. Since the Palestinian Arabs are smart, they could accomplish a lot in conjunction with Israel. That makes sense in a vacuum. In the real world, those notions don't work. Arab-Jewish cooperation? The Arabs ostracize Israel, as an infidel state. They don't care what they might accomplish together with what they consider sub-humans. (Yes, the Arabs, who often call Israel racist, are the real racists.) The dream of Jewish-Arab cooperation should have been burst when Ben-Gurion found it wanting. It is a Jewish dream that the Arabs reject. "Compromise?" There were attempted compromises. Jordan, which ws 75% of the Palestine Mandate for a Jewish national home, was taken out of the Mandate and given to the Arabs. Jordan therefore is a Palestinian Arab state, the achieved goal of those who think that there should be such a state. The Arabs have so many states and so much land, how much do they need? Must they have more of the small portion left to the Jewish people? Besides, as my friends now know, the Arabs don't demand that portion out of some territorial grievance to wish to compromise, but because they are chipping away at Israel in the hope of taking it over. Compromise is a Western concept. It is alien to Islam. Islam moves forward. It seeks conquest. Any apparent compromise the Arabs either renege on or consider temporary, until they can move forward, again. This duplicity is one of their approved tactics. Therefore, compromise is dangerous for the West. "Peaceful solution?" There can be no peaceable solution with totalitarian fanatics. Totalitarian fanatics do not give up what they consider an imperative to rule the world. Just as the Nazis had to be fought and the Soviets to be contained, so, too, the Islamists, and probably all of Islam, must be fought and contained. Unless we gird for world war, including by economic means, we may lose the jihad that the Islamists already started. In our time, weapons are longer range, so we have less time to come to our senses than we did against the Nazis. It behooves Westerners to study Arab culture, to learn how to deal with them. It really is patronizing not to. Westerners would find their goodwill not requited but exploited. Unfortunately, our own media serves us ill. Pres. Bush is fighting on the cheap, not that it isn't costly, but he is not fighting on the scale needed, and has not made his case. He is sacrificing Israel to the enemy, although Israel has an army whose help we can use. He acts more the oil man than one who is to rally Western civilization. THE "POLITICAL ECHELON" IDF dispatches about reduction of security arrangements often describe the decision as being made by the "political echelon." What it means is that politicians unknowing or uncaring about the military and their decisions' eventual political consequences direct the military to reduce national security in order to make life easier for the Palestinian Arabs, whose mission is to make life more difficult for the Palestinian Jews. The military seeks defense; the politicians seek appeasement. Appeasement brings a false hope of a temporary respite in foreign criticism of Israel. Since the foreign critics would not be appeased until Israel withdrew totally from Yesha, they see Israel's goodwill gestures the Arab way -- as inadequate restitution of what belongs to the Arabs. The Arabs would not stop criticizing until their own goal is met - domination of Israel. Once Israel withdrew from Yesha, then, judging by the history of Arab tactics and by the Covenants of Fatah, Hamas, and the PLO, the Arabs would draw up a new list of grievances against Israel. The same reasons (such as Arab recalcitrance and obliviousness to early "compromises") that led other foreign critics of Israel to agree with the earlier list of grievances are likely to persuade them to accept the new ones. Already the Arabs have the Europeans speculating whether Israel should exist and that its reconstitution was a mistake. A better case could be made that Germany should cease to exist and that its unification more than a century ago was a mistake. (Why not end the existence of the artificial and usurping P.A. and Jordan?) PHONY INVESTIGATIONS Often, when an organization is found to have abused its power, the head of that organization is reluctant to admit his negligence or his actually commissioning the abuses. He sets up a fraudulent investigation, designed to find there was minimal abuse. The accused then proclaim their vindication. Usually the public is not the wiser. Abuse may even continue. Columbia University's President appointed a committee to whitewash his administration. Students had complained about professors' ethnic bias and bullying of students over it. This is a national disgrace, not just Columbia's. Because the American people do not realize how their universities have become advocacy centers for the Left, the Arabs, and antisemitism, and not centers of scholarship, they imagine that the controversy is limited to Columbia and probably not important. Actually, it is a serious blow to our war on terrorism and a serious degradation of education. The investigation committee was skewed by appointing to if some of the very biased types whose tactics are supposed to be investigated. The outcome was whitewashed in advance by giving that committee an assignment to check only some of the grievances. This is an old trick. Thus the committee was told to check whether professors imposed upon students. It was not told to find out whether those professors not only are biased in their opinions, but run their classes as indoctrination centers for those opinions, distort the truth, and do not conduct proper scholarship. (In Israeli universities, the far leftist professors may not do scholarly work, just some pro-Arab propaganda.) The key questions omitted from the committee's mandate are more objectively investigated than the one left in it, bullying. It is difficult to investigate claims of bullying. Some students may be afraid to testify. Others may be vindictive. Muslims believe in deceiving the infidels. Peering in from the outside, I don't see how the committee could determine the veracity of the complaints of bullying. The complaints do sound genuine and the behavior of the professors is Arab-like. The outcome is that a professor may be ignorant, prejudiced, and dishonest, but may not insult or extort students personally. He may run his classrooms like madrassas. One wonders whose country this is and what we are allowing to be done to its survival and to our youth. CAMERA'S EYE ON NPR NPR conducts quarterly self-analyses and sporadic, minor corrections. These are just damage control, asserts CAMERA. But the damage keeps getting committed against Israel. Broadcaster Peter Kenyon declared, ""most observers believe under international law all Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal." He did not indicate how many or who or how he came to conclude they are a majority. He cannot be counting the State Dept., which considers them legal, and opposes their existence for other reasons. He just made a blanket statement. (Are these observers or bigoted anti-Zionists? He did not comment on the extensive illegal Arab building in the Territories.) In nine weeks, NPR held eight interviews with the editor of the Lebanon "Star," who called Hizbullah "a very impressive, legitimate, even heroic resistance movement." (It does not resist Syrian occupation.) He denied that Hizbullah is a threat to Israel, but he neither commented on nor was asked about Hizbullah's diatribes against the Jews and Israel while it aims 13,000+ missiles at Israel (nor its firing some and murdering Israelis). Another repeat interviewee was from Arab News, the Saudi extremist news organization that accuses Israel of mass-murder and condemns MEMRI for exposing Arab antisemitism. The station frequently presented as neutral commentators Patrick Seale, apologist for the predecessor of the current dictator of Syria, and Robert Malley, who calls Israel's offer to the P.A. (which is a terrorist entity) of 95% of Yesha insufficient. "There were familiar paired segments of Israeli and Palestinian students and predictable NPR laxity in challenging blatant Palestinian falsehoods. When Arab students recited a litany of distorted allegations about Israel, Siegel interjected one apologetic corrective, noting that contrary to a Palestinian student's claim that Israel had failed to open checkpoints or release prisoners: 'By Palestinian standards a very small release, but a few hundred people have been released so far.'" "To the ludicrous claim that 'during Oslo period, there was no bombing, there was nothing,' Siegel was silent, failing to remind listeners that Oslo spawned unprecedented terror bombings." (Silence with the guilty is complicity. Release of terrorists is not decency but criminal negligence.) Siegel reiterated as his own view the Arab claim that the security "wall" is a major obstacle to peace. More sense is made by the Israeli view that terrorism is the obstacle to peace, as a result of which Israel built a fence, NOT a wall (IMRA, 3/19). Let us understand Arab propaganda techniques. The Arab claim that the fence is an obstacle to peace is not the Arab "view" or a legitimate opinion. It is stated as propaganda against the wall, because the wall is an obstacle to war. The Arabs want war. They relish jihad, armed struggle. When NPR presents both sides, it gives fanatical Arabs' lying propaganda equal weight with Israeli statement of the facts. At other times, it selects Far Leftist, fringe Israelis who agree with the Arabs but are presented as representing the Israeli side. NPR may be called the voice of the Arabs. ISRAELI AIR FORCE AHEAD OF MILITARY ANALYSTS Israeli military analysts rarely include Saudi military capabilities in their assessment of the balance of power. The Israeli Air Force, however, now conducts its training with the Saudi Air Force in mind as a potential adversary (IMRA, 3/19). RETURN TO "RIGHT OF RETURN" A London Arabic daily was told that Abbas would tell the Cairo conference to be realistic about plumping Palestinian Arabs down upon Israel. At the conference, however, he reaffirmed their entry as a right. The Western media had publicized what was falsely predicted (IMRA, 3/19). The Arabs constantly speculate. They also mislead by seeming to agree to ceasefires, but then certain groups deny their participation and others ones tack on new conditions. The Arabs agree, among themselves, to a conditional ceasefire. The media does not always report that it is conditional. If Israel doesn't accept the unacceptable conditions that the terrorists always demand, the media may accuse Israel of forfeiting peace. ABBAS' NEXT EXCUSE He claims he, too, must release terrorists, so as to integrate them into his forces rather than leaving them independent. Then, when they commit terrorism, he could shuck responsibility off onto them. He is more sophisticated than Arafat, in that he is able to garner EU and US support (Foreign Ministry, 3/17 from Hatzofeh). Arafat did, too. When his terrorism, corruption, and duplicity became too obvious for the US to deny it, it stopped supporting him publicly but continued to shovel money his way. "PEACE" RALLY A mere 10,000 people came to a rally called by Peace Now. These pro-abandonment people claim to represent the majority. By contrast, 100,000 - 200,000 attend rallies by opponents of abandonment. Who represents the majority? The Peace Now message was belligerent, not pacifistic. One leader received cheers for asserting, "Those who invite a civil war should know that we're ready for battle." (Arutz-7, 3/20.) Rally attendance may show the intensity of an opinion rather than its prevalence. TERRORISTS CAN SHOOT THEIR WAY INTO A JOB Terrorists committed an attack between Ramallah and Jericho. Israel had removed the checkpoint between the two cities. The perpetrators could flee to Jericho, from which Israeli forces had withdrawn, and find sanctuary. There they could sign up for the P.A. police force, and get onto the payroll (IMRA, 3/20). Abbas, Bush, and Rice know that, and they also know that Abas refuses to disarm terrorists, when they demand that Israel give up checkpoints and roadblocks CENSORSHIP IN U.S. JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS AIPAC and United Jewish Communities held their annual meetings. The leader of the opposition to PM Sharon's abandonment plan, MK Uzi Landau, complained that those two meetings did not invite opponents of the plan. Only the pro-plan view was aired (IMRA, 3/20). AIPAC touts Israel as a democracy, but denies Israeli dissidents a voice. How democratic is its own position, based on one-sidedness? Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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A CELEBRATION OF FREEDOM
Posted by Rachel Kapen, April 21, 2005. |
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Now once again, as it has been every year for many generations, Jews in their Homeland, and in the United States and elsewhere in the free world are celebrating the Festival of Passover. It is also called: the Festival of Freedom, as it commemorates the famous exodus of the Hebrews from bondage and slavery in the Land of Egypt to freedom and nationhood in the Land of Israel. However, amidst the nostalgic sight of the filled to the rim Elijah's cup, the sweet sound of the youngest child asking the customary Four Questions, and spirited singing of the beautiful hymns from the Hagaddah, the Seder's book, another seder comes to mind, under entirely different circumstances. Fir it was 62 year ago, at the seder night, that the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising erupted, a fateful event to become an example for the ultimate in man's struggle for freedom and dignity. But unlike the ancient Hebrews under the great leadership of Moses, the heroic fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto could not hope for freedom, not even fir survival. For them, the redemption of Jewish honor and dignity- even in death-was a good cause to fight the Nazis to the bitter end, and so they did. I was 4 years old when it all happened, growing up in far away Land of Israel, then under British rule, when Hitler's murderous claws luckily failed to reach our small community. At a time when hundreds of thousands of Jewish children all over Europe were slaughtered mercilessly, we, the children of Eretz-Israel(the Land of Israel) or Palestine as it was called by the rest of the world, lived a more or less normal childhoods, shielded by our parents who themselves were not completely aware-almost till the end- of the horrifying magnitude of the almost total annihilation of European Jewry, an event so unique in human annals that it created a name of its own, The Holocaust, The Shoah in Hebrew. Indeed, there were all those beautiful faces staring at me from our family album. These were some of my uncles, aunts and cousins who were murdered by Hitler, my used to tell my sister Shula and me again and again, wiping her tears. I was certainly well versed at what happened to my own people, but was I really? After all, how could a child growing up in a land of less than even one million Jews conceive of the mind-boggling number of six million? This being the case, for me and for my contemporaries who were born in the Land of Israel and fir whom the concept of anti-Semitism and of being a persecuted minority didn't really apply personally like it did to our parents and grandparents, the real concept of the Holocaust was virtually incomprehensible. Not until I was a wife and a mother that it finally was integrated into my being. This was the year of 1961 and we were living in Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel. For hours on end I was glued to the radio listening to every word which was said in the Eichmann Trial as one after the other witnesses recounted the horrific tales to which they were subjected by the man who sat expressionless in the bullet-proof glass booth, horrors they miraculously survived to tell their story to the world. These were ordinary people, Israelis, Americans and from a variety of European countries who spoke in Hebrew, English, and a myriad of other languages. These were people just like me and my parents who had the bad fortune to be in Europe at the time and not in the Land of Israel or in America. As I walked around in my tiny apartment as if in a daze, I still had an infant son to tend to every now and then who helped me face reality. The city of Jerusalem was swamped with journalists from all over the globe who came in order to cover the sensational story of a Nazi arch-war criminal who was kidnapped from Argentina, a country where he found shelter after the war and was brought to face justice by his victims or in their names, One of these journalists wandered one sunny day into our neighborhood, a mere stone-throw from Yad VaShem, the world-renowned memorial for the Shoah. Watching me hanging diapers on the clothesline on our second floor veranda, he started to shout at me questions regarding my thoughts of the trial. I asked him politely to come to my apartment and there I told him about the family album and all the family members whom I never knew and all perished in the Holocaust and how only now it is really registering with me. He asked to see the album but I told him it is with my mother, the only memorials to the beloved people she left behind when she came to help rebuild her people's homeland. The journalist seemed genuinely moved, thank me, and let me return to my seat near the radio. One of the most powerful and most significant words in the Hagaddah which we recite every year in unison is: "In every generation a person should regard himself as if he personally came out of Egypt." Although this declaration specifically mentions the exodus from Egypt, it is actually symbolic of Jewish oppression throughout history and its eventual freedom and redemption most recently with the return of Jews to the land of their ancestors and the re-establishment of Jewish sovereignty in the State of Israel. Rachel Kapen lives in West Bloomfield, MI. |
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ISRAEL, `PALESTINE` AND `CORRELATION OF FORCES` IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Posted by Louis Rene Beres, April 21, 2005. |
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War is never far from the minds of prudent Israelis, and prudent operational planning must always look closely at the regional "correlation of forces." Drawn from the military lexicon of the former Soviet Union, this concept is usefully applied as a particular measure of armed forces, from the subunit level to major formations. Additionally, it has been used to compare resources and capabilities on both the levels of military strategy and of so-called "grand strategy." This meaning is closely related to the concept of "force ratios" used more commonly in Western armies. Today, with renewed preparations for a Middle East "peace" that would include a Palestinian state, Israel must undertake prompt assessments of enemy states with particular reference to the "correlation of forces." Here it must seek more than an "objective" yardstick for measurement of opposing forces. Although the IDF is assuredly comparing all available data concerning both the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of units, including personnel, weaponry and equipment, its commanders will need to know more to establish Israeli force superiority at decisive places and times. This is especially the case in matters of grand strategy, where opposing forces could soon be endowed with genuine weapons of mass destruction. What, exactly, should be the IDF concept of "correlation of forces?" First, it must take careful account of enemy leaders` intentions as well as capabilities. Such an accounting is inherently more subjective than assessments of personnel, weapons and basic logistic data. Such an accounting must be subtle and nuanced, relying less on scientific modeling than upon carefully informed profiles. In this connection, it will not do to merely gather relevant data from all of the usual sources. It will also be important to put Israeli strategists into the shoes of each enemy leader, determining what Israel looks like to them. Second, the IDF correlation of forces concept must take account of enemy leaders` rationality. An adversary that does not conform to the rules of rational behavior in world politics might not be deterred by any Israeli threats, military or otherwise. Here the logic of deterrence would be immobilized and all bets would be off concerning expected enemy reactions to Israeli policy. This point now pertains especially to growing existential threats from Iran. There, if the Islamic regime is permitted to complete its still planned nuclearization without preemptive interference, Israel could find itself face-to-face with a suicide bomber in macrocosm. Third, IDF assessments must also consider the organization of enemy state units; their training standards; their morale; their reconnaissance capabilities; their battle experience; and their suitability and adaptability to the prospective battlefield. These assessments are not exceedingly difficult to make on an individual or piecemeal basis, but the Ministry of Defense needs to conceptualize them together, in their entirety. To get this more coherent picture will require creativity and imagination, not merely the more ordinary analytical skills. Fourth, IDF assessments must consider the capabilities and intentions of Israel`s nonstate enemies; that is, the entire confuguration of anti-Israel terrorist groups. And once again, such assessments must offer more than a group by group consideration. Rather, the groups must be considered in their entirety, as they interrelate with one another vis-a-vis Israel. And these groups need to be considered in their interactive relationship with enemy states. This last point might best be characterized as an IDF search for pertinent "synergies" between state and nonstate adversaries. Fifth, IDF assessments must take special note of the ongoing metamorphosis of a nonstate adversary (PLO) into a state adversary (Palestine). With this metamorphosis, Israel`s strategic depth will shrink to less manageable levels, and a far-reaching enemy momentum to transform Israel itself into part of the new Arab state will be energized. How shall Israel "live" with Palestine? In one respect, the codified institutionalization of disparate enemies into "Palestine" will actually provide some geostrategic benefit to Israel (now reprisal and retaliation will likely be easier and more purposeful), yet there will also be a corresponding and consequential loss of vital territories. In the matter of synergies, the IDF must also consider and look for "force multipliers." A force multiplier is a collection of related characteristics, other than weapons and force size, that make a military organization more effective in combat. A force multiplier may be generalship; tactical surprise; tactical mobility; command and control system; etc. The presence of a force multiplier creates synergy. The unit will be more effective than the mere sum of its weapons. IDF responsibility in this area concerns (1) recognizing enemy force multipliers; (2) challenging and undermining enemy force multipliers; and (3) developing and refining its own force multipliers. Regarding number (3), this means a heavy IDF emphasis on air superiority; communications; intelligence; and surprise. It may also mean a heightened awareness of the benefits of sometimes appearing less than completely rational to one`s enemies. This last point is especially important, and warrants serious and immediate study. Correlation of forces will essentially determine the outcome of the next Middle Eastern war. It is time for Israel to go well beyond the more usual numerical assessments to "softer" considerations, and to focus especially upon the cumulative importance of unconventional weapons and low-intensity warfare in the region. A key dilemma in this focus will be the understanding that, in certain circumstances, preemption is both indispensable and infeasible, and that any suitable expression of "anticipatory self-defense" will require skillful and authoritative clarifications. Louis Rene Beres is the author of many publications dealing with Middle Eastern security issues. Strategic and Military Affairs columnist for The Jewish Press, he is Chair of "Project Daniel," a private group advising Israel`s Prime Minister on nuclear strategy matters. This article appeared today in the Jewish Press (www.jewishpress.com) and is archived at http://www.jewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=4930 |
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HOW CAN THE CRIME OF EVICTION BE PREVENTED?
Posted by Moshe Feiglin, April 21, 2005. |
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Important Announcement Every non-violent activity in the struggle for Eretz Israel is legitimate, honorable, and keeps alight the spark of national honor. Any Jew who was arrested because he participated in the struggle for Eretz Israel, the Jewish People, and the Torah, is invited to send to Manhigut Yehudit (The Jewish Leadership Movement) a confirmation of this (faithful to the original) or an affidavit signed by him and by witnesses. In the coming months Manhigut Yehudit will issue certificates of good citizenship to the heroes who are acting with devotion and encountering hostility from within and without. In the Jewish State that with G-d's help will be established soon, the bearers of this certificate will be the first to be appointed to any position requiring loyalty and devotion to our nation and to the cities of our G-d. The confirmations can be sent to:
The blocking of roads immediately aroused controversy: Whether they
aid the struggle or cause the drivers held up to hate the settlers. We
have already clearly expressed our opinion in the matter (Listen to
the Arutz Sheva interview with Shmuel Sackett on Civil Disobedience:
American Jews Must Help Israelis Protest).
However, it seems that even the opponents of the roadblocks will find difficulty in denying the facts published this week. The Israeli Police announced this week that it intends to reduce the number of policemen that will participate in the eviction by 70%. The Police initially intended to allocate 30% of its forces for execution of the crime, but now because of the roadblocks (and the expectation that these activities will increase) it won't be able to allocate more than 10% for this.
The controversy regarding the blocking of roads will continue, but it has now become clear that the young heroes, who are prepared to suffer blows, arrests, and humiliations, are the sole ones who have proved the effectiveness of their activities. With all due respect for the Human Chain, the legal mass demonstrations, the visiting of homes (mishlohei manot), and the marches, these fine and important activities, and the millions of shekels expended on them, did not bend the government's hand by a millimeter. In contrast, the great devotion of a small group of young people has already prevented thousands of policemen from participating in the crime in Gush Katif.
How Can the Crime of Eviction be Prevented, With G-d's Help?
The eviction will be prevented by repentance, prayer and a cry to
our Father in Heaven, and by devotion.
Regarding Devotion:
It is not difficult to understand that if the action of a small
group of devoted, loyal people reduced by two thirds the number of
policemen allocated to perpetrate the crime, broader circles of
activities will prevent the remaining third being deployed against the
residents of Gush Katif. (For further details on this subject see
Michael Fuah's article: "Don't Look For Me at Home,"
http://www.jewishisrael.org/views/views_fuah/fuah65_02.htm)
Regarding the Army:
The ranks of combat troops and officers are currently mainly filled
by belief-based and nationalist soldiers who have not lost their human
characteristics. The army is devoting tremendous efforts to
brain-washing the soldiers regarding the need to obey the order and
participate in the crime. (To our shame, the brainwashing material
issued by the Educational Branch of the army contains remarks in favor
of obedience made by certain rabbis.)
However, an amazing number of soldiers (about 15,000) have already
signed a declaration that they won't participate in this crime. We
have to expand the circles of refusal to a state in which it will be
clear that the IDF lacks the forces to perpetrate crime. We must
continue to explain to the soldiers their human and Jewish obligation
not to take part in this crime. We have to stand in hitch-hiking
stations and at the entry to army bases and at every other possible
meeting place and explain to the soldiers the obligation to refuse to
obey orders.
Manhigut Yehudit has published a lot of explanatory material. The
booklet Clarification of the Obligation to Refuse to Obey Orders is
intended for every Jew, and explains the simple, moral basis. The
booklet The Magic Button is intended for soldiers who observe Torah
and Mitzvot (Commandments) who also wish to clarify the Halachic
(Jewish Law) aspects of the issue. The booklet can be obtained by
calling 1-800-200-613 (Israel). In addition several excellent short
films and other material have been produced by many bodies. Everyone
has relatives, neighbors, etc., including soldiers and policemen.
Don't wait for special instructions. Collect explanatory material and
go and explain to the soldiers that they are first of all humans and
Jews. Explain to them that if they carry out the order they will stain
the State, the IDF, and their souls, with a stain that cannot be
removed and will never be forgotten. Explain to them that
responsibility for the State and for the IDF (and also for democracy)
currently means refusal.
A Debate in the Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Last Wednesday a debate was held in the Hebrew University in the subject of refusal. The motion was supported by Noam Livnat and Moshe Feiglin, and opposed by Ben Artzi, David Yazerwitz, and Minister Vilnai. The debate was managed by Jack Levy from IDF Radio. Unfortunately the representatives of the Left did not succeed in concentrating on the subject at issue, but resorted to personal attacks. The result was clapping for representatives of the Right, but the debate itself was barren and virtually of no significance. Vilnai's remarks indicated that he was incapable of rising above the level of a sergeant major for trainees, and could not address the subject in a relevant manner. At this stage there was no reason to remain further.
A Debate in Haifa University
This debate contracted strongly with that held in Jerusalem. The orange cell in the University (led by Motti Ravhon and Se'adiya Gorodetzki) organized a fascinating evening and invited four lecturers: Dr. Gai Enosh from the Social Work department in the University, Mrs. Yael Ben Ya'akov, one of the founders of Mevo Dotan, Tzafrir Ronen, one of the organizers of the Nahalal Conference, and Moshe Feiglin.
When Arab students in the University heard that Feiglin would come, they made every effort to frighten people and sabotage the meeting. The notices were destroyed, threats were made, and the media had a field day.
Not only the Arab tried to sabotage the meeting, but also several senior members of the University staff. Dr. Gai Enosh received a written recommendation from one of these senior people not to participate, in which he was reminded that he did not yet possess permanent tenure. The threats were effective, and the hall was not full. However, several tens of brave students arrived, as well as two Arabs and a Jew from the Hadash cell in the University. All the lectures were of a very high standard, important questions were asked, and a fascinating debate developed. In our opinion this was one of the most important debates held on the subject of the disengagement plan since Sharon and Yoel Marcus announced the criminal plan. Every lecturer analyzed the issue from a different angle, and together they participated in a deep, important debate.
The Empty Chair on Seder Night
We did not join in the pleas to Sharon to mention the subject of
Pollard in his visit to President Bush. The reason is simple: Sharon
is the main reason why Pollard is still in jail. Every Israeli Prime
Minister who really wanted to bring about Pollard's release could have
done so immediately. But the Jewish people has neither betrayed nor
forgotten our brother Jonathan. This year we shall leave an empty
chair with Jonathan Pollard's photo at the Seder Table.
Announcements
* Manhigut Yehudit needs your donations. Please call 1-800-200-613. (Israel) or 1-516-295-3222 (USA). Or click here to donate via our secure on-line donation form.
* A new book by Moti Karpel called: On the Axis of Time will
shortly be published. The book contains a collection of articles that
appeared in the weekly Lechatchila magazine. The book may be ordered
immediately after Pesach. G-d willing we will also begin posting
English translations on our website. Manhigut Yehudit wishes all its members, supporters, and the entire
Jewish People, a happy Pesach, and that we shall all be privileged to
enjoy real freedom in our country.
Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) is a group of people inside the Likud party who want to see Israel adopt a more Jewish character. Moshe Feiglin, its cofounder, has emphatically said he does not want a theocracy, but he does want a State based on Jewish values. The Manhigut Yehudit website address is http://www.manhigut.org. Or go to http://www.jewishisrael.org |
Jonathan Pollard
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SAY NO - DO WHAT IS GOOD FOR US!
Posted by Watchman, April 21, 2005. |
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Arieh wrote: I don't understand: If we "cannot say no..." and there is nothing we can do, then let's 'go to sleep'. I AGREE, the question is - when? Netanyahu could not say no, Barak could not say no, Sharon cannot say no. There is no one in office who can say no. Israel must say: no more INTERFERENCE and PRESSURE from the U.S. and then Israel must defeat the enemy and when the phone rings from Washington to stop 'for the peace' or else, ISRAEL must tell the president to take a long walk off of a short pier. Israel can say no, the question is - when? The friendly partnership between Israel and the U.S. has turned into a Master and Slave relationship. Just as the journey of Joseph into Egypt eventually turned sour and all of Israel became enslaved so too now the relationship with America imperils Israel. Another mighty deliverance from slavery for Israel is at hand because there is no one in Israel who can say no. Arieh: You are welcome to fight Bush and his ilk (I have nothing for him), as a support, but WE must do what we must! Don't YOU see? I fight and warn Israel against the EVIL Road Map that divides up Israel and rewards it to the enemies of Hashem. Arieh: You should be LOUDLY against this EVIL also. The Author of the Road Map is Israel's enemy. The proverbial wolf in sheeps clothing who casts a spell on Israeli P.M.'s where they are no longer capable of saying no. Don't you see the EVIL pressure from the wolf dressed as a friend? You can contact the Wathman by email at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com |
We'll resume the April Blog-Ed page on April 27th,
with the original posting times.
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PESACH TIME
Posted by Udi Ohana, April 21, 2005. |
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Dear Friends, One of the advantages of living in the Diaspora is the existence of two Seder nights. This situation resolves the annual conflict of the average Israeli - who celebrates only one Seder night. The conflict - who to celebrate with? Grandparents A or Grandparents B? Both sets of grandparents, for their part, make every effort to convince you that spending Seder night with them will be a happier and a tastier experience. Seder night is the opportunity for every grandmother to display the full array of her culinary talents in front of the extended family. Behind the scenes, in the weeks before the holiday, protracted negotiations go on as to where the Seder will be celebrated. This is a no-win situation, because celebrating only one Seder night will always leave one party disappointed. Seder night in Israel is a little different from the other holidays, because even the non-religious among us consider it to be a family gathering worth attending. On the eve of the holiday, the streets are full of stalls offering flowers, candies and all sorts of gifts suitable to take to the family gathering. People like me, not used to buying presents, run around in a panic - what to choose? - the main objective being not to arrive with empty hands. A few hours later, the streets empty and everyone hurries home to get ready. New clothes, new shoes, new fragrances, new jewelry, new everything - this is the time to impress distant cousins. When everyone is dressed in their best, the whole family crams into the family car and tumbles into the next nightmare - the traffic jam. The inter-urban roads are one huge pulsating mass of vehicles, and it seems as if everybody is on the road, going somewhere. You wonder, with all the cars on the road, who stays at home? Every year, while inching gradually and painfully forward, you think to yourself - instead of "Next year in Jerusalem" - "Next year, we'll leave a half hour earlier." Eventually we reach our destination. With the average Israeli family, the basic rule is the more the merrier - so that the average number of people around the table on Seder night can be anything between 15 and 30 - or even more. Everybody is talking to everybody, shouting and gesticulating from one end of the table to the other, everyone crowds into the kitchen to have a peep at the food and get an idea of what delicacies to expect. Grandma reigns supreme over this entire colorful orchestra. She takes a last look at the pots, checks to see if there are enough seats for everyone, enough Haggadot and yarmulkes - and then sits everybody down. Once everyone is settled, we start reading the Haggadah. As the enticing odors from the kitchen grow stronger, the speed of reading increases. The mouth recites the Haggadah, and brain reacts to smells that fire the imagination - and the taste buds. Before you know it, the reading of the Haggadah is over, and the true celebration begins. Seder night in Israel, for me, is like standing in front of an abstract painting composed of a mixture of strong and pastel colors, pandemonium and tranquility, that, at first glance have no apparent connection. At a second glance, however, you can see the harmony that connects all the elements, and which creates a magnificent picture that remains in your head - at least until the next year. Happy Passover - Chag Sameach Udi (& Mal) Ohana Udi and Mal Ohana live in Kfar Saba and have created remarkable graphics and visuals on Israel. See http://www.conceptwizard.com/info.html |
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PA ACCUSATION: US FORCING CHRISTIANITY ON MUSLIMS
Posted by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, April 21, 2005. |
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Palestinian Authority leaders and the official PA media have long presented America as an enemy of Islam and the US war on terror as a war against Islam. This promotion continues unabated today, in spite of the American political and financial support of new PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. This week, a religious leader whose salary is paid by the PA added a new accusation to the standard attacks on American policy by preaching that the US war effort in Iraq and elsewhere, including "Palestine," attempts to force Muslims to convert to Christianity. He said US actions today were crueler than those of a Christian Caesar who, according to Islamic tradition, dipped a Muslim into boiling oil in order to force his conversion to Christianity. In addition, an old accusation was repeated in an article in the official PA daily this week. The writer states that the true enemy of the Arabs is not Israel but the US, and that Israel is merely an arm of the US in its imperialist wars. In this article the US is accused of "grinding the bones" of Palestinian children, "devouring their eyes." It is important to note that the inflammatory sermon comes only a few weeks after the PA leadership announced it would review the Friday sermons to remove incitement and hateful content. The following are the two items from this week's PA media: Friday sermon on PA TV "Our prisoners are subjected to most criminal kinds of physical torture. They are tied with chains and trussed up with iron chains, and hung by their feet from the ceiling, like animals are hung after slaughter for days. Many of them lose consciousness. Our prisoners are exposed to beating, electricity and fire tortures. "The prisoners are exposed to conversion to Christianity, to abandoning religion, [as it was] in the distant past and recently. Yes, our prisoners are forced to curse Muhammad; our prisoners are forced to curse the religion of Allah, our prisoners are forced to curse the essence of divinity. "Haven't you heard of our prisoners [of war] in Palestine, have you not heard of our prisoners in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and all over the world, who are exploited and imprisoned, and are offered conversion to Christianity? "This is an old - new infidel policy. Allah's servant, Ibn Al-Hudhafa Al-Sahmi, totally refused this. The [Christian] Caesar told him: 'We shall dip you in boiling oil'. He answered: 'Do as you wish'. He arrived with two Muslims and was dipped in boiling oil until his flesh separated from his bone. But what the Caesar did was not as bad as what his followers do, the missionaries of freedom and democracy of today. In the name of Allah, what Caesar did, dipping Muslims in boiling oil, was one hundred thousand times lighter than what their soldiers are doing today to our wives and daughters in Iraq, in Palestine, in Guantanamo and in Abu Gharib. "What Caesar did is not as bad as five American soldiers who meet to rape one of our daughters, a girl who has the honor of a Muslim woman, in order to desecrate her honor at the Abu-Gharib prison."
Article from official PA daily newspaper "Seventeen years (since the assassination of the fighter Abu Jihad)
that the murderous millstones of America have been turning, grinding
the bones of our children and devouring their eyes. Not Israel! There
is no such thing called Israel! It is America repeating upon us, the
Arabs, the tragedy of the Indians [sic] from the dawn of her
[American] history that began with this first crime of genocide."
VISIT PMW VIDEO ARCHIVES WITH IMP MATERIAL ON 12 TOPICS http://www.pmw.org.il/tv.html VISIT PMW VIDEO ARCHIVES ON PA INCITEMENT TO GENOCIDE http://www.pmw.org.il/tv%20part6.html VISIT PMW VIDEO ARCHIVES ON PA INCITEMENT OF CHILDREN TO SHAHADA [MARTYRDOM] http://www.pmw.org.il/tv%20part1.html Itamar Marcus is director of PMW - Palestinian Media Watch - (http://www.pmw.org.il). PMW is based in Jerusalem. Barbara Crook, a writer and university lecturer based in Ottawa, Canada, is PMW's North American representative. |
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STARTING TO UNDERSTAND
Posted by Batya Medad, April 21, 2005. |
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This year I did something rather traumatic and revolutionary; I hired someone to help get my house ready for Pesach. It was a real pleasure and worth every penny, nickel, dime and more. Since my own kids are fully grown, nesting, residing, visiting and trekking elsewhere the burden of Pesach cleaning and house organizing has fallen very heavily on one person, the muse, yes me. As one of my neighbors mentioned when I told him that I had hired one of the neighbors, "it's easier and more pleasant than one's own kids." "Yes," I answered; "they don't argue." Some of the things the young man did were the same things I had wanted my own to do, but of course no one considered those tasks important. The hired hand, asks no questions, just follows orders, and in this case did a fantastic and efficient job. In the evening I found myself in front of the TV, and didn't manage to escape quickly enough. This time the "experts" around the table were complaining that the people in Gush Katif expected too much. They should be grateful that the government's being so generous. The government officials are laboring so hard to find them alternative accommodations, but the residents of Gush Katif aren't cooperating. The officials need to know where to set up the refugee camps; they're willing to be flexible, the Negev, the Galil, near Ashkelon. The speakers sounded terribly hurt and insulted. They, the hard-working bureaucrats are slaving away trying to create the shantytown of your dreams, and those ingrates, the "settlers of Gush Katif" aren't cooperating. They're being offered money, so what's the problem? p>I'll tell you what's the problem. The loyal patriots of Gush Katif don't want government money; they don't want to move; they don't want their homes, schools, businesses and lives to be destroyed. It's not the same as my young neighbor who gratefully took my money and cleaned and schlepped for me. http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=80651 It doesn't matter how much money is offered and how many dunams are given as compensation. Some people just aren't for sale. For years I have been amazed that the government, the Left and the media are so certain that "everyone has his price." I'm also offended, because according to their plan, someday soon a letter from the Judenrat will be delivered to me, too. To think that some spiteful bureaucrats will G-d forbid have to power to evaluate "compensation," a price, for home, for my life. Listening to some of them, you can feel their confusion. They honestly can't understand why the residents of Gush Katif aren't tempted by their offers. They try to "sweeten" them with an additional few meters, rental housing, or a chance to live with old friends. For them "money speaks." They expect the Israelis in Gush Katif to follow their instructions like my neighbor's son did when I asked him to schlep the branches that had been taken off the succah a half a year ago or the old stove that had been braving snow, rain and sun for eighteen months. There's a difference between someone who's looking for work or to move and someone who isn't. Not every nineteen year old boy in the neighborhood would have cleaned my house, no matter how much money I'd offered, and I wonder if those same government officials would give up their homes, communities and businesses to move into refugee camps, ok "alternative housing solutions" just because the government decided they should. As hard as it is to say this, I must. Israel is becoming a totalitarian regime. "Ministers Must Exhibit Loyalty" (IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warning that any minister who does not vote to support government policy has no alternative but to leave the cabinet immediately.
What's the point of a cabinet that is filled with puppets? People keep telling me that government decisions in a democracy must be obeyed. Maybe that's true, but the State of Israel is no longer a democracy. Chag Kasher V'Sameach, This is Musing #114. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il |
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TURNING SECURITY OVER TO THE P.A; U.S. ARMS EGYPT, WHICH REVILES U.S
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 21, 2005. |
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"ISRAEL CANNOT ACCEPT THIS" Almost every day and at every meeting, PM Sharon and his government refer to the continuation of terrorism and the continued P.A. failure to disarm the terrorists as something Israel cannot accept. Nevertheless, he continues to work on abandoning territory to them, on keeping the checkpoints inoperable, and on freeing terrorists. He should be weakening those jihadists, not whittling down his own country's strategically defensive territory. What does he mean, Israel cannot accept this? It accepts it. It makes it possible by a one-sided ceasefire and by freeing terrorists. Worse, Sharon asserts that the "disengagement" plan is a step towards the Map, and that the Map must be implemented without shortcuts. He implies that the Map's first requirement, to eradicate terrorism, must be carried out. In that case, his plan to abandon Gaza and northern Samaria is just such a shortcut. (It enables the non-eradicated terrorists to operate in secrecy.) TURNING ISRAELI SECURITY OVER TO THE P.A. In the IDF announcement of an agreement to withdraw its forces from Jericho, "A key feature is that Israel drop the checkpoint that monitored movement between Jericho and Ramallah - or as critics put it the weapons manufactured in Jericho and terrorists enjoying sanctuary in Jericho will be able to move freely to Ramallah." (IMRA, 3/16.) This is like asking the Nazi SS to provide security for Jews. Like Shimon Peres, Sharon's appeasement of the enemies of Israel is so treasonous, and the pair's hold over the State so impervious to elections, that they are public enemy number 1. As Emanuel Winston suggests, they are the prime candidates for a people's court. ISRAELI INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE In "other civil-disobedience news, police beat several Tel Aviv University students and briefly arrested three early this morning, during a student protest against higher-education budget cuts." "The students locked the university gates during the night, and police who arrived on the scene used excessive force and unnecessary violence to disperse them, witnesses said" On the other hand, "Shinui MK Meli Polishuk-Bloch was quoted as saying, 'Let the police direct their violence against the settlers and disengagement opponents instead.'" (Arutz-7, 3/16.) A responsible parliamentarian would have demanded that the police be restrained and retrained. Instead he urged that the police beat people whose policies he does not like. Thus it is the Left that incites to violence, but complains falsely that the Right does. PEOPLE DON'T THINK, THEY JUST EMOTE PM Sharon keeps contradicting himself by asserting that the P.A. first must eradicate terrorism before Israel makes the Road Map concessions, and in the next breath he insists on abandoning Gaza and northern Samaria, which, the US points out, is partial implementation of the Road Map. Who points out that contradiction? IMRA does. I have not noticed anyone else doing it. No matter how illogical and contrary to the facts are the excuses for appeasement of the Arabs, the media does not contradict most of them. A certain amount of failure to detect poor argumentation is due to ignorance and advocacy journalism. But a certain amount is due to the failure of people with the ability to think to exercise that ability. They lack skepticism. EGYPT PROTESTS TO THE U.S. Egypt objects to Administration leaks about Egyptian social problems. It considers the resulting "frivolous" US media discussion about domestic Egyptian affairs unbecoming of an ally. An example is the attention given the discovery that Egypt helped Saddam develop chemical weapons. Egypt also cancelled an Arab League summit after Sec. Rice criticized Egypt's arrest of an opposition leader. Another response is publication of cartoons depicting Pres Bush as a Hitler, a mass-murderer, and a devil. (Egypt has done this, before.) A columnist decried the US as a major human rights violator, a phony champion of human rights, and asserted that Sec. Rice's "crude interference" in the arrest is counter-productive. An Egyptian week weekly charged the US media with lying about Egypt. The Egyptian media denies the impression held by the US media that its being government owned or controlled hampers its independence (IMRA 3/17, from MEMRI). The virulence of its retorts, typically Arab, demonstrates America's point. U.S. CALCULATIONS MAY MISCARRY The US built up the Egyptian Army supposedly so as to guard Saudi oil for us. (The US forgot that Egypt once tried to seize it, but it was diverted by a war with Israel.) As Mubarak passes out of power, his successor is likely to compromise with the Moslem Brotherhood. The jihadist may get their hands on the Army, that the US poured $60 billion into. Pres. Bush has promised Israel special weapons, if Egypt attacks. If he means to keep his word (and if he is in power then), it would be too late, anyway. (Invasion would outrace any airlift, thanks to US pressure that got the IDF out of the Sinai.) Rather than let Pres. Assad withdraw his forces from Lebanon, as the US wishes, and forfeit the income from the opium fields there, the Syrian generals may assassinate him. Under pressure from Bush, Sharon may acquiesce to Abu Mazen's release of the worst terrorist murderers. Then, to appease his own public, he would have them found and executed. (They may have be tipped off by Israeli secret service agents where and when to find the Cabinet Minister they murdered when he was about to bring down the Sharon government. Sharon would not want that news out and publicized.) Bush has grown softer on terrorism, since his difficulties in Iraq, or else he is following the advice of his father and father's associates. Hence he muses that Hizbullah may not be so terrorist (Winston Mid East Analysis, 3/17). Hizbullah not terrorist? It has 14,000 missiles, now and then being fired, pointed at Israeli cities. EGYPT OSTRACIZES ISRAEL Egypt's Speaker of Parliament rejected an invitation to visit Israel. He will not go until it gives in to P.A. demands. He is a man of principle (IMRA, 3/16). What principle? The treaty between the two countries calls for normal relations. Egypt is in violation. Was peace arranged by Israel's withdrawal from the Sinai, or was Egypt given the hope to conquer Israel next time and with billions of US aid, given the opportunity to build up for it? EGYPT STILL ARMING Egypt is acquiring a couple of hundred advanced howitzers (IMRA, 3/17). It is considering acquiring about 150 advanced US jets. The US pays for this out of a $2 billion annual subsidy. Why? If the US wanted peace, it would not arm Arab aggressors. SHOULD THE MEDIA OBSERVE MILITARY OPERATIONS? Sensationalist, the media tends to panic a population against its continuation at war. (By contast, the sensationalist Arab media goads its people to war.) Some militaries keep the media away from military operations. Israel was afraid of being criticized by the media for barring it. It was afraid, until now. Now that the police are preparing to conduct military operations against Jews in Yesha, the government intends to bar the media (Prof. Steven Plaut, 3/17, e-mail). Why? To avoid the ignominy of persecuting Jews, of letting the world watch Jewish police drag them off so the Arabs, committed to terrorism against Israelis, can move into their places? Or, as I suspect, to avoid letting its own people and foreign Jews see the brutality with which the secularist government intends to perpetrate this? P.A. SERMON On March 18, a preacher warned on P.A. television, as did another from Al Aqsa mosque, that the government of Israel is planning to invade that mosque on the Temple Mount, with thousands of extremist Jews. He threatened to get millions of Muslims to come to the mosque's defense. The speech was anti-American, too. So much for Abbas' announcement that all mosque sermons would be censored against incitement against Israel (IMRA, 3/17). There was some truth to the preacher's warning: "On Sunday April 10, 2005, the first day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, Revava-a grassroots Jewish organization-plans to bring 10,000 Jews to the heavily restricted Temple Mount to spark Israeli dialogue about reclaiming the holy site from its Muslim custodians." "We're talking about our civil and religious right to have access to the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount is the single holiest place in the world for Jews. It's time the Israeli government restores control to the rightful owners-the Jewish people." (Voice of Judea, 3/24.) The 10,000 would assert the right to a Jewish presence. There was no plan to attack the mosque, itself. False tales of plots to attack the mosque is an old demagogic trick of the Arabs, used to incite pogroms. Actually, Israel is letting the Arabs on the Mount build illegally and destroy, in their excavations, ancient Jewish artifacts. Then the P.A. asserts that there was no ancient Jewish history on the Mount or, by implication, Christian history. The Christians have not caught on to that. THE NEXT P.A. ELECTION (I am catching up with my e-mail news sources but still am 3 weeks behind. Usually it does not matter. This time, however, I am not sure whether the election discussed in the next brief is the one that already occurred. My comment is appropriate in either case.) The feeling in the P.A. is that Hamas will win the next election, because people don't like Fatah's corruption. Abbas conceded that possibility. He said denies concern about it (IMRA, 3/16). Hamas did win the municipal elections in Gaza. Is Pres. Bush still pleased with the "democratic" elections in the P.A., where any competition is over who runs the holy war? The State Dept. is! P.A. CONTINUES INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE In commemoration of international mother's day, a P.A. TV sermon exhorted mothers to celebrate their sons' death as human bombs. Young girls are taught to emulate an early Muslim woman who rejoiced that Allah had honored her by letting her four sons die in battle against the infidels. This was Arafat's policy; it continues under Abbas, who a week earlier garnered Western headlines with an announcement that the P.A. would write the sermons from then on (IMRA, 3/15). In the West, such attitudes towards women would be considered psychotic and towards children would be considered child abuse. "GAZA WOULD FILL UP WITH TERRORISTS" The Winston Mid East Analysis repeatedly warned that Gaza would fill up with terrorists, if Israeli forces withdrew. It was echoing the warnings by Israeli intelligence. The warnings are confirmed by a "Jerusalem Post" report that Abbas has invited the terrorist organizations headquartered in Damascus to move to Gaza, if the IDF withdrew. They accepted (Arutz-7, 3/18). Would they be moving there NOT to commit terrorism? Would they be satisfied with Gaza or even all of Yesha? No, not according to the terrorist manifestos that reflect their ideologies. Instead of "disengagement," Sharon invites heavier conflict. Nevertheless, Sharon plows over opposition, determined to withdraw. His no longer is a sane rationale. THE SPECIAL ENMITY AGAINST POLLARD The opponents of Pollard are an interesting lot. Some cannot debate the issue without insulting their opponents. Others continue to use long disproved arguments, the leaked canards such as mercenary motives and jeopardizing US agents and codes. When those canards are disproved, shouldn't opponents of Pollard turn some of their attention and some of their resentment to who tried to mislead them? Should they not wonder what makes government leakers so desperate as to have to resort to defamation about somebody already convicted? Might they not consider that perhaps Pollard's greater offense was in discovering their Iran-Contra and other crimes and cover-ups? One reader rejected my complaint that Pollard was sentenced disproportionately. Claiming that Pollard got away with his life, he challenged me to name one other traitor who was not executed. I believe that only two have been executed. CIA moles Ames and Aldritch, who got dozens of US agents executed, did not get capital punishment nor life sentences. Of the three Walkers, whose naval spying got GIs killed in Vietnam, one or two got life sentences, and the third got a much shorter sentence. There were a couple of Arab spies, such as an Egyptian general who merely was let out of the country and the other got perhaps two years. A Korean-American got a very light sentence. Pollard already served 19 years of a life sentence. The average sentence for the kind of spying Pollard did gets 2-4 years. There are different types of spying. One spies for enemies of the US or, as Pollard did, for non-enemies. One harms the US or, like Pollard, did not harm the US. My reader was not in possession of the facts. Some don't want to know the facts. They just want to hate. Then hate the subversives still in the US government. IF THERE WERE A REFERENDUM The question should be put to a national referendum not only whether to transfer out the Jews of Gaza and northern Samaria. It also should ask whether to transfer out the Arabs of Yesha and the Arabs of Israel. The Jews abroad should have some voice in this, because their patrimony is involved (Voice of Judea, 3/19, e-mail). A further question should be whether to rescind Arabs' Israeli citizenship and enforce the laws against them. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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A PASSOVER MIRACLE
Posted by Ruth Matar, April 21, 2005. |
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Dear Friends, Presently there is much despair amongst all of us. The date of the immoral and illegal ethnic cleansing is coming closer and closer. The "Disengagement Plan", which is an outgrowth of the Road Map, is a plan for Israel's destruction, conceived by Saudi Arabia, and former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker. (James Baker of "f--k the Jews, they don't vote for us anyway" fame is even today head of the powerful law firm which represents Saudi Arabia in the United States.) What is the "Road Map" and the "Disengagement Plan" all about? It is a plan and a map for dismembering the Holy Land, which G-d promised to the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as an everlasting inheritance! It is a plan to forcibly expel and transfer the Jewish People from their Biblical Homeland, bit by bit, and to carve out from the Holy Land yet another Moslem terror state for a fictitious nation which never existed. It seems that we have for a long time been engaged in fervent prayer for a miracle from G-d to put a stop to this dangerous insanity. Why doesn't the Master of the Universe grant us one of his much-needed miracles? On April 11, 2005, on the spacious ranch of George W. Bush, the U.S. President and the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, met to determine how much land should be given to the Arab terrorists at this time. They also discussed the mechanics of the successful transfer of Jews from their Promised Land. President Bush reiterated that no future Jewish settlements were to be allowed in the Holy Land! The ranch of President Bush is just a few miles away from Crawford, a small town in Texas. A Rally was therefore organized to be held in Crawford by Pastor Jim Vineyard, Women in Green and others, to coincide with the meeting of President Bush and Sharon. It was on this day, April 11, 2005, 12 days before the Jewish Holiday of Passover, that the outlines of a miracle of G-d started to emerge. Thousands of Christians and Jews from across America descended on Crawford to "lobby" President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon. They came from all over the United States, by plane, by bus and by car to demonstrate in favor of the "Land of Israel", and against U.S. pressure on Israel to relinquish parts of the Holy Land. A delegation from Israel came to Crawford as well. The Rally was a vision in orange, as thousands of demonstrators wore orange t-shirts and caps with the legend written in bold letters: "Israel belongs to the Jews." Pastor Vineyard, who has a very large congregation of Christians in Oklahoma City, in the State of Oklahoma, mounted the podium and addressed the People of Israel. "We want to tell you that there is a groundswell movement starting. We will do everything we can to get the message to all Bible-believing people in America and around the world that there is only one true position they can take: The Land of Israel belongs to the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and not the sons of Ishmael, Arafat and Abu Mazen. " Why do I call the Rally in Crawford: "A Passover Miracle" - Because it was a coming together of Bible-believing Christians and Jews, who passionately believe in the eternal truth of G-d's promises. It is the emergence of a Christian-Jewish Alliance, which is ready to pray not only with words but also with their feet. The people who attended the Rally, which was held on a Monday, certainly had to sacrifice a day's work. In addition, of course, there was the expense involved in traveling to Crawford which is not easily reached. I asked a group from Arizona how long it took them to get to Crawford? They responded: "Eighteen Hours each way by bus." That was a typical answer, and shows a passionate involvement by those who attended. An interesting sidelight: Jerusalem Rabbi Mordechai Rabinovitch made a very relevant observation about Christians and Jews working together for this Rally. Rabbi Bachya, a pupil of the famous Rabbi Rashba, lived in Spain prior to the expulsion of the Jews from that country in 1492. In his Torah Commentary, he predicted that Christians would in the future come to the aid of the People of Israel. Moreover, he claimed that Christians would assist so greatly in the rebuilding of the Third Temple, that its restoration would be attributed to their efforts. The Rally in Crawford was tremendously inspirational. It was the beginning of a joint effort of Bible-believing Christians and Jews to save the Holy Land of Israel. TOGETHER WE SHALL OVERCOME! With Blessings and Love for Israel, Ruth Matar Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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GOOD NEWS - GIRLS RELEASED FROM PRISON!
Posted by Hebron Community, April 21, 2005. |
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1. Good news - girls released from prison!
Early this afternoon, Jerusalem Municipal Appeals Court Judge Saban
voided the previous Jerusalem Magistrate court decision, requiring
that five girls, aged 12-14, sign an order limiting their access to
the Hebron Heroes neighborhood for 90 days. The girls were released on
bond without any restrictions.
A Hebron spokesman issued the following statement: These young heroes may now go back to the Hebron Heroes neighborhood, after having victoriously fought 'the system.' Judge Amnon Cohen's evil decree, by which the girls would have spent Passover in jail, was rightfully overturned. You can contribute directly to The Jewish Community of Hebron, POB10, Kiryat Arba-Hebron 90100, hebron@hebron.org.il, 972-2-9965333 or write to The Hebron Fund, 1760 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11230, hebronfund@aol.com |
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GLOBAL ANTI-SEMITISM GOES LOCAL?
Posted by Michael Freund, April 21, 2005. |
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Following is an article of mine from the Jerusalem Post about the growing number of instances of anti-Semitism in the Israeli (that's right - the Israeli) press, and the need for people to speak out against this phenomenon. Letters to the editor may be sent to: letters@jpost.com. The global rise in anti-Semitism over the past several years has left few parts of the world unscathed. From Western Europe to the Arab countries, Jews have become the targets of renewed vitriol and fury, leading various Jewish organizations to intensify their efforts to monitor and track this growing and worrisome trend. But for all the attention being paid to international outbursts of anti-Semitism, there is one place in the world where this phenomenon has largely gone overlooked: right here in the State of Israel, under our very own (Jewish) noses. That's correct - there is anti-Semitism here in Israel, too, and plenty of it. If you find this hard to believe, then just take a look at some of what appears in the local press and decide for yourself. Take, for example, an article that ran this past Sunday in Haaretz. Zvi Barel, one of the paper's correspondents, wrote a piece entitled "To find shades of the old Harlem, or a Jewish Sadr City, look to Hebron." His main point: to compare the Jews living in Hebron's Avraham Avinu neighborhood with Iraqi Shi'ites in Baghdad who carry out terrorist attacks against US troops in the area. Barel is, of course, entitled to his opinion about the Jews of Hebron, but to compare them to followers of renegade Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is simply twisted and hate-filled demagoguery. Don't find it sick or offensive? Well, then, how about this from Amira Hass, writing in Haaretz on March 21: "Israel has turned the liquidation of Europe's Jews into an asset. Our murdered relatives are being enlisted to enable Israel to continue not giving a damn about international decisions against the occupation." The last time I checked, accusing Israel of exploiting the Holocaust for political gain is considered to be blatant anti-Semitism. Indeed, just last month, the Anti-Defamation League released a report on anti-Semitism in the Arab press, noting with dismay that "many newspaper articles accused Jews of using the Holocaust to justify the persecution of others." Yet, that is precisely what Hass herself was doing. And if you don't believe me, just check out the headline of her article: "Using the Holocaust to ward off criticism." The anti-Jewish tirades in Israel's media don't end there. In a pre-Pessah article in Yediot Aharonot recently, one writer mused, "That which the Egyptians did to us, along with many other nations throughout our long history, we are now doing to the Palestinians." That's right - the Jews are cast as Pharaoh and his evil taskmasters, playing the role of villains who enslave others. And how about this pearl from Ma'ariv last October: "There is one principal difference between the ayatollahs in Iran and rabbis in Israel. There, religious rulings are compulsory; here they are merely a recommendation. But as the need and the response to such recommendations increases, so too the differences grow blurred." The writer, one Moshe Gorali, was criticizing various rabbis for their opposition to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan. Apparently, he saw nothing wrong with comparing Israel's sages to the fanatical rulers in Teheran, the very same ayatollahs who seek Israel's destruction. It would be easy to dismiss the rantings of such people as little more than angry rhetoric, the journalistic equivalent of those who spray offensive graffiti on the sides of buildings. But to do so understates just how dangerous such hatred can be. If Israel's own newspapers are filled with anti-Semitic rhetoric, then how can we expect anything better from our neighbors? And the fact that the people who write such horrible things in the Israeli media also happen to be Jewish should in no way excuse the gravity of what they do. An article should be judged to be anti-Semitic on the basis of what it says, and not because of the religious beliefs of the person who wrote it. It is therefore time for Jewish groups worldwide to consider adding a new section to their reports on global anti-Semitism, and to start monitoring some of the odious and hateful language that appears in Israel's own press. As news consumers, it is our responsibility to raise our voices in protest whenever anti-Jewish rhetoric rears its head. We should flood Israeli newspapers that print anti-Semitic venom with phone calls, letters to the editor and protests, just as we would any other newspaper around the world. Simply because the Israeli media operate in a Jewish country does not place them above criticism, or excuse their decision to publish what no one else would dare to say. In the age of the Internet, when every newspaper has a potentially global audience, there is no telling just how far anti-Jewish sentiments can reach. The hatred may start at home, but it won't necessarily end there. And that is why, now more than ever, we must do our utmost to bring about an end to the self-loathing and self-hate that is so rampant among us. Michael Freund served as an aide to former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. |