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| GUSH KATIF |
WHAT WOULD MY GRANDFATHER SAY?
Posted by Paula R. Stern, July 31, 2005. |
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My grandfather lived in a world that did not understand or care about his religion and so he was forced to choose between observance and feeding his family, abandoning much of what he'd learned as a child in Poland in order to raise a family in America while trying to save his mother and sisters from the clouds of darkness spreading across his native Poland. His world came crashing down with the knowledge that the storm broke too soon and his family perished in Auschwitz. As I grew up, he often spoke about Israel and we shared a dream of coming here together one day. He was a father and grandfather, a house painter, a simple man in many ways, but most of all, he was simply a Jew. As I raise my children in the Jewish state he loved, as I try to shape the people they are becoming, we have reclaimed the Jewish Sabbath, and brought back to life the pride he once felt. We no longer need the world's permission or approval to practice our religion. My daughter and I returned to Poland to walk the streets of my grandfather's youth with pride and anger. We held our heads high in Auschwitz. We were the survivors, proud Israelis come to tell the world that never again would Jews be at anyone's mercy. Never again, would there be a Holocaust on our watch, no ghettos, no synagogues destroyed and people shipped off to death camps. I spoke to the memory of my grandfather often while in Poland. I told him that he could be proud, he could rest in peace. Jewish communities and houses of worship, cemeteries and schools were finally safe. Israel would protect all Jews everywhere from the hatred that drove him out of Poland and murdered his family. Often as I toured Poland, I asked myself what kind of person could have committed these horrors, what kind of person ordered these crimes of murder, destruction and desecration? And now, as the bitter countdown continues towards one of the most disastrous and dangerous decisions any Israeli government has ever thrust on our nation, I am haunted by the simple question, what kind of Jew will it take to implement Sharon's madness? What kind of Jew does it take to incarcerate 14-year-old Chaya Belogorodsky who is accused of standing on a sidewalk while her friends blocked traffic. Not content to arrest her teenage friends, a female police officer warned Chaya to leave the area. Chaya responded that she was standing on the sidewalk and had a legal right to do so. She was then arrested and has spent the last four weeks in jail. Here in Israel. Impossible to imagine, and yet there sits Chaya. And she is not alone. There are literally dozens of other young people being held for similar "crimes" of absurdity. This is the government Sharon has established, the justice system of Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, the police force of Commissioner Moshe Karadi and ultimately, the army of Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Chief of Staff Dan Halutz. What kind of Jew does it take to imprison and besiege 40,000 peaceful protesters? What kind of Jew imprisons mothers and babies, rabbis and teachers with barbed wire? What kind of Jew will it take to implement Ariel Sharon's expulsion plan? And, as if those weren't hard enough questions to answer, another one creeps into my mind and refuses to leave. What kind of Jew can go into a synagogue and blow it up? I first thought of this question on a Friday night in Neve Dekalim a few weeks ago as I listened to the rabbi speaking. He spoke about his community, about Jews fighting .Sharon's evil plan peacefully and with no violence. He talked of life in Gush Katif, what they had built, why they had come, and how much they loved what they had created. Paradise, he called the place. And as the rabbi spoke, I found myself looking around the large room, at the windows, at the people, at the books. It shouldn't happen. It can't happen. They have such faith that it won't happen. Please let them be right, let Ariel Sharon come to his senses before he rips people from their homes in exchange for nothing, before he tears a society to pieces. In the morning, I went to a different synagogue. This one also beautifully designed and decorated, filled with books and light and air and again I wondered. What kind of Jew, a soldier in our army, a son of Israel will blow them up? When the soldiers come, the people will be gone, the bookshelves empty. The Torah scrolls will be removed from the Holy Ark. They will walk into the empty synagogue, their boots echoing off the empty walls. They'll have to look straight up to see the high ceilings, but will they notice the way the architect designed it so that the morning light shines into the large room, or how one of the synagogues is shaped like the Star of David? Will they realize that they are doing something that no Jew has ever done, that no Jew should ever do? They will calculate, as they have been taught to do, where to place the explosives to maximize the damage, to bring the ceiling down and make the walls crumble. They have been ordered to destroy a place of learning, of prayer, of respect, the very essence of why we have come to live in this land. These buildings are why they hate us, why they hound us, why we need a land of our own. If we destroy who we are, there is nothing left. We are not the same people we were when my grandfather had to choose between desecrating the Sabbath and trying to raise money to save his family. Don't do what other nations have done to us, don't destroy a Jewish house of prayer, don't expel Jews from their land. In the entire history of our people, when have we ever destroyed our own places of worship? This is what they did to us in Europe, in the pogroms, the crusades, the Holocaust. This is what our enemies have tried to do all along, to erase who we are. This is not something that a soldier of the Jewish army should do. I can't help but wonder what my grandfather would say if he knew that this time, it will be the Jews themselves who plan to destroy the Houses of God. Paula R. Stern is the founder and documentation manager of WritePoint, a technical writing company. |
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TALKING TRASH IN N'VEI DEKALIM
Posted by David Miller, July 31, 2005. |
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This was an interview with David Hoffmanin N'vei Dekalim. It appeared in Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com) last Friday. The next time you're in N'vei Dekalim in Gush Katif , keep your eyes open for the trash man. According to David Hoffman, who has lived in N'vei Dekalim since 1993, it'll most likely be an American. Listen to the related interview on Israel National Radio You see, Hoffman should know better than most, because when he first decided to make aliyah, the local town council offered him a job which they said was just for Americans: a garbage collector. "Not a problem," says Hoffman. In an interview broadcast this week on IsraelNationalRadio.com's Stutz and Fleisher show, Hoffman adds, "There's absolutely no shame in it at all. It was just a joke in the city government. It was just a job Americans could do." Well, this bit of employment news should dispel more than a few pre-conceived notions. American olim are all rich, professional people, right? Not so. Hoffman expounds: "In N'vei Dekalim, there really are no 'rich Americans'. Here people come, and it's an extremely special community. Status is very non applicable. When we sit down at the study table, you'll have the gardener, the psychologist, the rabbi, a plumber or an air conditioning repair man. It simply does not matter." So, now we get to the heart of the matter. Stereo types have often dictated how a person's experience turns out when immigrating to Israel. However, for this community, breaking the mold is just part of their daily existence. Deep rooted traditions in Judaism makes the mere fact of living here special, so any job will do in a storm. "N'vei Dekalim escapes all the nonsense of the modern age and brings you right back to the core of Judaism," says Hoffman. As Hoffman relates his experiences, he sits between the two beautiful synagogues here - one Sephardic [following the customs of Jews from the Near East], one Ashkenazi [following customs of Jews from Russia and Europe]. Suddenly, a wistful but knowing look comes across his face. You know the look. Sharon. Expulsion. Then, probably the most telling look emerges --confidence. It's almost as if he anticipates the next question, like a prize fighter ducking a left hook (special emphasis on left): "If Israel's Prime Minister has his way, all this will be empty in mere weeks, right?" "Don't bet on it," says Hoffman. He continues: "I'm very inclined to think there will be a tremendous surge of power coming out of Jewish communities all over the country, and I feel that he [Sharon] will be stopped. Fully 40 percent of his army is going to sit down and not do anything. Anyone that talks to the soldiers realizes that. They don't want to do it. The police, too. They know it's wrong." Not leaving it to chance, however, Hoffman does his part by attending demonstrations, and talks about it to anyone who will listen. But more than any of this, he makes sure that his family continues their lives. His kids go to school. His wife works. They go to synagogue. This is proof of life. It's clear that Hoffman understands that this land was given by G-d, and he plans to make the most of that gift. "If human civilization is not successful here, especially here in N'vei Dekalim, one has to ask what does heaven want out of human behavior, because this is altogether a wonderful place to live," says Hoffman. <.blockquote> David Miller is a staff writer for Arutz-Sheva. |
| GUSH KATIF |
AFSI CHIZUK MISSION RETURNS TO ISRAEL NOV. 20-28, 2005
Posted by AFSI, July 31, 2005. |
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Once again, in the true tradition of the AFSI Chizuk missions, we will be departing for Israel on Sunday, Nov. 20 from Newark airport on El Al airlines. This November mission is always based around celebrating the parsha of Chaye Sarah in Hebron at the Ma'arat HaMachpela. We plan to be doing that again on Nov. 25 & 26, staying at the very hospitable Yeshivat Nir in Kiryat Arba. Our past trips have always included visits to our friends in Gush Katif, Judea, Samaria, the Golan, and Jerusalem . We hope to continue in this tradition. As always, our itinerary, jam packed with exciting people, places, and activities, is fluid. Please consult the afsi.org website for details and photos of our previous trips. This is a very popular mission, unique in its travels to the disputed areas of Israel . We have the best guides and travel in an armored bus with the best drivers. The cost of the trip is guesstimated to be $2000 plus airport taxes and additional costs for non-members, single occupancy and other personal preferences. A deposit of $150 is required by Thursday, August 4. It is totally refundable up to Sept.19, and non-refundable after that. You may make your check out to AFSI or call in with your charge card information. If you are at all interested in joining the AFSI Chizuk mission, you are advised to sign up immediately. Please contact Helen, Sima or Charlotte at AFSI : 212-828-2424; afsi@rcn.com. We look forward to welcoming you to the AFSI traveling family. AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI; 1623 Third Ave., # 205, New York, N.Y. 10128; Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org; June 30, 2005 Contact: Helen Freedman, Executive Director |
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IN DEFENSE OF NADIA
Posted by Professor Paul Eidelberg, July 31, 2005. |
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In "Scorched-earth Kulturampf" (Jerusalem Post, July 12) Caroline B. Glick contends that it was "both wrong and nasty" of Nadia Matar to refer to Yonatan Bassi as "a modern version of the Judenrat." The unflattering comparison appears in a fax Ms. Matar sent Bassi on the occasion of his having accepted the position to head the government's withdrawal authority, that is, to be Prime Minister's Sharon's chief liquidator of Jewish homes and communities in Israel. Ms. Matar's fax has resulted in her being indicted for "insulting a public official" - a remarkable commentary on Israeli democracy! Was Nadia "both wrong and nasty" for drawing an analogy between Bassi and the Judenrat? I don't think so - and I say this with great admiration of Ms. Glick, who recently referred to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a coward. Needless to say, Matar knows as well as Glick that the 10,000 Jews scheduled to be expelled from Gaza and northern Samaria are not going to be sent to any death camps. But many will be forcibly evicted, incarcerated, and even held in detention camps, and this recalls the initial stage of the Nazi treatment of Jews. Hence, to liken Bassi to the Judenrat is, in my opinion, a politically justifiable analogy. Indeed, unlike the Judenrat, Mr. Bassi was free to decline the position to supervise the expulsion of Jews. In this respect the analogy between Bassi and the Judenrat is not quite fair - to the Judenrat! But even if that analogy is somewhat hyperbolic, I would like to remind Ms. Glick of Ortega y Gasset, who acutely remarked that nothing significant is said without exaggeration. Besides, Ms. Matar was not engaging in some academic exercise when likening Bassi to the Judenrat. She is concerned about Israel's survival, and she fears, as does Ms. Glick and Israel's highest military and intelligence officials, that surrendering the land in question to Arab terrorists will endanger Israel's existence. This makes Bassi complicit in what some legal experts deem treason! Ms. Matar is also concerned about the ideological motive of the withdrawal plan, the same that underlies Oslo or the Left's policy of "territory for peace." The real motive of that policy was not the desire for peace. Had that been the motive, why would the Left persist in this policy after twelve years of terrorism and 10,000 Jewish casualties? Some leftists may live in denial, but this is not true of Israel's political and judicial elites. Let's go to the heart of the matter. As the present writer said many years ago, given the high birth rate of the religious community, the Left knows it is doomed to political oblivion. This is why it has eased the entry of gentiles, relaxed the conversion and citizenship laws, emasculated the rabbinate, legitimized pornography and homosexuality, and, more generally, advocates Israel's transformation into "a state of its citizens." By now it should be obvious that the Left wants to destroy Judaism in this country, which is why it has pursued the policy of "territory for peace." This is what lurks in the Sharon withdrawal plan. Ms. Glick confirms this in her "Kulturampf" article. She asks, what are the state prosecutors trying to accomplish by criminalizing Nadia Matar? She sees the explanation in the July 12 issues of Ha'aretz and Ma'ariv. As Ms. Glick puts it, "the rationale for the Left's support of Sharon's plan was laid bare" in Ha'aretz's editorial: The disengagement of Israeli policy from its religious fuel is the real disengagement currently on the agenda... On the day after the disengagement, religious Zionism's status will be different... The real question is not how many mortar shells will fall, or who will guard the Philadelphi route, or whether the Palestinians will dance on the roofs of Ganei Tal. The real question is who sets the national agenda. Ma'ariv's senior commentator Dan Margolit would place quotas on the number of religious Jews allowed to serve as officers in the IDF. (This would inevitably diminish the influence of religious Jews on the course and character of the state, especially in view of the projected abandonment of Judea and Samaria to achieve the Peres-Sharon goal of a Palestinian state.) Nadia Matar is well aware of the Left's ideological agenda. She knows how the Left deJudaized the curriculum of Israel's public schools. She knows that the expulsion of Jews from Gaza will lead to the expulsion of the 250,000 Jews living in Judea and Samaria. She knows that Judea and Samaria are linked to the teachings of Israel's prophets and sages and are thus engraved in the Jewish people's collective memory. She knows that the Disengagement Plan will shrink and emasculate the Jewish soul. But this is precisely the motive underlying the Left's policy of "territory for peace," now spearheaded by Ariel Sharon. Disengagement is part of a power struggle for Israel's future. The struggle is between authentic Jews like Nadia Matar and Jews who lack her intellectual integrity, her moral courage, and her sense of Jewish national pride. Professor Paul Eidelberg is a political scientist, author and lecturer; co-founder and president of The Foundation For Constitutional Democracy and is the President of the Yamin Israel movement. |
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PROFILING SUPPORTERS OF TERROR
Posted by Steven Plaut, July 31, 2005. |
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This article is stored on http://moonbatcentral.com/wordpresp=666s/?: The MSM spend so much time debating the profiling of potential terrorists that they never quite get around to discussing the profiling of people who SUPPORT terrorism. What the world needs is a clear system of profiling PRO-Terrorists, so that ordinary citizens in Peoria can beware and be wary of the true agendas of such people. A pro-terrorist is someone who thinks that al-Qaeda terrorism has "roots" in the form of legitimate grievances of terrorists. You know, grievances of Palestinian graduate students planning suicide bombings and Saudi oil millionaires joining al-Qaeda. Their main grievances of course being Israel's very existence and the failue to restore Saddam Hussein to power. A pro-terrorist is someone who thinks that terrorism is due to "occupation" by Israel of Israeli lands and "occupation" by Allied troops of Iraq and Afghanistan. A pro-terrorist is someone who thinks Israel is an "apartheid state", whereas we all know that it is the only state in the Middle East that is NOT an apartheid regime. A pro-terrorist speaks about solving the problems of terror via "justice", but by "justice" they mean the genocide of Israelis. A pro-terrorist thinks that the US and Britain need to alter their regimes along the lines of the leftist "vision" as the only possible way to stop terrorism. A pro-terrorist thinks that arms should never be used against terrorists and can only legitimately be used to "resist" Israeli occupation and the anti-terror campaign of the West. A pro-terrorist thinks Western greed and selfishness are the root of all problems. A pro-terrorist thinks that anti-Americanism is based upon true caring and compassion. A pro-terrorist opposes US intervention anywhere in the world unless it is to be in support of Palestinian terrorists. A pro-terrorist does not consider anti-American or anti-Jewish terrorists to be actual terrorists but rather to be "activists" and militants". Israeli troops who arrest people planning suicide attacks are the REAL terrorists. A pro-terrorist opposes Israel's security wall because such a wall might make it harder for Palestinians to conduct mass murders of Jewish children. A pro-terrorist opposes "racial profiling" because it might help prevent Islamofascist terrorism. A pro-terrorist insists that only American and British isolationism is a permissible form of combat against Islamofascism. (It should be noted that some seeming conservatives, like Anthony Gregory over at www.LewRockewell.com, are as clearly pro-terror as are the usual leftists and "anarchists" correctly so profiled. [One comment on the article noted that "But it's only the Radical Muslins" is the next fallback. Sure, the radicals do all the bombing and throat cutting, while the "'moderates' deny reposibility and cry persecution. That's not internal dissention, that's playing 'Good Hadji, Bad Hadji' and the game is wearing thin."] Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
| GUSH KATIF |
REJECT EXTREMISM; EMBRACE MODERATION
Posted by Sergio Tessa (Hadar), July 31, 2005. |
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This essay was written by Yehezkel Bin-Num and it appeared in Arutz-7
(www.IsraelNationalNews.com).
I was recently thrown in jail by the Israeli "justice" system for two and a half weeks. My "crime"? I am accused of supporting non-violent civil disobedience in opposition to the ethnic cleaning of the Jews of Gaza and to demand that the expulsion plan be decided on democratically by the People of Israel. Never mind that thousands of other Israelis who have actually blocked roads were not punished at all. It is unfortunate that the law is different if you are religious and right-wing. I received fantastic support from many people while I was in jail, but the amazing success of the road-blockings has also caused some disgruntled people to complain. "It Won't Help" A favorite claim of the opponents of Gush Katif is to say that it "won't help". That all the facts prove the exact opposite doesn't faze these know-it-alls. Crime reporter Buki Naeh, of Yediot Acharonot (Israel's largest newspaper), wrote the day after the road-blockings, "When the Israeli police force wants to do something, it does it, and when it does not want to, it does not. The events of yesterday raise the suspicion that there is no chance in the world that the police will be able to fulfill the mission of the Disengagement." Israel's Chief of Police himself stated months ago that if the people "go into the streets," then there is "no way the expulsion plan can be implemented." Even the Israeli Justice system agrees. The judge who tried Shai Malka and Ariel Vengrover, the head of the movement which called for the road-blockings, stated that the two were dangerous to society because "the road-blockings are capable of stopping implementation of the Disengagement Plan." On 28 June, Ha'aretz newspaper commentator Amir Oren even wrote that, due to the opposition, the IDF was preparing for the possible cancellation of the expulsion. It's lucky that no one told Martin Luther King and India's Gandhi that road-blockings don't help, otherwise India would never have won independence and American blacks would still be living under segregation. But it is funny, too. How dumb can Israelis be? They have been blocking roads in Israel for decades and they don't even know it doesn't work! A few years ago, the residents of Mevaseret Tzion blocked the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway to protest the planned annexation of their city to Jerusalem - the plan was subsequently scrapped. Two years ago the government planned to raise fees for university students, which are currently the lowest in the world. The students said they wouldn't stand for it. They blocked roads all over the country and (surprise, surprise) the government quickly backed down and trashed the fee hike. New immigrants, cab and truck drivers, farmers, lesbians and homosexuals, leftist/anarchists and Haredim - all have blocked roads across the country; and for a good reason - it gets the job done. The know-it-alls continue to spout their nonsense even though Ariel Sharon has made it clear that the only people who bother him are the road-blockers. Twice in the past week Sharon has publicly attacked the road-blockers. On June 23, for instance, Sharon, at wits ends from the demonstrations, shrieked that the road-blockings "could not continue" and that they were "halting regular life in Israel." Why does Sharon ignore all the 'nice' demonstrators? As a career general, he knows to spot a threat when he sees one. A poll publicized on June 26 by the University of Haifa revealed that 20% of Israel's Jewish population - or over one million people (!) - are willing to block the roads. The Prisons Authority recently admitted it will only have 2,500 places for road-blockers by the time of the expulsion. It "Upsets" People Another favorite argument is that the road-blockings "upset people" and "make the people hate us." Where did they get this from, I don't know? My friend, a programmer at a hi-tech company in Tel Aviv found just the opposite. The day after the road-blockings, his fellow employees came up to him and told him how impressed they were that the national-religious were willing to sacrifice themselves for their cause. Of course, it may be just a coincidence that, a few days after the road-blockings, the polls showed, for the first time, that support for the Disengagement had fallen below 50%. Also following the road-blockings, Army Radio's left-wing commentator, the famous Razi Barkai, said for the first time that he does not think the expulsion plan could be implemented. Coincidence, of course. But even if it were true that it angers some people - who cares? What kind of person gets upset when he is delayed for an hour, but doesn't bat an eyelash when 10,000 people are expelled from their homes? Does a person with such a warped value system deserve to be taken into account? It was none other than Rabbi Carlebach, the Master of Love, who said, "If you're doing something and it's not bothering anybody, it's probably not worth doing." "What Will They Think Of Us?" The national-religious public must stop trying to get everyone to love them. It doesn't work and it usually engenders just the opposite reaction. There is no community in Israel attacked as much as the national-religious. One need only open a Haredi or secular newspaper to see how much the national-religious are maligned. Self-Sacrifice Those who stand by while 10,000 Jews are expelled from their homes are not being kind; they are being extremely cruel. But, of course, it is easier to camouflage our egotistical self-interests as elevated values in order to mollify our conscience. Nobody wants to sit in jail. But sometimes, in order to do what is right, you need to pay a price. The Torah teaches: "Three things are acquired with suffering: Torah, Olam Habah and Eretz Yisrael." Those who wish to ignore this reality only manage to fool themselves. Thank God, the price we are asked to pay is nothing compared to that of our ancestors. In previous generations, Jews had to give their lives to protect the Land of Israel. All we are required to do is spend a few days or weeks in the slammer. We must learn to put the interests of Am Yisrael before our own. It's inconceivable that gentiles should be willing to go to jail to defend all the questionable values they consider important and that Jews would not willingly to go to jail for the Land of Israel and to protect God's honor. We must stop fearing men and start fearing only God. Many people think that the secular Left is opposed to Jewish values and so, we must compromise them for "peace". But others know how to see deeper. The left does not oppose our values so much as our weakness. The fascination in the secular world with such things as sex and drugs comes from a desire for things that generate powerful feelings. The secular will share our values, but only if they are strong. By capitulating on them, we actually do the most harm to brotherhood, by denying the secular person the opportunity to respect observant Jews and Judaism. Extremism Any value taken to an extreme becomes evil - yes, even love. The Torah teaches that those who are merciful to the cruel are eventually cruel to the merciful. A very well known rabbi, famous for preaching "love", wrote an article in the Machon Meir Torah sheet entitled "Not by Force". The rabbi seems to have meant that passive civil disobedience is force. This very same rabbi demands that IDF soldiers forcefully drive Jews from their homes because, according to him, it is "forbidden to refuse orders." And so, we arrive at the absurdity that in the name of "love" and "brotherhood" we are required to expel 10,000 Jews from their homes. For any rabbi to support violence against Jews is terrible, but to support it in the name of "love" is unthinkable. This hypocrisy must stop! But between the extremes of pacifism and violence lies a third moderate way - passive civil disobedience. On the one hand, you refuse to raise your hand against your neighbor. On the other hand, you block his path to committing evil. The Rambam teaches that the middle path, the path of moderation is the path of the Jew. Extremism, meanwhile, only engenders extremism. In the last generation, two very charismatic American rabbis dominated the Jewish scene - one taught strict justice and the other extreme kindness. Both were tzaddikim who sacrificed themselves for the Jewish people. I think that by sending us these two rabbis, G-d was sending us a clear message - both kindness and justice are important. Not just one, or the other. As King David says in Psalm 101, "Of kindness and justice do I sing." Judaism is not Christianity, we do not believe in turning the other cheek. When injustice is being done, we are commanded to stand up to prevent it, even if this means paying a personal price. The Gemarra relates that when Jesus made a lustful remark about a woman in a pub, his rabbi "pushed him away with both hands." This was credited with causing Jesus to stray and create Christianity, which later caused so much suffering to the Jews. Instead, our sages say, this rabbi should have "pushed Jesus away with his left hand and pulled him in with his right hand." Unfortunately, it seems that our generation is intent on making the opposite mistake - that of pulling people in with both hands. But neither of these extremes is the way of our sages. Violence Another favorite slander is to depict the road-blockings as "violence". Of course, the commentators only say it is violence when the Right does it. When the Left does it, none of those same people say anything. It would be interesting for the millions of civil rights activists who admire Ghandi and Martin Luther King to know that the passive civil disobedience practiced by their heroes was really criminal violence. Only in Israel are people rewriting history and defaming the lives of great men to win a political argument. Prayer is Enough A final excuse is to say that "prayer is enough". The people preaching that stance like to depict themselves as being very pious, and hence, they can not be bothered to deal with earthly, mundane matters like demonstrating. Unfortunately for them, the Torah rejects this view, as is proven by the famous midrash that states that King David was greater than King Hezekiah because David would not only pray for salvation, as Hezekiah did, but he would also go out and fight. Many people ask me, "What do you think will be? Will there be an expulsion or not?" My answer is: "Who cares." God didn't create us to predict the future. He gave us free will because he wants us to use it and act to change this world for the better. The only question is, "What is the right thing to do?" As Rabbi Kook once wrote, "The majority is up to us." If we prefer to be passive and sit home and cry, then there will be a tragedy; but if we prefer to take our fate into our own hands, with God's help, the dictator will fall and the racist expulsion will be annulled. The state of Israel does not belong to the far-left, it belongs to all Israelis. The time has come to return the power to the people.
Sergio Tezza can be reached at Hadar-Israel@verizon.net.
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ARIEL SHARON, DEAD AT AGE ...
Posted by Beth Goodtree, July 31, 2005. |
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When dealing with someone well-known to the public, the media writes their obituaries long before they die, just in case something happens and it is suddenly needed. In asking people why they think Mr. Sharon is behaving the way he is, many experts say it is because he wants to go down in history as a great leader. Well, it ain't a'gonna happen. If Ariel Sharon were to drop dead today, here is the obituary I would write. And I was only slightly less kind than my premature eulogy to Yasser Arafat, who at least was honest enough to be a self-declared enemy of the Jewish people. Ariel Sharon Exploded Today From Overeating Crow Ariel Sharon was given the opportunity to be a great leader of the Jewish people and instead sold them out to those bent upon their destruction. He single-handedly destroyed multiple generations of hard work. He single-handedly sold the lives and livelihoods of dedicated Jews to their enemies in return for a free pass on his shady financial and political dealings. Mr. Sharon gave, with no concessions whatsoever, ancient Jewish homeland that had been recovered and revitalized by the Hebrew people over generations. Mr. Sharon proved what a traitor of the Jewish people he was when he reneged on every single campaign pledge he made during his 2000 election. Then he embraced the very person the Israeli people absolutely rejected as their leader -- Shimon Peres -- and gave him practically a co-chair in the government. But Mr. Sharon didn't stop at that. Reminiscent of Mussolini, Stalin and the like, he fired anyone who disagreed with him and blackmailed others into going along with them so they or their family or friends could keep their jobs. Mr. Sharon went even further, demonizing the hardworking Israelis who did not want to have their bought-and-paid-for homes and businesses confiscated and given over -- for free no less -- to the very people who bombed, shot at and stoned them mercilessly day and night for four years, with 22,000 attacks. Mr. Sharon gave these murderous and genocidally bent monsters the homes, lands and business properties of these innocent Israelis. Yet he kept his own huge $11M farm. (Where does a civil servant get that kind of money?) Mr. Sharon lost all of his Jewish heritage and teachings and took up the very same immoral, nay demonic, practices of the Islamist enemies of the Hebrew people. Besides having shady financial dealings and then lying about them, he staged incidents of violence and then blamed his victims for them. One incident is speculated to have been throwing oil and nails onto highways and blaming it on those opposed to being ethnically cleansed from their homes. Another incident involved getting the media to make another Jenin falsification media feeding frenzy. It has been said that at Sharon's request, the media inflated a minor skirmish into a near lynching. A Jewish boy, having been besieged by upwards of 30 Arab youths was held up by Sharon as a terrorist who tried to lynch one of the Arabs. This boy accused of the near lynching was also one of the ones slated for ethnic cleansing by Sharon because he is Jewish and was opposed to it. Meanwhile, the Arab victim of the incident was seen walking away and later stated that it was not a lynching and that he was perfectly all right. More subtle evidence of perfidy was Mr. Sharon jailing children as young as 12 and 13 years old for protesting being evicted from the only homes they had ever known, also because they are Jewish. Contrast that to Mr. Sharon failing to respond to the countless rocket and mortar attacks on these same children's houses, despite his obligation to protect all Israelis living in Israel. Recently, one landed on a nursery school. Yet Mr. Sharon failed to respond. And in that failure, Sharon gave his obviously willing passive (aggressive) support for genocide against the Jewish people. All the while jailing children who protest being ethnically cleansed and having their lives, homes and communities ripped from them and given to those very people who have been trying to murder them. Ariel Sharon will go down forever in Jewish history as a modern-day Amalek and Haman combined. May he and his descendants be cursed forever. (By the way Ariel, you arrested the wrong guy for the National Home website. This website, which told Israelis who oppose the disengagement how to avoid participating without losing their jobs, was also taken down by your storm troopers. Apparently freedom of speech no longer applies in Israel if one disagrees with you. Unfortunately for you, Ariel, that man you arrested was only the webmaster and not the brains. The people running it are out of your reach by being in countries that do practice democracy. Looks like you can't control everything no matter how much you bully and use the police, the courts and the media as your personal slaves and henchmen. Look for it to come back from places and people you can't touch.) Beth Goodtree is a popular writer covering Middle East politics, national interests and also writes the occasional science and humor pieces. Her webpage can be acccessed from is www.theraphi.com (Beth is also the inventor of the Mazel Tov Cocktail: Start with some nice Kosher wine, add a bissele Cel-Ray tonic, serve with a cherry in a fancy-shmancy clean glass, and say this toast:
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IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
Posted by Morris J. Amitay, July 31, 2005. |
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There are certain basic questions about the Middle East which really deserve answers, but are often conveniently avoided. Here are a number of queries we think deserve consideration. The Terrorist Threat Why are U.S. officials still reluctant to cite radical Islam as the source of the terrorist threat? Why did the Administration recently rename the fight against terrorism as "a global struggle against violent extremism: - instead of describing it more aptly as "Islamic extremism?: Isn't this the same kind of mindset that has the security personnel at our airports frisking an 84 year-old grandmother from Iowa instead of a 25 year-old male from Saudi Arabia? Al-Jazeera Why do we permit Al-Jazeera's blatant anti-U.S., and "inciteful" broadcasts to openly operate here, and even have government officials occasionally appear before its cameras? Similarly, why do the new Iraqi authorities not have anti-sedition laws which would shut down Al-Jazeera in Baghdad? Condi Rice Is there something in the water at the State Department which turns its occupants? minds into even-handed mush when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict? How else do you explain Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice publicly complementing the Palestinian leadership for taking "important steps" against terrorism? Why didn't anyone ask her to name these "steps" - or even one? Egypt With Egypt receiving another $1.3 b. in U.S. military aid this year (and more than $50 billion in overall aid since 1979), and with no enemies around, has anyone come up with a rationale why it needs all this advanced hardware, including over 200 F-16s? Could it be that Cairo is preparing for a future military confrontation with Israel? Should we then be surprised that leading Egyptian commentators are now blaming Israel for the Sharm el-Sheik bombings? Saudi Arabia If you (rightfully) considered outgoing Saudi Ambassador, Prince Bandar to be an ultimate slimeball, could his successor, Prince Turki with his "intelligence" background and early support for Bin-Laden actually be any better? So what is the logic behind Brookings Saban Center's Flynt Leverett, a former CIA operative and Kerry adviser, writing (where else) in the NY Times, that the new envoy represents "reformist elements" in Saudi Arabia? Given Leverett's background, (he was also wisely removed from the Bush NSC's Middle East desk), is it any wonder he also called for modifying U.S. policy towards Israel "to recognize Saudi interests and initiatives"? London How can P.M. Tony Blair, who is now getting a crash course in combating urban terrorism, really believe that settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will keep London's subways safe? Will his desperate search to uncover the "root causes" prevent him from rooting out the terrorists in his midst? Could he be taking his cues here from spouse Cherie, who once declared - "As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up, you are never going to make progress"? Isn't the terrorists? fondest "hope" to kill as many innocents as possible? Russia How come more alarm bells are not going off as Vladimir Putin systematically returns Russia to the bad old Stalinist days and continues to help Iran acquire nukes? With a rubber stamp Duma, control over the media and prosecution of potential political adversaries, where is the bright spotlight on the machinations of this former KGB-nik? Disengagement Are there any valid reasons to believe that having broken all their solemn arguments going back to 1993 (Oslo), that the post-Arafat Palestinian leadership (which still blames Israel for provoking the ongoing terrorist attacks) will be any different after the Gaza disengagement? Isn't it a near certainty that the Israeli withdrawal will only whet the appetites of the Jihadists who rule the Gaza streets and who largely reflect Palestinian public opinion? Morrie Amitay is a former Executive Director of AIPAC and founder of the pro-Israel Washington PAC (www.washingtonpac.com). |
| GUSH KATIF |
OLEG CARTOON: DESTROYING THE PROMISED LAND
Posted by Women in Green, July 31, 2005. |
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Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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A CHRISTIAN PASTOR WRITES TO U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH!
Posted by Women in Green, July 31, 2005. |
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July 29, 2005 Dear Mr. President: Sir, political correctness is going to give our Islamic terrorist enemies the advantage in our "War Against Terrorism" which you and your leaders have changed to the "Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism." Let me be very candid about this. Sir, in the early days of the "Soviet invasion of Afghanistan," young Islamic zealots were recruited with Saudi Wahabi funds and then trained at training camps in Egypt and Pakistan, run by the CIA, which provided their weapons. The Islamic recruits were conveniently not told of USA CIA involvement in the camps. Sir, the goal and motive of the recruitment was to kick out of Islamic territory the evil power, the former Soviet Union. Sir, after their success therein, they then developed the ambition to take on another empire, the United States, whom the Islamists call the Crusaders and Zionists. The defining point for new recruits, right at this moment, is that of driving us Crusaders and Zionists out of Muslim Iraqi soil. Sir, the heroic icon fronting their present recruitment drive is the super-Muslim-general, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. While he also eludes capture from the 130,000 Americans and 40,000 other foreign devils, he runs circles around them. Initially, Sir, young Islamic recruits were put off by the horrendous video tapes his people kept releasing showing the most brutal beheadings of prisoners and hostages with Islamic long knives, savage rites that recall Muslim sacrificial ceremonies. Now, Sir, those ghastly scenes have been replaced with large-scale quasi-military assaults, the Egyptian envoy's kidnapping, and the 2 Algerian diplomats abduction, with no footage showing their murder. Zarqawi "reinvented" his image from "butcher" to "hero." Now, the creation is that of a Muslim general with ability to liberate "Iraq." Sir, recruitment at this moment is yes, still religious, but the language spoken in Islamic publications, local media, radio programs, Internet, and correspondence is the burning desire in Iraq to defeat America. That recruitment is manifested in London on 7-7, 7-21, and even at this moment as these lines are being written. Sir, "Islamic recruitment for their holy war" against us "Crusaders and Zionists" - the Palestinian-Israeli war is exactly the same as ours - is being accomplished by Islamic terror making the hajj (to Mecca) the backbone of their recruiting machine. (The pullout from Gaza and Shomron is a retreat without getting anything in return. After the pullout, the United Nations, the European Union, and even the USA will probably force Israel to make additional, far-reaching, one-sided concessions.) The Jewish ethos will be forever tarnished. Television coverage of dozens of synagogues, built with the full backing of the Israeli government, being violently destroyed by the Jews themselves, satellite-transmitted all over the world will so embolden the Islamic terrorists in Israel that the Israelis will have more on their hands than they can say grace over. Sir, at Madrassas - mosques, universities, sport clubs, etc. - Al Qaeda operatives gently prod young men to make the hajj. Their journey is then financed by some "Muslim charity." Little do those young Islamic pilgrims know that their names, places of origins and identities of the groups that send them on the pilgrimage are meticulously transferred in code by Internet to the "Islamic holy war" recruiting agents who are planted in the Saudi hajj bureaucracy. Sir, while performing the Islamic rites in Mecca and Medina, this vast mass of Islamic humanity is constantly on the move from station to station, all garbed in the same two white cloths. The ceremonies take place in an "atmosphere of extreme religious Islamic exhilaration," which then produces the perfect setting for recruitment to the "Islamic Terror War" against us "Crusaders and Zionists." Sir, many of the Islamic recruits go straight to Iraq. Others are sent to training facilities in north Africa, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and some of the Gulf Emirates. Sir, what Zarqawi now has is a "manpower glut" with numbers, which used to be counted in the hundreds, up in the tens of thousands. Zarqawi is expanding his control in Iraq's Anbar province, enlarging his pool of suicide bombers and increasing his number of trained terrorist operatives to new arenas of taking on us "Crusaders and Zionists." Now, Sir, here in America, we have become so "politically correct" that Mr. Mueller (FBI) will not mention "Islamic" and "terror" in the same sentence. And, you and your higher-ups have changed our "War Against Terror" (no mention of Islam there either) to the "Global Struggle Against Violent Extremists." Mr. President, your Road Map vision is flawed, at best. We will force Israel to concede territory to their "Islamic enemies," while at the same time, in the big picture, of our "Islamic Terrorist War" we stick our heads in the proverbial sand and continue to let American fighting men expend their lives and limbs in Iraq. How long, Sir, do you think it will be (with America proceeding in World War III, yet not doing so in a "totally mobilized manner") before Osama Bin Laden strikes with one of those "missing Soviet nukes" on Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, or Philadelphia? Mr. President, recruitment for future homicide bombers has drastically risen in the last few months. Your intelligence advisers must have missed that. If a 65-year-old poor boy from the Panhandle of God's Texas can pick up on that, how come American intelligence cannot get it? Mr. President, you need to go on national television and tell the American people exactly what we are up against. If you do not, it will only be a matter of time before the leftists in the Democratic party, the Republican leftists, the leftist in the news media, and the leftist in the academia count the casualties we are continuing to suffer in Iraq and turn the American public against our involvement. Then, Sir, we will pull out of Iraq and turn over parts of Israel to the Islamists. Islamic recruitment of homicide bombers will then sky-rocket, and free people will not be safe anywhere. Backpack bombs will be set off in American cities, universities, subways, busses, schools, government buildings, etc., by the hundreds. Then, Sir, because of our political correctness, we will have lost the "Islamic Terrorist War," which we so foolishly called the "Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism" in an effort not to offend Islam! Sincerely, Jim Vineyard
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
| GUSH KATIF |
PHILADELPHI AND KATIF - THE LINES THAT BIND
Posted by Art Bashani, July 31, 2005. |
To: Letter to the Editor, Jerusalem PostBelow I suggst a way to have separation without withdrawal of the settlements. THE RAFIAH PLAN PM Sharon has set up a demographic strawman regarding Gaza. The fact is that the 8,000 Jewish settlers do not "live amid 1.2 million Arabs". There are only 150,000 Arabs in the Rafiah area, the Strip's least populated district, where most of the Jewish residents are located by strategic design in "Gush Katif", along the border with Egypt. If Sharon cannot achieve consensus in the Likud to relocate all settlements, he can go for the "Rafiah Plan" that will achieve separation without the need for withdrawal. With a spur southward through Israeli Morag and another next to Arab Rafiah, Gush Katif can be linked to the western Negev, "for the duration", instead of northward through the rest of the Strip. That area can be evacuated to allow over a million Arabs free movement in all but Rafiah. Sharon can thus avoid the national trauma of uprooting 8,000 Jewish settlers for the sake of terror, not for peace. He would then finally muster the elusive approval of the Likud. President Bush would support this plan given his statement that major settlement blocs be considered in any negotiations. Sharon would encourage this by evacuating one or two Gaza settlements and moving their few hundred settlers into Gush Katif. The U.S. administration, however, might realize that Sharon's withdrawal plan is little more than:
Contact Aaron Bashani by email at artb@netmedia.net.il |
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JANE'S AIR FORCES NEWS BRIEF
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, July 31, 2005. |
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Isn't this an amazing article? El Al was the first airline to install this equpment on any aircraft and the only one to install it on all aircraft. Israel is the only manufacturer of such defensive equipment that is certified. Yet, neither are mentioned here. Isn't it always to nice to see how fair Janes is? US awards commercial aircraft air-defence contracts Key points: * The US Department of homeland security (DHS) has awarded two contracts, worth USD45 million each, as part of the Counter Man-Portable Air-Defence programme, which aims to protect US commercial aircraft against shoulder-fired rocket systems. * According to the DHS, it would cost at least USD6 billion to fit
the entire US commercial airline fleet with counter-MANPADS equipment.
Some commercial carriers - Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Virgin
Airlines, for example - have already installed DIRCM devices on their
aircraft. Elbit acquires stake in Elisra Electronic Systems Key points: * Israel's biggest defence company, Elbit Systems, has acquired Koor Industries' 70 per cent stake in Elisra Electronic Systems in a USD70 million agreement. * The deal follows agreements that began in December 2004 with
steps towards the merger of the country's three leading private
industries: Elbit Systems, Tadiran Communications and Elisra
Electronics Industries. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org |
| GUSH KATIF |
SOME US CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS WORRY GAZA PULLOUT AMOUNTS TO APPEASEMENT
Posted by IsrAlert, July 31, 2005. |
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This comes from Geostrategy Direct (www.geostrategy-direct.com).
Nobody in the Republican-controlled Congress wants to be seen as opposing the wishes of both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Bush administration. But quietly, the unilateral Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip is making some prominent House and Senate members nervous. Over the past few weeks, these legislators have been briefed by leading Israeli and U.S. strategists over the impact of the Israeli pullout. The briefers have not been unanimous in their assessment. But virtually all raised the prospect of the Gaza Strip turning into another Somalia, or a terrorist haven hosted by a dysfunctional Palestinian Authority. The terrorists would certainly include members of the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah as well as Al Qaida. One scenario envisioned that Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi would use the Gaza Strip to recruit Palestinians for the Sunni insurgency in Iraq as well as for operations in neighboring Jordan. Another scenario was that Gaza would be used as a launching pad for attacks on U.S. and NATO shipping in the eastern Mediterranean. Rep. Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican and regarded as one of the most security-minded members of the House, expressed his concern over the Gaza pullout on U.S. interests in the Middle East and the war on terrorism. In a June 20 House speech, Burton, a senior member of the House International Relations Committee, viewed the Israeli withdrawal as a victory for terrorism both over the Jewish state and the United States. "Personally, I will not second guess the prime minister's wisdom," Burton said. "I very much hope that he is right. But again, my experience tells me that if you take steps to appease an enemy you only give him a green light to put more pressure on you. In my opinion, it is imperative and critical to U.S. national security that we as policymakers understand the consequences should the Israeli disengagement plan fail to live up to expectations." Burton then introduced into the record an assessment by a former Israeli diplomat, (Isralert subscriber/commentator) Yoram Ettinger, who served in Washington and as consulate-general in Houston during the 1990s. The assessment warned that the Israeli pullout could create a terrorist regime that could turn the Palestinians into an international threat against the United States as well as against such allies as Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. "Disengagement is perceived, by the Mideast, as cut and run, appeasement and cave-in, in sharp contrast to U.S. war on terrorism," the assessment said. "No negotiation with - and no concession to - terrorists; no ceasefire with, but destruction, of terrorist regimes; no political, but military solution, to terrorism." [Editor's note: Read Yoram Ettinger's assessment below.] Harv Weiner, a businessman in Dallas, Texas, is the founder and moderator of Isralert. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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LAND AND SOUL
Posted by Alexander Maistrovoy, July 30, 2005. |
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Settlers do everything possible for the saving of a doomed bulwark, but forget about a dying citadel. During the last 10 years I, being a secular man, have voted for the National-Religious Party (MAFDAL). In MAFDAL and in the settlers' movement on the whole I have seen the only force capable of leading Israel in the future. Truly adherents of pure Judaism, free of dogmatism and superstitions, Kipot srugot ("Knitted Yarmulkhas") are the embodiment of the spirit of Biblical prophecy, an ideal of a Jew in a Jewish country, to my mind. They are inseparably linked with Jewish tradition, while being actively involved in the development of modern civilization and the struggle of ideas. Unfortunately, with growing bitterness, I observe that kipot srugot are losing the fight. Not the struggle for Gush-Katif, but - much worse - the fight for the Israeli State, its soul and land. Rabbi Kook's followers achieved a lot, they succeeded in many fields. Pioneers of Israel in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the best soldiers and officers in the Army, people who have never been involved in intrigues and corruption, they're the salt of this land in every respect. From my point of view, they made only onw mistake, but it was a strategic, if not a fatal, error. Developing so selflessly and ardently the Land of Israel, they neglected the Soul of Israel. They forgot that besides the Land they are so anxious to keep, there are people in this country. And for these people a word about the destination of Israel and Biblical prophecies either mean nothing, or annoy them or sometimes even make them as angry as a bull when it sees a red rag. They idealized the situation too much, and all their efforts went to nothing. There is no secret that Israel society is sick. It suffers from corruption, mutual hostility, impetuous mercantilism and primitive selfishness. It is confused because of deception and lies; it lost its spiritual and moral guide lines, and has been going down-stream lately. Not Jerusalem, but a casino in Jericho, this new incarnation of the Golden Calf might be considered a symbol of today's Israel. Thousands of Israelis were striving to get there after the "intifada" had started, knowing well enough that the money they squandered there would be used for killing their compatriots by Arafat. There is hardly any doubt that the moment the Jericho casino is opened, Israelis will rush there with no less enthusiasm. Is it likely to keep Gush-Katif, if for half of Israeli young people Goa and Rishikesh are closer than Rachel's Grave and Mahpela Cave in Hebron, if the center of pilgrimage for the inhabitants of the Jewish State became not the Western Wall but coffee-shops in Amsterdam? Kipot srugot and MAFDAL concentrated all their efforts on keeping Gush-Katif, pretending not to see they have lost Gush-Dan (Big Tel-Aviv) long before. And the more persistence they demonstrate to hold settlements in Gaza, the more they lose. It isn't worth calling for disobedience to authorities, blocking highways and especially spilling oil on roads. It's absolutely out of the question to declare that the possibility of a few Israelis dying now in road accidents pales in consequences of withdrawal, as Moshe Feiglin said. Feiglin couldn't find a better occasion to discredit the settlers' movement. These are tactical errors, but they are the outcome of the wrong strategy. The direction of the "main thrust" must be changed. Kipot srugot shouldn't try to keep Gush-Katif with all their might but should change the soul of Israel society. Only society changes can affect the policy of the country. Otherwise they will lose not only Gaza, but Judea and Samaria too, and Israel itself. It will happen. There is no use striving to rescue a doomed bastion while the main citadel is falling down. There is no doubt it's difficult to breath in new life and faith into the falling-to-pieces society, but it's a real task. We can find a lot of evidence in Ancient and Modern History. For example, a tiny group of true believers led by Ignacius Loyola managed to stop the splitting of of the Catholic Church in Europe and the advance of the Reformation. In our days the Moral Majority and neoconservatives in the USA could find an antidote to vulgar liberalism, held back America from degradation and prevented the defeat in cold war with the Soviet Union and later Islamists. In less than 10 years the Israeli Sefardic Party SHAS created a dynamic and powerful movement; a handful of marginals representing "Shalom Ahshav" could impose pacifist views on the intellectual elite. But if Uri Avinery and SHAS with its oriental mysticism and middle aged ceremonial rites succeeded, why can't kipot srugot with their belief in authentic Jewish values and oracles can't win the heart of Israel? They need two components for success: a clear, well formulated idea and the ability to find the way to the hearts of every Israeli either in Shenkin Street or Or-Akiva, "Russian" and "Moor", kibuznik or a student of Tel-Aviv University. It will require extraordinary resourcefulness, sophistication and even refinement. But the future of Israel is at stake and the main task of kipot srugot is to prevent a sliding to the abyss. Jewish people will not overcome the downfall of Third Temple and the second Holocaust. Who should understand it better than MAFDAL? Alexander Maistrovoy is political columnist for the Russian-language newspaper "Novosty nedely" in Israel. Contact him by email at amaist@lycos.com |
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"DIALOGUE AMONG CIVILIZATIONS" OR COVER FOR FANATICS?; ARAB FAKE
CIVIC GROUPS; SHARON'S SELF-CONTRADICTIONS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, July 30, 2005. |
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"DIALOGUE AMONG CIVILIZATIONS" The Pres. of Iran proposed in 1999 a "dialogue among civilizations." The UNO set up an office for it. When the Israeli Consul General arrived at one of its meetings, the Iranian speaker suddenly remembered a "previous engagement" and left the room. He would not recognize Jewish civilization, which long preceded his Shiite one. "The farce should have ended there: Any regime that refuses to recognize the legitimacy of one of its adversaries while claiming to sponsor dialogues should be laughed at." The UNO now holds meetings for an "Alliance of Civilizations." Instead of being involved in Iranian propaganda initiatives, the UNO should be involved in potentially productive matters as demanding the release of the Iranian hunger-striker. When Pres. Bush challenged the Secretary-General to demand that release, the latter claimed not to be aware of the case. A week later, his officials had not acted. The Iranian initiatives have "nothing to do with the London bombers, their handlers, and the rest of those in the Islamic world who scoff at 'dialogues' and 'alliances' and believe Jews and Christians deserve nothing short of extinction. Battling that enemy is where funds and effort should go, rather than to meaningless Turtle Bay programs." (Benny Avni, NY Sun, 7/18, p.8.) DON'T BLAME MUSLIMS, ASSERTS SAUDI A UNESCO official and former dean of the King Fahd Academy in London expressed shock at the carnage in London. He remembers fondly the huge march against the Iraq war and violence in general, an opposition that IMRA calls irresponsible. He refers to the post-9/11 terrorism, bringing a reminder from IMRA about pre-9/11 terrorism, already extensive. The official declares that only a few individuals are involved in terrorism, and terrorism is not a monopoly of one faith. Therefore he considers it unfair to be suspicious of Islam and worries about terrorism prompting hostility towards Muslims and unfair treatment of Palestinian Arabs. It is the reaction to terrorism that may cause a clash of civilization and certainly impede the integration of Muslims within Europe (IMRA, 7/17 from Arab News). One may be outraged, but only the naïve or collaborators are shocked at the carnage in London. There have been many attacks all over the world. Thousands of terrorists are fighting. Surely, many others are engineering, planning, organizing, recruiting, and fundraising for them. S. Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, etc. are devoted to it, so as to keep youth streaming to battle, as fast as regular armies liquidate them. This is not a case of a few individuals, but of worldwide jihad, in accordance with basic principles of Islam, which is to clash with other civilizations. There are a few other non-Muslim terrorist groups, as in Ireland and Ceylon, but most are Muslim, especially on the international scene, and Islamists radicalize Muslim youth. Palestinian Arab setbacks: since their case is fraudulent, and since they wholeheartedly approve of depriving the Jews of their homeland, it is they who are unfair to others and deserve setbacks. "Integration" of Muslims in Europe is a good one! Besides being a criminal and bigoted element that attacks Christian women and Jews daily, many of the Arabs boast of a coming conquest of a cowed Europe. Helping them in that goal is their general self-segregation, their refusal to integrate in other ways, and their preachers promoting hatred. The Saudi is attempting to undermine European resistance. Be alert to Muslim pretenses at opposing jihad. Instead of becoming hostile as a result of suffering their hostile presence, Europe should expel them and then pursue its own destiny with some equanimity. HAMAS CHARITY FOR EDUCATION A charity in Britain sends the money to Hamas, but denies that this helps terrorism, because, it claims (perhaps falsely) that the money is used for education. What do you think education means to Hamas? Indoctrination. It indoctrinates in hatred and terrorism. Jihad thus is fought not only by violence but also by economic means. Britain has frozen the assets of more than 100 organizations and 200 individuals, but other groups continue to funnel money to jihadists. European states have failed to fulfill pledges to combat terrorism financially and to coordinate with each other and with the US (IMRA, 7/17). SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT ABANDONMENT Leftist columnist, Danny Rubinstein of "Haaretz," has second thoughts about Sharon's abandonment plan. He does not dispute it ideologically, but finds it counter-productive. Since the Arabs consider it the result of their terrorism, they are encouraged by it to step up that terrorism. Rubinstein believes this makes the plan unsatisfactory (IMRA, 7/18). "Disengagement" is a death trap for Israelis. If the issue were discussed honestly, openly, and fully, it would have been understood and unpopular from the start. There is nothing to commend it and everything to object in it. JORDAN TO HOST CONFERENCE ON THE TRUE ISLAM The YWCA is running an international conference in Jordan on "the true nature of Islam." The purpose is to eliminate prejudices. Why Jordan? The answer given is because of the ancient events that took place in what now is Jordan and because Jordan is known for religious coexistence (and, according to IMRA, because of YWCA myopia"). The program seeks to counter some of the negative publicity that befell Islam over violent acts in the name of Islam. IMRA suggests instead countering some of the terrorism (IMRA, 7/18). This sounds like a Muslim attempt to deceive the Christians and undermine Christians' awareness of jihad's threat to them and Christian self-defense. Jordan, far from being tolerant, has had antisemitic textbooks, until recently had the death penalty for selling land to Jews, and when it controlled Jerusalem, exerted pressure upon Christians, many of whom had to leave. In this era of jihad, the main problem is prejudice by Muslims, not against Islam. There should be more public information about the menace of Islamism. FATWA AGAINST BOMBING Britain's largest Sunni Muslim group issued a fatwa condemning the bombing of London as from a "perverted ideology." The group declared that no one has the right to kill others and that suicide bombing is contrary to Islam (NY Sun, 7/18, p.8). Is this the sincere start of the unheard from "moderate" Muslims or another exercise in damage control, like that conference in Jordan, where the Islamists form a large proportion of the population, and are no aberrant fringe. Another example is the earlier anti-terrorism march in London. Islamists, ever deceptive, participated in it, to defuse resentment against them. ARAB FAKE CIVIC GROUPS P.A. environmental NGOs use "ecological issues as a pretext for political and ideological attacks on Israel" and promoting disinvestments fromit. Of 21 P.A. environmental NGOs, only two are involved in environmental issues, but those two also campaign against Israel for its security fence and settlements. Israeli groups have had to suspend cooperation with the Arab ones, because the Arab ones have switched entirely from environmental issues to a propaganda war against Israel. "Such organizations continue to misappropriate their funds towards political campaigns, and repeatedly present unreliable and even false data, for example in accusing Israel of cutting down trees in order to build the security barrier. Yet international donors continue to support the NGOs' 'environmental' projects. (Donors repeat the defamation as if factual.) One group "claimed that the IDF had 'burned considerable areas of cropped lands and forbid Palestinian (Arab) farmers to reach their lands using dogs" and then 'randomly dispensed flyers on the farmers' lands informing of the Army's intention to clear all trees (mostly olive) existing along the Israeli bypass roads". In fact, a visit to the area demonstrates that no trees have been uprooted from the area around Tekoa, despite their use as a cover for terrorists to shoot at the road." (IMRA, 7/19.) Why didn't Israel clear those trees used by terrorists for cover? It would be justified. Since Israel gets accused anyway of doing so wantonly, it may a well do it when warranted. P.A. human rights organizations as well as environmental organizations are covers for propaganda against Israel. The P.A. Arabs have a totalitarian society and are waging total war against the Jewish state, because it is a Jewish state. That is a fact that I have not seen bruited in the "NY Times." Is ignorance why the foreign donors continue to allocate funds for the P.A. propaganda war? Or do the foreign donors, some of them governments, know and approve? ISRAELI SURREALISM The Jews of Israel are no more realistic than were the Jews of Poland. They believe what they are told by official sources, and don't realize the nature of their fascist rulers. They think officials follow the law, and are meek towards them. The officials, however, have hired foreigners in Israeli uniforms, to expel the Jews with brutality. They don't think the trucks are for them, just as they didn't expect to be carried away by the Nazis. They think the official date will be followed, although Barry Chamish warned that the government probably would move faster, to catch the settlers off guard. Indeed, the government now admits it will move earlier. Ordinary folk believe their leaders, whom they don't realize work with the officials. The leaders against abandonment tell soldiers to follow orders to expel their followers. The leaders arrange calm protests that do not impress the brutal government. The leaders tell their followers, whom the police tell to stop marching, to return home while the leaders appeal to the Supreme Court. Not much can be expected from the left-wing activist Court. The government has prepared extensively for expulsion, but the Jews involved have not planned extensively for resistance. They let police move freely in their communities, to watch them and prepare further. The Jews of Gaza do not have cans of gasoline near their hothouses, ready to burn them down, if expulsions goes through, so Peres and the Arabs cannot profit from them (Chamish, 7/19) or have profit as a motive for expulsion. I don't understand what dynamic it takes to overthrow an oppressive government. I do admire the bravery and high class, good nature of the people who face down the police. COURT FREES PROTESTOR An Israeli court found no evidence to support the charge of road-blocking against an older man held in prison for nine weeks, pending court appearance. "On the way to his Supreme Court hearing earlier this month, a policeman brutally pulled Eliyahu Herbst out of the car by his handcuffs, causing him to fall on the ground, and he was then dragged on the ground by his handcuffs until he was thrown into another car. He was then placed in solitary confinement without his belongings or a change of clothes, suffering humiliation in the process." (Arutz-7, 7/20.) The court acted decently in releasing the man, but failed to punish the police for this among many false arrests and brutality. The government is using ostensible police action as a cover for repression. The unnecessary roughing up of detainees and their long pre-trial imprisonment under harsh conditions are examples. In the US, police carefully tuck prisoners' heads under car roofs, as they place them inside, whereas Israeli police throw people in and pull them out onto the ground and drag them so as to hurt them. The government does not treat Arabs that way. Hence this is political. No one in Israel should be treated that way, not Jews, not Arabs. Punishment should be up to the justice system. The consequences may reverberate beyond the current injustice, itself serving a bad cause. SUPREME COURT COMES DOWN HARD ON ROAD-BLOCKING The Supreme Court ruled in favor of keeping two protest leaders in prison awaiting trial for road-blocking. It denied that that kind of civil disobedience is within the democratic tradition. It refused to be tolerant, lest it undermine Israeli democracy. IMRA reminds us that when unions block roads, the courts are lenient and the prosecutors are inactive (IMRA, 7/22). The Court's inconsistency indicates that it did not rule in favor of law and order or democracy but to stifle a political movement with which it disagrees ideologically. That is a perversion of justice and anti-democratic. It's expressed concern about democracy is hypocritical. SHARON'S ASSURANCE TO ARIEL OF BECOMING PART OF ISRAEL PM Sharon assured residents of Ariel that it would become a contiguous part of Israel. This contradicts US policy. Some observers attributed his unexpectedly right-wing statement to an attempt to head off his main competitor to head the Likud Party, Finance Min. Netanyahu. One of Sharon's Labor Party competitors, former PM Barak, said that the day after Gaza is abandoned, it would become clear that the US did not promise Israel to acquiesce in Israel's retaining Ariel or any other settlement blocs. Worse for the integrity of Sharon, Barak pointed out that Sharon knows this now, even as he gives Ariel assurances. Evidence? He omitted Ariel from the security fence (Arutz-7, 7/22). Israelis ought to be inured, by now, to Prime Ministers' assurances about security and about firm measures against the Arab enemy. Perhaps they are -- they defeat them for re-election, but the successor picks up where the predecessor left off. Who is putting the successors up to this? ISRAEL BLOCKS "HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS" One or two hundred activists for the Palestinian Arabs, calling themselves human rights activists, tried to enter Israel from Jordan. Israeli officials marked their passport rejected, and turned them back (7/22). Glad Israel was not masochist about it. CONGRESS STILL PRETENDS TO MONITOR AID TO P.A. ZOA is proud to have sponsored a bill that just passed the House. The bill supposedly links aid for the P.A. to what the P.A. does against terrorism and incitement to it, and gives Congress more opportunity to shut off such aid. ZOA thinks that the overwhelming vote for the bill indicates frustration over lack of information from the State Dept. about P.A. non-compliance with previously set conditions about terrorism and indoctrination in behalf of it. The bill requires the State Dept. to report more on P.A. compliance and releases the aid only if the President certifies that the law's conditions are met. The conditions are a list of the important ones in Oslo and Road Map. ZOA thinks that Congress would maintain more control inasmuch as the bill divides aid into quarterly disbursements, giving more frequent opportunity to cut off aid (IMRA, 7/22). ZOA is fooling itself about this, as Jewish organizations and idealistic Members of Congress tend to do. They are depending upon a dishonest State Dept. to report honestly and a dishonest President to certify honestly. The State Dept. and President routinely lie and pretend the Arabs comply. Such bills are deceptive, a self-deception by ZOA and a phony attempt by certain Members of Congress to take undeserved credit. The US never has penalized P.A. non-compliance. This bill represents the failure of the previous bills, about which Members of Congress boasted and which Jewish organizations praised. If the previous bills worked, this one would not be necessary. It is necessary because the State Dept. and President practiced deceit. U.S. COURT OF APPEALS REJECTS POLLARD'S APPEAL The Court rendered a negative verdict, after having refused to allow Pollard's attorneys to present most of their best arguments, during the oral presentation in March. A judge who expressed an antisemitic sentiment and revealed personal prejudice against Pollard (who did not speak) as considering himself "special," derided the defense's legal efforts but by consuming its limited time with hostile interruptions, did not get to hear what the panel derided in advance. The verdict rejects the several points of the appeal. The verdict upholds an earlier court assertion that Pollard filed the initial appeal too late. Many legal experts disagree. The appeal claims that timeliness is not an issue, because the original defense attorney failed to advise his client of his rights in the matter. The appeal claims the issue is grossly inadequate defense in the first place. The Court ruled that since Pollard knew what his previous attorneys did, he should have been aware of the legal consequences. That is not true if they did not advise him of the legal consequences. Again, the Court missed the obvious point. The appeal demanded an opportunity for defense counsel to inspect the sentencing docket that doomed the client. The Appeals Court denied that too. The justices thus denied elementary justice. It's the kind of ruling one would expect from the Soviet (or Israeli) system. The Pollards believe that the judges are acting politically, rather than judicially (IMRA, 7/22). Seems so, all the way through the case, here and in Israel. "JERUSALEM POST" HAS EDITORIAL LIKE MINE The PA "foreign minister has candidly reneged on the PA's road map commitments to confiscate weapons and explosives" from the illegal militias. Sec. "Rice nevertheless complimented the Palestinian leadership for taking 'important steps' against terrorism." "What 'steps' she was referring to was left to the imagination," while terrorism is escalating. The US continues being evenhanded, though one side is preparing for peace, and the other, for war (IMRA, 7/24). Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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PALESTINIANS PREPARE FLAGS FOR EMPTY SETTLEMENTS
Posted by Daily Alert, July 30, 2005. |
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This was written by Nidal al-Mughrabi and comes from Reuters. It appeared July 28, 2005 on the Reuters Foundation AlertNet website (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28192293.htm). GAZA, July 28 (Reuters) - Israel's evacuation of its settlements in the Gaza Strip will be a banner day for Palestinians. Tens of thousands of white-black-green-and-red Palestinian national flags are being sewn in workshops in Gaza City to fly over the 21 settlements, hated symbols of occupation, once the pullout starting in mid-August is complete. "Palestinian flags will tell the world that Palestinian land ... has been returned to its Palestinian owners," Ahmed Abu Dayya, owner of Gaza's biggest flag shop, said on Thursday. Abu Dayya said the Palestinian Authority had ordered 60,000 flags for the pullout. Workers at one factory have been se wing some 3,000 pennants a day, labouring to meet an Aug. 7 delivery deadline. Some 35,000 other flags will carry the logo of President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement and 20,000 will be imprinted with white-and-black headresses and pictures of Abbas and the late Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. The work has provided sorely needed employment for hundreds of workers in the impoverished Gaza Strip, whose economy has been hit hard by more than four years of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Israel intends to demolish the settlements' red-roofed homes, dwellings the Palestinian Authority has said are impractical for meeting the housing needs of bigger Palestinian families. But both sides have yet to agree on rubble removal. Flag-making has been a booming business in Gaza, even during the Palestinian uprising. Abu Dayya said sales at his PLO Flag Shop increased during the revolt, thanks to orders by Palestinian militant groups for national flags and banners bearing the symbols of armed factions. He also sold Israeli flags to be burnt at anti-Israeli rallies. While welcoming withdrawal from land Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, Palestinians note Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has vowed to hold on to large settlement blocs in the West Bank under any final peace treaty. The World Court describes Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West Bank as illegal. Israel disputes this. The Daily Alerts are Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (http://www.conferenceofpresidents.org/) by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (http://www.jcpa.org/). |
| GUSH KATIF |
ANTI-DISENGAGEMENT ESSAYS
Posted by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz, July 30, 2005. |
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Those who support the government's Disengagement Plan, which would uproot the Jewish towns of Gush Katif and northern Samaria, have ready access to Israeli and international mass media and, of course, to the government offices through which the plan is being promoted and implemented. Therefore, in light of urgent events in Gush Katif and the approaching target date for implementation of the Disengagement Plan, we present our readers with the following two opposition articles, which have appeared on our Opinion pages. While both authors oppose the government's current plans for Gush Katif and Samaria, their reasons are vastly different and address various concerns of the thoughtful, pro-Israel reader. We hope that the presentation of two strikingly different viewpoints on the faults of the Disengagement will facilitate reaching the widest possible audience. Next year in Gush Katif, "Disengagement Now - No Way to Peace" by Arthur Cohn (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/article.php3?id=5289) [Arthur Cohn is the only international film producer to have won six Academy Awards. His productions include The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Central Station, and One Day in September.] Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for an Israeli pullout of Gaza and a few more settlements in the Shomron has found initially extensive approval among Jews in the Diaspora. At first glance, this is understandable. The absence of a credible Palestinian negotiating partner, combined with Israel's vigorous desire to create a more peaceful atmosphere in the Middle East, has made a partial segregation from the Palestinian Arabs appear to be a step in the right direction. But before we leap, let's look. Let's pay attention to the serious voices of dissent that have become stronger in the last weeks. Avi Dichter, outgoing head of Intelligence, declared a few months ago in front of the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee that the evacuation of the northern Shomron would reproduce the earlier situation in the south of Lebanon, because the firing of mortar shells can be stopped only by Israeli forces on the ground. Israel's former Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, a member of the Labor party, as well as Shabtai Shavit, former head of Intelligence, stated in unison that the unilateral abandonment of the Gaza Strip under prevailing conditions would destabilize the region to a frightening degree. "The plan does not create the necessary minimum of balance that would enable long-term co-existence," said Shavit. The objections these men and others raise fall under two general headings. One is leadership. Many in Israel and abroad see Abu Mazen, the current Palestinian Authority president, as representing a basic change in the strategic goals of the Palestinians. However, Abu Mazen's past activities as a close confidante of the late Yasser Arafat and his alarmingly militant statements about the future status of Jerusalem and the "right of return" cast doubts on this. "Abu Mazen is not Arafat," Zalman Shoval, Israel's previous Ambassador in Washington, stated last month, "but his objectives - not only according to intelligence assessments, but according to his own statements, as well - are no different from those of his predecessor." Still, the Gaza pullout offers an appropriate opportunity to verify Abu Mazen's support for peace, and to test his influence for pursuing peace within the Palestinian Authority. This giant endeavor - the compulsory evacuation of some 10,000 Israeli citizens - could be set up in complete agreement and coordination with the Palestinian authorities. Lacking such agreement, the Disengagement may cause a devastating aftermath. In the absence of clear-cut accords with Abu Mazen, the security situation in Israel will decisively degrade. Outgoing Chief of General Staff Moshe Yalon said recently that in addition to Sderot, many other places will be surprised with missiles from the Gaza Strip. Terrorist groups would proclaim Israel's unilateral step as their own victory, and this is likely to aggravate future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. "Retreat without getting anything in return is liable to be interpreted by some as surrender and likely to strengthen extremist forces," former general security chief Ami Ayalon stated. The political situation will become much more complicated, and the pressure on Israel to continue making unilateral steps will - also according to the Israeli foreign minister - be enormously intensified. The pullout from Gaza now is considered as a step within the "Road Map" and no longer as a unilateral act in the absence of a Palestinian interlocutor. After the withdrawal, the United Nations, the European Union and even the United States will most probably force Israel to make additional, far-reaching, one-sided concessions. The inner discord in Israel could become huge and almost unbridgeable, especially as Israelis are getting nothing from Palestinians in return. We should not forget that the large majority who in the last elections voted for Sharon and the Likud did so because he and the party were strictly against any unilateral abandonment of territories - which is exactly the policy Sharon advocates now. He defied the will of his party that opposed the Gaza pullout and refused to conduct a referendum, even though the Israelis of Gaza confirmed that they would have accepted the results of a referendum. The Jewish ethos would be strongly tarnished. Images of dozens of synagogues and Torah centers, built with the full backing of the Israeli government, violently destroyed by the Jews themselves, will be satellite-transmitted all over the world. What terrible negative impression will such devastating pictures leave with all viewers, Jews and non-Jews alike! It is and remains incomprehensible that such a traumatic action should happen without a binding accord with the Palestinians. Finally, the Zionist ethos would be substantially enfeebled by a unilateral pullout from Gaza. A big, impressive settlement in the desert, explicitly subsidized by the government, in which barren land was made fertile in a miraculous way and in the style of Zionist pioneering spirit, is on the verge of being devastated by Israel itself. A large swath of land that had been settled by Jews in the days before the 1948 War of Independence now shall become "free of Jews" without any quid pro quo. By contrast, an orderly turnover of the Gaza Strip would allow many practical problems to be solved, such as the "fate" of the Israeli houses, farms and orchards there. On the condition that the Palestinians deliver real tradeoffs, the Disengagement could become a meaningful step towards a potential co-existence between Israel and its Palestinian neighbours. A relinquishing of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians is not to be rejected principally. An abandonment of the Gaza Strip - if done in the scope of a bilateral peace process involving Abu Mazen - would certainly weaken the strong opposition against Disengagement. The settlers' great sacrifice then would make more sense. One-sided concessions under the given circumstances are dangerously counter-productive. In this, former Minister Nathan Sharansky stands by his political credo consistently, unflinchingly, and in remarkable openness, without consideration of any potential damage his political career might suffer in Israel. Sharansky's thesis is that democracies do not war with each other, and that a peace with the Palestinians therefore can only be achieved when their authorities have implemented democratic reforms. According to him, Israel gives up far too much when it pulls out of Gaza before the Palestinian government has fulfilled its promises for democratisation and other reforms, which must include forswearing all future terrorism. It is not surprising that the backing for Sharon's disengagement program has fallen below 50 percent (the exact figure of 48 percent includes Israeli Arabs). People fail to understand why Israel does not require from the new Palestinian leaders meaningful bilateral negotiations for peace, especially as Israel prepares to do something so remarkable and unprecedented for the sake of peace. "Do Not Let Jewish History Be Erased" by Ruth Matar (www.israelnationalnews.com/article.php3?id=3964) [Ruth Matar is co-chairwoman of the grass-roots activist organization Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green).] The other day I turned on the radio and I heard Ariel Sharon say in his heavily accented English, "The Disengagement Plan is the most important item on our agenda, and with G-d's help we shall succeed." What incredible chutzpah! Sharon well knows that the Almighty promised His Holy Land to the Jewish People. This Promise certainly includes Judea, Samaria and Gaza! He can't really seriously be calling for G-d's help. Does he not realize that G-d does not change his Word? Sharon might be justified in calling on his newly found godless cronies - Shimon Peres, Yossi Sarid, Tommy Lapid, et al - to come and help him. As it is, Sharon's statement is the height of attempted obfuscation, bordering on blasphemy. Okay, let's again make this clear once and for all - Gaza is Jewish land promised by Hashem in the Bible as an everlasting inheritance; it was, in fact, apportioned to the Tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:47 and Judges 1:18) as part of Israel's eternal patrimony. A few examples of evidence of a Jewish presence in Gaza since Biblical times: * A beautiful remnant of the mosaic floor, dated 508/509 CE, of a Gaza synagogue. It pictured King David playing the harp. King David's name was rendered in Hebrew letters. * One of the big mosques in Gaza has a pillar that had the name Chananya Bar-Yaakov (an important figure from the days of the Hasmoneans) engraved on it. Above his name was a picture of a Menorah with a Shofar on one side, and an etrog on the other. * There is an old neighborhood in Gaza that is called by the Arabs, to this day, Harat Al-Yahud - "neighborhood of the Jews". * Israel Ben Moses Najara (1555-1625) was a prominent rabbi in Gaza. Throughout the years after his death, many Jews came to pray at his grave. Most physical evidence of the Jewish presence in Gaza since Biblical times has been deliberately erased by the Arabs, especially at the time of the first Intifada (1987-1993). The Arabs feel that if they erase such physical evidence, they will be able to convince the world of their Big Lie, that they are the original inhabitants of the Holy Land. Rabbi Najara was not only the rabbi of Gaza, but he was also a famous poet. The following is a translation of one of his most well-known poems "Yoh Ribbon Olam ve-Allemayya", a poem that appears in the Jewish prayer book, to be sung every Sabbath: "Lord of all worlds! All Your creatures praise You. Even if we lived a thousand years, we could not recount the extent of Your greatness. God, save Your people from their exile and rebuild the Temple, and there, in Jerusalem, we will really be able to sing to You!" The poetry of Rabbi Najara is beautiful, inspiring and a tribute to Hashem. But poetry can also be vile, inciting and a call to terror and violence. One of the most famous Arab poets today is Mahmoud Darwish, whose poems deal with the Arab-Jewish conflict. (By the way, Yossi Sarid, who was Minister of Education under Prime Minister Ehud Barak, made the incredible demand that the poetry of Darwish become part of the curriculum for Jewish children.) The following is from one of Darwish's most popular poems: "Dig up your dead! / Take their bones with you / and leave our land." Desecration of Jewish graves occurred already while Ehud Barak was Prime Minister. Barak allowed the burning and vandalizing of graves such as the tombs of Joseph and Joshua in Samaria, and Jewish graves in Hebron. Now, shamefully, Prime Minister Sharon is planning to make Mahmoud Darwish's poem even more of a reality. Shame on you, Ariel Sharon! Would you even contemplate digging up the bones of your beloved wife Lilly? Or of your son who died at a young age? The widely accepted and most important code of Jewish law, the Shulchan Aruch, states as follows (Yoreh De'ah , 363:1): "You are not allowed to remove the dead and the bones, not from a respectful grave to a respectful grave, not from a disrespectful grave to a disrespectful grave, and not from a disrespectful grave to a respectful one. (It goes without saying that it is not allowed to remove from a respectful grave to a disrespectful one.) The only cases where transfer of the dead would be allowed are if it was the will of the deceased, or if the remains are being transferred to Israel." Member of Knesset Gila Finkelstein of the National Religious Party delivered a speech in the Knesset on July 7, 2004, which dealt with the human suffering of Sharon's Disengagement Plan: "Who will lift up the three Cohen family children - those heroic youngsters from Kfar Darom who lost legs [in a murderous Palestinian terror attack on a school bus - ed.] - and take them out of their house, the house to which they returned after the attack when they made a courageous decision to show that terrorism had not won? The Jews of Gaza have been targeted by more than 4,200 Palestinian rockets and mortar shells in the past four years. They have been demonized and delegitimized by the media, disparaged by the Left, and threatened with expulsion by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Despite the threat of withdrawal hanging over their heads, it turns out that in the first six months of 2004, the number of Jews living in Gaza actually soared, growing at a rate three times faster than last year. (By the way, Sharon has made it clear that anybody who moves to Gaza now, will not be compensated.) I firmly believe that, as long as we remain confident in Hashem and in the justness of our cause, no power in the world can dislodge us from our Land, our Biblical patrimony. As Menachem Begin noted in his book The Revolt, "Faith is perhaps stronger than reality, for faith itself creates reality."
Nissan Ratzlav-Katz is the Opinion Editor of Arutz-7 (www.Israel
National News.com)
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ENOUGH MUSLIM VICTIMHOOD ALREADY!
Posted by Barry Shaw, July 30, 2005. |
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I am sick and tired of hearing cries of victimhood from Muslims as Islamic Jihadists carry out the most horrendous crimes worldwide. I was saddened and sickened when members of the Bigley family accused Tony Blair of having blood on his hands as we saw brother Kenneth having his severed head held up in the bloodied hands of his Muslim murderer. I was angered when the educated British Muslim who trapped Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, and cut off his head, blamed Jews and Israel for driving him to carry out this piece of inhumanity. Pearl's parents have been trying to build a bridge between the West and Islam since their son's murder in 2002. They have given up in despair. They have been overwhelmed by the passionate fanaticism of Islam. I am in despair when the mayor of a great city like London can spout anti-Semitic rubbish and still keep his job. He also advocates the motivation of a Palestinian homicide bomber, while his own citizens live in fear from the same sick mind-set that has sent over twenty four thousand terror attacks against Israel. I am appalled by Christians worldwide who remain silent when Muslims falsely accuse Americans of destroying their Koran while Saudi Arabia routinely shreds Christian Bibles if found in their country. I am amazed when people describe Islam as being a religion based on peace and tolerance. It is a religion based on domination, intolerance, and submission to its creed. It is time for people to realise that the silent majority of British Muslims will remain silent until their leaders demand of them loyalty to Allah and Jihad instead of Queen and country. The opinions of most Muslims in Britain may be to condemn the terror attacks in London, but they quietly support suicide bombings in Israeli. They may protest that they support the Palestinians, but this is untrue. Palestinians are despised in all the Arab states, despite the rhetoric. The Palestinians are useful only in that they are in the vanguard of the Muslim desire to eradicate the Jewish State. Did you not notice that not one of the hundreds of Palestinian suicide bombers has been a Christian? Are they not as frustrated as their Islamic countrymen? With the excellent police and intelligence work in Britain the bombers will move over to a softer target country in Europe to continue their mayhem. However, in the threatening words of The Terminator, they'll be back! When that day comes, when the bombers and radicals return, will London and Britain be more, or less, Islamic? Barry Shaw made aliyah from Manchester, England 25 years ago with his family. Initially, he lived on various kibbutzim. He now runs a busy real estate office in Netanya. He is also the Founder and Chairman of the Netanya Terror Victims Fund. He writes the "View from Here" columns from Israel. To sign up to receive his emails, contact him at netre@matav.net.il |
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WHERE ARE ALL THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY M-16s
Posted by Tamar psion, July 29, 2005. |
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This is from Arutz-7 - www.israelnationalnews.com (ttp://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=86698). It was written by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu U.S. Gen. Wm. Ward said he cannot account for thousands of M-16 assault rifles, which Israel gave to the PA. Another official offered no clear way to stop Hamas from getting American aid money. At a Congressional subcommittee hearing of the House Appropriations committee, which is considering a bill that would provide $50 million in direct aid to the Palestinian Authority, Congressman Mark Kirk told special envoy General William Ward, "I worry that I've seen this movie before." He explained that during the 1990s, Congress relented to pressure from former envoy Dennis Ross and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to give the rifles directly to the PA. "Under a veto threat, the Congress relented... Now, imagine how we felt a year later when we saw those -- when we saw Palestinian policemen using those M-16s to shoot Israelis.... And General Ward, do we know where all these M-16s are? Have we done an audit of all the guns we've already given the Palestinian Authority?" Ward answered, "No, we've not yet seen the audit. However... that report is supposed to be shared... and I specifically asked, 'Will we or will we not be able to have access to that report?'" Ward did not provide any further answers. Another official was not able to directly answer a question by another Congressman who asked what would be done with American aid to the PA, which plans to form a coalition with Hamas terrorists. The U.S. has classified Hamas as a terrorist organization and has barred assisting it. American envoy David Welch was not able to clarify how the American government would deal with the issue. Congressman Joe Knollenberg pointed out that Hamas has won several local council seats, including all of the seats in the Arab city of Kalkilya, adjacent to Kfar Saba. He asked, "What is the U.S. policy on interacting with Palestinian individuals... who have been elected and who are also members of terrorist organizations like Hamas?" Welch, unable to give a direct answer, said, "We're trying to work with those realities in such a manner that we don't skip over law or policy." Another subcommittee witness, James Wolfensohn, the Quartet's special envoy for Gaza, told Congressman Steven Rothman that anti-Semitism is "very limited" at the leadership level. Rothman asked, "But how about the textbooks in the schools?" which describe the entire country of Israel as "Palestine". Wolfensohn replied, "No. No. Well, that's a separate question." When asked about the Arabs accepting Israel as a Jewish state, he replied, "There are some that would accept it willingly, and there are some that, I need hardly explain to you, don't feel that." |
| GUSH KATIF |
BACK FROM GUSH KATIF
Posted by Judy Lash Balint, July 29, 2005. |
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This was written by Roberta Feinstein Bienenfeld of Beit Shemesh. Just back from Gush Katif (a few hours ago) but left our wayward car there as it still isn't fixed... It is very hot and humid there and there are visitors and guests everywhere. Despite the fact that noone is allowed in except for close relatives people are getting in. At the beach, the jellyfish, they tell me, are the size of big plastic bags. They are checking everyone--in and out. They say there are too many people in Gush Katif and that is why they have closed off the roads to anyone except relatives of the first degree. I am still waiting to hear the complaints from our leftist countrymen who have to show their ID cards to move anywhere on the roads down south. I can't imagine what will happen next week when everyone gets to Sderot. Will the police put up wire fences around a city as well? Everyone we spoke to there (as I hope you will all read in Tami Wiseman's article in the Jerusalem Post Magazine to appear sometime in the near future--but not this week) is full of Emunah and praying for that miracle. Unfortunately I do not think that either Yesha or any radical organizations will provide that miracle at this time. I don't know what happened to all the threats of closing down the country. I see the country still running while Gush Katif is closed down and getting tighter every day. Two nights ago we were warned of the roundup of all the illegals. Everyone was running scared. The illegals all stayed inside. I don't think it happened--yet. Last night at midnight somebody rang my doorbell. We didn't answer. Earlier in the evening someone came by trying to collect money. They said they were from Netivot and tried to get into my house. I didn't let them in or give them money. Something was suspicious about them and it was only after they left that I realized--How could a shnorrer from Netivot get past all the soldiers and police? I have gotten three calls in three days asking me to anser a survey--a political survey. Every day in Neve Dekalim the yishuv gives out another information sheet on what is happening. There are shiurim and activities everywhere and at all hours of the day. Of course one of the favorites is the kids going out to Kissufim every night to talk to the soldiers. People are getting arrested day and night but not a word of it gets to the press. A woman (on the way out) wouldn't show her identity card--off to prison. And the reports of brutality and violence also go unreported. There was also a big march on foot the night after the murder by the Gush Katif Bridge. Noone reported that either. The police/soldiers were unable to contain the 150 women (and some men) who did the marching. They were scared s....less. Yes, we were there when the chief army rabbi was there--and booed. I found it hard not to cry as I remembered the last time we stood by the same house, a large group of residents, waiting for the funeral. We were actually asked (unofficially) by at least one of the families there to come and protest by their house against moving the bodies of their loved ones from the cemetery. And we were also there when the Sephardi chief rabbi Amar gave a special shiur to the women telling them to be strong and try to keep their families together--no matter what happens and a very, very moving prayer meeting, shofar and all, where representatives of many Edot got up and read the prayers (7 times in all) . There are reporters everywhere--all looking for a scoop. The stores had run out of food--I think this is due to all the guests but had filled up a bit when we left. And of course the mortars continued to fall and the tanks to roar and the guns continue their rat-tat-tat spitting out bullets in either direction. Nothing about that in the press either--we only hear about Sderot. So good night to all--may we only hear good news. Judy Lash Balint is an investigative journalist and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" (Gefen). It is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com |
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WHY ISRAELI POLICY BRUTALITY? DENIEL OF FUTURE TERRORISM
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, July 29, 2005. |
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MAKING SENSE OF POLICE BRUTALITY Alternative Israeli news sources record increasing false police arrests, harassment, and beatings of innocent Jews and of civilly disobedient but non-violent Jews. Israelis from the former Soviet Union remember similar tactics used on them there. It is one way of quelling dissent. If the government were decent (though foolish to pursue abandonment), it would just arrest road blockers but not beat them up, anybody suspected of opposing to abandonment, anyone who photographs the unwarranted brutality and harassment, and anybody else around. It arrests and tries to keep the people in jail without charges, and when there is no crime. The Israeli justice system permits long incarceration; the US system does not except for military prisoners. I think there is more to this behavior than just political repression. The government has recruited, trained, and unleashed police selected for Jewish or gentile hatred of observant and nationalistic Jews. Brutes unleashed don't discriminate well. They enjoy their bullying, apparently not punished for its excesses. The question is whether the Jewish state will survive long enough for its people to wake up and overthrow its statist and leftist tyranny. Its leftist political brutality precedes statehood. FALSE ANALOGY STILL WITH US London has the wrong mayor for these times. He is a Communist, and has admitted being swayed by the large number of Muslim voters in his jurisdiction. Either way, he comes up with outrageous defamation of Israelis and excuses for terrorism. He has welcomed terrorist leaders. One of his latest false comparisons is to equate Likud to Hamas. At least he denounced Hamas. But if he knows that Hamas murders innocent people, then he should know not to equate it to Likud. Ironically, the Likud Party is approving concessions to the Arabs. Mayor Livingstone recently repeated the false analogy that Israel can fight with jets, but the Palestinian Arabs have only their bodies. The purpose of that comparison is to lower Israel to the Arabs' moral plane. That is unfair, because the Arabs commit aggression and have no right to be fighting in the first place. Aggressors ought to have poorer arms. War between aggressors and victims should not be even-handed. Cops should be better armed than criminals. In the second place, the analogy reinforces the new false notion that the Muslim jihad against Israel, which somewhat misleadingly was called (including by myself) the Arab-Israel conflict, is a " Palestinian-Israeli conflict." The new name is misleading not just because there is no Palestinian people and Israel and Jordan are as much in Palestine as Arafat's Arabs, but because it intentionally narrows the scope of the conflict and makes it seem territorial rather than religious. Being religious, it involves other Arabs and Iran directly, and other Muslim states indirectly. Together, they have several times as much modern weaponry as Israel. In the third place, the analogy is false on its face. The Arab terrorists are fighting a guerrilla war. Against them, airplanes rarely are effective or discriminating enough. They rarely are used -- Israel is restrained by world public opinion to tie one hand behind its back. Public opinion, Israel fails to realize, is a potent weapon. (Hitler or Stalin once scoffed, "How many divisions has the Pope?" However, a Pope was a major factor in overthrowing Soviet Communism.) As for the Arabs, they do have more than their bodies. They have mined the roads with bombs, stabbed trusting Israelis, sprayed travelers with bullets, fired anti-tank rockets, and bombarded civilian neighborhoods with Katyusha rockets and mortars. It is criminal to let the western Palestinian Arabs, who signed peace agreements, have those means of committing war crimes. Apparently the Red Mayor wouldn't mind genocide against the Jews. MAJOR ISRAELI ECONOMIC REFORM PENDING Finance Min. Netanyahu has been reforming the Israeli economy. Now he is tackling a major reform, unbundling the two main banks' services and privatizing them. These banks have a stranglehold on the economy, and they have been strangling it. They lack the competition that might keep them on their toes. They have invested so poorly and sluggishly, as to retard the economy and absorb government bailouts. (The US bailed out its banks, too.) If the economy were freed from the banking albatross, Israel might become a wealthy country. It could afford a better defense. Unfortunately, the banks have such power over other business, the media, and politicians, that Min. Netanyahu is not getting much public support, while the banks are lobbying extensively and expensively against him (Daniel Doron, NY Sun, 5/13, p.11). His is the path to independence and survival. IRRESPONSIBLE ARMS COMPETITORS France is trying to replace the US as the main supplier of arms to the Arabs. It is offering Egypt "generous" terms for purchases. Some of the naval systems are ones that the US has denied Egypt (IMRA, 7/11). This is where the drive to make money turns antisocial. The US does not deny the Arabs much. Therefore, I suppose that those naval systems would greatly and obviously empower an aggressive Egyptian thrust against Israel. The U.S. doesn't want it to be obvious. "Generous terms" probably means slow payment at low interest, letting Egypt gradually build up a debt for those non-productive items its non-productive economy cannot afford, until it begs to be forgiven its debt. That has been the pattern of irresponsible sales and purchases. JAFFEE CENTER DENIES LIKELIHOOD OF MORE TERRORISM Despite all the years of terrorism that Oslo facilitated, the Jaffee center for Strategic Studies denies intelligence estimates that the abandonment plan would facilitate more terrorism. One part of its analysis is that by further and permanent territorial concessions, Israel would help induce the Arabs to stop the war. (This assumes limited territorial struggle, whereas the war is a holy one.) The other part is that by entering politics, Hamas, which mostly honored the semi-truce and has not made harsh declarations against Israel, lately, is joining the "mainstream" and it is "not in its interest" to continue the war (IMRA, 7/11). Hamas declared: After abandonment, war. Abbas has said likewise, but in "moderate" terms. He is a "moderate" warmonger. No Palestinian Arab "mainstream" is identified. Hamas has won over the P.A. people by providing services that the corrupt P.A. does not and by greater defiance against Israel. Hamas used the semi-truce to rearm and position itself for renewed war. It has not rejected its ideology. I find the Jaffee Center generally unrealistic in its appeasement, which usually fails. Its false premises constantly lead it to false conclusions. In this piece, it argues mostly by unsupported assertion. Failing to understand the Muslim Arabs, it does its country a disservice. FIRST TEMPLE PERIOD ARTIFACTS FOUND Excavations for a highway uncovered a nearly intact village thought to
have been destroyed with the First Temple, and accompanying artifacts
(Arutz-7, 7/11).
Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of
Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear
often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and
right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To
subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com.
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| GUSH KATIF |
CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MURDER
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, July 28, 2005. |
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Let's hear it from experts on International Law! Israel's Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon has been advised by numerous military and intelligence experts repeatedly that Israel will be attacked across the length and breadth of the land after Sharon's precipitous retreat from historically Jewish Land in Gaza/Gush Katif. Sharon has incontrovertible information that there has been a marked increase in the smuggling of heavy weapons to include explosives and ground-to-air shoulder-fired missiles, most coming across the Sinai Desert with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak's knowledge and assistance. Sharon himself has named 44 Israeli communities on the so-called Israeli side of the "Green Line" into front-line towns and cities once Sharon "ethnically cleanses" the Gaza Strip, emptying it of all Jews. Right now, Sharon's stated 'reason' for retreating from Gaza/Gush Katif is that the 22 communities are currently at risk and he doesn't want to waste troops guarding the area. Sharon deliberately choose to ignore the certainty of this attack, even confirmed by Hamas and all other Arab Muslim Terrorist organizations that they pledge to attack. What's the logic of actually doubling the number of communities at risk of being hit by missiles from a radical Islamic Palestinian state in Gaza as Global Terrorists ("Mujahadeen") pour in? And, that doubling does not factor in the increased accuracy and distance of new Rockets and Missiles flowing in from all the Islamic weapons' making countries. Sharon has repeatedly stated that he would send IDF (Israel Defense Forces) back into Gaza IF such events occur. In effect, Sharon is admitting his "Unilateral Disengagement Plan" was and is not only a farce but will be extremely dangerous to Israel, making all of Israel more vulnerable to terror attacks from a newly re-invigorated Terrorist Palestinian Authority, plus an influx heavy arms and vicious terrorists into Gaza. Sharon knows all of this because of his useless decision (except for the personal benefits it brings to him). He knows full well that Israel will come under heavy terrorist fire with predictable casualties. "Coming under fire" means that Israelis will most certainly be killed or wounded grievously, some of which has happened already. Therefore, has not Sharon conspired to knowingly commit murder against the citizens of Israel? Given that he has not offered any reason for his peremptory withdrawal and NOT obtained any concessions from the Muslim Arab Palestinian Terrorists - other than their enthusiastically pledging to continue killing Jews - until they are all gone from what the Muslims consider Islamic land. In addition to ignoring the alarming advise and opinions of his highest ranking officers in the IDF and Intelligence Services, one sees this effort to stay out of jail for personal prior assaults on Israeli law. I will add the question: Does a Prime Minister of a sovereign nation betray his nation's security and sovereignty because Queen Condi Rice, speaking for President Bush, demanded that Israel arm the Arab Muslim Palestinians under Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) and further demanded that Israel not respond to salvos of Rocket, Mortar and Missile attacks, suicide bombings and drive-by ambush shootings? Therefore, is it not reasonable to charge this man with pre-meditated murdered of named victims (those already killed and wounded in the bombings, mortar, rocket, missile and drive-by shootings) and those so far unnamed (those yet to be murdered or wounded) due to Sharon's decision with malice aforethought. We have already seen that Sharon issued orders to the military to NOT respond to salvos of Kassem rockets and mortars on Sderot (a town bordering the Gaza Strip). Therefore, Sharon deliberately (with malice aforethought) puts the lives of civilians in Sderot and the other 44 communities which he lists - so far - in jeopardy of loss of life, limb, shock, bodies filled with bomb bits, including the nuts and bolts the Muslim Arab Terrorists load into their bombs. Sderot is not an Israeli Army Base where Generals can choose to risk the lives of soldiers and consider them expendable. So, experts of International Law, can you charge Sharon with intent to commit murder based on the above blatant evidence? Also, for those already murdered or grievously wounded, can Sharon be charged with a capital crime and receive a commensurate sentence? Can he be charged like any other killer of people? Can we re-adopt the Biblical concept of punishment - like an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth, etc. Cannot it now be a Life for a Life; a beating for a beating - imprisonment for Police and Judges who wrongly imprisoned those rightfully protesting being evicted from their homes? What say you? SHARON'S LEGACY Israel's Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon will leave a black legacy that will shame the Jewish nation for decades, in addition to having made the nation vulnerable to Terrorist attacks by Muslim Arabs. He has Police and Army officers training their men to be thugs. They have established training camps for them to practice storming the homes of settlers and dragging out those who refuse to leave their homes. They have already been practicing how to beat civilians like common thugs who support a Police State. We already know that Sharon's entire government bureaucracy is merely one great corrupt establishment, whose servants will do anything for money and power. What will be remembered is the criminal enterprise, supported by the weak and greedy whom Sharon has gathered around himself. These are the trash of Jewish society, although they view themselves as elite. What is even more tragic is that most of the Israeli people, except for the settlers and their supporters who stood by and watched. They knew that Sharon and Shimon Peres (Head of the Left Labor Party) had lied and cheated the Jewish nation but, they refused to act expeditiously to stop them. Here we see the Leftists, Sharon's Cabinet and the Knesset (except for a handful who defied Sharon and whom he called "rebels".) One can only be reminded of the European Jews who artfully avoided seeing that the German Nazi Brown Shirt thugs were only the first wave of danger. Denial and artful avoidance runs strong in the Jewish people and, as a result, they usually pay with their lives. Sharon and his collaborators have rushed to open the gates - again - to a pagan enemy. He does this for himself and the Bush Family Dynasty and their supporters whose loyalty to Arab oil far exceeds any concern for the safety, security and sovereignty of Israel. ### "Prosecution Policy: Don't Topple the Government Tuesday," July 26, 2005, Arutz Sheva 7 - www.IsraelNationalNews.com A senior police officer speaking with Arutz-7 on condition of anonymity says there is enough evidence to indict and convict PM Sharon, but "it's unreasonable to topple a gov't over criminal cases." The source said that incontrovertible evidence exists against the Prime Minister in more than one case, but that the decision was made, together with the State Prosecution, not to pursue the cases. The investigations in question concern the $1.5 million loan by South African millionaire Cyril Kern to Sharon's sons, Kfar Malal (see below), and others. The source said that police investigators were made to understand that the policy is not to delve into cases that might incriminate the Prime Minister, in order not to destabilize the regime in Israel. Former State Comptroller Eliezer Goldberg, in a recent interview he granted Yediot Acharonot upon ending his seven-year term in the post, said he did not understand why the investigation of Sharon's Kfar Malal activities was taking so long. The Kfar Malal affair was first uncovered by the business daily Globes in the summer of 2003 when it alleged that Prime Minister Sharon intervened with the Transportation Ministry on behalf of two brothers from Kfar Malal, south of Kfar Saba, whose land was being seized for use as a highway. The brothers, friends and former neighbors of Sharon, told the Prime Minister that their claims that the proposed compensation was too low were being ignored. Sharon intervened, and the brothers received some $100,000 more than had originally been set. Then Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein ordered an investigation and froze the payment of compensation. Former State Comptroller Goldberg himself investigated this issue in the past, and found that Sharon had "acted directly to promote a decision regarding farmland that led to a personal benefit for him and his relative." Arutz-7's Shimon Cohen, who spoke with the police source, said that the policy outlined by the source explains the enthusiasm with which the Prosecution is pursuing a plea-bargain deal with MK Omri Sharon, the Prime Minister's son. Much evidence, including documents, affidavits, recorded testimony and admissions, has been amassed showing that Omri activated fictitious associations to help his father beat Ehud Olmert in the Likud primaries of 1999. Despite this, and contrary to accepted practice, the Prosecution made great efforts to reach a plea bargain deal - which may even be finalized as soon as today. The fact that the Prosecution pursued a plea bargain deal, despite the relative ease with which it could have achieved a conviction, raised eyebrows in many legal circles. The deal stipulates that Omri Sharon will confess to a series of minor infractions, in exchange for the erasure of the heavier accusations against him. Two legal experts consulted by Arutz-7 differed on the ramifications of this development. One said that it appears that the Prosecution's enthusiasm for a plea bargain appears to be based on the fear that a trial will raise genuine doubts regarding the manner in which Prime Minister Sharon reached the position of Likud Party Chairman. This is an extension of the policy not to risk the toppling of the government "merely because of criminal cases." Another legal expert said that though he agrees that the Prosecution, for political reasons, has no interest in toppling the government, "the fact is that most cases end in a plea bargain agreement." He said, therefore, that the agreement made with Omri does not in itself prove the Prosecution's political leanings. The Supreme Court itself, when it reviewed Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's decision not to indict PM Sharon regarding the Greek Island affair, admitted that political considerations were central. Acknowledging that Sharon received different treatment than that which a regular citizen in a similar situation would have received, the Court justified this by stating that "the indictment of a Prime Minister would lead, probably immediately, to changes in the government order in the country, which would be liable to have a dramatic influence on the policy." The Supreme Court judges made this ruling despite admitting that Sharon's "explanations during the police investigation did not correspond with facts about which there is direct evidence." 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). Baruch Gordon contributed to this report. |
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ONE GAS CHAMBER SHORT OF A HOLOCAUST
Posted by Beth Goodtree, July 28, 2005. |
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Every day now, one hears the outraged cries of the Expulsion proponents at the comparisons being made between the Disengagement plan, its supporters and their tactics, and the Holocaust. It's time to analyze what they are really saying and what they are really doing. A recent news article on Arutz Sheva gave the following report: "Minister (Likud) Danny Naveh joined other government officials, issuing a condemnatory statement regarding the planned use of concentration camp uniforms and yellow stars by residents of Alei Sinai in northern Gaza. In essence, what Minister Naveh and others have said is that so long as Jews aren't marched into a gas chamber, there is no comparison. Shamefully, Dr. Motti Shalem, who directs the International School for Holocaust Studies at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem said practically the same thing: "... has no historical basis," said. "With all due respect to their evacuation, they are not being sent to death camps." (2) Sadly, both these people equate the Holocaust only with the gas chambers. But the Holocaust wasn't only about gas chambers. The Holocaust may have ended with gas chambers, but the entire Holocaust was much, much more. It was a series of behaviors and actions that destroyed people's lives because of their religion and ethnicity. Jews were expelled from their homes and their businesses taken away. This was part of the Holocaust too. In actuality, the Holocaust has been acknowledged to have started not with the gas chambers, but long before. When Hitler was arrested and jailed in 1923, he wrote Mein Kampf. In it, he blamed the Jews for Germany's political and economic problems. Is this not what is going on now, albeit with a slight variation? Ariel Sharon and his supporters in Likud, Labor and other parties are blaming an entire segment of observant Jews living in part of the aboriginal Jewish homeland for all of Israel's economic and political woes. Sharon & Co. say that the Jews living in some of the towns of Judea, Gaza and Samaria are a drain on Israel. This despite the fact that they are the producers of 70% of the country's organic produce and export 60% of the country's cherry tomatoes. In truth, the people living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are a vital part of Israel's economy and food supply. However, this tactic of Sharon's is exactly the same one as Adolf Hitler used in the 1920's and 30's -- denying that Jews contributed greatly to the society in which they lived. The only difference is that Hitler didn't single out one segment of the Jewish population. To him, all Jews were equally guilty. However, this demonization and outright lying about the value and contributions of a group of people with specific religious beliefs was part of the Holocaust. Sharon & Co. also claim that protecting the Jews living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza is too expensive. Again, he has deliberately twisted the reality. First and foremost, there is very little protection going on for those brave people, who sustain unending and unanswered rocket, missile and shooting attacks day in and day out. Then too is the buffer that the Jews living in these lands provide for the rest of Israel. They absorb the majority of attacks which would be directed at major population centers such as Tel Aviv and Ashkelon if the Arabs were to control the settlement areas. The cost of thwarting, defending and retaliating against such potential attacks, as well as the medical response needed and lives lost would far outweigh the comparatively minimal costs now. But let us return to the tactics used by the Germans as part of the Holocaust. Free speech and dissent was stifled in Hitler's Germany. In Israel today, free speech and dissent to Sharon's expulsion plan is also stifled. In Hitler's Germany, children were arrested for trivial reasons having nothing to do with actual criminal acts. In Israel today, children as young as 12 are being arrested and taken away from their parents for the basic human instinct, nay, human right, of wanting to keep their homes, lives and communities. Free travel to Jewish areas was restricted in Hitler's Germany and special identification issued. The same is being done today to the Jews of Gaza, Judea and Samaria. Demonization, blame for the country's woes, suppression of legitimate and peaceful protest, as well as suppression of dissent and specific identification cards were all tactics of the Holocaust and all are being used now by Sharon. Most recent are some new tactics being planned by Sharon to threaten the very lives of the residents of Gaza, Judea and Samaria. According to an article by Rachel Saperstein entitled "Roundups of Jews," the Sharon government plans on jeopardizing the health and continued existence of the people living in the areas planned for expulsion. Sharon's government has sporadically shut down their telephone and internet service so they cannot get word out about the atrocities being committed by him against his own citizens. Sharon is also planning to shut off their electricity and water. Does Sharon ever do this to the murderous and genocidal Arabs who bomb and attack these same people mercilessly? No. He only does it to Jews. Again, just like the Holocaust events leading up to the "final solution." So in saying that the comparison of the Expulsion to the Holocaust is wrong, is, by default, to say that all the other actions done by the Nazis short of the gas chambers, was and still is, perfectly acceptable and legitimate. How sad. End Notes (1) http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=86683
Beth Goodtree is an award-winning writer who lives in the NYC metro area. She writes political commentary/analysis, and the occasional science and humor articles. Or visit her website: http://hometown.aol.com/bgoodtree/ |
| GUSH KATIF |
HOW I BECAME AN ARMCHAIR ACTIVIST
Posted by Moshe Finberg, July 28, 2005. |
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Stop the Deportation/ Maalat HaGeula.org Help Us Help Them, Please donate generously. As Thomas Paine wrote in December of 1776, "these are the times that try men's souls." Those words were used by the great American patriot, pamphleteer, and British fringe extremist living in the Virginia settlements to speak to the consciences of other settlers in what were euphemistically referred to as "The Colonies." The "times" of which he wrote were the events leading up to the American Revolutionary War by which freedom and independence were extracted from a despotic dictator completely out of touch with his settlers. We Jews are facing a similar breakdown in the Land of Israel where a showdown of biblical proportions has been building since the very founding of the Zionist movement. Israeli citizens have finally had enough, thank G_d. They are taking to the streets by the tens of thousands to demand an end to the sell out. They are putting their bodies on the line to stop a corrupt government from giving Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah training camps and artillery fields from which rockets and mortars may be launched into major population centers just a few kilometers away. I, like many of you, am sick of the pathetic capitulations, the disrespect of the People and the Torah, the corruption of the government and the judiciary, and the lack of Jewish pride, identity, and self-respect. Many of us have said that he will give away the Land of Israel and deport Jews "only over my dead body" and have meant it. We made plans to fly to Israel to join our holy brothers and sisters on the lines to absorb some of the beatings and other abuses which the police and military are inflicting on Jews of all ages and sexes. Instead of tracking down and destroying the sources of the bullets, mortars, and bombs which are directed at Jews, police arrest and abuse minors who have taken to the streets to stop the Sharon freight train. No more, they shout! They will not buy into their parents' Israel of little faith or distinction. Children as young at 10 are clogging the system by blocking intersections, sitting in jails after they are arrested on trumped up charges by refusing to identify themselves, and then defying the courts where they are non-responsive to politically motivated trials. These children are retaking Eretz Yisrael for Am Yisrael. They are our future leaders and they are above corruption and reproach. They are well organized and have remarkable Torah faith and trust in the rightness of their actions. Their parents watch in horror at the abuse but pride at the dedication to the cause. These heroes need our money for food, water, basic necessities, and excellent lawyers to protect their civil rights much more than they need our physical presence in the Land right now. I have been informed by my contacts within the civil disobedience movement in Israel that they have the bodies and the plans to do the job. When I asked how I can be of the most help - should I come over or instead donate the cost of my trip to fund the costs of the operations in Israel, I was told by dear friends that although they want me to come, the money is more important to the current effort. I was told that the cost of my flight and travel in Israel would take care of the needs of 50 youth for 30 days. That's leverage! I cashed in my ticket and sent the money to Israeli organizations which will take good care of these youngsters. Please take their words to heart and join me in doing the same if you want to make a real difference and can't afford to both go to Israel and donate at least $1,000.00. The Israelis are prepared to sit in the hot sun all day, go for long stretches without showers or proper toilet facilities, and to sit in prison learning Torah and singing songs of praise and joy much to their jailers' dismay. Most of us are not up to that. Stay home this summer and send the money you would have spent on airfare and other travel expenses to our holy brothers and sisters on the lines. We at Maalat HaGeula (Ascendant Redemption) can help you make sure that every shekel goes to humanitarian aid to the resistance. As much as we want to be there, let's do what has been asked of us and generously give instead. Moshe Finberg is Chairman of Maalat HaGeula (Ascendant Redemption). Contact him at matt@maalathageula.org or phone him at 303.442.1276. Send checks to:
Ascendant Redemption has been determined by the I.R.S. to be an organization described in Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to it are fully deductible as provided by law. Its taxpayer identification number is 68-0522194. Stop The Deportation
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PA USES US POP CULTURE TO TEACH HATRED OF US
Posted by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, July 28, 2005. |
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This is a Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) Bulletin
In a virtually unprecedented move, Palestinian Authority Television (PA TV) broadcast a full-length American movie in the original English, with Arabic subtitles. Although introducing PA TV viewers to Western culture would appear to be a positive move, in actual fact, the film furthered the anti-American agenda of the PA. Broadcast July 25, it acted as just another 'hate America' message, albeit with a twist; the accuser was an American in an American-produced film, thereby giving greater credence to the charges. Produced in 1992, at the end of the Cold War era, Nick and Eddy in Trouble presents the United States as an imperialist tyrant, and promotes the anti-American conspiracy theories that had been common in the Communist Bloc - and are now widespread in the Arab world. The story follows Eddy, an investigative reporter who discovers that the United States is promoting and funding terrorism in "San Karbata," a fictional South American country. The goal of the US in the movie was to destabilize San Karbata's democratically elected government and to gain control of the country as a satellite state for imperialist purposes and financial gain. Throughout the movie Eddy sermonizes about the imperialist attitude that pervades the American government, leading it to commit atrocities in the name of morality. Eddy: Yeah, well, that's exactly what our government is telling us it is! 'Cause San Karbata doesn't want to be a satellite of this country, of the US, any more. They want to run their lives to suit their own lifestyles. They don't want the US controlling them any more." He reinforces the idea of a US conspiracy by specifically pointing to America's malicious intentions: "Most of the people here believe that the US is funding the Guerra rebels [the terrorists]. I understand that the US is arming these opposing parties in order to undermine the government and generally screw up the progress here." Finally the journalist has a rude awakening when he concludes that all his life he has been fooled by his own country: "It's weird how we grew up with this image of America being the good guy, when, if you research a little, you find out that our country has done some pretty crappy things to other countries to control them. It's a bummer." America is depicted as viciously interfering in international affairs through its CIA operatives around the world. "Because the CIA doesn't like the actions that the new government is taking, they are helping the Guerras [the terrorists of the story]." Finally the journalist meets the terrorists, and confirms that they are fighting for the CIA, though with a new twist. The CIA has kidnapped his family and he fights in order to save their lives: Terrorist: "I am a pawn in this game like all soldiers in all wars. We do the labor for the leaders of our countries - the leaders who own us all. They try to convince the people that they fight for morality and justice. There has never been one Goddamn war fought for morality. Its about might, resources, real estate, hummers, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Central America. It's all about money. Assholes like you know nothing about what is going on. You know nothing!! It's funny how it is not common knowledge that my family is being held in protective custody by the CIA." Eddy: "So what, you do the CIA's dirty work in exchange for...?" Terrorist: "Life. My family's lives. It's all a game. Everyone becomes a victim, not just people in Third World war-torn countries. Life is not a battle between good and evil. It is the struggle to be the assailant rather than the victim. It is what God intended. Survival of the fittest." [All quotes from Nick and Eddy in Trouble, PA TV, July 25, 2005] In choosing to resurrect this obscure anti-American film, the PA is actively and intentionally promoting the negative stereotype of America as international bully. Going beyond its routine anti-American hatred in religious sermons and newspaper editorials, the PA is reinforcing the hatred of America that is already so rampant in the PA today, this time using a subtler but very potent entertainment medium. This kind of popular entertainment in a midday time slot during the summer vacation reaches a wide audience, including and especially children. By using this movie and other media to present the US as the source of world terror, the PA is promoting a central argument in Arab anti-Western ideology. Using an American-produced movie to give credence to Arab anti-American propaganda is similar to the common PA tactic of quoting Jews to "prove" its anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda. (An example is the citing of Norman Finklestein's statements on the Holocaust, to "prove" that Jews turned the Holocaust into an industry for financial profit.) Additional dialogue from the movie Eddy: "San Karbata had a revolution three years ago. You remember the price of bananas went sky high? Well, what happened was the people got sick of the military dictatorship, and all the land down there is owned by just a few rich families. Since the main industry down there is agriculture, a majority of the people are poor... so for the average San Karbatan there is no economic opportunity, shitty living conditions, no education, bad health. I mean, life basically sucks for everyone but the military officers and the landowners. So the people got sick of it and revolted and kicked out the scumbags running the old regime, and started a new democratic government." Nick: "Typical revolution scenario." Eddy: "They want to get rid of the extreme social classes, make everyone more equal, no real poor people and no filthy rich people." Nick: "Like communism?" Eddy: "Yeah well that's exactly what our (American) government is telling us it is! 'Cause San Karbata doesn't want to be a satellite of this country, of the US, any more. They want to run their lives to suit their own lifestyles. They don't want the US controlling them any more... "Well, all the exiled supporters of the old dictatorship are trying to mess up the new government. They've set up these military training camps outside of the country and they have sent these bands of terrorists over the borders to blow away the civilians... "Most of the people here believe that the US is funding the Guerra rebels. They say that there are CIA guys falling out of the trees here. I understand that the US is arming these opposing parties in order to undermine the government and generally screw up the progress here." Lewis: "We also know how corrupt factions of the government can secretly do anything they want to without approval from the people. Our government has come a long way in three years but the CIA and the Guerras are like a bone in its side." Nick: "Big US corporations - they lost a lot of money when we took over the government." Eddy: "It's weird how we grew up with this image of America being the good guy when, if you research a little, you find out that our country has done some pretty crappy things to other countries to control them. It's a bummer." Contact Palestinian Media Watch by email at pmw@pmw.org.il or go to their website: www.pmw.org.il |
| GUSH KATIF |
EQUAL JUSTICE FOR ALL? THE SAGA OF TWO ISRAELI FAMILIES
Posted by Ruth Matar, July 28, 2005. |
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Dear Friends, This is the saga of two Israeli families, both of whom came home to Israel from the Diaspora. The family of Ariel Sharon made Aliyah from Russia after World War One and the Grandparent's of Shimshon Cytryn made Aliyah from United States. The legal problems of the Sharon family have been manifold, spanning many years. Until now Ariel Sharon and his two sons have been able to avoid conviction for their alleged transgressions of the law. The Cytryn family never had any legal problems in the United States, but are persecuted in Israel, because of their political opinions. I am very familiar with the legal problems of the Cytryn grandparents since they have been members of Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women In Green) for many years. In 1995, their son Shmuel Cytryn, who at that time lived with his family in Kiryat Arba, was put into Administrative Detention, where he was incarcerated for two and a half months. Administrative Detention, a procedure inherited from the British Mandate, is a device used by the Shabak (General Security Service) in order to imprison, without trial, people who are critical of the government. When a person is put in Administrative detention, he is not advised of the evidence against him, nor is he allowed to face his accusers. Shmuel Cytryn was merely told that he was a danger to the State of Israel because of his "loose tongue". I asked his mother, my friend Marilyn, what the Shabak meant by this accusation. She told me that her son Shmuel had warned various people that they should be aware of a certain man in the community, because he was a Shabak agent. Many years after Shmuel Cytryn was jailed in administrative detention, this accusation was confirmed. The man in question was Shabak agent Avishai Raviv, also known as "Champagne". Shmuel Cytryn was released from jail after two and a half months because of much pressure from civil libertarians including much opposition to this undemocratic procedure from the United States. A famous United States Civil Rights lawyer, Steven Perles, said to my friend Marilyn that her whole family should return to the United States. He believed that the Shabak would never forgive her family the unmasking of one of their agents. Sadly enough, my friend's grandson, Shimshon Cytryn, is now used as the fall guy for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's machinations to promote his Disengagement. His plan entails the deportation of 10,000 Jews from Gush Katif and northern Shomron. To accomplish this, Sharon is intent on sullying the reputation of the mainly religious settler population, which is ideologically opposed to his giving away Jewish land. Shimshon Cytryn is now sitting in jail, charged with attempted murder. In order to understand Shimshon's - the grandson - case I have to give you some background. Ariel Sharon was very interested in quartering his soldiers and police in a hotel in Gush Katif owned by Israeli Jews. Of course, it seemed advantageous for Sharon to have the expulsion forces right smack in the middle of Gush Katif. He made the owners of the hotel very generous financial offers, but as strong opponents of the Disengagement-Deportation Plan, they refused. The owners of the Palm Beach Hotel appointed Nadia Matar as the manager of the hotel, and as their legal representative. Nadia Matar spent much money which she had obtained from American donors, in order to make the 118 rooms of the hotel livable again. The owners of the hotel were enthusiastic about letting young couples with children live in the newly refurbished rooms. Ariel Sharon did not let this activity interfere with his plans. He arranged provocations against the residents of the hotel and finally had the army expel them with brute force, in the most undemocratic fashion. He now quarters police and soldiers in this hotel, which he literally stole from its rightful owners. It is interesting to note that the US Constitution, in the Bill of Rights, prohibits quartering soldiers in the homes of citizens. "No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner prescribed by law." The excuse used by the Sharon government to expel the young couples from the hotel, was the so called, "near lynching" of an Arab youth. I have discussed this "near lynching" in my previous Letters from Jerusalem. It has been proven, beyond doubt, that this was an affair staged by the Israeli media. However, Shimshon Cytryn is still imprisoned under very onerous conditions, charged with "attempted murder". He is accused of having led the "near lynching" of the Palestinian youth. (The Jerusalem Post, July 15, 2005) "The defendant had decided that he wanted to harm the injured (Palestinian) and kill him" the indictment against Cytryn claims. "To do that he armed himself with a rock, ran with the rock in hand towards where the youth was lying injured, jumped over the wall and threw the rock at his head with the intent to kill. However, Avi Yisakharov, a reporter for Reshet Bet (Israel Radio 2) appeared on the program Ha-Kol Dibburim (All Talk) and told the host of the program, Gabbi Gazit, that the "lynching victim" tells an entirely different story. He says that it was a soldier, not a settler, who hit him in his stomach and head with the butt of his M-16 rifle. The Arab youth insisted that it was not a settler but an IDF soldier. This radio program was transcribed by IFAT MEDIA INFORMATION in Hebrew, and I obtained a professional English translation. I have made this translation available in its entirety at the end of this letter. I urge you to read the transcript of this radio program. It is a MUST READ, and proves, without a doubt, Shimshon Cytryn's innocence. However, the Israeli media completely ignored this radio interview from July 4, 2005, with the Arab youth, and continues to talk about the settler, who nearly lynched an Arab youth. This is an excellent example of the Israeli media's propensity not to allow themselves to be confused by the facts. We pray that the Israeli Justice System will show more fairness. If you are as incensed as I am about this injustice perpetrated on the second generation of the Cytryn family, please express your sentiments to: Israel's Attorney General, Menachem Mazuz Faxes from a true democracy like the United States carry a great deal of weight. *** While the Cytryn family is battling the Israeli justice system, the Sharon family, although accused of many transgressions of the law, have never ever spent even one day in jail. The legal problems of the Sharon family have been manifold, spanning many years. The most often mentioned legal matter is the Greek Island Affair.
What follows is information taken from the Washington Times online:
"The affair dates back to 1998 when Sharon was minister of national
infrastructure and then foreign minister.
A contractor friend, David Appel, wanted to build a multi-billion
dollar resort on a barren Greek island, Petrokalo, 32 miles south east
of Athens.
It is a 750-acre island, half a mile from the coast. Appel
envisaged a resort of 100,000 rooms, casinos, gulf courses,
entertainment centers, sports centers and a train that would go there
from Athens airport in an undersea tunnel.
"It was a grandiose, some say megalomaniacal project," noted Mazuz.
Appel's experts estimated it would cost more than $15 billion.
Appel had difficulties obtaining the Greek island and allegedly
enlisted Sharon's help. Appel invited Greek officials to Israel and
Sharon attended a dinner in their honor.
Appel hired Sharon's son, Gilad, promised $7,500 a month and two
bonuses of $1.5 million each if the project developed. Later Appel and
Gilad Sharon signed a contract whereby the contractor would pay Gilad
Sharon $20,000 a month and, if the project developed, the $1.5
million.
Appel was indicted for bribery, under the assumption that Gilad
Sharon's work was not worth that much money and that it was actually
an indirect bribe to Sharon.
State Attorney Edna Arbel recommended charges against Ariel and
Gilad Sharon and prepared a proposed indictment before leaving to
become a Supreme Court judge."
According to the book Boomerang, Sharon, and his sidekick, attorney
Dov Weisglass hatched the disengagement plan in order to divert
attention from the charge of bribery and influence peddling in the
Greek Island Affair and other alleged crimes.
Sharon replaced Attorney General Edna Arbel with Menachem Mazuz and
had Edna Arbel kicked upstairs to the Supreme Court. Because of his
fear of being indicted Sharon is currently involved in the very
controversial political attempt to expel 10,000 Jews from their homes,
schools, synagogues and communities in Gush Katif and northern
Shomron. All of these areas are a part of the Biblical Inheritance of
the Jewish people.
Ariel Sharon has learned nothing from the Greek Island Affair.
While he is still in the process of expelling the Jews from Gush Katif
he is already negotiating with the new Arab landlords, to build a
vacation resort including a casino in the Gush Katif community of Elei
Sinai. Sharon is planning to work with three investors.
The first investor is Cyril Kern, who is closely connected to a
million-and-a-half dollar loan to Prime Minister Sharon and his sons,
a case which is still under investigation.
The second investor is a Saudi billionaire who has previously met
with Sharon to discuss the possibility of buying the Gush Katif
houses, from which Jews will be removed, for a lump sum of seven
billion dollars.
The third investor is Shmuel Flatto-Sharon, a former Knesset member
and convicted criminal.
AVI FARCHAN a resident of Elei Sinai told reporters of his fight to
hold onto his home in Yamit in the Sinai in 1982. He relocated to Elei
Sinai where he is now, once again going to be expelled from his home.
Farachan was outraged that his new home will be used by dealers.
Even the synagogue will be left intact in his home town of Elei Sinai,
so that Israeli gamblers in the proposed casino will have a place to
pray!
Farchan further said, "that the government was gambling at the
expense of the country. The casino plan," he said, "showed how the
Sharon government is motivated not by the values of the land but by
the values of money.
Have you no Jewish heart, Ariel Sharon? Have you no shame?
With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Post Script - MUST READ
IFAT Media Information
Program: Ha-Kol Dibburim (It's All Talk)
Avi Yisakharov - Talk with the Palestinian Youth Who Underwent the
"Lynch" in Muassi
Gabbi Gazit: Hello to Avi Yisakharov.
Avi Yisakharov: Good morning, Gabbi
Gabbi Gazit: Well, you talked a few minutes ago with, what's the
boy's name?
Avi Yisakharov: Hilal Majaida.
Gabbi Gazit: Right, he's the victim of the lynch that almost
succeeded, but actually at the last minute remained alive. Then let's
hear about the conversation and the excerpts.
Avi Yisakharov: We will hear excerpts, of course, because this was
conducted in Arabic, so we'll try each time to give an excerpt and
then translate it. Hilal Majaida is eighteen years old, an inhabitant
of the al-Muassi area. I asked him several questions about himself, if
he ever belonged to the [terrorist] organizations, if he ever
participated in demonstrations. He said, All in all, I'm a quite
simple guy, that's what he sounded like, too.
Gabbi Gazit: How old is he, by the way?
Avi Yisakharov: Eighteen years old. I only wanted to make a living,
he explains, I wanted to earn my living without any relation to
politics, I don't understand too much about the Palestinian
organizations. That day, he explains, we went to the sea to catch
fish, that's his occupation, we spread the net, we saw there weren't
any fish, so we went to another place in the sea. Then I saw a
gathering of soldiers and residents, I went over there to see what
happened. Let's hear a short excerpt of how he describes this. So, he
explains, then he came to the place of the gathering, and he
immediately spotted next to his house a religious settler who wanted
to enter the house, so he hits him, he hit him in the head. What
happened then, Hilal Majaida tells us, here is the central passage -
one of the soldiers came and took him from there to an isolated spot,
he hits him in the stomach and in the head. I asked him: Are you sure
that this was the soldier? He said - Yes, the soldier, not any
settler, in the stomach and in the head. Let's hear his description.
So, Gabbi, according to what Hilal Majaida claimed, actually, first of
all, it was the soldier who beat him, even before we saw those famous
photographs on television, the soldier beating him with the butt of an
M-16 rifle, so he tells it.
Gabbi Gazit: Then we didn't see that on television.
Avi Yisakharov: We already didn't see this on television. Moreover,
---
Gabbi Gazit: OK. What about the clip that we saw, he tells.
Avi Yisakharov: Moreover, in fact, he doesn't remember the clip
that we saw. He was already --
Gabbi Gazit: He was already in a state of unconsciousness, right,
right.
Avi Yisakharov: Correct. Then he says: The soldier took me to that
isolated spot, he grabbed me, he pushed me against ...
Gabbi Gazit: ... that place where afterwards he's lying, where we
saw him.
Avi Yisakharov: Correct. He pushed me against the wall, he let
people beat me in the meantime, those little children came, he tells,
who beat me, until someone came from behind and hit me with a rock on
the head and I passed out. Listen. So, actually, Gabbi, Hilal
attributes, more than anything, everything that happened to him until
that moment, until that moment when he loses consciousness, to that
soldier. We don't know yet who that soldier is, we hear that the IDF
already is familiar with those claims by Hilal Majaida. Of course I
asked him if he was aware of everything that happened during this
entire period, then he's not so aware of the great commotion there was
in Israel about the lynch, about the arrest of those committing it, as
we read this morning in the newspapers, about the takeover of the
hotel. He says: I don't watch television, there are 120 channels and
there's everything there, but it's all talk, he says. What was the
damage, nevertheless? Four hours unconscious, four days in the
hospital, twelve stitches in his head, a broken left arm, a dislocated
right shoulder, headaches, nightmares while sleeping, bruises on his
back, swelling in his chest, and damaged hearing. A lot of damage was
caused to that Hilal Majaida. I wondered with him there, you know, all
in all, how does he see the future between the two peoples; after all,
Israelis rescued him. Then, first of all, he's thankful to Itzik Sadan
from Yedioth Ahronoth, the Yedioth reporter in the south who really
helped him to be extricated from there, but he already reports about
this that he wants to be a shahid [suicider]. He says that his
situation would be better if he were dead, he would be satisfied. I
asked him: Why would you be satisfied? Then he explains that life in
Muassi is no life, the settlers don't stop persecuting us, and there
won't be any peace with you Jews, because we don't like you and you
don't like us.
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
| GUSH KATIF |
KISSUFIM
Posted by David Wilder, July 28, 2005. |
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I no longer know where I am. Yesterday really threw me through a loop. But I guess that's my fault. Nothing should surprise me anymore. The two stories - one: the welfare agency is planning on 'taking' children from their parents who are arrested resisting expulsion, and placing them with foster families, barring grandparents, aunts and/or uncles who will voluntarily give them a place to live, until their criminal parents are released from jail; and two: the young teenage girls, fourteen and fifteen, who must either stay in jail or live on a kibbutz, because: the cannot be sent home to Daddy, because he opposes the expulsion, and they cannot be sent to Mommy, because she lives in Gush Katif, and they cannot be left under house arrest, because at home they will continue their disruptive activities against the expulsion, and will have leave a 'negative' impression on their friends. It makes you want to cry. This is what we prayed for, for two thousand years? But, yes, there are miracles. Still, appearing before our eyes. The first, and the most amazing, in my opinion, is that people are continuing to make aliyah, continuing to come live in Israel. A few days ago a plane-load of new French immigrants arrived. This summer, if I'm not mistaken, Nefesh b' Nefesh, one of the most important organizations in existence today, is bringing some four full planes of new Israelis from America to the 'promised land.' In a few weeks, our wonderful Hebron Fund associate director, Ziva Glanz, is making aliyah with her husband Daniel and their infant. True, we lost a fabulous worker, but we're making that up with a new Israeli family. And as far as I'm concerned, the latter is much more important than the former. When people I meet, on groups touring, or via email, inform me that they're making Aliyah, well, it makes my day. There's nothing more important a Jew can do today than come live in Israel. But looking around at what's happening here in Israel, I ask myself, why would anyone in their right mind what to come live here? You've got to be crazy. And it's not a case of ignorance. Today, everything is available on internet, and just about everybody knows everything. So why are they coming? Israel, summer, 2005, is probably the last place on earth anyone would want to be. Democracy is being overrun by tyranny, the police and judicial system are fully corrupt, and the Israeli army can no longer be accurately called the IDF - the Israeli Defense Force. Rather than defending its citizens, the army is being ordered to attack and expel Jews from their homes. Now it's the IEF - the Israeli Expulsion Force. But the planes are still arriving with new batches of Israelis. Why? This morning I attended a special event at Ma'arat HaMachpela. Tamar and Koshet Menlon celebrated their son Aviel's Bar Mitzvah. The Menlon's arrived in Israel when Aviel was two, eleven years ago. At first they lived five families together in one caravan-house in Kiryat Arba. Now they have their own home. They made aliyah from North East India, a place between the former Burma and Bangladesh, and are known as Bnei Menashe - long-lost Jews from the tribe of Menashe, who have been missing since the days of the First Temple Era, thousands of years ago. Koshet Menlon, back in the old country, was a high-level administrator in the government offices of his locality. Today he works for a very low salary at a local carpentry business in Kiryat Arba. To try and make ends meet, Tamar cleans the neighborhood school every day, and sometimes also, people's homes. The Menlons, a family with five children, have little material property to speak of. A roof over their heads, clothing and food - the very basic necessities of life. But at Aviel's Bar Mitzvah I didn't see any unhappy people. Together with their family and friends, the Menlon's celebrated, not in a lost, forsaken place in the middle of nowhere. Rather, they celebrated at Ma'arat HaMachpela in Hebron. After thousands of years of being lost, these people have come home. Really home. To Hebron, the first Jewish city in Israel. When you stop and think about it, it's mind boggling. So here we have it - two very distant extremes - that can almost tear you apart. If not physically, than psychologically. The horrors of expulsion and abandonment, Israel summer, 2005, and the magnitude of Jews coming home, from America, from France, from India, from, anywhere, you name it. It's a dichotomy that's difficult to fathom. So, why? I can only suggest my answer. If you listen to, or read news concerning the present war for Gush Katif, you may have frequently heard the word, Kissufim, or the Kissufim junction. When you drive the roads to most of the Gush Katif communities, Neve Dekalim, Kfar Darom, etc, there is only one entrance, and that is via the Kissufim junction. It makes no difference if you arrive via Ashkelon or Beer Sheva; you must arrive at the Kissufim junction. Driving straight for a few minutes, passing entrances to various small moshavim and other communities, you arrive at the Kissufim checkpoint, which presently, seals off Gush Katif from the rest of the country, turning it into something of a Ghetto. From the Kissufim checkpoint, you continue on a desolate road, lined with decrepit Arab shacks, called by some, houses, which the terrorists use to take cover in order to shoot at Israelis driving on the road. (The Supreme Court forbade the army from destroying these wretched hovels, resulting in continued attacks, bloodshed and murder.) Eventually you cross over a bridge, taking you into Gush Katif proper. The Kissufim junction is currently a flashpoint - 'the place' to get to, or better put, to get through. It was the original target of last week's Moetzet Yesha march of 20,000. However, despite what you read in the press, people are still getting through. And you'll forgive me if I don't reveal how. (At least, not yet. The day will come?) In any case, Kissufim has, in the current lexicon, a special significance. But not too many people pay attention to Kissufim's real meaning. The definition of Kissufim in a Hebrew-English dictionary will likely be "yearning" or "craving." Kissufim really is a major junction, a crossroads, not only connecting Gush Katif to the rest of Israel, but also linking Am Yisrael, the Jewish people, to Eretz Yisrael, to our homeland. For thousands of years, the uttering of 'Next Year in Jerusalem,' a spiritual clinging to Hebron, to Bethlehem, to Yerushalayim, a soul-hunger so strong, so deep, so transcendental that it outlasted the most rampant, virulent anti-Semitic hate for Jews, these kissifum, these desires, they kept the Jewish people alive. Pogroms could kill the body, but they could not destroy the spirit. The spark of Eretz Yisrael, one of the essential ingredients in a Jewish soul, could not be doused. The Kissufim, the yearning for our land, for our cities, for our very soul, was stronger than the knives, axes and guns. So too today. The Kissufim junction joins so very much: it links the north and the south, Gush Katif to the rest of Israel. But even more, it signifies the dreams of Am Yisrael from time immemorial, the dream of coming home, of settling the land, of living the way a Jew is supposed to live, the way a Jew was created to live. And that is why today's events are so heart-wrenching, because they negate the very ideals that kept us going for over two millennium. Now, after having fulfilled the dream, we're going backwards, and it doesn't make any sense. But the Jewish people do not give up. The Kissufim of our fundamental nature are much stronger than dictators, generals and plainly stupid people. We've gone through it before, and been victorious. That's why Ziva and Daniel Glanz, together with thousands of others, will make Aliyah this summer, the summer of horrors, 2005, and why families like the Menlons can live they way the do here, in Eretz Yisrael, as opposed to 'the good life,' back there in the long-lost Shangri-La of North East India. Because our Kissifum, our longing, our desire, our yearning to live what we really are, these Kissufim overcome all else that may seem to stand in the way. And that is why we will not give up - not now, not ever, that is why next week, tens of thousands, and in the end, I expect, hundreds of thousands, will take to the streets, marching in one direction - from all directions, but marching in one direction, marching towards our Kissufim, the Kissufim which kept us alive through the generations, towards the Kissifum which will continue to bind us to our land - from Morag to Homesh, from Kfar Darom to Sa-Nour, from Eilat to Kiryat Shemona, the Kissufim which unite Am Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael, forever. With blessings from Hebron. David Wilder is spokesman of The Jewish Community of Hebron. You can contribute directly to The Jewish Community of Hebron, POB10, Kiryat Arba-Hebron 90100, hebron@hebron.org.il, 972-2-9965333 or write to The Hebron Fund, 1760 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11230, hebronfund@aol.com |
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THE WAR OF THE SONS OF DARKNESS
Posted by Time to Speak, July 28, 2005. |
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They neither know nor understand,
One of the ancient Hebrew documents found among the Dead Sea Scrolls tells of an epochal War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness. The Children of Israel from ancient times to the present day have endured and survived many a war against them by other peoples' Sons of Darkness. Now, they are under assault by the darkest of their own sons, a war proclaimed such bland names as Peace Process, Roadmap, and Disengagement.
Oh, my people!
"No Jew has the right to yield the rights of the Jewish People in
Israel. No Jew has the authority to do so. No Jewish body has the
authority to do so. Not even the entire Jewish People alive today as
the right to yield any part of Israel"
The decline in Israel's strength and standing during the last twelve years is not an achievement of the enemies bent on its destruction. It is brought about by its own Sons of Darkness who conceived and managed to impose the doctrine of surrender to those enemies, beginning with the lethal Oslo Accords and the refusal to rescind them after they were proven lethal. Now, encouraged by their own successes against their own people, they push on to the even more lethal Disengagement. [See further Issues Nos. 37, 39, 40, 45, 46, 49, 50, 51] * * * * * * * * * * * * Sharon and his inner-circle cronies invented Disengagement without even informing much less consulting those responsible for the nation's security and well-being. The IDF Chief-of-Staff first learned of it from a public news report. Israel's best interests were never a factor or even a consideration in concocting and forcing through this plan. The make-believe advantages turn out to be empty excuses. 1] There is scarcely a pretense that Disengagement will lead to peace, or even to a lower level of PLO hostility and terrorism. Mahmoud Abbas and his fellow Terror Chiefs make it clear that they regard Disengagement as a victory for terrorism, urge PLO journalists to "celebrate it", and openly plan to exploit the new scope given them for terrorist campaigns. The Sharon regime's Ambassador to the United States was recently quoted as saying that after Disengagement is complete, then Israel will demand that the PLO dismantle its terrorist structure. Such a remark is stupidity beyond the call of duty. 2] Disengagement will not free Israel of a burden of Gaza. Even while it encourages and empowers the PLO/Hamas, Israel will still have to supply them with water, utility, and other services, augmented by ever more extravagent demands on their behalf from Condoleeza Rice. Sharon cannot even go on touting his plan as "independent" of the PLO, when Rice demands "coordination" with her protege. 3] Sharon in past alleged that Disengagement would bring Israel some relief from outside pressure for concessions, and even Bush-Rice Administration permission to keep some little bits of the Land of Israel. Instead, the show of Israeli weakness contributes to an administration policy that is revealed by its recent proclamations to be egregiously pro-PLO. [See Issue No. 53] 4] It is reported that Sharon and his cronies invented Disengagement to cover up the alleged corruption and criminal frauds of Sharon and his sons Gilad and Omri. If this is so, the scheme has failed. The Attorney General declined to use the mass of evidence of improprieties committed by Ariel and Gilad Sharon, but he has indicted Omri Sharon for crooked fund-raising and campaign misconduct. News media and Osloid politicians openly state that they will turn against him once they have gotten the Disengagement for which they yearn. Shimon Peres and his party have promised to bring down the government if Disengagement is not quickly followed by the surrender of the rest of Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem. Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak demands that, in view of the Sharon family's naughty ways, Sharon should retire from public life -- as soon as he has carried through the Disengagement. * * * * * * * * * * * * Sharon and his henchpersons set in place all the support they expected to need. Members of the cabinet who were firm against Disengagement were fired to prevent them from voting on it. The Osloid-Defeatist Labor Party, that the electorate had massively rejected, was brought into the government. Shimon Peres, Prince of the Sons of Darkness, became Vice Prime Minister. [See Issue No. 49] Both the IDF Chief-of-Staff and the national Chief of Intelligence were ousted for insufficient enthusiasm for the Disengagement and their posts bestowed on more compliant replacements. A supportive Attorney-General, Minister of Defense, Minister of Internal Security, Minister of Justice, and Chief of Police were installed. Most of the news media were already in place, eager to jettison any journalistic ethics that might get in the way of a plan that so perfectly matches their own anti-national and anti-religious agenda. They became instant temporary champions of a man they hate -- but only for as long as he useful to them. One of their number exhorts the media to treat Sharon as tenderly as an etrog" until the Disengagement has been accomplished. An etrog is a citron used a symbol of the fruitfulness of the Land during the week-long harvest festival of Sukkot. Those who observe this festival happily choose their etrogs and carefully preserve them. The media's modern universalists are not notably respectful of such ancestral traditions, so there may be an implied smirk in this choice of simile, along with the implication that after Sukkot/Disengagement is over then so is the role of the etrog. Organs of justice and the judiciary place the Arch-Disengager above the law. The Attorney General closes the file on Sharon's alleged serial corruptions. A senior police official explains why Sharon should be exempt from investigation: "It's unreasonable to topple a government over criminal cases . . . policy is not to delve into cases that might incriminate the Prime Minister, in order not to destabilize the regime". The Supreme Court of Israel, notorious for assuming the right to impose its own enlightened morality on society, approves this unique immunity because "the indictment of a Prime Minister would lead, probably immediately, to changes in the government order in the country, which would be liable to have a dramatic influence on the policy." Not one of the excuses for Disengagement is valid. Why, then, are Sharon and his henchpersons careening down a slide toward disaster to Israel, triumph to its enemies, dividing and endangering society and even compromising the IDF that stands guard over it? Those who contrived the Oslo Accords did not themselves believe they would bring peace -- though they tricked others into believing it. What they did believe is that that throwing away the Promised Land after it was finally redeemed would break the Jewish heart and crush the Jewish spirit. After that, their country would be free of old-fashioned traditions and observances and out-dated standards of personal morality. Perhaps the world would allow them to keep a bit of rump state in which to strut their post-Judaic post-Zionist enlightened universalism. They have not yet achieved this goal, but they are still working at it. Excerpts from "Scorched-earth Kulturkampf," by Caroline Glick, The Jerusalem Post, 11 July 2005: "[. . . . ] In Haaretz's Friday editorial the rationale for the Left's support of Sharon's plan was laid bare: 'The disengagement of Israeli policy from its religious fuel is the real disengagement currently on the agenda. On the day after the disengagement, religious Zionism's status will be different . . . . The real question is not how many mortar shells will fall, or who will guard the Philadelphi route, or whether the Palestinians will dance on the roofs of Ganei Tal. The real question is who sets the national agenda.' An example that reveals the anti-religious factor in the campaign as reported by IsraelNationalNews.com, 20 July 2005: "An Israel Broadcasting Authority crew traveling towards Kfar Maimon to cover the events surrounding the March to Gaza was stopped en route by police for a routine inspection. Comment: Sharon recently made a supposedly public address, at which all men wearing kippot (skull-caps of observant Jews) were denied entry. * * * * * * * * * * * * Among the closest of Sharon's cronies is Dov Weisglass, his personal attorney, his one-time government Bureau Chief, and his favored emissary to both the United States and the PLO. Weisglass is believed to be the counsellor who invented Disengagement as a jolly good way "to change the public agenda away from the media's focus on the investigation" of Sharon family corruptions. Among Weisglass's lucrative legal clients have been Arafat's personal treasurer, who is also a buddy of Omri Sharon, and the gambling casino in ancient Jericho owned by the PLO and its Austrian partners. The profits from the casino ran up to $1,000,000 a day, as hyper-secular Israelis came to donate their losings to the PLO terror-fund and other interested parties. Weissglass reportedly seeks to expand his casino-clientele via a beach-and- gambling resort to be build at Elei Sinai in Gaza, as soon as the present obstacles of Jewish homes, farms, and communities are cleared away. Other parties to the Elei Sinai renewal project include: 1] Shmuel Flatto-Sharon in his native France was convicted of embezzlement of $60,000,000 and sentenced to five years in prison. He escaped to Israel, sought immunity from extradition to France by buying himself a seat in the Knesset, and then served a nine-month prison term for the vote-buying. The twice-convicted felon comes to Elai Sinai in his silver Mercedes limousine. He is working for permits from the PLO to proceed with the gambling casino, and from the government Israel to let Israelis to lose more money there. 2] Cyril Kern, an old buddy of Sharon's and now a resident of South Africa, was an investor in the PLO's Jericho casino. His gift of $1,500,000 to the Sharon family and/or political campaign, is under investigation. 3] Martin Shlaff is an Austrian banker and financier, was an investor in the PLO's Jericho casino. He part in transferring funds to the Sharon family/campaign is under investigation. 4] Norbert Aleman, a business tycoon in Las Vegas, Nevada, the center for gambling casinos in the United States. 5] A Saudi Arabian multi-billionaire who is also interested in buying the state-of-the-art agricultural greenhouses after the Jews who built them are expelled. The head of Sharon's Disengagement Coordinating Team is Eival Giladi. He is simultaneously the Chief Executive Office of the financial Portland Trust that does business with the PLO in Gaza. Giladi raised $500,000,000 to invest in PLO housing in Gaza after the Jewish housing has been razed. The largest investor in the Portland Trust is Sir Ronald Cohen, a close associate of Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime-Minister-in-Waiting Gordon Brown. The charter of the Portland Trust commits it "to advance the interests of both the British government and the European Union". Comment: It is reported that Elei Sinai is slated to be the first Jewish community demolished. So -- What are the benefits of Disengagement? 1] Jews alienated from their own tradition can vent their spite on the Jews who remain faithful.
* * * * * * * * * * * * "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny.
The Disengagers did not bother with securing support from an element of society they regard as insignificant: The people. When mere common citizens have the temerity to resist, the response is to deprive them of elementary civil rights. -- Girls in their early teens are arrested merely for being present at an anti-Disengagement protest, and held in prison indefinitely -- sometimes in solitary confinement. Prime Minister Menahem Begin predicted that if Ariel Sharon came to power "The first time he doesn't get his way he'll put tanks around the Knesset". That perception of ruthless egomania was correct, though so far Sharon has not needed the tanks. He has never taken any meaningful action against the terrorist entity that slaughters Israelis, but he is fierce against Jews who defy his whims. Jerusalem Sharon orders IDF to use force against Jews By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff July 17th, 2005 "As disengagement gets underway Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Sunday ordered the IDF to use 'all force' necessary to prevent Israeli Jews from entering the Gaza Strip with the intention of thwarting his 'disengagement' plan. Ha'aretz reported that as IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz was briefing the cabinet on a weekend clash between security forces and Gaza settlers at the Kissufim Crossing, Sharon interrupted and demanded the army take all measures to put down the protesters. There are mounting charges of brutality by agents of the government in the police and the prisons. Among those reported by IsraelNationalNews.com, 12 July 2005: "The Knesset Law Committee today viewed an Arutz-7 film of police beating an anti-evacuation protestor, and it demanded an investigation. The film showed police severely beating Akiva Vitkin, who was trying to block traffic on June 29 in Ramat Gan, adjacent to Tel Aviv. "One policeman motioned to his colleagues to help beat Vitkin, and they sat on him and stuck fingers in his nose and mouth, causing excessive bleeding and facial injuries. [. . . . ]" 19 July 2005: "After 54 days in jail, the court has released Eliyahu Herbst because there is no incriminating evidence against him. He was released with no limitations at all. On the other side of the scale, enforcers of Disengagement are not immune from punishment. Negev District Police Commander Niso Shacham was in charge of action against the civilian "protestors" peaceably assembled and forcibly detained within his jurisdiction. A TV-news crew filmed and recorded his instructions to a subordinate on how to deal with the "protestors". His words are as brutal, vicious, and obscene as might be expected from a Cossack leading a pogram. After the public release of his performance, Chief of Police Moshe Karadi investigated Shacham's professional demeanor and ruled that: 1. he will not in the future deal with "protestors" * * * * * * * * * * * * Citizens are denied the right to travel if the government does not like the itinerary. In cities around the Land, agents of the government tried to prevent citizens from assembling at Netivot [inside the "green line"] to protest the official sealing off entry to the Jewish towns of Gush Katif. Police stopped lawfully chartered buses, evicted the passengers, and even confiscated the licenses of the drivers.
One of the evicted passengers was former Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapira, aged 80, so set off to walk to his distant destination. The usually leftist Association for Civil Rights in Israel professed itself "unable to find any law providing a legal foundation for the police action against law-abiding citizens traveling in buses". Sharon's plans for dealing with forthcoming defiance are revealed by ace investigative reporter David Bedein, Israel Resource Review, 17 July, 2005 "All this is written as a backdrop to the reality that the Israeli Army is amassing more than 40,000 troops and police near Gaza to forcibly remove Jews from their homes. The Israeli police force has purchased 500 horses from Germany to aid them in their task. Former Israeli intelligence official, Rony Shaked, now a senior correspondent for the daily newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, has written that the IDF now has specially trained dogs who can pull people out of their homes and on to the streets. And the IDF troops near Katif have been handed a document which explains under what circumstances will they be expected to open fire on protesters. The document concludes with an estimate that 300 residents and/or protesters will be killed in the process. Western media never report this stuff. * * * * * * * * * * * * To push through Disengagement, Sharon and his henchpersons had to wreck the political compact between people and government, on which the nation and its society stands. "Democracy and Disengagement", by Evelyn Gordon, The Jerusalem Post, 20 July 2005: "A friend asked me last weekend what disengagement opponents sought to accomplish by blocking roads, clashing with security personnel and urging soldiers to disobey orders. Don't they understand, she asked, that such actions merely alienate the public, and in a democracy, the key to success is winning over public opinion? I still do not know whether to laugh or cry over that question. Comment: Minister of Justice Madam Tzipi Livni classifies law-abiding opposition to government policies as "a threat to democracy". * * * * * * * * * * * * The color orange has become an emblem of defiance of the Sons of Darkness. This bit of brightness drives the Sons of Darkness to a kind of hysteria: 1] Girls were banned from praying at the Kotel [Temple wall] because they were wearing orange shirts.
* * * * * * * * * * * * The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] have always shown matchless valor in defense of Israel and the Jewish people. Now it is being ordered to act against the Jewish people in an operation not in defense of the nation but in the service of a political plot. Many soldiers have declared that they will not be so misused. This often means a prison sentence or dismissal from service -- thereby depriving Israel of its finest defenders. The elite Golani Brigade and Givati Brigade have been exempted from Disengagement duty, for fear of mass refusal to obey. A ceremonial jump at completion of parachute training was cut short when men floating downward to their Land waved orange ribbons.
This is "A Tme to Speak -- Messages About Israel", Issue No.
55.
"A Time To Speak" appears
once a month, and each issue is on a theme that relates to Israel and
the Middle East past and present, including history, background,
current events, analysis and comment. All issues appear on its
website: http://www.israel.net/timetospeak. A complimentary
subscription to the e-mail edition is available by request to:
speak@actcom.co.il.
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| GUSH KATIF |
CONTINUING THE ENGAGEMENT PROCESS
Posted by Moshe and Rachel Saperstein, July 28, 2005. |
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This is a wonderful article. It's also an amazing article in that it was written by a leftist and appeared in Ha'aretz, flagship of the hate-the-religious-settlers press It was written by Nadav Shragai. After 5,860 mortar shells and Qassam rockets, as of yesterday morning - or, in the words of Gush Katif residents, 5,860 miracles - the time has come to discuss miracle NO. 5,861: the fact that most Gush Katif residents still manage to preserve their sanity and behave in a way that elicits astonishment and respect form the external enemy and those who hate them at home. Any other group would have escaped a long time ago. Kiryat Shmona practically emptied out during the Katyusha rocket period. Many people left the Dan region during the Gulf War. But nearly no one has abandoned Gush Katif, on the contrary, settlements there have grown. The residents have held onto their homes and land by their fingernails. Even when the Qassam began to fall on Sderot, and the distinction made between blood and blood screamed out to heaven - as the government hit back at the Palestinians almost every time Sderot residents were wounded and generally made do with verbal responses when the wounded were in Gush Katif - the residents there bit their lips and kept going. And when Sderot was declared a front-line community - a status that gave residents significant material benefits- and those who took a lot more, for many years, were ignored, Gush Katif residents took even this formal insult in silence. They chose to focus on splendid agricultural and Torah activities and on building a community that compares to few others. Other people would have exploded, possibly taken the law into their own hands, as some residents of Samaria, Kiryat Arba, Ariel and Jerusalem have done when confronted with lesser blows than Gush Katif has sustained. But that's not what happened in Gush Katif, where residents displayed a restraint difficult to understand, and decided to stick to the routine. Soon everything might end, and the people of Gush Katif will embark on a new path. The Israeli public would do well to engrave on its memory the noble behavior pattern of the Gush Katif residents - a type of unknown Jewish attachment to the land, in which every additional day of green grass and laundry fluttering in the wind, of planting in the greenhouse, learning Torah in the study hall and shopping in the grocery store, even when the sword is on the neck - is the fulfillment if a nearly sacred commandment. The Believe and Plant fund, to which tens of thousands of people have donated money so that Gush Katif residents can continue to plant and build until the last moment, is perhaps a strange project according to accepted Israeli normative codes. But according to Jewish codes regarding belief, such a hishtadlut (making an effort), actions that involve prayer, and prayer that involves action, the project is a unique model of courage. In the middle of this crisis and harsh reality, many Gush Katif residents still find time for some self-examination regarding the sin of secluding and distancing themselves form other crises in Israeli society. At this time, many of them are still going door to door in a personal attempt to convince people to oppose the disengagement. They insist that the slogan, "With love we will triumph" is not just a marketing device, that only love (sometimes baseless love) and dialogue will lead to a renewed engagement, and that even if disengagement is the punishment, engagement is the correction. Everyone has his own engagement. Gush Katif residents see not just engagement with territory, but primarily engagement with a different spirit - a spirit of faith, with Jewish tradition, with a different type of relationship among individuals and between each person and his G-d. The big test of Gush Katif residents after the evil, immoral and dangerous "disengagement" will be the continuation of the engagement process. Those who already have proven they are not blinded by money will need to prove, even after thy have been uprooted form their homes, that the process of engagement does not stem solely form a momentary interest. They will certainly know how to do this. Moshe Saperstein and his wife Rachel live in Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif, in the Gaza Strip. He is a Jerusalem Diarist, one of the group of Israelis who are recording their experiences living in Israel. He lost an arm while fighting in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He was again wounded in a February 2002 incident when he drove his car into a terrorist who had just shot and killed a young mother traveling in the car in front of him. He writes frequently of his physical and emotional struggles. His wife, Rachel (aka. La Passionara, La P.) works at the Girls High School in Neve Dekalim' Her recent book, "Eviction: A Gush Katif Viewpoint", with photos by Moti Sender can be ordered from www.pavilionpress.com. |
| GUSH KATIF |
WALLERSTEIN: UNITY AT HOME ABOVE
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, July 28, 2005. |
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Below is some remarks by Pinchas Wallerstein of the Yesha Council as reported in today's Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNationalNews.com) and archived at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=86651 This is total nonsense. There already exist a high level of unity amongst Jews and loyal non-Jewish Israelis. Had a referendum been held on the issues of the planed Sharon Pogrom in Gaza, over 60%, maybe close to 70%, would have voted against it. The primary and in most issues sole source of social and political contention in Israel is the minuscule but fanatic Hellenist cult that has grabbed power in Israel. It is their hate driven fanaticism that stands in the way of any civilized or rational discussion of social or political issues in the country. Who but the most barbaric of fanatics abducts children, tortures them and attempts to forcibly "reeducate" them to accept the tenets of their irrational beliefs? It is not those who are loyal to the Jewish people who have brought on this disaster. It was not loyalty to the Jewish people that motivated the fanatic haters to illegally and treasonably meet with the PLO to plot the destruction of the State of Israel. It was not those loyal to the Jewish people who brought them in to the heart of our country, armed, trained and financed the Arab murderers. It is not those loyal to the Jewish people who have unleased goon squads of psychopaths to brutalize unarmed and peaceful protesters. The pretence that there is some sort of symmetry between those loyal to the Jewish people and those who actively betray us must stop. We must suspect those who express this lie of either gross stupidity or subversion of the Jewish cause. In either case whoever promotes this nonsense has no business in speaking for us. (IsraelNN.com) Yesha Council leader Pinchas Wallerstein told Galei Tzahal (Army) Radio this morning that the struggle against the Gaza/Shomron Disengagement Plan will continue in earnest as opponents to the plan continue efforts to prevent the expulsion of Jews from their homes. Wallerstein stressed however that unity among residents of Israel is paramount, and the differences of opinion must not lead to violence or worse. In response to a question regarding dialogue with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Arab terrorists, towards a future agreement, Wallerstein stressed that first and foremost, "I am concerned regarding unity among all Jews and Israelis, to make peace amongst ourselves." Only following achieving such a reality explained Wallerstein, may be begin concerning ourselves with expanding dialogue and other peace-making efforts to "those who are currently committed to launching Kassam rockets and mortar shells at us." Wallerstein added that even "during the darkest Oslo days of the Rabin administration there were meetings, many meetings, many 'off the record' that were never publicized," warning that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has closed all avenues of dialogue with opponents to his plan, delivering a major and possibly fatal blow to democracy in Israel. When asked if he is seeking a meeting with Sharon, Wallerstein responded "I do not want to meet with him and do not expect anything from him at his point. I do however want to permit the people to decide." Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
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EXTREMISTS": THE STEREOTYPE DEEPENS; ARABS KILL ARABS, BLAME
ISRAEL; PA AMBULANCES CARRY ARMS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, July 28, 2005. |
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"EXTREMISTS": THE STEREOTYPE DEEPENS "Extremist" used to be an adjective. Used as, "extremist settlers," it meant the unreasonable ones in the grouping. Its use as an adjective became abused for propaganda, to smear people merely for disagreeing with the government. Calling some people "extremist settlers" was a way of brushing off their concerns, without having to explain why one's own concerns are superior. I don't think they are superior. I think they are extremist. The major media, however, being largely of one mind on this, get away with a one-sided campaign. Now the "NY Times" is coming to use the term as a noun, as in "extremists," referring to all opponents of PM Sharon's abandonment plan, as if all were extremist. Having failed to explain the plan satisfactorily, justify it, and answer the arguments against it, but merely asserting advantages without showing why they would apply, proponents find it easier to smear their opponents as a whole. Group smear is an old technique. Before and during the Holocaust, when Jewish nationalists tried to rescue the Jews of Europe, the Established smeared them and warned supporters off. SLAVISHLY FOLLOWING THE GOVERNMENT LINE About half the US and Israeli citizens disagree with many of their governments' policies. US Jewish organizations have a different attitude towards the Israeli government. They defer to it, however un-Jewish or calamitous its policies. They act as if having no minds of their own. If they just wanted to show respect, they would maintain a hands-off policy, when they disagree. Why do they show respect to an un-Jewish or calamitous Israeli government? (Answer: that government has forfeited respect from the prejudiced world, and the organizations don't want to add to the disrespect.) But these organizations do more than defer to the government of Israel. They endorse its policies. When they endorse the policies of the government of Israel, they are endorsing its un-Jewish or calamitous policies. They also are assuming that the government is representative of the Israeli electorate, which it is not, and that the government has a more legitimate stewardship of the Jewish patrimony than have they. I don't think it is democratic or acting as an appropriate guardian of the Jewish homeland, which it is giving away parts of without asking for a worldwide Jewish referendum, if it even is up to us mortals to decide. AN INCONSISTENT POLICY ON GENOCIDE A friend agreed that genocide must be stopped, and the US would be justified in sending an army to stop it. On the other hand, she denies that the US was justified in sending an army to stop Saddam Hussein, who was committing genocide against the Kurds and marsh Arabs. She would have had a better case in arguing that the US was right to stop his genocide, but wrong to base the invasion on his having or planning to acquire nuclear weapons. I'd still disagree with her, but at least she would be consistent. How do such people explain their inconsistencies? DEFENSE AGAINST TERRORISM People are proposing a greater effort for defense against terrorism. By that they mean more restrictions on the entry of Islamists and monetary transfers, more guards, and more fences. But we can't guard everything, everywhere, forever. Eventually, terrorists would acquire weapons of mass-destruction. Before that, they would succeed in some bombings. Therefore, homeland defense allows for a certain level of destruction and, ultimately, failure. True defense means expelling not only Islamists but all Muslims, so they cannot become radicalized, and overthrowing the several governments that are allied with terrorists. TERRORISM AGAINST ISRAEL INCREASING The number of terrorist attacks against Israelis has risen to about 100 a week. It is getting more difficult to pretend that there is some sort of "calm" or semi-ceasefire. It also is ridiculous for PM Sharon, who insists on pursuing abandonment, to assert that he would not have his people retreat under fire, now that they are under continual fire (Arutz-7, 7/15). ARABS VICTIMIZED BY OWN PEOPLE'S TERRORISM Terrorists attacking US troops in Iraq did so as the GIs were handing out candy to children. More than 30 children were killed and a similar amount wounded. Some Arabs are getting angry at the wantonness of jihadist violence (IMRA, 7/15). Do they expect consciences from fanatical terrorists or fire safety from arsonists? PALESTINIAN CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (PCHR) PCHR issued a press release about some Israeli counter-terrorism. It described all those wounded and killed by Israeli gunfire as civilians. IMRA explains that the Arabs call all their terrorists civilians, because they are not soldiers in a sovereign state's army (IMRA, 7/15). The Arabs also call all Israelis soldiers, because they had been, are eligible to become, or some day may grow up to be soldiers, even though some are discharged, some are elderly, and many don't join up. Thus the Arabs call militiamen civilians and civilians, soldiers. That is what they do with language, pervert it for propaganda. That it is an Arab human rights group makes no difference, because the human rights aspect is a facade, as it is for many Western groups. SAUDI GOVERNMENT STILL ALLOWS FUNDING OF AL-QAEDA S. Arabia still has not arrested and frozen the funds of leading financiers of al-Qaeda and similar terrorist groups. The US has appealed to the government to crack down, in vain, as the "charities" continue to finance attacks on the US forces in Iraq. The US formerly blamed only Syria for financing the attacks on it, but for the first time has named S. Arabia (IMRA, 7/16). Arab accusations rarely come from facts or possess logic. They are for shame-avoidance, which is an Arab cultural preoccupation, and for propaganda. P.A. ARABS BLAME ISRAEL FOR THEIR INTERNECINE COMBAT Both the P.A. and Hamas, which have been clashing with each other in Gaza, blame Israel for setting them at each other. They claim Israelis raids do it. They do not admit that it is their raids on Israelis that forced the IDF to pursue them. They do not show any logical connection between Israeli counter-attacks and fighting between the P.A. police and Hamas (IMRA, 7/16). MUSLIM CONSPIRACY THEORIES ON LONDON It might have been done by British intelligence but almost certainly was done by Bush and the CIA, who want to destroy London. There is no evidence of it having been done by Muslims. (There is, but it may be preliminary.) So say Muslims in London (IMRA, 7/16). If they can say this about that, why do we take them seriously about anything? Next they'll say it's revenge for the British burning of Washington, DC in the War of 1812. ABBAS PLAYS A DOUBLE GAME "Mr. Abbas pledged to do his utmost to stop the barrages, but warned that an invasion of Gaza would 'sabotage everything.'" (NY Sun, 7/18, p.8 from Associated Press.) For months, Abbas has pledged both to persuade terrorist organizations not to fire upon Israel and not to force them to desist. He also has in the P.A., praised terrorists, while to Western journalists, he condemned terrorist attacks. He is playing a double game, as did Arafat. He concurs with the terrorists' goals, for he is one of them. Even if he did not agree, how would his argumentation, not backed by force, persuade fanatics? Can no mainstream journalist figure that unlikelihood out? Considering the falsity of pledges by Arafat and himself over a 12-year period, why don't journalists ask why should anyone take his latest pledge seriously? We had learned not to take seriously the pledges of the Nazis and Communists. Why take seriously the pledges of their fellow totalitarians in the Arab world? Hitler was adept at pledging non-aggression. He is the mentor of the Arabs, who read his autobiography as a textbook. P.A. ADMITS THAT ITS AMBULANCES CARRY ARMS The P.A. has admitted that Israeli troops found a rifle hidden in a P.A. ambulance, but claims that the troops had planted it. The P.A. calls this a breach of humanitarian law. (IMRA, 7/17). Is this story likely, or a "likely story?" It is not plausible, because the P.A. many times has violated international law, as totalitarian fanatics will. Therefore, Israel does not need to make up examples. More examples would not particularly carry weight with the media, so biased are they against Israel that they have not made much of the previous violations. Indeed, despite such violations, the rest of the world demands that Israel relax its restrictions at checkpoints. My fellow Jews need to comprehend that most of the rest of the world does not mind Jews being killed, and the media does not attempt to stir consciences over it. On the other hand, the Israeli secret service does plant arms among Jewish nationalists as "evidence" of conspiring against the Arabs and leftist Jewish leaders. The secret service "lost" the evidence that would have cleared Yigal Amir for murdering Rabin, concocted an absurd story about evidence against his brother, eventually had to release the Kalahani brothers in whose car it planted a rifle, and dropped most charges against the father of a slain baby and his friends. CHURCH GROUPS CALLING FOR DIVESTMENT Although the Arabs keep murdering victims, Church groups keep financing pseudo-human rights organizations in the P.A., that make up false claims against Israel. The Church groups then cite those claims as evidence that Israel is a human rights violator, which should be punished by financial divestment. The groups do not call for divestment from the Arabs, whether the P.A., S. Arabia, Egypt that persecutes Christians, etc.. Is this Church-Arab partnership one made in Hell? Most of the Christians involved simply have accepted the false premise of the Palestinian Arabs being victimized by Israel. Christians may be waking up to the deception, as the sound of the blitz penetrates their slumber. A Christian Aid Watch group has arisen in London to counter the biased statements by Christian Aid (IMRA, 7/17 from Gerald Steinberg, Jer. Post). Unfortunately, wealthy Jews donate more to universities (which may be counter-productive) and to museums, than to defending Israel's reputation and to taking the offensive against Israel's enemies, of whom some of them must be numbered. Most of the media is not interested in showing the Arabs to be the culprits and the West to be their victims. Who will educate whom? With what means? Can't count on the government of Israel, which sympathizes more with Arabs. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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DISENGAGEMENT COORDINATOR TO BE INVESTIGATED ON CORRUPTION CHARGES.
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, July 28, 2005. |
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David Bedein is Bureau Chief, Israel Resource News Agency. (http://Israelbehindthenews.com). In this article, he follows up on a conflict of interest scandal. It is archived at http://www.israelbehindthenews.com/#shichitut I personally doubt that any prosecutions will come out of Israel's even more corrupt unJustice system. It should be noted that until about 15 or so years ago conflict of interest was not even a crime in Israel. It was perfectly legal (and accepted) for MKs and senior officials to have financial and personal interests in the sectors they controlled or supervised. Some of the veteran MKs still can not understand what the tumult is all about when someone is exposed as in conflict of interest. Many have the attitude of: "Why in the world be a MK if you can't make a buck on it?" "Israel Knesset Controls Committee Meets and Orders Full Investigation of Eival Giladi, Prime Minister Sharon's Appointee to Coordinate Disengagment Policies". On Tuesday; July 26th, 2005, the Knesset Controls Committee met in special session to consider the case of Eival Giladi, the official appointed by the Israeli Prime Minister to coordinate all public policy aspects of disengagement among all the Israeli government offices involved in the process the police, the general secret service, the IDF, The government press office, the "Sela" office for relocation, the Prime Minster's office and the Foreign Ministry. The Knesset Controls Committee, whose mandate is to consider accountability in government service and to report to the Knesset and to the Israel State Comptroller, called into question the Giladi's conflict of interests that Israel Resource News Agency had first revealed in early July, and which was also picked up by the Makor Rishon newspaper. That conflict of interests rests with the fact that Giladi was named to his role by the Prime Minister of Israel while maintaining his role as the head of the Portland Trust, a British based non profit business development foundation whose role is to raise half a billion dollars to invest in the social and economic development of Gaza, to help Palestinians replace the Jewish community of the Katif district of Gaza after it is to be evicted. When Knesset Controls Committee chairman Dr. Yuri Shtern asked representatives of the Prime Minister's office as to the basis for appointing Giladi to his position, their only response was that they had received a letter from Gideon Meir, the deputy director of the Information Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated April 4th, 2005, stating that Giladi was "the only man qualified for the job" to coordinate the disengagement information policy for the government of Israel. Giladi was appointed to his position on April 10th, 2005. The PM office could provide no answer as to why his position was not put forward in the framework of a public tender, in order to offer the position to other candidates. The PM office could not explain why it did not go according to the law and ask for special permission to appoint such a senior government official without going through the standard tender process. Dr. Yuri Shtern, MK Uri Ariel and MK Zvulun Orlev, all members of the Knesset Controls Committee, each asked if Giladi had been asked to sign a "conflict of interest" agreement, which would prevent Giladi from entering into any situation where he might be personally benefiting from any government role that Giladi would undertake. The answer: One hour before the Knesset Controls Committee meeting, Giladi signed the proverbial "conflict of interest" agreement. Following that announcement, Ozrad Lev, former financial advisor to the Palestinian Authority and also a former high ranking Israeli intelligence officer, and the author of a seminal book on Arafat's bank accounts, testified to the Knesset Controls Committee that the appointment of Giladi represented a "built-in" conflict of interest for Giladi, and that "Giladi must choose between Portland Trust and the Israeli government". Lev mentioned the precedent of Israeli government liaison to the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Yose Ginnosar, who was later hired by PA chairman Yassir Arafat to represent Palestinian Authority business interests. Lev noted that former attorney general Elyakim Rubenstein had ruled that Ginnosar could not perform both roles at once, since the government of Israel was also in negotiation with the Palestinian Authority. The conclusion of the Knesset Controls Committee session was that the committee asked that the Knesset invoke clause 97b of the Knesset State Comptroller act, to order a mandatory Israel State Comptroller investigation into the conflict of interests posed by the PM appointment of Eival Giladi as the coordinator of Israeli government disengagement public information policies, since he is at one and the same time the head of the largest business development foundation for business development in the Palestinian Authority. The Speaker of the Knesset approved of the subject for "quick" consideration in the Knesset plenary of July 28th, 2005. If the Knesset does authorize a formal investigation of Giladi's appointment, pressure may be brought to bear on the office of the Prime Minister to suspend Giladi's position until the investigation can take its course. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
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REFERENDUM COORDINATOR ARRESTED
Posted by Voice of Judea, July 27, 2005. |
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Yekutiel ben Yaakov, Director of the grassroots referendum to save Israel, was arrested and released on bail after several hours of interrogation by the Jerusalem police, earlier today. Ben Yaakov was charged with incitement to racism after circulating ballots that offer every Jew the right to vote on which disengagement he/she prefers: The expulsion of the Jews as is proposed by Sharon or the expulsion of hostile Arabs who refuse to accept Israeli sovereignty over the land. Ben Yaakov took full responsibility for the referendum and asked his investigators why it is considered incitement to speak of expulsion of hostile Arabs (not all Arabs) while it is not considered incitement to speak of the expulsion of every Jew form the areas in question. Ben Yaakov also asked his interrogators why they do not arrest leftist inciters such as Buki Naeh who openly incite to murder "orange settlers". Ben Yaakov said he would be proud to stand trial on these absurd allegations to prove just how far the Israeli government has gone in their battle against Judaism and democracy. Thus far close to 50,000 people have voted in the independent referendum, that offers, the "only alternative that can yet save the Jewish state, according to Ben Yaakov. Those who wish to vote can do so at http://www.mishal.org Voice of Judea Commentary: Israel still refers to itself as a democracy? Subscribe to Voice of Judea emails by sending an email request to jsid@dorsai.org |
| GUSH KATIF |
ROUNDUPS OF JEWS
Posted by Rachel Saperstein, July 27, 2005. |
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Our community phone message system is in operation most of the day. Notices of prayer meetings, protest gatherings, organized meetings between soldiers and settlers, births, deaths, controlled explosions, "take cover" because of Arab bombardment, "return to normal" (or what passes for normal here)... all these and more are reported to us. But most frightening of all was the notification last night that police and soldiers were scouring the Gush Katif communities to round up Jews who are labeled illegals - those who entered without permission, or stayed beyond the time permitted on their permits. "The police have no search warrants" the voice on the phone from the Local Council tells us, "don't let them into your home." Each day the rules become stricter, the decrees more draconian, the police more brutal. Today we were told that personal friends are no longer allowed into Gush Katif. Only close relatives - a child, a parent, a sibling - will be permitted to visit. Residents entering or leaving Gush Katif must show identification at four different checkpoints. Non-compliance, or compliance not speedy enough to suit the police, is treated brutally. My friend U., a 57-year-old grandmother, refused to show her ID and was dragged from her car by four policemen and beaten, then arrested and charged with trying to run them down with her car. Allowed to return home hours later, covered in bruises, she sat and wept. In two weeks she will be subjected to the sight of her 15-year-old son's remains being disinterred from the Katif cemetery. Mr. K. was in the act of showing his ID when a policeman demanded he turn off the motor of his vehicle. Mr. K asked to keep it running so the air conditioner could protect his small children from the intense heat. Mr. K was dragged from the vehicle and arrested for non-compliance with a police order. His children were returned to their mother. He is under house arrest at the home of a relative in Beersheba . His right to return home has been nullified. Teenagers, both residents and visitors, are routinely beaten. The fear of a beating is used as a deterrent to keep people out of the ghetto called Gush Katif. The government's heavy hand is experienced over and over. Sharon's private police force, the Nachshon Brigade of the Israel Police, trained in "following orders" practiced their skills as headbreakers arresting foreign workers. Cleansed of all feelings these uniformed thugs will be leading the forces mercilessly expelling us from our homes. In three weeks our health clinic will close down. In three weeks the sole bank will close down. In three weeks postal service will end. The government has sporadically shut down our telephone and internet service. Our electricity and water will follow. We are already filling empty cola and juice containers with water for that day. Sharon's private army and police are sweeping down on us. We are to be separated, sterilized and broken at all cost. This roundup of Jews is the first step in the eviction of Jews from Jewish Gaza and northern Samaria, to be followed by the eviction of Jews from all of Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights, east Jerusalem. To be followed by even worse? Yet we keep our spirit of humanity alive. We smile at one another. We smile though the shelves in our stores are increasingly bare. We do our laundry, change the sheets, cut the grass. We listen to Torah lectures. Thus we keep our humanity and sanity. Where are you, my fellow Jews? Where are you, my Christian friends? Where are your protests as democracy is destroyed in our holy land of Israel? Rachel Saperstein and her husband Moshe live in Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif, Gaza, Israel. She is a teacher at the Neve Dekalim ulpana and a spokeswoman for the Katif Regional Council. Her recent book, "Eviction: A Gush Katif Viewpoint", with photos by Moti Sender can be ordered from www.pavilionpress.com. |
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WAS LOND BOMBING RETALIATORY? U.S. SOWS WIND, WILL REAP WHIRLWIND
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, July 27, 2005. |
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WAS LONDON BOMBING RETALIATORY?
Whether to have anticipated the London bombing is under dispute. Arab commentators maintain that Britain cannot expect its troops to be attacked only in Iraq. They use Spain as an example that when a country does as the attackers demand, it no longer is attacked. They claim that much antisemitism results from Israel's allegedly harsh policies towards Palestinian Arabs and much anti-Americanism from fighting in Iraq for what the attackers believe is at Israel's bidding. The Muslims go on to accuse the Western commentators and officials of seeking to mislead their people about it. As usual, the Muslims offer no evidence for their charges of misconduct. They further label Western complaints about Islamist extremism as incitement to religious bigotry. Western commentators maintain that the attack is not a consequence of Britain's military support for the war in Iraq. They point out that the terrorists were native-born Muslims. (They might have added that Britain had just announced intent to withdraw its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.) They attribute the problem to Britain's leniency towards Islamists, enjoying free entry. I think both sides have some good points and some poor points. Westerners from countries with expeditionary forces in Iraq should not be surprised at being attacked in their home countries. What they can object to is their civilians being attacked. Nor have the Islamists a legitimate complaint against the war in Iraq, which overthrew an oppressor and dangerous imperialist. It is their religious chauvinism that objects. Their complaint that complaints about jihad being bigoted is hypocritical - jihad being holy war against other faiths is the epitome of bigotry. Expectations that native-born Muslims would not attack their own countries is misplaced national pride. Native-born Islamists are not patriotic. They cocoon themselves in ethnic enclaves and become indoctrinated in hating their countries. To Islamism is their loyalty. In Arab countries, they commit terrorism, too. Westerns are not striving to mislead their people about this, but are trying to puzzle out what is happening to them. Nor do they seek to incite hatred of Muslims. To the contrary, they still pander Muslim sentiments. Thus PM Blair and, right after 9/11, US Pres. Bush, warned the people not to take out their outrage against all Muslims. It is proper to deter vigilantes, but unwise not to explain radical Islam's evil doctrine, means, and intent. Of course Britain should have anticipated being attacked! That is what Islamists do. After having incubated and used the host country to build up, they escalate their demands and some cells will decide it is time to move on to the violence stage of jihad locally. Terrorism is a crime without excuse. Unfortunately, Islamists have no Western notion of decency. They pretend to, piggybacking onto Western concerns about racism to accuse patriots of appealing to racism. The most ludicrous Muslim argument is that Israel got the US to eliminate Iraq as a military threat to it. Israel doesn't dictate to the US, the US dictates to Israel. Hence the US is demanding Israeli withdrawals from Yesha, not Arab withdrawals. The US arms Egypt. Israel would have had the US attack Iran, Syria, and S. Arabia. Instead, the US has frozen military relations with Israel. Many more examples could be cited. Oil speaks louder than Israel. Blaming US actions on Israel reflects the bias that makes that forgery, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" popular among the Arabs. The Arabs deal in bias. They are the racists. The true explanation for the London bombing is that jihad is worldwide. Islamists attack everywhere, including countries that are not anti-Arab, such as Turkey. Sometimes they attack Jews in such countries. They don't like Israel, so they take it out on Jews. I think they like to kill; Islamism gives them a license. ISRAELI LEFTIST DOUBLE STANDARD ON VIOLENCE Israel has four kinds of political violence/provocation: (1) Arab terrorism; (2) Arab and leftist joint protests against the security fence, involving attacks on police that have taken out one policeman's eye and killed another; (3) Police and IDF brutality against Jews protesting abandonment of Gaza; and (4) A fake bomb and anti-Muslim graffiti which the government attributes to abandonment protestors without evidence and which protestors suspect is done by agents provocateurs, of whom some, or at least spies, have been uncovered. The Left is denouncing vehemently the abandonment protestors, who actually exemplify non-violence, while excusing Arab terrorism and denouncing neither gratuitous police violence nor the leftist fence protestors, who personify incivility and violence. Moshe Feiglin, a leader of anti-abandonment, suggests that if there were some violence by abandonment protestors, their movement should not feel responsible for wayward individuals,and the movement should take the offensive against the Establishment orchestration of violence. He urges them not to let themselves be delegitimized and not to appear just against something but to show leadership in what they are for, setting a vision the rest of the country can adopt. U.S. SOWING THE WIND, TO REAP WHIRLWIND The US is pressing Israel to abandon Gaza, even though Abbas has invited terrorists from Lebanon to replace the Jews. Indications are that not only would Hamas ramp up terrorism against Israel, but Islamist terrorists from all over the world would find the haven there that they were deprived of in Afghanistan. There they would train and then emerge to attack the US and Europe (Winston Mid East Report, 7/14 from Prof. Louis Rene Beres). That's why the P.A. wants an unsupervised port and airport in Gaza. ABANDONMENT PROCEEDING, LIE-BY-LIE PM Sharon pretended that Israel had the funds for the abandonment, but now is asking the US for $2.2 billion to pay for it. The Cabinet had provided for a 4-stage abandonment, so before doing later stages, it could determine whether the earlier stages are working out. However, Sharon's staff is planning for doing it in one stage. The Army wants a single stage, to forestall anticipated problems from Hamas. Hamas openly proclaims the coming eradication of the State of Israel. (That's what appeasement of Islamists leads to.) Hamas plans to wait for the settlers and press to leave, and then pound the Army with its rockets and mortars that it exploited the half-ceasefire to amass. It would claim to be forcing the Jews out. Other terrorist groups agreed to attack civilians as well as soldiers, and between Hamas volleys. The Army plans to respond with a large-scale assault, though that would mean entering civilian areas from which Hamas operates. This is likely to end the P.A. claim to be cooperating with Israel, which the Army does not believe sincere (since the P.A. does not do anything against terrorism). The attacks also are likely to scotch prospects for implementing the later stages of the presently planned abandonment and proposing additional abandonment. (It would show the true Arab intentions.) If the Army had to stand by for approval of further stages, its units would be more easily targeted and approval less likely (even from a tame Cabinet?). The US and Peres want to give tens of millions of dollars to Abbas, to employ Arabs in non-terrorist jobs. The Army expects that he would give some to terrorists and most of the rest for political patronage (Winston Mid East Analysis, 7/14 from DEBKAfile). Remember, that is what he did for years, as Arafat's treasurer. WHAT THE LONDON ATTACK REALLY SHOULD REMIND US OF Most of the analogies made with the London bombing are to the British reaction now being like the one during WWII. A more important similarity is between the enemy then and now. The "Nazi beast," as FDR dubbed it, had methods and goals similar to those of the Islamists. Totalitarianism, imperialism, and genocidal antisemitism are the common elements. The Arabs (and Bosnians) were Nazi collaborators and still admire them (IMRA, 7/15 from Caroline Glick, Jer. Post, 7/14). CONDITIONS OF U.S. AID Israel asked the US for additional subsidy to relocate the Yesha bases and to build up the Galilee and Negev regions, partly to accommodate the Jewish refugees from Yesha. The US responded with approval in principle, provided the Bedouin and Druze get a share of it. This is not the purpose of the aid. Nevertheless, the government of Israel accepted the conditions (IMRA, 7/15). The Bedouin have become a fifth column and criminal element, against which the law is not enforced. How about US funds to enforce the law against them? How about no US funds and no US conditions? THE P.A. REMINDED TO DISMANTLE TERRORISM On July 14, Sec. Rice reminded the P.A. again that it is obliged to "take immediate steps" to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure (IMRA, 7/15). The news came from a State Dept. briefing, at which nobody asked the State Dept. whether it noticed that its constant reminders go unheeded, what conclusions it draws from being ignored, and what measures it intends to take against the P.A. for violating its commitments to anti-terrorism and peace. Not a single reporter asked! I haven't noticed them asking in the other briefings I read, either. Was that the 30th reminder or the 300th? Somebody ought to keep count, to show up the P.A. for not being anti-terrorist and to shame the US for pretending it is. CLASHES WITHIN THE P.A. There have been several clashes between Hamas and P.A. police. Dozens of the men and civilians have been wounded and three children have been killed (IMRA, 7/15). Some human rights organizations are keeping a record of Arab and Israeli children killed. They imply that Israeli troops killed the Arab children. This never was a fair reckoning, because the Arabs shoot wildly and do wound their own people. They also operate in civilian areas, thereby inducing civilian casualties. TERRORISTS NEGLECT FAMILIES Terrorists marry and have children, but they impose a life of hardship and flight upon them, and neglect them (IMRA, 7/15). We read of human bombs who leave behind a wife and young children. 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. |
| GUSH KATIF |
WE SHALL OVERCOME
Posted by Judy Lash Balint, July 27, 2005. |
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This was written by Ze'ev Orenstein from Maale Adumin. Contact him by
email at zevinzion@yahoo.com
Over the course of my journey to Kfar Maimon and Gush Katif I witnessed events that have left me with a number of powerful messages that I have taken home with me, and I believe that they clearly express the unbelievable character and strength of the Jewish People, and should serve as a source of inspiration and hope for a brighter future for the Jewish People in the Jewish State of Israel, throughout the Land of Israel. 1) Put politics aside for a moment and ask yourself the following question: What cause would you consider important enough to put your life on hold for 3+ days, take off from work, travel hours away from your home, alone or with your spouse and children, have to live in a tent or sleep in sleeping bags, eat non-perishable foods, sit outside in unbearable heat during the day and march through the dark of night - all while going head to head with the government and security establishment? 40,000+ Jews (men, women & children - more on this in a moment) in Israel felt that the struggle over stopping Sharon's expulsion plan, and the battle over the character of the State of Israel (whether it will be a Jewish State or "A Nation like all others") were strong enough causes to warrant taking all of the above steps - and then some. 2) Children in Israel currently find themselves on summer vacation. Generally speaking, over summer vacation, children will go to camp, hang out at the mall, go to the beach, spend time with friends, or pehaps watch a movie... But of the 40,000+ Jews that participated in "The March", I would say that well over 50% (possibly as high as 60 - 75%) were under the age of 18 years old. To me, this says that the current generation of Jews loyal to the Jewish People, the Land of Israel and Torah of Israel care enough to spend their summer vacation involving themselves in the struggle over these causes, instead of just looking to have a "good time". 3) While besieged in Kfar Maimon, the spirit of the 40,000+ Jews was so incredibly high. People were singing, playing musical instruments, learning, catching up with friends, and dancing... It was as if these Jews felt some type of internal confidence, that not only was their cause just, but that in the end, we were going to succeed, and that our success would not come through fighting against our brothers, but by continuing to live as proud Jews in the Land of Israel - and letting the love for our fellow Jews, the Land of Israel and our heritage speak for themselves. 4) It's easy for me, on an intellectual or even ideological level to feel a strong connection towards the Land of Israel, as was expressed most clearly in my having made Aliyah to Israel from New York, but it is not often that I am able to connect with the Land of Israel on a physical level the way I did at Kfar Maimon and Gush Katif. Whether walking through fields to get from Netivot to Kfar Maimon, sleeping on the wet grass without a tent, sleeping bag, or blanket, walking along the Mediterranean coast of Shirat Hayam, and feeling the waves crash against me as I collected seashells, represented a type of personal bonding with the Land of Israel. I truly felt as if I had become one with the Land of Israel, and I have no doubt that that is how most people who participated in "The March" felt, as well. Many people have the misconception that the Land of Israel is just another land, merely a physical piece of territory with no intrinsic value, and not worth sacrificing for. Throughout the Torah and other major Jewish sources, it is made very clear that without the Land of Israel the Jewish People are incomplete, and they are unable to fulfill their potential as a nation. We learn how the Land of Israel is conducive to the spiritual growth of the Jewish People and is a necessary component of the upcoming redemption - a sign of whose coming is when the Landof Israel gives off its fruits, which can be seen particularly clear in Gush Katif. To have had the opportunity to re-connect with the Land of Israel has helped to recharge my batteries, and has left me on a high that will hopefully last myself, and all those who participated on "The March" through the coming month, when, with G-d's help we will all be able to celebrate the re-dedication of all of the Jewish communities in Gush Katif. 5) This was not your typical demonstration where people come for a few hours after work, chant some slogans, listen to some speeches and then go home. Many people on the left have questioned why the event couldn't have been held in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, but in asking the question they totally fail to understand the purpose of what took place at Kfar Maimon and the message that it was meant to convey. "The March" was not a rally or demonstration. The 40,000+ Jews who participated were not asking any politicians to consider a different point of view. These Jews were saying that the current situation is unacceptable, abd we are going to work towards helping to bring about a different reality ourselves. With our feet. With our bodies. With our hearts. The time for speeches has come to an end, and the Jewish people have responded to the call for action. 6) I was blessed to visit the new home of Nadia Matar, co-founder of Women in Green who has moved with her family to Kfar Yam (in Gush Katif) from Efrat. She and Women in Green have been influential in raising funds, through Minhelet Kela (The Gaza Absorption Authority), that have gone towards fixing up empty homes and structures in Gush Katif in order that Jews can move down to Gush Katif, and create a situation where there are tens of thousands of Jews living in the Gush - too many to be expelled. Nadia's home is among those that have been (or is in the process of being) refurbished. When I arrived at her home there were about a half dozen teenagers who were busily involved in building a deck for the back of her home - true Jewish labor. (Again, we see what types of activities Jewish teenagers are involved in during their summer break). This deck will allow Nadia, and many other Jews to sit in comfort while watching the waves crash against the shore, just a few feet away, with G-d's help, for many generations to come. Another thing that struck me was the contrast between the way Nadia has been portrayed in the media, and how I perceived her. According to the media in Israel, Nadia is a right-wing fanatic who represents extremist causes. What I saw was a Jew who is full of love for the Jewish People and who has devoted her life to ensuring that Israel will be a Jewish State, where the Jewish People will be able to live in all parts of the Land of Israel - proudly, as Jews are meant to do. She, along with many other special Jews who are in Gush Katif today can serve as role models as to what we, both as a nation and as individual Jews can be doing to help the Jewish People fulfill their collective destiny. 7) In Neve Dekalim, I visited another family who has also moved down to Gush Katif and will be staying there until the "victory celebration", as the mother put it. Again, she and her children all came off as being extremely positive and upbeat. This was all the more impressive when I saw the home immediately next door to theirs, which had a sizeable hole in the roof where a Qassam rocket had fallen. When I asked her about, she was able to laugh it off. Her children were among those who were helping to build the deck at Nadia's house, and who spend their days in Gush Katif at the beach, and are enjoying life to the fullest, as Jews, living in the Land of Israel. I visited the nursery in Atzmona, one of the largest in Israel, a major exporter of plants and flowers worldwide, and there one finds Jews continuing to plant, continuing to build, continuing to make the Land of Israel flourish. If there is a single message that comes out in all of these stories, it is that the spirit of the Jewish People is alive and well. Yes, we are going through a difficult time period, but I believe that the above examples clearly display that the future belongs to us, those who are loyal to teachings and heritage of the Jewish People, and to the Land of Israel. Without a doubt we are being challenged from on high, challenged to raise ourselves up to levels that we previously believed to be unattainable. We are being challenged as to how we relate to our fellow Jews, how we relate to our traditions and heritage, and how we relate to the Land of Israel - the three foundations of Religious Zionism - Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael & Torat Yisrael. After spending 24+ hours in both Kfar Maimon and Gush Katif, I have no doubt that the Jewish People will not only rise up and overcome all of the aforementioned challenges, but we will use them as the springboard towards laying the foundation for a truly Jewish State in the Land of Israel... may we see it speedily in our days. Judy Lash Balint is an investigative journalist and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" (Gefen). It is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com |
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TZIKI AND HIS LONE SOLDIERS
Posted by Judy Lash Balint, July 27, 2005. |
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This was written by Alison Golub, a graduate student at Ben Gurion University in Beersheva. She made aliya 2 years ago from Providence, R.I. What follows is the first part of Alison's odyssey to interact with some of the soldiers stationed in Gush Katif in the weeks prior to the planned retreat from Gaza. Contact her at Alison_Golub@hotmail.com This past week has been an incredibly powerful one for me, and I've found that my entire outlook on life has qualitatively changed, as have my sleeping habits and base level of worrying. Wait, let me back up a bit, to a guy named Tziki Aud. Tziki is the head of the Information Center for new immigrants at the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem, and he spends his days fielding office visits, phone calls, and emails by the truckload from "fresh off the boat" immigrants from North and South America, France, Canada, Ethiopia, and Russia who don't know what they're doing and have no idea who to turn to next. He holds their hands and he reassures them that things will be fine, and then he picks up his seemingly magical phone and finds them a place to live, potential options for school and/or work, and a way out of their desperation and fear and aloneness. This is his day job. In every other second of his spare time, Tziki assists chayalim bodedim, or "lone soldiers." These are young Jewish boys between the ages of 18 and 23, who have chosen to leave their home countries - often very much against their parents' wishes - to come to their homeland, become Israeli citizens, and enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. Some would say this is Zionism in its purest form; after all, "real" Israelis are required to become soldiers. These chayalim bodedim have no family here; in fact, some of them don't know a soul in the country. They cannot rent an apartment because they don't get enough income from the army, and they can go long stretches without more than one or two weekends off per month. When they do get off the base, therefore, they literally have nowhere to go. That's where Tziki comes in. He picks them up from the bus station, takes them to his tiny three-bedroom apartment (where he lives with his wife and three teenaged boys, one of whom has also just entered the army), feeds them until they can't move, does their piles of laundry, and puts a pillow under their heads moments before they collapse from exhaustion. When they wake up, many hours later, they are treated like kings at his Shabbat dinner table every week. There are never less than seven to ten soldiers there every Friday, stuffing their faces hungrily with the first home-cooked meal some of them have had in weeks. And then there's always me, one of the lucky ones who managed to get an invitation to Tziki's dinner table back in the first week after making aliyah, and I have barely missed a meal there since. It's been almost two years that I've been spending my Friday nights with Tziki, his American wife, Aya, their three sons, his mother and father (a Holocaust survivor), and all the chayalim bodedim he can fit at the table. It took me a while to feel comfortable at their house, even though I became fast friends with Aya. There are still times that I feel out of place, given that I am at least seven years older than even the oldest soldier, and I know nothing about the endless macho games played at the table surrounding army units and 40-kilometer hikes and what type of gun is the best. Some of the soldiers seem to treat me like a surrogate mother, some like a sister, and most of them just spend most of the night trying to hit on me. There have also been times when I couldn't understand why I was even there, and why I was the only female besides Tziki's wife and mother at the table every week. A few months ago, he finally answered this burning question, telling me that as soon as he met me, he just knew I would fit in at his table. Apparently, that same night he came home to Aya and declared, "We have a daughter!" He calls us all his adopted children, and we delight in having an adoptive family to get us through our tribulations. I spend most of my time at the Aud house thanking my lucky stars that people like this exist in this world, and in Israel in particular. I simply don't know what I would have done without them, from the moment I made aliyah up to and including today. And I always knew that Tziki spends his time helping these soldiers, advocating for them, steering their way through the army bureaucracy, sending them care packages, and lending them money when they can't make it to their next paycheck. But not until four days ago did I truly understand what goes on behind the scenes. Judy Lash Balint is an investigative journalist and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" (Gefen). It is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
QUIT WHILE YOU CAN
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, July 27, 2005. |
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For months, I have been urging those employed by this evil Government to quit. I do not know how the "laws" governing employees of the Junta limit them as to political activities or opinions but as with any dictatorship, laws are irrelevant. The principle is being clearly established that an employee of the Junta can not oppose it. This seems to come as a surprise to some people. What did you expect? The Junta openly allows and encourages Arabs to murder us, is planning for the extermination of all the Jewish communities in Yeshah, has built at least three large concentration camps to hold its opponents and is in active negotiations to turn over control of the economy to foreign (including Saudi) interests. Does anyone really believe they will allow a few Government paid clerics to publicly criticize them? This is not a case of throwing out the baby with the bath water. As long as people are willing to work for the Junta, it can survive. Only be massive resignations at all levels and in all sectors can the Junta and the system that created it be removed without bloodshed. Let them sit in their luxury offices and bark out orders to empty desks. Let them call up Army units without officers and troops. We have arrived at a new YAM SUF (red sea). Those who trust in the G-D of Israel will go forward and quit their Government jobs. Those who do not will perish along with their paymasters. This is a news item called "Civil Service Disciplinary Hearing for Rabbi David Druckman" from today's Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com) and it is filed at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=86576 (IsraelNN.com) State Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has ordered a disciplinary hearing for Kiryat Motzkin Chief Rabbi David Druckman for his open opposition to the Gaza/Shomron Disengagement Plan. Rabbi Druckman's statements referring to "Sharon the dictator" have elicited a harsh response among the Israeli left, with disengagement opponents calling for action against rabbis on the state payroll, insisting they do not have a right to voice an opinion contrary to government policy. The attorney general's recommendation will now be forwarded to Justice Minister Tzipi Livni who will make the final determination in the case. Responding to the attorney general's announced decision, Rabbi Druckman stated he will not bow to pressure and efforts to stifle his legitimate voice of opposition will not succeed in intimidating him. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
| GUSH KATIF |
TO THE SOLDIERS AND POLICE OFFICERS OF THE GAZA EVACUATION
Posted by IsrAlert, July 26, 2005. |
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This was written by Racheli Chajbi and was translated by Yishai and Malkah Fleisher. It appeared today in Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com). Dear Soldier/Police Officer, In this letter, you will not find ideology. This is a completely personal appeal from me directly to your heart.My name is Racheli, I was born 25 years ago in Yamit [a Jewish community in Sinai which was surrendered to Egypt as part of the Camp David Accords], and since the evacuation of Yamit I have been living in Gush Katif. I live here with my husband, my two daughters, my parents, my siblings, and my grandmother - four generations who are happy to live together in a place they love so much. I turn to you with a plea that you take time to consider the action that you are being demanded to fulfill. Close your eyes and imagine the following situation: you knock on the door of the house of the Shalva family in Neve Dekalim, you hand them the evacuation order, and begin to fulfill the mission. Let us begin with the evacuation of the first generation. My grandmother, Grandma Penina, 92 years old, a Holocaust survivor, arrived in Israel on an illegal boat but was denied entry and kicked out to Cyprus. Even after she arrived in Israel, she encountered many hardships. This is her house, and she has not had another for these last 17 years. This evacuation is really not hard. She is a frail woman who does not weigh a lot, and of course, does not resist with force. But why do your eyes fill with tears when Penina's eyes express that this is not the first time that she has been kicked out of her home? In the past, she was kicked out of her home - to Auschwitz? Grandma Penina is on the bus. The evacuation of the first generation ended successfully. Now back to the house, to the second generation. My parents, my father Moshe (son of Grandma Penina), and my mother Esti, do not put up any violent resistance, but their eyes are full of tears, which tell a story. Moshe and Esti were kicked out of their house in Yamit 23 years ago. When they knocked on the door of their house and put them on buses together with their four children the eldest being 3 and a half and the youngest a few weeks old, they promised them that the bus would take them to Be'er Sheva and there they would be taken care of? With a backpack and in it a change of clothing for each child and a few cloth diapers, Mom and Dad look like refugees in every sense. It was obvious that if they came to their parents with this appearance, the Holocaust survivors' association would be too heavy a burden, and was therefore not an option. After four hours of waiting on the sidewalk of the Be'er Sheva Central Bus Station, my father Moshe turned to the police, but there too he found no salvation. After many hours of waiting, a good Jew passed by, and after receiving the negative response to his question of whether they had a place to sleep, he gathered them to his house in Ganei Tal. In those days, we lived in the foyer of the family's house, until a temporary apartment was found for us in the community of Katif. Until our house was built in N'vei Dekalim, my parents made every effort to organize their life anew. My father established a business in N'vei Dekalim, and life returned to normal, or so it seemed... Moshe and Esti are also almost on the bus, when you suddenly remember that you don't actually have any answer to the question which is hanging in the air between the two of you - 'Where to now? What is next?' Now they, too, are on the bus, and the second generation's evacuation has been completed successfully. This time, with somewhat heavier steps - you return to continue with the 3rd generation. Eleven out of twelve of my brothers and sisters live in N'vei Dekalim, from Ori, age 26, to Tiferet - the youngest one, who just finished first grade. Now, the mission may be a bit harder. Going back and forth to the bus eleven times in the heavy heat is hard, however it is even harder to withstand the looks of the children, full of fright when they see you - for they had always believed that you are supposed to protect them and give them security. Now you are ripping them out of their home, in which they were born and raised. The eleven children have been put on the bus and also the bride and the two new grooms who have joined the family. The 3rd generation evacuation has ended successfully as well. Now you return to the house, all the while the cries from the bus reverberating in your ears, your legs barely obeying your commands. Only the 4th generation evacuation remains - and this one's really child's play. Two little girls, Moriah - four-and-a-half years old, and Efrat, two-and-a-half years old - my daughters. What could be so hard about taking two little girls?! You raise the two of them together easily and carry them toward the bus, when suddenly Moriah says in tears "But I want my house," and it dawns upon you that when you finish evacuating the 4th generation, you will have erased the normal life of an entire family. When you reflect on my daughters in your hands, you think about the next generation, you think about your children, or the children that will be born to you in the future. You are struck with fear when you think about what you will tell your children when they will ask you how you served the State - will you be able to tell them that you are proud of your service for the State? Please think! No, you really don't have to disobey orders. If you received an order to lift a truck weighing many tons, you wouldn't have to disobey orders - simply your strength would not serve you in that task. The soul, too, has its limitations! I turn to your soul, to the heart of that soldier or that officer who swore to protect the State of Israel. Please think... Harv Weiner, a businessman in Dallas, Texas, is the founder and moderator of Isralert. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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G-D SAVE ME FROM THE POLITICALLY CORRECT
Posted by Arlene Peck, July 26, 2005. |
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You know, folks, things aren't always what they seem. The whole world is saddened and upset about the recent bombings in what was once "Jolly Olde England." The newspapers are stilled filled with the outpouring of sympathy everyone is feeling for the Brits. Sad to say, while horrific, the bombings are no big deal in the history of Islamic terrorist events, especially if one looks at the long string of similar incidents in Israel . Incidentally, around the same time Israel had another one of those suicide homicide bombings, which made the news for about ten minutes. There was hardly any mention of what people in the Jewish State were experiencing, courtesy of their own "home-grown terrorists" around the same time. To add insult to injury, the LA Times, as usual, managed to make Israel look like the aggressor when they responded to the latest flurry of missile strikes and gunfire, which resulted in the death of a 22-year-old- Israeli woman and several injuries. Just to give you an idea: "Israel Kills 6 In Strikes on Hamas" and "The army responds to militant attacks with offensives in Gaza and the West Bank, sparking fear of renewed violence before the Gaza pullout." Personally, I would rather have seen a headline saying Israel had killed 60,000 of these Hamas vermin. Do you think the names of the "special Times correspondents" being "Fayed Abu Shammalah in Gaza City" and "Maher Abukhater in the West Bank" might have anything to do with the, as usual, biased and incorrect reporting? Naw. But, why single out the L.A.Times? Even the BBC has reverted to calling these murderers "militants", "freedom fighters," "activists" and "guerrillas". I find it amazing that the Peoples Truth Forum, which is sponsoring a symposium, titled, "The Radical-Islamist threat to World Peace and National Security", to be held in Connecticut in September, was refused by CBS/infinity when PTF president, Jeffery Epstein, tried to purchase commercial time to publicize the event. It is unbelievable that, in this day and age, when we are confronted almost daily with images of these savages cutting off heads, blowing up kindergartens or torturing children, as we saw in Russia last year, that CBS would have the stupidity to issue an official statement. "Too many people might be emotionally affected by this subject matter - it's too controversial to be aired at this time." I truly believe that between the ACLU and Politically Correct in this country, we are going to destroy whatever values and grasp of reality we have left. How can the corporate idiots running these press outlets conclude that a message against terrorism is "issue" related and should go through CBS's legal department for a final decision? Thank heavens the topic is "issue related" and has been endorsed as such by several congressional representatives and senators. I find it incredible that known terror-supporting organizations, such as CAIR and their ilk, can co-opt organizations like the ACLU and use our system to sue companies like General Motors and Dell, forcing them to accede to their demands for "special favors", and get airtime glorifying Islam and terrorism, seemingly at will. And, virtually no one speaks to the issue or to the challenge to the rest of us. Yet, if recognized counter-terrorism experts try to get the same, they are denied. You betcha, "too many people might be emotionally affected by the subject matter." Folks, I pray that enough of you wake up and stop this politically correct nonsense insanity. We are in a worldwide war! A war! It is time to start acting like it. How many more bombings, infanticides, airline hijackings, and absolute chaos are we doing to stand by and just watch? How many more billions of dollars are we going into "programs" which are really good behavior money, before we realize that no matter how much we give, it is never going to be enough? The Muslim world wants nothing but the complete domination and death of every Christian and Jew who is out there! They have said so and we must take them at their word! To be fair.. we ought to remember that old adage.. not every Muslim is a terrorist.. but, every terrorist has been a Muslim! They invented the word! For decades, Israel has been told, "you give up land, and then there will be peace in the world." Finally, others are beginning to realize that no matter how much we cave in and agree to dismember the Jewish State, their demands will always be more? more... more! How long will we be onlookers, complacently watching country after country fall to Muslim demands and control? Spain, instead of reacting with bravery and nerve, tried "appeasement" and now is under the control of the terrorist. Holland - No more as we've known it. Once an "open door" to any and all request for asylum, the Dutch now have the toughest policy regarding immigration in the European Union but it may a case of "too little, too late". They left the door open for so long that the number of Muslims in the country is major and growing at a rate well beyond that of the native population because of their carrying political correctness to near extremes. The Brits are now standing by, keeping a "stiff upper lip", following "business as usual", after giving these murderers safe haven for the past decade. Now what happens? Are they going to allow themselves to become the capital of Londonistan perhaps, and continue their politically correct self-annihilation? When are they, we, Spain and the rest of the civilized world going to strike back at these vermin who are holding the world captive? How have we failed to notice that Arab nations treat their Muslim brothers (blacks, Kurds, Bedouins, or those who practice another form of Islam) far less cordially than England, Holland, Spain, the U.S. and even Israel do? Actually, places like China and India come to mind. Surprisingly, they don't seem to be on the "jihad hit-list". Could it be that the Islamic cancer, although savage and primitive, is also pragmatic and realizes their host might not be as "politically correct" in their response to outrages? The Jihadists are clever enough to realize that it is the Western nations which are ripe for intimidation and blackmail. They also discovered to their joy that, because the West doesn't comprehend who Muslims are and what the Muslim ultimate message is, that they could count on being pretty much left alone and allowed to preach, recruit, collect funds and further their messages of death and hate to the point it has reached today. While the world watched from the sidelines and the UN passed resolution after resolution against Israel, the Arab countries have successfully cleared out their Jews with massive ethnic cleansing. Iran, Syria and Egypt chased their Jews out with barely the clothes on their backs. Who is giving them the "right of return"? While at the same time, the same lovely people who gave the Jews the Holocaust, the EU, aided by the various Arab nations, kept the so-called Palestinians in wretched "refugee camps" for over fifty years. Why? Simply for propaganda purposes to maintain the hatred of Jews in the Arab street. This is a culture that I believe is frozen in time in the 7th century, where I also believe they are most comfortable and suited. Stupidly, we in the United States have deluded ourselves, that if we ignore the 7th century mentality that runs the Muslim world, and pretend that if we could only "make Israel behave", there would be world peace. Now that it is hitting on our home shores, and we are beginning to notice that every page in every paper is filled with the latest atrocity of the Arabs, worldwide, we seem to be getting the idea vaguely that maybe Israel was really telling the truth! Could it actually be possible that Israel has nothing to do with their barbaric seventh century Holy War against the world? I fear for the future, and especially fear for Israel if she does not escape the dominance of the United States and the Bush State Department. Rice, and before her, Colin Powell, is not an "honest broker". For decades, we have watched our tax money being poured into the coffers of corrupt Arab politicians and are now in the process of doing it again for Abbas. Go look again at the pictures of President Bush holding hands with the Saudi Prince! The religious rights have discovered that the Jews were only the canary in the coalmine. First they came after the "Saturday people" and now folks, sadly, but inevitably, its open season on the "Sunday People." Arlene Peck is an internationally syndicated columnist and television talk show hostess. She can be reached at: bestredhead@earthlink.net and www.arlenepeck.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
WHY DIDN'T WE REACH GUSH KATIF?
Posted by Moshe Feiglin, July 26, 2005. |
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The remarkable mass of people that began to stream to Gush Katif could not really have been stopped by anything less than machine guns. Certainly the fence of Kfar Maimon didnt really stop them. And certainly not the tens of tired soldiers standing opposite the huge human spearhead. The giant march could have reached Gush Katif within hours and eradicated the expulsion plan. During the three days of the march, we saw the Yesha Council and the heads of Religious Zionism in their full glory and also in their full disgrace. They managed to bring out the vast potential of the most faithful and determined public in the country. They managed to handle the logistical needs of such a huge crowd in ever-changing conditions. They managed to put together people-power of which leaders of other public sectors can only dream. But when the time came to turn the great potential concentrated in Kfar Maimon into action, it turned out that they were simply unable to do so. Whoever was part of the huge human wave that began to march toward Gush Katif had a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Nobody marching thought that the great wave would stop after a few hundred meters -- of its own free will. But when this holy human flood reached the gates of Kfar Maimon, the Religious Zionist leadership was highlighted in all its weakness. It wasn't the gate that stopped the marchers, nor the relatively few police and soldiers that stood opposite the tens of thousands. What stopped them was the servile mentality of their leaders. What stopped them was their leaders' feeling that in order to be "Israeli", in order to belong, to be legitimate -- they need the approval of the media, the authorization of the army, the police, the court system -- in short -- the approval of the "masters" of this Land. "We are standing here at the gate" explained Yesha Council chairman Bentzi Lieberman to the astonished marchers, "and waiting for the Chief of Staff and Chief of Police to come here so that we can negotiate with them." "Don't touch the fence," explained Effie Eitam. "In all my thirty years in the army, I've never seen such a disciplined group of people." The Chief of Staff and the Police Chief never came. They didn't have to. A servant who has not freed himself of the bars on his heart will never be able to act against the will of his master. The Yesha Council sincerely did its utmost and did it with skill. In the merit of the Yesha Council, a very important fact became clear. The forces of expulsion have no true ability to deal with our huge belief based and determined crowd when we decide to act. All the soldiers and police in the country were brought to stand opposite the gates of Kfar Maimon. There is no point in creating alternative leadership to put together a grand logistical plan at this stage. Any serious alternative leadership will immediately be arrested. The belief-based public has no choice. Every single person must become a leader. Every man and woman must be a general. The police and army cannot chase thousands of faithful people marching by foot on dirt paths and fields toward Gush Katif. If the settlers of Beit El and Shilo and the faithful of Ra'anana and Rechovot organize into small groups and simply march toward Gush Katif, there will be no expulsion. Even if they don't reach their destination, they will force all the police and army in the country to focus only on them. As the day of the planned expulsion draws near, more and more faithful will set out toward Gush Katif. The roadblockings will also once again be activated. The expulsion forces cannot deal with this type of popular and spontaneous phenomenon. And there will be no expulsion. For three days, the besieged marchers in Kfar Maimon explained to the soldiers that they must refuse their orders. The belief-based public has already taken the giant step of irreverence toward the blasphemy of the corrupt establishment. It seems as though the Creator was waiting for this same irreverence from the leaders of the holy public -- expecting them to worship Him and not the media. The main question now is if the believing public will follow G-d despite its current leaders and despite some of its rabbis. The question is, will the simple, faithful Jew negate the establishment and start to march? Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) is a group of people inside the Likud party who want to see Israel adopt a more Jewish character. Moshe Feiglin, its cofounder, has emphatically said he does not want a theocracy, but he does want a State based on Jewish values. The Manhigut Yehudit website address is http://www.manhigut.org. |
| GUSH KATIF |
WHO IS REFUSING TO SERVE?
Posted by Marlene Young, July 26, 2005. |
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THE DISENGAGEMENT PLAN IS ACTUALLY A REFUSAL-TO-SERVE-PLAN Today, in yet another effort to squash the opposition to the "disengagement", Chief of Staff Halutz announced another reason why "Rightists" should not refuse "disengagement". He declared that if those on the Right who are anti-Disengagement refuse to serve in Army for the uprooting, then the Leftists could then refuse to serve in the territories. THIS IS YET ANOTHER COMPLETE TWISTING OF REALITY AND GROSS PROPAGANDA. THE RESPONSE TO THIS LATEST CHICANERY: The Disengagement Plan itself is nothing but a large refusal to serve in the territories, that has been organized by the government and called a 'disengagement' rather than what it really is: sanctioned refusal by the left to serve. the plan itself is a refusal to serve. It is the Right, those who are against the Disengagement Plan, who want to continue to honorably serve and defend the Land of Israel. The anti-Disengagement protestors, who do not want to give away Jewish land, and who want to continue to serve in the IDF to fulfill its Charter, its legal mission to defend the land and citizens of the State of Israel, and to protect the citizens by acting against the enemy terrorists and to defend the Land of Israel, are actually refusing the refusal-plan/disengagement plan. Under the "Disengagement Plan", the Army and Police have been hijacked by Sharon, Mofaz, and Mazuz, and are being used solely to repress and defeat their political and ideological opposition within the country, as they are in socialist regimes. Only in fascist illigitimate regimes can 12 year old girls be jailed for non-violent civil disobediance as "enemies of the State" because their religious values and ideas are dangerous to the Leaders controlling the country. Sharon, Mofaz and Mazuz, led by Peres, the Arab Parties, EU and the Extreme Left, have declared their refusal to serve in the protection and security and safety of all the Jewish citizens in the State of Israel past the 1949 Armistice Lines, and that they will therefore retreat, surrender, withdraw and refuse to serve. THEY NO LONGER USE THE ARMY TO DEFEAT THE THOUSANDS OF HAMAS, ISLAMIC JIHAD, FATAH TERRORISTS, And they no longer wish to train the army to value, defend and protect their fellow citizens and country, but rather to refuse to serve it by training them to uproot its citizens and give away the land to serve the interests of the leaders in power and the enemy. If you notice, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Fatah are left fully intact to blackmail Israeli citizens for Jerusalem and Hebron, which Peres has announced is next on the Refusal List of the Left. All Jews who have been blown up over the last four years and all IDF troops killed after being sent (NOT BY AIR BUT ON FOOT IN SMALL NUMBERS, CERTAINLY NOT 20,000) like sheep into the Jenin Ramallah Tulkarm Rafah Terror nests were nothing more than ROADKILL, like garbage, to Sharon and his Gang. Sharon and his Gang just sent 20,000 troops to act against ISRAELI CITIZEN protestors, but have NEVER sent as large a force to act in any real way to defeat the PA terrorists. After any terror attack, Sharon sends a meaningless small number of troops for a short operation, and withdraws them after one or two terrorists out of tens of thousands are apprehended, at the cost of many PRECIOUS IDF lives. Sharon and his Gang are currently misusing the Army AS NOTHING MORE THAN PARAMILITARY UNITS, to serve the interests of the Socialist Radical Left, to violate the civil and human rights of the citizens in order to retain complete control of the population and consolidate their power; to turn the Police and Army violently against their fellow citizens, so that these corrupt socialist leaders can continue their collaboration with foreign leaders and entities who prop them up. They misuse the Police and Army to serve to protect the interests of the Left's Power consolidation and corrupt financial deals with the PA, the EU and the World Bank. Contact Marlene Young by email at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com |
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LETTER FROM CHAYA'S (HAIKI'S) PARENTS ON HER IMPRISONMENT
Posted by Bryna Berch, July 26, 2005. |
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From Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNationalNews.com), July 27: "Chaya, along with two friends, ages 13 and 16, have been held in Maasiyahu Prison, and an appeal to the Supreme Court to gain their release was rejected. Supreme Court Justice Ayala Procaccia ruled that the girls could not be placed under house-arrest or confined to their communities - as is the standard practice during legal proceedings - due to the fact that her father was disqualified as a guardian for a house-arrestee because he "did not fulfill the task placed upon him" of preventing his daughter from engaging in anti-Disengagement activity of this nature." Have you ever read a better example of circular reasoning? Chaya was practicing non-violent civil disobedience - usually considered praiseworthy in a democracy. In Israel, the ordinary practice apparently would be for her to be confined to her house. But Justice Procaccia ruled that her Daddy couldn't be guardian because he hadn't prevented her from demonstrating against the Gaza expulsion. Putting aside for the moment the bizarre notion that parents must restrain their children from protesting an injustice in a non-violent way, consider this: the case hasn't come to trial. So the court has no idea of the circumstances "and the nature" of Chaya's protest. So in arresting her, they are reasoning backwards and saying that if she was protesting, the parents must have been negligent in not stopping her. This isn't a 3-year old kid. Did they even know she was going? The Courts don't like the parents' ideology - or what they assume is their ideology. So Chaya is declared a public danger and her parents are irresponsible. (I think it is admirable that they instilled a sense of values that include loyalty to Israel and to Judaism.) So does that mean that any civil disobedience - any disagreement with the government's policy - is a worse crime that bombing and maiming and killing civilians? Arab kids who throw rocks and bombs are sent back home - no one blames the Arab family. Adult terrorists are released from prison. But someone who publically disagrees with Sharon is a "Public Danger" and must be kept in prison without a trial. Sick. Sick. Sick. This letter below was written by Chaya Belogorodsky's parents. It was published in Independent Media Review and Analysis (IMRA) today. Contact IMRA by email at imra@netvision.net.il [Editor's note: See also Home page ] I am writing you in connection with my 14 year old daughter Chaya [Haiki] who has spent the past 3 weeks of her summer vacation in jail. No,no, she hasn't murdered anyone. Nor did she steal anything, assault anyone or sell drugs. All she did was go to a demonstration in " the only democracy in the middle east". Here is how it happened. On 22 Sivan 5765 {29.06.05} Chaya decided to lend moral support to her friends who went to protest Ariel Sharon's plan to expel Jews. What follows is a direct quote from the official indictment filed against Chaya. She is accused of standing on a sidewalk while her friends proceeded to block traffic. After her friends were arrested a policewoman asked Chaya to leave the area. Chaya refused, saying that she wasn't doing anything illegal, that she had every right to stand on "every inch of the Land of Israel." The policewoman, unimpressed, warned Chaya that if she didn't leave immediately she will be arrested. To which Chaya replied:" So, shut up and arrest me then". That's it. This is the case that the State of Israel has against Chaya. And, because Chaya participated in a similar demonstration once before, the State prosecutor asked the juvenile court to remand Chaya into police custody UNTIL THE END OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HER - a process that can last for MONTHS!! What is truly unbelievable is than this unprecedented request was granted. Judge Dalya Korn wrote a 10 page dissertation about the danger to society inherent in Chaya's disregard towards the law passed in the Knesset (Sharon's expulsion law). That, combined with the fact that Chaya participated in a similar "unlawful" demonstration before, has made her into a REAL PUBLIC DANGER, thus justifying her imprisonment until the end of the legal process. To understand the severity of the above decision one must know that, as a rule, an average ADULT criminal - be he a thief, rapist, or a drug dealer - is never kept in jail until the end of proceedings. Even if he is a repeat offender, and even if he repeats the same crime while he's awaiting his trial!! The worst they usually get slapped with is a house arrest. And juvenile offenders are treated even more leniently. The above holds true for all criminals, except for those whose crimes are "IDEOLOGICALLY BASED". And, according to the State prosecutor's words, herein lies Chaya's true danger to the society. you heard it right. What is even more outrageous is that the judge agreed!! Shocked and outraged at this clearly political ruling we appealed the decision. Our appeal went all the way to the Supreme Court of Israel. Judge Procaccia, who heard the case, upheld the decision. The only leniency and compassion that comrade Procaccia agreed to show Chaya was that she could be released from jail to a house arrest - BUT NOT TO HER PARENTS' HOME. Ignoring the fact that neither of the parents has any family in Israel (we are both immigrants), comrade Procaccia declared that Chaya must be sent "far away from this area of volatile emotions if she wants to get out of jail". The most outrageous part of her decision was her agreement with the prosecution that Chaya represents a "danger to the society because of her ideological motivation". This is coming from a judge who had absolutely no problems releasing not only common criminals, but even terrorists with blood on their hands!! Over the past few months alone Israeli government released hundreds of these beasts, and even though appeals for filed against this release, Procaccia and co. upheld the decision of the government. She never made the removal of these beasts from the " area of volatile emotions" a condition for their release. They were allowed to go back home. Comrade Procaccia is sure THEY won't be dangerous to our society anymore. Just in case you think that this may have been some kind of a judicial freak mishap - don't. What is happening in Israel right now is a FULL COOPERATION between the justice system and the ruling clique aimed at breaking any minimal resistance to the proposed expulsion of Jews. There is no other way to explain comrade Procaccia's decision to keep Chaya in jail, because the maximum punishment that Chaya faces on these charges, if convicted, would be some monetary fine. And to await this punishment she must stay in jail!! What is it like for a 14 year old to be in jail? Well, for the first week - including Shabbat - Chaya was kept in solitary confinement. She was not allowed to shower or call home. We could not send her clean clothes. The food she was given was not on the level of kashrut she could eat. For the first two weeks she was not allowed to have a fan in her cell - that's in the stifling, muggy Ramle summer, with temperatures reaching the high 90's. She is bored to tears and immobilized by the heat. Once a week she has to go through the degrading procedure of her cell being searched, with male jailers rummaging through all her personal belongings. She is not allowed out of her cell in the evenings, which means she has to eat her Friday night meal in the darkness of her cell. As of now we are not allowed to bring her any food from the outside, which means she gets almost no fruits or vegetables. We are only permitted to visit her for a half hour every week.This is how this young girl is being forced to spend her summer vacation - and I could go on and on. My telephone numbers in Israel are:
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PROSECUTION POLICY: DON'T TOPPLE THE GOVERNMENT OVER CRIMINAL CHARGES
Posted by Hillel Fendel, July 26, 2005. |
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A senior police officer speaking with Arutz-7 on condition of anonymity says there is enough evidence to indict and convict PM Sharon, but "it's unreasonable to topple a gov't over criminal cases." The source said that incontrovertible evidence exists against the Prime Minister in more than one case, but that the decision was made, together with the State Prosecution, not to pursue the cases. The investigations in question concern the $1.5 million loan by South African millionaire Cyril Kern to Sharon's sons, Kfar Malal (see below), and others. The source said that police investigators were made to understand that the policy is not to delve into cases that might incriminate the Prime Minister, in order not to destabilize the regime in Israel. Former State Comptroller Eliezer Goldberg, in a recent interview he granted Yediot Acharonot upon ending his seven-year term in the post, said he did not understand why the investigation of Sharon's Kfar Malal activities was taking so long. The Kfar Malal affair was first uncovered by the business daily Globes in the summer of 2003 when it alleged that Prime Minister Sharon intervened with the Transportation Ministry on behalf of two brothers from Kfar Malal, south of Kfar Saba, whose land was being seized for use as a highway. The brothers, friends and former neighbors of Sharon, told the Prime Minister that their claims that the proposed compensation was too low were being ignored. Sharon intervened, and the brothers received some $100,000 more than had originally been set. Then Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein ordered an investigation and froze the payment of compensation. Former State Comptroller Goldberg himself investigated this issue in the past, and found that Sharon had "acted directly to promote a decision regarding farmland that led to a personal benefit for him and his relative." Arutz-7's Shimon Cohen, who spoke with the police source, said that the policy outlined by the source explains the enthusiasm with which the Prosecution is pursuing a plea-bargain deal with MK Omri Sharon, the Prime Minister's son. Much evidence, including documents, affidavits, recorded testimony and admissions, has been amassed showing that Omri activated fictitious associations to help his father beat Ehud Olmert in the Likud primaries of 1999. Despite this, and contrary to accepted practice, the Prosecution made great efforts to reach a plea bargain deal - which may even be finalized as soon as today. The fact that the Prosecution pursued a plea bargain deal, despite the relative ease with which it could have achieved a conviction, raised eyebrows in many legal circles. The deal stipulates that Omri Sharon will confess to a series of minor infractions, in exchange for the erasure of the heavier accusations against him. Two legal experts consulted by Arutz-7 differed on the ramifications of this development. One said that it appears that the Prosecution's enthusiasm for a plea bargain appears to be based on the fear that a trial will raise genuine doubts regarding the manner in which Prime Minister Sharon reached the position of Likud Party Chairman. This is an extension of the policy not to risk the toppling of the government "merely because of criminal cases." Another legal expert said that though he agrees that the Prosecution, for political reasons, has no interest in toppling the government, "the fact is that most cases end in a plea bargain agreement." He said, therefore, that the agreement made with Omri does not in itself prove the Prosecution's political leanings. The Supreme Court itself, when it reviewed Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's decision not to indict PM Sharon regarding the Greek Island affair, admitted that political considerations were central. Acknowledging that Sharon received different treatment than that which a regular citizen in a similar situation would have received, the Court justified this by stating that "the indictment of a Prime Minister would lead, probably immediately, to changes in the government order in the country, which would be liable to have a dramatic influence on the policy." The Supreme Court judges made this ruling despite admitting that Sharon's "explanations during the police investigation did not correspond with facts about which there is direct evidence." Hillel Fendel is editor of Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNationalNews.com). This article appeared in today's Arutz-Sheva. Baruch Gordon contributed to this report. |
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YOUNG GIRLS ARE IN JAIL, SHARON AND HIS SON AREN'T
Posted by Voice of Judea, July 26, 2005. |
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Disengagement is number 1 priority. One gets the feeling that stubborn Sharon is prepared to allow all of Israel to literally go up in smoke as long as he can execute his sadistic disengagement plan. Yediot Achronot, July 25th 2005, ran a blaring front page headline: 55,000 SOLDIERS TO BE DEPLOYED IN DISSENGAGEMENT MISSION, THE LARGEST AND MOST UNPRECEDENTED MILITARY OPERATION. The headline story also quotes Sharon's threat to retaliate against civilian Arab population centers if they dare upset the disengagement process by launching attacks during the disengagement. Another article published in Yediot Achronot, July 21st 2005, reveals that Israeli prison authorities are releasing 80 prisoners per month due to lack of space to make room for "dangerous enemies of the state", such as the 3 girls aged 13,14 and 15 who are being held without bail for minor political offenses. [Editor's note: to see poster about these children on home page, Click here. ] Sharon has repeatedly stated that Israel will not disengage under fire. The fact that Sderot was bombed again yesterday by kassam rockets is of no consequence to the Israeli government that refuses to take the necessary action to stop it. In other words it is acceptable to murder Jews before and after the disengagement, as long as the disengagement is not at risk. Voice of Judea Commentary: Those who wish to protest against the outrageous arrest of the 3 girls can sign the petition at http://voiceofjudea.com/eng/petition.asp . All petitions will be given over to President Moshe Katzav. Sharon's son to enter into plea bargain It is being reported that Sharon's attorney and Mazuz are close to a plea bargain agreement, but Mazuz's office continues to demand jail time for the young Sharon while the defense is seeking community service. A plea bargain agreement is expected to be announced sometime next week. Voice of Judea Commentary: Israel under the Sharon dynasty has turned into a strange and corrupt place. On the one hand, this fat Mafioso kingpin is walking around free as his patrons attempt to carve a comfortable deal out on his behalf. On the other hand, 13 year old children are being held in jail without bail for the duration of their trial. Please sign the petition at http://voiceofjudea.com/eng/petition.asp which demands that President Moshe Katzav intervene on behalf of the release of Moriah Goldberg age 13, Chaiki Bologrodsky age 14 and Penina Ashkenazi age 16, the 3 girls who are being held without bail until the end of their trial (something that may take months). "They allegedly committed minor political crimes". This is an outrage and unprecedented even in the most totalitarian regimes. Subscribe to Voice of Judea emails by sending an email request to jsid@dorsai.org |
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HOW NOT TO PROTEST; U.S. DISTRIBUTES "MATCHES TO CHILDREN"; FOREIGN AID
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, July 26, 2005. |
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"FASCIST ISRAEL" A 14-year-old boy is sitting in jail. Police claim that he was photographed throwing rocks at a policeman. His attorney demanded that the police produce the photo. They refused. The judge did not require them to (Barry Chamish, 7/13). No bail in "democratic" Israel. The idea is to harass opponents of abandonment however much this violates civil liberties, and not enforce the law. In Israel, the government is the major outlaw, aside from the Arabs. HOW NOT TO PROTEST A peculiar Yesha leader got anti-abandonment protestors to wear themselves out last winter, camping out in the cold winter, across from the Knesset, to no effect. Now they are repeating that failed stunt. They are calling for 140,000 protestors to march and camp for two days in the July heat, and then build structures. Such a plan would exhaust all but youngsters. Police will attack the youth with clubs and gas, but the protest leaders instruct the youth not to bring helmets, gas masks, and defensive sticks. They would have the numbers to fend off the police, if they had the means. Chamish thinks that the plan was set up by government infiltrators in order to be defeated (Chamish, 7/13). What should be done? Israel is less democratically-minded than is Lebanon. Pretended democracies deceive their populations. There isn't enough popular support to overthrow the regime. OBEYING ORDERS TO EXPEL GAZA JEWRY The Israeli military is emphasizing the necessity to follow orders. These orders, however, are not military but politicians' orders for keeping their own power and profit at the expense of their people. The means are cruel and undemocratic (Winston Mid East analysis, 7/13). TOM FRIEDMAN VS. SETTLERS Gaza Jewish residency is a major obstacle to appeasement of the Arabs. Therefore, Tom Friedman wants them removed, as Sharon's plan would do. They are risking their safety and livelihoods to resist in ethical ways. To undermine their resistance, Mr. Friedman is smearing them. He calls them all sorts of names, from "spoiled" to "extremist," as gangsters offending Muslim symbols and harming them with violence (which his "NY Times" does not document). He blames those Jews for having put anti-Muslim graffiti on a wall, although nobody was seen doing it (and the government has agents provocateurs). Friedman apparently never found the P.A.'s extensive antisemitic graffiti, sermons, broadcasts and textbooks (nor the violence of many thousands of terrorist attacks) offensive. He is a hypocrite with a sinister agenda. To make Jewish evacuation seem sensible, Friedman describes the 8,500 Jews of Gaza as "surrounded" by more than a million Arabs. Actually, most of the Gaza Arabs live in Gaza City, which is not near most of the Jews. He describes those few Jews as having taken Israel hostage. Actually, he and the Arabs are trying to take Israel hostage. He urges the Jews to leave Territories, to preserve the Jewish character of their country, although he has never expressed an interest in his own Jewish character! It happens that the settlers particularly preserve the Jewish character of their homeland, which includes the Territories. Friedman is the mentor for the Saudi Plan and Road Map, which would strip the Jews of the Territories' Jewish heritage and make it almost impossible to defend Israel's. He is a dangerous apologist for terrorism (Winston Mid East Analysis, 7/13). His priorities are warped. ISLAMISTS INFILTRATE SAUDI SCHOOLS Islamist terrorists send teachers into poor Saudi neighborhoods to recruit terrorists. The teachers also formed after-hours study groups to indoctrinate the boys in radical ideology and against moderate ideology. The terrorists give the families money, as if scholarships. But the boys may not complete their studies, imbued as they are with an itch to fight. IMRA notes that rich Saudis also become terrorists (IMRA, 7/11). U.S. DISTRIBUTES MATCHES TO CHILDREN US aid to Jordan this year is expected to be $650 million, almost half being military. The money is not conditioned upon economic reform. It comes with standard praise unrelated to reality. The US considers Jordan a partner (IMRA, 7/11). Partner in what? The Muslim Brotherhood may have its sights on the hundreds of billions of US weaponry it could acquire, by taking over S. Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan. It is better that Jordan not fall under PLO control, which US support may help it to avoid. Does it? US help to the P.A. may help it take over Jordan. ISRAEL RECITES MANTRA "FM Shalom: "The international community, first and foremost the EU, must bring all its influence to bear on the Palestinian Authority to dismantle the terror infrastructure and prevent attacks during the course of the disengagement." (IMRA, 7/11.) The EU has not done so in all the years of Oslo. It has concentrated on dismantling the Jewish state. There is no basis for hoping that the EU would get the P.A. to eradicate the terrorist infrastructure and prevent terrorism during the abandonment, which is scheduled for a few weeks from now. Nor does the EU care. It works like this: Israel says that the EU must influence the P.A. to eradicate terrorism. The EU will tell the P.A. that it must eradicate terrorism. There are no consequences to the P.A. for not eradicating it. The EU and the US keep donating large sums for the P.A., which is terrorist. Is this lip service to deceive people or are those who utter the mantra deceiving themselves? SHARON SPEAKS, & SPEAKS AGAIN "There is only one body that I rely on and that is the IDF, and the message has been passed on to the political leaders. Only one body is responsible for the security of the state and its citizens and that is the State of Israel, and there will be no concessions in this area. It is the exclusive responsibility of the State of Israel and no other body will be allowed to interfere." Sharon also has said, subject to approval from his (rubberstamp Cabinet) and (bribable Knesset) that Israel eventually would leave its security over Gaza arms smuggling in Egyptian hands (IMRA, 7/12). Judge him by his increasing acquiescence to Egyptian demands. SAUDI DEFINES TERRORISM The Saudi Deputy Minister of Religious Endowments defined terrorism as any contradiction in deed or even in thought that contradicts the Koran or the Sunna (IMRA, 7/12), Thought control is totalitarian. The Saudi Minister is attempting to justify murder and to call it punishment of terrorism. FOREIGN AID Although the media reported that the G8 pledged $3 billion to the P.A., the pledge was for $9 billion. G-8 resolved: "4. We support Mr. Wolfensohn's intention to a global financial contribution of up to $3bn per year over the coming three years" $3 billion @ 3 years equals $9 billion. "I have little to say about the African nations, except to observe that the failure of the African enterprise and the debt they have accrued was primarily due to greedy black leaders who pocketed the money and impoverished their nations. Their leaders are starving their people through greed and incompetence. Too many years of drought, disease and death to overcome. The strong fight each other for power, control and money and the donor nations rarely demanded accountability or transparency for the wasted money which they knew went to dictators. "I see nothing in the $9 Billion over 3 years to the Palestinians and the $50 Billion generous dollars to Africa which will change that." (Winston Mid East Analysis, 7/10.) This counter-productive $59 billion is the cost of political correctness. SAUDI PRINCE'S GIFTS Prince Alwaleed bin Talal had donated $5 million to the Carter Center and plans to donate $6 million to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He owns the a TV network, which includes the jihadist TV channel IQRA, beamed in Arabic to the US. Although the prince has been praised for a commitment to women's rights, his station supports violence against them, as by displaying approvingly, different rods with which to beat wives. IQRA called Jews "apes and pigs" and encourages human bombing of Israelis. It broadcast the exhortation of a Saudi cleric to defeat the West by "slitting of throats and shattering skulls." Another sheikh justified spreading the faith by the sword. Programs are full of false conspiracy theories that blame infidels for the crimes of Islamists, such as 9/11. Should Pres. Carter's Center have accepted the gift? (Steven Stalinsky, NY Sun, 7/13, p.8.) Or should it have exposed the donor? Why did the Prince, whose Islamist agenda is to destroy America, donate to it? To gain influence and divert attention from jihad? Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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THE "STATE" PROBLEM
Posted by Moses Mordecai Twersky, July 26, 2005. |
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As a strong supporter of President Bush (but also a critic) and Prime Minister Sharon's "Unilateral" Disengagement from Gaza (and 4 small settlements in Northern Samaria) - they are practically in Palestinian areas) - it is important that clarity concerning Israel's sovereignty as confirmed in International Law (the incorporation of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate in the League of Nations which was subsumed by Article 80 of the UN Charter and reaffirmed by UN Security Council Resolution 242 and 338) be made more understandable. The "territories" are in "dispute" under international law doctrine. As the late eminent International Law Professor Julius Stone wrote "ex iniuria non oritur ius" - illegal acts cannot produce legal results. Gains made in territory under rightful self-defense are recognized in International Law. Under UNSC 242 (and 338) negotiation is required to "secure and recognized boundaries". Jerusalem is lawfully distinct from this. The vision of a Palestinian State, while a nice idea, obfuscates reality and violates clearly the "normative" Nation-State. What would be much more lucid would be an understanding of enhanced Palestinian autonomous status. The "state" business is pure artificial construction. It is encouraging false hopes for an anarchic ridden Palestinian people. This is American arrogance. Moses M. Twersky lives in Providence, Rhode Island. can be contacted by email at gdk@ids.net This appeared as a Letter to the Editor in the Jerusalem Post today. |
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LEADER REMODELING INC.
Posted by Byrna Berch, July 26, 2005. |
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In public in Israel, Sec-of-State Rice gave her toothy grin and in private she dissed the Israeli leadership - I admit not too many people have any respect left for Sharon and his milktoasts - but still nobody can make gold out of straw, and nobody can make Abu Mazen into anything but the thug he is - a thug who acts weak at home. Maybe that's because he has the same fantasies as the other terrorist gangs in PA land: with Condeleeza's help, they hope to destroy Israel. You think maybe she don't know he's a terrorist? This article was written by Yoel Marcus and appeared in Ha'aretz today. Condoleezza Rice's visit to Sycamore Ranch, with its sheep, cows and rolling green pastures, could have come straight out of a kitschy American sitcom set on a farm down South. The family sits around a dinner table piled high with wholesome food and showers one another with love. Only in this case, the honored guest ate little and talked a lot, and what she had to say was enough to put everyone off dessert, even though finishing with halvah has become a tradition. In public, Condi was all smiles. But in private, she showed herself to be one tough cookie, full of demands on Israel. "She ticked us all off," said an insider. "The chutzpah of that woman. The way she totally ignored Sharon's critical problems at home. The way she twisted our arm and said we had to make all kinds of concessions and gestures to strengthen Abu Mazen." This time, Rice's demands did not go through the Weissglas filtering system. There was no sugar to sweeten the pill or make it easier to swallow. There was no beating around the bush. Israel, she said, must supply the Palestinian Authority with weapons and ammunition. It must speed up the lines at checkpoints. It must be nice to Abu Mazen's buddies and allow them to operate [emphasis added]. As if the missiles and the Qassam rockets fired at Israeli towns every day were our doing. As if the chairman of the PA deserves some kind of compensation. One participant said Rice spoke like a teacher scolding her students. She demanded that Israel exercise restraint in responding to terror and let Abu Mazen fight Hamas, lest all of Gaza fall into its clutches. As if Israel were standing in his way. When she visited the Palestinians, she praised Abu Mazen's leadership abilities and his "war on terror." In Israel, she went on about how weak and frail he is, and urged us to strengthen him. As if Israel were Leader Remodeling Inc. Once upon a time, if you recall, Abu Mazen was a prime minister. Arafat neutered him and forced him to quit. Now, Abu Mazen is the boss. His 100 days of grace were over long ago, and there's still no sign of him getting a handle on things. Sometimes, it's true, there is strength in weakness. Once, Israel had a weak prime minister by the name of Levi Eshkol. He was so weak, he did the unbelievable: He kicked Ben-Gurion, the founder of the state, out of the party. He was so weak, he led the country into the Six-Day War, which ended in Israel's greatest victory ever. The strength of a weak leader lies in the fact that those who want him where he is will find ways to shore him up. On the other hand, they forgive him when he doesn't meet expectations. In Abu Mazen's case, the Bush administration wants to strengthen him because of his commitment to democratize the PA, whereas all we see is a man incapable of carrying out his most elementary obligation - cracking down and disarming the terrorist organizations. With Israel taking its first historic step to leave the territories, one might expect something different. Some say that a man like Abu Mazen, who has been a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization for decades and is still one of its heads, couldn't be a weakling who needs crutches to get by. They are sure he can do more than he pretends he can. We've seen this type before. Look at Ben-Gurion. He didn't need outside backing to sink the Altalena or disband the Palmach. Barak didn't need crutches to pull Israeli troops out of Lebanon overnight. Sharon didn't need outside help to decide on the evacuation of Gush Katif. These three leaders did what they did in the face of massive domestic opposition, bordering on civil war. But since the U.S. administration is doing the asking, Israel must help Abu Mazen to help himself. If he needs a blood transfusion, we can donate some. After all, we do want a strong and credible partner. But we can't replace all his blood for him. If he is really so weak that he can't curb terror, can't discuss compromise and can't come up with any painful concessions on his side, then he is not a worthy partner. Rice can rant and rave until the cows come home, but we have no factory for remodeling Palestinian leaders. We can barely manage with our own shoddy goods. |
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TISHA B'AV IS FOLLOWED BY TU B'AV
Posted by Gary Cooperberg, July 25, 2005. |
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The Jewish people, throughout our history, have always made serious mistakes and fallen short of our obligations. It was on Tisha b'Av, the ninth day of the month of Av, that the spies whom Moses sent to scout out the Land returned with their evil report. The people cried for nothing as they trusted the words of the spies above the Command of G-d. As a punishment G-d declared that since they cried for nothing on this day, in future generations they would cry for good reason. It was on this day that both Temples were destroyed. It was decreed that those who cried needlessly would all perish in the wilderness and only the next generation would merit entering the Land of Israel. It was on Tu b'Av, the fifteenth day of Av, that the last Jew of those who cried perished and the way was cleared for their children to come home. To this day we celebrate Tu b' Av as a joyous holiday. As D day approaches tension is rising and everyone is wondering how this terrible dilemma will be resolved. Certainly the government of Israel would seem to have the power to do just about anything it chooses. Yet, we have already seen that enormous numbers of ordinary citizens are prepared to endure all kinds of hardships to oppose the madness of unilateral surrender and expulsion of Jews from their homes. The morning news today announced that Israel plans to deploy around sixty thousand security personnel to make sure that the expulsion goes smoothly. If this was announced on the news, perhaps the Arabs were listening too. Did anyone ever consider that perhaps some of our charming neighbors might use this information to their advantage? If nearly the entire Israeli army is out in Gaza forcing Jews out of their homes, who is left to protect the country? What an opportune time for a carefully planned attack upon Israel by a combination of neighboring Arab nations! Clearly the government of Israel is very worried that, indeed, the majority of its citizens will physically oppose their undemocratic decision to abandon whole Jewish communities to our enemies. The press may have distorted the numbers of protesters at Kfar Maimon, but the government knows the real numbers and is terrified that it may grow much larger when the real demonstrations take place. Thus all kinds of threats, real and implied, are being publicized in the press to try to frighten Jews into submission. Jail sentences for those who dare to be in Gaza; court martialing of soldiers who conscientiously object to throwing Jews out of their homes; water cannons and other forms of physical punishment against protesters, are but a few of these draconian tactics. While it is anyone's guess as to how the next few weeks will unfold, we would all do well to stop for a moment and try to realize the unique reality that is Eretz Yisrael. Recent history itself is clear proof that this country is far more than just another political nation. There is nothing natural about the way this country was reborn, or how it has managed to survive from day to day, much less how it has managed to grow and develop in spite of enemies both within and without. Back in 1948 most of our political leaders were against the idea of declaring independence from Britain. They were afraid that we couldn't stand on our own two feet. And logically they had a good point. But statehood was declared in spite of them, and the tiny state survived in spite of the fact that all of our Arab neighbors attacked with intent to destroy us completely. So what has changed? Our Arab neighbors still seek our destruction and our political leaders are still afraid that we cannot stand on our own two feet. Given the historical reality that over the past fifty-seven years all attempts to destroy us not only failed but found us redeeming yet more of our destined homeland, and, in spite of efforts by our "allies" to mitigate our military victories, our country has continued to grow and thrive, it is a wonder that our leaders are still so afraid that we cannot stand on our own two feet. What is it that we are afraid of? Even before the effort to remove Jews from Gaza has begun, despite the fact that Sharon clearly stated that Hebron will always remain part of Israel, Peres has announced that the PA wants Hebron and thus we will eventually have to leave that too. What a remarkable peace of statesmanship for a political leader to begin negotiations for our enemies even as our tail is already between our legs as we seek to flee from Gaza. What our puny leaders consistently forget and ignore is the fact that they are not at all in control of what happens here. The rebirth of the Jewish State after nearly two thousand years of Exile is no accident. The beginning of return of Jews from all over the world to the very Land of our birth and the restoration of our ancient Hebrew tongue is no coincidence. How can any human being think to try to undo miracles of such magnitude? It is foolhardy to imagine that Jewish destiny can be stopped and changed by a Peres or a Sharon. It is simply not possible. All that will be accomplished is needless suffering which could have been avoided were we to simply recognize and honor our Jewish obligations in this Divine Process of Redemption. The local media would have its readers believe that peace is around the corner. At long last those selfish land grubbing settlers will be thrown out of the "occupied territories" and the Arabs will love us and shower us with peace. Remember that wonderful peace we enjoyed before 1967; before those land grubbing settlers were in Gaza or Judea and Samaria or even East Jerusalem? All was bliss, love and peace. Fleeing our responsibilities will never bring peace closer. On the contrary. It will only make it harder to achieve and bring terror and bloodshed to our land. The Jewish People have a heavy responsibility to our G-d, to ourselves, to our country, and to all of Mankind. Like the prophet, Jonah, we can try to flee from our responsibility, but we will never escape it. If we but open our eyes we can clearly see redemption already beginning to unfold before us. It is our destiny to bring genuine peace to all of the nations of the world. But this cannot be accomplished by trying to appease our enemies. If Sharon is willing to deploy sixty thousand soldiers to Gaza, why not use them to clear out our enemies once and for all? What folly to uproot Jews while the Arabs are murdering us! Can he not see that he has already formed a defacto partnership with those who are murdering us? This is simply madness! I don't know what will be after Tisha b'Av. I do know that it is good for Jews to be worried during these three weeks. It is a time of mourning and sadness. But I also know that soon afterwards comes Tu b'Av which is a time of gladness and rejoicing. May it be G-d's Will that this Tu b'Av, which comes out on Shabbat (August 20), that we will all have good reason to rejoice. I fully expect that this will be. Gary Cooperberg lives in Hebron. He founded and directs the Shofar project, which is funded by Christian and Jewish zionists to support Jewish aliyah to Israel. Contact him by email at gary@projectshofarorg or go to his website: http://www.projectshofar.org/ To support Project Shofar, you can send a tax deductible contribution to: Project Shofar, Inc., P.O. Box 181191 Casselberry, FL 32718. |
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MALICE AFORETHOUGHT
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, July 25, 2005. |
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Israel's Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon emphatically stated that withdrawal of the Jews from Gaza/Gush Katif was a formula for War. He said that while he was running for election against Amram Mitzna who was emphasizing his position on Gaza - which was to evacuate the territories of all Jews. Then, once Sharon was elected, he exposed his secret plan which was to ethnically cleanse YESHA (Yehuda, Shomron and Gaza) of all Jews. That Sharon is a liar, a scoundrel and a cheat - of that there is no doubt. He has proven it - numerous times. But, worse yet, he knows very well that the Arab Muslim Palestinian Terrorists are absorbing tonnage of smuggled weapons into Gaza and the seven cities over which they were given control after the Oslo Accords were implemented. These weapons are to be launched against any and all of the inner towns and big cities of Israel. All of this was confirmed by Israeli Military Intelligence but, it made no difference to Sharon. Sharon knows that once Israeli troops are moved out of Gaza, the same so-called "foreign fighters" (Mujahadeen - fighters for Islam) killing Americans and Iraqi civilians in Iraq will pour into Gaza which will become the Global Center for "Jihadist" Terrorism. Once concentrated there, they can proselytize young Terrorists, train, arm, collect funds, arms, rockets, missiles, even armored vehicles and planes. They would be able to send forth Terrorist cells to vulnerable populations all over the world. Zarqawi has stated that he will thin out the Mujahadeen in Iraq and transfer them into Europe to elevate Al Qaeda's Global War of the radical Muslims. Sharon also knows that Jews will be vulnerable in at least 44 communities within missile range of Gaza, because he has arranged that these 44 communities have been officially declared vulnerable by law after Sharon suggested it to the Knesset. However, various Muslim countries have developed missiles and rockets with ever-increasing ranges and accuracy, so the number of Israeli civilians in their homes will be increasingly vulnerable. In effect, while knowing all of these strategic disasters in the making, Sharon has become a co-conspirator against the Jewish people of Israel. He knows that once Israeli troops are moved out of Gaza the killing of Jews will increase in various kibbutzim, Sderot, Askelon, Ashdod, Beer Sheva, Beit Shemesh, the suburbs of Tel Aviv, eventually Jerusalem - from the South. With Hezb'Allah in the North receiving such arms from Syria and Iran, the cities, town and kibbutzim such as Naharyia, Haifa, Afula, Tiberias, Safed, etc. will also be vulnerable. In brief, Sharon has knowingly sentenced a large number of Jews to death or being maimed for life by radical Islamic Terrorism. Sharon has accepted marching orders from "General" Bush, despite knowing better than all others that an "Intifada" 3 will be launched. That can only be seen as the worst form of high treason. There must be a Nuremberg-type Trial and, if the facts are clear, Sharon and his followers must receive the same sentence. Knowing Jews are going to be attacked and die or be grievously wounded through your own orders goes well beyond a mistake in judgement. Nor can a former top General think that sacrificing the people as he would his men in a battle, leaves him protected. Even then, such a General who would knowingly sacrifice his men in battle would deserve a court martial at the highest level with the possibility of the highest punishment. Sharon is knowingly committing a crime against the Jewish people both in Israel and the whole world. No Prime Minister has ever been given the right to give away Land he did not own and only had temporary stewardship for safe-keeping. Some of Sharon's former soldiers believe that Sharon has gone insane. Others believe that the reason for this is the thrice born-again President Bush. If it's the latter, then Sharon may have committed high treason. Sharon has proven himself to be useless as a guide for the economy now in deep trouble. He commits to spending more than a Billion Dollars to deport 10,000 Jews (to start) from their homes and withdraw the army to new positions, this at a time the Treasury cannot pay for the welfare of the poor, sick, old, pensions, education - among other basic necessities for the Israeli people. Sharon cannot afford the increased Defense Department expenditures for foolish and dangerous gestures. Then Sharon goes begging to Bush for $2 Billion dollars, a mere token of what it will cost to evict and re-house, build schools, synagogues, farms, businesses for 10,000 men, women and children. Sharon, the Jews have died in every country because we were hated. We were mostly hated because we brought the real G-d to a pagan world. Israel was to give us respite or, at least, a chance to fight our dedicated enemies. For a moment in time, Arik, you fought as a Jew but, as time passed, we found that you were a Jew in name only. You, like many who went before you, wanted a non-Jewish secular nation. You hid it well but, you were no different from David Ben Gurion, Moshe Dayan, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak - among others. Then came a thrice born-again Christian who gave you a chance to shed your Jewish skin and emerge as what you always were. Like Josephus - who accepted Rome, you found another nation to transfer your loyalty and act as their representative. That you became disloyal to your own people, spouting nonsense that your dismembering of the Jewish nation will somehow save it. Somehow, you are part of many of our past brethren - like Shabatai Zvi who led his people falsely and, when captured by the Muhammadans, quickly switched to becoming a Muslim worshiping Allah. What have you become in your transmogrification? Sharon, you are not a champion of the people because you believe in nothing other than your corpulent self. Strangely, the more you try to dispose of our Jewish Land and our Jewish Holy Sites, the stronger believing Jews become. When that corrupt womanizer and stealer of antiquities, Moshe Dayan gave away the Jewish Temple Mount to the Muslim Arabs, we real Jews should have understood the Evil you represent. I should curse the day you were born but, for a brief time, you seemed to be doing the job HaShem had in mind for you. But, then you became a corrupt politician and the poison in you boiled up. Arik, when you were General, you knew what to do. When you became a politician, you spoiled like fruit that falls on the ground and rots. You have gathered around yourself the lowest of our people. The word "trash" seems not to do them or you, justice. Sometimes, I feel I am walking with the children to the ovens. I wonder if those children are looking at you, wondering why you have betrayed them and their memory. I often think of the young soldiers who were killed in action, knowing they were fighting for their families, their homeland. I wonder what they think of their Commander-in-Chief who has betrayed the dead and now betrays the living. I would imagine that there is a special place reserved for you in Gehenna. I feel certain that you, Arik Sharon, will go howling through Hell for all eternity for what you have consciously done to the Jewish people. Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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THE SETTLERS SHOW THEIR TRUE COLORS
Posted by Professor Ya'akov Golbert, July 25, 2005. |
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The international press corps was there in force to document the bloodshed when those vicious, violent, fascistic, aggressive, gun-totin' "settlers" attacked the cops and soldiers sent to prevent them from entering Gush Katif. They really believe their own lies! They actually believe the lying image of the "settlers" that they have created over the last 38 years. Instead, they saw "settlers" doing what "settlers" really do: davening with the soldiers and the cops, playing shesh-besh (backgammon) through the fence with the soldiers and the cops, singing patriotic songs and Psalms. They allowed at least one Chabadnik in to put tefilin on the soldiers and the cops and the Chabadniks actually had the soldiers and the cops drinking vodka with them! The only violence attempted was by the government! "Break their bones," was the instruction given by of one Sharon's satrap. Sharon himself gave orders that the protesters were to be starved out: no food, no water. So 600 residents of Kfar Maimon provided food and water for some 40,000 protesters, let them use their showers and camp on their lawns. On the other hand, government spokesmen repeatedly and constantly called for "no violence" from the "settlers" who were there to protest the government's plan to violently throw the residents of Gush Katif out of their homes, farms and businesses. This article was written by Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post. It appeared on July 21, 2005 and is archived at www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1121912429096&p=1006953079897 Walking among the tens of thousands of Israeli protesters at Moshav Kfar Maimon this week was like being witness to a miracle. There in the scorching summer heat were thousands upon thousands of families with children of all ages, young men and women and elderly people, living under siege and in conditions that would make an infantryman cringe. And yet, there was no complaining. There was no shouting. There was no pushing. There was no garbage on the ground. There was no stench of any kind. What one saw in the protesters' faces and heard in each and every statement and conversation was dignity, determination, integrity, faith and a form of earthy, plainspoken and unabashed patriotism and concern for the greater good that has become an artifact of a barely remembered past for many Israelis. In witnessing this - when just outside were 20,000 soldiers and policemen, laying concertina wire along the fence penning these people in as if they were terrorists, and standing arms locked in row upon row, poised to pounce at them at the slightest provocation - it was, indeed, hard to shake off the sense that one was watching a miracle happen. The tens of thousands of law-abiding citizens - estimates of their actual numbers run between 30,000 and 60,000 - were exercising their democratic right to protest the government's plan to expel 10,000 Israelis from Gaza and northern Samaria and destroy the communities they built from sand next month. The protesters oppose this plan for moral reasons. It is simply obscene, they say, to carry out these expulsions. These people are set to be thrown out of their homes and their farms just because they are Jews. Israel receives nothing in return. These people's homes will be either destroyed or turned over to the same Palestinian terrorist forces that have been attacking them continuously for the past five years. Their hothouses and livestock are set to be turned over to the Palestinians as well. The plan's proponents argue that the expulsion of 10,000 Jews from their farms and communities in the Land of Israel is necessary to maintain Israel as a democratic, Jewish society. Yet, what these opponents of the expulsion plan experienced, in their efforts to even voice their opposition, is that in insisting on carrying out this plan - which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was reelected overwhelmingly in 2003 by promising to oppose - the government is trampling and endangering both Israel's democratic form of government and its character as a Jewish state. On Sunday evening, the day before the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip's solidarity march from Netivot to Gush Katif was set to begin, the police denied the council a permit. In so doing, the police unabashedly denied these people their democratic right to protest the policies of their government. The police's justification was the announced plan to walk to Gush Katif - on the third day of the protest. The denial of the permit to demonstrate meant that everything about the protest plan was deemed illegal. Citizens conducting demonstrations in Netivot, Kfar Maimon and Kibbutz Re'im, the first three planned stops on the march - all of which are well within the sacrosanct 1949 armistice lines - was deemed an illegal activity. Then Monday, when the council ignored this draconian announcement, the police breached the constitutional rights of tens of thousands of Israelis by intercepting privately owned buses throughout the country - from the Golan Heights to Tel Aviv to Eilat - and prevented their law-abiding passengers and drivers from exercising their right to travel freely in the State of Israel. In both of these actions, the police - with full backing from the Prime Minister's Office, the State Attorney's Office and the leftist local media - took actions that undermined Israeli democracy and its foundations as a state ruled by law and not the police.
(Jacob Richman) On the roads to Netivot on Monday and on the roads to Kfar Maimon on Tuesday and Wednesday, the police set up roadblocks to inspect cars. Cars with orange banners of solidarity with the residents set for expulsion, and cars whose passengers were identifiably religious, were pulled over and not allowed to pass. Rather than turn around and go home, the passengers said nothing of this obviously unlawful, discriminatory humiliation. They simply got out of their cars and, pushing their baby carriages and strollers, walked for kilometers under the desert sun to reach Kfar Maimon on foot. In so treating these citizens, the police clearly signaled that they view religious Jews as a threat. So much for leaving Gaza and northern Samaria in order to ensure Israel 's future as a Jewish, democratic state. AS ONE walked along the crowded road and the lawns of Kfar Maimon, one was struck by the ubiquity of the television cameras. Nearly all major news organizations in the Western world were present. In the past, when the council brought up to a quarter of a million people out to protest land giveaways, the mass demonstrations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv received barely any attention. And here were Fox and Sky News, CNN and the BBC competing with Israel's television channels for the best place to park their satellite dishes. The reason for this is clear: The world press has bought into the demonized image of the Jewish residents of Gaza, Judea and Samaria that has been largely propagated by the Israeli Left and the Israeli media. The "settlers" are viewed as violent, extremist, money-grubbing religious fanatics who threaten the foundations of Israel and block any chance for peace between Israel and its neighbors. In other words, under normal circumstances, protests by the settlers are considered unworthy of media attention. But this time, the media swallowed the bait set by the council leaders who insisted that they would march to Gush Katif. Everyone came to film the blood that would be let when the protesters clashed with the Israeli army and the police. But once they were there, far away from their air-conditioned offices and apartments in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, they had to send in the pictures of what they saw. And what they saw was the truth they have been insistently denying for the past 30 years. Namely, that these Israelis have nothing in common with their demonized image. Here were tens of thousands of peaceful protesters singing and dancing and studying together. Here they were, handing fruit and drinks to the soldiers and policemen sent to stand against them and, rather than fighting with them, they prayed with them. For the first time, perhaps ever, both the general public in Israel and the world were able to receive undistorted images of these people on their television screens. If the police's trampling of democracy by attempting to block the protesters from arriving at Netivot and Kfar Maimon weren't enough, we had the hysterical reaction of the police and the IDF to ensure that the general public understood that, like the media, the commanders of the police and the IDF had fallen for the discriminatory stereotypes of the settlers and their supporters. Arrayed against these families was a division and a half of security forces. There were more security forces laying siege to Kfar Maimon than participated in the Operation Defensive Shield in Judea and Samaria in April 2002. In the entire US invasion force of Iraq in 2003, only 20,000 troops actually participated in combat operations. As the Palestinians in Gaza continued their Kassam rocket and mortar attacks, rather than fight Israel 's enemies, the IDF deployed six combat brigades to Kfar Maimon, where the soldiers were told to lay siege on their own family members. Brig.-Gen. Gershon Hacohen, who is the division commander charged with commanding the withdrawal and expulsion from Gush Katif, laid siege to his brother, Rabbi Reem Hacohen and his family. Reem's son, a cadet at officer training school, laid siege to his parents and siblings. Thirty percent of the soldiers in the Golani Infantry Brigade live in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. These soldiers laid siege to their parents and brothers and sisters. At least one battalion commander refused to follow his order to lay barbed wire along Kfar Maimon's fence. Several commanders ordered their soldiers to remove their unit insignias and berets so that no one would recognize them. Soldiers from command courses in the IDF, who were sent with no warning to Kfar Maimon, cried when they received the orders and the soldiers standing arm to arm against the protesters cried as they were forced to lay siege to their innocent countrymen whose only offense was voicing their opposition to the expulsion plan. Sensing the impact of the demonstration, and no doubt noting that the latest polling data from the left-leaning Herzog Institute show that less than 50 percent of Israelis support the plan, Thursday morning Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the government may order the expulsion to begin immediately rather than on its scheduled date of August 17. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived Thursday afternoon to make sure that Sharon goes through with the plan in spite of the fact that doing so all but ensures that Hamas will take over Gaza. Hamas has already prepared 20,000 new uniforms for its operatives and supporters. They are planning a victory march through Gush Katif the day after the last Jew is expelled. So much for Washington 's belief that throwing Jews out of their homes simply because they are Jews will contribute to the prospects of Middle East peace. When a democratic government adopts an immoral policy, it is the duty of its loyal citizens, through acts of protest and civil disobedience, to hold up a mirror to their leaders and their fellow citizens to force them to contend with the implications of their policies. At Netivot and Kfar Maimon this week, the protesters did just that. What we saw on the one side was the dignified, humble and stubborn Zionism of the citizens set to be expelled and of their supporters. On the other side, we saw the anti-democratic and discriminatory
face of the government that stands against them. The time has come for
the people of Israel to be allowed to freely and democratically decide
which side they are on.
Ya'akov-Perez Golbert was a full professor of
law in Los Angeles until moving to Israel in 1984. He is a practicing
lawyer in Jerusalem and is a co-founder/director of Netzah Yisrael Lo
Yishaqer, (http://www.netzahyisrael.org). Contact him by email at
golbert@actcom.co.ilq
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AND THEN THEY CAME AFTER US
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, July 25, 2005. |
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Look at this snippet from a friend of mine in Ohio; it is brilliant.
Militants hide behind civilians everywhere. In my own neighborhood (just three houses away, here in Sylvania, Ohio), a family of Arabs were raided by the FBI. More than 100 guns were found in the house. And our neighbors saw many men crawling on the ground in the back yard, like commandos, practicing... something that looked very bad. My peaceful quiet upper middle class neighborhood (suburb of Toledo) is just about the last place to look for terrorist cells. Yet, here they are. The militants have become as ubiquitous as McDonalds. But how can you destroy tiny bits and pieces of militant cells when they are but scraps of people hiding under rocks all over the world? And just when one rock is uncovered, they hide under another. Tanks and infantry were not meant for this. Cruise missiles won't do the job. I'm afraid that this war on terror will last many, many generations. Meanwhile, the US devotes its resources fighting against Baathists, Sunnis, and stragglers from Syria, instead of the terrorists who are currently planning their next attack on us. WE NEED A NEW STRATEGY! Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org |
| GUSH KATIF |
SHARON'S FRIEND TO BUILD CASINO IN GAZA
Posted by Hillel Fendel, July 25, 2005. |
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Cyril Kern, whose donations to the Sharon family have been the subject of police investigation, is one of the financial partners in a casino-to-be-built in northern Gaza if Israel withdraws. Former MK Shmuel Flatto-Sharon the major player in the plans to build the casino, revealed to Arutz-7's Itzik Wolf that among his partners are a Saudi Arabian billionaire and Kern (pictured, left). Flatto-Sharon said that he has already been in contact with the Palestinian Authority regarding his plans to build the casino on the lands of what is now Elei Sinai, one of the three Jewish communities in northern Gaza. Elei Sinai is the closest of the three to what will become, under Prime Minister Sharon's withdrawal plan, the PA-Israel border - only a couple of hundred meters away. Cyril Kern is an old war-time buddy of Ariel Sharon who has long lived in South Africa. He and the Saudi businessman recently toured the area on which the casino/resort is to be built. Flatto-Sharon said he plans to conduct talks with Israel about ensuring that the homes of Elei Sinai remain standing, to be used to house future casino employees. In 2003, the police began investigating a $1.5 million loan that Kern made to Sharon and/or his sons. The information was considered so damaging by a State Prosecution attorney that just three weeks before the national elections, she secretly faxed the story to a Ha'aretz reporter. She later explained that because she had a son of army age, she did not want Sharon to be re-elected as Prime Minister. The attorney was later forced to resign her position and pay a fine. The Saudi billionaire arrived in Israel several months ago, at the behest of Labor MK Ephraim Sneh. He met at the time with senior officials in the Prime Minister's Bureau and discussed with them the possibility of his purchasing all the houses in Gush Katif for the price of seven billion dollars. Flatto-Sharon said that the casino project will only begin after the disengagement. It will include a casino, a motel, and a five-star, 400-room hotel. The town's synagogue will remain standing for the benefit of the expected Israeli and Jewish gamblers. The former MK, who served in the 9th Knesset on an independent party list, told Wolf that he has a detailed map of Elei Sinai that he received from the PA minister Kadura Fares. Fares himself received it lately from the Israel Defense Forces. Flatto-Sharon said that half of the expected profits, which he calculates will reach a million dollars a day, "will be donated to the poor and underprivileged... for instance, the local municipal council workers who have not received salaries for several months." Wolf reported that his query on the topic to the Prime Minister's Bureau has not yet been answered. Sharon's top aide Dov Weisglass has long been accused of having conflicts of interests related to the casino in Jericho and a planned casino in Gaza. See "http://israelbehindthenews.com/Archives/ Sep-27-04.htm#NigudInteresssim" by David Bedein for details. 2. "Elei Sinai Unhappy with Casino Plans" by Hillel Fendel. Residents of Elei Sinai, the pioneering Jewish community that Ariel Sharon's friend Cyril Kern wants to turn into a PA casino, respond to the news that their town is slated to become a casino. Arutz-7 spoke with several residents, including Yamit-evictee Avi Farhan, Rabbi Yishai Bar-Hen, and others. Long-time Elei Sinai resident Avi Farhan said he's heard rumors of a casino before, but didn't know that Sharon's friend Cyril Kern was involved. "When this uprooting/expulsion plan was first mentioned by Sharon [in late 2003]," he told Arutz-7 today, "our three northern Gaza communities of Elei Sinai, Dugit and Nisanit were not involved at all. Only afterwards were we included in the plan - and this led to all sorts of rumors about casinos and the like. I said at the time that these were merely evil rumors, because it simply could not be that the government of Israel would take me and my neighbors out of our homes and lands in order to build a casino. It simply couldn't be; how low could Jews descend?" Farhan added that there was no reason in the first place to include northern Gaza in the disengagement plan: "The area on which our three communities stand was never under Arab control. Even when the Gaza Strip was under Egyptian control from 1949 to 1967, this area - from Dugit in the west until Nisanit in the east, and up to Nachal Shikmah in the north, including Netiv Haasarah (just north of the Gaza Strip) - was a buffer zone under UN control. We are located just four kilometers from one of Israel's largest power plants; this was a totally forested area, and we didn't uproot any Arabs in order to live here." Farhan said, "I say to Flatto-Sharon and to Cyril Kern and to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: On the contrary, we're in favor of developing the area, and even with Palestinian cooperation. We can be the bridge for peace, for everyone's benefit. We are contiguous with Ashkelon in the north, and with our neighbors to the south [Arab residents of Beit Lahiya and nearby Arab cities], with whom we lived in peace for many years. I myself had a cooperative juncture - a fish restaurant - that I owned jointly with Arabs for almost 20 years, and it was a perfect example of cooperation and co-existence. About 5 years ago, Muhammed Dahlan came to eat at the restaurant, and I told him that though the left-wing Israelis are afraid of him, we are not - and that if there is some good will, the Arabs and Jews together can turn the area from Ashkelon southwards to El Arish into something that could compete with the French Riviera. But if they want to do it without us, by expelling us - it won't work, because it will bring only hostility and tension and antagonism. We can find the way for Jews to live here, just like Arabs live in Galilee." Farhan was evicted from the town of Yamit following the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979. He told Arutz-7 that he moved from Yamit to Elei Sinai at the behest of none other than Ariel Sharon. Farhan related that on his way to setting up a protest refugee camp in 1982, "Uri Bar-on, an aide of [then-Defense Minister] Arik Sharon, came to see me and said, 'Arik says that instead of protesting and starting a refugee camp, why don't you start a new community in the Erez area, in northern Gaza?' And so we did! We started the town of Elei Sinai [followed later by Dugit and Nisanit], at the behest of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon." Rabbi Yishai Bar-Hen, who has lived in Elei Sinai for eight years, told Arutz-7, "There are several things that I don't understand: If they're taking our homes for a casino, this means that all their claims that they need housing and they are too densely populated are not true. Why do they claim that we took their land and forced them out of their houses, if really they want the land just to make money? "Secondly, I'd like to know this: What do the other Jews of this country think about the fact that Jews are being forced out of their homes just so a casino can be built? Take Tel Aviv or Ramat Gan - would the Jews there be willing to leave for the benefit of a casino? ... "If this place turns into a casino, I pity the people of Sderot and Ashkelon - not only because of the Kassam rockets that can be expected, but also because of the money and values that can be expected to be swallowed up by having a casino next door..." Rabbi Bar-Hen noted with some sadness that the public struggle against the withdrawal from Gush Katif and Shomron had concentrated most only Gush Katif, and much less so on northern Gaza. "It's not too late, however," he said. "Even a phone call or a letter can help to show that the people here have not been forgotten. And even for those who have already decided to leave, a call or letter shows that people are not judging or second-guessing them, but realize how sad it is to have to leave the land that G-d gave the Jewish People - and this can have a great effect." Rabbi Bar-Hen noted that the first yeshiva to relocate to Gaza in the past several months was Yeshivat Maaleh Ephraim, in the Jordan Valley, and that it was later followed by other yeshivot that moved to Gush Katif. "The teachers and students have been here all this time," Rabbi Bar-Hen said, "and have not left. They asked me if they should participate in demonstrations and the like, and I advised them that they should simply study, from morning to night. And that's what they do, and the people here are very impressed with them. I said that they should sit here in the air-conditioned Torah study hall, and that will give the other people the strength to stand in the hot sun and protest." Hillel Fendel is editor of Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNationalNews.com), and is author of two three news items, which appeared in today's Arutz-Sheva. |
| GUSH KATIF |
MIREL'S DIARY - WEDNESDAY IN KFAR MAIMON
Posted by Naomi Ragen, July 25, 2005. |
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Friends, More from my friend Mirel on Kfar Maimon in which she discusses the morality (immorality?) of asking soldiers to refuse orders (and having her soldier son on the other side of the fence), and how it all ended. My own personal feeling is that asking our soldiers to disobey orders is criminal as well as unfeeling, and that it cannot be justified in any way. You can contact Mirel by email at mogey@barak.net.il Naomi The sun shining above wakes me up. I'm delighted to see that I actually got in a full night's sleep (Hey - 9:30 to a bit after 6 is even better than at home!) I get myself organized, see that Elchanan [who has generously invited us strangers into his home!] has left the door open for us to avail ourselves of his facilities and quietly wash up so I can say my prayers and start my day. Lucky me for the early start, 'cause by the time I finish, the lines are forming once again for our host's bathroom. I eat breakfast, and join Elchanan for a coffee. I'm actually not much of a coffee drinker, but Elchanan is so put out by my not taking anything from him, that I figure that may as well have a coffee. I feel that our hosts are being so generous it is hard for me to take advantage of it. N. [my friend] and I limit ourselves to the bathroom and the fridge and leave the showers and extras to others. People are constantly asking for outlets to recharge their cellphones as well. At one point, Elchanan laughed and told one person that if he finds a spare outlet, he's welcome to it, but at the moment they're all being used. It seems that some things were relaxed overnight, and the makolet was restocked as well. N.'s daughter comes and tells us that last night a shipment of pizza and other food supplies came in from Atzmona in Gush Katif. N. goes to do some shopping. Afterwards we head down to the morning rally. Not much that's new, more pep talks, more singing, Rav Druckman is leading us all in song. More reminders of nonviolence, patience. Reminders to drink and rest for the next leg of our journey. Reminders of activities for children and shiurim for the youths and adults. Reminders to take good care of Kfar Maimon and keep the place neat and clean. I meet someone I know. He tells me that he'd gone home the day before and snuck back in early that morning. Despite the roadblocks and cordoning, it seems that people are still making it in. (Later at home, I'm told about one family who snuck across the fields to Kfar Maimon, only to be helped by one of the soldiers who wheeled their baby carriage across the field and led them to an opening in the fence.) We're told that there is a lost and found behind the shul, so after the rally I head there to look for my water bottle with insulated bag that had disappeared the day before. On the way I see some people reading the paper. I join the crowds to see what it has to say. A bit surprised at the warm coverage, I look for the correspondent's name - and then notice that the paper is HaTzofeh Oh well, at least someone likes us As I continue to the shul, through the throngs of people I notice some soldiers among the crowds. They came in from the group ringing us to visit with some friends. I ask them what unit they're with - not my son's unit I'm glad to hear. But that makes me wonder. I send my son an SMS message - hey! If you're nearby, come visit me! Finally find the lost and found, but sadly my insulated bag is not there. On my way I hear that there's a lawyer who's giving out legal advice, what to do in case you're arrested. Since this is another big fear of mine (I'm really a straight, law-abiding citizen, very non-confrontational. Just the thought of entering a confrontation with soldiers or police ties my stomach up in knots. What can I say? I was born a real chicken), I decide to join the group. We are told that he will speak without any loudspeakers and only to small groups so as to avoid his getting into trouble. I wonder at the world we live in - where a lawyer providing free legal advice has to worry about being arrested for incitement. Now picture me - I'm standing there in my jeans skirt, orange shirt and cap, with a pouch holding all my essentials (cellphone, siddur, pen and pad with emergency numbers in case I'm arrested - G-d forbid - or something). Since I'm really big on taking notes to help me remember things, I pull out my pad and pen and begin writing down what he has to say. All of a sudden, someone begins yelling and pointing in my direction - watch out! A member of the press! I of course, deny the accusation. So I'm asked - so how come you're writing it down? I explain that I want to relay the information to other people and besides, I remember best that way. People calm down and our lawyer continues. Actually, good think I took notes, because afterwards groups of people approach me asking me to repeat what was told. One person tells me he's with a group of students and asks for pen and paper to write down key points to relay to them as well. I hear the end of the lawyer's talk one more time, and then follow him once again to another group and, and get some new pointers. Someone there sees me and laughs, told me that he's been following him around too. I guess someone else there is as nervous as me People are passing around cartons of apples - a donation from settlements in the Golan. The day before we had pears donated by the people of Kfar Maimon. Later I see someone with a giant gourd- it seems that some settlement had sent cartons of those as well (although hardly as practical, I guess those who came with cooking equipment could do something with it ). As I roam around, I bump into my niece's husband, and then someone else that I hadn't seen since I got off our bus at the Plugot intersection. She suggests a walk to the fence to see what's up. While we walk my phone rings. It's my son, the army officer. "Where are you, Ima? Going home yet?" he wants to know. I tell him where I am, and that I'll be staying one more day (I'd planned on staying till Wednesday, but with the change in program I figured I'd stay for as long as I could - my food and husband's patience should last till Thursday I figured.). Go home he begs. Not yet, but soon I promise. My heart aches for him. Anyway, my son tells me he'll be stopping by for a visit. I tell him that I 'll be waiting by the gate. As I approach the gate, I see that some of the chemical lavatories and the water tanks from the encampment have been moved here. I see this guy running up he tells us to go to the gate and stop people from leaving - people are leaving in droves. I am told to be careful - he is provocateur. But then, skeptical me thinks that anyone saying things we don't want to hear would probably be called a provocateur. I get my first view of the gate and realize I can't stay there. There is an opening near the gate where people leave and enter, but the sight of that gate handcuffed shut I find too unsettling for words. Protesters from Kfar Maimon are milling about over there. The police are grouped there too, eating ices. (Just inside the gate is a man selling ices from a cart. He shouts out: Aritkim! Artikim! 2 shekel an artik! And then adds - I love this protest, come protest every day!) I set out towards the fence where the soldiers are lined up. There are groups of kids, youths, adults around the soldiers, some playing music and singing, some offering them treats and drinks, some lecturing them about what they should or should not be doing, some just talking to them. Stickers and pamphlets are handed out. One young girl walks up and down the fence looking for a soldier to play volleyball with her over the fence. I didn't see any takers while I was there, but back home I spoke to someone who said that she saw a girl playing volleyball with soldiers over the fence, so I guess she eventually did find one. I stand next to the fence, my heart going out to these young soldiers. Although I'm facing a group of officers (and I wonder how the army gets together such a large group of officers only), they all seem pretty young to me. One young boy walks up to these poor officers standing in the hot sun and offers them some ice cubes from a bag. They all nod no thanks. Noticing a pattern, I say: What is it? You've been told not to take anything from us? One young woman soldier half nods. I don't have much patience for nonsense. I take some ice from the boy and drop it into pockets and hands and a hat someone was fanning himself with. There, I tell them. You didn't take anything. I gave, none of you took. The woman soldier is delighted, she runs the ice cube up and down her arms. She takes another cube and drops it down the back of the shirt of the soldier next to her, who stuck his hands behind him so as not to even be given a cube. They loosen up a bit. I will not tell any of these soldiers what decisions to make. I know that there are many who urge soldiers to refuse orders. It feels immoral, unethical for me to tell them what to do. Whatever they do will be hard enough. They each have to make their own decisions. I certainly will not discuss it with a soldier on duty, it feels wrong to me. I think that just the outpouring of love that they're getting speaks louder than any words telling them what their decisions should be. Besides, they are the ones who have to live with the results of whatever decision they make, not me. I begin talking to the soldiers, though. One of the soldiers talks about all the kids here. Lucky it's vacation time, she says. This way this gives the kids something to do. I'm sure that many of the kids are there because their friends are there, but their friends are there along with them because these are the values they've been brought up on- devotion to country and people, the idea that there should be no reward for terror, the idea that we are responsible for people besides ourselves. Some times I wonder what values other people are raised on - these seem such basic values. A news broadcaster gets ready for broadcast. He's set up on the back of a van near the fence. People watch him, and listen to his report - he seems to be reporting to England. He tells that many people have left, and there are now only about 2000 protesters left in Kfar Maimon. Given the fact that only around the gates and front fence there seems to be several hundred people, that statement seems rather ridiculous, and provokes angry retorts from the people around him. One frustrated young man asks him - why do you lie to people? I too wonder. What I have learned from all this - I no longer trust anything I hear on the news. I hope I'll remember that down the road. I hope even more that the news becomes eventually something that people can hear and believe. On the march and at Kfar Maimon I noticed several members of the press who walked alongside us and held serious discussions with the people around them, trying to understand where we were coming from. Many others couldn't seem to care less, and seemed more interested in presenting what they felt people wanted to hear, or just worked according to their won agenda rather than try to reach any real dialogue. My son calls, he's arrived. I go to greet him. He's arrived with a bunch of other officers - all of whom have friends and family within the compound. He looks tired. No wonder, too. Their conditions, it seems, are much worse than ours. (My son is very quiet about things, this I learned from others.) Since my family is really very important to me, I feel better and worse for having seen him. Out of respect for my son's privacy, we will let it rest at that. I return to Elchanan's lawn. On the way I pass a table with lunch set up there. Heaven help us, on this broiling day they've been giving out cholent (along with rolls and cans of pineapple). I joke and ask them if they're getting ready for Shabbat already. The many paths in Kfar Maimon are packed with people - its odd, these metropolis-like hordes of people moving about on these quiet pastoral paths. And that joker reported that we're down to 2000. Ridiculous! I sit in front of Elchanan's house watching the people walking by. I laugh with one of the girls - true, people left during the day, but there are new people there as well. They can be recognized by their fresh clothing - those of us there from the beginning look rumpled already. We begin to notice people walking around with new signs hanging from orange ribbons around their necks which read: "Ani Lo HaOyev"(I am not the enemy!) I comment that these are the most boring interesting days I have ever spent. Elchanan invites me to join him inside and get out of the sun. He tells me about the history of the area, stories from his army years, talks about the missiles that have been falling in the area lately - not just in Gush Katif, but in their general area as well. We also discuss the pleas with soldiers to refuse orders. Elchanan wants to know how many of the people now urging soldiers to refuse orders were in the army, and if so, how many of them ever refused orders. He talks of his sons, who also served in the army and were officers. He talks of the "chinuch" we've given our children to love of country and respect for the army. How do we let it all go down the drain? I agree with him. When we cried out against the left wing "sarvanim" we set in motion the problems now facing possible right wing sarvanim. We taught our children that politics aside, and army aside. How do we change our tune now when the politics now speak to us so strongly? I understand and respect the Avi Biebers, but I also understand and respect the soldiers who crying on the inside, do what they are told to do, however much it pains them. Elchanan and I wonder what next. People are getting discouraged by the hours of inactivity. People want to be DOING something, not just sitting around waiting for the next step. People are leaving. I wonder how much longer we can stay - I have a family at home and Shabbat is coming up. Elchanan wonders how the people of Kfar Maimon can host such multitudes over Shabbat. It begins to be clear that at today's afternoon rally will have to declare a move, or lose the people. The PA continues to announce that we should drink and rest to get strength for the next leg. Talk is that yes, we will be moving out tonight. We all regather on the lawn and get ourselves organized for moving out. Last trips to the bathroom. Farewells to our gracious host. Last minute we decide to leave our bags organized near the door so we don't have to "shlep" it through the afternoon rally as well. We gather on the lawn, where we are told to stand separately, men on the right, women on the left. It takes a while before all the people are gathered. I look around and can see that there are fewer people than the day before, but we still number in the tens of thousands. Rav Schapiro talks. Then we have some other speakers as well. We say the Mincha prayers and more psalms. There is a new spirit, you can see the exaltation in peoples faces as they pray. There is something very special about this praying together, thousands of people together as one. We are again and again reminded that we are gathered together for a nonviolent protest. Should we be confronted by police or soldiers blocking our way, we are to sit. Makes sense to me - someone sitting can hardly be considered threatening The final speaker gives us our marching orders - Rabbis, Knesset members and other dignitaries first, then the yeshivot with their young men, then other men, then women, and families should bring up the rear. This is it. I can feel my stomach knotting up. We hurry back to Elchanan's to pick up our bags and once more say farewell. Then we head back down to the center. The men are beginning maariv prayers. We're not sure what we should be doing - if the men are praying, do we wait, we're women, they should be before us As we stand around, we see a family in front of us. The mother looks familiar - she has some children with her. Her little boy, about 8 is crying. It seems that they're tourists from the States, who came in to Kfar Maimon for the day. The 8-year-old wants to go home! We try and reassure him - no chance of getting out right now, but soon We begin talking - no wonder the mother looks familiar - we were in college together a hundred years ago or so. Reassuring the little boy calms me down a bit, but then the voice over the PA asks us to continue. Stay in line, follow the rabbis, stay close, don't loiter. We follow the ranks of young men ahead of us. The kids around us seem thrilled, we're finally moving. The adults seem a little more tense. I send SMS messages to my family at home - now is the time to say Tehillim for us I write. I pray to Hashem that we succeed, that we make it through all right, that no one gets hurt. As we proceed towards one of Kfar Maimon's back gates, the tension mounts. We end up near an ambulance, when the procession stops. The army is not letting us through. Following our orders, we sit. I am amazed at the number of people, including women with babies pushing ahead. What is it- they want front row seats with their babies and toddlers at confrontations with the police? N. calls out to remind them that people with families should be at the back, but is generally ignored. A young man ahead of us calls out, frustrated, asking people to stop pushing ahead, there is no room. There are no megaphones to let us know what is happening ahead of us. Darkness has descended, but we are in the dark in more ways than one. After a while rumors begin filtering back. We've been stopped. The rabbis are negotiating with the police. We're not really sure what's happening. Eventually we are told to proceed. To continue the procession. We get up and continue marching past the last houses. We come to an open dust field. Looks like something prepared for a further building stage - maybe for houses for next generation Kfar Maimon dwellers. There are one or two smaller, newer houses on the large lot. Beyond the lot, a road and the back part of the security fence. There are crowds in front of a gate on the left. There are also people along the fence, and scattered through the lot. N.'s younger daughter is nervous. She is constantly checking us both, making sure that both adults are near her. We are not quite sure what it is we're supposed to do, and where we're supposed to be doing it. We decide to sit and munch on something till we figure out what exactly we're supposed to be doing. Then word comes again - follow the rabbis, do not stop at the fence. Only none of us know anymore where the rabbis are. We mill around, and eventually head to the perimeter road ahead of us. There are people all around us. Some people are grouped by the gate to our left, some are talking with the security forces behind the fence, others are walking down the road to our right. We're told to continue walking, so we head towards our right. Eventually we reach another gate. Don't see any rabbis or dignitaries here either. Not sure what to do, and feeling a bit ridiculous, we decide to sit. I get a call from my soldier son - Where are you Ima? I dunno - I' m by a gate. Which gate? he wants to know. How should I know which gate? Are you by the gate with Rav Aviner he asks. I have no idea where Rav Aviner is, I tell him, the only thing I can see by the gate is a van right outside it with a policeman and a soldier standing on its roof. My son doesn't see that, I hear the relief in my his voice. I realize we're at different gates. People are sitting around, frustrated. A young girl by the fence asks people if anyone has a working cellphone. I tell her my battery is low - Here it is Wednesday evening and it hasn't been charged since Monday morning. A policeman behind the fence commiserates with us. Asks why we didn't recharge it in Kfar Maimon. Told us that he's been keeping his phone off, only turning it on to call his wife before she goes to bed to let her know that everything is ok. On opposite sides of the fence, but in the same boat. Near us are a group of girls singing to the soldiers to the left. I find it funny - young soldiers being serenaded in the night. Near us a young man is arguing with a secular man. The secular man says that we were silly to listen to the rabbis - we should have fought with the police and broken out. He tells us that 90% of the secular population is with us- or would be if they saw that we were the winning side. If we would break through in a show of strength, all the secular would be joining us. I find that a bit naive - certainly not true about most of the secular people I work with. The argument progresses into different avenues as well. A young couple settles down next to me. The young woman falls asleep in her husband's arms, too exhausted to spread out a bedroll or anything. Sometimes even doing not much of anything can be very exhausting. Then the rumors come again. Continue marching. Proceed to the front gate. We're not sure anymore what is the quickest route. Back the way we came? To the right along the fence? Anyone know? Do we flip a coin? Almost - some people head back, some continue along the fence. N. and I walk with the girls along the fence. N. and I joke - like in Jericho, till the walls fall down? Her girls are getting tired. And frustrated. They've had enough. As we walk along, the younger one asks us to talk to the soldiers. So we call out as we pass, good night. Don't worry; you'll be home soon. Some of them nod at our words. At this point, that is all that they want - to be back home. We come across a group huddled around a police van on the perimeter road. Nothing to worry about - a young man is having a discussion with a police officer, and everyone else is gathered around to listen. We have some amazingly eloquent and intelligent young people among us. We continue our walk. There are a number of men from the border patrol lined up inside the fence (later we're told that they were there to prevent us talking to the soldiers outside the fence - not sure how true that was, because didn't see them preventing any talking). Further down there are a group of them sitting down and smoking, singing to one of their friends "Ohavim et Yaki, ohavim et Yaki" to the tune we'd been singing the "ohavim et Tzahal". We get a laugh out of it. I guess they'll be returning home with stories of their own, and the songs they've learned from us. N.'s kids have definitely had it. Our route takes us back into the village, past some young men with megaphones. N. approaches them to ask about buses back to Yerushalayim. We were told that there would be buses back to Yerushalayim on Wednesday. Where are they? The young men don't know. They ask us to continue to the gate. They sing. Neither N. nor her children are reassured. Me, I don't have many expectations any more, but at least my stomach hasn't been knotted up any more for the last while, not since I realized that there isn't going to be much excitement that night. As we near the front gates, it is well past midnight. We see lines of cars and jeeps all packed up and filled with people leaving. We sit near the front gate waiting to hear what's up. We don't hear anything, but we begin seeing people heading back towards the center of the village. What's up, we want to know. Didn't you hear? No, not a thing. They thanked us, and announced that the police were not letting us progress towards Kissufim. We should realize that what we did has been important, but most people aren't buying it. They are too frustrated. N.'s kids want to go home. It is now 12:45 - it makes no sense to head back towards Yerushalayim. All the cars leaving are full, and even if we made it into Netivot how would we continue from there? I suggest that we return to Elchanan and get a good night's sleep and continue on home the next morning. That's what we do. We find our young friends there as well. They're already settled down for the night, although still up. It seems pretty unanimous- we'll all be heading for home the next morning. Wake up Thursday. Same routine. Fewer people lining up for Elchanan's bathroom, but there are still long lines. People are cleaning up around them. I go down with N. to the center to find out about buses to Yerushalayim. They say there will be some leaving at ten. I try and find my nephew, see how he's going back, but my brother tells me that he made it back to Yerushalayim at 4 in the morning. He gives me the name and number of a friend of his who's there with a car. The friend has to get to Netivot to pick up his car, but he says he'll come pick me up from there. The people I talk to are largely frustrated, they want to know what they took off from work for. What was accomplished? I'm not sure yet how I feel. I hear rumors that while we were busy diverting security forces, a large group slipped out of another gate pretending to be going back home, but headed into Gush Katif instead. That makes me feel better. But then, while I agree that sitting around not doing much was frustrating, I'm not so sure that nothing was accomplished. Tens of thousands of people were gathered together closely with people on the outside and authorities expecting violence, injuries, even deaths. Instead, we were able to maintain order, and spread goodwill. We served to show the depths of depravity of the government and how far it had fallen from the democratic society it purports itself to be. But I learned the biggest lesson of the importance of our efforts once I left Kfar Maimon. When I headed out of Kfar Maimon, there were lines of people waiting for the free buses that the police were providing for rides to Netivot. I was waiting for Yair, my brother's friend at the gate. He called to let me know first that he was on his way, and then that he was stopped, police would not let him make the left turn from Netivot onto the road to Kfar Maimon. I told him I would walk, or hitch a ride to where he was, but please, wait for me. I saw the long lines of people waiting for the buses, but knew that no way whatsoever am I going to take advantage of the police rides to Netivot. It seemed too much to me like giving in. I started walking, and then saw a cab heading out of Kfar Maimon. I flagged him down, figuring that let it cost whatever it cost, at least I'm not taking up the police offer. I get into the car, there is someone sitting next to the driver (later I hear him tell the driver to pick up as many people as possible, he'll pay). As I open my mouth to ask how much the ride to the end of the road will cost me, the driver begins singing our praise. We were terrific! We were wonderful! He was so proud of us! The whole nation should be proud of us! As he continued singing paeans of praise, his enthusiasm and exuberance gave me a better idea of what we had accomplished. We had reached out to people all over the country and given them a symbol. In a country riddled with strife and random acts of violence, we had served as a sign of hope, a sign of the good things the people of our country are capable of as well. Each of us, who had given up vacation days, work hours or whatever, each of us plain, ordinary people had shown how together we can rise above the ordinary, and exert an influence together, that none of us has alone. Yes, it was hard to sit and do not much of anything. And yet, although I may feel that we didn't actively DO much, I think that manhigut Yesha was brilliant. Because while we didn't Do much, much was DONE. In a country riddled with violence, we were able to prove that even huge crowds of determined people can sit peacefully and LOVINGLY with the forces opposing them. I think we have to remember that along with everything else, if we keep in mind that "sinat chinam" (rampant hatred of our fellow Jew) is what brought about the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) and avat chinam (widespread love of our fellow Jew) is what will bring about the building of the next Beit HaMikdash, then Yesha's leadership which had us working 3 days on spreading Ahavat chinam was a brilliant idea! We spent 3 days showering the soldiers and police surrounding us with songs, candies, ice cubes in the heat, showering them with love. These are the same soldiers that will be used in the disengagement, should we ever come to that. Do you think that they'll be acting the same way after this experience? Many people who hadn't started out thinking on our wavelength began changing their minds because of what happened this week? Oy li, all these people who think that things have to happen instantly. Sometimes, if not most times, the most important things take time and patience. That's the way it is sometimes in building a country, and in saving a country! Chazak v'Amatz. And I for one with such levelheaded leadership, am waiting to return next time I get the call as well! Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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WHAT YOU WISH FOR
Posted by Alan B. Katz, July 25, 2005. |
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"Some rise by sin; others by virtue fall."
From at least as far back as the legend of King Midas, we have been warned, "Be careful what you ask for. You may get it." Time and again, we have failed to heed the Greek chorus and we could almost hear them laughing in the background, "We told you so." It is entirely likely that we are now at another such moment in history. The American President is embarked upon a noble crusade: democratization. The Palestinian Arabs may again go to the polls; this time to elect parliamentary and municipal representatives. We have encouraged this. Representative government is as mother's milk to Americans. The problem is that democratic elections are not necessarily significative of a democracy. Reliable polls indicate that Hamas and Hizbollah will emerge victorious in many of those free elections. Even if they fail to garnish a majority, it is likely they will be elected in so large a number that Mr. Abbas and Fatah may very well be forced to give them "a seat at the table" and perhaps even a place in a coalition government. Should that happen, Israel will be forced on the horns of a dilemma. It will be demanded that Israel negotiate its future with a democratically elected government comprised largely of people who remain dedicated to her destruction. The historical Arab demand that the Jewish state die by murder or suicide will no longer involve a choice. While we are celebrating - perhaps prematurely - democracy's victories in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, it would be wise to understand exactly what democratic elections may bring us. Mahmoud Abbas, known by his nom de guerre Abu Mazen, did not just spring from a shell like Venus. The man has a past. He has a history. Hailed by the West as a "moderate," he was for decades the advisor and confidante of the late Mr. Arafat, and the architect of the Palestinian war plan. There is simply no evidence that Mr. Mazen has undergone a Sadat-like metamorphosis. Rather, there are good reasons to question whether Mr. Mazen and the PA even want a two-state peace. Although Mr. Mazen has had months - and much foreign aid - to make changes, he refuses to tackle the sine qua non for advancing the peace process: destruction of the terrorist network. Since the momentous meeting at Sharm el-Sheik, Hamas, Hizbollah, etc. operate openly and in defiance of his supposed authority and continue to attack Israel. While almost all attacks have been prevented by the IDF and the security fence, the so-called PA security forces have sat on their hands as arms are smuggled into, manufactured in and carried through the streets of Gaza right under their noses. Hamas, Hizbollah, and Islamic Jihad know they are free to act as they wish as long as they don't completely muck up the current cease-fire. They are free to catch their breath and re-arm. We have President Mazen, who has repeatedly stated that he will neither let PA police fire on Palestinians nor will he disarm the terrorists, to thank for this state of affairs. Abu Mazen's plan to deal with the terrorists and released prisoners is ingenious in its simplicity: welcome them into the Palestinian security forces, make them promise in writing not to kill Israelis, and then re-arm them. Co-opt the killers rather than confront them. Has crime ever been solved by giving the criminals a badge and a gun? Not content to place the foxes in charge of the chicken coop, Abu Mazen intends to place the foxes directly in the chicken coop. What about the weapons leaking daily through the Egyptian border and manufactured in Gaza? President Mazen has that figured out: after the elections, all terrorists will be incorporated into the Palestinian political system and will have no need for terrorism, weaponry or murderous organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah. All weapons, he expects, will be turned in to the state. "When a militia turns into a political party," President Mazen recently opined, "I believe the issue of a need for arms becomes irrelevant." "There will be," he declares, "one authority, one law and one legal gun." (It has a familiar ring to it, no? "Eine volk, eine deutchland, eine fuhrer!") As though the way to fight crime is to give guns and badges to the criminals. Hamas promptly issued statements that its participation in elections "does not mean it is on the way to becoming a political party" and that it will never disarm. In the meantime, mortars continue to be fired at Israeli settlements in and out of Gaza, and teen-age homicide-bombers are sent daily on their missions of death... all under the watchful eyes of the PA security forces. A salutary beginning for a criminal democracy. Meanwhile, Palestinians are growing disenchanted with Fatah corruption and wildfire anarchy. With Hamas filling the municipal, economic and educational vacuum, its candidates are running strong everywhere. As all this unfolds, Abu Mazen's hold on the Palestinian body politic deteriorates. If peace is to have even a scintilla of hope, the Palestinian president must take on the terrorists. He must do something to assert his authority and credibility just as Ben-Gurion did when he ordered the sinking of the Altalena. If Mazen fails to sink his Altalena, i.e., exorcize the terrorists, he will fall by the wayside as so much background noise. Almost seventy years ago, on October 5, 1938, upon Neville Chamberlain's return from Munich, the great Churchill addressed the House of Commons. His words now, as then, should unnerve our complacency. He declared the Munich agreement "a total and unmitigated defeat. . . . The utmost he [Chamberlain] has been able to gain for Czechoslovakia in the matters which were in dispute has been that the German dictator, instead of snatching the victuals from the table, has been content to have them served to him course by course." Churchill's ability to distinguish between reality and wishful thinking was more inimical to Hitler's reich than the short distance between Dover and Calais. Today Israel is being force fed a Palestinian state in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. As Abu Mazen continues his plan for the piecemeal destruction of Israel - and Hamas prepares to initiate its velvet coup d'etat - Israel must resist the temptation and pressure to negotiate for its life with those who insist on her death. There is no reason to believe that today's Palestinians are less dedicated to Israel's destruction than they were five years ago. The PA's utter failure to deal with the terrorists in a meaningful way cannot be swept under the rug. Appeasement of the Palestinians is regarded as weakness. There is no easy way out of this, and the only way out requires complete destruction of the terrorists. We should recall yet another of Churchill's observations: "Mr. Chamberlain's government was given to chose between war and shame. It has chosen shame, It will surely have war." Terrorists have no place in civilized society. Not even if they are freely elected. Listen carefully now. Do you hear the Greeks? Contact Alan Katz by email at tripwire08@cs.com. This article was written April 22, 2005. |
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FIGHT THE ROOT OF TERRORISM WITH BOMBS, NOT BREAD
Posted by Alex Epstein, July 25, 2005. |
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In light of the recent suicide bombings in London, and the general inability of the West to prevent terrorist attacks, there is much talk about fighting the "root cause" of terrorism. The most popular argument is that terrorism is caused by poverty. The United Nations and our European and Arab "allies" repeatedly tell us to minimize our military operations and instead dole out more foreign aid to poor countries--to put down our guns and pick up our checkbook. Only by fighting poverty, the refrain goes, can we address the "root cause" of terrorism. The pernicious idea that poverty causes terrorism has been a popular claim since the attacks of September 11. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has repeatedly asked wealthy nations to double their foreign aid, naming as a cause of terrorism "that far too many people are condemned to lives of extreme poverty and degradation." Former Secretary of State Colin Powell agrees: "We have to put hope back in the hearts of people. We have to show people who might move in the direction of terrorism that there is a better way." Businessman Ted Turner also concurs: "The reason that the World Trade Center got hit is because there are a lot of people living in abject poverty out there who don't have any hope for a better life." Indeed, the argument that poverty causes terrorism has been central to America's botched war in Iraq--which has focused, not on quickly ending any threat the country posed and moving on to other crucial targets, but on bringing the good life to the Iraqi people. Eliminating the root of terrorism is indeed a valid goal--but properly targeted military action, not welfare handouts, is the means of doing so. Terrorism is not caused by poverty. The terrorists of September 11 did not attack America in order to make the Middle East richer. To the contrary, their stated goal was to repel any penetration of the prosperous culture of the industrialized "infidels" into their world. The wealthy Osama bin Laden was not using his millions to build electric power plants or irrigation canals. If he and his terrorist minions wanted prosperity, they would seek to emulate the United States--not to destroy it. More fundamental, poverty as such cannot determine anyone's code of morality. It is the ideas that individuals choose to adopt which make them pursue certain goals and values. A desire to destroy wealth and to slaughter innocent, productive human beings cannot be explained by a lack of money or a poor quality of life--only by anti-wealth, anti-life ideas. These terrorists are motivated by the ideology of Islamic Fundamentalism. This other-worldly, authoritarian doctrine views America's freedom, prosperity, and pursuit of worldly pleasures as the height of depravity. Its adherents resent America's success, along with the appeal its culture has to many Middle Eastern youths. To the fundamentalists, Americans are "infidels" who should be killed. As a former Taliban official said, "The Americans are fighting so they can live and enjoy the material things in life. But we are fighting so we can die in the cause of God." The terrorists hate us because of their ideology--a fact that filling up the coffers of Third World governments will do nothing to change. What then, can our government do? It cannot directly eradicate the deepest, philosophical roots of terrorism; but by using military force, it can eliminate the only "root cause" relevant in a political context: state sponsorship of terrorism. The fundamentalists' hostility toward America can translate into international terrorism only via the governments that employ, finance, train, and provide refuge to terrorist networks. Such assistance is the cause of the terrorist threat--and America has the military might to remove that cause. It is precisely in the name of fighting terrorism at its root that America must extend its fist, not its hand. Whatever other areas of the world may require U.S. troops to stop terrorist operations, we must above all go after the single main source of the threat--Iran. This theocratic nation is both the birthplace of the Islamic Fundamentalist revolution and, as a consequence, a leading sponsor of terrorism. Removing that government from power would be a potent blow against Islamic terrorism. It would destroy the political embodiment of the terrorists' cause. It would declare America's intolerance of support for terrorists. It would be an unequivocal lesson, showing what will happen to other countries if they fail to crack down on terrorists within their borders. And it would acknowledge the fact that dropping bombs, not food packages, is the only way for our government to attack terrorism at its root. Alex Epstein is a junior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute (www.AynRand.org) in Irvine, CA. The Institute promotes the ideas of Ayn Rand--best-selling author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead and originator of the philosophy of Objectivism. |
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THE PRICE OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS; FASCIST ISRAEL; 9 BILLION REASONS FOR TERRORISM
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, July 25, 2005. |
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TAKING THEIR WORD FOR IT People telephone police or the press, asserting that a bomb was emplaced by a certain organization. The message is publicized, as the caller had hoped. The public then accepts the claim of who emplaced the bomb. That is naïve. Sometimes, two terrorist organizations call up, both claiming responsibility for a bombing. The fact that two groups claim the same bombing suggests that at least one is lying. They seek credit with their people. The media should not oblige. Hamas used to accept responsibility for certain bombings that, I believe, were done by the PLO but the PLO was pretending to be making peace. Israel has agents provocateurs. The agents strive to rile up anti-government youth into committing crimes, so that the media and their leftist sympathizers can denounce the Right for criminality. The government is acting criminally. and yet as far as readers of the 'NY Times" are concerned, the government is legitimate and the Right is violent. Most of the right-wing youth are not violent. They keep exposing provocateurs. The Rabin regime resorted to having the provocateurs commit the violence or other unpalatable acts, themselves. This went from distorting what rabbis said, to displaying insulting posters, to beating up Arabs in the name of the Right, to shooting PM Rabin with blanks to fake an assassination attempt. The result, especially after Peres exploited the fake shooting of Rabin to have Rabin shot with real bullets on the way to, and in, the hospital, was a wave of denunciation of the Right. It seems to be happening again. There have been false accusations of settlers initiating stone-throwing against Arabs who initiated it against them. There are false stories of their planning deadly attacks. A fake bomb with a note disparaging Sharon's abandonment plan was discovered in Jerusalem's central bus station. Weighing 25 pounds, it must have been difficult to get it through the rigorous security checks. It was found just in time for prime TV coverage. The usual leftwing activists in Knesset then denounced the opponents of the abandonment plan for attempting to cause panic. They failed to state that most opponents are non-violent. How do those Knesset members know whether opponents were the ones who planted the bomb? The MKs are irresponsible to denounce people on the evidence of an anonymous note. It is as unreliable as hearsay. They may be playing into the hands of a demagogic secret service. THE PRICE OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS It is due to political correctness, that immigration laws continue to allow millions of Muslim immigrants into the West, where they raise funds for terrorism, become radicalized and terrorist, and hope to subjugate their hosts. As a result of political correctness, we let Muslims make a false presentation of their religion as tolerant rather than imperialistic, so we lower our defenses. Thanks to political correctness, we fail to utilize ethnic profiling sufficiently to detect some terrorist attempts on our lives. Political correctness causes other problems, too. It has turned out to be a feature of Western civilization most detrimental to its survival. People ought to defy political correctness. But political correctness keeps them ignorant of its drawbacks. We need Presidential leadership to declare a true war on radical Islam, with Congressional help. This war should mobilize our resources from trying to defend every gathering of people to one that studies the enemy, teaches our people why it is the enemy and how to thwart it, expels Islamists, and takes the fight to the enemy. Or are we going to wait for the enemy to start blowing up our cities with nuclear weapons? When the enemy does, how valuable then to Pres. Bush would be the oil companies that have stayed his hand against S. Arabia, which finances much of the jihad against the West? 9 BILLION REASONS FOR TERRORISM Referring to the $9 billion EU pledge to the P.A., "ZOA President Morton A. Klein said, 'This aid will never stop future attacks but will only encourage more murder of Westerners and Israelis and more massacres. Churchill said it best, 'those who appease the crocodile will simply be eaten last,' Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law Professor, said, 'this clearly sends a powerful message to terrorists and potential terrorists that terrorism works. There were no grants announced to the Tibetans, who have been brutally occupied for a very long time. But the Tibetans have not resorted to terrorism. The primary cause of terrorism is not occupation, assimilation or desperation. If it was, the Tibetans would be the greatest terrorists...Terrorism will continue as long as potential terrorists believe they will benefit from using that tactic'" (IMRA, 7/12) and there are ideologies of cruel means and evil intent. PM SHARON'S MESSAGE TO JEWISH VISITORS Jewish athletes are holding their annual international contests in Israel. PM Sharon urges them to settle down in Israel, the Jewish homeland (Arutz-7, 7/12). What Jewish homeland? Most of it is in Jordan. Sharon is giving away a chunk of the rest. He is being pressed by anti-Zionists inside and outside of Israel to abandon more. The Jewish state allows terrorists to set up rocket launching sites on the border. He is letting the Egyptian army draw near. The US is arming it. The Shinui Party and Supreme Court are divesting Israel of its present Jewish identity, while Sharon allows the P.A. to divest Israel of its past Jewish identity by denying its existence and destroying Jewish artifacts on the Temple Mount. Sharon's actions make Israel uninviting to Zionists, who'd come to live, not to be slaughtered. BELGIUM: P.A. TEXTBOOKS NOT ANTISEMITIC Several European countries used to contribute funds for publishing P.A. textbooks. After studies showed the books pervasively antisemitic and militating against peace, some of those countries dropped out, leaving just Belgium. Belgium undertook its own study. The Belgium study found that the books claim that in a confidential resolution, the First Zionist Congress approved of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." Belgium declared that it does not find offensive or antisemitic textbooks upholding this forgery and claiming that Israel adheres to the Protocols' claim that the Jewish people are trying by all manner of deceit to debase other peoples and conquer them. (Does that mean Belgium concurs with the textbooks? In any case,) Belgium is continuing to finance publication. There are many other antisemitic and anti-Israeli features in the books, such as omitting all maps of Israel, in non-recognition of the Jewish state. Those features the Belgians missed. The US is continuing to aid P.A. education handsomely, rationalizing that every educational system has its problems. The P.A. denies publishing bigotry. It counter-claims that Israeli books are the ones preaching hatred. It cited no such instances. The Belgian study put it this way: "violence from 'soldiers and settlers shooting in the streets and in schools' and 'occupation' were preventing Palestinian children from realizing democratic values." (IMRA, 7/12.) Now Belgium is blaming a non-existent occupation and a non-existent settler warfare for the lack of democracy in an autocratic Arab culture that is waging an unnecessary and cruel war. Perhaps there should be a search of Belgian textbooks for antisemitism. "JORDAN TIMES" ENDORSES VIOLENCE "People need hope for a better future before accepting to forsake violence and live in peace next to their neighbor." In other words, IMRA, points out, the "Times" is endorsing Arab terrorism against Israel (IMRA, 7/13 from Jordan Times). SHARON MAY BE PLANNING MORE VIOLENCE The Sharon regime has issued an order to the police that they may shoot protestors against the abandonment, if necessary to save their lives or if no other means works. Emanuel Winston suspects that the government is clearing in advance its intent to shoot settlers, at least one as an example to intimidate the rest. A pretext would be provided by an agent provocateur dressed as a settler ostentatiously shooting at a soldier (Winston Mid East Analysis, 7/13). How pathetic that the government of Israel has no honor and the people seem to have no recourse in what we are told is a "vibrant democracy!" TURNING CITIES OVER TO P.A. SECURITY CONTROL Having found terrorism coming from Tulkarem, Israeli troops had to move back into it, to search for terrorists and to prevent them from fanning out to attack Israelis. Despite the constant failure of relying upon the P.A. to repress terrorism in cities that Israel turned security control over to it, the IDF is planning to turn over Bethlehem to the P.A. for security control (IMRA, 7/13). Israel repeats its mistakes like automatons. Its policy is mindless. It just does not know how to tell the US to stop demanding that it pursue failed policies that lead to the murders of its own people. What excuse has the US to demand that Israel pursue failed polices that enable Arab terrorists to murder Israelis? ORIGIN OF THE ISRAEL-DIVESTMENT CAMPAIGN The language for the resolutions favoring divestment from Israel is provided by P.A. NGOs to Western groups that, in turn, subsidize the extremist Arab NGOs. "The funding for these political NGOs spear-heading the anti-Israel divestment campaign comes from a variety of sources: church groups in Europe and North America (including the Mennonite Central Committee and Christian Aid), government aid agencies (including Canada, Norway, Switzerland and the EU), and foundations (such as the New Israel Fund and the Ford Foundation). These groups continue to exploit claims of support for civil society and human rights in order to further narrow political objectives." (IMRA, 7/14.) It is a sordid collaboration in anti-Zionism. Those Western groups may not want a Jewish state, which does not threaten them, but are helping to replace Israel with an Arab state, which would threaten them. IDF ETHICAL STANDARDS An IDF lieutenant was dismissed for advising his commander that he could not fulfill future orders to expel Jews from Yesha. His general found him guilty of ""choosing his missions" and "not meeting the standards of the IDF spirit and fulfilling the values of an officer." (Arutz-7, 7/14.) Antisemitism, in behalf of demagogues beholden to foreign enemies, now is the IDF spirit. I wish these military objectors would more strongly denounce the government, if not arrest it. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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HOW ABOUT AN ELECTION?
Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, July 24, 2005. |
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This was written by Isi Liebler and it appeared in The Jewish Press, July 8, 2005. Isi Liebler chairs the Diaspora-Israel relations Committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and is a former chairman of the governing Board of the World Jewish Congress In light of recent events, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon must heed calls to hold national elections: Failure to do so makes a mockery of Israel's parliamentary system. In a humiliating defeat for the prime minister, the Knesset recently carried three consecutive motions of no confidence against the government. While technically not amounting to the requisite majority to compel Sharon to step down, Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin, himself a Likud member, publicly urged him to do so and hold elections. The nation is at a critical turning point. We have been repeatedly misled and fed half-truths. Yet the prime minister still stubbornly refuses to hold a serious discourse on his controversial policies or take counsel from his colleagues. At issue are not the merits of ruling over Palestinians or retaining isolated settlements. That debate ended some time ago and the majority of Israelis now share a broad consensus that their ultimate objective must be to separate themselves from the Palestinians. Nor is the Gaza disengagement the central issue. In addition to the recent frightening warning conveyed by former chief of general staff Moshe Ya'alon, disaster scenarios are also predicted by a wide range of other distinguished military and security experts, including former Mossad heads Ephraim Halevy and Shabtai Shavit, former intelligence chief Shlomo Gazit, former IDF deputy chief of general staff, Gen. Uzi Dayan and former Air Force commander Gen. Eitan Ben-Eliyahu. In these circumstances one is left aghast at Sharon's apparent pig-headedness and autocratic behavior. We are also obliged to assess the new revelations in the book Boomerang by Raviv Orucker and Ofer Shelach, who reject the supposition that the disengagement initiative evolved from strategic deliberations at the highest level. They claim it was Sharon's lawyer and current adviser, Dov Weislass, who persuaded the prime minister that only a dramatic and drastic step of disengagement proportions could deflect criminal charges against him arising from the Greek Island scandal. They say it was Weisglass himself who "sold" the disengagement concept to the Bush administration. One would ~assume that if such allegations were unfounded, they would surely warrant libel proceedings. Yet, to date, neither the prime minister nor Weisglass has initiated any. So what is one to make out of all this? The facts on the ground certainly reinforce the critics who predict that Israel's policies are leading to disaster. This is what is happening: Terror attacks, attempted suicide bombings and the launching of Kassam rockets continue unabated. Israelis are being killed and the IDF is once again being restrained in order not to undermine the "calm." Mahmoud Abbas reiterates that he has no intention of curbing the terrorist Infrastructure or curtailing their activities. In fact, he proudly announces that he has invited Hamas ghouls to join his administration and brazenly enrolls terrorists in the PA police force that Israel is being urged to re-arm! Like Arafat, Abbas insists that the Arab right of return is non-negotiable. He refuses to take any meaningful steps to rein in the incitement that continues unabated in the schools, the mosques and the media. There is a general consensus that Hamas is poised to take control of the Palestinian region in the near future. PA ministers have explicitly threatened to unleash Intifada III unless Israel makes further unilateral concessions after disengagement. The International scene is equally troublesome. Prior to the implementation of disengagement - a time the U.S. and Europeans are supposedly "displaying restraint" in order not to create political difficulties for a domestically embattled Sharon - the Europeans have reinstated ties with the "political" wing of Hamas and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Bush administration appear to have reverted to Clintonian evenhandedness between Israel and the Palestinians. The U.S. is also pressing Israel to free additional prisoners despite the fact that of the 900 released to date, some have already resumed terrorist activities. Rice repeatedly reiterates that, contrary to what Sharon says, the purported commitment by President Bush to support Israel's retention of major settlement blocs is merely a gesture, because it included a caveat that any deviation from the 1949 armistice lines would require Palestinian approval. The U.S. administration continues showering paeans of praise on Abbas despite his explicit refusal to dismantle or hinder the terror infrastructure, while even his own Fatah units blatantly continue engaging in suicide bombings and other acts of terror. It is generally accepted that the government will collapse immediately after the implementation of disengagement. Therefore, although elections will not provide a panacea for Israel's problems, they would at least enable Israelis to review their options before, rather than after, withdrawal It would also allow the public to express its outrage over the failure of politicians to curb corruption and their predilection to promote personal or sectional interests above those of the nation. Above all, elections would signal that Israelis are tired of being led by people with Napoleonic delusions and that they demand that no future leader be entitled to embark - without prior consultation and pubic debate - upon a course of action that could have profound repercussions on the nation's future generations and even impact existentially on the state itself. Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). |
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UK ASKING FOR MORE
Posted by Beth Goodtree, July 25, 2005. |
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In the aftermath of 9-11, every country in the world should have been examining itself to see if they were encouraging and aiding the sort of people who perpetrated the attacks. The UK was no exception. However, Great Britain was blind to the root causes of that horror, as well as its role in encouraging such future behavior. Perhaps more tragic than what happened on 7/7, the UK is still encouraging such behavior. It is never too soon to tell a victim how to stop being victimized. Unfortunately, in this case, it may already be too late. Before 24 hours had passed, Mr. Prime Minister Blair was proudly and happily awarding $3B to the longest running terror group in the world -- set up as a front line for Islam's goal of global domination and subjugation -- still buying into the greatest lie ever told. Mr. Prime Minister, let me give you an analogy, that you might better understand your fatal error. Consider Spain. In the mid 700s, the Muslims hordes invaded and conquered Christian Spain. It took until 1492 for the Christian Spaniards to drive out these marauding invaders. If the Muslims today were to demand Spain back, they'd be laughed out of the court of world opinion. Spain was never theirs; they stole it through conquest. Or consider Hitler's Germany, which had the same goals as Islam today - world conquest and domination. If the Allies had decided to give Germany a piece of your country - The United Kingdom - do you think Hitler would have stopped? Of course not. He would have taken it, and rightly so, as a sign of weakness and cowardice and pushed forward. Luckily for you the Allies didn't do to you what you are doing to Israel now. However, the Muslim and Arab invaders and conquerors are doing the same thing in another land and they are being handed it on a jewel-encrusted platter. The biggest lie ever told is that the land renamed - Palestine - by the conquering Romans from its original name of Judea, was ever Arab/Muslim land. Even one of the Arab leaders of this falsely-named "Palestinian" movement clearly stated this in an interview with Trouw newspaper on March 31, 1977: "The Palestinian people does not exist. Mr. Prime Minister, the re-conquest of Israel (formerly known as Judea, but still the same land) is not an end in and of itself, merely a first step to a much greater end. Naturally, you and yours might feel that I am only saying this because I am a Jew. So I will give you the words of a respected Arab writer, Amir Taheri, from your own Times: "...this enemy does want something specific: to take full control of your lives, dictate every single move you make round the clock and, if you dare resist, he will feel it his divine duty to kill you." And: "The aim of all good Muslims, therefore, is to convert humanity to Islam, which regulates Man's spiritual, economic, political and social moves to the last detail." And furthermore: "It is, of course, possible, as many in the West love to do, to ignore the strategic goal of the Islamists altogether and focus only on their tactical goals. These goals are well known and include driving the "Cross-worshippers" (Christian powers) out of the Muslim world, wiping Israel off the map of the Middle East, and replacing the governments of all Muslim countries with truly Islamic regimes like the one created by Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran and by the Taleban in Afghanistan." So what is that greater end? The same one as in the mid 700s when Spain was conquered by Islam: global conquest and subjugation. If this sounds fantastic to you, I suggest you start heeding the words of many prominent Muslim leaders and stop listening to your diplomats and advisors who brought you to the sorry state of 7/7. One such leader is the co-founder of CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations), Omar Ahmad, who said: "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth." From a well-known Imam preaching in Boca Raton Islamic Center in Florida: "One of the basic principles of Islam is that Islam should prevail, not be prevailed over." Siding with those sworn to destroy you will not save you. My own country, America, was very friendly to the above-cited group CAIR, which is affiliated with Hamas. We even gave its representatives honored places at White House functions and made them advisors. Yet America had 9-11. This proves that appeasement will not work. Your advisors, Mr. Prime Minister, like those advising the other civilized nations, fail to understand the radical Arab/Muslim mindset. You assume our Judeo-Christian standards and values are also theirs. Such assumptions led America to nearly 3000 dead and the UK to over 50 dead. Try thinking the opposite. Here are a few examples: We value life and treat it as sacred. They do not. They extol the virtues of suicide as a way to get into Paradise if one's suicide also takes the life of a non-Muslim. We consider the killing of non-military personnel engaged in warfare as murder. The radical Arab/Muslim world has issued many fatwas or religious decrees allowing them to consider all people who aren't Muslim as military personnel (including babies, women and children) and therefore worthy of killing. Again, to get a free ride to Paradise. We believe in tolerance of other faiths. They do not, although they mislead and deceive about this, as they do so many other things. Such misleading and deception is holy work called al taqiyya, whereby you sucker your enemy into believing anything that will weaken them for the conquering. You and the other world leaders think that by forcing a sovereign nation, Israel, to relinquish her rightful land to lying terrorists who are not a separate and distinct Arab people (see above quote by Zahir Muhsein), you will solve the world's terror problem. Here is your quote: "We need to create the circumstances in which some of the critical issues in the Middle East are dealt with and sorted out." We can see by your above statement a mere two days after your tragedy that already you are blaming the Jews and Israel for your troubles, making the same fatal mistake that brought you 7/7. You have been suckered by al taqiyya into thinking that appeasement will stop the terror. In fact, it only shows weakness and a will to be conquered and deceived on your part and will accelerate the terror. You have tolerated and even encouraged radical Islam in your lands. Your academic and intellectual community, whether out of abysmal ignorance or just plain anti-Semitism, decided to boycott the free and civilized world's front line, Israel. As did your own official church. You have been playing right into Islam's goal of global conquest by giving them their first in many goals: Israel. My friend, Israel is only the beginning. Israel has been targeted by the Arabs and other Muslims because it is an affront to their Arab/Muslim hegemony in the Middle East and a direct threat to their goals of global conquest and domination. The Jews know what is like to live under the whip and heel of Islam. Many Jews lived under such conditions until as recently as a few years ago. The Jews also know quite well with whom and what we are all dealing and thus are extremely threatening to Islam's end game. Whether you like Jews and Israel or not, Israel is the front line in the war being waged by radical Islam for global domination and subjugation, which includes you and your people, Mr. Prime Minister -- no exceptions for compliant, appeasing "Crusaders." And yet, after 50+ dead and hundreds maimed, you are insisting that your front line - Israel - be given over to your mortal enemy in addition to giving your mortal enemy billions of dollars to further their cause to eventually wipe you off the face of the planet. If you still don't believe me, let me quote to you a mantra being recited all over the Arab/Muslim world: "First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people." Mr. Prime Minister, the Jews and Israel are the Saturday people and you, The Church of England and all other Christians, are the Sunday people. These murderers and conquerors proudly and loudly declare their desire to conquer you once they have conquered Israel. And you are giving it to them, thus speeding up your own demise. With this type of thinking on your part, Mr. Prime Minister, may I extend to you my premature condolences for future murderous terror attacks that you have guaranteed will come your way. End Notes http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/ printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28222 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-1684970,00.html http://www.anti-cair-net.org/ http://www.americansagainsthate.com/ICBR3-10-00.htm http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/597821.html Beth Goodtree is an award-winning writer who lives in the NYC metro area. She writes political commentary/analysis, and the occasional science and humor articles. Or visit her website: http://hometown.aol.com/bgoodtree/ |
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BLUE AND ORANGE LOVE STORY COMES TO AN END WITH TERROR
Posted by Judy Lash Balint, July 24, 2005. |
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This was written by Toby Klein Greenwald of Efrat. Contact her by mail
at toby@wholefamily.com
Much has been written in the Israeli media about the love of Dov and Rachel Kol, the couple who were murdered by terrorist gunfire on Saturday night on Tzir Kissufim, the lethal route leading in and out of Gush Katif, where Tali Hatuel and her four daughters were shot dead a year ago. Our connection to Dov and Rachel was close up and personal. Rachel was the beloved aunt of Avner, son of Ruth and Chezi Cohen of Moshav Ganei Tal, who married our eldest daughter, Naama, six years ago, on the rich green lawn of the Palm Beach Hotel, overlooking the ocean at Gush Katif. Dov was a Rumanian-born non-religious left wing Tel Avivian, a media personality involved in journalism and PR. He served as a spokesman for Bituah Leumi (National social services) and for Moshe Katzav, when he was minister of Social Services. President Katzav attended the funeral. After Dov's first wife died of cancer, leaving him with an infant daughter, he ended his mourning by marrying Rachel, a good friend of his deceased wife. Rachel, a medical researcher at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, was from an Iraqi religious right wing Jerusalemite family, named Mizrachi. She raised Hila - who has now lost a second mother - as her own and they had two more. All Rachel and Dov had in common, on the surface, was their love for each other and for others. From our first meeting, Dov found an ally in my husband Yaakov, who is of the more moderate right wing political bent than some in the family, and with whom he discussed matters of state and philosophy. Dov viewed me as a colleague. I would run story ideas by him and he would suggest that I contact one or another of his media friends. When I published a first-person reflection on a mikva lady, murdered by terrorists, in Haaretz, he suggested I develop it into a full blown book. The last e-mail exchange we had was when I sent him a copy of an article I published in Jewish Action, "The Women Writers of Gush Katif", including my translations of their poetry and the experience of teaching them creative writing in the midst of the disengagement tempest. He wrote back, "This is amazing. If you were left wing, you'd be perfect." He adored our grandchildren, and our daughter even deposited their first child with Dov and Rachel, who live close by the hospital, when she went in for her second birth. Only one month ago, Dov and Rachel became grandparents for the first time, and their joy was boundless. It wasn't just Dov who was open to others. It was the Mizrachi family as well. Legendary for their warmth, humor and hospitality, Rachel's family adopted Dov as their son, all the disparateness in their world views notwithstanding. And it was not just Dov they took under their wing. Rachel's extended family by marriage includes Ashkenazim, Sepharadim, haredim, Chabadniks, kibbutzniks, national religious, settlers of various hues and versions, and ... Dov. With the marriage of our daughter, I brought the first American blood into the mix. Every family gathering - with more than 200 present - was like a meeting of the people of Israel. The extended Mizrachi family is a microcosm of the Jews of the world. The peace and love and joy and co-existence with which this extended family are imbued is like a lantern in the dark, an example of what we, the State of Israel, could be, if only we loved and cared enough. Four days before their murder, Yaakov and Dov met for coffee, as they did once a week. Dov confided in my husband the secret that he was working on an autobiography. He asked Yaakov to send him his e-mail address so he could forward the file to him. Saturday night, my husband sat down at the computer at 11:30 PM and sent Dov his address. Unknown to us, Dov and Rachel had been cut down at 11:15. We heard the midnight news that there had been a shooting attack on Tzir Kissufim, and didn't go to sleep that night. I surfed from news site to news site, looking for a crumb of more information, reluctant to call any family members in Gush Katif in the middle of the night. One site reported that the couple were from Jerusalem and had been visiting relatives for Shabbat. I knew that Rachel's family had all gathered at Ruth and Chezi's home for what - some of them thought - was perhaps their last time together in Gush Katif. And so it was. For us, the discovery came before their names were announced. Motty Sender, the Katif.net editor and a dear friend of the family, reported that he had spoken with the man who had been killed only a few days earlier, who had said to him, "I love you all, we want to live together with you, the heart is split in two. My left wing friends in Jerusalem don't understand me, don't understand what I'm doing here, but I know you and I know that you are the salt of the earth and I have to come here. " I called my husband to the computer. He read the words and said, "It's Dov and Rachel." An Israeli radio personality, a friend of Dov's, said the next morning on air that Dov had traveled to Gush Katif only because his wife wanted him to go. We knew differently. Every time we met him in Gush Katif, one could see he was filled with joy and contentment. He felt like he was in Paradise. He missed no family event there, his political views notwithstanding. In the car park at their double funeral, blue and orange ribbons flew side by side, like a mirror image to the people inside - religious and secular, right and left, Gush Katif and Tel Aviv, mingling closely, joined by sorrow and love. We can only pray that this terrible blow, leading to every Israeli newspaper being filled today with the story of love in the face of differences, is meant to hit us over the head before it's too late. Judy Lash Balint is an investigative journalist and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" (Gefen). It is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com |
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PERFIDY THEN AND NOW
Posted by TheRaphi, July 25, 2005. |
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This was written by Professor Paul Eidelberg. He is
a political scientist, author and lecturer; co-founder and president
of The Foundation For Constitutional Democracy and is the President of
the Yamin Israel movement.
American Jewish Organizations supports Prime Minister Sharon's plan to expel 10,000 Jews from their homes and farms in Gaza and northern Samaria and to give this land to Israel's Arab enemies, the successors of the Nazis. The parallel between now and then is no exaggeration. Israel's highest military and intelligence officials - before they were sacked - tacitly admitted that Sharon's policy of "disengagement," i.e., of retreat, hastens the Arabs' phased strategy of Israel's destruction. The Jews of Israel had better understand their Jewish enemies. As Ben Hecht has written in Perfidy, "There is no devilish deed that cannot be shined up into a patriotic necessity by the right propaganda. All that is needed is for people to believe in their duly elected leaders." But now let us ponder what Hecht says about the Silence of the American Jewish Establishment. "I have a personal involvement in this matter of how six million Jews of Europe were permitted to be slaughtered by the Germans (my emphasis). I worked with those in the United States - the only ones - who tried with all their might to break the Silence in which Europe's Jews were being exterminated... "I list the number of our notables, not to show how powerful was
the opposition of the Jewish Agency and Zionist organizations
(my emphasis). For the opposition of Jewish Authority won the day.
Although we could break the conspiracy of silence in large meeting
halls and in coast-to-coast newspapers and magazines, we could not
grab the ear of government. The slick and respectable Jewish
organizations of the United States [today AIPAC] kept this ear
plugged.
"This difference is due to the fact that protest is always a
part-time activity and respectability is a life-time job (my
emphasis). There was also another factor against us. Most of our
high-powered cohorts and endorsers were Gentiles. Out of the five
thousand Important Names we were able to pipe to our side, hardly a
handful were Important Jewish Names.
"Thus our Gentile Captains of a Thousand, after winning a battle,
felt it their duty to step aside modestly ands permit the Jewish
leaders of the land to finish the victory. We could convince our
Gentiles of our cause, but we could seldom convince them that nearly
all the fine American Jews whom they admired were the enemies of our
cause.
"There was no such confusion among these fine American Jews. They
knew on what side they were, and they stayed there, battling away
vigorously and ceaselessly on two fronts. One was the front of
Silence. Directives for this front came from Ben-Gurion, Weizmann,
et al. in Palestine (my emphasis). They were the custodians
of the Jewish future. They knew what was going on. And American Jewry
(like the doomed ones in Europe) translated their cowardly policies of
expediency and parochial politics intro the noblest Jewish
objectives."
And so it is with the Sharon. "He knows what is best for the people
- his continuation in power. He knows what is right - the ruses and
shenanigans that keep him in power. And he knows what is wrong -
anything that endangers his power."
An orthodox high school student living in Toronto, The Raphi is the webmaster of http://www.TheRaphi.com. He can be contacted by email at raphi@theraphi.com TheRaphi (http://www.theraphi.com/archives/oldindex.html) is a pro-Israel and pro-Zionist site; it provides news articles and essays. |
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FOOL ME ONCE, SHAME ON YOU, FOOL ME TWICE, SHAME ON ME
Posted by EyeOnThePost, July 24, 2005. |
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Friends:
This alert involves two news reports by the Post within a five day
period proven to contain false allegations of Israeli killings of
Palestinians. It involves the manner in which the Post accepts and
publishes without question information from unnamed and unreliable
Palestinian sources, and then, when the lies are revealed, avoids
accepting responsibility and refrains from taking steps to even
attempt to mitigate the damage done by the publication of the false
reports in the first instance.
No Lessons Learned From Jenin - Lies And Corrections - Lies And Corrections - Fool Me Once, Shame On You, Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me Item 1 On July 20 EyeOnThePost noticed that in Scott Wilson's report of July 16 on the Israeli killing of 4 Hamas members in Gaza he asserted that according to Palestinian hospital officials "more than a dozen bystanders were also killed," but in his report the very next day (Sunday, July 17) from the funeral of the 4 Hamas members, he was silent on the bystanders who had supposedly been killed. We noted that since Mr. Wilson was at the cemetery for the funerals of the Hamas members the very next day, he surely must have noticed the absence of any funerals or even dead bodies of bystanders, yet he was conspicuously silent on the subject. We wrote an alert pointing out the probable false news report, and we disseminated it to our readers by email. We also sent it to all the appropriate officials at the Washington Post. We were right. On July 22, on page A2, in the corrections section (as opposed to the World News section) the following brief correction was noted: "A July 16 article incorrectly said that a dozen bystanders were killed during an Israeli rocket attack in the Gaza Strip. The bystanders were wounded." Does the word "credibility" have any meaning over there? Item 2 On July 21 we noted that the Post, relying on a false Reuters account, had reported that Jewish settlers attacked and stabbed to death a 12 year old Palestinian child. The Reuters report was based on unnamed Palestinian witnesses. It was soon discovered that the murder was committed, not by Jewish settlers, but by a Palestinian as part of a clan feud. We pointed out that the report had already been retracted by Reuters and that an arrest had already been made of a Palestinian. But the Post had been so captivated by a story making settlers appear to be murderers, even a story based on unnamed Palestinian witnesses, that it wasn't willing to wait even a short time (until an investigation that the Reuters report said was underway was completed) before publishing the libelous story. Here is the Post's reaction upon learning that it had repeated what amounted to the equivalent of a blood libel. In the July 22 "World in Brief" section (for some reason the World in Brief section for that date didn't make it to the Post's Web site, or we'd provide you with the URL) the following news item appeared: "Palestinian security forces arrested a Palestinian on suspicion of stabbing a 12 year old boy to death in the West Bank, after saying earlier that witnesses had blamed Jewish settlers. The suspect was from a family involved in a feud with the dead boy's family, police said." That's it. No mention that the Post had published the false story the day before and had left it up on their web site the entire day, uncorrected. No apology. No commitment to be more careful in the future. No explanation for why they had so quickly accepted the false account based on unnamed Palestinian witnesses without giving Israel a reasonable chance to look into it and respond. The damage done by the publication of this type of scurrilous libel cannot be undone. Although more effective steps than that taken by the Post can be employed to attempt to mitigate the damage, many readers will be left with the indelible impression that Israeli settlers are savages. Palestinian sources lying to the media is an untold story in itself. Reporters and editors repeatedly publishing those stories knowing full well that there's a very good chance that they are lies is an untold story in itself. Twice in one week the Washington Post was fooled by the lies of Palestinian witnesses. But we must ask whether they are really ever fooled, or whether it simply suits their purpose to publish these lies, even when they themselves have reason to doubt their veracity. If the Post will not learn a lesson from the repeated instances of being spoon fed lies by unreliable sources, it will continue to lose readership. Readers will conclude: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. ************************** Please provide the Post with your opinion of the quality of its reporting. Please do not copy the above Alerts or even portions of the above Alerts, because we share our analyses with the Post, and the language will be recognized. Even if you send only a two or three sentence original expression of your opinion to the Post, it will count. Be polite and be temperate in your letters so that you will not give The Post an easy excuse to ignore you. Letters can be sent to: Bo Jones, Publisher & Chief Executive Officer, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC, 20071 (email: JonesB@washpost.com). Donald Graham, Chairman, same street address (email: GrahamD@washpost.com). Leonard Downie, Executive Editor, same street address (email address: DownieL@washpost.com) Philip Bennett, Managing Editor, same street address (email address BennettP@washpost.com) David Hoffman, Assistant Managing Editor for Foreign News, same street address (email address HoffmanD@washpost.com) Keith Richburg, Foreign Editor, same street address (email address: RichburgK@washpost.com) Please BCC feedback@eyeonthepost.org with your letters and email. This analysis is archived at http://www.eyeonthepost.org/Welcome.html#7-22-05) If you'd like to work with us or donate, we can use your help, so please write to us at feedback@eyeonthepost.org. For further information on EyeOnThePost, please call 301-468-2726, or visit our web site. Robert G. Samet, Chairman, EyeOnThePost, Inc. http://www.EyeOnThePost.org |
| GUSH KATIF |
THE MARCHERS OF GUSH KATIF
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, July 24, 2005. |
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One can only be reminded of the tenacity of the Jewish fighters in the Polish Ghettos, especially Warsaw, against such incredible forces of the well-armed Nazis. The heroes of the Gush Katif March fought the heat, lack of water, violations of the right to peaceful protest by Sharon's legions. The Sharon Police and Army forces confiscated bus drivers licenses, keys and threatened them that they would never work again if they drove their chartered passengers anyway. The Sharon Police and Army strung razor barbed wire and iron fencing to stop these intrepid marchers. Sharon's thousands of Police and Army may stop the valiant marchers with baby strollers, young children and elderly who walked without their buses but, left an indelible stain on Sharon's 'Democracy'. Photos available on line commemorate their bravery, despite the brutality of the Police and Soldiers who beat them, with constant assaults - even when they were arrested. But, Sharon will not have won. He and his thugs will never be forgotten and this fight was only the first skirmish. Adolph Hitler crushed the fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto but, he too did not ultimately win. I am not necessarily comparing Sharon to Hitler because he is after all, just evicting, evacuating and deporting 10,000 Jewish men, women and children - not killing them...yet - he is making them and Jews 'inside' the "Green Line" more vulnerable to brazen attacks by Terrorists. Sharon will be remembered and hated, along with all those who supported his spoiler role in dividing the nation. I still expect to see HaShem's Hand come down on the bull-like neck of this tyrant and his followers. But, let no Jewish hand be raised against this scum, lest it be contaminated by the touch. Hopefully, we will see HaShem unleash a plague equal to those he hit Pharaoh with, against all those who made themselves the enemies of the Jewish people. Here I not only include Sharon's band of corruption but also those nations who have assisted, funded and supplied the Arab Muslims to arm and fight. Did you not see the Muslims as a plague against all of the non-Muslim nations? Did you not see HaShem's Hand as gigantic storms have been hurled at the nations, including America under President George Bush? HaShem has plenty of time to stoke the fires of the sun so the nations burn in drought and fire and the crops die. In Israel, they too are feeling HaShem's wrath as they bow to the wishes of a Rasha (wicked ruler). Except for the Remnant who defy the Rasha and the Rashayim (his followers) who will pay a terrible price. Some will remember how many Jews were slaughtered when they followed the advise of the spies and only later tried to advance into the Land HaShem had offered to them. They were chased and slaughtered by the pagans because they abandoned HaShem. Now, once again a corrupt Rasha, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon, follows the demands of other Rashas in America to abandon the Land and pagans of Islam begin to pour rocket fire on the cities of the un-Jewish, they also will try to advance but, HaShem will not be with them. They too will be slaughtered in huge numbers and only the valorous Remnant will survive. One does not have to be a prophet to see what is coming in the near future. Mankind is spiraling down to a level where he is irretrievably disgusting in the eyes of HaShem. When we see so-called Jewish rabbis promoting marriage between man and man, we are already at the bottom of the proverbial barrel of decadence. There are always some noble men and women who reject the wicked (Rashas and their Rashayim followers). Here we find the Orange Revolutionary Marchers for Gush Katif. These are patriotic Jews from all over Israel and who are pouring in from all over the world. Even in the Tel Aviv, people have been enthusiastic about painting their belongings "Orange". The "Orange" Revolution worked for the Ukraine who supported Yevshenko. Gush Katif picked Orange as their identifying color for the setting sun over their Riviera-like beach and sand dunes, the oranges they planted..... These are the Remnant of the higher level Jewish people. Like the spirit of the Jewish fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto and those who won the War of Independence against the assault of well-equipped Arab Muslim armies, they will live on long after the Rasha are dead. May those who have attacked these good, brave and noble people be cursed. May they live in pain throughout their remaining days; may their nights be haunted with nightmares of what they have done. Let G-d's curse linger throughout their generations for what they have unleashed upon the real Jewish people. As HaShem promised Abraham and Moshe: "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you." Who more than Sharon and Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres has tried to curse those pioneers and de-Judaize the nation of Israel. In the end, it will be Sharon and the evil that has gathered under his command, sometimes called Leftists, who will be cursed. The Bush Dynasty also will and has bought a curse on innocent Americans because of his unholy alliance with the pagans of Islam. We have only begun to see the hand of HaShem in the retribution that has been long in coming. The scientists will seek to explain why the storms pound; the waters flood or the fields bake to stone in drought; the rains come in cloud-bursts. Why the tectonic plates grind past each other, leaving cities leveled in each tremor but, know that only HaShem moves nature for or against. We see plagues of incurable Aides, while the plague of Islam spreads to those nations who have assisted Islamists to settle in their midst, only to be bitten by this viperous people. The Settlers of Gush Katif and YESHA (Yehuda, Shomron and Gaza) marched, along with many 'inside' the "Green Line". Their supporters and the Settlers in YESHA became separate as a higher level of Jewish civilization. Those left behind have accepted the scurrilous Sharon and Peres as their guides and models but, must accept their end as did Korach. While they all were a so-called majority, they betrayed the Jewish people and must accept what the Muslims will do to them. 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). |
| GUSH KATIF |
AN ARAB CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDS WHAT MANY ISRAELI JEWS DO NOT!
Posted by Yuval Zaliouk, July 24, 2005. |
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Joseph Farah, a Christian Arab, gets it! Many get it! However, some 50% or less of Israelis do NOT get it at all! They do not get the glaring fact that by accepting the eviction of Jews from their legally owned lands and businesses just because they are Jews, means cutting the branch on which all Israelis sit, dropping with it to the precipice. The precipice our terrorist enemies prepared for us so cunningly. Here is Joseph Farah's article. It's called "No To 'disengagement'" It is archived at www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45393 It appeared on July 22, 2005. This is your wake-up call, people! Your Truth Provider,
Dear friends, Sometimes, you just have to realize when to say no to a bad idea. That's what Israel and the United States need to realize about the plan to force thousands of Jews from their homes and businesses in the Gaza Strip next month. As many as 100,000 Israelis have walked away from their families and jobs in the last few days to march to the Jewish community of Gush Katif in an attempt to save it from Israeli bulldozers. The confrontation threatens to turn Israel upside down and draw the country into a civil war. And it's no wonder. Jews who have any historical memory don't like the idea of being told by anyone - not even the Israeli or U.S. government - that they can't live in certain places because they are Jews. And make no mistake about it, that is the only reason the Jews of Gush Katif and other communities in Gaza and the West Bank are being forced out - because they are Jews. Imagine this happening in any other part of the world. Imagine any other religious or ethnic group being told they have to abandon their homes and businesses because a budding new government has no use for them. Imagine any other peaceful group of people being forced off their land because of appeasement to a terrorist enemy. It is one of the most shocking developments in my lifetime. And I say this as an Arab-American Christian and former Middle East correspondent. It is ethnic cleansing. It is racism. It is an invitation to another genocide. There is no moral or legal justification for it. Understand that these Jews took no one's land. They developed an arid wasteland unused for decades and made the desert bloom. The community of Gush Katif is so successful, so prosperous, it produces some 70 percent of all the produce consumed in Israel. And it provides some of the only decent-paying jobs to Arabs in Gaza besides the high-turnover positions of suicide bombers. Symbolically, separated by several thousand miles, I stand with the Jewish marchers on Gush Katif today. They are heroes. I wish I could be with them - even as much of the world ignores their righteous cause and the plight of the residents of Gush Katif and other Jewish communities marked for destruction. Not only is this "disengagement plan" a disaster for the good people of Gush Katif, it is a disaster for the plight of peace and freedom in the Middle East and throughout the world. Appeasement never works. Unilateral withdrawals in the face of terrorist aggression are a recipe for more terrorist aggression. Israel should have learned this lesson from its previous evacuation of military forces in southern Lebanon. It was seen by the terrorists as a military victory - not as it was intended, a goodwill gesture by civilized people. The choice facing Israel is clear today. If it wants to shatter its own national cohesion and rip its civil society apart - Jew against Jew, civilian against military - continue with plans to destroy Gush Katif. If it wants to exchange terrorist rocket attacks on an outpost in Gaza for terrorist rocket attacks on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, continue with plans to destroy Gush Katif. If it wants to hand the fanatical, murdering Islamic terrorists a victory, continue with plans to destroy Gush Katif. However, if Israel wants to respect the will of its own people - who are dead-set against this plan - it should call off the plans to evict Jews living peacefully on their own land in Gaza. If Israel wants to demonstrate to the world that Jews will not be pushed around by anyone any more, it should call off plans to evict Jews living peacefully on their own land in Gaza. If Israel wants to send a loud and meaningful signal to the entire world - a message of "Never again!" - it should call off plans to evict Jews living peacefully on their own land in Gaza. Yuval Zaliouk writes the Truth Provider columns. To subscribe, send an email to ynz@netvision.net.il |
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US FOREIGN POLICY IS IN SHAMBLES
Posted by Ted Belman, July 24, 2005. |
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The US is pressuring Israel to relinquish control over access to Gaza. This includes abandoning the Philidelphi Corridor, allowing a free port in Gaza and overland transit to the West Bank.
How absurd. It is one thing to do so as part of transforming the Middle East, it is another thing to do so when it has failed miserably in this endeavor.
The US has failed to stabilize Iraq where the death toll of civilians, politicians and diplomats is increasing. Furthermore the constitutional process is not going well. The Sunni representatives have resigned. There is lack of agreement on the exclusion of Sharia law, on Iraq not being an Arab country and on the division of resources. But there is agreement on preventing Israelis from becoming citizens.
All this seems to suggest a breakup of Iraq into three countries which is the total opposite of what the US wants. Finally it was hoped that Iraq would be a friend of the West, yet we saw last week that it has gotten into bed militarily and economically with the Iranians.
I have always been a staunch supporter of the invasion of Iraq but have to admit that from a global perspective the invasion has done more harm then good. At least Sadaam Hussein was contained with few resources.
Although the US got the Syrian military out of Lebanon, it failed to get its intelligence out. Also it has failed to get Syria to stop the influx of terrorists and arms into Iraq. The US and the UN demanded that Hezbollah disarm. There is no progress in that field whatsoever. The US has failed miserably to get Iran to stop acquiring the bomb and to stop supporting terrorism in Israel or Iraq. Ben Laden is still at large and Al Qaeda is growing. It has launched a new round of bombings including in Iraq, the UK, Lebanon and Egypt with more promised on the way in Italy, Poland and Israel to name a few. Even Saudi Arabia, America's "ally", continues to support the advancement of Wahabbism throughout the world. It also supports the insurgency in Iraq. Yet Bush continues to be a defender of Islam and still calls it a religion of peace. Finally the Roadmap is an abject failure. It remains stillborn, yet the US is not willing to issue a death certificate. The PA and Abbas have accomplished nothing except to invite Hamas into the government. Palestinian terror is increasing despite the "ceasefire." The Roadmap was intended to result in the disarming of the terrorist groups in its first stage but instead has resulted in the acceleration of their armament. The US has been powerless to prevent it or to prevent the rocket attacks against Israel The Palestinians are waging a war of annihilation against Israel and the US is pretending there is a peace process. General Ward, the US appointee to organize the Palestinian security forces, is to be withdrawn after disengagement with no successor having been appointed. And what is America's response? Israel should stop controlling access to Gaza thereby enabling Hamas to take over and enlarge its weapons factories and import more terrorists and weaponry. Unbelievable. I urge you to read Debka's report US, Britain, Egypt and Israel Are Lost for Answers to Mounting al Qaeda Offensive Al Qaeda makes no secret of its plans. It is looking forward to the free ride to its first Mediterranean base afforded by the Israeli prime minister's much-praised evacuation-disengagement plan, which goes into effect from mid-August. The terrorist group will also win a springboard to Israel and Europe across the water. Yet the only controversy in Israel over the pros and cons of the pull-back operation is confined to the domestic, political plane, the dispute between so-called right and left. Even the arguments put forward by its most avid opponents lack strategic depth. Washington and London, aside from certain anti-terror experts, are blind to the fact that by exiting from Gaza, Israel will open the Mediterranean basin to al Qaeda's spreading campaign of terror. They are pushing Israel and the Palestinians as hard as they can to make sure that Gaza's handover takes place. Rice arrived post-haste to make sure the revival of Hamas suicide attacks would not delay the operation and that the Israeli government stays squarely on course for the home run. American foreign policy is in shambles. It is losing the war on terror on all fronts. Rather than to acknowledge this and regroup, it continues to pursue failed policies including the Roadmap which only serves to make the situation worse. Finally on the home front, there is serious concern that Al Qaeda has smuggled into the US several atomic bombs, They have the intention of blowing them up in a number of American cities causing millions of casualties. What is needed is for the US to mobilize a half a million troops and to impose its will on Syria, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The half measures currently employed have proven insufficient for the task. Last, but not least, it should stop weakening Israel and strengthening the "Palestinians". The more hope it gives the Palestinians through concessions and through whitewashing reality, the more aggressive the Palestinians become. The opposite policy is required. Stop pandering to them and dash their hopes. |
| GUSH KATIF |
GUSH KATIF WOMAN, 57, ARRESTED FOR NOT SHOWING ID
Posted by Hillel Fendel, July 24, 2005. |
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Odelia Yulis, a 57-year-old woman from N'vei Dekalim, was arrested and sent to a Be'er Sheva jail last night after refusing to show her ID card on her way out of Gush Katif. She was later released. Her husband Shlomo told the story to Arutz-7: "A friend of a relative asked that my wife visit a terminal cancer patient who is hospitalized in Be'er Sheva. We had a son who died of cancer, and so when we can help out others who are in a similar situation, we try to do so. "My wife set off soon after Sabbath ended, but when she got to Kisufim, the policemen told her to produce her ID card. She said there was no reason for her to have to do so - a lawyer even told us later that even in a closed military zone, ID cards might be required in order to enter, but that there is no reason to have to identify yourself on the way out - and that she refused to be subjected to this humiliation each time. "The policeman would not let her through, and said she should move her car to the side. She said she couldn't because there were soldiers there, and then when they moved, she started up her car - and then the policeman called out, 'Arrest her!' He accused her of trying to run down the soldiers... "They told her to get out of the car, and she refused - so a few policewomen opened the door and physically dragged her out. She received a few bangs on her head and arms in the process... Then they took her to Oholei Keidar Prison in Be'er Sheva, but the prison refused to accept her without the proper papers or court orders. So then they said they would take her to Maasiyahu Prison in Ramle... "In the meantime, however, I had spoken to her, but then was unable to reach her, so I realized something had happened. So I sped down there - this was after the road had been closed and then opened after the first shooting - and met the policeman there. He was someone I knew from before, and I spoke to him very toughly, asking him if he wasn't ashamed of treating a 57-year-old woman that way... "As all this was going on, we heard of the double murder, and with everything that was going on, the order was given to bring her back to Kisufim. When she got there, they told her to sign her consent to being held under community arrest - i.e., that she should not be able to leave the town. She refused, of course. "My wife said to the policewoman who spoke to her, 'If you would put a fraction of your forces into stopping terrorism, maybe this murder wouldn't have happened.' The policewoman said, 'We told them [the citizens] not to go on that road, but they went anyway...' To which my wife replied, 'When you want to stop me from going, you had plenty of forces to do so - but you were unable to stop cars from traveling where you feared that there were terrorists?!' ... When I myself [Shlomo] traveled the road that night, there was no one there telling me not to do so... "In any event, they finally they just let her go, without any restrictions. But then we were held up because the road was closed a second time after the murder, and we finally got home at around 7 AM this morning on a bulletproof bus." Shlomo said that he generally does not show his ID card at Kisufim, and that one time it had cost him an hour-and-a-half delay. Asked if the struggle was worth the inconvenience, he replied, "Look, there's just so much humiliation you can take. If we allow them to humiliate us this way, then they'll keep on doing it more and more until our faces touch the ground. They're trying to break us, but we won't give in." Hillel Fendel is editor of Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNationalNews.com), and is author of these three news items, which appeared in today's Arutz-Sheva. |
| GUSH KATIF |
FIGHT
Posted by Samson Krupnick, July 24, 2005. |
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Recently, over 100 Kassam rockets were launched against Gush Katif in addition to the "Saudi" Arabian petro-dollar profit financed Wahhabi Hamas suicide slaughter attack in Netanya. We suffered dead and wounded on both accounts. Nevertheless, the two generals, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz, issued orders to proceed at once and at all costs to complete the cursed "Disengagement" disaster. Growing resentment among many Knesset and Likud party members seem to have no effect upon these two generals accustomed to giving orders and having those orders obeyed. That a majority of the Israeli public is against this disengagement, and even more against the government's dictatorial procedures and arrogant attitudes, apparently does not bother these two. We had offered a plan of moving Gush Katif to Nitzanim, the north Gush Katif in place of south Gush Katif now having suffered 5,835 Kassams attacks, with many dead and wounded and much damage. That plan was adopted by both Gush Katif members and the Prime Minister. We emphasized that all should be moved as permanent housing is made available and they would move their hot house industry. Doing it properly and with care would take a little more time, but the transition would be accepted by virtually all Jews. Arabs never lived in Gush Katif as it is mostly sand. Jewish Pioneers developed an entire farming industry in hot houses with controlled temperatures and assembly line production and packing providing almost 100% of the insect free vegetables sold in Israel. They also developed a growing export market. Moving them properly would be an excellent solution. No soldiers would be necessary to hold each other arm by arm in one long line forbidding any Jew to enter Gush Katif. Firstly, you chase away the many customers who buy their products. Secondly, you make of Gush Katif Jewish Pioneers "outlaws and criminals" facing a hostile Israel Defense Forces, whose function is to defend Jews. The respect of Israeli citizens is needed by all officials, soldiers and particularly the two rigid generals, Sharon and Mofaz. The principle of the great Sage Rabbi Akivah: "You shalt love your fellow Jew as thyself is the essence of the Torah" should apply here. Forbidding Jews to visit any part of our Land is an illegal act, regardless of who orders it. Calling it a "military zone" as a gimmik to keep Jews out of the Gush Katif is shameful. Forbidding guests to attend a wedding, Bar mitzvah, brit or other happy occasion is brutal and very much un-Jewish. These measures should be discontinued immediately. The two generals have already "gained" many enemies. An election now would certainly end the career of both of them. As to the many marchers and protesters, their position is understandable. This is our Land. There is no room for two States. The Palestine Authority has the same approach. The sole State should be Palestine. This was the goal of that mass murderer The Egyptian from Alexandria (last alias "Yasser Arafat", previous alias "Abdul Rauf el-Codbi el-Husseini") and remains the same goal of Chairman Abu Mazen. All Arab maps and books show our Land as "sacred Arab land". The late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin confided to us: "There is no room for two states here. Arabs will live here, but no independent state". All the protesters including many Rabbis oppose the vacating any of our Land, promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and to their offspring for evermore. Christians insist that this is our Land and not that of the Arabs. Intelligent and knowledgeable Muslims, such as Sheikh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi [www.amislam.com], agree that this is our Land and the Arabian peninsula the land of the Arabs. Some 50,000 or more marched in protest at the vacating of Gush Katif. Our emphasis is not to ignore but to explain that Gush Katif will move from the south of Katif to the north. Very vital now is to resume immediately the fight against mass murder as we did previously with pinpoint targeting the leaders who plan, supply and transport mass murderers ("terrorist"). Regretfully, the so called "cease fire" has given the mass murderers time to reorganize and to resupply. With the help of the Almighty we shall overcome. Samson Krupnick is Board Member and Treasurer, Root & Branch Association in Jerusalem (www.rb.org.il). He can be reached at krup@barak-online.net |
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ROOTS OF ARAB ANTI-AMERICANISM
Posted by Barry Rubin, July 24, 2005. |
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What do Arab states think about U.S. Middle East policy and what should they think about it? It is truly remarkable that misperceptions can remain so enormous in this modern age of rapid travel, internet, and satellite television. Still, whatever the extent of Western misperceptions of the region, regional ones running in the opposite direction are far more extensive. Of course, the official, public view that almost universally prevails in the Arab world and Iran--except for scattered articles by Arab liberals--is that the United States is an imperialist state which oppresses Muslims and commits all sorts of atrocities. This theme of America as the source of evil or error is repeated in schools, sermons, government statements, television, radio, the media, and the declarations of intellectuals. The radicals want to attack America; the moderates to persuade it to stop sinning. All of this goes triple for current U.S. policy and the presidency of George W. Bush. It is hated, reviled, and misrepresented; blamed for the failure to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and of course for the war in Iraq. No lie or epithet is to extreme to smear the United States. This apparent unanimity even persuades many in the West that either these claims are accurate or at least they represent the sincere beliefs of Arabs. Such a conclusion neglects the fact that these arguments are the result of pervasive misinformation, sponsorship by dictators seeking to blame their own defects on others or revolutionaries trying to ride hatred into power, and a pretty systematic suppression of contrary views. Yet even those factors are not the end of the story. For behind the public barrage is another level of debate which has two versions. One of these is the discussion among relatively small numbers of reform-minded Arabs and the majority of Iranians who oppose that country's Islamist regime. They cheer the Bush administration and its shift to advocating democracy, whatever reservations they make, in part for self-preservation. Its policy is seen as being in their interest because it is combating the dictatorships that so oppress them. A majority in Iraq holds similar views, seeing U.S. policy as having liberated them and now defending their lives against terrorist attacks. They may want U.S. forces to leave as soon as possible but these people are very glad that they were there. Even more fascinating, though, is what might be called the private lives of the ruling elites: what they say in secrecy behind the scenes and in their own government meetings. There, they need no rhetoric and demagoguery. If they are going to survive it is necessary to calculate what Washington is really doing and how they should respond. This assessment seems to be a mixture of fear and cynicism. In Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and most countries, they doubt the United States is really going to push hard for real change. But they are also afraid as they wonder whether the Americans really mean it. Will Washington try to change more regimes or punish them for acting as they have done for decades? As a result, they have developed a rather sophisticated strategy which includes the following elements: --Continue to propagandize against America to ensure their own people don't start thinking that real democracy, freedom, and moderation would be good. This tactic also maintains an ability to blame all the regimes' own mistakes, failures, and incompetence on others. It also lets the Arab nationalist rulers pretend to be representing also the complaints of Islamists. Such an approach is likely to work pretty well or at least, from the rulers' viewpoint, better than any alternative. Even Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi has understood this and Syria's late ruler, Hafiz al-Asad, pioneered this kind of policy under somewhat different circumstances in the 1990s. His son, Bashar, however, doesn't get it. He is trying to play on a purely pan-Arab nationalist line from a generation ago. Under the circumstances, that's a pretty dangerous mistake. To some extent, though, thinking in Washington seems to be shifting due to post-war problems in Iraq, disappointment with the new Palestinian leadership, Islamists' good showing in elections, and other factors. There is a new appreciation for the need to blend realpolitik--which means getting along with existing Arab regimes like Saudi Arabia--and support for long-term democratization. Overextended in Iraq, in terms of both public opinion and logistics, the United States is not eager for new confrontations. If nobody makes a big miscalculation--Bashar is the one most likely to do so--the existing system might well make it through the coming years--with its stagnation, dictatorships, useless ideologies, Palestinian intransigence, and all. What is happening now, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, is not so much the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning. Still, it is a start. Barry Rubin is Director of the GLORIA Center of the Interdisciplinary Center. His co-authored book, Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography, is now available in paperback and his latest book, The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East, will be published by Wiley in September. Prof. Rubin's columns can now be read online at http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/column.html. This essay is archived at http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/2005/06 14.html |
| GUSH KATIF |
JUST $10 A WEEK
Posted by Ken Heller, July 23, 2005. |
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Just $10 a week!!! That doesn't even buy you a half a tank of gas these days. That is what I am asking good, caring Jews to send to "Friends of Gush Katif"...$40 a month! When you see what is happening to our heroic people in Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron, and realize the needs that they have, your heart has to break. I don't think it is too much to sacrifice for our people who are facing great stress and impending tragedy. Their lives are about to be literally turned upside down! Even if you have donated before as I am sure many of you have, the needs are great and still exist. This message is short and to the point. Please send a check for $40 for each of the next few months at least to: "Friends of Gush Katif" and mail it to me at: 11213 Jeanes Street
Thank you very much! Ken Heller is a pro-Israel activist and a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of Americans For A Safe Israel. He can be reached at kjhnha@aol.com. |
| GUSH KATIF |
IMAGINE
Posted by Moshe and Rachel Saperstein, July 23, 2005. |
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This was written by Miriam Adahan. She can be contacted by email at emett@netvision.net.il) * Imagine that you live in Israel, which has suffered 25,500 known terror attacks just since 2000, including 6000 rockets just on your small section of Gush Katif, and instead of attacking the Arab enemy, the government attacks you.* Imagine that your teenage children are arrested for handing out orange ribbons on street corners and when you see the police choking them and bashing them with brass knuckles and you come to their aid, you, too, are arrested and charged with harming the police officers who arrested you. * Imagine that you and your friends come to Kfar Maimon to peacefully protest this outrage and that the government sends 20,000 soldiers and police (the same number President Bush sent to invade Iraq) to encircle the area with barbed wire, creating a virtual prison camp. * Imagine that it is August 1, 2005 and you are to be evicted from your home on August 15 and you have no idea where to go. * Imagine that you've been told that you will be allowed to take enough possessions out of your home to fill two small containers and that the rest must be left behind. * Imagine that you live in a beautiful eight-room home of your dreams with five bathrooms and that you will, at best, be given a cramped caravan which leaks in the winter rains and is sweltering in the summer. * Imagine trying to decide between your piano and your washing machine, between your books and the beds, between your sofa and your dining room table between your clothing and your photo albums. * Imagine that you discuss with your neighbors whether you will lock yourself in your home and make the arresting officers bash the door down, in which case you will forfeit all government compensation or walk silently to the bus which will take you to a detention center, or be dragged out of your home as a way of passively protesting this atrocity. * Imagine that you discuss with your spouse whether the children should have to see you being dragged out of the only home they have ever known or if it is better to have them sent away. * Imagine that your son/husband/neighbor is an army officer or policeman and it is their duty to drag you to the waiting buses. * Imagine that the Israeli press ignores your plight, except to refer to you and your neighbors as fanatical hooligans who have stolen the land you live on. * Imagine that you have lived in a community for 10, 20, 30 years, have been productive and independent and that you will soon be unemployed, a burden on the state, a humiliated and broken welfare recipient. * Imagine that you walk around your precious community, knowing that your home, synagogue, mikvah, community center, schools and health centers will be soon be bulldozed into oblivion. * Imagine having to go from a home with a huge backyard, filled with flowers and fruit trees to some cramped apartment in a strange city. * Imagine having to leave your children and grandchildren who could easily run next door to visit you and whom you will now see only rarely. * Imagine that the government is spending $7 billion dollars to deport you and your neighbors, forfeiting the $2 billion a year earned by the Gush Katif population and that the money for this expulsion plan was taken by slashing pensions for the elderly, closing schools and hospitals, reducing health services, reducing the sick and the handicapped to begging, sending 37,000 abused children were sent back to abusive homes since there was no money to keep them in state dormitories, canceling summer programs for children - and then you are blamed for all this pain. * Imagine that well known rabbis, teachers and community leaders suddenly disappear and that you are told that they are being held in prison indefinitely and being treated in a most brutal manner. * Imagine 14 year old children arrested and sent to solitary confinement for having insulted a police officer. * Imagine that the government declares war on Judaism, closing down radio stations that used to disseminate inspiring words of Torah, closing down religious councils, cutting off support for religious schools and institutions, threatening rabbis who disagree with government policy and firing government workers who protest. * Imagine that even before the 25 communities of Gush Katif are destroyed, that the "Peace Now" Organization hands over a list of 120 Jewish settlements in the Shomron to the Israeli Supreme Court to be destroyed, claiming that the land was stolen from the Palestinians (as if there ever was such a people!). * Imagine that Hamas has already announced that there will be massive parades throughout Gush Katif celebrating their victory over the Jewish people. * Imagine that the whole world will watch as terrorists take over these communities and think that Jews are the stupidest idiots in the world. NOW IMAGINE THAT YOU HEAR HASHEM HIMSELF SAYING: * My beloved people, imagine that this is a test of faith, which I offer you out of love, so that you can know your own greatness.Miriam Adahan writes: "Dear readers. Thanks to you, there is a summer camp for poor children in Jerusalem and camp activities in Gush Katif and Gush Etzion. Because I have no office expenses or salaries, all donations go to those who need it the most. Contributions can be sent to ADAHAN FUND, 2700 West Chase, Chicago, Il. 60645. I can be reached at emett@netvision.net.il)" |
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OLEG CARTOON: ABBAS, A MORTAL ENEMY
Posted by Women in Green, July 23, 2005. |
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Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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CORRUPTION AND ISRAEL'S DISENGAGEMENT PROCESS
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, July 23, 2005. |
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Here is more of the dirty story of what is behind the Sharon extermination plan. Not only does the Sharon gang avoid prosecution by giving the anti-Jewish, Leftist their heart's desire by destroying the Jewish nature of Israel but his gang members stand to make millions if not Hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from this abomination. This is called "Knesset Investigation of Alleged Corruption on the Highest Level of the Disenagement Process Commences" and was written by David Bedein (www.israelbehindthenews.com/#schitut). The Israel Parliamentary Knesset Oversight Committee, which oversees all aspects of Israel Government Accountability, chaired by Member of Knesset Dr. Yuri Shtern, of the Israel National Union Party, has summoned the Israeli official appointed by the Prime Minister of Israel to implement the Disengagement to explain a potential conflict of interest that could bring the disengagement process to an unexpected halt. The hearing will take place at the Knesset on Tuesday, July 26th, at 9:30 a.m. Summons have also gone out for representatives of Israel's State Comptroller, The Office of the Prime Minister, the Israeli Police and the Israel Ministry of Justice to also appear. What has been widely reported in the Israeli media is that the head of the coordination and strategy team in the Prime Minister's Office in charge of Disengagement, Eival Giladi has also been named as CEO of a massive business venture for Palestinians in Gaza, known as "The Portland Trust". Giladi's highly publicized role in the Portland Trust is to raise half a billion dollars in business loans for business and housing development programs for Palestinians in Gaza, in order to facilitate the construction of 150,000 homes that would be replace the housing in 22 Jewish communities of Katif - the same communities where Giladi is set to oversee their demolition. In other words: Giladi stands to profit from ventures that would help Palestinians who would benefit from the removal of Jews from their homes - providing Giladi a private financial incentive for him to succeed in his position. The logical question to ask would be whether Giladi has signed any kind of standard civil service agreement with the office of the Prime Minister of Israel that would constrain Giladi from entering into any potential conflict of interest in his role public service position. One month ago, after Israel Resource News Agency in Jerusalem first raised the possibility of a potential conflict of interest, the spokesman of the Israel Civil Service Commission told the IMRA news agency in Raanana that the commission would look into the matter. Since then, the commission spokesman has not returned any calls in this regard. Two weeks ago, the spokesman of the Prime Minister told Makor Rishon, a weekly newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel, that Giladi had indeed signed an agreement that would obviate any potential conflict of interest. However, the spokesman was not willing to provide the media with a copy of the agreement. Instead, the Prime Minister's spokesman has asked that any requests to review Giladi's agreement be processed through the new Israel Freedom of Information Act, a procedure which usually takes several months - well after the disengagement process has been completed. Meanwhile, the businessman who is the overall investor in the Portland Trust is Sir Ronald Cohen, the British billionaire who has recently bought a controlling interest in Bezek, the Israeli communications conglomerate which holds a monopoly over telephone land lines in Israel. Sir Ronald Cohen is not only well connected in Israel. Cohen is also a well known advisor and supporter of Gordon Brown, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, the ministry of finance. The Cohen appointment of Giladi presents yet another potential of conflict of interest, since the Portland Trust's corporate portfolio openly states that one of the purposes of the trust is to advance the interests of both the British government and the European Union. With the U.K. assuming the chairmanship of the EU for the next six months, this carries even greater importance. The Knesset investigation will also have to determine is whether Giladi, an appointee of the office of the Prime Minister of Israel to implement the disengagement process, is at the one and the same time also advancing the diplomatic interests of foreign powers in that same disengagement process. The Knesset Committee investigation of Giladi may lead to questions about another key Israeli official's potential conflict of interests - The Prime Minister's most important advisor, Dov Weisglass. Weisglass did sign a standard anti-conflict of interest agreement with the legal advisor of the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel, which committed Weisglass to not engage in any Palestinian business connections, so long as he held public office, which our news agency has reviewed. There is no stipulation that Weisglass cannot resume Palestinian business connections when he leaves public service. Since Weisglass's law firm holds a contract for representing casino development under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, the recommendation of the Portland Trust for further casino development inside the Palestinian Authority would be of particular interest to Weisglass, should be decide to leave his public position. In sum, all mainstream Israeli media outlets have publicized Giladi's parallel appointments to the run the disengagement process for the Prime Minister office and to run a corporation for Palestinian development when he will see personal financial stake in this process. No media in Israel have called into question what seems to be a clear conflict of interest. Until now. All this, with the implementation of the Disengagement scheduled to commence less than three weeks after the Knesset investigation of corruption on the highest levels of the Disengagement Process will begin. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
| GUSH KATIF |
REPRESENTATIVE DAN BURTON ON DISENGAGEMENT
Posted by Yoram Ettinger, July 23, 2005. |
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 109th CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 151 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, JUNE 20, 20005 No. 82 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF ISRAELI DISENGAGEMENT ON U.S. INTERESTS HON. DAN BURTON OF INDIANA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Monday, June 20, 2005 Mr. Speaker, the death of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, the emergence of a new Palestinian leadership, and the government of Israel's proposed disengagement from Gaza and parts of the West Bank have created a high degree of optimism in the International Community that we are on the cusp of dramatic new openings in the Middle East peace process. As a senior Member of the House International Relations Committee, I have watched the often turbulent goings on in the Middle East for a few years to say the least, and my experience tells me that our optimism should be tempered by the lessons of the past. In fact, I believe we should take a very cautious view of the current round of Israeli Palestinian peacemaking, particularly with regard to Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. I have met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and I know that he is a fine man. I am sure he firmly believes that this ``strategic retreat'' from the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the West Bank is the best way to guarantee Israel's long-term security by allowing Israel to conserve and consolidate military and security resources, reducing opportunities for further friction with the Palestinians, and potentially reducing pressure on Israel to negotiate a final peace settlement on unfavorable terms. Personally, I will not second guess the Prime Minister's wisdom; I very much hope that he is right. But again, my experience tells me that if you take steps to appease an enemy you only give him a green light to put more pressure on you. In my opinion, it is imperative and critical to U.S. National Security that we as policymakers understand the consequences should the Israeli disengagement plan fail to live up to expectations. I was recently presented a copy of an interesting opinion piece by Ambassador Yoram Ettinger--former Minister for Congressional Affairs at Israel's Embassy in Washington, Israeli Consul General in Houston, and Director of Israel's Government Press Office; and currently editor of ``Straight from the Jerusalem Cloakroom and Boardroom'' newsletters--regarding the potential consequences of ceding Israeli territory to terrorists. I would like to have the text of this Op-Ed placed into the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD following my statement.
JERUSALEM CLOAKROOM #178: THE IMPACT OF DISENGAGEMENT ON U.S. INTERESTS
1. Escalated Terrorism. The morally/strategically justifiable demolition of terror regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan is inconsistent with the creation/bolstering of a terror regime in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. The 1994-6 series of disengagement from 85 percent and 40 percent of the territory (and 100 percent and 95 percent of the population) of Gaza and Judea and Samaria have established the largest terrorist base in the world, led/harbored by PLO/PA graduates of terrorist camps in Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Libya and Tunisia. Since 1993 the PA has harbored anti-U.S. terrorists. U.S. GIs in Afghanistan and Iraq were encountered by Palestinian terrorists. 2. Higher U.S. Terror Casualties. The July 2000 disengagement from Southern Lebanon propelled Hizbullah from a local, to a regional, profile, haunting U.S. GIs in Iraq and Afghanistan and threatening U.S. homeland security. 3. Contradicting U.S. War on Terrorism. Disengagement is perceived, by the Mideast, as cut and run, appeasement and cave-in, in sharp contrast to U.S. war on terrorism: No negotiation with--and no concession to--terrorists; no ceasefire with--but destruction of--terrorist regimes; no political--but military--solution to terrorism. 4. Setback to Peace. The only peace attainable in the (inter-Arab) Mideast is deterrence-driven peace. Disengagement undermines deterrence; hence it sets the area farther from peace and closer to exacerbated terrorism and an all out war. Every square inch ceded by Israel to the PA, since the 1994 disengagement, has been transformed into a platform of hate-education and homicide bombing. 5. Tailwind to Anti-U.S. Terrorists. While the 1976 Israeli Entebbe Operation constituted a tailwind to the U.S. war on terrorism, the 1993-2005 retreat by the role-model of countering terrorism (Israel) in face of the role-model of terrorism (PLO/PA) has added more fuel to the fire of terrorism. Disengagement has been heralded by the PLO/PA and other Arabs as a crucial victory, frequently compared to the U.S. flight from Beirut (1983) and Somalia (1993). It would nurture Arab hope that neither the U.S. nor Israel possess a marathon-like steadfastness, required for a long-term victory. 6. PA Feeds Anti-U.S. Terrorism. A correlation has existed between the bolstering of PLO stock since Oslo 1993 on one hand, and the exacerbation of anti-U.S. terrorism on the other hand (since the 1993 Twin Towers I, through the 1995 Khobar Towers, the 1998 Kenya and Tanzania U.S. embassies, the 2000 USS Cole and 2001 Twin Towers II); the wider the maneuverability of the PLO/PA, the deeper the inspiration to regional anti-U.S. terrorism, irrespective of (and probably due to) U.S. and Israeli appeasement of--and unprecedented concessions to--the PLO/PA. 7. Undermining the Stability of Pro-U.S. Regimes (e.g. Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, etc.). Disengagement would enhance the profile of the PLO/PA, a lethal threat to the Hashemite regime and a chief ally of radical regimes in the Mideast and beyond. PLO-Hashemite relations have been a classic case of zero-sumgame: The stronger the PLO the weaker the Hashemites. The rise of the PLO/PA has emboldened subversive anti-U.S. terrorists in Jordan and in the Gulf area. 8. Strengthening Anti-U.S. Mideast Regimes. Disengagement would buttress the PLO/PA, which has been a sustained ally of the Saddam and bin Laden forces, of Khomeini and his successors in Iran, of the terror regime in Sudan and other anti-U.S. Mideast regimes. A stronger PA would be a liability--to the U.S.--in the U.N. and in the context of Clash of Civilizations. 9. Invigorating Mideast Profile of U.S. Global Rivals. The strengthening of the PLO/PA would facilitate the road to a re-assertive Russia in the Mideast. It would improve the strategic posture of China and North Korea in the region, at the expense of vital U.S. concerns, including U.S. standard of living. 10. Ignoring Plight of Christians. The 1995 disengagement from Bethlehem and Beit Jallah has accelerated the flight of Christians, caused by PLO/PA oppression and desecration of churches. 11. Setback to Mideast Democratization. Disengagement would promote the most corrupt and repressive Arab regime in the Mideast, rewarding a terrorist regime, thus dealing a blow to moderate Palestinians. 12. Undermining Israel-Egypt Peace. The 1979 peace treaty disengaged Israeli and Egyptian military forces from one another. The Plan of Disengagement would reengage them in a terror-ridden area, thus fueling unintentional and intentional confrontations. It could drag the U.S. unnecessarily into such conflict. Egypt has facilitated/tolerated the smuggling of terror hardware, missiles and mortars into Gaza. It has undermined U.S. interests in Africa, in the Red Sea and in the U.N., and it has spearheaded anti-Jewish Arab/Palestinian hate education (PA hate education employs Egyptian school text books). 13. PLO's Track Record of Inter-Arab Treachery. Abu Mazen Abu Ala',
Inc. fled Egypt (late 1950s) for subversive activities. They escaped
Syria (1966) for betraying their hosts. They were expelled from Jordan
for attempting to topple the Hashemite regimes via terrorism. They
exacerbated a series of civil wars in Lebanon since 1975. They
spearheaded Saddam's invasion of Kuwait (1990), which hosted them
since the 1950s. Their systematic violent violation of the 1993 Oslo
Accords have been consistent with their inter-Arab back-stabbing.
Disengagement would be viewed--by the PLO/PA as a reward to treachery,
which would vindicate the aforementioned track record.
Ambassador Yoram Ettinger is a consultant on US-Israel relations as
well as the Chairman of Special Projects at the Ariel Center for
Policy Research. Formerly the Minister for Congressional Affairs to
Israel's Embassy in Washington, DC, Ettinger also served as Consul
General of Israel to the Southwestern US. He is a former editor of
Contemporary Mideast Backgrounder, and is the author of the Jerusalem
Cloakroom series of reports.
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AND THEN THEY CAME AFTER US. WE'RE AT WAR. HOW ABOUT ACTING LIKE IT?
Posted by Isralert, July 22, 2005. |
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This was written by Victor Davis Hanson and is archived at www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.p?ref=/hanson/ hanson200507220816.asp Victor Davis Hanson is a military historian and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. His website is www.victorhanson.com. Yasser Arafat, replete with holster and rants at the U.N., had become a "moderate" and was thus free to steal millions of his good-behavior money. If Hamas got European cash, it would become reasonable, ostracize its "military wing," and cease its lynching and vigilantism. When some tried to explain that Wars 1-3 (1947, 1956, 1967) had nothing to do with the West Bank, such bothersome details fell on deaf ears. When it was pointed out that Germans were not blowing up Poles to get back lost parts of East Prussia nor were Tibetans sending suicide bombers into Chinese cities to recover their country, such analogies were caricatured. When the call for a "Right of Return" was making the rounds, few cared to listen that over a half-million forgotten Jews had been cleansed from Syria, Iraq, and Egypt, and lost billions in property. When the U.N. and the EU talked about "refugee camps," none asked why for a half-century the Arab world could not build decent housing for its victimized brethren, or why 1 million Arabs voted in Israel, but not one freely in any Arab country. The security fence became "The Wall," and evoked slurs that it was analogous to barriers in Korea or Berlin that more often kept people in than out. Few wondered why Arabs who wished to destroy Israel would mind not being able to live or visit Israel. In any case, anti-Semitism, oil, fear of terrorism - all that and more fooled us into believing that Israel's problems were confined to Israel. So we ended up with a utopian Europe favoring a pre-modern, terrorist-run, Palestinian thugocracy over the liberal democracy in Israel. The Jews, it was thought, stirred up a hornet's nest, and so let them get stung on their own. We in the United States preened that we were the "honest broker." After the Camp David accords we tried to be an intermediary to both sides, ignoring that one party had created a liberal and democratic society, while the other remained under the thrall of a tribal gang. Billions of dollars poured into frontline states like Jordan and Egypt. Arafat himself got tens of millions, though none of it ever seemed to show up in good housing, roads, or power plants for his people. The terror continued, enhanced rather than arrested, by Western largess and Israeli concessions. Then the Islamists declared war on the United States. A quarter century of mass murdering of Americans followed in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, East Africa, the first effort to topple the World Trade Center, and the attack on the USS Cole. We gave billions to Jordan, the Palestinians, and the Egyptians. Afghanistan was saved from the Soviets through U.S. aid. Kuwait was restored after Saddam's annexation, and the holocaust of Bosnians and Kosovars halted by the American Air Force. Americans welcomed thousands of Arabs to our shores and allowed hundreds of madrassas and mosques to preach zealotry, anti-Semitism, and jihad without much scrutiny. Then came September 11 and the almost instant canonization of bin Laden. Suddenly, the prior cheap shots at Israel under siege weren't so cheap. It proved easy to castigate Israelis who went into Jenin, but not so when we needed to do the same in Fallujah. It was easy to slander the Israelis' scrutiny of Arabs in their midst, but then suddenly a few residents in our own country were found to be engaging in bomb making, taking up jihadist pilgrimages to Afghanistan, and mapping out terrorist operations. Apparently, the hatred of radical Islam was not just predicated on the "occupation" of the West Bank. Instead it involved the pretexts of Americans protecting Saudi Arabia from another Iraqi attack, the United Nations boycott of Iraq, the removal of the Taliban and Saddam, and always as well as the Crusades and the Reconquista. But Europe was supposedly different. Unlike the United States, it was correct on the Middle East, and disarmed after the Cold War. Indeed, the European Union was pacifistic, socialist, and guilt-ridden about former colonialism. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims were left alone in unassimilated European ghettoes and allowed to preach or promulgate any particular hatred of the day they wished. Conspire to kill a Salmon Rushdie, talk of liquidating the "apes and pigs," distribute Mein Kampf and the Protocols, or plot in the cities of France and Germany to blow up the Pentagon and the World Trade Center - all that was about things "over there" and in a strange way was thought to ensure that Europe got a pass at home. But the trump card was always triangulation against the United States. Most recently anti-Americanism was good street theater in Rome, Paris, London, and the capitals of the "good" West. But then came Madrid - and the disturbing fact that after the shameful appeasement of its withdrawal from Iraq, further plots were hatched against Spanish justices and passenger trains. Surely a Holland would be exempt - Holland of wide-open Amsterdam fame where anything goes and Muslim radicals could hate in peace. Then came the butchering of Theo Van Gogh and the death threats against parliamentarian Hirsi Ali - and always defiance and promises of more to come rather than apologies for their hatred. Yet was not Britain different? After all, its capital was dubbed Londonistan for its hospitality to Muslims across the globe. Radical imams openly preached jihad against the United States to their flock as thanks for being given generous welfare subsidies from her majesty's government. But it was the United States, not liberal Britain, that evoked such understandable hatred. But now? After Holland, Madrid, and London, European operatives go to Israel not to harangue Jews about the West Bank, but to receive tips about preventing suicide bombings. And the cowboy Patriot Act to now-panicked European parliaments perhaps seems not so illiberal after all. So it is was becoming clear that butchery by radical Muslims in Bali, Darfur, Iraq, the Philippines Thailand, Turkey, Tunisia, and Iraq was not so tied to particular and "understandable" Islamic grievances. Perhaps the jihadist killing was not over the West Bank or U.S. hegemony after all, but rather symptoms of a global pathology of young male Islamic radicals blaming all others for their own self-inflicted miseries, convinced that attacks on the infidel would win political concessions, restore pride, and prove to Israelis, Europeans, Americans - and about everybody else on the globe - that Middle Eastern warriors were full of confidence and pride after all. Meanwhile an odd thing happened. It turns out that the jihadists were cowards and bullies, and thus selective in their targets of hatred. A billion Chinese were left alone by radical Islam - even though the Chinese were secularists and mostly godless, as well as ruthless to their own Uighur Muslim minorities. Had bin Laden issued a fatwa against Beijing and slammed an airliner into a skyscraper in Shanghai, there is no telling what a nuclear China might have done. India too got mostly a pass, other than the occasional murdering by Pakistani zealots. Yet India makes no effort to apologize to Muslims. When extremists occasionally riot and kill, they usually cease quickly before the response of a much more unpredictable angry populace. What can we learn from all this? Jihadists hardly target particular countries for their "unfair" foreign policies, since nations on five continents suffer jihadist attacks and thus all apparently must embrace an unfair foreign policy of some sort. Typical after the London bombing is the ubiquitous Muslim spokesman who when asked to condemn terrorism, starts out by deploring such killing, assuring that it has nothing to do with Islam, yet then ending by inserting the infamous "but" - as he closes with references about the West Bank, Israel, and all sorts of mitigating factors. Almost no secular Middle Easterners or religious officials write or state flatly, "Islamic terrorism is murder, pure and simple evil. End of story, no ifs or buts about it." Second, thinking that the jihadists will target only Israel eventually leads to emboldened attacks on the United States. Assuming America is the only target assures terrorism against Europe. Civilizations will either hang separately or triumph over barbarism together. It is that simple [ and past time for Europe and the United States to rediscover their common heritage and shared aims in eradicating this plague of Islamic fascism. Third, Islamicists are selective in their attacks and hatred. So far global jihad avoids two billion Indians and Chinese, despite the fact that their countries are far tougher on Muslims than is the United States or Europe. In other words, the Islamicists target those whom they think they can intimidate and blackmail. Unfettered immigration, billions in cash grants to Arab autocracies, alliances of convenience with dictatorships, triangulation with Middle Eastern patrons of terror, blaming the Jews - civilization has tried all that. It is time to relearn the lessons from the Cold War, when we saw millions of noble Poles, Romanians, Hungarians, and Czechs as enslaved under autocracy and a hateful ideology, and in need of democracy before they could confront the Communist terror in their midst. But until the Wall fell, we did not send billions in aid to their Eastern European dictatorships nor travel freely to Prague or Warsaw nor admit millions of Communist-ruled Bulgarians and Albanians onto our shores. Harv Weiner, a businessman in Dallas, Texas, is the founder and moderator of Isralert. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BRAVE MARCHERS TO GUSH KATIF
Posted by AFSI, July 22, 2005. |
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Americans For a Safe Israel/ AFSI extends its warmest congratulations to the tens of thousands of protestors against the Sharon expulsion plan who braved the harassment and humiliation inflicted on them by the Sharon government, but yet prevailed. Herbert Zweibon, AFSI's Chairman, states, "Over one thousand buses were scheduled to leave from all over Israel, from cities in the north, east, west, and south, filled with dedicated protestors, exhibiting determination to hold onto all the land of Israel. Thousands left their jobs, their families and their physical comfort to endure the hardships accompanying the march from Netivot to Gush Katif. Many brought their families with them. The Sharon government reacted in panic. Bus drivers were threatened with removal of their licenses if they drove the passengers. At some bus stops, mounted police and water cannons threatened the demonstrators. Most buses were delayed in departing. None of this discouraged the protestors as they drove in private cars, cabs, or walked, and finally reached Kfar Maimon, their first destination. Sharon's frantic efforts were such that police were ordered to remove Jews with kipot from buses departing Ma'aleh Adumim, leaving stranded passengers on the road to Jerusalem. None of this stopped the dedicated marchers." Zweibon continues, "Photos showed us the shameful scenes of Jews behind barbed wire, with Jewish soldiers guarding them on the other side. It is only through the generosity and kindness of the residents of Kfar Maimon that the detention camp conditions were made tolerable." In conclusion, AFSI's Chairman states, "Ultimately, with an improved strategy, the people will find ways of reaching Gush Katif. Continued demonstrations and distractions throughout the country will stretch the IDF and police to the point where enforcing the expulsion will fail. We believe that those fighting for the integrity of the Land of Israel, the foot-soldiers defending NOT ONE INCH, will prevail." AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI; 1623 Third Ave., # 205, New York, N.Y. 10128; Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org; June 30, 2005 Contact: Helen Freedman, Executive Director |
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U.S. BEHIND THE SHARON GAZA RETREAT AND SURRENDER
Posted by Marcel Cousineau, July 22, 2005. |
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I've been telling my sleeping Jewish friends for a long time that it was the U.S. which was behind the Sharon retreat and surrender, also known as 'disengagement'. They refused to believe my warnings and ignored what I said as the rantings of a rabid Bush hater. His New World Order agenda spells catastrophe for Israel. The fact is, I'm a conservative who saw thru the fake christian conservative Bush a long time ago. Even after he came out with his plan to divide up Israel as a reward for Islamic terrorism, most brain dead Jews still can't figure out that this is the new version of Hitler's final solution. The only way I can explain their incredible blindness and stupidity is that they walk in spiritual darkness and are easily seduced by the prince of this darkness. Here below are the words of Danny Alon from his own mouth as to who is behind Israel's surrender and retreat. (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=86336) "The pullout agreement with the White House is more important than an agreement with the PA, the ambassador asserted. "Disengagement has to be viewed in the context of Israel-United States relations," he stated. "This pullout did not follow an agreement with the Palestinians, but it followed something which is much more important, an agreement with the United States. Disengagement is something that creates a common agenda between us and the United States." This appeared in A Very Heavy Stone (http://averyheavystone.blogspot.com/) Marcel Cousineau can be reached at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com. |
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MISREPRESENTING TERRORISM; ARAB EXPLAINS NEW BLITZ BETTER THAN DID BLAIR
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, July 22, 2005. |
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ISRAEL MISREPRESENTS TERRORISM Referring to a bombing in Netanya, the Deputy Min. of Internal Security said, "...we knew that there would be those who would try to sabotage the disengagement process." (Henry Chu, NY Sun, 7/13, p.7 from L.A. Times.) His rationale for the terrorism is similar to that of predecessors, who attributed it to a desire to sabotage the "peace process." It is equally mistaken or duplicitous. These terrorists organized to plan and carry out attacks. When they attack, they try to give it color of legitimacy, and to put the onus on Israel to cease counter-terrorism, by calling it retaliation. When the terrorists attack, Israeli and US officials and other commentators try to legitimize the P.A. that creates the environment for terrorism, by attributing the terrorism to fringe groups. How can the Deputy Minister pretend that the Arabs object to an Israeli withdrawal? The Arabs favor it. They boast of having pressured Israel into it. They probably hope that their new attacks impress fellow Arabs as being the kind of pressure that forced Israel out. Of course, the Arabs have no interest in the abandonment going smoothly for Israel, just that Israel go through with it. Sharon's stubborn insistence that no attacks will divert him from his goal disarms Israel of the security measure of threatening not to withdraw under terrorist attack. MISSING THE POINT OF THE KORAN-FLUSHING STORY When "Newsweek" was found to have falsely accused a US interrogator of flushing a Koran down the toilet, the ensuing publicity focused on the libel and on real incidents. The publicity missed the main point, that such a misdeed does not entitle Muslims to murder. Worse, the Muslim murderers attack people who did not commit any disrespect. Every decent person ought to protest against these Muslims' indecency. The media won't do it, because the media has decided it is politically incorrect to criticize Islamist ethics (Jewish Political Chronicle, 5/2005, p.25 from Robert Spence, FrontPage Magazine.com, 5/18). This savage code of ethics is a broad one. "...inhabitants of Muslim countries tend in general to resort to violence in social situations more often than do Jews or Christians (think of honor killings, for example), so that their doing so in support of their religious beliefs is part of a larger patter of behavior." (Op. Cit. p.27 from Hillel Halkin, NY Sun, 5/17.) Were the Western media not so politically correct, and if it did its job of reporting news sufficiently so that the West were informed about Muslim misbehavior, that misbehavior would so disgust people as to immunize them against conversion. Muslim behavior does not commend their religion. My question is why doesn't their religion condemn their misbehavior? Why does it encourage violent aggression? ISRAELI GOVERNMENT LACK OF SUPERVISION The P.A. started the current Oslo War under a false pretext (which is the usual Arab way) of defending Al-Aksa Mosque. The Arabs call Arabs slain in the war on the Jews of Israel as "Al-Aksa martyrs." A first-aid booklet distributed to Israeli Arabs and Druse by Israel's Education Ministry is "dedicated to the families of the holy martyrs of Al-Aksa, the pure souls of our loved ones." An outraged Druse teacher, whose son was killed in the IDF, complained to the Ministry. The Ministry urged the teacher not to inform the media. Since the Ministry took no action, the teacher did get word out. In response, the Ministry explained that an independent publisher had produced the booklet, and the Ministry did not review it (Arutz-7, 7/10). Why not? IDENTIFY PRO-TERRORISTS, NOT JUST TERRORISTS Much attention is given to profiles of typical Islamist terrorists. We need to popularize the profile of typical pro-terrorists, so Westerners can be wary of them and not fall for their agenda. Pro-terrorists think that terrorism (1) Derives from legitimate grievances rather than hatred; (2) Fights occupation of territory which may not even be occupied; (3) Seeks justice, whereas it seeks conquest if not genocide; (4) Must be appeased by Western adoption of leftist notions; (5) Must not be fought back against, and that Western intervention is wrong unless in behalf of Palestinian Arab terrorism; (6) Is not the problem, Western greed underlies the world's problems (well, it does for some of them); (7) Is Israeli capture of suicide bombers -- suicide-bombing is merely "militancy;" and (8) Is less of a problem than ethnic profiling that might detect terrorist plots (Prof. Steven Plaut, 7/10). ARAB EXPLAINS LONDON TERRORISM BETTER THAN DID BLAIR "Under the title "Expel Extremism Today," Al-Arabiya TV Director-General Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed wrote: "For over 10 years now, I myself and other Arab writers have warned against the dangers of the reckless handling of the extremism that is now spreading like a plague within the British community. "It was never understood why British authorities gave refuge to suspicious characters previously involved in terrorist activities. Why would Britain grant asylum to Arabs who have been convicted of political crimes or religious extremism, or even sentenced to death? Not only were they admitted to this country, but they were also provided with accommodation, a monthly salary, and free legal advice for those who want to prosecute the British government. "The answer, I believe, is what... I call 'blind generosity.' "The situation has escalated to the extent that Arab and Muslim intellects fear the repercussions of condemning extremists. "The battle we face is against the ideology, as opposed to against the terrorists themselves. The terrorist groups make the most of the concept of freedom of speech, as well as of the ability to promote such ideas to gain support. "Within a decade, they have established organizations, promoted their beliefs all over the world, and denounced others as infidels in mosques, schools, and the media, and have publicly called to enjoin battle. They have spread into the city of London, reaching communities that had no previous record or practice of extremism. The results were illustrated last Thursday. "Until recently, London held the delusion that extremists would not target Britain, but only use it as a base, protecting their freedom as they worked against Arab and Islamic governments." Ironically, the bombing came just after Britain announced it would withdraw its forces from Irasq and Afghanistan. Now it may not (IMRA, 7/11 from MEMRI). How irresponsible Britain has been! Some Arabs, the West should listen to. A LONDON MUSLIM'S COMMENT ABOUT THE BOMBING He directs London's Al-Maqreze Center for Historical Studies. He said there is no such thing as civilians. He considers the bombing deserved, because, he claims, the West has been attacking the Arabs for 200 years (IMRA, 7/11 from MEMRI). Turkey did first; the West has stopped; Londoners not involved. Jihad isn't based on justice but cruelty. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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THE TERRORISTS' MOTIVATION: ISLAM
Posted by Edwin A. Locke, July 22, 2005. |
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The continued attacks by Islamic terrorists against the West--most recently, the horrific suicide bombings in London--have led many to ask, what is the motivation of the terrorists? Commentators are eager to offer a bevy of pseudo-explanations--poverty, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, etc.--while ignoring the motivation the terrorists themselves openly proclaim: Islam. The near silence about the true role of Islam in motivating Islamic terrorists has two main causes: multiculturalism and religion. Multiculturalism asserts that all cultures are equal and therefore none may criticize another; intellectuals and politicians are therefore reluctant to declare the obvious superiority of Western culture to Islamic culture. And the strong commitment to religion of many Americans, especially conservatives, makes them reluctant to indict a religion as the cause of a massive evil. But if we are to identify the fundamental cause of the terrorists' actions, we must understand at least two fundamental premises of the religion they kill for. First, Islam, like all religions, rejects reason as a means of gaining knowledge and guiding action; it holds that all important truths are grasped by faith in supernatural beings and sacred texts. The Koran explicitly states that knowledge comes from revelation, not thinking. (Christianity in pure form entails a similar rejection of reason, but it has been heavily diluted and secularized since the Renaissance.) Islam advocates the subordination of every sphere of life to religious dogma, including the legal system, politics, economics, and family life; the word "Islam" means literally: submission. The individual is not supposed to think independently but to selflessly subordinate himself to the dictates of his religion and its theocratic representatives. We have seen this before in the West--it was called the Dark Ages. Second, as with any religion that seeks converts, a derivative tenet of Islam is that it should be imposed by force (you cannot persuade someone of the non-rational). The Koran is replete with calls to take up arms in its name: "fight and slay the Pagans wherever you find them . . . those who reject our signs we shall soon cast into the fire . . . those who disbelieve, garments of fire will be cut out for them; boiling fluid will be poured down on their heads . . . as to the deviators, they are the fuel of hell." These ideas easily lead to fanaticism and terrorism. In fact, what is often referred to as the "fanaticism" of many Muslims is explicitly endorsed by their religion. Consider the following characteristics of religious fanatics. The fanatic demands unquestioning obedience to religious dogma--so does Islam. The fanatic cannot be reasoned with, because he rejects reason--so does Islam. The fanatic eagerly embraces any call to impose his dogma by force on those who will not adopt it voluntarily--so does Islam. The terrorists are not "un-Islamic" bandits who have "hijacked a great religion"; they are consistent and serious followers of their religion. It is true that many Muslims who live in the West (like most Christians) reject religious fanaticism and are law-abiding and even loyal citizens, but this is because they have accepted some Western values, including respect for reason, a belief in individual rights, and the need for a separation between church and state. It is only to the extent that they depart from their religion--and from a society that imposes it--that they achieve prosperity, freedom, and peace. In the last year, there has been more and more of a call for a "War of Ideas"--an intellectual campaign to win the "hearts and minds" of the Arab world that will discourage and discredit Islamic terrorism. Unfortunately, the centerpiece of this campaign so far has been to appeal to Muslims with claims that Islam is perfectly consistent with Western ideals, and inconsistent with terrorism. America has groveled to so-called "moderate" Muslim leaders to strongly repudiate terrorism, with little success. (Those leaders have focused little energy on damning Islamic fanaticism, and much on the alleged sins of the US government.) Such a campaign cannot work, since insofar as these "moderates" accept Islam, they cannot convincingly oppose violence in its name. A true "War of Ideas" would be one in which we proclaim loudly and with moral certainty the secular values we stand for: reason, rights, freedom, material prosperity, and personal happiness on this earth. Edwin A. Locke, a Professor Emeritus of management at the University of Maryland at College Park, is a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute (http://www.aynrand.org/) in Irvine, Calif. The Ayn Rand Institute promotes the ideas of Ayn Rand--best-selling author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" and originator of the philosophy of Objectivism. |
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RIGHT-WING JEWISH DISTURBANCE MONGERS
Posted by Women in Green, July 22, 2005. |
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This essay was written by Professor Eugene Narrett. Anyone still not clear of how deeply engrained the demonization of
Jews and a Jewish Israel is in the mass media 'information' outlets of
the world must look through the small archive of photos at
The revealing truths are in the interplay between the short texts
provided by Agence France Presse (AFP) and Reuters, the worst among
the offenders. The eleven-year old girls in head-scarves sitting
surrounded by uniformed state-servers clearly are 'dangerous.'
Similarly earning the hate-loaded epithet "right wing" or "rightist"
are Israeli Jews who presume to carry Israeli flags in Israel. Now
that's extreme! As are those ranks of girls and boys sitting and
clapping and singing while surrounded by a ring of soldiers and police
who "are impeding Israel's withdrawal" [sic] from the Gaza strip
[sic].
Throughout, the news agencies use the terms "pull out,"
"disengagement," "withdrawal from the occupied territories." Never is
there any intimation that it is twenty Jewish communities (from which
Arabs are not barred) occupying less than 15% of the area whose Jewish
residents are to be expelled from their homes and farms, with the
buildings, their earthly possessions, being destroyed to gratify the
State Department - Arab axis of evil.
In George Orwell's [real name, Eric Blair] horribly, grimly
prophetic novel 1984, the government enforces its power by constant
revising and airbrushing of the past. Its motto is that history is
infinitely malleable and the purpose is to break the people's minds by
breaking their sense that anything that has happened actually
happened. History is to be abolished. This also is the method of of
Huxley's Brave New World and of all "de-constructive" and Communist
regimes in academia or national capitals worldwide.
When governments and their media handmaidens (or masters) make it
their method that "the past is erased, the erasure is forgotten, and
the lie becomes truth," then of course it is Israel and the Jewish
people who are the ultimate and essential targets because Judaism's
service is to the Master and Maker of all things against whom any
government's qualities are to be measured and modulated.
Western civilization in many respects began with the appropriation
and distortion of Judaism and the demonization of Jews. Now that
western civilization is in its death throes, the most decadent parts
of it lash out in their death throes to repeat their original sin, --
"to take council all together and blot out the Jewish people from
nationhood, that Israel's name not be remembered any more."
The 'land for peace' plans brokered by Uncle Laban for the past 40
years, and the decades of treachery by the British Foreign Ministry
that preceded and sparked it all complement the lust of the nazis, to
destroy Judaism. How so? Because the essential commandment that makes
Judaism and Israel a nation as well as a people and practice is the
settlement and cultivation of its morasha, its heritage.
Demanding that Jews surrender the "small notch of land" as an English
nobleman noted long ago, is not only homicidally unjust and suicidal
for western civilization, it also is an assault on the roots of
Judaism itself.
The depraved brutality and anti-Judaism of the current regimes
cries out to more and more people, Jews and alert non-Jews that Israel
must be established on all its land as a Jewish state before time runs
out for the world and the players of the 'great game.'
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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EUROPE'S EMERGING MUHAHID
Posted by IsrAlert, July 22, 2005. |
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This was written by Peter B. Martin. It was sent in by Bruce Tefft. "OUTRIGHT TERROR...
It is a known fact, normal people perceive what they want to see, as well as what they are accustomed to seeing, and often do not register something incredibly obvious. The Visual Cognition Laboratory proved it beyond doubt when they did a well documented experiment, which went like this: A videotape of a basketball game was shown to an audience and they were asked to try and count the passes one team made. As the participants were busy counting, a woman dressed in a gorilla suit entered on the scene, faced the camera and beat her chest gorilla fashion. When the video ended, 50% of the participating viewers never even saw the gorilla! Gorillas were just not supposed to be in a basketball game so they were not seen. This same predetermined blindness applies to how people acknowledge subjects, whether they are the environment, politics, gun control, nutrition or terrorism; they begin with a default assumption and proceed to an often-biased confirmation built on unfounded causal associations. Speaking of terrorism, the majority of people have erroneous views on the subject because they too believe correlation and cause is one and the same, while in fact correlation is not inevitably a cause. The majority of the public believes the Islamist terrorist must want something; his actions must be due to poverty, mistreatment or a sense of persecution and that we should be more understanding towards them. That misconception is being touted by the media today and has made its way even into governmental circles. This paper will address this phenomenon and advise another more realistic approach. Foremost, it is a critical mistake, often made today, to try and separate Islam and terrorism. Muslims support the Koran and the objective of the Koran is Islamic world domination, which is their stated manifesto. Therefore, those that believe in the Koran's teachings are either willingly or innocently following bin Laden's terrorism agenda. A good example is what Muhammad Bouyeri, the killer of the Dutch cineaste, said at his trial: "I take complete responsibility for my actions. I acted purely in the name of my religion." And after the fuel truck bombing that killed 71 Iraqis, al Qaeda declared: "The operation is continuing as planned and we warn the enemies of God of more to come. We ask our Muslim brothers around the world to pray for God to grant us victory." Simply put, the ideological grounds on which al Qaeda is founded is so foreign to the average Christian layman's liberal way of thinking, it is no wonder we are having difficulty managing the course of a war against Islamic terrorism. The al Qaeda doctrine holds that Islam is THE supreme religion and that all other religions are inferior, (read contemptible) and those that follow another religion are simply infidels (kuffar). Their logic is impeccable here... there is no reason that God would reveal another religion (Islam) unless He considered Christianity and Judaism as obsolete failures. As the last divinely revealed religion the, Islam is THE religion for the world and it is a duty of all Muslims to work towards the subjection of the world to Islam. (Islam, in fact, means "submission.") Their followers' ambition is to convert or exterminate the infidels regardless what it takes until the whole world is united under the dominion of Islam. To accomplish their mission they are prepared to stop at nothing, even if it means using devastating violence (the language of "sword and blood", as the extremists refer to it) as a tactic to shock people into conversion, such as we have seen in the 9/11 attack, the Madrid train bombings or the suicide bombing of July 7th in London. (The Koran, which every Muslim is obligated to accept as the literal world of God, therefore both immutable and not open to reform as 114 chapters attest to, 26 of which deal with Holy War or jihad). Many people are also under the misconception that al Qaeda is a terrorist organization. It is not. It is an ideology, a movement. There is no longer any hierarchy. The zealots that are attracted to it operate in small, resilient cells, much like a floating crap game, making them hard to pin down or infiltrate. They recruit young people and put them through what is known as the radicalization phase, which only last but a few weeks or months. They have learned that younger the subject more brutal they will be. SUICIDE FOOT SOLDIER Why use suicide bombers? It is an inexpensive, efficient and deadly method of political dissuasion and influence. The Rand Corporation estimates that suicide attacks on the average kill four times more people than other means. Such an anonymous, bolt from the blue threats creates fear, insecurity, and paranoia that can lead to subjugation and submission. It is the "poor man's guided missile". And there is no clear profile to spot suicide bombers anymore. They have been single, married, of either sex, poor and prosperous, old, young and middle aged and most come from middle to upper-middle class families. Their leaders are most often highly educated, thus it is a fallacy to believe the terrorist's movement comes from the impoverished sections of society; in fact, they make use of the image of poverty to advance their cause. They don't use sophisticated bomb materials or make use of the latest whiz-bang technology and that fact makes them even more dangerous. For law enforcement and security services what must be profiled is "suspicious behavior" which all suicide bombers and all terrorists exhibit to some degree. It might come as a surprise to some that the Immigration and National Security Program of the Nixon Center in Washington survey since 1993 through 2004 that tagged 373 mujahideen operating in the West and found that a quarter were Western European nationals, many of whom were 2nd or 3rd generation offspring of immigrants or native converts to Islam. They established that there were more Britons than Emirates, Lebanese, Libyans, Sudanese or Yemenis and twice as many French as Saudis. These European Jihadists recruits compose a core that can provide foot soldiers to carry out al Qaeda's terrorist strategy. And this they do exceedingly cunningly, as none of the suicide bombers in the London attack were on MI-5's watch list or were they suspected by anyone, including the families, as being recruits of al Qaeda. The US Intelligence community has identified 77,000 terrorists trained by al Qaeda in the 4 years prior to the US invasion of Afghanistan... and additional 50,000 terrorists were trained before that period. Worldwide less than 3,000 al Qaeda terrorists have been captured or killed. THE MIND, THE MOTIVATION? The average person assumes that the cause of our problems with the Islamist militants is because of our support of Israel, the war in Iraq, the hatred of G. W. Bush or a combination of all three. What they are not considering is that the Islamist terrorists launched their campaign of overseas external raids (ghazava) when an Israeli-Palestinian settlement was nascent, not when it wasn't; that G.W. Bush was not president when al Qaeda bombed the East African embassies, killing 225 people or that Islamists have blown up Shia mosques well before Iraq. They have perpetrated suicide bombings in Afghanistan and Pakistan where there are no supporters of Israel anyway near the territory. And they have been blowing up subways in Paris well before the Iraqi war. In light of this, what the terrorists conveniently ignore is that the war in Afghanistan and in Iraq was a result of terrorism; therefore, these issues can hardly be a valid justification for retaliatory terrorist attacks. Why can't the Muslims see the terrorist issue from a Christian point of view? How would they feel if Christians went about blowing themselves up outside mosques, markets and the like simply because they figured their religion was the best for all? Why are the majority of Muslims so often in denial? Why do so many endorse terrorism? What sort of faith do Muslims profess to harbor when one of their own is caught wearing a suicide vest filled with explosives and ball bearings and was on a mission to blow up the grieving parents at a funeral for children who were killed in a bomb blast? The message today can only be, rein in your militants or else your religion will fall into a sorry legacy distinguished by a cult of demagoguery, death and disgrace. FIGHTING THE FIFTH COLUMN To start with, European countries have to stop providing safe havens to Islamic extremists and their mosques have to be more thoroughly scrutinized. It is high time the West recognizes that our culture, laws and civilization have made the terrorists' strategy so opportune for them. Counterterrorism strategies have to be better coordinated and more in compliance with each other. The Muslim community has to revise its culture of "martyrdom" and stop commemorating the achievements of their suicide bombers. The only effective countermeasure is internal policing. Moderate Muslims must police their own people; until they do this war of religion will not be won; however, that will not be easy because the Islamists regard such Muslims as heretics and are only worthy of death. The "gatekeeper's" (the person who radicalizes the recruits) reserves are to be found in the mosques, cafés and social clubs. The gatekeepers seek out and prey on those that feel alienated, disaffected and those who reject integration. They are often from sleeper cells that are located almost everywhere. The French intelligence community estimates that in France there are about 9,000 radical Islamists out of a population of over six million Muslims. The only people that can approach and influence them are the local populations who are fed up with terrorism. There are some Muslims who espouse a tolerant religion, who uphold ethics and values, the question is: will they have enough influence on the Islamists to make an impact? Polls in the Muslim world by the Pew, Roper and Gallup organizations have found that approximately 50% of all Muslims worldwide support or sympathize with bin laden, his tactics and his objectives. They are almost obliged to, since bin Laden has carefully explained all of his activities, accurately, in straightforward Islamic terms. Bin Laden and his supporters are not fringe radicals of Islam, they are the mainstream and it appears that moderates are the "fringe" of Islam. Will they be able to integrate the alienated? The only hope is that this nucleus of people can convince the militants that peace offers more than war. We must hold steady the course and show that such violence gets them no where; that their religion will not universally triumph as they count upon; that no religion can ever be collectively accepted if it involves killing, rather than reason and compassion to advance its ideals. This is a religious war, a "holy war" as the extremist clerics call it, even if the media and others don't wish to accept the fact. The Muslims understand this and until this reality is comprehended, and the West discards the flawed, preconceived ideas, we have little hope of winning this war. Harv Weiner, a businessman in Dallas, Texas, is the founder and moderator of Isralert. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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THE UNHEROIC DRAMA OF ISRAEL`S `DISENGAGEMENT` FARCE, NOT TRAGEDY
Posted by Louis Rene Beres, July 21, 2005. |
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Human freedom is a continuous and indispensable theme in Judaism, but that freedom can never countenance a "right" of national suicide. Individually and collectively, there is always a firm Jewish obligation to choose between "the blessing and the curse" - and always an unalterable expectation to choose life. In the case of almost imminent "disengagement," the Prime Minister`s decision to surrender Jewish land to Israel`s most openly-genocidal enemies will inevitably distance the nation - perhaps irretrievably - from survival. The wilful abandonment of human freedom can never be high-drama. If disengagement is allowed to happen, Israel`s consequent decline will be anything but tragic. Instead, it will be the reductio ad absurdum of yet another government in Jerusalem that indefatigably defiles itself. Israel, after Ariel Sharon`s forcible deportation of Jews from Gaza and parts of Samaria, would await a tragic fate. Yet, the dramatic genre portraying this unhappy and profane destiny is correctly described as "pathos." Like the minimalist poetics of Samuel Beckett, this entire "play," however deeply meaningful, is also preposterous. While the early Greeks certainly did not share the monotheistic Jewish understanding of One G-d, the Greeks and the Jews did both subscribe to an idea that all human beings and societies are obligated to ward off disaster as best they can. Saadia Gaon included freedom of will among the central teachings of Judaism, and Maimonides affirmed that we humans stand alone in the world, "...to know what is good and what is evil, with none to prevent him from either doing good or evil." Free will must always be oriented to life, to the blessing, never to the curse. For Hellenes and Hebrews alike, the binding charge was to strive in this mandated direction of self-preservation through intelligence and through disciplined acts of will. In circumstances where such striving was consciously rejected, the outcomes - no matter how catastrophic - could never rise to the dignified level of tragedy. The ancient vision of "High Tragedy," as it evolved from fifth century BCE Athens, is always clear on one crucial point: The victim is one whom "the gods kill for their sport, as wanton boys do flies." This wantonness, this caprice, is what makes tragedy unendurable to human reason and sensibility. With "disengagement" and the corollary release of still more Arab terrorists, however, Israel`s lamentations will be largely self- inflicted. The drama, as it is now unfolding, is at best a disturbing page from Beckett or Ionesco. There is no hint of a cathartic element from Aeschylus, Sophocles or Euripides. At worst, Israel`s tragic fate is torn from the pages of irony and farce, a form of comedy that relies principally on contrivances of plot and on inherently low levels of credibility. In a farce, matters often end badly except for a last-minute rescue via deus ex machina. No such rescue awaits the continuously imperiled State of Israel. Understood in Jewish terms, we should recall here the words of Rabbi Yannai: "A man should never put himself in a place of danger and say that a miracle will save him, lest there be no miracle...." (Talmud: Sota 32a; Codes; Yoreh De`ah 116). Perhaps Israel`s prime minister does not expect a miracle, but then upon what manner of reasoning does he now construct his humiliating policy of "Land For Nothing?" In Judaism there can be no justification for deliberate self-endangerment, and in classic Greek tragedy, there can be no deus ex machina. In tragedy, the human spirit remains noble in the face of largely inescapable death, but if there is anything remotely tragic in Israel`s Oslo/"Road Map"/"disengagement"- descent, it lies only in the original Greek meaning of the term - "goat song" - from the dithyrambs sung by goatskin- clad worshippers of Dionysus. In every other sense, Israel now exhibits behavior that desecrates its sacred Jewish heritage and its manifestly obvious Jewish obligations. Prime Minister Sharon proceeds with the expectation of a "Two State Solution." Yet, his Palestinian "partners in peace" remain openly dedicated only to a single, 23 Arab state. Israel does not exist on the maps of Mahmoud Abbas` Fatah. As for the still unrevised Fatah constitution, its plans for Isra! el are plainly Crimes Against Humanity - this according to unassailable standards of authoritative international law. Mahmoud Abbas` only solution for the Israel-Palestinian conflict is a familiar "final" one. Abbas, of course, is smugly identified in Jerusalem and Washington as the "moderate" Palestinian voice. Aristotle understood, in his POETICS, that a tragedy must elicit pity and fear, but certainly not pathos, a kind of suffering less heroic than what is to be expected of a genuinely tragic figure. Aristotle identified the tragic with "good" characters who suffer, in part, because they commit some error (hamartia) unknowingly. Prime Minister Sharon, on the other hand, has continued his country`s march to disaster not because of any such error, or even because of wantonness or caprice, but (in the most charitable explanation) because his territorial nationalism has become explicitly detached from Judaism. Israel is currently in a tragic dilemma, a situation init! ially created by Rabin/Peres, sustained by Netanyahu, heightened by Barak, and soon to be "finalized" by Sharon. Now, each Israeli surrender leads the country closer to an unbearable conclusion. Now, Israel is in the condition of Orestes. Commanded by Apollo, in THE LIBATION BEARERS of Aeschylus (458 BCE) to avenge his father`s death by murdering Clytemnestra, the slayer who is Orestes` mother, Orestes knows that - whatever he decides - will make him guilty of grave offense. Unlike Orestes and in violation of specifically Jewish precept, the leader of Israel has placed his people directly in the path of misfortune - in a "place of danger." It is not divine whim that has brought Israel to its present existential vulnerabilities; it is the continuous, stubborn and inexcusable self-delusion of Israeli and Jewish leaderships. In some respects, the always-visceral compliance of American Jewish leaderships with Israeli government surrenders is even more loathsome than the original capi! tulations in Jerusalem. Today a Prime Minister of Israel still codifies Hamas/PLO/PA/Fatah`s jihad-centered rule over essential and expanding sectors of the Jewish State. Yet, Holocaust denier Mahmoud Abbas was mentored by Yassir Arafat, and Arafat, in the words of Gustav Hendrikssen, professor emeritus of Bible Studies at Sweden`s Uppsala University, "is the heir of Hitler and the Palestinian Covenant is a more disgusting document than the Nuremberg laws." When this self-described "aged and bitter Gentile" recalled his reactions to awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to "one of the most despicable figures in our century," he saw in that event the drama not of tragedy, but of pathetic farce: "When I saw the Prime Minister of Israel and its Foreign Minister standing next to this murderous clown," says Prof. Hendrikssen, speaking of Rabin and Peres, "I had to think again about the meaning of the term `friend of Israel.`" A Christian for whom Israel had always been a "divine message," Hendrikssen confirms our understanding that Israel`s current "disengagement" and other incremental surrenders lack even the stuff of tragedy. If, after all, "...the Jewish people digs its grave with its own hand," it is a coming death without dignity. "Even the devil that dances on its grave is of its own making." Soon, if "disengagement" is allowed to go forward, each and every soldier of Israel will be asked to fight battles that are already lost. Fawning upon their own doom, Israel`s leaders will still refuse to recognize that the spheres of reason in this world are terribly limited, or that George W. Bush and the American Jewish Establishment will not save them. For the latter, which takes out newspaper ads steadfastly supporting "disengagement," Israel will remain a quaint and ego-satisfying diversion, a good place to visit with the children from time to time and a convenient pretext for lavish banquets in New York. For the former, the underlying drama! of Israel`s redemption - the very raison d`etre of the reborn State of Israel - is just another traveling roadshow, here today, gone tomorrow. For Shimon Peres, Yossi Beilin and others of their persuasion, Judaism is an embarrassment for which there can be no meaningful place in the "New Middle East." Israel is now entering the final phase of an unwitting self-parody.
Fortunately the last act has not yet been played. Israel can still put
an end to the demeaning farce, but only if its people and government
can finally understand why they have been ingathered in the first
place. Citizens of Tel-Aviv should have no illusions. There is
absolutely nothing about "disengagement" that will save them from the
fury of Arab terrorism. On the contrary, the smell of carrion only
inflames the vulture. There is still time for Israel to reject its
descent into pathos, but only if its Jewish citizens can first
understand the real meaning of human freedom in Judaism.
Louis Rene Beres (Ph.D., Princeton, 1971) is the author of many
books and articles dealing with Israeli security issues and
international law. He is Strategic and Military Affairs columnist for
The Jewish Press.
This article was published in the Jewish Press
(www.thejewishpress.com) in two parts -
www.thejewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=5113 and
http://www.jewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=5151.
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THE BEGINNING OF THE RECKONING
Posted by Marlene Young, July 21, 2005. |
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This was written by Caroline Glick, and it appeared in The Jerusalem Post July 14, 2005. Reacting to Neville Chamberlain's Munich Pact with Adolf Hitler in the British Parliament in October 1938, Winston Churchill warned, "You have to consider the character of the Nazi movement and the rule which it implies There can never be friendship between the British democracy and the Nazi power, that power which spurns Christian ethics, which cheers its onward course by a barbarous paganism, which vaunts the spirit of aggression and conquest, which derives strength and perverted pleasure from persecution, and uses, as we have seen, with pitiless brutality the threat of murderous force. That power can never be a trusted friend of British democracy." With the outbreak of World War II one year later, Churchill's warning that Munich was "the beginning of the reckoning" with an implacable foe was of course proved correct. In the week since last Thursday's attacks in London we have repeatedly heard the analogy between those bombings and the Nazi bombing war against Britain. Most of these analogies have to do with the famous British stiff upper lip in the face of terror and carnage. Some of these parallels relate to the determination enunciated by Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Tony Blair never to surrender to the forces behind the bombings. Indeed, in most cases, the analogies drawn between the two circumstances have to do with the British response to the attacks and not to the parallel nature of the perpetrators. In truth though, just as the British stoicism recalls the same from 65 years ago, so too, there is a deep and instructive similarity between the Nazis and the Islamic-fascist forces that attacked then and attack today. The fact of the matter is that even more important than invoking the famous British "stiff upper lip," to fight this current war to victory requires understanding and accepting the similarities between the Nazis and the Arab-Islamic terrorist armies. On Tuesday The Wall Street Journal published an investigative report into the establishment and growth of the Islamic Center in Munich. As Stefan Meining, a German historian who studies the mosque, told the paper, "If you want to understand the structure of political Islam, you have to look at what happened in Munich." According to the report, the Munich mosque was founded by Muslim Nazis who had settled in West Germany after the war. These men, who were among more than one million citizens of the Soviet republics who joined the Nazis while they were under German occupation, were transferred by their Nazi commander to the Western front in the closing stages of the war to protect them from the advancing Red Army. The Journal report explains that the first leader of the mosque was a native of Uzbekistan named Nurredin Nakibhidscha Namangani. Namangani served as an imam in the SS and participated in the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto and the putting down of the Jewish uprising in 1943. According to the article, the exiled head of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, Said Ramadan, participated in a 1958 conference organized by Namangani and his fellow Muslim Nazis to raise money to build the mosque. The article then outlines the subsequent takeover of the mosque by the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1960s and its transformation, with Saudi and Syrian funding, into a nexus for the spread of Islamic-fascist ideology and its call for jihad and world domination. Ignored by the report is that there was no particular reason, other than perhaps turf warfare, for the Nazis to have had a problem with the Muslim Brotherhood. As German political scientist Matthias Kuntzel chronicled in his work "Islamic anti-Semitism and its Nazi Roots," the Muslim Brotherhood, which spawned the PLO's Fatah as well as al-Qaida, Hamas and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, owes much of its ideological success and pseudo-philosophical roots to Nazism. In the 1930s, the mufti of Jerusalem, Amin el-Husseini, rigorously courted the Nazis. When, in 1936, he launched his terror war against the Jewish Yishuv in the British controlled Palestine Mandate, he repeatedly asked the Nazis for financial backing, which began arriving in 1937. From 1936-39 Husseini's terror army murdered 415 Jews. In later years, Husseini noted that were it not for Nazi money, his onslaught would have been defeated in 1937. His movement was imbued with Nazism. His men saluted one another with Nazi salutes and members of his youth movement sported Hitler Youth uniforms. Husseini was allied with the new Muslim Brotherhood movement that was founded by Ramadan's father-in-law, Hassan al-Banna, in the 1920s. The impact of his terror war on the movement was profound. From a 1936 membership roster of 800, by 1938 the ranks of the Brotherhood had risen to 200,000 official members backed by perhaps an equal number of active sympathizers. As Kuntzel argues, the notion of a violent holy war or jihad against non-Muslims was not a part of any active Islamic doctrine until the 1930s and, as he notes, "its concurrence with the arrival of a newly virulent anti-Semitism is verified in no uncertain terms." Husseini's gangs in the Palestine Mandate were joyously praised by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which held mass demonstrations with slogans like "Jews get out of Egypt and Palestine," and "Down with the Jews!" For the Nazis, the Jews were seen as the principal force preventing them from achieving their goal of world domination. As Hitler put it, "You will see how little time we shall need in order to upset the ideas and the criteria for the whole world, simply and purely by attacking Judaism." In his view, once he destroyed the Jews, the rest of the world would lay before him for the taking. "The struggle for world domination will be fought entirely between Germans and Jews. All else is facade and illusion," he said. Husseini, who became an active Nazi agent - fomenting a pro-Nazi coup in Baghdad in 1942 and then fleeing to Germany where he spent the rest of the war training a jihad army of Bosnian Muslims; exhorting the Arab world to rise up against the Allies; participating in the Holocaust and planning an Auschwitz-like death camp to be built in Nablus after the German victory - escaped with French assistance to Cairo after the war. There he was embraced as a war hero. Hitler's obsession with the Jews as the source of all the evils in the world became so ingrained in both the Arab nationalist and Islamic psyche that it has become second nature. At the 2002 trial in Germany of Mounir el-Moutassadeq, who was accused of collaborating with the September 11 hijackers, witnesses described the world view of Muhammad Atta who led the attackers. One witness claimed, "Atta's [world view] was based on a National Socialist way of thinking. He was convinced that 'the Jews' are determined to achieve world domination. He considered New York City to be the center of world Jewry, which was, in his opinion, Enemy Number One." In light of the wealth of historical documentation of the Nazi roots of Islamic fascism, it is absolutely apparent that the collaboration between Nazis and the Muslim Brotherhood in the building and developing of the Islamic Center in Munich was anything but coincidental or unique. It is also hardly surprising that PA chieftain Mahmoud Abbas, whose predecessor, Yasser Arafat, was Husseini's follower, devoted his doctoral dissertation to a denial of the Holocaust and a justification of Nazism. The thing of it is, just as with the Nazis, it is impossible to separate the Islamist ideological and military quest for world domination from its genocidal anti-Semitism. As with the Nazis, they are two sides of the same coin. And, just as was the case from the Nazi ascent to power in 1933 through the end of World War II, the British and, to a lesser though increasing degree, the Americans refuse to acknowledge that the war against the Jews and Israel is the same as the war against them. There are reasons for the attempts to separate the inseparable. The discovery that the London bombers were flowers of British immigrant youth - like the British-Pakistani al-Qaida-Hamas terror cell that committed the suicide bombing at Mike's Place in Tel-Aviv in April 2003, and Omar Sheikh, the British-Pakistani al-Qaida terrorist who kidnapped and murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in a Nazi-style execution in January 2002 - shows that the enemy today is largely homegrown. One of the most difficult challenges for a democratic society is facing up to the presence of an enemy fifth column in its midst. Aside from this, the fact of the matter is that the global economy is fueled by oil, which is controlled by the same forces that stand at the foundations of the current war against the Jews and Western civilization. Much easier than contending with these realities is to engage in the politics of denial. As the British and French blamed German anti-Semitism and warmongering in the 1930s on their impoverishment and humiliation by the Treaty of Versailles, so too, the British, like their European allies and large swathes of American society,, blame Arab and Islamic anti-Semitism and aspirations for global domination on poverty and perceived humiliation at the hands of Western imperialists and by the establishment and continued viability of the State of Israel. It is the duty of the State of Israel (much ignored by its own leadership today) to point out this inconvenient reality to the rest of the world. And it is the duty and responsibility of all who treasure freedom and the right to live without fear to accept this reality in spite of its inconvenience. Refusing to do so is not simply a matter of cowardice. It is a recipe for suicide. |
| GUSH KATIF |
SHARON ORDERS 10,000 ANTI-RETREAT PROTESTERS PENNED BY 15,000 POLICE
AND ARMY TROOPS AT JEWISH VILLAGE
Posted by Bryna Berch, July 21, 2005. |
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This was written by Joel Greenberg and appeared on the Jewish World Review website (www.JewishWorldReview.com) today. The map showing the march route from Netivot to Gush Katif is from today's Jerusalem Post in an article called "Police hold firm as Gaza protest fizzles." 
As the protest fizzled, a last-ditch political effort to delay the Gaza withdrawal also failed when the Israeli parliament voted down three bills to put off the evacuation, which is scheduled to start Aug. 17. "Today we again have proof that the government, parliament and the public support the disengagement plan," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said after the votes. Organizers of the protest march to the settlements had planned a three-day trek to the Israeli enclaves in the Gaza Strip, which have been declared off-limits to nonresidents ahead of the pullout. The marchers were to have stayed in the settlements to bolster opposition to the evacuation. However, the police allowed the protesters to reach only their first stop at Kfar Maimon, 12 miles from the nearest crossing into the Gaza Strip. As about 10,000 protesters, many of them West Bank settlers and families with small children, camped out at the village, the area was ringed by a force of nearly 15,000 police and army troops. Soldiers lined the perimeter fence of Kfar Maimon, coils of razor wire were spread to prevent a breakout, and ranks of police backed by water cannons blocked the main gate. A helicopter and surveillance plane circled overhead. Police checkpoints on approach roads turned back cars carrying protesters, although many reached Kfar Maimon by walking or driving on dirt paths through the fields. Bottled up in the village, the protesters marched to a rear gate and then along the perimeter fence Wednesday night, where they were confronted by police reinforcements. A few hours later many began to leave, realizing after a two-day standoff that they had no chance of reaching their goal. Organizers called off the march but pledged to continue their efforts to reinforce the Gaza settlements, saying that hundreds of people had already managed to reach the enclaves despite the military closure. Over the two days at Kfar Maimon, the protesters displayed tactics they plan to use during the evacuation, appealing to troops and police officers to disobey orders. "Soldier, policeman, refuse orders!" protesters chanted. "Soldier, policeman, I love you!" Yonatan Boneh, 35, whose sister was a teacher killed in a Palestinian militant attack on a settlers' school bus in the Gaza Strip nearly five years ago, harangued police massed at the village gate. "Tell your commanders that you can't do it," he said. "When you will receive orders to expel Jews, say you can't. Otherwise it will be on your conscience, and you won't be able to live with yourself." A sound truck bombarded the troops with a warning: "Don't be partners in this crime. Soldiers, we love you, we are also soldiers like you. We beg you ... think about it ... you are partners to a crime." Young army recruits facing protesters across a fence listened to their appeals impassively and did not respond. A leaflet distributed by the protesters urged soldiers to resist and offered legal counseling. As the protesters challenged the troops, political opponents of the withdrawal failed in an attempt to delay it. Parliament voted 69-41 against a bill to postpone the pullout by three months and defeated two similar bills by nearly identical votes. Sharon said he sympathized with the Gaza settlers facing evacuation. About 9,000 are to be removed from 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and several hundred more from four settlements in the West Bank. "I understand their pain and I also love them," Sharon said. "I hope we overcome this issue and unity returns. We are all one people." |
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NEW SAUDI U.S. BOSS SAME AS OLD SAUDI
Posted by Tamar Psion, July 21, 2005. |
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This was written by Debbie Schlussel. 
According to the Financial Times, Turki headed Bin Laden's Saudi Arabian Al-Qaeda recruitment efforts. He was named in a lawsuit filed by 9/11 victims' survivors, as a financier of Al-Qaeda, but a State Dept.-style judge ruled Turki had diplomatic immunity. Turki negotiated agreements with Bin Laden giving him and Qaeda financial support, in return for Bin Laden's promise that terrorism would be limited to other countries, and that he would not directly target the ruling Al Saud family (of which Turki is a prominent member). His sister, Princess Haifa Al-Faisal, paid rent for two of the 9/11 hijackers, Khalid Al-Midhar and Nawaf Al-Hazmi. And, of course, being the loyal bro that he is, Prince Turki defended her. New Saudi Ambassador Loves Bin Laden Here's Prince Turki in Der Spiegel on his ambiguously gay crush on Osama Bin Laden: "I have met Osama bin Laden five times . . . [H]e was an interesting man . . . . At first he seemed shy, friendly, almost gentle. He was soft-spoken . . . . His presence, dignified and reserved, must have made an impression on the Afghans. . . ." Gee, that Osama, what a cool dude! "And then Mullah Omar screamed at me" The former chief of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turki Ibn al-Faisal, discusses the kingdom's role in the war on terror, the funding of militant Islamists, and his dramatic meeting with terrorist chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar. As the son of former King Faisal and nephew of the current monarch, King Faud, Prince Turki is one of the most important and powerful men in the large Saudi Arabian royal family. Prince Turki, 58, attended Britain's elite Cambridge University and holds a degree in economics from the renowned Georgetown University in Washington. Beginning in 1977, he spent 24 years as the director of his country's intelligence service. In this capacity, he negotiated with Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar on several occasions. Prince Turki said his good-byes on August 31, 2001, eleven days before the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York. He has served as the Saudi ambassador to Great Britain since early 2003. SPIEGEL: Your Highness, you served as the chief of intelligence in Riyadh for almost a quarter century, and you are still considered one of the most powerful members of the royal family. Now you represent your country as its ambassador in London. Is this an indication of how difficult it has become to explain Saudi Arabia's policies to the world? Turki: You misinterpret that. It is a pleasure to represent my country and its policies, as well as to interact with the West on the basis of mutual respect and the recognition of interests. SPIEGEL: Really? But the heat seems to be on Saudi Arabia. Major press organizations in the United States and Europe have portrayed Riyadh as the true center of the axis of evil. Robert Baer, who spent many years working for the CIA in the Middle East, accuses your country of having provided the terrorist organization Al Qaeda with half a billion dollars and the Taliban with a hundred million dollars in funding. Turki: We see ourselves as the guardians of one of Islam's holiest cities, and therefore as serving Muslims worldwide. For this reason alone, we cannot afford to be a center of terrorist activities. Following a period of serious misunderstandings, our official relations with the United States and the EU have long since been repaired. What remains is a smear campaign that is being waged against the kingdom. SPIEGEL: Aren't you being a little easy on yourself? It cannot possibly be a coincidence that 15 of the 19 terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were from Saudi Arabia. Turki: It is correct that Osama bin Laden, who was born in our country, saw fit to modify his team of terrorists shortly before September 11, 2001, and insisted on including a larger number of Saudis. In fact, this is exactly what Sheikh Mohammed, one of the planners of the operation, stated in prison just a few weeks ago. Bin Laden's purpose, in doing so, was to drive a wedge between Saudi Arabia and the West. After all, he committed his first acts of terrorism in our country in 1995. Al Qaeda and the Saudi leadership never collaborated. SPIEGEL: But it is said that you reached agreements with them. Financial support for bin Laden and his people, in return for his promise that terrorism would be limited to other countries, and that he would not directly target the ruling Al Saud family. You yourself, as chief of intelligence, apparently negotiated the agreement. Turki: Nonsense. I have met Osama bin Laden five times in my life, and these kinds of things were never discussed. SPIEGEL: How did you first meet him? Turki: I was familiar with the bin Laden family. It's one of the most prominent in the kingdom. I only heard about Osama when, like so many from other countries, he planned to join the Mujaheddin, who were fighting against the Soviet occupiers in Afghanistan. For me, of course, as chief of intelligence, he was an interesting man. Saudi Arabia, together with the United States and Pakistan, supported the fight for independence. I met Osama in Peshawar, the Pakistani city near the Afghan border, and in Islamabad. SPIEGEL: What kind of impression did he make? Turki: At first he seemed shy, friendly, almost gentle. He was soft-spoken, a man of sparse sentences. Our first meeting must have taken place around 1984, and the last one in 1989 or 1990. The Saudi Arabian government did not give him or the Mujaheddin any money? SPIEGEL: Is that true? Turki: ... but we did provide moral assistance. Bin Laden probably became so popular because he invested a large share of his own fortune in the war. His presence, dignified and reserved, must have made an impression on the Afghans back then. SPIEGEL: Following the victory over the Soviets, bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia. At home, he later said, he was outraged by the wasteful behavior and not particularly godly lifestyle of many a prince. Turki: He left Saudi Arabia again in 1992 and first headed for Afghanistan, then Sudan, where he agitated against the Saudi royal family. Neither the government's emissaries nor bin Laden's own relatives not even his own mother were able to convince him to stop. He gathered terrorists around himself and became our lost son. In March 1994, the government saw itself forced to take a radical step and strip him of his citizenship. Two years later, the president of Sudan offered to extradite bin Laden to us, under the condition that we would not take legal action against him. We rejected this offer, because we wanted to put him on trial. In 1997, the Americans proposed forming a joint intelligence committee to monitor bin Laden and Al Qaeda. SPIEGEL: So you, with the help of agents, kept track of bin Laden's whereabouts? Turki: He went to Jalalabad in Afghanistan and was taken in by one of the former Mujaheddin leaders, who had turned over control of the city to the advancing Taliban in 1996. They granted bin Laden asylum and were soon in control of almost the entire country. SPIEGEL: The Pakistani intelligence service trained the Taliban movement, while Saudi Arabia provided much of its financing. In fact, Saudi Arabia was one of only three countries that officially recognized the Taliban. Turki: That isn't quite true. We did not fund the Taliban. However, we did recognize their government, because they had brought order to the country. The men surrounding Mullah Omar assured us that they would not tolerate terrorist activity on Afghan soil that was directed against Saudi Arabia. After bin Laden had publicly announced that he and his Al Qaeda organization intended to target Americans and Jews worldwide and to "liberate" Islam's holiest sites from the Saudi royal family, my government sent me to Afghanistan in June of 1998 to speak with Mullah Omar. SPIEGEL: Mullah Omar is one of the most secretive figures in world politics. Only a few photographs of him exist, and his origins are as disputed as his current whereabouts. You know Mullah Omar. What kind of a person is he? Turki: He is from Kandahar. When he was a very young man, he fought against the Russians and, when that war ended, he refused to take part in the Mujaheddin's civil war in Afghanistan. Because he is well-versed in the Koran, he was made a village teacher and mullah. He gained the respect of his people by successfully dealing with kidnapping and rapists. He had his friends catch them and string them up on the nearest tree. Then he gathered the same men around himself to remove illegal road blocks that had been erected to extort money from the people. That was how he launched the Taliban movement, and that was how Mullah Omar became their leader. Incidentally, we had a rather friendly conversation in June 1998. I told Mullah Omar that it would be better to give us bin Laden, that is, if he had any interest in continuing his friendly relations with Saudi Arabia. He agreed, at least in principle. We agreed to set up a joint committee to arrange the details of bin Laden's extradition. SPIEGEL: The Taliban's former chief of intelligence, Mullah Kakshar, has a different version of this meeting. He claims that when you met with the Taliban and a number of Al Qaeda leaders, you agreed not to demand bin Laden's extradition and the closing of terrorist training camps - in return for assurances that the Saudi royal family would not be targeted in terrorist attacks. He also claims that you promised Mullah Omar financial assistance if he cooperated. Apparently, just a few weeks later 400 new pickup trucks arrived in Kandahar and millions began flowing into Afghanistan. Turki: That is slanderous. I never met Kakshar. SPIEGEL: According to American attorneys, the man even said this under oath. These lawyers represent the victims of 9/11 and, in the spring of 2003, filed a lawsuit demanding billions in damages. You too are one of the defendants. You are accused of having funded Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and therefore of being partly responsible for the deaths of the World Trade Center victims. Turki: That was one of the most horrible acts in history, and I sharply condemn it. The question is whether these lawyers truly have anything to support their claims. In any event, nothing has been presented to the court in Washington. I will not dignify this by commenting any further. The fact is that my last meeting with Mullah Omar took place in September 1998, when I traveled to Kandahar again. SPIEGEL: The situation had taken a dramatic turn. In August, Al Qaeda terrorists blew up the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the US government launched bombing attacks on bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan. Did this change Mullah Omar's position? Turki: I had come to pressure him to go ahead with the extradition, and I encountered a completely transformed Omar. He was extremely nervous, perspired, and even screamed at me. He denied that he had promised us he would extradite bin Laden, and wanted nothing to do with a joint committee. He wanted to know what had possessed us to want to arrest such an illustrious holy warrior as Osama bin Laden! And why we didn't prefer to free the world of the infidels! He was furious. I could not help but think that we might have been taking drugs. When he continued to insult Saudi Arabia and the royal family, I ended the meeting. I recommended that my government freeze its relations with the Taliban, and that's exactly what happened. SPIEGEL: Do you believe that Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar are still alive? Turki: Oh yes, I'm quite sure of that. Bin Laden always moves with a small group of supporters to avoid being traced by American satellites. However, I do believe that he is still capable, through messengers, of giving direct instructions for attacks all over the world, and of organizing Al Qaeda. SPIEGEL: Do you share the optimism of some American military experts, who claim bin Laden has now been surrounded somewhere in Waziristan, along the Afghan-Pakistani border, and that his arrest is simply a matter of months, weeks or even days? Turki: They could've captured bin Laden and Mullah Omar much earlier if so many resources hadn't been pulled out of Afghanistan. SPIEGEL: Pulled out by the Americans, in the direction of Iraq? Turki: I am not prepared to assign any blame. However, I do believe that it is possible to find bin Laden, in spite of the many difficulties posed by inaccessible mountainous terrain. And I am in favor of putting him on trial once he has been captured. SPIEGEL: Will he surrender without a fight, like Saddam Hussein, humiliated in a hole in the ground? Or will be fight to the last shot? Turki: It's hard to say. But let me tell you a story that bin Laden himself once told an interviewer. He said that when he was fighting with the Mujaheddin, he was once involved in a skirmish near Khost, which is close to the Afghan-Pakistani border. The Russians were attacking with helicopters from the air and tanks on the ground. The fighting continued into the night. Bin Laden, in his own words, curled up in a trench, in the heat of battle, and peacefully fell asleep. When he woke up the battle had ended, and he said that it must have been Allah's angels who turned the tide against the Russians. Does his past behavior indicate that he is particularly brave on the battlefield, cold-blooded, godly? He got a good night's sleep. Does that suggest that he would let himself be humiliated by the Americans, be taken away in handcuffs? I don't know. SPIEGEL: As a martyr riddled with bullets, wouldn't he be even more dangerous than he is today? Turki: I don't think so. Al Qaeda is a cult that thrives on the loyalty of its cult members to their idol. Its following has already declined considerably in recent years, even among the dissatisfied in countries with a Muslim orientation. After all, the victims in some of his most recent attacks, such as those in Istanbul and Morocco, were mainly Muslims. If Osama bin Laden is captured and placed on trial, his myth is likely to disappear quickly, and his cult will die off. SPIEGEL: But the roots of the problems in Saudi Arabia are much deeper than discussions about a single "lost son" can convey. Isn't it true that "charitable organizations" in Riyadh with fundamentalist leanings are still collecting money that ends up in the hands of terrorist organizations? And don't many radical Islamic preachers in the kingdom continue to call for jihad against the West? Turki: The Americans claimed that terrorists were being funded through certain charitable organizations. We looked into each case individually. Whenever we found any suggestion that this may have been the case, we outlawed the organizations in question. But this only happened in rare instances. Radical mullahs who call for violence are arrested. SPIEGEL: Some experts say you should completely prohibit the exportation of Wahhabism. They say that the form of Islam that predominates in Saudi Arabia is backward and hostile to reform. Turki: We are reforming our country, but we are doing so with great care and while preserving social harmony. It doesn't make any sense to dictate reforms from above, reforms we may be forced to take back because people don't understand them. The Shah of Iran once did that, and he was swept away by a revolution. As far as religion is concerned, you must understand that it plays an important role in the life of all Saudi Arabians. It would be completely incorrect to claim that people would stand in the way of reforms we introduced solely as a result of their intense faith. SPIEGEL: But you certainly cannot deny that there are forces in Saudi Arabian society that deeply detest reforms and are fighting against them. Turki: There are persistent elements in our society, as in any other. SPIEGEL: One could also say that a power struggle is taking place between the more worldly, moderate pro-Western forces surrounding Crown Prince Abdullah and the hardliners who support the Interior Minister, Prince Naïf. Turki: It isn't that way at all. Abdullah is in charge of the government, while Naïf holds a subservient position. Of course, brothers have disputes, but they ultimately come to an agreement. Look, we are a young country. Saudi Arabia has only been in existence for 72 years, and some of us can still remember the early days of independence. We do not want to risk being torn apart again. SPIEGEL: Saudi Arabia is miles away from being democratic. Your state has no political parties, no trade unions, no parliament. The Majlis al-Shure, the consulting council, is appointed by the king. Which reforms are most urgently needed? Turki: We are not trying to create a democracy based on the Western model. That doesn't happen in our world. We can only borrow some elements of your forms of government, while others must be adjusted to suit our conditions. Next October, we will hold elections for the first time, for half of all our mayoral positions. We are reforming our education system by offering girls the same rights and better career opportunities. We are creating more jobs for university graduates. We are combining government agencies and making them more transparent. We are organizing intensive programs for religious scholars who have abandoned the path of moderate religious teaching. SPIEGEL: All of this requires a tremendous amount of energy, the bundling of shared resources, but it also costs money. Saudi Arabia still has the world's largest oil reserves, but its high birth rate and other problems have caused a two-thirds decline in per capita income in the last 20 years, and unemployment has apparently reached 25 percent. Turki: I don't agree with the last figure. Our official estimate is at eight percent. But you have put your finger on the problem: even our wealth is not unlimited, and we must begin to save more effectively. SPIEGEL: Does that also apply to the elite of the 5,000 princes? And can you seriously picture a Saudi working in the kind of service position that has been handled exclusively by guest workers up to now? Turki: Some Saudi Arabians are now working as taxi drivers and waiters. Of course, the ruling family, like other parts of the society, must make painful sacrifices. SPIEGEL: Some of your citizens have begun engaging in spontaneous street demonstrations. And terrorist attacks are occurring again and again. Turki: It is true that we are confronted with terror. It is a threat that we must oppose with tough measures, but also by taking steps to win over the people. A society needs rules. Here in Great Britain, or in Germany, demonstrations are usually publicized in advance and are peaceful. Perhaps that will be the case in our country one day. Demonstrating and voting are things one must learn. While we're on the topic of elections, when I came to London last year there was a debate as to whether the House of Lords should be elected in future or should continue to be appointed. It was decided that the system of appointing members should be retained. SPIEGEL: But that's mostly because the elected House of Commons wields the political power in Great Britain. Are you concerned that, following the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, a democratic model could emerge in your neighboring country and that Western freedoms could sweep across the border to Riyadh? Turki: What we truly fear is a breaking apart of Iraq, the country breaking into three pieces, which could destabilize the entire region. There is a risk that a civil war will break out when the various groups begin to fight over natural resources. And there is another reason why we are very concerned about what happens in Baghdad: We share an 800-kilometer border with Iraq, and that means we need security. People are flowing over to our side, and the situation has deteriorated considerably. After all, the occupying powers only control the cities. SPIEGEL: What do you see as the solution for Iraq? Turki: The United Nations must play the decisive role, and it now seems that Washington is slowly beginning to understand this. But that does not make me optimistic by any stretch of the imagination. As chief of intelligence, I always had to act on the basis of worst-case scenarios, and I have kept that habit. SPIEGEL: Why is Saudi Arabia trying to acquire nuclear weapons? Why did your defense minister visit the laboratories of the Pakistani nuclear specialist and black market dealer Abdul Qadir Khan in 1999? Turki: I am against the Israeli nuclear bomb, against the Islamic nuclear bomb, and against the American nuclear bomb. I am against all nuclear weapons. SPIEGEL: Your Highness, we thank you for this interview. The interview was held by SPIEGEL employee Asiem El Difraoui and editors Erich Follath and Stefan Aust at the Saudi Arabian embassy in London. Translated by Christopher Sultan |
| GUSH KATIF |
THIS PICTURE SAYS IT ALL
Posted by Saas1, July 21, 2005. |
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At Kfar Maimon. Protesters and soldiers pray together, separated by the fence that locked in men, women and children in Kfar Maimon. They had had a giant rally in Netivot and were on the march to Gush Katif. They stopped at Kfar Maimon overnight - when Sharon struck. The protesters were Israeli citizens exercising their right to civil disobedience and their right to criticize the government.
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| GUSH KATIF |
MOST KFAR MAIMON PROTESTORS GO HOME
Posted by Hillel Fendel, July 21, 2005. |
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The 48-hour mass protest against the expulsion ended in the Negev community Kfar Maimon around 11 PM Wed. night. Several hundred people remained afterwards, and activity will be renewed next week. The police opened the gates to the moshav this morning (Thursday), allowing free entry and exit for the first time since Monday evening. Most of the estimated 10-15,000 protestors left during the course of the night, and several hundred are expected to remain today. The Yesha Council says that the active protests, including attempts to reach Gush Katif, will resume on Monday - but details are not yet forthcoming. "Whoever needs to take a breather," Yesha Council organizers said, "should do so, and return refreshed next week." The protestors circled the gates of the town last night from within, many of them dancing and singing with a Torah scroll, but did nothing to clash with the security forces. Hundreds of people spent well over an hour speaking "heart-to-heart" with policemen and soldiers, explaining their opposition to the expulsion of Jews from their homes in the Land of Israel. One little girl, aged approximately 11, was shown on national television giving an impassioned speech to policewomen, who did not remain unmoved: "Could you ever imagine evacuating your own mothers from their homes? Could you? And what kind of word is this, to evacuate? We evacuate garbage, or enemies - but not brothers!" The chant "Soldier, Policeman, Refuse the Order," was replaced last night with, "Soldier, Policeman, We Love You, We Love the IDF." Some demonstrators walked around with megaphones, proclaiming, "We're not the enemy; we love you. Go fight the real enemy." The singing and hear-to-heart talking contrasted starkly with the scenes of chain-link fences and even barbed wire separating between rows of security forces and idealistic citizens. In announcing the end of the Kfar Maimon event, the organizers told the crowds that in the merit of the 20,000 soldiers and policemen deployed around Kfar Maimon, 1,000 people had succeeded in making their way to Gush Katif last night. The police later reported, however, that they had arrested some 300 suspects trying to "infiltrate into a closed military zone." The crowds - families, old and young, religious and secular - sang HaTikvah and Ani Maamin (I Believe in the Coming of the Messiah), and then began to disperse. Many made their way by police-supplied bus, or other vehicles, or by foot, to Netivot, 7 kilometers away, where they had left their cars on Monday night, when the protest started. MK Effie Eitam spoke earlier in the evening to the security forces, and said, "We are standing here not as two enemy camps, but as two camps of brothers falling on each other's necks and crying aloud. We are crying at the foolish and evil thought [of disengagement] that has brought us to what appears to be two different sides. We are both on the same side of love for our people, country and the Torah. The eyes of the entire world are upon us, with every television network broadcasting these events live to millions of viewers around the world. Heaven forbid that they will see us, with our rabbis, students, wives and children, involved in violence towards the heroes of Israel - police and soldiers." MK Benny Elon said that the mistaken impression had been planted in the public that this was a "rebellion," when in fact it was just a "legitimate demand to protest." "The order to take demonstrators off of buses, and the involvement of the Chief of Staff against civilian demonstrators in the heart of Israel, represent a military revolution by Prime Minister Sharon," Elon said. Yesha Council chief Bentzy Lieberman said, "This is an ethical and public struggle for the heart of the nation, and it will continue until the expulsion plan is canceled." Rabbi Chaim Druckman, a former MK and the head of the Yeshivot Bnei Akiva movement, said, "Together with all the myriads who are here and who are striving and longing for Gush Katif and the Land of Israel, are additional myriads of souls of Israel, from all the generations, who longed to reach the Land of Israel." Ami Shaked, the security officer of Gush Katif - a self-proclaimed non-religious Jew - told the giant crowds at Kfar Maimon last night, "We will continue to light up the orange color around the world, and this gives strength to the residents of Gush Katif in maintaining their daily lives. 'Not by military might or force, but by My spirit, G-d said' - keep smiling, keep lighting up, and that's how we will win." Hillel Fendel is editor of Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNationalNews.com), and is author of these three news items, which appeared in today's Arutz-Sheva. |
| GUSH KATIF |
SHARON, THE LAND OF ISRAEL IS NOT YOUR PRIVATE REAL ESTATE - IT IS NOT FOR SALE!
Posted by Ruth Matar, July 21, 2005. |
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Dear Friends, On Monday morning a new low in Israeli Democracy was engineered by Ariel Sharon. He ordered the Israeli Police to prevent 400 private buses carrying protesters from all over the country to reach their destination of Gush Katif. The plan of the protesters was a Mass March to strengthen their brethren in the 22 communities slated for expulsion under Sharon's Disengagement-Deportation of Jews Plan. In a massive operation the police spread out to all the points of departure of the buses across Israel. The police confiscated some licenses of the drivers, while threatening other drivers with dire consequences if they did not listen to their arbitrary commands. The Sharon Government considered this a great victory. How did the police achieve this breathtaking victory over thousands of legitimate bus passengers? They simply ordered people to get off, and those who refused, were forcibly removed. Police also set up roadblocks throughout the South and at the entrance to Netivot and Kfar Maimon, as part of their overall effort to stop activists from reaching the Rally. Nonetheless, by 8:00 pm on Monday about 50,000 protesters had streamed into the city of Netivot, 7.5 miles from Gush Katif, by private cars, on foot and even on bicycles. They then continued on toward Kfar Maimon, a small village just a few miles from Netivot, and closer to Gush Katif. Thousands of police officers and soldiers lined Route 25 in an effort to limit the activists' advance, as youngsters chanted Psalms and called on soldiers to refuse orders. Teenagers calling on soldiers to refuse orders is a very important part of the disengagement battle. As a matter of fact, the teenaged children of my co-Chair, Nadia Matar, Yehuda and Talia, spend much of their time at the barbed wire fence around Gush Katif, trying to speak to soldiers. The reaction of soldiers is both interesting and encouraging. Some of them actually cry, some of them are embarrassed and refuse to make eye-contact. There is absolutely no antagonism on the part of the soldiers. After all, not long ago these soldiers were teenagers themselves! In the standoff between settlers and police, it is estimated that there were almost as many police as settlers, a one-on-one situation. The police in some instances used horses and water cannons. Police helicopters swung search lights back and forth across the whole area. Nobody can dispute that Ariel Sharon is a master of strategic planning. Unfortunately, this talent of his is now directed toward his own people, rather than towards the Arab enemy. Ariel Sharon's greatest sin is that he has taught Israelis not to have respect for democracy. He himself knows no red lines. He fired Moshe Ya'alon, the Israeli Chief-of-Staff, who warned the people of the great dangers of the Disengagement Plan. He fires Cabinet Ministers who disagree with him. He bribes Knesset Members of the various Israeli Parties with promises of lucrative jobs and money for their Party coffers. On the other hand, he treats the Gush Katif Jews as enemies and pariahs, whereas people he feels are safely in his ideological corner are rewarded with big government grants. Just one recent example: Last Tuesday, July 19, IMI (Israel Military Industry) blocked Jerusalem roads and even stormed the Prime Minister's office, injuring a police man. Were they arrested? No way! Sharon gave them a government grant of NIS 270 million, which the Treasury had hitherto refused. Sharon is now poised to destroy Gush Katif, its religious Institutions, its Jewish history, its Jewish life, and has even agreed to please the Arabs to desecrate 47 Jewish graves by removing the remains of loved ones buried there. Sharon has immorally mobilized the police, the Israeli Defense Forces, and the Justice System, in a brute force against Zionistic principles and basic values of the State of Israel and her people. He has entered into an unholy alliance with the Israeli Left, even though they were so embarrassingly defeated in the last election. I have written previously of the reason why Ariel Sharon made a complete 180 degree turnabout. There is no doubt in the minds of many Israelis, that he did so to save his own hide and that of his sons, Omri and Gilad, to avoid criminal prosecution for financial wrongdoing in the Greek Island Affair and illegal election contributions. There is an interesting comparison making the rounds between our Patriarch, Abraham, and our current Prime Minister: Father Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac, for the benefit of his people. Ariel Sharon is willing to sacrifice his people in order to save his sons, and himself. Sharon thus has no red lines in the subversion of basic human rights in order to implement his Expulsion Plan: <* He encourages police brutality against Disengagement Protesters. In an enlightened democratic country, such as the United States, insulting a public servant is not a crime. Garrison v. Louisiana, 379 US 64(1964) is directly in point. Obiter Dicta include the following: "...where the criticism is of public officials and their conduct of public officials and their conduct of business, the interest in private reputation is overborne by the larger public interest secured by the dissemination of truth..." *** What, if anything, did the march to Gush Katif accomplish? It seems that close to 1,000 disengagement opponents were able to infiltrate into Gush Katif and are planning to stay there, sleeping in newly erected tents. Even though the rest of the demonstrators are starting to return home, the YESHA Council promises that they will resume the protest on Monday. Above all, it was proven that the disengagement opponents are able to paralyze virtually the entire Israeli Police Force, without themselves engaging in any violence whatsoever. The danger, unfortunately, is Ariel Sharon himself, who has stated: "If the circumstances so warrant, the army will not hesitate to use live fire!" This remark of Ariel Sharon makes it clear that he has absolutely no respect for democracy, and that it is essential to remove him from power. *** S At about the same time as the Mass March to Gush Katif, a major worldwide event took place on July 19, 2005, in order to stop the dismemberment of the Holy Land and the surrender of Israel's Government to Islamic terrorism. Right thinking people all over the world are finally waking up! THE ALLIANCE FOR ERETZ ISRAEL successfully arranged World Wide Solidarity Rallies for the Land of Israel in many different places, major cities as well as in small towns. For example, thousands of people demonstrated in New York City. A group of 60 people wearing orange held a rally in front of their Christian Zionist Congregation in Greeley, Colorado, calling on President Bush to stop his support of the Expulsion Plan and to tear up the Road Map. Dear Colorado friends, may your tribe increase! On the other side of the world, a large rally of over 1,000 Aussies was held in Melbourne, Australia. Around the whole world, the message was the same: "NOT ONE INCH, THE LAND OF ISRAEL IS NOT FOR SALE!" With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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THE MEDIA DISENGAGEMENT
Posted by Herb and Miki Sunshine, July 21, 2005. |
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This was written by Yisrael Medad and it appeared as an Op-Ed piece in Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNN.com) yesterday. It is archived at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/print.php3?what=article&id=5341 On July 11, 2005, Seymour D. Reich, President of the Israel Policy Forum, an American organization, provided a unique glimpse into the thinking of those who are leading this country. In a letter to the editor published in the New York Times, Reich, a former chairman of the Presidents' Conference, informed us that Ehud Olmert, Israel's vice prime minister, spoke before an audience in New York in June and announced: "We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies." What is probably most remarkable about Olmert's words is that they went unreported at the time, and not that they represent one of the most abject and defeatist formulations of statecraft in the history of diplomacy. Even Neville Chamberlain at Munich in 1938 was a bit more optimistic while serving up Czechoslovakia's Sudentenland. Israel's media manages to get its information from Foreign Ministry cables, interested parties in the American Jewish establishment, politicos and officials from within the State Department and Pentagon, and from leaks directly from those who utter them or their aides. Our media delights in scandal and headlining seemingly embarrassing remarks. That such a statement, if true, and Olmert has not denied saying what Reich claims he said, was missed, or perhaps ignored, is a troubling development for this country's democracy. It was Amnon Avramovicz, prime time Channel Two commentator and recognized razor-tongued expert of sardonic wit, who coined the now infamous "Etrog box" paradigm of Israel's media. According to Avramovicz's instructions to his fellow milieu members, the ultimate elitist clique and last stronghold of dogmatic left-liberalism, Ariel Sharon is to be cushioned, that is, untouched by criticism in the media. Until September, the month the expulsion of the Jewish population of communities in Gaza and northern Samaria is to be a fait accompli, the media is to avoid any mention of personal criminal and unethical matters that Sharon, his sons, his advisors, his employees and anyone else connected to this evacuation operation. Avramovicz, along with many other leading dimmed lights in the media, make no secret of their support, encouragement and enthusiastic defense of Sharon's policies that serve their end as well: Israel's exit from the disputed territories. This dovetailing of goals overrides any professional, ethical or legal restriction that would otherwise act as a barrier to what Avramovicz wants done, and, a la the Olmert statement, is being done. The "etrog box" media behavior, of course, is nothing less than a subversion of Israel's democracy. Thus, what is being done to some 10,000 Jews is described as "disengagement" when, in the first instance, it is nothing less than a depopulation of ethnic cleansing. Disengagement will not happen. Terror will continue, as the opponents of evacuation claimed, and Israel will engage the enemy. Arabs will continue to demand the 'right of return' to Isdud (Ashdod), Iskalon (Ashkelon), Bir Saba (Be'er Sheba) and Jaffa and will be engaged in their propaganda campaign on its behalf. Gazans are to enter Israel as a work force, and Israel will supply water and electricity and other services. Moreover, the main reason that Sharon has embarked on a complete reversal of political orientation; i.e., the demographic threat to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, is now being well served by a demand of the American administration. That demand is for the "disengagement" funds of over $2 billion to go, in the main, to Arab, Bedouin and Druze projects in Israel. Only a third of the money will fund the redeployment of Israel Defense Forces troops outside the Gaza Strip. The aid package must go, the United States demands, for the purpose of developing the Galilee and Negev. We now witness a new New Israel Fund blossoming. An American official was quoted as saying, "America is not the Jewish Agency nor the Jewish National Fund, and considers it important that the aid serves all sectors of the Israeli population." This, of course, is a worthy redistribution of Israel's national budget. What is unworthy, however, is the way America is forcing Israel to do its bidding and how the media is not helping Israelis understand what the future holds based on this element and others. Is America still behind Sharon's "settlement blocs" program or is President George W. Bush, in referring to the 1949 armistice lines, signaling the re-division of Jerusalem? Was Sharon wise in refusing to link the London bombings with Israel after we now are informed that one of the UK bombers may have been part of the Mike's Place attack in Tel Aviv? Is the so-called demographic threat solely an external problem, resolved by evacuating Gaza, or is it internal? And how negative is it exactly? These are but a few of the questions for which Israel's media must provide a fair and balanced forum for discussion and dialogue. Their involvement and responsibility for Israel's future is no less than that of a prime minister or the leader of the opposition. That is how a true democracy works. Herbert B. Sunshine is Professor of Law (US). He and his wife Miki live in Jerusalem. |
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SHOULD THERE BE A REFERENDUM? WHO OWE WHOM REPARATIONS? NATURE OF ISLAMIC TERRORISTS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, July 21, 2005 |
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"INTERNATIONAL LAW" AS A TERM TO BLUDGEON FOES WITH In discussing repairs to the Gaza airport bombed by Israel, a P.A. official made the usual accusation of Israel violating "all international laws," in this case, for the bombing. He probably meant all relevant ones. Perhaps he didn't mean any. He cited none. The Arabs and their supporters never do more than cite a law or quote a paragraph from it out of context. Israel has overall supervision of Gaza and its security. It lent the PLO -P.A. some autonomy, excluding border control, in return for a pledge under Oslo to eradicate terrorism. Instead, the P.A. is ramping up terrorism as its raison d'etre. Thus while Pres. Bush gushes about a state living in peace with Israel, the Arabs prepare for war to eradicate not terrorism but Israel. Arafat himself, used VIP passes to smuggle terrorists and arms between the P.A. and Israel. Israel denied permission to the P.A. to complete an airport and a seaport, without modest security measures. The P.A. rejected those conditions, and built, anyway. Fearing large-scale import of heavy-weaponry, Israel disabled the airport and kept the seaport from being completed. The Arabs, whose terrorism violates several provisions of international law, accuse Israel of violating international law, when it doesn't. The accusation, like false accusations of racism, is a cynical attempt to cow opponents and make defamatory propaganda against them. International law imposes a duty on every country to do what it can to repress the kind of criminality that terrorism is. Israel did its duty. That it now is reneging is a violation of international law and a piece of folly. This piece fits into the jigsaw puzzle of Sharon's policy that adds up to the destruction of Jewish sovereignty. KING OF JORDAN CONDEMNS LONDON BLASTERS The King of Jordan in and out of an Islamic countries conference has been issuing condemnations of the terrorist bombings in London. He maintains that terrorism is contrary to Islam. (He has some standing among Muslims, as a descendant of the Prophet - they take genetics seriously, as if genes make the man.) IMRA asks, if terrorism is contrary to Islam, why don't Muslim clerics issue fatwas condemning it instead of fatwas approving it, and why aren't terrorists declared apostates. IMRA previously pointed out that Arab condemnations of terrorism make an exception for terrorism against Israel. The King blamed much terrorism upon the conflicts in Iraq and Israel. IMRA finds that an old Arab rationalization (IMRA, 7/10) for a much broader Islamic jihad against the rest of the world. Arab statements against terrorism and for truces have all sorts of catch phrases, so they can exempt themselves from actual implementation. This is a kind of unscrupulousness that the West, in its conceited failure to study its enemies, does not recognize. Arab peace statements are vague -- as slippery to grasp hold of as a greased pig. I am waiting for the King to condemn Palestinian Arab terrorist organizations by name and to condemn the P.A. for not cracking down on terrorism. Then his statements would command inherent, instead of inherited, respect. THE NATURE OF ISLAMIC TERRORISTS Like parasites, Muslim terrorists want Western weaponry without the Western culture that made them possible. Muslims riot and murder over rumors in Western magazines, though they, themselves, do not develop free thinking magazines and the Internet to communicate their threats. Their jihad is "a last-ditch effort by primordial fascists to prevent the liberalization of the Muslim world and the union of Islamic society with the protocols found in the rest of the globe and which many in the Middle East (would) prefer if given a chance." International terrorists are not poor villagers but "...usually upscale and spoiled, or at least middle class, educated, and with some disposable income - the prerequisites to allow them contact with the West and almost immediately to incite their sense of envy, self-loathing, exaggerated entitlement, and ultimately nihilism at trying to destroy what they hate and lust for and cannot destroy." This loathing is excited by Western journalists who fail to realize that mistaken accusations, based on their own anti-Western proclivities, and which don't have repercussions in Western society, set off Islamic riots. Compare the Muslims with Christians. "Was the Church of the Nativity carefully treated by its Islamic intruders (no) - or did the desecration cause rioting and holy-war warnings across Christendom? It is just this imbalance that our elites do not talk openly about, but that outrages the populace who tires of it." We are warped in our own way. "We seem to think that our neat gadgets also equate with an ability to refashion human nature or that a fascist abroad needs to know how much we care about his hurt." "The Islamists insist, 'We kill you for being soft.' Westerners in response feel, 'We are killed because we are not being soft enough.'" (Jewish Political Chronicle, 5/2005, p.24 from Victor Davis Hanson, National Review On-Line, 5/20.) Being soft facilitates being killed. That last point helps accelerate rather than decelerate the Arab-Israel conflict. Westerners make excuses for terrorists. Not having studied the issue and the Muslim culture, how conceited of Westerners to suggest they "understand" the terrorists whom they suppose are being oppressed and "desperate" enough to become terrorists! They aren't oppressed by their designated enemies, and many other, really oppressed cultures don't produce terrorists. SAUDIS WASTE WATER S. Arabia has no renewable sources of water. Nevertheless, having allowed its pipes to decay, it wastes about a third of the water it draws down from aquifers. From whatever flow reaches Saudi homes, the people use twice the quantity as most other countries (IMRA, 7/10 from Arab News). Israel has invented a water-conserving method of agriculture. However, it, too, is profligate with water supplies. Its economic system makes distribution too cheap to be an incentive to switch to lower-usage crops or to let lower-usage consumers get a higher share. In addition, politicians toy with plans to give up areas that control most of its supply. The government of Israel is pursuing self-destruction in more than one way. Oh the folly of us humans! DOES TIME LEND OR STEAL ACCURACY OF HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS? A British official made a fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip in June, 1949. He found that the Arab refugees "express no bitterness against the Jews? They speak with the utmost bitterness of the Egyptians and other Arab states. 'We know who our enemies are,' they will say, and they are referring to their Arab brothers who, they declare, persuaded them unnecessarily to leave their homes." Since then, the Palestinian Arabs have "rewritten their national narrative into an unblemished story of victimhood that makes Israel, rather than Arab states, the sole culprit" in the "collapse and dispersal of their society during the 1948 war." (Jewish Political Chronicle, 5/2005, p.22 from Efraim Karsh, New Republic, 5/16.) Many people parrot the current Arab version. The "NY Times" writes in such a fashion that it does not outright lie about it but it leaves the impression that the Arab version may be correct. Thus, based on revisionist propaganda, ignorant Westerners would put the lives of millions of Israelis at risk. "NO ALTERNATIVE?" Sharon plan adherents claim that there is no alternative. (Not so.) But the status quo is superior to allowing a terrorist state. Adherents call it an experiment, as if it were of no consequence, but it may not be reversible. They have not thought this through (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 7/7). "NY TIMES" COMPLAINS THAT ABANDONMENT IS UNILATERAL The "Times" complains that Israel is not doing enough for the Arabs, in just abandoning territory. It wants Israel to pay for removing the rubble, and it wants negotiations to replace warfare. It blames Sharon for not negotiating over the abandonment, and arranging to strengthen the Abbas regime by give the Arabs material wealth (7/15, Ed.). The "Times" forgets that Israel offered to negotiate and has done some negotiating over the abandonment, but the Arabs turned it down until recently. Israel negotiated Oslo, to no avail, because the Arabs use negotiations to gain concessions to strengthen their hand in war, not to make peace. The "Times" does not care about peace -- it has been anti-Zionist from the 1920s. It just wants Israel to make enervating concessions. Israel would be wiser to minimize the fanatical Arabs' material wealth, so they would be weaker in war. Israel doesn't owe anything to enemies who try to kill its people. The "Times" is unfair to demand that Israel pay to remove rubble, as if Israel had no right to the area. Let it ask the P.A. to pay Israel reparations for its terrorism. 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. |
| GUSH KATIF |
ADMIT DEFEAT?
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, July 21, 2005. |
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Somehow I just don't feel defeated. Nevertheless I wonder if that was not the real goal of this "march up the hill and down again." What was the point to bring so many people out on the hottest days of the year for a rally that from its beginning could not accomplish anything? Did anyone really believe the police and soldiers would just go away or suddenly be overcome by a massive desire to do Teshuvah? It was clear from the beginning that only through the use of force against the security people could the demonstrators reach Gush Katif. The only thing that happened was to exhaust the opponents to the Junta both physically and psychologically. We even have a very willing foreign and domestic press proclaiming for all to hear: Defeated!! Quite a few have wondered why wasn't this rally directed to surrounding the Knesset, especially when there was a bill on the table to stop the extermination plan? I have to admit that in my cynical and paranoid way of looking at events here, I suspect that that was the very reason the rally was off in the wilderness and not in Jerusalem. Had 50-100 thousand protesters surrounded the Knesset at the time of this vote and been addressed by Jewish loyalist, it most likely would have turned out differently. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
| GUSH KATIF |
WHO WILL FIGHT FOR ISRAEL TOMORROW, IF NOT THOSE CALLED "SETTLERS" TODAY
Posted by Janet Lehr, July 20, 2005. |
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In a bland announcement today, horrific information (see the following article, 1,000 Long-Range Missiles Threaten Israel) was released by the Israeli Government. The government is releasing this info without giving its citizens a political spin of how we are going to deal with this threat. When did the build up start? Or, how are we influencing world opinion? Syria, Egypt, Iran, Saudia Arabia and Hizbullah [a new country by this account] possess long range missiles which can reach all corners of Israel. Any of one of these countries can simply say that it didn't realize that there was a terrorist amidst its military staff as they let fly with a dozen missiles. Its government spokesman can express its regrets, it is so sorry for the thousands of people killed, so that retaliation is really an overreaction. Clearly, Israel's problems are clearly far greater than whether a sliver of land is sliced off here or there - Or are they? Is that Israel's major problem? Israel has fought its enemies valiantly and successfully since 1947. Israelis were united and their goal was clear. This present divisiveness portends far more than an internal squabble over Gush Katif and land in the North which in square miles is far larger than Gush Katif. It signals a profound weakness in resolve by a large number of Israelis who have allowed their desire for peace at any price to weaken them. For the weak among the current Israeli? Would they recoil from splintering off Hebron too? Or it too, too much to protect? The Golan, is it not useful any longer? But not to digress. The tides of war are at once implacable and shifting. In the history of warfare, the Punic Wars fought between the Carthagineans and the Romans from 264-146 BCE have been studied endlessly. Rome could have been defeated after the Roman army was defeated at Cannae by Hannibal in 216 BCE in the 2d Punic War, but for some unknown reason, Hammibal at the doorstep of Rome itself, did not press his advantage. Should Israel have gone into Cairo and Damascus when they could have? Is Israel no longer in control of its destiny? Can 40,000 or 100,000 sympathizers pushing forward toward Gush Katif, break the back of a government that has lost its direction and no longer can secure Israel? How long will Israel's sworn enemies content themselves with crumbs? What is Gush Katif to them? Are we not allowing these collected enemies to grow strong in military build up and mental courage? The voice of the people, the throngs of protestors need to win now, need to displace the government, so that Israel can regain its dominance and self confidence. The plan that was unilateral disengagement balanced by surcease of terrorism has failed, because there is no surcease of terrorism. Clearly Abbas has not gained control of terrorist forces among the palestineans. This is the moment for the government of Israel to recognize that it is moving forward towards an abyss. It is the moment to recognize the voice of the people on whom it relies to defend the entire nation, has spoken. To divide the nation in half now would be to capitulate to its enemies. Who will fight for Israel tomorrow, if not those called "settlers" today. 1,000 Long-Range Missiles Threaten Israel
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=86174 (IsraelNN.com) In a rare move on Tuesday, the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee revealed the missile threat facing Israel? 1,000 long range missiles capable of reaching all points of Israel delivering 500 tons of military grade warheads simultaneously. Uzi Rubin, a former Defense Ministry official and missile expert explains that this is equivalent of an attack involving 120 fighter planes at one time. The breakdown of missiles as follows:
SYRIA
HIZBULLAH
EGYPT
SAUDI ARABIA
Janet Lehr is editor/publisher of a daily e-mail called "Israel Lives." She can be contacted at janetlehr@mindstring.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
PHOTO DIARY PART III: 20,000 TROOPS KEEP ANTI-DISENGAGEMENT MARCHERS IN KFAR MAIMON
Posted by Marlene Young, July 20, 2005. |
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Wednesday, July 20, 2005 at Kfar Maimon. Kfar Maimon. Israeli police encircled an encampment of thousands of Gaza pullout opponents Tuesday, pushing back a surging crowd trying to march to the nearby Gaza Strip in a show of support for Jewish settlements marked for demolition next month. THESE ISRAELI JEWISH KIDS WILL GROW UP WITH THE MEMORY THAT EXTREME LEFTIST SOCIALISTS WRESTED CONTROL OF THE GOVERMENT, IN COLLABORATION WITH UNELECTED PARTIES AND THE EU, FIRED MEMBERS OF KNESSET WHO OPPOSED THEM, AND, USING UNDEMOCRATIC TACTICS, FORCED A PLATFORM REJECTED BY THE VOTERS IN THE LAST ELECTION. THEY ABUSED THE IDF BY USING IT AS THEIR PERSONAL POLITICAL TOOL, AND SENT 20,000 TROOPS AND IDF SOLDIERS AGAINST JEWISH ISRAELI CITIZENS - MEN WOMEN AND CHILDREN - EVEN AS PM SHARON COLLABORATED WITH ABBAS TO AGREE TO KEEP TENS OF THOUSANDS OF HAMAS, ISLAMIC JIHAD AND FATAH TERRORISTS ARMED AND READY TO MURDER AND MAIM MORE ISRAELI CITIZENS TO GET EVER MORE CONCESSIONS AFTER JEWISH-OWNED HOMES AND FARMS ARE GIVEN TO THE ARAB TERRORISTS. SHARON, PERES, MOFAZ AND MAZUZ HAVE NEVER SENT 20,000 TROOPS TO ACT AGAINST THE PA TERRORISTS TO GUARANTEE THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF THEIR CITIZENS. CAN THEIR NEED FOR POWER BE SO STRONG THAT IT ALLOWS THEM TO MISUSE THE ARMY AGAINST THEIR OWN CITIZENS TO FULFILL THEIR CORRUPT AIMS AND THOSE OF FOREIGN LEADERS?
SETTLERS AND SOLDIERS PRAYING TOGETHER
YOUNG BOYS AND MOFAZ'S PARAMILITARY SQUADS: DAVID AND GOLIATH
20,000 TROOPS SENT TO ACT AGAINST NON-VIOLENT JEWISH CITIZENS. WHY?
Contact Marlene Young by email at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
PHOTO DIARY PART II: ANTI-DISENGAGEMENT MARCHERS IN KFAR MAIMON
Posted by Marlene Young, July 20, 2005. |
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After the rally in Netivot Monday, on Tuesday morning July 19, the Jews marched against opposition to Kfar Maimon, where they would spend the night - against they were harassed by the police, although the march had been declared legal. And then undeclared legal. They didn't disperse when ordered. The security forces then penned them inside a barbed wire fence in Kfar Maimon so that they couldn't leave from Kfar Maimon, which is 9 miles from Gush Katif, where the marchers were heading. PHOTO DIARY PART II: JEWISH CITIZENS CHAINED IN KFAR MAIMON SHARON, MOFAZ AND MAZUZ CAN CARRY OUT THEIR WILL USING BRUTE FORCE TO TRAMPLE THE RIGHTS OF ISRAELI CITIZENS. BUT THESE JEWISH KIDS, THESE BEAUTIFUL, EDUCATED, LOYAL, LAW-ABIDING JEWISH KIDS, ARE THE FUTURE OF ISRAEL THAT SHARON IS ABUSING. SHARON IS USING 15,000 TROOPS AND POLICE AGAINST JEWISH CITIZENS. BUT HE IS LEAVING HAMAS, FATAH, ISLAMIC JIHAD - ISRAEL'S SWORN ENEMIES - INTACT IN COALITION WITH ABBAS. AND EGYPT TO 'SUPERVISE' THEM. WHY? PENNED IN. FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT CURTAILED. CIVIL RIGHTS INFRINGED.
HOW MANY POLICEMEN DOES IT TAKE TO BEAT AN UNARMED JEW?
POLICE JOIN MARCHERS IN PRAYER
FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT VIOLATED: JEWISH ISRAELI CITIZENS UNLAWFULLY BEHIND BARBED WIRE
DANCING BEHIND THE BARBED WIRE
Dancing behind barbed wire fence Tuesday evening
Contact Marlene Young by email at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
PHOTO DIARY PART I: ANTI-DISENGAGEMENT RALLY IN NETIVOT
Posted by Marlene Young, July 20, 2005. |
Gail Winston (gwinston@interaccess.com) wrote of these pictures (which
are presented in 3 blog items):
Dear Friends, You must see these unbelievable pictures even if they make you cry! How can Jews treat Jews this way? You know who is ordering this. You know the Israeli Government is not democratic or very Jewish now. But, look at the faith of the people. Against all odds & obstacles, buses stopped, cars stopped, 90 degree + heat, every dirty trick by the orders of the government to the Israeli police & special army forces called 'yatam' who you see brutalizing their own brothers. Children pressed up against barbed wire! Who would have believed it. I hope these pictures come through. If they don't, at least you can download the urls that are listed. Some of the pictures include a story caption by a news agency - cold & clinical but, at least you can see the pictures of the facts on the ground today. Supporters of Israel's anti-disengagement movement assembled at a rally, Monday, July 18, 2005, in the southern Israeli town of Netivot, where they will start a three-day march to Gaza, 25 kilometers (15 miles) away. ARIEL SHARON, PERES, MOFAZ, MAZUZ AND KARADI HAVE VIOLATED THE RIGHT TO PROTEST THE DISENGAGEMENT PLAN - BUT THEY DID NOT SUCCEED. THOUSANDS OF JEWS REACHED NETIVOT IN THE NEGEV! IN THE NAME OF HEAVEN, FOR THE SAKE OF HEAVEN, OUR HOLYLAND, OUR JEWISH HERITAGE, AND OUR DEMOCRATIC AND HUMAN RIGHTS, WE WILL STRIVE TO OVERCOME.
MOFAZ ORDERS SOLDIERS TO BEAT PROTESTORS. MOFAZ USES SQUADS OF HIS OWN SPECIALLY TRAINED LEFT-WING MILITIAS:
MORE BEATINGS OF JEWS BY MOFAZ SPECIAL PARAMILITARY UNITS:
POLICE AND IDF STOP BUSES OF JEWS AND REVOKE LICENSES OF BUSDRIVERS. JEWS KICKED OFF BUSES WALK TO NETIVOT
-------------------------------------------------------STUDYING TORAH AND PRAYING ON THE FRONT LINES:
-----------------------------------JEWS CAMP OUT ON FRONT LINES
NON-VIOLENT JEWISH PROTESTORS BLOCKED FROM MARCHING:
>MOFAZ SENDS THOUSANDS OF TROOPS TO STOP JEWISH PROTESTORS
Contact Marlene Young by email at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
ANALYSIS OF KFAR MAIMON STANDOFF
Posted by Ken Heller, July 20, 2005. |
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Standoff
Conflicting Predictions & Accounts on Future of March in Kfar Maimon This is Shlomo Wollins reporting live from Gush Katif on July 21, 00:30 Israel Time. A correspondent of IsraelReporter.com has just forwarded an account of the situation at Kfar Maimon. There remain 30,000-40,000 protestors in a complete standoff with the police & army units. What has become clear and certain from all acccounts, the Israeli army and police are "exhausted, demoralized, confused and lacking motivation." In fact, we have received numerous first-hand and 100%-accurate accounts of soldiers allowing Israeli citizens (without Gush Katif proof of residence and/or press badges) to enter Gush Katif at great personal risk. It is entirely clear that the majority of the army soldiers are viewing the "disengagement" as a nightmarish and entirely undesirable mission. Our correspondent in the field reports the following at approximately midnight: (1) there remains a mass of protestors numbered between 35,000 and 45,000; (2) the soldiers and police are exhausted, with about 4 lying down/sleeping for every 1 standing; (3) there is an organizational gap on the protestors' side, with some leaving for lack of direction; (4) the chances of success in "breaking through" to march to Gush Katif is near 100%; however (5) there has not been as yet any direction to do so. Another account from a reliable media source indicates that the opposition have culled from the masses, approximately 5,000-10,000 men between the age of 15-30 who are prepared to "move forward" and break through to the roads to Kissifum Crossing that lead to Gush Katif. In addition, this media source indicated that 8,000 additional protestors have been "allowed" to join the protestors at Kfar Maimon. Most significantly and in confirmation with our correspondent's understanding, this media source indicates that even the police are reaching the point of total exhaustion and complete demoralization, resulting in the government's decision to transport thousands of police out of Kfar Maimon, without replacement. The media source indicates that the police presence has thinned from 20,000 to about 10,000. Sensing potential victory, the protestors have organized for a push through security forces later this evening (or tomorrow) which will be unstoppable. It is the opinion of IsraelReporter.com that the night will pass without an attempt to break through the security forces. It is clear that both time and motivation are the monopoly of the opposition, and therefore, why create a violent confrontation when it will be possible to "walk forward" within 24-48 hours. We are in agreement with the account from Debka.com as follows: DEBKAfile: Anti-pullback strategists seek attrition not clash with police-military forces at Kfar Maimon July 20, 2005, 9:33 PM (GMT+02:00) Despite the high drama of an imminent confrontation, DEBKAfile's sources in the protest movement report that there are no plans to break through the Kfar Maimon exits Wednesday night, July 20, or risk a clash with the police and the military that could touch off a stampede among the tens of thousands of men, women and children in the encampment. Tens of thousands of anti-evacuation demonstrators are standing eyeball to eyeball at the gates of Kfar Maimon facing 20,000 police and troops in a solid phalanx. The demonstration's leaders insist they will march on Gush Katif and the police is equally determined to stop the unauthorized protest. The suspense built up for three days of an imminent collision between the orange mass and the men in blue and khaki is part of a war of attrition the anti-evacuation movement is waging against government forces. New crises will be manufactured every day to wear the troops down in the less than a month remaining until 21 communities are withdrawn from the Gaza Strip. Although so far the demonstration has obeyed the rules of non-violence, the suspense among the caged mass of people in -burning heat is such that an unforeseen spark could set things off. Ken Heller is a pro-Israel activist and a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of Americans For A Safe Israel. He can be reached at kjhnha@aol.com. |
| GUSH KATIF |
ABSOLUTE MADNESS TAKES HOLD OF ISRAELI GOVERNMENT
Posted by Janet Lehr, July 20, 2005. |
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The IDF is not going to use its orange reflective vests, but is instead going to spend money for new ones and not wear anything until the new ones arrive. So the soldiers will be forced to be without reflective vests for the time being so as not to wear something orange. Squad commander trainees on a mission in Tulkarm resulting from intelligence information are transferred from this important mission for the purpose of stopping the anti-disengagement march. People wearing yarmulkas forced off a bus. Unprecedented numbers of security forces are being used to block the anti-disengagement march to the point that southern district police stations are reportedly nearly empty of personnel. Shimon Peres talks about selling the Gush Katif hothouses to the US - This is a priceless pronouncement - not to be missed. It is somewhere near the end of the list. And more - read on. I did not invent these, they are straight from Arutz Sheva - www.IsraelNN.com - Israel National News. Israel National News Item > IDF Changing Military Police Vests - Because of the Orange 08:05 Jul 20, '05 / 13 Tammuz 5765 (IsraelNN.com) The Office of the IDF Spokesperson has confirmed reports that new reflective vests have been ordered for IDF military police to replace the orange reflective vests worn today. The several hundred military police brought to Kfar Maimon and Gaza areas were instructed not to use their orange reflective vests, the color that identifies with the Gush Katif solidarity movement. The army has ordered yellow reflective vests but until they arrive, the soldiers will do without rather than risk being identified as pro-Gush Katif. The question now remains is what will become of the berets worn by IDF Homefront Command soldiers? Their units color is orange. ========================= Israel National News Item >Squad Commander Trainees Transferred South to Stop the 'Anti-Disengagement March' 21:51 Jul 20, '05 / 13 Tammuz 5765 (IsraelNN.com) Cadets in a squad commander course who were in the middle of military operations in Tul Karm based on intelligental warnings were abruptly transferred to the south on Wednesday. They are now near Kibbutz Alumim in order to aid the forces already in the area in their decision to stop the marchers who are besieged in Kfar Maimon now. A large number of soldiers, many of them religious, have turned to their commander and requested not to take part in the action. ============================== Israel National News Item > Civil Administration Offices Forbid Entry to Cars With Orange Strips 12:45 Jul 20, '05 / 13 Tammuz 5765 (IsraelNN.com) As of this morning, the Judea, Samaria and Gaza Civil Administration offices in Beit El are not allowing vehicles flying orange pro-Gush Katif strips to park in the building's lot. The guard at the entrance to the lot and building is removing all orange strips on cars belonging to those seeking to go to the Civil Administration offices. The Civil Administration is meant to serve the civilian needs of all the residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. ========================= Israel National News Item > Female Soldiers Sentenced to 21 Days for Refusal 06:06 Jul 20, '05 / 13 Tammuz 5765 (IsraelNN.com) Two female soldiers, residents of Kedumim and Alon Shvut, were sentenced to 21 days in prison for refusing to board a bus heading to Gaza for disengagement duty. The two, educational soldiers, told their superior officers they enlisted to assist soldiers in preparing for matriculation exams and not to take part in the disengagement. They were brought before a field disciplinary hearing and sentenced to jail by Chief Education Officer Brigadier-General Ilan Harari. Another case of refusal was reported in the IDF's Personnel Branch. A soldier refused to even take part in the psychological preparation for the disengagement. He is scheduled to be brought before a lt.-colonel for a field disciplinary hearing. ========================== Israel National News Item > Orthodox IBA Employee Detained by Police 08:04 Jul 20, '05 / 13 Tammuz 5765 (IsraelNN.com) An Israel Broadcasting Authority crew traveling towards Kfar Maimon to cover the events surrounding the March to Gaza was stopped en route by police for a routine inspection. One crew member, an Orthodox male wearing a kippa (yarmulke) was instructed to step out of the vehicle. He was questioned as to the purpose of his presence, responding he is a member of the film crew. He displayed his Government Press Office press credentials, but police continued to suspect his motives for traveling to Kfar Maimon. Only following the intervention of co-workers, who explained he is a member of their regular crew, was he permitted to return to the vehicle and continue towards Kfar Maimon. ======================= Israel National News Item > Orthodox Jews Removed from Public Bus by Police 08:44 Jul 20, '05 / 13 Tammuz 5765 (IsraelNN.com) Police on Monday removed a number of residents of Maale Adumim from a bus traveling to the capital. The riders were on their way to work. Police boarded the bus for an inspection and instructed persons wearing kippot (yarmulkes) to step off the vehicle, preventing them from continuing on their way to the capital. They told police they were on their way to work, but police acting under orders, feared they were making their way to Gaza. They were taken off the bus while police instructed the driver to continue without them. Police did not accept their explanation that they were traveling. =============================== Israel National News Item >Unprecedented Numbers of Security Forces to Block Civilian March to Gush Katif 19:01 Jul 20, '05 / 13 Tammuz 5765 (IsraelNN.com) Approximately twenty thousand policemen and soldiers are stationed around Kfar Maimon in order to block the civilian anti-disengagement protest march. This is an unprecedented number of joint forces against civilians in Israel. In most of the police stations in the southern district, there are few policemen now since they have all been sent to Kfar Maimon. New forces are on the way to replace those there now in order to allow them to rest before continuing their struggle with the marchers. Spokesmen from the Yesha Council including the head of the council, Bentzy Lieberman, insist that the march is to be nonviolent with no clashes with the police. However, some Border Policemen have revealed that they were instructed to use their clubs freely. The huge number of policemen and soldiers on the scene is unprecedented in Israeli history. Southern district police stations are reportedly nearly empty of personnel. ================================ Israel National News Item >Barbed Wire around Kfar Maimon 16:51 Jul 20, '05 / 13 Tammuz 5765 (IsraelNN.com) IDF soldiers have been surrounding Kfar Maimon with barbed wire during the last few hours (Wednesday afternoon). The goal is to prevent additional anti-Disengagement demonstrators from reaching the village and joining the march towards the Kisufim Checkpoint which is scheduled to begin later this afternoon. Earlier this morning, the Yesha Council called for as many demonstrators as possible to try to reach Kfar Maimon. On Tuesday, 40,000 people were locked up in the village by the police. Many thousands more were stopped en route by the police and forced to get off the buses they were traveling on. ============================== Israel National News Item >The police are trying to prevent entrance of anything and anyone into the village. Prison Service Busy Preparing New Cells 17:50 Jul 20, '05 / 13 Tammuz 5765 (IsraelNN.com) The Prison Service is preparing 900 new cells in anticipation of the wave of arrests that are likely to occur during the expulsion from Gush Katif and the Shomron communities. The head of the Prison Service, Lt. General Yaakov Ganot, said that if there is a need for even more places, then 900 security prisoners will be moved into army prisons. In addition, while the Jewish residents of Gush Katif are being expelled from their homes, the Immigration Police will not be dealing with illegal residents in Israel. So the places that are normally occupied by them while waiting for expulsion from Israel will be free to use to home anti-Disengagement prisoners, too. ================================ Israel National News Item > Imposters Sending Gush Katif Supporters Away 11:35 Jul 20, '05 / 13 Tammuz 5765 (IsraelNN.com) The Judea, Samaria and Gaza Council has been given information indicating that imposters pretending to be representatives of the Council are directing Gush Katif supporters making their way to Kfar Maimon to return home. The imposters are apparently taking up positions at the main intersections on the way to Kfar Maimon, where the anti-Disengagement protest marchers have spent the last day, and are identifying themselves as Judea, Samaria and Gaza Council representatives, telling people on the way to the southern village to stay away. Judea, Samaria and Gaza Council representatives in Kfar Maimon said, "It is clear that they are imposters attempting to mislead the public." The Council leaders repeated their call for more supporters to arrive in Kfar Maimon for the planned continuation of the march to Gaza. ============================== Israel National News Item > Peres: Gush Katif Hothouses to be Sold to US 15:55 Jul 20, '05 / 13 Tammuz 5765 (IsraelNN.com) According to statements by Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, the United States has agreed to pay four million dollars for Israeli hothouses in Gush Katif, with the hothouses then turned over to the Palestinian Authority. An agreement to that effect has been signed between representatives of the US and lawyers for certain Gush Katif farmers. The total value of area hothouses is placed at $15 million, but officials believe not all Gush Katif farmers will be interested in taking part in the current deal. Minister Peres also said that the US has agreed to help the Arab farmers who would take over the hothouses to sell their produce internationally. Yonatan Bassi, head of the Disengagement Authority, said that trade agreements and regulations will protect Israeli produce even after the Arab farmers take over the Israeli hothouses. Last month, it was reported that Holland was willing to purchase the hothouses in the same manner on behalf of the PA. Proponents of the plan explained at the time that this would provide compensation for the farmers as well as a positive step for the PA, adding everyone emerges a winner. ========================== Israel National News Item > Peres: Security Forces Are Defending Democracy 10:59 Jul 20, '05 / 13 Tammuz 5765 (IsraelNN.com) Vice Premier (Labor) Shimon Peres told members of the Ministerial Disengagement Committee Wednesday morning that "security forces are defending our democratic values". Mr. Peres added, "The settlers are attempting to lead us to anarchy and as such, they are endangering the laws and legal structure on which the State of Israel relies." Peres called "on the entire nation to condemn the path they have chosen, those who benefited from IDF protection, who must now surrender and retreat to their homes." ===================================== Israel National News Item > Labor Minister Quote of the Day: By Hillel Fendel "... To dismantle?! To go backwards?! Who can take responsibility for such a thing?!" - Interior Minister Ophir Pines of Labor in the Knesset today (Wednesday, July 20, 2005) Pines was not referring to the dismantling of the Jewish communities in Gaza or in the northern Shomron, but rather to the unification of four Arab villages into one municipality. Pines, who assumed the post of Interior Minister almost two years after the unification was implemented, said he would not have united the towns in the first place. But, he said, he would certainly not dismantle the union or "go backwards" now that it is an established fact. "I think we must go forward," he said. ================================= Israel National News Item > MK Ariel: The Decision to Remove Ambulances is Black Flag Ruling 19:43 Jul 20, '05 / 13 Tammuz 5765 (IsraelNN.com) In reaction to the Major General Dan Harel, Commander of the Southern Region's decision to remove all the ambulances from Kfar Maimon, MK Uri Ariel from the National Union Party called to the Minister of Health, Danny Neve, and to Dan Halutz, Chief of Staff, to immediately stop Maj.Gen. Harel and the way he is conducting himself. "The Commander of the Southern Region has no authority to make such rulings. This is an illegal instruction which has a black flag attached to it. He is making human life worthless. It's clear that Sharon is pulling the strings from behind and turning the commander into the bad man." Maj. Gen. Harel notified Magen David Adom that they should remove the ambulances from the area because it isn't clear who is to pay for their services. Any medical aid needed can be supplied by the army and police in the area. =============== News Item > Gush Katif: Life Continues in Upbeat Manner By Hillel Fendel Less than four weeks before the scheduled date of the expulsion from Gush Katif, the atmosphere there is tense but anticipatory. Hundreds of new residents have moved in over the past two weeks. Army sources estimated earlier this week that 1,000 people had moved in to Gush Katif over the previous two weeks. The new residents are living in tent sites, people's homes, and in public buildings. One woman who has moved in to a home in Netzer Hazani with her three children told Arutz-7, "The owners simply moved their children into one room, and we are living in another room. A third family, two parents and a child, have moved into a third bedroom - and we all get along fine. We chip in for expenses such as food and the like. Our hostess spends her time looking for equipment that can be used for the new families, and then, when enough equipment has been emptied out of a storeroom, she suggests that a family be moved in the now-empty place..." In the beachfront community of Shirat HaYam (Song of the Sea), construction has stopped - but not for lack of demand. "We are now 25 families," says spokesperson Chana Pekar, "and all the new [11-square-meter] wood-frame structures that we just built are full. We can't build any more at present, simply because we would need a new kitchen-and-bathrooms facility, which we don't have. But I can tell you that we have a new atmosphere here in the community - because all the new young families have come with children of all ages, and there are day camps, and youths helping out everywhere, and a real community-type feeling. Just a year ago, we had to worry about having ten men for a prayer quorum - and now, the synagogue is exploding at the seams." Pekar said that the siege in Kfar Maimon is "the government's attempt to break us first there, and then here. But we won't break neither here nor there. Buses will be leaving from Gush Katif for Kfar Maimon later this afternoon, and I'll be on one of them - and I won't show my identity card neither going nor coming." Q. "What, have they started asking for ID cards on the way out as well?" A. "Yes, and they're even registering every car and person who leaves. I suppose it's just another way of trying to break us and humiliate us. But they won't succeed." Rocket bombardments continue as well. Palestinian terrorists in Gaza fired four shells at Gush Katif residents last night, hurting no one and causing no damage. Arabs also fired at an army outpost in N'vei Dekalim, with no effect. Once they leave the "safety" of their own homes, the Gush Katif residents continue to be persecuted on their way out as well. Yesterday, a busload of Kfar Darom children returning from a day trip was detained at the Kisufim Crossing for two hours - and their driver was placed under house arrest for five days. The story began when a policewoman boarded the bus and demanded that the children identify themselves in order that they be permitted to enter. The policewoman then began an argument with the driver, after which she reported to her supervisor that he had "insulted" her. The police ordered the driver off the bus. He later reported that though many of the policemen knew him well, and had drunk many cups of coffee in his home when he served as security officer of Kfar Darom, "all of a sudden, no one knew me any more." While the children waited in the hot sun - a correspondent on the scene helped one of the children with a drink and his air-conditioned vehicle - the questioning dragged on for two hours. The driver was finally released with an order confining him to his home for five days. ============= News Item > Veteran Expulsion Prisoner Released, Another is in for 3 Months By Hillel Fendel A grandfather has been freed after 64 days in prison, while a rabbi has been sentenced to three months in jail. Eliyahu Herbst - father of six and grandfather of two - has been freed from prison, after spending over nine weeks in prison on charges of an anti-disengagement road-blocking. He was ordered released on Tuesday after a judge ruled that no evidence was found that he violated the law. Herbst could have been released earlier with various restrictions such as a ban on attending demonstrations. He refused to accept such limitations, however, claiming that he must not be punished for exercising his moral right to protest democratically. Though he served as "elder statesman" of the many youths arrested for road-blocking, he suffered greatly during his incarceration. On the way to his Supreme Court hearing earlier this month, a policeman brutally pulled Herbst out of the car by his handcuffs, causing him to fall on the ground, and he was then dragged on the ground by his handcuffs until he was thrown into another car. He was then placed in solitary confinement without his belongings or a change of clothes, suffering humiliation in the process. Yesterday, the Supreme Court ordered him released without bail and without restrictions. Another case has not ended as happily, however. Rabbi Rachamim Nissimi of Nof Ayalon was sentenced yesterday to three months in prison for his role in blocking a highway near Modiin in the framework of the anti-expulsion protests. MK Aryeh Eldad called the verdict "the burial of Israel 's democracy." Rabbi Nissimi was arrested three weeks ago and was charged with attacking a policeman, illegal assembly and resisting arrest. In a precedent-setting decision, he was sentenced to three months in prison, as well as six additional months of probation. His daughter Yael told Arutz-7 today, "My father did nothing to justify such a punishment. He arrived at the Shilat Junction merely to give out orange ribbons. Some people there wanted to block the road, but they didn't succeed, because of all the policemen there - and he certainly didn't block the road. Suddenly, some policemen jumped on him without warning and with terrible brutality; we have pictures showing this. The only proof that they have that he attacked a policeman is some policemen who simply framed him; there's no other word." Yael said that the family soon realized that there was no choice but to agree to a plea-bargain, in light of the government's strong stand: "Sharon wants to carry out the disengagement with as few as possible opponents, and we realized that the prosecution would never agree to relax the charges... They were very tough; at first they wanted seven months in prison, but finally they agreed to three months... He was in the Disengagement Wing of Massiyahu Prison, which he said was very positive, but now he will be in the Criminal Wing..." Honenu, the civil rights organization providing legal aid to those arrested in connection with anti-expulsion activities, estimates that there are currently several dozen youths still in prison in this connection. Janet Lehr is editor/publisher of a daily e-mail called "Israel Lives." She can be contacted at janetlehr@mindstring.com |
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IT ONLY TAKES A MINUTE
Posted by Angela Bertz, July 20, 2005. |
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There are many ways a minute can change your life, especially if you live in Israel. A minute can be all it takes for you to decide to take your family into a certain restaurant. A minute can be all it takes for you to make your way, from the front, to the back of the bus. That minute can save your life, or it can make the difference between life and death. If you made the right decision it will only take a minute to call someone on a cell phone, to tell them not to worry and that you decided not to go to that restaurant after all. It will probably only takes a minute to explain to a loved one that you are being treated for shock, but thankfully you had already made your way to the back of the bus and the explosion was in the front. If you were not so lucky the next minute of your life could depend on others. It may only take a minute for a paramedic to decide if he can save your life or not. It may only take a minute for a doctor in the trauma unit to decide, that only an immediate operation can save your life. It will probably take a hospital admissions clerk less than a minute to check if your name appears on the list of injured. Your family will have anxious minutes waiting to hear how the operation went. That first minute they see you after surgery, attached to tubes and machinery could be a shock for them. In the worse case scenario, it may seem like the longest minute of a loved ones life waiting for the person in front of them at the forensic lab to tell them the results of the DNA. It will not have taken a homicide bomber on that bus or restaurant as long as a minute to detonate his explosive belt. He will probably have left a farewell video message to his family, lasting about a minute and telling them to be proud of him. It won't take Islamic Jihad, Hamas, or whoever organized the bomber anywhere near a minute to claim the attack as "Heroic." In the old days it used to take Yasser Arafat less than a minute to race between his front and back door. At the front he would appear grim faced before the world's press condemning the atrocity in English, only to race out the back to scream "Jihad" in Arabic. These days it takes Abu Mazen barely a minute to straighten his designer tie, before appearing in front of the worlds press, telling them the latest attack doesn't serve any purpose. He will then spend the next minute expounding on his unconditional demands for Palestinian statehood to include the "Right of Return" Jerusalem as his capital and the release of all Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli jails. He may grab an extra minute to throw in how unreasonable Israel seems to be towards his requests. It won't take much more than a minute to read and understand the newspaper headlines, which as usual will be blatantly biased towards Israel, bending over backwards to avoid calling the bomber or the attack terrorism. On July 7th 2005, four terrorists took less than a minute to detonate four bombs on three London Underground stations and one London Bus. You would have needed more minutes than are in a day to read how many times these attacks were referred to as terrorist attacks in the entire world's media. It took considerably less than a minute for Tony Blair and the G8 to announce they were pledging another three billion dollars to the Palestinians. That Den of iniquity the United Nations has used plenty of minutes in the past. A minute is usually all it takes Arab lackey, Kofi Annan to go through the motions of condemning the latest Palestinian attack. His next minute is usually spent calling for both sides to end the cycle of violence. It doesn't take many more minutes for the Security Council to call a special meeting, not to pass a resolution against the perpetrators but to condemn Israel 's response to the attack. They will call it an affront to the sanctity and dignity of the poor plighted Palestinians and how dare Israel search them at checkpoints, or build a wall. It will not take Israel 's ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman as long as a minute to get up from his chair so he can give Israel 's side of the conflict. In that minute many of the delegates will have left the room. These same delegates will barely need a second, let alone a minute to make their mind up which way to vote. Thankfully the United States are usually prepared to spend a fruitful minute in the council chamber exercising their right to veto the latest ridiculous resolution. On July the 7th 2005 as the horror of the first London bombings unfolded the Security Council of the United Nations condemned the attacks as "Barbaric." They went on to relay their deepest sympathy to the families and to the people and government of Great Britain. You could not have faulted them on their response to the attacks. They then voted unanimously on adopting Resolution 1611 (2005). This resolution confirmed the United Nations obligations under Resolution 1373 (2001) to cooperate actively in efforts to find and bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of these barbaric acts. Resolution 1611 (2005) went on to add that it "Condemns without reservation the terrorist attacks in London on 7 July 2005, and regards any act of terrorism as a threat to peace and security;" The meeting began at 12:50 p.m. and was adjourned at 12:51 p.m. It had taken them exactly a minute. Or exactly as long as it would have taken the United Nations, had they even an ounce of moral integrity to have passed just one resolution against the Palestinians for over 100 identical attacks against Israel. Angela Bertz, originally from England, made aliya in the 1980s. She has a background in Human Resources. |
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WILL NO MUSLIM INANITY BE CHALLENGED?; AL-QAEDA IN GAZA; BLAIR EXPLAINS LONDON BOMBING; SEC RICE'S HYPOCRICY
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, July 20, 2005. |
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WILL NO INANITY BE CHALLENGED? Muslims advise the West, against which they broadcast the most ridiculous bigotry and wage jihad, that theirs is a religion of tolerance. Inane. Mainstream, Western journalists and governments rarely challenge the claim. Mainstream may be respected, but it is not respectable. Here are other inanities. PM Sharon proposes to withdraw from territory that his intelligence staff advises would leave terrorists free to bombard Israel, but he continues to promote the withdrawal plan as enhancing Israel's security. The US proposes establishing an Arab state in the Territories, although those Arabs are both anti-American and terrorist, and are likely to use the new state against the US. Mainstream Western journalists and officials favor the plan and do not point out its flaws, although some suggest withholding statehood until terrorism were destroyed. Are those who suggest caution anticipating, as a safety net, that the P.A. never would destroy terrorism? Trouble is, the State Dept. is capable of certifying falsely that terrorism has ended. Inanity rules, unchallenged by the media. HOW TO WAGE WAR & CALL IT "CEASEFIRE" Islamic Jihad claims it pauses from its ceasefire only to retaliate against Israeli aggression. Actually, rather than honor the ceasefire initiated by the Arabs, Islamic Jihad keeps mounting attacks. In reaction to them, the IDF tracks down the Islamic Jihad cells and captures them. Then other cells attack Israelis, any Israelis, including civilians, claiming that is retaliation. It is like the Mafia attacking people at random, after police arrest some members of the Mafia. These Mafia attacks are not legitimate. Neither is what Islamic Jihad calls retaliation. The IDF has a duty to arrest cells that committed or planned attacks. Nor should retaliation ever be against civilians, who had nothing to do with the arrests. "MOVEMENT" At last there is "movement" in the Arab-Israel conflict, one hears. It is an inane statement. Movement can be forward or backward. Movement towards negotiations is particularly dangerous. Negotiations between deceitful fanatics and their naïve victims are more likely to give an advantage to the fanatical side in its next military confrontation than to bring peace. In view of the pressure being put on Israel to make concessions to the Arab aggressors, movement is counter-productive. The kind of movement that would be worthwhile is for Israel to defeat its enemies. For that to happen, Israel would have to come to its senses and overthrow its Quisling government. THE DAMAGE OF WAR A woman told me that we cannot expect countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq to join our side after we wreck them. I replied that we are spending considerable funds rebuilding those countries that in the case of Afghanistan was largely ruined by many years of civil war and in the case of Iraq was run down by Saddam's neglect. The US bombed just enemy military positions and spared the cities. That is unlike WWII, when both sides bombed cities. The woman's statement is reminiscent of Lebanon after the Israeli war there. Journalists passed through and lamented the devastation, which they blamed on Israel. They claimed that Israel had over-reacted. Actually, most of the cities were intact, and most of the damage in them came from years of civil war. Israel was sparing of them. In the battle of Jenin, journalists blamed Israel likewise, but the area of damage was limited to a small percentage of the city, the part where the actual battle was fought, and much of it was set off or set up by terrorist explosives. We don't learn, do we! A-BOMB SCENARIO FOR ISRAEL The IDF simulated an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel. It concluded that just two bombs would kill most of the population and would destroy the major infrastructure. Israel and the US are working together to prepare an interception-defense against Iranian missiles (IMRA, 7/7). Iran, Syria, and Hizbullah could fire thousands of missiles, until Israel has no anti-missile missiles left. What then? The State Dept. squandered the time needed to help Iranians overthrow their regime. That leaves, for Israel, pre-emptive war. But that may end human civilization. LONDON HYPOCRISY The British assiduously refer to mass-murderers of Jews as "activists" and "militants," but the mass-murderers of Londoners, the British call "terrorists." With Brit-killers, Europeans express disgust, but with Jew-killers, sympathy. They demand action against Brit-killers, but Israeli concessions for Jew-killers. For Brit-killers, Europeans express no "understanding," but for Jew-killers, Europeans suggest that Israel must be oppressing them. London finds Brit-killing unacceptable, but finds Jew-killing a legitimate protest (Prof. Steven Plaut, 7/8). Prof. Plaut gives more examples of European hypocrisy. He is sarcastic about Londoners, but not all of them have those hypocritical attitudes, and few of them deserve to die for it. But less so do Israelis and more so, do Arabs, who enjoy Western discomfiture. PM BLAIR EXPLAINS THE LONDON ATTACK He blames it on the Arab-Israel conflict (IMRA, 7/8). No explanation. Scapegoating? By 7/10, A.P. admitted that Blair had not mentioned Israel. It had made up a biased quotation (IMRA). G8 VERSION OF SOLUTION "In this context, our common goal remains a final settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the creation of a viable, democratic Palestinian state living in peace, dignity and prosperity side-by-side with a secure, universally recognized Israel." (IMRA, 7/8 from G8 Gleneagles statement.) Somebody should tell the G8 that there already are two Palestinian states, Jordan and Israel, neither very democratic, and that it inaccurately re-labels the conflict from "Arab-Israel" conflict, in order to disguise the nature of the conflict. A better name is jihad against Israel. This indicates that the existence of the P.A. helps perpetuate the conflict. Setting up an Arab state in the Territories, dominated as they are by Islamist terrorists, would not enable Israel to be secure. The P.A. does not recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state. Calling the goal a "secure" and "recognized" Israel is lip service in order to disguise the real purpose, which is appeasement of the Arabs, regardless of how non-viable, bellicose, undignified, and self-impoverishing the Arabs are. (I didn't mention non-democratic, which is not relevant.) EU REQUESTED AS TRADE ARBITRATOR The P.A. and Israel asked EU to arbitrate differences over port, airport, and trade (IMRA, 7/10). The EU has been itching to get involved in thus showing prestige and shoving Israel. The P.A. is wise to enlist a third party known for appeasement of terrorism. Israel is unwise to agree. Israeli decisions are a continuum of foolhardiness. Just as the Arabs have suicide-bombing, Israel has suicidal policy. Israel's Western enemies say it is too harsh on the Arabs, but it is too soft. AL-QAEDA IN GAZA The US envoy to the P.A. admitted formally that the P.A. does not intend to crush terrorism. Nevertheless, some members of Fatah and Hamas disapprove of their organizations' even pretending to accommodate Israel. They switched to Al-Qaeda. They plan to attack both Israelis but also Americans, when and if Israel vacates the Gaza Strip. Should the US continue to encourage Israel to vacate it? US policy, after all, is to eliminate terrorist menaces to Americans (IMRA, 7/7 from David Bedein). Oil companies and antisemitism trump national security. WHAT IS IRAQ UP TO? Iraq has signed a pact for "military cooperation" with Iran. The only specific cited is that Iran would train Iraqi troops. The rationale given is that Iraq wants better relations with its neighbors (IMRA, 7/7). That is one explanation. If true, it still is letting the camel's nose into the tent. At their meeting, Iran opposed the construction of foreign bases in Iraq. It advised, "... the Iraqi government and people should not allow foreign powers to consolidate their presence in the region and thereby reinforce the security of the Zionist regime." (IMRA, 7/8.) Western bases threaten Israel, which the West demands to cede aspects of national security to mutual enemies. THE HYPOCRISY OF SEC. RICE "SECRETARY RICE:...This is a worldwide war against ideals. If that is indeed what has happened, if that is indeed who's behind this, we just have to remember there's no separate peace to be made with terrorists [IMRA: except Palestinian terrorists - they can be put on the payroll of the security forces]. "The terrorists are after our way of life and we have to defeat them [IMRA: Except Palestinian terrorists - they have to be co-opted into the parliament]. "There is no other way to deal with them than through strength [IMRA: Except Palestinian terrorists: they have to be won over with concessions and operations against them should be restricted out of concern for the 'process']. "...And that means that we're dealing with a region of the world, the Middle East, that is not normal. It's not normal for people to strap suicide belts on themselves and kill other innocent people [IMRA: though in polls a substantial part of the "normal" Palestinian public may support it]. "... These jihadists have been training for quite a long time. We have to confront them. And the notion that somehow if you just leave them alone, they'll go away, is just not right. We have to confront them. [IMRA: except in the case of Palestinians - the US may not necessarily want the terrorists to take over - but they can run for election and if they win - those are the breaks.]. "...you have to fight this war on the offense [IMRA: and retreat in Gaza]. "That's why you have to take away territory from places like Afghanistan [IMRA: and give it in northern Samaria...] "... But in the longer run, our goal has to be to replace this ideology of hopelessness and hatred in the Middle East with freedom and liberty, which when people are living in freedom and liberty, they don't want to send their children off to be suicide bombers [IMRA: But if the Palestinian leadership praises their "martyr" suicide bombers...] (IMRA, 7/8). IMRA's comments are all well-put and precious. 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. |
| GUSH KATIF |
I PROTEST!
Posted by Laura Ben-David, July 20, 2005. |
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It's All Up To The Kids My sister Amy, brother-in-law Steve and their children from New York are visiting us here in Israel for the month of July. Last week Steve had a chance conversation with a young Israeli soldier. The soldier was holding a bag from a bakery and asked Steve what blessing to recite on his calzone, presumably because Steve looked rabbinical. The kid, which this soldier was not more than, was unsure, and did not want to make the decision for himself. During this brief encounter Steve couldn't help but mull over the fact that this young, 19 or so year-old guy was being faced with quite major decisions that even the most mature among us cannot seem to work out. This young soldier, like all of the soldiers in the Israeli army, may be making a big choice that should never even be a question in an army: whether or not to follow orders. With the army poised to expel 8,000 Jews from their homes, their communities, their lives, there are rabbis on one side telling soldiers to follow orders and do what their told and other rabbis telling them they must not follow orders to kick Jews out of their homes. These 19 year old kids will be forced to make these decisions on their own. It is all in their hands. 
I have no answer for these soldiers. And I don't look particularly rabbinical so I doubt they would ask me. At this point my own feelings are less about whether or not it is right to do the planned expulsion and more about freedom to protest. And, of course, about the terrible outcome that can come from pitting Jew against Jew in this unprecedented difficult and complex event. The Interview I Didn't Have Last night our two families joined the buses of orange-clad protesters from my neighborhood to the planned demonstration and march in protest of the planned disengagement. We sat down on the grass next to one of the many camera crews covering the event. We stood silently for the afternoon prayers recited simultaneously by thousands, while listening with one ear to what the London newswoman next to us was reporting to a live audience. I had been eyeing her crew for a while trying to imagine what I would say if she would interview me, coming up completely blank, and hoping she wouldn't ask. Then I heard her say the following: "These right wing people think they can prevent the disengagement; but Ariel Sharon has overcome very stiff opposition and will move ahead regardless." Suddenly I knew exactly what I would say. This newswoman had already drawn the conclusion that the disengagement was a fait accompli which left us with nothing to discuss. Therefore, I would have told her: "I cannot do an interview with you because we don't see the world in the same way. I believe in one G-d and He is not Ariel Sharon, not the U.N. and certainly not the world media. The G-d I believe in is not limited. But only G-d can determine the final outcome. Not Sharon, not the United Nations and not the slanted media that does everything in its power to report events the way they want them to turn out. No, I cannot answer your questions because you think you already know the answers." Of course this imaginary interview never took place even though I started wanting her to ask me just so I could give her my answer. A Halting March The well-planned event was supposed to begin with the rally and prayer service, and then proceed with a march to the communal village Kfar Maimon, the first station in a series on the way to Kisuffim Junction at the entrance to Gush Katif, to be reached on Wednesday. Though the march was carefully coordinated with all of the proper authorities, at the last minute the police decided that they would say the march is illegal. They then proceeded to halt buses carrying thousands of the demonstrators and not allow them to get to the demonstration. Despite this there were at least 40,000 people and the numbers are expected to swell. Finally, at 8:30 at night the march began. As we were planning on returning the same night we were unable to march with the rest of the protestors because the police had decided to close the neighborhood we were going to (which is not even in Gush Katif). Since the final destination of the evening was unknown they felt it was best if all those leaving that evening stayed behind so as not to get lost. We were quite disappointed, particularly my oldest nephew Yosef and my niece Rachel who were quite energized by the whole event. Familiar, Yet Not My husband Lawrence, who arrived back from the States while we were out, wanted to make his own mark on the protest. As the march is continuing despite the deploying of 20,000 police and soldiers to stop it, he decided to join tonight. Eitan, my 11-year-old, went with him; as did at least three others from our area. In the 45 minutes from his decision to go until his departure I needed to pack up all of the food, water, clothing and other essentials for a campout that could be as little as one hour or as long as days. I was so proud of them for going! If nothing else, there is a tremendous feeling of unity among these tens of thousands of people, joining together to protest for something that we believe in. It's funny that my sister and I had been comparing this three+ day event to Woodstock, with cars coming from everywhere; everyone just marching toward this ultimate destination. Yet that event, so long ago, was a celebration of freedom (perhaps a bit too much freedom?) while this was neither a celebration, nor free. With police and the government trying to stymie the event at every turn, this is an event to recapture the freedom that every democratic country guarantees: the freedom to protest. A Ghetto in Israel Last night the people slept in a field across from Kfar Maimon, having not been allowed to enter. When they woke up this morning they were surrounded by police and army and told that everyone must go into the village or be subjected to the use of force. The people entered the village, and then everyone was locked into the town. LOCKED IN. The only ones who could leave were the ones willing to go north. We watched the horrific scenes on television of OUR police and OUR soldiers locking up OUR citizens! Jewish people who want nothing more than to protest freely and to protest peacefully. The entire itinerary for the three day protest had been arranged and cleared by the police. It was only the last minute that the police changed their mind. We watched the scenes on TV of police dragging and pushing people into the village to lock them up. Tonight we heard that the police are not allowing food or water into the village. There are thousands of people, young and old, whole families, locked into Kfar Maimon without the ability to get more food or water. They are just trying to exercise their right to say that something is very wrong. Yet they are being treated like they are subhuman. The Big Question Where in the world is Amnesty International through all this? Where is B'tzelem? Where are all the human rights groups? Jailed terrorists who aren't treated like royal guests are greeted with an outcry of pr otest by these groups, while Jews being locked into a place without food or water doesn't generate a peep. People don't understand that we HAVE to protest. No one will
protest for us. And if we don't protest we might as well agree to
what we're protesting. In another few weeks the country's future
hinges on the decisions and actions of the 19 year-olds amongst us. I
don't envy their burden. Nor do I judge them. It is only those who
have put them in this situation, and have placed the whole country in
a terrible position, pitting brother against brother, it is they who
I hold accountable.
This article was submitted tuesday, July 19, 2005.
It was written by Laura Ben-David, formerly of Boca Raton, Florida,
now of Neve Daniel, Israel.
Contact Laura Ben-David at laura.bendavid@idtglobal.com
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| GUSH KATIF |
FOUND THE REAL ENEMY
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, July 20, 2005. |
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Once again the thugs of the Junta reveal whom they see at their real enemy. By now there should be no doubt that the ultimate and immediate target of the Junta are religious Jews. The efforts to exterminate the Jewish communities in Yeshah and Jerusalem are intended to reduce the State of Israel to some sort of Municipality of Tel Aviv with no physical connection to the historical lands of the Jewish people. The same is true of the economic "reforms" Netanyahu has introduced. They are systematically attempting to destroy Israel's primarily religious middle class and concentrate all wealth and control of the economy into an already overly privileged ruling elite of fanatic CHILLONIM. It is this deafening silence on the part of our self appointed "leader" and "Rabbis" that makes me deeply suspicious of them. With the exception of the Feiglin group and the black Yeshivas, I have yet to hear or read that this struggle is clearly a last ditch effort of the fanatic secularists, CHILLONIM, to maintain power and destroy the religious community. Any efforts I have made in the past to focus attention in that direction has been rebuffed by calling it SINAT CHINUM, unjustified hatred. This is not true and hides the reality. It is not hatred to point out that people are actively trying to kill you and destroy your nation and religion, even if those people are Jews. It is not hatred to defend yourself against them, even if it reaches the point you have to kill them in defence. It is either stupidity or cynical manipulation of the highest order to confer privileged and "holy" status to the thugs and servants of a Fascist Junta that is working at a frantic pace to destroy you. This is a news item from Arutz-Sheva - www.IsraelNationalNews.com called "Orthodox IBA Employee Detained by Police." It is archived at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=86164 (IsraelNN.com) An Israel Broadcasting Authority crew traveling towards Kfar Maimon to cover the events surrounding the March to Gaza was stopped en route by police for a routine inspection. One crew member, an Orthodox male wearing a kippa (yarmulke) was instructed to step out of the vehicle. He was questioned as to the purpose of his presence, responding he is a member of the film crew. He displayed his Government Press Office press credentials, but police continued to suspect his motives for traveling to Kfar Maimon. Only following the intervention of co-workers, who explained he is a member of their regular crew, was he permitted to return to the vehicle and continue towards Kfar Maimon. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
| GUSH KATIF |
BATTLE OF WILLS OVER GAZA PULL-OUT
Posted by Bryna Berch, July 20, 2005. |
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This is a news article written by Matthew Price from Kfar Maimon and published yesterday. It is archived at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4697507.stm Can you believe, the BBC plays it almost straight. Of course they couldn't resiste equating Jews attempting to exercise their civil rights peaceably and Arabs killing each other as part of a power struggle between the terrorist gangs to see who will get to collect the money the EU and England send the poor "Palestinians." If you want to test the level of quiet determination in the settler community, come to Kfar Maimon. 
Some protesters vowed to break the government seige.
It is hot here; too hot for hanging around outside. But that is what they are doing in their thousands - men, women, children, the elderly, many dressed in the trademark orange which has come to symbolise this protest movement. Stallholders sell the kind of wristbands which have become popular in many countries. These are orange and they are doing a roaring trade here. Kfar Maimon is not a settlement; it is inside the internationally recognised borders of Israel but it is home for now for thousands of settlers - possibly tens of thousands. They are here to voice their opposition to the Israeli government's plan to leave the Gaza Strip. "[Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon is almost a dictator," one man told me. "He's like Stalin or Pinochet. As a religious man, I must say to you that we trust to the last moment that it will be good". But despite such words, you do get the feeling that many here know, unless there is a miracle, the pull-out will go ahead. "We need to at least demonstrate against it even if it will not stop it. We need to demonstrate in a democratic way because we don't want to sit down in 20 or 30 years and think we didn't do anything," one man told me. Fear of violence Nearby a group of young religious men danced and sang in a circle, whirling around and around in the heat. 
That would break the "government siege" of the Gaza settlements, one organiser told me. Since last Thursday, the Israeli authorities have refused to allow non-resident Israelis into Gaza. They are worried that settlers might try to reinforce the 8,000 or so settlers who live there, making it more difficult to remove people when the withdrawal starts in a month's time. The police though banned the march and the protests, saying they feared violence would break out. Gradually throughout the day the protestors quietly and calmly defied the police. Deep divisions Negotiations were held and at midnight thousands marched through the police lines to an overnight encampment. Among them, at the late hour, a large number of children. One father pushed a cart with four sleeping youngsters crashed out on it. The protestors are clearly trying not just to signal their anger over the planned pullout. They also hope that by showing up in large numbers they might encourage more Israelis to join their struggle. This is an issue which is already exposing deep divisions in Israeli society. Many Israelis - even those who support the pullout - are worried about the future. What will happen after we leave Gaza, they ask. Will it make us safer? So one tactic the settlers are using is to try to divide the security forces. When you try to ask the police here how they feel about the situation, they tell you they aren't allowed to talk; neither to the media nor especially the protestors. There is a fear the settlers will try get the police and army to disobey orders. That has already happened in small numbers. If it grows, the Israeli authorities will have a problem on their hands. |
| GUSH KATIF |
A FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF HISTORICAL EVENTS - JULY 19-20.
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, July 20, 2005. |
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The original plan was to hold a rally in Netivot on Tues, the 19th, march and stop at Kfar Maimon for the night and proceed to Gush Katif. The police challenged people arriving by bus and closed areas, doing what they could to reduce the number of people who wanted to participate. They even removed people traveling to work from Maale Adumim to Jerusalem. From a news item in today's Arutz-Sheva: "Police boarded the bus for an inspection and instructed persons wearing kippot (yarmulkes) to step off the vehicle, preventing them from continuing on their way to the capital. They told police they were on their way to work, but police acting under orders, feared they were making their way to Gaza. They were taken off the bus while police instructed the driver to continue without them. Police did not accept their explanation that they were traveling to work and did not refund their fare for the inter-city bus." This is a first hand account of some one who got to Gush Katif, despite the difficulties imposed by the police. It was written July 19, 2005. The author is using a pen name: Moshe Ben Meir HaKohen. On Monday at 11:25 AM, I left Ramat Beit Shemesh by taxi to Shimshon Junction for Autobus 437 from there bound for Ashkelon and ultimately, for Gush Katif. I had missed the 11:30 AM bus and so had to wait for the 1 PM bus. I arrived in Ashkelon at 1:50 PM, still hoping to make the bus 36 at 2 PM for Neve Dekalim. But arriving at Ashkelon, I found that there were tons of soldiers ahead of me awaiting the 2 PM bus. I was unable to board and therefore, I had to wait for the next bus which arrived at 4:30 PM. Enroute to Neve Dekalim, the bus passed three checkpoints, including the Kissufim Checkpoint where soldiers boarded the us to check for IDs, both those of residents and those of guests in order to check them for issurim, lest some Jews evade scrutiny by the authorities upon entry to our biblical, historical Gaza area. Entry into Gush Katif had gone without a hitch. The only problems were not being able to board the 36 bus at 2 PM and then facing an hour and a half in delays caused by government closure before arriving in Neve Dekalim at 6:30 PM. At the Neve Dekalim municipal building, there was a festive, joyous group of teens surrounding someone with a TV video camera and TV screen. The teenaged boys asked me to be Shliach Tzibbor for Mincha, something I have done only rarely. After Mincha, took some pictures of the teens and then headed for the home of my host. At 8:30 PM. I joined a minyan davening Maariv after which I made my own night seder, after which my host gave me dinner while watching the evening news. Then I bedded down for the night, it had been a long day. In the meantime, back at the huge rally, domonstration and march slated yesterday afternoon at Netivot, various media sources are reporting various numbers of participants, ranging from 30,000, to 50,000, to 75,000 people. Seemingly, the numbers were well under the goal set by Moetza Yesha in order to force the issue of access to Gush Katif. Apparently, the desperate dictator and his mafia regime mob saw that tens of thousands, perhaps well over 100,000 people, would participate in the event at Netivot. Therefore, he ordered police throughout the country to stop the buses at their origination points, as passengers were loading on, seizing and confiscating bus operation papers and preventing the buses from leaving for their destinations. Therefore, thousands of participants began to proceed, on foot and by personal transportation to Netivot. In Netivot, as caravans of soldiers drove by, they screamed out to the protestors saying, "We are not going to do it (the hitnagkut)." At the rally, numerous Rabbis spoke (including some who said HaRav Ovadia Yosef and others said it was the son of the Baba Sali) who repeated again and again, "This (the hitnagkut) is not going to happen." At about 6 AM on Tuesday, I heard intermittent spurts of machine gun fire in between early AM chirping birds. At about 6:15 AM, I heard 2 huge boomer, presumably Kassams, which were loud enough to seem to be close by. Then there was another 15 minutes of machine gun fire, seeming to come from all directions. At 7:12 AM, two more Kassams thudded further away followed by more intermittent machine gun fire followed by silence. The time was now 7:30 AM. All the while, and as ever amidst this 2 front war, one against the Arabs and one against an evil, dictatorial government, these beautiful people, the residents of Neve Dekalim and throughout all of Gush Katif carry on with their lives and their daily business spite of an evil government's g'zeira against them and nagging anguish, yet not missing a beat. At 8 AM, I went to daven at the Beit Knesset Mercazi. Then onto the library where I am typing this report. The library, which is supposed to open today at 9 AM, was 35 minutes late in opening and then their internet connection was down for a little over 1 hour. I spent the time typing most of this report. At 10:45 AM, I finally got on to check the news, my bank balances and to write this report. As I sat in the library writing, rumors were awash that the government is planning to expel the residents of the tent city in Shi-rat HaYam where I hope to visit this afternoon. Friends, it is imperative that we show BIG tonight and Wednesday AM at Kissufim. We are in crunch time. This is the LCS, the NFL playoffs, etc. all rolled into one. We need participants, because spectators are of no help. The freedom of movement of Gush Katif residents and all Jewish visitation MUST be preserved. This is a time for action, not for spectators, not business as usual! Wednesday, 20 July, 2005; Tuesday seemed to be a quiet, uneventful day in Neve Dekalim. We had one boomer in the early afternoon which I didn't hear and only found out about three hours later. The quiet seemed to continue throughout the night. Early Wednesday morning was punctuated by by spurts of IDF machinegun fire but no Kassams. A number of people from Neve Dekalim and Shi-rat HaYam left in the afternoon to join the marchers at K'far Maimon in order to attempt to divert police on this side of the Kissufim Junction. In the end, however, since there were no similar diversions in other parts of the country to match, and there were no marches (that I'm aware of) on Homesh, Sanur, etc. in order to further divert and diminish police and military forces, the police are therefore around Kfar Maimon in force. Thus, a standoff between police and Yesha Council has been created. The police in force are blocking the effort of the protestors to break through and proceed to the Kissufim checkpoint. This morning, there were various reports and accounts of how many people are in Kfar Maimon. Channel 2 TV said that according to the police there were 7,000, but other reports state the numbers in tens of thousands. About 9:30 AM, this morning, Yesha Council announced that all families with young children, etc, should head home for Shabbos. This will leave only the teens and the hardy to continue to stick it out in K'far Maimon. But it may also signal resorting to concepts of the game Revava -- diversion, diversion, diversion. This is the concept of creating numerous diversions and roving disturbances throughout the country, thus whittling down the numbers and organization of the police. The raison d'etre is to bring the police to the breaking-point and to prove to Bulldozer Sharon that he is in a Holy War with Shemayim which he can be nothing but under-gunned. It is a war B'Ezrat Hashem in which he cannot win. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
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SHIN BET CHIEF REVEALS SOME PAINFUL FACTS OF THE OSLO WAR
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, July 20, 2005. |
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Not to worry. Everyone knows that as soon as the Jewish communities in Gaza and the Shomron are exterminated, everything will immediately get better. Right? A news item in Ha'aretz said, "Yuval Diskin told the closed-door meeting that of the 225 Israeli Arabs involved in terror, 25 were Arabs who had come to live in Israel mainly through marriage to an Israeli woman. He added that 64 percent were Palestinians who lived mainly in Israel, while 36 percent continued to live mainly in the West Bank and Gaza." This is a news item from today's Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com. It is archived at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=86176 (IsraelNN.com) Addressing members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee on Tuesday, Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin presented some facts regarding Arab terrorism during the period since October 2000 until today, the Oslo War, referred to by the Government of Israel as the Second Intifada. There have been 25,375 terror attacks including 142 suicide bombing attacks in which 1,048 persons were murdered and 5,600 injured. 18,000 Palestinian Authority (PA) residents and 225 Israeli Arab citizens played a role in the perpetration of the attacks. This number includes 83 women of which 67 were suicide bombers. 90% of the 18,000 terrorists are males between 16 and 35. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
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OPPOSING SHARON, SAVING ISRAEL
Posted by Louis Rene Beres, July 20, 2005. |
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Fearing "disengagement," many Israelis correctly recognize Prime Minister Sharon's surrender policies in Gaza and Samaria as the perilous beginnings of a Palestinian state. Not surprisingly, these conscious and conscientious citizens are now joining together in necessary opposition to such policies. Soon this opposition will likely take the very palpable form of increasingly widespread civil disobedience and related military refusals to participate in Jewish expulsions. Although the Prime Minister can be expected to denounce such forms of internal opposition, and although it would be best for all Israelis to "simply" cooperate against incremental Jewish surrenders to sworn Arab enemies, there are times when civil disobedience is the only reasonable option. Incontestably, civil disobedience does have a long tradition in law and democratic theory. And the roots of this honored tradition even lie plainly in Higher Law, which is in turn derived from Jewish Law. From its very beginnings, Jewish law has been viewed as an expression of G_d's will. Biblically, the law is referred to as the "word of G-d," never of humankind. Hashem is the sole authentic legislator, and righteousness lies in observance of His law. The absence of righteousness places at risk the lives and well-being of both the individual and the entire community. For ancient Israel, law was always the revealed will of G-d. All transgressions of the law were consequently offenses against The Almighty. The idea that human legislators might make law independently of G-d's will would have been incomprehensible. Indeed, as G-d was the only legislator, the sole function of human authorities was to discover the law and to ensure its proper application. According to Talmud: "Whatever a competent scholar will yet derive from the Law, that was already given to Moses on Mount Sinai."[1] In the Jewish tradition, the principle of a Higher Law is not only well-established; it is the very foundation of all legal order. Wherever the law of the state stands in marked contrast to this principle, it is null and void. In certain circumstances, such contrast positively mandates opposition to the law of the state. Here, "civil disobedience" is not only lawful, but indispensably law-enforcing. What sorts of circumstances are we describing? Above all others, they are conditions that place at existential risk the very survival of the state. In such prospectively dire circumstances, which were in fact already identified almost ten years ago in an Halachic Opinion issued by Prominent Rabbis in Eretz Yisroel Concerning Territorial Compromise,[2] the matter is one of Pikuach Nefesh. Consequently, it demands apt forms of Jewish resistance. Israel cannot long endure spiritually or strategically without all the heartlands of Judea and Samaria. Sharon's "disengagement" begins with Gaza, but it also points a knife at the heart of other "disposable" territories. As the Torah is a "Toras Chaim," a Torah of life, Jewish authorities in the State of Israel are "forbidden, under any circumstance," to transfer Jewish land to Arab authorities. Ironically, this was recognized long ago by David Ben-Gurion in his speech to the 21st Zionist Congress in Basel in 1937: No Jew has the right to relinquish the rights of the Jewish Nation in the Land of Israel. No Jew has the authority to do so. No Jewish body has such authority. Even the whole Jewish People - alive today - has no authority to relinquish any part whatsoever of the Land. This is the right of the Jewish Nation in all its generations, a right which may not be forfeited under any condition. Even if there would be, at some time, those who would announce that they give up this right, they have neither the power nor the authority to deprive future generations of this right. The Jewish Nation is neither obligated nor bound by any such relinquishment. Our right to this Land - to this entire Land - is valid and enduring forever, and until the full and complete redemption is carried out, we shall not budge from this historic right. Israeli strategy and Jewish spirituality are meaningfully interpenetrating and interdependent. One cannot be separated purposefully from the other. The writer Hillel Halkin, fearing that the state of the Jews might one day be ruled by "Hebrew-speaking Gentiles" (a fear that was already widespread among such American Zionist as Maurice Samuel and Ludwig Lewisohn) once wrote: "I do not believe that a polity of Israelis who are not culturally Jews, whose roots in this land go no deeper than thirty years and no wider than the boundaries of an arid nation-state, has a future in the Middle East for very long. In one way or another...it will be blown away like chaff as though it never were, leaving neither Jews nor Israelis behind it."[3] In a more recent essay the same writer observed that the hatred for Judaism of a very large portion of Israeli intellectuals, including those who now create a theoretical legitimacy for Sharon government "disengagement" policies, has become a hatred of Zionism.[4] Halkin's fears remain well-founded. Especially under the Rabin and Peres governments, Israel hastened its transformation not only into a polity that is more and more detached from cultural Judaism, but into one that even undermines both Judaism and Zionism. With the subsequent election of Ehud Barak, this transformation had essentially been completed. Indeed, with the election of Barak, tens of thousands of Israelis were openly delighted that Israel had now seemingly become a "normal" (i.e., secular) nation. Everywhere the right of sovereignty rests upon the assurance of protection. Where a state can no longer offer such assurance - indeed, where it deliberately surrenders such assurance - the critical basis of citizen obligation must disappear. "The obligation of subjects to the sovereign," said the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes in the seventeenth century, "is understood to last as long, and no longer, than the power lasteth by which he is able to protect them." Can the Sharon government protect Israel's citizens? Clearly, "disengagement" will open the door widely to "Palestine." In consequence, once deprived of its remaining strategic depth, Israel will become an irresistibly tempting object for aggression by certain enemy states. In view of what is already known about enemy state nuclearization, and about ballistic missile developments in these states - especially Iran, Syria and Egypt - multi-state aggression could even come to Israel as an unconventional war. Here the predictable end result of "disengagement" would come in the form of chemical, biological and/or nuclear attack. It is with these grave dangers in mind that Israeli opponents of Sharon's "disengagement" will soon accelerate civil and military disobedience. Recognizing that victimization by words[5] can set the stage for subsequent victimization by force, they shall soon seek, perhaps desperately, to "stop the machine" while there is still time. They will be acting correctly. To "stop the machine!" This telling phrase is taken directly from Thoreau's classical explorations of civil disobedience. In his famous essay on the subject, the American transcendentalist spoke persuasively of such opposition as an act of "counter friction." Confronted with dreadful harms of the sort now suffered and anticipated by so many Israelis, harms generated by the Oslo/"Road Map" Peace Process and soon-to-be magnified substantially by Sharon's "disengagement," Thoreau would urge, as he once did about policy deformations in this country: "Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn." This is precisely what Israel's protestors MUST now seek, not to lend themselves to the insupportable risks of the Rabin/Peres/Netanyahu/Barak/Sharon agreements with the PLO. Among these wrongs are the Israeli government's sustained legitimization of a terrorist organization and its corollary unwillingness or incapacity to adequately punish terrorist crimes. Repeatedly, for example, the Sharon government has freed large numbers of Arab terrorists and has even offered amnesties to other terrorists not yet captured. The underlying rationale of such illegal behavior is, ironically, a cessation of Palestinian terror. Naturally, the net effect will be exactly the opposite, not only because of the release and revitalization of many criminals, but also because this action may sustain the asymmetrical "Peace Process," and thereby the creation of "Palestine." Once a Palestinian state is actually born, it will inevitably become a permanent staging area for new waves of anti-Israel and anti-American terror. Israel's agreements with the Palestinian Authority/PLO contravene the binding obligation to punish acts that are crimes under international law. Known formally as Nullum crimen sine poena, "No crime without a punishment," this requirement points unambiguously to the multiple acts of killing and torture ordered directly by Palestinian leaders over these many years of barbarous Arab terror. To not only ignore this requirement, but to legitimize the criminality by making Arafat successor Mahmoud Abbas a "partner" in the Oslo/"Road Map" agreements, is a clear violation of the Nuremberg Principles.[6] The meaning is manifest. Israel's citizens who now support and sustain the "disengagement" policies are in violation of international law (and therefore of Israel's national law as well, which necessarily incorporates international law), while those who oppose these policies within the proper bounds of civil disobedience and military resistance are acting in support of both forms of law. These informed views of law and civil disobedience in Israel, however disturbing they may seem, warrant a much broader public understanding. Now embarked upon policies that threaten Israel's very existence while they simultaneously undermine authoritative expectations of justice, the Sharon government should fully expect to be confronted with mounting protests and with correlative military refusals. Were it not so confronted, citizens of that beleaguered state would have already consented to their own national dismemberment. As even David Ben-Gurion understood, they have no right to give such consent - none at all. International law, which is based upon a variety of higher law foundations, including Jewish Law, forms part of the law of all nations. This is the case whether or not the incorporation of international law into national law is codified, explicitly, as it is in the Supremacy Clause (Article VI) of the United States Constitution. The government of Israel is bound by settled norms of international law concerning punishment of terrorist crimes and physical survival of the state. Where this government fails to abide by these rules, as is very much the case today, civil and military disobedience is not only permissible, it is required. We began with a look at the Jewish Law bases of Higher Law[7] and civil disobedience. Jewish law rests always upon two principles: the overriding sovereignty of G-d and the derivative sacredness of the individual person. Both principles, intertwined and interdependent, underlie the reasoned argument for civil disobedience in Israel.[8] From the sacredness of the person, which stems from each individual's resemblance to divinity, flows the freedom to choose. The failure to exercise this freedom, which is evident wherever a response to political authority is merely automatic, represents a betrayal of individual legal responsibility.[9] For Jews, our human freedom cannot be properly detached from our human reason. The particular relevance of reason to judgment - including legal judgment - was altogether central in ancient Israel. Indeed, reason is distinctly accommodated within the Jewish concept of revealed law. In essence, the Jewish idea of law offers a transcending order revealed by the Divine word as interpreted by human reason. Consider Ecclesiasticus 32.23; 37.16; 13-14: "Let reason go before every enterprise and counsel before any action....And let the counsel of thine own heart stand....For a man's mind is sometimes wont to tell him more than seven watchmen that sit above in an high tower...." From this unassailable Jewish standpoint, it should not be difficult to determine what reason suggests to us about "disengagement." We must also be reminded that Jewish law is democratic in the sense that it belongs to all of the people, a principle reflected in the Talmudic position that each individual can approach G-d in prayer without priestly intercessions. Hence, a fundamental goal of law must always be to encourage initiative, to act meaningfully on behalf of improving both state and society. When this criterion is applied to impending instances of civil disobedience and military refusals in Israel, it should be apparent that only the protesting opponents of Sharon's suicidal" disengagement" will be acting according to law. NO Jewish soldier of Israel now has the right to forcibly expel fellow Jews in order to give land to openly-declared terrorist enemies. Not now. Not ever. In such manifestly existential matters, there is a clear and overriding obligation to identify expulsion orders as unambiguously illegal. This is true not only because of the generic Nuremberg obligation of all soldiers to resist crimes of state, but also because of the specifically Jewish obligation not to be complicit in Jewish auto-annihilation. "Disengagement" is a crime of the greatest potential magnitude against the Land and People of Israel. It must be opposed energetically according to the long-established and fully authoritative expectations of Higher Law, Jewish Law and International Law. Footnotes 1. See Jerusalem Megillah IV, 74d. 2. The full text of this Opinion, Daas Torah, was published in the July 20 1995 edition of THE JERUSALEM POST, p. 3. 3. See LETTERS TO AN AMERICAN JEWISH FRIEND: A ZIONIST'S POLEMIC (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1977), 199-200. For this and the following reference to Halkin I am indebted to Edward Alexander, "Irving Howe and Secular Jewishness: An Elegy," The Eighteenth Annual Rabbi Louis Feinberg Memorial Lecture in Judaic Studies, Univ. of Cincinnati, April 6, 1995. 4. See Halkin's "Israel Against Itself," COMMENTARY 98 (November 1994). 5. The Talmud instructs that victimizing people with words is a serious transgression (Talmud, Tractate Bava Metzia 58b). 6. According to Principle I: "Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefore and is liable to punishment." 7. The Jewish idea of a Higher Law is also one of the fundamental and canonic principles of the United States. Codified in both the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution, it rests upon the acceptance of certain notions of right and justice that obtain because of their own obvious merit. Such notions, as the celebrated Blackstone declared, are nothing less than "the eternal, immutable laws of good and evil, to which the Creator himself in all his dispensations conforms; and which he has enabled human reason to discover so far as they are necessary for the conduct of human actions." See: William Blackstone, COMMENTARIES ON THE LAWS OF ENGLAND, adapted by Robert Malcolm Kerr (Boston: Beacon Press, 1962), Book IV, "Of Public Wrongs," p. 62; Chapter V, "Offenses Against the Law of Nations."). 8. On the importance of the dignity of the person to the talmudic conception of law, see: S. Belkin, IN HIS IMAGE: THE JEWISH PHILOSOPHY OF MAN AS EXPRESSED IN RABBINIC TRADITION (New York: 1960). 9. On the human freedom to choose good over evil, see: J.B. Soloveitchik, THOUGHTS AND VISIONS: THE MAN OF LAW (Hebrew: New York: 1944 - 45), p. 725. Louis Rene Beres is the author of many books and articles dealing with Israel's security. His writings on international law appear regularly in more than two dozen major law journals, and are well-known in Israel's academic, political, military and intelligence communities. Professor Beres is Strategic and Military Affairs columnist for the Jewish Press. This article was published in The Jewish Press on July 16, 2005. |
| GUSH KATIF |
NOW IS THE TIME WHEN THE US CONGRESS NEEDS TO GET THE MESSAGE
Posted by Ken Heller, July 19, 2005. |
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Now is the time when the US Congress needs to get the message -- that "disengagement" is fast approaching and the U.S. has been asked to facilitate funding for it. Your message: The US should not fund the disengagement. The US should never fund the expulsion of the Jews from their Biblical Homeland. Here is whom you should be writing hard copy letters to: The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
The Honorable Gary Ackerman
Other members of that subcommittee: E-mail their staff: (1ST OH)
(11th MI)
(3rd AR)
(14th FL)
(1st NE)
(1st VA)
(6th IN)
(13 FL)
(49th CA)
(28th CA)
(17th NY)
(7th NY)
(1st NV)
(29th CA)
(6th KY)
(18th CA)
Ken Heller is a pro-Israel activist and a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of Americans For A Safe Israel. He can be reached at kjhnha@aol.com. |
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STABLE COUNTRIES DO NOT SURRENDER THEIR STRATEGIC ASSETS
Posted by American Friends of Likud, July 19, 2005. |
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This essay was written by Dr. Yuval Steinitz, who is Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.Yediot Achronot This article first appeared in the Israeli daily, and was translated from the Hebrew by Eric Rappaport Senior Policy Advisor, American Friends of Likud. Not since the 12th Century BCE when the Trojans allowed that famous horse into the city and brought about their own downfall, has something like this happened. Israel in a modern version of the story, has on its own account invited the strongest and most dangerous Arab army to deploy in the demilitarized Sinai Peninsula along the Negev- southern border, within proximity of its major air bases and other strategically sensitive areas. During the Camp David negotiations in 1978, former Prime Minister Menachem Begin concerned about Israel's relatively small size was obstinate that no Egyptian troops be allowed in Sinai, agreeing only to a small contingent of police officers armed with handguns alone. In recent testimony before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Dr. Meir Rosen a former Begin aide, said that when the PM became aware of Egyptian intentions to request the future deployment of thousands of troops in eastern Sinai, he adamantly declared the old axiom "better to die than to transgress". Egypt's military buildup in recent decades is alarming. Since the early 1980's Egypt has used American foreign aid toward the purchase of advanced weaponry, achieving military superiority over all other Arab and African countries. The fact that a poor country like Egypt would divert most of its resources and aid toward military spending raises concerns that its sole purpose is to be directed at Israel. More disturbing is the fact that since the mid 90's most of Egypt's military exercises have simulated combat with Israel, and in recent years it has invested heavily in moving bases and military infrastructure to its northeastern region closest to Israel. Currently, the Egyptians seek to squeeze another concession out of Israel in the guise of their sudden willingness to combat the smuggling of weapons emanating from their own country. Their insistence on adding 800 soldiers along with tanks and armored personal carriers in the Philadelphi corridor between Sinai, Gaza, and Israel, proves that rather than confront the smuggling they intend to militarize the DMZ of eastern Sinai. Otherwise, why not allow a similar amount of police officers instead? There is of course more to it than that. Egyptians interpret Israel's concession as only the start toward fulfilling their dream of "returning their military sovereignty" to eastern Sinai, and have as Begin once feared already requested further deployments of thousands of troops along Israel's southern border all the way to the Eilat region. All experts agree however that Egypt's failure to tackle the smuggling until now is due to a lack of motivation not manpower, and that should it wish to, could easily stop it entirely without altering Sinai's demilitarized status. The Demilitarized Zone in eastern Sinai is Israel's strategic asset, and stable countries do not surrender these for questionable tactical promises. Will Jerusalem act like the Trojans and suffer a tragic loss of strategic common sense? American Friends of Likud can be reached by mail at P.O. Box 8711, JAF Station, New York, NY, 10116 Contact them by email at mail@thelikud.org or visit their website: http://www.thelikud.org |
| GUSH KATIF |
POLICE BRUTALITY
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, July 19, 2005. |
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While Eliyahu Herbst has been completely exonerated, the same can not be said for the State of Israel. 54 days of illegal confinement punctuated by frequent beatings and harassment. Will there be an investigation? Maybe. Will anyone in the police, SHABBAK, prison service be charged with a crime? Come on, don't be silly, this is the Middle East only DeMockracy, remember. This news item is called "Eliyahu Herbst Freed after 54 Days" and it appeared in Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com. It is archived at http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=86129 IsraelNN.com) After 54 days in jail, the court has released Eliyahu Herbst because there is no incriminating evidence against him. He was released with no limitations at all. Herbst, father of 6 and grandfather of 2, was originally arrested in Arad during the first roadblockings, for "standing in an illegal assembly and not dispersing." The judge offered to release him on condition that he not take part in further illegal demonstrations, but he refused, saying, "The evidence against me shows that I was only standing nearby - so that means that every time I walk in the street I can be accused of violating the conditions." During his stay in jail, the police consistently abused him, physically and emotionally. Individuals from the Nahshon unit violently pushed and dragged him while bringing him, handcuffed, to jail. In the Maaseyahu prison, he was kept in solitary confinement for 20 days, with no reason given. He was also given other punishments, such as denial of visits and phone calls, with no explanation. (IsraelNN.com) Reports of police brutality against anti-disengagement activists continue to come in from Kfar Maimon. Eyewitnesses report that a policewoman boarded a bus, checking children in an inappropriate fashion, [she was molesting and smacking them] prompting the driver to demand the policewoman cease. The driver was assaulted according to reports, and then placed
under arrest, leaving the bus of children without a driver. [What did
he expect from a psychopath? - AZ]
Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is
Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit
(www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet
buying facility for American visitors to Israel.
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| GUSH KATIF |
'MARCH TO GUSH KATIF' ENTERS SECOND DAY
Posted by Hillel Fendel, July 19, 2005. |
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Two news items on the March from the rally at Netivot to overnight at Kfar Maimon on the way to Gush Katif. "'March to Gush Katif' Enters Second Day" by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz and Alex Traiman Day two of a protest march to Gush Katif is underway Tuesday as tens of thousands camped in tent cities overnight. Tension is brewing with police as marchers insist on reaching Kissufim Junction. As we go to press, police have moved into Kfar Maimon and violence was reported. Police have welded shut some of the community's gates and surrounded the area. To follow this story, see website homepage: IsraelNationalNews.com Organizers of the disengagement plan protest insist the march will not stop until activists reach their final destination of Gush Katif. Police and IDF forces remain intent on dispersing activists well before reaching their intended target. Following consultations with senior police and military commanders, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered Tuesday afternoon the tens of thousands of marchers halted at Kfar Maimon and not permitted to continue towards Gush Katif. Mofaz said: "We have issued clear orders to police and security personnel not to allow entry to Gush Katif. Unequivocally, there will be no entry to Gush Katif." In addition, Mofaz ordered troops to arrest anyone who managed to bypass police and make their way to Kissufim Crossing. Activists continue to pour into the region and buses continue to depart every hour, on the hour, from Jerusalem's Binyanei HaUmah Conference Center and the Arlozorov Train Station in Tel Aviv. The protest began late Monday evening in the Negev town of Netivot, with a large opening ceremony rallying activists together in prayer, dancing, and purpose. Several police estimates, place nearly 80,000 demonstrators at the rally, contradicting most mainstream media reports. Pictures of the peaceful opening event have been displayed prominently in Israeli media, as well as major news outlets worldwide. Following the rally, at approximately 9:00pm on Monday, demonstrators began their three-day march to Gush Katif and stopped on the outskirts of Kfar Maimon, a small moshav (agricultural village) south of Netivot. The rally began over three hours later than originally planned as police attempted to prevent many activists from attending. Numerous roadblocks has been established on the roads leading to Netivot. Thousands of motorists were turned around, and activists were removed from buses on their way to the demonstrations. Several bus drivers had their licenses confiscated. Following questions regarding the legality of their actions and confusion amongst senior brass, police eventually backed down and allowed the demonstrators to reach the rally site. Tens of thousands of marchers spent the night in tents outside Kfar Maimon. This morning, large police forces were deployed around the tent city, leading to speculation that the demonstrators would soon be forcibly dispersed. However, forces again were pulled back as police did not have the manpower to prevent the marchers from entering the town of Kfar Maimon. Police commanders have indicated they will not permit large numbers of people to reach the Kissufim Crossing, the main entrance to Gush Katif, preferring to keep the crowd away from the narrow gateway to Gush Katif. While police have had to retreat twice from attempts Monday night to keep demonstrators from reaching their destinations, many speculate that a large confrontation may ensue in coming days. Thus far police have refrained from using any crowd and riot control techniques outside of their physical manpower. Typically horses, riot gear, rubber bullets, tear gas, water canons, or even tanks can be used by police to forcibly disperse large crowds. Many of these techniques have been utilized in recent weeks against protesters blocking traffic at major intersections throughout Israel. The remaining 10-mile march to Kissufim Crossing, the gateway to Gush Katif, is set to resume late Tuesday afternoon, after the hot desert son dissipates. During the day, marchers are taking part in activities for children and adults in Kfar Maimon, as was originally planned by event organizers. Some anti-Disengagement protestors avoided the large crowds and roadblocks last night, and went directly to Kissufim Crossing. Two activists were arrested as dozens of demonstrators engaged in verbal confrontations with soldiers manning the crossing. The confrontation was reportedly sparked when the activists tried to persuade soldiers to refuse their orders pertaining to the Disengagement Plan. "Activist Leaders Call for Thousands More to Join the Struggle" by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz As demonstrators march towards Gush Katif in protest of the planned evacuation, activist leader Pinchas Wallerstein and others are calling for thousands more to join "in order to win this struggle." Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha) Council leader Pinchas Wallerstein told Arutz-7: "Last night was one of the greatest and most moving experiences that I recall. We are talking about unprecedented numbers of people. According to eye-witness and media reports, some tens of thousands more demonstrators are making their way to the march. Speaking from Kfar Maimon, where demonstrators stopped for the evening, Wallerstein called for thousands more to join the anti-Disengagement protest. "This is a clear-cut call for tens of thousands more to arrive here in order to win this struggle. I make this call despite the fact that the public is aware of the need for more people and is already marching and arriving from all over the country, precisely because of the police's stunts." Knesset Member Uri Ariel (National Union), who is also at the march, seconds Wallerstein's call. He told Arutz-7 Radio that if thousands more join the protest, then the demonstrators will have the power to bring down the government: "There is no need to confront a single soldier or a single policeman. The dictatorship is in a panic and note how it behaves. In my opinion, we are at the beginning of the end of this government. MK Ariel noted with evident admiration that the protestors are not confronting police or the army, but are singing and dancing with Torah scrolls in their hands. This type of non-confrontational protest march, he said, "is unprecedented." Kedumim Mayor Daniella Weiss told reporters during the first leg of the march to Gush Katif Monday that soldiers are not motivated to block protestors. She claims that a lack of motivation among soldiers is obvious from their faces and statements. "Soldiers understand that [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon is a dictator." Weiss, a veteran settlement pioneer and leader, said confidently
that Kfar Maimon is a temporary stop, and the march will continue on
"to Gush Katif and all of the Land of Israel."
Hillel Fendel is editor of Arutz-Sheva
(www.IsraelNationalNews.com), and is author of these three news items,
which appeared in today's Arutz-Sheva.
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J POST UPHOLDS SHARON; BEDOUIN CRIME AND UPRISING; WHAT THE MAP REALLY DOES
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, July 19, 2005. |
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JERUSALEM POST UPHOLDS SHARON
Sharon's "... strategy these last four years has been vindicated by events. The intifada has been vanquished, and the prospects for non-bloody Arab-Israeli coexistence are better than they've been in a decade. With his disengagement plan, Mr. Sharon's goal now is to offer Israel a future that is both secure and realistic." On the other hand, the Post reminds us, the Arab-Israel conflict preceded Israeli acquisition of the Territories. "Today, Israel's military supremacy is undoubted and its need for a territorial buffer reduced." "As Palestinians (Arabs) progress further toward democracy, it will become harder for any Israeli government to argue they shouldn't also have a state within which to practice it." (Jewish Political Chronicle, 5/2005, p.13 from Jer. Post, 4/28/05.) Sharon's strategy is to evade jail for corruption, by obeying the Left and the State Dept. Hence he did NOT vanquish the Arab insurgency. "Post" reports of casualties prove that. Hence he heeded State Dept. demands to accept phony Arab truces that the Arabs violate in their ongoing insurgency. Hence he heeded demands to withdraw many roadblocks and checkpoints, although such withdrawals almost always let terrorists through to commit more attacks. Hence he held back from tunnel-monitoring, so that under cover of truce, the Arabs have rearmed and are waiting for him to pull the Jews out of Gaza, if they wait at all, before waging all-out terrorism. His withdrawal strategy is not "secure and realistic." The intelligence officer consensus is that abandonment of Gaza and northern Samaria would enable the Arabs freely to place rocket launchers nearer Israeli cities, thereby magnifying casualties. The withdrawal also would encourage the terrorists, for it fulfills part of their program. Why shouldn't they fight on, for the rest? After all, as the "Post" admits, though the admission disproves its praise of Sharon, abandoning the Territories would not end the casus belli. The "Post" means that the cause of the war, Islamic imperialism, remains. Then the war would continue. Abbas certainly is unrepentant. That makes Sharon a fool or traitor. Moreover, Sharon plans to let the Arabs have an open port and airport in Gaza. Nor will he monitory the usual arms smuggling route, either. Hence the prospects for Arab-Israel clashes are greater. One can foresee an exodus, when terrorism becomes intolerable. Israel would become non-viable. Sharon should be put on trial for endangering thousands of lives if not the existence of the whole state. The P.A. has made no progress for democracy. It simply has let other terrorist groups vie with the PLO for power. By what logic does the "Post" commend Jewish territory to fanatical terrorists, simply because they have elections, now? Israel does not have military supremacy. Sharon is moving to let Egypt, which has a huge and modern military, remilitarize parts of the Sinai and arm and train the P.A., which still has designs on Israel. If Israel relinquishes much Territory: (1) Its Air Force would have insufficient space in which to maneuver; (2) It would lose its early warning posts; (3) It won't have natural tank traps; (4) Borders to patrol would be much longer; (5) Ground forces would have less room and time in which to assemble and would do so under P.A. attack; (6)No strategic depth against missile attacks; and (7) Subject to P.A. missile attack, Ben-Gurion Airport would shut down. Considering the Egyptian military's greater mobility and the enemy missile armory, Israel needs MORE, not LESS strategic depth. Sharon may be thought brilliant in politics, but his current military strategy is brilliant only if he is working for the US and the Arabs and in his tactics against his fellow Jews. He is dangerous for Israel, whose scant democracy he is squelching in a wave of brutality and evasion of legislative oversight. ISRAELI BEDOUIN THREATEN TRANQUILITY "Since the founding of the State of Israel, Bedouin tribes, once nomadic, have built thousands of houses and makeshift tin shacks in hundreds of villages throughout the Negev which are illegal but which the government calls unauthorized. "The Bedouin claim the land is theirs by tradition, and the government argues that most of the areas are government lands and that the Bedouins are squatters." Police, acting on court orders, have demolished several of the villages over the past few years but most remain standing." "Several demonstrations in the past included stoning of buses and cars, and motorists often have been stopped by Bedouins and robbed." "Hundreds of Negev Arab Bedouin have threatened a new intifada if the government tears down 160 illegal shacks." "Negev Bedouins are Israeli citizens, but since the Oslo war many have married Arab spouses from Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The government exempts them from the prohibition of polygamy because they claim that marrying two, three and sometimes four women is a matter of religious freedom. Polygamy, along with government child allowances that until last year gave generous amounts of money for large families, has enabled them to receive thousands of shekels a month. It is not uncommon for men in their 60s to marry a third or fourth woman in her teens." "Before the government began to slash the child allowances, a family with 25 children, which is not rare, received more than 12,000 shekels ($2,700) a month." Thus the government shares responsibility with the Bedouin for their becoming a societal menace. "Their population in the Negev has grown 11 times the number in 1951 and now is more than 150,000, accounting for more than one-third of the total number of citizens in the Negev region. Most of the Jewish residents live in Be'er Sheva, leaving the Bedouin as a majority in the rural areas near the Jewish towns of Arad and Dimona and up-scale communities of Metar and Lahavim, north of Be'er Sheva." "Bedouins traditionally have been excellent IDF soldiers, especially as scouts tracking down terrorists. Since the Oslo War broke out in 2000, they have increasingly become involved in terrorism. Security officials have discovered Hamas cells among Bedouin tribes and have arrested Negev Bedouins for smuggling weapons. Earlier this year, a gang from the city Lakiya, north of Be'er Sheva, was arrested for planning a terrorist attack." "A Bedouin intifada already is a fact, according to regional leaders and businessmen, who say law and order are totally foreign to the local Arab population. Drug dealing and car thieves are common, Landsman states." "Many businessmen in Arad and Be'er Sheva have reported that they pay 'protection money' to local Bedouin gangs to prevent their shops from arson or theft." "Police officially deny charges that law enforcement officers are afraid to enter the villages, but policemen privately have confided they stay away from the villages." (Arutz-7, 7/8.) WHAT IS EGYPT UP TO? "Military Intelligence chief Major General Aharon Ze'evi told the committee Tuesday that Egypt sees the stationing of 750 border guards as the first step in a more widespread deployment along the Egyptian-Israeli border." (IMRA, 7/7.) There you have it. Egypt is proceeding gradually to remilitarize the Sinai. Israel doesn't see the danger in the first move, because it does not think about future moves, just the next few days of public relations is, or because PM Sharon is preoccupied with evading prosecution for corruption. Think back a couple of articles to the "Jerusalem Post" praising Sharon for military prowess and pleased with what it deems Israeli military superiority and hence security. Sharon is eroding that security. ARABS PLEDGE TRUCE, YET AGAIN Hamas and Islamic Jihad rejected Abbas' invitation to join his government. However, they "reaffirmed a pledge to maintain the calm." (Greg Myre & Steven Erlanger, NY Times, 7/14, A3.) It is one measure of "NY Times" bias that it treats such reaffirmations seriously, while those groups attack Israelis every day. At least it should have an editorial pointing out that they constantly violate truces or pledge them with loopholes like Swiss cheese. It is another measure of "Times" bias that it slips into the Israeli pattern of expressing itself in vague English, so as to be almost meaningless. After all, what is "calm" or "quiet?" Neither is measurable. Hence the governments of Israel, the P.A., and the US can pretend that what reasonable people in their own minds envision as a truce, is being kept. The P.A. and the US demand of Israel that it not take certain measures of self-defense, lest it cause the "calm" to end. If these governments and the media used, and insisted that the Arabs use, the clear-cut term, "truce," we would know exactly what they mean. A truce is either kept or broken. That is measurable! WHAT THE ROAD MAP REALLY DOES The Map "... makes negotiations between the sides superfluous. It makes the US (or the Quartet) the exclusive arbiter in all issues of the conflict, and in the future will make it impossible for Israel to exert pressure on the Palestinians (Arabs) in relation to subjects on which the Americans adopt the Palestinian position." (Jewish Political Chronicle, 5/2005, p.17 from former Mossad head Efraim Halevy, Haaretz, 4/24/05). The Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations did not support the Oslo Accords, but not supports the Map, which is far more detrimental to Israel (Jewish Political Chronicle, 5/2005, p.19 from Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz, 5/18), because it puts Israel's fate in the hands of the hostile State Dept. and Quartet. WHO DETERS WHOM? The Hamas website explains that its efforts to introduce Qassam rockets to Judea-Samaria "will create a balance of terror with Israel and serve as the weapon of deterrence in the next phase of the confrontation, providing an adequate response to the Israeli security fence." It cites as its model for utilizing Sharon's abandonment, Hizbullah, which utilized PM Barak's abandonment of Lebanon, to set up thousands of missiles at the border (IMRA, 7/7). Israel will have spent billions of dollars fencing out only one type of terrorism. (Article #13577 analyzes the folly of Sharon's other military measures. Let him uproot terrorism, not Jews!) PROPOSAL TO CHANGE JEWISH NATIONAL ANTHEM Rightwing Member of Knesset Michael Eitan accepts a Shinui Party proposal to change the national anthem's reference from a "Jewish" soul or heart to an "Israeli" one. MK Eitan rationalizes that this would be a great achievement, and it would strengthen the Jewish identity of Israel. The purpose is to let Arabs feel comfortable singing it, but the Arabs remain unmoved by this. They want a Lebanese style, confessional division of the country, not unity (IMRA, 7/7). Eitan forgets that "Hatikvah" also is the Jewish national anthem. The lukewarm nationalists are worried that to be democratic, they must pander to the Arab fifth column instead of ousting it before it eliminates them. Ironically, they don't have much democracy and are losing the rest. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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MOVING ON
Posted by Judy Lash Balint, July 19, 2005. |
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Every February, tens of thousands converge on Netivot to commemorate the anniversary of the death of the revered rabbinic scholar known as the Baba Sali, a Moroccan sage who died in 1984. For the other 364 days a year, Netivot is a sleepy southern development town. Yesterday, when the Yesha Council used Netivot as a staging ground for what was billed as the biggest anti-Gaza retreat protest yet, the people of Netivot didn't know what had hit them. As hundreds of private vehicles adorned with orange ribbons crawled into town one by one through the sole traffic light off the highway, the children of Netivot ran out to beg for the ribbons. Old ladies leaned over their balconies to watch the excitement below, and shopkeepers sent salespeople into the crowd with coolers full of cold drinks and ice cream. Suffice it to say that Israel's democracy took a beating yesterday as the police acted Soviet style by issuing an order declaring the mass demonstration illegal and then taking the next step by sending officers to bus stops all over the country to physically prevent people headed for Netivot from getting onto buses. Bus drivers were taken in for questioning to explain their participation in "an illegal act." Despite all that, tens of thousands of those committed to exercising their right to voice their opinion about the Gaza retreat did manage to make their way down to Netivot by whatever means possible. Many organized car pools in their neighborhoods; others stood at highway junctions to hitch rides and some even set out on foot. Some 200 people from the northern town of Kiryat Shmona walked 10km before succeeding to persuade bus drivers to take them as far as Netanya. I'd made the decision to take a few friends down in my car and since we left early before the buses had been scheduled to depart, we had no difficulty making it into Netivot. Pulling up at a parking place in front of a house on Jabotinsky Street just in front of the Baba Sali's compound, we encountered the lady of the house, who came out to ask what all the people were doing there in Netivot when it was nowhere near February! If the goal of the event had been to show widespread opposition to Sharon's plan, it failed miserably. Not because of the numbers of participants--everyone knew that if the hundreds of buses scheduled would have arrived, the crowd would have swelled to nearly 100,00. No, the problem wasn't the numbers but the composition of the crowd and the program laid on by the Yesha Council. The hysterical tone of the young M.C who opened the event, and the interminable speeches by a long line of rabbis, combined with a lengthy prayer service all led to a feeling that we were at a religious revival. I counted maybe 10 secular people present among the thousands standing around under the broiling sun. There were barely any women not decked out in the religious long skirt uniform, nor hardly a single man without a kippa. For many watching and/or taking part in the event, it just served to reinforce the (erroneous) notion that the only people who care about what's happening to Gush Katif and the northern Shomron are observant Jews. But which secular person who flys an orange ribbon on his car antenna in Jerusalem (and there are many, many such people) would shlep down to Netivot to stand for hours at a religious rally? A show of political strength outside the Knesset in anticipation of Wednesday's vote to postpone the disengagement--maybe...but as far as I know, no such thing is scheduled. The Yesha Council has evidently given up on the battle to persuade non-religious Israelis that the security implications of the withdrawal will affect us all. Indeed, the most recent polls show that 50 percent of Israelis approve of Sharon's plan, 30 percent oppose it and (as Israel's southern communities come under an escalating barrage of Palestinian missiles) a growing 19 percent are undecided. I'm just off to a briefing from a couple of psychologists who are supposed to tell us about the psychological impact of the Gaza retreat plan. Without stepping foot through the door of the conference center, I can already definitively say that the whole disengagement thing isn't doing much for our collective sanity. Judy Lash Balint is an investigative journalist and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" (Gefen). It is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com |
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ISRAELI MULTITUDES BREACH POLICE LINES - THE MARCH TO GUSH KATIF
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, July 19, 2005. |
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This article was written by Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem bureau chief, whose past interview subjects have included Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, Shlomo Ben Ami and leaders of the Taliban. The article was filed yesterday and is archived at www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45339 'Greatest protest' in Jewish state's history aims to stop Sharon's planned Gaza evacuation NETIVOT, Israel - In what is being billed the "greatest protest in Israeli history," tens of thousands tonight made it to an overnight rest stop on their way to Gaza after breaching a barrier of thousands of security forces and running across thorny fields. The protest aims to halt next month's evacuation of Jewish communities from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Earlier this evening, tens of thousands streamed into Nativot, a town about 20 miles south of Gaza, holding a massive rally that completely filled a dirt field police estimate could hold about 40,000 people. A second adjacent field that could hold about 30,000 was nearly filled and a line of protesters could be seen walking to the rally from a quarter mile away. The rally kicked off with a prayer service led by Israel's former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu and other religious leaders. Speeches were given by Yesha heads and by former Knesset Speaker Dov Shilanksy. The police today granted a permit for the Nativot rally but deemed the march illegal since it aims to enter Gaza, now a closed military zone. But after the rally ended, the majority of those assembled marched on foot down Highway 25, which leads in the direction of Gush Katif, the main slate of Gaza's Jewish communities. The marchers encountered heavy roadblocks forcing them off the road onto empty fields, where they were greeted by a massive force of about 10,000 Israeli soldiers and police officers. The security forces formed a human chain that blocked the marchers into a large area on the field. Undeterred, the protesters sang songs, danced and chanted anti-withdrawal slogans. Some formed circles on the dirt field and played guitars and banjos they had brought. Hundreds of groups formed quorums to recite evening services. Kids played games while teenagers shouted at troops to disobey orders and let them pass. Several Knesset members and settler leaders, including Knesset Members Effi Eitam and Zvi Hendel, and settler leader Pinhas Wallerstein, were at the front of the group to ensure the protest remained non-violent. After about an hour and a half, the crowd started chanting slogans louder and louder. The section at the front counted down from three, then charged through the human barrier the officers had formed, breaking free and running into the fields. Police commanders charged through the field in vehicles, yelling on loudspeakers for officers to head the marchers off further on the fields before the protesters reached nearby Highway 25. But the officers were powerless, unable to stop the slew of marchers who made it to the road after running across a section on the side of the field full of long weeds and thorns. Singing victory songs, the marchers walked along the road and waved "goodbye" to the police officers, many of whom were quickly bussed from the scene. Some soldiers and officers rested on the sides of the road, exhausted from chasing the marchers. Others scattered with the protesters as they watched the massive march continue down the road toward Gaza. The marchers walked almost two more miles to the area designated for overnight stay, a town about 15 miles from the Gaza entrance. Many continued to sing and play instruments. The massive crowd included people of all ages from many parts of Israel. Ambulances tailed the march, ready to evacuate any protesters who fall ill. There were reports of three marchers who suffered minor dehydration. Several Israeli media outlets reported a deal had been struck that allowed the marchers to reach their resting area on condition they don't march to Gush Katif. A senior leader of the Yesha Council, which organizes the march, told WND, "That is utter rubbish. The cameras recorded what happened. The police were overwhelmed. They were defeated. That's the only reason we continued. Our spirits are high and cannot be deterred. We will march on to our besieged brothers in Gush Katif." The leader said the number of marchers would have been higher if police had not stopped protest vehicles reaching the area. Police established roadblocks in several places in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to halt protesters before they neared the march's start-point. The Israeli media also reported the number at today's rally to be 40,000, but that estimate was taken before many reached the area. It was unclear what the marchers would do if they arrived at the entrance to Gaza. Yesha leaders have called for marchers to use non-violent means to disassemble a large tent city erected earlier this month to house tens of thousands of soldiers who will take part in the August 17 Gaza evacuation. There are some concerns of terrorist attacks against the marchers, particularly if they reach the Kissufim Crossing, the main checkpoint leading into Gush Katif. There have in the past been a number of shootings and attempted bombings at the checkpoint. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are active in the area. Summing up the evening's events, Yesha leader Bentzi Lieberman, who was with the crowd, told WND, "What the world is witnessing is history in the making. The people of Israel are speaking. And we are saying 'no' to the immoral [disengagement.] We will soon say 'no' in Gaza, where we will arrive, determined as ever."
Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is
Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit
(www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet
buying facility for American visitors to Israel.
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Police block
marchers in field (WND photo)
Tired
officers rest as protesters march on (WND photo)
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LETTER OF ELIHU SCHULTZ, SHO'A SURVIVOR RE: PRISONER'S NUMBERS TATTOOED ON THE FOREARM
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, July 19, 2005. |
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This is a very strong letter from a friend of mine. Last Friday (15.07.2005) I listened on the radio to an interview by Judy Moses. The interviewee was a woman settler from Gush Katif who had written her identity card number with a pen on her forearm. She reported that on entering the Gush Katif area she refused on principle to show her identity card. Instead she demanded that she be permitted to proceed to her home that was located in Gush Katif, pointing out that not allowing her to do so would be discrimination only because she was a Jewess. Ms Moses condemned her attitude in general and in particular because she dared to make a comparison between those murdered in the Sho'a and those who will be transferred out of Gush Katif as part of the Disengagement Plan, a policy that had been democratically and legally adopted by all the relevant governing bodies. I contacted the radio station in order to take part in the discussion. But when I was asked whom I would support, I answered honestly that supported the settlers. This answer resulted in a refusal to permit me to participate. I was a prisoner in the Nazi work camps. My prisoner number is tattooed on left forearm. This fact gives me the right, perhaps even the obligation, to participate since both the interviewer and interviewee did not correctly address the question under discussion. Ms Moses claimed that it was a disgrace to place a "number" on the forearm. Tens of thousands of these Jews were killed in the gas chambers, but since the Gush Katif settlers face no such danger any use of symbols like the number-on-the-forearm is a desecration of their memory. It is my obligation to correct a basic mistake. Those on whose forearms a number was tattooed were not the ones who were executed and gassed; they were the ones who were sentenced to remain among the living. You might ask what kind of a life was in the Nazi slave camps but for many it meant survival. The tens of thousands who were gassed and killed in other horrible ways did not have a number on their forearm. The Nazis were in such a hurry that they were sent to the gas chambers without their name being registered and without being given a number, let alone tattooed on the forearm. My mother and my sister, for example, were killed anonymously! At the selection place, only those who were sent to the right received a number on their forearm; they had been sentenced to a life of slavery and exploitation as long as they were fit to work. The extermination policy did not start immediately when Hitler and his party assumed power in 1933. Instead the situation of German Jews worsened gradually until the war broke out in 1939. The Nazis started with driving the Jews from their homes, depriving them of opportunities to earn a living, confiscation of their property and a general delegitimization of Jews. If we compare this process with what is happening here today, we get an entirely different point of view of what is usually presented in the media. In Germany Jews were expelled from their homes and were forbidden to live in the center of towns. In Israel Jews/settlers expect to be expelled by force from the homes that they purchased or built legally. In Germany Jews were expelled from their stores and their factories. In Israel we will be driving Jews from their hothouses and the workplaces where they earned an honorable living. Many raised produce which formed a significant part of our agricultural export, thus earning foreign exchange for the State. All are to be thrown out like dogs, without any chance for earning a living. Salaried employees, like local council employees, teachers, kindergarten teachers, doctors, etc., will not be dismissed from their jobs so that they cannot even file for unemployment compensation. Synagogues, schools, cemeteries all are to be desecrated. We shall not mention Crystal Night in November 1938 when the Germans burnt down most of the synagogues. And all this is only the beginning. As for observing the laws: everything that was done to the Jews in Germany and in the Nazi-conquered territories was done strictly according to law. The Nürnberg Laws were adopted with an overwhelming majority, more than 95%. Any one who opposed the anti-Jewish measures was considered as a law-violator and punished accordingly. Just as German laws were not legal because they were racially discriminatory from the very beginning, so must one oppose the laws on which the followers of the Disengagement Plan base their actions. Every people in the world are entitled to have an object that they can hate. The Jews have played this role for many generations; the reasons for this hatred were manifold and varied. Our forefathers crucified their god and we slaughtered Christian children because we needed their blood to bake matzot. In Israel we searched for an object of our hate until we discovered the settlers. They are responsible for all the troubles that have befallen us. Even the murderer of Rabin grew up and was educated in the settlement of Herzeliya. We must follow the Russian example: hit the (Jewish) settler and save the democratic-Jewish state (Russia). The entire Disengagement Plan is not a rational plan or one developed to strengthen our military position. Everybody agrees to this because after the Disengagement our military situation will not be better just the opposite, it will be much worse. We are not expecting any compensations because this Disengagement is completely unilateral. There is only one reason for this plan: a blinding hatred of our fellow man, even if it leads to self-destruction! The ancient Jewish kingdom was destroyed because free-floating hatred. The division among the people was one of the principal causes for its demise and this is what we can expect now. Let no one delude himself that after the Disengagement everything will return to its previous situation and we will all live in peace. This process will most definitely divide the people; it will divide the government, the army and the police force. And with the active aid of this government and the political parties which support it, the Arabs will be victorious and establish concentration camps in the Negev or in Sinai. I know already the names of those who will act as Kapos in the camps. Pay attention and beware. Elihu Schultz
Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
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THE EXTREMIST LA TIMES WORKS ON ENHANCING THE IMAGE OF HAMAS
Posted by Join the Boycott, July 19, 2005. |
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UPDATE 7/18/05 - The Extremists at the LA Times are doing a marvelous job enhancing the image of Hamas, the most bloodthirsty of PLO terrorists. Insistently calling the killing of PLO terrorists "assassinations", a word they do not use in any other context in the war against terrorism, and referring to their leaders as "military commanders" (it takes a real "military commander" to shoot mortars and rockets at civilians - see 'Was this in your local media?'), today they again portray Israel as the aggressor and Hamas as the defender (7/18/05, "Israel Kills Another Hamas Member, Targets Two More", p.3 - read text). Hamas "military commanders" have been raining mortars and rockets on Israeli civilians for several consecutive days now. See 'Was this in your local media?' and JPost latest. An accurate headline would be "Hamas Continues To Fire Mortars And Rockets At Israeli Civilians, Two Members Killed In Ensuing Fighting With Israeli Forces". But accuracy and truth are not on the agenda of the extremists at the LA Times. Subscribers, it is time to dump these PLO extremists where they belong... in the trash. Please call 1-800-252-9141 to cancel your anti-Israel LA Times and let all your friends know about Join the Boycott. Thank you. Contact Join the Boycott at jointheboycott@lycos.com or go to http://www.geocities.com/truthmasters/jointheboycott.htm |
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YIN AND YANG OF MIDDLE EAST POLITICS
Posted by Steven Shamrak, July 19, 2005. |
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Just one day after the London bombings by Islamic terrorists, British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced, quite inappropriately, the G8?s 9 billion dollars 'aid package' to the Palestinian Authority (PA). For the next three years the infrastructure of terror will receive extra 3 billion dollars a year from Western countries. Arab Palestinian terrorists are so happy and grateful for this generous gift! To leave no doubt of their appreciation, they unleashed the suicide bombers and a rain of rockets on the Israeli population. What a 'wonderful' gift! I wonder how many more Jews will have to die more from bombs purchased using the money from Israel's "friends"? How many families of suicide bombers will receive generous pensions for the 'achievements' of their sons? How many Arab schools - actively propagating hate, martyrdom and Jihad - will benefit from this disgusting 'generosity'? Nobody pays attention to the fact that the same ideology of hate motivates Arab Palestinian terrorists in Israel and Al-Qaida 'militants' worldwide. Billions of dollars are flowing into the hands of PA terrorists each year. They promised peace at Oslo. But the terror never stopped! In 1992, United Nations Security Council Resolution 799 reinforces the Fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 to all the 'Palestinian' territories occupied by Israel since 1967, and affirms that deportation of [any] civilians constitutes a contravention of its obligations under the Convention. The resolution does not exclude Jews. Sharon and his cronies are in the process of violation of International Law! They must be charged with the crime against humanity and stand trial! The silence and inaction of the UN has exposed the deep anti-Semitic nature of the organization and has nullified the Law, which was adopted with the prime purpose - to prevent Jews from taking control over the Jewish ancestral land. Since the International community has not been objecting and even strongly supported the Sharon government intention to forcefully deport Jews from Gaza, the option of re-settlement of Arabs from the Jewish lands has became acceptable and legitimate from the point of view of International Law! The money can be better spent on repatriation of all Arab population from Jewish land to 22 Arab states. This is a viable option, not racism, and it has been used many times to resolve International conflicts. This could stop the Arab-Israel conflict. Nothing else has worked so far! This decisive action could send a strong message to Islamic terrorists and their masters in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria etc... - subscribers to the Islamic Expansionism, that the Western democracies are serious about War on Terror! But are they? Steven Shamrak was born in the former Soviet Union (USSR) and participated in the Moscow Zionist "refusenik" movement. For the last 3 years, he has been publishing internet editorial letters on the Arab-Israeli conflict - independently, not as a member of any organization or political movement. He can be reached by email at StevenShamrak_B@mail2world.com |
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TARGETED KILLING OF TERRORIST LEADERS: ISRAEL'S RIGHTS OF ASSASSINATION ACCORDING TO INTERNATIONAL LAW
Posted by Louis Rene Beres, July 18, 2005. |
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Following the latest deadly wave of Palestinian suicide bombings and multiple Kassam rocket attacks, Israel successfully assassinated several senior local leaders of the armed wing of Hamas - the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigade. According to Deputy Minister of Defense Zeev Boim, Israel will not hesitate to maintain its counter-terrorism policy of targeted killings so long as Hamas and its sister organizations insist upon maiming and murdering Jewish civilians. In response, much of the "civilized" world will likely argue self-righteously that Israel's resort to assassination as self-defense is "illegal." Indeed, even after the London bombings earlier this month by al-Qaeda elements that are allied with Hamas, and even after official American reliance upon assassination continues to expand, few world leaders will openly recognize the permissibility of targeted killings in protecting Israel against terror-violence. Scoffing at any notion of killing as remediation, these leaders will refuse to acknowledge that all available alternatives to assassination in fighting terrorism must surely involve much greater harms to innocent populations. The IDF-targeted Hamas terrorists were indisputably responsible for the callous and cowardly killings of many Israeli men, women and children. The absolute indiscriminacy of Palestinian terrorism - which IS an authentic violation of humanitarian international law - is never the product of inadvertence. Nor is it even a purely tactical judgment. Rather, it is the result of a profoundly hateful principle now embedded in the advancing view of JIHAD. In the recent words of Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, a prominent Muslim cleric in London: "We don't make a distinction between civilians and non-civilians, innocents and non-innocents. Only between Muslims and unbelievers. And the life of an unbeliever (a Jew or Christian) has no value. It has no sanctity." International law is not a suicide pact. Palestinian terorrists regularly give bloody effect to their flagrantly unheroic ideology of indiscriminate slaughter. Usually preferring the mutilation and burning of young Jewish children to any other targets, their primary "military objectives" have been greenhouses, malls, ice-cream parlors, buses and nursery schools. Israel, a country that is half the size of Lake Michigan, still lives under the constant shadow of several Arab/Islamic groups who deliberately target Jewish civilians. The preferred weapon of Palestinian terrorists is still a bomb filled with razor blades that have been lovingly dipped in rat poison. Even when the victims include Arabs, there are no apologies or regrets. Why should there be, as the Islamic authorites have ruled repeatedly that these "believers" are "martyrs" and (unlike the Jews and Christians whose lives have "no value") will be propelled by the blast straight into Heaven. Not a single Arab/Islamic terror group recognizes the right of Israel merely to remain "alive," and each terror group remains fully dedicated to the proposition that any sort of peace with Israel is an intolerable abomination to Islam. With these facts in mind, what can we now say more precisely about the status of Israel's openly expressed policy of assassination under international law? First, we must understand that Israel's current policy is being undertaken with determinable resignation and reluctance. For years, Israel had routinely capitulated to virtually every Palestinian demand and overlooked every blatant Palestinian violation, hoping thereby to secure a serious peace. The Arab/Islamic response had been a steady and planned escalation of frenzied bombings, lynchings and shootings. The cry "Slaughter the Jews" is still heard loudly in every corner of the Arab world, even after former Prime Minister Barak offered Arafat virtually every territorial concession imaginable and even after Prime Minister Sharon proceeds with "disengagement." What is Israel to do? Every state has the right and the OBLIGATION to protect its citizens. In certain circumstances, this right and obligation extend to assassination. This point is especially well understood in Washington, where every president in recent memory has given nodding or even direct approval to relevant "removal" operations, and where current assassination efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are hardly a secret. Moreover, when American presidents resort to assassination (which is, ironically, expressly forbidden by U.S. law) they are acting to defend the interests of the strongest state on Earth. Israel, half the size of an American lake, is not quite as strong. More than any other state in the world, Israel faces a real daily threat of national extermination. The Arab world, which even excludes Israel from ALL its maps, openly prefers the term "liquidation" whenever it speaks of "The Zionist Entity." According to the unamended Charter of Hamas, "There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad...I swear by that (sic) who holds in His hands the Soul of Muhammad: I indeed wish to go to war for the sake of Allah! I promise to assault and kill, assault and kill, assault and kill." Soon, Hamas and its sister terror groups will have access to chemical, biological and perhaps even "dirty bomb" nuclear weapons. Will it then be more legal for Israel to rely upon the tender mercies of the United Nations and thereby permit such an attack, or to exercise the life-saving option of assassination as anticipatory self-defense? If YOU, the reader, were a citizen of tiny Israel, what would you want your government to decide? To be sure, it is generally true that assassination is a crime under international law. Yet, in our decentralized system of world law, self-help by individual states is often necessary. In the absence of particular assassinations, terrorists would continue to wreak havoc against defenseless civilians in Israel, and would do so with utter impunity. Effectively immune to the proper legal expectations of extradition and prosecution (because the United Nations is always disinterested in justice for Israelis), these terrorists would continue to murder Jews with religiously-approved passion and incomparably ecstatic joy. Ignoring the ancient legal principle of NULLUM CRIMEN SINE POENE, "No crime without a punushment," the UN now worries assiduously about Israel's security fence, but does not even whisper a condemnation when Palestinian terrorists literally wash their hands in the blood of their victims (a scene filmed by a courageous Italian TV crew after the lynching of two Israelis in Ramallah several years ago). And while it is true that custody over terrorists may be achieved by forcible abduction and subsequent trial in domestic courts - an option recognized in United States law and exercised by Israel in its capture of mass-killer Marwan Barghouti - this remedy may cost a great many more innocent lives in the form of consequent terrorism. For now, the world still denies Israel access to wanted terrorists. Notwithstanding binding international legal obligations to extradite terrorists, few if any countries on our civilized planet would ever honor any proper Israeli requests for extradition. It follows that sometimes the only available remedy for justice available to Israel in its life or death struggle against barbarism lies in unilateral enforcement action. What if the terrorists should have "just cause?" Palestinian bombers and shooters who indiscriminately maim and burn Israelis think themselves to be fighting for decent objectives. But even if these objectives could be accepted under pertinent international law, the fiendish means used in their "military" operations can never be taken as lawful. The law of armed conflict makes it perfectly clear that the ends can never justify the means. A cause, even if it is legitimate, can never excuse the use of premeditated violence against the innocent. Never. By the standards of contemporary international law, terrorists are known as HOSTES HUMANI GENERIS or "Common enemies of humankind." In the fashion of pirates, who were to be hanged by the first persons into whose hands they fell, terrorists are international outlaws who fall within the scope of "universal jurisdiction." That Arab/Islamic terror-crimes are always directed specifically at Israel assuredly removes any doubts about the reasonableness of Jerusalem's authoritative jurisdiction. No doubt, assassination is normally an illegal remedy under international law. Yet, support for a limited right to assassination can be found in the classical writings of Aristotle, Plutarch and Cicero and even in Jewish history - ranging from the Sicarii (who flourished at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple) to Lehi (who fought the British mandatory authority). Should the civilized community of nations ever reject this right altogether, it will have to recognize that it would, in certain instances, be at an egregious expense of innocent human life. Still lacking any effective central global institutions to interpret and enforce the rules against terrorism, the existing law of nations must on occasion continue to rely on even the most objectionable forms of self-help. Assassination, subject to the applicable legal rules of discrimination, proportionality and military necessity, may sometimes be the least injurious form of available punishment. Where additional terrorist crimes are still being planned, as is certainly the case today among PLO/Fatah/Hamas/Hezbollah/Islamic Jihad, the permissibility of assassination is incontestably greater. This is the case because our world legal system is obligated to protect us all from clear and terrible infringements of our fundamental human rights, and because this system still has no independent centralized means to meet this obligation. With particular respect to Israel's rights, international law enforcement is shaped not by general considerations of justice, but rather by specific and irrefutably continuous bias against the Jewish State. In the best of all possible worlds, assassination would have no defensible place as counterterrorism. But we do not yet live in the best of all possible worlds, and the negative aspects of assassination should not be evaluated apart from all alternative options. Rather, such aspects should always be compared to those expected of these other options. If the expected costs of assassination appear lower than the costs of alternative counterterrorist options, then assassination must emerge as the rational choice. However odious it might appear in isolation, assassination in such circumstances could represent the least injurious path to improved safety from terrorism. Assassination, even of a terrorist, will almost always elicit indignation, ironically, even by those who would find full-scale warfare unobjectionable. Yet, the civilizational promise of modernity is far from realized, and imperiled states must inevitably confront choices between employing assassination in very residual circumstances or renouncing such employment at the expense of justice and safety. In facing such choices, these states, especially Israel, will discover that all viable alternatives to the assassination option also include violence, and that these alternatives may often exact a much larger toll in human life and suffering. Louis Rene Beres is the author of many books and scholarly articles dealing with international law and terrorism. His more than a quarter-century work on counterterrorism is well-known to American and Israeli military/intelligence communities. |
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DO YOU FEEL SAFER?
Posted by Arlene Peck, July 18, 2005. |
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Now that the "war on terrorism" is about to go into its fourth year, do you feel safer? I don't think so. Actually, I think we have been conned. Truly. This "war" against the bad guys is not so much a war against terrorists but really against an ideology from a culture that numbers 1.3 billion people. The soldiers in this war can be anyone from a 10 year-old trained to strap a bomb around his waist to a pregnant woman riding in a UN ambulance to supposedly give birth but, in reality, to move a bomb closer to the target. This is the enemy that our qualified soldiers are trained to fight in combat? No, folks. This enemy is breeding and reinventing itself constantly in the hate-filled schoolbooks that our good friends, the Saudis, and their Wahhabi brand of Islamism, are saturating the minds of their children and paying for the textbooks of their neighbors and fellow Muslims around the world against the Zionists in Israel and infidels in America. Unfortunately, the Israelis have had decades of violence and mindless, vicious attacks against them, their only 'crime' being the fact they are "the hated Jews". The Israelis understand the barbaric and backward mindset they are dealing with far better than anyone else, yet, even they continue to let themselves be "conned" by the carrot of "peace" which the Arabs periodically hold out while having absolutely no intent to fulfill any obligations. These people look upon a contract as only a negotiating tool. Can someone tell me why the world continues to be blind to the basic fact that the Arab-Muslims have written charters which are the basis by which they live today which they have never rescinded in pursuit of their primary objective to destroy Israel? Hamas's constitution, those good, peaceful people who just won the last election promise that "Israel will exist until Islam will obliterate it. " Lovely. The ACLU would love us to just play nice and not fight with them. I doubt if we, with our American mind-set, will ever understand the 12th century mentality with which we are dealing. No matter how many times we give in, force Israel to release yet more terrorists (not insurgents or militants) from the jails, or send in more aid to rebuild their society, most of which never see the light of day except in the deep pockets of their corrupt leadership. Nor will we recover for decades from the rape of our economy that is going on while we try and force 'democracy' on countries that hate and want to kill us. We will never understand this enemy. Our cultures are too far apart to ever relate to what is happening in terms of a realistic perspective. Europe has been slow to learn the lesson with the takeover of many of their cities. Paris, as we knew it, is no more. Amsterdam, London, and a dozen other cities which were "oh so politically correct" are polluted by their presence and now paying the price. I wonder if it would be possible to elect the Queen of Denmark who was the first world leader to speak out and say that Islam is a threat to the world. She further says that the Danes have handled everything wrong in the way they welcomed the Muslims and that they should now not be afraid to do things that the rest of the world will not approve of by abandoning "political correctness." Amen, Your Majesty. Even while watching American soldiers coming home in body bags, we have difficulty in relating to an enemy weaned on hatred, one which will never, no matter how much we deplete our budget to see them enjoying democracy, happiness and light, feel anything but jihad in their hearts. Actually, this is a culture that, I believe has only one message and they tell us at every opportunity of their goals: to subjugate us, kill us, destroy the 'infidels', whatever is necessary to achieve world domination of all nonbelievers. They tell us, yet, they are given a 'pass' because we are either too stupid or forgotten how to reason that we just can't or don't want to comprehend the lessons the Muslim culture aims to teach. Unfortunately, Israel, in addition to her hostile neighbors, has to contend with the leftist anti-Semitic press in the United States and around the world. The biased Los Angeles Times, in a recent editorial, was lamenting how the "Palestinians" are not able to go back and claim their jobs they once held in Israel before their 'intifada" Well, yeah. It's enough that the State Dept. and Bush and company have pressured Israel into opening the jails and letting these vermin out. Now, the feeling is they should enter the Israeli workforce? Actually, George W. & Company want Israel to also provide them with housing so he won't be blamed for having the American taxpayer foot the bill for the Muslim move-ins when they take over the Jewish neighborhoods. Wouldn't that be called a forced re-engagement with Israel providing the economic assistance, homes and jobs to the people who want to kill them? Meanwhile, the same paper that promotes this also has pictures showing these same barbarians burning American flags and rampaging and killing each other because one of them who could read a paper saw the article in Newsweek how their Koran had been flushed down the toilet. That apparently was enough to go out and kill dozens in a jihad among themselves despite no proof as yet that the incident even occurred and acknowledged by the same magazine. In fact, have any of you noticed that virtually every page in every newspaper is usually filled with the latest bombings, beheadings or rampages that this peaceful culture is doing? Where are their leaders condemning this kind of behavior? Unfortunately, that is probably in the game plan that Sharon and his incompetent leadership probably have in mind for the negotiations in store once the transfer of Jews by Jews is done. If I had my druthers, I'd close our borders to every Muslim even thinking about coming to our land regardless of the reasons for their entry. And, Israel should do the same but won't. However, it's not going to happen here either. The ACLU will rush in and sue everybody and there would be yet another United Nations resolution against Israel. One thing we can count on is predictability from the George W. having a hand holding hug-in with his Saudi friends, the Arab-Muslim bloc, the EU, the UN and the many non-governmental organizations, all of which cater to the Muslim 'line'. Heil Oil! The terrorists do not constitute a country. But, they surely do represent a culture with a hybrid head that splits into more and more constantly. Like cockroaches that scatter when the light shines on them, this is the enemy. I would love to find the answer as to why the nations of Islam stalled and froze in place sometime in the 12th century. Whatever the cause, that is where they are and, apparently, where they want to remain, picking up their Islamic crusade, hoping to finish off those whom they didn't get the first time around. Only if you are Jewish (or very friendly with Jews and therefore intuitively understand the Jewish mind) will you understand this reasoning: After months of negotiation with the authorities, a Talmudist from Odessa was finally granted permission to visit Moscow. He boarded the train and found an empty seat. At the next stop, a young man got on and sat next to him. The scholar looked at the young man and he thought: This fellow doesn't look like a peasant, so if he is no peasant he probably comes from this district. If he comes from this district, then he must be Jewish because this is, after all, a Jewish district. But on the other hand, since he is a Jew, where could he be going? I'm the only Jew in our district who has permission to travel to Moscow. Ahh, wait! Just outside Moscow there is a little village called Samvet, and Jews don't need special permission to go to Samvet But why would he travel to Samvet? He is surely going to visit one of the Jewish families there. But how many Jewish families are there in Samvet? Aha, only two - the Bernsteins and the Steinbergs. But since the Bernsteins are a terrible family, so such a nice looking fellow like him, he must be visiting the Steinbergs. But why is he going to the Steinbergs in Samvet? The Steinbergs have only daughters, two of them, so maybe he's their son-in-law. But if he is, then which daughter did he marry? They say that Sarah Steinberg married a nice lawyer from Budapest, and Esther married a businessman from Zhitomer, so it must be Sarah's husband. Which means that his name is Alexander Cohen, if I'm not mistaken. But if he came from Budapest, with all the anti-Semitism they have there, he must have changed his name. What's the Hungarian equivalent of Cohen? It is Kovacs. But since they allowed him to change his name, he must have special status to change it. What could it be? Must be a doctorate from the University. Nothing less would do. At this point, therefore, the scholar of Talmud turns to the young man and says, "Excuse me. Do you mind if I open the window, Dr. Kovacs?" "Not all all," answered the startled co-passenger. "But how is it that you know my name?" "Ahhh," replied the Talmudist, "It was obvious." |
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READ IT AND WEEP: SEPTEMBER 21, 1993 ARTICLE
Posted by IsrAlert, July 18, 2005. |
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This is called "Oversimplifying Israel's Alternatives." It was written by Paul Eidelberg and was published September 21, 1993. Professor Eidelberg is president of the Foundation for Constitutional Democracy. He can be reached by mail at 244 Madison Avenue, Suite 427, New York, NY 10016, Tel: 212-372-3752, and by email at Constitution@usa.net Conrad Black, chairman of the Toronto-based Hollinger Group which purchased The Jerusalem Post in 1989, dissents from the editor's [David Bar-Illan's] negative attitude vis-à-vis the Israel-PLO agreement. Though well aware of the "unsavory" character of the PLO, he contends that this agreement "is a choice between the possibility of peace and the certainty of escalated conflict." Escalated because, in his opinion: "The alternative to this agreement is to be interminably mired in an insurrection whose leadership will pass to people even more vile and primitive than Arafat." Assuming there are such people among the Arab Palestinians--and those who have knowledge of Arafat's character as well as of his countless crimes have reason to doubt that assumption--what kind of people are these Arabs that they could cultivate and be ruled by such monsters? Even Yossi Sarid, in an article published in Ha'aretz on August 17, 1990, found the candor to suggest that these Arabs, if only because they supported Saddam Hussein, do not deserve self-determination or a state of their own (which he nonetheless continued to advocate). No doubt Mr. Black fears that in the absence of the Israel-PLO agreement the leadership of the insurrection would pass to Hamas. It could be argued, however, that if these Islamic fundamentalists succeeded the PLO, not only would this unite the Jewish people, but the West might very well take the side of Israel if it suppressed the intifada. (Only recall the sigh of relief in Washington and Europe when the Algerian army suppressed the Islamic Salvation Front after this fundamentalist party won a landslide victory in Algeria's December 1991 experiment in multiparty elections.) But let us come to the central issue raised by Mr. Black: Was there no practical alternative to the Israel-PLO agreement? Here one should first examine the terms of that agreement--its "Declaration of Principles," especially Article V, Section 3, which states: "It is understood that these negotiations [between Israel and the 'Palestinian Interim Self-Government Authority'] shall cover remaining issues, including Jerusalem, refugees, [Jewish] settlements, security arrangements [and] borders ..." I submit that for the Rabin government to have made these issues negotiable is tantamount to a complete abdication to Arab demands. To make Jerusalem negotiable is to undermine the spiritual integrity and ultimately the survival power of the Jewish people. It is to make the city they have ever turned to in prayer and yearning--which cannot be said of Muslims--a mere bargaining chip, something to haggle over. Also at stake and up for sale are the Jewish "settlements," the homes of 125,000 Jewish men, women, and children--to say nothing of another 125,000 Jews who live beyond the pre-1967 borders. These Jews are not about to live under the Arab Palestinian state that will inevitably emerge from the dictat called the Israel-PLO agreement. They will either fight for their homes or, what is more likely, they will be subjected to a policy of "transfer," a policy tacitly advocated by Shimon Peres. The resulting demoralization of Israel would be devastating. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Arab "refugees" will gradually return to Judea and Samaria--may I still use these names for the heart of the Jewish homeland? These refugees will not be flower children. One can be certain that the new Palestinian state will either seek to expand, eastward and westward, or will become an instrument of Syria's regional ambitions. Two-thirds of Jordan's population are "Palestinians." Add Israel's 800,000 Arab citizens, the vast majority of which not only identify themselves as "Palestinians," but supported Saddam Hussein despite his threat to incinerate half of Israel! In view of the preceding, one cannot intelligently consider whether there was any practical alternative to the Israel-PLO agreement until one thoroughly examines the actual provisions of that agreement, especially those mentioned above. If no agreement was possible unless the Rabin government surrendered to PLO demands regarding Jerusalem, Arab refugees, and Jewish "settlements," then that government places Arab interests above Jewish interests and therefore constitutes the greatest threat to the Jewish people. As for Mr. Black's certainty about "escalated conflict" in the absence of the Israel-PLO agreement, two things may be said. First, escalated conflict in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza may be the lesser of two evils, the greater evil being the inability of a truncated Israel to survive a future war with its Arab enemies. Second, the notion of "escalated conflict" is a consequence of the fact that Israel's government, whether led by the Likud or by Labor, has never sought to quell the intifada. To the contrary, the government allowed the intifada's key leaders--for example, Faisal Husseini and Sari Nusseibeh--to roam at large, inciting Arabs to kill Jews. These Arab leaders were needed to effectuate the Shamir--now the Rabin--"autonomy plan." Husseini, the PLO's key representative in Judea and Samaria, was needed to coordinate negotiations between Israel's government, the PLO in Tunis, and the United States. Hence the intifada had to continue, though at a "tolerable" level of violence. Be this as it may, to say that "escalated violence" is the only alternative to the Israel-PLO plan is to say, in effect, that Israel must ever appease her militant Arab neighbors. Finally, let us not succumb to the excuse of politicians who use the bogeyman of "American pressure" to conceal their ineptitude and lack of intestinal fortitude. The truth is that the Rabin-Peres government, in the name of "peace" and "democracy," abdicated its responsibilities to the Jewish people and surrendered to Arab mafiosos who know nothing of peace and nothing of democracy except how to use these soporifics to deceive and disarm the unwary. Harv Weiner, a businessman in Dallas, Texas, is the founder and moderator of Isralert. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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RADICAL ISLAMIST ISRAELI ARAB RALLY TODAY
Posted by Marlene Young, July 18, 2005. |
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This is a news item from Haaretz; it is archived at www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/601615.html Tens of thousands of Israeli Arabs freely traveled today to the Gallil to demonstrate in honor of pro-Terrorist Radical Islamist leader Sheikh Salah. A mass Rally was held for Sheikh Raeed Salah Monday evening in the Umm al-Fahm soccer stadium. Though thousands of Jewish Israeli citizens have been denied their Democratic right to protest, have been denied the right to travel to the site of a planned protest, have been blockaded across Israel, have been blockaded in Netivot, have been arrested, have had their licenses revoked, have been thrown in jail for "insulting" police officers, and other abuses- TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ARABS TRAVELED TO A MASS RALLY TO CELEBRATE RADICAL ISRAELI ISLAMIC LEADER SHEIKH RAEED SALAH'S RELEASE FROM JAIL SUNDAY. SHEIKH SALAH HAD BEEN IN JAIL FOR TWO YEARS FOR HIS TIES TO PA TERROR GROUP HAMAS AND FOR INCITEMENT OF HATE AND VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH AGAINST JEWS IN ISRAEL. "A mass reception is to be held for Sheikh Raeed Salah Monday
evening in the Umm al-Fahm soccer stadium. The city, which began
preparations for his return a few days ago, was festooned with
pictures of the Islamic leader, who is known locally as "Sheikh
al-Aqsa." The first floor of his house had been floored with marble by
volunteers from the town, and the parking area was hung with brightly
colored ribbons. Salah said on his release from prison Sunday that he
would not be deterred from violating the terms of his parole, which
bars him from coming to Jerusalem during the next four months without
special police permission."
Contact Marlene Young by email at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com
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| GUSH KATIF |
GRAVE MISTAKES
Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, July 18, 2005. |
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It appears that Israel stands poised at the brink. It's both an awesome and frightening position to be in, but for many of us there is a sense of impending salvation in the air. Indeed, for the pro-active Jew, a moment of truth presents us with the opportunity to anticipate and participate in an expected miracle. That's hardly an unrealistic approach or deluded messianic outlook. Rather, it's a hopefulness founded on an historic precedent which has proven itself time and time again. And it is this unflappable faith which has carried us through a challenging and difficult journey through time. Ironically, our greatest mistakes have not occurred during a moment of crisis, but rather after the victory. Because when drunk with success, we often forget who truly granted us the achievement, strength and skills; and instead we choose to bestow heroic status on some very human and fallible personalities. 1967 was such a time. G-d handed us a momentous, stunning and miraculous triumph against our enemies. But no sooner had General Motta Gur declared that, "The Temple Mount is in our hands", when General Moshe Dayan lowered the Israeli flag and handed over control of the area to the Moslem Wakf - as a good will gesture. In retrospect, it was a terrible mistake spawned by the kind of bravado and headiness that seems to accompany the very best of our sabra generals and politicians. The risk-taking, negligence and godlessness manifests itself not only on the political and military fronts, but on the home front as well... At the time, many of Israel's top military men lived in the neighborhood of Zahala and, at the war's end, the celebrated heroes brought souvenirs in the form of rifles, automatic weapons, grenade shells, bullets and gunpowder to their little ones at home. The 9 -12 year-old boys of Zahala weren't often found on the soccer fields, but you could find them wheeling and dealing in the firearms trade. In the summer of 1967, eleven-year old Gur Sharon trumped all of his buddies by declaring, "My Abba gave me five guns". A couple of months later, tragedy struck. On Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the year, Arik Sharon's first-born son, from his first wife, was dead from a bullet wound. Details are sketchy, but it seems that somehow Gur and a friend managed to get a bullet into the chamber of a shotgun. Arik Sharon was home at the time, and Gur died in his arms. I don't know what the laws were 38 years ago, but in today's world a 'lesser' man may have been brought up on charges of criminal negligence. Seems that the following day, the mothers of Zahala went on a weapons-collecting rampage. They dumped the contraband, some of which included their husbands' personal and army-issued firearms, in front of the guardhouse outside of Moshe Dayan's home. Sharon left the neighborhood a short time thereafter. Some of you may think that in recounting the circumstances surrounding such a personal tragedy, that I've hit below the belt - or even taken aim at Sharon's achilles heel. But these words are meant to pierce the hearts of those who still feel that Arik Sharon, the former general and war hero, is immune to human failings. He's as vulnerable and as capable of committing grave errors as the rest of us - maybe even more so. It's a given that the confidence, independence and willingness to take risks that can propel an individual towards greatness are the very same traits that can push him towards destruction. It could be that the real military heroes of today are those who are man enough to swallow some of that army-issued pride and allegiance and admit that the State of Israel is headed for trouble, that our leadership is being reckless, and that Sharon's Gaza disengagement plan is a disaster in the making. The following is a more-than-impressive list of just some of our military heroes who are man enough to take a stand against disengagement: former Chief of Staff General Moshe Ya'alon Joining them are growing ranks of soldiers of lesser rank, our religious leaders, us common folk with common sense, and the rare politician. I fall into the sub-category of concerned mothers against disengagement. My position is complex, but hardly unique. I've got a son serving in an elite unit of the paratroopers. A couple of weeks ago, he assured me that he wouldn't be participating in the uprooting of Jews from their homes on D-day, as his unit has been assigned to stopping the mortars and rockets emanating from the terrorist's territory in Gaza. After trying to digest the fact that my son would be assigned to preventing rocket attacks which on one hand would save Jewish lives, but on the other hand would facilitate in a smoother implementation of Sharon's plans, I decided to ask a my rabbi's advice. Now my rabbi is a hardcore proponent of the JEWS DO NOT EXPEL JEWS position. I was sure that my dilemma was sure to cross his eyes. But, without missing a beat, he looked directly at me and said, "In this case, your son will be saving Jewish lives, so he can't refuse." The decision has been accepted, but still I'm concerned because my son's life is prone to the whims and orders of a man whose plans and direction appear to be reckless and negligent. It's times like these that faith in G-d is indispensable. I didn't let my son play with guns when he was a child. My son was raised to be responsible, to love his G-d, Land and Torah; and to guard and respect his life and the lives of his brethren. He knows where and who the enemy is. But do you, Arik? Ellen W. Horowitz is the author of the "The Oslo Years: a mother's journal." The book is available through retailers listed at http://osloyears.com/retail.htm |
| GUSH KATIF |
POLICE PREVENT PROTESTERS FROM ARRIVING AT RALLY
Posted by Hillel Fendel and Ezra HaLevi, July 18, 2005. |
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Buses on their way to the mass rally in Netivot against the disengagement/expulsion plan have been stopped and turned back - even though the rally has been declared legal. Activists are not deterred. A police statement released shortly after noon Monday explains the reason for the reversal of an earlier decision to permit the mass rally: "According to information that has been presented to the Israel Police Commissioner and his senior staff, the organizers and participants of the march plan to violate the law. Therefore, it has been decided to prevent the participants from reaching the area and creating a situation that will disturb the police from carrying out the evacuation." Police teams set out for central locations around the country, especially in Judea and Samaria, and erected checkpoints to stop buses headed for the rally. Arutz-7's Kobi Sela reports that one of the policemen asked his commanding officer which clause he could cite to order the bus to turn around. The commander said that he should say it's an order of the IDF Commander. The police have apparently not found a legal basis on which to turn back the buses, and have therefore decided merely to delay them, in the hope that fewer people will arrive at the planned demonstration in the Negev town of Netivot. Indeed, in the late afternoon, police in Jerusalem began allowing buses to depart for the rally. Police Superintendent Elisha Kogan told Arutz-7 that the police see it within their jurisdiction to prevent protesters from arriving at the legal rally due to the suspicion that they will later try to enter Gush Katif. "They intend to prevent the disengagement," Kogan said. Police officers and border police have threatened bus drivers with the revocation of their licenses if they attempt to drive their passengers to the rally. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had announced Sunday that he expects security forces to prevent activists from reaching Gush Katif by using "the severest possible measures." Regarding the blocking of tens of thousands of protesters from reaching the site of the demonstration, MK Dr. Uzi Landau (Likud Party) said on Monday: "I am becoming more and more convinced that Sharon is intentionally inflaming the situation; he is deliberately and purposefully inciting the citizens of Israel, the IDF, and the police against the residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, against the religious and against his political opponents. The Prime Minister maliciously wants to bring about a clash." Labor Party Leader MK Shimon Peres justified the police blockage of protesters from reaching the rally: "They should stop telling stories about a protest. This is not a protest. This is a disturbance of the security forces, preventing them from carrying out their duties, including protecting the residents of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza themselves." Over one thousand buses are scheduled to take participants to the rally from around the country, and many have already set out on their way. Buses have been blocked in Modi'in, Petach Tikvah, Netanya, Bnei Brak, Givat Shmuel, Migdal HaEmek, Ma'alot, Haifa, Zichron Yaakov, Kiryat Shemonah, Upper Nazareth and Kfar Saba. In Jerusalem, passengers were ordered off tens of buses, some of which had already set out toward the march. In Haifa, all of the bus passengers boarded hired cabs and private vehicles in the direction of Netivot and the Kisufim Crossing. "Not one demonstrator turned around and went home," reported Haifa Land of Israel Headquarters activist Aviad Vissouly. Chabad activists in Tzfat and Bat Yam have set out in private vehicles toward Netivot. A group of activists from the Victims of Arab Terror organization managed to circumvent police obstructions and arrive in Netivot by 4 PM. MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) said, "If police stop the protesters from arriving, they will simply start walking by foot and block the traffic in that way. If the protesters can't travel, no one will be able to travel." Eldad is a strong proponent of civil disobedience against the expulsion/withdrawal plan. The Yesha Council issued a statement condemning the move and encouraging protesters to make their way to the rally by other means. The statement read: "We are calling upon all opponents of the uprooting/expulsion plan, blocked by the police by direct order from the Sharon family, to come to Netivot using every possible mode of transport, whether by car, by foot or by train. The dictatorial manner in which the police are deployed to prevent the march will not succeed." The Women in Green organization said the police blockage of buses to the very protest rally that they earlier approved demonstrates that "Sharon has truly become a dictator, and that he has turned Israel into a police state." The organization is calling upon activists to use private vehicles to travel directly to Gush Katif. During a closed-door meeting of the Likud Party, angry yelling was heard directed toward Prime Minister Sharon, demanding answers as to why buses were being prevented from reaching the rally. In the city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, policemen went around to the various locations from where buses were supposed to set out, and confiscated the bus drivers' licenses. Hundreds of Bat Yam residents who had planned to go to Netivot to demonstrate lawfully against the disengagement are now stranded, trying to plan their next move. One of them, Nissim, told Arutz-7, "We are hundreds of people here outside the synagogue, while the police have started a hunt for buses. We are hoping to go to Netivot by private cars, and if that doesn't work out, we plan to march by foot en masse to the Ayalon Highway." In Jerusalem, Shifra Hoffman of the Victims of Arab Terror organization told Arutz-7 that security officials directed police officers to confiscate the drivers licenses of bus drivers, preventing her group from arriving at a special ceremony in Netivot for the terror victims. Hoffman said: "A police officer crouched down near the tire of our bus and told the driver that he had to take the bus in to be fixed. The driver said it was a blatant lie and that he had just had the bus overhauled. I snapped a picture of the man instructing the officers to make up these stories. People must realize we are truly living in police state." Another Bat Yam protester told Arutz-7 that the policeman who stopped his bus told him that he is fully aware that he was fulfilling an illegal order, but that the order does not qualify as "blatantly illegal," as is the requirement for an order to be disobeyed. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was asked by the BBC Monday afternoon whether the methods being used to prevent the protest did not call Israel's status as a democracy into question. "This is not a regular legitimate protest, the government has decided to withdraw from Gaza and this demonstration goes against the decision of the absolute majority and is illegitimate," Olmert said. The IDF and police are sending 12,000 soldiers & policemen to guard today's planned march - and to prevent the marchers from making their way to Gush Katif. The feared clash will not occur today. The three-day event begins in Netivot this afternoon with a prayer rally, and the expected thousands will then begin marching towards Kfar Maimon, some ten kilometers (6 miles) away. The marchers will continue tomorrow morning towards the southwest, with the goal of reaching Gush Katif, or at least the Kisufim Crossing entrance thereof, on Wednesday. Police officials and representatives from the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha) met yesterday to coordinate the event, and reached an agreement on most of the issues. Abruptly last night, however, the police announced that the opening ceremony would be approved, but the march would be illegal. The Yesha Council announced in turn that the march would take place as planned, but with two conditions: No violence, and wherever the police stop them, there they sit down and encamp. The police announced today that they would not stop the marchers on their way to Kfar Maimon. In practice, however, the police blocked thousands of cars and buses from reaching the site of the rally. Council officials said that the police decision not to allow the march in its entirety is a "surrender to the dictates of the Sharon family." Yesha Council head Bentzy Lieberman told Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi that the opponents of the disengagement "have been left with no way of protesting legitimately, because everything we try becomes outlawed." The 12,000 policemen and soldiers set out last night and this morning to deploy in the area. Some of them will be stationed in the fields around the Gaza Strip, in an attempt to prevent Jews from entering Gush Katif. Leading rabbis, Knesset Members and public figures will head the march. This is in order to grant it a stature that it might not have otherwise had, and to prevent violence between the police and marchers. Dozens of youths made their way to Netivot and Kfar Maimon this
morning to prepare for the march. They will be erecting temporary
structures to house and sleep the expected tens of thousands.
Hillel Feldel is editor of Arutz-7
(www.IsraelNationalNews.com); Ezra HaLevi is staff writer. Both
stories appeared in today's Arutz-7.
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| GUSH KATIF |
ARIEL SHARON BLOCKS OUR DEMOCRATIC RIGHT TO PROTEST
Posted by Marlene Young, July 18, 2005. |
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NEWS ITEM Arutz-7: "Buses on their way to the mass rally in Netivot against the disengagement/expulsion plan have been stopped and turned back - even though the rally has been declared legal." Who will stand up to save Israel's Democracy? Buses around the country filled with law-abiding Israeli citizens are being blocked by Police and prevented from traveling the roads. The busdrivers are having their licenses confiscated. These blockades of buses are before protests or demonstrations take place. Checkpoints are being set up all over Israel preventing freedom of movement and blockading of law-abiding Israeli citizens. These checkpoints prevent the freedom of movement of thousands of law-abiding Israelis before any law is broken and before they protest or reach a demonstration. Yesterday, Ariel Sharon demanded that Tens of thousands of Police and IDF act with utmost force against law-abiding Israeli citizens who dare oppose him- a larger force than he has ever sent to simultaneously act against PA terrorists and criminals. TO THIS DAY, ARIEL SHARON HAS NEVER USED UTMOST FORCE AGAINST THE PA CORRUPT REGIME AND PA TERROR GROUPS - HAMAS, ISLAMIC JIHAD AND FATAH/AL AQSA MARTYRS BRIGADES. Yesterday, Ariel Sharon commanded the Police to deny all Legal Permits to protests against the Disengagement Plan. Thousands of Israeli citizens are having their Democratic right to protest, and their FREEDOM OF SPEECH denied. {Note, that this has never been done to the Israeli public before they even reach a rally, nor to Radical Leftist anti-Fence protesters, Gay Parades, Radical Islamic rallies in the Gallil of which one is taking place today, and Labor Histadrut strikes that shut down the country} Had Ariel Sharon sent tens of thousands of troops to act with utmost force against Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad at the beginning of the Intefadah, or even now, not only would thousands of Israeli citizens injuries and deaths been prevented, but "Disengagement", giving away Jewish land to appease terror groups, could not be an option. Sharon, Peres, Weisglass, Mofaz and Mazuz have kept the sword of Palestinian terror hanging over the heads of Israelis so that lulls in terror can be used to Blackmail the Public into concessions to the PA that benefits their Leftist agendas and power, Leftist-controlled business ventures with PA business monopolies and investment funds. Contact Marlene Young by email at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com |
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IS THIS BROADCASTING RESPONSIBLE?; GAZA HOTEL
EXPULSION; CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, July 18, 2005. |
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IS THIS RESPONSIBLE BROADCASTING? British Channel 4 News interviewed favorably the Chechen terrorist leader of the Beslan massacre. He rationalized Chechen terrorism (not that Russia acts much better). He promised more such massacres. The interviewer warmly thanked the man for appearing. Russia's Foreign Ministry protested to the station that such broadcasting is irresponsible. Station executives denied it (MEPF from Miriam Gardner of American yated Neeman). U.S. INSECURITY It was only by chance that a certain man whom the FBI wanted for terrorist activity was arrested. It turned out that he had a job on a bridge in New York City, whose Bridge & Tunnels Authority does not do background checks on ordinary workers at its sensitive facilities (Miriam Gardner of American Yated Neeman, e-mail). IN A SMALL SOUTHERN TOWN An Arab-speaking, non-Muslim intelligence networker heard that a mosque in a town near where she was, would have two sessions: one for men, in Arabic, and an hour later, another for women, in English. She came an hour early and got permission to sit there reading, though unbeknownst to them, she was listening. The men talked about their efforts both to sabotage ethnic profiling and to wage military jihad, including against US troops in Iraq. The imam praised all their efforts. At one point, one of the men worried that the American woman present might hear their incriminating statements. The imam mistakenly assured him that she did not speak Arabic. Then, at the meeting of women, who included some new converts and proselytes, the imam did a turnabout. He stressed not jihad against other faiths but cooperation with them. He thus demonstrated an Islamic form of duplicity in America - pretending to potential American converts that Islam would be constructive, while assisting diehard Muslims in their destructive struggle against America (Op. Cit.). ABBAS WON'T COOPERATE IN MUTUAL BUILDING Israel has also offered to coordinate with the PA the economic aspects of the disengagement. Such coordination would ensure that the Palestinians would get the hothouses and other agricultural and industrial assets left behind by the Gaza settlers intact and ready to operate, to the great benefit of the Palestinian economy. The PA has thus far refused to discuss such coordination, thereby endangering the integrity of those assets after the Israeli withdrawal (Ibid.). "Israel has offered to build a rail link between the West Bank and Gaza, a rail link from Erez to Ashdod, to coordinate the running of the Erez crossing with the PA, to discuss with the PA the resumption of the operation of the Erez industrial park, to discuss the completion and operation of the Gaza seaport, to discuss with the PA the admission to Israel on a daily basis of tens of thousands of Palestinian workers from Gaza and the West Bank after the completion of the disengagement, all with a view to help the Palestinian economy and stability. Israel also offered to discuss with the PA the construction of new roads? (Although Israel has made clear that it would allow the PA to designate the locations and routes of the new roads, the PA has described Israel's offer as a scheme for consolidating its hold over the West Bank and has refused to discuss it.)" (Ibid..) Israel was trying to make peace by spending money on the aggressors. GAZA HOTEL EXPULSION - ANOTHER VIEW Background: Although the expulsion from Gaza was not supposed to begin until August, the Sharon regime decided upon a dress rehearsal more than a month earlier. It claimed that dangerous resisters were ensconcing themselves in the run-down or abandoned Palm Beach Hotel, hence the military pulled them out. That is the official story. I heard from non-Establishment sources that the military pulled all the people out, abandonment-resisters and other people alike. Police practiced their usual brutality, which the media did not publicize much. News brief: Nadia Matar, in charge of the hotel, tells her story. The Army bid on renting the hotel. The hotel would have afforded it spacious, centrally located accommodations for a headquarters, with access to the sea, during its expulsion mission. The owners preferred renting to Matar's organization. This outcome upset the military's plan. It now had no legal right to use the hotel. Playing dirty (as Sharon usually does), the Sharon regime tried to delegitimize the residents by defamation and provocation. It sought an excuse to oust the residents and by force. The pretext started to build up in the form of an attack on some residents by Arab stone-throwers. The Jews defended themselves well, chasing away the Arabs. The media presented the incident as an attack by Jews on the Arabs. (Such rarely happens, for it is almost always the Arabs who attack the Jews, but the Arabs and the media lie about it.) Every day there were reports about hotel residents acting dangerous. Actually, the residents were renovating the hotel. "The tours that we gave the media - to show them that we were busy with the new kindergarten, the kitchen, the establishment of the study hall, and the wine and cheese evening to connect with the residents of Gush Katif - were all to no avail. According to the reports in the media, Maoz Yam had become the Number One danger in the State of Israel." Then the Army destroyed dozens of abandoned houses, two kilometers from the hotel, contending that they otherwise would fill up with opponents of abandonment. (Probably true.) They moved on the day that people were attending the funeral of two youths murdered by terrorists. Mourners thought that the Army should destroy the houses of the terrorists, instead. Usually, when the government tears down "illegal outposts," patriots rebuild them. This happened, again. Neighboring Arabs threw stones at some Jewish girls there. One girl was injured, but this was not publicized. The Army's duty was to protect its innocent citizens, arrest the assailants, and restore order. Instead, the Army waited for new violence. The civilians defended themselves vigorously. The media, however, complained again, and again falsely, that Jews had attacked the Arabs. It fabricated a myth of a Jewish lynching of an Arab. It mostly ignored an Arab-leftist anti-security fence protest elsewhere that took out the eye of a soldier. For the poor soldier, that incident was indeed dangerous. The false reports of lynching became the Army's pretext for clearing out the hotel, although no connection was shown between the misrepresented incidents there and the hotel. The regime maneuvered hastily reacting Jewish nationalists into condemning the Jewish "stone-throwers." Matar anticipates continued defamation. She fears that a secret service agent will shoot an official, and the security forces will claim that Jewish nationalists did (Winston Mid East Report, 7/6) as was done with Rabin. THE COURT MARTIAL OF IDF CORPORAL BIEBER Cpl. Bieber was convicted of refusing an order to destroy some structures in Gaza. He is appealing the sentence. The appeal claims: (1) Insufficient time to prepare the case; (2) Denial of the right to call defense witnesses; (3) Court reliance upon evidence from hearsay, the media, and over the telephone; (4) Discrepancy between the charge - refusing an order to take part - and what he was convicted for - refusing to provide security for the tractors used in the operation. Defense claims that the officer who ordered Bieber to stay in his vehicle was not allowed to testify. Bieber's commander was allowed to testify, but when he supported Bieber, the court martial officer threatened the commander's career, and ignored the testimony (Arutz-7, 7/6). The Army acts as if this were a matter of obeying military orders. I think it is a political matter of gratuitous violence and betrayal of fellow Jews. If so, following orders is the crime. ISRAEL AGREES TO BEING BISECTED One of the Oslo provisions most dangerous for Israel was the one calling for "safe passage" for Arabs between Gaza and Judea. Since the Arabs continued making war, it never was implemented, lest Arab terrorists and job-seekers pretend to be crossing but actually stay in Israel. It also would bisect Israel (and take territory away from Israel, without compensation). Now Israel has agreed to escort Arabs' vehicles across and later build a special railroad or highway for the purpose, if outsiders pay the expense (Arutz-7, 7/6). ISRAEL AGREES TO FURTHER MILITARIZATION OF SINAI Under cover of combating arms smuggling, Israel has agreed to allow Egypt another means of fortifying the Sinai, besides the heavily armed troops already agreed to. The new concession against the Egypt-Israel treaty would allow Egypt to build a military port in the coastal area of El Arish. Israel's rationalization for not considering the port dangerous is that it would be a movable one, so it could be removed. IMRA points out that cannon and missile launchers can be moved, too, but that makes their placement no less dangerous. And what if the port is not moved? Again, as with the other concessions, the government is pretending that the change is not sufficient to require bringing it before the Knesset for approval. The leftist Attorney-General is expected to go along with this pretense (IMRA, 7/6 or 7/7). One by one, Sharon agrees to all the dangerous concessions demanded by the US or by the Arabs, and flouts democratic rule. The regime's rationalizations are feeble attempts at logic, obviously warped. Israel needs its own democratic government, one run by sane and patriotic people. CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS To those who didn't yet realize that we are in a clash of civilizations, the bombing of London is another lesson. But the West is not acting against S. Arabia, which finances international terrorism (Winston Mid East Analysis, 7/7). A "NY Sun" journalist commented that the bombing was not the British "911", because Britain is not going to take the strong action that the US did against Afghanistan. It may tighten police and immigration procedures and remove incendiary mullahs. That means that the government now must monitor mosque sermons. Better not to allow mosques and their parishioners. REPORTING ABBAS' NONSENSE UNQUESTIONINGLY P.A. head, Abbas, "harshly condemned the bombing (of Netanya) as 'a crime against the Palestinian people,' but he did not mention Islamic Jihad (the perpetrators) specifically. 'No true patriot could carry out this kind of action just before Israel withdraws' from Gaza, he said. 'Those who are responsible must be punished.'" Based on this further bombing, "Sharon's critics are sure to demand that he postpone or call off the withdrawal." However, "The government said the attack would not derail its planned withdrawal." (Steven Erlanger & Greg Myre, NY Times, 7/13, p.6.) The P.A. has added to the curriculum an educational program lauding female bomber Wafa Idris. The P.A. named a UNICEF-funded girls camp and a concert after her, too (Arutz-7, 7/7.) Like Arafat, Abbas tells the West he condemns the attack. By not naming the attackers, however, he takes the sting out of it. They understand he is pretending to the West he opposes terrorism, because he usually adulates Arab human bombs. They also know that he never has punished those responsible for terrorism, and has vowed not to. Indeed, he rewards some of them with jobs! Thus he favors terrorism, but the "Times" lets him pose as an opponent of terrorism. Nor was his condemnation of the attack over its brutality against innocent people. His concern is that it might warn Israel not to leave Gaza to the P.A.. Leaving Gaza to the P.A. would enable the terrorists to cause many more casualties than the few attacks that preceded the withdrawal. He need not call off the terrorists for now -- the Sharon regime reassures him that such attacks will not cause it even to pause in its withdrawal. If the Israeli regime were even semi-patriotic, it would tell the P.A. that starting in X weeks, it needs two years free of terrorist attacks, to prove P.A. peaceful intentions, before it withdrew. (A truly patriotic regime would not withdraw at all.) If there still were attacks after X weeks, the withdrawal would be called off. DRAWBACK TO DEMOCRATIZATION OF P.A.? The P.A. process of democratizing frees Hamas from having to yield any of its terrorist doctrine or arms, to gain entr@eacute;e to governance. Hamas wishes to show that in withdrawing anyway, Israel acknowledges it cannot win militarily. In order to impress Hamas and its own people, the P.A. condones terrorism. By condoning terrorism, the P.A. forfeits concessions, thereby disappointing the Arabs (Jewish Political Chronicle, 5/2005, p.7 from Anat Kurz, Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, 5/15/05). The P.A. is not democratizing but just opening the elections to other terrorists. ISRAELI PRISON BRUTALITY Opponents of the Sharon abandonment plan are given undeserved, extralegal punishment in prison, such as beatings and solitary confinement for no offense. The brutality is pervasive. There are many cases of false arrest - no charges, prompt releases, harassment (Arutz-7, 7/7). I believe the reports. The protesters take great risks for principles, and act accordingly. By contrast, the Arabs, who do not subscribe to Western notions of principle, routinely and falsely complain about mistreatment in US and Israeli prisons, for propaganda and under Al-Qaeda orders. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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NY TIMES CAPTION ERROR: False and misleading captions from the
Times' online and print editions
Posted by Honest Reporting, July 18, 2005. |
The New York Times Online is currently running this photo as the leader on its Mideast slide show: The caption indicates that Israel destroyed this armored car with children in the immediate vicinity. But in fact, it was Hamas that set the vehicle on fire, as indicated by other major news agencies: AFP, Reuters, Associated Press. Moreover, two Palestinian children were killed on this day (July 15) from battles between Hamas and the PA. UPDATE 7/20: In response to this HR communique, The Times has corrected the caption, and published a print correction: A picture caption on nytimes.com on Saturday with an article about attacks on Hamas militants in Gaza described the scene incorrectly. It showed a Palestinian police tank involved in a battle with Hamas militants, not the attack on Hamas militants earlier in the day by Israeli forces. The front page of The Times' print edition this Saturday (July 16) featured this same picture, also with a misleading caption: "New Clashes Undermine Israeli-Palestinian Truce" A day after Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks, Israel resumed targeted killing of Hamas militants in the West Bank and Gaza. Also in Gaza, a Palestinian police vehicle burned during a police battle with Hamas. Page 3 Both the headline and the first line of this caption suggest that Israel targeted the armored vehicle. Only the second sentence of the caption clarifies the real story - that this is a scene of internal Palestinian fighting. Please send comments to The New York Times: letters@nytimes.com
Honest Reporting monitors the media for inaccuracy and unfairness
in how they report the news about Israel. Ther website address is
http://www.honestreporting.com. You can help support their research
online or by sending contributions to: HonestReporting, 400 South Lake
Drive, Lakewood, NJ 08701-3167. The original article has live links to
additional material.
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| GUSH KATIF |
LEGAL BRILLIANCE
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, July 18, 2005. |
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This is a example of the legal brilliance we can expect under Israeli DeMockracy. No one is judged according to the law or the evidence but on the basses of perceived political dissidence. According to the logic of this Police State lackey, it is legitimate to kidnap and torture children in order to get to their parents. This is called "14-Year-Old Imprisoned Until Conclusion of Proceedings For Being Rude to Police Officer," and was a news item from today's Arutz Sheva - www.IsraelNationalNews.com. It is archived at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=86007 (IsraelNN.com) A 14-year-old girl, suspected of involvement in blocking roads to protest the Disengagement, has been ordered to be held in prison until the conclusion of proceedings against her, for being rude to a police officer. The girl refused to leave her friend, who was being arrested for blocking the road and when a female police officer repeatedly yelled at her to go away or face arrest, the girl said, "Shut up and arrest me!" The decision to imprison the teenage girl was made by Justice Procaccia, who said that "behind the girl's actions lies a rebellion movement run by adults, who are not preventing their children from being involved in lawbreaking." Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
| GUSH KATIF |
A "VIOLENT EXTREMIST" PROTESTER - ME
Posted by Judy Lash Balint, July 18, 2005. |
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How are you getting there? How are you getting back? Are you taking your kids/letting your kids go? Is there any point in going? How will the police and border police react to us? Are you staying for all three days? These are questions my friends and I have been asking each other for the past few days as we weigh up how to peacefully express opposition to the Gaza retreat plan and offer support to the thousands of Jews in Gush Katif who are about to be kicked out of their homes. I'm off in a few hours to drive down with a group of fellow travelers to test the limits of Israel's democracy. Already, the authorities have declared day 2 and 3 of the march as illegal, since they refuse to give permits for the assembly. We're the wimps--we're going to the legal part that's due to start late this afternoon with a mass prayer gathering at the tomb of the Baba Sali in the southern town of Netivot. Our thinking is that the media and political forces will be counting heads there and it's important to have as strong a showing as possible to start the thing off. We'll try to drive back tonight and then go back down on Wednesday as the group moves toward Kissufim, the entryway into Gush Katif. Organizers have repeatedly exhorted participants not to engage in any kind of verbal or physical violence with IDF, police or border police, but a favorite tactic of our Shin Bet secret police is to place provocateurs inside the ranks of the right wing organizations who then initiate the most extreme acts that are then blamed on those groups. Many commentators keep on referring to the fact that Gaza retreat protesters are breaking the law by engaging in demonstrations without permits, or that Gush Katif residents who refuse to show ID cards in order to get to their homes are acting against the law and "that's going too far," as Judy Nir Mozes said on her popular talk show last week. Well, for those of us raised in western democracies, we can only reflect on the fact that it was also against the law once upon a time in the great US of A for African Americans to sit at the front of a bus or eat at a whites-only diner. It was also against the law for Jewish activists in the former Soviet Union to teach Hebrew or to gather to demonstrate for the right to emigrate. Would anyone suggest today that those activists should NOT have broken the law for their principles? Tonight we'll see whether Israel can tolerate mass opposition to government policy (wouldn't it have been easier if we could just have had a referendum?) Meantime, the Kassam rockets and mortars keep on falling --not just in Gush Katif, but over the past few days dozens have slammed into Sderot and the kibbutzim inside the Green Line. Offers to host hundreds of Sderot kids whose summer activities have been cancelled pour in from all over the country. Beersheva will provide transportation and facilities for Sderot kids to join day camps there and a few private companies are sponsoring Fun Days for Sderot kids at various parks and attractions. And the adults? They're just trying to stay calm as they become the new frontline of the latest episode in Israel's seemingly endless border war. Judy Lash Balint is an investigative journalist and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" (Gefen). It is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com |
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THE YESHA COUNCIL
Posted by Sergio Tezza (Hadar), July 18, 2005. |
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On 18 Jul 2005, Reuven Kossover wrote: This march is a waste of time and energy. An intelligent general picks his battlefield and forces the enemy to engage him there under terms of his choice. The boys in the Yesha Council are very stupid generals - or are in Sharon's pay. Bear in mind that they do get their checks from the Kirya (government hill.). I could not agree more. A month ago, when they announced it, I said immediately that it was TOO EARLY, and it smelled like an attempt - like having thousands of youth freezing for a month in front of the Keesset - to get the opposition tired and be able to say that they did something when the opposition when and where it counts - that is in the middle of August in Gaza and ALL AROUND THE COUNTRY - won't be there because it will be discouraged by the uselessness of what they have done until then. I'll be there anyway, even if just to say that to as many people as I can talk to. ONLY TWO THINGS are REALLY worrying Sharon, Peres and their mouthpieces and talking heads in the media: blocking traffic and paralizing the country keeping the police busy all over Israel; and the mass refusal to obey immoral orders that show how the army is more and more Tsva Hagganà Le-ISHMAEL, busy fighting brothers rather than DESTROYING the terrorists, and being the ARMED BRANCH OF THE GOVERNMENT AGAINST OUR OWN PEOPLE TO FORCE ON US THE POLICIES OF THE EXECUTIVE AGAINST THE WILL OF THE ELECTORATE WHO DEFEATED MITZNA'S LINE SO SOUNDLY DEFEATED AND NOW THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY thanks to the Moetset YESHOO friends in the NRP who allowed such disgusting anti-Torah government with Shinui to rise just to get their funds and the Ashkenazi charedi parties who keep it alive to get their own money. The Yeshoo Council - NEVER ELECTED BY ANYONE AND WHO CERTAINLY DO NOT REPRESENT ME! - are the same people who allowed the deportation of widows and orphans from their homes (Maon in 1999 and Hill 26 in 2003) and then promoted the voluntary dismantling of Givat Assaf near Ofra and plenty of other Jewish homes and synagogues all over Israel. I have called them Mo'etseth Yeshoo since 1996, since they are the "turn the other cheek" people ... the people of "we have love in our hearts and it will win", and other IDIOTIC slogans!!! The are the "firefighters" of the healthy Jewish youth and settlers' movemente, they are those whose DECLARED task is to poor water over the flames coming out of our people's hearts!!! They are those who accuse everyone who disagrees with them to be "provocateurs" and Shabbak people... and spread lashon ha-r'a on good Jews who are not as ready as they are to sell themselves to the best offer. Don't forget that they are the ones who invented the slogan - so loved by Amos Oz and Shim'on Peres - "The Transfer Won't Pass"... While THE ONLY SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEMS IS TO EXPEL THE IRREDENTIST ARABS FROM OUR MIDST...which they have ALWAYS done everything to oppose, by promoting state-olatry (the idolatry of the state, which they put above everything, even Torah, with their mamlachtiuth...and NOT BY CHANCE they are fiercely opposed to the only hope of success in preventing the deportation of Jews from their homes in OUR land: the disruption of everyday's life all over the country and - ABOVE ALL - the refusal to obey IMMORAL ORDERS THAT ARE AGAINST THE TORAH!) Sergio Sergio Tezza can be reached at Hadar-Israel@verizon.net. |
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TO BIBI NETANYAHU
Posted by Leah Wolf, July 18, 2005. |
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Please fax, write or call TODAY!! Bibi is the KEY player here and our only hope through the political system. He needs to get thousands of faxes and phone calls today. His "pniot haTzibur" lines are available only from 11 -1. Make those calls to 02-5317200. Be polite, firm and not overly hysterical, please, if you want to be effective. You want him to support postponing the "disengagement" in Wednesday's Knesset vote. (sample letter below) See you all tonight in Netivot, Be"H! To: Sar HaOtzar: Bibi Netanyahu fax: 02-5695347
Dear Minister Bibi Netanyahu, Only YOU can save Israel from Sharon's dictatorship by leading the way and voting to postpone this insane and ill-planned evacuation of Jews from Israel, under enemy fire!!! I was stunned to get an email yesterday asking to raise BILLIONS of dollars for ISRAEL to replace the Ganim, day care centers, synagogues, schools, etc. that are being destroyed for peace!!!!! Come on!!! Are we totally crazy?? How can we allow this to happen to please the whims of Ariel Sharon, no matter how important his sons are to him!! Our sons are also important to us and when we raise them with Jewish values and Ahavat Yisrael and the so-called Israel DEFENCE forces now forces them to beat and harrass and God forbid kill our fellow Jews, shouldn't we cry out? After speaking to many MK's, they all say the same thing. YOU, BIBI NETANYAHU are the key to saving Israel in Wednesday's vote, Be"H. This is your golden opportunity. Others in the Likud will follow you if you show the leadership you claim to have and vote for postponing this immoral plan on Wednesday. It must be stopped for every reason under the sun: moral, security, encouraging terrorism, financial, morale of the Jewish people and human rights which are being trampled in a way only comparable to a dictatorship and a cruel one at that. Frankly, Bibi, if you can't do this on Wednesday, I don't know who would support you in a future election. Ariel Sharon has already destroyed the Likud, the State, the unity he professed to believe in, the Jewish character of the State, and of course, even the semblance of democracy -- you name it, he's destroyed it. This is your golden opportunity, Bibi. Take it or miss it. B'Ahavat Yisrael, Contact Leah Wolf at ldwolf@netvision.net.il |
| GUSH KATIF |
UNITY FLIGHT TO ISRAEL FOR GUSH KATIF
Posted by AFSI, July 17, 2005. |
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In an effort to demonstrate solidarity with our threatened brothers and sisters in Israel, hundreds of Americans are planning to participate in an ACHDUT (UNITY) El-Al flight to Israel, leaving August 7 and returning August 22. Because of the anticipated numbers involved, a discounted round-trip cost has been secured of $990 plus tax, R/T from NYC-Tel Aviv. This is a saving of approximately $400 off the retail price. Sponsors are being sought to underwrite all or a portion of the costs. Please contact tlschaeffer770@juno.com if you wish to participate as a sponsor, or simply to book your flight. A deposit must be received by July 8. Call 508-757-5340 or 508-989-5024 for additional information. Organizations that are supporting this effort, asking their members to show not only in word, but also in action, their opposition to the Sharon expulsion plan, include: Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI, Chabad Anash, Health to Health, Igud HaRabbanim, Manhigut Yehudit & Pikuach Nefesh. AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI; 1623 Third Ave., # 205, New York, N.Y. 10128; Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org; June 30, 2005 Contact: Helen Freedman, Executive Director Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI is a pro-active pro-Israel advocacy group. AFSI may be contacted by mail at 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128 (Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717); by email at afsi@rcn.com; or by accessing its website: www.afsi.org. Helen Freedman is Executive Director. |
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CHECK OUT THIS BLOG
Posted by Matt Lipeles, July 17, 2005. |
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I might have sent you out a notice a few weeks ago about this new blog a friend of mine is doing. I think this blog is very important. It speaks of issues that could decide the survival of the first Jewish state in 2000 years. Plus the writing is pretty good. Pretty interesting articles. Some recent postings include: * What Americans Think...You might want to check it out. Go to it or paste it into the address window of your browser: If you haven't seen the blog yet, you might want to go into the archives. There's some pretty good stuff. Oh, and now it's much easier to post comments. Feel free to email this link to friends who might be interested. Matt Lipeles can be contacted by email at mlipeles@earthlink.net |
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VOIDING SHARON'S DOCTRINE; BLINDING THE PUBLIC; POLICE RIOTS IN ISRAEL
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, July 17, 2005. |
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PT. 1 VOIDING SHARON'S DOCTRINE Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has used and misused every power of his office to drive his self-serving doctrine of perfidy. Hopefully, his government will fall soon so the next Israeli government can undue the evil mischief he has fostered. Naturally, we cannot expect this from a Labor Left government - given that they have worked diligently to de-Judaize the Jewish nation-state while collaborating with first Yassir Arafat, the Master Terrorist and now Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen), Arafat's partner in Terror. The Likud apparachniks have stuck to Sharon in order to keep their seats in the Cabinet and/or Knesset for their perks and privileges - despite Sharon's betrayal of the Party's platform and ideology that gave Likud a 60% to 40% win in the last elections. I think that they will lose many seats as the Kassam Rockets and missiles increase in volume, range and accuracy - hitting the main cities of the nation. I think both Likud and Labor will shrink to minor political parties while smaller parties will grow because their values and members have been more loyal to the Jewish democratic ethic. Many believe that Bibi Netanyahu will challenge and beat Sharon. However, Bibi will likely follow the 'law' as laid down by President George Bush much as Sharon has. In America, Newt Gingrich evolved a concept for the Republicans called "Contract with America", Bibi should put his commitment on paper in a similar contract with the people. It is not that he has the spine to keep a commitment but, at least he can be challenged when he drifts to a position of appeasement - as Sharon has. Above all, such a challenge should offer a general clemency to all those who challenged the Sharon doctrine of State-i-cide and were fired, put in jail or suffered other punishments. Sharon, like PM Yitzhak Rabin, released Arab terrorists, most of whom went immediately back to their old partners in terror. Both were directly responsible for subsequent murders of Israeli citizens by the released terrorists. Israelis should be given a general amnesty for those who were indicted and perhaps jailed for Civil Disobedience against Sharon's dangerous 'Disengagement'. A clean-out of the political, court, police and military is vitally necessary. We need people in charge who know the system, are loyal to the people and the values of a Jewish democratic state and who are impeccably honest. One of those is MK Uzi Landau who is similar in many characteristics to Harry Truman. Landau is a plain-spoken man, with an exceptionally keen mind and an unassailable integrity. Even the Left cannot find fault with Uzi - except for his realistic view of Abu Mazen and his terrorist cohorts. For many years, with each passing control by one party or the other, the corruption in Israel's political life sunk deeper. Now, under Sharon, we see a government that is so low that event the crooks are alarmed. It is past time for a political Pesach cleaning which rids us of a system that has become the muddy playground for the worst thieves in the political system - except for the exceptional handful. Ethical people who will not cut Mafia-like deals cannot make it in today's political spoils system of Israel. PT. 2 BLINDING THE PUBLIC Sharon, through his aberrant Generals has as of July 13th, closed Gush Katif to the Media, before and during his planned forced evacuation of 9,000 men, women and children from their homes, farms, businesses, schools, synagogues and even their cemeteries on Israel's Riviera. Why is this so familiar? Anyone remotely familiar with history will recall that every tyrant who is about to attack the people does not want witnesses. The World Media should be infuriated at being ordered away from where Sharon's thugs are about to assault the Jewish people by removing them from the homes they built over 30 years - 3 generations. Most would expect this in Egypt, Syria, Iran or (in earlier times) in Russia, Germany, China....but this surreal violation of all democratic and Jewish values is happening today in Israel. Keeping the press away - indicates that Sharon's thugs plan to expand the beating that have been going on against those protesters engaged in Civil Disobedience against this removal from their homes, farms, factories, stores, businesses, schools, yeshivas, synagogue and even their cemeteries. Sharon, Defense Minister Mofaz, Chief of Staff of the IDF Gen. Dan Halutz, Attorney General Menahem Mazuz simply don't want films on International TV news, showing heads being cracked, arms broken, Israeli police and army swinging batons, bashing anyone who get in their way. Women and children are not to be spared and haven't been in this build-up to the great Eviction/Deportation. I imagine there will be some early live fire wounding or killing some honorable 'refuseniks' in order to intimidate the others. Sharon has always been called the bulldozer and nothing has changed - now he is simply a bigger bulldozer. He has been grinning like a predatory gorilla as he was saying that everything would be different the day after the 'Evacuation'. I don't think so! I think that Sharon and his gaggle of lick-spittles will be hated well into their last years and beyond into history. PT. 3 POLICE RIOTS IN ISRAEL What do citizens do when they wish to protest hostile government policy and are attacked by Police with deadly force. Reports coming out of Israel (some of which we have forwarded to you) offer eye-witness testimony, photos and video of police acting out the role of psychotic socio-paths who are attacking protesters with beatings, jamming their fingers in the nostrils of protesters and then ripping upwards. When teenagers, including girls as young as 12-years old, have been repeatedly beaten by Police who are apparently selected for their size and willingness to be brutal. Jewish Policemen and Soldiers were supposed to be the trusted care-givers of a Jewish population whose ideas of protest is sitting peacefully in the road to stop traffic, shouting, wearing the color orange, and other non-violent acts of Civil Disobedience. Who in Israel will ever trust the Police Force who takes kids into cars and beat them? Who will ever enter a Police Station for a refuge, knowing that somewhere inside are the beating rooms where Sharon's thugs tell the victim after a beating by four Policemen that this is only the start. Sharon seems to be enjoying his military planning to make war on his own Jewish people who dare to protest being moved out of their homes. Sharon has personally set in motion all the usual facets of a Police State where the population lives in fear of being arrested, beaten and not being able to identify the Police thugs because the removal of Identification Tags (an illegal act). The know they are acting the role of common street criminals and do not wish to later see their pictures or name tags turn up on TV or in court. We have reports coming in that the Shabak (GSS - General Secret Services) are pounding on doors at three in the morning to arrest, search all without having a warrant and not wearing any ID tags. One day, I have no doubt there will be an honest, non-political Peoples' Court which will deal with these Police criminals. But, what do the people do in the interim as the Police increase their savagery. When is it beyond acceptability? When is it necessary to remove the normal acceptance of Police authority? Will it happen when teenage girls, even 12 year olds, are savagely beaten and thrown into jail for weeks at a time? (They did that this week.) What constitutes excessive force? When an arm or leg is broken? When an eye is battered so one can no longer see? When a blow from a baton causes a concussion? When will the beating rooms be closed and the Policeman chosen for their thuggish brutality are themselves to be beaten in self defense? When will it become necessary for ordinary citizens to rescue young girls from Police savagely beating a victim to teach them "a lesson"? The Police of Israel have been released from any form of sanity and responsibility. It has allowed them to become monsters. When does a nation slip over the edge between laws that protect people to laws that only protect the government's arm of enforcement? Over time we have seen Stalin's KGB and his enforcement Police. We have seen the horror of Romania's Iron Guard. We have watched the Hitler process when the courts became his instrument of brutality along with his Gestapo with that feared midnight knock. All of these totalitarian regimes had special prisons and concentration camps. Ask Sharon about the Lubyanka Prison or the 'refuseniks' like Natan Sharansky and Ida Nudel sent to the Gulag prison camps in Siberia. It's not hard to see a nation slip over the edge when its leaders are merely well-dressed thugs protected by lofty titles. A Police State does not necessarily develop overnight. It requires a steady erosion of its peoples' rights with a parallel rise of political control and brutality by those who rise to power. Arik Sharon has become a dictator in a region where Arab dictators use Police State tactics to control their people. Perhaps that fits for the Arab Muslim population where riots form instantly, where an aberrant religion preaches killing for Allah but, Israel is not an Arab dictatorship - yet. Therefore, will it come to a time when Jews must pick up a staff to defend themselves, their wives and their children from Police who have been so released from their ethical consciences that they may beat to death those who protest the Government uprooting and evicting them to nowhere's-ville. Let us hope and pray that Sharon recognizes his slide into a dictatorial insanity and pull back his Yassam Police (the thugs in the grey uniforms without ID tags). Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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WEEKEND SHELLING ATTACKS: A TIMELINE THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, July 17, 2005. |
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Last week an Islamic Jihad homicide bomber set himself off at the Netanya shopping center, killing five and wounding 90. And Hamas rocket attacks over the Gaza border murdered 22-year old Dana Glakowitz, who had been sitting on her porch. Worse yet, orders for Washington are restraining him from a ground assault because Queen Condoleezza Rice is coming at week's end to 'lay down the law' - meaning that Sharon may not respond with force. I guess Arik thinks we have lots of Jews to spare and, if some women or children were killed by these attacks, the Jewish settlers with families can always make more cannon fodder. "L'Havdil". Comments by Emanuel A. Winston Rena Cohen Did you see these facts reported anywhere? Did you hear that Israel's IDF was attacking the Arabs in Gaza? Now you know why. And we are still going to give them Gush Katif so that they can use all of Central Israel at target practice? No one in the middle of the country will be safe. And there are those who worry about us in Northern Israel. Please pass this along to anyone who still thinks that rewarding Arab terror with Gush Katif is still a good idea. All the best. Rena Cohen, Still a Jewish settler in Safed. PS And there are reports of many more this morning..... Weekend Shelling Attacks - A Timeline [In Gush Katif And The Negev] (IsraelNN.com) The following is a listing of Kassam rocket and mortar shell attacks against Jewish communities in Gaza and the Negev which occurred on Friday and Saturday. 06:00 - five mortar shells landed in Gush Katif
SATURDAY
Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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OPEN LETTER TO THE TENURE COMMITTEE AT GEORGETOWN
Posted by Steven Plaut, July 17, 2005. |
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1. An Open Letter to the Tenure Committee at Georgetown University http://moonbatcentral.com/wordpress/?p=710 Posted by Plaut's Complaint today. Dear Colleagues: A few days back, Frontpage Mag published an essay of mine concerning assistant professor of English at Georgetown Andrew N. Rubin. Rubin has attempted to construct an entire academic career at Georgetown around his sycophantic pieces signing the praises of Edward Said. Rubin has no credentials at all in Middle East Studies (nor did Said for that matter), speaks no Middle East languages, has not lived in the Middle East, yet claims for himself academic authority to make pronouncements over the causes and culpabilities involved in the Middle East conflict. Rubin has also published ludicrous accusations based on no evidence whatsoever, on the weight of accusations made by Iraqi Ba'athist loyalists to Saddam Hussein, claiming that the US has engaged in systematic assassinations of Iraqi intellectuals. I strongly urge the Tenure Committee at Georgetown to review Rubin's history of publishing ludicrous such baseless claims in his articles, while posing as an academic representative of Georgetown University. Rubin was evidently upset by my essay and responds, after a fashion, in an "open letter" to me, published on the anti-American pro-terror Counterpunch web magazine (http://counterpunch.com/rubin07162005.html). There he accuses me of being a threat to the Western Enlightenment (!!!), of trying to suppress free speech, and of being indifferent to the supposed "sufferings" of Palestinian Arabs. Besides a willingness to issue pronouncements on issues about which he knows nothing and has no credentials, all the while citing his position at Georgetown as if it confers upon him pontifical authority in such matters, Rubin has a long history of pseudo-scholarship, as documented in my article, and his current "open letter" just illustrates his lack of scholarly capacity even further. For Rubin, criticizing an anti-American or an anti-Jewish columnist is equivent to McCarthyism and denying that columnist free speech. Rubin criticizes my own publicist writings without giving any evidence of having read any besides my critique of himself. Rubin then goes on to bemoan the "Israeli occupation" which "has gone longer than the Japanese occupation of Korea" in his words, but of course has not gone on longer than the Korean occupation of Korea. Rubin whines about Palestinians being inconvenienced by Israeli security measures, but has never said a single word in condemnation of the mass murder of hundreds of Israeli civilians that make those security measures necessary. Rubin whines about Palestinian ambulances being delayed at checkpoints, but has not a word to say about those same ambulances routinely being used to transport bombs and murderers. Rubin whines about Israel's security fence, with never a word about what made the construction fo the security fence necessary. Rubin is absolutely convinced that the right of Palestinian not to be inconvenienced must always come ahead of the right of Jewish children to sit in cafes and to ride buses without being murdered. Jews have no rights in Rubin's learned opinion, and certainly not the right to self-defense. Rubin's real reason for opposing Israeli security measures, including its security wall, is that Rubin favors the "right" of the "Palestinians" to continue to murder Israeli civilians without hindrance nor obstacle. Rubin is pro-terror and pro-murder. Rubin has not a single word to say about the circumstances that resulted in Israel "occupying" the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the first place in 1967, and has nothing to say about the fact that the causes of that "occupation" have not been removed. Nor does he care that the PLO has proved over the past 13 years that any removal of Israeli "occupation" will only result in escalated terrorist atrocities by the Palestinians. The English lit teacher Rubin insists that Israel needs to end its "occupation", denouncing the "the false principles upon which existence of both Israeli and Palestinians subjects are founded." Did he learn about those principles in some course on John Steinbeck or on LeRoi Jones? Israel's own foolish attempts to remove that "occupation" in the framework of the "Oslo Accords" produced 1800 murdered Israelis, most of them civilians, many of them children. Rubin offers Israel no reason to believe that ending its "occupation" will result in reduced violence rather than all-out Arab escalation and genocidal war. That is because he has none. Rubin accuses me of being indifferent to the suffering of Palestinians. I am indeed indifferent to the "suffering" of Palestinians involved in terror, those being the bulk of the Palestinians who have been killed by Israel, and regret only that more such were not killed. As for "innocent" Palestinians killed as bystanders, I am as concerned for their suffering as I am for the suffering of German civilians in Berlin and Japanese civilians in Tokyo in 1944. Those responsible for the suffering of Palestinian civilians are the same PLO terrorists who use civilian areas to attack Jews and hide among civilians. Rubin is unwilling to condemn those responsible for the suffering of innocent Palestinian bystanders. The only form of self-defense for Israel this English lit prof is willing to allow is complete capitulation to the demands of the terrorists. Rubin is a pseudo-scholar who confuses toadying for Edward Said with research. He shills for Said not because of Said's insights into literature but because Rubin likes Said's anti-Jewish pro-terror radicalism. Rubin exhibits his own extremism and anti-Semitism (and let's not hear any nonsense about how Rubin can't be an anti-Semite if he was born Jewish) for the pro-terror, anti-Jewish web magazine Counterpunch. Georgetown can do better and deserves better. Let Georgetown show the world it still maintains academic standards! Thank you. Professor Steven Plaut
2. http://moonbatcentral.com/wordpress/?p=709 Juan Cole issues a Call to Spy on his Critic Posted by Plaut's Complaint @ Sunday 17 July 2005, 6:11 am One of the best blogs on the Middle East is operated by Prof. Martin Kramer, a leading Middle East historian and scholar. Kramer has in the past done an exceptionally brilliant job in exposing the pseudo-scholar Juan Cole and his errors and fabrications. Among other things, Cole likes to repeat infantile conspiracy theories and blamed 9-11 on Ariel Sharon. Cole was a leading critic denouncing Harvard's Lawrence Summer when the latter said the campaign to divest from Israel is anti-Semitic. Cole this week issues a new "warning" that if the US is again attacked by the Islamic terrorists whose causes Cole supports, it will all be the Israelis' fault. Kramer notes that in recent weeks, Professor Juan Cole, blogger extraordinaire, has been even more over-the-top than usual, and I've been busy calling him on errors and elisions. The other day, he responded at his weblog with this appeal to his admirers at a left-of-center online forum called Daily Kos to spy on and investigate Prof Kramer: "Please do up an oppo research diary on Martin Kramer. Who is he? Where did he come from? When he was head of the Dayan Center in Tel Aviv, to whom did he report in the Israeli intelligence community? Who funded his work on Hizbullah? Was he fired from heading the Dayan Center? How does he suddenly show back up in the US after a 20-year absence with a book that blames unpreparedness for 9/11 on US professors of Middle East Studies instead of on the Israeli Mossad and the US CIA/FBI? What was his role in getting up the Iraq War and in advising the US on the wrong-headed policies that have gotten so many Americans killed? Who pays his salary, now, exactly? What are his links with AIPAC, and with the shadowy world of far-right Zionist think tanks and dummy organizations? Cole has in the past publicly threatened to sue Kramer for his exposes on Cole. Cole has endorsed conspiracy theories concerning the CIA about which one ordinarily has to go to neo-nazi web sites like RENSE to read, and he links his own personal web page to those of neonazis Kurt Nimmo and Justin Raimondo. While whining when other people criticize him, Cole himself does not hesitate to reprint on his own web page ludicous smears he picks up from anti-Semites like those two. Harvard Magazine recently cited Daniel Pipes in describing Cole as an "intellectual thug". Cole regularly smears Pipes. While I almost always agree with Dan, I think he was in error here and meant to say "pseudo-intellectual thug". For those wishing to follow Cole's pseudo-scholarship, we suggest regular visits at Kramer's and Daniel Pipes' web sites. 3. The "T" Word at the Independent Posted by Plaut's Complaint today. In its July 13 coverage of terrorist atrocities, The Independent, a leftonewspaper in the UK, wrote in its frontpage news report: "The terrorists responsible for the Tube and bus attacks in London have been revealed as home-grown suicide bombers." The same day another news item appeared headlined "Palestinian militant kills two in attack on shopping mall". One wonders why that newspaper call a suicide bomber in London a terrorist but a suicide bomber in Israel a militant. Is terrorism defined the ethnicity of who is being murdered? http://moonbatcentral.com/wordpress/?p=708 4. If you have not done this, you should check it out... Point your internet browser to www.google.com type "french military victories" in the search box and click on the button just below the search box that says "I'm Feeling Lucky" 5. Afterword from Martin Kramer: I was present to hear this talk by Rubin: In my report of the conference, I wrote this: "The presence of Said was very much felt in the room. One panel, in particular, devoted itself to recitation of his saintly virtues. A certain panelist, one of Said's former students (Andrew Rubin), who talks the talk from Palestine to Proust, is an uncanny mimic of the great man, down to his intonation and mannerisms. Discipleship rises (or maybe sinks) to a new level." http://moonbatcentral.com/wordpress/?p=710 Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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BANGLADESH'S IMAGE AND THE PM
Posted by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, July 17, 2005. |
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This article was written by Abdullah A. Dewan and Ghulam Rahman. The authors are, respectively, Professor of Economics, Eastern Michigan University and former Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh. In recent days, the Prime Minister seems to have become awakened to the image problem of Bangladesh abroad. The PM complains that vested interest groups and their allies in collaboration with local and foreign media are spreading unfounded and false allegations with ill motives to harm the image of the country. The PM complained that while Bangladesh is being lauded everywhere for being a moderate and democratic country, a vested quarter is carrying out propaganda at home and abroad to put the country and its people in jeopardy. The seeming hypocrisy here is that the PM raised the spectre of a public discourse and debate on our country's image (for which she has been rebuking the opposition leader for a while now) on foreign soil. It is important to know that no one can tarnish the image of a country by spreading lies and falsehoods at home and abroad, simply because propaganda has no half-life. In the Internet era important news sprinkles out like an inverted pyramid. No sooner do incidents worthy of news emerge, but almost instantaneously they crop up either on our personal computer or television screen. The Internet acts almost like a borderless global media in which anyone with a personal computer and a connection becomes his or her media spotlight. Bangladesh is certainly a democratic country and the media enjoys a certain degree of freedom. However, Freedom House's 2005 annual press freedom survey of 192 countries and territories rated Bangladesh "Not Free." On the issues of Civil Power and Electoral Politics, Bangladesh ranked "Partly Free." The world has been putting pressure on the ruling 4-party alliance government for good governance along to crack down against repression of minorities. The alliance has been in power for the last four years, and in each of these years the country has been bruised by being designated the most corrupt country in the world by Transparency International. Obviously, corruption was not brought by the alliance government. During the fag end of AL rule, the country also was designated the most corrupt country. The alliance won a landslide victory in the national election of 2002 with the promise of eradicating corruption and rescuing the citizens from the nightmares of gangsters and terror groups. After taking over the government, the promises were left in the back burner and precious time was lost while the maladies of corruption and the weak enforcement of the rule of law proliferated. During a press briefing (after the EU ambassadors meeting in Dhaka on July 13), the British High Commissioner stated that the EU programme for Bangladesh would be promoting rights of minorities, press freedom, streamlining legal system, setting up of a human rights commission, etc. These issues the ambassadors have articulated are no different than those being voiced by the opposition leaders and the media. The difference is that the opposition leaders and the media are screaming too loud and the people are listening. The EU ambassadors also observed that the responsibility for holding a free and fair election lies with the government and the people of Bangladesh, not outsiders. Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman's shocking admission that corruption with its all-pervasive sting has been engulfing "all the ministries, with the National Board of Revenue being among the top" was long overdue. This assertion was further reinforced by government ministers and MPs when their recent meeting about the development of coastal areas turned into a forum of discussions about widespread bureaucratic corruption. The outgoing State Minister of Energy, who was widely believed to be the architect of the sale out of country's interest in the infamous Kafco deal, asserted that all the officials of Petrobangla are corrupt to their teeth. Are these insiders of the government conspiring to tarnish the image of the country? The CPI score is not a product of any conspiracy; it is a reflection of the experiences the people of Bangladesh go through every day. Economic growth theories taught us that lack of rule of law and inefficiency holds back the pace of progress in poverty alleviation. Yes, of course, the country has made progress in many sectors, but not to the point of calling for celebration with champagne and caviar. Some people have become very rich. Almost half the population is still under the poverty line. The gap between the rich and the poor has widened beyond proportion and is still widening by the day. One does not need to be part of a conspiracy to talk about the discriminating oddities of the economic and political conditions prevailing in Bangladesh. There are several indirect social and economic factors which contribute to a country's well-being. These are: (a) level of democracy, (b) rule of law, (c) corruption, (d) free media, (e) ethnic fractionalisation, (f) years of schooling, (g) population density, (h) value of work, (i) trust and investment, (j) health care, and (k) production and consumption of energy. Eyeballing these vital statistics indicate that a country with everything similar to Bangladesh except rule of law, corruption, and trust and investment achieves a much higher GDP per capita than Bangladesh. Not surprisingly, all three factors fall within the purview of the rule of law, which Bangladesh lacks miserably. A collection of factors which potentially raise a country's image in the community of nations are: (a) democratic principles and institutions, (b) rule of law and governance, (c) quality of export goods produced, (d) freedom of the media, (e) intellectual activities, (f) literacy, and (g) freedom of religion. Being poor is not a crime, but being corrupt is. Failing to follow the democratic principles of governance in letter and spirit is not a crime, but violation of the constitution by letting the rule of law to become the rule of the ruling party and other political functionaries (the same holds when AL was in power) is a crime. Failing to protect the minorities and repressing the ethnic groups is an international crime. Allowing black money to incubate year after year and then legalising it in the economic stream simply magnifies the lack of rule of law. The PM is absolutely right when she rebukes the opposing parties for not participating in the parliamentary proceedings (seems like payback for what BNP did when it was in opposition). To cut down such abstentions, retention parliamentary seat should be conditioned on not missing two consecutive sessions absent compelling reasons. This should be negotiated in any caretaker government reform initiatives. No political party should have any excuse to perennially boycott parliamentary if they fail to win the majority to form a government after the ensuing election. For now, will the Honourable Prime Minister pick up her phone to reach out to the opposition leader and invite to her office, or better yet, tell her: "I am coming to your house for a cup of tea, to see if we both can thrash out some of our major differences on one-to-one basis." By giving an inch, the PM can win a foot, and the country wins a mile. By such a gesture, the PM wins more; the display of her astute political maturity, the heart of the people and the prestige which the PM desperately needs at home and abroad. To save democracy and the country's honour, our leaders must set examples as never happened before in our traditions. Now that the reform proposals for the care-taker government have been made, the government must not disparage them with acrimonious remarks. The reforms must be based on consensus having absolutely no kernel of advantage to any political party, and the final product must be adhered to in letter and spirit. The world is watching Bangladesh through the magnifying lenses of their embassies and the censorship-insulated media of the Internet. It is unheard of that the media and opposition leaders of a country have ever conspired against their own people against its sovereignty and independence. Who can be more patriotic to the country than the current PM, widow of the former freedom fighter and President, and the current opposition leader, also a former PM, and daughter of the beloved Bangabandhu, the father of the nation? The opposition leaders and the media not only want to preserve our evolving democracy, freedom of the media, and rule of law, they want to perfect them. A smear campaign against the media and the opposition parties (or against the government) is an outmoded relic of the former Pakistan military junta. Unfortunately, much to our dismay, there exist reams of compelling evidence against the ruling government (and the erstwhile AL government) for why the country's image may have been tarnished. The good image of a nation cannot be fabricated by exaggerating facts and distorting stories, nor can it be diminished by a false smear campaign against the government. It can, however, be transformed from bad to good, and vice versa, only by the policies and actions of the party in power. The writer is a journalist, columnist, author, amd editor of "Weekly Blitz". Email him at salahuddinshoaibchoudhury@yahoo.com |
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CLOSED! JUNE 13TH, GUSH KATIF IS A GHETTO!
Posted by Rachel Saperstein, July 17, 2005. |
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The noose is tightening around the people of Gush Katif. A month before their scheduled expulsion the army and the police have been given the go-ahead to put Gush Katif under closed military rule. The area must be "sterilized", kept clean of visitors so that it will be easier to go from house to house cleansing the area of Jews. "I'm filled with shame," L wept. "They are humiliating me. My country is doing this to me. I no longer live in Israel. I need a magnetic card to get in and out of my home. I'm examined and questioned at three different checkpoints. The cars are backed up. Tour buses are turned away. Buses filled with elderly women are told they cannot visit Gush Katif for the day. We have to call a special number to ask permission for a family member to visit. And it takes twelve hours until we get that precious permission" "Restrictions, red tape, begging, pleading with the army. The police beat our children. What country is this? Do you know, Rachel, that a policeman gets a bonus of 18,000 shekels for working on the 'disengagement'? Imagine, 'chai' shekels to destroy the lives of decent people. What kind of Jewish policeman would take this money?" I met C at the health clinic. Her shoulder was broken. "I can't get out. The roads are blocked and I need to get to the hospital. How can Israel do this to me? I come from France. Sharon tells the Jews of France to come live in Israel so they will be safe from attack. And now I am treated like a criminal. Chirac is not expelling his Jews but Sharon is expelling fifty French families from Gush Katif." One of our bus drivers walked in to the health clinic, fuming. "I drove my bus to one checkpoint. I was checked, as were all of my passengers. Same thing at the second checkpoint. By the time we got to the third checkpoint I became enraged. I parked in the middle of the road, took my bags and walked off the bus leaving the passengers behind. The soldiers ran after me. I told them I refuse to continue playing their game. 'Okay', they said, 'take your bus and go.' So I did." N asked, "Is this how Jews in Europe felt when restriction after restriction was placed on them? When their enemies attacked them at will and the authorities did nothing? Now I understand what is meant by 'a ghetto'." A few nights ago at our Town Hall meeting we were told about the three-day march scheduled to begin Monday, July 18th. Thousands will start the trek from the southern city of Netivot to Gush Katif. The Sharon government is terrified that these thousands will enter the Gush and remain, making the planned expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif that much harder - thus the early closure of the roads. May the Almighty empower the Good with the strength to overcome the massed forces of Evil. Rachel Saperstein and her husband Moshe live in Gush Katif. Order your copy of EVICTION: A GUSH KATIF VIEWPOINT by Rachel Saperstein, with photos by Moti Sender. EVICTION tells the story of day-to-day life in a war zone, whose residents are threatened with expulsion. To order, www.pavilionpress.com or www.Amazon.com or order through your local bookstore. |
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TERROR AND THE DIVESTMENT CAMPAIGN
Posted by Gerald M. Steinberg, July 17, 2005. |
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Rev. John Gladwin, Anglican Bishop of Chelmsford and chair of Christian Aid's Board of Trustees, might well have seen and felt the terror blasts in London on July 7. And he might have recalled a film made by his organization with the misleading name of Peace Under Siege which was shown widely during the 2003 Christmas campaign. In this film, four seconds of images showed the charred remains of an Israeli bus, while the rest condemned Israeli efforts to prevent more such atrocities and promoted Palestinian victimization. If Gladwin sponsors a similar film on the London attacks, will it also emphasize sympathy for the perpetrators of terror and condemn the victims? Public campaigns reflecting stark anti-Israel themes are characteristic of much of Christian Aid's activities, as well as of the agendas of other groups claiming to promote human rights and relieve suffering. Gladwin and other members of Christian Aid's Executive Committee are also patrons of the noble-sounding "Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center" - in reality, a radical Palestinian political organization. Sabeel's leader, Naim Ateek, uses Christian theological images to promote opposition to Israel and plays a leading role in promoting the divestment campaign endorsed by the Anglican Church, as well as other denominations. In the cycle of demonization, radical church leaders channel "charitable" funds to extremists such as Sabeel, then cite their claims in justifying divestment campaigns and similar activities using the false flag of human rights. The anti-Israel divestment declarations by a number of Protestant Church groups are the latest battle in the political war that has accompanied Palestinian terrorism. Following the university boycott campaign a few months ago (which was defeated, at least in that round), the divestment declarations were timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the pseudo-legal advisory decision of the International Court of Justice on Israel's security barrier. Like many of these battles in the effort to portray Israel as "an apartheid state," divestment calls are being led by a network of dozens of Palestinian charities, unions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Sabeel is one of many such NGOs that provide bridges to church involvement in this propaganda campaign. Others pushing divestment and boycotts include MIFTAH, a powerful NGO led by Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashwari; BADIL, which claims to be helping refugees; Al-Mezan, an extremist group based in Gaza); ADRID, where terms such as "international Zionist conspiracies" are common; Ittijah, and others. THESE ANTI-ISRAEL political NGOs receive funding from sources such as the Ford Foundation, the European Union and individual governments - and even the New Israel Fund, which has funded projects involving Ittijah and MIFTAH. The standard justifications for this support - human rights, institution-building, humanitarian aid, peace, etc. - have long since been exposed as facades. After the debacle of the 2001 UN Durban Conference in which NGOs supported by the Ford Foundation led the "Zionism is racism" movement, its president, Susan Berresford, pledged to prevent further abuses; but implementation has been slow and secretive. As a result, funds continue to flow to the radical NGO network for use in promoting high-profile anti-Israel political campaigns such as divestment. WHY DO powerful individuals and organizations in Britain, Europe and North America continue to cooperate with these groups in the political war against Israel, even as new victims of Palestinian terror are being buried? How do NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, Christian Aid, World Vision and War on Want justify singling out Israel for excessive and obsessive attack, ignoring the principles of universal human rights? Why are politicized church groups calling for divestment from Israel - but not from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria? For some, the source of this discrimination remains ideological opposition to Jewish sovereignty and the existence of Israel (the "new anti-Semitism"). This outlook will not change, and people who hold it must be opposed and removed from positions of influence. After the creation of a powerful opposing coalition, such a strategy successfully defeated the university boycott campaign. However, the majority are not hard-core Israel-bashers. They have been taken in by repeated exposure to simplistic images of Palestinian victimization, distorted history and rhetoric blaming Israeli "occupation." Political correctness provides much of the support for the divestment campaign and other forms of NGO-led demonization, and it can be countered by education and information. Some members of the Anglican Church have initiated a debate on the official pro-Palestinian position, and the founding of "Christian Aid Watch" is a hopeful sign. Now that the plague of suicide bombings has struck in London, will Rev. John Gladwin recognize the stark cruelty of terrorism even when the victims are Israelis? If he and other leaders of the Anglican Church, and affiliated NGOs such as Christian Aid and UK Friends of Sabeel, make this transition, the door will open toward restoring the moral core of universal human rights, including the basic right to life. Gerald Steinberg directs the Program on Conflict Management at Bar Ilan University and is the editor of www.ngo-monitor.org |
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U.S. RUNNING INTERFERENCE FOR THE TERRORISTS?
Posted by Marcel Cousineau, July 17, 2005. |
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US Secretary of State Rice will visit Israel next week (Tues or Wed ) to urge an end to the new upsurge in violence,but her true mission is to tie Israel's hands and hinder the IDF from doing its job. She always shows up at the behest of Mr. Prez when the lemming quislings who rule Israel to ruin get the nerve up to do something serious against the real and organized Islamic threat against Israel. Her timing is meant to aid the terrorists and continue to weaken Israel, plain and simple. We'll hear more of the useless and empty requests from the secretary to terrorist head Abbas to look like he's doing something, even if it's nothing, and a STRONG demand from Israel to DO NOTHING to harm the scam on Israel called the Bush Road Map. Eventually,soon - something big enough will happen to get Israel free from its bondage and slavery to this new Pharoah. Ms Rice decided to add the stop to a planned trip to Africa after the breakdown of the phony ceasefire, truce, semi peace-lite engineered by her boss. Israeli has been amassing its forces for show to assuage Israeli citizens that it is doing something. It does not have permission from the U.S. to do any more and must wait on Secretary Rice to arrive, giving time for the Islamic terrorists to crawl back into their holes and hide. It will be her third interference trip to Israel and the terrorist territories in the space of five months and this time, the Holy One of Israel may very well respond to America's arrogant and gross interference in His agenda. He may just send a loud message to the U.S. I know His patience is great but it eventually ends. We are at the end of His patience. The blind who lead the blind can't see this and assume that God is taking a long nap. He's awake! Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has promised a "strong and harsh" response and we all know how harsh the Prime Minister is. There is no more harsh left in Israel thanks to the successful U.S. effort to weaken and neuter her as the Palestinian terrorists so well know. The unified voice of Israel's enemies, including the U.S. always ratchet up their same rhetoric against Israel doing what it should have done at the start of the first intifada. Here are a few of their quotes that point away from the terrorists towards Israel as the threat to peace.Their peace of the grave for all Jews. "Hanan Ashrawi, from the Palestinian Legislative Council, told the BBC that any such action on the part of the Israelis would be dangerous and irresponsible. "The consequences could be disastrous for everybody, not just for the Palestinians but for Israel and for any prospects of peace in the region," she said. "This reinstates again the language of occupation, of militarism, of unilateralism, of violence." Mr Abbas has blamed Israel for effectively undermining the ceasefire, but warned Palestinian groups that he would not tolerate renewed infighting or new attacks against Israel." This appeared in A Very Heavy Stone (http://averyheavystone.blogspot.com/) Marcel Cousineau can be reached at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com. |
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URGENT - ISRAEL PHONE RALLY
Posted by Marlene Young, July 15, 2005. |
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Your help is urgently needed at this dire time in Israel, PLEASE, YOU CANNOT remain silent * As Jewish men women and children are to be expelled brutally from their homes and Jewish-owned land is given AWAY to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah PA terrorists, We are requesting that every person call at least ONE of the following phone numbers. YOUR VOICE MUST BE HEARD BY THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Make the points listed above in a courteous voice. Respond to this e-mail with the number(s) YOU CALLED (OR FAXED) from this list: Prime Minister's Office
The Office of the President
Ministry of Defense
Ministry of Justice
ASK WHY JEWISH PROTESTERS ARE ARRESTED AS PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS ROAM FREE ASK WHY PALESTINIANS ARE ALLOWED TO THROW ROCKS AT JEWS, BUT JEWS WHO DEFEND THEMSELVES ARE ARRESTED Israel Prison Service
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Public Security
Ministry of Finance
Ministry of the Interior
Ministry of National Infrastructures
Contact Marlene Young by email at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com |
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CROCODILE ISLAMIC TEARS FOR LONDON; THE "MOST OF THE WORLD" ARGUMENT
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, July 15, 2005. |
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THE "MOST OF THE WORLD" ARGUMENT The "NY Times" has a new stock phrase to denigrate the Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. It is, "Most of the world regards Jewish settlements as illegal." True or not, this assertion has no bearing on legality. Jews are not popular, but legality is not determined by popularity. Many governments are antisemitic or in thrall to governments that are. The US State Dept. has been anti-Zionist since before the establishment of the Jewish state, and is unscrupulous about it. Its lack of scruples is a scandal that my fellow Jews mostly are unaware of, especially those dependent upon the "Times" and the like for news about the issue. The media perpetuates misconceptions. First official bodies unfairly declare what Israelis do illegal. Then the media quotes them as if what they declare is valid. Rarely does the media support the case with quotes from documents. It may merely name the Geneva Convention. When it does quote the paragraph of the Convention that the anti-Zionists claim justifies their conclusion, it takes it out of context. It never quotes the Zionist reply, which proves that the Convention does not apply and would be unjust if it did, nor the Zionist basis for the legality, indeed, the duty for Jewish settlement in Yesha. Our sources of information are deficient and biased. They are a poor basis for public policy. Can we legitimately call ourselves democratic, when Establishment circles mislead us into policies most of us have no understanding about? Who is ruling us: our representatives or those circles? MUSLIM CONDOLENCES FOR TERRORISM After the recent London transportation bombings, some Muslim groups publicly expressed condolences. Two of these groups were Hamas and CAIR. Hamas is an outright perpetrator of Islamist terrorism. Its expression of condolences obviously is deceptive. It seeks to divert outrage against it and confuse the enemy. It pretends that each terrorist organization has only a specific and perhaps justifiable target, whereas the Islamist terrorist groups have the same general objective, which is to destroy and intimidate their common enemies. They cooperate with each other. Operatives trained by one group commonly act under direction of another. CAIR has a different role. It calls itself a civil rights group, as a disguise for opposing any law-and-order methods against terrorism and any means used against Muslim abuse of democratic hospitality. CAIR holds rallies for terrorism, while pretending to US officials that it is moderate. Its leaders raise funds for terrorism the Muslim way, which is under the guise of charity. The government of Britain would reject the condolences, if it wanted its people to understand the international terrorism. Islamism really is the old Islamic jihad in a more inhumane, modern form, with its random killing and human bombs. Rather, Britain would stop being the leading European center for terrorists to organize in. THE DEMOCRACIES' ODD NOTION OF ARAB DEMOCRACY Western leaders have said they would accommodate to Hamas and Hizbullah electoral victories as manifestations of democracy. To accept Arab totalitarian parties' victories is no more an indication of a more encompassing democracy than was the plurality enjoyed by Hitler's party, which provided his path to total power and imperialism. Why do the Western leaders make this mistake? They do it because they are focused on appeasing the Arabs at Israel's expense, and don't want to admit having misunderstood the Arabs and failing in foreign policy. This is not a matter of freedom of religion but more of barring and expelling enemy aliens. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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LIE BACK AND THINK OF ENGLAND
Posted by Yashiko Sagamori, July 15, 2005. |
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"I am happy now that George calls on my bedchamber less
frequently than of old. As it is, I now endure but two calls a week,
and when I hear his steps outside my door I lie down on my bed, close
my eyes, open my legs and think of England." We live in a wonderfully predictable world. Imagine, for example, that John and Jane have nine apples each, while little Tommy has squat. How hard is it to predict that if John gave little Tommy three of his apples, and Jane followed the suit, the world would become perfectly harmonious? Oops, forgot to mention. Little Tommy comes from Darfur. When he was a toddler, a big, bad Arab chopped off his arms. Tommy would gladly bite an apple if you held it to his mouth, but holding six of them at once by himself is forever out of the question for him. Now John and Jane each have only six apples left, little Tommy has squat, just like he did before, and the remaining six apples are wasted. Well, not totally wasted, because John and Jane now feel good about themselves. Isn't feeling good about oneself worth a few lousy apples? But enough about our aid to Africa. While little Tommy is crawling face down in the dust trying to roll his apples with his nose, let us get comfortable. Let us lie back and think of England. There is a significant difference between the mass murders committed by Muslim freedom fighters in New York and Madrid on one side and London on the other. America was punished for its support of Israel. Spain was punished for its support of America. England wasn't being punished at all. The Muslim freedom fighters made no demands. They killed simply because they could. They could simply because they were there. If you conclude from this that the murder in London was meaningless, you would be wrong. Considering how few people they killed this time, the Muslim freedom fighters have accomplished a lot. They have achieved much more than the immediate effect of military-grade explosives on a train or bus filled with passengers during morning rush hour. They have sent us a strong, simple message: The war in Iraq and Afghanistan does not make us any safer at home. Our leaders promptly acknowledged the message. That same day, they presented the Palestinian Authority with a gift of $3 billion dollars annually for the next 3 years. They didn't specify how they want the money spent. They didn't ask how the PA was going to spend the money. They simply begged for mercy. The PA responded by sending a suicide bomber to Netanya. Here's the hidden meaning of the exchange: as long as we obey, the Muslim freedom fighters will limit their freedom fight to the murder of Jews. If we try something funny, they will hit us where it really hurts. In the wake of the latest round of Muslim freedom fighting, Tony Blair used every opportunity to tell the world how proud he was of the British Muslim community. He disappointed me by failing to list their achievements that made him so unbelievably proud. He didn't forget to mention that the absolute majority of them were law-abiding citizens. He forgot to mention that the law they abide by is Sharia. Simply put, he begged for mercy. The incident is being treated as a crime rather than an act of war. Scotland Yard may eventually arrest a few people, or they may all escape detection. Those arrested will either go to trial or be released for lack of evidence against them. Those who do go to trial may be convicted or acquitted. The outcome doesn't matter, because treating it as a crime rather than an act of war guarantees that the war waged by Muslims against us will continue everywhere in the civilized world that Islam was allowed to take root. Today, that means everywhere in the civilized world, period. Why have our invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq failed to diminish the threat of terrorism at home? First and foremost, because we have failed to identify the enemy. Terrorism is not the enemy; it is only a weapon. So far, we've been awfully careful not to fight the enemy, either on his territory or at home. What happened in Afghanistan? The Taliban was given an ultimatum to surrender Osama bin Laden to the US authorities. They refused to comply and were destroyed. So far, so good. But would terrorism stop if they gave us Osama? No, because someone else would step up as the leader of Al Qaeda. Would terrorism stop if we destroyed Al Qaeda? No, because terrorism is the weapon of jihad, and jihad is the purpose and essence of Islam, with or without Al Qaeda. Contrary to President Bush's lies, Islam is the enemy. There is more to it than that. We were told that the Taliban leader Mullah Omar was the bad guy, while Hamid Karzai installed by our armed forces as the president of Afghanistan, was the good guy. But what exactly makes him so good? Before the invasion, he was one of the leaders of the Northern Alliance. The Northern Alliance was fighting the Taliban. Does that make them good guys? No, because they weren't trying to liberate their country from a Stone Age regime imposed by the Taliban. The Stone Age regime suited them just fine. They simply wanted to be on top of it. They were losing, and the United States saved their necks. Had the situation been reversed, had the Taliban been losing, Mullah Omar could very well have been the president of Afghanistan today. Karzai used the United States to survive and grab power. The United States used Karzai to create an illusion that our invasion was liberation. Well, it wasn't. And I don't believe we had an obligation to liberate anything or anyone at all before we liberate ourselves of the fear brought by Islam into our lives. We forced Karzai to adopt a constitution, and - who could've thought? - his constitution, instead of proclaiming the United States of Afghanistan, chose the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan instead. We staged elections, with the absolute majority of the Afghans not having the slightest clue as to the hidden meaning of that alien ritual. Karzai, predictably, won. But, without our military presence, he and his regime wouldn't last a week, because, subsequent to the election, just like before, Karzai has no control over the country. If we leave Afghanistan, it will turn into breeding grounds for Muslim freedom fighters faster than you can say jihad. Therefore, not only we are stuck in Afghanistan with no end in sight; we have also failed to put a dent into Islamic terrorism. So, what exactly constitutes our victory in Afghanistan? And what exactly constitutes our victory in Iraq? Putting Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party out of power was a mitzvah, no question about it. But why was it a bigger mitzvah than putting the House of Al Saud out of power? Or Hosni Mubarak? Or Bashar Assad? Or the ayatollahs? What was so special about Saddam? I'll tell you what. Saddam Hussein dreamed about leading the Arab world towards a glorious victory over us, the infidels. In all fairness, however, this honor belongs to the House of Al Saud, the guardians of Mecca, the keepers and spreaders of the purest form of Islam, the Wahhabism. By eliminating the competition, we have greatly contributed to the unity of the Arab Nation. While Saddam is writing allegoric novels in his prison cell, Saudi Arabia can at long last proceed with the destruction of our civilization. You think I am exaggerating? Try to remember how harmless Islam looked just 20 years ago. There is a great chance that 20 years from today you will be praying doggy style, aiming your butt away from Mecca and into the face of another former Christian or Jew, whose prayer mat happens to be right behind yours. While our soldiers are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are witnessing the biggest migration of Muslims from their native Turdistans to civilized countries. If you doubt this is an invasion, look how they are changing our world. Look how their presence is eroding our liberties. Look what they are bringing with them. We know they are the ones who will be guilty guilty of the next mass murder, but our sacred laws force us to disregard common sense and treat them as if they are innocent. By the time they are proven guilty, they are usually dead, like the 19 9/11 highjackers of the 4 London bombers. Dead, along with tens, or hundreds, or thousands of their victims. Case closed. Nobody goes after their families, friends, imams, because we do not accept guilt by association, and all those people remain innocent until proven guilty. Once in a while, the feds uncover a penny charity that's been sending money to some organization of Muslim freedom fighters: Hamas, Hezbollah, or any of the myriad of similar cancerous tumors. The government closes the charity and trumpets victory. Meanwhile, the main source of financing for jihad functions openly, right in front of our eyes, without shame or fear. That source is Saudi oil. It serves as a very efficient pipeline that transfers dollars from our pockets into the pockets of our enemies. I've heard so many suggestions for how to diminish our dependency on foreign oil. But folks, realistically, the Muslims will take over long before the fuel cell is ready for mass production, or enough new oil is found in Alaska, or construction of a new nuclear plant (first in how many decades?) begins. What can be done? Simple: instead of letting our soldiers die in pursuit of an absurd dream of Muslim democracy, we should have confiscated Arab oil. Such an action would have been as legitimate as bombing an enemy ammunition factory, along with all the perfectly peaceful workers laboring there. Unfortunately, our domestic oil industry would not survive such an action, and, therefore, this will never be done. People have been writing to me that, instead of talking how bad things are, I should suggest something that would make things better. Theoretically, there are two avenues of action. One is to keep bugging the government until it does what's right; the other is to take matters in our own hands. The first suggestion is based on the assumption that our leaders don't know what they are doing. For this assumption to be correct, Mr. Bush would have to be much stupider than even the liberals claim he is. Well, if they are so smart, how come he is in the White House and they are not? Sadly, President Bush knows exactly what he is doing, and the fact that someone doesn't like it means less to him than last year's bad weather in a galaxy far, far away. You see, in 2009, his presidency ends, regardless of your approval or disapproval of his performance. His presidency ends, but the family oil business must go on. The Saudis are perfectly safe with him, and to keep them happy, he will never dare disturb a mosque or a thriving Arab-American community. Besides, you don't want innocent American civilians with Arabic names blowing themselves up on our trains, do you? Keep also in mind that the more Muslims come to our shores, the more our politicians are going to pander to their vote. That's why I wouldn't expect our government to do the right thing, no matter who happens to occupy the Oval Office or hold majority in Congress and Senate. That leaves us: you, me, our relatives, friends and neighbors. What can we do? Well, we could blow up mosques and schools; we could murder Muslim activists and innocent Muslim bystanders; we could make life so miserable for every observant Muslim within our borders that he would feel lucky if he managed to get away alive. I assure you, this would work. The problem is, it won't, and I am not being really serious suggesting it. Remember how we all responded to Dr. Baruch Goldstein's act of desperate heroism? He was in a very similar situation; his government kept sitting on its hands while facing clear and present danger. His sacrifice could only bring results if it inspired others to follow his example, hopefully, without getting killed in the process. Instead, both the Israeli government and most of the people, including, most probably, you, condemned him. This proves two things. One is that we are incapable of terrorism. The other is that terrorism is impossible without strong support from the community, which means that every observant Muslim is guilty of complicity in every murder committed by Muslim freedom fighters. In Islam, by the way, the concept of civilian population does not exist. Islam classifies us as Muslims and infidels; nothing else matters. So, you tell me what you are willing to do to defend yourself, and I'll explain to you why it won't work. If you are serious about doing something real, you will disregard my perfectly logical objections. And while you are thinking of something heroic, yet reasonably safe that might yield practical results, I will ask you to take another look at England. During the last decade or so, it has become the Islamic center of Europe. Muslims have never been molested there, even though they openly sympathized with jihad and its favorite weapon, terrorism. Why did they decide to strike now? It could be that they have simply reached the critical mass. It could also be that the attempted boycott of Israeli universities and other anti-Semitic acts showed the enemy that England is ripe for reaping. I personally believe that seeing Israel betrayed and being dismembered by its allies, they decided it was time to claim a new beachhead. Obviously, it worked. Yashiko Sagamori is a New York-based Information Technology consultant. To read other articles by the author, go to http://www.middleeastfacts.com/yashiko/ or email ysagamori@hotmail.com |
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THE NEW YORK TIMES AND TERROR
Posted by Naomi Ragen, July 15, 2005. |
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There is also a book out called: Buried by the Times by Laurel Leff, in which the author shows how the fact about millions of Jews being murdered during the Holocaust was distorted or deliberately buried in the New York Times back pages. From a review in the Washington Post: "Moreover, Jews were often described as "among" the Nazis' victims rather than as their primary victims. By thus "burying" the Holocaust, she charges, the Times sabotaged efforts to rouse the American public -- efforts which, had they been successful, might have produced an effective rescue program." Sound familiar re: Oprah and the NY Times concerning terror in Israel and Israeli victims? Below, a letter to the NY Times by a listmember concerning the blatant differences in coverage to the London and Netanya terror attacks. To send your own letter: letters@nytimes.com also nytnews@nytimes.com Naomi We have quite a campaign going to counter the
New York Times double standard using the word terrorism. FYI here's a
letter I sent them.
Peggy Shapiro Fearing of the word encourages the act. In the New York Times coverage of the London attack, the headlines read, "British Police Seek Terror Mastermind" and "How Clock Ticked Down to Terror in London." You don't shrink from referring to the murderers of innocents as terrorists, their acts as terror, and their ideology as terrorism. There was clarity about who the killers were and who the victims were. Readers of the NYT learned that, "Terror attack wounded about 700" and "Subway and bus blasts in London kill at least 37." Days later, when another terrorist murdered two women who were shopping in a peaceful seaside town and shattered the limbs and futures of dozens of teens, The New York Times erased the word "terrorist" from its vocabulary. Not only did you refuse to name the crime, you diminished the value of the innocent victims with your lead lines, "A Palestinian blew himself up today..." and almost as an after thought, "killing himself and a least two others and wounding 30 people." In another headline, you write, "Suicide Bomber and 2 Women Die in Attack at Mall in Israeli Town," again giving first consideration to the killer rather than his victims. Until the London attack, I thought that the New York Times feared the "T" words more than the terrorists. Now it seems that the reluctance is only when the victims are Israelis. You, who are word masters, know the power of a word used or omitted. Every time you fear to use the word "terror" when the victims are Jewish, you encourage the next bloody act. Professor Peggy Shapiro
Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |