THE B'NAI MENASHE - OUR DEAREST LINK Posted by Rachel Saperstein, February 28, 2005.

"Will we be able to come with you if, G-d forbid, we are expelled? Do you want us? Do you feel we are the weakest link?" Gush Katif is blessed with people from every corner of the world, a perfect microcosm of the ingathering of the exiles. We have one thing in common - we are all Jews. We are a kaleidoscope of colors from white to black and every shade of brown in-between. And we are all Jews. Among our very special people are the Jews of northeast India called the B'nai Menashe. In India the B'nai Menashe lived near the border of Burma and like Jews worldwide they have blended in and picked up the physical characteristics of the indigenous peoples. Their history is similar to that of other groups following the dispersion of the tribes of Israel. For thousands of years they lived apart both from the main streams of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewry, and also from the Indian influence. They evolved into a separate people who believed in Manassah (Menashe, son of Joseph) who would redeem them. Other than rudimentary Jewish customs whose origin they did not know, they learned their biblical history through Christian missionaries intent on converting them. Instead, they turned to Amishav, an organization established to find our lost tribes and bring them home. A few hundred B'nai Menashe came to Israel to learn about their lost Jewish identity and eventually underwent conversion so their Judaism would not be questioned. "We came like babies having to learn of our heritage from its beginning," said Sharon Binyamin of the settlement of Gan-Or, the elected leader of the Gush Katif B'nai Menashe community. "Now we have yeshivot in India and visiting rabbis to teach us so we can come to Israel prepared to be mainstream Jews. Unfortunately the Israeli Ministry of the Interior will no longer allow our people to immigrate. Many non-Jews are allowed into Israel but we who are religious Jews are abandoned by the government." Today there are 45 B'nai Menashe families in Gush Katif comprising 200 people. They work in every area of the Gush. You will see them in factories, in the printing plant, in agriculture, as teachers and in the laboratories checking the kashrut of Gush Katif produce. They study Hebrew at the Ulpan and continue to learn Halacha from rabbis and lecturers. B'nai Menashe males are the mainstay of daily services and every Shabbat the synagogue is crowded with women and children praying for their families in Israel and those still in India. The adults are gentle and unassuming, with a strong sense of community. The children have become Hebrew-speaking rambunctious Sabras. Today the B'nai Menashe are threatened with the same edict as each of us - Expulsion! In a meeting with Mr. Lior Kalfa, head of the Neve Dekalim Council, and local rabbis, the Bnai Menashe asked "Are we one of you? Are we to go with you if, G-d forbid, we are expelled? We feel part of Gush Katif and we want to remain as part of this wonderful community." The answer was a resounding Yes! My dear B'nai Menashe friends and neighbors, just as our leaders have said to you, I want you to know that I have seen your commitment to Eretz Yisrael. I live next to you. I've seen your bravery under fire. I personally saw your strength and your courage during the worst of the bombing attacks. You gave me strength by your example. You visited me when my husband was wounded. You left bags of produce on my doorstep to show your affection and concern. We bring Mishloach Manot (gifts of food) to one another on Purim. We dance together at weddings. We are one. Without you there is no Gush Katif. You are not our weakest link. You are our dearest link in our chain of Jewish history. Rachel Saperstein works at the Girls High School in Neve Dekalim and published a booklet last year for families dealing with terror victims. She and her husband Moshe live in Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif, Gaza, Israel. To Go To Top

DON'T DESPAIR! ORGANIZE! AN AGENDA FOR THE RIGHT Posted by Moshe Saperstein, February 28, 2005.

This was written by Moshe Dann, a Jerusalem-based writer and journalist. He dedicated it to the memory of Adir Zik (z"l) Contact him at moshedan@netvision.net.il As the Israeli government moves to eliminate the Jewish presence in the Gaza Strip and four settlements in northern Shomron, opponents of its plan would do well to keep things in perspective. The battle is not over homes and hothouses; it is over the hearts and minds of our brothers and sisters. Even if we lose the battle for Gush Katif, we will not have lost the war. The attempt to destroy Jewish communities in Yesha has brought to the surface a power struggle within Israel over the meaning of Zionism, the future of Israeli democracy and the importance of Jewish identity. Though deeply painful, the struggle can provide opportunities for an educational process that may eventually transform Israeli society, allow true democracy to flourish and liberate us from the trauma of our Holocaust-based frame of reference. That in turn will give birth to a more relevant and vigorous Jewish and Zionist ethos. Well before the inception of the State of Israel, Palestine was seen as a national homeland and as a refuge for persecuted Jews. The Holocaust taught us that Jews could be slaughtered genocidally and no one would help. This gave rise to "Never Again:" the imperative to protect ourselves. "Never Again" was essential to winning Israel's acceptance by the world; it was, for many, our raison d'etre. Today, however, it is inadequate to justify Israel's existence. In order for something new to emerge there must be a shift in how we see the structure itself. Only when sacred myths about the State, its institutions, and political parties and their leaders are challenged and the rot at the core of system itself is exposed can change occur. Many Israelis now realize that our political system has evolved into one in which no one is accountable to any constituency. When political and economic power is concentrated, without checks and balances, it allows the system to be manipulated by the ruling elite for their own interests, masked by a fake "democracy." To enforce compliance government institutions - the judicial system, the police, the Attorney General and Ministries of Justice and Internal Security, even the IDF - will try to crush any opposition. The media provides disinformation and distraction; settlers are vilified as if they were the enemy. The more these institutions are used to suppress dissent, however, the more it is possible to see the essential corruption of the system. PM Sharon's plan to destroy Jewish communities ("settlements") throughout Yesha is an example. It's not about homes and hothouses; it's about a conception. "Settlements" in the Land of Israel are the defining characteristic of the State's existence. Settling the Land is not merely a political statement but an historical imperative and a divine obligation. Indeed, the only reason the Land of Israel has value is because Jews live in and value it. That the right of Jewish People to settle the Land of Israel is an axiom is now denied, not only by our enemies but by some Israeli leaders as well. Denying this right negates the essence of the Jewish People and the Land of Israel and raises a basic question: to whom does the Land of Israel belong? How can Jews "occupy Palestine" when it belongs originally and absolutely to the Jewish People? For some, the Jewish claim is no greater (and for some less) than that of Arabs. This attempt to distort history and the purpose of the Jewish people in its homeland is the basis of PM Sharon's policy. The challenge that the Left presents, therefore, is an important and necessary ingredient in creating a renewed Zionist consciousness - not one that goes back to Herzl or the Holocaust, but to our Patriarchs, to the Giving of the Torah, and to conquering and settling the Land during the time of Judges, Prophets, and Kings. If the destiny of the Jewish people can only be worked out in the Land of Israel, as most Israelis and all Zionists believe, then our claim to the Land is not only political and historical but existential. The true meaning of Israel is not as a refuge for persecuted Jews but as the living dynamic fulfillment of Prophetic visions, the Ingathering of Jews and the rebuilding of the Land of Israel; it is part of the process of Redemption. Every Jew, secular as well as religious, is part of that transcendent vision, an historical process embodied in every act of aliyah and settlement. That is not only a physical relocation but also a spiritual commitment as well. That is why we are here. That some secular Jews oppose this process is inevitable. They need to reject the idea that we are part of G-d's plan because to accept it would require confronting what it means to be a Jew and an Israeli. Paradoxically, opposition to Jewish settlement can clarify the meaning of these concepts. It helps us break out of what has become an irrelevant frame of reference ("Never Again") and forge a new and more authentic awareness of our presence and purpose in Israel. It is in this spirit that we should view the plan to uproot Jewish communities in Yesha while assisting in the establishment of a Palestinian state. Destroying Jewish communities only because they are Jewish is a dangerous precedent, especially when we are under attack and when there are no obvious rewards. But the danger of this policy is not the real issue. Attempts to destroy these communities raise a basic question: What are we doing here in the first place? If Jews can't live in Yesha because Arabs and the international community oppose us, then where can we legitimately live? And if we are allowed to live only within our pre-1967 boundaries, why were we attacked when that was all we had? And why do Palestinian terrorists blow up buses and cafes in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem? Whether or not Gaza and parts of Yehuda and Shomron are emptied of Jews our struggle must and will continue. Ours is a struggle for true Zionism (settlement of the Land of Israel on the basis of the inherent inalienable right of the Jewish people to do so), for true democracy ("government of the people, by the people and for the people") and for true Jewish identity (the ability to live authentically without shame or fear). This struggle is our obligation and privilege anchored in Covenant, Ingathering, and Redemption. It has nothing to do with what Arabs demand and international community desires, or what the government decides. It has to do with the duty and destiny of the Jewish People in its homeland. Moshe Saperstein and his wife Rachel live in Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif, Gaza, Israel. To Go To Top

AND JUSTICE FOR SOME Posted by David Haimson, February 28, 2005.

This was written by Caroline Glick and appeared in the Jerusalem Post February 24, 2005 (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/ JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1109215386238). Former prime minister Ehud Barak sent a jolt through the political system when on Monday he told a television interviewer: "The Sharon family is corrupt to its very foundations, and in any other normal country, Sharon would have no longer been in power." The remark was made just after Barak had participated in a meeting of his Labor Party's Knesset faction, where he accused his colleagues of losing their party identity and their loyalty to the rule of law as a result of their infatuation with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Barak made these statements against the backdrop of Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz's decision last Thursday to indict Sharon's son, MK Omri Sharon, on several felony counts relating to his illegal financing of his father's 1999 campaign for leadership of the Likud. Mazuz declined to indict the prime minister. In response to Barak's criticism, his party colleagues explained that it isn't their job to attach guilt or innocence to anyone. This job, they said, belongs to the legal system. It is also, of course, the job of the media. As to the media, in a program on Army Radio Tuesday, journalistic heavyweights Eitan Haber, from Yediot Aharonot and Moti Kirschenbaum, the former head of the Israel Broadcasting Authority and current talk show host on Channel 10, readily admitted that the press has been largely silent on the issue of the legal investigations because it doesn't want to disturb Sharon's plan to destroy all Israeli communities in Gaza and northern Samaria. Haber explained, "The Left, and not only the Left, is as silent as lambs [about Sharon's criminal investigations] because it's convenient for it that he's carrying out his political plan." Kirschenbaum agreed, saying, "There's no doubt that the media is dealing with the Sharon family with uncharacteristic tenderness because of its empathy toward his diplomatic plans." So here we have it, the watchdog of Israeli democracy, the Fourth Estate, is willfully ignoring one of its cardinal responsibilities - holding our public officials to standards of proper behavior in order to ensure the proper functioning of our government. And the media is behaving thus because apparently, the Powers That Be hate the Israeli communities in Gaza and northern Samaria more than they love the law. As Labor leaders Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and MK Avraham Shochat readily explained to Israel Radio Tuesday morning, upholding and enforcing the law is the responsibility of the attorney-general and the courts. As politicians, they said, their job is limited to getting their political plans implemented and this means supporting Sharon's decision to root out all Jews from Gaza and northern Samaria. Fair enough. At least they have the integrity to admit they will overlook corruption if it serves their political interests. Unfortunately, it would seem that Mazuz, Israel's chief law enforcement officer, shares Ben-Eliezer's and Shochat's sentiments. His decision last week not to indict the prime minister is case in point. Omri Sharon is accused of setting up fictitious companies in 1999 through which he funneled some NIS 6 million into his father's campaign. The process of moving the money - illegally transferred from abroad - and its use to fund various campaign activities, was a day-to-day process. Omri paid service providers with checks from Annex Research, a fictitious company (registered for him by Sharon's diplomatic representative and personal attorney Dov Weisglass). He then asked these service providers to equip him with fraudulent receipts in exchange for these checks. Omri lied under oath about these payments. He also carried out these felonious activities in his official capacity as his father's campaign chairman, while living intermittently with his father at their Sycamore Ranch - and updating him daily on the progress of the campaign. According to the Political Parties Law, a candidate for office is responsible for all activities that take place during the course of his campaign. The burden of proving a candidate's lack of culpability for criminal activities that were carried out by his campaign workers rests, according to the law, on the candidate, not on the police or the state prosecutors. In Sharon's case, the prime minister did not actively prove his lack of culpability; he merely denied knowledge of the criminal activities and claimed that he instructed his son to act lawfully. On the one hand, this passive, declaratory defense does not meet the dictates of the law. On the other, it strains credulity to believe that Sharon had no idea what his son was doing. NIS 6 million is a lot of money. Sharon has a reputation as a micro-manager. Is it reasonable to credit his statement that he never once asked his son where all this money had come from? Mazuz justified his decision to clear the prime minister by arguing that there was insufficient evidence to indict him. But again, this is impossible, for if there is sufficient evidence to indict Omri Sharon, then there must be sufficient evidence to indict Ariel Sharon. Again, according to the law, the candidate is criminally culpable for any illegal activities that are carried out in the course of his campaign unless he actively proves he had no knowledge of what was happening. As Haaretz legal commentator Zev Segal put it, in acting with such leniency against Sharon - in apparent contravention of the law - Mazuz "has turned into the prime minister's defense attorney." WHY WOULD Mazuz do this? In Israel's loaded political environment it is difficult to escape the feeling that in preferring the political survival of the prime minister to the dictates of the law he is sworn to uphold and enforce, Mazuz, like the media, is acting on his political sympathies rather than on his professional responsibilities. This suspicion is strengthened when one notes Mazuz's unrelenting campaign to have Likud central committee member Moshe Feiglin barred from running for Knesset. In an almost unprecedented move, Mazuz Monday petitioned the High Court of Justice to overturn Justice Jacob Turkel's decision to allow Feiglin to run for office. Feiglin was convicted of sedition, publishing seditious materials and conducting illegal gatherings when, as leader of the Zo Artzeinu movement in 1995, he led mass protests against the agreement to transfer Judea and Samaria to the PLO. Feiglin since joined the Likud and formed the Manhigut Yehudit faction inside the party which Sharon has spent the better part of the past two years trying to purge from the party because its members object to his policies. In arguing against Turkel's decision, Mazuz wrote that the court should overturn the decision "especially in light of today's flammable circumstances, the shrillness of the public debate - which is expected to deteriorate even further - and the implications involved in letting [Turkel's] ruling stand in terms of the unconstructive message it conveys to the public." It is unclear where the legal argument is here. It is not Mazuz's job to worry about the shrillness of debate. And what is the statute that discusses the need for courts of law to squelch "unconstructive" messages? For that matter, where is the legal definition of an "unconstructive message"? Furthermore, Mazuz's pursuit of Feiglin is not an isolated action, which would indicate that his political views dictate his how he enforces or fails to enforce the law. This week, two interesting stories emerged that, one could assume, would capture the attention of a nonpartisan attorney-general. The first was a Ma'ariv report on Sunday according to which a police agent provocateur has been disseminating incendiary political material - such as bumper stickers saying, "Sharon, Lily [his late wife] is waiting for you." This is one of the messages that the media has latched onto in its hysterical offensive against right-wing incitement. Yet here, it works out that rather than emanating from Sharon's political opponents, it is emanating from the police. This would appear to be an egregious abuse of authority on the part of the police, and one that bears investigation. But to date, Mazuz has not said a word about it. The second was the news magazine Koteret's cover story this month. In an investigative report, the magazine alleged that in financing his campaign for leadership of the Yahad (Meretz) party, far-Left politician Yossi Beilin illegally used funds donated by the EU. The report claims that Beilin illegally transferred funds from his EU-financed "Geneva Initiative" to his political campaign. The magazine came out a couple of weeks ago. It would seem that Mazuz might have taken an interest in the story, given that former justice minister Beilin was largely responsible for promoting Mazuz to a leadership position in the ministry. But again, not a word has passed through his lips about Beilin's reported criminal activities. It is Supreme Court President Aharon Barak who has done so much in recent years to involve the court with the day-to-day running of Israel - and who, since his tenure as attorney-general, has been the prime mover behind the realignment of the office of the attorney-general with judicial rather than the executive branch of government. Barak justified this state of affairs by claiming that the attorney-general's subordination to elected officials prevented him from carrying out his duty as chief law enforcement officer in a dispassionate, independent and professional manner. Unfortunately, from Mazuz's behavior, it would seem that just the opposite has occurred. The more independent the attorney-general has become from any political authority, the more politicized and less professional the office has become. There can be no doubt that having a professional and independent state prosecution is an essential component of democratic governance. Unfortunately, what we see is that in the name of "professional independence," it is precisely this component of the prosecution that is disintegrating before our very eyes. In light of the fact that our media unabashedly admits to willingly surrendering professional standards for political purposes, the absence of a professional prosecution is all the more disturbing. Contact David Haimson at DvHaimson@aol.com to receive emails with direct links to articles on Israel that are well-worth reading. To Go To Top

ABRAHAMISM AND DHIMMITUDE Posted by Carol Iannone, February 28, 2005.

In her new book, Eurabia, Bat Ye'or notes how as far back as 1991 British politician Robin Cook publicly flattered Islam as being at the roots of Western culture while omitting any mention of Judeo-Christianity. She says this is in keeping with dhimmitude, because Muslims need to be told that they are superior and cannot believe that there was any input from infidels. Dhimmis learn to fawn over Muslims in this respect. When Westerners agree to talk about "Abrahamic faith" and "Abrahamism" and related terms, they are really bowing to Islam because Muslims co-opt Abraham as a Muslim and then see themselves as the origin of everything. From Eurabia: [Cook's] adulation was designed to undermine Europe's Judeo-Christian roots. The principle of a Judeo-Christian civilization in Europe was belittled by producing and constantly propagating the Islamic origin of European civilization. Hamadi Essid, head of the Arab League Mission at Paris and its permanent delegate to UNESCO, told a meeting as early as 1970, "For some time there has been a catch-phrase: Judeo-Christian values. This slogan is directed against the Arabs." Arabs reject the term "Judeo-Christian civilization" and replace it with "Abrahamic civilization" because, as Abraham was a Muslim (according to the Qur'an), it follows that Western civilization not only includes the Islamic dimension, but is Islamic in its essence through Abraham, the Muslim prophet. "Abrahamism" is a notion that totally denies the historical identity and origin of Judaism and Christianity, since it reduces them to falsifications of Islam, the true religion of Abraham. Today, any reference to Europe's Christian sources--not to mention its Judeo-Christian roots--has been omitted from the EU Constitution on "secular" grounds, but mainly so as not to offend Muslim immigrants. This kowtowing to Islam is also a form of appeasement. According to this belief, if we say Islam is at the origin of our society, Muslims will supposedly be less likely to feel they are living in infidel country and must take up jihad for perceived offenses against the faith. Bush is already mentioning the Koran in speeches, as in the State of the Union address, and little by little we might be hearing more and more of the glories of Islam and how it led to our present world and aren't we lucky. To Go To Top

THE GOLAN HEIGHTS - AGAIN Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, February 28, 2005.

Whatever doubts that Sharon's government is either the fabled Potemkin Village of a pathetically stupid Administration or there is something here that is far more ominous.. For example, a number of Israeli Prime Ministers have tried to gift the Golan Heights to Syria - first to Hafez al Assad, an arch dictator, now followed by his son Bashar Assad - an optometrist. Recall how PM Ehud Barak in his time tried to drive the Jews off the Golan by raising a false alarm to the effect that the Syrian Army could roll over the Israeli civilians and Army in a quick assault. In retrospect, it was Barak's attempt to panic the nation into giving up the Golan that warrants suspicion. It would appear something similar is going on now with a modified tactic. The Chelm-like fools who make choices as to what territory to abandon, want to give away the Golan Heights - down to Lake Kinneret, Israel's main fresh water resource. So, what's wrong with giving up Israel's North-East front with Syria on down to Israel's main water resource? First, it is a natural geographical barrier to tanks coming in from Syria or Iraq.. Next, it is prime high ground, irreplaceable, defensive position for Israel to watch every move in Damascus. Not a tank or an aircraft can move without Israel spotting it. Israeli observers cannot be replaced by or with U.N., E.U., American or even NATO observers and have Israel risk NOT being told in real time, in the first few seconds of hostile Syrian military traffic. The idea that de-militarizing the Golan was similar to de-militarizing the Sinai Desert by the Camp David Accords in 1979 is misleading. That border, the Philadelphi road, is now being considered as the place to put Egyptian troops with armor, troops, artillery, missiles and intelligence. In brief, agreements to demilitarize are merely a verbal count-down to re-militarizing again. Nothing is permanent. Syria may be the most backward and hostile of Arab Muslim nations, now controlled by Alawites who represent 10% of the larger Sunni population. Nothing guarantees that a Sunni uprising driving Assad's Alawite Generals out of power will not put Israel under Syrian guns from the Golan Heights once again. I remind you that the Joint Chiefs of Staff under General Earle Wheeler concluded in their June 29, 1967 secret memorandum to President Lyndon Johnson that the Golan Heights was one of the key defense point Israel needed to keep to survive. Watching the Lebanese government resign and the tumultuous spontaneous rally AGAINST Syria, despite Syria's dictator-despotic rule in Lebanon was impressive. Is it really possible that the dominoes of democracy will actually replace the dictatorships that exist today. Perhaps sometimes but, not too soon - if ever. However, if you pause to listen to the News Shows' talking experts, some of them have not caught on or kept up with the trend to a freer, more open democratic Middle East. When one from the Center of Strategic & International Studies concludes in his second sentence that, because Lebanon is kicking Syria out NOW, Israel should give the Golan Heights to Syria is so strangely wrong-headed, one wonders where they get their 'Strategic' positions. The same political hustlers who claim that abandoning Gaza, allowing a Southern Front to open up against Israel now claim that abandoning the Golan to Syria will bring Syria into the Peace Camp. Syria has kept the Peace on the Golan BECAUSE Israel is in control of the Northern Front and can see directly into Damascus. One dim-witted scribbler on TV tells us that IF Israel gives up the Golan, then "the Arabs, the Muslims and Saudi Arabia" will really really recognize Israel. Then, we will get NATO Peace Keepers in there to really really keep the peace. Has Smersh, directly out of a James Bond movie released laughing gas so, while we are all bursting our sides in the giggles, they can come and steal Fort Knox? Only a group of mad politicians can hope to get away with the explanations they offer. Because just after the assassination of Rafik Hariri in Lebanon, the Lebanese Government (controlled by Syria) quit, the people and the politicians poured out into the street and displayed a demonstration similar to the Orange revolution that just upturned the corrupt government in Ukraine. America has often held mass rallies for worthwhile issues. The huge protest demonstrations that Israel has conducted to stop the current government's retreat from Gaza/Gush Katif should be kept in mind. Now, in Lebanon, the government has fallen; new elections may occur and no one knows who will be offered as President. Following Hariri's assassination, a homicide bomber blew up his bomb belt at a Tel Aviv beach nightclub, killing 5 young people, wounding almost 50 on February 25th for which the Syrian Terror organization called "Jihad Islaami" took the blame - although the homicide bomber came from Tul Karem - 9 miles East of the Tel Aviv beach. Syria is being forced to pull its 15,000 troops out of Lebanon - for now - at least as far as the Beka'a Valley (a profitable opium growing area for Syria). Approximately one million Syrians work in Lebanon. Many are Syrian agents. America is pressing Syria to stop assisting Mujahadinn fighters who train, arm and move from Syria into Iraq. There is also the "sleeper" of those WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) including NBC (Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical) weapons trucked from Iraq into the Syrian Beka'a Valley, buried in fields and guarded by 2 Syrian Army brigades. Into this maelstrom, the dim-wits urge Israel to quickly give Bashar Assad the Golan Heights - as if such a gesture made any sense at all. Am I the only one who thinks that this is a crazy manipulation by people who have a strange agenda? Someone is playing with our minds. The key questions are: Who? and Why? I think I smell that old plan surfacing wherein the Golan Heights - after the Jews clear out - is leased back to the United States for a military base and airfield. Can you smell the subtle aroma of betrayal? Let us keep an eye on this catastrophe in the making. "Secret Syria-Israel talks, 'Post' learns" (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1109475189059&p=1078027574097) by Orly Halpern, Jerusalem Post, Feb. 28, 2005. An official Jordanian source told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that Syrian, Jordanian and Israeli Foreign Ministry officials held secret peace talks in Jordan last week. According to the source, technical committees from Syria and Israel were hosted at the Movenpick Hotel on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. Another meeting is planned, but there is no date set for it yet, said the source, who added that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss possibilities for more substantive peace contacts. The Israeli Foreign Ministry had no comment on the meeting. "This is the first time I have heard of this," said Mark Regev, the ministry's spokesman. Syrian President Bashar Assad last November invited Israel to enter peace negotiations without preconditions. Israel dismissed the offer, saying that if Assad were serious he would crack down on Lebanon's Hezb'Allah organization and close the offices of terrorist organizations in Damascus. "Syria should translate words into action by shutting Palestinian offices and military bases in Damascus and stopping the relaying of missiles to Hezb'Allah from Iran via the Damascus airport," said Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom at that time. Analysts say Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants to focus on the Palestinian track but not all Israeli officials follow that view. President Moshe Katsav was quoted in Maariv following Assad's invitation as saying he thought it was "important and worthwhile" to consider Assad's offer. Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, Israel's outgoing chief of General Staff, said in August that Israel should take advantage of Syria's diplomatic isolation to cut the best possible deal. At the time, Ya'alon declared that Israel's military superiority means it could return the Golan Heights it conquered from Syria in 1967. Peace negotiations between Syria and Israel began in 1994 and broke down in March 2000 over a narrow strip of land along Lake Kinneret. Assad signaled a desire to resume peace talks with Israel in an interview with The New York Times in December 2003. That offer was repeated at least five times. Meanwhile, another high-ranking Jordanian source said Sunday that there were "no plans" for Jordan's King Abdullah II to visit Israel, despite reports by Arab MKs who met with Jordanian Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez on Sunday. "I'm not saying it won't happen," said the Jordanian source, "but it's not in the pipeline." MKs Ahmed Tibi and Muhammad Dahamshe of Hadash, Wasal Taha and Jamal Zahalka of Balad, Taleb a-Sanaa and Abdul Malik Dahamshe of United Arab List, and Ghaleb Majadle of Labor met with Fayez, Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulki, Jordanian Minister of Culture and Information Asma Khader, and Jordan's ambassador to Israel, Maarouf Bakhit, to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the demands of Israeli Arabs. Bakhit took a letter from King Abdullah for Sharon stressing the deepening relations between Jordan and Israel and his plans to look into a possible visit in accordance with the invitation extended to him by Sharon in Sharm e-Sheikh last month, said the source. 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

SETTLER SPIRIT IS UNBROKEN Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, February 28, 2005.

This was written by Yehudit Tayar, a veteran activist and spokesperson for the settlement movement. It appeared in the Jerusalem Post, January 4, 2005. Many Israelis, especially those of us who live in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza (Yesha) are confronting what we see as a perversion of the democratic ideal. It is somehow deemed "democratic" to undermine our civil liberties - our rights against the government. As we see it, the human rights of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens are under attack because of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip and parts of northern Samaria. Many of us are prepared to protest what we perceive as a "forced exile" from our homes. Is the protection of family, life and property a basic human right? We hear talk that if we resist we will be incarcerated in actual prisons. What I am about to write may seem harsh, but many of us feel under siege. What others call "disengagement" we see as a demonic plan - I have no other word for it. Technically speaking, Prime Minister Sharon may have the votes to carry this plan forward. But we see it as undemocratic and immoral. It is undemocratic because it goes against the wishes of the constituency that voted for Sharon and against his pro-disengagement Labor opponent. It is undemocratic because when Sharon couldn't get what he wanted he fired cabinet members and ignored votes in the Likud Party Central Committee (which he himself called). It is undemocratic because Sharon is now bringing in the very man, Shimon Peres, who was responsible for the Oslo debacle to sit in the cabinet as his government pursues disengagement. Think how that makes us feel. We find ourselves facing what seems like continuous psychological warfare. We feel alienated from what we read and see in the mainstream media. Official spokespeople talk in a babble of phrases we simply do not understand. Moreover, the use of veiled - and sometimes not so veiled threats against us is immensely troubling. If we oppose disengagement we'll lose our "compensation"; if we engage in civil disobedience we'll wind up in jail, and so on. Now we suspect that the government has been issued directives to the IDF which limit the scope of retaliation by our military when Gush Katif communities are attacked. In a sense, the government is asking the IDF to differentiate between the Jews of Sderot - just a few kilometers away - and the Jews of Gaza. How do you think that makes us feel? So from where we sit, the government is practically encouraging the enemy to shoot at us. And yet we have not given up. To combat "disengagement" the grassroots settler movement needs to pursue "engagement". We need to speak to as many of our fellow citizens as possible. We need to awaken support for our position. We need to mobilize against what we see is a horrific plan that could turn Jews into refugees in their own Land. We need to tell people that there is no lasting justification for disengagement. And we will. We will remind them that disengagement is a reward for terror. Granted, there are Israelis who give out-and-out support to the plan to destroy Jewish towns and turn Jews into refugees. But there are many others who, puppet-like, repeat popular phrases from the media or politicians. We keep hearing "but we have to try something", or "this situation cannot go on". Yet, after speaking with people - even sometimes just for a few minutes - these same knee-jerk pro-disengagement types come around to our position. They say, "I know that we cannot trust Palestinian Arab intentions", or "No matter what the enemy gets, they still will want more." What has happened to good, old-fashioned common sense? Has our national will become wobbly because of continous terror blows? Are we deluding ourselves because reality is harsh? Israelis need to ask themselves why a country at war should be willing to follow Sharon's disastrous plan. If we continue down this path, our country will be divided and our enemy encouraged. Disengagement will only give the enemy continued reason to attack additional civilian centers; they'll just come up with new targets. The end result? More Jews might become refuges in their own land. From where we sit, disengagement has no tangible, lasting benefits whatsoever. So why are we pursuing this policy is ever more impossible for many of us to understand. If Israel had true leadership, our government would be teaching those who plan, perpetrate and carry out the murder of Jews that Israel will not capitulate to terrorism. The Prime Minister may have won various political victories thanks to all sorts of machinations. But we are not about to throw in the towel. We shall show the world that we stand firm and will fight what we see as an evil plan. Would that Israel had a leadership which was honest with itself, and about what motivates it. Would that we truly had a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We, the Jewish residents of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza will continue to play our part, to engage with our fellow countrymen. We will do all we can - body and soul- to prevent this catastrophe from happening. Because we do believe in true democracy, and because we want to engage, not disengage. 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

INTERFAITH DIALOGUE ON THE SUDAN CRISIS' WITH SURVIVORS OF SLAVERY AND GENOCIDE Posted by Sliwa News, February 28, 2005.

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 28 /U.S./ - A survivor of the genocide in Darfur whose grandfather was burned alive by Arab militiamen, a survivor of slavery from southern Sudan, and the human rights activist on the front lines of the struggle against slavery and genocide in Sudan are coming to the University of Pennsylvania for an "Interfaith Dialogue on the Sudan Crisis." Mohammed Yahya, Simon Deng, and Charles Jacobs will be the featured panelists at a symposium on Monday at 7 p.m. in Room 255 at Jon M. Huntsman Hall (entrance on Walnut and 38th street). The event is co-sponsored by the African Students Association, Hillel, Amnesty, STAND, and various other student groups. Yahya will present on the experience of African Muslims in Darfur, who face a campaign of genocide waged by the Arab Muslim- dominated regime in Khartoum. Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir was recently named the world's No. 1 dictator by Parade Magazine, and his armed forces are responsible for the death over 100,000 civilians in Darfur and the displacement of over 1,000,000 people. Deng, who escaped after being held as a slave for several years by an Arab master in northern Sudan, will discuss the racism directed against Africans in Sudanese society. "We are called Abeed," notes Deng. "This word in Arabic means 'slave.'" Deng was recently profiled on BET's Nightly News and in the Christian Science Monitor. Jacobs, the co-founder and chairman of the American Anti- Slavery Group, will speak about the failure of the international community, the academic community, and the human rights community to address a genocide in Sudan that is over two decades old. He will recount the many obstacles faced by the abolitionist and anti-genocide movement and discuss why the United Nations has repeatedly failed in Sudan. Melissa Hauptman, one of the event organizers, explained that students will not sit by as genocide unfolds on their watch. "As the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors, I don't want to have to tell my grandchildren that I did nothing while hundreds of thousands were enslaved and slaughtered in Sudan. We want to help stop this genocide." For more information on the American Anti-Slavery Group, visit http://www.iAbolish.com or call 800-884-0719 or email info@iabolish.com To Go To Top

A LETTER FROM THE SANUR COMMUNITY Posted by Hebron Community, February 28, 2005.

Dear friends of Eretz Yisrael, We need you to help us and all Eretz Yisrael! This summer Sharon is planning on evicting us from our homes in the Sanur community in the northern Shomron. We arrived in Sanur two years ago, before Sharon's plan's to destroy this community. We left successful communities, places of employment, educational institutions, full-fledged municipalities, to settle this land. We found here an almost abandoned community, decrepit houses, thorns and weeds. With our own two hands we rebuilt the community and today it shines and blossoms and includes a nursery school and kindergarten, a Torah study center, a Mikvah tahara, and library. We today number twenty-two families, and over 50 children, totaling over 100 residents. We were able to successfully revive a beautiful piece of Eretz Yisrael, which is now in danger of being destroyed. WE HAVE NO INTENTIONS OF LEAVING. THIS IS OUR HOME AND WE WILL STAY IN SANUR! However, we need your help at this difficult time, to prevent, with our bodies, our eviction and the destruction of Sanur. The Northern Shomron, like Gush Katif, is in jeopardy. Please don't stand idly by and watch the expulsion. Help prevent this tragedy. We are all soldiers and together, will succeed in stopping the abandonment of Gush Katif and the northern Shomron to our enemies. Please be in touch with us: Call: 011-972-52-392-9585 or email: sa_nur@walla.com Thank you. Sincerely, The Sanur Community You can contribute directly to The Jewish Community of Hebron, POB10, Kiryat Arba-Hebron 90100, hebron@hebron.org.il, 972-2-9965333 or write to The Hebron Fund, 1760 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11230, hebronfund@aol.com To Go To Top

URGENT CALL BY PROMINENT JEWISH LEADERS TO WORLD JEWRY Posted by Women in Green, February 28, 2005.

FROM THE RABBINICAL CONGRESS FOR PEACE By the Grace of G-d, Adar I, 5765 STOP THE MADNESS An Urgent Call to All Rabbis, Jewish Communal Leaders, and Friends of Israel Throughout the World, "For the sounding of wailing is coming from Zion: 'How have we been plundered? We have been shamed tremendously, for we have abandoned the land; our own dwellings have cast us out'" (Jeremiah 9:18) Open your eyes and see what the government of Israel is planning to do: Jewish communities that are more than three decades old will be destroyed; Torah centers and yeshivos will be torn down; Cemeteries where terror victims lie will be given over to the very hands who slew them; Parents and grandparents, young children and flowering youth, will be driven from their homes; and Businesses and corporations employing thousands will be closed. A victory will be granted to terror. Our enemies will celebrate in the streets and be encouraged to further acts of violence. Jews throughout the land of Israel will be endangered when the bases of terror will be brought closer to their homes and thousands of terrorists will be set free. Success that our foes could never dream to achieve will be granted to them. For what? What is being given in return? There are still terror alerts throughout Israel. Rockets and mortars are still falling on Jewish homes. Suicide bombers are still blowing themselves up in the heart of Israel murdering innocent Jews. "Do not stand idle while the blood of your brother is endangered" (Leviticus 19:16). We must object by raising an outcry, fasting and giving charity. As in all times of difficulty an extra measure of Psalms including Chapters: 20, 83, 103 should be recited daily. The emperor has no clothes. But the media in Israel are so slanted that they celebrate his parade through the streets while exposed. You can help! Raise an objective voice. Speak in the name of our Torah and our Jewish tradition. Tell the government to stop. Speak to your congressmen and senators. Let the media throughout the world know. Let an outcry be heard so that the heroes risking their lives and fortunes in Israel will take heart. "They will contrive a scheme, but it will be foiled; conspire a plot, but it will not be realized, for G-d is with us" (Isaiah 8:10). Signed, Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Friedman, Rebbe of Sadigura and Member of Council of Torah Sages Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Horowitz, Bostoner Rebbe and member of Council of Torah Sages Hagaon Rabbi Binyomin Yehoshua Zilber, Member of Council of Torah Sages Hagaon Rabbi Meir Mazuz, Rosh Yeshivas Kise Rachamim Former Chief Rabbi and noted Kabbalist, Hagaon Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu 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

WHEN IS A POLITICIAN HONEST? Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, February 28, 2005.

There are a number of variations of the joke; when can you be sure a politician is telling the truth? Answers vary from when he's dead, when he's sleeping to the best, when he's talking about another politician that he hates. Of course what we have been going through (due in great part to the stupidity and perfidy Ehud Barak among others) is no joke and not at all funny. I, however, could not resist a good belly laugh when I read this. This is a news item from today's Arutz-7 - IsraelNationalNews.com (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=77611). It is called "Ehud Barak Against Disengagement." Ex-PM Barak made headlines last week when he told the Knesset Channel that the Sharon family was "corrupt to the core." Some of the other things he said were even more newsworthy, but were ignored. Much attention was paid to Barak's condemnation of the Sharon family. Barak said that "in any other normal country, Sharon would have no longer been in power." He said this just days after the decision was made to indict Sharon's son, MK Omri Sharon, on several felony counts relating to his financing of his father's 1999 campaign to head the Likud. The remarks caused such a stir that the Prime Minister even deigned to respond, saying that Barak could benefit from medical help. However, Barak made several statements during the interview that were very critical of the disengagement plan - and these were barely reported, if at all. He said that the impression that Sharon has caved in to terrorism, "shared by [Uzi] Landau, [Effie] Eitam and Hamas," is in fact grounded in reality. "After all," Barak said, "this plan is not something that Sharon promised during his election campaign," but rather something that took form after he saw that he was not defeating terrorism. Barak also gave marks of approval to Moshe Feiglin and Landau in their observations that "even after the disengagement, we will have withdrawn our forces and residents, but we will not have disengaged - for we will continue to be responsible for everything that goes on in Gaza, from the standpoint of international law." Barak didn't stop there, however. "It's not true that Bush promised Sharon that we [Israel] will be able to remain in Gush Etzion, Givat Zev, Ariel, and Maaleh Adumim. Get the Americans in a closed room and they will say that this is not true. The public is being deceived. Sharon is not strong enough to tell the Israeli public the truth. He and Mofaz have replaced people like [former Mossad chief Ephraim] Halevy, [outgoing GSS head Avi] Dichter, [outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe] Yaalon, and [former National Security Advisor Gen.] Uzi Dayan." Despite this, Barak hedged his bets by repeating several times that Sharon deserved much credit for initiating the disengagement. "But," he continued, "Sharon is not telling the public the truth... He's not telling the truth about the fence, that the communities behind the fence will be lost, and because he wasn't strong enough to say that, he left the fence open in several places, and that caused people in Hadera, Afula, Be'er Sheva and Tel Aviv to be buried [killed]. He has lost [the city of] Ariel, and now he's about to lose Maaleh Adumim, because there's a little Arab village between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim that's creeping up on it..." 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

POLICE ARE OVER-PROTECTIVE OF MOFAZ Posted by Eliezar Edwards, February 28, 2005.

This is a news item from today's Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com At least three people, including a journalist, were detained by the police for between a half hour and several hours merely because Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz was visiting nearby. One of them was a journalist of the Chabad Hassidic movement by the pen-name of Shai Gefen. As Mofaz was beginning his visit in Kiryat Malachi last night, policemen knocked at Gefen's home in the city, and said they wanted to interrogate him. He went with them to the police station, where he was told that he must sign his consent to remain at home for the rest of the night. He signed, and was forbidden to leave his home until the next morning. Rabbi David Drukman - a well-known opponent of the disengagement, a leader of the Pikuach Nefesh [Saving Lives] Rabbis Organization - and an acquaintance of the detained journalist - told Arutz-7, "This is unbelievable. What happened to democracy here? Just because he organized the anti-disengagement rabbis' gathering in Jerusalem last week, they won't let him attend Mofaz's visit and Heaven forbid ask a question that they don't like? This must be publicized as widely as possible!" Rabbi Drukman wrote Gefen a letter this morning, saying, "Just yesterday the Cabinet decided on the formation of a special 'Jewish section' to deal with incitement - in Russia it was called the Hebsectzia, a shortened version of the words 'Hebrew' and 'section' - you have the great merit of becoming the first victim of the 'thought police'... "I plan to file a complaint with the Attorney-General against the fact that several others... who dreamt last night about demonstrating against the Prime Minister... I am actually surprised that they didn't arrest me as well, since I also dreamt last night that Sharon knew about the monetary deals of his son Omri... It's about time you realized that in a state that worships the religion of democracy, a demonstration by citizens is a blatantly anti-democratic act... You apparently don't know that one of the fundamentals of democracy in the State of Israel is the right to be arrested just for the thought of expressing your opinion." Two similar items occurred last Wednesday when Mofaz visited Kiryat Gat, just to the south of Kiryat Malachi and east of Ashkelon. The main news reports that evening began with this item: "A man has been arrested who planned to harm Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz." The report dealt with a resident of Netivot, aged 35, who was taken to the police station for having said he would like to throw tomatoes and eggs at Mr. Mofaz. The suspect was in a crowd of people waiting for the Defense Minister when he allegedly told them of his "plan." Maariv quoted Police Commander Yaki Artzi describing how the police force immediately went into action: "Right at the beginning of the visit, we received information from people who stood next to him and hear the threat. We enhanced our deployment, and I sent detectives to the site to locate him." At the same time, the police updated the body responsible for Mofaz's personal protection. Finally, the man was found in his home - i.e., after not having carried out the alleged threat. He told the policemen who took him for questioning, "I didn't protest against the disengagement only because of my respect for the mayor, but Mofaz deserves to be hit with tomatoes and eggs." Commander Artzi said, "The man was released, and we will check if charges should be filed against him." This was not all, however. On the day of the visit, a Kiryat Gat city councilman - a Chabad member named Chaim Shalom - arrived at his office in the city council building to pick up a document. "Suddenly, policemen jumped on me," he later told Yediot Acharonot newspaper, "and then I heard them say on their radio, 'The suspect is in our hands.'" Shalom said he asked the policeman, "What happened to you? Why are you jumping on me?" The policeman said abashedly, "This is the orders we received from the [GSS unit for the protection of persons]. Wait half an hour, until the Defense Minister finishes his lunch here and leaves the building." Shalom's pleas to be allowed to leave were in vain, and he was released only after Mofaz left. The fax number of the Public Security (Police) Ministry office in Jerusalem is (+972-2) 530-8039. To Go To Top

THE NEGEV'S RADICAL OASIS Posted by Bryna Berch, February 28, 2005.

This article was written by P. David Hornik and appeared in the Jerusalem Post today. Mr. Hornik is a freelance journalist and translator living in Jerusalem. Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, was a fervent nationalist who would turn in his grave to hear some of the things being said by academics at the Israeli university that bears his name. There are, of course, radicals at other Israeli universities as well, but they are particularly well represented at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Dr. Neve Gordon of BGU's political science department, for example, has written: "Israel's gravest danger today is not the PA or even Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, but the one it faces from within: fascism." And in a column on the far-Left Counterpunch Web site, he accused General Aviv Kohavi, currently IDF commander in the Gaza Strip, of "blatant violations of human rights" and of being a "war criminal." Not surprisingly, Gordon's articles are often posted on anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi sites. Not far behind Gordon in anti-Israeli vilification is Jeff Halper of BGU's anthropology department, who has written: "'Fortress Israel,' as we call it, is by necessity based on a culture of strength, violence and crudity. In the final analysis, it will be the bulldozer that razes the structure that once was Israel." Other pearls by this author include: "[Israel is using] state terrorism on a scale we have not seen before"; and "A just and lasting peace will not emerge from within Israel; only international pressure can save the Palestinians from being crushed by the iron wall." Halper heads IACHD (the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions), which openly calls for international sanctions against Israel even at a time when it is preparing for major land concessions. Then there's Lev Greenberg, director of BGU's Humphrey Institute for Social Research, who has written: "There is a difference between Israeli and Palestinian acts of aggression . the difference is that Israeli aggression is the responsibility of Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Shimon Peres, and Shaul Mofaz, while individual terrorist acts are done by individuals in despair, usually against Arafat's will"; "Suicide bombings killing innocent civilians must be condemned unequivocally; they are immoral acts, and their perpetrators should be sent to jail. But they cannot be compared to state terrorism carried out by the Israeli government"; "The murder of [Hamas leader] Sheik Ahmad Yassin by the government of Israel is part of a major move... which can be described as symbolic genocide." Other BGU academics portray Israel . which has already made massive land concessions and offered further ones in a quest for peace, while creating the Palestinian Authority and helping it become the most generously assisted entity on earth . as a brutal oppressor and call for its dissolution as a Jewish state. Oren Yiftachel of the Department of Geography and Environmental Development writes: "The actual existence of an Israeli state... can be viewed as an illusion... Israel has created a colonial setting, held through violent control"; "The establishment of a binational democratic state... appears more attractive than ever." For Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, who teaches Jewish history, "Binationalism is the only solution . for now... the Zionist historical consciousness is based on suppression and the erasure of history"; "there really are Arabs who accuse me of supporting binationalism in order to preserve the Jewish people". a charge that, apparently, stings. A 2004 article called "Genocide by Public Policy," BGU's Michael Dahan with Palestinian-American businessman Sam Bahour, asserted that: "Deliberate and systematic destruction, as the definition of genocide illustrates, does not necessarily mean physical killing of people, albeit Israel is having no problem, and is facing no international outcry, in doing just that." The value of academic freedom, and the need for expression of a wide variety of views on the problems Israeli faces, is not in question. It is a different matter whether the taxpayers and donors who fund BGU should remain indifferent when this university, responsible for educating its young people, becomes a nest for academics who deny Israel's legitimacy, advocate its dissolution, call its people Nazis, and accuse it of genocide. Even if academic freedom is construed as being unbound by minimal notions of truth or loyalty, this should not prevent donors from conditioning their contributions carefully, and potential students and their parents from taking heed. To Go To Top

ISRAELI SECURITY PLAN DEVISED BY ARABS; UNILATERALISM; AN OLD SCAM RECYCLED Posted by Richard H. Shulman, February 27, 2005.

PERES' SECURITY PLAN FOR GAZA Peres (whose Peace Center is funded by appeasement minded Europeans) contends that for (unspecified) diplomatic reasons, Israel should vacate the Philadelphi corridor above the arms smuggling tunnels that the IDF keeps destroying. Who would demolish them after the IDF left? The P.A. that still is bombarding Jewish communities (Arutz-7, 1/26) or Egypt, the P.A.'s patron? The P.A. is at war with Israel. Does it make sense for Israel to give the P.A. responsibility for blocking the tunnels from which it gets the arms for its insurgency? Vacating the corridor would be fatal to many Israelis. Peres should be asked what "diplomatic reasons" justify letting them get murdered. He should be challenged to show he is not giving a phony excuse. Israeli leftists have been getting away with vague assertions unchallenged, and, as a result, the Arabs have been getting away with murder. Egypt condoned the smuggling. What gives Peres confidence that Egypt now would block it? Egypt could block it now, but doesn't. Judge Peres by his confidence in Oslo, which failed, but in which he retains confidence. What a jolly good fellow is he! Or is he Israel's Dr. Moriarity? ARAB'S SECURITY PLAN FOR JUDEA-SAMARIA Defense Min. Mofaz has agreed to an old proposal of P.A. military leader Dahlan, that when Israel hands over security control in Judea-Samaria cities to P.A. forces, any wanted terrorists there will join those P.A. forces. This decision is not a satire (IMRA, 1/26). IMRA frequently advises readers that an Israeli security decision is not a satire. This plan was devised by a terrorist. Calling it a security plan does not make it one. My advice to readers is to suspect falsity in news labeling. Can wanted pirates be transformed instantly to respected policeman, by decree? If only people were so easily transformed! Imagine if New York City suggested that it end crime by enlisting the criminals in its police force! On the other hand, why not - the P.A. security men are terrorists initially armed by Israel and still somewhat subsidized by them, partly at the insistence of Pres. Bush, that supposed great friend of Israel. All those who complain that Israel does not adhere to Oslo are silent about this and earlier Arab violations of Oslo, in enlarging the P.A. forces beyond the contractual limit. Why is this type of violation important? It is important because it fosters the continuous building of a police force into an army capable of impeding an Israeli mobilization against an Egyptian-Syrian assault. It also rewards instead of eradicates terrorists. This change should not be viewed in isolation. Israel also has let Hizbullah come up to the Lebanese border and bring rockets with them. The State Dept. wants Hizbullah's sponsor, Syria to regain the Golan Heights, down which it could pour fire and send tanks. PM Sharon plans to let Egypt bring armored units up to its Israeli border in the Sinai. ISRAEL PLANS TO BUILD A SECURITY FENCE ALONG EGYPT Though less formidable than the one in Judea-Samaria, the plan for this one indicates suspicion of Egypt (IMRA, 1/26). Then why let Egyptian armored units alongside Gaza and Israel? The moral is: the world is closing in on Israel, and Israel's leaders are springing the trap. FILM GLORIFYING SUICIDE BOMBING An Israeli produced it "in association with the Consulate General of Israel (SF)." How sick! (Prof. Steven Plaut, 1/26, e-mail.) Prof. Plaut often finds Israel acting antisemitically, but not in conscious satire. NEW SYRIAN SUPPORT FOR TERRORISM Syrian regional authorities deduct $1 a month from thousands of government employees, to use in the P.A. war on Israel (IMRA, 1/27). Now there is interference with another country! RUSSIA REDUCES SYRIAN DEBT Russia dropped $9.8 billion of Syria's debt to it (IMRA, 1/27). That enables Syria to buy more new arms. The real cycle of violence is that the Arabs borrow money for arms, default on the debt, are forgiven the debt, and borrow again. In this case, however, Russia may be requiring new sales to be paid for on delivery. Thanks to high oil prices, Iran and S. Arabia can spare the funds for Syria's new purchases. To lower the price, the US should conserve fuel, switch to renewable energy, and do extensive research on making coal as clean a fuel as oil, since two of the main consumers of oil, the US and China, have extensive deposits of coal. SYRIA: WANTS DEFENSIVE WEAPONS & STABILITY? Syria rejects Israeli objections to its proposed purchase of surface-to-air missiles from Russia. It claims the objections interfere in Russian affairs and, by not wanting Syria to be able to defend itself, indicates a plan for aggression against Syria. Syria prefers dialogue between civilizations. Pres. Putin depicted the missiles as purely defensive, unable to change the balance of power, and would be restricted by Russia so they don't get into the hands of terrorists. To the contrary, some of the missiles are like the US hand-held "stinger" type, which changed the balance of power, which were not just defensive, and which got into the hands of terrorists (IMRA, 1/27). Syria and Iran put 14,000 other missiles into the hands of Hizbullah. Russia's sale would interfere in Israeli affairs. Syria doesn't often engage in dialogue, but when it does, it is the usual Arab ploy to lull suspicions. Far from seeking to defend itself (from whom?), Syria must be suspected of planning more aggression along the lines of its designs on other countries that it never abandoned, just as it is occupying another country contrary to its signed agreement. Deception is the primary Arab tactic. The main deception in the Syrian statement is to call the missiles defensive weapons. This is the usual Arab ploy of putting to a word something it does not mean. Syria's likeliest aggression against Israel is by missiles. Israeli's likeliest defense is to launch its air force at the Syrian missile sites. There, the Soviet, er Russian, ground-to-air missiles would intervene in behalf of the Syrian aggressors. Deception is a primary Soviet tactic. Putin was a Soviet KGB official. His deception does not excuse the West for its extensive deception, but it doesn't rely on deception as much as did Soviets and Arabs. IMRA & AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE IMRA translates and reviews articles in the Arab media. Often IMRA remarks about the media's use of expressions that are not supported by the news and that reflect Arab bias. In this case, the source of the news was "Agence France Presse, which described the conflict in diplomacy between Syria and the US as Syrian "reluctance to toe the US line." IMRA responded, "hat US line, 'free elections' and cessation of support for terrorism? (IMRA, 1/27) The US also demands that Syria stop occupying Lebanon. The US demands are decent and just, and necessary for eventual world survival and peace. For "Agence France Presse" to call it the "US line," and to put it as if the US, one of the victims of terrorism, has no right to combat terrorism that Syria specializes in, indicates what a misconceived, pro-Arab approach the French media have. SANITIZING TERRORISM "A conspicuous component of the academic world of the West engages in vigorous campaigns against Israel, with strong support for Palestinian (Arab) actions. Even when Palestinian wrongs are recognized, ultimate blame is placed on Israel and its supporters." (The assumption I that the poor Arabs cannot help themselves. The assumption patronizes the Arabs in behalf of antisemitism.) "... terrorists as exemplified by Hamas have advanced from being presumably outlawed by the Oslo agreement to participating in Palestinian elections and to now becoming a P.A. partner in the peace process and governance." (Likewise, Israel and the Quartet are permitting terrorists to join the P.A. police. If the P.A. were ever to eradicate terrorism, one would think that terrorism would be a disqualification rather than a qualification.' Professor of Culture Terry Eagleton of Manchester U. wrote in the "Guardian" that human bombs are idealists, hence noble. He claims they do it not only for religions reasons but also because they see it as the only way to secure justice (IMRA, 1/27). Justice? Jihad, their usual cause, is one of religious oppression, imperialism, and mass-murder. Some Communists and fascists thought they served ideals, as did some of the servants of the Inquisition. They perpetrated great cruelty and robbery, in the service of injustice. Who needs such "idealists?" Westerners repeatedly imagine the worst as the best? The professor omitted other common motivations for murder: brainwashing by those who don't sacrifice themselves, coercion of compromised women, and payments for their families. UNILATERAL ISRAELI "GOODWILL" GESTURES Although it would get nothing in return, Israel plans to remove from its list of wanted terrorists two of the main ones, Tawfiq Tirawi and Rashid Abu Shabak. Both have been proved heavily involved in planning and directing fatal terrorism (IMRA, 1/27). Israel constantly takes measures to undermine its security. Its government is more suicidal than are the Arab human bombs. Israel does get something in return. It gets demands from diehard antisemites for more. PM SHARON'S BETRAYAL OF ISRAEL'S VOTERS During his last campaign, Ariel Sharon ridiculed his rival for planning unilateral withdrawal. Sharon did admit he would make some painful concessions. Now he and his supporters pretend that by "painful concessions" he meant unilateral withdrawal. If that were true, he would not have ridiculed his rival and promised to be different from him. Sharon claims the voters misunderstood, but they didn't, and he betrayed them (and the Jewish people). All the worse that Sharon refuses to go back to the people for a referendum, to see what they understand now (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 1/27). TERRORISM DOESN'T ARISE FROM POVERTY, IT CREATES IT As the US pours its treasury into the rebuilding of Iraq, the rebels there spill blood and shatter facilities. The terrorists are Baathists seeking to regain power and Islamists seeking the death of infidels and hegemony over the faithful. They are well-financed. Thus terrorism does not arise from poverty. It creates poverty. AN OLD SCAM RECYCLED Iran and Syria declared their countries one front, whether attacked by the US or Israel. Israel's Foreign Ministry finds, by contrast, Egypt and the P.A. "moderate." This is the old confusion or scam of falsely dividing Israel's Arab enemies into moderates and extremists. The foul incitement to racial violence against Jews coming out of Egypt and the P.A. is no different from that coming out of Iran and Syria. Same for the end goal of Egypt and the P.A., which is their dominance over Israel, and the subordination, dispossession, and to some extent the extermination of the Jews. The difference is that the ones called moderate may negotiate agreements with Israel, and then, again, they may not. The ones considered extremist resist agreements, lest it sully their honor. Therefore, the ones called moderate present the greater danger, because they can dupe Israelis into imagining they are negotiating peace rather than concessions that facilitate the next Arab aggression. HOW TO OPPOSE AN AUTHORITARIAN REGIME DEMOCRATICALLY? "Yediot Ahronot" criticizes the Right for opposing PM Sharon's territory-abandonment plan with violence instead of democratically. I don't condone stone-throwing against police, but I question who is throwing the stones. The government never punished the secret service people and their high political patrons (such as Peres and Rabin) who committed dirty tricks. The editor is not ethically entitled to take that line without also condemning police brutality against dissidence. The Israeli police are used for political purposes, are brutal, and perform poorly. Without the Territories, and with all the other concessions to the Arabs, Israel would not survive. What are the limits to the type of opposition when the stakes are national existence? How is a political opposition to function democratically, when the government has become authoritarian? The people voted to replace Barak with Sharon, but Sharon instituted Barak's policies. Sharon's Likud Party held two referendums to oppose Sharon's adoption of Barak's Labor Party policies. Sharon lost, but after promising in advance to abide by the votes, ignored the votes (because he is driven by some psychological demon or blackmail). Cabinet Members who would vote against the plan he fired, although that is contrary to the protocol for coalition government. Opponents turned to the Supreme Court, but that Court, itself chosen undemocratically, serves the Far Left and twists its interpretation of the law, when it doesn't simply declare its whim the law. Opponents cannot get much time on the air or in the press, controlled by the Left. People who speak up are threatened with preventive detention. When soldiers indicate they won't obey orders to dispossess Jews from the Territories, they are dismissed. When soldiers indicate they won't obey orders to protect Jews in the Territories, they are not dismissed. It is said that Sharon has hired foreign troops to do his dirty work. The situation is so dire, that it would justify a coup. But Sharon has preempted this by staging his own coup, as indicated by those measures and his general bullying and maneuvering. Rather than merely disobey, soldiers should arrest the officer and officials giving the illegal order. If they did, however, they would not be able to maintain their stance. An attempted coup would not have the support of the country, which disapproves of Sharon but does not understand how evil he and especially Peres are and how sick is the Left. This effort to save Jews would kill Jews. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. To Go To Top

PAMPHLET THREATENS NEW VIOLENCE AGAINST MAGHAR CHRISTIANS Posted by Tamar Rush, February 27, 2005.

This article is by Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent. A pamphlet threatening renewed violence against Christians was distributed Sunday in the mixed Druze-Christian-Muslim village of Maghar. The pamphlet, signed by a group calling itself "The Heroes of Hamza Ben Ali" after a Druze saint, expressed support for the riots that occurred in the Galilee village roughly two weeks ago, and included detailed threats to open fire on any Christians venturing to the village's main road starting Wednesday. Tiberias police have launched a probe to find out who was behind the pamphlet. Seven Maghar residents and three police officers were injured in the clashes between Druze and Christians, which began after a Druze teenager spread a false rumor that Christian youths had posted pornographic pictures of Druze girls on the internet. Many Christian families fled the village as a result of the riots. The threats were also directed against police officers from the Tiberias station who have been involved in arrests of Druze, as well as the village's Christian leadership, accusing it of disrespecting the Druze sheikhs. The distribution of the pamphlet has increased tensions in the village, and Christian families have expressed fears of a new round of violence. A Christian resident of the village said the Christians are taking the threats seriously. "We don't know who is behind the pamphlet and if it is a few people or many, but there is no doubt that these are very grave statements that can re-ignite the flames," said the resident. "This time there is no more property to burn and therefore they are threatening physical harm." "It seems that all the talk of reconciliation have not seeped into the same group that led the pogrom," the resident continued. "I hope that the police will treat the matter seriously this time and will not wait until an additional catastrophe occurs." In the Christian neighborhood, villagers emphasized Sunday evening that a large number of villagers do not feel they can count on police and are taking up arms themselves. Police sources said they are aware of the villagers lack of faith, and warned that criminal agents may try to take advantage of the tension in order to sell weapons to the villagers. The sources said Sunday evening that the police is taking the threats very seriously, and emphasized that police forces remain in the Christian neighborhood of Maghar in order to prevent acts of violence against the community. To Go To Top

NOT TO WORRY: We Have the High Priest Cult of Human Sacrifice Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, February 27, 2005.

Israel's Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon has a sufficient number of Jews to sacrifice to his ego. The moment I head of the atrocity in Tel Aviv, I wrote the anticipated speech from Sharon, Abbas and Bush. Each would babble something about: "The Peace must go on - even when there was none." We used to hear this often from Rabin and Peres was always quick to say that the "Piss Process must go on." The Media has a lot invested as the cheering squad for a process that is not happening. I would forecast that many Jews are yet to die at the hand of a non-existent Peace Process. Clearly, Sharon is no less corrupt than Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen), the new President of the Palestinian Authority in setting in motion an "Intifada 3" while telling its future victims "not to worry", we have everything under control. The other day one of Sharon's team of liars was holding forth at an interview, bragging about how quiet it was on Israel's Northern Front where former PM Ehud Barak ran from the Lebanese Security Border, like a rat in the night. That vacuum is now filled with 12,000 to 15,000 missiles, tended by Hezb'Allah under Syrian and Iranian influence. Many of those warheads are known to Israeli Intelligence as being loaded with deadly chemicals. In his interview, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had ignored the number of mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, roadside bombs, sniper killing that have been used successfully against Israeli troops but Olmert claimed "All was quiet on the Northern Front." When really pressed with the facts, Olmert walked out. Olmert's purpose was to create the impression that the Gaza withdrawal will result in similar 'quiet'. Well, maybe. Lebanon is a good example. Gaza, like Lebanon, is already loaded with weapons. When Sharon leaves the Gaza vacuum, it too will have its 10,000 missiles or more pointed at Israel. Add to that Russia's plan to sell heavy weapons and light armor to the Arab Muslim Palestinians. Sharon's team of liars believe the Israeli people to be exceptionally stupid and believe anything told to them. Moreover, they are counting on the Jewish tendency to quickly forget Terrorist atrocities, like the one that just killed four young people, wounding more than 50 - one woman is fighting for her life. The club named "The Stage" featured karioke and sing-a-long. It had four guards, one of whom stopped the killer from getting inside where he would have killed many more. My friend, Oded Orbach had to fly to Israel last night because his niece, Yael Orbach was killed as she was handing out wedding invitations to her friends at The Stage nightclub. Is there anyone in Israel who does not have a friend, relative or loved one who was killed by a Terrorist? Throughout the phony calm since Sharm el-Sheikh, between 50 and 60 threatened bombings were constants on their screens. Although the military had drastically cut down on its counter-terror operations and precautions to give the new Palestinian leader Abu Mazen a chance to rein in Palestinian Terror, still ticking bombs from all the various Palestinian Terrorist organizations were being caught almost daily in Judea and Samaria. None of this was reported by the Leftist Hebrew Press but, then the world Media including CNN and FOX News didn't think it was worth publishing This killer wasn't alone. He was just the first that got through the Israeli security net after many of his fellow killers had tried and failed. He was handed his bomb belt by a confederate Terrorist who lives inside Israel. In Jerusalem there were three separate alerts in the past two weeks for suicide bombers on their way from Judea and Samaria to strikes in the Capital. All were captured with their bomb belts. Now Tel Aviv and central Israel are now also on elevated Terror alerts for the coming days. The Sharon government will face grave charges that will be heard in its regular session, Sunday February 27. But, Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz were too preoccupied with political maneuvers over the coming retreats from the Gaza/Gush Katif and North Samaria. They fired or silenced their most effective apolitical critics of the "Disengagement Plan" and prematurely lowered Israel's counter-terror guard; Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, Shin Beit Director Avi Dichter and Military Intelligence Chief Brigadier Aharon Ze'evi are all on their way out. But, Sharon's office has been clear that Abbas will be given more freedom before any drastic military action and the giving away to the Palestinian Arab Muslims will continue. (1) According to DEBKAfile, Abu Mazen and his lieutenant Mohammed Dahlan have secretly applied to more than 20 world governments with urgent requests for large quantities of heavy weapons. The Sharon government hasn't bothered to monitor these dangers. It includes all types of armored personnel carriers with fixed mortars, jeeps fitted with 107 mm recoilless guns, telescopic rifles, pistols, ammunition, communications and engineering gear, helmets and medical equipment. Shopping for heavy weapons is in total contravention of every international accord the Palestinians, including Abu Mazen in person, have ever signed with Israel and every pledge Abbas has made to President Bush. In 2001, the Israeli Air Force and Naval Commandos intercepted the Karine-A with 50 tons of heavy weapons from Iran bound for the Palestinian Authority. The Russian Foreign Minister frankly admitted February 15, to supplying the Palestinians with "military machines" and said Moscow was considering sending them APCs since the Palestinian Authority proved itself in control of security. In Gaza, Mussa Arafat would have the use of mobile artillery to blitz Israeli towns and villages. The first to pay the ultimate price were the victims of Arab Muslim Terror in Tel Aviv Friday night.(1) Jews are supposed to forget so Sharon can go on with his scurrilous plans. This is bunch who surely deserve a Nuremberg trial, with the same probability of sentencing. Sacrificing Jews to a theory, as was done with the Oslo Accords under Rabin and Peres was only their first major betrayal but, not the last. Now, "Disengagement" is being foisted on hard-working innocent Jewish farmers and their families who must accept being evicted, uprooted - having 30 years of their work wiped out by a theory that "Disengagement" will bring Peace. How foolish! Anyone who has studied history of the Arab Muslims will know that they will never stop accepting the Jews' sacrifices of their own people. Never forgive or forget this cult of the Political High Priests still in the business of sacrificing people to the pagan gods they follow. Some may recall HaShem's instructions to the Hebrew tribes, namely to eliminate those who practiced human sacrifice to their pagan gods. It was considered an abomination before G-d and man. They were supposed to kill ALL the Amaleketes but they never did. This is just a preliminary slaughter leading up to the main event. Be assured there will be plenty of dancing in the towns and camps of the Palestinians and Arab nations. The bait-and-switch groups of Hamas and Islamic Jihad have denied a role in the slaughter while others, wearing another hat, blew up the young people with bombs loaded with nails. He killed a bride giving her friends wedding invitations. Her groom-to-be is in moderate condition. We don't know yet who lost legs, arms, eyes - cut by the nails and shrapnel loaded in the 60 pound of explosives the bomber had on his belt. All of them had a life, a story, to live and love, bear children and watch them grow. Why does normal life have to be bought with the sacrifices of other lives? Abu Mazen can say: "It wasn't me or mine." Nevertheless, the wood is being gathered to light and dance around. The big event will be Sharon's grand ceremony as he sends in troops and thugs to attack the settlers, the Jewish men, women and children, put them on trucks and ship them off to "temporary? tent camps?" There will follow a wild swirling ceremony, where Sharon and his collaborators will join with Abu Mazen and his men, as they dance around whatever pagan god each believes in. I wonder if Condi will join the high priest cult in the ceremonies? ### 1. "Terrorists Shatter Phony Calm in Tel Aviv, Shop for Heavy Weapons" DEBKAfile Feb. 26, 2005 2. "Terrorists Kill Four in Tel Aviv Bomb Blast" ARUTZ 7 Feb. 27, 2005 An Islamic Jihad suicide bomber Friday night killed three men and a woman and wounded more than 50 others at a Tel Aviv nightclub near the beach. The four who were killed were to be buried in their hometowns today. They are: * Yitzchak Buzaglo, 40, from Moshav Mishmar HaYarden, whose wife Linda was hospitalized in serious condition; they have a 9-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter. * Aryeh Nagar, 37, of Kfar Saba; never married, he is survived by his parents and five siblings. * Ronen Reuvenov, 30, of Tel Aviv; and * Yael Auerbach, 28 from Rehovot, who was to have been married in two weeks; her fiancé is hospitalized in moderate condition. The attack occurred when a suicide terrorist blew himself up at the entrance to the Stage Club on the Tel Aviv boardwalk. The terrorist was killed in the blast, and police are searching for a second man seen with him before the attack. The Palestinian Authority (PA) blamed the attack on Hezb?Allah terrorists allied with Iran, but Israeli security sources said the terrorists came from an Islamic Jihad gang backed by Syrian terrorists. Islamic Jihad, in fact, claimed responsibility, airing a video tape prepared before the attack and boasting that it was trying to derail the PA. Three of the wounded were initially listed in serious condition. Of the more than 50 people who were wounded, 29 are still hospitalized in four Tel Aviv hospitals - Sheba, Ichilov, Wolfson and Beilinson - including one in very critical condition and one in serious condition. Most of the victims belonged to an Israeli army reserve unit that was planning to celebrate the birthday of one of its officers at the nightclub. "It was a surprise party for our sergeant-major," said Eitan Hait, one if the reservists. "We were all standing outside laughing and smiling when suddenly I felt darkness sweep over me." Many unit members described themselves as a close "family" that would often get together socially. They were to have received wedding invitations to Ophir and Yael's wedding on Friday night. "We're a small and very 'together' unit," later said Yaron Greivsky, whose 30th birthday was the reason for the surprise gathering. "We're the kind who smile when we're called up for reserve service. All of us have been in dangerous places, we've been in Lebanon, Gaza, Hevron, all over. No one was ever hurt. And then a terrorist comes to the middle of Tel Aviv, where it's supposed to be the safest, and destroys everything." The murderer was a 21-year-old terrorist from an area near Tul Karem, about five miles east of Tel Aviv. Tul Karem was slated to be one of the first cities whose security responsibility was to be handed over to the PA in the coming days. In reaction to the suicide bombing, Israel announced last night, among other things, that it was freezing the plan. Some analysts said that this was largely an announcement to calm the Israeli public, as the plan was mired in any event. 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

OUTRAGE! Posted by Barry Shaw, February 27, 2005.

To: helen.boaden@thebbc.co.uk Cc: michael.grade@thebbc.co.uk To Whom it May Concern, (if it concerns anyone at the BBC!) People in Israel were shocked by the sudden terrorist outrage that hit Tel Aviv last Friday. This horror was compounded by your coverage, under the heading 'A family in mourning' of the parents of the homicide bomber !!! How brutally insensitive! And what an insult to the real terror victims! Your action is identical to that taken by CNN who, following a similar deadly bombing attack in Petach Tikva, interviewed and aired the parents of the bomber, despite having also interviewed the young woman who had lost her baby and her mother in the attack. The protests that erupted jammed ther switchboard of CNN and crashed their computer system. It also brought their chairman, Eason Jordan, running to Israel with an apology, as protests in Israel threatened to remove CNN from our TV screens. There is now a growing campaign to have the BBC removed from our network channels following a long history of blatant anti-Israel reporting, journalism, and programs - and not only on your news programs. I know we have the support of an Israeli Government that has been forced to take steps against the BBC in the recent past. Barry Shaw is Founder & Chairman, Netanya Terror Victims Fund, Netanya, Israel. Contact him at netre@matav.net.il or at his daytime phone: 050.350.6101 (Israel) To Go To Top

MISSING THE FOREST FOR THE TREES Posted by Marcel Cousineau, February 27, 2005.

If P.M. Sharon were to dissappear tomorrow, the Quartet Master would find another turncoat Jew to replace him and New World Order (NWO) groupie Peres. And the process spoken of in Psalm 83 1-5 would continue. It is the globalist cabal which pull the strings in Israel. The point you miss is that Israel must stop seeking acceptance and P.R. points from this NWO group headed by President Bush. All attempts to play by their rules has led Israel closer to destruction. You must read Psalm 83 1-5 and see that this is more than just a Israel-Palestinian peace plan. Verse 1 is our answer to this Global Cabal against Israel. Have you forgotten that every Israeli P.M. since Yitzak Shamir has bowed the knee to their Master in Washington. Rabin,Barak,Peres,Netanyahu always went along with the suicidal U.S. policy for Israel and knew who their Master was and knew not to say 'no'. Sharon talks tough today, but he has always been easily de-balled by a phone call. I leave you ONE guess as to where the phone call always comes from. The fact that the best and brightest Zionists IGNORE the true danger of U.S. policy towards Israel reveals the dark haze that blinds them. Your failure to address this serious problem (The BUSH ROAD MAP to a Palestinian State) does not bode well for Israel's immediate future. You fail to see that P.M. Sharon is just following the orders of his Puppet Master,you miss the forrest for the tree and Sharon is just one small tree! Marcel Cousineau can be reached at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com To Go To Top

CROSS OVER Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, February 27, 2005.

Officers and soldiers who believe in a democratic nation as it once was, should consider crossing over. By that I mean resigning their positions and crossing over to physically join the pioneering Settlers if by doing nothing more than to stand with them on the road. The Settlers represent the deepest core values of what is called: Zionism, namely, to return to the Land; make it fruitful and raise children who respect their parents, teachers and even the government when it deserves respect. Regrettably, the soldiers who have died for the Land have been dismissed as unimportant by the present Government as men who have sacrificed their lives for no good reason. The highest ranking officers, with the foot soldiers have come to recognize that Sharon's idea of "Disengagement" is nothing more than another version of the failed Oslo Accords which also were the ideas of Rabin, Peres and Beilin. Now Sharon has ignored whatever degree of Peace was already bought and paid for through the many dead who sacrificed themselves for whatever protection they could give the Israeli people and their families. Sharon has been advised by his highest Military leaders in Israel's Army that he is making a vital, existential mistake in opening the City Gates to an implacable Muslim enemy whose religious mandate is to remove Israel from the face of this Planet. Sharon has had similar advice by the Director of Shabak, the Intelligence Service to cease the "Disengagement". Follow on Intelligence speaks of a growing number of Terrorist attacks between now and the effort to force Israel out of Gaza and the blooming Gush Katif. Intelligence indicates that the attacks will ramp up during the evacuation to demonstrate that the Israeli retreat is being conducted under fire. This will couple with the knowledge that former PM Ehud Barak and Israeli forces were driven out of Lebanon under fire by Hezb'Allah Terrorist attacks. When Barak's midnight desertion under fire out of the Lebanese security zone became known to Arafat's Terrorists, they knew that Israel's politicians didn't have the staying power. Now Sharon will further cement that perception as he, the "great" warrior can be made to similarly run - as did Barak. For Israel's Armed Forces, they know that Sharon's retreat will heat up the entire border so that all the areas of Israel will come under increased fire so that the next Jewish leader will easily give up Judea, Samaria, the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights and that part of Jerusalem that Jordan occupied for 19 years between 1948 and 1967. The Arab Muslim Palestinian Terrorists supported by Syria and Iran will know for an absolute certainty that Jews, Jewish soldiers, Jewish politicians can be made to run under fire. The simple fact is that Sharon and his collaborators must be run out of office and, if possible, charged with treason against the Jewish State. However, in the interim, the Israeli Army should be encouraged to cross over to protect the Jews of Gaza/Gush Katif because that must hold firm in order to keep the rest of the Jewish State in strength and faith. Soldiers! Police! Resign your posts and be reinstated as heroes of the Jewish nation under a new Government. The officers and men of Israel's Army must be reminded that one day in the future, they will have to stand before a Court of Comrades long dead and to explain why they abandoned the Jews of Israel and merely obeyed orders they knew to be dangerously wrong. Cross Over and stand with both the pioneering settlers and many of your comrades-in-arms who already refuse to drag Jews out of their homes! 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

HAMAS DEMANDS ISRAEL RELEASE ALL ARAB PRISONERS AND TERRORISTS Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, February 27, 2005.

Thousand of Hamas terrorist supporters took to the streets Friday to demand that Israel release all Arab prisoners and terrorists, or face reprisals - including kidnapping of IDF soldiers. Israel freed 500 prisoners last week, and has agreed to release another 400. Senior Gaza Hamas leader Fathi Hamar said on Friday, following Moslem prayers, that his forces are "ready at any time to kidnap soldiers" until Israel releases all jailed terrorists. Hamar reiterated that the planned withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria proves that Israel meets Arab demands only under threats. He said terrorists have proved their success in kidnapping, and cited the abduction and subsequent murder of soldier Nachshon Wachsman 10 years ago. Another Hamas leader, Hassan Yousef, said he doubted that an upcoming meeting of leaders of Arab terror groups in Syria would lead to a formal truce. The leaders of all eight Damascus-based groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, will meet with Palestinian Authority and Egyptian officials in early March. Following the Friday night attack in Tel Aviv, Israel has announced that it would not permit the Islamic Jihad representative from Judea/Samaria to attend. Syria-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshal said that a truce is not possible unless Israel accepts Palestinian demands, including allowing three million Arabs in Lebanon, Jordan and other countries to live in Israel. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org To Go To Top

THE APT AND ULTIMATE MOCKERY Posted by Women in Green, February 27, 2005.

This article was written by Eugene Narrett, Ph.D. The Jerusalem Post refused to publish it AS AN AD unless certain unspecified phrases were changed. We could not agree to this censorship, since we did not write this article. Thus this article AS AN AD, which follows below, was never published by the Post. A "Galut state" is a Jewish state that scorns its birthright. Since mid-June 1967, the guns of the miracle war hadn't even fallen silent, successive governments and nearly all the media and 'judges' of Israel have played the part of Esau, spurning their birthright, the complete Land of Israel. No wonder these same ruling cadres and their descendants are now openly allied with Edom and Ishmael in utterly betraying their fellow Jews and reversing the miraculous redemption the L-rd prepared for the Children of Israel. They are a generation of perverts, an obtuse and ass-backwards generation as Moshe foretold, and they are bringing hell upon the people and Land of Israel, against a nation gathered partly back together and dwelling, many of them, "in unwalled villages." It is very difficult to single out the worst group of betrayers of the world's most essential and saving promise, but the "United Torah Judaism" [sic] has done its worst to earn mention. "United"? "Torah"? "Judaism"?!?! To ally themselves, for $60 million with the destroyer and betrayers of their brethren, and to facilitate dragging them from their homes, synagogues, and dragging their dead from the consecrated earth, these degenerates have earned eternal wrath and an eminent place and the large room of shame of 20th century Jewish betrayers of the complete Land of Israel. They're 'kissing cousins' with all the Bolsheviks, socialists, anti-Jews, Jew-murderers (e.g. at the Altalena, the Saison" etc.) and all the other spurners of the birthright and vilifiers of those who sought to clasp it dear, as our father Jacob did. This party is helping to disunite the Jewish people in the most heinous way and under the worst circumstances, to sever them from their G-d-promised home and duties on the land and following the Torah of Peres, Sharon, the UN, the EU, State Department and Saudis leading to the murder of more Jews as inevitably happens when the birthright is despised. This is the ultimate anti-Judaism. So the entire party's name is a lie; their behavior relative to their Jewish brethren is a lie; they are political sluts of the most shameless kind since they come cloaked with excuses purporting to be Torah. They have allied themselves to the covenant of lies and death, even as this covenant is in the process of sweeping the land and scourging it, and the people who have not embraced it fully and wholeheartedly. "For this, the Land will mourn." But just as the savages are preparing to drag Jews from their home, adding a piquant postscript to the work of the Ukrainians, Nazis, et al, may it be that "may My dead come to life, may My corpses arise, awake and sing from the dust" in glory and victory. Victory, for which, as Purim, Hanukkah, Moshe, Joshua and David taught us, there is no substitute and without which there is no peace. 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

ELI MOZES: "I WAS CHOSEN" Posted by TheRaphi, February 27, 2005.

This was written by Rachel Saperstein, who is Rachel Saperstein is a teacher at the N'vei Dekalim ulpana and a spokeswoman for the Katif Regional Council. Eli is under house arrest. Dear, sweet Eli. It is Friday morning and we are sitting in his garden. He just celebrated his son's bar mitzvah and his twin daughters are to celebrate their third birthday. Eli will not be allowed to attend the party in their kindergarten. Eli Mozes gave me his boyish grin, but the pain in his eyes and the new creases in his forehead told me that he was in pain. His hearty "Shalom HaMorah" - "Hello teacher" - is his standard greeting when he sees me. I was his English teacher at the Community Center's course for adults. Eli is under house arrest. Dear, sweet Eli. It is Friday morning and we are sitting in his garden. He just celebrated his son's bar mitzvah and his twin daughters are to celebrate their third birthday. Eli will not be allowed to attend the party in their kindergarten. Eli Mozes told me his story. "I'm a security guard in N'vei Dekalim. Palestinian policemen were being brought to the industrial area to share patrols with our army. Our people were enraged that our security would be placed in the hands of the Palestinian Authority. Residents went out to the gate to protest. "The police were waiting for us. I carried my rifle as I always do. I had volunteered to go to make sure there would be no friction. A policeman asked me for my rifle. I gave it to him and explained what my job is in the yishuv [community]. I was told to report to police headquarters. "There, I was told that I was under arrest for disturbing the peace and carrying a weapon. I was whisked off to jail in Be'er Sheva. Suddenly, I was turned into a felon. My feet were shackled and I was thrown into a cell with drug dealers and wife beaters. No, HaMorah, I wasn't afraid. "Strangely, I knew that I was chosen to accept this mission. That I was the shaliach tzibur, the representative of the people, to be jailed for being at the right place at the right time for the right cause. I was chosen to be put in jail for protecting my fellow Jews. The police treated me as a felon, the felons treated me as a hero when they heard that I was a political prisoner. They shared their food parcels and tea with me. "Brought shackled into court, I was offered a deal - to be placed under house arrest until my trial. My lawyer took the deal." Eli Mozes is permitted to be at his job at the Katifari, the Gush Katif zoo, where he cares for the animals. There, he had befriended co-worker Tiferet Trattner, z.l. Eli and his wife Pazit had adopted Tifferet and she had become a member of his family. When Tifferet was killed in a mortar attack, the Mozes family mourned her. Eli spoke about her to the media because so few knew her. Eli also takes young people who are emotionally or psychologically troubled to a horse farm. He teaches them to ride and care for the horses, aiding in their recovery. "I'm hyperactive," says Eli. "That's why you'll see me working in neighbors' gardens, caring for my trophy-winning show dog and delivering the Makor Rishon newspaper every Friday morning. I'm also a member of the first response team in times of attack on the community. "I help people," he smiles. The people of Gush Katif were very troubled to hear that Eli Mozes was arrested as a common criminal by the "get tough" police. Today, the police are beating any person who shows up at protest demonstrations against government policy. Eli Mozes is being used as an example of this new police action in Gush Katif. The message is clear: 'If we can jail Eli Mozes, we can easily jail you. Beware! Do not show any resistance. We are stronger than you!' As we spoke in the garden, neighbors passed by. Some brought Shabbat flowers and cakes. Others blew their car horns and waved. A police car drove by to see if Eli was still penned in. Eli wished them a Shabbat Shalom. Eli is not allowed to go to synagogue, so on Shabbat the Torah scroll is brought to Eli's home for a minyan. Last Shabbat, the sexton reminded the worshippers in our synagogue and the many guests from Psagot and Bat Yam to visit Eli to show their support. They were also asked to visit the jail and courthouse in Be'er Sheba on Sunday. Seven yeshiva students had been imprisoned for the previous week because they dared to stop Arab cars on the Tantcher Road. They had protested the day after the mortar and rocket 'blitz' on N'vei Dekalim. They were beaten and jailed. 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

SHARON'S UNILATERAL CEASEFIRE Posted by Steven Plaut, February 28, 2005.

Middle East ceasefires are always unilateral ceasefires, whereby the Jews stop shooting back. They usually morph into one of those "controlled carnage" agreements that Israeli politicians so love, whereby the Arabs continue to murder Jews but as long as the rate of murder is "reasonable", the Jews do not retaliate. Such deals operated in Lebanon and with the PLO. And now Sharon's ceasefire has been revealed to be just another in this series, as the massacre Friday night outside a Tel Aviv nightclub showed. The one-sided violence is no surprise. And it is being accompanied by all the same nonsense Oslo pollyanna. The leftist newspapers in Israel are sighing in ecstasy about how Abu Shlimazen's new government is now going to crack down on the terror. Danny Rubinstein, Haaretz's commentator on Palestinian affairs, the leftist who always seems to be convinced that all Palestinians think exactly what he is thinking this week, a guy who is acknowledged as an expert on Palestinians by himself, insists the Palestinian "street" is horrified by the atrocity in Tel Aviv Friday night. It is Oslo deja vu all over again, and we are only missing Shimon Peres telling us about how the threat of infiltration of cable TV into Israel is much worse than the threat of infiltration of terrorists. But one question is nagging at everyone's mind. What was the role of the International Solidarity Movement, the pro-terror group of Mall Marxists and Designer-Jeans Anarchists, in Friday night's attack? Why would anyone think the ISM is involved? Because it already was involved in the last identical bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub, where the bombers used the identical M.O. as this week's atrocity. The International Solidarity Movement openly endorses Palestinian terror and candidly declares its belief that Israel and its people should be annihilated. It's martyr and Mother Teresa is Rachel Corrie, a young American girl who died while trying to prevent an Israeli bulldozer from destroying a tunnel in which explosives used to murder Jewish civilians were being smuggled. ISM members who come to Israel have been arrested for vandalizing and destroying Israeli security fences and equipment. On March 27, 2003, fugitive Islamic Jihad terrorist Shadi Sukiya was arrested in a house in Jenin rented by the ISM. In the most serious incident, on April 30, 2003, two British Muslims tried to blow themselves up at a popular Tel Aviv nightspot, Mike's Place; one of them succeeded, killing three and wounding 50. At least one of the terrorists had spent the weeks before the attack living with the ISM in Gaza. They entered Israel in the first place by pretending to be part of an entourage of "peace protesters" and fact seekers. So we have ample reason to suspect that the same ISM accomplices of terror could be again involved. Were they? Inquiring minds want to know! 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

ANOTHER SUICIDE/HOMICIDE BOMBING...NOW THERE'S A SHOCK! Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, February 27, 2005.

Another Arab bought his ticket to paradise and his seventy-two awaiting virgins by murdering and maiming young Jews last night. No surprise here, despite the so-called cease fire agreed to by the "moderate" Abbas. He ran for office, after all, literally being carried on the shoulders of such folks, promised them protection from Israel, and wants to incorporate their fellow butchers of innocents into his own military to do so. Abbas also pledged to continue to work towards Israel's destruction, but by other "more acceptable" means. Blown up buses and nightclubs--like the recent one in Tel Aviv--bring bad press and negatively impact on the unilateral pressure being brought to bear on Israel to make yet more concessions to an enemy which promises not peace, but only more demands for more unilateral concessions from Jews in return. And they openly call any negotiations with Jews a Trojan Horse. "Condemnations" from Condy or Dubya don't change these realities. Israel better wise up... and fast. Despite the probable shameful threats from abroad. Abbas refuses to do what really needs to be done with disembowelers of Jews--and demands that Jews also do nothing to stop them from murdering their kids. What other nation or people would be asked to put up with this manure? Where is the outrage here? (Not that I really expect any from most of the rest of the world.) The more Israel concedes, the more it's bloodied. We've been down this path before, and Oslo was its name. There must be no Oslo II. Israel must say no--and mean it-- to even its "friends" on such matters. And it must not play the game by rules that Arabs set for it. Abbas has the manpower and the military to act. If he refuses to do so, then neither he nor his colleagues deserve the state they are demanding...the Arabs' state #22, and second -- not first -- to be created within the original April 25, 1920 borders of the Palestinian Mandate. Jordan (then Transjordan) emerged on the lion's share (some 80%) as a gift from Colonial Secretary Churchill in 1922. And if they get that undeserved state anyway (thirty million stateless Kurds still don't have one) and the murder continues, then Israel must declare full scale war on that state and do unto it what America did unto the Taliban which supported the murder of America's own innocents. B-1s, B-52s, daisy cutter and bunker buster bombs, cruise missiles, and such were America's weapons of choice...not merely targeted attacks by helicopters. It's important at this time, however, to step back a bit and look at this issue in its broader perspective, so let's give it a go... While the past year brought other issues back to the front burner which also demanded immediate attention (the future of the Gaza Strip and the rest of the disputed territories as just a few examples), it's worth rethinking another all-too-real fact of life that has driven events over recent past years, especially since the onset of the era of the so-called Oslo "peace, " and is still very much with us. I'm speaking, of course, about the Arab suicide/homicide bomber, a subject tragically thrown back into our faces in Tel Aviv last night. We have indeed heard much about suicide/homicide bombers in the Middle East. And when Israel pursues the deliberate murderers of its innocents, this then becomes the next excuse for Arabs to kill more innocents. Of course, the way many--if not most--Arabs see all of this, there are really no Israeli "innocents." They're all simply Jews who have stolen "purely Arab" land. That's the way it's taught in their textbooks, preached in their mosques, and inbred elsewhere as well. After the September 11, 2001 tragedy, when nineteen Arabs (mostly Saudis) hijacked civilian aircraft and flew them as guided missiles into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing some three thousand Americans and others as well, the situation has become even more of a concern. Officials believe that it's just a matter of time before the United States, itself, once again becomes victimized this way. The Arab suicide / homicide bomber has also since made his (or her) debut in other places as well--notably in the fight for the future of Iraq. Young children have also been utilized as living bombs. There is no doubt that this is a horrendous human tragedy. But while Arabs and their supporters place the blame for this on Israel, the truth is actually far more depressing. Like in many other places, there are conflicting historical and political claims over the land contested between Arabs and Jews. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of scholarly books written about the connection of the Jews to the land of Israel. The very name Jew, itself, comes from the later name of the land, Judaea, which in turn was named for the Hebrew tribe of Judah--one of Jacob's sons. Judaean equals Jew. Early Muslim Arab historians recorded this in their works, as does the Qur'an itself, the Holy Book of Islam. Similarly, there are many books which deal with the imperial Arab conquest, settlement, and incorporation of the land of Israel / Judaea / Palestine--and much of the rest of entire region as well--into the two earlier Arab Caliphates based in Damascus and Baghdad. Imperialism is evidently only a nasty word when non-Arabs so indulge in it. Suffice it to state, therefore, that a quest for relative justice demanded some sort of compromise over the land in question. Unfortunately, that was too much to ask... Arabs saw themselves as the only legitimate heirs to a defeated Ottoman Turkish Empire which had replaced the Arabs (and others) as imperial rulers and had ruled most of the region for some four centuries prior to the end of World War I. After the Allied defeat of the Turks, Arabs subsequently treated the region as "purely Arab patrimony" and acted accordingly. Despite the presence of scores of millions of non-Arab Berbers, Kurds, Jews, Black Africans, Copts, Semitic but non-Arab Lebanese, and others as well, Arabs saw these as purely Arab lands. As just a few of many other examples of what next transpired, both Berber and Kurdish languages and cultures were periodically "outlawed," churches of the Copts were burned down, Black Africans in the Sudan and Kurds in Syria and Iraq were massacred, and more Jews fled "Arab" lands than Arabs who fled Israel...the other side of that famous refugee problem that few folks ever talk about. Those who resisted this forced Arabization process were simply killed, turned into refugees, and the like...millions over the decades, and continuing to this very day. Returning to our main topic, the Arab rejectionist response to the question of a compromise with the Jews over the question of Israel / Palestine falls into this same pattern. Arabs rejected any solution which would grant Jews any rights at all. They attacked a miniscule, reborn Israel in 1948...and thus the continuing problem regarding Arab refugees. But it didn't have to be this way... Hundreds of millions of people became refugees in the course of the last violent century (not to mention the millions before then). Many were displaced between the two world wars. Scores of millions were uprooted in the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. Many more examples exist, like that involving Turks and Greeks; but, as is already hinted to above, one truly stands out in light of the current turmoil in the Middle East: The one half of Israel's five million Jews whose families fled Arab/Muslim lands around the same time Arabs fled in the opposite direction because of the invasion of Is