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.

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 U.S.A. Tel: 516-779-7420 email: rmuchnick@TheMetroGroup.com We support those in Israel opposing the disengagement plan through non-violent civil disobedience. We call on all members of the IDF, as well as all members of the police, to follow their consciences and the Torah - and the call of Rav Avraham Shapira - to state that they cannot take part in expelling Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and Northern Shomron any more than they could from Tel Aviv or Haifa. 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 To Go To Top

ABOUT "CHECKMATE" Posted by Judith Binder, April 30, 2005.

About the "Checkmate" essay, I wrote THIS IS A POWERFUL MESSAGE. It is a bit long but it's worth your while. It makes one think. There is some kind of a solution offered in the last chapter and I still can't decide whether it would work or not. What do you think? 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. To Go To Top

GAZA TOWN INVADED Posted by Voice of Judea, April 30, 2005.

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 Subscribe to Voice of Judea emails by sending an email request to jsid@dorsai.org To Go To Top

XENOPHOBIC DIALOGS Posted by Yashiko Sagamori, April 30, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

JOIN THE SOLIDARITY MISSIONS TO GUSH KATIF/GAZA & MORE DEPARTING MAY 29 & JUNE 5 Posted by AFSI, April 30, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

HANANIA'S UNREAL REALITY Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, April 30, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

THE WICKED KINGDOM Posted by Aubrey Wulfsohn, April 29, 2005.

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, To Go To Top

A HUGE PROTEST MASSED AT GUSH KATIF THIS PAST WEDNESDAY Posted by Janet Lehr, April 29, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

ON BEING DISLIKED: THE NEW NOT-SO-UNWELCOME ANTI-AMERICANISM Posted by IsrAlert, April 29, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

A PILLAR OF FIRE Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 29, 2005.

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). To Go To Top

HOW ISRAEL SHOULD HAVE TREATED THE ARABS; PROTEST SHARON AND RISK ARREST Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 29, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

THE LUNABRIT PLAN OF STAGES Posted by Steven Plaut, April 29, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

HAPPY PESACH Posted by Golan Residents Committee, April 28, 2005.

Contact the Golan Residents Committee by email at golan-r@golan.org.il To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

ORTHODOX JEWRY IN US ORGANIZING TO HELP GUSH KATIF Posted by Susie Dym, April 28, 2005.

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 b.. Learn the facts at www.savegushkatif.org & posted links c.. Let us provide you with materials to spread the word in your community d.. Contribute money to Friends of Gush Katif (501(c)(3)) at www.katifund.org e.. Come with us to Gush Katif on June 5th f.. Make this the most important issue in your life (it is) Gush Katif Forever www.savegushkatif.org info@savegushkatif.org (310) 288-0333 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 To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

MOVING FORWARD TO SAVE GUSH KATIF Posted by Ken Heller, April 28, 2005.

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. 2. we will be distributing those materials throughout L.A. shuls and retail businesses. 3. our first advert appeared on the back cover of Community Links magazine 4. our website is under construction 5. we are supporting a solidarity mission to Gush Katif on June 5th organized by Assemblyman Dov Hikind of New York 6. we are organizing simultaneous Gush Katif rallies thru ought various Jewish communities 7. we are organizing team leaders in various communities to disseminate information and to fund raise We have two primary goals: * to create support from our own people, against the "disengagement" from Gush Katif (Gaza) and Northern Samaria. * to raise money for Friends of Gush Katif 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) * organize parlor meetings for fund raising * identify potential donors and get their permission for me to call them * come to Gush Katif on June 5th or pay for someone else to go * determine whom you know in other cities who would want to take an active role in duplicating what we're doing in L.A. * volunteer your time to help implement our plans and to create new opportunities * do you know a journalist, a press agent, a web site developer or anyone else that can help us? 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, Jon P.S.: please send business to ARCS Corporate Printing (310-854-5687) and to Community Links (310-965-1544). SAVE GUSH KATIF Let My People Stay 9190 West Olympic Blvd. Mailbox No. 770 Beverly Hills, CA 90212 U.S.A. Tel: (001) (310) 288-0333 Fax: (001) (310) 388-5398 Info@SaveGushKatif.org www.SaveGushKatif.org 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. To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

THE SETTLEMENTS' RESPONSE TO ARIEL SHARON: LOYALTY TO OUR LAND AND PEOPLE Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, April 28, 2005.

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). To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

RESTLESS IN GAZA Posted by IsrAlert, April 28, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

FOUR SEDER QUESTIONS Posted by Women in Green, April 28, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

THE PRIME MINISTER IS LEADING THE WAY TO CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE Posted by Dr. Ron Breiman, April 28, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

IS BUSH A CONSERVATIVE? ABBAS ENDORSES GOAL OF CONQUERING ISRAEL Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 28, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

"ESCAPE" OF TWO TERRORISTS CONTINUES ARAFAT POLICY Posted by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, April 28, 2005.

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... Last Saturday, the prison officials allowed four prisoners to go to the Al-Quds Open University to register for studies. The four were accompanied by a single policeman and once there, the four entered the university while the policeman waited for them outside. After a few hours, only one of the four prisoners returned, the others did not. It was clear that the other three had escaped. Alaalul notes the high level of trust between the prison management and the prisoners as the reason that the prison sent only one policeman. There was no expectation that they would escape." 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. To Go To Top

THE BRITISH ACADEMIC POGROM Posted by Steven Plaut, April 28, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

POLICE BAR GUSH KATIF TEE SHIRTS AT THE KOTEL Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, April 28, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

A WALL OF FAITH AROUND GAZA Posted by Michael Freund, April 28, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

SIDING WITH THE ENEMY Posted by Naomi Ragen, April 28, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

MORE PLAYING WITH WORDS AND LETTERS Posted by Batya Medad, April 28, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

I FOUND THE ANSWER! IT'S APATHY Posted by Arlene Peck, April 27, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

DANISH QUEEN WARNS AGAINST RISE OF ISLAM Posted by Janet Lehr, April 27, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

THE CHOSEN PEOPLE: ONLY JEWS ARE CHOSEN TO EVICT JEWS Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 27, 2005.

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). To Go To Top

FORD FOUNDATION - IMPLEMENTATION OF POST-DURBAN GUIDELINES SLOW AND NOT TRANSPARENT Posted by NGO Monitor Organization, April 27, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

VLADIMIR PUTIN COMES TO ISRAEL Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 27, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

HsOLOCAUST EDUCATION FROM A BARTENDER Posted by Judy Lash Balint, April 27, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

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.

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. To Go To Top

REVISIONIST HISTORY BY KOFI ANNAN Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, April 27, 2005.

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). To Go To Top

WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE JEWS IS GOOD FOR THE GENDER Posted by Yashiko Sagamori, April 26, 2005.

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 Cardinal Edward Cassidy, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity: Let us pray that, in recalling the sufferings endured by the people of Israel throughout history, Christians will acknowledge the sins committed by not a few of their number against the people of the Covenant and the blessings, and in this way will purify their hearts. The Holy Father: God of our fathers, you chose Abraham and his descendants to bring your Name to the nations: we are deeply saddened by the behaviour of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. 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? 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? 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 To Go To Top

NATION BUILDER TURNED NATION DESTROYER Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 26, 2005.

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). To Go To Top

REMEMBER ETTY HILLESUM Posted by Patrick Dempsey, April 26, 2005.

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, Opening the Bible at random I find this:- "The Lord is my high tower." I am sitting on my rucksack in the middle of a full freight car. Father, Mother and Mischa are a few cars away. In the end, the departure came without warning. On sudden special orders from The Hague. We left the camp singing, Father and Mother firmly and calmly, Mischa, too. We shall be travelling for three days. Thank you for all your kindness and care. Friends left behind will still be writing to Amsterdam; perhaps you will hear something from them. Or from my last letter from camp. Good-bye for now from the four of us." 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 To Go To Top

SHARON VISIT TO BUSH RANCH FOLLOWED BY THAT OF SAUDI RULER Posted by Sergio Tezza (Hadar), April 26, 2005.

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!" Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is due to meet US President George W. Bush at his ranch in Texas today. 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. 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. [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 To Go To Top

WHAT IF 100,000 JEWS COME PROTECT GUSH KATIF? Posted by Anita Tucker, April 26, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

OPERATION CHECKMATE Posted by Denise Andrades, April 26, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

FRIEDMAN...YOU'RE WHAT GIVES LIBERALS A BAD NAME Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, April 26, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

BRITISH BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS Posted by Judith Prewitt, April 26, 2005.

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. Research Associate Professor Dartmouth Medical School Remsen 311-314, HB 7515 Hanover, NH 03755 Tel & Fax. 603-650-1848 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: David Nicholson (press@aut.org.uk) Frederic Leder wrote: "UK teachers' assoc. passes boycott of Israeli academics". 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. "I am most distressed by this outcome. Academic life is about building bridges of dialogue, not destroying them; opening minds, not closing them; hearing both sides of an argument, not one alone. The AUT has betrayed the academic principles it supposedly represents. This is a sad day for British universities." "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 To Go To Top

U.S. JEWRY & POLLARD; SHARON'S DEFENSE OF ABANDONMENT; WHY SHARON CALLS A REFERENDUM UNDEMOCRATIC Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 26, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

NOT RELIGIOUS AND NOT STUPID Posted by Sergio Tezza (Hadar), April 26, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

FAMILY TOUR OF DUTY Posted by Judy Lash Balint, April 26, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

ESCAPE BY SCAPEGOATING Posted by Evelyn Hayes, April 25, 2005.

The upright are downwrong and would leave themselves to the beasts if the beasts would let them. The upright are seeking to quell the swell of their proclamations by making proclamations that only invoke the yoke of those they will not break. Considering strength is not a consideration, weak Britain is losing the jihad war. It lost the war before. Consider the British as manager of the Balfour Mandate for the Jewish State in Palestine in 1917. The British not only mismanaged with a lot of help from the Jew, Sir Herbert Samuels, who thought if he made the terrorist, Haj al Husseini a statesman, he would stop the provocations. We all know the results, the massacres against the Jews in the 1920s and 1930s. Worse, the British befriending of the mufti at the expense of the Jews ended up supporting the mufti who sided with Hitler, the enemy of Britain in WWII. And Britain continued this alliance even while at war with the mufti's partner, Hitler. Not only did Britain pay for its mistake, suffering bombings, destruction and loss of lives, it collaborated with the enemy and is responsible for the death of 6,000,000 because it suffered the Jews to not suffer itself. Britain did not allow the Jews into their Jewish homeland and gave away 78% unilaterally to the Arabs who befriended its enemy. This 78% is an Arab only Palestinian state. Israel, a not only Jewish state, with a growing Arab infrastructure, is still up for dividing even unto nothingness. Fool once. Fools twice: Great Britain is again trying to escape the fury of its Arab minority's minority, the jihadists. It is again scapegoating the Jews, by denying them their facts and truths. The British archives tell the truth. The British oversaw the Jews in Gush Katif, too. The British chased the Jews out of Jewish Gaza because they failed to protect them. They let them die in Hebron because they failed to protect them and failed to let them protect themselves. They didn't stop the massacres, looked the other way. They failed further by allowing Syrian and Egyptian terrorists into the Jewish mandate, many who are still there today illegally. Worse by not letting Jews out of fiery Europe they were murdered by the denial of Jews their Jewish mandate to them by the British. Today, the British further, deny the facts of history and denounce Jewish settlement. They scapegoat the settled Jewish settlers who are re-occupying their own land, the land briefly occupied by Egypt. Supporting jihad, Great Britain is supporting its own enemies again. Thinking appeasement will ease the aggressiveness of jihad, Great Britain weakly scapegoats the Jews again. Confused, perhaps, Bush follows his ally Blair and supports those who attack America and in the midst of suffering suicide war of the Hussein/Al Qaida/Palestinian "nuts and bolts" kind, the loser is getting a deadlier infrastructure. 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. America began as a new settlement and is still a settlement. Great Britain unsettled a lot of places and made the worst of it. The British imperialisms are responsible for the unsettlements the globe now suffers. Excusing itself, Britain would escape, but there is no escaping; the monster keeps coming out of the socked. Letting Israel be sacked will only be a boomerang against the British who are downwrong. The Jews were in Gush Katif before the British misuse of its mandate and will be there after the British surrender to jihad within. Let Israel not go down with the downwrong and let not America fail in its impulse to fight evil by joining the colloborators who are at risk again. 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. To Go To Top

BUSH'S ROAD MAP GOES NOWHERE Posted by David Singer, April 25, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

IS IT ALL FOR NAUGHT? Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, April 25, 2005.

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. This book is dedicated to those who adjusted their daily routines and protested, prayed, cried, mourned, wrote, spoke, organized, phoned, emailed, faxed, fasted, fed activists with sandwiches, kept lists of obituaries and lists of the injured, held signs on street corners, held hands in hospitals, attended funerals, supported the fallen, picked-up body parts, listened to and counseled the bereaved, monitored, documented and responded to the hourly media atrocities, and kept watch at night or maintained a constant vigil. This book is also dedicated to the memory of those in uniform who fell in the defense of their nation, to those civilians who were butchered while going about their daily tasks in Eretz Yisrael, to those who fell in their devotion to the building of YESHA (Judea Samaria and Gaza) and to those whose lives are committed to keeping YESHA eternally ours as part of 'Eretz Yisrael Hakedosha'. "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. To Go To Top

DISTURBING TRUTH Posted by John R. Cohn, M.D., April 25, 2005.

< 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). To Go To Top

US CONGRESS BILL: JERUSALEM TO REMAIN WHOLE Posted by IsrAlert, April 25, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

POLLARDS FREEDOM AND OUR FREEDOM Posted by Naomi Ragen, April 25, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

JORDANIAN PRISONER RELEASE; IS BUSH A LEFTIST? Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 23, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

THOSE WHO KNOW NOT HOW TO ASK Posted by Yuval Zaliouk, April 23, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

REMEMBER, OH ISRAEL Posted by Jacob Gurewich, April 22, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

IS ABU MAZEN A "PALESTINIAN" MOSES? Posted by Yuval Zaliouk, April 22, 2005.

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, Yuval. 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 To Go To Top

CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DENOUNCE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ISRAEL Posted by Sliwa News, April 22, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

ISRAEL AND THE VULTURE Posted by Louis Rene Beres, April 22, 2005.

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. -- Franz Kafka, "The Vulture". 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. To Go To Top

A PASSOVER PRAYER Posted by Ruth, Nadia and Michael Matar, April 22, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

JERUSALEM Posted by Kaustav Chakrabarti, April 22, 2005.

O! Jerusalem, What a beautiful name Set against the skyline, Standing Erect Proud and Solemn How many miracles God wrought here For the good of mankind Without favour or fear How many hopes were born in thy midst! Always with the prayer, "Next time in jerusalem"! Among Passover feasts The Jewish people doth come here Everytime with joy and cheer For Jerusalem lives in their hearts A Prayer for generations to last To Go To Top

PERES FUND FOLDS FOLLOWING WND STORIES Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, April 22, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

THE MOST PROBABLY REASONS FOR SHARON'S SURRENDER OF JEWISH LAND Posted by Israel Landsman, April 22, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

TO THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT OF SHARON AND PERES: DAYENU -- IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ENOUGH Posted by Bernard J. Shapiro, April 22, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

BBC BIASED BIMBO GETS REWARD Posted by Steven Plaut, April 22, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

YESHIVA U. ROSH YESHIVA: ISRAEL'S TORAH JEWS MUST VOTE ON DISENGAGEMENT Posted by Lisa Rubin, April 21, 2005.

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". To Go To Top

ISRAEL'S BIG GAMBLE Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, April 21, 2005.

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!" To Go To Top

UNREQUITED WESTERN GOODWILL; PHONY INVESTIGATIONS; SNAPSHOT OF NPR; AIPAC CENSORS INFO ON GAZA RETREAT Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 21, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

A CELEBRATION OF FREEDOM Posted by Rachel Kapen, April 21, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

ISRAEL, `PALESTINE` AND `CORRELATION OF FORCES` IN THE MIDDLE EAST Posted by Louis Rene Beres, April 21, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

HOW CAN THE CRIME OF EVICTION BE PREVENTED? Posted by Moshe Feiglin, April 21, 2005.

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: Manhigut Yehudit PO Box 21, Ginot Shomron 44853, ISRAEL or faxed to: 09-792-0570 (Israel) The Dispute about Blocking Roads 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. Jonathan Pollard 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 * The Primaries are approaching. We have a belief-based candidate and we must win and lead. For this purpose we need volunteers to distribute our monthly newspaper -- Hametzuda. Call now 1-800-200-613 (Israel). * 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 To Go To Top

SAY NO - DO WHAT IS GOOD FOR US! Posted by Watchman, April 21, 2005.

Arieh wrote: I don't understand: If we "cannot say no..." and there is nothing we can do, then let's 'go to sleep'. But I say that we CAN say NO and behave like a grownup nation! This is the major point: IT ALL DEPENDS ON OUR ACTIONS! 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 To Go To Top

PESACH TIME Posted by Udi Ohana, April 21, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

PA ACCUSATION: US FORCING CHRISTIANITY ON MUSLIMS Posted by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, April 21, 2005.

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." [Sheikh Ibrahim Mudayris, PA TV, April 15, 2005] 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." [Article by Said "Abu Ajima," Al Hayat Al Jadida, April 16, 2005 ] 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. To Go To Top

STARTING TO UNDERSTAND Posted by Batya Medad, April 21, 2005.

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. http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=80653 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 To Go To Top

TURNING SECURITY OVER TO THE P.A; U.S. ARMS EGYPT, WHICH REVILES U.S Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 21, 2005.

"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. To Go To Top

A PASSOVER MIRACLE Posted by Ruth Matar, April 21, 2005.

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 To Go To Top

GOOD NEWS - GIRLS RELEASED FROM PRISON! Posted by Hebron Community, April 21, 2005.

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. These girls' courageous act should be a living lesson to all Jews - to stand up for what we believe in, at almost all costs. These young women knew that they might celebrate the Passover Seder behind bars, but were willing to take that chance, realizing that the freedom to unlimited access to Eretz Yisrael takes precedence over a few days or even weeks, in prison. Today no tears - only cheers! 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 To Go To Top

GLOBAL ANTI-SEMITISM GOES LOCAL? Posted by Michael Freund, April 21, 2005.

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. To Go To Top

MORAL HYPOCRICY Posted by Itamar Weisbrod, April 21, 2005.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: "He who becomes merciful unto the cruel is destined to be cruel unto the merciful." On Monday, June 28th, 2004, a Kassam rocket slammed into the driveway of a S'derot kindergarten, murdering Afik Zahavi and Mordechai Yosefov. Afik was only three years old when his life was cut short by Arab terrorists from the Gaza Strip. These Arabs did not kill him because he is a settler, or because he supported the settlements. He was killed simply because he is Jewish and lives in Israel. The headline in the next day's paper read "Kassam Kills Boy On Way To Nursery School" and the newspaper showed the father of Afik crying over his son's body. I saved this newspaper clipping from almost nine months ago because I wanted to see just how long I would be able to feel the same pain I felt that day when reading about that horrible tragedy. Do not think me a masochist of some sort; I really believe that sometimes pain is a good thing, because it lets us know when something is wrong. When little Jewish children are killed on their way home from school, part of the natural and healthy emotional reaction is to feel pain, because there is clearly something very wrong with it. However, it seems as though most of the Israeli public (at least those who support the Disengagement Plan) have become numb to such sickening acts of terror, as though the ones who commit these acts don't deserve to be punished properly. How many actually feel such strong pain that they would at least never support a plan where there is an admitted chance of terrorism continuing? Just the thought of excusing a plan because it will only cause "less" deaths should be so sickening that no Israeli would ever dream of supporting it. While attending a conference at a college in Ariel, President Moshe Katsav made the following statements in regards to the residents of Gush Katif and the disengagement plan: "The Knesset, which approved the evacuation plan, democratically represents the nation. Every Israeli citizen needs to feel the pain resulting from a plan to uproot Jewish communities, a difficult decision that's not limited just to the Knesset. My heart goes out to the Jewish communities of Gush Katif." Firstly, the president, with all due respect, is making an enormous error in his understanding of the way disengagement was passed in the Knesset. Anyone who claims that it was passed democratically, and that the Knesset represents the will of the nation, is sorely mistaken. The will of a nation cannot be bought and manipulated with millions of shekels, lucrative jobs and all sorts of other perks, as Disengagement was bought and manipulated through the Knesset. Secondly, the president's call for every Israeli citizen to "feel pain" for the residents of Gush Katif remains vague and elusive. Such empty calls to "feel the pain" have also been made by other pro-Disengagement politicians, such as Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon, who constantly remind us of the "pain" disengagement causes them, and how "their hearts go out to the settlers of Gush Katif and the Shomron." How do these politicians really feel people should express their "pain" over the plan? As far as Sharon and Olmert are concerned, any opposition to the plan is labeled "incitement", if not worse. Clearly, they are just paying lip service, making it seem like they cannot stop a harsh inevitability; an "inevitability" that they initiated on their own. I have been accused many times of using strong emotions as a means of persuasion in order to influence someone's political opinion. However, I see the Disengagement Plan as a very emotional issue, and there certainly are points in time when political actions need to be influenced by emotions. The current plan to expel all Jews living in the Gaza Strip and in the northern Shomron is immoral. The reason for this is plain and simple: it will cause more Jews to die. The plan is dangerous; it puts people's lives in jeopardy and unfortunately, will cause unnecessary deaths. Much to my dismay, I have actually used this argument in discussions with Disengagement supporters, and apparently, some actually understand this, but feel that since "the number of deaths may be less after Disengagement, then Disengagement is the right way to go." Such a sick and twisted way of thinking has also been applied to supporters of Ehud Barak's cowardly retreat from southern Lebanon. "Centrists" and left-wingers defend Barak by saying it was the right thing to do because the number of deaths as a result of the retreat has "only been a few". How many lives are considered "just a few"? Why are "just a few" deaths a tolerable number? These band-aid solutions cloud the real issues at hand. What we need are solutions that will result in the deaths of no one. There is absolutely no excuse for supporting government decisions in which it is blatantly clear that Jewish lives are still put in danger, even though it seems "less" Jews will be killed. It is immoral and inexcusable. Not only is the plan immoral for endangering the lives of all Jews in Israel, it also has the element of rewarding terrorists and pardoning mass murderers. In the last Gazan municipal elections, Hamas won a landslide victory of almost 75% of the votes. This statistic is appalling, if not surprising, and must be brought to the attention of anyone who has ever said or thought, "Well, not all the Arabs support terror." True, still probably not all, but an overwhelming majority does. One can conclude from the results of those elections that, clearly, most of the average Arabs living in the Gaza Strip support Hamas, for one reason or another. Any Arab who participates in terror activity, has membership in any terrorist organization or supports any terrorist organization is guilty of the mass murder committed by those organizations. If Hamas, clearly a terrorist organization by every definition, enjoys 75% support from the Arab adult population living in the Gaza Strip, then the Disengagement Plan is essentially the handing over of control of a strategic part of the Land of Israel to approximately a million Arabs who are guilty of supporting mass murder. They will be creating a Hamas-run state, whose goal is to destroy the State of Israel, in very close proximity to main Israeli population centers. I would say that such an act constitutes a crime against humanity, as mass murders are left unpunished, hate-filled ideology is being left to flourish and thrive, and the lives of many, many Jews are being threatened. Yes, it is true that there may be a chance that many of the average "Joe-shmoe" Arabs living in Gaza throw their support behind Hamas because of the economic and social support they receive from them. However, I don't believe this absolves them of their crimes of supporting a terrorist organization. Just like in Germany, many of the Germans who supported the Nazis did so purely for economic reasons. I still believe that each and every one of them was guilty of the horrific crimes committed by the Nazis during the Holocaust, despite their true intentions for supporting the Nazis. Therefore, even the average Arab who supports Hamas for only economic reasons is still completely responsible for all the crimes against humanity committed by Hamas. "Centrists" and left-wingers believe that to counter the threat of racist and psychotic hate-filled ideology, popular in the Palestinian world, we must force the Palestinians to "re-educate their children for peace". However, I do not believe the answer lies in re-education. Not only is it not our responsibility to educate them in the way we see fit, as a liberal, I feel we have absolutely no right to instruct another people how to educate their children. If their religion and culture dictates that the Jews and infidels must be killed, then we have no right to tell them otherwise. How would we like it if Arab imams taught Jewish children that there is no mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to observe Shabbat? Or that we do not have a mitzvah to settle the Land of Israel? Of course, no one has the right to coerce another religion to change to its liking. If Islam dictates violent hatred of the Jews, then so be it. Our responsibility is, plain and simply, to defend ourselves against an enemy who has chosen to seek our destruction. Recently, a senior Hamas official, Ahmed Al-Bahar, made it blatantly clear that the pullout from Gaza is just another step closer to the destruction of Israel (G-d forbid). He was quoted as saying: "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. Hamas' 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." The very sad thing about this is that he actually makes some good points, and is mocking the fact that he is able to admit this publicly, and the representatives of the victims of his terror organizations' actions, the Israeli government, will still turn a blind eye to it. It is true that Israel is caving into the many acts of terror committed against her, and is in a dire state of retreat and weakness. However, instead of bringing these criminals to justice, Israel will create a situation in which they will roam freely, maximizing their ability to commit further crimes against humanity. After reading about the new "disengagement ward" built in Ramle's Ma'asiyahu prison, I couldn't help but wonder how the government could have so much chutzpah. They have actually used the taxpayer's money to build it and, at the same time, they released 500 Arab terrorists. Releasing terrorists, even for a supposed "peace", is unjust and immoral. What kind of state is Ariel Sharon helping to create if it necessitates releasing terrorists? Additionally, after committing such an act, which is essentially a crime, they have the moral turpitude to waste public money on building a new detainment facility to lock up the very protesters who are acting against the government's immoral crimes. They are really confusing the arsonist with the firefighter. We, the Israeli public, should take a good look at the act of moral hypocrisy being committed by the Sharon-led government. The government is losing its moral standing and is mocking its own moral right to enforce the laws, as it blatantly shows no regard for human life by releasing terrorists. How could one then argue that the government still has the moral right to imprison someone who murders after it just released Arab murderers? If a government's responsibility is to protect its citizens from violent death, and therefore is meant to lock away those who have committed such crimes, then by releasing Arab murderers, the Israeli government is showing that it is not fulfilling its duties properly. Instead of wasting the money on a "disengagement ward", maybe they should pump the money back into the security budget, for eventual expenses in having to recapture all those 500 released terrorists. I am sure, just as we have seen time and time again, they will go back to a life of terrorism and may, G-d forbid, take more lives. Another problem is that the government and the media are making it look like the Disengagement Plan is ensuring a safe future for Israel at the settler's expense. The settlers may be getting the short end of the stick now, but in the long run, the plan is being implemented at the expense of the entire Jewish people. By allowing our homeland to be continuously threatened by a hostile enemy, Sharon and Disengagement supporters are trampling the very foundations of Zionism and exacerbating Israel's unremitting existential threat. What is needed now is a leader with a clear and moral vision. Israel needs a leader who has integrity, and who has shown that the needs of the Land of Israel come before his own. We need someone who will stand up for G-d's truth, no matter who is against it, because in the end, that is all that matters. Such a person is gravely needed in order to ensure a safe future for the Jewish people. Unfortunately, as it stands now, with the continuation of political manipulations and the lack of political integrity, I do not see the redemption coming from the Knesset. Itamar Weisbrod can be reached by email at itamar@magshimey-herut.org To Go To Top

GIRLS STILL IN JAIL; SECURITY FORCES CONTINUE TO PROTECT ARABS Posted by Hebron Community, April 20, 2005.

1. "Security forces continue to protect Arabs," (Pictures: www.hebron.com/news/sharfiasco.htm) Hillel and Tzvi Lebovitch brothers (whose older brother Elazar was killed by terrorists) were beaten by border policemen. One as them was struck in the face several times with a walkie-talkie. Yesterday there were several clashes between border police and Hebron residents in the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. Numerous police have taken over several private rooftops, causing major disturbances, noise and damage to property. On one rooftop two solar panels were broken by the border police. In one case, the border police bashed the head of Hebron youth Yinon Cohen into the solar panel several times, breaking the glass. They then punched him twice in the face. During another incident, a border policeman loaded his rifle, pointed it at children jeering him, and then ran after them. Tzvi Lebovitch, whose older brother Elazar was murdered by Arab terrorists, was struck in the face multiple times with a policeman's walkie-talkie. This morning Hebron military commander, Col. Motty Baruch visited the neighborhood for the first time since the 'Hebron Wall' was built, two weeks ago. Hebron residents strongly expressed their feelings to the Colonel. One of the men asked Baruch how he would react if a bottle of urine was thrown on his wife. Following the confrontation, Baruch met for a short time with several Hebron leaders. He told them that in light of the continued altercations, he had decided to temporarily stop the renewed construction at the Sharabati house for the duration of Passover, and would remove all unnecessary security forces from the neighborhood. A Hebron spokesman issued the following statement: Again, we are witness to theatre of the absurd. Israeli security forces, whose primary concern should be protection of Israeli citizens, are protecting an Arab-terrorist family, assisting them to move into a house which borders the Avraham Avinu neighborhood, while at the same time, beating up Jewish children and adults who fear for their lives. We demand an immediate halt to the Sharabati renovations and permanent removal of the border police, whose disgraceful conduct cannot be justified or condoned. The Israeli government has planned to expel almost 10,000 Jews from their homes. We are sure they can find room for one Arab family, whose presence, in such close proximity to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood, is a threat to people's lives. 2. Girls in jail (continued from below. Click here.) Last night, the five girls, aged 12-14, were moved from the Gush Etzion police station to the Ma'asiyahu jail, and were housed with other 'anti-expulsion' criminal protesters. Municipal appeals court judge Saban refused to hear an appeal of the imprisonment today, pushing off the hearing until tomorrow at eleven in the morning. Legal experts analyzing the judge's decision said, 'the fact that he isn't hearing the case today means that he isn't concerned that the girls will have to spend another night in jail. Additionally, he preferred to delay the hearing so as to prevent an additional appeal to the Supreme Court before the beginning of the Passover holidays, should the petition be denied." It should be noted that Saban will be the presiding judge during the appeal, meaning that the girls will probably spend the first days of Passover behind bars. A source close to "News from Hebron" disclosed that senior police officials said that 'they feel very bad about the way these girls were treated, but that they have orders from the 'political powers' to react very harshly at such behavior.' A Hebron spokesman issued the following statement: This is a perfect example of cheers and tears! One the one hand, we can only say Bravo to these courageous young women, who refuse to compromise their ideals, preferring jail to a restraining order, forbidding them to be found anywhere near the Hebron Heroes neighborhood for three months. Despite the knowledge that they may be forced to spend the Passover Seder separated from their families, they refuse to bow down to dictatorial conduct, imposing limits on where they can go in Eretz Yisrael. On the other hand, we can only decry the despotic demeanor of 'the authorities,' ranging from the police, to the judiciary, to those giving the orders. This is a true twisting of justice for purely political purposes and must be publicly condemned and stopped. 3. "Children bake matzah in Hebron," (Pictures: www.hebron.com/holidays/pesach/matza2005.htm) See below. Click here.) This afternoon Hebron's children were treated to an annual festivity - Matzah-baking. Under the auspices of 'Lev l'Noar,' the children heard a short lecture about how kosher for Passover Matzahs are baked and then got their hands dirty. Each child kneaded flour and water, transforming it into dough suitable for baking. They poked holes into the dough and then brought their finished product to a special outdoor kiln. Minutes later they received back fully baked Matzahs. Tasty, fun and educational, all at once. 4. A special Torah scroll, dedicated at Beit Hadassah many years ago, was recently found to be damaged and must be fixed before being used again. The original donors wish to repair the Torah, but have appealed to outside sources to assist in defraying the costs, which are estimated at several thousand dollars. Anyone who can help is requested to make a donation via our secure server: https://wwws.capalon.com/secure/hebron.org.il/hebdonate.php3 and to note 'TORAH' in the "Comments" section of the form. Questions can be addressed to torah@hebron.org.il - With gratitude from Hebron. The Jewish Community of Hebron POB 105, Kiryat Arba-Hebron 90100 hebron@hebron.org.il Tour Hebron: Tel 972-64-371257 or write: simcha@hebron.org.il 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 To Go To Top

DOLLARS OF TERROR Posted by David Horowitz, April 20, 2005.

This article was written by Rachel Ehrenfeld and appeared in Front Page Magazine (http://www.FrontPageMagazine.com) April 18, 2005. Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, a member of the Committee on the Present Danger, is Director of American Center for Democracy, and author of "Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It" (Bonus Books, 2004,2005). When referring to the enemy's money we are usually concerned with how the terrorists collect the funds they need. As we know, the government efforts to stop terrorists financing have not been very successful thus far. However, equally, if not more disturbing is the possibility that terrorists may be using their money to buy into our national infrastructure in order to undermine our economy and security from within. Was Ptech, the Massachusetts-based company, used in this manner? The privately owned technology company, based in Quincy, Massachusetts, received at least $20 million in financing from Saudi investors between 1994, when it was founded, and 2001. Fourteen million came from Yassin Al-Qadi, who was listed as a specially designated global terrorist on October 12, 2001. Ptech is used primarily to develop enterprise blueprints at the highest level of US government and corporate infrastructure. These blueprints hold every important functional, operational, and technical detail of the enterprise. A secondary use of this powerful tool is to build other smart tools in a short period of time. Ptech's clients in 2001 included the Department of Justice, the Department of Energy, Customs, Air Force, the White House, the FAA, IBM, Sysco, Aetna, and Motorola, to name just a few. Examples of information gathered utilizing Ptech's capabilities would include the following: A complete blueprint of a nuclear waste disposal site would detail the security procedures required to access military bases during transfer of nuclear waste materials. It would also include security rules, revealing where tight security searches vs. random searches exist for conducting detailed identity screening and security checks. These are typically noted in the architecture process, and surely, would be of interest to terrorists. A second example is a complete blueprint of food distribution patterns, which would include food suppliers, warehouse locations, distributors, vehicles and schedules. With this knowledge, fraudulent deliveries of contaminated food would not be difficult to accomplish. Another example is Product specifications in the blueprint for Smartcards as implemented in various defense facilities. It would include enough information to provide templates for duplication, and for unauthorized production of fake Smart IDs, which are a basic tool in the arsenal of criminals and terrorists alike. Ptech's Middle East branch called Horizons, received projects directly from Ptech, and is used to outsource projects for Ptech's US clients. Other clients come from the Middle East and include clients such as the Egyptian military, the Saudi Bin Laden Company, and the Afghan based BTC Bin Laden Telecom, which provided pre-paid telephone calls. Among Ptech's top investors and management in 2001 was Yassin Al-Qadi, who was listed as a specially designated global terrorist on October 12, 2001. His investment of $14 million in Ptech in 1998 made him Ptech's major investor. Al-Qadi was the Director of the Saudi-based Muwafaq Foundation ("Blessed Relief") that fronted for, and funded, Makhtab Al-Khidamat (MK), Al-Qaeda, Hamas, and the Abu-Sayyaf organization, to name just a few. According to a Treasury Department letter to Switzerland's Attorney General in November 2001, there was "a reasonable basis to believe that Mr. Kadi has a long history of financing and facilitating the activities of terrorists and terrorist-related organizations, often, acting through seemingly-legitimate charitable enterprises and businesses." Al-Qadi's businesses extended throughout the world, and included banking, diamonds, chemicals, construction, transportation, and real estate. It would be hard to find a more strategically placed individual to advance the agenda of Al-Qaeda, or any other terrorist organization. Last August, the Swiss government indicted Al-Qadi for financing terrorism. The identities and connections of some other Ptech major investors and managers should have also raised a red flag: Suliman Biheiri, an Egyptian, is alleged by the government to have funneled $3.7 million from the Saudi funded charity, the SAAR Foundation, to Islamist terrorists through BMI, a now-defunct New Jersey-based Islamic investment firm of which he was the founder and president, and which fronted for and funded Hamas. Biheiri, who was convicted in October 2004, for lying about businesses with Hamas? Mousa Abu Marzook, was already in prison for immigration fraud. He also had links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda's money-laundering machine, the Al-Taqwa network. One of Al-Taqwa's companies, which was designated as a terrorist entity, was used not only to fund Al-Qaeda, but also to launder Saddam Hussein's money. Yakub Mirza, a Pakistani, was not only a business partner with Yassin Al-Kadi in Ptech, but also the financial mastermind, Trustee, President and CEO of the SAAR Foundation, which according to the government is connected to the Safa Foundation, which the government claimed also provided material support to Islamist terrorist groups. Mirza was also a Trustee on the board of Sanabel, the investment arm of the Saudi International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), which shared the same address as the SAAR Foundation: 555 Grove Street in Herndon, Virginia. He set up and was the Secretary/Treasurer of the US branch of the Muslim World League (MWL), another Saudi charity that also served as the fund- raising arm of the US branch of the IIRO. Over the last four decades, the MWL received more than $1.3 billion directly from King Fahad. Both organizations have been documented to support Islamist around the world. In addition, according to an alert employee, Mirza was a subscriber to Worldwide Flight Guide since 1987. One wonders why Mirza as well as these organizations are still missing from the US government designated terrorist list. Abdurahman Muhammad Alamoudi was the President of the American Muslim Council (AMC) and the American Muslim Foundation (AMF); both received thousands of dollars from the Success Foundation. The Success Foundation also shared offices with the SAAR Foundation and provided the logistical and financial support for Islamist terror organizations. Alamoudi also served as the Secretary of the Success Foundation, and openly stated his support for HAMAS and Hizbollah. Like Mirza, he was a member of the IIRO. Alamoudi pled guilty in July 2004 on charges related to a Libyan plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. He, too, is still missing from the US Government Designated Terrorist list. Suheil Laher, managed customer services for Ptech, and was closely associated with Care International, which acted as a branch office of the Al-Kifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn, NY from which Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman funded and plotted the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Laher has also written many articles about Jihad, frequently quoting Abdullah Azzam, Bin Laden's mentor, whose general philosophy is shared by all Islamist terrorists: "Jihad and the rifle alone! No negotiations; No conferences; and No dialogues." (emphasis added). In October 2001, former Vice-President of Sales for Ptech approached the FBI Boston office with detailed information regarding possible links between Ptech and the 9/11 attacks. He was followed by Indira Singh, a risk consultant at J. P. Morgan Chase, in May 2002, who approached the Boston FBI office, the NY Joint Terrorism Task Force, the management of J. P. Morgan Chase and FBI headquarters with more documentation regarding possible Ptech penetration of US government agencies and corporations. The FBI finally raided Ptech on December 6, 2002. However, no arrests were made and the company continues to operate, and according to Ptech's CEO, Oussama Ziade, in May 2004, "Ptech still has government agencies as customers, including the White House." Even the concerns, few as they were, with Ptech, after it was raided were misplaced. The few questions that were raised were regarding Ptech's software, and not the information to which Ptech's employees, management and investors had access. The possibility that Al-Qaeda or other Islamist terrorists have taken advantage of our free market system to undermine our economy and national security seems quite real when you identify the connections and affiliations of Ptech's management, investors and employees. So, how could a small, Saudi-financed company with questionable terrorist connections obtain significant government and business contracts, and who facilitated this? Was Horizons, its Egyptian branch, ever investigated? Why wasn't Ptech shut down? Why is it still allowed to operate? And even more importantly, are there other Ptechs around? Recently, Ptech changed both the name of the company and of its software to GoAgile. David Horowitz is editor of Front Page Magazine. To Go To Top

AN UNCOMMON MAN Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, April 20, 2005.

ONE MAN STANDS FOR MANY Every Wednesday Phil drives to the Capital to stand for Israel. Many Americans who love and support Israel stand with him. We applaud his dedication and courage. The time is here The time is now. STOP DISENGAGEMENT and SAVE ISRAEL By following inconsistent strategy against terror and supporting disengagement, the U.S faces military defeat at the very frontline of the global war on terrorism. A TWO STATE SOLUTION IS NO SOLUTION!!! Download the UCI Declaration of Concerns: Road Blocks to Arab/Israeli Peace This essay is called "An Uncommon Man," and was written by Esther Levens, UCI. One Man Standing for Many His name is Phil, Phil Beachey, and he hails from somewhere in Pennsylvania. Picture taken by Carrie Devorah, sister of Egged Bus #19 murder victim, Chezi Goldberg. Contact editor@carrieon.com for picture reprint permission. You will find him every Wednesday morning standing in front of the White House after traveling two hours from his home. He comes to Washington to make a statement that sends a strong message of support to the 9,000 beleaguered, soon to be homeless, residents of Gaza, Israel. By his very presence, he transcends many barriers and delivers a firm rebuke to our president. I first met Phil on April 11 in Crawford, Texas when he approached me after I had delivered a speech to the throng of more than 3,000 people who had gathered from all over the U.S. While President Bush and PM Sharon met at the ranch, Phil was among those who had come from great distances to protest the expulsion of more than 9,000 people threatened with dispossession of their homes, businesses, places of worship, schools, and even cemeteries. Some of these families have lived in Gush Katif, the Jewish section of Gaza, for several generations, in a beautiful community overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. In July, their homes are to be turned over to the same Palestinian terrorists who have repeatedly attacked their community with the purpose of driving them out. And now, after they have stood strong against the terrorists, they are being forced to leave, not by their attackers, but by their own government in collusion with the President of the U.S. By some illogical thought process, George W. Bush has concluded that the victims of Palestinian jihad, whose families have been killed and maimed by vicious murderers wanting to steal their land, must be forced out of their homes. Their houses will then be turned over to the terrorists. He intends to finish their criminal work. This places the U.S. squarely on the side of the terrorists. It makes the U.S. complicit in dividing up the spoils of the war of terror instigated by the Palestinians and sponsored by radical Islamists. To make matters worse, President Bush wants to sweeten the pot by giving them two million additional U.S. taxpayer dollars, on top of the billions already handed the Palestinians. A fortune in previous aid has not been accounted for. We do know that many millions of dollars have been wasted on rockets, weapons and palaces for cronies of Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. And what do the Israelis get in return for appeasing the terrorists and agreeing to sacrifice the residences and wellbeing of 9,000 residents of Gush Katif? You guessed it. Absolutely nothing. At this point in time, the people who are being tossed out of their homes have no place to go. The Israeli government has not even made plans for them. All IDF reports predict an escalation of violence. The new Palestinian leader, Abu Abbas, has publicly said he will invite the terrorist leaders leaving Lebanon to move into Gaza once the Jews are removed. He has even officially taken Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations (on the State Dept. terrorist list) into his new government, and they are stockpiling weapons to renew their jihad war as soon as the Israelis are out of Gaza. Such a deal! Meanwhile, back at the White House, our friend Phil is staging a one-man protest against this outrage. Phil is well aware of the injustice taking place in Israel and wants President Bush to know that Americans do not want to be part of it. Whether intentional or not - we are becoming allies with the very terrorists we have been fighting since 9-11 when we give them land and financial assistance. Phil believes that terrorism should not win, and that it is obscene for American taxpayers to foot the bill to pay off the Middle East neighborhood bullies. He understands that the Arab world, with 23 countries, does not need one more country to foster international terrorism. If you want to meet a true American who is willing to stand up for his convictions, honk your horn and tip your hat to Phil, as you drive by the White House any Wednesday morning. Let him know that you support him and if you would like - join him in his vigil. He is the Christian who is willing to not only complain about injustice but is willing to do something about it. He is the person wearing the orange t-shirt, the orange cap and carrying the orange sign - the color that signifies solidarity with the residents of Gush Katif. It is the color they are identified with. And Phil is the man who speaks volumes for hundreds of thousands of Americans who don't want the courageous pioneers of Gush Katif to be betrayed by our government. And he represents these same Americans who are particularly opposed to wasting hard earned tax dollars to pay for this betrayal. Esther Levens is CEO and Founder of the Unity Coalition for Israel (UCI). UCI (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!" To Go To Top

TO THE CARING PEOPLE AT THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Posted by Max Yas, April 20, 2005.

Jill Hunter is trained as a lawyer, but prefers to pursue a career as an artist and writer. She has recently finished a book entitled "How I Lost All My Friends When I Read the Koran." The book documents the global and personal events, since 9/11, that have transformed the way she sees the world as well as the way her family, friends, and former friends see her. Several of the images from the book can be seen on her website: www.jillhunter.net Dear Max. This is in response to your letter of 30th March/2005 re: "First the Presbyterians and then THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES (WCC)." When I first read about the Presbyterian Church's resolution last summer, I was furious and started writing to them. I always receive a standard form letter response. My phone call to the main office, last September, started out productively. The man I was speaking with actually ended up agreeing with me, and forwarded my call to a man with a stronger connection to the issue. Of course, he never returned my call. When I received your letter last week, I decided to renew my correspondence. I am forwarding it on to you. Thank you for all of the good work you do. Sincerely, Jill Hunter To the Caring People at the Presbyterian Church: I married into a Presbyterian family, and we are saddened by - and ashamed of - the counterproductive and terrorist-appeasing actions of the Presbyterian Church. In its Resolution on Calling for an End to the Construction of a Wall by the State of Israel, adopted at its 2004 General Assembly, the Church suggests that the Separation Barrier is actually a ploy to grab land rather than a security measure. The Church fails to note that, actually, the wall has resulted in a significant reduction in deaths and injuries to Israelis. But the resolution's focus is the inconvenience and possible economic losses to the Palestinians, which motivates their decision to punish Israel. The Comment Section, together with information provided elsewhere on the Church's website, repeatedly insinuate that "but for" various actions taken by Israel, there would be no violence. The members of the Church who supported this measure apparently suffer from the same cognitive block as the Arabs; an inability to grasp the nature of cause and effect. Your willingness to exonerate Arab/Muslim violence by blaming the victim and justifying the murder of Israelis is very troubling. For example, while the Palestinian Authority's Communication Minister acknowledged that the Al-Aqsa Intifada had been planned at least two months earlier, a fact which was confirmed by the Mitchell Report in May, 2001, the Church perpetuates the lie that Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount provoked a spontaneous surge of violent rage. What is the message we are giving our children? That extreme acts of violence can be explained away with the "he made me do it" excuse? Many other egregious examples of historical revisionism can be found in the Church's Resolution and supplementary information. But even on its face, I don't understand the logic underlying the Church's decision to wield the financial "stick" at Israel and give the "carrot" to the Palestinians, for whom you are soliciting donations. Let's assume that Israel responded to this resolution by dismantling the separation wall and turning over all of the "occupied land." Do Presbyterians genuinely believe that the Palestinians will cross over that "bridge of peace" and welcome the opportunity to live in a two-state "Mr. Roger's neighborhood?" In case that is not the case, and Palestinians use their new unimpeded access and freedom from scrutiny to bomb heavily populated areas in Israel, what will Presbyterians do? I certainly do not want to undermine the sophisticated foreign policy analysis reflected in the Resolution's observation that, "Good neighborly relations, rather than mutual isolation and suspicion, are urgently needed between Israel and its neighbors in Palestine and the Middle East." But if Israelis acquiesce to the pressures laid on by the Church (and other well-intentioned anti-Israel organizations such as the UN) and instead of peace they get blown to pieces, does the Church have a back-up plan? A more cynical mind might infer that maybe that is the ulterior motive. It wouldn't be the first time that a calculated plan for the wholesale slaughter of Jews was implemented. And what if life for the Palestinians continues to be what it has been since the PA took control? This would include torture and murder of gay men, acceptance of "honor killings" of women (including a recent case where a man murdered his sister because she had become pregnant after being raped by her father), the assassination and/or imprisonment of political dissenters and the public lynching of suspected "collaborators" in the middle of Bethlehem's Manger Square under the watchful eyes of Yasser Arafat as his image leers down from a huge banner. What was that about a "dwindling Christian population?" And, last but not least, I hope the Church has a plan to deal with all of the children that have been indoctrinated to believe that growing up to become a "martyr" is the ultimate glorious achievement. I hope you will watch these videos. http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0405/glick040305.php3 And last but not least, instead of focusing on what Israel might have done differently to avoid provoking Muslim/Arab rage, you might want to appreciate the significant scientific and medical contributions that Israelis have made to make life better for people around the world. EDITORIAL COMMENT: We wonder why any religious organization, dedicated to "loving thy neighbour as thyself " would shower love on only one neigbour and largely ignore the suffering of millions. Do they not matter, the millions of Tibetans occupied and subject to ethnic genocide by China, the Christians in southern Sudan ( 2,000,000 murdered), the black African population in Darfur who suffer rape, displacement and mass murder? Does the Presbyterian Church love Palestinians only, or has it embraced pre Holocaust antisemitism, now thinly disguised as anti-Israel? Shalom from Max. To Go To Top

CROWING ABOUT EATING CROW AT WHITE HOUSE; ABBAS' VIOLATIONS; BUSH IS UNREASONABLE Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 20, 2005.

CROWING ABOUT EATING CROW AT WHITE HOUSE Normal people dislike being called on the carpet. But friends of Israel thrill at the attention give to PM Sharon by a White House that shunned Arafat. Sharon, however, keeps relinquishing key matters of Israeli national security to an Administration that collaborates with Arafat's people. That is chilling, not thrilling. To the "NY Sun" (April 11, 2005 editorial), the meeting exemplifies a peak US-Israel governmental relationship. Sure there is no quarrelling, as the editorial noted - Sharon is appeasing Bush. Sure this is different from the days when Clinton tried to force Israel to make more concessions to the Arabs -- Sharon is making those concessions more readily. That should be a source of concern, for he is tightening authoritarian rule over his people and an Arab vise over his homeland. Each step taken is deemed a precedent for another, rather than a reason for saying enough, now wait for the Arabs to finally eradicate terrorism. The Administration rationalizes that the Arabs should "continue" trying to fight terrorism. Actually Chairman Abbas enables terrorism, as by getting an Israeli cease-fire that lets the terrorists rearm. Conservative editors, who justifiably castigate the Democrats for having treated the Iraq war with partisanship, themselves unjustifiably admire this supposedly conservative President over his policy towards Israel. Pres. Bush throws tax dollars at the terrorists, while piously denouncing terrorism. They admire Bush's advocacy of democracy. So do I. All the more deplorable his promotion of a jihadist, anti-American regime in the Palestinian Authority (P.A.). Let not the "Sun" imply that the phony P.A. election was democratic or that democracy matters when the whole population agrees to continue jihad! The two leaders confer daily, the editorial celebrates. Frequency of contact means US micromanagement. PM Sharon is in the hands of his leftist blackmailers, so he let the US impose upon Israel even more than usual. Let those conservative editors wonder how a conservative President harmonizes so well with the appeasement ideology of the Israeli Left. The difference is that the US style is to help the Arabs swallow Israel slowly, like a boa constrictor, whereas the Left would like the Arabs to wolf it down. The stronger the Arabs and the weaker Israel, the more likely another Arab invasion. The editorial and the President call the Road Map to this invasion a peace plan, without showing any logical connection between peace and the Map, which is a plan to turn Israel's secure orders, water, and patrimony over to its mortal enemies. HAMAS & POLITICS VS. TERRORISM Jordan praised Hamas for turning from terrorism to politics. The assumption is that if Hamas immerses itself in politics, then it must be emerging from terrorism. That is not a logical deduction. Hizbullah did not disavow terrorism and continues its terrorist attacks. If Hamas abandoned terrorism, why didn't it turn its arms in? Under cover of Israel's truce, Hamas reorganizes its forces that Israel had scattered and expedites the manufacture of rockets for resumption of heavier fighting. This the Right had predicted. A TYPE OF P.A. INCITEMENT The P.A. reports Israeli forces firing upon Arabs without admitting that the Arabs first either attacked or entered a "no-go" zone. This makes the IDF seem wanton killers. By contrast, the Saudi new agency reports the whole story. P.A. misrepresentation seems intended not only to absolve itself from guilt, but also to foist guilt upon Israel. This lying roils Arab sentiment against Israel. By raising the level of hatred in its violent people, the P.A. increases the likelihood of violence. P.A. propaganda is a form of incitement. UNO: POSTPONE DISARMING HIZBULLAH UNO envoy Roed-Larsen recommends that the Security Council postpone disarming Hizbullah, although the opposition in Lebanon maintains that Syrian intelligence agents are using Hizbullah as a base for controlling Lebanon without its troops being in Beirut. He gave no reason for his recommendation. He is busy commending Syria for having removed its uniformed troops from certain areas of Lebanon (Benny Avni, NY Sun, 4/7, p.7). How much of that recommendation stems from Roed-Larsen's anti-Zionism inclination that Hizbullah shares with direct action? Disarming Hizbullah means fighting it. Who volunteers? THE REPORT PM SHARON COMMISSIONED PM Sharon asked a former State Prosecutor to investigate how government agencies were complicit in the establishment of "illegal outposts." The report defames settlers and urges termination of their utility services. The ex-Prosecutor's appointment was illegal, because she had not completed the official cooling-off period since here term ended. She failed to investigate her own department and that of Sharon's, both of which played a role in those outposts. Indeed, Ariel Sharon was one of the major authorizers of the very settlements he now is dismantling. The report was devised so as to whitewash him, by omission. The sponsor and drafter of the report now are being sued for their chicanery (Arutz-7, 3/11). The report incorrectly included all the outposts as new communities. Actually, many are merely new neighborhoods in existing communities, and need only Defense Dept. approval. The campaign against them is out of emotional motives rather than on legal or ethical grounds) Arutz-7, 3/13). Many of the outposts are illegal only in a technical sense, being held up in a final stage by bureaucratic procrastination. Did the ones requiring Defense Dept. approval get it? The report failed to specify. BUSH UNREASONABLE Pres. Bush said, "...As for the Palestinian-Israeli issue, the role of the US will be to continue to urge both parties to make the sacrifices necessary -- sacrifice meaning that Israel must withdraw from the settlements, there must be contiguous territory for a(nother Arab) Palestinian state -- into which a Palestinian state can grow. The Palestinians, in their part, must continue to work hard to fight any terrorist activities within the territories, and the Arab world must continue to work together to help Palestine build the necessary structures for democracy." The US has sent a general there to help turn the P.A. police into an effective force (IMRA, 3/14.) To fight whom? Whom do you think? Is it a "sacrifice" for those Arabs to eradicate terrorism and establish democracy? Seems to me like a great benefit. What makes Bush think that Muslims running a democracy would end their jihad? More to the immediate point, the Arabs cannot "continue to work hard to fight any terrorist activities within the territories" or "build the necessary structures for democracy." They are doing neither, now. Bush is lying. Thus he is calling for sacrifice by Israel, to set up a terrorist state. Why those miscreants deserve a state at all never was answered, but to get for them an anti-American terrorist state is folly. Building the P.A. police into an effective force is folly. Bush's folly. ABBAS-SHARON IMPASSE Israel has agreed to free passage within Judea-Samaria for some terrorists held up in Jericho, if they are disarmed. Abbas wants to include the murderer of an Israeli Cabinet Minister and the director of an arms smuggling ship. Sharon said Israel would arrest the pair, if they were released. The son of the murdered man noted that although Abbas claims his agreement with Israel allows the pair out, but actually it specifies that they not be released when Israeli forces evacuate from Jericho. He takes Abbas' reneging on a new agreement as indication of bad faith (Arutz-7, 3/15). Arabs "reinterpret" agreements so as not to have to pay their part. Not exactly is Abbas "fighting terrorism" that way, is he! Since the P.A. is awash in guns, within a short time, the terrorists given free passage soon would be rearmed. Disarming them beforehand (if that provision even were honored), would accomplish nothing. Does the Israeli government really think disarming them beforehand would accomplish anything? Perhaps. Israel does many fatuous things out of naivete. I think it seeks to mislead its people into imagining that it is providing them with security, when it is inflicting insecurity. ABBAS' VIOLATIONS OF OSLO & MAP Both the Oslo Accords and the Road Map require that the P.A. terminate the illegal terrorist militias. Abbas negotiates with them for ceasefires (with surreptitious military build-ups), for harmony with his own forces, and for their entry into politics (and even for integration into his own forces, which means they keep their arms). He thus is violating the core of the peace agreements (and international law). Danny Rubinstein of "Haaretz" calls Hamas' new policy of openly working within the P.A. system an acceptance of the "peace process." IMRA notes that Hamas retains its antisemitism and its goal of conquering Israel (IMRA, 3/15). Anyone who calls this war process "peace process" doesn't understand it. HOW JORDAN PUTS IT Bush is gaining regional respect by manipulation, while the people are turning against him. His "unbalanced approach" will not get Lebanon independent, but may strengthen an "intransigent Israel." IMRA asks how. Anan visited Sharon in Jerusalem, in violation of international law expressed in Security Council Resolution 478, urging non-recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Sharon discussed with him why he refuses "serious" negotiations with the P.A.. Anan was not neutral, refusing an invitation to visit Jenin where Israel committed war crimes. IMRA mentions that canard was disproved long ago. The UN punishes only the Arabs, not Israel. The Iraqi electorate voted for an anti-US slate (IMRA, 3/16). There was no anti-US slate. Why should Sharon negotiate with the P.A. that still violates prior agreements. The Security Council resolution was anti-Israel. TURKISH INSURGENCY RESTORED About 2,500 Kurds have reentered Turkey, to restore the terrorist insurgency thought ended five years ago (IMRA, 3/16). Poor strategy. The Kurds should consolidate their core area in Iraq, first. Otherwise, Turkey would pursue them back into Iraq and wipe out their core area. 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. To Go To Top

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL EXPLOITS "WOMEN'S RIGHTS" Posted by NGO Monitor, April 20, 2005.

SUMMARY: Reflecting Amnesty's consistent strongly pro-Palestinian political agenda, this NGO's latest report on women's rights in the Palestinian territories also blames Israel for intra-Palestinian violence against women. Rather than a significant examination of this issue, the document, which relies on biased sources and lacks credibility, exploits this issue in the political campaign against Israel. The authors patronizingly deny Palestinian society the maturity to act responsibly, instead blaming Israeli policies for these failures. Amnesty International released a report on 31 March 2005 headlined "Israel and the Occupied Territories: Conflict, occupation and patriarchy - Women carry the burden". Reflecting this NGO's consistent strongly pro-Palestinian political agenda, this report also blames Israel for intra-Palestinian violence against women. Rather than a significant examination of the status of women, the document, which relies on biased sources and lacks credibility, exploits this issue in the political campaign against Israel. The authors patronizingly deny Palestinian society the maturity to act responsibly, instead blaming Israeli policies for these failures. After repeating the standard one-dimensional condemnations of Israeli policy, Amnesty asserts: "The resulting damage to the fabric of Palestinian society has deeply affected women, who have been at the receiving end of increased pressures and violence in the family and in society... and they have borne the brunt of the anger and frustration of male relatives who feel humiliated because they cannot fulfill their traditional role as providers." Furthermore, Amnesty employs the language and techniques of the 2001 Durban conference, selectively quoting the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Preamble, paras 10 and 11)(4): "...the eradication of apartheid, all forms of racism, racial discrimination, colonialism, neo-colonialism, aggression, foreign occupation and domination and interference in the internal affairs of States is essential to the full enjoyment of the rights of men and women." Referring to "Life under siege", without reference to Palestinian terrorism and the impact on Israeli women and families, Amnesty condemns Israeli restrictions on movements of Palestinians. Devoid of any analysis, these measures are simply dismissed as "disproportionate and discriminatory - they are imposed on all Palestinians because they are Palestinians, and not on Israeli settlers who live illegally in the Occupied Territories...They are broad and indiscriminate in their application and as such are unlawful." Amnesty ignores the context behind checkpoints and other physical barriers, and shifts the focus to the political dispute over boundaries. Additionally, while pointing out isolated and tragic incidents that have occurred at checkpoints involving pregnant Palestinian women, Amnesty immorally erases the impact of several suicide bombings and other terrorist acts, including those carried out by or involving female Palestinians. Likewise, Amnesty ignores the clearly documented abuse of ambulances and other medical materials for terror purposes while criticizing access to medical facilities. Amnesty relies upon a number of sources that are either politically biased or simply unreliable. The report, for example, quotes the highly politicized Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, which claims that "the rate of survival of breast cancer patients in the Gaza Strip is only 30-40%, compared to 70-75% in Israel", ignoring the obvious differences between the advanced medical facilities of Israel and those of the Palestinian Authority irrespective of conflict conditions. Many of the allegations cite anonymous Palestinians, and photos and quotes are provided by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and Palestine Monitor, neither of which can be considered credible. The second half of Amnesty's report deals with societal violence against Palestinian women, in which Palestinian men are condescendingly excused from taking responsibility for their actions. According to Amnesty's highly distorted version: "Restrictions on movement and curfews which confine people to their homes for prolonged periods, and increased unemployment, poverty and insecurity, which have forced men to spend more time at home, as well as the increase in crowded conditions in the home, have contributed to the increase in violence against women, including sexual abuse, within the family." The report notes the lack of legal protection for Palestinian women and the inability of Palestinian law enforcement agencies to uphold the rule of law. This, Amnesty also attributes, again without serious analysis, to the Israeli destruction of "much of the PA security installations and other institutions and has prevented PA security forces from operating in much of the Occupied Territories." The chronic failure of the PA's leadership to carry out reform of the security services is entirely ignored, and rape, family violence and 'honor killings' are simply blamed on Israeli actions. Thus, the absurd claims of an anonymous "Head of Palestinian Police Investigations in a West Bank town" are repeated at face value: "The Israeli army comes into the town every day, killing and abducting people, destroying houses and so on? So how can we help people there?" To its credit, Amnesty's report includes a short section near the end addressing female perpetrators of Palestinian terrorism. The report also includes an appendix of "Israeli and Palestinian women as victims of armed attacks". However, this minor afterthought to the main report also draws an amoral equivalence between Israeli victims of deliberate terror attacks and Palestinian women who died as an unintended result of Israeli counter-terror operations. In conclusion, Amnesty's latest report exploits the rhetoric of women's rights to produce another extremist political attack on Israel, while exempting Palestinians from acting responsibly. The NGO Monitor organization (www.ngo-monitor.org) promotes critical debate and accountability of human rights NGOs in the Arab Israeli Conflict. To Go To Top

THE PLO EMPOWERMENT PLAN - OTHERWISE KNOWN AS SHARON'S DISENGAGEMENT PLAN Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, April 19, 2005.

This is the latest news on the PLO Empowerment Plan - otherwise known as Sharon's Disengagement Plan or How To Reward Terrorism. Opposition continues to mount from those who begin to understand that the Israeli government has made no provisions post-Disengagement for the 9,000 residents of Gush Katif (the Jewish community in Gaza) for housing and to meet their other daily needs. Tossing Jews out of their long-established communities runs counter to Judeo-Christian values and has no basis in what we consider to be democratic, individual or human rights. Certainly our Congress and our taxpayers are not inclined to pay the millions of dollars required for this inhumane activity. What has Prime Minister Sharon himself sacrified? Has he offered his personal property as a relocation center? Perhaps he should begin his Plan by charitably stepping forward and doing so. 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!" To Go To Top

ISRAEL TO ADD TO WEST BANK SETTLEMENT Posted by Join the Boycott, April 20, 2005.

This article is archived at http://www.geocities.com/truthmasters/watch05-2.html#0419 Let My People Grow A transformation has taken place in President Bush. A man who was once firmly and rightly convinced that the US should adopt a hands-off approach to Israeli-Arab politics is now in the process of micro-managing it. It has come to the point where a plan to build 50 houses in Elkana, a small Israeli community in Shomron, close to the old border, has become a major news event. "Israel To Add To West Bank Settlement" proclaims the LA Times (4/19/05, page 3 - read TEXT). This comes on the heels of the media's frenzy over Israel's plan to build a suburb of Jerusalem which would link Maaleh Adumim to the rest of the city. The obsession with this urban redevelopment is pure political bias. Israel is overrun with foreign reporters with an anti-Israel agenda. Israel's Roadmap Reservations Allow It Natural Growth Lost in the strangulating media overkill are two very pertinent and powerful truths; (1) Israel is not required either by International Law, or by UN Resolution 242 to withdraw to previous borders see The Meaning of UN Res. 242; and (2) Israel wrote 14 specific reservations to the Roadmap, which were incorporated into and made a part of it. see Israel's Reservations In #9, Israel agreed only to discuss freezing the number of settlements, not the natural growth of existing communities. Also of pivotal importance is the failure of the Palestinians to dismantle their terrorist infrastructure which was a pre-condition to Israel's performance under the Roadmap. Arguably the agreement is dead, but it appears Israel is doing its utmost to show patience with the new Palestinian leadership and extend it good will. To that end, Israel has made a steady stream of real, tangible, and significant concessions in relaxing defensive military action, removing roadblocks, ceasing terrorist home demolitions, handing Jericho and Tulkarem over to PA control, etc. In contrast, PLO terrorism continues and the Palestinian leadership has so far displayed the same intransigence and duplicity it did under Arafat. Under these circumstances, Israel is free to expand current communities in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. LA Times Again Blames Israel For Jeopardizing The "Cease-Fire" The PLO continues to smuggle arms and plan and execute terrorist acts in violation of the so-called "cease-fire". Each violation entitles Israel to intervene in self-defense which thankfully, in most cases, it does successfully. Such was the case with the Al Aqsa operative planning a suicide attack whom Israel attempted to arrest last week. He resisted and was shot in the ensuing melee. But in "Militant's Slaying Has Palestinians Threatening To Abort Cease-Fire" the LA Times clearly portrayed Israel as the aggressor and the party jeopardizing the "cease-fire" (4/15/05, p. 3 - read TEXT at www.unitedjerusalem.org/index2.asp?id=578592&Date=4/16/2005). The LA Times is deaf to Israel's arguments. They only listen to paper cancellations. If you are still a subscriber, please call 1-800-252-9141 to cancel and let all your friends know about Join the Boycott. Thank you. To Go To Top

A WEAKENING LEADER Posted by Barry Rubin, April 19, 2005.

Three months after Mahmud Abbas became leader of the Palestinian Authority (PA), the results are disappointing. True, he faces a difficult job. True he is following the safest strategy. But all that matters now are results. With results, Abbas can use his popular mandate, international support, and Israeli flexibility to reorganize the PA, mobilize Fatah, turn his people toward peace, and make a success story in the Gaza Strip. Certainly, Abbas's big achievement is the ceasefire, but it was gained because almost all forces on the Palestinian side were exhausted and ready for a break. Having lost the war, they were happy to end it, at least until the next time violence seems appealing. Again, Abbas's strategy does make sense. He faces three serious oppositions: Islamists (mainly Hamas), Fatah insurgents (the al-Aqsa Brigades), and Fatah hardliners (many of his own colleagues). But his policy of appeasing them will make his job tougher. Perhaps it is already too late for him to change course and emerge powerful and triumphant. Instead, he too often imitates Yasir Arafat's old approach. Make an announcement--condemning terrorism, warning extremists, denouncing corruption or calling for reforming the security forces--and then doing nothing. Blaming this on Israel is going to be hard. The Israeli government has released prisoners, wants to turn over West Bank towns, supports the PA getting more money, has stopped pursuing wanted men, and is ready to leave the Gaza Strip. About all Israel can be accurately accused of is building some new settlement housing in very limited areas of the West Bank. Let's review all the issues in depth and see how the new Palestinian leadership stands. Ceasefire: Abbas has helped persuade Palestinian factions of agreeing to a ceasefire with Israel. But much of the credit goes to effective Israeli security measures as well to the self-interest of Palestinian groups badly weakened by defeats in their recent war against Israel. Fighting lawlessness and disarming militants: Without structural changes, however, the ceasefire could end at any time. Abbas wants to integrate last week's terrorists into the security forces, but such a step would undermine the reliability of his own armed men. Arrogant militia leaders escalate their financial and other demands. When these are not met, they riot and shoot at whomever they want, including high PA officials. No one is arrested or punished. In this context, who will gain popular credit when Israel turns over the whole Gaza Strip to the PA, Abbas or the gunmen? Will PA security forces be ready to face down the militias and really take control of all this territory in order to govern it? Reforming security forces: One or two incompetent and dishonest commanders have been removed but no real step has been taken toward restructuring the security forces or ensuring their discipline. Weapons' smuggling: Some attempts have been made to reduce bringing arms across the border but munitions are still coming in, many of them delivered to Abbas's enemies. Corruption: A small number of offenders are being investigated or threatened with prosecution but for most it is business as usual. Incitement: A decline in calls for immediate attacks on Jews and support for the ceasefire are short-term improvements. But continued insistence on the illegitimacy of Israel, its future destruction, and the extolling of violence bodes ill. Weekly sermons of clerics appointed and paid by the PA still include blood-curdling hatred of Jews and Americans. Rebuilding Fatah: With elections due in July--and especially now that Hamas is running candidates--revitalizing Fatah should be an all-out top priority. Yet despite talk about this necessity, the level of passivity is incredible. Fatah is headed for a disaster both in terms of its internal unity and its appeal to the people as a whole. Gaining control over Fatah insurgents and Islamists: Abbas has talked to a lot of people but has made zero progress on both of these fronts. Winning personal support from the Arab world: Abbas has not gotten strong endorsements or backing from Arab rulers, at least aside from Egypt. This is a big failure especially since success here might not have been so difficult. Again, the new leadership's task is difficult. Taking strong action against the hardliners, criminals, and terrorists would provoke a strong reaction from those targeted. Yet absent in the Palestinian leadership's calculations is any attempt to appeal over the heads of the militants to the masses. Where are the ringing speeches in which Abbas could say, "Yes, I arrested 200 people on corruption charges and seized Hamas' weapons stockpiles but I did it to ensure that bullies would not shoot up your streets, demand protection money and steal bread out of your mouths." Where is the new vision of the Palestinian future about which Abbas could say, "The time has come to make peace with Israel and end the conflict forever. Getting an independent Palestinian state where we can live in peace and happiness is worth giving up our claim to the rest of the land." Failing to fight corruption and anarchy or take the steps needed to get Israel to relinquish West Bank towns is going to lose the chance to mobilize popular support behind the new leader. Yes, it is easy to answer that Abbas has taken the safer road and avoided risks. Yet rejecting both any hint of confrontation now and failing to consolidate power vigorously only ensures there will be a confrontation later in which he fights from a position of weakness. Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC), and co-author of "Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography and Hating America: A History" (Oxford University Press, August 2004). Rubin's columns can now be read online at http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/column.html. This article is archived at http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/2005/04_12.html To Go To Top

SETTLER CHILDREN IN PRISON TILL FURTHER NOTICE Posted by Hebron Community, April 19, 2005.

"Thirteen year olds in prison - until further notice" Late this morning, Judge Amnon Cohen, president of the Jerusalem Shalom Court, ruled that five girls, including several thirteen year olds, would remain imprisoned until further notice. The five girls were arrested two nights ago at the Hebron Heroes Neighborhood, where a group of youth from Hebron and Kiryat Arba attempted to rebuild there a shack. The site, located on 'worshipers way,' between Kiryat Arba and Hebron, is across the street from the area where 12 men, including three civilians and 9 officers and soldiers, were killed by Arab terrorists two and a half years ago. The police accused the girls of 'attacking' them, however a film of the event shows otherwise. [See http://www.hebron.com/video/girlsarrest.wmv] One of the 13 year olds arrested is Yisca Federman, daughter of Noam and Elisheva Federman. She told her parents that she and the others weren't doing anything - "we were just there." "The police saw us and arrested us, for no cause, except our presence at the site," she told them. Following their arrest, the girls were taken before Judge Cohen, who ordered them to sign a declaration forbidding them to be anywhere near the Hebron Heroes Neighborhood for 90 days. The girls refused. The judge then ordered them to spend the night in jail. This morning he called the girls into his courtroom one by one, and asked them if they understood that if they continued to refuse to sign the declaration, they would spend all of Passover behind bars. Each girl answered that she understood. He then asked them if they would sign and they all refused, one at a time. Judge Amnon Cohen decreed, "then you will remain in prison until further notice." According to an expert on Israeli judicial proceedings, there is no precedent for such a ruling, as such a decree does not appear in Israeli jurisprudence and is, for all intensive purposes, illegal. At the moment the girls are being held at the Gush Etzion police station. An appeal is being filed with the Jerusalem municipal appeals court. A Hebron spokesman issued the following statement: Not only are the police, army and other security forces preparing for this summer's planned expulsion program. So are the courts. It is clearly evident, without any doubt, that today's ruling is the newest in a set of 'scare tactics' utilized to frighten would-be protesters. It makes no difference that this event occurred in Hebron, and that the participants were children. Judge Cohen, it seems, has little regard for the law or for the citizens he is supposed to serve. A pawn in the Sharon game of Israeli suicide, his ruling is an absurdity of justice, and another in the long list of strategies drawn up to repress freedom of expression, i.e., dissent, i.e. opposition to expulsion and abandonment of our land. Judge Amnon Cohen must be immediately dismissed from his judicial post, and the girls released, unconditionally, without delay. 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 To Go To Top

ISRAEL WALKING OPEN-EYED INTO DEATH TRAP Posted by Evelyn Hayes, April 19, 2005.

This was written by the Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff. Jerusalem Newswire is the only independent Jerusalem-based, Christian-operated news service providing daily coverage and commentary on events in and relating to Israel. What will happen when the government moves to uproot thousands of Jews from their homes this summer is anyone's guess, but the IDF is certain the aftermath of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "disengagement" will be increased terrorist warfare. The period of expected escalation of "Palestinian" violence following Israel's retreat from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria has been code named "Rainy Day" by the army, reported HaTzofeh military correspondent Haggai Huberman. Terrorism is expected to reach such levels that "the IDF will be forced to re-take the cities of Judea and Samaria" that were recently handed over to PA security control, Arutz 7 quoted Huberman as saying. Ha'aretz defense affairs expert Amir Oren concurred, adding, "The prediction [among military officials] is that by next January to March, after Palestinian terror has increased and become more sophisticated, the IDF will return to Gaza." "The mind-boggling thing," Huberman wrote, "is that the State of Israel is advancing, knowingly and with its eyes open, towards this death trap." "The Yom Kippur War of October 1973 was a surprise, but the war of October 2005 is totally known in advance." Huberman noted that even if the diplomatic process were progressing, terrorism would still renew following the uprooting of Jewish Gaza, albeit at a "more moderate" level. "These, then, are the two only post-expulsion possibilities the IDF is preparing for," he writes:"If there is an agreement, there will be terrorism, and if there is no agreement, there will be an escalation, i.e., war." Arutz 7 Monday again reported on hugely increased efforts by the Palestinian Arabs to smuggle arms into PA-controlled areas in preparation for future anti-Jewish aggression. "Standardized powerful dynamite, which has not been seen in Judea and Samaria since Operation Defensive Shield almost three years ago, is among the materials the terrorists are trying to smuggle in," the news agency reported. Additionally, since the start of 2005 "Palestinian smugglers have managed to bring over 1,000 assault rifles, dozens of RPGs and at least five anti-aircraft missiles into Gaza." To Go To Top

ANTI-ISRAELI INCITEMENT IN THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY Posted by Dr. Reuvan Erlich, April 19, 2005.

Overview Over the past weeks, expressions of anti-Israeli incitement in the Palestinian establishment media were kept to a low level. However, virulent incitement continued to be spread in the mosques as usual and on occasion in the media as well, especially with regard to the extensive attention being given to the mosques on the Temple Mount. As of this posting, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has done nothing effective to stem the tide at deeper levels, such as the educational system (particularly the universities) and the mosques. Incitement on the backdrop of the Temple Mount mosques A procession organized by Hamas at Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip as a protest against threats made by Jewish organizations "to invade Al-Aqsa mosque" (Abu Dhabi TV, April 1, 2005) The amount of anti-Israeli incitement in the PA establishment media increased with the extensive attention being given the Temple Mount mosques. Various Palestinian organizations, chiefly Hamas, repeatedly warned Israel not to plot to harm the mosques, combining the warnings with propaganda whose objective was to increase the fear that the mosques were somehow in danger and exacerbate an already tense situation. Similar statements were made by individuals in the PA,[1] deliberately avoiding mentioning the many preventive steps taken by the Israeli government to preserve quiet on the Temple Mount. Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organized mass demonstrations characterized by threats of renewed violence, suicide bombing attacks and a renewal of the intifada, as a protest against what they called the "Zionist attempts to attack Al-Aqsa mosque."[2] At the same time, the electronic media continued (relatively prominently) broadcasting songs supporting peace instead of incitement to violence. For example, a number of times Palestinian TV broadcast a song whose theme was peace and freedom while showing pictures of children dancing and waving signs in several languages advocating the same. The Voice of Palestine broadcast a love song sung together by a Palestinian and an Israeli. Incitement in the media not under Palestinian Authority control The Palestinian terrorist organizations sidestep the limitations imposed on them by the PA's establishment media by using other means, such as newspapers, the Internet, local radio stations, the Arab media, etc. For example, Hamas' newspaper, Al-Rissalah, which is published in Gaza, printed an anti-Semitic article attacking Pope John Paul II for his sympathetic attitude to the Jews (April 7, 2005). It directed most of its wrath at the fact that the Pope had "absolved modern-day Jews from the guilt of having murdered Jesus." The author considered the absolution "a terrific heresy" in the Christian faith and noted that modern-day Jews were "criminals like their ancestors." He also complained about the Pope's attitude toward the Holocaust: the Pope's request that the Christians apologize to the Jews and ask forgiveness was "a service to the Zionists," calling it "Pope John Paul II's worst crime..." Nabil Sha'ath (Minister of Information and Deputy Prime Minister), in an exceptional step, praised the local radio stations for their fast reporting of "the occupation's activities against [Palestinian] citizens." He noted that the stations were "overcoming" the "Voice of Israel," which was, he said, "poisoning the Palestinian people" (Al-Hayat Al-Jadeedah, March 19, 2005). It should be noted that the Palestinian terrorist organizations often use local radio stations to broadcast their anti-Israeli incitement. The most prominent local radio stations in the Gaza Strip are Hamas' Radio Al-Aqsa and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's Radio Al-Quds. Radio Al-Quds, which recently began broadcasting, has provided a stage for terrorist activists and focuses on "the threats against Al-Aqsa mosque" to fan the flames of anti-Israel sentiments. It broadcasts strong threats and rants and raves against Israel and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, for example: "The criminal Sharon does not understand any language other than blood. We are ready for any situation, and you will hear the response in every place in your settlements: in Jaffa and in our captured lands in Tel Aviv and Haifa. Our missiles will reach Sderot and Majdal [Ashkelon]... Incitement from the mosques Most of the incitement from the mosques has focused on "the Israeli threat" against Jerusalem, as expressed in the sermons delivered by prominent clerics such as the extremist sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiras in Gaza and Taysir Tamimi, head of the Shari' religious court. Their sermons, which were intended to pour oil on the fire of anti-Israel sensibilities, were publicized fairly widely in the media, including the mosques on the Temple Mount, which have remained a focus for anti-Israeli incitement. On the other hand, the sermons delivered in the mosque in Jenin supported the current calm (Palestinian News Agency from Jenin, March 18, 2005). It should be noted that so far, no significant action has been taken by the Palestinian security apparatus in either monitoring or dealing with the incitement in the mosques. Demonstrations and rallies during Shaheed Week Shaheed Week was held in the PA-administered territories beginning March 25. The events included mass demonstrations in Nablus and Ramallah with tens of thousands of participants. Hamas leaders gave fiery speeches stressing Hamas' adherence to the continuation of violent activities and specifically stating that the lull was only temporary. Masked terrorists took part in a mass rally in Nablus, but familiar incitement motifs (such as burning models of buses and settlements or the Israeli and American flags) were absent. In Ramallah, on the other hand, groups of armed men and activists were conspicuous at the Hamas rally, where shots were fired into the air and models of Qassam rockets were displayed. In 'Asirah Shamaliyah, a village to the north of Nablus, a fair called The Path of the Shaheeds was held, where material was exhibited dealing with the lives and activities of Hamas shaheeds. The events of Shaheed Week were covered by the Palestinian media but were not a focus of public interest. Calls for a decrease in incitement From among Palestinians, calls have begun to be heard for a decrease in the level of incitement. For example, a new project for the supervision of Israeli and Palestinian media sponsored by an organization called Miftah[3] published a report critical of the content of Palestinian media broadcasts. On March 19 an article was published in the PA journal Al-Ayam which was severely critical of the educational and cultural systems' helplessness which, according to the author, was responsible for the increase in violence among youth. In summation The attention being paid to the issue of the Temple Mount mosques has been a convenient excuse for incitement, particularly for Hamas. A genuine fear that the sacred places of Islam on the Temple Mount might be desecrated was a convenient excuse to preach incitement intended to magnify fears of danger to an extreme degree and exacerbate the situation. With the exception of that charged issue, the trend continues in the Palestinian media to lower the amount of inflammatory material presented, although the Palestinian terrorist organizations continue presenting such material in media not subject to PA supervision. So far, the PA has done nothing effective to stem the at deeper levels, such as the educational system (particularly the universities, where incitement was wide-spread during the elections) and the mosques (especially those on the Temple Mount). Footnotes 1. For example, the director of the public relations department of the Palestinian Ministry of Information, Khaled al-Khatib, warned that there was a possibility that activists from Israel's extreme right would break into Al-Aqsa as an excuse to sabotage the disengagement plan. He also warned of a suicide bombing attack which would be perpetrated on the Temple Mount using booby-trapped gliders (Palestinian News Service in Gaza, March 17, 2005). 2. For example, about 10,000 Hamas supporters, 2,000 of whose faces were masked, demonstrated at Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip as a protest against "the repeated Zionist attempts to attack Al-Aqsa mosque and the holy places" (AP, Gaza, April 1, 2005); in Rafah the Jerusalem Battalions, the terrorist-operative wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, held a rally at which they warned against any attack on Al-Aqsa: a masked terrorist warned that they would send "an army of istishhadayeen [suicide bombers] if they [the Jews] dared to pollute Al-Aqsa" (Ramatan Agency, April 4, 2005). 3. The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy, an NGO chaired by Hanan Ashrawi. Dr. Reuven Erlich is Head of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel. Its website address is http://www.intelligence.org It is worth reading this article in the original, which contains live links to additional material (Updated report, April 10, 2005). To Go To Top

Q&A WITH LIKUD ANTI-PULLOUT LEADER UZI LANDAU Posted by Marlene Young, April 19, 2005.

One of the only Likud Members to remain faithful to his constituents and his Jewish and Zionist ideals is Uzi Landau. Of course, he was one of those who were fired by Sharon for democratically disagreeing with Sharon's Disengagement Plan. In a Q & A in the Leftist Haaretz News yesterday (www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/QA.jhtml?qaNo=121#4535), Uzi made some important comments about the Disengagement Plan, calling it a hoax and dangerous and illogical. Instead of discussing the details of the Plan and explaining why it is being implemented, we can see that Ariel Sharon has instead erected a smokescreen of incitement, in concert with the Radical Left, against the Jewish Israeli citizens "settlers" who are being victimized most by this Plan. These were the questions asked to Uzi, and his important answers: [Haaretz Preface: Likud MK Uzi Landau, one of the most outspoken opponents of the disengagement plan, answered readers' questions on April 18. Many thanks to the thousands of people who participated in this live event. Landau believes the pullout plan poses a danger to the State of Israel and is a reward for Palestinian terrorism. "Our opposition to disengagement," Landau said last year, "is because when you're in a war you want to win the war and dismantle the terrorist organizations." Landau has spearheaded the opposition inside the Likud against Sharon's plan. Thirteen anti-pullout Likud lawmakers, led by Landau, have been dubbed the Likud "rebels." Haifa-born Landau has been an MK since 1984, and has held several ministerial posts. He also holds a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.] Don't you think that there is a risk that the settlement blocs that the Israelis have built in the West Bank (and most probably are going to be able to hold on to in any future peace agreement) are seen as a reward for an aggressive land grab policy? Tom Kaufmann Stockholm, Sweden Uzi Landau: Sir, your approach is totally wrong. We are building communities in Judea and Samaria, that you refer to as the West Bank, because we are building them in our homeland, no different than in other parts of the country. King David, as we know in the scriptures, was born in Bethlehem of Judah, not in Bethlehem of the West Bank, and Jerusalem has never been but the capital of the Jews regardless of the many occupiers that conquered it over the past 2,000 years. The most holy place in Jerusalem is called the Temple Mount not because of its mosques but because of the Jewish temple there. Begin refered to Jerusalem as Jerusalem D.C., that is David's Capital. How do civilized people settle their differences? In our democratic world, this is done through negotiation. In the Oslo agreement 12 years ago, which effected huge and far-reaching concessions for Israel, the Palestinians committed themselves to settling all differences through negotiations. But like many things which the Palestinians believe they can get through force rather than negotiation, they have been using blatant terrorism on the issue of settlements too. But the real problem the Palestinians have is not the existence of a settlement in Judea and Samaria but the existence of big settlements in our cities Tel Aviv and Be'er Sheva and Haifa, our very existence in those cities is seen as a provocation in their eyes. Do you believe that the original core ideology of the secular Revisionist movement can still be retained within today's Likud? Has Israeli politics changed so much that the classical liberalism of Jabotinsky is no longer relevant? Warren Davis London, U.K. Uzi Landau: I think that the Revisionist movement, while secular, always had a tremendous respect for all segments of Israel's society - including, of course, the religious parts. And in itself it also had tremendous respect for Israel's tradition. Truly, Israeli politics changed much and definitely, the present norms of Israeli politics unfortunately led by Likud figures are far from reflecting the classical liberalism of Jabotinsky. But we all hope that putting the Likud back on track will revive that too. I heard that our enemy in the north, the terrorist group Hezbollah, will have a fighter plane in five years. Is this true? Benny Goldstien Troy, U.S.A. Uzi Landau: I have no knowledge about that, but we have to prepare ourselves for every scenario even the most remote and incomprehensible one. Shalom MK Landau, How might Israel defend itself once the United Terrorist Forces led by Hamas in all of Gaza come out of hibernation this fall? Is there any mechanism in place to allow for timely reconsideration of the disengagement plan based upon new realities, even at this late date and despite the approval of the Knesset? Paul Herdan Los Angeles, U.S.A. Uzi Landau: All the concerns you raise are in place. I hope this government will eventually find the mechanism to fully understand the huge risks in this process and replace it with a different process that will really bring us to peace while reducing terror. But I don't have an idea at the moment for doing that. Excuse the intervention of someone who is not involved in the conflict, but my worry does exist. Is this war? Why do your people attack a people who don't have a regular army? Even if you were not backed by the U.S., would you continue the war? It has already been recognized which side is stronger, the problem is whether the stronger can show the virtue of modesty and generosity or not. Akira Yamanaka Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan Uzi Landau: First Sir, this is truly a war which the Arabs have launched against Israel for almost 100 years with the clear purpose of totally destroying the chance for the Jews to have a state of their own, like any other nation. The Palestinians could have had the dignity of a state in 1948 when they were offered a Palestinian state by the UN resolution. They rejected it and went and attacked Israel because in that very resolution, the Jews too had earned a state. Between 1948 and 1967, no one heard about a Palestinian people, and the "territories" of Judea and Samaria and Gaza did not have any Jewish settlement or community. They were inhabited by the Palestinian people and only used as a a stone to launch terror attacks against Israeli people. Please note that during these years there was no claim for a Palestinian state nor that there is a Palestinian people because the Arab countries controlled Gaza and Judea and Samaria. Only after the attack on Israel in 1967 again in order to destroy the state which ended in Israel's conquering Judea and Samaria and Gaza did the Palestinians for the first time demand a state. They had the chance in the Oslo agreement again to have a state of their own and Israel went to far-reaching concessions to come to peace terms with the Palestinians, and yet again the problem then too was that when they had to recognize Israel as a free and Jewish state in return, they resorted once more to terror. And this so even with the present Palestinian leadership - they are unprepared to fully accept the existence of the Jewish state. That the Palestinians have no regular army, thank God this terror entity doesn't have an army, but it has an abundance of different terrorist organizations which are deliberately targeting women, children innocent passers-by, bomb kids in discos and students in universities in order to promote their political objectives, and they are popularly supported by the Palestinian population. In all of our history with the Palestinians, whenever they had a chance to have a state of their own in which they had also to agree to the existence of a Jewish state, they always turned it down. Please note the dangers to countries and people today do not come only from entities that have regular armies, but rather from terrorist organizations that with mega-terror activity are targeting hundreds of thousands of innocent people in order to promote their evil political objectives. Please see the examples of the bombing of the Twin Towers in New York, the bombing in Bali, Indonesia, the hundreds of schoolchildren in Beslan, the hundreds in Madrid and this is only part of the list. The Palestinians are no different. The Palestinian terror organizations are part of this worldwide concert of terror and their terror should be treated no different than Al-Qaida terrorists. Dear Sir, Do you really think that if Iran got nuclear arms it would launch an attack on Israel, as former Iranian president Rafsanjani said at the time? Reza Homam Baghdad, Iraq Uzi Landau: Iran would undoubtedly launch a nuclear attack on Israel if it knew that it could get away with it unharmed. But if it knew that on the one hand, the chances to really penetrate our air defense systems with a missile are very small, while on the other hand the price it would pay for it would be disproportional, turning them back to the Stone Age, I guess they would be much more hesitant. The only reason I can find for Sharon to push so hard for disengagement is that he wants to let the Palestinians swallow the bait and attack Israel, and then he has to go after them in an all out war to be able to beat them properly. Otherwise it is suicide. Has my line of thinking any touch of reality? Jakob Peter Stavanger, Norway Uzi Landau: Your reasoning is quite interesting, implicitly you assume that much thought has gone into the disengagement plan. Let me say that I have no clue as to the logic of this plan. People on the right and left alike should ask serious questions regarding its logic. I question if the prime minister has any grand plan in which the disengagement plan is just one step or one link. In fact, what is going to be the day afte disengagement is completed? To whom are we going to turn over the keys, to the Hamas extremists? Are we going to let the influence of Hezbollah dominate the area? Can we really trust the Egyptians to stop the smuggling of advanced weapons from Sinai to Gaza after having 10 years experience with them of totally failing to stop the free flow of weapons from Egypt to the Palestinians. What is Israel going to do if katyusha rockets hit the cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod, which will come in their range, but also the shelling of the northern towns of Afula and Beit She'an, Hadera and Pardes Hannah that will be in the range of Qassam rockets once Israel withdraws its forces from northern Samaria? What will Israel do if a ground-to-air personal missile, even the primitive Strela-7, will hit a plane coming to land in Ben-Gurion International airport? Who will pay the six billion Israeli shekels needed to compensate the people for their relocation, the addiional three billion for the redeployment of the IDF plus the additional billions of shekels needed to compensate for the serious damage to the Israeli water resources company up north? Has the prime minister really fully considered, analyzed the consequences of tearing apart our society? What are we getting for it? And you sir, are trying to see the underlying deep thinking behind it. I see none, with all due respect, I see none. Throughout the process, from when Ehud Olmert floated the test balloon and then the prime minister announced he would push for the destruction of Jewish communities, it has seemed that the only one truly acting with complete resolve, determination and commitment to a plan of action has been Sharon. Why are the MKs allowing Sharon to trample on the most basic principles of the Jewish state - that Jews should be safe from the persecutions of the Diaspora? Moshe Wolfish Maryland, U.S.A. Uzi Landau: In Israel, the right-wing national camp is usually stronger than the extreme left wing camp. In the last Knesset, the right wing had around 68 votes versus 52 on the left altogether. If Sharon has managed to persuade using various methods 13 Likud members to switch their positions, which tilts the balance altogether and makes it possible to promote a clear left-wing extreme policy, which is of course done in a non-democratic or in a democratically-illegitimate manner. Why does Mr. Sharon change his mind? I have no clue. I have known Mr. Sharon for decades. I was a firm supporter of his policies. I understood his reasoning. I don't understand anything now. He is a different man and there is neither ideological nor pragmatic logic in this disengagement plan. The new Palestinian Authority is seen to be working well and keeping the situation under control, but contrary to their promises, the Israelis have not released more prisoners or turned over more cities to PA control. There is growing concern that the settlements are still being expanded, which is becoming more and more important as the pullout is getting closer. What do you think about criticism that the truce between Israel and the Palestinians is in imminent danger due to Israel's unwillingness to meet its commitments? Rajarshi Chaudhuri Campbell, U.S.A. Uzi Landau: Perhaps we don't mean the same thing when we speak about the new Palestinian Authority. From every crack of their structure you see that they are not working well, in fact at this particular time as Israel has stopped its campaign against the different terror organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad extremists, they are using this time in order to re-arm, smuggle more weapons and train themselves, to prepare for a new round of terror attacks. Abu Mazen, the new Palestinian leader, is simply ignoring all of that on purpose, he isn't dismantling the terrorism infrastructure in contrast to the road map agreement that was signed a year and a half ago. He hasn't cracked down on terrorists, he hasn't collected illegal arms. In the Palestinian schooling system they continue to use those textbooks that describe the Jews as the enemy of mankind, the plague of the third millennium, as Satan on earth, that they should be prepared to carry out suicide bombings in order to obliterate us. All this continues under Abu Mazen, so when you say that the PA is now keeping the siuation under control, I don't know what the heck you are talking about. Perhaps in the USA you are failing to read the proper information that is available to every person who wants to read it. That Israel didn't relase more prisoners? The hundreds that we have already released without a reciprocal plan, isn't that a sufficient number? Are you expecting Israel to release terrorists with blood on their hands in the hope that this will encourage future peace rather than promote terrorism? And therefore we have responsibility to the safety of our citizens and after the loss of one thousand of our citizens just over the past four years, after following such suggestions as releasing many prisoners, evacuating Palestinian cities and the like, that we have done in the hope that this will bring peace, of course we are much more careful, as you would be if you were in our situation. Why doesn't the government of Israel hold real dialogue with the Palestinian Authority about a final status agreement? Maximiliano Santiago, Chile Uzi Landau: Because you need two to tango. And the Palestinians have never ever handled a real dialogue with us. The Egyptians did and we have peace, the Jordanians did and we have peace. The Palestinians use negotiations only to get on the table concessions that they coubdnlt have gotten otherwise and this process of unilateral stopped, they turned immediately to use terroism. You have distinguished your position from those of other anti-withdrawal MKs by calling it a security decision. With this and the disintegration of the Likud's political ideology in mind, why aren't you and your allies in the Likud willing to break away from the party? (A similar question was asked by Ben from New York) Ramon Epstein Acre, Israel Uzi Landau: First of all, it's not Likud political ideology that disintegrated. Weak Likud political leaders changed their policy but the majority of Likud's membership still hold strong to the very basic principles. I think that it would be a grave mistake to break away from Likud and form a new party. We have enough parties in Israel. The proper way is to debate these issues within the Likud and changing Likud's leadership and Knesset reps will put Likud back on track in two major points. First on reviving its defense and for political principles. Secondly, putting much more emphasis on cleaning Israeli politics of corruption. My anti-withdrawal arguments were also focused much on security reasons but not only. Two major non-security problems do develop. First, under the important principle of reducing friction between us and the Arabs, Arik Sharon has decided to transfer people from their communities. The major problem there is he has decided to transfer 24 communities which are Jewish only. Why on earth doesn't it make sense based on the same important principle of reducing friction to move even one Arab community in the name of political wisdom. The Sharon government has simply laid down the precedent in the principle of reducing friction that the only people to be transferred are Jews. And this doesn't make any sense whatsoever and its unjust. The second problem has to do with the moral justice of our war with the Arabs on this land. There is only one Palestinian state - which is Jordan. Seventy percent of the population there is Palestinian. The queen was born in Tul Karm. The crown prince is Palestinian. So Jordan is Palestinians. There is another Palestinian state which Israel has agreed in the roadmap after certain conditions have been fulfilled. This does not satisfy the Palestinians. Mr. Landau, First of all, I'm proud of your dignity and your commitment to defend the Jewish people. Given the fact that many on the Palestinian side still consider the "phased plan" of the destruction of Israel as part of their ideology, is there any alternative to giving in to the demand for a Palestinian state alongside Israel? Thank you and my best wishes to you and your family. Yoseph Eshkenazi Alberta, Canada Uzi Landau: There is no chance for any peace with the Palestinians unless terrorism is toally dismantled as a precondition. And once this is done and there is a chance for a new and different Palestinian leadership after an interim period, with the help of foreign countries such as the EU and the U.S., without the intervention of Israel, will develop democractic structure which will make it possible to elect a new Palesitnian leadership. After three years of this Palestinian leadership and a change in the Palestinian education system to teach their kids that they ought to have peace with Israelis rather than become suicide bombers, then it will be a proper time to sit and negotiate peace between us and the Palestinians. But anyone who speaks about any compromise or suggestion of a detailed plan is simply doing something that no one in a war is doing - that is making concessions already before the negotiations start. What you do in war is want to win and concessions you make with your defeated enemy after the war is decided and those concessions are mutual. I know that it would be very nice to keep Gaza, even nicer to keep it without Palestinians, do you think that there is any hope of doing that and achieving peace, or do you feel that it is better to keep that land and continue losing our sons in a hopeless and futureless struggle? Erwin Rosen Ramat Gan, Israel Uzi Landau: First, I don't think Israel should have the intention to keep Gaza. Perhaps, Erwin, you might want to keep it. I don't. I thinking holding any piece of land, rather than transferring it to the pals, isn't really going to make any step forward to peace. On the contrary. It is only going to harm the chances of peace. The real problem we have with the Arabs is not any piece of land that they see in our hands as a provocation. Our very city of Tel Aviv is a provocation in their eyes. They are simply unprepared to accept our existence as an independent Jewish state here on what they consider to be Arab land. The question, therefore, as if it is better to keep the land and continue to lose our sons in future hopeless struggle is simply ill-defined, it is unfounded. I would like to attract your attention to the fact that we have handed over Gaza to the Palestinians as we did with vast areas in Judea and Samaria and basically they have control over 97 percent of the Palestinian population and are responsible for running their day-to-day aspects of life. But it is their perception that with terror, they can push us to even more far-reaching concessions than we made under Oslo. And that's why they pushed on with terror. If we were to have Swiss people or Canadians as our neighbors, peace would have been here long ago. But the Palestinians are not Canadians, they have no regard for human lives, human rights, written agreements. In the Middle East, is already clear there is no mercy for the week, regardless of the territory they are on. Gaza is not the issue. The issue is the state of mind of Israeli who fail to understand the after so many years of wars with the Arabs that it is only our strength and ability of deterrence and their total understanding that they have no military option that will be the real basis of a future negotiations for peace. Uzi, why did you not try to topple the government earlier by voting against them in no confidence votes? Do you see yourself as a future PM and if so will you challenge Arik Sharon for the leadership of the party, or will you set up a new, true right-wing party? Delaware, U.S.A. Uzi Landau: Well, I did vote against the government but to topple a policy you need to have a majority but the left in Israel and non-partisan members of the Knesset such as Abdelmalik Dehamshe and Taleb A-Sana joined with the prime minister to promote a policy that transfers Jews only. I believe that the promotion or nominating seven additional deputy ministers was done with the purpose of solidifying the camp of the prime minister for future votes in the Knesset. I can sssure you Prime Minister Sharon will not the be only one competing to be the Likud candidate for prime minister. If I also join the race, I haven't yet decided on that, but I'm considering it. Don't you think that it is imperative for Israel to separate itself from the Palestinians? Do not you think that we must separate even if it is a unilateral separation, for our own safety and to keep Israel as a Jewish and a democratic state? Jacob Jerusalem, Israel Uzi Landau: Truly I think it is imperative for Israel to separate itself from the Palestinians. This is why I was the first minister in the cabinet who demanded to build the fence. I did that as being responsible for Israel's police. Interestingly enough, Sharon of Likud, and Peres and Ben-Eliezer of Labor were against it. And I think we have to go for separation also if it should be done unilaterally. But the "disengagement" plan is not the real separation. It is called disengagement from Gaza in order to attract the sympathy of the majority of people. But we have really pulled out of Gaza 10 years ago. All the highly populated areas of the Gaza Strip have no Israelis whatsoever. Pal terrorist pushed us back, forced us to go back after the Park Hotel bombing on March 2002, to the hearts of the cities - Tul Karm, Qalqilyah, Jenin and Nablus in order to stop terrorism. But we haven't gone back to the city of Gaza. That's why terrorism from northern Samaria cities such as Jenin gradually diminished while in Gaza they continues to launch their rockets at the Katif region communities. The IDF did deploy surrounding Gaza in order to stop the launching of these rockets. But as we haven't chased the terrorists to their dens, Qassam rockets are still launched. The only thing that we do in Gaza is that we pull out from regions where we have no Arabs and that were separated from Arabs in the first place - such as the Katif region. This whole concept - as if we really disengage ourselves - is a hoax and is directed at naïve people who do not read the small letters of this plan. If the disengagement takes place, will the Likud survive as a united party or will there be a formal break-up before the next election? Jay Dershowitz Brooklyn, U.S.A. Uzi Landau: Let me first stress that Likud's positions adopted by its major institutions such as its members referendum or decisions takens by its central committee have been totally violated by the present Israeli government, headed by Mrr. Sharon. Sharon is executing a left-wing policy which is in contrast to Likud's policy. After this disengagement, if it takes place, the Likud will be different. It's clear to me that the Likud, if it wants to survive as a meaningful party must combine a vision with pragmatism. After disengagement there is no vision, and the Likud will have to reclarify and redefine the major debate will be on its future nature. I should add that the very same problem stands before Labor. Labor today is a party that stands on opportunism - it has no vision. I guess the problem for Israel today is to have major parties for which a prime minister and government will be formed to lead the country are parties that have a vision and have a power and the skills to carry out this policy and that will have a position which one can argue for or against. The situation today is that what one sees is many ministers and MKs in the big parties taking decisions not based upon what is best for the coutnry but rather what is best for themselves, and this is something that should be a major concern for those who care about the wellbeing and the future of the country. The group I belong to - the loyalists or the faithful - we shall never leave Likud. We are those who carry the banner of what Likud is, in the Knesset and the public representing Likud's position since the time of Begin and Shamir, of course being adapted to the rpesent situation. Dear Mr. Landau, As an Israeli and an ex-IDF officer I can understand your concern regarding security in the face of the pullout, but what is the alternative, another 37 years of status quo? Don't you think that it is time to give the average Palestinian some real hope, to show that Israel is serious and to finally have a legitimate and moral Israel behind recognized borders, regardless of theoretical Palestinian threats? Eytan Washington D.C., U.S.A. Uzi Landau: Exactly the same question was raised 12 years ago, when the Oslo agreement was signed and many of us saw its imminent tremendous dangers to Israel's security on the one hand and its clear undermining for any chance for peace on the other hand. It took us a number of years and 1,400 proofs - in the form of 1,400 Israeli citizens that were murdered - to understand the tragedy of the underlying assumptions reflected in your question. Are Palestinians' threats really theoretical or have we paid a heavy price when we made this Oslo mistake? Does the average Palestinian really need some real hope in order to stop terror? Basically what we see are two things: First in all of the surveys taken without exception, the majority of the Palestinians see the terror is rewarding and the real hope they see is using terror in order to obliterate Israel. The suggestion that Israel needs to show its seriousness in its approach in order to get legitimate borders I think is a fallacy. All Israeli governments, left or right without exception, in all its previous negotiations wanted to have serious peace with all the Arab countries. So it was between Begin and Sadat of Egypt. So it is and so it was with Rabin and King Hussein's peace agreement. But with the Palestinians we haven't had the real partner, we haven't had a real will or wish on their side. And for many, many decades the only tool they rely upon is terrorism, which follows limited political processes that are unidirectional. The Palestinians continue to follow them on the condition it is Israel that makes compromises. The bottom line of this unilateral pullout, done without a partner on the other side, with no negotiations, with no agreement, will simply expose Israel to many, many risks in the future and will make peace much more distant. Marlene Young is vice-president of TODA - Torah Organization for Disability Access, as well as an advocate for Israel. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. To Go To Top

WEISSGLASS, PERES AND THE GAZA CASINO Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, April 19, 2005.

Over the past few months I have taken every opportunity to explain to the public that the real issues behind the extermination of the Jewish communities in Gaza, the rest of Yeshah and ultimately all of Israel have nothing to do with political issues of peace or national security. It does have everything to do with money and very big money. To fully understand the meaning of the Arutz-7 (www.INN.com) report below, it is necessary to read the expose' by David Bedein following the INN story. Another important bit of information is that not only are Peres and Weissglass politically and financially close to each other, they are actually neighbors living next to each other in the same luxury complex in North Tel Aviv. The plan all along has been to get rid of the Jews in Gaza, steal their property and convert the area into a luxury hotel-casino resort. I have no doubt that the Sharon and Peres gangs have received advanced payment for this already and are anxious to "deliver the good" to their partners. The personal consequences to them and their organizations for not delivering would be extremely unhealthy. This is only one of the many dirty deals that have been made by Israel's rulers with foreign interests and for the benefit of our enemies. Each one more treacherous than the next. "Peres' Club-Med Solution," today's Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=80487 (This article ran in FrontPageMagazine.com on September 27th, 2004.) (IsraelNN.com) Vice Premier Shimon Peres during a Paris meeting with President Jacques Chirac suggested the Gush Katif communities evacuated by Israel be converted into branches of Club-Med. Peres feels while Israel debates if the homes of Gush Katif residents should be razed or made available to the PA, his Club-Med solution would provide a unique answer that would bring obvious economic advantages to the region. Peres stressed new economic realities must be created in the region, adding there is no need to wait for the politicians to move ahead. He had words of praise for PA leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), who he stated is doing "good work". " Rubbing Elbows with Arafat: Sharon's Top Advisor Represents 'Business Interests' of the Palestinian Authority," by David Bedein, http://israelvisit.co.il/cgi-bin/friendly.pl?url=Sep-27-04!NigudInteresssim www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com, 27th September, 2004. "One of the Biggest Questions of the New Year Focuses Around the Question: What Would Motivate Ariel Sharon to Conduct His Current Policy with the Palestinian Authority? The Answer: Business Interests." The man who has been the most visible diplomat representing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in negotiations with the Palestinians and with the U.S. government has been a lawyer by the name of Dov Weissglass - the man who created and engineered Sharon's withdrawal plan, and the man whom Sharon has delegated to negotiate for Israel with U.S. National Security Advisor Condeleeza Rice and with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. Weissglass's power in the government of Israel with Ariel Sharon at the helm has eclipsed the influence of the highest officials of the Israel Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense. Yet Weissglass has another identity. Back in December 2002, Israel Resource News Agency uncovered the fact that Weissglass, then the office manager of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was still in private business, listed in the Israel Corporate Registrar as the owner and operator of his law firm, Weissglass-Almagor and a business trust by a similar name That finding was publicized in the weekly Israeli newspaper, Makor Rishon. Why is that so important? Well, it would be one thing if Weissglass's firm represented Zogloveck, Israel's kosher sausage firm. However, Weissglass's law firm and business trusts represent the financial interests of the Palestinian Authority, including Muhammad Rashid, the treasurer appointed by Yassir Arafat to manage Arafat's illusive accounts which amount to several billion dollars. Two Israeli journalists, Amos Harel and Avi Issacharov, have just published a book titled The Seventh War, in which they report that Weissglass actually celebrated the electoral victory of Ariel Sharon in the company of Muhammad Rashid on election night in February, 2001. In June, 2003 Israel Resource News Agency uncovered the fact that Weissglass's law firm and business also represent the Palestinian casino firms, which are in part owned by PLO security chief Jibrl Rahoub, and by Yassir Arafat himself. Why is that important, in light of the demise of the former Palestinian casino in Jericho, that was closed down when the Palestinian Intifada began in October, 2000? According to the Palestinian tourist publication This Week in Palestine, plans are under way to build a new Palestinian casino and resort for tourists in "Southern Gaza", in place of the Jewish communities of Gush Katif that now reside there. And who stands to profit? None other than Dov Weissglass, the architect of the Sharon plan to withdraw those very Jewish communities from Gush Katif. The logical question to ask would be: Where is the law enforcement system in Israel that would act against any such conflict of interest and possible breach of security? In January 2003, after it was revealed that the Prime Minister's office manager, Weissglass, still maintained his law firm and business outside his government job, the Israel Civil Service Commission looked into it and affirmed that Weissglass was indeed still registered in the Israel Corporate Register as part of that law firm. But they dismissed its importance, after Weissglass wrote to the commission that he had divested himself from his law firm and that he had sold all financial interests in his business. To support that claim, The Israel Corporate Authority in April 2003 reported that Weissglass finally removed his name from his law firm in the Israel Corporate Authority records and provided us with a document from the Israel Corporate Authority to prove it. However, in April 2004, our agency uncovered what the Israel Civil Service Commission did not know, which was that Weissglass's name was still registered as the lawyer of record for two other firms which bore virtually the same company name, while also located at the same corporate address. In May, 2004, the Israel Civil Service Commission declared that this represented a conflict of interest for Weissglass. So in July, 2004 Weissglass quietly resigned his position as the Prime Minister's office manager, but received permission from the Israel Civil Service Commission to assume a new position as the all-powerful official "advisor" to PM Ariel Sharon. In other words, although the highest echelons of the Israeli government are cognizant of the fact that Weissglass represents the business interests of Yassir Arafat, Weissglass was still allowed to continue to conduct negotiations on behalf of the state of Israel with all official levels of the Palestinian Authority and the United States government, even though Weissglass continues to represents the business interests of the Palestinian Authority. You might call this a legalized conflict of interest, Middle East style. 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. To Go To Top

LOYALTY TO OUR LAND AND PEOPLE Posted by Yehudit Tayar, April 19, 2005.

This was written by Yehudit Tayar, a veteran spokesman for the Settlement Movement. She lives in Samaria with her husband and family. 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. 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 To Go To Top

SASSON OUTPUT REPORT; BUSH/RICE AREN'T FRIENDS; ARAB NOTION OF DEMOCRACY; PURGING YESHA Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 19, 2005.

REPORT ON OUTPOSTS Israel's leftist newspapers have seized upon the Sasson report on outposts to denounce them as illegal, urge their demolition, and call the settlement enterprise unethical. The papers ignore the report's having been commissioned as a hatchet diatribe in support of PM Sharon's abandonment plan and as a whitewash of him. The papers praise him for having turned on that enterprise, which is where their lack of ethics comes in. They forgive those who turn to them, and ostracize those who turn away from them. They do not discuss the issues objectively. Few are those who treat their own policies objectively. For themselves, most people are indulgent and rationalize. But the Left ignores the inconvenient facts and misrepresents the situation. It does not want to admit that Israel is not a government of laws but of men, i.e., of arbitrary government discretion and a thicket of bureaucracy that is slow to navigate through. Hence the quasi-legal status of some of the outposts. PM Sharon has turned from demagogue to not totally a dictator yet but severing more of and more of the remaining threads of democracy in Israel. His is what one should call a "managed democracy." The Left long has supported illegality in line with its unpatriotic proclivities. Thus it condemned the police for self-defense against the Arabs and ignores policy brutality against Jewish nationalists. It punishes as "racists" truthful critics of the Arabs, but grants immunity to those Arabs, who advocate the destruction of the state and work towards it, one way being by indoctrinating their people in antisemitism. The Far Left urges Israeli troops not to serve the national defense in Yesha, and the Near Left condones this organized mutiny, but condemns Israeli troops who decline to serve national destruction in Yesha, under Sharon's "Disengagement" plan, which involves attacking Jews who don't give up their homes and the national patrimony there. It hardly becomes the hypocritical Left to act indignant against the outposts, some of which were not completely through the process of legalization but sincerely applied as appropriate. Those steps, however, depended on government officials performing their duties. The officials procrastinated. That is not the fault of settlers. As we have pointed out, some of the outposts were really just the start of new neighborhoods within existing municipal boundaries. Would any normal country condemn people for building within their own town? Then again, no normal country plans to cede portions of its homeland to its enemy and condemns patriots for objecting. Some of the outposts are intended to act as informal security posts, being positioned at the likeliest sites of ambush, as learned from hard experience. Why didn't the government set up those security posts, themselves? Aren't the volunteers who did to be commended? In expressing indignation, the Left adds insult to injury. EXPECT NO COMFORT FROM BUSH OR RICE About half the Evangelists believe in "replacement" theology. They believe that God has replaced the Covenant with the Jews by a Covenant with the Christians. Accordingly, the Jewish people no longer have a sacred right to the Holy Land. The other half believe that the Christian Covenant is in addition to the Jewish one. They support the Jewish state. The late Pope made this belief Catholic doctrine. Unfortunately, Pres. Bush is a "replacement" Christian. So is Sec. Rice. Friends of Israel may expect no comfort from that pair. If this had been understood before, not so much hope would have been squandered on Bush. ABBAS' NOTION OF DEMOCRACY Abbas said he let the radical militias opt for a ceasefire (which they violate). It was voluntary, he said, because the P.A. is a democracy. He did not pledge their disarmament. He denied that those militias are responsible for recent terrorism. He said individuals did it on their own. Since they had to cross Israel's security fence, he holds Israel responsible. (Is the policeman responsible for crime he didn't intercept? Then what about the P.A.'s own security lines?) The "Time" magazine interviewers did not ask why a fence that hinders terrorism is responsible for it. Hamas' successful debut into municipal elections did not faze Abbas. He interpreted their entering politics as a wholesome development (and later called it democratic). The interviewer did not ask how their being in politics reduces their being in terrorism (IMRA, 3/7) or fails to degrade politics. Individuals are not able to perpetrate sophisticated acts of terrorism. Their motivation often comes from pressure by terrorist groups condoned by the P.A., from wishes to evade shame over personal matters, and from P.A. propaganda over the media and in the schools. Abbas is lying. His notion of democracy does not allow for enforcement of law and order against criminals. Nor does he consider fellow jihadists criminals. Hamas contributing to democracy would be like a US Communist Party contributing to democracy. Totalitarians don't contribute to democracy, they participate in it to destroy it. His answers reveal a devious mind and himself to be an enemy of Israel and of peace. ARAB FEMINIST "Egyptian Feminist Dr. Nawal Al-Sa'dawi Announces Candidacy for Presidency; Explains Women Can Lead Countries; Calls on 70 Million Egyptians to Fight U.S. and Israel." She supports the use of female human bombs, whom she calls victims of occupation. She also said, "we need to start to change the Egyptian and the Arab way of thinking, to encourage critical thinking, and to base educational values on debate, dialogue, and critical thinking, and not on obedience and subjugation." "I want to amend the law and to separate between religion and state in all of the laws, including the personal status law - this, together with a free market and a war on American-Israeli-European imperialism..." (IMRA, 3/9 from MEMRI.) The Arab will murder you and then complain that he is your victim. Arabs now call themselves democratic, because the Western media praises them for it instead of seeing through it,(not that there aren't some democrats among them, though Abbas and Mubarak are not such, but what good is her democracy and feminism? She would continue the war but infuse it with the strength of her gender. ELECTION OF GREEK PATRIARCH IN JERUSALEM OVERTURNED A Greek Orthodox man brought suit in Israel against the election of Irineos as Greek Patriarch. The judge ruled that the election was illegal; a new one must be held (Arutz-7, 3/9). ISRAEL TO ARMOR U.S. MILITARY VEHICLES IN IRAQ Iraqi insurgents have been able to blow up US military vehicles that had not been armored. An Israeli company won the contract to provide 2,000 such vehicles with armor (IMRA, 3/9). RETREAT FROM JERICHO Israel and the P.A. supposedly devised a policy of testing P.A. reduction of terrorism by withdrawing IDF forces from certain P.A. cities. The P.A., however, declared that it would not use force to eradicate terrorism, but would try to persuade the terrorists to put their arms on the rack for a while. (That solves little.) The P.A. further declared that it would not do even that, unless Israel agreed immediately to other negotiations and to agree according to how the P.A. wants them to proceed. No wonder that the IDF wishes to maintain checkpoints around one of the first of such cities, Jericho, to at least restrict terrorists there from fanning out. The P.A. demands that Israel relinquish those checkpoints, too. The P.A. has not relinquished terrorism. To the contrary, it uses terrorism as blackmail. This tactic is the fight-talk-fight tactic that the N. Vietnamese Communists taught the PLO. To them, warfare and negotiations mutually reinforce each other. Israelis naively think that negotiations are undertaken to end the warfare and the whole conflict. Further evidence of continued terrorism under Abba is his assurance to Hamas that after negotiations fail, Hamas could resume armed struggle. Negotiations tend to fail, because the Arabs' ultimate goal is total subjugation of Israel, and the Muslim Arabs always invent more grievances. As Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister, advised the Sudetenland Germans, always demand more than the enemy possibly can agree to, but keep the negotiations going. The two parties are at an impasse. Will the US take sides? If the US demands that Israel yield on its measures against certain terrorism, instead of that the terrorist entity yield to Israeli security measures, would Israel stand up for national security? (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 3/11). PM Sharon usually gives in to US demands. HOW THE ISRAELI JUNTA WILL PURGE YESHA "Religious soldiers at every level will be replaced by less motivated but ideologically pliable secular Israelis and also by Ukrainians, Turks, Egyptians, Americans and British MI5 agents, all of whom are already in the country in large numbers, and by "Palestinians" presently undergoing "special training" with Israeli government approval. These and the ideological kibbutznikim who volunteer to brutalize the "settlers" will form the psychopath squads who will do the dirty work of expulsion." "Of course, they will all wear IDF uniforms so that no "settler" will open fire on them. But that is already taken care of. It has already been reported by Ha'aretz, the PLO's favorite Hebrew paper, that there are settlers who would open fire on other settlers to provoke them into firing on the army, which will force the army, yes force the army, to fire on the "settlers." (They will not be called "civilians," innocent or otherwise, as they call the "Palestinians" who willingly serve as human shields to protect the terrorist perpetrators of mass murder.) The modus operandi is clear: a Shabak agent provocateur, a latter day Avishai Raviv, disguised as a "settler" will fire the first shot in the direction of the IDF, justifying the ensuing massacre and civil war." (Winston Mid East Analysis, 3/12 from Yaakov Perez Golbert.) What other reason would there be for large numbers of Turks, Egyptians, Ukrainians, and British Intelligence agents to be in Israel? How a civil war would weaken Israel, especially in morale. It would destroy the patriotic element. The Army should arrest Sharon and the secret service agents involved in the dirty tricks. SEC. ANAN ON TERRORISM He said that terrorism is an attack on human rights and on the rule of law, and urged a global campaign against it. The right to resist occupation does not justify deliberately attacking civilians. Terrorism is one of the major menaces of the century. He suggested a legal definition for it (there already is a practical definition) the strategy for dealing with it, and no longer letting it continue under the umbrella of protracted negotiations: 1. "Dissuade disaffected groups from choosing terrorism as a tactic to achieve their goals." Terrorists believe that their methods are effective and their people approve of them. 2. "Deny terrorists the means to carry out their attacks;" 3. Deter states from supporting terrorists;" 4. "Develop state capacity to prevent terrorism;" 5. "Defend human rights in the struggle against terrorism." (IMRA, 3/12.) He should reject the rationalizations used by the Arabs to contend that the obviously civilian people they attack are not civilians. SHARON ISRAEL SEEKS SUPPORT IN U.S. FOR ABANDONMENT Israeli officials are delivering speeches at such appeasement-minded US organizations that it once ignored, such as Americans for Peace Now and the Israel Policy Forum. Consular officials also have been urging mainstream US Jewish organizations not to "second-guess" Israel. ZOA, however, pointed out that it is not a part of the government of Israel and its duty is to promote policies it thinks best for the Jewish people. Accordingly, ZOA opposes US aid to the P.A., whereas AIPAC, a tool of the government of Israel, calls this an historic opportunity to be seized by giving such aid (IMRA, 3/12). The government careens from one blunder to another, from Oslo to Map to Abandonment. That managed democracy has its nerve trying to silence Jewish opposition in the name of democracy. The poor Jews of Israel are being abandoned to a looming Holocaust, just as our brethren in Europe were. They don't see it coming. It is imminent, because when Sharon abandons Yesha, and especially if the US cajoles Israel out of the Golan, the Arabs would be able finally to conquer Israel. This time they are in a more murderous mood than in their earlier attempts, after having come to a blacker view of the Jewish people as an alien and evil race. The difference between this second Holocaust and the first one is that this time, the gentiles have succeeded in getting the Jews to bring it about. It would be a double disaster by killing million of Jews and dispossessing the Jewish people so soon after they have recovered their homeland. P.A. FALSE NEWS AGENCY The P.A. news agency claimed that the IDF shot a large number of peaceful demonstrators against confiscation of some land in the P.A. for erection of the security barrier. It did not use those terms. It calls the IDF "Israeli Occupation Forces;" confiscation is " annexation; land purchased in that part of the Jewish homeland are "colonies". "Haaretz" reported that police did not shoot bullets but used tear gas and stun grenades. It said that the demonstrators clashed with police and threw stones at them, wounding one soldier. So much for their "peaceful demonstration" (IMRA, 3/12). The Arabs are among the greatest colonizers in history. They wrested Pakistan from India, N. Africa and most of the Mid East from the Christians and Jews, and are making another bid to take over Europe. 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. To Go To Top

IMAGINE - NOT LIKE JOHN LENNON, AT ALL! I don't want to be sued by Yoko Ono Posted by Batya Medad, April 18, 2005.

A Very Special Musing Imagine if everyone says no It's easy if you try No hell of disengagement No reason to reason to kiss our homes goodbye Imagine all the people Refusing government orders... Imagine if during World War II the Germans would have refused What the Nazis had ordered them to do Hitler would have been jailed And the Six Million would have lived and realized that their home was here... You may say I'm a dreamer But Herzl and the chalutzim* were, too I hope you'll really join us And make this dream come true Imagine no terror It's easier than you think Just refuse to participate In the destruction of our state Better to be jailed Than just hoping... Imagine if all the teachers and civil servants, too and workers of all sorts were jailed by Tzippi Livne for saying what we thought Who would teach the children? Who would sort the mail? Who would drive her to her meetings? Who would cut Sharon's hair? Imagine if more people Would say what they think We could rescue our nation There would be no disengagement You may say I'm a dreamer But it's all up to me and you Because together we have the power To make this dream come true *chalutzim were the early Zionist pioneers who established the kibbutzim and Jewish communities This is Musing #113. 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 To Go To Top

HOW MANY GOOD QUALITIES UNDERLINE U.S.-ISRAEL SPECIAL TIES? Posted by Yoram Ettinger, April 18, 2005.

Enclosed you'll find my own paraphrased version of Daye'noo. Hang Tough, Happy Passover, and may Israel's policy-makers revisit the significance of eating a hard boiled egg during the Seder. Just like the egg (which unlike other food it gets harder the longer it is boiled) so is the Jewish People - the heavier the pressure (by Pharaoh and since) the more defiant and hardened they get, thus enhancing their image in the eyes of the world. If the 17th century Puritans in the Colonies had only respected the Old Testament, but had not been more Talmudic than many American Rabbis, Daye'noo (It would've sufficed); If the Puritans had only been more Talmudic than many American Rabbis, but John Locke - who inspired the Founding Fathers and read Hebrew - had not tried to make the Laws of Moses the law of the land, Daye'noo (It would've sufficed); If John Locke had tried to make the Laws of Moses the law of the land (and enticed Jews to come to So. Carolina, which he co-founded), but Harvard University had not required - during its first hundred years - Hebrew studies in order to get a degree, Daye'noo; If Harvard U had required Hebrew studies, and if Yale U had chosen the High Jewish Priest Seal as its own Seal ("Oorim veToomim" in Hebrew letters), but the authors of the US Constitution had not been invigorated - also - by Moses, Aharon, Joshua and Samuel when highlighting Liberty, Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances, Daye'noo; If the US Founding Fathers had been inspired by the Old Testament, and Jefferson had proposed the parting of the sea as the official Seal of the US, but the Liberty Bell had not been inscribed with Leviticus 25:10 ("Proclaim Liberty upon all its inhabitants thereof"), Daye'noo; If the Liberty Bell had been inscribed with Leviticus 25:10, and Moses and the Ten Commandments had featured at the ceiling of the US Supreme Court, but Lowell Thomas - the radio icon - would not have stated on May 15, 1948: "Americans read the Old Testament as a background for this historical day [Independence of the Jewish State]," Daye'noo; If Lowell Thomas had expressed America's solidarity with the re-birth of the Jewish State, but General Omar Bradley, then Chmn of the Joint C-o-S, had not contended in 1952 that Israel should have a special role in defense of the eastern Mediterranean, Daye'noo; If General Bradley had highlighted Israel's potential strategic contribution to the US, as vindicated by the Six Day War (a USSR nightmare), but Israel had not snatched in 1970 the chestnuts out of the fire for the US (rolling back Syria's invasion of Jordan, which could have engulfed Saudi Arabia, while the US was bogged down in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), Daye'noo; If Israel had snatched the Jordanian chestnuts out of the Syrian fire for the US, and if Israel had been the role-model of countering-terrorism when pulling off the 1976 Entebbe/Jonathan Operation, but had not destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor, Daye'noo; If Israel had destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 - thus facilitating a US conventional option against Iraq in 1991, sparing the US the cost of a nuclear confrontation - but had not introduced over 600 modifications into the latest generation of the F-16 (generating jobs, exports and national security for the US), Daye'noo; If Israel had upgraded multitude of US military systems, but had not been (as suggested by Al Haig) the largest US Aircraft Carrier which can never be sunk and doesn't require a single US serviceman, and had not contributed to the US (as suggested by Senator Inouye) more intelligence than all NATO countries combined, and had not produced for the US (as suggested by Air Force General John Keegan) as much intelligence as five CIAs, Daye'noo; If Israel had been a unique strategic ally, but had not shared with the US vital technologies in the areas of homeland security, commercial, defense and agro Industries (enhancing US competitive edge in the global market), Daye'noo. How unique are the ties between Judeo-Christian USA and the Jewish State, founded upon shared long-term Judeo-Christian values (rather than short-term interests), and upgraded through joint-interests (stability, peace), mutual-threats (Islamic terrorism) and partnership-in-grief (the Columbia Shuttle tragedy)? Ambassador Yoram Ettinger is a consultant on US-Israel relations and former Minister for Congressional Affairs to Israel's Embassy in Washington, DC, He served as Consul General of Israel to the Southwestern US. To Go To Top

DANISH QUEEN SAYS ISLAM POSES GLOBAL THREAT Posted by IsrAlert, April 18, 2005.

This comes from Turks US and is archived at http://www.turks.us/article.php?story=20050416070920253 Denmark's Queen Margrethe II claimed that Islam poses a global threat and urged government to show no tolerance toward the Muslim minority in the north European country, reported the Telegraph on Friday, April 15. "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," the queen said in an official biography published on Thursday, April 14. The queen told her biographer Annelise Bistrup that Islam is posing a major challenge to the whole world which requires taking serious measures to face it. "We are being challenged by Islam these years - globally as well as locally. "It is a challenge we have to take seriously. We have let this issue float about for too long because we are tolerant and lazy." Queen Margrethe, who turns 65 on Saturday, April 16, said the country could have handled "this challenge a bit better, if we had realized what we were up against". The monarch who has ascended the throne since 1972, wields no political power in the north European country but does occasionally give comments on political issues. Extremists Queen Margrethe said she was feeling frightened from Muslim "extremists" who have dedicated their life only for religion, Reuters said. "There is also something frightening about such a totality which is also a part of Islam." She stressed that certain response must be shown "and sometimes one must run the risk of being labeled in a less flattering way. Because there are certain things with which one should not be tolerant." The monarch said there is "something impressive about people for whom religion imbues their existence, from dusk to dawn, from cradle to grave." The Danish government announced last year plans to curb the activities of "radical" religious leaders, a measure seen as specifically targeting imams. The rules oblige religious leaders to be financially self-sufficient, speak Danish and respect Western values or risk being declared persona non grata. Integration The monarch said immigrants in the Nordic country should learn the Danish language in order to easily integrate into society. She maintained "it is wise to make demands on the language. We should not be content with living next to each other. We should rather live together." Many newcomers do not learn Danish and unemployment rates among them is still much higher than among Danes, as are crime rates. Immigrants make up about 8% of Denmark's 5.4 million -- about a third of them come from other EU countries or North America. Among the immigrants is Margrethe's daughter-in-law, the very popular Crown Princess Mary, who is from Australia. But Denmark has cracked down on migration in the past three years and the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party, an ally of the center-right government, has pushed through laws making it harder to bring in foreign spouses or qualify for asylum. Danish Muslims - estimated at 170,000 or around 3 per cent of Denmark's 5.4 million - sounded the alarms that much more restrictive steps would be taken by the government in future. Islam is Denmark's second largest religion after the Lutheran Protestant Church, which is actively followed by four-fifths of the country's population. 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 To Go To Top

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, April 18, 2005.

This essay is from the book jacket of "Broken Covenant" by Ambassador Moshe Arens, 1995. In this no-holds-barred account, Moshe Arens, Israel's former Foreign Minister and Defense Minister, lays bare the harsh realities of U.S.-Israeli relations during the tumultuous period of the Palestinian uprising known as the Intifada and the climactic Persian Gulf War. During those years, diplomatic relations between Jerusalem and Washington plummeted, as President George Bush's administration, (With current American Jewish hero and media darling, Dennis Ross in the lead - jsk) in pursuit of U.S. interests in the Middle East, interfered in Israeli domestic politics, refused Israel vital military intelligence during the Gulf War, and attempted to bring down Israel's democratically elected government. In January, 1989, just weeks before Moshe Arens became Foreign Minister, the U.S. government began a dialogue with Yasser Arafat's infamous terrorist group, the PLO. At the time, the Intifada was in full swing in the occupied territories west of the Jordan River, and Israel's new Likud-led coalition government was eager to begin peace negotiations with the Palestinians, as well as with the surrounding Arab countries that were at war with Israel. Arens charges that the opposition Labor Party, led by Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, was increasingly willing to make concessions to Israel's Arab neighbors that would weaken Israel's national security. Secretary of State James Baker and President Bush circumvented, and ultimately undermined, the legitimate Israeli leadership in Jerusalem by entering into backdoor negotiations with Rabin and Peres, who were willing to accede to Arab demands for PLO representation at the negotiating table. As a direct result Israel's coalition government fell apart in early 1990, and Shamir was forced to form a new government in which Arens became Defense Minister. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, the U.S. began a pattern that would continue throughout the Gulf War, refusing to provide Israel with military intelligence on Iraqi troop movements and missile launcher sites, even as Israel was being attacked. The U.S. gave repeated assurances that they would eliminate the Scud threat to Israel, yet missiles continued to fall within Israel's borders for six weeks. Arens's efforts to deploy Israel's owe military forces were constantly rejected by U.S. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney and other members of the Bush administration In the meantime, while the U.S. raised funds for Arab countries that had been economically weakened by the war, Israel received almost no economic aid. After the war, as Israel's peace effort resumed, Shamir and Arens continued to resist external pressure to make unwarranted concessions to the Arabs. The Bush administration resorted to strong-arm tactics to force its peace - agenda on the Israeli government, delaying a ten-billion-dollar loan guarantee intended to help Israel absorb recently arrived Soviet immigrants until U.S. terms were met. In the end, U.S. manipulation of Israel's internal political situation helped bring down the Shamir-Arens government in the 1992 elections and effectively restored the more conciliatory Labor Party to power. The rejection of Bush's policy toward Israel by American voters committed to the U.S.-Israel alliance contributed to the defeat of Bush in the U.S. elections that followed. Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). To Go To Top

SHARON'S PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE; JORDON VIOLATES PEACE TREATY; JUDICIARY FAVORS ARABS Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 18, 2005.

FOREIGN ARAB VOLUNTEERS JIHADISTS IN IRAQ The Iraqi jihadists published a list of their foreign volunteers killed in battle. Most are Arabs, especially Saudis and Syrians. Syria ought to be concerned about how many Syrian Islamists there are and what military training they are getting, because they may turn their sights on Syria. Some were people of means or educated and with potential. The Saudis came in groups, indicating strong Islamist influence in their circles. The Saudi clergy made statements in support of the insurgency, without Saudi government contradiction. S. Arabia is making a mistake in not following Egypt's lead of imprisoning returned jihadists. Returnees with military experience pose a threat to their own societies. "Particularly striking in the above list is the absence of Egyptians among foreign Arab volunteers for the insurgency in Iraq, even though Egypt is the largest Arab country, with millions of sympathizers of Islamist groups. It is also known that many Egyptians, including professionals among them, arrived in Iraq looking for work, and some of them were taken hostage by insurgent groups. Hundreds of Egyptians also took part in previous Islamist battles in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya. The absence of Egyptians from the list may be explained by a significant decline in the influence of Jihadi groups in Egypt; the harsh oppression of Islamists by the Egyptian authorities; the mass trials of Egyptians who returned from other regions where Islamists staged insurgencies; and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. While the Brotherhood does support the Jihad in Iraq, it advocates a strategy of propaganda only, demanding of its adherents to strictly refrain from physical participation in the Iraqi Jihad." Of the Iraqis, very few are Islamists (IMRA, 3/4/05). PERES MAKES SENSE! Vice-PM Peres pointed out that Syria needs to keep occupying Lebanon because it planted a million workers in that country, from which it earns 20% of its income. He noted that if Syria withdrew, Israel could make a separate peace with Lebanon, because there are no territorial or water conflicts with Lebanon (IMRA, 4/5). He makes sense about the Syrian economy. I haven't noticed him making sensible statements in years, but perhaps that is because his numerous insensate statements get one's attention. There is a water conflict with Lebanon, but I think Peres means that it is fomented by Syria. Whether Israel could make peace with Lebanon depends on Lebanon containing Hizbullah and wanting peace. It would be an uneasy peace, for at any time, Lebanon could backslide. The peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan have not normalized relations with those countries; they pursue other means against Israel. MORE SHARON PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE Israeli TV broadcast a mock news report from the training kit for evacuation troops. It mentions high casualties among people opposed to the abandonment. Why such training? To get the troops used to slaying opponents of national betrayal. Why release the training piece? To cow opposition. The government again is conducting psychological warfare against its own people (IMRA, 3/6). It is a crazy Jewish state that brutally expels loyal Jews from part of the Jewish homeland, and "kindly" leaves disloyal Israeli Arabs or enemy P.A. Arabs in place and indignantly calls the thought of removing them unethical. Leftwing ethics means Jewish deaths, at the hands of those Arabs. ISRAEL EXPLOITS IGNORANCE As we've discussed before, the government of Israel cites the example of the abandonment of Lebanon as a model for the abandonment of Gaza. Deputy PM Olmert declared that there were no attacks from Lebanon, since the IDF withdrew from it. Actually, there has been a terrorist arms buildup at the Lebanese border and dozens of attacks. Those attacks were not publicized in Israel. Apparently, Dep. PM Olmert is counting on the inadequacy of the biased media to get away with false claims. A dissident journalist, David Bedein, brought the attack statistics to Olmert's attention. Olmert walked away, saying he did not want to talk about it (Arutz-7, 3/6). DECEIVING ABOUT DEFENSE, LYING ABOUT SAVINGS "Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has, as part of his 'Disengagement Plan' told to the public, Media and Knesset that great amounts of money will be saved because the military will no longer be needed to protect the Jews of Gaza. Even as he put forward this rationale, Sharon knew that he had to put even more soldiers in a re-deployed position, at great expense and risk." His advisers warned that an unmonitored Gaza would attract terrorists and weapons. "Israel will have to create an impenetrable barrier of men, electronics, armor to prevent well-armed and highly motivated Terrorists from reaching Israel's densely populated coast area." Thanks to his restraint of IDF operations in Gaza, weapons already are flowing into Gaza, in anticipation. Gaza likely would become a base for the Iraqi insurgents, too. The cost just of moving soldiers "from expensive base encampments has not yet surfaced as part of his Voodoo budget." He has failed to initiate counter-measures, lest the real costs prove daunting, and his abandonment plan seen as disastrous. Israel needs to freeze its plans, elect an honest government, and get a true audit (Winston Mid East Analysis, 3/6). The plan has been a web of deception from the start. Gaza would not be "Easier to defend after withdrawal." JORDAN VIOLATES PEACE TREATY The "Jordan Times" states that its country is returning to the terms of the peace treaty with Israel. It denies having violated them. It blames Israel as a violator, for "aggression" against the western Palestinian Arabs. (To the Arabs, Israeli self-defense is aggression.) IMRA notes that the "Times" really is admitting that by not adhering to the treaty, Jordan is not reliable. (What Arab state is?) Jordan is asking Israel to release Jordanian prisoners, regardless of their crimes, as a confidence-building gesture. IMRA asks, what confidence-building gesture is Jordan doing? Why doesn't it remedy its antisemitic curriculum and enforce the treaty against the professional associations' boycott of Israel (IMRA, 3/6). Why does Israel have to gain Jordan's confidence, again, when it is Jordan that is unfaithful? The term, "confidence-building," is just an excuse for demanding unwarranted concessions. 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. To Go To Top

ISRAEL'S BIG GAMBLE Posted by Women in Green, April 18, 2005.

This was written by Cal Thomas. 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. 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 To Go To Top

MANHIGUT UPDATE JUST BEFORE PESACH Posted by Moshe Feiglin, April 18, 2005.

Dear Friends, Shmuel Sackett, co-founder and International Director of Manhigut Yehudit has just arrived in Israel and found UNBEARABLE POVERTY by holy Jews living in Immanuel, the Haredi settlement in the Shomron. There are many Jews who cannot afford to make Pesach this year!! We are talking about buying Matzot and Wine!! This is an EMERGENCY APPEAL and all money - 100% - will be given by Shmuel DIRECTLY to the poor families in Immanuel. Since Pesach is THIS WEEK, there is NO TIME to mail checks. Please click here and donate via our secure server on your credit card. As soon as the donation is made, Shmuel will deliver the money. May this be the LAST YEAR we need to help fellow Jews. Please help as best you can and please respond QUICKLY! With love of Israel, Manhigut Yehudit and Friends of Zo Artzeinu Weekly Update for the 9th of Nissan 5765 (April 18) How ridiculous was Sharon's latest media spin this week in the US. Sharon told the world about the threats to his life and his fears of a civil war. Sharon is in fact the most well-guarded person in the country. The extreme Left and Sharon are deliberately forcing Israel into a civil war. In a real democracy, responsibility for preserving the unity of the nation lies first and foremost with the leadership. In the face of the "enlightened" Israeli despotism, we, the real leadership alternative, must assume responsibility. Those who still don't understand this were given a horrifying reminder this week in the words of the secretary-general of Peace Now, Yariv Openheimer: "We're prepared for a civil war". We shall defend Gush Katif and the State valiantly. We shall not permit the Left, that desires Jewish blood to be shed, to create provocative acts of mutual firing. We shall never bring weapons to the regions of the confrontation. Anyone who does so will be regarded as an agent provocateur and removed from the area. We Have Already Won Last week members of Young Manhigut Yehudit held a Shabbat in the settlement of Itamar. Before Shabbat Moshe Feiglin spoke with the young people, and his major argument was that we have already won in the strategic struggle. Furthermore, precisely because of the illogical, feverish desire to destroy Gush Katif and Northern Shomron, we can see that a narrow social stratum has lost its head after sensing our victory. It senses that it has lost its domination of the country and is being pushed aside by a new leadership layer. The old despotism, just like every dictatorial regime coming to an end, is leaving burnt earth behind it. Obviously we must also win the tactical battle against the disengagement plan, and we believe that with G-d's help we shall do so. However, we must constantly keep the overall picture in mind. We are talking about a desperate rear-guard action being fought by a narrow, alienated social layer. We have to assume responsibility both for winning the current battle and for reaching leadership of the country as rapidly as possible, without G-d forbid being dragged into a civil war. Refusal to Obey Orders Many important activities are taking place with the aim of preventing the disengagement. The first one is, of course, prayer. It is immediately followed by practical activities. The heroes of the period are those who are blocking the roads. These heroes know that they will sustain cruel blows, will be arrested, humiliated, and will encounter an especially anti-Semitic, hostile judicial system. Despite all this there are courageous young people who aren't prepared to ignore the crime of expulsion, and are transferring the problem to the center of the country The blocking of educational institutions this week was an example of creativity. Those who are prepared to cut off Jewish communities from their homes, from their educational institutions, from the roads, phones, water, electricity, etc., will certainly be prepared to experience for a few hours the same feelings in their own neighborhoods. It is reasonable to assume that constantly increasing circles will join these activities, but they still don't embrace the broad public. Until then every responsible citizen is required to find the appropriate niche in which he can participate in the struggle. You can join the regular (legal) protests at the sides of road junctions. Tens of junctions are already being manned at regular times by the National Home group. This is a very effective activity that engages very large Police manpower, thus taking them away from the forces allocated to the disengagement plan. However, the most significant activity, that will in the end decide the issue, is mass civil disobedience. The unique feature of this activity, apart from the tactical problem it creates, is that it represents in fact an alternative referendum. The soldiers are the nation, and if they refuse to obey orders in their masses this means that the nation is opposed to the disengagement plan and the "enlightened" despotism lacks the legitimacy to carry it out. (See Motti Karpel's article: The True Referendum -- Refusal to Obey Orders and Michael Fuah's article: Don't Look For Me at Home). In the final analysis our strength does not lie in our ability to defeat the Establishment. (We have neither the ability nor the wish to do this.) Our strength lies in our ability to negate the legitimacy of the regime to carry out these crimes. Persistence in the struggle, accompanied by widespread disobedience, will with G-d's help lead to this result. In this context Manhigut Yehudit has published the booklet The Magic Button, that explains the obligation to refuse to obey orders, directed at the public that observes Mitzvot. Revava Demonstration at the Temple Mount Manhigut Yehudit supports all positive activities and therefore many of its leaders went to Jerusalem to identify with the activities planned to encourage the opening of the Temple Mount to Jewish Prayers. Michael Fuah, the Director of Manhigut Yehudit was detained for questioning when he attempted to enter the Kotel grounds with his family, to pray. The Meeting in the Beit She'an Likud Branch Last Thursday Moshe Feiglin and Michael Fuah met with members of the Beit She'an Likud branch. The Beit She'an mayor and chairman of the branch, Mr. Jacky Levy, and the deputy mayor, Mr. Rafi Ben Shitrit, were present. The impressive attendance and the excellent atmosphere left the participants with a wonderful feeling. We look forward to continued cooperation and would like to thank the organizers, headed by Eitan Tibe, who set up the meeting. Meeting with the Israeli Institute for Democracy Just before midnight on that same evening a meeting was held in the settlement of Kedumim with members of the Israel Institute for Democracy. In Beit She'an we encountered the real representatives of the nation, who have been pushed aside. A few hours later, in Kedumim, we met with a fringe movement that persists in regarding itself as the real representatives of Israel. Young Manhigut Yehudit Update In recent weeks members of Young Manhigut Yehudit together with the National Home group have commenced protest activities aimed at arousing the struggle. To participate in the activities call 050-8739270 (Israel). After Pesach we shall hold a great rally in Binyanei Ha'uma, Jerusalem and begin stage 2. Details will follow. On Shabbat, parashat Tazriya, a Young Manhigut Yehudit conference was held in Itamar, on the subject of Liberty. The fifth issue of Hamatzpen addresses the subject of Liberty. It presents various viewpoints on the topic. There is also an interview with Minister Natan Sharansky. 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 To Go To Top

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, NOAM CHOMSKY! Posted by Steven Plaut, April 18, 2005.

"How many of those who say they are unreservedly in support of the Khmer revolution would consent to endure one hundredth part of the present sufferings of the Cambodian people?" - Francois Ponchaud, 1977 The Associated Press has a story today about the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia, whose 30 year anniversary is this week. It describes how ordinary Cambodians suffered, and it focuses on the plight of one representative Campbodian, Nai Oeurn: "Thirty years later, after the 'killing fields' and the death of one-sixth of the Cambodian population, his dream has come to this: collecting cow dung for a living, earning 90 cents for a 3-foot-high pile that takes five days to collect." We have a practical suggestion for Nai Oeurn and people like him. Why not file a suit against MIT professor Noam Chomsky? Why Chomsky? Because throughout the years of the Cambodia's "killing fields", throughout the communist genocide committed against Cambodia's people, Noam Chomsky was the unofficial apologist and academic spokesman for the Khmer Rouge regime. Chomsky insisted throughout the genocide that anything uncivil going on in Cambodia was all the fault of American imperialism. Throughout the massacres, Chomsky repeated communist propaganda and simply insisted over and over again that no massacres were taking place and that the countless news stories of such massacres were American disinformation. These statements of the Noam have been carefully cataloged by James Liberty here. Other collections of Chomsky citations can be found here and here and here. Chomsky is the leading "academic" spokesman of anti-Americanism, hatred of Israel, endorsement of terrorism against the US and Israel, and defense of Holocaust Deniers. Chomsky thinks Bin Laden was just trying to pass on to us a message of truth that we needed to hear: "They are telling us just what they think. The United States wants to silence the one free television channel in the Arab world because it's broadcasting a whole range of things from Powell over to Osama bin Laden. So the US is now joining the repressive regimes of the Arab world that try to shut it up. But if you listen to it, if you listen to what bin Laden says, it's worth it. Chomsky is for the Khmer Rouge what David Irving is for the Jewish victims of World War II. So happy anniversary, Noam Chomsky. Have a nice full meal at the expense of the victims of the Khmer Rouge starved to death in countless numbers! Come to think of it, Chomsky long ago joined Nai Oeurn in collecting dung for HIS living as well, -- at the Masschussetts Institute of Technology to boot! (For links, see www.discoverthenetwork.org/moonbatcentral/2005/04/ happy-anniversary-noam-chomsky.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. To Go To Top

ISLAM GETTING SLAMMED FROM ABOVE? Posted by Beth Goodtree, April 18, 2005.

Being fairly non-religious, I believe on alternate days in an actively participating G-d and on the others I believe in A G-d who merely created everything and then took off on a permanent vacation. But I do know enough to recognize a pattern when I see one. And I am seeing a pattern of natural disasters that seemed deliberately aimed at some of the main population centers of Islam. There is a very good website, which I check out twice daily, that lists all earthquakes around the world. It even gives a map for those of us who can't tell latitude from attitude and longitude from long underwear. It's run by the US Geological Survey and can be found here: http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/. There are also several good sites that provide daily updates of natural disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes and the like. I check those out on a daily basis too. I've been doing it since I became computer literate, in 2000. Way back then, I noticed a distribution pattern in the earthquakes. They'd be fairly evenly scattered across the globe, with only occasional concentrations in one area, and then immediately going back to an even distribution across the globe. But recently I noticed a change in this pattern. Now it is said that God does his work on Earth through nature. For example, it is quite possible that the column of smoke by day and fire by night that the escaping Israelites saw after their Exodus was, in fact, the plume from a volcano. This same volcano may also have been responsible for the plagues brought upon the Egyptians due to their slavery of the Jews. We know from recent volcanoes that a huge eruption can cause darkness over the lands for many hundreds of miles. One of the plagues was the plague of darkness. Also, the rivers turned to blood and the fish died. This too could have been caused by an extreme volcanic eruption. Some volcanoes contain iron oxide, which is red. A massive eruption could have caused the fallout of iron oxide in the rivers of Egypt, killing off the fish. Regarding the plague of boils, hundreds of people ended up in hospital emergency rooms with skin sores and rashes after the Mount Saint Helens eruption due to exposure to the acidic fallout ash. This same fallout caused livestock to perish or to be destroyed due illness from prolonged inhalation of the volcanic dust. Of course, the fiery hailstorm to plague Egypt as described in Exodus is a common occurrence when a huge volcano blows. When Mount Saint Helens erupted in 1980, it caused a cloud of pellet-sized volcanic debris to fall like hail. Burning pumice from the sky set fires on the ground, destroying trees and houses. Lightning flashed all over the area, created by the enormous turbulence inside the volcanic cloud. For days volcanic debris fell like hailstones, flattening crops for miles around. This coincides with what is written in the Bible about what happened to Egypt. Exodus 9:23-4: So there was hail, and fire flashing up amidst the hail, very grievous, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 4. And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. In fact, most of the plagues can be attributed to a super eruption. And it just so happens that there was a super eruption at the time of the Exodus. It was on the Greek island of Thera, which is now called Santorini. Santorini is a bay over six miles across that is actually a crater formed by the eruption of Thera. Evidence suggests that sometime around 1500 BC a gigantic volcanic eruption all but destroyed the island of Thera. Judging by the size of the crater - over thirty square miles - the Thera eruption has been estimated to have been over twenty times bigger than the Mount St Helen's eruption. In addition, pumice samples taken from the seafloor show that the wind at the time was blowing towards Egypt. And Egypt is less than 500 miles away -- certainly close enough to be severely effected from such a huge eruption. If something looks like a snake, slithers like a snake, hisses like a snake and downs mice whole like a snake, I'm gonna jump on a table and start screaming, because I know it's a viper. The same goes for acts of God wrought through nature. On the days that I believe God is just a tourist somewhere, having created the world and left it to its own devices I remember the Exodus and Thera. It cannot be a coincidence. And I realize that maybe, at the very least, He phones home once in a while, to right wrongs and do the various things a deity is wont to do. Which brings us back to Islam. Over the past few years, the Muslim world has been ramping up its rhetoric and lies, hatred and acts of violence against Jews in general and Israel in particular. "Mein Kampf" and "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" have become best sellers in the Middle East and the Muslim parts of Asia. Muslims have been accusing Jews from doing everything from using Arab babies to make matzoh to stealing their baby's to harvest their eyes and other organs. And of course, the Muslim world is calling for the destruction of Israel and targeting Jews in utterly bestial acts of genocidal murder, often keeping body parts, dipping their hands in Jewish blood and dancing in wild, joyous abandon. Unfortunately for the Arabs, although they'd like to convince the world differently, the Muslim headquarters, population-wise, is not in Arabia but Asia. Specifically Indonesia, which has the most Muslims in the world in a single country. And Indonesia has been under constant onslaught by nature, perhaps initiated by the Almighty, for months. Even before the tsunami of December 26, 2004, I had noticed an increase of earthquakes in that area. And since the tsunami, the frequency of the earthquakes has been increasing dramatically. On top of that, many of their volcanoes have awakened. And if you look on the USGS map of earthquakes, you will see Indonesia being ringed with tremors. So too are some of the nearby countries, but only in certain areas. If you look at a map and a chart of demographics of these countries, you will see that the areas affected are predominantly Muslim. Makes ya think... Indonesia and these other areas affected by recent earthquakes and volcanoes have been quite antagonistic towards Israel and Jews. Indonesia, for example, is the training headquarters for several Islamist terror groups. It has also been so hateful of Jews that when Israel offered aid after the tsunami, the offer was at first rejected out of hand, then grudgingly accepted, with the admonition that no Jews would be allowed to go to Indonesia to help -- they'd only take Jewish money and goods. However, a few days ago, the Indonesians apparently had recovered enough, partly from Jewish aid flowing in to them, to stage an anti-Israel rally with an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people. For Jews, tis the season of miracles. We recently had the miracle of survival celebrated by Purim and we're coming up on Passover, the miracle of our escape from bondage by the Egyptians. Could we be seeing another miracle in the making? History has shown that any country or government or regime that does not accept the Jewish people will fall. The Romans, the church of the Inquisitors, Stalin's Russia, Hitler, the USSR, all have fallen after they began demonizing the Jews. And the tiny population of Jews survived it all and even thrived, despite their best efforts to exterminate us with overwhelming money, odds and military might. I read recently that the tectonic plate that Indonesia is on has fractured. Could this be the final warning to them to mend their ways regarding Jews and Israel? And could this most recent anti-Israel rally be the straw that will sink their precious country beneath the waves? And if Indonesia goes under the ocean, will all the other Muslims who live to hate Israel and Jews take warning? Or will they say it was a Zionist plot, thereby sealing their own fates? Stay tuned to this channel, when next week we present "Unrepentant Muslims Blame Allah's Wrath on the Jews." Beth Goodtree is a writer specializing in political commentary, Islamism and the Middle East and also writes the occasional science and humor articles. She has a background in advertising and works as a consultant on Islamism and terrorism to a security firm. Contact her at her website: http://goodtree.theraphi.com/ To Go To Top

JUST SAY: "I'M AGAINST DISENGAGEMENT. I DON'T AGREE WITH THE GOVERNMENT." Posted by Batya Medad, April 17, 2005.

No Time To Waste! There's no time to waste, and I'm not even thinking about the Pesach. It's like if the house is on fire and you spend time asking people if you should use the green hose or the blue one. Even without the latest news about "Disengagement II" it was always obvious that after Begin's Sinai withdrawal, AKA the destruction of Yamit, the Oslo Accords, which gave weapons to the Arab terrorists, Bibi's Wye, (http://www.mideastweb.org/mewye.htm) which caused increased deterioration in the security situation and other similar government decisions that we were spiraling towards disaster, G-d forbid! When Menachem Begin shocked us all and announced that he and Egyptian President Anwar Sadaat had made a deal, many of us knew that it would end in tragedy. His rationale, the excuse he gave until he sequestered himself away from the public, was that he was doing it so that Israel could finally have "peace" and to develop the Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, Golan and Gaza (www.israel-mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign%20Relations/Israels%20Foreign%20Relations %20since%201947/1977-1979/200%20Statement%20to%20the%20Knesset%20by %20Prime%20Minister%20Beg). As we all know, instead of guaranteeing Israel peace, Begin's Camp David Accords just opened up a Pandora's Box of terrorism and further withdrawal from our precious Homeland. Begin's successors have each sliced away at Israel's security just adding euphemisms to glossaries in Political Science texts. This "disengagement" doesn't even pretend to bring peace, http://www.middleeastwindow.com/article-print-754.html, http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=66470. Nobody is happy with it including the Arabs http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=4&id=1764. It is probably the most "peculiar" government decision in world history. It makes the World War II European "map changes" look benign in comparison. (See this excellent Time Line showing Europe from the 1918-1946 http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/ww2time.htm#1939.) No other country so voluntarily self-mutilated like Israel has been doing for the past twenty-five years. Now, even before the nightmare has taken place, we're being prepared for the next stage, named "Disengagement II." First denied by Ehud Olmert and then followed by the official statement from the Prime Minister's Office http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/04/official-prime-ministers-statement.html. We all know what that means. The pattern of leaks and denials is eerily familiar. We have to get our heads out of the sand. We have no choice. We have to do something to make sure the suicidal spiral is permanently stopped. A totally new leadership must replace the present establishment. Our country and our people are in danger! Each one of us has a different role to play. On Shabbat there was a guest in Shiloh who spoke to us about the "Panim el Panim" campaign, in which those of us who value Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, have been knocking on doors throughout the cities and towns of Israel just talking to people and listening to them. Those participating report that most Israelis are against "disengagement" and don't agree with the media. I must admit that I haven't joined any of the busloads of my neighbors who have been going to Kiryat Ono to meet the people, the silent majority. Apparently these missions are successful, or the government wouldn't be sending the police to stop the buses http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=80099. Yes, unfortunately, the government is using the police and soldiers to enforce unpopular decisions, the definition of a totalitarian police state. http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=80357 It wasn't that long ago when Israeli politicians, including the Prime Minister, could mingle freely with ordinary citizens. Israelis trusted their leaders and there was a sincere mutual respect and fondness between the politicians and the voters. Since Begin's Camp David and his subsequent withdrawal from public life, there has been a steady deterioration. A politician who fears the public is not doing his job properly; he is going against the will of the people. In a democracy the people should be ruling, and if they are feared by those in "power" and need to be policed, then it isn't a true democracy. Our rapid descent in totalitarianism began with Yitzchak Rabin who belittled the anti-Oslo demonstrators. http://www.afsi.org/OUTPOST/97DEC/dec8.htm http://www.commentarymagazine.com/Summaries/V101I1P25-1.htm. Simultaneously, agent provocateurs, like Avishai Raviv, were given more and more power and worked with the IBA staging "news" that made the anti-Oslo population look violently dangerous. http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2527/listraviv.htm and http://www.freeman.org/m_online/dec97/expose.htm There's so much written about Avishai Raviv's career, he specialized in infiltrating groups of teenagers and university students. We have to rescue Israel from this dictatorship, and I think that the first thing we should all do is to just say: "I'm against disengagement; I don't agree with the government." The more people who say it and write it and publicize it, the more people will have the confidence to admit it. And G-d willing, from these few words, the sea will part, and we will have true freedom to build our country. "Avodim hayinu... v'atoh bnai chorin!" "We were slaves... and now we are free men!" Chag Cherut Sameach! This is Musing #112. 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 To Go To Top

CABINET APPROVES SPECIAL WORK PROCEDURES TO ADVANCE IMPLEMENTING DISENGAGEMENT PLAN Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 17, 2005.

How nicely antiseptic, like businessmen meeting to decide production quotas for the coming year. Some will be reminded of the Wannsee Conference where Heydrich gathered good Germans to decide how to solve the "Final Solution to their Jewish Question". Here too they spoke about how to transfer and contain their Jews. How to make it look good to the world at large. Decisions, voting, all very civilized. Once again those obstinate Jews must be taught discipline and to obey their superiors. Clearly, Sharon's obedient Cabinet are incapable of producing a product - a safe, sane country. Have they built anything approaching the advanced controlled atmosphere of the Gush Katif greenhouses, with innovative organic and insect-free fruits and vegetables? Nevertheless, it is clear who is superior, having risen in the ranks to an appointed political Cabinet post. So, let us remember these 'superior men' who, as others before them, sat in meetings to again solve the "Final Solution to their Jewish Questions". Wasn't it Ahaseurus who asked Haman what shall we do for a man whom the King would honor? Well, you remember how it ended for Haman. This announcement is entitled "Cabinet approves special work procedures to advance implementation of Disengagement Plan" is from the Israel Ministry Of Foreign Affairs April 17, 2005 (Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser). The Cabinet today (Sunday), 17 April 2005, by a majority vote, approved Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's proposal that sets special work procedures for all matters regarding advancing the implementation of the Disengagement Plan. The goal of the decision is to achieve maximum efficiency and to hasten the work procedures regarding both the evacuation of communities in the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria and the provision of various alternative residence solutions. The decision determines that a special ministerial committee chaired by Prime Minister Sharon, and with the participation of Industry, Trade and Employment Minister Ehud Olmert, Vice Premier Shimon Peres, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz, Construction and Housing Minister Yitzhak Herzog, Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz and Environment Minister Shalom Simhon will be authorized to make decisions in all matters regarding Government preparations ahead of the implementation of the Disengagement Plan in the civil sphere, when the committee's decisions are approved by the Cabinet. The decision defines the ministries? directors-general forum, chaired by Prime Minister's Office Director-General Ilan Cohen, as the body that will coordinate and promote the implementation of the Disengagement Plan in the civil sphere. The directors-general forum will consider the feasibility of the establishment of sites designated for community or urban settlement for Gaza Strip and northern Samaria evacuees, and will make recommendations to the aforementioned ministerial committee regarding the implementation of the Disengagement Plan. According to the decision, all ministries participating in the implementation of the Disengagement Plan will appoint a senior employee to be responsible for the ministry's preparations ahead of the implementation of the Disengagement Plan, with the representatives of the various ministries working in full coordination. The decision also defined that, in keeping with the opinion of Attorney-General Meni Mazuz, those instances in which it would be necessary and desirable to make use of the clauses regarding exemption from public tender in the public tender rules regarding contacts requiring special urgency in implementing the Disengagement Plan. Thus, the time needed for contacts between the Government and various suppliers will be significantly shortened. The Israel Lands Administration Council will define those cases in which exemptions from public tender will be awarded regarding land transactions with Gaza Strip and northern Samaria residents. These rules will enable the immediate allocation of lands for the residents' benefit 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). To Go To Top

BEYOND PARADOX: ARE YOU A SQUARE OR A CIRCLE? Posted by IsrAlert, April 17, 2005.

This essay was written by Simon Jacobson of the Meaningful Life Center (www.meaningfullife.com). Years ago I taught an introductory course on Jewish mysticism (also known as Chassidus or Kabbalah) to a class of seniors. In one of the written tests I asked them to describe in their own few words the difference between various entities: the difference between body and soul; between the animal force and Divine force; between material and transcendental needs; between the secular and the sacred; between heaven and earth; between selfishness and selflessness. I was struck by the large number of answers that distinguished between all these categories simply with the words "evil" and "good." The body is bad and the soul is good. The material is bad, and the transcendent is good. 20 out of 30 questions were answered with the one word "good" or "bad." Children think in terms of black and white: Good and bad; sweet and sour; light and dark. Young, undeveloped minds don't yet appreciate the nuances of life; the gray areas; the ambiguous and the ambivalent. There is purity in the innocence of simplicity. And many adults would do well to not lose that enchantment. But life is complex as well. Western thought is often criticized for being linear, especially relative to Eastern thought. Linear defines a very structured and organized way of looking at things. Relentless cause and effect is the heartbeat of phenomena. In Eastern thought reality is seen in an amorphous state; things do not have stark definitions. Linear, logical thinking is limited, and paradox is the closest reflection on the true nature of existence. In truth, to truly appreciate life in its entirety we need to embrace both dimensions into one integrated whole. In modern day physics, for instance, we know now that on the macroscopic level (the world that we perceive and experience with our five senses) grand order and design drives the machine of the universe. Newtonian physics - defining phenomena in terms of the "billiard ball" cause and effect - stands as the dominant way of looking at the world. However, on a microscopic level it has been clearly demonstrated that reality functions very much in an amorphous "state of probability." In the inner world things are not quite defined in the same structured way as in the outer world. Indeed, in Kabbalistic thought there is the cosmic distinction between "circles" (iggulim) and "lines" (yosher). A line is made up of defined points, structured in a clear order of higher and lower. By contrast a circle is one continuous flow, with no top or bottom. All of existence is made up of both lines and circles: The outer world is driven by order and organization - the linear structure, that evolves in an orderly sequence. But beneath the surface, in the "engine room" of the universe, the driving force is "circular" energy. In Kabbala there is even a metaphor of the "square within the circle" and the "circle within the square," because the linear and the circular of existence is intertwined into one seamless whole. Thus we live in a world that is both orderly and paradoxical. As children we may perceive life in black and white terms. As we mature we learn that life is far more nuanced and complex. When asked the question: "How is your life?" a child usually answers "good" or "bad" based on his/her emotions of the moment. An adult (not just a chronological one) would answer: "Some thing are great; some not so great; some so-so; and the bulk is in between, and can go either way." In other words, life is complex. There is no such thing as good without bad, and vice versa. The challenge is to appreciate the flow and ride the waves. The holiday of Passover celebrates the paradox of life - the structure and the unstructured; the defined and the undefined. We don't just remember the exodus but also the exile. We don't just recreate the joy, but also the pain. We drink wine, but also taste bitter herbs. We respect the process - the entire process - from the lowest points to the highest, and we recognize how it replays itself in our lives today. The Passover Seder orbits around the three matzos and the four cups of wine. Matzo is the "food of the impoverished;" wine is the drink of royalty. Eating matzo is symbolic of our humility; wine demonstrates our proud sense of freedom. Are we kings or paupers on Passover night? The answer is both. True humility brings one to true greatness. That is the ultimate truth of life. 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 To Go To Top

JUSTICE: FOR ARABS ONLY? Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, April 17, 2005.

Well, the day has finally arrived. I now find myself in agreement with the Secretary General of the Arab League. Recently, at the end of the Arab League Summit, Amr Mussa declared that peace could not arrive until there was withdrawal from occupied territories, the creation of another state, and the return of refugees. He's basically correct. Except he has a few details mixed up. Native Copts in Egypt - millions of them - had their country overrun by conquering, settling, subjugating, and occupying Arabs. To this day, they never know when the next murder will occur, the next church will be burned down. They have learned that to survive they must consent to the forced Arabization process. Their leaders have even written that for Israel to "get along," it too must consent to a variation of this. Pretty pathetic. Uncle Butros instead of Uncle Tom - but the same breed, if you know what I mean. Just imagine the world-wide outcry if Israel's Jews did this sort of thing to Israeli Arabs. The majority Berber population of North Africa saw its lands overrun as well over the past centuries by conquering, settling, and subjugating Arab hordes creating Arab empires. Imperialism is evidently only nasty when non-Arabs indulge in it. Berbers who dared to insist on keeping their own pre-Arab language and culture have been murdered for trying to do so. A look at any number of websites dealing with Berbers on these subjects will be revealing indeed. In 1968, Ismet Cherif Vanly wrote The Syrian Mein Kampf Against the Kurds. A Kurdish nationalist, he described the murderous and brutal Arabization policies - Syrian settling, conquering, and occupying Arabs - employed against Kurds who predated them in the land by thousands of years. Settling, conquering, and occupying Iraqi Arabs did likewise to Mesopotamia's ancient native Kurds (the Hurrians, Guti, Kassites, and Medes of old), Assyrians, and other non-Arab peoples as well - Jews included. Literally millions of native African Blacks have been butchered, maimed, enslaved, turned into refugees and seen their lands forcibly Arabized. All of this still going on today, and not just in the Sudan. Half of Israel's almost six million Jews originated in the Arab/Muslim world. They too predated the Arabs in many of those lands that they were forced to flee as refugees, leaving far more property and valuables behind than Arabs who fled in the opposite direction after the latter's brethren invaded a reborn Israel in 1948. The famous Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt, was prominent centuries before Jesus. The Jews of Iraq had been in that country at least since the days of the Babylonian Captivity and Nebuchadnezzar. The Jews of Yemen were on the Arabian Peninsula before Muhammad was born, and the latter Prophet of Islam fled Mecca to Medina, a Jewish date palm oasis on that peninsula where the Jews were still prominent when Muhammad sought refuge there during the Hijra. When they would neither convert to his new faith (based largely on their own), nor accept his religio-political leadership, he butchered and enslaved them. Jews also took part in the resistance against the Arab imperial invasions of North Africa in the 7th century C.E. Recorded history, replete with similar instances, is difficult to reconcile with Amr Mussa's demand that the Jewish state submit to the will of the Arab world. A better course for the Middle East might be the following: It's time that the Africans of southern Sudan gain independence from the Arabs who have butchered, subjugated, and enslaved them over the centuries - long before the hypocrites in the United Nations raised so much as a mutter. It's time for thirty million truly stateless people - such as the Kurds - to finally get their own state. They were promised one after World War I but saw it sacrificed at the altar of British petroleum politics and Arab nationalism. An Arab Iraq was pieced together in its stead. Trusting Arabs - whether Shi'a or Sunni - is probably an unwise decision, given the track records of Arabs of any stripe towards these people. With almost two dozen states already - including one carved out of almost 80 percent of the original 1920 borders of "Palestine" and today called Jordan - Arabs now have an American-sponsored roadmap to help create yet another for themselves. Yet even as they demand justice for Arabs, they seem deaf, dumb, and blind to the plight of the Kurds. It's time for the subjugation of North Africa's huge Berber populations to come to an end and for those folks to be able to decide if they want to remain forcibly tied to Arabs or not. If not, then why should they not get territory to create a Berber State if Arabs can get to have yet a second one carved out for themselves in "Palestine?" You see, Mr. Musa, justice should not be exclusively for Arabs. Unfortunately, for the Copts, not too much to offer here...So many more will become refugees. And the above Arabs' victims' list is by no means complete. Just ask native Christian, Semitic but pre-Arab Lebanese - as just one other example. The hypocrisy of the conquering, racist, and subjugating Arab League is nauseating enough. That the latter, however, is widely supported in its demands on Israel by much of the rest of the world should be appalling to anyone with any notion of fair play. Despite all of the international pressure on it to consent to becoming a reincarnated 1938 Czechoslovakia, ready to sacrifice itself for another "peace for all time," Israel must now muster the strength to do what it must do. The only appropriate response of Israel to all of this should be to counter offer the Arab League peace for peace. Israel must not consent to slowly being eroded via the Arabs' openly admitted "Trojan Horse" destruction in stages plans. And it must free itself from the belief that it must allow Arabs to determine the rules of the road if widespread violence erupts again. Abbas' folks have said that they would support quiet only as long as Israel continues to cave in to all of their demands. And they're the "moderates." Millions upon millions of non-Arabs became refugees because of the Arabs. Many of these people fled to America, Great Britain, Germany, and elsewhere. They're not returning to those "Arab" lands. Likewise, Arabs will have to take care of their own refugees, created in a war that they started and far fewer in number. The occupied territories Amr Musa mostly speaks of are disputed lands. They are not purely "Arab." Jews had as many, or more rights to be on those lands as Arabs had. Much has been written about this, including UN Resolution 242, and leading experts such as Eugene Rostow, William O'Brien, Arthur Goldberg, Lord Caradon, and others have been quite vocal on these matters as well. Jews have a word describing demands such as those made by Amr Musa. It's called chutzpah. Israel must have leaders who will respond to such so-called Arab prerequisites for "peace" by telling them where to stuff them. 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. This article appeared in www.FrontPageMagazine.com, April 14, 2005. To Go To Top

IDF PREDICTS: WAR AFTER GAZA PULLOUT Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, April 17, 2005.

This was a news item in today's Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com). The Palestinian terror onslaught offensive is expected to resume in September, prompting the IDF's re-capture of cities in Judea and Samaria in the fall, and a re-entry to Gaza by early next year. The IDF has given the code-name "Rainy Day" to the period following the disengagement/expulsion, which is scheduled to begin July 20 and end sometime in August. This name was chosen "not only because of the autumn winds soon to blow," writes military correspondent Haggai Huberman in HaTzofeh, "but also because of the military scenario foreseen by the army. "The army is calling it a 'security escalation' - in other words, a renewal of war with the Palestinians." The violence is expected to reach such levels, Huberman writes, that "the IDF will be forced to re-take the cities of Judea and Samaria" that were recently given over to the security control of the Palestinian Authority. Jericho and Tul Karem were recently given over, but the handover of Kalkilye to the PA has been held up because the PA refuses to collect the weapons of wanted terrorists. "The mind-boggling thing," Huberman continues, "is that the State of Israel is advancing, knowingly and with its eyes open, towards this death trap. The Yom Kippur War of October 1973 was a surprise, but the war of October 2005 is totally known in advance. Senior IDF officers say it in closed sessions in the clearest manner possible to everyone, including the media. The Prime Minister and the Defense Minister, pushing with all their might for the uprooting [of the Jews in Gaza and northern Shomron], also know it. This scenario is shown on slides that the senior officers show the diplomatic echelons, the government, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and all others who have to know." Haaretz defense affairs expert Amir Oren agrees. "In and around the IDF," Oren writes today, "the assessments are mixed as to how well the security forces will overcome the [Jewish] opponents of the evacuation... But there is no disagreement about what can be expected after the summer: The prediction is that by next January to March, after Palestinian terror has increased and become more sophisticated, the IDF will return to Gaza - this time without the police." HaTzofeh's Huberman adds that even if a diplomatic agreement appears to be in the making, terrorism will still be renewed - but on a "more moderate" level. "These, then, are the two only post-expulsion possibilities the IDF is preparing for," he writes: "If there is an agreement, there will be terrorism, and if there is no agreement, there will be an escalation, i.e., war." Arms-smuggling from Egypt into Gaza, and from there to Judea and Samaria, or along the Egypt-Negev-Judea route, continues to increase. Standardized powerful dynamite, which has not been seen in Judea and Samaria since Operation Defensive Shield almost three years ago, is among the materials the terrorists are trying to smuggle in. IDF officials consider this the main threat against Israel today, as it will mean roadside bombs along major highways in the Israeli heartland. In the 15 weeks of the year 2005, the army reports that 1,000 rifles have been smuggled from Sinai into Gaza and the Negev. Dozens of RPG mortar launchers, 150 pistols and tens of thousands of bullets have found their way into Israel since the beginning of the year. Some 600 rifles were smuggled in over the past month alone. It is suspected as well that five anti-aircraft shoulder missiles were smuggled in via one of the tunnels into Gaza. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org To Go To Top

NEW LAWS REQUIRED Posted by Marlene Young, April 17, 2005.

Israeli Knesset members and other remnants of the Israeli government who still remain loyal to the Platform they were elected on, and their Jewish and Zionist ideals and values MUST unite and: Pass a law making it ILLEGAL for the Israeli government to EXPEL JEWS en masse from their homes and to take possession of said homes, anywhere in Israel, including Gaza, Shomron and Judea. Pass a law making it ILLEGAL for the Israeli government to take possession of a Jewish-owned home or community and to transfer said Jewish home or community to Arabs or to a foreign entity such as the WORLD BANK. Pass a law making it ILLEGAL for any Cabinet member of the Israeli government, including the Defense Minister, to train and form Special Paramilitary Units to act solely against Israeli Citizens to expel Israeli Citizens from their homes, to destroy or move synagogues, or to destroy or move Jewish graveyards. Pass a law making it ILLEGAL to use the Israeli military to carry out political objectives of its leaders and/or foreign leaders including the USA and EU; and requiring the Israeli government to use its Military exclusively for PROTECTING AND DEFENDING AGAINST ANY THREAT TO the Jewish [and Arab] Citizens of the State of Israel: in protection of their lives, security, their property, civil rights, religious freedoms and liberty. Only once these laws are passed can Israel continue to thrive and grow and prosper, without the continued malignant threat of Palestinian Arab Genocidal terror and allied Radical Left undermining of Israel's status as a Jewish State, and security interests. Marlene Young is vice-president of TODA - Torah Organization for Disability Access, as well as an advocate for Israel. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. To Go To Top

MAALEH ADUMIM BLURS BUSH'S BLUEPRINT Posted by David Singer, April 17, 2005.

Israel is indeed truly unique. It is constantly singled out for special treatment that no other country would accept or tolerate. Take the case of Maaleh Adumim, which is situated in the West Bank (called Judea until 1950, as those who followed Pope John's funeral service were reminded). The West Bank is an area of land just 5860 square kilometres in size - about the size of Delaware. President Bush calls Maaleh Adumim a "settlement", a code word indicating that Jews are not welcome residents in any part of this territory where neither Jews nor Arabs have yet established the internationally recognised right to be its sovereign ruler. In fact Maaleh Adumim is a thriving metropolis of 32000 people, containing 9 schools, 39 kindergartens, 7 medical centres and two family centres. There is no hospital, but 5 major hospitals are located just 7 kilometres up the road in Jerusalem. President Bush reminded Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during their recent meeting at the President's Crawford Ranch that under the Road Map Israel had to refrain from any new settlement activity. The President was particularly concerned that Israel was planning to build another 3500 housing units in the Maale Adumim "settlement". Has a city of 32000 people ever been told they must refrain from having children, getting married or enjoying family reunification? President Bush is worried that the fundamental basic human rights of 32000 Jews to copulate and populate might cut off Palestinian access to East Jerusalem frustrating his two State vision of Israel and a Palestinian democratic State living side by side. The President really needs to exercise tunnel vision to overcome this basic moral flaw in his plan to succeed where others have so dismally failed. The Palestinians have proved themselves very adept at building tunnels through which they have smuggled all kinds of weapons and explosives in their unremitting terrorist campaign against their Jewish neighbours. No doubt a system of tunnels could be constructed and used for peaceful purposes to allow any such access under or around Maaleh Adumim. The President is supposedly said to have given Mr. Sharon a commitment that Israel would be able to hold on to "major population centres" such as Maaleh Adumim. Why doesn't he have the guts to come out and publicly say so right now rather than try to put a hold on the lives and hopes of 32000 people and create false expectations for the Palestinians whose cause he apparently is championing? Maaleh Adumim just happens to be located in an area slated for the reconstitution and establishment of the Jewish National Home by "close settlement on the land, including State lands and waste lands not required for public purposes" as was proclaimed by the League of Nations Mandate, which still is alive and operative today by virtue of Article 80 of the United Nations Charter. President Bush's moral and legal blindness also extends to his three partners in the Road Map - the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - none of which cares a hoot what history, the United Nations Charter or international law says or prescribes. We see how absurd this Road Map really has become when the President of the world's only superpower backed up by his three powerful enforcers has to tell 32000 people that they have to live and behave in ways that would not be acceptable in any other part of the World. Intent on creating a second Arab State in Palestine in addition to Jordan, which already occupies almost 80% of the former Mandated Territory, the President seems to have lost the plot and appears to be totally lacking in conceiving any sort of creative resolution to what could be easily overcome with a little imagination. Underground railways and road tunnels are a part of every modern society. What is the problem doing the same thing in the West Bank and Gaza? Neither Jews nor Arabs need become the scapegoats for each other's continued residence in the areas claimed by them. Contiguity can be achieved just as easily underground as at ground level. Whilst the idea is promulgated that Jews will not be allowed to live where they currently do in accordance with international law, the failure of the Road Map will be assured. One President's vision is surely 32000 other peoples' nightmare. If the President doesn't wake up soon and review this irrational racist and discriminatory policy, it will also turn out to be the worst nightmare for millions of other Jews and Arabs in the region as well. 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 To Go To Top

PRETTY MAN Posted by Women in Green, April 17, 2005.

This was written by Sarah Honig and appeared in the Jerusalem Post april 15, 2005. There was Richard Gere in Jerusalem, still every bit - white coiffure notwithstanding - the Hollywood hunk of his younger years, with amazing facial bone structure, a boyish, toothy grin and an adolescent knack for spouting superficial slogans about mutual understanding, international cooperation and nonviolence. How cute! Mind you, charmers like Gere charm their way into high places and can impose on the schedules of elder statesmen and self-professed deep-thinkers like our own ever-sprightly Shimon Peres. Chummily the twosome chatted before the cameras, sharing chic cliches of brotherly love, saccharine righteousness and, never to forget, the "New Middle East." Then someone asked Peres which Gere movies he'd seen. My Fair Lady, the deputy PM chimed instantly. Common wisdom has it that he meant to say Pretty Woman. In any case, with greater things - like global harmony - at stake, Gere seemed unoffended. The pretty man displayed equal magnanimity in Ramallah, when he posed for other cameras with Mahmoud Abbas, that noted humanitarian who engineered a few terror atrocities, denied the Holocaust and now purports to promote peace. The next day the PA daily Al-Ayyam captioned the photo: "President Abbas with the British ambassador." But Tinseltown's suave schlemazel persevered. Lesser egos might be bruised, but Gere's ego is bigger than that. This captivating crusader for justice has taken it upon himself to raise us benighted natives to his standards of boundless goodwill. He brings with him profound erudition, experience and insight about the plight of our pitiable region, enabling him to offer the ultimate catchy, kitchy cure to all that afflicts us. We're not the first he's tried to uplift and/or reform. The tribulations of Tibetan refugees in Nepal touched him back in 1978 and he spared no effort to demonstrate how compassionately he commiserated and empathized. In the Eighties Gere zeroed in on Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador. He brought crayons to displaced peasants to help them illustrate their traumas. "If I can feel the pain of another person, it's the same as my pain," Buddhist dabbler Gere pontificated in a recent interview with the Survival International organization's bulletin. "When they're hungry, I can relate it to the times I've been hungry" - in all likelihood when dieting. In the same interview, though, he also listed the bad guys who harm tribal and indigenous folk. "The US," he intoned reprovingly, "is providing expertise for this kind of horror and human rights abuse. And if it isn't the US, it's Argentina, Britain or the Israelis." THERE YOU are. We plainly aren't worthy of his sympathy. The yet-vulnerable remnant of the world's most persecuted people is chided for not facilitating shallow sanctimony by committing altruistic suicide (just as nonviolence guru Gandhi proposed on the eve of the Holocaust, thereafter condemning Jewish victims and survivors for failing to nobly self-destruct). Yet Arab Nazi-torchbearers, whose bestseller list is topped by Mein Kampf and the Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion, are portrayed as downtrodden underdogs. They mocked Gere's presumption last January, when he broadcast a TV commercial urging them to participate in their then upcoming elections. Sure of the moral sanction of his celebrity, he cheerfully announced: "Hi, I'm Richard Gere and I'm speaking for the entire world. We're with you during this election time. It's really important. Get out and vote." Our circumstances here are far more complex than populist purveyors of fantasy and professional utopians like Gere can comprehend. Our travails are nothing like he imagines when seeking to shower us with the benefit of his infinite smarts. There's no panacea in the synthetic salvation proffered by stylized icons of spiritual virtue. It's charitable of Gere and his fellow glitterati to try to spark up our drab existence with their electrifying visits, but announcing the dawning of a new era of accommodation and informing us of suddenly improved opportunities for coexistence isn't enlightening. It's blinding our eyes to the dangerous reality that lurks behind deceptive declarations and counterfeit cease-fires. It's whitewashing corrosive hate and making believe that embellishing the hideous will change it. Pacifists toyed with the masses' minds precisely thus in the 1930s, creating the climate for appeasement and emboldening Hitler. Then, as now, delectably simplistic solutions did incalculably more damage than good. Why should any Hollywood ham assume that his fame equips him with a license to butt in, and that we're all bound to bow before his own inordinate esteem of his intellectual and ethical stature? If Gere's script for our future bombs, only we will pay. He won't stick around to face the grisly consequences. He'll have found other fashionable causes and leisure-time larks. It'll be no skin off his perfect nose. The peace he peddles is, alas, as real as the British ambassador's stirring performance in My Fair Lady. 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 To Go To Top

FOOLANI Posted by Steven Plaut, April 17, 2005.

This appeared on www.discoverthenetwork.org/moonbatcentral/2005/04/foolani.html "Dr." Lenora B. Fulani is an Afrofascist moonbat who - for reasons we cannot explain - is a high-profile political ally of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City. Fulani is a groupie of the Rev Al and of Louis "Calypso Lou" Farrakhan and routinely turns out North-Korean-sounding sycophant pieces about these two dear leaders. Fuulani was one of the people marching famously with Rev Al and supporting his position in the infamous Tawana Brawley hoax. Fulani is very closely connected with a mega-moonbat mentor Fred Newman, who claims to be a psychotherapist, and was closely associated with Lyndon LaRouche. [Newman's "social therapy" group sessions link emotional problems to social problems and seek to "deprogram" clients and then direct them to work for Marxist-influenced political agendas.] Fulani's "doctorate" is from Newman's New York Institute for Social Therapy. Fulani ran for President in 1988 as a member of the New Alliance Party, which Newman founded. When Fulani ran for New York Governor in 1990 and for President in 1992, she was endorsed by Farrakhan, but never managed to break that tough glass barrier of 1/5 of 1% of the popular vote. She and her guru Newman have both been repeatedly denounced as anti-Semites by the Anti-Defamation League, due in part to their producing a Jew-bashing play that told a distorted version of the Crown Heights violence in 1991. The Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith published a 'research report' called "The New Alliance Party: A Study in Deception." It begins by describing NAP as "(p)art Marxist sect, part therapy cult... and includes a section headed "More Hostility Toward Israel and Jews." Not coincidentally, it is included in the FBI's files on the New Alliance Party. NAP received its first official mention in an ADL report in 1987. Titled "Still a Scapegoat: Israel and Zionism in the Mind of the Radical Left," the report described Comrade Newman, the chief strategist of the New Alliance Party, as a "self-hating Jew." Fulani and Newman both love to rant about the "Zionist lobby" and are obsessed with imaginary Jewish cabals. A few days ago, Fulani started a new controvery when was asked and refused to disavow comments attributed to her in the late 1980's saying that Jews "had to sell their souls to acquire Israel" and had to "function as mass murderers of people of color" to keep it. Asked about the comments on NY1 News on Wednesday night, Fulani, tday a high-profile official with the Independence Party, said, "What is anti-Semitic about it? It's raising issues that I think need to be explored." Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Dr. Fulani's remarks undercut arguments that she has matured since her earlier, more incendiary days. She was praising Yassir Arafat's terrorism long before Arafat started pretending to be participating in any "peace process." When Mayor Bloomberg was asked at his regular press briefing yesterday morning whether her stand was anti-Semitic, he initially said he could not hear the question. Then he said, "I don't know what she's referring to so you'll have to ask her." Aides later said the mayor had not been briefed on Dr. Fulani's remarks before the encounter with the press. This is the same woman who charged - just three months after the events - that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were "the result of how America has positioned itself in the world." The NY Post pretty much summed things up the best: "It's time for New York's political establishment - led by Mayor Bloomberg - to sever all ties to the anti-Semitic hatemonger Lenora Fulani." 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. To Go To Top

JORDANIAN ANNEXATION? Posted by Yaacov Ben-Yehudah, April 17, 2005.

This is a DEBKAfile Exclusive Report, entitled "Jordan's Not-So Far-fetched Scenario for West Bank" and archived at http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1015 April 16, 2005, 11:33 AM (GMT+02:00)King Abdullah II is deeply preoccupied in restructuring governance in his realm according to a self-designed pattern of democracy. This revolutionary process is going forward quietly step by step. This month, he appointed a new government shorn of policy-making authority in the fields of foreign affairs, defense and home security, prerogatives that will pass to the royal court. Furthermore, he is acting to decentralize parliament in Amman. But along with these radical reforms, the Jordanian king's peripheral sight is fixed on his western neighbor. He has not missed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's descent deeper day by day into the morass of disorder and revolt. Last Tuesday, April 11, US president George W. Bush and Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon debated the chances of propping Abbas' rule up against collapse. Next Thursday, two senior American officials, deputy head of the national security council Elliott Abrams and head of the State Department's Middle East desk David Walsh, will be visiting Jerusalem and Ramallah to try and determine its feasibility. But according to our Amman sources, Abdullah thinks the Palestinian Authority under Abu Mazen is sinking rapidly and may be beyond saving. What interests him most is the July 17 Palestinian election and its potential impact on stability in his kingdom given his large Palestinian population. Hamas' prospects of sweeping the election improve as Abbas weakens. Of one thing Abdullah is certain: he cannot afford a Hamas takeover of Palestinian government in the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian Hamas terrorist group is not isolated or autonomous; it is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, a worldwide jihadist movement whjch is strongest in the Arab world. A Brotherhood-dominated government in Ramallah would point a knife at the Hashemite throne in Amman. Abdullah is therefore turning over the possibility of Jordan moving in to fill the power vacuum that would be formed on the West Bank by Abu Mazen's downfall. Last week, the Jordanian ruler set up a new body called the Commission for Determining Jordan's National Agenda. Its eight sub-committees were entrusted with drafting new laws for the redistribution of legislative authority among provincial parliaments still to be created. DEBKAfile's Amman sources reveal that the king has decided on three provincial parliaments for Irbid in the north, Salt in the center and Kerak in the south. Each will elect a government to administer the province. A royal decree will cut down the central parliament in Amman from 110 to 80 seats. Two more royal reforms are of critical importance. 1. He has adopted the Ottoman Empire's term wilaya for the new provinces. DEBKAfile's experts note that the historical term pertained to large territories, often whole countries. All biblical Palestine was one; Iraq, two. 2. The new cabinet headed by Adnan Badran that was sworn in April 7 has one third more Palestinian ministers than the former Fayez government. However, the only post with real authority was awarded the Palestinian-Jordanian economist Basem Abdallah, whose job it is to reform the economy. The Bedouin tribes of the south and their 34 deputies in the national assembly are protesting bitterly over the increment in jobs for the Palestinians at their expense. The king has not taken them into his confidence about his plans to empty many of the government's functions of content and share out legislative powers among provinces. He wants to see the process in place before it is unveiled. As for the West Bank, the Jordanian king would not be surprised if a breakdown of the Abbas government in Ramallah produced an invitation from Washington, pro-Jordanian elements among the Palestinians - and even possibly Israel, for him to step in and sort out the mayhem in the West Bank. Such an invitation might lead to consideration of a plan to make the territory the Jordanian kingdom's fourth wilaya. The Palestinian Authority already has a muqataa - the Ottoman Empire's term for a governing administration under the Sultan. It would retain broad powers in such local fields of operation as employment, education, and general services to the population, while West Bank representatives would be integrated in the Palestinian faction of the disempowered central parliament in Amman. Abdullah's aides are seeking to muster a majority of royalist supporters for the three Jordanian provincial governments. The headhunt is led by Jordan's elder statesman Zeid al-Rifai, many times prime minister in Amman, his son, Samir Rifai, one of the king's closest advisers, and the speaker of parliament, Abd al Hadi Majali. DEBKAfile's Washington sources have no doubt that the king discussed his West Bank concept with Bush during their White House talks in March. Neither gave the game away in their public appearances later. The president only praised "His Majesty's" steps for democracy in general terms, making no commitments. He may have set Abdullah's suggestion aside as a possible Plan B for consideration if the Palestinian Authority crisis becomes terminal. Our American sources are certain Sharon was clued in on the Jordanian option when he visited the presidential ranch in Texas last week. Whatever becomes of this as yet unformed notion, a Jordanian-Palestinian province on the West Bank might open up some fresh thinking on ways of keeping some Jewish settlement blocs in situ - if not under full Israeli sovereignty then at least under Israeli administration - under give-and-take accord Contact Yaacov Ben-Yehudah by email at benyehudah5764@yahoo.com To Go To Top

BUSH VERSUS DEMOCRACY Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 17, 2005.

This article was written by Caroline Glick and it appeared in the Jerusalem Post April 15, 2005. As irony would have it, democracy is now the biggest threat facing the so-called peace process between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. This we have learned from the press reports and media spins that preceded and followed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's photogenic visit to US President George W. Bush's ranch in Texas this week. Both the Americans and the Israelis are concerned, deeply concerned that is, by the specter of the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council that are scheduled to take place on July 17, just a few days before Sharon's planned expulsion of all Jews from their homes, farms, businesses, synagogues and graves in Gaza and northern Samaria. According to the polls, Hamas, which won some 70 percent of the seats in the recent municipal elections in Gaza, will do quite well in these elections - winning at least a third of the legislative seats. Fatah sources acknowledge that, if anything, the polls have severely underestimated Hamas's support base. They believe that if the elections are held on schedule, Hamas will win a majority of seats in the PLC. Recent weeks have brought on a steady drumbeat of statements by top IDF officials and Palestinian sources that Fatah is planning a major terror offensive in June in a bid either to force a postponement of the elections or to increase public support for PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas's party ahead of the poll. Senior Fatah officials told The Jerusalem Post last Saturday that they wished to postpone the July elections in order to prevent a Hamas takeover, and the Israeli government, like the Bush Administration, was praying for their success. The thing is, both the US and Israel are largely responsible for the current political realities in the PA - where not only are all major political parties also terrorist organizations, but the relative popularity of each party is directly proportional to the volume of terror attacks it has carried out. It was the Bush Administration that first lumped the January 9 elections for PA chairman together with the January 30 general elections in Iraq for a transitional constitutional assembly, as well as with last month's anti-Syrian demonstrations in Lebanon as evidence of a wave of democratization in the Middle East. This conflation of these events has made it difficult for the general public to understand just how different the situation in the PA is from that of Iraq and Lebanon. As events in the latter two advance the goals of the global war on terrorism, the events in the PA work to its detriment. In Iraq, the electorate was given the chance to choose its leaders freely, with its former dictator Saddam Hussein in jail and his Ba'ath party defanged, delegitimized and barred from competing in the elections. Not only were Iraqis empowered to speak out freely against the former regime, they have also bravely exposed the roles played by the former regime's allies - the UN, Jordan, Syria and Iran - in prolonging Saddam's grip on power and in fueling the insurgency in the aftermath of his fall. So, not only was the Iraqi dictatorship destroyed before the Iraqis went to vote, the international and regional systems that were allied with the dictatorial regime and allowed it to continue to rule were also delegitimized in the eyes of the Iraqis. In Lebanon, where the fate of democracy remains much more unclear, last month's mass protests against the Damascus-backed Lebanese government and the effective Syrian occupation of Lebanon were not simply a result of domestic frustration with the status quo. The Lebanese would never have taken to the streets if former prime minister Rafik Hariri's assassination had been greeted with a yawn by Paris and Washington. The protesters were responding to what they sensed to be a change in the momentum of events, and this is what allowed them to express their political desires in public. For the first time in years, it seemed that the Syrian mukhabarat and Hizbullah terrorists were on the losing side, and so they were suddenly fair game. The situation in the PA couldn't be more different. Abbas ran for office as Arafat's heir apparent, pre-anointed by the White House. Neither Fatah chief and imprisoned mass murderer Marwan Barghouti nor Hamas challenged him. The other candidates were pro forma - lacking funds and access to the media (both controlled by Abbas) that were necessary to raise any sort of challenge to Arafat's deputy of more than 40 years. And yet, despite the open field, Abbas's campaign was marked by vote fraud and voter intimidation. Its endemic corruption - which included keeping polls open an extra three hours and busing PA militiamen from poll to poll to vote multiple times - was overshadowed only by Abbas's embrace of master terrorists and attacks on the "Zionist entity" to prove his bona fides as Palestinian leader. The Palestinian election experience, then, is in no way similar to the Iraqi elections or to the Lebanese anti-Syrian protest movement. Whereas in both Iraq and Lebanon, terrorists such as Hizbullah, and terrorist-supporting regimes like Jordan and Syria and Iran, are seen as part of the problem, among the Palestinians the opposite is the case. The overwhelming majority of Palestinians believes that it was terrorism that forced Sharon to move to withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza and northern Samaria, expel all Jewish residents and declare a cessation of offensive operations against terrorists throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The terrorists themselves have been promised protection from the PA regime, which has put out the red carpet and the gravy train to make them feel welcome in the "newly reformed" PA militias, rather than keeping its word to Israel and the US by casting them out of its ranks and imprisoning them for murder. At the Bush-Sharon press briefing on Monday, we saw which way the wind will be blowing in the coming months and years. For his part, Bush refused to countenance the notion that the PA's current lack of action against terrorism (that is, active protection and support of terrorists) might hold up further Israeli concessions. He explained that his native optimism makes it impossible for him to believe that things will be bad and so he can't foresee a situation in which events warrant putting off further Israeli land giveaways to the PA. The only clear position Bush adopted during his appearance with Sharon was that he sees the expulsion of Jews from Gaza and northern Samaria as a mere first step. If this hadn't been the case, he would not have said - three times - that Israel mustn't build in the rest of its communities in Judea and Samaria, even those that Sharon insists Bush has slated for inclusion in the envisioned shrunken, post-roadmap Israel. Sharon, with no way to hide the fact that for the past year he has been lying to the Israeli public by claiming that in exchange for the destruction of the Jewish presence in Gaza and northern Samaria he received American support for expanding the Jewish communities in the rest of Judea and Samaria, has simply changed the subject. He has changed the subject by changing the enemy. It is not the Palestinians who worry him anymore, but the Jews. It's the Jews - and in particular his political supporters turned opponents who two years ago elected him on the basis of his declared opposition to precisely the unilateral giveaway plan he is now forcing them to swallow - who are the greatest danger. In an exclusive interview with NBC TV, which set the tone for his entire visit, Sharon said that Israel "looks like on the eve of a civil war." He then went on to say, "All my life I was defending [the] life of Jews. Now, for [the] first time, security steps are taken to protect me from Jews." The sheer obscenity of this statement by Sharon, made at the same time that the people he is set to expel from their homes were being attacked by Palestinian mortars that Sharon ordered the IDF to do nothing about, is made all the more clear when one looks at a statement he himself made 10 years ago. Speaking to Kfar Chabad's local newspaper in 1995 of the press accusations at the time that opponents of the so-called peace process were inciting civil war, Sharon said, "Look what happened in Stalinist Russia, for example. In the mid-1930s, the Soviet authorities disseminated stories that there was a plan to assassinate Stalin. They were used as a justification for destroying the high command of the Red Army as well as the Jewish writers and the Jewish doctors. This is exactly what the Rabin government is doing now in Israel Have we gotten to such Stalinist Bolshevism? Where are they leading with the blood libels they are putting out? To the abandonment of the settlers in Judea, Samaria and Gaza and maybe to a civil war. We have to shout out the warning: Tyrants at the gate." So there we have it: Not only has US policy of safeguarding the PA while insisting on further Israeli land concessions to the PA made terrorism the choice of the Palestinian electorate, but Ariel Sharon's decision to go along with the US has made him chart a policy course that leads, as he stated so well a decade ago, to grave dangers to Israeli democracy. Minister Natan Sharansky has explained that the true test of democracy is not the test of elections, but the "town square test" - whether an individual can stand in the middle of the town square and freely express his unpopular political opinion without fear of punishment. By this measure, the PA is not now and has never been a democracy. And the only change in democracy witnessed by Holy Land residents in the last year has been the increased danger to Israelis who have taken to the town squares to voice their opposition to Sharon's alarming new policies. Is the Middle East democratizing? Certainly not in our neck of the woods. 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). To Go To Top

PM SHARON TO JEWISH LEADERS: US-ISRAEL RELATIONS NEVER BETTER Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 16, 2005.

Why is it that our self-anointed Jewish leaders accept Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's statements without any deep questions or objections? Every statement that Sharon has made ranges between outright lies or clever manipulations of the truth. Even before his 'idea' of "Disengagement" pushed by President Bush (denials notwithstanding), there have been major attacks by Arab Muslim Terrorists (not militants, guerillas or freedom fighters). But, the current Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) has been of NO assistance, has asserted NO control over the Terrorists (even from his own Al Aksa Martyrs' Brigade organization) and says he will make NO arrests nor will he confiscate ANY weapons. That is the first obligation in order for him to be in compliance with the Bush "Road Map". But, there are two Road Maps. One has been designated by Bush for Israel to follow. The other is for the Arab Muslim Palestinians which does not require compliance. The main question which James Tisch and Malcolm Hoenlein avoided asking is: Exactly what does Sharon expect for his 'ethnic cleansing' of the Jews from Gush Katif? We already know that a renewal of "Intifada" 3 is highly probable - as reported by Israel's General Staff. Why are Jewish leaders so obviously pathetically gullible when they are addressed by an Israel Prime Minister? The 1993 Oslo Accords were similarly accepted on a "Trust Me" basis of PM Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. Americans seem to think that if they read it in the New York Times or hear a speech or 'personal briefing' by an Israeli Prime Minister Sharon or by Shimon Peres, everything is acceptable. When Sharon bleats that his decision to evacuate Jew is painful to him personally - who cares? Besides, if you really know Sharon personally, he has little concept of personal pain other than saying so. Who said that the "Road Map" is beneficial to Israel, aside from these self-serving (by Bush) speeches of assurance? Who guarantees handing Gaza/Gush Katif to Arab Muslim Terrorists - under the so far weak administration of Abu Mazen - will make Israel safer with greater peace? As a relevant aside, we hear tonight (April 16th) from the DEBKAfile that King Abdullah II of Jordan is contemplating dividing his kingdom into Turkish "wilayas" with the fourth division being the 'West Bank' (Judea and Samaria) IF there is a breakdown of order under Mahmoud Abbas or Hamas. A "wilaya" is something like a governable canton. This should set off the Arab Muslim Palestinian Terrorists and, no doubt, the settlers of YESHA will have a great deal to say. When the new, more deadly, more accurate missiles fall on Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beit Shemesh, Eilat, Tel Aviv and/or Jerusalem or hit a plane circling for a landing at Ben Gurion Airport, will our erstwhile Jewish leaders resign in shame or beg forgiveness from those killed and wounded? Not one of the Oslo gang has ever apologized for their gross killing mistakes. Nor did we hear any thoughtful comments from the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations or AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) when Oslo turned in to a suicide pact. In the meantime, Sharon and Olmert in another moment of truth have denied that they will start evacuation plans for Judea and Samaria - with the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights and, undoubtedly, Jerusalem - right after they flush the Jews out of Gaza. Below is the announcement issued from the Conference Of Presidents Of Major American Jewish Organizations. James S. Tisch, Chairman Malcolm I. Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman Contact: Malcolm Hoenlein, 212-318-6111 The Conference of Presidents is the central coordinating body representing 52 national Jewish organizations on issues of national and international concern. Tel: 212-318-6111 Fax: 212-644-4135 E-mail: info@conferenceofpresidents.org The announcement is entitled "PM Sharon to Jewish Leaders: US-Israel Relations Never Better." New York, April 13, 2005 - Meeting with American Jewish leaders at Blair House, the official guest residence in Washington DC, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said, "US-Israel relations have never been better." In contrast to press reports on the meeting between President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon in Crawford, Texas, Prime Minister Sharon characterized the result of the meeting as broad agreement on many issues of common concern, particularly Iran's nuclear aspirations and the War on Terror. In his introduction of the Prime Minister, James S. Tisch, Chairman, lauded his steadfastness of purpose, determination and foresight. Participants included leaders of major Jewish organizations of the Conference of Presidents and United Jewish Communities. The discussion lasted more than an hour, during which Prime Minister Sharon covered a wide variety of topics in response to questions by Jewish leaders. Following the briefing, James S. Tisch and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents said, "We were pleased that the implications of the press stories were not borne out. The special relationship between the United States and Israel is better than ever. Prime Minister Sharon has a clear vision and direction to pursue in the interest of security for Israel and peace for the region. The future of the Road Map clearly depends on the actions taken by the Palestinian Authority and Abu Mazen to rein in terror and move toward stability and law and order. The Road Map remains the most viable plan, but cannot be entered until Palestinian commitments are met. "Israel is committed to the Road Map, but will remain in the pre-Road Map phase until the Palestinian Authority has fulfilled its commitments to a full cessation of violence, collection of weapons, dismantlement of terrorist infrastructures, and cooperation with Israeli security services. Abu Mazen is deploying troops, but not taking action. The Cairo agreement raises concerns about the Palestinian Authority's commitment to act against Hamas and other terror organizations. Dangerous arms-smuggling continues, some of it involving officials of the Palestinian Authority itself." The Jewish leaders noted that the Road Map has clearly delineated stages and no progress is possible between them without implementation of prior obligations. Tisch and Hoenlein said, "Prime Minister Sharon told us that the Disengagement Plan is the most difficult decision he has ever taken. It is a painful sacrifice for security and for peace. Israel alone will determine the steps necessary for her security. If Palestinians attack Israeli soldiers or settlers during the disengagement from Gaza, the Prime Minister said Israel will retaliate harshly. "The Iranian nuclear program is a danger to Israel, the region and beyond. Iran is trying to resolve remaining technical problems and is close to the 'point of no return' in nuclear weapons development. The UN Security Council should deal with this issue. The Prime Minister said Israel is not in the lead on this issue. With the ballistic missiles that Iran has acquired, the danger is not just to Israel. Iran and Syria continue to support Hezbollah and supply them with rockets, 13,000 of which are now on Israel's northern border. They are recruiting terrorists among Israeli Arabs as well as in the West Bank and Gaza. "There will be no peace without education for peace. The Prime Minister pointed out that the first word Jewish children learn is 'shalom,' which means 'peace' and 'hello.' Arab children are fed a diet of incitement and hatred for Israel, which does not even appear on the maps in their textbooks. Arab academics, businessmen, and professionals boycott Israel and continue to agitate against it." Tisch and Hoenlein also noted that both Labor- and Likud-led governments have had disagreements on settlements with the United States, but these have always been discussed without animosity. Prime Minister Sharon cited President Bush's recognition of the reality of the major settlement blocs, which PM Sharon said would remain with Israel. The Jewish leaders said, "We are grateful to President Bush for his hospitality to the Prime Minister and his efforts to enhance the special relationship between these two great allies. We pray that the President and the Prime Minister will succeed as they advance the cause of peace and the War on Terror." 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). To Go To Top

DISENGAGE JEWISH SETTLEMENTS FROM FLORIDA Posted by Israel Zwick, April 15, 2005.

This is the time of year when many young Jewish families engage in an exodus from New York to settle in the sunny, warm state of Florida. These Jewish families occupy residences in a number of hotels and apartment buildings. The large influx of Jewish families to Florida puts a tremendous strain on the infrastructure and causes friction with the native residents. It is time to consider putting an end to the Jewish occupation of Florida and removing some of the temporary settlements along the coastline. Miami Beach has long been a haven for Jewish retirees from New York. The Jewish population in Miami-Dade County has made significant contributions to the growth, development and economy of the region. However, in the last 30 years, there have been some ominous developments in the Jewish demographics of Florida. It appears that many young Jewish families have moved northward and established settlements in Broward and Palm Beach Counties. There are now hundreds of thousands of Jews living in these counties in many different settlements. These settlements with young, Jewish families are the major obstacle to the peace and stability of the region. They will promote friction and conflict with the Muslim communities. They are posing a threat to the gentle tranquility that the State of Florida is known for and they should all be dismantled. The Jews there should be compensated and relocated to Miami-Dade County. Demographic studies have shown that there is an increase of young Muslims moving into various Florida counties. These young Muslims are coming to Florida to study air navigation, nuclear energy, and chemical engineering. It is a common observation that when Jews live among Muslims, they tend to incite violence from the Muslim community. The presence of Jews provokes Muslims into committing a variety of violent activities. For example the increase in the number of small synagogues encourages young Muslims to throw incendiary devices at the synagogues. This necessitates a response from the police and fire departments that make a lot of noise and block traffic. It would reduce the efficiency of the emergency response teams. The residents of Florida should not be subjected to this annoyance and then be asked to pay for additional police protection for the synagogues. This would be an unfair burden on the peaceful people of Florida. Another example is the incitement caused by young Jewish men who walk around the streets with little black caps, and fringes sticking out of their shirts. When Muslim men observe these Jewish men, they may act on their desire to attack a Jewish infidel and consequently stab or shoot the Jew. When the Jewish victim is taken to the hospital, he may require a blood transfusion which would put a strain on the available blood supply, which is usually in short supply. Of course it is recognized that if the Jewish victim dies quickly before he gets to the hospital, then this would not be a problem. Even young Jewish women may present and obstacle to peace and tranquility. While most young women in Florida wear minimal clothing in the hot climate, some Jewish women have been observed wearing long sleeves, long skirts, and wigs. This makes them more susceptible to heat stroke. The additional calls to 911 would put an unneeded strain on the emergency services divisions. There is sufficient historical justification for dismantling the Jewish settlements in Broward and Palm Beach Counties. First, there is no evidence that there were any Jews with Ponce de Leon when he explored Florida in 1513. There were only a handful of Jews in Florida when it became a state in 1845. Careful study of the Jewish Torah and Talmud reveals no mention at all of the State of Florida. Archeological digs in Florida have not revealed any evidence of the presence of ancient Jewish tribes. Consequently, the Jews living in Florida have no historical, cultural, or religious connection to the State, so they have no right to be there. Governor Bush of Florida should call an emergency meeting of the State Legislature to discuss the disengagement of Jewish settlements from Broward and Palm Beach Counties. He should issue a statement supporting the dismantling of all settlements that are occupying space in these counties. At the same time, he should reaffirm the rights of Jews to live in Miami-Dade County where they have been welcome for many years. As a symbolic gesture of goodwill, an Office of Jewish Relations should be opened in Miami. This office would work together with the Disengagement Agency. Young Jewish families who are displaced from Palm Beach to Miami, would be granted compensation of $80,000 per family to help defray the costs of moving. Until the permanent homes are ready, the displaced Jews can live in little canvas huts with bamboo roofs. Their vacated homes can then be offered at reduced prices to young Muslims who are coming to Florida from refugee camps in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. They will be in desperate need of descent, affordable housing. This plan should provide an adequate solution to the problem of Jewish settlements, which are presenting an obstacle to peace in the region. If it doesn't, the Legislature should convene again to discuss a Final Solution to the problem of Jewish occupation and settlement in Florida. Israel Zwick can be reached by email at israel.zwick@earthlink.net To Go To Top

A BRUTAL SUMMATION OF THE CONFERANCE AT THE CRAWFORD RANCH Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, April 15, 2005.

This article was written by Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis). Contact him by email at imra@netvision.net.il "Talk now comply later - if ever" - that's what PA head Mahmoud Abbas others pressing for immediate final status really mean. Well, maybe Israel should take Mr. Abbas up on his offer. But instead of basing its negotiating positions on the negotiating on the apparently unrealistic assumption that the Palestinians will ever honor their obligations - in particular their security obligations - Israel could approach final status talks with the refreshingly sober attitude that, photo-opportunities and wishful thinking notwithstanding, the Palestinians are never going to be serious about dropping the terror and violence option. And there certainly has been a lot of wishful thinking. President Bush and his teams certainly talk the talk about wanting the Palestinians to honor their security obligations, but they bend over backwards to praise Mahmoud Abbas - carefully ignoring that he wants to integrate the terrorists into the PA security forces rather than disarm them. And it doesn't end there. This Wednesday White House Spokesperson Scott McClellan went so far as to explain that it was OK if Hamas took over control of the PA via the ballot box since the Hamas candidates would be "business professionals --- not terrorists." I wonder if Mr. McClellan had to see a chiropractor after delivering that line. Unfortunately, it seems that the Bush White House has embraced the Clinton White House's "no failing grade" policy when it comes to Palestinian compliance. And that's not all. The White House also has only praise for Egypt, the nation that serves as the conduit for almost all the weapons flowing into the Gaza Strip. The fact that Egypt only finally got around to detaining one person associated with anti-aircraft missile smuggling as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made his way to Crawford speaks volumes about what they haven't done. What could Israel accept in final status talks based on the assumption that the Palestinians will never honor their security obligations? Certainly not an entity with such elements of sovereignty as control of their borders and ports. Certainly not an entity with armed forces of a size or strength beyond the scope required for the maintenance of domestic order. And certainly not an entity with a geographic configuration that could facilitate both a bloody war of attrition against the Jewish State as well as an effective diversionary campaign to bog down Israeli forces in the event of an Arab invasion. Talk now - Palestinian compliance never? Only if the citizens of Israel can be certain that their representatives at the talks will have their eyes wide open and the intestinal fortitude to act accordingly. Unfortunately, given Mr. Sharon's recent track record and the front running midgets now vying to replace him it is doubtful that this condition can be met for the foreseeable future. Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). To Go To Top

ISRAELI THERAPY USES ADULT STEM CELLS TO TREAT PARKINSON'S DISEASE Posted by Fran Sonnenschein, April 15, 2005.

This article was written by Roberta Neiger. It appeared in Israel21c on March 27, 2005 (http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El952&enPage= BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Health&) Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics has developed a novel stem cell therapy to treat Parkinson's Disease - using a patient's own bone marrow stem cells to produce the missing chemical that enables restoration of motor movement. The process - which successfully alleviated symptoms of Parkinson's in rats - will be tested on monkeys next year, with human clinical trials scheduled for the following year. About 1.5 million Americans have been diagnosed with Parkinson's, a chronic progressive neurodegenerative disease. Parkinson's affects those brain cells responsible for production of dopamine, the neurotransmitter that directs motor movement. Insufficient dopamine levels result in tremor, rigidity, slowness of movement and impaired balance. The Tel Aviv-based BrainStorm uses adult stem cells to repair neurological damage. Developed at Tel Aviv University, the company's propriety technology - NurOwn - has been proven capable of generating neuron-like cells derived from human bone marrow. The cells produce dopamine which can them be implanted into the PD patients. NurOwn was developed by Prof. Eldad Melamed, Head of Neurology of the Rabin Medical Center and member of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, together with Tel Aviv University cell biologist Dr. Daniel Offen and Dr. Yosef Levy. In June, 2004, BrainStorm acquired the exclusive worldwide rights to commercialize NurOwn technology through a licensing agreement with Ramot, the technology transfer company of TAU. Along with these scientists, BrainStorm's team of 12 researchers is working to further develop this technology. Taking bone marrow cells from rodents and human donations, the researchers demonstrated expansion of the number of cells and their differentiation into functional neural cells. "The breakthrough here is that, first of all, our source material is bone marrow. Second, they showed not only neuronal markers and electro-physical functions, but the in-vitro expression and release of dopamine," BrainStorm's President and CEO, Dr Yaffa Beck told ISRAEL21c. Perhaps most impressive, transplantation of such dopamine-producing cells in rodent models of PD resulted in the amelioration of their Parkinsonian symptoms. This is "proof of the feasibility of these cells," says Beck, who has over 20 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry and business development. Beck said that the tests have succeeded in showing that the cells stay in the brain, producing dopamine for up to four months. Pointing to the advantages of using adult stem cells derived from bone marrow, Beck explains that the therapy can be autologous - meaning it can employ the patient's own bone marrow. "Using the patient's own bone marrow to supply dopamine-producing cells circumvents problems of immunity and compatibility, so it is safer than using cells from an outside source," says Beck. She said that the advantage of adult bone marrow cells is that they can be taken from the patient, so there is no rejection or infection. The body identifies the cells as belonging to the patient. "This is precisely our innovation, compared with other stem cell research companies. We're talking about adult stem cells," she told Globes. In addition, she explains, such therapy is not fraught with the ethical issues or risk of cancer sometimes associated with embryonic stem cell therapies. While anti-Parkinson's drugs exist, they all have significant drawbacks. "There are drugs that replace dopamine itself, but their effects are limited," says Beck. "The concentrations that reach the brain are not consistent, so dosages must be steadily increased, causing side effects and 'resistance'. After few years, patients often stop responding altogether." As cell treatment involves implantation of cells in the brain, it would obviate the need for drugs. "In place of patients' degenerating cells, we put in new functional cells," says Beck, adding that this promises to be a long-term treatment. "It's important to distinguish between drugs for treating Parkinson's and stem cell treatments for it," she told Globes. "We hope that our treatment will be like a full cure. I want to be cautious, and not cause misleading over-expectations, but our hope is that a person will not need further treatment for a very long time, in contrast to other drugs. It's possible to compare it with bone marrow transplants for cancer patients." Why is BrainStorm, which aims to address a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases, initially focusing on Parkinson's Disease? "Parkinson's is one of the few neurodegenerative diseases that has a clearly defined deficiency, not unlike diabetes," says Beck. "In Parkinson's, we need dopamine-producing cells. With other diseases, it is not so apparent which cells are required, so it will take longer to develop an appropriate therapy for them." Having successfully demonstrated this therapy on rodent models of PD, Beck says the company plans to develop similar solutions for such illnesses as Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and other terminal neurodegenerative diseases Israeli stem cell companies, says Beck, are in a unique position within the world research arena. "Some of the world's best stem cell scientists are in Israel, primarily in the area of embryonic stem cell research," she says. "In this field, the right people have come together at the right time - and more than that, we're Jewish," she adds, referring to the Jewish tradition in which embryos are not considered to be human beings until they are born. This is in sharp contrast to the Christian view, which commonly holds that personhood starts at the moment of conception. "This different way of looking at the embryo has helped advance stem cell research," says Beck. "There has been far less of a debate regarding its ethics." Beck also praises the recently established Consortium Bereshit for Cell Therapy, a $15 to $20 million project of the Israel Ministry and Trade that brings together researchers from academia and industry to develop stem cell-based therapies. "There is a nice critical mass of university researchers and companies in the Consortium. Now it's a matter of grabbing the opportunity, providing as many incentives as possible and moving ahead in this important area." Fran Sonnenscein is with the Baltimore Zionist District. Their website address is http://www.bzdisrael.org To Go To Top

WE GIVE A PART OF OURSELVES TO OMRI Posted by Israel Academia Monitor, April 15, 2005.

Omri Raziel, a happy, cheerful little boy who loves to play with toy cars and listen to "Lion King", is in mortal danger. Reading this file may help save his life and bring him back home to his loving family. One night, about eight months ago, Omri started screaming in pain. It turned out that the pain focused in his feet and made it impossible for him to walk. Omri was hospitalized immediately in "Dana" hospital, the children's ward of Ichilov in Tel-Aviv. There they started an intensive series of tests. Despite their efforts, the doctors couldn't find a thing, though the pain started "climbing" up his body and reached his hands. At this stage, after three weeks of hospitalization, Omri lost much of his eyesight. An immediate head CT showed that Omri had a head tumor that injured the optic nerve. A biopsy confirmed the worst: it turned out that the tumor is a cancerous and of a particularly severe kind, Non-Hodgkins-Lymphoma (Large B cell Lymphoma). It is a particularly virulent cancer, stubborn and difficult to cure. The severity of the illness (graded by doctors 1-4) was graded 4, to describe the severity of Omri's disease. After four chemotherapy treatments, severe eyesight impairment, excruciating pain, severe side effects and sleepless nights, there followed an optimistic period for Omri and his family. It looked as if little Omri was overcoming his illness. The results of the tests were normal, the pain lessened, and Omri looked well and was lively. All this lasted for about six weeks. Suddenly Omri's pain returned. This time he suffered from severe headaches. More tests indicated that the virulent cancer had come back, and had now penetrated the cerebrospinal fluid and the bone marrow. Chemotherapy had not cured Omri. Omri was defined as a rare medical case due to the return of the cancer while still in chemotherapy. The regular treatments were useless, and Omri started undergoing a therapy with an experimental medication, a biological one, that is used in this country for the first time in treating a young child. Despite this it is quite clear now that bone-marrow transplantation is Omri's only chance to overcome the disease. Bone-marrow transplantation is a fairly simple procedure that may save Omri. Scores of patients were saved this way. Unfortunately, all his immediate family members and more distant relatives were checked and found unsuitable. A search through bone marrow pools here and abroad came out negative as well. But there is a chance that there is a suitable donor among us. For this it is necessary to start a nation-wide campaign. Today the family, together with the bone marrow pool of the non-profit organization Ezer Mizion, is organizing such a nationwide campaign. It will take place on Tuesday, April 12th 2005. The locations of the donation centers will be advertised through the media. The aim is to collect tens of thousands of specimens that should increase the chance of finding a suitable donor for Omri. The blood samples will help finding suitable donors for other cancer patient as well. The results of these new blood tests will join the donors' pool of Ezer Mizion, which at present consists of about 190,000 potential bone marrow donors. Thanks to this pool the lives of about 140 cancer patients have already been saved, men, women and children that otherwise wouldn't be with us today. The cost of one blood test for tissue typing amounts today to $60. Regrettably, the collection of blood samples is not enough. To overcome Omri's and other patients' disease we must mobilize financial resources for each and every test. To give Omri a chance to live we need more than a million dollars! The success of the operation depends on our being able to achieve the necessary sum. Please help us. Monetary donations can be transferred to a special account opened for this purpose, by sending checks or by link cards: Details of the bank account: Bank Mizrachi, bank No. 20; Tarfon branch, branch No. 430; Account 62 9004. Swift Number: MIZBILIT Name of account: Ezer Mizion (Income-tax file no. 580079978 section 46) Address: 46 Rabbi Akiva Bnei Barak. (For tax invoice please send the bank confirmation of the money transfer to Oranit - center of Ezer Mizion, 40 Kaplan St. Petah Tiqva). Checks to the order of Ezer Mizion are to be sent to Oranit Center, 40 Kaplan St., Petah Tiqva 49210. Telephone answering service for link card payments In Israel only: 12-12-33-1900 From abroad dial to Oranit +972-3-9277777 Many thanks, The Raziels http://www.omri.org.il/info.asp Contact the Israel Academia Monitor organization by email at e-mail@israel-academia-monitor.com To Go To Top

COUNTERING THE CRAWFORD COMBOBULATION Posted by IsrAlert, April 15, 2005.

This was written by Aliza Karp. The level of logic that President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon showed at their Crawford meeting is tantamount to declaring a commitment to combating obesity by setting up chocolate factories on every corner and giving free chocolates to anyone who says they are committed to loosing weight... and if they don't commit, well, give it to them anyway, to appease the United Nations of Weightwatchers. In their recent email exposing the dishonest reporting about the Crawford meeting, honestreporting.com enumerated what actually was discussed and agreed upon in Crawford. The points are self-contradictory to the core. Point one: The United States is committed to Israel's security. Point five: The United States supports a Palestinian State. The Palestinian charter declares the goal of obliterating Israel, so how can you support a secure Israel with a Palestinian State? It's like committing to the health of a person while implanting a deadly disease in their chest. Point eight: Israel should remove unauthorized outposts and meet its road map obligations regarding settlements in the West Bank. Point seven: Need for an immediate, strong and sustained effort to combat terrorism in all its forms. So-called unauthorized outposts, together with the settlements are the best way to counter terror. They get in the way of terrorists. One lone caravan on the outskirts of settlement is much better security than a security fence. The terrorists come right up the fence, and military experts agree that the fence gives a total of one extra minute for defense purposes. Sometimes a minute is important but a much better alternative is an outpost. The terrorists know they cannot come right up the settlement, in fact they are risking their lives if they approach the outpost. The army simply can't be everywhere. So residents are needed. Plus, there is an advantage of the soldiers guarding communities - where they can have personal interaction and are treated warmly with appreciation - rather than guarding unoccupied land and buildings. Case in point, there was no community at Kever Yosef, which was abandoned by the army under fire. Terrorists should not be encouraged by success. The answer to each bullet fired should be another community in Yesha, and to each bomb, a new settlement. Let the terrorists get some negative feedback for a change, as an additional weapon in the war against terror. To combat terror, we need more settlements, not less. There is one concretely accurate point on the list. It is a quote from President Bush: "Sharon is showing visionary leadership? I strongly support his courageous initiative to disengage from Gaza and part of the West Bank." Yes Sharon is showing visionary leadership. If you don't believe me, look at the synonyms I found for visionary on thesaurus.com: abstracted, ambitious, astral, chimerical, daydreaming, delusory, fanciful, fantastic, grandiose, illusory, imaginary, impractical, introspective, otherworldly, pretentious, quixotic, radical, romantic, speculative, starry-eyed, unreal, unrealistic, unworkable, unworldly. For those of you, like me, who are unfamiliar with the word chimerical, I looked it up at dictionary.com. It's a great word. Too bad it's applying to the Prime Minister. The definition: 'Created by a wildly fanciful imagination.' And the definition of another word I was unfamiliar with, quixotic: 'Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality'? Heaven help us! Which brings me to my next point. Heaven help us. The word for peace, Shalom, also means completeness, no division. If we want Hashem to grant us Shalaimot HaAretz, our land in its entirety in peace, we should act with Shlaimot HaAm, a nation that is without division and Shlaimot HaTorah, observing the complete Torah. Last summer, in an act of Achdus, the grand human chain linked Gush Katif with Yerushalaim, by the joining together of Jews with different backgrounds, assorted attire and diverse opinions. To show Achdus from abroad, Blumah Wineberg, Chabad Shlucha in Kansas City, and I, contacted dozens of summer camps and arranged to have them form chains on the date of the chain in Eretz Yisroel. While in formation the children said Psukim, phrases, from Torah and Tefila, prayers, and passed around charity boxes with coins for all to put in. This was our way of showing Hashem we have Shlaimot HaAm and Shlaimot HaTorah. But why children and not adults? The answer is in a letter from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, dated the 15th of Tammuz, 5733-1973. Please note, the deportation is scheduled for the time frame of the Bein HaMetzarim. "I particularly wish to broaden your understanding of a particular point relating to the rapidly approaching time period of Bein HaHetzarim, the three week period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av. While you are surely aware of the history and the theme of these days, I wish to emphasize the following point: Concentrate and focus on the unique merit that Jewish children possess in their ability to positively affect the entire Jewish people, in keeping with King David's statement: "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings You have established strength, to vanquish Your enemies, to silence foe and avenger." [Tehillim 8:3] It is time to mobilize the children once again. Blumah and I and a group of concerned women are using email, mail, internet, networking and even phones and faxes, to reach individuals, families and communities world wide, to encourage assembling of children on Wednesday of Chol HaMoed Pesach, to participate in Torah, Tefilah and Tzedakah, charity. All three representing Shlaimot HaTorah. Wednesday is the 18th of Nissan, or as we say, Chai Nissan. Chai means life, Nissan means miracle. And we need a live miracle! It is also a special day on the Lubavitch calendar, it is the birthday of Reb Levik, the Rebbe's father. One child saying Psukim and giving Tzedakah may not attract the attention of the media, but it will attract the attention of the G-d of Isreal. The more places where children gather in groups of 2 to 2 million, the stronger will be the voices of children, our strength "to vanquish Your enemies." These rallies can be done around the kitchen table, in the park or on the swing set. Better yet they could be a gathering of neighbors and even better would be a community gathering. The outer trappings will vary, but the results will be the same. At the children's rallies held by the Rebbe, the children themselves would lead the saying of Psukim. Each phrase was said by a different child or group of children. We have prepared a booklet of Psukim and a story about Pesach to send to anyone who would like our assistance. If you would like the materials, we can be reached at aliza@chabadnorth.com. The Pesach Nash, will have to be provided locally, sorry we can't help with that. Please send pictures to the above email address so that we can assemble them and present them to the people of the threatened communities. Especially the children will feel encouraged by knowing that children around the world are thinking of them and doing what they can to help. The biggest obstacle to making theses rallies is the Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination. Right now mine is telling me that since I am doing the organizing and mailing and writing this article, that I personally am exempt from making a rally. Should I listen to my Yetzer Hara? Are you going to listen to yours? 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 To Go To Top

ANTI-SEMITIC STUDIES Posted by Rachel Neuwirth, April 15, 2005.

This was written by Douglas David and appeared in the Spectator in England (http://www.spectator.co.uk/article_pfv.php?id=5979). Douglas Davis is co-author, with Helen Davis, of "Israel in the World - Changing Lives Through Innovation," which was published this week by Weidenfeld and Nicolson. Pay attention, Professor. If you support the proposed academic boycott of Israel - and if you are to remain intellectually honest - prepare for a radical lifestyle change. Firstly, unplug your computer. Good. Now switch off your interactive digital television set. Well done. And now throw away your mobile phone. Excellent. You see, Professor, these machines are not only the engine of the globalised, capitalist world but they also depend on technologies that have been produced by Israeli academics in the Zionist entity. Stop playing with your detached mouse, Professor, and concentrate. I'm afraid you may not use the British Library because it has been computerised by Ex Libris, a Zionist company that was spawned by the odious Hebrew University of Jerusalem. And if, God forbid, you develop problems of the small intestine, you may not pop the Zionist-invented 'video capsule', which passes naturally through your body as it monitors this delicate piece of your anatomy. You will, sadly, have to take it up the derrière, Professor. As a matter of principle, of course. But remember: your principle allows your proctologist to keep his hand in. All this boycotting, you see, is the logical extension of proposed academic sanctions against Israel by some members of your Association of University Teachers (AUT) when they meet in Eastbourne next Wednesday. Just visit the website of Egyptian-born Mona Baker of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. She set the standard by firing two Israeli scholars from the boards of her translation journals as a matter of high academic principle. You will see that Ms Baker's ambitions do not end with the academic boycott. Her website also includes a section entitled 'Boycott Israeli Products & Services', which features dozens of global brands that, inconveniently, are not Israeli at all. The offenders presumably have earned their place in infamy by dealing with the Zionist entity, by being owned by Jews or by having Jews on their boards. They range from Coca-Cola and Nescafé to Johnson & Johnson and Estée Lauder, from Hugo Boss and Ralph Lauren to Selfridges and Marks & Spencer, from Kleenex and Wonderbra to Lancôme and... All marked for boycott. Absent from Ms Baker's list - and here I think I can help - is a set of global companies which are arguably even more culpable because they not only operate in Israel but also do most of their R&D there. IBM and Intel each have three R&D centres in Israel; Microsoft established its first non-American facility there, and Cisco Systems has built its only non-American R&D centre in Israel. Then there is Motorola, which has its largest R&D site in Israel, and News Corp, whose company NDS develops those neat interactive technologies for digital television. There are many more. The AUT boycott brigade has cause for concern. It knows that these companies are attracted not only by the innate brutality of the expansionist regime but also by the cunning of its university graduates (most of the R&D centres are located on or near Israeli university campuses). Proportionally, the Zionist entity has more university graduates than any other country, while its scientists, engineers and agriculturists publish more professional papers per capita than do their counterparts anywhere else on earth. The result is that Israel has the largest concentration of high-tech companies outside Silicon Valley. But the ultimate sin is that Israel, which came to independence in the process of post-war decolonisation, stubbornly refuses to become a failed state. So dangerous has the situation become, dear Professor, that when you meet in Eastbourne you will set aside the small matter of your pay deal (which many universities have failed to implement). Instead, you and your fellow intellectual heavyweights will ponder far worthier matters. Like foreign affairs. Of course, you will not have to bother your turbo-charged minds with this week's Unicef report which shows that half of the women in the Arab world are illiterate and more than ten million children in the region don't attend school. The issue that will preoccupy you will be the aggressive imperialist apartheid state: a state that has nurtured the Palestinian universities and colleges in the West Bank; one that offers equal rights - and access to its universities - to all its citizens, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or sex; and which has educated tens of thousands of Palestinians at Israeli universities (several hundred a year still opt for an Israeli education). It is significant that Omar Barghouti, the Palestinian who is encouraging you and your British comrades to boycott Israel, is a doctoral student at none other than Tel Aviv University. No, Professor, not all Israeli universities and not all Israeli academics will be boycotted if the AUT motion is passed. Such a proposition was defeated 3-1 at the association's conference two years ago, and the boycotters are too smart to repeat past mistakes. The new motion, says one of its authors, has been "tactically" amended to get it passed. "We've got to be a bit more sophisticated," she says. And sophisticated they are. They even had a dry run last December, when they met to rehearse their presentations and develop killer responses to potential critics. Their sleek new motion - which does not involve a single book-burning - envisages sanctions against only the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University and Haifa University. And there's more: the boycotters generously offer Israeli academics the opportunity to buy themselves immunity if they are prepared to denounce their country, specifically, "conscientious Israeli academics and intellectuals opposed to their state's colonial and racist policies." Who could seriously question the integrity of your fellow academic freedom fighters' But there are, of course, small obstinate obstacles in the way of you visionaries, Professor. Britain's academic institutions, for example, have not endorsed boycotting Israel's academic community. Indeed, when the Oxford don Andrew Wilkie told an Israeli PhD applicant that there was "no way would I take on somebody who had served in the Israeli army", he was hauled before the university's disciplinary body and suspended without pay for two months. Cambridge University's Professor Sir Aaron Klug, Nobel laureate and former president of the Royal Society, put me right when I asked him about the possible impact - on Britain no less than on Israel - of such a boycott: "How important is the AUT? That's the question you have to ask." He is no supporter of Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and his policies but he does consider that the proposed boycott is "ill considered and doesn't promote anything at all". The AUT, he says, is out to attack Israel "but this is no way to proceed". Sir Aaron is "not one who looks for anti-Semitism around every corner," he says, "but I do think there's an element of that here. It does give people who are anti-Semitic the opportunity to express themselves.: But relax, Professor. The AUT has solemnly concluded that there is a clear distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. They don't mind Jews. They just detest the Jewish state. Rachel Neuwirth is a Los Angeles-based analyst on the board of directors of the West Coast Region of the American Jewish Congress and the chairperson of the organization's Middle East committee. Contact her by email at rachterry@sbcglobal.net To Go To Top

ARE CRITICS RESPONSIBLE? BALANCE? ISRAELI WISHFUL THINKING Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 15, 2005.

ARE CRITICS RESPONSIBLE? It is ironic that our generally foul world defames the Israeli military for not meeting standards that only Israel and the US meet. While critics of the US assault on Saddam's regime lament Iraqi civilian casualties, I laud the US military for minimizing them. It is a great achievement. Democrats complain of minor such losses as if unaware of how recently it was that the US deliberately inflicted mass-casualties on civilians. That was a callousness, if not a war crime, that few Americans rued. I do. Israel long has had a concept of "purity of arms," meaning the pursuit of military objectives by means as humane as possible. I commend that concept to Israel's critics for their own utilization. Most of Israel's critics are not fair or objective. I would like to add that they are not sincere, but sincerity is peculiar, in that people can deceive themselves and sincerely but mistakenly believe they are righteous rather than evil. They are not fair when they simply denounce every Israeli defensive measure and not the Arabs' offensive measures, which are crimes against humanity. The forces of disorder do not have superior rights to the forces of law. Many critics are not objective assessing blame, either. Amnesty Intl. used to excuse Arab terrorist militias and the official P.A. police from acts of terrorism, on the grounds that they are not a sovereign government. What had that to do with their criminal behavior and the duty of humanitarian organizations to protest against it? It was just an excuse not to assist the Jewish state, however sordid its enemies' crimes. In attributing Arab civilian casualties to Israel, the humanitarian NGOs were not objective when they counted terrorist gunmen as civilians, young terrorists as "children" killed by Israeli troops, and collateral deaths as Israel's fault, although international law holds that it is the fault of the terrorists operating illegally amongst civilians. Also, the P.A. encouraged children to take part in human bombings, shot at Israelis from behind civilians, and let children stand around firefights. The organizations that supposedly are humanitarian show they really are antisemitic, by expressing sympathy solely for any suffering by the Arabs and none for the Israelis who, after all, are the victims of Arab aggression motivated by bigotry. For myself, I don't sympathize for the Arab civilians, since they share their gunmen's goals and approve of their means, and lend what support they can. The organizations fail to roundly condemn the means used by the Arabs. This failure is outrageous. It demonstrates their hypocrisy. Here we have the Arabs, religious fanatics committing war crimes constantly, but the supposedly humanitarian organizations do not object loudly. Sometimes they object quietly, obviously paying lip service. When they object to what Israel does (if it even does it) they are vociferous. They have taken sides in the Arab-Israel conflict. They side with the war criminals. If the critics of Israeli methods weren't themselves biased, and instead were at least responsible, they would discuss the how far a military may go in the conflict between powerful means to military victory and injuries to civilian populations. They should devise codes of military conduct that would establish permissible methods and the extent to which they may be utilized. That is what the Natural Resources Defense Council does, when it works out solutions to environmental programs with certain industries. The humanitarian organizations should not simply deny to Israel every means of defense. BALANCE Here's news! C-Span seeks "balance." It wanted to balance a Holocaust scholar with a Holocaust denier. Interestingly, the denier had lost a libel suit against the scholar, who disproved all his contentions in an exhaustive presentation of the facts. The denier did not have facts but, according to the judges, lies. Holocaust deniers, who are antisemites like Islamists, don't work with facts. They work with minimization, irrelevance, avoidance of the records, etc.. When there is more than one side to an issue, balance is desirable. The media seldom has balance in the Arab-Israel conflict. Numerous are the radio and TV panels weighted heavily, counting the broadcaster and leftist Israelis, on the Arab side. Here, C-Span seeks balance, lest the Jewish side have the advantage. Perhaps the studies, imbalanced by a preponderance of young people, have no memory of the reality of the Holocaust. The problem is that balance is misunderstood. Sometimes balance is desirable, and sometimes not. When there is only one side, because the facts overwhelmingly are on one side, those who hold to the other side do not merit a hearing. The trouble with that principle is its ready abuse. The Establishment often takes the position that its unprincipled stance is beyond reproach, and its opponents are a fringe element of extremists, whose principle stance is reproachful. The Establishment generally succeeds is squelching discussions within Jewish organizations and in the national media. When science developed techniques for measuring celestial bodies, it proved that the Earth is roundish. Proof notwithstanding, a Flat Earth Society has persisted in denying the facts. Should a conclave of astronomers bring in a Flat-Earther, for "balance?" Nuts don't provide balance. The facts don't need balance. Unproved theories about black holes, dark matter, and alternative universes do. A word about facts vs. opinions. Examples of facts in the Arab-Israel conflict are: (1) The Arabs have been making war on the Jewish state; and (2) Their reasons are religious and imperialist. Some matters of opinion are: (1) Whether the Arabs are starting to modernize socially and ameliorate their religious and imperial drive; and (2) Which means of counter-terrorism work. There are many controversial proposals that seem to be matters of opinion, but whose disposition seems obvious to me, though other people find the opposite self-evident. Examples of these are: (1) Whether to use military means that risk Israeli soldiers' lives in order to reduce Arab civilian deaths (I say no, the civilians are not as innocent and Israel is fighting for survival against them); and (2) Should Israel take measures to encourage Arabs to leave Israel and the Territories (I say yes, for self-preservation and victory). My opinions may leave some people aghast. The opinions conflict with certain principles of theirs. They fail to think through the consequences of their principles, which are death for the innocent and victory for the guilty. They uphold "democracy," meaning let the Arabs tip the balance in Israeli voting in favor of the Arab enemy that would end democracy and the Jews' national development if not their lives. "Balance" can be a euphemism for its opposite, as "diversity" is for discrimination. Columbia U. has hired leftists and Arabs to teach about the Mideast. These professors not only are one-sided, they dissemble. In answer to student objections, defenders of the professors contend that these Arabs and leftists are there for balance and it is the long-suffering students (who complain that their opinions are given low marks) who are seeking to stifle diversity of opinion. Most university faculties in these subjects are so leftist, that while they seek diversity of ethnicity, they lack diversity of opinion. Even if the universities weren't overloaded with Arabs and leftists, those teacahers would not be needed for balance. Professors who lack academic integrity don't provide balance, they mislead. Worse, they are here to make propaganda war against us. They don't belong in our colleges. ISRAELI VIEW OF TERRORISM "What should Israel do in the wake of the attack this week in Tel Aviv?" Polled, 29% said, "Cancel the cease fire and return to full military actions and targeted killing; 64% Don't respond and instead let the Palestinians continue fighting terror." (IMRA, 3/3.) What do they mean, "continue" fighting terrorism? The P.A. doesn't and won't fight terrorism, it brandishes it as blackmail. NEW SHARON DEMAGOGUERY A Likud convention devoted itself to whether to put PM Sharon's abandonment plan to a national referendum. Sharon was booed throughout his speech. Some Likudniks held up signs, "Sharon Go Home." Sharon called those "threats." The conclave voted overwhelmingly in favor of a referendum, most because they oppose the abandonment plan. Sharon referred to those who voted against him as "fringe extremist elements." He said, "I will not allow the extremist margins to dictate our path." (Arutz-7, 3/4/05.) What do you call a leader who overrides some elections and bribes or threatens officials to win the rest? Dictator. He calls his Party majority a fringe and extremist. His plan to abandon billions of dollars worth of property to an enemy that murdered for it and wishes to destroy the country, and to give away territory that is the Jewish people's heritage, is extremist. CHANGES IN IMMIGRATION The Arabs have had a sort of "right of return," thanks to well-meaning but foolish Israeli law. Tens of thousands immigrated under the aegis of family unification and marriage. A temporary restriction on that is up for renewal. Some Israelis suggest following the model of Denmark and the Netherlands, whose restrictions reduced Muslim immigration by 60% (Arutz-7). 60% is not enough. Zero is a better goal. Reverse immigration is the best goal. National survival trumps critics' notion of political correctness. ISRAELI AMBASSADOR SHAMES ISRAEL The Israeli Ambassador hand-delivered an appeal not to extradite to Turkey, to face other charges, an Israeli drug dealer convicted in the US. The Ambassador did not hand-deliver a petition signed by 112 Knesset members to release Pollard. The petition remains in Israel. The Ambassador gave a speech within a 20-minute drive of Pollard's prison, without visiting him. (Such visits are routine for Ambassadors, but none have visited Pollard.) Thus the government once again showed that it had abandoned Pollard (IMRA, 3/4/05). Pollard was over-punished by the US largely because he had frustrated subversives in it and he knew too much. Why is he abandoned by the Israeli government? Probably he knows too much about Sharon. On the other hand, being tough only domestically, Sharon is a toady of the US. Pres. Clinton had granted clemency to assassins and a crooked contributor to his campaign, but not to Pollard as agreed. Sharon released hundreds of terrorists in exchange for a criminal old crony and three cadavers. Now he releases hundreds of terrorists for nothing. HOW U.S. VIEWS EGYPTIAN "REFORM" The US finds Pres. Mubarak's decision to allow multiple candidates to run for President "very important." To run, however, the candidates would have to gain the approval of local councils, presumably attached to the Mubarak regime. The Moslem Brotherhood, which remains banned, finds the new rule merely cosmetic. IMRA remarks that the US comment reflects wishful thinking more than a sincere belief that the regime is reforming (IMRA, 3/4/05). The US is tying itself too closely to the Mubarak regime. It wants desperately to count on Egypt as an ally whose continued US aid it can justify. It sees no evil. 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. To Go To Top

OVER 300 SUDANESE SLAVES LIBERATED: CATTLE CAMP ARABS PROMISE TO FREE SLAVES Posted by Slivwa News, April 15, 2005.

This is a press release by Christian Solidarity International (CSI) - www.csi-int.org Cattle Camp Arabs Promise to Free Slaves (Nyamlell, Zurich, April 15, 2005) 336 Black Sudanese slaves were liberated between 23 March and 14 April through the mediation of the Arab-Dinka Peace Committees at Warawar and Manger Ater, Southern Sudan. The freed slaves were registered at three checkpoints (Bac & Rumrol, Aweil East County, and Mayen Adhal, Aweil North County) before proceeding to their homes and families. Registration was undertaken jointly by local representatives of CSI, the Episcopal Church of Sudan, the Church of Christ, the Government of Sudan's Committee for the Eradication of Women and Children (CEAWC) and the SPLM's Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SRRC). Preliminary analysis of interviews with 51 of the female slaves over the age of 11 indicate the following pattern of abuse: 37% subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM). 71% raped. 51% forcibly converted to Islam from Christianity or a tribal faith. 98% subjected to racial insults. 100% physically abused. 100% forced to work without pay. CSI gave returning slaves grain rations and survival kits, including a cooking pot, mosquito net, plastic sheeting, a water container, a sickle and fishing hooks. At a US government-funded Arab-Dinka peace conference in Nyamlell, Southern Sudan on April 7-9, Arab cattle camp leaders pledged to free their remaining Dinka slaves. A conference resolution called on CSI to assist newly formed Arab-Dinka committees to locate and liberate slaves from Arab cattle camps. Conference host, Chief Dut Majak Majak of Nyamlell, thanked CSI for promoting peace between Arabs and Dinkas for the past ten years. He also observed that all Dinkas attending the conference had relatives who had been freed from enslavement by CSI. Dr. John Eibner pledged CSI's continuing support for Arab-Dinka efforts to abolish slavery in Sudan. He also warned that unless the enslavement of Black Africans is rapidly eradicated in Darfur and other parts of Northern Sudan a comprehensive and lasting peace for the war torn country will remain elusive. In September 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush identified the eradication of slavery as a paramount goal of his administration's Sudan peace initiative. Conservative estimates place the number of Black Sudanese slaves in the tens of thousands. The Report of the UN's Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, dated January 25, 2005, confirmed that the armed forces of the Government of Sudan and allied militias are committing "crimes against humanity" in Darfur, including slavery and the sexual abuse of women. At the beginning of February, the Sudanese government suspended the repatriation of freed slaves to Southern Sudan in response to criticism from UNICEF. Southern Sudanese community leaders have called for its immediate resumption. (end) To Go To Top

IDF OFFICERS: TOUGHER RULES OF ENGAGEMENT MAY LEAD TO TERROR Posted by Marlene Young, April 15, 2005.

This was written by Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, and appeared in today's Haaretz (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=565291& contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0). Israel Defense Forces brigade commanders in the Gaza Strip earlier this week complained to Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon about the stricter rules of engagement under the tahadiya, the period of calm instilled by the Palestinians, warning they could lead to terror attacks against Israelis. Since the tahadiya began at the end of January, the IDF altered its rules of engagement in the territories, particularly in the Gaza Strip, easing harsh measures previously employed to counter terrorist infiltration threats. The army had declared special security zones (SSZ) in broad areas near settlements, along roads used by the Israeli populace, adjacent to the Philadelphi corridor on the Israel-Egypt border, and adjacent to the Green Line. Based on these regulations, all Palestinian traffic in these areas was barred, and soldiers were authorized to shoot at whoever entered them. Occasionally, even the warning fire procedure was shortened, making reasonable suspicion of a person being a terrorist sufficient enough for opening fire. In this way, the IDF almost completely prevented infiltrations and killed many terrorists, but also hit many innocent Palestinians. After the number of violent incidents subsided, the army stopped enforcing the SSZ regime. Palestinians quickly caught on, and dozens of job seekers resumed infiltrating within the Green Line. Attempts also have been made to enter settlements, for, among other reasons, gathering intelligence for future terror attacks. Since the end of January, there have been more than 40 instances in which unarmed infiltrators were caught after having crossed the perimeter fence. The army found that with the help of ladders and a methodology that disrupts the electronic alarm system along a section of the fence designed for crossing, the infiltrators had crossed the border fairly easily. In their meeting with Ya'alon, the brigade commanders said the fact that only job seekers have been caught thus far does not negate the possibility that the next time it will be terrorists intending to attack one of the kibbutzim or moshavim near the Green Line. Under the new rules of engagement, one officer warned, the terrorists may be stopped only after they have started shooting. A senior IDF Southern Command soruce said he understands the importance of the new rules in preventing Palestinian casualties, but expressed concern that the IDF is losing a deterrent that might encourage terrorists to risk nearing both the Green Line and settlements. < Marlene Young is vice-president of TODA - Torah Organization for Disability Access, as well as an advocate for Israel. To Go To Top

THE LIE CALLED 'JEWISH SETTLMENTS' Posted by Marcel Cousineau, April 15, 2005.

The only time the word settlement is used anywhere on the planet, it is used against Israel. This diabolical lie from the pit of hell is only used to target Jews who live and breath and build as all other people on the planet do. We don't have any settlments here in the U.S. even though most of the land was stolen from its previous owners. Think of the gall, the arrogance, the EVIL of the U.S. Government to dictate to a tiny, outnumbered Israel, in a sea of hate and intolerance, to surrrender land to appease unappeasable Islam. We will pay the price as a nation for this evil. Israel, a tiny speck on the map is too big for its greedy neighbors who control everything but this tiny speck. The Palestinians are just a pawn in the ruse to remove every square meter of Israel. That the crux of the problem with a world gone insanely mad against the Jews. The intolerant moslems, like the Saudis who do not permit Jews to live or breath on their land have no right to judge ar critize anything Israel does or does not do, but because they control much oil, the hypocrisy of the world is exposed. The towns, cities and villages Israel builds are a threat to Islam's intolerance and insatiable dominance of all land, to free it up from non-moslem rule. That's why in Israel only, we hear the word 'settlements' used. The defeated Arabs lost the war and the land, thats the reality for losers. What is most despicable is that the U.S. for economic and political reasons works to steal Israel's land and reward it to the losers. For this reason, we will hear the word 'settlements' used by the economic and political whores in Washington to gain points with their moslem partners in Israel's demise. Contact Marcel Cousineau at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com To Go To Top

APPEAL BY THE WOMEN IN GREEN (WIG) Posted by WOmen In Green, April 15, 2005.

To all our members, friends and supporters, An emergency situation has arisen which requires immediate attention by our supporters. We are desperately in need of $25,000. in connection with an unjust pending libel law suit. Ed Banyai the former representative of American Friends of Women in Green instituted this unjustified $3,000,000. libel action against Nadia Matar, Ruth Matar, Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), and Michael Levi Matar, in the United States. That libel action, is now pending in a Norfolk, Virginia Federal Court arising out of a purported claimed libel of Banyai over the Internet. The sum in question is needed for the estimated expenses which Women in Green are obligated to pay for Examinations Before Trial, and for expert witnesses recommended by our attorneys. It is sad that at a time when there is a pending existing crisis which threatens the very survival of Israel, that we are forced to defend against this baseless, yet substantial libel suit. Our organization is in the midst of the battle for Israel's existence, and at the same time must defend against this unwarranted claim in the States. We deeply appreciate any financial assistance you can provide, so that we can continue our important work here in the Holy Land. To make a contribution via our secure server or through Paypal, go to: https://host5.apollohosting.com/womeningreen/funds/donation/donation.html Sincerely, Michael Levi Matar, Volunteer Administrator 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 To Go To Top

THE OTHER RACHELS Posted by Steven Plaut, April 15, 2005.

1. The Other Rachels A few days ago we commented on the trend among the Moonbatocracy to create pseudo-art celebrating Rachel Corrie, the clueless campus radical who commmitted suicide while trying to prevent Israeli bulldozers from destroying a smuggling tunnel used by the Palestinians in Gaza to smuggle in explosives, weapons, and missiles. Well, last night, the play "My Name is Rachel Corrie" premiered in London at the prestigious Royal Court Theatre. No mention in the play of Corrie burning US flags or defending suicide bombing. Well, we thought we would mention some other Rachels who have NOT been similarly commemorated in the London posh theaters yet (with thanks to Tom Gross). Here are the names of some plays that have not yet been produced in London: 1. My Name is Rachel Levy (Israeli girl age 17, blown up in a grocery store) 2. My Name is Rachel Thaler (Israeli girl aged 16, blown up in a pizzeria) 3. My Name is Rachel Levi (Israeli girl aged 19, murdered while waiting for the bus) 4. My Name is Rachel Gavish (killed with her husband and son while at home) 5. My Name is Rachel Charhi (blown up while sitting in a cafe) 6. My Name is Rachel Shabo (murdered with her three sons aged 5, 13 and 6 while sitting at home) It would be interesting knowing how many of THESE Rachels were murdered with explosives smuggled in through the same tunnels that Rachel Corrie and her ISM pro-terrorist friends were "defending"! 2. No Palestinian Child Left Behind Israel Defense Forces soldiers searching for a wanted terrorist in West Bank house discovered that his little sister had hidden his gun in her underwear. Troops searching a West Bank house for the wanted Hamas gunman found his sister hiding his gun in her underpants, the army said, adding that it would consider renewing strip-searches among Palestinian women when searching and screening for potential terrorists. An army spokesman said the incident raises serious questions about the need to search Palestinian women, mainly at checkpoints. "Until now we have gone easy on women," a spokesman said. "Perhaps we need to reconsider that policy." Meanwhile an armed 15-year-old Palestinian was arrested near Nablus after being discovered wearing five pipe bombs strapped to his body. The boy aroused suspicions by wearing a heavy jacket on a hot day. 10. Palestinian Authority Buys Fleet of Designer Cars In what amounts to a stinging slap in the face to the beleaguered Palestinian people, the Palestinian Authority [PA] has rewarded itself by purchasing a fleet of high-end Audi automobiles. Eighty-six PA legislators will each recieve a $45,000 Audi A4 and each of the PA's 24 ministers will receive a $76,000 Audi A6. Palestinian columnist Yahya Rabah took issue with the decision to purchase the vehicles. Said Yahya: "First, I would like to point out that there are no ministers, legislators and leaders in the world without cars," Rabah said. "But everything is relative. The PA is hardly able to pay the civil servants or cover running expenses, members of the security forces are struggling to get a 20 percent rise in their wages, and we still haven't solved the problem of unemployment. The malfeasant spirit of Yasir Arafat continues haunting the PA he ran as a one-man bank. In most spheres of human activity, reward is proportional to performance. Given the continued abysmal performance of the PA in addressing the needs of most Palestinians and in working towards peace with Israel, a more appropriate mode of transportation for all PA officials would consist of a fleet of these. - Posted by Rocco DiPippo 3. Harvard Divests Even Though It Is Not Part of the Jihad Against Israel Incredible as it seems, a major Ivy League university has now made a "divestment" decision even though it does NOT involve demonizing Israel and encouraging Arab aggression, jihad and terrorism against Jews and America. Harvard University has decided to divest from an oil company even though its only "sin" is that it collaborated with the genocidal Sudanese regime. Since when is that a cause for passion at Harvard, we wonder? Be that as it may, Harvard University has decided to divest its holdings from PetroChina, an oil company with ties to the Sudanese government, according to an April 4th statement from the Harvard Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility. The statement said the group usually makes decisions based on finances, but human rights violations in Sudan called for "extraordinary actions." The Sudanese government has been engaging in what many consider genocide in the western region of Darfur in an effort toward "forced Arabization" or "forced Islamization", according to University of Wisconsin anthropology professor Sharon Hutchinson. The Harvard decision comes after campaigns at several universities seeking to boycott and "divest" from Israel for sometimes daring to defend itself, and a new call from a New York city councilman for divestment from Columbia University, the Madrassah on the Upper West Side. 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. To Go To Top

MORE THAN 1/5TH OF THE MOST PROMISING INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES IN EUROPE ARE ISRAELI Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, April 15, 2005.

This is a news item in yesterday's Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com). More than one-fifth of the most promising innovation and technology companies in Europe are Israeli, according to Red Herring technology magazine's top 100 rating. Israel is the second most represented country on the list after Britain; 22 companies on the list are Israeli. Among them are Mellanox Technologies (producers of InfiniBand technology), Wisair (developer of a ultra-wideband chipset for wireless communications), the biotechnology company D-Pharm, EZChip, Flash Networks, BitBand Technologies, CableMatrix Technologies, Connect One, Kayote Networks, Exanet, Exent Technologies, FlexLight Networks, Followap, Orsense, Safend SanRAD, TdSoft, Telmap, StoreAge Networking, Unicorn Solutions, and Unipier. Red Herring's editorial team evaluated the technology, financing, marketing, sales, service, leadership, and business strategies of 200 companies nominated as finalists. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org To Go To Top

ISRAEL'S COMMIE NOVELIST CAUGHT PLAGIARIZING? Posted by Steven Plaut, April 15, 2005.

Sami Michael is one of the strangest members of Israel's Literary Left. He was raised a Jewish communist in Baghdad and then carried his nostalgia for Stalinism into Israel. He has written many novels, some of them celebrating communism, most of them celebrating Iraqi Jewry. He currently heads the far-Leftist anti-Israel extremist group, the "Association for Civil Rights in Israel", which is of the opinion that Jews have no rights, especially not the right to defend themselves against terror. [I found out the hard way that the ACRI simply does not believe in freedom of speech for non-leftists when I invited it to support my defense against the anti-democratic SLAPP suit harassment that was filed against me by the anti-Semitic lecturer from Ben Gurion Univerity, and the ACRI refused to do so. ACRI is funded by the usual sources from overseas, institutions not necessarily having Israel's wellbeing at the top of their agendas.] Now Haaretz weekend magazine (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/565228.html) runs an in-depth expose of Michael's latest book. It turns out to be a rip-off from a Palestinian author, and I believe it would be regarded on any campus as an act of plagiarism. The victim of this 'plagiarism' is one Ghassan Kanafani, an anti-Israel writer and essayist who was born in Acre in 1936 and died in 1972 in a mysterious car bomb explosion in Beirut, who was considered a leading Palestinian political writer. In 1972 he paid with his life for his membership in George Habash's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1969, Ghassan Kanafani wrote the novel "Return to Haifa" in Arabic. It was translated into Hebrew, and published by Hed Artzi in 2001, in the book "The Other Rooms: Three Palestinian Novellas," edited by Ami Elad-Bouskila. This past week, Am Oved Publishers released a new novel by Sami Michael, "Yonim b'Trafalgar" (Doves in Trafalgar), which is 'based on' Kanafani's novel. The only problem is that Michael's story is largely taken from the plot of Kanafani's book. Now, lest you be misled into thinking that it was an intentional imitation for purposes of creating something new based upon it, kind of like the Japanese film RAN by AKIRA KUROSAWA is based on Shakespeare's King Lear, - faggetaboudit! Michael never acknowledged he was 'borrowing' the Kanafani plot until he got caught red-handed. According to the Haaretz interview, Michael tries to huff and bluster his way out of being caught, thus: Michael chose not to mention in Doves in Trafalgar that the book was based on, and inspired by, Kanafani's book. To my question as to why he didn't credit Kanafani's book in his, Michael said that "the story isn't of such high quality, and [Israeli Arab] writer Emil Habibi didn't like it at the time, either. I accepted Habibi's decision, which may have stemmed from writers' envy, although when Return to Haifa was published, Habibi was not yet known as a writer." To which we reply: HUH? Because Emil Habibi did not like the book, it is ok for Michael to steal its plot? Am Oved publishers did not even know about the connection between the two books when they produced Michael's, cause Michael had "forgotten" to tell them. After Michael was caught, they decided that on the first page of his "Doves in Trafalgar," it would be mentioned that the book "conducts a dialogue with Kanafani." However, the name of the Kanafani book "Return to Haifa" was entirely omitted at Michael's request. For the whole slippery interview with Michael, see http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/565228.html Now other than the dubious "borrowing" of Kanafani's story line with acknowledging Kanafani's book at all, our eyebrows cannot but rise at the gall of a communist Israeli like Michael even celebrating the work of a fanatic Palestinian terrorist from the George Habash PFLP (the crowd that spent the 70s hijacking airplanes). What will be next - an anti-Semitic book to be named My Struggle that does not mention any previous works with similar themes? This is the same Sami Michael who also celebrates mass murder of Jews by the Hamas and openly calls for Israel to be eliminated (see Haaretz interview above). A while back, Michael gave an interview to Haaretz (www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=sami+michael&itemNo=491499) in which he is cited as endorsing the right of the Hamas to mass murder Jewish children. Here is the full citation from that piece written by Akiva Eldar, unedited: Sami Michael: "Hamas fighters are not terrorists." In an interview published in the latest issue of New Horizons, a monthly on society and the state published by the Berl Katznelson Foundation, Michael rejects the definition of Hamas fighters as "terrorists." Author Sami Michael, the president of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, has a definition for the rabbis of the hesder yeshivas and the pre-military academies in the territories who are calling for rebellion against the prime minister: "an armed Jewish militia that lives at the public's expense." He told Haaretz yesterday that an unproductive group of people is pooling all its resources to forcibly impose an ideology rooted in ancient texts on the silent majority, which supports leaving Gaza. Michael understands the Hamas members who are fighting these Jews, who stuck a wedge down their throats. Michael rejects the definition of Hamas fighters as "terrorists." "Imagine the feeling if I woke up tomorrow and saw this neighborhood, which we inhabit, forcibly conquered by the Syrians, and they established settlements here, and in order to go to the bus station, I needed permission from the Syrian army. How would I feel?" the author from Haifa asked. "If I fight them, I will be considered a terrorist. Why am I a terrorist? Why do we call Hezbollah or Hamasniks terrorists? Why? Because he fights on his own territory? Suddenly, aliens, occupiers, land on him and tell him: Your house is ours. It's his land, he and his forefathers were born here, and the settlers say: We will never leave ... How would you respond to this?" ...."How is it that slaves, poor people throughout the world, are turning to Islam, even though they know that redemption will come only from Western democracy? Islam sends a message of equality: Everyone is equal before Allah. And that's also true of the Likud: Everyone is equal in nationalism, the door is open. In reality, this isn't so, because the Likud is a government of the elite, but the `masses' don't understand this. It's sophisticated." Nor does the left escape the lash of the 78-year-old author's tongue. "The Israeli left is hopeless and always was," says Michael, who was a member of the Jewish-Arab communist underground in Iraq. "It never connected with the common classes of Jewish society the way the Likud did with its messages. It did connect with the poor Arab classes and promised to satisfy their nationalist desires. The Israeli left is elitist, not revolutionary, and it didn't emerge from the grass roots. Its parents were communists, and they became communist because they were communists in Poland and Hungary and continued it here." For an earlier interview with Comrade Michael, see http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=10454 Oh, and do not hold your breath for Comrade Michael to be indicted for "incitement". After all, he did not state that he is opposed to Sharon's disengagement plan. 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. To Go To Top

PERES' TECHONOLOGY VENTURE WITH THE PALESTINIANS Posted by Janet Lehr, April 15, 2005.

This appeared in The New York Sun today, in the Foreign Section, page 9. It is called, "Knesset Committee Seeks Information About Peres's Technology Venture with the palestinians." JERUSALEM The ethics committee of Israel's Parliament, or Knesset, requested last week that a private investigative group provide more information about accusations of Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres's involvement in a technology fund affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, a conflict of interest that could require Mr. Peres to leave his government position. The Israel Resource News Agency requested in February that the Knesset look into Mr. Peres's establishment of the Peace Technology Fund, a $160 million venture capital group created in part to encourage investment in the Palestinian economy. Investors, who allegedly joined the fund while Mr. Peres was the minister of regional cooperation in 1999 under then-Prime Minister Barak, include the Palestinian National Authority and several companies that have contributed at some point to the Peres Center for Peace, a nonprofit think tank founded by Mr. Peres. The fund's first investment, a $9 million, 3% stake in Paltel, a Palestinian telecommunications company, was announced in Business Week in June 1999, one month after Mr. Peres assumed his ministerial position. 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, a nearly $10 million profit from the fund's investment. The increase in the stock price has been widely attributed to a monopoly license granted in August 1999 by the Palestinian Authority to Paltel that gave the company the exclusive right to offer wireless services in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The director of the Israel Resource News Agency, David Bedein, has raised questions regarding the possibility Mr. Peres profited from the Paltel investment. Mr. Bedein also questioned whether Mr. Peres knew in advance, through government contacts while he was an Israeli minister, that the authority was going to grant the exclusive contract. Other questions surround Mr. Peres's involvement in the procurement of a $22 million investment in the fund by the Palestinian National Authority, also allegedly made while Mr. Peres was a government minister. The PNC is a monetary branch of the Palestinian Authority. As well, the fund raised nearly $10 million 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. Mr. Bedein said the ethics committee responded last week to his request for an investigation, explaining that they are not an investigative body and can only determine whether documented activities violate government rules. He said the Knesset asked him to provide them with detailed information about whether Mr. Peres received or still receives fees for securing multimillion-dollar investments or profits from previous fund ventures. "The next step is to find the proof," said Mr. Bedein. "For example, since Peres was the minister of regional cooperation when the Palestinian investment was made, my agency will see if Peres was paid a consulting or broker fee as payment for bringing in the investment." Consultants procuring investments for companies or funds typically receive finders' fees of 2% to 5%. The Palestinian Authority's investment of $22 million could have earned Mr. Peres a fee of $440,000, according to Mr. Bedein. Mr. Bedein said he will also determine whether Mr. Peres currently holds any shares in the fund. If he does, that may be a conflict of interest since the Palestinian Authority is a major investor. Mr. Bedein also wants to know why the Peres Peace Center is qualified to provide financial-consultation services to the fund. The investigation comes at a delicate time for Prime Minister Sharon's administration, which is moving ahead with a plan to vacate Jewish settlements from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Mr. Sharon's plan has divided his Likud party and created many nationalist opponents who have called for Mr. Sharon's resignation. If Mr. Peres is found to have violated the Israeli government's official code of ethics, he would be required to vacate his post. His departure likely would undo Mr. Sharon's current unity government between Likud and Mr. Peres' Labor party and could precipitate new elections in Israel. Mr. Peres has been a political fixture in the Jewish government. He has served twice as Israel's prime minister, once following the formation of a unity government in 1984 when he was an alternate prime minister with Likud leader Yitzhak Shamir and again in 1995 after Yitzhak Rabin, who was prime minister, was assassinated. Mr. Peres has held several other government posts, including deputy defense minister, minister of immigrant absorption, minister-withoutportfolio, minister of transport and communication, and minister of information. Mr. Sharon appointed Mr. Peres as foreign minister, a post he held until Labor left the government in 2003. Mr. Sharon then created the position of vice prime minister for Mr. Peres when Labor again joined Mr. Sharon's coalition in December. Mr. Peres founded the Center for Peace in 1996 with the goal of "realizing [Peres's] 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," according to the center's Web site. Janet Lehr is editor/publisher of a daily e-mail called "Israel Lives." She can be contacted at janetlehr@mindstring.com To Go To Top

TITLE VI SUPPORTS THE MAJOR ISLAMISTS IN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES. REVAMP IT Posted by Janet Lehr, April 15, 2005.

Letter to Members of Congress: There is no justification for an additional penny of support for this empire [the Middle East Studies Departments] of error - and no better time to reexamine the federal subsidies it already enjoys. WRITE YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES - www.vote-smart.org will enable you to find your representatives - just input the zip code of the location you vote from. WRITE ALL REPRESENTATIVES ON THE EDUCATION COMMITTEE Subcommittee on Select Education Members and Jurisdiction http://edworkforce.house.gov/members/109th/mem-sed.htm#juris-sed#juris-sed Patrick Tiberi - http://www.house.gov/tiberi/ R-OH Chairman Cathy McMorris http://www.mcmorris.house.gov/ R-WA Vice Chairman Rubén Hinojosa http://www.house.gov/hinojosa/ D-TX Ranking Minority Member Mark E. Souder http://souder.house.gov/ R-IL Danny K. Davis http://www.house.gov/davis/ D-IL Jon C. Porter http://www.house.gov/porter/ R-NV Chris Van Hollen http://www.house.gov/vanhollen/ D-MD Bob Inglis http://www.house.gov/inglis/ R-SC Tim Ryan http://www.house.gov/timryan/ D-OH http://www.house.gov/fortuno/ Luis G. Fortu&numl;o R-Puerto Rico George Miller http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/, ex officio D-CA George.Miller@mail.house.gov; John A. Boehner http://www.house.gov/boehner/, ex officio R-OH Jurisdiction of the Subcommittee on Select Education Title VI (International Programs) and Title VII (Graduate and Postsecondary Improvement programs) and Title I, as it relates to those Titles, and oversight of Titles III (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and V (Hispanic Serving Institutions), of the Higher Education Programs; environmental education programs; all matters dealing with programs and services for the elderly, including nutrition programs and the Older Americans Act; domestic volunteer programs; library services and construction; programs related to the arts and humanities, museum services, and arts and artifacts indemnity; services for at risk youth; child abuse/domestic violence prevention programs; adoption programs; School to Work Opportunities Act. Write me at janetlehr@mindspring.com for a complete list of Members of Congress. The following are two articles are from 2003 - don't feel that they are outdated, they are well written and focus on a problem that grows worse and worse. Middle East studies at Columbia University and many other Universities and Colleges world wide are in the news with frequency, why? They have spent years polishing their message. MESA, the Middle East Studies Association of college professors, has polished a disgusting, disingenuous line for years, which you hear today in the MEALAC controversy at Columbia and being espoused by all Middle East professors. Martin Kramer's original article clearly lays out the Muslim line used to inveigle their way in to advisory posts in government and other guidance positions such as NYC's teacher education systems. It is worth reading. Pipes article on Title VI (US govt funding of these programs) outlines the amazing facts detailing US govt support for the programs that are supporting more than bias. They support outright lies and untruths, they support not reevaluation of history, but the invention of history. Don't read and weep, read and write your congressional representative AND any or all of the committee members or sub committee members. This is a high energy Congress. It is moving quickly through legislation - Title VI needs revision. Each of us can do our part. Write your letters, and forward this email. "Terrorism? What Terrorism?!" was written by Martin Kramer and appeared in the Wall Street Journal November 15, 2001. The Middle East Studies Association of North America convenes Saturday in San Francisco. Its membership includes 2,600 "experts" on the Middle East, most of them based in universities. On Sept. 21, MESA's board issued a statement on the terror attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It encapsulates all the ills of this very sick discipline-one that did nothing to prepare America for the encounter with Muslim extremism, and that can't contribute anything to America's defense. Before we get to the statement, a little background is necessary. For 50 years, American universities and foundations, along with the U.S. government, have fostered the growth of Middle Eastern studies. Today, most Americans can take degrees in Middle Eastern politics, history, and languages without crossing a state line. Fourteen Middle East programs are National Resource Centers-that is, they enjoy an annual subsidy from the American taxpayer, through the Department of Education. Some of these scholars have done important work. But when it comes to contemporary affairs, their record has been abysmal. The last time they basked in the national limelight, a decade ago, they warned that a war to expel Iraq from Kuwait would be disastrous. Later, in order to burnish the image of contemporary Islam, they downplayed the growth of Muslim extremism, helping to lull America into complacency. In so doing, they dutifully followed the lead of Columbia University's Edward Said, an honorary member of MESA. In introducing the latest edition of his book, "Covering Islam," Mr. Said mocked "speculations about the latest conspiracy to blow up buildings, sabotage commercial airliners and poison water supplies." Such talk was based on "highly exaggerated stereotyping." Many denounce U.S. policy in extreme terms, believing the Middle East is subjected to a "neoliberal, repressive 'pax Americana'"-a description of the American role offered by incoming MESA president Joel Beinin of Stanford. The past head of Columbia's Middle East Institute, Richard Bulliet, has called American efforts to promote democracy part of "a world hegemonic discourse of Western cultural imperialism." This is the necessary background to understanding MESA's statement. Its most striking feature is a studied avoidance of the words "terror," "terrorism," and "terrorist." These were "violent acts," "horrific acts," and "tragic events." But even now, the board members of MESA cannot bring themselves to describe any Arabs or Muslims-even suicide kamikazes who kill thousands of American civilians-as terrorists. It's not surprising. For years the academics' response to terrorism has been to act as amplifiers for the "grievances" behind it. For the professors, terrorism was a kind of political protest-and since they sympathized with its supposed motives, they expelled the word "terrorism" from their lexicon. This weekend's conference demonstrates the neglect: With the exception of a hastily announced special panel, nothing in the program deals with terrorism. MESA urges calm while "those who planned and perpetrated the crimes are identified and brought to justice in courts of law." Crimes-not acts of war. The same professors, who in one breath will tell you that the roots of terrorism are political, will tell you in the next breath that mass murder should be treated like a felony. And the scholars imply that lone men committed these "crimes," ignoring the role of the state or states that must have aided, abetted and sheltered the terrorists. MESA's bottom line: No use of force is legitimate, even against terrorists and their accomplices. Finally, MESA's board members are "deeply concerned that innocent people in the Middle East may become the targets of misguided retaliation." Needless to say, no one wants "misguided retaliation." But where is the companion sentence expressing "deep concern" that attacks could recur? It isn't there, despite the fact that the Middle East may be pregnant with more such attacks. In short, the academics remain in a state of denial. They refuse to acknowledge that their paradigms collapsed with the Twin Towers. But the record of failure exacts no price. Ironically, the very same professors who helped to anesthetize America to the dangers of radical Islam are enjoying a windfall: Their phones don't stop ringing, their books sell briskly, and their courses fill to overflowing. During or after this crisis, they will find some pliant senator or congressman willing to propose additional budgets for Middle Eastern studies under the rubric of national security. The State Department already wants to use professors for "public diplomacy" in Muslim countries. But as we begin to ask why the country was so unprepared, one conclusion is inescapable: The academics are part of the problem, not its remedy. It will be necessary to start from scratch in building the understanding that must inform America's future actions. There are no quick fixes, and no steps should be taken before a comprehensive assessment of national needs in Middle Eastern studies. In the meantime, there is no danger in simply ignoring the professors who meet this weekend in San Francisco. MESA's board called on "those with responsibility for U.S. policy in the Middle East and the Islamic world to avail themselves of the insights of scholarship." Mr. President, don't waste your time. The professors don't meet the course prerequisites. Members of Congress: There is no justification for an additional penny of support for this empire of error-and no better time to reexamine the federal subsidies it already enjoys. This was written by Daniel Pipes, New York Post (http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/1629.htm), June 24, 2003. It can be found at http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1133 The U.S. Congress broke with a 45-year tradition last week: It permitted a dissident to critique the federal funding for the study of foreign language and cultures - to suggest that the program often serves the very opposite of academia's goals or the nation's interests. The topic impinges on core questions of how Americans see the outside world and themselves. It also has major implications for U.S. policy. Federal funding of international studies (known in govermentese as "Title VI fellowships") is relatively new, going back to 1959, when Cold War tensions prompted a sense of American vulnerability. The goal was to supply knowledgeable specialists to government, business, industry and education. (Full disclosure: I received a Title VI fellowship in the mid '70s.) The $86.2 million a year spent on Title VI programs makes up just 0.0005 percent of the federal budget, but it funds 118 "national resource centers" and provides an endorsement of them that encourages other donors. Universities quickly came to depend on this subsidy of their graduate students and area studies centers. That's why last Thursday's hearing of the House Subcommittee on Select Education on "International Programs in Higher Education and Questions of Bias" was so potentially significant: It challenges that funding. The event showcased Stanley Kurtz, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, who explained the problems at Title VI centers. Himself an anthropologist of South Asia, Kurtz since 9/11 has developed a systematic critique of Middle East studies. His testimony argued that this field is dominated by an approach called post-colonial theory. Developed primarily by Edward Said of Columbia University, it holds, in Kurtz's words, that "it is immoral for a scholar to put his knowledge of foreign languages and cultures at the service of American power." The predominance of post-colonial theory had two major consequences: * Exclusion of pro-American voices: Kurtz gave several examples, such as the Web site of New York University's Middle East center (http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/program/neareast): Every one of its commentaries on 9/11 and the Iraq war that takes a political stand, he found, "sharply criticizes American policy." * "Condemnation of scholars who cooperate with the American government": For example, the Middle East Studies Association boycotted the National Security Education Program (NSEP), a Pentagon-funded effort to develop a cadre of professionals to help the U.S. government "make sound decisions" on national security issues. In other words, Title VI funding at times reduces the expertise available to the government. To counter this pattern of bias and alienation, Kurtz proposes three steps for Congress. * Create a supervisory board, made up of executive branch representatives and other appointees, to manage Title VI spending, as is now the case with other federally funded educational programs. * Amend the Higher Education Act to deny Title VI funding to any university or center that boycotts the NSEP. * Reduce allocations for Title VI to register displeasure with the bias of area studies. Start by rescinding the $20 million added to Title VI after 9/11 and direct it instead to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., to train students intending careers in the defense and intelligence agencies. Confronted by this powerful critique, the education establishment's lobbyist at the hearing, Terry Hartle, was reduced to posturing about the supposed patriotism of his constituents. He also dismissed Kurtz's case as anecdotal and claimed historians and political scientists "rarely find" post-colonial theory useful. The fellow even pretended (and this falsehood must have rankled) that Edward Said's work "reached its apex of popularity more than a decade ago and has been waning ever since." Hardly! search engine of syllabi finds Said to be one of the very most-taught authors in the field. He is, as Martin Kramer points out, "one of only two academics today (the other is Noam Chomsky) who draws an overflow crowd on any campus he visits and who always gets a standing ovation." Hartle is wrong and Kurtz is right. Indeed, Kurtz understates the problem, for anti-Americanism among Middle East specialists has other sources besides post-colonial theory, such as fury at strong U.S.-Israel relations or sympathy for the Iranian regime. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) chairs the House Subcommittee on Select Education. Taxpayers have no better way to challenge the failure of Middle East studies than by writing him at: tellhoek@mail.house.gov. Janet Lehr is editor/publisher of a daily e-mail called "Israel Lives." She can be contacted at janetlehr@mindstring.com To Go To Top

DUMPED TEMPLE MOUNT RUBBLE YIELDS JEWISH ARTIFACTS Posted by Bryna Berch, April 14, 2005.

When Israel took Jerusalem in 1967, the Arabs asked if they could continue to go up to their mosques on the Temple Mount - expecting that Israel would act like Arabs and say no. Instead, Israel put them in charge! So now the Arabs kick up a storm at Jews coming to the Temple Mount and have been destroying Jewish artefacts in a brazen attempt to "prove" Israel didn't have a Second Temple on this site. It's nice that Jewish archeologists are saving artefacts by digging in the rubble. It would be nicer if Jews asserted their control of the Temple Mount. Then any and all archeology was done under controlled conditions, so important location information wouldn't be lost. This item is from today's Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com). A historic excavation has been taking place in an eastern Jerusalem valley for the past six months: the first-ever archaeological examination of the Temple Mount. Arutz-7's Ezra HaLevi has taken an exclusive inside look into one of the most important and unique archaeological explorations in history - currently in danger of going unfinished due to lack of funding. In November 1999, the Islamic Wakf carried out an illegal construction project on the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site. The unsupervised digging caused irreparable damage to the important site, as well as to untold priceless artifacts contained in rubble removed during the construction and dumped clandestinely in the Kidron Valley. Though the archaeological remains were no longer in their original contexts, they held enormous potential to shed light on the undocumented human history of the Temple Mount, as systematic archaeological excavation or scientific study have never taken place there. The mounds of dirt in the Kidron Valley therefore contained the only available data from the Temple Mount to which modern archaeologists have ever had access. During the illegal excavations and dumping on and from the Temple Mount, the police and the government Antiquities Authority refused to interfere, citing concerns of violence by Muslims who deny that Temples ever stood on the Temple Mount. Tzachi Zweig, then an archaeology student, called a press conference to publicize the extent of the archaeological havoc being perpetrated. Zweig caused a stir in the media by displaying an assortment of artifacts that he had easily scooped out of the piles. The story elicited outrage across the political spectrum in Israel, and this was followed by temporary restrictions on the free access of heavy construction equipment on the Temple Mount. The dirt itself into which the Waqf had mixed garbage was meanwhile ignored, and the Antiquities Authority refused to fund an examination of the tons of rubble. Prominent archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkai decided to undertake the task of sifting through the 70 truckloads of Temple Mount dirt in order to rescue as much archaeological information from the destruction as possible. What they did was an archaeological disaster," Barkai told Israel National Radio's Eli Stutz and Yishai Fleisher. "That material is the only material available from the Temple Mount." Private donations were gathered, and Zweig and Barkai proceeded to bring truckloads of earth to the Tzurim Valley National Park, located on the western slope of Mount Scopus, just below Hebrew University and the Maaleh Adumim tunnel. The work was done quietly. "Anything in Jerusalem is politically charged," Barkai said. "Anything connected with the Temple Mount is even more sensitive. If our activity would have been known at the beginning, our work might have been jeopardized by unfriendly elements." Using a mechanical sifter, the rubble was first separated into heaps consisting of material of differing sizes. The piles were then sifted by hand. The work at the site was at first conducted primarily by volunteers who heard of the project by word of mouth and through Jerusalem-based email lists. Soon, groups from schools or other programs began pitching in for a few hours at a time. Eventually, Zweig began paying some of the more dedicated volunteers to work full-time, and since then, progress has increased significantly. The very act of spending time and making the effort to examine debris just because it originates from the Temple Mount transmits a very powerful message to the general public and to the world as a whole about the importance of the place,' Dr. Barkai said, likening the painstaking examination of the Temple Mount rubble to the respect given to a dead corpse by burying it. He said the project is of particular importance due to the Islamic Waqf efforts to perpetrate something that he says is worse than Holocaust denial. "There is a phenomenon of Temple denial," Barkai said. "I just heard [Arab] MK Dahamshe this week in the Knesset denying that there were ever temples on the Temple Mount. It is a part of the cultural Intifada. I think it is just as serious as Holocaust denial. This intifada started in Joseph's tomb and is trying to deny Jewish rights to the country." The sifting and examinations have already yielded important artifacts from various periods, starting from the First Temple period until today. Among the discoveries so far: * During the first days of the project, a coin was recovered from the time of the Great Revolt against the Romans, preceding the destruction of the Second Temple. It bore the Hebrew phrase L'erut Tzion, "For the Freedom of Zion." The find was particularly meaningful, as the Temple Mount itself was one of the focal points of the Revolt. * A few days later, on the eve of Chanukah, workers discovered the 'pinched style' spout of a Hasmonaean lamp. * Several weeks later, on the Tenth of Teveth - one of the fast days commemorating events that lead to the destruction of the First Temple - a crusader arrowhead was discovered. Though this was from a later period than the Temple's destruction, arrowheads were subsequently recovered from earlier periods. * An unexpected find, due to the Waqf's removal of almost all large artifacts, was a large segment of a marble pillar's shaft - one meter tall and 60 cm in diameter, streaked with purple veins and white spots. There is another segment of a column shaft with a similar texture lying in a heap of various marble column shafts near the southern wall within the Temple Mount. Both fragments seem to be from the same pillar. * A large amount of pottery shards were discovered. Some 10-20 percent of it stems from the time of the First Temple period, and a small amount comes from the Second Temple period. * Animal bones - remnants of sacrifices. * A number of mosaic tiles and prehistoric flint implements. * An inscription chiseled on a jar fragment of the First Temple period, with the ancient Hebrew letters 'Heh,' 'Ayin' and 'Kof.' * A seal impression from the Hellenistic period showing a five-pointed star with the ancient Hebrew letters spelling 'Jerusalem' spaced between the points. About 30 such impressions have been found in Jerusalem on handles from the Hellenistic period (3rd century BCE). This was apparently a kind of official stamp from a period about which very little is known. * Numerous ceramic oil lamps were found. The most common among them are 'Herodian lamps' from the time of the Second Temple. Another frequently found lamp is the 'sandal' type, characteristic of the late Byzantine period (6-7th century CE). Many are decorated menorah patterns. * About 100 ancient coins, including several from the period of the Hasmonaean dynasty. One of the Hasmonean coins bears an inscription 'Yehonatan High Priest, friend of the Jews.' On the other side is a cornucopia with a pomegranate in the center. Another coin is of Alexander Jannaeus. One side has the design of an anchor and the other side a star. * A fragment of a figurine from the First Temple period. * A Scytho-Iranian arrowhead, of the type used by the Babylonian army of Nebuchadnezzar that destroyed the First Temple in 586 BCE. Very few such arrowheads have been found in Jerusalem. * A bronze arrowhead from the Hellenistic period, possibly a remnant left by the Seleucid forces that were stationed in the Akra fortress, or by soldiers of Shimon the Maccabee, who liberated the Temple Mount. * An ivory comb, apparently from the Second Temple period. Similar combs have been found at Qumran, and it is probable that they were used as preparation for ritual purification in a mikveh (ritual bath), prior to entering the Temple courts. 'Our prime intent is to collect all man-made relics so that later we will be able to conduct a more intensive study based on quantitative analyses,' Barkai said. 'By these studies we may learn more about the level of activity on the Temple Mount during the different periods, and the characteristics of each period. Another plan is to sort the bones, identify the various animal species, and date some of them by Carbon-14 analysis.' Because such a sensitive excavation of material had never before taken place, and because the material had been purposely mixed with garbage and other matter, Zweig and Barkai had a difficult time estimating how much time the excavation would take. Despite six months of work, to date only 15% of the rubble has been examined. 'We had to develop the work methods ourselves as we progressed,' Zweig said. They now estimate that it will take four more months to finish sifting all of the material, but their initial grant of $65,000 has nearly run out. $61,000 more is needed to finish the project, something the two say could be accomplished by the end of the summer using the methods they now use. For information and to assist the project, contact: "zachism@miac.com" To Go To Top

WHY BARAKA SHOULD BE UNENDORSED BY THE NATIONAL WRITERS UNION (NWU) Posted by Marion Dreyfus, April 14, 2005.

[Editor's Note: This is an exchange between members of NUW. The chair, Louis Rivera accepted the notorious Amiri Baraka as keynote speaker at an Arab-American literature conference and was challenged by several members. A point of interest is that while people usually don't invite people who are against blacks or against feminists or other minorities for fear of the furor that would follow, they have no problem inviting anti-Semites and it is the Jews who are on the defensive. As Marion Dreyfus says, "We [Jews] should not have to jump through hoops to object to vilification."] I wanted to add my voice to the discussion of endorsing--or otherwise--the prospective literary conference supposedly keynoted by Amiri Baraka. As soon as I saw the announcement, in fact, I sent in an objection, and indeed am surprised that you have not indicated the others--there must have been many--who objected to this poet being accorded this honor in the name, somehow, of the NWU. You seem to exonerate the many public statements of Mr. Baraka where he clearly casts aspersions and bias at Jews and Israelis. The fact that 'only' one or two stanzas in a 60-odd-stanza poem cast vulgar and untrue charges at Jews--or Israelis, it does not really, in the end, matter very much, as Martin Luther King Jr., astutely observed decades ago--should immediately obviate him from the running, if one has any empathy for a large contingent of members who are offended by this man who evoked such revulsion that many tried to revoke his position as the (ludicrous) 'poet laureate of New Jersey.' The nomenclature was silly, and his bloviating refusal to step down when asked was telling then, and now. A single paragraph where ugly and anti-Semitic insults are made at the expense of any minority is not acceptable. Surely there are poets without this stain against their records. Whether he is 'playing the dozens' or recapitulating the format of the African griot is of no consequence. I do not appreciate his coarseness and misrepresentation, his nasty assertions and his less than stellar choice of illegitimate and false targets. He can say what he likes; decent people do not have to endorse it or second it. You seem to have little understanding of the corrosive effect of celebrating someone who casually and without justifiction maligns others. That you heard him read his poem means nothing to those of us who are repelled by his stance. That you saw it or read it afterwards similarly counts for nothing. Were a Jewish poet to viciously slur the group of humans to which you belong, would you sit amiably by, and ask others to recognize the literary content of his 'other' paragraphs or pages? Clearly, no. In the course of your peroration justifying the inclusion of this less-than-stellar writer, whose work, many would agree, has not been of a uniform quality, you mentioned that many on the 'planet' have read his work. Mein Kampf is also popular: Is that an acceptable model of usable literature? The hoax and forgery called the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is popular, too: It is routinely used as the basis for incitement and attacks against Jews, although it has been repeatedly shown to be an utter fake. That a man of whose work we can say at best is of dubious value is well-known ought not to be a deciding factor. Popularity is not the yardstick: Ability, achievement, excellence of literary quality, acceptability to all listeners might be far more sensible measuring gauges. Mao in his time was well-known, infamous everywhere--but though his literary and calligraphic output were, indeed, superior (I have seen his personal scrolls and his poetry is engaging and affecting, his calligraphy gorgeous), he would not for other reasons make for an endorsable keynote to decent people who had a choice. It is not 'censure' you are referring to, but censorship. It is not a 'rubrik' but a rubric. Not backing this embarrassment of a writer does not represent anything other than a choice. It is not censorship to pass over the unacceptable and to opt for a better, less repellent or hurtful or biased writer. No one is preventing this man from speaking or publishing whatever he wishes. I do not, however, have to invite him to my Sweet 16. No one is censoring him. He just has no place being in the limelight as an exemplary "Arab-American" literary light. He is not that, in any case. In the course of your self-justification, murky sentences obtrude. You wrote the following: "Imagine, if you will, a series of dialogues between Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Jewish, Arab, Middle Eastern, Asian, African, African American writers [...]." But do you not realize that "Jewish" is not the equivalent of Mexican or Dominican? That Jews live in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominica, the Middle East, Africa and everywhere else where human beings reside? Why say "Arab," then "Middle Eastern"? Would you recognize that many blacks are not African american, but hail from many nations before becoming citizens of the United states? You seem to be painting with a too-broad brush that ignores many salients best examined and not airily dismissed under headings too inexact to have meaning. That Amiri Baraka once quoted mythical "Israeli newspapers" is neither here nor there. Neither the Israelis nor world Jewry were behind the 9/11 savagery. The men who perpetrated the event were 15 Saudis and 4 Egyptians. All were fanatic Muslims. None, to repeat, were Jews or Israelis. To even take Baraka's point here, no matter what raving rubbish may have been used by him as a post-criticism justification, is itself quite questionable. I doubt he saw what he claims to have seen, but whatever it was he claims to have seen, it was nonsense spouted by people who wanted perhaps to advance the agenda of anti-Semitism or anti-Zionism. If you or the Committee want to endorse an Arab writer, perhaps you could look for an Arab writer. Baraka is not Arab. Nor, consequently, can he be Arab-American. If he is a convert to Muslim beliefs, that does not make him an Arab. Surely there are poets of note who do not bring with them the pervasive and hurtful baggage of this notorious and unpleasant malcontent. My reading of the poem in question, by the way, brings impoverished ravings and mediocre at best linguistic imagery, hardly the mark of a poet to be recommended, endorsed or co-sponsored. The work is one which fairly shouts laziness and easy-grab-street. It is hardly his best, yet it has become well-known precisely because it is so unmeasured and polarizingly extreme. The law of the media is apparently the law of the chosen headliner: If it bleeds, it leads. To propose, furthermore, that anyone who questions your regrettable and short-sighted (and ultimately, unnecessary--who would care if you failed to endorse this selection? No one. It would go unreported and unremarked, if we of the NWU had not brought up the endorsement as unworthy of the organization of which we are all proud members) decision must also, for some reason, also read Fanon before making a counterevailing proposal is contemptuous and little-minded. My reaction, based on years as a teacher of poetry, a published poet myself, as a Jew, and as a member of the should-be neutral NWU is perfectly enough to justify this objection or any other objection. We should not have to jump through hoops to object to vilification. The contrary is the case. So insofar as you ask the question: What would we (NWU) have you do? It should be very clear: There is no reason whatsoever to endorse this shadowed and often-derided historical leftover from an uglier past. Marion Dreyfus New York, NY From: Webmaster NWU NY To: Mailing List NWU Subject: [Tonwunymembers] Why Baraka? Louisreyesrivera@aol.com writes: Dear NWU Member: I received the following emails from a brother and sister member of our New York chapter regarding Amiri Baraka appearing as keynote speaker at a fundraiser (eburst previously forwarded to all) for the upcoming June Arab American Writers Conference. I thought the exchange worth noting, enough to share this with all of our members for the sake of open dialogue. I would appreciate your response to this email and of your interest in what I have proposed as part of my response. Thank you much. Louis Reyes Rivera, Chairperson, NY Chapter/NWU gf@geoffreyfox.com writes: Thank you, Trisha, for expressing your concern and for your temperate approach. I have not been a member of the steering committee since December, and so know no more about this than you do. I'm forwarding your message to the members of the steering committee. Perhaps Louis Reyes Rivera or one of the other members will be able to respond. trixfrig@ix.netcom.com writes: Dear NWU-NY, I would like to understand the reasoning behing co-sponsoring an event honoring Mr. Baraka, a man who appears to have written that Jews were behind 9/11. I applaud sponsoring an event honoring Arab-American writers, organized by Arab Americans, who are certainly entitled to honor anyone they want. I am not advocating censorship of any kind. But as a progressive Jew who does not hate herself for being a Jew and as a member in good standing of the NWU, I would really like to understand your thinking in also sponsoring this event, specifically this man. I really want to know. I am not writing to harangue or yell, or demand that you withdraw sponsorship, But I want you to know -- it is hurtful to think that my chapter of NWU would feel okay honoring a man who ascribes most of the world's problems to me and mine. And to my friend, Richard Aronow, a Jew who died in the WTC. Amiri Baraka has been a great writer and received many honors but he has made many anti-semitic statements (which I separate out from anti-Israeli statements.) Is that really what we want to honor? Or is okay with you? And if it is, why is it okay with you? I look forward to your response, Trisha Arlin Louisreyesrivera@aol.com writes: To Trisha Arlin: For your information, I am sending both the entire email(s) I received, including my response, to all the other current members of the New York chapter's Steering Committee as well as to Gerry Colby, President of the NWU, that they may see how I responded to your query and have the opportunity to disagree with either of us... Since you are not attempting to harangue (your word), I will not attempt to apologize (that is, in the classical sense of apologia), defend or excuse whatever it is that our Steering Committee's decisions have encompassed... Your approach appears to me to comprise an honest attempt at dialogue, and this will be the basis for my response... (1) As to the endorsement... You should know that the National Office of the NWU was initially approached by RAWI, the group of Arab American Writers responsible for organizing what will take place in June (a literary conference). The NO saw it as proper to endorse and support the efforts to bring together the various genres and schools of thought within the Arab American communities under the rubrik of literary output. It was only then that the local New York chapter was asked by the National if we would join in to endorse both the forthcoming June conference and the organizers' attempts to garner the necessary money through the fundraising dinner scheduled to take place next Thursday, April 14, 2005. The endorsement from us was to include an attempt on our part to encourage our members to support and endorse both the conference and the fundraising attempt (thus, the eburst that you have apparently received). In short, this is the extent of our involvement (period). How the primary organizers prepare their program for a fundraising dinner, who they choose as their keynote speaker, in what manner is all of this to unfold, what culinary tastes are to be considered, where the dinner takes place and how the publicity is handled are all factors that do not/did not fall within our purview. To attempt to involve ourselves in any of this for purposes of approval or disapproval is, in my opinion, an infringement upon their access to what far too many of our citizens take too much for granted -- freedom of movement and cultural expression. That they chose Baraka as keynote is simply that: their choice and fully exercised within the parameters of how they view world literature (whatever else anyone wishes to say about their keynote speaker, the fact is that he is the single most well known and among the more highly respected contributors to that canon: world literature; he is known and read throughout the planet). That I, one individual member of a union of writers, may or may not agree or disagree with his manner of pontification, with his literary style and content, is really beside the point that rests (way down deep) underneath a much larger premise: a group of writers wishing to organize a literary conference and to establish their own mechanisms to garner the means by which to pay for it are asking me for an endorsement of their endeavor. What would you have me do? Say NO! Say, "Yes, but only if you...." (fill in the blank). That's censureship, if not backward, at best. At worst, it borders on what we understand as dictatorial,... which should never come from either a union or from a collective of writers. I believe that I have answered your query: (quote) "I would like to understand the reasoning behind co-sponsoring [this] event..." which you, yourself, said that you "applaud." 2) As to Baraka, the poet. While you do applaud the effort, you single out Baraka as a man "who appears to have written that Jews were behind 9/11." I believe you are referring to the poem, Who Blew Up America, written by Baraka almost immediately after the assault on the World Trade Center. I happen to have heard him read that poem before a live audience apparently just after he had finished it and long before "it" became such a controversial item. I also happen to have read that poem in printed form no less than three times, one of which was on the airwaves of WBAI... Your use of the phrase, "appears to have written," says to me that you have not read that poem, but did read about it. I believe you should take the time and go to google and pull it out and read it. If my memory serves, the poem consists of roughly 64 stanzas, give or take two. Each stanza is written in such a way as to make use of the rhetorical (and each stanza clearly reminiscent of the African American oral tradition of "playing the dozens"). Again, if my memory serves, if and when the term "Jew" or "Jewish" is used in that poem, it is allusional only to the European Jewish Holocaust (circa WW II), with further allusions to gas ovens and such other images, and within the context of comparison to the blowing up of close to 4,000 people --rhetorically and constantly asking probing questions that border on humanisms. Of the sixty-four stanzas, there's only one that refers to Israelis (not Jews) absenting themselves that day from the WTC, which, according to Baraka, is information that he had garnered from Israeli newspapers covering that catastrophic and tragedious assault upon our New York Persons. Baraka's opponents have, in my opinion, taken that stanza out of context and have misrepresented its intent. But that's part of the historical mystique we refer to as Baraka. Controversial and probing, enough so that those twins always get him into trouble. Having been aware of his writings ever since the days he hung tough with Ginsberg and Kerouc, etal, watching him go through both his ultra nationalist phase and into his communist-influenced currency --knowing all of that, should I stand against him? No. I can't! I did take the time to carefully read Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth," where he psychologically profiles people like Baraka. Should I withdraw my support for an Arab American Literature Conference simply because the organizers chose him as a keynote speaker for their program? You tell me, and I'd be more than happy to consider your viewpoint. That is, if you have read his poem carefully and if you have taken the time to look at Fanon. If I may paraphrase the Guatemalean poet, Otto Rene Castillo, it gladdens me that you do not the forms of injustice that have informed Baraka. It gladdens me that you are not self-hating, and I applaud you for your strength, as I too do know the implications of what you've written in that regard. But underneath your questions regarding Baraka are deeper questions that I would love to help address: how the ways we disagree end up being rooted in distortion and misunderstanding. The presumptions you make regarding people like Baraka are areas that intrigue me into wanting to ask (as I did of the conference organizers): would you be interested in helping us to formulate public discourse of what it is that separates so many of us New Yorkers, one from the other. I would love to see writers discussing in Town Hall manner exactly what comprises their sensibilities and how that fares in light of each. In Brooklyn, for example, today you can hear no less than 84 different languages being spoken, with the best representatives from each of those constituencies not in touch with one another. Imagine, if you will, a series of dialogues between Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Jewish, Arab, Middle Eastern, Asian, African, African American writers engaging a public discourse aired and confronting the contradictions and contradistinctions that shape each of our unique and respective perspectives. You and I read different books and are thus shaped by the information we receive and absorb as well as by the experiences unique to each of us. And yet we bear Common Differences. Imagine a series of panels like that. Thank you much for sharing your thoughts, and I hope to hear from you and to note whether or not I answered your questions. Louis Reyes Rivera Poet/ Chair NWU/NY Marion Dreyfus is a writer and travelor; she has taught English in China on the university level. She can be contacted at dreyfusmarion@hotmail.com To Go To Top

PRESIDENT BUSH: HOW YOU CAN MAKE A MAJOR IMPACT ON THE WAR ON TERROR Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, April 14, 2005.

CLICK HERE to send the following message to President Bush, Prime Minister Sharon, Vice President Cheney, leaders of Congress and 20 mayors of communities in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. You may change this letter as you see fit. Dear President Bush, Thank you for agreeing with Prime Minister Sharon, at your meeting with him on April 11th, that terrorism must stop before there can be any movement toward peace in the Arab/Israel conflict. Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is coming to the Texas ranch on April 25th and will meet with you to discuss his Road Map and the Disengagement Plan. Mr. President, this meeting will provide you with a perfect opportunity to make a major impact in your war against terror. On behalf of the 3,000 victims of 9/11, all of their families and all Americans who are indirect victims of the radical Islamic threat engulfing us, we urge you to make demands upon Saudi Arabia. It is true that: The Road Map is a plan designed and promoted by Saudi Arabia. Our arch-enemy, Osama bin Laden came from Saudi Arabia. 15 of the 19 September 11th suicide bombers came from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia provides financial backing for international terrorism, including weaponry. Saudi Arabia provides the payment of $25,000 to the parents of each Palestinian suicide murderer. This has to stop immediately. President Bush, you have it within your power to immediately stop most of the violence in Israel and throughout the Middle East by taking a firm stand. Please demand that Saudi Arabia stop its financial support of terrorism. This should be your number one priority with Crown Prince Abdullah. Terrorism cannot survive without Saudi Arabian financial support. This is at the very root of the global radical terrorist movement. If the money dries up - terrorism will die. We look to you, as our President, to deliver this message. If you single-handedly make this demand, you will greatly advance our cause in our war against terror and will ultimately go down in history as a one of our greatest statesmen. Signed, 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!" To Go To Top

TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS CONTINUE SMUGGLING ARMS AND AMMUNITION FROM EGYPT INTO ISRAEL Posted by Dr. Reuven Erlich, April 14, 2005.

In the wake of the lull in the fighting, terrorist organizations step up efforts to smuggle arms and ammunition from Egypt into Israel and the Gaza Strip. In the absence of effective counter-measures by the Palestinian Authority, this phenomenon is expected to continue even more intensely. Against the backdrop of the lull, the terrorist organizations have recently stepped up their efforts to smuggle arms and ammunition from Egypt into the Gaza Strip and Israeli territory. This stems from the organizations' interest to take advantage of the lull to increase their operative capabilities and accumulate power in anticipation of Israel 's implementation of its disengagement plan. Against this backdrop, there has recently been a visible increase in the extent of smuggling arms and ammunition from Egypt into the Gaza Strip and Israel. Some of the smuggling activity is carried out in the Rafah region, using the tunnels passing underneath the Philadelphi Road (which served as the lifeline of the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip even before the lull 1), and some of the activity is carried out through Sinai (to the Gaza Strip and Israel). Since the beginning of 2005, there have been approximately 30 incidents of smuggling from the Sinai region, some to the Gaza Strip and some to the Negev. Since the beginning of the year, approximately 1000 rifles 2, dozens of RPG launchers, about 150 handguns and tens of thousands of bullets have been smuggled from Sinai to the Gaza Strip 3. It appears that during the month of March, about 5 anti-aircraft shoulder missiles were smuggled into the Gaza Strip using one of the tunnels. Figures in the Palestinian military intelligence and members of Hamas took part in that activity. The Palestinian Authority attempts to demonstrate action against the tunnel activity in Rafah and has even uncovered approximately 20 tunnels during the lull. However, the measures it takes against the smuggling activity and the smugglers are not thorough and effective enough, and members of the military security even assist the smugglers. 1 See in this context the Information Bulletin (July 27, 2004) published on our website, titled: The City of Rafah, on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt: A hotbed of Palestinian terrorism and arms smuggling through the illegal "tunnel industry". 2 During the last month, Hamas smuggled approximately 600 rifles and numerous ammunition crates into the Gaza Strip. 3 In the course of 2004, about 4500 rifles, over 1000 handguns, hundreds of thousands of bullets, and over 25 RPG launchers were smuggled from Sinai. Dr. Reuven Erlich is Head of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel. Its website address is http://www.intelligence.org It is worth reading this article in the original, which contains additional material and graphics. To Go To Top

ISRAEL BELONGS TO THE JEWS Posted by Lise Rubin, April 14, 2005.

ISRAEL BELONGS TO THE JEWS! OVER 2000 NON-JEWS WENT TO CRAWFORD, TEXAS, JUST TO TELL THAT TO PRESIDENT BUSH To Go To Top

NEW YESHA COURTS Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, April 14, 2005.

Not even the pretence of democracy or the rule of law is being attempted here any more. We now have at least two official Kangaroo courts set up to process the opponents of the Sharon dictatorship. No doubt this is only the beginning and similar courts will eventually be set up in the rest of the country. The progression to a totalitarian, police state is picking up pace. Yeshah is already under martial law. The Negev is being prepared for martial law and will fall under in a month or so. Jerusalem was unofficially under martial law to deal with the Har Habeit attempt and it could easily become official in the near future. The intimidations, beatings, illegal arrests and possibly disappearances continue. It is the police under direct control of dictator Sharon who tell the Members of the Knesset what they may or may not do and anyone objecting 'can drink water from the Mediterranean.' The desperate members of the ruling elite are placing the maximum pressure on the people of Israel in hope that there will be some sort of violent response. This to justify a massive retaliation. No doubt if no one will burn down the Reichstag on their own, Sharon will arrange for it to happen anyway. This is a news item from today's Arutz-7 and is archived at http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=80259. It is called "Lawyers Against New Yesha Courts" (IsraelNN.com) Several senior lawyers have charged that a recent decision to establish special courts for Yesha residents was made illegally. Court system administrators decided to establish two courts near Beersheba jails which have been designated for those arrested during the scheduled evacuation this summer of Gaza's 8,000 Jewish residents. Senior lawyers charged that the court administrator Shlomo Cohen conducted an illegal telephone vote to win support for the new courts and that one of the backers is the attorney for the Palestinian Authority (PA) and used to represent Yasser Arafat. 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. To Go To Top

HERO'S DAUGHTERS: TELL US HOW HE DIED Posted by Shahaf Pilovich, April 14, 2005.

This is from http://rotter.net/forum/scoops1/7420.shtml It was written by Dan Izenberg - daniz1@netvision.net.il The daughters of an air force hero who was killed in mysterious circumstances in Washington 32 years ago, finally had their day in court to demand that the state stop blocking their attempts to find out how and why their father was killed. On Wednesday, the High Court of Justice gave the state 45 days to hand over all the documents in its possession relating to the murder of Joe Alon, one of the founders of the Israel Air Force. Alon's killer has never been brought to justice and the motive for the murder never revealed. The court also called on the state to say clearly whether or not it would help Alon's daughters, Dalia, Yael and Rahel, appeal to the FBI to show them its findings. The FBI investigated the murder but consistently refused to divulge information about it. Yael Alon-Rosenshein told The Jerusalem Post that the years of stonewalling by American and Israeli officials had led her to believe her father might have been killed by the US or Israeli governments, or both. She said Alon's death might have been linked to things he knew that were connected to the Yom Kippur War, which broke out three months after he was killed. Alon, who was the air force and naval liaison at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, was shot and killed on July 1, 1973, as he emerged from his car after returning with his wife from a party. An assailant, who had been waiting for him outside the house, fired five bullets into his body. Alon died on his way to hospital and his body was flown back to Israel. According to Alon-Rosenshein, Israeli authorities have blocked the family's efforts to find out details about the murder. She said her mother, Devora, returned to Washington the year after her husband's death, intending to approach the FBI and ask it what it had learned. Before doing so, she met Yitzhak Rabin, who had been the ambassador to the US for most of the time Alon had served as a liaison. "Rabin told my mother there was nothing new," said Alon-Rosenshein. "He said there was nothing for her to do in Washington and that she should go back to Israel and look after her daughters." Devora, who died in 1995, burst into tears at Rabin's words, said her daughter. In 2003, after 30 years had passed, the sisters believed the moratorium on releasing US government documents had expired and they would be able to read the FBI investigation files. They consulted with many of their father's old friends, including former president Ezer Weizman, former air force commanders David Ivri, Herzl Bodinger and Motti Hod and former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy. All advised them to put the past behind them and go on with their lives. They then appealed directly to the ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs. "After a very long time, we received an answer of one-and-a-half pages," said Alon-Rosenshein. The letter included a description of the three avenues of investigation pursued by the FBI. The government also informed the sisters it had done as much as it could regarding the FBI, that the state had no standing in the matter and that the sisters should appeal to the FBI by themselves. During Wednesday's hearing, their lawyer, Eliad Shraga, said the family could not fight the case in the US on its own. It might need expensive services, such as a US-based lawyer and translators. Shraga also told the court he knew that the Mossad and the IDF archives each had a box of documents related to the case, which they had not made available to the sisters. The state's representative, attorney Yair Ettinger, told Justices Dorit Beinisch, Edna Arbel and Salim Joubran he could not say for certain whether the state would help the family in its appeal to the FBI. However, it would consider the sisters' request "sympathetically." http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1113358705076&p=1078027574097 Contact Shahaf Pilovich by email at pilovich2006@walla.com To Go To Top

QUALITY PROBLEMS AT REUTERS AND ATLANTIC MONTHLY Posted by Honest Reporting, April 14, 2005.

The Guardian reports today a public embarrassment for Reuters - 'a senior editor's memo that outlined the media and information company's "terrible quality problems"': In a memo that has led to comparisons with former jeweler Gerald Ratner - who famously described his own company's product as 'crap' - Reuters' global managing editor David Schlesinger wrote: 'Our news is perceived as not having enough insight. Our data is perceived as having terrible quality problems'... The note [was] intended to be sent to 10 senior managers but [was] actually distributed to thousands of Reuters staff. HR subscribers will remember Schlesinger for another other candid admission - that Reuters appeases Mideast terrorists through the news outlet's choice of language. Reuters, long criticized by HonestReporting for imbalanced coverage of the Mideast conflict, was the ignominious winner of the 2003 Dishonest Reporting 'Award'. ATLANTIC MONTHLY REHASHES SABRA AND SHATILLA MYTH The May 2005 edition of The Atlantic Monthly contains a lead article, 'Will Israel Live to 100?', that questions the viability of the Jewish state over the next few decades. Author Benjamin Schwartz, doubtful for any reconciliation between Israel and her Arab neighbors, feeds his cynical piece with a series of distortions and half-truths, reaching the conclusion that it's 'inevitable' that Palestinian 'expansionist energies will be directed to Israel' and possibly swallow Israel whole, peace deal or not. Schwartz can be forgiven his doom-and-gloom tone, but the article also dredges up the oft-repeated, outright lie that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in Schwartz's words, 'connived in the massacre of Palestinian refugees'. The reference (delivered prominently - in the article's second sentence) is to the 1982 murder of Lebanese Palestinians by Lebanese Christian militiamen in the camps of Sabra and Shatilla. The IDF, under Sharon's command, controlled the region at that time. The term used in the article - 'connived' - implies willful intent on Sharon's part. But in fact, a 1983 official Israeli inquiry (the Kahan Commission) determined that Sharon was not directly at fault for Sabra and Shatilla. Rather, the commission found Sharon negligent for merely 'having disregarded the danger' posed by the vengeful Christian Phalangists. The falsehood that Sharon 'massacred' Palestinians at Sabra and Shatilla is common fare in Arab propaganda, but it made its way into major American publications as well, even before The Atlantic. In 1985, a New York jury found that Time Magazine had defamed Sharon when Time made similar allegations that 1) Sharon had known in advance that the Phalangists would carry out a massacre, and 2) Sharon had granted the gunmen permission to do so. Though the jury found no 'willful malice' on Time's part, Time was forced to run a retraction. HonestReporting calls on The Atlantic Monthly to publish an immediate retraction for this similar libelous statement regarding Sharon, prominently printed in its current issue. Comments to The Atlantic Monthly: click here. For other points of concern with the Atlantic Monthly article, please see HonestReporting's blog - MediaBackspin. Honest Reporting monitors the media for inaccuracy and unfairness in how they report the news about Israel. Ther website address is http://www.honestreporting.com. You can help support their research online or by sending contributions to: HonestReporting, 400 South Lake Drive, Lakewood, NJ 08701-3167. To Go To Top

SHOULD ISRAEL DROP U.S. AID? ABBAS CONTINUES ARAFAT'S TRICK; COLUMBIA ISLAMISTS VICTIMS? Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 14, 2005.

SHOULD ISRAEL DROP U.S. AID? A reader is concerned that Israel has let US aid turn it into a welfare client of the US. He wonders whether Israel should reject the aid. Some friends of Israel assume that if the US gives money to Israel, this is good for both. They should be more reflective about this than reflexive. Spending government money can do as much harm as good. Foreign aid often comes with strings attached, strings that can throttle independence. US aid to Israel does that, though its aid to the P.A. and Egypt does not. Who pulls those strings? The anti-Zionist State Dept., for one. When Israel indicates it would act independently of the US, the US, touted as a great friend of Israel, then threatens to "reconsider," i.e., withhold this aid. Thus aid has become a form of blackmail that, considering how anti-Zionist is the State Dept., is a threat to Israeli national security. Strings on military aid also are pulled by the Defense Dept.. Military aid is the result of lobbying. The military aid to Egypt is a form of corporate welfare, in which the US donates tax revenue to Egypt, and Egypt spends it on US arms. Considering how anti-American is the Egyptian government, this aid is misspent. Military aid to Israel is manipulated to ruin Israel's military industry, even though that industry has invented much military hardware and technology of great use to the US and at great financial savings. One of the conditions of such aid is that it be spent in the US, so that it subsidizes the US military industry. That means that Israel can't use the funds for its own military development. It has had to switch from its superior tank to a US-made tank and from a superior plane to US-made planes. This is a way of defeating competition. The US does not really give aid to Israel. What the US gives Israel amounts to about the same as the high rate of interest on previous loans that the US made Israel. I think that Israel should: (1)Privatize and deregulate its own economy, stop excessive government spending, and pass on no funds to the P.A.. The economy would grow. Israel then would not need US aid. (US aid has become a small proportion of Israel's budget, anyway.) It then could afford its own arms. If its economy burgeoned, it would be treated better by some other countries, interested in trading; (2) Israel should ask the US to forgive Israel's debt to the US, just as it did that of Egypt's debt to the US. Israel has the better case, because Egypt rendered no real service to the US, whereas Israel did (valuable intelligence; spared the US from having to go to war to save Jordan; improved US weaponry; enabled the US to counteract Soviet arms; and held off Soviet penetration in its area for a fraction of the cost of Europe doing it in its region). Another reason is that Egypt is anti-American whereas Israel is pro-American; (3) Tied to that, but in any case, drop economic aid. If necessary, borrow privately at current low interest rates to repay the US; (4) Demand that the US give Israel certain military items that the US makes uniquely or the best of, on the grounds that it is the least the US can do to make up for its arming of Israel's mortal enemies, such as Egypt and the P.A., for which Israel should shame the US; (5) Forego military aid altogether, if necessary, but in any case reject US conditions such as vetoes over Israeli sales without corresponding Israeli vetoes over US sales for jointly developed arms and reject US demands that it not manufacture its own. Many Israeli innovations end up in Arab hands, courtesy of the US; and (6) Accompany these changes with full explanations and propaganda, to gain the most acceptance. Unfortunately, Israel is poor at propaganda. It also has a gallery of politicians who serve not the national interests but the interests of US or EU power brokers and of themselves. HOW SHARON ENCOURAGES P.A. NON-COMPLIANCE "Every time Prime Minister Ariel Sharon tells visiting diplomats that Israel will not compromise on the security of its citizens, but in the very same breath proclaims that Israel will retreat from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria come-what-may, he sends the message that Palestinian (Arab) noncompliance ultimately has no significance." At the London Conference, Abbas admitted he would not repress the terrorist militias, when he announced that he would integrate them into his official police forces. It is like in the Westerns, when the crooked sheriff makes deputies of outlaws (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 3/3). Making them deputies does not reform them, it enables them to carry out their crimes with official sanction. ABBAS CONTINUES ARAFAT'S TRICK Arafat used to deceive the West by telling it in English what it wanted to hear, while contradicting that message in Arabic broadcasts to his own people. Abbas continues the deception. Under Abbas, the P.A. issued a press release to the West condemning a recent bombing in Tel Aviv. The P.A.'s own media, however, praised the bomber. The West accepted the condemnation as sincere, and praised Abbas as being anti-terrorist. The West did not notice that the condemnation, itself, was not anti-terrorist. Rather, the rebuke complained that the timing of the bombing was bad, for it would interfere with P.A. diplomacy (IMRA, 3/3). The implication is that Abbas would not mind terrorism at a different time. When the people of the P.A. listen to their own media praise the bombing, they are inspired to emulate it. Does the US President really want to help those people realize their national "aspirations." RABBIS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS? Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) is an Israeli organization formerly financed by the (anti-Israel) Ford Foundation and now by unpublicized sources. Hmn. One of its chief complaints is that Israel occasionally demolishes some of the thousands of buildings erected illegally by Arabs in Jerusalem, the rest of Israel, and the Territories. (Its complaint is not that Israel demolishes too few but too many.) Unlike most other human rights groups, RHR condemns P.A. oppression of its own subjects, condemns Arab terrorism, and assists its victims. Then it misses the point when it accuses Israel of having an official policy of human rights violations, instead of acknowledging Israel's right to defend itself as by demolitions and other measures (IMRA, 3/3 from NGO Monitor). What is its view, that Arabs have a right to erect buildings illegally? If built illegally, why shouldn't the government tear them down? If built in order to take over territory, again, why shouldn't the government demolish them? P.A. TERRORISM MARKS THE "CEASEFIRE" A car bomb exploded near 500 Jewish worshippers at Shechem in Judea-Samaria. Terrorists also opened fire at one IDF unit near there and threw an explosive device at another. Hizbullah has recruited members around there, but the presence of IDF troops kept Hizbullah largely out of action. The planned abandonment of northern Samaria, however, would give the terrorists freedom of movement (Arutz-7, 3/3). The terrorists are not quiet but attempting murder. Sharon's plan would facilitate their quest. COLUMBIA ISLAMISTS CLAIM VICTIMHOOD Columbia U. leftists and Islamists hurl at critics the anti-anti-Communist epithet, "McCarthyist." They claim the critics mount a "right-wing attack" on "academics critical of Israel," which they say commits aggression against Arab states. One professor defiantly declared, "If some faculty are going to be accused of anti-Zionism, let me be among them to say I am anti-Zionist. Another warned about student complaints, "Beware the powerful who cry tears of victimhood." Prof. Massad accused the University investigation of abandoning him to intimidation and of "collaboration" with "witch hunters." He was concerned that investigators had a First Amendment lawyer, known for pro-Israel activism. He accused the President of bias for opposing a petition to divest from Israel. Students had complained that Arab and other professors mocked them as Jews, turned their courses into propaganda against Israel, and went into a rage against Jews who spoke up with their own point of view (Jacob Gershman, NY Sun, 4/4, 4/5.) What can we make of this, without knowing whether the specific complaints are true? The same complaints are turning up in one university after another. That lends these complaints some credibility. At various campuses, right-wing speakers have been hounded off the podium. At events paid for by student associations at Arab clubs' behest, questions that indicate understanding of Israel's plight are treated with hostility. At some colleges, Arabs jeered, threatened, and even attacked Jews; police or security guards barely got them out of harm's way. This, too, fits in with what the Columbia U. students claim. So does Arab culture, in which students are expected to accept teachers' opinions and "facts" without questioning. Academic freedom and integrity are absent. Islamist professors use our campuses to press their holy war against us, as traditionally, without tolerance or scruples. In view of the many threats and attacks on Jews at various colleges, supporters of the Islamist professors at Columbia sound disingenuous when they claim there is no fire causing the smoke there. The professor who declaimed, "Beware the powerful who cry tears of victimhood" put it well, but what he said applies to the Arabs and leftists, prominent on campus, and not to the Jews, under siege all over the world and still vulnerable. Claiming to be the victim is an old totalitarian tactic, still practiced by the heirs of the Communists and by the Arabs. The Arabs routinely accuse the Jews of doing the bad things that the Arabs are doing. As the record shows, the Arabs committed aggression against Israel; in claiming otherwise, these professors indicate a lack of academic integrity. For all their claims to be victims, the unasked but obvious question is why the universities hire as professors such lying, hysterical, intolerant, anti-Western ideologues who, by indoctrinating rather than teaching make victims of the whole student body. Is there a "right-wing attack" on the professors complained about, to prevent criticism of Israel? That is highly exaggerated. The controversy started with student complaints to the university that they were harassed. The university ignored them. To the rescue came some national Jewish groups. Most, such as Hillel Foundation, are not right-wing. They simply don't demonize Israel. I was active in ZOA during the formation of its campus-helper group. It doesn't try to censor critics of Israel but to provide students with the necessary information for answering those critics. That is a far cry from McCarthyism. McCarthyism and censorship is what the Islamist and leftist professors practice, with their demonizing Israel contrary to the facts. You see, these Jewish organizations are still operating in the Western mode of ironing out differences, while the Arabs and leftists are working in the totalitarian mode of ironing over opponents. When we find our college faculties becoming bastions of bigotry and subversion, is it wrong to ask whether it should go on? Far from abandoning Prof. Massad, the investigators mostly exonerated him. The First Amendment lawyer, for a committee larded with antagonists of Israel, surely was there to see to his rights. But Arabs cannot stand criticism and Islamists try to cajole critics into abandoning investigation. It was most unfair of Massad to call the President biased for condemning a libelous petition that singles out Israel for persecution, and does not suggest divesting from genocidal Arab states and that great persecutor, China. The phrases that the accused professors use, constantly calling Israel names - as the Arabs are wont to do in Syria -- is that evidence of objectivity? Does the professor suggest that student complaints be ignored rather than investigated? If he suggests they be ignored, what does that say about him? It says that only his opinion counts, in his opinion. Now that is censorship. 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. To Go To Top

HAMAS: "PULLOUT OUR VICTORY" Posted by Marlene Young, April 14, 2005.

This from today's Reuters. LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - Israel's planned pullout from occupied Gaza would be a victory for militant violence, a senior leader of the Islamic group Hamas said in an interview published on Thursday. Mahmoud al-Zahar told Britain's Times newspaper that Israel's hand had been forced by militants who have waged an armed uprising or intifada since 2000. "If Israel is going to leave the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, that was because of the intifada, because of the armed struggle, because of the big sacrifices of Hamas for this goal," he said. "It was not because of negotiations, or the goodwill of Israel, or the Americans and Europeans." Israel plans to evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank from July. Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has billed it as a way to "disengage" from conflict with the Palestinians. Israel is concerned Palestinian militants will rush in and seize vacated settlements after the Israeli army leaves. The Times said Zahar refused to commit his group, which has long called for the destruction of Israel, to peace until it sees the nature of Israel's pullout. "We are looking for withdrawal, real withdrawal," he told the Times. "If they are going to be at the gates between Gaza and Egypt, or going to control our sea border, and if they are going to attack our houses ... will that satisfy the people who have sacrificed?" Zahar repeated the group's intention to form a government if it wins Palestinian parliamentary elections it will contest for the first time in July. Israeli and Palestinian leaders announced a ceasefire in February ending more than 4-1/2 years of violence during which some 3,350 Palestinians and 970 Israelis were killed. lene Young is vice-president of TODA - Torah Organization for Disability Access, as well as an advocate for Israel. To Go To Top

DIVEST FROM COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Posted by Steven Plaut, April 14, 2005.

It is starting to look like sauce for the goose can also be sauce for the moonbat. A New York City Councilman, James F. Gennaro, is leading the call to institute a boycott and "divestment campaign" against Columbia University in response to the whitewash of campus anti-Semitic professors performed by a committee set up by Columbia's president Lee Bollinger. Gennaro represents the 24th District in Queens, which includes the neighborhoods of Kew Gardens Hills, Hillcrest, Jamaica Estates, and Fresh Meadows. The call to "divest" from Columbia comes in the very days that a group of British pseudo-academic moonbats are trying to launch a campaign to boycott Israeli universities because Israel occassionally dares to shoot back and never mind how full those Israeli universities themselves are with left-wing moonbats. Gennaro dismisses the "committee of investigation" in these words: When four out of five of the members of the committee responsible for investigating grievances related to anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements have obvious biases in this area, it seems clear to me that the investigation is a travesty. I think Mr. Dershowitz's view of the committee says it best: "Asking pro-Israel Jewish students to present their grievances to the committee members who signed the divestiture petition would be like asking African-American students to present grievances to a committee that included David Duke." Gennaro goes on: In my view, the problem with MEALAC is that it is little more than an anti-Israel propaganda mill whose professors engage in indoctrination, not academic discourse. Columbia.s greatest failure is that it insists on denying this underlying problem. And, as this latest episode has shown, even when utside pressure compels an examination of MEALAC, Columbia focuses not on the root problem, but on other issues which are essentially symptoms of the deeper disease... It is my hope that the leadership and trustees of Columbia will ultimately come to their senses, stop the MEALAC propaganda mill, and once again merit generous support. Until then, however, I urge supporters of Columbia to send their money elsewhere. 2. "DeNial At DePaul: The Thomas Klocek Affair," (http://www.jewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=4902). Catholic universities in the United States have in recent years shown a weakness for cultivating far-leftist anti-Semites and haters of America. Perhaps the best known has been Notre Dame, home of the extremist Kroc Institute, which attempted to sponsor Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss Arab with ties to Al Qaeda, for a three-year professorship. But in many ways, DePaul University is even worse. DePaul is a large, if not particularly academically renowned, Catholic college in Chicago, nominally associated with "Congregation of the Mission," more popularly known as the Vincentians. Until recently, the main cause of controversy surrounding DePaul was its insistence on employing the notorious pro-Palestinian left-winger Norman Finkelstein as an assistant professor in its political science department. But a few months ago, DePaul took a giant step in implementing leftist suppression of free speech on its campus. The immediate target of DePaul`s campaign was Thomas Klocek, a part-time adjunct professor at the university`s so-called "School for New Learning." ("New learning" evidently is not something DePaul confuses with "learning," as the events there show.) Klocek`s crime? He was guilty of expressing support for Israel. After 14 years of continuous employment at the Chicago-based college, Klocek was suspended with pay last September, and then stayed suspended - this time without pay - through the winter and spring quarters. Klocek is guilty of nothing more than expressing pro-Israel views in the face of extremist Palestinian propaganda on DePaul`s campus. DePaul summarily dismissed Klocek from his duties after the school claimed he "insulted" and "demeaned" several Muslim students at a campus fair for extracurricular groups. Klocek had publicly expressed his belief that "strictly speaking, right now there is no such place as Palestine on the map. The Palestinian people were simply Arabs who lived in the West Bank and Gaza." We seem to recall that Galileo was also persecuted by Church institutions for daring to tell the truth. (Klocek, by the way, is a Roman Catholic from a Polish-American family). With no current income, and facing the possibility of losing the health insurance he desperately needs for a serious kidney condition, Klocek decided to go public with his fight. The story made major headlines after the Chicago Jewish News ran a large expose of DePaul` persecution of Klocek. The university contends that Klocek`s case "is not a case of academic freedom, but a situation of inappropriate behavior outside the classroom by a university employee," in the words of the university spokesperson. This coming from an institution that has no problems with the behavior of the aforementioned Norman Finkelstein. Klocek.s dismissal is alleged by the administration to be due the fact that, as he walked away from the students in question, he "thumbed his chin" at them. It`s a common Italian expression meaning, "I`m finished, I`m out of here." (I personally would have shown the students the finger around which the tefillin strp goes.) But in a special letter to the student newspaper DePaulia, Dean Susanne Dumbleton first apologized for the incident and stated that the instructor was being dealt with in an appropriate manner. The dean then referred to Klocek`s attempt to impose his "erroneous views" on the students. This belied the claim by the university that Klocek.s case is about his supposed attitude, not the content of his statements. In other words, support for Israel against Arab aggression and terrorism is "erroneous" and not to be tolerated on the DePaul campus. Klocek tells us his side of the story: "A Student Activities Fair was being held at DePaul on 9.15.04 at the Loop campus. It was open to all. When the incident began, I had not identified myself as a faculty member. I visited various booths and tables, among them `Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).` I gave them my e-mail address and asked for some of their literature. I then stood about reading this incendiary piece about Rachel Corrie and the Israeli bulldozing of Arab homes and properties. I stated that there is no such entity as Palestine on the current map and that U.S. newspapers only began using the term Palestinians some 25-30 years ago. One of the SJP members said that the Israeli treatment of "Palestinians" is as bad as the way Hitler treated the Jews. I took vast umbrage with this scurrilous statement. "At no time did I threaten any of the students physically or verbally, but the volume of the talking turned loud on both sides. "Some few days later, the Dean, Susanne Dumbleton of the School for New Learning, called me in and had in her hand two letters from students. I never saw these but she appeared to read from them, outlining charges against me made by the student groups, among them that I was `disrespectful` and that they were `hurt and crushed` by my remarks. She stated that I was to be suspended from teaching until further notice. She also announced that the school would make a response to the school newspaper. "It should be noted that Dean Dumbleton had previously met with both student groups and their faculty advisors without my being present, and, when I asked her why, she replied that I was too `passionate` about the subject." Large numbers of bloggers and some DePaul faculty have come out in favor of Klocek and against his inquisitors. Perhaps more important, the Catholic Church as an institution is finally beginning to learn the details of the Klocek case, and several local authorities have indicated their sympathy. DePaul`s sudden horror at the supposed "unprofessorial behavior" by Klocek is all because they claim he made an impolite hand gesture. Note how dramatically this stands in sharp contrast with the university`s record regarding Norman Finkelstein, arguably the most openly anti-Semitic Jew on the planet, certainly in American academia. DePaul recruited Finkelstein as an assistant professor in political science after Finkelstein was fired from two New York-area adjunct teaching jobs (at New York University and Hunter College). The Anti-Defamation League calls Finkelstein a "Holocaust denier" and accuses him of pursuing an anti-Semitic agenda. Finkelstein refers to the Jews murdered by the Nazis as the "Six Million" - in quotation marks. "Indeed," he's written, "the field of Holocaust studies is replete with nonsense, if not sheer fraud." And this: "If everyone who claims to be a survivor actually is one," my mother used to exclaim, - "who did Hitler kill?" Finkelstein is the star on virtually every Holocaust denial and neo-Nazi website. He has been denounced as a fraud and anti-Semite by Alan Dershowitz, by historian Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, by Dennis Prager, by Professor Omer Bartov from Brown University, by the World Jewish Congress, and by just about every other academic to comment on him, gentile or Jew. Jonathan Freedland wrote in the British Guardian - a strongly pro-Palestinian newspaper - that Finkelstein was "closer to the people who created the Holocaust than to those who suffered it." The New York Times compared Finkelstein`s book The Holocaust Industry to the old czarist forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. DePaul University President Fr. Dennis Holtschneider has been circulating a personal letter to anyone complaining about the firing of Klocek and the employment of Finkelstein. The letter states, in part, "Dr. Finkelstein was hired at the recommendation of the Political Science faculty after extensive reference checks and an evaluation of the quality of his teaching. The faculty were aware of his published works that have provoked disagreement from many quarters, but also recognized that mainstream publishers, publications and reviewers have taken his research seriously, if critically." The "mainstream" reviewers and publishers of whom Fr. Holtschneider speaks are almost without exception anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis. But DePaul University will defend someone like Finkelstein while terminating a professor who refuses to toe the Palestinian line. 3. Leftist Hooliganism http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/coulter1.asp 4. Without a doubt the most important article to be written about Ariel Sharon's version of the Mitzna plan for unilateral "disengagement" and capitulation in the Gaza Strip is the guest Op-Ed by Israeli retired Supreme Court justice Zvi A. Tal, in today's Haaretz (http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArtPE.jhtml?itemNo= 564858&contrassID=2&subContrassID=3&sbSubContrassID=0), but alas only in Hebrew. (If any reader is up to translating it, I will post it in full.") Entitled "The Law that Legitimizes Injustice", Tal's piece is a devastating attack on the "disengagement plan, all the more impressive because the writer sat for many years on Israel's highest court bench, ordinarily a little bastion of leftist "judicial activism". Tal argues that expelling Jews in mass from their homes when the expulsion serves no clear purpose and obviously in NOT a part of a peace agreement is unjust and criminal, and probably violates international law. If the expulsion were in fact serving some legitimate legal purpose, things might be different, but it is clear that it will serve no purpose whatsoever. It will not lead to peace and security but to escalation of violence. Under those circumstances, violating the rights of Jewish owners of homes living in Gush Katif is an abuse of the human rights of those involved. Tal also mocks the claim that the expulsion serves to "save human lives" due to soldiers being redeployed outside the Gaza Strip. Tal concludes, "In the words of Tallyrand, the removal of these settlements is not only a crime but is stupidity." If one sits back and waits long enough, one can find intelligence here and there even inside the Israeli media. While we are at it, every two weeks or so Haaretz allows a non-leftist opinion to run on its pages as "balance" for the scores of Far-Leftist opinions it runs every week. (Yesterday Haaretz ran a sycophant piece singing the praises of anti-Israel feminazi Andrea Dworkin). Today Haaretz runs not only Tal but also this, which I strongly suggest you read: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/564786.html (in English) 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. To Go To Top

A SPECIAL PRAYER FOR PASSOVER Posted by IsrAlert, April 14, 2005.

Friends, I would very appreciate if you would include this short prayer during the coming Seder and every Seder after that. We, the Jews of the Arab world, expelled and humiliated, are no longer voiceless, powerless or forgotten. Joe JIMENA - Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa presents an additional prayer to be read at this year's Seder to honor the Jews who were forced to flee in a "Second Exodus" from Egypt and other Arab states. Our organization represents Jews who were either expelled or otherwise compelled to leave their ancient homes throughout the Arab world. by Joseph Abdel Wahed Today, as we celebrate the First Exodus from Egypt some 3,200 years ago, let us also remember the Second Exodus of Jews that took place not so long ago, but is unknown to most people. In the years between 1945 and 1970, nearly one million Jews, indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, were compelled to flee, sometimes brutally, from the lands of their birth. Like their ancestors, they too left in a hurry and under similarly harsh conditions. They fled Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Aden, Tunisia and Iran. And "on the wings of Eagles", nearly 36,000 Jews from Ethiopia landed safely in Israel. And so, on this sacred night, let us say a special prayer for these Forgotten Refugees. Let us tell their story, which is often left out of the narrative of the modern Middle East. Therefore, with bitter herbs on your plate and a piece of matzo in your hand, please recite the following: We thank you G-d for delivering these Forgotten Jewish Refugees from their modern day pharaohs whose hearts were hardened and full of evil. Many of these Forgotten Refugees were harassed, intimidated, insulted simply because they were Jews, until they were forced to flee. They were made to live as strangers in their own countries and denied basic human and civil rights. They left behind their millennia-old culture and heritage, their beautiful synagogues and sacred Torahs, Jewish schools and hospitals, their homes and their personal belongings. "But G-d heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He said unto the children of Israel: I am the Lord and I will bring you out from the burdens of the Egyptian (and from other tyrants) and redeem you with an outstretched and strong arm. So, as in the First Exodus, we thank the Lord for this Second Exodus that we are a free people and blessed with the presence of the land of Israel". "On this Passover and on every Passover in the future, when we eat matzo and the bitter herbs, we must cherish the memories of our forgotten brothers and sisters. And as Jews, always yearning for the winds of freedom, we say to them: We Will Not Forget You." JIMENA calls on the global community to hold Arab governments accountable for the dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Jews from their homes, and the confiscation of their communal and private property. Key Facts Today, 99% of the ancient Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa no longer exist. Out of some 900,000 Jews who lived in the Arab countries until 1948, only a few thousand remain. During the exodus, Arab governments confiscated property from the fleeing Jews worth tens of billions in today's dollars. 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 To Go To Top

POLICE FORBID FREE PROTEST: TURN BACK BUS, DETAIN ANOTHER ONE Posted by Bryna Berch, April 13, 2005.

Practice makes perfect. After Gaza, wiping out the Samaria and Judea Jewish communities will be a snap. If Sharon's object is to dismember Israel, he's doing all the right things. I wish he'd work as hard to keep her united. But that isn't what bullies do, is it? They prey on the weak and act like pupdogs when someone stronger tells them to heel. He counts on the settlers' sense of fair play and their strong belief in the rule of law while he plays dirty with them and ignores the law as he tries to degrade and humiliate them. This was a news item in yesterday's Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.org). Once again, residents of the Shomron attempting to visit the Tel Aviv area have been detained, forbidden to walk around freely, and forced to return to their homes. It happened last night, twice. A busload of 30 members of the Bnei Akiva youth movement from Peduel in the Shomron had arrived in Petach Tikvah, and was in the process of dropping off three groups of youngsters. Their mission: to hang banners against the withdrawal plan, and to distribute stickers and flyers to passing motorists. Suddenly, a large group of Border Guard and special Yassam unit policemen surrounded the group of 8th graders, ordered them to return to the bus, and instructed the driver to turn around and head back to Peduel. In the meantime, another group had similarly been stopped, and forced to wait for the bus to pick them up. The police even confiscated the passengers' identity cards, saying that they would return them only once the bus crossed the Oranim checkpoint on its way back to the Shomron. Eitan, one of the 8th graders stopped by the police, told Arutz-7 today, "It was frustrating, because we were unable to do what we came to do, and it was also very embarrassing, being held there by the police in front of everyone..." Shortly before this incident, another busload of people carrying Passover care packages from the Shilo area, north of Ofrah and Jerusalem, was delayed by police for 90 minutes. The bus was finally permitted to continue, but only with a police escort. Last night, Yesha Council head Bentzy Lieberman phoned police officials, who did not deny that the incidents had taken place. The Council, which represents the Jewish communities of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, released a statement saying that if the police continue to "fall upon innocent citizens and do not maintain the delicate balance between the fundamental rights of protest and expression and the fear of public disturbances, we will call upon the public not to adhere to police instructions in the future, with all that that entails." Acknowledging that the call is a harsh one, Council Spokesperson Emily Amrousi said that it comes in response to a harsh situation - namely, the police disruption of lawful and protected activities by which those who object to government policy may present their views to the public. Amrousi said that the police are causing added tensions, instead of reducing them, by stopping innocent people and treating them like criminals. "They have turned the Yesha protests into something illegitimate," she said. A police spokesman told Arutz-7 this morning that though he was not familiar with the details of last night's incidents, police are generally not permitted to confiscate citizens' ID cards. Only when there is a suspicion that the bearer is fraudulently using someone else's card, or that the card is forged, or when the bearer is under arrest or officially detained, or in similar cases, are the police permitted to take an ID card, the spokesman said. To Go To Top

A CHILLING PATTERN OF HARASSMENT Posted by Michael Freund, April 14, 2005.

Following is a column of mine from the Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1113358705121&p=1006953079865) about the growing sense of intimidation and fear that many opponents of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan have begun to feel as a result of the heavy-handed tactics that the government has begun to use against them. Letters to the editor of the Post may be sent to: letters@jpost.com. Your comments and feedback are welcome. After listening to the joint press conference between President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday, I curled up in front of my laptop ready to pen a blistering critique of the premier and his plan to withdraw from Gaza. But as the words began to flow, so did my perspiration, as I began to consider some of the heavy-handed tactics now being used against critics of the withdrawal. In recent weeks especially, there have been a growing number of incidents in which those opposed to the plan, or even those merely assumed to hold such views, have found themselves and their most basic of freedoms trampled upon. Take, for example, the mass arrest of dozens of Orthodox Jewish youth this past Sunday after protesters blocked Tel Aviv's Ayalon highway for several minutes. According to various reports, many of those detained by the police had nothing to do with the demonstration. They were arrested simply because they were religious and happened to be in the vicinity of the protest. This included a 10-year-old boy wearing a kippa, and a religious soldier in uniform. Several teenage kids in the area were said to have been taken to police stations and held incommunicado for hours without their parents receiving notification, as required by law. There have also been a number of instances in which people standing on street corners and holding signs against the Gaza withdrawal were taken away by police - for no apparent reason other than exercising their right to protest peacefully. In one case, a 14-year-old girl was arrested a few weeks ago and held for 24 hours in police custody without being allowed to see her parents. She was denied access to her medications, even though she suffers from chronic asthma and was at risk of a potentially dangerous asthma attack. With less than 100 days to go until the proposed Gaza withdrawal, something terribly frightening is happening here in Israel. Some of the tactics being employed by the authorities simply have no place in a democratic society, calling into question their underlying commitment to that most fundamental of civil liberties - the right to disagree with government policy. Now I don't consider myself an alarmist; nor do I belong to the category of those who employ frenzied language to get a point across. But I don't think it is exaggerating to say that many people opposed to the withdrawal are starting to wonder whether they can truly express themselves without fear. Earlier this month, late one night, a prominent activist involved in organizing buses for people to visit Jewish communities in Hebron and Gaza was arrested at his home in the center of the country and held into the early hours of the morning. It remains unclear why he was taken into custody, other than to frighten and intimidate him. Things have reached the point where even people who "look" like they might be going to a protest can find themselves receiving special attention from the security forces. This past Monday evening, a busload of Jews from Samaria was stopped by police as it made its way toward the Gush Dan area to deliver Pessah goods to needy families. According to eyewitnesses, the police refused to let the bus continue on its way, claiming that it posed a "potential threat that may lead to the blocking of roads and other protest actions." Only after being held up for 90 minutes were the 50 passengers allowed to continue with their charitable undertaking. Say what you will about Sharon's plan to withdraw, there can be no excuse for such tactics. If it were just a matter of an isolated incident or two, it could perhaps be dismissed as an aberration. But the sad fact is that there is a clearly a pattern at work, one in which innocent Israeli citizens are being harassed and/or silenced because of their political views. Of course, you won't read a great deal about this in much of the mainstream media; and don't expect to hear any of Israel's myriad human rights groups speaking up against this worrisome phenomenon. Their commitment to principle seems to extend only to those who share their liberal point of view. But that should not deter the rest of us from speaking out, if only to ensure that Israel's democracy remains vibrant and strong. Just because someone wears a kippa, or holds a placard opposing the withdrawal from Gaza, it does not make him an "extremist" or "threat" to the country's future. I thought twice about whether to submit this column, but realized in the end that I simply had no choice. Because if we ever reach a point where we can no longer legitimately criticize the prime minister and his policies without fear of reprisal, something will truly have gone wrong in Zion. The only way to ensure that never occurs is to stand up without fear for what we know in our hearts to be true - that the Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, and to no one else. /font> Michael Freund served as an aide to former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. To Go To Top

BUSH-SHARON SUMMIT - GUIDE TO THE PERPLEXED Posted by Yoram Ettinger, April 13, 2005.

Enclosed you'll find my latest OpEd on the Bush-Sharon Texas Summit, published today by Ynet (Internet daily of Yediot Achronot). Should you wish to examine previous OpEds, please visit www.acpr.org.il (Jerusalem Cloakroom and Hatikvah links). While the Bush-Sharon Summit focused on mutual threats (e.g. Iran and Islamic terrorism), it has highlighted a few basic misunderstandings - in Israel - concerning the US political system, US-Israel relations and Disengagement. For example, front page headlines in the Israeli dailies have concluded that - resulting from the Summit - a $600MN Disengagement financial assistance package will be provided to Israel by the US. The headlines ignore the $800MN promised to Barak by Clinton in 2000, in order to expedite the Disengagement from Southern Lebanon. Israel disengaged, Hizballah's terrorism was significantly and regionally upgraded, Palestinian terrorism was inspired and escalated to an unprecedented level, but the $800MN is yet to be granted. US Presidents do not have the authority to write checks; they can ask Congress - which possesses the Power of the Purse - to appropriate funds. Congress is currently alarmed by a growing all time high budget deficit, and Israel's leading friends have recommended that Israel refrains from requesting special financial assistance. Cheney and Rumsfeld, two of Israel's hawkish allies, are concerned that a special assistance to Israel would nibble into the stretched defense budget. Each financial request must go through Congress, which would entail a legislative process. But, some Israeli officials have pre-maturely briefed (and possibly misinformed) the media, in order to sooth opposition to Disengagement... The Israeli public has been told since the April 2004 Bush-Sharon Summit that the US Administration has given up on the 1949/67 Cease Fire Line. However, the blunt call - by President Bush - to freeze construction in ALL settlements, has clarified that Israel should not expect any settlement-bonus, from the US, for the disengagement from Gaza and Northern Samaria. In fact, disengagement - just like any retreat in face of pressure and terrorism - would generate more Palestinian terrorism and more pressure by the Department of State, the CIA, the Europeans and the UN, which expect further sweeping Israel concessions. President Bush's statements at the summit, just like those made by Secretaries Powell and Rice since April 2004, clarify that the US has not change its position on the Green Line: no recognition of Israeli sovereignty beyond the 1949 Ceasefire Line, and no recognition of Israeli sovereignty over any Jewish community in the post-Green Line area in Judea & Samaria, Jordan Valley, Golan Heights and Jerusalem (e.g. loan guarantees are reduced by the amount spent by Israel in post-Green Line neighborhoods in Jerusalem). Wishful-thinking (sinking?) concerning a disengagement-driven diplomatic bonus have been shattered in Crawford, Texas. Bush's proclamations suggest that disengagement from Gaza and Northern Samaria would be the first in a series, leading to the 1949 Lines (unless otherwise mutually-agreed by Israel and the Palestinians). They indicate that the post-April 2004 celebrations were based on wrong assumptions and on misrepresentations, by Israeli politicians, of the President's statements. The April statements by Bush were neither unprecedented, nor do they bind him or his successors. On June 19, 1967, President Johnson stated that an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 Lines "is not a prescription for peace, but for a renewal of hostilities." President Reagan said on September 1, 1982: "In the pre-1967 borders Israel was barely 10 miles wide...I am not about to ask Israel to live that way again...It is clear that peace cannot be achieved by the formation of an independent Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza." These statements were not binding, since they were not ratified or legislated. Bush's statements were approved, by Congress, as a Non-Binding Resolution, which is (as suggested by its title) non-binding. Israeli observers urge Prime Minister Sharon to freeze construction in all settlements, in order to avoid a costly US pressure. They do not comprehend the US - and especially the Texas - state of mind, which admires winners and not losers, which respects gumption, the overcoming of odds and defiance of pressure. On a rainy day, the Texan President would rather have an ally, in the Mideast, "which can roll in the street with the Dobermans, rather than stay on the porch with the Poodles." And, indeed, during 1948-1992, from Ben Gurion to Shamir, Israel's Prime Ministers usually - and frequently - defied US pressure. As a result they were subjected to short-term inconveniences, which were promptly replaced by a long-term strategic esteem. For instance, in 1948/9 Ben Gurion faced a US pressure to postpone declaration of independence and accept a UN Trusteeship. The US imposed a military embargo, contemplated economic sanctions, accused Ben Gurion of leading the Jewish People toward another Holocaust, demanded an end to the "Occupation of the Negev", the internationalization of Jerusalem and the absorption and compensation of Palestinian refugees. Israeli Prophets of Demographic Doom pressured Ben Gurion to refrain from independence, lest the Jewish population be overwhelmed - by 1968 - by Arab majority. Ben Gurion defied the pressure, established the Jewish State, increased construction in the Negev, relocated government agencies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which was declared the capital of Israel. Consequently, the US upgraded its attitude toward the Jewish State, whose image was transformed - by Ben Gurion's defiance - from a powerless democracy into a promising strategic entity. Will Prime Minister Sharon resurrect the legacy of Ben Gurion and his successors which characterized Israel's leadership up to 1992, or will he sustain the Oslo-State-Of-Mind which has afflicted Israel since 1992? Ambassador Yoram Ettinger is a consultant on US-Israel relations and former Minister for Congressional Affairs to Israel's Embassy in Washington, DC, He served as Consul General of Israel to the Southwestern US. This article is Cloakroom #175. To Go To Top

A MESSAGE TO PRIME MINISTER SHARON Posted by JINSA, April 13, 2005.

Crawford is more than a place, it is an opportunity. For better or worse, the Oslo process was destroyed by the principle of dealing with relatively smaller issues first in hopes of building momentum toward presumed agreement on the impossible "Final Status" issues - Jerusalem and the so-called "right of return." There was no momentum, no moment of flight. The process that should have sunk at the beginning from impossible Palestinian demands instead sunk at the end - after dashing so many raised hopes. Don't do it again, please. Abu Mazen may well believe that the violence of the intifada was a mistake for the Palestinians - but only because it didn't work. His goals are the same goals Arafat had: to achieve an independent state without legitimizing Israel on any part of "Palestine," Jerusalem as the capital and the "right of return." After the wrenching Gaza disengagement; after the return of security control to the PA in large swaths of Judea and Samaria; after promises of a fruitful and peaceful future, what will you do with the "right of return?" You will choke on it. You might as well choke on it now. The issue of stateless Palestinians inside the PA areas and out cannot be resolved and cannot be ignored. There are more than four million poor, miserable, radical people imprisoned by their brothers, fed and watered by UNRWA and nurtured on the promise that they will "go home" to a place most of them didn't come from by those not entitled to make the promise. Abu Mazen can't tell them he will recognize Israeli sovereignty over land claimed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. President Bush won't tell Lebanon or any other Arab country to settle Palestinians whether they want to or not, and whether the refugees want to or not. No one will tell UNRWA that its unique mandate to serve as parent and jailer to generations of Palestinians will end. And no one - least of all the Arab states - will tell the Palestinians, "We made a mistake 57 years ago. Too bad." In the face of the humanitarian tragedy that the Arabs and the UN have engendered over the years, and that theU.S.and the Europeans have paid for, it won't be enough for Israel to say, "no" to a mythical "right" claimed by a miserable people. Israel, the prosperous and civilized state, will be told to "help the poor Palestinians." Before that happens, Mr. Sharon, you must come to some understanding with President Bush about telling the truth: the creation of Israel was not a mistake; not a temporary aberration in the Middle East. Israel is real and it is permanent. Palestinians cannot go there in large numbers, and their continued belief that they can is going to wreck whatever accord Israelis and Palestinians try to make. The United States and Israel have to have a united front on this one, and the Palestinians will have to hear what they don't want to hear - BEFORE the rest of the deal is called done. And if it sinks Road Map now so be it. The JINSA Reports are published by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (http://www.jinsa.org). To subscribe, email jinsareports-www@lists.jinsa.org This is report #483 (www.jinsa.org/articles/view.html?documentid=2914). To Go To Top

THEATER OF THE ABSURD Posted by Batya Medad, April 13, 2005.

I should be cleaning the chametz from my house, instead of trying to clean it out of my brain. The problem is that last night I had the TV on to try to record "Law and Order," but instead I found myself watching "Popolitica," a uniquely Israeli "shout" show, in which groups of Israelis sit around a table, armed with microphones into which they declaim their opinions. Periodically the moderator switches topics, and then a different cast of speakers appears in the seats. Usually my husband acts the gentleman and records my two favorite shows for me; the second being C.S.I., but he wasn't home, so I was stuck. In the end, due to broadcasting changes because of the death of Ehud Manor, (http://www.hebrewsongs.com/artists-ehudmanor.htm, http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/564039.html), I wasted my time and lost sleep for nothing. And even worse, another musing began fermenting in my mind - chametz! Ionesco could have written this one in two acts. The first one starred a politician named after his grandfather, who was Chief Rabbi of Israel. This man, in his nasal voice, fantacized about which type of cookies left by the fireplace would bring better presents from Santa Claus. At least that's how realistic he seemed to me. His theory is that there is about to be a major change in the Arab world, and they will become rational, peace loving, like Europeans if we amputate YESHA. That's the gist of it. Sitting next to him was Effi Eitam, who lives in Gush Katif http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3060478,00.html, and tried to describe how the Arabs are shooting missiles and bombs at innocent civilians, including children waiting for school buses, but he was told to keep quiet by the others. Those were not the images the other participants wanted publicized. They did their best to shut him up and ignored what he said. Young Mr. MK Herzog made it very clear that he wasn't going to let some measly bombardments get in the way of his theories. Truth is how you wish or imagine it, not what really happens. That's faith, no? Hard to believe, but the next act surpassed the first. It was a truly absurd, perverse, display of misplaced sympathy. Such strong emotion over alleged cruelty. You had to witness it to believe it. I hope you're trying to guess; one hint, it wasn't about the dead whale (http://news.haaretz.co.il/hasen/spages/563712.html) that had the news staff in full mourning the evening before. There was outrage over the cruelty to poultry and calves, raised to feed the masses of inhuman humans. I must admit that the first example, of the high cholesterol goose livers had some justification, but mostly because, as delicious as the delicacy may allegedly be, the process is unhealthy both for the goose and the human who eats them. It wasn't much of a debate, since the sole representative of the "chicken breeders" wasn't given a fair hearing. He tried to explain how they do their scientific best to raise healthy economical chickens, affordable by all, but he was treated like somebody defending rape as a desirable social skill. I wish the animal defenders and the media would show the same enthusiastic sympathy to their fellow Jews. In comparison they discuss the forced transfer of thousands of innocent Jews from their homes with less feeling then they would express while putting their socks away. They show more concern over the possible destruction of the environment by the building of new communities and neighborhoods. http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=79839 The Passover Hagaddah is written to help us feel as if we, too, suffered in Egypt and exited with Moshe Rabenu. It is time to bring back the slogan "YESHA zeh kahn," "YESHA is Here!" There's no difference between Tel Aviv and Tel Zion, Haifa and Hebron, Ofakim and Ofra, Rechovot and Revava or Savyon and Susiya. It's only when every Jew understands this fully, with all their soul and with all their might, will we merit "Geulah shleimah, the full Redemption," G-d willing, soon. Chag Kasher V'Sameach, This is Musing #111. 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 To Go To Top

FORGOTTEN HERO? Posted by Judy Lash Balint, April 13, 2005.

"Feldheim isn't interested, and Mesorah says my story is 'too Zionist,'" says Yosef Mendelevich, mentioning two Jewish publishers, when I ask if his story of contemporary Jewish heroism has been written up in English. Mendelevich is one of 15 Jews from the former Soviet Union who attempted to hijack a small Soviet plane in 1970, in a crazy scheme to dramatize the longings of Jews to leave the Soviet Empire. For his Zionist commitment, the 22 year old from Riga spent the following 11 years in a Soviet prison camp before being allowed to leave for Israel in 1981. Since his arrival, Mendelevich has studied for the rabbinate, married and become a father to seven children. He lives quietly in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem where he teaches at the Machon Meir Yeshiva. Today, Mendelevich, 57, is slender, sports a long grey beard and grey hair topped by a large black knitted kipa. His steely grey eyes, commanding voice and natural charisma make it easy to understand how he became a leader of the Riga refusenik movement at a very young age. Mendelevich was invited to address a group of English speaking students at Machon Meir the other night. The event was open to the public, but few outsiders attended. Mendelevich spoke (in fluent English) for two hours, but no one fidgeted or fell asleep. The more Mendelevich's dramatic tale unfolded, the more it became clear that he was almost reliving the period in the retelling. Just as on Passover, all Jews are commanded to tell the story of the exodus from Egypt to feel as if they themselves came out of Egypt, so Mendelevich's extraordinary anecdotes revealing his contribution to modern Jewish history beg to be retold. With this young audience, he started from the beginning, by giving a brief overview of the essence of communist ideology and how it was that the Jews were supposed to assimilate into the happy family of nationalities that made up homo Sovieticus. The Mendelevich family paid dearly for their unwillingness to conform to communist ideals. In the late 1950s, Yosef's father was arrested in one of Khruschev's mass arrests. One of Mendelevich's most powerful childhood memories is when he stood outside the courthouse with his mother and two sisters. "I just thought about what I could do to save my father--and I ended up asking for help. But I didn't know to whom I was directing my requests," he says. "But my Jewish soul had an answer--there is Someone," Yosef reflects, as he tells the students it was the first prayer he uttered in his life. Sentenced to five years imprisonment, leaving his wife alone to take care of their three children, Mendelevich's father managed to return home after two years hard labor. Shortly after his release, Mendelevich's mother became ill and died. His father was physically broken and unable to work and so, "What was left but to dream?" Yosef asks. "He told us of a country with blue sky, beautiful scenery and warm people who were all Jews like us," Yosef marvels."Of course we thought it was a crazy dream--but it became part of our reality." When he was 16, Yosef went to work during the day to support the family, and studied engineering at night school. There he met other young Jews and they began to share their dreams. "It was so important just to find other Jews," he recounts. "It doesn't matter what you do--but just to have Jews gather together, it's very special--Yachad!" Yosef was invited to take part in the first project of the Riga Jewish activists. Every Sunday, they would gather in the forest of Rumbula, on the outskirts of Riga, to rehabilitate the mass grave of more than 30,000 Jews massacred there by the Nazis. On Yom Hashoa, Holocaust Memorial Day, which they knew about through their clandestine listening to the radio broadcasts of Kol Yisrael, several hundred Jews gathered at Rumbula. Yosef recounts the speech he gave to the assembly. "I told them that it was because of the merit of the dead that we were there. There's no killing the Jewish spirit! You can never stop Jewish life. Here we were in the hundreds, commemorating our heritage, when the Nazis thought they could wipe us out..." The Rumbula activity connected the young Jews to the remnant of the Shoah generation, and Yosef explains how the older people were called upon to teach everything they knew about Judaism. Although this was already the second generation to have lived under communist rule where Jewish teaching was illegal, vestiges of knowledge remained and were passed on. "That's how we learned about Jewish holidays and Jewish songs, " Yosef says. From that step, it was just a short distance to arrive at the understanding that there could be no complete Jewish life in the Soviet Diaspora. "Our answer to our enemies was to go..we believe in geula (redemption)," Yosef explains. In order to prepare people for the day when they could leave for Israel, it was necessary to start an underground Zionist organization with a network of teachers. Yosef himself taught Hebrew: "I knew 300 words then--my students perhaps knew 100, so I was an expert!" Parallel to the Zionist activity, the Jews began to test the limits of the Soviet juggernaut. They applied to leave based on family reunification. With invitations from fictitious relatives in Israel who happened to have the same family names, Jews approached the OVIR state Ministry of the Interior and tried to get permission to emigrate. Almost everyone in the late 1960s and early 70s was refused making them "refuseniks," vulnerable to being denied entry to universities or being fired from jobs. Yosef realized that if he were to continue with his engineering studies, when he would graduate he would end up being forever enslaved to the Soviet system. So he quit and lost his deferment from the Soviet army. Again, if he were to serve in the army, his chances of ever leaving the country would be minimal, since Soviet authorities claimed that anyone serving in the armed forces had access to "state secrets" and could never be permitted to leave. The night before his induction, the young Mendelevich prayed again. "I realized that perhaps it would help, but maybe I would have to make a sacrifice for it to work. So I decided to sacrifice my freedom, and swore to become religious if somehow I was saved from the army." Indeed, a series of circumstances persuaded his army interviewers that he was not fit to serve, and as soon as he got back to civilian life, Mendelevich began to observe whatever commandments he knew about. The most visible was the wearing of a beret as a head covering, instead of a kipa. "I was proud to wear it because I knew that Israeli soldiers wore the beret," he exclaims. "More than anything, I wanted to serve in the IDF as a member of the Golani brigade," he tells the audience. This was just after the 1967 Six Day War, which ignited the flame of Jewish identity amongst Jews in the Soviet Union. Groups of Jewish activists sprung up all over the Soviet Union with similar goals of pushing for the right to emigrate, and preparing Jews for that eventuality. Thus Mendelevich came into contact with Jews in Leningrad (St Petersburg today) who hatched a plan that revolved around a former Soviet Air Force pilot, Mark Dymshitz. The group decided the time had come for a dramatic gesture that would highlight the desperation of Jews to leave communist oppression, and galvanize support for their cause. They bought tickets under false names on a small plane flying to a border zone. As the plane would land to let off the tourist passengers, Mendelevich and his associates would politely inform the pilot and co-pilot they were being left there, Dymshitz would take the controls and fly low, under the radar, landing in Sweden where they figured they'd hold a news conference and be arrested by the Swedes. A few days or weeks of detention and they'd be on their way to Israel. Mendelevich tells the Machon Meir students that the group was armed with one machine gun. "It's a real war, we thought, not a game. If they try to kill us, we'd be smarter." He mentions as an aside that Dymshitz is now close to 80 years old and living in Rehovot. Another "hijacker," Edward Kuznetsov lives in Motza, just outside Jerusalem. In fact, the hijackers never got off the ground. The KGB had been tipped off and knew the entire plan. All 15 of those waiting to board the small plane were arrested that day, along with several hundred other Jewish activists from all over the country. The KGB hoped the arrests would derail the Zionist movement. Mendelevich describes how the euphoria of his imminent departure turned in an instant to the grim realization that "I had lost my life, I had nothing." All through the interrogation period, Mendelevich was abjectly guilt -ridden that by his actions he had caused the arrest of so many other Jews. Eventually he realized that had the group not undertaken their action, Jewws would have been worse off, their weakness and vulnerability exposed. "Prison is like a grave," Yosef explains to the rapt students. "There's total silence. It's supposed to make you feel as if you're forgotten." Yosef recounts several prison stories. He determined that he would observe Shabbat. In preparation, he started to clean his cell as his guards looked on in astonishment. While cleaning the walls, Yosef discovered a nail protruding from the wall. He used it to etch a depiction of candles into the wall. "When I "lit" these candles and said the blessing, they were truly radiant and I imagined I could see Jerusalem through the flames," he recalls. He had hoarded the best parts of the week's bread to use on Shabbat, and tore off a piece of material as a "challah" cover. "What a magnificent Shabbat I had.." marvels Yosef. "In this way I felt myself completely free.. I had my own private geula (redemption) in prison." As the hour at Machon Meir grew late, Yosef didn't have time to tell the students how he ended up in the same prison camp as Natan Sharansky, and how he taught Sharansky Hebrew and exchanged messages with him in a bizarre variety of ways--including by pumping the water out of the toilets in their cells and communicating through the toilet bowl. When news arrived that Sharansky's father had died, Mendelevich prepared the kaddish prayer for the dead for him on a tiny piece of paper and threw it over the wall of their adjoining exercise yards. The lives of the two former Soviet Prisoners of Zion have diverged since those days. Sharansky, father of two teenage daughters, entered the world of politics and is a minister in the Israeli cabinet. Both his Hebrew and English are marked with a heavy Russian accent. His books have met with great acclaim, particularly his most recent effort: 'The Case for Democracy,' that zoomed up the New York Times bestseller list after a ringing endorsement from President Bush. Sharansky is a much-in-demand speaker on college campuses, conferences and high level meetings all over the world and was just named one of Time Magazine's Top 100 newsmakers. Meanwhile, Mendelevich's powerful message of Jewish spiritual survival that could be inspiring a new generation is sadly heard by only a few. Judy Lash Balint is an investigative journalist and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" (Gefen). It is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com To subscribe to the Jerusalem group's essays, send an email to:jerusalemdiaries-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To Go To Top

THOUGHTS ON THE PASSING OF ANDREA DWORKIN Posted by Steven Plaut, April 13, 2005.

You will have to forgive me but Rocco DiPippo's comments below triggered some flow-of-consciousness free associations in my aging head. The demise of Dworkin recalled to me a quote from Saudi Sheikh Saad al-Buraik, taken from the most-excellent book on the "House of Saud" by Stephen Schwartz, Doubleday Press: "Do not have mercy or compassion toward the Jews. Their women are yours to take, legitimately. God made them yours." As it turns out, the same al-Buraik was one of the "Saudi moderates" (talk about oxymorons) received by George Bush together with the rest of the "moderate" Wahhabi Saudi delegation, on his Texas ranch a couple of years back. Schwartz' book is de rigueur reading for anyone still thinking the Saudis are anything other than Bin Laden clones. But as you know, I think Jews should leave no peace opportunity go unpursued. That is why I decided back then to propose that as a people we agree to al-Buraik's peace terms. So I composed my own list of Jewish women I was prepared to ship to Saudi Arabia at once in exchange for peace. Here 'tis: 1. Andrea Dworkin. 2. Dana International (Israeli transgender singer) 3. Tamar Goszansky (who used to head up Israel's communist party) 4. Gila Svirsky (who heads the anti-Israel "Women in Black") 5. Amira Hass (anti-Israel columnist for far-Left Haaretz newspaper) 6. Tali Fahima (leftwing traitor facing trial now in Israel for abetting her Palestinian terrorist boyfriend in planning terrorist attacks) 7. Tanya Reinhart, disciple of Noam Chomsky and Tel Aviv University's answer to Ward Churchill 8. Hillary Rose, British Jewish anti-Semite organizing, with her hubby Steve, the international campaign to boycott Israel I am even willing to pay for their plane tickets to Riad out of my own salary! Peace Now!! 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. To Go To Top

WHAT CLINTON AND PERES IGNORED; SHARON'S PROPAGANDA; SHARON DEMENTED? Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 13, 2005.

TEST OF P.A. ANTI-TERRORISM The test would be if the P.A. apprehends criminals for recent, fatal terrorism and charges them with murder, not just "harming Palestinian interests" (IMRA, 2/28 from head of National Security Council). "Harming Palestinian interests" means impeding the gains for jihad that Abbas' diplomacy might bring, by attacking now instead of after that diplomacy. OUTRAGE OVER RAMPAGE Arafat had allowed more than 20 terrorists refuge in his office. Israeli forces were reluctant to storm it in his presence. Abbas continued the practice, but his security officials forced six of them out, because they were involved in kidnapping, blackmailing, and shooting Arabs. In retaliation, a larger group of terrorists fired on Abbas' compound while he was there. Then they went on a rampage throughout Ramallah, damaging some restaurants and forcing stores to close (Mohammed Daraghmeh, NY Sun, 3/31 from Associated Press). Since this is a more complete report than others I've seen, I thought you might find it useful. A dictator and a jihadist worries that his gangsters may become undisciplined and evade his control. Abbas may have to crack down on the terrorist militias for that reason. But he would not end the war on Israel. Rather, he would coordinate and unsophisticated their means and timing. WHAT CLINTON & PERES IGNORED Peres was trying to negotiate with Syria. When Syria and the P.A. promoted some terrorism, he and Pres. Clinton did not want to denounce Syria and the P.A. for it. Denouncing them would undermine the policy of appeasement of them. Instead, they contended that Arafat of the P.A. was "too weak" to eradicate terrorism. They recommended strengthening his power, the power of the very agency that was launching terrorism. The same thing is happening today. The US calls for strengthening Abbas, as if then the P.A. would crack down on terrorism. Actually, the distinction among terrorist groups largely is theoretical. They work together. Abbas' Fatah is particularly violent (Caroline Glick, IMRA, 3/1). It was popular to call Clinton a great friend of Israel. It is against Israeli law to call Peres a traitor. Certain journalists point out the deceptions and rationalizations practiced upon their peoples by the heads of the US and Israel. When will the people learn to become skeptical of them? TURKEY, SYRIA, & THE U.S. The government of Turkey issued a statement of solidarity with Syria against US demands. The statement put it as opposing "pressure" (IMRA, 3/1). The US mades demands upon Syria but imposed no pressure. Why not? In siding with Syria, Turkey is pursuing a pan-Islamic line. Should the US still recommend that the EU admit Turkey? IRAN SUPPORTS SYRIAN OCCUPATION OF LEBANON Iran issued a statement deferring to the Taif Agreement. That agreement basically lets Syria move its forces into the Beqaa Valley rather than exit Lebanon (IMRA, 3/1). The Security Council Resolution requiring Syria to remove its forces completely takes priority over a national agreement. Iran's purpose in deferring to the Taif Agreement is to buy time for Syria, so that it need never remove its forces, which shield the terrorists financed by Iran. EVIDENCE OF "INCITEMENT" The head of the Secret Service presented the Cabinet with evidence of threatening letters and bumper stickers. Trouble is, it all was the work of government agent provocateurs (Arutz-7, 2/27). We know it. Why didn't the Cabinet? Why didn't the Cabinet demand the intelligence chief's resignation for trying to deceive it? It should have investigated how politicalized his agency has become, in the Prime Ministers' behalf. It should investigate Sharon's dirty tricks. But it won't. Its Members are in office on his sufferance. They didn't investigate Rabin's dirty tricks, either. SYRIA PROMISES TO WITHDRAW. PROMISES, PROMISES Syria has promised to complete withdrawing its troops by the end of April. The UNO may monitor the withdrawal. How would it verify the withdrawal of intelligence agents? Reports are that the agents simply moved to Hizbullah-controlled suburbs of Beirut (Benny Avni, NY Sun, 4/5, p.9). SYRIAN INTELLECTUALS PETITION FOR WITHDRAWAL In two separate petitions, 173 Syrian intellectuals demanded a new policy, that of Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. They did not give a reason (IMRA, 3/2). SYRIA-JORDAN SECURITY ACCORD The two countries signed a pact delineating their common border and agreeing to jointly fight against terrorism. That obliges Syria to fulfill Jordanian requests for extradition of people who cross that border (IMRA, 3/2). Syria probably sends them into Jordan, in the first place. Would it then extradite them? The P.A. never extradited any terrorists to Israel. Israel used to file protests. It was a waste of paper and a declaration of impotence. Syria is an unlikely fighter against terrorism, hosting as it does several terrorist organizations, arming Hizbullah, and sending terrorists into Iraq. FRUIT OF SHARON'S PROPAGANDA For a day, Israeli newspapers gave coverage to a story that some rabbi ruled that it is permissible to shoot Bedouin IDF troops evacuating Jews from Gaza. The story was false. Nevertheless, on the basis of it, a Bedouin cleric issued a ruling that Bedouin troops doing the evacuation are permitted to fire back if fired upon (IMRA, 3/2). PERES DISCUSSES SECURITY WITH TERRORIST LEADER The office of Vice-PM Peres released a statement that Peres met with P.A. leader Dahlan, to discuss civil issues. They did discuss some. However, they discussed the matter of possible passageways between the two parts of the P.A., going through Israel. That is one of the most delicate security issues (IMRA, 3/2). ISRAEL INTERCEPTS ROCKET TERRORISTS Israeli troops stormed into some P.A. towns and arrested a Hamas cell planning to bombard Israeli towns with rockets. Without explaining the Israelis' purpose, the P.A. news agency called this preventive counter-terrorism "aggression" (IMRA, 3/2). Arab newspeak, not to be taken seriously. SHARON DEMENTED? PM Sharon plans to take away the houses and agricultural facilities that the Jews of Gaza built up and turn them over to the dedicated Arab enemy. It is a shameful theft. Some day the Jews of Tel Aviv, who cheered him on, will feel that shame (Winston Mid East Analysis, 3/2). LYING FOR ABANDONMENT The Israeli official in charge of implementing abandonment had claimed that 800 families were ready to evacuate and were dickering for compensation. He has since then admitted those reports were not true. There were only 63 such families (Arutz-7, 3/2). Are there? He was practicing psychological warfare on his own people. Shame on him and on his regime! ANOTHER DANGER FROM ABANDONMENT The territory in northern Samaria that PM Sharon also plans to abandon is double the size of the Gaza Strip. It would turn into a Fatah-land. Control over it would enable the Arabs to impair Israel's water supply. By establishing territorial contiguity over several Arab cities, the Arabs would be able to transport weapons from one to the other, as needed, without interference from Israeli checkpoints. More Israeli cities would come under rocket fire. That is what the Arabs were trying to do, but the IDF, which still is in the area, raided their workshops before they could deploy (Arutz-7, 3/2). The US insists on that territorial contiguity. DANIEL PIPES DENOUNCES PM SHARON "Mr. Sharon betrayed the voters who supported him, wounding Israeli democracy. He divided Israeli society in ways that may poison the body politic for decades hence. He aborted his own successful policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians (Arabs). He delivered Palestinian Arab and Muslim rejectionists their greatest boost ever (by his abandonment plan). And he failed his American ally by delivering a major victory to the forces of terrorism." (NY Sun, 4/5, p.9.) Nonsense, the US favors Israeli withdrawal and it subsidizes the P.A. while the P.A. is terrorist. GOOD FOR RADIO ISRAEL The station held a discussion whether the media has been fabricating or exaggerating stories of right-wing incitement to violence. The journalists there admitted it was. They blamed the pressure of deadlines and of intense competition to keep their jobs. Hence, they accept interesting news without thorough checking (IMRA, 3/2). Deadlines make inaccuracy, but why is the fabrication all one-way? Why is all the other biased reporting one-way? HUMAN SHIELDS' CHUTZPAH The coterie of a human shield complained that the Israeli Army had shot him during fighting between terrorists and the IDF. Someone remarked how nervy it is for human shields to enter a war zone in behalf of terrorists and then their supporters complain about their getting shot. He would have some sympathy for them if they stationed themselves at bus stops in Israeli cities, to be shields for innocent civilians instead of guilty gunmen (Prof. Steven Plaut, 3/2, e-mail). They come to interfere with justice in behalf of war criminals. It would be fitting justice, though in this world bad public relations, if they were aimed at. A ROAD TO JERUSALEM PM Sharon said he intends to build a road linking the town of Maaleh Adumim, population 20,000 beyond the Green Line, to Jerusalem. The government of Israel cites support for such construction in Pres. Bush's letter of April 14, which he recognized that large Jewish settlement blocs should be expected to remain with Israel, in any final settlement, to be negotiated by the parties. (Negotiated by both, provided Israel does what the US wants?) Henry Siegman, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (and who drafted the CFR report proposing that all Jews retreat behind the Green Line and give up eastern Jerusalem, having the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site) disagrees. He refers to the letter's objection to expansion of Jewish settlements. He also criticized the road building as cutting off parts of "Arab East Jerusalem from the rest of the territory that the international community envisions will be part of a Palestinian (Arab) state." (The quote is of the reporter, Eli Lake, NY Sun, 4/5, p.9.) Most US political power brokers belong to the Council on Foreign Relations. None has expressed opposition to the CFR plan for turning Jewish territory over to the Arabs. That is worrisome. What is a fellow Jew doing at such a Council, bringing out its worst? What are Jews doing, debating the contents of a devious letter from the President of the US, as if he legitimately were the arbiter of their future? What is the US doing, dictating the life-and-death of Israelis, in spport of Bush's own little Evil Axis with the P.A. and Egypt? This in the persona of George Bush as the imperial US that much of the rest of the world hates. Impressed by his righteousness on other issues, Bush may think he is right on this issue, too, or is it that oil greases his wheels and makes his tongue about Israeli security oily? The proposed road from the isolated community would be a lifeline. That is why Mr. Siegman opposes it. He should be dismissed as a bending-over-backward, antisemitic crank, whose Arab protégés for "peace" want only war and wish to harm the US as well as Israel, regardless of what he is able to rip out of the Jewish people for them. Why should Israel sacrifice its security and patrimony to its enemy, because it is "territory that the international community envisions will be part of" a second Palestinian Arab state and of a 22nd Arab state? By "international community" he means the collection of antisemitic states and their appeasers. They set no law. Israel is their scapegoat. EU-ARAB CONSPIRACY For 30 years, the EU and the Arabs have conspired to help the Palestinian Arabs undercut Israel. Why did the Europeans do so? "To ensure their continued oil supply and to undermine the US," said Bat Yeor, author of "Eurabia." "Much of the European population sees the Palestinian jihad not as terrorism or the murder of innocents, but as a heroic struggle for liberty." "Zionism or American is seen as the evil force, not Islamism or even terrorism. Europe is unwilling or unable to see jihadists as an enemy or even a destructive force in the world." (Seldom do the Europeans see straight. What is it with them?) "The Muslim populations of Europe are not assimilating or adapting to Western ideals of democracy and religious plurality." "European students are not taught the real history of the Islamic world or its historical oppression of Christians and Jews. Muslim students protest such lessons and the courses are altered to avoid negative pictures of Islam or Islamic history." (ZOA Report, Spring, 2005.) Imagine, Islamists dictate against truth in education, the very truth that Europe needs for survival from the Islamists! Although the Europeans acquiesce to all sorts of Arab bullying and derogation of Western cultures, Democrats thought the US should consult the EU more. I've met Democrats who are irate against Bush because W. European leaders don't like him. What is there to respect about W. European leaders who lack self-respect and who side with our enemies against us? Don't the Democrats realize that the EU is anti-American? Consulting them more would be counter-productive. We should work with those who will work with us and not against us. That, Bush did. To put matters in perspective, Western European leaders are blind and corrupt, the State Dept. is blind and corrupt, and the leaders of my fellow Jews are blind and corrupt. I sense, as when reading the "Lord of the Rings" series, a gathering of evil. Perhaps that is melodramatic. But the polices are evil, and their practitioners are committing evil. Europe's fatal innocence lives, and innocents die. If the EU succeeds in undermining the US, who will save them from the Arabs? 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. To Go To Top

HOW TO RID THE WORLD OF THE ISM Posted by Steven Plaut, April 13, 2005.

ISM or International Soilidarity Movement is the band of terrorism cheerleaders who leave their lattes and travel to Israel where they know they will be treated with kid gloves when they engage in violence and vandalism. They do not dare to try to serve as human shields for terrorists in Chechnya or in Fallujah or even in Algeria. But I think that I have come up with a way to relieve the world of the ISM nuisance. All we need to do is insist that they come to the Gaza Strip in pairs, as fiances or dates. Really. Well, let me explain. In the Gaza Strip the very same Islamofascist terrorists that the ISM moonbats come to support and promote have begun murdering people on the Gaza streets when an unmarried woman is strolling about in the company of someone to whom she is not yet married, even if it is her fiance. Think I am kidding you? Well, over the weekend the Hamas murdered Yusra al-Azzami, a 22-year-old university student from the northern Gaza Strip. Her crime was that she was walking in public with her fiance. Hamas has begun operating a "vice and virtue commando" in the Gaza Strip to safeguard Islamic values, Palestinian security officials and residents report. The Jerusalem Post reports: Hamas's "morality" patrolmen first spotted the young couple strolling along the beach in Gaza City, together with Azzami's younger sister. After enjoying the spectacular sunset over the sea, they got into the future husband's car and started driving towards Azzami's home. Five masked gunmen who were in another car gave chase, opening fire at Azzami, who was sitting in the front seat next to her fiance. She died instantly. ... A cousin noted that Azzami was planning to get married next month and that her family had permitted her to see her fiance that day only because she was accompanied by her sister. The PLO and its affiliates have long operated "vice patrols" that attack Palestinian homosexuals, as well. Some Palestinian gays have sought refuge in Israel, boosting the ranks of Arab Zionists. The New Republic a few years back exposed hideous human rights violations by the Palestinian Authority, which employs special police squads to hunt gays. The BBC reports that the PLO routinely threatens to murder gays. None of this has prevented the ultra-moonbat wing of the "Queers" movement (their term, not mine) from teaming up with neonazis to endorse Arab terrorism and promote anti-Semitism. Never mind that the movement of terror cheerleaders supporting so-called "Palestine" has always been violently antigay. The sane wing however has long applauded the level of respect gays enjoy in Israel. (No one in Israel has any problem with gays serving in the army and helping round up and deport the ISM terrorists.) SO send in the ISM team - in pairs - to Gaza! And send Justin Raimondo to Rafiah! (For links, go to http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/moonbatcentral/2005/04/how-to-solve-ism-nuisance.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. To Go To Top

ISRAEL BELONGS TO THE JEWS Posted by Lise Rubin, April 13, 2005.

These are the folks who organized the amazing rally in Crawford Texas! To write Thank You Notes for organizing the rally, write: Dr. Jim Vineyard, Director - Yedidim of Israel 5517 N.W. 23rd Street - Oklahoma City, OK 73127 Phone: (405) 943-3326 - Fax: (405) 946-5190 E-mail: javyedidimis@aol.com The following statement comes from Yedidim of Israel. Their website address is http://www.yedidimofisrael.com/archives/oldindex.html Yedidim of Israel is a collaboration of over 7,600 independent Baptist churches in America. In February, 2004, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced his plan for a unilateral withdrawal of Jews from Gush Katif in Gaza and Northern Samaria. This plan came as a surprise and shock to more than 8,000 settlers. The plan to evict the Jewish people from their homes is scheduled to occur in July, 2005. The following are reasons why our organization is against such deportation: Their shirts read: Israel belongs to the Jews 1. Yedidim of Israel believes the only true God gave the entire land of Israel to the sons of Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 13:14-18; 15:6-8, 18, 17:6-8, 15-21; 26:1-5; 28-12-15) 2. The need for avoidance of the creation of an Islamic terror state. This will be deadly both for the Jews and the entire West. Israeli troops and innocent Israeli citizens in the Middle East will be placed in danger. 3. Yedidim of Israel believes that the deportation plan will be rewarding homicide bombers. They believe this goes against the Bush mantra to fight terror and goes 180 degrees against the war against Islamic terrorism. 4. Unless action is taken, this organization believes that this will make USA a "collaborator to Jewish genocide." They feel it will be creating a bonafide state, which will result in the extermination of another nation. 5. This deportation of Jews by a Jewish state, with the seal and prodding of the United States President, will open the floodgates for other nations to follow suit when their "anti-Semitism" reaches its boiling point. 6. For Israel, this means an increase in terror. Many of the military-security leaders in Israel know that this is the result. Fear of the Prime Minister keeps them from speaking out. 7. Yedidim of Israel feels that the deportation plan is against basic civil rights. To Go To Top

GAZA DEPORTATION IS A SEVERE SIN Posted by Root and Branch Association, April 13, 2005.

Sheikh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi wrote that the pending Bush/Sharon Gush Katif Juden deportation is a serious crime and a severe sin. A reader wrote: Dear Sheikh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Thank you for your comments on Israel's proposed "Judenrein" program. I agree! But I would like to add one comment. What if another reason for removing the Jews from Gush Katif is because Israel knows that if they remain there and the Palestine Authority is in charge of security, those Jews would be massacred as soon as Israel's forces left? Israel has Arab citizens. Some are even members of the Israeli parliament. Muslims, Christians and Jews in Israel have the right and the freedom to practice their faith in Israel. I have yet to hear anyone in the Palestine Authority suggest that Jews have the right to stay in their own homes, if that home will be under the Palestine Authority's administration. Then again, it doesn't seem as if they care too much for their own people when they train Muslim children to become suicide bombers. But if you'll notice, those suicide bombers aren't the children of the Palestine Authority officials! Thank you again for your wisdom and the courage to speak it and share it! Sheikh Professor Palazzi answers: Thank you very much for your message. You are touching a very subtle point. Everyone takes for granted that Jews will never be permitted to live in peace under a Palestine Authority administration. This shows that this same administration will not be a democracy, but a racist dictatorship. That is the reason way I say that Bush's policy is contradictory. From one side he declares to be "at war with terror", and that the solution to win that war is spreading "democracy". In the Middle East, however, the Bush administration is doing exactly the opposite: Compelling a democratic nation like Israel to withdraw from a part of its territory in order to create another dictatorial Arab regime. This practically means rewarding terror, instead of fighting it, and spreading dictatorship, and not "democracy". Sheikh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi is Director of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community and Muslim Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of the Islam-Israel Fellowship, Root & Branch Association, Ltd (http://www.amislam.com). Contact him by email at islam.inst@flashnet.it To Go To Top

BUSH, SHARON CLASH OPENLY Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 12, 2005.

Why don't I believe that this "clash of wills" is only a choreographed dance so each can show his constituency that he is fighting for his principles? President Bush condemns settlement expansion and looks good to the Arab Muslims. PM Sharon supposedly clashes with Bush, speaking of the expansion of Ma'ale Adumim (which won't be built for years) and looks like he's fighting for the settlers of Judea and Samaria (which he isn't). "Two tricky people by dawn's early light and too much in love to say good night" or so the song goes. This story is by Peter Wallsten and Tyler Marshall, LA Times Staff Writers. Wallsten reported from Texas and Marshall from Washington. Times staff writer Laura King in Jerusalem also contributed to this report. The leaders, meeting in Texas, disagree on the future of West Bank settlements under the Mideast peace plan. Both are under pressure. CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon differed strongly and publicly Monday over the future of West Bank settlements under the U.S.-backed peace plan, underscoring the fragile nature of negotiations to end the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Bush condemned the expansion of Jewish settlements as a violation of the so-called road map plan for a two-state solution. But Sharon, who has proposed expanding a major settlement east of Jerusalem, said the development and others would be protected under any final agreement and remain part of Israel. The two leaders spoke after meeting for an hour and a half at Bush's ranch outside Crawford. "I told the prime minister of my concern that Israel not undertake any activity that contravenes road map obligations, or prejudice final status negotiations," Bush said after the meeting. "Therefore, Israel should remove unauthorized outposts and meet its road map obligations regarding settlements in the West Bank." The impasse demonstrated that Bush and Sharon, despite a close alliance over the past four years, offer widely different interpretations of what the U.S.-supported peace plan means for settlements. Backed by the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, the blueprint envisions a series of reciprocal steps by the two sides that would culminate in Palestinian statehood. The plan requires that Israel dismantle offshoots of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and that the Palestinian Authority crack down on militant groups. Bush views the two-state plan as key to his broader agenda of promoting political reforms in the Middle East. But many analysts say he must challenge Sharon on the settlement expansion to keep the road map on track and to build credibility with Palestinians as an even-handed broker. Sharon is under fire from many in his own right-leaning Likud Party for his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. He is trying to mollify those critics by standing by the proposed expansion of a settlement east of Jerusalem called Maale Adumim. The expansion, announced last month, has outraged Palestinians. They say it would cut off Palestinian areas in East Jerusalem from the West Bank, and significantly hinder north-south movement within the West Bank. Such a change, they say, would make it harder for Palestinians to build a free-standing state that is not carved into cantons by border crossings or tunnels. Sharon refused Monday to concur with Bush's statement that the settlement's expansion violates the road map. Instead, the prime minister insisted that West Bank settlements would be protected throughout negotiations. "It is the Israeli position that the major Israeli population centers will remain in Israel's hands under any future final status agreement with all related consequences," he said. Both men offered some conciliatory language on other aspects of the plan. Bush repeated the assurances given to Sharon in a letter a year ago that given the entrenched nature of many settlements, it was "unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949." That language had given Israelis the expectation that they would be able to maintain some major West Bank settlements. Sharon pledged to "fulfill my commitment" to remove unauthorized outposts, often rusty trailers positioned by settlers on bare West Bank hilltops. But as Bush and Sharon spoke Monday, it was clear the two men - while reiterating their friendship and mutual interest in ranching - have different visions about how to attain Middle East peace. Sharon, directing his remarks to television viewers back home, said in Hebrew that his Gaza pullout was the first step toward an end to the dispute with Palestinians, but that further steps under the road map would be possible only after the Palestinians eliminated violence. "I hope that this stage will happen and that we will only move to the road map after this intervention by the Palestinians against terror," he said. Sharon strongly promoted his Gaza withdrawal initiative, calling on the Palestinians to help and declaring it would "strengthen Israel, improve the quality of life for Israeli citizens, reduce the friction between us and the Palestinians and can pave the way towards the implementation of the road map." Bush linked the road map to Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, making it clear that he hoped the pullout would build momentum for the peace plan. But Sharon took pains to portray the peace plan as a long-term approach, reflecting Israeli skepticism about the plan. He said a successful Gaza withdrawal by Israel, with the cooperation of the Palestinian Authority, would build confidence on both sides and clear the way for two states. "I want to focus the world's attention on getting it right in the Gaza, and then all of a sudden, people will start to say, 'Gosh, well, that makes sense,' " Bush said. "The Palestinians will see it's a hopeful - there's a hopeful way forward." Independent analysts argued that Bush needed to establish his differences with Sharon on the settlements issue to protect the road map. "If Bush truly wants to be remembered as the man who finally brokered a deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians, then the West Bank has to be next," said Geoffrey Kemp, a Middle East specialist at the Nixon Center, a Washington think tank. "It's important that Bush lay down this marker now because the turmoil in Israel will get much worse in the coming months - first, because the actual withdrawal from Gaza will be very public and very painful, but also because for the huge lobby in favor of settlements, it's an ominous sign that they will be next." Both men face political risks at home as they seek to implement the peace plan. Bush, who capitalized on his hard-line stance against the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to woo votes last year from conservative Christians and Jews, is now facing criticism from among those groups for moving too fast with the Palestinians. Bush's 2004 letter to Sharon on settlements reassured Israel backers in the U.S. that the president was sympathetic to settlers who might get left outside the Jewish state's borders under a two-nation plan. Unencumbered by reelection concerns, Bush and his administration have insisted that Israel follow the road map's admonition to halt settlement expansion in the West Bank. "If he listens to what I say, he won't hear anything contradictory," Bush said testily after a reporter asked about mixed signals on settlements. "I've been very clear about, Israel has an obligation under the road map. That's no expansion of settlements." For Sharon, the settlement debate, and the pressure that Bush decides to apply, is fraught with political peril. Although Sharon pledged Monday to remove unauthorized West Bank outposts, he has found it politically difficult to follow through on such commitments, because they usually entail Israeli military forces confronting settlers in emotional, ugly scenes. Television coverage of such events further inflames the emotions of right-wing Israelis already upset by Sharon's Gaza pullout plan and limits his political maneuverability. Wallsten reported from Texas and Marshall from Washington. Times staff writer Laura King in Jerusalem also contributed to this report. 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). To Go To Top

ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FILTH, WE PRINT Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 12, 2005.

Once again the NEW YORK TIMES used their motto, "all the news that's fit to print" to mislead and misrepresent. On its first page index, under a heading called "Inside", the NYT printed this block of copy: "Israel Blocks Rightists' Rally Some 3,000 police officers foiled a rally by Israeli rightists at one of Islam's holiest sites. The government said the police were preventing a provocation to Muslims at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem." pg. 4 The Jews were going up to the Temple Mount on the first of the month of Nissan to pray. It is a holy thing to do for Jews. But, the Arab Muslims objected and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the police (3000 of them) to keep the Jews off of Solomon's Temple Mount. The NEW YORK TIMES takes it as a given that, because Arab Muslims make the claim that the Jewish Temple Mount is one of Islam's holy sites, therefore, for the NYT, it is a fact. The NYT writers, Steven Erlanger and Greg Myre are either very uninformed or simply liars, typical of the TIMES when it speaks about the Jewish State. Know this: In the 7th Century, from the Arabian Desert Mohammed came to the Jews to offer his leadership - which they rejected. Mohammed, in order to induce the Jews to accept his leadership, even turned his 'Qibla' (direction of prayers) toward Jerusalem. When the Jews still refused his gestures, he turned his prayers and back side toward Jerusalem and never again tried to lure the Jews to Islam. The prayers of Mohammed and his followers were forever after directed toward Mecca and Jerusalem returned to her former status of no importance to Islam. Mohammed called Jews and Christians "People of the Book" or Dhimmis (a low class). If Mohammed could have induced the Jews to join Islam, he would have advanced this new religion of Islam faster and over a greater area. He would also add the ancient lineage of the Jews to Islam, the new start-up religion. That's called "borrowed equity" in today's language. The Jews were builders of Jerusalem, including the First Temple by Solomon and the Second Temple. Nowhere in the Koran does Mohammed claim Jerusalem as a holy site, while in the Jewish Bible (first five books of Moses) Jerusalem is mentioned 667 times. Naming a site "Harem al Sharif" in Arabic (Noble Sanctuary) at once endows it with a name honoring the Holy Temple of the Jews - as if it were built by Arab Muslims in some vague time of the ancient past. However, saying that you revere it, does not make it yours. Yasir Arafat's most recent claims denied that there ever was a Jewish Temple but that it always belonged to a mix of peoples he named "Palestinians" after forming the PLO in 1964. Moreover, among Muslims, few religious ranking clerics ever went to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage (as when they went to Mecca in the honored Haj.) If they did have to go to Jerusalem, it was called a Zira or visit of business and certainly not of a religious nature. As for the Dome of the Rock structure or the Al Aksa Mosque, both were shams, built to encourage the pilgrimage trade and aspirations for power. That ploy failed and both buildings fell into ruin, with weeds growing up between the floor tiles when there were no visitors to trample them down. After Mohammed died, there was the usual struggle for power, Calif El Malek who lived in Damascus Syria desired to be the spiritual leader of Mohammed's followers. Sixty years after Mohammed's death, Calif el Malek built what is now is called the Dome of the Rock as the symbol of his new leadership. He built it over where the First and Second Jewish Temples were built to absorb their Jewish holiness and prestige. The Muslims called the Temple Mount, the Hill of the Noble Sanctuary (which referred to the Jewish Temple). Mohammed's followers rejected el-Malek's bid for power and continued to revere and bow to Mecca as their Qibla (direction of prayer). As I have said before, the Dome and Al Aksa fell into disrepair and ruins for centuries - even when the Temple Mount was completely in the hands of Muslims. Twenty years after that El Malek's son built what he called al Aksa Mosque and named it after the fantasy dream attributed to Mohammed. This dream (not acknowledged in any writings of Mohammed) speaks of Mohammed in a dream, flying on a great white horse with the breasts and face of a women and the tail of a peacock to the 'farthest place'. The horse was called el Buraq. "Al Aksa" means "farthest place" in Arabic. Al Aksa (the farthest place) was thought by later Islamic scholars to be either the court yards of Allah or minimally to Medina where a 'far-away' mosque stood. Serious Islamic scholars were embarrassed by this myth, conjured up by what was thought to be his enraptured followers. It was not the first time followers created and embellished a myth of religious phenomenon. In the folk-tale of Mohammed's night ride, he was to have flown to the Rock in Jerusalem where Abraham was tested by G-d with the order to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. (More recently, to further their claim on Jerusalem the Muslim clerics changed Isaac to Ishmael as the intended sacrifice of honor.) Mohammed, according to their lore, landed on the Rock and his horse El Burak left a very large hoof print in the stone. Then he jumped into air again and flew to the 7th Heaven where he met all past prophets of the Jews. They also included Jesus, given that he was a Jew adopted by Christianity as their Lord and prophet. As the myth told it, all the prophets gave Mohammed their blessing as the last prophet of G-d (which G-d we do not share). Those of you who have heard the tale may have doubts on present claims, citing a mystical tale of a horse of a different color, landing on a sacrificial rock and the future site of Solomon's Temple built long before there was a Mohammed, a moon god called Zin, later changed to Allah. The buildings built upon the Jewish Temple Mount of the Jews, demonstrated conquest and contempt as have all past conquerors carrying their religion with them in the buildings of their gods upon the vanquished. Proving one's gods were superior through conquest and building Temples over the ruins of another's Temple has been the way of armies from Time Immemorial. However, before the Muslims built Al Aksa and the Dome of the Rock, the Christian conquerors had built their symbols of symbols of conquest, Al Aksa was built upon the Church of the Repose ruins, thereby Islam claimed two victories and that Islam was the first and best of all religions. There is a great deal more detail of how David went to Mount Moriah and established Jerusalem as G-d's holy city a few thousand years before Christianity and Islam existed. Islam named the mosque on the Temple Mount, Al Aksa and created the story that this was the mythical Al Aksa of Mohammed's night ride in his dream. The desire of both Islam and Christianity to later conquer and claim Jerusalem - especially Solomon's Temple as theirs is clear. The struggle to be Numero Uno (first) before G-d's eyes and to displace the Jews in the Covenant has been the basis of the struggle for thousands of years. As for the Jews, they were either to be absorbed into one or the other of these newer religions or if they continued to stand in the way of legitimizing later claims - then they must be destroyed. The Jews stubbornly refused to become decently extinct - as suggested by Arnold Toynbee which thwarts the ambitions of competitive religions. Historians and revisionists try to play with the pieces of history to fit their theories or dreams. But, in conclusion know this: The Jews built the Temple of Solomon & rebuilt it after it was destroyed. The Muslims never claimed nor wanted the Temple of their first, second or their now claimed third holiest site - until recently...after 1967. The Temple and the sham Al Aksa Mosque was always a manufactured excuse to riot against the Jews. As for the NEW YORK TIMES, they are simply a light weight Der Stürmer descended from Col. McCormack's legacy of Jew hatred. They remain, as they always were, "All the News That's Filth, We Print". 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). To Go To Top

NEW JIHADIST CONFESSIONS Posted by IsrAlert, April 12, 2005.

This comes from Bruce Tefft, Isralert subscriber and intelligence analyst (note: links in this article may be unavailable to non-paying subscribers). Today's new clips include segments from the ongoing series on captured terrorists' confessions on Al-Fayhaa TV (Iraq/UAE) and Al-Iraqiya TV (Iran). In one clip, an Egyptian terrorist discusses getting paid for slaughtering people. In another, a Saudi terrorist explains how he was inspired to jihad: "[I heard] some lectures and sermons...like Dr. Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, who issued a [fatwa] ruling that any American in Iraq must be killed." *Clip # 629: Saudi Terrorist: I Waged Jihad In Iraq Because of the Communique of the 26 Clerics and Because of Dr. Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi's Fatwa that Any American in Iraq Should Be Killed. An excerpt: "I read the communique of the 26 clerics, and [I heard] some lectures and sermons from "For you, Baghdad," as well as Sheik Al-'Anzi and other doctors who appear on TV, like Dr. Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, who issued a [fatwa] ruling that any American in Iraq must be killed. The Americans are killing and the Iraqis are resisting them - this is the picture that was etched upon my mind." http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=629 *Clip # 630: Egyptian Terrorists Tell of Their Slaughters in Iraq. An excerpt: "Interviewer: Who held the knife and slaughtered? Muhammad Ramadhan: I slaughtered two while they held them for me. Interviewer: How much did you get for this slaughtering? Muhammad Ramadhan: The three of us got $1,200 in total. Interviewer: $1,200 for six slaughtered people? Muhammad Ramadhan: Each of us got $400." http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=630 More Terrorist Confessions include: *Clip # 625: Iraqi Terrorist Who Filmed Beheadings Confesses. An excerpt: Omar 'Allawi:...I became their photographer. They would bring them to the hotel, and I would film them. Interviewer: How many people were killed in your presence? Omar 'Allawi: They killed eight policemen and six of the National Guard. Interviewer: You filmed them? Omar 'Allawi: Yes, sir." http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=625 *Clip #620: Syrian Intelligence Officer Captured in Iraq: Orders to Slaughter People in Iraq Came from the Syrian Government. An excerpt: Interviewer: These were orders? Fadi Al-Abdallah:: Yes, sir. Interviewer: You mean it wasn't your idea to unite. You had orders to prepare for this plan. Fadi Al-Abdallah:: Yes, sir. Interviewer: But what was the goal of this plan? Did you know or didn't you know? Fadi Al-Abdallah:: I didn't know. But I knew that the goal was to unite Syria and Iraq so they would become one Arab country. Interviewer: My brother, unification cannot be reached through slaughter." http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=620 *Clip # 617: Captured Iraqi Terrorist Ziyad Ghani Ahmad Tells How He Murdered an Iraqi Policeman. An excerpt: Ziyad Ghani Ahmad: ... The first man [we killed] was Mazen Chubless. He was in the trunk of the car on the road leading to Tikrit. We took him out of the car, and all I did was to cuff him. I cuffed his hands. Ali Mussa was the first to strike him, later Qayssar Hashem struck him. Interviewer: With what did they strike him, and how? Ziyad Ghani Ahmad: With a spear. A long spear." http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=617 *Clip # 582: Iraqi Policemen Who Joined a Terrorist Squad Tell of Murders and Rapes. An excerpt: Interviewer: Hussein, which squad did you work with? Are you also a policeman? Hussein Sheikhu: Yes, sir, a police officer... Interviewer: Where did you kill Ahmad Jum'a? Hussein Sheikhu: We kidnapped him. Interviewer: Who killed him? Hussein Sheikhu: I killed him, Sir... Interviewer: Who else did you kill? Hussein Sheikhu: I killed those Christians." http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=582 "Iranian Islamic Government Murders Canadian Journalist" at http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/iran/thestory.html, January 2004. In July 2003, Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi was tortured and murdered by Iranian security agents after she attempted to report on the growing opposition movement in Iran. FRONTLINE/World correspondent Jane Kokan risks her personal safety to follow in Kazemi's footsteps, traveling undercover to Iran to investigate the clerical regime's latest crackdown on students, journalists and dissidents. "I want to find out what happened to [Kazemi]," says Kokan, "and the story she died trying to tell." Iran is a theocratic republic ruled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and a council of mullahs, who control the prisons, courts and security forces. Students and dissidents pushing for change want the mullahs out of power and replaced with a more democratic government. But the Islamic regime has come down hard on political opponents, deploying security forces and packs of Bassijis, Islamic vigilantes, against dissidents. Ten Iranian journalists are currently jailed for writing critically about the regime, and foreign journalists are seriously restricted in Iran. Kokan's journey starts in London, where she meets members of the Iranian diaspora. They share with her their personal stories, as well as amateur videos and other evidence they've smuggled out of Iran documenting attacks against students and dissidents. At a peaceful demonstration at the Iranian Embassy in London, Kokan meets a young leader of the Independent Student Movement, Iman Samizadez. "I'm looking for [a] free Iran, without religion," Samizadez tells Kokan. "People, they can have religion as a private thing. But in a political way, we are looking for a free country." In London, Kokan uncovers photographs documenting the bloody aftermath of a raid on a student dormitory in Tehran in the summer of 2003. The raid was carried out by vigilantes armed with machetes, metal pipes, chains and butcher knives. Kokan also learns that some 4,000 Iranian student activists were arrested after protests in Tehran and other cities in June 2003 and at least 500 remain in prison for their democratic beliefs. Amir Fakhravar, a student movement leader and hero, is among the men and women Kokan will attempt to make contact with while in Iran. Punished for writing a book promoting democracy and free speech, Fakhravar is serving an eight-year prison sentence at Qasr Prison in Tehran. In a video recorded before he went to prison last year, Fakhravar prepares his mother for his execution, which he believes is imminent. "I don't [want] you to have that sad face. I want [you] at that moment they're hanging me, to stand proudly and say, 'I'm proud of my son,'" he says. In prison, Fakhravar has suffered regular beatings and torture. Iran's aging mullahs have reason to be concerned about the young pro-democracy movement: 70 percent of Iranians are under age 30 and many have access to Western ideas and culture via the Internet and satellite television. After months of negotiating access, Kokan is finally able to enter Iran in September 2003. Pretending to be an archaeologist, she crosses the Turkish border with a group touring the country's ancient ruins. Once inside, Kokan is assigned an official minder and her hotel room and phone are monitored. She must be extremely careful as she tries to make contact with Iran's underground student movement. She slips out at night to communicate by email, using a secret code she's developed to communicate with colleagues and sources. But she is careful to return by curfew or risk the hotel receptionist's reporting her to the police. One night, Kokan shakes her minder to meet a friend of imprisoned student leader Fakhravar. Kokan pledges to protect the friend's identity, and he describes the ever-present security forces in Iran and the impact of a police state on daily life. "Our dream country is one where human rights are respected," he tells Kokan, "where people aren't sent to prison and tortured for their ideas, for their writing, for their work. That's our dream country." Dodging her minders again, Kokan finds and films the anonymous site in Shiraz where journalist Zahra Kazemi's body is buried. After two weeks, Kokan's tour group finally arrives in Tehran. Here in the capital city, Kokan encounters the tightest security yet, but she still manages to sneak away from the tour to meet a young activist who has been arrested four times and a political dissident, active since the 1970s, who has been supporting the student movement. To make a political statement, both men insist on showing their faces on camera, despite the risk of serious reprisal. The student activist tells Kokan that his movement wants support from the West, but does not want a U.S. military invasion like the one in Iraq. The dissident, whom Kokan calls Arzhang, proves to be her most important contact in Iran. Arzhang gains access to a telephone line inside one of Iran's toughest prisons and sets up a telephone interview for Kokan with Fakhravar. The student leader tells Kokan of personally witnessing the murders of 19 student activists. But before he can answer whether he fears his own death in prison, the telephone is disconnected. In the outskirts of Tehran, Kokan further interviews Arzhang, who shares information about Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi's last days. "She fought [the interrogators] back, she criticized them, she shouted," Arzhang says. "They cannot endure critics and she fought them back strongly." As the final days of the group tour approach, Kokan must prepare for her departure, destroying all notes and other evidence of her unofficial business in Iran. Students smuggle her interview tapes over the mountains into Turkey, where she will pick them up later. After her safe return, Kokan travels to Amsterdam to interview a former Iranian intelligence officer, Hamid Zakeri, who defected more than a year ago. Zakeri, who once worked for the Ayatollah Khamenei, now claims to be under the protection of the FBI and European security agencies. Zakeri tells Kokan that according to his intelligence sources, a security agent named Jafar Nemati was responsible for the beatings of Kazemi. After she was beaten unconscious, Nemati's boss, Saeed Mortesavi, a top judge in the mullahs' justice ministry, ordered Kazemi to be transferred into the custody of the intelligence ministry. Kokan learns that the details Zakeri provided were later confirmed in an investigation by the Iranian parliament. In Iran, Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi tells FRONTLINE/World that she is determined to pursue an investigation of Zahra Kazemi's death. After months of reporting, Kokan makes a last trip to Montreal, Canada, where Zahra Kazemi's son, Stefan, lives. Stefan is still struggling with the Iranian government for the return of his mother's body, which will provide indisputable evidence of her brutal death. "The guilty is not one man," Stefan says. "Responsible is the Iranian government, responsible is Khamenei. My mother's dead, but there [are] journalists, other people that get such treatment. I don't want the death of my mother to be in vain." 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 To Go To Top

STILL THINK I'M CRAZY? THERE ARE AMERICAN TROOPS IN ISRAEL Posted by Yaacov Ben-Yehudah, Yaacov, April 12, 2005.

I have been trying to warn people about this for the last two years, when American troops were seen around Tzomet Tapu'ah and the yishuv Of course, everyone thought I was crazy. Troops were here (and still are) in order "to protect" us from Iraqi counter attacks back in 2003. I asked a long time ago (of Don Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowicz as well): Now that we don't need any "protection" any more, why are they still here? I then asked several members of the US House of Reps. and Senate for confirmation that US Troops are not here to help dismantle Jewish towns. I didn't even receive a form letter, even from those representatives who know I'm not one of those nut jobs who harrass their gov't reps w/nonsensical idiocy. The thing is that when it comes time (may God forbid) to start the dismantling -- Yes, even you complacent Jews in Ofra, Karnei Shomron, Tel-Tzion, Elqana, Efrat, etc. better get ready! -- Israel will call in US forces to "assist" the Israeli gov't. Like recent "theories" we've heard recently regarding the Azza pull-out atrocity, the gov't believes that Jews in YeSh"A will have less of a problem shooting at foreign troops. Thus, anyone involved in such an act will be rounded up as a "war criminal," carted off to the Hague, and Shimon Peres will have finally gotten rid of the "thorn in his side." This is all according to my source. Yeah, I know, I know, ... still sounds crazy. But does it still seems impossible? Ya'accov Ben-Yehudah Shomron, Israel [Editor's note: These are the messages that have been sent around in this set of emails, starting from the earliest on April 8, 2005.] From David, April 8, 2005: "Red Alert! American Troops Now in Israel" As a daily reader and a rare contributor of the Fivedoves, I felt an obligation and duty to tell you about a FIRST HAND experience of an incident that occurred yesterday here in Eretz Israel. This is not a " word of mouth story" or a grapevine rumor; we actually saw this - not 10 feet away from our own eyes. We were out in the Negev desert and as we approached the mountain pass to the Wilderness of Zin, I noticed what I first thought was "a very long and bright green snake" winding its way down another mountain road. By the time that we arrived at the junction this "long green snake" had become a huge combat army convoy that was passing in front of our eyes not more than 10 feet away. At first I marveled at the bright flashy new uniforms of the soldiers, their brand new weapons and huge brand new transport humvees all in new bright green forest camouflage that filed past us at the junction. Mile after mile they slowly inched past us. Nobody could enter the highway because of his or her multitude. Then I began to think, hey, what's going on? We Israeli's, don't have flashy new equipment or uniforms for our army and we cannot afford all the latest gadgets of war. Then at closer scrutiny I noticed that the soldiers wore the new "nazi" helmet of the American combat soldier. I then noticed good ol' American boys: blacks, whites, Puerto Ricans, sitting in the humvees. I then looked at the nametags on the trucks and humvees and sure enough they were IDF (Israel Defense Force) numbers and letters. Ocassionly an IDF jeep would pass us in the convoy; older sand camouflage vehicles with real Israeli soldiers in the jeeps. In other words this convoy was trying to hide its real identity, but stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb. This convoy contained an enormous number of American soldiers and was carrying a very heavy load and stretched for many miles across the desert. They had no American Identity to the equipment, no American symbols or names or emblems. Maybe they are here to help with the disengagement, we don't know. We have even heard rumors that German policemen with war-horses (what a horrific irony if this is true) would be employed to help remove the Jew from their homes. Pray for our tiny country here, we are in the middle of a spiritual battle to actually lose the Jewish homeland if Almighty God of our fathers does not intervene. We have lost Gaza and Gush Katif, we have lost Judea and the Galilee, we are losing the Negev and now it looks like all of the Eastern Jerusalem is being planned to be returned to the Arabs. We are now surrounded by enemies. I think of the Psalm 3 of King David that even if we are surrounded by 10,000 of the enemy we will not be afraid, because God is with us. WE all know the glorious end! April 9 2005: "Proposed 'Road Map'" On March 24 /05 Eliazar (a dear friend) called me from his cell phone. He was on his way back to Jerusalem from Ashdod. He called and said "Simantov you would not believe what I am looking at here on the Highway coming out of Ashdod. There is a convoy of American jeeps and military equipment that is miles long. Coming into Israel." What is going on? My immediate thought and answer was Eli, they are preparing for a war most people in the world do not know is being planed. There is no question G.W. Bush along with many other entities have been planning and working on the division of Israel. They have called it "The Road Map". But all indicators are that this "Road Map" is only part of a plan of globalization. And the US government are bringing in troops that will in-fact enforce its implementation. This second such entry of foreign troops into Israel is quite frightening, especially since the Israeli public have not been told about this invasion of our land by foreign troops. Following [Editor's Note: Chronological order has been reversed so it is from earliest to latest for the sake of clarity.] is the report from David who witnessed this same invasion yesterday. God knows how many others have entered, and when their activities will begin. Ariel Sharon leaves for a visit to G.W. Bush in Texas on April 11/05. What will in-fact be the theme of their discussions? I personally believe that both Mr. Bush president of the United States and Ariel Sharon are planning something evil, and to the detriment of Israel and the worlds peace. [Editor's note: There were emails to others who had no specific information but passed it on to those that might know - such as this next one.] Tamar, April 12, 2005. Yes, I heard about this, but have not confirmed it. I really am bad, as I am preparing for Pesach and cleaning and have not been putting in as many hours this week. I will forward this to friends of mine shmuel and Jack who might know something. Best, Tamar shmuel, Jack, Do have you any info on this? Jack, April 12, 2005. Radio Free Israel has been reporting for at least 2 years that there are several thousand US troops in the country at more than one US base on land given over to US sovereignty without so much as a Knesset debate. We are told officially that they are transport troops. You believe that, can't you? In the country there are also at least 800 Turkish "workers" under contract with the Ministry of Defense who have been issued papers as "olim" and have been seen undergoing IDF training, British agents, plus "Egyptian" troops which are actually a multi-Arab force. The task of all those "friendly" troops will be to enforce what RFI calls "mega-Yamit." The Sharon junta will not entrust the job to regular Israeli soldiers, except for secular volunteers for the psychopath squads that have already been recruited and trained. At least two years and no one has listened. Remember where you heard it first: Radio Free Israel. Contact Yaacov Ben-Yehudah by email at benyehudah5764@yahoo.com To Go To Top

PROOF OF BETRAYAL Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 12, 2005.

Although we did not need more evidence that Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has and continues to betray the Jewish nation, his parting orders to his ineffective Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz NOT to attack or otherwise defend the nation should the Arab Muslim Palestinians attack Israel tells the story. It has been reported that no fewer than 75 mortars and Kassem rockets were launched at Gush Katif civilians and soldiers. An officer stated on Israel radio that we would defend with restraint (NOT ?we would defend with strength?). Isn't that right out of George Orwell's Double Speak? Sharon left for Washington and on to Crawford, Texas to beg, plead, and re-double his betrayal of Israel. Leaving a nation defenseless under orders - completes Sharon's cycle back to his earliest Leftist days in the Mapai Party. We should have known, given the days of when he started his own political Party, "Slomzion", dedicated to creating another State of Palestine. His party failed so he went undercover and morphed into another disguise until he gained ultimate power as Prime Minister, disguised as a person of the political Right. He fooled everyone except his co-conspirator Shimon Peres. I wonder how many times Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres met with Sharon to advance their strategies to place an upcoming mole in the enemies camp. Leaving orders to a lackey like Mofaz to NOT defend the Jewish people is inexcusable - even criminal. But, Sharon, on his way to meet his master President Bush, needed the fiction of quiet at home to impress Bush and keep Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) secure in his job as head of the Arab Muslim Palestinians. Sharon has given up even the pretense of being a concerned leader of the nation. He not only should be unceremoniously kicked out of his job but, then indicted for treason before the Courts. Granted, the Court system under Chief Justice Aharon Barak, is itself a travesty of justice. Hopefully, HaShem will put His Hand on the quislings who would dismember the Jewish State. Leaving orders NOT to defend the nation is a criminal act leading to murder of the the people. Sharon can no longer hide behind his days of glory. Whatever he accumulated as points in his favor as a top General and hero have long since been washed away. Black-robed judges in Israel are not elected by anyone but themselves, yet they make political decisions for the nation - which is NOT their role. These are two articles from the DEBKAfile (www.debkafile.com). 1.  "Palestinian Groups Line up against Israeli Evacuations" DEBKAfile Special Report, 10 April, 2005. Prime minister Ariel Sharon ordered his defense minister Shaul Mofaz not to allow Israeli troops to fire a single shot in the face of the April 9-10 Palestinian mortar and missile barrage against Gush Katif. This is reported by DEBKAfile's military and Washington sources. Sharon was intent on showing US President George W. Bush when he met him Monday, April 11, that while Israel was exercising exemplary restraint, the Palestinians were bent on aggression. Picking up fast on their chance to operate with impunity, the Palestinians redoubled their attacks. In broad daylight and heedless of Israeli aerial surveillance, the Qassam missile and mortar crews positioned their launchers and kept on shooting at Israeli civilian and military locations in the southern Gaza Strip. While the current round caused damage and distress but no injuries, the next round, say Israeli field commanders, will be a lot more ferocious and precise. According to DEBKAfile's military sources, all the Palestinian organizations are behind the mortar-missile onslaught together, including Mahmoud Abbas' own Fatah. For the first time, the Gaza Strip groups are in close sync with fraternal groups on the West Bank. Four Fatah units, for instance, operated in the Gaza Strip front while a fifth went into action in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Sunday night, as mortar fire resounded in the Gaza Strip, this Fatah unit which is called after Masoud Ayad hurled a pipe bomb at Israeli troops guarding Rachel's Tomb. No one was hurt. Our intelligence sources identify this unit as linked closely to the Lebanese Hizballah. That same night, Mofaz conducted a conversation described as tough with Palestinian Authority chairman Abu Mazen demanding that he urgently consign security forces to the Gaza Strip to halt the terror offensive. Mofaz was only going through the motions. He knew that Abbas was quietly encouraging the attackers and in fact had instructed Palestinian television channels to back them up. This won him no points with any of the Palestinian organizations. They lined up Sunday in a solid front against Sharon's Gaza evacuation plan which Abbas had endorsed when he shook Sharon's hand on a truce at Sharm al-Sheikh in February. Calling the pull-out plan a fraudulent ruse to transform the Gaza Strip into a large, isolated prison, they vowed to resist its implementation by every means. Our sources point out that this is the first time a wall-to-wall Palestinian front has openly avowed its intention of resuming its war of terror against Israel, starting with offensive steps to sabotage the evacuation of Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip. 2. "Did Bush & Sharon Figure Out How To Preempt A Hamas Election Victory?" from the DEBKAfile Exclusive Report from Washington April 11, 2005. The Bush-Sharon summit of April 11 at the presidential ranch near Crawford, in Texas, appeared amicable and informal. Before facing the press, both leaders had clearly armed themselves with appropriate answers to expected questions. Neither admitted that the Palestinian Abu Mazen regime was a broken reed. They agreed that Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank was the key to progress towards the road map. But then came a polite parting of the ways. The US president continued to insist on a freeze on settlement activity, including the expansion of Maale Adummim east of Jerusalem. The Israeli prime minister stressed that settlement blocs would remain in Israeli hands in any future agreement, with all the attendant consequences. The first one to mention "contiguity" - a favorite Bush administration locution with regard to a Palestinian state - was Sharon. He borrowed the term for the connection between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim, whose expansion to link up with the Israeli capital Washington opposes. Before advancing on the road map, Sharon reiterated the Palestinians must wage real war against terror, disband terrorist organizations and ensure full cessation of violence. Like Sharon, the US president quoted himself when he repeated the formula he laid out exactly a year ago after his last summit with Sharon: new realities on the ground make it unrealistic to expect a full and complete return to the 1949 armistice lines in the final status agreement. These new realities must be recognized in negotiations on a final accord. But the big dilemma that most exercised the two leaders, according to DEBKAfile's Washington sources, did not come up in the news conference. What to do about the Palestinian general election scheduled for July in view of the mortal threat it poses for Mahmoud Abbas's regime and the prospects of peace? Regardless of dire warnings, Bush insisted on Iraq's elections taking place on time on January 30. It proved to be the right decision. The US president is equally adamant about the Lebanese parliamentary elections being held on schedule in May, over the objections of major factions, including the opposition Druze party. He is also bearing down hard on the Mubarak regime for full opposition participation in Egypt's presidential election at the end of the year. The result is a certain coolness creeping into Cairo-Washington relations and Egypt's withdrawal from its assigned security role in Palestinian Gaza after Israel's withdrawal. Bush is utterly convinced that lack of firmness on this path will lead to the fledgling democratic process in the Middle East running into the sand. Therefore the July 17 date for the Palestinian vote has become an immovable fixture, even though it may exact the exorbitant price of toppling Abbas and bringing to power the Hamas Islamic terrorist group which is dedicated to violently eradicating the state of Israel. The road to the July 17 vote has become a minefield from end to end. The US president did not need the intelligence reports prime minister laid before him to tell him about the complete breakdown of Abu Mazen's grip on authority. Some Israeli politicians are calling for efforts to save Abbas from falling. The only trouble is that the Palestinian leader is helpless to save himself. Bush also knew enough about the rapid rearmament of the Palestinian terrorist groups. He is briefed daily by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Tel Aviv-based US security coordinator Lieut.-Gen. William E. Ward. Nevertheless, a fresh piece of intelligence was a shocker for both leaders. DEBKAfile's Washington sources disclose it consisted of a Palestinian decision to resume the terror war against Israel in the second half of June - from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip simultaneously. The heavy mortar and missile assault inside and outside the Gaza Strip from Saturday, April 10, again Sunday and erupting again Monday night after the Bush-Sharon news conference was but a foretaste of the offensive to come. What surprised the US president and his advisers was the news that the instigators of the June offensive were not the Hamas or Jihad Islami but Abu Mazen's own Fatah and its Tanzim and al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades branches. In other words, the very forces cast as the strong backbone of the Abbas regime and its security reform program have slid back into the roles they played for Yasser Arafat. The Fatah finds its justification in three circumstances: 1. Abu Mazen's weakness, passivity and general "strange behavior" as it is described by his Fatah followers. 2. His incomprehensible indulgence of every Hamas demand. Fatah sees Abbas opening the door to a Hamas takeover of Palestinian government. Dominant Fatah figures find the slogan heard in Israel defining the choice as being "Abbas or Hamas" as wide of the mark. They are in it together. 3. Fatah concludes that the Palestinian general elections will give Hamas a landslide victory and must therefore be averted at all costs. By unleashing a war of terror a month before voting day, Fatah leaders hope to plunge the region in a bloody war that will dissuade all outsiders, American or European, from insisting on a timely ballot. They are now calling Sharon's Gaza evacuation scheme a dangerous trap, using it as their pretext for breaking out of the partial ceasefire and re-igniting the conflict. For Bush it is a new experience - even in the Middle East - to find the very Palestinian entities on whom he counted to prop up his regional and Israel-Palestinian peace strategies announcing that they were reverting to terrorism in preference to a peaceful march forward to Palestinian statehood. For Sharon it is a grave setback. He was not surprised when the Muslim radicals opposed his plan, any more than the Israeli factions which he lumps together as "right-wing extremists." But he was taken aback by Abu Mazen's Fatah adherents whom he had been treating as "moderates." Hizballah gave a graphic demonstration of its power in Lebanon and among Palestinian terrorist groups Monday. April 11, by flying an Iranian-made Mirsad spy drone over northern Israel at the same moment as Bush and Sharon began their talks in Texas. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Lebanese terror group stands foursquare not only behind the Islamic radicals but Fatah groups as well. These new developments must have given the US president and Israeli prime minister plenty of food for thought. Any new decisions that may have been taken did not come to light in their news conference. It will take a couple of days until the real substance of their talks begins to surface. 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). To Go To Top

NEW PA TEXT BOOKS TEACH ANTI-SEMITIC FORGERY AS HISTORY Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, April 12, 2005.

This is a news item from today's Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com). An urgent request was sent to PM Ariel Sharon to bring to the attention of US President Bush the prevalence of anti-Semitic material in the new Palestinian Authority textbooks. The new PA history books present, among other things, the infamous anti-Semitic forgery produced by Russian police, known as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as an accurate portrayal of the decisions of the First Zionist Congress. That work describes the Jews as plotting to take over the world. Diaspora Affairs Minister Natan Sharansky sent the information to Sharon, and asked him to raise it with President Bush. "There is continued incitement in the PA," Sharansky said, "and it has even intensified - surpassing and solidifying the anti-Semitic line that has been recognized there in recent years." Sharansky contacted the Prime Minister after he received copies of the newly published PA textbook that, for the first time, presents the Protocols as "historic fact and the secret decision of the First Zionist Congress." According to Sharansky, nowhere in the PA history book is it mentioned that the Protocols are in fact a forgery. "The exact opposite is true," he said. "The matter is presented in the introduction regarding the First Zionist Congress in Basel [Switzerland], which took place in 1897, and the book goes on to claim that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are the decisions of that Congress." The book in question is a 10th grade history book called, "History of Modern and Contemporary World." The section cited by Minister Sharansky appears on page 63 of the book, which is already in use in PA schools. "The presentation of the Protocols in a false manner is particularly severe due to the fact that it has seen renewed popularity," Sharansky said. "New editions of the book have been widely printed in Syria and Egypt, and it is available in book stores and on the internet throughout the Muslim world." Minister Sharansky's urgent communique to Prime Minister Sharon came after he received the translations of the textbooks from the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace (CMIP), an organization that seeks to identify what is being taught in schools with regard to recognition and acceptance of others. CMIP has produced four reports on school books in the Palestinian Authority, and will complete a report on textbooks for grades 5 and 6 shortly. CMIP reports state that in more than 160 school books produced by the PA, Israel is never mentioned as a sovereign state, and maps appearing in the books do not include the State of Israel. "There is no doubt that this information shows that the Palestinian leadership is not demonstrating the necessary willingness to end incitement and change the threatening tone between our nations," Sharansky wrote to PM Sharon. "More than that, there is an intensifying of the incitement that seeks to raise the level of anti-Semitism past that which has been present for years." Bush hosted Sharansky in the White House last November, and said that Sharansky's book, "The Case for Democracy," echoes Bush's own beliefs about the importance of spreading democracy around the world. "Real progress in the peace process is not possible," Sharansky says, "while incitement continues to be spread through textbooks, especially when it is intensified in the new books just introduced into the system. It is important that our friend President Bush, who in my last meeting with him expressed particular interest in everything connected to education in the PA, receive this information during your current meeting." The issue of anti-Semitism in PA textbooks has outraged the US Congress in the past, and has resulted in legislation limiting funding to the PA. Sharansky hopes that proof of continued PA incitement will convince Bush that the PA is not living up to its promises. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org To Go To Top

DEMOCRATIC ISRAEL Posted by Deb Kotz, April 12, 2005.

Please read about this travesty--religious Jews being singled out for arrest near a demonstration site regardless of whether they were taking part in the demonstration. The infringement on freedom of speech has been a problem in Israel but is now getting much worse. Unfortunately, freedom of speech only applies to those who express politically correct views. And now freedom of religious expression is being taken away. Soon Jews in Israel will be unable to wear kippot for fear of being arrested. They may as well live in Paris. Joe van Zwaren de Zwarenstein (good_o_joe@yahoo.com) wrote: My son, Laser (who was in the Subaro explosion), is the religious soldier mentioned in the article below - he was arrested one kilometer away from the demonstration and had nothing to do with the demonstration. He was held a day in jail and could face serious charges from the army for having "taken part in political activities". Today, in Israel, being religious is enough to be arrested! This is entitled "Boys Remain in Jail For 3-4 Days; Judge Openly Hostile" and comes from yesterday's Some 30 youths are being held in prison until later this week, following yesterday's seven-minute blocking of the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv. Coincidentally, 40 taxi drivers were arrested today for blocking traffic in a work dispute - but police said they would be released if the strike is ended. Among the most controversial arrests was that of 17-year-old Y.M. of Kibbutz Shaalvim - whom the police held for five hours without informing his family. Ariel, of the Honenu organization, which provides aid to citizens under or facing political arrest, first learned of the story from the boy's friends yesterday afternoon. They told Ariel that Y.M. had received two phone calls around 5 PM: one telling him of a road-blocking, and another one, after he went to the site and found no one there, telling him to head back to the Kibbutz. The friends said that after that, they could find him nowhere. Only five hours later, at 10 PM, were their calls to his cellular phone answered - by someone who identified himself as Shlomie from the police station in nearby Ramle. The friends arrived at the station and found that Y.M. had been held there incommunicado for five hours, without the police even reporting on the minor's arrest to his parents as reported by law. The police claimed that he was not arrested, but merely "detained for questioning," and that they are not required to report the arrest until after six hours if they have an officer's approval. Following yesterday's blocking of the Ayalon Highway, police arrested many religious-looking youths, including many who had nothing to do with the blocking. Honenu reports that 33 youths, including five minors, were arrested and were taken to a new section of the Maasiyahu Prison in Ramle. One of the arrested reported that as he was being driven away in a police car, one policeman said, "Look, there are two more dati'im [religious people]; let's arrest them, too." In addition, a 10-year-old boy was detained for several hours in the vicinity of the road-blocking as he was on his way to his grandmother's home, and a religious soldier was also picked up as he was walking in the street. This afternoon, a Tel Aviv Magistrates Court justice, showing open hostility to the accused, ordered some of them them held in jail for four days, and others for three. "If I [could], I would order them held until the end of the proceedings," the justice wrote. Three minors were released, and two others who refused to identify themselves will be brought before a Juvenile Court. The judge ordered that all the defendants be fingerprinted, against their will. An appeal against their remand will be presented tomorrow morning in the Tel Aviv District Court. Among the arrestees were Orah Livnat Binyamin - a daughter of refusal-campaign leader Noam Livnat and niece of Education Minister Limor Livnat - and Yonatan and David Goldfischer of Beit El. The boys' mother Miriam Goldfischer, a rabbinical pleader for women, was present at the court hearing and later told Arutz-7, "Our public is taught, as are my children, to give totally of ourselves for the State. But the State is a tool, and if it betrays the things in which we believe - the people, and the Torah, and the Land - then it makes us wonder if we want to belong to this kind of country." Mrs. Goldfischer, a veteran of the Stop the Withdrawal from Sinai movement of 1982, said that Judge Miriam Kochen was openly hostile to the defendants: "My sons were a kilometer away from the road-blocking when they were arrested, and did not take part in it. Yet she justified the arrests, saying, 'Whoever was in the area and looked like a demonstrator - with a yarmulkeh and tzitzit [ritual fringes], apparently - should be arrested and punished. They all look the same to her, and therefore she said that they all get punished because 'they had no other reason for being there.'" Goldfischer said that the judge said, "This is my opinion, and I'm not ashamed of it." At one point in the court hearing, the boys' lawyer asked a police representative, "Is it true that the policemen told the youths that if they don't stop, they would be shot?" Mrs. Goldfischer said that instead of listening to the policeman's response, "the judge interrupted by saying firmly, 'Of course not!' How does she know? Was she there?" Deb Kotz is an active member of the Brandeis Chapter of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) and maintains an email list to distribute articles of interest to the local community. She can be reached at DebKotz@aol.com To Go To Top

EMERGENCY PESACH APPEAL! FEED THE POOR AND HUNGRY FOR PESACH! Posted by Arutz-7, April 12, 2005.

Arutz-7 (http://www.israelnationalnews.com) is a reliable source of news and information about Israel. To Go To Top

DEAF TO DISSIDENCE; ISLAM'S AMOEBA-LIKE ENGULFMENT OF WORLD Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 12, 2005.

My fellow American Jews are of two schools. One reveres the Bible. The other disdains it. Both need its lessons; neither follows them. It's all there, in the ancient record: Love your fellow Jew; don't depend on foreign princes; and listen to the Law (Torah law, not so much the law of unethical rulers). We who admire our ancient prophets for pointing this out act like those whom they admonished. We sacrifice fellow Jews to maintain our own positions. We acclaim US Presidents and even our European enemies as great friends of Israel or powers with positive diplomatic roles to play for peace. We fail to reform. (Sharon makes money that enables the Left to blackmail him. Peres rakes in the Euros and deals out the patrimony. The Bronfmans buy their way to prominence in Jewish organizations.) Jews go down. Presidents betray. We oppress ourselves. Prophets who warned misbehavior would boomerang were unpopular. They predicted doom, if the people continued to comport themselves contrary to Torah principles. Did our people learn from that experience? No. New people rise to warn, not that the warning signs are insufficient for anyone who thinks for himself. But not many think for themselves. The new alarmists, too, are derided and ostracized. Most of you know a lot about of the Holocaust, and some of you also know that from the 1930s, Vladimir Jabotinsky warned the Jews of Europe to escape. They ignored him until the mass-murders he predicted started. Even after the round-ups of Jews had begun, his followers, who organized rescue attempts, met with defamation from most of the Jewish Establishment. This Establishment undermined rescue, thinking that it would not do, to stand out, as sticking up, for endangered fellow Jews. Six million were killed, and now another six million are menaced. Did we learn from Holocaust I? All we learned was the slogan, "Never again." It is happening again! Our people are uninformed about it, thanks to a lazy, servile, and ideological media and leaders who are foolish, frightened, or flattered by the enemy. Self-righteous right-wing Jews are diverted by an alliance with the conservatives in the federal government. The self-righteous Left is flirting with its multicultural friends. The Jews of Israel are being ghettoized, but many US Jews think that is a fine thing and won't the Islamo-fascists appreciate it and treat the Israelis with friendship or at least peace. A reader, Steve Klein, tried to get out the word. As a delegate in a Republican organization, he complained that Pres. Bush's policies were undermining Israeli national security. For that, he was dismissed. He sought to have a prominent and thoughtful Israeli, Yoram Ettinger, speak to his congregation about Israeli security. The heads of the congregation asked whether Mr. Ettinger was for or against PM Sharon's "Disengagement" (abandonment) Plan. When he replied, "Against," they told him that the congregation was for it and was not interested in hearing the other side. They ignore the lessons of the Bible, because they have their own perceived wisdom. Who revealed this wisdom to them? The "NY Times?" The "Miami Herald?" Proponents of the plan make assertions about it, without analyzing its ramifications. They have not answered critics. How can the congregation think it knows enough about it so that it does not need to hear the other side? Aren't the stakes high enough to warrant thorough understanding? My theory is that the congregants, like Israelis, want to believe that everything will be all right, that they need not get excited over real life, just sports, and that they can leave matters to their leaders who, otherwise, would shame them into silence. Ettinger is a modern Jeremiah. Ears are blocked to his voice. But he sees what will happen as did Jeremiah: heed or perish! ISLAM'S AMOEBA-LIKE ENGULFMENT OF WORLD You couldn't get a more brilliant review of a more important book than David Warren's of Bat Ye'or's. She wrote "Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis" (Fairleigh Dickinson, 384 pp., $49.50) in Commentary, 4/2005, p.75. The Muslims quietly but systematically bring other peoples under their sway, over the centuries and continents. Not reason but oppression and deliberate humiliation converts infidel populations and erases evidence of the past. It hardly was different in the supposedly tolerant medieval Islamic Spain, myths notwithstanding. (It is going on at the Temple Mount now.) It is proceeding in Europe, with the "Euro-Arab Dialogue program of the EU. In this program, the EU joins the Arabs against Israel and in challenging US supremacy. The program is supposed to be an exchange of views, but the discussion is done from the Muslim point of view. The Muslims impose their ways, after making the Europeans feel guilty for the Crusades of long ago. (The Muslims feel no guilt for their contemporary and past crimes). The Muslims demand removal of Christian symbols, and the Europeans comply. The Muslims put up Islamic symbols, and the Europeans acquiesce. Europe pays and Muslims collect. The Protestants practically are dhimmis, but the Catholics have some understanding that Islam poses a threat to them. There is no real dialogue but rivalry, and only the Muslims act like rivals. Will Europe wake up in time? There are some signs it may. Will the Muslims change? Events in Iraq may initiate change. WHILE THE MEDIA REPORTS "QUIET" While giving the P.A. time to crack down on terrorism, ironically by not itself cracking down on terrorist forces and arms factories, Israel was catching terrorists planning attacks on Israelis. The international media did not report the daily arrests. "According to DEBKAfile, Abu Mazen and his lieutenant M. Dahlan have secretly applied to more than 20 world governments with urgent equests for large quantities of heavy weapons. The Sharon government hasn't bothered to monitor these dangers. It includes all types of armored personnel carriers with fixed mortars, jeeps fitted with 107 mm recoilless guns, telescopic rifles, pistols, ammunition, communications and engineering gear, helmets and medical equipment. Shopping for heavy weapons is in total contravention of every international accord the Palestinians, including Abu Mazen in person, have ever signed with Israel and every pledge Abbas has made to President Bush." "The Russian Foreign Minister frankly admitted February 15, to supplying the Palestinians with "military machines" and said Moscow was considering sending them APCs since the Palestinian Authority proved itself in control of security. In Gaza, Mussa Arafat would have the use of mobile artillery to blitz Israeli towns and villages." PM Sharon is sacrificing his people (Winston Mid East Analysis, 2/27). Russia, the US, and Israeli leftist leaders still are getting Israelis killed. NO AMOUNT OF TERRORISM STOPS SHARON PLAN PM Sharon said that Israel will cease its restraint, if the P.A. doesn't stop the continued terrorism. He warned that the P.A. will make no diplomatic progress with Israel, unless it stops. He did not threaten to drop or even suspend his Gaza abandonment plan (IMRA, 2/27). Dropping or suspending the abandonment plan would be a powerful incentive for P.A. compliance. Annexing land would be an even more powerful incentive. Since the plan grinds on, and will grind Jews down, why should the P.A. stop terrorism? It gets paid anyway, it gets territory anyway. It anticipates inflicting manifold casualties upon Israel, thanks to this abandonment. Ariel Sharon has replaced Shimon Peres as Israel's public enemy number one. SHARON EASES LIFE FOR ARABS, SO ISRAELIS LOSE LIVES Under orders from the government, Israeli intelligence agencies are detaining 70% fewer suspects. As a result, they have less intelligence than formerly (IMRA, 2/27). US and Israeli appeasement of the Arabs is deadly. It almost is sabotage of the war effort. SEC. RICE'S HYPOCRITICAL CONDEMNATION OF P.A. TERRORISM Sec. of State Rice condemned a recent terrorist attack on Israel, by demanding that the P.A. bring the culprits to justice. Has she not heard that the P.A. intends to bring all the freelance terrorists into the P.A. military, where they are in charge of justice? Does she not know that the P.A. never has brought terrorists to justice? It is busy murdering people who sell land to Jews or warn Israel of terrorist attacks. RICE IGNORES P.A. SECURITY FORCES THREAT Sec. Rice stressed how important it would be for the P.A. security forces to fight against terrorism. She failed to mention the unlikelihood if not impossibility of its doing so. After all, Abbas is merging them into the P.A. security forces. There they get arms and training (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 3/1). When a person as bright as she asserts something as stupid as she did, then one may suppose she is dissembling. AGREEMENTS TO DEMILITARIZE Agreements to demilitarize areas militarized by Israelis are ploys to remilitarize them by the Arabs! That is what is happening in Gaza and the Sinai. Proposals for doing the same thing on the Golan would eliminate Israel's advantage in defending against further Syrian aggression (Winston Mid East Analysis, 2/27). ISRAELI THOUGHT POLICE In advance of Defense Min. Mofaz' speech in some town, his aides had some critics of the abandonment plan come to the police station to be ordered to stay home during the event. Afraid of protests or hostile questions? They are the Israeli thought police (Op. Cit.). 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. To Go To Top

THE $50,000 SOLUTION Posted by Israel Zwick, April 12, 2005.

King Arik was the ruler of a country that was only a tiny sliver of land, barely 21,000 sq. km. It was so small that it was hardly visible on a map of the region. Though small in size, the Land of Israel was great in accomplishments. It was a recognized leader in science research, health care, military technology, agricultural science, and water conservation. It was often described as a "land flowing with milk and honey." The Bible in Deuteronomy also referred to the Land of Israel as "A land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olives, and honey." For seven months of the year, the land was blessed with warm weather and clear, blue skies. The five cooler, rainy months enabled the land to bring forth an abundance of crops. So much was harvested that the Land of Israel was able to export produce to much larger countries far away. The lush grapes and fruit that were grown were used to make fine wines and liqueurs that were known the world over. Unfortunately, all was not well with the Land of Israel. It was surrounded by vicious enemies: twenty Arab-Muslim countries with 600 times the land mass and 50 times the population of the tiny Land of Israel. These Arab countries made repeated efforts to destroy and conquer little Israel, but failed each time. Yet, they were still determined to destroy Israel no matter how long it would take and by whatever means available. They would employ a combination of military, economic, demographic, and diplomatic methods to weaken the fortitude of the people of Israel and force them to flee the country. The turbulent conflict had been going on for 60 years and showed no signs of abating. The people of Israel were weary of the conflict. They were worn from the burden of heavy taxes, military duty, security searches, and repeated terrorist attacks that destroyed thousands of innocent lives. They cried out to King Arik, "We can't take this anymore, we need peace. We're willing to make sacrifices and painful concessions, but bring us peace. We're weary of war, death, destruction, and economic hardships." One night, King Arik couldn't sleep. He was troubled by the cries from his people. Not only were there conflicts with the Arabs, but there were conflicts within the people: religious against secular, right against left, moderates against extremists. So King Arik called in his attendant to read him a story that would relax him. The attendant chose to read about Sherlock Holmes and "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." After hearing the story, King Arik got up excitedly and called to his attendant, "Elya, get Silvan in here. I want him to call Tony to get this fellow Holmes over here. I think he can help me." So the next morning, the famed British sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, boarded an El Al plane en route to the Land of Israel. Upon arriving at the King's palace in Jerusalem, Holmes got right to work. He approached King Arik and said, "First, I would like to thank you for that First Class airline ticket that you sent me. It sure beats the horses and buggies that I used when I started out in this business over 100 years ago. Now, I beg that you lay before me everything that may help me in forming an opinion upon this matter." So King Arik told him of his problems and worries. "I was born and raised in this wonderful land. I joined the military underground before independence when I was only 14 years old. That began a long and distinguished career as a military commander and strategist. I was involved with every major battle that our country fought with the Arabs. After 25 years of service, I retired from the military in 1973 with the rank of Major-General. Then I began my diplomatic career. I held a number of important and successful positions in the government until the people made me King in 2001. Now I am reaching the end of my days. I am getting old and am grossly overweight. When I go to the other world to meet my friends David, Golda, Moshe, Menahem, and Yitzhak, I want to be able to tell them that I finally brought peace to our land. But the people are now against me. They are calling me a traitor and asking for my resignation. There are even threats of assassination. All my life, I was defending the lives of Jews, now for the first time, security steps are taken to protect me from Jews. I don't know what to do. Can you help me, Holmes?" "I think I can, but first I need to search for clues. I'll need some basic maps and geography texts, like you use in your high schools. I would also like to tour the territories in YESHA." "That will be fine," responded Arik, "Why don't you rest here tonight and everything you need will be ready for you tomorrow morning. An armored car, driver, and military escort will be at your disposal." After three days of searching for clues, Sherlock Holmes returned to King Arik. The King was eagerly awaiting his arrival, "So Holmes, can you help me with my problems?" "I think I understand your difficulties, my dear Arik, and I'll try to help you, but this is by far my most difficult case." "I'm willing to entertain any reasonable suggestion. The internal turmoil is becoming unbearable. I must find a solution." "First, my dear Arik, you must understand the problem." "What do you mean? I have 60 years of experience with the Israeli military and government. I know this country inside out. No one knows it better than me." "You may be a skilled military strategist and shrewd diplomat, but you're a poor educator. Your people don't know the facts, that's why they're against you. Ask your young people if they can list the accomplishments of Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, Menahem Begin, or Abba Eban. You'll be surprised at the results. " "But my country has one of the finest educational systems. It has been widely acclaimed." "My dear Arik, the young people today aren't getting their information the way we did when we grew up. Today you have to compete with weblogs, I-pods, MP3's, podcasts, Blackberry's, PDA's, and video clips sent from cell phones. They're being influenced by misinformation from all over the world, including your enemies. If you recall my 'Adventure of the Speckled Band,' the enemy was a member of the same household and the weapon was a snake. You have a similar problem. You have enemies within your own people who will use all kinds of sly and devious tricks to make you do things that are contrary to the best interests of your country." "I know that, but what can I do about it?" "First you have to get out the facts so that your people can speak with one voice. They have to be 'one people, with one heart.' Doesn't your Torah tell you repeatedly that you have to teach your children to recall their history? Doesn't Pirkei Avos say that to know where you are going, you have to know where you came from? Your people don't know the truth, they're speaking out of ignorance." "How can I rectify that?" "As King Solomon said so wisely, 'there is a time for every purpose under heaven.' In your case, there is a time to be a wily diplomat and a time to be truthful. The people need to realize that an independent Arab state in the YESHA territories would be an untenable situation. These disjointed areas total less than 6000 sq. km, less than one-third the size of the rest of Israel. You can't have two hostile mini-states with separate passports, currency, and security forces within such a small area. Take a look at those two friendly giants, the USA and Canada. In general, they have very good relationships. Yet, they are always squabbling about some regional issue or differences in foreign policy. Border towns such as Buffalo, Niagara, and Toronto have to put up with the nuisance of border security and different currencies. It would be much worse with a sovereign Arab state in YESHA. There would be constant friction and conflict over issues such as security, commerce, tourism, transportation, utilities, and water rights. It could never work." "I know that. That's why I proposed my disengagement plan, to stall or prevent the establishment of such an entity." "But that's an illusion as well," Holmes explained. "You know better than anyone else what will happen as soon as IDF leaves the area. The Gaza Strip will become open to terrorist infiltration by land, sea, and air. They won't have to dig smuggling tunnels anymore; they could just bring in materials and people by truck from Egypt. You couldn't possibly monitor every single plane, boat, and truck coming in from Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. It would be a disaster." "If they resort to terrorism, then I'll just bring out my best fighter pilots and commando units and finish them off once and for all." "While it may come to that, you would want to avoid it. War means death and destruction for both sides. You don't need Al-Jazeera showing videos of dead Arabs lying in pools of blood and women wailing over the loss of their sons and husbands. Also, as Donald Rumsfeld learned belatedly, 'war has known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns.' You never know exactly what is going to happen." "Then what's left for me to do?" "First you have to shatter this myth of the Palestinian people and occupied Palestinian lands. The Arabs living in the YESHA territories are not indigenous to those lands. In the 1940's those were mostly barren lands. Their grandfathers came to British mandatory Palestine in the 1940's from other Arab countries to seek economic opportunities. Then they fled to Gaza and the Judean Hills at the outbreak of war in 1948. They have no more claim to that area than your people do." "So what can I do to teach people the truth about the myth of the Palestinians?" "The Arab population density in YESHA needs to be reduced. It is among the highest in the world and contributes to the strife. You need to send out emissaries to the YESHA provinces and proclaim that you will offer $50,000 to any Arab household that will move to another country of their choice. For the same $1 billion that it will cost you to evacuate 2000 Jewish families, you can get rid of 20,000 Arab households." "But what if they are threatened and intimidated by the terrorist groups and Arab countries not to accept the offer." "That's a real possibility. Then you'll have evidence that they are not really interested in the 'humanitarian rights of the Palestinian people' they're only interested in destroying Israel by demographic means." "What if the opposite happens and 100,000 Arab families accept my offer. Where I am going to get $5 billion from and who will take them in?" "That would be great, just what you need. When you have 100,000 acceptances, you can go the same countries that are donating hundreds of millions to UNRWA and tell them that if they are really interested in helping these Arabs they will finance and assist with their voluntary relocation to other Arab countries. If they refuse, it will reveal their hypocrisy and anti-semitism." "I can try it, but I'm not too optimistic that it will work." "Listen, my dear Arik, I told you that this was my most difficult case. I can't give you any guarantees. But I do have a little good news for you. You don't have to buy me a return ticket to England. Great Britain is no longer the same as when I grew up. I've decided to stay here. After 100 years in this business, I've finally concluded that it is time to retire. I found myself a nice little retirement community in Netanya. I was never married, but I fell in love with this country. Am Yisroel Chai!" Israel Zwick can be reached by email at israel.zwick@earthlink.net To Go To Top

WHEN MOONBATS GET "ARTISTIC" OVER RACHEL CORRIE Posted by Steven Plaut, April 12, 2005.

The original article (http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/moonbatcentral/2005/ 04/when-moonbats-get-all-artistic-over.html) has links to additional material. Rachel Corrie, who committed suicide as part of the efforts of the ISM to protect and promote Palestinian terrorism, long ago become the patron saint and the pro-terror Madonna figure for the Far Left. The ISM or "International Solidarity Movement" is a movement of designer-jean extremists who openly endorse Palestinian terrorism and send some of their more clueless members to Israel to lend aid and assistance to the terror. ISM offices have been used to hide terrorists and terror weapons. The main target of the ISM (which should stand for "I Support Murderers") these days is Israel's Security Wall, which is intended to make it harder for Palestinian suicide bombers and other terrorists to murder Jewish civilians. THAT is precisely why the ISM opposes the "Wall" and uses violence to sabotage it. The ISM simply is in favor of mass murder and atrocities by terrorists against Jews. ISM members routinely attack Israeli police and soldiers violently. And the US-flag burning pro-terror extremist Rachel Corrie is now the martyr saint for those people and their terrorist-abetting activities. Sycophantic ravings about Corrie are increasingly passing for "art and culture" among the fundamentalist Left. A while back a moonbat at the University of Alaska in Anchorage (UAA), one Philip Munger, wrote a "cantata" about Corrie. Some UAA friends of ours from the frozen politically-incorrect underground there tell us that this "cantata" works better than prunes in curing constipation. Munger used two "poems" written as "memorials" to Corrie but not to any of the victims of the terrorists the ISM promotes, one by San Francisco "poet" Phil Goldvarg and another by Sri Lanka "poet" Thushara Wijeratna. We are not sure but we think that one of those may also have composed the famous work of poetry, "Here I sit broken-hearted, paid my dime..." The initial performance of the "cantata" was cancelled by UAA due to the outcry from the Alaskan Jewish community, also sometimes known as the Frozen Chosen. Then a little while back, a "play" was produced, "My Name is Rachel Corrie," at London's prestigious Royal Court Theatre. Directed by Alan Rickman, it misrepresents Corrie's life and "mission", including Corrie's foolish attempt to challenge an Israeli bulldozer to a game of chicken as part of her efforts to prevent Israel from destroying terrorist tunnels used to smuggle explosives, weapons and missiles to terrorists. Corrie died as a human shield for a tunnel used by mass murderers. The Guardian reports why Rickman decided to produce this "play": 'The material revealed a woman who was both ordinary and extraordinary: writing poems about her cat, her friends, her grand mother, the wind; but also, from a strikingly young age, engaging passionately with the world, trying to find her place in it. The earliest material we have is political; aged 10, Rachel wrote a poem about how "children everywhere are suffering" and how she wished to "stop hunger by the year 2000".' Our guess is that Rickman also finds those declarations about seeking world peace by beauty pageant contestants to be truly moving and really inspirational. Here is how a real professor of composition viewed the above-mentioned "cantata": From: "Jeff Pezzati" Date: April 6, 2004 Subject: for Philip Munger Hello Philip, My name is Jeff Pezzati, I am a professor of composition at the University of Southern California. My pieces have won ASCAP, BMI prizes and the Prix di Rome. I have been informed of your anti-Semitic cantata that is to be performed. This will not be tolerated by the American composer community. The suicide victim "Rachel Corrie," whom you are apparently trying to honor in this piece, killed herself for the cause of promoting Arab terrorism and murder against Jews. I have discussed this with such colleagues as John Corigliano, John Harbison, John Adams, etc. We have all agreed that your music is to be banned from performance in the continental United States. Consider yourself blacklisted. -Dr. Pezzati To Go To Top

NO EXCUSES. THE BUCK STOPS - AT ARIK SHARON! Posted by Batya Medad, April 12, 2005.

I did something foolish, dangerous and even masochistic last night, but in the end it was important. I watched some news on the TV and saw and heard my prime minister. After my husband came home from work, the TV was on. As many of you know, he's a news addict and has a high tolerance for those broadcasts. I'm more sensitive, just a few words and images and I'm either rabid, or running for refuge to the keyboard or both. In professional education lingo, I'm a quick processor, so it doesn't take me much to get the main idea and take it yonder. Just my luck, a very rumpled Ariel Sharon easily filled the screen. Considering how careful he usually is with his public appearance, I was shocked. He looked better in the famous wartime photo, when he was crowned with a bandage. Unlike US President Bush, Jr., who was well dressed with his "born to it" flair, my prime minister looked more like he was dragged out of bed and stuffed into clothes that had been stored in an old duffle bag. It had nothing to do with the strong winds that were battling with him over his prepared text. It's easy to believe that he was literally fighting with G-d over what to do with the speech. I don't know who actually wrote the speech, but it was obvious that Sharon wasn't well rehearsed, since he struggled over the words. And there were some very important words in his speech. Ariel Sharon, Israeli military legend and hero, Prime Minister of Israel, took full-responsibility (or credit) as initiator of the Disengagement from Gaza Plan. Simplistically, we can take this two ways and consider both the truth. First of all, let's give Sharon some credit. He's not blaming anyone but himself, when the entire country is now in danger. But then again, he hasn't yet admitted that the country's more in danger now than before his plan. Also, he hasn't given a convincing rationale that his plan will benefit the country. Remember, the Arabs have not promised peace, true or any other flavor or variety, in exchange for the destruction of Gush Katif and northern Shomron, the Jewish homes, businesses, farms and educational institutions, etc. The fact that the Americans, UN, Europe, Peace Now, the media - that's right - almost everyone at best hopes that this will satisfy the terrorists, at least for awhile. Then why is Israel doing it? Good question. Ariel Sharon admitted that nobody asked him to destroy Gush Katif and the Jewish communities in northern Samaria. Then why is he inviting the Arab terrorists to set up their military structure, mortar launchers, on the outskirts of Israeli cities? Why is he making it easier for the Arab terrorists to strike at all major Israeli population centers? Why is the Israeli Prime Minister promising, pledging, to banish Jews from the most strategic hills and mountains in the Holy Land? Yes, this "disengagement" policy brings up lots of questions. And they are very disturbing questions. One important question is answered. Is the United States involved in the formulation of the Disengagement Plan? No, it isn't. At least, that's what I heard last night. The show I saw last night was a carefully written insurance policy by the United States to cover their - if and when Israel, G-d forbid, is destroyed. If only Arik Sharon had the dignity and foresight of Vashti, the Persian queen who preferred giving up the perks and limelight of royalty rather than exposing herself to ridicule. Yes, ridicule, because the terrorists, anti-Semites et al are joyous and amazed that the Israeli government is committing national suicide. The main theme of that press conference was that nobody was forcing Israel to "disengage," but now that it has promised to, much more will be expected. We are now in the month of miracles, Chodesh Nissan, the month that signifies the first mitzvah, commandment, given the Jews as a nation. We must pray to G-d, beseech Him, convince Him to make another miracle for us. And this time we mustn't waste it by worshipping the "Golden Calf." Chodesh Tov and Chag Kasher V'Sameach, This is Musing #110. 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 To Go To Top

BAKING MATZOT UNDER FIRE FOR HOLIDAY OF REDEMPTION Posted by Anita Tucker, April 11, 2005.

I just received this beautiful picture below and am sending it to you with a quick English explanation for those of you whose compuer doesn't read the Hebrew. Please act on this and pass it on to your friends. Anita Look at these beautiful children in the school in neve Dekalim baking matzot for Pesach. They got off to a late start as everyone in Gush Katif spent time in their "safe area" because of the repeated bombardments of mortars and rockets by the "Hudna-abiding partners" of PM Sharon. The school busses left the Yishuvim (towns) late till there was a short break in the bombardments. The Matzah baking instructors were a bit sleepy due to the repeated explosions in the night however they were saved the noise of any response by our IDF (because there wasn't any-ceasefire, remember?). No one in Gush Katif was willing to give up on this meaningful experience for the children of Gush Katif so as you see they managed it and God willing the Matzah-baking will continue today! Please consider just for a short moment what you will do today to prevent this Islamic terror from destroying Israel and spreading through the world. Running away from our Homeland is obviously not the solution. The children of gush Katif did their part today for you - they proudly baked Motzot for the Passover holiday and did not allow the terror to destroy their spirits! Anita Tucker lives in Gush Katif, Gaza. To Go To Top

WHY DO SELF-HATING JEWS REMAIN JEWS? Posted by Jock L. Falkson, April 11, 2005.

What is the secret that bonds Prof. Steven Rose, a self-hating Jew, to the Jewish people? Why does an atheist hold onto an affiliation that so offends him? No one compels Rose to be a Jew. Why doesn't he just stop being Jewish? He doesn't even have to convert. Like so many others he could just cease being a Jew. Wouldn't that lift the intolerable burden of his need to scathe Israel at every turn? One must wonder at the motivation of a Jewish professor who hates Zionism and Israel so much. Why does he actively seek media publicity to express his deep dissatisfaction and attacks us for his prejudices in ways which he knows will gain wide media exposure? I recall Steven Rose a couple of years back when, together with other Jewish professors of his ilk, publicly aired their disgust with Zionism and Israel by announcing abrogation of their right, as Jews, to immigrate to Israel. Did he think any one in the world gave a tinker's cuss? None ever had the slightest intention of making aliyah. It was nothing more than a PR trick. As expected it worked very well and pushed the Roses into the limelight. There are millions more Jews in the world than there are in Israel and we in Israel obviously respect their right to live wherever they wish. Sure we are interested in more Jews making aliyah - and will help those who choose to come. But while we welcome those who return to the Jews' ancestral home, Israel nevertheless values the Jewish diaspora. None of us ever tried to persuade the professors Rose to join us. Why should we give a hoot where they live? Nor would any diaspora Zionist shed a tear at their preference for England's green and pleasant land. Hearty laughs at their stupid PR announcement should have been in order. But they knew the anti-Zionist media would eagerly grasp this strictly no-news item and splash it into an anti-Israel hate fest. The Roses were no doubt overjoyed that their PR trick worked so well. A man who announces that he will not marry his fiancé is rightly ignored. It's none of our business. But if he adds ... "because I discovered she is a Zionist" - that would be a different kettle of fish. It would then become a field day especially for the anti-Semitic media like The Guardian. (The Guardian is given first bite at publishing the Rose's anti-Semitic forays.) Well the Roses are back in the hate Israel business this week with their latest PR announcement (abbreviated): "... more than 120 university academics across Europe had signed an open letter calling for a moratorium on all future cultural and research links with Israel at European level until Israel abides by UN resolutions and opens serious peace negotiations along the lines of the recent Saudi peace plan." Their accompanying letter (abbreviated) explains: "... many European cultural and research institutions, including especially those funded from the EU and the European Science Foundation, regard Israel as a European state for the purposes of awarding grants and contracts. (No other Middle Eastern state is so regarded)." Well there we have it. The EU itself has been sidelined by America which has told them to get busy preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power, while the US takes care of the Arab-Israel conflict. The US Road Map is still the only game in town and the professors knew, at the time of issuing their PR gambit, that Prime Minister Sharon would be negotiating directly with President Bush this week. But the Roses and their fellow professors are too busy with their own PR war against Israel to notice. We are also reminded by the Roses and their group - as a matter of pique - that no other Mid East state merits the EU's "cultural and research links with Israel". However, we are given no context. So allow me to supply some: No other Mid East State is democratic enough for the EU. All have capital punishment - outlawed by the EU. Executions by decapitation or slow hanging and are carried out - in public. Many states permit death by stoning for adulteresses. (Men get a pat on the back.) Women who behave dishonorably are put to death by their dishonored families. Thieves have limbs cut off in public. Young females have their clitoris removed by older females. Virtually all the Arab States harbor, succor and fund active terrorist groups. Saudi Arabia is one of the worst, having supplied 16 of the 19 terrorists which delivered 911 to the American people. Slavery is still practiced in some states, including Saudi Arabia. The PA is a Terrorist Authority which executes collaborators and coddles their armed terrorists. Yet democratic Israel with its independent judiciary and none of the disqualifications of the Arab states, is the one picked on by the Roses and other misguided professors, for public excoriation. Israel with its 5.25 million Jews has more professors per capita than most countries of Europe. And publishes more academic work than most individual EU states - and certainly more than all the Mid East States put together. Self hating Jews like Steven Rose don't bother me one whit. They can hate themselves all they wish, 24/7. What I don't understand is why they must also hate other Jews who think differently. Why hate yourself so much that you prefer, no matter all the world's evils, to align your sympathies with the enemies of the Jews? The wars of the Roses are not over. Stay tuned for another PR demarche before long. I sent a copy of this to Dr. Rose and he responded. This is what he wrote and my responses. ([R:]=Rose; [F:]=Falkson) [R:] 1. If you don't care what I think, why send me this rant? [F:] I sent it to you because I published it on the internet. It was therefore the correct thing to do. Moreover I do care what you as an anti-Semitic Jew do, to demonize Israel and the vast majority of Jews who do not share your extreme prejudice. [R:] 2. I 'remain' a Jew only in the sense that I was born and brought up as an orthodox Jew. You know as well as I do that so far as racists are concerned that makes me Jewish (and as far as the right of return and zionists for that matter as well). I have no wish to deny or conceal my ancestry. [F:] I'm confused. Why do you as a happy secular support the racist idea of relying on mom to identify your Jewish ancestry? If you had the courage of your convictions, surely you would deny that such racism applies to you? You could then have been a regular non-Jewish anti-Semite. And folks like me would never have bothered you. Incidentally, a rabbi friend told me, in the days before DNA testing, that Jews relied on motherhood for the only true evidence of ancestry. You see, he explained, one can never be certain who the father is. [R:] I am, however happily secular, thank you very much for asking. [F:] You are mistaken, I never asked you. But permit me to inform you that I too am secular, proud of my Jewish heritage, proud of my people's contribution to civilization, proud of Israel's fierce struggle for survival. [R:] 3. Your quote from our press release from April 2002 is hopelessly out of date. [F:] Maybe so, but your anti-Semitic views haven't changed. Have they? [R:] Many thousands of academics across Europe share a commitment to moratorium or boycott of Israeli institutions whilst Israel remains and apartheid state. [F:] Has prejudice so blinded you to reality? Democratic Israel is a country of laws, with an independent judiciary, with 1,300,000 equal rights Arab citizens, who have 13 members in the Knesset, 3 of whom are Deputy Speakers, and you call us an apartheid state? Israel which has aided over 50,000 black Jews to join us? And some thousands of Indian Jews? By inference you appear to be immune to the degrading treatment of women in Arab/Moslem autocracies. And to the prejudice against and the persecution - often including violence, torture and killings - of Christian and other minorities. Please explain in what way any Judenrein Arab state in Africa and the Middle East is not an apartheid state? And when you've done with these, please give your attention to the other Islamic countries. (56 including the Arab states.) [R:] . . . in breach of human rights legislation and UN resolutions. [F:] So you are driven to undertake an academic boycott of Israel's universities due to Israel's human rights breaches? I have counted over 200 states listed in the 2004 report of Human Rights Watch International. Must one conclude that you and your team, Prof. Rose, analyzed each one of these reports and concluded that the complaints against Israel were the worst? And that is your ostensible justification for focusing on Israel as the only state deserving your academic boycott? Or is it not more reasonable to conclude that you and your organization consist of advanced anti-Semites, and that undisguised prejudice guides your boycott intentions? Most alleged complaints against Israel originate from security related measures which Israel has instituted to protect our civilians. Especially during the last 4 years of vicious, unrelenting, unmerciful intifada initiated by 13 murderous terrorist organizations led, harbored and funded by the top-to-bottom corrupt Palestine Authority. And encouraged by virtually all Arab and Islamic states. (Say 1.24 billion people.) [R:]4. It is not anti-semitic to be anti-zionist or critical of Israel. [F:] I agree with you absolutely! However, you clearly have no idea how self-critical Israelis are! It is anti-Semitic nevertheless, when you and your organization focus on Israel as the sole victim of your blatant bias. It is anti-Semitic when you do not also campaign against China's flagrant abuse of Tibetan human rights (50 years of occupation). It is anti-Semitic when you do not also involve yourself in the abuse of the human rights of India's 160 million 'untouchables' who suffer indescribable collective punishment for having been borne into the wrong family. It is anti-Semitic when you know the human rights of so many Africans have been violated by mass rapine and slaughter, yet you look the other way and focus on Israel for boycotting. Why are you not boycotting Russia for its horrible record in Chechnya? Or Chechnya for its horrible record in Russia? Why do you not also take up cudgels on behalf of the millions of Kurds whose national aspirations have been suppressed by Iraq and Turkey for so long? Why did you never react to the Taliban in Afghanistan whose support made it possible for Osama Bin Laden to carry out the Twin Towers' massacre? Why do you not also boycott Iran's academia for the dire declarations of its leaders to exterminate the Jewish state? And why do you spare the terrorist sponsoring state of Syria? Because, Professor Rose, the only state you and your organization inherently hate is the Jewish State. That sir is anti-Semitism. Jock Falkson is a former South African advertising executive, now a, free lance writer living in Israel. To be put on Jock Falkson's email list to receive his essays, contact him at falkson@barak-online.net [Editor's note: For more information on Steven Rose see http://www.think-israel.org/haters.html] To Go To Top

PUSHING THE PLO BACK Posted by David Frankenthal, April 11, 2005.

Hi Friends, This is a big week for supporters of Israel. Here are 3 very important things you can do over the next day or two to help push the PLO back: 1. Please write to Caterpillar here in advance of the shareholders meeting on Wednesday (4/13) to commend them for continuing to trade with Israel and for ignoring the pressure from those who support PLO terrorism. see Stop CAT At the meeting anti-Israel forces will be trying to get a motion adopted to get Caterpillar to stop doing business with Israel but will be opposed by groups supporting Israel. see StandWithUs [Outcome: Caterpillar shareholders rejected a resolution aimed at stopping the company doing business with Israel by 97% to 3%. See http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050413/ ap_on_bi_ge/caterpillar_bulldozers_1 2. Please write to commend GM here for withdrawing their advertising from the LA Times because of "factual errors and misrepresentations" the paper made about the company. (See E&P and Forbes GM's actions.) Though not about Israel, this is a big help to advocates of fair treatment in the media, something that is sorely lacking when it comes to LA Times reporting on Israel. 3. If you have not yet done so, please sign The Body Shop Petition and let your friends know about it. For more details about The Body Shop's long-standing support for the PLO click here If these links are not clickable in your browser or message board, you will find working links at the Join the Boycott website: http://www.geocities.com/truthmasters/jointheboycott.htm Working together we can make a big difference. Thank you and best wishes, David David Frankenthal is with Join the Boycott. To Go To Top

BUSH-RICE SUBSIDIES TO TERRORISTS; HOUSING: A SHARON TRICK; SELECTIVE BRUTALITY Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 11, 2005.

CULTURAL EXCHANGE The Soviets used to encourage cultural exchanges, to divert attention from their human rights abuses and imperialism. It is like the people-to-people exchanges between Israeli Jews and P.A. or Israeli Arabs. Leftist Jews gush about the opportunities for peace being demonstrated by the friendliness of Arabs they meet (Prof. Steven Plaut, 2/24, e-mail). Prof. Plaut has put his finger on a common deception and self-deception. FENCED IN OR FENCED OUT? Israel plans to build a separate security fence around some individual Israeli towns in Judea-Samaria, rather than extend the main one to encompass those towns (IMRA, 2/24). Ideally, Israel should have built fences around the Arab towns, for that is what the fence is needed for. Fence the terrorists in, not their victims. ISRAEL'S LIMITS TO FREE SPEECH When right-wingers call PM Sharon or Defense Min. Mofaz a traitor, they are arrested. Left-wingers now call the newly appointed Chief of Staff a war criminal. Yesh Gvul has ads in Israeli newspapers making that charge despite the ban on "insulting" a public official. The Attorney-General demands the arrest of those only of right-wingers. The Left's quarrel with Chief of Staff Halutz is that he headed the air force when a bomb struck some civilians as well as the targeted terrorists. Under international law and simple justice, the collateral casualties are the responsibility of the terrorists who, by definition, are war criminals. The Left does not call Peres or Sharon war criminals for having allowed terrorists into Israel, where they targeted civilians. This is not consistent. It is not against crime, it is opposes defense against crime (Prof. Steven Plaut, 2/25, e-mail). HOW DID SHARON GET BUDGET PASSED? PM Sharon had to get the budget passed or resign and perhaps not be able to implement his abandonment plan. Despite the need for austerity, he pledged to three parties hundreds of millions of dollars on projects for their constituents. It passed (NY Sun, 3/30, p.6). HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH (HRW) VS. EGYPT After the terrorist attack on Israeli tourists in the Sinai, HRW reports, the Egyptian government arrested several thousand people without charges and tortured most of them. The arrests may have been a crackdown on Islamists for internal reasons, using the Sinai attack as a pretext (IMRA, 2/26). THE LAW GOES EASY ON PM SHARON Israeli Attorney-General Mazuz indicted Sharon's campaign manager and son, but claimed insufficient evidence to indict Sharon. That is a false excuse. The law holds the candidate responsible for the crimes of his campaign, unless he can prove he did not know of them. PM Sharon did not prove that. He merely asserted ignorance of them. The son had set up fictitious companies to receive illegal foreign funds, got fraudulent receipts for their expenditure, lied about it under oath, and briefed his father daily about the campaign. The father didn't know? Mazuz did not even react to a media story that Yossi Beilin illegally accepted EU funds for his new, leftist political party. Mazuz is concentrating on trying to invalidate the future candidacy of a right-wing candidate, Moshe Feiglin, for having blocked traffic. P.A. POLICE RETURNING TO DUTY A new P.A. police activity is to demolish "many" illegal buildings in Gaza. The buildings' number and nature were not disclosed. Some P.A. activity against terrorism is reported, but shutting down arms smuggling tunnels may be a temporary measure to give the impression that Israeli forces may leave Gaza without concern. The P.A. is not interfering with the armamentarium of the militias, which are intensively building rocket factories and training (IMRA, 2/25). SUDDENLY ISRAEL APPROVES NEW YESHA HOUSING? Some ministries say that the government has approved building about 5,000 units in Judea-Samaria, and another denies it. (That is the usual, confused reaction from the government.) This may be done to placate the Right. "I wonder what Sharon will tell the new settlers when the government decides to remove them too in a few years," said Peace Now (IMRA, 2/25). It's the most sensible thing I've heard from Peace Now. The building plan, if not also the false announcement of it, probably is a Sharon trick. THE BUSH-RICE FOCUS Israel plans new housing within Maale Adumim, a portion of Judea slated to be incorporated into Israel because it has 30,000 Israelis and of its strategic buffering of Israel's capital, Jerusalem. Sec. Rice, the "Washington Post," and the "NY Times" criticized the plan. The Administration and the anti-Zionist media have a policy that no Jews may be allowed in certain parts of the Jewish homeland, including part of Jerusalem, and that Arabs may be allowed in the other parts. Meanwhile, as the P.A. plans to release a terrorist chieftain and P.A. terrorists bombard Jewish towns, Pres. Bush and Sec. Rice continue to offer large subsidy to the P.A. (NY Sun, 3/28, Ed.). What are we to think of Bush-Rice, who offer subsidy to Arabs for violating human rights and criticism of Israelis for exercising them? FRUITS OF THAT FOCUS Israeli security methods have proved effective against ground assault. Since those methods include roadblocks and checkpoints, they inconvenience the general P.A. Arab population, behind the terrorism. To spare those not-so-innocents the inconvenience, the Bush-Rice Administration periodically demands that Israel withdraw those roadblocks and checkpoints. Israel stopped assassinating terrorist commanders, too. Terrorists were able to regroup, emerge from their cities, and infiltrate into Israel's. PM Sharon received reports of their planting roadside bombs, while he was (falsely) praising Abbas for taking steps against terrorism. Recently the Arabs blew up dozens of Israelis in Tel Aviv. Intelligence officials report to Sharon that, thanks to the truce that the terrorist militias defy, the re-supplied terrorists intend another major uprising as soon as the abandonment is complete. That is the fruit of the State Dept. focus, cultivated by PM Sharon. Usually the head of the P.A. disingenuously condemns the attack but does not punish the attackers or their organization, whom he praises as heroic; the President of the US conveys condolences; the Sec. of State insists that the P.A. strive harder to fight the terrorism that the P.A. and the US subsidize; and the US insists that Israel not fight terrorism but make concessions to it. PM Sharon is using undemocratic and brutal means to oust Jews from Gaza and Judea-Samaria, although doing so would position the terrorists alongside Israeli cities as targets of new opportunity. He announced this plan immediately after his election on a platform pledging not to. The swiftness of the contradiction indicates that he was negotiating it with the State Dept. and the Arabs during the election. Sharon's obsession with ousting some Jews, to the neglect of his country's security, reminds one of Hitler's obsession with killing the last Jews, to the neglect of his country's defense against the Allies closing in (Winston Mid East Analysis, 2/25). Note, Winston is not comparing Sharon with every aspect of Hitler, just one. Often, when people read such an analogy, they think it is total. POTENTIAL P.A. GOODWILL GESTURE ZOA suggests a powerful conciliatory gesture by the head of the P.A., whose dissertation denied the Holocaust. It would be to attend the opening of a new wing at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel, and publicly retract his denial (NY Sun, 3/30, letter). Such a complete reversal might cost his life. At least, he would have to explain that Arabs should be honest about the Holocaust, which is not relevant to its conflict with Israel. However, he has not changed. He has not been reversing the bigoted indoctrination against the Jewish people. How could he? The Arab-Israel conflict is a religious one. Islam remains aggressive towards other religions. It believes in using any means, including deceit. There are three levels of relationships between Arab leaders and Jews: (1) Refuse to talk or shake hands; (2) Shake hands but wash them afterwards (really); and (3) Business partnerships with Israeli officials (Sharon, Peres, and their aides) who negotiate concessions good for that business but bad for the Jewish state. When Arabs become pragmatic and move from step 1 to steps 2 and 3, Israelis think they are getting somewhere with the Arabs in a "peace process." They even praise their enemy as "pragmatic," is if his cleverer means changes his evil goals. ISRAELI BRUTALITY A youth from Samaria had left a peaceful demonstration in Tel Aviv. A policeman jumped upon him, and arrested his friend and him. Instead of identifying themselves, as he asked (and they are supposed to do), the police beat him up. They continued hitting him at the Herzliya police station. After his interrogation, he was taken to hospital, suffering bruises and swelling all over his body. He was released without x-rays having been taken and without a medical report. The youth's mother brought him back for x-rays. No bones were broken, but the orthopedist was shocked at the boy's condition. A nurse told her confidentially that the police bring victims to certain doctors, who make findings exonerating the police. The hospital told the mother that it could not find the youth's records, written only the day before. It had given a copy of the records to the police, who did not share them with the mother (Arutz-7, 2/25). Reports like this are coming out of Israel, now. There also are reports of discrimination in favor of pro-Arab demonstrations and of dirty tricks. IRANIAN LAW Iran imposes no penalty for killing members of unrecognized religious groups, such as the Bahai (Paul Marshall, Commentary, 4/2005, p.62). BETWEEN THE ARAB LINES ON SYRIA "Al-Ahram" and other Arabs write about foreign pressure on Syria and Sudan. The writers, often representing their governments, express no censure of Syria and Sudan for occupation and genocide. They are concerned with cutting Syria's losses and providing an umbrella for the two countries to accommodate the foreign powers sufficiently to avoid giving them a "pretext" to invade. Egypt is worried that an international force in Sudan would lead to that country's partition (IMRA, 2/25), which would spare the lives of its Christians and animists. WHEN PARTISANSHIP CLOUDS PATRIOTISM If terrorism increases after Gaza is abandoned, "it will bring about the loss (or, at a minimum, the suspension) of American support for a(nother Arab) Palestinian state. So, too, if neighboring Israeli towns continue to be shelled." PM Rabin thought that the demise of the Soviet Union deprived the Arab states of the arm supplies needed for attacking Israel with conventional weapons. This left the Palestinian Arabs without foreign military support and no ability to pose an existential threat to Israel. He felt that Israel still needed the US, but for developing anti-ballistic missile defense. Pres. Bush may be the "one prince who, on the basis of repeated demonstration, deserves to be trusted." "George W. Bush will not be put off by the ritualistic condemnations of terrorism, or the revolving door arrests of the Arafat era; he will not be bamboozled by lies" nor "tolerate excuses." (Commentary, 4/2005, p.38.) Those statements are part of another tour-de-force by Norman Podhoretz. Unfortunately, it makes or fails to dispute false and naive assumptions, though with some hedging. Pres. Bush is indeed satisfied with "ritualist condemnations of terrorism." He has indeed accepted revolving door arrests of the Abbas era. He is indeed bamboozled by lies and excuses. He and Sec. Rice keep urging Israel to make concessions to the P.A., because without these concessions, they contend, Abbas would lack the political power to crack down on terrorism. Meanwhile, Abbas assures the terrorists in the illegal militias that not only won't he disarm them, he would put them on the P.A. army payroll! About that, Bush is silent. After having ambiguously reassured PM Sharon about leaving Israel major blocs in Judea-Samaria, Pres. Bush lets the State Dept. demand that Israel be left none. The US continues with the anti-Zionist version of the Road Map. It donates funds to the P.A., despite lack of compliance with anti-terrorist obligations and its failure to end indoctrination in bigotry and violence. Indeed, the US is arming and training P.A. forces. Bush has proved himself unworthy of trust by Israel. There is no basis to suppose that if the P.A. continues its terrorism, the US will cease its support for P.A. statehood. The P.A. is continuing its terrorism, and the US increases its support for P.A. statehood. That has been the pattern. Bush made it worse, by announcing for statehood as if it were some sacred and deserved principle, for that really unholy and undeserving band of Arabs. Podhoretz did not express an opinion about Rabin's theory. Leaving it unchallenged lent it credence. It embraces dangerous misconceptions. Yes, the Soviet Union is gone, but its heirs continue much of its imperial policy. Russia is supplying some enemies of Israel with arms, especially Syria with conventional arms, Iran with the means of nuclear arming, and the P.A. with heavy weapons. The US arms enemies of Israel, too. It has built Egypt an army that can compete with Israel's, with some help. The US and PM Sharon are giving that help. Sharon is abandoning strategic territory that the Egyptian Army would need to pass through. He also is allowing Egypt to put some armor into Sinai and intelligence agents into Gaza, and to train Palestinian Arab auxiliaries. The P.A. army of terrorists, which the US is helping train and unify, could severely disrupt an Israeli mobilization intended to block an Egyptian invasion. Why did Podhoretz fumble this topic? I think it is because he has let his conservative ideology blind him to a conservative President's anti-Zionist policy, promoted by stealth and deception. Podhoretz fails to see that the State Dept. has not been reformed. It remains Arabist. It is joined with the European and Arab enemies of Israel to whittle it down to what the Arabs can conquer. Podhoretz should not let his admiration of Bush for conservative domestic policies blind him to Bush's willingness to make an exception for P.A. terrorism and sacrifice Israel to the EU. This wishful thinking is an unfortunate lapse in a great thinker. 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. To Go To Top

PHILANTHROPIST HEADS MISSION TO WEST BANK Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, April 11, 2005.

This was written by Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem bureau chief, whose past interview subjects have included Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, Shlomo Ben Ami and leaders of the Taliban. It appeared in today's World Net Daily (www.wnd.com). Group spends weekend in areas slated for evacuation, Hamas fires mortars WEST BANK, Israel -- A group of Americans this weekend visited all West Bank and Gaza Jewish communities slated for evacuation in July as part of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's withdrawal plan, and spent the Jewish Sabbath in a Gaza community at which mortar shells were fired during their stay. U.S. philanthropist Dr. Irving Moskowitz, who gives millions to Jewish causes, led the mission of some thirty people, including top leaders of the U.S. Jewish community, to show solidarity with the people of Gaza and the West Bank who will be forced to leave their homes this summer if the evacuation plan is carried out. The group said they hope to spark a wave of weekly U.S. missions to Gaza to protest the withdrawal in spite of a recent State Department warning against travel to the area. "I felt completely safe. Americans need to come here to see what these so-called settlements are all about," said Moskowitz's wife, Cherna. "These are not Jewish caravans in the middle of Arab communities. These are beautiful, spacious, modern homes with businesses and schools surrounded by lush landscapes and a gorgeous beach. The people here, unlike the media representation of so-called settlers as extremists, represent some of the best that humanity has to offer. And the neighborhoods are peaceful and secure." The mission landed in Israel Thursday and headed straight to the West Bank, where they visited all four communities there slated for evacuation. The group toured schools, community centers and homes. They planted trees in one of the neighborhoods, and then helped lay the foundation for a new synagogue. "We hope and we are certain these trees and this synagogue will flourish in the continued presence of the Jewish community here. People need to visit these areas and see for themselves that the Israeli government is making the biggest mistake by talking about giving up beautiful towns," said Adele Bernstein, one of the mission participants. The next day, the tour headed to Gush Kattif, the largest of the Gaza Jewish communities, where they visited businesses, restaurants, yeshivas, and a local beach. They went to several Kattif areas, including nearby Neztrarim, a community about a mile from Gaza City repeatedly hit with Qassam rockets and mortars. "To see the areas hit is to bear witness to many incredible miracles," said participant Rabbi Pesach Lerner, executive vice president of the National Council of Young Israel. "So many rockets landed in homes and no one was hurt or killed. We visited a shul (synagogue) that was hit in the middle of services, and miraculously no one was injured. We saw a vacant house that was destroyed on the inside except for the walls that had pictures of rabbis." The mission toured Kattif's famous greenhouses, which provide Israel with nearly seventy percent of its produce and feature some of the most advanced agricultural technology in the world, including high-tech temperature regulation and insect-free produce. The Israeli government has been conducting negotiations about handing over the Gaza greenhouses to the Palestinians as part of the disengagement plan. "People don't realize the incredible work that has been put into the land here," said Dr. Joseph Frager, a New York Jewish activist. "How can we contemplate asking Israelis to just give up these enormous greenhouses? It's a shame to think this area, teeming with life, might be turned over to Hamas terrorists who will use the land to stage attacks against Israel." The group stayed in various Kattif communities for the Sabbath, eating and praying with residents, including the town's mayor and several local Knesset members. "It was the most exhilarating Shabbat of my life," said Mrs. Moskowitz. "Here I am in the middle of Gaza, and I feel safer and more at peace here than at my home in Miami Beach. The perception in America is that these are unsafe military zones with constant violence. Actually, these Jewish communities are like a Garden of Eden, where you don't have to lock your doors or worry about crime. Kids can play safely in the streets. It's not what you see on television." Participant Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, said, "By spending Shabbat in Gaza, every false stereotype promoted by the media and the Israeli left has been shattered in the minds of all of us here. These include that the Jewish section of Gaza is a hell hall and a slum, not the gorgeous suburban beachfront community that we see with normal, hard working physically and spiritually beautiful people. Also these areas are not in the middle of Arab towns at all. Any American would be delighted to spend a weekend here." The weekend also featured some unexpected thrills. Several hours before the sundown marked the end of Shabbat, 27 mortars were lobbed at the neighborhoods being visited. The mortars were fired, reportedly by Hamas, in response to the IDF on Friday killing three Palestinians who ran at an IDF post after attempting to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Gaza. One mortar damaged a house, most exploded in empty fields, except for a mortar that failed to explode and needed to be detonated by an Israeli bomb squad. "It sounded like a door slamming shut," said Dr. Frager. "But after we heard the sound a few more times, we realized what was happening." With Palestinian suicide bombers having trouble infiltrating Israel because of the security fences in the West Bank and Gaza, terror organizations have been stepping up rocket and mortar attacks against Jewish settlements. Analysts say Hamas will likely increase attacks as the Gaza disengagement drawn closer so they can claim to their supporters Israel retreated under fire. The group continued their tour in spite of the attack, and after Shabbat headed to Israel's international airport to catch flights back to America. Participants said the experience changed their perception of the Gaza evacuation plan. Many voiced concern Jewish communities in Gaza being vacated may be used by terrorists to stage attacks against Israel, and warned Palestinian groups will view the retreat as a vindication for terror tactics. A confidential Hamas memo written by Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar, Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, and obtained last summer by WorldNetDaily, stated the terror group views Sharon's unilateral withdrawal as a capitulation to terror and is planning to continue its "armed struggle" against the Jewish state until "all territories" are in Palestinian hands. "The withdrawal, if it is implemented, is an important achievement by the Palestinian people, its intifada and armed struggle, its determination and great sacrifice, and confirms the willingness, correctness and usefulness of employing an armed struggle and its ability to attain political objectives," writes al-Zohar. "We will emphasize our people's right to resist the occupation [outside the Gaza Strip] so long as the occupation of the land and the aggression continue, with the understanding that withdrawal from Gaza is not the end of the story and occupation is still present in the rest of the lands and that not all rights and holy sites have been returned yet," the memo stated. Several mission participants said they were so touched by the weekend experience they decided to finance more trips to Gaza. Rabbi Lerner, who wrote a personal check to sponsor a bus to bring visitors to Gaza, said, "Time is running short. We have to get as many people to come here as possible so they can see for themselves the true situation and realize they are being deceived by the media portrayals of Gaza. Americans, especially the younger generation, must visit immediately and tell people about what is really going on." 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. To Go To Top

A TWO STATE SOLUTION IS NO SOLUTION Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, April 11, 2005.

CLICK HERE to send this message to President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon. You may change the message as you see fit. Dear Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister, I stand with the people who are gathered in Crawford, Texas to oppose the Road Map and Disengagement Plan and the giveaway of Israeli land. Rewarding Palestinian terrorism by granting statehood is not the answer to Arab/Israeli peace. The eyes of millions of Americans are watching "the Democratic Process" as it unfolds in the Middle East. We are focused on the tiny country of Israel that exists to be a "Light Unto the Nations". With no vote and no referendum, how can we be assured that dividing the Holy Land is the true democratic wish of the Israeli people? How can we ignore the Biblical injunction that Israel belongs to the Jews? Millions of Americans, Christians and Jews, support you, Mr. President, in our "war on terror" - but are baffled by a conflicting policy that would reward radical Palestinian terrorist groups with statehood. It is contrary to our fundamental democratic principles, not only our "war against terror", to deport Jews from their land in response to terror attacks upon them. We are not rewarding al Qaeda with statehood - we are not rewarding the Talaban with statehood - we are not rewarding the insurgents in Iraq with statehood. Why then do we depart from our principles and opt to bestow the precious gift of statehood upon Palestinian terrorists - Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah Tanzim, Islamic Jihad, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), al Aksa Martyrs Brigade, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), etc., as a reward for their unconscionable barbaric terrorist murderers? The U.S. must be consistent in our "war against terror". Carving a Palestinian state out of the heartland of Israel as a reward for killing the people of that nation makes no sense. Americans all across the country express these same sentiments. We implore you, Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister, to reconsider this policy miscalculation and change direction before we go further down the path of encouraging unrestrained terrorism. By following an inconsistent strategy against terror in Israel and supporting the disengagement, the U.S. faces military defeat at the very frontline of our global war on terrorism. The Two State Solution is NO SOLUTION. 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!" To Go To Top

BRAVO! BUSH HAS SEEN THE LIGHT! Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 11, 2005.

Clearly, President George W. Bush has come to the conclusion that Land won in war should be given away to its attackers. He has made his opinion known to Israel and demands that Israel give up Land won in wars that Israel won after being attacked by a coalition of Muslim Arab armies. Using that as the Bush 'Road Map' is relevant to America - as follows: Bush, having reviewed America's war with Mexico, resulting in parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas being taken from Mexico. Similarly, Vicente Fox will welcome this generous gesture by President Bush which will legally open the borders all along the Mexican-American line and return of the land. We know that Bush and family does not wish to speak with the forked tongue of a snake and, therefore, we welcome his agreement to put a cloud over the title to the land in California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona (after Arizona was partitioned out of New Mexico). President Bush, 'fess up that we illegally confiscated Mexican land even though they had not even declared War against America. How noble and ethical you are, President Bush. We did steal the land from the Indians and have given back some small bit. Now, you follow with an agreement to return the stolen lands of Mexico. What a terrific guy you are! While you have not yet consulted the World Court in the Hague, given that you feel that Israel must give away Land won in a legal war for survival, the return of Mexican land is even more logical. Let Fox bring the claim to the World Court using the legalistic rationale which you, President Bush, have established for the Jewish State of Israel. Bravo to you, Bush and family for issuing a quit claim deed to California, Texas, Arizona. Surely, you are an honest President with integrity. I wonder if the Bush family and James Baker would also deed the oil leases they have obtained due to their positions and turn it over to the American people as long as your are playing the honest man or, is it 'honest broker'? Let's get ready to have Californians, Texans, Arizonians abandon their houses, farms, factories to Mexicans. Let's not worry about where we can put deposed Americans because there's always the empty Mojave Desert where they can be re-located - unless you would care to offer your farm in Texas. 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). To Go To Top

PRESIDENT BUSH, PLEASE SAY YES TO JEWISH HOMES Posted by Jerusalem Prayer Team, April 11, 2005.

Eight thousand Jews are being forced from their homes in Gaza and the West Bank. Among those being forced to move are the members of the Cohen family. This family has suffered irreparable loss at the hands of Palestinian gunmen. Tehilla Cohen goes for a ride on her new wheelchair. We have written several times concerning the Cohen children from Gaza who were injured when their school bus was bombed by Palestinian terrorists. Two teachers were killed; Orit Cohen lost a foot, her brother,Yisrael, lost half his leg, and older sister, Tehilla, lost both legs. The Jerusalem Prayer Team purchased, through your donations, a motorized wheelchair for Tehilla. The children have returned home after many months of recuperation and rehabilitation in Tel-Aviv. This family will now lose their home in Gaza as a result of the forced evictions. Jewish homes and land have now been given to the very people who have terrorized the Jewish people who live there. Now President Bush is pressuring Prime Minister Sharon to halt settlement expansion, and stop building homes for the displaced Jews. That means many of those forced to move will have no place to go. Please click here, and let President Bush know today that you do not agree. It is urgent! The President and Prime Minister Sharon are meeting today. Let your voice be heard! The following is an article by Nathan Guttman, Haaretz Correspondent. It's called "Bush says he will pressure Israel to halt settlement expansion" and was written by Nathan Guttman, Haaretz Correspondent. U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday that he will press Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at their meeting next week to abide by a U.S.-backed road map peace plan which calls for "no expansion" of Jewish settlements. "Our position is very clear, that the road map is important. And the road map calls for no expansion of the settlements," Bush told reporters ahead of his meeting next Monday with Sharon at the U.S. president's ranch in Crawford, Texas. Bush was referring to a controversial Israeli plan to expand the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh. Meanwhile, senior Israeli officials issued assurances Tuesday that the plan to expand Ma'aleh Adumim would not overshadow a planned summit between Sharon and Bush next week. The officials - senior Sharon aide Dov Weissglas, his political adviser Shalom Turgeman and Israel's ambassador to Washington, Danny Ayalon - held two meetings Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in which they discussed Sharon's upcoming trip. The sides dealt with the Ma'aleh Adumim plan, but did not reach agreement on the matter. It was clarified, however, that the settlement expansion plan would not overshadow the Bush-Sharon summit. The U.S. administration believes Israel must uphold a total freeze on construction in the territories, while Israel's attitude is that certain areas within the large settlement blocs can be built up, citing U.S. recognition of these communities. Sharon is slated to meet Bush at his Crawford, Texas ranch on Monday. The prime minister will then head to Washington to meet senior administration officials before his return to Israel. On Monday, the prime minister reportedly told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel should press forward with the plan despite American and Palestinian objections. According to a participant at the meeting, Sharon made it clear that he wanted to go ahead with the proposed construction of 3,500 housing units in the area known as E-1, a five-kilometer corridor between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem. "There is a need to carry out construction in E-1," the participant quoted Sharon as saying. "This program has been in existence for 10 years. We should definitely move ahead with it." But the premier gave no time frame for beginning work on the project, the participant said. Housing Minister Isaac Herzog, who discussed the plan with U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams on Monday during a meeting in Washington, said that the plan is still in the preliminary planning stages, and his office is not dealing with it all. Herzog stressed that Ma'aleh Adumim will be part of Israel under any agreement with the Palestinians, adding that the Palestinians already accepted this in principle in the Geneva Initiative. However, he said, it is necessary to find a solution that will enable territorial contiguity both between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem and between the northern and southern sections of a Palestinian state. Michael Evans is the author of "Beyond Iraq: The Next Move," and founder of Jerusalem Prayer Team, America's largest Christian coalition praying for the peace of Jerusalem. Contact them at www.JerusalemPrayerTeam.org To Go To Top

THE REAL TEL AVIV Posted by David Wilder, April 10, 2005.

See additional pictures at http://www.hebron.com/news/beitmenachem.htm Shalom from Hebron. The Ancient Jewish Cemetary The year was 1979. Ten women and forty children had recently moved into the basement floor of Beit Hadassah in Hebron, and set up house, as best as possible. Sort of like an urban kibbutz. A large eating area and several rooms for the mothers and their children. Swings hanging between tree branches and makeshift see-saws comprised the playground. Showers were a bucket of water poured over the head outside, blocked off from the others by a flimsy curtain. Running water was a luxury not yet available. One morning Miriam Levinger, waking up her six-year old son, suddenly opened her eyes in shock. A registered nurse, Miriam's own eyes darkened as she looked into her son's eyes. What she saw was yellow. Literally. The child wasn't scared. He was sick. Without any running water, without normal sanitary facilities, living in a filthy building vacant for years, jaundice was a real possibility. Seeing her son's yellow eyes, Miriam Levinger knew that the disease had arrived. She also knew that jaundice is very contagious and would likely spread quickly from child to child. As she describes it, Miriam was certain that the Beit Hadassah venture would soon be over. She was sure that as soon as the other women heard that her son was infected with jaundice, they would all leave, immediately. Girding her strength, and ready for the worst, she started making the rounds. "My son has jaundice." "Oh, really. What else is new this morning?" And that's the way is was, from one to the other. "O.K. - it will pass - he'll be healthy soon." Not one woman left. One of the women was pregnant, and of course, jaundice and pregnancy are not overly compatible. "Shoshana, you can't stay here and risk infection." Shoshana's reply: If I leave, I won't be able to return. I'm staying." (Beit Hadassah was then under siege - anyone who left couldn't go back, and no one else was allowed in.) "But Shoshana?" "No buts - I'm not leaving. Miriam will take care of me." Shoshana, after receiving special permission to leave Beit Hadassah and return, later gave birth to a little girl, named her Hadassah, and returned to Beit Hadassah. The Beit Hadassah women and children all survived one of the first tests of their will and determination: jaundice. Almost exactly eleven years ago the Ze'ev family was enjoying their Passover holiday meal at the new home they had just finished building in Shilo, in the Shomron. As is customary, during the meal the younger Ze'ev children 'stole' a piece of Matza, needed to later complete the traditional ceremonies. As the time approached to conclude the meal, their father Yisrael, and mother, Miriam, looked at the eight kids and asked them to return the Matza. "What will you give us if we give it back," they asked. "Well, what do you want?" What do children usually ask for - a basketball, a doll, a book, or maybe a bicycle. But this time the kids had a different idea in mind. Glancing at their sister, Isca, then 18 years old, they took a deep breath and answered. Watching them closely, Isca smiled to herself. A first-class instigator, Isca had coached her younger siblings well, one by one. "We want to go live in Hebron. If we can go live in Hebron, we'll give you the Matza back. Otherwise?" Yisrael and Miriam looked at each other and shrugged. "O.K.," Yisrael answered, "if that's what you want, that's what you'll get. Now, go get the Matza." And that's how the Ze'ev family decided to move to Hebron. Almost exactly a year later, troublemaker Isca received her own personal reward. Isca had already been living and working in Kiryat Arba for a year, performing her national volunteer service at Midreshet Hevron. Now, living in Hebron, not far from Rabbi Moshe and Rebbetzin Miriam Levinger, Isca's sparkling personality drew the attention of one of the Levinger daughters. She decided to play matchmaker and arranged a meeting between Isca and one of her brothers. Soon after there was an engagement party and then a wedding. Isca Ze'ev married the little boy who came down with jaundice in Beit Hadassah, sixteen years earlier, Shlomo Levinger. For most of their married life the young Levingers, today parents of four, lived in the same building where Shlomo spent a year of his early childhood. But this time, rather than live in the basement, Shlomo and his family lived on the top floor of Beit Hadassah. I have a personal affinity to the Shlomo, Isca and their children, as we have been neighbors for almost seven years, living across the hall from each other. But a few days ago, on Friday, we bid them farewell. Early Friday morning the movers arrived, packed up their truck, and chugged up a very steep hill, about 3 minutes away. No, they aren't leaving Hebron. Rather, the Levingers became the first family to move into Hebron's newest building in the Admot Ishai (Tel Rumeida) neighborhood. The new building, called "Beit Menachem" in honor of the Lubavitcher Rebbi, Rabbi Menachem M. Shneerson, will house seven families and a Torah study hall. The site's official dedication will take place during the upcoming Passover festivities [www.hebron.com/pesach2005/pesach2005.htm]. Moving into Beit Menachem I think it very auspicious that the Levinger family initiate this new apartment building. Directly under their apartment is the Hebron Archeological Park, which contains artifacts from 4,500 to 1,500 years old, including a wall from the days of Abraham and a house from the era of King Hezekiah, some 2,700 years ago. What could be more fitting than to have a representative of Hebron's 'first family,' a son of Rabbi Moshe and Rebbetzin Miriam Levinger, known as the 'father and mother' of Hebron's modern Jewish community, be the first to move into this new edifice? To me, this site could be called Tel Aviv. Why? Today's Israeli metropolis is named after Theodore Herzl's book, Altneuland, which literally means 'old - new land,' with 'Tel' representing the old and 'Aviv' (which means spring in Hebrew), representing the new. However, the authentic 'old' is here in Hebron, the roots of our existence, at the site called Tel Hebron. The Tomb of Jesse and Ruth And the new is directly above the old - a beautiful new apartment complex, the buds of the rebirth of the Jewish People in the City of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. It won't be long before "Beit Menachem" will be full of families with many children running around. These families and children are the blossoms on the trees planted by Abraham and Sarah, almost 4,000 years ago, at this very site. We thank G-d for the privilege to follow in the footsteps of such esteemed ancestors, being able to rebuild and live in the real Tel Aviv. With blessings from Hebron. David Wilder is spokesman of The Jewish Community of Hebron. 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 To Go To Top

THE NY TIMES DURING THE HOLOCAUST: WHEN JEWS WEREN"T NEWS Posted by Marion Dreyfus, April 10, 2005.

This was written by Nathan Guttman and appeared in Haaretz (www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=562516&contrassID=2& subContrassID=15&sbSubContrassID=0). This is a reminder of when Jews weren't news and should have been. This is a reminder of why challenging media bias is a matter of the utmost importance! WASHINGTON - In 1944 the Nazi machine for slaughtering the Jews reached peaks of productivity and efficiency. At the death camps in Europe thousands of Jews were being murdered every day and testimonies about the horror were flowing from all directions, even to the media. But during that year the front page of The New York Times, the most prestigious and most important newspaper in the United States, mentioned the question of the Jews in Europe only 12 times on its front page. All the rest of the reports were relegated to the inside pages and got lost among the archival reports on what was happening on all the fronts of the war. Even when the Jewish issue did get front page coverage in the times, it was swallowed up and concealed. The reports speak about "minorities," "refugees" and "murder victims." The word "Jews" hardly appeared on the front page of the newspaper. The book "Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and America's Most Important Newspaper," which was published this month in the United States by Cambridge University Press, documents in detail the campaign of sidestepping and downplaying the Holocaust by the publisher of the newspaper and the effects that his editorial decisions had on the American public's ability to understand what was happening in Europe during the war years. The author of the book, Prof. Laurel Leff, a former journalist and now a lecturer at the Northeastern University school of journalism, spent a year and a half of her life in the Times archive, closely reading every report published between the years of 1939 and 1945 and looking for reports on the Holocaust of European Jews. At the end of the process, she found that during those years The New York Times had published 1,200 items connected to the Jews and their fate in the war, but only 26 of them made the front page of the newspaper. Only six times were the Jews identified in the headline of the item on the front page of The Times as victims of the Nazis. Reporters all over Europe Is it possible that the newspaper that engraved on its masthead the slogan "All the news that's fit to print" simply did not know about the slaughter of European Jews? This supposition is refuted outright in the book. The Times was well-networked in Europe, even during the war, with reporters stationed in Berlin, Warsaw, Paris, London, Moscow, Budapest, Bucharest and elsewhere, reporters who knew very well what was happening both at the battlefront and within the countries where they were posted. The Times itself also devoted editorials to the issue of the murder of European Jews, but even after these were published it took care to "bury" the reports on the subject in the inside pages and blur the Jewish identity of the victims. Leff argues that this was an internal editorial policy that was dictated from above, and from the moment it was determined that the Jews were "not a story" in this war, the decision affected all levels. The reporters who were delegated to report on the story were of the second rank and the editors, who developed a reluctance to emphasize the place of the Jews in the European tragedy, pushed the reports about the slaughter far inside the paper. The person behind the decision, says the book, is Arthur Hays-Sulzberger, the all-powerful publisher of the newspaper during those years. Although Sulzberger, a Jew of German origin, was not an official part of the editorial apparatus of the paper, everyone there knew that he was the address for any issue having to do with Jews and that he held unambiguous views on questions having to do with the slaughter of the Jews raging in Europe. "They knew he was very nervous about Jewish stories, so they always turned to him when these stories came up," says Leff of Sulzberger's status. The decision to push the Jews' distress to the inside pages was not taken casually and was not taken without reason. The new book documents Sulzberger's correspondence and testimonies from people who spoke with him that explain the motives behind his decision not to give prominence to the distress of his people. Sulzberger was an assimilated Jew, but not of the usual sort. He believed in becoming part of American society, but he never concealed the fact that he was Jewish and was even a member of Jewish organizations. He believed that Judaism is only a religion and nothing more - not a community, not a shared fate, not an organizational issue. "For Sulzberger, it was just a question of if you go to church on Sunday or to synagogue on Saturday," says Leff. But the rejection of the concept of the mutual responsibility of world Jewry explains only partially his approach to the coverage of the Holocaust in his newspaper. Sulzberger thought that it was not appropriate to relate to the problem of the Jews in Europe as an issue in its own right. In a letter to treasury secretary Henry Morgenthau he wrote that the American administration should not err in thinking that there is a single Jewish people. "Certainly there is no such common denominator between the poor unfortunate Jew, now being driven around what was recently Poland, and, let us say Mr. Hore-Belisha [Britain's Jewish secretary of state for war] or myself," he wrote. Sulzberger was not speaking only out of arrogance - he took the trouble to explain to Morgenthau, the most senior Jew in the administration at the time, that separate attention to the Jews when dealing with the crisis in Europe would only play into the hands of Hitler, who was interested in isolating the Jews. Therefore the United States must not fall into this trap. Practical consideration Leff found testimony to the effect that behind the publisher's decision to keep the Holocaust out of the headlines there was also this practical consideration: "He believed that minorities cannot save themselves and that their only chance is if their fate is tied with that of others," she explains. Therefore Sulzberger argued that if there is anything that would stir America to action in Europe, it was not the plight of the Jews but rather the comprehensive aim of saving humanity from Nazi tyranny. It must be noted that Sulzberger had grown up and was living in America, and therefore he had a basis for his suspicion that the American public would find it hard to identify with the Jews' distress. The publisher's policy quickly trickled down to all levels of the newspaper and the Jews in Europe were covered accordingly: The slaughter of 15,000 Jews in Kharkov was put on page 19 next to advertisements for end-of-year sales, the destruction of the Krakow and Lodz ghettoes went on page 5, the deportation of the Jews of Holland on page 6 and on August 27, 1943, the report that "3 million Jews had been destroyed by planned starvation, forced labor, deportation, pogroms and methodical murders in German-run extermination centers" appeared on page 7 of the newspaper. The Times' ignoring of the Holocaust was clear to many at the time. Rabbi Stephen Wise, one of the leaders of American Jewry, said, "The Times seems to consider nothing as news that originated from and through Jews." Other readers s ent letters and asked why reports that they had read in other places about the slaughter of the Jews were not appearing in The New York Times. Nearly all of these complaints were brought to the attention of the publisher, but the policy did not change. The fact that The Times intentionally refrained from giving importance to the issue of the persecution and annihilation of the Jews of Europe during World War II does not involve only the world of journalism. In her book, Leff writes: "No American newspaper was better positioned to highlight the Holocaust than The Times, and no American newspaper so influenced public discourse by its failure to do so." During those years, the Times was the only newspaper in the United States that was committed to providing its readers full coverage of national and international news and the only one with correspondents spread throughout the world. Moreover - even then The Times was already considered the newspaper of the decision-makers and policy-makers in Washington. Leff discovered that in the archives of several heads of the administration at that time, which she examined, there were often newspaper clipping dealing with current events. These were always clippings from The Times. Beyond the general power that the newspaper wielded, it enjoyed a special status with respect to its attitude toward Jews. "Because the owners of The Times were Jews," writes Leff, "there was a tendency to say that if this paper doesn't think it is an important story, why should we take interest in it?" Sulzberger did not change his mind about the issue even after the war ended and the camps were liberated, and The New York Times continued to push the Jewish story to the margins. The reports from Europe on the victims and displaced persons systematically ignored the Holocaust of the Jews and did not relate to the Jews separately from the other victims of the war and those hurt by it. This was the case even when the numbers, which were known by then, proved that the Jews were not chance victims. Important lesson Even when American Jewry adopted Zionism, Sulzberger remained definitely anti-Zionist and had arguments and quarrels about this with heads of the Jewish community. In one case he even argued that one of the reasons so many Jews were murdered in the Holocaust was that the Zionists were putting so much stress on Palestine instead of saving European Jewry. In 1996 the owners of The New York Times celebrated the 100th anniversary of their purchase of the newspaper. On that occasion they acknowledged that the story of the Holocaust of European Jewry had suffered from a lack of attention during the war years. Sulzberger himself never acknowledged this. Nowadays, could a story of such magnitude be kept out the headlines? To Leff it is not clear that the answer is that it could not be. She notes that she found in her research that even though the Jewish organizations in the United States knew during the period of the Holocaust about the dimensions of the horror in Europe, they did not have the standing in the media or the administration to throw the spotlights on what was happening. "Even today, if a certain group doesn't have this clout, it won't be able to get it onto the front page," writes Leff. "It happens all the time," she adds. New York Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis has told Haaretz, "The Times' editors today believe that the newspaper's modern-day coverage of war and genocide would demonstrate that the newspaper has drawn an important lesson from that painful history." Marion Dreyfus is a writer and travelor. She has taught English in China. She can be contacted at dreyfusmarion@hotmail.com To Go To Top

AT THE TEMPLE MOUNT: BEING JEWISH IS THE PROVOCATION Posted by IsrAlert, April 10, 2005.

This is an eyewitness account by Yaakov Ish Tam of events when the Revava group attempted to go up to the Temple Mount. He can be contacted by email at ishtam@revava.org The first thing I want to make clear is that the media and official police reports of only a handful of protesters is an outright lie. Although it is true that masses of people did not make it to the Temple Mount or even the Western Wall Plaza, it was certainly not due to a lack of interest but a virtual siege by the police of the entire Old City. It is hard to say exactly how many people showed up, first of all because this was a completely grassroots effort and there is no real way to differentiate between a "Revava activist" and a regular Jew who is coming to pray at the Kotel or visit the Old City. The police erred on the side of caution and anyone who they remotely feared might be as they like to put it a "settler" (even though a majority of Revava supporters do not live in the "territories") was barred entry to the Old City or arrested on the spot. If they did somehow manage to get through, or in my case were already in the Old City, they scrutinized every person who entered the Kotel Plaza and expelled or arrested anyone who they even thought might even consider being involved. Finally, the turnout was naturally going to be lower than expected because of the constant reports from the police and government that the event was canceled and early reports of multiple arrests of Revava activists and organizers (Yisrael Meir Cohen was arrested at roughly 6 AM myself at 8). They even announced on the news in the morning that any "right wing activists" who attempted to enter the Old City would be immediately arrested (and they made good on that threat). I know for a fact that there were several buses chartered from cities across Israel from as far away as Haifa and Gush Katif and in the past several days we have had non stop phone calls to our office and all of our personal cell phones. I was away for Shabbat in Safed and even I personally spoke to at least 25 people on the bus Sat night who promised they would come and bring friends and family. While there were nowhere near our goal of 10,000 participants, the police estimate of "several dozen" is blatantly dishonest and nothing more than propaganda to delegitimize the organization and the entire struggle for the Temple Mount. I personally saw many people in the Kotel Plaza when I arrived at 8 AM and I was told by others that arrived later that there was a solid presence throughout the day including Knesset Members, veteran Land of Israel activists and many people who prayed and danced in support of the Temple Mount. It is impossible to tell how many people were turned away by the police at some point before they arrived but "several dozen" does not do justice even for the number of people who actually made it to the Kotel. Yisrael Meir Cohen and I slept (or more accurately "rested briefly") last night in the Old City because we feared (rightfully so) that the police might attempt prevent us from entering in the morning. I received a call at around 7:30AM that Yisrael was already arrested and I realized then that it was going to be a long day. I finished the morning prayers and headed down to the Western Wall, at 8AM sharp passing many people and police officers on the way. None of them even alluded to the fact that I was breaking the law merely by being there. I went through the security check at the Western Wall, where 5 guards were standing and none of them mentioned that anything was out of the ordinary so I figured that for the time being the coast was clear. I didn't even make it all the way down the stairs when the commander of the plainclothes division "pounced" on me and told me "You realize that you are not allowed to be here?!" I figured that he was referring to the Temple Mount which was closed to Jews, and guarded by hundreds of riot police standing shoulder to shoulder at the gate. I told him that he has nothing to worry about and that I had no intention of storming the Temple Mount or causing any other disturbance. He informed me that it was forbidden for me to be in the Kotel Plaza or even the Old City at all and asked how I managed to "sneak in". When I told him that I simply walked through the gate and I questioned him why he was not bothering the thousands of other people who had come to pray he told me that I was under arrest and that I had to "go with him to the car". I made it clear that I had absolutely no intention of going anywhere, I didn't have the chance to break any laws even if I wanted to and there is no way he can arrest me for showing up at the Western Wall. He begged me "not to make a scene" and that is precisely what I did. I ran away from him and started shouting to the media circus which was there that I hadn't done anything, and in the Israeli version of "democracy" Jews can be arrested for merely coming to the Kotel. Religious freedom in Israel only applies to Arabs! The Sharon government uses Bolshevik tactics on a regular basis in an attempt to silence us, but he will not succeed. Finally, I shouted "The Temple Mount belongs to the Jewish People" At this point I was surrounded by several officers who attempted to push me towards the police car. I laid on the ground and had a rather nice verbal exchange with the 8 or so officers who attempted to carry me out. At one point they just got tired and put me down to "take a break". I decided to have mercy on them and told them I would walk by myself to the car if they left me alone. It was obvious that they had laid a "trap" for me, the knew I would come and therefore allowed me to do so in order that the have a pretense to arrest me. They arrested me and brought me for "questioning" at the police station, which was clear was not taken seriously even by the arresting officers who allowed the arrestees to freely speak with each other and even talk on the phone. They wanted to release me on my own recognizance on the condition that I wouldn't return to the Old City for 24 hours. I told them that I refuse to sign anything, I did nothing wrong, all of my belongings are in the Old City, I fully intend to go back there and they can either release me with no conditions or bring me before a judge for a remand hearing. They were most displeased but legally they had to bring me before a judge within 3 hours which is a huge waste of time and resources as we were only talking about a 24 or even a 12 hour ban, or officially charge me with a crime which was impossible because I hadn't committed one. If all the arrestees demand to be brought before a judge it can seriously tie up the courts for the entire day. In the end the Judge disregarded my 30 minute argument complete with Supreme Court precedents why they had to release me unconditionally and that my arrest was illegal to begin with. He "sentenced" me to a 12 hour ban from entering the Old City and I was on my way. While in the police station I sent out a bundle of text messages to the "chevra" to see what was going on in the Old City. 90% of them were also arrested or soon to be. The police arrested anyone who they recognized as an "activist", or even anyone who had a gush katif or Revava t-shirt. Everyone was released shortly with the same conditions. In short "dozens" of people were arrested and many more expelled from the Western Wall. There were even reports in the media of police savagely beating an elderly man who merely asked them how they could throw good Jews out of their homes? One thing is for sure, I have never seen a police presence like the one I witnessed today. There were literally thousands of officers, border police and soldiers deployed all over Jerusalem many of whom where brought from other cities. They certainly took Revava seriously regardless of their mocking after the fact. In response President Moshe Katzav called for an "solution" to be found in the near future which will allow Jewish Prayer on the Temple Mount in a dignified manner. Several members of Knesset showed up and citing their legal immunity demanded to be allowed on the Temple Mount. When they were refused they had very harsh words for the police and government. Especially Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra who was personally there to observe the situation and received an earful of insults and criticism. Regardless of how many people actually showed up, and how many actually made it in, the campaign has been a success of magnitude proportions. For nearly a month the subject of the Temple Mount permeated the media both Israeli and worldwide and the issue has been firmly put on the agenda. The fact that such a wide variety of people and "mainstream" members of Knesset chose to participate is the best proof that Revava is not some "fringe group" but speaks for a sizable portion of the Jewish People. We are not "violent extremists" or "ultra-nationalists" as the media likes to dub us, but plain old Jews who care about Eretz Yisrael and the desecration of G-d's name which is permitted to go on. The Temple Mount is the heart of the people and this campaign has showed that this is an important issue to many Jews. This was no provocation or attempt to sabotage the disengagement plan (although in essence it can serve as both), it was genuine concern for the issue of freedom of religion in Israel and equal access to Jewish holy sites. It is a disgrace that Jews are banished from our most holy site and forbidden to pray there, and by a Jewish government no less. The majority has now spoken that the Temple Mount belongs to the Jewish People and we are willing to stand up for our rights to free access. If that is a provocation, then so is the very fact that we are Jews... 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 To Go To Top

ISRAELI JEWS EQUALLY DIVIDED ON "DISENGAGEMENT" Posted by Yoram Ettinger, April 10, 2005.

The 174th issue of the Jerusalem Cloakroom (www.acpr.org.il) examined the track record of prior "Disengagements", noting that each square inch ceded to the Palestinian Authority has been transformed into a platform of anti-US and anti-Jewish hate-education, local and regional anti-US and anti-Israel terrorism, homicide bombing, oppression of Christians and violation of commitments made to the US and to Israel. For a comprehensive examination of "Disengagement", please visit http://wwwwww.acpr.org.il/hatikvah Below is Cloakroom #175. Your constructive criticism would be highly appreciated, Yoram 1. ISRAELI JEWS ARE EQUALLY DIVIDED ON "DISENGAGEMENT", according to "Geocartography", a leading Israeli polling firm ("Globes" Business Daily, April 1, 2005). While Israeli Jews support "Disengagement" by a 58%:32% margin, a PARITY (43%:43%) is reached in response to the following question: "Would you support/oppose disengagement, should you know that it would lead to escalated Palestinian terrorism, and that the US would not condone Israeli sovereignty in major settlement blocs?" PARITY was achieved, although the very dovish Israeli media allowed proponents to dominate the public debate, marginalizing the voice of the opponents. A major information gap exists (on "Disengagement"), and the May 2004 Likud referendum suggests that most Undecided Votes (14%) would join the opponents when provided the information. Previous polls concluded that all opponents to "Disengagement" would cast a vote should there be a referendum, while 20% of the proponents may not. According to "Geocartography", Israeli-Arabs do not poll as a bloc. 2. POST-"DISENGAGEMENT" PALESTINIAN TERRORISM WOULD ESCALATE and ABU MAZEN DOES NOT COMBAT TERRORISM, according to Israel's outgoing Chairman of the Joint-Chiefs-of-Staff, General Yaalon and former Prime Minister Barak. The PA and Hamas have leveraged the current "ceasefire" to upgrade the range/precision of their missiles and mortars, to manufacture more terrorist hardware and to smuggle - compliment of Egypt - more advanced military systems, including anti-aircraft missiles. Anti-US and anti-Jewish hate-education in PA schools, mosques and media - which was installed by Abu Mazen and Arafat - persists in manufacturing future homicide bombers. In anticipation of escalated terrorism, Israel is bolstering anti-missile defense in Ashqelon and other towns adjacent to Gaza. 31 mortar shells hit Jewish communities in Gaza on Saturday, April 9, 2005 - a prelude to the post-"Disengagement" storm. 3. "DISENGAGEMENT UNDERMINES NEGOTIATION (why would Arabs negotiate if they can snatch territory via terrorism?!), PEACE (a prerequisite for Mideast peace is deterrence, which is undermined by cut&run) and MODERATION (why would moderate Palestinians stick their neck out, when the rogue PA regime is appeased?!). 4. US CALL FOR CONSTRUCTION FREEZE IS MORALLY AND STRATEGICALLY WRONG. It contrasts a major claim by "Disengagement" proponents, who assume that the President has recognized Israel's sovereignty over major blocs of settlements. It rewards Palestinian terrorists, punishes Israeli victims and generates tailwind to regional anti-US terrorism. If the Administration has negotiation - rather than imposed solution - in mind, why would construction in Arab communities be natural, while construction in Jewish communities pre-judge the outcome of negotiation?! If evenhandedness (between terrorists and counter-terrorists???) is in place, why would a construction freeze be imposed on one side only?! 5. Palestinian terrorism has targeted, mostly, pre-1967 Israel. IDF presence in/around Gaza protects, mostly, pre-1967 Israel. The 1994 "Disengagement" from 100% of Gaza's Arabs and 85% of Gaza's territory, created the largest terrorist base in the Mideast, thus tripling IDF personnel in the area. 6. "Disengagement" provides tailwind to regional anti-US terrorism, ignoring a fundamental lesson: "Throwing a piece of flash to sharks doesn't slow them down..." Ambassador Yoram Ettinger is a consultant on US-Israel relations and former Minister for Congressional Affairs to Israel's Embassy in Washington, DC, He served as Consul General of Israel to the Southwestern US. This article is Cloakroom #175. To Go To Top

O' SAY, CAN YOU SEE? Posted by Yuval Zaliouk, April 10, 2005.

This is my April 2005 article for the Toledo Jewish News. If you have not noticed yet, the Middle East is truly a bizarre place. It is as if every few months someone feels compelled to come up with a new plan or terminology to interfere with the people living there. Today let us concentrate on a new term coined by President Bush in his recent trip to Europe. I am referring to the word "contiguous." Mr. Bush told his audience in Brussels that in order to be viable, the territory of a future independent Palestinian state must be 'contiguous.' Before pondering what this newly coined term means, or whether it is possible if Gaza is to be included, let us clarify one very important point: President Bush did not invent the concept. Most "peace" plans, proposals and terminology, brought to light over the years (and failed), originated in Israel by Israeli leaders. Remember, neither the "Road Map" nor the "Disengagement" Plan were conceived in Washington DC. They were imported to DC from Jerusalem!!! When last year the weird plan to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza was brought before Condolizza Rice by Sharon's envoy Dov Weisglass, her initial reaction was something close to: Have you lost your mind? It is as if the Israeli leaders on the left, or those on the right who suddenly morphed into the left, feel compelled from time to time to come up with something, even though doing nothing is actually a better policy. But back to "contiguous." For the past four years, sections of the Israeli left have been placing blame for the failure of the 2000 Camp David negotiations, not on Arafat's character and belligerence, but on the fact that the 95% territory of Judea and Samaria Barak offered Arafat was not "contiguous," namely, Israeli pockets were left in those territories. To the Arabs, the Europeans and now seemingly also to the US, these thriving Jewish communities have turned into leprosy colonies. Those Israeli elements who side with the Palestinians, have also been demanding the complete removal of all Jewish communities from Judea, Samaria and Gaza, in order to allow the Palestinians a contiguous country, clean of only one ethnic group, Jews! On its face it sounds almost legitimate: Why should a Palestinian state contain Jewish pockets? Don't the Jews have a country for themselves? Surely, anyone can see the absurdity in this question, if not, here is the mirror question: WHY SHOULD ISRAEL CONTAIN ARAB POCKETS? Why is Israel not allowed to be "contiguous?" There are hundreds of Arab pockets in Israel. In fact, 20% of Israel is Arab. Why Israel is considered viable without being "CONTIGUOUS?" Furthermore, if President Bush included Gaza in his contiguous demand, additional connecting Israeli territory between Judea and Gaza would have to be annexed to the Palestinian state, thus severing Israel in half and rendering her non contiguous (see map). If the President did not mean it, a future Palestinian state would not be contiguous anyway. What President Bush and PM Sharon should have declared if they were really concerned about freedom, is clear: In a context of true peace, Jews, if they so wish, must be permitted to live in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, just as Arab communities thrive inside Israel. It is outrageous in the extreme that the world would accept a scheme that would permit the Arabs to have an ethnically cleansed country. Certainly, no American President could possibly support such a grotesque idea. Instead of chasing Jews from their homes, Sharon and President Bush should have made it extremely clear: Peace must mean peace! Just as Germans can live in France and French in Germany, Jews should be able to remain in Hebron and Gaza as Arabs remain in Jaffa and their Galilee villages. Otherwise, what kind of peace, democracy and freedom are they really talking about? I am convinced that this issue is the most pivotal one in the entire conflict. It contains within it the response to the Arab propaganda term "occupation." It also reveals the true nature of the Arab intentions: The demand to free themselves from Jews is nothing but the first installment in the eventual expulsion of all Jews from Israel, as clearly stated in the Palestinian National Charter. O' Say, Can You See? Yuval Zaliouk writes the Truth Provider columns. To subscribe, send an email to ynz@netvision.net.il To Go To Top

PUBLIC SECURITY OMBUDSMAN: "EVERY RELIGIOUS JEW IS A POTENTIAL TERRORIST." Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, April 10, 2005.

My goodness! What a surprise! The Torah-hating, physical and spiritual descendants of the communist, totalitarian MAPAI believe every Torah loyal Jew is a terrorist. This is a news item from today's Arutz-7 and is archived at http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=79930 It is called "Public Security Ombudsman: "Every Religious Jew is a Potential Terrorist." (IsraelNN.com) Two Temple Mount activists were given a behind-the-scenes look today at the approach Israel's police and government is taking toward Jews who visit Judaism's holiest site. Rabbi Chaim Richman of Jerusalem's Temple Institute was summoned to a meeting with Mr. Sharon Michael, an investigator at the Office of the Ombudsman of Israel's Department of Public Security today, in order to present complaints about the way Jewish visitors to the site are treated. Rabbi Richman sought to present how difficult the experience of ascending the Temple Mount is for outwardly observant Jews, who are subject to intense harassment at the hands of the police, while tourists are allowed unimpeded access. Michael told the two that the security measures do indeed target only Orthodox Jews, but said that they are necessary to insure security. He explained that the police receive many warnings from the various security branches that Jews may be planning an attack on the Temple Mount. These warnings are constant, and therefore justify this treatment, he said. Israel Police security procedure concerning the Temple Mount is based on the assumption that every religious Jew is a potential terrorist, and must be treated as such. At the close of the meeting, Rabbi Richman told the ombudsman the following: "We are confident that the State of Israel will continue to measure up to its security challenges, and that it will survive even the most serious breaches in its security, G-d forbid. But we are greatly fearful that the State of Israel cannot long survive the trampling of the basic tenets of democracy that it suffers at the hands of its own government's policies and attitudes." The official responded by raising his hands, and drawing a pair of quotation marks in the air, repeating with exaggerated contempt the word, "De-mo-cra-cy! We're not interested in democracy - just security." "The Israeli government's message is clear," said Rabbi Richman after the meeting, "all Jews who are interested in the Temple Mount are considered to be dangerous, and must be stopped at all costs. This message was communicated to us today, in a personal way, which leaves no room for doubt or misunderstanding." 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. To Go To Top

NO JEWS ALLOWED ON JERUSALEM'S HOLY SITE Posted by Voice of Judea, April 10, 2005.

1- Arabs Renew War: Over 70 Rockets and Mortar Shells into Gaza Arab terrorists fired four more mortar shells at Gush Katif this afternoon - for a total of 77 since yesterday evening. Three houses were hit directly, a horse was killed, but no one was hurt. Voice of Judea Commentary: The Arabs are too thirsty for Jewish blood to be expected to sit quietly without attempting to kill Jews for more than a few hours. ******* 2- Jews Banned From Jerusalem Holy Site Revava activists and hundreds, if not thousands of Jews were prevented from entering into the Kotel area and banned from ascending the Temple Mount. More than 3000 Israeli police officers were deployed throughout Jerusalem to prevent Jews from carrying out their plans to visit the Mount, Judaism's holiest site. Thousands of Arabs came to defend the mount from Jewish worship and threatened violence if police would let the Jews exercise their basic religious rights on the mount. The following response was issued by Mishalot Yisrael in response to the discrimination against the Jews in Jerusalem, earlier today: Mishalot Yisrael Responds to Closing of Temple Mount to Jews: The Temple Mount was closed to the Jewish public and to Jewish Knesset members today, despite pledges to remain within Israeli law. This came in the face of blatant violations of Israeli security regulations by Arabs, including Sheikh Hasan Yousuf, a Hamas leader who snuck on the Mount and openly challenged Sharon and his government. It was under these outrageous circumstances that the holiest site in Judaism was marked off-limits to Jews by Sharon's anti-democratic and anti-Jewish government. He continues to act against the interests of the Jewish people and in contradiction to the will of most of the people. To this end, 3000 police officers were used to close the Western Wall Plaza and to lock and secure the gates to the Temple Mount, thus preventing Jewish worshippers from ascending to the Mount. Despite the setbacks however, Sharon will never be able to disengage the Jewish soul from the Temple Mount, it is the eternal heart of the People of Israel. Sharon and his corrupt family, as well as his distant, alienated governing coalition will be forgotten by a nation that will never ever relinquish their claim to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount the eternal religious and political capital of Israel. Years after the holy Temple is rebuilt and the offerings renewed there, who will remember the dictatorial actions, the futile efforts by tiny leaders to separate Israel from its heart and soul and prevent the reconstruction of the Temple? Who will remember these malignant dwarfs when they will be cast aside into the dustbin of history? Mishalot Yisrael will continue its efforts and will expose the genuine will of the people in the face of the impending Gaza/Shomron Disengagement Plan through our independent referendum. This undertaking will not only expose the government's lack of public support, but will undermine the very foundations of the Disengagement and help bring down Sharon's rickety governing coalition. This is the greatest challenge to the Sharon-Peres coalition and its attempt to impose its will on the people. These efforts in measuring the true pulse of the people will continue to expose and delegitimize the minority government and their Disengagement. To vote in the Mishalot referendum visit www.mishal.org Contributions are needed to print ballots and to coordinate this huge referendum undertaking. Please send your generous contribution to Referendum For Israel - POBox 6592, Jerusalem 91060 In slightly more than 100 days Sharon plans to implement the expulsion of thousands of Jews from their homes in Gush Katif.. Please help Mishalot Yisrael stop this through a private referendum that will lead to the unraveling of the Sharon/Peres hoax. Sharon and Peres were petrified to hold a Knesset sponsored referendum because they knew that it would be proven before all that they have no mandate to carry through the disengagement. This is exactly why we MUST HOLD OUR INDEPENDENT REFERENDUM TO OFFER THE JEWISH PEOPLE AN ALTERNATIVE PLAN. Please send your generous contribution now to help cover the costs of the referendum. Contributions are needed to print ballots and to coordinate this huge referendum undertaking. Please send your generous contribution to Referendum For Israel - POBox 6592, Jerusalem 91060 Every 500 dollars sponsors 1000 ballots. Thus far, on our referendumforisrael.com website over 20000 people have voted. Close to 90 percent have rejected the Sharon plan. In Sderot, thousands have already casted their votes, with more than 70 percent voting against the Sharon plan. We need your help to bring the polling stations to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ashqelon and Haifa. There has yet to be born a leader, even in the most cruel dictatorships who could disregard public opinion forever. Help us take Sharon down by proving that he is operating against the will and the interests of the Jewish nation. Contributions are needed to print ballots and to coordinate this huge referendum undertaking. Please send your generous contribution to Referendum For Israel - POBox 6592, Jerusalem, 91060 Subscribe to Voice of Judea emails by sending an email request to jsid@dorsai.org To Go To Top

POLICE CLOSE TEMPLE MOUNT TO JEWISH PRAYER Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 10, 2005.

The Israeli authorities, from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon through the Supreme Court, down through the Police, respect all other religions - except Judaism. Whenever there is a legal choice to be made between Islam and Judaism, the authorities seem invariably to come down on the side of the Muslims. It is as if Israel's ruling classes see themselves as Dhimmis (according to the Islamic Law making Jews and Christians accept their lowly status). I have written before on the policy of the Left from the times of David Ben Gurion through today, that secretly mandates a de-Judafication of Israel - especially in the Jewish Holy Places. It is no accident that the secularist have managed to give away or cloud the title of every Jewish Holy Site. When Moshe Dayan, with Ben Gurion's approval, gave away the Temple Mount to the Arab Wakf within hours of its liberation, the observant Jewish community world-wide, should have realized that they had no more dedicated enemy that the secular Left. In response to Arab threats, police have announced that Judaism's holiest site will be closed to non-Muslims on Sunday - refusing to grant a permit for mass Jewish ascent to the Temple Mount. One of the organizers of Sunday's 'Revava l'Har HaBayit' - meaning "10,000 to the Temple Mount," Yisrael Cohen, was interviewed on Israel National Radio's Eli Stutz and Yishai Fleisher Show. Cohen says that organizers of the Temple Mount prayer were intent on cooperating fully with the police, but were mistreated from the very beginning: "We made clear from the outset that we would follow their rules, agreeing to bring up one small group after another. We were willing to work with the police and government on this but they were not willing to let this happen - We are talking about a non-violent, legitimate act." The mass ascent to Judaism's holiest site was scheduled months ago to take place this coming Sunday, the first day of the Jewish month of Nissan. Posters have been hung along Israel's major highways and in city centers throughout Israel, and organizers say they have been inundated with calls from people and groups interested in taking part in the event. Minister of Public Security Gideon Ezra (Likud) said today, however, that intelligence evaluations indicate that anti-disengagement activists could carry out some sort of an attack on the Temple Mount. He refrained from offering any concrete examples of what led to widely publicized 'heightened security' in the area, but admitted that Sunday's demonstrators were not to blame. "The movements that are organizing this rally do not have any intentions to perpetrate such an attack," Ezra said. "Their goal is just to express the centrality of the site to the Jewish people. The Muslims are the ones who took it to an extreme, mistakenly thinking that these groups would want to stage an attack." Thousands of security personnel are expected to be on hand Sunday to prevent Jews from getting anywhere near the entrances to the Temple Mount. Arabs, however, will be permitted to enter the Mount freely, despite the probability that rioting and stone-throwing will result. The Al-Aqsa Association of the Islamic Movement's radical northern branch has repeatedly called on its followers to remain at the mosque on the Temple Mount from Friday onward, and is sending tens of buses toward Jerusalem to 'guard the mount from the Jews.' "This is racist discrimination against Jews," said a statement from the Land of Israel Task Force, "and just as it would not stand anywhere in the world - it will not in Israel either. It cannot be that an Arab is granted entry but a Jew is barred." The chairman of the task force and one of the organizers of Sunday's Temple Mount visit, Aviad Visouly, wrote to Jerusalem Police Chief Ilan Franco saying that the announcement that Jews would be barred from the Temple Mount Sunday was unlawful. Visouly argued that although weeks have passed since the request was received by the police, the announcement was made at the last minute - in contravention of police orders obligating a response at least five days before the event. According to Attorney-General orders, banning a demonstration or event must be a last resort in the event of an imminent danger, but, writes Visouly, "You used it as a first resort and with no effort to coordinate with the demonstrators (refusing to meet with us) or to find other, less extreme solutions - and in this, it appears that you have displayed negligence in carrying out your duties." Visouly added that, in an interview with Israel's state-run radio, Franco said the police had no specific knowledge of threats to security and order, rather "intelligence evaluations and public sentiments." Considerations of this nature have been "clearly negated by both the Supreme Court and the Attorney-General as reasons to refuse to grant a license for a demonstration," Visouly wrote. "We requested to hold a quiet religious event without provocations or disruptions," he continued, adding that Franco should be sure to brief his officers and police before the event on the relevant laws. "Due to bitter past experiences with Jerusalem police, participants in the event will be sure to photograph the actions of the Jerusalem police in hidden and open ways alike." Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar explained on Israel Radio today that the Chief Rabbinate has issued a blanket ban on Jewish entry to the Temple Mount, "because of the danger that someone would unknowingly set foot on an area that is forbidden by Torah law." He said that those who wish, individually, to take the proper purification precautions and rely on rabbis such as the late Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who mapped out the area and say they know which places are permitted, "may do so - but we know that Jewish Law states that the law is decided in accordance with the majority." David Ha'Ivri, one of the main organizers of the Revavah event, complimented Israel Radio on its interview with Rabbi Amar. "I hope that you will also present his views on the importance of keeping the Sabbath and the like," he said. A former Jerusalem Police Chief, Aryeh Amit, told Army Radio this morning that he views the mere act of Jews demanding to be able to pray on the Temple Mount as a "provocation." Amit said that while he supports the rights of Jews to visit the site, he does not feel they should be permitted to pray there, since the Islamic community deems it to be provocation and it would undoubtedly lead to violence and clashes. Cohen called on the masses to come as near to the Old City as they could on Sunday, and not to be intimidated by Muslim groups and the police. "People need to show they care," Cohen said. "Police told us that if we had 2,000 people a day who wanted to pray up there, things would be different, but now there are less religious Jews going up than tourists. When there will be more Jewish worshippers than tourists, things will be different." 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). To Go To Top

SHARON'S GOONS AT WORK Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, April 10, 2005.

Another typical day under the Sharon dictatorship. This is a news item from Arutz-7. It is entitled "Police Brutality In Jerusalem" and is archived at http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=79927 A Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance driver reported at least two incidents of severe violence against Jewish worshippers at the hands of Police in Jerusalem's Old City today. The driver spoke with Arutz-7 on the condition of anonymity. At around 8:30 AM, the driver said, a 50-year-old hareidi-religious man, having just finished prayers at the Western Wall (Kotel), approached the police station at the back of the Wall plaza. Hundreds of police and special counter-terror units were assembled there in expectation of disturbances and to prevent Jews from ascending the Temple Mount. The man said to several of the policemen, "Why are you helping throw Jews out of their homes?" "Then," the ambulance driver continued, "about ten policemen, including members of the special Yassam unit, pounced on him. They beat him and forced him into the back room of the station. Eventually the man, who takes medicine for a heart condition, was taken to hospital with severe stomach pains." Another police attack targeted a resident of Morag, in Gush Katif, who had come to Jerusalem for the Temple Mount prayer event. At around12:30 PM, as he was walking to the Kotel, he was detained by police, having his arm twisted to the extent that his wrist may be seriously fractured. So reports the driver. The victim was thrown into an unmarked car and brought to the main police station near the Jaffa Gate, known as the Kishleh. There, the driver recounted, he was refused a medic and was choked by chief investigator Yoram Solomon, leaving abrasions and swelling on the man's neck neck. He was also kicked in the lower back. "We also found abrasions on his upper arms and bruises on his face," the driver told Arutz-7. "He was eventually taken to Bikur Cholim Hospital, but the call for an ambulance was made by a bystander, and when MDA called the police to ascertain the location, they denied the presence of anyone wounded in their station. Eventually MDA personnel arrived at the scene and the police were forced to admit they had a wounded man inside." The driver said that he wanted his identity withheld, not due to fear of police intimidation, but because he needs to be on the scene to continue to treat the Jews randomly assaulted throughout the day. 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. To Go To Top

BOTH GANDHIS GOT IT WRONG Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, April 10, 2005.

And this doesn't include the original's grandson, who also blew it. Ben Kingsley has apparently joined the ranks of Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Alexander, Michael Moore, Woody Allen, Richard Dreyfus and other Hollywood Middle East "experts" and/or pathetically delusional Jews. The star of the movie, Gandhi (and a number of others where he played Jews himself), has brought his Arabic-dubbed version about non-violent resistance to occupation to Ramallah as a guest of Palestinian Arab Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. He will also be bringing it elsewhere throughout the region. As a part of the "Gandhi Project," the organizers claim their message is non-political. And I'm in line to be the next pope. Arabs who saw the movie (as well as most others according to the polls) believe that terrorism is the best way to end "occupation" and achieve statehood. Generations of ingrained lessons and deliberately keeping people from the truth have taken their tolls. Add to this an Arab view of political justice which has no room for any but their own, and we get the results we are living with today. That Arabs so indulge is regrettable, yet understandable. That others, such as the supposedly objective voices above, do so is a travesty. They have an obligation to know better and not to prostrate themselves before the Arabs' currently politically correct figments. While working for the liberation of India from British imperial occupation, Mohandas Gandhi opposed the partition of the Indian subcontinent into a Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan in 1947. He believed that people of all religious faiths should be able to get along in the same nation. He was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist. So much for getting along. Some places it works...some places it's laughable. He opposed Zionism--the national liberation movement of the Jews--to the very end; his major statement circulated as an editorial in the Harijan of November 11, 1938. Among other things, while first professing his supposed "sympathies" for perennially persecuted Jews, he next claimed that "Palestine of the biblical conception is not a geographical tract." Actually, he did get that one right. Palestine wasn't. It represented a vague geographical area according to the ancient Greeks. The name itself was bestowed on Judaea -- the defined land of the Jews--by the emperor, Hadrian, after the Jews' second major war (133-135 C.E.) for their freedom against the Romans. To squash their hopes once and for all, he renamed the land itself after their historic enemies, the Philistines (Syria Palaestina). But Israel and Judaea were well-known nations/kingdoms peopled by Hebrews/Jews. As just one of many examples, the Habiru/Apiru--Hebrews--were written about throughout the extensive correspondence of ancient Pharaohs, their vassals, and others as well. And these folks evolved into a separate people with their own unique culture, language, history--and, yes, Mr. Gandhi, religion too. Gandhi saw the religious claims of Jews as their main, if not only, leg to stand on in this conflict...which he rejected. But the differences which separated Jews from Arabs were not simply theological. While Gandhi has plenty of company here in his booboo (including academics), this doesn't excuse it. If you don't really know, you shouldn't really say...especially if you see yourself, or are seen, as a major voice for justice and morality in this world. Gandhi knew about as much about Jews and their history as Jews knew about the various Indian peoples. The difference is that Jews would never have told the latter to remain forever victimized and at the potential receiving end of those with a long history of persecuting them. While it would be nice if we all just really "got along" and there was no need for nationalism, national borders, and such, the reality is that this belief is too often fiction--and especially when it comes to the millennial Jewish experience...something Gandhi acknowledged himself when admitting "his sympathies." What else is new? People may grudgingly cry crocodile tears for dead Jews, but have no room for empathy for live ones. Listen to Gandhi again: However...my sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice...why should they (Jews) not, like other peoples...make that country their home where they are born...? I guess he hadn't heard of the Dreyfus Affair in "enlightened" France, or had not seen pictures of Jews waving their medals from World War I in front of the Nazis, or had not heard of General Grant's order of expulsion for the Jews of the South, or of the Damascus Blood Libel in 19th century Arab Syria, etc., etc., and so forth. Imagine, for one moment, that India--as massive as it is--underwent the experiences that the Jews in their tiny state did in their fight for freedom and independence against Rome, culminating in much of the population massacred and most of the rest forcibly exiled in the great Diaspora. Next, imagine that in almost everywhere that they eventually landed--the Muslim East as well as the Christian West--they never knew what the morrow would bring...massacres, forced conversions, expulsions, ghettoization (the mellah in the Arab world), demonization, and such culminating in a holocaust which wiped out one third of all Indian people. Would Jews insist that Indians remain forever at someone else's mercy and give up on a resurrected national existence simply in order to survive? I think not. Yet that's what Gandhi expected of Jews. Einstein had a famous disagreement with Gandhi over this. So I'm in good company. Jews were literally forced into this above position and had earlier tried desperately to be "accepted"...to no avail. And the one-sided, double-standards Kingsley, Gere, & Co. apply towards the Jew of the Nations -- Israel -- fall into this domain as well. Is a victim any less a victim because his victimization has been the longest and most enduring? Should Jews have not wanted something better for their children? Should they have continued to put their trust only in those who declared them to be god-killers, children of the Devil, killers of Prophets, and such with periodic and predictable consequences? Take a look below at how the ancient historians saw this identity issue. Here's a few quotes from Vol. II, Book V, The Works Of Tacitus, who was writing about the Jews' first major revolt in 66-73 C.E. for their freedom and independence against the Soviet Union--or British Empire, Mr. Gandhi--of its day, Rome. There were others who wrote about such things as well: "It inflamed Vespasian's resentment that the Jews were the only nation who had not yet submitted...Titus was appointed by his father to complete the subjugation of Judaea... he commanded three legions in Judaea itself... To these he added the twelfth from Syria and the third and twenty-second from Alexandria... amongst his allies were a band of Arabs, formidable in themselves and harboring towards the Jews the bitter animosity usually subsisting between neighboring nations... No, Misters Gandhi, Rome was not just referring to the Jews' religious identity here, but to a distinct nation and people. If Indians can have a homeland, and Arabs, then why not Jews? Read those quotes, again, carefully. Sadly, the message Ben Kingsley's movie brings to the Arabs about non-violent resistance to occupation only feeds into their pipedreams. At the same time the Indian subcontinent was undergoing partition in 1947 into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan (Bangladesh would be created later as well), Arabs were rejecting a similar partition which would have given them roughly one half of the 20% of "Palestine" left after Arab nationalism was already awarded the lion's share--some 80%--of the total 1920 original territory when those same British Gandhi had problems with chopped off all the land east of the Jordan River in 1922 and gave it to their Arab allies. Thus the modern state of Jordan was born. And thus the blatant lie that the Jews got all of "Palestine." The facts about the negotiations at Camp David and Taba in 2000 are also well known and have been repeated ad nauseam. Yet, we are forced to recount such things over and over again, hoping that ignorance is the only reason that they're not considered by otherwise supposedly intelligent people. Did Kingsley ask the Arabs, for example, who commented about his movie, how they can claim Israel has not sought a fair compromise with them over the "occupied" territories given all the above? Now, Ben is no dummy--but I wouldn't bet against me on this. As with their previous rejectionism and belief that theirs' was the only justice, Arabs rejected offers in 2000 which would have given them some 97% of the disputed--not occupied--territories as well. So much for the Arab claim that terrorism was the only way to get results. The problem is that when Arabs speak of occupied territories they really mean all of Israel, as a quick glimpse at websites for both the good cop--Abbas' boys--and the bad cop--the Hamas-type folks--shows. Jews had historical ties and owned property in those lands as well...until their massacres by Arabs in the early 20th century. Also keep in mind that most so-called "native Palestinians" arrived recently from elsewhere in the region as recorded by the League of Nations' Permanent Mandates Commission and other sources. UNRWA, set up to deal exclusively with Arab refugees, had to virtually redefine the very word refugee to deal with this issue. Towards the end of the movie, there's a telling scene. Numerous people are seen walking in opposite directions, depicting the population exchange involving tens of millions going on after the Indian subcontinent's partition. The same thing happened after the Arabs' attack on a reborn Israel in 1948. For every Arab refugee created as a result of this, there was a Jewish refugee fleeing Arab/Muslim lands--where they were commonly known as kilab yahud ... Jew dogs. Unlike Arabs, however, the Jews didn't have some two dozen other states (most conquered from non-Arab peoples) to choose from. The message for the two Gandhis, Michael Moores, Woody Allens, Richard Geres--but, unfortunately, also for the Condy Rices and Dubyas (whom I thought knew better)--is that Israel, the sole, miniscule state of the Jewish people, should not be expected to forsake minimal measures to give it some remote semblance of secure borders--not a 1949 artificially-imposed, 9-mile wide armistice line existence--so that Arabs may get all that they want in their 22nd state and second, not first, one in "Palestine." Where's the Hollywood Middle East expert who will tell the Arabs any of this? Or perhaps demand another Muslim state on Gandhi's Indian subcontinent? Not that I agree with this, but there are Indians making the same arguments today that Gandhi made earlier in terms of Israel and Zionism. And there are, after all, about 150 million Muslims in India...not to mention the dispute over Kashmir. If Indians, the Gandhis, and others believe that this is what justice demands regarding the Arabs in the disputed territories in the Arab-Israeli conflict, then why not closer to home? Or for thirty million truly stateless Kurds? When are these experts going to visit the Sudan to demand that the Blacks of the south gain independence from the Arabs up north who have killed, maimed, enslaved, and turned them into refugees by the millions? While one billion Indians really don't have an existential threat regarding any of this, a relative handful of Jews, surrounded by 300 million Arabs (and many other hostile Muslims as well) and whose state consists of less than one quarter of one percent of the region's territory, do. Does any thinking human being really believe that the Arabs' issue with the Jews is simply about "territory?" Look at a map of the Middle East and North Africa--or better yet, of the world. I dare you. It's never been how big Israel is that was the issue--but that Israel, in fact, is. Unfortunately, the great Gandhi, himself, agreed. By bringing his film to the Arabs, regardless of his own claims to the contrary, Tinseltown's Gandhi feeds into the same rejectionism that his predecessor did. Perhaps he believes that his previous portrayal of victimized Jews on the big screen renders him immune to such charges. And the same could be said for his JCC (no, not Jewish Community Center...Jew Coward Colleagues) in Hollywood and elsewhere who remain mum while Michael Moore and crew unfairly vilify Israel. This is not legitimate criticism of a nation's policies that's at issue here. The policies are not the issue...Israel itself is. The reality is that this all makes my earlier point: sympathy for dead Jews is fine...but empathy for live ones is pushing it. Hence all the movies about the Holocaust. But has anyone noticed any Israeli Independence Day celebrations by the Hollywood mishpacha lately? How dare Israel demand something beyond its U.N.armistice-line imposed, 9-mile wide, rump state status! Those Zionist extremists, ya know...and the Hollywood michpacha runs with their collective tail between their legs while other nations--including our own--conquer, acquire, and manipulate lands thousands of miles away from home in the name of their own national security. Where's Spielberg on all of this? Again, he's another one great on films about dead Jews...Don't these folks get the big lesson here? Regarding the Arabs, whose predicament much of the world is obsessed with, their own alleged victimization is mostly due to their own refusal to grant any and all others in the region even a tiny fraction of the rights they so forcefully demand for themselves. Had they done so, their "plight" would have been resolved decades ago. When Gere, Kingsley, Dreyfus, Moore, Redgrave, or whoever display what it takes to explain to the Arabs that justice is a two-sided street and that compromise involves concrete movement by both parties in the Arab-Israeli conflict, then they'll have a right to lecture Israel and others about such matters. Until then, they need to stick to films...and not about the Middle East. 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. To Go To Top

LYING ABOUT DEIR YASSIN Posted by Steven Plaut, April 10, 2005.

This week is the anniversary of the events that took place in the Arab village of Deir Yassin in 1948. In recent years, Deir Yassin has been converted into a bludgeon by the Far Left, the Neonazi Right, and Israel-bashers in general. Deir Yassin is the ultimate "Man Bites Dog" news story supposedly based on the inversion of players. It is recited endlessly by the very same people who have nothing to say against a century of countless massacres of Jewish civilians by Arabs. Deir Yassin was a not-at-all innocent Arab village sitting on the only road into Jerusalem in 1948. In the previous December, the UN had voted to partition what was left of Madatory Palestine into two states, one a Jewish state and the other an Arab state to be named Palestine, of approximately equal sized. The Jews of Israel accepted the plan and the Arab states and the Palestinian Arab leadership rejected it. Had they accepted it, a Palestinian state would have arisen peacefully in 1948. In response to the UN resolution, Arabs launched attacks against Jews everywhere in the country and in particular placed the city of Jerusalem under siege. The Jewish population of Jerusalem was quite literally starving. The only road into the city passed through Deir Yassin, and the Arab militiamen in the town were stopping all convoys from passing through. Since Israel had yet to be formally proclaimed, the only Jews doing the fighting were members of three poorly-armed militias. The main one was the Hagana, commanded by David Ben Gurion and the socialist Zionist party. There were two smaller ones operating independently under the command of the dissident "revisionist Zionist" movement, the Etsel and the Lehi. Poorly-trained irregulars of the two latter militias were ordered to attack Deir Yassin to relieve the siege. They did so in ferocious hand-to-hand fighting, in which a some Deir Yassin villagers were killed. The Bash-Israel lobby has always maintained that the villagers were "massacred" in cold blood. Their evidence is that they do not like Jews. Those who participated in the battle claim the villagers were killed when the Jewish militiamen fired into homes from which fire was directed at them. The village was successfully taken and the siege of Jerusalem was lifted. Large numbers of Jewish militiamen had been killed in the house-to-house battle for the village. Approximately 100 Arabs in the village died, later greatly inflated by anti-Jewish propagandists to 250. Part of the problem was that the mainstream socialist Zionist parties themselves magnified the supposed misbehavior of the two opposition militias in order to discredit them in the coming political contest for control of the emerging Jewish state. This trend has been echoed in recent years, and Deir Yassin has become the "massacre of choice" for anti-Semites trying to prove the Jews are bloodthirsty barbarians. In part these have based their claims on a document by a Hagana officer, one Meir Peil, who was not himself present at the battle but surveyed the village AFTER the fighting was finished. Peil claimed he thought there had been looting and intentional killing of some villagers. He was an eyewitness however of nothing. The problem is that Peil is also a leftwing radical and not exactly a neutral source. Other less politicized sources tell a different tale. Even some Arab sources confirm that no massacre took place in Deir Yassin. Meanwhile, a few years back the ZOA issued a new study, Deir Yassin History of a Lie, a 32-page analysis (with 156 footnotes) by ZOA National President Morton A. Klein. (For a free copy, please call (212) 481-1500.) Among other things, the ZOA study shows that the original claim of 254 dead was not based on any actual body count. The number was invented by Mordechai Ra'anan, leader of the Jewish soldiers who fought in Deir Yassin. He later admitted that the figure was a deliberate exaggeration in order to undermine the morale of the Arab forces, which had launched a war against the Jews in Mandate Palestine to prevent the establishment of Israel. Other eyewitnesses to the battle estimated that about 100 Arabs had died. Despite Ra'anan's admission, the figure 254 was circulated by Palestinian Arab leader Hussein Khalidi. His claims about Deir Yassin were the basis for an article in the New York Times claiming a massacre took place--an article that has been widely reprinted and cited as "proof" of the massacre throughout the past 57 years. Meanwhile, there have been numerous exposes of the lies that have been invented surrounding the battle for Deir Yassin and these have largely discredited the Peil "eyewitness" report. By the way, a massacre did take indeed take place, following the events in Deir Yassin, which had occurred on Friday morning April 9, 1948. On Monday morning, April 13, 1948, an Arab mob, chanting "Deir Yassin", massacred a bus convoy of Jewish doctors and nurses who were headed to Hadassah hospital on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. 78 of Hadassah's medical personnel were murdered in cold blood. Only recently was it revealed that some of the Hadassah nurses had found refuge in the nearby compound of the British consul, only to be turned over to Arabs by the Brits, and the Arabs proceeded to slaughter them in "revenge" for what they thought had occurred at Deir Yassin. Both sides used the symbol of "Remember Deir Yassin" in 1948. There were Jews who intimidated Arabs with the slogan and there were Arab commanders who rallied their populace with the same adage. Meanwhile, what has fanned the flames of Deir Yassin has been the United Nations decision to confine more than three million Palestinian Arabs to refugee camps, under the premise and promise of the "right of return" to Arab villages that no longer exist. In recent years a group of pro-Arab propagandists in the US have stared holding annual "memorials" for the "victims" of the "massacre" in Deir Yassin. Edward Said had been a member and the group includes such people as neonazi Norman Finkelstein, Saudi-financed ex-congressman Paul Findlay, and PLO propagandist Hanan Ashwari. These are people who have never denounced Arab mass massacres of Jewish children, massacres committed, not by poorly trained irregulars in the heat of a crucial battle, but by Islamofascist terrorists awash in money and under the direct personal command and control of the heads of the PLO. To Go To Top

MIDDLE EAST MYTHOLOGY Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 9, 2005.

Caroline Glick has shot her arrow directly into the heart of the conflict. Israel has many enemies - not the least of which is Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's acceptance of Re-Partitioning the Jewish Land because the Arabs want it and President Bush wishes to appease the Arabs. Israel as a Jewish nation has no real friends including the Europeans who were complicit in murdering their Jews, the American Government under the Bush family, the corrupt band of nations amalgamated in the U.N.... Israel does have friends among the American people and the American Congress. But, barely under the surface, there are the operative hostiles such as the pro-Arab State Department with their umbilical cord attached firmly to the oil corporations. It has always been said that the Jewish people are a nation that must dwell alone lest they adopt the practices of their neighbors not allowed to observant Jews who observe G-d's Covenant with them through His Torah and His Laws. That has become obvious as we see the Sharon-Peres government accept and practice the corrupt ways of their Arab Muslim neighbors. Please read the following piece by Caroline Glick. The article appeared in the Jerusalem Post yesterday. It is archived at www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1112840340170&p=1006953079897 Tuesday the 2004 Arab Human Development Report was released by the UN Development Project. The report placed a large chunk of the blame for the Arab world's lack of economic progress and political freedom on Israel's creation in 1948 and US support for Israel's continued existence, as well as the US military presence in Iraq. The report's conclusions about Israel and the US were immediately rejected by the US and Israel. Greg Sullivan, the spokesman for the US State Department's Near Eastern Bureau said, "We think it's misguided to blame Israel for the problems and the challenges that the Arab world faces." Mark Regev, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, was equally blunt, "For too long too many people in the Arab world have used Israel as an excuse to justify behavior that cannot be justified. You can't have democratic elections because of Israel and you can't give equal rights to women in Saudi Arabia because of Israel. This is of course a cop out." The American and Israeli denunciations of the report were, of course, wholly reasonable. The notion that 300 million Arabs live under the jackboot because some 5 million Jews in Israel live in freedom and America supports our right to live in freedom is patently insane. So too, it is simply delusional to believe that 300 million Arabs are so bent out of shape by the fact that 2.3 million Palestinian Arabs purportedly have their freedoms curbed by Israel, that they willingly accept their regimes' right to enslave and impoverish them economically and spiritually. Yet the greatest irony that is brought to the surface by the UNDP report is that in spite of both the American and Israeli governments' ability to differentiate between spit and raindrops, in point of fact, both Israel and the US are basing their policies towards the Palestinians specifically and the Arab world generally on an internalization of the UNDP's ridiculous claims. How does this manifest itself? The view among American policymakers and Israeli Foreign Ministry types, both egged on by their ideological bedfellows in Europe and the international Left is based on two presumptions. The first is that the Palestinian conflict with Israel is the cause of the Arab conflict with Israel. The second is that the Palestinians are weak and the Israelis are strong and that the way to solve the conflict is to strengthen the Palestinians and weaken Israel. The second presumption is what leads both Israeli and American foreign policy elites to advocate Israeli surrender of land and rights to the Palestinians and to support Palestinian acquisition of arms, money and sovereignty. The first presumption is what leads both Israel and the US to ignore the direct dependence of the Palestinian conflict with Israel on outside support by Arab League member states led by Egypt. Egypt, like the rest of the Arab world has never accepted Israel's inherent right to exist as a Jewish state in the Levant. Yet over the years, the rhetorical focus shifted from overt calls for Israel's destruction through war to overt calls for Israel's destruction through the establishment of a Palestinian state and unlimited immigration of millions of foreign born Arabs to Israel. These calls are obfuscated to a degree by a public fixation on the perceived weakness and actual misery of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Judea, Samaria and Gaza - both of which are blamed on Israel. Yet the reality on the ground is vastly different from the picture painted by UN reports whose basic presumptions, though wrong, form the foundations of US and Israeli policy in the region. The squalor in which Palestinians reside is wholly premeditated. As far back as 1949, the Arab League decided that no member state would grant citizenship to the Arabs who left the Land of Israel as a result of the Arab invasion of the nascent Jewish state. And so these miserable people and their children and grandchildren have been incarcerated in the squalor of UN internment camps for nearly 60 years. When in the early 1980s then prime minister Menachem Begin tried to dismantle the camps in Gaza and Judea and Samaria and provide permanent and decent housing for their residents, the "refugees" were warned, on pain of death, by the pan-Arab and PLO leadership to reject Israel's offers. The reason for this was clear: If the Palestinians had been allowed to freely develop, a core myth - that Jewish sovereignty is tainted with an original sin - a myth which was created to justify the continued Arab rejection of Israel, would disappear. And so it remains the case that despite the fact that in the last ten years the Palestinian Authority has received more international aid per capita than any national authority in the history of international aid, the Palestinians today remain in abject poverty. More to the point, their standard of living went into freefall shortly after the PA was established in 1994. Yasser Arafat and his deputies thwarted development efforts by stealing the billions they were given. That the rejection of Israel still forms a solid basis for Arab and Islamic unity was again made clear in a conference this week in Malaysia devoted to "Peace in Palestine." The conference gave itself a psychological warfare boost by inviting five anti-Israel Israeli and Jewish activists to participate in the proceedings. Led by Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi the participants called for an international "anti-Israeli apartheid" campaign demanding a total international boycott on Israel until a Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital and Israel becomes a non-Jewish state as a result of unlimited Arab immigration. The fact that the Arab and Muslim, (and Jewish) participants expressed views that were even more extreme than the rhetoric emanating from the PA is indicative of the source of the continued pressure for the indefinite prolongation of the Palestinian conflict with Israel. Let us return now to the presumptions that form the basis of American and Israeli policy towards the Palestinians specifically and the Arab world generally. We see that by internalizing the view that the Palestinian conflict is the source of the Arab conflict with Israel and that the way to solve the Palestinian conflict is to empower the Palestinians at Israel's expense, both Israel and the US are initiating policies that distance rather than advance their stated goals of peace and security through the democratization of Palestinian society and the Arab world writ large. This is so because the guiding presumptions themselves are not simply wrong, but are the polar opposites of the facts on the ground. These facts are that the Palestinian conflict with Israel is largely a direct result of the Arab world's rejection of Israel's right to exist. And weakening Israel, by strengthening the Palestinians or in any other manner advances none of these goals. Arab strength is based on Arab control of the world's largest oil reserves; irredentist Arab immigrant communities throughout the Western world and specifically in Europe that demand their host governments' adopt stridently anti-Israel foreign policies or face violence and instability at home and in global oil markets; and Arab Islamic terrorism and militarism which is financed and engendered in the oil-rich, authoritarian Arab world. The fact that it is Arab power rather than Palestinian weakness that is fuelling the conflict is made clear by the EU's Middle East policies. As Bat Ye'or, the noted scholar of jihad ideology and Arab-European politics makes crystal clear in her new book Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, Western European abandonment of its early support for Israel came not in the wake of Israel's stunning victory in the 1967 Six Day War, but in the aftermath of the OPEC oil embargo in 1973. It was the concerted pan-Arab attack on the economies of Western Europe in 1973, not Israel's acquisition of territory in 1967 that caused Europe to embrace the cause of the Palestinians. And it is the power that immigrant voters and activists wield against the European electorate and the threat of violence wielded by Arab terrorists that ensure that year in and year out regardless of the brutality of Arab rhetoric and violence, the Europeans remain faithful to the ideology of Israeli criminality and Palestinian victimhood. Israeli and American policymakers alike have repeatedly claimed that by strengthening PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, he will gain legitimacy among the Palestinians to move ahead with peace with Israel. They also claim that in the aftermath of Israel's planned removal of its forces and expulsion of its citizenry from northern Samaria and Gaza this summer, the PA will be strengthened and that as a result, chances for peace will be increased. Yet again, the facts on the ground belie this view. At the end of the summer, oil prices will no doubt be edging towards $60 a barrel. Egypt will have two armored brigades sitting in the Sinai Peninsula. Israel, smarting from its self-inflicted wounds and bearing an extraordinary financial, political and social burden of resettling thousands of Israeli refugees, will be weaker and therefore less able to mount the will and the ability to fend off terror assaults. Finally, there is no reason to assume that Abbas, who has devoted most of his time since replacing Arafat to coddling terrorists and currying favor with their state sponsors, will be in any rush to improve the economic situation in the Palestinian areas. Indeed, again, advancing their economic and political fortunes is actually antithetical to the interests of the PLO and the Arab world. Given the fact that the America and Israeli governments are both basing their policies on the same false presumptions that formed the basis of the UNDP report they were so quick to reject, perhaps the real question is why did it bother them so much? And the second question is, if they are still able to tell the difference between spit and raindrops, when will they adopt policies that reflect the distinction? 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). To Go To Top

BRIT TZEDEK: THE NEW HELLENISTS Posted by AFSI, April 9, 2005.

This was written by Jack Lauber and Andrew Gelbman, members of Americans For a Safe Israel, We recently experienced the sad situation in Madison WI where several local Jews led by Jennifer Lowenstein et al, an alleged supporter of the International Solidarity Movement were promoting a sister city relationship with Rafa in Gaza, and were promoting Palestinian victimology and Arabist propaganda. They carried banners protesting Israel's occupation, and touted the Palestinian cause, seeming to ignore or rationalize the egregious Palestinian terrorism against Israel and Jews, and their wish to exterminate Israel. Fortunately this proposal was defeated on July 21 2004. Jack Lauber of AFSI, helped Councilman Zach Brandon of Madison WI with documentation on these matters. We asked why they are doing this. What's their psychological motivation, and what does history show about such Jews who have largely renounced Judaism and HaShem's divine road map, promising the lands of Eretz Israel to the Jewish people. We know about anti-Zionists, like the rich, servile, dark, fanatic, Jewish obscurantists, described in Chaim Weitzman's June 2, 1927 letter to Albert Einstein. Psychological experts, like Dr. Levin, have described the counter script, abused child syndrome, where someone wanting to be accepted and to assimilate, identifies with their abusers. It seems that the misguided, secular humanist, Jewish Palestinian supporters today are the modern Jewish Hellenists, who decry Torah based Judaism and Zionism. They are similar to the ancient Hellenists of the Chanukah era who favored secular, Greek ways of life over Torah based Judaism. Modern Hellenists, like Brit Tzedek, often favor rescuing perceived victims, and assimilating in a secular, humanist, socialist world. They often ignore or minimize the real victims, Israelis who suffer from Palestinian terror, which is based upon false victimology and an ideology of hatred for Jews and Israel. Some Facts about Brit Tzedek, a modern Hellenist Group. It is interesting that Brit Tzedek describes itself as pro-Israel organization on its website ("As a pro-Israel organization Brit Tzedek unequivocally supports the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state, a position affirmed in our seven principles. The organization frames its work to open up dialogue within the Jewish community and to ensure inclusivity as we work for a negotiated settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." source: http://www.btvshalom.org/aboutus/FAQ.shtml#organization4). Yet in all their statements on the conflict Brit Tzedek has yet to denounce any act of Arabist terror launched against Israelis or Jews in the Diaspora.Source: http://www.btvshalom.org/perspectives/ Following the money... As one liberal commentator put it, to see where someone is really coming from follow the money. Good advice, if we look at their sources of funding we see they are backed by the same collection of groups that bankroll the other major Arabist organizations in the United States. The following information is drawn from Brit Tzedek websites unless otherwise noted. Not all groups are listed, in the interest of brevity. Source: http://www.btvshalom.org/aboutus/foundation_support.shtml Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is based in New York, NY. A group with a far-ranging interest in globalization, internationalism and other issues of interest to the internationalist left. The Ford Foundation was founded by Henry Ford, an admirer and supporter of Adolf Hitler. Today, the Ford Foundation continues to display an anti-Jewish bias. The Ford funded anti-Jewish agitprop at UN conference in Durban (See: http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=13328&intcategoryid=6). Ford also funds Al Mezan, ISM, New Israel Fund, and other anti-Israel groups. An example of the Ford's idea of "community based advocacy work" can be found at Al Mezan's website, www.mezan.org. On the front page is a picture of Rachel Corrie, a young American woman who was accidentally killed by an Israeli bulldozer, which was clearing brush in front of a house known to contain entrances to arms smuggling tunnels used by terrorists. Corrie was an "activist" with the International Solidarity Movement--ISM, a group allied with Al Mezan. She was attempting to stop the bulldozers from demolishing the house. Earlier, she was photographed burning an American flag in Gaza, while ranting anti-American propaganda. Yet underneath her picture on Al Mezan's website is the phrase "Killed for Justice." Brit Tzedek also appears to support Rachel Corrie and ISM in their March 17, 2003 press release (see: http://www.btvshalom.org/pressrelease/031703.shtml) which mistakenly describes ISM performing legitimate non-violent actions, to oppose human rights abuses, the occupation, etc. They obviously ignore the facts that ISM members assisted Palestinian terrorists on several occasions, also helping the British Islamic terrorist killers to get into Israel, where they bombed Mikes Pub in Tel Aviv. Recently as a result of much public criticism, the Ford Foundation claims to have stopped directly funding Brit Tzedek and Palestinian NGO's. However, Brit Tzedek still claims direct support from the Ford Foundation. Additionally, the Ford also funds the New Israel Fund, which in turn, allegedly funds Brit Tzedek. Resist, Inc. Noam Chomsky's socialist group. The board is littered with admitted socialists, anti-Israel activists, and even includes Yasir Arafat's former economic advisor Leila Farsakh http://www.resistinc.org/ In addition to direct grants, Brit Tzedek also receives funding from several "clearing house" trusts which aggregate donations from a variety of sources, typically individual donors, and makes contributions to groups that meet the criteria of the trust. Perhaps the most famous of these aggregate trusts is the Tides Foundation. The Tides Foundation has also given grant money to the Council for American Islamic Relations. Ostensibly a "Muslim civil rights group," CAIR is in fact one of the leading anti-anti-terrorism organizations within the Wahhabi Lobby, with links to Hamas. CAIR regularly opposes and demonizes American efforts to fight terrorism, claiming, for instance, that Homeland Security measures are responsible for an undocumented surge in "hate crimes." The Tides Foundation has funded a number of the pillars of the radical legal establishment. Chief among these is the National Lawyers Guild, which began as a Communist front organization and is proud of its lineage. At its recent convention last October, the concluding speaker was Lynne Stewart, an indicted terrorist NLG lawyer arrested for helping her client - convicted 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman - communicate with his terrorist cells in Egypt. Tides' Peace Strategies Fund has funneled money to the Center for Constitutional Rights. The CCR was stablished by Sixties radical William Kunstler, defender of the Chicago 8, and Arthur Kinoy. The two also had plans to establish a new Communist Party. Executive Director Ron Daniels has been honored by the Communist Party USA for his work. Daniels also has a long and cordial relationship with racist, anti-Semitic "poet laureate" Amiri Baraka. Since 9/11, CCR has channeled its efforts into fighting every effective Homeland Security measure. They have opposed increasing the government's ability to wiretap Islamists suspected of plotting terrorism and moaned the sequestering of terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay was an unexcusable form of "racial profiling." CCR President Michael Ratner has portrayed American soldiers as the offenders, guilty of 9/11 by their Middle East policy and guilty of keeping Islamist killers "shackled, hooded and sedated during the 25 hour flight from Afghanistan." CCR has also defended Lynne Stewart's "innocence" in aiding Sheikh Rahman's Islamic Jihad. The San Francisco Bay Guardian reported, "Wealthy patrons give big chunks of money to Tides - and their names are kept confidential. The Tides donation is completely tax deductible. But the donor can discreetly designate an organization that he or she wants to see receive the money - and Tides will pass the donation along, minus a small administrative fee. Often, the recipient group doesn't know where the money really came from. And there's no way for the public to find out either. By the end of the 1980s Tides had significantly expanded another of its tasks: providing a tax shelter to small non-profits unable or unwilling to win tax-exempt status from the federal government." Mrs. John Heinz Kerry allegedly has contributed large sums of funds to the Tides Foundation. You can be judged by the company you keep Much of the Israel advisory board of Brit Tzedek is drawn from Women in Black (source: http://www.btvshalom.org/aboutus/advisory.shtml). If you look at the Women in Black homepage, you will see that they have made several statements about so-called Israeli "atrocities" but have never condemned Arabist attacks against Israeli civilians (source: http://www.womeninblack.net/archive.html, http://www.womeninblack.net/stats/) Brit Tzedek maintains close ties to other anti-Zionist groups such as the Arabist group Gush-Shalom (http://www.btvshalom.org/actionalerts/). According to Brit Tzedek's website (see: http://www.btvshalom.org/director/), Brit Tzedek claims to share the goals of Tikkun (Michael Lerner's bunch) "Brit Tzedek has much in common with existing Jewish peace groups that support Israel and oppose the occupation, such as Americans for Peace Now and Meretz USA, as well as interdenominational peace efforts like the Middle East Project of the Tikkun Community. Our goal is to work for a just peace cooperatively and in coalition with diverse, national, Middle East peace initiatives." (http://www.btvshalom.org/aboutus/FAQ.shtml#organization2) They have also stated support for the Carter supported and Arabist financed "Geneva Initiative" (see http://www.btvshalom.org/geneva/) that has as its goal either the colonization of Israel by the Arabs or the creation of a "secular" state of Palestine to replace Israel. Brit Tzedek is well-liked in turn by most other anti-Israel groups both within outside the Jewish community. They are listed as a resource by Jewish Friends of Palestine, http://www.eccmei.net/~eccmei/j/orgs.html, which also includes, Cornell and University of California Israel divestment campaigns, Israel Communist forum and party, Jewish Voices Against Occupation(Wisconsin) (re: Madison/Rafah proposal), the New Israel Fund, Naturei Karta, and Tikkun magazine. They are held in high regard by Arabist groups such as Palestine Monitor, Resist, and International Answer (source: http://www.movingideas.org/activism/networks/030211.html) The International Responsibilities Taskforce of the American Library Association's Social Responsibility Round Table, lists Organizations Concerned with the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, (see: http://www.pitt.edu/~meh22/israelpalestine.html) Some of the organizations listed, which imply similar objectives, are: Al-Awda, The Palestinian Right to Return Coalition, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, International Solidarity Movement ISM, Islamic Association of Palestine, and Jewish Friends of Palestine, previously cited. Conclusion Brit Tzedek is not truly a Jewish organization (it makes no reference to Judaism or Torah principles in any of its materials, instead relying on UN, and leftist political documents). Its focus is unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Jerusalem, Gaza, Golan, Judea and Samaria, in return for Arab promises (but no concessions), even calling on the US and the UN to force Israel to create a Palestinian state. A major theme of Brit Tzedek is to force the Jews in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Golan back within the "Green Line" either through bribery or force. They do not accept the historical facts that such lands are part of our ancestral homeland and never belonged to the Arabs or the fictitious "Palestinian people", whose history dates only from 1964 when the Arab League invented them for political purposes .These lands initially belonged to Israel, and were conquered by the Ottoman Empire, and later by Jordan in 1949. They are disputed territories that belong to the Jewish nation. True peace is based on strength and the territorial integrity of Israel, not the "piece" process of appeasement advocated by Brit Tzedek, which will only weaken Israel and bring about her destruction. As in ancient times, dedicated Jews and Zionists are now engaged in another struggle with the new Hellenists. We should follow the advice of our sages, i.e. regardless of our level of religious observance or education; to serve G-d properly all Jews must be united. "All of Yisroel is responsible for each other" (Midrash Eicha 3:39). 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. To Go To Top

THE FOOL'S LAST REFUGE Posted by Women in Green, April 9, 2005.

This was written by Sarah Honig and appeared in the Jerusalem Post. In his 1968 classic Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (on which the movie Blade Runner is based), American sci-fi author Philip K. Dick asserted that "reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Very uncooperative of reality really, especially when you consider all the effort invested in embellishing and/or evading it. Look at Oslo and its even ungainlier offspring, disengagement. What haven't we been told about both? Pretty much the same, actually - that concessions would buy us respite from violence, that implacable enemies should be trusted with protecting us, that fork-tongued interlocutors could be relied upon to police their corrupt bailiwick and rein in their button-men, that we have no other alternative and that the experiment must be given a chance (regardless of incidental "victims of peace"). In all, things will come up roses, if we only believe. If we only believe and expel 8,000 Jews from Gush Katif, the year 2005 will usher in hope. We can believe that, if we only don't allow reality to butt in. We Israelis, after all, are particularly adept at avoiding unwanted reminders of discrepancies between how we want things to be and how they are. We're unique in our capacity to ignore what doesn't mesh with our collective pipe dream and to adhere to it like no others can. How else can anyone explain the indifference with which reports about the production of Kassam-like rockets in Jenin were met? Such manufacturing enterprises would have seriously scared folks anywhere, even in countries nowhere as threatened existentially as Israel. The equanimity here becomes all the more striking when we recall the Kassams' deadly impact on outlying Sderot, and if we realize what their introduction to densely populated central Israel could mean. The security fence around Samaria is no less surmountable than Gaza's, only with lots more sitting ducks beyond. If they had their wits about them, Israelis ought now to be losing sleep about those rocket factories not discovered. It stands to reason that for each one the IDF found, there must be at least a few more which escaped detection. Same goes for the Strella anti-aircraft missiles smuggled from Sinai into Gaza. This wasn't preempted by the Egyptians, whom we appoint as our anti-gunrunning vanguard, nor by Mahmoud Abbas's "security apparatus." This by any yardstick is his equivalent of what the Karine-A arms boat was for his predecessor Arafat. Indeed Abu Mazen's own intelligence crews are implicated in the Strella-smuggling caper, not the handiwork of renegades but of professed peace partners. YET AGAIN the most nagging concern should be how many similar illicit rocket consignments escaped our vigilance. It stands to reason that for each one discovered at least several others were delivered undetected. But if such disquieting revelations about breaches of the current pseudo-truce (whatever its Arab name-of-the-month may be) are ascribed to temporary isolated glitches, the in-your-face declarations of intent from one Abu Musaeb, as reported recently by Yediot Aharonot, cannot be likewise explained away. Abu Musaeb, chief of northern Gaza's al-Aksa Brigades (also formally under Abbas's command), didn't beat about the bush. "This is a deceptive calm," he openly and unhesitatingly announced, "it cannot be real. The Koran warns us about Jewish treachery." After a few indelicate denigrations of the Jewish religion and nefarious character, Abu Musaeb promises to "show Jews horrors they haven't yet seen We don't sit idle. We prepare surprises. This cease-fire is nothing but the fighter's repose, well utilized by Palestinian forces to rearm, regroup, regain strength and cook up new things. When the conflict is renewed, we'll return fortified as never before, with new methods and new weapons." And lest Israelis doubt his stick-to-itiveness, Abu Musaeb vows that "I, my son and my grandson will continue fighting for a Muslim Jerusalem and a free al-Aksa even if that means an eternal war against Israel." So much for goodwill, spirit of compromise and prospects for long-term progress via that tattered road map to peace. Israelis of course can choose - at their own peril - not to believe what they hear. Denial, after all, is the fool's last refuge. He brushes aside tangible evidence and pooh-poohs the potentially life-saving warnings which his senses keep transmitting to his cranial receptors. In the fool's universe of profound cognitive dissonance seeing isn't necessarily believing, not until that traumatic point when it's no longer possible to downplay the unwelcome intrusions of reality as Dick defines it - the sort that won't go away no matter how much it's disbelieved. In the case of the nation which fell for Oslo and lets disengagement happen, this mightn't occur until Strellas down a plane or two, until Kassam replicas fly out from Kalkilya or until Abu Musaeb's grandkid opens fire to liberate Jerusalem from Jewish contamination. 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 To Go To Top

FAMILY MATTERS Posted by Judy Lash Balint, April 9, 2005.

This was written Alison Stern Golub, who lives n Beersheva. Contact her by email at Alison_Golub@hotmail.com People are always shocked to find out that I made aliyah without having any family here in Israel. I am always asked, with incredulity, how I manage by myself and when my parents will be coming to join me here. Up until recently I was rarely bothered by these questions, usually responding that my family in Seattle simply doesn't feel the same way about Israel and isn't able to make such a huge trip to visit me here. I contented myself with the dumbfounded looks I always receive by telling myself that Israelis have a different conception of the meaning and behavioral norms of family, and that this is just another of those glorious little cultural differences. But lately it's been getting to me. I find that in nearly every phone conversation with my mother over the past month, I cannot help but mention how much I want her to come visit me. We talk, argue, debate - even yell - endlessly about the reasons for her reluctance: it's too far, too much money, too scary, too dangerous, too unknown. I try to understand, to use the empathy skills I have learned in my psychology studies, but it's so difficult and so painful. Then, last week, I had the same conversation, but for the first time with my brother. I had never expected him to come here, for all the same reasons. But how he articulated his own excuses really hit me. "Alison," he explained, "you have to understand that a trip like this is simply beyond my comfort zone. Places like Israel, and Iraq - they're just too scary." Yes, you heard right, my friends. "Israel and Iraq," in the same sentence! I was shocked. I simply cannot believe how my family, after hearing me wax poetic about Israel, about how happy I am, about how much my life has changed for the better in this past year, even after reading these articles every two weeks, could still believe that Israel is comparable to a less-than-developing country surging with militants and rebels, in full-on war times, no less! There are times on the phone with my family when I am certain that they are picturing me living in a tent in the middle of the desert with my camel tethered to the front flap. Whenever I happen to mention that it is raining, whoever I am talking to at the time invariably exclaims, "Really!? It rains there?" None of my friends here understand how my family can be so far removed from Israel, in every way. Every other olah chadasha (new immigrant) that I know has had at least two family members visit them within a year of making aliyah. Although I feel painfully alone in this regard, the fact that my family can still believe what they believe even with an olah chadasha in their midst, speaks fairly loudly about the terrible P.R. coming out of this country. My protestations as to the safety and relative peace here just can't seem to combat the constant news footage of Qassam rocket shelling, military incursions into the territories, and lockdowns at the checkpoints. And so I remain a foreigner in my own family. They don't understand me, and I can't seem to find a way to bridge the gap. I wish my words were enough, but their fear and lack of information are obstacles too large to overcome and I honestly can't blame them. I always knew that I was different, that this country spoke to me in a way that very few people can truly comprehend. But this is the first time that I have been faced with my family's profound inability, or lack of willingness, or perhaps lack of desire, to open a window into my world here. A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a woman introducing herself as a distant cousin on my mother's side. I immediately called her number, fingers shaking with emotions I didn't know I was capable of having. She told me she made aliyah the year I was born, and has loved every minute of it since. I was filled with a sense of wonder and pure joy, and not a small amount of incredulity that there was someone out there in my gene pool who felt the same way I do. No matter how distant, to find out that even a drop of Zionism exists in my family tree was an incredibly powerful thing. No longer do I need to feel deviant, or outcasted, or different, or alone. There is someone out there with parts of my blood running through her, who understands how I feel about this land. And she can drive over to visit anytime. Judy Lash Balint is an investigative journalist and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" (Gefen). It is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com To subscribe to the Jerusalem group's essays, send an email to:jerusalemdiaries-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To Go To Top

ABBAS' POLICY NOT ANALYZED; WHAT IS P.A. GOVERNMENT FOR? PHONY ISRAELI ASSURANCE ON ABANDONMENT Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 8, 2005.

ABBAS' POLICY NOT ANALYZED You analyzed it right. AIPAC should be told that the government of Israel is not democratic, and that in any case, it is anti-Zionist so it should be opposed. AIPAC's loyalty should be to the Jewish heritage: Law before politicians, the people before the government, the Land before disproved political theories. When the government of Isreal acts contrary to that principle, AIPAC does more harm than good. Gentiles think, why should they intervene in Isreal's behalf, when the Jewish lobby doesn't. WHAT IS P.A. GOVERNMENT FOR? Ignorance about Islamic terrorism is driving foreign policy. Ideology is driving the ignorance. The ideology is either a leftist antisemitism or a naive belief that other cultures have similar values to the Western one. They are not similar but hostile. This ideology misunderstands the nature and purpose of government among the Arabs. The misunderstanding manifests itself in attempts to improve the economy of the P.A., so that the P.A. can take care of its people. Islamists don't care about taking care of their people. They care about their people following the rules of the religion, one of which is to force other peoples to submit to that religion. Arab rulers are concerned also about power and money. The P.A. stole or redirected into its war effort large sums donated for its economy. It did not have to worry much about its misappropriation being punished. It simply blamed Israel for its economic decline. The so-called humanitarian organizations, being not humanitarian but anti-Zionist, took up the cry. The foreign donors pretend that the P.A. is reforming, and that its donations do not foster terrorism. Actually, the whole governmental and religious apparatus in the P.A. is devoted to jihad and graft. Those are its purposes. Western donors are so eager to placate the Arabs by letting them take down Israel, that they don't foresee that this P.A., like the PLO when it had the run of Lebanon, would conduct international terrorism against it. CAN ISRAEL HAVE NORMAL RELATIONS WITH THE P.A.? The Arabs cannot have normal relations with the object of current jihad. The Arabs practice either military war or diplomatic war, but not normalcy. Israelis, eager for normalcy, seize upon Arab smiles and handshakes as indicators of normalcy. It is a deadly mistake to equate hospitality or politeness with acceptance. Making the ethnocentric and multicultural blunder of imagining that Arab culture is like their own, Israelis anticipate that the Arabs will react to Israeli policy the way Israelis would. There is no reason to expect unscrupulous fanatics to react in a Western manner. And the Arabs don't. Not that Israelis notice. Israel makes the same mistakes repeatedly. Goodwill gestures are matched not with goodwill gestures but with demands for more. The Arabs feel they are the chosen people. Unlike the Jewish notion of chosenness, which is to serve other peoples with moral examples, the Arab notion is that anything they do to the other peoples is moral, and the other peoples must serve them in a servile manner. The US demands that Israel ease its security measures, asserting that such an easing is deserved by the civilian population and would be appreciated by it. The P.A. civilian population deserves deprivation, for its overwhelming support for jihad. It does not oppose terrorism when Israel sends in large sums supposedly for consumers. Arab jihadists give no quarter. One of the biggest misconceptions, deliberately spread by PM Sharon in behalf of his plan to abandon Gaza and northern Samaria, is that the world would appreciate that gesture and acquiesce to Israel retaining much of the rest of Judea-Samaria, and that the Arabs would go along with it. The Arabs threaten to bombard Israel more if he does not abandon the rest of Judea-Samaria. (They can back that up, because Israeli troops would not be present to stop them from militarizing the Green Line, as Hizbullah did at the Lebanese border with Israel. Israel thinks its air force would stop the bombardment, but tunnels could bring rockets up to the border undetected.) The US has indicated that the proposed abandonment is just a down-payment. Sharon's circle, itself, has indicated that much more would be abandoned. For one thing, it left some large Jewish towns and most vacant Judea-Samaria territory outside the security fence. ISRAEL DOESN'T THINK CRITICAL ISSUES THROUGH The P.A. could provide itself with arms it is not allowed to have, if it encourages them to be smuggled in, "confiscates" them, and outfits itself with them. Therefore, it would be important for Israel to insist that the Road Map require those arms to be destroyed. IMRA asked the defense Ministry what its position is on that issue. The Ministry has yet to think about it, but its initial reaction is that it does not matter, because the Arms would be in authorized hands (IMRA, 2/23). It means authorized terrorists in P.A. uniforms. Actually, they would not be in authorized hands. The P.A. may be authorized to confiscate them, but not to possess them. The casual, unthinking attitude of the Israeli government causes many citizens to be slain by terrorists. Officials should be brought up on charges, but that does not happen in Israel. In Israel, it is the patriots who are brought up on charges. GAZA BORDER SITUATION IN A NUTSHELL The P.A. intends to recruit all the terrorists, instead of disarming them. There is no policy that smuggled arms it confiscates must be destroyed. Instead, they may remain in P.A. armories until issued to the terrorists for whom they were intended. Egypt, whose duty is to block that smuggling, demands that Israeli anti-smuggling forces evacuate from the corridor where the smuggling takes place. Israel fails to object mightily to the Egyptian demand. Israel hints that it would rely upon its air force to repress new terrorism, but its air force has not stopped Hizbullah from placing 14,000 rockets along the border, ready to carpet-bomb northern Israel upon signal. Israel is beset by the attitude that has cost it many casualties before, that everything will be all right (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 2/24). Israel's lack of worry is imprudent, criminal negligence. First Hizbullah fires the 14,000 rockets, then the Israeli Air Force punishes Hizbullah, if the US lets it, while Israelis bury their dead. Small comfort, the Air Force. Letters@Commentary.com (April, 2005) We often talk about "The Lessons of History," but Richard A. Posner delivered them. Useful and interesting. He warns against a one-pronged "solution" that neglects border-guarding. That warning requires attention, because the investigations of 9/11 practically white-washed the State Dept., in charge of permission to cross the border. In an era of terrorist attacks on US facilities, the State Dept. let travel agencies in S. Arabia issue visas without examining whether they were for terrorists. That would seem like criminal negligence. When State was ordered to discontinue the practice, it resisted. That seems less negligent and more like criminal cronyism. The investigators should have demanded a clearing out of the Arabists from the State Dept.. Why is State exempt from investigation? The investigators focused on the shortcomings of intelligence agencies, but neglected State Dept orders given those agencies not to pursue leads to Saudi Arabia. The State Dept. is a rogue agency that escaped major censure and reformation. Does Mr. Posner conclude that since we cannot guard every facility against an attack by terrorists who could not win a concerted military drive against us, we should close our border to their nationalities and religious brethren or organize a more aggressive war on Islamism? Would Mr. Posner comment on whether the earlier Japanese sneak attack, on Port Arthur, should have alerted the US to Japanese methodology. True, that attack does not meet Mr. Posner's observation that potential attacks by weaker opponents get taken less seriously. UNO, LEBANON, & ISRAEL Since Israel withdrew from Lebanon, Hizbullah (with some UNO complicity) killed 21 Israelis. Lebanon rejects its duty to keep terrorists from using its border to stage raids on Israel Hence, Israel has maintained aerial surveillance over Lebanon. Lebanon has complained about the overflights to the UNO. The UNO doesn't care about Israel's reasons, just that its actions are a violation. It intends to protest against Israel (IMRA, 2/24). Does the UNO promote peace or terrorism? Why doesn't it protest Lebanese violation, instead of Israeli defensive counter-measures? How can Israeli self-defense be a violation? WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES ENCOURAGES DIVESTMENT The World Council of Churches (Protestants and Orthodox Christian) encouraged its members to consider divesting from Israel. It defended that move as not being antisemitic. It is not antisemitic, it asserted, to oppose certain policies of the government of Israel (IMRA, 2/24). The World Council of Churches doesn't oppose certain policies of Israel, it opposes Israeli self-defense against P.A. terrorism. Nothing Israel does remotely warrants disinvesting from it. To the contrary, if investment is more than for economic reasons, then the Council should encourage investment in Israel, to help it ward off the same jihad that threatens the entire West. On the other hand, the Arab dictatorships that repress their own people and support international jihad, and the oil companies that appease them, should be divested from. Why doesn't the Council consider disinvesting from them? How about banning investments in China, repressive, imperialist, and a noted persecutor of Christianity, AS ARE THE ARABS? PHONY ISRAELI ASSURANCE ON ABANDONMENT Dep. PM Olmert assured the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations that the abandonment of Gaza and northern Samaria would not lead to an increase in terrorist attacks. He cited experience with the abandonment of Lebanon as evidence. He "stated that though the Hizbullah terrorists based in southern Lebanon have accumulated some 15,000 missiles and mortars, they have never used them against Israel since the withdrawal from Lebanon in May, 2000." Declassified Israeli documents disprove his claim and assurance: "- 34 attacks with mortar shells and anti-tank missiles into northern Israel. - 7 shooting attacks with light arms fire. - 8 roadside bombs planted. - 127 [incidents of] anti-aircraft missiles. - 5 Katyusha rocket attacks. - 10 infiltrations into northern Israel. - 11 soldiers killed in northern Israel and 3 IDF troops kidnapped and murdered, and 50 soldiers wounded. - 14 civilians killed." "Bedein says that Israeli media often reported that these missiles were fired at Israeli Air Force aircraft, when in fact this was hardly ever the case." (Arutz-7, 2/24.) Olmert was lying. Why doesn't the Conference challenge Olmert and Sharon, and protect the Jewish people? IS IRAN READY FOR WAR Iran talks tough. It frequently engages in military maneuvers and threatens enemies. Actually, its military equipment is aging, it spends only a sixth as much on it as does S. Arabia, and its command structure is inadequate. It could not fend off a US invasion (IMRA, 2/24). Does that assessment take into account Iran's development of weaponry, including missiles? With what troops would the over-extended US military invade? 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. To Go To Top

WHAT NOW? Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, April 8, 2005.

This was written by Elyakim Haetzni. Elyakim Haetzni is a lawyer and former Knesset member. He lives in Kiryat Arba. This article appeared as an Opinion Piece in Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.org) April 5, 2005. After all of the attempts and maneuvering to foil the expulsion and uprooting plot by political means have failed, the first cracks are starting to appear in the wall of the settlers and their defenders. It is no coincidence. Those who counted on Knesset members and ministers, those who believed that it was possible to score achievements by means of the political parties, may reach total despair in the face of the terrifying steamroller of Ariel Sharon, in the face of the bounty of temptations and briberies, in the face of the propaganda screened by the hostile media. In contradistinction, those who from the beginning did not count on the political arena, and who even saw the abundance of resources expended on the various campaigns - from "settling in the hearts" to "a rift in the nation" - a meaningless waste of funds and manpower, are not now suffering a loss of spirit. Quite the opposite, those people are hopeful that the Judea, Samaria and Gaza Council will finally come to its senses and turn its full attention and resources to the actual struggle, which is to begin not on the day designated for the uprooting, but much earlier, when the scene of the crime against humanity is to be closed by military fiat. And indeed, the heads of the Judea, Samaria and Gaza Council did so announce at the time that the referendum was felled in the Knesset and the national budget was approved. Lo and behold, just as Knesset members, yeshivas and families from around the country begin making their way into the region slated for uprooting, the Alfei Menashe mayor, Hisdai Eliezer, popped up in the news with two messages: opposition to bringing tens of thousands of people into the towns sentenced to destruction, out of fear of a civil war; and a personal willingness to take the place of any soldier who refuses to fulfill the expulsion order. That is what was publicized in the media, and as long as there is no denial, it must be assumed, sadly, that the reports are correct. If so, dear Hisdai, if you rule out even passive resistance by the masses, as well as conscientious objection - as recommended to soldiers just a few years ago by Ariel Sharon - then what must be done? Or is it time to give up? Hisadai lives "five minutes from Kfar Saba" and Sharon personally ordered that his town be included inside the security fence; so, it is fitting to say to him, "Do not judge your fellow man until you are in his position." Until now, we could be proud of the internal solidarity among the settlements in Judea, Samaria and Gaza - all for one and one for all. It seems we will have to get used to the idea of that front being broken, as well. And looking at it realistically, it was expected. "Divide and conquer" is the known Roman maxim, and Sharon is implementing it like a master artist. Thus, he divided and dismembered the Likud; thus, he smashed the National Religious Party and the entire nationalist camp; and now, it seems, it's the turn of the Judea, Samaria and Gaza Council. We are already hearing that he invited the leaders of Gush Katif for a compassionate reconciliation meeting. He may throw them some crumbs over and above the extortionate compensation in the Expulsion-Compensation Law. Perhaps, after his "ranch office" carried out a systematic character assassination against them, he will deign to once again refer to them as "salt of the earth" and "true pioneers". Either way, such a meeting has the potential to weaken the hands of those fighting against the expulsion, to take the wind out of the sails of the opposition. According to media reports, three or four heads of town secretariats took the bait, and there you have it - "divide and conquer", even among the victims themselves. Neither does what Sha'ul Goldstein, mayor of Gush Eztion, wrote in Ma'ariv (April 1) add to the internal morale of the camp. I quote: "It is unfortunate that the Minister for Public Security and the Chief of Police do not agree to my recommendation to arrange a meeting between the evacuees and the evacuators, so that the two sides understand that all of them are human beings." What is meant by this? What will this meeting be, a mini group integration session, with refreshments and sing-alongs for the destroyers and the destroyed, the expellers and the expelled? How will the victims conduct their struggle after such an "integration" succeeds? On all of the above, it must be said, in the prelude to the "Ode to Joy" of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, "Oh friends, not these tones!" And I add: This is not the way to build a wall. And seeing as it must be assumed that this is not all, and we have more unpleasant surprises waiting for us, let us say to ourselves some words of truth: Gush Katif and Samaria are property of the nation, not privately held. With all due respect for the pioneers who built, planted and raised up, and in any event obtained houses and employment. But for houses and employment 150,000 people don't gather in Tel Aviv for a demonstration, and they don't drive the Knesset mad and call for bringing down the government. The pioneers of the Gaza coast and northern Samaria did not only build houses and private properties. They built a settlement enterprise. The houses and properties they built for themselves, the enterprise they built on behalf of the people and for it. It is for this reason that the state expended a fortune on their infrastructure, public institutions and security - expenditures that would have been spared had they built their homes in Tel Aviv and their properties in the Sharon region. The pioneers of Hevron settled in Hevron because of the Machpela Cave - more accurately, in order to preserve the Machpela Cave for the people of Israel. All honor to them, and all honor to those who took upon themselves hardship and also suffered tragic, heart-wrenching human sacrifices in order to protect the Gaza coast and northern Samaria. All honor, but those properties are not theirs, and their residence in them does not entitle them - even them - to give them up in the name of any group. They can give up their property and go quietly, but not as public representatives. Neither the Gush Katif branch, nor the Judea, Samaria and Gaza Council, nor the mayor of Alfei Menashe has the authority to give up the struggle. They are supposed to serve it, they are not its masters. The masters are those tens of thousands whom Hisdai is telling not to come, and it must be assumed and hoped that they will not listen to him. We just finished reading in the Scroll of Esther the words of Mordechai to Esther: "Relief and rescue will come to the Jews from somewhere else." Moreover, those who think the evil will not reach them are fooling themselves. Immediately after the expulsion "succeeds" - that is to say, the civil war, the war of the evacuators against the evacuees, of the expellers against the expellees, the uprooters against those being uprooted goes smoothly, quickly and elegantly - then it will be the turn of the entire hill country, between 80 to 100 thousand people. And after that, Shimon Peres and Sharon will divide Jerusalem. Therefore, all those tens of thousands should know that they are called upon this summer to physically prevent the destroyer from entering their very own gates, because after the fall of the 25 towns, God forbid, nothing will be able to any longer prevent the great flood, which will sweep away everything. This package called "Disengagement" includes horrendous security disasters, as Rabbi David Drukman is tirelessly warning, which endanger the lives of all the Jews of Eretz Yisrael, on both sides of the "Green Line". Now, It is not just the territory of the homeland that the tens of thousands will be defending, but the lives of the people everywhere in the country. Now that the words of Hisdai were made public - and as stated, assumedly not denied - the Judea, Samaria and Gaza Council has a choice to make. We heard in the media its reaction that " we have pluralism", and that is true. The Judea, Samaria and Gaza Council cannot dictate the opinions of any mayor, and in a population of 260 - 270 thousand people, thank God, it is natural that there will be varying opinions. Because we truly are a democratic public. However, just as pluralism of ideas is natural and accepted, pluralism of decisions and actions is impossible and absurd. The public institution is singular, not plural. It - the public body - can go only in one direction, and not in multiple, mutually contradictory directions simultaneously. And so, just like the Likud, the Judea, Samaria and Gaza Council will have to decide in these very coming days where it is headed. If towards a struggle, then unhesitatingly and with no compromises. And if towards double-speak, it would be better for them to be direct with themselves and admit explicitly: we are out of the game. This, in order not to mislead innocent people and waste valuable resources. Just as the Likud can not run for election under two heads, one of Sharon and one of Uzi Landau, so, too, the Judea, Samaria and Gaza Council cannot set out to struggle without first deciding between Pinchas Wallerstein (who calls for massive civil disobedience) and Hisdai Eliezer. The Council owes as much to the huge population that trusted them, and still trusts them, so that the people will know ahead of time how to select their leaders. 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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AS A JEW - SHARON HAS SURRENDERED Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 8, 2005.

Some Jews of Israel continually seek martyrdom as a 'gesture' to their dedicated enemies and the world but, no one cares. The Jews buy nothing with their groveling. Oslo had the Jews rolling in the dirt, begging the Muslim Arabs to forgive them for living and for being there - in their own Holy Land. When the Arab Muslims continue to kill the Jews - despite the whining and pleading for forgiveness, the Jews' next step is to NOT be there. The Prime Minister of Israel Ariel (Arik) Sharon has moved to the next step prior to committing the Jewish State of Israel to national suicide - which is to NOT be there. Sharon was a great warrior but he has now adopted the role of submissive Quisling, following such role models as Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Yossi Beilin, et al. He will take the Jews out of the Arab Muslims' sight and, he knows, they, the Muslims, will forgive the Jews for being Jews. The Jewish Israelis will no longer be in the Arabs' faces so the Arabs will cease their Intifadas of conquest. There are too many Jews who wish to believe this absurd conclusion as if they all lived in the foolish town of Chelm. Sharon and his gaggle of fools talk to each other and not to their enemies: Shleimi, the putz, to Chaim Yankel, the fool: "Chaim, isn't it great! We are leaving the Arab Muslims behind and we will have peace." Chaim Yankel, the fool, responds: "You know, I didn't think of it just that way but you are right. We will have peace." Along comes a third kibitzer and asks: "Who promised us Peace? What about the million Arab Muslims already inside of Israel?" Shleimi, the putz, and Chaim Yankel, the fool shout: "Who asked you? Clearly, you must be a war-monger. Worse yet. You must be a settler! Our great leader, Arik, the warrior, has guaranteed us peace as soon as we get out of sight of the Arab Muslims. Who are you to ask such foolish questions?" If you think the above is excessive, it is exactly how the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, the ADL, both AJCs and AIPAC accepted "Disengagement" as a panacea promising a coming peace - because the official Israeli government said so and that is who they follow - no matter how foolish. This, all the while reports pour in from the Israeli Military General Staff and the Israeli Intelligence Corps that those "peaceful" Arab Muslims are gathering tonnage of weapons, explosives, missiles with greater range and accuracy - promising (not peace) but to attack in an "Intifada III" from Gaza, Northern Samaria and all along the YESHA (Yehuda, Shomron and Aza) border. The Arab Muslims have promised absolutely nothing in return while the Jews of Chelm babble about their fantasy of peace (which never existed - never will - under these conditions. What will these Jewish fools of Chelm do when their grand gestures of withdrawal, retreat, deportation, surrender... give the perception that the Jews are weak and thereby generate a killing onslaught? Will these Jews who abandoned their Jewish Land now beg forgiveness for the mounting casualties and commit Sepaku (ritual suicide) as their final act of contrition? I think not. Oslo brought 12 years of Intifada, with more than 1700 Jews murdered, including some 45 Americans, and tens of thousands wounded and maimed. We have yet to hear a peep of apology from Rabin in his time, Peres, Beilin, or all those Leftist Professors who together said: "If we give up the 7 cities of Gaza, Jericho, Ram?Allah, Jenin, Kalkilya, Tulkarem and Schechem (Nablus), plus 80% of Hebron (Netanyahu?s contribution) - then we will have peace. The Muslims Arabs will be so grateful and busy taking care of their cities, that we will have peace. We can live next to each other at last - in peace and harmony." The Jews then, as now, were talking only to themselves. While the Arabs attacked, bombed, ambushed with snipers, firebombed, suicide bombed - heaped one atrocity upon another, the Peaceniks said: "Not to worry. It?s only a momentary aberration. If we give them a little more, they will calm down and everything will be ?Kol B?Seder? ". (A-OK) But, everything was not ?B?Seder? and there was NOT peace (for the victims - except in their graves) which Rabin, Peres, Beilin had promised. The perpetrators were not arrested, put on trial or hanged as at Nuremberg for Crimes against Humanity - (their own Jewish people). Now again, Sharon the old warrior, using the levers of government to illegally drag 9,000 Jewish men, women and children out of their homes and farms and out of sight of their Arab neighbors. Unlike normal nations, Jews seem not to have the stomach to go up against the authority of their own government which misuses power to dictate and oppress their own people. It seems clear that, in the 58 years of Israel?s existence, the power structure of Government has grown more powerful, more dictatorial, more corrupt and more ruthless. Today the Israeli government is a rotten pig-stye that should have been cleaned out years ago. We see the Supreme Court turned into a political action body, overruling the Knesset (Parliament) and absolutely pro-Arab Muslim rather than pro-Jewish. We observe the Knesset spiral down so it has collapsed into a bunch of incompetents (except for a few Members), who are dedicated to keeping their seats, their financial perks, their cars and chauffeurs while hoping the public will not see the absolute failure of these foolish people. With that description, I include the Jewish self-appointed leaders of America who drift along with the promise of Peace, simply abandoning the Land because Israel?s ruling government says so but, without the slightest guarantee of Peace. Worse yet, the controlling Terrorist organizations of Hamas, Hezb?Allah, Al Aksa Martyrs? Brigades, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and others have offered their "Mein Kampf" wherein the Jews will be driven out from the Jordan Valley to the Mediterranean Sea - leaving ALL of Israel as the new State of Palestine with ALL of Jerusalem as its capital and the capital only of "Palestine". It?s shows clearly on all of their maps, on their TV, in their school books, on their stationary, on their uniforms.....!! But, since the Jews would rather listen to themselves with formulas of this fake Peace, they must die. They have not chosen life for themselves and their country. One cannot help but remember the description by Josephus in his "War of the Jews" wherein the Jews argued with each other as the Romans crept up and slit their throats - after starving them to death. We thought that the Muslims were demented for sending their children and their fathers to become "Shahids" (Martyrs for Islam) but the Jews seem to have a reciprocal need to die as Martyrs. They offer themselves up as human sacrifices and their Land (promised by G-d in perpetuity) as a burnt offering - hoping their acts of contrition will bring pity from their eternal, self-declared enemies and the rest of the world. Maybe they?ll built another memorial museum. The Jews meet and talk to themselves about how appreciative the Muslim Arab will be for their ultimate sacrifice. Choosing to die for the sake of one's enemies is the eternal mark of the fools from Chelm! 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). To Go To Top

MK DR. ARIEH ELDAD IS WALKING ACROSS ISRAEL HOPING TO STOP THE ETHNIC CLEANSING OF THE JEWS Posted by AFSI, April 8, 2005.

EMERGENCY SITUATION - TO ALL CONCERNED PARTIES: This is a letter we received from our very dear friend, Member of Knesset, Dr. Arieh Eldad. He and his wife, Eleora, moved to Sanur, one of the four communities in northern Samaria that is threatened with expulsion by decree of Ariel Sharon. The letter describes his extraordinary efforts to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Jews from any part of the Promised Land, and asks for your help. If you wish to send financial help, email afsi@rcn.com for instructions, or call AFSI at 212-828-2424. Dear Helen and Herb, I want to let you know about my plans. There are thousands of Jews in Gush Katif and North Samaria that can not fall asleep. They think of the terrible future ahead. It seems that the state of Israel is running into collision with her best citizens. The risk of a civil war is substantial. In such a situation one cannot continue with business as usual. I can not even stay in my new home in Sa-Nur in North Samaria, where Eleora and I moved last Tuesday. I decided to start walking. I will take a tent and sleeping bag, and walk from Sa-Nur to Mevo-Dotan. We will sleep there. The next day we will walk from Mevo Dotan to Shaked, and then to Ganim and Kadim, two settlements that are planned for uprooting like Sa-Nur. And then we will walk along the country to the settlements in the north of the Gaza strip and to Gush Katif. We will be five in the first day, 25 in the second day, and by the end of the week I hope we will be hundreds of marchers. If this will move the people of Israel, soon we will be many thousands. We will talk to the people who are candidates for deportation, and with the people along the fence, explaining that their lives are going to be changed under the shade of Kassam missiles that will be fired from the areas that Israel will evacuate. We will talk to people who think that they support the disengagement plan and ask them to join us to meet the settlers, to express some humane support, to understand their situation. Maybe it will change their minds. I feel it might be the last chance to organize a non-violent movement to stop the plan. Otherwise it will be the clash on the fence of Gush Katif with our soldiers. I have no logistic or financial support at all. I trust some support will arrive on the way if many people will join us. I hope you will be able to join us or help in any other way. Yours Arieh Eldad 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. To Go To Top

JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS Posted by A. Koltov, April 8, 2005.

UNFORTUNATELY MOST OF THE JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS ARE TOO BUSY COLLECTING MONEY, DINNERS GATHERINGS AND BEING POLLITICALY CORRECT. JEWISH PUBLIC RELATIONS ARE TOO OBSOLETE AND DECADENT, EVEN, I WOULD SAY, THEY ARE IN DENIAL - AND IT'S NOT THE RIVER IN EGYPT FOR SURE. THE HOLOCAUST NEVER ENDED.......IT JUST PAUSED 60 YEARS A. Koltov can be reached at akoltov@aol.com To Go To Top

COVERING FOR TERRORISM Posted by Barry Rubin, April 7, 2005.

At least three Arab countries are facing systematic terrorist campaigns. Yet today, almost four years after the September 11 attacks, they and others still do not understand that without viewing all real terrorism as identical the problem will never be rooted out. Terrorism is the deliberate effort to kill civilians. It is a political action designed to frighten the victimized side into surrender, on the one hand, and to mobilize support on one_s own side, on the other hand. In short, there must be a popular base of support for murder. This factor presupposes a deliberate demonization of another group. Of course, the main terrorist campaign has been conducted against Israel, but Iraq, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia are now being subjected to the same treatment by the same kind of--and sometimes by the very same--people. In Iraq, the perpetrators are Sunni Muslim supporters of Saddam Hussein or Usama bin Ladin who want to take over and rule the country. The terrorists in Saudi Arabia are also bin Ladin supporters with the same goal. The Lebanese case involves supporters or agents of Syria who want to prove that the country cannot be stable and peaceful unless it is controlled by Damascus. Within each of these three countries, the terrorism against themselves is denounced passionately. Yet at the same time, the vast majority of the people--including some of those decrying the local version--endorse terrorism against Israel as legitimate. The basis of this position is a total misrepresentation of both Israel_s nature and behavior as well as of the conflict itself. False atrocity claims are coupled with the complete ignoring of Israel_s efforts to make peace, end the occupation, and accept a Palestinian state as part of a full peace agreement. Rare indeed even today is the speech by an Arab leader or explanation in the Arab media of these realities, outnumbered by a factor of fifty or more by lies and incitement. The same applies to Palestinian society, even under the new post-Arafat leadership. Yet there, too, the poisonous fruits of terrorism are being reaped. The constant glorification of terrorist "martyrs" and incitement has created a situation where it is extremely hard, perhaps impossible, for the Palestinian leadership to reach a compromise solution. Armed thugs, enrobed with the aura of heroes, can demand protection money from law-abiding Palestinians and even shoot up the home of Fatah and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud Abbas without fear of punishment. Entire Arab countries are now being subjected to similar treatment and discovering the costs of this system. The Saudis are still raising massive amounts of funds for Palestinian terrorists to carry out the same kind of attacks that are subverting Saudi society. The Lebanese are being pressed into letting Hizballah, which supports a continued Syrian military occupation, to run a large part of the country and attack Israel whenever it pleases. How can Lebanon rebuild and attract foreign investment when an armed terrorist militia is allowed to act like a state within a state? Moreover, Syria still is not the least bit frightened of using terrorism against its neighbor, apparently believing--with good reason--there will be no real international costs for doing so. Iraq is the most extreme case. Last February, a suicide bomber blew up his car in the city of Hilla, most of whose people are Shia Muslims, in front of a health office, killing 132 people and wounding another 120. It turned out that the terrorist was a Jordanian named Raid Mansour al-Banna. Afterward, his family in Jordan held a celebration in honor of his arriving in paradise and being married off to 72 virgins there. How did his family justify his and their own behavior? First, they inaccurately explained that it was a heroic act because all those supposedly killed were not Muslims but Americans. Then, however, his brother added that even if those murdered were Shia Muslims that was all right because the Shia were all American and Jewish agents who should be killed. Shia Islam, he claimed, had been created by the Jews back in the seventh century. Although these are bizarre fantasies, such ideas having little to do with reality are commonly held in those societies and are promoted in different forms by the media and the intellectuals there. Iraqi Shia were understandably outraged. They pointed out that the Jordanian government was permitting on its soil the incitement to murder Iraqis and the recruitment of terrorists to do so. In particular, they criticized Jordanian Muslim clerics for not denouncing this kind of behavior and claims. The Jordanian government did, however, do something in response to this crisis: it arrested the Jordanian journalist who had published the original story about the celebration of the terrorist_s death. It also denied that the terrorist was a Jordanian, as the Saudis have done about the September 11 hijackers. In other words, the response was not to try to change anything but merely to try to keep news of what was going on from coming out. And Jordan, it should be remembered, is arguably the most moderate state in the Arab world. It is now the middle of the year 2005, well into the twenty-first century. If Arab governments and journalists have still not learned to tell truth from falsehood, the dangers of playing with terrorism, and the most basic morality in connection with these issues, when will they ever do so? Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC), and co-author of "Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography and Hating America: A History" (Oxford University Press, August 2004). Rubin's columns can now be read online at http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/column.html. To Go To Top

THERE NEVER WAS A MASSACRE AT DEIR YASSIN! Posted by Dafna Yee, April 7, 2005.

April 7, 2005 marks the 57th "anniversary" of the BATTLE -- not "massacre" -- of Deir Yassin. That event is a favorite whipping boy for people who try and justify the deliberate murders of Israeli civilians by "Palestinian" terrorists. They point to Deir Yassin and say that the Jews acted just as barbarically. They have gone so far as to fabricate an entire "history" of a "massacre" which never occurred! Not incidently, this lie also helps to give credence to the widespread myth of Israeli "atrocities" today. I wrote this article many years ago, but I've been urged to recirculate it to help counter the "commemorations" of a non-existent event that are being planned for today. There are some additions to the original so if you haven't read it since it was first published, I recommend a rereading today. While reviewing how different sites reported the 'Deir Yassin massacre' to prepare for a letter expressing my outrage to reading the article, "A Revolutionary Coincidence" by Marc Ellis (yet another 'jewish' traitor) (http://www.junity.org/resources/ellis.htm), I came across an apparent counter-article on an excellent website (the Jewish Delaware - http://www.jewishdelaware.esmartweb.com/) with the title: "Deir Yassin: History of a Lie March 9, 1998". Imagine how dismayed I was when I found myself reading an article perpetrating the very vile lies (and adding to them) that it was supposed to refute. Luckily, it turned out that the link was at fault, not the article or the website. The piece that had outraged me is called, "THE 1948 MASSACRE AT DEIR YASSIN REVISITED" by Matthew Hogan (http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m2082/2_63/72435149/print.jhtml) The link has now been corrected and I'm very happy to direct everyone to read the original article, "Deir Yassin: History of a Lie March 9, 1998" at its source, The Zionist Organization of America (http://www.zoa.org/pubs/DeirYassin.htm) The only drawback is that it is long and detailed, but for anyone who wishes to learn all the truths and myths still surrounding Deir Yassin, it is well worth the time and effort (the same can be said about Jewish Delaware.) I'm also happy to say that the ZOA document corroborated every one of the sources that I had found that refuted the atrocious falsehoods in ALL the so-called 'histories.' Although both Ellis and Hogan claim that they have carefully researched their articles, they rely almost exclusively on 'eyewitness' testimony which is an all too common occurrence. (In actual fact, eye-witness testimony is the LEAST reliable form of evidence. http://www.trowbridgefoundation.org/docs/eyewitness.htm) I have been studying, teaching and writing about Jewish history for over 30 years and I've learned that Deir Yassin was no more of a massacre than Jenin was. (FYI, I thought that the "massacre" myth was true for many years -- until I started researching history for myself instead of relying on other people's accounts. Even people you respect can teach false information.) Here are some proofs: The actual truth is, there were the same number of 'rapes' in Deir Yassin as there were 'buried corpses' in Jenin. ZERO! I don't expect you to take my word for this; instead, I suggest you use another excellent link - The Jewish Virtual Library's page on Deir Yassin (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/deir_yassin.html) Their account matches the Irgun's version almost exactly (see the Irgun website, ETZEL's Deir Yassin page at: http://www.etzel.org.il/english/index2.html) The village of Deir Yassin had an ugly reputation for frequent sniper attacks on Jewish civilians for years before the battle in question took place. It served as a center for weapons trafficking during the violent Arab outbreaks in 1920 and villagers from Deir Yassin are known to have participated in the violent Nebi Mussa festival. (See Bernard Wasserstein's text, "The British in Palestine: The Mandatory Government and the Arab-Jewish Conflict 1917-1929") Deir Yassin was definitely not 'holding to a truce' as is claimed by so many people. Any thorough examination of the actions of the Arabs, especially those who were living along the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road that blockaded Jerusalem will demonstrate that NO ARABS in that area behaved as the reports claim the 'innocent' Deir Yassin villagers did! When I inquired as to any evidence of a truce in Deir Yassin to the researchers at The Truth (http://users.actcom.co.il/thetruth/patrioticEmail.htm), another resource site, I received this answer in reply: "I know of only one truce. It was signed (in Jerusalem) by the Jews of Mechor Haim neighborhood and the Arabs of Beit Safafa neighborhood in 1929 after the murderous Arab riots all over Palestine. This truce held up to the War of Independence." There is no documented evidence of any 'peace pact' in Deir Yassin and there IS evidence of aggressive anti-Jewish activity there (Jerusalem: Capital of Israel http://www.jerusalemarchives.org/period4/4-13.html.) In addition, there are many records from Jews who survived the 1929 riots in Jerusalem which specifically name the Arabs in Deir Yassin as active participants. (For one such account, see "Raquella: A Woman in Israel" by Ruth Gruber.) However, the biggest reason to disbelieve the talks of 'peaceful Arabs in Deir Yassin' is the very fact that the attack on that particular village was performed as an organized military venture decided on by all the Jewish leaders acting together because Jerusalem was being strangled. The Jews had neither manpower nor ammunition to spare on frivolous raids and there were a multitude of dangerous 'hotspots' along that route (the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Road) where Jews were being killed every day trying to bring supplies to besieged Jerusalem. They chose Deir Yassin specifically because that was the village that could best achieve its objective --- removal of a KNOWN hostile enemy force situated on the vital lifeline of Jerusalem. In fact, Deir Yassin was selected precisely because Arabs (both villagers and 'outside irregulars') were using its position overlooking the main road (it is a natural ambush point -- look at the Map of 1947 Jerusalem (http://www.jerusalem-archives.org/period4/4-1.html) to fire on Jews in the vulnerable homemade convoys. Any innocent, i.e., noncombatant Arabs, who were killed in that day lost their lives because the Arabs fought from a well-defended and well-prepared position (they were actually much better armed than the Jews) and deliberately used women and children as shields (which is an unfortunately too common practice of theirs.) If you've never read the book, "Cast a Giant Shadow" by Ted Berkman (the biography of Colonel Mickey Marcus) then I highly recommend that you do so. It is one of the best accounts of what was going on in Palestine prior to the War of Independence that has ever been written and the book's accounts corroborate everything in the sites I've mentioned (and belies those articles which talk about the "massacre" as if it actually happened.) While the possibility, even the probability, exists that some Irgun soldiers fired when they didn't absolutely have to (from fear or anger or whatever,) a massacre couldn't have taken place because there were too many uninjured survivors (well over 100 people with no wounds at all.) Compare that to few if any survivors when defenseless Jews were victims of the multiple Arab massacres, such as the 1929 Hebron Massacre (http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/History/hebron29.html) The Arabs 'excuse' for those murders (and many others) was the same twisted false rumors of 'Jewish atrocities' that are used today to explain the 'homicide bombers' vile barbaric acts of mass murder of innocents. It was no truer in 1948 than it is today. Many people, including such notorious Jew-haters as David Duke and Yasser Arafat, consider the fact that they have statements made by Jews themselves as bona-fide evidence of Jewish/Zionist perfidy. They don't just accept that traitors from "within the ranks" have troubled Jews since Biblical times (that's why Isaiah specifically warned against them.) Unfortunately, there are literally hundreds of such traitors and Deir Yassin is a favorite rallying 'cause' for them. But, no matter who says it, even a 'Jewish expert' like Marc Ellis, it's still a lie! It is a blot on decent people everywhere that there are still so many places that promote these vicious lies which are used by Israel's enemies despite massive amounts of evidence disproving all of the allegations. Possibly the worst of these sites is called Deir Yassin Remembered (http://www.deiryassin.org/). These false accounts of 'Jewish atrocities' do not become 'verified' just because a Jew states them but they do become more dangerous! See what David Duke has to say about Deir Yassin on his home page AND WHO HE CITES AS EXPERTS at http://www.duke.org/ (or at any one of the 240 sites where his article on that subject is published and/or cited including the notorious Radio Islam http://abbc.com/duke/04.htm) and you'll see the evidence for yourself. Just one more point. Even IF a small group of Jews had open fire on 'defenseless Arabs', this incident pales in comparison to the numerous murders that have been carried out (and are STILL being perpetrated) against Jews who are unquestionably innocent of any involvement in today's struggle. Citing this alleged 'massacre' an an excuse for the barbaric behavior occuring today (i.e., blowing up children far from the 'front') is just another example of of the twisted, evil thinking that is behind the 'suicide bombers' despicable actions. I hope that this essay has brought the truth about Deir Yassin just a little bit closer to the forefront of people's minds. Also, that it will give people the ammunition to fight this vicious propaganda effectively. Dafna Yee is director of Jewish Watch Dog (JWD) (http://jwd-jewishwatchdog.home.comcast.net). To Go To Top

MORE SHARON DIRTY TRICKS AGAINST OPPONENTS; Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 7, 2005.

MORE SHARON DIRTY TRICKS AGAINST OPPONENTS; POLICE STATE TACTICS; SHARON FAMILY CORRUPTION Left-wing "Maariv" revealed that a police agent provocateur was responsible for much of the unpalatable and unpopular acts that the media had widely attributed to the right-wing protestors against PM Sharon's abandonment plan. He has cost the Right much public support. He instigated the bumper sticker that implied a threat against PM Sharon's life (or a wish that he would drop dead) and stickers against the Arabs. He recruited people for road-blocking that irritated the public. He also is an informant (probably of plans for legal protests, that the government would thwart illegally.) He may have done and been planning more violent deeds, being guaranteed police protection for doing so. No one is investigating who put him up to this (Arutz-7, 2/21 and IMRA). The failure to investigate the source, in addition to the man's crimes being unindicted, indicates a great subversion of what is supposed to be a democracy. Will this revelation be the final nudge that gets Israelis to see that they have been manipulated by the US and by the Left, including Sharon, against the Right? FREEDOM OF SPEECH FOR THE LEFT, ONLY "Yediot Ahronot," another leftist newspaper, revealed "that demonstrators of the left-wing Yachad/Meretz party hung posters and gave out flyers at a busy intersection. A police car pulled up, and the policeman asked, 'Are you demonstrating in favor or against the disengagement?' They said, 'In favor.' He said, 'Oh, OK, so there won't be any problems with you' - and drove off. Many anti-disengagement protestors have reported that the police do not allow them to hold their protests." (Op. Cit..) HIZBULLAH ON U.S. Pres. Bush suggests that Hizbullah devote itself solely to political activities rather than to military ones as well. On February 20, the head of that terrorist organization chanted with his crowd, "Death to America!" (IMRA, 2/22.) Has Bush no second thoughts about perhaps letting Hizbullah take over Lebanon? NOT JUST COLUMBIA U. ZOA filed a complaint against UCLA Irvine with the US Dept. of Education's Office for Civil Rights. The complaint alleged harassment, intimidation, and discrimination against Jewish students. The students repeatedly notified the Administration. They were ignored. The Office for Civil Rights is not ignoring it. Students informed investigators that they were threatened and attacked physically. They described an atmosphere of hatred towards Jews and Israel (ZOA Report, spring, 2005). When Jews are involved, hostility often turns into violence against them. The report failed to describe this hostility. My guess is that it is not normal "criticism of some of Israel's policies," "exchange of views," and "academic freedom" for scholars to do independent research. It usually is regimented defamation of Israel that criticizes Israel's right to exist, blocks expression of dissenting views, and is false Islamist propaganda in favor of jihadists against Jews and the West, not at all scholarly. Lies are not scholarship. That is the way it is at Columbia and at various Israeli colleges. THE CORRUPT SHARON FAMILY "Arutz-7's Shimon Cohen notes that an example of the media's silence concerns its treatment of information that he himself uncovered regarding Sharon's connections with Greek Orthodox Church Patriarch Irineos. Cohen found evidence purportedly showing that the Prime Minister advanced Irineos' appointment as Patriarch - which required Israeli government approval - in order that Irineos, a friend of Yasser Arafat, approve the sale of a Greek island for the purpose of the construction of a spectacular resort that was to earn Sharon's son Gilad millions of dollars. Before we published this on Arutz-7," Cohen says, 'I gave it to senior reporters and investigative reporters on Channels One and Two, and to Haaretz and Maariv, but no one chose to take up the gauntlet and to deal with the grave findings.'" (Arutz-7, 2/22.) The media does not pursue cases of Sharon's corruption, lest he be ousted and his plan to abandon territory to the Arabs not be completed. STILL ANOTHER BLOW TO ISRAELI DEMOCRACY Seven men from the Gush Katif section of Gaza protested peacefully against the removal of checkpoints and roadblocks in Gaza, used to bar the transportation of rockets fired at Israelis in Gaza and in Israel. They were arrested and held for 10 days, longer than previously for such cases. For one reason, the judge sent word that she was ill and could not hear their case. Later she was discovered to have been in her office, not at all ill. The government is stifling freedom of speech for opponents (Arutz-7, 2/22). Americans would be outraged if it happened to them. HOW SHARON FRUSTRATED WILL OF THE PEOPLE "Our outlook is being implemented in the Government by someone who was elected on a completely different platform." (IMRA, 2/22 from Minister (Labor) Chaim Ramon - quoted on Israel Television -Mabat News, 21 February 2005.) Sharon won the election by deceiving the electorate. TURKEY SIGNS MILITARY COOPERATION PACTS Turkey signed a military cooperation pact with Syria, and is negotiating one with Egypt (IMRA, 2/22). Many countries are doing this. Many countries are having joint maneuvers. Some say they are cooperating against terrorism. But they support P.A.. "BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL" BECOMES PROPAGANDIST "The latest Jew-baiting piece of political propaganda from the British Medical Journal claims the (Israel security) fence is a 'health danger' for Palestinians (Arabs). Why? Well, a Palestinian seeking free medical treatment at an Israeli hospital and clinic might have to pass through a security check to get help. And that might endanger his health. The Left has long denounced Israel for stopping and searching ambulances carrying Palestinians trying to enter Israel for free treatment, but has never denounced the PLO from using those very same ambulances to smuggle bombs, weapons, and suicide bombers. And was I out of the room when free medical services at Israeli clinics became a Palestinian entitlement? What happened to all that talk about how Palestinians wanted to be independent of the Zionists and run their own services?" (Prof. Steven Plaut, 2/22, e-mail.) This is another era of Jew-baiting, done by making hypocritical accusations against Israel. Why does Israel offer free health care to Palestinian Arabs, the enemy population? TREATMENT OF ARABS & OF JEWS When Oslo was found to have led to bases of terrorism, the question was how should Israel eradicate the terrorism. Prof. Plaut suggested shutting off the utility flow into towns from which terrorism originated. The idea was ridiculed as a rights violation that would not be accepted. Now PM Sharon is forcibly withdrawing the Jews from certain terrorist territory in Gaza and northern Samaria. One of his methods for subduing resistance to the abandonment is to shut of fthe water and electricity feeding into those communities. What is too harsh a treatment for the Arabs apparently is not too harsh a treatment for the Jews (Plaut, 2/22, e-mail). PM Sharon shames the Jewish people, first for abandoning its patrimony under fire, and a second time for his cruel methods to his own people. He does not consider them his own people, rather, as an obstacle that his military mind thinks of as a problem to be ridden over. WHO ASSASSINATED HARIRI? An Egyptian newspaper asserted that Israel arranged the assassination with the complicity of the US. Who else, the paper asks, has the technical expertise for it (IMRA, 2/20). Syria has. It's done that before. IRAQ VS. SYRIA Iraqi officers displayed on television men accused of being agents of Syrian intelligence, captured in Iraq, where they allegedly fostered the insurgency. The claims were not confirmed (IMRA, 2/23). Is this a case of the old Mideast disrupting the emergence of a new Mideast? EGYPT'S CONTRIBUTION TO PEACE EFFORTS "Egypt - that enjoys praise for its 'contribution to peace efforts', is obligated by its treaty with Israel to prevent weapons smuggling. So far Egypt's "contribution" has been continuing to allow the smuggling of weapons in Gaza through Egypt and Egyptian efforts to insure that Hamas and Islamic Jihad forces in Gaza are not disarmed." "Egypt has insisted on Israeli withdrawal from the corridor between Gaza and Egyptian territory as part of an agreement they are negotiating to go with an Israeli withdrawal from the rest of Gaza." (IMRA, 2/23.) Won't the major media ask rhetorically whether Egypt wants the Israelis out of the corridor so that the terrorists not disarmed would be able to smuggle in heavier arms? NEW ISRAELI CHIEF OF STAFF The new Chief is the head of the Air Force. In that position, he developed air-borne and other techniques that defeated P.A. terrorism (to the extent that PM Sharon, constantly withdrawing the IDF from the fight, allowed). As an innovator, the General is expected to concentrate both on the nuclear threat from Iran and mass-terrorism. He uses methods of the future, including space technology (IMRA, 2/23). SHARON'S DIRTY TRICKS AGAINST "SETTLERS" PM Sharon and the Israeli media keep alleging more and more threats against the life of Sharon and the grave of his wife. When reporters call the Prime Minister's Bureau for confirmation, they are told there are no threats. Sharon and the media pretend there are, in order to gain sympathy for his plan, to inflict notoriety upon his opposition, and to head off a public outcry over his excessive use of force when ousting them from their homes. "Maariv" found that a special intelligence unit of the (centralized) Israeli police has been spreading rumors of such threats. A disturbed woman, who has been issuing such threats for 14 years, never taken seriously before, is cited now. Hmn. (Winston Mid East Analysis, 2/23) SHARON CORRUPTION Sharon's official advisor, Dov Weissglass also is the Sharon family lawyer. He also represented the Jericho Casino, in which Arafat, his security chief Jibril Rajoub, and the Sharon family are investors. The IDF found that the Casino a major source of money laundering for terrorism. Weissglas was ordered to divest himself from the Casino and from his positions with Sharon. He failed to do so. Instead, he handled negotiations with the P.A., in which he approved the reopening of the Casino, in which his client has an interest. "This means that the man who oversees the sensitive foreign affairs and security negotiations on behalf of the state of Israel is also running a law firm for a casino that launders funds for terror activity against the state of Israel while at the same time representing MK Omri Sharon, who stands to be indicted in a case of election fraud against Weissglass's government client, the Prime Minister of the State of Israel." Every major news agency has access to this story of scandal and national betrayal, discovered by David Bedein of the Israel Resource News Agency, but they don't pick it up. This shows that the media there is partisan and not a watchdog. Will the foreign press pick up the story, or will it, too, prefer to let Sharon get away with this corruption, rather than disturb his pro-Arab policies? (Op. Cit..) SHIMON PERES' INVESTMENTS In coordination with the World Bank and Arafat, Shimon Peres organized a Peace Investment Fund in the Cayman Islands, with the P.A. as a principal investor. (Why there? For tax evasion?) Did Peres earn a commission of several hundred thousand dollars? Did Peres use his position as Cabinet Minister to help set this up, and does he or his Peace Center have investments in it? There were other investments involved, for which the Peres Peace Center was advisor. Why is the Center an advisor for experienced corporations? The P.A. caused some local companies to prosper overnight, by giving them monopolies in the new venture. Did Peres have advance notice of this, and did his Center advise it, such that he was part of a stock manipulation scheme? Did the Fund or Peres and associates get a fee? (Op. Cit..) The specific figures and other details seem damning. Profits are going to be made from the abandonment plan, too. (Guess who is in charge of the economic aspects of the Plan? Vice-PM Peres (Ibid.). 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. To Go To Top

WHAT CONNECTS AIPAC, MONEY FOR THE PLO, IRAN, NUKES, AND ISRAEL? Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 7, 2005.

It has been reported that AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) has been recruited through extreme pressure by Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President George W. Bush to try and push through a $200 million payout to the Palestinian/PLO. The objective is three-fold - namely, 1. to convince Congress a distrustful to fund Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) 2. to convince Christian Conservatives that the 'Road Map' helps Israel and 3. to silence those of the Jewish community who see the 'disengagement' as merely another Oslo. Perhaps this will shed more light on the FBI's prior sting operation through the planted information that Israel was about to be attacked by Iran - possibly with nuclear weapons. (1-33) Clearly, the FBI sting, using the devastating planted threat of an imminent or possible nuclear attack by Iran, was intended to generate a panicked response by AIPAC (which it did) and to put a choke-hold on AIPAC so that they would do whatever Bush, Rice, the U.S. State Department and James Baker mandated. Planting or withholding seemingly vital intelligence is merely one tactic in controlling through entrapment either a friend or an enemy. We all recall when then Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger withheld vital intelligence from Israel about Saddam Hussein's production of poison gas - despite a Presidential M.O.U. (Memorandum of Understanding) to ensure that Israel received the vital information she needed to survive. Sacrificing a nation's word and, therefore, its honor speaks of leaders without character or personal honor. Keep in mind that it was useful to be able to blackmail AIPAC into performing as the Spokesman on the Hill for Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen). The U.S. Congress does not trust Abu Mazen nor does it trust the motives of the Bush Administration in its desire to flood more American tax-payers dollars into the Palestinian coffers. The Arab Muslim Palestinians have well earned the distrust of Congress and the American people. The Congress knows that America has been taken to the tune of several Billion dollars that went into the rat tunnels of Yassir Arafat's organizations. They know that those same tunnels and conduits to secret bank accounts are still there and fully operational in terms of funneling more money to the Terrorists. Abu Mazen does not dare cut off fund to the Terrorists lest they eliminate him as no longer useful as a front before the West. Add to that the fact that Arafat's stash of $4 to 8 Billion dollars is beginning to surface. Why must Congress approve more wasted U.S. tax-payers' dollars when the Billions of prior monies is already there? What isn't being said is that they don't expect Abu Mazen to last very long and that Hamas, in coalition with such Terrorists such as Hezb'Allah, will become the controlling government in the next elections. Whatever money is there or will come in will go straight into the treasury of Hamas, followed by the purchase of more, heavier and more deadly weapons. The assault on Israel has been forecast by Israel's General Staff and Intelligence Services which makes the 'disengagement' a useless gesture and more like a suicide pact. Since the Palestinians are rightfully not trusted by either Congress or the American people, Bush through the arranged FBI Sting has an arm-lock on AIPAC, expecting them to sell Congress on the Bush package for the Palestinians. (An arm-lock in wrestling means that your adversary's arm is twisted behind his back to the point of breaking.) Keeping Abu Mazen in office and alive at least until the Jewish settlers are forced out of Gaza is a high priority for salvaging the Bush Road Map. What else will Bush demand of AIPAC now and in the future, using the arm-twisting information developed through the FBI entrapment plan? The FBI hustle smells to high heaven and Congress knows it. For this kind of entrapment to work, the bait must be irresistible - such as leaking to AIPAC that Israel was in danger of getting hit by Iran's missiles. Blackmailing AIPAC to become the representative for Arab Muslim Palestinian Terrorists is a new low for both Bush and the U.S. State Department. As for PM Arik Sharon, there seems to be no bottom to his perfidy. ### The following is a short compendium of headlines that are self-explanatory as to Iran's position as a deadly enemy against israel & with nuclear arms. 1. "The Discovery of Iran: Are you sitting down? Iran is a terrorist state." by Michael Ledeen National Review Online July 19, 20042. "Rice Says Iran Must Not Be Allowed to Develop Nuclear Arms" by David Sanger NEW YORK TIMES August 9, 2004 3. "Iran's Nuclear Gamble...." Editorial CHICAGO TRIBUNE August 9, 2004 4. "The Iranian Connection" by David Wilder Hebron/Arutz7-IsraelNationalNews Oct. 5, 2004 5. "FBI says Pentagon Analyst Gave Secrets to Israel via AIPAC" by Nathan Guttman Haaretz Aug. 29, 2004 6. "Mole-Hunt: An Expert on U.S.-Israeli Relations Details from His Recent Visit with the FBI --FBI Investigating Neocons for Espionage" by Jason Vest & Laura Rozen American Prospect Sept. 3, 2004 7. "And Now A Mole: In the Pentagon, suspected spy allegedly passes secrets about Iran to Israel" by Michael Isikoff & Mark Hosenball NEWSWEEK Sep. 6, 2004 8. "Do I Spy an Israeli Spy in AIPAC?" by Genevieve Cora Fraser Scoop.co.nz/ Sep. 6, 2004 9. "Cloak & Swagger: Larry Franklin Spy Probe Reveals an Escalating Fight Over Control of Iran Policy" by Laura Rozen & Jason Vest AMERICAN PROSPECT Nov. 2, 2004 10."Iran's Al-Qaeda Link: What the 9-11 Commission Found" by Middle East Quarterly Fall 2004 11."Spat Erupts Between Neocons, Intelligence Community" by Edwin Black Forward Jan. 7, 05 12. "The New Appeasers" by Joseph Farah WorldNetDaily Feb. 9, 2005 13. "Khan Job: Bush Spiked Probe of Pakistan's Dr. Strangelove" by Greg Palast Strike-the-Root.com Feb. 10, 2005 14. "The Iranian Threat" by Steven Stalinsky FrontPageMagazine.com Feb. 10, 2005 15. "Iranian Intrigue" by Caroline Glick JERUSALEM POST Feb. 11, 2005 16. "Will Washington Support Democracy in Iran?" by Michael Rubin Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Feb. 13, 2005 17. "Iran Urges Islamic Vigilance Against 'Plots'" by Nasser Karimi Associated Press Feb. 18, 05 18. "Iran Readies for Feared Attack by U.S." by Borzou Daragahi Washington Times Feb. 19, 05 19. "Israel Pushes U.S. on Iran Nuke Solution" by Rowan Scarborough Washington Times Feb. 21, 2005 20. "Iran-Russian Nuclear-Fuel Deal Hits Snag" by Ali Akbar Dareini AP Israeli & Global News Feb. 26, 2005 21. "Envoys Say Iran Had Nuclear Basis in '80s: Black Market Helped Supply Know-how" by George Jahn CHICAGO TRIBUNE Feb. 27, 2005 22. "The Mullahs' Nukes" Editorial CHICAGO TRIBUNE March 4, 2005 23. "On Iran, Bush Weighs Joint Strategy with Europeans" by Steven R. Weisman NEW YORK TIMES March 4, 2005 24. "The Least Bad Option: The Real Choices We Face in Dealing with Tehran's Nuclear Program" by Jeffrey Bergner WEEKLY STANDARD March 7, 2005 25. "U.S. Calls for Sanctions in Response to Iran's Nuclear Defiance" AIPAC March 9, 2005 26."How to Deter Iran" by Ze'ev Schiff HA'ARETZ March 11, 2005 27."Iran Out of Lebanon, Too" by Joseph Farah WorldNetDaily.com March 11, 2005 28."Iran Nuclear 'Nightmare' very close, Israel" SABC (South African Broadcasting) March 12, 05 29."Iran Has 12 Strategic Cruise Missiles" DEBKAfile March 20, 2005 30."Nuclear Iran" by Rachel Neuwirth March 27, 2005 31."Franklin Affair Blows Neo-Con Moles at DOD" by Jeffrey Steinberg LaRouche PAC 3/31/05 32."Why Iran Must Not Be Allowed Nuclear Weapons" by Prof. Louis René Beres, WorldNetDaily.com, April 6, 2005 33."We are walking on a Knife's Edge" & U.S. & E.U. Should "Get Used to the idea of a Nuclear Iran" by A. Savyon MEMRI.org April 6, 2005 memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=IA21805 CHeck other google sources key words:"iran nuclear aipac larry franklin" 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). To Go To Top

THE HEBRON WALL Posted by Hebron Community Organization, April 7, 2005.

See pictures at http://www.hebron.com/news/wallhebron.htm Israeli Defense Force engineers completed the first stage of the new "Hebron Wall" in the early hours of the morning. Some fifty concrete barriers, piled in two rows, now adorn the north-east corner of the Avraham Avinu neighborhood, adjacent to the playground and kindergarten. The second stage of the Hebron wall is supposed to include a roof, which will cover part of the Sharabati house. Most security forces left the neighborhood and the heavy equipment was removed, as were the barriers closing off much of the area. Not surprisingly, Hebron community leaders learned late last night that senior IDF officers brazenly lied to them. During numerous meetings with Hebron military commander, Col. Motti Baruch, the leaders were told that the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the IDF to allow the Sharabati family to return to their home. According to a protocol from yesterday's emergency supreme court hearing, held due to the forced closing of Hebron's kindergarten, "the state notified (the court) on 19.12.04, that the commander of Judea and Samaria decided to permit the family to return to the home by 1.2.05." In other words, the decision to allow the family back was not taken by the court, rather, by the army. Hebron community leaders are presently consulting with attorneys to decide on their next step. 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 To Go To Top

INVOLVEMENT OF ISRAELI ARABS IN TERRORISM Posted by Dr. Reuven Erlich, April 7, 2005.

The involvement of Israeli Arabs in terrorism: In 2004, 25 cells were uncovered in which 50 Israeli Arabs were involved. Since the beginning of the Israeli-Palestinian violent confrontation (September 2000), 112 cells that perpetrated or planned to perpetrate terrorist attacks have been uncovered; 236 Israeli Arabs were involved in the activity of these cells. 136 Israelis were killed and 790 were wounded as a result of terrorist attacks perpetrated by these cells. (Source: ISA data) On March 24, 2005, legal charges were filed against an Israeli Arab, Ashraf Qaisi, residing in the village of Baqa al-Gharbiya. He is accused of transporting the suicide bomber to the suicide bombing attack at the Stage night club on Tel-Aviv's promenade. According to the indictment, Qaisi had contacts with members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in selecting a target for the terrorist attack. The involvement of Ashraf Qaisi in the terrorist attack is yet another expression of the familiar phenomenon of Israeli Arabs' involvement in terrorist attacks planned and perpetrated by the Palestinian terrorist organizations. In 2004, 25 cells were uncovered in which 50 Israeli Arabs were involved. These cells took part in 7 terrorist attacks that did not result in casualties. The involvement of Israeli Arabs in terrorism in the course of 2004 has two main characteristics: * Israeli Arabs as terrorists who take part in terrorist attacks. In 13 out of the 25 cells uncovered in 2004, Israeli Arabs operated as terrorists actively participating in the perpetration of terrorist attacks or the intent to perpetrate terrorist attacks. This figure indicates an increase in this pattern of action compared to 2003, when 5 cells in which Israeli Arabs participated as terrorists were uncovered. * Israeli Arabs as collaborators with terrorist activity directed from the Palestinian Authority administered territories. In 11 cells out of the 25, Israeli Arabs assisted in the perpetration of acts of terrorism from the Palestinian Authority administered territories by gathering information on potential targets for terrorist attacks, locating additional recruits, and transferring arms and ammunition from abroad and from Israel to terrorist cells in the Palestinian Authority administered territories. 10 cells provided assistance to terrorist activity knowingly while only one was deceived into assisting it. These figures indicate a drop compared to 2003. It should be noted that 7 out of the 25 cells uncovered in 2004 were independent cells that perpetrated or planned to perpetrate terrorist attacks in various forms (kidnapping soldiers, shooting, stabbing). The rest were directed by the Palestinian terrorist organizations (15) or by Hezbollah (3). An additional observable trend in 2004 is an increase in the number of Israeli Arabs under the age of 18 involved in terrorist attacks. In the year 2004, 9 Israeli Arabs under the age of 18 were involved in terrorist attacks compared to one in 2003, two in 2002 and five in 2001. Dr. Reuven Erlich is Head of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel. Its website address is http://www.intelligence.org This article is archived at http://www.intelligence.org.il/eng/pa_t_e/isr_arb.htm It is worth reading this in the original, which contains additional material and graphics. To Go To Top

COLUMNIST "ISRAEL SHAMIR" IS A SWEDISH NEONAZI IMPOSTOR Posted by Steven Plaut, April 7, 2005.

This appeared on http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/moonbatcentral/2005/04/ columnist-israel-shamir-is-swedish.html For many years the most openly anti-Semitic "Jew" filling the web with columns, attacking not only Israel but all of Judaism and Jewry, has been someone calling himself "Israel Shamir". He is the darling of both the far Left and the neonazi Right, not to mention al-Jazeera. His columns were carried for a while on Israel's far-Left daily "Haaretz", which often resembles a Palestinian newspaper published in Hebrew. He openly supports al-Qaeda and Islamist terror. "Shamir" describes himself as a Russian born Jew turned anti-Zionist, and also describes himself as an "Israeli columnist based in Jaffa." For many years (Daniel Pipes can back me up on this since he asked me about Shamir about ten years back) I have suspected that Shamir did not exist and that he was simply a code name for one or for a team of classical anti-Semites, pretending to be Jews. Some Zionist groups began making a similar assertion last year, although RENSE and similar neonazi web sites rushed to defend the myth of "Shamir". (Interestingly, "Shamir" is a fan of antiwar.com's Justin Raimondo although thinks Raimondo is too moderate.) "Shamir" in fact is not a Jew at all, but has worked for Zavtra, Russia's most anti-Semitic publication, and is allied with the Vanguard News Network, set up by an American, Alex Linder - a man so extreme that he was even ostracised by the US neo-Nazi National Alliance. His own website proudly reprints his views: Jews asked God to kill, destroy, humiliate, exterminate, defame, starve, impale Christians, to usher in Divine Vengeance and to cover God's mantle with blood of goyim ... The Ashkenazi Jews believed that spilled Jewish blood has a magic effect of calling down Divine Vengeance on the heads of the Gentiles ... The picture of Jews slaughtering children for cultic reasons exerted huge impact on the Christian peoples of Europe... "Shamir" exceeds the extremism even of people like DePaul University's Norman Finkelstein. Even Nigel Perry, a hater of Israel who runs the pro-terror "Electronic Intifada" web site, has denounced "Shamir" as an anti-Semite after "Shamir" ran a column containing medieval anti-Jewish blood libels. PLO front groups love him, although some Arabs have denounced him as an anti-Semite. The London Times has now "outed" this "Shamir". He is in fact a Swedish neonazi named J'ran Jermas. "Shamir's" name came up over a controversy in Britain this week in which a Moslem Labor Party member of the House of Lords named Lord Ahmed hosted a book launch in the Lords for the man going by the name of "Israel Shamir." The Times writes: 'The gist of Shamir/Jermas's speech at the meeting can be gleaned from its title, "Jews and the Empire." It included observations such as: All the [political] parties are Zionist-infiltrated... Your newspapers belong to Zionists ... Jews indeed own, control and edit a big share of mass media, this mainstay of Imperial thinking... In the Middle East we have just one reason for wars, terror and trouble ... and that is Jewish supremacy drive ... in Iraq, the US and its British dependency continue the same old fight for ensuring Jewish supremacy in the Middle East ... The Jews like an Empire ... This love of Empire explains the easiness Jews change their allegiance ... Simple minds call it "treacherous behaviour" but it is actually love of Empire per se. Now, there is a large and thriving Muslim community in England ... they are now on the side of freedom, against the Empire, and they are not afraid of enforcers of Judaic values, Jewish or Gentile. This community is very important in order to turn the tide ... Why would Lord Ahmed have hosted such a man in the Lords? It is, of course, possible that Lord Ahmed had no idea that Shamir/Jermas was a rabid anti-Semite. Yet it takes only a quick Google to discover his views and background. All this has come after a series of incidents involving comments by Labor Party officials considered offensive. In January, Labour produced two posters, one depicting Michael Howard as a Shylock or Fagin caricature, the other pasting faces of Mr Howard and Oliver Letwin on to pigs' bodies. This came following London Mayor Red Ken Livingstone's comparison of a Jewish reporter to a concentration camp guard. AMENDMENT: Ben Dror Yemini, editor at Maariv, just told me that Shamir exists but converted a while back to Christianity and took on the Swedish name. 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. To Go To Top

THE BIG 'APARTHEID' LIE Posted by TheRaphi, April 7, 2005.

They claim that, unlike every other ethnic group, the Jews have no right to self-determination and self-preservation. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East; the sole country in the region that offers the same freedoms of speech, press, religion and assembly to Christians, Muslims and Jews of all ages and genders. Israel alone offers its citizens a working justice system; free, open, and contested elections; and property rights. Yet there are people acting on self-interest alone who seek to demonize the just and free state of the Jewish people. The demonizers are anti-Semites who deny the "natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State," as stated in Israel's declaration of independence to define its raison d''tre. They claim that, unlike every other ethnic group, the Jews have no right to self-determination and self-preservation. In an effort to legitimize their flagrant anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism they also claim, in comparisons similar to that of a phoenix with a bird of prey, that Israel is a racist state that practices apartheid and therefore is illegitimate. These enemies of the Jews deny and ignore the fact that the Jewish people have maintained a continuous presence in Israel with Jerusalem as their eternal capital for the past 3400 years: well before the birth of Christ, Mohammed's conquest of Mecca, and the ensuing advent and spread of Christianity and Islam. Furthermore, they adopt a revisionist view of history in an attempt to portray the 'Palestinians' (many of whom were new arrivals - settlers - in the land themselves) as the as the "new Jews". In doing so, they propagate myths of widespread racism and apartheid by Israel towards the Arabs and more specifically, towards these Arabs. It is quite ironic that these people - racists and supporters of apartheid in many places throughout the world - should be making such claims. As a consequence of all these wild misrepresentations, the true meaning of institutionalized racism and apartheid is lost and its victims disrespected. What does apartheid really mean? An Afrikaans word meaning "separation" or literally "aparthood," apartheid is most commonly known as the policy of consistent racial separation and repression used in South Africa from 1948 to 1990. Introduced in 1910, the laws further curtailed the rights of the black majority in a state that already practiced institutionalized and systematic racism. Deprived of the right to vote or to strike, the black population had no means of political influence. Furthermore, freedoms of speech, press, religion, and assembly were denied them as were a working justice system, free, open, and contested elections, and property rights. In Israel all minorities enjoy these rights and are protected by the laws of its Western-style democracy, even in a Jewish majority. Let's take a look at the policies that these very same demonizers of the Jewish State either support or are apathetic towards. Did you know that blacks have been and continue to be used as slaves in Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia? Unlike blacks in America, where the slave population was permitted to grow (the women were actually encouraged to make themselves available to the sexual advances of their owners, fellow slaves, and others in order to increase the wealth of their masters), the blacks in Saudi Arabia are castrated so that the inherent threat of rebellion associated with an increased population would be minimized. Had America taken this approach, their black population would not have peaked at 4 million (roughly 1/3 of the South's population) before slavery was abolished there following the American Civil War. African Americans would be scarce in America, and perhaps still slaves. Furthermore, in the vast majority of the Arab world, there is detailed institutionalized racism that includes road signs reading, "Muslims go this way" and "infidels go other way" (referring to "non Muslims"), and these apartheid policies are strongly enforced. Even American women leaving US army bases in Saudi Arabia must wear a burqa-like robe over their clothing. Furthermore, unlike the Arabs that were encouraged by the Jews to stay in Israel after it was declared a state, with full rights as equal citizens, Jews were banished from most Arab lands and still are. Jews and the State of Israel are blamed for just about everything in Arab countries in governmental attempts to deflect the blame of their own failed institutions. Everything from tsunamis to 9/11 is the fault, somehow, of the Jews and the "evil ZIONIST state." In Arab countries, any rights guaranteed by the government apply only to Arabs, and even then they enjoy none of the freedoms of a democratic institution. More fuel for the apartheid charge comes from a misrepresentation of the true purpose of Israel's Security Fence. The Berlin Wall was constructed to stop people fleeing to freedom, while Israel's Security Fence serves precisely the opposite purpose - it prevents terrorists from attacking innocent civilians. Jews and Arabs, men and women, small children, senior citizens, foreign workers and tourists, permanent citizens, and new immigrants from various ethnic and religious groups have been victimized in countless terrorist attacks committed by Islamo-Nazis within Israel. Separating terrorist murderers from innocent civilians is not apartheid. The fence serves as a protective and defensive measure, and its potential damaging effects are actively minimized and compensated for while also taking into account the needs of the Palestinian population; this delicate equation weighs the right of freedom of movement against the right to life. Indeed, the fence will include 41 gates for farmers, 11 crossing points, and 5 terminals for the transfer of goods. Additionally, Israel has replanted 63, 000 olive trees for Palestinian farmers to ensure their livelihood despite construction of the fence, for the duration of their legal ownership of their property. Arab 'Palestinians,' like all others, can and do make use of Israel's working justice system to address any concerns and issues they have with this barrier to terrorism. Indeed, as a result of these petitions, the route of the fence has been altered in countless places. The fence is neither a border nor a substitute for such; indeed it leaves a large segment of the Israeli population on the "other" side. The sole purpose of the fence is to prevent terrorists from carrying out murderous attacks in buses, schools, restaurants, and other venues. Unlike the deaths of those killed by terrorists, the fence is a phenomenon that can be reversed; it can be dismantled or moved within days at some point in the future, when G-d willing, it will no longer be required. An orthodox high school student living in Toronto, The Raphi is the webmaster of http://www.TheRaphi.com. He can be contacted by email at raphi@theraphi.com To Go To Top

BUSH'S ISRAEL PLAN: 2 GHETTOS-CUM-POGROMS Posted by Beth Goodtree, April 6, 2005.

It now looks like Bush is no friend of Israel and is, in fact, an enemy to Jewish peoples the world over. His plans, often voiced through his toady, Condoleeza Rice, calls for Israel to be cut in two, give up her natural resources necessary for survival, be surrounded by hostile enemies, and not to allow for natural growth. And his is demanding that all of Israel's strengths be given to those bent upon her destruction. The idea that Bush is hell-bent on turning the state of Israel into two non-viable ghettos leading to pogroms was hammered home to me in his latest pronouncement. He doesn't want Israel to build new housing on land that is clearly her territory: Maaleh Adumim. Couple that with the announcement recently from Condoleeza Rice that Israel must cede land to make way for the second Palestinian State (the first one being Jordan) to be contiguous at the expense of Israel's contiguity. According to Ms. (Hypocrite) Rice, it is 'not reasonable' to expect the Arabs to have a viable state on non-contiguous pieces of land. However, she has demanded that Israel make itself into two and possibly three non-contiguous ghettos for the sake of the terrorist and murder-inciting Arabs demanding yet a second homeland. Add to that, the fact that Bush has been forcing Israel to give away pieces of her territory that contain her major agricultural centers and aquifers. In addition Bush, again through Condoleeza Rice, recently demanded that Israel give up her only defensive deterrent: her nuclear weapons. (1) What you have left are two (or possibly three) tiny islands of Jews who have limited resources and no defenses in an ocean of murderous enemies. The words 'ghetto' and 'pogrom' come immediately to mind. Curiously, both words have their foundations in the oppression of Jews. The following definitions are from the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary. GHETTO: Etymology: Italian, from Venetian dialect ghèto island where Jews were forced to live, literally, foundry (located on the island), from ghetàr to cast, from Latin jactare to throw. 1: a quarter of a city in which Jews were formerly required to live. 2: a quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure. 3 a: an isolated group.    b: a situation that resembles a ghetto especially in conferring inferior status or limiting opportunity. POGROM: Etymology: Yiddish, from Russian, literally, devastation: an organized massacre of helpless people; specifically: such a massacre of Jews It all started with the 'Roadmap' imposed upon Israel by that gang-of-four -- the US, the EU, Russia, and the UN. The Roadmap allows for unlimited expansion by the Arabs but restricts any expansion by Jews in territories retained by Israel in the West Bank. The Roadmap bullies say that the Arabs must be allowed to have 'natural' expansion, but the Jews must not. Already it was starting to sound like they wanted to turn Israel into a restrictive ghetto of limited births and population. Now, with the non-contiguity being forced upon Israel through Condoleeza Rice, Israel will become two tiny, indefensible islands, ripe for a pogrom -- better known as an organized massacre. Even the Israeli government knows this. Recently, Israel Television Channel Two News reported that Israel is preparing for the rocket attacks that are expected to hit Ashkelon after Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip. (2) Then there is Bush's idea of pouring hard-earned American tax dollars into helping an entire population of hate-mongering Arabs establish a legitimate base from which to launch their attacks. At the same time he is denying Israel any financial help to turn herself into his dreamed-of Jewish ghetto, ripe for attacking. In effect, Bush wants the Jews to pay for their own destruction, in much the same way that the Germans used the gold fillings, art works, silver and furnishings from Jewish victims to further fuel their genocidal war machine. According to an Associated Press report, "Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Israel would ask the United States for money to help with the withdrawal. Rice said Tuesday that she was not ready to commit the United States to foot part of the bill." (3) Yet Bush cannot wait to give the Arabs upwards of a billion dollars to help them make yet another Arab country (and a second Palestinian state) based upon the winked-at democratic values of 'no Jews allowed upon penalty of death.' Why doesn't Bush just be done with it and sterilize all the Jews so that there won't be a 'Jewish problem' after the youngest generation dies? And lastly, a warning to Ariel Sharon. In anticipation of his scheduled visit to the president's ranch next week, I wish to remind him of something: The last time a Jew talked to a 'Bush,' it ended up with the Jewish people forced to wander homeless for 40 years. And when they finally were given a homeland by said 'Bush,' it was surrounded by enemies and on the only piece of land in the entire Middle East that had no oil. Endnotes (1) http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/560047.html (2) http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=24797 (3) http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBGLD8Q77E.html Beth Goodtree is a writer specializing in political commentary, Islamism and the Middle East and also writes the occasional science and humor articles. She has a background in advertising and works as a consultant on Islamism and terrorism to a security firm. Contact her at her website: http://goodtree.theraphi.com/ To Go To Top

POWELL OR POLLARD; SHARON'S DIRTY POLICE TACTICS; WHAT AFTER ABANDONMENT? Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 6, 2005.

This is a tale of two situations, of two Americans, one sitting in high places, and the other immured below ground; one over-rated for a career of criminal negligence that risked hundreds of thousands, the other over-punished for a crime that saved hundreds of thousands. The pair is Powell and Pollard. Of the two, is the right one in jail now? Let me start with the explanation that I am an equal-opportunity despiser and admirer. I admire officials for what they do, not for Powell's speaking Yiddish, as did my parents. Neither do I bow before the politically correct imperative to approve of Powell's appointment as Secretary of State because he was the first black in that post. I care about the post and not about the color. The horrors of Vietnam knocked the starch out of General Powell. As Chief of Staff during Gulf War I, he was instrumental in failing to close the trap that would have annihilated Saddam's whole military and spared us a dozen risky years of suspense, Saddam's mass-murders of people, and the present Iraq War and its casualties. He also counseled Pres. Bush Sr. to armistice, leaving Saddam in power. That short-sightedness was done out of lack of character. It, too, cost us a lot, risked more, and approaches criminal negligence. Criminal negligence was reached by our subject, in the State Dept. Although the Islamists had been attacking US facilities for years, the State Dept. allowed Saudi travel agencies to issue visas freely. Hence 9/11 terrorists entered the US with ease. Was Sec. Powell's supposed intelligence muted by flattery over his comradely association with the fabulous Prince Bandar? Mistakes are made. Blame for them can be too harsh, the first time. When they are repeated, however, no excuse suffices. The State Dept. was asked to end the Saudi visa privilege. It did not end it! State Dept. ties with the Saudis, who by then most commentators realized, were probable enemies of the US, remained close. Powell had to be ordered a second time, although by then most commentators realized that the Saudis were enemies of the US. Why didn't Powell act upon that perspective? How many sleeper agents the terrorists were able to infiltrate into the US, where they get meld into the Arab population from which they raise funds for terrorism! This is not to say that Powell is worse than other Secretaries of State or Presidents. We haven't had many good ones during my lifetime, and are likely to find fewer good ones under our polarized system and costly and demeaning elections. The typical Secretary is true to his Department instead of to US interests, law, and ethics, in promoting the Department's anti-Zionist policy. Powell worked with Arab dictators to whittle Israel down to conquerable size. That is the Arab plan for the conquest of Israel in phases, sometimes known as Oslo, sometimes as "Disengagement," and increasingly as Road Map. Powell doesn't admit his crimes. Pollard did. What Pollard committed usually incurs a prison sentence of 2-4 years. Instead he is being persecuted with a sentence of life without parole. In view of the breaking of the plea bargain with him, the cruel treatment such as keeping him naked in a cold cell for long periods, and the excessive sentence, he seems to be punished for having discovered the subversion of high officials and for having been suspected of compromising US agents later discovered to have been murdered because of other spies. In some quarters, there is a visceral hatred of Pollard. People write in, wishing that he had been executed. Why just he, for a minor crime that did not harm the US, compared with others convicted of major crimes that led to battlefield casualties in Vietnam or dead agents in the USSR? It must be prejudice. It reflects badly on Pollard's ill-wishers. Pollard was motivated by the US deceitfully withholding promised intelligence to Israel about Arab moves that he saw would kill many innocent people. He passed some of that intelligence on to Israel, enabling Israel to prepare for a chemical attack. He thereby saved thousands of lives. Should that lifesaver be sitting in a top security prison, while Powell, partly responsible for the thousands of deaths now, is sitting securely on top of the world? SHARON'S DIRTY POLICE TACTICS The Yesha Council assigned a volunteer to distribute literature. When the task was done, the Council asked for the loaned jeep back. The volunteer used some excuse to get people from the Council to come for the jeep. Meanwhile, the volunteer offered to sell an employee of the Council grenades "for the struggle" against PM Sharon's abandonment plan. The employee explained that their struggle is non-violent. He also informed the Council of the offer. The Council representatives were leery of coming for the jeep. They anticipated that upon taking possession of it, the police would swoop down on them, find planted explosives in it, and declare this as proof that the settlers planned violent resistance. Their movement would be discredited. Therefore they informed the police of the offer and suggested arresting the "volunteer." The police suggested instead that the Council go to the "volunteer" with an undercover police officer, and buy the arms from him, thereby catching the culprit red-handed. Suspecting a trap, that they would be accused of purchase with intent to use, the Council people refused. Later, when they came for the jeep, the police refused to inform them whether explosives were found and whether the "volunteer" was arrested. The Council called a press conference to expose the incident. The police placed a gag order on it (Winston Mid East Analysis, 2/21). The tactic of planting arms was used against two brothers, done so clumsily that eventually they were freed from prison. It was one of many "dirty tricks" used by Israeli Prime Ministers against the Right. This goes beyond entrapment to frame-up. The government committed crimes. The gag order confirms the Council's suspicion that the volunteer was an agent provocateur. He is part of what amounts to Sharon's war on the Jews. ODD ARGUMENT AGAINST REFERENDUM The Knesset refused to authorize a referendum on Sharon's abandonment plan, which polls show would win. Sharon claims a referendum would delay the plan (NY Sun, 3/29, p.7 from AP). Analysis has shown it would not have delayed the plan. Nor does Sharon indicate what harm would come by delaying a plan that would cause harm and offers no advantages he can explain. A referendum on key issues of national security and the boundaries of the patrimony is an appropriate democratic measure. Should those issues be left to a corrupt Knesset, beholden to a Prime Minister who can allot more funds to their Parties' interests, such as private schools? Some polls show that the plan would face defeat. Sharon is afraid that if the public ever gets to discuss it in any depth, it would be exposed as a looming disaster. He shuts off opposition. POLLARD: DESERVES TO BE FREED, NOT EXCHANGED "I have always been opposed to gaining my freedom in exchange for the release of murderers and terrorists." "I deserve to be released because my sentence is unjust and because the U.S. has promised my release on more than one occasion, including a commitment by the President of the United States at the Wye Summit in 1998." Dennis Ross admitted that Pollard should be released, but thinks of him as a bargaining chip (IMRA, 2/20). What a way to think of, and treat, a human being! Pollard evinces more principles than the opportunistic Ross, but Ross is not in jail. ONE-TRACK MINDS AT STATE DEPT. Iran poses two problems: Iran (1) Is in jihad against most of the world, by terrorism and the development of weapons of mass-destruction; and (2) Represses its own people. The State Dept. neglects the civil liberties problem in favor of the weapons problem. If it worked on both tracks simultaneously, it might enable the people to recover freedom and end terrorism. Then Iran either would eliminate weapons of mass-destruction or, more likely, not engage in aggression, in which case it would not threaten the world (Eli Lake, NY Sun, 3/29, p.6). My fellow Americans tend to have one-track minds. They accept single and even false explanations for complex situations and approve single solutions less likely to resolve problems. THE REAL REASON FOR WANTING SYRIAN WITHDRAWAL The (puppet) government of Lebanon explained the "real reason" for the pressure upon Syria to withdraw from Lebanon. It is to cancel the Palestinian Arabs' "right to return" to Israel. That right is said to derive from UN Resolution 194 and the land-for-peace formula (IMRA, 2/21). It showed no connection between Syrian occupation and descendants of Arab refugees. Arab leaders rarely show any logic for their assertions. The West rarely points that out. There is no "right to return." The official cited Resolution 194 (which I've discussed before) as if it supports his claim, but it doesn't. That is another common Arab practice. It is a form of deception. The Arabs count on few people knowing the content of the documents they misrepresent. The land-for-peace formula has no legal standing. It is insincere and without merit. It is part of the Arabs' phased plan for the conquest of Israel. ISRAEL FOREIGN MINISTRY ON AFTERMATH OF ABANDONMENT The Foreign Ministry foresees a dispute over what to do after abandoning Gaza. The P.A. would want to move on to later steps in the Map, whereas Israel would want comleted the earliest steps (which the Ministry incorrectly terms "prerequisites"). The Ministry did not identify the earliest steps. (They are the dismantling of the terrorist apparatus, including the disarming of terrorists.) Israel would enter this dispute weak, or feeling weak, diplomatically. It feels too weak to refuse making dangerous, unjustified, unilateral concessions to the undeserving Arabs. The P.A. would enter it claiming that Chairman Abbas is in a weak position, so to make peace, Israel must boost his standing by making concessions. (Ironically, that is a strong position, because the world backs it.) The conflict is likely to lead to violence (IMRA, 2/21), which Abbas has NOT abjured, when the Arabs ask too much. PM Sharon's own government thus foresees his plan as leading to pressures to make dangerous capitulations and yet suffer terrorist attacks. The Foreign Ministry does not indicate the nature of the attacks. One can imagine various dire scenarios, especially the Arabs thumbing their noses at the costly security fence as it proves no barrier to their winged rockets and mortars. If Israel had a patriotic Prime Minister, he would reject and refute the perennial argument that the P.A. leader, who finances terrorism, lacks the strength to eradicate terrorism, so he needs concessions. It was false, with Arafat. It is false with Abbas, who has pledged not to use force against terrorists and who is arming them in his own police! It is an excuse for getting concessions without eradicating terrorism. The Arabs are masters at getting without giving. Israel gives without getting. It would be foolish to put itself in a weaker position in any case but all the more so while the terrorist infrastructure is intact and being bolstered by foreign training, including by the US. Israel never demands what it does need. Sharon just does what he is told. ANTISEMITISM IN U.S. MUSLIM SCHOOLS Investigation of Muslim schools in the US and Canada generally find that they promote antisemitism and other aspects of radical Islam that are antithetical to Western culture. Here are some examples: (1)The "Daily News" found that Muslim schools in New York City "are rife with inaccuracies, sweeping condemnations of Jews and Christians, and triumphalist declarations of Islam's supremacy." (2) The 300 copies of the Koran donated to L.A. schools by the Omar Ibn Khattab Foundation had to be removed because of such antisemitic commentaries as, "The Jews in their arrogance claimed that all wisdom and all knowledge of Allah was enclosed in their hearts... Their claim was not only arrogance but blasphemy." (Judaism does not claim this. See #4 as to what the Muslims claim. (3) The result in the Muslim Community School in Potomac, Md. is students' alienation, as, "being American is just being born in this country." (4) A textbook in the Islamic Saudi Academy of Alexandria, Va. advises first graders that "all religions, other than Islam, are false, including that of the Jews [and] Christians." A valedictorian was indicted for plotting to assassinate our President, his President. The same is true of most mosques and of the most prominent American Muslim organizations. The Canadian Islamic Congress endorsed the murder of all Israeli adults, and it and the Council on American-Islamic Relations disseminate antisemitism and host neo-Nazis (but liken Israel to Nazi Germany). Muslim leaders usually express shock at the findings, as if they didn't know. They do nothing about it. It is time to put pressure upon them to reform (Daniel Pipes, NY Sun, 3/29). Do you think they really were surprised? Or are they taking unfair advantage of the general ignorance of the Islamic agenda and the politically correct reluctance to explore it? It is one thing to believe one's religion is true. It is another to consider all others as evil to be eradicated, and its believers as monsters to be exterminated. The Arabs' extremely nasty slander of Christians and Jews, and their murderous rebelliousness, make the Arabs unfit to live with. When Cleopatra clasped the asp to her bosom, she intended suicide. What is the West's excuse for clasping the Muslims to its bosom? WHAT PM SHARON DIDN'T TELL CABINET AT VOTE When the Israeli Cabinet voted final approval of his abandonment plan, he had not informed them that Abbas' Fatah, Hamas, etc. planned to disrupt the withdrawal. They unanimously rejected the ceasefire, in favor of a terrorist offensive. They would (and do) plant hundreds of roadside bombs to kill evacuees. Iran and Syria would spend more for disruption. Free of inspection by the departing Israelis, they would import worse weapons, such as missiles for shooting down drones and helicopters trying to stop mortar barrages. Counter-measures would be foiled by recruiting mores spies among Israeli Arabs. Meanwhile, Abbas is not dismantling terrorism. The EU quietly is encouraging him not to, by advising him to ignore US demands that he do, and wait for the EU to restart diplomatic negotiations (Winston Mid East analysis). Remember the Democrats' criticism of Pres. Bush for not consulting the EU more? The EU is too anti-American and anti-Zionist for it to help contain jihad. If the Cabinet knew that, would they have approved the plan? I don't know. If the people knew it, would they tell pollsters they approve of it? I doubt it. The question is why Sharon approves it. The plan is turning into the disaster that was predicted by the Chief of Staff he fired. The Arabs won't even let Jews withdraw in peace! When will decent people realize how evil the Arabs are? They lie about their plans and plan to make war. Concessions to them are counter-productive. Their people in Western countries are fifth columns. The West needs a plan against Islamism. A patriotic government in Israel would devise its own plan to regain lost ground, get the Arabs moving out, and annex territory it needs for security and to which it is entitled. The EU representative is Xavier Solana, long heading the Spanish offensive against Israel. But the Israeli government naively, or deliberately as a deception of its own people, invites the EU to play a diplomatic role and asks it to pressure the Arabs to cease terrorism. The only pressure the EU exerts is on 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. To Go To Top

THE BATTLE OVER THE SHARABATI HOUSE - preparing for the Gush Katif-Northern Shomron expulsion Posted by Hebron Community, April 6, 2005.

Additional pictures are at http:www.hebron.com/news/sharabalagan.htm Bulldozer in Avraham Avinu neighborhood courtyard Some four and a half years ago the IDF removed members of the Sharabati family from their home, which overlooks the Avraham Avinu neighborhood courtyard. According to eyewitnesses, members of this terrorist family participated in the 1929-Tarpat massacre in Hebron. A number of years ago an 18 year old son of the Sharabati family jumped from the house into the Avraham Avinu courtyard with a knife, planning on murdering someone. Following his apprehension, he claimed that he 'wanted to kill an Arab," was turned over to the 'palestinian police' and subsequently released. Following the murder of Hebron resident Elazar Lebovitch, Israeli security forces discovered articles in the Sharabati home tying them to Arab terror organizations. he neighborhood's kindergarten wo The Sharabati family turned to the Israeli supreme court, demanding to be allowed to return to their home and the court agreed, issuing a ruling forcing the army to rebuild the decrepit home and allow the Arabs back. This, despite the unofficial IDF position that the family poses a grave security threat to Hebron's Jewish community. The Israeli Supreme Court is known for it preferences: "Arab rights" take precedence over Israeli lives. Hundreds of police, border police and soldiers inside Avraham Avinu neighborhood courtyard Hebron's Jewish community has been fighting this decision since it was issued. This morning, at about 5:00, hundreds of police, border police and soldiers stormed into the Avraham Avinu neighborhood, took positions on rooftops, erected barriers within the neighborhood, and declared 'the Jewish Community of Hebron' to be a closed military zone. A map, enclosed with the written orders, shows that the Avraham Avinu neighborhood and its surrounding environs to be the 'off-limits' area. Anat Cohen, director of Hebron's educational system, was notified that the neighborhood was a 'closed military zone' and that the neighborhood's kindergarten would not be allowed to open in the morning. The inner courtyard, including the playground, kindergarten, main entrance to the community offices, and some people's homes, were blocked off by barriers and surrounded by security forces. Police on horseback also arrived at the neighborhood, to assist in 'keeping order.' Border police blocking off the Avraham Avinu courtyard In addition, roadblocks were established on the main road outside Kiryat Arba and on the road from Kiryat Arba to Hebron. Furious community residents left their homes, trying to break through the barriers, but were pushed back. Police declared that all cars parked in the Avraham Avinu parking lot to be 'disturbing police-IDF actions' in the neighborhood and began towing them away. Hebron residents attempted to block the tow trucks, to no avail. Security forces swooped down on them, dragging away men, women and children. A huge crane, to be used to pile stone barriers one atop the other, was brought into the neighborhood. Arab workers, coming from the nearby Abu Sneneh hills were also allowed into the courtyard to help construct a wall adjacent to the Sharabati house. A Hebron spokesman issued the following statement: A few days ago Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, speaking at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that Hebron is 'an important strategic asset to the State of Israel.' He is now showing his appreciation of Hebron's strategic importance. Hebron protestors being dragged away It is clear that this morning's actions have a two-fold purpose: 1. The allowance of a dangerous, terror family into a house overlooking a Hebron neighborhood is a virtual declaration of war against Hebron's Jewish community. Only meters from the Arab house 10-month old Shalhevet Techiya Pass was shot and killed, exactly three years ago. Should the Sharabati family be permitted to return, hundreds of children, as well as adults, will be staring danger in the face, at point-blank range. There is no greater absurdity than to see Israeli soldiers and other security forces, which are responsible for protecting Israeli lives, preparing a terrorist house for reoccupancy, thereby endangering Jews, rather than defending them. Of course, these forces are acting under orders issued by those more interested in politics than Jewish lives. Hebron's Jewish community will continue to protest this abrogation of justice and prevent the return Sharabati to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. 2. However, it is clear that there is an underlying reason for today's actions: this is a 'hands-on' dry run of what Sharon plans on doing in the northern Shomron and Gush Katif in a few months time. Hebron is today a 'first trial run' of the eviction of over 9,000 people from their homes, G-d forbid, in the middle of July. Hebron's Jewish Community calls on Jews throughout Israel to beware: sights and sounds of Hebron this morning are soon to be duplicated on a grand scale in Gush Katif and the Shomron. If this is not stopped now, who knows who will be next in line. 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 To Go To Top

BULLDOZING ISM RIGHT OUT OF COURT Posted by Steven Plaut, April 6, 2005.

1. www.discoverthenetwork.org/moonbatcentral/2005/04/ism-slapp-suit-gets-bulldozed-out-of.html ISM Slapp Suit gets Bulldozed out of the Courtroom ISM is the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-terrorist extremist movement which likes to send off its campus designer-jean lefties to try to make the world safe for Palestinian terrorism. ISM (which should actually stand for "I Support Murderers") is best known for sponsoring Rachel Corrie and sending her in to commit suicide on behalf of terrorists. In April 2003, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that: "ISM members take an active part in illegal and violent actions against IDF soldiers. At times, their activity in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip is under the auspices of Palestinian terrorist organizations." But one of ISM's tactics in recent years has been to try to use the Israeli courts as a bludgeon against Jews. ISM members injured while assisting terrorists have sued Israel in its own courts for damages. In addition, in recent years leftists opposed to democracy have been increasingly trying to use SLAPP suits to silence their critics. A SLAPP suit is a harassment suit for "libel", designed to force one's critics to bear legal costs. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit against Public Participation, and SLAPP suits are illegal in many parts of the United States. A couple of years back, one of Israel's finest columnists, American-born Judy Lash Balint, wrote a column critical of ISM and one of its agents, Radhika Sainath from Santa Anna, California. Sainath had spent nearly a year in the West Bank with the ISM, supporting Palestinian violent "resistance". During that period she was arrested three times by Israeli authorities, most recently in December after testifying against the State of Israel. In Balint's column she wrote: "On Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 27, Sainath will file suit in Tel Aviv against the State of Israel for alleged unlawful imprisonment, negligence and breach of obligations. The $4,000 is for "mental trauma and agony" she claims to have suffered at the hands of Israeli authorities during her 30-hour detention. The legal action arises out of the arrest of Radhika and eight of her buddies when they joined a group of Palestinian Arabs protesting the construction of Israel's anti-terrorist wall last November near the Arab settlement of Jayyous. Sainath had only recently arrived in the country on a tourist visa when she was arrested. Since then, she's been in and out of Israel four times as each three-month tourist visa expires ... When I asked how the ISM knew who they were enabling to pass through the checkpoints, she looked stunned and said she didn't know. 'In Tulkarm people who are wanted by the army aren't going to attempt to walk through a checkpoint. Anyway, it's not our job to check to see if someone's carrying explosives or not.' " Sainath hired Israeli leftist Shammai Leibowitz as her lawyer to file a SLAPP suit for "libel" against Balint. Leibowitz was also handling Sainath's suit against the Israeli government for "damages". He also represents Palestinian mass murder terrorist Marwan Barghouti, on trial in Israel for murder, and as part of his defense strategy Leibowitz likened his client to Moses and the Israeli State Prosecution to Pharoah. Leibowitz these days publishes his anti-Israel views in "The Nation", where he urges that the world boycott Israel. ISM had earlier been spreading a fable that Sainath had won the suit against Balint. It ws a lie. The Israeli court has now dismissed the ISM suit as frivolous. The defense had requested that the Court instruct the foreign plaintiff to post a bond to ensure court costs in the event that the case was to be dismissed, as is required by Israeli law. However attorney Leibowitz stated to the Court that under an "existing treaty" U.S. citizens were not required to post bonds in Israeli courts. The defense researched the matter and discovered that the U.S. was not a party to any such treaty. After being presented with this finding, the Court ordered the plaintiff to post the bond within thirty days. When this period of time passed and the plaintiff still had failed to post the money, the defense moved successfully to have the nuisance suit dismissed. It is not clear yet how much court costs the ISM will be required to bear. Balint was defended in the case by Israel Law Center (Shurat HaDin) Director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner. Shurat HaDin is also representing the family of an Israeli soldier currently on trial for the alleged shooting of ISM militant, Tom Hurndall, in April 2003. The Israel Law Center has called upon the Knesset to outlaw the extremist ISM, and often represents victims of Palestinian terror. 2. www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1112581160711&p=1006953079865 "Student strikers are wrong" by Daniel Doron, The Jerusalem Post Apr. 4, 2005. Because our university students are going to become Israel's future elites and because higher education is so vital for the country's development as a knowledge society, the government should reject demands made by the student associations. The students have recently embarked on a series of strikes, demanding greater subsidies for higher education. Undaunted by the bankruptcy our universities face because of irresponsible policies and bad management, the student leaders demand the cancellation of even the very modest cuts required to save the universities from immediate collapse. These demands and the strikes are not going to help the universities balance their budgets, but they will certainly advance the political ambitions of some student leaders. In fact, responding to the students' demands, as the Shinui Party is now planning to do, would harm the universities by scuttling efforts to bring some economic sanity into their management. Even worse, it would perpetuate a great injustice. Universal tuition subsidies mean that poorer youngsters who cannot afford even subsidized university tuition, or who cannot study because they have to help support their families, must finance from the taxes they pay on their meager salaries the investment of relatively well-to-do, and even rich students, in their future lucrative careers as lawyers or film directors or professors moonlighting as consultants. It will raise expectations and norms of behavior about what every sector in Israel thinks the state owes it, which are at the root of our fractious distributive political system. The first myth that must be shattered is that when it comes to education economic considerations must be suspended. Yiftah Atzmon, the young philosophy major who headed the Tel Aviv student protest, complained that an "economic narrative that has taken hold of the country" (we wish!), and that it should be replaced by "social involvement," namely by a leftist welfare-state orientation. Most students in the humanities and the social sciences are exposed to neo-Marxist indoctrination, so naturally it would not even occur to Atzmon that Israel is in grave social trouble because 50 years of socialism have so distorted its economic system; that the world's most talented country is incapable of offering workers a decent wage or its students decent education. Nor has Atzmon been taught that economic prosperity, which only a market economy can achieve, is the best way to ensure the welfare of most Israelis. Welfarist policies, which Atzmon would have us reinforce, have caused us to sink hundreds of billions of shekels in transfer payments over the past 60 years. But they only increased poverty and the income gap, and required a level of taxation that stifled enterprise and productivity, promoting a huge, wasteful and corrupt bureaucracy, and nurturing a culture of poverty. The students' shrill protests, led by red flags emblazoned with the hammer and sickle, were really thoughtless. "Sometimes it is good to act, simply because you believe in something," the young philosopher Atzmon averred when asked what specifically were the students' demands. Atzmon evaded the question because had he pursued the logic of his demands for equality, the country could not possibly afford to subsidize the tuition fees of every student to the extent it now does. Whatever it allocated, even if it represented a large increase, would result in much less for each individual student. This is certainly not what the students are fighting for, so their call for equal educational access for all is an empty one. It is possible to reach the desirable goal of permitting access to higher education to those who want it and qualify, by the selective allocation of scholarships to needy students and by offering long-term loans to all the rest. This is a much more practical and equitable solution since it would make individuals eventually pay for their investment in their own future careers, rather than put the burden of financing it on other people with lower earnings and lesser prospects. Finally, a word about education. Education is, of course, most desirable. It cannot, however, be claimed that higher education is the one and only means for achieving economic progress. Most successful entrepreneurs do not necessarily possess a Harvard MBA or its equivalent. Yet they have managed to excel in their chosen pursuits. On the other hand, in a laggard economy even the best educated can find themselves out of a job, as recent experience in India, Bulgaria or the former Soviet Union indicates. Like all good things the worship of education can also have some undesirable effects. It can result in unjustified discrimination against very productive, talented and creative people without a formal education, and it invests stupid and wrongheaded academicians with unwarranted authority. The benefits of education largely depend on what is being taught. Learning alchemy may have seemed very profound, but alchemy turned out to be nonsense. Similarly, the effort by some charitable Jews to send talented youngsters from the periphery to our universities, where many have fallen under the spell of our academic neo-Marxists - the modern equivalent of alchemists - proved to be counterproductive. The justified bitterness of these youngsters, the victims of statism and welfarism, was exploited to incite them against the market economy. They were transformed into bitter haters of "the rich," and have been spending their energies on the sterile politics of envy, on the "you owe me" syndrome, miscast as "the pursuit of social justice." Hardly an educational achievement. 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. To Go To Top

DOES ISRAEL HAVE A RIGHT TO EXIST? Posted by David Horowitz, April 6, 2005.

This was written by David Meir-Levi, and it appeared on the FrontPageMagazine website, April 6, 2005, http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17584 A friend of mine asked me how I would answer the following question: "By what right does Israel exist? Why does the world need such a hell-hole of a country, an apartheid-racist-war-mongering-Jewish theocracy?" I suggested that she consider the question as an opening for a conversation about the "right to exist" rather than as a challenge to Israel's character or to its right - or lack thereof - to exist. The Arab Rejection of Israel The last 65 years of Arab hate-speech, hate-preach, and hate-teach make it pretty clear that some significant part of the Arab world really does not want Israel to exist. That same segment really does the best it can to end Israel's existence, with 65 years of terror war punctuated by 3 major attempts at invasion, conquest, and destruction. The rhetoric of annihilation and the diatribe of genocide match the actions of these same Arab states, whose commitment of massive resources to the destruction of Israel is an implicit rejection of Israel's right to exist. In a similar vein, 20 years ago, when Arafat agreed to recognize the state of Israel, his doing so was acclaimed far and wide as a great concession. Only a few had the perspicacity to point out that acknowledging the existence of a state that already existed was no great concession to anything except reality. However, since Arafat continued to run a terror war against Israel and proclaim his desire to destroy Israel, his "concession" about Israel's existence was nothing more than a superficial bid to gain support in the USA. His continued psychotic desire to destroy Israel was an implicit rejection of Israel's right to exist. Mahathir Mohammed, former Prime Minister of Malaysia, indirectly raised the same issue in his speech last year when he claimed that 1,300,000,000 Moslems worldwide could surely defeat Israel with its mere 6,000,000! Since the Arab goal in defeating Israel is the annihilation of Israel, Mahathir's assertion that Islam's worldwide "umma" ought to be able to succeed in this goal is a very clear challenge to Israel's right to exist. Implicit in the proliferation of vitriolic hate education in almost all of the Arab (and some parts of the non-Arab Moslem) world is the denial of the targeted victim's right to exist. There is indeed a significant part of the Arab world, and some in the non-Arab Moslem world, who want Israel and its 6,000,000 Jews destroyed. The commitment to this demonic goal is an expression of the belief that Israel has no right to exist. No Nation Has the Right to Exist In my opinion, Israel has no right to exist. And that is because, in reality, no country in the world and throughout all of history has a right to exist. No country in the world exists today by virtue of its 'right'. All countries exist today by virtue of their ability to defend themselves against those who seek their destruction. Take Tibet, for example, and Israel for the opposite example. Tibet did nothing to threaten or anger China. No aggression, no threat of aggression. But in 1950, China invaded Tibet and ended Tibet's existence as a nation. The world did nothing (except create some bumper stickers). As with all nations, Tibet had no right to exist. It existed only as long as it was not attacked. When it was attacked and could not defend itself adequately, nor garner support for its continued existence from the world's family of nations or from the world's governing body, it ceased to exist. The same would be true of Israel, except that Israel has defended itself adequately. Israel's continued existence is not by right, but only by its ability to defend itself against the Arab and Moslem world that seeks her destruction. And if it were ever unable to defend itself, it would soon share Tibet's fate. Or worse. In the final analysis, no nation has a right to exist. No nation exists because of any right. Nations exist because they can defend themselves from those who want to destroy them. Therefore, the question itself, "what right does Israel have to exist?" is a bogus question. It is misleading in its intention. So let's examine the question from the vantage point of its intention. The Origin of Nations With only one known exception (Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal are possible exceptions to the analysis which follows, but that is not known for sure) no country ever came into existence by virtue of any right to exist, or any right to come into existence from some previous non-nation status. All nations throughout the world and across history came into existence by virtue of their ability to conquer some other country or people or tribe or indigenous inhabitants. Violence, murder, war, rapine, conquest, massacres, burning, looting, pillaging, and sometimes even genocide: those are the costs of nation creation in the real world, throughout all of history. The only known exception to this gallery of historical horrors is the modern state of Israel. Israel came into existence by virtue of: a. its ability to buy land with the help of world-wide Jewish and Christian Zionists b. its ability to reclaim deteriorated waste land c. its ability to organize itself in its pre-state existence into a viable well-governed cohesive society with a developing and expanding economy and an effective defensive force. d. its ability, via lobbying and political leveraging, to get the world governing body to vote it into existence In sharp contradistinction to the manner in which all other nations have been created, Israel came into existence by legal, peaceful, constructive processes. A Mechanism for Destruction Despite the fact that Israel is the only country in world history that came into existence via peaceful, legal, constructive means and by majority vote of the world governing body, Israel is the one and only country whose right to exist is challenged. But, no matter how bad Israel may be, and even if the worst of Israel's detractors were correct in their horrific description of Israel's failings as a nation, Israel is certainly no worse than many countries throughout the world with disastrous records of human rights abuses, aggression against neighboring countries, social and religious and gender apartheid, oppression of minorities. And in reality, Israel's track record in these areas is far better than that of most countries. So however bad Israel may be, the fact still remains that it is the only country in the world to ever have come into existence peacefully and legally. So why pick on Israel? Because the question has nothing to do with an inquiry into Israel's rights or lack thereof. It is simply a mechanism for the launching of an anti-Israel diatribe. Its real purpose is to open an avenue of attack, to bash Israel, de-legitimize her, denigrate her; and ultimately to justify the Arab world's desire to destroy her. In the absence of any inquiry into the right of infinitely more reprehensible societies - Russia, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Libya, Mauritania, Sudan inter alia, come to mind - why condemn Israel as a rogue state with no right to exist? Why not start with the worst offenders? Why de-legitimize Israel for a conquest (which actually did not happen, but that's a different article) that was far less destructive than that of the Arab states whose Jihad in the 7th to 9th centuries racked up tens, if not hundreds, of millions of casualties and destroyed four ancient civilizations (Byzantine, Coptic, Sassanian, and Berber). Why not start with the most horrific of conquerors? Because the purpose of the question is to attack Israel and justify those who attack Israel! The bottom line is that if you think Israel has no right to exist, you are right. And I'm sure that Hitler would agree with you wholeheartedly. David Horowitz is editor of Front Page Magazine. To Go To Top

RESPONSE TO HILLEL HALKIN'S PERVERSE ANALYSIS Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, April 6, 2005.

This is my Letter to editor, which was not printed in Commentary Magazine. I sent it in reesponse to Halkin's article in Commentary. Why is it that while reading Halkin's "Settler's Crisis, and Israel's," (Commentary, March, 2005) I had the distinct feeling that I was reading an intellectualized version of Hitler's Der Sturmer - only this time drenched with Left wing Israeli and Arab, rather than Nazi, propaganda. Halkin cleverly paints a picture of dire class warfare with all the good Israelis (i.e. Good Germans) having to deal with the awful settlers (i.e. Damned Jews). These settlers are causing all the problems. They are still immersed in the religious fervor of the Zionist icon, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook who died in 1935. Kook had the temerity to attempt to meld secular, politically oriented Jews like Hertzl, with the religious beliefs of the Orthodox, whose approach had to do with G-d, of all things! Instead of praising this Kook attempt at welding these disparate Jews for the common good, Halkin describes Kook as messianic and likens him to the arch charlatan and completely discredited self-serving messiah, Sabbatai Zevi of the 17th century. Halkin makes the comparison even more odious by also "detecting kabalistic influences in Kook's thought." The fact that near 100% of those awful settlers living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza would not have the remotest clue as to what or to whom Halkin is referring does not enter the discussion. Then, not satisfied with painting these settlers as simply religious fanatics, Halkin also lays upon the secular among them another Nazi condemnation - Their Zionism is linked with Communism - just another 'ism' nourished by "secularize messianic impulses" within the Jewish psyche. Halkin quickly brushes aside the real issues and facts on the ground. Settlers are looked upon with disdain for seeking "inexpensive housing in attractive surroundings." Halkin speaks of this as some sort of sin rather than acknowledging the fact that this is exactly how new communities are developed all over the world. New couples have to forego the convenience of living near the heart of town because they cannot afford it. Fortuitously, they frequently develop far more beautiful surroundings than what they left - certainly the case in Judea, Samaria and Gaza vs. the awful congestion and concrete jungle of Tel Aviv, et al. Messianism and communism and Zionism, in most cases, have nothing to do with anything. Halkin also, in his zeal, to paint the messianism picture, presents an astounding number of givens, as if they were facts on the ground. He is obviously not enraged by the idiocy of "Sharon's disengagement plan - itself meant to begin a unilateral configuration of Israel's borders in absence of any peace settlement with the Palestinians." Does that make any sense? Does one submit to one's mortal enemies who blatantly refuse to talk genuine peace, while fully realizing that relinquishing territory only whets their appetite and brings Arab borders ever closer to your own over-congested centers of population? He makes the statement that Sharon has "overwhelming support." If that were the case and if Sharon really wanted to quiet the thunderous criticism, why does he not allow a public referendum? A victory would certainly take the wind out of the sails of all this opposition. Halkin also speaks of the "Parliamentary Majority" for the withdrawal plan that Sharon "enjoys" neglecting to mention that Sharon has brutally fired anyone who opposes his iron rule and has completely intimidated a disgraceful cabinet and a disgraceful Knesset voting to protect only their own political largess. Finally, Halkin enthusiastically buys into and promotes the entire Arab political agenda - The Jews are on "Arab land", the 1967 borders should be their outermost limits, all the settlements have to be disbanded. He says nothing about the rest of the oft-proclaimed Arab agenda: The return of the Arab "refugees" (3 million, 5 million, whatever) to their homes in Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, the Galilee, etc, etc.; Along with "Reparations" for over 50 years of Arab "anguish"; Adopting UN resolution 181 taking Israel back to the original UN borders from which 600,000 Jews, many just out of the concentration camps, were able to defeat five Arab armies and miraculously survive. Never mind all that. Instead, Halkin chooses to present a supposedly intellectual discussion, interjects the red herring of Jewish messianism and in doing so only exposes his own mindless prejudices giving great sustenance to Israel's mortal enemies. Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). To Go To Top

CONDI'S MIDEAST ROADMAP IS BEING INFLUENCED BY WHO!? Posted by Evelyn Hayes, April 6, 2005.

This article was written by Caroline Glick and appeared February 9, 2005 in Jewish World Review (http://www.JewishWorldReview.com). As US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice embarked on her maiden voyage, it was reported that she departed from America armed with a new policy paper on how to implement the Quartet's road map produced by the James Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. According to Edward Djerejian, the former US ambassador to Syria who directs the Baker Center, the paper, with its detailed recommendations, is a "street map to the road map." One of the things that make the paper significant is that it bears former US secretary of state James Baker's name. Not only did Baker serve under the president's father, he now plays a formal role in mobilizing international support for Iraqi reconstruction efforts. As well, the team that composed the report included senior policy makers from the US, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Canada and the World Bank. The US was represented by current Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns as well as by Norman Olsen, the political counselor at the US embassy in Israel. The PA was represented by security strongman Jibril Rajoub and by senior aides to Mahmoud Abbas, Yasser Arafat and Ahmed Qurei. Egypt was represented by Dictator Hosni Mubarak's senior adviser Osama El Baz and by General Hossam Khair Allah. Israel had no official representation. Rather, the Jewish state was represented by none other than Yossi Beilin's Geneva Accord crowd. Amnon Lipkin Shahak and Shlomo Brom, signatories to that subversive agreement where private citizens tried to abscond with the government's sovereign power to determine foreign policy by negotiating the scandalously anti-Israel "accord," participated. They were joined by members of Beilin's EU-financed think tank, the Economic Cooperation Foundation. Not surprisingly, the product this team produced and delivered to Rice is soft on Palestinian terrorism, soft on Palestinian democratization, and relentlessly harsh toward Israel - its sovereignty, its right to defend itself, and its ability to claim any right to retain any of the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. The document makes no clear statement on the need for the Palestinians to dismantle terrorist organizations. Indeed, the term "terror organizations" is absent from the report. Instead, the Palestinian requirement to combat terrorism is reduced to demands on Israel to facilitate the training, arming and operation of the "reformed" Palestinian security services while not interfering with them in any way. While the report pays lip service to the need for the PA to reform its governing institutions, its only clear statement on the end-product of reform is unabashedly authoritarian. The aim of all the reforms must be the "consolidat[ion of] Fatah as the main political player in Palestinian society." While the report makes no call for the destruction of Palestinian terror organizations and bucks up the authoritarian, corrupt PA, it calls for Israel to be treated with hostility and suspicion. The paper calls for the establishment of a multinational force that will implement the agreements. Implicit in this statement is the assumption that Israel will be prevented by the presence of this force from taking any measures to defend itself against attacks. International border crossings in Gaza and Judea and Samaria, including the weapons smuggling hub at the Philadephi Corridor which separates Gaza from Egypt, are to be controlled by the Palestinians. The report gives Egyptian forces a more prominent role in implementing the agreements than the IDF. WHERE THE report's anti-Israel bias is most blatant is in its discussion of the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. The authors refer to their desire to see "The Palestinian people establish a viable state in the West Bank and Gaza" and make it clear that a precondition for the state's viability is that it be racially pure - entirely cleansed of Jewish communities. At the same time, they express their desire to "assure that Israel will continue to exist as the democratic homeland of the Jewish people and its other citizens." So in the authors' view, Israel is to be a state of all of its citizens while "Palestine" is to be Judenrein. The report calls for the institution of a draconian regime in the Defense Ministry and the Justice Ministry to effectively prevent any building activities whatsoever from being conducted in the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. This regime, "The Special Office on Settlement Activities," will be obliged not simply to act as the enforcer of the attrition of these communities. The report determines that this body will be subordinate to the US embassy in Israel - effectively ceding Israeli sovereignty to the US. The study even dares to dictate what propaganda moves must be made by the Israeli government to force the Israeli public to accept this policy. A close reading makes it clear that the result of this policy will be the expulsion of more than 400,000 Israeli Jews from their homes. This is so because the destruction of Israeli neighborhoods in Jerusalem is implicit in the section's opening paragraph, which mendaciously claims: "The US government policy has been based on the principle that there can be no acquisition of territory by war." Not only does this sweeping and totally false statement necessarily include Jerusalem; it can easily be interpreted as saying that the only borders Israel can legitimately claim are the UN partition borders from 1947 since much of the land that makes up the 1949 armistice lines was acquired in war. Perhaps it is reasonable that officials pushing a plan that would cause Israel to effectively become the ward of the international community should not feel limited by the positions of the Israeli government as it makes its plans - sufficing instead to have Israel "represented" by radical free agents with Israeli citizenship. But two questions still arise: Why is the US government sending its officials to participate in a "working group" which works to undermine the sovereignty of a US ally; and why is the Israeli government not taking legal action against private citizens who travel the world "negotiating" away the sovereign rights of the state while undermining the prerogatives of the Israeli government? 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. To Go To Top

COME TO THE ANTI-DISENGAGEMENT PROTEST RALLY IN CRAWFORD TX APRIL 11, 2005 Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, April 5, 2005.

YOU ARE INVITED and URGED TO ATTEND AN ANTI-DISENGAGEMENT PROTEST RALLY Monday, April 11th, 2005, 1:00pm - 3:30pm Crawford, Texas Guests from Israel include: Victims of terror, think-tank members, college professors, and other outstanding spokesmen who will be flying to Crawford direct from Israel Join them in an effort to save the 9000 Jewish residents who are being dispossessed in Gaza and Northern Samaria. Rally busses are available from Colorado, Oklahoma, Tyler, Texas, the Dallas airport and several other locations. For further information, call Pastor Vineyard at 405-943-3326 or email him at whbc@windsorhills.org to RSVP By following an inconsistent strategy against terror in Israel, the U.S faces military defeat at the very frontline of the global war on terrorism. A TWO STATE SOLUTION IS NO SOLUTION!!! Download the "UCI Declaration of Concerns: Road Blocks to Arab/Israeli Peace" from http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/aboutUs/doc.pdf 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!" To Go To Top

ACTION PLAN TO HELP PREVENT THE EXPULSION FROM GUSH KATIF Posted by AFSI, April 5, 2005.

1. Take the responsibility to financially help the residents of Gush Katif as often as possible and as generously as possible. Write your tax-deductible checks to "Friends of Gush Katif" and mail them to AFSI, 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128 2. Write letters to the editors of your newspapers and to your Senators, Congressmen, and President Bush regarding the ethnic cleansing program planned for Gush Katif. These letters should be sent immediately so as to coincide with PM Sharon's visit to Washington next week. The letters might include the following: PM Sharon of Israel will be in the U.S. seeking assistance from America to forcefully remove Jews from their homes in the Jewish homeland simply because they are Jews. This forceful deportation, if successful, will remove residents from homes they established properly and legally, with the encouragement of the Israeli government. The U.S. should not be taking part in such a wanton violation of human civil rights, as well as a denial of G-d's Covenant with Israel that the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people. IMPORTANT CONTACTS: President George W. Bush, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20500; 202-456-2461; president@whitehouse.gov Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, 2201 C St., NW, Washington, DC 20520; 202-647-4000 US Capitol Switchboard (to get the phone number of your Rep.) 202-224-3121 Senate Foreign Relations - 202-224-4651 Richard Lugar, IN - Chair - senator_lugar@lugar.senate.gov; 202-224-4814 Christopher Dodd, CT - 202-224-2823 Subcommittee: International Operations and Terrorism - 202-224-4651; Fax-228-1608 John Sununu, NH - Chair - 202-224-2841 Joseph Biden, Jr. - DE - senator@biden.senate.gov- 202-224-5042 Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs - (includes Israel) - 202-224-4651;Fax-228-1608 Lincoln Chafee, RI - Chair - 202-224-2921 Chuck Hagel, NE - 202-224-4224 Norm Coleman, MN - 202-224-5641 George Voinovich, OH - 202-224-3353 Barbara Boxer, CA - 202-224-3553 House International Relations - 202-225-5021; Fax: 202-225-2035 Henry Hyde, IL - Chair - 202-225-4561 Chris Smith, NJ - 202-225-3765 Middle East and Central Asia Subcommittee:Tel: 202-225-3345; Fax: 202-225-0432 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, FL - Chair - 202-225-3931 Steve Chabot, OH - Vice-Chair - 202-225-2216 Gary Ackerman, NY - Ranking Member - 202-225-2601 Eliot Engel, NY - 202-225-2464 Senate Appropriations Comm. - 202-224-7363 Thad Cochran, MS - Chair - Defense - 202-224-5054 Ted Stevens, AK - Defense - 202-224-3004 Mitch McConnell,-KY - 202-224-2541 Sam Brownback - KS - Foreign Operations - 202-224-5095 Mary Landrieu - LA - Foreign Operations - 202-224-5824 Senate Armed Services - 202-224-3871 John Warner, VA, Chair - 202-224-2023 John McCain, AZ - 202-224-2235 James Inhofe, OK - Chair, Strategic Forces - 202-224-3871 Jim Talent, MO - 202-224-6154 Saxby Chambliss, GA - 202-224-3521 Hillary Clinton, NY -202-224-4451 New York Senators and Members of the House of Representatives: Senator Charles E. Schumer - 202-224-6542 Senator Hillary Clinton - 202-224-4451 Congressman Gary Ackerman - (D-5th)- International Relations Comm. - 202-225-2601 Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-8th) - Judiciary Comm. - 202-225-5635 Congressman Anthony D. Weiner (D-9th) - Judiciary Comm. - 202-225-6616 Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-18th) - Appropriations Comm. - 202-225-6506 Congressman Eliot Engel (D-17th) - International Relations Comm. - 202-225-2464 Congressman Charles Rangel (D-15th) - Ways & Means - 202-225-4365 Congressman Thomas Reynolds (R-26th) Ways & Means Comm. - 202-225-5265 MEDIA ABC News - Foreign Desk, Michael Kreisel - 212-456-2800; Fax: 212-456-3173 CBS News - Foreign Editor: Christopher Hulme - 212-975-3019 Fox News - 212-452-3808; Fax: 212-452-5512; fox5news@hotmail.com Sean Hannity - 212-301-3000; sean.hannity@foxnews.com NY One - 212-691-6397; Fax: 212-379-3575; assignmenteditors@nynews1.com NBC News - 212-664-4444; wnbc.newsdesk@nbc.com Daily News - editors@nydailynews.com Jerusalem Post - letters@jpost.co.il New York Post - letters@nypost.com New York Sun - smarques@nysun.com New York Times - letters@nytimes.com; nytnews@nytimes.com; foreign@nytimes.com Newsday - letters@newsday.com; ndstaff@newsday.com The Star Ledger - eletters@starledger.com Wall Street Journal - wsj.ltrs@wsj.com Washington Times - wtnews@washingtontimes.com; djones@washingtontimes.com 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. To Go To Top

EQUATING RELIGIONS; TERRORISTS JOING PA SECURITY FORCE Posted by Richard Shulman, April 5, 2005.

ARAB FAMILY VALUES Pres. Bush's servile praise for Arab family values keeps echoing in one's mind. What does he think of their polygamy? SECULARIST INCONSISTENCY Some secularists want separation of religion from state, as beneficial for both parties. Others want it out of hostility towards Christianity and Judaism, though the former no longer poses a threat of dominating their lives, and Judaism never did. Many of those same people, however, seem friendly towards Islam, which threatens to take if not dominate their lives. These people are needed to join the war on Islamism. EQUATING RELIGIONS At a Conservative synagogue, I enjoyed the cantor's performance as if at a concert. The rabbi preached the ethics of taking risks to save one's people, and he emphasized the importance of Sabbath observance. He gave Judaism credit, as the mother religion, for Sabbath observance by Christianity and Islam, even though their seventh days are different from Judaism's. He thought their observance wonderful. I don't. It is at their Friday services, however, that Muslims are told that the Jews are "sons of apes and pigs" and should be killed. Sometimes the result would be a mob of Arabs bursting out of the mosque on the Temple Mount, and throwing rocks down upon Jews praying at the Western Wall, below. I was a guest at a Church service, at which the pastor reiterated the false deicide charge that "the Jews killed Christ." The rabbi equated the three faiths in such a way as to mislead his congregation into imagining that what the daughter religions copied from Judaism is faithful to its decency or is otherwise benign. The status of Judaism as originator gives little comfort when the Muslims in general and many Christians still accuse the parent religion of having betrayed its principles. Rabbis should be alerting congregations to the jihad arousing the Muslim world and to the Muslim countries' unanimous anti-Zionism. TERRORISM & THE DEATH PENALTY Israel is about to release more terrorists. These Arab terrorists are notorious for resuming terrorism. Release weakens deterrence. Think of the world campaign against the death penalty, even for terrorists. Is that a humane campaign? Execution of terrorists would be more humane. Execution would rid the world of anti-humans, and spare many innocent people. To spare the guilty, the humanitarians are enabling the deaths of many innocents. In this case, they also are helping jihadists fight against civilization and everything else that the humanitarians believe in. TERRORIST FUNDRAISING IN THE U.S. It has not reached the level of public consciousness in the West, yet, how readily the Muslim Arab population donates millions to terrorists, ironically in the name of charity! When this fact sinks in, the natives are likely to cast a much more jaundiced eye upon the Muslim immigration. It is counter-productive for the US to raise tax revenues for the war on terrorism, while Muslims here gladly offer their tithing for prosecuting a terrorist war on the West. WHO BENEFITED FROM HARIRI'S ASSASSINATION The "Jordan Times" insists that the question should be not who had Hariri assassinated but who benefited from it. Then it asserts that the US did, because it wants to pressure Syria into withdrawing from Lebanon. Finally, it defends the Syrian presence in Lebanon as preserving civil order, and as having no selfish interest in occupation (IMRA, 2/20). The "Times" has things backward in all respects. It gauges who benefited by the public reaction. But the public reaction may not have been as intended. Syria may well have ordered the murder, but it backfired. Solving a murder means tracing who ordered it. Whoever ordered it thought it would benefit. The Arabs often misjudge or misstate who benefits, and the criterion of who benefits plays into their fantasy way of thinking. It is farfetched to imagine that the US government figured out that the largely quiescent Lebanese would be ignited by this assassination. It more likely hoped that he would succeed in his process of uniting Lebanese factions against Syria. Therefore, the US would have wanted him to live. Of course Syria has selfish interests in Lebanon. Of all countries, Jordan, having been the object of Syrian aggression, should know that Syria considers itself entitled to absorb the region! Besides imperial interest in Lebanon, Syria profits from the Lebanese drug trade and from having transferred a million Syrian workmen into Lebanon, to exploit Lebanon's economy. Why aren't there foreign protests against Syrian "settlers?" The double standard against Jewish "settlers" in Yesha, flawed by the fact that Jews are entitled to move into that part of the Jewish homeland, seems a mixture of ignorance and antisemitism. NOT LOST-AND-FOUND In the three-week period ending 2/20, the IDF found an average of a bomb a day. "This indicates a potentially dangerous method that terrorists have employed since the beginning of the ceasefire: They are simply filling the land with explosives." "At least some of the [bombs] have been planted under the noses of PA policemen" (you know, the gunmen the US is training "to fight terrorism.") Most of the devices are roadside bombs detonated by whatever traffic sets it off. Hence it may harm civilians, making it terrorism (not that the Arabs have any right to attack Israeli troops). Those bombs are in addition to rocket and mortar bombardment and to Army interception of terrorists smuggling arms or moving to attack Jewish communities. In half a week in mid-February, however, the P.A. discovered and closed (whether permanently or temporarily was not stated) a dozen arms smuggling tunnels. By contrast, the IDF found only eight in eight months. The IDF is wondering how the P.A. did it. Does the P.A. know something the IDF doesn't? (Sorry, lost source.) In other words, the P.A. knew where the tunnels were, all along. Therefore, the P.A. was complicit with the smuggling. In a rational world, that would not surprise anybody - the Arabs are unscrupulous, fanatical totalitarians who break most of their agreements. In our antisemitic world, however, the great pretense is that Israel's bitterest enemies, out to conquer the world and ashamed that they cannot surmount the tiny Jewish state, would make peace with Israel if Israel only made (illegitimate) concessions in return for "secure borders" (so insecure as to put Israel at the merciless Arabs' mercy). HOW SENSIBLE IS NEW IDF ORDER? You Judge "Yesterday, over 20 Gazan Arabs arrived at the gate of an IDF outpost near the N'vei Dekalim industrial zone. The soldiers did not respond, however, in keeping with new orders not to shoot without prior permission from the highest military echelons. Local residents who saw the incident reported that when security forces arrived on the scene, the Arabs left - but not before taking several boxes from the outpost entrance." The Arabs are faithful to their traditions. The prospect of loot traditionally draws Arabs. They were insufficiently deterred by soldiers who are not allowed to shoot. Does the new order make sense in wartime? TERRORISTS JOINING P.A. SECURITY FORCES About 350 terrorist fugitives, many from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, are expected to be enrolled in the P.A. security forces. P.A. head Abbas claims they are entitled to, because they fought in the "resistance." The P.A. Min. of Agriculture explained that such enrollment would preserve the men from Israeli attack (IMRA, 2/16). This is not a parody. It is a cynical ploy. Why does Israel condone? Why does the US deem Abbas a peacemaker, when he calls terrorist aggression legitimate "resistance," a term used by the supposedly more extremist Saudis? DOES EUROPE'S ECONOMY NEED ITS IMMIGRANTS? A low native birthrate is reducing the number of native workers in Western Europe. Factories would close, and the EU economy would be wrecked, without immigrants. Immigration is presented as a boon for the EU. That analysis is too narrow. The largely Muslim immigrants bring both political and economic problems. Reproducing rapidly in those welfare states, they burden the economy with numerous claimants to subsidy (Sorry, lot source.). Why not restrict immigrants to non-Muslims, who can assimilate rather than seek to dominate? ISRAELI SECURITY MEASURES The end of every IDF message about security is this: "The IDF is operating constantly to provide security and to ensure the safety of Israeli civilians and will continue to operate in order to prevent terrorist activity of all kinds." An IDF message explains that for Israeli security, some terrorists had been relocated from Judea-Samaria to Gaza. Now, however, the announcement reads, the political echelon made a decision to ease restrictions upon the Palestinian Arabs, and the IDF finds itself in security cooperation with the P.A., so it is canceling the relocation order and letting the terrorists return to Judea-Samaria, what the IDF calls their "center of activity." (IMRA, 2/20.) The return of the terrorists to their "center of activity" hampers security. The IDF boilerplate is phony, a travesty. It is like the US Defense Dept. boilerplate asserting that each sale of advanced weaponry to the Arabs does not change the balance of power in the Mideast. Thrusting more terrorists into the P.A., as prisoner releases do, does not "ease restrictions" upon the Arab people. It tightens the extortionate and war-making dictatorship over them. The trouble with deferring to the political echelon in the name of democracy, is that Israel is not a democracy and the political echelon is traitorous. ATTORNEY-GEN. MAZUZ NEW BLOW TO DEMOCRACY The Attorney-General of Israel is seeking to reinstate the charge of "moral turpitude" against Moshe Feiglin for the civil disobedience he helped lead in 1996. He had roads blocked. Why now, nine years later? Feiglin is running for leadership of Likud against Ariel Sharon. The new charge would prevent him from holding public office. It also indicates that in Israel, the mildest civil disobedience, like that of Ghandi and King, is immoral. The State is supreme. At the same time, the Attorney-General has been dropping serious charges of election fraud against Ariel Sharon, as he had dropped other charges of corruption. Sharon, like Barak, against whom similar charges were dropped, was excused, like Barak, on the grounds that he didn't know that his own election organizations raised millions of dollars illegally. Ariel Sharon and Barak are ex-generals who like to command in detail, so they would know. In addition, Sharon is in close consultation with his son (IMRA & Winston Mid East Analysis, 2/21). Allowed to run for Knesset are Arab allies of terrorists (Prof. Steven Plaut, 2/22, e-mail). Re-opening of properly decided cases is another police state tactic. The government keeps its hold over people, that way. ONE-SIDED AID The US plans to donate about $350 million to the P.A., and the EU plans another $250 million. Some of it is to assist the P.A. in absorbing Gaza, as by building infrastructure. Why don't those charitable entities donate such sums to Israel, to assist it in abandoning Gaza and to build infrastructure neglected by the diversion of funds to defense against a war started by the P.A. they have been subsidizing? Is Western civilization to be symbolized by Jew-killing? 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. To Go To Top

NEEDLESS TRAGEDY Posted by Cary Cooperberg, April 5, 2005.

Last Wednesday I received an email from the op ed editor of the Jerusalem Post. He offered me an opportunity to write an op ed piece "playing off" the following piece by Larry Derfner (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1112152826252&p=1006953079897). I agreed and sent in my article which follows this note. Although the editor was most gracious and sincere, when he did read my article he had a problem with it. He read Derfner's article as assuming that the "settlers" will not accept implementation of the so called "disengagement" without violence. He assumed that I would write a piece which blasted the decision but asserted that it is wrong to use violence against the state and the army. The fact is that I do think it is wrong to use violence against the state and the army. That is not an argument. My position is simply that there will be violence owing to the fact that the present government has not allowed for normal democratic channels to enable the people to have a say in what is about to be done to them. I am not advocating violence, rather predicting it as a likely result of the criminal behavior of our government. I invite you to read both articles and let me know what you think. With Blessings from Hebron, Gary An atmosphere of fear and desperation is enveloping Israel owing to Sharon's intended program of ethnic cleansing of Jews from parts of our homeland. Victims of this capricious plan are branded as "radical" for refusing to accept "democratic" decisions which require them to willingly allow themselves to be deported from their homes. But was this truly a democratic decision? Before he was elected Sharon clearly declared that no more settlements would be dismantled. By what right can he claim a mandate to now declare "not one Jew will be left in Gaza?" Is this really democracy? And when his own party refused to back this about face in policy, Sharon declared he would accept their decision, and then went right ahead on his mad path toward surrender to the PLO. When opposed by ministers in his own coalition he simply fired them. When it seemed certain that Tomi Lapid, would torpedo his budget and thus bring new elections, Sharon paid him 700,000,000 NIS of tax payers money to change his mind! Is this really democracy? Do you really expect the electorate, no matter what their positions may be, to accept dictatorial railroading as a means to make radical changes in our country? True democracy asserts that the people are the ultimate rulers. Elected officials are supposed to be servants of the people and not the other way around. If Sharon really felt that a 180 degree change in policy was justified, then he had an obligation to get the approval of the electorate before trying to implement it. Not only did he make no such attempt, he emphatically declared his intention not to give the people a voice! Is this democracy? Whether or not the "disengagement" is a good idea, being that it affects the future of our country in a significant way, democracy demands that the people make this decision, not the politicians. If Sharon is so certain that the majority is with him he should have called for new elections and proved it. That would certainly have avoided the strife which now confronts us all. But he knows he is wrong and that he could never get reelected. So he bulldozed and bribed his own government to tow the line rather than trust in his own constituency. This is not democracy. It is despotism. What is abundantly clear is that there has always been a radical fringe of self hating Jews who would like to blame "settlers" for all of the problems we have today. What they conveniently forget is that this country was built by "settlers". All Israelis are "settlers". This "them against us" concept is a manufactured one. It was invented by cowards who refuse to accept reality. These people would like to think that if we dismantle all the "settlements" in YESHA we will find real peace. Why is it so hard to remember the real peace we had prior to June of 1967 when there were no "settlements" in YESHA nor a Jewish presence in East Jerusalem? Can any of these peace heros explain why we went to war in 1967? Certainly it must have been because of those "peace hating" settlers. The fabric of our society is being ripped apart today not because Jews, who were encouraged by all former governments to take up residence in YESHA, insist upon continuing to live in their homes in Israel. It is being ripped apart by cowardly and selfish politicians who think that this country is their plaything. Vigilantism springs up when there is a vacuum of leadership. When people, who have a right to expect their government to protect them, discover that their own government is acting against their interest to the point of endangering their lives and the stability of their nation, it is a normal and desperate reaction to take the law into their own hands. This only happens when government fails to do its job; when it refuses to recognize the authority of the governed. It should certainly be no surprise to find ordinary Jews taking to the streets and disrupting traffic as a desperate attempt to wake up their brothers and stop this madness. The more our government tries to stifle even these expressions of dissent, the more desperate the people will become. Normal, law abiding, citizens have a limit to how much oppression they will tolerate by those who presume to govern this country. It will not be a madman who commits an act of desperation. It will be good and law abiding citizens who have been pushed over the edge by elected despots. If you corner a rabbit and he feels threatened he will bite. Does this mean rabbits are violent? How cynical to blame the victims of Sharon's surrender as defying democracy, even as our government denies the people the right to decide! It is easy to claim that polls show that the majority supports this madness. But it is nothing less than criminal to demand that we rely on such assumptions when such radical steps are being planned. Make no mistake. The victims here are not only the Jews living in Gush Katif. The victims here are the entire population of Israel. If we allow elected officials a free hand to make any radical decision they choose, especially decisions which diametrically oppose the principles upon which we elected them, then let us at least be honest and not pretend we are a democracy. There is no question but that Sharon is inviting civil war, G-d forbid. He will not succeed in accomplishing his aim. But he will cause needless tragedy which he could have prevented. Gary Cooperberg lives in Hebron and can be contacted by email at gary@projectshofar.org. He founded Project Shofar, which is dedicated to sounding the alarm, to Jew and Gentile alike, to open our eyes to the G-dly process that is currently underway, and work to support it. We dare not stand idly on the sidelines. If you want to support the concepts espoused by the Voice from Hebron, and the physical work of Project Shofar, you can send a tax deductible contribution to: Project Shofar, Inc. P.O. Box 181191 Casselberry, FL 32718 To Go To Top

COURT VICTORY OVER THE ISM Posted by Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center, April 5, 2005.

Israeli Court Dismisses Ism Agitators' Case Against Jerusalem Journalist The Beit She'an Magistrate's Court has dismissed a lawsuit for libel brought by a foreign International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist against an Israeli journalist. The American plaintiff alleged that Jerusalem reporter, Judy Lash Balint had defamed her in an article posted on an internet website which maintained that members of the ISM were in close contact with the Palestinian terrorist organizations. The plaintiff claimed that Balint had implied in the piece that her presence in the territories assisted the terrorist groups in perpetrating attacks. Balint was defended in the case by Shurat HaDin Director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner. Balint expressed her satisfaction with the dismissal of the action viewing it as a confirmation of the accuracy of her reporting: "The judge's decision to throw the libel case against me out of court underscores my assertion about the true nature of the International Solidarity Movement. Hopefully this decision will prevent further frivolous legal action against reporters who try to tell the truth about extremist groups." The case filed in December 2003, was initially delayed when the attorney for the plaintiff, Shamai Leibowitz, represented to the Court that he had served Balint with a complaint and not received an answer. At the time, however, the Israeli court system was on strike and the time periods for answering court papers had been suspended in place. Nonetheless, the Court mistakenly granted the plaintiff a default judgment. However, after the error was brought to the Court's attention it swiftly vacated the default. The defense then requested that the Court instruct the foreign plaintiff to post a bond to ensure court costs in the event that the case was to be dismissed, as is required by Israeli law. However, attorney Leibowitz boldly stated to the Court that under an "existing treaty" U.S. citizens were not required to post bonds in Israeli courts. The defense, however, researched the matter and discovered, in fact, that the U.S. was not a party to any such treaty. After being presented with this finding, the Court ordered the plaintiff to post the bond in thirty days. When this period of time passed and the plaintiff still had failed to post the money, the defense moved to have the nuisance suit dismissed. In December 2004, Attorney Leibowitz inaccurately wrote to the Court that the two sides were negotiating a settlement, while in fact no such compromise would be entertained by Balint who insisted that she wanted to take the case to trial and publicly establish the accuracy of her article. Based upon Leibowitz' misrepresentation, however, the Court granted a further extension in time. In January, Attorney Darshan-Leitner wrote to the Court informing it that the defense would not accept a compromise in any event and asked that the suit be dismissed for the plaintiff's failure to post the required bond. Finally last week, the Court dismissed the baseless lawsuit. Leibowitz is the grandson of the late controversial Israeli philosopher, Rabbi Yeshaiyahu Liebowitz. Since the outbreak of the current round of Palestinian violence in September 2000, Israeli troops have conducted thousands of counter-terrorism operations in the towns and villages of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, in the heart of hostile and dangerous Palestinian population centers. The IDF's ability to operate effectively in these areas against the Palestinian terrorists has been systematically and intentionally obstructed by groups of foreign volunteers, who are used by the Palestinian Authority as "human shields". The most dangerous of these groups is the Palestinian-financed ISM The ISM recruits anti-Israel radicals, primarily from Europe and American college campuses, and sends them to Judea, Samaria and Gaza to disrupt Israeli military operations. The presence of these foreign civilians in the midst of the Palestinian population obstructs the IDF's ability to fight Palestinian terrorists. By interfering with Israeli counter-terrorism operations, the ISM directly endangers the lives of Israeli civilians. In April 2003, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that: "ISM members take an active part in illegal and violent actions against IDF soldiers. At times, their activity in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip is under the auspices of Palestinian terrorist organizations." In the past, ISM members have been arrested vandalizing and destroying Israeli security fences and equipment. In March 2003, fugitive Islamic Jihad terrorist, Shadi Sukiya, was arrested in a house in Jenin rented by the ISM Shurat HaDin is also representing the family of an Israeli soldier currently on trial for the alleged shooting of ISM militant, Tom Hurndall, in April 2003. The Israel Law Center has called upon the Knesset to outlaw the extremist ISM. Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center is a long overdue Jewish legal rights institute based in Israel. Staffed by some of the country's leading activist attorneys, we are dedicated to providing legal representation and resources for the numerous courtroom struggles, which are being waged in the Israeli, American and European courts on behalf of the Jewish State. We serve as a central clearinghouse and litigation base for the multifarious legal battles that have been thrust upon Israel's citizens during these dark days. Contact the Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center" by email at info@israellawcenter.org To Go To Top

STOP THE RETREAT FROM JUDEA, SAMARIA AND GAZA Posted by Brandon Heller, April 5, 2005.

ZERO HOUR IS AT HAND! PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT IF, G-D FORBID, PM SHARON IS SUCCESSFUL IN THROWING JEWS OUT OF THEIR HOMES AND OFF THEIR LAND IN GUSH KATIF, IT WILL BE THE FIRST STEP OF MANY IN MAKING PARTS OF ISRAEL JUDENREIN. JERUSALEM WILL THEN BE SPLIT IN HALF, GIVING COMPLETE CONTROL OF THE KOTEL AND TEMPLE MOUNT TO ARAB TERRORISTS. SHIN BET DIRECTOR, AVI DICHTER, WARNED THAT GAZA WILL BECOME LIKE SOUTHERN LEBANON, THAT THE "TRICKLE" OF WEAPONS FROM SINAI INTO GAZA WILL TURN INTO A "RIVER". KASSAM RICKETS AND MISSILES WILL POUR DOWN ON THE NEGEV, ASHKELON, ASHDOD, AND REACH TEL AVIV. SHARON IS COMMITTING THE GREATEST TREACHERY A LEADER CAN COMMIT AGAINST HIS CITIZENS. WHEREAS HE ONCE ENCOURAGED SETTLEMENT OF THE LAND HE IS NOW ABOUT TO YELL, "HACHUTZA" (GET OUT)! ALL THAT YOU BUILT WILL NOW BE TURNED OVER TO THE ARAB ENEMY! THOUSANDS OF JEWS, INCLUDING IDF OFFICERS, SOLDIERS, RESERVISTS AND CITIZENS ARE SIGNING PETITIONS TO STOP THIS INSANITY OF FORCIBLY EXPELLING JEWS. SOLDIERS ARE REFUSING TO CARRY OUT THESE ORDERS. THRITY-FOUR HIGH RANKING RESERVE OFFICERS WROTE A LETTER TO SHARON CALLING THE DISENGAGEMENT "BLATANTLY ILLEGAL...FORBIDDEN TO FULFILL". UPROOTING JEWS IN THEIR HOMELAND BY A JEWISH POLICE FORCE AND ARMY WILL RESULT IN THE MORAL AND PHYSICAL DESTRUCTION OF THE IDF. EACH JEW SWEARS THAT HE WILL PROTECT ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE WHEN HE ENTERS THE ARMY. HE CAN NEVER SWEAR TO THAT AGAIN. THE SOUL WILL BE SEVERED FROM THE BODY. NEITHER AN ARMY, COUNTRY OR BODY COULD SURVIVE THIS SURGERY. PROMINENT ISRAELI RABBIS HAVE SHOUTED LOUD AND CLEAR ALSO. ON JANUARY 10TH, THEY HELD A MEETING AND MADE MANY RESOLUTIONS, AMONG WHICH WERE: 1. WE SADLY DETERMINE THAT THE PRIME MINISTER IS CAUSING A TERRIBLE CIVIL WAR THE END OF WHICH CANNOT BE FORETOLD. 2. WE CALL UPON OUR BROTHERS AND ALL TORAH GIANTS TO HELP BODILY, MONETARILY AND SPIRITUALLY THE RESIDENTS OF YESHA WHO FACE THE DECREE OF EVACUATION. 3. RABBI MORDECHAI ELIAHU, FORMER CHIEF SEPHARDIC RABBI, DECLARED " NO ONE IN THE WORLD HAS THE RIGHT TO CEDE THE JEWISH PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO ANY PART OF THE LAND, AND SUCH A MOVE MUST BE FOUGHT". CONCERNED JEWS IN ISRAEL ARE FIGHTING THIS TERRIBLE PLAN 24 HOURS A DAY. WHEN ASKED WHEN DO THEY SLEEP, THEY ANSWER, "HOW CAN WE SLEEP"? TIME IS RUNNING OUT! HOW ARE WE SHOWING OUR CONCERN? ARE WE SACRIFICING ANYTHING? MY DEAR FRIENDS, OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS ARE IN DIRE NEED OF FINANCIAL HELP TO CONTINUE THEIR VALIANT STRUGGLE. EVERY ACTION, EVERY PLAN TO SUCCEED COSTS MONEY. PLEASE FORWARD AS GENEROUS A DONATION NOW AND HOPEFULLY PREVENT THE NEEDING OF RAISING MONEY TO SAVE JERUSALEM LATER. RABBI KAHANE, MAY G-D AVENGE HIS BLOOD, ONCE SAID, "IF YOU CAN'T SAY NO TO GIVING AWAY JUDEA, SAMARIA AND GAZA, THEN YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SAY NO TO GIVING AWAY JERUSALEM. IF YOU CAN SAY NO TO JERUSALEM, THEN YOU CAN SAY NO TO JUDEA, SAMARIA AND GAZA" WE KNOW RABBI KAHANE'S WORDS WERE RIGHT! UNFORTUNATELY, THIS GOVERNMENT WILL SAY NO AND WILL KEEP GIVING AEWAY OUR LAND TO OUR ENEMIES. PLEASE HELP NOW. BE THEIR PARTNERS IN THIS STRUGGLE TO KEEP THE HOLY LAND. PLEASE HELP STOP SHARON FROM DISENGAGING THE STAE OF ISRAEL FROM ITS JUDAISM. PLEASE MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO: "STOP THE RETREAT" AND MAIL TO : KEN HELLER, 11213 JEANES STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 19116 ALSO, YOU MAY SUBSTITUTE YOUR NAME FOR MINE AND DISTRIBUTE THIS MESSAGE OF GREAT URGENCY TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. To Go To Top

THE POLITICALLY MOTIVATED ARREST OF RAANANA VETERAN ACTIVIST: ILAN HIRSCHFELD Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 5, 2005.

There is little doubt that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the Shabak (General Secret Services), among others, have built a case against themselves by suppression of free speech, arrests without cause, thuggery, beatings - sadly - with more to come. There is a virtual wave of conter-democracy being used by Sharon with the Administration of President George Bush as his cheering section. Bush talks democracy but accepts the Arab Muslim Palestinian form of democracy. The Pioneering settlers have been the most decent, hard-working role-models Israel could ever have. They obey - not only the laws of the Land but they obey a far more strict set of laws. When such people defy what passes for State law, you can be certain that the State laws are biased, illegal and have no basis in human rights. As you experience these next difficult days and observe dire experiences, please keep a good written record of every act of the current Police, Intelligence, or Military riot. Keep a small pad handy to write down circumstance, time of arrest or attack, name of Police and/or Shabak (they may remove their name tags - which is illegal), photo, if possible, followup with name of Judge and proceedings. [Editor's note: More information below.] 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). To Go To Top

DEMOCRACY AND THE MIDDLE EAST Posted by Morris J. Amitay, April 5, 2005.

How does one make sense of all the talk about the "democratic revolution" that seems to be sweeping the planet, not only in the Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan - but also now supposedly spreading to the Middle East? It has been pointed out that in less than thirty years we have seen the rise of between seventy and eighty new democracies. If there is now the beginning of a second wave, could it also engulf the Arab world? To some extent the recent focus on democratization can be attributed to the fact that President Bush's foreign policy handbook appears to have been borrowed from Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident and currently a Knesset Member. The short answer is that it is really too early to tell if the democracy glass is half full or half empty. Pessimists about the spread of democracy in the Middle East will surely be pleasantly surprised if they are proven wrong. But the fact remains that there are strong arguments that can be made that movement toward genuine democracy will have a much rougher road to travel in the Middle East, than elsewhere. This is based on an admittedly politically incorrect assumption that most Arabs will not acclimate to democratic practices and a civil society as easily as European or Asian counterparts. While this is not due to some kind of genetic defect, there are, however, distinct cultural and religious differences which support a more jaundiced view of democracy's prospects. Submission to religious authority is a key factor in Koranic teachings - as is the admiration for a strong, powerful leader. This does not mean that as individuals, Arabs do not desire decent living conditions and material well-being. But shackled by educational systems which prevent them from competing in the global economy, and with the emphasis on religious teachings, the current young generation in the Arab world will need more than just the right to vote in sham elections every few years. Modernization and attainment of the benefits of a civil society must accompany democratic reform. So far, there is scant evidence that despite the rumblings in Beirut and Cairo, real change will come about in the near future. The lack of educational and economic opportunities was largely not present in the Rose or Orange revolutions, and remains an obstacle in generating greater freedom and democracy in the Middle East. In almost all of the Arab countries autocracy may be viewed as a family affair, where "the son also rises". Whether it is in the monarchies of Morocco, the UAE, Bahrain, and Jordan, or the dictatorships of Syria, Libya and Egypt (Saudi Arabia still hasn't run out of elderly royal brothers), we have seen sons replacing or being groomed to replace despotic fathers. In these countries where the ruler really rules, the trappings of an advisory council or a powerless parliament are mere window dressing and examples of "Potemkin" democracy. In Iran, for example, there is an "elected" Parliament whose candidates must first be vetted by a council of clerics who disqualified hundreds from running in the last parliamentary and presidential elections. This blatant denial of freedom of choice, however, did not prevent former Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, from declaring Iran a democracy in Senate testimony. One must assume that the "axis of evil" has been removed from Foggy Bottom's lexicon. In Egypt, "President for life" Mubarak (24 years and counting) was sufficiently embarrassed to make a recent concession to actually permit someone other than himself to run in the next Presidential election. But can there be any doubt that the Egyptian dictator with full control over all the organs of state and the media will not be able to extend his rule for another six-year term - that is, barring the intercession of Divine Providence? And although his son, Gamal ("Jimmy"), has recently stated he will not run (obviously, because dad will be on the ballot), it is an open secret that he is being groomed for succession, just as Syria's Bashar Assad was, and as Libya's Seif Gadaffi is now being prepared to take over. What eventually could break the iron grip of the dictators are the powerful images of human freedom being beamed by television - among them, the unintended consequence of Al-jazeera showing the Iraqi elections - and the growing influence of communication over the internet. But in the much shorter run, a powerful influence will be how the Iraqis and the Palestinians perform in the next few months. As for Iraq, the jury is still out on their experiment in democracy as three distinct political/tribal entities - Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis wrangle over the division of power while an insurgency still rages. With regard to the Palestinians, Abu Mazen has yet to seriously try to assert his authority over armed terrorists who roam freely. The key here is whether Hamas and Islamic Jihad will be disarmed, or be permitted to bring their devotion to terrorism with them into the emerging Palestinian security structure. Incorporating terrorists into the new Palestinian security forces ensures that terrorism against Israel will continue - just as it is impossible to teach a lion to be a vegetarian. At this point, the prospect of a more democratic and peaceful Iraq looks like a better bet than a truly reformed, functioning Palestinian entity. A great deal depends upon our nation's ability to spread the message of freedom and democracy, and more importantly, to back it up with more than rhetoric. Iran is a notable example where next to nothing is being done to support the dissidents there, as fruitless negotiations drag on with a ruthless regime intent on developing nuclear weapons. It still is unclear whether the "realists" in our foreign policy establishment calling for accommodation, or democracy advocates seeking change, will prevail. US policy will most probably wind up tacking between both approaches - bolstering a non-democratic ally when considered necessary, or undermining an autocratic regime if there is a probability of success. But while tolerating dictatorships will be decided on a case-by-case basis, our strategic objective must be the active promotion of democracy and human freedom. The ultimate goal must be to bring about regime change in the Arab world, preferably by peaceful means. But this does not mean - as the CIA has long practiced - replacing a thuggish general with a corrupt colonel. Instead, it must mean as Sharansky advocates - "unleashing the power of freedom to overcome tyranny and terror." This, indeed, will be no easy task - but does America really have a choice? Morrie Amitay is a former Executive Director of AIPAC and founder of the pro-Israel Washington PAC (www.washingtonpac.org). To Go To Top

ZOA TO BUSH: STOP U.S. AID TO PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 5, 2005.

Wherever the mix of Arab Muslims, self-named "Palestinians" plant themselves, Terror follows. This continual, unremitting record (going back to 1920 and beyond). Terror by Arab Muslims attacking civilian men, women and children is so permanent in the historical data that even the idea of pacification through democracy is little more than a draconian joke. Somehow, the flotsam of the Arab Muslim world, for work, money and better health care drifted into the area partitioned for a Jewish State that became Israel in 1948. They did not come as friends and they remain hostile in the extreme to this day. But soon, with some organization, they turned to serious raiding, stealing equipment and farm animals. Then under Yassir Arafat's guidance, they graduated to killing and teaching their children to hate and kill. They were at first the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) then later they metastasized into other camps - each with its own agenda but all dedicated to Terror and killing of Jews/Israelis. When they took control of 7 towns in Israel under Oslo, they started working on the Christians. They virtually emptied Bethlehem of Christians. The population went from some 80% Christians to 20% Christian through their various methods of intimidation, blackmail, terror, etc. During the many years of organized Terror, pipelines were established for the distribution of loot. Dollars through the U.N.'s UNRWA (United Nations Relief Works Agency), blackmail monies paid by the Saudi royal family - most went into a central pot and then was distributed through the complex pipeline to all other Terrorist groups. There were also direct payments by Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia to favored Terrorist groups, particularly when there was a specific contract to be carried out. They even paid bonuses if there was a spectacular successful atrocity. Was this a big secret to the donor nations? Absolutely not. The pro-Arab U.S. State Department knew where the money was going. The E.U. (European Union) also knew but, all pretended not to know. The flashing Muslim sign board always read: "We are giving this to the poor Palestinians in the camps to build a better life." But, they all knew the money was and still is flowing into the well-established Terrorist pipelines. The money never reached the people and the projects never were implemented. The Arab Muslim Palestinian people were always irrelevant to them (the Terrorists) and it was better to pay the Terrorists because then they could act as dictators and make deals. (Something like America's special arrangements with the dictators of South America and/or Africa. Pay the head man and get what you want.) Democracy doesn't work very well in the Middle East although it's great to talk about it. Presently, the Bush team have shanghaied AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) via a sting entrapment and have forced AIPAC to use its influence in Congress to get them to gift $200 million to the Palestinians. Good Work, George. Entrapping an ally by feeding them false information about a pending Iranian nuclear attack. And when that vital information about Iran's nuclear capability is passed on to Israel as a matter of Life or Death, your boys at the FBI spring the trap closed. Then you "own" AIPAC like any gangster in a blackmail scheme. Clearly, Congress should not give a dime to the Palestinian Authority which remains an unreconstructed Terrorist Organization, superior in its successful Terror tactics to most - which is an incurable condition. This is the text of ZOA urging President Bush to stop aid to the PA. "The Zionist Organization of America (www.zoa.org), founded in 1897, is the oldest pro-Israel organization in the United States. The ZOA works to strengthen U.S.-Israel relations, educates the American public and Congress about the dangers that Israel faces, and combats anti-Israel bias in the media and on college campuses. Its past presidents have included Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and Rabbi Dr. Abba Hillel Silver." NEW YORK - Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz yesterday condemned the Palestinian military intelligence agency of Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority (PA) for smuggling Stella shoulder fired missiles into Gaza. Mofaz stated they pose a threat to Israeli aircraft and that this action "crosses a red line." Mofaz added "there's a big gap between Abbas' intentions and what we see in the field. The PA continues to act as before...since Israel gave up Jericho and Tulkarm two weeks ago, we do not see the PA dealing with the terrorists as we agreed...another 10-12 more moved into Tulkarm to seek immunity...there is no change in the PA security groups fighting against terrorism." ZOA President Morton A. Klein said, "Mahmoud Abbas' PA is the same as Arafat's PA. He doesn't dismantle, disarm, or arrest terrorists. He coddles them and protects them. He has hired 350 terrorists to become PA policemen, so that they can keep their weapons. To add to this shocking state of affairs, he is now using PA forces to smuggle even more dangerous missiles into Gaza that threaten Israeli aircraft and Israeli helicopters used for intelligence purposes. "We at ZOA are urging the Bush Administration and the U.S. Congress to stop all aid to the PA and end all negotiations with the PA until they stop these outrageous pro-terrorist actions. Since 1994, the US has given over $1 billion in US aid to the PA. Despite this largess, the PA has violated all of its Oslo and Road Map obligations and taken virtually no anti-terrorist actions. President Bush must stop funding Abbas' terrorist regime. Eleven years of ignoring hatred and murder against Israel and America is enough." 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). To Go To Top

FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM Posted by Moshe Feiglin, April 5, 2005.

"How will you treat secular Jews after you come to power?" a secular Jew asked me. "Who are your rabbis?" asked a religious Jew. I suddenly realized that both of them are suffering from the same illness - they regard leadership as a kind of paternalism, that spreads its wings over its subjects, supplies their needs, thinks for them, decides for them. "How will you treat me?" asks the secular Jew anxiously. Obviously his fate lies in the hands of the leader. He has never assumed personal responsibility, and has no freedom of choice. "Who are your rabbis?" asks the religious Jew, clearly avoiding personal responsibility. If his Rabbi tells him to obey the expulsion order, he must do so. Why should he think otherwise? In the name of religion, ignoring the fact that he has been given something that animals don't have - the right and responsibility to distinguish between good and evil, he forgets the divine spark within him and delegates his own responsibility to the rabbis. "Why should I bother you?" I asked the secular Jew, but he didn't understand what I was saying. "Who am I, that you are trying to clarify how I will treat you?" again I attempted to explain. "Am I your father? My job is to give you the freest possible environment in which you can decide for yourself and be yourself. I am your servant, not your father nor your master." "Why should you care who are our rabbis?" I replied to the religious Jew. "Do you agree with what we say? Do you disagree? What do you yourself think? If you wish to consult your rabbis, that's OK. If you don't receive a satisfactory answer from them, approach other rabbis, or other moral, wise people, and go from one to another until you discover the truth. You can then decide if you agree with me or not. But why should you care who are my rabbis?" "And if you like the rabbi's names and I can persuade you to evict the Cohen children from their home, which they paid for with amputated legs; and if I can persuade you to give their home to Mohammed Dahlan who chopped off their legs, do you think that this argument will help you when you stand in the final judgment?" "I believe that the Creator will say to you: I gave you the most precious gift of all - I gave you free will. You have ignored morality. Moreover, you have taken My Torah and turned it into idolatry, a desecration of My Name!" So the religious and secular Jews, the Rightists and the Leftists, are all in fact in the same luxury "Gulag", having grown accustomed to being controlled. It is very easy for the natives to be comfortable with this system. The temptation to give up free will is the same temptation that is presented by idolatry. After all, what is idol worship if not subjection to the forces of nature that cannot be changed, to cyclic phenomenon that cannot be modified? In ecstasy, the Red "majority" sang John Lennon's mantra, Imagine, in Rabin Square: "Imagine there's no heaven? No hell below us? Above us only sky... Imagine there's no countries? Nothing to kill or die for... No religion too?" When good and evil do not exist, there's no need to choose. You can forget about the differences between humans and animals. You can behave like a beast, like the people who go naked in radical Leftist demonstrations. It's a pleasure to be a slave, to give up the right of free will, to become "liberated", to flow with the stream, to be swept along like fishes going downstream - dead fish. Now Manhigut Yehudit has come to try to take the Israelis out of this slavery, but the prisoner has gotten so used to the darkness that he fears the light. He joyfully accepts the brainwashing: "Halachic State!" He is shocked! A hostile takeover by the Feiglinites! The first group of slaves has already been deprived of their human rights. The Prison Service is preparing the camps and the barbed wire fences. The IDF Chief Rabbi has prepared the spades for uncovering the bodies of the Hatuel children and their mother. The media and the institutions of "Justice" have already denied the evictees their essential humanity - they are not people; they are enemies of peace. After all, they should have known? As in all totalitarian regimes, the other groups remain silent, hoping that they will remain unharmed. In order to justify themselves, they adopt the arguments of the regime against the demons designated for eviction - enemies of peace, enemies of the sole legitimate collective idea. The real issue involved is not Gush Katif or Eretz Israel. It is certainly not security, peace, the economy, etc., etc., etc. All these are merely symptoms of the problem. The real issue is slavery. Israel has reached the end of a journey towards the loss of liberty, the loss of the human image, a journey that always ends at one stage or another in barbed wire fences, in camps, in death ... for the sake of peace, of course. This year we are slaves. But we shall win - because the Almighty will not give up our liberty so easily. This year we are slaves. Next year we shall be free men. 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 To Go To Top

MISSILE DEFENSE AND STAND-DOWN OF NUCLEAR DETERRENCE by Emanuel A. Winston, April 5, 2005.

As President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice inform Israel to stand down her nuclear deterrence - while at the same time asking Congress for a $9 Billion expenditure on nuclear missile defense in the 2006 U.S. Budget year. (Following this article, please read the attached article on Missile Defense by Liz Sicoti, AP (Associated Press) writer.) IThis is one of those "Do as I say, not as I do" directives by America to Israel. Let us examine the motives of the Bush Family Dynasty and their advisor, James Baker III, the multinational oil corporations and the Arab Muslim nations. Clearly, there is a certain synergism between all of the above and their mandate that Israel adopt the disarmament policy of South Africa when it gave up its nuclear arms and turned from a controlling White government to a mostly Black government with few skills in governance. White or Black, South Africa was NOT surrounded by dedicated enemies ready to exterminate its population. Why would Bush, Rice, Baker and John Bolton want Israel to sacrifice her nuclear deterrence when the U.S. has already spent $92 Billion on Missile Defense since 1983 (1) and wishes to spend $9 Billion more? There is no doubt that the U.S. could be a target for incoming Nuclear Ballistic Missiles, possibly from North Korea, Iran - among others. Howver, since the U.S. is not likely to be targeted by their next-door neighbors Canada or Mexico, she is thousands of miles from these other adversaries. Israel, on the other hand, is literally within minutes of flying time for incoming missiles and/or aircraft. While I point out the unfairness of the Bush policy, I am at the moment, more interested in their very suspicious motives. I recall the 1981 Madrid Conference which Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir attended, although he was warned not to because it was clearly a State Department set-up. But, like most Israeli leaders, Shamir believed he could overcome. Regrettably, Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, like all the Prime Ministers who followed him, never understood geo-politics nor the motives of the Europeans nor even Israel's American friends. They did not understand that, to these nations, Israel was merely a pawn to be sacrificed at a time of their convenience and for their greater interests in oil. During the Madrid Conference, I opined that Baker's Jew-boys, Dennis Ross, Aaron Miller and Daniel Kurtzer would get one of the attending Arab Muslim nations to make a declaration that the Middle East region should be a Nuclear-Free Zone. Egypt was the State chosen to make this declaration and she did. This meant that the U.S. State Department and their Arab allies wanted Israel to rid herself of her Nuclear Deterrence. That would leave Israel vulnerable to face Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia with only conventional weapons. Most (if not all) of these hostile neighboring States have had their weapons' systems built up by the U.S. with top-of-the-line, high tech weapons - both in quantity and in quality. Egypt, as a signator to the Camp David Accords, has received $2 Billion a year in American tax-payers' money - reaching a total of some $60 Billion since 1979. Also, Egypt has received free weapons' systems and factories such as the turn-key factory to build M1A1 Abrams tanks, courtesy of then Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Egypt has become a military colossus in the Middle East on American dollars. Egypt was the State Department's (unofficial) spokesman at the 1981 Madrid Conference (and since) for a Middle East Nuclear Free Zone. That was aimed directly at Israel, the only M.E. State known to have nuclear weapons. The U.S. State Department, of course, never wanted Israel, the Jewish State to exist and since her birth May 14, 1948, the State Department has done everything possible to weaken the Jewish State - while arming her enemies with the best America could offer in weapons. Israel was supposed to lose (any one) of the subsequent six wars the Arab Muslims initiated but - she didn't - much to the annoyance of the State Department Arabists. It is now April 2005. September 11, 2001 was first really big Arab Muslim attack on American soil. President George Bush declared a war against Global Terrorism. Bush attacked Afghanistan and Iraq - only to discover that Terror is a new kind of warfare. Cut off one head and 3 grow back. Israel has been fighting against radical Muslim Terror-based warfare for some hundred years in terms of recorded history but, of course, hostile Islamic Terror ramped up considerably since Israel's birth in 1948. Oil has become very pricey and the Free Western nations are beginning to cozy up to Saudi Arabia - like a bunch of male dogs following female dog in heat. Anything the Saudis and Arab Muslims wanted, they got. They wanted Israel dead so the Arabists in America and Europe tried their very best to accommodate the oil-bearing Arab Muslims. The Arabists had certain problems because the American people liked this spunky little Jewish State who kept kicking the stuffing out of Arab armies. So, while the pro-Arab State Department was wholly hostile and anti-Semitic to boot, they had to cover their subversion with diplomatese. In a word, they lied and pretended to be in line with the wishes of the American people. The State Department was, is and will continue to be an un-elected and therefore un-democratic "Shadow Government". Again, the question arises of why the Bush Family and cohorts want Israel to disarm her Nuclear Deterrence. One reason is that the President and the State Department knows when they start the dismemberment or re-partition of the Jewish State of Israel, the Arab nations will feel more confident in their ability to take out Israel in her reduced state of vulnerability. They understand, if Iran and Syria, among others, decide to hit Israel with a saturation missile attack that Israel will use her second strike capability to take out many of the Arab Muslim cities and army installations in the hostile neighboring States which presently surround her. The U.S. has its own vested interests and do not want that to happen - thus their demand that Israel eliminate her Nuclear Deterrence. For them, it is better that Israel disappear then lose large, profitable Arab Muslim markets and possibly the oil that goes with them. While I realize that Sharon and Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres can no longer be trusted to defend the Jewish nation, there is also the possibility that they will cave in to whatever threats the Bush family can bring to bear - including nuclear disarmament.. While George Bush recognizes the threat of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles aimed at the U.S., he has discounted the same and even far worse dangers that Israel faces from her close hostile neighbors. I recall my sense of dark foreboding when Shimon Peres was in charge of Israel's nuclear deterrence as a minister in the government. I felt certain he would find a way to subvert Israel's readiness but, fortunately there were others standing guard. Now, we only have to worry about Arik Sharon being on a short leash to Bush. Friendly nations become unfriendly when their interests, as they see them, are at stake. With oil prices hitting astronomical heights, selling out an ally is no stretch of the imagination. We see Arik Sharon being invited to the Bush Neverland Ranch in Crawford, Texas to do to him what was done to then Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David. Sharon has already caved in to uprooting 9,000 Jewish men, women and children from their homes, farms, factories, businesses, schools, synagogues and even their cemeteries in Gush Katif and Northern Samaria. After the retreat from Gaza, expect all of Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights, the Jordan Valley and even Jerusalem to be next. Sharon will be pressured on the Golan and on Jerusalem. Since Sharon has no visible attachments to the Jewish religion, he will probably even cave in on Jerusalem. I suspect the reason Bush chose his ranch for the meeting is that protestors cannot get anywhere near his ranch for TV crews to see the signs blasting Sharon for being a traitor to his own nation. By comparison, Mahmoud Abbas aka Abu Mazen is being invited to the royal treatment at the White House to lift his image - given that Terrorists really run the PLO On Monday April 11th from 1-4 PM, there will be a large emergency rally not too far from President Bush's Ranch in Crawford, Texas (at the Tonka Park), attended by Christians and Jews, protesting against Sharon and Bush selling off the Holy Land which was given by G-d to the Jews in perpetuity, to Islamofascists - radical fundamentalist Islamic Terrorists. This is probably where the media will also be "sequestered". Let us see if the Media covers this event or, as a "favor" to Bush, if they "spike" or black out coverage. (More on this to follow.) ##### "Missile Defense" by Liz Sidoti, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- At a time of budget deficit pressures, Congress is weighing how much to invest in a fledgling but expensive ballistic missile defense system that has suffered setbacks and whose ultimate cost right now is a big question mark. The system is the most costly defense research and development program under way. President Bush wants lawmakers to approve $9 billion for the system in the 2006 budget year -- $1 billion less than the administration previously planned. Lawmakers of both parties are nervous about whether the nation is adequately protected against nuclear attack. But many also are concerned about the costs. The government has spent about $92 billion on missile defense since 1983. The administration expects to spend $58 billion more over the next six years. But officials have not put an overall price tag on the system. On the other hand, outside experts expect it to far surpass $150 billion. Groups favoring arms reductions claim the overall price tag could range from $800 billion to $1.2 trillion. "No doubt, it's going to end up being higher. If they keep spending the way they have been spending on this, absolutely," said Victoria Samson, an analyst at the Center for Defense Information. The program is meant to protect the country by launching interceptors from land or sea to shoot down missiles fired from overseas. The system is a substantially downscaled version of President Reagan's effort in the mid-1980s, which critics dubbed "Star Wars" for its futuristic weaponry. Its first eight interceptors have been installed in underground bunkers in Alaska and California. Testing of the system and production of more missiles are continuing. At a time of worries over the weapons programs of North Korea and Iran, many Republicans and Democrats say they think the system will eventually be an effective line of defense and that a limited ability to shoot down missiles is better than none. These lawmakers fear Bush's latest request won't be enough to continue developing it at the current pace. "The threat remains real. The American people want their homeland defended, and if they felt these reductions would jeopardize them, they would not be happy with us," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee. Rep. Terry Everett, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee that oversees missile defense, compared the program's expense to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "One strike against this country cost us about $83 billion, not counting the human suffering," Everett said, using an estimate by the General Accountability Office, an investigative agency of Congress. Still, he acknowledged, "This stuff costs an awful lot of money and we have to have results." Such lawmakers outnumber critics, mainly Democrats, who question the cost and whether the system ever will work properly. They say more testing is needed af after recent failures. Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, opposes producing more interceptors unless test results show they can hit incoming targets. "I just simply want to make sure that ultimately it works," said another Democrat on that panel, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. "We don't know that yet." Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, top Democrat on Everett's subcommittee, called himself a strong supporter of missile defense, but said, "I do not think we should give it a blank check or allow it to avoid thorough testing." Missiles have twice failed to launch from their underground silos during tests. Canada has refused to join the effort. The administration did not declare the system operational by the end of 2004, as it had hoped. Six interceptor missiles are underground at Fort Greely, Alaska, and two are at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The Pentagon wants a total of 18 underground by year's end and hopes to produce 10 more by the end of 2007. Navy ships aren't yet outfitted with interceptors meant to take down short- and mid-range missiles, although two cruisers may be by the end of this year. Several tests of interceptors launched from a ship have been successful, most recently in February. At a recent hearing, Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency, asked Congress to be patient. He acknowledged what he called a few disappointments but said they weren't major setbacks. "We may stub our toe here or there, but for the most part the program is on track," Obering said. 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). To Go To Top

MESDAMES ET MESSIEURS: THE SAVIOUR OF THE EU'S MIDDLE EAST POLICY: MAHMOUD ABBAS Posted by David Frankfurter, April 5, 2005.

It has been a cold winter for the European Commission, it's previous diplomatic efforts lying open to the elements - Santa's rejected presents thrown into the snow. As is popular these days, let's start with Iraq. As they did in World War One, the German and French governments have "gone over the top" with continuous rantings about American involvement. However, while they mocked from their dugouts, Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites had a rare opportunity to choose their own government for the first time in six decades. The Yanks grinned smugly at their success. The Europeans eventually nodded their approval. Then we had the much-proclaimed Brussels' "engagement" with Iran. While an exchange of ideas continues, so does Tehran's flagrant denial of human rights, including the persecution of religious minorities and the stoning of women buried in the ground. Europeans play down these abuses, naively hoping to make progress on the "more serious" issues. The true story is that the regime of Ayatollahs is simply stringing along the Commission. For all the patience expended, Iran now has a clear programme to develop offensive nuclear weapons; a threat to regional and world peace. Meanwhile, the European trade agreement with Syria lies in tatters. It was originally formulated in December 2003 after the French had pushed the EU to return to the Fifth Republic's former hunting grounds in the Levant, bringing with it European manners and culture. Instead, Bashir Assad's so called regime of reformists is still intent on shooting at Kurds in broad daylight. In February 2005, these same gentlemen - yes, do not forget that Syria has recently been a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights - helped to eliminate its arrogant opponent in Lebanon, Rafik Hariri. Potentially far more destructive is the proposed sale of sophisticated Russian ground to air (SA-18) missiles to the Syrians. Although this is a clear escalation of the arms race in the region and counter to the intent of their trade pact with Damsacus, the Europeans are powerless to halt it. Europe finds it convenient to disregard flagrant abuses of civil liberties in Iran and Syria, where they pursue lucrative commercial contracts. They refuse to acknowledge that steadfast opposition to violence and nepotism is what brought about elections in the Palestinian Authority and Iraq, and the stirrings of reform in the Egyptian electoral process. Europe refuses to list the Hizbollah as a terrorist organization, and won't demand that Syria release its occupation and stranglehold on Lebanon or stop its patronage of Islamic Jihad terrorists. Just look at the recent London conference on support for the Palestinian Authority. And what became a prime issue for 23 countries and organizations? How to defeat the forces of evil in guess where - Syria and Iran. But who really led the chat? Condaleezza. Rice. So what's left to pick over for Dr. Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and his minions? Where can they find some place to stand up to President Bush, and avoid a full diplomatic humiliation? Enter, stage left, Mahmoud Abbas, newly crowned President of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas is Brussels' favourite poodle in at the moment. Only weeks after the commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz, everybody has forgotten that his doctoral thesis was a denial of the Holocaust. His past history of supporting violence - he is alleged to have planned the Munich 1972 massacre - and his closeness to Chairman Arafat have been conveniently ignored. Ignored also is that the Palestinian Legislative Council had to twice reject his proposed cabinet to produce real change. After all, the EU desperately wants a Palestinian leader whom it can trust, and not only because of the aforementioned debacles. Europe pinned its hopes and financial investments on Arafat for far too long. It became obvious to everyone except Patten and his underlings, that Arafat was committed primarily to his personal wealth and the destruction of an existing UN state, rather than the benefit of his people. The Commission will try to claim due credit for all the reforms finally being introduced by teacher's pet, Abbas, though it is not clear what they are, beyond a new government forced on the leader by a restless Palestinian Parliament. Certainly, reforms - economic, social and judicial - are badly needed. The Palestinians have been led for decades by a far less than benevolent dictatorship. We could cynically ask why reform of the Palestinian Authority is such a high priority for the EU. The Commission has repeatedly said that taxpayers' money was not diverted to corruption or violence, as internal controls were in place and supervised by the IMF. Our elected bureaucrats and politicians may have been economical with the facts in the past. Europe has decided to put all that behind us. OLAF is playing ostrich. Keep quiet! Heads buried in the sand! No one will notice that OLAF's promised report was not published in December. Europe has stopped looking for the billions of euros bilked from the European taxpayer and poured down the Palestinian drain. We can even forget the World Bank reports, which say that 55% of Palestinian recipients of international aid don't need it, and 32% of those who need it don't get it. Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner offered €250 million to the Palestinians in 2005. The ECHO programme is providing another €34 million. No one will notice. To subscribe to David Frankfurter's 'letter from Israel', email him at david.frankfurter@iname.com. Or go to http://www.livejournal.com/users/dfrankfurter/ To Go To Top

HOW TO REBUILD THE BLACK-JEWISH ALLIANCE Posted by Judy Lash Balint, April 5, 2005.

Visiting Black Church Leader Tells Israelis, "You need to get in our face." Members of the Christian Allies Caucus of Israel's parliament sat in stunned silence this week as a visiting Black pastor gave them a lesson in how to take advantage of a residue of support for Israel from an unlikely source. Pastor Glenn Plummer, 50, former Chairman of the prestigious National Religious Broadcasters Association told those gathered in the Knesset lecture hall that the potential for support for Israel from black Americans is huge. Plummer claims that more than 80 percent of 33 million African Americans are "Bible-oriented Christians." According to Plummer, a recent survey asking respondents if they had read the Bible in the past week indicated that 62 percent of African Americans polled responded affirmatively, compared to only 31 percent of white Americans. "And the Bible their preachers are preaching from is largely the Old Testament," Plummer continued. "It's hard to outdo a black preacher when he talks Old Testament?" the charismatic Detroit pastor added with a chuckle. "As a biblical American, I find myself connected to Israel," Plummer said. Plummer, making his third visit to Israel in recent years, asserts that Jews need to remind African Americans that they stood together on the front lines of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. "I know it was Jews who were lynched and jailed as they stood by black Americans," Plummer went on. "It was Jews who helped establish the NAACP." He implored those present, including a group of 25 friends and congregants from Detroit, the heads of Christian organizations working in Israel, as well as the Knesset members, not to forget "that we've been friends for decades." "You need to get in our face and remind us that we stood together in the 60s. Say `we need friends now,' and you'll be met with the open arm of embrace from black Americans," Plummer promised, as the members of his delegation murmured their agreement. Plummer blamed a few media hungry black figures for the rift in Black-Jewish relations that has deepened with the demonization of Israel. "Don't listen to the Farrakhans," Plummer implored. "It's the pastors who have the sentiment of the people, and they're friends and allies of Israel." "It just doesn't make any sense for those black leaders who label Israel as the aggressor in the Middle East conflict - not if you know history," Plummer exclaimed. Besides harking back to the historic alliance of Civil Rights movement days, Plummer assured the Israelis that two other issues would assure black American support for Israel. The common experience of slavery in countries that still exist today, and the rescue and resettlement of thousands of black Jews from Ethiopia should be emphasized, Plummer says. The enslavement and ultimate liberation of the Jewish people from Egypt and the two hundred years of oppression suffered by black Americans links the two peoples, Plummer asserts. "I don't totally relate to blacks in Ethiopia, Brazil or even Africa because they haven't shared that experience," he says. "But we have a strange relationship with Jews who have also experienced oppression and deliverance." Plummer cited Israel's rescue of thousands of Ethiopian Jews in two dramatic operations in 1984 and 1991 as a total secret for Americans. Despite his position as head of the NRB, Plummer claims he was completely unaware of the existence of black Jews until his trip to Israel last summer. "It's the greatest tool to reach black Americans," he claimed. "There's never been a people of color brought out of a country of oppression to freedom - you did that," he said, "That story needs to be told." Plummer mentioned the members of his own delegation who are a cross section of Detroit's black community as people who had never given Israel much thought prior to their visit. "But now, having seen and experienced and encountered the land and people of Israel, their lives are forever changed. They'll stand with Israel, they see Israel as our ally, they love Israel." The delegation members applauded Plummer's statement, even as he went on to unfavorably compare the group's feelings of safety in Detroit to how they felt in Israel. Plummer left his best line for last - and left the Israelis in the room wondering where were their charismatic leaders and orators. "We're people who understand the difference between Isaac and Ishmael - we get it," Plummer said quietly. Judy Lash Balint is an investigative journalist and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" (Gefen). It is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com To subscribe to the Jerusalem group's essays, send an email to:jerusalemdiaries-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To Go To Top

PEACEKEEPING VS. WARFIGHTING Posted by JINSA Report #480, April 4, 2005.

Peacekeeping vs. warfighting. Or, why I would rather be an Iraqi civilian in Fallujah than Darfur Sudanese. The UN Security Council authorized the deployment of 10,000 peacekeepers to southern Sudan, but remains stalemated on the question of help for the Darfur region. There are 3,000 African Union peacekeepers there, but they keep no peace. The ethnic Arab Janjaweed militia, a subsidiary of the Khartoum government, has been attacking the black Muslim population of Darfur at will. At the UN, the French tried to put the U.S. between a rock and a hard place by submitting a proposal to haul the perpetrators of the Darfur genocide before the International Criminal Court - a court whose jurisdiction the U.S. does not recognize because it violates the U.S. Constitution. The plan was to have us either vote with the resolution, supplying de facto recognition to the Court, or veto it, appearing indifferent to the suffering of the people of Darfur. On the other hand, the fact that we don't actually HAVE the perpetrators at the moment and haven't dispatched anyone to capture them - makes the availability of an acceptable tribunal ready to receive them a moot point. There is nothing new in the UN entangling itself in moot points and it would be ironic to watch the diplomats dither, except for the estimated 10,000 deaths each month in Darfur, more than 180,000 in total. At this point, the UN would do much better to authorize the deployment of 10,000 warfighters than peacekeepers for this Darfur. Resolutions, peacekeepers and promises of court-ordered justice are palliative at best and do nothing to resolve the problem of defenseless people being killed by armed people intent on their destruction. So, as long as people are dying, we prefer that it be the bad guys. The people of Darfur do not need more ineffectual peacekeepers to surround the refugee camps while the Janjaweed wreak havoc. They need to be rescued; the Janjaweed need to be stopped. Killing enough of them to stop their depredations would, in fact, be the height of humanitarian aid. At the two-year anniversary of the war in Iraq, it is useful to remember that the world warned a priori about the impending dire humanitarian disaster: refugees, starvation, disease, tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians dead, wreckage of the economy. Iraq isn't yet a vacation spot, but there is no starvation or rampant disease; there are no refugee camps; the Iraqi economy is humming; and the marshes of southern Iraq (drained by Saddam as punishment with the water used to fill artificial lakes at his Baghdad palaces) are being restored, sustaining the ancient Marsh Arab culture. The schools and universities are open and brave people thronged the polling places to give voice to their aspirations. Yes, we killed people - Iraqi soldiers, mainly, but also Iraqi civilians - and yes, there is terrorism ongoing. But deciding who performed the greater humanitarian mission, the United States military in Iraq or the African Union peacekeepers backed by the UN and the French threat of a future war crimes trial in Sudan, isn't even a close call. This article is archived at www.jinsa.org/articles/view.html?documentid=2896 To Go To Top

SHARON'S SCARE CAMPAIGN; U.S. COLLEGES BECOMING LIKE MADRASSAS; BBC'S MALICIOUS REPORTING Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 4, 2005.

U.S. TRAINED TERRORISTS In 1996, Pres. Clinton authorized covert training of P.A. police supposedly so that they would combat terrorism. The program involved spending tens of millions of dollars on hundreds of troops. The EU provided much equipment. In 1998, PM Netanyahu participated in formalization of the program. By 1999, "In recent conversations with senior U.S. officials, Israeli representatives expressed their concerns about the risk that sensitive information on anti-terror methods and anti-terror technology would be passed from the P.A. on to terror groups." The program's secrecy made it difficult for Israel to know what it had to guard against. A training graduation photograph of officers in Palestinian General Intelligence Service includes people since then arrested or killed in acts of terrorism. By 2000, the P.A. had launched an actual war against Israel. The trained officers surely were deployed in that war. Now the US is planning to train P.A. police, again. Sec. Rice pledges to prevent this training from being turned on Israel, again. Another official called such an effort obvious. But it isn't obvious. The US had made the same mistake earlier, in Afghanistan, against the Soviets. That did not prompt the US to take "obvious precautions" when it trained the P.A. police the first time (IMRA, 2/15). Is the US perennially optimistic and naïve, so it repeats its mistakes? There is another possibility. The US may not be naïve about this. It may be training the Arabs intentionally in how to counteract Israeli counter-terrorism. The more successful the terrorists against Israel, the more successful Israeli appeasers would be in getting Israel to withdraw from the Territories, just as the State Dept. wishes it would. U.S. SANCTIONS ON SYRIA The US has available several sanctions it could impose on Syria over its terrorism and occupation of Lebanon, among other things. The US has imposed only the most mild of sanctions. Does this US restraint get results? So far, Syria has made only cosmetic changes in the occupation (Foreign Ministry, 2/16 from Jer. Post). Fanatical or ruthless dictatorships must be made to suffer or feel threatened, before they will make changes disadvantageous to themselves and advantageous to their enemies. When foreign threats are made routinely without follow-up, as are those by the US and Israel, dictatorships such as Syria learn to pay no heed, like naughty children with lazy parents. PM SHARON'S SCARE CAMPAIGN The Israeli government pretends that it is afraid of violence from settlers it is seeking to dispossess, in order to scare off opponents and, worse, to prepare public opinion for committing violence against settlers. Uzi Landau, a Knesset leader of the opposition to Sharon's abandonment plan (and one of the few MKs of unimpeachable integrity) "... quoted statements today such as, 'We'll break their bones' and 'The settlers are worse than terrorists,' that have emanated of late from the Prime Minister's Office." (Arutz-7, 2/16.) Terrorists murder; the settlers don't. How could the settlers be worse than terrorists? "We'll break their bones" is the same statement attributed to former PM Rabin, though it is thought that he expressed that sentiment about the Arab insurgents in other wording. It is Sharon and his supporters who are heating up the politics to red-hot violence. THE VALUE OF EDUCATION American society values education, but over-rates schooling. Schooling does not necessarily educate. Everyone knows that American education is unequal to the high-tech and high-literacy demands by the global economy. We hope that our schools socialize the youth, rather than let them grow up to be barbaric. Let us focus here on another aspect of education, political indoctrination. In the US, colleges are becoming centers of indoctrination against Western civilization and Israel. Americans had been complacent about that, because they took for granted that a "college education" still meant what it always had. The situation in some foreign countries is worse. We know, but tend to forget, that schooling in dictatorships indoctrinates against freedom. The madrassas financed by S. Arabia imbue students with a religious fervor that seeks to conquer people of other religions. Those madrassas exist in Arab states, other Muslim countries, and in some Western countries. The West should ban them in self-defense from jihad. The madrassas may be thought of as schools to barbarize, rather than civilize. They produce a stream of jihadists faster than besieged governmental forces can neutralize them. That is why the Coalition effort in Iraq is like walking on a treadmill. The Coalition must devote its efforts not solely to the field of battle but also to the Islamist soldier-factories, the madrassas. "NEW OPPORTUNITY" P.A. Arabs are planting bombs, firing rockets and mortars at Jewish communities, sending gunmen against Jewish communities, and transporting weapons. Hamas commanders have come out of hiding and are reorganizing their forces, thanks to the phony ceasefire to which the hapless Sharon government agreed. This is the "quiet" that the US attributes to Abu Mazen's promotion from #2 to #1 in the terrorist chain of command, and which it calls a "new opportunity to advance the process." It isn't a "new opportunity" but a pretended opportunity. The process is not one of peace but one of war and diplomacy to get Israel to make concessions that would advance the Arab war aims. Why does a self-respecting country such as the US favor Abu Mazen's P.A.? Because the US as an evil side or evil lobbies to which its culture closes its eyes. Anti-Americans and super-patriots alike go too far. WHAT ARE "SETTLEMENTS" It is an odd double standard that causes people to refer as "settlements" (1) To Jewish communities in the Jewish homeland but within the Mandated area for the Jewish nation that the Jewish people came in control of after self-defense in 1968 and outside the area the Jewish people came in control of after self-defense in 1949; and (2) NOT to Arab communities in the latter area. Most Americans think of Yesha as the area of settlements. Unaware of the historical, legal, ethical, water, and security considerations entitling the Jewish people to Yesha, many Americans, under the misguided notion that Israeli abandonment of those areas would promote peace, favor abandonment. They don't realize that the Arabs neither believe in nor want peace. Rather, the Arabs want all that the Jews have. Hence the P.A. refers among its own people to all Israeli areas as "settlements." This includes Tel Aviv, the holy city of Safed, and legally annexed areas of Jerusalem. The Arab plan is the phased conquest of Israel, whereby they demand parts of Israeli-held territory in phases. They allow the Americans to think of just Yesha as settlements, but intend to demand part of Jerusalem, too, and later more and more other areas. The American people don't mean to reward evil, but that is what their appeasement of the Arabs amounts to. SHARON'S LATEST POLITICAL MOVES The Army Chief of Staff usually is invited to a second term, if he wishes one. Defense Min. Mofaz, himself once Chief of Staff, curtly announced, without the usual thanks for service, that Defense Min. Yaalon would not continue on. The government recently changed the head of the Secret Service, too. Both officials are known for integrity and have been credited with the great reduction in terrorism. Some Members of Knesset were perplexed by the lack of explanation. Others were suspicious, seeing in these moves further steps in Sharon's regimentation of government. In moves of dubious legality and contrary to precedence, he had fired Ministers for disputing his abandonment plan or for being suspected of planning to oppose it. The newly dismissed pair were like watchdogs of democracy, now silenced (IMRA, 2/16). They had warned that the abandonment plan would gravely increase terrorism. They must have been removed for that, in other words, for political reasons. EXAMPLE OF JUDICIAL INTERFERENCE Relatives of people murdered by Arab terrorists appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court against the government's plan to release terrorists. In hearing the appeal, Justice Heshin violated the protocol against judges expressing personal opinions about cases. Reiterating the government's case that its abandonment of territory to the Arabs would bring peace (which the evidence refutes), Justice Heshin stated his concordance. He called the appeal a political matter (Arutz-7, 2/16). It is not just a political matter for the relatives of terrorist victims, who foresee PM Sharon's plan leading to more murders. To suggest it adds insult to their injury. Obviously, it is the judge's reply that is political, in that he expressed personal support for the plan rather than restrict himself to its legality, as he should have and Israeli Supreme Court judges rarely do. Nor is releasing terrorists part of the abandonment plan. The release makes Sharon seem a U.S. puppet, giving in on almost everything to the Arabs, as foolishly as humanly conceivable. Would the policy bring peace? Appeasement usually brings war. In this case, proponents of the policy assert that it would be constructive, but they fail to explain how. Assertions unsupported by the facts or evidence should be shown to be naked. But to show it, there has to be a media willing to demonstrate that the abandonment emperor has no clothes. Israel's media is too uniformly leftist, as is the Supreme Court. The Court exceeds its authority by playing to its bias. IS GRAFFITI INCITEMENT? Some right-wing youths in Jerusalem wrote graffiti threatening Sharon. The leftist media complains that the graffiti proves that the Right is planning civil war. It demands that the free speech of opponents of Sharon's abandonment plan be curbed. A few months ago, a couple of Far Left youth wrote some graffiti there, threatening Sharon and Netanyahu. They were mildly censured. In Haifa, Far-leftists write Communist graffiti and denounce settlers. The government condones it. The government has a double standard (Prof. Steven Plaut, 2/16, e-mail). ARAB CONCEPT OF P.A. WAR OR PROPAGANDA? "Al-Ahram" compared the insurgency in Iraq with the one by the P.A.. An interesting contrast is that whereas the Iraqi insurgents operate anonymously, the people in the P.A. know who their terrorists are and post their photographs at home. IMRA points out that if the identities of the ones in Iraq were known, Iraqis would attack them. "Al-Ahram" contrasted the Iraqi insurgents as being heavily armed and the P.A. fighters as being virtually unarmed. That is a false comparison. P.A. gunmen are heavily armed. (They have mortars, rockets, anti-tank missiles, grenades, bombs, and assault rifles. Ordinary people there have fire-bombs, knives, and stones.) RUSSIAN PROMISE In January, Russia's Defense Minister said that Russia and the US would sign a ban on exportation of hand-held anti-aircraft missiles. In February, Russian announced plans to sell such missiles to Syria (IMRA, 2/17). Money prompts false promises or overturns sincere ones. ANOTHER ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH IN ISRAEL You know how violent video games are. An Israeli invented a game without any hint of violence, with a board like the monopoly game. The theme of the game was non-violent ways of stopping PM Sharon's abandonment plan. For that, the inventor, and not the authors of video games, was brought in by the police, for questioning. For opposing the abandonment plan, there is restricted freedom of speech (Prof. Steven Plaut, 2/17, e-mail). RECIPROCATION, P.A. STYLE As a goodwill gesture, Israel is preparing to release hundreds of Arab security prisoners. Meanwhile, the P.A. is executing Israeli agents in its prisons. Terrorist militias have murdered hundreds of suspected agents, and have been increasing their attacks (IMRA, 2/17). BBC LEVEL OF REPORTING Someone on the BBC met an Israeli Muslim Arab who claimed he was drafted into the Israeli Army and then jailed for refusing orders to shoot Palestinian Arab children. The broadcaster was accused of demonizing Israel by the Jewish community, outraged that he would accept a claim that the IDF deliberately would shoot defenseless children. There was no evidence for the story (or any one of the similar slanders bruited from time-to-time). The man had two years before airing it to check it with the Israeli embassy, which never heard of the alleged soldier. But the broadcaster acknowledged only getting the age of the soldier wrong. He said he understood that his remarks might be misinterpreted by the Jewish community, sensitive during this era of antisemitism as being racist, but he didn't mean it that way. If the Jewish community were not sensitive, would the remarks be acceptable? How misinterpreted? He used an unverified story. That is a practiced, malicious strategy (IMRA, 2/17.) The brief should have been more precise. What does it mean by "Muslim Arab?" Druse is a separate category, and are drafted. Bedouin may volunteer. Most Arabs don't serve. Was the part about being drafted a lie, too? 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. To Go To Top

NIF 2004 FELLOW SHAMAI LEIBOWITZ: SUPPORTS DIVESTMENT AND SINGLE-STATE SOLUTIONS Posted by NGO Monitor Organization, April 4, 2005.

This was written by Avi Bell. SUMMARY: Under the twenty-year old Israel-U.S. Civil Liberties Program, the New Israel Fund sends two Israeli Fellows (Jewish and Arab) annually to the American University's Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. The declared agenda of the N.I.F. in choosing Fellows is to provide "academic and professional experience to Israeli lawyers specializing in civil rights" in order to create and maintain civil rights leadership in Israel. The 2004 Jewish Fellow is Shamai Leibowitz, who is on record as supporting the economic boycott against Israel and a "one state solution". Under the twenty-year old Israel-U.S. Civil Liberties Program, the New Israel Fund sends a pair of Fellows annually to the American University's Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. The Fellows receive a full tuition waiver as they complete the one year Master's Degree in Law program (LL.M.), as well as a $2,000 stipend for living expenses. In exchange for the stipend and waiver, the Fellows must agree to return to Israel after completion of their studies and work for a year in a NIF-approved civil rights organization. The NIF in Israel is responsible for selecting the fellows, subject only to the condition that at least one of the Fellows must be a woman. In recent years, the NIF has unofficially adopted an additional condition that one of the Fellows must be an Arab. The declared agenda of the NIF in choosing Fellows is to provide "academic and professional experience to Israeli lawyers specializing in civil rights" in order to create and maintain civil rights leadership in Israel. The 2004 Jewish Fellow is Shamai Leibowitz. Since receiving the Fellowship, Leibowitz has devoted great efforts to advancing the cause of economic and diplomatic war against the existence of the Jewish state. In June, 2004 Leibowitz participated in the Palestine/Israel Conference on One Democratic State in Lausanne. The Collective for Peace in Israel/Palestine, created in order to hold the conference, promotes the idea described in the P.L.O. charter of eliminating the state of Israel and replacing it with a single "democratic" state. The conference adopted a declaration calling for an end to the state of Israel, and its replacement with a single state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea that would be open to a Palestinian "right of return." Leibowitz's reported address to the conference, entitled "The Care and Feeding of the Binational State," has not yet been published as a paper by the Collective. Doubtless, though, the address was similar to Leibowitz's similarly unpublished "Legal Strategies for a One-State Framework," originally scheduled to be delivered at a November 13, 2003 Montreal conference of the Association for One Democratic State in Palestine/Israel. In November, 2004 Leibowitz testified before the Somerville City Council in favor of a resolution imposing economic sanctions on Israel through divestment. According to Leibowitz, "divestment resolutions are an effective remedy for the severe violence plaguing the Israelis and the Palestinians for 37 years." Leibowitz claimed to have been ordered as a soldier in the I.D.F. to "commit grave human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories" and that his platoon "shot and killed unarmed Palestinian civilians" and committed other war crimes as "daily occurrences." Leibowitz also railed against the peace process on the grounds that it merely constitutes "an excuse to divert world attention away from the infliction of suffering, humiliation and destruction upon the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories." In March, 2005, Leibowitz published an article in the Nation claiming that "international law mandates the use of sanctions to force Israel to comply with UN resolutions and human rights treaties" and calling upon "American civic institutions to support a multi-tiered campaign of strategic, selective sanctions against Israel until the occupation ends." Leibowitz's proposed sanctions against Israel would include barring Israeli politicians and military personnel from traveling abroad and hauling them before international courts for alleged human rights violations, barring all sales of arms to Israel, and ending all investment in any company that sells to the Israeli military. Leibowitz specifically singled out for praise the Presbyterian Church and World Council of Churches for their divestment efforts against the Jewish state. During the same month, Leibowitz spoke at the Philadelphia Cathedral in support of the Presbyterian Church's divestment campaign and urged other Christian churches to join in imposing economic sanctions on Israel. This followed on a speech in Oak Park, Illinois in February, 2005 similarly calling for economic sanctions against the Jewish state. Leibowitz's anti-Israel activity could hardly have come as a surprise to the NIF Leibowitz came out in favor of economic warfare against Israel several years ago. At the October 2002 Second National Student Conference on the Palestinian Solidarity Movement at the University of Michigan, Leibowitz accepted an invitation to argue for divestment alongside the likes of Sami al-Arien (under indictment for his longtime activities in the service of the Palestine Islamic Jihad terrorist organization). Leibowitz's legal work in Israel prior to his Fellowship is notable primarily for its political quality, rather than its devotion to civil rights. For several years, Leibowitz has served as counsel for International Solidarity Movement activists who illegally enter the state of Israel in order to foil anti-terror operations. Leibowitz has also attempted to intimidate reporters into silence through libel suits, such as the one he filed on behalf of I.S.M. activist Radhika Sainath against Jerusalem reporter Judy Balint for writing of Sainath's efforts to help Palestinians avoid security checks (The suit was ultimately dismissed.). Employment of the law in order to chill political reportage is generally thought of as inimical to the promotion of civil rights. Leibowitz achieved public recognition in Israel for his decision to represent Marwan Barghouti, West Bank leader of the terrorist al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in his murder trial in Israel. Leibowitz apparently took on the representation because of his admiration for his client, and he claimed that trying Barghouti was immoral, since Barghouti was the Palestinian Moses leading his people to liberty (Ha'aretz, 4 Oct. 2002). Leibowitz expanded on the theme in a column published by the Israeli news website nfc.co.il, where he argued that the proper understanding of the Exodus story is that the Almighty acted as a terrorist, killing Egyptian children and innocents as punishment for Egyptian arrogance in lording it over another nation, and it would behoove Israel to ask itself how it has become the Egyptians. For Jewish audiences, such as readers of the Ha'aretz newspapers, Leibowitz has continued to claim to support justice in the form of "two states for two peoples" (Ha'aretz, 29 Sep. 2002). He has also repeatedly condemned all terrorism and killing of the innocent in the abstract, while continuing to extol the heroism of Palestinian terrorists and condemn anti-terrorist Israeli measures. While Leibowitz is likely the most notorious of NIF Fellows, others have taken notable actions in the fight to delegitimize the Jewish state. Netta Amar, a 2001 Fellow was among 218 signatories to a public call in October, 2000 to the United States Congress to respond the outbreak of Palestinian violence by suspending all aid to Israel. Yohanna Lerman, a 2000 Emily Skolnick Law Fellow, is a member of Women in Black and signed the Al Awda petition in 2000 calling for Israel to yield to the Palestinian "right of return." Hassan Jabareen, a 1994 Fellow, founded Adalah; three of Adalah's eight-person legal staff are former or current Fellows (Hassan Jabareen, Marwan Dalal and Gadeer Nicola). An additional two Fellows are listed by the NIF as having served as legal staff for Adalah (Jamil Dakwar and Suhad Hammoud), and another Fellow is listed as an Adalah board member (Muhammed Dahleh). Several of these NIF Fellows are listed in Adalah's reports as having playing important roles in Adalah's activities at the 2001 Durban conference against "racism," where Adalah actively promoted efforts to demonize Israel as an "apartheid" state committing "genocide" against Palestinians. The NGO Monitor organization (www.ngo-monitor.org) promotes critical debate and accountability of human rights NGOs in the Arab Israeli Conflict. Note that the original article contained dynamic links to additional material - see http://www.ngo-monitor.org. To Go To Top

RIGHT WING ACTIVIST ILAN HIRSCHFELD ARRESTED TONIGHT AT HIS RA'ANANA HOME BY SHABAK Posted by Hebron Community, April 4, 2005.

Hirschfeld, a long time activist, is primarily involved in leading groups to Hebron and Gush Katif. He has never been involved in "terror activities," and has no criminal record. His brutal arrest tonight by Israeli intelligence officers can only be seen as part of Sharon's dictatorial policies, attempting to breed fear and distrust. This is an obvious beginning of a renewed "witch hunt" aimed at paralyzing all protests against the planned expulsion of over 9,000 Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and the northern Shomron and abandonment of Eretz Yisrael to our enemies. Despite this renewed witch hunt, the Sharon administration will not succeed in stifling the voices of truth. We call on Internal Security minister Gideon Ezra to immediately order Hirschfeld's release and issue a public apology for arresting a model Israeli citizen, who is guilty only of believing in the right of Jews to live in all parts of Eretz Yisrael. * A public demonstration will take place when Hirschfeld is taken to court to face whatever charges are brought against him. This comes from Zalman at zalman@sympatico.ca I must completely set aside all the urgent things i have to do tonight, in order to tell you -- with great sadness I must admit -- of the unjustified politically motivated arrest of our dear friend, Eallan Hirshfeld, a Raanana businessman, formerly from Great Britain, by the Shabak (Israeli Secret Service), earlier today. Eallan, a modern-Orthodox Anglo-Saxon resident of Raanana who recently retired from his airconditioner retail business, became a proud grandfather not long ago, and suffers from significant health problems (heart trouble, I believe). Eallan has been a leading figure in the Land of Israel movement during the entire Oslo period. I have always looked up to him, due to his peculiar combination of courage and philanthropy. During the struggle for the Golan Heights, it can now be told that there is a reason we never ran out of Golan stickers: every time we were about to, Eallan put his hand into his pocket, printed some more, and distributed them to everyone. As for Hebron, Eallan was always the moving spirit and initiator of the monthly trips from Raanana to Hebron that have been going on for years. Eallan has also been responsible for the beautiful Yesha arts & crafts fairs that have been held in Raanana on so many occasions. In short, Eallan is a terrific political activist and a pleasure to work with, and his arrest is an attempt to delegitimize him and you and me. This is a grave escalation on the part of the Shabak (Israeli Secret Service). He has never been involved in "terror activities," and has no criminal record. His brutal arrest tonight by Israeli intelligence officers can only be seen as part of Sharon's dictatorial policies, attempting to breed fear and distrust. This is an obvious beginning of a renewed "witch hunt" aimed at paralyzing all protests against the planned expulsion of over 9,000 Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and the northern Shomron and abandonment of Eretz Yisrael to our enemies. Despite this renewed witch hunt, the Sharon administration will not succeed in stifling the voices of truth. We call on Internal Security minister Gideon Ezra to immediately order Hirschfeld's release and issue a public apology for arresting a model Israeli citizen, who is guilty only of believing in the right of Jews to live in all parts of Eretz Yisrael. * A public demonstration will take place when Hirschfeld is taken to court to face whatever charges are brought against him. 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 To Go To Top

ISRAELI SAYS PALESTINIANS SMUGGLE ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILES INTO GAZA Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 3, 2005.

During the 1973 Yom Kippur War in the Sinai, the desert was criss-crossed with the strands from shoulder-fired wire-guided missiles that were killing the Israeli tanks. The Egyptians had hundreds of thousands of different shoulder-fired missiles for ground-to-ground and ground-to-air battle. Defense Minister General Shaul Mofaz's sudden discovery that such missiles had just made their way into the Palestinian's inventory from the Egyptians via the underground tunnels (aided by Egypt) is merely another lie layered on the other lies of the Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dictatorship. Sharon and Mofaz know that, when they begin their assault on the Jews of Gaza/Gush Katif, there will be a lot of Israeli helicopters which can be targeted by the Arab Muslim Palestinians - much the same as the Mujahadeen have been firing on American helicopters in Iraq. (They were taught by the Americans in order to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan.) Mofaz is preparing the excuse cum lie that "it isn't Sharon's or Mofaz's fault when Israeli helicopters are shot down. Liars, like Sharon and Mofaz, have to dance fast just to keep ahead of their last lie. ### 1. "Israeli Says Palestinians Smuggle Antiaircraft Missiles into Gaza" by Steven, Erlander, NEW YORK TIMES 3/27/05 ======================================================== "After the Disengagement: War in Judea and Samaria Expected" Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com April 3, 2005 / 23 Adar 5765 Official IDF sources predict that the withdrawal from Gaza will lead to Palestinian terrorism and violence worse than the previous intifadas, writes Yediot Acharonot's senior military correspondent. IDF sources predict that immediately after the disengagement, the ceasefire is expected to end with terrorist attacks in and from Judea and Samaria. Among the threats are mortar and Kassam rockets on Israel's new toll-way Highway 6, as well as other areas in the coastal plain and the Afula area. The "regular" ambush attacks on roads, as well as attacks on army bases and towns in Judea and Samaria, are also expected. The IDF Central Command is already preparing for the next round of armed conflict, correspondent Alex Fishman writes. It is assumed that it will begin in September. The preparations are mainly in the form of trying to stop the massive weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza, and from there to Judea/Samaria. The Palestinian terrorists are heavily-armed, Fishman writes: "Despite the successes in discovering arms-smuggling tunnels [between Egypt and Gaza], in the battle between smuggling and thwarting smuggling, the smugglers have won." According to army estimates, in the eight-month period between July 2004 and February 2005, over 3,000 assault rifles were smuggled into Gaza, as well as 400,000 bullets, 400 pistols, and 600 kilograms of explosives. In addition, over 180 anti-tank rocket launchers and 5 anti-aircraft rockets are now in the possession of the Palestinian terrorists. The army recently intercepted a shipment of RPG anti-tank missile launchers at the Shoket Junction near Be'er Sheva, on their way to the Mt. Hevron region. Some 20 such launchers were recovered over the past year - as opposed to an unknown amount that have made their way in. Once the RPG rockets become a common weapon in Judea and Samaria, Fishman writes, "the IDF will no longer enjoy freedom of movement in its jeeps on the roadways, nor will it be able to use jeeps to pursue terrorists and make arrests in the cities... Is it conceivable that the army will only be able to use armed personnel carriers and tanks in Judea and Samaria... And what about the civilian traffic?" In short, Fishman sums up, "stopping the smuggling has become a matter of national existence. It is liable to spell the difference between a diplomatic agreement and a comprehensive war against the Palestinians." The Mossad, the police, the Shabak (General Security Service), government offices, and the army have all begun working in various ways to collect intelligence and try to thwart smugglings, and the work is being concentrated in the office of the Operations Commander in the IDF General Staff. Fishman notes that three attempts have already been made in the Shomron to launch Kassam rockets. Arutz-7 reported that a plot to manufacture deadly Kassam rockets there was thwarted last week with the arrest of eight Islamic Jihad terrorist cell members in Jenin. Earlier in the month, the IDF discovered a Kassam rocket factory near Jenin. 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). To Go To Top

THE WAR OF THE GRAVES Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 3, 2005.

If Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Legions have indeed been empowered to kill Jews - as reported - or cause them grievous injuries in his "disengagement/dismemberment" plans then that indeed will be a 'cause celeb' for a permanent state of Civil War. The resistance may very well begin with skirmishes at that time but will not (in my opinion) end there. The nation will crack open like an egg shell. Those who manipulated the levers of government to impose on the minority there will be hated and hunted. I am not recommending that vengeance is a correct thing but, merely offering a journalist forecast of what I think will happen. Those of the Right who had their loved ones forcibly dis-interred from what they believed would be their eternal and restful sleep will be deeply hurt. Many are honored as fallen heroes who died defending the Jewish Nation. But, anyone who lost a child, wife, husband and went through the years of grief now must re-awaken all the anguish as if they died again. I can only speculate that here the old adage: an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth - may very well apply. Those who had been force to re-live the shock may feel that it's only right to share the pain with those who inflicted the pain. I recall a comment from a source I can no longer remember that (referring to Jordan's desecration of Jewish grave on the Mt. of Olives) when a grave is maliciously disturbed, those who did this should have their bones similarly dug up and re-interred in the sewers of Gaza. It is not beyond comprehension that there will be a war of the dead - so to speak - in terms for desecration. I think that the hatred Sharon has fostered between the Left and the Right will grow exponentially in the years to come. I have little doubt that there will be acts of what many believe would be justifiable vengeance, further dividing the people. When in the past, the settlers whose officers and men were first to jump up to defend their brothers on the Mediterranean Coast will now simply defend only themselves. When the missiles and/or Terror attacks are launched (courtesy of Sharon's dismemberment of Gush Katif) from the closer firing positions into such coastal cities, the attitude will be "I told you so". As for the vengeance of Disinterrment, it would be instructive to remember the example of King Herod. You may recall, he was hated by the Jewish people for many things to include bringing in such foreign interests as Rome to keep him on the throne. Herod was a brutal tyrant who used the powers of office to brutalize those who did not obey his "diktats". Herod was a brilliant planner and thought ahead to his own death. Herod knew the people hated him passionately but yet wanted a display of emotional outpouring at his death. Herod left orders that the husbands of the women of the court were to be slain outright so in the procession to his burial place the women would be seen weeping in despair. Moreover, in anticipation of his tomb being desecrated, Herod left orders and payment for guards to be posted at the entrance of his tomb for 60 years. Herod rightfully feared his tomb would be desecrated by all the Jews who hated him and his bones would be scattered in the desert for the animals to gnaw on. One more very relevant point, IF the Jewish men, women and children are disinterred, there are two problems: 1. There is no place to re-bury them because no one knows where they will be re-settled. 2. IF and WHEN they are re-buried, the families must sit shiva again. How can any country or government live that down? The hatred engendered by Sharon's dictatorial regime will not dissipate for decades. When the people of both Right and Left find out that Sharon has conspired with foreign governments in order to ease the way for attacks on all population centers, I feel certain that a Peoples' Court will be convened under the guidelines of the Nuremberg Tribunal's laws - the same judgement for the perpetrators. 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). To Go To Top

POPE IS DEAD; GIVE ISRAEL AND THE JEWS BACK THEIR PROPERTY Posted by Ariel Natan Pasko, April 3, 2005.

Karol Wojtyla, better known as Pope John Paul II, it is said, had good relations with Jews back in his native Poland, in the "old days". And although I might not be the most favorable to interreligious dialogue (I believe religions exist because of their differences and blurring those differences is an untruth), this Pope had done much to further good Catholic-Jewish relations. That's why I'm calling on the Catholic Church to open up the Vatican vaults and return all the stolen Jewish property that they have confiscated over the centuries, to honor the memory of those "good" relations he fostered. Vast libraries of rare stolen Jewish books (and often unique manuscripts) exist in the Vatican. How do I know? Because, occasionally scholars (Jewish or otherwise) are allowed access to them, to do research. The Vatican is so morally corrupt, that it's not embarrassed to admit that they have the stolen goods, and even relishes the opportunity to show them off (to the "right" scholars) at times. Mind you not all scholars have access to the Vatican's archives, but access isn't the issue in any case. Justice and restoration of property rights is the issue. At a time when Eastern European governments in the post-communist era are grappling with the return of Jewish art and other property to its rightful owners (property that was stolen from Jews during the Nazi and Communist eras), how can the Vatican sit in self-righteous thievery and turn a deaf-ear to the demand to return to the Jewish people it's rightful inheritance? The last thousand years of Church history is strewn with blood libels, riots, pogroms, expulsions, and the most evil murderous attacks against Jewish communities, many of which were carried out under the behest of local parish priests. Inquisitions, forced conversions, outright murder, these are the memories that the Jewish people carry with them of Christian "love". Why compound these sins, by stealing the Jews' heritage as well? Though there were numerous book (Jewish holy book) burning parties sponsored by the Catholic Church in 12-15th century Europe, of which the Talmud was a favorite; often the ransacked Jewish libraries were carted off, and many made their way to the Vatican. Though the Church didn't want Jews to have their "Divine Knowledge", somehow they sensed something special in those books and couldn't bring themselves to destroy them all. The same holds true for other Jewish ritual objects, such as Menorahs, Torah scrolls, etc. It has even been rumored, that the Church inherited vessels stolen from the destroyed Jerusalem Temple, which occurred during the Roman Empire era conquest of Judea. Israel has an appropriate address for the restitution of books and manuscripts, the National Library at the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, or a new facility could be built. The Jewish religious objects I'm sure could be put to good use, or displayed. And, I hope and pray, that the Temple treasures will be back in use again very soon. It's about time the Catholic Church repent, admit its sins, open up its vaults to inspection, return the stolen property, ask forgiveness, and promise never to do such a horrendous thing again. This type of cultural pillage can never be tolerated, not against Jews and not against others. Nothing less should be expected from a so-called "religious" institution. Now is the time, when "Mr. Infallible" has just died, that the Vatican can take the plunge to right a wrong that's been perpetrated on the Jewish people for too long. Karol Wojtyla is no more. His cronies at the Vatican should do the right thing and order the return of the stolen loot to its rightful inheritors. Show everyone how John Paul II influenced you. It might be harder than turning Mother Teresa into a saint, but it will get you much needed credit from the "World of Truth". Ariel Natan Pasko is an independent analyst & consultant. He has a Master's Degree in International Relations & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites, in newspapers, and can be read at: www.geocities.com/ariel_natan_pasko To Go To Top

ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA'S CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE SUES TO PROTECT COLLEGE STUDENTS Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, April 3, 2005.

This was written by by Susan B. Tuchman, who is Director of Center for Law and Justice, ZOA. There is no question that the Jewish community must adopt a more public and vigorous challenge to anti-Semitism on college campuses. The Zionist Organization of America through its Center for Law and Justice has taken on the problem of flagrantly anti- Israel conferences that now pervade so many college campuses. The expected accompaniment of such conferences and similar activities has resulted in the harassment, intimidation, and discrimination of Jewish students on our publicly endowed and privately funded college campuses. The Palestine Solidarity Movement's anti-Israel conferences are held annually on campuses across the country. About two years ago, the conference was planned to take place at Rutgers University, but fortunately the administration declined to host it. These conferences include workshops and strategy sessions that advocate divestment from holdings in Israel and provide information about companies to boycott, simply because they do business in or with Israel. The goal is to cripple Israel economically, but this divestment and boycott campaign also harms U.S. trade and investment. The ZOA has challenged these anti-Israel divestment conferences as a violation of the anti-boycott provisions of the Export Administration Act. These provisions were passed specifically by the U.S. Congress to respond to economic boycotting activities against Israel. The ZOA has been urging the governing agencies within the U.S. Department of Commerce - which is charged with enforcing the anti-boycott laws - to investigate the divestment conferences, shut them down if the evidence warrants it, and impose the appropriate penalties. At the ZOA's initiative, a bipartisan group of members of Congress - spearheaded by New Jersey congressional leaders Jim Saxton and Rob Andrews - sent a letter to the Office of Anti-boycott Compliance, urging that the anti- Israel divestment campaigns be shut down because they violate the federal anti-boycott laws. The anti-boycott laws will hopefully prove to be an effective tool in stopping these conferences that promote the hatred of the State of Israel and seek to cripple it economically. Federal law should also be used to fight anti-Semitism more broadly on college campuses. Last October, the ZOA filed a complaint against the University of California, Irvine, on behalf of Jewish students there, under Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI prohibits harassment, discrimination, and intimidation based on religion and ethnicity (among other things) in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. Federal financial recipients like UCI can lose their federal funding if they are found to be in violation of the law, and other remedies can be imposed. In its complaint, the ZOA alleged that Jewish students have been subjected to a pattern of hostility, harassment, and intimidation at UCI, that the administration has long been aware of the anti-Semitism, but that it has failed to take any meaningful steps to correct the problem. The agency charged with enforcing Title VI is the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education. After reviewing the allegations of the ZOA's complaint, the OCR initiated an investigation, which is now under way. Current and former UCI students have courageously come forward to describe the hostility, harassment, and intimidation they have been subjected to on campus. For some students, the environment has made them afraid to wear anything that identifies them as Jews or as supporters of Israel. Some have even been reluctant to affiliate with Jewish programs and activities on campus. If Title VI is effectively enforced to protect Jewish students at UCI, then colleges and universities across the country should get a powerful message. While the principle of freedom of speech must certainly be protected, speech and conduct that threatens, harasses, and intimidates a specific religious, racial or ethnic group will not be tolerated. Susan B. Tuchman Director of Center for Law and Justice Zionist Organization of America 4 East 34th Street NYC, NY 10016 Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). To Go To Top

U.S. NERVOUS OVER GUARANTEES TO ISRAEL Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 3, 2005.

There is a reason that President George Bush and collaborators in the dismemberment of Israel are American nervous over guarantees to Israel of defense in case of attack or money to "resettle the disengaged". Quite simply, they have no intention of keeping any of them - whether they be tacit, implicit, spoken or written. This implied guarantee is somewhat like when, in 1922, Winston Churchill cut off 76% of what was originally supposed to be the Jewish Homeland to be closely settled by the Jewish people - according to the 1917 Balfour Declaration - ratified by the League of Nations and the American Congress. In 1922 then Colonial Secretary for Great Britain Churchill gave that 76% East of the Jordan River to Abdullah to be governor of what was "temporarily" cut off from the Jewish Homeland. (That lasted seven decades.) Now called Jordan, it is ruled by Abdullah's great-grandson, King Abdullah. (In 1922 Churchill also succeeded in mapping out the rest of the Arab Middle East, along lines approved by the needs of Britain - with Iraq protected at the expense of Kuwait - which lead to the 1990 attack by Saddam Hussein of Kuwait starting the first of two Gulf Wars.) Somewhere along the line Bush will say that everything from the 1948 U.N. division of Palestine - eastward - must go to the Arabs. He will say he was "misunderstood, misquoted or the situation has changed". Whatever. He will betray Israel. American Jews revere George Bush almost as much as they did Franklin Delano Roosevelt - even as he was collaborating (in a de facto manner) with the same Winston Churchill to insure that the death camps were kept operating and the ovens kept burning. With oil prices so high - with the Bush family dynasty so friendly with the Saudis - with the multi-national oil corporations coining money at astronomical rates - clearly Israel must sacrifice herself "for the good of all". This is from Middle East Newsline: "Arms, Defense & Stategy" and it appeared March 29, 2005. TEL AVIV [MENL] -- The United States has sought to reassure Israel of support in any final status negotiations with the Palestinians. But U.S. officials and diplomats have refused to specify the guarantees for Israel. The U.S. reassurances came in wake of an address by U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer to Israeli Foreign Ministry cadets. Kurtzer was quoted as saying that President George Bush did not provide any guarantees on any final status negotiations with the Palestinians that would retain parts of the West Bank. Foreign Ministry sources confirmed a report in the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot of Kurtzer's recent address to the cadets. The sources quoted Kurtzer as stressing that the Bush administration did not provide any assurances to Israel that would enable it to retain blocs of communities in the West Bank in any final agreement with the Palestinians. [NOTE: The above is not the full item. This service contains only a small portion of the information produced daily by Middle East Newsline. For a subscription to the full service, please contact Middle East Newsline at: editor@menewsline.com for further details - EAW] 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). To Go To Top

KNESSET PROBE OF PERES: QUESTIONS TOP OFFICIAL ROLE IN FUNDS TIED TO PA Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 3, 2005.

One cannot say the present Israeli government with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is the most corrupt and crooked on this planet but, no doubt, it ranks in the first top 10. The following World New Daily piece of March 22nd speaks of Sharon's Deputy Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, who - like Sharon - is viewed as the consummate wheeler-dealer in Israel - if not in the world. It is "interesting" that today's (April 2nd) Torah portion in listing those birds that are NOT KOSHER described the Peres (vulture) as an abomination. Will there be a real investigation of what is described in the following? I doubt it. In Israel, high level thieves never appear in Court and never go to jail. This article is by Aaron Klein, who is WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem bureau chief. His past interview subjects have included Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, Shlomo Ben Ami and leaders of the Taliban. It appeared March 22, 2005 and is archived at www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43421 JERUSALEM -- The Knesset Ethics Committee yesterday presented a private investigative group with a series of questions concerning srael's Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres' alleged involvement in a technology fund coordinated with the Palestinian Authority while he was a government minister. Some critics charge the move was a conflict of interest requiring him to step down from his government position, WorldNetDaily has learned. The investigation, first reported by WND, was presented to the Knesset Ethics Committee in February. It focuses on 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. 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 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's current unity government between Likud and Peres' Labor party, and precipitate new elections in Israel. The fund's first investment 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 Palestinian Telecommunications Co., according to officials of the Peace Technology Fund. The investment is the first by the peace fund, which was established last year by Israeli and Palestinian investors." "The fund has raised $60 million from Israeli, Palestinian, and foreign investors. The Peace Technology Fund was established by Peres and the World Bank as part of an attempt to spur investment in the Palestinian economy." The Palestinian National Authority, according to a report by the Democratic Council, invested $22 million in the fund, also allegedly while Peres was an Israeli minister. The PNC is a monetary branch of the Palestinian Authority. Other investments in the fund, totaling nearly $10 million, were made by 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. David Bedein, director of the Israel Resource News Agency, alerted members of the Knesset Ethics Committee last month to the fund's activities. The committee replied yesterday to his agency with a series of questions to help facilitate their investigation, including whether Peres received payments from the fund, and if so, why no payments are listed in the Fund's records; whether Peres currently holds any shares in the Fund, which may be a conflict of interest since the Palestinian Authority is a major investor; and why the Peres Peace Center is qualified to provide financial consultation services to the Fund. Other questions surround wether Peres, who was a government minister at the time, helped facilitate the Fund's $9 million investment in Paltel in 1999. The price of Paltel's shares rose from 2.5 Jordanian dinars in May 1999 to 4.5 in August 1999, reportedly realizing a nearly $10 million profit for the fund's investment that year. 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. WND has learned the Ethics Committee has asked whether Peres knew in advance, through contacts while he was a member of the Israeli government, the PA was planning to grant Paltel the exclusive contract and whether Peres personally profited from the fund's investment. Other questions surround Peres' relationship to Evergreen Canada Investment Management, a Canadian company listed on the advisory board of the fund. A subsidiary of the company reportedly was granted an advisory contract to help the Palestinian Commercial Services Corporation, a financial arm of the Palestinian Authority, invest more than $170 million in international private equity funds in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The investigation comes at a delicate time for the Sharon government, which must pass a country-wide budget by the end of the month or his government could be legally disbanded. As well, the Israeli prime minister is forging ahead with a controversial plan to vacate Jewish settlements from Gaza and parts of the West Bank, a move that has divided his Likud party and created many nationalist opponents who call regularly for Sharon's resignation. 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." 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). To Go To Top

MKS TRUMP SHARON ON NEW MINISTERS Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 3, 2005.

The Knesset raged against the paying of bribes by Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to those who supported his dictatorial putsch. The Knesset only spoke out when Sharon impinged on these politics otherwise they went along like the proverbial sheep. This article, "MKs trump Sharon on new ministers," is by Nina Gilbert and Gil Hoffman, and it appeared in The Jerusalem Post March 30, 2005. It is archived at: www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1112066449008&p=1078027574097 The Likud anti-disengagement rebels got revenge against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and their colleagues who refused to support a referendum by blocking the appointment of new Likud ministers on Wednesday. As a reward for his loyalists, Sharon asked the cabinet and the Knesset to appoint Likud MKs Roni Bar-On and Ze'ev Boim as immigrant absorption minister and minister-without-portfolio, respectively, and five Likud MKs as deputy ministers, balanced in part by adding Labor MK Ephraim Sneh as a minister-without-portfolio. The ministers were approved by the cabinet, but after the coalition failed to secure a majority in the Knesset, Sharon withdrew the request for the ministers. But the deputy ministers, who did not require Knesset approval, were officially appointed. The new deputy ministers are Eli Aflalo (Industry, Trade and Labor), Gila Gamliel (Agriculture), Ruhama Avraham (Interior), Marina Solodkin (Immigrant Absorption), and Majallie Whbee (Prime Minister's Office). Two deputy appointments were also made for Avraham Ravitz (Social Affairs) and Shmuel Halpert (Transportation) as part of coalition agreements with the former United Torah Judaism party. The rejection of the ministerial appointments was the low point of a successful week for Sharon, who got a referendum bill rejected and approval for the 2005 budget that is to keep him in power for at least a year. The Knesset begins a six-week recess on Thursday, but a special session can be called to approve the appointments. Sharon's associates said Bar-On, Boim and Sneh would be appointed soon, perhaps one by one, but would not say when. They admitted that after a week of tactical successes, they underestimated the outrage the appointments would cause. "We didn't believe that [the rebels] would act like wolves to their friends, but apparently we thought wrong," a Sharon associate said. "This proved that Sharon can do a lot, but he is not Superman. But he still won everything this week, because the ministers issue is not a loss, just a delay." But Sharon's rivals thought differently. They said that at the beginning of the week only MKs on the extreme right thought Sharon was behaving like a dictator, but he lost the support of two-thirds of the Likud on the referendum vote, and the rest of the Knesset in Wednesday's scandal. "Sharon became too intoxicated by his own power," rebel leader Uzi Landau said. "The Knesset finally set bounds to Sharon's political extortion and stopped the prime minister from bulldozing what's left of the country's democratic norms." The rebels declined an offer from Sharon's advisers to have one of their own named Knesset House Committee chairman in return for their votes. Sharon's rivals criticized him for timing the appointments immediately after passing key proposals with the help of his appointees, for appointing only his loyalists and for trying to force too many appointments down the throat of a public that has been forced to tighten its belt. "The appointments were intended to unravel the budget and harm the Israeli economy by taking money from education, health and defense for populist reasons," said a source close to Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who declined to accept a deputy minister who was not a professional appointment. Boim said he was disappointed but expressed confidence that his appointment would be completed soon. Solodkin said she would start working immediately to use her appointment to help immigrants with their problems. The appointments brought the number of deputy ministers to 12 - seven in the Likud, three in Labor-Meimad and two in the former United Torah Judaism. Adding Bar-On, Boim and Sneh to the cabinet would expand it from 22 ministers to 25, one of the largest in history, at a cost of millions of shekels to the taxpayers. Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres defended the appointments, but for the first time since Labor joined the government, a group of Labor MKs threatened to violate coalition discipline and vote against the appointments. Avraham Shochat, Amram Mitzna, Yuli Tamir and Danny Yatom apologized to Sneh for blocking his appointment but said they had no choice. Shochat called the appointments "disgraceful" and said his party had joined the government to assist in disengagement, not to serve the "disgusting mess that has been created in the Likud." He said the Likud was only allowed to make one more ministerial appointment and two or three deputy appointees under coalition agreements. The harshest reactions to the appointments came from Landau, who said, "Sharon turned Israeli politics into a whorehouse," and National Union MK Zvi Hendel, who compared Sharon to Don Corleone "giving gifts to his friends and assassinating his opponents." MK Effi Eitam (National Religious Zionist Renewal Party) wrote Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz asking for an investigation. "Three appointments immediately after the passage of the budget reek of political bribes for support in votes," he wrote. Shinui leader Yosef Lapid said Sharon was willing to give a reward to "every last MK who is willing to vote for him." He predicted that Sharon would have trouble getting his government to function in the Knesset, saying that all the MKs left in the committees are "rebels." Yahad MK Avshalom Vilan said any MK who had any dignity would not take a deputy ministerial post, which he called "empty" and a "joke." He said Israel was liable to be renamed "Job-istan." "Sharon is giving out superfluous jobs to his political loyalists and is bringing government corruption to new heights," Vilan said. 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). To Go To Top

HOME PRINTED FLYERS ON CARS Posted by Anthony and Ruth Rose, April 3, 2005.

Someone in my area today looked at my car and asked if I was from Gush Katif(interesting how people always assume that if someone supports Gush Katif they must be from there).I told him that I was from Modi'in and said "Today Modi'in is Modi'in, tomorrow Modi'in maybe Gush Katif." I know that the Land is ours,so this is not the point, but we have to try and strengthen the support country wide to stop this treacherous plan. What about the idea of getting people from all over the different areas of the country to print up signs from their home printers in which ever area they live in and put them on their cars: Today Efrat is Efrat, tomorrow Efrat maybe Gush Katif. The people are against the expulsion plan Today Sderot is Sderot, tomorrow Sderot maybe Gush Katif. The people are against the expulsion plan It could be part of a huge campaign,minimal cost, minimal effort and it will help to make the people in those areas that seem to think that Gush Katif is somewhere is outer space aware of what giving up Gush Katif, C"V really means. Aloh Na'aleh, Anthony To Go To Top

PLAYING WITH WORDS AND LETTERS Posted by Batya Medad, April 3, 2005.

Hebrew is very different from English. Each Hebrew letter is rich in significance, meaning and numerical value. Linguistic relationships between words are found through their common letters. Words are related via two and three letter roots. Delving into Hebrew is like entering an "amusement park." One doesn't have to be an expert in Hebrew to play these games. Since we're approaching the Passover, Pesach, holiday, I can't resist playing with the word "chametz," which is forbidden on Pesach. Chametz is a concept in Jewish Law that can be easily understood if you take a good look at the Hebrew word which is made of the three letters, "chet," "mem" and "tzaddi." First combine the first two letters, "chet" and "mem" which give you the Hebrew word, "cham," meaning hot. Then combine "mem" and "tzaddi" for "mitz," juice, the essence of fruits and vegetables. What happens if juice gets hot? It ferments into vinegar, "chometz." Don't get so hot under the collar about my ignoring the vowels. In Hebrew one spells with consonants only; vowels are small "signs" added underneath the letters. Now, what is the power of vinegar? It changes matter; apologies to Einstein. Think about it. If you spill vinegar on a hard stone surface, like marble, it will eat away at it, and if you add it to flour, the flour will ferment, expand. The use of "chametz" gives us a lot of power, like the power of G-d. During the Passover holiday, it is forbidden for us to possess, or benefit from "chametz" in any form. The Passover "bread," "lechem," is "matza," yes; which begins with "mem," "tzaddi." It is a combination of water and flour, and the entire preparation, from mixing to baking, must take exactly eighteen minutes, yes, eighteen, "chet," "yud," "chai," which according to gematria) means life. If it takes any longer, fermentation will commence, and it will be chametz, forbidden. So, to put it simply, on Passover we eat dead bread. One of my favorite word games is comparing the words containing the roots of "mother" and "father," "eim" - alef, mem and "av" - alef, vet. From "father" we have the words "evven," stone and "ma'avak," conflict, while from "mother" we have "emunah," faith and "emmet," truth. Now, if we combine "mother" with "essence," we have "ometz," which can be defined as daring, emotional strength. This is the strength of the mother lion fighting against all enemies, against all odds, for her children. And this is the female characteristic that explains why the females give birth, "laledet." We are now in a major fight, "ma'avk," war, "m'lchama," for our Homeland, "Moledet." Listen to the linguistic relationships between the words. "M'lchama," war, can be seen as "from bread." Bread is slang for money. Now, let's take another look at the people who are out to destroy the Jewish communities, educational institutions and businesses in Gush Katif. One thing Arik Sharon, the Labor establishment and Disengagement Authority head Yonatan Bassi all have in common is financial interests in Israeli agriculture. Yes, they are in competition with Gush Katif, financial competition. The Gush Katif agriculture export business is extremely successful. It is innovative, well run and something any normal country would want to expand. But for some perverse reason, Israeli politicians are out to destroy it. It's all about money and power, "chametz," which has the power to both build and destroy. We need "ometz," the strength given when there's faith in G-d. Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the beginning of the Jewish month of Nissan, miracles, is almost here. "Chodesh," month, is from the same root as "chadash," new. We pray to G-d to renew the miracles. This is Musing #108. 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 To Go To Top

THEY CAN STAY AND WE MUST GO? Posted by IsrAlert, April 3, 2005.

These are two articles, the first by Professor Paul Eidelberg and the other by Rabbi Meir Kahane. "Why They Must Go" by Professor Paul Eidelberg Anyone who read the late Rabbi Meir Kahane book, They Must Go, would see a well-reasoned argument why the Arabs citizen of Israel must go, voluntarily if possible, forcibly if necessary. Most politicians are too timid to admit the obvious and well-documented fact that the vast majority of Israel's Arab citizens identify themselves as "Palestinians," i.e., with Israel's enemies, that they oppose the existence of the Jewish state and are multiplying to hasten Israel's demise by means of the democratic principle of one adult/one vote. Nevertheless, Kahane was called a "racist." Contrast Ariel Sharon's Disengagement Plan - by virtue of which The Jews of Gaza and Northern Samaria Must Go. No one quite understands, however, why "They Must Go," and yet Sharon is not called a "racist." Judging from the testimony of IDF Chief of Staff. Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, IDF Chief of Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash, and Shin Bet Director, Avi Dichter, the Jews of Gaza and Northern Samaria MUST NOT GO. Indeed, ex-Deputy IDF Intelligence Chief, Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, has said, "The Israeli government has not succeeded in producing a single serious argument that can refute objections [to Disengagement] and justify the grave step that it is taking." Even Ariel Sharon once declared, "If we cut and run, Gaza will be taken over by terror organizations... Gaza's squares shall be transformed into launching platforms of Katyushas toward Ashkelon ... The only way to defeat terrorism is by controlling its bases." (Ma`ariv, June 12, 1992). Now, inasmuch as the policy of Disengagement was not initiated by the United States, but rather by the Labor Party - a policy Sharon campaigned against and which a large majority of the voters rejected in the January 2003 election - it's hard to avoid the conclusion that the Jews of Gaza and Northern Samaria must go only because Sharon, for personal reasons, wants them to go. MK Zvi Hendel has said that Sharon adopted Labor's policy of Disengagement to distract public attention from criminal charges that might be levied against him in the Greek Island Affair or for his accepting funds from foreign sources in his campaign for Likud party leadership in 1999. A recent poll indicated that 64% of the public regards Sharon as corrupt - and this was before he bribed the Shinui party with 700 million shekels to vote for the annual budget, and appointed seven Knesset members as deputy ministers for serving his cause. It thus appears that 10,000 Jewish women, men, and children must be uprooted from their homes and farms, their schools and synagogues, for no reason other than to keep Sharon in office or out of jail! A grotesque state of affairs. What is also grotesque is that fools and scoundrels alike justify Sharon's treachery and chicanery in the name of "democracy"! Why? Because this con artist was aided and abetted by a majority of the Knesset, including 27 Likud MKs who betrayed their voters in the aforementioned January 2003 election! Surely this so-called democracy must go, which means that Israel is in dire need of "regime change." Israelis should begin by changing their prime minister - and soon, because he is ruining the country to save his own skin. That's what his policy of Disengagement is all about - this and no more. A large majority of the public seems to see that the emperor has no clothes - is utterly shameless. A concerted and sustained campaign by respectable people may very well convince the public that Sharon and his cronies must go. "They Must Go" (Excerpt from Chapter 10 - "Separation - Only Separation") By Rabbi Meir Kahane, Zt"l, Grosset & Dunlap, New York, New York, U.S.A. Date Published: 1981 ISBN: 0448120267 See website: http://www.kahane.org/meir/theymustgo.html Rabbi Meir Kahane authored 11 books in English and 5 in Hebrew. In addition, he wrote a weekly column for The Jewish Press which ran from 1961 until his assassination in 1991. The question of transferring Arabs out of the land will drive them to a frenzied condemnation of Israeli policy. Their danger is their influence on large numbers of simple, good American and Western Jews. The simplistic and demagogic use of labels such as "immoral", "inhumane", "un-Jewish", and "Nazi-like" is likely to find a troubled, sympathetic ear with the ordinary, decent Jew. Thus, we will pay for all the years of deceit and delusions. For all those decades Jewish and Israeli leaders refused to tell the truth about the remedy of the Arab problem in the Land of Israel. They preferred to avoid it and to lie to world Jewry. It is not surprising that any sudden policy that calls for transfer of the Arabs will meet with astonishment and guilt. It is imperative that there begins, today, a campaign among world Jewry to explain the full extent of the Arab hatred and danger. The complete truth must be told to the masses of good Jews both to justify the need to remove the Arabs and to expose the dangers of the liberal Establishment bloc. The Jewish opposition from within - that is the obstacle to successful transfer of Arabs and the saving of the Jewish state. There is no gentile problem, only the Jewish one of self-destruction. The problem in the Jew who stupidly equates the transfer of Arabs with Hitler's genocide of the Jews, as if we were advocating gas chambers or the killing of the Arabs in any form. As if the separation of Jews and Arabs will not save Arab and Jewish lives both! As if it is not precisely the policy of the perverted moralists that will lead eventually to the horrible bloodbath the Jewish realists see all too well! How outrageously dishonest is the equation. How they cheapen and demean the terrible historical uniqueness and horror of the Holocaust, those intellectual dwarfs who equate it with any event they cannot abide! Did the Jews of Germany say that the land was really theirs, stolen from them by the Germans and that they would work until the day they became the majority and take the land and make it "Judea"? If they did, the Jews of Hitler's time can be equated with the Arabs. Did the Jews of Europe massacre Germans, rape their women, burn their settlements, and vow to drive them into the sea? If they did, Europe's Jews and Israel's Arabs are the same. And if they did - if Germany's Jews killed Germans and sought to take their state from them - Germans would have been justified in removing them from Germany and saving their country. But if, as really happened, the Jews sought, not to destroy Germany, not to separate from Germany, not to be independent of Germany, but to be good, loyal, fervent, assimilated Germans, then what the Germans did was horrible, and what the Jews who equate the murderous Arabs with the murdered Jews do is obscene. With no apologies, no defensiveness, no hesitation, the Jew rejects with contempt the gentilized Hebrews and the neo-Hellenists. He knows the Jewish response to threats to destroy people and state: "If one comes to slay you, slay him first" (Sanhedrin, 72d). "Do not be overly righteous" (Ecclesiastes 7). "Said Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: He who becomes merciful unto the cruel is destined to be cruel unto the merciful." How cruel are the overly righteous, the carriers of perverted morality, the unthinking, the gentilized. How many Jewish women and children will die because of the mercy of the overly righteous to the cruel? The foolish children, the twisted adults, all calling in the name of "humanity" for the destruction of the Jewish state - they will be the problem, nothing else. 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 To Go To Top

AFTER THE DISENGAGEMENT: WAR IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA EXPECTED Posted by Eliezar Edwards, April 3, 2005.

This is a news item from todays' Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com). Official IDF sources predict that the withdrawal from Gaza will lead to Palestinian terrorism and violence worse than the previous intifadas, writes Yediot Acharonot's senior military correspondent. IDF sources predict that immediately after the disengagement, the ceasefire is expected to end with terrorist attacks in and from Judea and Samaria. Among the threats are mortar and Kassam rockets on Israel's new toll-way Highway 6, as well as other areas in the coastal plain and the Afula area. The "regular" ambush attacks on roads, as well as attacks on army bases and towns in Judea and Samaria, are also expected. The IDF Central Command is already preparing for the next round of armed conflict, correspondent Alex Fishman writes. It is assumedthat it will begin in September. The preparations are mainly in the form of trying to stop the massive weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza, and from there to Judea/Samaria. The Palestinian terrorists are heavily-armed, Fishman writes: "Despite the successes in discovering arms-smuggling tunnels [between Egypt and Gaza], in the battle between smuggling and thwarting smuggling, the smugglers have won." According to army estimates, in the eight-month period between July 2004 and February 2005, over 3,000 assault rifles were smuggled into Gaza, as well as 400,000 bullets, 400 pistols, and 600 kilograms of explosives. In addition, over 180 anti-tank rocket launchers and 5 anti-aircraft rockets are now in the possession of the Palestinian terrorists. The army recently intercepted a shipment of RPG anti-tank missile launchers at the Shoket Junction near Be'er Sheva, on their way to the Mt. Hevron region. Some 20 such launchers were recovered over the past year - as opposed to an unknown amount that have made their way in. Once the RPG rockets become a common weapon in Judea and Samaria, Fishman writes, "the IDF will no longer enjoy freedom of movement in its jeeps on the roadways, nor will it be able to use jeeps to pursue terrorists and make arrests in the cities... Is it conceivable that the army will only be able to use armed personnel carriers and tanks in Judea and Samaria? And what about the civilian traffic?" In short, Fishman sums up, "stopping the smuggling has become a matter of national existence. It is liable to spell the difference between a diplomatic agreement and a comprehensive war against the Palestinians." The Mossad, the police, the Shabak (General Security Service), government offices, and the army have all begun working in various ways to collect intelligence and try to thwart smugglings, and the work is being concentrated in the office of the Operations Commander in the IDF General Staff. Fishman notes that three attempts have already been made in the Shomron to launch Kassam rockets. Arutz-7 reported that a plot to manufacture deadly Kassam rockets there was thwarted last week with the arrest of eight Islamic Jihad terrorist cell members in Jenin. Earlier in the month, the IDF discovered a Kassam rocket factory near Jenin. To Go To Top

CHOP OFF THEIR TONGUES? Posted by David Wilder, April 3, 2005.

Shalom. I was aghast, reading an article titled "Disengagement and Halacha" by Eitan Kastner. [http://www.yucommentator.com/news/2005/03/29/News/ Disengagement.And.Halacha-900453.shtml - username: dwilder; password: eretz] Posted a few days ago, this article summarizes a program recently held in New York, concerning the current 'disengagement' and its status in Jewish law (Halacha in Hebrew). Sponsored by the Yeshiva University Israel Club, the program featured three noted and important Rabbis, all holding major positions at Yeshiva University. For those of you not familiar with this institution, USnews.com ranks Yeshiva University 46th on its list of national universities, together with Penn. State, the University of Texas and others, a few places above Syracuse, George Washington and Boston U. According to encyclopedia.com it is " the oldest and largest university under Jewish auspices in the United States' and includes the well-known Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Talmudic and Israel research institutes, and the graduate school of mathematical studies." Yeshiva University is a bastion of higher education, combining the best of Jewish educators, together with top notch secular programs. Many graduates of the undergraduate and postgraduate studies are official, ordained rabbis. Amongst the university's top educational staff are Chancellor Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, Dean Rabbi Zevulun Charlop and Spiritual supervisor Rabbi Yosef Blau. These men considered to be, literally, 'the cream of the crop," scholars with international reputations, spoke at the above-mentioned program. This is one of the reasons I am so upset. In short, these three rabbis all agreed that according to strict Jewish Torah law, the government of Israel can justifiably 'give back territory if they feel that the welfare of the country depends on it.' The foundation of their opinion is a rabbinic ruling which says, "the law of the land is the law" (dina d'malchuta dina). Simplistically, whatever the government legally decides, is valid. They also all oppose 'refusal to obey orders' by soldiers and police, forced to carry out Sharon's dirty work. However, former university president Lamm goes several steps further. Speaking about 'ideology of fundamentalist settlers,' Lamm says, "When you take any mitzvah and you make it a supreme mitzvah above all other things in a way that Chazal (our Rabbis) do not say, then it is a form of idolatry." In other words, because we wish to save Eretz Yisrael we are all idol worshipers. He adds, ""Whether the government should do it or should not do it is irrelevant. The government, having done what they did, we have no choice but to support them," and concludes that refusers should be "appropriately punished." Rabbi Blau had the last word: ""Those who are so adamantly opposed to it [disengagement] should come up with an alternate policy with a long range approach." It's difficult for me to relate to these men as 'Rabbis' - their opinions border on blasphemy. And this is how they are teaching their students?!? True, 'the law of the land is law,' is legitimate but only as long as it does not negate Torah. Rabbi Dov Lior, Chief Rabbi of Hebron-Kiryat Arba, in answer to a question writes: "During the First Temple Era there were kings who broke Torah law. The prophets were sent to admonish them. It makes no difference, kings or prime ministers, if they act against Torah, Jewish law prevails and one is not obligated to obey them." For example, should the government decide that 'the welfare of the State' demands that all Jews work on Shabbat - the Sabbath, or that all Jews must eat, at least once a day, a mixed meat and dairy meal (which is forbidden), how would these same Rabbis rule? In the days when the Greeks and the Romans forbade Torah study, did the great teachers obey? Rabbi Akiva, perhaps the greatest of our Sages, was tortured and killed by the Romans for teaching Torah to the masses. Should a future government decide, G-d forbid, to abandon Ma'arat HaMachpela and Temple Mount, how would these esteemed Rabbis rule? Jewish law forbids abortions (excepting cases when the woman's life may be jeopardized by the pregnancy). Would these Rabbis permit abortions because a state assembly has decided that 'it is in the best welfare of the state' to allow them? There is also a question as to who can define 'what is good for the state.' Rabbi Lamm says: "If you ask a rabbi how to treat Hutchins disease...don't. If you do, there is something very wrong with you. The rabbanim are experts in halacha. They are not experts in other fields." Who, in our case in Israel, is the expert? According to Yediot Achronot senior military correspondent Alex Fishman (as reported by israelnationalnews.com), "IDF sources predict that immediately after the disengagement, the ceasefire is expected to end with terrorist attacks in and from Judea and Samaria. Among the threats are mortar and Kassam rockets on Israel's new toll-way Highway 6, as well as other areas in the coastal plain and the Afula area. The "regular" ambush attacks on roads, as well as attacks on army bases and towns in Judea and Samaria, are also expected. The Palestinian terrorists are heavily-armed, Fishman writes: "Despite the successes in discovering arms-smuggling tunnels [between Egypt and Gaza], in the battle between smuggling and thwarting smuggling, the smugglers have won." According to army estimates, in the eight-month period between July 2004 and February 2005, over 3,000 assault rifles were smuggled into Gaza, as well as 400,000 bullets, 400 pistols, and 600 kilograms of explosives. In addition, over 180 anti-tank rocket launchers and 5 anti-aircraft rockets are now in the possession of the Palestinian terrorists. In short, Fishman sums up, "stopping the smuggling has become a matter of national existence. It is liable to spell the difference between a diplomatic agreement and a comprehensive war against the Palestinians." So, who is the expert on what's best for Israel - Sharon, or top military analysts? It is a well known secret that both Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon and Intelligence Chief Avi Dichter were axed by Sharon due to their professional opposition to the abandonment of Gush Katif. Rabbi Lamm's statement about idolatry is incomprehensible. The very pillars of the Jewish people are founded on Eretz Yisrael. There is no question that the Jewish people came into existence in order to fulfill Torah in the Land of Israel. Without Eretz Yisrael there is no Jewish people. They are intrinsically entwined. So how can a 'learned Rabbi' define 'fundamentalist settlers' as idol worshipers because they desire only to preserve what is rightfully ours, the land that is the basis of our existence? Eretz Yisrael has been defined as 'the soul of the Jewish people.' Who is best suited to deal with the soul - Rabbis and Torah scholars, or corrupt politicians? And last, but certainly not least, I must reply to Rabbi Blau, who demanded " an alternate policy with a long range approach." There is only one plan that I know of, that I have no doubt, would work. And it is not an alternative plan, rather it is the primary plan. That is, of course, that Rabbis Lamm, Charlop and Blau should move themselves, with their entire institution, from New York, to, say, Neve Dekalim, or maybe Hebron, or perhaps Jerusalem, or, as a last resort, Tel Aviv. That is the policy that G-d had in mind some 3,700 years ago when He commanded Abraham to walk from Iraq to Eretz Yisrael. I guess you could also call it a 'long-range approach,' - eternal approaches could be defined as 'long-range.' One final point: I don't know much about the family history of Rabbis Lamm and Blau. However, Rabbi Zevulan Charlop's grandfather was the renowned Torah scholar, Rabbi Ya'akov Moshe Charlop, the principal student of Rav Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel. Rabbi Charlop, a true lover of Eretz Yisrael was a bountiful and sublime writer. But he also knew how to make a blunt point. When the British suggested a "partition plan", dividing Eretz Yisrael into two entities, Rabbi Charlop wrote: "Behold, the matter is simple and clear - Heaven forbid that the Jewish People relinquish any tiny concession of any iota of land that is sanctified with the holiness of Eretz Yisrael... There is no doubt that if the matter reaches the point where we will need sign an international agreement that includes any form of surrender of our rights to Eretz Yisrael, it is preferable for those signing to chop off their thumbs, rather than to chop up the garden of Zion." [http://israelnationalnews.com/english/newspaper/torah/ask-rabbi-13-Jun-03.htm] What would Rabbi Charlop say today about these men? Maybe he would suggest chopping off their tongues so as not to defile their mouths, agreeing to dismember our Land? With blessings from Hebron. ADDENDUM - April 6, 2005 This morning I received the following letter in response to my article "Chop off their tongues." Keeping in mind the severity of the subject, I think it very important to publicize it. I spoke with Rabbi Zevulun Charlop and he also said that his remarks were not accurately reported in the article "Disengagement and Halacha." He told me that he opposed Oslo and was extremely concerned about the damage 'disengagement' could cause to Israel. He said that the remarks attributed to him in the Commentator article were taken out of context. I think that E.R.'s letter bear's witness to these points. This being the case, I want to publicly apologize to Rabbi Charlop if I maligned him in any way. David Wilder To: hebron@hebron.org.il Subject: Rabbi Charlop was portrayed inaccurately! I was there. My name is E. R. (name and email were enclosed in the original letter) and I'm a student at Yeshiva University who was present during the discussion between Rabbis Lamm, Blau, and Charlop. Although accurate concerning Rabbi Lamm's and Rabbi Blau's stance, the article in the Commentator, I believe, misrepresents Rabbi Charlop. Rabbi Charlop was extremely wary of the disengagment plan and Sharon's perversion of democracy. He also reminded the audience of his grandfather's citation of the Sefer HaChinuch's teaching that Yishuv Eretz Yisroel is another mitzvah for which the principle "Yehareg uBal Ya'avor" applies. Concerning refusing orders: He said that he personally would not refuse but he was not against others doing so. He said that if a soldier feels that the disengagement is wrong, he can refuse as long as he is willing to accept the consequences (i.e. arrest, jail sentence). He even added that soldiers who refuse orders might eventually be vindicated just like Americans who were arrested in the black civil rights movement were vindicated. I think it's important to publicize this since many people are still unsure concerning the morality of refusing orders and the "fact" that three prominent rabbis from YU oppose it might sway some people. Thank you. David Wilder is spokesman of The Jewish Community of Hebron. 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 To Go To Top

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES-WHAT NOW? PREPARING FOR VICTORY! Posted by Nadia Matar, April 3, 2005.

Firstly I would like to thank Hashem for hardening the hearts of the MK's and making sure a majority of the Knesset would vote against a Referendum. Yes- you are reading correctly: I am happy that the law calling for a Referendum did not pass. And for 3 reasons: * IDEOLOGICALLY As Women in Green has written many times - one does not hold Referendums on whether or not to give away the land of Israel! On some issues, no Referendums are allowed. Let me explain: It would be unheard of if family members would hold a family Referendum as to whether they want to keep this or that person in the family. No parents hold a family Referendum as to whether or not they want to keep their child, even if they think he is a trouble maker. The link between parents and children is a link that cannot be changed. The same way, the link between the Land of Israel and the people of Israel can't be changed. Hashem gave this land to the Jewish people, and no Jew has the right to give it away. * THE PRACTICAL REASON Those who still believe that we should have had a Referendum will agree that the only Referendum that would be a possibility in such a situation, would be a Referendum held by Jews only. It is clear to us all that it would be sacrilegious to have Arabs and non-Jews participate in a Referendum on our Biblical homeland! But we know that this would have been unacceptable to the Knesset and thus, had the law passed in favor of a Referendum - Arabs would have been part of it. Once again we thank G-d that that law did not pass. * And FINALLY: Dictators don't abide by the will of the people; even if a miracle would have occurred and against all odds, we would have won the Referendum, does anybody believe that the dictator Ariel Sharon would have abided by its results?? Absolutely not! The day after such a Referendum, Sharon's bulldozers would have started the uprooting. And we, who would have put all our energy, time and money on the Referendum, would not have been ready to fight the uprooting. The question that is asked by all is: WHAT NOW? Some activists who sincerely believed that they could stop Sharon's plan with parliamentary means, are in a deep depression (see Friday's Jerusalem Post, the interview with Gush Etzyon Mayor Shaul Goldstein who has lost all hope). We on the other hand, who never believed that our political leaders would be the ones who would save us, are not depressed. We have not given up hope that we can win. On the contrary, now we must get organized. AND IF WE ORGANIZE OURSELVES CORRECTLY, THEN, WITH G-D's HELP, WE CAN WIN AND THWART SHARON'S PLAN! Last night (Thursday, March 31st) - for the first time in many years - a very large gathering of all the extra parliamentary groups was held. Some 50 people from all over the country, religious and non-religious, older and younger settlers and residents from within pre-67 Israel, students, rabbis, etc. gathered and discussed the ways to stop Sharon's plan. Every representative had 3 minutes to talk. We all agreed on the following: A) It is within our power to prevent implementation of Sharon's plan by non-violent means & civil disobedience. B) We will act in accordance with the following: * increase the successful campaign of convincing soldiers and police forces not to participate in the crime of the uprooting. Different groups are already involved in this and we urge people to join with them. * bringing to Gush Katif and Northern Shomron in the coming weeks, tens of thousands of supporters to on with the understanding that if enough people will be there (and enough soldiers will not participate) - the security forces will not be able to carry out the crime of the uprooting * the day that the authorities will close down Gush Katif to non-residents will be the day that all hell will break loose in the entire country, without going into specific details about our actions. The general idea is that the entire country will be non-functioning because of roadblocks and other activities - thus keeping the security forces very, very busy far away from Gush Katif and Northern Shomron. * explaining to everybody that one of the ways to bring down this government will be to fill the jails. The government has built special internment camps for people opposing Sharon's plan. They think that they are scaring us and hope that thus people will not demonstrate nor go out to the streets. On the contrary, our message is clear. It will be a badge of honor for us to go to jail for the Land of Israel! In fact, we will do all we can - with non-violent civil disobedience - to fill those jails. When some five to ten thousand people, men and women, old and young will be in jail - this government will fall and the deportation plan will be stopped. We must tell our friends not to be scared to go to jail. For legal help we have the "Honenu" organization of lawyers volunteering to help all those arrested for fighting Sharon's plan. They have already promised to help all of us who are jailed. This is a very general overview of the meeting of the extra-parliamentary groups. The bottom line is: a) Even if the Supreme Court will decide, as they will in the next few weeks, that the Sharon plan is legal and that the order to uproot Jews is legal, we will still consider it immoral and anti-Jewish and therefore will fight it tooth and nail in a non-violent way, knowing that we might end up in jail. The fact that the Supreme Court decides something is legal does not mean it is in accordance with our traditions and religious beliefs. Jews have religiously believed for thousands of years in the G-d of Israel's Promise to them and their descendants. Let's remember that people like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King also fought against so-called "legal" laws and decisions. b) We are - finally - getting organized to thwart Sharon's plan. One thing is for sure: nobody is permitted to stay home. There is a lot to do, starting today. Details of different actions will be publicized in the near future in the national media (Arutz 7 Website and newspapers like Besheva, Makor Rishon, Hatzofe, etc.). c) But one should not wait for that. Everybody should start with a few friends to do what suits them best. Here are some ideas: * When walking around town, look for police forces and soldiers, talk to them and urge them not to give a hand to the uprooting. Tell them nicely: not to do that. "Your job is to protect the Jews, not to attack them. Don't turn yourself from a Jewish policeman/soldier into a Kossack, that throws Jews out of their homes." The more emotional pressure on such police or soldiers, the better. Anybody who wants to receive the flyers we hand out to soldiers and policemen can contact Women in Green by emailing our office, giving us your name, complete address, and the leaflets will be sent to your home by mail expeditiously. Monday morning, April 4th, at 9:30 a.m., Women in Green will hold a vigil at the traffic circle next to the "Achim Yisrael Mall" in Talpiyot, Jerusalem, close to the Police headquarters - (for details call Anita 0505-777254) * Buy a few placards and write on them "Jews don't uproot Jews"- "Sharon's plan endangers the entire country. Stop the madness" or any other strong message. A few times a week we suggest that you go to the nearest corner with a lot of traffic and hold a small vigil. Talk to the people. Urge the cars to honk. * Help Gush Katif by helping Minhelet Kayla. This is a project Women in Green has been very involved in for the past few weeks. Minhelet Kayla is run by Gush Katif residents who have started the process of bringing many people to Gush Katif. This involves fixing hundreds of empty homes, gathering funds to buy hundreds of tents, water-tanks, etc., and gathering dry food like pasta, flour, sugar, tin cans, water, etc., in order to be able to feed the many thousands who will be in Gush Katif after Pesach. I urge you to go to their website and help them as much as you can. Minhelet Kayla is today one of the most "tachles" projects around: Find out how can you help Minhelet Kayla. a- Contact them and let them know you want to help. Your name will be put on a master list of volunteers. b- Help them financially, they desperately need funds. So much money was spent (wasted?) into all the Hasbara campaigns and the campaigns for the Referendum, that there is hardly any money for the fixing of the homes and all other urgent and needed activities involved in bringing tens of thousands of people to Gush Katif. c- Volunteer to gather dry goods in your neighborhood, in your supermarket, etc., and Minhelet Kayla will arrange to bring what you have gathered to Gush Katif. In one word: there is a lot to do - with G-d's help we will win!! Please pass this message onto other lists, and to your friends and neighbors. - Nadia Matar Please check our website for further announcements in this campaign. Arrange to attend the important Rally in Crawford, Texas, at 2:30 P.M. on April 11, during the meeting of PM Sharon at President Bush's Ranch. It is vital that there be a very large turnout. 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 To Go To Top

ISRAEL'S PEACE PARTNERS Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, April 3, 2005.

The author of this article, Michael Widlanski, is an expert in the Arab media and a lecturer in political communication at the Rothberg School of the Hebrew University. It appeared on IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis website: www.imra.org.il PLO AND HAMAS UNITE AND RE-AFFIRM "STRATEGY OF STAGES," AS PALESTINIANS JOKE ABOUT ISRAELI MISSILE FEARS Official Palestinian media said today that Mahmoud Abbas's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the HAMAS and Islamic Jihad organizations have agreed in principle to full unification, with all sides recognizing the PLO's "Strategy of Stages," a document that sets out a phased program for Israel's destruction. "Representatives of the HAMAS movement and Islamic Jihad will formally attend a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization today, and the two movements [HAMAS and Jihad] have agreed in principle to join the PLO [Arabic: al-munadhama]," declared the opening headlines on Voice of Palestine radio. The dramatic announcement of PLO-HAMAS-Jihad unification comes amid the flow of sophisticated weapons to PLO and Islamic agents, and it represents both a major success for Abbas along with a serious potential threat for Israel for several reasons: *--For Abbas, who succeeded Yasser Arafat as the leader of both the PLO and the PA, it is a major Palestinian domestic success, perhaps beginning to take him out of Arafat's shadow; *--For Israel, it is worrisome that the Islamic extremists, who have continued to amass weapons and stage intermittent terror attacks, are now officially part of the Palestinian establishment; *--And perhaps most problematic is the re-statement by both the PLO and HAMAS that they are bound to the PLO's 1974 action-plan entitled the "Strategy of Stages" (Arabic: barnamaj al-marahil) which seeks Israel's destruction through a combination of diplomacy and violence. The announcement of unification was featured in detail on all the morning news shows of Voice of Palestine radio (Sawt Felasteen) from Ramallah and on Palestinian television from Gaza, showing lengthy shots of Abbas meeting with the HAMAS leadership, while demonstrably fingering Islamic prayer beads (Arabic: sibha or masbah) in his left hand. HAMAS officials declined to give detailed responses to questions about whether the unification meant a change in HAMAS's ideology or its official covenant (Arabic: mithaq), but it appeared that neither HAMAS nor Jihad-nor even the PLO-was willing to offer an official renunciation of the use of violence against Israel. Instead, both PLO and HAMAS officials have, in recent days, confirmed that they have accepted the strategy of "staged goals" (Arabic: ahdaf marhalliyya) as it appears in "Strategy of Stages" set forth at a PLO conference in 1974. "The goals of the present stage are that by the end of 2005 our people will arrive at the borders of September 2000 [when Arafat launched the present war know as the "Aqsa Intifada"]," asserted Palestinian leader Abbas in an interview with Egyptian news agency two weeks ago. When asked specifically about the Bush Administration's demand for disarming Palestinian terrorists, he said, "I will not embark on an operation that will lead to a civil war." The Abbas interview was featured on the front page of his own Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda newspaper, run by his Fatah organization, on March 15 and March 17. Fatah is the largest constituent member of the PLO, and it includes the Tanzeem militia and the "Aqsa Martyrs Brigades" suicide bombers. In recent weeks, Palestinian leader Abbas has steadfastly refused to condemn HAMAS or Jihad by name for recent acts of terror, including the bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub on Feb. 25, saying only that such acts "gave Israel excuses" not to meet Palestinian demands and were, therefore, "against Palestinian interests." Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said in a cabinet meeting this Sunday that PLO and Islamic agents had successfully smuggled sophisticated Soviet-made SAM-7 "Strella" anti-aircraft missiles into Palestinian-ruled areas. Such missiles could shoot down Israeli civilian planes, and they are also the reason that Israel has cut back on the use of military helicopters. Official Palestinian spokesmen today denied the Israeli comments (which have been made very quietly), asserting that there were no missiles in Gaza. Meanwhile, the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Ariqat [sometimes spelled Erikat] made fun of the Israeli comments in a radio interview yesterday. "That's what the Israelis say," asserted Ariqat, the PA Negotiations Minister, referring to the Israeli allegations. "They have the whole West Bank under lock and key. There are road blocks everywhere and they're saying there are missiles in the West Bank," he declared laughingly. "It's all part of an Israeli strategy to delay carrying out their commitments," he said. Meanwhile, Israeli forces yesterday arrested several members of a joint Islamic Jihad-Fatah terror cell in the northern West Bank town of Jenin which was preparing explosives and motorized projectiles for the production of a new generation of "Qassam" rocket-the kind only used until now in the Gaza Strip. Several members of the cell were among the 500 Palestinian convicts whose release PLO leader Abbas had recently won in talks with Israel. Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). To Go To Top

INDIA'S RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL Posted by TheRaphi, April 3, 2005.

This article was written by Arvind Kumar. A self-described libertarian anarchist, he is an immigrant from India who lives in the United States. He publishes a satirical email newsletter called 4M Report (www.sabha.info). In 1992, India established a full diplomatic relationship with Israel, and since then, the two countries have signed several defense deals. ...While there seems to be no immediate danger of things taking a turn for the worse, it is a cause for concern that a member of the Nehru family is once again the de facto head of the government in India. With the present government in India consisting of a coalition between Marxists and the Congress Party (which was responsible for anti-Semitic policies in the past), the nature of the relationship between India and Israel has once again come into focus. The reason for the historically unfriendly behavior towards Israel by various past Indian governments becomes easy to understand if one views India's foreign policy as a projection onto the international arena of its questionable domestic policies. India's Muslim population is the world's second largest - some say third, but many believe that the official census tends to underplay the true numbers of Muslims - and holds the country for ransom. Those who appease Muslims in order to garner their vote dominate Indian politics. Indian laws are heavily skewed to favor Muslims. The Indian government allows Muslims to control their religious institutions, and even subsidizes Haj pilgrimages and madrasas; yet, the government appropriates revenues from many Hindu temples and imposes restraints on Hindus who wish to open schools and colleges. Even though the country was split once to placate Muslims - thus forming Pakistan, an Islamic theocracy - Muslims continue to make ever-increasing demands and refuse to live in harmony with others. In Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim majority state in India, Hindus have faced ethnic cleansing and nearly four hundred thousand survivors live in refugee camps in squalid conditions. This is a case of people living in refugee camps under their own government. The eagerness of ambitious politicians to woo the favor of Muslims resulted in India becoming the first country to ban the book The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, following the call of fundamentalist clerics who felt the book offended Islam. When the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini died, India declared a three-day official period of mourning. This placating attitude of Indian leaders found expression on the international front, too. India helped found the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), an irrelevant entity that did little else of note apart from serving the purpose of dictators and terrorists seeking acceptance from leaders of other countries. Yasser Arafat and Libya's Muammar Kaddafi used NAM to gain acceptability, while Iraq's Saddam Hussein was keen to host the NAM summit in order to be seen as a leader on the global stage. The need for leaders such as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Kaddafi to associate themselves with NAM in order to gain credibility finds correspondence in Indian politics. Despite their hatred for Hindus, branding their opponents "Hindu fundamentalists", Communists and others who pander to the demands of Muslims gain respect by associating themselves with Hindus. They understand that their reputation, as well as that of NAM, would have been in tatters if India had been a Communist or Islamic state. Even India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who was an admirer of Josef Stalin and mimicked the Soviet economic model in India, chose not to declare India to be an overtly Communist state. NAM was founded by Nehru and the strongmen of Communist Yugoslavia, Islamic Egypt, Islamic Indonesia, et al., and gave Indian prime ministers who belonged to the Nehru family the illusion that they were world leaders, even though their focus was limited to Islamic and Communist regimes. Nehru, supposedly described by the Chinese Premier Chou En Lai as a "useful idiot", turned down the offer of permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council for India and argued that Communist China should get the seat instead. The misguided narrow focus on the welfare of Muslims and Communists, while only half-heartedly trying to keep the majority of the population contented, resulted in India treating Israel in a shameful manner, as well. Despite officially recognizing Israel, India did not maintain any diplomatic relationship with it for over four decades. It entered into a diplomatic relationship with the Palestinians before it did so with Israel, and India boycotted Israel in sports meets. This kind of treatment by the government is dictated by the hatred for Jews among Muslims in India. The hatred among Muslims in India is an Arab import, and a curious phenomenon, because many Muslims in India have never even interacted with a Jew. Complaints of appeasement of Muslims by Indian politicians go back to the time of Mohandas Gandhi, who led the non-violent civil disobedience movement against British rule in India. When the Ottoman Empire was dismantled and Turkey was formed, Gandhi took the side of those calling for a pan-Islamic Caliphate, even though the Turks were guilty of the genocide of Armenians; it was one of many such acts that might have disqualified Gandhi from getting the Nobel Peace Prize. In addition, Gandhi - who said that the cry for a national home for Jews did not appeal to him - is blamed by his detractors for helping Indian Muslims partition India and form the Islamic country of Pakistan. In the recent past, with the Nehru family out of power, the relationship between India and Israel has bloomed. In 1992, India established a full diplomatic relationship with Israel, and since then, the two countries have signed several defense deals. Many Israelis who have visited India as tourists during this period have had pleasant experiences. While there seems to be no immediate danger of things taking a turn for the worse, it is a cause for concern that a member of the Nehru family is once again the de facto head of the government in India. Hopefully, the shortsighted foreign policy of ostracizing Israel will not become reality again, leading to the souring of relations between India and Israel. TheRaphi (http://www.theraphi.com/archives/oldindex.html) is a pro-Israel and pro-Zionist site; it provides news articles and essays. To Go To Top

THOSE "PALESTINIAN REFUGEES" - WHO ARE THEY AND WHAT IS THE REAL STORY? Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, April 1, 2005.

This is an essay by Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME). Write FLAME at PO Box 590359 San Francisco CA 94159. Gerardo Joffe is FLAME's President. The major and perhaps only sticking point in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians is that of the return of the Palestinian refugees (Of course I disagree with this statement completely - jsk). It sank the Camp David conference that President Clinton had arranged even though Mr. Barak had made unprecedented concessions for the sake of peace. The new man M'hmoud Abbas, who routinely refers to Israel as the Zionist enemy also insists that the right of return is not negotiable and that there can he no peace unless those refugees are allowed to return to Israel What are the facts? Somehow 650,000 "refugees" swelled to 5 million. You have heard about those Palestinian refugees who claim "right of return to Israel". Of course, virtually none of them ever lived in Israel - they are the children and mostly grandchildren of those who fled in 1948. The total number of those who fled in 1948 is estimated to have been about 650 000. Now the number who wish to return has swollen to almost five million. How did this exodus come about? In 1948, on the day of the proclamation of the State of Israel, five Arab armies invaded the new country from all sides. In frightful radio broadcasts, their leaders urged the Arabs living there to leave so that the invading armies could operate without interference. They could return after the expected quick victory in that holy war and get their property back - and that of the Jews. Things turned out differently. The invading armies were defeated. Those who had left became refugees - people without a country. Those who stayed with their children are full fledged citizens of the State of Israel. These so-called Palestinian refugees have not been allowed to settle in the "indivisible" Arab nation. They have been supported in camps since 1948. So far, over $2.0 billion has been spent on their maintenance with no end is in sight. Who pays for that? You guessed it. Through UNWRA Relief the United States contributes more than 60% of the total cost. p>The Arab countries among them some of the richest in the world who fritter away their enormous fortunes on frivolous luxuries, are satisfied to leave their Arab brethren in those miserable camps They have never contributed a penny to their maintenance. But there is another side to the "refugee" story. Little is heard of the 800 000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries who fled those countries to settle in the newly formed Jewish State of Israel. Every one of these refugees was immediately accepted and resettled, cared for and given full citizenship by the fledgling, impoverished and embattled Jewish State. There never has been and certainly is not now, a Jewish refugee camp in Israel or anywhere else The Arab refugees who fled Israel left little wealth and little history since most of them had not come to "Palestine" until Jewish settlers opened economic opportunities in what had been a desolate country for centuries. But the Jews of Arab lands have a history going back thousands of years When forced to flee, they left behind land wealth and a long history. They arrived in Israel, quite literally only "with their shirts on their backs." They now make up almost 60% of the vibrant and productive population of Israel. What have the Arabs, the richest people in the world, done with their refugees in more than 50 years? They have kept them in misery, on the dole of the world and have taught their hopeless youth the "skills" of suicide missions and of slaughtering defenseless and unarmed men women, and children. If the Arab nations truly decided to make peace with Israel and to put an end to the century long conflict they could easily accomplish it by accepting the Palestinian refugees in their countries. They could just as Israel did with Jewish refugees from Arab countries integrate them into their societies and make useful citizens of them. In fact, acceptance in their countries might also be offered to the Israeli Arabs who, despite enjoying a higher standard of living, education and health than Arabs in any of the surrounding countries and despite having the same civil rights as Israeli Jews are not happy to live in a Jewish state. Population transfers are common especially in the wake of wars. They have been practiced throughout history. In 1923, Greece and Turkey agreed to the resettlement of 2 million Greeks and 800,000 Turks. In 1945, the resettlement of 3 million Germans from Poland and Czechoslovakia was arranged. Following the collapse of its North African Empire, France accepted close to 1.5 million people. More than 12 million Muslims and Hindus were exchanged in India and Pakistan. Israel has recognized this historical necessity. The "Arab Nation" with its enormous wealth and under populated lands has stubbornly refused to face facts. It is clear that the "Palestinian refugee problem" is a red herring kept alive by the Arab nations for their political purposes and with cynical disregard for the great number of impoverished people who live in these camps. It is being kept alive and is being used as a non-negotiable bargaining chip for the purpose of destroying the State of Israel - a feat that the Arabs have attempted several times by military means but which has always ended in disastrous failure. Introduction of all these Arab so-called Arab "refugees" into Israel would create even more unsolvable social problems. It would with one stroke dramatically alter the demographic makeup of the country and would inevitably destroy the Jewish State. That is, of course, the whole idea behind the demand for the return of the refugees. If the Arab nations were willing to solve the refugee problem the legitimacy of Israel could no longer be questioned. But that is not acceptable to the Arabs. They are firmly committed not to allow Israel or any non-believers to be in control of any part of the Middle East. It is that, and that alone, which is the real cause of the "Palestinian Refugee" problem. Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). To Go To Top

RETREAT FROM GAZA IS A VICTORY FOR TERRORISTS Posted by Dror Vanunu, April 1, 2005.

The article below was written by Jeff Jacoby (jacoby@globe.com) of the Boston Globe. It is a very impressive article which portrays the truth about the grave dangers which the withdraw from the Gush Katif and the North of Samaria will cause, G-D forbid. It is archived at http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/ oped/articles/2005/03/31/retreat_from_gaza_is_a_victory_for_terrorists/ IN JANUARY 2003, Ariel Sharon won a second term as Israel's prime minister by crushing the Labor Party's Amram Mitzna, who had campaigned on a promise of uprooting Jewish settlements in Gaza and surrendering the territory to the Palestinians [sic. - Mitzna actually campaigned on evacuating a single community, Netzrim; hence Sharon's plan is even more far reaching than Mitzna's]. Sharon firmly opposed that idea, which he had long regarded as a prescription for disaster. "Evacuating Netzarim," he had said in 2002, referring to one of the Gaza communities, "will only encourage terrorism and increase the pressure upon us." But within a year of his landslide victory, Sharon turned 180 degrees. To the shock of friend and foe alike, he embraced Mitzna's plan for a unilateral withdrawal. There was no better option, he insisted. As painful as it might be to force 8,000 Jews out of the homes and communities they had built with the encouragement of successive Israeli governments, continuing the status quo would be even worse. Sharon claims that a majority of Israelis agree with him, but it is impossible to know, since he has refused to put the issue to a popular vote. On Monday, Israel's parliament backed him up, voting down a proposal to hold a national referendum on what Sharon calls the Gaza "disengagement." Barring the unexpected, then, the Jews of Gaza will be expelled this summer as Israel's prime minister carries out the very plan he was elected to prevent. The supporters of withdrawal make a plausible case. Defending the Gaza settlements exacts a heavy military and financial cost, they say, tying down far too many soldiers to protect relatively few civilians. Pulling out of the territory will shorten Israel's line of defense. And once Gaza's Jews depart, the terrorists will be deprived of victims to attack, thanks to the security fence that seals off the territory from Israel proper. To many Israelis, leaving Gaza also promises psychological relief -- an end to the exhausting and unwanted burden of militarily ruling a hostile population. Norman Podhoretz, writing in the current [April] issue of Commentary, quotes the blunt comment made to him by one Israeli at a high-level conference in 2003: "Why should we keep trying to negotiate peace with people who want only to murder as many of us as they can? Instead of going on with this charade, the best thing we can do is cut ourselves off from them with the fence and then let them stew in their own juices." But the world doesn't work that way. To retreat in the face of terror is to invite more of it, not less. Handing Gaza over to the gangsters of Hamas and the PLO will not leave them "stewing in their own juices" but celebrating their victory. As they take over the houses, farms, and schools of the people they demonized and terrorized for years, they will draw the obvious conclusion: Violence works, and the Jews are on the run. Listen to Ahmed al-Bahar, a top Hamas operative. "Israel has never been in such a state of retreat and weakness as it is today following more than four years of the intifadah," he exulted last week. "The withdrawal marks the end of the Zionist dream and is a sign of the moral and psychological decline of the Jewish state." Just as Israel's unilateral withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 proved a triumph for Hezbollah, so will Fatah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad revel in Israel's surrender of Gaza. The Lebanon retreat inspired the Palestinian Authority to launch a murderous terror war, the so-called "second intifadah." What fresh hell will the Gaza disengagement inspire? A few days ago, Israeli officials learned that Palestinians had smuggled SA-7 antiaircraft missiles into Gaza from Egypt. Mahmoud Abbas, the "moderate" Palestinian president, announced plans to release two hard-core terrorists from custody. Far from cracking down on Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Abbas is taking them on as partners: The official Palestinian media reported this week that the two terror organizations intend to formally join the PLO. "What's happening now isn't considered a calm," the leader of yet another terror squad, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, told an Israeli newspaper. "It's merely a warrior's rest." If the terrorists are this brazen now, when Israeli troops are still on the ground, what will happen when those troops are gone and Gaza becomes a safe haven for killers and radicals? It isn't only Israel that will pay the price. "A Hamas flag over Netzarim will justify 37 years of terrorism," writes Michael Rubin, the editor of the Middle East Quarterly. An Israeli withdrawal will embolden rejectionists across the region. "If terrorism can free Gaza, why not the West Bank, the Galilee, Indian Kashmir, or democratic Iraq?" Wars are not won by retreats or with fences or through the ethnic cleansing of Jews. Difficult as the Gaza status quo may be, what is scheduled to take place this summer will prove far worse. Sharon -- the old Sharon -- had it right: Unilateral withdrawal is a prescription for disaster. Dror Vanunu lives in Gush Katif and is with the Katif Region Development Fund, Neve Dekalim, D.N Hof-Aza, 79779, Tel:972-8-6840846, Fax:-972-8-6840863. You can contribute to Gush Katif by writing to: USA: Friends of Gush Katif PO Box 1184, Teaneck, NJ 07666, www.katifund.org To Go To Top

OPERATION SAVE ISRAEL! Posted by David Ben-Ariel, April 1, 2005.

Imagine if America's 5 million plus Jews suddenly decided to follow their religion back to the Jewish homeland, return to Zion, make aliyah ("emmigrate") to the Promised Land of Israel, putting their faith and prayers into practice! Religious Jews pray daily for the return of the exiles and "Next year in Jerusalem" at Passover. Imagine if American Jewry repented of their hypocritical prayers and put their hearts into such prayers and were moved to actually move to Israel and pray in Jerusalem THIS year! Imagine if America's many rabbis and Jewish "leaders" would suddenly lead by example and move to the Jewish homeland. From Israel's national anthem, Ha-Tikvah (the Hope): As long as deep in the heart, The soul of a Jew yearns, And towards the East, An eye looks to Zion, Our hope is not lost ... From the ADL's http://www.adl.org/Israel/Record/yearning.asp Yearning for Zion: The two-thousand-year-old daily prayers continually refer to the return to Zion, such as this one from the thrice-daily silent devotion: "And let our eyes behold Thy return in mercy to Zion. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who restorest Thy divine presence unto Zion." Among other numerous examples, the return to Zion is included in the grace after meals and Passover Seder tables resonate every year with the refrain "Next Year in Jerusalem." The seventh blessing of the weekday Amidah prayer is called Ge'ulah ("redemption") and appeals to the LORD for redemption and deliverance. Behold our affliction and champion our cause, and redeem us speedily for the sake of Thy Name. Blessed are You, Lord, Redeemer of Israel. The Jewish homeland is today in peril. As Gaza goes (with the threatened expulsion of 8500 Jews from their homes, property and businesses), so goes Israel. General Sharon is trampling democracy and despising the Jewish inheritance of the Promised Land of Israel. The secular mount their campaign to further cut Israelis and Jews off from their Hebrew roots and biblical lands, slitting Israel's throat for sworn enemies who vow genocide against the Jews and plan to pervert Israel into "Palestine!" I encourage every American Jew to follow their religion back to the Jewish homeland, fulfilling the mitzva (command/good deed) out of loving obedience to our Great Creator G-d, the G-d of the Bible, the G-d of Israel, and empowering themselves to fulfill many more within the Holy Land, and to help save Israel from self-destruction from those anti-democratic and anti-Semitic men and measures with their love of freedom of speech and religion, having been raised in these Lands of the Covenant (the United States/Menashe) to cherish such G-d given rights. Israel needs American Jews and American Jews need Israel! Let OPERATION SAVE ISRAEL begin immediately and make history and answer prayers and stop the madness in the Jewish homeland! Such a great influx of American Jews into Eretz Israel would help sweep away the suicidal peace process and restore Israel to its Right mind! If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when? -- Rabbi Hillel For Zion's Sake, David Ben-Ariel David Ben-Ariel is author of "Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall." Contact him at http://www.pushhamburger.com/david.htm To Go To Top

ANOTHER LANDMARK FIRST AMENDMENT CASE? Posted by IsrAlert, April 5, 2005.

This was written by Thomas Lipscomb (letters@editorandpublisher.com), a senior fellow at the Annenberg Center for the Digital Future and a frequent contributor to the Chicago Sun-Times. It is archived at http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/ shoptalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000847332 It's Rachel Ehrenfeld vs. Sheik bin Mahfouz, a Saudi sheik who successfully sued the American writer for defamation -- in England. Journalists, says Floyd Abrams, "should line up and support the lawsuit." (March 21, 2005) -- When Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of the book "Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It," opened her apartment door just before 10 p.m. on March 3, she believed she was simply receiving some legal papers from London. But this was no ordinary messenger. According to Ehrenfeld, the visitor carried a warning as well: "You had better respond. Sheik bin Mahfouz is a very important person, and you really ought to take very good care of yourself." "I expected to receive some legal papers, not a threat from a Saudi sheik in my own country," Ehrenfeld told me last week. The ease with which foreigners, like this billionaire Saudi sheik, now pursue damaging lawsuits against American writers and publications in foreign courts is astonishing. Bin Mahfouz is listed as number 210 on the new Forbes list of 620 billionaires in the world. This is already a year in which federal prosecutors are trying to force a New York Times reporter to give up confidential sources while the Federal Election Commission warns that it intends to use the McCain-Finegold Act to question to what degree various kinds of speech are really free or constitute a campaign contribution. "This is no ordinary legal dispute," states Daniel Korenstein, Ehrenfeld's attorney. "It is perhaps one of the most important First Amendment cases since Sullivan vs. The New York Times." Sheik Khalid Salim a bin Mahfouz has allegedly endowed and arranged financing for a number of Islamic charity organizations that have been accused of funding terrorism. Ehrenfeld asserts, "There are currently over 10 lawsuits outstanding by numerous plaintiffs in the United States claiming billions of dollars in damages from Mahfouz's alleged involvement in financing the 9/11 attack of the World Trade Center." On his Web site, Mahfouz says he is "increasingly angered" over accusations such as Ehrenfeld's. "There is no truth to these reports," reads the statement. "We condemn terrorism in all of its forms and manifestations." In an attempt to circumvent the First Amendment protection of American writers like Ehrenfeld, Mahfouz has successfully sued or settled with over 30 publications and authors for defamation and libel in British courts for years. "That many legal actions brought in a plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction evidences a consistent campaign by Mahfouz to silence any author, journalist, or publication who attempt to analyze or document any role he may have had in funneling the money of the Saudi royal family or wealthy Saudi families to terrorist activities," Korenstein points out. While the standards for libel and defamation in the United States put the burden of proof on the plaintiff, in the United Kingdom it is up to the defendant. And credible testimony alone does not establish proof. If an author cites a quotation by the former secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, which is attacked as defamatory, the direct testimony of Albright is insufficient proof without the underlying material she based her statement upon. There are heavy expenses involved in countering Mafouz's suits and very different standards of proof in British courts. Authors and publications with assets in the United Kingdom, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, have kowtowed, out of court, often by running corrections. (A list is on the Mahfouz Web site.) But Ehrenfeld never published "Funding Evil" in the United Kingdom. Fewer than 30 copies entered the United Kingdom, presumably through Internet sales and special orders following its publication in the United States in 2003. And yet she had a default judgment entered against her by British Judge Eady on December 7, 2004, for defamation of Mahfouz. A penalty hearing has been set for April 29 to consider Mahfouz's claim for legal expenses and damages, a retraction by Ehrenfeld of the passages objected to in the suit, and injunctive relief preventing any further appearance of her book in the United Kingdom. "Dr. Ehrenfeld is a respected scholar, who, to my knowledge, does not make irresponsible charges," the former Director of the CIA, R. James Woolsey, who wrote the forward to "Funding Evil," told me recently. "She currently serves with me and former Secretary of State George Schulz on the board of directors of The Committee on the Present Danger. We are dedicated to winning the war on terrorism, and the contribution of members like Rachel Ehrenfeld has been invaluable." Ehrenfeld is currently the director of the New York-based American Center for Democracy. She has been a research scholar at the New York University School of Law, a visiting scholar at the Columbia University Institute of War and Peace Studies, and a fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. As an American citizen, Ehrenfeld has ignored the Mahfouz British action and default judgment. "If American authors can be silenced by actions of foreign courts in their own home jurisdiction in the United States, what use are the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech?" she said. "To establish that protection for myself and other writers, I have sued Mahfouz in the United States Federal Court in the Southern District of New York in December." According to Floyd Abrams, whose law practice specializes in First Amendment cases, "This is an important issue. It imperils American authors writing for Americans about issues of interest to them. American authors should line up and support the lawsuit." James Goodale, former general counsel and vice chairman of the New York Times Co., points out that "The Mahfouz suit is totally unfair. Ehrenfeld has not published her book in the United Kingdom. She published it in the United States and has no control over special orders that have the book sent abroad through the Internet." Mahfouz has not accepted service in America of Ehrenfeld's complaint,and no counsel has appeared for Mahfouz in this matter. 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 To Go To Top

WHEN "NY TIMES" PRAISES ISRAEL; FACTOR AGAINST SYRIAN WITHDRAWAL Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 1, 2005.

Historians and Jewish nationalists complain that the "NY Times" generally sides with the Arabs against Israel. "Times" readers ingenuously defend their newspaper by noting there are instances of the "Times" praising Israel and chiding the Arabs, in the Arab-Israel conflict. Both groups are right. Here is why. The "Times" does praise Israel, but when Israel is appeasing the Arabs. Appeasement, of course, strengthens Israel's enemy. The "Times" does chide the Arabs, but when they are too bloodthirsty for a general pretence that they are making peace and Israel could clinch that peace by making concessions. The praise and the criticism are in behalf of Arab take-over of traditionally Jewish territory. It is as biased as the more obviously pro-Arab positions. I use the word "chides," to describe the criticism of the Arabs. It is stated with a sympathy that contrasts with the lip-service given to Israel, for example, in its entitlement to "secure borders," while the "Times" campaigns to get Israel borders that are insecure. WALKING FORWARD, LOOKING BACKWARD They don't mean to jostle you, in Manhattan. It's just that they are looking back when they walk forward. They bump into you, unless you are looking out for them. So it is with historical trends and foreign policy. People get used to the status quo. They think it is permanent. Americans build up investment bubbles, imagining they will continue indefinitely, whereas business runs in cycles. Europeans recoiled against the strife caused by their aggressive form of nationalism and imperialism, and are giving up sovereignty and active self-defense. Christian beliefs are receding in most Western countries, often giving way to a secularism that pretends to be neutral but is anti-Christian. Americans who look backward, go bankrupt. Europeans who relinquish their own sovereignty for supra-national authority, condemn Jewish nationalism, which is not a threat. They fail to condemn Arab nationalism, which is. They think they will entwine Arab nationalism in their Mediterranean league. The Arabs accept the investment and trade benefits, but continue to immigrate into Europe and reproduce fast there, Arabize that continent, and commit the greatest imperialism in history. They apply obsolete solutions to new problems. The European disenchantment with Christianity removes a buffer to Islam, at a time when Christianity is benign and Islam is roused to its chauvinist peak. The Europeans should be watching where they are headed. FACTOR AGAINST SYRIAN WITHDRAWAL Most people think of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon as a military issue. From Lebanon, Syrian forces can fan out against Israel, and they can bar the IDF path into Syria. The occupation is just as much an economic issue. The major media does mention occasionally the Lebanese drug trade that Syria controls. It rarely mentions, however, the million Syrians that displaced Lebanese employees. Those million salaries and taxes upon them greatly shore up an otherwise poor Syrian economy. For that income and revenue to cease if a million Syrians returned to their native country and unemployment, could drag that economy down. This increase in poverty, combined with current political unrest, would undermine the regime. Hence the regime resists genuine withdrawal. 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. To Go To Top

FROM RUSSIA WITH HATRED Posted by Yashiko Sagamori, April 1, 2005.

A demonstration of the Russian National Power Party in Moscow. The banner on the left describes the platform of the party: "The party of those who are ready to fight against the oppression by the Yids." The other banners read: "Yids! Disgusting types! Take your stinking paws off Boris Mironov!" [I have no idea who Boris Mironov is - YS] "The Yids are infected with plague and leprosy. They are a dangerous race that deserves a full eradication from the moment of their conception." "The Yids are a plague of the society and its greatest enemies." "The Jews are the most accomplished thieves of our time. They are rejects of human society." "All Yids, regardless of their gender, age, and financial well-being, must leave the limits of the Russian Empire." The bearded man in the center is a Russian Orthodox priest. His presence in full dress at the head of the demonstration indicated its endorsement by the Russian Orthodox Church.   After Zack wrote his letter to the Christians (see Lieberberg's article, "Half Acre and a Mule," in the current issue), we've been flooded by readers' responses. It wasn't really unexpected; we thought that our Christian readers would object to our blatant anti-Christianism. We were wrong. Christians sent us three perfectly peaceful letters. Two of them said simply, "Happy Purim!" (we responded with "Happy Easter!"), and the third one asked how that woman managed to identify Zack and his wife as Jews (Zack explained than in a multi-ethnic country like Russia, where ethnicity really matters, a Jew in a crowd sticks out like a Zulu in a Helsinki sauna). But our Jewish readers, who weren't even supposed to read the letter (didn't it begin with Dear Christians?), have used this opportunity to the fullest possible extent to prove that Jews, in complete accordance with their miserable reputation, will always stick their long noses where they do not belong. The number of similar cases referred to us by Zack's fellow Soviet émigrés was overwhelming. The Jewish participants of these incidents, despite being badly outnumbered, invariably came out of their confrontations triumphant, accompanied by ecstatic rendition of Hava Nagila, tastefully translated into the local language and performed by a philo-Semitic chorus composed exclusively of members of the local ethnic majority. Taken at face value, their letters painted an infernal picture of Jews incessantly roaming Slavic capitals of the former Soviet Union in search of some poor zhlob or, better, two to play a game of "David and Goliath". Several of our correspondents helpfully described kickboxing moves that might have been appropriate for Zack to counter the anti-Semitic demarche of that bad, bad woman a long time ago in a country far, far away. And you're wondering why they hate our guts. Jews, who were, unlike Zack and his ex-Soviet readers, born in the West and, therefore, possessed finely honed social conscience, exercised a different, more sophisticated approach to their critique of Zack's proposal. Most of them accused him of malicious hypocrisy for denying the collective guilt of the Jews while assigning collective guilt to Christians. Zack explained to me that, unlike rapes and burglaries, which were individual crimes, anti-Semitism was a collective crime of non-Jews with no Jewish contribution to its cause, and reiterated that Jews have been innocent of everything anti-Semites blamed them for. His explanation was impeccably logical and lasted until I asked him to stop yelling at me. One Jew (a settler, I guess) actually wrote to us that, instead of asking for anything, we should take what's rightfully ours and keep it. Zack and I decided that was a good sign. Since most readers do not bother to e-mail authors, this might mean that there were two or, maybe, even three other people out there who actually got the message. Oh, joy. I am afraid, however, that past heroics of the former Soviet Jews would be hard to reenact these days. Russians have always considered themselves Europeans, only better; and while in some areas Russia is still lagging behind Europe, in some others it has managed to get ahead. In particular, it seems to be closer than even France to the point of no return where a nation progresses from maligning its Jews to killing them. A couple of months ago, a group of Russian lawmakers sent the Attorney General of the Russian Federation a letter demanding that he outlaw all Jewish organizations because they spread hatred towards non-Jews. A few days ago, 5 thousand concerned Russian patriots, with some prominent figures among them, including the former world chess champion Boris Spassky, signed a petition containing the same demand. The Encyclopedia Columbia provides a 1995 estimate of the Russian population at 149.9 million [1]. According to the report published by Tel Aviv University [2], in 1998, the Jewish population of Russia numbered 470,000 and was diminishing by 40,000 people a year due to emigration and declining birth rates. In other words, less than one thirtieth of one percent of all Russian citizens are Jewish. Do Russian patriots have a reason to be concerned? They most certainly do. According to the signatories of the petition, Russian experts in all things Jewish had discovered a Jewish book that teaches hatred towards non-Jews. The book is titled Kizur Shulkhan Arukh and was published in the 16th century CE. To the best of my knowledge, the petitioners specified no other reason for their fear of Jews. Let us acknowledge the effort those people invested in their research. I have never heard of Kizur Shulkhan Arukh, and I would bet my life that neither have most of the Jews around the world, including Russia. When I tried Googling for it, I found three references on the web. Two of them were news items about the same petition. The third one [3] was found in a footnote to an article about the Jewish law; there were 152 footnotes altogether, and this one was number 92. None of these references were in Russian. I find it extremely hard to believe that the book in question really teaches Jews to hate the rest of the world in general or any person or group of people specifically. We are quick learners; and, if you want to believe anti-Semites, we are smart enough to control just about everything that exists in this world, from Wall Street to tsunamis. Despite such god-like powers, we still haven't learned to hate those who hate us. Nevertheless, it would be much easier for me to assume that the entire book is devoted to burning, murderous hatred towards the goyim than to find the book, read it, and argue that whoever was behind that idiotic petition had knowingly and, therefore, libelously misinterpreted the text, following in the footsteps of anti-Semites everywhere since the beginning of time. Throughout their long history, Jews have produced a humongous quantity of books devoted to all kinds of topics. And yet, only two of them, apparently, profess hatred towards the rest of the species: the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Kizur Shulkhan Arukh. The patriotically inclined Russian researchers had to dig five centuries back to find a publication that matched their purposes and wasn't commissioned by the FSB (Federal Security Service) or one of its many precursors in the Soviet Union or tsarist Russia. You have all heard about God's promise to bless those who bless us and curse those who curse us. Russia provides an excellent demonstration of the mechanism behind it. There is at least one more area, in which Russia is ahead of Europe. While Muslims constitute about 10% of the population in France [4], the most Islamized country in Europe, the Muslim population of Russia is estimated to be between 15% and 19% [5]. You don't need to conduct extensive research to find Islamic hate literature. The Koran [6] and Hadith [7] have been translated into practically every language on earth and are known to every basically literate person. If you are dissatisfied with the ancient hatred oozing from the pages of those two "holy" books, there are plenty of recent [8], fatwas, web sites, periodicals, and other publications urging the "faithful" to murder the "infidel". For instance, the leading Saudi cleric Sheikh Abdel Aziz al-Sheikh in his sermon to the participants in the hadj in 2004, explicitly defined terrorism as killing of Muslims by infidels, while killing of infidels by Muslims, according to him, constituted jihad, or "holy war". Actually, one doesn't even need to read Islamic literature; it is perfectly sufficient to observe Islamic practices to realize that Islam is a cult of hatred and murder. After Nord Ost and Beslan [9], after having been unable for many years to stop jihad in Chechnya, one would think the Russians would worry about real hatred towards them rather than conduct a senseless witch-hunt. According to 2003 statistics [10], the number of Russian military casualties of the Chechen war alone, not including the civilian victims of many terrorist acts committed in Russia by the Chechens and their Arab handlers, exceeds the American losses of 9/11 combined with the American casualty figures in Afghanistan and Iraq to date. But is anyone in Russia thinking about outlawing Islamic organizations? No, they go after the Jews. Why? Because they hate us and, in their naíve arrogance, don't hesitate to document their hatred. I wonder if based on that petition, we could petition the Russian government to outlaw all Russian organizations. Footnotes 1. www.bartleby.com/65/ru/Russia.html 2. www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw97-8/russia.html 3. www.jlaw.com/Articles/venture_notes.html 4. www.afsi.org/OUTPOST/2003NOV/nov5.htm 5. www.global-mission.org/htdocs/articles/Russiamag.html and http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Islam_in_Russia 6. www.google.com/search?q=%22muslim+population+of+russia%22&hl=en&lr= &newwindow=1&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-12,GGLD:en&start=0&sa=N 7. www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/reference/searchhadith.html 8. www.bartleby.com/61/31/F0053150.html 9. http://www.nordostjustice.org/ 10. www.cdi.org/russia/245-14.cfm 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 To Go To Top

NEW HATE SONG ON PA TV: ISRAELIS KILL PALESTINIANS IN GOD'S NAME Posted by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, April 1, 2005.

Despite vows by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas to remove incitement to hatred and violence against Israel from official Palestinian television, the incitement to hatred continues with new programming on PA TV. A cultural program broadcast this week features a song laced with hatred of Israel, accusing Israel of torturing, mutilating and killing Palestinians in the name of God. As PMW has reported in the past, PA TV has for years used songs and music videos as a vehicle to impart educational messages, and has even mandated the killing of Jews as a religious necessity for Muslims. To view the report, "Kill a Jew - Go To Heaven," go to http://www.pmw.org.il/KAJ_eng.htm This week's program promotes hatred in a new way. Perhaps to justify the PA's portrayal of genocide as religious necessity -- the message here is that Israel is killing Palestinians in God's name. In the program, A Mirror of the Palestinian Heritage, a woman is seen writing the words, "a mirror of the Palestinian heritage," over a map of Israel -- thus portraying all of Israel as occupied "Palestine." The song to which the women dance accuses Israel of heinous crimes against the Palestinians, and accuses Israel of committing all these evils in the name of God. To view an excerpt from the TV program, go to http://www.pmw.org.il/asx/PMW_they_kill_us_for_god.asx Women dancing to the music (the melody is reminiscent of an Eastern European lullaby): O my God, hear my prayer (twice) Here I am O Lord, alive In your name, my God, they tortured me In your name, my God, they banished me In your name they exterminated In your name they ruled. O my God, hear my prayer They bombed the land, divided it and stole it The truth they mutilated Freedom they suppressed And our fields they burned. Our villages they uprooted With their houses replaced them In your name, my God, they tortured me In your name, my God, they banished me In your name, they destroyed In your name they ruled. O my God, hear my prayer In our homes they attacked us They threatened us with destruction They pushed us to annihilation. With bombs they burned us In blood they drowned us In dungeons they cuffed us On the anvil they put us. 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. To Go To Top

COLUMBIA WHITEWASH: THE BOLLINGER REPORT Posted by Janet Lehr, April 1, 2005.

SCOOP - Not mentioned in any article on the Bollinger Report, not the following NY Times article nor Gershman's NY Sun article is the fact that Prof. Massad was given a copy of the report two days before its release. Columbia University alumnae, please contact me - janetlehr@mindspring.com - All IsraelLives readers, please forward this email and this request in particular. A student / faculty meeting was hastily scheduled for yesterday at 12:30 pm after the release of the Bollinger Report. It was held on the street in front of Columbia University's 116 th Street and Broadway main gates. Massad's receipt of this closely monitored report may not have been known when Jacob Gershman wrote his March 31 NY Sun article (also below) but the NY Times had arranged an exclusive with the University to this report and certainly knew about its early release to Massad, a fact they failed to report. The whitewash report has not resolved tension on Morningside Drive, rather it has intensified it. The student meeting, hastily called, brought out quite a number of students and major press coverage. One hopes that it encourages more students to become activists. Sadly, Hillel's official presence, was absent. As is the case with apparently all the major Jewish organizations, non-confrontation is the operative goal. (see following AJC/David Harris' hi-five to Bollinger). Hillel was actively encouraging students to approve the Bollinger report. Street corner speakers included three students and two faculty members. Crowded together in the heart of Manhattan on a noisy street, lip reading skills were pressed to the fullest. A picture of Hyde Park (London) speakers perched atop crates, exercising their rights to free speech, barking through bullhorns is not what we experienced. Rather, good well meaning students and professors battling implacable University forces were difficult to hear as they voiced their protest to Columbia University's official whitewash report was made against background noise that all but drowned out their words. Were speakers too polite to hop on a crate or use a mic? Is 'nicety' and politeness of delivery, collegial? Listen guys, if you don't roll up your sleeves, recognize anti-Jewish indoctrination for the death-trap that it is, you'll be dead 'nice.' Cut the nonsense, once in a hundred years is enough. Say it the way needs to be said, NEVER AGAIN. Anti-Jewish speech is hate speech, hate speech is unlawful in all countries. Of all the press reports thus far, Gershman for the NY Sun restated by Sam Ser for the Jerusalem Post told it as it is: "the report tries to turn the tables on the students and blames them for harassing their professors..." That trick is as old as the hills, let's keep on point - anti-Jewish rhetoric is the topic. Below are four articles that explore the Columbia cover-up. (1.) "Panel's Report on Faculty at Columbia Spurs Debate" by Karen W. Arenson, April 1, 2005 The release of a faculty report on complaints that pro-Palestinian professors at Columbia University had intimidated Zionist students triggered new campus debates yesterday on issues of intimidation and academic freedom. While the faculty committee reported no proof of anti-Semitism, it said it had found one instance of unacceptable behavior by a professor, Joseph Massad, in the Middle Eastern studies department. It also condemned a lack of civility on campus, including the behavior of some pro-Israel students who heckled professors during classes and lectures on Middle East studies. At the same time, the committee said that Columbia did not have adequate procedures to deal with student and faculty grievances, which left the university vulnerable to outside pressure groups trying to tell it what to do. Students who had complained to the committee said the report, in finding only one instance of inappropriate behavior, had again minimized their problems. Other students expressed concerns that the report would have a chilling effect on academic freedom, and some on campus said they hoped the report would allow the campus to move on. "The report is insulting, a disgrace to those of us who put our hearts and souls into making Columbia a better place," said Aharon Horwitz, a 2004 Columbia graduate, who said that he had presented three instances of intimidation to the committee but that they had not recognized any of them. He and most of the other speakers at a rally yesterday that drew about 100 people had been involved in putting together a video, financed by the David Project in Boston, that helped draw attention to their complaints at Columbia and elsewhere. Daniella Kahane, a Barnard College senior majoring in English and film, said that by finding only one "credible" incident of intimidation after taking testimony from more than 100 people, the report gave "a false illusion" that the problems were very limited. "We were very disheartened by this report," she said. "This is not the end." But later in the day, after she and four other students met for more than an hour with Columbia's president, Lee C. Bollinger, Ms. Kahane said they were feeling more encouraged that some progress had been made, and that the report had been useful in some ways. "We have brought the university to the point where our problems are being reckoned with, and there will be new grievance procedures in place in a couple of months," she said. "And the report did recognize that there are common acceptable boundaries for behavior inside the classroom and that the burden of responsibility is heavier on a professor, particularly when engaging in sensitive matters. And it does acknowledge that students are less responsible." Bari Weiss, a pro-Israel Columbia sophomore who is a co-founder of Columbians for Academic Freedom, a student group aimed at improving student rights and education, said that she, too, was encouraged by the meeting with the president. "We really share similar values of the ideal of the university as a place of rigorous intellectual debate," she said, "and we need to make sure Columbia maintains high standards. The students are very much looking forward to working with him." But other students criticized the report on different grounds. Brenda Coughlin, a doctoral student in sociology, said that she questioned the committee's judgment in finding that one professor had overstepped the line of acceptable behavior in the classroom, when students differed in their accounts of what had really happened. She also said that the report overemphasized the problem of not having adequate grievance procedures and underemphasized the problem of coordinated, focused attacks from outside interest groups at the university. "Why are there no recommendations on that point?" said Ms. Coughlin, who was one of a handful of students calling for Mr. Bollinger's resignation last week because they felt he was not defending academic freedom forcefully enough. "Clearly, the administration has jumped when the David Project and Campus Watch criticized them," she said. "What are we to expect from them the next time a shoddy video gets a secret release? And how does the university intend to hold Columbia members and institutions accountable?" And a North African graduate student at the School of International Affairs, who declined to give her name for publication, said she was concerned that some of her professors "will not feel free to express themselves." She said she felt that small issues had been blown out of proportion, and that as a result, some professors might look for other jobs. "I hope we don't lose good professors," she said. Still others, however, said they were satisfied with the committee report, which is posted on Columbia's Web site at columbia.edu/cu/news/05/03/ad_hoc_grievance_committee_report.html. "For all the talk of intimidation at Columbia, I think it confirms the fact that there has not been systematic intimidation here," said Walter M. Frisch, a music professor who is chairman of the executive committee of the faculty of arts and sciences. "It is a vindication of our faculty." The report probably will not end the pressure on Columbia to respond further to Zionist students' complaints of intimidation in the classroom. The video with the student complaints was scheduled to be shown last night at the Utopia Jewish Center in Flushing. Two of the Columbia students in the video were scheduled to be there. Ms. Weiss said she did not think there would be many other screenings because "we are in a new stage now." But Charles Jacobs, president of the David Project, said that there would be a screening on Sunday at M.I.T. in Cambridge, Mass., and that he had received dozens of requests. (2.)  "American Jewish Committee Praises Columbia University by David Harris, The New York Sun. March 31, 2005. NEW YORK, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Jewish Committee today commended Columbia University for acting in recent weeks to reaffirm academic freedom and for recognizing that academic freedom is diminished when intimidation is allowed. "The university's Ad Hoc Grievance Committee's report is an important step forward," said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris. "We encourage all interested parties, inside and outside Columbia, to see the report as a point of departure, to look ahead, and to concentrate on the next positive steps to strengthen this leading academic institution." Columbia University President Lee Bollinger had appointed the committee to examine students' allegations that they were intimidated by several faculty members in the university's Middle East and Asian Languages and Culture department. AJC noted that the report reaffirmed the principles President Bollinger articulated in a speech last week, underscoring that academic freedom applies to both faculty and students -- that with this freedom comes responsibility and with its abuse comes consequences. "We welcome Bollinger's agreement with the report's conclusion that problems on campus were exacerbated by the lack of a clear procedure for reporting and investigating such incidents," Harris said. "We applaud the campus leadership for announcing that it will soon take important steps to address this concern." The grievance committee's report found credible evidence that on at least one occasion Professor Joseph Massad had failed in his obligation to "show respect for the rights of others to hold opinions differing from their own," notwithstanding his denial that such an incident had occurred. It also found credible evidence that his behavior at another incident, though outside of the classroom, would have been unacceptable if it had occurred in a classroom. AJC also is pleased that Columbia has recently announced steps to further academic discourse about Israel, including the announcement of a chair in Israel studies, as well as various academic symposia and forums. 3>"Faculty Committee Largely Clears Scholars" by Jacob Gershman, Staff Reporter of the Sun. (http://daily.nysun.com/Daily/Skins/NYSun/navigator.asp?BP=OK) Columbia University, after a months long investigation, has determined that only a small fraction of complaints from Jewish students against anti-Israel professors constituted intimidation. The faculty committee appointed by Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, to investigate a series of student allegations against professors in the Middle Eastern studies department issued a report yesterday largely clearing the accused scholars of blame. At the same time, committee members described a polarized classroom environment in which pro-Israel students disturbed lectures and seminars with inappropriate interruptions. Columbia's top administrators released statements applauding the report and saying that within the next two weeks they would announce specific actions based on the committee's recommendations, such as improved grievance procedures. The committee made no recommendations regarding disciplinary action. Mr. Bollinger, in a letter to the Columbia community set for release today, said: "The neglect over time of our grievance procedures has had many unfortunate consequences, and one is the resulting burden on students of complaints unheard. An institutional failure to provide means of addressing such concerns, as well as those of members of the faculty, has had a cascading effect. I deeply regret these problems persisted and were not remedied earlier." In an effort to manage favorable coverage of its investigation into the complaints, the university disclosed a summary of the committee's report only to the Columbia Spectator, the campus newspaper, and the New York Times. Those newspapers, sources indicated to The New York Sun last night, made an agreement with the central administration that they would not speak to the students who made the complaints against the professors. The Sun obtained a copy of the report without the permission of the university administration. Last night, when a reporter from the Sun came to Low Library, the central administration building, for a copy of the report, a security guard threatened to arrest the reporter if she did not leave the building. According to one student, senior Ariel Beery, one of the campus's most outspoken critics of the professors, a Columbia spokeswoman told him that students were not being shown the report yesterday "for your own good." Late last night, however, after some of the students who made the charges demanded to see the report, the administration relented and showed it to them. "The report only focuses on three incidents, and we brought to them a lot more incidents that were not reported and they made no mention of them," Mr. Beery said. The public complaints, aired in a documentary video, "Columbia Unbecoming," produced by a pro-Israel group based in Boston, have focused national attention on the treatment of Jewish students and how Israel is portrayed and researched at one of the nation's most prestigious universities. The committee's report - four months in the making and the product of dozens of interviews with students and faculty members - represents a significant victory for Columbia's Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures. One of the incidents not mentioned by the report involves assistant professor Joseph Massad, who allegedly told a class that it was Israelis - not Germans or Palestinians - who shot to death the Israeli Olympic athletes in the 1972 Munich Massacre, according to one of Mr. Massad's former students. Mr. Massad's alleged interpretation of events is sharply contradicted by historians, who say the 11 Olympic athletes were murdered by their Palestinian hostage-takers in a botched rescue operation conducted by German authorities. Historians have debated whether some of the athletes died in the crossfire between German police and the kidnappers, but the notion that the athletes were killed by Israeli gunfire has not been given credence. The committee gently criticized Mr. Massad in its report for purportedly threatening to expel a female Jewish student, Deena Shanker, from his classroom in 2002 when she asked him whether the Israeli military warned Palestinian Arab civilians of the West Bank before launching military strikes there. "That provoked him to start screaming, 'If you're going to deny the atrocities being committed against the Palestinians then you could leave the class,'" Ms.Shanker told the Sun last fall. Mr. Massad has denied threatening the student, whose account of the incident has been backed by at least one another student, and said he treats his students fairly and with respect. The committee said Mr. Massad had no real intention of expelling Ms. Shanker from the class, but he lost his temper and "exceeded commonly accepted bounds by conveying that her question merited harsh public criticism." The committee, however, did not come to a conclusion on guilt in a separate incident involving Mr. Massad. In an incident that occurred in spring 2002, Mr. Massad is alleged to have refused to answer a question posted by a student, Tomy Schoenfeld, at an on campus lecture until the student, an Israeli army veteran, told the professor how many Palestinians he killed. The committee reported that although another student corroborated the incident, "It is conceivable that Professor Massad did not know that Mr. Schoenfeld was a student,"and said the incident seemed to "fall into a challenging grey zone." The committee did not investigate issues of professorial bias in the classroom, stating that it "judged that our charge did not encompass the examination of such matters." On the issue of anti-Semitism, the committee concluded: "We found no evidence of any statements made by the faculty that could reasonably be construed as anti-Semitic. Professor Massad, for one, has been categorical in his classes concerning the unacceptability of anti-semitic views." The committee made no mention of an article that an Iranian professor at Columbia, Hamid Dabashi wrote for an Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram, last fall in which he wrote that Israelis suffer from "a vulgarity of character that is bone-deep and structural to the skeletal vertebrae of its culture." In an admonishment to students, the committee stated, "There is a thin line between participating fully and enthusiastically in a discussion, and intervening in a fashion which significantly disrupts the class." The panel also essentially cleared the professors who on April 17, 2002, canceled classes on the day of an anti-Israel rally on campus and encouraged students to attend the demonstration. After the incident, Rabbi Charles Sheer, who was the university's Jewish chaplain between 1969 and 2004, told the Sun that faculty members in the Middle East studies department "personally attacked" him in the pages of the student newspaper for publicly questioning the professors' action. One of the professors who canceled class, Mr. Dabashi, wrote in the Columbia Spectator that Rabbi Sheer "has taken upon himself the task of mobilizing and spearheading a crusade of fear and intimidation against members of the Columbia faculty and students who have dared to speak against the slaughter of innocent Palestinians." The committee investigating concluded: "That faculty construed Rabbi Sheer's intervention as inappropriate is understandable; that Rabbi Sheer and the students whom he believed he was supporting were frustrated by that response is equally unsurprising." 4>"No anti-Semitism problem here, Columbia University report insists" Sam Ser, March 31, 2005. (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/ JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1112239417233) Columbia University's ad hoc investigation of allegations from dozens of students that they were intimidated by teachers either for their pro-Israel advocacy or for being Jewish denied the existence of such a problem. "We found no evidence of any statements made by the faculty that could reasonably be construed as anti-Semitic," the report said. "Many of the matters brought before us did not, in our opinion, constitute the basis for formal grievances but were issues that warranted sympathetic hearing and an appropriate university response." "In general," the investigating committee concluded, "what we believe is most needed at this point are not further formal rules or regulations...We need to reaffirm that sense of collective responsibility which is vital for the well-being of every community of scholars, and to nurture the mutual respect required to sustain us in our common quest for the promotion of learning and the advancement of knowledge." Dr. Charles Jacobs, president of The David Project, which produced a film about the case, slammed the report as a "disgrace." "We expected a biased report from this biased committee, which is composed of friends and colleagues - and even a thesis adviser - of the professors they were supposed to investigate," Jacobs said. "But their report is disgraceful beyond our expectation." Jacobs said that the Columbia report only acknowledged three incidents of harassment, though he claimed there were many more. "It tries to turn the tables on the complaining students and blames them for harassing their professors; it takes aim at whistleblowers on the faculty who help students report abuse by other professors." To Go To Top

SHARON'S RETREAT IS A VICTORY FOR TERRORISTS Posted by Naomi Ragen, April 1, 2005.

This article was written by Jeff Jacoby, a columnist for the Boston Globe. It appeared yesterday (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/ 2005/03/31/retreat_from_gaza_is_a_victory_for_terrorists?pg=full). In January 2003, Ariel Sharon won a second term as Israel's prime minister by crushing the Labor Party's Amram Mitzna, who had campaigned on a promise of uprooting Jewish settlements in Gaza and surrendering the territory to the Palestinians. [sic. - Mitzna actually campaigned on evacuating a single community, Netzrim; hence Sharon's plan is even more far reaching than Mitzna's.] Sharon firmly opposed that idea, which he had long regarded as a prescription for disaster. ''Evacuating Netzarim," he had said in 2002, referring to one of the Gaza communities, ''will only encourage terrorism and increase the pressure upon us." But within a year of his landslide victory, Sharon turned 180 degrees. To the shock of friend and foe alike, he embraced Mitzna's plan for a unilateral withdrawal. There was no better option, he insisted. As painful as it might be to force 8,000 Jews out of the homes and communities they had built with the encouragement of successive Israeli governments, continuing the status quo would be even worse. Sharon claims that a majority of Israelis agree with him, but it is impossible to know, since he has refused to put the issue to a popular vote. On Monday, Israel's parliament backed him up, voting down a proposal to hold a national referendum on what Sharon calls the Gaza ''disengagement." Barring the unexpected, then, the Jews of Gaza will be expelled this summer as Israel's prime minister carries out the very plan he was elected to prevent. The supporters of withdrawal make a plausible case. Defending the Gaza settlements exacts a heavy military and financial cost, they say, tying down far too many soldiers to protect relatively few civilians. Pulling out of the territory will shorten Israel's line of defense. And once Gaza's Jews depart, the terrorists will be deprived of victims to attack, thanks to the security fence that seals off the territory from Israel proper. To many Israelis, leaving Gaza also promises psychological relief -- an end to the exhausting and unwanted burden of militarily ruling a hostile population. Norman Podhoretz, writing in the current [April] issue of Commentary, quotes the blunt comment made to him by one Israeli at a high-level conference in 2003: ''Why should we keep trying to negotiate peace with people who want only to murder as many of us as they can? Instead of going on with this charade, the best thing we can do is cut ourselves off from them with the fence and then let them stew in their own juices." But the world doesn't work that way. To retreat in the face of terror is to invite more of it, not less. Handing Gaza over to the gangsters of Hamas and the PLO will not leave them ''stewing in their own juices" but celebrating their victory. As they take over the houses, farms, and schools of the people they demonized and terrorized for years, they will draw the obvious conclusion: Violence works, and the Jews are on the run. Listen to Ahmed al-Bahar, a top Hamas operative. ''Israel has never been in such a state of retreat and weakness as it is today following more than four years of the intifadah," he exulted last week. ''The withdrawal marks the end of the Zionist dream and is a sign of the moral and psychological decline of the Jewish state." Just as Israel's unilateral withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 proved a triumph for Hezbollah, so will Fatah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad revel in Israel's surrender of Gaza. The Lebanon retreat inspired the Palestinian Authority to launch a murderous terror war, the so-called ''second intifadah." What fresh hell will the Gaza disengagement inspire? A few days ago, Israeli officials learned that Palestinians had smuggled SA-7 antiaircraft missiles into Gaza from Egypt. Mahmoud Abbas, the ''moderate" Palestinian president, announced plans to release two hard-core terrorists from custody. Far from cracking down on Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Abbas is taking them on as partners: The official Palestinian media reported this week that the two terror organizations intend to formally join the PLO. ''What's happening now isn't considered a calm," the leader of yet another terror squad, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, told an Israeli newspaper. ''It's merely a warrior's rest." If the terrorists are this brazen now, when Israeli troops are still on the ground, what will happen when those troops are gone and Gaza becomes a safe haven for killers and radicals? It isn't only Israel that will pay the price. ''A Hamas flag over Netzarim will justify 37 years of terrorism," writes Michael Rubin, the editor of the Middle East Quarterly. An Israeli withdrawal will embolden rejectionists across the region. ''If terrorism can free Gaza, why not the West Bank, the Galilee, Indian Kashmir, or democratic Iraq?" Wars are not won by retreats, or with fences, or through the ethnic cleansing of Jews. Difficult as the Gaza status quo may be, what is scheduled to take place this summer will prove far worse. Sharon -- the old Sharon -- had it right: Unilateral withdrawal is a prescription for disaster. 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. To Go To Top