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Opinions And Editorials By Our Readers
| Think-Israel apologizes for the gap in articles from April 8-19, 2006. It was a unique screw-up that occurred when the new browser failed thrice over a period of days and the managing editor hit the wrong key once. We sincerely hope this concatenation will not occur ever again. If you sent in essays in the missing two week period and they are still topical, you may want to resubmit them. |
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BRAINLESS AND HEARTLESS
Posted by Professor Paul Eidelberg, April 30, 2006. |
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Albert Camus wisely said, "How many crimes are committed simply because their authors could not endure being wrong." This applies to Israel's ruling elites. Thirteen years of Arab terror and 6,000 Jewish casualties have cowed and stupefied these elites. Ehud Olmert is committed to the policy of his comatose predecessor. Brainless and heartless, he promises more territorial retreat on the one hand, and the deportation of more Jews on the other. The American educator Max Lerner once said, "Man's will creates the things that paralyze his brain and brutalize his heart." This applies not only to recent Israeli prime ministers, but also to Israel's Supreme Court, whose decisions have given Arabs a license to kill Jews. To cite only one example: Supreme Court president Aharon Barak quashed the indictment of Arab Knesset Member Talib a-Sana, who, in an interview on Abu-Dhabi TV, not only praised a suicide bombing attack in Israel but also called for more of the same. Did anyone in the government denounce this brainless and heartless ruling" Of course these Israelis lack a firm sense of Justice. Notice that whereas Arab leaders invariably defend their cause in terms of justice, Israel's ruling elites speak only of "peace and security." Perhaps this underlies their brainless policy vis-à-vis Arabs and their heartless policy vis-à-vis Jews? Consider: How can any Israeli prime minister defend the justice of Israel's cause and yet advocate a Palestinian state? How can he speak of the justice of Israel's cause if, following Judge Barak, he calls Judea and Samaria "occupied territory"? But this is not all. A Palestinian state would seem to be the logical consequence of the democratic principle of self-determination; and who dares oppose this democratic principle? But how can any conventional or secular democrat who believes in this principle justly defend Jewish control of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza where some 2.5 million Arabs make their homes? "Aren't all peoples equal and equally worthy of self-determination"? Thomas Jefferson would say "No!" But he said this more than two centuries ago, when democracy was in its youth, whereas today (as we see in Europe) democracy is in its old age. In its youth, when it had just overcome despotism, democracy exalted freedom above equality. Today, however, our democratic epigone exalts equality over freedom. Indeed, so far is it removed from the aristocratic tradition that democracy today is steeped in egalitarianism, an ideology that subordinates all values to equality. Strange as it may seem, this egalitarianism has made Israel's ruling elites brainless vis-à-vis Arabs and heartless vis-à-vis Jews! To clarify what is at stake here, let us distinguish between two kinds of democracy, one secular, the other Jewish. As everyone knows, freedom and equality are the two basic principles of democracy. However, in secular democracy, freedom and equality are derived from the abstract and pedestrian concept of humanism. This is not the case of Jewish democracy, where freedom and equality are derived from the concept of man's creation in the image of God. This concept endows freedom and equality with ethical and rational constraints absent from secular (and decaying) democracy. It should also be emphasized that the logic of man's creation in the image of God places freedom above equality in the hierarchy of values, because it is precisely freedom or creativity and not equality that distinguishes the human from the subhuman. However, freedom-cum-creativity makes possible an elevating equality rather than a leveling equality, and this is why Jewish freedom is linked to Justice -- to an aristocratic justice. And that's why a Jewish democracy would be a universal aristocracy! Obviously, Israel is very far removed from being a Jewish democracy. Indeed, despite Israel's periodic, multi-party elections, a candid analysis of its political and judicial institutions reveals that Israel does not even qualify as a conventional democracy! Nevertheless, and as already indicated, the mentality of Israel's political, judicial, and intellectual elites is thoroughly egalitarian, and this alone makes it virtually impossible to speak of the justice of Israel's cause vis-à-vis the Arabs. Hence the policy of "territory for peace," the policy of disengagement, and now the policy of "convergence" -- all brainless and heartless lies. Professor Paul Eidelberg is President of the Foundation For Constitutional Democracy. He can be reached by mail at 244 Madison Avenue, Suite 427, New York, NY 10016, Tel: 212-372-3752, and by email at Constitution@usa.net |
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SPARE THE ROD, SPOIL THE PEACE
Posted by Jewish Club Maoz, April 30, 2006. |
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This article was written by J. Peter Pham & Michael I. Krauss. Michael I. Krauss is professor of law at George Mason University School of Law. J. Peter Pham is director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs at James Madison University. Both are academic fellows of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. The Bush administration announced earlier this month that the United States was ending direct financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA), now that the terrorist group Hamas is installed at its helm. According to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, "Because the new Hamas-led Palestinian government has failed to accept the Quartet principles of non-violence, recognition of Israel, and respect for previous agreements between the parties, the United States is suspending assistance to the Palestinian government's cabinet and ministries." Despite the fact that McCormack simultaneously announced that the U.S would actually increase aid to the Palestinians via United Nations and other agencies by 57 percent, howls of anguish and rage were not slow in coming from the PA and its friends. Taking talking points from a February 20 Washington Post op-ed by former President Carter, PA officials argued that the suspension of aid would bankrupt the government and equated this to punishing "innocent people" for engaging in a democratic process. PA President Abbas (a.k.a. Abu Mazen) complained that the Palestinians "should not be punished for their democratic choice." Calling Washington's and the European Commission's cut-off of aid "blackmail," PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniya complained that the West's move "will increase the suffering of the Palestinian people." Unfortunately, Washington and its partners appear to be at least partially seduced by this faulty logic, as they are upping the ante for so-called "humanitarian" agencies (including the notorious corrupt and anti-Semitic UN Relief and Works Administration (UNRWA), profiled in "Humanitarians for Hamas"). One can appreciate the administration's dilemma: having made "democracy" the cornerstone of its Middle East policy, it was caught off-guard when Palestinians used their franchise to bring Hamas to power. Since then, apologists have argued that voters did not support Hamas because of its commitment to destroy Israel, but as an alternative to Yasir Arafat's corrupt Fatah. Alas, this explanation is as delusional as the Hamas Covenant. Numerous liberal- minded candidates ran and were roundly rejected by the Palestinian electorate. For example, the reformist Third Way movement, led by Salam Fayad (a well-respected former PA finance minister and World Bank official) and Hanan Ashrawi (a former PA spokeswoman and well- known human rights advocate) came in sixth in the popular vote, eking out enough votes to secure 2 seats in the legislature. By contrast, Hamas won 74 of the 132 seats. Even the fringe "Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa List" of the ultra-violent Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine won 3 seats. Prime Minister Haniya has said, "the world should respect the choice of the Palestinian people." We fully agree. That's why we advocate going further than the U.S. government and the European Union have. We should cut off both direct assistance to the terrorist-led PA, and any indirect assistance that would make life "normal" under Hamas. Yes, this might harm Palestinian civilians. Had Hamas seized power through illegitimate violence, it would be ethically complicated whether harsh sanctions are appropriate. But these terrorists came to power through the "choice of the Palestinian people." The world would best show its respect for that sovereign choice by demonstrating that free choices have consequences. Israel's decision to boycott the Hamas-led PA government was termed a "declaration of war" by Hamas itself. But of course just the opposite is true: it is Hamas's election that constitutes a declaration of (continued) war against Israel -- witness the sickening justifications delivered by PA government spokesmen for ongoing "martyrdom" operations against innocent Israeli civilians like the recent attack on a Tel Aviv sandwich stand, as well as the less-than-wholehearted "condemnation by PA President Abbas. An entrenched Hamas regime runs counter to the precondition for success in our project of transforming the region, i.e., the renunciation of violence followed by the adoption of democratic processes. Ever-increasing sanctions might anger the Palestinian populace, but would also lead them to see that their vicious choice was a costly one. Maybe upon reflection they will realize that a terrorist leadership, rather than bringing them any closer to their dream of a viable state, will turn back the clock. Only when both the voters and leaders are willing to face the reality that any Palestinian state must recognize and live in peace alongside Israel can peace be possible. Legally and morally, neither the U.S. nor Europe owes the Palestinians any assistance -- much less hundreds of millions of dollars worth on a continuing basis. There are plenty of needy causes to which to devote the scarce humanitarian resources of our overburden governments: Darfurians subject to genocidal campaign by an Islamist government, Congolese trying to recover from "Africa's World War," Tibetans sitting in exile in India, etc. The only justification for our governments' paying good money to the PA is our national interest in a stable Middle East -- and we are hardly getting our money's worth if the dividend is a casus belli against Israel. At the moment, the Palestinians see no incentive to modify their hard line positions. By sparing the rod, we spoil any prospects for peace over the long run. Subscribe to Jewish Club Maoz at JewishClubMaoz@yahoogroups.com |
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DO THE JEWS OF THE WORLD KNOW THAT THEY ARE A TARGET?
Posted by Dr. Steve Carol, April 30, 2006. |
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On Monday, April 17th 2006 the Al-Aqsa Brigades announced to the Jews of the world that they are now legitimate targets for suicide bombers and other acts of terrorism. They openly proclaimed that "this is an open call to all our fighters in the homeland to focus on kidnapping Israeli soldiers and civilians inside our occupied land. And if the enemy does not release our prisoners, then Zionists outside Palestine will be an easy target for our fighters." These words come from a group directly affiliated with the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority; the so-called "moderate" Palestinian government. The above statement was made shortly before the deadly suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Chairman Mahmoud Abbas while denouncing the bombing -- Palestinian leaders continue to speak words but take no action to stop the terrorism. For thirteen years there has been much talk but no action. Abbas did not denounce or make any mention of the threat by the Al-Aqsa brigades. For some 125+ years a large number of Arabs and other Muslims waged war against the Jewish people in general and Israel in particular. This war has not grown smaller. It certainly is not a "small" conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis as some would like to portray. In fact, since the late 1960s it has become a larger conflict with not only the "frontline" Arab states (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan) taking part, but increasingly participation by other states, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iran and elements from Pakistan -- all taking a more active role in their collective goal -- a goal best described by citing the words of the Iranian president Ahmadinejad -- "to wipe Israel from the map." Jewish targets outside of Israel have long been considered fair game by the terrorist groups and the nations, which support them. From the imprisonment of Jewish passengers aboard Air France flight 139 hijacked to Entebbe, Uganda in June 1976, to the cold-blooded murder of Leon Klinghoffer aboard the Achille Lauro in October 1985, and the bombings of a Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires (1994), a synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia (2002), and yet another synagogue in Istanbul (2003) Jews have long been part of the Selektzia (selection) process. This list does not even begin to scratch the surface. The attacks on and murder of Jews worldwide continues, the most recent example being the brutal torture and murder of Ilan Halimi in France. One would hope that by now Jews everywhere take terrorist threats and actions like that of the Al-Aqsa Brigade seriously. Vigilance is necessary. Hoping that this won't happen is simply shortsighted. Dr. Steve Carol is Professor of History (retired); Official Historian, Middle East Radio Forum (www.middleeastradioforum.org); and Senior Fellow, Center for Advanced Middle East Studies, http://www.cames.ws in Scottsdale, Arizona |
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IT AIN'T OVER TILL IT'S OVER
Posted by Batya Medad, April 30, 2006. |
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It ain't over till it's over. -- Yogi Berra Yes, Yogi Berra was right. We have to remember that all the time as we work hard to stop Olmert's "Resettlement" Plan and get him out of office, retire him from politics forever! And yes, I believe there's a way. Not only do we here in Israel have to work hard, but all of you good people abroad must join in. Unfortunately Israeli politicians are extremely susceptible to foreign praise. They want the rest of the world to like them. In this past Friday's Jerusalem Post, there were a few revealing articles. One of them was an interview with a top Sharon advisor, Erez Halfon, who is negotiating with Olmert to join his staff. He made it clear that getting the world's support is more important than support in Israel: What did Sharon think about the Likud MKs who tried to topple him? Those were happy days when we saw the love that Arik received from the nations of the world at the UN, while people in the party were trying to oust him. His respect from the world was at its peak while I had to shame myself in Likud internal courts to try to delay the vote to topple him and fight Likud MKs who didn't understand what a treasure they had. It's dangerous and also pathetic. But I have a feeling that this weakness is the key to our victory. If these politicians are mocked and publicly reviled for their immoral treatment of innocent citizens, if they are condemned for endangering their own country, if foreign leaders and world Jewish leaders condemn them, they will back down. Sharon, who is now comatose, and Olmert, who was behind him and the infamous Disengagement Plan and now seems to be next in line, are dictators, whose policies are more like Stalin than Truman. This must be publicized. All of you must send letters to the media and politicians, speak out in public to Jews and non-Jews. Olmert's policies are strengthening terrorism in our area, and as America knows, terrorism spreads like a plague. Just because Israeli parliamentarians are elected doesn't make the government just. Democracy is a reflection of the results of advertising campaigns, and sometimes the majority makes the wrong decision. When I was was growing up, my parents always warned me not to do things, "just because everyone else is doing it." "If everybody was jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you jump, too?" I was always encouraged to think for myself and do what's right, regardless of what the majority was doing. And that's the lesson I take with me all the time. True, I'm sometimes alone and rarely find myself taking the easy way out, unless I'm 100% sure that it's the right thing to do. When I decided to become religiously observant, I knew in my heart and soul that it was the right thing, the right way to live. The next stage was my decision to make aliyah, move to Israel. Once I realized that it was one of the basic mitzvot (commandments) it was clear that my home had to be in Eretz Yisrael, and then soon after that, Israel was victorious in its war of survival that lasted six days in 1967. Yes, something that too many people ignore, Israel's survival was at stake. The Arabs were predicting, threatening that they would push narrow, indefensible Israel into the sea. Egypt asked the United Nations to remove the peace-keeping forces that were here to protect us, and the UN ran, rather than even making a symbolic show of objection or an attempt to protect us. And absolutely now country came to Israel's defense! Then a miracle happened, we were victorious and found ourselves liberating our Biblical Lands. Places like Hebron, Shiloh, Shechem and Beit El were finally in Jewish hands after thousands of years of exile. These places are the homeland of Jewish history. Suddenly we could live in the same places, walk on the same paths and climb the same hills as our forefathers, prophets and kings. G-d gave us a gift, and our politicians spit it back at Him. Those politicians don't rule me; they don't control me. And I'm not the only one who feels this way. But we can't defeat them by ourselves. Jewish prayer is in the plural. We must think of others. We aren't alone. A few short decades ago, it looked so certain that we were close to Redemption, and now it's clear that it won't be so simple. We can do it, but we all have to work very hard. This week we celebrate Israel's 58th year, which is hard to call "independence." That's because too many Israelis are dependent on foreign approval. They are wrong, even if they're the majority. On the Fifth of Iyyar, the anniversary of the State of Israel, I will say the Hallel Prayer of Praise to G-d, because G-d deserves the Praise and Thanks. Our problems and dangers come from man. G-d willing and with the help of us all we will overcome, and we will survive, and no more Jewish communities will ever be destroyed. Don't give up, just help. 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. This essay is archived at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2006/04/it-aint-over-till-its-over.html |
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APARTHEID? ARABS SIT IN THE KNESSET
Posted by David Frankfurter, April 30, 2006. |
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With the elections over, and as the political machinations surrounding the formation of the new Israeli government reach their height, it is of note that in "apartheid Israel" (which which is also accused by the Palestinians of "ethnic cleansing"), around 12 Arabs, Bedouin and Druze will sit in Jerusalem's 17th Knesset. That's 10% of the parliament. Exactly how many Jews are represented in the parliaments of Cairo, Rabat, Amman, Baghdad, Damascus or even Ramallah? David Frankfurter is a business consultant, corporate executive and writer who frequently comments on the Middle East. To subscribe to his 'Letter from Israel', email him at david.frankfurter@iname.com. Or go to http://www.livejournal.com/users/dfrankfurter/ |
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EGYPTIAN TV PROMOTES ANTI-AMERICAN HATRED
Posted by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, April 30, 2006. |
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An Egyptian TV series promoting anti- American hate propaganda has just finished its second season on Palestinian Authority TV. The popular Egyptian series presents the US as the leader of the imperialist forces in the world and as such responsible for the serious problems of the Arab world. Israel likewise is presented negatively. Iraq, on the other hand is presented positively as the innocent victim of American imperialist occupation for the purpose of stealing Iraqi oil. This anti- American series was produced by the Egyptian government owned and controlled Egyptian Radio and Television Union. This Egyptian series reflects a critical component of internal propaganda in the Arab world, which is to blame the failings of the Arab regimes on "imperialist America" and thereby deflect the anger of their own people away from the corrupt leaders and to the foreign enemy. This hate propaganda is presented throughout the Arab world by political leaders, in the Mosques, and is most effective in reaching the broad population through pop culture, TV and movies, like this Egyptian series. The series reinforces the following ideology: 1) Hate towards the West and especially towards the US, depicting it as the modern "Roman empire" and "crusaders". The same idea repeats in many examples in PMW archive: http://pmw.org.il/tv%20part8.html Finally, it should be noted that Egypt is one of the largest recipients of US foreign aid. PMW has documented in the past that Palestinian infrastructures involved in anti- American activities and glorifying terrorists likewise have been recipients of US money. You can see a video segment on the PMW website from the series, in which the father tells his son about the need to fight the U.S. for hundreds of years. The following is the transcript of the video link --
Son: Ariel Sharon knows how to take advantage of 9/11. He knows how to convince America that he is fighting terror. The Zionists are the ones who benefit from these events. Even from 9/11 they benefit. Aren't they the ones who attacked the World Trade Center, to cause what is happening? Itamar Marcus is Director and Barbara Crook is Associate Director of Palestinian Media Watch (http://www.pmw.org.il) |
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THE CALDRON OF ANTI-SEMITISM: The use and abuse of popular culture's favorite victim.
Posted by Shaul and Aviva Ceder, April 30, 2006. |
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This was written by Bruce Thornton. It is from his private papers. As if there isn't enough evidence of the ideological corruption of America's universities, along come Chicago's John Mearsheimer and Harvard's Stephen Walt, arguing that the "Israel lobby" dominates American foreign policy to the hurt of our own national interests. Alan Dershowitz has exposed the errors of fact and the sophomoric logic that mar this thesis, and that should embarrass what are supposed to be two of the best universities in the country. Personally, I consider it intellectual malfeasance to harp on the Israel lobby while ignoring the Palestinian lobby - which includes most of the faculty of American universities, most of the Middle Eastern Studies Departments, most of the media's editorial boards, the Council on American Islamic Relations, the U.N., and a significant chunk of the State Department. Critical analysis like Dershowitz's is important, but equally significant is the question of how ideas usually found on neo-Nazi websites can be seriously entertained by otherwise educated people. Anti-Semitism certainly isn't the whole answer, if only because the term is too broad to catch the various subsets of anti-Jewish bigotry. This isn't to say that anti-Semitism doesn't still exist. Obviously, old-fashioned anti-Semites, particularly in Europe, have found that in a post-Holocaust world, one can still indulge the same bigoted stereotypes of all-powerful cabals secretly manipulating world events, as long as one dresses them up in "pro-Palestinian" or "anti-Zionist" camouflage. But I'm not sure that most of those, including Muslims, who rail against the evil Jews really want them all to disappear, as Hitler did. They just want the Jews to stop being so uppity and to keep in their place. In other words, the hater of Israel doesn't mind if Jews stick around, as long as they play the role they're supposed to: the marginalized victim whose fate is to suffer and provide us with objects of pity. That's why popular culture's favorite Jew is the Holocaust victim. As such, the Jew can even keep his religious identity, as long as it is kept thin and reduced to a few charming folkways no more significant than clog-dancing or bagpipes. In other words, don't be too observantly Jewish, and don't take being Jewish too seriously. Actually taking religion seriously is the monopoly of Muslims, who especially in Europe are allowed all sorts of leeway in expressing their fanatical devotion to their faith, even when it conflicts with the foundational political ideals of their countries. But to keep someone a pitiful victim is to reduce his humanity, to leave him a passive object that exists only to arouse in others particular sorts of feelings. In other words, the victim can never be fully equal to others, but must remain in a subordinate condition. Here is where the position of Jews in the European imagination is similar to their status in the Muslim world. Most Muslims don't want Jews to disappear, just Israel. Jews have lived in the Muslim world for centuries, but they did so as a subordinated minority whose public behavior and demeanor were always supposed to testify that they were inferior to their Islamic overlords. As possessors of the ultimate divine revelation, Muslims were justified in reminding Jews and Christians, who both rejected that culminating revelation, that they were inferiors allowed to live only by their spiritual superiors' dispensation, which could be arbitrarily lifted at any time. This is the contemptuous, conditional forbearance that many today extol as Muslim "tolerance." It reminds me of the position of blacks in the Jim Crow South. After all, many Southerners who believed in segregation despised the Klu Klux Klan's terrorism, and sincerely liked black people. These more respectable segregationists didn't want to kill all the blacks, just to make sure that they lived in a way that publicly testified to their inferiority. Such Southerners believed that given the innate, ineradicable differences between the races, both peoples were better served by maintaining in social and political life the various mechanisms for asserting the superiority of the white race and its natural right to rule. So too with the dhimmi in Muslim societies: they can live and even practice their religion, so long as they demonstrate that they are inferior. But the existence of Israel upsets all these long-established roles for Jews. Not just because Israel fights - Jews can fight, as they did at Masada and in the Warsaw ghetto. But they're not supposed to win. To have their own nation, and thus be equal to the world's other nations, and then to defeat in battle better armed, more numerous enemies, is to violate the image of the Jew established for centuries. It is to make him our equal, and to call forth paranoid fantasies about nefariously influential cabals to explain this disturbing change. For the Jew's job is to be a victim, and thus perpetually inferior. He is to suffer and die, or else to leech away his Jewish identity and thus not really be a Jew, which is another sort of death. These thoughts are speculative, no doubt, but the bizarre demonization of Israel cries out for explanation. So does the obscene double standard applied to Israel's actions when defending itself, and the actions of the enemies sworn to her destruction. So does the obsession with Israel in the U.N. and in the E.U. So does the callous indifference to the murder of Israelis and the numerous attempts to destroy her. What else explains the astonishing phenomenon of a terrorist gang being taken for a legitimate government by the rest of the world? What else explains the long indulgence of the corrupt thug Arafat? What else explains an entire U.N. agency dedicated to one small group, even as in the rest of the world millions have starved and died? What else explains the way year after year propagandistic lies and disinformation such as the "Jenin massacre" are shrugged away even after they are exposed? The reason isn't just ignorance, though I have personally encountered fervent supporters of the Palestinians who could not recite two accurate facts from the history of the Middle East. Nor is anti- Semitism of the rabid Nazi variety the answer. Something else is at work here, an intellectual and moral corruption that cannot be cured with better P.R. or information campaigns. Its persistence means that Israel cannot become complacent even about the support of the United States. Israel ultimately can rely on nothing other than her own strong right arm. Contact the Ceders at ceder@netvision.net.il |
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NOT MUCH OF A HONEYMOON
Posted by Batya Medad, April 30, 2006. |
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The Israeli public isn't giving Olmert much of a honeymoon, not that I'm surprised. According to the polls, most Israelis are not pleased with the idea of the union leader Peretz as Minister of Defense. Poll: 51% Not pleased Olmert 76% wrong for Peretz to be DM Dr. Aaron Lerner
Telephone poll of a representative sample of 500 adult Israelis (including Arab Israelis) carried out by Dahaf for Yediot Ahronot the week of 28 April 2006 (as Olmert coalition government still in formation). * Are you satisfied with the makeup that is developing for the government? Yes 39% No 55% Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis) (mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730 INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il Website: http://www.imra.org.il One shouldn't forget that Olmert isn't all that popular with the national Israeli public. He never really was. It took him quite a while to get Jerusalem to warm up to him as mayor. He can be charming and has those "smarts" of a successful politician, knowing how to talk to people and show that he's in charge. He's fit and energetic. His staff must be able to keep up with him. A few years ago I predicted that he'd be Prime Minister. Then I thought that it would be a good idea, since I thought that he was pro-Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. Oh, boy, was I wrong about that "minor" detail. Never in a million years did I think that he would end up being further left than Peace Now. Never did I think that he would be the Israeli official, technically he's still not the real full de jure prime minister," to announce that I'd be (G-d forbid!) thrown out of my house and "resettled." Yes, that's the term I was searching for, resettlement. The Nazis coined the word to label the forced migration of Jews into ghettos. And that's Olmert's plan. He wants to destroy our homes, communities, educational institutions and businesses and move us, transfer us, exile us to some (at best) pre-fab hovels facing the walls of his new borders. We're to be (G-d forbid) cannon fodder, targets for the terrorists. If you look at the questions in the poll, you'll see that the dissatisfaction has nothing to do with what Olmert's planning on doing to us. The public is getting tired of the coalition wheeling and dealing. The other night on the news there was a piece about some single-parent workers who will be losing their jobs, because as of May, the government won't be covering their transportation. There's no way these poor, and I mean poor, people can get to this job without the special bus service. It doesn't even pay for them to work if they have to pay for public transportation. For them it's a lot of money, but it's nothing compared to what all those unnecessary government ministers will be getting. And then, unemployed, the government will have to give them welfare, which is more than the bus service costs. None of the politicians care. One of the more significant parts of the coalition agreement between Kadima and Labor is that ... all parties agreed to keep the status quo in the status of the Supreme Court and how judges are appointed. It's like an insurance policy. As long as there is no judicial reform, the Supreme Court will back government decisions. I'm just looking forward to the internal party fights. Both Kadima and Labor leaders have disapointed their cronies. Too many people were expecting the same positions, and even with twenty-seven ministers, yes 27, and possibly more if more parties join, there aren't enough slices in the pie. G-d willing, their greed will do what we've failed to do. Chodesh Tov and Shavua Tov,
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. This essay is archived at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2006/04/not-much-of-honeyisraeli-port-barrel.html |
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SAYING NO TO JIHAD
Posted by Salah Choudhury, April 29, 2006. |
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Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is a senior journalist, columnist, author and editor of Bangladesh's largest tabloid weekly newspaper Blitz. He was arrested on 29th November 2003 when he was about to leave for Israel to attend a symposium organized by Hebrew Writers Association. Later Bangladesh government brought sedition charge against him, saying he was the spy for Israeli intelligence agency. Choudhury was in prison for 17 months and was released on 30th April 2005. Till date, the false sedition charge hangs on him, despite number of appeals from international community and even members of US Congress. Choudhury received PENUSA's Freedom to Write Award in 2005 while this May he will be given prestigious Moral Courage Award by American Jewish Committee. Although he was expected to be in Washington DC to receive the award in presence of World leaders, Bangladesh government did not allow him, as because he had been LAND ARRESTED in his own country. On the occasion of the anniversary of his release from prison, he wrote this article. Even till the last date of April, I was quite sure that I shall be able to join you all at this auspicious celebration of American Jewish Committee. But, finally, the Bangladesh government played every trick, causing executive and judicial complication, thus barring me from joining the grand occasion of this evening. It makes me sad; it makes me to feel that I am land arrested in my own country, which has very unfortunately gone into the grips of Islamist radicals. Any way, as Jewish proverb says, where there is life, there is hope. As I am alive, I have the reason to believe, in any of their future occasions, I shall be able to be there. I know for sure, things are changing in positive direction. In today's world, with my mission of peace, I can not only find lots of people around the world, extending their support to me; but also in my own country, gradually people are raising their voice, against, religious hatred, Islamist militancy and they too are echoing the concept of establishment of relations between Israel and the Muslim countries. People are punished for crime, for creating anarchy and for putting humanity into horrifying terror. But, could we ever believe that someone would be arrested, tortured and imprisoned for long 17 months just for being in favor of global peace, inter-faith dialogue, ending religious hatred and thinking of everything good and noble for mankind? In my case it did happen and after being released on bail keeping the sedition charge very much alive. According to the allegations, my crime is: I am a living contradiction to today's phenomenon in the Muslim world, a Zionist, a defender of Israel and a devout, practicing Muslim living in the second largest Muslim country in the world. The very first person I was in close contact in Israel was Dr. Ada Aharoni, a scholar and leader of International Forum for Literature and Culture of Peace (IFLAC). Then I came to know Dr. Richard Benkin, a person committed to the cause of peace and bravest of the braves I have ever seen in my long career as a journalist. Dr. Benkin is no more just only a friend, but my loving brother, with whom I am proud to be teamed to work. On 10th of January, 2005 when a Charge Sheet was issued against me, I was shocked to see names of Dr. Benkin and that of Dr. Ada as my contacts. I was really not sure how they would react! Anyway, I had to inform Dr. Benkin through my brother Sohail Choudhury. To my utter surprise, Dr. Benkin's reaction was, "I was with Shoaib, I am with Shoaib and I will be with Shoaib; no matter if I have to face a trial in any court within this world". I didn't want my brother Richard to face any hassle in a country where my fate was already uncertain. I communicated with my lawyer Advocate Samarendra Nath Goswami for his opinion if Benkin has to be in Dhaka? Mr. Goswami replied, "Dr. Benkin is a US citizen, he can ignore Bangladeshi courts for obvious reasons". This message was transmitted to Richard through Sohail. Richard again said if my brother can take the pain of being in prison and face trial for achieving a common goal, I can at least be in Bangladesh to see my brother and tell him "I am with you"! Unfortunately, most of the Muslims in Bangladesh as in many of the other Muslim countries are under the impression that Jews are the ultimate enemies of Muslims and of Islam. My request to them, please visit Israel at least once, meet the Jews or at least find one Jew anywhere in the world. Many Muslims believe that devils have embodied themselves in the Jews. I question those Muslim brothers and sisters, "ARE YOU TALKING OF HIGHER INTELLIGENCE?" If so, you can too merge with the higher intelligence if you just have a little more patience, tolerance and true pursuit for knowledge. If their question is again, how? My answer to them would be finding a Jew like Dr. Richard Benkin. I once wrote, that when I was in prison, and my family was in danger, and it seemed that my own people had abandoned me; that it was my Jewish brothers and sisters who stood by us; who dedicated their time, their resources, their very soul to my freedom. And that is a very important point, because in today's world it seems impossible to most that a Muslim and Jews could be friends, let alone brothers and sisters. But we can be, and in fact so can others. Fundamentalists are men who emulate the looks and actions of the Prophet Mohammed. Yet, they give the Prophet and Islam a very bad name, as they perpetuate and even add to the western perception that Islam was won by force or the sword. By this I mean by the sword and not by conversion. Yet these self-righteous and arrogant men claim to be speaking in the name of Allah and act like the Prophet. They try to squash any positive action of peace by not only squashing but trying to kill all those who oppose them, making their vision that of a totalitarian theocracy that will allow no free exchange of ideas, the development of thinking such as ijtihad or even speech. The golden age of Islam was built on this ebullition of ideas that made it prosper and which gave so much to the world, such as algebra, alchemy; they even kept and preserved philosophy. Under such forces it will lead the Islamic world into the Dark ages which were similar to the European Dark Ages and the Middle Ages instead of the Renaissance and the other periods where discovery, science and even technology was invented. One of the strengths of the Muslim world has been the shared power between, two types of power one that is secular and was held by the governing Caliph or Sultan and the other was led by the Ulama or the religious faction; the two balanced each other out, as one cared for the body the other for the soul. In a fully secular world, from a socialistic up to and including communism; there is an absence of religious principles or of God, it is believed that man knows best. However, in a theocracy men speak in the name of God. Be it in a fully secular world or in a theocracy, there is imbalance as both have replaced faith with belief. Because, there are no check points; hence the people become ruled over by men who believe they have all the answers or by men who believe they speak for God. In either case a despotic type of governance results and people suffer as it weakens the strength of shared power, body and soul being ruled over by people of faith. Such is the case of the fundamentalists or the secularist who try to impose their ways on the people they claim to want to liberate. They also hinder those who have a balance and who know the difference between personal faith and politics. One of the Biblical and Qur'anic stories that have influenced my way of thinking is the story of the bad Pharaoh and Moses. This evil man said, there were too many Jews. He first ordered abstinence when that did not work he ordered the killing of every male child. When a radical person comes and gives an order to young men and women to commit suicide in the name of God, I am reminded of that story. The order given by the evil Pharaoh, to kill Jewish male children for the simple reason they are Jewish. In the case of radicals they are not killing Jews they are killing Zionists. Where would we be today if Moses had been killed by Pharaoh? Why then do fundamentalists use the prison and even death to kill all chances of peace? Why do they not see they are the followers of evil Pharaoh and not of the prophets? Radical movements be it religious or secular also have a trend that is their madness increases as time goes by. We demand equal time, or you cannot say this or that on the air. You are not allowed to speak of us in a bad way. You are a racist. You fear my religion and we are the religion of peace. When that tactic does not work they go after one person and start harassing them, the go over the head of the person and complain, meet with the bosses, demand an apology and then use pressure tactics to get their way. They are after power and control hence medias are not safe, nor journalists because the radicals flood emails, telephone lines and faxes with letters of demand. They order their people to write to call to make them heard. However, the majority of those callers are uninformed; they never heard or read the offensive article. They react blindly to an order that comes from above, the earthly leader who claims to speak in the name of God. Their aim is to get the person fired. If this fails they go for human right commission, law suits and try to get money. The bottom line is they are after power, control and their aim is MONEY, the mighty dollar. All of this is done in the name of God, let me ask you since when does God ask for money? When does God ask to harass, lie, control others into doing His way? God gives us freedom of Choice these radical take away that freedom in the name of God. Interfaith dialogues and meetings based on a will to know the other will lead to understanding and respect of each others' faith and beliefs and it is primordial at this time. Because, it prevents generalizations and statements such as "all Jews, Christians, Muslims are like this or that". I do caution interfaith dialogue that is solely based on theology, which is what the religion should be and it is not what it is or how the people practice. Theological debates are interesting within a community yet they are restricted for the most part to scholars who use one lineage of thought or ideology. It also gives a moral conduct to people however it often negates who people are. Here is one example from the Christian or Catholic side, women are forbidden to use contraceptives including condoms. Yet, there are women who have pre-marital sex and hence they expose themselves to sexually transmitted diseases. Muslim Theologians or Sheikhs will tell you that a man can have four wives if he can take care of them properly; however most Muslim women prefer having a monogamous relationship with their husbands. Very few will like to share their husband with other woman, except if they cannot bear a child or have a to do great deal of physical labor to do such as farming etc. Jewish theologians will say it is the man that grants a divorce to a woman, however in Canada religious Jewish decided to have a Canadian law to help women get their religious divorce. In talking between ourselves as members of a religion we can add more depth to these statements we can agree or disagree however, the end result will be that we all have pet peeves and we cannot follow all those religious laws as they are at times a burden in our lives. Dialogue breaks down the idea that a group is homogenous and everyone follows the leader blindly. More than likely this is how people make the difference between a person of faith and a person of beliefs. A person of faith will know that God will understand and even forgive them however the believers will rationalize that the law will not forgive the transgressors. Hence those who transgress need to be punished as non-believers even if the people are people of faith. The question that arises is we people of belief or people of faith? What guides our the lives our faith in God or our belief in the Law? Rebbetzin Esther Jungreiss once gave a talk on the idea of faith and trust in God; she said that every one says they have FAITH in God but when asked do you TRUST God there is a hesitation. Dialogue is what will help us learn not only about theology but also how women feel about the laws of theologians. Faith and trust in God, it seems that as people we do not know or forget that faith MUST include trust. We have faith in God, and often times think that our God is ours and not on else. God is our property as we have all the answer to salvation. In knowing other's faith we soon find out that God created the entire world and every person on earth has his or her own interpretation or divine revelation, be it monotheistic or polytheistic. In the case of monotheism, the common link is Adam the Bible, at first the first covenant found in the Torah, the second in the New Testament and the third revelation in the Koran. Everyone will say we have faith in God, and then proceed to say from their own perspective and interpretation: who is God? The conclusion is that people have faith in God, however how many trust God? How can we trust God and also learn to trust one another? Dialogue is the way the door of can be opened and remain opened. Through interfaith dialogue we get to know not only about the person's religion, but also his or her understanding. We also get to know about culture and most importantly we get to know another person faith, beliefs and hopefully we become friends. It is through faith that our beliefs are often challenged. There is a difference between faith and belief. I might believe that my religion is the only true path to God. I can believe that I am right. I can believe in the law. I can believe that I have the only way. I can believe that I am right and everyone else is wrong. I can believe the other is evil and bad. Fear is what prevents me from reaching out and challenging my beliefs. Fear is also what motivates me to be very vocal and try to influence others in my beliefs. Fear is what makes me use force to impose my beliefs. Because I have never challenged my beliefs I will remain ignorant to other possibilities. It is through dialogue, honest debate, that I can not only challenge my own beliefs but gain new insight in myself and the other. I might even find out that someone else has the same belief and if the fear is broken, the bridge is built, then a dialogue can take place. My belief is transformed into faith in God and in His/Her diversity. After the internal journey, the challenge of my own core beliefs what remains is faith that is based in God, the Creator of the universe. How could this be? How can I still be true to myself? I have a choice, either I stay and learn or go away and remain close minded. I have been challenged, if I accept the challenge and base my research on fact instead of theory or fiction a new reality takes shape hence a transformation from within. I start growing as a person and hence become better human beings. If I stay as and remain firm in my erroneous beliefs I am deluded then I regress and fall into the abyss of darkness because I have closed myself off from reality "Mine and the Other". This is what the message that prophets and saints have preached for years and no one listened. No one wanted to do the internal journey they only too the external path and not the internal one. Rabbiah of Iraq the Muslim Saint and mystic used the metaphor of setting heaven on fire and extinguishing the fires of hell, so people stopped to pay lip service and being hypocrites because they did good deeds to secure their path to heaven. Christians use to buy indulgences or relics at one time. It is time for each person to take charge of our self and look deep inside and ask, the question: "Do I pay lip service or am I sincere and honest"? Through dialogue we can learn about one another's beliefs and faith. You and I, yes we can challenge belief and build on faith. By this simple action we deepen what it means to us as individual and as a group the idea of being guided, inspired and even acting according to God's plan. The whole idea of faith, trust, and belief is a philosophical debate between individuals from the central point our self and the peripheral our community. Religions can be based on theology but more importantly it should be based on our perception and understanding of God's words as individuals and not as a mass. This had been the reason as to why I promote interfaith dialogue. Religion does not promote hatred however men have promoted hatred by favoring one religion over the others; usually it is their interpretation of what religion means which is based on theology or the word of God as interpreted by men of small minds. Some monotheists accuse others of worshipping idols and having false gods. Some radicals go as far as destroying historical temples. This can be seen when Christians had statues to represent images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary they were either destroyed or painted over. Romans destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Christians and later Muslims destroyed Hindu temples in India or parts or other parts of the world. The first Christian priests were destroying the spiritual icons of natives, and saying they worshipped idols in nature. Hindus destroyed Muslim and Christian Mosques and Churches. The list goes on an on. However, there is another aspect of religion that is often forgotten those from the tradition who have made a contribution to stopping hatred, which promotes better understanding. But, while advocating peace and interfaith dialogue, like most Muslims around the world, I have been a victim. Like most Muslims, I've been victimized by a socially supported information flow; one that taught me to look the other way when facts seem to contradict the politically-mandated and politically-correct weltanschauung that we are supposed to adopt. I was taught that much of the world is in essence my enemy, and that Israel and the Jewish people are the embodiment of evil. And I was taught to distrust -- even though we all admired -- Americans. And that is the case because the enemies of freedom have wormed their way into most social institutions in the Muslim world -- the press, the media, governments, and schools. I have seen this in my own nation -- a nation of good people, who seek nothing other than the things all of us want in life. These enemies of freedom seek to control my people by controlling our access to information and our contact with those who offer a different point of view. And so I am not misconstrued here, I must emphasize that such practices are neither Islamic nor culturally mandated. They are political. And, thankfully, politics change. In my own case, I was fortunate. My parents raised me to be open and moral, and I had a journalist's natural curiosity and access to information via the Internet. I began to see that there was more information than we were being force-fed; information that quite often contradicted the political orthodoxy. And it opened my eyes. I saw that the United States is not the greatest threat to us; neither are the Jews, Zionism, western culture, nor so-called "infidels." No, the greatest threat to us is the same thing that threatens non-Muslims, that threatens us all. It is a dedicated cadre of individuals who justify killing innocents by falsely -- falsely -- using our faith. And so like any good journalist, I began writing about it, warning our people about the rise of terrorism, advocating interfaith dialogue, and urging Muslim Bangladesh to recognize Jewish Israel. Colleagues outside of my country -- both Muslim and non-Muslim -- joined me in this effort. And as we wrote, people listened. Not all of them agreed with us; in fact, most did not. But our efforts sparked the beginning of public discussion and debate on these issues. And my people began to recall the interfaith respect that is our true heritage. But all of that changed on November 29, 2003. Our free exchange of ideas had angered some powerful people who were setting the stage for a "surprise" that would put free debate in Bangladesh on hold. As I was about to board the aircraft to address a group of Israeli writers, police grabbed me. They ransacked my bags, took my passport and possessions. At first, they did not charge me with anything but leaked that my alleged crime was espionage "in the interests of Israel against the interests of Bangladesh." You see, anyone who even suggests that all faiths are equally legitimate must be demonized, and you can do that by preying on people's vulnerability to wild and untrue conspiracy theories involving the Jews. Conditions were terrible for me and my family while I was in prison. I was purposely kept in a wing for the mentally insane. The constant screaming, the terrible heat, the filth, and the accusations were intended to break me. My family was threatened and attacked. Police refused to act, blaming it all on my "alliance with the Jews." My brother, Sohail Choudhury, twice had to flee Dhaka for his safety. They wouldn't even let me attend my mother's funeral. But while my health deteriorated, my spirit did not. For I had, first of all, faith: my Muslim faith; and a general faith in G-d and in the justice of our cause. And I had something else. Just before I was taken away, I saw Sohail and asked him to contact my Jewish brother Dr. Richard Benkin, who fought for me without stopping; traveling here and there, writing articles, speaking publicly, and petitioning his government. He even went to the Bangladeshi embassy in Washington, along with honorable Congressman Mark Steven Kirk -- who is neither Muslim nor Jewish, demanding my release, and to whom I am also so grateful -- joined him in the cause, and this interfaith team eventually secured my freedom. Today, our efforts to build a Coalition of Understanding continue. For were this persecution just about me, it would be unjust, but little more. However, there are many people of many faiths being persecuted for their stance on behalf of interfaith understanding and for trying to warn their people about the terrorist threat; and many more who are afraid to speak that which are in their hearts. And that is especially true in Muslim nations, where such beliefs are opposed both the by accepted political orthodoxy and by the terrorists in our midst. Working together, Dr. Benkin and I seek to empower Muslims and others to embrace the religious diversity of our world; to accept that G-d has given us many paths by which we can come to Him; and not seek a return to 7th century political and intellectual constructs that deny all but one set of believer's equal legitimacy. I am a devote Muslim, and I know that my faith, my Koran does not award 70 virgins to those who murder children and seek to destroy the faith of our mutual prophet Moses -- our Jewish cousins who preceded us in our journey of faith. We continue to write without ceasing -- and now publish unmolested so we can counter the lies that pass as journalism in most of the Muslim world. We seek to provide my people with information -- facts, as well as opinion -- that most of the media is either too ignorant or too fearful to publish. For it is only through the light of truth, of free access to information, that we can overcome those who seek to overturn centuries of progress. Under extreme adversities, Weekly Blitz and Weekly Jamjamat are continuing publication, which are presently known as most vocal against Islamist fundamentalism and extremism. Each week, number of readers is increasing, although, our advertisers are hesitant to accord support with their advertisements, for reason unknown, despite the fact that, Blitz by now has turned into the leading tabloid weekly in Bangladesh. Slowly, we are gaining adherents to our cause. Slowly, we are exchanging information and ideas with more and more people who seek the same peace that we do. Being inspired with our mission of peace, Bangladesh Minority Lawyers Association (BMLA), under the courageous leadership of Advocate Samarendra Nath Goswami, has expressed its solidarity to our cause. They are the first organization in Bangladesh, which issued statements asking the government to immediately withdraw the false sedition charge that still hangs on me, and end harassment. We hope to participate in and perhaps empanel seminars and informational events around the world -- events that further our goal of true interfaith understanding. Perhaps we will do this in own Bangladesh -- a nation that is struggling, valiantly at times, against terrorism and the evil incarnate that is attacking my people. We do so even though the forces of evil remain arrayed against us. But each one of their lies, each death threat against me and my brother only confirms that they realize our efforts threaten their attempts to drag our world into an abyss. The intensity of their opposition is perhaps the best measure of our success. I salute those brave Muslim brothers and sisters who have the courage to say: "NO!" to hate; "NO!" to Holocaust-denial; "NO!" to jihad; "NO!" to the demonization of Israel, the United States, and the Jews. The writer is a journalist, columnist, author, amd editor of "Weekly Blitz". Email him at salahuddinshoaibchoudhury@yahoo.com |
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YESHA COUNCIL SOLICITS $ FOR 'JUSTICE' FOR AMONA
Posted by Professor Eugene Narrett, April 29, 2006. |
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Perhaps some readers have seen the brochure I received a few days ago in the mail. It's a snappily produced five-square fold-out from the Yesha Council proclaiming that "justice must be done" regarding the police brutality at Amona, that "we must never allow these scenes to be repeated in our country" and, of course, that "you can help. Your financial assistance..." The brochure includes half a dozen vivid color photos of scenes of which many of us reviewed hundreds of photos and several videos shot on-site. It makes a number of points about the damnable and demonstrably criminal behavior and goals of the government and its police apparatus including the terrible quotes about being ordered "to break arms and legs" and "to open heads." The lack of adequate medical services is noted as is the beating of paramedics attempting to assist, the lack of opportunity to surrender, the banning of media. All true; also true is that many viewers of the enormous photographic records of that day include photos of at least two members of the Yesha Council watching with expressionless faces (about the only people present of which this could be observed) and talking equably, even in friendly manner with police personnel. Beyond that, many who follow events in Israel closely, especially those of the past year recall how the Y.C. channeled and controlled the massive protests against the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif, deflating the intention and possibility of tens of thousands of marchers from continuing to the embattled Jewish communities. It also was noted that by arranging everything in advance with a government that clearly had been dealing in very bad faith with its supporters the Y.C. (that draws its salaries from that government) also gave that government the times and place information necessary to greatly impede the demonstrations, interdicting busses, etc. Might it not be possible that donatons to secure justice for those beaten and assaulted and punishment for the thugs and those who incited them to the vicious attack be made directly to the legal aid society Honeinu which does the actual work, and not only for the victims at Amona? Why not donate directly to communities in Yesh rather than have your money filtered through the offices of the Council? Have Ronald Lauder and the JNF contributed? There is a scales of justice on the back of this handsome brochure but there may be many better ways to secure recompense for what was done February 01, 2006 and August 2005 than be funding the Yesha Council. Professor Eugene Narrett teaches writing and Literature at Boston University. He is the author of hundreds of articles, columns and reviews on politics, American culture and the arts. He is completing a study on Romanticism and the longterm decline of Western Culture. He writes often on subjects relating to Israel and Judaism and is a weekly columnist for the MetroWest Daily News in Framingham, Massachusetts. |
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A REPEAT OF ELEI SINAI?
Posted by Ruth Matar, April 28, 2006. |
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Dear Friends, In last week's letter from Jerusalem, April 21, 2006, I included an eyewitness report by Pastor Jim Vineyard of the horrific conditions under which the Elei Sinai "Deportees" are forced to live. Why were the Jewish residents of Elei Sinai deported from their homes and their lands? According to the book BOOMERANG, Sharon and his sidekick, Attorney Dov Weisglass, hatched the whole Disengagement Plan in order to divert attention from the charge of bribery and influence peddling in the Greek Island Affair and other alleged crimes. The legal problems of the Sharon family have been manifold, spanning many years. The most often mentioned legal matter is the Greek Island Affair. What follows is information taken from the Washington Times online: http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040615-050826-1986r.htm The Affair dates back to 1998 when Sharon was Minister of National Infrastructure and then Foreign Minister. A contractor friend, David Appel, wanted to build a multi-billion dollar resort on a barren Greek island, Petrokalo, 32 miles southeast of Athens. It is a 750-acre island, half a mile from the coast. Appel envisaged a resort of 100,000 rooms, casinos, golf courses, entertainment center, sports centers and a train that would go there from Athens airport in an undersea tunnel. "It was a grandiose, some say megalomaniacal project," noted Mazuz. Appel's expert estimated it would cost more than $15 billion dollars. Appel had difficulties obtaining the Greek island and allegedly enlisted Sharon's help. Appel invited Greek officials to Israel and Sharon attended a dinner in their honor. Appel hired Sharon's son, Gilad, promised him $7,500 dollars a month and two bonuses of $1.5 million dollars each if the project developed. Later Appel and Gilad Sharon signed a contract whereby the contractor would pay Gilad Sharon $20,000 dollars a month and, if the project developed, the two $1.5 million dollar bonuses. Appel was indicted for bribery, under the assumption that Gilad Sharon's work was not worth that much money and that it was actually an indirect bribe to Sharon. STATE ATTORNEY EDNA ARBEL RECOMMENDED CHARGES AGAINST ARIEL AND GILAD SHARON, AND PREPARED A PROPOSED INDICTMENT BEFORE LEAVING TO BECOME A SUPREME COURT JUDGE. Sharon replaced Attorney General Edna Arbel with Menachem Mazuz and had Edna Arbel kicked upstairs to the Supreme Court. Because of his fear of being indicted Sharon decided on the very controversial politically inspired Disengagement Plan to expel 10,000 Jews from their homes, schools, synagogues and communities in Gush Katif and Northern Shomron. When the news broke that Elei Sinai, located only 15 kilometers south of Ashkelon, was slated to become a Palestinian operated casino, many settlers speculated that Ariel Sharon might have a personal financial interest in the pullout, just as he did in the Greek Island Affair. Ariel Sharon had learned nothing from the Greek Island Affair. While he was still in the process of expelling the Jews from Gush Katif, he was already negotiating with the new Arab landlords to build a vacation resort including a casino in the Gush Katif community of Elei Sinai. Sharon was planning to work with the following three investors: Businessman Cyril Kern, along with Shmuel Flatto-Sharon, a former member of the Israel Parliament, reportedly worked on solidifying an agreement with a Saudi millionaire to build a casino in the place of the Elei Sinai community. (Flatto-Sharon moved to Israel after he was indicted for fraud in France in 1972 and avoided extradition to France by running for office in Israel's Parliament in 1977.) Cyril Kern, a long-time friend of Ariel Sharon, is suspected of having given an illegal $1.5 million dollar loan to Sharon and his sons, a loan for which Ariel Sharon and his sons are still being investigated. Plans for the casino included requests to leave settlement houses intact to house casino workers, and to leave the settlement synagogue to be used as a house of prayer for casino gamblers who were expected to be mainly Israeli citizens, as Islam does not allow gambling. Many residents of Elei Sinai had been exiled from their homes once before. They were thrown out of their homes in Yamit in 1982. They built their new homes in Elei Sinai and are now once again homeless. The former residents of Elei Sinai, living in abject poverty in tent cities, having lost all their possessions and still no signs of compensation from the Israeli government, now believe that they had been marked for eviction from their homes in order for a small group to benefit financially! Ten thousand Israelis have been made homeless and been added to the ranks of the unemployed. Eight months after the disengagement most of them are still living in temporary quarters with little likelihood of being able to earn a livelihood. And Qassam rockets are now falling daily onto the outskirts of Ashkelon, dangerously near electrical plants, and oil pipes from Eilat. They are launched from the area from which Israeli settlements, such as Elei Sinai, were removed as part of the Disengagement Plan eight months ago. Our present acting Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, openly boasts that he is the one who convinced Ariel Sharon to adopt the Disengagement Plan. Olmert now proposes to take the principle applied to Gaza and apply it to Judea and Samaria, thus putting Israel's central population centers within rocket and missile range. A hundred thousand Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria now live in fear of having to share the same fate as the 10,000 residents of Gush Katif in the not too distant future. We can prevent this! If you are an American citizen, advise your Congressmen and Senators that Olmert's planned displacement of another hundred thousand Jews from Judea and Samaria SHOULD NOT BE FUNDED WITH ONE PENNY OF AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS. With Blessings and Love for Israel, Ruth Matar Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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DEMOGRAPHY AND DEMONOGRAPHICS
Posted by Evelyn Hayes, April 28, 2006. |
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Avraham was one among a nation of demons, so evil they were destroyed with Sodom and Gemorrah.
Mini-Israel has been a wall against Jihad in Gaza
Evelyn Hayes is author of "The Eleventh Plague, Twins, because their hearts were softened to accept the unacceptable" and "The Twelfth Plague, Generations, because the lion wears stripes." Contact her at haze@rcn.com. |
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BRANDEIS DOES JIHAD
Posted by Steven Plaut, April 28, 2006. |
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Brandeis University was once considered a "Jewish" university, but these days it is filled with leftwing moonbats, jihadniks, and anti-Semites, and regularly plays host to anyone seeking Israel's destruction. This week it opened an "art exhibit" containing anti-Israel "Palestinian art". Here are some details: Voices from Palestine An Art Exhibition of Children's paintings from
Aida Refugee Camp, Bethlehem
Ibrahim Masri has over ten years of experience working with children and families living in Palestine. He will talk about the political, social, psychological situation and its impact on the Palestinian family in general and the children in particular. Khitam Edelbi worked at "The Early Childhood Resource Center" for 14 years, where she taught drama to kindergarten teachers and children in E.Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza. She will talk about her experiences. For further information, please contact Lior Halperin at Liorhalperin@comcast.net 617-592-4166 This was followed by the announcement that Brandeis is to host the producer of the pro-terrorism film "Munich". Here is the ZOA announcement denouncing Brandeis for that: ZOA CRITICIZES BRANDEIS U. FOR HONORING ANTI-ZIONIST PLAYWRIGHT TONY KUSHNER Rabbi Joseph Telushkin wrote in his acclaimed book, Jewish Literacy, (Morrow Books, 1991, pg. 412-413): Shortly before his appointment to the Supreme Court, Brandeis was converted into a passionate and highly involved Zionist. He served as president of the American Zionist Federation, and actively raised funds to further Jewish settlements and cultural life in Palestine. Subsequent to his appointment to the Supreme Court, he resigned from all extra-judicial affiliations except for his Zionist activities. In 1920 he even considered resigning from the Supreme Court to become head of the World Zionist Organization. The following is a selected list of Tony Kushner quotes: [Israel was] founded in a program that, if you really want to be blunt about it, was ethnic cleansing, and that today is behaving abominably towards the Palestinian people. -- Yale Israel Review (winter 2005) Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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WAR, ISRAELI STYLE; HAMAS DEPLOYS ISLAMIC DECEIT; PRESERVE US FROM
"HUMANITARIANS"!
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 28, 2006. |
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HOUSING SALES PITCH IN PARIS Extolling the convenience of the apartment to be let to a Muslim family, the realtor gushed, "It is only a stone's throw from the US Embassy." OLD STEREOTYPES PERSIST The US abandoned its imperialist phase long ago. Nevertheless, the Far Left, which influences other leftists, still weighs in against US imperialism. During the Soviet era, the Communists diverted attention from Soviet expansionism by referring to alleged American imperialism. By then, even W. Europe had ended its imperialist phase. Now Russia has returned to a sphere of influence policy. The Left doesn't notice. Liberals accuse the Bush administration of entering the Iraq war "for the oil." When asked what they mean, they claim the US did it in order to seize Iraqi oil deposits for its own companies. They don't have much to say when I point out that the US did not seize it and instead is spending billions of its own dollars on reconstructing the country. This is something that few other countries do. Why don't they give credit to the US where credit is due? The answer is that, like the NY Times, which seldom credits Israel for its achievements such as medical breakthroughs or assistance to the US, these liberals are more ideological than fair. I think they are sincere but in a mental rut. WAR, ISRAELI STYLE A typical but revelatory news brief stated that the IDF bombed an office building used by a terrorist organization preparing terrorist attacks, "early in the morning." Then the brief conveys the customary bragging that the IDF does whatever it takes to defend the country from terrorism. The wording of the brief, however, gives away the punch-pulling nature of the raid as another bombing of an empty building. Ideally, the raid should demolish the building when the most terrorists are inside. That would decimate the terrorists. The major media fail to ask why Israel is shadow boxing with the terrorists, while the terrorists are trying to kill Israelis. Fighting by mouth, Israeli officials threatened to invade Gaza. A whole article in the 4/14 NY Times was about Israeli boasting of how tough it may be. The Israelis talk too much and act too little. By talking, they persuade their countrymen that they are acting. The Arabs do act, though they also boast. The US media ought to emphasize, by putting it into editorials, that the Arab boasts about intent to murder innocents are ugly. Israeli boasts are foolish. They give the impression of bellicosity, which invokes criticism without affording the protection Israelis need. ISRAEL MISUNDERSTANDS ISLAMIC TERRORISM Israeli Foreign Minister Livni made a distinction between Arab attacks on Israeli citizens, which is terrorism, and attacks on Israeli soldiers, which she called "legitimate warfare." She was criticized for conferring legitimacy upon certain Arab warfare. MK Ariel demanded that she resign (Arutz-7, 4/11). What I think that what she meant in making the distinction is technically correct, but she used unfortunate phraseology. She should have put it that some means may be legitimate but the war itself, is not. First, it is a war of aggression. Second, the P.A. signed an agreement, on the basis of which it was granted autonomy, not to attack Israelis. Therefore, its war, whatever the means, is not legitimate. She should have explained that the same organizations and even individuals that attack soldiers also attack civilians. They are not terrorists only while attacking civilians. People should understand that the Muslim Arabs are mounting total warfare with genocidal implications. They use all means and select all potential targets. There is no legitimacy to the Arab struggle. Further to be understood is that the Arabs will rationalize that all Israelis were or are soldiers. Muslims often over-simplify in order to falsify. Of course, not all Israelis were or will be soldiers. Those who were, now are civilians. Those who will be, now are civilians. Terrorism is deliberate targeting of civilians, not of potential soldiers. The Muslim rationalization is suitable for genocide. Neither is attacking "soldiers" always a legitimate tactic, in my opinion. I may be wrong about this, but the Israeli citizens' army has people dressed in uniform going on holidays, etc.. I think of them at that time as being part of the civilian population. I am not an international lawyer, but I think that non-terrorism means attacking enemy soldiers on bases on in military formation in the field. HAMAS EMPLOYS ISLAMIC DECEIT Spokesmen for Hamas (follow Arafat's practice to) utter harsh messages to Arab audiences and mild ones to Western audiences. (The former to rally supporters, the latter to allay opposition.) MEMRI recorded the quotes and contrasted them fairly. No room to reiterate here, but just to summarize: (1) To Arabs, Hamas rightly utilizes armed resistance; to the West, Hamas never thinks about violence but aspires for peace; (2) To Arabs, Hamas rejects recognizing and negotiating with Israel and international demands to do so; to the West, if Israel withdraws, Hamas would formulate peace in stages; (3) On Islamization, to the Arabs, Hamas will conform P.A. law to Islam; to the West, Hamas will improve Arab morality and teach people not to drink alcohol (IMRA, 4/11). Deceit is considered a legitimate tactic of jihad. INHUMANE IN FALSE NAME OF INTERNATIONAL LAW Physicians for Human Rights, B'Tselem, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme issued a joint protest to the Israeli Defense Ministry. The Ministry had just delineated a zone in Gaza from which rocket attacks were launched against Israeli cities, that would be subject to artillery return-fire and from which Arab civilians were warned to evacuate or stay at their own risk. Petitioners argued: (1) Artillery fire disproportionately harms civilians; (2) This violates the law of armed conflict, even though the firing of the missiles at Israeli civilians is illegal. Israel's recourse, IMRA was told, is to denounce the terrorists (IMRA, 4/11). The organizations involved, which almost always condemn Israel (falsely) for abusing human rights, did not issue a press release condemning the Arabs for their terrorism. These human rights organizations almost never do. Their ostensible humanitarianism disregards Jews' human rights and Muslims' inhumane behavior. The terrorists probably are pleased with the petition, for it practically sanctions use of their own people as human shields. The Arab civilians, for whom the civil rights organizations express great pity, have no pity for Israelis, against whom they heartily approve of barbaric terrorism. Petitioners' reply to IMRA, that it can issue its own protest, is no solution, because Islamic terrorists lack scruples. A few international protests would not move them. Meanwhile they murder with impunity. Thus in the name of being humane, those organizations help Islamists to be inhumane. Nor is the petition correct about international law. International law is not a suicide pact for victims. The victims have the right to defend themselves against outlawed means of warfare, which terrorism is in the first place, and in the second place is illegal when hiding behind civilian populations. Israel has the right to fire back; the responsibility for civilian casualties is that of the terrorist militias. What the law requires of Israel is to try to fight in such a way as to keep enemy civilian casualties as low as possible. The protesting organizations, however, failed to suggest how the IDF might fight back in any other way. It really is demanding that Israel not fight back. That is an outrage. A self-respecting government in Israel would investigate the sources of funding for such anti-Jewish organizations. Probably they are from the EU and the New Israel Fund, which should be declared politically hostile sources interfering in Israeli defense, and therefore to be kept from those funds and to be banned in wartime. That too, is permissible and advisable Israeli self-defense. Just because people call themselves human rights advocates doesn't mean they should get away with assisting the inhumane enemy side in war. U.S. TO AID SAUDI AIR FORCE The US would sell systems for communication among Saudi planes (IMRA, 4/12). S. Arabia has a base near Israel, to which it moved planes it had promised the US not to. The US is enhancing the Arab potential for aggression, not just for defense. |
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DANIEL PINNER IS RELEASED
Posted by Jewish Legion, April 28, 2006. |
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Daniel Pinner was surpised yesterday to learn that he was being released after languishing in an Israeli prison for the past ten months. Pinner was sentenced to two years prison after being convicted for shooting at an Arab in Gaza, last June, several months prior to the expulsion. Pinner claimed that he merely shot in the air to scare away a mob of Arab marauders who were attacking him and other Jews. One Arab and one Jew were injured. The Jew had been injured by rocks, while the cause of injury of the Arab was never substantiated. Pinner was released yesterday after his attorney, Baruch Ben Yosef filed an appeal against the conviction and against the harsh sentence. Ben Yosef also requested Pinner's release on bail until the High Court hears his appeal. It came as a complete surprise to Pinner that the courts had faxed the decision to release him on bail to Massiyahu Prison. Pinner was greeted by dozens of neighbors and friends when he ! returned home last night in Kfar Tapuach. In an exclsuive interview with Voice of Judea TV, moments after his release Pinner explained that he does not hate the judge who sentenced him. He said he felt sorry for her for she will one day stand trial before "the judges of judges" for her actions. To view this interesting and inspiring interview, visit, http://www.voiceofjudea.com/eng/tv.asp Contact the Jewish Legion at JewishLegion@aol.com |
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PALESTINIAN DUPLICITY: THE SEQUEL
Posted by Bryna Berch, April 28, 2006. |
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This was written by Walter Reich, a former director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is Yitzhak Rabin memorial professor of international affairs, ethics and human behavior at George Washington University and a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center. The article appeared today in the Wall Street Journal. Two hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a restaurant in Tel Aviv during the Passover holiday last week, killing nine and wounding over 60, I was sitting in the East Jerusalem office of Mahdi Abdul Hadi, the head of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs. A Hamas spokesman had just publicly justified the bombing as "a natural response to Israel's actions against the Palestinians," an act of self-defense in other words. Expressing his dismay at Hamas's approval of the bombing, Mr. Hadi, a practical man, observed that it was time for Hamas "to come down from the trees." That's what Arafat had finally done in the late '80s, he reminded me. But my companion wasn't suggesting that Hamas would actually change its goal. Instead, like much of the international community, he's hoping for what would amount to a cosmetic facelift for Hamas -- a change in rhetoric masking an unchanged ideological stance. The production has started for the remake of the depressing film noir of the past 18 years, the one that starred Yasser Arafat. Some actors will be different but the plot remains the same. Hamas's ideology is clear. What it considers to be occupied territory isn't just the West Bank (the Israelis have left Gaza) but all of internationally recognized Israel. Both during the recent election campaign and after its victory -- in fact, ever since it was founded in 1987 -- Hamas has unwaveringly articulated its goal to destroy Israel. That was also the sacred, unchangeable and publicly stated goal of Arafat and the PLO until the late 1980s, when Western diplomats persuaded him to change his rhetoric and say the things that would make it possible for the West to accept him. They coached him to utter those words, which at first stuck in his craw, and so he became a player on the road to recognition -- the road to Oslo, the handshake on the White House lawn, the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, his voyage from his Tunis exile to Gaza and the West Bank, the Nobel Peace Prize, and ultimately to his rejection of a generous deal, mediated by President Bill Clinton, that would have given his people a viable state in exchange for ending the conflict. But Arafat couldn't accept that and so the second intifada was launched. Arafat supported the terror by Hamas and other groups even as he claimed to be helpless to control them. This bankrupt policy, bringing checkpoints and a separation barrier to his long-suffering people, together with the PLO's gargantuan corruption, led to the election of the organization that had been doing much of Arafat's dirty work all along. Now that Hamas is in the driver's seat, it too refuses to back down on its ideology. Already Americans and Europeans are trying to coach its leaders, as yet untutored in the fine art of diplomatic maneuverings and lingo, to utter those magic words that will give the West the fig leaf that will allow it to ignore Hamas' end game -- the destruction of Israel. Just two days ago, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy praised Hamas for condemning this week's bombings in Egypt, calling it "a major development of foreign policy." The challenge is now to coach Hamas to utter the right words about bombings in Israel as well, and "save Hamas from its victory," as it was so aptly formulated at a conference of Palestinian academics that I attended in Ramallah, sponsored by Mr. Hadi's organization, the day after the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. But getting Hamas to genuinely change its goals is far less feasible than it ultimately was to change the fundamental nature and goals of Arafat's movement. Hamas is even more dedicated to Israel's destruction than was Arafat. He had only nationalism fueling his passion, whereas Hamas has nationalism but also, at least as it hears it, the very word of God. If the world hopes to be spared a cruel rerun of the bad movie we all watched for the past 18 years -- if there can be any hope for a normal, dignified and secure future for Palestinians and Israelis -- genuine moderation must replace extremism. This time, it's not only the dialogue that has to change but the entire plot. |
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US NOT PRESSING PAKISTAN TO END ISRAEL BOYCOTT
Posted by Michael Freund, April 28, 2006. |
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This article appeared in today's Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961241664&pagename= JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull). Even as the US and Pakistan move towards strengthening their commercial relationship, Washington has refrained from pressing Islamabad to drop its anti-Israel trade embargo, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The Post also found that Pakistan imposes a wide range of restrictions on all types of commercial activity with the Jewish state, in some cases more so than a number of Arab countries, leading to calls in the US Congress for increased pressure on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to change his country's policy. "Products from Israel are not allowed to be imported into Pakistan," Saira Abbas, director of the Pakistani Commerce Ministry's head office in Islamabad, said in a telephone interview. "That is the policy of the government of Pakistan, which prohibits items made in Israel from being brought into the country." Asked about products manufactured elsewhere that might incorporate Israeli-made parts, Abbas said that, "Even an item made in America which contains components made in Israel will not be allowed into our country." Nonetheless, despite the possible implications of the policy for US manufacturers of products that contain Israeli-made parts, the Bush administration has failed to push Pakistan to end the boycott. During a visit to Pakistan 10 days ago, Assistant United States Trade Representative Douglas Alan Hartwick met with Pakistani Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan to discuss a number of topics, ranging from a proposed bilateral investment treaty to the protection of intellectual property rights. The question of Pakistan's trade policies vis-a-vis Israel, however, did not come up, according to Christin Baker, the assistant US trade representative for public and media affairs. In addition, the Post found that Pakistan's policy of boycotting the Jewish state was ignored in the US Trade Representative's annual report to the president and the Congress documenting foreign barriers on trade and investment. The report, compiled annually in accordance with US law, is called the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, or NTE, and the most recent version was released at the end of March. Although the NTE contains a section concerning the impact of the Arab League boycott of the Jewish state, the nine-page chapter devoted to Pakistan makes no mention of its embargo on all goods and services originating in Israel, even though this might impact US businesses in various fields such as computer software and telecommunications. In response, Neena Moorjani, press secretary for the US Trade Representative's Office, told the Post, "The NTE is required by statute to review the most important foreign barriers affecting US exports of goods and service, US foreign direct investment and protection of intellectual property rights. US firms have not cited boycott activity against US goods with Israeli components as a factor affecting their exports to Pakistan," she said, adding, "Hence, the issue was not covered in the NTE." But that explanation did not appear to satisfy members of Congress involved in overseeing US trade policy. Rep. Ben Cardin, a ranking member of the US House of Representatives' Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, told the Post, "any country that maintains a boycott against Israel should be written up in the US Trade Representative's annual report of trade barriers. It seems incongruous to me," Cardin said, "that senior US trade officials are not raising this issue in meetings with senior Pakistani officials. I believe we need to accelerate our efforts to resolve this issue in a way that leads to the ultimate elimination of the boycott." The Pakistani policy of prohibiting Israeli-made products is widespread and is outlined explicitly in a series of official Pakistani documents and regulations. Michael Freund is Founder and Chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), a Jerusalem-based group that reaches out and assists Nidchei Yisrael, or "lost Jews", to return to the Jewish people. |
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YOM HASHOAH--HOLOCAUST AND HEROISM REMEMBRANCE DAY 2006
Posted by Judy Lash Balint, April 28, 2006. |
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"I feel funny being here on Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day)" the young Israeli woman told the crowd assembled in the auditorium of Al Quds University in eastern Jerusalem last night. "But I decided it was important to come to hear opinions I never usually hear..." she continued. Instead of heading off for the traditional ceremony at Yad Vashem that marks the beginning of Yom Hashoah I too opted to attend a screening of a new film on "the conflict" entitled Blood and Tears, produced by American Jewish filmaker, Isadore Rosmarin and funded by private Canadian backers. The chance to observe Arab student reaction to a Jewish made film struck me as appropriate for the day. Rosmarin's production, made with Prof. William Helmreich as consultant, attempts to present a balanced view of the history and current reality of this tiny part of the Middle East. Rosmarin, whose credits include production, directing and writing for 60 Minutes, NBC Dateline and ABC's 20/20 is spending the next week screening his documentary for audiences in Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Bethlehem, Gaza, Ramallah and Nazareth. The film is a fast-moving collection of images, interviews and text, backed by the relentless beat of American-style "news-music." On the Israeli side, the interviewees included people like Bibi Netanyahu, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and Eve Harow from Efrat; Rabbi Seth and Sheryll Mandel from Tekoa; John Loftus, Alan Dershowitz, Joe Farah of WorldNetDaily, Yossi Klein Halevi and Michael Oren. Dominating the Arab side was the ubiquitous Saeeb Erekat, Jibril Rajoub, and some footage of the assassinated Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi. At the end of the 75 minute film, Rosmarin invited the audience to stay for a discussion with a panel. A number of the Arab students walked out, joined by Sari Nusseibeh, philosophy professor and former PLO Representative in Jerusalem and his British-born wife, Lucy. Rosmarin asked the twenty or so people remaining in the auditorium to raise their hands if they felt the film was balanced. Two hands went up. "Was it a pro-Palestinian film?" he went on. No hands. "Pro-Israel?" Almost every hand was raised. The panelists gave their criticism/impressions of the documentary and then the floor was open for discussion. Apart from a pointed but polite question from a Norwegian, Rosmarin was barraged with harsh criticism from several audience members. "It's cheap propaganda," declared a thin woman in western dress. "I suggest you give the film to the Israeli foreign ministry," she added. "All the ugly pictures are Palestinians, all the nice quiet ones are Israelis." Her male friend nodded in agreement. "You focus on Palestinian children who are bombers. You make it seem as if Arab kids have terrorist thinking in their makeup," he asserted. Warming up, he accused Rosmarin of showing grief-ridden Israelis as sorrowful and in quiet tones, while the funerals of assassinated Arab terrorists were depicted as raucous events with gun-toting angry young men. The young woman continued: "It's a bad film, you're ignorant. You know nothing about events of 1948. You depict the kid who bombs himself (sic) because life is unbearable as a terrorist, while those forces who throw bombs at houses in Gaza are not," she yelled. When panelist Calev Ben David of the Israel Project retorted, the woman firmly declared: "The weapon of the weak is suicide--you didn't leave them any choice." Rosmarin proved that no outsider can ever fully appreciate what's going on here. Apart from stating that he had brought the film to eastern Jerusalem to be shown "in Palestine," he tried to reiterate the goal of his film. "It's to promote dialogue and allow each side to see the other side that it normally demonizes," he said. "It's for both sides to clarify the conflict and put it into context." For most of us living the daily reality here, the conflict is plenty clear. I didn't really need to hear once again the justification for homicide bombers that has now become de rigeur in almost all Arab circles to put into context the fact that the majority of them voted for Hamas. I'm heading up to Kibbutz Lochamei Haghetaot for the formal concluding ceremony of Yom Hashoah tonight. That should provide a better context for the conflict. Yom Hashoah--Part II Ghetto Fighters' Museum, Kibbutz Lochamei Haghetaot--A couple of Israeli Air Force jets scream through the sky over this kibbutz on Israel's northern coastal road between Akko and Nahariya as the ceremony marking the end of Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day draws to a close. It must be quite a sight from up there--ten thousand people filling every space in the amphitheatre of the Ghetto Fighters' House, standing to attention for Israel's national anthem, Hatikva--The Hope. Dozens of Israeli flags fluttering in the warm breeze of an early spring evening; six large flames flickering against a backdrop of scores of smaller flames held by Navy officer recruits, clad in their formal all-white uniforms. What the pilots can't see is the central figure on the stage. The diminutive Zevik Lavi, one of their own, the first pilot in Israel's Air Force back in the 1940s. Lavi, in civilian clothes, stands to attention next to two of his grandchildren in army uniform. An actor has just read the story of Zevik's life in the ghetto, escape from a Nazi transport train, years spent with the partisans and his eventual arrival in Palestine. The theme of this year's Ghetto Fighters House gathering is "Eretz Israel--First Encounters," and Zevik's triumphant story is part of the moving event. Unlike the more somber, formal ceremony of remembrance that took place at Yad Vashem the night before in the presence of President Katzav and Prime Minister Olmert and a slew of officials and politicians, the Ghetto Fighters' Museum strives to look to the future and encompass as many youth as possible. The audience at Yad vashem is filled mainly with survivors and their families. At Ghetto Fighters' Museum, more than eighty percent of the participants are blue-shirted teenagers representing the plethora of youth movements active in the country. The white-uniformed Naval cadets marching onto the stage bearing torches frame the brief Yizkor ceremony as well as the energetic dancers of the Kibbutz Dance Company who evoke the slave labor camps with their movements. When the moment comes to light the six flames of remembrance, Amy and Richard Miller mount the stage together with the other Israelis. The Millers have traveled from New York with their friends and fellow Jewish activists Jeff and Hillary Markowitz to take part in the Yom Hashoah event. Amy is the president of the American Friends of the Ghetto Fighters' Museum responsible for raising funds for many of the new projects aimed at Holocaust education in Israel. Several of the flames are lit by survivors and their children or grandchildren. As they light, their stories are told and we see photos of their lives during the Shoah on the massive screen behind them. The emphasis is on the incredible tales of how they made their way to Palestine in the 1940s. Kibbutz Lochamei Haghetaot was established in 1949 by the young veterans of the partisans and survivors of the Nazi death camps who wanted to continue their lives together. Tonight, some of those pioneers along with their next two generations, read poetry, sing nostalgic Yiddish songs and speak about their experiences. It's both a commemoration of the unfathomable lost legacy of those who perished as well as an affirmation of the present and future of a strong people who have endured and continue to endure baseless hatred. (Visit http://flickr.com/photos/jerusalemdiaries/ for some unusual photos from Israel.) 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 |
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GUSH KATIF REFUGEES STILL IN DIRE STRAITS
Posted by Amihai Zippor, April 27, 2006. |
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According to a report issued by the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, one third of Gush Katif refugees are still unemployed. The figure is down from 56 percent three months ago. Meanwhile, the refugees are still having a difficult time returning to the routine of their lives prior to the uprooting of last summer's disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria. The compensation received by many has not been near the amount they were told they would receive and those whose livelihoods were part of the farming industry of Gush Katif are suffering from a lack of work and a lack of strength to start a new business. In an interview with Israel National News on 24 April 2006, Herzl Elazri, who owned farms in the community of Bdolach just a few kilometers south of where N'vei Dekalim stood, explained how he has nothing to do. "I had 25 workers under me with 15 dunams [almost four acres] of a special type of yellow cherry tomato grown for export to Europe and the US. My wife also worked. And now? There is no work, no solutions and no one wants to talk to us," he said. "It's one thing to be thrown out of your home, which we could live with, if only they would make good on their promise to give us back our livelihood," Elazri said. He added that the government handed them a new piece of land but it was on the Sinai border nearly an hour's drive from their temporary living quarters in Nitzan, just south of Ashkelon. Prior to his eviction, his drive to work was two minutes. Close to fifty, trying to keep his family together and suffering the trauma of being expelled from his home, starting a new business from scratch is nearly impossible, especially with the high expenses and costs that they must endure to make ends meet. Elazri said that since the Israeli government is unwilling to help with the cost of rehabilitating the lives it destroyed with the evacuation, he and others are considering writing to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to ask for help in alleviating his suffering as a refugee. Originally, Israeli leaders said they were going to ask for a two billion dollar grant from the US to help cover the disengagement. However, it has not made the request but did give $25 million dollars to the UN towards the end of 2005 to be used to pay Palestinians for clearing the rubble of the homes of the former Jewish residents of Gaza. This appeared on Katif Net; it is archived at
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CHANNELING FUNDS THROUGH UNRWA CAN ONLY STRENGTHEN HAMAS
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 27, 2006. |
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UNRWA started out as the master and money source for Arafat's FATAH. then slowly roles were reversed so now FATAH which is being absorbed by HAMAS is the master of UNRWA. The U.N.'s UNRWA is nothing more than the collector of donor funds and is the paymaster for a broad array of terrorists but what is taught in their classrooms is basic terror 101. This is by David Bedein, Bureau Chief, Israel Resource News Agency (www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com) and President, Center for Near East Policy Research, At a time when the EU, Israel and the US are considering a policy decision to cut funds to the Hamas dominated Palestinian Authority, it has been suggested that Israel and the US simply allocate the funds through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that administers 59 refugee camps for Palestinian Arab refugees from 1948 and for their descendent. All told, UNRWA cares for three million Palestinian Arabs, one third of whom actually live in the camps, with the rest of the UNRWA clientele living contiguous to the camps. However, the Hamas connection to UNRWA is pervasive and deep. Last week Israel's Defense Forces (IDF) engaged in house-to-house search operations for wanted Hamas terrorists in the UNRWA camp in Balata, near Nablus. The problem is Hamas's infiltration into UNRWA operations, which has been an ongoing issue for some time. There have been a number of chilling reminders of this systemic problem over the last few years. For instance, at the memorial ceremony for Sheikh Yassin which was held at the UNRWA boys' school in that same Balata refugee camp on April 3, 2004, veiled operatives held mock Kassam rockets; the families of "martyrs" were given gifts and certificates of gratitude. In an earlier incident, according to the Israeli prime minister's web site, Hamas convened a conference in a school in the UNRWA Jabalya refugee camp, in which the school's administration, teachers and hundreds of students participated. Representing the UNRWA Teachers Association, Saheil Alhinadi praised UNRWA pupils who carried out suicide attacks against Israel. That Alhinadi was speaking for the teachers should not be surprising, since Hamas-affiliated officials dominate the teachers' union of UNRWA in Gaza and control its executive committee. This is particularly worrisome because of the terrorist influence on young refugees studying in UNRWA schools. Hamas has influenced the UNRWA schools through The Islamic Bloc, which refers to itself as a "Jihad" organization dedicated to the "Islamization" of the Palestinian cause and the necessity of liberating all of the land of Palestine. The Bloc has been charged by Hamas with furthering its goals within the schools. IDF Colonel (ret.) Yoni Fighel observed that as "long as UNRWA employees are members of Fatah, Hamas, or PFLP, they are going to pursue the interests of their party within the framework of their job... Who's going to check up on them to see that they don't? UNRWA? They are UNRWA." Meanwhile, Israel's former UN Ambassador, Dr. Dore Gold, visited the UNRWA camp in Jenin in April 2002 and witnessed the presence of shahid (martyr) posters on the walls in the homes of UNRWA workers. "It was clear," he says, "that UNRWA workers were doubling as Hamas agents." It should be noted that, for political reasons, UNRWA does not do adequate vetting of prospective employees in Judea and Samaria, while such vetting of prospective employees does take place in the UNRWA camps in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. At UNRWA's international conference, held in Geneva in June, 2004, I asked Peter Hansen, then the UN Commissioner General for UNRWA, how he could account for the fact that Hamas members were on the payroll of UNRWA. Hansen then admitted that "We do not check the religious affiliation of our staff members." A week later, in a CBC radio interview, Hansen stated that he saw no problem with having Hamas members on his staff. Employee involvement with Hamas should not come as any surprise, since the employees of UNRWA are themselves Palestinian Arab refugees, and the evidence that the refugee population is supportive of, and affiliated with, Hamas is quite considerable. UNRWA has never denied beneficiaries aid or relief because of Hamas (or other terrorist) associations. This is because UNRWA has a "don't ask, don't tell" policy on the matter. Inevitably, funds given to UNRWA recipients ends up paying the salaries of Hamas officials. This week, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed UNRWA of its great displeasure with the fact that Hamas officials remain on the payroll of UNRWA. UNRWA gave no response to such feedback. 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). Contact him at gwinston@interaccess.com |
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MR. LEUENBERGER'S FAILURE TO REALIZE TRUE NATURE OF HAMAS
Posted by The Reality Show, April 27, 2006. |
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To: Moritz Leuenberger
Geneva, Switzerland, 27th April 2006 Ref.: Arab news channel, Al-Jazeera Your statement; "... it would have been more 'reasonable' to grant Hamas a probationary period to prove itself." (www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/detail/Swiss_president_criticised_for_ Hamas_remarks.html?siteSect=105&sid=6662906&cKey=1146120404000) ______________ Dear Mr. President 1) "Reasonable": Reasonable refers to people that are reasoning with you or have a reasonable conduct. A cult that is committed to destroy an entire nation is unreasonable to be reasoned with. 2) "probationary period": This is applicable to an individual or a group that has not been given a chance to renounce its genocide goal, but rather only reiterated its motto: "we are a nation that drinks blood and we know that there's no better blood than the blood of the Jews, we will drink the blod of the Jews". No, this HONEST declaration was not made ages ago, not even years ago but most recent in a "heroic" show of "defiance" and true outburst moments of honesty. Do the latest massacre of innocent people at a Falafel stand or long string of Kassam missiles firing into residential homes or into kindergartens qualify as part of "probationary period"? Or do we have to "re-count it again" every attack that this 'democratic elected official Palestinians' carries/carried out on or behind the scenes? 3) "democratic elected": From all people, the Swiss should remember quite vividly those poor men, women and children that passed by trains via Switzerland to a place they never came back from... orchestrated by a "democratic elected" entity. --- We do not expect a huge turn around. Israelis, Jews in general or westerners in general don't go around terrorizing and holding a sword on someone's throat until we hear a statement we like. We don't blow up people because we don't like them, nor do we kill innocent people over a drawing. This is the price that the gentle, most restrained people facing most dangerous 'blood thirsty people' is paying so dearly on all fronts, from precious lives through media unfairness until unfortunate misunderstanding by a respected president such as your honour. Yes, again and again, Israel is the west's last line of defense in that peninsula against radicalism VS world, suffice to mention a Hamas cartoon that appeared a few years back (when they were even less media friendly): "Our struggle with Israel is only part of our overall struggle with the west". Contact The Reality Show at therealityshow@mail.com or go to their website: http://lightonthings.blogspot.com |
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ISRAELI LEFT PULLS OFF ELECTORAL SWINDLE; MUSLIM OUTRAGES; A MUSLIM
TURNED MODERATE UNCHALLENGED
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 27, 2006. |
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FALSE PLEA FOR P.A. SUBSIDY The refrain of pity for the P.A. Arabs is that the regime hasn't the funds to pay the salaries of its 140,000 employees. The lament conjures images of 140,000 civilian workers deprived of earned salaries. The image is not the reality. First of all, the P.A. hired people without regard to need. Why should the P.A. be responsible in hiring when it can beg foreign countries to pay for this patronage? Second, almost half the employees are not civilians but part of the P.A. military. Most of them do not provide security but act as terrorists. No reason to feel sorry for them. Third, excessive foreign subsidy of the P.A. perpetuates a welfare mentality. SAUDIS WANT LONGEST BORDER WALL IN WORLD Iraqi terrorists menace the security of neighboring states. S. Arabia has elicited bids for a 560-mile wall between itself and Iraq. If Israel were interested in countering Arab propaganda against it, it could exploit this opportunity and amuse itself. It would submit a bid and publicize its action. Of course, S. Arabia would rule Israel ineligible. Israel would protest, pointing out that it has a security fence also to protect its people from Muslim Arab terrorists, and it highly approves of the Saudi recourse to security fencing. BLOOMBERG-WATCH Having described Mayor Bloomberg as a conniver against public bidding and undemocratic, I update you with more examples. He has gotten approved and awarded a proposal not discussed publicly and without public bidding for an amusement park on a city island. After having hired practitioners of failed educational theories to impose their theories on the City's students, and discouraging creative teachers by micro-managing them to the point of decreeing how many pins they may use on a bulletin board, his Chancellor of Schools now has hired more educators to revise the policies, again without consulting the teachers, who could advise against ill-conceived notions and propose successful ones. ISRAELI LEFT PULLS OFF ELECTORAL SWINDLE Someone pointed out that the leftist Attorney-General's weasel wording that Sharon's incapacity was temporary aimed to keep Olmert in charge as substitute incumbent. If Atty.-Gen. Mazuz had admitted the incapacity was permanent, then a new Prime Minister would have had to be chosen. As head of the party with the largest number of Knesset seats going into the election, Netanyahu would have been picked. That would have boosted his electoral chances. Instead he was defeated, and then Mazuz stealthily called the incapacity permanent. SOWING THE WIND, REAPING THE WHIRLWIND Countries that donated funds to the P.A. before, for "humanitarian reasons," knew that Arafat channeled the money into terrorism. They cared neither that the Arab people didn't benefit from the subsidy nor that the Jewish people suffered from it. They thought they were earning goodwill from the Arab oil states. They were mistaken. Likewise they sold the technology for weapons of mass-destruction to Muslim states and let their students into the US to study science that can be used in developing weapons of mass-destruction. They also taught the Arabs methods of sabotage, in the name of counter-terrorism. Now the Western donors are menaced by terrorism and threatened by possessors of weapons of mass-destruction (Winston Mid East Analysis, 4/9). The State Dept. fosters the interests of the oil business and countries and not of its own people. Is the prejudice and profit worth the risk to millions of Americans? The corrupt officials do not think of future consequences but play now and we pay later. MUSLIM OUTRAGES UNCHALLENGED First the Taliban destroyed statues of Buddha in Afghanistan. Now Egypt's Grand Mufti has denounced the pre-Islamic monuments in Egypt (i.g., the Sphinx) because they were for idol-worshippers. He was seconded by other Muslim religious figures. "How can so-called religious scholars suggest such a course to their followers without so much as a peep from Arab and Muslim-world governments or UNESCO...?" (Youssef Ibrahim, NY Sun, 4/14, p.6.) Mankind has a right to know how prior civilizations conducted themselves and to enjoy artifacts for their artistry. The Muslim scholars act as if the ancient relics might draw the faithful into idolatry. How ridiculous! The Muslim clerics reveal themselves as humorless and anti-intellectual. Either they are a shame to their faith for their backwardness or they are true to their religion and it is backward. Muslim governments rarely criticize each other for such matters. Westerners either have a double standard towards Islam or are afraid. They are willing to sacrifice our cultural heritage to avoid controversy. The backwardness of the Muslims should be broadcast and their religion shamed, so that fewer convert to it and fight for it. S. ARABIA WANTS TO ADVANCE ECONOMICALLY The kingdom is investing petrodollars more in the Far East and sending students to study economics there (IMRA, 4/9). If the US economy better served its people and conserved petrodollars, and if its students learned democracy instead of leftist rioting, I'd recommend that Arab students study social sciences in the US. NOT "ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT" As of 4/11, the The Times has yet to acknowledge the scandal over the anti-Israel paper co-authored by the academic dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.? (NY Sun, Ed..) The Sun has been reporting the controversy for weeks. The premier American university had engaged in an unscholarly and plagiaristic (from Nazi web sites), crudely antisemitic (as by asserting that "the Jews" control this country and harm it in behalf of the Jewish state), diatribe against Israel. It roiled the academic world and many in the media. The university apologized, as counter-reactions poured in, but leading racist David Duke praised it. That is news, but the Times ignored it. The Times often omits or slights significant news, especially what would show up the Arabs or vindicate Israel. This Harvard omission is inexcusable. Many of my acquaintances think that the Times is favorable towards Israel or at least even-handed. How could anyone justify even-handedness between genocidal Arab aggressors and Israeli victims? But the Times is neither pro-Israel nor even-handed. It pretends it is high-minded by couching its anti-Zionist policy of appeasement as advice to Israel for its own good. Let it just report fully and fairly! GAZA ATTACKS ARE ON RISE AS FACTIONS VIE FOR POWER? That is a NY Times headline. The article goes on to wonder whether the new bases on vacated Jewish communities of Gaza are for invading Israel or for fighting each other. The article admits that since the Israeli abandonment of Gaza, terrorist attacks on Israel from Gaza have increased, and that almost half the P.A. payroll (that the West suggests be paid for humanitarian purposes) consists of "heavily armed" military forces (John Kifner, 4/12, A7). The article omits the fact, as do nearly all Times news reports, that almost every day, Arab gunmen fight each other. The Times emphasizes Arab casualties from the IDF, but almost never mentions Arab casualties from Arabs. IDF BOLSTERING ROOFS AGAINST ROCKETS Terrorist rockets can strike almost anywhere in Israel. There aren't the resources to fortify all roofs. The Army has been choosing which communities to reinforce. Communities chosen for limited reinforcement have had to select which residents to protect. Certain houses get secure rooms; kindergartens get the shielding (IMRA, 4/9). Advances in offensive technique eventually overcome passive defense. Hiding from the rockets indicates acceptance of Arabs firing at will. A normal people would consider that intolerable. It would send its army to root out the terrorist infrastructure or at least stop supporting the P.A. with electricity, wages, taxes, and retreats. DEFECTS OF ANTI-HATE LEGISLATION European countries have more stringent anti-hate laws than have American states. European laws ban Holocaust denial and prohibit insulting ethnic groups. This has been interpreted as what those groups may call insult. (Muslims consider any criticism an insult). The law does not make truth a defense, as it would in ordinary slander cases. It suffices under the anti-hate law that someone's expression roils ethnic harmony. "In Australia, a state tribunal found two pastors guilty of vilification of Muslims. They had argued that Islam is inherently a violent religion, and that Islam plans to take over Australia. To avoid up to a $7000 fine or three months in jail, they were ordered to apologize and to promise not to repeat their remarks anywhere in Australia or over the Internet. The pastors refused to comply and are appealing to the Supreme Court. The case has become a cause celebre, with churches and Christian leaders fighting to overturn the law, and Muslims pushing for a broad hate-speech law." "In many nations, multiculturalism trumps free speech. Sensitivity and equality are viewed as so important that the individual right to speak out is routinely eclipsed." Results? Antisemitism is rising in Europe, despite the ban on Holocaust denial. Perhaps the ban stimulates it by engendering resentment against the protected group. Free speech is falling prey to thought police. Facts are repressed. Thank goodness the US has the First Amendment! (Miriam Gardner of American Yated Neeman, March 24 roundup.) In this era of global jihad, Westerners need to know about Islam being a violent religion. If Muslims object, let them debate and prove otherwise. I don't think they can. Hence they rely on the subterfuge of multiculturalism and pretended insult. Insulting Muslims for their menace to others is like insulting Nazis for their menace to others -- it is true and the message is salutary. As for whether the law promotes multiculturalism, it doesn't. It coddles Islam, which plans to impose its culture on others, and cripples defense against it. A MUSLIM TURNED MODERATE Dr. Wafa Sultan was in medical class in Syria, when Islamists burst in and shot her professor hundreds of times. Hundreds! That disillusioned her. She became secular and an American. Eventually Al Jazeera invited her to debate. She challenged an Algerian cleric, "Why does a young Muslim man, in the prime of life, with a full life ahead, go and blow himself up?" "In our countries, religion is the sole source of education..." Another time she observed we have a clash between the Medieval and the modern, the "civilized and the primitive," and "barbarity and rationality." She used to have the usual hatred of Jews, until she met some and found them decent human beings. She said that the Jews emerged from tragedy and earned respect, whereas the Muslim try to compel it by terrorism and complaint. Jews didn't blowup churches and Germans, Muslims do. What do Muslims, who demand the respect of mankind, do for mankind to earn it? Muslim clerics answer by calling her a heretic and threatening her. Masses of ordinary Muslims encourage her to keep saying what they wish they could. Speaking up and enlightening Muslims has become her mission (Op. Cit.). Islam has not solved the problem of how to change what they assert is a perfect religion. If perfect, why change 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 richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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PENN STATE: THE REAL STORY (IT STINKS)
Posted by Naomi Ragen, April 27, 2006. |
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Friends, The spin coming from Penn State, including the President's staff, trying to make it look like they are now backing the exhibit, and it is art student Josh Stulman who "postponed" it because he "wasn't ready" didn't smell right to me. I asked for clarification from a list member and a lawyer who knows what's really going on. Below, the truth -- from Lori Lowenthal. Continue to bombard the President and the Board of Trustees. This whole thing stinks. Naomi After Penn State began receiving complaints about the cancellation, this past Friday night (Josh had to be called out from services), the university said he could have the exhibit but that he would have to remove Hillel as a sponsor. Josh refused (Hillel and other org.s have sponsored such exhibits before - they were throwing in a whopping $75 - 100 for refreshments and flyers). Josh asked them for an apology to him and to Hillel for the abrupt cancellation and the way the university has treated them. They have ignored that request. Penn State knew when it issued the statement that the exhibit would go forward that their condition precedent was not accepted. Further - Josh was told by his art advisor that he and his art is racist and that Israel has "no right to exist." The flyer for his exhibition (put up before it was cancelled) was defaced with a swastika - Josh made the university aware of this - PSU did nothing in response. A meeting was scheduled that was supposed to be between the head of the art department, Josh, and Tuvia Abramson, the Hillel director, to discuss the "issues" the university had about the artwork. Just before the meeting was to take place, Josh and Tuvia learned that a whole bunch of other people, INCLUDING STUDENTS FROM THE MUSLIM STUDENT ASSOCIATION, were invited. Josh said forget it - he is happy to talk to anyone and everyone about his artwork, but this meeting was supposed to be a private meeting about why the show was cancelled and to work out the issues. Sure smells like a different agenda was operating for the university. I am scrambling to get this to you in case you want to inform people right away that Penn State has not only manipulated Josh Stulman but is now attempting to manipulate anyone who expresses concern about the situation by making it look like the problem is Josh and/or the wonderful student reporter, Jessica Remitz, who originally brought the story to light. Penn State has claimed there has been "misinformation in the media." But every single story I've seen has been based completely on Remitz's original story and she drew her facts directly from emails PSU sent Josh. Thanks!
Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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THE HOLOCAUST: A PERSPECTIVE FROM ISRAEL
Posted by Jeremy Gimpel and Ari Abramowitz, April 27, 2006. |
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Many well intentioned people attempt to categorize the Holocaust as the genocide of another oppressed minority and relegate the lesson to one of tolerance and mutual understanding. Museums, memorials, and foundations have all been dedicated to this concept of "tolerance" thereby blurring the fundamental differences between Anti-Semitism and other hatreds. The Holocaust was not just another genocide. There is no argument that our world is in dire need of more tolerance, however labeling the Holocaust as the mere product of bigotry is a manifestation of moral ambiguity and a lack of understanding of the essence of the Jewish Nation. All other genocides throughout history were the consequence of the acquisition and consolidation of power. This power sought may have been territorial, economic, religious, or political - but the goal was to obtain that power. From Pol Pots genocide in Cambodia to Idi Amin's in Uganda to Stalin's in the Soviet Union, these tyrannical despots crushed dissension, instilled fear, and secured power.  Germany was the cradle of Western civilization. A science, according to every definition of the word, was created to identify the Jew. Extensive genealogical records were researched by Europe's most sophisticated military which proceeded to hunt down any person who had even one Jewish grandparent; ensuring the most comprehensive of exterminations. Executing systematic genocide by day and listening to classics by Wagner at night, over 40% of the concentration camp officers had either MDs or PhDs. Not the "intolerant animals" one would expect. This irrational hatred is best illustrated by Hitler's fateful decision to allocate his remaining resources to the complete extermination of the Jews at the expense of emerging victorious against the Allies. His hatred of the Jews, deeply encoded in his soul, overcame the rational strategic decision to defeat the Allied Forces. Many say that decision is what cost him the war. To the intellectually honest student of history, hatred of the Jews is unique in that it transcends time and circumstance. When poor, Jews are hated for being lazy parasites and when rich, for conspiring to dominate the economy and take over the world. In the same breath as being blamed for communism and socialism, Jews are hated for the exploitation and selfishness of capitalism. At the very heart of the matter Jews are hated for one thing: Being Jews. Why? Who better to ask than the most successful Anti-Semite in History, Adolph Hitler, who taught "The Jews have inflicted two wounds on humanity: Circumcision on the body and conscience on the soul". A war on the Jewish People is a war on G-d. A war on the Jews is a war on the absolutes of "good" and "evil", morality, ethics, and compassion. To a Jew, what is good is beautiful. To an Aryan, what is beautiful is good. Aryan philosophy dictated that the mentally disabled and deformed should be immediately exterminated, not cared for and nurtured. The weak should be crushed and the strong - exalted. Hitler hated the Jews for inflicting G-d upon the world, exposing evil for what it is, and for being a light unto the nations - a sacred task burned into the Jewish soul. Through the depths of our suffering the Jews exposed the purity of Hitler's evil by being its beneficiary in the eyes of the world, and even in death, being that! light. Is the lesson we should learn from this tragedy that prejudice is evil and we need more tolerance, or is there a more powerful message we must understand? Hitler's primary purpose was to destroy Jewry. The assertion that the Holocaust was a genocide like any other, and just another coincidental example of intolerance, is not fighting the objective of Nazism but rather succumbing to it. Classifying the Nation of Israel as a nation like all others and relegating our history and heritage to chance is the most dangerous and effective way of destroying the essence of our people and the Eternal Covenant forged between the Children of Israel and G-d. The most important message of the Holocaust is not tolerance; it is Jewish identity. Whether the Jews of the Crusades, the Maranos of Spain, or the refuseniks of The Soviet Union, Jews have raised their cups for centuries and sang in a joyous whisper, "Every generation there are those who seek to destroy us and the Holy One, Blessed be He, saves us from their hands." Claiming that the Jewish genocide of the Holocaust was incidental to the war rather than its very purpose, and that tolerance is the only lesson to be learned, is in a sense, the destruction of our Jewish identity and the denial of our Jewish destiny. Hitler did not seek to destroy the memory of the Jew; in fact he was committed to establishing museums dedicated to an "extinct race". The best memorial to the six million Jewish martyrs is the perpetuation of that which Hitler sought to destroy - Jewish identity. Fighting the rampant extinction of our people at the hands of assimilation and intermarriage by integrating Jewish education and observance into the life of every Jewish child, instilling Jewish pride, and fulfilling our Jewish destiny - that is the lesson our nation must learn from our greatest tragedy.
To contact Ari and Jeremy please visit http://www.thelandofisrael.com
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THE DOUBLE CROSSES BEGIN
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, April 27, 2006. |
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In what has become SOP in Israeli politics, as soon as the politicos are in office, they begin to go their own way irrespective of what they promised their voters. The one consistent principle in Israeli politics is that everything is expendable in face of personal ambition and greed. This is called "Pensioners' Party to act as part of Kadima" (www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=29131). It is by Aaron Lerner and was published on the IMRA website yesterday. Dr. Aaron Lerner is Director of IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis) Contact IMRA by Mail: POB 982 Kfar Sava) Tel: 972-9-7604719. Fax: 972-3-7255730. Internet Address: imra@netvision.net.il. Website: http://www.imra.org.il According to the parliamentary cooperation agreement signed today between Ehud Olmert's Kadima Party and the Pensioner's Party the two factions will in fact operate as one. While many cast their votes for the Pensioner's Party out of disgust for the large parties it turns out that, in fact, the people behind the Pensioner's Party wanted to be a part of Kadima from the start (though they declined to share this information with potential voters before the vote). Yaakov Ben-Yizri, number two in "Gil", the Pensioners' Party that won 7 seats in the elections, revealed in an interviews in the Maariv regional weekly Zman Hasharon (Sharon Times) of 31 March that the party had originally intended to join Kadima. "I have news for you. We tried to join the Kadima Party, the party that was appropriate in the opinion of all the partners in the party. We found in this party [AL: Kadima] by the way, the number one in the Pensioner's Party list, Rafi Eitan. We carried out negotiations with Kadima and he was the person who brokered between us and Arik Sharon. We were assured a safe seat on the Kadima Knesset list. This conversation took place one day before the prime minister was supposed to have a procedure, and we set to talk a week afterwards in order to close the matter. To our sorrow what happened to Arik Sharon happened, and two weeks after that Olmert began to fill the position of acting prime minister. It took time until we reached the person we were supposed to talk about the matter with, some advisor in the Ministry of Industry and Trade. When we finally succeeded in talking with him he said that the Kadima list up to number 31, had already been promised by Arik Sharon, and that places 31 to 51 would be set by Ehud Olmert. He offered us number 52. We said thanks and goodbye. That was at the start of January and at the end of that same month we decided to run alone and approached Rafi Eitan and asked him to run at the head of the list. At the beginning he laughed at it, but after he saw that we were serious he joined us and we reached the results that we reached, a party two months old." Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
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CONTINUED PRAYERS FOR DANIEL
Posted by Naomi Ragen, April 27, 2006. |
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Friends, please continue to pray for Daniel. Below, an
update from family friend Any Ederi. You can also visit a
webpage for him with daily updates
at http://tinyurl.com/z7d93. You can send him a message at
God bless you all.
I am writing to you -- those of you who have been a part of my life and I had written my initial email to last week, those of you who have been in contact with me via the phone or in person, those of you who received my email through others and responded to me. Thank you for your prayers for Daniel. I speak with Sheryl and Tuly regularly and often, and each time they have told me that they believe that our prayers and positive thoughts being directed toward Daniel are helping him in his recovery. I have read, as many of you may also have read, numerous different accounts that have been published regarding Daniel's recovery. Some are inaccurate and some are speculative. None contain information provided by Sheryl and Tuly. This is a very private family and they are not speaking to the media as of this time. Blessed by having their family as part of my life for over 20 years I could easily detail to you the sensitivity, generosity, kindness, faith, and love in each of them as individuals as well as what makes them such an exceptional family. But, to respect their privacy I am not doing so. Simply put--they are the essence of goodness in this world. Daniel is fighting for his life. His situation remains critical. His spleen, one kidney, and the lower part of one leg have been removed in order to save his life. He has endured numerous major surgeries and procedures since the bombing occurred. Daniel has also been stable for several days. He has shown signs of improvement. Yesterday he regained consciousness. He is aware of his family. He has prayed with his family and rabbi. He has been responsive to his family, and especially to his sister Amanda. The medical care and attention he is receiving is excellent and being done by doctors and nurses who are completely dedicated to Daniel's recovery. The Wultz Family is surrounded by the tireless support of family and friends who are providing tremendous help to them. The recovery process will be lengthy, but they are hopeful that Daniel can recover to lead a life of quality. The email that I originally sent was forwarded to many others and has literally traveled around the world. I never asked that my specific email be forwarded-only that the Wultz Family's request for prayers be communicated to others. Whether this time you forward my specific email or your own to others does not matter. What does matter to the Wultz family is that you continue to pray and that you ask others to do so. Every time I speak with them they have told me that they are feeling the power of prayers and positive thoughts with them and that these thoughts and prayers are helping. They also believed Daniel felt them, and now that he is conscious they are certain that he feels them because they are watching him respond to prayer. Daniel needs our continued prayers and positive thoughts during this critical time. Many have asked for his complete Hebrew name. It is Chaim Naftali Meyer ben Sarah. Many have asked for Tuly's and though I will provide it (Yekutial ben Leah), he has repeatedly requested that all prayers are directed toward Daniel only. Many have mentioned that children are praying for him. There is a belief/saying in Judaism that prayers made by children for others' health are heard even more strongly by G-d. So, thank you for praying with your children. No matter your religion, race, region of the world or age they are feeling the power of your prayers and are appreciative beyond words. Prayers are all the family is seeking of each of us. Though this is all the family requests from us, many people have written or called me asking if they could make donations for Daniel. Due to the requests I have received to make these donations I have spoken with Sheryl and Tuly, and they have agreed to donations being made through a trust fund to ensure Daniel has all the support that will be needed in the future for all of his needs due to this barbaric bombing. The Trust Fund is entitled "Daniel Wultz Trust" and any donations should be written to "Daniel Wultz Trust" and sent in care of Robert Josefsberg at Podhurst Orseck P.A.-25 West Flagler Street-Suite 800-Miami Florida 33130. Again, I am emphasizing that the Wultz Family has NOT asked any organization nor individiual to solicit donations for Daniel. Though they are very grateful to the antiterrorist organizations that are providing support for their family and the religious institutions that are participating in prayer, they are not seeking donations from any of us at this time. THE WULTZ FAMILY'S FOCUS IS SOLELY ON GIVING DANIEL THE STRENGTH, FAITH, AND MEDICAL ATTENTION NEEDED SO THAT HE CAN SURVIVE THIS ATROCITY. This Trust Fund is being set up solely due to the community's request to provide this type of assistance to Daniel and his family. Please continue to pray for Daniel. Sheryl and Tuly can not end a phone call with me without reminding me to thank each individual who has prayed for their son. So, again, with all my heart, thank you. --Amy [UPDATE April 27, 2006, 4:45 AM by Naomi: I have just received a phone call from a friend of the Wultz family, who was specifically asked by Daniel's parents to call me so that I might convey this to you. Daniel has taken a turn for the worse. He is now in a medically-induced coma. The family thanks you for your prayers, and asks you to please, please continue. If you are Jewish or Gentile, religious or not, won't you please just ask God to spare the life of Chaim Naftali Meyer ben Sarah. To give him a complete recovery, and to bring him home to the family, and the friends, and the nation of Israel who love him.] [ADDITIONAL INFORMATION April 30, 2006: Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Brigades, the declared military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party, claimed responsibility for the bombing. In a www.WND.com exclusive interview yesterday, Abu Nasser, a senior leader of the Al Aqsa Brigades in the West Bank, rejoiced in Wultz' injuries. Abu Nasser is part of the Brigades leadership in the Balata refugee camp suspected of plotting the attack.] Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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DENYING THE HOLOCAUST
Posted by Burt Prelutsky, April 26, 2006. |
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Not too long ago, David Irving was sentenced to three years in an Austrian jail for claiming that the Holocaust never happened. Although I am usually in favor of harsh sentences even for those people who insist on honking their car horns while driving through tunnels, I was against throwing Irving's butt in the slammer. For some time now, the shmoe has made his living by writing and speaking on the subject. One of his goonier notions is that the concentration camps were erected after the end of World War II to serve as tourist attractions. Irving isn't the only person in the world who insists that the Holocaust was a scheme promoted by Jews in order to extort reparations from the Germans, but I do believe he is the only blowhard I've ever heard suggest that it was Poland's plan to build a theme park and call it Auschwitz. The reason I was sorry to see Irving sent off to jail is because I think people should have the right to make stupid, even offensive remarks. Otherwise, to be consistent, I would want to see Harry Belafonte prosecuted for embracing Hugo Chavez, and telling the Venezuelan crowds that George W. Bush is the worst villain in the world and that America is a terrorist state. The oddest thing about Holocaust deniers is that, down deep, people like Irving and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad only wish that Hitler had finished what he started. I guess you could say that the main difference between an anti-Semitic optimist and an anti-Semitic pessimist is whether he views six million dead Jews as a job half-fulfilled or half-unfulfilled. One of the things I object to about Holocaust deniers is the term itself. It sounds rather impressive, even distinguished. It sort of lends intellectual legitimacy to a bunch of lunatics. It would be like describing people who believe the world is flat as level headed eartharians or referring to those who are convinced the moon is made of cheese as edamologists. It also annoys me when seemingly rational people engage these bigoted pinheads in debates on college campuses. Once again, it lends credence to their contention that the Nazis didn't exterminate millions of European Jews. It simply makes no sense to stage a debate with some booby who insists that a ton of photographs, Nazi crematoriums, eyewitness testimony and Elie Wiesel's books, are all part of a gigantic Zionist conspiracy. You might as well hire a hall in order to argue with some yutz who insists that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. All you're really doing is suggesting that there are two sides to the question, and that reasonable people can agree to disagree. The way I see it, if somebody tells you he's Napoleon Bonaparte, clearly he's insane. However, if you insist in arguing with him, it only goes to prove that you're crazy, too. Burt Prelutsky has been a humor columnist for the L.A. Times and a movie critic for Los Angeles magazine. He is the author of Conservatives are from Mars (Liberals are from San Francisco). This article appeared oon www.Townhall.com and is archived at
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SHIMON PERES: WISTFUL OR SENILE?; FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Posted by Steven Shamrak, April 26, 2006. |
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My comments are in italics inside () parentheses. Temporary Knesset Speaker Shimon Peres, serving as such by virtue of his being the oldest of the Knesset Members after suicide bombing in Tel-Aviv. He said that the "Palestinian nation", which just three months ago voted overwhelmingly to entrust the Hamas terrorist organization with its government, is "not an enemy. It is a long-suffering people, most of which understands that they must live with us in peace." (Wishful thinking!) Despite findings to the contrary, Peres said that terrorism is the enemy "of both peoples; not only our enemy, but also of the Palestinians." Just last month, a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that 52.4% PA Arabs support "armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel." Close to a third of those who support the attacks said they "strongly support" them. Like Peres, President Katzav sidestepped the overwhelming majority by which Hamas had just been elected to power when he said, "We want to believe that the political approach of the Hamas government is not the way of the Palestinians. I believe that most of the Palestinians support peace with Israel..."
The special cabinet meeting the acting PM Olmert called held the Hamas government responsible for the Palestinian suicide attack, which claimed 9 lives, injured 65 people in Tel Aviv. But the ministers rejected the military's demand to declare the Palestinian Authority an enemy entity and so be able to target its institutions. ( Back to the same game, the same gutless leadership! Jewish blood is cheap, even for the Jewish leaders.) Hizballah's Gaza-based 1800 Forward Command orchestrated the massive Tel Aviv suicide bombing that left 9 dead, 65 injured last Monday. The organization was set up to design "quality" terror attacks against Israel. (This is a declaration of war by the enemies of Israel, inside and outside ones. Even the blind can see it - but not the self-serving Jewish leaders!) FOOD FOR THOUGHT (Sometimes, I feel sorry for Olmert. He used to be a strong Zionist. But for a long time he has been living in emotional isolation among 'the enemies' - 14 self-hating lefties members of his immediate family! This could be the reason why he had flipped.) Arabs are not Israelis. 3 Arab MKs met with Hamas leaders, and one of the MKs now demands to visit the nuclear reactor in Dimona. Some of them are memberships on the permanent Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee. Hashem Mahmeed of the United Arab List said on record: "Israeli-Arabs must learn from Hizbullah how to fight for their lands, in the same way that Hizbullah forced Israel out of Lebanon." Abu Tir is famous both for his orange-dyed beard and anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist stances recently said that U.S. churches are secretly run by Jews who converted to Christianity with the intention of controlling religious Americans. (Time to liberate Israel from the internal cancer and let all Arabs go!) Prostitutes in Action. Jack Straw, the UK foreign secretary, significantly watered down US-European provisions for acceptance of a Hamas government and de-freeze on funding. Why - Britain and France are competing for large-scale arms deals with Saudi Arabia and multi-billon dollar contracts. (It is all about money, Stupid!) Shiite Militia Evicted Arab Palestinians from Baghdad. All 35,000 Arab Palestinians are expelled from Baghdad. Expulsion of the Palestinians is part of the Shiite campaign to purge Baghdad of Sunni Muslims without official Iraqi or American interference. For some weeks, 2,000-3,000 Palestinians have been stranded in tents set up in the desert on the Iraqi side of the Jordanian border. Jordan refuses to let them enter. (There is not International outrage or outcry. Israel must do the same to her enemies!) "Wireless Mesh" Network. A wireless mesh network system to be tested for wider applications worldwide in the Samaria city of Ariel. The network will provide a much larger range and area of wireless internet coverage in cities around the globe. In Ariel, the new it will be used by the municipality to read water meters remotely, streamline communication between city workers, bolster law enforcement capabilities with extended video surveillance. Iranian Spies working Lebanon-Israel Border. Iran has set up a sophisticated intelligence gathering operation in southern Lebanon to identify targets in northern Israel in the event of a military confrontation. Iran has spent tens of millions of dollars helping Hizb'Allah to set up a network of control towers and monitoring stations along the entire length of Israel's border with Lebanon. (U.N. and Lebanese government have done nothing to stop this escalation!) Quote of the Week: "Unity, Purity, Conviction, Vigor - these are the armaments of every great Jewish activist since the beginning of Jewish activism. Use them in your wars, both great and small, on behalf of the Land of Israel and the Jewish people, and you'll see miracles, too." - by Malkah Fleisher. Jewish holy site vandalized in Galilee. Unknown vandals desecrated the tomb of Talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel. Located in the Israeli Arab village of Kafr Kana, just west of the Golani junction, the tomb is the final resting place of one of the most prominent rabbis of the Talmudic era. (Time to end it, once and for all!) Killer Rewarded by Hamas. Jamal Abu Samhadana, the number two man on Israel's most wanted list and commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, was appointed as director-general of the Palestinian Interior and National Security Ministry. Samhadana's group is behind countless rocket attacks on Israeli targets. Thousands flock to Tomb of Patriarchs. Tens of thousands flocked here yesterday to the biblical town of Hebron to celebrate Passover festivities alongside the Tomb of the Patriarchs - the second holiest site to Judaism - ahead of West Bank withdrawal. (Shame! They have already accepted the ugly defeat!) Common Enemy. Husam Abu Baker, 32, one of Osama bin Laden's most trusted aides who was recently killed in Afghanistan, was a Palestinian Arab from the West Bank. Husam was married to the daughter of Ayman Zawahiri, the number-two man in al-Qaeda. "I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror." - President Bush. (You've got you wish Mr. President! What next? You have been fostering narco-government in Afghanistan and fake democracy in Iraq. Both of them will collapse as soon as US army withdraw. The stupidity of US foreign policy must be rejected by Israel. It must not be allowed on Jewish land). Steven Shamrak was born in the former Soviet Union (USSR) and participated in the Moscow Zionist "refusenik" movement. For the last 3 years, he has been publishing internet editorial letters on the Arab-Israeli conflict - independently, not as a member of any organization or political movement. He can be reached by email at StevenShamrak@mail2world.com |
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ISRAEL THROWS THE FIGHT; US VS CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM; FRANCE AND RUSSIA GOING MUSLIM
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 26, 2006. |
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ISRAEL THROWS THE FIGHT "That Hamas 'minister for Jerusalem' arrested by Israel earlier this week? They let the guy go. They had to, cause otherwise someone might get the idea that Israel was planning to prevent Hamas control of Jerusalem." (Prof. Steven Plaut, 4/7.) Anti-conspiracy theorist Prof. Steven Plaut is describing the conspiracy of Israel's leaders in pretending that they are Zionist and anti-terrorist, while preparing to cede the core of Zion to the terrorist enemy. By now Israelis are disillusioned with their leaders, but do not realize that the leaders betray them. GLOBALISM IN TERRORISM, WHY NOT IN DEFENSE? Terrorism is expanding its reach. Nevertheless, each victim nation awaits its own attack and fights back piecemeal (and only when the attack is more severe). One way to procrastinate is to open diplomacy with their enemies, giving the enemies time to build forces even within the targeted countries. Another way is to deal with dispatched terrorists but leave their enemies' home bases and states intact. The terrorists learn from individual responses to be more effective in subsequent ones. The victim nations, present and potential, would be wiser to unite, gather maximum strength, and crush terrorism everywhere. The West should destroy enemy states, and not worry about damage to civilian enemy populations. These civilians wholeheartedly support jihad. (Iranians don't). Western states fail to crack down on their Islamic populations, explaining that they mustn't be harsh like their enemies, for then they would be like their enemies. To the contrary, whereas harsh medicine saves the patient, mild medicine leaves the virus triumphant. Then those Western victim states would indeed become like their enemies! For example, the new demand in some European states is to replace native law with Islamic law. (This demand is not repudiated with the contempt it deserves nor with the alarm it warrants.) The West demands that Israel concede territory to the Arabs bent on conquering Israel. The West's rationale is that the terrorists cannot conquer Israel. The reality is that the concessions are a down payment on conquest. This vindicates the terrorism that led to it, and emboldens the terrorists, so that concessions accelerate trouble rather than prevent it. A US study states that Israel is preparing for a protracted war of attrition. If so, Israel is forfeiting the offensive. Eventually, it would lose (Winston Mid East Analysis, 4/7). I think Israel is not preparing. It just sits there, bombing empty buildings and fields in a phony show of retaliation, with insufficient targeted assassinations to disrupt terrorist networks. Killing a few worker ants is not as effective as killing the queen bee -- the enemy society -- from which the queen breeds the soldiers. P.A. rockets are coming closer to Israeli power plants, fuel dumps, and major cities. Casualties will rise. As an alternative to killing a few hundred million people, which Mr. Winston proposes, the West might destroy their militaries and keep them destroyed, take over their oil, and not rebuild their countries until they genuinely reform. They would not have the means to resume terrorism on any scale or with any significance, except for funds from Muslims in the West. That source of funding must be cut off, and the hostile populations returned, so they no longer menace their hosts. EMPOWERING ARABS IN ISRAELI "A key Givat Haviva program for Arab empowerment has been awarded a $350,000 MEPI (Middle East Partnership Initiative) grant from the US Embassy in Israel. The grant will support the Institute for Training Community Leaders and Municipal Workers in the Arab Sector, a project implemented jointly by Givat Haviva's Jewish-Arab Center for Peace and the Arab Mayors Council." "By raising the professional skills of Arab community workers and leaders, and improving the level of the services they provide to their constituents, the program strengthens the foundations of democracy and facilitates social change in Israeli Arab villages and cities." (IMRA, 4/11.) The more educated and professional the Arabs, the more discontented and radical. The Givat program is subversive, which is why the US supports it and does not object to the many police state tactics against Jews, also subversive and pro-Arab. "Democracy" is the new password for evildoers. In its name, anything is to be permitted, including empowering Arab totalitarians striving to take over the country. The stated goal of peace is futile, regarding Islam, based on jihad and whose followers are coming under control by Islamists. These Jewish-Arab peace centers distract Jews from recognizing the two people's incompatibility and the need to fight against Muslim take-over and genocide. Rather than imposing this sociological experiment in teaching democracy throughout the country on a purely theoretical basis, test it one city. CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM CHALLENGED BY U.S. The US Commission on Civil Rights has found that many college professors teach a biased slant on Zionism and stifle dissent, that campuses develop an atmosphere hostile to Jews and Israel in a way that is antisemitic, and that Jewish students have a legal right, under Title VI, to be protected from intimidation. Universities should foster academic integrity and academic (not just ethnic) diversity and denounce antisemitism. Those and other recommendations were at the initiative of Zionist Organization of America (IMRA, 4/9). IDF ATTACKS TERRORISTS, RATHER THAN WASTELAND The IDF bombed some terrorist training camps, in reaction to their launching rockets at Israel (Arutz-7, 4/9). Usually the IDF bombs vacant buildings and empty fields. This change is a return from pretended defense to minimal defense. Serious defense would be to wipe out the terrorist organizations. Notice that Israel rarely pursues Hamas! Its rationalization for sparing Hamas may be that Hamas is not directly attacking Israel. Hamas, however, uses the respite to prepare for war while giving its rockets to other groups that fire them. That is not a reason to spare Hamas. IRAN PREPARES FOR WAR Leader of a regional Islamist axis including Syria and the terrorists from Iraq, Lebanon, and the P.A., Iran is preparing for war. It has removed billions of dollars deposited in Western banks, lest the funds be sequestered. It has turned the Lebanese border with Israel into its front line by taking over command of Hizbullah's rockets and forts and building intelligence listening posts. It has threatened to close the Straits of Hormuz, through which almost half the world's oil is transported. It has announced possession of several radar-evading missiles systems, some capable of reaching Europe. It disregards the Israeli Army, because Israel's political bosses restrain it. It disregards the US, because its President is stymied by military and political difficulties and is confused: (1) One day the US announces that it will not subsidize the regime of the P.A., but the next day it announces that it will subsidize the people of the P.A. and demands that Israel keep its border with Gaza open; (2) The US has no plan for ending Syrian support for terrorism; and (3) The State Dept. interferes in Iraq's democratic formation of government and in behalf of pro-Iranian factions! Iran is confident that it is rising and that the US and Israel are on the retreat (IMRA, 4/8). The US is arrogant towards Iraqis. HAMAS COMPLAINS ABOUT ISRAELI DEFENSE Hamas refuses to keep the P.A. peace agreements with Israel, and does not stop terrorists from firing rockets at Israel. It claims to have asked other militias to stop launching those rockets without official permission. But it is complaining to the UN against Israeli liquidation of terrorists involved in the attacks on Israel. Hamas lectures the UNO on its duty to maintain international peace and security (Benny Avni, NY Sun, 4/12, p.6). Hamas is partly right. To maintain peace and security, the UNO should crack down, but on the P.A.. After all, the P.A. is the aggressor. But Hamas is partly wrong. It is not right of it to demand UNO protection against Israeli efforts to maintain its own security. It is doubly wrong in that it gave the rocket crews many of the rockets fired. How hypocritical to deny responsibility for the firing! What Hamas wants is for its allies to be free to fire rockets at Israel and have the UNO treat any Israeli attempt to stop Arab terrorism treated as aggression, to be punished. PALESTINIAN CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS OBJECTS The Center objects to extra-judicial killing of fellow Arabs by gunmen who accuse them of collaborating with Israeli authorities. The Center does explain that the accusation often is just an excuse, but urges that the accused be put on trial, as is the "right and duty" of the P.A. (IMRA, 4/9). Give them a trial and then kill them? "Collaboration" is advising Israel how to stop terrorism. That is decent people's right and duty. THE WAY FRANCE IS GOING, if reports be correct Muslims already constitute a fifth of the population in France, but 45% of births there. When that generation comes of age, Muslims would be a majority. Muslims are challenging the right of a "western culture" professor to evaluate Muslim students. They are getting school Christmas celebrations cancelled and Christmas trees removed, but demand special prayer rooms at all levels of schools, that all work and study schedules revolving around their times for prayer, and Muslim holidays for government workers. (Much of French industry is owned by the government.) They also are getting schools where they predominate to bar non-halal meat. " Muslims demand a revision of French history books to integrate the history of their country and religion." "In order not to 'irritate' Muslims, all references to Charles Martel [fought Muslims], Jeanne D'Arc and many more French legends are being removed from French school books." "Many French high schools with a North African majority have 'Death to the Jews', 'Death to the Christians' and 'Support Ben Laden' inscriptions on their walls." "During the demonstrations against the war in Iraq, some Muslim 'pacifists' and 'anti racists' were exhibiting portraits of Ben Laden or Saddam Hussein." (Much anti-war protest really is anti-defense.) A man who burned a girl alive was acclaimed in his Muslim suburb. "In Belgium, Islamic militias patrol the streets to 'control the bad and racist white cops and to apply their own rules.'" Muslim girls in France demand exemption from sports and biology classes, without being penalized at exams. They require that only females conduct their exams. Muslim women have gotten special female schedules for use of swimming pools. "Doctors were violently beaten because they had healed women without the consent of their Muslim husbands." Muslim students have instituted separate taps for Muslims, on the theory that the French are "impure." (In my young adulthood, I protested against separate water fountains for "colored only.") Muslims in France were asked whether they would defend their country. One out of ten would. Seven out of ten said no, and two out of ten laughed (Op. Cit. from French newspapers). The few reasonable accommodations signify a loss of French culture. Does France want that? Much is made of the citizenship that some Muslims have. I think it was granted lightly, prematurely, and foolishly. Borders may matter to Muslim politicians, for it delineates their authority, but Islam indoctrinates the faithful into giving first allegiance to the faith, not to the country. RUSSIA GOING THE WAY OF FRANCE Muslims have been immigrating into Russia in large numbers and reproducing at a much higher rate than Russians. At that rate, Muslims would gain a majority in 30 years. To influence Russian policy, however, Muslims, being a solid and vociferous bloc, would not need a majority (Miriam Gardner of American Yated Neeman, 3/17 roundup). That is what Pres. Putin should be reacting to, not to US attempts to stem the Muslim onslaught. He is failing his own country as well as the world. 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 richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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ABANDONING JUDEA AND SAMARIA WILL BRING JOY TO HAMAS
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, April 26, 2006. |
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Abandoning Judea, Samaria, and the futures of more than 60,000 Israeli citizens, dwelling within those lands, by retreating behind unilaterally crafted borders will only bring joy to those newly elected Jew-despising Hamas fanatics who will indeed claim victory for such an achievement, concurrently demanding a right of return for all so-called Palestinian career refugees, on the road to their ultimate aim of dismantling the entire State of Israel. This is the conundrum Jewish Israelis must face. No doubt, Jewish Israelis yearn for peace. No doubt, Jewish Israelis yearn to separate themselves from hostile Arabs, maintaining their homeland's Jewish identity. Little doubt, the current policies of newly elected Ehud Olmert and his cadre of strategists, presumably carrying Ariel Sharon's baton, will alas only bring misery to the populace they steward. How can ceding land, justifiably secured in battle by intrepid Israeli troops in 1967, thus emboldening terrorists who are declared archenemies of the Jewish State, possibly be good for beleaguered Israel? There must be a better way! Israel's relatively moderate Islamic neighbor Jordan has its own problems. Hapless war embroiled Iraqi citizens currently attempt to get out of harms way by crossing their border into the Hashemite kingdom. The last thing King Abdullah seemingly needs is more migrating Arab flocks from the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria, yet here-in does lie the answer to Israel's own dilemma. If so-called Palestinians were persuaded to relocate into their true homeland of Jordan, Hamas would grudgingly follow with tail between its legs. Jordanian leaders, wary of extremists that could certainly threaten their own power base, would profit from Hamas' loss of prestige, but of course would not want such Arabs squatting within their own sovereign nation. However, if a small portion of Jordan, about the size of Judea and Samaria, would be partitioned as the new Palestinian state, King Abdullah would bear no responsibility nor in fact would have to deal with the newly arrived immigrants, who now would have a home of their own. Appropriate compensation could be paid to the seller of this real estate, especially from wealthy Diaspora Jewish contributors, thus swelling the coffers of that obliging moderate Arab nation. Perhaps a finder's fee discreetly paid to Abdullah would grease the skids (it couldn't hurt). Jordan can surely afford to give up some territory, perhaps along the eastern bank of its famous river, being more than four times the size of tiny Israel. More importantly, Jordan would gain kudos as a peacemaker from grateful civil nations of the world, which could translate into economic perks. The only losers would be terrorist groups such as Hamas and Islamic autocrats of the region, losing Israel as a diversionary scapegoat conveniently absorbing the rancor and frustration of their exploited Muslim subjects. Cultivating such a concept among relevant parties, amenable to a true solution, is not at all an easy task. Yet long-suffering stateless Arabs, now subsisting in relative squalor, might jump at a chance to enhance their secular lives along the east bank of the Jordan River. Why not? Hard working citizens given the opportunity to be masters of their fates, captains of their souls, could thrive on any parcel of land. Hamas would reveal its true obsessive destructive nature to the population it presumably serves if it rejected any offer that led to the formation of a viable contiguous Palestinian State. The absurdity of spinning one's wheels evermore could dawn on a downtrodden society if properly promoted. An idea, like a seed, if planted and nurtured with considerable care, could grow into a healthy plant. For the sake of future generations of Israelis, and indeed future generations of hopefully moderate Arab neighbors, it is worth the effort to at least consider this out of the box solution to an awful state of affairs. Lawrence Uniglicht is a career civil servant, working for the Social Security Administration. He advocates for the State of Israel with an American perspective. He writes, "Advocating for the disrespected underdog has been my passion, no doubt Israel falls into that category." Contact him by email at luniglicht@snip.net |
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ISRAEL'S WORLD IMAGE
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, April 26, 2006. |
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Israel's world image will not improve until citizens and friends of the beleaguered State clearly make the case that all land of disputed sovereignty belongs to Israel, Jewish citizens inhabiting such land are town folks not settlers, and Israel does not occupy such land but in fact must deploy its military to insure the health and safety of Jewish town folks surrounded by belligerent Arab neighbors. Certainly, Ehud Olmert's decision to eventually evict perhaps 60,000 Jewish town folks from their homes in Judea and Samaria, contracting Israel by retreating behind unilaterally crafted borders, only reinforces the planetary misconception that the so-called West Bank and perhaps east Jerusalem are territories belonging to so-called Palestinians. The P.L.O. was formed in 1964, composed of a disproportionate number of individuals from elite Arab families residing along the west bank of the Jordan River, about three years before Israel secured Gaza, Judea, Samaria, the eastern sector of Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, in the course of vanquishing such Arab foes intent on annihilating the Jewish State. Only after that inspiring victory did the P.L.O. lay claim to that justifiably captured territory demanding a sovereign Palestinian State. The more than three-year hiatus strongly suggests that this newly formed crew of morphed Jordanians, eventually headed by Yasser Arafat in 1969, only desired a separate Palestinian state when Jews became stewards of land previously located within the boundaries of Arab regimes. No such demand was foisted upon those established Arab governments, when they were in charge, by this newly created tribe of Arabs. Hmmm! The terms "settler" and "occupier" create images of nasty abusive Israelis in the minds-eye of a collectively uninformed and/or innately prejudiced planetary populace, ever-willing to view events with an anti-Israeli perspective. It surely does not help when many exasperated Israeli citizens, their leaders, and self-flagellating Diaspora Jews also utilize those terms, acquiescing to in effect anti-Semitic blather. If Jews themselves wallow in muddled thinking, how might they expect the rest of the world to react? Have such Jews forgotten the details of an unkind history and that their current Jewish heritage remains solely because of the unyielding fortitude of their ancestors? Jews must always fight the good fight, cease bending before those that wish to destroy them, and above all preserve all of Israel, including land justly conquered in battle, for future generations of Israelis! There must be no other option! Lawrence Uniglicht is a career civil servant, working for the Social Security Administration. He advocates for the State of Israel with an American perspective. He writes, "Advocating for the disrespected underdog has been my passion, no doubt Israel falls into that category." Contact him by email at luniglicht@snip.net |
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THEY AREN'T CIVILIZED, AND DIALOGUE WON'T CUT IT
Posted by IsrAlert, April 26, 2006. |
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This was written by James Lileks and appeared in the today's Jewish
World Review (www.jewishworldreview.com). It is also resident on the
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies website: Please understand: Iran announces it will give Hamas $50 million to meet the bills. Pin money, you might say. Grenade pin money, more like it. The day after the award, a suicide bomber kills eight at a lunch stand in Tel Aviv. Hamas, speaking with the exquisite sense of nuance and reason that got them elected to run the Palestinian Authority, defends the attack. They blame Israel's "aggression" -- must have been the flowerpots knocked over on the way out of Gaza -- and call the action "self-defense." This may seem absurd to some, since the people killed were waiting in a line at a falafel stand. If you believe the Jews exist only to weave dark plots against innocent Muslims and gentiles, well, yes, it's self-defense. The mother of two who was killed in the bombing could have been taking a break from inventing invisible Mossad vampire robots. You never know. How should the West respond? With furrowed brows, of course. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, through his spokesperson, called upon the Palestinian Authority "to take a clear public stand against such unjustifiable acts of terrorism." In other words, Annan wants Hamas to condemn as "unjustifiable" something it has just justified. And do so sincerely. This is the response of civilized men to barbarity: They're reduced to begging for a lie. Peeved that the usual niceties of diplomatic lingo are being ignored, Annan has also asked Iran to dial down the blowtorch rhetoric. Enough with the "death to America"; perhaps something along the lines of "a persistent rash to America, not entirely explained away as contact dermatitis" or "a broken arm to America, easily set but requiring it to spend the summer in an itchy cast." The world could live with that, because then we could understand it was all a metaphor. And it is a metaphor, isn't it? These are all just dramatic gestures that must be understood in the context of a volatile region. They're shouting "theater" in a crowded fire. Right? Oh, absolutely. That would explain why Iran has created an elite squad of dedicated Human Similes, or, as they call them, "The Special Unit of Martyr Seekers." These are battalions of suicide bombers who will attack American and British interests if the West dares to interfere with Iran's nuclear bomb program. These heroic would-be falafel-stand exterminators appeared in a recent parade, "dressed in olive-green uniforms with explosive packs around their waists and detonators held high," according to England's Sunday Times. Wonderful. How seasonal. In your Martyr's bonnet, with all the wires upon it. Iran says 40,000 have signed up. The Seekers are run by "Dr." Hassan Abbasi (one suspects the doctoral program requirements are somewhat different in the Islamic Republic), a chap who runs the "Centre for Doctrinal Strategic Studies" for the Republican Guard. Sounds so very civilized, no? Doctors and Centres and Studies both Strategic and Doctrinal. We have the Heritage Foundation, they have think tanks that develop religious rationales for sending boys to clear minefields with their bodies. Surely there's some common ground. Surely a country that spells "Centre" in the English fashion can be reasoned with. Granted, Abbasi has said that "Britain's demise is on our agenda," but it's a cry for respect, really. When a country announces it has 40,000 suicide bombers, and its president announces that Israel is "a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm" and pledges the destruction of America, it's a sign we have to sit down and ask: What's on your mind, really? Fear not. Oh, we'll talk. And talk and talk. The U.N. has taken the carrot-and-stick approach. The stick: threatening a fresh round of scowls from the Security Council. The carrot: Iran has just been elected deputy for Asian nations for the U.N. commission on ... disarmament. That probably comes with an extra parking spot in the U.N. garage. There's not a member of the diplomatic corps who believes Iran would be stupid enough to jeopardize such a plum. Why, it's close to the elevator. They may be mad, but they're not crazy. Harv Weiner, a businessman in Dallas, Texas, is the founder and moderator of Isralert. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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SWEDEN PULLS OUT OF MILITARY EXERCISES BECAUSE OF ISRAEL
Posted by Avodah 15, April 26, 2006. |
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This article appeared in Defense New and is archived at
This appeared on www.littlegreenfootballs.com/
Sweden has withdrawn from European military exercises due to be held next month in Italy because of Israel's participation, Swedish foreign ministry and military officials said on April 26. The Spring Flag air exercises in Sardinia May 8-25 "have been organized for peacekeeping operations and we don't want to take part because of Israel's participation," foreign ministry spokeswoman Nina Ersman told AFP. The nine countries due to participate -- Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden -- were to train together for a future collaboration in international peacekeeping operations. But Israel would unlikely be able to be involved in any such peacekeeping operations, the foreign ministry said, calling into question the need for the exercises. "Israel is not currently conducting any peacekeeping operations," Ersman said. Another ministry spokesman, Christian Carlsson, told Swedish Radio: "Our analysis of the situation for the time-being is that an Israeli participation in this kind of peacekeeping effort is unlikely given the political situation in the Middle East". Contact Avodah 15 at avodah15@aol.com |
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PENN STATE STIFLES CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE NAME OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Posted by Naomi Ragen, April 26, 2006. |
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Friends, In response to my e-mail about the biased, undemocratic cancellation of an exhibition by student Josh Stulman, showing the face of Palestinian terrorism, at The Pennsylvania State University, hundreds of you have contacted the professor responsible. Below, an excellent letter sent to Professor Charles Garoian by Dr. Denis MacEoin, a professor and author from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Please send a copy of your letter to Professor Garoian - or a new letter - to the president of Penn State: Graham B. Spanier at president@psu.edu and to the Board of Trustees i.e BOT@psu.edu Every blessing,
Board of Trustees
Paula R. Ammerman
Dear Professor Garoian, May I address you as a fellow academic, albeit one working in the United Kingdom, whose original field is Arabic, Persian and Islamic Studies? The reason for my writing is that I have just learned of your decision to ban an exhibition of art centred around Palestinian terrorism, the work of a Penn State student called Josh Stulman. I understand that your decision to cancel Mr Stulman's exhibit was made on the grounds that it 'did not promote cultural diversity' or 'opportunities for democratic dialogue'. This seems perfectly bizarre to me. I believe that the exhibition was concerned with the social and cultural impact of Palestinian terrorism on two societies, Palestinian and Israeli. In what way would that not promote 'cultural diversity'? Israel, which is daily threatened and harmed by that terrorism is - and I say this on the basis of close knowledge of the situation - is one of the most racially, religiously, and culturally diverse nations in the world, and certain many times more diverse in all these respects than any of its neighbours for a long way round. To convey the nature of a singularly vicious form of hatred (both racially and religiously 'justified') that has corrupted Palestinian culture to a frightening degree and has damaged one of the world's most open and vibrant societies seems to me a very legitimate thing. But I also have to ask why on earth a work of art, however didactic in intent, has to conform to a rigid doctrine that it should 'promote cultural diversity'. That sort of ruling sounds like something from a totalitarian system like China under Mao or Russia under Stalin, or, indeed, countries like Saudi Arabia or Iran today which, in case you have not noticed, not only hate Israel and Jews, but spend a lot of money to promote terrorism against her. You say the exhibit would not provide 'opportunities for democratic dialogue'. First, how do you know whether this would be the case or not? Since the exhibition was to take place on university grounds, I have to assume that the normal rules of open dialogue would have applied. Was Mr Stulman in some way preventing other students or staff from debating the merits of his work, from holding meetings on campus, say, or from writing online comments, or anything else? Since I assume he was not doing this, it seems to me that your action in banning the exhibit is an abuse of academic standards. The academy, as you well know, is a place in which ideas are put forward and - sometimes strongly - debated and disagreed with. Or does Penn State now allow one side of an argument to be put forward? If so, I must tell the more opinionated of my students to enrol there. Since you are in favour of cultural diversity, I take it you also approve of diversity of argument. American campuses (much more than ours in the UK) are repeatedly venues for anti-Israel speakers, meetings, and exhibits. Why, then, should one student exhibiting images about Palestinian terror rock the boat so much? If this had been a Muslim/Arab/Iranian student who wanted to put up an exhibition on the evils of the 'Zionist entity', would you, I wonder, have banned the event? I will ask you now to do some hard thinking. Reflect on the meaning of the academy, the open exchange of opinions, and the profound significance of Palestinian terrorism as a subject for artistic expression. If you disagree with Mr Stulman's take on the matter, please just argue with him. Do not, at the risk of losing all credibility and honour as a university teacher, censor him. You are living in America, a country that has, as one of its many claims to fame, rights to free expression that are enshrined in the First Amendment. Please confirm me in my opinion that Americans still live up to the high standards imposed by their remarkable Constitution. We don't have one over here: you have that privilege. Please honour it. Yours sincerely, Dr. Denis MacEoin
Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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ALLIES AND FRIENDS OF ISRAEL NEED TO PROVE THEMSELVES
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, April 25, 2006. |
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Any nation, including the United States, can prove to be a true ally and friend of Israel if it unequivocally recognizes the fact that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish State, thus relocates its consulate within the confines of that city. Furthermore, any such ally and friend must loudly declare that Israel has every right to maintain its Jewish identity, thus will support the notion that no right of return to that State of so-called Palestinian refugees is possible. Other Middle Eastern nations retain their rights to be Islamic states and the outer world is silent. Israel's landmass is less than two tenths of one percent the size of that Middle Eastern region, thus it would be hypocritical and surely ludicrous to deny that tiny nation its inalienable right to declare its ethnic identity. Strategically, any true ally and friend of Israel, indeed any civil observant nation, must recognize the exceedingly immature and perilous nature of the Arab response to its acquisition of Gaza. Instead of attempting to develop that enclave into a viable functioning sovereign State, since Israel's unilateral withdrawal, Gaza's Arab inhabitants dwell in chaos perhaps on the brink of civil war. The newly elected Hamas party refuses to recognize the existence of Israel, allowing terrorist factions, within its jurisdiction, to propel lethal rockets into the territory of its despised neighbor with impunity. Israel, alas, has no choice but to retaliate. Such an unstable state of affairs strongly suggests that Israel must not cede one more inch of its justifiably secured territory to Arabs. Newly elect Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's declared policy of eventual unilateral withdrawal from most of Judea and Samaria, in that process drastically disrupting the lives of perhaps 70,000 consequentially evicted Jewish citizens, is unconscionable folly ceding more land to out of control Arabs; thus any true ally and friend of Israel must in no uncertain terms twist the arm of Olmert to put the kabash on a policy of perceived weakness with no upside whatsoever. Does the pompous head of state, presuming to carry Sharon's baton, really think hostile Arabs will stop shooting rockets at Israel, or stop deploying homicide/suicide martyrs at a perceived enemy in retreat? If so, might he need a check up from the neck up? Any true ally and friend of modern Israel cannot help but notice in a bit more than one half century of existence, this comparatively tiny overachiever despite its travails has attained first world status, bustles at the vanguard of research and development in many fields, and amazingly contributes more to the progress of an emerging second millennium than all of its immensely larger neighbors combined. Therefore, such allies and friends must encourage Israeli leaders to declare all disputed land justly acquired in battle as part of sovereign Israel, expanding Jewish communities within the regions of Judea and Samaria for the good of the planet. A larger vibrant Israel, able to attract larger numbers of educated and progressive citizens worldwide, will be able to contribute even more to an evolving mankind. Those two million or so Jordanian Arabs, culturally programmed to consider themselves citizens of the Koran, currently residing within the borders of Judea and Samaria, would in effect become, from a secular perspective, Jordanian nationals. Wise Israeli leaders could encourage them to relocate, affording them an opportunity to apply for Israeli citizenship contingent upon publicly pledging allegiance to the State of Israel while concurrently renouncing any and all enemies of the Jewish State, including Hamas. Might the number of takers of that offer fit inside a moving van? Prescient citizens of mankind's one home in the universe, at the juncture of a perilous crossroad, at a point in spacetime where technological progress especially in the evil art of weaponry far exceeds mankind's collective maturity level, must make a choice. Israel has proven itself to be a worthy steward of the modest precious parcel of earth it tends, thus deserves significant support from allies and friends. The same cannot be said for Palestinian wannabes, many currently wrecking havoc in Gaza, many previously and currently unproductively wallowing in the throes of a self-imposed refugee status. Israeli citizens, with an overall commendable track record, are far more likely to enhance this planet's future then reckless jihad junky self-named Palestinian Arabs with axes to grind, even willing to morph their children into surreally sadistic exploding weapons to wipe out the perceived infidel. If dysfunctional Earth's intelligent species is ever to stabilize, exponentially advancing maturity level to within shouting distance of technical expertise, allies and friends for one must vigorously encourage the State of Israel to overcome obstacles and further grow as a thriving oasis within a vast desert of disarray. No choice could be clearer! Lawrence Uniglicht is a career civil servant, working for the Social Security Administration. He advocates for the State of Israel with an American perspective. He writes, "Advocating for the disrespected underdog has been my passion, no doubt Israel falls into that category." Contact him by email at luniglicht@snip.net |
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A PROJECT PROPOSAL AND SOLICITATION
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, April 25, 2006. |
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Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University.
Good morning to you all, A few minutes ago the sirens blew. For two minutes, the entire nation stood still, all cars and public transportation stopped. Everyone stood at attention. Many people prayed, some cried - was one of the latter. It is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Today, is the day we remember the Six Millions of our brothers and sisters viciously murdered by the Nazi monster. Even when absolutely certain of loosing the war, this did not stop his cruelty and monsterism, but rather increased the speed, sacrificing his war machine to murder a few more people. In the end, while we commemorate our Six Million the world needs to remember that Hitler and his Germans and their allies, caused the deaths of Sixty Million. Jews were "only" ten percent of the humanity killed - or were they? Do numbers tell the story? Next week are Yom Hazikaron, the day we remember the dead killed in the wars for the establishment of the State of Israel, followed immediately by Yom Haatzmaut - Independence Day; three dates that arrive upon us together; with enormous emotional impact. I shall propose a project. We have here in Israel an organisation called Magen David Adom - Red Shield of David. This is the "equivalent" of the Red Cross; equivalent, except without the racism. The Red Cross adamantly refuses to "recognise" the Red Shield of David (recognizing the Red Crescent) while MDA maintains hundreds of ambulances in Arab villages, hires Arab drivers, trains Arab paramedics and saves hundreds of Arab lives, every year. All this is despite the terrorists' constant attacks against ambulances (classified by the PA as "strategic targets"). It may not be well known, but MDA is fifty percent self-supporting by income producing activities (such as corporate training). However, that still leaves fifty percent. Part of that comes from government subsidy. Part comes from contributions. Most of the development budgets need to come from contributions. I propose the following: Anybody who can contribute, whether one dollar or a hundred dollars or ten thousand dollars, I propose to renovate the Beer-Sheva Magen David Adom station. I can send a written report (about three pages) about this station with details. The station supports the entire South of the country, about sixty percent of the territory, from Qiryat Gat to Eilat. It is managed by a highly skilled and impressive professional, Yehuda Shoshan, with a masters degree in medical management. I promise I will take personal responsibility for the funds and how they are used. One of our number (or rather two, a husband and wife) made a very generous contribution. This project will add to theirs which is devoted to renovating the training center. I hope by this to renovate the blood bank. I promise to report progress. Please give this careful thought. As I said, any amount is a direct contribution to the sanctity of life. |
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'DOOMSDAY' FALSEHOODS
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 25, 2006. |
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This article appeared in The Washington Times today. It was written by Bennett Zimmerman, Roberta Seid and Michael L. Wise. Bennett Zimmerman is a former strategy consultant with Bain & Company and currently is managing partner of the U.S.-based Israel Emerging Growth Fund. Roberta Seid is a historian and former lecturer on gender studies at the University of Southern California. Michael L. Wise is the founder and director of a wide range of public and private companies in the United States and Israel. Although I had intended to write a Part II to my article of April
23, entitled: "The Palestinian Demographic Scam Of Counting People"
(see As Israel begins a critical national debate about the future of the West Bank, fear of an inevitable Arab demographic threat to Israel's Jewish population underlies the discussion. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert characterized the urgency of the situation in 2003: "Above all hovers the cloud of demographics. It will come down on us not in the end of days, but in just another few years." Such views are a natural outcome of widely distributed demographic forecasts based on Palestinian Authority population reports for the West Bank and Gaza and on pessimistic assumptions about future Jewish growth. But the doomsday scenario for Israeli Jews is wrong. Last year, our American-Israeli research team calculated the 2004 Arab population in the West Bank and Gaza at 2.5 million (1.4 million in the West Bank and 1.1 million in Gaza) instead of the 3.8 million forecast reported as fact by the Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). Uncovering this gap of 1.3 million removed more Arabs from Israel's demographic outlook than did the Gaza disengagement. Corroborated by evidence from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Central Elections Commission, the research established that the PCBS 1997 population base included Jerusalem Arabs already counted in Israel's population surveys and hundreds of thousands of overseas residents. On top of this expanded base, the PCBS built unrealized birth forecasts and assumptions of mass immigration that never occurred. Israel's border records showed steady net Arab emigration both to countries abroad and into pre-1967 Israel and Jerusalem. Indeed, Jewish growth rates since 1997 have surpassed West Bank Arab growth: 2.1 percent versus 1.8 percent, not because of low Arab fertility, but because of significant emigration from the West Bank. The magnitude of the errors in PCBS reports -- its 2004 population estimate was inflated by more than 50 percent -- requires politicians, policy-makers and international aid agencies to revisit their forecasts. Demographers have issued gloomy predictions for Israeli Jews by accepting the faulty PCBS population data and by ignoring evidence of growing Jewish fertility and decelerating Arab growth. Forecasters have maintained that the "demographic momentum" of a young population will inevitably propel Arabs to majority status. Unfortunately, they apply this theory to persons who are living abroad or were never born. Furthermore, their failure to consider significant Jewish immigration in any future scenario repeats mistakes made in the 1980s when demographers denied the possibility of significant immigration from the Soviet Union. In reality, 1 million immigrants arrived. The recent upturn in American Jewish immigration to Israel calls for further study, not systematic dismissal. The dynamic growth in orthodox Jewish communities in the United States with active ties to Israel (as well as recent events in France and the former Soviet Union) deserves attention and analysis. Ignoring these potential pools of immigration lays the foundation for more deeply flawed forecasts. Our "Forecast for Israel and West Bank 2025" uses the corrected population information for the West Bank and updates a forecast for Israeli Arabs and Jews made by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS). Jewish fertility over the past five years has now risen above the highest level considered by the ICBS. In contrast, the Israeli Arab sector is approaching the lowest fertility levels of the ICBS forecast. In the mid-case scenario, Israeli Jews maintain current fertility of 2.7 children per woman (the highest rate in the West) and net immigration averages 20,000 per year. Israeli Arab fertility rates continue their downward trend from the current 4.0 to 3.0. Using U.N. forecasts, West Bank fertility levels of 5.4 gradually fall to 3.24. With these parameters, the Jewish population will form a 63 percent majority in Israel and the West Bank by 2025. In a high-case scenario -- greater Jewish immigration and fertility boosted by rising Orthodox birth rates -- Jews would grow to 71 percent of the total population from today's 67 percent majority. The only likely challenge to the Jewish position would come from large-scale Arab immigration into the West Bank from countries abroad or through safe-passage zones from Gaza. There are many bright possibilities for Israeli Jews -- a community that displays world-class and healthy demographic indicators. Rather than facing a demographic time bomb, Israel could well be holding the demographic trump card. 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). Contact him at gwinston@interaccess.com |
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HAMAS FAR FROM BROKE
Posted by David Meir-Levi, April 25, 2006. |
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Kudos to Amy Teibel's "Palestinian president warns, angers Hamas" (SJMN, 4.25.06, 9A) for a balanced presentation of the conflict brewing between Hamas and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas; and for the balanced inclusion of the Israeli view that Hamas partnered with other terrorist groups to continue attacks despite its commitment to a truce since February of 2005. However, there are several errors which substantively mislead the reader and materially color the whole picture. a.) "...leaving Hamas unable to pay...public workers...(and)..security forces...": false! Iran has committed $50 million and Arabia has committed $92 million and Qatar has committed $50 million and Russia has committed $10 million. Hamas is far from broke. Bottom lines: Hamas is not broke. Money to "salaries" is money to terrorism and to terrorists. Hamas and its predecessors under Arafat and Abbas used the tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid, given to them over the 13 years since the Oslo Accords, to fund their terror war against Israel and the west, and to line their own pockets. If instead they had used that money to build a state run by rule of law....there would be a functioning democratic state of Palestine on most of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip today. David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. His expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). Contact him at david_meirlevi@hotmail.com |
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HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY: "HUMAN SPIRIT IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH"
Posted by Hillel Fendel, April 25, 2006. |
Other speakers at the opening ceremony of Holocaust Memorial Day last night included Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, child survivor Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, and Yad Vashem Director Avner Shalev. Olmert, trying to explain why the Nazis were so intent on exterminating each and every Jew, explained, "This pure-hearted Jew, armed with nothing but a prayer book, a tallit [prayer shawl] and teffilin, evoked the murderous fury of the Nazis. He reminded them by his very presence what they sought to forget, make others forget and completely root out of human civilization: the values of justice, equality, grace and faith." This morning, a two-minute siren was sounded throughout the country to mark the day. Traffic and conversations stopped, as people stood and remembered the murdered six million Jews. Though stores and businesses are open today, memorial services or programs must be held in every school. Public ceremonies will also be held elsewhere throughout the country, and the closing ceremony will be held, as always, at Kibbutz Lochamei HaGetaot (Ghetto Fighters) in the north. Another ceremony will be held this evening at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, named in memory of the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, Mordechai Anielewicz. Six survivors living in Israel lit torches at the Yad Vashem ceremony. The six were: * Chasia Bornstein (Bielicka), 85, born in Grodno, Poland. She saw a German hang one of her girlfriends in a public square, and remembers that the last thing the hanged girl did was to spit heavily in her executioner's face. "I stood there for hours looking at the bodies of my friend and the two others who were killed there, simply trying to build up enough hatred inside myself so that I would be able to murder a German myself," she later said. Hillel Fendel is Senior News Editor at Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com). |
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PEACE NOW IS ARAB LOBBY; "HUMANITARIAN" AID TO JIHADISTS; P.A.
WELFARE CHEATS; MUSLIM DESECRATORS COMPLAIN OF DESECRATION
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 25, 2006. |
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ARAB SELF-CRITIQUE One Arab journalist criticizes his colleagues for taking the lazy path and simply condemning the US, instead of doing research and ascertaining the facts. The other finds that Arab summits accomplish less and less, they just talk. The people don't believe their leaders, any more (IMRA, 4/5). For a people that shun self-criticism, and whose journalists are persecuted for challenging the status quo, quite a few Arab journalists do criticize specific approaches and policies. PEACE NOW Although the few houses in Amona were in process of gaining legal status, Peace Now pressed for their demolition. In the process, the police engaged in an orgy of beating protestors with clubs. Peace Now notes that half a dozen other outposts have demolition orders pending, but the government has not moved against them. It is appealing to the Supreme Court to order the government to enforce those orders. It decried non-enforcement as a "blatant lack of law enforcement" in Judea-Samaria. Peace Now does not decry as blatant lack of law enforcement the government's failure to demolish the 30,000 illegal Arab buildings in Judea-Samaria (some of which may have pending orders of demolition, as some certainly do in Jerusalem). Peace Now is subsidized by the European Union (Arutz-7, 4/6). As part of national defense, a country should bar foreign financing of subversive organizations. In the case of Israel, the organizations would collapse without the subsidy. Peace Now would have the Territories turned over to the lawless enemies of its members' countries. Its double standard is blatant, because it has no standard. Its sole purpose is to appease the Arabs. PERES AND THE POPE Shimon Peres met with the Pope. Peres had offered the Vatican a role in Jerusalem, when the Church demanded freedom of religion there, which the government of Israel pointed out already existed (Arutz-7, 4/6). It does not exist under Arab governments. The Vatican does not protest against that. In seeking its own hegemony over the Holy City, it undermines Israeli rule and strengthens the Arab hold on the city. There is much diplomatic scurrying among the Vatican, the King of Spain, Peres, and European countries. Barry Chamish has pointed out that their object is to turn Jerusalem over to the Arabs or to the Vatican, but in any case to take it away from the Jews. Peres is no stranger to treason. RUMSFELD WON'T ADMIT REAL MISTAKES Sec. Rice admitted that the US made tactical errors in the Iraq war, but asserted that it did made no strategic errors. The decision to wage that war was correct. Sec. Rumsfeld retorted that it did made no tactical errors, either. Thus they played into Thomas Friedman's hands. He observed that Sec. Rumsfeld's refusal to put enough troops into play (did we have them?) created a vacuum filled by looters and insurgents. That was a strategic blunder, jeopardizing the whole enterprise (NY Times, 4/6, Op.-Ed.). Most significant warfare produces tactical errors, so of course the US made some, Friedman added. An Administration of diminishing popularity that pretends otherwise is deceiving itself and vindicating opponents who accuse it of trying to deceive the public. Political life is too dynamic to keep the lid on failure. Besides, a stubborn ego hobbles adaptability. By playing into Democrats' hands in letting the debate about the war be adversarial, and giving them ammunition by denying the obvious, the Administration has crippled the war on Islamism. It forfeits the justification for global self-defense. Another strategic blunder, one that may have seemed a good tactic at the time, was to mute the call for war and to pretend that Islam is a religion of peace. How could Bush now sound the alarm against aggressors depicted, even falsely, as people "of peace"? IF U.S. ATTACKS IRAN'S NUCLEAR FACILITIES If the US destroyed Iran's nuclear facilities, antisemites would claim Israel ordered it to. Actually, most Arab states fear Iran's growing military power. Iran interferes in Iraq (and elsewhere). Arabs worry about Iran influencing their own Shiite minorities. Therefore, decimating Iranian military power would benefit the Arabs, too (IMRA, 4/7). A US raid would eliminate some Iranian air offensive capability, etc.. The American people would accept that, but not another military front, in view of apparent mishandling of the two present theatres of operation. One wonders whether the Administration realizes that if it raids Iran from its bases in Iraq, the war in Iraq would be vindicated? THERE'S NEWS CASTING & NEWS MISCASTING "Alone and Broke, Hamas Struggles to Rule," is the NY Times headline. The US is redirecting money it sent to the P.A. for "relief services and civil society" administered by the UNO and other private organizations. This puts pressure on Hamas, rather than on the people. How virtuous! (John Kifner & Greg Myre, 4/7, A6.) Arab terrorists administer UNRWA services in the P.A, integrating terrorist programs into them. "Civil society" probably means NGOs. P.A. NGOs align their thrust with that of jihad. Besides, what the US gives to the people, Hamas doesn't have to -- the State Dept. is not avoiding helping terrorists. It and the media are misleading our people. CONGRESS FEIGNS INDEPENDENCE The first draft of the Palestinian Anti-terrorism Act of 2006 banned US aid to Hamas and NGOs servicing the P.A., except genuinely humanitarian aid, and omitted a presidential waiver. A substitute bill reduces the restrictions and lets the President waive any clause. The substitute bill defeats the purpose of anti-terrorism legislation (Nathan Diament, NY Sun, 4/6, Op.-Ed.). Glad to find my analysis advanced by others. There is no point to these waivers. The first bill offered hope that Congress finally had learned that the Presidents abuse waivers. The bill was Congress' assertion of its independence from the State Dept.. Better still, Congress should simply not authorize sums for the P.A.. We can't afford to support the whole world; we must choose. We would be wise to choose not to aid the Palestinian Arabs, a viciously anti-American people. They wage total war, we should let them fail. Foreign aid in probably should be eliminated. Most of it is wasted and much of it is counter-productive. Like the physician's first rule, foreign aid should "do no harm." Let US taxpayers keep their money. This country cannot maintain prosperity if it overtaxes itself. We need a legislature that thinks for itself. NY TIMES REALISTIC, TODAY, BUT STILL BIASED The paper reported that Arabs have curbed their efforts at democracy. The article cites Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The dictatorships decided to wait out Bush. They are reverting to custom (4/10). Sometimes the Times cites S. Arabia as initiating democracy there. It came out recently that when the US went to war, the rulers of Libya and Sudan were quaking. Ghaddafi offered to help the US against terrorism. The Arab world responded to US demands for democracy with plans, promises, and some electoral changes. The US advance has faltered. The Arabs no longer fear it. Some are milking the US economy. Others are raking in US aid without ending their hostility towards the US. They are used to making false promises to deflect critics. The Times reports these promises as offering hope and the paltry steps as a beginning. They end too soon to be a beginning. If one thinks the news report an indication that the Times (which by reporting it demonstrates that its prior reports were naïve) indicates it now is realistic about the Arabs, think again. The earlier reports included the P.A. election as an indicator of democracy rising among the Arabs. P.A. elections have not been free. The current one featured competition between bigoted, imperialistic, totalitarian movements. The whole P.A. society is not democratic, so elections, by themselves, would avail little. Today's report is silent about the P.A., ruled by Islamists who, by definition, are not democratic. Islam does not allow equal rights for minorities or women. P.A. WELFARE CHEATING Population statistics for Palestinian Arabs recently were proved inflated. The political consequences of a lower Arab population and its not overtaking the Jewish population were remarked on. Now the financial consequences are weighed. Yoram Ettinger asked why the US accepted those figures, prepared by self-serving Arabs, as a basis for per-capita subsidy, and when will the US scale back its aid accordingly. More important, how long will the US taxpayers continue their payments to UNRWA for non-existent Palestinian refugees? (Miriam Gardner, American Yated Neeman, 3/10 roundup.) UNRWA notoriously over-estimates the number of refugees for which it collects a subsidy from the UN, which, in turn, gets about 22% of its official budget from the US. Will the UN assign higher dues to the oil exporting countries, now that they have had about a year of doubled income from oil price increases? BRITAIN AFFIRMS FREEDOM OF PRESS The Treasurer of Britain explained that in Britain, people resolve their differences by election. Short of fomenting violence, the British have freedom of expression, even if that offends some people. Muslims who want to live under Islamic law (which restricts expression) should move to an Islamic country (Op. Cit.). MUSLIM DESECRATION Muslims slandered the Simon Wiesenthal center as having built its Museum of Tolerance on an ancient and holy Muslim cemetery in western Jerusalem. The media covered the story widely. When apprised of the facts, few newspapers retracted. Some issued a partial correction, but related Muslim denials of the facts without debunking them. The facts are: (1) In the 1920s, the Mufti declared the cemetery there no longer sacred. Muslims removed some graves and built the Palace Hotel; (2) The Supreme Muslim Council developed plans to build an Islamic center upon the whole plot; (3) Muslim practice is to desecrate cemeteries of rival religions. Jordan pillaged the important and ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mt. of Olives, during Israel's War for Independence. P.A. mobs have assaulted the Tomb of Rachel. Islam venerates Joseph as a prophet. Nevertheless, Muslims desecrate Joseph's Tomb as well as Jewish mass-cemeteries (Ibid.). Arabs deface other Jewish tombstones, too. Muslim propaganda against the Jews includes charges that the Jews harmed their own prophets. Muslim destruction of Joseph's Tomb is not respectful of that prophet. "Have we not yet learned that when Muslims cry 'foul' it may have nothing to do with religious principle but everything to do with their agenda of geographical or psychological dominion?" (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 richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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HOW THE PA MAKES SUICIDE BOMBERS
Posted by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, April 25, 2006. |
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This article describes two major components of terror promotion: the demonization of the target group and the bestowing of honor and glory on the terrorists. The article appeared in the Jerusalem Post April 17, 2006, the Ottawa Citizen April 22, 2006, and other publications throughout the world after last week's terror attack that killed nine in Tel Aviv. It has also appeared under the title "Young terrorists are made, not born." What drives a young Palestinian to turn his body into a bomb? Suicide terrorists such as the man who killed nine people in Tel Aviv this week are not born hating. It is something they learn -- and the Palestinian Authority has been the ideal teacher. It has perfected the arts of fomenting hatred and promoting suicide terror. The first step in creating a terrorist is to promote hatred within the society by demonizing a target group. This target group is portrayed as so evil and threatening that killing its members is seen not as murder, but as justified revenge and admirable self defense. Examples of the PA's incessant demonization of Jews and Israelis include a recent article in the official PA daily that describins Israeli military actions against missile launching sites in Gaza: "It seems that the rivers of blood in our cities, villages and refugee camps are not yet satisfying the thirst of the blood-thirsty for Palestinian blood among the Israeli politicians and military officers..." [Al Hayat Al Jadida, March 4, 2006] PA TV has been running daily video clips in recent weeks with actors depicting Palestinian prisoners going through horrific torture at the hands of Israeli guards. Hate libels are common, including the "drug libel" that Israel intentionally poisons and addicts Palestinian youths by spreading drugs throughout PA society. This was repeated on PA TV just two days ago by the PA Mufti, Ikrima Sabri. Another component of this demonization is to depict Israel's very existence as a nation as being illegitimate and temporary. This also continues unabated. One example is a documentary, broadcast twice in recent months, in which the Israeli city of Jaffa is defined as a stolen Palestinian city. The documentary includes the words: "Palestine was attacked by invaders. It is time for you [Israelis] to be gone. Live wherever you like, but don't live among us (pictures of Jaffa). It is time for you to be gone. Die wherever you like, but don't die among us. We have the past here. We have the present, the present and the future. So leave our country, our land, our sea, our wheat, our salt, our wounds. Everything. And leave the memories." The totality of this first PA message is to turn Israelis into the ultimate enemy: Israelis are evil and dangerous. Their very existence is illegal, and so they must be defeated and destroyed. Killing them is transformed into justice and self defence. But it's not enough to establish Israel as the enemy. The terrorists who kill Israelis must be seen as heroes and leaders of society - and that's the second component of the PA's creation of suicide terrorists. There are no greater heroes and role models in PA society than terrorists. Summer camps for children have been named for Wafa Idris and Ayyat Al Achras - woman suicide terrorists. Sporting events are routinely named for terrorists, including a soccer match for 14-year-olds named after the terrorist who killed 31 Israelis four years ago at a Passover Seder in Netanya. The PA Ministry of Culture recently produced a poetry collection named after Hanadi Jaradat, the woman terrorist who killed 21 in a Haifa restaurant. And just last month, the PA announced it was granting honorary citizenship to Lebanese terrorist Samir Quntar, who is serving a life sentence in an Israeli jail. Smadar Haran, wife and mother of Quntar's murder victims, wrote in The Washington Post: "It was a murder of unimaginable cruelty. The terrorists took (husband) Danny and (daughter) Einat down to the beach. One of them shot Danny in front of Einat. Then he smashed my little girl's skull in against a rock with his rifle butt. That terrorist was Samir Quntar." The message the PA is sending to its people and its children by honouring Quntar and other terrorists is that killing Israelis is a ticket to honor and eternal glory. A special program broadcast just last week on PA TV captures the essence of this message - and its acceptance within the highest levels of PA leadership. This is part of the poem a young girl chanted on Palestinian Children's Day: "Even if all the Jews arrived (in Israel) seeking refuge with the monkeys [as Jews are commonly called]... we will never accept compensation for our land. There is no substitute for Jerusalem!... Our death is like life, My homeland is the invaders' grave... I will walk 1000 miles even if I die in it as a Martyr..." [PA TV April 10, 2006] Her audience included PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, seated in the front row along with senior PA officials. Their reaction to these words of hate from the mouth of a young girl? A round of applause. With messages to children fomenting hatred of Israelis and glorifying terrorists, and when the supposedly moderate Mr. Abbas appears on TV to applaud a young girl's message of hatred and martyrdom, is it any wonder that young Palestinians become suicide terrorists? Itamar Marcus is Director and Barbara Crook is Associate Director of Palestinian Media Watch (http://www.pmw.org.il) |
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THERE'S AN ALTERNATIVE: THEY WILL GO
Posted by Israel Zwick, April 25, 2006. |
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Robert S. Barnes (editor@landofisrael.info) has an alternative to the usual "solutions" to the Arab Israeli conflict. Read it here. If you like the idea, you should sign the petition by clicking here. The question of "occupation" is complicated. Legally, the West Bank is Israeli legally and this can not be abrogated. Some call it disputed territory for too many reasons to go into here. You should read the book: "Israel and Palestine: Assault on the Law of Nations" (Hardcover) by Julius Stone. Contact Israel Zwick at Israel.Zwick@earthlink.net |
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HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY AT TEL AVIV U: SOLIDARITY WITH
IRAN, SUPPRESSION OF FREE SPEECH
Posted by Steven Plaut, April 25, 2006. |
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This is being written on Yom Hashoah or Holocaust Commemoration Day in Israel. The sirens went off a little while ago, during which the entire country stood in silence in remembrance. Well, almost the whole country. These are also the days in which the government of Iran at one and the same time denies there ever was a Holocaust, while building nuclear weapons in order to perpetrate a second one. And just before Holocaust Remembrance Day began this year, a group of leftist and "Post-Zionist" radical professors at Tel Aviv University decided that the time was apt to show their own solidarity with Iran and defend it from American "imperialist ambitions". Really. Just a few hours before Holocaust Remembrance Day commenced, Tel Aviv University (TAU) held the official initiation ceremony for its Center for Iranian Studies, a new research institute on campus. Some TAU leftist faculty members were upset about that. A group of extremist professors held a demonstration, together with Arab and Jewish student radicals, and sent an official letter of protest against opening the Center to campus authorities, as reported in Israeli dailies Haaretz and Yediot Ahronot. First, in their letter they expressed fear that the new Center will be "misused" to paint Iran as a radical anti-Semitic and pro-terrorism state and grant legitimacy to Western demonization of Iran. Second, they expressed concern that the operations of the Center could be exploited by American imperialism in justifying American aggression against Iran. Finally, the radicals were particularly upset because a speaker at the opening ceremony was the Iran-born Shaul Mofaz, who had been Commander in Chief of the IDF and then Minister of Defense of Israel. As such, Mofaz is guilty in the eyes of the protesters of illegitimately fighting against Islamofascist terrorism, rather than appeasing it and capitulating to the demands of the terrorists. "We cannot remain indifferent, let alone on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, to statements coming from Tehran by one of the most extreme leaders since Hitler, who denies the Holocaust and calls to destroy Israel. We must take it seriously," Mofaz said at the ceremony. The protesting faculty members expressed fears that the new Iran Center would have a "defensive-military" character (as opposed to an appeasing one). The protesters noisily sat in the hall in which the ceremony took place, holding signs with the names of Palestinians allegedly killed in Israeli shelling when Israel fired back at Qassam missile launchers and otherwise took retaliatory action for Palestinian terrorists. No names of Israeli victims of Arab terrorism were on the signs. Numerous faculty and student protesters were then evicted from the hall by security guards for disrupting the ceremony and trying to prevent Mofaz from speaking. The Tel Aviv University "First Amendment" was certainly on display for all to see. One extremist TAU professor, Dr. Anat Matar (an activist in supporting and organizing mutiny and insurrection among Israeli soldiers, who has been arrested in the past for violent protests against Israel's security wall) was behaving in such a disruptive manner that she was forcibly prevented by security guards from entering the hall at all. The protesters screamed at Mofaz that he was a "war criminal" because he had commanded the army during operations against terrorism, andthey carried signs threatening Mofaz with prosecution at the "World Court" in the Hague. A letter signed by numerous anti-Israel extremist faculty members at TAU opposed the opening of the Center altogether and demanded that Shaul Mofaz be prevented from addressing the opening ceremony. As in other countries, leftist extremist faculty members at TAU are opposed to freedom of speech for those with whom they disagree. The TAU faculty members who signed that letter included the above-mentioned faculty hooligan Anat Matar, as well as communist professor Yehouda Shenhav (currently a contender for a new job at Columbia University and inventor of the "theory" that Oriental Jews are in fact Arabs of the Jewish faith), Prof. Adi Ophir ( a founder of "Peace Now" who wrote on the anti-Semitic web site Counterpunch that Israel is conducting genocide), Prof. Gadi Algazi (a founder of the seditious Taayush organization and fanatic anti-Zionist); Prof. Israel Gershoni (a leftist extremist from Middle East Studies who has promoted boycotts of Israel), Dr. Amalia Ziv (who teaches"lesbian Marxist theory" in "Women's Studies" at TAU and leads a "queer anti-occupation" group of Israel-Bashing homosexuals), Eva Jablonka (an old-left communist who has been active in calling for boycotts of Israel), and some others. The Center for Iranian Studies was funded with contributions by Jews who had escaped Iran for the West and succeeded there. After the ceremony, Mofaz commented on the radical protesters who disrupted it and suggested that they could better spend their time be visiting the families of Jews murdered by terrorists. According to the news reports in Israel, the leftist faculty protesters were of the opinion that defending democracy requires the suppression of Shaul Mofaz' freedom of speech. Outraged by the behavior of these Tel Aviv University faculty members? Why not let TAU's President, Professor Itamar Rabinovich, know what you think? He can be reached at itamarr@tauex.tau.ac.il, or fax 972-3-6422379. Make sure the far-leftist foul-mouthed spokesman for TAU, Danny Shapiro, gets a copy, at dans@post.tau.ac.il 2. Oh, and let's not overlook Ben Gurion University. All Israeli newspapers today are reporting that a 60 year old professor of veterinary science at BGU, one Avi (or Avraham or Allen) Dagan was arrested for drug trafficing. He is alleged to have smuggled cocaine from Argentina on behalf of a Bedouin drug dealer. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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WILL IT NEVER GO AWAY? NEVER?
Posted by Paula R. Stern, April 25, 2006. |
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As a Jew, it is hard to reconcile and come to terms, even more than 60 years later, with what was done to the Jews of Europe. A trip to Poland brought few answers, just a harsher reality, a picture more clear. A sense of overwhelming helplessness is one of the emotions you feel walking through a gas chamber, beside the ruined crematoria at Auschwitz, or the massive piles of 800,000 shoes in Maidanek. How could unarmed civilians, old and young, have prevented an evil force that marched at them with brutal strength? Could anything have saved them? As an Israeli, there is a sense of power, helplessness defeated. Yes, something could have defeated the Nazi war machine. We came, as Ehud Barak once said in Warsaw, decades too late to help, but we came nonetheless. The sense of helplessness is gone because Israel remains on the watch. Can another Holocaust occur? Undoubtedly, the answer is yes. But this time, the world is more aware of the warning signs. Dictators can no longer spout hatred with immunity. The world, nations of the west, Israel. We listen and can respond. We believe that evil can triumph when good people are silent. We know the cost of that silence. Last night, as the commemorations in Israel began for Holocaust Remembrance Day, word came of a massive terrorist attack in Sinai. Our Passover holidays are over and most of us have returned to work and school. The number of Israelis this week, versus last week, was thankfully small and yet, Israel swung into immediate alert. Ambulances raced to the border -- we will care for our own. Come home now was the message sent to all Israelis in Sinai and if you need us, we'll come get you. There was no Israel to come get them. No country that swung into alert as the dawn of Nazism brought darkness to Europe. This morning, I contemplated, as I often do, what thoughts and memories of the Holocaust we pass on to our children. What age is too young? If we wait too long, are we missing the opportunity to instill a sense of what was done, not just the facts, but the horrendous realities of the humiliation, the hatred and the unrelenting hunt to destroy all remnants of an entire people that was so much a part of what the Nazis inflicted? p>I heard of a story where a six year old was told about the showers, some fake and some real, that the Jews were forced to endure before being gassed to death. Since then, the child has adamantly refused to take showers. Too young. Prince Henry felt no qualms about wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party. Too old. The Jew in me feels that it is imperative that we share the lessons of the past, no matter how humiliating. The Israeli in me insists that with this message, we make sure our youth understand that we are no longer helpless, no longer unable to defend our own. We will fly anywhere, fight everywhere to ensure the safety of our people where they are, or we will bring them home. "We had no weapons, we had no country," a Holocaust survivor explained on the radio this morning. Today we have weapons. Today we have a country. And yet, despite this feeling that we are no longer the helpless ghetto Jews of Europe, the mother in me wants to protect my children from the anger and the pain, the memory that we were hunted and slaughtered, tortured and gassed. It is a dilemma I face constantly, brought to the front even more clearly each Holocaust Remembrance Day when my children's school spends the day teaching them the very information I have been so gently trying to impart. For my children, the Holocaust is very personal. Their grandparents were survivors. Their grandmother was in a gas chamber, rescued moments before her death because the Nazis had, for once, miscalculated and needed more women for a work detail. Their grandfather was a wonderful man, a man of honor and humor. He would laugh and rule the family, and then quietly admit that the one thing he wanted most to have done in his life, was to have found a way to save his mother. My husband never knew the love of a grandparent because all were murdered and my children, who were and are so loved gain a deeper understanding of what that means as the years go by. The sad reality in today's world, however, is that more than sixty years after the Holocaust, there are voices saying that it is time to forgive, time to forget. The world has greater problems, or at least ones that seem more urgent. There are places experiencing great famine and drought, warfare and terrorism continue to rob thousands of their lives each year. Unrelenting natural disasters continue to occur throughout the globe. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis. And if all of this wasn't enough, we have the Holocaust deniers who continue to try to erase the history and lessons so painfully learned. These historical revisionists are not old and fragile, dying slowly as the years pass by. They are waiting for the time when the world no longer wants to hear, no longer believes, no longer feels a need to remember the tragedies of 60 years ago when today's tragedies seem so much more real to them. Driving my 10 year old to school today, we heard a brief news update about today's commemoration in Israel. A siren at 10:00 a.m., thousands of Israelis in Poland commemorating the day there. Speeches, gatherings, memories. These are our answers to the Holocaust deniers and our promise that we will remember. My son began telling me about the showers and of the gas chambers, how they treated the Jews like cattle, herding them into trains. Not too young to know, it seems and not too old that he isn't saddened by the thought that great suffering was caused sixty years ago, in a far away place. My choice, as a Jew, as an Israeli, and finally as a mother, to make it more personal. He carries the name of a survivor, is a brother to two who carry the names of those who did not survive. We spoke of his paternal grandmother and grandfather, both survivors who died before he was born. I told him of the great uncles he had lost and the few that survived. He told me about the tattoos and I because he had mentioned it, I told him that one uncle still bears the mark on his arm to this day. "It will never go away?" he asked. "Never?" And therein lies the response to those who ask why we as a people cannot 'get over' the Holocaust, why we think of it, why it guides us as a people and a nation. No, it will never go away. Never. Contact Paula Stern at paula@writepoint.com |
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I CRIED IN ROOM #617
Posted by Tamar Yonah, April 24, 2006. |
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This essay was written by Tamar Yonah. She is a creator, producer and radio show host at Israel National Radio.com. She also assists with immigrant absorption in her community, as well as in Israel at large. She is not of Gush Katif, but with the help of a poem she found in a hotel room vacated by someone from Gush Katif, she makes us understand their suffering at the hands of the Israeli government. The article was published today in Israel Insider It was supposed to be a happy occasion. We were celebrating my son's Bar Mitzvah that fell in the week of Passover, and since we knew we wouldn't be able to host all the extended family in my house for a Passover Seder and a Bar Mitzvah Sabbath, we came to the conclusion that we would find an affordable hotel that would be able to sleep and feed the family here in Israel, and those coming from abroad. All was well and good. We arrived at a Jerusalem hotel, where I got the keys to room 617. We excitedly took the elevator up to where our new lodgings would be for the next few days. After glancing around the room, I sent my kids and family down to the dining area where they had a light meal offered before the Passover Seder. I stayed behind to unpack their holiday clothes and to make up the beds for the children. I liked having some quiet after the brief chaos. We were 8 people crammed into two small hotel rooms with an adjoining door. There was lots of luggage, and little space to spread out. Two of my kids would have to sleep on the floor, I decided. I took up the two cushions from the couch bed that was in our room, and decided to make it a mattress. Then leaning over to pull out the couch-bed, I spotted a folded piece of paper between the mattress and the metal support springs. "Hmmm, what's this?" I asked myself. "What a strange place to store paper". Taking it out and unfolding it I found it was actually two pages, stapled together, typewritten, in Hebrew. I began to read it. "Kinah" was the title (Kinah means 'lamentation' in English). No author's name. I started to read, and after the first three lines, I took some weak steps backwards, fell onto the main bed of the room and started to cry. It was a poem someone had written. Someone who was living in my hotel room before I got there. Someone who for 8 months was crammed into this room with his family, bewildered, hurt, and forgotten by his countrymen. He or she, had written a poem, a poem of their pain and anguish, and I happened to find it. Was it left for me, the 'next occupant' purposely? Or was it forgotten in the rush to evacuate the hotel to let new guests take over even this temporary abode for Passover? I had heard that many of the families ensconced in these Jerusalem area hotels for an "indefinite time", were now being forced to move again to make room for Passover and Easter guests. "Oh my gosh, this room belonged to a family from Gush Katif!". I was shaking. I read the poem: Kinah -- a Lamentation / Dirge
On the Expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif, The Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria, I will lament every year with a broken and bitter heart. How is it possible that a Jewish Prime Minister -- Ariel Sharon, can give away a land brimming with wisdom and talent to Arabs, oppressors of Israel, as a gift and present? How is it possible that he cheated his voters by expressing his love saying, "In my days, you will sit safely on your land", and then betrayed our trust, saying "To them it belongs (the Arabs) -- not to you"? How is it possible that people were sent to build, work and settle, affirm by self sacrifice the building of the land and now they were betrayed and disinherited, their land handed to Ishmaelites? How is it possible that he made covenants with murderers and gave the land of G-d with no recompense, to rapists, and then he reproached and blasphemed, saying, there is no G-d in the 'Land of Judges' -- (the land of Israel.)? How is it possible that he attempted to cover his, and his sons', crimes with much cunning, and shed shame on those goodly ones who toil over Torah, -the people of The Land? They will concentrate on the disengagement, and his sons' guilt will be lost in oblivion and turmoil. How is it possible that the heads of Parliament, gave a majority to the decision -- a parliament that was chosen by the nation.... to end the quiet dwelling of the old, and the playing of the children from their streets.... to expel them, shame them, and give what belongs to THEM, to a BLOOD THIRSTY nation? How is it possible that he scorned the laws of the Torah, he and his company of friends, and he despised the lovely land and legislated laws of his own desire? How is it possible that police, soldiers and judges all stood by his side and participated in the joys of all his evil deeds and did not say, "Enough. Our will is an evil one."? How is it possible that they announced to pioneering Jews settling the land: 'Enough - Stop! You have already sat many years in your settlements and now we will give this land to your enemies -- your oppressors'. How is it possible that Israel, a holy nation, cried out in tears to undo and revoke the decree of insolents and criminals and G-d concealed His face and left His land to traitors? How is it possible that we stood in prayer and supplication and poured out our hearts, perhaps G-d will spare His nation and remove the decree of an evil government and the nation of G-d will lament, for the land was given to the hand of the vain and evil? How is it possible that Jews were forcibly expelled from their homes, tossed onto busses.... people, women, and their children and no mercy was shown for their property and their hard work? How is it possible that they enacted a violent order.... police and soldiers, to remove their brothers -- the sons of Israel -- from their homes? Land, (Eretz) don't cover their crimes until sins cease. How is it possible that they destroyed out of hatred, houses, synagogues and schools full of Torah and mercilessly threw people out on the streets? How is it possible that without any explanation or reason they destroyed factories, green houses and every growing field and gave their places to savages and the dishonest? How is it possible that he raised his hand upon synagogues and yeshivot (Torah centers) and put an end to houses of study (batei midrash), and the chatter of infants, while saying:... Thus the world's nations will love us more? How is it possible that he invaded graves and extracted bones of holy ones killed by bullets, fire and stones and he did not feel he would be hit by a curse -- sh'chik atzamot -- where his bones are pulverized, ground, and pounded.'? How is it possible that they gloated in the shadow of our sorrow, all his companions and lovers saying "G-d left the land, the house is empty of its Lord. Va-avdah B'haf -kaira nicha leya (in Aramaic), Everyman should do as he sees fit."? He who has mercy on the poor.... (please) have mercy on the afflicted and return them to their legacy, for in You, they trust. And bring closer the redemption, for Israel shall be redeemed by G-d, for Eternity. (End) I finished the poem and I wanted to know.... Who were these people who lived in room 617 for 8 months? How many children did they have? What were their jobs before they were sacrificed by the politicians who came to power? Were they happy to leave the hotel for a 'caravilla' (trailer home), or were they victimized once again, but this time, too tired and too broken to fight? Did they leave this poem purposely for the next occupant of the room to find, which happened to be me, or was it left behind by accident? Why didn't the maid find it, everything was cleaned well before Passover, even the carpets were recently shampooed, I could feel the dampness in the rugs with my feet. Did G-d want me to find this, to share this cry with others? There was no author's name or the name of the person who it belonged to. Yes, I cried in room 617, I wonder how much crying there was in this room the last 8 months before I got there. Since the expulsion, I have prayed every morning that Hashem (G-d) should bless our brothers and sisters from Gush Katif and the Northern Samarian region, with even more wonderful and happier lives than before and that things should start improving immediately for them. Crying is good. It's not a solution, although, it's a good start to bring us to action. On behalf of our brothers and sisters who were wrenched from their homes, lives and communities, please, let us all do a special act of kindness in their merit. One can choose to: 1) Pray for their well being in your morning or evening prayers everyday until they are settled. May any future crying in room 617 be from cries of joy from new occupants who have come to visit Israel to herald in the Moshiach (Messiah) and help bring in the redemption that G-d has promised us all. May we all cry from joy and not from sorrow. And, may we start these positive actions now, to ensure it comes speedily in our days, Amen. |
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URGENT HELP NEEDED FOR MAURICE COHEN
Posted by Helen Fragman Abramson, April 24, 2006. |
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While Israel boasts more doctors per capita than any other country in the world, according to Hertzlia Medical Center surgeon Joseph Kuriansky, there is no one in Israel qualified to successfully perform the complicated gastric surgery needed to save the life of Maurice Cohen. Maurice, who is a former Mossad cryptologist and brother of the late famed Israeli spy Eli Cohen, celebrated Pesach from his hospital bed where he has been for three weeks. Maurice along with his wife Belle, created The American Friends of Eli Cohen Foundation and have worked tirelessly to bring Eli's remains back to Israel for proper burial as well as establish a library and museum in Eli's memory. Eli, who is credited with providing information to Israel that eventually enabled the Jewish State to take Golan during the Six Day War, was publicly executed without a trial in Syria for spying. Maurice was responsible for encrypting and decoding messages from his brother during that time. [Editor's note: you can read Maurice's story about Eli by clicking here.] Maurice, his family and doctors are hopeful that a qualified surgeon will be found in the US before his health deteriorates further. Although Israel has socialized medicine, Maurice's pension falls short in covering the costs associated with bringing a foreign doctor to Israel or airlifting Maurice to an American hospital. Contributions to help cover Maurice's medical expenses can be sent to: American Friends of Eli Cohen Foundation Emergency Medical Fund
For more information, contact Helene Fragman Abramson at hfragman@aol.com to find out more about Eli, sign a petition to bring his remains home or on AFECF, go to http://www.elicohen.org/ |
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WHY WMDs IN ISRAEL ARE OK AND WMDs IN IRAN ARE NOT OK
Posted by David Meir-Levi, April 24, 2006. |
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In case anyone has a problem with Israel being a nuclear power and the West calling upon Iran to not become a nuclear power, read my comments to King Abdullah of Jordan's pronouncements in the Spanish newspaper El Pais. The text of what Abdullah said comes from the English version of Ynet News (Israel). My comments are in CAPS. david ml Abdullah. 'Condition for peace' - Jordan king: Israel must disarm nukes (Dudi Cohen) Abdullah tells Spanish paper El Pais Jordan interested in nuclear-free Middle East, says Israel must disarm its nuclear weapons. If peace is achieved, Israel will not need such arms, King states. HE GETS IT RIGHT BY GETTING IT BACKWARDS. Jordanian King Abdullah said his country is interested in a nuclear-free Middle East and urged the international community to pressure Israel to dismantle its nuclear arsenal. "If the world is demanding Iran doesn't develop nuclear weapons it should also demand that countries which possess nuclear weapons disarm," Abdullah said in an interview to Spanish newspaper El Pais. "For peace to be achieved in the region, Israel has to disarm its nuclear weapons." THIS IS A NON-SEQUITOR. THERE WAS NO PEACE BEFORE ISRAEL POSSESSED NUCLEAR ARMS. SO NUCLEAR ARMS CANNOT BE A CAUSE OF THE LACK OF PEACE NOW. "If there is peace," Abdullah added, "Israel will not need nuclear weapons. HE GETS IT RIGHT -- BUT INADVERTANTLY -- BY GETTING IT BACKWARDS. AS HE SAYS "IF there is peace...."; THEREFORE, BY HIS OWN LOGIC, ISRAEL DOES STILL NEED NUCLEAR WEAPONS. THE KING CORRECTLY PUTS PEACE FIRST. BUT SINCE THERE IS NOT YET PEACE, ISRAEL DOES INDEED STILL NEED NUCLEAR WEAPONS. WHEN THERE IS PEACE, AND ONLY WHEN THERE IS PEACE, THEN IT COULD BE ARGUED THAT ISRAEL WILL NOT NEED NUCLEAR WEAPONS. MEANWHILE, SINCE THERE IS NOT YET PEACE...... If the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved, the Arab-Israeli conflict will also be resolved." THIS IS A HIGHLY DUBIOUS STATEMENT. WHILE ARAB RHETORIC AND BLACK PROPAGANDA DO STATE THAT A RESOLUTION TO THE "PALESTINIAN PROBLEM" WOULD BRING PEACE TO THE MIDDLE EAST, THERE ARE A NUMBER OF REASONS FOR DOUBTING THE VERACITY OF THIS STATEMENT: 1. THERE HAS NEVER BEEN PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, EVEN BACK INTO PRE-HISTORIC TIMES, THE MIDDLE EAST HAS SEEN ENDLESS WAR, TERRORISM, RAIDS AND ATTACKS BY ONE GROUP (CANAANITES, ISRAELITES, BABYLONIANS, ASSYRIANS, PERSIANS, GREEKS, ROMANS, BYZANTINES, ARABS, CRUSADERS, TURKS, AND NOW ARAB TERRORISM AGAINST ISRAEL). SO, EVEN IF THE ARAB-ISRAEL CONFLICT COULD BE ENDED, THERE IS NO REASON TO BELEIVE THAT OTHER FORCES IN THE MIDDLE EAST WOULD NOT CONTINUE TO DO WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN DOING FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. 2. THE BOTTOM LINE PROBLEM AT CAUSE IN THE CONFLICT IS THE VERY EXISTENCE OF ISRAEL; AS MANY ARAB SPOKESPERSONS HAVE MADE CLEAR OVER DECADES. TO JUSTIFY AND WHITEWASH THE ARAB DESIRE TO ANNIHILATE ISRAEL AND GENOCIDE ITS JEWS, ARAB PROPAGANDA NOW FOCUSES ON THE SO-CALLED 'ISRAEL PALESTINE' PROBLEM....SUGGESTING THAT IF THAT WERE RESOLVED, THEN THERE WOULD BE NO ANIMOSITY AGAINST ISRAEL. BUT IF THE CORE ISSUE OF ISRAEL'S EXISTENCE IS NOT RESOLVED, THEN THERE IS NO RESOLUTION TO THE CONFLICT. 3. HAMAS AND ISLAMIC JIHAD AND THE PFLP AND THE DFLP AND THE PFLP-GC AND HEZBOLLAH AND EL-QAEDA AND LITERALLY DOZENS OF OTHER MOSLEM TERRORIST GROUPS AS WELL AS MANY ARAB STATES AND SOME MOSLEM STATES ARE ALL QUITE UNABASHEDLY CANDID ABOUT THEIR COMMITMENT TO ANNIHILATE ISRAEL (PER #2). SO THE ONLY RESOLUTION TO THE CONFLICT THAT THEY ENVISION IS THE 'PEACE OF THE DEAD' FOR ISRAEL AND A PALESTINIAN STATE ON THE CORPSES OF 5,400,000 JEWS, FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA. HARDLY A VISION OF PEACE THAT ISRAEL IS LIKELY TO WELCOME. The king also stated that Jordan wishes to see the region free from nuclear arms, and that "many states agree on that." THAT IS GOOD NEWS, BUT IT IS INDEED NEWS. LIBYA HAS HAD ITS OWN NUCLEAR PROGRAM FOR MORE THAN A DECADE, TRICKING AND LYING TO THE UN. IRAQ HAD A REVITALIZED ONE THAT WAS DISMANTLED BY THE RUSSIANS JUST PRIOR TO THE USA INVASION. IRAN NOW HAS ITS OWN. SAUDI ARABIA HAS BEGUN TO BUY WHAT IT NEEDS FOR ITS OWN NUCLEAR ARMAMENTS. WE ARE WITNESS TO A NEW NUCLEAR ARMS RACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. SO JUST WHICH STATES DOES THE JORDANIAN KING THINK HAVE '....AGREEED TO THAT'? In February, the United States agreed to Egypt's demand to introduce a clause into the U.N.'s decision on nuclear energy stating that the Middle East should be a "nuclear weapons-free region," a decision which completely contradicts Israel's stance on the issue. Egypt and other Arab states slammed the criticism directed at Iran over its nuclear program, charging that the world was at the same time turning a blind eye to Israel's nuclear project. WHAT THEY ALL CONVENIENTLY IGNORE IS THAT ISRAEL HAS NEVER THREATENED TO USE ITS NUCLEAR ARMS EXCEPT IN THE MOST DIRE OF SELF-DEFENSE SITUATIONS. MOREOVER, ISRAEL HAS NEVER INVADED ANY COUNTRY ANY TIME ANY WHERE EXCEPT IN SELF-DEFENSE. EVERY WAR THAT IT HAS FOUGHT HAS BEEN EITHER PRE-EMPTIVE DEFENSIVE (1967, 1982) OR RETALIATORY DEFENSIVE (1948, 1956, 1973, INTIFADA 1 IN 1987-1991 & INTIFADA 2 FROM 2000-PRESENT). WHEREAS ALMOST ALL ARAB COUNTRIES AND MANY MOSLEM ONES HAVE STATED PUBLICLY THAT THEY INTEND TO WIPE OUT ISRAEL, GENOCIDE ITS JEWS, OR GIVE SUBSTANTIVE ASSISTANCE TO OTHER ARAB COUNTRIES THAT COULD BE IN A POSITION TO DO SO. SO....ISRAEL'S NUCLEAR ARMAMENTS THREATEN NO ONE EXCEPT THOSE COUNTRIES THAT PLAN TO ERADICATE ISRAEL. Israeli officials were however unworried about the February decision, and said at the time that "this will have no real impact on Israel, and in any case this is not the first time such a reference appears. The same thing happened when Libya decided to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty." David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. His expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). Contact him at david_meirlevi@hotmail.com |
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GENOCIDE IN SUDAN
Posted by The Reality Show, April 24, 2006. |
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Read "On tape bin Laden urges followers to fight in Sudan" (www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/14413685.htm). What was that Arabists propagandists has been telling us for years that the 2,000,000 innocent massacred in Sudan by Arab Muslim racists are just "political"? They wouldn't dare call the "anti war" movement a "political" group. I guess Bin Laden's crimes are also "political". How does the mainstream "even handed" media call the crimes against humanity in Sudan "conflict"? Slavery today because of Arab racism & Islamic Jihad? You bet! What is the worst genocide since WW2, Is it Rwanda or Sudan? Is there a difference between the Arab Muslim fascists' thugs against poor Sudanese than their war against Israeli civilians? Of course not! So now you know another secret why UN's Kofi Annan is so silent on the worst calamity today, for admitting to the cancer today of that radical monster makes him very uncomfortable. Al-Qaida leader's message is his first in three months, The Associated Press. "The blockade which the West is imposing on the government of Hamas proves that there is a Zionist, crusaders' war on Islam," Osama bin Laden CAIRO, Egypt -- Osama bin Laden issued new threats in an audiotape broadcast on Arab television Sunday. And he accused the United States and Europe of supporting a "Zionist" war on Islam by cutting off funds to the Hamas-led Palestinian government. He also urged followers to go to Sudan, his former base, to fight a proposed U.N. peacekeeping force. His words, the first new message by the al-Qaida leader in three months, seemed designed to justify potential attacks on civilians -- something al-Qaida has been criticized for even by its Arab supporters. He also appeared to be trying to drum up support among Arabs by accusing the West of targeting Hamas, a militant group that fights against Israel and now heads the Palestinian government. Citing the West's decision to cut off aid to the Hamas-led government because it refuses to renounce violence or recognize Israel, bin Laden said Washington and Europe were waging war on Islam. "The blockade which the West is imposing on the government of Hamas proves that there is a Zionist, crusaders' war on Islam," bin Laden said. President Bush was told about the tape Sunday morning. The intelligence community has informed the White House that it believes the tape is authentic, said Bush's spokesman, Scott McClellan. "The al-Qaida leadership is on the run and under a lot of pressure," McClellan said at a Marine base in Twentynine Palms, Calif., where Bush was having lunch with military families. "We are on the advance. They are on the run." Al-Qaida is not believed to have direct links to Hamas, which is an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri was quick to distance the group from bin Laden, declaring that "the ideology of Hamas is totally different from the ideology of Sheik bin Laden." The groups do, however, share an anti-Israel ideology that calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. And recent reports in Middle East media have said al-Qaida is trying to build cells in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon and Sudan. Israel has indicted two West Bank militants for al-Qaida membership. The voice on the tape sounded strong and resembled that on other recordings attributed to bin Laden, but its authenticity could not be verified independently. Bin Laden's remarks touched on the full range of issues that anger militant Arabs and other Muslims. Many of them see a renewal of a Christian- and Jewish-inspired Western "crusade" to dominate the Islamic world and to confiscate Muslim lands and resources -- particularly oil. Concerning Sudan, bin Laden called on "mujahedeen and their supporters, especially in Sudan and the Arab peninsula, to prepare for long war again the crusader plunderers in Western Sudan. Our goal is not defending the Khartoum government but to defend Islam, its land and its people." "I urge holy warriors to be acquainted with the land and the tribes in Darfur," he said, adding they should be aware that the rainy season approaches and that will hamper their movement. Contact The Reality Show at therealityshow@mail.com or go to their website: http://lightonthings.blogspot.com |
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WHAT PRICE TOO HIGH?
Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, April 24, 2006. |
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Imagine 4,800 dead, maimed, and/or injured Americans--victims of rejectionist neighbors dedicated to the destruction of both America and its citizens. Imagine what America's response to all of this would be. Think Taliban in Afghanistan -- B-52s, B-1s, cruise missiles, etc. and so forth. A proportionate equivalent of Israelis suffered just this way recently at a fast food stand -- civilians deliberately targeted -- the more innocent the better in Arab eyes. These were not like dead Arab civilians, killed because they were used as human shields by their heroes. Arab "militants" have a habit of hiding behind the skirts of their women and using their own kids this way. They typically set up shop amid civilian populations. And all of this is against the Geneva Conventions...not that anyone cares. In the wake of this latest atrocity, reports have it that Israel decided against a proper response because Europe and America had now showed disfavor to the new Hamas-led Arab government elected by the Palestinian Arabs themselves. Big mistake? And I'm not naïve. I realize the enormous pressure the Jew of the Nations is constantly under by much of the Gentile world to be better Christians than they themselves are. You know... Jews are simply expected to turn the other cheek... and the other cheek... and the other cheek... and the other cheek ad infinitum. So, tell me, Mr. Olmert, just how many Jews does it take to make the price of the world's crocodile tears and pathetic sympathy for yet more dead Jews too high? You, whose policies have literally trampled fellow live Jews (who insisted that Israel should not again be forced to return to its pre-'67 armistice line, rump state, ghetto-sized status), now fall back on once again depending on the blood of your dead brethren to win approval amongst the Gentiles. Not a smart move? Jewish blood has always been cheap in those quarters. It still is. While sympathy for dead Jews aided in the resurrection of Israel, should Israel have had to rely on this for its rebirth? Did one third of our people really have to be destroyed for the Jew to ask for his own sliver of political justice in the age of nationalism... when Arabs were continuing their age-old practice of conquering, colonizing, murdering, and forcibly Arabizing millions upon millions of non-Arabs to create the almost two dozen states they claim as their own to date? The argument now used against a proper response against enemies sworn to Israel's destruction falls into this same category. It is meek and out of the ghetto. I know that there are those who will say that the powerful can afford to not act so. Guess what? It doesn't work with Arabs. Might is the only thing that most do respect...no matter how grudgingly. We will never win them over by reason nor "love." We are merely viewed as weak when we do any of this. Not that the Jew of the Nations shouldn't have tried. And for that, Israel--half of whose Jews were refugees from the "Arab"/Muslim world--is better than them. Jews did try to come to reasonable compromises repeatedly over the last century. What reasonable compromises did Arab nationalism seek with any of its own competitors? It's time to absorb this reality and to act accordingly. Making Abbas and his Fatah into the good guys is a joke as well... and one that will backfire. Fatah's Covenant and Hamas' are one and the same when it comes to the right of the Jew of the Nations to exist. Alleged good cop Fatah's terrorists have as much or more Jewish blood on their hands as the Hamas/Islamic Jihad bad cop half of this team does. Differences exist, but have more to do with who's calling the shots (literally and figuratively), tactics, timing, and such rather than any real acceptance of a viable Jewish neighbor. Indeed, Abbas ran on a platform for Israel's destruction, only by more subtle means if possible. As I've written often before, blown buses bring bad press and such. Relying on the alleged support Israel is now getting from abroad will disappear if Hamas finds itself later out of power. So then what? Back to Israel making yet more one-sided concessions, Oslo-style, to Abbas and his fellow "moderate" Arafatians... those who continuously turn the terror button on and off at will when the Jews don't cave in fast enough during negotiations and "diplomacy?" Reports explain that Israel is supposedly afraid to overplay its hand in its response to the latest Arab barbarism. Overplay its hand? Again, the equivalent of almost 5,000 Americans have been murdered, wounded, disemboweled, and blown apart, and Israel is still retaliating against empty fields? And doing so allegedly because it's trying to keep Gentile support? Am I the only one nauseated by this...the Court Jew begging for the minimal -- the Uncle Jake instead of Uncle Tom pleading to be able to just survive and not thrive? Israel was reborn despite the Gentile world, not because of it. The resurrection of the Jew of the Nations would have happened with or without a United Nations vote. The timing would have been a bit different, but Ezekiel's Valley of the Dry Bones was destined to have those bones reassembled ... No doubt. Depending on the likes of a Europe, which decimated Jews for millennia, or of an Arabist-controlled, no friends... just interests American State Department--which actively fought against Israel's rebirth in the first place--is a rebuttal to the alleged intelligence of Jews. What Israel's leaders should be demanding from a Gentile world is empathy, not sympathy. What would any Gentile nation do if faced with an enemy which delights in the murder of its innocents and whose goal is the very destruction of that nation itself? Israel must make the price of Jewish life costly in the extreme to those who take it. Arafat praised the Arab mother as his best weapon. What a sick society? But his point is well taken. Hundreds of millions of Arabs know that they can win a tit-for-tat war of attrition against the sole, miniscule state of the Jews. And Israel's leaders--to appease Gentile hypocrites elsewhere, who threaten to withdraw support (or worse) if it acts, as it should, to protect the lives of Jewish children--are falling right into their trap, allowing the Arabs themselves to dictate the rules of the game. When a people elect a government known to have as its priority the destruction of its neighbor, that people becomes an active accomplice to the policies of the government that it elected. Such is the case with Hamas and the Arabs who voted them into office. Not that the Arafatians were any different, but reality has become more honest and defined with Hamas in power. So, the ascendancy of Hamas is actually a good thing -- honesty is better than lies. And pretending that Abbas and his Arafatians accept Israel in the long term any more than Hamas does is indeed a lie. But Israel is blowing it in the name of keeping what it sees as important Gentile support. If the non-Jewish world insists that the Jew of the Nations continues to be brutally victimized in order to earn "support," then Israel must reject this as a cost too high and act as any other nation would or should to bring an end to the butchery of its innocents. Furthermore, Israel is losing the respect of that part of the Gentile world which really counts the most... those who do not harbor the hypocritical double standards of the majority, but who are, nonetheless, crucial supporters of Israel. Nothing short of devastating, massive retaliation against those who do and support such murderous acts will suffice at this time. Sad but true. This will also not bring peace. I know. But it will send a message Arabs now believe Israel is too weak or afraid to send. Until recent developments regarding the ascendancy of Hamas, all that Arabs had been seeing was one unilateral retreat after another, Israel constantly being coerced by Condi & Co. to act against its own best interests... the Arabs well-known destruction in phases plan unfolding before their very eyes. Regardless of the pressures it will be under, Israel must draw its final boundaries allowing for a reasonable territorial compromise envisioned by the wording of the final draft of U.N. Resolution 242, which sought to replace Israel's 1949, 9-mile wide, armistice line existence with actual "secure and recognized borders." Arabs don't accept a microscopic Israel let alone anything bigger. So waiting for their acceptance is futile. Israel must draw its lines so that it can thrive not only survive. Arabs caught on the Israeli side of this new border should be offered Israeli citizenship--like Berbers in "Arab" states, Copts in "Arab" states, Kurds in "Arab" states, black Africans in "Arab" states, Jews in "Arab" states, and so forth. Only in reality much better, if you know anything about how those non-Arab peoples are actually treated by Arabs. Think gassed Kurds, murdered Copts and burned Churches (rioting going on in Egypt practically while this article is being written), Darfur, Lebanon, and so forth. Arabs who reject the offer will have almost two dozen other states of their own to potentially choose from... including their second emerging one within the original April 25, 1920 borders of mandatory Palestine. The Arabs and their supporters--including Americans a la the Foggy Folks--will protest and threaten. Israel must do what it must do anyway. Those who go to war and acquire territories and bases thousands of miles away from home in the name of their own nations' interests and security have no right telling the Jew of the Nations that it's not entitled to something beyond the Auschwitz/armistice lines shoved down its throat ( "here's the crumbs, Uncle Jake, and better be glad that they're being thrown to you... take them before we change our minds; after all, you G_d killers were cursed to be forever wanderers!" ), or that it must accept a murderous state, Hamasian or Arafatian, dedicated to its destruction, to be set up in its very backyard. Let the tanks roll and the bombing begin... And the body of the snake must be addressed along with its various heads. At 70 or so per shahid ("martyr"), the Islamic Paradise must have a shortage of celestial virgins after Israel does what must be done in its proper response. And after the next predictable act of revenge, exponential, massive retaliation must be the answer... with a knock out punch ready for Syria and Hizbullah in the north as well. Israel fought to win in June 1967. 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. Contact him at honigman6@msn.com or go to his website: http://geraldahonigman.com/blog.php |
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HOLOCAUST DAY TO BEGIN AMIDST CALLS FOR ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION
Posted by Hillel Fendel, April 24, 2006. |
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As Jews get set to commemorate annual Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel and at sites of Nazi Death camps, Muslims held an anti-semetic rally in New York calling for the extermination of Israel. The central Holocaust Day ceremony in Israel will be held this evening at Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem. The traditional public ceremony will feature the participation of President Moshe Katzav and Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, as well as Chief Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger. The theme of this year's commemorations is, "The Jewish Family in the Holocaust." Tomorrow morning at 10 AM, two minutes of silence will be observed while a siren is sounded across the country. The "Every Person has a Name" ceremony will begin at 11:00 in the Knesset, during which the names of the Holocaust victims will be read aloud. Other memorial ceremonies will be held tonight and tomorrow. Meanwhile, this past Friday in New York, the Islamic Thinkers Society held a threatening anti-Semitic rally outside the Israeli Consulate in Manhattan. Steven Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism reports that members of the Islamic Thinkers Society, "easily identified by their Khilafah flags and provocative signs as well as rhetoric against homosexuals, Jews, Christians, Danes and others," carried signs reading "Islam will Dominate" with a picture of an Islamic flag over the White House. In addition, the group of men chanted threatening slogans such as, "Israeli Zionists, What do you say? The real Holocaust is on its way! ... Allahu Akbar!... Israeli Zionists, What do you say? How many women have you raped today? ... Zionists, Zionists You will pay! The Wrath of Allah is on its way! The mushroom cloud is on its way! The real Holocaust is on its way! ... We will not accept the United Nations, they are the criminals themselves... We know many government services are watching us, such as the FBI... CIA ...Mossad, Homeland Security? May the FBI burn in Hell CIA burn in Hell, Mossad burn in Hell, Homeland Security burn in hell! ... Islam will dominate the world, Islam is the only solution!" Violent anti-Semitism around the world dropped in 2005, but still stands at a high rate compared to previous years. There were 406 violent anti-Semitic acts in 2005 nearly 20% lower than in 2004, but still among the highest of the past 15 years. Over 5,000 Jewish youth will be taking part in the annual March of the Living in Poland tomorrow. The three-kilometer march between Birkenau and Auschwitz commemorates the Death Marches that the Nazis forced Jews to take along that very route in the 1940's; thousands of Jews perished in three of these Death Marches. The March of the Living was originally initiated by Avraham Hirschson, who has been tapped to become Israel's next Finance Minister by Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The event was designed as a loud proclamation that "Am Yisrael Chai" - the People of Israel still live, and many of the young people taking part in the march will travel from there to Israel to take part in Independence Day festivities. This will enable them to experience first-hand the modern-day rebirth of the Jewish People and see the country that arose on the ashes of the European destruction. Some 250,000 survivors of the Holocaust arrived in Israel after the war and enlisted in the effort to establish the State of Israel. Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev issued a statement praising the survivors, who, he said, "fought for their lives in the shadow of death and became eye witnesses and activists, reminding us constantly of our obligation to preserve our own humanity. These survivors, who gave so much to the establishment and growth of the State of Israel, are our example and our model. Israeli society has an ethical duty today to honor the Holocaust survivors, to embrace them and to take care of their welfare in the twilight of their days." Hillel Fendel is Senior News Editor for Arutz-7. |
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CONFRONTING THE HOLOCAUST, JEWISHLY
Posted by Sergio Tessa, April 24, 2006. |
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These excerpts were taken from an article written by Rabbi Meir Kahane, ZTUQ"L, HI"D published in Kahane magazine, Nov. 1985 What is the fundamental issue of the Holocaust that we avoid speaking about and that, when mentioned, is dismissed with a curt and swift non sequitur? Why, surely it is the issue that, unless raised and discussed and answered, will guarantee yet another and another national catastrophe. Surely it is an issue that goes to the very nature of the Jewish People, its meaning and role in life, its direction and fate. What is the fundamental issue that must be met and grappled with? Why surely the one that asks the question: Where was God? How could He have permitted it? Our failure to grapple with this issue (instead we corrupt our souls by the terrible reply: It is a question no one can answer) has caused us to be silent accomplices in the worst of all Jewish sins and crimes - hiruf v'giduf, blasphemy against the Lord; open insult and attack on His Name - hillul Hashem. How dare we sit by quietly while Jewish ignoramuses and blasphemers speak of the "death of God", and His Name is dragged through the mud of a theology and philosophy of heresy? How dare we allow Him to be blasphemed and our children to be turned down the path of apostasy and atheism because our reply to the attacks of the blasphemers is: "No one can answer the question!? Of course there is an answer! It is a Jewish answer. But, of course, it is the kind of answer that the irreligious Jews, the secularists, the impossible Reformers and Conservatives simply cannot cope with. It is an answer that can only come from a Jew who believes fully and completely and it is the answer that can only enter the mind and soul of a Jew who believes fully and completely. And since the non-Orthodox Jew is essentially an atheist (though lacking the courage to admit it), the answer to the Holocaust is simply impossible for him to accept. And as for the Orthodox Jew, in such great measure, he is responsible for laying the groundwork for the inability of Jews to understand or accept the Jewish answer to the Holocaust. Let me explain and you, dear reader, study the words carefully, They will pain you, but they can also save you. The reason for the Holocaust, the Jewish reason and answer, is the one that rises out of the fundamental of fundamentals of Torah. What happens to the Jewish People is dependent on their actions and they way they live their lives. The Jewish People is a Chosen people; chosen for a mission it cannot avoid or escape. At Sinai, the covenant bound us to a life of truth or falsehood, of life or death. "See, I have set before thee this day, life and good, and death and evil... And if thy heart turneth away and thou wilt not hear... I tell you this day that you will surely perish... I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live (Devarim 30). The clear, direct mission and warning to the Jewish people. The open message of reward and punishment. If the Jew will obey the Torah in all its ways, he will have life, glorious and majestic. If not, he will have death, terrible and cursed. Of course we can answer it; but the irreligious Jew, the one who does not accept the Divinity of Torah, refuses to accept an answer that lays the blame upon him, upon the Jew who - knowing of the warning - ignored it and disdained it. No, since it is impossible to accept the relationship between Jewish suffering and failure to obey the Law, one must blame God. One must create the image of Jewish people in Europe that was saintly and pious and observant, and thus one must ask how the modern God, a beaming Santa Claus who would never take serious our desecration of mitzvot, could do such a thing. And, of course, using that as a premise, "there is no God..." And the Orthodox Jew joins in. He creates a picture of European Jewry that must lead to agonized and perplexed questioning of God. He creates a picture of saintly men that must lead to a vision of a God that is a cruel God who punishes a people who, for the most part, were religious and observant and if so, how could He do such a thing unless He does not exist or "there is no answer..." The picture that is handed down to the American Orthodox youth, of the yeshivas of an East European Jewry that was pious and traditional and observant is one that must be destroyed because it is false. It is an image that the yeshiva world gave us in its desire to negate the present material western one. But by their falsely idealizing Man, they have laid the groundwork for the desecration of God. By painting the East European Jew as a saint, they designed a God of cruelty and irrationality. And that most terrible of sins must be ended: We must save God and sanctify His name by telling the truth about European Jewry in the years preceding the Holocaust. Then and only then will we be able to tell our children and all Jews the truth of the Holocaust. The false idealizing of the Jewry of Eastern Europe is worse than foolishness. In the words of Kohelet (7): "Say not: 'How was it that the former days were better than these?' For it is not out of wisdom that thou inquires! concerning this." Then and only then can we save God from blasphemy and ourselves from future horrors. Then and only then can we honestly and truly say: "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies" (Psalms 25). Of course we know the real truth of the situation and from that comes the answer, if we wish to be honest. Then and only then can we reply to the wicked and the honestly confused both - honestly. For in the words of Psalms (25): "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and His covenant to make them know it" And (Mishlei 28): "Men of evil will not understand justice but those who seek the Lord will understand everything." Yes, as the nineteenth century passed into its third quarter, the Jew of Russia and Poland was, indeed, observant. But what else could he be? The overwhelming number of Jews lived in a Pale of Settlement that restricted them to the shtetl, the village, where they were isolated from the gentile world, barred from participating in anything else except the society of the shtetl. And that society was religious in toto. What Jew, even if he wanted to, was prepared to rebel against the society that laid down the religious rules of life? Who was prepared to accept the ostracism that would be his inevitable punishment if the dared to throw off the halacha that was more than religion in the shtetl, but the entire social fabric of the life of the Jew? And so, of course, the Jew was "religious". He had no other choice. But once that choice arrived, look at what happened! And in such a short span of time! The Enlightenment that began to arrive in Eastern Europe in the last third of the nineteenth century swept away, in a relatively few years, a society and structure that had been built up for centuries. The great Torah centers spawned, overnight, a rebellion and revolution that uncovered the reality of Jewish "religiosity". The same Vilna that had become a byword for piety and Torah learning, the home of the Gaon, the "Jerusalem of Lithuania," now gave birth to the Jewish labor movement, the Bund, a bitterly anti-religious and anti-nationalistic group that saw Jews, who just yesterday were "religious", flocking to its ranks to spout atheistic socialism. The Poland and Russia and Lithuania and Galicia, the areas of the Vaad Arba Haaratzot, the places that had given us the Rama and the Shach and Chassidism and the great yeshivas, overnight gave birth to Jewish communism and socialism and secular Zionism and assimilation. The door was barely opened to enlightenment and emancipation and the Jew rushed to be a Universalist and to throw away Judaism. This was "religion". This was a "pious, saintly, committed Jewish community" that was cruel and unjustly allowed to be slaughtered by God? Hardly. The Jews who, arriving in America from centuries of "religion" and who threw away their tefillin and their Shabbat at the first opportunity, symbolized so many other Jews who remained behind. It was not "religion" that had marked them but a social system of ritual that was observed by most only because the outside gentile world refused to allow them entry to it, and there to throw off the yoke of heaven. The moment the barriers dropped, the Jew rebelled. This was the reality, and the fault dear Jew, lies not in our God but in ourselves. And there was of course, more. There was the terrible class struggle within East European Jewry. There was the terrible oppression of Jewish workers and proletariat by the wealthy Jews, the parnessim, the communal leaders. Not for nothing did the Bund and communism succeed so easily in attracting poor Jewish workers to their ranks. The low wages and horrible working conditions in the factories owned by Jews are epitomized in the classic story told in the name of the saintly Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev who once visited a matzah bakery on the eve of Passover. There, he saw the terrible conditions from dawn to dusk. "Dear God", he said, lifting his eyes unto heaven. "What liars are the gentiles! They accuse us of using gentile blood in our matzah. It is not true. We use Jewish blood..." And too few know of the black chapter of the chatufim, the kidnapped Jewish children of Czarist Russia. When the Czar decreed that Jewish children be drafted as "Cantonists" in the army for 25 years, the rabbis declared that the quota imposed on each community be filled by casting lots to see which child would be drafted. Tragically, the wealthy communal leaders would hire gentiles to kidnap the poor Jewish children, lock them in the synagogue and keep them to be turned over to be Czarists. The lack of Ahavat Yisrael, love of Jews, cried out to the Heavens! Was this "religion"? Was this a saintly Jewish community that was cruelly and unjustly slaughtered by God? Hardly. The fault lies not in our God, but in ourselves. And this lack of unity and love was epitomized, too, in the incredible number of machlokes, of bitter arguments and splits within the Jewish community, a sinat chinam, a needless hatred that split communities and families into warring camps of enemies. What we have seen in the disgusting attacks of hatred between Satmer and Belz or Satmer and Lubavitch is only a small portion of the bitter hatred between misnagdim and chassidim and between chassidic groups themselves, in Europe. The bitter divisions between Jews was told to me as a child by my father, of blessed memory, who described to me the bitter split between the Sanz and Rizhin, a hatred that reached its climax with chassidim going to the Western Wall to put the Sanzar Rebbe, the great Divrei Chayim, into herem. And at a Shabbat seuda shiishit, a chassid attempted to stab the Divrei Chayim... Families were broken up because of disputes. Needless hatred ran through East European Jewry as a thread, and the classic example of the Munkatcher Rebbe declaring, concerning the Pressburger Yeshiva founded by the Chasam Sofer: Vhivdilanu min ha'toim - and He has separated us >from those who err," even as the Pressburger Yeshiva refused entry to any bachur who was a member of the Mizrachi... And this terrible, terrible hatred was long ago, set up by the Rabbis as an unpardonable sin with a terrible, terribly clear and precise warning: "How severe is machloket, division and split! The Court of Heaven does not punish until one is over the age of 20 and the court on earth from the age of 13, but in the dispute of Korach, children of one day were burned and swallowed up by the earth..." (Tanchuma, Korach 3) And the Rabbis in Shabbat (33b): "When there are righteous in the generation, the righteous are caught for the sins of the generation. When there are no righteous, then little children are caught for the sins of the generation. Let each of us think long and carefully about this. And let us search our souls. And let us remember, on top of all the sins and the reality of Jewish crimes, the refusal to grasp the Land of Israel to our bosom. "And they despised the desirable land," is the Biblical condemnation of the generation of the desert and its great scholars and leaders who preferred to return to Egypt rather than go to the Land of Israel. Their actions led to the night of "weeping for generations," Tisha B'Av. What shall we say about the rejection of Eretz Yisrael in the decades preceding the Holocaust by so many great religious leaders in Europe? That, too, must be added to the reality of East European Jewry. It is time to put an end to the nonsense of "we cannot know the reasons". That answer guarantees the turning away of Jewish youth. It is time to bury the myth of East European Jewry that was pious and saintly. That insures the creation of a Jewish God who is senselessly cruel. It is time to put an end to the indictment of God, to hiruf v'giduf, blasphemy against the Lord. A Jewish People that clings to the Law, truly and completely, will be saved from Holocausts. And one which rejects it and which turns it into a ritualistic sociological fraud will suffer for it. And until we learn this, that which was will, God forbid, be again. But do not blame God. He remains the One whose duty compels us "to declare that the Lord is just, He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in Him." (Psalms 92) Sergio Tessa can be reached at Hadar-Israel@verizon.net. |
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SPIRITUAL MATTERS NOT SUBJECT TO GIVE-AND-TAKE
Posted by Hillel Fendel, April 24, 2006. |
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In a Passover holiday article distributed in synagogues around the country, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner explained why he objects to a "practical" compromise regarding the Land of Israel. In his article, entitled "A Foreign and Strange Proposal," in Machon Meir's weekly publication (http://www.machonmeir.net/), Rabbi Aviner, Dean of Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim in the Moslem Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, first presents the following question he has often been asked: "Perhaps, for lack of choice, we should propose our own territorial compromise - for if not, we are liable to lose everything, both the land and the people. We are losing our national unity... Even if we are ethically correct, perhaps we should give up parts of the Land of Israel in order to retain our national unity. In addition, if we don't give up parts of Yesha, we are liable to lose all of Yesha!" Rabbi Aviner responded: "No! This is the foundation of faith... There are many tribulations in life, and with G-d's help we will overcome; but out of our own free will to agree to the destruction of our People, Torah and Land - Heaven forbid! "If someone schemes to abduct your wife, would you engage him in dialogue and abandon her for half the week in order not to lose her altogether?! Jewish law states that if gentiles threaten Jews and demand that we give up one Jew or else they will kill all of us - we must not give up one Jew, come what may. Why? Because if they forcibly take all of us, then this is a great tragedy - but our hands are clean. But if we give over even just one, then we are great sinners, and this is much worse. "When the first core group of Elon Moreh [the first Yesha community] tried to take root, our leaders were willing to accept a compromise and move the settlement to a nearby army camp - but our teacher Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook refused, saying, 'Is this the Land of Israel or is this not the Land of Israel?!' As a result, we received nothing. There were some Gush Emunim leaders who said, 'Rav Tzvi Yehuda doesn't know how to be politically flexible, next time we won't bring him here.' But the fact is that he was right, because that struggle infused a great spirit into everything, ultimately leading to the settling of 250,000 Jews throughout Judea and Samaria. True, he lost the battle at that time, but he won the war, because the spirit had been lifted. "In business, true, you give up a little in order to gain much, and the same in checkers and chess. But this is not business and not games; this is the essence of life. Spiritual matters are not up for give-and-take... "This compromise proposal is therefore one of foolishness, sadness, and despair. But we are not given to despair. We are full of strength and full of future hope, despite all the difficulties. There have always been hardships, and we have always overcome. If not today, then tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then the next day." Hillel Fendel is Senior News Editor for Arutz-7. |
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NATION MARKS HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY STARTING MONDAY EVENING
Posted by IsrAlert, April 24, 2006. |
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This article is by Etgar Lefkovits. It appeared in the Jerusalem Post
(www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1143498903195&pagename=
JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull)
The State of Israel will take time out Monday evening to remember the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, marking the start of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The annual state ceremony will begin at 8 p.m. at Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. The hour-long event, which will be broadcast live on television and radio, will be attended by President Moshe Katsav, Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and scores of dignitaries and ambassadors from around the world. The theme of this year's ceremony - coming at a time when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust a myth - is "The Human Spirit in the Shadow of Death." Six torches will be lit by Holocaust survivors in memory of the six million Jewish victims. The chief rabbis will recite a selection from Psalms and kaddish, the Jewish mourning prayer. All places of entertainment will be closed on Monday night. At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, a two-minute siren will sound to mark the start of a day of ceremonies throughout Israel. A wreath-laying ceremony will take place just after the siren is sounded Tuesday at the Warsaw Ghetto uprising memorial at Yad Vashem, in the presence of Olmert and other dignitaries. Victims' names will be read out loud during "Unto Every Person There is a Name" ceremonies, at both the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem and at the Knesset. An estimated 250,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel. About one-third live in poverty, according to recent social welfare reports. "Israeli society has an moral duty to honor the Holocaust survivors, and to take care of them in the twilight of their days," Yad Vashem chairman Avner Shalev said Sunday. Harv Weiner, a businessman in Dallas, Texas, is the founder and moderator of Isralert. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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THE TWO CANDLES SIDE BY SIDE
Posted by Rachel Kapen, April 24, 2006. |
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It was the morning of Yom HaShoah 5748 (1988). My sister Shula and I had our second cup of coffee in the small kitchen of their Bat Yam apartment when suddenly the sound of the alarm pierced the air signifying the official start of Yom HaShoah. We both put down our cups and stood at attention for a moment of silence. This act of remembrance was replicated throughout the country. As the second alarm sounded to indicate the end of the moment of silence, I looked down to the street below and saw an entire busload of passengers re-embarking an Egged bus which they disembarked before for the moment of silence. Could a similar act of collective remembrance take place in a different country? I thought to myself. No, I concluded, but after all Israel is unique and so is the Shoah. Later that day we drove together to the Kaplan hospital in Rehovot where our dear mother Sarah lay dying. Although she no longer was aware of her surroundings my sister felt the need to make the trip every day, first by herself and then with me to keep her company and share in the sorrow of losing our beloved mother. Early the following day we received the dreaded yet not entirely unexpected call of her passing. It was Friday, the 28th day of Nissan, and in accordance with Jewish law she was buried that same day. A family friend and notable Torah scholar said to me that my mother did it for me, her last act of love to her daughter so that I could honor her and perform the great mitzvah of hesed shel emet, a selfless act of loving kindness which carries no reward. You see, I had to return to the United States the following Sunday to be with our youngest son, Avi, who came home from the residential school which he attended out of state and my husband had to leave for a medical conference. This being the case, my first day of sitting shiva took place aboard an El Al plane. The following year for the first yahrtzeit of my mother's death, I started a special ritual of remembrance which I follow religiously for the last 17 years. As the yellow Yom HaShoah memorial candle still flickers, refusing to extinguish totally, there is already another memorial candle standing at its side, my mother's, burning together in an act which carries a great deal of significance for me. For it was my mother, who was my living link to the Shoah. Leaving her home in the shtetle in 1921 for Eretz Israel, all her life I watched her grieve for the beloved family members she left behind and never saw again. She made it real to me, as real as humanly possible to grasp the enormity of the Shoah. I am painfully aware of the fact that this highly emotional, highly symbolic act of remembrance will cease to exist when I am no longer here, Indeed, the thought of the two candles no longer burning side by side on our kitchen counter for 48 hours fill me with great sadness and I hope and pray this doesn't happen anytime soon. Contact Rachel Kapen at skapen@285466MI@comcast.net |
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EDUCATIONAL WEBSITES ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST
Posted by Jacob Richman, April 24, 2006. |
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Shalom. Holocaust Remembrance Day is Tuesday, April 25, 2006. I posted on my website 156 links to learn about the Holocaust. Site languages include English, Hebrew, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. All 156 links have been reviewed / checked this week. The web address is: http://www.jr.co.il/hotsites/j-holoc.htm The top of the page should be dated April 23, 2006. If the page has an older date, hold the control key and press the F5 key to refresh your browser with the updated page. Please forward this message to relatives and friends, so they can benefit from these educational resources. We must not forget. Jacob |
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DOES NEWS DRIVE POLICY OR POLICY DRIVE NEWS?; SIGNS FOR HOPE, OR HOPE FOR SIGNS?
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 24, 2006. |
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BIG BROTHER IS HERE Brave New World and 1984 satirized society run by "big brother." These may have been gibes at the Nazi and Communist societies, whose big brothers were malign. At the time, the means available to government for controlling populations were far less advanced than today's means. Computers make the chief difference in means. Terrorism makes a big difference in motive. So long as Western countries allow in Muslims, they must guard against terrorism everywhere, at great cost. Governmental inefficiency and reluctance to confront issues leads to means of monitoring that mostly do not address the problem but needlessly restrict privacy and freedom. Some of the restrictions are useful, such as the public surveillance cameras that help solve crime. Technology does more than allow police to track down criminals. It enables companies to sell information about consumers to those who prepare a dossier enabling advertisers to target you or giving political campaigns too much personal insight into you. Oh, one is told, if you haven't committed a crime, you have nothing to worry about. Not true. First, one prefers personal business to be kept private. Second, one's record can be distorted by the unscrupulous, who may ignore your reasons and extenuating circumstances Third, who wants junk mail? Spearheading the big brother movement is my Mayor Bloomberg. His "buying" the mayoralty is bad enough. Now he is organizing other rich contributors to withhold money from politicians who do not endorse his main policies. One such policy is to let government use eminent domain to seize private land and buildings in behalf of developers merely because the higher buildings would bring in greater tax revenues. One's house and land no longer are secure. You would get paid for it, perhaps fairly, but you may not wish to be uprooted. Michael Bloomberg is a particularly poor custodian of that power. He lets his Deputy Mayor secretly select developers, without public bidding, and sell public facilities to them well below market value, for unnecessary and probably uneconomic projects for which the favored developer gets excessive subsidy. This is an abuse of power. Another Bloomberg policy is to force developers to set aside "affordable housing." The Mayor did try to reform the building code, which raises costs, but not the City bureaucracy, that does, too. People buy property under certain rules, which Bloomberg-type government would change later, depriving owners of some property rights and profits. That is unfair. If the government wants cheaper housing, historic house preservation, or wetland retention, let it pay property owners for what it deprives them of! A policy that Bloomberg effectuated on his own is big brotherism medically. He has broken the confidentiality of medical records for diabetics, letting their records be used to generate exhortations to lose weight, etc.. Well-meant, but impudent and a frightening wedge for busybodies. Who will be the watchdog for government? It has imposed harmful health initiatives and failed to protect against harmful chemicals and medicines. IN THE NAME OF DEMOCRACY Hamas denounces foreign curtailment of aid to the P.A. as "punishment of the people's democratically elected choice." No, it is for being terrorist.
The Arabs, who don't believe in democracy, cite it as a shield for whatever they do. They elect terrorists, who declare a war of aggression against the West, but insist they are entitled to Western subsidy. Even if the P.A. had democracy, which it doesn't, democracy doesn't excuse every crime. Foreign subsidy is not a right IMMIGRATION REFORM Immigration reform is not going to bolster national security. It is being approached on a politically correct basis. NY Sun reports on the bills in Congress, never mentions barring Islamists, and certainly not Muslims in general. Therefore, immigration authorities are less likely to screen out enemy populations that can set up terrorist cells and gain more political influence. WORLD WAR LIKELIER It used to be difficult to start a world war. Countries had to build alliances and mobile armadas. Now it is much easier. A rogue state or its terrorist allies need only, say, three nuclear weapons. After they explode, other countries may launch theirs. The race to the death is on. This makes nuclear proliferation particularly dangerous nowadays. DOES NEWS DRIVE POLICY OR DOES POLICY DRIVE NEWS? Most intelligence and media report that Iran has at least one atom bomb and is just months away from manufacturing them. They usually recommend immediate military action. The NY Times reports it is ten years away and recommends diplomacy. Do the proposals derive from the news, or do they make up news to justify their policy? ISRAELI COALITION-BUILDING In bidding for coalition partnerships, Israeli parties have offered posts to, or sought posts from, parties whose main platform contradicts theirs on major principles. Therefore, they don't have principles, they have "come-on' platforms. They will further disillusion Israelis about their political system. Uncertainty over what parties stand for destabilizes the political system (Jer. Post, 4/4, Ed.). Voters stayed home. Most Israeli politicians are interested primarily in keeping their Knesset seats. Some parties do have principles, but some of them are unprincipled about implementing them. SIGNS FOR HOPE & HOPE FOR SIGNS? The new Foreign Minister of the P.A. hinted that Hamas might recognize Israel some day. Foreign diplomats made much of it. Hearing that, he "...quickly denied that the phrase in any way opened the door to doing what most rational people know Hamas must do if Palestinians (i.e., western Palestinian Muslim Arabs) are every going to get the viable state they so crave and deserve." As for P.A. financial problems, the editorial added, "Israel hasn't helped matters with its refusal to transfer to the P.A. the tax revenues that it collects for the authority." (4/6.) The Times usually depicts falsely conciliatory Arab statements as "New Hope for Peace." This time it was realistic about that. Rational people can see that the Quartet is gradually aiding the P.A. and so is Iran. The P.A. is too dedicated to war to be viable. The people of the P.A. don't crave a state, they crave the destruction of a state, Israel. Bigoted, bellicose, and genocidal, they most decidedly do not deserve the Jewish patrimony of Judea and Samaria. That the Times asserts they do would be better understood by its readers if that paper were honest enough to put in a disclaimer, "Note: the NY Times traditionally is anti-Zionist." What the Arabs deserve is for Israel to tell them, "Surrender in a week or we stop supplying you with electricity and water while you make war on us and try to destroy our power generating plants." This is not in the cards. Certainly Israel should not send money to an autonomy using it to make war on it. That money should not be held in reserve for the P.A., but should compensate victims of Arab terrorism. This, too, is not being done, for the government of Israel is more interested in pleasing gentiles, such as the publisher of the Times and the State Dept., than in caring for its own people. The government hasn't the gumption to bar all P.A. Arabs from entry into Israel, where they pose a threat of terrorism, and remit Israeli-paid wages to the P.A., thus helping in the war on the Jews. 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 richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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YOM HASHOA 5766 - LET NO HOLOCAUST VICTIM BE FORGOTTEN
Posted by Mordechai Ben Menachem, April 23, 2006. |
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A word from my email pal Jack in Ra'anana: It is extremely important that we do not allow the Nazis to obliterate the memory of those they and their cohorts murdered. As you will see below, half of the six million have been remembered at Yad Vashem. But that means that three million are still missing. NEW COMMUNITY OUTREACH GUIDE FOR HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE Let no Holocaust Victim be Forgotten Dear Friends, Yad Vashem invites you to join the historic mission of the Jewish people to memorialize every individual Jew who perished in the Holocaust through the collection of the ultimate representation of their identity: their names. To date, half of the six million victims have been recorded in the Central Database of Shoah Victims? Names (www.yadvashem.org), where one may access their brief histories and, when available, their photographs, and submit additional names online. Millions of victims may be forgotten forever, unless we recover their names today. We are pleased to offer a new online community outreach guide to initiate local Names Recovery Campaigns. Packed with valuable resources and materials, this free guide will enable Jewish communities to plan and implement meaningful memorial programs, names collection events and related activities around Yom Hashoah - Israel's national Holocaust Remembrance Day (this year, 25 April) and other significant dates in the Jewish calendar, such as 10th Tevet, 17th Tammuz, 9th Av, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The guide is designed for use either by an individual or group, such as a synagogue, community center, welfare agency, survivor and next generation group, university or school. You can use it to call upon members of your community or organization to complete a "Page of Testimony" for each unregistered victim, or to volunteer to assist others with this urgent task. To access the Community Outreach Guide visit:
Join today, before the generation that remembers is no longer with us. Sincerely, Cynthia Wroclawski
P.S. Please post this on your list serves and distribute it to your friends, family and colleagues. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org |
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HOW DO KEEP THE HOLOCAUST IN MIND?
Posted by Deborah Kotz, April 23, 2006. |
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This week we mark Yom Hashoah. How do we keep the memory of the Holocaust from fading into irrelevance? Time marches on, wounds heal. Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will no doubt feel less affected by the Holocaust than we. And perhaps my generation is less affected than the previous generation ... I think it's important for all of us to think about in terms of community programs and conversations we have with our own children. Perhaps we need to pass down Holocaust memories like the Mishnah was once passed down orally through the generations. Another way to remember the Holocaust is in its lingering impact, the potential lost that has forever altered the face of Europe and the world at large. Ann Frank's diary is one of the best-selling books of its time because it symbolizes all of this vanished potential. Who knows what this one compassionate girl with all of her insights could have become had she lived to adulthood? I read a recent article that said Vienna today is a quiet boring city, completely different than it was in the early 20th century when it was home to Jewish scientists (like Sigmund Freud and Wolfgang Pauli), musicians (Gustav Mahler) and artists. How many other cities and towns in Europe, devoid of their Jewish intellectuals and scholars, are completely altered forever? These are the living reminders we can pass on to our children even when we, unfortunately, have no survivors left among us. 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 |
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THE PALESTINIAN DEMOGRAPHIC SCAM OF COUNTING PEOPLE, PART I
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 23, 2006. |
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For many years a lie has been promulgated by many interests to the effect of a growing Arab Muslim Palestinian population from which Israel must escape by abandoning territory. Some accepted these erroneous statistics merely because it seems to come from authorities whom one doesn't dare question. After all, counting people has always been in the realm of experts using mysterious accounting tables only understood by the 'high priests' of demographics. Apparently, the Palestinian Authority found that it served their purposes to offer wildly exaggerated population figures which collectively amounted to 50% more that the actual numbers. This brought them Billions of additional dollars from the American taxpayers, European donors and the United Nations' UNRWA (United Nations Relief Works Agency). Additionally, there were what is called the NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) which consisted of various charities who raised monies from the general populace in numerous countries. Some of there so-called charities have since been shut down as collection 'fronts' for Terrorist Organizations. Here again, the scam had numerous facets beyond the erroneous totals invented by the Bureaus of Statistics and the political echelon who thrived on false data. The Left, represented at first mostly by Labor used the false data as a fear tactic and contended that they had to abandon large segments of territories because of the presence of Palestinians in large numbers and with a high birth rate. Thus they created a self-perpetuating Government 'Fear' policy, based entirely upon false information in order to nurture their 'Conceptzia' dedicated to abandoning territory vital to the continued existence of the Jewish State. They claimed that this was necessary in order to democratically keep the Jewish State with an ongoing Jewish majority. Thus transferring the Jewish population was acceptable in such plans as the "Oslo Accords" or the Gush Katif/Gaza "Disengagement" but transferring Arabs was unthinkable. The earliest known plans to transfer Jews started in the early 1980s when illegal meetings took place under Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres with Yassir Arafat which ultimately failed but - not for their lack of trying. They created a false demographic imagery based upon false information first provided by the P.A. - which they knew to be false. The academic and "so-called" professional demographers of both the Palestinians and Israelis worked hand-in-hand with their political echelons to provide manipulated statistics. The demographers will and have, of course, denied being used or agreeing to bastardize their profession to accommodate the politicians and their ideology of surrendering vital territory in Israel's historical and geographic heartland. Even now, as they (both the Government officials and their demographers) have been provided with accurate, statistically irrefutable evidence compiled by world-renowned demographers and statisticians, yet they refuse to admit having failed at their profession. Academics hate to be proven wrong and, worse yet, to be proven incompetent. But, even worse then that is to be caught being a cheat in order to support a politically Leftist ideology to abandon vital defendable Land under the false premise which they knowingly supplied. Note! The American Joint Chiefs of Staff under Gen. Earle Wheeler did a study at President Johnson's request to determine exactly what portions of land were necessary for Israel to be able to defend herself from attack by any Arab coalition in order to not need America's forces to survive any future war. Regrettably, Israel's leaders under pressure from Arabists in Washington, already forced Israel to give up some of these vital lands which the study warned her not to abandon. In addition, the balance, including Judea and Samaria, the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights and half of Jerusalem. (1) All of this has, in great part, been driven by the false demographic phantoms. The actual statistics demonstrate that more than a million plus Arab Muslims were invented both by the Arab actuaries and taken unquestioned by the Israeli actuaries accepting the false premise - allowing the Arab Muslim Palestinians to solicit donor money from the U.S., Europe and the U.N., all without question. The spreading of the Big Lie works again just as Goebbels predicted. The U.N.'s role through UNRWA (United Nations Relief Works Agency) was especially egregious as they deliberately accepted the false data in funneling money through Arafat to so-called refugees - thereby employing 25,000 Palestinians - even identity cards of the dead were kept in circulation. In Israel being a sucker is called being a frier. It means the same except when the sucker is ready and anxious to be taken advantage of for reasons of their own. But, let's get back to the basics of raw statistics which the average person finds difficult to read - let alone understand - of which I am one. For example, through tedious forensic accounting by "experts" of existing records, the published records, measuring the 2004 Arab Muslim Palestinian population in Gaza, Judea and Samaria at 3.8 million - when the actual figures are actually 2.5 million or an exaggeration of 1.3 million by the Palestinian Authority. That extra 1.3 million non-existent Palestinians brought in a flood of undeserved money. The Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics magnified errors exponentially multiplied from 1997 to the 2004 population which was inflated by over 50% (2) These false demographics supported the 'fear factor' used by the Leftist politicians and media. Their point was that "If we don't get rid of the land that all these 'extra Palestinians' were sitting on, then they would outnumber the Jews and Israel would no longer be a Jewish state IF it stayed democratic, letting the multiple Palestinians vote for Knesset members." These unchallenged exaggerations grew year after year, benefitting Yassir Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. It became easier with the passing years to get away with the exaggerations because even the Israeli Government ignored the false data and used it to advance their agenda of transferring Jews from their G-d given Land. If Israel didn't contest the accuracy of the count, why should the U.N., U.S., or E.U. demand 'transparency' and accuracy in counting? But, it also benefitted the game plan of the Labor Left to sell the Israeli public of an overwhelming number of Palestinians, that they the Leftists were going to protect the Israeli people from. They knew the facts were wildly exaggerated and lying to the people was normal and expected. Unfortunately, fear, guilt and belief in authority even when caught lying is endemic to Jews, generally. Their Land-For-Peace slogan similarly was repeated year after years until it became the accepted formula, despite its resounding failure. The nations of the world not only accepted the tainted statistics but, used the false numbers to beat Israel into submission on numerous issues well beyond the Land-For-Peace formula. It was a loose, loose scam but, no one caught on until recently with the BESA study. The Leftists in each succeeding Israeli administration became fast and dependable allies - with the Palestinian Authority after Oslo - first with Yassir Arafat and then with Mahmoud Abbas (whose nom du guerre was Abu Mazen). Even now, the Europeans - led by England are softening their attitude of Hamas and leading the effort to continue the funding under the guise of "Humanitarian Aid". One can be assured that Israel's new Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will soon follow by releasing taxes and customs fees Israel held in escrow into the PA accounts. That the PA and the Israeli Left collaborated in foisting this illusion on the people of Israel, of that there is no doubt. Sowing fear that hordes of Arab Muslim Palestinians would flood the Jewish nation IF the Jewish Land was NOT abandoned to the Muslims was their 'war cry'. But, recent studies exposing the real numbers of population let the air out of the ever-expanding balloon of false demographics. The promulgators of false data are fighting hard to keep the data out of the Media who, so far, has been accommodating. What was accepted as Conventional Wisdom turned out to be a vast scam, perpetrated by both the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli Government under such leaders as Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Bibi Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon and now Ehud Olmert. This scandal of disinformation has not gained the traction should as yet but, even Congress is starting to dig for the truth. These erroneous statistics have been quietly reviewed in the United States by the most prominent and respected authorities who are shocked at being taken. There seems to be no question that the statistics were deliberately misleading to achieve both political ends and the means to generate cash flow. It's amazing how accurate the U.S. Bureau of Statistics can be when calculating actuarials for the State Department and the White House. But, when State wants figures that support their assistance programs for Arafat's Arab Muslim Palestinians, any numbers will suffice as long as they meet the State Department's pro-Arab agenda. But, that doesn't even compare to what the Israeli governments did to her own people. I know high level political crooks never go to jail in Israel but, if they did, we could empty the offices of the Prime Minister and a good portion of the Knesset straight into jail. Please note the Tuesday, April 18th Jerusalem Post lists eight Ministers of Knesset Ahmed Tibi, Taleb el-Sanaa, Tzahi Hanegbi, Danny Naveh, Yisrael Katz, Avigdor Leiberman, Shlomo Benizri and Azmi Bishara under Criminal investigations by Police or State Prosecution and 2 more Mks, including the new Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his deputy, Shimon Peres who are under State Comptroller Investigations. We will cover these issues in a future article. ### 1. "Secret Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense" for the Joint Chiefs of Staff signed by Gen. Earle G. Wheeler Chairman, Joint Chiefs June 29, 1967 AVAILABLE BY FAX. Please send your full name and FAX number for a copy of Copy #14 of 32. 2. "THE MILLION PERSON GAP: THE ARAB POPULATION IN THE WEST BANK AND GAZA" by Bennet Zimmerman, Robert Seid, Michael Wise for The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Bar Ilan University's Mideast Security & Policy Studies #65 with the Israeli team headed by Yoram Ettinger. I am informed that the printing costs in Israel will be $2.50 per copy, plus mailing costs. We will try to have this Study printed in the U.S. and will advise the costs ASAP. 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). Contact him at gwinston@interaccess.com |
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HAMAS SPEAKS WITH "FORKED TONGUE"
Posted by Eric Mahr, April 23, 2006. |
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Count me wrong in one prediction about Hamas. I had figured, given
its contempt for Yasir Arafat and his dishonorable ways, that Hamas
would honorably stick by its ideology once it reached power, and not
follow Arafat down the road of saying different things to different
audiences. Yet, according to analyses by Palestinian Media Watch
("Hamas Duplicity: Talk Peace in English and deny it Arabic,"
PMW presents a case of Hamas "presenting a conciliatory face to the Western media, while rejecting peace to its own people in Arabic, and even denying that the conciliatory statements were made." The MFA presents side-by-side extremist and moderate statements from Hamas leaders on such subjects as jihad, recognition of Israel, and applying the Shari'a in the West Bank and Gaza. Comment: This development is probably due to the quite significant resistance in the West to the Hamas victory, including the withholding of funds and other benefits. I am glad of it but expect this position to erode over time and the Hamas message eventually to return to its former consistency. (April 11, 2006) Contact Eric Mahr at ericmahr@yahoogroups.com |
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LOONY AND LOONIER
Posted by Steven Plaut, April 23, 2006. |
1. Leftist Attacks on Neo-Nazi Norman Finkelstein
DePaul's Norman Finkelstein, considered by the Anti-Defamation League to be a Holocaust Denier and open anti-Semite, is now under attack... from the LEFT! The Finkie is still spreading his swastikas around DePaul, the same campus in which Prof. Thomas Klocek was fired for daring to be politiclaly incorrect!
It is not just the signers of the Euston Minifesto who know a neo-nazi when they see one!
Writing in What Next?, Tobias Abse demolishes Finkelstein and calls
for the sane Left to distance itself from such critters. He writes,
inter alia:
"NORMAN Finkelstein's new book, The Holocaust Industry, does no service to the left, to Jews or to genuine anti-fascists of any variety. Objectively, this book, whose very title echoes the rhetoric of Holocaust denial rather in the way that the phrase "race relations industry" is a hallmark of all British racists, provides considerable comfort to every Holocaust denier, neo-Nazi and anti-Semite on the face of the planet....With ever increasing frequency, the overall tone of Finkelstein's work becomes increasingly reminiscent of a neo-Nazi tract; no non-Jewish anti-Stalinist left-wing opponent of Zionism would ever dare to indulge in such blatant anti-Semitic stereotyping... Finkelstein's appetite for anti-Semitic humour is as gross and insatiable as Irving's or Le Pen's... For Finkelstein, the world Jewish conspiracy is boundless, in words reminiscent of The Protocols of the Elder of Zion." He dismisses Finkie's "book" as a "crude polemic" and Finkelstein as a fraud and racist. There are serious questions as to whether DePaul, clearly uninterested in maintaining academic standards, should be considered to be an academic institution at all. 2. Suppressing Artistic Freedom and Free Speech at Penn State! The Penn State student paper carries the story of the latest act of suppression of free speech by the PC stormtroopers. Seems that a Penn State student named Josh Stulman was about to open his own art exhibit when it was censored by the Penn State Big Brother for being politically correct. His 10-piece exhibit was entitled "Portraits of Terror". Just before it was scheduled to open, Stulman received an e-mail message from the School of Visual Arts who said his exhibit on images of terrorism "did not promote cultural diversity" or "opportunities for democratic dialogue" and the display would be cancelled. In other words, it did not give equal time to the terrorists. The exhibit is based mainly on the conflict in "Palestinian" territories, and raises questions concerning the destruction of Jewish religious shrines, anti-Semitic propaganda and cartoons in Palestinian newspapers, the disregard for rules of engagement and treatment of prisoners, and the indoctrination of youth into terrorist acts. "I'm being censored and the reason for censoring me doesn't make sense," Stulman was cited as saying. "It's not about hate. I don't hate Muslims. This is not about Islam," Stulman said. "This is about terrorism impacting the Palestinian way of life and Israel way of life." Stulman said advertisements for the event were defaced in the Patterson and School of Visual Arts buildings, one of which had a large swastika on it. But THAT was politically acceptable hatred at Penn State and so nothing was done about IT! Stulman, who is Jewish, said he felt threatened and abused by the Nazi symbol and is concerned for his artwork and his personal well-being. 3. Rabbi Jihad:
FILEA top Muslim leader, the grand mufti of Bosnia, visited Birmingham recently. At an interfaith meeting with clergy at Southside Baptist Church, Mustafa Ceric called for more interfaith dialogue to help promote peace and understanding for the situation of Muslims in the world. Ceric also visited Temple Emanu-El. Recently, Rabbi Jonathan Miller hosted Bosnia's Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric to speak at Temple Emanu-El so we Jews and Christians might "make room in our hearts and souls for others who believe differently from us." The rabbi should have done some research first. Ceric recently called on the world to stand by Syria, a state that sponsors terrorism against Israel and U.S. forces in Iraq. During the March 2004 pogroms in Kosovo against Orthodox Christian Serbs by Albanian Muslims -- in which 19 people were killed, dozens of churches and cemeteries desecrated, and close to 4,000 of Kosovo's minority Serbs displaced -- BBC.com reported Ceric "expressed concern about the rise of anti-Islamic hysteria in the West." He added there was "no such thing as Islamic terrorism," and said there were no charities linked to al-Qaida operating in Bosnia. That a rabbi would invite a terror enabler to ingratiate himself and his religion to a Judeo-Christian audience is a disgrace. The American Jewish Committee's counter-terrorism division has warned about Islamists using interfaith to gain legitimacy, noting Muslim organizations have learned "interfaith dialogue is a good way to spread the ideology," and adding, "these organizations come to the Jewish community to talk about `interfaith,' while they still teach anti-Western and anti-Christian doctrines to their followers." That aside, the vision of a Muslim cleric lecturing fair-minded American audiences on being open to other faiths borders on the obscene. If Jews continue doing PR for movements that wish them ill, they'll find themselves in a position similar to what they were in during World War II. At that time, Jerusalem Mufti Hajj Amin al-Husseini met with Hitler to offer support. Thousands of Bosnian Muslims answered the mufti's call to volunteer for service in the Waffen SS. When we finally arrive at the logical conclusion of the current state of affairs, in which Jews are fleeing Europe once again and 6 million in Israel are threatened with "erasure" from the map, it won't be because "the world" looked the other way. It'll be because of my fellow Jews' own fatal ignorance. Never again? What a joke. Shame on this so-called rabbi, and shame on every Jew and Christian in the audience who applauded the speaker on cue. Julia Gorin
Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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EPISCOPALIAN RESOLUTIONS REJECT THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS
Posted by David Meir-Levi, April 23, 2006. |
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Dear Christian leaders, If you are, or if you know anyone who is, connected to the Episcopal church, I most sincerely urge you (or urge you to urge your Episcopalian acquaintances) to pay heed to Mr. Nelson's commentary below; and to take action. Stand up and speak out, and urge your colleagues to do the same. Let Episcopalian leadership know that you share Mr. Nelson's abhorrence of their actions. Silence in the face of evil is complicity. Churches are silent in the face of: Moslem crimes against Christians living under Islamic rule, crimes which have lately compounded and increased in number and heinousness, incuding exile, attacks on churches, extortion, intimidation, rape, murder and even gang rape and mass murder. I have documented many of these for you in previous emails. Moslem, and especially Arab Moslem, oppression of women and the brutality of female genital mutilation and honor killings. Moslem terrorism against Hindus in Kashmir and Gujarat which has killed 60,000 mostly innocent civilian Hindus over the past 20 years. The egregious and seemingly endess violations of human rights in Cuba, North Korea, Libya, Pakistan, Iran; and the Chinese occupation and oppression and cultural/linguistic genocide in Tibet. Legalized slavery (especially of black African non-Moslems: Christians and Animists) in Sudan and Mauritania (and illegal but widely practised slavery in Arabia). The racially and venally motivated genocide of Christians and animists (mostly black Africans) in South Sudan, and genocide of black African Moslems in western Sudan (Darfur) by the Arab Moslem government forces of North Sudan. And the popularly elected and legally empowered Hamas government's endless, relentless, brutal and primitive rhetoric of annihilation and diatribe of genocide against Jews and agianst Israel. And, knowingly and willingly turning a blind eye to all of the above, the Episcopal church in its most recent resolutions focuses exclusively on the USA and Israel. The word 'hypocrisy' does not even begin to encompass this jaw-droppingly obscene assault against reality. Mr. Nelson asserts that "...the human rights advocacy of the Episcopal Church remains deeply flawed". I agree, but in addition I assert (no disrespect, God Forbid! - but I call them like I see them) that regarding the leaders of every church in the world who choose to remain silent while Christians, Jews, Hindus, peaceful Moslems, and innumerable others suffer at the hands of triumphalist Jihadist supremicist Islamofascist terrorist hate-mongering and war-mongering Moslem extremists...... ......those leaders have treasonously compromised their commitment to the teachings of Jesus. ......some worldly passion trumps their love for their Savior. ......and thus compromised, they lead their churches into sin and evil. Recall Isaiah 5:20, "Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil". Stand up and speak out. The future of our religions and our Western Civilization are at stake. David Meir-Levi "Proposed Episcopal Resolutions Blame Israel, U.S., Turn
Blind Eye to Hamas, and to Cuba's Castro"
"Also jarring is the request in resolution A012 for "assurance that no U.S. tax dollars are used to finance the [Israeli] Occupation [of the West Bank], directly or indirectly." This demand appears ironic in light of the current lobbying by Bishop Griswold and other mainline leaders for continued U.S. funding of the Palestinian Authority, despite its new Hamas leadership. There seems to be a double standard here." April 22, 2006 ............ Cuba was not the only place raising human rights concerns among the Episcopal leaders. Two resolutions on the Israel/Palestine conflict were also offered in the Blue Book. Strangely, however, they seem to offer contradictory approaches to the peace process. The first resolution, A011, would affirm a two-state solution to the conflict, seek an end to violence, and call for all parties to return to the negotiating table rather than resort to unilateral action. Strangely enough, however, the resolution also demands that Israel withdraw from all its West Bank settlements-which would appear to be a unilateral action. There is no specific reciprocal concession asked of the Palestinian Authority. The second resolution, A012, is nothing but a list of unilateral actions that the Episcopal Church would have Israel take: removal of the security barrier between predominantly Jewish and Arab areas, return of sovereign control of Gaza's airspace, etc. The only demand which seems even remotely tied to the Palestinians is the resolution's vague call for the "eradication of the sin of anti-Semitism." The practitioners of this sin are not identified. Nor is it explained how this sin, amongst all others, might be "eradicated." What is remarkable about these resolutions is the complete lack of any recognition of the new situation created after the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections earlier this year. With the Palestinian Authority now headed by a group that refuses to recognize Israel's existence--indeed, that is sworn to Israel's destruction, and that has carried out terrorist attacks towards that end--it is hard to see where Israel will find a negotiating partner. It is astounding that such a development could go unmentioned in the proposed Episcopal resolutions. They simply repeat the insistence that Israel must negotiate with the Palestinian Authority, as if Hamas were only waiting for a few Israeli concessions in order to de-activate its terrorist bombs. The Executive Council wrapped up its work for the triennium in late February, a month after the Palestinian elections. Also jarring is the request in resolution A012 for "assurance that no U.S. tax dollars are used to finance the [Israeli] Occupation [of the West Bank], directly or indirectly." This demand appears ironic in light of the current lobbying by Bishop Griswold and other mainline leaders for continued U.S. funding of the Palestinian Authority, despite its new Hamas leadership. There seems to be a double standard here. The human rights advocacy of the Episcopal Church remains deeply flawed. As was demonstrated in our 2004 IRD study of Human Rights Advocacy in the Mainline Protestant Churches (2000-2003), there is a pattern of disproportionate and unrelenting focus of criticism on the United States and Israel. If these latest proposed resolutions for the Episcopal General Convention are any indication, the pattern is, unfortunately, unchanged. Even significant developments like the Palestinian elections could not deflect the Episcopal Executive Council from its one-sided advocacy in the Middle East. While the denomination's leadership easily finds its voice to criticize Israel and the United States, it seems incapable of speaking out against many of the world's more repressive governments, such as Fidel Castro's dictatorship in Cuba. The Episcopal Church's human rights advocacy remains broken so long as it refuses to embrace all those around the world who deserve its solidarity and support. David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. His expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). Contact him at david_meirlevi@hotmail.com |
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DIE-LATERALISM
Posted by Evelyn Hayes, April 23, 2006. |
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Jihad from Afghanistan to Tunisia to Iran and Iraq and Egypt call it
Palestinianism; Evelyn Hayes is author of "The Eleventh Plague, Twins, because their hearts were softened to accept the unacceptable" and "The Twelfth Plague, Generations, because the lion wears stripes." Contact her at haze@rcn.com. |
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THE ISRAELI PORK BARREL
Posted by Batya Medad, April 23, 2006. |
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The cafeteria in the Israeli Knesset building may be strictly kosher, but its politics is the epitome of the Pork Barrel kind. Only here they call it coalition building. Each government comprises more and more ministers to "cement" the agreement with lard. Olmert broke his promises, and instead of reducing the cabinet and the very high expenses each minister and assistant minister requires, his government will be the largest ever! Israeli governments consist of various parties, which are tied together less by ideology and more by need. That's why the religious parties and the most anti-religious parties end up sharing the cabinet table. The religious parties, especially Shas and UTJ-United Torah Judaism desperately need to get some of the pie to support their various institutions. That's why ideology takes a back seat to the pork. It's also one of the main tensions between the National Union-Moledet & Tekuma and NRP-Mafdal, the National Religious Party, even though they have joined together for the 2006 elections. The NRP was always the traditional coalition partner with whichever party was in power, in order to support its educational system, while the NU is more strongly ideological. Olmert and his staff have been negotiating with potential coalition partners even before Election Day. They were hoping that the polls would be correct, and they'd have 40 seats, which would give them a commanding 2/3 of the 60+ needed to make a majority of the 120 member Knesset. If that had been the election result, they would only have needed just over 20 more MK's to rule. Not only that, but the other parties would be begging for a chance to join, rather than the situation we now have. Because Olmert received much fewer than he had hoped for, he's in the position of needing support, and the other party leaders are playing poker with him. Every few minutes, there's a different new flash. Now, 7am, Sunday, April 23, the news is: "Kadima-Labor Deal Far from Certain," Apr 23, 2006, IsraelNN.com. The reported decision to grant the Labor party seven ministries is far from certain and could spark a crisis, according to the Hebrew news site NFC. Along with the report of Labor's receiving seven Cabinet portfolios, Kadima also announced that the division of ministries would be one portfolio for every 3.5 mandates. According to this formula, Labor's 19 seats would earn it only five ministries. In the end it will depend on who's a better card player, but it's still Olmert holding the knife. And when he finishes spreading the pork and all the gravy, more than one quarter, that's one out of four, Members of Knesset will be getting extra salaries and perks as ministers and assistant-ministers. That sweetens the deal for all those miss-matched bedfellows. That's how Israeli coalitions include politicians with such different and conflicting beliefs. Their need for money unites them. That's one of the reasons I don't vote, never have, for religious parties. And more: Unlike the United States, which has a more "technocrat" cabinet, the Israeli Cabinet is filled with politicians, active, competitive, ambitious politicians. This colors every decision made by all Israeli Governments. Combine this with the "self-appointing" Israeli Supreme Court, and it's very clear why our governments are so corrupt and incompetent. Government reform must deal with these issues, because they are the core problems. Until this is done, most Israeli politicians will just keep on fighting for their piece of pork and lick of the gravy. 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. This essay is archived at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2006/04/israeli-port-barrel.html |
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MIDDLE EAST RADIO FORUM
Posted by The Reality Show, April 23, 2006. |
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You will enjoy the Middle East Radio Forum show/web site: http://www.middleeastradioforum.org/archives/oldindex.html It is a local show in Phoenix on every Sunday. It's hosted by William
Wolf, an attorney in Phoenix. It is a veritable treasure trove of
historical information regarding Israel's history and the "conflict"
with the "Balestinians". The archives are available online and free
(back through 10-17-04):
Historian Steve Carol is a regular on the show and there have also
been some other fantastic guests, e.g.:
Please support his sponsors as well, since that's what keeps him on the air: http://www.middleeastradioforum.org/sponsors.html Contact The Reality Show at therealityshow@mail.com or go to their website: http://lightonthings.blogspot.com |
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FROM NICOLAU TO NISSAN: A JEWISH SOUL FINDS ITS WAY BACK HOME
Posted by Michael Freund, April 23, 2006. |
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Following is an article of mine regarding the fascinating story of Nicolau Aguilo of Palma de Mallorca, who returned to his Jewish roots and is now a rabbi living in Shilo, Israel. It appeared in HaModia Magazine, Passover issue, April 10, 2006. As winter gives way to spring, a warm breeze blows through the air, and Rabbi Nissan Ben-Avraham is busy teaching his young pupils at the Talmud Torah in Shilo, Israel, about the liberation of the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage over three millennia ago. By all accounts, it is a familiar scene, one that is repeated throughout the Jewish world in the weeks leading up to Pesach (Passover). A rebbi and his talmidim (students) recalling the miracles that G-d performed for His people, who had endured centuries of suffering and persecution before being delivered from exile. Only for Rabbi Ben-Avraham, the Pesach story resonates far more deeply, and far more personally, than his students might ever possibly imagine. With his large kipah and flowing tzitzis (ritual fringes), Rabbi Ben-Avraham has traveled a long way - both geographically and spiritually - since his childhood in Palma de Mallorca, off the coast of Spain. Born in 1957 into a religious Catholic family, his given name at birth was Nicolau Aguilo. "My father was a shopkeeper, in a shop that has been in our family's hands since 1700, at least," he recalls. "Religion was a very important matter for my family. We went to church every week and fulfilled all the religious duties of Catholicism". But one day, young Nicolau made an off-handed comment that would end up changing his life forever. Sitting in the car with his mother, they drove down Jafuda (Yehuda) Cresques Street, which was named after a well-known Jewish cartographer who lived in Palma centuries ago. Nicolau pointed to the street sign and giggled, telling his mother, "He was a Xueta!" (a derogatory word in Catalan, pronounced 'shweta', which is used to refer to the descendants of Mallorcan Jews forcibly converted to Catholicism over five centuries ago). Nicolau's mother then turned to him and said, "Why are you laughing? You, too, are a Xueta." The disclosure caught Nicolau completely by surprise. "I was stunned. I remember clearly that for several weeks, all I could think about was: 'Me? I am a Xueta?' You have to understand that this was considered a terrible word, a slur." The more Nicolau thought about the fact that his family had Jewish roots, the more difficult it was for him to grapple with his entirely new sense of identity. "It was very hard for me. In the Mallorcan Christian mentality, Jews and Xuetas are considered such a terrible thing, so I suddenly had to confront the fact that I came from what was viewed as being the lowest and dirtiest of places in the universe." Those negative attitudes towards Mallorca's Jews and Xuetas were a product of the centuries of anguish and torment that Nicolau's newly-discovered ancestors had been forced to endure from their unforgiving Catholic neighbors. No one knows precisely when the first Jews arrived in Mallorca, but the Jewish presence on the island is said to date back possibly as far as the 5th century CE. At the turn of the 14th century, the Jews' situation deteriorated sharply. In 1305, anti-Jewish rioting erupted, and the island's first blood-libel occurred in 1309, when several Jews were falsely accused of murdering a Catholic child. In 1311, Palma de Majorca's synagogue was confiscated and turned into a church, and Jewish property was seized. The turning point, however, came in 1391, when violent anti-Jewish pogroms swept across Spain. On August 2, the riots reached Mallorca. Many Jews were massacred and entire communities wiped out, while others were forcibly converted, possibly including Nicolau's forefathers. Subsequently, the Inquisition became particularly active in the area, and there were numerous cases involving converted Jews who had returned to Judaism being burnt alive at the stake. The Church's harsh tactics led additional Jews, who had arrived in Mallorca after the 1391 massacre, to adopt Christianity under compulsion. Nonetheless, the native Mallorcans never accepted the Jewish converts, and began referring to them as Xuetas, which historians believe is related to the Catalan word for pig. A particularly brutal incident occurred on the island in 1667, when a boatload of Jews on the way to Leghorn anchored off Mallorca on a brief stopover to purchase supplies. The Inquisitorial authorities seized a 16-year old boy from the ship named Jacobo Lopez after receiving information that his parents had been practicing Judaism in secret. After allowing the rest of the ship's passengers to set sail, they tortured Lopez until he confessed. But the young hero refused to renounce his Jewish beliefs, despite the great danger that he faced. Church authorities subsequently burned him alive in January 1675 in front of some 30,000 spectators and onlookers. As late as 1691, some three hundred years after the forcible conversions, large numbers of Xuetas were tried and executed by the Inquisition for "relapsing" to Judaism. Despite the passage of so many years, many of them had continued to practice Judaism in secret, marrying only among themselves in an effort to keep alive the faith and heritage of their ancestors. But discrimination against the Xuetas continued well into the 19th century, and legal restrictions against them were formally lifted only in 1931. Well-known writers such as the Frenchman George Sand in the 19th century, and Englishman Robert Graves in the 20th, wrote about the Xuetas with a great deal of sympathy, lamenting the hatred and bias to which they were subjected by their fellow Mallorcans. In 1942, the Xuetas had a brush with death, when the Nazis learned of their existence. They are said to have asked Mallorca's bishop for a list of the Xuetas as part of their campaign to eliminate anyone with "Jewish blood". The bishop is said to have sidestepped the request. Upon learning that he was connected to the beleaguered and long-suffering group known as Xuetas, Nicolau faced a wrenching choice: to embrace his Jewish birthright or discard it entirely. But despite his youth, he went on to make a very mature, and ultimately a very significant, decision. "After some months, I decided to accept the fact as it is, and it was then that I started to research my roots, and to learn more about Jewish history." Slowly, and somewhat furtively, Nicolau took his first steps on the journey back to his people. He began reading everything he could find about Jews and Judaism, and started visiting Palma's small synagogue every week for Shabbos services. The synagogue, which was maintained by Jewish expatriates from abroad, treated Nicolau well, but he didn't dare to tell his parents what he was doing. "The way was long and hard, but the Mallorcan Jewish community treated me very well," he remembers. "I got a first-hand experience of the Jewish Sabbath and Jewish culture." After learning that Jews wear "a special cap" (i.e. a kipah), Nicolau decided he wanted to cover his head, but he was not yet ready to do so in a demonstrative manner. "So I went to my grandma and asked her for a snow hat, so she knitted me a nice one." "I didn't dare to wear it everywhere," he says, "but on outings such as Scouts' trips or at the synagogue, I was able to appear with my new kippa." As his attachment to Judaism grew, however, Nicolau found himself facing more and more unexpected difficulties and challenges from his surroundings. "I was determined to observe as much of Judaism as I could, despite the poor possibilities for doing so in Mallorca, where most of the meals are based on pork or rabbit, both of which are explicitly forbidden by the Torah," he says. And then there were other issues to face, such as his parents and his schooling. "At that point, I wasn't yet able to explain to my parents all the norms of Judaism. Even after revealing to them my new faith it was quite hard to explain that it requires a new diet and a new atmosphere." At school, where classes in the Catholic religion were mandatory, Nicolau requested an exemption, which prompted an angry response from the administration. "I asked to be released from the class, but then one of the teachers threatened to expel me from the school." Somehow, his parents managed to intervene and get Nicolau off the hook. After realizing that his best option for returning to Judaism lay in Israel, he decided that he would make aliyah. He completed his compulsory military duty in Spain, and then worked for a short time to earn some money so that he could purchase a plane ticket to the Jewish state. That, too, proved to be a transformative experience for him. "From the moment I sat on the plane to Tel Aviv, I decided that I'd eat only kosher food," he says. He arrived in Israel with no specific plans, but he eventually made his way to a religious kibbutz, where he began studying Judaism and Hebrew more intensively. Nicolau's first visit to Jerusalem left a deep impact on him. While searching for the entrance to the plaza leading to the Kotel, he inadvertently walked up the ramp leading up to the Temple Mount. "I went to Shalshelet Street in the Old City, and stopped before the gate to the Holy Mountain. I was looking for the Kotel, when I suddenly realized that I'm standing at the entrance to the holiest place on earth: Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount." "And then, I asked myself 'why do we pray down there, at the Kotel, and not here, in front of the site of our Temple?'". He then made his way back down, and went to the Wall. In the spring of 1978, Nicolau underwent formal conversion to Judaism by Israel's Chief Rabbinate, assuming the Hebrew name of Nissan, after the Hebrew month in which he underwent his own very personal spiritual revolution. But his thirst for Jewish knowledge remained intense, and he continued to study Torah, attending Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav in Jerusalem for two years, Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim for several more, and then the yeshiva in Shilo, where he eventually chose to settle and build a family. In 1991, he received his semicha (rabbinical ordination) from Israel's Chief Rabbinate, marking the first time in centuries that a Xueta had succeeded in achieving the status of rabbi. He also became a certified Sofer (religious scribe), preparing the parchments used in religious articles such as Tefillin and Mezuzos. Initially, the drastic changes in his life were met with opposition by his father, Rabbi Ben-Avraham relates. While his siblings "were very kind to me and very understanding of my decisions, with my parents it was quite different," he says. His father took his return to Judaism "very hard", and initially did not come to visit. "At the time, my father said that he had to take care of his mother, so he couldn't come". But after Rabbi Ben-Avraham's first son was born, his mother persuaded her mother-in-law to travel to Israel to see the newborn, which "left my father without a pretext, and he came for his first visit." Before passing away 15 years ago, Rabbi Ben-Avraham's father sent him a letter, "saying that our ways are not so far from each other," which signaled a degree of acceptance that had previously seemed out of reach. In recent years, Rabbi Ben-Avraham has authored two books in Catalan aimed at a Xueta audience. One, entitled "Els Anussim", explores the attitude toward Xuetas in the rabbinic literature over the centuries, while the other, "La Por", is an historical novel about the massacre and forced conversion of Majorca's Jews in 1391. Asked what the future holds for Majorca's Xuetas, who are estimated to number as many as 20,000, Rabbi Ben-Avraham declares that action must be taken to return them to the Jewish people. "It is clear to me that the Jewish world must reach out to them," he says, "for in my opinion many of them are Jews according to Halacha, since there were no intermarriages among them up until the most recent generation, and there is an uninterrupted tradition regarding their identity from the time of the forced conversions of 1391 up until today." "But with each passing day," he says, sadly, "there are fewer 'Xuetas' in Mallorca. They mix up with gentiles. The message of Judaism is feeble there and few can hear it." Each week, despite a hectic schedule that includes learning and teaching Torah and caring for his family of 14, Rabbi Ben-Avraham finds the time to sit down and prepare a commentary on the Parsha in Catalan, which he distributes to various Xuetas back in Mallorca. "We need a real miracle to bring them back to Judaism," he says. "What a terrible waste it would be from G-d's point of view, if after 600 years of suffering and persecution, the Xuetas would not return to Judaism. Although the Bible tells us that the Jews will return in the manner of "one from a city and two from a family", I am hoping for a broader interpretation of the verse." Michael Freund is Founder and Chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), a Jerusalem-based group that reaches out and assists Nidchei Yisrael, or "lost Jews", to return to the Jewish people. |
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JEWISH HOLY SITE VANDALIZED IN GALILEE
Posted by Michael Freund, April 22, 2006. |
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This appeared in the Jerusalem Post April 20, 2006.
(www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1143498885300&pagename= JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull) Unknown vandals desecrated the tomb of talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel, shattering iron bars at the entrance to the structure and setting it alight. Located in the Israeli Arab village of Kafr Kana, just west of the Golani junction, the tomb is the final resting place of one of the most prominent rabbis of the talmudic era. It consists of a small stone building, which stands over an underground burial cave. The entrance to the site and the sign hanging over it were partially blackened by smoke as a result of the fire that was set, and mounds of garbage were strewn nearby. Damage was also inflicted to the interior, including to the stairwell leading down to the subterranean room where the sage's grave is located. Several of the stone steps were smashed, and an adjoining concrete wall was ripped apart. The grave itself was unharmed, but the surrounding area was despoiled. According to an official at the Tourism Ministry, which is responsible for maintaining the holy sites, the incident likely took place some time during the past two weeks, in the course of the Passover holiday. Workers will be sent to the site on Sunday to repair the damage, the official told the Jerusalem Post, adding that the tomb has been the target of regular attacks by local Arabs, often as frequently as twice a month. In October 2000, the tomb was set ablaze by local Arabs, causing extensive damage to the site. The police said they would investigate the latest desecration. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel served as the Nasi, or leader, of the Jewish people just prior to the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. He was murdered by the Romans, and his tomb has been a popular site for Jewish pilgrims over the centuries. In one of his more famous teachings, he is quoted in the Ethics of the Fathers as saying, "all my life I have been raised among the Sages, and I have not found anything better for a person than silence. Study is not the primary thing, but action." |
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GATHERED AGAINST JERUSALEM: THEN AND NOW
Posted by Dr. Eugene E. Narrett, April 22, 2006. |
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Some readers will recognize the title above. Its source is Zechariah chapters 12-14 and it provided (and provides) the historical context for the title of my first book of essays on the Oslo process. The end time prophecies of Zechariah and many other prophets (from Moshe in Ha'azinu) indicate the arc, the rise, decline and fall of the cultures that have oppressed, assaulted, and scattered the Jewish people and divided their land, now as then. I offer this excerpt [with comments] from Gathered Against Jerusalem: Essays on a False Peace (Writers Club Press 2000) because of its continuing timeliness. There is value, perspective and insight to be had in reviewing the players, claims, arguments and warnings set down in its pages. They are repeated in these days... Those are the last pages of Gathered Against Jerusalem including its last paragraph. I believe that these records of the past decade and Oslo years illuminate the methods of destruction and suggest what must and must not be done to reverse the slide to disaster. I encourage readers to review this study and share it with their friends and neighbors. All is not lost; the damage must be limited; the ship must be righted. "In 1993 Yitzhak Rabin told Israelis, 'stop being afraid. There is no danger that these guns will be used against us. The purpose of this ammunition for the Palestinian police is to be used in their vigilant fight against Hamas. They won't dream of using it against us because they know very well that if they use these guns against us, at that moment the Oslo Accord will be annulled and Tzahal will return to all the places that have been given to them [the PA].' "Yossi Sarid (Meretz) added, 'Arafat knows very well that if the terror continues and the guns will be turned against us, the IDF will not hesitate to return in full force.'" (p. 242). During the five years that the Jewish towns of Gush Katif were under siege, the IDF did occasionally return, usually after terrible atrocities, but never in full force, and never did the government abrogate Oslo. As all observers learned, "Oslo" was outcome-based; like much modern 'education' and misinformation its goal was pre-set and impermeable to evidence: the outcome was and is to dismember Israel, to make it indefensible, strip it of sovereignty, and make it a site of constant crisis management and intervention. Thirteen years later, after several expulsions and thousands of murders of Jews, under relentless great power pressure and betrayal from within, Israel's government is more fragmented then ever and led by a de facto branch of the State Department. Anyone who wishes a detailed review of entrenched State Department hostility for Jews and Israel should read David S. Wyman's The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941-5 (revised 1998). Only the style has changed, and the deportations of Jews now occur in Israel and lead to tent cities, poverty and exile, not to crematoria. Of course the process, a multi-faceted lie from its name to its methods, has been and is made of many subsidiary lies and euphemisms. Rabin told school children in Tel Aviv that "if they told us that the price of peace is giving up on a Jerusalem united under Israeli sovereignty, my reply would be, 'let's do without peace'" (Agence France Press 6-27-5). "But while Rabin and his administration were promising strict monitoring and reprisals, Nabil Sha'ath, Arafat's crony described the 'process' more clear-sightedly: "when Israel will say, 'that's it. No more; we refuse to talk about dividing Jerusalem, we will not allow the refugees to return, we will not evacuate the settlements, we will naturally return to violence. But by that time we will have 30,000 armed Palestinian soldiers in our cities on land with a large measure of freedom.' (This is a January 1996, tape cassette by Palestine Media Watch www.pmw.org.il)." The Arabs have never ceased articulating their "phased plan" for Israel's destruction and its embodiment in Oslo, the Road Map and "disengagement," convergence toward that proverbial head of pin and Jewish exile. These previews in the 1990s of Israel's current reality should indicate the approaches needed to break the chain dragging the Jewish people toward disaster. And I wrote further, "the religious wars and pogroms of past centuries have become a war by atheist leader of the neo-pagan West using Islam to blot out the name of Israel so they can get on with constructing their global village. Internationalizing conflicts to justify "humanitarian intervention" by NATO or the UN is the strategic plan of our day... 'Americans soon may be forced to choose between civil liberties and security,' Secretary of State William Cohen [coyly and presciently] told Army Times in March 1999. The horrors of this fraud will be the greater in that it will be done to 'save the Jews'" whom the powers have done their all to isolate, disarm, and imperil. As for Rabin and Sarid's promises quoted above, after terrorist attacks against the Jews of Gush Katif escalated in the pre-planned "second intifada," the IDF did not do what it had pledged and what its mission requires. "The regional Brigadier General commented [after a particularly terrible bus bombing that] "this is war, plain and simple with Jewish children as targets" (A-7, 11-20-00). "The response from Barak and Labor was that 'all illegal settlements [of Jews in Yesha] should be uprooted, even at the cost of fratricide (A-7, 11-10-99).' That was the signal pointing directly to Amona. It was those kinds of mad invitations to civil war against which Ariel Sharon campaigned in 2000-01 and again in 2003, only, after each of his victories, to empower the trounced Labor Party, to make Peres his Foreign Minister, and to continue on the Labor -- Vatican and Anglo-American path toward the truncation of Israel and expulsion of Jews: toward the war against Judaism. Again from the Afterword of Gathered against Jerusalem: "Bad ideas, self-deluding fantasies become habits that kill. The 'peace' fanatics become like automatons who have above all those who would wake them from their trance. Evil has become their good. One awaits a rising of officers who will take the nation back from its undertakers..." And we were still waiting as the iron ring closed on Gush Katif. But the suppression of history, identity and honor has done its work. "There was an original sin in the re-born state that produced and reflected broken and crippling leaders" It was the sinking of the Altalena that reflected an almost hysteric disinclination to take all of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount and thus to embrace Israel's heritage, history and identity. Motivating the so-called 'restraint' [havlaga] of the Labor wing and their academic ideologues [and the 'religious' political parties] is a 'spiritual servility' that prefers "groveling at the Western Wall plaza," wrote Dr. Judah Tzoref, a veteran of 1967 and the conquest of the Golan. 'The Western Wall has been officially hallowed to cover up this national infirmity,' he explained. 'It is a second Uganda venture. For a Jewish state without the Temple Mount is equivalent to Zionism without the Land of Israel.' It is like a body without a heart and a heartless body is, or will soon become a corpse regardless how many times it is shocked... "The world, including the Arabs is waiting for Israel to stand up and settle in its place and be the keystone in a stable arch of discrete nations re-awakened to the precious miracle of life and God's providence. This is the only path of peace and it will be found purposefully, quickly and gloriously or 'in its time,' after great length and through enormous suffering" (242-251, excerpts). Studying discussions and recommendations on Israel's plight is to be often astonished at the range and abundance of prescient analyses and warnings about the path set by the dominant factions of the reborn state, -- and by the enmity of its neighbors and "friend." The following is no exception. It is excerpts, with some comments from today, from chapter 7 of Gathered against Jerusalem. The text is description, analysis, warning and way out, with frequent reference to Torah, oral and written. Heroes from our days, and there are many, were quoted. We have seen them since; they need and deserve fellowship of every kind. They need it; Israel and Jews need it; the world needs it, desperately. The enmity of western civilization and Islam, Esau and Ishmael for Jacob has increased since the original essays were penned. The good and bad news is that western civilization is committing suicide; the branch that attacked its [Jewish] root is withering and dying. But as it dies it comes full circle, having little energy left but to intensify attacks on Jews, Judaism and Israel, a fledgling in its attachment to Judaism. This is the story of the past century. The good need to hold tight and do what's right, -- hold onto the heartland and holy hill that are the foundation of Judaism's sanctification of human life. Jews must seek out all ways in which we can be "a single nation in the land upon the hills of Israel." And gentiles who want to live must assist them... Now that Israel's ruling elites are fronted by a political party whose very name is a lie, the epigraph to the original version of this essay is increasingly timely. And He said, "what do you see, Amos?" I replied, "a basket of summer fruits [kayitz]." Hashem then said to me, "the end [haKaitz] has come for my people, Israel. I will no longer continue to forebear them..." While we know that there will not be a complete exile and destruction, the magnitude of the losses and suffering will depend on rectification of the lies and servitude beneath which the people of Israel are constrained to bend. The genocidal abuse of and contempt for the Jewish people by the powers great and small, east and west during the past century show abundantly and chillingly that Israel must save itself. Here is an example of the degree of servitude that continues to this day... "Three days before Hanukkah 5760, an American woman was arrested atop the Temple Mount by police of the Muslim Waqf, allowed by Israel's government to set conditions upon Judaism's holiest site. They interrogated her, accused her of conspiring to destroy the Dome of the Rock, and handed her to Israeli police who booked her... for the crime of closing her eyes and informed her that this is considered 'an act of prayer' forbidden to Jews on the Mount. Such are the costs of the political, judicial and religious leaders having preferred the 'wailing wall' to God's holy hill. "On 20 Kislev, the Arabs opened a gateway, 12 meters wide from within the south side of the Mount. The government had known for three months, noted a Likud MK that excavation was going on with cranes and bulldozers hollowing out the inside of the hill. Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute commented to Arutz-7 that 'the Arabs not only deny our history with words, they are erasing the physical evidence that there was a [Jewish] Temple there'. "The 'Peace Bloc' [Gush Shalom, which should be called a 'war party' for its encouragement of the Islamic jihad against Judaism] demanded that the government declare 'the Temple Mount is a Moslem area and that Israel has no intention of intervening there.' Public Security Minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami said that if Israel used force, 'it would cause the whole city to burn.' "Another official response, from Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein was perhaps most significant. 'We have lost control of the Temple Mount'| he commented with the inaccurate and perhaps disingenuous dismay which is one of the tactics by which the elites seek to dishearten the Jewish people. But he was and is right that "the remnants of the history of the Jewish people are being trampled." This process has continued since the days of Barak, though with less emphasis on loss of holy sites and more on loss of Jewish lives. As one political and legalistic betrayal has followed another, Israel has moved from the intoxicating and befuddling semantics of Barak's "simultaneity and momentum" ("it's on to the end game" he chirped on Charley Rose's show in NYC) to Sharon's "disengagement" and Olmert's "convergence." All are code words for the nation's project of blotting out the name and memory of Israel, a project essential to their goal of blotting out name, memory, and national boundaries (with the traditions and loyalties that reflect) all over the world. The "final status talks" which the Clinton Administration pushed ever more feverishly as it approached its stall gave place to the Saudi -- Bush administration Road Map and its "security fence," a nostrum first touted by establishment 'conservatives' like George Will and Charles Krauthammer (fall 2001). All, all are names for what the British did to the Jewish National Home during the Mandate: roll it back to indefensible borders. It is a labyrinth at the rotten heart of which waits an insatiable pagan Minotaur. "The world is waiting for the Jewish people to heed the words of Haggai. No amount of Jewish diffidence will erase this responsibility or placate the Arabs who know in their hearts that they indeed are trespassing on the Mount" and in the land generally. "Jews must close their eyes in prayer and then open them 'to see retribution on the wicked.'" No longer arrested, they will be bless and praised, "a crown of splendor in the hand of Hashem and a royal headdress in the palm of your God" (Isaiah 62:3). The religious, the dati will shed true knowledge and
insight and bring merits of the true crown to Israel when they
restore this connection of the heart broken by the brokers of
political favors and geopolitical blackmail. The West will not save
Israel: it will not even save itself. Only renewed Judaism, linking
prayers and deeds will save it.
Professor Eugene Narrett teaches writing and Literature at Boston
University. He is the author of hundreds of articles, columns and
reviews on politics, American culture and the arts. He is completing a
study on Romanticism and the longterm decline of Western Culture. He
writes often on subjects relating to Israel and Judaism and is a
weekly columnist for the MetroWest Daily News in Framingham,
Massachusetts.
Gathered against Jerusalem is available at www.iuniverse.com
or at amazon.com). The follow-up study, the ironically titled, Israel
Awakened (2001) is available at www.authorhouse.com or at amazon.com
A third study, focusing on western civilization's fissionable nature
and relation to the Jewish people will be out this summer.
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UNDERSTANDING THE ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN ARAB PSYCHE
Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, April 22, 2006. |
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This is redacted from an interview of Kenneth Levin and David Gutmann by Jamie Glazov in the Jewish Press April 14, 2006. Jamie Glazov is managing editor of FrontPageMag.com. Kenneth Levin is a clinical instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of the book, The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People Under Siege. David Gutmann is emeritus professor of Psychology and Behavior Sciences at Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago. Kenneth Levin: I agree with David Gutmann that the Palestinian pursuit of their terror war against Israel, and election of Hamas, is less suicidal than genocidal. I also agree with his comments on the psychodynamics underlying the Palestinians', and broader Arab world's, genocidal agenda, except that I would emphasize the role of Arab leaders in cultivating and channeling individuals' psychodynamic predilections into murderous hatred toward perceived external enemies, most notably Jews. On the recent Palestinian election, there has been much debate as to whether votes for Hamas were votes against PA/PLO corruption or for Hamas's extermination of the Israelis platform. But the distinction is based on a false premise in that -- as David Keyes notes -- the PA/PLO likewise promoted an extermination of the Israelis platform, using its media, mosques and schools over the past decade to further indoctrinate Palestinians into embracing Jew-hatred and believing in the illegitimacy of Israel, the necessity of its annihilation, and its ripeness for destruction. Israelis and Western Jews who ignore the other side's explicit agenda and replace it with fantasies of what they want the other side's agenda to be i.e. fantasies that the Palestinians are simply asking for redress of supposed Israeli misbehavior and that sufficient concessions will end the conflict -- are the truly suicidal party willing to risk their own lives and those of their children, their co-religionists and their countrymen for the sake of promoting their delusions.... As I argue in my book, The Oslo Syndrome, embracing the perspectives of one's enemies is a common phenomenon within chronically besieged populations, whether minorities marginalized, denigrated and attacked by the surrounding society or small nations under chronic siege by their neighbors. It has been a recurrent theme in the Jewish Diaspora history as well as in Israel. A major counterweight to the psychological corrosiveness of besiegement must be leaders who convey to the community its true choices and bolster its will to resist. The Israeli-Arab conflict is ultimately a test of wills in that Israel has and will retain the military capacity to defend itself -- despite its small population, its lack of strategic depth, and the rabid mentality of its enemies. It is self-delusion and loss of heart to defend itself that is likely to remain its greatest threat.... David Gutmann: ... Guilty by nature, convinced of their own sins against the victimized multitude of third-world innocents, the Jewish doves make the gestures of surrender. Turning the bared throat towards the knife, they invite the Palestinians to punish them and their guilty nation for their sins. I grew up among Jews like these, and agree with Dr. Levin that they are the truly "suicidal" party. While I'm surprised to see them proliferate in Israel, I can understand them. What I don't understand is the passive response of so many European Christians, citizens of advanced democracies, to the increasingly arrogant, murderous challenge that they face from the Eurabian Jihadists. Like their grandfathers who appeased Hitler, the European doves find all kinds of reasons to spin and minimize the Jihadist fury that now openly mocks and threatens their comfortable life ways.... Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). |
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DEMOCRACY IN SWEDEN -- SWEDISH CHANCELLOR OF JUSTICE REPLIES
Posted by Max Yas, April 22, 2006. |
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At a pro-Palestinian rally at Stockholm, Sweden, one of the speakers called for "Death to the Jews." Protest letters to the Chancellor of Justice pointed out, among other things, that Muslim calls for "Death to Jews" are not just part of the Middle-East debate, but a criminal offence. Stung by these letters and protests, the Chancellor of Justice deigned to reply. His letter, which follows, is more interesting in what was left out than what was left in. Nowhere in his letter did he comment on the legality of publicly calling for: Death to any a race, religion or ethnicity. Please read between the lines and you may agree that Freedom of Expression, taken to its limits in Sweden, can often merge with race-hatred. And please be assured that my letter to the Chancellor, did not include any ugly names, nor threats. Shalom from Max The Chancellor Of Justice replies Dear everyone who wrote to me about hate speech I understand your reactions. But you were cheated. The press release you must have read was seriously misleading. My decision was a purely legal one, interpreting Swedish Law on hate speech. And it is quite safe to say that the Law does not make it a crime to sing battle songs or utter war-cries related to the conflict in the Middle East. This is true even if suicide bombers are called heroes and abusive speech is used about Jews. Insults can sometimes be regarded as hate speech, but not in a context like the one that was under my judgement. It is also quite safe to say that the Law in this country does not make it a crime to quote and to analyze a so called hadith, which is a centuries old part of Islamic Law, even if the hadith is utterly offensive -- as this one was -- to the Jews. If, however, the author or the speaker makes statements which must be regarded as supportive to a hadith like the one in question, then this is definitely a crime. But this was not the case. [Editorial Note: The hadith is only second to the Koran among Muslim holy books. The Chancellor suggest that it is legal in Sweden to praise the hadith and merely quote the enticement to kill Jews or other "infidels."] The basis for my judgement was Swedish Law on freedom of speech. This is protected by the Constitution, and the freedom goes very deep. The Law on hate speech is one of the few exceptions to this very important human right. It is expressly stated that expressions must be clearly in conflict with freedom of speech to be a crime. I found some of the expressions under my judgement utterly provoking and quite unacceptable. But they did not constitute a crime under Swedish Law. My judgement [sic] is supported not only by national Law of this country. Freedom of speech is also protected by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. I am convinced that it would have been in conflict with the Convention to declare the statements in question a crime. My decision is final and can not be tried by any Court or another organ here in Sweden. There is furthermore no reason for me to review my decision as long as such re-examination would concern the same material. But if new material is put before me I am of course ready to make an assessment of that. I will just mention one item from the totally off the point press release. The author of it implies that it would be politically correct in Sweden to refuse prosecuting hate speech against Jews, and that my decision had something to do with the upcoming elections in Sweden. Nothing could be more false. The author also accuses me of not daring to prosecute. This is highly insulting. I certainly dare. [Editorial comment; except when a third party, in this case the hadith, is invoked.] I am not going to pass any kind of judgement on any of you. But I have never before in my life been awarded so many ugly names or received so many indirect threats. And let me thank all of you who were good enough to make reservations concerning the correctness of the press release, or who were otherwise respectful enough to be friendly. Kind regards, Göran Lambertz
Contact Max Yas at maxyas@victoria.tc.ca |
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SOCCER GAME LEADS TO PROTEST IN IRANIAN CAPITAL
Posted by SMCCDI, April 22, 2006. |
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Hundreds of Iranians used the occasion, offered by the match played between Bargh e Shiraz and Esteghlal (former Taj) soccer teams, in order to protest against the Islamic republic regime. The local game took place yesterday at the "Azadi" ('Freedom') stadium of Tehran. Slogans were shouted and street clashes took place in the Azadi, Karaj and Enghelab areas as security forces attacked the protesters. Dozens of security patrol cars and buses were damaged in retaliation to the brutality of Islamist Militiamen. Tens were seen injured or arrested at the issue of the unrest. Iranians are seizing the mass presence opportunity offered by soccer games or big events in order to protest and express their rejection of the Islamic regime. In that line, Iran was the scene of consecutive and massive protest actions, during the 2002 World Cup soccer qualification games but the trend was stopped by the believed forced loss of Iran to Bahrain. Since then, important soccer games have been often turned into popular protests, especially when they're played in Tehran. Most opposition groups, such as SMCCDI and the Iran National Secular Party (INSP), and underground networks have planned massive popular protest actions, both inside and abroad Iran, at the occasion of the upcoming 2006 World Cup games in Germany. Iran's first game is scheduled for June 11th against Mexico and Its other first round games are against Portugal, on June 17th, and against Angola on June 21st. SMCCDI is known for its importnat role in the promotion of Football (Soccer) Protests and especially in the coordination of last World Cup Soccer qualification games' riots. It constantly mobilized the masses via the intense use of digital technology, such as the Internet and satellite TV, as well as, help from some friendly Persian speaking radio stations abroad who were offering airtime for consecutive interviews and transmitting the Movement's calls: http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/article_486.shtml
Contact SMCCDI, The Student Movement for Democracy in Iran, by email at peyk@daneshjoo.org. Or go to their website: http://www.daneshjoo.org/ This article was published at http://daneshjoo.org/ |
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WEST BANK WITHDRAWAL 'DISASTROUS'
Posted by Lee Caplan, April 21, 2006. |
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This is an article by Aaron Klein from World Net Daily. Talk-show host, Rusty Humphries, warns more appeasement of terrorists could lead to end of Israel. Aaron Klein is WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem bureau chief. JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan to withdraw from most of the West Bank is against the interests of America's war on terrorism, will prompt a rocket war against major Israeli cities, and will result in Christians and Jews being barred from key West Bank holy sites, warned popular radio host Rusty Humphries (http://talk2rusty.com/). Humphries just returned from a week-long trip to Israel where he met with terror leaders from Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, interviewed former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and toured several West Bank Jewish communities slated for evacuation. "I thought the civilized world learned its lesson about appeasement from Hitler, but clearly we haven't," said Humphries, speaking to WND from his home in Florida outside Disney World. 
"The terrorists attacked. Israel retreated and gave them the Gaza Strip. Now Hamas has been propelled to power promising to get the Palestinians the West Bank. Rockets are being launched almost daily from Gaza, which has become a terror sanctuary for even America's enemies, including al-Qaida, according to many reports. Attacks are being stepped up in the West Bank, and in response Israel is planning to retreat next from there." Continued Humphries: "The message being sent loud and clear is that terrorism works. I've talked with the terrorists. They tell me they won't stop until they get Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and all of Israel. And you know what? I believe them. Why should they stop when Israel responds by giving them more territory?" Olmert's Kadima Party won last month's parliamentary elections here. The new prime minister has announced he aims to complete his West Bank withdrawal plan before President Bush leaves office in 2009. The West Bank borders most major Israeli cities and is within rocket firing range of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Israel's international airport. "Originally, I didn't have a dog in the fight," explained Humphries. "I am not Jewish or Muslim. I just wanted to figure out the problems and see if there could be a peaceful solution. So I studied the history and read the news and listened to what the politicians on both sides had to say. "The Israelis believe if they give up land they will get peace. But listen to the tone of the Palestinian media, education system, leadership and the terrorists. They say the withdrawal from Gaza hasn't made a bit of a difference to them except that it whet their appetites for more. All they care about is the destruction of the Jewish state. They wont be satisfied until that happens," said Humphries. Humphries predicted Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank will lead to a massive escalation in terrorism. "The West Bank borders and is above many major Israeli cities. When Israel gets out, the rockets will start flying into Jerusalem, and the violence will get out of hand because the terrorists will believe their tactics got them Gaza and the West Bank so why not Jerusalem and the rest of Israel." The radio host said he is worried the withdrawal will damage the U.S.-led war against terror: "I am afraid not just about Israel but also about the rest of Western world. Terrorists all over will take notice. They will see a democratic country retreating in the face of terrorism and it will teach them that terrorism works. It will motivate the terrorists to use the same tactics in other places -- that if just the right amount of terrorism is applied in Iraq and Afghanistan and eventually worldwide it will cause the West to retreat." "The Rusty Humphries Show," live from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. Eastern, is featured on more than 230 radio stations nationwide, including WDBO in Orlando, WCBM in Baltimore, KSFO in San Francisco, KOKC in Oklahoma City, WNIS in Norfolk, KHBZ in Honolulu and KVI in Seattle. Humphries last week interviewed Mohammad Abu Tir, the No. 2 Hamas leader in the newly formed Palestinian Authority government. He also met in Bethlehem with gun-toting leaders of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, currently the most active Palestinian terror group. He toured a series of West Bank Jewish communities and conducted an interview in Israel's Knesset with former Prime Minister Peres, an architect of the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords and a leading Kadima strategist. Peres told Humprhies the West Bank withdrawal was necessary "because Israel cannot continue to govern another people. The Palestinians need a state." "I feel sorry for the man," said Humphries, referring to Peres. "His policies are not thought out long term militarily or diplomatically. You don't cede strategic territory bordering your major cities to an enemy sworn to your destruction. The only emotion I have toward Peres is sadness, because once he gives up the West Bank it will lead to Jerusalem and the rest of Israel." About 200,000 Jews live in the West Bank. A separation barrier, still under construction in certain areas, cordons off nearly 95 percent of the territory from Israel's pre-1967 borders. More than half the West Bank's Jewish residents reside on the side of the fence closest to Israel. About 80,000 more Jews live on the other side of the barrier. Olmert officials have stated the past few weeks the acting prime minister plans to enforce a withdrawal from all 68 Jewish towns that fall outside the barrier. Many villages in the West Bank, which Israelis commonly refer to as the "biblical heartland," are mentioned throughout the Torah, including areas now slated for evacuation under Olmert's plan. The book of Genesis says Abraham entered Israel at Shechem (Nablus) and received God's promise of land for his offspring. He later was buried in the West Bank town of Hebron, home to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, considered the second holiest site to Judaism. The nearby town of Beit El, anciently called Bethel meaning "house of God," is where Scripture says the patriarch Jacob slept on a stone pillow and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a stairway to heaven. In that dream, God spoke directly to Jacob and reaffirmed the promise of territory. And in Exodus, the holy tabernacle rested in Shiloh, believed to be the first area the ancient Israelites settled after fleeing Egypt. Commented Humphries: "Even for people who don't think Jews should have a homeland, every religious Christian out there needs to be concerned that Israel is giving these communities -- which contain holy sites -- to the Palestinians. The one thing I have seen is that when Jews are in control of Christian sites, I as a Christian can go and visit. But when Muslims have control I am either not allowed or am greatly restricted. Either Muslims have to give up their selfish attitude or they cannot be given any authority over other religions' holy sites." Humprhies pointed to restrictions placed by the current Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount, which bar Jewish and Christian visitors to the holy site during most hours of the day and during all Christian, Muslim and Jewish holidays. Non-Muslims are also bared from praying aloud on the Mount and cannot bring holy objects to the site. Humphries also referenced what he called the "sad history" of Palestinians taking over West Bank holy areas. In October 2000, after Israeli troops evacuated the city of Nablus as a peacemaking gesture, scores of Palestinians stormed into the Joseph's Tomb compound and destroyed the site believed to be the burial place of the biblical patriarch Joseph -- the son of Jacob who was sold by his brothers into slavery and later became the viceroy of Egypt. Within hours of the Israeli withdrawal, smoke was seen billowing from the tomb as a Muslim crowd burned Jewish prayer books and other holy objects. Palestinians used pickaxes, hammers and later bulldozers to tear apart the stone building. The dome of the tomb was painted green, and a mosque was subsequently erected in its place. Said Humphries: "The withdrawal on all levels is just disastrous. The Palestinians and the Arab world only understand strength and power. When Israel is strong it is respected. But when it is weak and it retreats its enemies will smell fear and they will pounce."
Contact Lee Caplan at leescaplan@yahoo.com
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THE FASCINATING "EUSTON MANIFESTO"
Posted by Steven Plaut, April 21, 2006. |
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Not Extinct: The Intelligent non-Satanic Leftist! We have grown so accustomed to seeing the Left is little more than a collection of babbling moonbats and totalitarian crackpots that we all tend to forget that hiding in the shadows is a minority among the Left who are not overtly stupid and grossly evil. It is true that one has to search them out with effort to locate them. Now, a large group of these leftist non-moonbats in the UK has issued what is being called the "Euston Manifesto." Its motivation seems to be to rescue the Left from its ultas, pro-terror anti-Semites and anti-democratic moonbats. The signers want to demonstrate that there really are some non-insane people left in the Left! The initiators call themselves the Website of a new democratic progressive alliance. But from the very start, they part ways with the ultras and the moonbats. They begin: "We decline to make excuses for, to indulgently 'understand', reactionary regimes and movements for which democracy is a hated enemy - regimes that oppress their own peoples and movements that aspire to do so. We draw a firm line between ourselves and those left-liberal voices today quick to offer an apologetic explanation for such political forces." They go on to defend human rights for all people, even for Jews. They endorse democracy (how refreshing from the Left!). Even more revolutionary, they reject anti-Americanism!! "We reject without qualification the anti-Americanism now infecting so much left-liberal (and some conservative) thinking. ...The United States of America is a great country and nation. It is the home of a strong democracy with a noble tradition behind it and lasting constitutional and social achievements to its name. Its peoples have produced a vibrant culture that is the pleasure, the source-book and the envy of millions. " It endorses solutions to the Middle East conflict that leave Israel intact as a Jewish state. "Vandalism against synagogues and Jewish graveyards and attacks on Jews themselves are on the increase in Europe. 'Anti-Zionism' has now developed to a point where supposed organizations of the Left are willing to entertain openly anti-Semitic speakers and to form alliances with anti-Semitic groups. We stand against all variants of such bigotry." It rejects oppression of women even when it is done by Moslems. "We defend liberal and pluralist democracies against all who make light of the differences between them and totalitarian and other tyrannical regimes....We repudiate the way of thinking according to which the events of September 11, 2001 were America's deserved comeuppance, or "understandable" in the light of legitimate grievances resulting from US foreign policy. What was done on that day was an act of mass murder, motivated by odious fundamentalist beliefs and redeemed by nothing whatsoever. No evasive formula can hide that." A list of the signers can be found at
None of these are Counterpunch writers. The signers still entertain certain anachronistic ideas about
markets and approve of certain PC notions, including protectionaism
and anti-globalization. But these people certainly have hope and
represent a radical awakening of sanity among the radicals. Indeed,
one of these days, we expect them all to morph into intelligent
neocons!!
Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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POST PESACH DOWN, YEARNING FOR THE GEULAH
Posted by Anita Tucker, April 21, 2006. |
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Dear friends, I need to pour my heart out to you, so I hope you have the patience to hear me. The optimism that comes with the upcoming Pesach holiday atmosphere has passed. we are now in semi mourning because of the Sefirah period -in addition we have Yom Hashoa, Holocaust Day and Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day coming up. Then there is yom Ha'Atzmaut that will be a bit of a confusing holiday, especially for our Gush Katif youth. They are confused as to their relationship to the IDF and to the official State of Israel. How can the present government represent the spring signs of our national redemption when it has acted and plans to act so immorally and so far from Torah? No wonder everyone of my friends I meet here in our Netzer Hazani's temporary exile in Ein Tzurim - today seem a bit struck down with post-Pesach syndrome. Yes, in spite of the threatening letter we had received from the Sela commision and the Prime ministers office that not one of the "disengaged "would be left in a hotel or guesthouse after Shabbat Hagadol - the caravillas, the temporary cardboard houses were not ready in time --and having no real choice -we were told we would be staying here longer. No letter this time. Now they are working on them at a snails pace. One of the advantages of being in Galut-Exile Ein Tzurim is that all that my husband Stuart and I had to clean for Pesach was our little 3x3.5 meter room. I was busy talking to groups and taking around guests from Jerusalem and from USA that wanted to visit with the people of Gush Katif and personally give their caring and support before the Pesach holiday. Yes, there are many caring people out there who acted on their caring. A group of people made sure that every family received a carton of grape juice and chocolates for the holiday. Someone else who realized that we in Netzer Hazani would not yet have access to our containers and therefore would not have Haggadot -distributed them to us. Others made sure we had shmurah matzot for the chag. Yet others made sure that every family received a cash gift that would enable them buy what is needed for the holiday and perhaps even splurge a bit -like in the good old days. Others graciously volunteered to subsidize the pre -pesach tiyul-trip for those youth for those whose cash flow was a problem. So many people care -- and yet so many don't ... Nothing to clean left me much more time for thinking. Last year the week before Erev Pesach, and many years before, I worked really hard. No, not cleaning my big home. The week before Pesach was the height of the celery marketing season to fill the needs for ''Karpas ''for the Jewish market in Israel, USA and Europe. I loved that green color of the celery - the color of renewel of spring and I saw it touhed and smelled it all day every day the weeks before Pesach. The harder I worked the more renewed and refreshed I felt. We picked sorted wrapped, planted non stop. This year this feeling of spring was not there for me in the same intensity. There was not a feeling of renewal, of refreshness. It will yet be again! My husband, as every year, bought the Ashkenazi white root for maror which I grated in my daughters home in Talmon where we were for the seder. As the bitterness caused my eyes to tear I knew that I definitely did not need this sign to remind me of bitter times in Egypt. I had shed those tears and felt first hand my share of bitter times this year. The Matzah didn't have it's usual meaning this year as leaving in a hurry didn't speak to me. For a few from GK it perhaps did. There were a few who when they realized that the Sharon gov't was really going to destroy our homes and businessess, did all possible to rush to take out what they could before the area was closed off and left in a big hurry.They didn't have the energy nor the time for their bread to leaven either. I felt that I needed to linger as long as possible. I felt that my job was to provide God with a little exra time time - to show my faith, so that if God wanted to save this piece of Eretz Yisrael - at least I did all I could to enable this. We had seen our share of miracles. There wasn't much need for our grandchildren to ask why this night was different than any other night. Because it was obvious to them that this Leil Haseder was different than previous ones. On most other Leil Haseders all our children and grandchildren were our guests for the seder. This time only half of us were together, the others in various other places, and this time we were guests and not hosts. The hosts were great, of course. There was one only part of the seder that this year was still very special for me. All my varied wild experiences of this year have not given me this completely. Yes we did leave en masse and went up to Jerusalem to pray near the remnants of the destroyed Beit Hamikdash. Enjoying the Pesach and chagiga sacrifices and the feeling of all Am yisrael in unity we have not yet experienced at all. I thought, please dear God help us reach that point soon because what happened to us in Gush Katif must never happen to any one else ever again. Just as we recall "we were enslaved in Egypt and now we are the sons of the free"--we all know that as hard as we try we can't possibly feel that enslavement the Jews in Egypt felt. I see the temporary caravillas nearby and I know that we will in the future build new homes and a new community in the new area we are planning --but sometimes ... I suddenly recall my lifetime home in GK and recall the bulldozers destroying it, my greenhouses and the lush vegetables growing in them - yes I feel sad --I feel like singing sadly " we were free and now we are enslaved "-- as much as so many care, no one who has not experienced it can really feel that feeling of the 25 communities being destroyed. At that very most very "down" moment I B"H feel that I get my strength and optimism back! Yes! We are enslaved now, We are enslaved in our inability to care enough, in not having enough courage, in not finding ways to unite with all those who believe in God and the Torah. We must and will become free enough to have the self confidence and courage to stand up straight and all say loudly and clearly -What was and is being done to the people of Gush Katif and to our dear land of Israel is IMMORAL! It must never be done to anyone else in Eretz Yisrael. Not in Talmon, not in Tekoah, not in Tel Aviv! Certainly then, we will have proven that we are ready to be part of our true renewal as a nation, with unity and with faith in He who lead us to these better times. Then, hopefully, we will understand the good in all that we are experiencing now. There is no doubt that our being here in Eretz Yisrael is what makes all the difference to me in the experiences of this last year --our exile from our homes is within Eretz Yisrael. Our bitter-maror experience is within Eretz Yisrael. It feels as if Hakadosh Baruch Hu is helping us to yearn more for every tiny spot in Eretz Yisrarel -like a refining process. Perhaps this awful yearning I now feel for each and every small piece of Netzer Hazani, Katif, Ganei tal, Neve Dekalim, etc etc. is the real "Tzipiah Lageula", the yearning for the Redemption. Anyone who visited Chomesh and Sanur surely now yearns for them. From those two locations we saw all of our history and future as on the palm of the hand. The frightening and cruel threats of tearing Tekoah, Shiloh, Talmonim and so many towns from us - must immediatey make us yearn enough for these places. Perhaps if we all really yearn enough for them now they won't be taken from us? Hopefully Netzer Hazani will settle in a new town we will build near Yesodot, in Nahal Soreq, but certainly sometime in the future our grandchildren will realize our yearning and will rebuild new towns in Nahal Gerar, atop the ruins of of the past. We all yearn so much for the Geulah! Best wishes for a good summer, anita Anita Tucker was a farmer in Gush Katif, growing wonderful, very marketable organic vegetables. She is now a refugee, as are all the Jews who were transported away from their homes and gardens and farms. She continues to be a spokesman for the community. |
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NO TEARS FOR TERRORISTS
Posted by Shaul and Aviva Ceder, April 21, 2006. |
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This was written by Michelle Malkin and was published April 19,
2006 on the Townhall website
Get out your box of aloe vera-enriched, three-ply Kleenex tissues. The bleeding-heart defense team for convicted al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui wants to tell you a sob story. Like so many apologists for jihad, Moussaoui's lawyers are playing the victim card on behalf of a murder-minded thug who just can't wait to die for Allah. Last April, Moussaoui pleaded guilty to six charges of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy, conspiracy to destroy aircraft, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to murder government employees and conspiracy to destroy property. Throughout the sentencing phase of his trial, this martyr-in-waiting has laughed at his victims, brandished his Koran and shouted death threats to America -- "God Curse You All!" and "Burn in hell!" and, of course, "Allah Akbar!" Last week, when prosecutors put 9/11 family members on the stand to tell the world the pain and horror they still feel every day as a result of the mass murders that Moussaoui facilitated, presiding Judge Leonie Brinkema warned them against "prejudicial testimony." But Judge Brinkema said nary a word as Moussaoui's lawyers ratcheted up the prejudicial emote-a-meter to 11. A social worker and a psychologist offered pathos-laden testimony about Moussaoui's difficult childhood. His abusive father. The anti-Muslim taunts of schoolmates. The hostility of the parents of his French girlfriend, under whom Moussaoui "suffered a lot of pain about not being accepted." The courtroom soap opera climaxed with video testimony exhibiting his troubled sisters, who called their beloved Zacarias the "little sweetheart of the family." Sniffle. According to The New York Times, which headlined its story "Moussaoui's Childhood Is Presented as Mitigating Factor," Dr. Xavier Amador told the jury Monday that Little Orphan Moussaoui "suffered from schizophrenia of the paranoid variety." Let me throw away the medical dictionary and give my diagnosis of the defense team's diagnosis: Bull. Moussaoui doesn't sound like a psych ward patient when he rants about the "Jewish state of Palestine" and threatens to "exterminate" American Jews in the Koran-ordained quest to spread Islam and supplant America as the world's superpower. This is standard-issue rhetoric for countless so-called "moderate" Muslim imams and madrassa operators and supposedly Westernized, educated emirs and Iranian government officials and Arab government-owned newspapers. Totally sick, but completely sane. Moussaoui rightly mocked his own defense team. "It's a lot of American B.S.," he scoffed. I told you he wasn't nuts. Playing the mental illness card allows the blind to continue deluding themselves about what University of London, King's College, professor Efraim Karsh calls Islamic imperialism. Jihadists didn't start claiming war on non-believers in 2001 or 1993 or 1948. They have aspired to conquer for ages. These historical claims are "frequently dismissed by Westerners as delusional, a species of mere self-aggrandizement or propaganda," Karsh writes in his new book. "But the Islamists are perfectly serious, and know what they are doing. Their rhetoric has a millennial warrant, both in doctrine and in fact, and taps into a deep undercurrent that has characterized the political culture of Islam from the beginning." Yet, the bleeding hearts foolishly and suicidally persist with their Poor Little Jihadist propaganda and call for sympathy and understanding for the Root Causes that fueled the 9/11 hijackers, Moussaoui, convicted Islamic shoebomber Richard Reid, the Muslim gunman who murdered two people at Los Angeles International Airport's El Al ticket counter in 2002, and the Koran-invoking Tar Heel terrorist who rammed his SUV into a busy student square at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. And on and on. On Monday, while Moussaoui's defense team played their violins in court, apologists across Europe and the Muslim world played the same song for the suicide bomber who murdered nine innocent civilians and wounded scores more at a Tel Aviv restaurant. The bomber packed his explosives with nails and shrapnel soaked in rat poison to increase the suffering of the victims. Police had to pick bits of flesh off the blood-drenched streets and parked car windshields. But it's not the fault of terrorist Sami Salim Mohammed Hammed and his sponsors at Islamic Jihad. Blame "Israeli aggression" and "anti-Arab racism"! The dry-eyed know there is one Root Cause for this carnage. It's not America, Israel, racism or psychological imbalances. It's evil. Just evil. Contact the Ceders at ceder@netvision.net.il |
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THE CULPABILITY OF THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES
Posted by Professor Paul Eidelberg, April 21, 2006. |
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1) Are the religious parties oblivious of the fact that Israel is in a war for its survival? Are they ignorant of the fact that the distinction between soldiers and civilians in this war has no validity? 2) When the United States Atom-bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki and killed tens of thousands of civilians in each city, they did what was morally correct, for they thereby shortened the war. Had the war continued, it would have required a U.S. invasion of Japan. Millions of casualties on both sides would have resulted. Similarly, when the Allies napalmed Dresden and killed a hundred thousand civilians, that bombing was morally justifiable, for these civilians aided and abetted the Nazi war machine. Is the government of Israel waiting for a mega-attack on Tel Aviv? 3) When a nation is it war, when its survival is at stake, its government must do all it can to destroy and disarm the enemy in the shortest possible time; and if this requires killing civilians, it must do so or be replaced. Are the religious parties ignorant of this truism? 4) A government that cannot protect its citizens ceases to be legitimate or worthy of the people's support. Why have the religious parties failed to proclaim this truth? 5) A government that does not exact vengeance for the murder of its citizens has no sense of justice. Why have the religious parties been silent on this matter? 6) A government that refrains from killing Arab terrorists who murder Jewish civilians for fear of killing Arab civilians does not understand the principles of war and should be replaced by one that does. Why haven't the religious parties explained -- again and again -- that Arab civilians are responsible for their own deaths if they fail to flee from Arab terrorists? 7) Polls indicate that 70 to 80 percent of the Arabs called "Palestinians" support suicide bombers. Why haven't the religious parties been in the forefront of proclaiming the obvious truth that these Arabs -- especially by supporting Fatah or Hamas -- are committed to Israel's annihilation? Why haven't the religious parties explained that Israel has no obligation whatsoever to these Arabs, that the government's only obligation is to minimize Jewish casualties, and that if this requires bombing Arabs cities and their missile factories, so be it? 8) Are the religious parties afraid of world opinion? Don't they know that regardless of what Israel does in its self-defense, it will be savaged by the media? Israel was denounced for killing 50 Arabs (mostly terrorists) in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield. Better that 500 were killed if that would have eliminated only one of the Jenin terrorists that subsequently murdered more Jews. 9) That one has to make such truisms explicit indicates a widespread corruption of common sense in Israel. It also indicates that Israel's government, with the complicity of the religious parties, is led by moral cretins or cravens. 10) Even while Jews are murdered, the government retreats from Jewish land, terminates its control over terrorist strongholds, and does this without serious or sustained protest by the religious parties! 11) The religious parties remain silent while the government negotiates with Israel's genocidal enemies. They blink while the government dignifies Jew-killers, magnifies their contempt for Israel, and thereby incites them to murder more Jews. 12) An inept and uncaring government has demoralized the people, but no one is more culpable than the religious parties. 13) If the religious parties cannot do better than their secular counterparts -- which are steeped in intellectual and moral decay -- then it's time for the religious community to formulate and pursue new ways to promote the lofty principles and values of Torah Judaism. Professor Paul Eidelberg is President of the Foundation For Constitutional Democracy. He can be reached by mail at 244 Madison Avenue, Suite 427, New York, NY 10016, Tel: 212-372-3752, and by email at Constitution@usa.net |
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JAIL TOILETS TURNED FROM EAST TO ACCOMODATE MUSLIM INMATES
Posted by Shaul and Aviva Ceder, April 21, 2006. |
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This is a news item from The Sun in England and was written by
Jamie Pyatt
It is archived at
JAIL bosses are rebuilding toilets so Muslim inmates don't have to use them while facing Mecca. Thousands of pounds of taxpayers money are being spent to ensure lags are not offended. The Islamic religion prohibits Muslims from facing or turning their backs on the Kiblah -- the direction of prayer -- when they visit the lav. Muslim lags claimed they have had to sit sideways on prison WCs. But after pressure from faith leaders the Home Office has agreed to turn the existing toilets 90 degrees at HMP Brixton in London. The Home Office refused to reveal the cost of the new facilities -- part of an "on-going refurbishment". One Muslim former inmate said: "The least the Prison Service can do is make sure people can practise their religion correctly in prison." But a Brixton jail officer said: "If they didn't get locked up for committing crime they would not have this problem. Yet we have to sort out their loos. If we weren't paying for it as taxpayers I'd laugh my socks off." Around a quarter of prisoners at the Category B jail are Muslims. Labour MP Khalid Mahmood said: "As far as I understand this rule only applies in a place of worship." Tory MP Ann Widdecombe said: :Some common sense needs to be applied." Contact the Ceders at ceder@netvision.net.il |
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ISRAEL ALLOWS WANTED, CAPTURED TERRORISTS TO JOIN HAMAS GOV'T
Posted by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, April 21, 2006. |
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This is a news item from today's Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com). Wanted terrorists, as well as those captured and released by the Israeli government are now taking active roles in the newly formed Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government. The revolving door policy of the Sharon government has returned with a new twist. The previous government often was criticized for freeing terrorists who then planned and executed subsequent terror attacks against Israel. Under Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, terrorists are freed from prison and then enter the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority (PA) administration. Several months ago, Israeli police prepared at least four charges of involvement in acts of terror against Hamas legislator Mohamed Abu Tir. However, the government inexplicably decided not arrest him. Thursday, Abu Tir, the outspoken red-bearded Hamas legislator, along with two colleagues, met with three Arab Knesset Members. Instead of placing Abu Tir behind bars, Israel has recently decided to revoke the Jerusalem residency status Abu Tir, along with Ahmed Atur and Mohamed Tutach. The three Hamas legislators have vowed to fight the decision in the Israeli Supreme Court as well as in international courts. One terrorist who was arrested and then released is American-educated Omar Abdel Razek, the new finance minister and a Hamas fundraiser. Israeli authorities jailed him for three months on charges of funneling money for the Hamas terrorist group but suddenly released him March 14 without explanation. Several days later, he was appointed to his new post and told the Associated Press, "We are not here to declare a war... Once they [the international community] know what Hamas is doing, I think they will change their mind." However, following Monday's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv which killed nine and injured scores, Razek told Knight Ridder News, "This kid [the suicide bomber] must have had some other plans. Why would someone do what he did? They have reasons behind such acts. They are not ends. It's not...[that] you want to kill for the killing." Another Hamas terrorist whom Israel freed Thursday night is Waji Qawwas, the mayor of Kalkilya, a large Arab city adjacent to Kfar Saba and near large Samarian communities such as Karnei Shomron, Ginot Shomron and Kedumim. Qawwas was elected during his 44-month imprisonment and ran the city by cell telephone from his prison cell. Israeli authorities did not comment on his release, but government officials previously have said that despite the ban on contacts with the Hamas legislative government, they are prepared to work with the local councils on municipal issues. One terrorist whom Israel has not been able to arrest is Jamal Abu Samhadana, who Thursday night was appointed as director general of the Hamas-led Interior Ministry. Samhadana is head of the violent Popular Resistance Committee and is believed to have been behind the 2003 attack on a United States convoy in the Gaza region which killed three people. The terrorist escaped an Israeli missile attack on his car. He has been quoted as saying, "All of Israel is a military base," and, "All the Israeli people are soldiers in the Israeli army." |
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HISTORY OF PRINTING THE TALMUD IN VILNA
Posted by Rabbi Baruch Lederman, April 21, 2006. |
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The standard edition of Talmud that we all have today is known as the Vilna Shas. Here is the amazing and inspiring story of its birth, as documented in The Story of the Romm Publishing House and the Vilna Shas published in Deah Vedibur, by Yated Ne'eman Staff: Copies of the "large, handsome Shas" that the Romm printing house pioneered are in use everywhere to this very day. Before examining the history of the Romm printing house, it is interesting and worthwhile to note the reaction of the Rov (Rabbi) of Vilna, HaRav Avrohom Avelli zt'l, to the publication of the Shas by the Widow and Brothers Romm: "... If it [i.e. the Vilna Shas] is not printed, it is likely that Torah will gradually be forgotten by Klal Yisroel whereas with an abundance of seforim (books), Torah and understanding will abound ..." The Romm printing house had a sad and difficult history. Upheavals, persecutions and controversies. However, for all their troubles and travails, history has delivered a resoundingly positive verdict on the Romm printing house. The Shas that they published has been of unquestionably crucial importance to the Torah world for many generations since. The Romm printing house was founded by the family's head, R' Boruch, son of R' Yosef Mass (a Hebrew name, consisting of the initial letters of Mocher Seforim (book seller) ). He began his printing career in 5549 (1789) using a hand press, working in the primitive conditions of the times. The title pages of his books only bear the name of the town of Horodno (Grodno), which was close to the town where he resided. The harsh poverty and lack of opportunity led other printing houses to falter and cease operating altogether. Ten years after opening, R' Boruch opened a second establishment, in Vilna. He put his son, R' Menachem Mannes in charge. Upon his father's death, Menachem inherited both the printing houses, in Horodno and in Vilna. He worked to improve them and to raise the standard of what they produced, over and above the norm in other places, thus lending his establishments, distinction and prestige. One of his better-known achievements was the development of a new set of Hebrew letters for typesetting. Unsatisfied with the standard lettering that was being used, Menachem invited R' Lipman Metz, who was a great expert in letter engraving. In return for generous compensation, R' Lipman developed a new and beautiful set of letters that became very popular and gave a new style to everything that rolled off Menachem's printing presses. These were the letters of the Vilna font, which is still with us today, in the age of the computer and laser printer. The idea of printing a new, complete Shas was first canvassed in 5594 (1834). In those days this was a massive undertaking that was nigh impossible to achieve. Thirty years had passed since Menachem had taken over his father's printing houses when he and his partner, R' Simchah Zimmel of Horodno, attempted to start printing the Shas. Characteristically, Menachem did not want it to be a simple duplicate of existing editions of Shas, with their numerous printing mistakes and omissions. He decided to assemble a brand new layout that would include many new additions, be subject to more rigorous proofreading and also feature commentaries from Rishonim that had never been published before. The project took almost twenty years to complete. Great financial investment that had to be made. Menachem employed the best craftsmen, proofreaders and the leading experts in deciphering manuscripts, among them some of the greatest talmidei chachomim (scholars) in Vilna. News of the venture spread, reaching the owners of other printing houses, who decided to try their own hand at the same project and offer competition. They also started to get organized to reprint Shas. The debate that arose over the different editions and the copyrights of the various printing houses was sufficiently stormy to reach the attention of the government representatives, giving rise to suspicions on their part about what was happening in the Jewish printing houses. The matter was serious enough for Czar Nicholas himself to become involved. By imperial decree, issued by the Czar, all Jewish printing houses were closed down in 1836 with two exceptions, one in Vilna and the other in Kiev. They would be permitted to continue operating, but naturally under the censor's close observation. With Heaven's help, it was Menachem who won the license to maintain his printing house in Vilna. From that time on, the title pages of the books that he printed mention only Vilna and no longer Horodno. The troubles had just begun however. Even after winning the coveted license, the heavy financial burden of the huge undertaking forced Menachem and his partner to accept new partners into the printing house. They also had to become involved in printing other books, in order to generate further income for the business, which could not support the ongoing cost of the work on the Shas. Although the Czar's decree had sidestepped Menachem's establishment, allowing it to continue its work, it still had a deleterious effect on the progress of the Shas. One of its sections forbade newly printed works to be distributed outside the region where they had been published. This led many residents of Poland and other places, who had undertaken to purchase the Shas, to cancel their orders and take their money back, thus imposing a further financial drain. These drawbacks led to a serious slowing down of the work on the Shas, which proceeded at a glacial pace. After fourteen years, they had only managed to complete the printing of seder Nezikin and maseches Niddoh with Taharos. With most of Shas still before them, the work actually ground to a halt. At this time (5601-1841), R' Menachem passed away, leaving the work in the hands of his son, R' Yosef Reuven Romm. The project was limping badly; there were tremendous debts and there was still a long way to go. There was a fire that year. R' Yosef Reuven however, was undeterred. He steeled himself and went on with the work. Six years later, in 5614 (1854) -- nineteen years after the project had begun-- he merited bringing it to a successful conclusion. The Crimean War was raging at the time and there was a severe shortage of Jewish seforim throughout Russia. There was a colossal demand for Yosef Reuven's books and within a short time, he became extremely wealthy and was able to settle all the printing house's outstanding debts. The publication of the first Vilna Shas sixty- five years after the Romm printing house had opened was a landmark in the annals of both the printing house and in the publishing of sifrei kodesh (holy books). Today's Torah library is so vast, and basic seforim (books) are so plentiful, that it is difficult to imagine a time when finding a copy of a particular masechta, or a Chumash with the Ramban's commentary, might involve a long search. This though, was an ordinary part of life for Torah scholars in those times. Besides the difficulties of the actual printing, profit margins were very narrow since the general poverty made it hard for people to purchase expensive new seforim. It was almost not worthwhile for a publisher or an author to invest in printing. Yosef Reuven Romm's achievement in completing the Shas' publication, nineteen long and difficult years after it was started, was therefore highly impressive. He reaped the fruits of his labors for four years after the Shas made its appearance. During this time, demand for his seforim was very high and the printing house's coffers filled with the proceeds. R' Reuven Yosef was niftar in 5618 (1858), leaving a considerable fortune to his three sons, R' Dovid, R' Chaim Yaakov and R' Menachem Gavriel. Prompted by the competition of rival printing houses, they began work on the publication of a new edition of Shas. The new edition was to be even finer than the first and was to include new elucidations and commentaries that had not been in the earlier one. The work was well under way when Dovid Romm suffered a heart attack while travelling to St. Petersburg on printing business and passed away, leaving his widow, Devorah and her six sons. As the oldest of the brothers, the brunt of the printing house's work had fallen upon Dovid and upon his wife. The other brothers were still young and did not yet have sufficient experience in the craft of printing. The new widow had little choice but to shoulder the burden of the printing house herself, helped by several friends and relatives who lent her assistance in supporting her own family. Hashem helped her and she prospered greatly in running the printing house and distributing the seforim it produced. Despite their success, growing competition from their rivals forced the Widow and Brothers Romm to take certain measures in order to increase the efficiency of their printing business. They made four basic changes in the way they worked. First, they stopped printing from blocks of set type and changed to stereotypes i.e. plates, cutting their job time in half. The second decision was to try to overcome the problem of the censor, who damaged the integrity of a finished product. Third, they resolved to increase the amount of proofreading in an effort to eliminate the many printing mistakes that abounded in other printing houses' editions of Shas. Last, they decided to introduce a new format for all their publications, for which their printing house would have exclusive rights. It was hoped that these measures would lend a distinctive quality to every publication issued by the Romm printing house that would attract buyers to their products in particular, since theirs were the only ones with such clarity and format. The first sefer (book) that they published according to the new resolutions was a siddur (prayer book), entitled Nehora Rabba. It indeed had a brand new look, owing to the new method of printing and the new format. Despite its high cost, these changes helped sell hundreds of thousands of copies in its very first year. Of the seforim that later followed this pattern, none was more important than the new Shas. This second Shas is the one that is still in wide use today, of which, until recent years, most of the editions were photo-offset copies. Even newly typeset editions follow the layout and format pioneered by this Shas. All standard references follow its pagination. It is known as "the Shas of 5646," after the year of its publication and it was the finest Shas ever issued by the Romm printing house. Like its predecessor, this Shas also had a long and troubled history. Nonetheless, miracles were in evidence in its progress, until it finally emerged in the form that is so familiar to us. The work centered upon including as many additional commentaries and explanations from previously unpublished manuscripts as possible, in addition to which it was to have the standard new format and to be as thoroughly proofread and mistake-free as possible. The salaries of all those involved with the enterprise, from the ordinary printing workers, to the scholars who worked on copying and checking the manuscripts, involved large sums, to which numerous other expenses had to be added. Judging by the projected cost of the work that was being planned, the new Shas would end up costing purchasers more than double what other available editions cost. It was feared that under such conditions, sales would never cover the investment and that money put into the project would be irrevocably lost. The widow and brothers Romm were not discouraged. In an effort to prevent such an outcome, they distributed a notice to the general public that provided information about their program and its projected cost. They also fixed the price that would be asked for the new Shas and called upon the public, and especially the well-to-do, to sign an undertaking to purchase the Shas when it appeared. The circular, which was entitled Kol Romm, included examples of several pages from the new Shas. The family decided that if four thousand prospective buyers responded, they could be fairly sure that they could embark on the project without any risk of suffering losses. To their surprise, over ten thousand individuals expressed their interest and signed undertakings to buy the Shas. With this encouraging sign, the work got underway. Top priority was assigned to the publication of previously unpublished commentaries from early Torah authorities. Besides funding, hard work and careful intercession were usually necessary in order to obtain the desired manuscripts. In the climate of those times every success of this sort was nothing short of miraculous. Heaven's help was clearly visible in the removal of the myriad stumbling blocks. The first manuscript that the Romm family obtained was Rabbenu Chananel's commentary which now appears alongside the gemora on many masechtos. The manuscript was kept in the Vatican archives but it had not been well preserved. The pages were very worn and were marked by rust stains, while the edges of the sheets had been eaten away. Moreover, the commentary was written in Latin characters, which made deciphering and copying it much harder. Permission was also not granted to remove the manuscript from the Vatican, which necessitated bringing copyists in to do the work there. The few copyists in Rome who were sufficiently qualified to do the job, were fully occupied with other work and it seemed that things had reached an impasse. The copyists however, accorded great significance to the printing of the Shas and they agreed to interrupt their other work in order to devote their time to copying Rabbenu Chananel's commentary. After several months of work, another problem loomed with the approach of the official holidays in Rome. The Vatican library would be completely closed for their duration; nobody at all had access to it at this time. A four-month stoppage of the work at that stage would prove very harmful to the printing house. Missing the deadline for the appearance of the first volumes might lead subscribers to cancel, wreaking havoc with the whole project. The members of the Romm family tried to reach every contact they had that might possibly be of assistance in this situation. They succeeded in obtaining special permission, contrary to the Vatican's laws, to open up the library during the recess for them alone, so that work could proceed on copying Rabbenu Chananel's commentary. The Romm family would have to pay the cost of a guard for the archives but otherwise, the place would be completely open to them, even during hours that it was usually closed to the public. Considering the normal anti-Semitic posture of the Vatican, this was truly a miracle. The only explanation is that the great merit of Rabbenu Chananel stood him and his commentary in good stead. Other commentaries from archives and private collections were also published for the first time in this Shas. The complete list of these additions, which number over one hundred, appears on the reverse side of the title page of every volume of the Vilna Shas. The importance which the Romm family attached to the meticulous proofreading that they had resolved upon conducting, stemmed from the gemora (Kesuvos 18) which says, " `Don't let an injustice dwell in your tent' (Mishlei) -- this refers to someone who leaves an uncorrected sefer in his home." This was one of the most difficult tasks, for which expert proofreaders were brought in. Among them were even some of Vilna's greatest sages. Among the best known of these was HaRav Shlomo Hacohen zt'l, author of Cheishek Shlomo, and also the author of the commentary Poras Yosef, both of whom served in the city as rabbonim. They and the other astute rabbonim, all experts in the work, devoted hours to ensuring that the Vilna Shas would not contain any of the mistakes that were so common in the other editions. The printing house suffered many trials and tribulations while work was progressing on the Shas. On several occasions, the building went up in flames and there were also a number of libels leveled against it. None of these obstacles weakened the family's determination however. Finally, in 5646 (1886), the job was completed. All who saw the finished product were effusive in their praises of it and of the managers of the printing house. For the very first time, an edition of Shas had been produced that was as beautiful and as complete as it deserved to be. When we use this Shas today, it is difficult for us to appreciate the magnitude of the undertaking and the many hardships that the widow and brothers Romm underwent until they were fortunate enough to see their splendid Shas finished. Without a doubt, the members of the Romm family were instrumental in the fulfillment of Hashem's promise that "Torah will not be forgotten by Yisroel." Blessed is He who has kept His promise to Klal Yisroel! Rabbi Baruch Lederman writes a weekly Shul Week article. Contact him at shulweek@kehillastorah.org |
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"HOW ISRAEL CAN WIN"; U.S. CRITICIZES S. ARABIA; THE LOST PROMISES OF OSLO
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 21, 2006. |
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SYRIA TALKS REFORM & IMPOSES RESTRAINTS A few months ago, Syria publicly considered allowing a multi-party system. Now it is silencing political opposition except for seeking support from the religious sector by accommodating it (Michael Slackman, NY Times, 4/5, A1). The Times gives little clue that it understands Arab culture, which produces those policies. For more than one hundred fifty years, the Arabs have been talking about reform. Nothing useful comes from their discussions and pledges. Since the US advocates democracy, Syria, like S. Arabia, Egypt, and the P.A., talk about democratic reform. The purpose of this talk is to deceive Westerners who want to report something positive about the Arabs to audiences that want to believe what they read and hear. They want to read it in black and white print, but get black and white lies. Notice that Syria allies itself with the anti-democratic conservative Muslims, rather than with the more democratic-minded ones. Arab dictatorships tend to seek support, popularity, and legitimacy by accommodating religious groups, usually meaning Islamists, temporarily. The water buffalo that allies itself with a leopard makes a formidable pair but takes a fearful risk. Will Syria later have to crack down on the Islamists, and will it do so in time? Egypt may have waited too long, itself. "Steps towards democracy" credited to Arab regimes involve elections, rather than Bills of Rights, private enterprise, unhampered civic associations, and other important features of democracy. The Islamists like free elections, in which they may triumph. Once in power, they are not likely to let another election take it away. "HOW ISRAEL CAN WIN" Daniel Pipes still is advising Israel to let the Arabs know they have been defeated, even though he acknowledges that the US restricts its means of dealing with the Arabs. (He thus admits that the US dictates to other countries.) He declines to suggest how Israel could convince them, on the grounds that he is not Israeli, except he rules out (the most convincing method,) their transferring Arabs out of Judea-Samaria, as perpetuating the conflict. (How could Israel convince the Arabs they are losing, when the Arabs are winning, for Israel is turning over strategic battlefields to them? Transfer would better be done indirectly, as by letting them collapse without Israeli help.) People who are under the impression that Daniel Pipes is pro-Israel should note that his final paragraph suggests that crushing Arab war morale would help the Arabs switch from eliminating Israel to developing their own economy (NY Sun, 4/4, p.6). They can't give that up while retaining Islam, which mandates conquest of the infidels. Ceding to the Arabs the more important historical, religious, and strategic core of the Jewish homeland would give the Arabs the means for conquering Israel. HOW THE ARABS LEARN DEMOCRACY IN ISRAEL Israel has many voting irregularities. For example, an ultra-Orthodox party won most of the votes in a secular stronghold. The recording must have been faulty. The Arabs, on the other hand, engage regularly in ballot stealing and stuffing. They come in with multiple identity cards, sometimes for deceased persons, and vote multiple times. Men come in with women's identity cards, and young women produce old women's identity cards (probably after having voted with their own identity cards). After the polls close, poll workers vote in the name of those who did not come. This year, police barred other parties' observers from some Arab districts (Arutz-7, 4/3). IDF ACCUSES P.A. OF COMPLICITY IN TERRORISM The IDF is said to have destroyed a recently built P.A. casino in Gaza, because it was used for firing rockets at Israel (Arutz-7, 4/2). The IDF has publicly accused the P.A. of helping to launch rockets at Israel. The news brief explains, however, that P.A. security forces have positioned themselves in the areas where terrorists fire rockets at Israel, and do not stop the rocket crews (Arutz-7, 4/3). The news brief shows that the P.A. security forces do not stop the rocket crews, but it does not show that the forces assist the rocket crews. ARAB INDUSTRIALIZATION CONTINUES A Russian company licensed Jordan to produce, repair, and make spare parts for a helicopter (IMRA, 4/3). The US used to be able to exert a brake on aggressive customers by withholding spare parts. The Russian company would not be able to do that. I think that licensing of factories gives away an advanced economy's economic advantage. IRAN EXPLOITS IDF RETREAT FROM LEBANON Iran has given Hizbullah tens of millions of dollars to build listening posts all along the border with Israel. The spy posts enable Iran to select targets in a future war. Hizbullah also sends unmanned aerial vehicles over the border. Thus the IDF retreat from Lebanon is used against Israel, but is depicted by the Olmert regime as the model. Before Syria withdrew from Lebanon, Israel could threaten Syria and thereby get it to restrain Hizbullah (IMRA, 4/4). THE ELECTION & BARRY CHAMISH A new political party had only two planks in its platform. One was in behalf of divorced fathers, and the other was to investigate the Rabin murder along the lines Barry Chamish suggests. The party received .1% of the vote. Prof. Steven Plaut thinks this proves that most Israelis do not believe the Chamish conspiracy theory (4/7). The votes for a two-issue party does not measure conspiracy theory adherents in a country that usually ignores tiny parties, however discontented people are with the major parties. Nor can truth be judged by what people in a monolithic media state believe. GAZA MILITARY BUILDUP Arms continue to be smuggled into Gaza, for use against Israel. Al Qaida agents also are coming in (IMRA, 4/4). Gaza is becoming a magnet for terrorism, thanks to the Israeli abandonment of it, touted as increasing Israeli security. The withdrawal from southern Lebanon turned that area into a stronghold of Islamist terrorists, too. U.S. TREASURY DEPT. CRITICIZES S. ARABIA The Treasury Dept. finds that although the government of S. Arabia no longer funds terrorism, wealthy Saudis continue doing so without interference from the government. It thinks the government should prevent those gifts to terrorist organizations (IMRA, 4/5). The Arabs find ways to sneak around their promises. ALLEGATIONS & RESIGNATIONS The Jerusalem Post is torn with indecision. On the one hand, why should the Chief Rabbi resign, when the Attorney-General's potpourri allegations against him are insufficient to produce an indictment? On the other hand, how can the Chief Rabbi not resign, when accused by the country's chief law officer? (4/5, Ed..) The Post ought to know better. The Attorney-General is the country's chief lawless officer. He and his predecessor, both leftists, have used their position to harass right-wingers out of office while condoning serious crimes by left-wingers and Arabs. In this way, Sharon was permitted to stay in office and abandon Jewish patrimony, rather than be prosecuted for major corruption. Attorney-Gen. Mazuz interferes with matters not of law, acting as a dictator. THE LOST PROMISES OF OSLO Prof. Steven Plaut put these points in the form of a song, but they are impressive as a list: When they forced Israel to commit Oslo, the Israeli politicians assured us that: Arafat would pursue peace. Hamas would be more of a threat to the PLO than to Israel. Arafat would fight the Hamas and Islamic Jihad "with no Supreme Court or Betselem." . Terrorism would decrease. Hostility to Jews in the Arab and the Western media would decrease. Trade between Israel and Arab countries would flourish. The Palestinian Authority would be disarmed. The PLO would cooperate strategically with the Israel Defense Forces. There would be an economic peace dividend. Israeli Arabs would demonstrate increasing moderation due to the "peace process". PLO arms would never again be used against Jews. The PLO leadership would speak in terms of peace with the Jews. The PLO would cease its efforts to delegitimize Zionism and Israel. The PLO would denounce and renounce anti-Semitism. The PLO would encourage normalization and daily peaceful commerce between Arabs and Jews. The PLO would introduce true democracy in the Palestinian zones. The PLO would be forced to spend all its energies on resolving domestic social and economic problems. The PLO would have so many internal troubles that it would not have the time or ability to pursue confrontation with Israel. The US would cease to pressure Israel to endanger its security and fundamental interests. The Europeans would rush forward to support Israel. The Japanese and Saudis would pour money into regional investments, including into Israel. The Egyptians would end all animosity towards Israel, Zionism and Jews. The non-Arab Moslem countries would gush friendship for Israel. Arab military expenditure would drop significantly. Arab verbal threats against Israel would end. Nazi-like propaganda in Arab countries would end. The Israeli Left would lead the retreat from the Oslo experiment it if proved to be not working. The PLO would never show itself as a tin cup Third-World kleptocracy, if granted power. Jews remaining in Moslem countries would see their treatment dramatically improved. Russia would act as a stabilizing force for peace. Liberals and leftists around the world would congratulate Israel for taking risks for peace and rush forward with goodwill and support. The majority of Palestinians would denounce all violence and terror. Israeli Arabs would cease to support political parties dedicated to eliminating Israel. Palestinian and Israeli Arab chants of "Death to the Jews" and "Massacre the Jews" would end. No longer would the Israeli Arab chant be "In blood and fire we shall redeem thee Palestine." Oslo was the only surefire way to prevent the Hamas from seizing power and setting up its own nazi army in the outskirts of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. But they were wrong. All those contra-indications should have been enough to end the Osloid policy of appeasement. They didn't. How much will be enough? 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 richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DEPT OF STATE'S COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS, 2004,2005
Posted by NGO Monitor, April 21, 2006. |
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On March 8 2006, the U.S. Department of State released its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, including an assessment of the human rights situation in "Israel and the occupied territories". In December 2005 NGO Monitor submitted a review to the State Department regarding its 2004 report. NGO Monitor's analysis highlighted deficiencies stemming from the reliance on NGOs that display a consistent anti-Israel political bias (in sharp contrast with the norms of universal human rights), publish claims that lack credibility, and ignore the complexities of human rights requirements in the context of mass terror. Despite NGO Monitor's recommendations, the 2005 Country Report still relied heavily on allegations from problematic NGO's, without providing any criteria by which these NGOs and their claims were selected or assessed. These highly politicized NGOs include the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC), the Public Committee against Torture in Israel (PCATI), Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), B'Tselem, Adalah, Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. The result is a highly distorted image of human rights practices. The 2004 and 2005 reports have similar structures. The first section is devoted to assessing the general human rights situation in Israel and the second section deals with alleged infringements of human rights by Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza. Human Rights in Israel The section on human rights in Israel includes some citations from problematic NGOs, although largely avoiding the most politicized claims. Many NGO citations are references to petitions brought to the Israeli judicial system on behalf of Palestinian groups or individuals. The 2004 report for example, cites a petition brought by Physicians for Human Rights -- Israel (PHR-I) to the Israeli Supreme Court regarding allegations of abuse at an Israeli jail. The report then states that the case was closed after a new warden was appointed in the jail in question. Similarly, the 2005 report cites HaMoked's petition to the Israeli Supreme Court demanding that the government release information on a secret detention facility. This is one of numerous petitions brought to the Israeli courts by HaMoked on behalf of Palestinians, and in a recent case, Nira Mashraki, an Israeli state prosecutor, submitted a response arguing that HaMoked's claim to be a human rights organization has "no basis in reality and is designed to mislead." The failure to note such background, and other legal actions initiated by NGOs cited in the report reduces the credibility of the overall report and gives a distorted picture of the human rights situation. Palestinian Administered Territories The sections on human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza are more problematic in both the 2004 and 2005 reports. The 2004 report included verbatim repetition of claims published by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW), without substantiation. NGO Monitor has documented in detail the credibility deficiencies of these NGOs stemming from their political agendas and lack of independent research capabilities. For example the 2004 report repeats Amnesty International allegations that the death of two Palestinian children in Rafah was caused by Israeli snipers. Instead of offering credible forensic evidence, AI's claim is based entirely on impressions based on photos taken by unnamed journalists. In addition, the 2004 State Department report quoted "Razing Rafah", a highly problematic publication from Human Rights Watch about IDF operations in Gaza which contained operational assessments from unqualified and uninformed HRW officials. HRW's allegation that the IDF destroyed over fifty percent of Rafah's roads, was also repeated without confirmation. As has been noted by NGO Monitor and other analysts, this claim is not based on independent research. The only sourced cited is the "Rafah Municipality." The 2005 report has fewer examples of such unverified and unsubstantiated NGO claims. One such case however, is an HRW allegation that Israeli military investigative practices are not "impartial, thorough, or timely." No official response from Israeli authorities is provided, although IDF statistics about investigations carried out or underway are included. However, a heavy reliance on NGO's is still noticeable in the report and much of the information gathered seems to derive from NGO's who are often partisan, politicized and unreliable as sources of factual information. For example, the 2005 report cites statistics regarding torture claims during 2003 from ACRI (Association of Civil Rights in Israel), which in turn, quotes uncritically from the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI). The authors of the State Department report did not provide the criteria by which the credibility of these claims was assessed. Similarly, Physicians for Human Rights - Israel's claim regarding psychological abuse is repeated without verification. Furthermore, the 2003 death of Rachel Corrie, an activist in the militant International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is mentioned again. Although the report acknowledges the very different versions of this intensely disputed case, the logic for mentioning this in the 2005 report is unclear. These deficiencies are exacerbated by the fact both the 2004 and 2005 reports fail to provide alternative sources when citing NGO allegations. For instance, in the 2005 report, the Israel Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) is the sole source for the claim that "approximately 10 thousand structures in East Jerusalem were defined by the Israeli government as illegal; consequently, Jerusalem municipal authorities and the interior ministry systematically demolished [them]." As documented by NGO Monitor, ICAHD is centrally involved in the anti-Israel divestment campaigns and similar activities based on the Durban strategy. In addition, Jeff Halper, ICAHD's coordinator, frequently uses extreme political and ideological terminology to refer to Israel. Despite this blatant political bias and the complexities of the issues involved, no official Israeli response is provided by the State Department. Other examples include the repetition of allegations by organizations such as Machsom Watch and Palestine Red Crescent Society, as "evidence" of IDF human rights abuses. The 2004 report cites a claim made by a Palestinian woman to Machsom Watch of IDF soldiers beating her father, but no substantiating evidence is brought to corroborate this claim. Similar claims were made in the 2005 report, for example regarding an alleged beating of a Palestinian man by IDF soldiers at a checkpoint. The report acknowledges that Machsom Watch's claims are only allegations but repeats these claims without verification from other sources or official Israeli comment. Machsom Watch has been documented in the past for its politically motivated and at times inaccurate claims against the IDF. Allegations from self-declared political NGOs do not constitute sufficient evidence of human rights abuse. Exploiting the NGO "halo effect" The credibility of the State Department reports is further damaged by the repetition of anonymous NGO claims. For example, the 2004 report states: "Human rights groups claimed that IDF security services killed as many as 130 Palestinians [in Operation Days of Penitence]...although the UN put the number of those killed at 107" and "according to a reputable international organization, at year's end one Lebanese national remained in Israeli detention." Similarly, the 2005 report includes citations such as, "human rights NGOs have claimed...", "international human rights groups stated..." and "reputable nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) filed numerous credible complaints?" This practice makes independent verification of these claims impossible, and relies on the NGO "halo effect" for credibility. Casualty figures Both the 2004 and 2005 reports rely on politicized NGOs for casualty figures without providing alternative figures from official Israeli sources. In the 2004 report the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and B'Tselem are cited regarding Palestinian fatalities. In the 2005 report, Palestinian casualty figures were again sourced from Palestinian Red Crescent Society and the PA Health Ministry, as well as B'Tselem. However, the reliability of these sources is highly questionable. B'Tselem openly declares its political agenda stating that it "acts primarily to change Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories", and is not an independent human rights group. Its reports, including the number of civilian casualties, require independent confirmation. Conclusion Given the impact of the US State Department Report it is important that it is credible, accurate and impartial. These elements are undermined by its reliance on politicized NGOs that are in fact part of the conflict, and the absence of criteria by which these NGOs are selected for inclusion. It is encouraging that the emphasis in the 2005 report on the context of terror is consistent with the need to assess human rights behavior in relation to security requirements, (in sharp contrast to the standard practice of many NGOs). For example, the authors note "Construction of a security barrier and effective interdiction contributed to a 60 percent reduction in the number of Israelis killed in terror attacks between 2004 and 2005 and a 30 percent reduction in casualties, according to the government." However the impact of this statement is reduced by the uncritical use of NGO claims regarding alleged human rights violations throughout the report. Instead of documenting human rights abuses based on universal standards, these NGOs focus disproportionately on political attacks directed at Israel and the IDF, and many do not refer to the context of Palestinian terror. The uncritical repetition of the claims and allegations of these NGOs, without providing criteria for their selection, severely undermines the credibility of the US State Department's Human Rights Reports. 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. |
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THE ELIE SINAI "DEPORTEES"
Posted by Ruth Matar, April 21, 2006. |
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Pastor Jim Vineyard, a good and loyal friend of the Holy Land and the Jewish People, wrote the following letter, dated April 20, 2006, to US President George W. Bush, after a personal visit to the "Deportees" from Elei Sinai, a former flourishing community in Gush Katif. We need to express our gratitude to Dr. Vineyard, who went to see with his own eyes, the injustice done to the "Deportees" from Gush Katif. He has already returned to the States. His fax number is: (405) 946 5910. His email address is: whbc@coxinet.net April 20, 2006 Dear Mr. Bush: I am writing to you, while still in Israel, about the Demographic Genie which we see as an existential threat to the survival of the Hebrew state of Israel. This threat frequently accords mythical dimensions in efforts to frighten the Hebrew public and policy makers into vast and foolish concessions to the so-called Palestinians, taking them back even to the 1949 line, as per the dictates of the ROAD MAP. Today, we visited the portion of the Gaza Strip community Elei Sinai in Yad Mordecai. I had the privilege of visiting the beautiful community of Elei Sinai in November of 2004, with sixteen other preachers. You could have put that beautiful community anywhere in sunny southern California, and it would have looked as handsome as anything out there presently. Today, we visited these Elei Sinai "Deportees" near Yad Mordecai, and I would like to tell you about what our eyes saw. Picture in your mind, if you will, a very nice service station-restaurant facility across the highway from Yad Mordecai. In a field right behind the service station-restaurant sits the tent city of those Elei Sinai "Deportees." When you walk from the service station, you see their trash dumpsters on your left. Across a tiny ditch, where dish water flows, sits the tent city. On your left, you see their generator and refrigerator-freezer, both about the size of 20-foot shipping containers. Just to the left of those sits their communal kitchen. Outside, behind the communal kitchen, running from your right to your left as you face the back of the communal kitchen, is a device in which they wash their pots, pans, and dishes. To the left of that, sits the table where approximately twenty-five large pans were drying after having been washed. Not thirty feet away, Mr. President, is the trash containers - dipsy dumpsters - from the service station-restaurant - ALL COVERED WITH FLIES. What a disgrace and tragedy the Road Map is to the dear Deportees of Elei Sinai! Going past the kitchen-refrigerator-generator and turning left, one sees the great big tent which they use as a dining room-family room and for all community activities. The temperature today was probably less than 75 degrees in that area, but the temperature inside had to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 degrees - very hot. The floor is very rough ground covered by some type of carpet. It is a shameful situation. Going through that tent to the back of the tent city site, one sees the tents the Deportees now live in. There are big white tents, which they have to rent, and also large green tents. Inside the tents, they have partitioned off rooms in which the families live. The partitions are blue and green tarps, like what we Americans could buy at Wal-Mart. Mr. President, these Elei Sinai Deportees, families of four to six, live in a tarp-partitioned area of approximately nine feet by ten feet, or ninety square feet, something like nine or ten square meters. They were deported from homes in Elei Sinai, measuring 2,000 to 2,500 square feet, or 200 to 250 square meters. The contemptible Road Map has done this to these former Elei Sinai Hebrews - both of the observant and of the secular. When you come out of the back tent towards the front on that road, you see about three of those big white tents. To the right of them sit two, not so big, dark green tents. Out past those white and green tents, by its lonely self, sits a blue rental porta-potty which we poor people in the Panhandle of your Texas called outhouses; although, ours were not rented and set over a hole we had to dig and cover after use. Mr. President, if the American electorates - those some 40 million evangelicals - who put you in office in 2000 and again in 2004 could only see just the living conditions of this portion of the Elei Sinai Deportees, there would not be a Republican Representative, Senator, or Governor elected this fall. And, Hillary with her constant shiftiness, defying all imaginable conventions, will be elected in 2008. What a travesty! What a farce! What a hoax! What a mockery and perversion the Road Map is! The nine dead Jews and some sixty-five wounded from the Islamic homicide bomber on Monday in Tel Aviv testify to the fact that this supposed peace plan "AIN'T GONNA WORK!" Mr. President, as I stood there outside Yad Mordecai and looked at those pitiful surroundings for the Elei Sinai Deportees, I hung my Texas-Christian head in shame. May the Lord God of the Hebrews, Whom you profess to know and Whose Bible you state you read, speak to you about these deplorable conditions! A Yedid and Chaver to the Hebrew people of Israel, Jim Vineyard
* * * * * Just imagine, if you can, that you yourself are forcibly removed from your family's beautiful home built on your own land! In exchange, you are assigned a 9 x 10 square meter space in a giant tent. Your family's space is partitioned off from that of other families merely by tarps (a waterproofed canvas). Would you not feel bitter towards a government which took away and destroyed your beautiful home, your garden, your greenhouses, and/or farms in order to reward the very terrorists who are responsible for the murder and maiming of thousands of your People? Would you not feel bitterness and a sense of betrayal towards anyone who supports the Saudi sponsored "ROAD MAP" plan, which is the basis for this deportation of Jews from their homeland? Unfortunately, the United States is part of the Quartet, along with Russia, the United Nations and the European Union, which have all endorsed and supported this evil Saudi ROAD MAP! Those of you who are American Citizens have it within your power to prevent the planned additional deportation of 100,000 Jews from their homes in Biblical Judea and Samaria! There is an important Congressional election this November. Make it very clear to your Senators and Congressman, that you will not vote for anyone who will allow further deportations of the Jewish People from their own Promised Land. With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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JILL CARROLL'S STATEMENT
Posted by Israela Goldstein, April 21, 2006. |
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This comes from the Christian Science Monitor Web, http://www.csmonitor.com/ The following is a statement from former hostage Jill Carroll: I'm so happy to be free and am looking forward to spending a lot of time with my family. I want to express my deep appreciation to all the people who worked so long and hard for my release. I am humbled by the sympathy and support expressed by so many people during my kidnapping. In the past few days, the U.S. military and officials have been extremely generous, and I am grateful for their help. Throughout this ordeal, many U.S. agencies have committed themselves to bringing me safely home. My colleagues at The Christian Science Monitor have worked ceaselessly to secure my release, and worked with security consultants to do so. Many other news organizations, both inside and outside of Iraq, as well as many officials from Iraq and other countries, worked hard to bring about my freedom. So many people around the world spoke out on my behalf. Thank you, all of you. During my last night of captivity, my captors forced me to participate in a propaganda video. They told me they would be released if I cooperated. I was living in a threatening environment, under their control, and I wanted to go home alive. So I agreed. Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not. The people who kidnapped me and murdered Alan Enwiya are criminals, at best. They robbed Alan of his life and devastated his family. They put me, my family and my friends _ all those around the world _ who have prayed so fervently for my release _ through a horrific experience. I was, and remain, deeply angry with the people who did this. I also gave a TV interview to the Iraqi Islamic Party shortly after my release. The party had promised me the interview would never be broadcast or aired on television, and they broke their word. At any rate, fearing retribution from my captors, I did not speak freely. Out of fear I said I wasn't threatened. In fact, I was threatened many times. Also, at least two false statements about me have been widely aired: One, that I refused to travel and cooperate with the U.S. military and two, that I refused to discuss my captivity with U.S. officials. Again, neither statement is true. I want to be judged as a journalist, not as a hostage. I remain as committed as ever to fairness and accuracy _ to discovering the truth _ and so I will not engage in polemics. But let me be clear: I abhor all who kidnap and murder civilians, and my captors are clearly guilty of both crimes. Now, I ask for the time to heal. This has been a taxing 12 weeks for me and for my family. Please allow us some quiet time alone, together. _ Jill Carroll The following is a statement from Richard Bergenheim, editor of The Christian Science Monitor: The Monitor wants to add its gratitude to everyone who is helping Jill return home. You know she's on her way. In addition we want to thank again all those in the Iraqi press who have been tireless in their campaign for Jill's release; we wish to thank the politicians, sheiks, and clerics in Iraq, Jordan, Egypt and other countries who have spoken out as well. And we need to thank all the citizens of Iraq, regular people like you and me, who continue to speak out strongly as well. We are in debt to far too many people to thank them all. Jill will be home soon. As she writes, it is a time for healing. Let the healing begin. Thank you all. |
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CAIR BACKS DOWN FROM ANTI-CAIR
Posted by Daniel Pipes, April 21, 2006. |
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In a stunning setback, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' defamation suit against Andrew Whitehead of Anti-CAIR has been dismissed with prejudice. The Anti-CAIR website, www.anti-cair-net.org, reports a "mutually agreeable settlement," the terms of which are confidential. However, Whitehead notes that he issued no public apology to CAIR, made no retractions or corrections, and left the Anti-CAIR website unchanged, so that it continues to post the statements that triggered CAIR's suit. Specifically, CAIR had complained about Whitehead calling it a "terrorist supporting front organization -- founded by Hamas supporters" that aims "to make radical Islam the dominant religion in the United States." It also objected to being described as "dedicated to the overthrow of the United States Constitution and the installation of an Islamic theocracy in America." That clears the decks; no additional actions are pending between these two parties. In brief, Whitehead won a sweet victory, while CAIR suffered a humiliating defeat. CAIR initially filed suit in a Virginia Circuit Court on March 31, 2004, claiming six of Whitehead's statements were false, that Whitehead made them "with knowledge of their falsity," and that the statements were actionable because "they impute the commission of a criminal offense." CAIR further claimed injury to its "standing and reputation throughout the United States and elsewhere," and sought $1 million in compensatory damages, $350,000 in punitive damages, plus legal fees and interest. It did so despite Whitehead's telling a reporter "I haven't got any [money]." The original five statements as quoted in CAIR's complaint were: · "Let their [sic] be no doubt that CAIR is a terrorist supporting front organization that is partially funded by terrorists, and that CAIR wishes nothing more than the implementation of Sharia law in America." In January 2005, Whitehead's counsel, Reed D. Rubinstein of Greenberg Traurig LLP's Washington, D.C. office, submitted 327 discovery requests of CAIR; I have posted this important, well-informed discovery document at http://www.danielpipes.org/rr/3511_1.pdf. Whitehead sought extensive information regarding CAIR's finances, its relationship to Hamas, its ties to Saudi Arabia, and ties to other Islamists. Signs of CAIR's problems came in June 2005, when -- perhaps realizing how much was available in the public record about its activities, perhaps wishing to curtail some of the discovery process -- it amended its complaint by dropping nearly all of its original claims. The amended complaint alleged only two brief statements to be false and defamatory:
(For an analysis of this amended complaint, see Sharon Chadha and my article, "CAIR Founded by 'Islamic Terrorists'") In anticipation of a court hearing regarding discovery, Rubinstein filed papers in the Virginia Circuit Court in October 2005 and December 2005 alleging extensive links between CAIR's organizers and control group with Hamas and other foreign and domestic Islamists. Among other things, these papers alleged: · CAIR's lineage goes back to a key Hamas leader (Musa Abu Marzook), and that CAIR has long been connected with, and "exploited" the 9/11 attacks to raise money for the Holy Land Foundation, a Hamas front group. CAIR refused to respond to Anti-CAIR's discovery requests in its November 2005 response to Rubinstein. For example, it did not admit that Hamas murders innocent civilians, it refused to disclose the identities of its Saudi donors, it declined to answer whether it aims to convert American Christians to Islam, and it avoided questions about the anti-Semitic and anti-American activities of its founder and executive director, Nihad Awad, including his communications with Hamas terrorists, speeches supporting suicide bombings, and advocacy of violence against Jews. In March 2006, shortly before a scheduled court hearing to decide on several of Whitehead's requests (compelling CAIR to disclose its financial data, to answer questions about its relationship with Hamas and other Islamists, and to provide information regarding its leaders' activities and intentions), the case was settled and then dismissed with prejudice by stipulation (meaning, the plaintiff has agreed to forever drop all of the claims that were in, or could have been in, the complaint). Asked about these developments, CAIR's spokesman, Ibrahim Hooper, confirmed to the New York Sun that the libel case was dismissed at the request of both parties and added that "It was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount." Asked if he implied that Whitehead had paid the organization to drop the case, Hooper replied, "We filed the suit." Asked the same question again, Hooper repeated the same answer. Comment: (1) I had a role in this story, for it was my article, "Why Is CAIR Suing Anti-CAIR?" published only a week after CAIR's initial filing, that brought this case to Reed Rubinstein's attention and led to Greenberg Traurig LLP's serving as Whitehead's wonderfully capable, pro-bono legal counsel. (2) In that initial article, I expressed puzzlement why CAIR would voluntarily expose itself to discovery. Did it file this case expecting to steamroll Whitehead, whom CAIR may have perceived as an easy target, and thereby intimidate its critics? What seemed early on to be a mistake by CAIR is now confirmed as such; it ran into a litigation buzz-saw, and it seems to have cut and run. CAIR preferred the ignominy of walking away from the case it initiated rather than open to public scrutiny its finances, its list of supporters, and the beliefs and intentions of its key leaders. (3) CAIR's November 2005 brief to the court contains several statements of note: · "CAIR has established a status of enviable prestige within highest echelons [sic] of the 'Washington establishment'" (p. 3). That is correct and it neatly sums up Sharon Chadha's and my extensive analysis in "CAIR: Islamists Fooling the Establishment." [Editor's note: To read it, click here.] (4) Hooper stated the case settled for "an undisclosed amount" but did not disclose in which direction that amount went. The terms being confidential, one can only speculate. Perhaps CAIR desperately wanted out of the burdensome, embarrassing, and harmful case it foolishly had initiated? Rubenstein hinted as much when he observed that CAIR became more disposed to settle in late 2005, when a judge was considering what CAIR would have to divulge about its financing and its ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups. Rubenstein told the New York Sun that the lawsuit "would have opened up CAIR's finances and their relationships and their principles, their ideological motivations in a way they did not want to be made public." (5) According to CAIR's own analysis of Whitehead's initial statements, they "impute the commission of a criminal offense" by CAIR, in that these suggest CAIR "actively supports" terrorists, and advocates the "overthrow" of the U.S. Constitution in favor of Islamic law. It bears noting that none of these words were found to be false, they were not retracted, and they remain posted on Anti-CAIR's website. (6) The collapse of this lawsuit, combined with the even more recent ending of two other CAIR legal actions (versus Cass Ballenger and David Harris), suggests that CAIR is no longer the plaintiff in any court cases; more broadly, what I in 2004 called its pattern of growing litigiousness seems finished. (7) With CAIR's hopes of defeating its opponents in the legal arena at least temporarily defeated, the next step for those of us in North America unwilling to live under Islamic law is to thwart the organization's social and political ambitions. I am doing my part by announcing today the establishment of "Islamist Watch," a new project to combat the ideas and institutions of nonviolent, radical Islam in the United States and other Western countries. Daniel Pipes (www.DanielPipes.org) is director of the Middle East Forum and author of Miniatures (Transaction Publishers). |
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WHY IS MUHAMMAD ABU AL-HAWA DEAD?
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 21, 2006. |
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Have your ever wondered why present day Russia and China have been so anxious to proliferate nuclear technology to Iran? Conventional Wisdom concludes that they want the cash flow (which they do). They also wish to penetrate those markets to sell profit-based weapons? deals (which they do). So, why take the risk of spreading nuclear capability in the Arab world - other than gaining the above plus a very tenuous friendship? Consider the fact that both Russia and China have remained the same adversaries to the United States they have always been. But, why risk a Nuclear World War with a Super Power who could cripple their society for years to come? Why not arm another adversary of the U.S. - like Iran? Let Iran do as much damage as possible to America and her regional interests - even though they will also eventually be destroyed. Neither Russia nor China would be injured in the ensuing conflict and could stand off to one side pretending they had nothing to do with the conflict. After all, merely selling and furnishing technology is not like actually launching an ICBM at America's coast line. Regrettably, the Russia-China plan is close to be being perfect because they know that having lit the Iranians fuse of Religious Zealots, it will burn without stop until it reaches the main explosive charge. That is when Iran either threatens a nuclear war or actually launches one. China and Russia will enjoy such a war as their proxies do the job where they do not have to field one soldier or expose their cities to retaliatory nuclear strikes. I (for one) never thought the Cold War was over nor did I think that Russia and China would always be adversaries, particularly when they agreed that the U.S. was their common enemy. The War goes on but, under new rules of engagement. America did as she did with Germany and Japan, putting Russia back on its feet with loans and trade concessions. Enter former KGB boss Vladimir Putin, who is now returning Russia to the Stalin era of the great war machine and the desire to be considered a Super Power. China has a huge imbalance of trade using the trillions in excess profits to expand their military exponentially. Their disclaimer is only matched by Iran who tells us all that they are only building nuclear breeder plants for electricity because they need more electricity, their huge gas and oil reserves notwithstanding. There is no stopping the next war with Iran because it is simply too dangerous to allow a nuclear epi-center to develop through Iran - which has pledged to bring in all of the other Arab Muslim rogue states as partners - thereby spreading any retaliatory risk to itself. (As a relevant aside, this strategy is reminiscent of the fox being hunted by the hounds. The clever fox dashes about, leaving a scent trail to the burrows of all the other foxes in the region. Soon, there are foxes running all over, confusing the hounds and the Big Fox makes good his escape after he steals his sought-after prize. Iran wants to ignite all other nations in the region, including Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt (under the Muslim Brotherhood), Saudi Arabia, etc, - creating a Muslim arc from Iran to Algeria. A centerpiece of this deadly necklace will be the Palestinian entity, located in Gaza, Judea and Samaria (to start, with the Golan Heights, the Jordan Valley and a huge piece of Holy Jerusalem). They will subvert Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Of course, this will serve to irrevocably weaken Israel, thus inviting the Arab Muslim coalition of adversaries to attack the Jewish State because they perceive her as vulnerable. We have already seen the Israeli leadership become weak and disheartened as they retreat to a smaller and smaller entity made defenseless and vulnerable - to be taken out by a nuclear missile from Iran. Russia and China will have achieved the product of their strategy - that of involving America in a war it has no choice but to fight. In the long term, they too will suffer the unintended consequences of unleashing Nuclear Terror in the hands of a primitive, hostile people who will in the end, threaten all of the Free West. China and Russia will, unlike America, suffer no conscience or restraint in wiping out all their enemies with no concern for the inevitable collateral damage to innocent civilians. But, first they want the U.S. to suffer. The tables, however, could be turned if the U.S. immediately brings Iran to the equivalent of the Stone Age and not allow a ground war to tie us up for years - as in Iraq. Be assured that the Cold War goes on - only now it could be called Proxy Wars. When President Reagan spoke of the Soviet Union as the Evil Empire, he was correct and nothing has changed. As Russia will use a willing Iran as its proxy, China is already using North Korea as its proxy. It is long past the time for the U.S. to deal with her adversaries - not with precision-guided missile but with area-wide weapons that brings war to the point of conceded defeat. It is a period we have to go through or allow the Planet Earth to become subjugated to primitive Muslim Warlords, who claim the divine Right to Rule the whole planet. This article is called "Why is Muhammad Abu al-Hawa dead? By Murdering Him the Palestinian Leadership Sends a Message Against Peaceful Co-existence" It is by Caroline Glick and it appeared in the Jerusalem Post April 18, 2006. How deeply depressing to know that there are some (let us hope a minimal number) of Israeli Police who are provocateurs of the worst kind. The following article by Caroline Glick in the Jerusalem Post April 18th points an accurate accusing finger at both the Israeli Police and Channel 10 as deliberate provocations in the mind of Muhammad Abu-Al Hawa for selling his building to Jews. It would have been a quiet matter IF the police did not notify Israel TV Channel 10 in order to stir up the Arabs. One can only be reminded of the Jews who volunteered as barracks police, called "Kapos" in the death camps of Europe. Regretfully, the same types are still with us and giving a bad name to the Israeli Police Force in general. Muhammad Abu al-Hawa was a 42-year-old father of eight when he died last Wednesday night. As Israeli Jews were beginning our Pesach Seders and retelling the story of our exodus from Egypt and our rebirth as a free nation, Abu al-Hawa was being tortured by Fatah terrorists. As we ate our Seder meal, he was shot seven times. As we called out "Next year in Jerusalem", Abu al-Hawa's body and car were torched. Abu al-Hawa was tortured and murdered because he stood accused of committing what the Palestinians consider a capital crime. Seven young children were orphaned last Wednesday night because their father allegedly sold an apartment building in Israel's capital city to Jews. The building in question is located in Jerusalem's A-Tur neighborhood, just above the Temple Mount on the Mount of Olives. Muhammad Abu al-Hawa was buried in a makeshift cemetery on the road between Jerusalem where he lived, and Jericho where he was murdered. His body was buried there because the Palestinian Authority's mufti in Jerusalem, Ikremah Sabri, has barred all Muslims accused of selling land to Jews from being buried in a Muslim cemetery. When the PA was established in 1994, the first legal step its chairman Yasser Arafat and its justice minister Freih Abu Medein took was to declare null and void all laws that had been in force until that date. After plunging Palestinian society into legal chaos, Arafat and Medein reinstated one law. That law was a Jordanian law which Israel had revoked in 1967. It made selling land to Jews a capital offense. SINCE 1994, dozens of Arab Israelis and PA residents have been murdered on suspicion of selling land to Jews. Abu al-Hawa's murder - like those that preceded it - tells us several important things about Palestinian society. It tells us that like the PA today, any successor Palestinian state will be a racist, apartheid state where laws will be promulgated based solely on race and religious origin. Jews will be denied all basic human rights and Arabs who peacefully coexist with Jews will be accused of treason and made targets for murder. On Saturday night Sheikh Raed Salah, the former mayor of Umm el-Fahm and the head of the northern branch of the Israeli Islamic Movement, spoke to an audience of some 30,000 Israeli Arabs in Kafr Kana. There he placed Abu al-Hawa's murder in the context of the Arab-Islamic strategy for conquering Jerusalem. His address, which was broadcast live by al-Jazeera, was devoted to calling for the expulsion of all Jews from Jerusalem. He called on his Arab brethren to "save Jerusalem from the hands of the Jews", promising that "Jerusalem will soon be the capital of the world Islamic nation, and it will be governed by a Caliphate." Salah's speech placed him in the company of Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, the Qatar-based Sunni cleric who acts as a religious authority for both Hamas and al-Qaida. Speaking in Sanaa, Yemen, last December, Qaradawi, who chairs the Al-Quds Foundation, referred to the goal of Islamizing Jerusalem by ending coexistence with Israel as "a civilian jihad that should go side by side with armed resistance." Today, there is no figure of authority in the Arab and Islamic world in general and in the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority particularly who would have stood up for Abu al-Hawa. For today's Arab and Islamic leaders, murders like Abu al-Hawa's serve an "educational" goal of terrorizing Palestinians into ending any ongoing relationships they may have with Israelis. Neither Abu al-Hawa nor countless other victims before him had an opportunity to answer the charges leveled against them. According to Palestinians and to Jews involved in purchasing lands from Palestinians, in the majority of cases, the Arabs murdered for the "crime" of selling land to Jews never sold land to Jews. At most they were "guilty" of having ties of friendship or commerce with Israelis. The fact that merely having relations with Jews can expose an Arab to allegations of collaboration is enough to convince most Palestinians that they shouldn't have anything to do with Israel or Israelis. So by murdering people like Abu al-Hawa, the Palestinian leadership ensures that Palestinians will be too afraid of being killed to risk peaceful coexistence with Israel. YET WHILE once marked as a land seller Abu al-Hawa could expect no protection from the Palestinian leadership, as a resident of Jerusalem he had a legal right to expect Israeli authorities to protect him. Indeed, it was the responsibility of the Israel Police to protect him. Disturbingly, not only did the police not protect him, they may well have made it impossible for him to escape death. Last month the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ordered the police to evict squatters from the building formerly owned by Abu al-Hawa who had moved in during the previous weeks. Sources intimately involved with the story allege that rather than carry out the eviction order as quietly as possible in order to minimize local Arab attention to what was already shaping up to be a difficult and dangerous situation for Abu al-Hawa, the police leaked the court-ordered operation to Israel's TV Channel 10. Last Sunday and Monday nights, Channel 10 led its Prime time news broadcasts with footage from the police operation at A-Tur. The footage showed riot police ejecting the squatters and their personal effects from the apartment building. Reporter Assaf Zohar portrayed the Arab squatters as innocent victims and the Jews who bought the building legally, guarded the building legally and moved into the building legally as arrogant bullies and greedy, wealthy fanatics. Abu al-Hawa described Jews approaching him with a suitcase filled with cash offering to buy his apartment. He vociferously claimed that he refused their pushy offers because he would never sell to Jews. Zohar made no mention of the fact that the PA conducts extrajudicial murders of those accused of selling land to Jews. IT WAS hard to imagine Al-Jazeera portraying Jews in a worse light than Israel's Channel 10. The fact that the building in question is located in Israel's Capital city across the street from the Temple Mount apparently made absolutely no impression on Zohar. After the Channel 10 "expose," the level of incitement against Abu al-Hawa went up several decibels in A-Tur and in the PA. Sources in the neighborhood argue that if he had been harassed by the PA before the Channel 10 broadcast, Abu al-Hawa's life was immediately imperiled in the broadcast's aftermath. The fact that the police allowed and allegedly facilitated Channel 10's coverage of the evictions together with the decidedly anti-Israel slant of the Channel 10 story says two very disturbing things about the state of Israel's elites today. In the case of the police, it says that the one body responsible for safeguarding Abu al-Hawa's life operated in contradiction to its basic mission. If the police had wished, they could have made it clear to neighborhood residents and PA interlopers that it was in their best interests to leave Abu al-Hawa and his family alone. Yet rather than do so, they apparently facilitated the Channel 10 coverage which made killing Abu al-Hawa a matter of honor for his murderers eager to prove their mettle as defenders of Palestinian pride and Islamic solidarity against the Jews. For its part, Channel 10's unsettlingly biased story was noteworthy not merely because it made Abu al-Hawa an irresistible target. It was noteworthy for what it said about how Israel's elites view official Palestinian anti-Semitism. By leading their Prime time news broadcast night after night with a seven minute segment that portrayed Jews moving into a building in Jerusalem as wealthy, exploitative trespassers, Channel 10 showed that its editors, producers and reporters accept the anti-Semitic basis of Palestinian claims against Israel. That is, these representatives of the Israeli elite classes believe that the goal of establishing a Palestinian state justifies nullifying the right of Jews to own land in areas that the Palestinians claim are theirs. There is little doubt that the combined capabilities of the police, the IDF and the Shin Bet could easily render it all but impossible for Palestinians to carry out their "law" dictating the murder of those who sell land to Jews. They could also make it clear to the Palestinians and the Israeli Arab leadership that they have no choice other than to abide by Israeli law in Israel's capital. That is, Israel has the physical and intelligence capacity to win this war for the maintenance of survival of the Jewish state against its domestic foes rather handily. Unfortunately, for Israel to win this war, it first needs to accept that it has a right to fight it. And when our elites adopt the racist Palestinian narrative of the war and present it to the Israeli public as an objective truth, accepting that Israel has a right to fight this war becomes a Herculean effort. Abu al-Hawa's torture and murder is the result not only of the barbarism that reigns supreme in Palestinian society. It is also result of the fact that supporters of that barbarism reign supreme in Israeli society. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1143498874080&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull 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). Contact him at gwinston@interaccess.com |
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SELF-LOATHING IN TEL-AVIV
Posted by Steven Plaut, April 21, 2006. |
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Americans are familiar with campus characters, such as Ward Churchill and Noam Chomsky, who misuse their positions in academia to disseminate anti-American hate and propaganda from the university podium, often in the guise of "scholarship". But in many ways Israeli universities are considerably worse. Israeli universities are crawling with extremist faculty members, many of whom hate their own country, endorse the enemies of their country, and collaborate with Bash-Israel organizations around the world, sometimes even with open anti-Semites. Over the past year, the "Israel Academia Monitor," a watchdog group that monitors anti-Israel extremists and "Post-Zionists" in Israeli universities, has begun to expose the activities, behavior, and statements of these people. Their effort includes uncovering in-classroom indoctrination, law-breaking, seditious activity, and even violent behavior by faculty members in Israel. While it would be hard to point the finger at the very worst campus in Israel when it comes to anti-Israel faculty activism, Tel Aviv University (TAU) is surely a serious contender. And unlike the other campuses, the anti-Zionist radicalism at TAU seems to operate with the blessings and support of the university President, Itamar Rabinovich. In recent years, TAU has been in the news for turning its campus over to Israel's predominantly-Arab Communist Party to operate a "socioeconomic studies" program. A "legal clinic" is run in the TAU Law School in collaboration with an anti-Semitic organization (the anti-Israel extremist group "Physicians for Human Rights"). A propaganda course entitled "The Psychology of the Occupation" is now being taught by an anti-Zionist professor in the TAU Department of Psychology. Among the leading lights of anti-Zionism and Marxism on the TAU faculty are Yehouda Shenhav, Yoav Peled, Anat Biletzki, Ran HaCohen, Tanya Reinhart (a Noam Chomsky protégé), and many others. There are entire departments at TAU that are near-uniformities of extremism, but apparently none more so than the TAU Department of History. And that department's chairperson is a leading "Post-Zionist," meaning an anti-Zionist or anti-Israel radical. Among the leading voices opposing any Israeli action at all aimed at stopping the massive firing by Palestinian terrorists of Qassam and other rockets at Israeli civilians is Aviad Kleinberg, the chairman of the Department of History at Tel Aviv University. How convenient for him that his campus is not (yet) within range of the Palestinian rockets and missiles. Kleinberg claims to have some expertise in medieval history, as well as philosophy and religion. (His interest in Jewish "religion" seems to end with his pronouncements that the sage Maimonides necessarily implies that one must vote for the Israeli Labor Party's candidate, or Kleinberg's fatwa that all retaliation against terrorists is "not kosher".) Some of his research has been on pop pseudo-medieval novels, like "The Name of the Rose" and the "Da Vinci Code." He also heads the Tel Aviv University Press, a small in-house publishing house at TAU, and writes a regular leftwing column for Yediot Ahronot, Israel's largest-circulation tabloid. In a recent Op-Ed, Kleinberg denounced all counterattacks by Israel aimed at stopping the firing of Qassam rockets, insisting that the "War on Qassams (is) not kosher... Even during Pesach (Passover), there are methods that are simply not kosher." Now Qassam rockets are routinely fired by Palestinian terrorists from the Hamas, the PLO and the Islamic Jihad, shot into civilian areas INSIDE Israel, that is, inside Israel's 1967 border lines. Thousands have already been fired at the Jews by the terrorists. Recently the PLO-Hamas terror army added Katyusha rockets to its Gaza arsenal, the same weapon used by the Soviet Red Army with such effectiveness in terrorizing its enemies in World War II, and at least one has been fired at Jewish civilians. Kleinberg's central thesis is that Israel is behaving like a barbarian terrorist state when it defends its civilians from these rockets: "IDF (Israel Defense Forces) attacks almost always strike the innocent. The reason they are being fired is psychological. They are intended to give Israelis a nice feeling for the beginning of Pesach (Passover) -- "See, the IDF isn't sitting on its hands." Quite the opposite, the army is using what the media admiringly calls (sic) its "iron fist", and is striking painful blows to the innocent." In other words, Israel shoots at the terrorists for the heck of it because it is a bloodthirsty irrational country trying to terrorize the poor innocent Palestinians for no reason. Kleinberg insists that Israel should not respond at all to having thousands of Qassam rockets shot into its civilian areas, since such rockets are not an "existential threat" to Israel. Among his other comments in the same piece, Kleinberg denounces the Israeli media for not opposing Israeli retaliations against the rocket shooters: "If you listen carefully, you can hear the sounds of spring: Birds chirping, the buzz of mosquitoes, and the incessant sound of IDF artillery, turning the lives of innocent Gazans into a living hell. Springtime's here, alright. The IDF's firing a lot, alright, thousands of shells into "open fields" from where the Qassam Rockets are being fired. Of course, the term "open fields" is given to interpretation. Qassams are primitive rockets. You can find an article, maybe even a picture, in (Israeli daily) Yedioth Ahronoth, of a dog at Kibbutz Zikim that was literally scared to death by the exchange of fire. "The artillery fire killed our dog," screamed the headlines. Who said Jews had no compassion?... And IDF attacks almost always strike the innocent ..." Kleinberg has long denounced Israel for retaliatory and pre-emptive anti-terror strikes. Kleinberg believes Israel should be prevented from conducting any such strikes as long as there is any risk at all that some Palestinian civilian might get hurt. But since the terrorists firing the rockets at the Jews always are based and hiding among Palestinian citizens, Kleinberg's position is equivalent to demanding that Israel refrain altogether from defending its own citizens from Palestinian rocket and mortar terrorism. Instead, Kleinberg demands that Israel restrict its responses to terrorism to displays of pacifism and turning the other cheek, at least until a danger arises that is "considered an existential necessity." Otherwise, Israel itself is the real terrorist. Kleinberg then concludes: "Arab lives are very cheap in the State of Israel." All this is the familiar message from Israel's extremist anti-Israel academics: Palestinian atrocities are acts of "self-defense" and "protests against occupation," even when they involve shooting rockets into Jewish civilian homes. Israel's actions to stop the rockets are human rights abuses that must be denounced and obstructed at all costs, all so that the Qassams may be fired with continued impunity. As Kleinberg says: "But more importantly, the (Israeli counter-) attacks are also intended - pay attention to the sophisticated psychology here -- to put pressure on the civilian population, that (sic) will put pressure on PA authorities, that (sic) will put pressure on the Qassam gunmen to stop shooting. It's like that song about the little goat at the end of the Pesach haggadah (holiday prayer reader)." Kleinberg has been turning out extremist anti-Israel propaganda from his Tel Aviv University office for many years. Israel is not a democracy at all, Kleinberg pontificates, because of the "reversal of Israel('s) integration into the block of democratic nations and the adoption in its place (of) the same pattern of violent and ethnocentric policies we officially condemn." In other words, in order to be a democracy, Israel first needs to adopt those extremist policies which he himself favors and most Israeli voters oppose. Kleinberg insists Israel is "autocratic" and undemocratic because it "relies on its leaders," like Ariel Sharon. "This (system of democracy) is not the case in Israel today. The great weakness of the system is that too much power is concentrated in the hands of the prime minister, sending signs of autocracy (for instance, making his son a secret advisor.)" Kleinberg considers Ariel Sharon a warmonger devoted to preventing peace, but also regards Ehud Barak from the Labor Party Left in the same way. All they offered the Palestinians, according to Kleinberg, was a "Bantustan," that familiar nonsense term beloved by the Bash-Israel Left. (Google and Yahoo list over 40,000 web pages in which Israel haters have linked the term "Israel" and "Palestinian" with "Bantustan".) Here is Kleinberg's bottom-line assessment of his own country's defense strategy: "So Israel has to make sure the Palestinians give up their dreams, that they reach total despair." Kleinberg's conception of democracy is best illustrated by the fact that he is a longtime endorser of politically-motivated insurrection and mutiny by Israeli soldiers. Law-breaking is his notion of the highest values of democracy. As a writer featured on many Palestinian propaganda web sites, he has signed calls upon Israeli soldiers to refuse to serve in the military. This is his own anti-democratic tactic to coerce the country into implementing the policies endorsed by Israel's anti-Zionists. Then, without pausing even to take a breath, he denounces the Jewish "settlers" for "law breaking": "The settlers pose a danger not only because the 'legal' settlements stand in the way of any lasting agreement between us and the Palestinians, but because a whole generation has grown up with no respect for authority and a view of its representatives as a hindrance." Meanwhile, the Gaza Jewish settlements were all removed, but in response the Palestinians escalated the rocket shootings. So much for the learned history professor's analysis of why there is no peace. In general, Kleinberg dismisses Israel as a racist society and has denounced Israel as "marching to apartheid." A few years back Israeli universities temporarily abolished college board exams, but then reintroduced them, realizing that without them standards were simply being "dumbed down." Kleinberg attacked the universities for their "anti-Arab racism" in restoring the exams. In any test of academic proficiency, Arabs in Israel do worse than Jews on average, which indicates to Kleinberg that such proficiency must not be tested at all. [Interestingly, he did not denounce Arab universities in Arab countries for their own "anti-Arab racism," even though they also use entrance exams.] Never mind that those very same Israeli universities have implemented affirmative action preferences across the board in favor of Arabs. Naturally, Kleinberg is also anti-American. Right after the start of the liberation of Iraq from Saddam, Kleinberg wrote: "The war in Iraq was more than the first expression of the United States' readiness to go to war as an empire (sic). The world has a new sheriff who does not hesitate to use his pistol, with or without partners, with or without sanction, with or without justification." Professor Kleinberg is somewhat knowledgeable about medieval Christianity, which he seems to think entitles him to issue policy pronouncements on everything from the Jewish religion to Israel's water policy. While he has trouble rustling up any sense of indignation at the firing of Qassam missiles into Jewish civilian homes, Kleinberg gets positively livid and uncontrollably outraged at one group of people: religious Jews. He is even more of a zealot of hate when it comes to the Jewish "settlers": "The settlers are in the grip of a godly zealotry -- for years they have been operating outside of the law, motivated by a deep feeling that they are not transgressing the "real laws." In the name of zealotry, they robbed, lied, and cheated, spilt blood, and all this so that their feeling of complete devotion to God remains undamaged." A few years back, Kleinberg signed a statement that declared: "In this part of the world there are two borders that are now recognized internationally and regionally: the international border (sic) between us and the Arab states and the border of June 1967 between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians accept this border. Not only that, they have shown a readiness to demilitarize the Palestinian state in relation to heavy weapons, to recognize the annexation of the ring of Israeli suburbs built in Jerusalem, and other changes in the 1967 border, on the basis of a mutual agreement and lands swap." Now that the Hamas has seized power in the West Bank and Gaza and is rapidly building an Islamofascist terror army, we are waiting for the TAU Professor of History Aviad Kleinberg and his extremist friends from Tel Aviv University to repudiate that statement and issue an academic apology. We will not be holding our breath. 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. This appeared in FrontPageMagazine.com April 20, 2006. |
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SOMETHING'S VERY WRONG
Posted by Batya Medad, April 21, 2006. |
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Israel is under attack, and it has been under attack from the minute a few Jews decided to restore a Jewish State to the Holy Land. we have been under attack since before the State of Israel was "declared," on the 5th of Iyyar, the 14th of May, 1948. Arab terrorism against Jews and Israelis is nothing new. There is only one way to end terrorism, and it's to destroy it. For some peculiar and perverse reason, the world makes one "exception" to this rule. That's when the victims are Jews and the terrorists are Arabs. The world doesn't connect, more correct -- refuses to connect -- the terrorism against us with the terrorism in the rest of the world. For them superficial changes are enough to make the terrorists respectable. And Olmert, Livne and crew aren't about to protest. They want the world's "acceptance." Israel's "Defense" Minister Mofaz expresses concern, while Arabs launch kassams at Israel daily and Arab terror against civilians continues. Concern and restraint aren't going to save us. Something's very wrong with a country that cares more about pleasing its enemies than protecting its citizens and securing its future. In less than two weeks we're celebrating our 58th Independence Day, but what kind of "independence" is this? 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. This essay is archived at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2006/04/somethings-very-wrong_21.html |
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USER-FRIENDLY ISLAM VERSUS TERRORIST ISLAM
Posted by David Meir-Levi, April 20, 2006. |
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There seem to be two Islams. Each claims to be the true Islam. They are so diametrically opposed to one another that they should be in conflict....but they are not. We are all familiar with the beautiful, radiant Islam of peace, the Islam that respects other religions, the Islam that condemns the killing of innocents, the Islam that honors women, the Islam that is open and tolerant regarding other religions and their practitioners, the Islam that condemns terrorism, the Islam that seeks not to conquer and make Islam paramount but rather to create a peaceful and productive co-existence with the non-Moslem world. And, as the third article below attests, we find this Islam preached and practiced in many parts of the Moslem world. I call that one the "UFI" (User-Friendly Islam). But then there is the Islam of Osama bin Laden, of Ayman ez-Zawahiri, of Abu-Mous'ab ez-Zarqawi, Abu Yousouf el-Qaradhawi, Hassan Nasrallah, Hussein Massawi, Ismail Haniyeh, and countless other Moslem (mostly Arab) leaders who preach "Islam uber Alles", the inferiority and repugnant uncleanliness (Najj) of the infidel (that's you and me), Jewish biological origins from pigs and apes, and the need to supress women in the most brutal and sometimes lethal ways (including but not limited to female genital mutilation). They prefer war and terrorism as the method of spreading their Islam until all the world worhips Allah and Allah alone, and all of the world's Jews are annihilated, and the remaining Christians submit to Dhimma and pay the Jizya, and women know their place beneath the Burqa (with or without their clitorises). And these leaders have their followers who number in the hundreds of thousands, in el-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, The Moslem Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslemeen), Jayyish-Allah, Sayyif el-Jihad, Ansar-el-islam, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, al-Jami'a al-Islamiyyeh, just to mention a few. And they have their supporters numbering in the tens of millions throughout the Moslem world (per Daniel Pipes and the US Dept of State). I call that one the TI (Terrorist Islam). And, as a Moslem journalist pointed out, it cannot be a coincidence that while not all Moslems are terrorists, almost all terrorists are Moslems (and almost all of those are Arab). One problem is that these two Islams seem to not talk to one another....in fact, they seem to not even know that the other exists.....or, at least the proponnents of UFI tell us that the TI folk don't really exist, or if they do, then they are not really Moslem. But the evidence for the existence of TI over the 1,300 years of Moslem history is quite compelling. For bibliography, see Bat Yeor Dhimmi, Jews and Christians under Islam
And cf. also the websites:
Very compelling too is the consistency with which we find TI and its terrorist and misogenistic and anti-Jewish/Christian practices attested throughout more than a thousand years of Moslem history and across dozens of Moslem countries. Bottom line: Each thinks that its Islam is the true Islam. There are practitioners of each form of Islam. These practitioners reject the others as perversions of true Islam. But none of that matters. What matters for us in the West, who are in the crosshairs of TI but are being told by the proponnents of UFI that TI is not really Islam, is: "which Islam will prevail: The nice friendly one that pretends that the other is not really there, or the terrorist one which cares only about terrorism until victory -- or martyrdom?" Note the three articles below. "The Radiant Face of Islam?"
In January 2006, the Austrian-Iraqi Association for Development held its first conference on extremism and terrorism around the world, in Vienna. The conference was attended by Arab, Muslim and European researchers, intellectuals and diplomats. In the closing statement, the participants made the following recommendations: to present the humane and rational side of Islam which calls for co-existence and acceptance of the other; to condemn all forms of violence and terrorism; to promote dialogue and cooperation among all the world's cultures; and to call upon religious scholars to halt the spread of extremism. The participants also emphasized the Palestinian people's right to an independent state, and called to consolidate Iraqi national unity based on citizenship, democracy, and peaceful co-existence between all sectors of Iraqi society, while preserving the country's Arab and Islamic character. [1] Dr. Kamel Al-Najjar, a reformist who writes on the reformist websites www.kitabat.com and www.elaph.com, expressed reservations regarding the validity of these recommendations. [2] The following are excerpts from his article: "Islam was Tolerant Only during the Mecca Period, When it was Weak" "The phenomenon of Arab and Islamic conferences has come to dominate activities in the Arab and Muslim world almost completely, especially since the tragedy of September 11, 2001 in the U.S... Experience teaches us that those who talk a lot do little, while those who act do not talk. I hope that the conference held by the Austrian-Iraqi Association for Development is not an Islamic conference of that sort, but a look at its recommendations does not inspire optimism... "The conference participants did not bother to explain what the humane side of Islam is. When was Islam humane, and when did it respect others and call for co-existence? Anyone who studies Islamic history discovers that Islam was tolerant only during the Mecca period, when it was weak. This is the period in which the tolerant verses were revealed, such as the verses... 'You have your religion and I have my religion [Koran 109:6]' and 'Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and goodly preaching, and reason with them in the best ways [16:125].'... "Later, the Prophet emigrated to the city of Al-Medina, and the first Koranic sura revealed to him there - the sura of Al-Baqara - starts with a rejection of the other... Later [verses] call to fight anyone who does not convert to Islam: 'And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out [2:191]'... Subsequently, the sura of Al-Tawba was revealed, and the 'verse of the sword': 'So when the sacred months have passed, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush [9:5]'... The 'verse of the sword' and all the [other] warlike verses of the Al-Medina period were revealed later than the verses of the Mecca period, and as the newer verses, they [come to] replace the Mecca verses. According to the religious scholars, the 'verse of the sword' abrogates at least 120 tolerant verses. So where is the tolerant side of Islam?... "If we put aside the theoretical statements of the Koran and the hadith, and examine the actions of the Prophet and his companions... will we find anything that can be regarded as tolerance and acceptance of the other? The Prophet, after all, drove the Jews out of the Arab peninsula and made raids on the Arab tribes so that they would convert out of fear. "[The First Caliph] Abu Bakr fought against the tribes who abandoned Islam, and [the Second Caliph] Omar [bin Al-Khattab] imposed his famous contract on the Christians, which forced them to cut their hair and wear special garments so they would be easily recognizable, and forbade them to ring their church bells. Islamic conquests of non-Muslim [lands] continued until the time of the Ottoman Caliphate during the 15th century, and even later. Can we find the radiant face of Islam in any of these statements or actions?" "Violence is Rooted [in Islam] From its Very Inception" Regarding the recommendation to condemn all forms of violence and terrorism, Al-Najjar wrote: "The problem with Islam is that violence is rooted in it from its very inception. Islam commands beating a 10-year-old child if he does not pray regularly. Islam permits beating a woman if she does not obey her husband... "The [Islamic] states terrorize non-Muslim minorities, as occurs in Egypt. There is also the terrorism of the religious clerics... who carry a stick to beat women on their legs if any part of the leg is showing, and to beat the men in the marketplace on Friday so they hurry up and get to the mosque. There is the terrorism of religious groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban, the Shi'ite groups in Basra, and the Sunni groups in Falluja which burned down shops selling computer diskettes and shops selling wine... Every day, we encounter the ideological terrorism of Al-Azhar [University] and other religious institutions, which ban books, newspapers and movies that do not conform to their views, and issue fatwas accusing Muslim intellectuals of heresy..." "How Can We Call for Co-Existence Between Religions When the Religious Scholars... Say Every Day That the Bible and New Testament are Falsified, That Christians are Polytheists... and That Jews are the Descendants of Apes and Pigs?" Al-Najjar next refers to the recommendation that calls for cooperation between the world's cultures: "How can we call for co-existence between religions when the religious scholars of Al-Azhar, Najaf, and Qom say every day that the Bible and the New Testament are falsified, that Christians are polytheists because they worship the Trinity, and that Jews are the descendants of apes and pigs? [When] every Friday, the [Muslim] worshipers call upon Allah to eradicate the Jews, and when the Muslims ridicule the Hindus for worshiping a cow? Who are those who [supposedly] call for [dialogue]? Are they religious scholars who believe in the superiority of Islam?..." Regarding the recommendation to recognize the Palestinians' right to establish an independent state based on U.N. resolutions, Al-Najjar said: "The hostility that both sides have instilled in their children will not allow them to co-exist peacefully in the near future. As long as there are religious scholars like Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi who permit Palestinian youths to blow themselves up among Israeli civilians, [and as long as there are] religious scholars and sheikhs from Hamas who recruit and train these youths, there is no use in emphasizing the need to establish a Palestinian state based on international resolutions." About the recommendation to consolidate Iraqi national unity while preserving the Arab and Islamic character of Iraq, Al-Najjar wrote: "The homeland has no religion. Faith belongs to Allah and the homeland belongs to all [its citizens]. But since Islam does not recognize any other [religion], the conference participants called to preserve the Arab and Islamic character of Iraq. [However, it should be noted that] before it became Arab or Muslim, Iraq was Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Christian, and now most of its population is Muslim. So how can we preserve the unity of the homeland and say that it is [only] Islamic and Arab? [Additionally,] which Islam are we referring to [when we characterize Iraq as Islamic]? Shi'ite Islam and the rule of the religious scholars, or Sunni Islam which accuses the Shi'ites of heresy?..." "Since When are the Muslims a Nation of Peace?" "Islam includes theoretical principles that the Muslims do not implement in practice. For example [the Koran says in sura 42, verse 38]: 'Those who... conduct their affairs by mutual consultation [shura].' But when the Taliban seized power in order to implement the laws of the Islamic shari'a, they did not come into power by means of shura and did not implement the principle of shura in governing [the country]. When Al-Turabi and Al-Bashir took over Sudan in the name of Islam, they [also] did not come into power by means of shura, and did not implement [this principle]. In the Gulf states, power is inherited, and not gained by means of shura... "The Muslims are always boasting groundlessly of what they do not have, and claiming that Islam has [characteristics] that it [actually] lacks. Mr. Khaled Mash'al, head of the Hamas political bureau, said in Damascus: 'Muslims are the nation of peace, and they extend their hand to anyone who wants to make peace.' Since when are the Muslims a nation of peace? Who spilled rivers of blood in Asia Minor, conquering its cities and enslaving its people?... Who conquered Spain and North Africa? "If the Muslims are Serious About Presenting the Radiant Face of Islam, They Must Drop This False, Hollow Arrogance and Acknowledge Their Dark Past and Even Darker Present". "If the Muslims are serious about presenting the radiant face of Islam, they must drop this false, hollow arrogance, and acknowledge their dark past and their even darker present. They must establish a global judiciary council whose function will be to punish any sheikh that issues a fatwa encouraging or permitting violence - whether physical or ideological... They must also re-interpret the Koran, putting the warlike verses - the verse of the sword and similar hadiths - in historical perspective as verses that are no longer valid... Perhaps they should take an example from those who follow the Koran alone and do away with all the hadiths and with the sunna..." ________________________________________ [1] For the full text of the closing statement in Arabic, see the website of the Austrian-Iraqi Association for Development: http://www.aiad.at/Arabic/viewarticle.php?id=news_austria-20060202-39. [2] http://www.kitabat.com/i12887.htm, February 3, 2006. For further criticism of Arab conferences by Dr. Al-Najjar, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 721, "International Islamic Conference: Genuine Call for Tolerance or Reiteration of Hollow Slogans?" May 25, 2004, http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP72104. ============================================================ "Muslim students 'being taught to despise unbelievers as filth"
Pupils protest as college linked to Iran puts fundamentalist text on curriculum, reports our correspondent MUSLIM students training to be imams at a British college with strong Iranian links have complained that they are being taught fundamentalist doctrines which describe nonMuslims as "filth". The Times has obtained extracts from medieval texts taught to the students in which unbelievers are likened to pigs and dogs. The texts are taught at the Hawza Ilmiyya of London, a religious school, which has a sister institution, the Islamic College for Advanced Studies (ICAS), which offers a degree validated by Middlesex University. The students, who have asked to remain anonymous, study their religious courses alongside the university-backed BA in Islamic studies. They spend two days a week as religious students and three days on their university course. The Hawza Ilmiyya and the ICAS are in the same building at Willesden High Road, northwest London -- a former Church of England primary school -- and share many of the same teaching staff. They have a single fundraising arm, the Irshad Trust, one of the managing trustees of which is Abdolhossein Moezi, an Iranian cleric and a personal representative of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme religious leader. Mr Moezi is also the director of the Islamic Centre of England in Maida Vale, a large mosque and community centre that is a registered charity. Its memorandum of association, lodged with the Charity Commission, says that: "At all times at least one of the trustees shall be a representative of the Supreme Spiritual Leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran." Both the Irshad Trust and the Islamic Centre of England Ltd (ICEL) were established in 1996. Mr Moezi's predecessor as Ayatollah Khamenei's representative, another cleric called Mohsen Araki, was a founding trustee of both charities. In their first annual accounts, lodged with the Charity Commission in 1997, the charities revealed substantial donations. The Irshad Trust received gifts of £1,367,439 and the ICEL accepted an "exceptional item" of £1.2 million. Around the same time, the ICEL bought a former cinema in Maida Vale without a mortgage. Since then it has received between £1 million and £1.7 million in donations each year which, it says, come from British and overseas donors. The centre declined to say if any of its money came from Iran. Since 2000, its accountants have recorded in their auditors' report on the charity's accounts that they have limited evidence about the source of donations. The links between the two charities and Iran are strong. The final three years of the eight-year Hawza Ilmiyya course are spent studying in colleges in the holy city of Qom, the power base of Iran's religious leaders. The text that has upset some students is the core work in their Introduction to Islamic Law class and was written by Muhaqqiq al-Hilli, a 13thcentury scholar. The Hawza Ilmiyya website states that "the module aims to familiarise the student with the basic rules of Islamic law as structured by al-Hilli". Besides likening unbelievers to filth, the al-Hilli text includes a chapter on jihad, setting down the conditions under which Muslims are supposed to fight Jews and Christians. The text is one of a number of books that some students say they find "disturbing" and "very worrying". Their spokesman told The Times: "They are being exposed to very literalist interpretations of the Koran. These are interpretations that would not be recognised by 80 or 90 per cent of Muslims, but they are being taught in this school. "A lot of people in the Muslim community are very concerned about this. We need to urgently re-examine the kind of material that is being taught here and in other colleges in Britain." Mohammed Saeed Bahmanpour, who teaches in both the Hawza and the ICAS, confirmed that al-Hilli text was used, but denied that it was taught as doctrine. He said that, although the book was a key work in the jurisprudence class, its prescriptions were not taught as law. When he taught from it, he omitted the impurity chapter, he said. Dr Bahmanpour said: "We just read the text and translate for them, but as I said I do not deal with the book on purity. We have left that to the discretion of the teacher whether he wants to teach it or not. ?The idea is not to teach them jurisprudence because most of the fatwas of Muhaqiq are not actually conforming with the fatwa of our modern jurists. The idea is that they would be able to read classical texts and that is all.? Dr Bahmanpour said that Mr Moezi had no educational role at either the ICAS or Hawza Ilmiyya. Mr Moezi has been the representative in Britain of Ayatollah Khamenei since 2004 when he also succeeded Mr Araki in the role and as a trustee of the ICEL and the Irshad Trust. The Islamic centre's website reports Ayatollah Khamenei's speeches and activities prominently and one of the first sites listed under its links section is the supreme leader's homepage. A spokeswoman for the ICEL also confirmed its links with the Iran's spiritual leadership but said the centre was a purely religious organisation. Middlesex University, which accredits the ICAS course but not the Hawza Ilmiyya, said: "The BA in Islamic studies offered by the Islamic College of Advanced Studies is validated by Middlesex University. "This means that Middlesex ensures that the academic standards of this particular programme are appropriate, the curriculum delivers to the required standards, learning and teaching methods allow achievement of standards." THE DOCTRINE "The water left over in the container after any type of animal has drunk from it is considered clean and pure apart from the left over of a dog, a pig, and a disbeliever "There are ten types of filth and impurities: urine, faeces, semen, carrion, blood of carrion, dogs, pigs, disbelievers." ?When a dog, a pig, or a disbeliever touches or comes in contact with the clothes or body [of a Muslim] while he [the disbeliever] is wet, it becomes obligatory- compulsory upon him [the Muslim] to wash and clean that part which came in contact with the disbeliever? From the al-Hilli text ============================================================= "What Muslims Hear at Friday Prayers"
Is there really a clash of the cultures between Islam and the West? SPIEGEL documents Friday sermons from mosques around the world. As imams guide their congregations, they praise the delights of paradise, sow the seeds of doubt in government authority -- and sometimes preach hatred. Last Monday, the 12th of Rabi al-Awwal 1427, traffic stood still in most Islamic countries, government employees had the day off and children stayed home from school. On the 12th of Rabi, the world's Muslims observe the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. Egyptians celebrate Maulid al-Nabi, as a sort of Islamic Christmas. In cities across the Nile delta, thousands take to the streets playing drums and trumpets. Little girls receive dolls and little boys are given horses made of sugar. It's Egypt's biggest religious festival. In Pakistan, the faithful place a young boy, dressed as a Bedouin, on a horse and parade him through the streets, representing the return of the Prophet in the form of a child -- apparently not a violation of the prohibition on displaying images of the Prophet the Muslim world often defended so vehemently. But this year the return of Muhammad ended in a blood bath, when a suicide bomber blew up himself and 57 others during prayers in the southern Pakistani city Karachi. Islam has many faces, and on the Friday before the Prophet's birthday, SPIEGEL correspondents visited mosques from Nigeria to Indonesia to listen to the sermons of the imams. They were there in part to look into a suspicion that has taken hold in the West, especially since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Have the mosques been transformed from a place of prayer into a hotbed of extremism and center of Islamist indoctrination? Is there truly a dangerous clash of cultures underway, as so many people in Europe and America fear? Radical preachers have actively contributed to this impression. In a Berlin mosque, a television crew secretly recorded the sermon of a Turkish imam who described the Germans as godless and railed against their alleged stench. In London, hate preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri called upon the faithful to murder female tourists in his native Egypt, saying: "If a woman, even a Muslim woman, is naked and you have no way of covering her up, it is legitimate to kill her." Other agents of the Koran speak moderately when addressing Western audiences, but their words turn decidedly more radical when directed towards Muslims. In an interview with SPIEGEL, television imam Yusuf al-Qaradawi, perhaps currently one of the most influential Islamic scholars around, magnanimously conceded that there is also room in heaven for devout Christians and Jews. But on his Arab-language website a short time later, he made it clear that he believes that Christians and Jews are ultimately nothing more than infidels. Geopolitics and prayer But surely such examples of narrow-mindedness can be found in any major religion or creed. Are these words of hatred and discrimination really representative of the thousands upon thousands of Friday prayers that millions of Muslims around the world attend each week? And what about those who occasionally oversleep and miss morning prayers or those whose lives do not revolve exclusively around their religion? The answers to these questions are highly varied, but generally speaking the more devout Muslims see themselves threatened by the secular West, the more zealous the region's imams are in calling the faithful to fight in the name of Allah. AL-AZHAR, CAIRO The mosque and university was established more than a thousand years ago by Fatimide commander Gauhar al- Sikilli, and is considered the most important center of learning in Sunni Islam to this day. The Friday preacher, Dr. Id Abd al- Hamid Yussuf, 65, is completely against the use of Islam for political purposes. The Prophet forgave those who committed injustices against him. He pardoned the murderer of his uncle, Hamsa. He forgave his people when they banished him from Mecca -- Islam spread throughout the world through argument and conviction, but not through the sword, as the enemies of Islam have claimed. Islam only used the sword when it was attacked -- The Prophet forbade extremism and fanaticism. He said: "I was sent to you out of the generosity of God. Night became day. Anyone who strays from this path will fall victim to ruin." For some, religion is like a maze. Enter it with caution, because whoever approaches religion as an extremist will perish in his extremism. Whereas imams in places like Istanbul and Jakarta tended to devote their sermons to theological exegesis, Friday prayers in Pakistan, Iran and the Gaza Strip were markedly more political. In these places, religious scholars whipped their listeners into a holy frenzy and drew a sharp line between the Dar al-Islam, or House of Islam, and the Dar al-Harb, or House of War -- the two spheres into which schools of Islamic legal thought have divided the world. But at the same time, often in the same sermon, imams ask God for help in confronting everyday woes, issue moral appeals to their own political leaders and constantly return to the Islamic world's greatest lament: a comparison between the gloomy present and the glorious past. The news on the Friday before last contained all the key ingredients for a dramatic political sermon. The Israeli army had just launched an attack on two offices of the al-Aksa Brigades in the Gaza Strip, and both the United States and the European Union had announced their intention to halt financial aid to the Palestinians' Hamas-led government. Ten people were killed that Thursday when a bomb went off in the Iraqi city of Najaf, and another 70 died in Baghdad while leaving the mosque after Friday prayers. Government officials in Washington also made it clear that they were opposed to interim Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's ambitions to stay in office. The nuclear dispute between Iran and the West escalated further when Iranian religious leaders denounced as unacceptable United Nations' demands that the country put an end to its uranium enrichment program. On that weekend, The New Yorker then revealed that the White House has developing plans for a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promptly upped the ante by announcing that his mullah-led theocracy had successfully enriched uranium and now counts itself a member of the world's nuclear club. But Didin Hafiduddin, the imam at Istiqlal Mosque in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, made no mention of the precarious geopolitical situation in his sermon, given in one of the world's largest houses of prayer. Titled "Professionalism and Honest Trusteeship," it sounded more like a presentation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland than fiery religious rhetoric. Hafiduddin told the faithful in the most populous Islamic country about Joseph the Israelite, the man charged with running the Egyptian pharaoh's economy. He drew parallels between the story -- which is also mentioned in the bible -- and modern-day Indonesia's struggles with corruption. "Place me in charge of the granaries of the land, and you will see that I am a clever custodian," Joseph advises the pharaoh in the Koran sura that bears his name. No one has ever been a more efficient manager than Joseph, at least according to the imam from Jakarta. Today's leaders ought to take a page from Joseph's book, he said, adding that "corruption, laziness and fraud bring about destruction." By contrast, said the Indonesian imam, God rewards professionalism and a "strict work ethic" with happiness and fulfillment. Governments criticized The moral appeal to one's own political leadership is a leitmotif in the sermons of Muslim preachers -- but also a natural response to strict autocratic conditions in many Islamic countries. It was almost an understatement when Sheikh Ibrahim Abu Bakr Ramadan, an imam in the Nigerian city of Kano, said that the "injustice emanating from our leadership is the worst part of our society," in reference to President Olusegun Obasanjo's efforts to amend the constitution so that he can be reelected when his current term expires in 2007. In Peshawar, Pakistan, Maulana Khalil Ahmad compared the world's monotheistic religions and -- perhaps not surprisingly -- praised Islam as being the most complete of them all: "Contradictions prevail, especially in Christianity and Judaism, as well as in Communism." But that was mild compared with the sermon his fellow local imam Abd al-Akbar Chitrali gave in the same spot a week earlier, when he derided Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's claim to have given Pakistan true democracy. Musharraf, the imam complained, is trying to introduce the "Western secularism" of his idol, Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The founder of the modern Turkey, said Chitrali, was a man who "turned mosques into churches and had religious scholars murdered. Listen to me, Muslims! Kemal Atatürk is not our ideal. Musharraf is not just attempting to placate the West and the USA, but also to remain permanently in power." Many imams in Egypt and Turkey harbor similar reservations about their countries' leaders, but little of that surfaced in their sermons. The security forces in both countries keep a close watch on mosques. In Egypt, the grand sheikh of al-Azhar University, traditionally the highest-ranking authority in Sunni religious teaching, is appointed directly by the president, essentially making him the administration's mouthpiece. This explains the tranquil nature of the sermon at al-Azhar University on the evening before the Prophet's birthday. The speaker, Sheikh Id Abd al-Hamid Yusuf, praised Muhammad as the most complete of all prophets, saying: "We will never succeed in doing justice to his memory." To ensure that religious speech doesn't suddenly turn into political invective, hundreds of police officers are stationed in the streets around the al-Azhar mosque in Cairo every Friday during prayers. The faithful have rarely staged demonstrations after prayers in recent years, and when they have, many of the "demonstrators" were undercover police officers. But such precautions are unnecessary on the Friday before the Prophet's birthday. Indeed, Imam Yusuf warned his audience against the excesses of religious fervor, saying that "the extremist doesn't plow the earth, nor does he allow any flowers to grow." BLUE MOSQUE, ISTANBUL The house of worship, completed in 1616 under Sultan Ahmet I, is one of Istanbul's major mosques intended to embody the faith and power of the Ottoman Empire. The mosque's imam, Emrullah Hatipoglu, delivered the sermon. There is no science without God. We see all the things that can happen in the schools when children do not learn in the name of God. When there are murders in the schools today, when an inhuman development becomes a threat, we must ask ourselves what led to this development. God says in the Koran: Murdering an innocent person is the same as murdering all of mankind -- The Koran permeates our lives. But there are problems with our attitudes to the Koran. We do not apply it everywhere. Let us assume that we are running a supermarket. Are we permitted to sell merchandise there that is prohibited in Islam, goods that are not legitimate? No? But many Muslims are doing just that. The goods must conform to the standards established in Turkey and the rules of consumer protection, but not those of the Koran. Is the sale of alcohol and pork allowed? What about the Koran? These, my fellow Muslims, are all sins. Emrullah Hatipoglu, the imam of Istanbul's Blue Mosque, does his best to take advantage of the latitude he is given by the government's Office for Religious Affairs. In his sermons, Hatipoglu argues against the view of the country's secular elite that Islam is a backward-looking religion that is opposed to science. The Koran begins with the words "Read, in the name of your Lord, who has created," and modern Islam, says Hatipoglu, should obey this exhortation to educate oneself. "Physics, chemistry, mathematics, astronomy ... read that!" he says. But he also believes that the faithful should read the Koran with the same enthusiasm. "There is no excuse. No one can claim that he cannot read the Koran. Don't you have computers and CDs?" This is followed by a catechism that sounds like a campaign speech by current Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during the 1990s, when he was still mayor of Istanbul and crusaded against the serving of alcohol, prostitution and Turkey's inexorable Westernization. Today, with his sights set on EU membership, Erdogan has largely abandoned his Islamist rhetoric, but the conflict between government-controlled Islam and Turkey's secular establishment, especially the military, continues to simmer. NUR MOSQUE, GAZA STRIP In this mosque in the Jabaliya refugee camp with ties to the extremist Hamas movement, Friday prayers ended with an appeal to Palestinians to rise up against Israeli occupiers. The sermon was given by 38- year- old Imam Talal al- Majdalawi. When the Jews withdrew from the Gaza Strip, we thought that we had gained all the freedom in the world. But then came the bombardment. This is a sign, you faithful, that your battle with the Jews is still a long way from coming to an end. It proves that the conflict is not taking place among us and between us, but with the infidel Jews. This is why you should say, whenever there is a rocket attack: God be praised, there is no God other than the one God, and He is our protector. We say to the Jews: "What you are doing to us today is written in the book of God." There it is said: "Your will suffer fear and hunger." But we too will sow fear and terror, as they have never seen before, in the hearts of those who bring us fear and hunger today. With the help of God, we should be afraid of nothing. We must not be afraid whenever a bullet strikes its target or whenever we are threatened -- This does not frighten us. This should make us strong in our fight against the Jews. The fronts are much more clear-cut in Palestine, even more so than in Iran. In the Gaza Strip, Imam Talal al-Majdalawi spends 25 minutes talking about the upcoming Prophet's birthday and the need to constantly reflect on God and the holy Koran. He saves the last five minutes of his sermon for his political message: "Two hundred bullets were fired at us yesterday," says the imam. "What prevents us from thinking about God each time one of those bullets strikes its target?" His logic is the sort that has long determined the discourse of radical Islamists: The harder the enemy strikes us, the more clearly tries to present us with his supposed superiority, the more united and determined to oppose him we shall become. Everything, including nightly bombardment by the Israeli air force, follows a great, divine wisdom. "Do not hate evil, because it could be God's gift to you," he says. Such is the Islamist answer to the question of theodicy. If God is omnipotent, why is there so much evil in the world? Hojjatolislam Ahmed Khatami, speaking to thousands of Iranian Muslims in the courtyard of the University of Tehran, is dealing with a similar problem. He begins the political portion of his sermon with a mention of the devastating earthquake in Iran's Lorestan province, praising the "diligent Islamic regime for overcoming these difficulties." But the congregation also wants to hear something else. When Khatami took to the podium, the faithful chanted: "Death to America! Death to England and its treachery! Nuclear energy is our natural right!" And Khatami doesn't disappoint them. He mentions the controversy over Danish cartoon's of Muhammad and calls upon Sunnis and Shiites to unite in the face of "this insult to the Prophet." Quoting the Koran, he defends the right of resistance. "Our resistance is what triggers respect for our 27-year-old revolution. They have prepared many crises for our great nation, but we have left them behind with our heads held high." Then he turns his attention to Iran's nuclear conflict with the West. UNIVERSITY OF TEHRAN The Friday sermon at the University of Tehran is held exclusively by high- ranking members of the country's ruling Shiite clergy. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme religious leader, personally appoints the campus preachers, among whom Hojjatolislam Ahmed Khatami is a novice. He preached to thousands of the faithful. The Shiite and Sunni brothers find themselves facing a common enemy, one whose goal is to attack Islam. This is not just about Shiites. Any insult to the Prophet is an insult to the entire religion. For this reason, the Shiites and the Sunnis must strive to achieve more cooperation and unity of the hearts in this respect. Shiites and Sunnis should live together like brothers ... Our enemies are using the fairy tale about nuclear energy to bring about a crisis. The Security Council of the United Nations has itself become a factor of uncertainty and injustice, instead a forum for the security of the world -- According to international custom, it is our right to control the technology to obtain nuclear energy. The Security Council wants to prevent us from mastering this technology. There is a law of the jungle, and it says: The strong will prevail. But our nation has made it clear that we want our right. We will stand up for our right with our blood and until we breathe our last breath. "They have given us one month to discontinue our research," he says, referring to the UN Security Council. "One month or one year -- you can give us as many ultimatums as you wish." Iran insists on its right and that, says the imam, means "that we will stand up for our right with our blood and until we breathe our last breath." These words are reminiscent of Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini's speeches. Khatami mentions Iran's recent navy maneuvers "in the blue waters of the Persian Gulf," and then issues this threat: "If you so much as dare to show even a sign of aggression against the Islamic regime, we will strike your mouth with our fists." His sermon ends with an appeal to God to protect his beloved Iran, grant its worthy leader success and accept all Iranians as soldiers of the Wali-e-Asr -- the twelfth, or hidden, imam. "Expedite his resurrection," he beseeches the Almighty. Throughout the world, Friday prayers are the high point of the week in the life of a devout Muslim. It was a Friday when Adam entered the Garden of Eden, and it was a Friday when he left it again. The faithful believe that Muhammad said that the day of resurrection would also be a Friday. Muhammad supposedly also said that "God commanded both the Jews and the Christians to celebrate Friday as a day of worship but they ignored His command." Muslims see the Koran as God's last and complete revelation, and every Friday sermon serves as a reminder of that belief. Reported by Daniel Steinvorth and Bernhard Zand and translated from German by Christopher Sultan. David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. His expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). Contact him at david_meirlevi@hotmail.com |
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NOT VERY FUNNY
Posted by Morris J. Amitay, April 20, 2006. |
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Looking at what's going on in the Middle East could make one either laugh or cry - usually the latter. But enough tears for now. There have been a number of items we've come across recently that may appeal to one's sense of humor in a perverse sort of way. Did you see where three newly elected Hamas legislators are threatening to go to Israel's Supreme Court because their Jerusalem residency rights have been revoked? Here we have official representatives of a universally recognized terrorist group dedicated to Israel's destruction seeking vindication in an Israeli court of their right to live in Israel's capital. As an Israeli Foreign Ministry official noted, "We don't believe these people should be entitled to Israeli social security payments". We could add that neither should they be permitted to ride around with Israeli license plates so they can go about their appointed terrorist rounds. Here we have new meaning given to chutzpha - or whatever its Arabic equivalent. Speaking of Hamas, the Jerusalem Post recently reported that a Hamas official accused Fatah-affiliated militias of being behind the latest wave of Kassam rocket attacks against Israel. He described it as a "conspiracy" to topple the Hamas cabinet. Could this be the start of a civil war - one where we could root for both sides? Closer to home, we have had two relatively obscure professors crawl out of the academic woodwork to elaborate on "The Lobby" - or, "How Disloyal Israel-firster Jews Control U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East". The premise of the authors Messrs. Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, is that there are no strategic or moral reasons for American support for Israel. Citing numerous blatantly anti-Semitic sources, (and publicly lauded by David Duke), they conveniently overlooked public opinion polls consistently demonstrating strong American support for the Jewish State. The two learned professors blithely ignore, for instance, a February Gallup poll showing 69% of Americans favoring Israel as opposed to 25% unfavorable. But such indicators mean nothing to Walt and Mearsheimer, who either by ignorance or malice, go on to describe a Zionist "stranglehold on Congress". What was equally laughable was the authors' pretense of professional self-immolation because of their efforts in exposing "The Lobby". As Mearsheimer put it to the New York Times, "We both knew from the get-go that whoever wrote this piece would essentially be committing career suicide in terms of getting a high-level administration job in academia or a policy-decision position". What he actually means here is that now that we have written this we should really be in line for better paying jobs in order to show that you are not intimidated by "The Lobby" and for academic freedom. Given the sorry state of Middle East studies at our universities, Walt and Mearsheimer should have no problem continuing their Israel-bashing careers. But being the inspiration for a new chapter in "Profiles in Courage"? No way! Given the vast power attributed to "The Lobby", as a former Executive Director of AIPAC when it lost a bitter fight in 1978 in the Senate to deny the Saudis F-15 aircraft, I can only wish we had been as powerful as described. This bring to mind the story of the elderly Jew whose good friend often saw him reading from violently anti-Semitic tracts. When confronted about these strange reading habits, the reader explained, "With all the troubles we Jews have to endure, I just love reading how all-powerful we are". I hope AIPAC takes full advantage of this latest testament to its prowess to incease its fundraising. I also take some comfort in the fact that Stephen Walt is from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, how could I have any respect for an institution that would grant me a degree? This was back in 1962 before it was named after JFK, and I'm happy to say that I didn't have to pay a red cent for it! Not to be outdone by mere academics, a former head of the CIA's "Bin Laden Unit" at its Counterterrorist Center, Michael Scheuer, reacted to "The Lobby" with his own claim that "U.S. citizens have been the subject of a political action campaign designed and executed by Israel". He writes of U.S. politicians and Secretary Rice "groveling at AIPAC"s annual conference, each willing to compromise U.S. security if they garner pro-Israel votes and pockets stuffed with cash from pro-Israel contributions". Given this kind of mindset, we can guess why the CIA's Directorate of Operations has been in such disarray these past twenty-five years in its dealings with the Middle East. With people like Scheuer in charge at Langley, Mein Kampf could well become required reading. Of much greater significance than the anti-Semitic screeds by two pointy-headed professors and a slightly demented former spook, (who says we deal only with policies, never with personalities?), are the continuing death wish statements of Iran's Ahmadinejad. Only a certified religious nut could continue to openly dare the world to do something about Iran's pursuit of nukes - for peaceful purposes, of course. Referring to possible action by the U.N. Security Council, he was quoted as saying, "They know they cannot do a damned thing". This actually shows he may not be so crazy after all. But even if a distracted American president might not order an air campaign to take out Iran's nuclear sites, Israel, which has been directly threatened by this Iranian madman with annihilation on an almost daily basis, may have far fewer compunctions. Even Hitler never publicly announced his intention to murder all of Europe's Jews. But this zealot believes so strongly that it is his religious obligation to destroy Israel, that he just can't seem to help himself. While most religious nutcases can be ignored, a nutcase with nukes is a different story. Former Director of Central Intelligence Jim Woolsey has publicly called for the same hilarious "South Park" treatment of Ahmadinejad it used on Kim Jong Il in its "Team America". If you are unfamiliar with "South Park" - ask your teen-ager! If you are no longer a reader of the New York Times, you might have missed Tom Friedman's latest (April 19) revelation that he would rather live with a nuclear Iran than risk a military strike. Would you like to have some fun? Next time you see one of Friedman's typical pontifications, count the number of "I's" and "Me's" in it. I recently counted no fewer than twelve, which is not a record. This columnist, admittedly a best selling author for reasons which escape me, is so full of himself he has become a legend in his own mind. Who really cares about Friedman's deepest personal feeling about everything - except perhaps his most immediate family? But now that Tom Friedman believes he can live with a nuclear-armed Iran, shouldn't we all feel better? Not me. Morrie Amitay, a Washington attorney, is a former Executive Director of AIPAC and founder of the pro-Israel Washington PAC (www.washingtonpac.com |
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PRAY FOR TERROR VICTIM DANIEL WULTZ
Posted by Naomi Ragen, April 20, 2006. |
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Please pray for 16 year old Daniel Wultz, who was terribly injured by the most recent Muslim atrocity in Israel. This letter is from Amy Ederi (mailto:AmyEderi@Bellsouth.net), who lives in Miami, Fla.. I am writing you because very close family friends of mine are suffering a tragedy. They are victims of the most recent suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, Israel. Daniel Wultz, the teenage son, was critically injured. Daniel is a 16 year old who was with his father Tuly and mother Sheryl visiting relatives in Israel during Passover. Daniel's sister, Amanda, was at Tufts University in classes. Daniel and Tuly were seated together outside a restaurant when a suicide bomber appeared and blew himself up. Daniel has been operated on twice already and has had several organs removed. He is fighting for his life and remains in critical condition. Tuly was also injured but will recover. He refuses to talk about his own injuries. His only concern is his son's well being. I have spoken with Tuly several times today, and he has told me that he and Sheryl are simply asking for my prayers and positive thoughts for Daniel's recovery as well as my sharing this message with others who believe in the power of prayer. As Daniel is also a spiritual and religiously observant teenager, his family believes Daniel's wishes would also be that we pray for him in this critical time. I am asking for you to please take a moment to say a prayer for Daniel Wultz, and continue to do so throughout this very difficult time. Tuly told me several hours ago that they feel our prayers have been helping Daniel already. Please continue to help this family with your prayers and by sharing their request with others in your life who will also pray for Daniel. This is the name that should be used when praying: Chaim Meyer Naftali ben Sarah. Meyer Naftali is his name when called to the Torah. Chaim has been added to his name. Thanks,
Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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HOLOCAUST FILES WILL REVEAL NAZIS' FULL HORROR
Posted by David Meir-Levi, April 20, 2006. |
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If you, or anyone you know, has any doubts about the historical validity of the Holocaust, give them this article. It is sad, tragic even, that Germany waited 55 years before opening its archives of hell, and certainly there is much to be said in condemnation of that delay. But the opening of the archives makes it impossible (well, impossible for a rational thinker with intellectual integrity) for the holocaust deniers to ply their pseudo-intellectual wares. This is timely both because almost all survivors are dead or dying, and because the new wave of anti-semitism (in large part a product of Arab propaganda stimulating latent jew-hatred) offers a new dais for its partner-in-international-crime-against-humanity, holocaust denial. This was written by by Stephen Mcginty and is called "Holocaust
files will reveal Nazis' full horror." It appeared in The Scotsman It
is archived at IN A tree-lined street in a quiet German town stands a large three-storey building. Inside, in 50 million file cards on shelves that stretch for more than 15 miles, rests the fate of millions of men, women and children lost in the Holocaust. For more than 60 years, the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS), which document the Nazis persecution of the Jewish people and millions of others, have been inaccessible to all but those victims who survived and their children. Yesterday, however, the German government announced the controversial decision to agree to opening up the massive archive, which is housed in the town of Bad Arolson, to wider family members as well as historians, academics and members of the public. For the first time, documents relating to the transportation and extermination of millions of victims of the Nazi regime will be made available to the wider world. The archive is compiled from tonnes of documents meticulously recorded by the Nazis and contains cards relating to more than 17.5 million civilians who were persecuted during the regime's 12 years in power. Much of it is simple, solemn facts, such as a name on a concentration camp death list. Other documents relate to mental illness, homosexuality, medical treatment, even the presence of head lice - leading to the privacy concerns that have held up the opening of the archive. One concentration camp, Mauthausen, in Austria, diligently recorded the deaths of its inmates, listing them by name, serial and prisoner number as well as the place and date of their birth. "It also shows how they died," said Udo Jost, the archival manager of the ITS, showing a copy of the camp's Totenbuch, or Death Book, from 1942 and 1943. "These prisoners were killed every two minutes with a shot to the back of the head." In a few hours, 300 were executed on 20 April, 1942. "That was Hitler's birthday. The camp commandant did it as a birthday gift for him," he said. The decision to loosen the rules governing access was announced by Brigitte Zypries, the German justice minister who was in Washington for a meeting with Sara Bloomfield, the director of the United States Holocaust Museum, who has long lobbied for it. Ms Zypries said: "I am happy to be able to announce to you that Germany has changed its viewpoint and will agree to a fast revision of the Bonn Agreement which governs the handling of the vast archive of 30 million records." The agreement, signed in 1955, and Germany's previous reluctance to change it, has been the principal barrier to greater access to the documents. At the time, 11 countries including Germany, Britain, the US, France, Poland, Belgium, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, agreed that no data should be published that could harm the former Nazi victims or their families. Those nations will now vote on whether to amend the treaty, increasing access. However, Germany's support is a major step forward which has been applauded by Ms Bloomfield, who said that opening the archives would enable many survivors and families of victims of the Nazis to find out with more certainty than ever before what happened to their relatives. "We are losing the survivors, and anti-Semitism is on the rise, so this move could not be more timely," she said. "This archive will have immense historical significance and will be a terrific boon for scholars for several generations." Gideon Taylor, of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also lauded the decision. He said: "These records have been awaited for years by Holocaust survivors and scholars of this terrible period. "Their release while survivors are still alive will enable these documents to be enhanced and explained through personal testimony of those who lived through the Nazi era." To date, access to the archive remains as tightly controlled as when it was first placed under the care of the International Red Cross. Then the principal function was tracing missing people and informing family members of the fate of their loved ones. In the past, researchers and historians of the Holocaust have been especially critical of the policy to restrict access, arguing that the documents would help complete a picture of the Nazi slaughter of millions of Jews. Yet until now Germany resisted the opening, on the grounds that the records involve private information about individuals that could be misused. Yesterday, however, Ms Zypries said: "Our point of view is that the protection of privacy rights has reached by now a standard high enough to ensure ... the protection of privacy of those concerned.". The announcement by Ms Zypries concluded a 20-year effort by the Holocaust Museum, the US, France, Poland and some other countries to open the archives. In Jerusalem, Shlomo Aharonson, a Holocaust specialist and historian at the Hebrew University, said the archives are supposed to contain all the names of those who died, both Jews and non-Jews. Despite the German government's assurance that the archives could be open in as little as six months, Mr Aharonson said: "They have shown good will, but that doesn't mean the problem has been solved." Laurence Rees, the executive producer of BBC 2's critically acclaimed documentary series Auschwitz and the best-selling book, said: "There is no question that this is great news. It has been known for decades that this is an extremely important archive and there has been an element of frustration that we have not been allowed access to it." David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. His expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). Contact him at david_meirlevi@hotmail.com |
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POPE PLAYS POLITICS
Posted by Bryna Berch, April 19, 2006. |
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This was written by Stan Goodenough and it appeared in the Jerusalem
Newswire today.
It is archived at
According to the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel gave the Land of Israel and in particular the mountains of Samaria and Judea, forever and exclusively to the people born into that bloodline. Nor does the biblical narrative deal sparingly with this issue, but devotes extensive detail in numerous passages to it. The heavenly granting of this land to this specific nation is described as having been done as, among other things, an "everlasting covenant," an "oath" and a "statute." A statute is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "a divine law." But to Pope Benedictus XVI -- previously known as the German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger but now bearing the title "Vicar of Christ" and "God's representative on earth" -- mankind today is no longer bound by this law. Using his Easter message Sunday, the pontiff called on his 1.1 billion followers to support the combined Muslim and Arab effort to (initially) take part of that land for themselves and out of it carve a Palestinian state. While the Palestinian Arabs openly admit that they see obtaining the "occupied territories" as just a first step towards taking all the Land of Israel for themselves, Ratzinger is either oblivious to this or chooses to ignore it. "May the international community ... assist the Palestinian people to overcome the precarious conditions in which they live and to build their future, moving towards the constitution of a state that is truly their own," he entreated. His influential plea went out to millions of television viewers in 65 different countries. If heeded by the majority of his flock, a billion plus Roman Catholics will now be lining up with the world's 1.3 billion Muslims on this issue. Small wonder the Jews of Israel have increasingly surrendered to what they see as the inevitable and irreversible theft of their land. |
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THE ZOA MIDDLE EAST REPORT
Posted by Buddy Macy, April 19, 2006. |
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Where can you hear these important interviews plus news and commentary you won't find anywhere else? Listen to The ZOA Middle East Report radio show every Wednesday. We broadcast live in the Philadelphia-area from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. over 1540 AM, WNWR Radio, and can also be heard throughout the world at that time over the Web at www.zoaphilly.org. If you cannot tune in to the show as it airs, you can hear each episode for up to a week at www.zoaphilly.org by clicking on "Listen Anytime." The ZOA Middle East Report is an educational project of the Greater Philadelphia District of the Zionist Organization of America. For advertising rates, please call Steve at 215-338-9188. If you would like to help support this effort and/or arrange to have the show broadcast in your city, please call Steve at 215-338-9188. Please forward this message to everyone you know and your email lists so as many people as possible get to hear our important guests. Thank you.
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A tiny Jewish army equipped with little more than spitballs and slingshots defeated a massive Arab coalition united in their unwavering passion to destroy our beloved Jewish state. In short, that about sums up the War of Independence. The nations feared and respected the Jewish People, and we walked upright and proud. 58 years later: "We are tired of fighting. We are tired of being courageous. We are tired of winning. We are tired of defeating our enemies." -- Ehud Olmert. And a Prime Minister was elected on that platform! (G-d forbid). How could we have sunk to such depths? Where is our resolve? During our service in various infantry units of the IDF, we encountered a comprehensive cross section of Israeli society and there was one terrifying theme: No one knew who the first King of Israel was! King David would have been flattered at his popularity, but even more disappointed that his beloved flock didn't know of his predecessor, King Saul. Our fellow soldiers, upon discovering that we volunteered for our service in the Israeli Army, began to question our sanity and beg us for our American passports, expressing their deepest desire to shed their IDF uniforms and leave Israel for good. Could Ehud Olmert be right? Have we given up on the dream? As always, we turn to the bible and Jewish teachings for inspiration and understanding. We are approaching the Holiday of Passover. As Sabbath commemorates the creation of Heaven and Earth, Passover marks the creation of the Jewish people as a nation. When the Jewish people emerged from hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt, they trekked through the desert as G-d tended to their every need. As a fire lead them by night and a cloud during the day, their food was miraculously delivered in the form of Manna falling daily from heaven. Imagine a young child born in the desert who has never seen a tree bear fruit, or his father work the land. When his food fell from heaven he saw no miracle; just nature in action. For this desert Jew, Manna falling from the sky was just as natural as an apple falling from a tree. Unfortunately, this is the condition of so many of our brothers and sisters living here in Israel. For them, Israel is the only prism through which they can fathom reality. They were born into this dream, surrounded by Jews their entire lives, speaking only Hebrew and exactly for that reason they don't see the blatant miracle of the State of Israel. How can one not be honored to serve in the first Jewish army since the times of King David? There are many causes that contributed to the spiritual bankruptcy, lack of historical understanding, and biblical ignorance of the Israeli masses and the first step to solving this crisis is to acknowledge and understand it. This Passover, as we celebrate the biblical Genesis of the Jewish nation, we must focus on the future of our people. This Passover, we should not sit next to friends at the Seder table, but next to children. We should go out of our way and invite those who are less connected to our heritage to teach them and inspire them. We must make things real, not abstract. The Torah is the spiritual blueprint of the universe and when studied correctly we are given the key that opens the door to the secrets of our existence. After surviving the reign of a modern Pharaoh that organized and executed the most horrific persecution in the history of mankind, we are in the spiritual Sinai desert that our Torah spoke about thousands of years ago. Let this Passover be a starting point. Let us look at our lives with courage and intellectual honesty, however painful that may be. If we find ourselves living in a self imposed exile, raising our children in a nation not our own, is the payoff worth the price? Have we relegated ourselves to a life of mediocrity and compromise backed by justifications and rationalizations? We are not prisoners to the past and we are not prisoners of the present. Each moment is a new creation, and our greatest gift is that we have the free will to make it our own. It is our decision. Are we the generation of slaves who perish in the Desert fearing change and the unknown, or are we a free people meriting to enter the Land flowing with milk and honey? Let us prove Ehud Olmert wrong and show him that we are not tired of fighting because unlike him, we understand who we are and what we are fighting for. Shalom from Jerusalem,
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THE STILL WANDERING JEWS OF ISRAEL
Posted by Professor Paul Eidelberg, April 8, 2006. |
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Just as their forefathers were fragmented and scattered among the nations, and just as they lacked the wherewithal to dispel the lies and prevent the injustices of their enemies, so the Jews of Israel are still fragmented and scattered, now in their own land, and still lacking the wherewithal to dispel the lies and prevent the injustices now inflicted upon them by their own government. Unity is nowhere in sight; Truth is eclipsed; Justice is dead; and we look in vain for the will or courage to overcome this affliction. * * * That Israel lacks unity is obvious. The nation is divided between religious and secular Jews, two categories that obscure a welter of other divisions. Anarchy called "pluralism" reins in Israel. Those who call for unity compete with those who call for tolerance. Of the former I ask: Unity based on what principles, or for what goal or purpose? Unity can be found in tyrannies. There is also the unity of an ant heap. Of tolerance I say, it is often a facade for moral indifference, for intellectual complacency, even for self-indulgence. Tolerance is the lubricant of mediocrities and scoundrels that thrive in contemporary democratic societies. Unity should emerge from truth; but truth is not famous for tolerating folly and mendacity. It's precisely because Israel lacks truth that thoughtless and self-seeking individuals call for tolerance. Tolerance is not one of the Ten Commandments -- one reason why many little politicians want to transform the supposed-to-be Jewish State of Israel into "a state of its citizens." At the end of Mishna Sotah we are told that in this era truth will not be found. The Sages say you will go up and down the land and not find a single Halakha -- meaning, no one will be recognized as possessing the truth, or everyone will be his own source of truth. This is to be expected in an age of indiscriminate equality, an age of moral equivalence, where an Arafat can win a Nobel Peace. In this democratic age opinion polls take the place of truth. We live in a world ruled by lies and liars. And the most monstrous lies are being generated from Jerusalem, the City of Truth! We need and want truth, but none issues from the capital of Israel. For almost sixty years this country has been called a "Jewish" state. The word appears more than once in what is called the state's "Declaration of Independence" (a pallid imitation of its American counterpart). But this 1948 Declaration begins with a falsehood: "The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people." This suggests that the Jews did not become a "people" until the conquest of the land of Canaan by Joshua, and, therefore, only after the Law-giving at Mount Sinai. Yet the Children of Israel are repeatedly referred to as a people even before their exodus from Egypt, as well as during their wanderings in the Wilderness. In fact, they are also called a "nation." Thus: "What great nation has laws and social rules so righteous as this Torah?" (Deut. 4:8; Exod. 1:9; Num. 23:9). The first sentence of the Declaration tacitly abrogates the Sinai Covenant. If proof is wanted, the only name that graces the body of that document is Theodor Herzl, there referred to as the "spiritual father" of the state. Even more significant, the Declaration prescribes political equality for all inhabitants of the country regardless of religion -- which implies there is no true religion. Judaism is just a myth among other myths purveyed by believers as the ?truth.? But if there is no truth concerning God and His relation to man, hence, if there is no truth concerning how man should live, then let us cease preaching unity and calling for tolerance, for without truth intolerance is as defensible as tolerance! Socrates understood that the quest for truth requires courage. Courage has been stifled in Israel. Here it is unlawful to tell the truth about the injustice of giving all inhabitants of the country the right to vote regardless of their loyalty or disloyalty to the state. In a country whose only justification is the Torah, which calls for tzedek, tzedek -- justice, justice -- there is very little justice. Indeed, justice has been murdered in Israel, where Arab terrorists, including murderers, have been released by Israeli governments for the sake of "peace" -- the most murderous lie in this unJewish state. In Israel, as in the democratic world in general, justice has been reduced to arithmetic equality, for example, one adult/one vote. This equality is bestowed on Arab villains and on their Jewish victims. But justice is more than arithmetic equality. Justice is giving equal things to equal people, and unequal things to unequal people in proportion to their inequality, that is, in proportion to their merit or contribution to the common good. Israel today is therefore based on a fundamental injustice. But no public figure has the courage to expose and struggle against this injustice. So justice has been murdered many times in Israel, especially since Oslo. Arab criminals walk about free, while law-abiding Jews are expelled from their homes, deprived of their livelihood, and dispersed hither and yon (as predicted at the end of Mishna Sotah). Meanwhile, Jewish politicians consort with Israel's enemies, surrender Jewish land to Arab Jew-killers, but nonetheless are not indicted for treason -- as sections 97(a), 97(b) and 100 of Israel's Penal Code clearly prescribe. To the contrary, treason has been made respectable in this country by the "peace process." Is it not obvious that only treacherous knaves or madmen can continue to pursue a terrifying peace process which has resulted in the murder and maiming of more than 6,000 Jews, and has also afflicted tens of thousands of children with post-traumatic shock syndrome? A stranger may ask: "Can't you obtain redress from your Supreme Court" Is it not called your High Court of Justice?" Alas, therein you will discover Israel's supreme court of injustice! This court is steeped in moral equivalence -- nay, in moral reversal! This court, oblivious of the genocidal war being waged against Israel, has arrogated to itself executive powers, including the authority to decide which terrorist havens may be destroyed and how to route the "security fence" -- displaying by its rulings more concern about the convenience of Arabs than about the lives of Jews. Had there been justice, had there been truth, had there been courage, there would have been no Oslo, and mothers and fathers would not have to bury their children and see the murderers of their loved ones walking free, released by no less than five Israeli prime ministers, two of whom have been sanctified instead of impeached (as they would have been in the United States). In Israel, the most shameless deeds are justified in the name of "peace." Murderous liars are accepted as negotiating partners by Israeli prime ministers. Having thus made Jew-killers respectable, these prime ministers have become complicit in the murder of their fellow-citizens. You may ask: "How can an honest person live in such a country, let alone reform its unjust system of governance?" The ancient Greeks believed that unpunished crimes and criminals brought misfortune to the people who harbored them. They sought out and punished the evil doers in order to purify human life. They would have deemed contemptible the Sharonic policy of self-restraint vis-à-vis Arab terror. It seems the ancient Greeks -- pagans -- were more civilized, more rational, more concerned about justice than many Jews today, a fortiori, than those who rule or misrule the misnamed Jewish State of Israel. Just as there are no words that can adequately describe the degeneracy of Arab terrorists -- Nazis did not use their own children as human bombs -- so there are no words that can adequately describe the degeneracy of Israeli politicians that negotiate with such monsters. The decadence of Israel's ruling elites was foretold by the prophets and sages of Israel. Isaiah tells us that Israel's rulers -- scorners of the Torah -- will make a Covenant of Death with terrorists, that they will hide behind lies, lies, and more lies. The Zohar tells us that in these days certain Jews will collaborate with Israel's enemies. No less than six prime ministers and scores of other Israeli politicians have engaged in this treachery. Such is the depravity of those who rule this country -- a depravity perpetuated by Israel's political and judicial institutions -- that the State of Israel is beyond reform. There is simply no conventional means -- electoral or judicial --- of redressing the evils suffered by countless Jewish families in this country. Ponder only the crime perpetrated by the government against the Jews of Gush Katif. Deprived of their livelihood, they must continue to pay the mortgages on their destroyed homes, while paying exorbitant rents for dwelling in caravans and hotels. This crime -- also projected for the Jews of Judea and Samaria under the euphemism of "convergence" -- this crime makes Israel a fascist state. And since this unspeakable crime was not an issue in the March 2006 elections, this state is in need of regime change. Iqt cannot be reformed by another democratic election. Let us bear in mind that members of the Knesset are not individually accountable to the voters in constituency elections; that the Knesset is merely a conglomeration of rival parties, a market for buying anxious-to-become cabinet ministers whose purpose is not to form a national program but to compete for the largest slice of the public treasury. So little is the Knesset jealous of its legislative prerogatives, let alone of the Jewish heritage, that it has allowed the Supreme Court, a self-perpetuating and anti-Jewish oligarchy, to become the supreme law-giver of Israel. Since periodic multiparty elections -- the veneer of Israeli democracy -- only serve to legitimize this inherently unjust system of governance, and since Jews cannot rightly to seek relief in any international court,* there is no conventional solution to the evil confronting the people of Israel. But inasmuch as revolution is not a practical option, the Jews are condemned, like Sisyphus, to repeat the futility of democratic elections, of a kind that fragments the nation into a welter of paltry parties, that emasculates Jews and leaves them wandering, like their ancestors, only now in the shrinking Land of Israel. *The forced removal of up to 70,000 Jews from their homes and businesses in Judea and Samaria violates international humanitarian law embodied in the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to both of which treaties Israel is a signatory. Professor Paul Eidelberg is President of the Foundation For Constitutional Democracy. He can be reached by mail at 244 Madison Avenue, Suite 427, New York, NY 10016, Tel: 212-372-3752, and by email at Constitution@usa.net |
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DENIAL OF ADVERSITY
Posted by Women in Green, April 8, 2006. |
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This was written by Sarah Honig and appeared in the Jerusalem Post April 6, 2006. Marie Colvin focused in the Sunday Times five days ago on what Israel's proponents of further retreat (a.k.a "disengagement," now updated euphemistically to "convergence") studiously and deliberately obfuscate - the bottom-line consequence of gratuitous territorial gifts to mortal foes. Colvin - never renowned for her love of Zion, covered conflicts in Kosovo, East Timor, Chechnya and Sri Lanka, where she lost an eye - ventured a tad beyond the reinstated Green Line to visit what became of Morag, one of the spirited settlements laid to waste by Sharon, Olmert et al. "Four green flags of the extremist Palestinian party Hamas were flying last week at the gate of a military training camp built on the ruins of Morag," she opened. "Inside the camp, recruits from the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, ran mock attacks over dunes covered in dry grass. One of them stopped to launch a rocket-propelled grenade." Colvin stresses that "the base is no makeshift encampment. A telecommunication tower rises from a dune; loudspeakers broadcast from masts... the stones from the old homes have been painted white and used to make guardhouses. Even the settlement's gate has been cannibalized; now it swings open to Toyota pick-up trucks bringing more armed men in uniform." A senior al-Qassam honcho explained to Colvin that his outfit's deadly designs vis-a-vis Israel haven't changed one iota since Hamas's ascent to power. However, if the word of an unnamed hotshot doesn't suffice, we can climb higher in the Hamas hierarchy to hear likewise. Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud a-Zahar expounded last week, in an interview with China's Xinhua news agency, on his "dreams of hanging a huge map of the world on the wall of my Gaza home which does not show Israel on it." His is the "dream to have our independent state on all Palestine... This dream will become real one day. I am certain of this because there is no place for the state of Israel in this land." Lest anyone belittle this as an isolated slip, a-Zahar underscored and elaborated his comments in Lebanon's al-Mustakbal. The most the Hamas regime can offer Israel, according a-Zahar, is a "temporary cessation of hostilities," in which "the Zionist entity would be countenanced temporarily but gradually be pushed into narrower confines. Borders can only be provisional," because "there's no place on earth for the state of Israel." COLVIN MIGHT not have realized how in sync her interlocutor was with his bosses, but she obviously didn't misinterpret the mood in what became of Morag. After what she saw and heard, Colvin reckons that "Israelis contemplating the evacuation of West bank settlements will shiver at the discovery that al-Qassam fighters now live and train on the ruins of a place that was home to 37 Jewish families." That, however, is where she gets it all wrong. Reasonable folks would indeed be shaken to the core and rebuff those who uprooted the most dedicated of their compatriots in order to facilitate genocidal preparations against the entire national aggregate. But Colvin misjudged us. Israelis, alas, are neither reasonable nor even normal. It's not that our nonchalance is born of extraordinary courage in the face of adversity. Instead it's the product of denial of adversity. We pretend we have nothing to worry about except for child subsidies and old-age pensions. Our media aids and abets our escapist penchants. Colvin's report received no resonance in the country that surrendered Morag to cold-blooded mass-murderers. A-Zahar's latest pronouncements didn't feature in our public discourse. We don't listen to the likes of him, especially when he spitefully spits his truth in our face. We systematically eschew painful reality. That's why in the recent elections we did just what Hamas kingpin Khaled Mashaal exhorted us to do: "vote for parties that favor retreat and not for right-wing parties which oppose retreat. Israelis who want to avoid a prolonged conflict should vote for retreat now," he advised. True, we didn't award the retreat-advocates an unequivocal landslide, but with adroit parliamentary machinations they can amass a razor-thin majority to expel 100,000 Israelis from Judea and Samaria. That in turn would bolster Mashaal's conviction that Israel will destroy itself. "Israel hasn't got the stamina to withstand a protracted struggle," he asserted in a Lebanese TV interview. "Arabs have the tenacity needed for the long haul. The Arabs will never be broken, nor yield to Israeli and American terms. Ultimately it'll be Arabs who impose their terms on the enemy... We have spiritual and material resources and we will prevail." How does Mashaal know he's right? Disengagement, he asserts, proves his contentions. "Were Israel strong, it wouldn't withdraw. But Israel is in deep crisis. It cannot defeat the Palestinians or break their spirit." This is the morale-boosting message Israel sent its neighbors when it ceded strategic assets to still-viable enemies. Unbeaten armies don't give up vital holdings, especially in an unconcluded war. That's how conventional logic operates. Even Mashaal's logic. You can't fault him for not figuring us out. You can't fault Colvin either. Her assumptions about what should send shivers down our spines are based on the norm. Israelis, though, are an anomaly. This is why so many among us could go to the polls and ignore the inimical candor of the recipients of our largesse who vow to annihilate us. Far from shivering about preparations to expedite Israel's obliteration, half its citizens exude glee at the prospect of creating more Morags for Hamas's future fortification. No one else like us in the world. Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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RACHEL CORRIE WAS MISLED BY ISM
Posted by David Meir-Levi, April 8, 2006. |
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Below is a very good brief summary of the core problem with ISM and ANSWER and Brit Tzedek V 'Shalom and Jewish Voice for Peace and Tikkun and a host of other "peace and justice" organizations -- their rhetoric is predicated upon false assumptions and dishonest obfuscation. The result is that the rhetoric: a. ignores the fact that Palestinian leadership declared war on Israel and has maintained a state of war for decades b. promotes the obviously irrational and biased assertion that the Palestinians have every right to use even the most extreme violence against Israel but Israel has no right to defend itself against that violence even when the defense is a static defensive measure (road blocks, searches, fence/wall/barrier) c. ignores the fact that if the issues in dispute were indeed statehood and territory and other related questions, then the conflict could have been resolved 15 times over the last 70 years via peaceful negotiations (as was done with Egypt in 1979 and with Jordan in 1994) d. they filter out of their public pronouncements and activities the evidence that would reveal the truth about 'a' - 'c'. 'a' through 'd' lead to two ineluctible conclusions: 1. These groups knowingly and skillfully lie to their supporters and to the broader audiences that are exposed to their public face and pronouncements 2. the real agenda of these groups is not a peaceful and just resolution to the conflict. The real agenda is the demonizing of Israel and the support of the terrorist gangs that seek to destroy Israel. It is understandable that people ignorant of the history of the Arab-Israel conflict will be easily misled by these groups' skillfully deceptive propaganda. It is beyond my comprehension why people knowledgeable about the conflict none the less support them. This was written by Gilead Ini, Guest Columnist, Seattle Post Intelligencer. It is called "Idealist Rachel Corrie was misled." It appeared April 4, 2006 and is archived at seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/265324_corrieresponse04.html Gilead Ini is a senior research analyst with the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. All can agree that the death of a young woman is tragic. Like the hundreds of young lives lost as the target of Palestinian suicide bombers, and like those unintentionally killed during Israeli counterterror operations, the loss of Rachel Corrie undoubtedly has affected many in a painful way. It is understandable, then, that her friends and family want to keep her memory alive, and they have done so successfully. But whether Corrie's message deserves to be propagated and celebrated by audiences in theater productions such as "My Name is Rachel Corrie" and "Daughter Courage" is a different story. Corrie was an idealist; but as fate had it, her idealism ended up channeled through the radical International Solidarity Movement, an organization that not only puts at risk the lives of Israeli civilians but also the lives of its members. ISM tells its young followers that Palestinians have the right to armed attacks against Israelis, while at the same time making clear through its activities that Israel has no right to protect its citizens. While the two positions seem mutually contradictory, the organization apparently reconciles them by summing up the complex Israeli-Arab conflict as singularly caused by a sadistic Israel seeking arbitrarily to oppress Palestinians. In ISM's world, legitimate Israeli security concerns don't exist. The group's narrative obscures the fact that Palestinian terrorism began even before Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, that Israel acquired those territories in a war precipitated by neighboring countries openly threatening to destroy the Jewish state and that Israel repeatedly offered to turn over land to the Palestinians. Hamas, whose charter makes clear that the group's violence against Israeli civilians is rooted in racist ideology and is aimed at destroying Israel, and other groups seeking Israel's annihilation are invisible in the Middle East portrayed by ISM. Why are those and other important realities about the conflict excised from ISM's depictions? Is it because creating a false dichotomy of blameless Palestinians and faceless Israeli oppressors makes it easier for the group to persuade naïve idealists to risk their lives? Perhaps ISM's activists would be less likely to throw themselves before Israeli bulldozers if they were told that the bulldozers are used to search for very real smuggling tunnels that bring weapons and explosives used against Israeli children. Whatever the reasons, ISM's activists are misled. But theatergoers should not be misled. They should know that any play based on the ISM's dogmas might possibly provide audiences with a better understanding of the organization's propaganda, but certainly will not offer viewers an accurate, complete or nuanced understanding of the difficult situation in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. ISM's partial and simplistic views are more geared toward building hatred against Israel than toward forwarding peace, human rights or justice. David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. His expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). Contact him at david_meirlevi@hotmail.com |
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GOVERNMENT TO HALT FUNDING HOTEL STAYS FOR GAZA EVACUEES
Posted by Bryna Berch, April 7, 2006. |
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This is called "Government to halt funding hotel stays for Gaza evacuees." It was written by Irit Rosenblum and it appeared in Haaretz April 4, 2006. Maybe if the Government spent less on propaganda telling people (outside of Israel) that all the Gush Katif Jews are settled and are getting on with their lives, there'd be money to spend on settling those who are still waiting for the Government to do what it is supposed to do. I'm surprised the caravellas aren't complete. They are trash-made and are so very expensive, some people are becoming millionaires building them and buying them -- and that's an economic incentive to built them. Maybe they are so junky, they fall apart before they leave the factory and have to be redone, just to get them out of the door. I can picture a museum show years from now contrasting hi-tech Israeli innovations -- cell phones, wireless technology, high-tech medical imaging devices -- and, next to them, trailors that look like they were constructed by pre-industrial people. The Disengagement Administration has sent reminders to Jerusalem hoteliers that it will no longer pay for the accommodation of Gush Katif evacuees as of today. The hoteliers have been told to prepare "departure forms" and distribute them to the evacuees, who have to check out of their hotels by tomorrow at 11:00. Evacuees who wish to remain longer will have to pay for their stay themselves. This Saturday is "Shabbat Hagadol" - the last Saturday before Passover - and the hoteliers complain they are being forced to throw out the evacuees rather than allow them to stay at least until Monday. At the end of February, the administration and Defense Ministry told hoteliers they would pay them at a discount of 12 percent from their list prices. Jonathan Harpaz, director-general of the Jerusalem Hotels Association, sent a letter to the Disengagement Administration, in which he said that since the evacuees had come to the hotels via the administration, it was up to the administration to end their stay. "The hotels have no intention of throwing the guests out by themselves. This is the responsibility of the person who ordered the rooms, as is payment for the families' stay until they actually leave." He said that the hotels have no "departure forms", and that the guests should leave the hotels according to the instructions of orderer of the rooms, under the terms of his agreement with the hotels. The Disengagement Administration said in response that the arrangement with the hotels was budgeted until the end of March, that all the families had received letters, and houses had been waiting for them for the last ten days. The hotels were informed of the end of the arrangement three weeks ago, according to the administration. Moti Shomron, a Gush Katif evacuee reponded: "There is no end to their impudence. They're completely disorganized. I'm at the Jerusalem Gold hotel, and they are threatening to throw us out on Thursday, while some of the houses aren't ready yet, and some are not connected to the water, electricity and sewage. "It's eight months after [the disengagement] and people have no roof over their heads. It's absolute madness, what they're putting us through." |
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PROTRACTED WAR OF ATTRITION BY TERROR
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 7, 2006. |
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The prestigious military journal U.S. Defense News had a full page article on March 20th, analyzing the protracted War of Attrition Israel would face over the coming years. This informative article would be read by military strategists and political leaders around the globe. For them it was a message for things to come in their own countries. (1) For Israelis, they didn't have to be reminded of something that has been consistent since the formal re-birth of the Jewish nation May 14, 1948 and before. So, each nation is either informed or reminded that a wave of Terror is coming at them in a series of waves, each bigger than the last. The question arises as to why each nation is not doing their maximum now - instead of dealing with each event incrementally. Instead of withering non-stop assaults on Terror, response or retaliation is now being is done on a piece meal basis, thus giving the Terrorists an opportunity to recover and learn, re-arm and re-group. The nations who are the incubators of Terror are treated with mealy-mouthed words of diplomacy, giving the Terrorists years to establish stronger "Sleeper Cells", accumulating to numbers that evolve into Critical Mass. The countries who are unwary hosts of Terror Sleeper Cells eventually bend and finally break from the swarms which overwhelm their defenses. They bleat that they cannot sink to the level of their attackers because their society is one of freedom and laws. But, soon these nations may be no more or - if they continue to exist, they will be under what their adversaries call "Sharia'ah laws" (strict Islamic laws). This is already happening in Europe, which is now commonly called "Eurabia" as these nations host Critical Masses of hostile Muslims who are demanding that "Sharia'ah laws" be substituted for the local laws of the host nations. Israel is sadly becoming a basket case as this once pioneering and courageous people accept leadership whose Solution to Terror is to abandon defensible territory to known, self-declared Terrorists. These leaders plead for peace and understanding by accepting the pressure of Terrorists and, in so doing, by proving that the expectations of driving the Jewish people out of their own homeland and into the sea can be accomplished. It is common knowledge, proven again and again that what has been won on the battlefield is usually lost by craven politicians and diplomats. Civilized nations find themselves dealing 'diplomatically' with Rogue Nations who sponsor State Terror - while these same nations send out killer squads. Instead of eliminating the nest(s), we slap weakly at the vipers they send out. Granted these Rogue Nations have a civilian population who normally would be considered innocent and, therefore, collateral victims when their power structure is attacked. But, they are as much a part of the supportive makeup of these Terrorist nations as those who drive its ideology as Predator States. Therefore, must other civilized nations and their populations be considered fair game for their Terrorists? In a more concise analysis, populations who allow a Terrorist government to exist and thrive are NOT the innocents they would have you believe. I remind you of the population in Germany and Japan who worked furiously to support the German conquest of Europe and Russia to dominate the rest of the world for a 1000 years Reich. And the Japanese invasion against Pearl Harbor and across the whole South Pacific had the unwavering support of the Japanese people.. WW2 was won by attacking and defeating these attacking nations as a whole. Had the Allies used "sanitary precision guided bombs" to avoid civilian casualties, we would either still be fighting WW2 or the (so-called) Free World would have lost the war and we in the Free World would be ruled by the Germans and the Japanese. Nations such as Iran, Syria, Iraq - among others seeking power through Terror and WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) including NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) weapons - should have been bombed into what is colloquially called "The Stone Age". Nothing of consequence should be left standing that would remain which could allow a resurgence of their industrial capability to again outreach Terror into the rest of the world. Similarly, America did not have to occupy Iraq as they did but, rather they could have left it in a state where there would be nothing left upon which armies, Terrorists (called "insurgents"), and safe houses could thrive. Our so-called diplomats and the media have already started the process of losing the battle of "humanizing" Terrorists by nick-naming them "insurgents" or "militants", thus softening their image. As for dictators like Saddam Hussein, Bashar Assad and the Ayatollahs, they should have been assassinated wherever and whenever they could be found. The article in U.S. Defense News, "Israel Girds for an Indefinite
War of Attrition" is a tacit admission of Israel's lack of will. The
bombast of Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, Israel's current Chief of Staff, Gen.
(Ret.) Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Prime Minister-elect Ehud Olmert
- that "somehow" they will protect the populace is merely a deadly form
of slow, self-destructive, self-poison.
Instead of bringing Israel's continual War to the Terrorists, they surgically assassinate a few Terrorist leaders who are soon replaced by the upcoming, trained-to-hate-and-kill-since-3 boys. The general Palestinian populace celebrates each successful Terrorist attack against Israel - even when their target is children and their Moms. Polls of the so-called civilian populace indicates that they wish the War of Attrition to continue and they will even offer their children as Shahids (Martyrs for Islam) as suicide/homicide bombers, celebrating the day they blow themselves to bits. They are not innocent civilians, no more than the German and Japanese civilians were innocent and unsupportive of their troops who were committing unspeakable atrocities. Israel leaders, political and military 'blow smoke' when they brag about what they are going to do if the Terrorists dare to "Do It Again". The deterrence of a formidable army, willing to attack and reach deep into the hostile enemy nests is lacking. Former Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, Bibi Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon slowly abandoned the field to Terrorists - even giving them the Jewish Land from which to fire hundreds of Kassem Rockets and Katyusha Missiles, some MLR (Multiple Launch Rockets). Their failure in purpose, courage and level of skill has indeed invited and re-invigorated a War of Attrition by Terror. Worse yet, part of the Israeli people, following these role models have similarly given up their belief that Jews belong on the Jewish Land as a birthright from HaShem's hands. Clearly, Israel needs a War "Messiah" or at least a Prime Minister of courage - not the sniveling leadership who has been shrinking Israel into a totally defenseless sliver of Land. We need a Sharon of his youth, who knew how to fight and commanded respect from his adversaries and enemies. It is best to forget about Sharon's last years as a shorn Samson, on a leash to the President of another land who is obligated to Saudi Arabia. In Sharon's last years, he failed the Jewish nation as a befuddled old man. No more need be said about what sadly became a crippled giant. Dealing with Terror is not a diplomatic chore but, rather the realm of Generals with swift and decisive swords. Diplomats and spineless politicians became unwitting co-conspirators with the very enemy who has pledged their destruction. Israel has lost thousands of her best men, women and children as her political apologists explain how NOT to similarly destroy the enemy en masse! Generals are forced into a make-believe defense of the nation by firing into empty fields and empty buildings so the politically biased media can lull the people into thinking something is being done to protect them. They are told that by the Jews withdrawing to smaller and more dense areas, the Terrorists will be pacified and NOT fill up the abandoned Jewish Land with more Terrorists and far-reaching Terrorists. Preparing for an extended War of Attrition by Terror is the mark of the already conquered. Perhaps the Israeli people will choose new leadership once there are enough casualties to disabuse them of the notion that retreat and pacification will save them. As for the false leaders who rarely suffer the consequences of their cowardice in the face of the self-declared enemy, clearly the Nuremberg Tribunals, if applied, might put spine back into the people to properly defend against the advancing Terror. Nothing like a court ordered hanging to straighten their spines and catch the attention of incompetent politicians. ### 1. "Israel Girds for Indefinite of Attrition" by Barbara Opall-Rome U.S. Defense News March 20, 2006 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). Contact him at gwinston@interaccess.com |
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HEBRON COMMUNITY PURCHASES NEW BUILDING IN HEBRON
Posted by Hebron Community, April 7, 2006. |
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Last night, at 9:15, a large group of Hebron residents walked (and ran) from the Avraham Avinu neighborhood's eastern entrance, down the road a few meters, to a very large, three-story building, and started moving in. The building was purchased from a Hebron Arab (who no longer lives in the city) over the course of many months. Only a few days ago were all the legal necessities completed to the satisfaction of the community's lawyers and leadership. It was then decided to immediately move in. Hebron residents responded to the call. A number of Hebron families with children, as well as singles, agreed to move into the new building (not really so new -- probably built in the 1850s). The well-kept secret was still kept under wraps, and only in late afternoon were people notified of the purchase and plans to move in. At nine o'clock a meeting was held with all those participating, and a few minutes later the project commenced. A little while after the first group arrived, of course, Israeli security forces arrived, investigating the sudden occupancy of the structure. First the police arrived, and then the riot squad. A little while later senior IDF officers showed up, a then, later on, a representative of the civil administration. They were presented with copies of the legal documents, showing ownership of the building. Satisfied that the community had not arbitrarily 'taken over' and Arab building, the security forces took their copies of the documents and left, with the intention of 'checking out' the legality of the purchase. However, community leaders assured them that everything was done 'according to the book' and that the entire purchase was fully legal. Hebron residents, youth and adults alike, began cleaning out the huge building, which was extremely filthy. At about two in the morning a tractor arrived to remove the piles of trash which had appeared in the street. The younger children fell asleep and others roamed the building, continuing to clean. When asked whether the timing of the project had political implications, community spokesmen were very clear. The reason the community moved in now was solely due to the fact that the final legal proceedings had concluded. Had this been done two months ago, we would have moved in then. Had they not been completed for another two months, we would have waited until then. However, thank G-d, the lawyers finally gave the green light, and the building was filled with Hebron community residents last night. This Shabbat all the families will feast together in a communal dining hall. Eventually, following renovations, families will receive individual apartments. You can contribute directly to The Jewish Community of Hebron, POB10, Kiryat Arba-Hebron 90100, hebron@hebron.org.il, 972-2-9965333 or write to The Hebron Fund, 1760 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11230, hebronfund@aol.com |
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IT'S ABOUT TIME -- SPREADING ZIONISM
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, April 7, 2006. |
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It is about time the National Religious came out of their Ghettos. For the past forty years or so the overwhelming majority of Teshuvah work has been done by "primitive and insular" Haredim. The modern and outgoing National Religious seemed content to express their commitment to the rebuilding of the Jewish people through the establishment of new, selective-membership communities in Yeshah that, not incidentally, where inhabited nearly exclusively by those of the National Religious stream. As recent tragic events have shown, this has been a very short sighted approach. When it was profitable for the ruling elites to build in Yeshah, they built and made Billions. The National Religious community hitched a ride along with them and created for themselves the illusion (or maybe delusion) that it was their ideology and efforts that were the real source of all this development and not the enormous profits that were being reaped. Now that it is more profitable for them to destroy Yeshah, it is being destroyed along with the fantasy world created by the National Religious. In the aftermath of the recent election, it has finally penetrated to some that there is an enormous and irreconcilable gap between the life goals of the religious and non religious in Israel. The only way that gap will be eliminated is either for the religious Jews to abandon the Torah or for the non religious to accept the Torah. There really is no middle ground. It is this very issue that has been the real point of contention between the Haredim and the National Religious over the years. The Haredi attitude has always been that there can be no serious interaction between those who accept the Torah and those who reject the Torah. The National Religious, and especially Benei Akivah, attitude has been to teach tolerance, respect and acceptance of the CHILLONIM. They teach that by setting a good example to the CHILLONIM, by serving the State in the Army, National Service, Government and Zionist activities, the CHILLONIM will be so impressed that they too will become religious. No doubt there has been some success with this approach but as the Sharon Pogrom in Gaza and the Shomron and the more recent Pogrom at Amona have shown, the CHILLONIM have returned a hundred years of tolerance, respect and acceptance with hatred, contempt and destruction. They are now trying to destroy all the civil and military institutions the National Religious have built as well, seeing them as a threat to CHILLONI hegemony in Israel. It has finally become clear that only through Teshuvah can we build a true Jewish nation in Zion. This is an article from today's Arutz Sheva (www.IsraelNationalNews.com)
that is archived at
"After a generation of settlement and army-building, the time has come for a new Zionism: building true Jewish identity based on Jewish values." So said Rabbi Shimon Cohen at a Jerusalem seminar. Educators and rabbis convened at a seminar sponsored by Machon Meir in Jerusalem this week, spotlighting the topic of "Face-to-Face" - meeting Israelis in their homes and re-introducing them to observant Zionist Jews and observant Judaism. Rabbi Cohen, the head of the Beit Moriah Kollel in Be'er Sheva, said, "In today's world, taking up more space and attention than before is the 'individual.' We must talk the language the people speak, and show that we are on the same side. We must work on the simple fundamentals that we are familiar with from our upbringing and study, and turn them into the inalienable assets of the entire nation." A recent phenomenon in religious-Zionist circles can be noted every Friday in many cities throughout Israel. Two or three youths set up a table in a public area - often outside the store of a willing store-owner - and offer Sabbath candles, tefillin and a smile to passers-by. Conversations that are struck up often lead to an appointment for further study on Jewish topics. In one story among many, yeshiva students in Jerusalem went one step further. They decided to set up a Sabbath table on Friday night in a central area usually frequented by youths with nowhere else to go. After overcoming initial awkwardness on the part of both the "regulars" and the "visitors" clad in their Sabbath-best white shirts, the sincerity and joyous singing of the latter won out. After the breaking of the ice came discussions of substance. "Why don't you come back every week?" the yeshiva students were asked -- and they said they would. "We must fight ignorance by adding knowledge," Rabbi Cohen said. "We must increase much faith and confidence by coming with true love of our fellow neighbors... We see this process happening in Be'er Sheva; with an integration of the forces of all the yeshivot there, we will succeed in leading a process of dissemination of faith and Judaism throughout the country Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
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FAVORING ISRAELI ARABS OVER ISRAELI JEWS
Posted by The Reality Show, April 7, 2006. |
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Imagine, Israeli non Arabs (i.e., Jews) have to put up with: 1) Back stabbing -- example #1: Constant finding out on more and more Israeli Arabs aiding genocide bombers (whether with info or more than that), stabbing the very Israel, they're citizens of, thus indirectly murdering their fellow Israelis, the Israeli Jews... 2) Back stabbing -- example #2: The Israeli Arab parliament members constantly whine about being "second class" citizens, after getting free education and achieving whatever they achieve, inside equal-rights & equal-access democractic Israel. As payback, these back stabbers are tarnishing Israel's image all over, especially on Arab global media. 3) Uneven rights -- Arab's advantage over Jews: Israeli Arabs (unlike Israeli Jews) are exempt from serving in Israeli army (which is naturally for the protection of all Israelis), still they enjoy the same rights as Israeli Jews: voting, education, free speech, etc. 4) Now the favorite part: Israeli Courts (& often security) favor Israeli Arabs over Jews Who's second class now? Favoring Arabs over Jews Inside Israel Fact Sheet #24: Israel's Security Fence
Fence Rulings: Democracy in Action
Divesting from Morality
Nightmare or Dream (Eugene Narrett, PhD) May, 2000
Arabs, Muslims first class citizens in democratic Israel?
One Jerusalem -- Blog -- Help Keep Jerusalem United!
The Jewish struggle Against Arabs in Israel
Supreme Court Rulings - Jews Protest in Jerusalem
An Israeli Supreme Court ruling did not deny that the land was
Jewish-owned,
"The Hell of Israel Is Better than the Paradise of Arafat
Myths VS Facts Human Rights in Israel and the Territories
Israeli Arabs: Expectations and Realities,
"Apartheid"?
AJN - Israeli Arab involvement in terror grows
Twisted Words and Phrases (2)
FLAME: The Arabs of Israel: Are they (really) a "persecuted
minority?
Middle-East-Info.org - Arabs and Muslims in Israel Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Arab Refugees and the Right of Return
The Jewish Refugees From Arab Countries -
The Arabs of Israel (Part 1)
IHC
Israeli Arabs: Expectations And Realities
Arab Treatment of Palestinians
The "Brutal" Israeli Occupation?
AN ANSWER TO THE NEW ANTI-ZIONISTS: THE RIGHTS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE TO A SOVEREIGN STATE IN THEIR HISTORIC HOMELAND
A Free People in Our Land: The Status of the Arab Sector in Israel
YI Guide to the Israeli-Palestinian Dispute
Critiques Distorting Israeli Arab Reality
The missing piece
Review of The Forgotten Millions: The Modern Jewish Exodus from
Arab Lands.
Dennis Prager --
israelinsider: Views:
JIMENA
UJC -- Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Brief Guide for the
Like "apartheid South Africa". ... non-Muslims are treated as
second-class citizens (the despised Dhimmi). ... Misc. Jihad Watch: Slain Israeli Arab's father begs for sanity in PA Arutz Sheva - (Israel National News)
Contact The Reality Show at therealityshow@mail.com or go to their website: http://lightonthings.blogspot.com |
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MEDIA ACCURACY?; HARVARD'S SORDID RECORD; WHY OSLO FAILED
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 7, 2006. |
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DROPPING THE LESSONS OF HISTORY People used to discuss the militarist aggression that produced WWII. How many times one heard, "If only the civilized world had stopped Hitler before he could conquer other countries and murder millions!" There was a sad sophistication in that realization, for it came too late and cost too much. Did that realization burn into the "civilized world's" consciousness? No. It has forgotten. Mankind has records but few readers of them. A few years ago, another brutal dictator was on the rise. He had committed mass-murder, used weapons of mass-destruction, started genocide, and supported terrorism. He invaded other countries so as to corner the world's main oil supply and therefore impose his totalitarian power on more countries. He was wriggling out of UNO restraints intended to keep him from sufficient funds to rebuild weapons of mass-destruction, though UNO corruption left him too much money. The US deposed him. Partisan critics of the Bush administration quibble over the reasons for having done so, and deny there was sufficient reason. They fasten on the false issues of "imminent threat" and failure to discover weapons he was hiding. They ignore his violation of the conditions for staying the hand of the Coalition in Gulf War I, the Security Council Resolutions that authorized renewal of the counter-attack, his blocking inspectors searching for weapons of mass-destruction, and his firing on Coalition forces. But what hurts most is that they express no appreciation of the US for having liberated his country and rid it of a mass-murderer. The only casualties they lament are the relatively minor ones from renewal of the war. There is no humane balance to their criticism. There are matters to criticize, particularly the poor management of the occupation, but their criticism, being so one-sided, is suspect as opportunism. MEDIA ACCURACY When my doctor was a teenager, he lived across the street from where a bank was robbed during a 15-hour drama he witnessed most of. The FBI observed from an apartment belonging to the boy's friend. Next day, the boy read the New York Post, Daily News, and New York Times. All of them got most of the facts wrong, especially the names of the people involved, including the friend's family. The future doctor concluded that if they could mix up facts about a non-controversial incident, they are not reliable. His father advised him, "Believe only half of what you see and nothing of what you read!" Unfortunately, the doctor told me, people (who should know better) still think that if it is in print, it must be true. The NY Times has an undeserved reputation for accuracy. It omits whole incidents that would put the Arabs in a poor light, slights Israeli testimony, and accepts as bona fide witnesses Arabs whose religion cultivates deception as a tool of jihad. I suppose Times readers, seeing what I just wrote, would call it prejudice. It is fact. ISRAEL'S DECLINING DEMOCRACY Caroline Glick reviewed the election issues that, she points out in the Jerusalem Post, the rest of the media ignores, lest the public overturn the Left, which it favors. Israeli voters are going to the polls in ignorant bliss. There really shouldn't be an election. PM Sharon is beyond recovery (probably legally dead but they conceal his condition), the procedure for replacement should have been implemented. However, in one of his aggrandizements of power, Attorney-Gen. Mazuz declared Sharon to have a "temporary incapacitation of a permanent nature," so there must be new elections. That keeps Netanyahu from replacing Sharon. In another seizure of personal power, he ordered the health ministry not to schedule a meeting on prescription drugs before the election. The scheduling of a ministry meeting poses no question of law. In Israel, however, the Left doesn't challenge fellow leftist Mazuz. Another blow to democracy in Israel was the government non-compliance with a Knesset investigation into an earlier blow to democracy: high-handed destruction of nine houses in Amona while their legal status was being worked out, and in exercising force and widespread brutality, although the Yesha Council had offered to remove the houses, themselves and peacefully. The government wanted to use force and brutally so, for political gain. The government refused to let police and some other officials testify before the Knesset, although legally obligated to do so (IMRA, 3/21). No matter how many blows to democracy Israel receives, Americans call it democratic. How odd that all the anti-Zionist academics have failed to note this fact and to issue studies of how undemocratic Israel is! They would have good reason to criticize Israel over this, instead of criticizing it for non-existent Israeli abuses of the Arabs. Israel abuses Jews, not Arabs. MORE TO THE HARVARD REPORT THAN THAT REPORT How the mud keeps oozing out of Harvard Yard! The report about US foreign policy being manipulated in Israel's behalf was criticized for errors and poor scholarship (though not for the falsity of the claim that US foreign policy is pro-Israel). It turns out that the authors took quoted neo-Nazi web sites, but cited as the original sources, to conceal the unacceptability of their Nazi sources. Upon checking the original sources, skeptics found that the web sites had taken the quotations out of context. Other falsity is due to assertion without a factual basis. The Kennedy School, that produced the report, is teaching the pro-terrorists at the United Arab Emirates how to be more efficient, sponsors biased events, and has as an official a Palestinian Arab who is involved in antisemitic work (NY Sun, 3/23, Ed.). Our universities have become repositories for non-scholarly bigots and their mud slinging. Why not a study on US interference in Israeli self-defense? HOW MUSLIM ARABS REFORM INTOLERANCE Muslim-run Egypt persecutes its Christians. One means is by hampering the construction and the renovation of churches but not mosques. Islam customarily destroys or usurps other faiths' temples or keeps them insignificant and inconspicuous. Pres. Mubarak supposedly has just eliminated that discrimination. He decree an end to restrictions on renovating churches. This is not the first time that Egypt issued such a decree. The prior ones were honored in the breach. Nevertheless, people assume his sincerity and praise him for it. Eliciting praise may have been his sole purpose. One of his governors re-imposed government control. Churches must apply for renovation with a copy of their building certificate, which some don't have by now. Would they be torn down for lack of certificate? (IMRA, 3/22.) Don't take announcements of Arab reform at face value; it's like giving out credit cards without credit checks. Praise not, until the work be done. WHY OSLO FAILED The assumptions behind Oslo were that the PLO leadership had accepted Israel's existence, and would carry its people along. False assumptions. The leadership still wanted to destroy Israel, as P.A. schools, media, and maps made clear. The Arabs became enraged over the notion of recognizing Israel. This happened in Egypt and Jordan, too, when their governments signed treaties with Israel. Next time, first gain popular Palestinian Arab acceptance of Israel, not just the leader's signature on a document. What would produce acceptance? Arab belief that they lost, the way Germans were convinced that they lost WWII but not WWI, which they went on to re-fight in WWII. Israeli concessions and withdrawals convinced the Arabs that they did not lose and that Israel is vulnerable. Since jihad is about conquest, not self-rule, they destroyed what Israel abandoned in Gaza, for spite, to show they won. How would we know that the Arabs accept Israel? When they cease their violence and hatred (Daniel Pipes, 3/22). Oslo was as much appeasement and fraud as mistake. Mr. Pipes did not indicate how to persuade the Arabs they lost and cannot win. I suggest that Israel annex parts of Yesha with Jewish populations and vacant areas and stop sending money and rendering services to the P.A.. Then the Arabs would have lost and would know it. Reserving the Territories for when the Arabs are ready to make peace not only fails to punish the guilty, it punishes the innocent Jews who have the better claim to the Territories. It makes the Arabs feel they don't have much to lose. Eventually giving them a state means insecure borders for Israel. That would revive jihad. So long as Islam does not reform, jihad remains its cardinal principle, awaiting its next opportunity. 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 richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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PASSOVER FOR A GUSH KATIF EXPELLEE
Posted by Sara Layah Shomrom, April 7, 2006. |
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At the close of each Passover seder of my youth I passionately recited "Next year in Jerusalem" drawing the conclusion that my place was here in Israel. And in adulthood my actualized dream became a bad dream. This year it is as a Gush Katif expellee at the Nitzan caravilla displaced persons site that my family, along with 470 former Gush Katif families (atleast 2,000 people), will observe Passover. We have no storage space, no closets in our 90 square meter pre-fab caravilla. One wall in 3 of our 4 bedrooms is lined with large cardboard storage boxes containing miscellaneous items. Once only our Passover dishes and cookware knew such hibernation. In past years there was always such an air of excitement in readying the house for Passover. The house finally cleaned of chametz and kitchen items packed away in cardboard boxes made the environment safe and spiffy clean to bring down the cardboard storage boxes filled with Passover dishes from the attic. My husband would climb up a ladder while the children and I held it securely for him. He would then pass down the dusty boxes, one at a time, to the children's and my eagerly waiting hands. It was a cooperative group effort. There were a number of boxes to dust off; clean and organize the contents. There was eager anticipation for the Passover seder. Now these very same boxes which once held such loftiness have assumed an ordinary status and resentfulness as they take away living space in my daughter's bedroom. The eventual removal of the many Passover boxes from her bedroom will not give any reprieve. Soon more cardboard boxes containing non-Passover kitchen supplies will be stored away not only in her bedroom but further crowd two other bedrooms as well. My husband's reading and instruction of the Hagadda has always included discussion with insights into present current events. This year the "Disengagement Plan" has given me a new outlook on Passover. Certainly former Gush Katif residents were not enslaved nevertheless some similarities can be drawn. Consider: While we were taken out of Egyptian bondage by G-d's strong and mighty hand, in this case the hand of the Israeli government literally carried many of us out from our homes. Unlike then, we left without riches and all of our belongings. Likewise the day of Gush Katifs' evacuation left no time for bread to rise in the oven. And once out of our territory the enemy gave chase. Like then, we cried out and prayed to G-d. But G-d didn't split the sea this time. Rather the enemy followed us with mortars and kassem rockets. From our homes in Gush Katif we went to hotels, caravillas, tents, guest houses, other temporary accommodations; a proverbial desert. Like then, we wanted to return to our Land and former lives. We, like then, questioned our leadership. Likewise some of the Passover symbolism assumes new food for thought: Matza:
Chametz:
Zeroah:
Maror:
Chazeret:
Salt water:
This Passover, no matter how many bitter herbs we eat, we still won't understand? There won't be the past eager anticipation as the household changes over to a Passover atmosphere but there will be a passionate "May Jerusalem be rebuilt soon!" We find hope in the encouraging words of our sages: In Nissan Israel was redeemed and in Nissan [we] will be redeemed again! Sara Layah Shomron and her family made their home in Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif. They now reside at the temporary Nitzan caravill site. |
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EIGHT MORE FOUR LEGGED HEROS
Posted by Jack Bender, April 7, 2006. |
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IBF- Israel's Best Friend is proud to announce 8 new soldiers have been enlisted in the battle against terrorism in Israel. Eisha, the beautiful service dog in the picture is seen with her 8 new pups. See this link for more photos: http://defendisrael.net/puppies.htm of Eisha and her pups, born April 6, 2006. 
IBF sponsored Eisha's training together with the training of dozens of dogs and handlers over the past several years. IBF is now implementing a breeding program that will save the Israeli Security Industry millions of dollars. Rather than import service dogs from Holland, we are now breeding excellent dogs straight into the Israeli climate, for a fraction of the cost. In the end, the dogs we are breeding in Israel will turn into much better service dogs than the ones available to Israel in the European market. And it will not be long before canine experts from around the world seek out our Israeli security dogs, born, raised and trained on Israeli soil. In the meantime, dozens of security chiefs from "settlements", Moshavim and Kibbutzim from around Israel are pleading with us to supply them with good patrol dogs as well as training for their security people to help prevent terrorist infiltrations into their towns. Our dogs have already saved lives in Israel helping the army prevent 4 terrorist attacks. 
G-d blessed dogs with sniffing capabilities that make them the most effective tool in early detection of terrorist movement. The loyalty and success of these dogs is second to none. IBF has also embarked on a campaign to supply emergency response medic-canine vehicles to rush medics and tracking canines with their handlers directly to the scene of terrorist attacks where they can help treat the wounded and track the terrorists before they carry out more deadly attacks. IBF has also imported the first three female Plot Hounds into Israel and is seeking to import several males to commence a unique training and breeding program for these number-one tracker dogs. This particular breed will hopefully prove to be a priceless tool in securing Israel's complex border security problems. These dogs can follow a trail several days old for miles to help find the terrorist infiltrators before they kill innocent people. We appeal to you to make a generous contribution to help us maintain this life-saving endeavor. Help us save lives in Israel by helping us sponsor more dogs and emergency response team vehicles. We are looking to raise 100,000 dollars in our current emergency Pesach appeal. We are looking for 50 good people or synagogues that will send us 1000 dollars to save lives in Israel this Passover, and an additional 1000 people who will send 50 dollars to meet our goals. With those funds we can furnish two emergency response vehicles and cover the costs of training and raising the 8 new pups until they are ready in a year to be given to Israeli security people and deployed for loyal service to the Jewish people. The Bible teaches us that there is special bond between the dogs and the Jews. As we know the dogs aided the Jews during their exodus from Egypt. Dogs again have proven to be Israel's Best Friend indeed. Please help this incredible miracle continue. Please send your generous contribution to IBF -- Israel's Best Friend. Look at the picture of this incredible dog and her pups and help sponsor their growth and training until they will join the ranks patrolling Israel's border. Please send your checks to I.B.F Israel's Best Friend
You can call Ed in the USA: 757 857 4708
Your contribution is tax deductible May G-d grant you a happy, healthy and kosher Passover. May we rejoice together in the rebuilding of Yerushalayim THIS YEAR! Thank You With Love of Israel
Contact Mishal at Mishal@mishal.org
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G-D STRUCK SHARON
Posted by David Ha'Ivri, April 7, 2006. |
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1. "G-d struck Sharon" -- Rabbi Moshe Tzuriel It was incredible to see. God struck Sharon down with a stroke, and rabbis across the board, from the Zionist Camp to the Haredi Camp, were praying for his welfare. Yeshivas were learning Torah for his refua shleima; tehilim were being recited for his quick recovery - mikubalim; mystic rabbis were doing a tikun nefesh for him, as the head rabbis of Israel were calling for a day of prayer, to open the holy arc and beseech the Lord for mercy¦ 2. "Why Do We Eat Matzah On Passover?" -- Rabbi Meir Kahane Thus the Mashiach is called ani - ("afflicted, impoverished" as is written: (afflicted and riding on a donkey -- Zech. 9:9), because he is afflicted by Israel's lack of faith and trust. I believe that this is an allusion to the whole Redemption period. Even the Redemption which follows this poverty is itself impoverished. 3. "Remember those Prisoners of Zion who languish in prison in Zion" - Daniel Piner Passover, the Holiday of Our Freedom, is the time of year to remember those Prisoners of Zion who languish in prison in Zion -- who are not bnei chourin (free men). They are not free men because they wanted their people free. Contact David Ha'Ivri at haivri@gmail.com |
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HAMAS: WE WON'T LEASE YESHA COMMUNITIES TO ISRAEL
Posted by Hillel Fendel, April 7, 2006. |
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Hamas, the outlawed terrorist organization that now governs the Palestinian Authority, has turned down a European plan to lease the lands of Jewish communities in Yesha to Israel. A senior Hamas official called the European Union plan a new "plot" against the Palestinian nation. Arab affairs analyst Dalit HaLevy reports that Hamas plans not to help Ehud Olmert implement his "turning inward" plan in any way. The European Union proposal is for Hamas to lease to the Jewish residents the lands on which they reside in Judea and Samaria. This would be an interim solution towards Olmert's planned withdrawal from most of the areas. Hamas says it opposes any Israeli plan to unilaterally determine the final borders. In truth, Hamas does not recognize the idea of borders at all, long claiming that Israel has no right to exist. This is evident from many clauses in the Hamas charter and statements by Hamas leaders. For instance, the man now serving as the PA's foreign minister, Mahmoud A-Zahar, said on BBC in 2003, "I'm telling you frankly, the attitude of Islam is not to accept a foreign state in this area... This is the attitude of thousands and millions of people... Islam is a supreme power in this area, sooner or later we are going to achieve our power, our moral principles, our virtue, in order to implement a real state." However, A-Zahar did say this week that Hamas might be willing to consider a two-state solution, but only "if it satisfies the Palestinian demands... If not, we will have to ask the people." A European Union diplomat quoted in the Jerusalem Post this week proposed the leasing plan as an alternative to Israel's annexation of the settlement blocs. It calls for the residents of Yesha to continue to remain Israeli citizens, pay Israeli taxes, and be protected by the IDF - but to pay a rental fee to the Palestinian Authority for their homes. Muhammad Barghouti, the Hamas Authority's minister of labor, said that the Western countries had failed in pressuring Hamas to recognize Israel, and that they are therefore seeking alternative ways to promote Olmert's diplomatic plans. "We will not be a partner, directly or indirectly, to the Israeli unilateral withdrawal plan," Barghouti said. A report in Haaretz today stated that Hamas had offered Israel a form of ceasefire. Hamas is willing to stop terror attacks against Israel if Israel stops acting against the terrorist organizations. As of now, Hamas continues to live up to its word to do nothing to stop terrorism. Israel fears that the offer is merely a ploy to allow the terrorists to continue arming, and that Hamas will feel free to activate terrorists whenever it wishes. Hillel Fendel is Senior News Editor for Arutz-7. |
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MAARIV'S PASSION PLAY
Posted by Steven Plaut, April 7, 2006. |
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I assume everyone has heard about the National Geographic special on the "Gospel according to Judas Iscariot". Briefly, a parchment written in ancient Greek from the 3rd century CE was found in Egypt, called the Gospel according to Judas Iscariot. Evidently written around the same time as the other Gospels that formed the New testament canon, this document alleges that Judas and Jesus had coordinated plans and Jesus wanted Judas to turn him in to the Romans to make a point. In general it paints Judas as a sympathetic character. All a fascinating story in archeology, no doubt. But consider the headline in Maariv: "We were not traitors." The "we" being the Jews. In other words, in one single headline Maariv is granting legitimzation to two thousand years of blood libel and demonization of Jews. Why is Judas more a representative of Jews in Maariv's estimation than Jesus himself? Maybe Mel Gibson has taken over Maariv? In a sense, this illustrates a more general point I have made repeatedly, which is that Jews living in Israel and cut off from the Diaspora anti-Semitism (other than in the form of Islamofascism) lose sight of traditional anti-Semitism and lose the ability to appreciate how entrenched it is and how dangerous it is to fan it. 2. Ami Ayalon is perhaps the furthest Left person in the Labor Party, competing with Beilin to see who can produce the most pusillanimous plan of unilateral capitulation to the barbarians. Yesterday, when coming into the Labor Party's Kremlin (headquaters), Ayalon sees a homeless woman holding a sign and goes up to her to make fun of the fact that she has spelling errors on her sign! Maariv outs him. He later "apologizes". 3. Amir Peretz does not only LOOK like Stalin, he also THINKS like Stalin. Because some card-carrying Labor Party members passively or actively supported Kadima in the last election, Peretz is preparing a Night of Long Knives. He will be sending special forms to each and every party member demanding that the member document what he or she did to help the Labor Party campaign in the last election. Maariv cites a Labor Party senior official as saying this behavior by Peretz is reminiscent of Stalin (his words). My guess is that Peretz will next have informers, getting kids to inform on their parents for insufficient party loyalty, and later demand that the police arrest those who draw moustaches on walls. 4. That Hamas "minister for Jerusalem" arrested by Israel earlier this week? They let the guy go. They had to, cause otherwise someone might get the idea that Israel was planning to prevent Hamas control of Jerusalem. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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ABANDONING A HOME
Posted by Batya Medad, April 6, 2006. |
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Among the Disengagement victims-refugees there are two groups. There are the ones who left before the communities were actually invaded by the military, forcing the residents to abandon their homes, and there are the ones who stayed until there was absolutely no choice, no chance of reprieve. Rachel Saperstein explains it very movingly. In Nitzan, the "carravilla" site, she is getting to know and understand the former neighbors she had resented these past few difficult months. She now includes those former neighbors among the recipients of the financial aid she distributes. Living togerther, they are attempting to heal the rift, and G-d willing they will succeed. This is not always easy. Almost sixty years after some northern kibbutzim temporarily abandoned their homes, the issue is still painful, and they are mocked by other kibbutzim. As battles raged during the Israeli War for Independence, two kibbutzim, Shaar Hagolan and of the nearby Kibbutz Massada, felt endangered and abandoned by their comrades. They expected the Syrians to invade and murder them all. First they evacuated the children, and then the adults left, too. They were away for a year, and during that time, the Syrians destroyed everything, like the Arabs did in Gush staff. The big difference is that nobody told the kibbutz members to leave, and to this day there are arguments as to whether it was really necessary. Young members, born decades afterwards report being mocked as "chicken," cowards, since their grandparents left the kibbutz under fire. Kibbutz members who were there stress that there was a battle going on, and no reinforcements arrived to help. The official Ministry of Defense records claimed that there was no reason for the kibbutzim to have been abandoned. This "mark of shame" has followed the kibbutzim all these years. Only now, the kibbutz members are trying to make peace with the past and have the records corrected. Disengagement was much worse. The government, for no reason--that what unilateral means--forced thousands of law-abiding productive citizens out of their homes and communities. The government destroyed their business and educational institutions. They told our enemies, the Arab terrorists to live in the land that Jews, Israelis developed. What scars will our nation suffer for Disengagement, and how long will it take to fully heal. PS On the TV news, the same kibbutzim which had supported Disengagement, not caring that Gush Katif was being bombed by the Arabs, are now demanding that the government do something to stop the same Arabs from launching rockets against them. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il |
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THE JEWS OF NETSARIM REJUVINATING THE NEGEV
Posted by Moshe Brodetzky, April 6, 2006. |
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This is from Moshe Kempinski, who lives in Jerusalem. Contact him at moshe01@netmedia.net.il or go to his website: http://www.shorashim.com Many recent articles in the Israeli media describe the deterioration of the Orange camp and the slow death of the vision-filled dreams of the faithful. It is clear to me these articles represent the wishful thinking on the part of writers as opposed to a realistic appraisal of the power and potential of those who carried the orange flag of Gush Katif aloft in the past. Two days after the election I arrived at a synagogue dedication in small settlement nestled in the southern tip of the Negev desert between the borders of Egypt and the Gaza strip. In the town of Yevul, over fifty families, expelled from the Gaza Strip settlement of Netzarim, have been living in caravans and have set up schools,roads ,hopes and dreams. They have been allotted a large section of the Halutza desert lands. These were lands that Ben Gurion once envisioned would begin to flower, but never found the people to actualize that dream. The residents of Gush Katif who had achieved "the miraculous" on the sand dunes of Gaza were now poised to repeat their Divinely directed ventures in the sands of the Negev. Inspired by the prophecy of Isaiah ( Isaiah 35:1) "The wilderness and the parched land shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose," they have already begun flattening the dunes and erecting the hothouses. The skeptical Israeli government was moved into action and help when idealistic Jews from Toronto, Canada initiated the Desert Blossoming project. This partnership between the Jews of the exile and the Jews of Netsarim simply forced the Israeli government to begin to do their share. On that evening we participated in the dedication of their new synagogue and Mikveh. My feeling of depression and malaise from this past election was quickly swept away as we danced through the streets of the caravan lined streets. My most vivid memory of the expulsion from Netsarim was watching the footage of the residents of Netsarim bidding farewell to their beautiful synagogue. I remember seeing young girls leaning on their arms and weeping and the residents dancing in pain and hope in front of the empty ark of the Torah scrolls. As we entered the synagogue at Yevul, I saw what I imagined were some of the same girls seemingly weeping in the same pose. I followed their gaze and saw again the dancing and singing in front of the empty ark. Yet the singing was different and the dancing was of another world. This time these residents were fulfilling another purpose. They were returning the scrolls and refilling the newly constructed ark.That moment was so intense and so sweet that the singing residents would not give up the torah scrolls and would not or could not stop dancing. I witnessed another more subtle image that night in Yevul. Residents of the nearby secular communities came to participate with their children in the Synagogue dedication festivities. These were some of the same people that aided and supported the expulsion forces as they proceeded to destroy the communities of Gush Katif, last summer. Yet here they were, joining in the festivities. At first they stood hesitantly on the side but the yearning to be"a part of" overcame their reticence. Souls always yearn to be rekindled .They just need the right atmosphere and situation. It is important to remember that to rekindle and fan the flames of these rekindled souls one must use a gentle breeze. A strong aggressive gust of wind will simply snuff out the yearning again. That is the true answer to these past elections. We cannot separate from our brothers and sisters but rather are bidden to reengage with them. They are desperately in need of the spirit and vision they have lost. We cannot let anger and frustration get in the way of our ultimate purpose. That purpose is defined by walking the long road until its conclusion without losing sight of the stragglers left behind. We also cannot be dismayed or swayed by the aggression and vehemence that will be turned against our camp.It is anger and vehemence that comes out of weakness. We need again to strengthen our resolve and bolster our spirit. As the cruel results of massive retreat will be made clear to this nation by the impending surge in terrorism and rockets, the people will look for direction. We need to remain steadfast on that long road in order to offer that direction. Contact Moshe Brodetzky at brodetzky@aol.com |
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AND THERE WAS NO REFERENDUM IN ISRAEL...
Posted by Ariel Natan Pasko, April 6, 2006. |
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No matter what Olmert says, no matter what they tell you, no matter how much they lie, know, the elections were not a referendum. For the life of me, I can't understand why so-called rightists, Benjamin Netanyahu, Nadia Matar ("Women in Green") and others, before the recent election, described it as a referendum on the withdrawal-expulsion issue. Referenda without clear policy guidelines, without specifics (who exactly is going to get expelled, from where, and how much or how little compensation are they going to get?), simply are not carried out like this. When Ariel Sharon began promoting his Gaza Expulsion Plan, euphemistically called "Disengagement," opponents called for a referendum. Ministers in his government (including Olmert) spoke out against holding one. The then Minister of National Infrastructure, Yosef Paritzky claimed it contravened the democratic principles of the country. The Justice Minister at the time, Yosef Lapid, expressed his opposition to the referendum idea, "Such a move is not part of our democratic process." Both politicians had a point; modern Israel has never held a referendum. A little history about the call for referenda in Israel... Former Prime Minister Menachem Begin - then a Knesset Member - in the early 1950's opposed the deal that then Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion worked out with West Germany, to accept reparations after the Holocaust. Begin suggested a national referendum to allow the people to decide whether to accept them or not, but Ben-Gurion refused. In February 1958, Menachem Begin again suggested using referenda to decide on various issues in the young Israeli democracy. Ben-Gurion's ruling party, Mapai, responded, calling the proposal "Bonapartist, fascist and totalitarian." Certainly, referenda are neither fascist nor totalitarian. Referenda are used in many democratic states around the world to allow the citizens to directly decide important issues. For example, referenda have been used by European countries to decide on whether to join the European Union, or once in, to adopt the European Monetary System and replace their national currency with the Euro. Many states in the US use referenda for a whole host of issues, and the constitutional process of adopting a new state constitution itself can include a referendum from voters. Is there a more important issue today, pressing the people of Israel, than the issue of territorial integrity or withdrawal from parts of it's historic homeland, the biblically promised, Land of Israel? But, Olmert's "Referendum" is more reminiscent of the "electoral process" of former totalitarian regimes (vote yes or no) such as Saddam Hussein's Iraq or the Former Soviet Union under Brezhnev. Olmert's claim that the election was a referendum on his Unilateral Expulsion Plan, now being called "Convergence," bolstered by Netanyahu's and Matar's politically immature pre-election statements, just goes to show how many Israelis live in La La Land. For starters, let's take these statements at face value (don't misunderstand, I categorically deny that any particular generation of Jews has the right to give away parts of the G-D's Promised Land). Olmert's "Referendum" was a complete flop. He lost it. Olmert's "Referendum" was roundly defeated by 76% of the voting public. Kadima (his party) won only 28 out of 120 seats, or 23% of the vote. All the other parties that favor territorial compromise (Likud, Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu, Shas and UTJ, Meretz, Labor, the Arab parties) do so only within a negotiated settlement with the Palestinian Authority. They claim to be against a unilateralist policy, like Ehud "following in Sharon's footsteps" Olmert is promoting. I want to add that not only do many in the above mentioned parties not believe that its possible to achieve such a "negotiated final solution" with the Hamas-Proto-Nazi PA, but many within Olmert's own Kadima Party don't either. Even the "true believer" Shimon Peres has said as much. But truthfully, Israel has in fact held a referendum already on this issue. In the Torah, after describing the giving of the 10 Commandments at Mt. Sinai, comes the portion of Mishpatim-Laws (Exodus 21:1-24:18). In it, Moses conveys a long list of further rules and regulations (G-D's commandments) for the Children of Israel to live by, including torts and damages, criminal law, marital law and ritual law, the proscription against idolatry and the proper observance of Jewish holidays. Then G-D promises military victory in the upcoming war, when He brings the Jewish People into the land He promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, giving it to Israel. "Do not make a treaty with these nations..." (Exodus 23:32) "Do not allow them to reside in your land..." (Exodus 23:33) It continues, "Moses wrote down all G-D's words" (Exodus 24:4), then "He took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people. They replied, 'Everything G-D declared, - Naaseh V'Nishmah - we will do and obey'" (Exodus 24:7). There you have it, the description of the covenantal process between G-D and the Jewish People, with the Jews adopting the Torah as their constitution, by national referendum. So, it's not true that Israel has "never" held a referendum. But when the Jews voted to accept the Torah-Constitution for their nation, and implemented the "promise to inherit the land" in the times of Joshua, they set down rules for the nation for "all time". Everyone in the world knows that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish People. Christianity and Islam are built on Judaism and both recognize this fact. The nations of the world, through the League of Nations and later the United Nations gave its stamp of approval also. For those who say "Israeli settlements" are a violation of "International Law" or the Geneva Convention, they simply don't know what they're talking about. The League of Nations' "Palestine Mandate," recognized the right of Jews to "close settlement on the land," and no later UN resolution has ever abrogated those rights. Even the 1947 Partition Plan into Arab and Jewish states, assumed that Jews would continue to live in the Arab state, as Arabs would in the Jewish state. By Divine Right, historical right, and internationally recognized law; Jews have a right to settle, build homes and towns, and live in all parts of their homeland, Israel, including the areas liberated in 1967. Even the Israeli Supreme Court (ten out of eleven Justices), ruled before the Sharon government's Gaza Expulsion Plan was carried out, that to expropriate the property (with or without compensation) of Israeli citizens (i.e. Jews) and to expel them from their homes, violated their "human rights of property, freedom of occupation and proper respect for the evacuees," yet in their convoluted logic, they upheld the legality of the expulsion as acceptable in order to achieve political and security goals. The use of referenda to generally resolve issues in Israel is perfectly democratic, it builds social solidarity and wide consensus, contrary to the views of the "people's representatives". But on the issue of territorial compromise and expulsion of Jews from their homes (such as happened in Gaza/Northern Samaria and now what they want to do with more of Judea/Samaria - the West Bank), something that gets to the heart of Israel's national existence, even democracy has it's limits. How many Americans would honor the outcome of a referendum in the US, to return the "Occupied Territories" to Native American Indians, along with the concomitant expulsion of millions of black, white, Asian, and Hispanic "settlers"? There is no legitimacy to such a referendum, the nation of Israel voted on it long ago, at Mt. Sinai. Ariel Natan Pasko is an independent analyst & consultant. He has a Master's Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy, and Policy Analysis. He also has a degree in Jewish History amd Thought. 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 |
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WHY THE AMERICAN CONSENSUS IN SUPPORT OF ISRAEL IS DEEP-ROOTED AND DURABLE
Posted by Gary S., April 6, 2006. |
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This article was entitled "A Nation like Ours" and was written by Jeff Jacoby. It appeared in the Boston Globe April 2, 2006. To see a month's worth of Jacoby's recent columns, please visit www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/jacoby/ America's longstanding solidarity with Israel suits most Americans just fine, but it does set some people's teeth on edge. Two of those people are Stephen Walt, the academic dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and political scientist John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, co-authors of a sour new polemic about the insidious "Israel Lobby" that manipulates US policy in the Middle East and dragged the Bush administration into war. Walt and Mearsheimer are not the first to wade into these swamps. In March 2003, US Representative James Moran inveighed against Jews at an antiwar rally: "If it was not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq," the Virginian Democrat fumed, "we would not be doing this." It was at about the same time that Professor Edward Said of Columbia University was ranting: "Wherever you look in the Congress there are the tell-tale signs either of the Zionist lobby, the right-wing Christians, or the military-industrial complex, three inordinately influential minority groups who share ... unbridled support for extremist Zionism." A year earlier it had been South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, lamenting that "the Israeli government is placed on a pedestal" in the United States; no one dares oppose Israel "because the Jewish lobby is powerful -- very powerful." But the truth is precisely the reverse. America's loyalty to Israel isn't engineered by a Zionist cabal that dupes American citizens and hijacks their government. US policy tends to align closely with Israel's because Americans like Israel. They instinctively sympathize with Israel's fight for survival in one of the world's most dangerous neighborhoods. If public opinion weren't robustly pro-Israel in the first place, the White House and Congress would be far less inclined to give Israel's advocates the time of day. There's a name for that phenomenon. It's called democracy. The American consensus in support of Israel is deep-rooted and durable. Polls show that it cuts across all ages and both sexes. The dread power of some "Israel Lobby" doesn't explain it. So what does? Four answers: First, Americans recognize in Israeli society a modern liberal democracy -- a country like their own, with vigorously contested elections, a free press, an independent judiciary, and a commitment to civil liberties and human rights that hasn't flagged despite six decades of terrorism and war. With all its flaws, Israel has the freest and fairest political system in the Middle East. Israel's Arab citizens are full-fledged voters -- women as well as men -- and are routinely elected to the Knesset, Israel's parliament. (Ten Arab candidates won seats in this week's elections.) The region's lone Jewish state is the only one that guarantees complete freedom of worship to Christians and Muslims. To American eyes, Israel's democratic pluralism could hardly be more familiar. Second, Israel is an invaluable American ally -- a stable and dependable base in a highly unstable part of the globe. From military R&D to world-class intelligence services, from a deepwater port to sophisticated air facilities, from hard-won counterterrorist expertise to a solid democratic culture, Israel brings assets to its strategic relationship with the United States that few countries can match. And Americans don't have to be national-security mavens to appreciate the value of the ally that destroyed Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor in 1981, and that pulled off Operation Entebbe -- the spectacular rescue of 100 hostages from Idi Amin's Uganda -- on July 4, 1976. Third, American history is deeply rooted in Judeo-Christian soil, nourishing a special kinship between America's Christians and the Jewish people. The founders of the American republic were deeply influenced by the Hebrew scriptures and believed that they, like the Jews of old, had been taken out of bondage by God and led by Him to a Promised Land. Long before there was a modern state of Israel, American leaders expressed "Zionist" leanings: "I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation," former President John Adams wrote in 1819. Nearly two centuries later, millions of American Christians are passionate supporters of the Jewish state. Finally, Americans sympathize so strongly with the Israelis because both nations face a common enemy. Unlike Walt and Mearsheimer, who can find "no moral basis" for taking Israel's side in its war with enemies bent on its destruction, most Americans make a clear moral distinction between suicide bombers and their victims. If Israeli terrorists were deliberately blowing up Palestinian school buses, if rabbis were blasting Arabs as "the sons of monkeys and pigs," if it were Israelis who had danced in celebration on 9/11, American sympathies might not be so clear-cut. Most Americans are not confused, because most Americans understand what's at stake. "The US has a special relationship with Israel in the Middle East," President John F. Kennedy said in 1962, "really comparable only to that which it has with Britain." Today, Kennedy's words are truer than ever -- even if the Kennedy School dean has yet to figure that out. Contact Gary S. at ahavat@telkomsa.net |
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DISPLACED RESIDENTS REMEMBER A FALLEN HERO
Posted by Hillel Fendel, April 6, 2006. |
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The former residents of the recently-destroyed Jewish community of Sa-Nur perpetuate a town custom: remembering the hero and Moslem convert Baruch Mizrachi, who was executed by Arabs in 1948. Mizrachi's story is one of physical, spiritual and societal courage. He was born as Hamuda Abu-La'inin to a prominent Arab family in the Galilee in 1926; his mother, known to have been of Jewish origin, died when he was very young. Around age 13, after having studied in a public Arab school in Tzfat, he transferred to the Jewish "Alliance" school in Haifa, where he studied Hebrew and Bible. This brought him close to the Jewish People, and he decided to convert to Judaism. The youngster went to the Chief Rabbinate in Jerusalem, but in accordance with custom, he was twice rejected. The third time, at the tender age of 16, he was accepted and allowed to convert to Judaism. He lived in Haifa as a religious and observant Jew, worked as a clerk, and joined the Etzel organization in fighting the British occupation. He was ultimately arrested by the British, and was among those exiled to Eritrea. In Africa, Baruch was offered a release if he would merely agree to return to his Arab and Moslem roots - but he refused. He was then made to suffer cruel abuse by the Sudanese guards, at whose hands he was seriously wounded. Upon his return, shortly before Israel declared its independence in May 1948, he undertook a mission to destroy an Arab headquarters in Jenin, where war was being prepared against the future Jewish state. He was caught by Arabs, who executed him the same day in the village of Kfar Jaba - near what became, close to 50 years later, the Jewish town of Sa-Nur. Assumed to have been buried in the Shomron, which remained under Jordanian control until 1967, Mizrachi was memorialized only by a plaque at Har Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem. After the Six Day War, the IDF Governor of the Jenin Region, Lt.-Col. Tzvi Resky, arrived in the village of Kfar Jaba, and began to seek information about the fallen hero. Resky learned of a burial cave in the area, and together with IDF Rabbi Lt.-Col. Dov Shachor, Etzel representative Ben-Tzion Katznellenbogen, and local geographical expert Tzvi Hermoni, they paid a visit to the cave and the local Mukhtar. The Mukhtar, known to have saved a Jewish unit from death at the hands of his fellow Arabs in 1948, told the Israelis what he remembered of the period. He said that the village was the seat of an Arab military court, which executed three Arabs and Mizrachi. Baruch Mizrachi did not plead for his life, the Mukhtar said, but simply decided to die as a Jew. Yossi Dagan, spokesman for the former residents of Sa-Nur, said, "Baruch Mizrachi has no family and no one to say Kaddish for him. We therefore decided to adopt his memory and to serve as a replacement for his family. We will tell his story and preserve his legacy." The people of Sa-Nur were planning to build a monument in his memory - but these plans, and others, were cut short by Ariel Sharon's Disengagement of last summer. Following the recovery of his body in 1967, Mizrachi was reburied in the Netanya Military Cemetery (Plot 1, Row 2). Former Sa-Nur residents will visit his gravesite tomorrow, on the 58th anniversary of his death. Hillel Fendel is Senior News Editor for Arutz-7. |
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PEACE NOW DEMANDS: UPROOT SIX COMMUNITIES
Posted by Hillel Fendel and Ezra HaLevi, April 6, 2006. |
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The destruction of the Jewish settlement enterprise in Judea/Samaria is not proceeding fast enough for Peace Now, and the left-wing extremist organization turned to the High Court for redress. Peace Now, and Dror Atkes, the organization's chief tracker of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, filed a suit in the Supreme Court on Wednesday against the Defense Minister, the IDF, and four regional councils. The suit expresses Peace Now's concern that the orders for the destruction of the six flowering Jewish communities, issued almost two years ago, will soon expire, and that therefore the towns must be destroyed immediately. The demolition orders for five town expire two months from now, and another one three months later. Similar action by the European-funded group led to the destruction of nine houses in the community of Amona, which entailed use of severe violence by police. A Knesset commission of inquiry is currently investigating the affair. The six threatened communities are: * Givat HaRoeh -- A satellite community of the Binyamin region town of Eli, home to 16 families and several singles. See http://www.yeshaspeaksout.org/blog/_archives/2004/10/10/157857.html for a photo essay and interviews with the residents prior to the community's then-slated destruction ahead of the Yom Kippur holiday two years ago. The Peace Now suit claims that the government has done almost nothing to enforce the demolition orders signed nearly two years ago by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "This is a blatant example of lack of law enforcement in [Judea and Samaria]," Peace Now laments. Another blatant example of lack of law enforcement in Judea and Samaria is the estimated 30,000 illegal Arab structures in the region that are allowed to remain standing. Peace Now did not note this phenomenon in its court suit. Peace Now's initiative follows two recent successful court suits, one of which led to the violence-ridden destruction of nine homes in Amona, and the other to stop-work orders on over 30 apartment buildings in Modiin Illit (Kiryat Sefer). Regarding the latter case, Peace Now claims that a small portion of the land - on which construction has not even begun - belongs to the nearby Arab village of Bil'in. It further states that the contractors in Modiin are building a project that is double the size of the approved plan. Hundreds of families are affected by the latter decision, according to which construction on some 33 high-rise buildings must be halted, and new residents - some of whom have already paid for their apartments - may not move in. Hillel Fendel is Senior News Editor for Arutz-7. Ezra Halevi is a writer for Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com). |
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BUSH UPHOLDS JEWISH CONSPIRACY THEORY; RAISING THE ALARM THWARTS PEACE?; POPULATION TRANSFER
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 6, 2006. |
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NONSENSE ABOUT "BRUTAL OCCUPATION" IN PERSPECTIVE Israel doesn't interfere in the P.A. government. Neither do its troops patrol P.A. cities, though they should, because the P.A. is at war with Israel. Israel does staff checkpoints and restricts some travel within the P.A., in self-defense against terrorism. When left alone, Israel leaves the Arabs alone. This is not an occupation and it is not brutal. All the brutality between P.A. and Israel is by P.A. terrorists against Israelis. Anti-Zionists, however, exaggerate their case for turning the P.A. into an independent Arab state by terming the limited Israeli presence among the Arabs a "brutal occupation." It is not as if these anti-Zionists care about the Arabs. What could be more brutal than an Islamic government that trains children in bigotry, warfare, and suicide bombing, beats up Christians, treats women as second-class citizens, does not allow freedom of speech, and bars food shipments unless they come through particular crossings? The Palestinian Center for Human Rights used to complain about Israeli counter-attacks, but had little to say about the human rights of Israelis whom terrorists attacked in the first place. Now its attention is taken with the daily kidnappings and shootings of Arabs by Arabs. Disgruntled employees want raises, so they try to extort them. Fatah gunmen want jobs, so they kidnap people to make their point. Clans have feuds, so they settle them by the ubiquitous arms. Since terrorism is the major P.A. business, bombs explode prematurely or children wound themselves playing with them. All that is in addition to the usual wife-beating. That may not be an "occupation," but it sure is brutal! Why don't humanitarian organizations object to the Arabs killing themselves without the help of Israelis? Do they really care about the Arabs, or just want an excuse to malign Israel? PRES. BUSH CONFIRMS JEWISH CONSPIRACY THEORY Just as most responsible voices are being raised against the false and malicious Harvard report that alleged a conspiracy to run US foreign policy in behalf of Israel, and Harvard disassociated itself from the report, Pres. Bush irresponsibly lent it credence. Pres. Bush declared that the US may use military means against Iran's nuclear bomb factories, to protect Israel. He explained that the US would defend Israel. That sure makes it seem as if US policy is run, if not manipulated, in behalf of Israel, and that the US is ready to go to war in Israel's behalf. Pres. Bush's assertion is false. Pres. Bush is demanding Israeli retreat in favor of the Palestinian Arab Islamists, so let's not hear nonsense that the US is pro-Israel. Iran threatens more than Israel. With nuclear weapons, Iran might force other countries to act against US interests. It already has threatened Europe. It is extending the range of its missiles. The US can foresee an Iranian nuclear threat to the US. It therefore is in the US interest to stop Iran now, before it is too late. ISRAEL SHOULD MAKE ITS OWN DECISIONS People talk about getting a peace agreement and settling borders if not with the P.A., then with Arab states. Hamas sometimes claims, contrary to its policy and purpose of conquering Israel, that if Israel recognizes its rule over the P.A., the P.A. would recognize Israel. The P.A. did recognize Israel, as per the Oslo accords, but makes war on it anyway. However, Israel does not need the Arabs to recognize it. Israel should, as chief heir to the Mandate, set its own borders for both national security and to secure its patrimony. The more land it takes, the more justice it would deal to the Arab aggressors. PM Olmert asserts that his withdrawal policy would set Israel's borders unilaterally. Big talk for a policy of cut and run. Nor is he setting Israel's borders. The U.S. State Dept. is. SIGNING INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS In a discussion of Pres. Bush's objection to Afghanistan's trying a convert to Christianity for apostasy, it came out that Afghanistan signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration affirms freedom of religion. Few Muslim countries allow freedom of religion, but many must have signed that Declaration. They signed a non-proliferation treaty, but proliferate nuclear technology or seek it. Since deceit is an Islamic tactic, they can sign anything without honoring it. We should put no stock in their signatures Incidentally, a poor argument against allowing Iran to get nuclear weapons is that other countries would then try to acquire them. Egypt isn't waiting; it is researching. S. Arabia already bought nuclear-ready missiles from China. The argument is obsolete. DOES RAISING THE ALARM THWART PEACE? A relative counseled that my warning about the Islamist menace can only engender hatred that would prevent peace. Peace? There cannot be peace with Islam, because it is a fanatical, predatory religion and fanatical, the war already has begun, and our side risks losing it the way we risked losing WWII for not joining it sooner. Being as evil as Nazism and Bolshevism, Islamism must be eradicated. The advent of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass-destruction does not leave us the option we had with the Soviets, of merely containing them. There is no greater evil, even if unwitting, in preaching peace to the victims of aggression in a war that the other side has no intention of retracting. It is not blind hatred that I strive to engender, but an understanding that our declared enemies are enemies and why they hate us. My purpose is to disseminate facts and insights that the major media fail to. I don't really know what hatred is. I suppose that hatred helps motivate some people in war, but I try to appeal to pride in our civilization, a sense of justice, and an instinct for survival. If hatred is blind, it can blind one. It can pick on innocent victims. One should never condone vigilantes. IRAN'S INFLUENCE SPREADS The head of Fatah's Al-Aksa Martyr's Brigade in Jenin admitted that his gang receives funds, arms, training, and some direction from Hizbullah (IMRA, 3/20). Hizbullah is directed by Iran; Iran also influences Hamas; Iran is waging war on Israel by proxy. Thus works the Evil Axis that Pres. Bush hardly explained to the people. Most of us miss the significance of the war by Islamism on us. They don't know about the loose alliance of jihadists and Islamic states, even supposed friends of ours. PLO MILITIA DISBANDING IN LEBANON? By Security Council resolution, the militias in Lebanon are supposed to disband. They have not done so, but now the PLO has promised to do so. It would collect all the arms in its camps and then store them "in a secure place" in the camps (IMRA, 3/20). That is not disbanding -- the militia remains organized, and stored arms are available. If the promise is kept, there might be fewer instances of individual abuse of arms, as happens daily in the P.A.. But overall, armed militias remain a threat to civil governance. MUSLIMS CHALLENGING THE CONSTITUTION Muslims have been establishing separate, extra-legal Islamic communities in Europe. Now the United Arabic Emirates, which supports radical Islamic projects, is financing a proposed Islamic community in the US. (Remember its bid to run our ports?) Saudi gifts in the US have promoted undemocratic attitudes in US prisons and intolerant practices. Separate but equal contravenes the American way of assimilation, though people may practice their religion in communities of their own choosing and ownership. Do residents of those communities retain Constitutional rights, or does Islamic law supersede them. Islam does not recognize secular authority. It is at war with democracy. Would the community segregate schools? Would it enforce Islamic codes on dress and banning music and alcohol (and by what means)? Would it impose its political views upon the residents? Would women have fewer rights, as specified by Islamic law? Muslim abused Ontario's tolerance. The Muslims got leave to enforce Islamic law, supposedly subordinate to national law. The Muslims, however, overrode national law. Ontario had to repeal the law to protect women, among others. Its retreat ended an allowance to Catholic and Jewish communities to enforce their marriage laws, about which there had been no complaints (David Kennedy Houck, Middle East Forum, 3/21) Allowing Muslim immigration into Western countries invites future civil strife and a gradual Muslim coercion of the natives who may struggle to retain their liberty. Muslim schools have promoted disloyalty and terrorism. Imagine separate communities! THE HYPOCRITES ARE NOT OBJECTING TO JEWISH POPULATION TRANSFER -- "Population Transfer & Critical Mass" by Emanuel A. Winston, Middle East Analyst & Commentator 4/2/06 Lou Dobbs of FOX NEWS has made it clear that the flood of illegal Mexican transfers puts an unacceptable strain upon American hospitality. There are many nations like Mexico who would like to transfer their population, or at least part of it, to America. These are poor nations with cruel and incompetent leadership which makes it desirable for would-be immigrants to simply get out. Think about such nations as in Mexico, China, Africa, South America. Then there are the Muslims who bear a more hostile intent. They immigrate often to escape the religious tyranny of Arab/Muslim nations but they bring with them the same tyranny and bigotry into their new host country - along with their harsh, restrictive policies against their own women. America, like Europe, has generous benefits to immigrants, namely, health care, schooling, all of which falls on the back of American taxpayers. Legitimate immigrants who are legal find their wages driven down by the illegals who are willing to work for lower wages. CRITICAL MASS The U.S. has awakened to what was an invisible illegal "Critical Mass" until they poured into the streets by the millions. Now the U.S. sees the masses getting more bold, telling the American people that they have no choice. The illegals tell us they have the right to be here without entry permits. That they have a right to all the entitlement programs paid for by American taxpayers. When this "Critical Mass" decides that America is not doing enough, that mob could and, in some cases, have already turned ugly. Don't look for the politicians, including the President, the Republican and Democratic leadership to do anything lest they insult their own political voters. The solution lies with the employers of illegals so, no green card, no work permits Many nations are deliberately getting rid of their excess and poor population by transferring them to America and Europe. Once they achieve Critical Mass, they threaten their host country with demands that meet their criteria of what they think they deserve. America cannot afford to become a catch-all for the world's poor through their own Population Transfer. 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 richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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PERES TO MEET WITH POPE BENEDICT IN ROME
Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, April 6, 2006. |
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This article was written by the Jerusalem Post Staff. Kadima MK-elect Shimon Peres was scheduled to leave for Rome on Thursday to deliver an official invitation to visit Israel from Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Peres was also expected to discuss with Benedict development possibilities for the Negev and the Galilee, Peres's own bailiwick, Israel Radio reported. Israeli leaders to visit Vatican
Mar. 20 (CWNews.com) - Two leading Israeli politicians will visit the Vatican in coming weeks, according to Italian media reports. Tsipi Livni, the Israeli minister of foreign affairs, will meet on
March 22 with Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican's Secretary for
Relations with States. And on April 6, former prime minister Shimon
Peres will be received in a private audience by Pope Benedict XVI
(bio Both Israeli political figures are members of the Kadima party, founded by Ariel Sharon before the Israeli premier was suffered a massive stroke. Kadima remains favored to emerge victorious from parliamentary elections in Israel on March 28.
Tsipi Livni, a former member of the rightist Likud party, rallied behind Sharon in the founding of the centrist Kadima movement. It was Livni who contacted the Vatican on March 4 to assure Church leaders that the rioting at the Annunciation basilica in Nazareth had been caused by an emotionally unstable couple, and did not have political overtones.
Pave the Way Foundation Changes Their Hompepage.
homepage and site changes
Latest projects
Pope Clement VI purchased the site of the Last Supper, known
throughout Christendom as the Cenacle Shrine of the Upper Room,
November 21, 1342. The Shrine however was lost to the Ottoman Empire
in 1551. With the establishment of the State of Israel the Shrine fell
under the control of the Israeli government in 1948 where it remains
unused to this day. The Shrine has no religious significance to Jews
but as the third most important shrine in Christianity, it's return
for Christian use, will serve as an immeasurable gesture of Good will
to Christians around the World. Pave the Way has been suggesting, to
Israeli government officials, to simply allow the use of the Shrine,
rather then any property turnover. This use will not disturb the Tomb
of King David below or the Yeshiva on the ground level. This simple
gesture will give a sorely needed boost to the tourism industry, by
sending a signal to the Christian world, that they are welcome in
Israel. This will be helping all the people in the region.
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WHILE AMERICA SLEEPS, BLOODY WAR RAGES
Posted by Jeffrey Epstein, April 6, 2006. |
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The time has come for Americans to wake up and face the facts. Our nation is currently engaged in a bloody war that will last for decades. The outcome of this conflict will not only impact the security and well-being of future generations but will ultimately cost thousands of lives. Yet, little has been done to educate our citizenry with respect to properly identifying the "enemy." In fact, the more "dependable" members of the mainstream media have gone to great lengths to block such disclosure from reaching the general public. Make no mistake, we are not combating "terrorism" but have been forced into fighting a war that was declared against us by a religious ideology with political aspirations -- against a dangerous enemy that may be fixated in the 7th Century but armed with the modern implements of warfare. Needless to say, it is this same savage ideology that embraces acts of terrorism as an effective tool to undermine the resolve of civilized nations. For a variety of reasons, radical Islam poses a far greater threat to our national security than did the Third Reich. In support of this argument, one must only consider the following: * The Nazis had a homeland or nation, with discernable borders, that could be targeted for counter-attack and invasion. Many citizens are beginning to question whether we are currently fighting against radicalized fundamentalists or against the very pillars of the religion that these barbarians embrace. The realization that a major world religion would support the long term geo-political objectives of ruthless terrorist organizations -- in particular, advocating world domination through violent conquest and/or genocide against those of other faiths is troubling at best. As a case in point, attention should be focused on the following statements that were recently asserted by so-called "moderate" Sheik Yousef Al-Qaradhawi: "We don't disassociate Islam from the war. On the contrary, disassociating Islam from the war is the reason for our defeat. We are fighting in the name of Islam. Religion must lead the war. This is the only way we can win." "Everything will be on our side and against Jews on [Judgment Day], at that time, even the stones and the trees will speak, with our without words, and say: 'Oh servant of Allah, oh Muslim, there's a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' They will point to the Jews. It says 'servant of Allah' not 'servant of desires,' 'servant of women,' 'servant of the bottle,' 'servant of Marxism,' or "servant of liberalism'.. It said servant of Allah." "When the Muslims, the Arabs, and the Palestinians enter a war, they do it to worship Allah. They enter it as Muslims. The hadith says: 'oh Muslim,' not 'oh Palestinian, Jordanian, Syrian or Arab nationalist.' No, it says: 'Oh Muslim.' When we enter a war under the banner of Islam, and under the banner of serving Allah, we will be victorious." Indisputably, Islam is on the move. In terms of growth, it is outpacing every other religion on our soil. One must consider the grim reality that fundamental defects may actually be attributable to the religion itself -- a topic of conversation which wouldn't be comfortably undertaken by a majority of Americans. However, ignoring these warning signs could prove far more deadly in the long run. These issues and more will be discussed at the upcoming symposium being sponsored by America's Truth Forum. This day-long event will take place on Saturday, April 29th, 2006 in the Greater Washington DC Area. Tickets at $119.00 per person (lunch included). Ticketing must be done in advance due to security protocol. With stakes this high, few can afford to not be in attendance. For Details and Information Contact Jeff Epstein, President of America's Truth Forum, at (866) 709-3474, by email at JEpstein@lauramansfield.com or by logging on to www.americastruthforum.com |
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NAZI SALUTE AT L.A. CATHOLIC RALLY
Posted by Marion D.S. Dreyfus, April 5, 2006. |
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This email was sent to Pat Gallant by "Connie Lynne Carrillo" (connielynne@worldnet.att.net). Pat sent it on to me. It may have nothing to do with the Nazis but the association is still there. HI Pat.... this photo will shock you.... so I want you to be
prepared..this photo was taken recently at the 2006 Los Angeles
Catholic Youth Congress Rally. It features the Nazi salute and can be
found at See also http://www.recongress.org/2006/pix/YDlit/DSC_0436.htm through http://www.recongress.org/2006/pix/YDlit/DSC_0441.htm (.../DSC_0438.htm is scary). 
The Rally was presided over by Cardinal Roger Mahony. I want to sent it to some Jewish place where you can report incidents like this but don't know what to do. Please forward to anyone you would like to, I would like to get this exposed in the Jewish community before it gets out hand and these kids are goosestepping down Main Street!! I have already written to Mahony to complain but he usually doesn't
read any of his mail. I'm really sorry you have to see this, Pat, and
put up with this crap...lada....c
Contact Marion Dreyfus at dreyfusmarion@hotmail.com
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BANGLADESH GOING UNDER. COULD USA BE NEXT IN ISLAMIC TERRORISTS GUNSIGHTS?
Posted by David Meir-Levi, April 5, 2006. |
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I doubt that most of us think much about Bangladesh. It is hardly a country of any consequence in the broader scheme of national or international issues. But read the article below, from Canada's Globe and Mail. Bangladesh today may have much more to do with our lives than might be immediately apparent. A dirt-poor, densely populated Moslem country, it gained independence from Pakistan in 1971, and developed an essentially secular democracy. It played no serious role on the international scene until recently. While considered by most to be a moderate, peaceful, Moslem country, over the past few years, Bangladesh has become a new battle ground as Terrorist Islam's[*] next victim. Despite hundreds of terrorist attacks against civilians (most of whom are Moslem) during the past three or four years, the government denies the role of TI (Terrorist Islam [*]) in the violence. The footprint of Jami'at el-Mujahideen (the committee of the Jihad fighters) is clear, but the government takes no substantive action. The purpose of the violence, according to those who take credit for it, is to topple the current government and replace it with Shari'a law and a state run by strict Qur'anic principles. Critics, intellectuals, lawmakers, anyone who might stand in the way, are threatened or killed. The government acquiesces to the intimidation and threats of more violence, and by doing so, enables the TI perpetrators to gain more power and control. Major Moslem religious parties in the government, having sympathies for the religious extremism of the terrorists, encourage the proliferation of mosques and madaras (religious schools, plural of madrasa) which preach the anti-government extremism of TI's political agenda. Note the astounding success of the TI operation to simultaneously explode 500 bombs in different parts of the country. Did anyone notice any reports of this rather amazing demonstration of Jami'at el-Mujahideen organizational skills and penetration into the society of Bangladesh? I didn't. Isn't 500 bombs in one day newsworthy? So what does this have to do with us? Nothing right at this moment; but consider how much better poised TI will be to take on western states after it adds Bangladesh to its growing list of satellite countries where terrorists can roam freely, recruit, train, arm, and organize attacks against other countries in the Middle East which are not yet "Moslem enough". When the TI political base is firm enough, and its capitol established firmly in Baghdad (which is what will happen if we lose the war in Iraq), Zawahiri or whoever emerges as the new Caliph of the far-flung Moslem Umma, can then train his sights upon the real enemy: "Global non-belief" (to use Osama's phraseology) -- that's us. So the fall of Bangladesh, already visible on the political horizon, is a dark and dangerous harbinger of things to come -- unless we find the political backbone to stop Terrorist Islam now. And let's recall the directives on el-Qaeda web-sites from last Fall regarding terrorism in the USA. Remember? El-Qaeda terrorist infiltrators, many of whom entered our country illegally via our porous Mexican border, are instructed to prepare for massive hijackings of fuel trucks to be driven into sensitive areas around our country -- on the same day! The FBI guesses that there are c. 5,000 such terrorists in our country right now, invisible within the broader Moslem American society. If we figure eight to nine handlers for each operator, that gives us 500 terrorists who will hijack fuel trucks and drive them into fuel storage areas, National Guard arsenals, telephone exchange buildings, satellite relay sites, government offices, power plants, military bases, just to name a few such sensitive targets. 500 in one day, same as Bangladesh. Could it be that Bangladesh is just a practice rehearsal for the real thing? PS. Notice the second article below. Similar TI agitation in Pakistan is blamed on Hindus and Jews/Israel. Good way to cover your tracks. [*] TI = Terrorist Islam is a term I coined to refer to terrorism perpetrated by Moslem terrorists, in the name of Islam, as Jihad against the non-Moslem world; and to thus distinguish between those Moslems who are actively involved in, or actively supportive of, that terrorism and between the Moslems who are not. There are, of course, many iterations of Islam that do not promote or practice terrorism.
Geoffrey York
Islamic militants turn to suicide bombings in threat to country's secular democracy GAZIPUR, BANGLADESH -- Nobody noticed the suicide bomber. He seemed to be an ordinary tea hawker: the poorest of the poor, dressed in dirty clothes and carrying a pair of tea flasks -- a common sight in the streets of Bangladesh. As he tried to enter the local government headquarters, two policemen stopped him. His behaviour suddenly changed. "I will teach you a lesson," he shouted. He put down his tea flasks and yanked a wire device from one of them. There was a deafening explosion, and a crowd of people fell to the ground, covered in blood. Mohammed Nurul Amin, a prominent lawyer, was just a few feet away. He was walking to a rally to protest a suicide bombing that had killed and injured dozens of lawyers just two days earlier in the same town. But as he tried to protest against one suicide bombing, he was caught in the devastation of another. "I couldn't imagine that he was carrying a bomb, even when I saw him pulling the wire from the tea flask," Mr. Amin said. "Until recently, Bangladesh was always considered a moderate Islamic country. But these bombings have shown that extremism is emerging here, and it is a threat to our society. It's an attack on our sovereignty and our rights." Bangladesh, the world's third most populous Islamic country, with 140 million people, is struggling to crush a phenomenon whose existence it had denied for years. As far back as 2002, local journalists were reporting the rise of violent Islamic extremism, yet the government insisted there was no such thing. When bombings and murders took place in 2002 and 2004, the government denied that Muslim radicals were responsible, despite evidence to the contrary. Instead it arrested a number of writers and opposition politicians, and it bitterly denounced any journalists who wrote about the militants. Then, on Aug. 17, the country was hit with a staggering blow: the near-simultaneous explosion of about 500 bombs in hundreds of towns and cities across the nation. It was a dramatic signal of the power of the militants, showing that their resources and organizational skill were a serious threat to Bangladesh's secular democracy. Soon afterward came the suicide bombs, the first in the history of Bangladesh. The bombers struck in late November and early December, targeting lawyers and other symbols of Bangladesh's secular legal system. Two of the bombs killed 12 people and injured dozens of others at a law library and government building in the city of Gazipur, about 30 kilometres north of the capital, Dhaka. In interviews this month, several injured lawyers and journalists showed the scars on their bodies and the X-rays of bomb fragments that are still lodged inside their chests and limbs. "As a lawyer, I feel that I'm still a target today," said Anisor Rahman, who was severely injured by a suicide bomber in the Gazipur law library on Nov. 29. "The extremists are highly motivated. They want to impose Islamic law on this country. They are willing to kill more people and launch more attacks. I'm still frightened of them. "Whenever there is an arrest of a militant, every lawyer is afraid of reprisals. Bangladesh could become worse than Iraq or Afghanistan." After the suicide bombings, the extremists mailed a series of threatening letters to lawyers, judges, journalists, government officials and others. "As Muslims, we have declared a war to establish the rule of the Koran," said a letter to journalists in Gazipur. "If you continue to make propaganda against us in your newspapers, we will make your parents sonless, your children fatherless and your wives widows." The government finally launched a crackdown on the Islamic extremists this year. Hundreds have been arrested in recent months, including the leaders of one of the most feared groups, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which has claimed responsibility for many of the bombs. Critics say the arrests are a superficial response that ignores the deeper problem of extremism in Bangladesh. They say the government for years has tolerated the rising power of JMB and other radical groups, allowing them to forge links to the ruling political coalition. Two of the four political parties in the governing alliance are Islamic parties. While they are not as extreme as the militant organizations, they have encouraged the growth of Islamic schools and mosques with a radical agenda, analysts say. One sign of mounting Islamic influence is immediately visible to anyone who arrives at Dhaka's international airport. The airport's name is spelled in large red characters on the roof in three languages: Bengali, English -- and Arabic. The first two languages are widely spoken in Bangladesh, but Arabic is spoken by few people except Islamic scholars and religious-school graduates. The decision to put Arabic on an equal footing with Bengali and English at the country's main airport is a concession to Islamic political influence, critics say. Amnesty International has expressed concern at the government's handling of the terrorist problem, particularly its decision to arrest writers and scholars after bombings at four cinemas in 2002. "Their detention and the government's persistent denial that Islamist groups were responsible for the blasts appeared to be not only a move by the government to intimidate its critics, but also helped to divert the course of justice and, effectively, provided impunity from prosecution to the actual perpetrators of the bomb blasts," an Amnesty report concluded this month. Officials in the city of Sylhet deny that the JMB has any local support, but its national leader was arrested there this month after a 30-hour police siege of his hideout. Formerly East Pakistan, Bangladesh became independent in 1971. It is one of the world's most densely populated countries, with its deeply impoverished people crammed into a delta of rivers that frequently flood. Population: 156.2 million
Pakistani pamphlets link militants to Hindus, Jews
TANK, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's military airdropped pamphlets this week over towns in restive tribal regions near the Afghan border urging tribesmen to shun "foreign terrorists", saying they were part of a Hindu and Jewish plot. The pamphlets were dropped over Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, and Miranshah in North Waziristan as part of a campaign to win support among tribesmen who have shown sympathy for both Taliban and remnants of al Qaeda living among them. A Reuters reporter in Tank, a town close to the boundary with the semi-autonomous tribal agency of South Waziristan, obtained one of the pamphlets, bearing the sign-off "Well Wishers, Pakistan's Armed Forces". Titled "Warning", the pamphlets said the foreign militants were fighting against Pakistan in connivance with "Jews and Hindus", a term that would play on traditional prejudices among the region's Muslim conservatives. "They (foreign militants) not only pose a danger to our sovereignty, but are also creating troubles for our people," read the pamphlet, which appeared in both Urdu and Pashto language versions. "You should stay clear of these terrorists. Don't let them come close to your areas and houses and protect your land against them." "This war is against foreign terrorists and their harbourers who are fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with Jews and Hindus against the state of Pakistan," it added. Military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said he could not confirm that pamphlets were sponsored by the military, although residents say they saw military aircraft scattering the pamphlets over their neighbourhoods. The allusion to Hindus and Jews, otherwise, appears at odds with the trend in Pakistani foreign policy. President Pervez Musharraf has been seeking peace with India for the past two years and last year opened diplomatic channels, though not full relations, with Israel. Remnants of al Qaeda and the Taliban -- including Arabs, Central Asians, Chechens and Afghans -- settled in Waziristan and other border areas after being ousted from Afghanistan by U.S.-led forces in late 2001. Pakistan's army has deployed in South and North Waziristan since late 2003 in an effort to root out foreign militants, but ran into fierce resistance from tribesmen who resent the army's intrusion into their lands. Up to 20 militants were killed in clashes early on Friday in the North Waziristan tribal region after a rocket attack on a military post killed one soldier and wounded two others. Earlier this month around 200 tribesmen were killed in clashes with the army in North Waziristan after a call to arms by militant clerics. Pakistan has captured or killed hundreds of al Qaeda members since Musharraf joined a U.S.-led war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is widely believed to be hiding somewhere in Pakistan along with his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri.
David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli,
currently living in Palo Alto. His expertise is in Near Eastern
studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director
of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org).
Contact him at david_meirlevi@hotmail.com
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YES, IT'S ANTI-SEMITIC
Posted by David Meir-Levi, April 5, 2006. |
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Below is perhaps the most succinct yet poignant rebuttal to the Mearscheimer/Walt "Jewish Lobby" opus, by an American scholar Professor Eliot Cohen, who is a professor at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. It appeared in the Wall Street Journal today. But in addition to Professor Cohen's arguments in the Washington Post, there are three questions regarding this whole issue that no one, so far, to my knowledge, has addressed: a. Timing: why now? Why, all of a sudden, did these widely respected and highly placed scholars come out with a piece of non-scholarly trash about the "Jewish Lobby"? Things don't happen in a vaccuum. Mearscheimer has written uncomplimentary stuff elsewhere about AIPAC and other aspects of the "Jewish Lobby" in the American political scene, but nothing this shallow and transparent. The ease with which a dozen scholars and journalists have debunked and rebutted and line-by-line dismantled the assertions of their essay is perhaps the clearest demonstration of the scholarly ineptitude of their arguments and the palpable bigotry and tendentiousness of their conclusions. So why were they in such a rush now to spring upon the world their transparent ineptitude and bigotry. There are not, as yet, any unassailable answers to my three questions. BUT... .....re 'a' and 'b', it seems to me to be a coincidence of more than passing interest that this paper appears so quickly, sprung so suddenly upon us, after the gift of $20,000,000 from Al-Walid bin-Talal to Harvard. No proof. No direct evidence. Just quite a coincidence! .....re 'c', the likely answer (in my opinion) is: they were writing for anyone who wants a new hammer with which to pound upon the "Jewish Lobby", upon AIPAC, upon Israel, upon 'neo-cons', and upon Bush et al who are beholden to the neo-cons. The trial of the two AIPAC employees who took classified information about Iran from a government employee is growing stale, old, winding down, may be thrown out of court, will end up leaving AIPAC unscathed and clean after a searing in-depth research by the most ruthless of inspectors. So some quarters seek a new way to propel the accusations of "Jewish lobby controls Washington" into the forefront of people's minds. Few will note nor long remember the plethora of detailed and accurate critiques that de-legitimize their work. But the images engendered by "AIPAC accused of spying" and "Harvard scholars accuse Jewish Lobby" will be emblazoned upon people's minds for quite some time. So, all one needs to do is quote these two reputable and veteran Harvard scholars in order to substantiate the accusation that "the white house is 'Israel-occupied' territory" (in the words of the late Eduard Said). Thus, audiences other than the very best informed (i.e., that sad army of benighted souls who do not receive my emails), and audiences that are pre-disposed to anti-Israel sentiments, will both be handily convinced of the rightness of the charge that via AIPAC and the neo-cons, both puppets to Israeli governments, Jews and Zionists are the real power that drives American foreign policy such that it favours Israel to the detriment of American insterests. And, better yet, the attacks on the authors, Harvard's request that they remove their essay from its website, and the accusations of bigotry and anti-semitism.....these are all further proof of the manipulations of the all-powerful Jewish lobby that these two were brave enough to expose. Here, indeed, one can see the power of the Jewish lobby as even Harvard cavils to its behind-the-scenes demands; while a host of attackers, jackals fleetly running down their prey (Jewish jackals no less), incited by the Jewish lobby, beleaguer these brave scholars for their audacity. So who might that "anyone who wants a new hammer" be? Where are those "quarters" seeking a new way"? Who benefits from this scenario? Hard to know for sure, but it does seem obvious that if the House of Saud has, in the words of a Saudi dissident hiding in the USA, "turned the White House into a 'white tent'"; then it would be very advantageous for the House of Saud to draw attention away from its own machinations, and in a very high-profile manner pin the blame for manipulating our government onto the easiest target, the traditional scapegoat, the 1500-year old patsy blamed for all the ills of all the world all the time. It worked for Innocent III, it worked for Hitler, and it worked for Stalin. So, maybe it will work for the Saudis too. But, why would these two prestigious Harvard scholars subordinate their intellect and their reputations to a Saudi need for anti-Israel/anti-Jewish PR? Hmmm....back to that $20,000,000 coincidence. Academic papers posted on a Harvard Web site don't normally attract enthusiastic praise from prominent white supremacists. But John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" has won David Duke's endorsement as "a modern Declaration of American Independence" and a vindication of the ex-Klansman's earlier work, presumably including his pathbreaking book, "Jewish Supremacism." Walt and Mearsheimer contend that American national security dictates distancing ourselves from the state of Israel; that U.S. support for Israel has led to such disasters as America's status as the No. 1 target for Islamic terrorists; and that such an otherwise inexplicable departure from good sense can be accounted for only by the power of "The Lobby" (their capitalization), an overwhelmingly Jewish force abetted by some Christian evangelicals and a gentile neocon collaborator or two, who have hijacked American foreign policy and controlled it for decades. One of Mearsheimer's University of Chicago colleagues has characterized this as "piss-poor, monocausal social science." It is indeed a wretched piece of scholarship. Israeli citizenship rests "on the principle of blood kinship," it says, and yet the country has a million non-Jewish citizens who vote. Osama bin Laden's grievance with the United States begins with Israel, it says -- but in fact his 1998 fatwa declaring war against this country began by denouncing the U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia and the suffering of the people of Iraq. "Other ethnic lobbies can only dream of having the political muscle" The Lobby has -- news to anyone advocating lifting the embargo on Fidel Castro's Cuba. The Iraq war stemmed from The Lobby's conception of Israel's interest -- yet, oddly, the war attracted the support of anti-Israel intellectuals such as Christopher Hitchens and mainstream publications such as The Economist. America's anti-Iran policy reflects the dictates of The Lobby -- but how to explain Europe's equally strong opposition to Iranian nuclear ambitions? Oddly, these international relations realists -- who in their more normal academic lives declare that state interests determine policy, and domestic politics matters little -- have discovered the one case in which domestic politics has, for decades, determined the policy of the world's greatest state. Their theories proclaim the importance of power, not ideals, yet they abhor the thought of allying with the strongest military and most vibrant economy in the Middle East. Reporting persecution, they have declared that they could not publish their work in the United States, but they have neglected to name the academic journals that turned them down. Inept, even kooky academic work, then, but is it anti-Semitic? If by anti-Semitism one means obsessive and irrationally hostile beliefs about Jews; if one accuses them of disloyalty, subversion or treachery, of having occult powers and of participating in secret combinations that manipulate institutions and governments; if one systematically selects everything unfair, ugly or wrong about Jews as individuals or a group and equally systematically suppresses any exculpatory information -- why, yes, this paper is anti-Semitic. Mearsheimer and Walt conceive of The Lobby as a conspiracy between the Washington Times and the New York Times, the Democratic-leaning Brookings Institution and Republican-leaning American Enterprise Institute, architects of the Oslo accords and their most vigorous opponents. In this world Douglas Feith manipulates Don Rumsfeld, and Dick Cheney takes orders from Richard Perle. They dwell on public figures with Jewish names and take repeated shots at conservative Christians (acceptable subjects for prejudice in intellectual circles), but they never ask why a Sen. John McCain today or, in earlier years, a rough-hewn labor leader such as George Meany declared themselves friends of Israel. The authors dismiss or ignore past Arab threats to exterminate Israel, as well as the sewer of anti-Semitic literature that pollutes public discourse in the Arab world today. The most recent calls by Iran's fanatical -- and nuclear weapons-hungry -- president for Israel to be "wiped off the map" they brush aside as insignificant. There is nothing here about the millions of dollars that Saudi Arabia has poured into lobbying and academic institutions, or the wealth of Islamic studies programs on American campuses, though they note with suspicion some 130 Jewish studies programs on those campuses. West Bank settlements get attention; terrorist butchery of civilians on buses or in shopping malls does not. To dispute their view of Israel is not to differ about policy but to act as a foreign agent. If this sounds personal, it is, although I am only a footnote target for Mearsheimer and Walt. I am a public intellectual and a proud Jew; sympathetic to Israel and extensively engaged in our nation's military affairs; vaguely conservative and occasionally hawkish. In a week my family will celebrate Passover with my oldest son -- the third generation to serve as an officer in the United States Army. He will be home on leave from the bomb-strewn streets of Baghdad. The patch on his shoulder is the same flag that flies on my porch. Other supposed members of "The Lobby" also have children in military service. Impugning their patriotism or mine is not scholarship or policy advocacy. It is merely, and unforgivably, bigotry. David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. His expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). Contact him at david_meirlevi@hotmail.com |
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EUROPE GRADUALLY ACCEPTING HAMAS; REACTIONS TO ISRAELI PRISON RAID;
HOW MUSLIMS THANK US
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 5, 2006. |
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PEACEKEEPERS USELESS Foreign peacekeepers fled not only from Jericho, but also fled or sat out other crises: UNO forces in the Sinai in 1967; UNO forces in the Congo in 1960; UNO forces in Cyprus in 1974; UNIFIL in Lebanon, which let terrorists through; NATO forces in Bosnia, 1995; etc.. When the host country tolerates peacekeepers, they really aren't needed. When the host turns hostile, the peacekeepers flee. That is when they are needed, but they are gone. What good are they? (Hillel Halkin, NY Sun, 3/21, Op.-Ed..) The article puts the situation in perspective. That is fine journalism. INJUSTICE TO POLLARD Treated unjustly, Jonathan Pollard nevertheless lost all his appeals on technicalities, except for his final appeal to the US Supreme Court, which simply refused to hear his appeal. He never got the opportunity to make his case heard on the merits (IMRA, 3/21). That is how the US represses justice. MORE TO THE STORY ON THE GAZA-ISRAEL CROSSINGS Tipped off that terrorists would try to sneak through the usual Gaza-Israel crossing, Israel closed it. In compensation, however, Israel offered to let food in through another place. The P.A. refused. Reports of imminent shortages make Israel look inhumane, because they de-emphasize the Arab refusal of entry elsewhere. Although the P.A. is barring food for its people, the newspapers put it as P.A. rationing food because Israel shuts gates. It turns out that the P.A. would get a toll if Israel opened the usual crossing, but it does not get a toll through the impromptu opening. The P.A. may be refusing to let its people get sufficient food unless it gets a fee. The Israeli government forfeited the opportunity to correct the impression of Israel oppressing the Arabs by showing the Arab guilt, here. RESULT OF P.A. VIOLENCE AGAINST WESTERNERS Anti-Israel "humanitarians" who came to the P.A. to assist that society at war with Israel have been kidnapped or murdered by rampaging Arabs. Those who could fled to the safety of "apartheid Israel". Definition of Israeli apartheid: "It is when a leftist Israeli Jewish professor of sociology spends the morning getting his car fixed at an Arab-owned garage, stops to pick up his pills at an Arab-owned pharmacy, calls his Arab renovations contractor about the work on his house, pays his Arab gardener, checks the results of his blood test with the Arab lab technician, stops for lunch at an Arab-owned restaurant, takes a cab owned and driven by an Arab to campus, and then lectures his Arab and Jewish college students about how Israel is such an apartheid state." (Prof. Steven Plaut, 3/17.) REACTIONS TO ISRAELI PRISON RAID After the IDF raided the P.A. prison in Jericho to recapture the murderers whom Abbas was freeing in violation of the P.A. agreement with Israel, Abbas condemned the agreement. That demonstrates, yet again, that he is no moderate. Amnesty International, which only tepidly condemns terrorism against Israel, heatedly condemned the raid by Israel. Did it want serial killers released against the Jews? The raid boosted Acting PM Olmert's Party, which had been falling in the polls for not protecting the country (Prof. Steven Plaut, 3/17). The Winston Mid East Analysis calls the raid a fraud. It claims that nobody actually threatened the foreign monitors, and British troops usually don't run away. Abbas had not warned he was going to release the prisoners, until he was given a hint. It did ingratiate him with incoming Hamas. Israeli troops arrived just minutes after the monitors left, not by coincidence (as the Arabs noted). The real motive was to re-inflate Olmert's Party. The US wants that Party around after it destroys Iran's nuclear weapons. Then Olmert's Party would abandon the rest of the Territories, and the US would expect to recover some prestige in the Muslim world. The prior US effort to win Muslim favor had failed (3/16). Winston points out that the US staged a similarly fraudulent raid when Pres. Bush was falling in the polls. It announced an offensive in Iraq, with Iraqi troops. It kept reporters out, so they could not reveal that there was almost no fighting (because few enemy troops were around, hence no need for an offensive). Just a few small weapons were found. The US doesn't need the incumbent Party and therefore the Israeli raid to boost its electoral fortune. The other two major parties, Labor and Likud also are appeasement minded, and would cooperate with US demands for concessions to the Arabs. SECURITY IN BRITAIN A Labor Party MP invited as his guest an alleged terrorist, a Palestinian Arab. The MP provided his guest with an MP pass, permitting entry without undergoing inspection. That risked a bombing! (Prof. Steven Plaut, 3/20.) Suppose an MP were a Muslim? BEST COMMENT ON THE HARVARD ANTI-ISRAEL PAPER "If these 'academics' had a shred of intellectual honesty, they would of course document the obvious, namely, that it is not America's foreign and defense policies that are dominated by Israeli pressures, but rather it is Israel's foreign and defense policies that are dictated by American pressures. Down to and including every nook and twist in the 'defense wall'". (Prof. Steven Plaut, 3/20.) Yes, the US Ambassador reviews Israeli building plans in the Territories! PART OF AL-QAEDA TRAINING The terrorist training manual coaches how to confound the West's legal system. It exploits civilian courts in order to advance a military agenda. The proper venue for terrorists caught in military operations would be military trials, not so easily exploited. Actually, US law does not require a trial at all, just a hearing to make sure that the detainee is a military prisoner and not a civilian erroneously swept up by the military (Prof. Steven Plaut, 3/17). We should not play into terrorist hands. EUROPE EDGING ITS WAY TO RECOGNIZING HAMAS Pretending to uphold principles of civilization, the EU nevertheless has been inviting Hamas supporters and candidates to its meetings. The EU rationalizes that those guests were not members of Hamas. However, since they ran on the Hamas slate, what is the difference? The EU is edging its way to recognizing Hamas and subsidizing a Hamas P.A., making a religious war (IMRA, 3/18). Does it know it is edging? A 3/23 NY Times Op-ED from Gideon Litchfield of the Economist compared the supposed US quarantining of Hamas with that of Cuba. It doesn't work. Other states shore Cuba up and Castro rallies his people against US hostility. The article covered all sides equally. That is its fault, leaving us with a helpless "wait and see." However, not all sides are equal. The author omitted major factors in evaluating them. First, we over-spend and waste most foreign aid. The US has no obligation to give foreign aid to a particular country. We may choose which; why choose anti-American terrorists? Aid to Hamas would support religious war. Oh, the author writes as if in balance, Hamas has given out more hints of moderation in a few weeks than Castro did in years. Mr. Litchfield ignores the major Islamic war tactic of deceit. Islam pretends moderation and utilizes truces in order to build strength before another offensive. After having dedicated years to fanatical religious warfare, there is no basis for hoping that Hamas would make peace. The notion of "constructive engagement" doesn't work with totalitarian, aggressive regimes. They take the money but not the constructiveness. WHAT THE MUSLIMS DO WITH THE WELCOME WE GAVE THEM European critics of Islam "get murdered in the streets" or "have to live in hiding" (Jim Geraghty, NY Sun, 3/22, Op.-Ed.). Danish editors published a few cartoons, and then had to run for their lives. Are we going to stand for life as second-class citizens, while our enemies within intimidate us with impunity, and more pour in? We tried tolerance toward the intolerant, only to find them intolerant of us. Not all multi-culturalism works; it doesn't work with the Muslims. Time to halt their immigration and reverse it, whatever it takes. 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 richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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THE REAL BATTLE FOR JEWISH SURVIVAL
Posted by Rabbi Adam Winston, April 5, 2006. |
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Project: Light Unto The Nations is an international effort dedicated to preparing every Jewish child to fulfill their role as a Light Unto The Nations by receiving a Jewish Day School Education. For thousands of years the Jewish people have fought those who would deprive them of their Judaism. The ancient Romans and other of their ilk, forbade the study and practice of Judaism on pain of death. In recent years the Nazis destroyed over one-third of the Jewish people. This was followed by the brutal repression of all things Jewish in Communist Russia. Fleeing persecution, many came to the shores of America. For all they had suffered and survived, nothing prepared them to confront the educational policy of the Untied States government. Public school for all. Only those who could afford it were able to attend a Jewish Day School. The current structure of American educational policy, that uses de facto economic pressure to force students to attend public school -- has caused destruction of the Jewish community. Judaism requires Jewish education as a fundamental part of its existence -- not merely as an adjunct. The statistics conclusively prove that it is impossible for a Jew to maintain their Jewish identity into future generations, without receiving a full Jewish Day School education. The American government, albeit unwittingly, has aided the destruction of the Jewish people within the boundaries of the United States. This was clearly not the goal of the Founding Fathers, nor does it reflect, we trust, the view of today's lawmakers. Therefore, to rectify this situation, we now require 300 schools to rescue the remnant of American non-Orthodox Jewry, estimated at 250,000 students in grade 1-8. This is not a violation of separation of Church and State but rather redress for damages inflicted upon the Jewish people as a result the economic pressure brought to bear on Jewish families to attend public school. Those who did manage to attend Jewish Day Schools had a higher level of Jewish educational awareness and/or personal wealth that allowed them this option. The vast majority could not pass this "economic pressure threshold" and sent their children to the public schools, thereby dooming them to assimilation. One third of the Jewish people were destroyed by the Nazis a mere 60 years ago. It is not fitting that the great country of America should go down in history as being the place where another third of the Jewish people were lost - and all for the lack of the proper schools. We call upon all those of good will to support this program and to introduce legislation to fund the building and support of 300 new Jewish Day Schools. Contact the "Light Unto The Nations" Headquarters in Jerusalem by phone from the States at 011 972 2 656 5391 or by fax at 011 972 2 656 4434. |
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OLMERT SLEAZE AND LABOR PARTY BOLSHEVISM
Posted by Steven Plaut, April 5, 2006. |
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Oh, how confusing! While most people are watching the behavior of the Olmert government regarding the Hamas and the "territories", a matter of no small import is the economic policy of the new Olmert government. First, Olmert is personally corrupt. Haaretz 4/4/06 reports an extraordinarily dirty deal between Olmert and the Denkner oligarch family. Briefly, the Denkners bought up large tracts of agricultural land and Olmert is trying to do them a "favor" by allowing them to convert the land from farm use to housing development. Each acre would be worth many times more when used for housing, granting the oligarchs a windfall of many many millions. For Hebrew readers, details of the sleaze are at: http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArtPE.jhtml?itemNo= 702221&contrassID=2&subContrassID=6&sbSubContrassID=0 The deal amount to little more than a Post-Soviet-style deal with an oligarch. Meanwhile, the Labor Party and its apologists are promoting naked Bolshevism as the set of economic policies they think should replace the sound policies of Netanyahu from the last government, especially if Olmert is dumb enough to let a Labor hack serve as Minister of Finance. The politics around economics in Israel are always strange. Far leftist anti-Zionist Haaretz has a business section which is the most pro-market and pro-capitalism medium in the country. It is edited by far-leftist Nehemia Strasler, who has never met a settler he does not think needs eviction, in a paper that pretty clearly endorses the non-economic agenda of Israel's communist party. However, Strasler has been attacking the Left for its economic "thinking" and defending his arch-nemesis Netanyahu when it comes to economic policies. Strasler hates Bibi's politics but loves his economics. Take a look at www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ArticleContent.jhtml?itemNo=702365 and read the whole item. Note also that Stanley Fischer, the Governor of the Bank of Israel, is himself a far-leftist when it comes to "territories" and "settlers", but one who loves Bibi's economics. The Bank of Israel just issued a report on the economy under Netanyahu and gives it glowing acolades, even though Fischer is probably Meretz in his political outlook. Far-leftist Haaretz supports and endorses the attempts by Far-Leftist Fischer to grant acolades and praise to Likudnik Bibi. The paper is also ripping into the Labor Party's arch-bimbette Shelley Yahimovich, a radio-TV talking head with a long love affair with the HADASH Arab communist party. Shelley the Shanda has also been attacking the economics of Stanley Fischer, who had a brilliant career as an economics prof at MIT before joining the Bank of Israel and literally wrote the book on open-economy macroeconomics. Interestingly, the Haaretz Leftist staff is blasting Charlatan Shelley for this and defending Fischer's economics! See http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ArticleContent.jhtml?itemNo=702421 Confusing, huh??! Fischer had the courage to denounce the bolshevik demagogues in the Labor Party demanding a sharp increase in the minimum wage, which would put thousands of Israelis out of work. Haaretz praises Fischer for this and denounces Shelley for her attacks on Fischer and against his supposed "insensitivity" to the plight of the poor. Shelley and her Labor bolshie friends, including pseudo-academic Avishay Braverman, want to help out the Israeli poor by making sure they are unemployed. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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ISRAEL'S ATTORNEY-GENERAL: YEARNING FOR CONFRONTATION
Posted by Susie Dym, April 5, 2006. |
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Remember the pools of blood at Amona -- all due to nine Jewish homes
in the middle of nowhere which allegedly had not been "authorized" by
the appropriate paper-pushers? To remind you, here are excerpts from
the LA Times:
"The clashes, which injured more than 200 people, including two members of the Israeli parliament, were covered live on local television for hours. By afternoon, authorities ... smashed the houses with tractors....Helmeted officers, aided by front-end loaders and ladders, stormed atop the homes and were seen clubbing the holdouts in a show of force ...In a sign of the government's resolve, about 6,000 soldiers and police took part in the evacuation...The scene at times resembled a miniature battlefield, with the injured being carried one after another in stretchers, bloodied and bandaged. A patch of gravel near the row of stone-sided homes became a makeshift triage center, where medics treated the injured on sheets of cardboard that bore pools of blood." Unfortunately, it seems as though Israel's Attorney General is doing everything possible to repeat this confrontation - -this time in Hebron. Here are the particulars: At the very same time, some weeks ago, that Amona was deteriorating into blood-soaked civil strife despite pleas to Israel's government at the highest levels, a similar situation in Hebron was being quietly diffused by a no-nonsense IDF commander, Yair Golan. The bone of contention was Hebron's Shalhevette Neighborhood, built on Jewish land adjacent the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron in the aftermath of a fatal terror attack on an infant victim, 10 month old Shalhevette, the anniversary of whose death occurred this week. Golan managed to negotiate an agreement with the embittered, long-suffering members of the Jewish community of Hebron according to which the residents of the neighborhood which desparately needed yet another permit, would briefly vacate their homes so as not to embarrass the politically powerful radical left, however, they would then be allowed, by mutual consent, to return home, this time with all necessary permits. An agreement to this effect was duly drawn up between the Jewish Community of Hebron and the IDF. The Jewish residents of the Shalhevette neighborhood, wary and distrustful but true to their word, dutifully packed up their (large) families and moved temporarily into the homes of neighbors and relatives. So, what can be done to persuade Mazuz to allow a handful of families to finally, legally, peaceably return to their homes in the cradle of the Jewish people? Are we destined to see in Hebron a re-run of the Amona pogrom? Please: Don't remain silent. Ask Israel's President Katzav to deal with the problem (forward this email to him!). There must be a relationship of trust between a state and its citizenry. Agreements can't be reneged upon at will. If you are concerned that President Katzav will remain passive and do nothing, as is his wont, you can, in parallel, contact (or forward this email to) the effective head of the largest Jewish community in the world -- Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. This will actually be a good opportunity to find out which of the two senior Jewish leaders responds more quickly and more effectively to the public (to you). Urge Israel to keep its agreement with the Jews of Hebron -- not to dash the relationship of trust that every government must have with its own citizenry. Please contact, or forward this email, to: * President Katzav president@president.gov.il; public@president.gov.il, 02-6707211 (phone) Kindly forward copies of your correspondence (and any replies) to office2@Hebron.org.il. Thank you for your concern -- Susie Dym Susie Dym is spokesperson, Mattot Arim. Send her comments to at sddym@bezeqint.net |
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DON'T 'WEEP FOR PALESTINIAN SUFFERING'
Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, April 5, 2006. |
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This is JINSA Report #561 - Mar 31, 2006 Western governments are coming to grips with the reality of the Hamas victory. On the plus side: - Canada's government was the first to suspend assistance to and order no contact with the Hamas Cabinet. - The U.S. government told its diplomats and contractors to sever contact with Palestinian ministries and forbade contact with all Hamas-appointed officials whether the officials themselves are or are not Hamas members. This expands the original American position. - UN Ambassador John Bolton announced that Washington would redefine the role of Maj. Gen. Keith Dayton, as liaison to the PA for security matters. Gen. Dayton has been asked to end all contact with Palestinian security forces reporting to any member of the Hamas Cabinet. - The Quartet said aid would "inevitably" be affected and called on the Hamas "to commit to the principles of non-violence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations� Future assistance to any new government would be reviewed by donors against that government's commitment to the principles." But the full Canadian position is instructive. Ottawa said the Palestinian people should not be penalized over the actions of Hamas and will continue to provide $22 million in annual humanitarian aid through various UN and non-governmental agencies. Washington and the Quartet, too, will continue to finance humanitarian projects and are considering how to move projects from the PA to NGOs in order that they continue to receive money. There is, in this, an unwillingness to grasp that Hamas was the CHOICE of Palestinian voters in open competition (not a "democratic election," but a competitive choice). They knew what they were doing and knew what they were risking and Hamas is what they picked. How can Western donors defend rejecting Hamas for being the choice of "the people", but not penalize the people who made the choice? "I weep for the Palestinians' suffering," President Bush said yesterday. "They've been ruled for years by a disappointing government, but we can't fund a nation that seeks to destroy its neighbor." Yes, Mr. Bush, the Palestinians have been poorly led and for years it was possible to say they had no hand in the lousy leadership that beggared the people and took them to an unnecessary and particularly brutal terrorist war; lousy leadership that devoured its young, teaching them that death was preferable to life; rotten leadership that stole the treasure and the soul of the people. We funded them all that time while they tried to destroy Israel. But that was then and this is now. "The people" picked this government and should not be allowed to expect that the civilized world will feed, house and shelter them while Hamas picks up its check from Iran and uses it to enhance its terrorist capabilities. 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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FASCISM AND IDIOCY ARE A NATURAL PART OF 'PALESTINIAN' ARAB MUSLIM SICK CULT
Posted by Light On Things, April 4, 2006. |
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This news item comes from ynet
Leave for a moment the "great logic" of those "holy" idiots. This actually means that the Arab Muslim Hamas-nick Satanic fascist believes that a person who's ethnically a Jew can not be trusted ever & even when converting they just have a "goal". Just who said that the 'Palestinian' Arab Muslim leaders and mainstream society's (Hamas won the election, in case some forgot) fascism is exempt from idiocy? It reminds me of what an Arab Muslim propagandist gave me a "logic" that: 'every attack that damages too much Islam, is not done by Muslims', (that "theory" that followed the Islamists' industry of theories on 9/11 Jihad massacre). Hey, Muslim Jihadists & Racists Arabs, both of which Hamas can be so proud of, are the most talented in self-damaging image wise, no one can do such a great "service" for Islam or for Arabs' image as they do it so successfully. Top Hamas man says he directed study proving 'Zionists' infiltrated churches -- World Net Daily United States churches are secretly run by Jews who converted to Christianity with the intention of controlling religious Americans including President Bush, a top Hamas member claims. "Even the churches where the Americans pray are led by Jews who were converted to Christianity, but they were converted to keep controlling the Americans," Mohammad Abu Tir, the number two Hamas terrorist in the newly formed Palestinian Authority government said during an exclusive interview from his home yesterday with top radio host Rusty Humphries and WND Jerusalem bureau chief Aaron Klein. "I made a study and I know very well that all this radicalism in some parts of the Christianity, (including) the Anglicans who are being led by Bush, is because of the control of Zionists," said Abu Tir. The Hamas man, famous for his orange-dyed beard, went on to accuse "Zionists" of controlling Western media organizations and "leading terrorism inside the mass communications media." Abu Tir was elected to the number two spot in the PA in January's legislative ballots in which Hamas won by a large margin. He spent nearly 25 years in Israeli prisons for directing terror activities, including the attempted poisoning in the early 1990s of Israel's water supplies. His comments will be broadcast tonight on Humphries national program, "The Rusty Humphries Show," which is live from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. Eastern and featured on more than 230 radio stations nationwide, including WDBO in Orlando, WCBM in Baltimore, KSFO in San Francisco, KOKC in Oklahoma City, WNIS in Norfolk, KHBZ in Honolulu and KVI in Seattle. Humphries this week is scheduled to broadcast from various hotspots in Israel and will conduct exclusive interviews with regional leaders and newsmakers. Humphries has been named one of America's 100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts six years in a row by Talkers Magazine, was nominated as Talk Radio Personality of the Year by Radio and Records and was inducted into the Nevada Broadcasters Hall of Fame as its youngest inductee ever. ==================================== Contact the poster at his website: http://lightonthings.blogspot.com or send him an email at therealityshow@mail.com |
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DANIEL PINNER SHOWN SOME LENIENCY
Posted by Matthew S. Finberg, April 4, 2006. |
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Thanks to all who emailed, faxed, and/or called the Judge to express your concern/outrage prior to Daniel's sentencing. He won't be walking free tomorrow, but we should see him right after Chanukkah! PINNER SENTENCED TO TWO YEARSDaniel Pinner was sentenced to two years in prison today. He was convicted of having injured an Arab in Gush Katif by shooting in the air when an Arab mob attacked him with rocks. Pinner, 38, has been in Ramle's Maasiyahu Prison since June 2005, and can therefore be expected to be released six and a half months from now, if he receives one-third off for "good behavior." He has not been allowed to leave jail even one time since his incarceration - except for trips to the Be'er Sheva District Court. Pinner was arrested on June 22 for allegedly firing at and injuring an Arab "with intent to cause harm" on the Gush Katif beach. Arab witnesses later admitted in court that they were part of a group throwing rocks at Pinner. An unmarried licensed electrician, Pinner was in Gush Katif at the time to volunteer his services in the refurbishing of the Palm Beach Hotel for new families. He was taking a walk on the beach when "about 50 Arabs throwing rocks attacked me," he said. "I was carrying an Uzi, so I shot in the air. After a few yards they began throwing rocks again, so I fired several more shots in the air. The Arabs then backed off, and I went back to the hotel. Four days later I was arrested at home, with the police claiming that I had shot one of the Arabs and wounded him. First they said in the chest, later it turned out that there was an Arab who claimed to have been shot in the leg..." Pinner said that his life was "clearly in danger." Though no proof was brought that the Arab had been shot by Pinner, the accused remained in prison "until the end of the proceedings" for seven months until his conviction. No judge in Israel was willing to release him even to a form of house arrest, including Supreme Court Justice Eliezer Rivlin, who ruled on the case in late December. "It looked at first like he saw through the whole story [and would release him to house arrest]," Pinner's lawyer Baruch Ben-Yosef said, "but in the end, the usual happened.... [The judge] said that the case is almost over, and things like that." Ben-Yosef said earlier today that he hoped the sentence would not be more than two years, but was not confident; the Prosecutor had asked for a seven-year sentence. Shlomo Wollins of IsraelReporter.com, who was in the courtroom for sentencing, told Yishai and Malkah Fleisher that Pinner is in "very good spirits." Wollins said that Pinner is even happy to have "studied more Torah over the past eight months than during the eight years before that." Daniel Pinner said he would appreciate messages from supporters via voicemail at 03-906-8079 (+972-3-906-8079 from outside Israel), or by regular mail at: Daniel Pinner, Maasiyahu Prison, POB 13, 72100. Contact Matthew Finberg at matt@finberglaw.com |
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LET'S IGNORE HAMAS
Posted by Women in Green, April 4, 2006. |
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This article was written by Caroline Glick and it appeared in the
Jerusalem Post yesterday.
Last Thursday the first jihadist government since the Taliban ascended to power. The induction of the Hamas government in the Palestinian Authority has created a new dynamic in the Middle East. Today a force openly supportive of global jihadist organizations like al-Qaida and Hizbullah, allied with Iran, dedicated to the complete Islamization of Palestinian society and committed to the eradication of Israel now reigns in the Palestinian Authority. To date, Western governments have limited their response to Hamas's rise to power to endless debates and statements regarding their desire to create mechanisms that will allow them to continue to give the Palestinians billions of dollars a year and to maintain their official ties with the Hamas-led PA through the office of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Exemplifying this trend last week were Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US President George W. Bush. On election night, Olmert entreated Abbas to open negotiations with Israel. In an address last Wednesday, Bush said, "I weep about the suffering of the Palestinians," while maintaining that the "US government has got aid that goes directly to people. And I know that we'll continue to call upon governments in the region to support the Palestinian people." At base, the Western world's desperate search for a way to give the Palestinians its money shows two things about the West. First it shows that Western governments from Washington to Paris to Jerusalem understand that Hamas is not the same as Fatah. They know that there is something that fundamentally differentiates today's situation in the PA from that which existed before the January 25 elections. Yet on the other hand, the fact that the West searches for ways to continue aiding the Palestinians in spite of the fact that they just elected Hamas to lead them indicates that the West is unclear why the Palestinians' choice should change the way its governments do business. SO IN the interest of clarifying the situation, it is necessary to examine what Hamas actually is. In the first instance, Hamas is a jihadist organization rooted, like al-Qaida, in the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood movement. Hamas was founded in 1988. Its covenant defines the goal of Hamas's jihad as the eradication of Israel. Towards this end, the notion of negotiating a peace treaty with Israel is completely ruled out. As the covenant states, "There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by jihad." The Hamas covenant places great emphasis on the need to indoctrinate the Palestinian people in the cause of jihad. Raising the banner of jihad, "requires the propagation of Islamic consciousness among the masses, locally [in Palestine], in the Arab world and in the Islamic world. It is necessary to instill the spirit of jihad in the nation, engage the enemies and join the ranks of the jihad fighters." Hamas's covenant is important because its tenets are upheld and given concrete meaning in Hamas's electoral platform published in January. That document places its greatest emphasis on Hamas's intention to use its political power to Islamize the PA government apparatuses and to bring about the total mobilization of Palestinian society for jihad. The platform stipulates that Hamas will revise the PA's criminal code and constitutional laws to ensure that "Islamic Sharia law will be the principle source of legislation in Palestine." Since its electoral victory, Hamas has targeted nightclubs, bars, Westernized women and homosexuals in Gaza. Its platform backs these moves and future suppression of Western norms when it states, "We will foster respect for all views that do not deviate from the people's beliefs and their cultural heritage." Women are targeted specifically with the promise that they will be instructed in the ways of Islam to "familiarize" them with their "independent identity which is based on chastity and commitment." In promoting and proselytizing jihad, Hamas will "support mosques and mosque facilities" and "ensure that places of worship serve both a missionary and educational role in society." And the educational role of the mosques, like the role of schools and the media, will be to preach jihad. Hamas explains that its goal is to "improve our citizenry" with the goal of helping them "resist cultural normalization." The media under Hamas will receive "guidance... so that they serve to elevate the Palestinian people and foster their perseverance and resistance." The fact that Hamas publicly places its greatest emphasis on indoctrination is borne out by its decision to appoint Dr. Nasser Al-Din Shaar deputy prime minister and minister of education. Shaar is the dean of the Sharia Law department at A-Najah University in Nablus. He is the senior government minister in Judea and Samaria, with the PA's prime minister, foreign minister and interior minister all located in Gaza. In an interview with Ma'ariv last month, Shaar, whose university has seen several of its students become suicide bombers, not only refused to acknowledge the virulently anti-Semitic content of the PA's school and university curricula, he accused Israel of corrupting Palestinian society. In his words, "We know that the government of Israel and its intelligence services are trying to oppress the Palestinians, for instance by distributing narcotics and pornography." WHILE MAHMOUD Abbas is seen as the great white hope of the West, for Hamas it appears that his main purpose is to buy time during which they will complete the Islamization and militarization of Palestinian society. Acting as a fig leaf to a West addicted to the Palestinians, Abbas will enable Hamas to mobilize the Palestinians for the next round of jihad as it builds up its arsenal - which is already formidable. Last Tuesday a Katyusha rocket was launched for the first time on Ashkelon. Since Israel's abandonment of the international border between Gaza and Egypt last September, al-Qaida operatives from Iraq and Hizbullah operatives from Lebanon have established bases of operation in Gaza. Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers have begun assisting Hamas commanders in establishing, arming and training a new jihadist army. That army, which will be called the Murbitun, will be modeled after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Hamas is also taking steps to co-opt Fatah terrorists and bring them into its government with the aim of Islamizing Fatah. Its Interior Minister Said Siam appointed Khaled Abu Hilal, one of the commanders of Fatah's Aksa Martyrs Brigades terror group, as his ministry's spokesman. Siam also cancelled the Fatah-instituted ban on beards in the PA security services. The West is operating under the assumption that the Palestinians will stop supporting Hamas if they stop giving their money to the PA. But Hamas seems to invite the aid cutoff. Its electoral platform pledged that it would "Reject all donations that come with conditions or ask us to concede any of our inviolable principles." HAMAS'S RISE to power renders it all but impossible to deny the connection between the insurgency in Iraq and the global jihad in general and the Palestinian war with Israel. Indeed, in his first statement as foreign minister, Mahmoud Zahar attacked the US claiming, "America is committing big crimes against the Arab and Islamic countries." Yet as Hamas prepares for war on all levels, Israel is about to form a government led either by Kadima or Labor whose politicians insist on pretending that there is no problem here. Kadima's plan to remove Israeli communities and IDF forces from Judea and Samaria is based on an abject refusal to admit that the areas abandoned will be taken over by Hamas. Furthermore, as Olmert has repeatedly stated, Kadima refuses to acknowledge that Hamas is even a threat to Israel. For its part, Labor believes that it is still possible to negotiate an agreement with the Palestinians in spite of the fact that they elected Hamas to lead them. Labor believes that Abbas, who has never lifted a finger to fight terrorism and has been incapable of making any constructive steps toward peaceful coexistence with Israel, is a viable partner for negotiations. As well, its leaders have expressed a willingness to negotiate with Hamas. The Taliban's rise to power was greeted by indifference from the international community. Every once in awhile, Mullah Omar and his buddies would be caught stoning women to death or blowing up Buddhist monuments and would receive global reprimands for a few days. Although it was shunned by all countries except Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the Taliban's global isolation did not seem to inhibit its commitment to jihad. In the end, the Taliban were only forced to change the way they did business when the US military brought down their regime after they enabled the September 11 attacks. Is there anyone willing to draw any lesson from the last jihadist government in their dealings with the newest one? y |
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WELCOME HOME
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, April 4, 2006. |
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Israel is a democracy. Over the years, there have been many instances (several thousand) of Israeli women who have opted to marry Arabs (town, Bedouin). This saddens us because they are mistreated very extremely, even by their new neighbours. However, this is their democratic right. Israel is not racist and no racist actions, of any kind, are allowed under our law. One must then ask, "How many Arab women have opted to marry Israeli men?" The answer is exactly zero. Why? Because Arab boys are taught in school that their honour flows from their "sister's vagina" (pardon the language, but that is the terminology actually used by the school system). In EVERY case where an Arab girl has sidled towards anything of the sort, they have been murdered. In Arab countries, "Honour killings" are legal -- that is, the murderer cannot be prosecuted or arrested. As soon as a murderer claims that he killed as an honour killing he must be set free. This is the law. In Jordon, the late King Hussein tried to change the law and failed, despite being an absolute monarch and very well respected. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org |
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OLMERT'S LEVY PROBLEM WITH PERETZ
Posted by Steven Plaut, April 4, 2006. |
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One reason why the coalition negotiations are dragging out is that Olmert faces a serious David Levy problem when it comes to Amir Peretz. Let me explain. For many years, David Levy was a perpetual thorn in the side of Israel's coalition builders after each election. Running sometimes as head of his own party and sometimes as party of the Likud (with guaranteed slots for his people and a guarantee of a senior cabinet post for himself). The problem was that Levy was so incredibly stupid that he could never be trusted with any job involving real authority and responsibilities. He would have produced a disaster! Levy was barely literate, spoke no English, little more than a vote-getter among blue collar Sephardic voters, especially Moroccan Jews. Levy triggered the growth of "David Levy Jokes," an entirely new genre that make Dan Quayle jokes look tame. (Also, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Levy_(Israeli_politician) The solution offered Levy by both the Labor Party and the Likud, both of whose coalitions he joined at various times, was to allow him to be Foreign Minister. After all, Foreign Minister was little more than the post of government spokesman, had no real power, and so could not do any real damage. Peretz is a barely literate low-intelligence hack, originally brought on board the Labor Party to get Moroccan Jewish votes, speaks no English, has run as head of his own party and now also as head of Labor, and cannot be trusted with any real cabinet job. Peretz himself however suffers from intense delusions of competence. That makes it difficult for Olmert to bring the Labor Party into his coalition without tossing Peretz a bone. My guess? Labor will join, with Peretz as Foreign Minister. And get set for the new genre: the Amir Peretz Joke. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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HONOR AND INTEGRITY? -- NOT IN THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, April 4, 2006. |
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There has historically been no Government office so lacking in honor and integrity as that of the Attorney General. Thousands of totally innocent people have been hounded and persecuted by the Powers That Be (PTB) using this office. Their only crime being that they are considered an enemy of the ruling elites. In other than a fascist police state, once it has been concluded that there is no evidence to bring charges against someone, the issue is dropped. In Israel once the word has been sent out to "get" someone, anything is allowed. If after all efforts legal and illegal they can not destroy the object of official hatred, he is publicly asked to resign. If he does not then the lackeys of the PTB in the Government and media begin to howl like wounded demons, screeching about honor, integrity and democracy. There is of course no comparable outcry over the open scandals and open investigations of those associated with the PTB. No howling or screeching about how our public servants manage to become multi-millionaires while never having left public service or how at a time when poverty is rampant and spreading like a plague in Israel, the Government announces a nearly US$400 million SURPLUS. No the only person Levy sees fit to publicly denounce and call to resign is Chief Rabbi Metzger. The first news item is from yesterday's Arutz Sheva -
IsraelNationalNews.com
(IsraelNN.com) MK (Religious Zionist Renewal Party, Hit'chabrut) Rabbi Yitzchak Levy called on Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger to resign his post in compliance with Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's recommendation. Mazuz announced on Monday that even though the decision was made not to move ahead with a criminal indictment against Rabbi Metzger, he recommends that he step down from his post. Rabbi Levy stated that the chief rabbi must comply in order to preserve the honor and integrity of the post and that of the Office of the Chief Rabbinate. Rabbi Levy added the Chief Rabbinate must set a pristine example of proper conduct for public officials and exhibit true Jewish values including integrity. 
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz announced his conclusions yesterday regarding the criminal investigation into Rabbi Metzger's actions during the Passover holiday of 2004. The rabbi was accused of having been a guest of a Jerusalem hotel for the holiday without paying. Mazuz said that there was not sufficient evidence to charge him, but that it would be appropriate for him to resign in any event. Mazuz further threatened to initiate an administrative procedure to depose the rabbi if he does not leave his post. Rabbi Metzger, in response, said he would appeal against Mazuz in the Supreme Court. "He issued a ruling against me without giving me a chance to defend myself," the rabbi said, "while violating the basic civil rights that every citizen deserves." Sources close to Mazuz were quoted as saying, "It's too bad that Rabbi Metzger is dragging us and the judicial system into a long degrading process." Others said it was Mazuz who had behaved inappropriately. After deciding that Metzger should not be indicted yesterday, Mazuz added, "In light of the defects in his behavior [in this matter], it would be appropriate for Rabbi Metzger to assume personal responsibility and decide on his own to resign... His continued service in his position is liable to strike a great blow at the standing of the Chief Rabbinate and the Supreme Rabbinical Court, and in public confidence in these institutions." This extra-judicial opinion, however, is exactly the type Mazuz promised he would not issue. Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane reports that just weeks after assuming the position of Attorney General in early 2004, Mazuz said, "I have said in the past on several occasions that I am against the writing of any public reports. In my opinion, there is a police investigation which must end with a recommendation... [Regarding the judicial process of deciding whether or not to indict,] this is not a matter of policy or perception, but rather an objective question. Either there is evidence or there is not, and the evidence is considered in an objective manner." Mazuz's confidantes said at the time that he would not "engage in the worthless practice of issuing public reports that leave the suspect in the gray area - not guilty, but not quite innocent. Mazuz will cut sharply towards an indictment only if the evidence is well-grounded; if not, the file will be closed." Upon taking office, Mazuz also said, "I intend to act to reduce the involvement of the Attorney General's office in the public-political sphere, and create a clearer and more formal separation zone between them." Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Tzfat and a former candidate for the post of Israel's Chief Rabbi, downplayed Mazuz's resignation recommendation. "I have trouble with the behavior of the Attorney General," the rabbi said, "who sees himself as a supreme judge, and who decrees a person's fate even without giving him a hearing or a chance to prove his innocence. This appears to be a case also of ganging up on rabbis and judicial tyranny." Kiryat Ono's Rabbi Razton Arousi, the leading rabbi of the Yemenite community in Israel, similarly attacked Mazuz for having made such an announcement without ever having heard Rabbi Metzger on the matter. "According to all rules of law, the accused must be heard," Rabbi Arousi said. "According to all rules of natural justice, it is inconceivable, in this age of instant media, to publicize a dramatic announcement which is much more than a mere ruling, but is akin to spilling the blood of a high-standing personage." On the other hand, MK Yitzchak Levy (National Union), a former Minister of Religious Affairs, said that Rabbi Metzger should suspend himself. "If, after he fights for his innocence, he is found to be clean, he can return to the Chief Rabbinate," Levy said. The Ometz movement (Citizens for Good Government) informed Rabbi Metzger that if he resumes his participation in meetings of the Committee for Appointment of Religious Court judges - a practice he halted when the investigation against him began - it will turn to the Supreme Court against him. Atty. Boaz HaEtzni told Arutz-7 today that Attorney General Mazuz's
behavior is problematic: "He left Rabbi Metzger in limbo, by on the
one hand not initiating his firing, but on the other condemning him.
The rabbi thus finds himself without the ability to cleanse his name,
which Mazuz has now stained."
Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is
Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit
(www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet
buying facility for American visitors to Israel.
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IF THE PASSOVER STORY WERE REPORTED BY CNN OR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Posted by Shaul and Aviva Ceder, April 4, 2006. |
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This was sent to us by John Stone. It was written by Daniel P. Waxman The cycle of violence between the Jews & the Egyptians continues with no end in sight in Egypt. After eight previous plagues that have destroyed the Egyptian infrastructure and disrupted the lives of ordinary Egyptian citizens, the Jews launched a new offensive this week in the form of the plague of darkness. Western journalists were particularly enraged by this plague. "It is simply impossible to report when you can't see an inch in front of you,"complained a frustrated Andrea Koppel of CNN. "I have heard from my reliable Egyptian contacts that in the midst of the blanket of blackness, the Jews were annihilating thousands of Egyptians. Their word is solid enough evidence for me." While the Jews contend that the plagues are justified given the harsh slavery imposed upon them by the Egyptians, Pharaoh, the Egyptian leader, rebuts this claim. "If only the plagues would let up, there would be no slavery. We just want to live plague-free. It is the right of every society." Saeb Erekat, an Egyptian spokesperson, complains that slavery is justifiable given the Jews' superior weaponry supplied to them by the superpower God. The Europeans are particularly enraged by the latest Jewish offensive. "The Jewish aggression must cease if there is to be peace in the region. The Jews should go back to slavery for the good of the rest of the world," stated an angry French President Jacques Chirac. Even several Jews agree. Adam Shapiro, a Jew, has barricaded himself within Pharaoh's chambers to protect Pharaoh from what is feared will be the next plague, the death of the firstborn. Mr. Shapiro claims that while slavery is not necessarily a good thing, it is the product of the plagues and when the plagues end, so will the slavery. "The Jews have gone too far with plagues such as locusts and epidemic which have virtually destroyed the Egyptian economy," Mr. Shapiro laments. "The Egyptians are really a very nice people and Pharaoh is kind of huggable once you get to know him," gushes Shapiro. The United States is demanding that Moses and Aaron, the Jewish leaders, continue to negotiate with Pharaoh. While Moses points out that Pharaoh had made promise after promise to free the Jewish people only to immediately break them and thereafter impose harsher and harsher slavery, Richard Boucher of the State Department assails the latest offensive. "Pharaoh is not in complete control of the taskmasters," Mr. Boucher states. "The Jews must return to the negotiating table and will accomplish nothing through these plagues." The latest round of violence comes in the face of a bold new Saudi peace overture. If only the Jews will give up their language, change their names to Egyptian names and cease having male children, the Arab nations will incline toward peace with them, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah declared. Contact the Ceders at ceder@netvision.net.il |
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SATIRE: THE BRITISH LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
Posted by Barry Rubin, April 4, 2006. |
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This is by Stephen Polka, Dean of the Nostradamus School, Harvard University, and John Mereshameonyou, Know-Nothing Professor of Xenophobia, Patrick Henry University The following is a working paper of the Harvard University Nostradamus School. [Editor's Note: While walking on the Harvard campus, I saw a manuscript blow out of a dumpster and fall at my feet. Curious, I picked it up and read it thoroughly. This is the remarkable text you are about to read and which no doubt will soon be published by two prestigious political scientists who are so innovative and courageous that they understand one need not know anything about a subject in order to pontificate about it. --Barry Rubin] All analysts agree, and it is not even a matter of controversy, that a powerful lobby has seized control of U.S. foreign policy and used it for another country's interests. This manipulation has been very damaging to the United States and it is time that this cabal is exposed. That is why it is necessary to analyze the pro-British lobby's terrible effect in damaging U.S. interests and subordinating our beloved country to an evil alien state. In fact, the United States gets nothing from its alliance with England, a country which has repeatedly undermined American interests and defied American leaders. Moreover, U.S. support for Britain has angered such important forces as the Irish, Argentinean, and French peoples. It is time that this mistaken policy is challenged and changed. While superficially, the United States and Britain have been allies, history shows that the British are unreliable at best. It should not be forgotten that Manchester (the proper capital of England since London was stolen from the Celts) treated its American colonies in a very oppressive way, a factor that triggered the American Revolution. Afterward, the British seized American seamen on the high seas, blocked American commerce to Europe, and burned the Capitol building and White House. Since then, things haven't been much better. During the American Civil War, Britain encouraged the Confederacy. And then came the most disgraceful chapter of all. A conspiracy of British sympathizers working at the highest levels of U.S. government worked with Britain to drag the United States into World Wars One and Two, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans and our unnecessary confrontation with such countries as Germany and Japan which did not otherwise threaten U.S. interests. There are alternative explanations of the long and uncritical U.S. support for Britain, but these are all unsatisfactory compared with our conspiracy theory. For example, some believe that support for Britain appeals to Americans because we have similar societies. In fact, this is untrue. Unlike our system of democracy, Britain has a monarchy and a parliamentary structure. Moreover, historically, the British were a society based on blood relations. The country profited by the conquest of innocent Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Hibernians and Celts, occupying through war such lands as Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. And certainly the British Empire ruled large occupied territories and acted in a very oppressive and exploitative manner for centuries, including the trade in opium to China. Contrary to U.S. interests, Britain absorbed huge amounts of U.S. aid, giving little in return. Rather than be grateful, the British manipulated American policy through a powerful lobby. For example, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Jean Kirkpatrick, a key member of the British lobby, helped ensure American support for British imperial interests in the Falklands. As if this were not enough, Britain has subjected the United States to massive cultural subversion. With their snobbish manners and exports of illegal tea (See Boston Tea Party), the British have long made fun of the United States. Britain has also deliberately tried to destroy an independent American culture. Need we mention the factors that began the current cultural decline in America--the Beatles and the Rolling Stones? Now we can also unmask the key figures in the British lobby, the most notorious of all being, Alistair Cooke. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher hypnotized George Bush Sr., into going to war with Iraq in 1991. Even our food is being contaminated by marmalade, English muffins, and roast beef. And what of the "queen" who, according to reliable sources (see the scholarly publications of Lyndon LaRouche) is a drug smuggler. Many institutions as well as individuals have served the British lobby, for example the Anglican Church and the many people of English descent who have put their "second homeland" before the United States in their divided loyalties and treachery. No examination of the British lobby can be complete, however, without a discussion of how the UK conspiracy led the United States into the Iraq war. Prime Minister Tony Blair, facing considerable political troubles at home, provoked the war in order to boost his power and to eliminate a regime that threatened British, but not American, interests. Pretending to be a friend, Blair flew to America and spoke to a joint session of Congress shortly after the September 11 attacks. In fact, though, Usama bin Ladin's assault on New York and Washington was a protest against the British oppression of Muslims, both historically by British imperialism and today through the treatment of Britain's Muslim subjects at home. Even the enmity of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini can be explained in terms of the nefarious British lobby. The real target of Iran was the writer Salman Rushdie protected by--you guessed it--the United Kingdom. The immediate result, of course, was a U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, fulfilling Britain's old interest in dominating that country which goes back to the days of the "great game" (note the cynical disregard for human life). No doubt, Blair's determination to eliminate Saddam Hussein was due to his belief that the democratically elected Iraqi president was supporting the IRA. Yet we must declare: there is no moral reason for preferring Britain to Ba'thist Iraq or to the subway bombers who were understandably protesting British policy by blowing up commuters. It is vital for Americans to understand how much power Britain wields over America. The administration is filled with "British-Americans" and members of the Anglican Church; Congress never criticizes Britain no matter what it does. Most American presidents have been "WASPs" (white Anglo-Saxon Protestants). This includes, of course, George Bush. As for the media, the totality of British control is clear from the fact that--though it can ruin one's career to point this out--all U.S. newspapers, radio and television stations are in English! The fact that an entire section of the United States is called "New England" is only more proof of this domination, as if any other evidence is needed. No doubt the powerful British lobby will come after us and try to destroy us or resort to their favorite trick of blaming all criticism on "anti-limieism." We will not, however, be deterred from speaking the obvious truth. America must be saved. Barry Rubin is Director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Interdisciplinary Center university. His co-authored book, Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography, (Oxford University Press) is now available in paperback and in Hebrew. His latest book, The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East, was published by Wiley in September. Prof. Rubin's columns can now be read online at: http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/column.html. |
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PBS DISCREDITS ITSELF ...AGAIN
Posted by Ted Belman, April 4, 2006. |
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Public Broadcasting System has linked to IsraPundit in a singular way which we appreciate and have brought to my attention their latest Frontline's profile of Olmert entitled, "Israel: The Unexpected Candidate". Please visit the site and view the videos and report back. Once on the site I noticed their view of Israel's turbulent history and decided to fisk it. Statements from the broadcast are in gray. My responses in black. The 10,000 square miles of land west of the Jordan River and north of Egypt is one of the most hotly contested patches of earth on the planet. To most contemporary political bodies, this land constitutes the state of Israel, created by the United Nations in 1948, in large part as a response to the Holocaust of World War II. To others -- particularly Arabs -- the lands belong to the state of Palestine, whose history in the region stretches back 6,000 years. I am frankly surprised at the statement "To most contemporary political bodies, this land constitutes the state of Israel, created by the United Nations in 1948,". Would that it were true. As for the rest, there was no state is no state of Palestine to belong to and the suggestion that "others" believe that its "history in the region stretches back 6000 years." attempts to give historical equivalency to a notion as untrue as the earth being flat. Why does PBS do that? The current lands of Israel and Palestine consist of the official state of Israel and the occupied territories: the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. All of the Abrahamic traditions -- among Jews, Muslims and Christians -- have their religious roots in the Middle East and in the city of Jerusalem, now part of Israel. Once again PBS mentions the "lands of -- Palestine". To suggest that Muslims have religious roots in Jerusalem distorts its reletive importance. The Koran never mentions Jerusalem whereas the Torah mentions it over 600 times. Muslims turn their backs on Jerusalem when praying whereas Jews face Jerusalem where ever they are praying. Jerusalem may be the third holiest site in Islam but a far distant one at that. For Jews, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are at the centre of Judaism and has been for thousands of years. The Jewish religion incorporates the concept of the "promised land," described by the biblical patriarch Abraham, a concept that, in the late 19th century, began to take the shape of Zionism. Theodor Herzl, an Austrian Jew, founded the Zionist movement, a political ideology that supports a territorial homeland for the Jewish people on lands roughly equivalent to modern Israel. In 1917, the British foreign secretary issued the Balfour Declaration, which "view[ed] with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." Jews began settling in Palestine, even though Britain, the colonial ruler of the area, limited their immigration. Arabs were unhappy with the influx of settlers and attacked them, leading to the formation of the Jewish defense force, the Haganah. By 1947, battered by World War II, the British decided to pull out of Palestine, and the United Nations approved the 1947 Partition Plan to divide the land into two states. It would be wrong to classify "Zionism" as a "political ideology" without mentioning that are its heart was a religious ideology and narrative which Herzl wanted to actualize. Jews lived in Jerusalem and Palestine continuously since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD and started to migrate there in ever increasing numbers after the Balfour Declaration. But to state, Zionism supports a "territorial homeland for the Jewish people on lands roughly equivalent to modern Israel." is totally in error. Zionism sought to reclaim the original the Jewish historical lands which included Jordan and all of Israel. The Balfour Declaration and The Palestine Mandate identified the same lands for a Jewish national home. Britain violated the Mandate and severed Jordan from it.
A Land Divided
David Ben-Gurion, who became Israel's first prime minister, accepted the plan, but Arab leaders rejected it. Civil war erupted, with Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq supporting the Palestinians. Nevertheless, the Israelis prevailed and in ensuing years captured more territory west of the Jordan River. The 1949 Armistice Agreements ended the war and established the "Green Line," which designated a temporary truce line between Israel and its opponents. Most of the Arab population fled or was turned out during the war, creating 600,000 to 900,000 refugees. Waves of Jewish refugees flooded the country, more than doubling the Israeli population.
"Civil war erupted with Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq supporting the Palestinians." This is such a distortion of history that it must be identified as a lie. Prior to the creation of Israel, all Jews and Arabs living in the mandate were called Palestinians. War didn't "erupt". The Arab countries which you have identified all attacked Israel. It is important to note that the Arabs encouraged the local Arabs to flee. In 1955, a new Egyptian government closed the Straits of Tiran and the Suez Canal to Israeli ships in response to a perceived spy threat. The following year, Shimon Peres led Israel to invade the Sinai Peninsula, aided secretly by Britain and France, and swiftly conquered the Egyptians. The United States and the United Nations intervened and forced the British and French to withdraw, promising that the waters would remain open to Israeli ships; however, Peres' troops remained for a year. U.N. troops were stationed on the border to prevent guerrilla movement. Compare "In 1955, a new Egyptian government closed the Straits of Tiran and the Suez Canal to Israeli ships in response to a perceived spy threat. The following year, Shimon Peres led Israel to invade the Sinai Peninsula, aided secretly by Britain and France, and swiftly conquered the Egyptians." with this far more accurate account by the Jewish Agency for Israel "In September 1955, in violation of international agreements and in what amounted to an act of war, Egypt sealed off access to the Israeli port of Eilat, effectively stopping Israel's sea trade with much of Africa and the Far East. Then, on July 26, 1956 Nasser announced Egypt's nationalization of the Suez Canal, most of whose shares were held by Britain and France. With diplomacy failing to reverse Nasser's decision, Britain and France embarked on preparations to regain control of the Canal, and on October 29, 1956 together with Israel, launched a military operation in the Sinai Peninsula". The slightest investigation will totally discredit your view.
The Six Day War and Yom Kippur
Tension continued, however, and fighting broke out again in 1967.
A young Yasser Arafat had stirred up liberation hopes in occupied
Palestine, and border skirmishes began to escalate. In May of that
year, Egypt requested the withdrawal of U.N. troops and, upon their
departure, once again closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships. A
blockade is generally viewed as an act of war, and this one proved no
exception. On June 5, Israeli forces under Ariel Sharon commenced a
massive air strike against Egyptian airfields, effectively eliminating
them. In the days that followed, Israeli troops conquered the
Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian troops defending Sinai. By June 10,
Israel had agreed to a cease-fire, but during the attacks it had taken
control of Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and
the Golan Heights. Once again, you refer to "occupied Palestine" as though such an entity existed. And once again you failed to describe that the Arabs led by Arafat attacked Israel. Instead you simply say that "border skirmishes began to escalate." Why not say Arabs attacked Israel? "A blockade is generally viewed as an act of war, and this one proved no exception." Why not just say, "a blockade is an act of war." And to suggest that the Arabs were "defending" Sinai when they started the war is laughable.
The Six Day War of 1967 proved that Israel had the military might
to dominate its neighbors. Now in control of three new
territories, Israel had shifted the balance of power in the region
in its favor.
In 1973, Egypt and Syria joined in a war against Israel on Yom
Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, in an effort to regain
the territories lost in 1967. After several weeks of fighting, Arab
forces were rebuffed by Israeli and U.S. troops. The war led to a
Saudi oil embargo on the United States; gas prices skyrocketed; and
the notorious fuel shortages of the 1970s began.
What a way to put it. "Egypt and Syria joined in a war against Israel". Why not say they attacked Israel. Negotiations Begin
In the late 1980s, fed up with occupation and Jewish settlements in former Palestinian territories, the Arafat-led Fatah party began the first intifada in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The skirmishes stayed mostly at the local level and were brought to an end by the landmark 1993 Oslo Accords, which established self-rule under the Palestinian National Authority in the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank. The accords were set up as an interim agreement that would be a precursor to the creation of a Palestinian state. Israel, however, accelerated the growth of settlements in the West Bank, and although Palestinians had agreed to forgo violence, attacks on settlers continued.
For the umpteenth time they are not "former Palestinian territories". These territories were part of the Palestine Mandate that was to be the Jewish homeland. These "skirmishes" as you call them did not come to an end with the Oslo Accords. In fact Arafat escalated them into deadly violence and bombings. I also object to your juxtaposition of phrases. The Oslo accords did not in any way restrict Israel's right to settle the land but that suggestion is inherent in your statement. You seem to be suggesting that Palestinian violence is a result of Israel settlement activity. This is also not true. Also the attacks were not limited to the settlers. In fact they were mostly inside Israel. Gaza-West Bank negotiations began in 1999 but were interrupted by the second intifada. Violence and chaos overtook the settled areas. The emergence of suicide bombers and the increasing instability within the Palestinian leadership further derailed the talks, and Ariel Sharon's declaration of the hotly contested Temple Mount/Al-Haram As-Sharif site as eternally Israeli further enraged Palestinians. Here we go again; negotiations were "interrupted" by a second intifada, and suicide bombers "emerged." Come on now. Arafat planned and ordered attacks on Israel. You make it sound so benign. Arafat educated his people to hate and to kill and so they did on command. That's not worthy of a mention but you took the opportunity to suggest that because Israel claimed the Temple Mount the Arabs were enraged leading to the violence. Thus the violence is the fault of Israel. In 2002, President George W. Bush said that the
"road map" for Arab-Israeli peace would entail a two-state solution,
becoming the first American president to formally call for the
formation of a Palestinian state.
Nevertheless, in that year, Israel started to build a
controversial West Bank barrier -- part wall, part fence. The purpose,
according to the Israeli government, was to prevent Palestinians from
attacking Israeli civilians. After some dispute about where the
barrier would go, it was redrawn to correspond closely with the Green
Line. While Israel maintains that it is a security border, others
worry that the barrier will serve as a political division that will
isolate Palestinians from social services. What is glaringly missing from this is the fact that in 2002, suicide bombings ordered by Arafat claimed many lives and that was the reason Israel began building the fence. But you don't accept this as the reason and by saying "according to Israel" suggest that maybe Israel is lying. By the way, what "social services" are you referring to. Arafat died in November 2004, and in January
2005, Mahmoud Abbas was chosen as the new Palestinian leader. This,
along with the formation of a multipartisan Israeli government and the
2005 Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip, raised hopes for a
solution to the turmoil in the Middle East.
It remains to be seen if Israel and the international community
will accept the militant group Hamas in any future peace negotiations,
following the group's landslide victory in the January elections.
Why not say "It remains to be seen whether Hamas will recognize Israel and eschew violence." The Arabs can do whatever they want but the pressure and onus is always on Israel. If PBS gets the basics so wrong, how can they be relied upon to get any programs right? Sources: BBC News, CIA Factbook, MidEast Web, Palestine History, Wikipedia.(Note: Wikipedia is a free-content encyclopedia that it is written collaboratively by people from around the world.) As for your sources, that is the subject matter of a whole other article. Ted Belman is a Canadian lawyer and editor of the IsraPundit.com website, an activist pro-Israel website. Contact him at tedbel@rogers.com |
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DANGER OF UNILATERAL WITHDRAWAL; WHY BOMB EMPTY FIELDS?; HARVARD'S
TURN AT ANTI-SEMITISM
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 4, 2006. |
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THE DANGER OF UNILATERAL WITHDRAWAL
The unilateral withdrawal that Olmert posits would resolve none of the dispute between the Arabs and Israel. It doesn't end the "right of return," eradicate terrorism, demilitarize the P.A., or establish peace. This is not the "side-by-side" peace that Pres. Bush envisaged. (How can one take seriously a vision of fanatical, Islamic terrorists settling down to peace in the midst of an international jihad in which the Muslims are building up?). Instead, it would leave most of the P.A. Arabs in a militarily growing, terrorist state, dedicated not only to capturing the small bit of the Territories that Olmert may (or may not) want to keep for Israel, but to overthrowing the entire State of Israel. The Arabs side is confident, having seen Israel retreat so much, including from Lebanon. That means continued war with the Arabs, who will have become sovereign and enjoy much greater means than when under the eye of the IDF. The Islamist triumph there would resonate among the Palestinian Arabs known as Jordanians. If Olmert also abandons parts of Jerusalem, perhaps even the Temple Mount, the Islamists would gain influence in Egypt, too. So much for democracy in the Mideast! Bush's legacy there would be regional instability (IMRA, 3/15 from Haaretz). US Democrats would inherit trouble! They do not realize that the discomfit for the Republican incumbent hampers his successor. Their partisanship will boomerang. WHY DOES ISRAEL BOMB EMPTY FIELDS? For the umpteenth time, the IDF announced that to prevent rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel, attacks which keep on, it has bombed the access routes for the rocket crews. Obviously, this is irrelevant action for the sake of appearing to take action. Why does the government of Israel pretend to fight against rocket attacks, rather than send sufficient force in to prevent them? The polls show that most Israelis are satisfied with the government's reaction. Therefore, there is no immediate pressure act firmly. There is an insistence by the US that Israel not act firmly. The US demand prevails with a defeatist government, even though the missiles are coming close to fuel depots that could incinerate tens of thousands of Israelis. When that happens, any remedy would come too late. The government has another motive for make-believe action. It has declared the Gaza withdrawal a model for a big withdrawal from Judea-Samaria. If the model is a failure, then the country would not let the government pursue withdrawal in Judea-Samaria. Therefore, the government won't admit that its abandonment of Gaza let the Arabs bring rockets near Israel and that it would be a significant undertaking to stop them (IMRA, Ed., sorry, lost date). HARVARD'S TURN AT ANTI-SEMITISM A Harvard professor and his academic buddy wrote a paper as if plagiarized from the Arab imagination. They indulge the theory that US Jews head a cabal that manipulates US foreign policy against US national interests and in behalf of Israel's. They cite as a result the US war on Iraq. Islamists and other racists praise the paper, especially because of its slur that US Jews are disloyal. Critics find it non-factual, ignorant, and just plain wrong. It is in error in claiming that only Jews can become Israeli citizens. It is "disinformation" to claim that the territory offered to Arafat would have been Bantustans. Critics deny the central thesis, often pointing out that Israel didn't seek this war, but it would have liked US help to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, a menace to the whole world (NY Sun, 3/20, 21 but not in the NY Times, although it was named as a plotter). I take a different tack. First, US policy is not pro-Israel. Like the three Jewish State Dept. officials named, Ross, Indyk, and Haas, the State Dept. and the NY Times traditionally and notoriously have been anti-Zionist. The State Dept. tried to bar and then rescind Jewish sovereignty. It halted and has been reversing every Israeli victory -- that is what Oslo, the Road Map, and other State Dept. plans are about. It demands that Israel forbear most effective defense measures. In violation of US law, the President still refuses to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. It subsidizes the P.A., although the P.A. is engaged in total war of annihilation against Israel. Second, the Israel lobby is not very powerful. Not only can't it resist those measures, but AIPAC is being persecuted by a government sting operation. It is unable to stop the US from arming Israel's Arab enemies, some of whom are enemies of the US or whose armies may fall into the hands of Islamists, who are enemies of the US. Third, the Bush administration had its own reasons for the war. Inasmuch as both the US and Israel are targets of the evil axis, the two countries share similar national security interests. The Harvard paper diverts attention from global jihad with the red herring of the Iraq war. The authors impugn the loyalty of the Israel lobby, but why not of the Arab lobby, which boasts of its grip on the State Dept. and has kept the US from cracking down on S. Arabia, the font of half the terrorism, and which facilitated entry of the 9/11 terrorists in the first place? Look at it this way. The US demands a full retreat from the Territories, despite the Joint Chiefs of Staff having found the Territories necessary for Israel to have secure borders. Forward terrorists! Now is that being pro-Israel? RESULT OF FREEING AFGHANISTAN In Afghanistan, conversion out of Islam is a capital crime. A new Christian is on trial (NY Sun, 3/21). We sent too few troops to change enough there. 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 richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR ISRAEL
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, April 4, 2006. |
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Emerging nuclear nemesis Iran boasts of a sonar-evading undersea missile able to outpace an enemy warship, the second punch from the dark side to go along with its radar-evading multiple warhead airborne missile that presumably could land with a vengeance on Middle Eastern targets especially Israel. Such braggadocio by fulminating fundamentalist Shiites is surely enough to more than ruffle the robes of neighboring royal rogue Sunni rulers within proximate range of potential Persian lunacy. Furthermore, the best laid schemes of pre-emptive war planners gang aft agley, as a beleaguered Bush Administration well knows, bogged down in an Iraqi once Sunni now more so Shiite Pandora's box, unable to further stretch its already extended troops into Iran to subdue that other ever more powerful perilously evolving Shiite beast. Don't look to the E.U., Russia, India, or the Far East Dragon, ever conscious of business contracts and fossil fuel needs, to quell those swaggering non-Arab Shiite muscle-flexing Muslims either. Could this suggest an eventual Sunni verses Shiite Middle Eastern mother of all brawls, instigated by frantic Sunni Muslims intimidated out of their turbans? Egad, could this also suggest a Texas tea crisis the likes of which this global-warming planet has not yet witnessed? Meanwhile, a window of opportunity opens a crack for the tiny State of Israel, also slipping under the radar of all those pre-occupied Big Kahunas of the world. With one enormous Middle East brouhaha perhaps one carelessly flicked lit matchstick away, who would have time to notice a heretofore tormented Israel declaring Judea, Samaria, east Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights to be sovereign Israeli lands; justifiably secured from hostile Arabs intent on annihilating the Jewish State. Israel could then begin to expand its towns and cities throughout such territory. All Arab nationals, in effect squatting on that land, could be given the option of pledging their allegiance to Israel, publicly renouncing all those that refuse to recognize or would do harm to the Jewish State, or leave. Of course, this intrepid action would require a collective change of attitude among Israeli leaders and their constituents, indeed a quantum leap in intelligence. They can easily postpone any serious negotiations with Hamas/Fatah led so-called Palestinians in obvious disarray, concurrently deep-sixing the moronic notion of unilaterally ceding the farm, waiting for a propitious moment to behave with aggressive dignity. One can only hope for sanity to once more reign over Israel, at least for the sake of its future generations. Lawrence Uniglicht is a career civil servant, working for the Social Security Administration. He advocates for the State of Israel with an American perspective. He writes, "Advocating for the disrespected underdog has been my passion, no doubt Israel falls into that category." Contact him by email at luniglicht@snip.net |
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BLOOD-SHED OR COMPROMISE: WHICH IS PREFERABLE?
Posted by David Wilder, April 3, 2006. |
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Two months ago, on February first, over 1,600 police participated in destroying the Jewish community of Amona, on the outskirts of Ofra, in the Benjamin region of Israel. As a result of massive police brutality, over three hundred and fifty people needed medical care and/or hospitalization. Several days prior to this, it seemed almost inevitable that a similar confrontation was going to precede Amona. Hebron leaders had been warned: if you do not immediately abandon the Mitzpe Shalhevet neighborhood, outside the Avraham Avinu neighborhood in Hebron, the troops will arrive and start with you. Amona will be second. Hebron will be first. Hebron leaders participated in an emergency meeting with several senior military officers, including Brigadier General Yair Golan. Golan is the ranking officer in charge of Judea and Samaria. During a very tense meeting, Golan laid the groundwork for a compromise solution. There were a number of details involved, but the primary offer consisted of: the nine families living in the former 'Arab market,' as well as the Torah study hall established in memory of the murdered infant Shalhevet Pass, would 'voluntarily' leave their homes within 48 hours, and all their belongings would be removed from the homes by the end of the week. In return, the defense establishment, in conjunction with the Attorney General's office, would void any possible remaining legal status Hebron's Arab municipality might still maintain at the site, and following the conclusion of that procedure, lease the structures to Hebron's Jewish community. Despite heavy doubts and misgivings, Hebron's leaders, following a lengthy consultation, decided to accept the offer. Two more meetings were conducted, first with residents living in the Mitzpe Shalhevet neighborhood, and then with a forum of other Hebron residents. At the conclusion of that gathering it was decided to call an emergency 'town-meeting' of all Hebron residents, that very night. At about two o'clock in the morning Hebron residents met in the Avraham Avinu synagogue to discuss the proposed offer and make a decision: accept or reject it. Following two hours of intense discussion a vote was taken and a majority of those present decided to take a chance and accept the compromise agreement. It wasn't easy to implement a 'self-expulsion' from the homes in the Mitzpe Shalhevet neighborhood. The scenes of 1929, the scenes from Yamit, the scenes from the more recent expulsions from Gush Katif and the northern Shomron, all played before our eyes. Would we be desecrating little Shalhevet's memory by abandoning the homes and neighborhood; after all, it was initiated in her memory, following her murder, five years ago. Yet, despite the question marks, qualms and reservations, it was done. The neighborhood was left empty; all the families moved elsewhere, some living in very difficult conditions, and the houses locked. Hebron's Jewish community implemented its side of the deal. Now it was the other side's turn. Even prior to the 'deal,' the defense department had already begun the process of voiding any possible Arab claims to the former 'market.' The defense department notified the Supreme Court of this plan and added its intention to 'weigh leasing the structures to Hebron's Jewish community.' The actual legal process by which the Hebron Arab municipality was notified of the intentions to void any possible legal rights to the site actually began prior to the agreement reached between the community and the state. This process was approved by none other than Attorney General Menachem Mazuz himself! Mazuz's declaration that the agreement reached between the Hebron community and the state is null and void is ludicrous: 1. Mazuz himself participated in authoring the response to the Supreme Court from December 2005, which, as stated above, already agreed in principal to lease the structures to the Hebron Jewish Community. (The courts already accepted the fact that the land on which the buildings sit is Jewish-owned and legally belongs to the Hebron Jewish Community.) The question must be asked: Does the attorney general of the state of Israel (as well as, perhaps others in the administration) have a veiled interest in preferring blood-shed to negotiated agreements with Jews living in Judea and Samaria? Does he prefer policemen on foot and on horseback beating Jewish youth, as opposed to compromise settlements, which avert such situations? And of course, the final question to be pondered: What is the significance of today's nullification of the agreement reached, in the context of Olmert's planned expulsions (G-d forbid) from large segments of Judea and Samaria? Is this a hint of things to come, -- 'beat them, trample them, expel them, perhaps even kill them' -- anything goes -- the means justify the ends -- the end being..., just what? Hebron's Jewish community rejects Mazuz's chutzpah -- the attorney general of any so-called democratic state is supposed to represent the pinnacle of justice. Mazuz's attempted nullification of the agreement reached between the community and the state is the opposite of justice; it is inequity at its best, it breeds distrust, and creates a situation whereby promise, trust, and agreements belong to the genre of science fiction. We suggest that Mazuz rethink his response concerning the Mitzpe Shalhevet neighborhood in Hebron and immediately implement the agreement reached, and spare himself, and the rest of Israel, continuing nightmares as witnessed at Amona. 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 |
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BOYCOTT THE PA!; DON'T PLAY WITH MATCHES; FALSE ABBAS COMPLAINT
ABOUT IDF PRISON RAID
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, April 3, 2006. |
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MARKING ISRAEL'S BORDERS? Acting PM Olmert insists that his withdrawal plan is making permanent borders for Israel. So far, however, he just is withdrawing and planning to withdraw, while making righteous statements about keeping certain areas of Jewish settlement that he has been putting outside the security fence and cutting off from secure contiguity with other Israeli or Jewish areas or subject to sniping from the surrounding hills and roads. He has not incorporated any of the Jewish areas that he tells voters are an integral part of the Jewish state. All he would have to do, to earn some credibility, is to annex some of those areas and to bar or eradicate illegal Arab construction that aims to cut Jewish development off from Israel. OLMERT GAINING CREDIBILITY? Olmert gained some praise for the raid on the Jericho prison, but none praised it, the armed forces, and himself more than he did. He laid it on thick, contrasting it with complaints about critics of the police brutality during the abandonment, as if the criticism weren't valid or were compensated for by a well-conducted raid. One could choke on his self-congratulations for an ordinary raid to recapture triggermen who should not have been left under P.A. custody in the first place, and whose crime Peres probably ordered. The raid comes after weeks of his having empty fields bombarded, and then falsely assuring Israelis that he is defending them and stopping the P.A. rockets. DON'T PLAY WITH MATCHES Another Arab youth died after playing with a grenade. In New York, parents used to advise children, "Don't play with matches!" The advice in the P.A. should be, "Don't play with explosives!" P.A. children do. They also hang around during firefights. Casualty figures make one wonder what P.A. parents tell their children. Arab culture is a violent one. The P.A. encourages children to hate and murder, sacrificing their earthly lives for a heavenly reward. It's what they call religion. BOYCOTT THE P.A.! Although Israel has been the constant victim of Arab terrorists and armies, the world's do-gooders want to boycott Israel over how it defends itself. Considering that the P.A. is part of a holy war on the rest of the world, it would do good to boycott the P.A., whose hate-filled people would be vulnerable. The do-gooders object. They think it would not be humanitarian. They did not raise such an objection when they boycotted S. Africa. The P.A. is as bigoted religiously as S. Africa was racially, but is more murderous. Could the real problem be that the "do-gooders" themselves are prejudiced? ARABS DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ARABS The United Arab Emirates declares that it gives preferences to Jordanians for jobs and will remove obstacles to employing them. If preferred, what obstacles? Dr. Joseph Lerner supposes the UAE means that although it imposes obstacles upon hiring Arabs, it gives Jordanians priority among Arabs. The Gulf states discriminate against foreign Arabs for hiring and even more for citizenship. If the West had the same practice (and I think it should, in self-defense), the Arabs (and the politically correct) would accuse it of "Islamophobia." (IMRA, 3/15.) Not much of the oil wealth reaches the poorer Arab countries. The Arabs may be one nation, in confronting Israel and the West, but each Arab state's ruling class guards its preserves for itself. The Islamists are not interested in sharing the wealth so much as amassing a single caliphate as an imperative and weapon of Islam. DETAILS JUSTIFY ISRAELI PRISON RAID Britain and the US advised Abbas that they were canceling their agreement to monitor the confinement in Jericho of certain Islamic Jihad murderers of an Israeli Cabinet minister, because the P.A. "consistently failed to comply with core provisions of the Jericho monitoring arrangements regarding visitors, cell searches, telephone access and correspondence. Furthermore, the P.A. has failed to provide secure conditions for the US and UK personnel working at the Jericho Prison." Israel also complained repeatedly to the P.A. and to the Allies and advised them that Israel would intervene if the monitors left. The P.A. freed some Islamic Jihad terrorists, and stated that it was considering releasing the Islamic Jihadists from Jericho, too. The incoming Hamas leaders said they would do likewise (IMRA, 3/15). In asking Israel to make concessions to Abbas to strengthen him against terrorism, the NY Times and other newspapers were deceiving their readers if not also themselves. This incident shows that when he had the power over terrorists, he indulged them. He was lying about trying to crack down on terrorism. He and Arafat reneged on Oslo's anti-terrorism agreement from the start, a typical Arab tactic of gaining a concession for a promise never intended to be kept. It would be a salutary lesson to the West, if the West were capable of learning a lesson about the Muslim Arabs. When Abbas calls the Israeli raid criminal, and acts surprised about it, further deceit. He provoked the incident and had fair warning of the consequences. If the West can nullify an agreement over P.A. violations, why doesn't Israel nullify Oslo over P.A. violations? It's time for Israel to point out that Bush's vision of a P.A. state is defeatist in war and antisemitic in import. MORE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT BAD FAITH ON POLLARD A publicity campaign in Israel for the release of Pollard is shaming the government for abandoning him. In a transparent dodge to make it seem as if it cares, the government released a letter to the US Ambassador asking why the US has not freed him, inasmuch as it frees other spies who served a fraction of Pollard's 21 years in prison. The US exposed the dodge by curtly observing that such a protest should be lodged with higher authority in Washington, not an Ambassador in Israel (IMRA, 3/15). FACTUAL BUT MISLEADING Misguidance in a NY Times article starts with the headline: "Emirates Aided Kin of Palestinian Militants." That headline misleads readers by avoiding the proper label for whom the UAE subsidizes -- the families of terrorists. The newspaper avoids the use of the proper label except when it refers to the US designation. The State Dept. would not designate those Arab gangs as "militants," would it! The article presents the issue as one of different "perspectives." The US perceives these gunmen as terrorists, but the Arabs perceive them as "resistance fighters and martyrs." That is not a difference in perspective. The Arab label is a rationalization to masque Arab aggression. It ignores the war crimes the Arab gunmen commit. Analyze the aid. The aid is not to all the poor of the P.A., but to the families of fallen warriors. Therefore, the US does not merely have an opinion about this, it is right -- the UAE is aiding terrorism, by providing a form of life insurance to the families of the gunmen. (Would that the US stopped subsidizing the P.A., dedicated to war!) The UAE defends itself from charges that it subsidizes groups engaged in terrorism by claiming to have stopped donating to such groups. Are the UAE and the other Arabs who donate to terrorist groups stupid, that it takes Westerners to point out to Arabs that the groups are terrorist? When the UAE stops donating to named charity fronts for terrorists, it can start donating to fronts not yet identified by the West. This is subterfuge. Besides, since the whole P.A. is an enterprise in jihad, any aid to the P.A. is reprehensible. In calling them martyrs, the UAE admits that they are committing holy war. God forbid the Times should conclude that since the war is religiously motivated, its proposed solutions of Israeli territorial retreat would not bring peace but would strengthen the jihadists in their aggression. Let the pro-terrorist UAE run our ports? FURTHER RETREAT WOULD BE WORSE Hamas would unify the P.A. fighting forces, import heavier weaponry and foreigners both to fight and as human shields, and, thanks to further retreats, be right next to Israeli cities (IMRA, 3/16). 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 richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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FORBES REINFORCES CLAIM THAT KADIMA TOOL OF OLIGARCHS
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, April 3, 2006. |
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It is one of the great ironies of contemporary life that the business media is generally the most likely to expose the corruption of Government by money interests. While it is the "liberal" press that does its most to hide or encourage such corruption. We can also better understand the gleeful cynicism of Shitree, the wannabe finance minister, in announcing that Kadima Krud were free of all ideologies. This news item comes from today's Arutz Sheva -
IsraelNationalNews.com and is archived at Forbes Israel reported Sunday that twelve business groups control Israel's economy - making it among the most concentrated on the globe. The report echoes warnings by journalist Ari Shavit. According to the report, the business groups are controlled by the following families: Sami Ofer, Nochi Dankner, Shari Arison, the Cerberus-Gabriel consortium, Charles Bronfman, Yitzchak Tshuva, the Saban group, Lev Leviev, Matthew Bronfman, Tzadik Bino, the Borovich family, and Eliezer Fishman. The 12 families own 60 percent of the aggregate market value of all Israeli public companies (excluding the even larger Teva Pharmaceutical Industries), Forbes reported. The report goes on to say that the families have constructed their empires, which consist of Israel's largest companies, using organizational structures that have long ago been done away with in the Western world. The report explains that the groups have an inordinate amount of control over Israel's economy, political leaders and media due to the structuring of their holdings as pyramids -- meaning several layers of companies each own others beneath them but are all beholden to the leading families. Such a phenomenon was eliminated in the US in the early 20th century through restrictions on ownership and the double taxation of dividends a company paid its owner company. The report stressed that the issue is not economic, but political -- saying the only way to regulate the power of the families is a large government coalition that would seek such regulation. Shavit, a commentator for the left-wing Haaretz daily,
recently warned
"Dear Wealthy Families," Shavit wrote. "... For the last 15 years my colleagues and I have been laboring faithfully and devotedly to assure your conquest over the democratic systems of said country. Over the years, we reached outstanding achievements. We have managed to create a society devoid of opposition for you, one without any parties worthy of note, without labor unions worth the name, without sniping journalists. We thus achieved almost perfect control over the Israeli consciousness, and over the government and political establishment. "We can state, with great satisfaction, that there is no political power in Israel today that can stop us; there is no public debate that could restrain us; and there no investigative journalism that can imperil us. Thanks to methodical, professional work over a decade, we have achieved absolute hegemony for you. A hegemony that wealth never had in any western country worthy of the name. [...] "We had to set up a political body that would serve us faithfully and put One of Us at its head. We had to harness all the assets we bought in the last decade to assure its victory, to ensure that the government shared our views, bears our arms, does our bidding. [...] "But the issue isn't just personal. As a vehicle, Kadima has the political structure we always dreamed of, being a party with no members and no institutions and no ideology. The new ruling party will be a vastly valuable tool to achieve our goals. Since it has no obligations downward, only upward, it will enable us to seize full control over the Israeli government. Police, prosecution, treasury - it will all be in our hands. Even the antitrust commissioner. The Supervisor of Banks. Even the Supreme Court will be manned with new, friendly faces. Like Berlusconi's Italy or Putin's Russia, Israel of Kadima will be a paradise for corporate control. The decrepit democratic regime of the 20th century will be replaced by a reign of the oligarchs with absolute economic power." Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
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POPULATION TRANSFER & CRITICAL MASS
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 2, 2006. |
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Lou Dobbs of FOX NEWS has made it clear that the flood of illegal Mexican transfers puts an unacceptable strain upon American hospitality. There are many nations like Mexico who would like to transfer their population, or at least part of it, to America. These are poor nations with cruel and incompetent leadership which makes it desirable for would-be immigrants to simply get out. Think about such nations as in Mexico, China, Africa, South America. Then there are the Muslims who bear a more hostile intent. They immigrate often to escape the religious tyranny of Arab/Muslim nations but they bring with them the same tyranny and bigotry into their new host country - along with their harsh, restrictive policies against their own women. America, like Europe, has generous benefits to immigrants, namely, health care, schooling, all of which falls on the back of American taxpayers. Legitimate immigrants who are legal find their wages driven down by the illegals who are willing to work for lower wages. CRITICAL MASS The U.S. has awakened to what was an invisible illegal "Critical Mass" until they poured into the streets by the millions. Now the U.S. sees the masses getting more bold, telling the American people that they have no choice. The illegals tell us they have the right to be here without entry permits. That they have a right to all the entitlement programs paid for by American taxpayers. When this "Critical Mass" decides that America is not doing enough, that mob could and, in some cases, have already turned ugly. Don't look for the politicians, including the President, the Republican and Democratic leadership to do anything lest they insult their own political voters. The solution lies with the employers of illegals so, no green card, no work permits Many nations are deliberately getting rid of their excess and poor population by transferring them to America and Europe. Once they achieve Critical Mass, they threaten their host country with demands that meet their criteria of what they think they deserve. America cannot afford to become a catch-all for the world's poor through their own Population Transfer. 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 richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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FUNDING TERROR
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, April 2, 2006. |
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For a long time the U.S., through its pro-Arab State Department and oil-connected Presidents, have been funding Arab Muslim Palestinian Terror. The earliest and primary recipient was Yassir Arafat. Everyone in Washington of consequence knew the money was flowing into Arafat's pocket with the rest going as salaries to the Palestinian Authority. The PA was created by the Oslo Accords signed September 13, 1993 on the White House lawn by Arafat, Bill Clinton and Yitzhak Rabin. Thus was Arafat resurrected from Tunis, with his henchmen. Thus American taxpayers' millions paid the 60,000 man Terrorist Army of Fatah. The blather that the money was going to the "poor" Palestinians was and remains propaganda to allow Congressmen to tell their constituents they were voting for Humanitarian Aid for the "poor Palestinians". Once again, the Congress will vote on a fake bill with the usual back door called a "waiver" allowing the President to override such restrictions. Recall, this is how the Congress finessed preventing the transfer of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israel's Capital. Congress voted a bill to have the American Embassy moved to Jerusalem but included a back-door waiver for the President which, of course, he used to stop the move. AIPAC, (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee) is supporting the bill #HR 4681/S23 which will supposedly stop the funding to the Palestinian Hamas Terror organization. This will satisfy AIPAC members because they will NOT be told that our President is already in motion to by-pass any cut-off of funds to the Palestinian Terrorists. (In case you though Hamas was a separate entity from the Palestinian people or Fatah, they are not.) President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, the Quartet, the European Union are all colluding to continue the funding - calling it Humanitarian Aid - knowing it will eventually slide into the hands of the Terrorists. The Arabist State Department is well practiced in slipping funds to Arab Muslim Palestinian Terrorists through a vast range of rat holes called NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations). The Quartet is now meeting in Amman, Jordan to figure out a way to fund Abu Mazen while by-passing Hamas. While the President makes speeches about NOT funding Palestinian Terrorists who pledge to utterly destroy Israel, that is exactly what he intends to do. Speeches from the Bush Clan have always been slick and misleading when it comes to their oil interests. Clearly, the Saudis will get angry at being forced to pay for their Palestinian Arab Muslim "brothers" upkeep, from the trillions of dollars they and the multi-national oil companies are squeezing out of the American and World economy. Most of our readers who watch the Middle East have never confronted the stark reality that every Palestinian family is involved in Terror. It's not merely passive but, whenever possible, each member of an Arab Muslim Palestinian family will try to attach themselves to a different group in order to claim some protection from other Terrorist groups. Even the children are divided up for receiving their instructions for killing and how to be shahid (Martyr for Islam) with different Terrorists organizations. Here we find the UNRWA schools (United Nations Relief Works Agency), funded by the U.N., the U.S. as the school rooms where the "how to" of Terror and hate is taught. The Palestinians are NOT as fragmented as you might think. They agree with the Hamas Charter of occupying the entire Jewish State of Israel and killing Jews wherever and whenever possible. Their Hamas Charter is only marginally different from the Fatah Charter in how it will destroy Israel. It has been reported that the Hamas Interior Minister Said Seyam, retitled his office, "Minister of Interior and Internal Security", in effect, taking control of the Fatah's Secret Services, their armed forces, men and equipment, explosives and bomb transmitting devices. Whoever pays their salaries - that is to whom they will be loyal. So who will pay the money into the treasury for their monthly salary checks? Why, of course, the U.S. State Department, the E.U., U.N., the Quartet but - it will all be called "Humanitarian Aid". The American people will be told that the spending of the money will be carefully scrutinized but, we all know that once money enters the rat tunnels originally dug by Arafat, it disappears from sight because money is fungible. The U.S. Congress pretends to be unaware of where the money will eventually end up but maybe they are just that - blind-sided. However, Bush and Family, Rice in the Arabist State Department know exactly where the money is going, denials notwithstanding. Even Ehud Olmert is putting tax and customs duty monies into escrow and, in time, when the public is not looking, will slip it through a back channel to President Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen's Fatah. This will be at the urging (read: orders) of the Bush Administration to keep the Fatah army of 60,000 men, paid and semi-loyal to Fatah. If you want a U.S. Congressional Bill with teeth, add the amendments that all funds will be cut off, including those to or through the NGOs and dump the waiver that allows the President to override what would become another toothless Bill. 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). Contact him at gwinston@interaccess.com |
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DEAR PRESIDENT BUSH, WHAT'S SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?
Posted by Yonathan Yaaqobi, April 2, 2006. |
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Below is an article by Debby Berman which sums up the Hamas controlled Arab authority in Yehudah, Shomron, & Azza (Judea, Samaria, & Gaza). It is entitled "Haniyeh Calls for 'A just peace or no peace'" and it is archived at israelnn.com/news.php3?id=3D101257 With all due respect, Sir,...don't you get it yet? They want to destroy Israel. And, do you really think that even if Israel met all of those ridiculous demands they would actually recognize Israel? Of course not! The reason for the Hamas vistory is clear. The only difference between Fatah and Hamas is that Fatah chose to employ the European leftist tactic of lying more often than Hamas. The only difference between Hamas YSh"W, Fatah YSh"W and the so-called "Israeli" Arabs YSh"W is that Israeli Arabs YSh"W are more patient, willing to wait until they out populate the Jews through their higher birthrate. The Arabs of Yehudah, Shomron, & Azza voted for Hamas for and only one reason. They are impatient. They see a weak Israel, sickening puppet of the US, and they see that the time is ripe to pounce. The Israel today is unlike the victor of the Six Day and Yom Kippur Wars. The Israel of today runs away from terrorism and rewards it, hoping for a smile and pat on the back from the EU (which they'll never get), and money from the US. One dollar is too much, and a billion, never enough. Is it not US policy not to give in to terrorist demands? Then why should Israel have to? And for goodness sakes, Mr. Presidant, when will you finally accept that there is no difference between Hamas YSh"W and Al-Qaeda YSh"W? Do you really have to wait for a Hamas-like 9/11 attack on US soil before you will accept this fact? May The Almighty grant you the necessary wisdom, so that it does not have to come to that. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh presented the Hamas vision for peace to be based on Israeli concessions in an opinion piece in the British publication the Guardian on Friday. Haniyeh criticized the international community for putting pressure on Hamas to recognize Israel and accept agreements signed with Israel in the past, while no demands are being put on Israel. "Do policymakers in Washington and Europe ever feel ashamed of their scandalous double standards? Before and since the Palestinian elections in January, they have continually insisted that Hamas comply with certain demands," Haniyeh wrote. Haniyeh claimed that his intention was to pursue peace in the region stating, "the Hamas supports peace and seeks to put an end to the bloodshed. The Hamas reaches out its hand to peace based on justice." Haniyeh proceeded to outline the basis for his proposed peace plan as one that called for a complete Israeli withdrawal from all lands conquered in 1967, including East Jerusalem, the destruction of all Israeli settlements and the expulsion of all Israeli settlers in those areas, Israel's immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners and a demand that Israel recognize the Palestinian right of return. After these conditions are met the Hamas would agree to an end to acts of bloodshed carried out by both sides. Haniyeh re-stated the Palestinians legitimate "right to self-defense by any means" and stressed that the Palestinians intend to continue their struggle to break free from the ongoing Israeli occupation. Yonathan Ya'aqobi lives in Shomron, Israel. This article is
archived at his website at |
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POLAND TO PROBE 60-YEAR-OLD MURDER OF A JEWISH FAMILY
Posted by Shaul and Aviva Ceder, April 2, 2006. |
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This was written by Amiram Barkat and it appeared today in Haaretz. (www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/701200.html). In 1943, at the height of World War II and the systematic annihilation of European Jewry, Gitl Lerner, a 45-year-old Jewish woman, hid with five of her children in the home of a Polish farmer. The six managed to escape a transport to the Majdanek death camp and found shelter along with two Jewish youths. On the night of October 30, Polish farmers in the area stabbed Lerner and the five children to death. Sixty years later Roni Lerner, an Israeli businessman and Gitl's grandson, set out to track down his family's murderers. In the course of his investigation, Lerner, pretending to be a historian, met the sole surviving murderer and uncovered the horrific case, which the prosecution in Poland has now reopened as a result. Under Polish law, there is no statute of limitations on murders committed during World War II or the country's Communist era. However, the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, who assisted Lerner in his contacts with the Polish prosecution, says that despite admirable Polish willingness to bring criminals to trial, the proceedings drag on and convictions have been exceedingly few, in view of the number of suspects still alive. With the help of an Israeli film crew and local researchers, Lerner managed to locate the last remaining suspect in the murder. The suspect, Joseph Radchuk, a 92-year-old farmer, led Lerner and his people to the place where the victims were buried 60 years ago. Lerner is going to Poland today at the head of a delegation to exhume the skeletons and bring them for burial in Israel, alongside his father's grave. "I won't leave my family members in that cursed land of Poland," he said before departing Israel. Researchers from Poland's Institute for National Commemoration (IPN) are slated to meet with Lerner tomorrow and to be present for the exhumation of the victims' remains, if found, at the Catholic cemetery in Pashgalini. The eight victims are Gitl and her five children (Miriam, 22; Hannah, 20; David, 17; Zvi, 15; and Haim, 13) and two young Jewish men known only by their surnames: Zefrin and Pomerantz. They were stabbed to death at their hideout in the small village of Pashgalini, near the family's hometown of Komarovka in eastern Poland, not far from the city Lublin. The family arrived at the hideout in April 1943, after a Polish farmer named Jan Sadovski found it for them. While the family was in hiding, Lerner's father, Yitzhak, was living in Warsaw under an assumed identity. He heard of his family's murder from a Polish friend who lived in the village. In November 1944, after the Red Army had conquered the area from the Germans, Lerner went to the village to investigate. His testimony, preserved in the Jewish archives in Warsaw, states that the murder was perpetrated by Sadovski and four other farmers - one of them being Joseph Radchuk. The testimony stated that the murder had been committed to steal the Lerner family's possessions and those of their two friends, who were wealthy people. Lerner Sr. met with Radchuk, who said he had witnessed the murder and admitted taking many of the family's possessions. Lerner Sr. filed several complaints with the Soviet authorities, but later learned that aside from Sadovski, who was tried and executed, nothing was done to his accomplices. After the war Lerner Sr. fled to Sweden and from there immigrated to Israel. He remarried, to a Holocaust survivor from a neighboring town in Poland and lived with her in Moshav Hibbat Zion. Lerner began investigating his family's tragedy in July 2003, when he accompanied his daughter's school trip to Poland and tracked down his father's testimony at the archives in Warsaw. On returning to Israel, Lerner decided to commemorate his father's life with a book and a documentary film, and headed back to Poland. He kept Israel's ambassador, David Peleg, and his deputy, Yosef Levy, apprised of all his movements there. He also made contact with the local Jewish community and Monica Kravchuk, chair of the Jewish heritage foundation in Poland. Research led to the home of the Ozdovski family, on whose land the Lerners' hideout had been located. The family, whose father apparently participated in the murder, said that the bodies were initially buried near the hideout, but were moved a year later to an unknown location because neighbors complained the place had become haunted. Lerner says that during an unannounced visit to the family's home, he spotted a Singer sewing machine that had belonged to his family and was mentioned in his father's testimony. Last October the researchers located Radchuk, who showed them where the bodies were reburied at the edge of the Catholic cemetery in Pashgalini. If the skeletons are found there, they will be flown to Israel on Tuesday and the funeral will take place in Hibbat Zion at the end of the week. Contact the Ceders at ceder@netvision.net.il |
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WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ISRAELI ELECTION
Posted by Dr. Steven Carol, April 2, 2006. |
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The results of the recent Israeli election should come as no surprise to the public, either here or in Israel. Kadima's poorer than expected showing (29 seats within the 120 seat Knesset) raises the possibility that the government will fall in short order. Only once before in Israeli history has a smaller party formed a government - in 1999 - and it lasted only 18 months. This occurred when Ehud Barak turned Labor into the One Israel party and led it to victory with 26 seats. Barak was later forced to resign as Prime Minister Dec. 2000 and had to call for new elections. New acts of terror will most likely force the new Kadima government into a similar situation. What is clear is that Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not receive a mandate to carry out a unilateral withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. His likely coalition partners Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas are clearly against such a move. Nevertheless, Olmert will press on with what his ally Shimon Peres calls "turning inward" and make further withdrawals (which are viewed as retreats by Israel's Arab/Muslim enemies) from the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria, thus shrinking Israel's defensible borders even more. In American history "turning inward" was called "isolationism." That did not work for the U.S., despite the belief that our two oceans acted as moats to protect us from the ravages of European and Japanese fascism. The attack on Pearl Harbor ended that delusion once and for all. In Israel's case there are no ocean moats. The enemy will be as close as 9 miles away if the "turning inward" policy is implemented. For the most part the Israeli electorate showed its disillusionment. No clear vision of the future had been put forth by any of the major parties. The country is divided with 54 seats in the withdrawal camp and 50 seats in the Nationalist camp. The three Arab parties, extremely sympathetic to the goals of their Palestinian brethren, emerged with a total of 9 seats up 1 from the previous Knesset. Several parties, like the Pensioner's party, dealt with one issue agendas. Another key question arises: How can Israel survive the Israeli election results? All the parties seemingly danced around the one harsh reality staring them in the face. The inescapable fact is Israel needs to win the 125+ year Arab/Muslim war against it and the Jewish people. There are other questions as well: When will the Israeli public realize that the overwhelming majority of Arabs/Muslims wish to see Israel destroyed, or eliminated. The tactics used against Israel in the future may be different. Terrorists could use attrition or attack by using rockets and WMDs but their goal is the same. Whether the destruction of Israel comes in stages (as is advocated by Abbas and Arafat before him) or at once, given the opportunity of the moment, it is merely a question of timing. Will it take a cataclysm to arouse Israel to do what is necessary to finally win once and for all, and if so, will it be able to survive such a disaster in order to do so? Another question is when this disaster comes where should Israel make its stand? While some wish for a compromising stance from the Arab/Muslim side it is delusional. A compromise might be made in the future, but only after this conflict has ended. It can only end with one side or the other achieving victory. The retreat to what are approximately the 1949 Armistice line borders, what the late Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban termed the "Auschwitz borders" behind a security fence, will not bring security. Also, it will not bring good neighbors and will encourage Israel's enemies. It will bring more terror and will bring the war everyone seeks to avoid. Already long range missiles have been fired from Gaza at Ashkelon and into the Negev desert. They soon will reach Ashdod further to the north. Withdrawals from most of Judea-Samaria will allow the terrorists to bring Jerusalem and Ben Gurion airport under fire, not to mention the densely populated coastal strip that is Israel's heartland. All of these areas, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Jerusalem, the Negev and the coastal strip are within the 1949 lines. They are not in the disputed territories of Judea-Samaria. To follow the Kadima plan - "turning inward" - which is supported by the Labor party, other leftist parties and the Arab parties, is to move to insecure borders, which are exceedingly difficult to defend irregardless of the security fence. Such borders will range from 9 miles wide at the coastal heartland, to 62 miles at its widest, across the Negev. The Kadima plan will reduce the time for Israeli mobilization and increases Israel's chances of being cut into two. Israel has relied on pre-emption in the past. Now this pre-emption will be set with a hair trigger response which could lead to unintended consequences to any perceived threat. The Kadima government will bring Israel far greater threats to its existence than before. Contact Steven Carol at drhistory@cox.net |
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THE GREAT HUMANITARIAN'S SOLUTION
Posted by Women in Green, April 2, 2006. |
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This article was written by Bruce Brill, an independent journalist living in Kfar Eldad in Northern Israel. It first appeared in the Jerusalem Report, April 5, 2005. This version is taken from The Jewish Magazine, which contains articles of Israeli and Jewish interest (ww.jewishmag.com/84mag/humanitarian/humanitarian.htm). Herbert Hoover's Mid-East Solution The Palestinians' situation is terrible. Three fourths of their population live in poverty. The number of poor has tripled since September 2000 and over half the workforce is unemployed. Palestinians are more dependent on food aid than ever before. Reports for 2003 from social welfare organizations note "pervasive and deepening poverty," "worsening conditions and an economy in a state of ruin," "conflict creating a major humanitarian crisis," and "widespread psychological trauma." Palestinian Prime Minister Queri has understated: "Our people are suffering." President George Bush and other world leaders have lamented the sad plight of the Palestinians. Something beyond talk is needed to alleviate Palestinian suffering. "Tell Bush: Good Speech! Now Take Action," suggested the Jewish Voice for Peace, urging Bush "to back his words with action." Refugees International has called on President Bush to "take steps to give jobs, education, medical services, and food." In describing the talking-versus-doing syndrome, Herbert Hoover, President of the United States from 1929-33, said in 1920: "Words without actions are the assassins of idealism." Hoover could never be accused of assassinating idealism: he was responsible for the rescue, feeding, clothing and resettlement of more victims of natural disaster and war than just about anyone in history. During World War I, he headed the Commission for Relief in Belgium, which fed 10 million people and carried out Belgian postwar reconstruction. In 1917, Hoover served as US food administrator. After the war President Woodrow Wilson sent Hoover to Europe to direct the American Relief Administration. In 1927, as Secretary of Commerce, he successfully resettled 325,000 Americans rendered homeless by the Mississippi River's flooding. After World War II he brought relief to millions as Coordinator of the European Food Program. As a Quaker, Hoover passionately believed in peace, was appalled by the human costs of war, and devoted his life to public service. Even with his most grandiose projects, he kept the worth of the individual paramount. His title, "The Great Humanitarian," was well deserved. When war again broke out in Europe, Hoover, now in his 70s, established the Polish Relief Commission, which fed 300,000 children in occupied countries. He became chairman of the Famine Emergency Commission and in 1945 President Harry S. Truman asked him to organize food relief for war-torn countries. Nor did the plight of the Palestinian Arabs escape The Great Humanitarian's attention: In December 1945, he submitted his plan to the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine. Hoover said it was "a process by which both Jews and Arabs would benefit materially," and could be instrumental in "settling the Palestine question and providing ample Jewish refuge." He insisted that it offered a "constructive humanitarian solution" and the committee agreed that the proposal merited careful study. What Hoover proposed was "that Iraq be made the scene of resettlement of the Arabs from Palestine" and this for their immediate relief and long-term benefit. Unlike current proposals for mass, forced transfer, there was an implicit assumption that this one would be totally voluntary. By 1949, with the creation of half a million Palestinian refugees, Hoover's plan took on special urgency. He wrote the White House that "they are in a deplorable condition," and they can be absorbed in Iraq. "It would give permanent solution to the problem of these unfortunate people," Hoover said. He also said his plan "would strengthen the economy of Iraq." Could Hoover's vision work today? The population of Iraq this past generation has been decimated. The prolonged Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, the internecine fighting within Iraq, the 1991 Gulf War, the subsequent U.N. sanctions, and the most recent U.S.-led invasion and occupation have taken a toll of millions of Iraqis. Resettling the downtrodden Palestinian Arabs in Iraq would alleviate their suffering and be a concomitant blessing to Iraq. Palestinian Arabs excel in agriculture and construction, the areas of war-torn Iraq's greatest need. Jimmy Carter warned recently that "the lack of real effort to resolve the Palestinian issue is a primary source of anti-American sentiment throughout the Middle East and a major incentive for terrorist activity." Hoover noted his program "would contribute to a friendly gesture from the West to all Arab countries." The idea of Jordan as a Palestinian state is widely supported on the Israeli right, even though it is vigorously resisted by the Jordanian monarchy and people. The notion of Egypt as a partial homeland is strongly advocated by the leader of the National Religious Party and others, even though it is firmly rejected by the Egyptian authorities. However unrealistic reviving Hoover's idea may appear at first glance, it seems far more realistic than those relatively widely endorsed approaches. The main obstacle to implementing Hoover's plan has been the presence of antagonistic regimes in Baghdad. Today, American control of Iraq presents a unique opportunity. Let's remember: "words without actions are the assassins of idealism." Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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FURTHER WITHDRAWALS WILL COST ISRAELIS 130 BILLION SHEKELS
Posted by Barbara Sommer, April 2, 2006. |
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This was written by Sever Plocker, chief economics editor and
deputy editor-in chief of Yediot Aharonot.
It appeared in YNET 26 March, 2006
Israeli public will have to pay As with Gaza pullout, taxpayers will shoulder burden for future West Bank move The eviction of some 1,500 families from the Gaza Strip last summer has so far cost the country NIS 8.5 billion (about USD 1.8 billion). NIS 2.5 billion (about USD 532 million) of that is intended to cover military costs, the rest for civilian costs. Ehud Olmert's "convergence" plan could affect 20,000 families, or about 90,000 residents of Judea and Samaria. Some will be moved to within the 1967 border; others to "consensus" settlement blocs. What does this massive program mean in economic terms? If we take the evacuation-compensation model, the State of Israel will be required to pay 20,000 evicted families direct compensation, at a cost of about NIS 66 billion (about USD 14 billion). And if we use Gaza as an example, temporary housing, moving costs and new infrastructure will cost an additional NIS 13 million (about USD 2.7 million). The Ministry of Defense estimates that a unilateral disengagement from Judea and Samaria will cost the army about NIS 16 billion (about USD 3.4 billion). And so initial estimates of a second disengagement program stand at about NIS 95 billion, or USD 20 billion. Put differently: 17 percent of the entire output of the State of Israel. But that's not the whole story. Far from it. Additional costs Most Gaza residents were able to be moved to existing settlements within the green line. Only a few were placed in the new housing project at Nitzanim. Thus, the country saved on the environmental and infrastructure costs bound up with establishing new cities and neighborhoods. But to accommodate 90,000 settlers, evicted and bitter, the investment of public money in building new towns, cities and villages will be very high. And who will worry about employing thousands of evacuees from Judea and Samaria? Where will they find jobs? Many of them will simply become a burden on the public purse. In conclusion: The economic cost of Ehud Olmert's proposed "convergence" plan is NIS 120 billion. That's USD 25 billion, folks. Twenty-five billion dollars, without taking into account problems such as underestimations, bottlenecks in carrying out the program, the fact that there is no national consensus for such a move, and other problems. To compare: The entire 2006 budget, without repaying debts, is NIS 230 billion (about USD 49 billion). The defense budget is NIS 46 billion (about USD 9.8 billion). The four-year budget for the war on poverty is NIS 9 billion (about USD 1.9 billion). A unilateral pullout will cost NIS 120 billion. Who's gonna pay it? Who's gonna pay? U.S. won't help Not the Americans, that's for sure. For the Gaza pullout Israel asked the Bush administration for USD 2 billion in aid to build new IDF bases and to invest in developing the Negev and Galilee regions (in order to not have to ask for money to compensate settlers). We got nothing. Not one cent. The fact that Israeli tax payers were forced to shoulder the entire NIS 8.5 billion (about USD 1.8 billion) price tag for the Gaza pullout bodes extremely poorly for the notion that any American administration will foot the bill for another unilateral move. This plan, as it has been presented by the acting prime minister, includes the annexation of a fair amount of Palestinian land. It is impossible to see any U.S. government aiding a move that would include an un-agreed upon annexation of settlement blocs. They haven't even agreed to finance one single kilometer of the West Bank separation fence. Credit for disengagement Perhaps Israel could finance West Bank disengagement with foreign credit? No way. Foreign investors will only fund those national projects that will yield a positive economic benefit. This is how Israel, for example, was able to gather USD 9 billion to absorb new immigrants from the former Soviet Union. The Russian aliyah made the Israeli market flourish, spurred growth and exports and was a central factor in the growth of the hi-tech industry. It was a worthwhile investment. The withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, and moving the settlers from place to place will not raise the potential for growth in Israel, and would not be considered an investment in research and development or creative assets. There is no reason to expect favorable credit terms from international finance institutions such as the World Bank. Israel, as far as the World Bank is concerned, is a developed country with no rights to discount financing. And the World Bank is even more limited than the U.S. government with regard to political games. World Jewry Okay, then, what about Diaspora Jews? Maybe the Jewish Agency will undertake an emergency fund raising drive for the "convergence" plan? But even if we assume that world Jewry would dig deep into their pockets to finance the second disengagement, even in the absence of a clear national consensus in Israel. How much could they reasonably be expected to give? A billion dollars? Two billion? There is only one chance for American and/or international aid for removing settlements and setting borders in Judea and Samaria. As we found out during the Camp David summit in July, 2000 between President Bill Clinton, Ehud Olmert and Yasser Arafat, Washington is prepared to dole out funds generously (at that time, discussions revolved around the number USD 20 billion) for an "end of the conflict" agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, on condition that other countries also chip in to help out both Israel and the Palestinians. Such aid, however, is dependent on having a partner. And to create a partner, there must be dialogue. For dialogue, there must be some formal arrangement. Unilateralism won't cut it, even if the world views it positively. The Americans' refusal to give financial aid for the Gaza move, a pullout President Bush and Congress praised, teaches us that we'd better not count on foreign funding for future unilateral pullouts. We'll pay We will have to pay. In order to finance the second disengagement out of our own pockets, each family in Israel will be forced to pony up NIS 70,000, or USD 15,000, over the course of three-to-four years. Olmert says his government will unilaterally set Israel's final borders. How do you give NIS 70,000 to the Finance Ministry? Either by raising taxes or by issuing bonds. Neither option is particularly heartwarming. Using bonds to raise money from the public is not a recommended from the point of view of economics. It's expensive for the government, nebulous for citizens and strikes a blow at the standing and grading of the economy and stock market. Israeli governments have not used interest bonds since the failed "Peace for the Galilee Bonds." But higher taxes are also no great solution: An additional NIS 40 billion (about USD 8.5 billion) in taxes per year for three years means a very sharp rise in personal interest tax rates (the PR slogan could be "reevaluating taxes to set our borders") and other, indirect taxes such as petrol taxes. A comparison In terns of total cost to the economy, financing the disengagement/convergence plan is of the same scale as West Germany's annexation of East Germany. There are two differences, however, neither one in our favor: Germany is a lot richer than Israel, and there was no debate amongst the German nation about the need to annex the eastern part of the country. Nobody knows how much the Israeli public has invested to this point in building settlements. This is an economic secret that cannot be deciphered. On the other hand, the cost of withdrawal is clear and open. In economic terms, this is called a "dead burden." Israeli citizens who will be required to pay higher taxes, lower their standards of living, tighten their belts and forget about social programs such as the war on poverty or education reform - the burden will be very much alive. Alive and painful. (03.26.06, 11:38) Contact Barbara Sommer by email at sommer_1_98@yahoo.com |
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WEAKER ISRAEL: ELECTION MARKS SHIFT IN COUNTERTERROR ALLIANCE WITH U.S.
Posted by Barbara Sommer, April 2, 2006. |
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The United States has harbored mixed feelings for Olmert and his predecessor, Sharon. President Bush has been pleased with Israel's willingness to cooperate with the United States on virtually every major issue, including Iraq, the Palestinians and arms exports. At the same time, Bush and some of his aides have been quietly concerned over the image of Israel as a country ready to withdraw in the face of terrorism. Privately, le ding aides and strategists believe that Israel's hesitancy to fight Hamas, Hizbullah and other terrorist groups could encourage Al Qaida and those sworn to defeat the United States. They also see Israel's failure to defeat Palestinian insurgents as encouraging Iran's belligerency. "Israel screwed us up with its unilateral withdrawal plan because this is what is expected of us in Iraq," a senior Bush aide said in a recent private conversation with a Republican House member. "But we can't be seen as intervening." As a result, urged by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Bush supported Sharon's plan for a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in September 2005. Bush saw U.S. endorsement of Sharon's plan as a way to win support in the Arab world that has long sought Israeli withdrawal. Bush's attitude toward Israel has changed as well. Until 2002, Bush saw Israel has a powerful ally of the United States and able to deter its enemies. Today, the president sees Israel as weak and Bush has publicly pledged to protect the Jewish state from an Iranian attack. Quietly, Israeli defense officials dismiss Bush's pledge was little more than symbolic given the start of the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. "The feeling in both the administration and among belatedly among many conservatives in Congress is that Israel has to accept the fate of a small nation reliant on a superpower patron," a leading U.S. analyst who is close to the administration said. Olmert's win was expected to accelerate government preparations for additional withdrawals from the West Bank. The military has begun drafting plans for the expulsion of tens of thousands of Israelis from dozens of Jewish communities in the area. The State Department has already encouraged the Israeli plans. But for Israel, the result could be years of bloodshed and even insurrection. In February, more than 200 people, several of them seriously, were injured in a clash between Israeli anti-riot and Jewish youngsters, who sought to prevent the demolition of nine unlicensed buildings in the West Bank. Days later, more than 90,000 people rallied in Jerusalem and pledged to physically stop future withdrawals. "Not everybody is the same," Amnon Danker, editor of the Israeli daily Maariv, said. "There are differences of black and white, heaven and earth." Contact Barbara Sommer at sommer_1_98@yahoo.com |
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ARE THEY ALL MAD?
Posted by Trudy Gefen, April 2, 2006. |
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This was written by Andrew Bolt. It appeared in the Herald Sun March 29, 2006. Many of Tony Blair's former comrades defend not democracy but mass-murdering fascists and head-lopnd a best-selling author and much-petted guest on the ABC? To contrast him here to Blair is to see that the true icon of the Left is now not the red flag but the white coat. Poor Blair, who thought he was of the Left himself, has trouble understanding why many of his former comrades now defend not democracy, but mass-murdering fascists and head-lopping Islamists. In his speech to the joint sitting of our Parliament, he rightly said Islamist terrorists were ideologues "at war with us and our way of life". But in a little-noted aside, he added: "Their case is that democracy is a Western concept we are forcing on an unwilling culture of Islam. The problem we have is that a part of opinion in our own countries agrees with them." He's talking of his own Left here, and warns: "The strain of, frankly, anti-American feeling in parts of European and in world politics is madness when set against the long-term interests of the world we believe in." Madness? That brings me to Fisk, the ABC darling. But let me first describe the rank garden in which he thrives. It was always going to be hard for Leftists to find ways to excuse the terrorists with whom we in the capitalist West are now at war. For many this strain of excusing the inexcusable has become just too much. At first the cracks appeared only on fringes of the rational world, like France, where Thierry Meyssan, head of a Left-leaning think-tank, in 2002 wrote a book suggesting it wasn't a plane at all that hit the Pentagon on September 11. No, it was a cruise missile. And the planes that hit the World Trade Centre weren't hijacked but piloted by remote control. And, you guessed it, it was all the work of people "from inside the American state apparatus". The claims of his L'Effroyable Imposture (The Frightening Fraud) were easily disproved -- see, for instance, www.popularmechanics.com -- but of course the facts didn't matter. This wasn't about reason but hate, so the book quickly sold 200,000 copies in France alone and is now translated into 28 languages. The fantasy it spun span like a dervish in Muslim countries. American activist filmmaker Michael Moore then produced his own blame-America fantasy in Fahrenheit 9-11, showing President George W. Bush as a shyster who'd been bought off by Saudi oil tycoons, and thus didn't chase the real villains of September 11. And they weren't al-Qaida, but ... his Saudi mates. As for Iraq, what a peaceful, loving place it was under Saddam Hussein. See the children playing before the Americans bombed them! This sleazy stuff went down so well that Moore won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and was given a seat in the box of former US president Jimmy Carter at the Democrat convention. It seemed you could tell any crazy lie to smear the US, and you'd be praised as a truth-teller. And so our own SBS ran a French documentary, The World According to Bush, arguing that Bush attacked Iraq just "for the benefit of Israel", because he was a "political whore" who was a puppet of Jews and Christian Zionists. Goebbels couldn't have put it better. When such mad material is circulated even by state-funded broadcasters in the West, it's no surprise to find the same lines turning up in the mouths of "politically aware" actors. Cue Charlie Sheen, the Spin City star, who this month hinted darkly that the September 11 attacks were really an inside job, with Bush perhaps in on "some sort of rehearsal". "It seems to me like 19 amateurs with boxcutters taking over four commercial airliners and hitting 75 per cent of their targets, that feels like a conspiracy theory," he said. Consider the first plane to hit the World Trade Centre: "There was a feeling, it just didn't look like any commercial jetliner I've flown on any time in my life and then when the buildings came down later on that day I said to my brother, 'Call me insane, but did it sorta look like those buildings came down in a controlled demolition?' " Of course, Sheen is just a dumb actor, right? No serious person of the Left would say he'd speak for them. Robert Fisk, however, is a veteran British foreign correspondent and author living in Beirut and now working for the London Independent. He has countless fans among the Left, especially in Australia, where he is a regular on ABC programs such as Lateline and Phillip Adams' Late Night Live. Just this month he was a guest of Adelaide's Writers Festival and gave a long lecture at Sydney University that was broadcast in full on the ABC on Sunday. Osama bin Laden would be delighted, I'm sure, since the al-Qaida leader in 2004 urged us to listen especially to Fisk because "I consider him to be neutral". And he'd be even happier to hear Fisk's message to us. Apparently every bad thing in the Middle East is our fault. Said Fisk: "I see this immense world of injustice ... and I must say given our constant interference in the Middle East, I'm amazed that Muslims have been so restrained." In fact, so "restrained" are they that Fisk isn't sure how much they can be blamed even for September 11. He often spoke in the US, he said, and "more and more people in the audience believe the American administration had some kind of involvement". "I have to say before you clap (indeed, some in his audience were applauding) I don't have any proof of that. "I mean, the worst I can envisage is that they know something was coming and they preferred it to happen so that their strategy could be put into place." (Hmm. What sinister strategy would that be, Bob?) But Fisk could not leave it even at that: "Serious people across the States are asking -- people in Iowa, for God's sake -- are asking me in letters, 'What really happened? How did those buildings fall so neatly down?' "And I can't answer them except to say I am in Beirut and not New York and I can't investigate this. But there are a lot of things we don't know, a lot of things we're not going to be told." Like this, perhaps: that although we've read that United Airlines flight 93 crashed when its passengers tackled their hijackers, Fisk thinks "perhaps the plane was hit by a missile". An American missile. "We still don't know," he claimed. Don't think such insidious conspiracy mongering is new to Fisk. Only a month ago he told Lateline it was "not logical" to believe Iraqis were killing Iraqis, and that "the real question" was "who are these people trying to provoke civil war?". Fisk's hint? "Who pays the militia men who make up the death squads? We do, the occupation authorities. "I'd like to know what the Americans are doing to get at the people who are trying to provoke the civil war. It seems to me not very much." Those evil Americans again. Unlike Sheen, Fisk can't be dismissed as just another crank who represents no one. He is welcome in almost any ABC studio even today, his documentaries are reverentially presented on SBS, his books sell well in modish shops, and even at the end of his bizarre Sydney speech, the audience gave him a long and loving ovation. This is the kind of madness in the Left that so worries Blair. And if it worries even a leader of that Left, it sure frightens me. |
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EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS BEATEN BY SECURITY FORCES IN IRAN
Posted by SMCCDI, April 2, 2006. |
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Several units of the Islamic regime's Para-military forces have been sent to the Lorestan province in order to help to control the earthquake stricken region. Sporadic clashes have erupted between some angry survivors and local security forces following the lack of necessary materials and aids in the region. Most residents are openly expressing their anger about the looting of Iran's national assets, by the Islamic regime's officials, and the aids delivered to terrorist groups, such as, Hamas. The anger reached its boiling point, on Saturday afternoon, following the spread of the news that the Islamic republic regime has officially rejected the US offer for sending help. Iranians are in general rejecting the Islamic regime for its ideological basis and its inhumane policy to let their countrymen die instead of welcoming any measure seeking to save them. Many remember of how the International aid was detoured, each time, and sold on the black market following the deadly earthquakes that happened, in the last two decades, in Roodbar and Bam regions. Several strong consecutive earthquakes stroke the Bojnoord and Dorood areas, located in the western province of Lorestan, on Friday morning. Official sources have issued reports stating about tens of deaths, hundreds of injured and thousands of homeless which according to some experts are far from reality. Contact SMCCDI, The Student Movement for Democracy in Iran, by email at peyk@daneshjoo.org. Or go to their website: http://www.daneshjoo.org/ This article was published at http://daneshjoo.org/ |
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PRECURSER FROM WWII OF "MURDER A JEW, LOSE A CITY"
Posted by Professor Eugene Narrett, April 2, 2006. |
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Some readers may have perceived an extreme or satiric edge to the recent post titled, "Murder a Jew, Lose a City." This would be regrettable and inaccurate. Consider as a postscript this early modern precoursor of the idea dating from a European government temporarily situated in London. [Editor's note: See ] In May of 1942, the first eyewitness accounts, from escaped Jews and German industrialists of the Nazi-organized "systematic extermination" of Europe's Jews reached London from Switzerland. Beginning June 29, 1942, the story was broadcast around the world though, as David S. Wyman documents,* the details and malice generally were downplayed or blurred. Nevertheless, the reports were so clear and disturbing to General Wladyslaw Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish Government in exile, that he gathered nine other heads of state from occupied European nations to urge that American President Franklin Roosevelt bomb German cities in explicit reprisal for and as a deterrencd to "the mass executions, especially those of Polish Jews." Via the Polish ambassador in Washington, FDR gave his typical array of excuses why this was not possible. As we know from many sources, including Wyman, this sombre and damning episode had many iterations. For example, the many pleas to bomb the crematoria and gas chambers at Auschwitz or, at least, the railroad lines from Budapest and the Balkans to Auschwitz were met with claims of impossibilty by the British and American diplomats though in fact they bombed factories within the Auschwitz complex and targets farther away and more heavily defended, too. Anyway doubtintg the deterrent and peace-making abilities of massive, punitive bombing (like punitive damages in law) need only look at photos of Hamburg in 1944-5 or consider the effect of the second atomic bomb at Nagasaki on the Japanese regime: they surrendered and haven't attacked anyone since. During the latter months of 1942, the administration of FDR deflected attention from its own gross contempt for genocide against Jews by, among other things, pressing the Vatican to publicly condemn the atrocities. The Vatican, enmeshed in its fourth year of covertly trying to arrange an Anglo-German alliance against Russia (there already was a de facto Anglo-German alliance against the Jewish people) refused. They were vigorously pursuing the spin off s of their "intermarium" plans for re-creating a Catholic empire that would surpass the Hapsburg dominions and stretch from the Baltic to the Black Sea.** What FDR and Winnie Churchill did do in presenting the policy of their diplomatic elites in response to the increasing and increasingly gruesome evi dence of what the Germans and their helpers were doing to the Jews of Europe was to emphasize more and more often that after the war "the United Nations would set up a commission to investigate war crimes [sic] and that perpetrators would face fearful retribution." So that was the American and British response to the shoah: put a few dozen German top dogs on trial, hang them, and in the meantime do their utmost to fulfill the British policy of sabotaging the Jewish National Home. Oh, and create a "world community" whose main task would be to further partition Israel and to relentlessly hound the Jewish state that managed to be born. Two points: fierce retaliation does serve a powerful and tonic preemptive purpose. It improves human behavior and hope by showing that "there is a God Who judges in the world." That of course is contra the agenda of the new secular world order whose obvious target is the Jewish people and their holy sites. The lack of massive retaliation for terror is what keeps the vague "war on terror" grinding on its path of crisis and attrition. The elites can't do crisis - management without a crisis to manage.... in Iraq or wherever. And, second point, thus the feckless pretense that this "war on terror" charade is about finding and trying in courts, with posturing lawyers, mass murderers a nd murderers of civilians when what these murderers need is summary execution. If Kalkilya, Tulkarem, Arab Hebron [what a hideous oxymoron and shame], and Jenin were now gone because of the atrocity at Kedumim we would not fact the likelihood, nay, the near certainty of more such horrors. But that's been the story of the past sixty years and more where the Jewish people are concerned. But it's not too late: an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure. The lives massive retaliation could save will not be retrievable after the next terror attacks. As Rav Yosef Karo codified, "when they are gathering to attack you, kill them first." As that is true for retail murderers, it is true and urgent in spades for the genocide planners in Teheran. Victory and peace, or attrition, despair, and the slide to the pit. --------------------- * David S. Wyman, "The Abandonment of the Jews: American & the Holocaust, 1941-5 (1984; updated 1998), 29 ff, and see especially 42-3 ff for the State Department's burying of the high level reports conveyed to it by Gerhart Riegner, August 08, 1942. ** Mark Aarons and John Loftus, "Unholy Trinity: the Vatican, the Nazis and the Swiss Banks" (1991; 1998). Professor Eugene Narrett teaches writing and Literature at Boston University. He is the author of hundreds of articles, columns and reviews on politics, American culture and the arts. He is completing a study on Romanticism and the longterm decline of Western Culture. He writes often on subjects relating to Israel and Judaism and is a weekly columnist for the MetroWest Daily News in Framingham, Massachusetts. |
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WORLD BANK: MONEY WON'T FIX THINGS
Posted by David Frankfurter, April 1, 2006. |
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Life in jail is no picnic. On the other hand, if you are a Palestinian held captive by Israel, there can be quite an upside. Over 40% of Palestinians still live in poverty. So for some, having the Israeli taxpayer provide food, clothing and a roof over your head is no small matter. Aside from less desirable professions that one might pick up in a prison environment, incarceration in Israel now offers long-term career and financial breaks within the world of Palestinian kleptocracy. High school matriculation is one of the few palatable links in an extended chain of opportunities. The mechanisms of the system are very simple. They were explained very succinctly and brazenly by former Palestinian Minister for Prisoner Affairs, Sufiyan Abu Zayid, in a September 2005 interview with the newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida. Specifically, each prisoner receives a salary of approximately £150 - £550 from the ministry. Another £30 is supplied for incidental expenses. These are topped up with legal and medical costs, as well as the possibility of university tuition fees. Finally, upon release, they receive a hero's welcome back into society, and are entitled to a salary for six months, until they receive a formal position in the PA. The financing comes directly from the Palestinian Authority (PA). It allocates £2.3 million per month for these "Prisoner Affairs"; a total of over £50 million since January 2003. Ironically, it emerges that international donors have been contributing to the support of such murderers and terrorists from Hamas, Fatah and other groups. What the average Western taxpayer is not told is that 25% of the PA budget is funded from abroad -- with the European Union leading the way. When politicians like Hilary Benn say that "no UK aid money will be used to support Hamas", he is either deluding himself or worse. Ongoing criticism of the abuse of these contributions led to repeated inquiries and investigations by the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the EU fraud squad (OLAF). But committees of evidence were never really required. The figures are published in the monthly PA accounts, which are freely available on the website of the Palestinian Ministry of Finance. And what have these very concerned European investigators and legislators had to say about their taxpayers' money being used this way? Nothing. In a decade when terrorism has reached the streets of London, New York and Madrid, it is shocking that this "terrorist insurance" has earned a wide stamp of silent diplomatic approval. No wonder that Palestinian youth see a term in an Israeli prison as highly desirable; free food and board, get an education, save some money, and finally return as a hero with a promised job at the end. All this at the expense of the Israeli and Western taxpayer. And with the support of European politicos. The poetic license of a partisan journalist? Even the Palestinian media admits it. The Ma'an News Agency reported on February 22, 2006 a new phenomenon among Palestinian youth. Adolescents, as young as 14, head for Israeli military posts, pretending to be terrorists. They want to be arrested and pursue a better future, starting in an Israeli prison. As eyewitnesses described, the tactics are primitive and effective. Groups of boys carry knives or homemade explosives, which they then deliberately allow to be sighted by Israeli security personnel. When challenged, they throw down the weapons and turn themselves in. Sometimes the charade is repeated on successive days in the same place. In the Bethlehem area alone, as many as 40 minors were arrested in three weeks, all between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. Allowing kids to be caught and taught is innovative. However, given the huge sums Europe pours into the Palestinian Authority, there must be better ways to get teenagers with initiative off the streets and into society. Of more serious concern is the lesson to the highly impressionable Palestinian youth about the acceptability of terrorism taught by this policy. The "social benefits" awarded to convicted terrorists are only one small element of a larger budgetary issue. The London based Funding for Peace Coalition has meticulously documented how internationally funded donations have been continually and consistently directed to paying terrorist salaries. Its reports show that when public pressure forced Europe to demand Al-Aksa terrorists be taken off the "cash payroll", PA Prime Minister Qurei and President Abbas nevertheless promised to return them to the official books, as soon as feasible. European silence allowed this to happen. The prisoner support payments together with the salaries given to thousands of Al-Aksa and other terrorists on the payroll have blown the PA budget out of control. In fact, the International Monetary Fund reported that the PA Ministry of Finance had identified eight to ten thousand non-performing security personnel on the September 2005 payroll. Today, the international media is scrambling to blame Israel and the West's rejection of Hamas for the PA's current financial crisis. The real truth was stated by the World Bank, as far back as November 2005. "The PA has created a serious fiscal crisis for itself..." Regional stability does not rely solely on Western democracies funding the PA expense budget. Neither are Israeli concessions an answer on their own. The Palestinians must provide responsible and accountable governance. Otherwise, as the World Bank says, the prognosis is simple: "Money won't fix things here." David Frankfurter is a business consultant, corporate executive and writer who frequently comments on the Middle East. To subscribe to his 'Letter from Israel', email him at david.frankfurter@iname.com. Or go to http://www.livejournal.com/users/dfrankfurter/ |
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ISRAEL MUST NOT RETREAT FROM ITS ENEMY
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, April 1, 2006. |
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"Danger - if you meet it promptly and without flinching - you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!" This quote by Winston Churchill ought to be inscribed above the hallowed halls of an Israeli Knesset forthwith. The overpowering urge to run away from danger behind unilaterally contracted boundaries, as proposed by a newly elected Kadima party and its political pals, supported by perhaps a majority of frustrated Israelis, consequentially evicting tens of thousands of Israeli citizens dwelling within Judea and Samaria in the process, would cause that noteworthy Brit to turn over many times in his grave. Surely, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's adage "Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom" ever applies to BiBi Netanyahu's antithetical strategy of expanding, not contracting, Jewish enclaves in such land of disputed governance, land that Israel secured in battle by vanquishing Arabs intent on annihilating the Jewish state. Adversarial Arab neighbors, led by the recently elected fulminating fundamentalist group Hamas, would view such aggressive action with contempt, but would respect Israel's demonstration of strength. Those same sworn enemies however would no less contemptibly, indeed disrespectfully, view Jews ceding land while retreating behind borders as demonstrating weakness. Perhaps a state of collective cognitive dissonance, in effect a perilous unwillingness or inability to confront obvious facts on the ground, saps all common sense and wisdom thus distorts reality for an exasperated Israeli population ever yearning for peace at any price. "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." Only a demented mind would spew such venom, yet this criminally insane babble is found within Hamas' charter. Might any currently delusional Israeli, reacquainted with but a shred of logic upon reading this vile verse, rethink any notion that such jihad junkies would ever cease attempting to murder Israelis in front of or behind unilaterally created borders? "A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today - and in fact we have forgotten" asserted a yesteryear John F Kennedy prophetically, comprehending the nature of perhaps any amnesic beaten down collection of citizens, electing leaders in retreat even willing to uproot their own intrepid pioneers while heading for the exits. "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves" stated a prescient Abraham Lincoln, whose sage observation indeed applies to modern Israel. Can today's Jewish democracy survive as a free nation with any reasonably secure quality of life for long if it so severs its anatomy thus forsakes its own soul? When Sharon abandoned Gaza in a quixotic attempt to pull away from the Arab bogeyman, he was flailing at their yet turning windmills hoping to eliminate an ill wind over Israel. Such strategy does not work. "Boldness be my friend", from the pen of Shakespeare to the heart of Israel, expand do not contract the number of your towns and cities within land of disputed governance, let us pray. Lawrence Uniglicht is a career civil servant, working for the Social Security Administration. He advocates for the State of Israel with an American perspective. He writes, "Advocating for the disrespected underdog has been my passion, no doubt Israel falls into that category." Contact him by email at luniglicht@snip.net |
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THE STOCKHOLM AND OSLO SYNDROMES
Posted by Max Yas, April 1, 2006. |
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Further to my letter of 25th March on self-negation[See the March Blog-Ed page], two other factors be considered: The Stockholm Syndrome: During a failed bank robbery in Stockholm, the criminals took hostages and all were locked in the safety deposit room. After several days the hostages bonded with their captors and refused to cooperate with the authorities. There is also the case of Petty Hearst, who was kidnapped by SLA (Symbiotic Liberation Army) and was brainwashed to a point where she took part with her kidnappers in a bank hold-up. The Oslo Syndrome: Dr. Kenneth Levin, a psychiatrist and historian, wrote a book on this subject. A review of his book by Debbie Berman, follows. It appeared in Arutz Sheva March 26, 2006. Shalom from Max Kenneth Levin, author of The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People Under Siege, terms "delusional" the behavior of Israeli population segments that supported the Oslo Accords.In an interview with Tovia Singer on IsraelNationalRadio, Dr. Levin claims that as a result of their desire for the Arab siege on Israel to end, many Israelis conditioned themselves to believe that a potential partner for peace existed in the Palestinian Authority, when the reality pointed only to the continued escalation of violence and terror. Dr. Levin, an instructor of clinical psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a Princeton-trained historian, has blended the two disciplines in his extensive writings on the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is characteristic of people under siege or chronic attack - whether you're talking about minorities that are marginalized, defamed and attacked or a small state under attack by larger neighbors - it is characteristic of portions of those populations to embrace the indictments, however bizarre, and to believe that if they perform in a way consistent with those indictments, then the siege will end, Dr. Levin stated. Levin compared the psychological delusions that led up to the Oslo Accords to those created by abused children desperate to end their suffering, Levin explained. Abused children always blame themselves for the abuse because they want to believe that they can have control over a situation that is really beyond their control. They believe that if they can change their behavior they can make their situation better. The hope is that if they just accept the indictment, if they just repress the recognition that they are being attacked unfairly, and try to change accordingly that somehow they'll win relief from their attackers. According to Levin the behavior exhibited by contemporary Israeli governments is not a new phenomenon: It is a very old problem, characteristic of Jews throughout the Diaspora. There were segments of the population that consistently embraced the indictments of the Jews' enemies when Jews were being attacked, and it is characteristic of Israel during the chronic Arab siege Levin believes that the Israeli delegation to the Oslo accords ignored the reality of the messages Arafat and his people were broadcasting to the Arab world. "The people who led Israel's engagement in the Oslo process," he explained, "completely ignored what the Arabs were saying to each other and what Arafat was saying to his people in Arabic, what he had his schools teaching, and what he had his associates in the PA saying to their constituents. Instead, if Arafat said something positive in English, they would just grab onto that, or even if it was hinted at they would extrapolate. They wanted to believe, they were so desperate for an end to the siege. They wanted to believe, despite all the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Levin postulates that the Palestinian Authority, as a realistic partner for peace, was an entirely fictional entity, created by an Israeli government that was desperate to put an end to suffering: They created a partner that didn't exist. They created this image of the other side that was prepared to give them peace in response/exchange for Israeli withdrawals. But that partner did not exist; it was a figment of the imagination. They ignored what Arafat was saying on the very night of that famous Arafat/Rabin handshake on the White House lawn. Arafat spoke on Jordanian TV telling his constituency that they should understand Oslo as the first phase in the 1974 PLO Plan of Phases, that says we'll take what we can get through negotiations, and we'll use that as a base for pursuing the destruction of Israel." Regarding possible healing for the delusions suffered by so many
Israelis, Levin advocated trying to make them realize how far off base
their thinking has been. It can only help patients who recognize that
they have problems. There are too many people in Israel who don't
think that they have a problem, offered Dr. Levin, adding: we have to
constantly confront people with the catastrophe of Oslo and how too
many Israelis are prepared to perpetuate another catastrophe and
follow in the same lines simply because the siege isn't ending and
they want it to end by their own actions. That will never be; it will
end at the declaration of the Arabs. What they can do is defend
themselves. The saddest thing is that you see too many people willing
to sacrifice Israel's ability to defend itself.
Contact Max Yax at maxyas@victoria.tc.ca |
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THE FASCISTS OF FREE SPEECH
Posted by Gary S., April 1, 2006. |
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This was published February 25, 2006 by Catherine Seipp, who writes a weekly column for National Review Online and blogs at www.cathyseipp.net. It appeared in www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/ la-oe-seipp25feb25,0,6959809. story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions A FRIEND OF MINE took his young daughter to visit the famous City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, explaining to her that the place is important because years ago it sold books no other store would - even, perhaps especially, books whose ideas many people found offensive. So, although my friend is no fan of Ward Churchill, the faux Indian and discredited professor who notoriously called 9/11 victims "little Eichmanns," he didn't really mind seeing piles of Churchill's books prominently displayed on a table as he walked in. However, it did occur to him that perhaps the long-delayed English translation of Oriana Fallaci's new book, "The Force of Reason," might finally be available, and that because Fallaci's militant stance against Islamic militants offends so many people, a store committed to selling banned books would be the perfect place to buy it. So he asked a clerk if the new Fallaci book was in yet. "No," snapped the clerk. "We don't carry books by fascists." Now let's just savor the absurd details of this for a minute. City Lights has a long and proud history of supporting banned authors - owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti was indicted (and acquitted) for obscenity in 1957 for selling Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," and a photo at the bookstore showed Ferlinghetti proudly posing next to a sign reading "banned books." Yet his store won't carry, of all people, Fallaci, who is not only being sued in Italy for insulting religion because of her latest book but continues to fight the good fight against those who think that the appropriate response to offensive books and cartoons is violent riots. It's particularly repugnant that someone who fought against actual fascism in World War II should be deemed a fascist by a snotty San Francisco clerk. Strangest of all is the scenario of such a person DISLIKING AN AUTHOR FOR DEFENDING WESTERN CIVILIZATION AGAINST RADICAL ISLAM - when one of the first things those poor, persecuted Islamists would do, if they ever (Allah forbid) came to power in the United States, is crush suspected homosexuals like him beneath walls. Yet those most oppressed by political Islam continue to defend it, even (perhaps especially) in the wake of the Danish cartoon furor. I've heard that in Europe this phenomenon is now called the Copenhagen syndrome, and some of its arguments really are amazing. For instance: "Freedom of speech is not absolute. It has to be in the service of something, like peace or social justice," a young British Muslim woman named Fareena Alam wrote in Britain's the Observer a couple of weeks ago. Although it's true that freedom of speech is not absolute - laws against libel and making violent threats are stronger in Britain than here - Alam has it exactly wrong. Free speech doesn't have to be in the service of anything but its own point of view. If it did, it wouldn't be free speech. I saw this sort of thinking for myself up close earlier this month when I spoke at USC about media bias a few days after the first cartoon riots had broken out. A student wearing a hijab came up to me afterward scoffing at the notion that violent demonstrations in response to the offensive drawings were even all that violent. "Oh, how many people have died?" she asked, screwing up her face in disbelief. At the time, the death total was four or five. By now it's more than 100. It isn't only Muslim women who are out there defending political Islam, though. Another young woman in the USC audience, after announcing that her father had been held in five Nazi concentration camps so she knows about the Holocaust, segued into a long, rambling position statement about just how little we understand the Muslim world. But the truth is, by now we understand the Muslim world all too well. For those who manage to remain perplexed, there are many helpful news photos of placards ("Behead Those Who Disrespect Islam," "Get Ready for the Real Holocaust"), often carried by religiously shrouded women, that can clear up their puzzlement. Back to City Lights, which indeed has no plans to sell any books by the "fascist" free-speech defender Fallaci. The store's website proudly declares that the place is "known for our commitment to freedom of expression," in which case you might assume such commitment includes supporting those whose free expression puts them in real danger. But, although "The Force of Reason" is expected to reach the U.S. this spring, a City Lights clerk said when I called that the store has no plans to carry anything by Fallaci. "You're welcome to buy her book elsewhere, though," my friend was told helpfully when he visited. "Let's just say we don't have room for her here." OK, let's just say that. But let's also say that one of the great paradoxes of our time is that two groups most endangered by political Islam, gays and women, somehow still find ways to defend it. Gary S. can be contacted by email at ahavat@telkomsa.net |
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THE FALLACI CODE
Posted by Gary S., April 1, 2006. |
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This article was written by Brendan Bernhard. Staff writer of LA
Weekly, he is the author of White Muslim: From L.A. to New York to
Jihad, a study of converts to Islam in the West (Melville House). It
is archived at www.laweekly.com/index.php?option= In The Force of Reason, the controversial Italian journalist and novelist Oriana Fallaci illuminates one of the central enigmas of our time. How did Europe become home to an estimated 20 million Muslims in a mere three decades? How did Islam go from being a virtual non-factor to a religion that threatens the preeminence of Christianity on the Continent? How could the most popular name for a baby boy in Brussels possibly be Mohammed? Can it really be true that Muslims plan to build a mosque in London that will hold 40,000 people? That Dutch cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam are close to having Muslim majorities? How was Europe, which was saved by the U.S. in world wars I and II, and whose Muslim Bosnians were rescued by the U.S. as recently as 1999, transformed into a place in which, as Fallaci puts it, "if I hate Americans I go to Heaven and if I hate Muslims I go to Hell?" In attempting to answer these questions, the author, who is stricken with cancer and has been hounded by death threats and charges of "Islamophobia" (she is due to go on trial in France this June), has combined history with episodes of riveting firsthand reportage into a form that reads like a real-life conspiracy thriller. If The Force of Reason sells a lot of copies, which it almost certainly will (800,000 were sold in Italy alone, and the book is in the top 100 on Amazon), it will be not only because of the heat generated by her topic, but also because Fallaci speaks for the ordinary reader. There is no one she despises more than the intellectual "cicadas," as she calls them -- "You see them every day on television; you read them every day in the newspapers" -- who deny they are in the midst of a cultural, political and existential war with Islam, of which terrorism is the flashiest, but ultimately least important component. Nonetheless, to give the reader a taste of what Muslim conquest can be like, in her first chapter, Fallaci provides a brief tour of the religion's bloodiest imperial episodes and later does an amusing job of debunking some of its more exaggerated claims to cultural and scientific greatness. The book is also animated by a world-class journalist's dismay that she could have missed the story of her lifetime for as long as she did. In the 1960s and '70s, when she was a Vietnam War correspondent and a legendarily ferocious interviewer going mano a mano with the likes of Henry Kissinger and Yasser Arafat, Fallaci was simply too preoccupied with the events of the moment to notice that an entirely different narrative was rapidly taking shape -- namely, the transformation of the West. There were clues, certainly. As when, in 1972, she interviewed the Palestinian terrorist George Habash, who told her (while a bodyguard aimed a submachine gun at her head) that the Palestinian problem was about far more than Israel. The Arab goal, Habash declared, was to wage war "against Europe and America" and to ensure that henceforth "there would be no peace for the West." The Arabs, he informed her, would "advance step by step. Millimeter by millimeter. Year after year. Decade after decade. Determined, stubborn, patient. This is our strategy. A strategy that we shall expand throughout the whole planet." Fallaci thought he was referring simply to terrorism. Only later did she realize that he "also meant the cultural war, the demographic war, the religious war waged by stealing a country from its citizens... In short, the war waged through immigration, fertility, presumed pluriculturalism." It is a low-level but deadly war that extends across the planet, as any newspaper reader can see. Fallaci is not the first person to ponder the rapidity of the ongoing Muslim transformation of Europe. As the English travel writer Jonathan Raban wrote in Arabia: A Journey Through the Labyrinth (1979), in the mid-1970s Arabs seemed to arrive in London almost overnight. "One day Arabs were a remote people ... camping out in tents with camels ... the next, they were neighbors." On the streets of West London appeared black-clad women adorned with beaked masks that made them look "like hooded falcons." Dressed for the desert (and walking precisely four steps ahead of the women), Arab men bestrode the sidewalks "like a crew of escaped film extras, their headdresses aswirl on the wind of exhaust fumes." Writers far better acquainted with the Muslim world than Raban have been equally perplexed. In 1995, the late American novelist Paul Bowles, a ongtime resident of Tangier, told me that he could not understand why the French had allowed millions of North African Muslims into their country. Bowles had chosen to live among Muslims for most of his life, yet he obviously considered it highly unlikely that so many of them could be successfully integrated into a modern, secular European state. Perhaps Bowles would have been interested in this passage from Fallaci's book: "In 1974 [Algerian President] Houari Boumedienne, the man who ousted Ben Bella three years after Algerian independence, spoke before the General Assembly of the United Nations. And without circumlocutions he said: 'One day millions of men will leave the southern hemisphere of this planet to burst into the northern one. But not as friends. Because they will burst in to conquer, and they will conquer by populating it with their children. Victory will come to us from the wombs of our women.'" Such a bald statement of purpose by a nation's president before an international forum seems incredible. Yet even in British journalist Adam LeBor's A Heart Turned East (1997), a work of profound, almost supine sympathy for the plight of Muslim immigrants in the West, a London-based mullah is quoted as saying, "We cannot conquer these people with tanks and troops, so we have got to overcome them by force of numbers." In fact, such remarks are commonplace. Just this week, Mullah Krekar, a Muslim supremacist living in Oslo, informed the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten that Muslims would change Norway, not the other way around. "Just look at the development within Europe, where the number of Muslims is expanding like mosquitoes," he said. "By 2050, 30 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim." In other words, Europe will be conquered by being turned into "Eurabia," which is what Fallaci believes it is well on the way to becoming. Leaning heavily on the researches of Bat Ye'or, author of Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, Fallaci recounts in fascinating detail the actual origin of the word "Eurabia," which has now entered the popular lexicon. Its first known use, it turns out, was in the mid-1970s, when a journal of that name was printed in Paris (naturally), written in French (naturally), and edited by one Lucien Bitterlin, then president of the Association of Franco-Arab Solidarity and currently the Chairman of the French-Syrian Friendship Association. Eurabia (price, five francs) was jointly published by Middle East International (London), France-Pays Arabes (Paris), the Groupe d'Etudes sur le Moyen-Orient (Geneva) and the European Coordinating Committee of the Associations for Friendship with the Arab World, which Fallaci describes as an arm of what was then the European Economic Community, now the European Union. These entities, Fallaci says, not mincing her words, were the official perpetrators "of the biggest conspiracy that modern history has created," and Eurabia was their house organ. Briefly put, the alleged plot was an arrangement between European and Arab governments according to which the Europeans, still reeling from the first acts of PLO terrorism and eager for precious Arabian oil made significantly more precious by the 1973 OPEC crisis, agreed to accept Arab "manpower" (i.e., immigrants) along with the oil. They also agreed to disseminate propaganda about the glories of Islamic civilization, provide Arab states with weaponry, side with them against Israel and generally toe the Arab line on all matters political and cultural. Hundreds of meetings and seminars were held as part of the "Euro-Arab Dialogue," and all, according to the author, were marked by European acquiescence to Arab requests. Fallaci recounts a 1977 seminar in Venice, attended by delegates from 10 Arab nations and eight European ones, concluding with a unanimous resolution calling for "the diffusion of the Arabic language" and affirming "the superiority of Arab culture." While the Arabs demanded that Europeans respect the religious, political and human rights of Arabs in the West, not a peep came from the Europeans about the absence of freedom in the Arab world, not to mention the abhorrent treatment of women and other minorities in countries like Saudi Arabia. No demand was made that Muslims should learn about the glories of western civilization as Europeans were and are expected to learn about the greatness of Islamic civilization. In other words, according to Fallaci, a substantial portion of Europe's cultural and political independence was sold off by a coalition of ex-communists and socialist politicians. Are we surprised? Fallaci isn't. In 1979, she notes, "the Italian or rather European Left had fallen in love with Khomeini just as now it has fallen in love with Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein and Arafat." Considerably less intemperate than her last book on the topic of radical Islam, the volcanically angry The Rage and the Pride, The Force of Reason is despairing, but often surprisingly funny. ("The rage and the pride have married and produced a sturdy son: the disdain," she writes with characteristic wit.) And, Fallaci being Fallaci, it is occasionally over the top and will no doubt be deeply offensive to many, particularly when, in a postscript the book might have been better off without, she claims that there is no such thing as moderate Islam. Nonetheless, the voice and warmth and humor of the author light up its pages, particularly when she takes a leaf out of Saul Bellow's Herzog by firing off impassioned letters to the famous both living and dead. She is savage about the Left, the "Peace" movement (war is a fundamental, if regrettable, condition of life, she states), the Catholic Church, the media and, of course, Islam itself, which she considers theological totalitarianism and a deadly threat to the world. She is much more optimistic about America than Europe, citing the bravery of New Yorkers who celebrated New Year¹s Eve in Times Square despite widely publicized terrorism threats, but here one feels that she is clutching at straws. Though Fallaci now lives in New York, little amity has been extended to her by her peers since the post-9/11 publication of The Rage and the Pride, and she remains almost as much of a media pariah here as she does in Europe. The major difference is that we're not putting her on trial. As that Norwegian Mullah told Aftenposten, "Our way of thinking ... will prove more powerful than yours." One hopes he's wrong, but if he is, it will be ordinary Americans and Europeans, including courageous Arab-Americans like L.A. resident Wafa Sultan and the Somali-born Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali (two women openly challenging Islamist supremacism), who prove him so, and not our intellectual classes (artists, pundits, filmmakers, actors, writers ...). Many of the latter, consumed by Bush-hatred and cultural self-loathing, are perilously close to becoming today's equivalent of the great Norwegian novelist Knut Hamsun, who so hated the British Empire that he sided with the Nazis in World War II, to his everlasting shame. The Force of Reason, at the very least, is a welcome and necessary antidote to the prevailing intellectual atmosphere. Contact Gary S. at ahavat@telkomsa.net |
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CLEARINGHOUSE FOR INFORMATION ON THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT
Posted by Lee Caplan, April 1, 2006. |
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For the first time ever, there is a central clearinghouse
for Israel's rights to Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. It will be totally
accessible to the general public and researchers, so they may learn
and widely disseminate this vital information.
Israel will finally have a strong legal and moral case to present to the world. Please give your time to this historic effort after the elections. No experience necessary. If desired, you can remain anonymous. -- Go to the Israel White Paper website -- http://www.israelwhitepaper.org -- or send an email to admin@israelwhtepaper.org Contact Lee Caplan at leescaplan@yahoo.com |
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