THE LAW OF THE LAND Posted by Michael Anbar, August 31, 2005.

An argument we have been repeatedly is that a civilized society must obey the laws of the land. They tell us that since the Knesset has legislated the expulsion of Jews from the Gaza Strip, these laws had to be obeyed by both the Jewish villagers in Gaza and by the Israeli police and military sent to evict them. Consequently, Jews who protested their eviction were considered violators of state law and were punished by reducing their meager promised compensation. Furthermore, Jews who came to show solidarity with the victims were considered criminals according to Sharon's laws, and many of them are in jail up to date. It has been heart wrenching to watch on TV the forceful expulsion of Jews and the relentless squelching of political anti-"disengagement" demonstrations (on site demonstrations were forbidden by those Israeli laws and/or by military regulations). The argument, reemphasized by Israeli official spokesmen, that laws of the land must be obeyed, has limited validity because certain laws can be unjust or immoral. Let us remember that expulsion or persecution of Jews throughout history were always preceded by appropriate laws. Those atrocities were all legal. The Nuremberg laws, which legalized discrimination against Jews, were passed by the democratically elected Nazi regime. The expulsion of Spanish Jews in 1492 followed a royal decree, which made it the law of the land - and it then became illegal for Jews to live in Spain, not unlike the current law in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Thus if Sharon and his hand-picked Attorney General proposed laws to be passed by the Knesset under Sharon's heavy-handed clout, this does not make such laws ethical or moral, not to say advisable from the standpoint of national survival. Sharon's laws of expulsion have been passed as the result of a political rather than a judicial process; since this political process has been faulty so are those laws. Notwithstanding the official line of the current Israeli government, a democracy must allow every citizen the option of disobeying a law deemed immoral or unreasonable, and be ready to defend such defiance in an impartial court of law Unfortunately, even unjust, unethical, ill-advised laws, passed by a biased, self-serving legislature, remain valid until legally revoked. Under the current Israeli political system, laws can be revoked, or significantly changed, only by a new, politically independent, legislature following national elections. Unless Sharon's laws of "disengagement" were abolished, these draconian laws, which legitimize arbitrary expulsion of Jews from their homes with no valid reason and without indisputably fair compensation for loss of property and income, might be soon applied again and again in other areas on both sides of the "green line," following persistent threat of Islamic terrorism. This is why early elections and reversal of policy are so critical for the survival of the State of Israel. Sharon could not have executed his plan of unconditional retreat without virtually dismantling and effectively abolishing Israeli democracy. Regretfully, Israel has lost its virtue of being "the only true democracy in the Middle East". It is not a genuine democracy any more. Actually, it had hardly been a representative democracy in the first place. Members of the Knesset are not accountable to individual voters like in the US or GB, but are appointed by the bosses of the respective political parties. Therefore, the party boss, be it Arik Sharon or Shimon Peres, can reward or punish any Knesset representative of his party. It takes, therefore, special courage to challenge the Boss's decisions, and it takes true personal integrity not to be bribed by lucrative ministerial positions in return for voting for the Boss's proposals. Sharon fired three cabinet ministers whom he expected to vote against his disengagement plan, three additional ministers, including Nathan Sharanski and Bibi Netaniahu, resigned because of the same issue. Sharon appointed a new Attorney General, replacing one who was going to indict him for corruption. This new appointee has "fallen in line" on all issues concerning the "disengagement," endorsing the arrest and detention for months of 14 year-old girls who demonstrated against the expulsion, so as to intimidate the community that might oppose the PM's plan. Sharon even ignored a vote against the plan within his own party. Intimidation of the populace is a daily occurrence in today's Israel. For instance, the police confiscated the driver's licenses of chartered buss drivers who were hired to ferry people from remote towns to anti-disengagement political rallies, not to speak of Sharon's absolute refusal to hold a national referendum on the issue. Prof. Ron Breiman, Chairman of the Professors for a Safe Israel (PSI), a miniscule organization of academicians, was arrested, hand-cuffed and finger printed as a criminal, allegedly for showing solidarity with Jewish residents in the Northern Gaza Territory , distributing bumper stickers against the "disengagement." Sharon's autocratic regime seems to have little tolerance for dissidents, not unlike that of the now defunct USSR. What could explain Sharon's brute force-policy? To the best of our knowledge, Sharon never articulated his rationale for the unconditional retreat from Gaza. His claim that he does this because there is no partner to negotiate with, is pathetic. If there was no partner there is no deal. In such a case Israel should have helped to remove the present intransient Palestinian leadership, encouraging the establishment of an uncorrupt leadership, which truly cares for the welfare of the Palestinian Arabs rather then pursuing grandiose pan-Islamic militancy. Sharon refused to debate it in the Knesset and has been vehemently opposed a national debate on the issue, preceding a national referendum. In brief, the "lack of a partner" which has certainly changed with the demise of Arafat, was an excuse rather than an explanation. In fact, Sharon met and held discussions with Abu Mazen, Arafat's successor, on several occasions before the expulsion. This leaves us with just wild speculations about Sharon's motivation. These include personal corruption, capricious egocentrism, despotic non-conformism, sociopathy or another mental illness, and US political pressure, among others. The latter explanation is tenuous at best, since Sharon was the one who proposed that unilateral retreat in the first place and President Bush was reluctant to accept it for quite a while; moreover, in his last visit to Crawford, just before the expulsion, Sharon was not treated by President Bush as a personal friend, which he was before he proposed his "disengagement" plan. Was Bush enthused by this plan, which succumbs to Arab terrorism and rewards it, he would have offered Sharon much more assistance than an ambiguous letter. This plan might have been precipitated by Sharon's strong anti-religious convictions, as most of the "settlers," who were demonized for years by Israeli "liberals," have been religious Zionists. The latest "explanation" I heard was that Sharon did all this to receive accolades from Kofi Anan at the UN, because both Arik and Kofi have something personal in common - both have sons accused of corruption. The notion that anti-Israeli Arab terrorism cannot be stopped and the continuation of this threat has become unbearable as an explanation of Sharon's motivation, is hard to accept, although this is who the Islamic terrorists interpret Sharon's actions. If this was true, Sharon should have asked President Bush for a large territory in Nevada to resettle all the Israelis there (the Israelis has been proven to manage non-cultivatable deserts). This would have pleased the Saudis and Tony Blair and saved the US tax payers $5 billion annually. Then Sharon may have used the eviction of Jewish communities from the Gaza Strip as a feasibility pilot study for an ingenious solution of the "Jewish problem." Sarcasm aside, hedonism or cowardice of the mainstream Israelis could hardly explain Sharon's policy. Actually, the expelled people were those who showed that Jews are ready to make great sacrifices withstanding terror and maintaining productive lives. This is how Jews lived in the Land of Israel since the first Aliah in the 19th Century. The new Jewish refugees lived in the "disputed territories" out of their free will. If economic incentives kept them in those territories and not a religion-driven ideology, as the Israeli leftist media presented them in a concerted demonization campaign, why did they fight so hard to remain in their communities against all odds. If these Jewish families were money motivated, why did their sons and daughters volunteer for the most risky missions in the IDF, rather than go into business like their cousins in Tel Aviv? There are too many paradoxes in this equation to make it plausible. Another explanation advanced has been that Sharon just fulfilled the will of the people, because the polls said the majority of the Israelis favor the expulsions. This is a strange argument as Sharon was terrified by the idea of a national referendum. He simply knew that such a referendum would blow his pet project out of the water, very much like the referendum held among members of his own Likud party. So what about the polls? Anyone versed in the art of composing questionnaires know that one can obtain any result desired. I am not speaking just of the classic faulty poll "Have you stopped stealing from your boss? Yes/No," which comes up with the finding that 100% of employee are thieves. A poll may ask "Would you evacuate Gush Katif to achieve peace in Gaza? Yes/No ;" or "Would you evacuate Gush Katif to avoid IDF casualties? Yes/No" or "Would you allow 8000 Jew continue living among 1.4 million blood thirsty Arabs? Yes/No." Reported polls will show in such a case that an overwhelming majority of respondents favor the "disengagement." In brief, polls often reflect the choice of the pollster rather than that of the public polled. The fact remains that Sharon refused a national referendum that would have reflected the true sentiment of the electorate. Coming back to the "classical" claim "How could we permit 8000 Jews continue to live among 1.4 Million Muslims? Consider the demographics!", which has been used to justify the eviction of Jews from the Gaza Strip. Following this rationale Jews should not continue to live in Paris, Berlin, London, Warsaw, Moscow or Buffalo, New York. The only places for Jews not being a minute minority, outside of pre-1967 Israel, would be New-York City or perhaps Los Angeles. This argument only legitimizes Islamic religious intolerance, just as the unconditional withdrawal is delegitimizing Israel's claim to the rest of the ancient Jewish homeland, a claim that had been reaffirmed by the League of Nations. Alternatively, it puts up with Arab aggression against Jews as acceptable behavior. In brief, whatever was his motivation, Sharon took advantage of imperfections in Israeli political structure to establish a virtual autocracy that was followed by passage of immoral draconian laws in order to facilitate an ill-advised unconditional surrender of Jewish land to the blood thirsty Arabs. The expulsions did not take place because this was the law of the land but the law of the land was manipulated by Sharon to facilitate the expulsions. And the expulsions took place to facilitate that humiliating surrender. One also hears the notion that "there was no alternative." Tearing up the nation and demoralizing its army had to be done because of "ein brera" (there was no other choice). But there were plenty of alternatives: First, Israel could have eradicated the PLO by force instead of appeasing it. Second, Sharon could stand up to the pressure of the US Department of State just as PM Shamir did (to the chagrin of James Baker). Third, Israel could have made any Israeli territorial concession conditional on abolition of all Palestinian terror organizations (as specified in the Road Map) (Sharon seems now to change course and to choose this alternative. However, like in a tragic opera, this has come too late for the unfortunate evicted former residents of Gush Katif). Fourth, Israel could put heavy economic pressure on the Arabs until Islamic terrorism is utterly abolished (unlike the United States' economic dependence on Arab oil supplies, Israeli economy is independent of the PA economy, but not vice versa!). Fifth, Israel could stand up to international political and/or economic pressure by mobilizing the Jewry in the Diaspora and the Christian Zionists to help maintaining Israel's independent posture. Regrettably, the American Jewish community that should have protested against such heavy-handed, blatant anti-democratic abuses by Israel's PM, has remained quiet. It has supported the expulsion of unfortunate, law-abiding, highly productive Israeli citizens from their homes, presumably because the territory they lived on was claimed by the Arabs as "occupied Arab land." However, American Jews fail to realize that the majority of Muslims consider also Rehovot or Tel Aviv as "occupied Arab land" that must be "liberated." Now Sharon has just announced that he will not transfer any more territory to the Arabs unconditionally. Where does this leave his staunch supporters in the US and in Israel? If they justified or even applauded his unconditional surrender, how can they agree with the idea that territorial concessions must have now strings attached. Will they now demonstrate against any conditional territorial concessions? On the other hand, if they agree with Sharon now, how can they justify the unilateral destruction of the Jewish communities in Gush Katif? If they believe Sharon's latest statement, how can they forget that Sharon declared just three years ago that evacuation of the Jewish villages in Gush Katif is like the evacuation of Tel Aviv. By now Ariel Sharon must have left everyone baffled. Why should secular Jews respect an Islamic religious doctrine that claims perpetual ownership of any territory ever conquered by Muslims, and ignore, or even denounce, fundamental Jewish religious premises that mandate Jews to regain sovereignty over their ancient homeland? Are these Jews, including many Israelis, trying to affirm the Islamic supremacist notion that Islam supercedes all other religions? Do these Jews, including Ariel Sharon, realize that by endorsing Arab territorial claims they recognize Islamic religious law as the "law of the land." Michael Anbar, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University at Buffalo, did his PhD work at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovoth. Before coming to the US he was Professor in the Feinberg Graduate School and Director, Chemistry Division, Soreq Nuclear Research Institute, Yavne. He is author of "Israel and its Future: Analysis and Suggestions." To Go To Top

IS THE ANSWER MUSLIM MALES AGE 17-40? Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, August 31, 2005.

This is by my favorite editor, Wesley Pruden, in my favorite newspaper, The Washington Times. The Transportation Security Administration, eager to fit everyone with an ever-tighter security belt, promises to ease the hassle at the airports. The agency wants to eliminate the ban on razor blades and small knives and restrict intimate pat-downs. Some airport pat-down agents could teach honeymooners about up close and personal. Federal judges, congressmen, Cabinet ministers and governors - just the people the rest of us are suspicious of - would get aboard without a search. Inspectors will continue to harass innocent passengers to avoid inconveniencing actual terrorism prospects. The Bush administration won't use profiling because it doesn't want to hurt the feelings of the fanatics who are determined to kill the rest of us. Government officials who ride to the airport in motorcades behind security agents armed with enough artillery to stop a Panzer division will continue not to be inconvenienced, of course. This is infuriating, but one version of a multiple-choice questionnaire circulating on the Internet demonstrates just how difficult it is to find a common characteristic among terrorists. The next terrorist will no doubt be named Mohammed, but he might be your mother, your pastor or even the little girl from down the street peddling Girl Scout cookies. The questionnaire reveals the government's dilemma: 1. In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles by (a) Superman, (b) Jay Leno, (c) Harry Potter, or (d) a Muslim man between 17 and 4oyears old. 2. In 1972, 11 Israeli athletes were kidnapped and killed at the Munich Olympics by (a) Olga Carbett, (b) Sitting Bull, (c) Arnold Schwarzenegger, or (d) Muslims between 17 and 40. 3 In 1979 the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was taken over and 90 Americans were held for 444 days by (a) Sen. Strom Thurmond, (b) Elvis, (C) a tour group of Minnesota grandmothers, or (d) Muslims between 17 and 40. 4. During the 1980s, several Americans were kidnapped in Beirut by (a) John Dillinger, (b) the king of Sweden, (c) the pope and a gang of Cardinals, or (d) Muslims between 17 and 40. 5. In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon was blown up, killing 220 Marines, by (a) Domino's Pizza delivery man, (b) the president of the Southern Baptist Convention (c) Catherine Zeta-Jones, or (d) Muslims between 17 and 4O. 6. In 1985, the cruise ship, Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70-year-old American passenger thrown overboard in his wheelchair by (a) Davy Jones, (b) Brooks Robinson, (C) the Little Mermaid or (d) Muslims between 17 and 40. 7. In 1985, TWA flight 847 was hi-jacked at Athens and a U.S. Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by (a) Captain Kangaroo (b) William Jenmngs Bryan, (c) Mother Theresa, or (d) Muslims between 17 and 40. 8. In 1988, Pan American Flight103 was destroyed by a bomb in mid-air by (a) Butch Cassidy, (b) the Sundance Kid, (c) the Tooth Fairy, or (d) Muslims between 17 and 40 9. The World Trade Center was bombed the first time in 1993 by (a) Stonewall Jackson, (b) Michael Jordan, (c) Winston Churchill, or (d) Muslims between 17 and 40. 10. In 1998, U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by (a) Baby Snooks, (b) Hillary Clinton, (c) the World Wrestling Federation, or (d) Muslims between 17 and 40. 11. On September 11, 2001, airliners were hijacked to crash into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by (a Bugs Bunny (b) the Florida Supreme court, (C) Lou Gehrig, or (d) Muslims between 17 and 40. 12. In 2002, Daniel Pearl of the Wall Street Journal was kidnapped and beheaded by (a) Bonnie and Clyde, (b) the chief rabbi of Jerusalem, (c) Billy Graham, or (d) Muslims between the ages of 17and 40 13. In July of this year several targets were attacked in central London, killing 52 persons, by (a) the archbishop of Canterbury (b) Margaret Thatcher, (c) Sen. John McCain, or (d) Muslims between 17 and 40. There's clearly no constant on this list, so children in arms, nuns in habits, Medal of Honor winners, passengers in wheel chairs and in iron lungs must continue to submit to pat-downs, hugs, squeezes, chest X-rays, colonoscopies and other procedures as deemed necessary. Anyone who looks like a terrorist on his way to work is to be waved through at once. Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). To Go To Top

A WINNING PLATFORM Posted by Ted Belman, August 31, 2005.

Likud won the '03 elections and received more seats then ever before. This was due entirely to the differences in platform between Likud and Labour. Likud stood for aggressive policies to defeat terror and the rejection of Mitzna's proposed evacuation of Gaza. The next election is fast approaching. I predict that Likud will do even better this time around. In the last election, Israelis were suffering from murderous terrorism and wanted strong action to stop it. Likud promised to deliver and Israelis embraced them at the polls. Now Israelis are suffering from the implications of the Roadmap which promised a Palestinian state that is "viable" and "contiguous". Underlying the Roadmap is the intent to force Israel to continue making concessions it doesn't want to make. The only benefit offered to Israel was that the Palestinians commitment to eradicate terror and incitement. Two years have passed since the approval of the Roadmap and the Palestinians have done nothing to honour their commitment. No one expects this to change for the better in the future. In fact more terror is promised and expected. It is time for Israel to abandon the Roadmap. If the world wants a peace process let it the Oslo Accords. I say this because the worst of Oslo was to allow the PLO to return to the territories. Oslo, in contrast to the Roadmap, didn't promise a state let alone a viable or contiguous one. Any commitment we got from the PA in the Roadmap we already had in Oslo. Israelis are also in a state of shock due to Sharon's Disengagement Plan and the evacuation of Gaza. As a result they are in no mood for further withdrawals. These are powerful issues which promise to elect whatever party is on the right side of them. True, Likud brought both calamities upon Israel but such calamities can be blamed on Sharon and rightfully so. Of course Likud Members of Knesset are not blameless. But that problem can be dealt with by the next leader of Likud. Labour intends to resign from the government soon because it wants more concessions and more withdrawal. In the next election they will argue for more of the same and in so doing they will suffer a further reduction in seats. I don't believe that Sharon will be able to start a new party that will defeat Likud. Sharon has discredited himself. Any further alliance with Labour will put an end to his political career. Likud should adopt the following platform. 1. Cancel the Roadmap 2. No further withdrawals or goodwill gestures until incitement ends and terrorists are disarmed. 3. Once those two things happen, all withdrawals must be reciprocated. If Israel is to cede land, the Arabs must also cede land. 4. The residents of Kalkilya and Tulkarm must be forcibly moved to Gaza preferably or further east just as Jews were forcibly moved from Gush Katif. These places should then be leveled and annexed to Israel. In exchange for the land, Israel could cede some purely Arab areas that are part of Israel 5. Massive retaliation to terror attacks. 6. Israel should refuse to hire Palestinians without getting some concession in return. We owe them nothing. 7. Fight for Pollard's release. 8. Legitimize Kahane's policies. 9. Fully commit to a Jewish State and not to a state of all its citizens. The Palestine Mandate, which has not been abrogated, limited the Arabs to civil rights only whereas the Jews also had political rights. Also the Arab-Israelis aren't trusted to serve in the IDF. Accordingly only Jews should be citizens and therefore allowed to vote. At a minimum they should not have the right to vote on matters involving the conflict with their fellow Arabs. 10. Commit to building the approved 3500 units in Ma'aleh Adumin. 11. Legislation should be proposed that would 1. enlarge the definition of treason and sedition and make such crimes punishable by deportation 2. change elections from voting for party lists to multi-district or constituency elections. 3. require a referendum for any land to be ceded and only Jewish Israelis should be able to vote on it. This restriction gets its validity from the fact that the Palestinian Mandate created a trust in favour of the Jewish people of all land included therein. 4. protect the Jewish identity of Israel and which would require super majorities to reduce it. This identity must be strengthened by teaching more Jewish history and religion 5. would have the Knesset appoint Supreme Court judges rather then by the Court itself and oversee the administration of justice. 6. would inhibit the Supreme Court from being an "activist" court 7. would mandate intellectual diversity (different points of view) in the faculty and curriculum of Israel's universities. 8. restore the quality of education in Israel to its former glory 9. cancel the designation of Arab as an official language. 10. Tighten up immigration rules for non Jews And that's just for starters. Ted Belman is co-host of IsraPundit (http://IsraPundit.com). To Go To Top

CRYBABY BUSH-BASHERS; BOLTON AT THE UNO; WHY DID THE IDF ALLOW BRUTALITY? Posted by Richard H. Shulman, August 31, 2005.

GERMAN CRYBABY BUSH-BASHERS They used to say, "Germany never changes." They meant it always is a trouble-maker. Then Germany changed. Unfortunately, it later reverted, though not to invading other countries. The Germans were crybabies. They blamed its loss in the needless WWI not on the GIs, who ground up their divisions, but on the democratic revolt against the Kaiser, as a "stab in the back," and on the Jews. It was Hitler's excuse and part of his reason for starting the needless WWII. At the end of the war, Czechoslovakia and other countries deported their ethnic Germans, who largely helped the Nazis take over and oppress them. Recently, many Germans complained about that as a human rights violation rather than as prudent and just. The Czech Republic has apologized and is eating crow. The children of the worst human rights violators of the time have no moral right to complain about mistreatment of their vicious brethren. But the Germans remain crybabies, now lamenting their having been "victims" of the war. Like the aggressor Arabs, the aggressor Germans pretend to be victims of their victims. Hoping to regain a sphere of influence, post-war Germany encouraged Yugoslavia to split, and the West also encouraged the Muslims to rule over Serbs and Croats. Genocide resulted. The Chancellor's political campaign is based on Bush-bashing. But in opposing the war in Iraq, sanctions on Iran, and strong measures against domestic Islamism, he is a demagogic adjunct to the evil axis. All the more foolish of Americans to complain that Bush alienates Europeans. DON'T TAKE THE UNSCRUPULOUS AT THEIR WORD! Hitler made and broke one peace promise after another. Each new promise was taken seriously by the rest of Europe, until Germany invaded Poland. (The USSR's coordinated invasion of Poland unfortunately was not taken by the West as a harbinger of Soviet intentions.) Hitler was proud of his insight into Western naiveté and its disinclination to make difficult decisions and take difficult stands. The West would rather pretend that everything will work out. Like Hitler, Stalin signed pacts and violated them. Some in the West, such as FDR, were taken in. Others, known as fellow travelers, excused or favored the Communists over the capitalists. They were unwilling dupes and willing fools, but all, fools. How many Westerners remember those events and the lessons they taught? How many were open to being taught? Some of the same people who repeat the popular saying, "Those who don't know history are condemned to repeat it" don't know history and condemn us to repeat it. (Our history education is deficient.) We must learn as a society to be realistic, to doubt proven deceivers, to make difficult decisions, and that a war in time saves nine. It is happening again with the Muslims. They form fifth columns in the West. Civil libertarians, political correctness censors, and liberal Democrats, help them as the fellow travelers of contemporary times. They oppose strong action against the enemy in our midst and the enemy abroad. They believe local Islamist leaders who avow tolerance in general appearances and intolerance in Muslim-only appearances. These fellow travelers are reluctant to face the issues and disfavor our own civilization. They refuse to recognize the threat to civilization. Complicating the issue are partisanship, Pres. Bush's marriage to the oil industry and divorce from a genuine war on terrorism, mismanagement of the wars, and Europeans' anti-American prejudice. Just as the Far Left erroneously blames the onslaught of Islamism upon wrongdoing by Western society, it blames European dislike of the US upon Pres. Bush. What did Bush do to earn it? Nothing particular. He took a strong stand, at first, on rogue states from which the Europeans were making money arming. Were these leftists and Democrats honest, they would chalk that up to Bush's credit and against W. Europe's. They don't concede any good points to Bush except the mistaken notion that he is pro-Israel. On that issue, they accept his word for it. They mistake his not moving against Israel earlier as goodwill, but it was not opportune for him. The are oblivious to the State Department's long-range plans to dismember Israel and his subsequent action consistent with that. A few, honest Republicans fault him for this. The US takes at face value false promises by the P.A., despite the decades of their being broken. Indeed, when Israel is about to take action against the Arabs, either the State Dept. and other powers demand Israeli restraint, or the Arabs make another promise and then the world demands that Israel "give peace a chance." The demand may be naïve or cynical. By the Far Left and the State Dept. it is cynical. BOLTON LANDS AT THE UNO Soviet Premier Khrushchev shocked people by banging his shoe on the table, but nobody complained that UNO delegates act inappropriately. Only the usual UN-watcher organizations complained at delegates walking out, making antisemitic statements, obstructing progress, and putting selfish national concerns before humanities. That is, the public at large didn't until this Bush Administration and, incidentally, after Ambassador Bolton did constructive, firm work at the UNO. Democrats opposed reappointing Bolton as too undiplomatic. They feared he would antagonize the people he is to work with at the UNO. I felt he understands the UNO, which needs to be shaken out of its complacency. Sweet words are ignored. Get it? The UNO has racked up a full and worsening record of failure and corruption. It stinks enough to put into question the value of the UNO or whether its control by nation-states, most of which are themselves failures, corrupt, and aggressors, renders it incapable of accomplishing anything controversial. It does more harm than good, partly by allowing aggressor states to continue evil work unchallenged, while their negotiators stall. The aggressors take advantage of the naïve notion, which I once believed, that the UNO was a place where problems can be talked out instead of fought over. Instead, they are talked until the aggressors perpetrate more genocide or have gained the advantage in war. Along comes Pres. Bush. He made some decisions in what he calls the national interest, just as do other countries, but only he is criticized for doing so. He claims that these decisions are in the national interest, because the UNO framed certain protocols in an anti-American slant. I suspect he partly is right, judging by the current UNO reform plan, which Ambassador Bolton has edited to delete a tax on advanced countries to be paid to the UNO, which helped steal billions from Iraq; US subordination to the World Criminal Court, many of whose judges are likely to indict Americans for war crimes they don't commit but because the judges oppose American policy; and other issues, even poor English. He understands the UNO and the issues involved better than do most other representatives. I also suspect, however, that Bush's decision are more in the corporate interest, as is the case in most of his domestic policy. He fails to justify his decisions in convincing detail, and his critics fail to expose his rationale. There is no debate. Bolton criticized the UNO for subsidizing P.A. war propaganda against Israel. He got a UNO promise to stop doing so. I consider that not a solution but a promising start. Bolton is the right person for the job. The US has its faults, but many people oppose the Administration out of a reflexive anti-Americanism, regardless of the issues. They would acquire credibility if they also noted that the US is one of the very few countries to stand for decency, too. It is the US that recognizes or does something about the Islamist assault on civilization, oppression of Christians, women, and blacks, including genocide, nuclear proliferation, etc.. It is the Europeans, whom Democrats suggest the US consult more, who temporize on most of those issues. ARABS RUN AFOUL OF OTHER TERRORISTS "...American and Pakistani intelligence agents are exploiting a growing rift between Arab members of al-Qaeda and their Central Asian allies that's tearing at the network of Islamic extremists as militants compete for scarce hideouts, weapons and financial resources." The other terrorists turn in the Arabs (sorry, lost source). WHEN WILL P.A. POLICE ERADICATE TERRORISM? Islamic Jihad freely plans terrorist acts, without interference by P.A.. police. Meanwhile, the US praises unidentified P.A. steps against terrorism and does not indicate when it expects terrorism to be eradicated by the non-compliant P.A., which it keeps subsidizing (IMRA, 8/25). U.S. DENOUNCES ISRAELI ANTI-TERRORISM Israeli forces entered an Arab camp to arrest a wanted terrorist. They were confronted by armed members of Islamic Jihad, responsible for some suicide bombings. The Arabs threw a bomb at them from a house, and opened fire from two directions. (The Israelis fought back successfully). Pres. Bush's press secretary was asked about this "recent violence." "MR. DUFFY: Well, we always denounce any violence, and we urge both sides to exercise calm..." (IMRA, 8/25.) That is how the US advises Israel, not itself. For itself, it would not be calm about suicide bombings. Nor should it be. But for Israel, the US has a double standard. For the US, Pres. Bush stands firm. After all, we are in a "war on terrorism. For Israel, however, the US asks that the victims stand down, despite the P.A. REFUSAL to stamp out terrorism. Oddly, most Americans think that under Pres. Bush, the US is pro-Israel. HOW THE ISRAELI POLICE OPERATE One of the expulsion police beat a girl protestor. He saw a reporter filming the act. He approached the reporter, who tried to give the film to a friend. The police arrested the reporter and the friend, and charged the reporter with striking a major. The Army had no record of any such attack on their personnel. The police abducted the girl from the hospital before her treatment was complete, over the objection of the head of the emergency room, and before her wound could be documented. She was given the usual charge made against victims of police beatings - attack a police officer. In court, the police first denied that the reporter had a camera, then admitted he had. They asked for a 48-hour extension of his custody, but the court gave 24 hours. They didn't wait 24 hours, but dumped him on the street at 1 a.m., without his money for use in getting home. Since he was not arrested, he cannot officially demand his camera back (Arutz-7, 8/25). Why didn't the soldiers arrest such brutal police? QUESTION ABOUT THE EXPULSION If the removal of Jews from Gaza was because of the great ethnic imbalance there, why were Arabs not removed from their homes anywhere, because of a great ethnic imbalance? Some Arab towns located near Jewish ones cause great trouble. The Left just wanted to demean settlers, whom it has hated for years. It has used Nazi terminology against them (Prof. Steven Plaut, 8/25). Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. To Go To Top

SOMEWHERE IN ISRAEL Posted by Moshe Burt, August 30, 2005.

Dear Friends; Please read the letter by Esther May below and then click on this link to Lema'an Achai and give generously. I remember what a Rabbi, a conservative Rabbi once said in pitching for funds for Israel during the Yom Kippur War; "Give 'til it hurts, and then 'til it helps." If ever the phrase really meant something it is now -- for helping our brethren in Gush Katif who were evicted from their homes, legally robbed, at gunpoint by the Government of Israel with not one Shekel of financial compensation for the confiscation of their land and property. I repeat, not one Shekel of financial compensation!! Nor, I suspect, will any of them ever receive any financial compensation. I am sending this to you in the hope that you will consider this request seriously. 9,000 Jews have been ousted from Gush Katif, legally (according to the High Court of Israel) robbed, literally at gunpoint. The organization SELA, formed ostensibly to help in resettlement of these refugees has done nothing and been totally callous and indifferent in their utter disregard for their fellow Jews. Not one shekel of compensation money has been received by any of these people, even the ones who left voluntarily before the expulsion. I am sending you this appeal from David Morris, Chairman of Lema'an Achai Ramat Beit Shemesh. Both David and Lema'an Achai RBS have taken leading roles by stepping in to the huge void left by the callous indifference of both the Israeli Government and SELA. David is a dear friend and I know him and Lema'an Achai to be at the forefront and cutting edge of true Chessed in Israel, as well as helping the poor of Ramat Beit Shemesh. I urge all of you to help out generously in every way possible to bring our 9,000 brethren from their current point of catastrophy back to a point of putting their lives together and resuming their station as one of the most productive sectors in Israel. In closing, I urge two things. Please read the letter letter below and 1) consider allocation of your chessed funds away from UJA or "Israel Emergency Fund", instead giving generously toward helping our brethren in Gush Katif (Tax-deductible donation instructions are below) and 2) Please contact your Senators and Congressmen AS SOON AS POSSIBLE asking them to please vote AGAINST a further US$ 2.2 billion in aid to Israel which the government claims will "defray disengagement costs" and "build up the Negev and Galilee" but will not benefit our Gush Katif brethren by $1US and will actually line the pockets of Sharon, Weissglass, etc.. Thank you for your kind consideration. Tizke L'Mitzvot. Best regards, Moshe Burt DO YOU HEAR THEIR WEEPING, Somewhere in Israel Dear Family and Friends, Somewhere in Israel tonight, there is a woman whose life has been pretty much like mine. She's done laundry and shopping and picked the toys up from the floor hundreds of times. She's planned menus and welcomed guests, bandaged skinned knees and kissed away bad dreams. She's worked at home and perhaps outside it too. At the end of another day she's been tired, but thankful for her home, her husband and her children, thankful they've found a place to raise their family, to contribute to a community, to be. Sometimes people ask me what living in Israel is like, and I usually say it is like life anywhere: people work, drive carpool, check homework, make sandwiches for their kids, help their neighbors. These are the day-to-day things that we all take for granted.....until they're not there. Somewhere in Israel tonight there is a women whose life and the life of her family have been ripped apart. This morning her husband, who worked hard for many years planting and growing produce in a place where nothing grew before, had idle hands and a stunned look on his face. This morning her children asked again where they will go to school and why they can't go home and when will they have their own beds and their toys and their friends back. This morning her family was told they have a week to find somewhere else to go because the place they are now cannot keep them any longer. This morning a government official told them they will be charged fees for the removal of their belongings from their home, for the storage of those belongings, even for shutting off the electricity in a house that has already been reduced to rubble. This morning some commentators on TV and in the press called her and her family troublemakers, opportunists, anarchists and fanatics. This morning some politician said the government has provided every accomodation and even luxuries for this woman and her family, but she and her husband have refused it, so no one should feel sorry for them. Somewhere in Israel tonight there is a woman who worked hard to establish a home and family, who gave more to than she took from her community. Somewhere in Israel tonight there is a woman who thinks everyone has forgotten about her and her family, that everyone believes all is well and no one cares to hear anything different. She has no house, no home, no voice. Well I have a voice. No matter what side of the political fence you are on, no matter what your opinions on the policies and recent actions of the current Government, it is time to deal with the woefully inadequate, ill-planned, callous way the Jewish former residents of Gush Katif (Gaza) are being treated. You know me. You know I am not particularly political. Please believe me when I tell you that for that woman and her family, and 1700 families like them, things are not going at all well. Those families who left before the deadline are living in glorified tenement camps. Many of them arrived at their new "homes" to find raw sewage on the floors from unfinished drainage systems, no electricity, no roads, no place to buy milk. How big is your house? Can you imagine being moved to a house a quarter or a fifth of the size you have now and being told to be grateful for it? Can you imagine your whole neighborhood riding on a bus for six hours with no bathroom, arriving at some hotel and being turned away by the management because they know nothing of your arrival? Can you imagine being charged a ridiculously inflated rent for a place you've been moved to against your will? Can you imagine being forcibly seperated not only from your home but from the friends and neighbors you've depended on for years? I think you should know that the stress, trauma and uncertainty that these citizens are experiencing now is, in many ways, worse than anything they've gone through before. Please do not believe the party line you are hearing from government officials or the press. Please open your eyes and see what is going on. I did not write this to ask you to call anyone or contribute to any organizations. I am not suggesting you hold demonstrations or send out faxes. Somewhere in Israel tonight there is a woman lying awake in a crowded room, crying silent tears. The very least we can do is cry with her. I just thought you should know. Esther May Efrat, Israel Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of the Sefer Torah Recycling Network (http://www.sefer-torah.com). He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh. To Go To Top

POLITICAL INDOCTRINATION AT TEL AVIV U.; QUESTIONS FOR BIBI; HEROIC BEDOUIN PATRIOT Posted by Steven Plaut, August 30, 2005.

1. You will be interested in learning that Tel Aviv University now offers a course in one-sided far-leftist Israel-bashing indoctrination, dressed up as a course in psychology. The course is entitled, "The Psychology of the Occupation", course number 1071.3627.01 and is an on-campus political indoctrination. It is open to senior-year undergraduates in psychology and has been approved by the university authorities as a bona fide course. The course purports to teach students about the horrendous psychological damage done to Palestinians (and also to Israelis themselves) from Israel's long "occupation" of the "Palestinian territories". It examines the attitude of the "conquerors" to "The Other", analyzes "dialogues" between the conquered and the conquered (the mandatory terms used in the course), and attitudes towards "suffering" (of Palestinian only, of course). Nothing in the course will examine the psychological damages done to Israelis from the endless mass atrocities of Palestinians, from a century of Arab aggression and war, from genocidal denunciations of Jews by Palestinian leaders, from suicide bombings, from plane hijackings, nor from firing of rockets, missiles, mortars, and machine guns into the homes of Jews. Nothing will examine the trauma of New Yorkers in 9-11 either. The course will be taught by one Uri Hadar, a far leftist who is a regular signer of anti-Israel petitions, including one calling for international intervention to end Israeli sovereignty and also that notorious one informing the world that Israel was planning to commit nazi-like atrocities the moment the first American GI took step inside Iraq. (Iraq was liberated long ago, yet not a tinkle of an apology from the learned professor.) Hadar is also a supporter and fan of the jailed Jewish leftist terrorist Tali Fahima, now on trial for assisting her Jenin terrorist "lover" to plan mass murders of Jews. He has also called for a "complete commercial and economic boycott" of Israel by the world. He has called for the Palestinians to be granted an unlimited "right or return" so that, even after getting their own state, the Palestinians can destroy Israel. He is a regular contributor to anti-Israel and communist party magazines and journals. Another psychology course that has been taught in the same department is devoted to the psychology of suicide bombings, course number 1071.4661, taught by Prof. Ariel Merari. The department chairman in psychology is Prof. Amiram Raviv, a guru of "peace education", which is often nothing more than leftist indoctrination. He believes the Arab Israeli conflict may be resolved through sufficient doses of psychobabble. To tell the President of Tel Aviv University what you think of these courses, write to Prof. Itamar Rabinovich at phone 972-3-6412449. fax 972-4-6422379, and email here. His executive staff guy is at here. Better yet, contact the donors and supporters of Tel Aviv University, whose addresses and locations appear here. And while you are at it, visit Israel Academia Monitor, which documents and exposes Israeli academic extremists and political misuse of the Israeli campus. 2. Questions for Bibi Netanyahu, contender for chief of the Likud: a. If you are determined to topple Sharon because he allied himself with the Left, why did you wait until AFTER the Gaza Capitulation and Appeasement? b. If you think Oslo is a disaster, why did you perpetuate it as Prime Minister in the 90s, turning it from failed delusional agenda to national consensus? c. Give "b", why should we believe anything you say now? d. Why should we believe that the Wye's Man of Chelm, who signed the Wye Capitulation and turned Hebron over to the savages, is now an anti-Oslo hawk? e. Why should we believe that the Prime Minister who did absolutely nothing to reform the banking system and capital markets when he was in office would do so now? 3. Heroic Bedouin Patriot Saves Israeli Lives Lu'ay Abu Juma, 27, is a Bedouin from Israel's south. Yesterday he was working as a guard at the Beer Sheba bus station in southern Israel. The Beer Sheba station had already been the target of Palestinian Islamofascist terrorists, who had committed a mass murder there last year. Abu Jama was on guard with his friend Pavel Srotzkin, 23, an immigrant from Russia, when they saw a suspicious looking Arab. In an act of racial profiling, the Bedouin and his Russian Jewish friend positioned themselves to prevent the Arab from entering the station. The Arab blew himself up. Both guards were seriously hurt. The Bedouin lost an eye and sustained other severe wounds. But no one was killed in the blast. No one knows how many Israeli lives were saved by the hero. Most people do not even know that Bedouin patriots serve in the Israeli Defense Forces. Those interested should read my book about them - "The Scout," ISBN: 965-229-289-3, Format: Paperback 120 pages, Published January 2002. Israeli Bedouin troops have been targeted for a campaign of vilification by the terrorists from the ISM = International Solidarity Movement, one of whose members was hurt when a Bedouin fired back at Palestinian terrorists being protected by the ISM "human shield". Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. To Go To Top

RABBI MEIR KAHANE, VINDICATED Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, August 30, 2005.

No matter what you think of him, whether you hate him or love him, the name Meir Kahane is a name that will forever be engrained in the history of the Jewish people. But just this past week, fifteen years after his murder, he was vindicated on the world stage via American national television. Rabbi Kahane, born in Brooklyn in 1932, was an author, political activist and a member of the Israeli Knesset. When concluding a speech in Manhattan, Rabbi Kahane was assassinated by El-Sayyid Nosair, an Egyptian and member of an Arab terrorist cell operating in New York in 1990. Nosair was one of Sheikh Omar Abd El-Rahman's men, who would later be convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; today, he is serving life in prison. The gun that was used to kill Rabbi Kahane was supplied to Nosair by Wadih El-Hage, who is a member of Al-Qaeda convicted of conspiracy to kill American citizens in the 1998 US embassy bombings. With jihad being conducted around the world, and especially after the mass murder of September 11, 2001, some Jews have been attempting to remind the world of what Kahane was warning them, as well as noting that Kahane had been the first victim of jihad in the United States. Of course, when Jews who supported Kahane speak up, they generally don't catch the attention of the liberal media, but they repeated their cry for over a decade to recognize that the slaying of Kahane was the initial attack Islamic terrorists had brought against American citizens. Finally, their cries have been accepted as fact. The National Geographic cable television channel has just released a new four-hour documentary called "Inside 9/11". The focus of the special is not to show devastation in New York, but to present the facts in the form of a timeline, so that people can understand what happened, who was - and is - attacking America. The documentary has received rave reviews and the cable networks consider this broadcast so important that they have made the show available for free in areas that don't carry the National Geographic channel. This well-made production explains what many of the Jewish people have been shouting to the world. The documentary starts with the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane and goes on to dedicate a portion of the first hour explaining how the rabbi was targeted by an Islamic terrorist. The significance is to recognize the fact that Kahane was assassinated as an act of jihad against the West, and to show that organized Islamic terror cells have already been successful in sending an operative into the United States to successfully murder someone they saw as problematic. If they did it once, they can, and will, do it again. Nosair (who was acquitted of Rabbi Kahane's murder, even though he shot him in front of a large crowd), was only found guilty of illegally possessing a weapon. However, a subsequent search of the murderer's apartment uncovered 47 boxes of documents in Arabic, which proved that he was part of a worldwide terrorist network. According to the National Geographic documentary, the FBI let this evidence slip through their fingers, not thinking it was important material. At lunchtime on February 26, 1993, a truck bomb was set off under the World Trade Center. Six people were killed and more than 1,000 injured. The bomb destroyed a total of seven stories of the structure. Four terrorists, linked to Nosair, were later convicted of this attack. Members of this same group would later work with Al-Qaeda and, eight years later, bring down both towers in New York and slam a plane into the Pentagon, killing over 2,500 Americans. We have the National Geographic channel to thank for finally, after fifteen years, getting law enforcement to acknowledge that Rabbi Kahane's assassination was an act of jihad in America - the first act of jihad. Both noted authors and former FBI special agents mentioned clearly that the murder of Rabbi Kahane was perpetrated by parties now shown to be directly linked to Al-Qaeda. In some of his speeches, Kahane often claimed that some in the Islamic world were making plans to attack both Christians and Jews, but no one seemed to listen. At his funeral, posters declared, "He sacrificed his life for the sake of the Nation of Israel, its Torah and its Land." The mourners exceeded 100,000, making it the second largest funeral in Israel's history. This past week, people understood his message when a mature and well-made television documentary on the 9/11 attacks included FBI agents stating that jihad is an active war operation against the West, and specifically the United States, and that the rabbi was not only a victim - he was right. Note: I did not like the types of statement made by Rabbi Kahane nor support him, but I support democratic rights to free speech, which were denied him, both in Israel and America. The "acquittal" of his murderer was a shame on American judicial proceedings. It is time to start allowing consideration of his statements. Those who can only accept parts of it, that is their right. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org To Go To Top

A ROAD MAP FOR THE RIGHT Posted by Michael Freund, August 31, 2005.

The fFollowing is an article of mine from the Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1125368484198&p=1006953079865) about the steps that Israel's right needs to take in the wake of the Gaza withdrawal in order to prevent a return to the 1967 borders, which would endanger the future of the State. Hardly a week has passed since Gush Katif was emptied of its Jewish residents, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is already promising more expulsions of Jews. In a televised interview with Channel 10 broadcast Monday, Sharon made clear that he plans to uproot additional Jewish communities in the future. "Not all the settlements presently in Judea and Samaria will remain there," he said, adding that "the final map will be presented only at the last stage of negotiations." So there you have it. Talks with the Palestinians have not even resumed and Sharon is already busy making concessions, effectively promising to dismantle further, as yet unnamed communities as part of a final deal. As if this wasn't bad enough, Sharon has also done virtually nothing to counter the renewed terrorist onslaught launched by the Palestinians of late. In just the past few days a Palestinian terrorist stabbed and killed a young Israeli yeshiva student in Jerusalem; an Israeli border policeman was stabbed in the throat in Hebron by a Palestinian attacker; two Kassam rockets were fired from northern Gaza at Sderot; firebombs were thrown at Israeli vehicles in Gush Etzion, and a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at Beersheba's bus station. Thus far the government's response to this renewed wave of violence has been limited to verbal denunciations and a bit of finger-wagging, which are hardly likely to be taken very seriously by the gunmen of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. So not only is Sharon demonstrating weakness at the bargaining table, he is also projecting frailty on the military front, inviting still more violence and pressure in its wake. This combination of weak knees and feeble muscle poses a grave danger to the country and to its national interests. As Haifa University Professor Dan Schueftan recently pointed out to The New York Times, the way things are looking now, "The next stage of disengagement is inevitable... We are basically retreating slowly toward the fence." More than ever, then, it is essential that the Right get its act together and find a way to save the country from the desperate, devious and dithering man who now runs it. To be sure, the retreat from Gaza and northern Samaria was a terrible blow, but the perils that lie ahead may prove even more ominous. Israel is essentially slouching its way back to the pre-1967 Armistice Lines, which would endanger the state and its interests. In order to prevent this, the Right must lick its wounds from the Gaza debacle and formulate a strategy aimed at forestalling any future retreats. The time to do so is now because, with a little foresight, we can and will prevent more Jews from losing their homes. SUCH A strategy should encompass a number of key spheres: political, practical and ideological, and it should not be left in the hands of any one organization to implement. Rather, the various forces must combine their efforts and work in tandem to bring it about. In the political realm, the number-one priority at this stage should be to remove Sharon from power. It is critical that he be punished politically for the Gaza retreat so other politicians will see there is a heavy price to be paid in terms of their careers for daring to expel Jews from their homes. It is not enough merely to bring down the government. Rather, Sharon must be seen to suffer a stinging political rebuke, such that it will be obvious to all that the withdrawal led directly to his downfall. Similarly, it is time for Israel's Right to adopt a modified form of one of the most successful tactics used to date by American Conservatives - the taxpayer protection pledge, which has been championed for some two decades by Americans for Tax Reform, a Washington-based lobbying group. In the US, the idea is simple: force politicians to live up to their pre-election rhetoric by asking them to sign a short document in which they promise not to support new taxes once they are in office. This effectively binds the signatory, in writing, to live up to his word to the voters. In America it has come to be known as the "No New Taxes" pledge, and it has proven immensely effective in compelling politicians to take a stand and stick with it. Over 1,200 state officeholders, and nearly 50% of the US Senate and House have signed on, and their adherence to the pledge is duly monitored and reported to the public. HERE IN Israel, the Right could initiate a "No New Withdrawals" oath which would require politicians to solemnly declare that they will never agree to yield territory or uproot Jewish communities. Anyone refusing to sign, or violating the pledge, would then lose the support of right-wing voters, and would be branded a "pledge-breaker" for all to see. On the practical front a major push must be made to get more people to settle in Jewish communities that could potentially be on the chopping block should Sharon have his way. Bolstering towns such as Shavei Shomron in Samaria, or Tekoa in Judea will make it harder for any future government to part with them, just as Ariel and Ma'aleh Adumim have been taken off the table thanks to their sizable population growth. Whether this means encouraging more Israelis to move there, or persuading American Jews to purchase homes in these places, it is crucial to shore up these communities and reinforce their numbers as soon as possible. Finally, on the ideological front, the Right must not allow its failure to prevent the Gaza withdrawal to lead to despondency or despair. The protests on behalf of Gush Katif may not have achieved their ultimate aim of preventing the pullout, but they did tap into a strong and dynamic undercurrent of enthusiasm and love for the Land of Israel. That energy must not be allowed to dissipate. It should be marshalled to prepare for the next stage of the struggle, before Israel's dangerous slide toward retreat truly does become a reality. Michael Freund served in the Netanyahu government; he is a Ra'anana-based contributor. To Go To Top

WHAT ARAB "REFUGEES" WANT; ABBAS CREDITS ARMED STRUGGLE; ISRAELI ARABS Posted by Richard H. Shulman, August 30, 2005.

WHAT DO ARAB REFUGEE DESCENDANTS WANT? Leading Arab TV stations Al Jazeera and Al-Arabiya polled the descendants of Palestinian Arab refugees. They found that the great majority wants to become citizens of the countries in which they live (IMRA, 8/21 from Haaretz). Same Religion, language, culture, and nationality. So much for the "right of return" being sacred to the Palestinian Arabs. It is a political slogan. Of course, if these Arabs were promised that they could loot the Jews, more would want to come. What happens if the Arab states start ousting their descendants of the refugees? The P.A. probably would accept them without facilities and without Israeli objection. They would start off their glorious return in misery. UNRWA would have a field day begging for contributions. Militias would have a field day recruiting terrorists. Diplomats would decide that it is cheaper to foist them on Israel, so they would demand that Israel submerge itself under their flood. Such is the genie that Sharon released from the bottle. The "NY Times" calls him one of the builders of the State of Israel, but he is one of its demolishers. UNIVERSITIES AS PROPAGANDA AGAINST SOCIETY "Canada has a growing number of jihadniks, neo-Nazis, and leftist anti-Semites infesting its universities." "This week the Ottawa Citizen reports that B'nai Brith Canada filed a complaint to the University of Ottawa against one of its professors of economics, one Michel Chossudovsky, after the discovery of content on his website that blames Jews for the terrorist attacks on the United States, and claims the numbers who died at Auschwitz are exaggerated. He is an active member of the anti-war movement in Canada, and has been involved in the propagation of preposterous conspiracy theories regarding the September 11 terrorist attacks. We could not find a single article by him in any refereed journal of economics." (Prof. Steven Plaut, 8/21.) Western universities are accumulating unqualified professors who do not engage in scholarly work and sometimes not even in their professions, but in propaganda against their society. When an alarm is raised about them, they take refuge in the immunity of academic freedom. What do they mean, "academic?" What is academic about them, ignoramuses and falsifiers as they are? Now that the West is at war is no time to fill universities with jihadist faculty, where they undermine resistance. EGYPT & SHARON COLLUDE IN RE-MILITARIZING THE SINAI Hundreds of Egyptian troops have entered the Sinai, in violation of the treaty with Israel. "Officials said the Egyptian commandos would be supported by anti-tank rockets, armored personnel carriers and helicopters in an effort to maintain border security and stop weapons smuggling." Egypt stated it has Israel's approval (IMRA, 8/21). The approval is not legal. The purpose of the treaty was to keep such heavy weapons out of the Sinai, which Egypt repeatedly has used for attacking Israel. Egyptian military doctrine still posits Israel as its key enemy, and its diplomacy implements that doctrine. Egypt's claim that it needs heavy weapons to stop the smuggling that it does not exert itself to stop with the ample means already provided, is a ploy in furtherance of military doctrine. CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAMS The teams are supposed to help peace be made, but they deal almost exclusively with the P.A.. They criticize Israel falsely, extravagantly, and out-of-context, and ignore Arab war making, as if to deny Jews self-defense. They do not work for non-violence (IMRA, 8/22) but for the P.A.. IN ISRAEL, ONE HAND WASHES ANOTHER Yonatan Bassi heads the government agency in charge of expelling Jews from Yesha and a company that makes money by selling land to the state (apparently for $20 million) to resettle expellees. That company has just paid Mr. Bassi a bonus of about $35,000 in cash. The company also is considering producing bug-free vegetables, now that the Gaza residents no longer are able to do so (IMRA, 8/22). It is exploiting the victims. Bassi's agency charges those whom it drove out of their houses storage fees for household goods that don't fit in the temporary hotel rooms -- and more to rent storage containers than their purchase price. For some who cooperated with their own expulsion, the temporary quarters are unavailable or covered with sewage. Rental allowances are below market. Fooled and fleeced! The agency haggles over compensation, too, trying not to count parts of their property, such as balconies. The government charges a fee for every request and form to be filled out, as if this were a voluntary operation. The electric company charged them for shutting off the current. People are finding it difficult to prove that their adolescent children lived with them. In other words, those hard working people, in the time of their worst misfortune, when they have to start life over at close to retirement age, are being treated as freeloaders. There is too much red tape and too little compassion (IMRA, 8/22 from Jerusalem Post). Israel is notoriously bureaucratic. IMRA had advised settlers not to count on government promises. ABBAS CREDITS ARMED STRUGGLE Abbas said that the Israeli withdrawal was compelled by warfare. His Fatah and other militias operate training camps, but partly for confrontation with each other for mastery. On the other hand, international donors, troubled by their gifts going to bloat the public sector, constrains the P.A. from hiring militiamen. Told by Abbas that their efforts won Gaza, the terrorists feel entitled to a public salary in the security forces (meaning there is no gainful employment). The P.A. made an agreement with Hamas and other militias that it would not disarm them, so they can continue their "resistance" (IMRA, 8/23). The deputy director of the Palestinian Clerics Assn. explained that the Muslims' duty in jihad is to win by conquest, not by negotiation. As conquerors, the Arabs would "liberate" all of Palestine and wipe out the Zionist entity. Liberation, to him, means restoring to Muslim rule every area that ever had fallen under its rule. That includes Palestine and Andalusia (IMRA, 8/23 from MEMRI). Palestine includes Israel, and Andalusia means Spain. It is not very healthy to be "liberated," these days, by Muslims. It means oppression of all. Why do Israelis and Spaniards allow Muslims in, only to inaugurate civil strife? Is it better to be praised as politically correct by alienated liberals, and then to be overrun? Abbas' line is the same as that of Hamas. He is not taking seriously his own demand that there be one military force in the P.A. (with which to continue the "resistance.") "HAARETZ" DISCOVERS THAT HAMAS IS ILLEGAL Oslo bars from P.A. elections parties that are racist or commit terrorism. After abandonment, this is harder to demand of the P.A.. Hamas should be disqualified. Otherwise, Hamas candidates would be allowed into eastern Jerusalem to campaign among Israel's non-citizen Arabs there (IMRA, 8/23). IMRA pointed all that out months ago. ISRAELI PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE ON ISRAELIS The Sharon junta has released claims that Jews in northern Samaria have stockpiled weaponry with which to resist their expulsion. The media relayed those claims without inspecting for themselves. The claims were not true. The people resisted but not combatively. They vowed to return (Arutz-7, 8/23). Is the media lazy and gullible, or is it in collusion with the junta? I think, both. One thing the settlers learned: contempt for the media. EXPLOITATION OF SETTLERS The government promised generous compensation for the destroyed houses, on which mortgage payments still fall due, and for expropriated businesses such as the specialty hothouses. The media repeated this government propaganda, without checking. The compensation falls short for the houses and very short for the businesses. Someone is exploiting the settlers for the businesses. Although the government had claimed that everything had been prepared for the settlers, those expelled Jews are wandering across Israel, depending upon the charitableness of fellow Israelis. Fox News reported that they were being taken to their new homes, but they were not. Some were lent tiny, short-lived caravans on vacant land without urban facilities such as sewage lines, and without room for the possessions they had as homeowners, or in hotel rooms reserved for only ten days and with food for only two meals per day. Two-thirds are homeless and have to set up tents. Will broadcasters report that the Sharon regime was lying about this? Considering how carefully and in what detail the expulsion was planned, the lack of planning for the settlers' future, Emanuel Winston suspects, is deliberate. The idea is to keep the expelled Jews busy trying to secure their futures, so they do not have the time and resources to oppose further expulsions of other Jews (Winston Mid East Analysis, 8/24) or criticize PM Sharon. Now they have more to criticize. Although the Jewish communities of Gaza asked to be resettled together, the government scattered them. Many families had to move before receiving any compensation or allowances, so they couldn't afford to keep and store many of their possessions. The hotel rooms rented were too small for many of the families. The government sent no social workers or psychologists to help the refugees. The government refused to meet with the representatives of the communities last December, then told the press that the settlers refused to meet with the government agency (IMRA, 8/24 from David Bedein). SHARON STILL PUNISHING DISSIDENTS BUT NOT RIOTOUS ARABS A few months ago, Gaza Arabs and Jews had a rock-throwing fight. The media reported it as a lynching by a Jew of an Arab who hardly was hurt and whom journalists urged to fake greater injury from settlers. His main injury came from a soldier. The government arrested and has been holding an 18-year-old Jew in solitary confinement for attempted murder. No Arab was charged. Defense is going to be costly, rounding up witnesses and reviewing film of the incident. At a hearing, a policeman apparently baited the youth's father, once in trouble over his own dissidence, by inappropriately touching the man's daughter. When the father objected, the policeman hit him and then placed him under house arrest (Arutz-7, 8/23). When MK Uzi Landau was Minister of Internal Security, Police used to photograph Arab rioters, then arrest them in the middle of the night, displaying photographs to quiet protests of innocence (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 8/25). Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. To Go To Top

THE PERVERSITY OF U.S. BACKING FOR THE GAZA RETREAT Posted by Elan Journo, August 30, 2005.

America's support for the Gaza withdrawal is morally corrupt. In a step fraught with danger, Israel is uprooting its citizens and withdrawing its military from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. That Palestinian terrorists are rejoicing over this momentous pullout is hardly shocking. That the United States is also applauding is contemptible. Worse still, America is demanding more concessions of land: Secretary of State Rice has insisted, "It cannot be Gaza only." Why is America urging Israel to make such perilous concessions? The rationale is that the withdrawal will open an unobstructed path for the "downtrodden" Palestinians toward a self-governed ethnic state. Such a state, Washington hopes, will alleviate their suffering and establish peaceful co-existence between Israel and the Palestinians. But such a state will intensify the misery of the few genuinely freedom-seeking Palestinians by entrenching a tyrannical regime. The Palestinian Authority, a provisional governing body, has drained the lifeblood out of its citizens, trampled on their rights and, despite receiving billions in foreign aid, kept them in devastating poverty. Under the PA's anarchic reign, rival "security forces" arbitrarily seize property, arrest and jail people without charge, and summarily execute dissidents. The actual victors of the withdrawal are terrorists and their vast legions of reverent supporters in the Palestinian population. The motto emblazoned on banners throughout Gaza expresses their belief, borne out in practice, that violence works: "Gaza Today. The West Bank and Jerusalem Tomorrow." The withdrawal has strengthened their resolve, not to achieve peace, but to destroy Israel. "We're going to keep our weapons," one terrorist told reporters, "because the battle with the enemy is a long one." A cleric allied to Hamas, which has carried out umpteen suicide bombings in Israel, observed that "when we offer up our children [as 'martyrs'], it is much better than choosing the road of humiliation and negotiations." As some have observed, with a populace and leadership so hospitable to terrorists, in time the Palestinian territories may succeed Taliban-ruled Afghanistan as a training ground for jihadists, lusting to murder not only in the streets of Jerusalem and Baghdad, but also London and New York. Israel's retreat from Gaza--rightly celebrated by terrorists--is neither a means of fostering peace, nor a solution for the plight of innocent Palestinians. Why, then, does America support it? Because Washington holds that Israel has no moral right to assert its interests, but the Palestinians do. Their quest for statehood enjoys Washington's wholehearted support, encouragement and financing as an incontestable entitlement--even if they tyrannize themselves and terrorize Israel. But if Israel pursues its interests, by contrast, Washington considers that a moral transgression. Israel could, and for a time did, easily protect the lives and property of all individuals within its borders and the contested territories, by smashing aggressors and imposing its rule of law on Palestinians (which innocent Palestinians welcomed). But Washington refuses on principle to endorse such assertions of Israeli interests. Why this double standard? Our leaders believe in altruism: the view that one's highest moral duty is to selflessly serve the needy--and thus that the world's "haves" must sacrifice for the sake of its "have-nots." The productive, on this abhorrent view, have no moral right to pursue their own interests; their only justification for existing is to serve the needy. Because Israel is strong and prosperous, it is thereby forbidden from imposing its will on the destitute Palestinians--even though it is the innocent victim of Palestinian aggression. Because the Palestinians are weak and poor, they may demand anything they wish--including a state with which to terrorize Israel. It might seem that President Bush is being hypocritical: forbidding an ally, Israel, from fighting terrorism effectively even as U.S. forces wage a "war on terror." But observe that in fact he is being devastatingly consistent. For Bush, Iraqis are entitled to the sanctity of their Mosques--but our troops are forbidden from rooting out insurgents hiding and sniping from within; Iraqis are entitled to textbooks, hospitals, sewers, roads--but, in defending themselves, our troops must place the lives of Iraqi civilians (some of whom are or aid insurgents) above their own. Attesting to the cost of this sacrificial policy is the burgeoning U.S. death toll. And Washington has refused to impose on Iraq a constitution that would make the new regime non-threatening--as we did in Japan after World War II. In the name of satisfying the poor Iraqis' demand for "self-determination," President Bush has pledged to recognize as sovereign whatever regime the Iraqis vote for--even a militantly hostile Islamic theocracy that, in unison with Iran's mullahs, clamors for "Death to America." Neither Israel nor the United States can vanquish Islamist terrorism unless it repudiates the corrupt morality of altruism, which enjoins the sacrifice of the successful as an ideal. Victory can only be achieved if one is convinced of one's moral right to live and to act consistently to achieve one's goals. Every self-effacing step that Israel takes--in lockstep with America and with our blessing--encourages the terrorists with the belief that their success is achievable. Elan Journo is a junior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute (http://www.aynrand.org/) in Irvine, Calif. The Institute promotes the ideas of Ayn Rand--best-selling author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead and originator of the philosophy of Objectivism. To Go To Top

AMAZING WHAT $2.75 A GALLON CAN BUY... Posted by Dr. Alex Grobman, August 30, 2005.

In case you're wondering where this hotel is, it isn't a hotel at all. It is a house! It's owned by the family of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the former president of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu-Dhabi. Dr. Grobman's most recent book is Battling for Souls: The Vaad Hatzala Rescue Committee in Post War Europe [KTAV]. He is also co-author of Denying History: Who Says The Holocaust Never Happened? (University of California Press, 2000) His next book Zionism=Racism: The New War Against The Jews will be published in 2005. To Go To Top

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS AND THE DESTRUCTIVE POWER OF "DIVERSITY" Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, August 30, 2005.

This was written by Wesley Pruden, editor-in-chief of The Washington Times. Few of us in the West necessarily believe the mantra of Tony Blair and George W Bush that "Islam is a religion of peace" (anymore than Messrs. Blair and Bush, despite their huffing and puffing about it, necessarily believe it themselves). Some people learn things the hard way, and not all of them live in Washington. Our English cousins are getting a brutal lesson in reality: Multiculturalism will kill you if you don't watch out. Many of the Muslims in Britain were put out when the cops in the West Midlands raided a block of apartments in Birmingham just before dawn and arrested several suspects in the latest London terror bombings. The raids showed "insensitivity" toward Islam, and the authorities, ever eager to improve "community relations" with what Kipling might have called "the lesser breeds without the law," invited the "moderate" chairman of the Central Birmingham Mosque to participate in a press conference to discuss the raids. The session had hardly begun before one Dr. Mohammed Naseem began a denunciation of the West, of Britain, of the police and other assorted infidels who had libeled Islam by suggesting that Muslims were in any way responsible for the bombing campaign in London, in which more than 50 men, women and children have died. Prime Minister Tony Blair, he said, is "a liar," and the security forces are evil. The suspects were merely innocent commuters, and he isn't interested in hearing about DNA evidence because DNA science "could not be trusted." Well, of course it can't, since DNA science was developed after the eighth century when the prophet set out everything that would ever be known about anything. The degeneration of the press conference into low comedy and then into farce embarrassed only some of the cops. The superintendent of police said Mohammed - the chairman of the mosque, not the prophet himself - was probably suffering from shock brought on by "the unusual events of the last few hours" This excuse-making was of a piece with the way the British police authorities, perhaps suffering toxic shock themselves, have behaved in the wake of the London atrocities. The day after the first blasts on July 7, a police deputy rebuked a reporter who asked about the nature of the Islamic threat. "Islam and terrorism," he said sternly, as if rebuking a child for telling a potty joke, "don"t go together." Remarked the London Daily Telegraph on July 28: "When senior police officers go to great lengths to make such prim and dubious politically correct statements, then it is not surprising that Muslim leaders such as Dr. Mohammed Naseern end up believing them, and expect to be taken seriously when they take those assertions to their logical conclusions." Public opinion in Britain, in fact, appears to be saying enough, already. There's a growing consensus that the British have been taken for suckers by the Muslim immigration wave that has overwhelmed the sceptered isle. The discovery that the suicide bombers of July 7 were homegrown, second-generation Englishmen, first bewildered many, and then angered most. The diversity that everyone was encouraged to celebrate turns out to be fatuous, fraudulent and some times fatal. The one-sided celebration of diversity is beginning to grate as well. Julie Burchill, a columnist for the Times of London, notes that "English toddlers are being forced to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid when they are still trying to get their heads about the Easter bunny." There's a sordid creepiness in the way even the diversity of the dead - that Muslims are killed along with everybody else - is celebrated by those who can't get their own heads around the fact that the Islamic haters hate us simply for taking up space in a world that would otherwise be all theirs, with nobody to complain about the ranting, raping and beheading that is the worship ritual of the radicals. The real phenomenon of the age of terror is how the "infidels," the Christians, the Jews and the unbelievers, have kept their cool and their ideals intact in the wake of a rich provocation to retaliate. Few of us m the West necessarily believe the mantra of Tony Blair and George W Bush that "Islam is a religion of peace" (anymore than Messrs. Blair and Bush, despite their huffing and puffing about it, necessarily believe it themselves). But polls here and in Britain consistently show that the majorities are clearheaded about who the villains actually are. It's a tribute first and last to the enduring power of Jewish ethics and Christian faith that shapes and informs the societies of the West - to which so many millions of Muslims aspire. Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). To Go To Top

FAITH IN THE FACE OF CORRUPTION AND CRUELTY Posted by TheRaphi, August 30, 2005.

This was written by Dr. Miriam Adahan. She is a psychologist, therapist, prolific author and founder of EMETT ("Emotional Maturity Established Through Torah") - a network of self-help groups dedicated to personal growth. She lives in Jerusalem, and has recently written on the struggles of life in the terror-beset land. The "peace process" was always a euphemism for the destruction of Israel. Yet few believed the government would carry out our enemies' plans with such brutality. Ariel Sharon is proud of his success in creating 15,000 Jewish refugees in just five days. In doing so, he has announced to the world, "We have no claim to any part of the land of Israel." And in his inhuman treatment of these refugees, he has proclaimed, "The citizens of this country will no longer enjoy human rights." While the expulsion was executed with meticulous efficiency, the Government made no provisions for jobs, homes, schools or shuls for the refugees. When I visited one of the hotels which had received a group of refugees on August 17 I looked into their dazed and bewildered eyes and cried. How could the government do this to a peaceful, loyal and productive group of people? The attitude of the disengagement authority, SELA (run by Yonatan Bassi, who has become the owner of the Gush Katif hot houses, making him an instant millionaire) is shocking. He sent only one representative to each hotel to greet the thousands of exhausted refugees, and that person was given an operating budget of $40. Yes, forty dollars. Many traumatized refugees found themselves knocking on hotel room doors already occupied by other refugees - with 8 family members assigned to one room - or thrown out again after only a few hours as hotel managers who felt that their presence might upset their regular guests. For the last few years, the government lulled the people of Gush Katif into thinking that the expulsion plan was simply a bizarre joke, an illusion fostered by the fact that building permits were still given out as of April, 2005 and that no infrastructure was prepared to resettle the population. Furthermore, Ariel Sharon kept saying that the expulsion would not take place under fire, and there were constant terror attacks. No one could have imagined that they would simply be thrown out of their homes and told to "manage on your own." This tragedy provides a lesson for all of us in how to face cruelty, betrayal and abandonment. Given their multiple losses, we can expect a rise in divorces, severe auto-immune illnesses, and depression, anxiety and abuse disorders. The most effective way of minimizing the trauma is to keep the communities together as a group so that they can support each other. Yet the government has done just the opposite, doing everything in its power to break them up and foment despair among them. Gush Katif was the Land of Open Miracles. Now the miracles will occur on a different level, in their hearts and minds as they fight against the twin enemies of mental health - bitterness and despair. We must constantly remember that the success of the evil-doers plans is ultimately, Hashem's will. If Hashem had not wanted this to happen, it would not have happened. Only with faith will we be able to bear the endless concessions which Israel is already planning to make. Despite the 6000 rocket attacks suffered by Gush Katif residents in the last five years, they carried on with their lives - building homes, doing chesed and learning Torah with intense devotion. This is the only way to survive our losses, and especially the challenges of betrayal, terror and poverty. The Leftist media continues to demonize religious people as demented idiots and "settlers" as fanatics who stole land from the Arabs and, therefore, have no right to compensation for their property. Reporters keep announcing that each family will receive $500,000! The truth is far different. For one thing, people who bought homes in Gush Katif after 2003 had to sign a waiver giving up all rights to compensation in the event that Gush Katif was evacuated. Second, those entitled to compensation will receive close to $100,000. Third, this money will soon be swallowed up with endless expenses, such as lawyers' fees and mortgage payments (yes, they must continue to pay mortgages on homes which were bulldozed!), rental payments on whatever tiny apartments they are able to find, exorbitant prices they had to pay to moving companies to haul away their belongings and must now pay storage costs for these containers which, in most cases, are far away from where they will be living, necessitating the purchase of new items. The maddening array of red tape adds to their misery. They must pay for each of the many forms they are required to file in order to get their compensation, which may take up to three years to receive. If they did not leave their homes willingly before August 17, they may be fined or denied compensation altogether. To prove that teenage children are living with them, they must provide 2 stamped letters sent to these children from the year 2004! Who saves such items? SELA officials are poorly trained and rarely available. They quibble over every centimeter of land which the refugees owned - which cannot even be proven any more since their homes were destroyed. The vast majority of people over the age of 45 will not find jobs, especially those employed in agriculture or small businesses. And they are not eligible for unemployment insurance! As for the promised homes, this, too, turned out to be a huge bluff. Although they were told that the government would provide them with 10 days in hotels, they must pay for these accommodations! And ten days is hardly enough to recover from the trauma and find new dwellings. Some were sent to sleep in school dormitories. Others were offered small apartments in anti-religious kibbutzim! SELA found 600 decrepit apartments scattered around the country whose owners charge exorbitant prices. Faith is expressed in on-going acts of courage. And courage is needed in times of tragedy. * Think of the courage required for each family member to kiss the mezuza on the doorpost of their home - a home many had built with their own hands - for one last time, past their carefully tended plants, knowing that they would never walk that path again. * Think of the courage it will take for large families to live in cramped rooms with mattresses on the floor in noisy cities and to cope with the loss of space, friends and basic amenities, like a washing machine and a kitchen or pots in which to prepare one's food. The children are used to be outdoors during their free time, in protected communities, where no one locked their doors and children roamed freely into and out of each other's homes. * Think of the courage it takes for parents to present a strong front to children who keep crying, "I want to go home," and to look them in the eyes and say, "We have no home - but we will rebuild." * Think of the courage it takes to fill out a form which asks for "address" and not to break down when there is no address to fill the space and to go forward and start all over again. * Think of the courage it takes to know that bulldozers have destroyed 23 thriving communities, 325 farms and 86 synagogues, not to mention all their schools, nurseries, mikvas and community centers - and to say, Baruch dayan emes with full faith that there is an ultimate Master Plan, even though we cannot see it, because we are too limited to understand G-d's ways. * Think of the courage it takes for these proud people to have to ask volunteers to bring them diapers, toothpaste, games for the children and warm clothing for the now chilly nights. Ariel Sharon has underestimated the spirit of the religious community. The destruction of Gush Katif brought out the best in us. Charedi and Zionist religious groups united in their efforts to stop this tragedy. We decorated out cars with orange ribbons, got beaten up together in demonstrations and almost - a million of us went to the Kotel together on the evening of August 10. And though not a word of this momentous event - the largest of its kind in the last 2000 years - was mentioned in the media, Hashem heard our prayers and sees that while the government may be disengaging from the holy land, but we are firm in our refusal to disengage from Hashem. The Leftists cannot bear to see the Light of Torah which we display in our moral principles and our concern for one another. I encourage readers to help these refugees get back on their feet and reestablish their communities so that their spirits will not be broken! I urge every synagogue in America to adopt one family or one community. Unfortunately, there are few reliable charity organizations. My experience with the funds set up to help terror victims is that very little of the monies collected filtered down to the victims. Therefore, I urge readers to send checks to the organizations which have no operating expenses, such as the ADAHAN FUND (2700 W. Chase, Chicago, Il. 60645) and LEMA'AN ACHAI, at 40/7 Nachal Lachish, Ramat Beit Shemesh 99093 or American friends of Lema'an Achai (specify GUSH KATIF FUND), 35 W. 96th St. #1F, NY, NY 10025. As for my other projects, I am still trying to get 9 year old Ruti, who was born without a functional bladder, to America for surgery which should have been done when she was a few weeks old. The family is desperate for funds. I also am trying to help numerous terror victims who have been abandoned by all the groups which were set up to help them. If any synagogue would like to adopt a family, please let me know at emett@netvision.net.il. An orthodox high school student living in Toronto, The Raphi is the webmaster of http://www.TheRaphi.com. He can be contacted by email at raphi@theraphi.com. TheRaphi (http://www.theraphi.com/index.html) is a pro-Israel and pro-Zionist site; it provides news articles and essays. To Go To Top

AL-QAEDA NUCLEAR THREAT: A MODEST PROPOSAL Posted by Jerry Gordon, August 29, 2005.

Joyce Chernick (joyce@jc88.cc) send us this. I agree with her, this is a brilliant but scary version of Jonathan swift's famous "Modest proposal" applied to both the Al Qaeda American Hiroshima threat to incinerate American cities with large Jewish populations and the unfortunate recent expuslion of jews by Jews from Gaza. Rachel had sent me an earlier draft. In my response to the finished version, I suggested that one of the destinations in the interior of the US that she missed to which American Jews would be dispersed was a favorite of ours, New Mexico. I assuired her that Jews would be wlecomed by those Converso villages on the high road from Santa Fe to Taos. Read Rachel's piece because it is wicked and savage satire and a wake up call to those feckless Amercians, both Jewish and non-Jewish who have their proverbial heads in the sand that "it can't happen here." Just wait until you see what happens over the Period from 9/10 to 9/19/2005. Bravo to Rachel for her courage in penning this satire. Doubtless many leaders in der judenrat and many Israeli C.G.'s will be upset. But maybe they should be, eh? M This article appeared in the Conservative Voice (www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=7732) August 24, 2005 and in Chron Watch - with live links - August 25th. This article is satirical and relates to the current expulsion of Israeli Jews from their homes by their own government. It is written in the manner of Jonathan Swift's famous satire, A Modest Proposal. America could be facing a potential catastrophe from nuclear weapons that may have already been smuggled inside this country by al-Qaeda. Sleeper cells may already be positioned inside as many as twenty major cities. The danger is real and awareness is increasing. World Net Daily (www.wnd.com) has reported on revelations contained in the upcoming book The al-Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse, by former FBI consultant Paul L. Williams. Edited excerpts from a World Net Daily report (www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45313) of July 18 follow: Osama bin Laden is planning what he calls an "American Hiroshima," the ultimate terrorist attack on U.S. cities, using nuclear weapons already smuggled into the country across the Mexican border along with thousands of sleeper agents. The series of attacks is designed to kill 4 million, destroy the economy, and fundamentally alter the course of history. Al-Qaeda's prime targets for launching nuclear terrorist attacks are the nine U.S. cities with the highest Jewish populations, according to captured leaders and documents. The cities chosen as optimal targets are New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Boston, and Washington, D.C. New York and Washington top the preferred target list for al-Qaeda leadership. Our own security officials have also told us repeatedly that it is not a matter of "if" but rather of "when" the next major attack will occur. An update on this threat was published by World Net Daily on 8/18/05 (http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45812). Many American lives could be at stake here, and what is needed is bold thinking on how to avert such an attack, or to at least reduce its likelihood. In that spirit, this article presents "A Modest Proposal" which advocates a two-part response. Part I proposes to reduce the attractiveness of the potential targets. Part II proposes to make the targets additionally undesirable and to also reduce enemy hostility. Part I. Nine large, American cities are prime targets because of their size, importance, and their concentrations of Jews. If the presence of Jews in these cities increases their appeal as targets then logically the absence of Jews would decrease that appeal by a comparable amount. The security of three hundred million Americans must not be kept at risk merely for the sake of not inconveniencing Jews who comprise barely two percent of our population. Because the potential danger is so immense and so imminent, the relocation of American Jews must be expedited. Removal of Jews should not be too difficult. Jews want to be seen as loyal Americans. Most would cooperate, if reluctantly and emotionally, in their removal as their patriotic duty to increase the safety of their fellow Americans. Jews are accustomed to relocating and have done so repeatedly from biblical times. In recent times, nearly a million Jews were expelled from Arab countries and more than a million Jews have also left the former Soviet Union. Even inside America, Jews often move for purely personal reasons. Relocation is a familiar Jewish experience. Then there is the question of propriety. Is it proper to compel Jews to relocate--especially after they have become so comfortable in this country? Fortunately this question has already been answered. For security reasons, and for the greater good, none other than Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is even now in the process of expelling eight thousand Jews from their homes in Gaza and is using the Israeli army and police to do it. And more than ten times that number of Jews are likely to face expulsion from the West Bank later on. The number of Israeli Jews targeted for expulsion in both Gaza and the West Bank is proportionally equivalent to America relocating about five million American Jews. This forced relocation has been ruled to be a perfectly legal action taken by the Israeli government, and President Bush, who is considered to be a great friend of Israel, supports it. Relocating American Jews will be far easier than expelling Jews in Israel. American Jews tend toward pacifism, are highly law-abiding and non-confrontational--except for the highly vocal Jewish leftists who, in this case, would likely support Jewish expulsion. Furthermore, the American Jewish leadership has already endorsed the principle of forced expulsion of Jews in Israel as the legal right of that government to act in the interests of security and the greater good. Thus American Jews cannot now object to being subjected to the same requirements in the interest of U.S. national security. Necessary expertise in Jewish relocation procedures can be borrowed from Israel. The Sharon government knows how to recruit, screen, and train thousands of men and women from the Jewish community to form police expulsion units and cope with the related logistics and media management. As in Israel, these expulsion police would be well paid, not be required to identify themselves to the expellees, and the courts will go easy on any charges of police brutality. Any manifestation of Jewish protest will be quickly put down. Protesters, including teenagers, would be placed in administrative detention and held without charges for up to six months. Unlike in Israel, there are no Palestinian Arab equivalents in America to rain down rockets on the expulsion process and requiring army units to protect the evacuation. As in Israel, there will be at most peaceful, completely non-violent protests, perhaps combined with a little civil disobedience of the most harmless and easily suppressed kind. Since most American Jews will peacefully board the busses and trains carrying them to their new homes, whatever protests may occur will be conducted by evangelical Christians--the most law-abiding segment of the American population, who will easily be dissuaded from violence or seriously disruptive behavior by their ministers. We cannot deny that 1.3 billion Muslims comprise a formidable world force that is in the ascendancy while Jews are a tiny minority that is in decline, especially in America. America has suffered politically from the general perception that the interests of Israel and Jews are favored over the interests of Muslims and Arabs. This is an opportunity for American policy to become more even-handed and to gain the respect of the Muslim world. As in Israel, U.S. Jews who voluntarily sign up early for expulsion will receive extra benefits while those who object or delay could face fines or even prison. The American Jewish leaders must demonstrate their national loyalty by signing up early and encouraging their followers to do likewise. American Jews wield influence far exceeding their numbers which is viewed as a provocation to many in the Muslim world. The expulsion must include all Jews, including elected officials and those of influence. We do not know how much time remains before a possible attack is launched by al-Qaeda. Therefore, this evacuation must proceed quickly in the interests of national security. Naturally, it will be necessary to compile lists of Jews and Jewish leaders and Jewish organizations must be required to furnish such information. Unaffiliated Jews must also be identified and included on these lists. It will not be possible to properly liQaedate all property and assets in a short time, so the Jews will have to select whatever they can transport in limited-size vehicles and forgo the rest. Their European forebears and Israeli cousins have followed these procedures on numerous occasions in the past. As a result, few American Jews will be unduly alarmed or angered by this element of the American-Islamic peace and reconciliation process. In the interests of national security and of fairness it should be a crime for any non-Jew to harbor a Jew. This procedure must be executed thoroughly and without favoritism so that the Muslim world will see that we Americans are sincere. Jewish institutions, including hospitals (along with their Jewish patients), colleges, schools, synagogues, museums, and the like must be emptied of Jewish personnel and content and prepared for evacuation. Jewish expertise, or as some say dominance, in the film industry could be put to good use in ensuring the successful and smooth operation of the relocation program. For example, the distinguished Jewish American filmmaker Steven Speilberg could produce and direct a film showing the happy and successful adjustment of a sympathetically portrayed American Jewish family to their new home community in rural Alaska. The classic film made by a distinguished German Jewish director 62 years ago, documenting the happy and prosperous Jewish community in the relocation center of Thieresienstadt and filmed during the difficult period of Jewish relocation in the Second World War, could serve Speilberg as a useful model. Spielberg (or any number of other justly celebrated Jewish filmmakers) could also be tasked to compile a film record of how Jews lived in America before their relocation, which would serve as a nostalgic memento for the relocatees in their new homes, as well as a useful educational tool for the whole population. The film could be shown in schools across the country, as well as in Jewish museums and Holocaust centers, in order to encourage ethnic and racial tolerance and multiculturalism. Jews would be relocated to relatively uninhabited places, away from any potential target area. Their new homes should be in currently under-populated areas like Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota, and Alaska. The Jews should be assigned specific areas that will be reserved for Jewish occupancy, in the same manner as the reservations for Indian tribes. Since Jews are essentially a tribal group, they are sure to appreciate having tribal homelands of their own, outside the strife-torn Middle East. New housing and other facilities should be paid for largely by the Jewish community, in exchange for the value of the land they would receive from the government. Jews should be given the option of digging up their dead and transporting the remains to the Jewish reservations. Abandoned graves would then be bulldozed. Those few Jews who are unwilling to resettle on the reservations will be encouraged to find new homes in other countries. Part II. This part is designed to create an active disincentive for al-Qaeda to strike our major cities. To further enhance American security, the vacated homes and properties of America's five million Jews should be turned over to Muslim immigrants from Arab countries. They must promise to show respect for the former Jewish homes they are being given and must not dance on the roofs of their new homes in a show of celebration or victory. Muslims should also acquire synagogues and other Jewish facilities but must promise not to burn them down in celebration but to quietly convert them into mosques. Al-Qaeda would then have to think twice before attacking cities with significant Muslim populations and their newly acquired mosques. Osama Bin Laden may feel grudging respect to America for having outsmarted him--and doing it with style and class. The entire Muslim world would then have to reconsider its anti-American animosity. We will have demonstrated that we are reasonable and respectful toward our Muslim brothers and sisters. We will have shown our willingness to be even-handed in redressing the old imbalance where Jews, being but two percent of America, had wielded such disproportionate influence in the culture, in the business sector, and on its policies. Relocation of Jews would be a very small price to pay for the prospect of avoiding a devastating attack which would consume Jewish lives as well as those of other Americans. We could then open a new chapter in Muslim-American relations and together strive for a more peaceful and just world. Rachel Neuwirth is a freelance writer who resides in the Los Angeles area. Contact her by email at rachterry@sbcglobal.net. Bertram Cohen and John Landau contributed to this column. To Go To Top

IS HE/SHE ANTI-ISRAEL? CHECK HIS/HER FUNDING Posted by Naomi Ragen, August 29, 2005.

When I was researching my last book, The Covenant, I came across a book by Said K. Aburish called: The Rise, Corruption and Coming Fall of the House of Saud (Bloomsbury Press, 1994). In this book, Mr. Aburish wrote that the Saudis perverted the Western press by "purchasing" the loyalty of British and American journalists with presents and outright bribes for toeing the Saudi line. He went on to say: "I find it difficult to believe that Reuters News Agency, Agence France Presse or Associated Press would jeopardize their substantial Saudi business and run anti-House of Saud stories." Ah, if it was only that. To please the Saudis, their "purchased" so-called journalists have been much more than obliging. Below is further proof. It's a New York Sun Editorial from Tuesday, August 23, 2005. It is called "Mystery Solved." Naomi One of the little-noticed virtues of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, completed yesterday, is that it puts in sharp relief one of the questions of the Middle East debate that has puzzled us in recent years, centering on the Council on Foreign Relations and Henry Siegman. The council's Web site describes Mr. Siegman as "senior fellow and director, U.S./Middle East Project" and also as "foremost expert on the Middle East peace process ... and U.S. Middle East Policy." Yet his writings over the past few years are hard to distinguish from the hard-line propaganda of the Arab tyrannies. A visitor to the Council's Web site yesterday could view in its archives an interview with Mr. Siegman by a former foreign editor of the New York Times, Bernard Gwertzman, under the headline, "Siegman: Sharon Unlikely to Carry Out Plans to Withdraw from Gaza." In the interview, Mr. Gwertzman asks Mr. Siegman, "Why won't the withdrawal take place?" Mr. Siegman answers in all apparent seriousness that Mr. Sharon lacks majority support for his plan in the Israeli parliament. It's now clear that Mr. Siegman's assessment in October 2004 was precisely wrong. It's hardly the first time. America's Middle East policy, in Mr. Siegman's analysis, is the result of how "Sharon manipulates Washington," as he put it in an April 26, 2004, article in the International Herald Tribune. A similar theme is conveyed in cartoons in the Arab press, labeled as anti-Semitic by the Anti-Defamation League, depicting Mr. Sharon as a puppeteer manipulating President Bush. Mr. Siegman has said Israel is worse than the terrorist leader Yasser Arafat. "Surely depriving the freedom of 3.5 million Palestinians and subjugating them to a military occupation for nearly two generations is a more fundamental and egregious offense to basic democratic values than the authoritarianism of Arafat, who at least came to office in a free and democratic internationally supervised election," Mr. Siegman wrote on February 27, 2003, in the International Herald Tribune. He suggested that U.S. policy-makers who think that "our actions in Iraq will inspire admiration and trigger regionwide democratic change better check what they are smoking." The smoke had barely cleared when American actions in Iraq did trigger regionwide democratic change and admiration from Beirut to Cairo and beyond. So why would the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based American institution, fund this "expert" at the level of $204,151 in salary and benefits, making him, in the most recent year for which tax returns are available, its fourth-highest paid employee? It turns out that much of the funding for the Council's "U.S./Middle East Project" comes from overseas, including the European Commission, the government of Norway, Kuwaiti and Saudi businessmen, a Lebanese politician, and, for one year, an official of the commercial arm of the Palestinian Authority, Munib Masri. Mr. Siegman tells us that his views have been consistent over his career and that his project's funding sources - which he points out are a matter of public record - haven't influenced his opinions. A spokeswoman for the Council says that there is no connection between funding sources and any scholar's opinions. The editor in charge of the opinion page at the International Herald Tribune, Serge Schmemann, says that the paper never asked about, and Mr. Siegman never mentioned, where his money was coming from. Editors at the New York Review of Books, where Mr. Siegman also publishes, did not return our phone calls seeking comment. Why aren't the New York Review of Books and the New York Times-owned IHT disclosing that the man attacking Israel in their pages is being supported by European governments and non-American Arab businessmen? The Times itself has an integrity policy requiring freelance contributors to "avoid conflicts of interest, real or apparent," yet the Times ran an op-ed piece by Mr. Siegman in 2002 identifying him only as "a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations." If the publications had made the disclosure, their readers could draw their own conclusions. Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. To Go To Top

THE PALESTINE TERRORIST AUTHORITY'S FINAL SOLUTION Posted by Jock L. Falkson, August 29, 2005.

"I talk to you today thanking God for his support for our people's jihad (holy war) and for the liberation of our beloved Gaza. I pray to God to assist us in liberating Jerusalem, the West Bank, Acre, Haifa, Safed, Nazareth, Ashkelon and the rest of Palestine." - Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, still wanted by Israel for his terrorist role in killing hundreds of Israelis since 1992. August 27, 2005. Whose Victory? Palestinians have celebrated their so called victory at Israel's Gaza pull-out by deluding themselves, once more, that their terrorism defeated Israel. This was palpably untrue; Israel in fact had gotten the better of the terrorists. Israel scored one success after another using its armed drones to target terrorist leaders, planners, Kassam rocketeers and mortar bombers. And the anti-terrorist barrier was doing its job of keeping suicide terrorists out. The Arabs were desperately fighting a losing battle and they knew it. Palestine Terrorist Authority Rejoices No one should be surprised that the Palestine Terrorist Authority encouraged and praised the "victory" celebrations of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, various Martyrs? Brigades and others. For there is no visible line between the terrorist factions and their mentor and protector. Many of the PA?s factions are registered on the State department?s official list of terrorist organizations. Why all have not been listed may be clear to State, but is unclear to the rest of us since all have deliberately participated in the slaughter of Israeli civilians. (In contrast, "Kahanne Chai" - the only Jewish organization listed by State - has never killed any Arab civilians and has, in any event, been out of existence many years.) The PA itself deserves to be listed by State because it is the direct descended from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which was itself listed. The change in name never represented a change of heart. State recognized that terrorism was the main intent of the PLO and had correctly given them top billing in its list of Palestine terrorist organizations. (See the State ANNEXURE below.) Kangaroo Trials Israel's security services have seldom, if ever, had any difficulty identifying the perpetrators of Palestinian terrorist crimes. In point of fact, neither has the Palestine Terrorist Authority. However, it will surprise no one that the few who were arrested by the PAT all "escaped" before or after "trial" and never again found (except by Israeli intelligence). Kangaroo trials were reserved exclusively for "collaborators". No "collaborators" ever lived long enough to escape - they were taken outside and unceremoniously executed. Aiding, Abetting, Harboring The Palestine Terrorist Authority undoubtedly earned the "terrorist" appellation because: 1. No terrorist has ever been searched or disarmed on the Palestine Terrorist Authority's side of crossing points. Few indeed have ever been arrested no matter how heinous the murders committed against Jews. 2. Israel's security services have seldom, if ever, had difficulty identifying the perpetrators of terrorist crimes. So there can be little doubt that the Palestine Terrorist Authority knew exactly who they were, too. 3. The Palestine Terrorist Authority provides safe houses to protect wanted terrorists being hunted down by Israeli security. Omissions and Commissions 4. The Palestine Terrorist Authority permits members of its terrorist factions comprehensive training facilities in its territory. 5. It also permits foreign Arabs to come in and become active partners in their terrorist activities. 6. It provides political protection and uses fungible money to pay living allowances to activists and pensions to bereaved families. 7. It finances the purchase of arms and munitions etc for its terrorists. Karin(e) A - The Proof Positive 8. Proof, if more was ever needed, was the Karin A which was apprehended by the Israel navy off the coast of Gaza in January 2002. 50 tons of military materiel were confiscated. The Palestinian captain was tried in Israel and sentenced to 25 years. 9. This freighter had been purchased by Yasser Arafat and loaded with exactly the kind of lethal stuff used by the Palestine terrorist organizations. 10. Yasser Arafat had been caught red-handed. His fingerprints and the signatures of his chief executives were on the invoices. Arafat lied about his direct involvement (naturally) but though he was condemned and no longer persona grata in the White House, that was as far as the US would go. 11. The shipment contained Katyusha rockets, mortars, sniper rifles, bullets, anti-tank mines, anti-tank missiles, plus over two and a half tons of pure explosives. All items, used and needed by the PA terrorists, were enough to kill hundreds, even thousands of Israeli civilians. Arming Of The Palestine Terrorist Authority Israel had clearly flubbed the PR value of the Karin A's interdiction. As a result of this failure no one focused on the unique fact that the ship was delivering specifically selected weaponry ordered by the Palestine Authority itself. (Not by a terrorist faction.) It was at this stage that Israel should have immediately declared the PA to be a Terrorist Authority. For although there was clearly a difference in scale, the event was comparable in our situation, to the discovery of the missile base constructed by the Russians in Cuba. Regrettably, Israel missed the opportunity to influence world opinion with the significance of the Karin A's capture. Nevertheless, this lost opportunity did not alter the facts. The PA, representing all the terrorist factions, is a Terrorist Authority. Yet incredibly, the US and the UK continue to exert pressure on Israel to make peace with a terrorist entity. Something they would never do themselves. Moreover the US and UK know the Palestinians are hell bent on a final Jewish solution of their own. Their terrorist factions have made no secret of their intention to obliterate Israel from the map. (In anticipation of which Israel is never shown on their maps.) What is there about Arab terrorism upon Israeli civilians that is so acceptable to great moral nations like the US and the UK - Why does Arab terrorism garner so much sympathy from these governments? How come they only act tough on terrorism when their own civilians are subjected to Muslim terrorism? It's about time tough-talking Condoleezza Rice gave the world some frank answers. Annexure Extract from the US Department of State's List of Foreign Terrorist Organizations listing the PLO as a terrorist organization: (Updated 2004): [See http://www.wordiq.com for additional information on the groups listed below.] Palestinian 1. Palestinian Liberation Organization (June 1964-Present) o Formed as an umbrella group of eight Palestinian nationalist organizations devoted to dismantling Israel headquartered in Damascus, Syria and Beirut, Lebanon. o Used the name Black September during the 1972 Munich Olympic Massacre ) Groups within the PLO 1. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) (1967-present) o Left-wing Palestinian separatists o Joined the PLO in 1968 and became the second-largest PLO faction, after Arafat's al-Fatah, but withdrew in 1974, accusing the group of moving away from the goal of destroying Israel outright. $ PFLP's splinter groups: 2. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) (1968-present) * o Splinter group from the PFLP, founded by Ahmed Jibril. Declared its focus would be military, not political. Was a member of the PLO, but left in 1974 for the same reasons as PFLP. 3. Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) (1969-present) o Marxist-Leninist group that believes Palestinian national goals can be achieved only through revolution of the masses. Split into two factions in 1991; Nayif Hawatmah leads the majority and more hard-line faction, which continue to dominate the group. Joined with other rejectionist groups to form the Alliance of Palestinian Forces (APF) to oppose the Declaration of Principals signed in 1993. Broke from the APF - along with the PFLP - over ideological differences. Has made limited moves toward merging with the PFLP since the mid-1990s. 4. Abu Nidal organization (ANO) (1974-2002?; Anti-PLO extremists) * o Split from PLO but is not considered primarily a Palestinian nationalist organization. See ANO entry above. 5. Fatah (early 1960s-present; Palestinian nationalist political party; sponsors terrorism) o In Arabic, "conquest by means of jihad." o Reverse acronym for "Harekat at-Tahrir al-Wataniyyeh al-Falastiniyyeh." o Also known as the movement for the National Liberation of Palestine. o Founded by Yasser Arafat in the early 1960s. Took control of the PLO in 1960, with Arafat as chairman, forming the Palestine. $ Groups associated with Fatah: 6. Al Aqsa Marytrs Brigade * o Responsible of many suicide bombings and shooting attacks against Israeli civilian. o Responsible of executing suspected collaberators and opposition leaders to Arafat. o Funded by Fatah and the Palestine. 7. Tanzim (1995-present) o In Arabic, "organization." o Loosely organized Fatah militia. 8. Force 17 (early 1970s-present) o Elite unit of the PLO under Yasser Arafat's direct guidance. o Acts as a versatile unit for terrorism, combat, and intelligence-gathering. 9. Hawari (1980s-1991) o Also known as the Fatah Special Operations Group, Martyrs of Tal Al Za'atar, and Amn Araissi. o Has not carried out terrrorist attacks recently. 10. Ahmed Abu Reish Brigade o Extreme off-shoot of Fatah. o Was involved in July 17, 2004 kidnappings in the Gaza Strip. o Possible link to the Popular Resistance Committees. 11. The Popular Resistance Committees - Gaza Strip To be put on Jock Falkson's email list, contact him at falkson@barak-online.net To Go To Top

THE STRUGGLE ISN"T "RIGHT" VERSUS "LEFT" Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, August 29, 2005.

Seems to me we have seen this before. Last time they called it the Likud. Until there is awareness and public acknowledgement that we are not in a "Right" verses "Left" struggle, I really do not see that there would be much of a difference between this new Right-wing group and the old one. Our struggle is not a political one. The issues are not over economic policy or animal rights. The lives of 10,000 Jews were not destroyed and the live of hundreds of thousands of others forever traumatized by the Sharon Pogrom over a struggle of emission standards for automobiles. I realize that overcoming the habits of a lifetime are difficult but gentlemen of the "Right" please show just a little bit of honesty. Please. We all know that the struggle is existential and cultural. Left, right, up, down or inside out have nothing to do with it. The core issue is are we to live in this land as Jews, guided by our G-D given Torah or are we to live here as pseudo-Goyim? Anyone who presents the struggle else wise is clearly telling us that he is with the pseudo-Goyim. All this avoids the real issue of the culture war we are fighting. Shuffling around the pieces of a broken machine will not fix it. Time to get a new one and the new one should have Made at Sinai stamped on it. Consider carefully. If "Disengagement" - I mean the expulsion of Jews from Gaza and northern Samaria - if Disengagement proved anything, it proved that MKs must be individually elected by the voters in regional elections. Just remember, two-thirds of the Likud MKs, who campaigned against Disengagement in 2003 voted for it in 2004!!! Now, as my colleague Prof. Israel Hanukoglu has pointed out, if you commit a serious traffic violation, you may lose your drivers license for a year. Well, by signing the Sharon-designed coalition agreement after the 2003 election, and by remaining in the Sharon government, Rabbi Elon - like Effie Eitan and other self-styled nationalists - committed a political offense far worse than any traffic offense. That coalition agreement required them not to oppose a Palestinian state. Indeed, Sharon was on record of supporting a Palestinian state for five years prior to the 2003 election. Did he not sign the Wye Memorandum as Netanyahu's foreign minister yielding - to begin with - 42% of Judea and Samaria to Arafat? Elon signed a coalition agreement that doomed Gush Katif! And now he has the audacity to call upon people's support non-existent or utterly compromised right-wing parties!!! MKs like Elon should lose their political drivers license. We need new blood in the Knesset, and we need new political traffic laws, by which I mean new parliamentary electoral laws that make MKs and cabinet Ministers ACCOUNTABLE - I repeat, ACCOUNTABLE. Shimon Peres has been in the Knesset for more than four decades despite his national reputation as a saboteur and despite his disastrous Oslo policy. He has never had to compete against a rival candidate in a constituency election. Why? Because there is none. Peres remains on the top of a fixed party list and he can ignore public opinion with impunity. Elon knows this, but he remains silent - silent while this decadent SYSTEM doomed Jewish communities in Gaza and northern Samaria. Another thing: in 1995, the late MK Rafael Eitan proposed a 4% parliamentary electoral threshold (instead of the then 1.5% threshold). This means that a party would have to obtain at least 4% of the votes cast in an election to get seats in the Knesset. Elon called a 4% threshold immoral! Why? Many countries have a comparable threshold and even higher -- it's 5% in France. So why is a 4% threshold immoral? Why? Because it would have deprived Elon and his Moledet party of any seats in the Knesset! This article appeared in today's Arutz Sheva (www.IsraelNationalNews.com) and is archived at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=88862 It is called "Proposal: One United Right-Wing Ballot in Coming Elections". (IsraelNN.com) National Union Chairman MK Benny Elon is calling upon all right-wing parties to unite under a single ballot and to sign an agreement to prevent the repetition of past mistakes, among them coalition errors. National Religious Party Chairman Zevulun Orlev does not rule out the possibility of a large united front. MK Elon says the aim of the unity will be the preservation of the settlement enterprise and education. He warned that whoever does not join the merger will "pay a price" at the polls. To Go To Top

AN INTERESTING THOUGHT - WHAT THE SAUDIS MAKE ON A BARREL OF OIL Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, August 29, 2005.

On the news, we have heard reported that the US tax-payer/citizens are now paying some $70 a barrel for oil. This is that funny smelling stuff that costs the Saud family $3 to produce (the cost of its production it not related to political considerations). They are now making some $67+ dollars on each barrel; while they produce some 11,500,000 barrels, per day. That means they are making some $770,500,000 dollars per day (that is some 23 billion dollars a month). Imagine, there are still some fools that think that the US is winning against the Islamic fascists! How quaint! Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org To Go To Top

WAR ON TERROR: HYPOCRICY CAUGHT IN THE ACT Posted by Steven Shamrak, August 29, 2005.

After 9/11, western countries have supposedly unleashed the War on Terror against Islamic terrorism. The multi-billion dollar forged wars are now being conducted in Afghanistan and Iraq. The US is spending billions of dollars on anti-biological warfare. And no one has answered the questions: Who was sending US military grade Anthrax through the US post? Why was additional hysteria created after the horror in New York and Washington? Even before the wars it was known that Iraq had no connection with Al Queda, and it was obvious that creating democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq is an unachievable goal and has nothing to do with the war on terror. Most likely, immediately after the departure of the American army, civil wars and the resurgence of Islamic tyranny will rule again in both countries. Even under the illusion of American control, Afghanistan is a state run by narco-warlords. The return of a Taliban like rule is just a matter of time. Western leaders do not want the complete defeat of the spread of Islam and Muslim terrorism. Only the illusion of the fight is important. Wars and terror make control and manipulation of the population easier. Warmongering has always been a favourite tool of unscrupulous kings and dictators. As a result, many democratic principles have been dismissed and sacrificed due to this phony war. At the same time, democratic standards are dying, and duplicity is flourishing during this war: Russia is allowed to do anything against the Chechen independence movement; the US led coalition has a free hand in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay; human rights are being abused in the US and the UK. Israel is the only country that has continuously suffered from Muslim/Arab terrorism for decades. Still, the International community denies Israel the basic rights of self-defence and self-determination! Why is it excusable and justifiable to shoot the unconfirmed terror suspect in London, but it's bad practice to target the known Arab Palestinian terrorists? Why must Jewish people leave their ancestral land to Arab terrorists, but the US government does not want to even hear about the occupied Mexican territories, and the UK is still in possession of North Ireland and other colonial lands? Why is Israel subject to trade embargoes, boycotts and unprecedented International harassment and anti-Israel biased media coverage? So far, I have two answers: 1. In spite of all pretence and empty rhetoric, Anti-Semitism is still one of main underlaying principle of Christian and Muslim dominated societies. 2. There is always need for a villain in order to divert attention from local problems and corruption. Jews have been used for centuries as a scapegoat and as proven distraction tool Israel is used the same way now. Steven Shamrak was born in the former Soviet Union where for several years he participated in the Moscow Zionist (refusenik) movement. He worked as a construction engineer and computer consultant and for the last 4 years he has been publishing independently Internet editorial letters on the Arab-Israeli conflict. He can be reached by email at StevenShamrak@gmail.com To Go To Top

WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST? Posted by Robert Locke, August 28, 2005.

The Gaza pullout may reveal what has long puzzled observers of the Mideast situation: Gen. Sharon's long-term intentions for Israel. My guess is that they are represented by the map below. On this map, the territory to be returned to Jordan would have its Jewish population removed, and the territory retained by Israel would have its Arab population removed. I am not at all sure of the exact final border. I am aware that that there is more than one fence either under construction or in planning, and that there is some controversy as to which will actually get built, and on what route. But I must assume, based on the logic of the argument below, that Mr. Sharon wishes to take as much territory as possible, not as little, so I am actually inclined to go with what the Arab side considers its worst-case scenario. I postulate that Gen. Sharon believes this map represents the best long-term sustainable outcome for Israel, i.e. it is the greatest amount of territory Israel can hold onto permanently. Logically, the Gaza pullout (if we assume Sharon is logical and leave aside canards about his patriotism and sanity) only makes sense if he is pursuing a strategy of giving up land that Israel cannot hold long-term in order to strengthen Israel's grip on what land it can. This would not be an unusual operation by the standards of world history: Great Britain gave up the bulk of Ireland in 1922 to keep the pro-British Protestant areas of Northern Ireland, and despite all the trouble since, she has indeed managed to hang onto this territory. Turkey decided in 1921 under Atatürk to abandon the remains of the Ottoman Empire in order to rebuild the nation upon its Anatolian heartland (pace intrusions upon Armenia, Kurdistan, etc.) The USA conquered the whole of Mexico in 1848 and only kept the virtually uninhabited northern sections, which were demographically tractable to incorporation into the US and became (all or part of) the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and Colorado. The Malaysian Confederation expelled Singapore in 1965 to rid itself of an urbanized ethnic Chinese population it did not want. Other examples of what we can call strategic ethnic retrenchment exist. Sharon probably believes that while it would be politically infeasible to execute the population transfer of the entire Arab population of the West Bank, as has occasionally been considered since the days of Vladimir Jabotinsky, it would be politically feasible to transfer those Arabs residing in the area indicated as retained by Israel if Israel simultaneously transferred Jews out of the area indicated as returned to Jordan. Such a double transfer, while it would of course attract opposition, could not be depicted to (the reasonable, i.e. swing and therefore decisive elements of) world opinion as a one-sided act of aggression. It would largely take on the color of a mutual sacrifice by both sides for the sake of obtaining a peaceful long-term outcome. (Frankly, the more Jews in orange shirts howl in misery about it, the more fair it will appear on the world's TV screens.) Although it would of course create massive protest from the usual suspects, such protest would not rise to the catastrophic levels that a one-sided (Arabs only) transfer would. It would not be likely to trigger general war in the Middle East. It could be plausibly represented to the world as a mutual "exchange of populations" like those that have been carried out before, as between Turkey and Greece in 1923 (www.hri.org/docs/straits/exchange.html) and to rectify ethnic German minorities in Central Europe after WWII. Politically, Sharon believes that a double transfer would unite the Israeli center - which desperately craves normality and will, whatever its supposed moral qualms, in the end support anything that promises to make Israel more like California - and split the serious Zionists. Given that 1/3 of the Israeli electorate already supports some variety of population transfer - whether in its full-blown form or its well-intentioned but implausible Elon Plan (www.therightroadtopeace.com/eng/DefaultEng.html) variety - there is clearly a base of support for such a program. Obviously the truly hard-core Zionists must, upon their principles, denounce this scheme as a betrayal of God-given land (or of national territorial patrimony, if they are secular), but the more moderate ones will see this as a way to swap insecure possession of everything that is rightfully theirs for secure possession of a part of it. No doubt, this will be an agonizing choice for them. If Mr. Sharon is lucky, this will split serious Zionist circles right down the middle, rendering them incapable of uniting to mount serious resistance to his plan. The Irish Republic fought a civil war over roughly the same question in 1922; that's not going to be an option for Israelis, and if the "Palestinians" want to fight over it, they will be unable to alter the outcome and, frankly, dissent within their camp will just render them less capable of resisting whatever the Israeli government wishes to impose. As I said, I am not sure of the exact final border. Anyone who knows the facts on the ground in greater detail than I is welcome to critique the border shown above. The main facts that seem to suggest it is at least approximately right are: 1. The main Palestinian population centers have to be returned to Jordan for demographic reasons. Because there are limits on how many Arabs Israel will be able to transfer (i.e. not many more than the number of Jews), the land returned to Jordan must include most of the Palestinian population. Those who know Israel well will recognize that the northern and southern "lobes" of the lung-like shape above contain the bulk of the Palestinian population. Those readers who are unfamiliar with the detailed geography of the West Bank should note that the area to the east of these lobes is mostly lightly inhabited, and the area to the west heavily infiltrated with post-1967 Jewish settlements. 2. The lightly-populated areas can be retained by Israel because they contain minimal unruly populations to cause trouble. This mainly means the closed military zones down by the river, which are of military interest because, obviously enough, they are on the border towards potentially hostile foreign states. 3. The territory returned to Jordan must be contiguous, or it will not be credible to the world community. South Africa tried setting up discontinuous Bantustans (www.sahistory.org.za/pages/chronology/thisday/racial-segregation.htm) in the 1980's and nobody bought it. Somehow - it's unclear why - human beings just naturally assume that nationals are contiguous pieces of territory. It's one of those mysterious pre-political ideas that doesn't have a lot of pure logic behind it, but it has a grip on people's minds and therefore it determines what's feasible in politics. 4. The territory returned to Jordan must be connected to Jordan. This is necessary in order for the whole undertaking to be presented, ideologically, as a ceding of territory conquered in 1967 back to the possessor ante bellum. This, in turn, has the signal advantage of making a serious assault on one of the key props of the whole "Palestinian" war against Israel: the idea that the West Bank constitutes a nation in its own right, rather than just a section of Jordan. This premise, which has been admitted by Palestinian leaders, in unguarded moments, to have been an invention whose sole purpose was to harness the passions of nationalism against Israel, cannot survive serious scrutiny. The fact that Jordan has, thanks to Palestinian bullying and Israeli miscalculation, verbally ceded territory it no longer controls to the nonexistent country of Palestine, will have to be shrugged off like the joke it always was. The fact that Jordan will have all sorts of problems re-absorbing this territory and its unruly inhabitants, will simply be Jordan's problem. After all, a nation can hardly complain when it gets given back land it claims was unjustly taken from it, and will not get international sympathy if it does. Bribing Jordan with money to deal with these problems will probably smooth things over significantly. 5. The plan described above is similar to the old Allon Plan (www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_allon_plan.php) for peace, which suggests to me that the idea has been lurking, in some form, in the brains of the Israeli establishment as a fallback position for a long time. Once Israel has a clean frontier with the Arab world, the problem of her security becomes a straightforward military one, and that Israel can handle, given her conventional and nuclear military superiority. The remaining presence of Israeli Arabs within Israel is, of course, a demographic worry for the future, but all Western nations, including the US, have similar demographic problems. This is a much smaller short-term problem than the occupied territories, which must therefore be dealt with first, if only to create the reduction in tensions needed to deal with the other problem. The odd man out of this arrangement is, of course, Gaza, which by simple geographic fact cannot be made contiguous with Jordan without rendering Israel discontiguous, and which wasn't Jordanian territory in any case. Egypt, its former owner, does not want it - a fact one might take as an astonishing reflection on its character and that of its Arab inhabitants - so perhaps there is no alternative than for it to become, at long last, the independent Palestinian state that the PLO says it wants. It would be the greatest booby prize in history. Robert Locke can be contacted by email at robert_locke_journalist@yahoo.com To Go To Top

ENDS AND MEANS Posted by Batya Medad, August 28, 2005.

On Shabbat I found myself in a very unpleasant argument. At first glance we were all in agreement. Moetzet YESHA, the YESHA Council had failed in its campaign against Disengagement. The argument was about the campaign and slogan that Moetzet YESHA preached to the very end. And actually just a few minutes ago when I entered my home after a "fitness walk" with friends, I saw that Pinchas Wallerstein, the council's chairman, was on television explaining that he ran the correct campaign. Maybe I'm just too much the CPA's daughter and can't forget that one and one are two, but it seems to me that if the campaign failed, then obviously there's something intrinsically wrong with it. If it had succeeded in repealing, canceling Disengagement, then I would have praised them and admitted that I was wrong. Over the past few months, I had been very blunt and public in my opposition to their campaign for a referendum. Read: Why I Won't Be At Sunday's Demonstration, January 28, 2005. Did you catch it? Yes the Council demonstrated for a referendum, not to repeal Disengagement. Their slogan was, and still is: "Ten l'am lihachlit," "Let the People Decide." It sounds like some professional public relations experts, the superficial type, composed it. It sounds modern, liberal and theoretically should go well with the people who don't normally support Jews in YESHA. There are only a couple of problems. One is that it could and was used against the same anti-Disengagement crowd, since it supports "democratic process." It takes for granted that the majority is always right, and that the majority will vote the way they expect. The second and most important reason that it's a disaster is that it doesn't educate the people of the dangers of Disengagement. Moetzet YESHA totally lost track of its goal. It and many others thought that since legally a referendum was a good method to force the government to repeal Disengagement, it should be the goal. Suddenly the means became the end, and we ended up short and thousands of families are now homeless. Moetzet YESHA's anti-Disengagement campaign should not have been for a referendum, and it should not have been an emotional plea to save a few thousand good, adorable, hard-working, large families. The anti-Disengagement campaign should have been a strong campaign showing how withdrawal from Gush Katif and northern Shomron would endanger the entire country. "From Here You Can See" Tours should have set out frequently to the Sanur and Chomesh mountains to give people a chance to see what vantage points were to be turned over to terrorists. Movies and stills from the sites showing how they look over into the coastal plain should have been shown and distributed. Information campaigns should have been mounted explaining how much more difficult it will be to defend the southern part of the country without Gush Katif. Again a picture campaign, this time showing the guns pointing directly into Ashkelon and other population centers. There should have been clear and simple quotations from the Arabs, explaining that they're not offering peace, and certainly not promising it. The public needs to know that the Arabs were just making more and more demands for "after Disengagement;" the same for the Americans, Europeans and the U.N. None of them were shy about their true intentions. The "Road Map" was the least of it. After Sharon's enthusiasm in turning thousands of Jewish Israelis into refugees, it's now even more difficult for an Israeli Government to reject foreign demands. And don't forget that a large successful Israeli export business was pulled out by its roots. Prize-winning vegetables and flowers will no longer be sold; their farmers are now unemployed, and the hothouses either destroyed or passed by moneymaking agents to Arab terrorists. Yes, I kid you not. There are fewer vegetables in the Israeli markets, and I told my husband that I'd rather we don't eat lettuce than give our money to those benefiting from Gush Katif's destruction. In addition, some of the communities that were destroyed were promised as permanent compensation after the Sinai was given to Egypt, and its Israeli communities were destroyed. The anti-Disengagement campaign should have focused on stopping Disengagement and the various points I just mentioned should have been part of the information campaign to help convince the public. In my short list there are enough issues to find one to suit every sector in the Israeli population, and with the funds Moetzet YESHA spent on their totally unsuccessful campaign, they could have convinced the nation. There wouldn't have had been any need for a referendum, because the government wouldn't have wanted it to go to a vote. Just like the United States never invaded Cuba to depose Castro, Bush would have quieted down, once he saw that Sharon was totally out of favor with the Israeli public. And yes, I really admire Castro and Cuba for doing their own thing since 1959. Mao, Khrushchev and their ilk are long gone. The "Iron Curtain" and Berlin Wall are dust and debris, but Castro's still at the helm. The lesson is that America really is just a paper tiger when a country takes itself seriously. Israel once did, in the early decades we didn't get all the "aid" so prettily tied with strings. We won the Six Days War with the help of G-d. World Jewry prayed and donated money for ambulances. There was great unity, and it was a wonderful experience. The dangerously unsuccessful anti-Disengagement campaign was nothing like it. And even worse, Pinchas Wallerstein and his friends are insisting that they did the right thing. How could it have been right when the results were so disastrous? Need I say more? This is Musing #138. It is stored at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/08/138-ends-and-means.html Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il To Go To Top

TREASON...TREAD CAREFULLY, DEAR ARABS Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, August 28, 2005.

This appeared in Michigan News and is archived at www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_9250.shtml The late Rabbi Meir Kahane wrote in his book, They Must Go, of an account of Israeli Arabs singing the PLO's national anthem to a packed hall in the Hebrew University on January 28, 1980... In the name of freedom, we shall give our lives. Arab Palestine is the land of our struggle. We have seen the path from the Negev to the Galilee. Our Front will be triumphant. Before his murder by an Arab in New York, Kahane was branded an extremist for telling such politically incorrect truths. On March 18th of this year, Jerusalem Newswire reported that five Israeli Arabs were indicted on charges of planning a series of terrorist attacks against their Jewish countrymen. Others have been involved (and actually helped carry out) such murderous activity as well. More recently, it was reported in August 2005 that Israeli Arab religious leaders have called for a local intifada. Keeping in mind Israel's just completed controversial ethnic cleansing of Jews from Gaza for the sake of peace--Jews who were of no threat to their Arab neighbors--Arabs should pay close attention to some of the lessons here. Before we continue, let me state right from the start that politically correct Gentiles and suicidal Jews should not read any further. Hear that Yossi Beilin? Shimon? Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines treason as "...the violation of the allegiance owed to one's sovereign or state; betrayal of one's country" and, specifically in the United States, "...consisting only in levying war against the U.S. or in giving aid and comfort to its enemies." Once again, not very long ago, Arab students attending Hebrew University demonstrated against the visit of Prime Minister Sharon, screaming--among other things--"we are all Ahmed Yassins." Other Israeli Arabs appeared in newspapers all over the world holding up Yassin's picture in protest marches. Yassin was the dispatched leader of Hamas...the organization which openly calls for Israel's destruction. As we have seen, in reality, this is nothing new. Rabbi Kahane warned of such things decades ago and was branded a racist--if truth be told--for coming to the subsequent logical conclusions. But why worry? Let's pretend that over one fifth of Israel's growing Arab population--with a higher birth rate than that of the Jews--are all loyal citizens. Israeli Arab Knesset members openly side with those who disembowel Jews...And the Jews become ostriches with heads in the sand. Look, Israel must realize that most of the world will always have a double standard when it comes to Israel. Call it looking through Jew-colored lenses...or whatever. So Israel must do what needs to be done and not wait to act--on matters of vital interest in particular--until obtaining the world's approval. I will be named the next pope before that occurs. Let's get something straight here. We're not talking about American students at Kent State University protesting American policies or the war in Viet Nam. What we're talking about is the freest Arabs to be found anywhere in the Middle East-- those in Israel -- supporting murder and the destruction of the very state in which they live. Hamas' actions and positions are well known to all--including those protesting and holding up Yassin's pictures. In any Arab country, anyone engaging in such activity against the state would not long be of this world. Indeed, in any other nation--including America-- jail would likely be the minimum fate. It's time for Israel to act in its own crucial interests the way all other nations would act. Those Arabs who display such treachery must be, preferably, expelled from the country. Jail time only costs Israeli taxpayers money that there's much less of in Israel these days due to Arab rejectionist actions and attitudes --on both sides of the Green Line. Indeed, many Israeli Arabs have increasingly shown their true hands on these issues and have been actively involved in terrorism themselves. Arabs could have had their 22nd state long ago if that's all that they wanted. Any fair assessment of the facts would show this. There's no need to rehash all the proposals yet again. The reality is that Arabs want their second state in mandatory "Palestine" (Jordan created in 1922 on 80% of the original territory mandated to Britain on April 25, 1920) to exist in place of -- not along side of -- Israel. A visit to the PA or Hamas websites, textbooks, etc. quickly confirms this as does a look at the polls which show that even if Israel withdrew to its pre-'67, nine-mile wide, UN-imposed armistice line existence, Arabs would still reject its right to exist. At the very least, kick those who articulate and exhibit such behaviors out of the country. And tell the protesting hypocrites that Israel, like all nations, must have its lines in the sand which cannot be crossed in terms of acceptable behavior by those wishing to live within its borders. Gerald A. Honigman, a Florida educator, has created and conducted counter-Arab propaganda programs for college youth, has lectured on numerous campuses and other platforms, and has publicly debated Arab spokesmen. His articles and op-eds have been published in both the print media and on websites. To Go To Top

SHARON SECRETLY REWARDS EGYPT WITH NAVAL CONTROL OF GAZA'S TERRITORIAL WATERS UP TO ASHKELON Posted by Janet Lehr, August 28, 2005.

This is from the DEBKAfile. Failing a government or Knesset veto of the still unsigned Israel-Egyptian military protocol, the Sharon government will make Egypt two if not three strategic gifts: naval control over the territorial waters off the Gaza Mediterranean coast up to Ashekelon, for one. A second unpublished clause will place within range of Egyptian air force surveillance Israel's big air forces bases in the Negev and its armored and ground forces' deployment around the evacuated Gaza Strip. These clauses have been withheld from the public, cabinet ministers and Knesset members. Sunday, August 27, the cabinet will be asked to approve the protocol; the Knesset's ratification will be sought Wednesday, August 31. These sweeping Israeli concessions are set forth in a secret appendix to the military protocol. They are the price prime minister Ariel Sharon and defense minister Shaul Mofaz are willing to pay Cairo for relieving the Israeli army's of its security missions on the Gaza-Egyptian border. Egyptian border guardsmen are ranged on their side of the Rafah border ready to cross over upon the protocol's signature. For Israel, these concessions signify the end of the Sinai Peninsula's demilitarization, one of the most valuable defense assets the Begin government attained in return for withdrawing from Sinai under the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty. For Egypt, they are a military bonanza: its navy and air force are restored to Sinai's air space and eastern Mediterranean shores. But that is not all. Our exclusive sources learn that Israel is also willing to let Egypt build a new 300-meter naval pier for six 300-ton naval ships on the shore of Rafah, the town divided between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The craft are roughly the same size as Israel's "Storm" missile vessels. Command and storage structures will be built on the wharf. There are only two limitations: no missiles may be mounted on the Egyptian warships and no breakwater built to enclose the waterfront. DEBKAfile's military experts say the Egyptian navy has two types of vessel that fit the secret appendix's specifications: The fast, 60-meter long Ambassador Mk.III with a crew of 35, newly supplied by the US. Its advanced electronic equipment makes these vessels resistant to radar detection. The second craft is the fast US-made Bertan built for US SEAL commandos to perform intelligence gathering and other tasks. They can land troops on shore and pull out to sea at great speed. Israeli naval experts fear that, in no time, the Egyptians will bring into the Rafah facility one of their six Ramadan class missile corvettes. Their 350 tons can be shaved down to 300 tons without too much difficulty. It is a little-known fact that the Egypt has one of the largest and strongest navies in the Arab world; it is considered by experts to be superior to the Israeli navy. A place to moor war ships in Rafah will greatly enhance the Egyptian fleet's tactical edge, especially in conjunction with the air cover provided by the helicopters accompanying the Egyptian border troops earmarked for the Philadelphi border strip inside Gaza. According to our sources, Israel's air force commander and AMAN military intelligence chief have both warned the prime minister, defense minister and chief of staff that the Rafah naval facility will afford Egypt control over Gazan waters and its shore. This control threatens to drive a hole in the Israeli naval presence along the southern stretch of its Mediterranean coast. Ships from Lebanon or other hostile countries will be free to put into Gaza port without undergoing Israeli inspection of their passengers and cargos. The Egyptian navy will be in place for blocking any attempt by an Israeli vessel to inspect or interdict a suspect terrorist vessel entering Gaza waters. Furthermore, should Cairo violate its undertaking and arm its ships with missiles, Israel's strategic ports of Ashdod and Ashkelon where main power stations, harbors, oil port and naval bases are situated, will be in easy range of those ships' missiles. It would take no more than a few hours to mount the missiles from hiding places in warehouse on the quays of Rafah or El Arish in Sinai further down the Mediterranean coast. The secret appendix makes no stipulation that would entitle Israel to inspect the Egyptian warships and ascertain there are no violations. Israel commanders are under no illusion that Cairo's commitment to refrain from building a breakwater at Rafah will hold up for much longer than necessary to allow Sharon and Mofaz to protest that the Rafah facility holds no security hazards for Israel. Eventually, with or without asking Israel, the Egyptians can be expected to build a breakwater and locate intelligence apparatus and guns there. Under another secret clause, Egypt's Gaza border force will be provided with a fleet of 8 military helicopters - not just light reconnaissance craft as claimed by Sharon and Mofaz. The helicopters will carry missiles and sophisticated surveillance instruments. Their deployment along the 14-km Philadelphi strip means the helicopters will be placed at 1.75 km intervals along the route. The Sharon government has left pending for discussion at a later date Cairo's demand for permission to deploy military troops the full length of the Egyptian-Israeli border - from the Mediterranean to Eilat. But it has not been rejected. Egypt will undoubtedly expect this force, if approved, to be armed with military helicopters in the same ratio as the Philadelphi unit, i.e. 140 military aircraft strung down Israel's western land border. AMAN chief Maj-Gen Aharon Zeevi has repeatedly cautioned Sharon, Mofaz and chief of staff Lt.-Gen Dan Halutz of a still more immediate peril. The Egyptians make no bones about the helicopters patrolling the Gazan border being equipped with sophisticated electronic instruments capable of picking up high-value intelligence on Israel's aerial movements and activities at its important Negev air bases. They also mean to keep a close eye on Israel's post-disengagement deployment around the Gaza Strip. The danger here, according to general Zeevi, is acute: in the event of an outbreak of Palestinian terror from Gaza against southwestern Israel, any IDF counter-terror action in the Gaza Strip would be wide open to surveillance from these Egyptian helicopters. They will be able to forewarn the Palestinian terrorists of every step the Israeli troops are taking and their routes to targets. Israeli forces would lose the tactical advantage of surprise and Palestinian terrorists would know exactly where to lie in wait for them. To Go To Top

TARIQ RAMADAN GETS A JOB Posted by Steven Plaut, August 28, 2005.

This is archived at http://moonbatcentral.com/wordpress/?p=1012 You probably remember the arch-terrorist Tariq Ramadan. Ramadan is a Swiss Arab anti-Semite who hates the Christian West, and has close ties to al-Qaeda and Hamas. He was the darling of the pro-terror Marxist "Kroc Institute", which tried to finance Ramadan for a three year "visiting scholarship" at Notre Dame "University" in Indiana. The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service said No Way Abu Jose. Ramadan was denied papers and Kroc had to go shopping for some other terrorists and hate-America-leftists. Time magazine had sucked up to the jihadniks by declaring Ramadan one of the "great innovators" of the 21st century, his main innovation I guess being terror and war against the West. "Time" rhymes with "slime". The Washington Post has also toadied for him, declaring him a "moderate". An entire blog was set up to fight his hiring by Notre Dame. Ramadan hates Jews, is a reactionary sexist, and insists that Islamic shaaria law become the law of the land. Ramadan was "outed" by Orientalist scholar Daniel Pipes, who was quoted in the Chicago Tribune as saying: "I worry that he [Tariq Ramadan] is engaged in a complex game of appearing as a moderate but has connections to Al Qaeda." Those connections have been reported in detail in the French media. Ramadan's name turned up in an investigation of al-Qaeda in Spain where he was listed as a contact for Ahmed Brahim an al-Qaeda financial operative. Ramadan has also been linked to a planned attack against a U.S. embassy. Noam Chomsky strongly supports him, so that pretty much removes all doubt as to whether Ramadan is really a terrorist. Notre Dame's loss was Oxford's gain. Oxford University has now hired the terrorist. St Antony's College says he is due to begin a Visiting Fellowship in October. Ramadan, 38, is the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, who founded the fascist Islamist fundamentalist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, in 1928. The "brotherhood" is thought to have ties with al-Qaeda. Ramadan has been accused of supporting attacks in Israel and Iraq. On the Counterterrorism Blog Steven Emerson says of him: "Mr. Ramadan is not any more a moderate than David Duke would be considered a moderate on race relations. The only difference is that David Duke is not smart enough to speak in two languages, cloak his racism under the mantle of pluralism or enjoy the witting collaboration of the media." Shortly after the London bombings The Sun newspaper in the UK ran a front page story criticising a decision to invite him for a conference - entitled "Meet Islamic Militant Professor Tariq Ramadan." An Oxford college spokesperson said: "Professor Ramadan is an internationally-recognised scholar." Sure almost as well known as Osama bin Laden. "St Antony's college is a forum for free academic exchange on the issues of our times, and opposes all manifestations of hate speech and intimidation designed to curb academic freedoms." We will see what the morons at St Antony's say when Ramadan's "academic freedom" motivates some new terror attacks on the London Underground. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. To Go To Top

NPR HIRES HATE JOURNALISTS Posted by Nancy Ragen, August 28, 2005.

Friends, "So here we have a person, a former member of an Islamist group, with a background involving a history of writing inaccurate, virulently anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic (there is usually little difference) screeds. Where do they go after graduation? According to Sobh's resume: NPR. Remember this when you're asked to contribute; when they ask for an increase in tax funding." This article is from the Solomonia website (www.solomonia.com/blog/archives/006468.shtml). The Solomonia article has live links to additional material. Where do Islamist journalism students go when they graduate? Why, to NPR, of course. You may not remember Mariam Sobh, a regular columnist for the Daily Illini, the student newspaper of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a member of the Muslim Students Association while she was a journalism student there. You may remember some of the things she wrote, however. As a columnist, Sobh had a "thing" for Israel, and apparently made it the frequent target of her poison pen, perhaps most infamously in her column, Stop turning a blind eye, in which she recycled several clearly fabricated quotes attributed erroneously to Ariel Sharon. CAMERA has a very good synopsis, here, Anti-Israel Venom at University of Illinois Paper: (emphasis in all quotes is mine) ...Mariam Sobh introduced her Dec 11 piece with the following statement, purportedly uttered by Ariel Sharon, in order "to show a clearer picture of the Israeli leadership:" "I don't know something called International Principles. I vow that I'll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area. The Palestinian woman and child is more dangerous than the man, because the Palestinian child's existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger. I vow that if I was just an Israeli civilian and I met a Palestinian I would burn him and I would make him suffer before killing him. With one hit I've killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in1956). I wanted to encourage my soldiers by raping Arabic girls as the Palestinian woman is a slave for Jews, and we do whatever we want to her and nobody tells us what we shall do but we tell others what they shall do," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in an interview with General Ouze Merham in 1956. This shocking quote, a staple on Arab propaganda Web sites, is an internet hoax for which the journalism student, not surprisingly, provided no source. There is no record of any "General Ouze Merham" or any truth to the claim that Sharon made the quoted comments. The paper's decision to run such an inflammatory statement with no attribution is indefensible. The Sharon quote was not the only fabrication. Sobh alleged that former Israeli Chief of Staff, Raphael Eytan was quoted in the April 14, 1983 New York Times as saying: "We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimeter of Eretz Israel... Force is all they do or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours." However, a Nexis search of all Times coverage reveals that no one, not Eytan or anyone else, was ever quoted by the paper making the purported statement... Pressure on the paper resulted first in a defense of the columnist, then a grudging admission on her part, and finally a more full apology which CAMERA credits here: University of Illinois Columnist Fully Apologizes That article was merely the most egregious example of the repetition of outright falsehood. As I mentioned, Sobh had a thing for Israel. CAMERA: ...Sobh's recklessness in misusing sources is longstanding. In one of her first columns for the DI, Sobh wrote that the security barrier Israel is building will separate Palestinians from the water supply and that "they [Palestinians] will eventually be driven to starvation if this wall is completed" ("Modern wall of apartheid" Aug. 28, 2003). She added "I think that it is sad that we can pay for genocide and act like it's no big deal." Her source for the "genocide" charge was an article from the site Antiwar.com. The Web site, which devotes an entire section to Israel's alleged role in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, can hardly be considered credible. In another column, the journalism student charged that Israel's attack on the USS Liberty ship in 1967 "was one of the most horrific and deliberate attacks against the United States" (emphasis added). Her claim is primarily based on a conversation she had with Jim Ennes, a leading conspiracy proponent who has called Israel's leaders "amoralistic murderers? who are 'worse' than the Nazis. She portrayed Ennes as reliable while Sobh did not even mention the more than six government inquiries into the event. Each and every one of the probes concluded the attack was accidental and not, as she claims, "deliberate." Illini regular Mariam Sobh has had a free hand to regurgitate baseless propaganda with little or no supervision by the DI editors, faculty or board members of the Illini Media, the entity that owns the newspaper. No doubt the lax attitude toward Sobh's screeds encouraged other DI staff to vilify Israel and Jews... And here is Sobh defending Mahathir Mohamad's bizarro-world anti-Semitic screed two years ago. (... Search 'Mahathir' -- for background) See also this entry at Dean's World on Sobh. So here we have a person, a former member of an Islamist group, with a background involving a history of writing inaccurate, virulently anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic (there is usually little difference) screeds. Where do they go after graduation? According to Sobh's resume: Jan 2004-present WILL AM... Urbana, IL Saturday Morning Host for Weekend Edition from NPR * Research and write news, sports and weather and read live on-air. * Sub as Host for cut-in's during All Things Considered from NPR. Yes, she's researching, writing news and hosting for a National Public Radio affiliate. Update: Thanks to the emailer who points out that Ms. Sobh also interns, at the news desk, for Chicago Public Radio. Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. To Go To Top

STOP THE TRACTORS NOW Posted by Paula Stern, August 27, 2005.

On Thursday, I visited Gush Katif for what was probably the last time. I arrived in Netzer Hazani and saw a surrealistic scene of rubble amidst beautiful gardens, ruined benches that once offered a weary traveler a place to sit for a moment. The trees remain, the houses gone. The pathways to the houses are there, but they lead to a mountain of rubble. Some of the settlements were eerily quiet, a guard or two at the gates, or a camp of soldiers remaining to protect the synagogue and perhaps a public building or two. Other settlements were in the process of being destroyed, with heavy equipment tearing through the heart and gardens. Signs remained, orange ribbons were found in abundance, a symbol of the anti-disengagement struggle that was fought by hundreds of thousands and ignored by our government. I watched the house of someone I know being collapsed by a tractor flying an Israeli flag and wondered what good would come out of such an incredible sacrifice. Little did I know that I would receive an answer so quickly. Today, as we "orange" people had long suspected, bombs started going off in Israel again, only 5 days after the last expulsion and while Jews are still packing their belongings and tractors are ramming into the lives and communities that remain. A Jew was murdered in the Old City last week, another stabbed in Hebron. Today, more than twenty more were injured in the first, but surely not the last, suicide attack against an Israeli bus station, in an Israeli city. Israelis have been injured. Stop the tractors. The target was actually not the bus station, nor the buses coming and going from the busy morning rush hour traffic. The actual target was, once again, the Soroka Hospital, which treats thousands of Palestinian and Bedouin patients on a regular basis. When I was there, it seemed as if at least half the hospital traffic included Arabs, who were treated with respect, attended to professionally, and offered equal treatment for any number of serious and not-so serious ailments. In short, a regular hospital, doing regular things. In June, a former patient who owes her life to the hospital burn unit, attempted to show her gratitude by exploding a bomb in the emergency room. Today, another Arab calmly asked directions to the same hospital. Luckily, the guards at the bus station quickly pieced together the image before them. Something about the young Palestinian with a backpack aroused their suspicions, and with their bodies, they stopped him from proceeding. The two guards are in serious condition at the hospital they saved, and dozens of people, probably considerably shaken and upset, are, nevertheless, alive, because of the quick thinking of the guards. Stop the tractors. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was elected on a platform of peace and security. He has delivered neither. He tried to convince a weary population that capitulation and surrender would deliver what he once promised a strong hand and a policy of not withdrawing under fire would. The ironies are almost too much to bear. On a day when a Palestinian seeks to blow up an Israeli hospital, again, reports are reaching the Israeli press that Senior Palestinian Authority Minister Mohammed Dahlan has been admitted to a Tel Aviv hospital with back pains. According to the Ministry of Health website of the "State of Palestine," there are 78 hospitals in their territories, apparently none of them good enough for Minister Dahlan. I wonder whether he will issue a strong condemnation and realize that it could just as easily have been the hospital in which he is currently a patient. Stop the tractors. Nothing can be done for the devastated communities of Netzer Hazani, Gadid, Slav, Ganei Tal and so many others, but Neve Dekalim and Atzmona still stand. Stop the tractors. We cannot continue on a road to madness when we know, from the mouths and actions of our enemies, that they have no intention of letting us live in peace, security or even relative safety. They are so thirsty for our blood, they cannot even wait for us to hand them territory before continuing the attacks. Until they are ready for peace, as Egypt and Jordan were after years of warfare, it is madness, utter insanity to continue destroying the homes and communities we have built in exchange for nothing. Stop the tractors. Israel has bungled the evacuation. Yonatan Bassi, rather than being rewarded for his conflicts of interest with 150,000 shekels, should be jailed for corruption and incompetence. Ariel Sharon should admit he has lost his mind. He is incapable of leading this country in a coherent and meaningful way. Stop the tractors. Let the people return to their land and homes and call elections now. Let Sharon run on a platform or weakness, surrender and collaboration with terrorists. Let Mitzna, Barak or Peres or Burg run on a platform of withdrawal under fire and negotiation with terrorists. Let a strong leader arise who will admit publicly what we known all along. There will be no peace in the Middle East until the Arabs want it. Terrorism will only stop, when negotiation is seen by the Palestinians as a more effective way of achieving results. Until that time, until we bring the future of Israel back to the people where it belongs, and from whom it was stolen by Ariel Sharon, stop the tractors. Paula R. Stern is the founder and documentation manager of WritePoint, a technical writing company. To Go To Top

BEER SHEBA GETS BOMBED (AGAIN) Posted by Steven Plaut, August 27, 2005.

1. At least 6 wounded in blast at Beersheba bus station By www.JPost.Com Staff A suicide bomb attack at the entrance to the central bus station in Beersheva wounded at least six people at 8:30 Sunday morning. Two of the wounded were in critical condition and were evacuated to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. All of the wounded were evacuated to hospital, a spokesman for Magen David Adom said. According to witnesses, the suicide bomber attempted to enter the Beersheba bus station, but when he was apparently deterred by the security guards at the gate, he detonated his explosives at the entrance. There was no immediate word on whether the bomber had been employed as a lecturer at Ben Gurion University. 2. Counterpunch Terrorist Smears Elie Wiesel by Steven Plaut Shaheed Alam is one of the professors for terrorism still walking about unjailed. He is professor of economics at Boston's Northeastern University. He makes little attempt to disguise his support for Islamofascist terrorism and his belief that the United States is the true terrorist in the world today. Alam has become a regular columnist for the anti-American web magazine Counterpunch. Alexander Cockburn shares him with other pro-peace magazines such as the Holocaust-Denying Egyptian daily al-Ahram. Alam may be best remembered for his rants claiming the 9-11 terrorists were the moral equivalents of Jefferson and Washington. He has been regularly "outed" for his support for terrorism by our friends at Little Green Footballs. He was one of the anti-Semitic contributors to the anthology of such people edited by Alexander Cockroach and Jeffrey St. Clair, in which it is argued with a straight face that simply because someone wants to see all Jews murdered is surely no reason to call such a person an anti-Semite. And his economics vita is not much to brag about either. This week's Counterpunch column by Alam is devoted to ad hominem smears against Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel. Wiesel survived the Holocaust and became a writer of philosophy and fiction. Wiesel is the regular target for smears by neonazis and Holocaust Deniers like DePaul's Norman Finkelstein, so it only makes sense that a magazine that gives such neonazis and Holocaust Deniers so much space would be interested in this attack by Alam. Alam is upset because Wiesel expressed empathy for the Jewish settlers of Gaza who were evicted with no quid pro quo, indeed with no logic at all, by Ariel Sharon's government to appease the PLO. Alam is upset that Wiesel is unwilling to join the axis of far-leftists and neonazi rightists who wail that the real "victims" of the world in need of sympathy are the Palestinians. In fact, the Palestinians are exactly as entitled to sympathy as "victims" as were the Sudeten Germans after World War II. In other words, not at all. Why exactly are the Palestinians supposed to be entitled to sympathy? For rejecting the original partition of Western Palestine? For participating in the 1947-49 war in which Arabs attempted to annihlate the Jews of Israel? For collaborating with Hitler in World War II? And why should Palestinians, who already have 22 Arab states to which they may freely move should they be unhappy with their circumstances in life, much of that drenched in oil, controlling a land mass nearly twice the size of the United States why should THEY deserve any sympathy for their pseudo-plight, caused by their own barbarism in the first place? And all that is BEFORE anyone raised the possibility of Palestinian autonomy and now statehood, in lands west of the Jordan River. Not a word from Alam by the way on the million and a half Jewish refugees evicted at bayonet point by Arab states conducting ethnic cleansing of Jews after 1948. Since Arabs living under Israeli rule are treated a thousand times better than are Arabs living under Arab rule, what exactly is Alam's problem and agenda? Answer - its symbol is a swastika! Alam sniffs that Israel is offering the Palestinians nothing better than a "Bantustan"? A state of their own, the 23rd Arab state, is a Bantustan? And since when do Palestinians even deserve a Bantustan, let alone a state? Do the Arabs of Detroit and Marseilles have their own Bantustans? Are they entitled to one? Did the Arabs ever offer Copts or Kurds or Berbers their own Bantustans? And what about the Jews? Will Alam come out and even acknowledge a Jewish right at least to their own Bantustan in the historic lands of Israel? Not likely, grasshopper. Alam, from his academic podium, looks forward to a new Holocaust of Jews, perpetrated by the terrorists he endorses, something over which Elie Wiesel can again express his sympathy and be savaged for that by the Alams. Alam is not the only jihadnik terrorist writing for Counterpunch by the way. Indicted terror professor Sami al-Arian used to publish screeds for the Cockburnites before getting arrested for his role in terrorism. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. To Go To Top

FOXMAN, FALWELL AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT Posted by Don Feder, August 27, 2005.

The Anti-Defamation League ostensibly exists to oppose anti-Semitism. And it does - on occasion - when it isn't too busy bashing evangelicals, fighting Christianity and creating double standards. Despite its reputation, the ADL is not a Jewish organization. There's nothing distinctly Jewish (i.e., grounded in Jewish law) about its operations. It's really just another left-wing group, with a leftist agenda. Politically, it is virtually indistinguishable from the American Civil Liberties Union, People for the American Way or Americans United for the (so-called) Separation of Church and State. As a conservative Jewish activist told me recently of the ADL's National Director and principal spokesman, "Abe Foxman has a problem with Christianity" - unfortunate in that he's living in a country that's over 80% Christian. Foxman's latest foray in political correctness was an attack on Rev. Jerry Falwell earlier this month, when the latter included an "I Vote Christian" sticker in a fundraising mailing. Falwell's sticker is "directly at odds with the American ideal, and should be rejected," Foxman lectured. "Understanding the danger of combining religion and politics, our founding fathers wisely created a political system based on individual merit and religious inclusiveness." Abe has been reading Al Franken's Introduction to U.S. History again. His is a fantasy version of the American saga soothing to the secular left - wherein Washington, Adams, Hamilton et. al appear as 18th. century counterparts of the American Humanist Association - Howard Dean-clones in powdered wigs and buckled shoes. The Founding Fathers so wanted to establish a system based on religious inclusiveness -- by which Foxman means militant secularism - that, in the Declaration of Independence, they made God the foundation of our system of government. ("That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ... that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men...") It's fascinating the way the left's distortion of the First Amendment establishment clause keeps morphing. To the Founders, it meant just what it says - No establishment of religion, no national church. If they wanted a total separation of government and religion, then why - as one of its first acts -- did the first Congress to hire a chaplain, whose salary was paid out of its budget? Of all the lies of the left, separation of church and state (words, by the way, which appear nowhere in the Constitution) is the one it clings to most tenaciously. Thanks to its dominance of the courts, starting in 1962, school prayer became an establishment of religion (which religion? whose religion?). Then crèches at Christmas, non-sectarian prayers at graduations, public-school postings of The Ten Commandments and Ten Commandments monuments in public settings all were deemed establishments of religion. (The 9th. Circuit Appeals Court tried to do the same to "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.) Now the ADL suggests that to base one's vote on the Judeo-Christian principles on which the nation was founded is a betrayal of America. Did Jerry Falwell establish a national church with a bumper sticker? The Reverend says he didn't know he was being un-American. "What I was saying was for conservative Christians to vote their values, which are pro-life and pro-family," Falwell (who's famous for his friendship for Israel) explained. Presumably, this could even lead Christians to vote for non-Christian candidates who share those values. After all, in the last presidential election, a majority of Catholics voted for a Protestant who was with them on the moral questions of the day, over a former altar boy who was not. I wish Foxman would explain why it's appropriate for socialists to base their votes on socialist principles, why isolationists can vote for isolationist principles, and why African-Americans can cast their ballots based on the perceived interests of their race - but it's somehow wicked for Christians to vote their values. As a Jew, if I knew no more about two candidates running for the same office then that one was a serious Christian and the other was not, I'd vote for the former. I guess this means that I too, vote Christian. By de-legitimizing Bible-based politics, the left hopes to win by default. Values from Sinai are the principal impediment to the advance of its worldview - situation ethics, treating human life as a disposable commodity, moral relativism and sex as a recreational drug. Church-state separation is a convenient cover. Lacking the integrity to engage in a values debate (ours versus theirs), when the Bible's code is posited as an alternative to their neo-pagan politics, they whimper about breaches of the sacred wall of separation, God being un-American and all that. The ADL is one of the most persistent and energetic forums for pushing this gross distortion of our history and heritage. * In June, Foxman wrote to the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, to complain about Midshipmen being subjected to "organized prayers before they may eat lunch." This, the ADL pooh-bah contended, is unconstitutional. Government agencies, like the Academy, "must respect the rights of religious minorities," as well as those who are not religious," by refraining from such "coercion...including compulsory prayer services." Imagine the anguish of the poor non-religious Midshipman who's unbearably burdened by being exposed to a prayer before lunch! (How will he stand up under torture at the enemy's hands, if he quails at a prayer?) The secular left believes it has an unqualified right not to be offended by encountering religious expression in a public setting. * In June, when the Supreme Court struck down all but the most meaningless Ten Commandments monuments, the ADL was delirious. The organization claims its position here "arises out of a profound respect for the diversity of religions in America today," rather than a profound hostility to the principles on which America was founded and with which it grew to greatness. Thus we have the surreal spectacle of a group started almost a century ago to fight anti-Semitism, devoting its time and resources to fighting public acknowledgement of the fact that this nation was established on the eternal values of the Jewish people. * In early August, Foxman threw a fit when Dr. James Dobson compared embryonic stem-cell research to Nazi medical experiments. "There is no legitimate comparison between stem-cell research, which seeks to find a cure for disease and to counter human suffering, and the perversion of science and morality represented by the Nazis," said he. In essence, Foxman is saying that since he likes stem-cell research (which results in the destruction of human life) and does not like Nazi medical experiments (which also resulted in the destruction of human life) the comparison is fatally flawed.. Whether actions may be compared to the horror of Nazism depends on whether or not Foxman and the ADL approve of same. * Last year, Foxman was one of the most visible and vocal critics of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ." The ADL National Director warned that the film (whose dialogue was in Latin and Aramaic) "can fuel, trigger, stimulate, rationalize (and) legitimize anti-Semitism." The movie was shown privately. The production wasn't subsidized by the National Endowment for the Arts (which prefers to fund photos of crucifixes suspended in vats of urine). No one was compelled to watch it. But Foxman was still agitated. Surely a cinematic celebration of Christianity is "directly at odds with the American ideal." By the way, did I miss the wave of Kishinev-like pogroms that Foxman implied would follow the film's premiere? * When it comes to exposing anti-Semitism, the ADL is highly selective. While the right is a frequent target, the left (including Islam) often gets a pass. Minister Louis Farrakhan, fuhrer of the Nation of Islam, is the most influential anti-Semite in America. He makes David Duke look like a member of Hadassah. In October, Farrakhan is having a reprise of his Million Moron March. In a May interview with the Amsterdam News, former President Bill Clinton endorsed the rally (describing it as a "very positive idea"). The ADL decided to simply ignore this aid and comfort to a notorious hate-monger by an ex-president. Its leadership would never countenance criticism of a man beloved of the Jewish establishment. Forget about Clinton endorsing the hate-fest of a man who once called Judaism "a gutter religion." The ADL knows that "I vote Christian" stickers represent the real threat to the Jewish community in America. As my grandmother would say, they should have their heads examined. Don Feder was an opinion writer for the Boston Herald and a syndicated columnist. He is currently a political/media consultant. To Go To Top

TWO GRANDMOTHERS AND THE ISRAELI SOLDIERS ON THE LAST NIGHT IN GUSH KATIF Posted by Judy Lash Balint, August 27, 2005.

This was written by Pircha Lottner and Susi Stitskin from Petach Tikva. Contact them by email at pircha@tech-tav.com It started out with 2 grandmothers speaking English, carrying foreign passports, deciding to go to Gush Katif to see their grandchildren the night before evacuation. Before we got to the entrance to Ashkalon we ran into the first of endless checkpoints. We were told by the police that it was impossible to continue - the army had closed all roads leading to the Gush early that morning. The Gush was to be cut off from the rest of Israel Of course they did not know with whom they were dealing. Like water dripping on a stone we continued arguing and asking why 2 grandmothers could not get through to see their grandchildren Near the entrance to Kibbutz Saad we were motioned to make a u turn - we did - stopping, refusing to budge until we could talk to "the army". An officer who looked like he could use a drink accepted our ice water gratefully while we used all the reasons we could muster - from the undemocratic way this evacuation came into being to the fact that perhaps we could convince the parents of our grandchildren to send them back with us. The good fellow who had 2 stars on the shoulders of his uniform, asked us to wait patiently while he made a number of calls on his cell phone, after which he gave the order to let us through. Gleefully we took off until the next checkpoint Again we were advised that we are in a closed military area - we explained that our passes are waiting at the Kissufim junctions, & were allowed to proceed providing we take a long roundabout route as shown by maps that were pulled out for our benefit. " Don't let us get lost " we begged, night was approaching the side road looked so desolate - while the usual quiet Katif had become a highway of non stop army vehicles& trailers all going one way - into the Gush. Lo & behold a black car zoom in front of us, stops, and an officer calls out; "Let them follow me "I vouch for the fact the these 2 ladies have permits". The ride to our final checkpoint was a pleasure as the army's escort brought us almost to the entrance, when the officer waves us on while he turned into a side road Kissufim junction reminded us of pictures of Lebanon. Giant concrete blocks as far as the eye could see, leading to a narrow road that will pass through Palestinian territory. The press corps from around the globe was waiting to see the exodus of the Jewish conquerors leaving as refugees. Here the going got rough. No one had the permits. Luckily the " escort officer"' reminded us of the name of the "angel" that had opened the first door for us. After meeting the army spokesperson's representative who tried unsuccessfully to get us the permit we asked to see the officer in charge. He knew the name we bandied about. Leaning against a massive cement pole the officer listened to us patiently smiling when we offered to open the trunk for inspection. He replied in English:" I know that you are not dangerous & are not carrying a bomB" Suzie gently admonishes - "I am an English teacher, Bomb is pronounced in such a way that the second B is not heard". The officer smiles, repeats "Bomb", & sends us on our way. This is where the Khol couple were murdered a few weeks ago, I remind Suzie as I drive through the road protected by cement dividers sheltering us from enemy eyes. The tanks that are sitting on a small hill above the road give us a sense of security as we turn into the road leading to the Gush. I recognized the side road leading to the horse riding paths our children took while driving on the glorious sand dunes. The man made lake where the young played with their toy sail boats while their older siblings swam & surfed in the ocean. All gone now. Young children were carrying tree stumps to stop the army at the gate of their communities. Older children stood watching bus load after bus load bringing the army close to their home. Looking at all this we could not help but wonder - why could we not deploy our full strength against our enemies who are watching gleefully getting the message that nothing is sacred anymore - what is going on is not a For Sale sign, but Jewish land free for the taking! Whenever we visited our grandchildren in Kerem Atzmona our back seats would be full of plants bought from the greenhouses. Now all the eye could see were the desolate structures, a few trucks, a lonely light in the darkened rooms that used to vibrate with the sound of drivers coming to load the flowers - plants - vegetables. (Just this morning approaching the empty shelves at the supermarket where Katif vegetables used to be sold, I saw women, strangers to each other, crying) Up the sandy hill - overlooking Khan Yunis, helping the army guard the border lived 20 young families. The lights of a giant bonfire lit the area showing us the changes that took place since our last visit in the winter. Grass has pushed the dunes outside large part of the community, trees were giving shade, new families have moved in. The husbands are serving in the army & studying Torah. The place was literally crawling with babies. Sounds of guitars followed by voices quietly singing farewell songs late into the night while above us the dark sky glittered with stars. Young women carrying babies in their arms, toddlers hanging to their skirts visited each other, unwilling to acknowledge the coming storm. A few grandparents managed to get in before the closing of the gates, sleeping in tiny pup tents, sharing the crowded bathroom & kitchens with families that had come from all over the country wishing to lend their support. Neve Dekalim's synagogue - the pride of the Gush, symbol of the rebuilding that took place after the destruction of Yamit - was a hub of prayer & learning. We saw couples strolling along the beach, children on bicycles driving outside the yishuv trying to get to their friends in near by Yishuvim (Communities). Most were turned back by the army. An endless stream of blue clad soldiers marched outside the homes. Is this the Israel Defense Force asked the children? Against whom are they fighting? We could not answer, we could also look in dismay as car after car came to fill their tanks - as the gasoline supply came to an end, & the station that had seen so many bombings so many ambulances, suddenly emptied - left were the Chinese film crew - they had brought their own supply of fuel. So much optimism, so much love of the land. Arriving discouraged we left encouraged. This is the youth that we raised, believing in our right to this country, willing to give so much of themselves to see the dream of the return to Zion, to the land itself as the fulfillment of their lives. May G-d be with them. Judy Lash Balint is an investigative journalist and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" (Gefen). It is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com To Go To Top

LEGAL ACROBATICS: THE PALESTINIAN CLAIM THAT GAZA IS STILL "OCCUPIED" Posted by Steven Plaut, August 26, 2005.

This was written by Dore Gold and appeared in the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. It is an August 2005 Jerusalem Issue Brief. Dr. Dore Gold is President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He was the eleventh Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations (1997-1999). Dr. Gold was a member of the Israeli delegation at the 1998 Wye River negotiations between Israel and the PLO and negotiated the Note for the Record, which supplemented the 1997 Hebron Protocol. In 1991, he served as an advisor to the Israeli delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference. To subscribe to the Jerusalem Issue Brief, please send a blank email message to: brief4-subscribe@jcpa.org Remarkably, even as Israel completes its withdrawal from 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip, official Palestinian spokesmen are already making the argument that Gaza remains "occupied" territory. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas stated that "the legal status of the areas slated for evacuation has not changed." Palestinian spokesmen have used the grievance of being under Israeli occupation as their cutting-edge argument against the policies of Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which have effectively been territories under dispute since 1967 when they were captured by the Israel Defense Forces from Jordan and Egypt in the Six-Day War. The foremost document in defining the existence of an occupation has been the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention "Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War." Article 6 of the Fourth Geneva Convention explicitly states that "the Occupying Power shall be bound for the duration of the occupation to the extent that such Power exercises the functions of government in such territory...." If no Israeli military government is exercising its authority or any of "the functions of government" in the Gaza Strip, then there is no occupation. What Israel essentially did with the Oslo implementation agreements was to withdraw its military government over the Palestinians and replace it with a Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat. Oslo didn't create a Palestinian state, but it would be hard to argue that by the mid-1990s, with Arafat ruling the Palestinians, that the Palestinians were under Israeli military occupation. The fact that a wide variety of Palestinian spokesmen will charge that the Gaza Strip is still "occupied" even though the Palestinians exercise self-government and the Israeli civilian and military presence in this territory have been removed is revealing. It means that the charge of "occupation" is less a rigorous legal definition and more a blunt political instrument to serve the PLO's diplomatic and military agenda against Israel. Remarkably, even as Israel completes its withdrawal from 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip, official Palestinian spokesmen are already making the argument that Gaza disengagement changes very little and, as far as they are concerned, Gaza remains "occupied" territory. According to the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas already stated on July 7, 2005, that "the legal status of the areas slated for evacuation has not changed." Three basic arguments are being used by various Palestinian factions to claim that the Gaza Strip will still be "occupied" even after Israel has completely left. First, as long as the Palestinians are unable to exercise full sovereignty in Gaza, the Palestinian foreign minister, Nasser al-Kidwa, maintains that the territory is still "occupied," particularly because of Israel's continuing control of Gaza's territorial waters and its airspace.[1] For Saeb Erekat, who heads the PLO's Negotiations Affairs Department, since the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were designated as "one territorial unit" in the Oslo Accords, Gaza disengagement affects only a portion of the total territory under discussion and, therefore, its legal status remains unchanged.[2] From the standpoint of Hamas, the designation of territory as "occupied" is directly tied to its self-proclaimed mission "to expel the occupation." If Hamas refuses to recognize any change in the situation coming about because of Israel's pullout, it is because it argues, in the words of the head of Hamas in Gaza, Mahmoud al-Zahar, "All of Palestine is our land."[3] He added, "neither the liberation of the Gaza Strip, nor the liberation of the West Bank or even Jerusalem will suffice for us. Hamas will pursue the armed struggle until the liberation of all our lands. We don't recognize the State of Israel or its right to hold onto one inch of Palestine."[4] What Legally Causes a Territory to be Under Occupation? Palestinian spokesmen have used the grievance of being under Israeli occupation as their cutting-edge argument against the policies of Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while in fact the legal status of these territories has been under dispute since 1967 when they were captured by the Israel Defense Forces from Jordan and Egypt in the Six-Day War. The only previously recognized sovereign in these territories was the Ottoman Empire from 1517 through 1917; in 1923, the Turks renounced their territorial claims when the Ottoman Empire was dismantled. The British Mandate for Palestine envisioned the territories in question becoming part of a Jewish national home; the UN General Assembly recommended in 1947 that the areas that became the West Bank and Gaza Strip become part of a future Arab state, but this proposal was opposed by the Arab states at the time. Therefore, the exact legal status of these territories remained unresolved. Using its political power in the United Nations, the PLO nonetheless has received the support of the Arab bloc and the Non-Aligned Movement to obtain the adoption of dozens of non-binding UN General Assembly resolutions defining these areas as "occupied Palestinian territories." More recently, this political power was used to bring these politicized definitions to other UN organs, including the International Court of Justice in The Hague. But "occupation" is not just a rhetorical or political term. It is first and foremost a legal term in international law. The legal termination of occupation clearly does not require that all the political demands of one party in a territorial conflict be met in full. That would make the end of occupation highly subjective. Instead, it must be based on certain legal criteria being met. The main source of international law is international agreements and conventions signed by states, not declaratory resolutions of the UN General Assembly. The foremost document in defining the existence of an occupation has been the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention "Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War." Israel argued back in 1967 that formally the Fourth Geneva Convention did not legally apply to the case of the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, since their previous occupants, Egypt and Jordan, illegally invaded those territories in 1948 and did not exercise internationally recognized sovereignty on the ground. The convention becomes relevant with the occupation of the territory of a signatory - but the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were not recognized as Egyptian and Jordanian territories. Nonetheless, successive Israeli governments agreed to de-facto application of the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention over the last thirty-eight years. More importantly, the Fourth Geneva Convention became an internationally-recognized standard for determining the rights and responsibilities of state parties in cases of military occupation. Article 6 of the Fourth Geneva Convention explicitly states that "the Occupying Power shall be bound for the duration of the occupation to the extent that such Power exercises the functions of government in such territory...."[5] In other words, what creates an "occupation" is the existence of a military government which "exercises the functions of government." This is a confirmation of the older 1907 Hague Regulations Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, which state, "Territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army." The Hague Regulations also stipulate: "The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised."[6] What follows is that if no Israeli military government is exercising its authority or any of "the functions of government" in the Gaza Strip, then there is no occupation. Did the Occupation End After Oslo? It is fascinating to consider these definitions with respect to the situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the period in which the Oslo Agreements were implemented. The original Oslo Declaration of Principles was signed in 1993. It was first implemented with the 1994 Gaza-Jericho Agreement. In 1995, the Interim Agreement extended this implementation to Palestinian population centers in the rest of the West Bank. What Israel essentially did with the Oslo implementation agreements was to withdraw its military government over the Palestinians and replace it with a Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat. Israeli officers would no longer serve as mayors in Palestinian cities; there would be no need for an Israeli civil administration to give out drivers' licenses or building permits. Essentially, Israel transferred specific powers from its previous military government to the Palestinian Authority, with the exception of foreign affairs and external security. Oslo didn't create a Palestinian state, but it would be hard to argue that by the mid-1990s, with Arafat ruling the Palestinians, that the Palestinians were under Israeli military occupation. Indeed, back in 1994, the legal advisor to the International Red Cross, Dr. Hans-Peter Gasser, proposed that his organization had no reason to monitor Israeli compliance with the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Gaza Strip and Jericho area, since the convention no longer applied with the advent of Palestinian administration in those areas.[7] At best, the Palestinians could argue that Oslo placed them in an ambiguous legal position, since they themselves exercised most of the functions of government, while Israel only maintained a few residual powers. The Importance of the Occupation Claim for the Palestinian Armed Struggle If there are serious legal questions about applying the term "occupation" to the post-Oslo West Bank and Gaza Strip of the 1990s, then why did the Palestinians persist in doing so? And why is it so essential for them to make this case even after Gaza disengagement? First, hammering at the term "occupation" is part of the way the Palestinians stake a strong claim to territory where sovereignty is, in fact, very much contested. As noted earlier, there has not been a legally recognized sovereign in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1922. The 1947 UN Partition Plan did not create a new Palestinian Arab state, but rather was followed by an illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza by the Arab states that invaded in 1948. Rather than leave these territories as a "black hole" of sovereignty with several claimants, the Palestinian Authority reminds the world that these are "occupied Palestinian territories" in order to assert exclusive rights in these territories, as though they were once under Palestinian sovereignty in the past. Second, constant reference to an ongoing Israeli "occupation" is also a powerful argument in the electronic media that Palestinians might not want to concede so quickly. It highlights the position of the Palestinians as victims in the Arab-Israeli conflict and presents Israel unfavorably, as an oppressor. It helps obfuscate the fact that Israel entered these territories in a war of self-defense back in 1967, presenting it instead as an aggressor. But there is a further important utility of the charge of occupation for the Palestinian Authority and its spokesmen: it provides a context for explaining how Palestinian groups resort to terrorism. The roots of this contextualization of violence come from UN General Assembly resolutions that were adopted during the period of de-colonization. For example, Resolution 2708 that was passed on December 14, 1970, "reaffirms its recognition of the legitimacy of the struggle of the colonial peoples and peoples under alien domination to exercise their right to self-determination and independence by all the necessary means at their disposal." In the early 1970s, Yasser Arafat repeatedly made reference to such UN resolutions when he was pressed to justify acts of terrorism, like airplane hijacking. More recently, many Arab states have refused to agree to a blanket renunciation of all violence against civilians as part of an agreed definition of terrorism at the UN, because a special right of "resistance to occupation" is not protected. Consequently, once a territory can no longer be defined as "occupied," a huge fig leaf for political violence is lifted. For the current Palestinian Authority, that sort of change would pose many problems. True, Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly stated that violence does not serve the interests of the Palestinians; he believes that the second intifada was a strategic error. But many militiamen in Abbas' Fatah movement, including the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, still believe in the use of political violence. Moreover, rather than challenge Hamas, Abbas has decided to co-opt the militant movement into the Palestinian Authority with the January 2006 elections. Then, the Palestinian Authority will not need the occupation argument for its own strategy against Israel, but rather to provide political cover for its future political partners, who have made clear that they will not forgo what they still call the armed struggle against Israel. Like Arafat thirty years ago, even Hamas wraps its justification for violence in the language of "occupation." How Israel Should Respond to the Occupation Charge The fact that a wide variety of Palestinian spokesmen will charge that the Gaza Strip is still "occupied" even though the Palestinians exercise self-government and the Israeli civilian and military presence in this territory have been removed is revealing. It means that the charge of "occupation" is less a rigorous legal definition and more a blunt political instrument to serve the PLO's diplomatic and military agenda against Israel. The best way for Israel to counter Palestinian efforts to use the occupation charge to provide political cover for violence is to base its arguments on the growing international consensus against terrorism - regardless of the justification provided - for no political cause can legitimately explain why innocent civilians must be intentionally murdered in terrorist bombing attacks conducted on its behalf. The Palestinians may not like the limitations that have been maintained on Gaza airspace or territorial waters. But even Egypt has limitations on its sovereignty in Sinai that are the result of security arrangements created by the 1979 Treaty of Peace. No one would argue that limitations on Egyptian authority constitute a form of "occupation." In the tight airspace of Europe, many mini-states cannot fully control their airspace alone, but must coordinate their air traffic with larger neighbors to prevent air collisions. Their sovereignty is hardly compromised by this cooperation. Additionally, Israel does have legitimate security concerns, given the history of Palestinian violations of the security provisions of the Oslo Agreements, including high-profile attempts by the Palestinian Authority to illegally import weaponry by sea on ships like the Santorini and the Karine A. Still, the Israeli government has demonstrated that it will not abuse the authority it still exercises outside of the borders of the Gaza Strip, as attested to by its readiness to withdraw from the Philadelphi route between Gaza and Egypt and its willingness to let the Palestinians dig a port for Gaza. And, should Israel nonetheless find it necessary to re-enter the Gaza Strip to quash a terrorist threat, it would not do so as a former occupying power but rather as a state defending itself from an immediate threat being posed by a neighbor under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Beyond the propaganda war between the two sides, there are serious issues that Israel will have to resolve regarding the Gaza Strip. Israel may not have formal humanitarian responsibilities toward the civilian population of Gaza any longer, but it might nonetheless seek to exercise some of them, if requested by the Palestinians themselves. But Israel's role will be that of a neighboring state, similar to Turkey when a humanitarian emergency arose in Iraqi Kurdistan or Chad with respect to the Darfur area of Sudan. Israel will not host Palestinian refugees, but it can provide backing to international humanitarian efforts of other states and international agencies, despite the withdrawal of its remaining authority in the Gaza Strip after disengagement is completed. Notes 1. "Palestinian FM: Pullout Will Not End Gaza Occupation, Agence France Presse, August 9, 2005; http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=17458 2. Saeb Erekat, "Gaza Remains Occupied," Bitterlemons.org, August 22, 2005; http://www.bitterlemons.org/previous/bl220805ed30.html#pal2 3. "An Interview with Hamas Leader Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahar," Asharq Al-Awsat (London), August 18, 2005; MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series, No. 964, August 19, 2005; http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP96405 4. Khaled Abu Toameh, "Abbas: Gaza Withdrawal Only First Step," Jerusalem Post, August 15, 2005; http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1124072335137&p=1119925650407 5. International Committee of the Red Cross, The Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949 (Geneva: ICRC, 1997), p. 156. 6. Ruth Lapidoth, "Unity Does Not Require Uniformity" Bitterlemons.org, August 22, 2005. 7. Dore Gold, "From 'Occupied Territories' to 'Disputed Territories,'" Jerusalem Viewpoints No. 470, January 16, 2002; http://jcpa.org/jl/vp470.htm To Go To Top

ANYONE REMEMBER THE FILE 'BLACK SUNDAY?' - WAR ON TERROR Posted by Tamar psion, August 26, 2005.

This was written by Laura Mansfield. She is an author and counter-terror analyst. She uses her knowledge of the Arabic language and of Islamic culture and history to investigate jihad and jihadis both in the US and throughout the world. August 26, 2005 - Since her earliest days as a country, the government of Israel has claimed to follow a formal policy of no negotiating with terrorists. The rationale was simple: when you negotiate with terrorists, and make concessions, you are in essence making terrorism "profitable" and encouraging others to follow the same path. My generation became aware of this policy as we watched the Olympics in Munich. The same games that delighted us with superstars such as US swimmer Mark Spitz and Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut horrified us as Palestinian terrorists kidnapped and ultimately murdered a group of Israeli athletes. For many in my generation, that was our introduction to terrorism. We all learned about the "Black September" group, and the name Yassir Arafat became synonymous with international outlaw and terrorist. There was even a movie released in 1976 starring Robert Shaw and Marthe Keller. Anyone remember the film Black Sunday? A Black September terrorist group attempts to blow up a Goodyear blimp hovering over the Super Bowl stadium with 80,000 people and the President of the United States in attendance. Israeli commando David Kabakov (Robert Shaw) discovers the plot, masterminded by Dahlia Iyad (Marthe Keller) with the help of deranged Vietnam veteran Michael J. Lander (Bruce Dern). Most people in 1976 considered this movie to be "way out there" - something that could never happen in this country. Terrorism was something that happened in Israel, or possibly in Europe. Then the world has changed. Two years later, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords, Israel gave the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt, and the new buzzword in the Middle East became "peace". Peace would put an end to terrorism. The hopes for the future ran high in 1978. The only thing we had to worry about was the cold war - and bringing peace to the Middle East removed a major flashpoint. At least that's what many thought. After all, Egypt was the largest military power in the Middle East, and had led their armies, with armies in the region, against Israel on several occasions. Each time, the Israeli forces had dealt crushing blows against the Pan-Arab alliance, conceived by Gamal Abdul Nassar. But the peacemakers goofed. While everyone was worried about the great big Rottweiler barking at the borders of Israel, the little Chihuahua that was seen only as a nuisance was consolidating power. Lebanon was in civil war, and the Palestinian refugees in camps in Southern Lebanon were taking up arms and joining in the fighting. Known murderers such as Yassir Arafat and Abu Nidal had virtual freedom of movement in the Middle East and North Africa. A charismatic leader named Khomeini, exiled to France for 14 years, sparked an Islamic revolution in Iran, culminating in his triumphant return. And conflict erupted in Afghanistan, and Soviet tanks rolled into the region, bringing fighters from throughout the Islamic world into Afghanistan to help their Muslim brothers repel the Soviet invaders. But in the new era of peace, these sparks were ignored. Very few were farsighted enough to recognize that the beginnings of a new nationalistic movement were emerging. The concept of the Pan-Arab state was for all practical purposes extinct after Camp David. It was replaced with Pan-Islamic movement. In the beginning, it seemed like a good idea even to the US. The United States even helped train and arm a group of Islamic muhajideen in Afghanistan. But America had no crystal ball to warn us that we were the midwife at the birth of a leviathan that would seek to destroy us - one that eventually took the name of Al Qaeda. But signs of trouble were present even before Islamic radicals in the form of Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Tehran, imprisoning 52 Americans for 444 days. Terror attacks on US interests became the norm during the 1980's. The US Embassy in Beirut was attacked; a few days later, US Marines, in Beirut as peacekeepers, were murdered in the sleep in another car bomb attack. American planes were hijacked; American, Israeli, and Jewish passengers were harassed, tortured, and killed on land, in the air, and at sea. And in the meantime, as some young men from the Islamic world poured into Afghanistan to fight the Soviets, others chose a different path, coming to America for college and graduate school, often paid for by US funds rewarding their countries for participation in the "peace process". Throughout the 1980's and 1990's, they came to America, and many married American wives. (Most of those marriages did not last more than a few years - just long enough to get the husband a "Green Card".) Others brought their Muslim wives and gave birth to children in the US. And terrorism entered an era of respectability. The same terrorist who several years before was on Israel's most wanted list was welcomed into the Peace Process. In 1993, Yassir Arafat signed a peace agreement at the White House, and a year later shared in the Nobel Peace prize. Just a few months after the World Trade Center in New York had been bombed by Islamist terrorists, another terrorist was receiving accolades from our President. The same Yassir Arafat who was linked by the US State Department to the Black September terrorists who kidnapped and murdered the Israeli athletes at the Munch Olympics was being welcomed into the heart of the American government. The appeasement of the terrorists had begun. And with it, the states of terror were raised. If anyone thought that the seeds of Islamist terror were being appeased, they were mistaken. The April 19, 1995, the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was attacked. Investigative journalist Jayna Davis has meticulously compiled a mountain of research documenting a Middle Eastern connection to this bombing. On July 17, 1996, Al Hayat, an Arabic language newspaper in Great Britain, received a fax warning: "The world will be astonished and amazed at the time and place chosen by the Mujahadeen. The Mujahadeen will deliver the harshest reply to the threats of the foolish American president. Everyone will be surprised by the volume, choice of place and timing of the Mujahadeen answer, and invaders must prepare to depart alive or dead for their time is morning and morning is near." (The fax, and a warning by Israeli intelligence that Iran was likely to launch an attack against a US aircraft, were ignored even though the Atlanta Olympics Games were on the verge of opening.) That evening, TWA 800 exploded shortly after takeoff from JFK. The official cause of the disaster was declared an accident. Then, just two years later, US Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were struck by truck bombs, a terrorist act attributed to Osama Bin Laden. By then it should have been clear that appeasement was not working. The attack on the USS Cole, the September 11 attacks on America, and the attacks on the London transit system stand alongside the homicide bombings in Israel, the attacks on hotels in Kenya, Indonesia, and the Sinai Peninsula as proof positive that appeasement of terror does not work. In fact it just encourages more terror. Anyone who has spent much time with a small child knows not to give in to temper tantrums - or you get rewarded with more tantrums. The same principles of psychology apply here. As long as terrorists are rewarded with appeasement and negotiations, terror attacks will continue. Yet this week, we've seen Israel begin the process of turning over the Gaza Strip to one of the earliest Islamist terror groups. Statements from the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Iran, and even Al Qaeda this week have made it clear. They believe that they won Gaza through their terror attacks. "Next will be Jerusalem" claimed a Hamas leader this week. "They can say whatever they want, but in fact it was the rockets, the mortar rounds, the exploding tunnels, and the suicide bombings that made the lives of the soldiers and settlers unbearable. It was these that liberated our land in Gaza," claimed the spokesman of HAMAS' military wing, Abu-Ubaydah in an article in Ma'ariv. Abu-Ubaydah went on in the article to reiterate that the terror will continue. (See full text of the article at the end of this analysis.) Israel has not bought peace with their withdrawal from Gaza. The US will not buy peace by giving in to the demands of the likes of Osama Bin Laden. The only way to resist terror is with strength. It's time the US developed a strong backbone, the kind that saw us through World War II. We have to defeat terror. Or it will defeat us. Abu-Ubaydah Article As the disengagement plan (DP) enters its second day, with all of Gaza celebrating these historic days, HAMAS is still presenting the Israeli withdrawal as its own achievement, and hinting that its terrorist attacks will continue. Even if it is the PA that will take over the land being relinquished in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian street believes that the evacuation of the settlements is a victory for the road taken by HAMAS -- the dominant force in the Strip -- and an achievement scored by its terrorist attacks and Qassam rockets. Ahead of the planned victory celebrations, the organization's military wing, the Izz-al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, agreed for the first time to respond to the questions of an Israeli media outlet as to what the future holds after the withdrawal from Gaza. HAMAS' message is crisp and clear: "We are keeping up the struggle. The occupiers are leaving our land humiliated," Ma'ariv was told by the spokesman of HAMAS' military wing, Abu-Ubaydah. "We feel a sense of pride, power, and victory, due to our knowledge that the blood of our martyrs was not shed in vain. Its was these sacrifices of ours that that put the enemy to flight. We advise the Zionists to get out of our lands just as they came in, before they are chased out by our resistance and jihad." The organization claims that the withdrawal from Gaza is to be only the first stage, and that the way to bring about the following stages is clear. "Our agenda has proven itself, and therefore the struggle will remain the only option," said Abu-Ubaydah. He claimed that for the inhabitants of Ashqelon and Sederot, security is not guaranteed even after the withdrawal. "They should still be afraid, like anyone who occupies land that is not his own, and infringes other peoples' rights," he said. "They are like a thief who has broken into a house and is in constant fear of the real owner's return." HAMAS is now hinting that the focus of its terrorist attacks will shift to the West Bank, and that the attacks inside Israel will continue. "We are not going to disarm, and we will keep on developing our military capabilities. Our task will be to support our brothers in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the lands occupied in 1948," said Abu-Ubaydah. The HAMAS spokesman is unimpressed by the attacks of Chairman Abu-Mazin (Mahmud Abbas), Civil Affairs Minister Muhammad Dahlan, and other senior officials of the PA on the launching of Qassam rockets at Israel. "They can say whatever they want, but in fact it was the rockets, the mortar rounds, the exploding tunnels, and the suicide bombings that made the lives of the soldiers and settlers unbearable. It was these that liberated our land in Gaza," he said. "The Palestinian people is being deprived and oppressed by your army and government. We cannot put up with this silently," ha added. "Therefore, we are telling the Israeli people: We are not fighting you because you are Jews, but because you are attacking us and occupying our country. If you leave our land, we will have no problem with you, just as we have no quarrel with the other nations of the world." Abu-Ubaydah's message can be interpreted as a positive signal, but actually is far from it. It declares that the war HAMAS is waging will not stop at the Green Line -- at least not officially. "The Radical-Islamist Threat to World Peace and National Security" http://www.peoplestruthforum.com/the_terrorism_update.htm#Commentary A Dinner/Symposium Sponsored by The People's Truth Forum 6:00 PM Wednesday, September 21, 2005 Aquaturf Club, Mulberry Street Plantsville, CT. Tickets for the event are $115.00 each. Included in the price of the ticket: Admittance to the event Dinner: Your choice of Prime Rib, Stuffed Shrimp, Chicken Valdestone (breaded chicken breast topped with fresh mozzarella and marsala demiglace with mushrooms), Salmon, Vegetable Lasagna or Glatt Kosher entre (add $10.00). Entertainment: Manhattan USO Troupe Main Event: "The Radical-Islamist Threat to World Peace and National Security" http://www.peoplestruthforum.com/symposium.htm The People's Truth Forum - 2005 PO Box 331 Colchester, CT 06415 (860) 537-0211 Contact Us To Go To Top

MAJORITY WANT MORE DISENGAGEMENTS - IF GIVEN NO ALTERNATIVES Posted by Voice of Judea, August 26, 2005.

This was written by Moshe Ben Israel If given no other alternative - Israelis want more disengagements Most Israelis want further evacuation of "West Bank settlements", a survey found. According to Friday's poll in Yediot Aharonot, 54 percent of Israelis think this month's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the northern Shomron should be followed up with the removal of more "settlements" in the latter territory. Forty-two percent would oppose further evacuations and 4 percent had no opinion. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said there will be no further unilateral withdrawals from land that "Palestinians" want for a state, but his aides have hinted that Israel could remove more "settlements" if the "Palestinian Authority" cracks down on terror as required by the U.S.-led "road map" to peace. Voice of Judea Commentary: 1- This poll is no indication of Israeli public opinion regarding further disengagements. The fact is that none of the published polls ever offer the Israeli public an alternative to further concessions. Yes, the public is not happy with the status quo. Certainly, the public wishes to separate as much as is possible from Arab population centers. However, if they had a choice between expulsion of Jews, and surrendering those Jewish lands to the Arabs, effectively creating terrorist Arab controlled areas closer to Israeli population centers OR annexation of those Jewish lands, expulsion of the hostile Arabs who live there and distancing the Arabs to an area outside of Israel, far beyond a security buffer zone, the majority would choose the expulsion of the Arabs to the expulsion of Jewish brothers and sisters. We have the results of true objective polls to prove it. 2- It is clear that all of the Intelligence predictions about a significant rise in Arab terrorism are unfortunately accurate. Throughout this period of disengagement we are witness to Arab rocket attacks in the North and in the South, and Jews are being stabbed and attacked in Jerusalem and Hebron. The few who naively believe that by surrendering land to the Arabs we can appease them and achieve peace, are beginning to understand that caving in to Arab blackmail and terror will only guarantee more terror. More and more people will object to any further disengagements if given an opportunity to vote on the issue. 3- It has also become more than clear that Sharon's theory about reducing American pressure by making unilateral disengagements is nothing more than a moronic hoax. The Americans and the International Community are pressuring Israel more than ever to make more territorial concessions immediately. Rumor has it that Israel has committed to tear down dozens of "hilltops" within the next 90 days. 4- The time has come to offer a true Jewish alternative to the current appeasement policy. Make no mistake - Sharon might be a cruel dictator, however, in principle he is not any different than Bibi or any of the other Prime Ministers Israel has had. All of them have molded Israeli foreign policy based upon their conception of "what Israel needs to do or what Israel need not too, so as not to be ostracized by the international community. Israel has never enacted policies based solely on Israeli interests or Israeli public opinion. Israel has never acted like a Jewish state that seeks answers and policies based on the Torah. G-d's opinion has never played a central role in the formation of Israeli foreign policy. Now is the time to offer a true Jewish alternative to further disengagements and further capitulation to American dictates and Arab terrorism. 5- "Mishalot Yisrael" is launching an independent referendum on this exact issue. The time to fight the next disengagement is now. The time has come to offer an alternative Jewish disengagement that includes the option to throw out our enemies before it is too late. The time has come to declare independence and to allow the Jews of Israel to define their own destiny. Vote now on www.mishal.org {http://www.mishal.org} Send a generous contribution to "Mishalot Yisrael" Jaffa Road 210/14 Jerusalem Israel. (With all due respect to all of the wonderful Jews who have done so much to challenge the last/current disengagement, without loudly voting and offering an alternative that effectively resolves the Arab terror/demographic threat all of their hard work and financial contributions are for nothing.) If you support further unilateral concessions and disengagements then you need not do much more than watch Israeli leaders continue down the disengagement path. If you oppose further territorial concessions than you must now, immediately support "Mishalot Yisrael" the only group focusing on offering a Jewish alternative to the Israeli surrender policy. Spread this article everywhere and help raise funds and collect votes to prove that the majority of Jews are still sane and wish to retain and proclaim exclusive Jewish sovereignty over the land of Eretz Israel. To contact the Voice of Judea by email, write to news@voiceofjudea.com. To read more articles visit www.voiceofjudea.com To Go To Top

THE LEADERSHIP OF THE NATIONAL CAMP LED US LIKE SHEEP TO THE DEPORTATION Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, August 26, 2005.

Below there's an article by Nadia Matar called "The Leadership of the National Camp Led Us Like Sheep to the Deportation." I think she is a bit upset. My hope is that so are many others and that they stay that way. I also think the time has come for like-minded people to come together and work out what to do next. I have written a number of time about the need to call a constituent assembly and create a new political system. The one we have does not work and is killing us. I don't know where or when this should be but it should be soon, very soon. If I had the public credibility to call such an assembly on my own, I would do it but I do not. So I am asking all the activists and leaders out there to call such a get together. I am willing to help. Just let someone start the ball rolling. Mourning. Sorrow. Pain. Suffering. Disappointment. And mainly much ANGER. These are the emotions that stir within me in these difficult times. Emotions so fierce and profound, emotions that consume me from within, and rend the heart and soul. Our feelings of sorrow and mourning are for an area so marvelous, so beautiful and blooming, that we abandoned and discarded. The mind cannot absorb how we handed over those portions of the homeland to the Arab enemy so facilely, the Arab enemy who celebrates on the rooftops and wholeheartedly thanks Ariel Sharon. Everyone from Hamas understands now that there is no need for an heir apparent to Sheikh Yassin, when there is Ariel Sharon who, better than any Arab terrorist, implements the work of destroying Jewish settlements. Feelings of pain for the suffering and anguish that the wicked Sharon Government has caused the families of the refugees. Let us not deceive ourselves: the Sela Administration's cruel abuse of the Gush Katif and Samaria refugees is not a sorry mistake. This is intentional and planned abuse. We must understand, once and for all, that the deportation of the Jews of Gush Katif and northern Samaria is the first step towards the eradication of all Jewish settlement in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, with the goal of eliminating the entire national camp, and ensuring that it will not ever come to power in the country. In other words: the disengagement plan is the continuation of the Saison (when members of the Irgun and Lehi were seized by the "organized Yishuv" and given over to the British authorities) - the left's persecution of the national camp with the aim of retaining power. Accordingly, the last thing that the Sharon regime wants is for the refugees to reorganize in cohesive and strong communities. The main task of the Sela Administration, headed by Yonatan Bassi, is to ensure that every family of refugees suffers and totally disintegrates, both mentally and financially. The only comfort in this sorry spectacle is the wonderful spontaneous organizing of Jews throughout the country who work day and night to aid our uprooted brethren. As a first step in our war against the Sharon regime, we must ensure that the Gush Katif and northern Samaria community remains together and reestablishes itself as united settlements, specifically in Judea and Samaria, in spite of the Sharon government. But after the tears, the frustration, and the pain, my strongest emotion is anger. Anger, because I know that we did not have to come to such a situation at all. Anger, because I know that we were capable of preventing the destruction. Anger, because we let them, with such ease, raze our settlements from the face of the earth and crush us under foot, as if we were locusts and bugs. Anger at our leaders who gave Gush Katif and Samaria away on a silver platter, without any real effective resistance. Let's state this outright: the Jewish Leadership led us all - against our will - like sheep to the deportation. Those certain rabbis and public figures, together with most of the leaders of the Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, who fanatically champion the fascist approach of "the State and the army above all" - even if the State and the army commit crimes against humanity - are the ones who enabled Sharon to commit the malicious crime. Every rabbi, public figure, member of Knesset, or member of the Council of Jewish Settlements who did not expressly call upon the soldiers and policemen to refuse to obey the racist transfer order - legitimized the crime, and, in essence, collaborated with the deportation machine. Every rabbi, public figure, member of Knesset, or member of the Council of Jewish Settlements who forbade our wonderful youth from sabotaging the machinery and vehicles used in the deportation, in essence legitimized the crime and collaborated with the deportation machine. Every rabbi, public figure, member of Knesset, or member of the Council of Jewish Settlements who opposed roadblocking and nonviolent civil disobedience; legitimized the crime, and, in essence, collaborated with Sharon's anti-Semitic ethnic cleansing machine. Every rabbi, public figure, member of Knesset, or member of the Council of Jewish Settlements who decided to make do with symbolic protests, instead of forcibly breaking through the fences at Kfar Maimon and the Kissufim checkpoints, in order to bring to Gush Katif the tens of thousands who would have physically prevented the deportation with their bodies, legitimized the crime of expulsion, and, in essence, collaborated with Sharon and the band of Oslo criminals around him. Every rabbi, public figure, member of Knesset, or member of the Council of Jewish Settlements who was more concerned about his image in the state media than he was for Eretz Israel; legitimized the crime, and, in essence, brought the destruction nearer and made it possible. Every rabbi, public figure, member of Knesset, or member of the Council of Jewish Settlements who embraced the soldiers and policemen instead of preaching to them, or even engaged with the deportation forces in the macabre dance of the victim with the hangman, broadcast to the world the message that the deportation is really not that awful, spared the soldiers and police guilt feelings, and thereby aided the racist transfer. To all those who tell me that even if all our leadership were strong and brave, and had shaken off the galut (Diaspora) mentality of the Council of Jewish Settlements and followed strong rabbis, such as Rabbi Schapira, Rabbi Melamed, and Rabbi Lior, and in each and every settlement thousands had taken a stand, like the heroes of Kfar Darom on the roof of the synagogue, even then Ariel Sharon would have succeeded in annihilating Gush Katif and northern Samaria - I respond: Possibly, but it would not have come to pass so easily. Datyah Yitzhaki, a resident of Kfar Yam and the head of the Kela Administration (Absorption for the Gaza Region), who is currently living with her family, as refugees, with us in Efrat, told me an appropriate story: "Once there was a Jew in a Jewish village in Poland who ate all the time. He was extremely fat, but he did not stop eating day and night. One day his friends came to him and asked him what was the meaning of all this. Why did he eat incessantly and turn himself into such a fat person. The Jew told them: "When I was a little boy, the Cossacks came and killed my father. Then they burned his body, but because he was so small and thin, the fire burnt for only a few seconds. I eat and eat to make sure that if the Cossacks come back, then when they burn me, there will be such a big fire that it will go on for hours, and all the world will see this horror." I am angry at the intolerable ease with which our leaders gave up on Gush Katif and northern Samaria: all in all, just a few hours of resistance in each settlement, less determined resistance than there was at Yamit. This is simply unreasonable. Yes, even if we had taken all possible measures, such as mass refusal to obey orders, civil disobedience, bringing tens of thousands, and the like, Sharon the bulldozer might possibly still have succeeded. In my humble opinion, he would not have been successful. But even if he had, we would at least have managed to turn this into something so traumatic and horrendous that no leader in Israel would ever again dare to commit such a crime. But our Jewish leadership preferred restraint, kowtowing, and love for those who committed the crime. There was no desecration of the Name of G-d so great. And as a result, all the newspapers celebrate, and those who implemented the deportation say that they are ready to continue. Just as we can hardly complain about a rapist who continues to rape a victim who does not oppose the crime with all her might, and even embraces the criminal - so, too, we can hardly complain about the leftists who write in the press that "the work of deportation was implemented so easily; there probably won't be any problem to deport the rest of the settlers in Judea and Samaria." In summation: the struggle for the Land of Israel is not a struggle for one specific settlement or another. This is a struggle for the character of the State of Israel. Will the Jews rule here, or the Hellenists? We are only at the beginning of the struggle. We took a severe blow, but we are not defeated. On the contrary. We must remember that we, the national camp, have a great public that is devoted and loyal to the people, the Land, and the Torah. We have wonderful youth who are ready to struggle with all their strength for our future here, and who cannot wait to return and liberate Gush Katif and Northern Samaria, and take over the leadership in Israel. What must we do to ensure that we will no longer be defeated? First, we must demand that the deportation criminals be put on trial. "Indict the Deportation Criminals" is the slogan that we should spread throughout the land. Second, we must ensure that our "Jewish Leadership who led the struggle until now will not be permitted to lead any longer. For if they continue, we can already start packing in Efrat, Beitar, Maale Adumim, Ariel, and Gilo in Jerusalem. After we install new leadership for the national camp, we will be able to focus on our main mission: taking the reigns of government in Israel, and turning it into a truly Jewish Government, one that is not afraid to proclaim: "All the Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel in accordance with the Torah of Israel." In short, we must not despair. Our work is cut out for us. We must help rehabilitate our uprooted brothers and sisters and ensure that they reestablish strong and cohesive communities, specifically in Judea and Samaria. We must put the deportation criminals on trial. We must send home our failed mamlakhti leadership. We must establish a true Jewish leadership that will take power and direct Israel in a Jewish spirit. With G-d's help the Jewish People shall prevail! Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. To Go To Top

IT IS NEVER GOING TO BE ENOUGH! Posted by Arlene Peck, August 26, 2005.

Living here in Los Angeles, in the very heart of the entertainment industry and having a celebrity television talk show myself, I have become used to the excessive behaviour that passes for normal around here! I know women who are plastic surgery freaks. They seem to always be going back to a better surgeon for yet another nip and tuck. The same priorities consume the crowd at the gym. They pump iron for hours, live on lettuce and are always striving to lose that delusional last five pounds! That, folks, is exactly how I perceive the attitude of the Arab world to be, when it comes to any and all concessions that have or are ever likely to come out of Israel. Nothing is going to make a difference! It will never be enough! The Arab world has a plan for Israel. And the rest of the world, and all the "nips and tucks" the so-called Palestinian State receives by way of concessions, cannot make a silk purse from a sow's ear. Their local plan, of course, is Israel's destruction, their global plan is world domination and submission of any and all religions to theirs! Already, the rabidly anti-Semitic Los Angeles Times is publishing its 'editorials': "Israel Leaves but Gaza is Hardly Free!" and articles decrying "...how isolated they are in Gaza now, from the outside world, (not to mention the West Bank and Jerusalem) and as subject to Israeli domination as before." Further on in their propaganda, the dreaded concept "collective punishment" is invoked "Nearly half of all Palestinians live below the poverty line of $2 a day. The World Bank's assessment of the cause of this dramatic deterioration in Palestinian living standards is unequivocal." In other words, following their impeccable logic, the fault lies, as always, with the usual suspect, Israel! Because the limited work force entering Israeli is no longer as infiltrated with terrorists, sabotaging everything in sight, blowing themselves and countless civilians to pieces with monotonous frequency, Israel has caused suffering to the Palestinians. Wow, could it be that the Jewish state really doesn't have responsibility for seeing that Arab living standards are raised and maintained? Maybe someone should have a serious talk with Suha Arafat, Abbas, and their cronies and somehow convince them to open up the secret Swiss vaults, take out some of that 8-11 BILLION dollars still hidden from the US, EU and United Nations 'donors' and do something constructive towards aiding the plight of their own people. Palestine does not need any more rocket manufacturing plants, it needs sewerage and water treatment plants. They don't need any more schools, they just need to clean up the ones they have. They do need hospitals if only to improve the lives of their people, rather than have the Israelis fix up the broken bodies. Actually, these donations in Suha's purse have come from nearly everyone but the Palestinian's own wealthy Arab brothers, who, for so long, have decried the deplorable refugee camps they placed them in, yet continue to do nothing about them except urge more killing. The L.A Times article further states, "The Separation Barrier prevents the free flow of Palestinian economic transactions; they raise the cost of doing business and disrupt the predictability needed for orderly economic life." Well, gol-ley, do you think that somewhere we just might want to mention that this "separation fence" also keeps the residents of Israel (both Jewish and Arab) a lot safer than before? How about grasping that it's not Israel's responsibility to do what their Arab brothers have never done, that is, share some of the oil money they have by virtue of location and not invention. Correct me if I am wrong but it certainly seems that everyone is concerned about the Palestinians except their "concerned" Arab brothers, their own kind and kin, who have never come to their aid in showing some of that compassion they force on the rest of the world. Recall last year's tsunami? Who gave the least? The Muslims nations, particularly the Arab ones! Who needed money the most? Other Muslims! Who gave first? Israel. But, I digress. Interesting, though, how they portray the situation. "The Precipitator of this economic crisis has been 'closure', a multifaceted system of restrictions on the movement of the Palestinian people and goods, which the government of Israel argues is essential to protect Israelis in Israel and the settlements." Well, yeah, it does tend to keep down the savage barbaric actions of their Arab neighbors who seem to now be giving that same 7th century lifestyle to the rest of the world, which, incidentally, doesn't seem to like it on their home grounds (but found it OK on Jewish soil). Could I just ask, where does it say that Israel is legally obligated to conduct business with a known enemy? Surely a free nation like Israel can decide who it will support or not? Hell, Jews aren't even allowed in their countries, yet the United Nations meets regularly to censure Israel for "collective punishment" for not hiring these terrorists and bringing them into Israel. What in the world is this about creating employment opportunities for people who want you dead and are at war with you? Media like the L.A. Times are always looking for the "bottom line", so here's my take on it. Bottom line, all the press statements issuing from Arab leaders and much of the world press is constantly declaring, "This is not Enough", it is only the beginning. Dr. Condoleezza Rice is in full press conference mode, saying how nice the Israeli gesture was, but it is just not enough. Well, yeah, it's not enough. It's never going to be enough, until they have the entire country of Israel under Muslim control and things are back the way they were when Jerusalem was under Arab control way back when. They liked it when they were able to use the marble headstones from Jewish cemeteries to pave their roads and line the toilets of their new hotels, as the Intercontinental Hotel once did. This is acceptable behaviour, apparently, and the people who consider it acceptable have the weight of the world's press behind them, screaming, "Now the West Bank, now your ancient Capital, the Holy of Holies". Of course, that would satisfy them, wouldn't it? Can I ask, where is the Palestinian strategic plan for evacuating the Israelis they displace? There is one, isn't there? Of course there is. The PA has shown how sacred it considers even one Jewish life. Mass burial, that's the PA Plan for Israel, extermination and deja vu all over again. I remember visiting Israel before 1967 and not being able to visit the Jewish holy places. Oh, "The Wall" was still there but under Jordanian control and, what a surprise, Jews were not allowed in! Now, their cry is Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital! And, the terrorist-biased media is running headlines demanding that Gaza must not be isolated and that Israel must allow them free rein and unfettered access into Israel to do what they have to do. That being, of course, more terrorism! I fully expect the cry to be "Good-bye Gaza. Hello Hamas!" One of the more recent L.A. Times headlines informed its shocked readers, " Israel says it will annex Palestinian Land..."Could they have been talking about the homes belonging to the residents of the settlement of Maale Adumin, which is only a rifle shot away from Jerusalem? Has anyone ever looked at a map of the surrounding 22 Arab nations, which, between them, possess vast tracts, literally millions of acres, of uninhabited land and enormous wealth-generating deposits of oil? Is anyone else unable to refrain from bursting out in hysterical laughter when they see that Palestinian leaders are now calling emergency meetings over the "seizure of 22 acres in the village of A-tur, where Israeli homes are to be built." In their own land and country! I wonder, has the word "thank you" ever been in the vocabulary of this "peaceful culture"? Because I've never heard it uttered once where Israel is concerned. Now, as the Arabs are getting ready to move into the fertile oasis that the Jews' passion carved out of barren land over the past generations, Saeb Erelat, their 'wonderful' Palestinian chief negotiator, is already criticizing how "...we are looking for hope and peace, but the step (the annex of 22 acres), this disastrous decision, undermines any attempt to resume meaningful negotiations." Sound to me like an excuse, that being to justify the violent terrorism that is surely on the way. Hey, maybe I'm wrong. At last, the ball is in their court. It's their choice. They can get cooking and actually set up a democratic government; build roads, infrastructure, and factories; tear down those wretched refugee camps they've been milking for PR purposes all this time; and even print their own stamps. They certainly have the money for it. However, want to make a bet on how long it's going to be before we see them rampaging through the streets, cheering their black-hooded Hamas terrorists in lock-step? As I said, I could be wrong. In this instance, I really, really, really want to be wrong, I really want my Israeli brothers and sisters to finally be at peace with their new neighbor. Having said that and hoping it will happen, I doubt it will come to pass. Why? Because, in the case of these vermin, killing and death are more important than living and life. I'm all for giving them the death they revere. Arlene Peck is an internationally syndicated columnist and television talk show hostess. She can be reached at: bestredhead@earthlink.net and www.arlenepeck.com To Go To Top

CRUEL AND INHUMAN TREATMENT OF REFUGEES - DEMAND RECTIFICATION Posted by Helen Freedman, August 26, 2005.

Dear opponents of the expulsion plan, It comes as no surprise to those of us who opposed the expulsion from the beginning that the Sharon government would fail to live up to its promises and legal obligations in regard to the refugees created by the ethnic cleansing that would leave Gush Katif/Gaza and four N. Shomron communities Judenrein. Find below a letter from a good friend and resident of Netzarim in regard to the experiences they are having. (This is only one such example. The story is repeated over and over again.)If it makes you sick, as it does me, call the Conference of Presidents, 212-318-6111, the umbrella organization of 52 American Jewish organizations that SUPPORTED this heinous plan. (ZOA was the only member organization that opposed it. AFSI NEVER JOINED the Conference). DEMAND that they use their influence with the Sharon government to rectify this critical and deplorable situation. We cannot sit idly by while our fellow Jews are suffering the incredible indignities and abuses heaped upon them by a greedy, corrupt, cruel and inhumane Israeli government. Email: malcolm@conferenceofpresidents.org. Helen Freedman Executive Director, AFSI Dear Friends of Netzarim, Unfortunately, I have to inform you once more in regards to the way the 'Disengagement Authority' is treating the people who had just recently lost their homes, their memories and, in some cases, their communities. As one had put it - "I have just lost 30 years of life". According to our agreement with the D.A., each family could send in people who would pack the family's personal belongings and move them out of town. As you will learn soon, we would not dare using the D.A.'s moving services. Our men had arrived at the Karni Passage yesterday morning. They were delayed there for hours; the soldiers claimed they could not let them through. It is almost a 2 hour drive from Ariel to Netzarim. They had left Ariel very early in the morning as they were willing to pack everything they have. The terrorist should get nothing. Eventually, they have spent most of their time at army road blocks instead of packing. Inevitably, they had to leave a lot behind. The council had made the same agreement in regards to our community facilities: our school, our kindergartens, our shul, etc. Yesterday, when our representatives came with the soldiers of 'Shimshon' (who volunteered to help) to move out our school, they had found the movers the D.A. had hired working there. Those movers did not let our people enter the school - OUR school. After all, they came to make money... We doubt they have any moving experience: they could not pack properly, they dropped the piano we had at the Music Room and some other furniture and handled the school's equipment as if it were garbage. Moreover, they insisted to load the goods into the containers provided by the D.A. Those, as you all know, will be stored on an army base for two years so we will have no access to them. Moreover, since the temperature inside is so high everything we had will get ruined. That 'elite service' is going to cost us more then 20,000 NIS ... In the meantime - school year is starting next Thursday... Udi Ehud Zinar, Netzarim Assistant to Chairman Email: udizinar@bigfoot.com, netzarim_fund@bezeqint.net USA : Tel: (1) 212 933-9537 Fax: (1) 603 507-2444 Israel Cell: (972) 54 6366-256 Fax: (972) 3 684-4379 Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI is a pro-active pro-Israel advocacy group. AFSI may be contacted by mail at 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128 (Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717); by email at afsi@rcn.com; or by accessing its website: www.afsi.org. Helen Freedman is Executive Director. To Go To Top

HOW TO HELP HOUSE EXILED JEWISH SETTLERS Posted by Emanual A. Winston, August 26, 2005.

The nightmare of housing the exiled settlers is just coming into full view. The government has apparently deliberately made minimal plans to house, feed, employ what now amounts to Jewish refugees - again. I am reminded of how the Arab Muslim Palestinian Authority kept their people in camps and never bothered to plan to settle them permanently. I am also reminded of the vast tent cities to house the Jews evicted from the Arab countries after 1948. If you are able to write a check of any amount, please think about doing it now. Tent cities are being raised all over Israel for the displaced Jews who are now being evicted from even the hotels into which they were herded. It is truly an ugly scene and the Sharon government is doing virtually nothing to solve the problem they deliberately fostered. Please contact your synagogue and organizations for an emergency fund-raiser. I will try to do my best to put you into contact with trustworthy groups in Israel who are providing food, blankets, diapers, clothes, etc. See a first list below. For example, Bat Ayin has 7 caravans (house trailers) that need $60,000 for a quick fix up to house Gush Katif families. If it proves to be the case (as rumored) that the evacuees are not allowed to use their compensation package rent money over the "Green Line", Bat Ayin has decided to subsidize their absorption and allow them to stay rent-free. We can try to get volunteer tradesmen, namely carpenters, electricians, painters and plumbers but that takes more time than the refugees have. It's faster to hire the workers outright and get these families settled as quickly as possible. Bat Ayin can refurbish and repair these caravans within 2 weeks, or quicker. ### DONATIONS: American tax-deductible contributions to: Central Fund of Israel, c/o Hadassah Marcus, 980 Sixth Ave. 3rd Floor, NY, NY 10018 ("Central Fund" contributions go entirely to the earmarked charity with nothing taken out for overhead. Please mark the memo area: "Bat Ayin Katif refugees' caravan repair". Israel Tax Deductible Donations should be made out to "Lema'an Achai", earmarked "Gush Katif Fund", and sent to: Lema'an Achai (RBS), 40/7 Nachal Lachish, Ramat Beit Shemesh99093, ISRAEL. Secure Online Donations: Go to: http://www.lemaanachai.org/donate.asp#Online Credit Card Donations: Call (+972-2) 999.99.33 for Credit Card Donations 24 hours a day US Dollar Check requiring US Tax Deduction: Please make checks payable to: "American Friends of Lema'an Achai"; on Memo Line indicate: "Gush Katif Fund" c/o Simon Fleischer 35 West 96th St #1F, New York, NY10025 UK Tax Deductible Donations: should be made payable to "The Jewish Aid Committee" and mailed to Lema'an Achai (RBS) in Israel. Canadian Tax Deductible Donations: should be made payable to "Shaarei Tefillah" and mailed to Lema'an Achai (RBS) in Israel. Further information on what goods are needed are at the end of the letter. Start a drive in your synagogue, church or school - or among your bridge group. When you fill a box, ship it off, start another box -- These people have left with very little, let's not abandon them. Sometimes eloquence gets in the way. Here is a letter from a simple woman. This author asks for nothing, but I am asking that you all forward this email and more - contribute what you can to: DO YOU HEAR THEIR WEEPING Dear Family and Friends, Somewhere in Israel tonight, there is a woman whose life has been pretty much like mine. She's done laundry and shopping and picked the toys up from the floor hundreds of times. She's planned menus and welcomed guests, bandaged skinned knees and kissed away bad dreams. She's worked at home and perhaps outside it too. At the end of another day she's been tired, but thankful for her home, her husband and her children, thankful they've found a place to raise their family, to contribute to a community, to be. Sometimes people ask me what living in Israel is like, and I usually say it is like life anywhere: people work, drive carpool, check homework, make sandwiches for their kids, help their neighbors. These are the day-to-day things that we all take for granted.....until they're not there. Somewhere in Israel tonight there is a women whose life and the life of her family have been ripped apart. This morning her husband, who worked hard for many years planting and growing produce in a place where nothing grew before, had idle hands and a stunned look on his face. This morning her children asked again where they will go to school and why they can't go home and when will they have their own beds and their toys and their friends back. This morning her family was told they have a week to find somewhere else to go because the place they are now cannot keep them any longer. This morning a government official told them they will be charged fees for the removal of their belongings from their home, for the storage of those belongings, even for shutting off the electricity in a house that has already been reduced to rubble. This morning some commentators on TV and in the press called her and her family troublemakers, opportunists, anarchists and fanatics. This morning some politician said the government has provided every accomodation and even luxuries for this woman and her family, but she and her husband have refused it, so no one should feel sorry for them. Somewhere in Israel tonight there is a woman who worked hard to establish a home and family, who gave more to than she took from her community. Somewhere in Israel tonight there is a woman who thinks everyone has forgotten about her and her family, that everyone believes all is well and no one cares to hear anything different. She has no house, no home, no voice. Well I have a voice. No matter what side of the political fence you are on, no matter what your opinions on the policies and recent actions of the current Government, it is time to deal with the woefully inadequate, ill-planned, callous way the Jewish former residents of Gush Katif (Gaza) are being treated. You know me. You know I am not particularly political. Please believe me when I tell you that for that woman and her family, and 1700 families like them, things are not going at all well. Those families who left before the deadline are living in glorified tenement camps. Many of them arrived at their new "homes" to find raw sewage on the floors from unfinished drainage systems, no electricity, no roads, no place to buy milk. How big is your house? Can you imagine being moved to a house a quarter or a fifth of the size you have now and being told to be grateful for it? Can you imagine your whole neighborhood riding on a bus for six hours with no bathroom, arriving at some hotel and being turned away by the management because they know nothing of your arrival? Can you imagine being charged a ridiculously inflated rent for a place you've been moved to against your will? Can you imagine being forcibly seperated not only from your home but from the friends and neighbors you've depended on for years? I think you should know that the stress, trauma and uncertainty that these citizens are experiencing now is, in many ways, worse than anything they've gone through before. Please do not believe the party line you are hearing from government officials or the press. Please open your eyes and see what is going on. I did not write this to ask you to call anyone or contribute to any organizations. I am not suggesting you hold demonstrations or send out faxes. Somewhere in Israel tonight there is a woman lying awake in a crowded room, crying silent tears. The very least we can do is cry with her. I just thought you should know. Esther May Items to donate in Israel (as of August 23, afternoon) Also requested were NEW sweaters of all sizes for men, women and children, shoes for the children (coming up to fall and the kids need new shoes to replace their old sandals. Julie Sager jsager@zoa.org will tell you where to send shipments. Phone: 310.859.1948 Fax: 818.342.3115 Voicemail: 212.481.1500 Ext 231 Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). To Go To Top

JEWISH REFUGEES AND LEBANESE REFUGEES - A COMPARISON Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, August 26, 2005.

When PM Ehud Barak fled out of Lebanon in May 2000, the South Lebanese Army Commanders, allied with Israel, had barely 24 hours notice given to them by then Lt. General. Beni Gantz. In those 24 hours, 2000 families of the Lebanese Army were evacuated to Israel. There, an immediate tent city was set up, with all the amenities, namely, water, sewage, showers, high quality food, beds, things for their children and medical doctors were assigned on site. Very shortly after, they were transferred to kibbutzim where, again, the best of everything was provided. This was followed with generous payments monthly for a minimum of two years. This was despite the well-known fact that the Lebanese Army refugees made no secret of their contempt, even hatred, for Israel. The leading Lebanese Generals were paid up to $6,000 per month and given luxury apartment which they still occupy. BY COMPARISON Today's Israel Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon evicted all the Jews of Gush Katif/Gaza and 4 communities in Northern Samaria in 5 days. He deliberately provided nothing by way of pre-planned absorption. I call your attention to the following article from The Times of London of August 25, 2005 by Stephen Farrell and Marina McIntyre who, despite their well-known anti-Israel doctrine outlined the treatment Sharon has accorded to the Jews: "Israel's Wandering Jews Out In The Cold," is by Stephen Farrell in Netivot and Marina McIntyre in Jerusalem. It appeared in yesterday's The London Times. EVICTED from hotels, shunted into tent cities and standing forlornly on street corners shouting at passing cars, settlers from Gaza have become Israel's wandering Jews. Evoking sympathy and disapproval in equal measure from ordinary Israelis, the 9,000 evacuated settlers are still in shock, gradually absorbing the reality that waking up under canvas is their new life, not a summer camp. They are entitled to generous compensation but fewer than half have received any, and those who defied the deadline to leave last week will forfeit one third. The 800 settlers of Atzmona, who have insisted on staying together, are putting up a tent-and-caravan "city of faith" on an industrial estate in Netivot until they find somewhere more permanent. In the windless oven of a partially built warehouse, the settlement's advance party has erected tarpaulins and marquees, where children seek out the water-coolers while their parents commandeer side rooms for a synagogue and kindergarten. Dudi Raich, a community leader, said: "My life is in two cars now, one for moving around and the other with my things inside." Of Gaza's 1,700 families, about 1,000 are living in hotels across Jerusalem, Netanya, Beer Sheva and other towns, 150 are in a temporary camp at Nitzan and 100 in rented apartments. More than 400 have found their own solutions, including the settlers of Netzarim, who moved en masse to student dormitories in the West Bank settlement of Ariel. Sela, the government body that is in charge of organizing accommodation for the settlers, aims to move the 1,000 families who are in hotels within ten days, mostly into yet more temporary housing. Evacuees from Netzer Hazani have also moved from place to place. After a night of protesting at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, they moved to a hotel in the [occupied] Golan Heights but left after one night when it became fully booked. [Winston note: NOT occupied, LONDON TIMES characterization within a decent human article.] Anita Tucker said: "We're like nomads. We don't have a park bench to sleep on." A spokesman for the PLO said the idea that settlers were refugees "implies that they were legally there in the first place, and they were not". As I said in an earlier piece, it appears that Sharon only makes highly detailed attack plans against the settlers but, virtually no organized absorption plans - by intent! Apparently, the Jewish refugees from Arik's 5 day war were supposed to be kept "off-balance" so they could not organize to protest their despicable treatment or Sharon's next steps in evacuating the Jews of Judea and Samaria. I just spoke to Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Director of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations to determine if they were going to ask their member organizations to mount a humanitarian rescue effort. He assured me they would BUT that remains to be seen. IF the bumbling PM Barak could make provisions for 2000 Lebanese Army families, why could not the "brilliant" Sharon plan to absorb the Jews he forcibly kicked out of Gaza and destroyed their houses, farms, synagogues, schools, etc.? Even President Bush and Secretary Rice who, along with the State Department had their fingerprints all over Sharon's "Disengagement Plans" they could not possibly have wanted the spectacle of Jews made to wander like hoboes, with no place to sleep...or could they? The Jewish Federations are being called upon to raise money to ease the burden of the Sharon Blunder. Jewish organizations and synagogues are being called upon in what constitutes a horrible and embarrassing situation where our Wandering Jews must rely upon the kindness of strangers. I understand that Christian Evangelicals have taken notice of Sharon's evictions out of good houses to sleep "temporarily" in hotel rooms or tents. One sees no stories in the American Media, like that printed in The London Times of August 25th, giving a true picture of what's going on. In the CHICAGO TRIBUNE, for example, they showed a large, misleading photo of newlyweds of one evacuated settler (the bride) marrying a West Bank settler. The impression was all flowers, peace and love. The Trib didn't photo the settler families, jammed into hotels, where they were notified that they would be evicted (again) in days. The Trib attached the misleading photo with another article where Israel was seizing land to build a Defensive Wall/Fence against incoming suicide bombers. (Very similar to America's Fence and Border Guards against illegal aliens streaming in from Mexico.) Carefully managed and spun, it was a typical "Hate the Israelis" feature covering most of the page - very typical of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. They even had a small feature at the bottom about pets who were abandoned by the "negligent" settlers being rescued. The Sharon government is in an advanced state of denial as calls pour in, demanding that they do something. When the call is from an important American, the response out of Sharon's apparachicks is, "Just give us the name of the individual who is in trouble, and we will get right on it." In brief, they will not or cannot fix the problems for all displaced families and only want small problems. There are hot spots all over the country where tent cities are springing up because Sharon's government deliberately never addressed the absorption problem. People who just yesterday lived in a large proper house, with plumbing, have been thrown to the winds to satisfy the Bush-Rice- Sharon political needs to show theatrical progress in a region where fast is slow. Sharon has shamed the nation and the Jewish people and has shown a competence to attack but, not cure or care for his people. Throw the bum out. Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). To Go To Top

TO ERETZ YISRAEL PATRIOTS Posted by Yrachmiel Elias, August 26, 2005.

We need to focus on taking our country back and reconstructing it. The goal has to be not only to bring the government down but also to change the entire system to a real representative democracy in which we choose MK's in a winner-take-all district elections, in which judges are appointed by the executive branch with approval of the Knesset, in which it is understood that there are things that the government, and even the majority, may not do. The only game plan to accomplish this may be found at www.netzahyisrael.org and consists of an 8-point plan to create new institutions that will disperse power from the ruling Labor establishment. Each of the eight points is either a strategic point that needs to be strengthened or a loose thread in the fabric of the Israeli system. If we pull on them, the ruling establishment's control of the institutions of state will unravel like an old sweater. Real Jewish vision, Jewish faith and optimism and Jewish statecraft can then emerge with resolve and clarity. We need to stop going to useless demonstrations that only dissipate our energies and accomplish nothing. There are several reasons to demonstrate, in general. One is to call the government's attention to a problem, but that assumes the government cares. Another is to show the people in government that a proposed policy has broad popular support and implementing it will score the official a lot of political capital. That also assumes that the people in the government care. If the government believes it can act with impunity against the will of the people, then there is no point in such demonstrations. In that situation, any demonstration directed toward the government has to carry with it a threat. In a democracy, the threat is that we will turn the incumbent government out. In a parliamentary democracy, there is the additional threat that we will bring the government down in mid-term and replace it with a government led by the opposition. It is not clear if Israel was ever a democracy. It is not a democracy today. The media, the courts, the legal system, the Histadrut, the universities, the banking and capital system and the intellectual establishment in general, serve the left wing as slavishly as Pravda ever served Stalin. Those institutions function to ensure democracy only when the government is led by the right wing. The army and the police have also been thoroughly politicized to serve the left. In such circumstances, the only threat left is that the violence of the police will be met with massive violence by the public. The Arabs have prevailed over the government and the army because they have not hesitated to employ massive violence and to pit their own willingness to suffer casualties and imprisonment against the willingness of the Israeli soldiers and police to do the same and to suffer the universal opprobrium in the media and the diplomatic corps. Since Jews in Israel are unwilling to do that, there is no point in demonstrations directed toward the government. Rather, all demonstrations must be directed toward the public at large. I would emphasize, therefore, the need for dignity, probity and substance in these activities. Our weapons are truth and the patriotic love of our country and our people. The goal of this activity is to reach and persuade the population, not to alienate it by being hateful or undignified. We have had wonderful results from going out into the center of the country, knocking on doors and talking to people. The Orange folks have been marvelously effective talking to the soldiers, police, reporters and even the wives of the police. (Kol hakavod to whoever thought of that brilliant idea and to whoever revealed the home coordinates of the police operating in Gush Katif.) For another example, neighborhood seminars and meetings, sponsored by local residents can be effective in combating the sense of alienation from the demonstrators. Speakers should be introduced by the resident who invited that speaker. The goal is not to radicalize and exploit and that should be readily apparent. The goal is to harness and direct the anger and fear that so many feel and to get people up from in front of the TV news and out onto the streets. At this painful moment, let us remember Who gave us Eretz Yisrael. "The Eternal One of Israel never lies nor will He change his mind for He is not like a man that He should change his mind." (Samuel I 15:29 ), "Netzah Yisrael Lo Yeshaqer." This year in Jerusalem, for real. Prof. Jack Golbert, Attorney and Advocate, golbert@netzahyisrael.org Yrachmiel ben Menachem Mendel Elias, Action@netzahyisrael.org Yrachmiel Elias and Jack Golbert are cofounders of Netzah Yisrael. They can be reached at action@netzahyisrael.org To Go To Top

IDF Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, August 26, 2005.

Can anyone really believe that the IDF is now capable of defending Israel, of fighting a real war? While it is true that only a small number of soldiers had the courage to actively defy the Junta and its criminal activities, the vast majority of the of Jews, and probably Druzes as well, were against Sharon's Pogrom. When the real war starts up again in full force, will they be willing or even able to fight? Will they be capable of trusting or believing the officers that so cynically lied and manipulated them? Will a soldier facing our enemies be willing to sacrifice his life and future for a State that destroys its own people especially when he himself took part in that destruction? What will motivate them? Who will inspire them, be their role models, Omri Sharon? It is not the psychopathic YASAM units in their black, Nazi inspired, death uniforms that win or even fight wars. It is not the corrupt, hate filled and treasonous politicos that win or fight wars. It is not the babbling, ignorant media whores that win or fight wars. No, it is young men between the ages of 18-22 who fight and win wars. So what have they seen? * Arab terrorist allowed to murder Jews with impunity. * Those caught eventually freed to murder again. * Faithful and strong allies abandoned and destroyed in Lebanon. * Captured or wounded soldiers abandoned to the enemy. * Lives of soldiers deliberately endanger so as not to endanger the enemy. * Soldiers promoted, held back, demoted or punished on the basis of their religious, moral or political beliefs. * The full force of the Army used to exterminate Jewish communities at the very time that the Arab enemy is attacking those same communities. * The thousands of Jews refugees that they created having to wander from place to place in Israel while the Arab enemy is publicly celebrating and telling the world they will continue the war. So why will they fight? This is called "Indictment Served Against Officer for Refusal to Obey an Order" and comes from IDF Spokesperson's Office. It was reported in IMRA, and is archived at www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=26617. Contact IMRA at imra@netvision.net.il Yesterday, August 24th, 2005, an indictment was served in the central district military court, against an IDF officer with the rank of captain for the criminal offence of refusal to obey an order. A few days ago Commander of Company, "Tzama", a tactical engineering team, for the areas of Sumaria and Judea, refused to obey an order to take part in an operation in preparation for the implementation of the disengagement plan in northern Sumaria. The incident is to be transferred to the military prosecutors' office for an inquiry to decide whether or not to open a military police investigation with regards to the matter. The outcome of the inquiry will be included in the indictment against the officer, who will now be placed in the legal system to face up to the military court of law. The officer will remain in custody for another day. The IDF will continue to operate with decisiveness against all those, both in the compulsory service and the reserves, who refuse to obey orders. As difficult as their tasks may be, soldiers in the IDF are not permitted to choose their assignments, and are expected to carry them out without question. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. To Go To Top

THE PLO SHOWS HOW IT WILL RESPOND TO ISRAEL'S DISENGAGEMENT - WITH ROCKETS Posted by Steven Plaut, August 26, 2005.

1. The political line of the Israeli Left, and by that I mean also Ariel Sharon, has been that the unilateral capitulation of Isreal in Lebanon to the Hizbollah has "proved itself" and so should serve as the model for additional unilateral capitulations. After all, the Hizbollah is sitting quietly and not bombing Israel. All except for the fact that the Hizbollah is not sitting quietly and IS bombing Israel. So how do Sharon's people deal with this new aggression from the Hizbollah? By declaring that the rockets it is shooting into Israel are by accident (Haaretz today). I kid you not. Yesterday once again a Hizbollah rocket landed inside northern Israel. The Sharon people told the media that they believe this ws a mistake and accident on the part of the Hizbollers. 2. Meanwhile, it did not take long for the PLO to respond to Israeli cowardice and unilateral capitulation in Gaza. First, a British yeshiva student was murdered in Jerusalem. Then all week long Qassam rockets have been shot at Israeli civilian areas, with a bunch yesterday aimed at the Negev town of Sderot. And then there are the above-mentioned "accidental" rockets being fired at Israel from Lebanon. How surprising, declare the Lefties! How unexpected, declares Sharon. Israel has evicted all the settlers, and so what possible reason could the PLO and its affiliates have to attack Jews this week, wonder the lemmings in serendity. 3. http://moonbatcentral.com/wordpress/?p=976 "Say What? Anti-Semites? Who, Us Anti-Zionists?" (or, the mantra of the Counterpunch Cockroaches) Say, What? Anti-Semites? Who, us anti-Zionists? US? We have nothing against Jews as such. We just hate Zionism and Zionists. We think Israel does not have a right to exist. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. Heavens to Mergatroyd. Marx Forbid. We are humanists. Progressives. Peace lovers. Anti-Semitism is the hatred of Jews. Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism and Israeli policies. The two have nothing to do with one another. Venus and Mars. Night and Day. Trust us. Sure, we think the only country on the earth that must be annihilated is Israel. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. Sure, we think that the only children on earth whose being blown up is ok if it serves a good cause are Jewish children. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. Sure we think that, if Palestinians have legitimate grievances, this entitles them to mass-murder Jews. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. Naturally, we think that the only people on earth who should never be allowed to exercise the right of self-defense are the Jews. Jews should only resolve the aggression against them through capitulation, never through self-defense. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We only denounce racist apartheid in the one country in the Middle East that is NOT a racist apartheid country. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We refuse to acknowledge the Jews as a people, and think they are only a religion. We do not have an answer to how people who do NOT practice the Jewish religion can still be regarded as Jews. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We think that all peoples have the right to self-determination, except Jews, including even the make-pretend Palestinian "people", who do not even consider themselves a people. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We hate it when people blame the victims, except of course when people blame the Jews for the jihads and terrorist campaigns against them. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We think the only country in the Middle East that is a fascist anti-democratic one is the one that has free elections. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We demand that the only country in the Middle East with free speech, free press, or free courts be destroyed. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We oppose military aggression, except when it is directed at Israel. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We really understand suicide bombers who murder bus loads of Jewish children and we insist that their demands be met in full. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We think the only conflict on earth that must be solved through dismembering one of the parties to that conflict is the one involving Israel. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We do not think that Jews have any human rights that need to be respected and especially not the right to ride a bus or sit in a cafe without being murdered. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. There are Jewish leftist anti-Zionists and we consider these proof that anti-Zionists could not possibly be anti-Semitic. Not even the ones who cheer when Jews are mass murdered. These are the only Jews we think need be acknowledged or respected. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We do not think murder proves how righteous and just the cause of the murderer is, except when it comes to murderers of Jews. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We do not think the Jews are entitled to their own state and must submit to being a minority in a Rwanda-style "bi-national state", although no other state on earth, including the 22 Arab countries with twice the land mass of the United States, should be similarly expected to be deprived of sovereignty. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We think that Israel's having a Jewish majority and a star on its flag makes it a racist apartheid state. We do not think any other country having an ethnic-religious majority or having crosses or crescents or "Allah Akbar" on its flag is racist or needs dismemberment. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We condemn the "mistreatment" of women in the only country of the Middle East in which they are not mistreated. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We condemn the "mistreatment" of minorities in the only country in the Middle East in which minorities are NOT brutally suppressed and mass murdered. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We demand equal citizen rights, which is why the only country in the Middle East in need of extermination is the only one in which they exist. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. We have no trouble with the fact that there is no freedom of religion in any Arab countries. But we are mad at hell at Israel for violating religious freedom, and never mind that we are never quite sure where or when it does so. But that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. So how can you possibly say we are anti-Semites? We are simply anti-Zionists. We seek peace and justice, that's all. And surely that does not mean we have anything against Jews as such. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. To Go To Top

LETTER ON PHILADELPHI PERILS IN THE JERUSALEM POST CLIPPED Posted by Aaron Bashani, August 26, 2005.

The Letter As Published, Today, August 26: Sir, - Arieh O'Sullivan expertly reports on the proposed military withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor ("Steinitz slams Egyptian border deployment deal," August 25). He records the objections to Egypt's remilitarization of its border area and the danger of the increased flow into Gaza of arms, either smuggled or donated. The threats in abandoning Philadelphi are many beyond those cited by your reporter: -- the absurdity of an international border segment with a sovereign state (Egypt) on one side and (most likely) a terrorist entity on the other; -- Egypt's continuing failure to protect even its own territory from terrorism; -- the increased threat to Egypt itself from worldwide Islamist fanatics once it is portrayed as "Israel's protector"; -- the Egyptian temptation to exceed 750 "border guards" using the ready-made claim that they're not enough to do the job; -- the danger of armed confrontation with Egypt if and when the IDF returns to do the job itself at much greater cost in Israeli and Palestinian lives. The article points out that even if the agreement with Egypt receives Knesset approval, the IDF would not withdraw until year's end. Prime Minister Sharon will thus have time to consolidate his power before Philadelphi explodes in his face, and ours. Aaron Bashani Jerusalem Note that the following paragraph was excluded from the published letter: "Israel is now face-to-face with "the day after" withdrawal of all civilians and with the issue of its national security interests in the strategic Philadelphi corridor. If Sharon's Gaza policy is to work at all, then he must evacuate Philadelphi even if only for an Egyptian piece of paper. And here is the rub. If this international border segment should not be evacuated, then there will have been little justification for abandoning Gush Katif, that border's vital hub at the sea, far from a million Arabs to the north. Many may begin to ask, why the future of Philadelphi wasn't tied up before Gush Katif was turned into rubble." To Go To Top

THE MAKING OF A MILITANT - A YOUNG BOY JOINS ISLAMIST EXTREMIST OUTFIT Posted by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, August 26, 2005.

This was written by Anwar Ali of Rajshahi. Rubel, a boy of Dharampur in the city, went missing just after registering for SSC examinations in 2002. His ill-fated parents, after a frenzied haunt, soon learned that he joined Hizbut Tawhid, an Islamic extremist outfit. Six months later, Rubel was brought back home from Dhaka following pressure from an influential local leader. But soon after, Rubel asked his mother to again let him go. "What if I die at home? Is it not better I die establishing Islam?" Hizbut Tawhid Rajshahi divisional chief Rabiul Islam and his deputy Piarul (also Rubel's brother-in-law) persuaded him to go to Dhaka for 'Hizraat' (migration for religion). Rubel is now engaged in an 'early stage of Jihad' while working undercover as a mechanic at an electric workshop of a top Hizb leader at Jatrabari in Dhaka. His mother cried while narrating his story to this correspondent and sought help to get her son back. Hizbut Tawhid, despite having a track record of militancy stretching back to 2003, has been allowed to operate freely until now. According to local Hizb leaders, groups of 6 to 11 'skilled mujahids' are operating in almost every district in the country to persuade youths like Rubel to join in the preparation for an armed Jihad and to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh. Apart from their networks with extremists in India, Pakistan and the United States, they have also many rich people in Bangladesh to fund their cause, sources inside the organisation say. Hizbut Tawhid aimed at Jihad "We are now at a primary level of Jihad and limit our work to awareness building and seeking new mujahids (religious warriors)," Rajshahi chief Rabiul Islam told this correspondent. "Enemies of Muslims are oppressing us all over the world. There is no alternative to Jihad. But the appropriate time has still not come. However, joining our group, one should be ready for sacrificing his life and property," he explained when asked for the reasons behind their activities. "It is not very far when we will ask the government to run the country under Islamic law. If they can not, we will ask them to hand over power to us. If they don't, we will tell them that they will face a war, which we will wage," said the divisional operations commander, Altaf Hossain. "We will have our 'trained mujahids' everywhere by that time to force the government to do as we say," the 55-year-old continued as this correspondent, posing as a new recruit, interviewed him near his Char Kajla house in the city a few weeks ago. Altaf Hossain worked for Jamaat-e-Islam party for eight years before he joined Hizbut Tawhid. "Our Imam (Panni who is already criticised widely for his controversial book -'This Islam is not the Islam') is writing a new book to jolt the world soon, detailing our real targets," he added. Asked about joining as mujahids in other countries, he said, "You (this correspondent) can go wherever you wish, even in America. We get everything we need for Islam..." "You will get our mujahids at every district. Senior mujahids are sent to some districts to collect and train people. Six rich men from Kushtia were sent to Natore recently. They started living ther; three of them pull rickshaws while the rest do work for Islam alternatively," said Altaf. The militant activities in Rajshahi division are normally controlled from Kushtia, where their stronghold lies, they said. In Rajshahi city, their strongholds are Auctroy intersection, Dharampur, Char Kajla areas. According to Altaf, the militants in Rajshahi are guided by an 11-member team headed by Rabiul Islam of Sakopara of Motihar thana in the city. Locals suspect them of being armed Local people of the area told this correspondent that the group has been active since 2000. But from 2003 their operations have become open and more aggressive. They freely talk about armed Islamic revolution. They go out to a new village every Friday, said a source, adding that poor youths receive financial help if they join. Some also receive a cell phone. Many young people join the group, disobeying their parents, and some of the area-dwellers believe that many of them have firearms. "They are touts and work on hire. Some of them were arrested in other districts before. They must have arms, as they do not care for the local armed cadres of other parties," said a resident of Dharampur, a virtual hideout for criminals. Hizb leaflet & Programmes The Daily Star obtained the outfit's 48-page programme paper, which outlined its five-point mission for 'real Islam', including obeying one Imam, Hizraat, and the need for Jihad. 'After swearing in Tawhid (the sovereignty of Allah), the best work is to fight for establishing the rule of Allah'. 'Only a Jihad can establish Islam in the world', the booklet says. The group criticises the work of existing Imams and acknowledged Islamic scholars, according to local people, who reported seeing the militants scuffling with Imams of mosques in the local areas. Previous militant records Hizbut Tawhid militants clashed with madrassa students at Poradaha railway station of Mirpur upazila in Kushtia, leaving 45 injured on September 9 in 2003, when some 15 militants were calling upon people to join a Jihad. Police arrested 13 militants, but they were later released. A hizb leader's wife was killed and many other people injured in Jugia of Kushtia on September 13 when madrassa students attacked them for circulating leaflets. On September 19, police raided a secret meeting and arrested 14 operatives in Kushtia town. Police seized a large number of leaflets from their possession. On July 3, 2003, Police and Bangladesh Rifles in a joint raid arrested 14 Hizb operatives from the Borobazar in Kushtia town and seized leaflets from them. Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is a journalist, columnist, author, amd editor of "Weekly Blitz". Email him at salahuddinshoaibchoudhury@yahoo.com To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF Posted by Mitchell Finkel, August 26,2005.

We have wandered into a wilderness of despair, a purgatory thick with peril. Our once glorious anthems now toll like sullen dirges and our sacred texts seem to have lost their salience. We have been wounded. Our grief is beyond measure. "Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners" (Book of Lamentations, 5:2).It is more than our hearts can bear, more than our conscience will allow. The expulsion of our brethren from Gaza and the Shomron is an event without parallel but not without consequences. It was and will be remembered as a desperate attempt by a small band of believers to alter the course of our history. There is a need to mark these days of shame and sorrow. There is a need to inscribe this grave transgression on our collective memory. Perhaps the catharsis of mourning can lessen our sense of bereavement. Perhaps the solemnities of mourning can help us reflect on the enormity of the catastrophe that has befallen us. It is memory that gives mourning its poignancy and it is mourning that sanctifies our memories. So let us mourn and let us remember. Let us mourn for our waning past and let us remember our wavering future. In our calendar of terror and torment, the Ninth of Av, Tisha b'Av, is probably the only day of the year that can possibly accommodate the heartless expulsion we have just witnessed in Gaza and the Shomron. Contact Mitchell Finkel at mitchellfinkel18@aol.com To Go To Top

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER LIE Posted by Marlene Young, August 25, 2005.

Reuters, CNN, FoxNews say that Gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world. THEY ARE WRONG! Population Density (persons/sq. mile): Gaza 8666 District of Columbia 9176 Gibraltar 11,990 Singapore 17,751 Hong Kong 17,833 Monaco 41,608 Macau 71,466 Cairo 82,893 Calcutta 108,005 Manila 113,810 (Sources - Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2004-2005, Tables 18 and 1321; Demographia -- Population Density: Selected International Urban Areas and Components ) Dr. Freddy Maier To Go To Top

HAREDI ALMOST 20 PERCENT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, August 25, 2005.

Just in case you were wondering why there is such a hysterical rush to destroy the country and give it to the Arabs, now you know. Arafat, YSVZ, use to say; "First the Saturday people and then the Sunday people." The EREV RAV says; "First the knitted Kippot and then the black ones." The majority of Jews in Israel today are religious and most of the minority are traditional. There is at the most 15% and probably closer to 10% of the Jewish population that are hard core, anti-Torah CHILLONIM. It is also important to remember that while the Haredi birthrate is the highest amongst the Jews, the National Religious community's is not all that far behind. Between the two communities, that is the Jewish future of Israel. Within the next five or so years religious Jews will be the absolute majority in Israel. By the end of the next generation, there will be no non-religious Jews in Israel. Now you really know. This was a news item in today's Arutz Sheva - www.IsraelNationalNews.com. It is archived at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=88692 (IsraelNN.com) Children from ultra orthodox (Haredi) families make up nearly 20 percent of the 1,754,000 children who will start the new school year next week after the summer vacation. The Central Bureau of Statistics has estimated that each year the number of new ultra orthodox students increases by 10 percent while the increase from the secular community is half of one percent. Haredi children average will make up one quarter of the school age population by 2009, according to the projections. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. To Go To Top

THE DELUSION OF HUGGING THE EXPULSION FORCES AS POSITIVE Posted by Marlene Young, August 25, 2005.

Supposed "moving stories" are being passed around the Internet of Jews being expelled praying and hugging the IDF soldiers sent to expel them, and being used by commentators and promoted as a positive model for resistance. I must press upon you the folly, the danger, of such an attitude. Those who fall into Sharon's trap and spread the deluded notion that "violent" resistance was shameful, and that hugging and praying with Sharon's expulsion forces was good and accomplished something, are setting themselves up for the next expulsion, and are in fact speeding up the next expulsion. Part and parcel of the Disengagement Plan was the strategic tactic of defining and controlling the resistance that those who were to be forcefully expelled would be allowed to do. Sharon and his accomplices Mofaz, Peres, Weisglass and AG Mazuz knew that a true resistance by the Jewish citizens could not be overcome by Sharon. The Liberal Leftist media was used to portray any resistance as "extremist" and protestors as "violent" crossing "all red lines". Red Lines? The Expulsion Plan crossed all Red Lines! Please - Snap out of the Leftist media delusion - Sharon, the PA and the EU were the violent extremists who cleverly sent the IDF "brothers" with the brutal Yassam Police forces to carry out this immoral Expulsion! Sharon used the IDF and Yassam Police Forces as a Political Paramilitary Expulsion Force to fulfill the aims of the EU, the Quartet and the Arab world, and to enrich Leftist financial interests, and then had the gaul to instruct the Jewish victims that they dare not resist against their "IDF brothers" that Sharon hijacked to use against them. The Yesha Leaders were, to be generous, unwittingly used to coordinate with the Police, IDF and Mofaz on every act of "resistance" they would be "allowed" to take. All mass rallies were held BEFORE the Disengagement, not during, which could have prevented it! They coordinated in the disarming of all the Jewish citizens in the communities slated for destruction, based on an imbalanced lone gunman who Sharon managed not to arrest even as he arrested a thousand "settler extremists", including kids. Not one, not one, PA terrorist has been disarmed in violation of all Accords and the Roadmap, but Sharon, as part of the "Disengagement" accomplished the disarming of thousands of law-abiding citizens in Israel, and the portrayal of Rightist and Religious Israeli citizens protesting their expulsion as "dangerous". Listen carefully: A neighborhood in which Jews are convinced to cry and hug those sent to expel them will be quickly expelled again and again.A neighborhood in which every single law-abiding Jewish citizen was armed and demanded new elections and investigations of those involved in the Expulsion Plans could never be destroyed and expelled. Never. It is time to free yourself from the propagandist War being waged by Sharon and the Leftist media. Sharon, as a puppet of the EU, the Quartet, and the Left, sent The IDF Brothers - as an Expulsion Force. They were not sent to sing, pray and play chess. They were not there for Shabbat dinner. They were sent on a mission of destruction and expulsion. That was the trick- Sharon kept saying to the Jewish Settlers, "don't fight them! They are your brothers!". All of us, united with the the Jewish citizen Settlers should have responded en masse, "Then DON"T SEND THEM, SHARON, TO EXPEL US, WITH THE BRUTAL YASSAM POLICE FORCES! We WILL fight, We WILL resist, We will defend our rights to live in Jewish communities as law-abiding citizens anywhere in the world, and especially in the Land of Israel!" Contact Marlene Young by email at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com To Go To Top

AFSI CHIZUK TRIP TO AID JEWISH REFUGEES & CELEBRATE CHAYE SARAH Posted by Helen Freedman, August 25, 2005.

Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI worked long and hard to prevent the cruel, illogical, and dangerous expulsion of the Jews from Gush Katif/Gaza and the N. Shomron. We campaigned, protested, went to Washington, wrote letters, organized demonstrations, parlor meetings, synagogue programs, raised money, and most important of all - we were there! Over a period of ten years we have visited all the communities of Gush Katif/Gaza and those in Judea and Samaria. We know the people, have sat in their homes and synagogues, eaten with them, been lodged in their field houses and hotels, and enjoyed the warmth and hospitality that has endeared all our participants to the Jews of YESHA. We are now aware of the fact that all the families of Gush Katif/Gaza are now refugees in their own land. We also know that the residents of Sanur and Homesh are also homeless and part of the ongoing saga of the WANDERING JEW. AFSI's intention on this November mission is to visit the refugees in the communities in which they may find themselves. At this point it is all very nebulous since the Sharon government, which conducted a brilliant military action against their own people, neglected to use that same efficiency and organizational skills to arrange for the aftermath of the expulsion - the basic humanitarian needs of the evacuees. At this point, we believe that the Negev may prove to be the new home for many of the evacuees, so we have drawn up a tentative schedule: Sunday, Nov. 20 - Depart Newark airport on El Al at 2: 30 PM Monday, Nov. 21 - Arrive in Israel in the morning and depart immediately for the Negev. Stay over Monday and Tuesday nights in the Negev region. Arrange visits and special programs with the refugees. Wednesday - Nov. 23 - Continue visiting the refugees of Gush Katif. Drive to Jerusalem in the evening for check-in to the Kings Hotel. Thursday - Nov. 24 - Ascend the Har Habayit - Meet with Knesset members, and refugee representatives - tour East Jerusalem sites, Maale-Adumim, and Kever Rachel Friday - Nov. 25 - Leave for Kiryat Arba/Hebron, stopping in Gush Etzion communities Housed in Yeshivat Kiryat Arba where Rav Waldman is Rosh Yeshiva. He will tell us about his experiences as a resident of Sanur before and during the expulsion. Services at the Maarat HaMachpela in honor of Chaye Sarah. Shabbat - Nov. 26 - Chaye Sarah services at Maarat HaMachpela with thousands of participants from all over Israel and the world. Tour of Hebron during the afternoon. Return to Jerusalem and the Kings hotel at the conclusion of Shabbat. Sunday, Nov. 27 - Full day in Jerusalem. Continue with tours, visits with VIP's, gala farewell dinner and departure for the airport at 8:30 PM for midnight flight to Newark, arriving early Monday morning, Nov. 28. This is a very popular mission, unique in its travels to the disputed areas of Israel. We have the best guides and travel in an armored bus with the best drivers. The cost of the trip is $2000 plus airport taxes and additional costs for non-members, single occupancy and other personal preferences. A deposit of $250 is required by Thursday, Sept. 7. It is totally refundable up to Sept. 19, and non-refundable after that. You may make your check out to AFSI or call in with your charge card information. If you are at all interested in joining the AFSI Chizuk mission, you are advised to sign up immediately. Do not delay. We have a limited number of spaces available and must close registration beyond that point. Please contact AFSI at 212-828-2424; afsi@rcn.com. We look forward to welcoming you to the AFSI traveling family. Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI is a pro-active pro-Israel advocacy group. AFSI may be contacted by mail at 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128 (Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717); by email at afsi@rcn.com; or by accessing its website: www.afsi.org. Helen Freedman is Executive Director. To Go To Top

NEW ISRAEL FUND FELLOWSHIP PROMOTES THE AGENDAS OF ICAHD AND ISM Posted by NGO Monitor Organization, August 25, 2005.

SUMMARY: Joseph (Joe) Berman, the recipient of a 10-month New Israel Fund/Shatil Social Justice Fellowship, has utilized this backing to promote radical agendas of NGOs such as the ISM and ICAHD. In the ICAHD framework, Berman runs "tours" for groups linked to War on Want and the International Committee of Ramallah Friends. He consistently presents the Palestinian narrative, used to justify the divestment and boycott campaigns directed against Israel, while ignoring the context of the Palestinian incitement and terrorism. This is another example of the inconsistency between NIF's rhetoric and the agenda pursued by officials. A number of examples have highlighted the inconsistency between the New Israel Fund's mission statement emphasizing social objectives, and some of its funding activities for NGOs and individuals with highly politicized and conflictual agendas. In April 2005, NIF responded to a detailed NGO Monitor analysis on its funding for Shamai Leibowitz (an advocate of sanctions against Israel) by publicly disassociating the organization from the activities of this grantee. Similarly, NIF officials sought to distance themselves from the actions of the Arab Association for Human Rights (for which NIF serves as a conduit for designated donations), in promoting the anti-Israel divestment campaign. Despite declarations acknowledging that such agendas are "inconsistent with those of NIF and ... not helpful to the causes NIF seeks to promote", this policy has not changed. Beginning in the Fall of 2004, NIF awarded a 10-month grant to Joseph (Joe) Berman, in the form of a New Israel Fund/Shatil Social Justice Fellowship in memory of the late Richard J. Israel, who served for many years as the Hillel rabbi at Yale University and UCLA. The fellowships honor Rabbi Israel's "social and Jewish values in Israel" by providing an "in-depth learning experience" and enabling recipients to "contribute their talents towards furthering social justice in Israel." Fellows receive a stipend to work for 32 hours per week in an Israeli not-for-profit framework, focusing their activities on areas of social concern such as "pursuing environmental justice," "advancing the status of women," and "fostering tolerance and religious pluralism." Under this NIF fellowship, Berman's activities took place in the political frameworks of the International Solidarity Movement and Jeff Halper's ICAHD framework, which uses terms such as "apartheid" and "war crimes" to refer to Israeli policy against Palestinian terror, supports a "one state solution", and advocates sanctions and boycotts. NIF had previously supported ICAHD directly, but after this NGO's anti-Israel agenda and rhetoric were highlighted, this open funding was halted. Fellowships for interns provide the means for subsidizing ICAHD's work indirectly. Berman's role was documented by other activists, as well as by his own internet blog contributions. A posting on the Orthodox Anarachist blog states: "My flatmate Joseph, who is a New Israel Fund fellow, regularly gives tours of certain areas of East Jerusalem and the West Bank as part of his responsibilities as a volunteer with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions..." (This report includes photos of the Israeli separation "wall" and of other tour highlights.) Another website posts a report from a participant in one of Berman's Ramallah tours, sponsored by ICAHD According to this source, Berman lives in Ramallah with other radical activists. These include "an Israeli named 'Laser,' who is a member of the Israeli group, 'Anarchists Against the Wall,' and Lisa, a member of the International Solidarity Movement." Some of the participants in Berman's activities were part of the "Birthright unplugged" movement which was developed in cooperation with the International Solidarity Movement with the goal of showcasing the "Palestinian narrative" of the conflict to Jewish students. In March 2005, Berman led a tour of East Jerusalem for the International Committee of Ramallah Friends, a group of pro-Palestinian Quakers based in Baltimore in the US. The official summary noted that "Our guide was Joseph Berman, American born Jew, on the staff of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions." Based on Berman's presentations, this summary focused on "the Wall", which was described as "the last attempt of the Israeli authorities to destroy not only the land, but to destroy the economy, culture, and the social structure of Palestinian society". Following the same political line, in June 2005, Berman spoke to Anglican participants of an Amos Trust Pilgrimage to the Holy Land "about prayer and how it really sustains him after a demo or after he had been tear-gassed, or seen Palestinians shot with rubber bullets". Berman also led a tour for the Scottish band, Belle and Sebastian, in cooperation with the UK-based NGO War on Want. (In August 2005, WoW received a warning from the Charities Commission regarding its radical political activities.) An article by Nick Dearden (WoW's senior campaign officer) describes how Berman "showed us the Jerusalem settlements from a Palestinian basketball court, the end of which had been demolished, for no apparent reason other than to ensure the local kids had no sports ground to play on. He told us that settlement expansions were often built on top of bulldozed Palestinian homes. He repeated the words of an Anata resident, whose house has been demolished four times: 'It is a quiet transfer policy, such actions say one thing: Leave this place.'" (("Heroes on the Faultline of the Global Apartheid", Counterpunch, June 10/12, 2005) [An advertisement for the book 51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis, written by Lenni Brenner, appears on the same page with this article]. Berman's own internet contributions provide direct evidence of his agenda. On the jewschool.com blog, Berman wrote a laudatory posting about ICAHD support for anti-Israel sanctions. And in a December 2004 article posted on the ICAHD website Berman described his work on behalf of ICAHD in detail, presenting a standard Palestinian perspective and narrative, while again erasing the context of the terrorism campaign that resulted in the Israeli government's policies. This evidence regarding NIF's funding policies speaks for itself. And the implications are important, not only in view of NIF's past record of support for the political agendas of NGOs, but also in evaluating its $20 million partnership with the Ford Foundation. Following the response to Ford's direct responsibility for funding many of the NGOs that led the 2001 Durban conference and anti-Israel demonization campaign, this organization issued new guidelines to avoid similar abuses. NIF donors and board members might now discuss creating their own guidelines and mechanisms for preventing the funding of extremist political activities. They might also consider the fundamental inconsistency between Richard Israel's legacy and the agenda promoted through the NIF fellowship in his name and awarded to Joseph Berman. The NGO Monitor organization (www.ngo-monitor.org) promotes critical debate and accountability of human rights NGOs in the Arab Israeli Conflict. Note that the original article contained dynamic links to additional material - see http://www.ngo-monitor.org. To Go To Top

JEWS' CONTEMPT FOR JEWS Posted by Beth Goodtree, August 25, 2005.

How could the majority of Jewish Israelis want to turn their fellow Jews into homeless refugees? How could this same majority turn on their fellow Jews while giving aid and support to such people as Indonesia's tsunami victims who, in better times, have and continue to, vociferously voice their hatred of Jews and Israel? It all boils down to one word: contempt. And the contempt is from both camps of Jews -- the ultra-orthodox and the less observant and secular. I am a secular Jew, although I am neither atheistic nor agnostic. But if I go to temple, it's a rare event. I also wear shorts in warm weather. Does this make me less of a Jew? Not to me, and certainly not to Hitler or his ilk, who would kill me just as fast as he killed the yarmulke-wearing, black coated ultra-Orthodox However, among some (not all) of the ultra-Orthodox Jews, I have often experienced contempt for my lack of observancy. I even get hate-filled emails about it. Nor am I alone in being on the receiving end of this contempt. When I have been with other seculars or less observant Jews while among the ultra-Orthodox and Chassidim, I have noticed that these less observant Jews are often pressured into becoming more observant. They are scorned and shunned if they stand up for their rights to worship or not as they choose. And this attitude has apparently had a backlash regarding the expulsions from Gaza and the West Bank. In discussing the expulsions with Israelis visiting in America, the ones who have been in favor of it are the seculars and less religious, but not for the reasons that have been put forth. When asked why they favored the expulsions, the seculars will initially give the standard line of peace, security and economy, but when pushed, they will tell their true feelings. Israeli Jews who are non-observant or less observant than their hyper-critical ultra-Orthodox brethren, are very aware of the contempt which some of ultra-Orthodox Jews have for them. They have been made to feel like they are less Jewish and less worthy by these people. So when pushed for the real why they were all for the expulsion, the Israelis I spoke with would tell me that they felt abused by the ultra-Orthodox settlers (unfortunately lumping all religious Jews into one group). The seculars and less observant Israelis felt that they were giving large amounts of taxes and even their children, to defend people who had utter contempt for them. Therefore it is no wonder that so much of the Israeli public was all for the expulsion. Call it payback and call it consumerism. They wanted their tax dollars and their children's lives to help and support people who are not contemptuous of them. However, the seculars and less observant Jews are also guilty of several instances of contempt. Firstly, their contempt for some of the ultra-Orthodox settlers may be at best, understandable (although having them turned into homeless refugees is utterly inhumane), the secular Jews have unjustly painted all religious Jews with the same brush. Many religious Jews are not contemptuous of their less-observant brethren, instead welcoming and accepting them for whom they are. A prime example of this is Moshe Feiglin and his party, Manhigut Yehudit. Feiglin and his party support and welcome all Jews, with no ulterior motive of turning the seculars into more observant people or imposing Orthodox rules upon them. Two examples of Manhigut Yehudit's respect for seculars are Feiglin's following proposals: 1.) Make the army completely optional, so that those people who do not want to defend certain segments of the Israeli population aren't forced to do so. 2.) No religious laws at all within the government, just some basic education about Judaism in the schools, since Israel is a Jewish State. Unfortunately for the residents of Gaza, the secular Jewish segment's reactive contempt for those few hateful among all the ultra-Orthodox Jews who have demonized them was misplaced. It was cast upon the religious Jewish settlers who embrace all Jews and do not wish to impose their beliefs and practices upon others. A leader in the Manhigut Yehudit party wrote me the following in an email, which proved to me that Feiglin, a settler, supports the secular segment of the Israeli population and understands their grievances with some of the ultra-Orthodox: "Just because they wear kippahs, beards and tzitzits doesn't make them a good person. And it doesn't mean they are anything more than "practitioners of Jewish ritual." The secular Jews of Israel must put aside their contempt and not judge all who look similar to be alike. It's the only enlightened and humane thing to do. nize us as equal or in some cases, even legitimate. Where did this contempt of self come from? I am certain that for each person there is a unique reason, but I know of several general reasons that probably helped it along. Lack of education about the goals of our enemies as well as lack of education about being Jewish -- who we are and what we have suffered merely for our beliefs. Each Jew who is alive today is living because their ancestors had a faith and a dream that could not be extinguished, whether they were gassed with Zyklon B, burned alive at the stake, dismembered, crushed to death, blown up by Arabs/Muslims wearing bomb belts containing shards of metal dipped in poison or murdered by a thousand other tortures meant to utterly wipe out any and all Jews from the face of the planet, secular or religious. The day we give up our history and the land in which it resides, is the day that the forces of evil will be given the keys to implement the "Final Solution," so often dreamed of by not just Hitler, but the Arab/Muslim world's former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. This is the same one who gave Hitler numerous suggestions on better ways to exterminate all Jews more efficiently and passed his hatred of the Hebrew people down to the Arabs now clamoring for ancient and aboriginal Jewish land. In relinquishing our ancient homeland of Gaza and parts of the West Bank, which had been lovingly preserved for all Jews by the brave and pioneering mostly observant segment, we have turned over our ancient history to the newcoming and usurping Arabs. We have given them the ammunition to delegitimize all of Israel and all Israelis. So to the seculars I ask, when (not if) this happens, was it worth it? Are you so angry at the small group of hateful Jews that you are willing to give up your birthright and maybe even your country and any legitimacy you may have as Israelis? Are you willing to give ammunition to an enemy who wants you utterly destroyed because you are a Jew, just to get back at a few haters who are practitioners of Jewish ritual only, yet follow a creed of hatred more akin to radical Islam? And to those (not all) ultra-Orthodox who are contemptuous of your less religious brethren, I ask several questions: Why do you treat your fellow Jews with scorn and contempt? Why do you often pressure them to be more observant or risk being demonized by you? Is this not as bad as someone from another religion pressuring you to convert? What ever happened to respecting others? Why not welcome all Jews for whom they are and not what you think they should be? Has it never occurred to you that by your very behavior, you are achieving the very opposite to your goals -- instead of uniting Jews, you are dividing them? What would G-d think about a Jew who demonizes and marginalizes another Jew? And to all of you I say, no matter what kind of Jew you are, because you were born of Jewish parentage, there are those in the world who will dance, cheer, shoot guns in the air and hand out candy at your death -- preferably a grisly, horrific one. If we are to survive as a people, we must resolve this rift between us, and the rift within ourselves. [Author's correction and update, August 29, 2005: "Regarding Manhigut Yehudt's and Feiglin's positions: 'Manhigut Yehudit's position on Jewish Law is to strengthen Jewish Identity by teaching all of our children a Love of Torah and knowledge of the mitzvot, a Love of Eretz Yisrael, and a Love of all Jews. After the children receive this education, it is up to them as to how they use it, as Manhigut Yehudit will not impose religious laws.'" The quote, I have since learned, was from someone who erroneously represented himself as being in Manhigut Yehudit's leadership and therefore may or may not be representative of Manhigut's stance. To see Manhigut Yehudit's stances on various issues, go to http://www.jewishisrael.org/] Beth Goodtree is an award-winning writer who lives in the NYC metro area. She writes political commentary/analysis, and the occasional science and humor articles. To Go To Top

EURO-SENSITIVITY BRAINSTORM!! Posted by Steven Plaut, August 25, 2005.

Posted by Plaut's Complaint @ Thursday 25 August 2005, 1:16 am The Wall Street Journal reports on the newist Moonbat concept in sensitivity training. Sensitivity patrols of PC stormtroopers? Old hat! This new idea comes direct from Sweden. The idea is for public lending libraries to lend out midgets, homosexuals, people with AIDS, and others whom the general reading public is in desperate need to get to know better on a personal level. That's right, grasshopper. In Malmo, Sweden, a homosexual, an imam and a gypsy walk can be borrowed -yes, borrowed - from the local library for a 45-minute chat in a nearby pub as part of an effort to fight discrimination. Ullah Brohed pioneered the "Living Library" project earlier this month. "You sometimes hear people's prejudices and you realize that they are just uninformed," she says. And since a library exists to educate, she decided to give Swedish bigots the opportunity to come face to face with the prejudice of their choice. The Malmo library also offers a Danish man (since some Swedes and Danes don.t get along too well) and, to our great embarrassment, even a journalist. "Maybe not all journalists are know-it-all and sensationalist," Ms. Brohed says. A library in the Dutch city of Almelo also plans to start its own human lending program next month. Its lending library will include a gay man, a Muslim, a gypsy, a politician, a hard-drug user, a gay woman and a German. Here are some things NOT being offered up for lending by those libraries: 1. A US Marine 2. A Zionist 3. A neocon 4. A patriot 5. A married hetero 6. A believer in God 7. An anti-communist 8. A Jewish Settler 9. A rightwing American radio jockey 10. An evangelical Christian 2. "Scenes From the Disengagement" by Fiamma Nirenstein, URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/19159 This is not a political piece about disengagement; this is an attempt to find for me and for you some consolation after what we have seen in Gush Katif. This consolation I found in the unique strength of the democracy in Israel. First, it's not for a journalist to confess that sometimes words are not enough to express what you have seen, certainly not for somebody who has gone through a lot of terrorism and wars as I have. But after this week in Gaza, I'm afraid I'm not nearly able to tell the story: the tears and cries of the settlers losing their homes and their greenhouses, their schools and synagogues, their friends and their neighbors, the beauty of their sea and the heroism of resisting the loss of their beloved in terrorist attacks for something that now doesn't exist anymore, the end of their Zionist dream of making the Gaza dunes blossom, the disappearance of the entire meaning of their life in the hands of their Jewish compatriots, the silent pain and the shouting rage. But I can give you a hint by recalling a man from the Matzilia family who had just set on fire his own beautiful two-story villa adorned with purple bougainvillea and acacias, the fire coming out from doors, windows, and attics, his family standing on the inflamed roof, and he was there, at my feet, lying down in front of his door face down, a peace of earth himself, his old father trying to turn him around and give him some water. I can recall a 10-year-old boy pushing a big soldier out from his door, arms outstretched to the big man's chest, glasses going down on a little nose full of freckles and tears, asking, "Please not my home, not my mom"; and in the evening the same boy, going around alone among the empty houses and mumbling, "I want to go home," while all the buses were leaving forever his birthplace, Morag. I can remember a group of residents of Netzer Hazani, while an enormous bulldozer enters the settlement, destroying the barricades set on fire and proceeds rolling over the marvelous grass that will return to sand in a second, crying to the sky, "Adonai, Adonai," as if God could suddenly wake up and operate the miracle they had been expecting in vain for months. It's hard to say, but it was difficult to avoid thinking about the never ending suffering of the Jews all along the centuries when the soldiers had to drag from their synagogues many crying old men wrapped in their prayer shawls while they kept reading their prayer books. And there has been much more. But here is the consolation that came to me, even in those hours, from the mere nature of the state of Israel, in the shape of its unique and amazing creation, its soul, the Israel Defense Force and the police. The amazingly sweet, understanding, and yet firm, professional, and morally clear attitude of the Israeli soldiers and policemen created a sincere, warm but uncompromising relationship with the very people they were removing. This will be forever an example for all the armies of the world. And a guarantee that, in a democracy, you can continue speaking and protesting and praying (oh, how many words were spent from the two sides, as if a single soldier who refused the orders could stop the disengagement) without shooting and using force, except in very few cases. The disengagement has been the image of a morally motivated democracy in motion. In Netzer Hazani, where the disengagement was relatively calm, there was a group of citizens who barricaded themselves inside a little house. The young commander, Udi Lav, invited them to discuss outside: "You have to come out now. I have the order to operate the disengagement, and sooner or later, today, I have to fulfill the orders." Reply: "But this is the home we have built with our own hands, our forefathers were here, what will you tell your sons, will you tell them the story of how you dragged out your Jewish brothers from the land they have given so many lives for?" Lav, standing in the very hot sun, putting a hand on the shoulder of his interlocutor, answers: "Brother, I understand you, but you have to come out of here, I'm so sorry, I cry with you, but now it's time to go." Lav looks tired and keeps his hand on the shoulder of the settler. Reply: "You know I'll not go, because I'm right, and I obey to the Law." Here Lav has a little smile. He puts his hand on the Israeli flag embroidered on his shirt and says in a soft voice: "You know that I'm right. I'm simply right because it's me actually, obeying the law, I represent law and order, I represent a decision of the parliament of the state of Israel, you cannot mix politics and religion." He says it without any rhetoric, but just as a matter of fact. There is no place for theocracy when you live in a parliamentary system, and this has nothing to do with respecting every citizen's belief. That young guy in uniform sweating in the sun is a flashing light of democracy, and I feel honored to have witnessed the dialogue. Even his interlocutor now stands in silence, even if he certainly still believes that the Torah is over anything else. But he too is just an Israeli, like Lav. And Lav, with his respectful attitude, shows that he knows that without the Torah, the Jews and therefore the Jewish state would not exist. They both know they have very good reasons to stand together in front of the past and in front of the future. Many soldiers discussed for long hours with the families, until they were able to help carry out their bags. I witnessed a young official sitting on the floor of the house of the family Hillberg, whose son Jonathan was killed in 1997. Under his portrait, he listened in tears to the bereaved mother Broide, who leaves not only her home but also her son's tomb in the village, and then asked permission to say something: "I only want to tell you that I love our country no less than you do. Please believe me. I and my friends serve in the most distinguished units, just like your son, of whom I have heard so much about. We fight the terrorists just like he did. I'm here just to help overcome any possible fracture among our people, we cannot allow it, please let me help me bring your bags out." Broide let him take her bag all along a path toward the synagogue, where she and her husband Shaul have walked every day for so many years. There, with all the citizens, the soldiers sat and cried and sang. In Kfar Darom, one of the toughest places in Gush Katif, a young girl, after telling a young soldier for the thousandth time that "a Jew doesn't deport a Jew," started shouting at him the second basic slogan, "Look into my eyes." She told him so another thousand times, while the young soldier was simply patiently looking at her. When he could not stand it anymore, he asked her, "Don't you see? I'm just looking into your eyes, blue eyes, you have to look at me, too." The girl, a religious, modest, pretty girl who probably has never looked much into boys' eyes, suddenly saw the soldier, his 18-year-old face, his different culture, his embarrassed, sad _expression, the Israeli flag on his breast: "Wow," she said with simple honesty, "it's true, you are looking into my eyes, we see each other." Ms. Nirenstein is an Italian journalist. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. To Go To Top

TIME TO PAY YOUR DEBT, AMERICA Posted by Ruth Matar, August 25, 2005.

Dear Friends, Many tragedies in Jewish history have occurred at the time of Tisha B'Av, the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av. * In the year 421 BCE, (Before the Common Era) the First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, under Nebuchadnezzar. About 100,000 Jews were killed during the invasion and the remaining Jews were exiled to Babylon and Persia. * In the year 70 CE, (Common Era) The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans, under Titus. Over 2,500,000 Jews died as a result of war, famine and disease. Over 1,000,000 Jews were exiled to all parts of the Roman Empire. Over 100,000 Jews were sold as slaves by the Romans. The Jews were killed and tortured in gladiatorial "games" and pagan celebrations. * In the year 132 CE, the Bar Kochba revolt was crushed. Beitar was destroyed and over 100,000 Jews were killed. * In the year 1492 CE, the inquisition in Spain and Portugal culminated in the expulsion of the Jews form the Iberian Peninsula. * In the year 1942 CE, deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka Concentration camp began. Six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. * In the year 2005 CE, on the days following Tisha B'Av, Sunday August 14th, a Jewish Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, betrayed his own people and forcibly expelled almost 10,000 Jews from their homes, farms, schools, businesses and synagogues, all on Land promised the Jewish people as an everlasting inheritance by the G-d of Israel. (The Biblical book of Joshua, Chapter 15, verses 1-12 and chapter 17, verses 1-11) *** Why did Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon betray his own Jewish People? It is widely believed by many of his constituents in Israel that Ariel Sharon formulated the Disengagement Plan to escape the corruption probe of himself and his sons, Gilad and Omri. This was revealed in a "bombshell" broadcast on the evening of June 15, 2005. Journalists Raviv Drucker of Channel 10 TV, and Ofer Shelach of Yediot Achranot, appeared on Nissim Mishal's Channel 2 television program and summarized the results of their research as published in their book BOOMERANG. These two veteran journalists, based on talks with persons very close to the Prime Minister, said that the Disengagement Plan was hatched up simply to avoid the criminal indictment of Sharon and his sons. Sharon was sure that then-State Prosecutor, Edna Arbel, was about to indict him. The decisions on the Disengagement Plan were therefore made without the participation of Sharon's Ministers, his Cabinet and the Israeli Army. I imagine that most of you watched with horror on television the bitter fruits of Sharon's scheme to save himself and his sons from criminal prosecution. Old folks, parents, teenagers, children and babies were forcibly and violently dragged out of their homes Prime Minister Ariel Sharon very carefully prepared the army. He used some forty to fifty thousand army and police. They wore new BLACK uniforms. (In the words of Emanuel Winston, Middle East commentator, they looked like Nazis or Mussolini's Black Shirts.) With so many people now living below the poverty line in Israel, why was it necessary to design and manufacture new BLACK uniforms for the evacuators? Was this used as a tool of psychological intimidation? In any case Sharon successfully evacuated 21 communities in Gush Katif and 4 in northern Samaria on August 16, 17, 18, 22 and 23. Ariel Sharon effectively finished his WAR AGAINST THE JEWS in only five days! Sharon's surrendering territory to the Palestinian Arabs, under fire, is a grave strategic error. Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, in the year 2000, committed a similar strategic error when he surrendered the tomb of the Biblical patriarch Joseph to the Arabs. This sent a dangerous signal, confirming that violence would force Israel to capitulate. Just as the Arabs danced on the roof of the destroyed tomb of Joseph, so too will the Arabs dance on the ruins of the Jewish communities in Gaza and Samaria. Abu Mazen has already gleefully boasted: "Today Gaza, tomorrow the West Bank and Jerusalem!" The very same Islamic terrorists who have fought Israel since its rebirth - and even before - are the ones who are killing brave American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is unfortunate that the American government does not realize that Israel is only considered to be the "Little Satan" by the Arabs. The big prize is the "Big Satan", the United States, as the major power of Western Civilization. Unfortunately, the United States bears a great deal of responsibility for this crime against the Jewish People. America has been pressuring Israel to give up "Jewish settlements" in order to comply with the Saudi sponsored "ROAD MAP". America's mistaken belief is that this plan will bring peace in the Middle East. Actually, the ROAD MAP is an attempt to pacify the Islamic appetite for world domination by paying in Israeli coin. I dare say America's Founding Fathers would be shocked and aghast at what their descendants are permitting to be done to G-d's chosen people. The Founding Fathers would find the road map an abomination, a most ungodly idea. As we all know, the Founding Fathers were sincerely religious and also overwhelmingly Christian. They not only read the Bible, they lived by the Bible. They gave their children biblical names and many of their communities were named after cities in the Holy Land. Can you imagine the shock of the Founding Fathers, if they came down to earth today and realized that their beloved America, still a country with a Christian majority, has joined forces with the UN, the European Union and Russia some of which countries largely consider themselves secular and even more importantly irreligious, and who do not hesitate to go against G-d's expressed words. And, of course, a large part of the United Nations is made up of Arab Muslim countries, who do not even recognize Israel's right to exist, and who believe that their religion obligates them to dismantle the Jewish state. The Founding Father's would be particularly incensed that their descendants, while professing to be Bible-believing Christians are following a plan dreamed up by Saudi Arabia, a country that is violently anti-Christian, anti-Jewish and anti-Western Civilization. The Saudi "Road Map" aims to dismember the Jewish state and to substitute an Arab Terrorist state in what is designated as Covenant Land in the bible. And finally, what about the "Jewish connection" to the founding Fathers? Was there even such a connection? There certainly was a Jewish connection! General George Washington's financial advisor and assistant was a Jewish man by the name of Hayim Salomon. During the cold winter months at Valley Forge, when American soldiers were freezing and running out of food and ammunition, it was Hayim Salomon who marshaled all the Jews in America and Europe to provide money in relief aid to these stranded American troops and thereby changed the course of history. Without this help, Washington's Continental Army and the fate of the American Colonies would have been sealed before they could have defeated the British. Hayim Salomon (1740-1785) emigrated from Poland to New York at the age of 32. He set up business as a bill-broker, purchasing and selling currencies at a discount. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Salomon moved to Philadelphia and began to negotiate the sale of Continental currency for hard French and Dutch bills. Asking for a nearly negligible commission on transactions, he made himself available for Congress, which appointed him official Broker to the Office of Finance of the United States. Salomon was able to maintain a thriving private business in addition to his official duties, despite his interest-free personal loans to such government officials as James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, General von Steuben and General St. Clair. Nevertheless, by the time Salomon died at the age of 45, private individuals and the government reputedly owed him $638,000. He died penny-less, having used all his resources to aid the newly formed and poorly supplied American Continental Army. Dear friends, isn't it time for America to repay the debt to Hayim Salomon and the other Jews, who rushed to the aid of the fledgling state when it was in dire need of support? Please do not misunderstand me: I do not suggest that the Jewish People send the descendants of the Founding Fathers a bill for services rendered. To repay the debt owed Hayim Salomon and his fellow Jews for the help offered to the struggling American state at the time of the American Revolution, the US should stop supporting the ungodly Saudi sponsored "Road Map", and instead, assist the Jews to fulfill G-d's plan for them to return to the Promised Land, not to be uprooted ever again. Permit me to conclude with a beautiful Biblical promise, which I firmly believe will be fulfilled: Amos 9:14-15: "I will return the captivity of My people Israel and they will rebuild desolate cities and settle them; they will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will cultivate gardens and eat their fruits. I will plant them upon their land and they will never again be uprooted from their land that I have given them, said Hashem, your G-d. With Blessings and Love for Israel, Ruth Matar Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org To Go To Top

WHY WE SUCCEEDED, WHY WE FAILED AND HOW WE CAN WIN Posted by David Bedein, August 25, 2005.

On May 2nd, 2004, we suceeded in defeating Sharon in the Likud referendum. How? By training people to appeal to the voters and to the media to view the Sharon Plan as a threat to all of Am Yisrael, and not only to Yesha.. The teams that went out to canvas voters got people to READ the plan for what it is: PLO EMPOWERMENT. The campaign against the Sharon Plan, since that time, used a totally different tactic: Appealing to people to endorse the narrowly focused idea of sentiments for people who live in Katif and the Shomron. This appealed to the convinced to become more convinced, and did not reach outside of the ideologically srtong circles. The only way to win now will be to adopt all of the principles of "kiruv", and to develop an approach which will convince the movers and shakers of the Jewish people that withdrawal from Judea and Samaria represents a threat to A L L of AM YISRAEL and the West. We have lost a battle We must now win the war. Let us learn the lessons of arrogance, and realize that we never took the time to educate AM YISRAEL...which we must do now...: Most people in Israel did not know the location of Katif or the Northern Shomron, nor their proximity to the population centers of Israel. Most people never read the easily accessible Sharon plan. Most people have no idea that the focus of the plan is to arm and fund the PLO entity without any quid pro quo whatsover. Most people have no idea that the PLO strategy of phases is still in force and that the PLO covenant has never been changed. Most people have no idea that 70% of the Arabs in Gaza wallow in UNRWA camps, under the premise and promise of the right of return, and that they are pushed by the Palestinian Authority to reclaim their lands from beyond Gaza. We must now launch a massive effort to educate and reach out to AM YISRAEL, or lose Judea, Samaria and even Jerusalem.... If Ramat Gan is not convinced that Judea and Samaria should stay in Jewish hands, the fight will be lost. LET MY PEOPLE KNOW David Bedein id Bureau Chief og Israel Resource News Agency. Contact him at media@actcom.co.il or go to his website: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com To Go To Top

WHAT ARE THE YESH"A COUNCIL GOALS? Posted by Matthew Finberg, August 25, 2005.

Oh my haskala-inspired realist, how you yearn for Torah Emet. Since when does anything of significance to us Jews depend on objective realism? The fact that there are one million Jews surrounded by six million Arabs in Yesha is powerfully overwhelming for the Ishmaelites, and would keep them in check forever. You should be more concerned about the six million Jews in Israel, a country the size of New Jersey, surrounded by 300 million Muslims whose governments have made clear their desire to eliminate the Jewish state. Is anyone seriously considering the objective realities of survival under those circumstances and concluding that we must evacuate the Jews from their homes in Eretz Yisrael and relocate them to trailer parks all across [pick your favorite Galutian false paradise]? B'Ahava Yisrael Moshe Finberg is Chairman of Maalat HaGeula (Ascendant Redemption). Contact him at matt@maalathageula.org or phone him at 303.442.1276. To Go To Top

POLICE STATE 101 Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, August 25, 2005.

This is how a Fascist Police State operates. Do not expect any sort of serious action taken against any member of this psychopath unit. They are much too valuable to the Junta to antagonize. This news item is called "Police Charged With Evidence-Tampering" and was in today's Arutz Sheva - www.IsraelNationalNews.com. It is archived at www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=88684 The police framed a photographer and abducted a 14-year-old girl from the hospital - in order to hide evidence from a protest outside Kedumim. So charges Arutz-7's Russian-lang. editor Tuvia Lerner. The case began, from Lerner's standpoint, when one of the photographers on his staff was arrested, at Tuesday morning's anti-expulsion protest outside Kedumim. "The photographer was accused of hitting an army officer of the rank of major," Lerner said. "When I started asking around, however, no one knew of such a case. No one saw any officer get hit, and no one saw this photographer have any physical contact with any security forces. I even asked the IDF spokesperson if there had been such an incident, and they checked and got back to me, and said that after investigating the matter, they had found no evidence of such a case." Lerner said there was more to the arrest than met the eye: "What happened was that my photographer had been filming a bunch of girl protestors, one of whom was hit by a Yassam policeman and hurt. When the Yassam police saw him filming that incident, they quickly arrested him - in order that there be no evidence of the beating. He saw them coming and took out the film in order to give it to his friend, but it didn't help. They took away his camera, and the film from his friend, and arrested his friend to boot." As if putting together the pieces of a puzzle, Lerner continued: "To further show that the police are trying to hide evidence, hear this: The girl who was hurt in the demonstration was taken to the hospital - but on Tuesday night, before she was released and before the examinations were completed, the police came in and abducted her. The police claimed that she was officially released, but this is patently untrue. Their goal was simply to avoid having her wounds documented." The girl's father, Yigal, who lives in Yitzhar, was on the way to the hospital - Petach Tikvah's Schneider Children's Hospital - when he was informed that she had been taken. His story sheds chilling light on the story: "The director of the emergency room called me and said that the police - Officer Golan Yefet - had come to take my daughter Ayalah. He said that he objected and said that she was being examined, but Yefet took her anyway." How was Ayalah arrested in the first place? Yigal said that she was standing by the demonstration when the policemen fell upon her and beat her. "She is now suffering from bruises in many parts of her body," he said. "Yesterday, the court extended her custody until Friday." Asked what are the charges against her, he answered sarcastically, "With attacking a police officer, of course. Similar charges, or slightly less serious, have been leveled at the other 3-4 arrestees." Lerner said he had sent about 10 phone and beeper messages to the Samaria/Judea police district spokesman, asking for a comment on the incident. "I even sent a fax today to the Police Comissioner himself," he said, "and have received no response at all from the police." "In court," Lerner said, "the police at first claimed that the photographer didn't even have a camera, but then they later backtracked... They asked yesterday for a 48-hour extension of his custody, but the judge gave them only 24 hours. So listen to the dirty trick the police pulled: They didn't wait the full 24 hours, but instead, at 1:00 in the morning [Thursday], they dumped him on the street, and said he could go home. They dumped him with no money, and he had to get back to his home all the way in Haifa! But because it wasn't an official release, he had no recourse to even demand his camera back." Lerner said he plans to pursue the case, and will show the clear intention on the part of the police to hide or destroy evidence. In a separate item, Arutz-7 has learned that an anti-expulsion activist who was thrown out of his home on Thursday night was promptly arrested on Friday - for having organized demonstrations. The teenaged boy was shopping with his father for a Sabbath shirt in Jerusalem, when suddenly four GSS (Shabak) agents swooped down and arrested him. The boy's father went nearly berserk, screaming, "You're totally breaking me! Yesterday we were thrown out of our house, and now this!" He ran after the agents' car, kicking and yelling. Only shortly before the onset of the Sabbath was the boy released. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. To Go To Top

RE-THINKING Posted by Batya Medad, August 25, 2005.

Six months ago, trying to make sense of what the Sharon Government was forcing on the nation, I wrote my one-hundredth Musing. In it I mused and meandered wondering if the concept of Religious Zionism and its attachment to the State of Israel wasn't just a foolish naïve mistake. Just yesterday someone who reads my 'musings' on a regular basis, wrote to me quoting from that hundredth one. Apparently not only am I not alone in this dilemma, but it is occupying the minds of many. The question of our place in the State of Israel has been bothering me more and more. My thinking has been going in another direction completely. Now, I sense that the real cause of our problems is the fact that the chareidim didn't integrate into the state and army from day one. Ben Gurion was very happy to give them the opportunity of not serving in the army, because he didn't want them there. It would have been a very different army if chareidim had been included, or should I correct this grammatically and not use the passive. The chareidim should have included themselves and fully joined the country in all ways, rather than happily locking themselves in the ghettos and Batei Medrash, collecting their stipends and letting us, 'their inferiors,' endanger our children by sending them to work and war. The life style of chareidi men in Batei Medrash instead of working should not have been encouraged. It's not Jewish to have that sort of separation between kodesh and chol, holiness and the mundane. That's right, it isn't Jewish to insist that religious scholars be exempt from the military. It's the norm in the United States, because the United States is a Christian country, and Christian values are included in its Constitution. Jewish tradition is different. Also, historically it was never the norm that massive numbers of men were supposed to cloister themselves in Batei Medrash to learn full-time, removed from day-to-day responsibilities. Our great 'gedolim' worked. Judaism is a religion of the real world integrated with kodesh, holiness. Shabbat is supposed to be a break from the six days of work, and yes, there are supposed to be six days of work, 'melacha,' the specific Jewish concept of labor, craft and creation, which is expressly forbidden on Shabbat. It is no secret that Ben Gurion and his labor Zionists were anti-religious. The stories of religious children being sent to non-religious educational frameworks and the kidnapped Yemenite children are numerous and not denied. When the state was first established and the chareidim asked for a totally separate education system and army exemptions for yeshiva students, they were granted for two reasons. The first was because their population was so small, that the ruling elite was certain that those tiny remnants of strict orthodoxy would never be a population to reckon with. And second, the ruling party didn't want to have to integrate t! he chareidim into the army and general society. Strict observance of kashrut and Shabbat were things from the hated 'shtetel,' not for the modern 'new Jew' Israeli. Until the miraculous results of the 'Six Days War' in 1967, the religious Zionists worked hard to fit in with the non-religious, so they weren't a threat. Afterwards things began to change, and religious Zionism began to switch its ideal from the Mapai kibbutznik to the chareidi yeshiva bochur. The State Religious School Stream began to add hours to the school day for more religious studies, Yeshivot hesder with their five-year yeshiva and army program and the 'mechinot' pre-army yeshivot grew in popularity, influence and power. In addition, non-chareidi, crocheted kippot, full-time married yeshiva students became common. One n! o longer had to don a black hat to learn Torah full-time. I don't think it bothered the Labor Zionists that YESHA settlement was dominated by the religious population. It was only when they saw what was happening in the army that they began to panic. A common 'joke' is that there are two types of officers, the religious ones in crocheted kippot and the ones who used to be religious. The more elite the unit, the more there were soldiers from religious homes. The 'old guard' was in a panic. They had less children, and their children weren't interested. One of the aims of Disengagement was to 'shake up' the army, and the most pathetic site on TV was to see the soldiers crying as they forced people out of their homes. They knew they were doing wrong, but they didn't have the moral strength to oppose orders. And this includes good religious boys in addition to those who weren't raised with the ideal of 'yishuv ha'Aretz' settling the Land. Do you blame a child suffering malnutrition if he has always eaten what his parents gave him? No, and it's hard for me to blame the state when the rabbis, the chareidi rabbis, could have fed it more Torah. The State of Israel is suffering from spiritual malnutrition, because it was deprived of the element that would have made it a strong Jewish State. Chareidi society has been disengaged from the state, and it is time to connect and join us. The State of Israel is our only option. That's one of the lessons Disengagement has taught us. As imperfect as it is, it's the only game in town. This is not the time for any of us to disengage from the State of Israel. We must get more and more involved and rebuild it into the Jewish state and society it should be. Shabbat Shalom U'Mivorach! This is Musing #137. It is stored at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/08/137-re-thinking.html Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il To Go To Top

TERRORISTS IN BANGLADESH Posted by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, August 25, 2005.

Some 400 small bombs exploded almost simultaneously in 63 of the 64 districts in the country Wednesday morning, August 17, killing at least two persons and injuring more than 150 people. In the capital the bombs went off near Zia International Airport, National Press Club, Sheraton Hotel and the Dhaka Electric Supply Authority headquarters, inside the High Court and district judge's court complexes, at the Mohakhali bus terminal, Gulshan new market and Karwan Bazar, and on the Dhaka University campus. According to witnesses, a bearded young man left a bag beside a roadside shop in front of the press club at about 11:15am. "He went to buy a bus ticket and no sooner had he left an explosion took place injuring the shop owner," the clerk of a ticket counter said. The bag also contained leaflets in Bengali and Arabic, attributed to Jamaatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh, an Islamist organisation that was banned in February along with Jagrata Muslim Janata of Bangla Bhai. At Dhaka University, at least two bombs went off simultaneously at 11:10am. The first blast took place in a bush on the premises of Swaparjita Swadhinata at Teachers-Students Cen! tre while another at a tea-stall at the Plassey square injuring a pedestrian, witnesses said. The blasts sent students running for cover. A campaign programme of a mobile phone company at the TSC area came to an abrupt end. "The bomb went off with a bang and immediately a thick smoke covered the area," said Harun, owner of a tea stall. Students at the Arts Building came out of the classrooms and non-resident students left for home. A hawker at Bangabandhu Avenue, Yunus, told "New Age" that a bearded man, wearing punjabi and pajama and a topi on his head, kept a packet on the road divider in front of Golap Shah Mazar. As he started towards the T&T office, the bomb went off, he said. The police arrested a young man, Ruhul Amin, who was also injured in a blast at Karwan Bazar, from the Bangla Motor area and took him to hospital. The police recovered a bomb, with battery connection, from his possession. The airport police arrested five madrassah students in connection with the blast at the airport level crossing. The authorities of a number of educational institutions suspended classes for the day and the private offices were also closed. The blasts, which took place between 10:30am and 11:30am, prompted the government to put the security forces on high alert. The state minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, termed the explosions an organised attack. "An organised group may have been involved in the gruesome attack," he told journalists at a home ministry briefing in the afternoon. "It is not an isolated incident and done in an organised way with an ill motive." Right after the explosions, the government has started taking stern action against the radical groups in here. Please find some information below, which I picked from the local media: 1. According to information, there are around 58 radical Islamic groups in Bangladesh, which have received US$ 182 Million so far for their activities. Most of the fund came from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The information is that more than 450 Islamic radical groups in the name of NGOs are working in VBangladesh, which are also receiving fund from the same sources. The apex body of the Islamic NGOs "Association of Muslim Welfare Agencies of Bangladesh" says, till December 2004, there were 254 Islamic NGOs in Bangladesh. They receive funding from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Revival of Islamic Heritage Society of Kuwait has links with terrorists. Experts say, this organization is affiliate concern of Al-Haramine, which had been banned by USA and many other countries because of their Al-Qaeda link. 2. Please visit a web site www.jihadunspun.com and see how local radicals are gaining strength every day in Bangladesh. According to information, the above mentioned web site is being launched and operated from Canada. 3. Please visit Bangladeshi English daily The Daily Star and read the story published on August 22, 2005 titled "Turning into a militant". This should be a very informative article for everyone to know, how innocent people are being turned into radicals in this country. More Information On Radical Activities Today I would like to give you some more information on the up rise of the Islamic radicals in Bangladesh. Please read and kindly let me know your opinion. Moreover, I will be delighted if you kindly forward/pass this information to your friends and colleagues, who might also be interested in knowing about the radicals. Following the recent combing operation against the radical groups, police has found that, at least 20 Islamic radicals groups are getting training and fund from various countries like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iran and Pakistan. Out of 58 extremely active radical groups, most notorious 20 are: Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh, Harkatul Jihad, Hizbut Towheed, Muslim Janata Party, Sahaba Sainik Parisjad, Tamajil Shahadat-e-Al Hiqma, Al Markajul Al Islam, Al Hikma Shahadat-e-Nabuat, Jamaatul Falaiya Harkatul Jihad, Jamiatey Ulamaye Islam, Towhidi Janata, Jamaat-e-Yahiya Al Towrat, Jamatul Al Safat, Al Hazfat Al Islamia, Shahadat-e-Nobuta, Muslim Mujahid, Islami Biplob Paridhar and Jagrata Janatar Notun Sainik. In recent years there had been a sudden up rise of a number of radical groups, which have gained tremendous strength. All of these groups are receiving fund from abroad. Some of them have even established formidable media strength. Jamiatul Mudarresin (apex body of the imams and madrassa teachers) in Bangladesh, an organization established under patronization of Iraq's former ruler Saddam Hussain. This organization has its main office complex in Dhaka, which was built with a few million dollar. Jamiatul Mudarresin owns a large vernacular daily named Dainik Inqilab and a vernacular weekly named Purnima. Dainik Inqilab is having a circulation of around 100,000 copies every day. Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, the radical political party owns a vernacular daily named Sangram, and a vernacular broadsheet weekly named Weekly Sonar Bangla. Ibne Sina Trust, an organization funded by Saudi and other sources has recently established a large vernacular daily named Naya Diganta. This daily has fixed its selling price at almost forty percent lesser price than all other dailies. For this reason, the daily has already reached more than 200,000 copies of circulation every day. Owners of this daily has also purchased substantial portion of share in a private television channel and are also trying to establish another television channel named Voice of Islam, which they proclaim to be a Bangla version of Al Jazeera TV. Islami Shashontontro Andolon, another radical political party owns a vernacular daily named Ittesal. Dewanbagh followers (a radical group lead by a cleric) own a number of newspapers like vernacular daily Insaniat, weekly Message (English), vernacular weekly Attar Bani etc. According to intelligence reports, radical groups in Bangladesh are spending at least 2-3 million dollar every year in media sector. This investment is helping them in gradually having extended grip over the local media. Regards Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is a journalist, columnist, author, amd editor of "Weekly Blitz". Email him at salahuddinshoaibchoudhury@yahoo.com To Go To Top

ISRAEL'S DEADLY APPEASEMENT PROCESS CONTINUES Posted by Alex Epstein and Edward Cline, August 25, 2005.

The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza is being portrayed as a wise (albeit unpleasant) move by Ariel Sharon. By addressing a longtime grievance of the Palestinians and their supporters--the presence of Israeli security forces and Jewish residents on the Gaza strip--we are told, Israel will abate the hatred that drives so many Palestinians to terrorism. In fact, the Gaza withdrawal is a deadly act of appeasement toward Israel's committed enemies: the Palestinian Authority (PA), its rabidly anti-Semitic Palestinian supporters, and other Arab regimes throughout the Middle East. It will only increase their hope and ability to achieve their long-standing goal: the obliteration of Israel. Contrary to their pronouncements to Western media that they seek peace with Israel via a "reasonable" land-for-peace "compromise," the PA and its supporters have proven by their actions--and by repeated statements in Arabic--that they seek to destroy Israel. Due to their racist, tribalist, primitive philosophy, much of the Arab world seeks the eradication of Jews--and, more broadly, Western Civilization--from the Middle East. In polls taken, 80 percent of Palestinians say they do not regard Israel as legitimate. As for Israel's other Arab neighbors, they have attempted to destroy Israel in three previous wars. Why have those who seek Israel's annihilation turned from open warfare to the negotiating table? Because they have learned that this--combined with terrorism--is their most effective means of destroying Israel. Observe what the absurdly named "peace process" has consisted of. The PA and its Arab neighbors deliberately keep the Palestinians in misery, indoctrinate them with anti-Semitism, and sponsor terrorism against Israel. They then blame Israel's "occupation" of territories won in a war of self-defense (and crucial for Israel's security today) for the Palestinians' misery--and blame the Palestinians' misery for Palestinian terrorism. The solution, they convince Israel and the West, is more land, loot, and power for the "downtrodden" Palestinians--money which the Palestinian leadership uses to fund still more attacks on Israel. By relying on terror and unearned guilt, the enemies of Israel have been able to undermine Israel's security and moral confidence in a way they never could by direct attack. Consider the recent history. In response to his long record of terrorizing Israel in the name of "Palestinian liberation," Yasser Arafat got recognition as the "legitimate representative" of the Palestinians. Under the Oslo accords, he was given billions in cash and a vast arsenal of deadly weapons for "security forces" that he would use to oppress Palestinians and terrorize Israel. Unsurprisingly, terrorism coupled with blaming Israel, having been handsomely rewarded, increased dramatically. Then, in 2000, Arafat was offered unprecedented territorial concessions; figuring he could get more by terrorism, he rejected the proposal and launched a second Intifada. The resulting escalation of terrorism, along with Arab nations claiming that anti-American terrorism stems from sympathy for the mistreatment of Palestinians, led to a promise from President Bush for a Palestinian state--and endless calls for Israel to show "restraint" in the face of a terrorist onslaught. Terrorize Israel and blame it for the misery you inflict on Palestinians, the Palestinian leadership has been taught, and you shall be rewarded. Now, further terrorism and Israel-bashing have gotten the PA an unconditional withdrawal from Gaza--a crucial launching base for Arab wars of the past, and an easy means from which to further terrorize Israel. Smelling blood, Palestinians and their beloved terror organizations are already boasting: "Today Gaza, tomorrow Jerusalem." Any further Palestinian terrorism, of course, will simply be blamed on Israel not conceding enough, and we will be told that peace can only be achieved if Israel takes more "risks for peace"--i.e., continues to give Palestinian murderers more resources with which to launch their aggression. The only way to stop Palestinian terrorism is for Israel to identify the PA and its supporters as the evil they are--and to righteously defeat them. Not only should Israel retain Gaza, it should destroy the Palestinian leadership and do anything else necessary to eradicate the hope that drives Palestinian terrorism--the hope of Israel's destruction. Then, and only then, will Israel be able to adopt a new slogan of its own: "Yesterday Palestinian terrorism, today Palestinian defeat." Alex Epstein is a junior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) in Irvine, CA. Edward Cline is a contributing writer to ARI. ARI promotes the ideas of Ayn Rand--best-selling author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" and originator of the philosophy of Objectivism. To Go To Top

A YOUNG JEWISH MAN MURDERED IN THE OLD CITY - HIS CRIME? BEING JEWISH Posted by Yrachmiel Elias, August 25, 2005.

I sit in amazement and complete disbelief and shudder at the timing of our brother's murders. Yet there really are no words to describe how moved I am by this single loss to the Jewish people. My wife and I just hosted some of our friends in order to raise money for Hatzolah last Monday night. We had Meira Rice-Golbert and a Hatzolah volunteer there to speak about how important there work was and how they needed equipment and supplies now - and no matter how much we could give there was always a need for more. Today I understand with great regret how true that statement was. If there are any of you out there that receive this letter that were at the meeting and have not as yet sent you pledges into Hatzolah - think of this one Jew that perhaps could have been saved if we had given a month ago or a week ago. The fact that Ha'kadosh Borechu took him back at the time he did is out of my hands - the fact that he was assaulted in our city - ir Ha'kodesh on a night after the Jewish in the Gush and the Shomron we evicted says that He did a great tikkun for the rest of Am Yisrael. We can not let his passing go un-noticed and we can not withhold support from Hatzolah. Finally we can not allow a system of government to exist in our homeland Eretz Yisrael that takes the lives of the Jewish People by their action of contrition and submission the the forces of evil that murdered our lost brother and all the others during the 5 years of madness just past. This is our home given to us by G-D and anyone that thinks otherwise is not deserving to live here any longer. Yrachmiel ben Menachem Mendel Elias Sitting in tears and pain, haunted by the thought that I did not do enough - soon enough - G-D forbid. This was sent to us today from Shlomo Wollins (shlomo@savethegush.com). Shlomo writes: "I have just received an email from Moshe Simons, a friend and medic in the Old City of Jerusalem. Read below as Moshe describes the murder scene and experience of having young Jewish man "die in my arms". From: "Hatzolah Israel" Date: Wed, August 24, 2005 6:54 pm Young Jewish Man Murdered in Jerusalem. His crime - being Jewish. I sit facing my computer, and words fail me. I have just witnessed one of the most tragic and traumatic events of my life. "A Jewish young man died in my arms tonight." Yes, you read correctly. A Jewish man died in my arms tonight. His sin? Being Jewish in Jerusalem. At about 8:25 this evening, we got a call from the MDA dispatcher about a stabbing on Rechov David - the shuk leading from Shaar Yaffo (Jaffa Gate) to the Kotel. I immediately left my apartment and sped over to the chaotic scene not far from there on a Hatzolah ambucycle. Upon arrival, a horrible sight greeted me. A young Jewish man, lying in a pool of his own blood, with a 15" knife sticking out of his stomach. After being at many bombings, car accidents and other traumatic events, this scene had the distinction of being the worst one I have ever seen. His skin a very pale color, and his eyes half open, I reached him. The only people around were police officers, who didn't really know what to do. The young Jewish man was not breathing, and he had no pulse. This is the nightmare of any EMT. Alone, as the only person with medical training at the scene, there is not much you can do. Many tasks need to be done, and many people are needed to do them. Starting CPR, connecting oxygen, starting numerous IV's due to massive blood loss and trying to stop the bleeding are some of the things that need to be done, but in the seconds that I was there, my mind stopped working. One cannot think rationally in such situations - one must act like a robot, doing whatever could be done as quickly as possible. First, I called for backup on my MIRS, and then I started CPR. Even with all of the expensive equipment that we have, there are times that the only thing you can use is a simple pocket mask. Using a bag valve mask on a trauma patient that you are having trouble opening an airway for is a waste of time. It is close to impossible to use on your own on such a patient. I took out my trusty face mask, and started mouth to mouth resuscitation. I felt his lungs fill up with air, and I was slightly encouraged. One of the police officers started chest compressions (as well as he could), and we continued basic CPR for a minute or two. At this point, an ambulance with a paramedic - Aryeh Yaffe - arrived at the scene, along with Rafi Herbst and another volunteer. We now had four sets of hands instead of one, and could now start to try to save the young Jewish man's life. We immediately searched for the wounds and tried to stop the bleeding. At the same time we tried to start an IV, but were having difficulty due to the massive amounts of blood that he lost. We continued CPR, this time with a bag valve mask and good compressions, and in the meantime, more volunteers from the Jewish Quarter arrived on foot, and quickly took my place. Shortly thereafter a MDA Mobile ICU arrived and continued to work on the patient - the Doctor I saw on their crew was one of the best I have ever seen working under pressure and keeping his cool - as well as giving fantastic care to the patient. Soon, we had three IV's running, and we were trying to restart the young man's heart using drugs. Atropine, Sodium Bicarbonate were used among other drugs, and soon we had a heart rhythm on the EKG, although we did not have a pulse. We moved the patient to the mobile ICU who transferred him to the trauma center at Haddassah Ein Karem, but the young man was pronounced dead in the operating room - he had a massive gash in the veins and arteries in his stomach, and we could not save him. When I had arrived at the scene previously - he was no longer with us, yet we tried everything that we could to bring him back - to no avail. What was the young man's crime? What did he do wrong? Why was he murdered by our 'peace partners'? To us, the residents of the Old City, these answers are clear. The arabs want us out of Israel - out of Jerusalem. They see clearly that violence and terrorism against Jews works, as witnessed in Gaza and Gush Katif - five years of violence culminated in the surrender of the Jews. Now, they clearly say that they want Jerusalem - and the way for them to get it is through blood - our blood. A friend of mine commented tonight, "Jewish blood is not cheap. It's free." The terrorism will continue - and will get much worse in Jerusalem. One thing I can tell you - we won't run. We will stand firm, and remain here until one side wins - us or them. The battle is for the soul of the Land of Israel - let no one think otherwise. In the meantime, I'm sure you are asking yourselves - what can be done? The answer, as I see it, is threefold. Physical help: This includes writing to congressmen, senators, politicians; trying to influence the viewpoint of others around you; visiting Israel; helping us in our struggle. After tonight, I've realized that every volunteer EMT in the Old City should have a gun with him - we need to raise money for that as well (I can be reached at moshe@hatzolah.org.il for more information as to how to donate). I never thought that as an EMT I'd be trying to raise money for guns - the instruments of death, but times have changed. There are also other medical items that we need - reach me at the email address above. More importantly, we must realize that our fate is decided in Heaven. When a decree comes from before G-d, we must take a deeper look at ourselves and try to find what is wrong spiritually. Each of us must make additional effort in the spiritual realm to do more mitzvot and study Torah, and through that may we merit the rescinding of the terrible sword that hangs above our heads. Let us cry together. Let us understand that a Jew murdered in Jerusalem must have an impact upon the entire Jewish nation - we must realize the depths that we have reached. We are a splintered, fragmented nation - each of us finding fault with the other. At the very least, let us join together in sorrow, and cry as one for the blood of a young man, murdered in Jerusalem simply because he was a Jew. Please pass this message on. We must wake up and realize where this is leading. We must arise to the challenge given to us and join together to be victorious. Written in sorrow by Moshe Simons, EMT Hatzolah & MDA Volunteer Hatzolah Newsletter Editor Jewish Quarter, Jerusalem moshe@hatzolah.org.il Yrachmiel Elias and Jack Golbert are cofounders of Netzah Yisrael. They can be reached at action@netzahyisrael.org To Go To Top

EILAT - ANOTHER SIDE OF ISRAEL Posted by Judy Lash Balint, August 25, 2005.

Sunday, 6:45 a.m outside Jerusalem's Central Bus Station. I'm with a bleary-eyed friend as we try to elbow our way past dozens of soldiers hauling gigantic backpacks as they hurry to make their way back to base after a weekend of momma's cooking and caring. I run into an anxious neighbor kissing her 18 year-old soldier daughter goodbye. The beautiful, slim, blond soldier nonchalantly picks up her backpack, adjusts her hipster khaki pants and is off into the crowd. "She's stationed at Kissufim," her mother tells me. This week it'll be a breeze--monitoring the moving trucks trundling out of Gush Katif with the possessions of 1500 families on board, bound for storage in Beersheva. No more pesky protestors or pushy journalists to monitor. We finally squeeze ourselves in past the security guard, haul our bags onto the X-Ray machine and finally make our way up toward the bus to Eilat. My friend is a veteran tour guide and we have a gig updating the Fodor's Guidebook to Israel--our luck, we get to do Eilat in the middle of August. Why not the Golan, or Jerusalem? Still, it's work, and there are evicted families being housed in Eilat too that I plan on visiting. This Sunday morning there are four full buses making the 4 hour journey past the Dead Sea, through the Negev and on into Eilat. The Eilat Jazz Festival is happening this week, plus it's the last gasp of the summer vacation before school starts on September 1. Still, we are unprepared for the teenage hoodlums that made the journey with us. Their behavior is reminiscent of Animal House with a Middle Eastern accent. Suffice it to say that we're very glad to see the Gulf of Eilat come into view. My last visit to Eilat was a VERY long time ago--when the only place to stay was the Youth Hostel or the beach. Today, the resort that's just yards away from the Jordanian and Egyptian borders, is exactly that--a real resort filled with luxury hotels and fancy restaurants and upscale tourists. French and Hebrew are the predominant languages heard in Eilat today. Almost all the charter flights that used to arrive from Europe and Scandinavia in the good old pre--2000 war days stopped coming long ago. Today there are just six charter flights per week from overseas. We go about our business checking on all the hotels and as many restaurants and tourist sites as we could take in in two days--it IS work, believe me, when it's 97 degrees outside. Neither of us even bother to bring swimsuits, since we know we will never have the time to use them.. Anyway--we check out the minimal damage caused by the Katyusha rocket sent over by some Al Quaida maniac last Friday that landed on the road just next to the Eilat airport, and peer over into Aqaba a few hundred yards away in Jordan. On the promenade by the beach we spot several of the pained refugee families, looking quite incongruous amongst the holiday revelers. Traveling back to Jerusalem, the bus stops at a rest stop at Ein Hazeva slap bang in the middle of nowhere in the far eastern part of the Negev desert. Along with the 7-11 style store, a new Cafe belonging to the Aroma chain has just opened. Never one to miss a latte opportunity, I make a bee-line for the counter. I'm stunned to see the barrista from my neighborhood Aroma cafe in Jerusalem standing behind the counter. She laughs when I greet her--several of her Jeruslaem customers have done a double take when they see her there out of context, she says. The company sent her down to the desert for three months to train the staff of the new branch and make sure things are running smoothly before she gets to go home. "Work and sleep," she tells me--that's all there is to do here, she adds. Back in Jerusalem, the craziness continues. I stop in for another visit with Moshe and Rachel Saperstein, formerly of Neve Dekalim, now of the Jerusalem Gold hotel. We share a laugh as I point out that the hokey picture on their cramped hotel room of waves crashing is just like the view of the Mediterranean from their former home. The latenight TV news update announces that two 21 year old yeshiva students have been stabbed near Jaffa Gate in the Old City. An hour later, Shmuel Matt, a British citizen and student at the Mir Yeshiva who was to be married 11 days from now has died of his wounds. This morning a Katyusha landed in a community in the Galilee causing little damage and no injuries. Welcome to the post-disengagement country of 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 To Go To Top

HEZBOLLAH SENIOR PRAISED AL-QAEDA'S KATYUSHA ROCKET ATTACKS ON AQABA AND EILAT. Posted by Dr. Reuven Erlich, August 25, 2005.

Mahmoud Qumati, a Hezbollah senior, praised Al-Qaeda's Katyusha rocket attacks on Aqaba and Eilat and expressed his hope that the organization would step up its attacks against Israeli targets Mahmoud Qumati appears on Al-Manar Television (August 19, 2005) In the morning hours of August 19, three Katyusha rockets were fired from Aqaba on the southern Israeli city of Eilat and the Gulf of Aqaba. One of the rockets landed near Eilat airport. Two additional rockets were targeted at an American ship in the Gulf of Aqaba. One of th em hit Jordanian soldiers, one of whom was killed and the other wounded. An organization calling itself "Abdullah Azzam Battalions, Al-Qaeda, in Syria and Egypt" claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack. In an interview granted to Hezbollah's Al-Manar Television on August 19 (the day of the terrorist attack), Mahmoud Qumati, a member of Hezbollah's Political Council, was asked by the interviewer, among other things, to comment on the Katyusha rocket attacks. In response, Qumati praised the attacks, saying that any action, by any party, targeted against Israel or "the American military presence" was a good action since there was "an American plan to attack the region". In his view, however, Al-Qaeda should limit its attacks on American targets and step up its attacks on Israeli targets. Qumati expressed his hope that Al-Qaeda would step up its attacks on Israeli targets and that all of its attacks on "other targets" [Muslim? other Western countries?] would come to a complete halt. Dr. Reuven Erlich is Head of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel. Its website address is http://www.intelligence.org To Go To Top

A MISTAKE? Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, August 25, 2005.

There is no incompetence nor misunderstanding here. Sharon intended this to be a Pogrom from the very beginning and to cause maximum trauma and dislocation. This is only the start. Irrespective of who the next Crime Minister of Israel will be, he will be under foreign control with instructions to finish the destruction of Yeshah and prepare for the Final Solution to the Jewish problem in Palestine. Nobody with even the most minimal experience in Government, the Military, Business or even Academia makes mistakes like this. Nobody. This is from today's World Net Daily online and is archived at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45955. It is called "New homes for Gaza Jews: Tents in Tel Aviv Refugees camp out near highway to protest 'government incompetence'" and was written by Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem bureau chief. TEL AVIV - Explaining they have nowhere to go until the Israeli government organizes their living situation, former residents of a large farming community in Jewish Gaza moved into tents yesterday just off the main highway in Tel Aviv. Expelled residents of Nezer Hazani, a former community in Gaza's Gush Katif slate of Jewish towns, pitched a tent camp in a public park alongside a major Tel Aviv exit on Israel's main Ayalon Highway. Most residents of Hazani arrived at the camp in an effort to protest what they say is Israel's failure to organize suitable living accommodations for them after they were forced from their homes in Gaza last week. "We have no where else to go," Hazani spokeswoman and tent camp resident Anita Tucker told WND. "The government is so disorganized. We keep hearing things are being worked out - then nothing happens. We call and they put us off. If they gave me the money, I could have everything worked out for all the former residents very quickly, so I don't see why these so-called professionals are doing things so poorly." Hazani residents, along with the entire Jewish population of the Gaza Strip, last week were evacuated from their homes and placed on buses that brought many to hotels in Jerusalem, Ashkelon, Eilat and near the Dead Sea. The Israeli government is currently negotiating compensation and relocation deals with settlement leaders with the aim of keeping former communities in tact and transferring them to neighborhoods in the Negev. Many had thought their hotel stays were being paid for by the government, but they were informed this week the bills will be deducted from any compensation they are set to receive. For many Hazani residents, hotel rooms were not even available. They were transferred to yeshiva dormitories in Jerusalem and the Negev. They decided instead to set up the Tel Aviv tent city in hopes of pressuring the government to find them living quarters quickly. "School starts in one week, and we don't know where our kids will go yet because the government is still working things out," said Tucker. Hazani residents, like the vast majority of Gush Katif, did not apply for government compensation deals before the evacuation took place. The average evacuated family was offered about $200,000 in compensation - the exact amount depending on house size, the number of children and length of residence in the area. Some also were offered two years free rent if they move to certain communities set up in the Negev. Many in Gush Katif owned property worth far more than the compensation offered. A consortium of American organizations recently announced they will put up $14 million to pay Katif farmers for their greenhouses. But the hothouses of Katif and the produce they generate are worth an estimated $1-2 billion. "We didn't apply for compensation because we couldn't give in," explained Tucker. "We knew Gaza was first to be given up, then it will be Judea and Samaria, then Jerusalem. We didn't want to allow this horrible government plan to go through." The government is now re-offering compensation packages. Many say it's in Israel's best interests to compensate the former Katif residents quickly so they can't use their refugee status against the government. Officials expect most refugees ultimately to move for up to two years to 800 flats and 110 houses rented by the government in coastal towns such as Ashkelon and on kibbutzim near Gaza. A leader of the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel charged yesterday that only 100 of the 1,700 families evacuated from Gaza have found permanent housing solutions so far, and that only 700 families have found temporary options. The other 1,000 have no solutions at all, he said. Last night, former Gush Katif leaders held several rallies at the tent city, and several Jewish singers came to perform. Residents dined together on large folding tables, eating food brought to them by the local population. Port-o-potties and a water tank were brought into the park. Earlier, the Tel Aviv municipality had asked the Hazani residents to leave, claiming they did not coordinate their protest with the city or obtain the necessary permits. But the city relented after Knesset members interceded, giving them until Friday to stay in the area. Tent city occupants told WND they were surprised by the city's interference. "They are the ones who came here yesterday and brought us the water and portable toilets. Now all of the sudden they're claiming they didn't know we were here?" stated David Jaacobs, who is living in the Tel Aviv park along with his wife and two children. Continued Jaacobs: "They kicked us out of our homes, affected a lot of lives. And now it is becoming clear to everyone that the Israeli government couldn't care less about us." Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. To Go To Top

EUROPE'S WELCOME HYPOCRISY; WHAT NEXT IN GAZA?; P.A BOOSTS TERRORISM Posted by Richard H. Shulman, August 25, 2005.

EUROPE'S WELCOME HYPOCRISY Europe refused to act much against terrorism until it struck them. It denounced every Israeli measure of self-defense and offense, until it came under attack. Then it declared itself ready to implement Israeli methods, and appealed to Israel to teach it how. The Western attitude of belated and begrudging recognition of Israeli service to common security is the same as after Israel destroyed Iraq's first nuclear weapons reactor, first condemning Israel, then quietly thanking Israel (but still being anti-Israel). On the other hand, Europe and the US (i.e., their governments) still do not realize that the terrorists who attack them are in the same evil axis as the terrorists who attack Israel, and that therefore they should help Israel defeat the P.A., not the P.A. defeat Israel. Meanwhile, the US soldiers on with minimal efforts in Iraq, which seems to be turning into an Islamist state, and practically ignoring the nuclear menace from Iran. (Europe acts as a drag on US policy towards Iran and international terrorism.) The US does not assist the democratic-minded, secularist people of Iran to gain freedom. The US now pretends, based on illogical rationalizing, that Iran is ten years away from possessing nuclear weaponry. That probably is a gross over-estimate giving Iran years in which to develop the weapons. Most pressure by the now defeatist US is upon Israel, in favor of the terrorists. Adding insult to injury, the US demands that Israel arm the very terrorists to attack it. Unfortunately, PM Sharon has made himself a puppet of US military policy. He cannot be expected to rid the world of Iran's nuclear menace, just as the Bush administration has assured Iran that the US would not do so (IMRA, 8/13 from Caroline Glick, Jer. Post, 8/11). Half the Iraqi governmental budget, at least in the Defense Ministry, disappears, as corrupt people and Islamists steal by the millions (Nibras Kazimi, NY Sun, 8/16, Op. Ed.). Too bad the US media is in so partisan. Otherwise, journalists might be trying to discover what led Pres. Bush to retreat. Although there could have been constructive criticism of his Iraq policy, the Democrats' criticism was total and unthinking. I think it helped mute his previously bold policy. Bush also has cut off the tax revenues that the US would need for acting like a great power. He still is appeasing S. Arabia, instead of leading Americans in a frank discussion about this world war that is being waged against us and against which we hardly have begun to fight. The US retains its arrogance only, it seems, in dealing with Israel. The US has not developed the wisdom and earned the right to dictate to other countries. On the other hand, Europe has not developed the wisdom and has forfeited the right to advise other countries, but it, too, pressures Israel. With such misplaced priorities, the West cannot survive. POLLARD SUES ISRAEL Convicted Israeli intelligence agent Jonathan Pollard has petitioned the Israeli judiciary to (1) Investigate why Israel never informed him of an agreement to return the US documents obtained from him, in return for a US promise not to use those documents in prosecuting him; (2) Why the US immediately broke that agreement, using those documents not only to help convict him but also using that inadmissible evidence as a basis for demanding a life sentence; (3) Why Israel did not inform the Pollard defense team of the US violation; and (4) Require the government of Israel to take the necessary steps to get Pollard released (IMRA, 8/14). Neither Israel nor the US ever has investigated the US violation of its agreement to share with Israel intelligence about the Arabs' military, which led to Pollard clandestinely turning it over. WHAT WILL THE P.A. DO IN GAZA, WHAT SHOULD ISRAEL DO? The Jaffee Inst. for Strategic Studies analyzed the effect of Israel's abandonment of Gaza. It finds the outcome uncertain. Anarchy reigns. Numerous militias and private gangs make for general insecurity. Nor is there any peace camp, as far as relations with Israel are concerned. "Lacking clear lines of responsibility and accountability, the administration in PA-controlled areas has acquired an image of corruption (fassad) and mismanagement, leading to widespread public alienation." Extortion has increased. Rival groups fight each other. Civil war is possible. Meanwhile, people are resorting to clan networks. Hamas is likely to build a bigger militia in Gaza, and Gaza is likely to be the training ground for intensified warfare in Judea-Samaria. Hamas is negotiating to join the PLO, though it is hesitant to be held accountable for policies that in some way recognize Oslo. If it joined the PLO, it would radicalize the PLO. This sets the stage for the public's rallying around Hamas to restore order. "To the extent that such developments are perceived by Israel to be detrimental to its own interests, it may decide to implement a number of complementary measures in order to ameliorate the negative consequences of disengagement and enhance Abu Mazen's ability to consolidate his rule. Such measures, some of which were already agreed to and/or initiated in the past, could include: 1. accelerating projects to create the "safe passage" between Gaza and the West Bank 2. permitting rehabilitation of the airport in Gaza 3. avoiding large-scale destruction of existing facilities and infrastructure in Gaza and transferring them intact to the PA, facilitating efforts by international factors to promote job-creation projects in Gaza 4. releasing Palestinian prisoners to the maximum extent consistent with concrete security concerns 5. showing the maximum degree of consideration possible for Palestinian humanitarian needs in the operation of security-barrier crossing points." [IMRA: That's right. Shalom Harari and Mark A. Heller think the odds are good Israel is going to find itself stuck with a very dangerous neighbor. So they recommend that Israel release as many terrorists as possible and facilitate the Palestinian importation of weapons via an airport.] (IMRA, 8/13). They forgot that Abbas is a terrorist. WHAT CAN ONE LEARN FROM THE GAZA DEBACLE? American leaders appease S. Arabia, and cannot be trusted. Neither can we trust the lukewarm Jews who run Israel. Israeli generals base military decisions on leftist ideology, and make hopelessly incompetent prime ministers. A determined Prime Minister can be dictatorial and plot treason with other governments. He can draw the police into police state tactics against Jews. There are no legal restraints. The courts are leftist activists, favoring self-declared enemies of the state. Few Members of Knesset have the courage to try to protect the people. Crooked "mainstream" Israeli politicians appoint the attorney generals, who then protect them from prosecution (Winston Mid-East Analysis, 8/14). One can learn that, if one is informed and willing to learn. Whether many people did learn it is questionable. Sharon is preparing more appeasement. He will offer the same reasons as before, demonstrably without merit. The mainstream media repeats his inanities instead of analyzing them. WAS GAZA PULLOUT WORTH THE RISK? "Max Boot says the Gaza pullout is worth the risk" (NY Sun, 8/19, p.11). His reason is that it would provide "a further test of the belief that Jewish settlements are the root cause of this conflict." His article starts by disproving that dubious belief. It ends by disproving his risk-assessment, by showing that Gaza most likely will become a center of international terrorism. Also dubious is his proposition that Israel should sacrifice its people's lives to test the world's prejudices. Indeed, Sec. Rice already has been demanding more sacrifice of more territory. The world doesn't want to accept evidence, and the Jewish state does not know how to explain it. The Jewish communities in Gaza were "not sustainable," Mr. Boot contended, because "8,500 Jews could not live safely among 1.3 million Arabs," and risked the "soldiers who had to protect them." That is misleading. Most Jews did not live near most of the Arabs. (Israel could have armed its people for self-defense.) Rather than endangering soldiers, the presence of Jewish communities acted like a breakwater protecting Israel and enabling Israeli troops to patrol everywhere, keeping the terrorists off balance. If Gaza became sovereign, the Arabs could import heavy weapons and the UN probably would call an Israeli response to terrorism "aggression." Therefore, contrary to Mr. Boot's assurance that Israel could respond harshly, its hands would become more tied, as has been the trend. PRETENDING ABBAS IS COOPERATING Israel's abandonment of Gaza ""may determine whether Mr. Abbas can succeed in governing and eventually making peace." And again, "Mr. Abbas is trying to contain Hamas within the Palestinian (P.A.) political system and ultimately to take its weapons away." On the other hand, "... all factions vied for popularity in the Palestinian street at Israel's expense." Reporter James Bennet quotes an Arab as attributing most of the attacks to Hamas (NY Times, 8/21, p.13) Most of the attacks in the past four years have been by Fatah, Abbas' organization. If popularity requires committing terrorism, then peace with such a society is hopeless. The State Dept. and "NY Times" have made up a role for Abbas, which is to disarm Hamas. The P.A. had signed several peace agreements with Israel and pledged to the US to do that. However, Abbas keeps declaring that he will not disarm Hamas and Fatah. He just wants to build a bigger army (for what do you suppose?) that includes them. He certainly has not taken any discernable efforts to disarm them, nothing that the US or "Times" cite. Nevertheless, both the US and the "Times" keep praising him for his non-existent "efforts." Their playbook has him supposed to make such efforts, so they pretend he exerted himself. Incidentally, now that it is too late for sympathy to preserve the Jewish communities of Gaza, the "Times" has a number of human interest stories about their plight. Or is it incidentally? EXPECTATION OF NEW SAUDI REGIME The new king of S. Arabia is expected to use the oil price windfall to buy billions of dollars worth of weaponry (IMRA, 8/16). He recycles our money to become more of a military menace, besides being an ideological one. RECONCILIATION, ISRAELI STYLE "Maariv's" editor-in-chief opened a broadcast on national reconciliation by accusing a prominent rabbi of incitement for having called the abandonment a disaster (IMRA, 8/14). In Israel, "incitement" is a crime, enforced against Jews only. How is one supposed to debate national folly? Would it be "incitement" to call Oslo, which resulted in the murder and wounding of thousands of Israelis, and in the establishment of terrorist militias, a disaster? Would it be incitement to call Israel's failure to preemptively disrupt the Arab invasion forces just before the Yom Kippur War, when the assailants almost conquered Israel, a disaster? So much for Israel being democratic. MURDEROUSNESS CALLED CHARITABLENESS "Y Care," the British version of the YMCA, promotes development in the P.A. while blaming Israel exclusively for hardships in the P.A.. The terminology used, such as "wall" for Israel's security fence, which is far more fence than wall, enhance the emotional message against Israel. The terrorism that prompted the fence's erection as a life-saving measure is ignored. The only problem that Y Care cares about is the fence's inconvenience to Arabs. Inconvenience, denial of rights, and murder is of no concern to it, when the victims are Jews. The report quotes from other biased organizations, such as Betselem and the Save the Children Fund. Y Care claims to support Israel's right to self-defense (IMRA, 8/15) just not that way, this way, or any other way. These agencies foster murder in the name of charity. How much they care about the Arabs is questionable, since they rarely criticize the P.A. for its oppression and impoverishment of the Arabs. On the other hand, if they did, they would be expelled and do no work. PM SHARON'S STATEMENT ON DISENGAGEMENT DAY He uttered the usual platitudes. Israel Radio had hoped that "he would finally explain the logic behind his move. Unfortunately, Mr. Sharon instead opted to proclaim that 'Gaza cannot be held onto forever' without explaining why 'forever' suddenly became 2005 (IMRA, 8/15). Israel needed a program for progressive consolidation of Gaza and not just holding it. FOREIGN MINISTRY'S UNANSWERED QUESTIONS A Foreign Ministry text on the abandonment: "Reaching a democratic decision to implement disengagement - even one overwhelmingly supported by national public opinion - demanded finding answers to some extremely difficult questions. Could Israel leave Gaza without seeming to signal this was a victory for terrorism? Was the country ready to uproot citizens who had lived in the area for decades? Did redeployment mean giving up a negotiating asset without getting anything in return?" IMRA observed thastd the text did not attempt to answer those questions (IMRA, 8/15). The second one it did answer, but with an assertion that public opinion polls "overwhelming supported" uprooting the Jews. The polls were dubious, sentiment nearly evenly divided, the issue hardly discussed and not debated, the media manipulated the facts, and the government lied or evaded. There should have been a referendum. More people should have said to the government, if you are so sure of popular support, why don't you put it to a neutrally-worded referendum. The result of such a referendum would settle the issue and you would anticipate legitimacy for what otherwise is a high-handed action challenged as harmful to national security.. HIZBULLAH FINANCING ROCKET DEVELOPMENT Hizbullah, located in Lebanon, is financing development in Jenin, P.A., of rockets designed to strike Israeli cities and the international airport (IMRA, 8/16). Islamists murder innocents. Ironically, while the Arabs prepare to disable Israel's airport, they demand that Israel let them open one. Consistency is not an Arab virtue. Neither is consistency a State Dept. virtue. While it claims to be warring on terrorism, it insists that Israel arm the terrorists warring on Israel. Did Sec. Rice, who welcomed Israel's withdrawal, not see it as a terrorist victory? The terrorists realize it is. Why is the West unable to realize it? P.A. ON TERRORISTS IN GAZA The P.A. is closing its files on the wanted list of Gaza terrorists furnished it by Israel. It demands that Israel release all imprisoned Gaza terrorists. [IMRA: As President Bush and others continue to bend over backwards with their praise for the PA, the PA continues taking measures to insure that terror thrives and instability reigns in post-retreat Gaza] (IMRA, 8/17). The P.A. calls them political prisoners and discusses them as if they were POWs entitled to release upon ending of an occupation and establishment of peace. There is no peace and was no occupation. Terrorists are neither political prisoners nor POWs, because they eschew the rules of war and seek to harm non-combatants. They are entitled to execution or life imprisonment. Imposing its defeatist ideology on Israel, however, the Left acts as if there were an occupation, imposes light sentences on many terrorists, and frees thousands for nothing. Each major release of terrorists turns victory over terrorism into a terrorist triumph. PERES STILL COMFORTING TERRORISTS Vice-PM Peres commented about P.A. leaders calling for continued attacks on Israel. He said that what they say hurts them more than it hurts Israel. It is the same line he has taken all throughout Oslo (IMRA, 8/16). He should see they mean there can be no peace. All throughout, what the terrorist leaders said was not taken seriously by the West, but it was taken seriously by their followers, who then murdered hundreds of Israelis. Peres is the terrorists' greatest propagandist. Sharon is the terrorists' greatest strategist. Bush is the terrorists' greatest facilitator. Rice is the terrorists' greatest bully. IS JORDAN SECURE FOR ISRAELI VISITORS? An Israeli anti-terrorism center warned countrymen that they are liable to be attacked in Jordan. The royal government replied that it has detected no terrorist infiltration (IMRA, 8/4) Jordan has its own Islamists. They demand ostracism of Israelis. From the native Islamists, attacks are possible. P.S.: by 8/19, terrorists in Jordan fired a rocket at the Israeli airport in Eilat (IMRA). ISRAEL VIOLATES DISENGAGEMENT LAW The law stipulated that Israeli property should not be transferred to terrorists, but the P.A. is going to give some to them (IMRA, 8/19, David Bedein). KING OF JORDAN ON "RIGHT OF RETURN" The King of Jordan is campaigning for the right of descendants of Arabs who fled to his country to immigrate to "their homeland" (IMRA, 8/17). They had no concept of homeland when they lived in what now is Israel. Their original homeland is the Arabian Peninsula, Bosnia, etc.. After having moved to the Palestine Mandate for a Jewish national home, they gained health and relative prosperity from Zionism but tried to kill off the Zionists. Having failed at genocide then, they want to return, and have their ancestors' property returned (but not have the Arab states compensate expelled Jews for their much more valuable property), while their leaders prompt them to try again at genocide. The non-existent "right of return" is just a part of jihad, to be summarily rejected as such. They still are living in a part of the former Mandate, so they are in their newer homeland. The King would like to get rid of them, before they overthrow his regime. Collectively, they do pose a risk to whatever country they live in. He knows that the Arab demand for those Arabs to enter Israel is a demand for the Arabs to take over Israel. If they did, they would acquire the means for conquering Jordan and overthrowing his regime. Those Arabs are a problem. People used to talk about "the Jewish problem," but the Jews never posed a problem to their societies. They helped their societies. The problem was a gentile one of prejudicial suspicion. The State Dept. is moving to eradicate the Jewish state, after which the Muslims would be freer to pursue the rest of the Jewish people. That would solve nothing for the West, but it would reduce the West's defense against the Arabs. The Arabs and Islamists are the problem for us Westerners. PROPAGANDA OVER PRACTICALITY Yonatan Bassi, coordinator of the abandonment, is an Orthodox Jew who was willing to abandon his Torah principles and expel Jews from part of the Holy Land, rationalizing that he would do so more humanely than someone else might. (That is typical of the Judenrat mentality.) PM Sharon wanted a yarmulka-wearing Jew in charge, to make the policy seem kosher. Mr. Bassi used his government pulpit to deride opponents of abandonment as "messianic" (whereas abandonment is Panglossian). He also tried to demoralize them by leaking information, often exaggerated, about willingness by some settlers to accept compensation and leave. As a result of his adversarial propaganda, the Jews of Gaza lost confidence in him. He was unable to gain their cooperation in any effort that might help them (IMRA, 8/19). WHAT WILL ISRAEL DO WHEN BARRAGES RESUME? The IDF is doubly handicapped. First, Israeli leftist leaders believe that all it takes to get the Arabs to make peace is withdrawal. Second, Israel constantly underestimates the Arabs' ability to manipulate situations to their advantage. For examples, the P.A. surprised Israel when it utilized human shields and international pressure. As a result, Israeli plans turn out to be na?ve. So it is with its blusterous refrain, if the rocket barrages resume, Israel would react decisively. More likely is a reaction of further territorial concessions, until Israel becomes so indefensible, that the Arabs capture it (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 8/18). Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

THE SHARON DOCTRINE: "DISENGAGEMENT" AND THE DEMONIZATION OF ISRAEL'S "SETTLERS" Posted by Steven Plaut, August 25, 2005.

Ariel Sharon had evidently reached the conclusion that a military victory, was needed and since he was incapable of directing or unable to order a military victory over the Palestinians, he ordered a military victory over the Jewish "settlers." It is all that is left of the "Sharon Doctrine".

Israelis opposed to Ariel Sharon's unilateral "disengagement plan" had something in common with those who backed the plan. Neither group had any idea at all of why Sharon was implementing the plan. Sharon had been elected on a platform opposing the proposal by the Labor Party under Amram Mitzna to conduct a unilateral "disengagement" from Gaza. His platform and the voters be damned, Sharon morphed into the Other Mitzna within days of his reelection.

Those who opposed the plan, the "Orange Banner" camp, unsurprisingly had trouble understanding what benefits Sharon could possibly think would come from the "disengagement." But the supporters of the plan had more or less the same problem. When asked whether they think that the disengagement will result in the PLO complying with its Oslo treaty obligations, even Israeli Oslo supporters generally say NO. When asked whether they believe the PLO will end its coy support for terror and its own organizational role in the violence, the Israeli supporters of the Disengagement Plan are almost as unanimous in expressing their skepticism. Since even supporters of the plan expect the violence to continue and escalate once the "disengagement" is complete, what exactly was the logic behind their support, other than cognitive dissonance?

Just before implementation, the general Israeli public was about evenly split between supporters and opponents of the "disengagement" plan, despite months of enormous governmental efforts to sell the plan to the public and the near-unanimous endorsement of it by Israel's media, under the near-hegemony of the Radical Left.

Shortly before the implementation of the "disengagement", a poll published by the Jerusalem Post (June 8, 2005) showed that total public support for the "disengagement" was below 50%. A Midgam poll conducted June 29 and a Tel Aviv University poll conducted July 17 found even stronger public opposition to the plan. The latter poll found that Israelis expecting the disengagement to result in escalated Palestinian terror outnumbered those expecting reduced terror by about five-to-three. All these polls included Israeli Arabs, about one Israeli in five, most of whom can be relied upon to endorse any proposal that is harmful to Israel's interests.

This meant that on the eve of the implementation, a clear majority of Israeli Jews was apparently opposed to it. Better evidence that this was the case was Sharon's peremptory rejection of any suggestion to conduct a national ballot referendum on the plan, an idea endorsed by a huge majority of the public. Sharon ruled it out because he would have lost it, just as he lost a Likud party referendum on the plan by a large majority. Sharon's Likud poodles and the Left were arguing with a straight face that ballot propositions were undemocratic. Tell that to California.

Israelis have been targeted by an immense media juggernaut demanding that they back Sharon's neo-Oslo agenda and more generally that they endorse the world view of the Israeli Left, that same world view that was proven to be so wrong over and over again during the first decade of the Oslo "peace process".

Part of the Disengagement-Marketing Campaign was based upon what I call the September 10th syndrome. The Israeli Left, with growing numbers of Likud leaders chiming in, insisted that Israel's 2000 unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon had not resulted in an all-out barrage of katyusha rockets from the Hizbollah nor daily terrorist atrocities on the Lebanese border (merely light monthly attacks). Of course the Hizbollah is controlled by Syria, trembling at an enraged United States. Syria is surrounded on all sides by pro-Western states and now has GI's on its eastern border. Moreover, the Gaza security fence seemed to be fairly effective in keeping Gaza suicide bombers out of Israel so surely a similar fence along the West Bank's Green line could be as effective. After all, the number of West Bank suicide bombers is way down and never mind that the Separation Wall in the West Bank is still in large part only on paper and that the massive Israeli campaign of assassinating terrorists in 2003 and 2004 is the more plausible reason for the relative calm.

Unilateral capitulations by Israel seem to have worked wonderfully so far, proclaimed the Hebrew newspapers and the Israeli electronic media in near-unison. So far. On September 10, 2001, there were no doubt countless politicians and media figures convinced that al-Qaeda was no serious terror threat at all to the United States. After all, American security measures had worked for many years, so far.

The Hizbollah now has tens of thousands of rockets aimed at all of northern Israel, rockets that can easily reach the Haifa oil refineries and port at the slightest revision in Syria's agenda. The PLO and its affiliates have already fired thousands of rockets and mortars out of Gaza at Jewish homes, and that was with the Israeli army on the ground inside Gaza and attempting to prevent smuggling of explosives in from Egypt. What will happen once the Gaza Strip is purged of all Jews and Israeli forces? The unilateral withdrawal of Israeli troops from all Gaza and West Bank cities in the 1990s produced the worst wave of Palestinian barbarism and atrocities in the history of the conflict. Does Ariel Sharon seriously believe the Gazans will now take up quilting?

So what does explain Sharon's actions? Again, neither supporters nor opponents of the plan seem to have a plausible answer (take Zev Chafets in the NY Daily News of August 18, 2005 or Hillel Shenker in "The Nation".) Many believe that Sharon was bullied by the US into implementing a plan he himself understands will be harmful and result in escalated violence in the medium run, if not sooner. Others attribute it all to Sharon's supposed born-again conversion to belief in the basic correctness of the Israeli Left's approach, this after 13 years of its nonstop failure, perhaps because of Sharon's exhaustion and senility. Still others, including the new book Boomerang, by Israeli journalists Ofer Shelah and Raviv Druker, believe conspiracy theories about how Sharon struck a deal with the Left to implement its agenda in exchange for its calling off the Attorney General, himself linked closely with the Left, thus helping keep Sharon and his offspring un-indicted for their financial sleaze.

No one on either the Left or Right believes Sharon's protests that the Gaza Disengagement is ultimately a sly tactic to perpetuate Israel's control over the West Bank. The very fact that the Gaza plan included the decision to remove a handful of West Bank settlements in addition to its making Gaza judenrein was a clear signal to the world and to all Israelis that the Gaza plan is Sharon's model for a later West Bank "disengagement" plan as well.

Sharon had agreed to the Labor Party's approach, which advocated after 1993 unilateral Israeli capitulations without so much as the pretense of symmetry, mutuality, balance, nor Palestinian concessions. If removal of all the Jewish civilians from the Gaza Strip was necessary in the name of creating population separation - as a way to reduce tensions and violence, then why was there no similar removal of any Arab anywhere? Would not symmetry require a comparable removal of the entire Arab population of - say - Jenin and its rehabilitation in Gaza City or in Rafiah? After all, the Jenin Arabs and their proximity to Israeli Jewish towns have been a constant cause of violence and conflict, far more serious than the presence of some Jews on empty Gaza sand dunes.

I suspect that most of the Israeli Left really supported the "disengagement," not because of any demented belief that it would result in the Palestinians seeking peace, but mainly because they sought to demean and humiliate the Israeli Jewish "settlers" whom they had been taught to despise.

The Israeli Left, and by that I also mean the Israeli media, has been operating a daily campaign of unrestrained demonization and delegitimization against the Jewish "settlers" in the "occupied territories" for many years. Those familiar with the version of Leftist hate speech to be found on American campuses have seen nothing. The extremism of the anti-settler rhetoric of the Israeli Left is without comparison.

Israel's "settlers" had always borne the brunt of Palestinian savagery. They were always the "mine canary" of the Middle East. Palestinian treatment and attitudes towards "settlers" were indicative of Palestinian attitudes towards Jews in general. A PLO truly seeking peace would find the presence of a handful of Jewish civilians living in the midst of Palestinian Arabs as inoffensive, un-noteworthy, and as enlightening and multiculturally beneficial presence of the Israeli Arab minority living inside pre-1967 Israel. Why is it that Palestinians, like Reconquista Spain, can pursue statehood only when all Jewish civilians are evicted? Could it be that they have no particular interest at all in running their own postal service and sanitation department but instead seek Israel's total annihilation?

When the Israeli leftist media commentators discuss the settlers, one should always perform a mental exercise. One should imagine that every time the word "settler" appears, the word "Jew" is substituted. If one does this, the articles bear an extraordinary resemblance to the anti-Semitic rants in Der Sturmer in the 1930s. Most of the same adjectives and imagery are there. The "settlers" are greedy, clannish, selfish, unhygienic, violent, cowardly, murderous, sexually depraved, parasites, subhuman, dishonest, thieving, murderous, lazy, etc., etc.

Haim Yavin is the Dan Rather of Israel's Channel One television station, in more senses than one. He produced his own recent documentary devoted to proving that all "settlers" are horrid Untermenschen. State-run Channel One is a station spouting leftist ideology, even whenever the Likud nominally governs the state. Israeli leftist newspaper columns denouncing the settlers in blood-curdling terms are too numerous to count. A Hebrew University leftist professor, Moshe Zimmerman, regularly denounces all settlers as Nazis. Other academic extremists have openly called upon the PLO to murder Jewish settlers. (These and similar statements are now carefully documented by the Israel Academia Monitor watchdog group at www.israel-academia-monitor.com.)

The delegitimization and demonization reached a fever pitch on the day the troops were sent in by Sharon to the Gaza settlement of Kfar Darom to evict its residents. After predicting for months that the settlers were planning to murder Israeli politicians and troops, the Israeli media fabricated a story about how the settlers were throwing acid at the hapless troops, and within moments every media outlet on the planet was repeating the lie. There was no acid at all thrown, not even acidic grapefruit juice. Not a single soldier was treated for acid burn and the worst symptom any soldier showed was sore eyes, no doubt from tear gas. The acid story was an invention of Israel's leftist media, shamelessly pursuing its own political agenda. Michael Eitan, a member of the Israeli parliament and chairman of the Knesset law committee, denounced the story as a "blood libel". [The only Jews dropping acid we are aware of are over at Tikkun magazine.]

The half or so of the Israeli public who endorsed the eviction of the Gaza settlers had been deluged in the political tsunami of media hate speech for more than a decade. When Sharon decided to evict the "settlers," those Israelis clapping their hands did so not because they seriously think the PLO has changed its agenda. They did so because they wanted to see the imaginary cartoon villains invented by the Left and its captive media getting their comeuppance. They were willing to reward Arab terror and fascism and to signal Israel's destructibility and defeatism in exchange for the immense pleasure of seeing Jewish settlers getting the jackboot.

When the PLO rockets from Gaza and the West Bank, after some upgrading, reach the yuppie neighborhoods in which Israel's urban leftists live, we will see if they still savor their sense of amusement.

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.

NICE WORDS Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, August 24, 2005.

This is a news item from today's Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com; it is stored at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=88562. It is entitled "Eldad: We Will Not Forgive or Forget." These are nice words. Now let's see what he actually does. After all the true problem does not rest with Crime Minister Sharon but with the very structure of the State of Israel. Is he really willing to risk his personal position by advocating and working to radically reform Israel's corrupt and unworkable political system? Advocating the shuffling about of personalities without changing the political structure will accomplish nothing. IsraelNN.com: National Union opposition party MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad, a former IDF brigadier-general, told reporters "we will never forgive or forget," referring to the expulsion of Jews from their homes in the Land of Israel. Eldad was a driving force behind disengagement opposition in northern Samaria. Eldad added the fight is not over and everything possible must be done to oust Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from office as quickly as possible, in addition to seeking to place him on trial, to face criminal charges for his actions. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

BY THE RIVERS OF YARKON WE SIT, WEEPING AT THE MEMORY OF ZIONISM Posted by David Ha'Ivri, August 24, 2005.

History has repeated itself. The Jewish people were driven out of their land by the Babylonians and again by The Roman general Turnus Rufus who destroyed our holy city and plowed the area of the Temple Mount. Zionism was meant to be a cure to this national disgrace. To return to our land and build a proud and independent Jewish State. But now the tables have turned. Israeli general Sharon has expelled our people and bulldozed Jewish towns in Gush Katif and Shomron. Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the founder of the revisionist movement wrote: "may I forget my left arm if I forget the east side of the Jordan River." Today, those who claim to be his ideological heirs have even given up the west side of the Jordan. The major mainstream "Zionist" movements are all partners in the most orchestrated pogrom in history. All that is missing is the classical music in the background. Like the invading Roman army, Sharon systematically marched forty thousand officers and professional soldiers into civilian Jewish towns and expelled the residents from their private homes. These Jewish soldiers were sent in under the threat of losing their jobs and being sent to prison unless they took part in the forced expulsion of their brothers from their homes. The military invasion was carried out in meticulous order as the expulsion forces, acting like robots or zombies in a trance methodically broke down doors of homes and synagogues, dragging Jews away by all four limbs, grabbing babies from their mother's arms. Never before has a pogrom been carried out so elegantly. Afterwards Sharon told the soldiers that they were praised by the nations world over for their effort. And so progresses the hope to finally be accepted by the nations, I can hear him saying; "here we are just like everyone else, we even oppress our Jews". The strong settlers have been beaten; Don't we, Jews, love being the weak and oppressed, begging the world to pity us. After all, we are the Jewish people - those who have made the Shoah our national symbol. We are the people who send all visitors to Yad V'Shem, the holocaust memorial center. We are the nation who thinks that the Shoah grants us our right to exist. Yes, this latest pogrom which has been perpetrated is another step forward toward acceptance by the family of nations! For this Sharon surly deserves the Nobel Prize together with Arafat, yimach shmo. And so now, here is where the fun really starts. Rising up like mushrooms, are organizations making appeals on behalf of the refugees, who want to lighten their burden. Volunteers are knocking on doors collecting blankets, food, and money to help them. Jews are soaking it up - once again we can show how ill-fated we are. Once again we can show the world our misfortune. Surely they will feel sorry for us, and maybe even love us. If all of those people who are now baking cakes for the Jewish Gaza refugees had made a genuine effort to stand up against the tyrant, those refugees would still be in their homes unharmed. And most obscene are the organizations being paid by the government for offering services to the refugees, presenting themselves as humanitarian and raising funds from the public. Let us learn from the Arabs. The Arabs have perpetuated their "refugee" problem for sixty years as a political tool to show the world the evils of the State of Israel. But Jews cannot bear to see the Jewish refugee problem caused by the demented Sharon government continue for even a day. I salute the Jewish refugees of Gaza who are camped out in tent cities and demanding that he who caused their despair solve their problem. Our refugees are not hungry or without means. Every one of them has family and friends who would happily put them up for as long as is needed. They are hurt and betrayed. Hurt by the country that sent them to settle the land; betrayed by Prime Minster who was voted in on a platform that promised to protect them and their towns. They are not camping out because they have nowhere to go. They are making a statement - that. Sharon must feel the SHAME. For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest. Our support for our brothers, the Jewish refugees, must be shown by publicizing the crimes that have been committed against them and the Jewish people by a heretic corrupt government. General Sharon is not a Zionist, he is a criminal who has hijacked our country, army and land. His crimes must be exposed and he and his junta must be set out to pasture with his sheep. David Ha'ivri, chairman of Revava, is also editor of Darka Shel Torah and Ideas in Action newsletters, and the publisher of books teaching Jewish pride and faith in HaShem. He has set a goal to put the Jewish people back on the footpath of our fathers, and build a proud and strong nation whose national policy is based on Jewish values. He can be reached by email at haivri@hameir.org or at his website: http://www.hameir.org/ To Go To Top

A SHARON MADE CATASTROPHE: PLANNED CIVIL DISORDER & THE WANDERING JEWS AGAIN Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, August 24, 2005.

The great liar, Sharon, promised the nation that his deportation plan would be his solution to the Jewish question. He made speeches and had his drag-along collaborators make speeches that he would take care of the settlers for the sacrifices he forced upon them. His propaganda machine worked day and night feeding disinformation to the Media who didn't bother to check the facts. Promises of compensation vomited forth out of Sharon's office. The settlers would be compensated with lots of money - which was duly echoed by the Media without checking any facts. I listened to FOX NEWS, usually better than most when reporting fairly about Israel. I shuddered when, in the FOX & FRIENDS morning "newscasts", Edie suddenly became a ditzy blond, burbling that the settlers would get 150,000 to 400,000 dollars for their homes and businesses. That is very little to replace the large homes they had built, on which they must continue to pay mortgages and without any jobs to sustain themselves and their families. And they lost the amazing high tech farms that developed the technology for producing bug-free produce. Any compensation for their farms and businesses has been minimal - but, their greenhouses, infrastructure and public buildings will be sold or gifted to the Arab Muslim Palestinians. Someone or more will gain a huge profit. Sharon and his group of incapable thugs have good Jews wandering the Jewish nation with their children relying upon the kindness of generous Israelis to bring them food, water, clothes, medical, legal care. Little to nothing was done to absorb these industrious pioneering settlers, driven out of the homes they built themselves by the Sharon government to accommodate President Bush, Sec. Rice and Abu Mazen. Sharon hired and fired a man as Director of the Disengagement Authority, called "SELA" - supposedly an observant Jew, named Yonatan Basi. As it turned out, he not only didn't make arrangements for the evicted people but he personally benefitted financially, according to reports. I cannot yet confirm the following report but, be assured, I will!: "Yonatan Basi, head of the Disengagement Authority, has apparently received a bonus of 150,000 NIS ($33,333) for advancing the expulsion of Jews from their homes. Despite the fact that the State signed an agreement with him to prevent a clash of interests between his position as head of the Authority and his position as head of the Board of Directors of the Mahadrin Company. It seems that the Mahadrin Company, with Basi at its head, owned the lands on which the State is building the new residential area for the expelled families. THE STATE PAID THE MAHADRIN COMPANY $20 Million Dollars for the Land." IsraelNationalNews.com 8/23/05 (1) Sharon's propaganda Cabinet is putting out press releases and giving self-serving interviews on what a terrific job Sharon's government (them) was doing in the "Disengagement". But, even the Leftist Media are reluctantly doing small stories about the total failure of Sharon's apparachniks in preparing to absorb the settlers now classified as those "Wandering Jews". I listened to Mike Tobin (FOX NEWS) covering the evacuation of Netzarim doing a eulogy of the Jews leaving quietly with their Torahs. He ended by saying that they were going to waiting buses, where they would be taken to their "new homes". Tobin never bothered to check: "What new homes and where will these "Wandering Jews" would be dropped off?" Would they too start the process of going from hotel to hotel, student dorm to other "temporary" tent cities? Will they have to rely on sympathetic Israelis for food, blankets, sweaters, diapers and the ordinary stuff one lives by? I am awaiting first reports from FOX NEWS, CNN, and World News Media to say anything about Sharon's blatant lies about government preparations - when there was little to none! If I had the power, I would drag Sharon out of his huge Sycamore Farm and give it to the settlers. Moreover, I would evict Sharon's Cabinet from their luxury apartments and fill them with our now "Wandering Jews" of the pioneering settlements. You may have noticed that everything about the Sharon "Disengagement" attack was well-planned, well-organized - down to the last detail. There was a parallel plan, symptomatic of Sharon's convoluted thinking which was to have pre-planned chaos for the deported pioneering settlers. The idea was to insure that the deported settlers would be kept in a deliberate state of confusion so that they could not later interfere with Sharon's and the Bush/Rice plans to evacuate the rest of the West Bank, denials notwithstanding. Some will recall the Adolph Eichmann planning to keep the Jews calm and obedient as they were gathered up in each town and taken to the rail station for transportation. Here, too, with German efficiency, the Jews were told to be calm and that excellent housing and work awaited them. Remember the sign: "Arbeit Macht Frei" - (I make no apology for using Holocaust symbols and actions.) Many Holocaust survivors were deported these 2 weeks and many Israelis were deported before from Sinai are being deported again. There was virtually (seemingly) no planning to house the evacuated settlers as they are bounced from hotel to hotel with some 1000 families having no permanent place to live. The hotels are jam packed with few support facilities. The families are trying to care for the children who are used to playing outside in sand and grass and freedom. Some have no temporary place to live. As a result, 2 tent cities were set up by homeless Israelis, one at Netivot and one at Yad Mordecai. I thought that Sharon (whom I once admired) was a bastard before but, now I know he and his thugs deserve the judgement of the Nuremberg Tribunals. The Media has yet to catch on that the efficiency of the Sharon 5 day attack had a parallel efficiency, including Psychological Warfare, to deliberately insure that the settlers would be strewn around the country, treated like garbage cast-offs. They were intentionally separated from support and friends in their own communities, with Nazi-like efficiency so they could not organize and protest their ugly treatment. We all thought the pledges of planning and efficiency by Sharon were true. As before, our clever pathological General was scheming to insure that the settlers were scattered far and wide. Who would have thought that Sharon and his uglies would plan such a "Final Destruction". They are already demolishing the beautiful homes built by these pioneering settlers. The International Media was suckered, just as was everyone else. All saw the buses leaving with comments from the news-casters that they were going to their new homes, that they were getting lots of money in compensation. That's what Sharon's propagandists told the Media. But, they were not going to homes. A few were going to cheap trailers, tricked out with red roofs to be called "caravillas", but it is predicted that they won't last more than 2 years - and the government has promised to demolish them within 4 years. They are so small that only a couple without children and no visitors might possibly fit into them. Sharon needs to have the settlers consumed with trying to keep their families together. All the promises of keeping communities together were like all of Sharon's promises - just lies to suppress opposition. ### DETAILED APPENDIX From Gail Winston in Jerusalem: We heard August 23rd at a press conference in Jerusalem from Dr. Itzchak Miron, a senior member of the Israel Legal Forum, a civil liberties organization of 50 to 75 Israeli lawyers who have been working "pro bono" (without fee). The following are the (complicated) facts on the ground of the "solutions" being offered to the uprooted, evicted settlers. So far, they have received nothing except a few small trailers, euphemistically called "caravillas" for large families to live in. Those with fewer than 6 children got 60 square meters (yards) - those with 6 or more children got 90 square meters (yards) - with no appliances. They must transfer themselves into these tiny, new slums-to-be from the beautiful houses they had built of 200-300 square meters. The doors weren't wide enough to get their refrigerators into, even if there was enough room to hold. No room for their extensive libraries, children's toys or belongings, etc. Everything they owned would be put into storage containers, likely to rust or mildew, stored in hot Beer Sheva - with no insurance. And, these "caravillas" were put into empty land, no infrastructure, no sewage, water, no medical clinics, no schools or shops, no synagogues and virtually no roads. These "caravillas" are supposed to be demolished in 2 years, leading these who accepted this "solution" to be evicted, uprooted and deported again. Communities which asked (begged) to stay together were scattered around the country. Some have rented apartments. Most didn't know where they were going when they boarded the buses; most don't know where they will go when their supposed 10 day limited stay at the hotels runs out - in 3 day. One thousand families out of 1700 (or 2/3rds) have NO temporary solution. When the Sinai Desert and Yamit were evacuated under the Camp David Peace Treaty, the 6-900 residents had 3 years to make their permanent preparations. Gaza/Gush Katif's 9,000 residents had 3 months, without any commitments or treaty obligations taken by the Palestinian Arab Muslims. In Sinai only 13 families had no permanent solution when their evacuation came. That's 1%. In Gaza/Gush Katif plus the 4 Northern Samarian communities 90% or 1000 out of 1,700 families have no solution at all. The government bought 400 "caravillas" of which some are not yet ready. Some 200-300 families accepted the "caravillas" described about in Nitzan. The government promised to destroy ALL the "caravillas" in 4 years. These "caravillas" cost the government $100,000 each (very high for a trailer home). For $100,000 each family could have bought a 5 room apartment in Ashkelon. And, to further cause civil discord, the religious families and the secular families are mixed up. The secular families have to drive through the religious families areas on Shabbat - which was totally unnecessary. By the way, the government also bought 2 high buildings in Ashkelon - which will NOT be ready for 2 years. But, this project also should bring some in the government a huge profit. New, promised houses in areas similar to Gush Katif, beautiful areas on the beach, will not be ready by 2006 and IF it falls through, there is no solution for those families and communities who accepted this solution, plus they will lose their promised compensation. For the rest, it is probable that people will have to make their own solutions. It will take 12 - 18 months until everyone finds a place, gets permits and builds. So, right now 450-500 families have temporary "solutions" - mostly under poor conditions. 1000 families have NO TEMPORARY SOLUTION. Finally the government declared in a big ad that they had a "solution" for every family. But, in small print it says prepared 1000 rooms for 1000 families. The Forum told them they needed 2,500 rooms because of the many children. Dr. Miron said "they did a magnificent job, considering the fact that only started 3 months ago. But, why (he asked) did they start only then and why did they prepare in such a [deliberately poor] way?" The government secured 600 rooms in 8 separate hotels in Jerusalem, with only enough food for two meals a day. They don't know where the rest of their communities are. BUT, they will be evicted again 10 days after they entered. [Sidebar: In the JERUSALEM POST of August 24, there are two conflicting stories next to each other on the front page: One by Daniel Kennemer claims that "of the 1000 hotel rooms reserved by the government for the evacuees, roughly 800 are standing empty, as are 600 of the 850 rented apartments." (1) Next article by Tovah Lazaroff: "The Disengagement Authority said....it counted the 80 Netzarim families among the 1,159 it had temporarily placed in hotel rooms." (2) Perhaps they could stay until September 1 in some of the locations, like the student dorm rooms in the College of Judea and Samaria of Ariel and other schools with dorms. Another example is the 47 families from Gadid. They were promised 85 rooms in Neve Ilan (on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Road), but - only 60 rooms were ready. Some families are in religious institutions; some moved in with their extended families. All these hundreds of "solutions" saved the government from finding "solutions" because these families went from their very nice homes to tiny places - temporarily. To be evacuated again, over and over until they give up or find some permanent solution of their own. Every family can claim 50,000 shekels from the government for their "temporary solutions". It is risky to do so unless they use the skills of good lawyers. But, any monies they may be given will be used up rapidly. Some monies will "have to be given back" to the government. And they must continue paying their mortgages on the homes the Sharon government destroyed. The town of Neveh Dekalim is scattered in those Jerusalem hotels. If Neveh Dekalim is stuck in Jerusalem, they have no schools, no health clinics, no jobs, they've lost any jobs they had. The same holds true for all 10,000 men, women and children. Elei Sinai is a small community of 83 families, many having been evicted from Yamit and told to settle Elei Sinai by then the pro-settler bulldozer-builder Ariel Sharon. Two small groups found permanent solutions for 100 people but 45-50 families have no place to go. Some of the places they were sent to had no water or vermin or were flooded so they left. They established "ma'abarot" (tent cities) for refugees - again. (Remember the tent cities for Jews after 1948, when the Arab countries ejected 850,000 Jews who had lived in Arab countries for centuries.) Elei Sinai, Nisanit and Dugit are on the northern border of Gaza. By evacuating them, the Israeli government brings the Arab Muslim Palestinians and all other Muslim Terrorists 3 to 4 kilometers closer to Israel than they are now. Elei Sinai wanted to be near the beach as they are now, but the government accused them of being "selfish" and wanting to be their own real estate agents. Dr. Miron said: "We in the Legal Forum worked as volunteers until 3 weeks ago when we became the formal representatives for Neveh Dekalim. We took these cases to the High Supreme Court, under Supreme Court Justice Aharon Barak - who [predictably] ruled they would not over-rule the government decisions and actions." As of May 2005, Avner Shimoni, Mayor of the Regional Area of Gush Katif/Gaza started all these preparations. He authorized the Lawyers Legal Forum to act on their half. SHARON'S PLANNED CIVIL DISCORD & CHAOS PM Ariel Sharon very carefully prepared the Army. He used some 40,000 to 50,000 Army, Police etc. They wore very cleverly designed BLACK uniforms with a little badge of the Knesset on their chests. They actually looked like Darth Vader or (to be more accurate, like Nazis or Mussolini's Black Shirts). They also acted peculiarly like robots, brain-washed even possibly tranquillized. They overpowered the people defending themselves, their families and their homes. They evacuated 21 communities in Gaza/Gush Katif and 4 in Northern Samaria in 3 days the week of August 16 to 18 plus part of Sunday, Monday of August 22 and 23. Therefore, Arik successfully prosecuted his War against the Jews in 5 days. Arik Sharon very carefully prepared the prisons to hold the protesters as detainees. Arik Sharon very carefully prepared the relations with the Arab Palestinian people. WHY DIDN'T HE PREPARE SOLUTIONS FOR THE PEOPLE? HE DID NOT INTEND FOR THE PEOPLE TO HAVE A SOLUTION!!! His intentions were to create Civil Discord, Civil Strife by creating impossible situations, to throw people off balance, to create disorder, to deliberately create an ongoing humanitarian crisis where men, women and children do not have a place to put their heads, do not have their clothes or books or shoes. Only the Charity groups are sustaining the people now. They bring the men and boys new white shirts for Shabbat, underwear, toothbrushes, shoes. How long can the Charity organizations carry this permanent load both humanely and financially? Where are the International Jewish Organizations putting their money? The President's Conference of Major Jewish Organizations voted to approve Sharon's actions. Almost all the American Jewish Organizations have always voted and acted to support the Israeli government, right or wrong, no matter whoever was running it or how well or poorly they were acting. The American Organizations must change this policy unless they want to be responsible for the disaster which this in-humane policy has set as a inevitable catastrophe where (G-d forbid) innocent men, women and children will die or be hurt. Seeing only the people from Neve Dekalim at the Jerusalem Gold Hotel, I must report that they are carrying on with excellent organization under extremely difficult conditions. The children are used to running freely on the grass and sand. Now, they are running and playing on an asphalt parking lot outside (and inside) the Hotel next to the Jerusalem Bus Station - some in bare feet...normal for kids but dangerous in the city of Jerusalem. Of course, activities have been organized for them but, not for every moment. This is a human disaster waiting to happen. A kid could run into a car or bus. The hotel staff is stressed by so many people being forced into too few rooms. They are doing their best. How long can the people keep their health and sanity under these conditions which, I believe from the facts herein, that Sharon intended to create this humanitarian catastrophe? This is Sharon's "Final Solution for the Jewish Question". Why? What good does it do him? Don't know yet. What are we all going to do about it? Let me hear from you. See attachment for Summary of Dr. Miron by David Bedein *** (4) After Dr. Itzchak Miron brilliantly and calmly conveyed all these dire facts about the "NO SOLUTION - SOLUTION BY SHARON", we heard from: - a petite red-headed Savta: "Troops walked in, didn't look right or left, sat or stood in front of my house, backs to me. I walked out and said to them: "Look at me. Look at my house that you are forcing out of. Symbol of the Knesset on their vests. Sweet little girl soldiers, sweet little boy soldiers, then the soldiers in Black designer costumes, a real Hollywood production. They wouldn't look at us. They looked like a video game. I asked the little girl soldier, "Maidele, does your mother know where you are today?" "I guess so." "And what are you going to tell your daughter when you have one?" I was interviewed by the BBC. The girl interviewer asked "What are they doing? I said: "They\re bringing in the Holy Torah into the synagogue." She whispered to me: "What's a Torah." The cameraman said: "It's the Bible." I said, "It's not the Bible; it's the Torah." Then she goes on the BBC live and says: "They're bringing the Holy Koran into the temple." I screamed at her: "It's the Torah!" She said: "Oops, it's the Holy Torah." "We said Kaddish. We tore our shirts in Kriah (mourning). We got on the bus. We got to Jerusalem. The people of Jerusalem were there with fruits and cakes and drinks. I discovered I had a broken ankle. I'm running Operation Band-Aid from my bed with a my cell phone. People know me in Jerusalem. They've heard me on the radio." Rachel said, "People need the basics. Even then the government, not even the Kupat Holim didn't come to take care of our needs, medical, children. The President of Israel hasn't come. Where is he? We need 2 school buildings in Jerusalem - one for the girls, one for the boys to start school by September 1st. We have the teachers. "Finally the social workers showed up - totally untrained." They told us to: "Be Strong - don't cry." (The top one turned out to be from Bassi's SELA organization). I told her: "Don't tell me not to cry. I've been strong. Now I have to cry; I have to mourn. I've - we've lost everything. It's this week and next week. Then what. I've been trying to get the Emuna organization to run the humanitarian needs in all the hotels in Jerusalem. I told someone we have no cash. They took away our bank; we have no liquid cash. A Christian woman brought me several envelopes, each with a 1000 shekels. We're living off of charity. We communicate by cell phone with text messages. We are starting a Gush Katif newspaper. We are not yet connected by computer to the Internet." In the lobby of the hotel are the excellent teenagers, organizing. They have a ledger of all those who offered to help and in what capacity. They are trying to take care of the younger children who are running wild due to their parents' stress, lack of structure, loss of their homes and their lack of freedom to run outside in safety. This humanitarian disaster is just beginning. We need long term care, TLC, for these brave people who have withstood 6000 Kassam rocket and missile attacks over the last four years. They built beautiful communities that are being demolished. Their industry of creating and developing produce grown bug-free in the barren sand that no one wanted is being gifted to the Arab Muslim Palestinians - who promise to come in and take the rest of Israel after Sharon or his successors strip the rest of Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights, the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem. They say they want it all. They say what they mean and they mean what they say. **** 1. THE STATE PAID THE MAHADRIN COMPANY $20 Million Dollars for the Land." IsraelNationalNews.com 8/23/05 2, "Ten of millions of shekels down the drain in hotel bookings fiasco" by Daniel Kennemer Jerusalem Post Aug. 24, 2005 3. "Evacuees find warm welcome in West Bank" by Tovah Lazaroff Jerusalem Post 8/24/05 4. "Civil Rights Attorney Claims Israeli Government Mishandling of Evacuees" by David Bedein, Israel Resource News Agency < 8/24/05 PLEASE SEND THIS TO YOUR LISTS, TO CONGRESS, TO THE MEDIA. CALL YOUR LOCAL MEDIA, THE NATIONAL MEDIA AND SEND THEM THIS COMPILATION - with more to come! David Bedein, Bureau Chief, Israel Resource News Agency: "Israel civil rights attorney claims Israeli government mishandling of evacuees." The government of Israel has launched a PR blitz to convey the impression that Israeli citizens evicted from their homes and farms in Katif and Northern Samaria over the past week were given checks in excess of half a million dollars, sent to luxury hotels until the end of the month, with new homes waiting for them at the end of the summer. On Tuesday, August 23rd, Attorney Dr. Yitzhak Meron, a senior member of the Israel Legal Forum, a civil liberties organization compromised of 50 Israeli lawyers, conducted a press conference in Jerusalem which provided sobering evidence that the Sharon government may not be conveying the whole picture. Dr. Meron explained how the Israeli government is simply not prepared to provide for the 1,700 families evicted from their homes in Katif and Samaria, and made the following ten points. 1. The Israel Legal Forum, representing these evicted communities, asked the government last December to do everything in its power to see to it that the communities to stay together, wherever they are relocated. Every significant study (especially those regarding what happened when people were moved from Sinai) indicates that keeping communities in tact helps to prevent post traumatic stress disorder, which can result in serious emotional disability. 2. The government - clearly aware of all of this - still preferred to act in a fashion that would break up communities, dealing with separate families, attempting to place them in different locations. 3. Monetary compensation will be provided according to a formula which involves the time of residence in the community, whether or not the family owned or was renting, along with factors of family size. Most families have yet to receive any money. 4. The Government threatens to reduce compensation of persons who refused to leave voluntarily before August 17th. These threats are being challenged by the Forum in the Israel High Court of Justice as being patently illegal. 5. The government rented out 1,000 rooms in hotels for evacuees, although the reality was that 2,500 rooms were required, because of large families. 6. No social workers were dispatched by the government to help the evacuees cope logistically, and no psychologists were sent by the government to be on hand to help with the trauma. 7. There is Insufficient food in hotels which offered only two meals a day and lack of facilities for doing laundry. 8. 90% of the families have no idea yet where they will go in two weeks time. 9. Some 450 Families signed up for caravan mobile homes (euphemistically referred to as "caravillas") in Nitzan (adjacent to Nitzanim). 200 families have received their keys, but are encountering vast problems: There are no synagogues, no schools, no clinics and no shops. These mobile homes cannot fit the books, furniture or appliances of people from Katif who are being moved from much bigger homes. Their possessions are stored in hot warehouses near Beer Sheva,, with no insurance. 10. The government claim that Katif communities had not contacted the authorities on time was refuted. The Israel Legal Forum wrote with a "power of attorney" to the government of Israel on behalf of the people of Katif last December. However, the government would not respond to the officially appointed legal counsel of Katif residents, preferring instead to mislead the media into believing that the people of Katif simply "refused to deal with the authorities". Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

THE END OF THE PHYSICAL GUSH KATIF Posted by Judy Lash Balint, August 24, 2005.

Please note--all the messages from the former residents of Gush Katif are filled with the SPIRIT of Gush Katif--while the physical communities of Gush Katif are no longer, the spirit of the people can not be wiped out: Yesterday, Netzarim, the last of the Gush Katif communities was emptied of its' people. The residents came by convoy to Jerusalem and marched down Jaffa Road to the Kotel, accompanied by thousands of Jerusalemites. Read below the words of a community leader from Netzarim: This is just one of 21 Gush Katif communities...in the coming days, we'll be posting avenues for Israelis and people from abroad to help. In order to avoid the situation after the start of the war in 2000 when a proliferation of organizations cropped up that supposedly helped terror victims but were later found to have provided very limited support for those in need, we'll try to forward info only for those organizations that have a track record or where the organizers are personally known to us. Dear Friends of Netzarim, As one follows the media, one thinks the settlers had just recently done the best deal of their lives and are going to become rich as the government is going to compensate them for their many years of devotion. I think it is about time everybody knows the truth. That's why we have this daily update for... When one is being relocated by an employer, all expenses are covered. One is assured a job, a home etc. The 'Evacuation-Compensation's bill passed by the Knesset (under the supervision of our Prime Minister and his flock) states as follow: One is to receive 1000 USD per square meter (the cost of building a home). A family who had been living there for 20 years may get $180,000 just because their house is 180 sq/mtr. The bill does not offer any compensation for the land or for the time invested there or for the mental crisis they may go through. Our great legislatures 'forgot' those people are going to become homeless. They 'forgot' those people will have to by land somewhere in order to build new homes. Our 'very smart' knesset members 'forgot' some people actually work for a living; they did not realize the people of Gush Katif will be out of a job for a long time. Moreover, here are more facts: 1. Most of the population has no housing alternative. Mr Shimon Peres set up a whole department in his office to help those people. He realized the 'Disengagement Management' had done nothing during the last two years. 2. The 'Disengagement Management'(DM) had set up a trailer site as temporary housing. One is to be deported from a very nice 2000 sq/ft house and to be put in an 800 sq/ft trailer... Some decided to go for it, thinking the DM cares about them. Those folks are forced to live there for two(!) years, no matter how soon they find/build a home somewhere else, they are to pay the Disengagement Management (!!!!) $450 every month - monthly rent for the trailer!!! - their belongings will be packed and put in containers where the heat inside reaches 160-180 degrees (they will lose everything they have), they will have to pay monthly rent for the container, its storage and its transport. All those monies are to be deducted from the monies they are to get from the government. One more fact: Though they are out of a job, they are not entitled for unemployment. 3. The Arabs started steeling everything there. According to the Deportation Plan, the army should guard the towns while movers pack everything and ship it out. However, the army who could get 50,000 soldiers for the deportation process could not have enough soldiers to secure the belongings of the deported people... The people of Ganey Tal had lost most of their possession over the last weekend. Isn't it beautiful? No source of income, no house, no land, no schools, no community to belong to, no community services, no money to start a new life somewhere. We will not let it happen. Though we did not want to turn this news update into a fund-raiser, since I have been receiving many phone calls and email messages regarding the issue, I feel, at this point, I must attend to it: 1. Currently, the Netzarim Development Fund is going to support the PEOPLE: personal needs, medical needs, education, etc. We will re-direct all of our resources to ensure the well being of our brothers and sisters who were deported from their homes. 2. The Netzarim Development Fund will support all former Gush Katif communities and not only the community of Netzarim. We currently need a lot of money. However, as I said, we do not want this message to become a fund-raiser. Those who wish to help may contact us anytime. My information is on the bottom of this message. I may be reached at all numbers anytime, whether I am in the US or in Israel. Dawn is breaking now in Israel. A new day is coming our way. May that be a day of joy for all peace-seeking mankind. Thank you very much for your support. I shall keep you updated. Udi. Ehud Zinar, Netzarim Email: netzarim_fund@bezeqint.net, udizinar@bigfoot.com ----------------------- UPDATE LATER SUNDAY. . . Dear Friends of Netzarim, By the time you read this email message, we will be leaving town enroute to Jerusalem. Netzarim is about walking tall. Netzarim is about Jewish pride and Jewish freedom. We will not be taken on buses like refugees. We will leave our homes the way we used to do even when there were shooting incidents and mortar shell attacks. We will leave town driving our cars (those who do not own cars will use the bus) as free and proud people. As we leave town, we will drive to Jerusalem. It is going to be a very long convoy escorted by police cars and police motorcycles. The same way they escort VIPs. It is not a demonstration - though the media may want to present it that way. It is not a rally - though some would think that way. We will be going to Jerusalem, to the Kotel (Wailing Wall), to the holiest place on earth. We are going to Jerusalem to report to the highest authority in the world: Part A of the Netzarim Mission was accomplished. We are ready to move to the next mission. Praying at the Kotel will grant us with the spiritual powers we need in order to go on. As we leave the Kotel, we will leave the Menorah we had on the roof of our synagogue at the Kotel. We will leave it there for safekeeping - till we go back home to Netzarim. It will take some time before we could move on to the next mission. We have left behind everything we had. However, now that people all over the world are aware of the important mission and the powers we possess, we are sure many will join us in our mission. We are looking forward to having more of our brothers and sisters on board. It is a day of sadness because we are forced out of our homes. It is a day of sadness as Jews give away their homeland to their worst enemies. As Jews we should also consider this day a day of joy for it presents a turn point in many aspects. It presents a new start. We are willing to work as hard as needed in order to make a better future for the entire Jewish people. Thanks you for your support, my friends. I shall keep you updated. Udi. Ehud Zinar, Netzarim Assistant to Chairman USA: Israel Tel: (1) 212 933-9537 Cell: (972) 54 6366-256 Fax: (1) 603 507-2444 Fax: (972) 3 684-4379 Email: netzarim_fund@bezeqint.net, udizinar@bigfoot.com Judy Lash Balint is an investigative journalist and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" (Gefen). It is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com To Go To Top

GUSH KATIF

APPEAL FOR THE JEWS OF GUSH KATIF - REFUGEES IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY Posted by Time To Speak, August 24, 2005.

The last time we had to do things like this in Israel was for the rescued Ethiopians. The "government" is being so rotten to these people that it really looks like a lot of plain spite and vengeance along with the incompetence. If there had been a tsumami on a South Sea Island or an earthquake in Iceland, the Israeli Hercules Transport Planes would already be there with relief. Too much weeping and not enough rage! Today sadly marks the completion of the Expulsion of all the communities of Gush Katif and 4 communities of Northern Shomron. In all, about 10,000 law abiding productive citizens of the State of Israel were cruelly expelled from their homes, thriving agriculture and businesses uprooted and 24 holy synagogues together with Ulpanot and Yeshivot were destroyed, bulldozed to the ground. On Sunday, even the dead will be expelled from what was to have been their final resting ground! Oh, how we cry.... The homeless people are mourning their tremendous loss while trying to figure out where they will be going after Shabbat, when their 11 day governmentally imposed exile to hotels will end. In the meantime, the people of Israel are opening their hearts, pockets and homes to our brethren, in whatever way that is needed; from providing blankets and sweaters, to providing baby formula, toys and cereal for the children, basic toiletries for the adults and a place to stay for those than need it. (There are many in this category) For money donations in Israel call 1-800-351-012 For money donations in the US: The "LeMaan Echai" (For My Brothers' Sake) Fund Run by Paamonim non-profit Charity Organization under the auspices of Rabbi Aviner and other distinguished Rabbis. See: www.Paamonim.com (can donate via credit card, emphasize that the money is for LeMaan Echai Fund) Mail cheque to: Chani Pilchik, 4A 42nd Street 1529, Brooklyn, New York, 11219 U.S.A. Phone: (0131) 718-438-1498 Fax: (0131) 718-437-0714 Items to donate (as of August 23, afternoon) The following items were requested in Jerusalem, to be distributed to the refugees throughout the country: *garbage bags *sandwich bags *bleach (economica) *Jerusalem phone directory *Telma Cereal 750 grams Kariot *videos in Hebrew for kids *waterproof 'huggies' diapers for pool *all types of cell phone chargers *writing supplies: paper, plain and lined, pens and pencils, pencil sharpeners, 'tippex' correction fluid *arts and crafts supplies for kids: paper- plain and colored, scissors, glue, paints, crayons, markers, poster board and heavy markers, cellotape *toiletries, particularly ladies razors, men's deodorant, as well as hair brushes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, shower soap, hand and face moisturizer, sunscreen *special shampoo and combs for LICE *small bottles of water Also requested were NEW sweaters of all sizes for men, women and children, shoes for the children (coming up to fall and the kids need new shoes to replace their old sandals. The items can be dropped off directly to the Shalom Hotel, Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem or in Ramot until Thursday noon to Benjamin Family, 52 Morgentau St. apt 5, telephone 02-5864864 (you can leave your donations at the front door) ****************************************** Lema'an Achai (RBS) - Emergency Campaign for Gush Katif 9,000 Israeli citizens have become displaced persons overnight. They have been torn from their homes, jobs, friends and communities. Scattered in 42locations around the country, in hotel rooms, kibbutzim, caravans and tents, all their household possessions are stored in 20 ft containers somewhere in the Negev Desert. Many are still wearing the clothes they were evicted in; their shirts torn in the traditional sign of mourning. Friends, it is our privilege to help them come to terms with their trauma and begin to rebuild their lives. The residents of Gush Katif did not ask to be placed in this situation, they were always self-supporting, and in fact brought in millions of dollars to the Israeli economy through their exports of flowers, herbs and organic produce. Their family and friends gave their lives for what the Israeli Government deemed to be the security of the country. Yet now they are dependent on others' generosity as a direct result of the actions of the Israeli Government (with US approval)- yet the compensation, solutions and response of the government are totally inadequate. The Government Disengagement Authority (SELA) and the Statutory Welfare Services, who are technically responsible for the care of the evacuees have already proven themselves to be incapable or uninterested in providing effective care. The people of Gush Katif need your support to help them reestablish their lives. Lema'an Achai (RBS) is an award-winning nonprofit social services agency based in Ramat Beit Shemesh. It has successfully pioneered the concept of" Smart Chessed" in Israel, combining primary aid to families in distress, with numerous rehabilitation programs, run by a committed core of professionals and around 400 volunteers. While continuing to serve the ongoing needs of our 1000 local recipients, Lema'an Achai will now use our expertise to separately provide mental health and crisis services to the evacuees of Gush Katif. In the weeks leading to the evacuation, Lema'an Achai gathered together a voluntary team of fifty leading psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers and established a forum in which they were able to exchange information and recommendations. In this way, Lema'an Achai was immediately able to dispatch volunteer social workers and psychologists to hotels in Jerusalem, Beersheva, Ashkelon, Eilat and the Dead Sea as the first bewildered evacuees arrived at their temporary accommodations. Our services were coordinated together with those of other organizations, such as Paamonim-LeMaan Achai Verei, in order to maximize efficiency and reach all those in need. On Sunday, 28th August, these 9,000 people are due to be thrown out of these hotels and into a void. They want to stay together in their communities, the only connection that remains to their former lives. The government has offered no real solutions to their plight. * Lema'an Achai is launching an emergency campaign to raise funds for vital programs * that will help the people of Gush Katif to cope with their trauma and gather together their community resources to rebuild their lives. Specifically, Lema'an Achai is planning the following short term and long term programs (adapting to the dynamics in the field) : - National Trauma & Crisis Relief Services The goal is to provide a quality level of professional counseling and therapy to people wherever they are. Some of the evacuated residents will suffer the effects long-term, even for generations (as happened withYamit). For these families, professional trauma and crisis intervention starting now and continuing until no longer required, will enable them to regain their balance and to rebuild their lives again as self-sufficient, industrious and motivated Jews. Your help can keep 1,800 families together. - Atzmona/Shalabim/Beit Shemesh - 75 families (a staggering 800 people!)from the village of Atzmona are being hosted in Shalabim and have been' adopted' by Beit Shemesh. Lema'an Achai (RBS) is taking a leading role in this, including supplying primary aid (including towels, fans, diapers, etc..) and professional rehabilitation services. - Virtual Communities: The goal is to help the dispersed residents to restore their cohesive communities through the provision of internet community websites, forums and list-groups that will enable them to maintain contact with one another however physically distanced they find themselves. Access to their virtual community will provide them with the group support and a renewed identity until they are able to physically come together. Internet and email communities are relatively unknown to the Israeli public - LeMaan Achai will recruit hi-tech volunteers to set-up and maintain the virtual communities and teach the evacuees how to use them. We will provide free laptops and training so that no evacuee need ever feel alone. - Show Them You Care Many of the evacuees feel abused and abandoned by society. They need to see your concern and support for them. Lema'an Achai is establishing a service that will allow caring Jews all over the world to scan and send letters and pictures of support, for us to distribute to these people during their sorrow. Show them you care. (Until we have the system running, please email scanned letters as LIGHT jpeg attachments to carmi@lemaanachai.org ) My dear friends, the residents of Gush Katif have been turned into transitory dwellers, at least for the next few years. Let us show them that we have the ability and the intent to be there for them, wherever they may be. Thank you, David Morris Chairperson, Lema'an Achai DONATIONS: Israel Tax Deductible Donations should be made out to "Lema'an Achai", earmarked "Gush Katif Fund", and sent to: Lema'an Achai (RBS), 40/7 Nachal Lachish, Ramat Beit Shemesh 99093, ISRAEL. Secure Online Donations: Go to: http://www.lemaanachai.org/donate.asp#Online Credit Card Donations: Call (+972-2) 999.99.33 for Credit Card Donations 24 hours a day US Dollar Check requiring US Tax Deduction: Please make checks payable to: "American Friends of Lema'an Achai"; on Memo Line indicate: "Gush Katif Fund" c/o Simon Fleischer 35 West 96th St #1F New York, NY 10025 ************************** We will also need laptops in the near future for our Virtual Yishuv project, connecting the residents to their communities, even if they are physically dispersed. Thank you, Tamar Wisemon Lema'an Achai Volunteer "A Time To Speak" appears once a month, and each issue is on a theme that relates to Israel and the Middle East past and present, including history, background, current events, analysis and comment. All issues appear on its website: http://www.israel.net/timetospeak. A complimentary subscription to the e-mail edition is available by request to: speak@actcom.co.il. To Go To Top

RICE'S HEAD IN SAND, PUTS ISRAEL'S IN NOOSE; BUSH PRESSURES ISRAEL WRONGLY Posted by Richard H. Shulman, August 24, 2005.

WHY ISLAMISTS FIGHT THE WEST Muslim terrorists do not have a specific agenda they are trying to force the West to adopt. They are frustrated by Western success and Muslim society's failure, while deeming the West decadent and themselves moral. They consider Western and secular society doomed. Then what point is there in fighting it? They enjoy inflicting what they deem a deserved punishment, hastening the victory of Islam, taunting our vulnerability, and forcing us to divert resources from showing them up to staving them off. They hate, they fight, we suffer, they celebrate. The West has responded largely with political correctness. It is not politically correct to describe Islamism as atavistic frustration and undeterred by setbacks. It is politically correct to search for "root causes" of their violence. (That is, search for them everywhere but where they originate, in Islamic theory.) The West needs to wage a war on terrorism, rather than relying just on police measures (IMRA, 8/11 from Efraim Inbar, Jer. Post, 8/8). Why has Pres. Bush given up on it? One cannot count the war in Iraq, anymore, for the US still is in Iraq because it can't get out. By now the US should have taken down the rest of the evil axis. The Muslims over-simply it. Islamic society has primitive and vicious elements, and Western society has many socially advanced elements. Their "honor" is to murder innocent women. RICE'S HEAD IN THE SAND, PUTS ISRAEL'S IN NOOSE Asserting a democratic sweep in the Mideast, Sec. Rice cites a series of initial steps by governments there. As soon as Israel expelled the Jews from Gaza, she demanded more. She deems it Israel's duty to help the P.A. to statehood. Israel refuses to make further concessions until the P.A. fulfills its obligation to disarm the terrorists. She and the government of Israel said both sides should make "confidence-building" moves simultaneously (NY Times, 8/18, A8). for simultaneous steps. The Arabs have pre-existing obligations for peacemaking. They have flouted them for a dozen years, in favor of war making. The P.A. takes advantage of its State Dept. patronage to keep collecting Israeli concessions, without fulfilling its signed commitments that are supposed to be the quid pro quo for Israeli land grants. Meanwhile, the P.A. builds up a capacity to inflict greater casualties upon Israel. All its resources are devoted to jihad. There is no decent or warranted purpose for carving another Palestinian Arab state (alongside Jordan) out of the Mandate for a Jewish national home. Why is the US pressing